Love Amy Winehouse, but this is not her strongest album. I think you can tell it's her debut, the sound is there but it isn't as refined and polished as it will be in future albums. There also aren't really any hits on this one. All of the songs are perfectly fine and nice to listen to, but none of them have stuck with me past that initial listen. A perfectly nice way to spend an hour, but nothing to write home about.

Soul just isn't my thing. I'm sure this album was cutting edge and revolutionary when it came out, but it just feels cheesy today. I didn't dislike the album, but I don't think it's one I'd intentionally listen to again.

Mostly harmless, but very forgettable. I didn't dislike it but it very quickly turned into background music. it could have easily been shorter.

Full of absolute classics, but this really tapers off dramatically in the second half. With the exception of "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", pretty much everything after the titular "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" is only alright, and I found myself checking my Spotify several times to make sure it hadn't started a new album without me noticing. The first four songs absolutely kick down the door and really solidify the album as a hit though. I really loved the decision to open the album with "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding", what a way to kick it off.

Oh, this is not my jam at all. It's not a huge surprise, I rarely listen to soul/funk to begin with, but I was looking forward to trying this one out! I did enjoy the opening track, "Billy Jack", but everything after that was much more soul and much less funk than I expected. Lyrically the songs are very good, and there were bits and pieces here and there that stood out musically to me. It's not one that I think I'll be listening to all the time now, but I would like to revisit it at some point now that I have a better idea what to expect.

This is great! So much energy throughout, and I love how the music carries across all of the tracks even while he's speaking/interacting with the crowd. Spotify has a slight pause between each one, but I'm sure on Vinyl it's very smooth and continuous. The backing band is impressively tight, and there wasn't a single song that felt out of place.

Guys were just hanging out and harmonizing back in the day. This album was fine, it's Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young who I've listened to before (though not just one album straight through), so there weren't any big surprises. My favorite song was "Woodstock" which was the only one on the album not written by one of CSNY lol

It's interesting that this book/project includes both Low and Heroes, but not Lodger even though the three albums together are considered a trilogy and do (I think anyway) speak to one another. It's David Bowie, so obviously this was going to be a hit with me. It's not my favorite Bowie album, but it's not his worst. Possibly unpopular opinion: I actually do like the instrumental tracks on Side 2. As far as the lyrical songs go, he's got three solid hits and obviously the titular "Heroes" steals the show. The overall album feels flimsy in spots, but you gotta respect Bowie and Eno for experimenting and making the art they wanted to make.

I really liked the instrumentals on this one, so it was funny to see that the studio was nervous about the sparse arrangement before it was released! The piano especially was really lovely! This is a really solid album. I haven't listened to a ton of Willie Nelson, and country doesn't tend to be my genre, but I enjoyed this one. The concept album style worked really well and made for a really cohesive and consistent listen overall. It's one I think I would listen to again!

It's nice to get some non-Western music! It's Bollywood, and follows that Bollywood formula effectively. It's an easy access point for people unused to Indian music, but also kind of an odd choice. Are there other movie soundtracks on this list? Overall the album was fine. I wasn't blown away, but I did really enjoy several of the songs. I'm adding the movie to my Watchlist on Letterboxd.

Do I actually like Country and just didn't realize it? This doesn't sound like what I think of as being country, and I really enjoyed it! I will definitely be checking out more of Bill Callahan's work. "Eid Ma Clack Shaw" and "Invocations of Ratiocination" were my top tracks. I feel like this project is making me realize I really do enjoy instrumentals/interludes/soundscape tracks, which I would never have guessed.

For the most part it's very good. But while the highs are high, the lows are very low. I do think the guest vocalists really help elevate this... everyone knows Nicki's verse in "Monster" is fantastic, and Bon Iver was an interesting addition to a few tracks. I think if it had just been an hour of Kanye alone it wouldn't have worked so well, his lyrics are often the weak point here. And the Chris Rock sketch at the end of "Blame Game" felt too long and out of place. The overall production is tight, and the background instrumentals on the tracks are great. I was pleasantly surprised by "All the Lights (Interlude)", which I thought was really lovely. I really liked "Hell of a Life", plus of course "Power", "All of the Lights" and "Monster" are the highlights of the album.

U2 is overrated. I did try to go into this one with an open mind, I don't think I've ever sat down and listened to a full album by them before, but alas I remain underwhelmed.

I like Ella Fitzgerald, and I like the Gershwins... but do I like them enough to listen to their music for 3 hours straight?? This was fine. Ella Fitzgerald's voice is amazing, and her skills really shine here. As a full album though it was just too long. It was too easy to stop really listening and just tune it out as background music. I enjoyed it, but I doubt I would listen to the whole thing again.

Not the best Springsteen album, but still solid. "Dancing in the Dark" is one of my favorite songs, so I was obviously pleased to have an excuse to listen to that this morning.

This sounds like the soundtrack to an Indie movie circa 2003

Hmm not for me. Very twangy with lots of slow love ballads.

Steely Dan is wild because if you asked me to name one of their songs before now I absolutely couldn't do it, but then I somehow knew all of the songs on this album while listening. Perfectly average and unremarkable listening experience. I look forward to once again forgetting about Steely Dan by tomorrow.

I'm so torn on this one! I liked it, but I didn't, but I did...

Ok!!! This is the type of album that reminds me of why I wanted to start this project in the first place! Totally unexpected sound from an artist I had never heard of before, and I really enjoyed it.

Radiohead songs all sound exactly the same to me.

High energy, but the sound is repetitive after awhile. I wasn't sure what to expect going into this (I'd never heard of The Gun Club), and I was pleasantly surprised by the music and the energy. You can definitely hear where this sound influences later bands.

Dolly! Some of the tracks were a little too Country for me, but the overall album was well-written and well-produced, and not a bad listen for a slow Sunday morning.

It took me a couple of days to get to this because it's just so long and I knew that as a rock opera/concept album breaking it up into shorter chunks wouldn't be ideal. I've heard it before, so there weren't any surprises. This was my first time listening to it with headphones, which made for a fun new experience. It's long, and it drags in spots, but the overall concept and music are solid. "Comfortably Numb" is obviously the standout.

Sounds like both video game music and the soundtrack to a spy film made today but set in the 80s. My first experience with both Kraftwerk and Electronica and it was not what I was expecting (positive).

So unexpected and fun! Pink Floyd-esque in spots, which I wasn't expecting. The album as a whole was very cohesive and the tracks flowed nicely. I know a lot of improvisation was happening but it also all felt very intentional. Lark's Tongue in Aspic Part I and Lark's Tongue in Aspic Part II were my favorite, and really book-ended the whole experience really nicely.

My second Pink Floyd this week! I actually ended up listening to both this and "The Wall" back to back because I hadn't gotten to "The Wall" yet from earlier this week and had already been planning on knocking that one out today. This is the better of the two albums. Much shorter, tighter, and more intentional. I like the prog rock elements a lot. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Not what I was expecting. I like a good concept album, but this isn't really working for me. I just feel like other bands have done this sound more effectively. The flow between songs was nice though, so it has that going for it.

This feels like a very safe pick. Inoffensive and unexciting. I don't think it does a great job of really showcasing Ray Charles' skills and energy, but the arrangement and songs are solid throughout.

I listened to this twice because I wasn't sure about it the first time. Very 60s, but interesting to listen to.

Me seeing this album: George! 😃 Me seeing the length of this album: George... ☹️

Long and a bit too pretentious. It's not a bad sound, but it definitely started to get tedious about halfway through.

Love Nina Simone. This is a pretty solid album overall, with no real duds. Wild is the Wind and Lilac Wine are both iconic.

I've never been a huge Linkin Park fan (they aren't bad, sound just doesn't do much for me), but my sister owned this album on CD back in the day so I've heard it many times. Listening to it again for the first time in probably close to 20 years brought back a lot of memories! In the End still slaps.

Prog Rock again! I'm into it. 3 songs, 40 minutes long, opens with birdsong and the music of nature so you know you're in for a treat of experimental sounds. This was a fun discovery

Definitely a fan of '00s Indie Rock (/Pop Punk), so I do like this album. It reminds me of a lot of other bands/albums from the same time though, and doesn't especially strike me as a standout of the genre. Overall an enjoyable listen, but there's nothing to write home about here.

This is an album made up of some very good songs, but overall it's having a bit of an identity crisis. It can't quite figure out if it wants to be fun & funky, or slow & romantic. So it tries to be both and the result feels disjointed. The funky songs are the better of the two options. Standout songs include "Big Brother", which is surprisingly modern-sounding, and of course "Superstition", which is probably the best song on the album.

The Dandy Warhols will always be iconic for giving us "We Used to be Friends", the theme song for Veronica Mars. That song isn't on this album though, so I'm going in blind here (just kidding, I've listened to other Dandy Warhols songs before)! I don't really care for the shoegaze elements, but I like when they get more upbeat and into more indie rock territory. An interesting sound overall, but not something I think I'll listen to often.

Feel like I've been giving out a lot of 3s lately, but there have just been a lot of albums that have come up that I'm indifferent to. I don't hate this, but I don't think it's particularly special either. I probably could have died without having heard it, but it wasn't like my morning was miserable because I was listening to it. I'd probably leave it on if it came up again on Spotify.

Ok, so I'm just going to get 3/4 of the Pink Floyd albums on this list out of the way in one month (and within my first 100 albums). Cool. Anyway, this was better than The Wall but I didn't like it as much as Dark Side of the Moon. Still a solid album, and I do really like the song "Wish You Were Here" just on its own. I think "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" (parts 1-9) is too long, but I generally liked the album as a whole anyway.

I like Tom Waits' melodies and instrumentation, but I hate his gravely, mumbly, Cookie Monster voice. So I'm torn on this one. The album as a whole is solid and for the most part enjoyable, but can I get past the vocal stylings? Probably not enough to listen to this with any regularity. So it's likely an average 3-stars.

Tom Waits 2 days in a row... Well, I said it yesterday , but I'll say it again: I like Tom Waits' melodies and instrumentation, but I hate his gravely, mumbly, Cookie Monster voice. The worst part is, he doesn't have to do the voice. He has songs on his albums where his voice is still gravely and deep but he doesn't sound like a muppet monster, and those songs are quite nice! I generally like his music and his lyrics and his overall vibe. But he'll probably never be more than 3 stars for me.

The gang's all here! I wish there were fewer slow songs on this album. I enjoyed it but there was no real energy, which is a bummer when you have three really talented and energetic singers working together! It was good, but it could have been so much better!

It IS the end of the world as we know it, and I DO feel fine. Thanks, R.E.M! Seriously though, R.E.M. is always great. I think "Automatic For The People" is probably the better overall album (or maybe I just have more nostalgia for it), but this one is definitely an enjoyable listen. Good energy, good songs, good listening experience.

A fun fact about my cat: he loves Joni Mitchell. He will always come and hang out if he hears her. I love Joni Mitchell too, so that works out. This is one of the albums I already own on vinyl, so I was excited when it popped up here and I had an excuse to revisit it!

Not really my style. I don't mind this kind of music in smaller doses, but 40 minutes of it got old fast.

It's fine. As with the last Stevie Wonder album I got, I enjoyed the funk songs better than the slower ballads. I unexpectedly really enjoyed "They Won't Go When I Go"... The instrumentals in it were lovely!

I wasn't really expecting to like this one, but I mostly did! There were a couple tracks that veered too country for me (I'm not a huge fan of the yodeling), but by and large this was a pretty good album!

I actually like this way more than I was expecting to. It reminds me of a John Waters movie. Rockabilly punk (punkabilly?) that doesn't take itself too seriously. I like how high-energy it all is!

Y'know, there's a time and a place for electronica and I'm starting to think that 7am at home while I'm getting ready for work somehow isn't it. I don't dislike this music genre, it's actually pretty fun and creative, but it certainly does get repetitive after a few tracks. Not my favorite electronica album that I've heard so far, but not bad. I'd rate it somewhere between 2 and 3. It's not as good as Kraftwerk but it was less pretentious than David Holmes ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Meh, I'm underwhelmed but The Police. "Message in a Bottle" is fine, but the album as a whole is nothing to write home about.

Smooth and polished jazz. The album itself is a full story, really it's one 30-minute song. I wish I had a greater appreciation for jazz, but, alas, I don't and was mostly indifferent to this one. I didn't dislike it, it certainly didn't feel like a chore to listen to it, but it was ultimately just pretty background music as I went about my morning. I would like to listen to this again at some point!

Lou Reed is always a delight. This album has several classics on it, just even the songs that didn't hit it big are fun and fit nicely into the overall album. I was thrilled to start my day with this one!

This album was so middle-of-the-road, it was almost funny. Not bad but definitely not a standout either.

I was 21 when this was first released, so obviously it left an indelible mark on my psyche. That being said, I haven't actually listened to the full album in probably close to 10 years and it doesn't really hold up as well as I was going it would. The big hits are still fantastic, "Rolling in the Deep", "Set Fire to the Rain", "Rumour Has It" and "Someone Like You" are all powerhouses. But all the songs in between them just feel lacking anymore. I do still enjoy her cover of "Lovesong". So a 3 rating. It's enjoyable enough that I'll listen to it again, but it didn't overly impress me, even with the nostalgia factor.

Soul just isn't my thing. I'm sure this album was cutting edge and revolutionary when it came out, but it just feels cheesy today. I didn't dislike the album, but I don't think it's one I'd intentionally listen to again.

Metal must be so hard on the lead singer's throat. Honestly the way metal bands sing is one of the reasons I'm not really into it. The other is that all the songs sound too similar, I can't tell them apart and an album ends up feeling like one hour-long song that I got bored of back at the beginning.

An unexpected change of pace. I listened to this as I walked to/from the farmer's market, and it was a nice soundtrack to a lovely false-Fall morning. The instrumentals in this are skillfully done and the album flows between songs well. Not something I would have picked up to listen to on my own, but I'm glad to have heard it.

I should probably give this one another listen, I wasn't really giving it that much attention for parts of it. It was generally fine, definitely some talented instrument playing happening. The music itself was not really my thing but I didn't dislike it either.

Not bad, the Indian elements were quite fun!

Listened to this the other day with a raging headache, and not surprisingly couldn't actually remember much of it when I went to rate it the next day. So it gets a do-over, and unsurprisingly my overall reaction is meh. It's fine. He has a nice voice, but the music itself is nothing to write home about, and the covers were better than the original songs.

Mostly harmless, but very forgettable. I didn't dislike it but it very quickly turned into background music. it could have easily been shorter.

Safe and inoffensive dad rock. The album being live doesn't really add anything to the overall feel or energy. I know parts of it were overdubbed and I wonder how much of that affected the feel (by making it feel less live...). The double album aspect also makes it feel too long, I would have appreciated it more I think if it were a tight 45 minutes instead of 75 (though I think the Spotify version has a coupleof extra tracks if the Wiki is right). I haven't really listened to Thin Lizzy before this and I probably won't listen to them much after this either. I feel like you could replace them with pretty much any 70s rock band and it would sound the exact same. The instrumentals are skillfully executed though, and there was nothing on it that made me actively dislike them.

The first song on this ("Good Times") is definitely the only hit off it for a reason. It's not a terrible album, but there are a lot of slower (not great) songs that really change the feel of the more upbeat numbers. I liked it well enough, but not enough to really listen to it again.

Kanye can definitely produce an album, much like "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", each part of this is calculated. I think you can tell it's his first album though. He hasn't quite figured out his sound yet, and seems to bounce between different genres in a way that's not as effective as I think he wants it to be. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I don't particularly like the sketches on Kanye albums.

A very cool album. An interesting mix of genres and styles, and Janis Joplin absolutely killing it on vocals. Loved it.

Early-aughts coffee shop easy listening. Back in the day (2006/2007) I read a book series called Twilight... You may have heard of it. Anyway, Stephanie Meyer posted author playlists for the first two books on her author website/blog before the publication of the third book, and on one of those playlists was "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" By Travis. That was the first time I'd ever heard of this band, and now the two are inexorably linked in my brain. Sorry, Travis.

This sounds like they're trying really hard to sound like Bowie, but it's not as good as Bowie and doesn't have the energy. It's not bad, but it's not an interesting or new sound.

This was fun Pop Rock. The title track was the only one I was familiar with going in, but there weren't any songs on it that were bad.

Still not a fan of Mayfield's falsetto, but this was a fun and funky album.

This is such a fun album. I've always liked Kings of Leon but had never listened to a full album but them before, so this was a treat.

Could have used this 2 days ago when I was in an airport... I did quite like this though. It was nice background music at work!

"California Dreaming" is the best don't on this album, and the rest are only ok. Beautiful harmonies but meh songs overall.

Not R.E.M.'s strongest album, but still a good one. They've definitely found their sound here, and the energy is there.

Not bad. Not as good as Goncharov, but not bad. This is a really fun concept but I'm not sure how effective it was overall. I can appreciate what Adamson was going for though, and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" was super fun.

I don't listen to much hip-hop, but I didn't mind this. It sounds very 90s, and there isn't a lot of variety between songs, but it's a fun sound at least.

Atmospheric. The songs feel a bit long, but the flow is nice and it's pretty to listen to.

Catchy songs. I already knew "Common People" and "Disco 2000", but the rest were new to me. Didn't blow me away, but I like their sound.

Music to stare out a bus window like you're in an indie movie to.

I always really want to love Springsteen, but I'm often underwhelmed by him. Lyrically very good, musically fine, it just doesn't click for me though.

My first ever Beastie Boys and I'm pleasantly surprised! "Eugene's Lament" and "Flute Loop" were my favorite tracks, but I really enjoyed the way they played with sound throughout.

Fine Neil Young, not great but not bad to listen to.

Interesting in that it made me consider rap in other countries, which I hadn't thought of before. As an album it wasn't really for me, but it wasn't painful to get through.

I'm in my Cat Stevens era ✨💁‍♀️

I didn't realize the Byrds were country? I think of them as being more folk rock but the first half of this album was full on twangy. The latter half had more rock elements, and I did feel like the album got better later on, and I enjoyed their version of "Pretty Polly". Overall I'm not sure that this needed to be included on this list. It's fine but not particularly interesting.

Sounds like any number of rock bands from the 90s/early-00s, but it wasn't bad at all.

Pretty solid Metallica. I continue to be impressed with the band's actual skills as musicians, and the songs I wasn't already familiar with were decent. Still not really my genre, but I can appreciate it.

We need more poet singer/songwriters in the world today. I always enjoy Leonard Cohen but this was my first full album listening experience for him. It was a solid album.

I'm not a Swiftie, but I do admit to really enjoying folklore and evermore when they were released in 2020. Of the two, evermore is the weaker one. It feels like a lot of b-sides that weren't quite good enough to make it onto folklore. There are some solid songs on here though, "No Body, No Crime", "Champagne Problems", and "Closure" all stood out to me on this listen.

Fun album, but a bit repetitive by the end.

Kraftwerk really is just a lot of fun, definitely the best as far as electronica goes. I think I liked this one a little more that "Trans Europe Express" but I also knew what to expect going in, which helped.

I was 9 when this album was released and also very much the target audience, so I'm legally obligated to defend this album to my death. That being said, even knowing that my sister owned this on CD and that we listened to it all the time, I gotta say I don't actually remember a lot of these songs outside of the major hits. Which isn't a great sign when measuring album impact. There are a ton of 90s pop ballads, and not enough of the pure pop that Britney does best.

I don't want to get too ahead of myself here, but these guys just might be able to save Pepperland from the Blue Meanies...

Found a YouTube playlist that pulled all the tracks together in one place! I gotta say, I 100% was not expecting this when I hit play. Very theatrical/showtunes-y but with a very bleak feel. Makes total sense that it's a bunch of Weimar-era Cabaret songs. I like the tracks in German better than the ones in English. The whole point of this project was to introduce myself to new-to-me music that I wouldn't come across or seek out naturally, and I think this album is a great example of that. It's weird and dramatic, but I'm into it.

We love a concept album with a cohesive sound and cool vibes. This is the first full Janelle Monáe album I've listened to, but whenever I hear songs by them, even out of context, I'm always pleasantly surprised somehow. So I think I need to just lean into it and admit I'm a fan.

Bowie albums are always like 6-10 songs long and never waste a single track.

It's an Adele album. Powerhouse vocals, but not a lot of variety. It's enjoyable but not interesting.

I know I listened to this yesterday morning, but I don't remember any of the songs today. Chill, coffee-shop music, not particularly memorable.

I pretty consistently enjoy these albums more when I listen with headphones as opposed to just from my phone speakers, and it's extra noticable when I end up splitting an album half speakers/half headphones... Which is what happened with this one. I enjoyed the second half (headphones) much more than I was enjoying the first half (speakers). This was better than I was expecting based on the album art and wiki summary! It's an interesting mix on genres, and doesn't sound super 2004 like I was expecting. The two Lenny Kravitz collabs were the best tracks on the album, but the other songs weren't bad. Some of the lyrics definitely had me 🤔😂 though. Pleasantly surprised but not blown away.

I'm going to have Tutti Frutti stuck in my head all day, aren't I... This album was good. High energy, familiar songs, definitely danceable. The length was just about right, it didn't feel like it overstayed its welcome.

I always think I should like the Byrds more than I actually do. A little bit goes a long way with them. They've got a couple of good songs here but also a lot of mediocre songs that weren't that interesting.

Lol wtf was "Sex Dwarf"?? Very 80s, "Tainted Love" is really the only standout, but as far as 80s New Wave goes, this was good.

First of all, big fan of this album cover. It looks like they kinda forgot about Ringo and had to quickly add him in after the fact. As far as the music goes, I know this was historically significant in the rise of the Beatles, but it's so bland. It sounds like they're playing at a prom in the 50s. It's very early-Beatles, and it's fine I guess. It's not necessarily one I would listen to straight through again.

Pretty good 60s folk rock.

I do like a good ambient soundscape, it must be said. I think this would have benefitted from being shorter. Parts of it are quite good, but the overall album drags on to the point where I was bored by the end.

I really love the film adaptation of this album, and I gotta say I think the film soundtrack with the full cast is better. No offense, Townshend, but you're no Ann Margaret. Tina Turner's "Gypsy the Acid Queen" is so high-energy and camp compared to this one, it's not even a competition. The music in this is great though. I love the instrumentals in the different -tures, and the overall concept/story is wild but fun.

Two days in a row of The Who... It's so annoying when you get back to back albums by the same band. It's good stuff though, I always like the Who. They're really solid instrumentally, and they make the covers their own.

I'm actually surprised by how many of these songs i already know. Like if you'd asked me this morning to name a Fatboy Slim song I don't think I could have done it, and yet... These songs are sooo long and sooo repetitive. I'm not really a fan of it. Maybe in smaller doses, but as a full album it got old pretty quickly. My reaction when the last song ended was "thank God that's over".

Pretty standard early-80s metal/hair band sound. Not bad overall as an album, but not a lot to make it stand out from the crowd for me.

Beck is Beck. I do like how he plays with genres, but I never seek out his music and it never really sticks with me. I don't think this will be an exception.

Such a vibe.

Soundtrack to either an alien abduction or a day at the aquarium. Either way, Oxygen is an appropriate title for these songs.

Better than I expected. More genre range than I thought CCR had, which was surprising.

Despite being a British album, strangely appropriate for today's US Presidential Election. Pretty good overall, but a little long. The songs were starting to sound a bit samesy by the end. I liked the vibe though, and will be checking out more of Billy Bragg's stuff!

A bit whiny for me. It sounds much more modern than 1978, so the date was surprising. Some decent songs but it's not really doing it for me.

I'm not the purity police, if Tim Buckley wants to be unapologetically horny & racist on main that's his choice. The problem is that these songs just aren't that good. Disappointing considering I was pleasantly surprised by Buckley's "Goodbye and Hello" and was hoping for something similar here.

This is my favorite REM album. I own it on CD somewhere and listened to it a ton in middle school/early-high school (I never owned any other REM albums, I genuinely don't know why I got this one...). I haven't listened to it in years though, so it was nice to revisit it! I'm pleasantly surprised to still remember all of the songs and lyrics. Nostalgic, but in a way that holds up.

Ugh I am not in the mood for 3.5 hours of electronica, but here we go I guess. Interesting that this is a mix of artists and not just one artist, the sound is very consistent and flows well between songs even though it's a mix. It's alright, but nothing particularly special.

I'm a simple girl, I see the word "shoegaze" in the genre list and immediately lower my expectations. These guys weren't bad. They're a little airy and insubstantial for me, but they definitely have a unique sound (very 90s) and the album was easy to listen to in the background of my day.

Love Amy Winehouse, but this is not her strongest album. I think you can tell it's her debut, the sound is there but it isn't as refined and polished as it will be in future albums. There also aren't really any hits on this one. All of the songs are perfectly fine and nice to listen to, but none of them have stuck with me past that initial listen. A perfectly nice way to spend an hour, but nothing to write home about.

Ugh more shoegaze. I quite like the weird little instrumental interludes throughout this album, but the lyrical songs are meh.

I like the Carpenters fine. Not the most exciting album, but inoffensive and a nice background to my morning.

Yup, it's the Foo Fighters. Exactly what I expected, no surprises.

Surprising, I'm not sure what I was expecting (probably more mediocre brit-pop), but I enjoyed the pub rock vibes of this. I've already established I'm into instrumentals, and the folkesy vibes are doing it for me. It's not an album full of hits, but it does feel ahead of its time for '85. It loses its momentum in the second half and gets a little too country with "Lost Highway".

3, but I should really deduct a star for the awful album artwork and the boringly misogynic lyrics. I like Gin and Juice though.

D.A.N.C.E is a classic, but it's about all this album has going for it. It's overall not bad, but electronica gets repetitive to me.

Soft, easy songs to listen to. Not particularly memorable but I do want to listen to it again.

Pretty standard late-60s rock. Nothing groundbreaking, but not bad..

Oh, in a stunning twist I actually liked this less after switching to headphones. Maybe this is just a better morning album than evening one? IDK, this wasn't without it's moments. I liked "Butcher Boy" and "The Old Gold Shoe" but a lot of it was slow and didn't really speak to me.

Better than "Music From Big Pink" which i suppose makes sense, since this was their second album. It feels more cohesive as far as sound goes. Folkesy genre-wise, which I enjoyed.

I've had a lot of folk rock in the last week (which I do like but gets old), so this was a welcome change of genre. And it was interesting to think about how much music developed between the late 60s and the late 80s to lead to genre shifts like this! I've never listened to a full Cure album before, but it was a familiar and easy sound. "Lovesong" is a classic for a reason, and the overall album was very cohesive.

Very Brian Eno. Well produced and he's having fun playing with sounds.

More funk than folk, but still not overly compelling. "I'd Rather Be the Devil (Devil Got My Woman" was a solid track, but the rest were underwhelming.

A few good songs, but more filled than anything else. This feels like an early album, not as cohesive as it could be. It was fun to listen to though.

All the reviews that are like "they're trying too hard to sound like Velvet Underground" don't get it, that's a feature not a bug! This album was not what I expected going in (with no knowledge of The Modern Lovers), but I really enjoyed it! It's got good energy and the sound is consistently one I like. I feel like you can hear their various influences, but they do also have their own sound, and they're having fun lyrically.

That's some twangy country! I don't hate it. The sound really isn't my favorite but the songs themselves lyrically are pretty fun.

Mostly dad/yacht rock and easy listening, but there were a couple of songs where it seemed like they were playing with sound in a fun and interesting way. "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" is kinda a bop. And "Charlie Freak" was unexpectedly fun.

I just don't listen to much hip-hop so I don't really know what I should be listening for when it comes up here. I like the genre fine when I hear it, but i don't tend to seek it out. This wasn't bad, I was familiar with a few of the songs but definitely not all of them. The overall "Wu-Tang" schtick was funny.

Pretty piano.

I liked the spoken word poetry bits, and the incorporation of other musical styles beyond just Rap. Overall a pretty solid album, with depth to it. I think it's one that probably rewards relistens.

I have definitely heard of LCD Soundsystem before, and I'm sure I've heard some of their music at some point but somehow none of this was familiar. It was good, it didn't blow me away but I mostly enjoyed it. Definitely better with headphones.

I like M.I.A. well enough, but as a full album this was underwhelming. Definitely not her best.

Ah ok, my initial impression was that this is music my sister would have been super into in high school and I would have tolerated while she was driving me around but not really enjoyed. Which was pretty accurate. Some of the songs did get more interesting/complex, "M62 Song" and "Friday's Dust" had a cool sound, and the instrumental tracks were solid. Overall though it's just fine, kind of bland indie-pop.

I've definitely listened to this album before. Boston's never been my fave dad-rock band, but they are definitely one of the better ones. This is a very cohesive album, the band has a distinct sound but the songs do all sound the same after awhile.

I actually do like the World Fusion aspect of this, it makes for some interesting listening. The radio-show framing device for it got old fast though.

This one's definitely influenced by nostalgia but I don't even care. Soundtrack to my high school years! I've always really liked Green Day, so even without the nostalgia factor this probably would have gotten a high rating. Solid sound and instrumentals throughout, and the songs are thoroughly entertaining. There isn't really a dud in the bunch.

Cohen is always enjoyable. His songs can sound very same-y sometimes, but it's more about the lyrics with him than the tunes.

Not a very long album, but it has energy. The songs are all familiar, and some of them I've heard by other artists during this project (which isn't a surprise for the time period). Clearly the value in this album isn't in the songs themselves, but in the performance and production. Comparing it to other live albums is interesting. The recording quality is very good for a live album, and i think the audience's energy and Lewis's feeding off that definitely help elevate the overall listening experience. Idk this isn't going to be one that I immediately purchase and listen to all the time, but it's a fun listen and is mostly harmless in the grand scheme of things.

Pretty solid proto-grunge/punk. I liked it!

I don't know what I was expecting, but I did enjoy this one.

There were at least two songs on here that made me go "wait, this is Smashing Pumpkins??"

When I was 11 or 12 one of the older dancers at my ballet studio was obsessed with Incubus and did a whole class for us with this album instead of the traditional classical music. It's my top association with the band. It's not really a great album and is very late-90s sounding, but it's not bad. I generally enjoyed listening to it.

Ok, one of the only things I really knew about RunDMC going into this was that they covered Walk This Way, but I was not expecting it to go so hard. I think they just own it now, it's their song. I like the way these guys play with and merge genres. It's fun to listen to.

Honestly, of you played this for me with no context I would have guessed this was much more recent than 1983 (positive). I like it, the sound is like early pop-punk. It's got energy, but it's tempered by the slower tracks. Some of the lyrics are absolutely deranged and at one point I was like "oh God, imagine if the incels discovered this!" But I still had fun and enjoyed the vibes.

It's fine. The funk songs are fun, but the soul ones don't do much for me. The overall album feels uneven.

This album is all over the place. Some of the songs I enjoyed, some I think are probably better in German, some were bland and boring. Probably due to how many songwriters were involved in this. I generally like show tunes, so I didn't really have any issues with that part of it, but I wish the songs had been generally better and more consistent.

TIL fried ice cream is a reality! This is a perfectly fine funk album. The first half is better than the second half (which loses momentum), but the opening track "One Nation Under a Groove" is very fun. The band is clearly having a great time grooving together.

Ah! I love Hounds of Love! It's one I already own on vinyl, and I'm excited to revisit it today. I rarely actually listen to Side B, so that was nice!

Hmmm... Feel like this was maybe not "random" but it did make me smile this morning. Solid album, many of these particular versions of the songs have become Christmas staples over the years, and it's always a delight to hear some Darlene Love. At the end of the day though, it's a Christmas album. And I'm not convinced it's the best Christmas album out there, but it's fine. It gets thrown on for one month of the year and then not thought of again for the other 11 months.

Dithering between 3 and 4 for this but ultimately I think it's probably a 3. I like this genre though. It's my second Pere Ubu album and I've been pleasantly surprised by both of them.

What's your name? Who's your daddy? "Butcher's Tale" and "A Rose for Emily" seem like the standouts here to me. This is pretty standard psychedelic rock, but it's done well enough.

My mom once told me that this was a great make-out album, and it ruined both the album and the song "Hotel California" for me. Regardless of it's alleged impact on my parents' sex life, this is a fairly underwhelming album. The singles off it ("Hotel California", "Life in the Fast Lane") are definitely the best part. There are a lot more slow songs than I expected on it, and they're mostly unmemorable. I generally think most Eagles songs should be on average at least 2 minutes shorter than they actually are. I don't hate it, I don't love it, it's fine.

Meh.

Unfortunately my high school French was not up to this challenge! But this was still fun despite only catching every few words. I like getting international albums, it's interesting to see how the same music genres evolve differently in different countries. French hip-hop/rap isn't going to be my new top genre, but I enjoyed it.

Coldplay has kind of become a joke within the cultural zeitgeist over the years, but the result of that is that this album is actually better than I was expecting. At the end of the day though it still sounds like early-00s coffee shop music. I actually think Coldplay's best album is "Viva la Vida" which isn't even on the 1001 albums list, so what do I know.

It seems like cheating to include a compilation instead of the original albums these songs were featured on, but it is what it is. I did recognize and enjoy several of these songs (though probably wouldn't have been able to tell you the artist before this). It's definitely my kind of genre, but something about it was just ok. Not really a stand out.

More Country than I was expecting, which I suppose shouldn't be a surprise. It's Elvis so I knew what I was getting into. Blue Suede Shoes was great, a lot of the covers ("I Got a Woman" and "Tutti Frutti" especially) were underwhelming.

I like "You Can't Stop the Prophet" and "Ain't the Devil Happy". As with all hip hop, I don't really know enough about it to feel like I can give it a fair rating, but I don't dislike it. I do feel like this got repetitive after awhile though.

Coffee shop background music. Nothing super memorable or impactful, but there were at least 2 songs on here that I didn't realize we're David Gray. One of those albums that I know my dad is going to rate higher than I'm rating it.

This is a headphones album for sure. My first Björk album, and I'm kinda into it? It's weird, but I knew it would be going in. The use of vocalizations instead of instruments is really cool and makes for an interesting but cohesive sound.

Some of the girls in this audience need to chill out before they hurt themselves. Tight instrumentals but none of the songs are particularly memorable.

"Frontier Psychiatrist" was great, but overall this album is just a lot of sound bites and samples. It got repetitive fast, although I'm sure it took a lot of skill and time to put together.

Too easy listening for me. Why was the second song inexplicably recorded as if live but no other song on the album was? There there wasn't anything terrible here, but it bored me.

Almost pop-punk! You can certainly see where the groundwork is being laid for later punk bands, but it's almost too clean for me to really feel like it's true punk. Super high-energy and so on-the-nose as far as defying authority goes it almost feels performative. Lots of fun to listen to though!

I always want to like Lorde more than I do. I don't dislike her, she's fine, but she rarely wows me. This album was no exception. A couple of solid songs and a lot of perfectly fine filler.

The songs aren't super memorable, but I did have fun listening to it. It probably would have been a 4 star if I hadn't paused halfway through and then accidentally listened to several of the earlier songs without realizing it because I didn't remember having already heard them.

Different sound for Bruce. Not bad, but not what I was expecting.

So many of these "World" genre albums just sound like some white guy went on a voluntourism gap year and is convinced he was "enlightened" and discovered something completely new and won't shut up about it. I did listen to the whole thing though so I guess 2.

If you don't like "Kooks" we can't be friends. Truly one of Bowie's best. I love the evolution of his sound here, he's still a little folksy/hippy at this point in his career.

Omg why is this over an hour long? That is excessive!

Wild that there aren't more hits on this album. The sound is cool, but the album as a whole does kind of fizzle out on the B-side. Brian Eno's influence is noticeable, but I like Eno so it wasn't a negative. I love musicians who just do their own thing, and David Byrne definitely falls into that category.

I just don't really care for Slipknot. They feel like they're trying too hard to be edgy, and this album was way too long for what it was. The sound was also very 2008, I can't decide if it's aged well or not.

More Country than rock but it was fine overall.

I'm kinda surprised I'd never heard of this band before. It came out around when I was first really paying attention to music and figuring out what I liked, and it's a genre I tend to gravitate towards. All that being said, the music was fine but ultimately unmemorable.

This is better than I expected. I didn't like Joshua Tree and I'm usually underwhelmed by U2, but this is a well-produced album with a tight sound. "Seconds" made a lovely bridge between "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day".

This is just so incredibly long. I like the folksy bluegrass instrumental tracks, I'm less interested in the twangy country vocals. I actually really enjoyed the talking in the studio bits between tracks, it added a human element to the album that I found charming.

C'est merde. Incredibly French, and trying embarrassingly hard to be cool and sexy. Maybe groundbreaking and interesting in it's time?

Doors fans aren't made, they're born! I do like the bluesy rock vibes of this, and obviously Love Her Madly and Riders on the Storm are solid hits. I did end up listening to it twice so that should probably weigh until my overall score.

I'm somehow always pleasantly surprised by CCR. I don't know why because they always sound exactly like I expect them to, but for whatever reason I never think I'm going to like them. Anyway, this was a solid album. More country sounding than I expected, but enjoyable. It didn't overstay its welcome or start to sound too same-y to me.

Better than the Peter Tosh album I had awhile back, but 40 minutes of reggae is still just too much for me. I'm not chill or laid back enough as a human being for this.

I mean, at the end of the day it's a greatest hits album. The live orchestra gimmick is cool but ultimately underutilized. I was actually really excited when the album started with the symphony playing "The Ecstacy of Gold", but by a couple of songs in it was pretty clear that the symphony was just filler and not actually necessary.

My favorite of the CCR I've gotten so far. Very bluesy swamp rock that definitely works for me. It's wild that these boys were from California though. You weren't "Born on the Bayou" John!! You're from Berkeley!

Would probably be more into this if I hadn't just heard all the hits from it two days ago on S&M. It's fine, it's Metallica. I'm always impressed with how technically proficient these guys are on their instruments.

I'm not a fan of the heavy metal screamo voice, so this isn't really doing it for me. I do like the Brazilian influences and instrumentals (Itsári and Canyon Jam were cool), but not enough for me to get past the singing style.

Not gonna lie, like all my albums this week have been metal, so this was kind of a breath of fresh air and my rating is likely to reflect that. Easy listening. Elevator and hold music. Wholly inoffensive to my ears but not particularly interesting at the end of the day.

This was not actually that bad! I went in knowing it was the lowest rated album on the list, so my expectations were tempered, but I kind of liked it! I wouldn't like go to a live show or something, and I'm definitely not going to be buying this to listen to on the regular, but I thought the sound was an interesting experiment. I like it when people use non-traditional instruments like this. I absolutely did know when the album ended though because the next song that played on my Spotify had a legit guitar and I was like "oh, guess Kollaps is done". This feels more like a performance art piece than music.

Honestly I'm just wildly indifferent to this one. It's not bad, it's not amazing, it's mostly just boring.

This album ain't shit but hoes and tricks 😔 Snoop is really carrying this album, his verses are far and away the best on here, which isn't saying much. In the end it's a lot of posturing and somehow every single track is about Dre's dick. The backing music and beats are great though. They've aged well and I think elevate the overall album. Without the beats it would be wholly unremarkable.