368
Albums Rated
3.58
Average Rating
34%
Complete
721 albums remaining
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Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1970s
Favorite Decade
Hard-rock
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
107
5-Star Albums
10
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Pelican West
Haircut 100
|
5 | 2.96 | +2.04 |
|
Meat Puppets II
Meat Puppets
|
5 | 3.02 | +1.98 |
|
Here Come The Warm Jets
Brian Eno
|
5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
|
Billion Dollar Babies
Alice Cooper
|
5 | 3.11 | +1.89 |
|
Buffalo Springfield Again
Buffalo Springfield
|
5 | 3.18 | +1.82 |
|
Here, My Dear
Marvin Gaye
|
5 | 3.21 | +1.79 |
|
Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
Pavement
|
5 | 3.24 | +1.76 |
|
Sweet Baby James
James Taylor
|
5 | 3.24 | +1.76 |
|
The Beach Boys Today!
The Beach Boys
|
5 | 3.27 | +1.73 |
|
Chirping Crickets
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
|
5 | 3.29 | +1.71 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Dust
Screaming Trees
|
1 | 3.16 | -2.16 |
|
Legalize It
Peter Tosh
|
1 | 3.07 | -2.07 |
|
The Dreaming
Kate Bush
|
1 | 2.97 | -1.97 |
|
Supa Dupa Fly
Missy Elliott
|
1 | 2.92 | -1.92 |
|
Infected
The The
|
1 | 2.92 | -1.92 |
|
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
Brian Eno
|
1 | 2.79 | -1.79 |
|
Life Thru A Lens
Robbie Williams
|
1 | 2.73 | -1.73 |
|
Dummy
Portishead
|
2 | 3.71 | -1.71 |
|
Violator
Depeche Mode
|
2 | 3.7 | -1.7 |
|
A Grand Don't Come For Free
The Streets
|
1 | 2.67 | -1.67 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Led Zeppelin | 4 | 5 |
| The White Stripes | 3 | 5 |
| Steely Dan | 3 | 5 |
| Pixies | 3 | 4.67 |
| Marvin Gaye | 2 | 5 |
| Nirvana | 2 | 5 |
| Simon & Garfunkel | 2 | 5 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 2 | 5 |
| The Rolling Stones | 2 | 5 |
| R.E.M. | 2 | 5 |
| U2 | 2 | 5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers | 2 | 5 |
| Beatles | 2 | 5 |
| The Velvet Underground | 2 | 5 |
| Elton John | 2 | 5 |
| Rush | 2 | 5 |
| Aretha Franklin | 2 | 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Beach Boys | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Kate Bush | 3 | 2 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Brian Eno | 1, 3, 5 |
| Fela Kuti | 2, 5 |
5-Star Albums (107)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Johnny Cash
5/5
Wow! Super enjoyable. My favorite part is how real this feels. Crowd interaction is wild, Cash’s personality seems genuine and very “fuck you”, song selection is all suitable energy. I thought I would hate the same song twice (San Quentin), but it somehow worked? Amazed to say the least… and all in a 35 minute package makes this a 5 star country album to me
3 likes
Marvin Gaye
5/5
As an art piece, this album falls very close to perfection.
I love the album setup. You feel like youre along Marvin and his wife (Anna) as they met and got married. Things are pure and promises are made.
Eventually, you find yourself reminiscing over a relationship youve never been in 😂 and the over to a new lover. And finally… some vengeance/hate… but wait… more reminiscing 😂
Overall, I really liked this. Again, not full of the tastiest jams ever, but there were great stories and good tunes to accompany them.
Is that enough is an incredible track. The jam at the end (sax solo) is stupidly awesome. A funky space reincarnation was solid too.
Potentially controversial, im giving a 5/5 for the album as an art piece. 4/5 for music
3 likes
The White Stripes
5/5
Love this album. Been a huge fan for a long time and really appreciate the second half of it. Youve got her in your pocket is one of my favorites
1 likes
The Cars
5/5
My Dads first album
If you only knew how many times my Dad told me the story of him buying his first album. My brothers and I eventually made a game out of it - who could call a Car’s song out the fastest and make the quote before my Dad could “tHIs WAs tHE fiRST aLBum I eVeR BAhT” 😂😂
This album is actually great. Moving In Stereo still gives me special thoughts reflecting on Fast Times At Richmond High. Bye Bye Love, Let The Good Times Roll, Youre all Ive Got… hits on hits
1 likes
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
5/5
Really great to dig deep in rock and roll history.
I loved what I heard. I was able to connect some dots between rolling stones and even grateful dead covers of Holly.
I didnt realize what a tragedy it was with Holly dying so young. This dude was a powerhouse. His wiki was incredibly eye opening.
1 likes
1-Star Albums (10)
All Ratings
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
Alright! Back to album number 1 for me
I've been sewing together pieces of this album for the last few weeks, but I finally gave it the full spin that it deserves
In terms of hits, I think this is the best reggae album of that i've ever come across. Jammin', waiting in vain, 3 little birds and One Love are essentials in The High School Stoner starter pack (in all seriousness, they blow all of the reggae albums/tracks we've encountered on this list wayyy out of the water -- im looking at you UB40 & Peter Tosh).
So much things to say and Turn Your Lights Down Low are honorable mentions.
Iron Maiden
4/5
Ive been saving my review for this one:
I had a friend in high school who's leather jacket wearing, cigarette smoking Dad was as hair metal as you can get. He pushed Iron Maiden onto us and it somehow stuck
The Number Of The Beast, Run To The Hills,22 Acacia Avenue are my favorites.
Im really hoping we get more Maiden on this list. IMO, these guys are the most respectable thing to come out of the hair metal scene -- sci fi meets space rock? Incredible
Pink Floyd
5/5
Lol, I decided not to skip.
What can I say? This album is damn near perfection and most of the ideas haven’t completely aged.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
5/5
Dang, I forgot how bad almost cut my hair is and how amazing Helpless is.
Neil young was 25 on this album 🤣 amazing
Michael Jackson
5/5
Baby be mine and The Girl Is Mine are Incredible
The stretch of bangers after that is truly jaw dropping
Eagles
5/5
Fun album with a fantastic diversity of tracks
MGMT
5/5
Fun album with a fantastic diversity of tracks. A little bored on some of them, but overall, I love this album
Can
4/5
I loved side 1. The percussion sets the vibe of the album; its super groovy. Loved the low volume vocals (im sure that inspired some groups - gorillaz maybe?)
I just didnt get into bel air. It had some cool parts with chromatic walk downs that were very radiohead like. I wanted to like it, but it felt like filler sometimes on the back half
Fatboy Slim
3/5
Id give it a fair 3.5 stars if I could. I really appreciate fatboy slim’s grooves and feel. This album was just too much of the same repeated.
On the bright side, I loved song for lindy (amazing guitar slide) and the weekend starts here. First down, Michael Jackson and next to nothing were my other notable likes
Marvin Gaye
5/5
What can you really say? This album is incredible. A perfect spin and valid as a “best of all timer”
Stevie Wonder
5/5
I really enjoyed this. Favorite tracks were Big Brother and Sunshine of my life
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Fun album! Good to hear the early up and coming sound that they had here. Stir it up is a solid track. Concrete jungle was deep. Not much for roots music in my life, so this was neat exposure
Mudhoney
2/5
I mean, it had some fun moments. I like the edgy harmonica used throughout 😂
Pokin around was my favorite track
No idea what the significance is to this album. Based on the release date, it might be one of those records that spawned the grunge rock scene
The Replacements
4/5
A few newbies for me! Loved Greg has a boner as a goof track
UB40
2/5
Overall, pretty nice background album. I liked one track called “King” and the rest were largely secondary to me
The Go-Go's
5/5
ABOUT DAMN TIME I GET AROUND TO THIS
Yeah, this is exactly what I need in a poppy & slightly punky album. Sound is clear, nothing over the top, awesome vocals, range of songs, perfect length (35 mins) and sheeeetttt (Samuel L Jackson voice) this came out in 1981 (way ahead of its time).
Our lips are sealed, How much more, skidmarks on my heart were my favorites.
4.5 stars and rounding up.
Duke Ellington
3/5
Really dense, but overall enjoyable. Diminuendo and Cresendo was my favorite track. Great lines, fun crowd, amazing energy
The Beau Brummels
3/5
As a massive 60s fan, this was cool to add my repertoire. I liked a few songs, but a lot of it seemed overdone (which I consider to be an artifact of me listening to this 50 years later). Nine Pound Hammer is my favorite track
Blur
3/5
Some neat tracks for me. Everyone's heard song 2, but damn, it explosive even on the album. Country Sad Ballad Man and BeetleBum were my other favorites. The second side of the album was a little less interesting and for that ill knock it back to a 3 star rating
Robbie Williams
1/5
I genuinely tried, but couldn’t get into this. And to think Robbie Williams is the best selling singer songwriter of all time in the UK 😂 Idk, it felt like even the hits (Angel) weren’t interesting. Some of the singing was great
Frank Sinatra
5/5
so much fun! Never had the opportunity to do this with a frank album. Impressive and made me want to experience this in the 50s. I also see how singers of the 60s idolized the hell out of him. So much style
Jethro Tull
4/5
Side 2 was a nice ride for me. I didnt realize how religiously connected this album is. Hymn 43 (sounded like a Joe Cocker song) and locomotive breath were awesome tracks.
Peter Tosh
1/5
One or two okay tracks. I find the concept dated and hard to truly get into, so the album is pretty meh
Nick Drake
4/5
If horns and folk music are meant to come together, this is it.
I dont think there are many stand out tracks, but the overall album listens really beautifully
The Cardigans
2/5
Some interesting tracks. The first 2 being the best besides their mega hit
Nirvana
5/5
Often hated by nirvana purists, I honestly find In Utero to be my favorite album of theirs. Its a strange album, but man, its still raw and has some really screechy, head bangin rock that is still unique today.
I could see how Cobains depression is laid out on the album - “teenage angst has paid off well, now im bored and old”.
Soundgarden
5/5
Not a single album sleeper. Lots of fun time signatures and an absolutely incredible 1h+ album.
Ive heard the hits on this before, but it was well worth diving through it. Let me drown, my wave, mailman and half were great discoveries for me. All around, super impressive. Favorite grunge album now
Alice In Chains
5/5
Back to back grunge show!
Ive definitely gone through Dirt a few times in the past. This time I approached it to try to learn more about the song constructions & history. It was neat to finally figure out how they make those creepy vocal harmonies (seems like they are stacking 5ths). Also, I didnt realize that Layne wrote a few tunes on this album.
A disturbing amount of hard drug references for this. Makes me sad knowing how deep the band was at that time even before Layne went off the rails.
All around amazing band. Not sure if this is their best album, but its wonderful nevertheless
B.B. King
4/5
Never gets old. BB King is a triple threat - entertaining emcee, amazing singer and fantastic guitar player. Fun time going through this again. You hear the influence on any modern blues guys
Ray Price
2/5
Good to finally dig into some 60s country, but I wasnt particularly attracted to most of the songs. I liked Night Life and Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women.
Funkadelic
4/5
Super stupid and Can you get to that were my favorites. Very entertaining album as a whole. Pioneering in a ton of ways. Wild to think that this was 1971. This had dark elements, dancy tunes and incredible improvisation
Elliott Smith
2/5
I had some extra time this last week to dig back in the catalog of albums that I missed.
Im sure this album hit incredibly well in the year of 2000. I gave it two chances (saying a lot for me as its 70 mins) and didn't find much that I was really attached to. It sounds dated for alt rock. I also don't love when artists sing their own backing vocals which was everywhere on this album
I enjoyed Somebody That I Used To Know -- Very Deathcab-y. I also liked Junk Bond Trader. 2.5 stars and rounding it down because it was too long
Duran Duran
3/5
Fun listen! Glad I made it back here to catch up.
The sounds that they got out of anything percussion and bass were so distinctly Duran Duran.
Some songs feel like cousins to previous ones based on how they organized the harmonies and general progressions (Hold Back The Rain and Hungry Like The Wolf sound the same)
Beach House
4/5
Super dreamy and airy. Loved a few of the lesser relevant tunes - norway and walk in the park. Never heard of these guys 🤷♂️
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
3/5
Never heard of these guys or the backstory!
Pretty interesting to see how the groups influences/backgrounds mesh. I hear a lot of the verve and gorillaz.
After all is said and done, the album isnt super memorable after 2 listens. Maybe it takes some more reps
So far, I really liked Herculean
Elvis Presley
4/5
Super fun listen. Havent heard most of these, but I found most of the album very easy to pay attention to. Kentucky Rain was my favorite track
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Finally got around to this and Im so glad I didnt skip.
This is an incredible work of alt rock and may well be in the top 20 alt rock albums ever. A good mix of mega hits, deep cuts that sound as good as the hits and random screamo that keeps you guessing
I know some folks hate Corgan, but he’s admirable as a song writer. So much material and this is his best
Green Day
4/5
Wow! Glad I came back to this one.
I distinctly remember being on itunes for this tidal wave of hits. And even today, Im still surprised at the number of true bangers on here - Holiday being my favorite.
I appreciated a few others this time too. Give Me Novacane and Shes A Rebel were stand outs for me
Led Zeppelin
5/5
First time all the way through this. What sticks out to me is how truly bluesy Led Zeppelin could be. Theres definitely some versatility shown to go from slow blues to heavy rock and back.
Really appreciated the run from In My Time Of Dying to Houses of the Holy, Trampled, Kashmir, In the Light, Bron yr aur, down by the seaside and finally ten years gone. Thats a 7 track run of pure awesomeness. Plants vocals really stretch and every lick gets glued onto your brain.
The Teardrop Explodes
2/5
Could not get in a groove with this album.
I could see the strong argument for this being influential in the 80s for its psych rock ideas and thus significant enough for this list. Thats all I can say though. The listenability was low for me and I only found a couple of songs interesting. Kilimanjaro (the album title track) was my favorite… which stands out because it doesn’t sound like the rest of the album. Reward was also somewhat interesting for those wacky horn effects
Lynyrd Skynyrd
5/5
Love this album.
Since there is no other time to talk about Free Bird, I have to rant about how spectacular that song is 😂. I hear Free Bird today only in an ironic context, so to have an opportunity to take it seriously again was refreshing.
The first 4mins 20 seconds is obviously cool and bluesy. The melody (bwwwwuahhh, wahhhhh wyyaaa, wyyyahhh, wyabb) makes you feel like a free bird coasting in the air and is really catchy.
Next, and you were teased with this earlier, it feels like youre about to leave and be the “free bird”, but unlike the easy and melancholic coast you expected, this is an cannon blast to outer fucking space that honestly does not drag on for the next 4 minutes and only gets more entertaining as it goes on.
Around 7mins 30, the shuffling drum beat gives me goosebumps as I picture Jenny from Forrest Gump about to SEND IT off a building in high heels while high as balls on heroin and cocaine. The energy is fantastic after 100s of times through this song.
Out of back of the mix around 8mins, the bass guitar finally cuts through the chaos to claim the official peak of this roller coaster.
Somehow, they fucking land that eagle without it feeling rigid and fade it out (my only actual complaint is that they didnt decide to come to a final hit)
Free Bird… holy shit
David Bowie
3/5
I gave myself a full day to listen to this and im overall happy to say I dove in (b/c im admittedly not super Bowie experienced), but im not won over by this late, secret project
The Bad:
This felt too artsy fartsy (soundtrack/opera) and not enough rock n roll for me. It goes way further than I expected into the dark and poetry side of Bowie. Its missing that mystery element that other albums have - songs where I feel transported to a new universe.
The good:
* the instrument choices were awesome - all over the place and surprises on every song
* range of songs is pretty wide without losing the vibe of the album work
* where are we now - so chill and beautiful
* if you can see me - totally rocking, 80s sound
* Id rather be high - my favorite track on the album
2.5 stars. And im torn on where exactly to round to. 2 seems harsh and 3 seems generous for my taste
George Michael
3/5
This took me a few listens to respect it and I truly sit between not liking this and finding it really interesting/cool
Waiting for That Day was a cool track. Loved the ode to the rolling stones
Heal the pain was great. Sounds like a paul mccartney track from the early Beatles days
They wont to when I go was really neat. Dark, haunting, showed Michaels vocal control
Talk Talk
3/5
1986! Wow.
Cant say I was over the moon about any specific tracks, but the entire album is really approachable.
I appreciated the fun bass lines on piano, unique percussion to each track, Mark Holis’ super interesting voice, proper synths
April 5th was probably my favorite track. Time Its Time is another good cut.
Fugees
3/5
Cool! Definitely heard a few cuts off of this before, but never assembled an idea of who the Fugees are.
Most of the album was forgettable, but there were quite a few awesome tracks. Loved the no woman, no cry cover and killing me softly. I could sense this album was stripped for stems in other, modern rap songs too
Metallica
3/5
Way more entertaining than I thought! Each arrangement was unique and not overly done.
The White Stripes
5/5
Love this album. Been a huge fan for a long time and really appreciate the second half of it. Youve got her in your pocket is one of my favorites
Sonic Youth
2/5
Well, this must be my 3rd or 4th time trying to understand sonic youth. And again, I dont get them.
Some of the sounds are alright. Hot Wire My Heart was my favorite. With that, I never find myself actually enjoying this album or finding it unique enough to stick around for it. As I read, they are quite influential, so ill give them a second star alone on that quality
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Classic, never gets old.
The Jam
2/5
Wasnt a tiring listen, but nothing stood out to me 🤷
Fela Kuti
2/5
Judging based on the music itself, I was mildly entertained and then bored for each song. Ive heard zombie a million times, but the rest of the tracks were also decent.
Broadly speaking, fela kutis story is wild and earns my respect.
Thin Lizzy
3/5
Fun to listen to for the boomer rock throw backs, but I couldnt find much of it worth the hype of being on this list. Compared to Frampton comes alive, this album doesnt even come close, in my opinion.
My favorite non obvious cut was Suicide.
Didnt know Huey Lewis and Bob segar bith featured on this. Its also such a 70s/80s thing to do a live album and then go put overdubs on it 😂 the dead did this too
Snoop Dogg
4/5
Legendary in so many ways and kind of unsettling. I know Compton life was/is wild and unfair, but damn. Murder, drug abuse and sex are all over this.
Lyrics aside, its a groovy as fuck album that has some jams that still stand. So many features too! All around, it’s enjoyable and I see how it shook the US when it dropped.
Koffi Olomide
3/5
AHHHH, ÇAAA C’EST BON ÇAAA
Loved the common themes/intros between the songs. That super compressed guitar sound is cool. Whoever produced this did an amazing job. So many variations on percussion.
Conte de fées was my favorite cut on the album - its basically two songs.
As a fairly decent French speaker, I can barely understand Congo French. This is a whole different language it feels like.
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
This was really worthwhile. Ive never given any time to A Tribe Called Quest, so it was all pretty much brand new for me
The sampling was creative and the storytelling was generally interesting. There is definitely a flow to the album as a whole. Lots of great tunes that ill be spinning later
Leonard Cohen
3/5
I dont have a ton of clear thoughts on this album. The title track is haunting and cool. The broad middle of the album was largely forgettable for me and occasionally boring. It feels like Cohens music is about the lyrics and emotional delivery. Probably not the ideal choice for a 2 hour drive.
Besides You Want It Darker, It Seemed The Better Way and Leaving The Table were cool.
Ill have to revisit this later
Al Green
4/5
I really enjoyed this short classic. Mend A Broken Heart was my favorite
Korn
2/5
In effort to catch back up on albums ive missed (down to just 2!), I decided to crack into Korn
And… yeah, Im not a fan. I absolutely tried and found the gangsters of rock to be a little too much for me. I get some of the lyrics were tongue in cheek, maybe this kind of poetry shouldnt be set over metal?
Freak On a Leash was alright.
Ananda Shankar
4/5
A lot more interesting than I thought! Ravis nephew, so nepo album warnings were everywhere. I came to learn that Ravi didnt even teach him, so thats pretty cool
I thought there were some super interesting tracks and the mesh of east and west is always cool. Freaking Moog synthesizer! Metamorphosis was a great building track. Really enjoyed all the covers.
Having played a sitar recently, ive come to appreciate all the resonating sounds that come from that box of strings. Pretty fun album
Peter Gabriel
4/5
Red rain!!!!!!!!!
Fun album. I respect Gabriel a lot more now. I didnt like the track with kate bush.
Sufjan Stevens
4/5
I still dont know what to think of this album. Im a mix of really excited and kind of tired. Its such a long play, but it has so many interesting indie sounds. Vocals are impressive and nostalgia was everywhere. Very interested to see what the rest of the gang thought
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
Yayy. Ive heard this album 1000 times in my life and I never tire of it. Plain and simple, its a master piece of work
Some amazingly catchy tracks with wild backstories. I personally dont care for the Peruvian El Condor Pasa, but that kind of strategy would eventually pay off for Simon
Brian Eno
1/5
I finally get to clear this off my queue 😂
By product of accidentally adding this entire album to my day-to-day, new-to-me rotation, Ive listened to pieces of this album on and off for at least 3 months now (this and the elvis album 😅)
I confidently say that I dont get it 🤣 if apple music collects skip related stats, im sure im in the top 1% of listeners who start any of these tunes and skip within 20 seconds…. Every. Single. Time.
To make this more fun, I decided to give this album a real shot again today and it still hasnt caught any neural traction in my brain.
Thank you Brain and David. You guys changed the world of music, but this album is dog shit to a 31 year old in 2025
King Crimson
5/5
Ive been listening to 21st century schizoid man since i heard it 5 years ago at Zeitgeist.
I always thought this was was from a new band.. my mind was blown when I read that this was from 1969. I have a hard time thinking about what it wouldve been like to have experienced the prog rock ideas mixed with early metal before 1970. That mustve been tremendously avant garde
I really appreciated Talk To The Wind (duo version) as well
Jungle Brothers
3/5
Not a huge fan, but I did enjoy a few tracks. J-Beez Comin Through was my favorite
Common
4/5
This was GREAT. I loved digging into the production history here. Didn’t realize the star power on this album and that Mayer sang the “Go” sample.
Fun flow for an album, didnt feel like a super perverted album either (maybe doggy style was just too much for me)
David Bowie
4/5
I WANT THE YOUNG AMERICAN
Fun album. The two singles are so popular that im surprised I wasnt already familiar with the tunes.
For me, its all about side A. Win, Fascination and Right are really fantastic tunes with wicked sax all over the place
On the B side, I wasnt a big fan of the across the universe cover on first listen, but after spinning it a second time, I got the gist of what Bowie/Lennon were trying to do. Fame is such a cool song, so I wont call the B side a waste of time. Loved the collaboration on it
Einstürzende Neubauten
1/5
Let the record show that I gave each song a chance and even the artists top songs.
Outside of a few potentially polyrhythmic ideas, this had no artistic value to me
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
Actually really entertaining listen!
Favorite tracks were Be Anything But Darlin Be Mine and Embraceable You
The whole listen felt very real and organic. I appreciated the introduction and random noises/mistakes the band made. Really happy after. Ill probably revisit this at some point to do some more digging
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Yes, across the board, this was a fantastic listen. Its a classic with so many hits
Voodoo Chile is fantastic and maybe better than Voodoo Chile Slight Return.
Didnt know about the band experimenting with different producers and how drugged out Brian Jones played on All Along The Watchtower
Songhoy Blues
3/5
Due to this landing on a Friday, I was able to run in twice. Im glad I did because it took me a while to enjoy the fusion of western rock ideas (what sounded like blues/r&b) with the afro/mali rock sounds. I still think it would be challenging to find a band for them to tour with- apparently they opened for Alabama Shakes for a while?
I didn’t hate any track. I most enjoyed the albums final two tracks - desert melodies and Mali.
The story behind the band is pretty inspiring too. Islam is one hell of a drug
Dr. Dre
4/5
A classic. Beyond the giant hits (nuthin but a g thang and bitches aint shit), there were some cool moments
I heard a few flute solos - one in rat tat tat tat
The skits were a combination of funny (deez nuts) and jarring (doctors office).
Overall, good enough listen. 4 stars for rap and probably 3 stars for my personal tastes.
I dont know why they included Stranded On Death Row. My only question mark of the entire listen
Just like doggy style, this album pushes the uncomfortable gangsta rap lyrics that are supposed to represent life for black america. And damn, some of it is jarring.
Meat Puppets
5/5
Wow, this is what keeps me doing 5 albums a week
Probably annoying to read, but worth saying.
My only exposure to the MPs beforehand were the legendary nirvana covers in their unplugged show. Which I thought would sound better to me, but I actually prefer the Meat Puppets originals
I loved this album and was completely hooked from ~start to finish. The music is complex, but not over the top, lyrics weird and deep. Genre spanning song selection. The influence on later bands is super clear - grunge, 90s/00s punk (Climbing had to of inspired some CAKE songs) We’re here sounds like an REM song, New Gods belongs on Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Im A Mindless Idiot sounds like a Led Zeppelin song, What To Do more CAKE 😂, 100% Of Nothing sounds like a Phish jam.
And god damn, this came out in 1984 lol… if I played this next to Poison or Guns N Roses, Id shit myself.
Neneh Cherry
2/5
I really tried. The only likes/appreciation on this pop/rap album from me is from the refreshingly wholesome, feminist lyrics. I wasnt there when this came out. It sounds like a Madonna album.
PJ Harvey
3/5
I appreciate the uniqueness of this and story telling, but ultimately I found this album to get into. Maybe like a Randy Newman album? It takes a while to get the character and story /shrug. I went through it twice so far and it was a lot better on round 2.
In short, there were some cool songs. I really liked more of the more bare songs instrumentally speaking. England and The Last Living Rose stand out. Words That Maketh Murder was a good one too
Steely Dan
5/5
I havent listened to all of Steely Dans albums and I know theyve experimented with tens of musicians (every album), but this feels like the band’s ultimate mission. An album with various instrumentation choices, jazz improv breaks, perfectly timed hits and a pop feel that brings it all together - and the masses that follow
Genuinely, Aja is a masterpiece IMO. Peg, Deacon Blues and Josie are radio friendly with incredible vocals (Michael McDonald is perfection). Aja is super prog rocky and has the most exciting hits.
I could dust off this album twice a year for the rest of my life and never tire of it
The Smiths
3/5
Not that I dont like this, there were just very few times where I was super interested and focused on the tune.
My favorite two tracks were Death Of A Disco Dancer and I Wont Share you.
The popular songs were boring to me and the melodies weren’t as pleasant
All that said, I liked my second time through a lot more than the first. Ill give them three stars for that
George Jones
3/5
Mildly entertaining. I can see how this influenced a lot of country in the 80s and 90s.
All that said, there are other Jones albums that are more interesting/better. This felt like the cliche of country
3 stars for country, 2 for me personally
Marvin Gaye
5/5
As an art piece, this album falls very close to perfection.
I love the album setup. You feel like youre along Marvin and his wife (Anna) as they met and got married. Things are pure and promises are made.
Eventually, you find yourself reminiscing over a relationship youve never been in 😂 and the over to a new lover. And finally… some vengeance/hate… but wait… more reminiscing 😂
Overall, I really liked this. Again, not full of the tastiest jams ever, but there were great stories and good tunes to accompany them.
Is that enough is an incredible track. The jam at the end (sax solo) is stupidly awesome. A funky space reincarnation was solid too.
Potentially controversial, im giving a 5/5 for the album as an art piece. 4/5 for music
Eagles
4/5
A great “look back” for big fans. 3 major hits. No filler, but quite a bit of odd material (Chug All Night and Train Leaves Here This Mornin). Harmonies all over the place - sounds very CSNY from the decade before
I cant believe that Bernie Leadon was from the Flying Burrito Brothers. Also, how the fuck did they get Glyn Johns to produce this???
I liked Take The Devil because its sounds like the eagles didnt know who they were and scrambled to make a neil young song
Van Halen
5/5
This is one the best party albums of all time. The length is perfect. Energy is high for all 33 mins except for Ill Wait - which was a really nice switch up and a successful single for the album.
The synths were welcomed and not overly done. You could tell where the band was going with this sound.
My only criticism is Girl Gone Bad is just a fluff track that added no value.
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
Besides the three absolute bangers on this album, there are some nice deep cuts.
I really like New York, I love you. Watch The Tapes was also good.
This album is played a lot. It doesn’t sound overly 2007. It pushes a unique futuristic retro theme that is iconic. Doesnt get old whenever I hear it in the wild
Sheryl Crow
4/5
A little raw, but very enjoyable.
I liked Leaving Las Vegas, Strong Enough, Cant Cry Anymore and All I Wanna Do.
In general, the first ten songs are all pretty good. I don’t understand why they put on I Shall Believe and We Do What We Can. These were complete vibe shifts that Crows voice doesnt work as well on. 3.5 stars. Rounding up because Sheryl is hot
Dusty Springfield
3/5
A bit of a challenge chasing this album down. The album was reproduced so majorly that they decided to retitle it?
I listened to the Stay Awhile album. It seemed that the track listing was mostly the same with a few extras
This incarnation of Dustys music is so early 60s and honestly a relic. The background vocals and random string orchestra instrumentations are laugh inducing. I like 70/80s Dusty far more
That said, I liked some of the songs in a non ironic way. Anyone Who Had A Heart , Wishin And Hopin, Will You Love Me Tomorrow were some enjoyable songs
Pink Floyd
5/5
Not Floyds best or even second best… maybe not even the third best… these guys truly knew how to make album pieces
Everyone knows the middle of the album. The shine on you crazy diamond segments are super under appreciated in my opinion.
Loved the sax SOLOS at the end of parts 1-5. Baritone to Tenor sax?
Wish You Were Here is potentially pink floyds best individual song ever written. Beautiful lyrics and simple instrumentation with that patented synth sound. Ive heard that track 1000s of times - mostly amateurs learning their first guitar solo (myself included)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Not my brand of alternative and not an album that I never wouldve picked up on my own (which I love this for)
Nevertheless, I did find it interesting and added one song to a playlist (There She Goes, My Beautiful World). There were moments where they sounded like the rolling stones.
The gothic vibe was cool and different. The album itself being the sandwhich of two distinct sounds was also fun to experience as well. Wouldnt mind if someone had this playing in the background of a party, but I wouldn’t be the one to request it
Johnny Cash
5/5
Wow! Super enjoyable. My favorite part is how real this feels. Crowd interaction is wild, Cash’s personality seems genuine and very “fuck you”, song selection is all suitable energy. I thought I would hate the same song twice (San Quentin), but it somehow worked? Amazed to say the least… and all in a 35 minute package makes this a 5 star country album to me
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Theres a lot to love and be fascinated by
Starting out with my favorites:
Midnight rambler, Monkey Man (incredible), Cant always get what you want, country honk and Gimmie shelter. So many great tunes
I can only strongly recommend and not overly explain how great the episodes were in the revered podcast Rock And Roll History In 500 songs were for this period of the stones (those 4 episodes dropped a few weeks ago). The stones were in a wild time in their history and were completely redefining themselves (musically and life philosophies & interests).
One thing I will share is the story about the amazing singer they brought in for Gimmie Shelter, Merry Clayton.
Apparently, Nitzsche phoned his friend Merry in the throws of a super late night recording session. Merry shows up and in a couple of takes lays down what would be the greatest vocal track of the stones history. Nitzsche and others pushed her to to over the top. Unfortunately, Merry miscarried her 4 month pregnancy shortly after. More details in the podcast.
Beastie Boys
3/5
Lots of hits, that said, I feel like im not part of the generation that truly appreciates the beatie boys. To me, their sound has been mocked too often and the vocals/rapping was over the top.
I do appreciate the sample selection and a few songs. You gotta Fight for your right to party is an all timer.
The Only Ones
2/5
Nothing overly bad, just not for me
Stevie Wonder
3/5
I love stevie, but this is one of the lesser entertaining albums. Talking Book from 2 years before was far more interesting to me
You Havent Done Nothin was super fun and sounded like the rest of stevies catalogue. They Wont Go When I Go was a great track with a haunting progression and Bach like melody. Please Dont Go felt like a standard tune as well.
Fats Domino
3/5
Had to go to youtube to listen to this album
I liked Aint That A Shame
Nothing crazy here in our modern age, but I understand the significance of including at least one domino album on this list.
It was more entertaining to read about Fats and how influential he was. I think we all owe him a big thank you for laying out how a rocker should make music and act in public - seemed like a great/humble figure👏🫡
Bob Dylan
3/5
Disclaimer: not a huge Dylan fan… yet. In general, im hoping to hear more, but Blood On The Tracks was really the only album of his that ive been through more than once.
This album doesnt seem worthy to be included on this list. I found a lot of it to be dull/non inventive. Not particularly bad, just not WOW good. “Background blues” music
Songs I liked:
Til I fell in love with you
Make you feel my love
Pere Ubu
3/5
A mixture of “pretty cool” avant garde punk rock and senseless noise.
Chinese Radiation and Over My Head reminded me a bit of the Velvet Underground. A bit of Can too.
Songs like Laughing and Sentimental Journey were trying to go crazy with horns and avant garde sounds and are barely listenable.
All in all, I love this kind of album experience. This truly is unique and takes a little work to love or even appreciate. Ill label with 3 stars because it has gotten better on a second listen (2.5 stars rounding up). Im seeing how it couldve influenced bands in the 90s, but not 80s 😂
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Just before we started our 1000 albums journey, I went through LZIII.
This album is different and eclectic. I genuinely appreciate the mix of ROCK, true blues and rock folk more than I wouldve expected.
I think what stands out the most is the final 4 tracks. From Tangerine all the way to Hats Off, im totally sunk into the grooves and forget that its some mega band. They really showed they capability to span genres and bring new and firey energy to whatever they did.
5 stars because its gotten better with each listen.
Herbie Hancock
5/5
Such a bangin jazz fusion experience.
What I really forgot about was how awesome Sly (named after Sly and The Family Stone, Sly) is.
Super inventive and doesnt feel old.
4 stars for my taste, 5 star jazz fusion experience
Pretenders
5/5
I think I managed to listen to the extended edition of this album 3 times over the last 20 hours 😂😂
I think this album is fantastic. Its got a radio hit (Brass), a fun cover (Stop Sobbin’ - Kinks), weird instrumental (space invader - underrated track IMO) and tons of deep cuts (I like Kid and Tattoo Love Boy the most)
Overall, this album is exactly what I like in pop/new wave and will be something I revisit.
The pretenders are debatably more interesting as a band than Blondie.
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
I get the significance of Dinosaur Jr (80s pre grunge and new punk influence). I dont believe this is their strongest stuff and the album itself doesnt hold my attention well.
It wasnt all boring:
Yeah We Know was a good tune. Freak Scene was alright. Pond Song was good. Budge was fun (sounded like blink 182). Dont was striking in a refreshing way.
I want to give 3.5 stars. And im afraid of rounding this one up to make a stronger point, so in a rare move, ill push it back to 3 stars
Keith Jarrett
3/5
I was really put off when I saw how long the album was and saw the genre, but I still gave it my best shot
Overall, I wasnt disappointed. I actually really grooved with the Pt II: A track (second overall track). The random vocal moaning and odd experiments kept me locked in, but it did take me about 5 different occasions to finish this beast of an album 😂
I think albums like these are a bit too far off the spectrum for the 1001 albums experience. In my head, this borders with straight classical music - which Im not knocking as being bad, but I consider less of an album
I give 2.5 stars and round up to 3 for purely enjoying myself for at least 1 track
Earth, Wind & Fire
5/5
Amazing quality for both a pop funk and soundtrack record
Tons of instruments, wide variety of sounds/genres, surprises everywhere, epic opening track, excellent track sequencing… what else do I need to say?
I got through this 3 times already. Not tiring at all as I notice different things each time.
The White Stripes
5/5
Im always impressed with how Meg and Jack always find a way to make complete sounds with their tiny arrangements…. And short song ideas. I think I liked the other white stripes album that we had already more
There were a few times throughout the album that I found myself saying “OO that sounds like nirvana” or “that harmony mustve been inspired by alice in chains”.
Favorites:
Now Mary - beautiful vocals
This Protector - love Jack on the piano
Dead Leaves On The Dirty Ground - great riff and has that classic white stripes drum feel.
Hotel Yorba - fun track
Dire Straits
4/5
Side A is incredible. So far away, Money for nothing and walk of life are all bangers.
Side B definitely drops off in quality, but there is some interesting exploration. I actually enjoyed ride across the river after being initially turned off in the intro 10 seconds.
Knopfler shows off some great guitar work the entire album. Its almost 5 stars, but not quite. 4.25.
Steve Winwood
3/5
Another album that took a few listens to appreciate 😂😅
I wouldn’t say that any tracks really pop out - maybe spanish dancer if I had to choose one, but I really found this to be easy to listen to and pretty entertaining
Great vocals, fun percussion.
Beck
5/5
Back on a random Wednesday in 2018, I went to a bar in san francisco’s tenderloin called Beer Basement. The bar was empty except for my two friends and the physically intimidating, yet soft spoken Irish bartender.
A couple of beers deep, I heard a super groovy song and immediately interrupted the bartender to ask what was playing (he had a tablet using pandora I think 😂🫨). In movie like fashion, he stoped putting away pint glasses, gave me a weird look and said “its fuuckin beck” in his thick irish accent. He proceeded to roast me and then ever so politely played a bunch of cuts off of Guero. We ended up becoming friends with this guy (Steve - still runs Ales Unlimited in Pac Heights) and went to beer basement every Wednesday (exaggerated, but we went often) until covid closed it down.
This album grooves… so many great songs, but I appreciated Missing and Earthquake Weather this time around.
Van Halen
4/5
For a first album, this leaves me super impressed
I get it, its over the top, but theres still a lot to love. Incredible guitar tone, I loved how forward the drums are in every song and David Lee Roths screams are iconic 80s rock (although this is 79 IIRC)
Favorites:
Jamies crying, Ice cream man, Feel your love
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Really enjoyed this. My best take is that this will grow on me as I revisit
Cohen is definitely a poet. The music seemed secondary, but not neglected. I felt relationships to The Velvet Underground (Nico’s vocal delivery is incredibly similar) and Paul Simons music here. So many love songs
So long Mariane was my favorite tune.
R.E.M.
5/5
Loved this album. The first five tracks are hits in my opinion - talk about the passion and moral kiosk were my favorites
The next few tracks were interesting enough, but nothing super sticky. This is probably where my only negative feedback comes from. The drums began to sound really non inventive and just your standard 4/4, hi hat, snare drum sound with basic fills.
9-9 is a bad song 😂
All in all, this album was fantastic. The vocals harmonies were always on point and each song had the identity of REM. I can’t believe this came out in 1983. My brain cant compute how this was coming out alongside Poison, Motley Crue and Guns N Roses… it sounds so much more like 90s rock
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
A “for life” album in my family.
My favorite tracks over the last few years have been Heard It Through The Grapevine (which I didnt know was a Marvin song until I was 20) and Long as I can see the light
Mariah Carey
2/5
Not the album for me. I did stomach every song though
All of my disinterest aside, I did like the bone thugs features.
Mariah is undoubtedly a great singer. I don’t have the vocabulary to describe why shes great, but dog gonnit, shes got pipes.
Im not super into this kind of r&b
OutKast
3/5
Not the album for me, but I found it pretty enjoyable still
Bombs over Baghdad and Sorry Ms Jackson are solid songs. Some of the rap metering/rhythm was impressive.
Fela Kuti
5/5
For a live, jazz album, I dont know if it gets any better.
Ive listened to some Fela before, but I think this is going to be my official launch point. I gave this album nearly my full attention and didnt find myself bored until the drum solo song (and even that was in the back quarter)
Egbe Mi O (carry me) was my favorite track.
Also, the recording/mixing here is fucking ridiculously good.
Ray Charles
3/5
With a “studying history” focus, I see how Ray Charles is the man and worthy of a few entries on this list. I genuinely enjoyed a few tunes (You Are My Sunshine and You Dont Know Me were my favs).
I did find it formulaic/repetitive at points with both lyrical themes (obvious) and musically.
Reading on Ray Charles was far more interesting to me. He’s worshipped by a lot of my heroes in the 70s
Red Snapper
4/5
This was wayyyy better than I initially thought it was going to be
A long time ago, I was into the music of Pretty Lights. His music blends electronic and acoustic like no other.
I find this album to be extremely close to what ive heard in the past from similar artists, but with more emphasis on acoustic instruments.
I enjoyed most tracks, but found Bussing to be my favorite. Ill definitely be going back to this album. I really want to give it 5 stars, but ill actually round down to 4 and hopefully regret my choice later.
The Mamas & The Papas
5/5
I have an undeniable love for late 60s music and The Mamas & The Papas are one of my favorites.
Its very rare to find music like this after the 60s/70s. I love the incredible vocal harmonies and instrumentation.
Pop Goes The 60s is a fantastic youtube channel for exploring the history of bands like this. Check out part 1 of the series on the mamas and papas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcks6j3FXcw
Stan Getz
5/5
We’re talking all time greats in Jazz/Samba - Jobim, Gilberto, Getz
This album experience was great. I think ive heard all of these individually, but never sequenced. Its really a vibe and not overly done (34 mins)
The Beach Boys
5/5
Ive been through PS so many times and it continues to impress me every listen.
PS listens like a play or a movie. The lyrics paint an angst ridden story of changes related to maturing and love. The track sequencing keeps your attention by switching between upbeat, pure instrumentals (lets go away for a while and pet sounds) and sad songs. Less generally, the hits themselves hold up so well. Wouldnt it be nice is not cheesy IMO and is filled with so much depth. God only knows is maybe the most impressive progression ive tried to analyze. Maybe one of the only songs I know that can pull this off without losing general appeal
I know Brian Wilson was rumored to have inspired Sargent Pepper with this project - Its mentioned in several Beatles interviews. I personally think Pet Sounds is a more cohesive and better sounding album than SP.
Steely Dan
5/5
A different side of Steely Dan from what we heard on Aja. Jaw dropping debut album
This feels much more like a classic rock album with really skilled players - like Chicago.
The history on this album is interesting and believable. Fagen and Becker seemed exceedingly talented for their age. Im actually glad they didnt go into something like Aja right away and started with a clearly more pop driven album. Its a artifact of what their talent could do for the masses.
It hits a high standard
Carole King
5/5
Fantastic!
Ive definitely heard a bunch of cuts off of this, but there were a handful of surprises. I loved the James Taylor cover (which if Apple Music serves me right, JT plays on), You Make Me Feel and Tapestry were surprises to me
Gotta love the hits here too - Its Too Late and I Feel The Earth Move are fucking jams.
Bill Callahan
2/5
Oh, god.
One of the handful of albums we encountered so far that I dont get.
Rococo Zephyr was one of the only songs I enjoyed. And for that, its 2 stars
The Avalanches
4/5
There were a few moments my first time through where I couldve been convinced I was listening to Can, Revolution Number 9 (senseless Beatles sampling), Daft Punk or Jungle (a bit more modern disco group).
A wide range of sound here. Simple melodies and progressions. Fun samples. Most the times I was on my toes. Dancy vibes. Hated a few songs
The album catches an amazing sequence of tracks at Summer Crane until Extra Kings. Worth my listen right there
I wouldnt give a project like this 5 stars based on my taste. That said, I realllly enjoyed it and didnt really expect to after the first 10 mins. By the end of the album, I wanted it to spin again and thats the best sign that ill be coming back to it again. 4 stars
Lorde
4/5
I got the chance to spin this album 3 times over the weekend. Once with headphones and a few times in a car during a long drive.
I have to admit, I didnt think id like it after my first couple of tracks, but it was better with every play. Supercut was my favorite tune overall. Overall, the lyrics were deep, a fair amount of sonic diversity and genuinely unique for its time.
Most importantly, I think Lorde paved a wide path for so many artists. I cant help but think Olivia Rodrigo is Lorde under a pseudonym
5/5
After listening to most of You talking U2 To Me, I made it through all of the major U2 albums
JT is U2s best work and maybe has the best 3 tracks sequences right off the top. The ultimate edition/box set release that included their live performances is so worth listening to. Trip Through Your Wires is an all timer for me. Major life regret was missing the JT tour that ran for the 20th (?) anniversary
Beastie Boys
3/5
I skipped songs after 1 min if I didnt like them. Id say I had to do that after half the songs
All that aside, some of this was goood. In a not so beatie boys way. I liked Sabrosa and Rickys Theme a lot. Sabotage is probably the only original sounding tune that I enjoyed from front to back.
Im pretty surprised that weve had two BB albums already.
Various Artists
4/5
In a holiday mood, this album is one of the greats. Didnt know Spector did this.
Loved hearing the closing monologue in Silent Night.
Ella Fitzgerald
3/5
I enjoyed a few tracks. ive Got Beginners Luck and Lorelei. I wasnt in the right mood for this album and Im still frustrated how albums like this can be missing from apple music. I think its the 3rd time over the 115 albums ive done so far
Ella is incredible without a doubt. I appreciate her other work more than this
Dusty Springfield
4/5
So glad we got to do this album!
Looking back, I actually listened to this immediately after we finished the last Dusty album.
Most of the album is “good”, but there are 2/3 HITS. Son Of A Preacher Man is Dustys most popular, In The Land Of Make Believe shows off her vocals and sounds like a Brazilian song and I also loved Breakfast In Bed.
Probably a 4.25 for me. Maybe on my third time through, ill bump this up, but 4 for now
Beastie Boys
2/5
Hahaha, im quite surprised that we have had 3 BB albums so far.
I made it through the entire album. I wouldnt put this above the other two
One song that I thought was good was Looking Down The Barrel (Mississippi Queen sample?). Other than that, this album wasnt for me
Meat Loaf
3/5
I knew that this album was on our list and I was dreading it. Paradise By The Dashboard Light has been shoved down my throat a few too many times.
Now that im through the entire album, I have a decent amount of respect for this. This is kind of a rock opera/musical album for the late 70s (1 year before Grease came out). The album features some familiar names as well (outside of Meat Loaf) - Todd Rundgren and Ellen Foley
Bat Out Of Hell, Two Out Of Three, You Took The Words were all pretty enjoyable. I drew a lot of connections to what Boston sounded like (at least the guitar and drum work) and a little bit of Bruce.
Ill make my way back to this album, but I will continue to skip Paradise By The Dashboard Light 😂
Alice Cooper
5/5
This took me 3 complete listens to like.
I definitely walked away from this with a shattered view of Alice Cooper. This dude cameos on Waynes World in full glam rock outfits and sings Schools Out… hes not the guy I would’ve expected to write a piano Ballad about Mary Ann (sounded like a Paul Mccartney song).
Generation Landslide is my favorite tune off this (Like a twisted The Who sound). Hell yeah, Alice Cooper.
4.5 stars and rounding up
Prince
3/5
Very pleased
The album titled track is ridiculously cool. Little red corvette (possibly overplayed) is a great one to follow. I also really liked DMSR and lady cab driver.
Prince has always been that artist I don’t completely understand the hype for. Ive heard cool tracks, I know how flexible he was as a musician and his rockstar personality. His music can sometimes be just… overly poppy? With a talking heads weirdness. That said, hes got an incredibly unique voice to scream and sing. You cant take that away from him - not even Michael Jackson
I still wouldnt put myself into his wild fan group, but im getting closer. His superbowl halftime show in the rain (from the early 00s) nearly pushed me there last night 😅
Norah Jones
5/5
The perfect album to have in the background to chill out or cook to. I spun it a few times to get more acquainted with the tracks because Norah Jones is new to me and is critically acclaimed (especially for this album).
Favorites: If I were A Painter, Seven Years, Nightingale
I didn’t dislike any tracks, but some weren’t as unique as others. I loved Norahs country like vocals (raspy and twangy). 4.5 stars, rounding up
3/5
Some cool rhythms and fun chanty lyrics, but nothing really stuck with me here. The album itself was fine. Cisco kid is clearly the hit of the album. City, country, city and Found Cornered Room were good as well
Cocteau Twins
2/5
Ooof. This album was not for me. It feels like an era I didnt belong to, my parents skipped over and no cool older cousins could force me to listen to
I did draw some connections to bands like Joy Division - simple guitar lines with airy sonic concepts.
Grant Lee Buffalo
4/5
Wow, super interesting album. Never heard of Grant Lee Buffalo (full blooded American name lol)
Sonically and instrumentation, I loved it. Very nice blend of folk/rock/country. Vocally, Grant Lee sounds like Bono from U2 and Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins. A lot of semi spoken/sung lyrics.
Song I liked:
Fuzzy, Grace, The Hook
3.5 stars and rounding up to 4
Red Hot Chili Peppers
5/5
I can see why this is the best selling RHCP album (although I did initially think Stadium Arcadium would be).
This album is loaded with hits and has some deep cuts that are memorable too (Velvet Glove and Savior). Its too much a part of my childhood to not give 5 stars, but I can understand the hate against songs like I Like Dirt lol
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
There is some gold here.
I liked a review of this album that basically sells Superfly as “chill funk”.
Pusherman and Superfly are obvious standouts. Give Me Your Love and No Thing On Me were my favorite deeper cuts.
Some research to do:
* actually watch the film
* find the weird drums that were used that had some kind of pitch shift device on it (very eastern sounding)
The Verve
2/5
One of the rare albums we have encountered that I would say I enjoyed less the second time through 😆
These guys are in no way shape or form even close to Oasis and yet all signs point to them being neck and neck with them in critical acclaim
This album isnt bad. Its got a giant hit and maybe one other cut (I liked Space and Time enough to listen both times), but its not revolutionary or even close to being a standard brit rock album for me. My gut says if Bitter Sweet doesnt make it on the album, that we totally forget this and the band entirely…. But god damn, whenever those violins start playing, I understand why people like them
The Cars
5/5
My Dads first album
If you only knew how many times my Dad told me the story of him buying his first album. My brothers and I eventually made a game out of it - who could call a Car’s song out the fastest and make the quote before my Dad could “tHIs WAs tHE fiRST aLBum I eVeR BAhT” 😂😂
This album is actually great. Moving In Stereo still gives me special thoughts reflecting on Fast Times At Richmond High. Bye Bye Love, Let The Good Times Roll, Youre all Ive Got… hits on hits
R.E.M.
5/5
Im super happy that we got another REM album. When we listened to Murmur, it was a little revelation for me. I knew REM was great, but I had never scratched beneath the surface
Automatic For The People was also fantastic. This album has depth, hits, instrumental and an ideal length (which is not a joke to me 🤣)
My personal take: some of the songs felt a little too Gordon Lightfoot like to me - Sweetness Follows and Try Not To Breathe. Projecting a little, but this album was roughly a decade after Murmur and it sounds like the band’s direction went into some serious places.
Drive, Sidewinder, Everybody Hurts, New Orleans, Ignoreland, Man On The Moon were great tracks.
All in all, its hard not to give this a 5. Its very much a 4.25 for me and notably less listenable than Murmur
Haircut 100
5/5
Who expected this??
Pelican West sounds like Talking Heads mixed with Japanese Jazz artist Masayoshi Takanaka (particularly the guitar work and happy, tropical groovy rhythmic breaks)
This album rocks and Ive never heard of PW before this. I found a few filler songs, but there are over 10 solid tracks out of 14. Great sax work on nearly every song. Most chorus hooks are catchy as fuck. Love me some fast tempo guitar and bass lines
4.5 and rounding up. Not a perfect 5 because of how shitty I thought Fantastic Day was 😆
Beatles
5/5
This album marks a an interesting moment for The Beatles, but I honestly think it lacks a lot of the trademark that A Hard Days Night has and beyond. It does surprise me that its included, but maybe every Beatles album is
I didnt realize Til There Was You isnt a Lennon/McCartney original. Every time I play that song, its a clear standout - lots of interesting choices for chords.
I Wanna Be Your Man is a great tune. I know that the All Starr Band has this as a set staple
4/5
I cheated a bit during the last PJ Harvey album and listened to some of this
This is much better than Let England Shake.
I liked The Line, The Mess Were In, Horses In My Dreams and We Float.
Admittedly, some of this was noise. I didnt like Big Exit or Good Fortune.
3.5 stars for now. Ill have to listen more. Rounding up to 4
5/5
All this Beatles material coming at a time when Ringo and Paul are having a moment (Ringo just dropped a new single - Look Up).
Weird to think we have 80+ year old rock stars.
Some personal fluff:
Pre-2020, I would have called myself a big fan. I knew all the albums, but I wasn’t obsessed. They wouldn’t have showed up in my top 10, most-listened-to artists on any of those 26 years. That said, I probably could have named 9/10 album tunes by the time I was 13 because of how popular they were with my parents
In 2020, I found a podcast called Nothing Is Real (a Beatles podcast) and explored the Get Back documentary in 2021. In 2022, I got to see Paul live. Those 3 years were incredibly fun to go deep.. Beyond the box sets and into the immense catalogue of material put together by historians like Mark Lewisohn & the Anthology adjacent projects - Ex: Listening to the entire A/B session tapes (i.e. all the recordings known to man for the Let It Be sessions)
I find myself (mostly) on the other side of that phase (with occasional days where I slip back into obsession). I will always remember these days fondly and I may re-listen to Nothing Is Real again someday. I love talking Beatles
Pepper:
It would be a lie to say that I have any original opinion about Sargent Pepper. I obv wasn’t there, im not the historian and there isn’t an available catalogue of tapes to listen to for me to form an original idea of what it was like. Instead of joshing anyone, I came up with my list of fun facts for others to explore.
* “Will you pass me the salt and pepper” was the misheard quote that Paul heard “sargent pepper” out of — said by Mal Evans (his journals are super interesting).
* Strawberry Fields is two tapes spliced together. If you listen closely to “Let me take you down 'cause I'm going to”, you'll hear it (and never unhear it). The pitch shift is real. Those maniacs did this with analogue tech which is fucking insane
* Sgt Pepper is a concept album that becomes just an ordinary album. I think this is hilarious that they quit after 2.5 songs when the entire inspiration for the album came from becoming “a new band”.
Screaming Trees
1/5
The only thing I can say that was good about this album was that it sounded grungy. I like grunge, but this just didnt have any appeal to me. No songs stood out. The entire listening experience felt really dragged out
Sonic Youth
3/5
Our second SY album IIRC.
This one took me for a loop. Im starting to actually like some of the tracks. That said, I think the front half of the album is much better than the back half. Purr is the only song I liked of the last 6-7 tracks.
I’m going with a 3 because of Sugar Kane, 100% and swimsuit issue. I understand why people like those songs and how it couldve pushed alt rock for the rest of the 90s
Led Zeppelin
5/5
8 tracks of rock n roll glory
Who hasnt heard all 8? These were all spinning daily on 105.7 WAPL in the fox valley, Wisco (and probably still are)
The three most underrated tracks (if I can even say that) are Battle Of Evermore, Four Sticks and When The Levee Breaks (the other 5 tunes are absolutely top 1000 rock songs of all times). I spun these three the most to get something new from this album
Jimmy page plays the hell out of a mandolin, Bonham spins up freakishly weird time signatures in Four Sticks - its in some funky 5/8 thing and alternates to something else (also the name is some direct reference about playing with 4 sticks - vibraphone style maybe - idk, not a drummer) and even the Beastie Boys couldnt resist sampling Levee.
God damn. What a legendary album. Id give it 10 stars if I could
The Cure
2/5
Another band that im glad the list surfaces, but I just dont appreciate (yet). I dig some of The Cures hits, so im sure my interest is there, but hardly any of Seventeen Seconds stuck with me. Maybe Secrets and In Your House (genuinely didnt like A Forest) were my only tracks I liked and not merely tolerated
From reading the album wiki, I discovered that this was more or less the Cure’s sound defining album with a lot of band member changes happening beforehand. So I guess thats cool to have the context.
Doves
3/5
I didnt get any traction this album until track 6 (N.Y. - and it was my favorite song).
This band feels mine a strange middle ground between U2 and some pop rock in the 00s (Coldplay - listen to Pounding and get back to me)
Not a fan, but I didnt hate it. 2.5 stars and rounding up
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
Paul Revere & The Raiders always reminds me of how insanely fast music in the late 60s changed
No disrespect for that swingin’ 60s sound. Its cool. Its fun. Its…. dare I say it… groovy. I still like early Beatles, Stones, Donovan, Kinks, Beach Boys, Mamas & Papas.
Hear me out though man (exhales blowing out smoke), something weird happened in late 66’/67’ where some bands decided to find a bit more of an edge than Little Girl In The Fourth Row has
In 67’ we get The Doors, Hendrix’s Are You Experienced, Sargent Pepper (after Revolver), Pet Sounds (technically 07/1966).
Things were changing and I think Midnight Ride is smack dab in the middle.
Kicks is a decent song. Im not your stepping stone is alright too. Sonically, it all feels the same. I dont think it aged as well as some of the other 60s tunes in this list
Jacques Brel
3/5
Definitely a fun listening experience.
Genuinely, I thought Les Vieux was a fantastic song. Translating that line for line was eye opening compared to its happy sounding progression
I wouldnt say that Chanson is my style, but its a really effective, story telling genre. Operas not too distant cousin 😆
Metallica
5/5
If there is a hard rock/metal band that is critically acclaimed and has found mainstream success while still being respected in all circles, its Metallica.
This album is damn good. I skipped Enter Sandman because its a meme now. The rest of this project is freakishly perfect. Nothing Else Matters and The Unforgiven are all timers and definitely deserve their place in the greatest songs of all time.
One tidbit:
Only one of my friends in grade school had parents that were cool enough to be hardcore christians and Metallica fans. Gloria’s minivan was my early exposure to this music
One last tidbit because this was our weekend album and that inherently makes me care more to write it
I went to Oracle Park for the Napa valley wildfire benefit show. Dave Matthews opened for Dead and Co who opened for Metallica. One of my favorite show memories of all time was the sound check before Metallicas set. The dude testing Lars’ drum equipment was having so much fun teasing the crowd
Steely Dan
5/5
Super happy that we got this!
Ive hit SD a few times in my life without it sparking a deep dive. The experience so far with Cant Catch A Thrill and Aja is mostly stuff that ive heard at least once
PL was a fun middle ground (literally came out in between Aja and Cant Catch) and almost completely new to me. From what I read, this was the bands final album that they would go on tour with. Night By Night wouldve been awesome to hear live.
Also, during my reading, it seemed like this was a “comeback album” from their second album flop…. Wait… I loved some tracks off of their second album - Countdown to ecstasy. My Old School is an all timer. Why the hate?
My review for PL may sound harsh, but Ill still give 4.25 stars on this
The first 8 tracks are all killers. We get a radio hit (Ricky), Parkers Band, Pretzel Logic, Night by Night, Any major dude and whatever east saint louis was 😆 (okay, wasnt a huge fan of that, but it was fun for one play)
The last 3 tracks were lacking for me. With a gun sounded like a white album rip off. Charlie Freak’s piano was annoying to me. Monkey in your soul didnt appeal to me due to its simplicity
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Not loving this just to be cool. I genuinely think the VU were on fire.
I like most of these tracks, but my favorites are Some Kinda Love, What Goes On and After Hours.
Call it melodramatic rock, I think it was wayyyy avant guard and aged incredibly well
Stereo MC's
4/5
One of those albums that you judge the cover, genre and year and think “this isnt gonna be good”
After two spins, I actually found myself digging about half the songs. It says something about my bias. Its really rare that I like hip hop albums, but this shit is rad
Playing With Fire (sampling Monkey Man from Let It Bleed) was awesome. Sketch was a fun tune. The End (james brown payback) was groovy.
3.5 stars. Ill round up and give 4 stars for a hip hop album
2/5
Some of the instruments/vocal effects were interesting to make me pay attention, but I couldnt really find a song that I liked.
The best was Date Stamp. Show Me was a cool intro I guess too.
This is like Michael Jacksons music without the unique singing and too many odd orchestral arrangements
Prince
4/5
Lets Go Crazy, Take me with you, When doves cry and Purple Rain are excellent songs that have aged pretty well - especially for 80s music (in my broad opinion, the 80s didnt age as well as 60s/70s sound ideas)
I draw a lot of parallels between what PR is and what 1999 was (2 years apart - Purple Rain has the Revolution backing it). Everything ive read makes it seem like The Revolution reinvented Princes sound, but I disagree. Example: Lets Go Crazy and 1999 are both pretty much crowd pleasing singles with the same vibe
I honestly like 1999 more as an album. With that said, Purple Rain (the song) is truly Princes masterpiece
3.5 stars and rounding up because i felt bad I didnt give 1999 4 stars
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
5/5
Really great to dig deep in rock and roll history.
I loved what I heard. I was able to connect some dots between rolling stones and even grateful dead covers of Holly.
I didnt realize what a tragedy it was with Holly dying so young. This dude was a powerhouse. His wiki was incredibly eye opening.
Buffalo Springfield
5/5
Huge fan of most of these songs.
Bluebird was fantastic. Amazing strings work. Rocker with that CSNY sound we would get later. Love the break/pause at ~3:05 of that song. Gets a bluegrass sound when it picks back up
I get how Mr. Soul became mainstream, but I don't think that song really hangs with the rest of these. It kind of sucks IMO.
Definitely somewhere in the 4.25 range for me. Ill round up. Love me some Stills and Young
Cocteau Twins
2/5
Second time through the Twins and another time where im wondering what Im missing. The vocals are too Yoco Ono for me
The hit, Lorelei, uses a fire alarm sound (i cant be far off there). The vocals and drums are super cool, but its main progression is piercing to my ears.
Alousius and Pandora were okay and for only for them I bump it to 2 stars.
The Monkees
3/5
I like 60s music and surprisingly havent given the Monkees an honest shot.
This was a shock to come across for how much hate they normally get
Broadly, it wasnt bad. Most songs give the air that they are Beatles, Beach Boys or Paul Revere rip offs. You Told Me is basically a cut straight off of Revolver - it sounds like exactly like Doctor Robert lol.
I did enjoy You Just Might Be The One and For Petes Sake. Those songs are good.
Ill be another defender of the Monkees being a slightly successful rip off band
2.5 stars and rounding up
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
AYE is one of few lifelong albums for me. I can remember listening to this before iTunes days and have tried my hand at learning a ton of these throughout the years.
Its an incredible work with a diverse track list. I dont agree with the criticism of it being only “loud rock”. Its got quite a few delicate songs/sections that leave that vibe - wind cries mary, may this be love. With that said, being loud is definitely a part of the Experience’s experience 😂 reading the wiki about the recording process was enlightening.
5 stars.
Sade
3/5
I had a difficult time transitioning away from Hendrix to this. I really didnt enjoy the first few cuts, but I ended up liking Frankies First Affair and When Am I Going To Make A Living. I can see this growing on me a bit already
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
4/5
Really amazing listening experience.
The entire time I thought I was such an ignorant listener thinking that it sounded like Graceland (my only foothold in African inspired music) and then I read the wiki....
Steve Earle
3/5
Steve Earle is like John Mellencamp with a little more country twang. I honestly didn't love the album, but I really really really liked two of the songs -- Good Ol' Boy and Someday.
Those songs definitely pushed me into some daydreams of my teenage years back in rural town USA. Nothing to do, no point in stoppin unless you're going to the lake, I need to get out lol
Genesis
3/5
Man… I tried my absolute hardest to like this album. And to be clear, it was awesome. I found pockets of nearly every song to be interesting, but the overall ideas to be too broad or niche for me to understand.
Ill definitely come back to this again. Firth of Fith and Aisle of Plenty were fantastic
Elton John
5/5
Really glad we had this over the weekend. Considering its Elton's critically most acclaimed album, I wanted to give it some just time.
The prog/glam feel at the start of the album was pretty shocking. Its not the side of him that Im used to, but it was entertaining. Curious to read what others thought there.
Bennie and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road were slammin' back to back hits. Bennie might be a top 100 rock and roll song for me.
The middle of the album was really dense and quite the range. Ballads everywhere... I really liked I've Seen That Movie Too, Sweet Painted Lady (very Parisian sound, not a surprising theme - prostitutes). Dirty little Girl showed Eltons true rock side.
The back quarter of the album was good too, but a bit of filler. I thought Your Sister Can't Twist shouldve been kicked off the album entirely. Saturday Night's alright for Fighting is so epic. Social Disease was great too!
Ill definitely be working my way back whenever im in the mood for glam rock. Great album overall. 4.25 stars and rounding up to 5
Joni Mitchell
5/5
Theres a lot to be said about Blue.
Its one of the rare entries on this list that I have no problem listening to non stop throughout the day. 36 minutes of genius. Great musicians playing with her
—-
Three unanswered questions:
This Flight Tonight - maybe my favorite track on the album. At the 1:55 mark, Joni says “They're playing "Goodbye, baby, baby, goodbye. Ooh ooh, love is blind” and the track sounds like its being piped through a shitty speaker and back into a mic. What is the song that she’s referring to? Also, what is this effect? Is it supposed to represent the song or the sound quality of airplane entertainment of that day 😂
My Old Man - love the tune, but the lyrics are twisted in some lady form of oedipus rex. Is the ambiguity here intentional? Or did Old Man mean something entirely different then 🤨
How many times can someone say “California” on an album before it gets old? Its crazy high on Blue
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
3/5
These tracks gave me the feels. Oldham certainly knows how to embed emotion into his melodies.
The album was fine. Not too long. A good sequencing. No tracks pop off the listing other than Today I Was An Evil One.
Sonically, this reminded me of Modest Mouse with less Rock influence
Sonic Youth
2/5
Yet again, we run into the “cool kid” of the 1001 albums list. I clearly need to meet a SY fan and have them teach me why im lame
I didnt like this album and cant find many reasons to go back. Teen Age Riot was good and the rest were practically angsty noise.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
Wow, first time through this cover to cover.
My thoughts:
This album doesnt have a clear arc — although most songs build into each other quite nicely. Bookends Theme being a major piece of glue.
It feels like S & G tried to have their Sargent Pepper moment and go truly psychedelic with orchestral arrangements that are all over the place at times.
Emotionally speaking, I felt the general theme of aging in the first half. The second half was sort of all over the place, but fun (like sargent pepper, the theme disappeared)
I loved this. Incredibly spacey/vibey and easy listening without being boring. Psychedelic. Fun.
Joan Armatrading
5/5
This far exceeded my expectations -- weekend bias alert
Glynn Johns said it was the best album he was ever associated with. Wowowwow.
The entire album flows and hardly brings on any fatigue. I listened to it twice in a row without it feeling like a drag.
Water with the Wine was a really hard hitting track. Not at all pleasant, but the music got the helpless emotion across while preaching that crazy story/message for women in the 70s
Like Fire -- favorite track on the album. Slide guitar was fire.
Björk
3/5
Definitely unique.
Ive been listening to Human Behavior for a long time and would never have guessed it came out in 93
The Anchor Song is definitely my favorite.
Bjork has an incredible voice and she brings serious merit to every track. Bass drum work was glorious on this album
Outside of Anchor Song, I dont think any track really sticks with me. Theres a little too much variety here.
3 stars and I might dig into other Bjork albums
N.E.R.D
2/5
Not bad!
I connected with a few of the not "insanely horny dude" songs like Maybe & Wonderful Place (fun key change & cool backing vocals).
Another cool dimension was reading into Pharell Williams' journey and how the band got Quest Love and Lenny Kravitz to help them out on a few songs. Im not a huge fan of any of those dudes, but they are everywhere in the industry today
Last note: they seemed like a band that had the determination and grit to go for it (apparently the group didn't know how to play many of the instruments used before the album started).
2.5 stars and rounding down because it was too long
Pavement
5/5
One of those albums that you get prompted with and say to yourself “this looks like shit and so its going to sound like shit”
After Silent kid and Elevate Me later, I thought this was Dinosaur Jr.
By track 3 (Stop Breathing) I was hooked. By track 4 (Cut Your Hair), I thought I was deep in a Wilco album (how didnt that song top the alt charts back in 94?)
5-4Unity kind of pushed me over the edge with this stuff - out of nowhere we get jazz alt rock 😂 Range Life solidified it with a solid country twang tune
How the heck did I miss these guys? This is up there with Nirvana/Meat puppets stuff for me (theres some Cobain squeaking that comes out of nowhere). And theyre some Stockton boys? Get the fuck outta here 😆
4.5 stars and rounding up. My one gripe is with Hit The Plane Down - 🤮
Nick Drake
4/5
Hard for me to categorize this. All of this was new to me except From The Morning. My favorite tune was Pink Moon.
Nick Drake has a unique sound and this album rolls most of its 28 mins in a cozy wavelength of soft sounds and deep lyrics. I dig it, but I dont know how to rank it. Safely saying 3.5 stars and rounding up to 4.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
Man, I love Neil Young. Late 60s Neil is freaking everywhere
This album rocks. The front side is fantastic. Cinnamon girl is an all time road tripper for me.
The second side isnt as entertaining, but I think Cowgirl In The Sand is a great long jam to finish off with - although I think Neil isnt super creative on lead.
I did a fair amount of reading on Danny Whitten. Quite a bummer knowing how talented he was as a collaborator with Neil. The rhythm guitar was is truly a staple on this album.
4 stars here.
U2
5/5
IMO, U2s first legit album and their best work until Joshua Tree
Ive mentioned U Talkin’ U2 TO Me before in these comments. The Scotts pushed me to listen to the U2 catalog in the early 2020s. I didnt become a super fan, but if anyone is looking for an excuse to laugh their way through the discography, check it out
Lots of hits here, but there are 2 or 3 tracks that go under the radar. Seconds, Two Hearts and Surrender are phenomenal. Love U2s punky sound that they pretty much abandoned by JT
Frank Zappa
5/5
Ive been anticipating some Zappa since the beginning of this!
Although this albums requires some attention & a few spins to digest, I think its incredibly worthwhile -- "A movie for your ears" was how Zappa put it and I agree.
Im starting to like every song pretty much equally, but if I had to pick a standout it would be The Gumbo Variations. That song grooves so hard
Just a reflection on the period that this was in -- this came out in 1969.
Initially, that was truly mind blowing to me. Eventually, I started to see this as a part of jazz fusion which was still in its enfancy. Then after more thought, it started to make sense. Bitches Brew had already dropped and weather report wasn't too far after Hot Rats. Im kind of left sitting here wondering why Zappa wasn't more in my ears previously versus the others /shrug
Queen Latifah
2/5
All hail the queen, indeed 😂
Im sure the innovative part of this album was amazing (rap over jazz/other genres, woman) at its time.
In the present, I appreciated more of the clarity of each song. Whenever I wanted to, I could follow the lyrics and get into the song - old man alert. QL seems super fun and down to earth. I enjoyed the experience. 2.5 stars for my taste
Favorite tunes: Ladies First, Evil That Men Do
James Taylor
5/5
I think we needed a chill album to bring us all home after Hot Rats and All Hail The Queen
Sweet Baby James is/was a 32 trip through country roads, gospel, blues and periods of ecstasy like happiness. JT has a pretty voice and an incredible ability to make little flurries of notes on his acoustic (having played fire and rain for a decade, I don't come across many players who choose to finger chord shapes like him to pul that off)
One big takeaway was how soul/gospel JT is in his discography.
Favorite two tracks were Country Road and Oh, Susannah.
4.5 stars and rounding up
Guns N' Roses
5/5
Okay, this is probably reputation suicide in this group (based on how previous, similar rock albums went), but ill give my genuine take anyway.
This is likely the one of the best "hard rock" albums that I know of (Van Halen's 1984 is close). The lyrics are exactly as disgusting as you'd expect them to be and Im ignoring most of that because this is "fuck you" rock n roll where the lyrical content should be treated like the trash that it is. Sometimes I just like to scream about hot women or record people banging in the studio (brings me back to Prince's 1999 -- Lady cab driver) or how the drugs aren't strong enough -- fuck me right? (jonah hill meme) -- I thought this was America?
These songs sound 10x fresher than Motley Crue or any of the cringey hair metal that came just a few years before it (not a hater, but its worth saying that the 80s were corny in a lot of ways and this still hits). Being their debut album and a sleeper for the first year, this feels as genuine of a work you can get in this genre.
Not all the songs are completely trashy lyrically either. I think Mr Brownstown & My Michelle were great songs about drug addiction and shitty fathers, but that probably gets lost in the noise & misogyny.
Last deet.
I think we can all agree that Welcome To The Jungle is an All Timer™. Listen to this origin story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMZgq3stgPY
You know where you are? You're in the Jungle baby...
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2/5
Really glad I stuck it out because the second half of this album is way better. Maps is an excellent song
The rest really isnt for me, but I didnt hate it. 2.5 stars and rounding down
The Beta Band
4/5
I first encountered The Beta Band back in like 2019 from a very strange documentary (the song was Its Not Too Beautiful from their first album IIRC
-- apparently the band is famous for publicly hating their first album lol).
Fast forward to 2025 and im hearing this... I felt like I was connecting a lot of dots on the first run. Im going to avoid talking about Squares (and yeah, that song is awesome, but its 100x more popular than the rest of the tracks).
Al Sharp, Human Being are fantastic songs that sort of reset the mood after Squares. Really cool to see that Carole Fucking King was on Human being. Dragon picked up the slack from Gone. Loved the electronica sounds here. Things peak for me on Quiet.
I don't know about y'all, but Im hearing this weird vocal harmony all over the place on this album -- stuff that I know Alt J does/did about 10 years ago where vocals stack on top of each other in weird cadences
Also, apparently the Japanese version of this album featured a track that they wrote with Harry Nilsson. So cool
4 stars. Will definitely want a 3rd or 4th listen on this one. My one critique is that Gone sucked and that some songs were a tish too long.
The Flying Burrito Brothers
2/5
Most of this wasnt bad. A little repetitive at times, but I wasnt bored over its short ~37 mins or so - biggg plus in my book
Coming at this with the perspective of what country was in the late 60s makes me much more impressed. You can definitely feel a stronger groove in these songs that makes me want to dance and sing along compared to Conway Twitty or Ray Price
Fun fact: These guys played the legendary Altamont show where the hells angles killed someone at a free festival put on by the stones
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
Hmm, I guess I dont really get Elvis Costello. Only real connection I had before this album was Whats So Funny Bout Peace Love and Understanding - total rocker
I know Geoff Emerick engineered this and this work came out well within Costellos prime. This album ranks all over the place as “an all timer” I just never felt the album keep my attention. Like a flatter Elton John
Man Out Of Time didnt cut it for me
Almost Blue was a gorgeous track, but super slow.
2.5 stars and rounding down. Maybe ill try it out again this weekend.
Rush
5/5
This album is overflowing with prog rock greatness. The wiki made it clear that the band was super tight after 10 months of touring
Throw out Tom Sawyer, Limelight and YYZ (the radio hits) and youre still left with an incredible album
Red Barchetta was amazing. Peart’s fills and constantly changing beats are so fun to focus in on. Lifeson had some super rockin tone on this track. New track for me
Vital signs is probably the weakest on the album - sounds like a Police song. Surprised they wanted to make that a single
4.9 out of 5 😂
Deep Purple
3/5
On the right day, im a Deep Purple guy.
Some of these songs are pretty gnarly rockers. Bloodsucker and Fight of the rat are my favorites
In general, Jon Lord’s keys are what makes this unique music to my ear. The backdrop of keys is clear and the solos are super funky.
2.5 stars are rounding up
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
I appreciated this less than last Nick Cave (Abbatoir Blues). A few interesting songs - Waiting For You was decent
I could see how some folks dig the song writing and there were genuine moments where I was getting attached. I dont think im the right audience for the super serious poetry over this kind of music. Vocally, it can sound like jason segel singing his Dracula opera in Forgetting Sarah Marshall 😂 (iykyk)
Props to Cave on this one. Sounds like he was going through some serious hell while writing this.
Lambchop
4/5
Was really disinterested at first. The vocals sounded a bit cheesy. The lyrics can be just as bad. But once I got through The Old Gold Shoe, damn, this album kind of takes off into a neat, creative space.
Love the omnipresent horns and fun textures (lots of strings), straight ahead drumming with bluesy guitar lines (so much Trem on the guitar tracks). The vocals get screechy and creative on You Masculine You (ironic title I guess?)
Up with People was my favorite track. Idk what to really say about it. Its very simple, but yet sounds very distinct.
What else could it be was also super pleasant in a 70s R&B way.
This wouldve been ideal for a Friday album… shame. Ill be listening to it again this weekend.
3.5 stars and rounding up
Pink Floyd
3/5
Sonically, im not all that interested in Piper at the gates of dawn, but I think its a really fun dive when exploring all of Pink Floyd.
This is really a different band than what group exploded in popularity afterwards. Their path from genuine psychedelic 60s rock to the string of concept albums that they would put out until the 90s is mind blowing.
Fun listen and my second time through this. I don’t think I would pick it up again unless to show someone how different they were 😂
The Stooges
3/5
Its obvious that I wasnt THERE, but heres my take anyway
There are some solid rockers on this. Search And Destroy is fantastic, Gimme Danger - was this a song cousin to gimme shelter from 1 year earlier? Penetration was creepy cool, Raw power sounded like a KISS song 😂 and David Bowie was involved? Cooool
Heres the thing. The Stooges (which included iggy pop) were doing this same shit, but (in my opinion) better 3 years earlier. Down On The Street and I Wanna Be Your Dog are better than any of these tracks. 1969 was just an absolutely bonkers year for music.
So yeah, good stuff, but not their best. 3 stars
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
Damn. I knew this was going to be an epic album for a Monday.
😂 you could play the first 20 seconds of any of these songs for any pitcher approaching the mound with big dick energy
I obviously knew the hits (who doesnt). I was impressed by Take The Power Back (very RHCP - blood sugar sex magik), know your enemy and Township Rebellion (so fun and weird, awesome metering from De La Rocha)
Some of the realllllly ragey tracks like Settle For Nothing and Wake Up are jarring and give me goosebumps. De La Rocha is fucking terrifying sometimes on this. The kind of stuff that my Mom calls acid music
The only thing that didn’t age well is that 90s rock band dj vinyl scratching lol - which I think Tom does on his guitar IIRC
Def Leppard
3/5
Alright, bring out the Def Leppard haters
We can all agree that Pour Some Sugar On Me sucks. And theres no dodging that it is the album's biggest hit
Look one layer passed that and this album is pretty solid. They released 7 singles off of this album (over the course of 2 and a half years lol).
Animal is a great rock song with a stupidly simple intro lick, but those bends hit EVERY time. Ill defend that song til I die whenever anyone says DL sucks.
Hysteria could be featured in ANY early 90s movie when the guy inevitably screws a good thing up with a girl he actually liked and needs to win her back, you feel me fellas?
The lore behind this album is incredible. Auto accidents, the mumps, 3 years of studio work, someone (the drummer) lost a freaking arm... If thats not rock n roll, I don't know what is.
3 stars. If I gave this a better score than Prince's 1999, Id have to leave before our group hits 200
White Denim
4/5
Well that was awesome
Ill definitely be coming back to this during the weekend. White Denim seems to wrap the Black Keys tone with a little spice from Arcade Fire (I hear it through the vocals) and the jam element of King Gizzard
Some really fun jams and catchy tunes here. 4 stars and hopefully I regret that choice
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
Like most people, I only knew Just Like Honey and absolutely love that song
Psychocandy is really interesting for its time and definitely one that I want to come back to. The sounds are original and honestly not as abrasive as the reviews for this suggest
I liked Sowing Seeds
Wu-Tang Clan
4/5
Ive never taken the time to dig into the Wu Tang Clan universe yet and after my first trip through, I can say that I understand the cult following.
I loved that each track has a feel of the rapper leading it. It stays on the agressive side of delivery, but there is still a lot of variation.
I would put this as the best rap album we have crossed so far for my tastes. Doggy style was also interesting and obviously cool, but this matched my tastes much more
Joy Division
3/5
Not my first time through Unknown Pleasures, but I wouldn't have called myself a fan beforehand -- just a guy who got curious enough after seeing enough folks around SF wear Joy Division merch (generally younger, Millennial hipster looking people from recent memory).
I think the music is pretty interesting, but I don't connect with it like most of the critics of this album seem to be. Having this released in 79' is jaw dropping, I can't deny that. The lore surrounding the studio techniques was also hilarious to read about -- cranking the heat to make everyone exhausted and sweaty is downright sick. Shadowplay is the only song I'd say I enjoyed enough to add to a playlist.
3 stars. Bravo JD.
Pixies
5/5
Man, the Pixies have such a distinct sound. Im much more familiar with Doolittle (and to be honest, I still prefer it), but SR was tastefully raw and so far ahead of the curve sonically. The front half is way stronger than the second half, but its a loaded 30 mins of fun with only a few skips
Favorites:
River Euphrates
Bone machine
Gigantic, Where is my mind
4.5 stars and rounding up.
LL Cool J
3/5
Some decent tracks for a non hip hop enthusiast like myself.
I really liked Mama said knock you out, Cheesy Rat Blues, the boomin system (awesome sampling).
I didnt know how young he was here - dayum
Spiritualized
2/5
oof...
I did not appreciate the album title track (first track). It twisted a bunch of songs together. It was annoying... Interested to see what others thought about that dud off the front of this. I absolutely hated it. In general, Ive found that ive genuited hated very few tracks in this list of almost 200 albums we've already gotten through
The rest of the album kind of makes up for that being so awkward. Come together was decent (a bit noisy, but it was fun and had a nice rock sound). Home Of The Brave was alright. Kind of sounded like a Beta Band track.
Then there is Cop Shoot Cop...
This song is freaking weiiird. I actually enjoyed probably 10ish mins of this and had to turn it off to recompose myself for a work session. It has a nice free jam feel to it... Like they couldve actually made this up on the spot in some moody studio session.
It also feels like something from a low tempo electronic group like Pretty Lights. There are all sorts of super odd sounds mixed with the repetitive bass, drums and guitar lines. Honestly, Spirtualized shouldve scrapped the entire project and just kept this song.
2.5 stars and rounding down. If it was just Cop Shoot Cop, id go up to 4 stars.
Louis Prima
5/5
A Friday album one has wet dreams about
Ignorantly, I only knew Pennies From Heaven and When you're smiling from Louis Prima beforehand. Those songs have been essential cuts on my Brunch/WakeUp playlist for the last 10 years that have helped me through (by no exageration) 100s of hangovers (brought me back to college football pregame breakfasts -- kegs and eggs -- shit, im old now).
This album has some GIANTS on it that cruise along with those two (im thinking Just A Gigolo and Jump Jive).
The way LP builds up the energy, the scatting, the progressive tweaking, sax solos, its all so 1956 to me... 5/5 stars
You might think its silly to put this at a 5 versus a 4 (and ill admit, it is a bit of stretch). A lot of the songs have a familiar feel, but I honestly can't get enough of it in the right context. I spun Just a Gigolo over 10 times in the last 3 days
For posterity, It was sunny & 70 degrees in SF. Louis Prima was like dumping gasoline on a fire of ecstasy pills. I cant imagine what life is like in the alternate universe that we got Korn instead.
Neil Young
5/5
One of the truly perfect 5 out of 5s that I can think of.
Lots of these songs dont fit unless theyre with the album (which I love). Vocal harmonies with Stills and Danny Witten are amazing. The stripped down songs arent boring. The recordings are raw and have plenty of artifacts
The 60s are somehow still alive in the 70s. 35 mins of beauty & rock. Maybe Neils best album. I might put this at the top of the first 205 albums we've rated. Alright, ill stop. Its just going to be a tough act to follow
Neu!
3/5
After The Gold Rush is a tough act to follow, but this didn’t disappoint. A solid 3 stars from me, big fan of these wildly left field albums
I found this pleasant enough to work to. None of the songs went too far out there, but they also never really got boring either. Some random punky vocals were mixed in really tastefully throughout the album - they sounded like a Mick Jaegar howl)
E-Musik is my favorite track. It gave a really groovy jam band vibe… unexpected.
Deep in the mix, there were really fun guitar lines and weird synth textures.
Burning Spear
3/5
Wow, a reggae album that I didnt hate 😂
Although Im not a huge rootsy guy (and im not the target audience if there was one), Im a sucker for spacey grooves and fun textures and there are a ton here. The album features some horns, flutes and soft voices that dont bore me. Its got what I want for this genre. And somehow, I got through this twice without feeling like I need to bounce onto something else.
Favorites:
Live Good
Tradition (loved the weird sounds on this)
Liz Phair
3/5
Enjoyable, but to my modern ear, none of this is CaRaZAy different from what Ive heard on alt music stations the last 20 years. I know that sounds snobby (feel free to hate me for it), it simply makes this impossible to appreciate (overly saturated maybe?). My brain doesnt rewrite itself like it did for Neu! or Neil.. maybe thats my main point
With THAT said, I dig the songs, but I dont know how frequently ill be pulled back to them.
Quick recap:
Help Me Mary was cool and sounded a tiny bit like REM.
Never Said & Fuck and Run were fun cuts.
For some reason, I knew The Divorce Song. No idea how. Great story telling.
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
Been dreaming of a swimming pool of liquor to dive into since this came out in 2012 ;;;;;;;;;;) Anecdote: this album came out during my freshman year of college. I remember hearing Bitch, Dont Kill My Vibe and Swimming Pools in every grungy basement for a solid 6 months
Honestly, I don't expect to enjoy the rap albums that surface on this list (a bias I need to fix because I really liked Wu-Tang) and I was still impressed with this. Its probably a 5 in the rap world and a solid 4 for my tastes.
Hearing Poetic Justice was funny... Didn't realize Drake and Kendrick were actually friends for a while.
I don't love the song M.A.A.d city. Curious what others thought on that one specifically (it seems super popular)
Big fan of Money Trees.
OutKast
4/5
I remember being like 9 years old playing indoor soccer at Soccer Heaven and hearing Hey Ya! on the speakers. Damn that was a cool song to play to.
Even now, I think the acoustic guitar sounds cool with rap -- and tons of folks have copied that down the line (looking at you Shwayze).
You gotta hand it to Andre and Big Boi. They went all out for this - 40 song double album with a great amount of range and fusion. I think we can agree that some of this isn't worth keeping on (a handful of the first disc e.g. Bust, GhettoMusick, a bit less on the second). But hey, they featured everybody (Norah fucking Jones) and everything here and most of it worked, so thats cool.
In my head, this becomes a perfect album if they cut this down to the best 20 songs and make a deluxe version of the album for superfans. 2 hours is too damn long and rarely ever works.
The hits here are truly timeless and the deeper cuts are interesting enough to keep on/warrant spinning the entire album (I liked War, The Love Below). I always dug that Outkast wasn't afraid to go super high tempo
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
I personally dont get the appeal.
Rufus has a great voice, but the music doesnt keep my interest. It sounds like Muse without the edge. Is this the ultimate example of music that doesnt offend anyone?
Not the worst we’ve heard, but barely 1.5 stars
3/5
Coming in with relatively positive takes here again for Blur.
Oddly, this album sounds a lot more fresh than the self titled album we had earlier (which was released in 97').
Much of the punk rock vibe here seemed ahead of its time (sounded more like early 2000s alt -- kind of like the Hives). I wouldnt say I dug any of the popular tracks here more than the others /shrug
My favorite song that Ive added to my playlist is Miss America. That tune sounds like The Brian Jonestown Massacre and caught my ear both times through this album.
The Divine Comedy
2/5
Probably my first orchestral pop album 😂
Certainly not my preferred genre, but there were glimpses that were cool - the frog princess for example
2 stars. Obviously creative, but a bit over the top for me in non theatrical contexts
Elvis Presley
4/5
I can see how this becomes the start of the legend. For a debut album, its pretty damn hip.
One thing I noticed is that his trademark vibrato isnt over the top here.. its actually fits and doesnt sound corny even to my ears ~70 years later. I got a woman was the perfect of example of that. Later in his career, that shit got out of hand
Genuinely great songs:
Blue Moon, I Love You Because, Ill Never Let You Go
Controversial take:
I Love You Because doesnt sound like the rest of the album. They mustve sped that track up because the vocals do not sound genuine
3.5 stars to my ears. Rounding up because its Elvis.
Dolly Parton
2/5
This album only solidifies my general attitude towards Dolly.
I dont understand the love for ol’ Doll. Her music is SO lame compared to 70s rock n roll. If you gave me a set of records from the 70s and I saw her name, I would try a random record before listening to hers
All that said, Traveling Man and She Never Met A Man are good.
Bee Gees
3/5
My my, I didnt know the Beatles wrote an album in 1971 🤣
Ive heard a few of these before - How can you mend a broken heart is definitely one of my moms favorites.
Overall, I thought this album was surprisingly solid. I know close to nothing about the Bee Gees in their pre disco era, so it was a delight.
I dont know if its a gripe, but its time to say it. Theres a lot of Beatles rip offs here.
Its Just The Way sounds exactly like a George Harrison song. Its a damn good song, but wow, I wonder if the fab four laughed when they heard this record.
The Fall
2/5
I didnt think this had much of anything to offer. Very rarely do I give 1 star and this came awfully close. The wiki was entertaining enough (they recorded the entire album in a single day 😂) and some of the punky lyrics had something to them. I just didnt think any tune was worth a damn on this album
The Kinks
4/5
This album has really grown on me after a few plays. Picture Book, Sitting By The Riverside and Johnny Thunder were my favorites, but genuinely, not many duds on this.
The wiki mentioned that this is considered an early concept album in the rock world, but thats strange considering it came out post Sargent Pepper. Overall, I liked reading how proudly british the kinks were. Amazing to read about late blooming albums like this. Somewhere between 3 and 4 for me.
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
Legendary cubanos, my second or third time running this album since I moved to a Buena Vista of sorts near Pat
Even as an ignorant American, I find the rhythms and genre spanning songs here to be infinitely entertaining in the right contexts (mainly just chilling or something in the background).
Favorites:
Pueblo Nuevo
Chan Chan
El Cuarto de tula
Orgullecida (sounded like an old country song - very twangy)
The Flaming Lips
3/5
I dont have a strong FL background, so this caught me a little off guard (especially at first). I now see how a lot of contemporary alt is heavily inspired by them. I definitely hear Cage The Elephant, Tame Impala and MGMT
Overall, this is somewhere between a 3 and 4. My main gripe is that there isnt a mega, standout hit(s), but its also equally charming that the album itself is a full work to listen to.
I think what pushed me over the edge is some of the farty synth stuff (e.g. Yoshimi Battles part 2) that sounds a lot like dub step and not like alt, but hey, its an interesting style.
I loved In The Morning Of Magicians, Are You A Hypnotist and Do You Realize??
The wiki was also fun to read. The Flaming Lips put out SOO much music
The La's
4/5
This 1001 album challenge really makes me think a lot about history/context -- maybe thats not the point of the exercise, but the collective history of music is really surfaced when you constantly read through the wikis of these albums. In my strong opinion, the most particularly wild eras are so clearly the late 60s/early70s and early 90s.
Like most folks, I didn't know the La's other than There She Goes (which is a 90s staple). This listen was entertaining and hits a lot of the targets that I love in an album - less than an hour, entertaining backstory, no fluff, (at least) 1 giant hit and deep cuts that keep you coming back. This album hits all of that.
I love the tracks Feelin', Looking Glass, Son Of A Gun and There She Goes.
Rounding up to 4 stars and really looking forward to listening to this again.
Cypress Hill
3/5
some funky sheeet
Actually way better than I thought it was going to be. I remember 2 moments where I was shocked about the sampling:
Gene Chandler - Duke of Earl
Village Callers - Hecktor
I don't know when I'd pull this album off the shelf again, but I definitely added a few songs to my rap playlist.
Favorites:
The Phuncky Feel One
Latin Lingo
Fucky Cypress Hill Shit
Jane's Addiction
4/5
Wow! Janes Addiction is on here
Ive been through JA beforehand, but its been a long while. Love that we’re really in a 90s groove
JA is like RHCP with a little less funk and little more punk. Gotta say, I love the explosive, way overdriven guitar. All over the place vocal melodies (sometimes rap, sometimes rock, sometimes metal).
Love the stories behind this album - especially about the dog (Annie) fucking up the vocal tracks in the studio on Been Caught Stealing. Theres also a deep history with these guys having really unfortunate death happening around them at a young age. Crazy
The front half of the album is really great. 4 stars there for sure. The second half heads too far off in a different direction for me to follow (everything after Been Caught Stealing). Then, Classic Girl really stitches it back together. Love the way the drums guide that song.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
4/5
This probably isn't the best weekend album, but I was feeling the big band jazz all weekend.
There is different pace throughout the tracks which keeps things fresh. I loved the trading and individual piano part in Lil' Darlin' that follows with a harp. It was entertaining just trying to pull out each instrument from the background.
The recording themselves are also fantastic. They mustve done some serious remastering in the 90s to save this from 1958 standards.
AC/DC
4/5
One of the first albums my parents let my brothers and I buy was AC/DC Live -- a compilation of their live hits.
We had those songs in our iTunes library forever. One of the funniest things I remember was that the song titles were not automatically scraped from the CD, so we had to name the tracks ourselves. In order to protect ourselves from the profanity, we named Highway to Hell "highway to..." 😂 Us good catholic boys doing our best to let Satan only have a small slice of our lives
Theres a lot to love about this album, but I'll go right ahead and say it that its not ACDC's best - Back In Black is far superior. Highway To Hell, Touch Too Much, If you want blood, love hungry man and night prowler are great power tunes.
The stories in the wikipedia were really fun to read. I didn't know that a third Young brother (George) was involved as the original producer for the band and was practically kicked out by the record company. Sounds like producer Mutt really brought the band to new heights though.
Laura Nyro
3/5
Not a bad album, but its lacking in something...
Its got that 60s joyous feel - like Dusty Springfield, but without the raspy edge. Or like Carole King, but not as heart punchy. Or Joni without the vocal range... Her style is very familiar, but not quite its own thing?
I appreciated how strong the cult following is for this record (directly inspired Elton John and Todd Rundgren). I guess its an early form of a very unique kind of pop. And for that, I'll probably need to give it a 2nd or 3rd spin before calling my view on it complete. For now, it sits at 2.5 stars and Im rounding up due to its uniqueness. Eli's Comin' is worth an add to a playlist... but im not sure what fits with it...
Orbital
2/5
Not much there for me. Occasionally, I was digging some of the simple melodies and vocal work, but I would never go for this.
I think a big reason that I wasnt able to latch on is how far electronic music has come since 93. My ears are tuned to 2008 and beyond in the electronic world.
Dead Kennedys
3/5
Im finding myself to be a fan of older punk rock. Maybe its also the bay area bias coming out.
Biafra's voice is... crass, but punk exists in this weird place where it doesn't really matter. Heck, sometimes its even annoying.
Overall, somewhere in that way overdone 3 star rating. Ideally a 3.5
Best songs:
Lets Lynch The Landlord
California Uber Alles
Holiday in Cambodia
Viva Las Vegas
Fuck Dan White!
Charles Mingus
4/5
Exceptional instrumentation. Sometimes things are not cohesive (even within each individual song), but that isnt always a bad thing. The 6 movements are fairly distinct.
Seeing a ballet version of this wouldve been reallllly cool. Hard to pull this record off the shelf, but its really great background jazz and is stylistically unique/hip
Fleet Foxes
5/5
Ive heard various Fleet Foxes songs throughout the years, but I must’ve completely missed this album. This is growing on me and is probably a full on 5 already. I hear everything from Beatles and Simeon and Garfunkel to early Mumford & Sons. In other words, it feels psychedelic and pop/folk/bluegrass. Specifically, in Quiet Houses, I hear what I think a lot of alternative rock bands would sound like in the early twenty teens - im thinking alt J, Saint Motel. In Sun It Rises, the chatter sounds like something straight out of the White Album lol
My only ding against it (and this may be an unpopular opinion) is that it doesnt have a stand out hit. All the songs are equally interesting.
Q-Tip
2/5
Nothing really stuck with me from this. Not a huge hip hop guy, but this pales in comparison to Kendricks album.
It didnt suck though and sounded a lot more retro than 08’. Cool to have a feature from Norah as well.
k.d. lang
2/5
Vocally, KD is undeniably great, but no songs excited me or put me in a mood worth remembering.
Oasis
4/5
We finally get to Oasis! 😂
I love this album in the same way I cherish early 60s music. Its cheesy, but it makes you feel like a young punk just trying to party and have fun with the odds stacked against you (and you feel like bitchin about it too). This abum IS rockin’ (Jack Black voice)!
Overall, there is a ton of copying and derivative guitar lines. Im not impressed with any of that, but this album is far more than the sum of its parts. This is brit rock at damn near its best
The second half of the album (especially the last 4 tracks) is the best material. Digsys dinner sounds like something out of a Fratellas album 10 years before they existed 😂 There are better Oasis albums, but im happy this was here
Muddy Waters
4/5
I listened to this Friday before work and thought it was decent - maybe 3.5. I didnt pick it up again until Monday night when I started checking reviews. The 5s I saw were insanely positive, so I convinced myself I missed something lol - kind of a rare thing for me to read reviews before writing my own, but this was a good wake up call
I still didnt like Manish Boy. Bus Driver is awesome - loved the long harmonica solos. Slide guitar is perfect on I cant be satisfied. Walkin Through The Park sounds like the Doors doing blues on LA Woman. Really fun.
Unsolicited opinion on the blues:
There isnt much variation. The positive part of that tradeoff is you start to ignore the progression and really fall into the energy dynamics being the main focus
One last thing: all this blues made me think of possibly my favorite place to listen to live music in SF - The Saloon in North Beach. If you haven’t been, get yourself there on a Saturday night. A couple of drinks later and youll be dancing to the house blues band du jour in total force
The Band
3/5
Surely some great tracks on here. My favorite is Rag Mama Rag.
I really dig the simple style that makes The Band so distinct and easy to jump into. From my perspective, some of the songs dont really carry the necessary energy to keep my attention. The Night They Drove Old Dixie is one of those popular cuts that I dont love.
Somewhere near the 3.5 mark for me. Id love to crack this open around a fire instead of a plane ride, so keep that in mind when you (or I) read this down the road
Baaba Maal
3/5
Wow, not a pretentious reaction here. There were some really great cuts and I didnt get bored with it. Yela is the only song that id skip. I added Gidelam, Sy Sawande and Minuit to a playlist.
Minuit had a guitar solo that sounded straight from Prince (super fast flurries of notes and ultra clean sound)
5/5
I am aware that this album was written at the same time Definitely Maybe was, but it doesnt come off that way. The recordings feel more polished and complex without losing that punky brit spirit. Maybe 1 skip on the entire album
This is Oasis’ best work and it satisfies every damn time. I unapologetically love some of these songs. Champagne Supernova could come out today and be a massive hit, Shes electric sounds like something from the early 2000s - such a rocker. Id say the same thing about Dont Look Back In Anger. Roll With It is a new addition to my 90s jams
Despite the Beatles references all over the place on yet ANOTHER album (yeah, its excessive ), this feels like Oasis doing a lot more of themselves. It is so much more of an album than DM
And yeah, wonderwall sucks. Its a song that shouldnt belong to this band or album. Oasis shouldve created a separate project to release this as a single and their legacy wouldve been untainted. Instead, the world rips their entire discography for this and they collected some inauthentic fans
5/5
Calexico
2/5
I appreciated the instrumentation right off the bat of the album. Quattro sounds like it couldve been a Raggae/roots song to start with and it ended as a poppy amalgamation.
Close Behind was probably my favorite track even though it is an instrumental.
Nothing crazy good or bad. Id say 2.5 stars and rounding down
Lauryn Hill
3/5
We had the Fugees before, but it never occurred to me that that trio had solo projects to this degree.
Maybe its my limited perspective on hip hop these days, but I always love how 90s and even 2000s rap had a lot of R&B baked into the various albums - im thinking my first Nelly albums.
Some big songs on this one. Ex Factor and Doo Woop are yuge and I find myself still hearing them around. I was a fan of the Frankie Vallie cover of I love you baby. A Santana feature is SO late 90s/2000s
Very listenable, a tish longer than id like.
Queen
5/5
We've got a banger here. I feel like a god damn moron for never doing a Queen deep dive
This album checks all the major boxes of a 5/5: at least one radio hit, under an hour, various styles, 1 skip max.
Im a big fan of the continuous feel of a rock opera story from start to finish. It doesn't limit the style of each song (feeling like metal in The Prophet's Song to the really poppy piano driven ballad Seaside Rendezvous and that sweet sweet 70's rock vibe of Sweet Lady -- fucking loved that washed over guitar tone in the intro).
Worth noting how great the album intro and end are. God Save The Queen somehow found a way to follow Bohemian Rhapsody to cleanly wrap the album work up in a tight bow
Lets talk about the two hits:
You're My Best Friend - this song is incredible. Maybe my all time favorite from Queen. The full powered backing vocals truly make the song for me.
Bohemian Rhapsody - like some of you out there, I probably heard this song far before I watched Waynes World, but after watching that movie is became permanently associated with it. It was an obligatory revisit for me so Ill leave the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2IQE6ZpNZ0
Kanye West
3/5
After reading through the wiki, I kept thinking that it would be cool to get a cut of this album before they stripped it down to a minimalist style and made it more “abrasive”.
Not that I don’t appreciate it stylistically (although I think some songs go a little far - New Slaves, Send it up), it would just be cool to hear chiller versions of these with some bonus instruments.
Black Skinhead and Bound 2 are bangers.
Gil Scott-Heron
4/5
Not an easy album to find - Odd that it isn't on Apple music.
Love how raw all the tracks are. I went into this with very low expectations based on what I read in the wiki (Just a keyboardist and vocalist -- Scott-Heron).
The Bottle -- I can understand the rap influence
Rivers Of My Fathers -- so raw. Piano solos were vibey
Really want to revisit this on a free night with a joint and some good food with a few friends.
Kate Bush
1/5
Not many albums where I skip damn near every song with “I just dont get it” in my head. This is one of them
Nick Drake
3/5
Hypnotic, peaceful folk tunes. Favorite tracks were Cello Song and Man In A Shed (kind of switches the vibe up to be more jazzy). Fruit Tree sounds like Babe Im Gonna Leave You from Led Zeppelin.
This was a fun airplane album and something I could easily come back to with the rest of Nick’s albums weve seen so far. Some great guitar lines and excellent use of various drums for that hypnotic element that we havent seen on other Nick Drake albums. All of this in 1969!
Red Hot Chili Peppers
5/5
Probably my favorite of all RHCP. This album has so many of their gritty classics and one extraordinary pop hit (Under The Bridge). I love watching interviews from the band at this time - Frusciante absolutely loved Funky Monks 😂
Fun fact: this was released on the exact same day as Nevermind 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
BSSM has an incredible set of bonus material including early takes of Soul To Squeeze and a bunch of covers that are worth checking out.
The timing for this album reminds me of quite a few we've seen so far in the rock world. A band releases an album or two that shows promise/potential and then they release something like this that rockets them into superstardom.
That becomes a huge part of the future of the band and how their story played out. How people deal with chaotic fame, how great bands modify their sound (and then come back to their roots) and how bands create a new direction while maintaining mass appeal. RHCPs arc is fascinating
Morrissey
3/5
Im sure everyone else had their “ooo, this sounds so close to The Smiths” only to realize its a solo album 😆
This was better than I expected. Im not a big fan of the somewhat predictable feel of each song (so much melancholy) or how it simply songs like more Smiths material.
With all that said, there are some great tracks here. I liked Bengali In Platforms and Suedehead. No super stand out hits here, but there arent any truly bad songs either
Cant believe how young Morrissey was here
Turbonegro
3/5
When I saw the name and cover art, I was preparing for a Korn like experience. Much better listen than that
The album kicking off with The Age Of Pamparius got me going and I stayed high for about 30 mins. Good Head was a fantastic finish 😆
The Beach Boys
5/5
My brain makes a game of mapping any Beach Boys song to something off of Pet Sounds 😆Various horn parts remind me of Just Wasnt Made For These Times, the chorus singing throughout (esp Help Me Rhonda, Im So Young) is SO playful without losing an occasional dark edge (maximum melancholy)
This isnt Pet Sounds, but damn is it good. Sonically, this fits well with really EARLY 60s stuff (released in 65’), but its themes & sounds are more evolved (maybe an end of that simple & happy, 60s vibe before the super concepty, psychedelic, dark and punky state of history). And the ending with Bull Session was fantastic! I was cheesing so hard listening to the band talk about their experiences in Europe.
Becoming a favorite early 60s sounding album for me. Adding it to my HIGHLY sought after list of Vinyl To Get when I inevitably undertake that hobby 😆
Aretha Franklin
5/5
When I go on vacation, I often miss about half of the albums that mint for our group. I find it extremely challenging to catch back up (which Ive come to grips with as its not the point of the group or even being a fan of music). Recently, I dug back and saw that I missed this one and felt like I needed to prioritize it
Aretha birthed a golden album here. 30 mins of sass and class. More late 60s perfection (a hill ive died on 300 times now)
Ive been digging it for over a week now and have kept nearly every song for my 1001 albums playlist
Ravi Shankar
3/5
Not my first time through this and definitely not my last either. With that said, this can be a challenging 53 minutes.
Each time I listen this specific record, I imagine how mind bending it mustve been to have had a copy of this in the west. The instruments are so deeply set in a different world. That makes Ravis introduction to some conceptual stuff all the more charming and genuinely interesting.
I probably wrote this in a different review already. I highly recommend playing a sitar and tabla if you ever see one around. They are super fun instruments with so much feel/configuration.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
There’s something here, but its taking a while to grow on me.
Its reminds me a lot of the arctic monkeys at times, Pavement on other tracks and Weezer occasionally.
If You Dont Want Me To Destroy You is my favorite track. And damn does it remind me of Third Eye Blind - which Im sure the band would find extremely insulting, but hey, its whiney boy alt rock, so they're at a minimum cousins.
Rounding up to 3 stars, but its really a 2.5
The Notorious B.I.G.
3/5
God, this was tough because the music is easy to love, but its truly a horrific account of someone who has lost the ability to give a fuck. Especially on Suicidal Thoughts.
Overall, im glad I listened all the way through and gave the album its deserved attention. That said, ill never look at this the same way again.
4/5
What a year for music 😂 Broken record here.
I like this a lot. Big hit, memorable hooks, short length, felt alive and very analog. More of an album piece than a bunch of singles, so I think a handful of tracks need to have context to sound good
Shangri-La sounds like a Velvet Underground song
Mr Churchill Says is such a weird tune. It sounded like Neil Young’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - the guitar riff is damn close.
Very satisfied with this pick. I think the album left something to be desired on a few tracks, but I was still asking for more when the 36 minutes were up.
Rod Stewarts voice definitely belongs on this list. Ian McLagen on the keys provides so much “70s” taste to most of the songs
Stay With Me, Love Lives Here and Debris are tasty tracks.
3.5 and rounding up.
Arctic Monkeys
3/5
Raw, nostalgic, unique stuff.
This feels like a lot more than 41 minutes of material. I feel a little fatigue with the rough punky sound after the first 10 or so minutes. Fortunately, I think the album goes in a fantastic direction when it hits Riot Van at the midpoint. It saves the album and grows into something more. A little more poppy and personal.
When I eventually return to this, I think ill just listen to the second half of the album. Far more fresh
Rush
5/5
A little more interesting to me than Moving Pictures was. With that said, the first mega track tired me out the second time through it when I was almost exclusively focusing in on it with headphones over my ears.
The rest of the tracks are fantastic. I could play them over and over again without fatigue. Twilight Zone avoided corniness, but was still very 70s. Lessons was something of a radio hit.
And for those reasons, its a 5. Great fit for a weekend album
Led Zeppelin
5/5
A hall of fame debut album for the New Yardbirds 😂 These are almost all gigantic classics… Babe Im Gonna Leave You really stands out to me. Goosebumps
God, reading the wiki for this reminded me of how young Plant was - 20 years old when he met Page.
Air
3/5
Didnt hate this, but nothing stood out except the movie that it was backing. Not a yuge Sofia fan, but this will push me over the edge to dive a little deeper
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
2/5
When I saw "Genre: Dance" and "Published: 1984", I knew exactly what kind of experience this was going to be
Man, I just don't get the sounds of 80s pop. Its a decade of sound that I find hilariously overdone most of the time. The sound effects that are thrown about on this album are CORNY. Occasionally, I like the percussion creativity, but it can also amplify the 80sness of it all. Sigh... Sorry to folks who really dig that (certainly memorable) funky weirdness
Relax is an interesting song. Popular enough that i've heard it before. The album saves itself from 1 stardom with the somewhat interesting covers of War, Born to Run and San Jose. They're funny and punky enough to keep me listening.
Adele
5/5
Adele… Adele… Listen to me... youre ONLY 25
All the themes here are very mid life. From a dudes perspective, I dont hear many 25 year olds openly say “we were sad of getting older, made us restless” or “life was a party to be thrown, but that was a million years ago” and be super nostalgic for things that were maybe 2 years ago. Perhaps the “young mother” perspective is what is new to me here, but damn, Adele, you gotta take deep inhale. Youve got 10 more years before you can respectably start to feel that way.
Production wise, its super clear that is album is on another level. All the vocal tracks are so damn clear and tasteful with even modest quality headphones. Definitely experienced a few jaw droppers during Send My Love and Water Under The Bridge while trying to focus in on the chorus vocals. All the (rather simple) instruments and Adeles voice are balanced together so well. 10/10, chefs kiss
Booker T. & The MG's
4/5
Overall, super enjoyable. Love the straight blues structures and soooo much tasty organ (favorite licks were on A Woman, A Lover, A Friend). Great covers (twist and shout, Comin Home Baby), reprise of green onions was unexpected and You cant sit down sealed the album with a second hit (underrated tune).
I was able to do a dive into Booker Ts wiki. Cant believe this dude was so young. Collaborated with everyone (Neil Young) and is still alive and kickin.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
5/5
Here I am confirming my bias for the late 60s/early 70s being the best era for music again 😂
The muted instrument sounds mixed with those crystal clear vocal harmonies is so stylish and beautiful, but creepy and weird when the song calls for it. Im in awe at some of these
Lady Of The Island and Helplessly Hoping were my personal favorites this time.
Easy to spend a full 24 hours on this. With that said, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes overshadows the genius of the rest of this. I wonder if they considered splitting that off as a single and keeping it off this album.
The xx
3/5
Overall, the romantic vibe is strong on this one. The dreamy space pop is really unique & the duet vocals have serious chemistry. I dare you is a great tune
With that said, it was a difficult album for me to "stay with". Id groove with it for a couple tracks and then I'd want to spin something else... Maybe if I had this on a chill Saturday night, it would've hit a lot harder. I'll cut it some slack because it still managed to satiate my appetites while hacking away my normal work day to day work tasks.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Another album where every unique opinion has been made and theres nothing else to do except make an effort to give it a complete play
And somehow this one still sounds fresh😎
The rough production/recording on each song with the super mature themes are master works of art. I genuinely find them to get me dancing or suck me completely into a story
European Son is the only track that pushed the avant guard a little too far and its an odd artifact of aged avant guard that didnt ever become the guard. The other 10 tracks are fantastic
Loved Run Run Run and Ill Be Your Mirror this time through
PJ Harvey
3/5
A sheela na gig is a figurative carving of a naked woman displaying an exaggerated vulva. These carvings, from the Middle Ages, are architectural grotesques found throughout most of Europe on cathedrals, castles, and other buildings.
Well then... That clears that right up.
-
Some good cuts on this. Finally in the spot to say, "I think PJ Harvey is aight". The album runs a really fast 40 mins. I heard a bit of nirvana like angst (released in 91' and she'd be right around 22 years old). Guitar lines are all really simple and punky, but they're effective. Some variation of sound to keep you guessing (Fountain was really dark).
Kanye West
5/5
An all timer. This came out my sophomore year in high school and half of these songs defined a significant chunk of the soundtrack of my life for the next few years. Its a 5/5 rap album
The ensemble of collaborators really pushes it to new heights. The maximalist approach is so much more pleasing to my ear than the Yeezus album was.
The album art is so damn provocative. I did a deep dive on George Condo and the way he details human teeth is disturbing, but I cant keep my eyes off it
My big gripe:
I wonder who is responsible for what on this. Kanye gets credited with the genius but with so many collaborators (?) and producers (7), I wonder where exactly Kanye fits here.. who came up with the core ideas? Is Kanye playing George Martin here with all the strings and horns? The wiki doesn’t describe it enough 🤷♂️
Michael Jackson
4/5
This is so 70s in the best way. The instrumentation, the happy choruses, disco beats are so dancey and fun. This definitely lives in Thriller’s shadow, but its not a knock on the song quality.
Youve got to be in the mood for it, but theres no question that this is great. You can see how MJ went on to dominate the 80s after this. Also, McCartney worked with MJ even before Thriller! Crazy
Favorite tune: Off The Wall
Kate Bush
3/5
Wow, a rare slice of 80s pop that I enjoy 😆
This was so much better than The Dreaming. Pat aptly described that as a “Double Black Diamond of an album” and I clearly wasnt capable of appreciating it. Bluntly, I never wanted to dig into to the Bush again after my first experience
Tikie tokie madness aside, this album has a real vibe with some worthy tracks to listen to. I wouldnt even say that Deal with God is the best track. I loved Cloudbusting
Some tunes go too long, but I never wanted to stop the album altogether. Its like watching a weird tv show that doesnt move as fast as youd like, but youre really sucked into the story.
Kate Bush
2/5
Meh, definitely not the Bush we heard in Hounds Of Love.
It wasnt terrible, but I didnt appreciate the theme/concept most of the time. The 80sness of it really ruins it for me. Genesis style drums 😆
I liked the uplifting Love and Anger tune and that was about it.
TLC
4/5
Feeling grateful that we all have to lower our music critic shields occasionally to let these through - another example was Meat Loaf
From Neil Diamond to Petey Pablo, we've all heard our fair share of DIRTY songs from a dude's point of view. The confident lady trio concept here is/was different and really turns the tables. This is the earliest example of that idea that I know of
And on top of that, these songs aren't corny like the Backstreet Boys or Nsync were. Its a serious mix of baby making music and R&B worth sticking around for (and I mean that)
The hits gave me goosebumps (Waterfalls - damn those horns). Sexy (Interlude) had me laughing out loud on my bike ride to work (that rug pull was FUCKING hilarious). There are 2 or 3 other deep cuts worth going back to and only a few skips (falls off a bit at the end).
Music aside, these ladies have some extraordinary libidos. Great work
The White Stripes
5/5
An easy 5/5 for me and maybe The White Stripes most interesting work?
A little of everything on here. White Moon was really soft and lovely. Little Ghost brought on the bluegrass. The Denial Twist sounds like a lot of what Jack would make years later.
As Ugly As I Seem is now my favorite stripes song. So real. Lovely 44 mins
Michael Kiwanuka
3/5
I ran into this album during early covid and found a lot of these tracks scattered across my playlists. Marks a moment in time for me
As an album piece, its solid. The flow between some of the songs is so smooth. The intense reverb and Kiwanukas soul vocals are very entertaining and easy to get lost in. Love the random sounds used throughout too
All that said, I felt bored about 10 mins in. Maybe its just the day im experiencing this, but I couldnt quite keep my attention on this.
Suicide
1/5
One of the bottom 2-3 albums we’ve encountered so far.
Black Sabbath
4/5
Holy mother fucker. This album hits wayyyy harder than I thought it would.
I did a quick run through of Ozzys hits with my wife last night. Some fun tracks, sure, but I left thinking that we’ve moved beyond his style. It felt a little depressing
This flipped me big time. Supernaut sounded like a Hendrix song with a little Paul Simon in the middle. Changes was pure theater. Snowblind and Cornoucopia were great as well. The album sounds metal, but has hits of pop and random all over the place.
Massive Attack
2/5
Not horrible, but definitely needs context for its significance.
I didnt know that massive attack essentially branched hip hop into soul/funk genres. Its super clear after seeing the release date (91’) that this was very ahead of its time. I find trip hop mixes everywhere on youtube that resemble this without as much character (especially vocally)
Unfinished Sympathy and Lately were my favorites tracks. Somewhere around the 2.5 stars mark
Garbage
4/5
Garbage… man. What a fantastic debut.
There are no skips here and the sound hasnt aged at all (to my millennial ears). The album kicks off with some stellar tracks
Elliott Smith
4/5
Wow, compared to the last Elliott Smith album, this is far more the style I think hes trying to create - some soft pop rock with super melancholic themes
Maybe thats due to the double album vs 37 mins fatigue, but I like to think its how raw these recordings sound. Its true bedroom alt rock.
I really enjoyed the deep cuts. Rose Parade has a really nice feel without it being complicated or all that unique
Television
3/5
Not everything stuck, but what did was exceptional (especially for 77’). Marquee Moon is a fantastic track
I wonder how many bands site these guys as influential. They certainly sound like the 90s/00s alt scene
Joan Baez
3/5
Wow, I guess I didnt know how far back Baez went. 1960 for this flower girl folk is really ahead of the main wave.
Silver Dagger had some neat fingerpicking. Vocals were excellent throughout- particularly on All My Trials. Didn’t always love the vibrato though
Pretty slow, but this fits a particularly relaxing vibe that can work. Not the easiest record to call up for the future, but enjoyable when you thirst for the slow and sweet. Rounding up to 3
Slipknot
2/5
By way of working at McDonalds in high school, I became introduced to slipknot from my manager’s hazing prank. He blasted slipknot on our community stereo while I was taking orders from the drive through. It’s hilarious thinking back on what I probably looked like wearing the headset trying to hear a customer’s order with Psychosocial raging in the background. It went on for at least two minutes while the crew played it cool. I eventually saw them laughing and they finally cut it off. That was 2009 IIRC
Kind of feels like a movie scene 😂
I did become a fan of some of slipknots mid 2000s stuff and was somewhat excited to hear their debut. Some of it was alright. I liked Liberate, Only One and Wait And Bleed. This early stuff isnt as melodic/interesting as their mid 2000s material. You can get a taste for their later stuff by listening to Purity.
2.5 stars and rounding down
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
I wasnt around for it, but its really clear that this was a landmark album for all of hip hop. Some of the tracks slap (Adidas, Its Tricky) even though theyve aged significantly compared to the rest of this genre. I personally hope some other group rejoins the rock n roll/hip hop mash up scene that the beastie boys and DMC had
The Clash
2/5
Gee, I thought I wouldve liked this a lot more.
Most of these tracks were more annoying than interesting. Hopefully we see a different Clash album later because I didnt see much of this album in their top 20 songs.
At the end of the day, I appreciated White Riot. That song saved this from 1 star
Small Faces
3/5
1968 craziness.
The beginning of this album (album title track) sounds like it could’ve been the child of more modern rock group like Tame Impala (minus the extra strings).
The rest of the album follows the late 60s brit rock scene. Nothing wrong with that. Its made more interesting with the somewhat cohesive stories.
k.d. lang
2/5
Sounded like some late 80s pop and country mixed with Elvis.
Not my bag, but I tolerated the album. Somewhere around 2.5 stars and rounding down.
Interesting to see that Chris Isaac wrote Western Stars.
The Killers
5/5
Was pretty amped when I saw this, so I went “sit-down & headphone” for this one. Major bias alert 😂
This album dropped when I was going full stream buying 99 cents singles on iTunes. The four hits on this have been weaving in and out of my memories for the last 20 years. Truly a coming of age album for me. And oddly enough, I dig some of this more than what I used to.
Jenny was a friend of mine, Change your mind were great additions on top of the mega hits.
All around, great tunes, real emotion, longstanding value. 5/5
Solomon Burke
3/5
Just discovered Burke a few weeks ago when a friend sent over his cover of A Change Is Gonna Come. Really soulful and long career
This was huge at its time, but it doesn’t stand out too much from similar 60s stuff - otis Redding for example. 2.5 stars for me. Rounding up because its easy listening
Billy Bragg
3/5
Ooo man. Some good folksy rock here. Usually the double album is an immediate turn off, but it only drags on slightly here.
The entire album I was thinking about Frank Turner 😂 Turns out they’ve collaborated a lot together.
Giving it a 3 for now, but definitely going back this weekend for another round
The Zombies
4/5
Care of Cell 44 and Time Of The Season are huge hits that deserve their incessant radio presence. The rest of the album is entertaining, but doesnt reach those heights.
Love the instrumentation- lots of piano, great harmonies, Blunstons vocals are solid
Also wasn't surprised to read that this was recorded at Abbey Road. The weird flute was definitely calling on some Beatles stuff. Some of the songs even resemble Beatles hits - A Rose For Emily sounds just like For No One off of Revolver.
Crazy to read how bootstrapped this project was and how they disbanded after. The talent and sound is so clear to me? Ill definitely be returning to this again to get the middle of this album another run
Alanis Morissette
5/5
If you lived in the West between 95' and 05', you were most definitely influenced by this. Millennial DNA right here.
I cant add much to the conversation other than a big recommendation for the Jagged Little Pill musical. Its a fantastic adaptation with a serious story thats filled with self aware jokes
Sigur Rós
2/5
I heard some of the Icelandic magic (like Bjork), but the songs never felt like they truly get energetic enough to stick around for. Glad I gave it an honest listen, but I dont get it
The Doors
5/5
Huge fan of LA Woman
In my opinion, this completely represents the band's sound of the 5 or so years they were together. The raw takes (there are random artifacts all over this album), bass guitar, new producer (produced a lot of it themselves) somehow extended them creatively to find their peak as a group. Botnick was a godsend to them.
5/5.
Since this is their last real album, its probably a good time for me to rant about the band's conclusion
Robby Krieger's book Set The Night On Fire recounts the band's history well and details a lot of what happened after Jim's death. A lot is predictable fallout and some is pure fantasizing (check out The Poet In Exile). What shocked me the most is the fact they all gave up on the idea that they could be as good without Jim.
“Once you've been a part of something like the Doors, one way or another, you'll forever be chasing that first high.”
Why? Jim Morrison is somewhat of a mythical figure to me. The best Door's songs are written by Krieger. Without a doubt, Jim was the face of the band & had some interesting lyrics, but the music is driven by Ray, John and most importantly Robby.
So why the heck did the Doors fall off after 1971? All signs point to most of the band being completely tired of Morrison by then, they just wrote their best songs, the oldest in the band (Ray) was 32, they reportedly almost had Iggy Pop join?
I would love to see the universe where Jim lives to 30 or 35. I bet there are at least a couple more power rock albums that would blow our socks off
Michael Jackson
3/5
Nothing close to Thriller in my opinion, but it still finds a good amount of uniqueness. Smooth Criminal is a fantastic song that pops off this album. The other hits are fine, but sound overdone at this point.
Pearl Jam
5/5
Definitely misbranded as “grunge” 😂
Pearl Jam at this stage is definitely a 70s classic rock band more than a grunge or hard rock band. And hey, thats cool. The sound is still unique. So much more approachable than grunge to the masses and its not like there isnt an edge. Veder is super raspy, overdrive is set to 11, drums are bangin’, lyrics are crazy
Overall, this is LOADED with hits. I listened to Jeremy and Even Flow back to back my entire commute home. Release is an underrated cut that I havent heard before.
4.5 stars for me.
The Style Council
3/5
Love the jazzy, hip hoppy, folk rock diversity of this album. Me Ship Came In was super playful jazz. Heres One That Got Away was the cherry on top of solid album of various genres (no song credit for the fiddle player).
Ray Charles
3/5
Some fun tracks in here. The big band stuff kept my attention, but the ballads were a better showcase of Rays voice. His rhythm in Let The Good Times Roll was awesome.
Black Sabbath
4/5
Helluva debut! Another great Sabbath album thats making me feel like I completely missed the boat on Ozzy while he was alive.
Most of this Ive never heard beforehand. They must’ve cut up the medley tracks for radio play because there were pieces I recognized from rock radio stations growing up.
Their sound went really far beyond metal - similar track diversity in Volume 2. Wicked World using a swing drum beat was simply fucking awesome.
Amazing to read the Iommi fingers story and how hot their sound hit initially.
Cream
2/5
Was expecting to be blown away and honestly I wasn't impressed beyond the hits (strange brew is a little underrated) and some Clapton magic. Maybe the first late 60s entry that I didnt love on this list.
Somewhere around 2.5 stars, but im rounding down.
Bob Dylan
4/5
I remember when my roommate Paul from college gave me a recommendation to listen to Blood On The Tracks. My only real Bob Dylan exposure to that point was Like A Rolling Stone. I remember thinking that I just didnt get the style on most of the tracks and his voice was too much. As time goes on, ive really grown to admire Dylan and the entire sub-folk genre that he sits in (Josh Ritter as a more modern example)
This time through, the sequencing really impressed me. The first five tracks on this are fantastic and flow really well into each other. You're A Big Girl Now and Idiot Wind are under appreciated.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
2/5
I was intrigued by the melodies and the soft synth sounds. The drum machine doesnt get in the way.
Not my bag, but I enjoyed a couple cuts. Extended Souvenir was my favorite track
2.5 stars
The Black Keys
4/5
Love Everlasting Light. Tighten Up was my fucking jam in high school.
Sounded like some recycling kicked in when I hit the The Only One (resembled Tighten Up with a different rhythm and vocal).
A little long, but this album still represents an awesome 2000s rock sound with a handful of hits
AC/DC
5/5
Thank you Satan and Australia for giving humanity this drug
I wrote about my experience growing up with the AC/DC Live album when we had Highway To Hell a few months back. These guys were hands down the coolest effing thing my parents ever gifted me and my brothers besides… well, life itself, I guess.
Lyrics aside, this album gets people of all ages jacked up to do anything from cleaning toilets to scoring touchdowns. The guitar work is actually fantastic, Brian Johnsons voice is impossible to imitate by mere mortals and there aint a dead track in these 42 minutes.
If there is a greatest thing of the 1980s or Hard Rock itself, its this. This is the top.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Masterpiece
Loved listening to pieces of the super deluxe version. Disc 3 has early takes that are amazing to hear.
Buckingham sounds like Billy Corbin in the early takes of Second Hand News
The lore of this album is endlessly entertaining to dig into. Theres no doubt that these were supremely talented and volatile people that made something generationally relevant
Coldcut
2/5
Another album of “you had to be there to understand the significance”
Nothing great. Telephone was a fun song to bop around to
Gorillaz
2/5
Not amazing to my ears, BUT it was cool to read up on the blur -> gorillaz transition and the super collaborative environment that created the various sounds. I grew up on some of this, but found a new track Man Research to be my favorite.
Somewhere around 2 stars
Hugh Masekela
3/5
I really dig Masekela! Having only heard grazing in the grass before this, I knew to some extent that this would be happy jazz 🤣
The album is a tish too long and slow at times, but I still managed to get through it a couple of times this weekend.
Maesha is an incredible tune. It has a slow start (2 mins or so of buildup), but the vamp is worth it. It was in my ears all weekend
Somewhere around the 3.5 stars mark
Aretha Franklin
5/5
“When she starts singin’, she blows everyones minds, EVERYONE WANTS TO PARTY WITH Aretha” ~ Jack Black - School of rock
Some singers are just better transferring their emotions to their audiences. Shes at the tippy top the list. Big pipes and infectious charisma
Big fan of Drown In My Own Tears, Dr. Feelgood and Good Times.
The Damned
3/5
So much early Doors influence here - almost sounds like a Jim Morrison vocal rip off.
Love the percussive switch ups- clave mixed in with punk rock setting was really cool.
Overall, this is my kind of punk. Much more melodic than previous artists weve had wothout losing the edge. Going to love coming back to this.
Dagmar Krause
2/5
Im happy to entertain these cabaret albums for a few tracks. Certainly not my bag. I did find some of the theatrical rise and fall to be fun, but the novelty wears off in 5 tracks.
The Byrds
2/5
Theres a ton of great 60s music… and this isnt part of it.
I love Eight Miles High and I Know My Rider (which is a bonus track). The rest of the album all sounds alright, but not noteworthy.
The most “2.5 stars” of an album ive ever heard
The Band
3/5
Some big songs here. Feeling like I missed The Band almost entirely growing up. Love the sound in the right context
Chest Fever, The Weight, Long Black Veil were great.
The Beach Boys
3/5
Man, I dont know how to feel about this album.
On one hand, Take A Load Off Your Feet was WAY ahead of its time. To my ears, I hear happy, dorky alt rock like this everyday. Surfs Up is another mega track that needs at least 5 listens to appreciate (err at least it did for me) and its clearly the critical focus of the album (not to mention the most meaningful as well)
Shifting to the shitty side, Student Demonstration Time doesn’t hold a candle to 4 Dead In Ohio and IMO, this song sounds incredibly corny. I thought it was an ironic song - an attack on politically charged music. Nope, its serious.
Pet Sounds and The Beach Boys Today were so much easier to digest at first. This is inspiring me to take a dive into everything after Pet Sounds to hear what the heck was happening here.
A note to my future self: dude, I tried. And I think I understood some of this, but there were some genuinely awful tunes here that I couldn't look past
Elton John
5/5
A lot of ballads, but that doesn’t stop this from being an attention holder. Everybody loves Levon. Tiny Dancer is an all time classic — and somehow managed to pull Russell out of a weird acid trip in Almost Famous
Indian Sunset and Holiday Inn are huge tracks that I wasnt super aware of before this (outside of Ghetto Gospel). Fantastic instrumentation and super catchy lyrics from Taupin.
5 big ones here.
Daft Punk
3/5
Really impressive front half of this. Im a big fan of Revolution 909 and Da Funk. The second half lacks diversity and catchiness… a lot of slow builds over themes that arent really that amusing. I think dance music is supposed to excite and I was left bored over most of the last 35 mins. Alive was the only track there that I thought was worth listening to entirely.
Like most albums over the hour long mark, they could trash 25% of this and come out with a complete product that doesn't leave your attention wanting more or finding something else. I need to define this, so I can stop writing this out. For now, ill name it Fluffy Album Syndrome (FAS). Long Album Syndrome doesn’t really summarize my main idea. A great album could be two hours if it takes that long to complete its main concept. Our Homework here is done in 45 mins or less 😉
Depeche Mode
2/5
I forced myself to listen to this and surprisingly, I left with 1 new song I liked - Policy Of Truth
I can see why people like this stuff, but my brain runs away from this dark synth pop genre.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
There’s a lot of downstream influence here. Susans vocal style exists in a lot of punk/alt rock music these days. I immediately think of Dehd.
According to the wiki page, the guitar work from McGeoch impressed everyone who was anyone in the 90s from RHCP to the Smashing Pumpkins folks. And honestly, I hear it. Fruciante has a similar style
Influence aside, the first 3 tracks are awesome and the rest is just okay. Super glad to have a reference point on them. Worthy listen and future relisten
Tears For Fears
5/5
From my personal 1001 album stats, the 1980s are my least favorite decade hovering just above the 3.10 mark while the 60s/70s decades are nearly at 4.00. One of the things that makes me hate this decade is that it brought a lot of technology-enriched shit that was too raw/early/tasteless to age well.
But. This album somehow did it all so well. Its grand, its clean, its catchy, weird, occasionally scary. These songs are great and are sequenced well with many surprises
Big recommendation you check out the Strong Songs podcast episode on Everybody Wants To Rule The World. Thanks goes to Pat
Erykah Badu
3/5
Im almost entirely new to Badu’s voice. And without embarrassment, Im thoroughly drunk on it after one listen. Mostly neat tracks here, but Didnt Cha Know is a clear standout. Pretty sick that this album came after she took a break to raise her first child.
My one note is that the album is kind of slow and feels like a single note/long concept - which tends to happen with this genre for me.
Pixies
5/5
One things for sure, this album doesnt belong in the 80s 😆
Doolittle sounds so much better and more complete than Surfa Rosa did 1 year before it. I can hear why Cobain claimed this as one of his favorites. The quiet/loud screamo stuff gets me fucking fired up and mad as hell at… well, I dont really know.
The dark punky moody tunes somehow pair well with their distantly related, happy alt cousins. I dont get it, but Im here for the party that switches from beer pong to cigarettes in a hurry
There is so much packed into this 40 minute package. Its going to be in my ears all weekend.
Crowded House
2/5
I listened to about 90 seconds of each song and left really unimpressed. Nothing stands out as unique - mayyyybe the occasional vocal harmony keeps this stomach-able
That said, none of these songs are terrible. I reserved 1 star ratings for truly horrible albums.
Arcade Fire
3/5
I find myself somewhere in the middle with these guys. The sound scapes are unique and cool, but Butlers voice occasionally annoys me
The first two tracks (The Suburbs, Ready To Start) are fantastic. Month of May is a worthy cut as well but, it doesnt seem like it fits the concept here. No true duds on here, but some really odd stuff I dont get - Rococo for example. Rounding up to 3. More like a 2.5 for me though
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Big big fan of this album.
Outside of revisiting the hits (God damn, Im On Fire is a great tune, but that Daddy reference is awful), I liked Darlington County and Bobby Jean this time through.
Generally speaking, all of these songs arent super special, but they feel super organic/authentic. Maybe its the way the drums sound or Bruce’s natural feel for a cadence. It all sounds like a band that youd hear on a perfect summer night at a small town festival. Rich “Americana”
Yes
5/5
Epic “rock” album here. Neat to read how they were nearly dropped all together by their record company and smashed this out of the park
These guys crammed a lot into 40 minutes. I appreciated the live acoustic action (The Clap) and all the multi part prog rock jams. Killer opening track in Yours Is No Disgrace (sick guitar solo at the beginning).
Cant help but smile whenever I hear all the John Lennon references (Instant Karma, Give Peace A Chance) in Ive Seen All Good People. Tasteful layering there.
Missy Elliott
1/5
Most of the hip hop on this list is interesting, but not this one
Since the Yes album yesterday had some Lennon references, I thought id include one here too l
The Rain samples a great song called I Cant Stand The Rain by Ann Peebles - genuinely recommend listening to it. Theres an amazing story of John Lennon showing up to her show in LA in 1974 and getting totally shit faced. The story includes him professing his love for Ann with a Maxi pad stuck to his forehead. He was thrown out of the club that night. I recommend any Beatles fan to do some digging about The Lost Weekend. There are loads of crazy stories with all kinds of new characters
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/20/ann-peebles-girl-with-the-big-voice
Incredible Bongo Band
2/5
Dueling Bongos was neat, but man, who can muster up the steam for an hour+ of this?
Ill tell ya who… Matthew McConaughey
bONNgoos man… GET IT. YEEEWHOO
Prince
2/5
Starting to think 1999 was Prince’s best work.
Slow Love and Adore were good tunes, but I didnt connect with much else. 2.5 stars
Tracy Chapman
4/5
I wouldnt call myself a Tracy superfan, but ive heard SOME of these jams for my entire life. Its part of the millennial DNA
I emphasize “some” because its only Fast and Revolution that find radio/playlist time these days.
I need to give it one or two more complete spins to form a final opinion on the bulk of these songs
After 1 full listen today, I really liked If Not Now and Baby Can I Hold You. Some songs like Shes Got Her Ticket and Mountains O Things didnt really stick. I tried to like them, but it felt like filler material with a cultural twist. On the other hand, the “revolution” vibe really comes off authentically
Im somewhere near the 3.5 mark for what its worth. Ill round up to 4 because holy fuck she was young, cool, scrappy and… deserving of this success. Loved reading her story
Hawkwind
3/5
Some interesting stuff that sounded influenced by kraut rock and obviously 60s psychedelia. I liked some of it. Space Is Deep caught me off guard. Honestly, I liked parts of most of the songs. Didn’t particularly appreciate how long each track went.
Cool to read that Motorhead was formed after this project
Somewhere around 3 stars I reckon
TV On The Radio
3/5
Never heard of this and Im digging some of it. Staring At The Sun was great. You Could Be Love sounded like inspiration for Rainbow Kitten Surprise. Bomb Yourself was cool.
I didnt love the a capella things they were trying in Ambulance and Poppy. One of those things thats cool for a minute and annoying after 4.
Somewhere at the 2.5 stars mark
T. Rex
4/5
To my ears, this is like the first album that John Lennon wouldve done had he never been in the Beatles.
I cant name a band like T.Rex (maybe Bowie) and the groups that found deep inspiration from this are really cool - MGMT.
Personally, I like the ultra distorted guitar, airy vocals and the simple grooves. I remember hearing Lifes A Gas back in college and being totally obsessed with it.
Linkin Park
5/5
Yeah, holy shit.
This album is loaded and the emotion feels genuine in every track. Probably the peak of rock/rap.
Personally, I forgot how fantastic Crawling and Papercut were. Forgotten was new to me and is a super cool
Richard Hawley
2/5
Not my bag, but this wasnt bad by any means. Hawley has a thick and deep Sinatra like voice with Leonard Cohen’s dark vibes.
Good diversity of tracks on the album. Some are a little slow though
I definitely need another spin or two on this. Somewhere around the 2.5 star mark
Tito Puente
4/5
What a fun album 🕺 This succeeded in getting me to do an idiots attempt at a salsa dance around 8AM this morning.
Dance Mania? I truly think so
This music is so damn fun and really feels like swing & bebop’s cooler cousin. I personally love the vocal lines and extremely well timed hits. I wish I had more of an “In” to this kind of music in my life
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
This certainly was unique. Folk skaa is the closest thing I could come up with (theres some other genres tested, but thats what stood out) 😂
Mostly decent tracks. Only familiar with Come On Eileen before this and the album definitely stretches those themes
I liked Jackie Wilson Said, Lets Make This Precious and of course Come On Eileen.
Not likely ill come back, but this was a solid 2.5/3 star spin
Amy Winehouse
5/5
Fantastic Friday/weekend album.
Im here for the glorification of Amy into rock star martyr (that comes with some reality distortion that ill explain later).
This is what an unfiltered Taylor Swift would make with a near Adele level voice. When she sings “What kind of FUckErYyy are wee”, I get the pure emotion with the strong pipes. I dig
My lukewarm take:
Although I love this, I dont get the magnitude of this album. Number 33 on Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums seems a bit overrated in my head. I can only think that her death was the jet fuel behind the popularity and obsession here
The Who
4/5
Back in my junior year of college, an exchange student from Leeds moved into a friend’s spare room. She and her group of Leeds fiends were filthy party animals for their year in America. One particular highlight that comes to mind is throwing a bunch of old pumpkins off of a 6th floor apartment patio into the street after bar close 🤷♂️ those were different times
Great banter throughout the album. Respectful and funny crowd/band interaction. Keith’s a rhythmic freak. Hilarious storytelling in A Quick One, While Hes Away. Young Man Blues was neat and an absolute head banger. Loved the raw take of Magic Bus at the end
Kings of Leon
4/5
It’s the bass guitar and drums that take most of the tracks here beyond being just another pop rock song. Very impressed by this
IMO, you could throw out Use Somebody and Sex On Fire and still be left with a good album - Manhattan, Revelry, 17, Notion (where this album cooks IMO).
3.5 stars and rounding up
The Streets
1/5
Not opposed to comedy/parody, but this did not get a lot of laughs from me. Maybe this is some super cultural humor for the brits
Eminem
3/5
Iiiiii neverrrrr meantttt toooooo give you mushroooooomss girllllll 🤣
I have to say it. Lounge (Skit) was one of my favorite parts of this album. It brought me back to The Beach Boys Today album
--
The inception of the Slim Shady alter ego is kind of neat (anthropologically & psychologically speaking). Seeing how Infinite never got Eminem off the ground, I wonder what kind of life Eminem would've lived had he experience some success in 97'.
According to the wikipedia, it was a rap battle competition in LA in 98' that got him noticed enough for his Slim Shady EP to get into Dr Dre's ears. And it really wasn't until early 99' that this hits the scene (when he's roughly 27).
3.5 stars and rounding down. There are better Eminem albums.
The Temptations
4/5
Groovy 70s. Timeless and deep.
What impressed me most was the courageous and ambitious tracks on the front side of the album:
• Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On is the perfect backdrop song to the opening credits of a movie set in the 70s. Love how this introduces the band and gets into a groove right away. The single best song title we've encountered ~350 albums in
• Run Charlie Run - Hearing white flight called out so directly was bold. According to the wiki, this was really controversial even within the band. I thought it made them certified bad asses.
• Papa Was A Rolling Stone is 12 mins. Holy shit! Super groovy. Gotta love the shimmering strings, chorus parts (loved the stereo split), off beat claps. It never drags.
The back half of the album was a little more sentimental, but theres definitely a vibe that it fits just not as cool/mind blowing as the front.
One random thing. I love the super low voice stuff that they use throughout the album (its kind of cartoonish, but its used tastefully). Another group that heavily used this was Funkadelic's Maggot Brain (released 1 year earlier in 71').
4.5 stars. The back half was a little bit of a drag 🤷♂️
David Bowie
2/5
This is a dense, dark and difficult album to appreciate. I don't think im alone here.
If I had to pick something out, it would be Dollar Days (~Bowies attempt at hip hop)
Honestly, I had more interest reading the wiki than hearing these tunes. Kind of amazed to hear how he kept his cancer a secret and kept his focus on the project and creating a tight band.
Sorry David. I just didnt get it. 2.5 stars
Rocket From The Crypt
2/5
Im here for the ska punk vibe of San Diego in the 90s, but im a little lost on what makes this album so significant.
The first three or four tracks are fun enough to return to
Brian Eno
3/5
I had high expectations for this after reading who contributed to this - Phil Collins, Robert Fripp, Jaki Liebezeit (the list is remarkable). And after I finished it twice, I wouldnt say im disappointed, but this definitely failed to send me to outer space
Supposedly, they wrote about 100 songs for this (which is bananas). I could only pull out maybe 3-4 tracks that I enjoyed. I give them some credit for branching out to a lot of unique genres, but most of the songs were not all that cool
King’s Lead Hat, Julie With… and By This River were my most notable.
2.5 stars.
Roxy Music
2/5
Initially surprised by the quality of the rock energy and new wave sound that this preceded? To me it sounded a lot like what we heard from The Cars in 1976.
Big fan of the end of 2 H.B. and the medley after that. Not much else stood out 🤷♂️, but it seems historically relevant.
2.5 stars
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
Curtis Mayfield is a sweet discovery for me on this list. Im appreciating his styles more and more
Lengthy tunes here, but an album that is worth the time and attention. Billy Jack and Love To The People were my favorites
Radiohead
4/5
Really not sure if I “get” this album yet and ive got more questions than answers. All of that said, it was a solid listen and a good & big step for me into Radiohead beyond The Bends.
Very entrancing stuff. To start, Pyramid Song’s rhythm is so tastefully janky. I cant describe why it doesn’t bother me despite sticking out so much
I love how ambitious this is compared to Kid A. Songs like Hunting Bears and Like Spinning Plates are wayyyy out there and just as fucking cool IMO as hits like How To Disappear Completely on Kid A were
Side note: im always amazed when I read about bands that manage to pump out so much material that they have to delay songs to a future album or simply throw them out all together. It feels cheap to record two albums at once, but the quality here is crazy high
Portishead
2/5
Weird album. Strangers and Biscuit were my favorite jams. Loved the bass, groove and faded guitar sounds
Controversial, I think the record scratch is actually cool here
All that said, I think trip hop has come a LONG way since then. Id much rather put on Pretty Lights when im in the mood
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
WHY DO I KEEP FUCKINGGGGG UPPPPP
Damn, its rare we get 45 year old ROCK legends making legitimate music. It did have a lot of similarities to Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, but I prefer this album over that due to Neils better guitar work (huge improvement IMO).
This isnt After The Gold Rush, but its songs are simple and really rockin’.
Farmer John, Fucking Up & Days That Used To Be were my favorites. Definitely coming back to this one over the weekend
Julian Cope
2/5
Overall, not upset that this was included, but I didnt connect strongly with it.
More interesting to me was Julian Copes obsession with krautrock.
Queen
3/5
I liked some of the rock opera stuff. In The Lap Of The Gods was captivating. The sequencing between tracks was perfect across the entire album.
The run through Stone Cold Crazy, Dear Friends, Miss Fire and Bring Back That Leroy Brown was fantastic and worth the listen
Nirvana
5/5
Great album, interesting lore, atmospheric success
I enjoyed listening to Billy Corben bitch about how Cobain and Vig stole “his sound”.
Im not a producer, but wall of sound overdubs dont seem like a new thing in the 90s
Lucinda Williams
2/5
The more country tunes were just alright IMO (background music at best).
I liked the more rockin songs. Cant Let Go and I Lost It were my favorites.
Not noteworthy, but not terrible
Wilco
5/5
Edgy and catchy. Rightfully has a spot on this
Admittedly, I gave it a lot of over the ear headphone time this spin, so I have some bias here.
It easily hits all the marks of a 5 star rating. The first 5 tracks are spectacular. No misses on this after either. Really interesting muffled production, Elliot Smith like vocals, weird sounds (especially on I Am Trying To Break Your Heart) and TIGHT runtime at 52 mins
Bonus points for having a fun and cool documentary. I only watched about ten minutes, but I could see myself enjoying the entire film.
The The
1/5
This was weird. Not particularly interesting, but some new sounds to think about. Very 80s 😂
Johnny Cash
4/5
Like the last live Cash, im diggin’ the crowd banter and improvising that keeps this album from being corny and instead more of a fucked up, but authentic experience (what Johnny wouldve wanted).
The Long Black Veil and Jackson were fantastic. That said, this is definitely an album to play in its entirety
Janis Joplin
5/5
Joplin always seemed like the goddess of Haight Street that I did not pray to. A life force that died with her time and certainly not in the league of Hendrix, Mamas and Papas, The Doors and the Dead. So when I saw this was her LAST work, my fears of this being overrated were HIGH. It has all the signs of martyrdom induced popularity (MIP)…, but… it actually delivers
This album sounds like the 70s without giving up the psychedelic raspy charms of what Joplin brought to the 60s. Its Carol King with some Aretha Franklin, except if they grew out their leg hair and rode motorcycles without helmets on and swung both ways (giggity).
We get some upbeat FUNK in Half Moon and Buried Alive In The Blues (which sounds like a Doors song). And maybe my favorite tune, Mercedes Benz, just sounds incredible and so genuine. Trust Me could honestly have been sung by Rod Stewart and I wouldve believed it.
Joplin rips on this record. She was so dynamic and a force for generations to look up to. Far more of a loss than I thought.
Venom
2/5
I jive with metal, but Ill flat out say that I didnt love this. The wiki described how yuge their influence was, so maybe its one of those bands you needed to be there for… or maybe its just that the 80s sucked 😂
The intro lick of Leave Me In Hell was cool. I hear motley crue on that
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
4/5
Impressive. Im surprised by the staying power of this. I recognized 3 or 4 tracks instantly - shes fresh, its nasty and the message
Sound wise, it feels like Earth Wind And Fire with a set of new percussive tools. I personally dig the group effect of having a ton of rap styles thrown at you. 3.5 stars and rounding up
Miles Davis
3/5
"Those slow things sounded strange and good. I didn't always know what they were doing, but I listened, and I liked it." - Count Basie
Pretty much my take too. I wont pretend I understand the classical influence or the horn harmonies, but all this music is a big leap from bebop in a (dare I say it) “cool” direction.
Big recommendation to check out Miles’ interview with Dick Cavett. Damn was he fascinating
Violent Femmes
3/5
Stands out from the crowd of other 1983 albums. I loved the stripped down sound and weird vocals
Big fan of Good Feeling.
ZZ Top
4/5
I have a special memory of going to a ZZ Top concert with my entire family back in the early 2000s in Green Bay (bratty teenage sister included). Some of the Gibbons solos were mind blowing
A timeless rock act here. Jesus just left chicago and La Grange are mega hits. Crazy to read that these guys opened for Hendrix and the Doors in their previous band
3.5 stars and rounding it up
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Exactly what I wanted with this album.
I loved the super cool percussion choices and odd instruments scattered throughout each track. Never heard of Larry Fast (synth player), but Ill be digging him up. The synth contributions on No Self Control were fantastic (Kate Bush apparently surfaced on that track too)!
A few annoying tracks on here, so im docking it to a 3. Definitely would recommend certain cuts to friends
The Fall
3/5
There were some duds, but some of this had the same appeal as Velvet Underground (e.g. Vixen) or The Replacements. Its crass, its punk, I can rock to it
With that said, this album lacks tracks that vary enough to keep me interested after the first minute expires (something those other accessible bands figured out)
Its worth digging up the wiki for this album and reading what James Murphy of LCD had to say.
De La Soul
2/5
Got through most of this, but this brand of hip hop isnt my bag.
Cool to read about the collaborations that theyve done and I suppose I enjoyed the Otis Redding song
The Rolling Stones
5/5
3 super hits, Bobby Keys sax, artifacts everywhere in the recordings, peak state of the band, deep cuts, real/classic blues, extended jams, iconic artwork, multiple genres, film soundtrack city in a TIGHT 46 mins package. A huge recency bias, but I think this might beat After The Gold Rush for me as my number one album. Certainly top 5
I usually laugh when people say something like “UhhhnNUhhH, thuuures NO freaking WAY tHeY couLD make THAT toDay”. One ACTUAL example of this is Brown Sugar. This song belongs somewhere with Randy Newmans Rednecks. Songs you cant help, but rock to while you disgustingly stomach the themes. I strongly recommend the episodes on the Stones in the History Of Rock And Roll in 500 Songs podcast to dive through that.
A small personal note.
Cant You Hear Me Knocking’s extended jam is one of the first songs that I can remember getting transfixed in the jam (maybe Light My Fire is in there too). Even today, I still feel so locked in with the band. Bobby Keys sax solo is memorable to the point where I can scat my way through most of the parts. The way Richards brings in his solo after Bobbys is a masterclass on transitions. Lastly, I love how the full song feels as if it’s inching towards the end a full 90 seconds out and never lets off the tension.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
Another one from these guys. Really outwardly fun, soulful and peppy. Honestly, had fun listening to most of these, but I cant see myself routinely wanting to hear this. The gaspy/squeaking vocals lose me. Tell Me When My Light Turns Green was solid.
2.5 stars
Pixies
4/5
EVERY MORNING AND EVERY DAY… I BOSSANOVA WITCHA - Hang Wire
Doolittle was so great that it forced me to set my expectations SUPER high.
This album has a handful of amazing moments that hang (Havalina, Valouria, Rock Music, Hang Wire), but it doesn’t pack the same punch. If Doolittle was a 100 miles an hour fastball, Bossanova is at 85 and Surfa Rosa is at 80. Remember back on Doolittle when Black Francis would open those screechy vocals up and let it rip? Not quite as aggressive on this.
Ill cut the negativity though. This albums slaps and the Pixies are a truly great discovery for me on this journey.
3.5 stars and rounding up because Doolittle
Dire Straits
5/5
Every track is of top quality. I loved having a dedicated ear to stringy solos 🤣
Very surprising to read afterwards that this is from 78 and before the band was famous. Knopfler really has his tone and overall sound super dialed in. Lots of slappy poppy notes that are instantly recognizable. Song wise, theres a lot of diversity here and most of the tunes hang with sultans of swing
Brian Eno
5/5
You gotta love seeing this kind of album actualizing into something that isnt a pile of garbage.
I felt so many different vibes: the psychedelia of Dark Side Of The Moon, the surf sounds and harmonies of Beach Boys Today, the flat out wackiness of the White Album. Songs like On Some Faraway Beach sound like they could be from Tame Impala today. Super original and way before its time
As this process continues to 1000, my respect for King Crimson is steadily building. Fripp, Wetton and Simon are excellent on the tracks they contribute to. Maybe Eno and King Crimson should’ve both been credited here as the artist: King Eno?
Taylor Swift
2/5
TPE => SEA Series: A three album binge on a 11 hour flight (Evermore, Kind Of Blue and Transformer). 3 yuge albums for VERY different crowds
A bit of context. I dont hate the Taylor machine, but I find the themes of its songs to be overly repetitive. Im the cliche, I suppose?
Beyond what this is sonically, this represents modern insecurity & melancholic nostalgia (dorothea) from the American, small town millennial woman. In that way, I can appreciate this like something that I would marvel at in a museum for a moment. Because this is so long and spread over different backdrops, my brain loses its interest in the lyrics. In that way, this feels like 15 singles and not an album.
What I liked: ivy was a good song. Aaron from the national.
2.5 and rounding down because Im cool
Miles Davis
5/5
TPE => SEA Series: A three album binge on a 11 hour flight (Evermore, Kind Of Blue and Transformer). 3 yuge albums for VERY different crowds
This is an album I keep in a special place like many other folks do. It’s the perfect jazz 101 class. Its an approachable masterpiece (which sounds oxymoronic). An absolutely legendary lineup: Bill Evans, Adderley, Davis, Coltrane, Chambers and more. Its modal and drops the annoying parts of Bepop. Amazingly entertaining to listen to and somehow flexible to be background music.
For me, Miles is at his peak around ~58-65. The fusion stuff that comes after this is cool, but I dont listen to it like I do with this period.
Ive plugged this before and ill do it again. Miles is a strange human being. Dick Cavett does some remarkable interviews with him.
Lou Reed
5/5
TPE => SEA Series: A three album binge on a 11 hour flight (Evermore, Kind Of Blue and Transformer). 3 yuge albums for VERY different crowds
My last album spun in flight. The fretless bass (at least thats my guess) is an amazing touch to a lot of these songs. Im surprised that I dont hear this used in other pop rock? It adds thar smokey slithery sound that fits the VERY mature lyrics.
The themes in this album are far before their time. In that way, this album is far more than just a rock record.
Loved a handful of these cuts and found myself spinning immediately after. 4.5 stars and rounding up