This was my first time listening to Funkadelic, but it won't be the last. Maggot Brain is a nice fusion of funk and rock. Eddie Hazel shows his amazing skill in the opening track, which manages to be both emotional and psychedelic. While not every song was equally strong, the album as a whole was well produced and arranged.
It's been a long time since I listened to this album in its entirety. Although it's not my favorite Beatles album, it's got some really great tracks on it. This is the Beatles at their most innovative. I listened to the Deluxe version, which lets you hear the evolution of some of their most famous songs and demonstrates just how experimental the album was.
I've never been a big Buddy Holly fan, but I can recognize his pioneering influence on some bands I love. The songwriting didn't blow me away, but it's still a fun listen.
Supertramp is not my favorite 70s English rock band, but they put together a nicely cohesive album. I've never particularly liked Dreamer, but heard in the context of the album as a whole, I can better appreciate it. The B side of this album has the better tracks. If Everyone Was Listening and Crime of the Century are gems. My estimation of Supertramp has gone up.
This is one of the rare albums that is phenomenal throughout (I can ignore Jamaica Jerk-Off based on the strength of the rest of the side). That is quite the feat for a double album. "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" is about as good as it gets for an intro track. Elton John's full range is showcased, both in terms of vocals and songwriting, with great lyrics by Bernie Taupin. This is a great album.
I don't usually like live albums, but this one is great. James Brown's energy really comes through, and I found it impossible to sit still. I can only imagine what it was like to be there in person, and I can understand the screams in the background.
This is my favorite album by one of my favorite singer/songwriters. The lyrics of each song could stand on their own as great poetry, but when you add in Joni Mitchell's unique phrasing and vocal gymnastics they become magic.
Adele has a great voice, but most of the songs are a bit vanilla. It makes good background noise, but I doubt I would ever just sit and listen to it.
I wasn't a fan of 90s electronica in the 90s, and nothing has changed in the years since. There were a couple tracks I liked, but too much of the album reminded me of the soundtrack to some bad performance art.
I had never heard of Pulp before, but enjoyed this album. While I wouldn't put them on my list of favorite Britpop bands, it was nice to hear the clear influence of New Wave and Punk. The music is a bit better than there lyrics, although there are some good lines in there. Overall, a fun listen.
It's been a really long time since I listened to the White Album. It's a combination of some of my favorite Beatles songs and some songs I had completely forgotten existed. It feels like the perfect culmination of all the experimentation they did in the preceding albums. They still play around with different sounds and genres across the double album, but each song has a clear, consistent identity.
Elvis Costello is a bit hit or miss for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed this album. It's an interesting musical bridge, where you can hear the influence of earlier British rock along with the sounds that would influence later punk and new wave bands in the 80s. Strong songwriting combined with great energy made this real treat.
This album is very much a product of the 80s. "Holding Back the Years" is the one song I knew; the rest is somewhat generic. Hats off to the Valentine Brothers for working "Reaganomics" into the lyrics of "Money's Too Tight" (and having a better recording of the track).
Listening to this album is like being on hold for over an hour. I half expected a voice to cut in telling me to wait for the next available agent. I will admit there is something hypnotic about the music, and it makes okay background noise if you're trying to concentrate on something else, but I wouldn't sit and listen to it for enjoyment. As the name of the album suggests, you need to be stoned for this one.
This is one of those albums that manages to sound very much like a product of its time without sounding dated. The lyrics, rather than sounding improvised, come across as thoughtful commentary on contemporary events. The instrumental tracks are interesting in a way few rock instrumentals are.
I grew up listening to Alison, which is my dad's favorite song by Costello, and I was familiar with a couple of other songs, but it was my first time listening to the whole album. I get why critics praised it as a debut album at the time, but hearing it a week after This Year's Model, you can tell Costello was still trying to find his sound. The songwriting is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality. It's a decent album, but not my favorite of his work.
Some of the best songwriting from one of the best American artists of all time. While no one has ever accused Bob Dylan of having a beautiful voice, it fits his music perfectly. With this album he pays tribute to his blues influences while at the same time fully embracing rock and roll with his own distinctive style. This is some of the most iconic music of the 1960s, but still holds up well today.
Talk about playing to your audience. It's clear they loved every minute of the concert (except the announcements and the warden), and their participation and reactions add to the album. Johnny Cash had the ability to infuse every song with emotion that made it sound as if he had lived the lyrics personally. I wish modern country music were more like this.
After seeing the album cover, I didn't have high expectations for this album. I shouldn't judge an album by its cover. The lyrics are nonsense and do indeed sound like the ravings of someone who's had too much morphine, which I suppose is the point. They aren't really my style, but if I ignore the words the music is amazing. The fusion of styles makes some great progressive rock, and it's easy to hear the influence this had on later bands.
The lyrics are deceptively simple here (and hard to hear at first, due to the way the album was produced), but offer some interesting commentary on the times. The music is an interesting fusion of funk, soul, and a lot of other sounds (including cowboy-style yodeling). I had never heard that version of "Thank you" before, but really enjoyed the slow groove, which suited the lyrics.
I've been a Dwight Yoakam fan since the 90s, but never really noticed until listening to the final track that he has a very bluegrass vocal style. Paired with music heavily influenced by the Bakersfield sound, he was a standout on country radio in the 80s and 90s. Each track stands on its own as a distinct song, but arranged here together on this album, they tell a story. The whole album was enjoyable.
On the first listen, I thought this album was O.K., but not my favorite Bowie. I listened to it a couple more times and started to love it. He really plays around with a lot of different styles and emotions. It starts with more commercial rock and pop influences, but then starts to evolve into something more experimental and introspective, closing with an almost trance- like meditation.
