Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Arctic MonkeysMonkeys in the Arctic are as rare as British bands that actually sound British when they sing. This album is great.
Monkeys in the Arctic are as rare as British bands that actually sound British when they sing. This album is great.
It's good in the background and pretty boring if you actively listen to it.
It's grocery store Aerosmith. It's somewhwere between when they were good rock and when they became bad pop. It's still enjoyable and stands up to its age.
It's beautiful in its own pace, though that can drag on a bit at times. I can see why others say it's boring, but in the right setting, it's really a lovely album. I hope people who found it boring come back to it at a more appropriate time for them.
Typically great Belle & Sebastian, though I didn't enjoy it as much as Dear Catastrophe Waitress.
It's John Lennon without the Beatles.
It's just top notch Stones. 3 big singles, and the other songs are great. "I've Got the Blues" is a great slow blues song I didn't expect from them.
Sonically intoxicating.
I have always loved Sam Cooke, and now I know I love his studio work. I can't find a fair assessment for his crowd work other than to say it was persistently annoying. It felt like a preschool teacher coaching toddlers through his songs rather than an artist having fun with and letting his fans enjoy his songs. Maybe I was in a bad mood, but this was a disappointment.
A+
I didn't expect to enjoy the more artsy Peter Gabriel era Genesis that much, but this was excellent. You can hear a brilliant band with excellent musicians teetering between the artsier side of prog rock and a band that will embark on a quest to pop royalty. It's an excellent album from front to back.
Not being a bug punk fan, it's pretty good. I can see going back to it in the right mood. It's easy to hear how it influenced many that would come after it.
You have to be in the mood for Depeche Mode, but it's good Deoeche Mode.
60s rock is perhaps my favorite, and this is good. The hits are classics, and everything else is mostly well down. The car songs attempt to chase the Beach Boys songs but come up short. I was surprised to hear they existed but not that I didn't know them.
This mostly sounds, to a non-metal fan, like decent metal songs sung by a man attempting to sing while smoking a cigarette and being strangled. It does have Living After Midnight and Breaking the Law. If you think I have to like another Judad Priest song, then You've Got Another Thing Coming.
Monkeys in the Arctic are as rare as British bands that actually sound British when they sing. This album is great.
This is the most misleading album title and cover art of all time. Hiding a brilliant jazz album behind this facade is some double secret agent tomfoolery. I don't know how I have never heard or heard or this before, but I will be revisiting this like an exclusive top shelf speakeasy I've been accidentally allowed entry into and have been told I'm welcome back anytime.
I felt like I was in my 40s listening to something I felt pressured to like in my teens. It's fine, but you know what you've got here.
Excellent. Eclectic yet well done across the board. The deluxe version is a lot to consume in volume, but it's always interesting.
It wasn't quite annoying enough to turn off, but I kept thinking a cat needed help somewhere nearby.
No.
I'm going to feel a little bad if she's deaf, but not too bad, because this is awful. She shouldn't even sing in the shower. If this was some experiment where someone taught her English through song, I guess that's kind of neat, but I hope she learned to speak English and never did this again. The music is OK from what I heard, but I couldn't finish this. Zero stars should be an option.
This sort of unknown to me gem is why I'm here.
I'm not sure I'll listen to anything besides the singles again, but it's far more approachable Gabriel, so I now have two reasons to appreciate him leaving Genesis.
Tim Buckley is a wonderful singer, but the music felt uninspired. I'm not sure what the appropriate ratio of vibration to serious music is, but it's a fraction of this. I felt like I was trapped in a slow moving elevator with music that only felt like it was on a loop.
I knew every song, and they were all hits. Boston isn't my favorite type of rock, but I appreciate Steve Lukather's guitar work, and the vocals are strong. It's really an impressive album.
Prince is one of the greatest all-around musical talents pop music has ever seen. I'd never gone past the voluminous hit singles on this album, and while some tracks seemed to drag on longer than necessary, they routinely paid off in the end. As a very different aside, I, for one, didn't realize how raunchy Prince could get. I did not have Prince singing, "I sincerely want to fu€k the taste out of your mouth" on my lyrical bingo card. You have to really enjoy the more 80s synth elements of Prince to appreciate the lengthy effort of the entire album, but it's an experience well worth having.
A very solid Elvis record with vocal performances that had clearly matured with his intentional work while he was deployed in the Army.
It's definitely a soundtrack, but it's also a good standalone album. You can feel the 1960s of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" give way to 1970s funk with instrumental stops along the way. I sort of want to see Super Fly now.
He's a whiz on the piano, there's no doubt about it, but he sings with the nuance of a dump truck navigating speed bumps. No matter the song, he sings it the same, and usually with the same narcissistic flair. I'm adding a star for the album being only 22 minutes long, but removing two for almost certainly killing at least a couple of his 7 wives. If we start talking about his marriage to his 13 year old cousin, we're going to need negative stars and an extra layer of hell.
I'm not at all certain what I ingested to have that sort of hippie fever dream, but it was fun. Usually an album loses a star for me if I absolutely know I'll never listen to it again, and I'm neither a teenager nor do I possess enough drugs to take down an elephant, so I'm certain I won't likely ever fire this back up, but it's good in it's oddity. It's always sonically interesting, and the lyrics are often poignant and mature for their overall backdrop. There isn't a single song I'll think of as a single, but it's all pretty good.
Here we witness an early Michael Franti before his days of sunshine and acoustic beach anthems, and he isn't pleased with the world. The hip hop itself was great for the time, and his lyrics are poignant while apparently a harbinger of the world to come. I'm sure he is not pleased with how things progressed, but I'm glad we got this album that should have had more traction.
You know what you're getting here, and I see the appeal. I feel it's more influential than it is good, but it's good. It feels like largely the same 2 minute thing with a slightly different feel over and over, but it's still good. Blitzkrieg Bop is still a banger.
It's Elvis Costello, and it's 90s rock, both of which I really like. Yet I was underwhelmed. Maybe I just prefer my traditional view of Elvis Costello and need to listen again later.
Paul Simon hits with some really good deeper cuts I didn't know that were all very solid
There's a razor thin line between perfection and disaster, and Al Green is perfection. He has a voice that no one can duplicate. He soulfully sings a whisper with a voice that's so close to sounding like a distraction or like it would be strange to talk with, but it's a beautiful instrument. It also makes me glad you never hear anyone perform his music at karaoke. Thr music itself is great, and this album is just excellent r&b/soul.
I often times found the music enjoyable. It's interesting and richly layered. Björk shows she can sing, but far too often Icelandic Yoko Ono's warbling screeches make this punishment I don't think I deserve. At least twice I thought I was having a brain aneurysm. Once, while I was working intently on a task, I sort of forgot what I was listening to and suddenly thought I needed to call 911 for someone needing help nearby. Björk is massively talented though. She made music out of hyperventilation, and I almost thought it was okay. She would have gotten away with that if it weren't a prelude to what I think was some half goat-half man having sex at her. There is tolerable Björk music out there. This isn't it.
It's good in the background and pretty boring if you actively listen to it.
The album title says it all. Just wonderful 60s rock and soul. One of my favorites so far.
I enjoyed it as punk that was more accessible with pop sensibilities. The guitar parts often seemed redundant and stuck in simple loops, but it was a good listen.
This was surprisingly enjoyable. It was just really good early hip hop; a marriage of 80s music and hip hop beats and rapping. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did.
I can't distinguish one sing from another, but it isn't unenjoyable metal. I don't think anyone will approach Iron Maiden expecting greater depth than could drown a field mouse, so it's good for what it is.
It's just really nice music with a very beautiful voice.
This was surprisingly good and will get future listens. I assumed I knew all I needed to know based on the punkish and enjoyable "Get Free," but this album is much deeper and more, well, highly evolved than that.
I have wasted my entire life underappreciating Jeff Beck. This is not just excellent out of context, but considering when it's from, it's brilliant. It sounds like a guide post for what Zeppelin would become, and Beck is amazing the whole way through. Rod Stewart is excellent here in his very early days, too. This would be a 5 star for me except for the weirdly placed "Greensleeves" that is well done but belongs on a different album.
This is a beautiful Bowie effort. It has a few songs you already know as hits, and some lesser known songs that are masterpieces, "Life On Mars?" chief among them. Every last song is well-written, well-produced, interesting, and enjoyable.
Randy Newman makes good songs for movies and specific situations, but they're weird as an album.
It's reggae. As good and as bad as any other reggae.
A+. This was just really solid. An album of a melodic, artsy punk with vocals that continually reminded me of Chrissie Hynde. Saying this as someone who very much enjoys and respects The Pretenders, I wish they were making this music. Forget brass, this is gold in pocket.
Parts of this are soooo good. Parts of it sound like a 15 year old with his first electric guitar.
It isn't hard to imagine the person who hates this guy's voice, but it's unique and well-used. Musically, it's interesting never gets stagnant.
This is just great rock music, front to back.
What an absolute masterpiece. Every song is a hit, and this changed the way your whole industry would release singles. Imagine having a song like "Never Going Back Again" on an album and it's buried so deep in its recognition that it's rarely thought of as a bright spot. Pop records don't get better than this.
I can see why critics are so high on it. Her voice is pretty incredible and an amazing instrument that is well-used on the entirety of the album. The piano work is engaging and, for me, leads a pretty good musical effort. The problem was I was just bored with all the songs. I kept thinking, "Oh man, there is some potential here and I can't wait for the next song to catch my interest. It happened precisely once on "River." Most other times, the lyrics just felt a bit too artsy and forced into a cadence that rejected them. I understand the reverence for this the same way I may appreciate a painting I don't particularly want to look at for long.
What is this? Space funk jazz? Honestly, the songs are all pretty good, except there is either too much martian noise going on or there is one annoying and incredibly repetitive element that makes me feel like I have just been programmed with a trigger to kill any living being within an arm's radius. To be sure, I won't be listening to this again.
I feel like I was haunted by a beautiful ghost. It was really a lovely experience.
Deeply contemplative, this album is full of beautiful juxtapositions between nearly cacophonpous chaos and redemptive meditations. The more discordant, noisy sections are often belabored a bit long before the payoff. The more searing guitar in rock sections are good, though they also betray their age. I could pretty easily guess this album within 2 years with no other context, but that isn't inherently a negative assessment. It's really a wonderful work of art.
They pick their singles well, and they write some catchy musical phrases. Most typically, the guitar particularly stands out, and the whole band really plays well together. But I just can't get over this apparent man-child who can't stop rap yell-rapping at me. Man is his vocal delivery obnoxious when he doesn't just sing. When he does sing, it's nice. But most often, I can't wait to move on.
Pure brilliance. Stevie Wonder at his best in every way. This music stand the test of time while tackling weighty issues. The songs you know are great. The album version of "Isn't She Lovely" only serves to extend the joy and beautiful harmonica work. The songs you don't know are great. Some of the songs you don't know are songs you know; "Pastime Paradise" will be reworked decades later as a hit song in "Gangsta's Paradise." Front to back, a beautiful album. My only complaint is that, on vinyl, they perpetrated that obnoxious trick where sides 1 and 4 are on opposite sides of the same disc with 2 and 3 on the other. Why must they require maximum screwing around with changing discs from the sleeve? Any album where this is the criticism should tell you something.
You need to be in the right head space for this, but, if you are, it's excellent.
I expected this to be all funk similar to but lesser than the theme song, but it's so much more; really good funk, jazz, neo soul, and all throughout an emotional spectrum I didnt expect from a soundtrack for a 70s tough detective movie. All this music made for the movie really nailed the assignment and made me want to see the movie.
I wasn't prepared to like this. I feel like Jack Black's character in High Fidelity when he hears Vince and Justin's demo tape, full of exasperated and disbelieving appreciation. I wouldn't listen to this one in public as he seems to get off on being as crass as his messages will allow, but the music is actually really good. The songs are all well-constructed and interesting. It's just a good listen. If his music kept him from talking publicly, I'd gladly listen to way more Kanye.
What's not to love? Great pop.
What the hell was this French circus metal? No.
This is just magnificent. Her arrangements are unique, and her voice soars to heights equalling the depths of her emotions. Her voice is mature yet playful, exquisitely smooth yet simultaneously haunting when she calls for it. You can feel her pain and exasperation as if the songs are an intimate glimpse into a complex yet relatable soul. Yet, it isn't depressing or demeaning. Give this an honest and attentive listen, and you will be richly rewarded with a uniquely beautiful experience.
There are two brilliant sides to this coin for me. On one hand, you have great 90s rock, truly among the best of the era. And then you have the softer, delicate side that is the Jeff Buckley signature for most people, and it is musical art in a class of its own. Jeff's sparkling guitar tone is second to none, and his vocals match it perfectly. That being said, the two halves stand out so separately from each other that they almost distract one from fully appreciating either. I wish the album felt more cohesive and less discordant for me.
I wanted to like this, but it just fell flat for me. It too often felt contrived, though Monsters was a standout track for me.
I'll say this, Nico is less bad when she's with VU than when she's alone.
1993 Snoop was really into weed, and I don't think that's changed. He was also pretty misogynistic and into hard gang culture, but 1993 Snoop also made great music about it all. Who'd have thought he'd end up the unofficial U.S. Olympic mascot and best buds with Martha Stewart? Anyway, outside of the often unrelated skits I hate that were so prevalent with this type of album, it's a great record. It isn't repetitive and doesn't drag on. The songs are catchy as hell with good musical hooks and arrangements.
There is nothing not to love about this except it isn't longer.
I lived to experience it. Box checked. Next please.
It's grocery store Aerosmith. It's somewhwere between when they were good rock and when they became bad pop. It's still enjoyable and stands up to its age.
The pretend sibling thing will always be weird to me, but it's such a good album. Good blues rock that's often intentionally just a but off in the best way. Jack White helped ignite a bit of a pop culture Renaissance for rock guitar, and we should be forever grateful.
This is one of my more preferred total albums from Elvis I've heard so far. There are some of the more enjoyable elements of Gospel without being religious that really make some great pop songs. Perhaps that made for cultural appropriation arguments at the time, or even know, but it played for me as a very good hybrid. The songs that were new to me surprised me with how much I enjoyed them. The hits I knew well (primarily "In the Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds") fit perfectly. I love "Suspicious Minds" and pretty much every other version of it I've ever heard, it's a great song, but that fade out and back in always confuses and bothers me. The only disappointment for me was the cover of "Gentle On My Mind." Rather than the wistful stroll honoring a beloved partner, this version just sort of lopes along with no real pace or emotion despite Elvis's voice and inflection. His voice is really strong and mature on the album, though it does at times drift into that more mockable later-Elvis style that feels like a contrived bit.
Don't ask me to describe or define this. All I know is I kept saying, "this is stupid" and then sang along and I liked it.
I always feel bad for this album, sandwiched between 1, 2, and IV. It's still really damn good Zeppelin.
I'm not really sure how to approach this. It wasn't bad, but it was long. Each song was an experience. Let's examine each experience. The first track had me starting off certain the fire sprinklers were going to start raining blood and I best get moving with some garlic and wooden stakes, but by the end, a chipmunk was reading me a paint-by-number picture, and I was no longer afraid of vampires. Track 2 was one of the more enjoyable songs I've heard while on hold for 15+ minutes on the phone. Track 3, I think I was given a drug that made me hyper-focused though unable to move as fast as my brain currently runs. She promised a lot here, whoever she is. Track 4, the vampires are back. Track 5. I think I just woke up floating in a salt water sensory deprivation tank. Then maybe I went to Morocco. I'm really not sure. If this were a movie soundtrack, I'd definitely watch the movie. But I wouldnt buy the soundtrack. Track 6. This is called "Air Towel" and feels like the background music for a video attempting to sell me a newly designed hand dryer. Just tell me the price already. Track 7. This is actually a really cool eastern sounding thing, and it isnt 8 years long. It sort of never builds to anything, but it's good. I wish more of these songs just sort of faded away sooner. Track 8. The album was already long enough. Should have lopped this one off. It kind of progressed and closes out nicely, which was a welcome change. Maybe that's why it was there.
It's beautiful in its own pace, though that can drag on a bit at times. I can see why others say it's boring, but in the right setting, it's really a lovely album. I hope people who found it boring come back to it at a more appropriate time for them.
I'm not sure what I would have thought if I didn't already have a certain reverence for Pet Shop Boys, but I do. You have to like their style and this time frame, but it's really good. "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" is just a great song.
Under the radar great guitar, excellent songs, though it does get a bit slow. But a great album.
This is magnificent. It's a soundtrack for a beautiful life, any life, in all it's pain, joy, heartache, and optimism. The whole album is full, front-to- back, with wonderful arrangements and rich instrumentation on songs that all sound like the perfect end credit track for a truly stunning movie experience. It's contemplative and sometimes sad yet often triumphant. I've never heard this before, but I'll be back often.
Man have I underappreciated Dire Straits.
Good blues done well.
This is a folk music masterpiece. The arrangements and lyrics are a masterclass musical poetry. It's almost ironic that American Pie is the heavy lifter here when it's lyrics are sort of haphazardly thrown together, but it's one of the most well-known sing-alongs of all time. It doesn't really fit the album that well, but it's still an undeniable classic. The rest of the album is where the real magic is though. I can't wait to go through this album multiple times and give more dedicated attention to the lyrics as I do.
Really good classic rock that happens to include Behind Blue Eyes which I didn't hate as much as I remember. I'll still skip it on the radio, but my real hatred for it is due to Limp Bizkit. That's a dilemma. Do you devalue an album because a later band makes a shit cover of one of your songs? That seems unfair. But when that particular turd sandwich propagates Limp Bizkit and lends them legitimacy to some people? That's gotta be closer to two stars. Good thing the rest of the album is great. And it isn't their fault the albums weak link opened the Durst door further. I tell you what, I'd listen to Keith Moon interpretive drum names in the phone book. This album should be listened to and enjoyed. Just stay away from Limp Bizkit.
Starting off, I didn't think, "I bet this will turn into a Toyota commercial." But it did. I wouldn't imagine that would be the best song on a funk album. But it was. They picked the singles well, but this is otherwise a really noisy album for me, and I found it wholly unenjoyable.
Smoke On The Water is severely overplayed and overappreciated, but I enjoyed more of this album than I thought I would despite the unappealing organ noises. Highway Star is a banger.