456
Albums Rated
3.71
Average Rating
42%
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633 albums remaining
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1950s
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Grunge
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Top Origin
Cheerleader
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118
5-Star Albums
15
1-Star Albums
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You Love More Than Most
Albums you rated higher than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bubble And Scrape | 5 | 2.65 | +2.35 |
| Arise | 5 | 2.72 | +2.28 |
| Greetings From L.A. | 5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
| Damaged | 5 | 2.87 | +2.13 |
| AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted | 5 | 2.93 | +2.07 |
| Superfuzz Bigmuff | 5 | 2.94 | +2.06 |
| Reign In Blood | 5 | 2.96 | +2.04 |
| Heavy Weather | 5 | 2.98 | +2.02 |
| Peace Sells...But Who's Buying | 5 | 2.98 | +2.02 |
| Rhythm Nation 1814 | 5 | 2.98 | +2.02 |
You Love Less Than Most
Albums you rated lower than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kid A | 1 | 3.71 | -2.71 |
| Too Rye Ay | 1 | 3.12 | -2.12 |
| Second Toughest In The Infants | 1 | 2.86 | -1.86 |
| Vulnicura | 1 | 2.79 | -1.79 |
| Konnichiwa | 1 | 2.74 | -1.74 |
| Snivilisation | 1 | 2.71 | -1.71 |
| Idlewild | 1 | 2.57 | -1.57 |
| New Forms | 1 | 2.53 | -1.53 |
| Timeless | 1 | 2.53 | -1.53 |
| Logical Progression | 1 | 2.52 | -1.52 |
Artist Analysis
Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| The Doors | 3 | 5 |
| Nirvana | 3 | 5 |
| The Rolling Stones | 5 | 4.4 |
| Bruce Springsteen | 4 | 4.5 |
| Beatles | 4 | 4.5 |
| The Who | 4 | 4.5 |
| Pixies | 3 | 4.67 |
| Metallica | 3 | 4.67 |
| Stevie Wonder | 3 | 4.67 |
| Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | 3 | 4.67 |
| AC/DC | 2 | 5 |
| Deep Purple | 2 | 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 2 | 5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 2 | 5 |
| Black Sabbath | 2 | 5 |
| The Stooges | 2 | 5 |
| David Bowie | 4 | 4.25 |
| Elvis Costello & The Attractions | 3 | 4.33 |
| Michael Jackson | 3 | 4.33 |
| Neil Young & Crazy Horse | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Björk | 3 | 2 |
5-Star Albums (118)
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Popular Reviews
Metallica
5/5
This is my favorite Metallica album and has been for over 30 years. The only complaint I have is with The Thing That Should Not Be. I have always felt that it should be placed somewhere else on the album or maybe on a different album. After the one-two punch of Battery and Master of Puppets, The Thing That Should Not Be feels like too much of a slowdown to me. If I’m complaining about sequencing then that means I have no real complaints.
1 likes
5/5
Pretty great. Definitely has Beatles vibes of course. Very listenable. No doubt why it was a hit. This could come out today and it would still be a hit or it could have come out in 1968. Too bad the brothers couldn’t get along. A few more albums like this and they would have been the band of the decade.
1 likes
Garbage
3/5
Sounds very mid 90s. Shirley Manson’s voice is fairly distinctive. They sounded like a more poppy version of Hole on some songs.
1 likes
Fela Kuti
5/5
Loved it. Great mix of jazz and African traditional music. Fela was an interesting guy for sure and would probably be a big star today with music being much more globally available. He had a way of never going too far in any one direction but not being boring either. More people should listen to his work.
1 likes
1-Star Albums (15)
All Ratings
Pixies
5/5
My favorite Pixies album. It sets the template for 90s and early 2000s indie rock. Still sounds fresh and relevant today.
Elton John
4/5
Definitely a classic. A bit front-loaded but a great listen overall. A lot of different styles covered. Made for a fun listen in head-fi.
Blur
3/5
Sounds of its time. A lot of experimental electronic sounds mixed in.
The Offspring
4/5
I’m very biased on this album. I have enjoyed it for 30 years now and every time I hear it I feel like a teenager again. Great energy throughout, great production and much more informed lyrics than I realized.
Guns N' Roses
5/5
First cassette tape I ever bought. Still sounds great over 35 years later. Every song is strong and well produced. This album helped save hard rock in the 80s.
Duran Duran
4/5
Basically defined the sound of the early 80s new wave-pop scene. Still sounds good 40 years on.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
This album is almost completely full of hits. It’s crazy that it isn’t discussed as much as his earlier albums. It’s not as raw as earlier more, poetic works but it is still very strong lyrically. It just has better production. One of the few Springsteen albums that I can listen to all the way through.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
A much sadder album than Born in the USA which came after. Paired with the album cover, it paints a bleak picture. I prefer his more upbeat numbers so this album doesn’t do it for me.
Sam Cooke
3/5
I’m generally not a fan of older live albums due to poor production but this one sounds pretty good. I would still go for the studio recordings of most of these songs. Sam’s voice is very powerful and cuts through the thin recording but the instruments are a bit weak. Typical of live recordings.
Korn
4/5
Angry, aggressive but more thoughtful than their first 2 albums. Maybe the most listenable of their albums. I still generally prefer their first album but I think it is because I was a little more mature when it his one came out and I was moving away from music this heavy. Still a very heavy, enjoyable listen.
David Bowie
4/5
Side A is really strong. Great songs, different styles, not surprising for Bowie but this was a departure from his previous work. Germany seems to have rubbed off on him. Side B is less engaging for me. Instrumentals that are often noisy, synth driven and not as melodic as the first side. Still some great moments but side B lost my attention.
Judas Priest
5/5
Probably the first really great Priest album. Bangers all the way through. There is a reason it comes up on greatest metal album lists all the time.
Mott The Hoople
3/5
Very glam. Lots of Bowie influenced sounds. Not as poppy as Slade or the Sweet but a little more upbeat than Lou Reed’s catalog at this time. Well produced, well balanced but nothing as catchy as All the Young Dudes. It could use a little more edge.
The Saints
5/5
Classic Australian punk that should be better known. If the “I’m Stranded” single was on here then it would be talked about in the same discussions as the Clash and the Damned.
Queen
3/5
Not as good as I expected. There were a couple songs that hit harder than expected which was nice but most of it was forgettable. Seven Seas of Rye was the only standout that sounded like the Queen I am used to. I’m sure some of the sounds on here were new and exciting in 1974 but they did it all better later.
Björk
2/5
Not for me. I recognized Human Behavior from the weird video that was all over MTV in the 90s. I’ve never been a fan of Bjork’s voice and most of these songs were too poppy for my taste.
Steely Dan
3/5
Better than I expected. I have a love/hate relationship with this band. Sometimes they are a bit too jazzy for my liking but this album has some nice funky bits that reminded me of Zappa. Also Rikki Don’t Lose That Number is such a classic that it makes up for some of the lesser tracks. Overall, a good listen!
The The
3/5
Interesting. Sounds a bit like early REM at times and other times more like Duran Duran but harder edged. Sometimes boarding on electronic noises similar to Pretty Hate Machine. Overall a good listen that has me interested in hearing more.
Dolly Parton
4/5
I’m not a huge country music fan but Dolly’s talent is undeniable. I didn’t realize she was this mature as a songwriter by 1971. A very enjoyable listen that I would gladly listen to again.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
4/5
Good mood music for a dinner party or as background music.
Van Morrison
5/5
Fantastic listen. His most consistent album in my opinion. Quite the departure from Astral Weeks which was very jammy and spaced out. These songs are much tighter, more radio friendly and they stick in your head in a good way.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
Better than I expected! I think I like this better than Back To Black. More like lounge singer jazz with some very biting lyrics. Feels more genuine for some reason. I generally liked it.
U2
4/5
I forget how good this album is. I think I like it better than the Joshua Tree because it is less produced. They were just a good rock band at this time and not superstars. I’ve had this album for close to 30 years and I probably haven’t listened to it in 20. Quite a pity. I’ll be getting it back into the rotation!
Talking Heads
4/5
A solid rookie outing. It is obvious that they had been honing their craft for a while before this came out. They are very mature and tight. Their sound is basically the same as it would be for most of their career. Overall a good album that shows what they were capable of.
Genesis
4/5
I liked this much more than I expected. It is more structured than some of their earlier works. Peter Gabriel’s lyrics are still obscure to an American like myself but overall it was still easier to follow than Foxtrot or Nursery Chryme.
Nick Drake
2/5
Not my type of music. I like the playing on the album but it is too repetitive. Nick Drake has an ok voice but not a lot of range. It makes the music rather boring to me.
Jack White
4/5
Fantastic. Love his melodic style. Very distinct voice and really interesting guitar tones. Even when the tones are harsh, they feel appropriate.
Radiohead
1/5
They say dogs can smell fear. I think they can also smell pretentiousness. My dog got up and left the room partway through the second song of this album and didn’t come back in until the album was over. I would have liked to join her.
Radiohead
3/5
A much more enjoyable listen than Kid A. It seems he forgot how to sing on that album but shows he is quite capable of holding notes and singing with emotion. Still not my favorite singer by a long shot but I don’t actively hate this album. My biggest complaint is a general overuse of effects. I felt it was egregious on Kid A and only slightly annoying on OK Computer. Step away from the effects board!
The The
4/5
Very 80s. Reminds me of INXS at times and Nick Cave at other times. Not as foreboding, just similar vocals sometimes. I generally liked it.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
Karen O has a great voice that is very identifiable. Especially when she goes a little lower and that smoky side comes out. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have a nice mix of power pop and alternative. Never full blown dance music but not shoe-gaze or emo either. A good listen!
Elvis Presley
3/5
Everything But The Girl
1/5
Could t finish it. Not my type of music at all.
Snoop Dogg
5/5
Classic. This is one of the first rap albums that I purchased in the early 90s. Along with Dr Dre’s The Chronic, this album defined 90s rap. I am not a big hip hop/rap fan but if it sounds like this, I can dig it. Something. About all those P-Funk samples, mixed with booming bass and Snoops smooth lyrical delivery just works for me.
David Bowie
5/5
Love it. Probably my favorite later 70s Bowie record. The guitars and bass on this album are fantastic!
Massive Attack
2/5
Not bad but not my type of music
Thelonious Monk
4/5
Very cool. Great music to work with. Smooth but not so smooth that it would put you to sleep. A lot of talent on these tracks. A tight band making it sound easy.
Incubus
2/5
I never really got into this band. I think it’s a combination of the singer’s voice and the rap aspects. Some of the music is pretty good. Jazz inspired I think in some places and more metal in others but it’s just never worked for me.
Calexico
2/5
Not my thing. Album suffers from loudness wars. Everything sounds too loud and also too polished. It’s like a slightly more interesting version of Mumford and Sons except Mumford has better dynamics. A lot of music in the past 15-20 years has suffered from too much polish. Everything is maxed out and clipped and the highs and lows are missing for me.
Lou Reed
5/5
A very street wise, confident album. Easily my favorite Lou Reed album. The songs have a lot of swagger and when they get more introspective or romantic, it feels genuine. The tunes stick in your head.
Steely Dan
3/5
Too much like yacht rock for me. Deacon Blues is ok but too long. Peg is better but in general all are too long. Some great musicianship but just not my type of music.
Queen
4/5
Much better than the first couple Queen albums. More rocking songs and more familiar Queen sounds. I’m not sure why this album isn’t talked about as much as Day at the Races or Night at the Opera.
Björk
3/5
I can’t get past Bjork’s voice. Music is interesting but her voice doesn’t work for me.
Goldfrapp
2/5
Not my type of music.
LTJ Bukem
1/5
Nope. Can’t do it. Rave music to me is just background music and only works in a dance club. It has no purpose outside of that setting. Way too repetitive. Who would ever want to listen to this outside of a rave? I would rather listen to Polka.
Michael Kiwanuka
4/5
Interesting listen. Sometimes it sounds like 70s soul and r & b and other times the music is much more modern sounding like the Strokes. Overall I like it.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
4/5
A prog classic but I would rather listen to In The Court of the Crimson King or Meddle. All 3 can meander but Tarkus is a bit too much meandering. Greg Lake’s vocals save this album for me much as he did on early Crimson. I may have liked this better if they broke it up into more tracks where I could get a breather between parts. Just too much wanking off here but I cannot deny that they can play.
Mudhoney
4/5
Classic grunge by one of the leaders and founders of the grunge movement. In many ways Mudhoney were more grunge than Nirvana could ever hope to be. I will always prefer their early singles but this is probably my favorite album of theirs.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
Ananda Shankar
3/5
Garbage
3/5
Sounds very mid 90s. Shirley Manson’s voice is fairly distinctive. They sounded like a more poppy version of Hole on some songs.
The Cure
4/5
I definitely like their pop songs better than the slower moody songs. There is some very nice playing here but I think I like the more spare music they were doing earlier in their career.
Moby
4/5
Better than I expected. Most of the songs that I liked the best were released as singles so I probably have more history with this album than I consciously thought. Some great production and sounds that would be used again and again on future dance pop hits. Definitely an inspirational album for aspiring pop stars of the time and probably still used as a yardstick for dance album production. Will I go out and buy it? No. Will I download it? No. Will I download some songs? Sure. Considering this is not in my normal wheelhouse, Moby can consider that a win. Although, I’m sure he wouldn’t lose any sleep if I hated it either.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
4/5
A classic but a little softer than what I typically want to listen to
Tori Amos
3/5
Not something I would choose to listen to but I didn’t want to turn off the album either.i can see why she is popular and has had a pretty long career.
Talking Heads
3/5
Lacking hits like on prior and latter albums. Sounds pretty good overall. They were still finding their sound.
5/5
Pretty great. Definitely has Beatles vibes of course. Very listenable. No doubt why it was a hit. This could come out today and it would still be a hit or it could have come out in 1968. Too bad the brothers couldn’t get along. A few more albums like this and they would have been the band of the decade.
Patti Smith
4/5
I generally like Patti’s voice. Her lyrics lost me at times because she is more poet than traditional songwriter. It gives her music a different quality more like Bob Dylan. Thankfully she is a better singer than Dylan. I prefer the songs where she doesn’t drone on stanza after stanza for what feels like forever before hitting a musical break or chorus. Gloria is a little tiring to me for that reason and Horses definitely hits me that way. Great playing by the band. I just wish some of the songs were a little shorter or more sparse lyrically.
Pearl Jam
4/5
I’ve had this album for 30 years and I haven’t listened to it in at least 25 years. The songs I like the most are the ones that are played on the radio the most. I’ve always felt that Pearl Jam weren’t really a grunge band but more of a standard rovk band. After this album they got much softer. Some of these songs feel like leftover Green River and Mother Love Bone but with a worse singer. I prefer the nasal , wild delivery of Mark Arm over Eddie Vedded but sales show that I’m in the minority. Evenflow, Alive and Black are great, powerful rock songs and Jeremy tells a sad, creepy story that is the template for so many other teenage pain songs. Nothing on this listen made me want to revisit Pearl Jam but I can’t deny the impact of the album.
Fela Kuti
5/5
Loved it. Great mix of jazz and African traditional music. Fela was an interesting guy for sure and would probably be a big star today with music being much more globally available. He had a way of never going too far in any one direction but not being boring either. More people should listen to his work.
Wild Beasts
3/5
Burning Spear
3/5
Good but I tend to get bored with reggae. Sometimes it’s too repetitive and I stop paying attention.
Eminem
5/5
Classic. I’m not a big rap guy but I enjoy a lot of 80s and 90s rap before it became about rapping as fast as possible or mumbling through verses like you are barely coherent and have a mouth full of marbles. Also not a fan of overly processed vocals like a lot of modern hip hop has. I like how I can make out most of Eminem’s lyrics and how most of his songs have stories. Gives me a reason to listen and focus instead of just letting it slide into the background. Hard to get engaged with background music. For that reason this album makes my short list of rap classics.
Fishbone
3/5
Shack
4/5
I had never heard of this band. Some good stuff here. I like the synth strings and the harmonies. Good guitar playing and overall production. I really like Streets of Kenny. Also Lend’s Some Dough, Comedy and Captain’s Table are standouts. There a few tracks that could have been cut and it would have made for a stronger release but this was the CD age where everyone thought they needed at least 12 tracks on every album. Cornish Town is a clunker for me. If this band would have released a video for Comedy on MTV they would have been huge in the U.S. Sounds like they never really got big outside the UK. Shame.
Nina Simone
4/5
Powerful voice. Great sounding recording. Her voice is deeper and more masculine than I expected. Sounds good, just surprised.
Metallica
5/5
This is my favorite Metallica album and has been for over 30 years. The only complaint I have is with The Thing That Should Not Be. I have always felt that it should be placed somewhere else on the album or maybe on a different album. After the one-two punch of Battery and Master of Puppets, The Thing That Should Not Be feels like too much of a slowdown to me. If I’m complaining about sequencing then that means I have no real complaints.
Lauryn Hill
5/5
I mostly enjoyed this but it felt like it could have been two albums. Just a bit too long. This would have been two albums in the vinyl era and I think it would have a stronger presence if it was split up and tighter. By the middle of the album I had already forgotten how the first few songs went. That said, pretty much every song on their own are great. Lauryn’s voice is just full of emotion without being over the top and the music has some great grooves. Lots of soul inspirations, throwbacks to Stax and Motown. Good stuff.
AC/DC
5/5
A some cold classic. It feels like some of these songs have always existed. They are part of my DNA and it is hard to listen to them critically. Overall this might be one of their best balanced albums. Highway to Hell, Touch Too Much, If You Want Blood, Night Prowler and Girl’s Got Rhythm are the standouts. Basically all hits.
Beatles
5/5
Their best early period album before they started experimenting on Rubber Soul. It’s their best early album because all of the songs are Lennon and McCartney originals. Everything is good, nothing objectionable or clunky. I probably wouldn’t turn to it if I was in a Beatles mood per se but I would t skip any of the tracks either.
Nitin Sawhney
3/5
Well that was something.
Jimmy Smith
2/5
Well that was something.
Hole
3/5
I was only familiar with Celebrity Skin from this album. After listening to this album, I can see why. The other songs are all fine but none have much punch. You can tell that more time and money went into this song. It’s a good song but u wish the rest of the album sounded more like it.
Dr. John
2/5
Interesting but I can’t say that it does much for me. The voodoo chanting takes me out of it.
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
It’s good, very relaxing. So relaxing that it put me to sleep.
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
Such a hard hitting album. One of the best hard rock debuts ever. Still sounds fresh over 30 years later. Nothing else really sounded like this at the time and that made Rage legends. They were smart to break up before they lost the magic. This album should be in every hard rock/metal collection.
Roxy Music
4/5
A solid debut. I still prefer For Your Pleasure but this is undoubtedly good. There are Brian Eno touches all over it but I feel that the album still has a pop sensibility that Eno would lean away from in later years. Some crazy Phil Manzanera guitars on here that sound better on headphones. Otherwise they get a little lost. Virginia Plain is the standout which is funny since it wasn’t on the original UK release.
The Auteurs
3/5
Album sounds like it came out about 10 years too late. Sounds more like early 80s new wave than anything 90s. The songs that lean into this aesthetic or lean into more of an early 70s Lennon/McCartney/Harrison thing are my favorites. I see the Auters referred to as Britpop but I have always considered Britpop to have come later with bands like Oasis, Pulp, Blur and the Verve. I also don’t hear enough pop on this album to consider them as Britpop but instead more New Wave just as the album says. Some good songs but nothing jaw dropping to me.
Neil Young
4/5
I quite liked this album. I had never even heard of this one and was quite surprised how much I enjoyed it. I have meant to listen to more Neil Young outside of his first few albums so this is the start of that journey for me.
Soundgarden
5/5
Probably my favorite Soundgarden album. It feels like the best produced. Not as hard-edged as their earlier albums but much more mature and with more universal appeal. It’s no wonder that they became superstars after this release. Favorite songs are Fell on Black Days, Spoonman and The Day I Tried to Live. least favorites are Half, Kickstand and Limo Wreck.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
4/5
Cool album. While I am not fluent enough in Spanish to understand much of the lyrics, I like the overall melodies and tone. I did translate a couple songs and a couple were very socio-political which was interesting since the music wasn’t very hard edged. I liked some of the more modern sounds added to the salsa music. Made it feel more edgy that way but overall it’s just a pleasant background album that I could groove to while doing something else.
Bob Dylan
3/5
A fine m album showing his early folk side. It’s just not something I would choose to listen to. I’ve never been a big fan of his voice and some of these songs sound too much alike. Don’t all sort of blends together for me. I know it was an important album for the folk rock scene but it just doesn’t do much for me.
PJ Harvey
4/5
Scritti Politti
2/5
Most of the songs sounded the same to me. I could see why Perfect Way was a hit but nothing else on the album really stood out.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5/5
My favorite Elvis Costello album. More cohesive sounding than the first one. No skippers on this one!
Adele
5/5
My favorite Elvis Costello album. More cohesive sounding than the first one. No skippers on this one!
Weather Report
5/5
Definitely the Weather Report album I am most familiar with. Birdland and Teen Town are absolute jazz fusion classics. I came to this album through hearing about Jaco over and over in music magazines.
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
Sounds like 90s rap. Good but forgettable compared to the bigger name releases of the time such as Snoop Dogg, Warren G, Tupac, Biggie, Nas and Bone Thugz-N-Harmony. Had this come out in 92 or 93 then it might be referred to more often. By 94 a lot of this sounded more derivative of earlier albums.
The Stone Roses
3/5
never got into this band because they never really made it in America. I read about them all the time in UK music magazines but they got very little air time on US radio. I like the first few songs on this album because they have a bit of a 80s new wave sound (I wanna be adored and She bangs the drums) but then the tracks get a lot more ephemeral with long droning passages that remind me of the worst of the Beatles. Then the album swings back towards a more pop inspired, funky sound near the end. The last song, Fools Gold sounds like a hit. A funky dance song similar to Mysterious Ways by U2 from Achtung Baby. If the album got rid of the trance-like, meandering shit in the middle and stuck to the pop songs then they probably would have broke in the US and would have been all over MTV. Oh well.
Dexys Midnight Runners
1/5
I found most of these songs forgettable. Many sounded like less interesting Cure songs. I’m not a huge Cure fan and I am even less of a Dexys fan. Best song is Come on Eileen by a country mile and that’s so overplayed that I didn’t get any enjoyment out of listening to it again. The Jackie Wilson song sounded familiar and had a catchy bit and then I realized it was a Van Morrison rip off. Van did it much better.
Overall the musicianship isn’t bad but Kevin Rowland’s voice just gets old. Also don’t bother with the bonus tracks. Come On Eileen was originally the last track but later releases tacked on 4 or 5 more and they are mostly bullshit.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4/5
It’s fine but Southern Rock has never really appealed to me. Reminds me of too many rednecks that I grew up around. Their hit songs have been played to death and even though I like them well enough in the moment, I never search them out.
Japan
4/5
I quite liked this album. Reminded me at times of Duran Duran mixes with Joy Division and other times more of Roxy Music. The lead-off track, Quiet Life is the most memorable and poppiest song on here but all of them are pretty good. I now need to check out the rest of their catalog!
The White Stripes
4/5
Overall a solid album. Jack White has a distinct style that you either like or hate and I like it most of the time. Most of the songs are varied enough that his nasally singing style doesn’t grate on my ears too much. A lot of foreshadowing here for what their next couple albums would sound like and that is a good thing.
The White Stripes
4/5
Fantstic
Prince
4/5
A bona fide classic. Front loaded with hits. I haven’t listened to this album in a long time but it is a really fun listen. The hits all bounce along with the type of funky, dance energy that you would expect of a hit 80s song. It’s just that this album is full of these songs. Even the songs that I never heard on the radio are infectious and could have been the best songs of many other bands.
Syd Barrett
4/5
Definitely the best of Syd’s solo works. That said, it’s not as great as anything on Piper at the Gates of Dawn which is a shame. Terrapin, Octopus, No Man’s Land, Here I Go, Long Gone and Dark Globe are probably my favorites. Some sound a lot like hits by later bands but with less production. The album definitely gets weird and some songs are very nonsensical but there is a charm to that. Like nursery rhymes being sung by someone on acid. Which is basically what this was. Fun, but not something I would put in regular rotation
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Probably two of the best lead off songs for side A and side B ever. Thunder Road starts off the album with a lot of energy and power and Born to Run brings side B back to that level and then out to the stratosphere. It’s hard not to sing along to either song no matter how many times you have heard them. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out is a strong track 2 but then we have Night. That song is a mess. It’s like they took the loud part of Thunder Road and just did the entire song at that level. The lyrics get lost in the mix and there aren’t enough dynamics to keep my attention. Backstreets is better but the outro goes too long in my opinion. Probably works well live but as a studio recording it felt to me like they didn’t know how to end it.
Born to Run, as mentioned before, is a fantastic side B lead off. In the age of streaming it works as a great pick me up after the last two songs as well. She’s The One has some great piano and nice sax work. Meeting Across the River doesn’t do much for me. Jungleland is a nice closer. It has a lot going on including violin, piano and a great sax solo. A fitting end to a fine album.
Ms. Dynamite
3/5
Pretty good.Reminded me of Lauren Hill. I had never heard of her and it appears she really never made it in the U.S. she sounded really good and the songs were written pretty well. Maybe not unique enough to stand out in the U.S. market though.
Joan Armatrading
5/5
Smooth, jazzy but also funky. Great arrangements and a great, powerful voice.
1/5
Painful
Sugar
4/5
Pretty cool. Some obvious Husker vibes since Mould sang and wrote all the songs. More melodic than a lot of Husker Du songs but the songs still have hard edges. Quite enjoyable although maybe a bit dated now as it sounds very early 90s. That is a plus for me but might not work for others. Whatever, it’s all subjective.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Reggae done right
OutKast
5/5
Fantastic. Better than their 90s output imo but before their egos took over st the end of the band’s life. I like this more than most rap I hear because it is more interesting to me musically. Not as formulaic. I also think this still sounds fresh nearly 25 years later. A great listen.
Frank Sinatra
4/5
Pretty good renditions of these Jobim classics plus some other standards all done bossanova style. Much better than I expected although I will say that some of the scatting from Sinatra sounded goofy. I’ve always loved the original Getz/Gilberto version and wasn’t sure what it would sound like with a male singing the English parts but in this case it works!
Madonna
3/5
A fine album but Ray of Light is the only song that really stands out to me. In general I consider Madonna and most dance artists as singles artists more than album artists. The modern digital format actually benefits them because most of their fans only want the one or two radio/club hits anyway. I’ve noticed she has leaned hard into the singles and remix strategy for the past 20 years and that seems like a good strategy.
Deep Purple
5/5
My second favorite DP album! Such a statement of purpose for the mk2 lineup. Even though the concerto album came out before this, it didn’t really represent DP at all. It didn’t show off their strengths and was really an anomaly that Jon Lord pushed for. This album shows what the rest of the band was about. Ian Gillan gets to show off the voice that got him the job, Blackmore finally sounds like the guitar hero that he was building up to be and Roger Glover gets to shine as an innovative bassist. Paige and Lord both get to stretch out more than in mk1 and it’s all great.
All of the tracks are pretty great except I would put Living Wreck and Flight of the Rat at the bottom. At the top, either Child in Time or Speed King. Hard to believe this is the same band known for their covers of Hush and Kentucky Woman just 2 years prior!
Skepta
1/5
The spoken interlude parts are annoying. They aren’t clever and don’t add anything positive to the experience. The songs are ok but too repetitive for my likes. Nothing here that makes me want to listen again.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
One of my favorite Chili Peppers albums. I have fond memories of listening to this album on the way to work for weeks on end when it came out. The album is a bit front loaded which seems to be consistent with most other Chili Pepper albums. I would still put this in my top 3 Peppers albums though and I don’t think they have done anything nearly as good since. Most of the albums since this one seem to be trying to relive the spirit and energy of this album and Blood Sugar Sex Magik but they fail.
Not everything on this album is great. Some of the later songs sound too much like other songs. Cutting out a few lesser numbers like Purple Stain, I Like Dirt and Right on Time would have resulted in a much tighter, better listening experience. Unfortunately it was the norm to cram too many tracks on CDs at this point. Now that vinyl is back in vogue, I hope that modern artists are curating their track lists a bit more and saving some of these lesser tunes for EPs or singles. Still a great release overall.
Kings of Leon
4/5
Pretty good. A little more mellow than what I normally gravitate towards but still solid. I recognized a few songs which was a nice surprise.
John Lee Hooker
5/5
Blues done right. Great collaborations.
Beck
4/5
I forgot about this album. I had stopped listening to Beck after Mutations. Turns out I recognized a few of these songs! Some good stuff that feels more like Odelay than what came between Odelay and this one.
Yes
5/5
I’ve never been able to fully get into Yes. I think it’s a combination of John Anderson’s voice and the length of the songs. Whenever I think I like prog, I second guess myself due to my general lack of excitement for Yes. Oddly enough I really like most of Rick Wakeman’s solo material though.
This album might be my favorite Yes album simply because it sounds more rough around the edges. It has a lot of country influences which I found surprising. This was Steve Howe’s influence. Also, I actually like Jon Anderson’s voice on I’ve Seen All Good People because he stays in a lower register for more of it. Some of Yours Is No Disgrace reminds me of early Rush which isn’t a bad thing and I like Clap even though it is an instrumental. It goes on a hair too long for me but Howe’s guitar playing is very interesting so I’ll give it a pass.
5/5
I love this stupid album. Their version of Satisfaction sticks in my head more than the Stones version. Heresy to some but I love it. And of course, thanks to Ridiculousness, Uncontrollable Urge is all over the place and I’m not mad about that. More people need to hear Devo beyond Whip It.
Michael Jackson
5/5
Tons of hits and even the lesser songs are still better than most. Wanna be Startin’ Somethin’ and PYT sound like leftovers from Off the Wall (not a bad thing). I like basically everything on this album except The Girl Is Mine which is a pile of hot garbage. If you ever wondered if Paul McCartney could ever be more schlocky than he was with Wings, listen to The Girl Is Mine. Pure Trash. Remove that song and it’s a nearly perfect album.
Pretenders
3/5
A mixed bag for me. Brass in Pocket is great of course. I also really like the first track, Precious and the last track, Mystery Achievement. Everything else fell sort of flat for me or didn’t work at all. I can see why the album is significant though. Chrissie Hynde’s voice and style probably started multiple female-led bands and some songs sound likely they could have been released in the last 20 years.
The Stranglers
5/5
I love this album. Hanging Around is probably my favorite Stranglers tune. Peaches and Go Buddy Go are up there as well. Even though they get lumped in with punk, I think the keyboards make them sound more like new wave crossed with pub rock. Some songs remind me more of Television than the Damned or the Buzzcocks. Labels are dumb. This is great.
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
Interesting. There is a lot going on here. Sometimes too much. I feel like some songs had too many samples and effects going. It made it hard to concentrate on the lyrics. The lyrics are all over the place. Sometimes deep and sometimes pure nonsense. Overall much more enjoyable than I expected.
The Electric Prunes
3/5
The two best songs that the band ever had are listed in the cover. The rest sound like awkward attempts at the same songs or even more awkward attempts to merge garage rock with psychedelia. Nothing horrible but nothing memorable either.
The Charlatans
4/5
Beatles
5/5
A near perfect album. One of my top Beatles albums for sure. The pinnacle of their early sound before they got more experimental on Revolver.
Public Image Ltd.
4/5
I generally liked this more than I expected. I liked most of these tracks but sometimes they went in way too long and other times John Lydon’s voice is too grating for me. Other times it totally worked for me. Like a mix of the Fall, the Birthday Party and Joy Division.
Bill Callahan
4/5
I like the music and most of the compositions but Bill doesn’t have a ton of range. It’s easy to stop paying attention and just let this run in the background. I wish more of the songs had actual singing instead of the folky talk-singing thing he was doing. I think his voice is mixed too far forward in some of the tracks. If it blended in with the music more then it might give the illusion that he has more range and that he isn’t singing over the top of someone else’s music.
Rococo Zephyr was probably the highlight for me since it had some nice strings and female backing vocals thrown in. Faith/Void is pretty good too although it does start to drag near the end. It’s about 2 minutes too long.
The Temptations
3/5
Interesting mix of funk and r&b. I online the bass vocals and the mix of strings and percussion. It has that 70s soundtrack song sound for many tracks. Their cover of Heard it Through the Grapevine sucks.
Slayer
5/5
MF’n Slayer.
Pixies
5/5
Fantabulous
Talk Talk
3/5
Nothing really stood out in this one to me. Most songs are fine but not memorable. Okay in the background but I won’t seek it out again.
2/5
About what you’d expect. Next!
Ramones
5/5
Classic. A bit front loaded like a lot of vinyl releases but pretty great overall. Such a huge influence on punk and hard rock. Hard not to love this album and this band. I saw them on their last tour 20 years after this album came out and they still sounded great. This should be in every rock fan’s collection.
Muddy Waters
5/5
Pretty great. Mannish Boy is a stone cold classic that feels timeless. The rest of the album is solid blues but not boring. The combination of Muddy’s voice and guitar along with the background singers are just perfect. The album title is a little “hard” to get past but the rest is 100% classic.
Bauhaus
3/5
Not bad. I could hear how they influenced a lot of other 80s and early 90s bands who did it better.
The Notorious B.I.G.
5/5
Robert Wyatt
3/5
Interesting. Maybe a little too psychedelic for me at times but overall interesting.
Joni Mitchell
2/5
I just can’t.
Stan Getz
4/5
Good sambas and bossa nova. Good dinner music but not something I would usually reach for.
New Order
3/5
Pretty good synth pop but nothing blew me away.
Pink Floyd
5/5
I have nothing intelligent to say about this album that hasn’t been said a dozen times before. It’s great. Probably the perfect concept album.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
I have nothing intelligent to say about this album that hasn’t been said a dozen times before. My second favorite album of his. Nearly perfect but I would still put Songs in the Key of Life over it.
Boston
4/5
The epitome of 70s rock. Nearly every song on this album has been played to death on classic rock radio. It’s well performed and produced but after 40+ years of hearing this, I can’t get excited for it. Not bad, I’m just tired of it.
Funkadelic
4/5
Pretty interesting compared to their later work. A lot more guitar than I expected. Pretty cool.
Jorge Ben Jor
4/5
Pretty cool even if I don’t speak Portuguese. A few songs sounded familiar so I think I will need to dig into this deeper.
Richard Hawley
3/5
Sounds nice and relaxing. Very romantic. Not something I would generally reach for, although I do like some of the country inspired songs a bit more. Wading Through the Waters of My Time might be my favorite track. The Ocean, Who’s going to shoe your pretty feet and Born Under a Bad Sign are very nice as well.
Various Artists
4/5
James Brown
3/5
Powerful but I wish it included later material when he got more funky. As it is, it’s a neat timepiece but not what I would reach for when I want to hear James Brown.
Elvis Presley
4/5
Good debut. Sounds good for the time. The beginning of rock and roll captured
Goldfrapp
3/5
Gang Starr
4/5
Solid
Aretha Franklin
4/5
Kate Bush
3/5
Didn’t hate it but only Running up that Hill stood out to me. Waking the Witch is sort of terrifying to hear if you are falling asleep which is what this album made me do.
Megadeth
5/5
Classic thrash. One of Megadeth’s best. Dave Ellefson’s bass is fantastic throughout, Chris Poland’s guitar work is the best he ever did and Gar Samuelson’s drumming is hard hitting and perfect for the tone of this album. Dave Mustaine sounds great, generally less whiny than he does on later albums. Really nothing negative to say about this album.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Solid album. Not as stunning as Innervisions or Songs in the Key of Life but definitely up there. Superstition is one of his best of course and the rest are all great.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
Great, soulful album. She left us too early.
John Grant
3/5
What a weird album. I like most of the music and the singing is generally fine. However a lot of the compositions borrow too much from late 60s and early 70s artists who already did it with much more success. The really weird parts are the lyrics. Some songs feel heartfelt and others are totally ridiculous. Sometimes witty and funny but often dumb or puerile. I am glad to have heard this but it doesn’t make me want to track down his music. However it does make me want to look up the backing band, Midlake.
Pulp
3/5
Eh. It’s not bad just not knocking me over either. I actually like the William Shatner version of Common People much more than the Blur version. I’ll give them an extra star just for putting that song out there so Shatner and Ben Folds could work with it later.
Talking Heads
4/5
Probably my favorite album of theirs. Not too weird, a good mix of pop and their brand of .
The Doors
5/5
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Definitely one of their best. I like most of the Stones honky-tonk period. They just have the right swagger for it.
Suicide
4/5
From the dulcet tones of Frankie Teardrop to the Soothing notes of Ghost Rider, your mother would approve. Music to meditate by!
Rod Stewart
4/5
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Nico
3/5
Most of this is a rough listen. I’ve never been a fan of Nico’s voice although I am fascinated by those who adore her. I often wonder if she would have had any popularity without the Warhol and VU associations? Chelsea Girls, I’ll Keep it With Mine and These Days are the highlights here for me. It’s still better than Yoko Ono.
Ray Charles
4/5
Booker T. & The MG's
5/5
Green Onions is such a classic. Fun to play on bass and a staple of a lot of blues and R&B bands. With playing as good as this, who needs words?
Kate Bush
2/5
I tried. I just couldn’t do it. Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me most of the time. She bounces between nasally high pitches and low, unappealing tones. There are moments where she doesn’t screw around and sings in a more middle of the road tone and then she’s fine but it’s not often enough. I won’t be tracking down more of her work.
Rush
5/5
My favorite Rush album. A bit front loaded but so good overall. Side 1 is basically all hits. YYZ and Tom Sawyer plus Limelight and Red Barchetta.
5/5
So good. This to me is when David Bowie really became the David Bowie who we all know today. The Spiders from Mars were a fantastic backup band. The songs swing well. No skippers here!
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
Fine background music. Not something I would actively seek out.
Rush
4/5
A prog rock classic. My second favorite Rush album. As many others have mentioned, the 2112 Overture is probably the best thing on this album but I too would have preferred it broken into multiple tracks. There are points where the song changes that would have made for natural cut points. I get why they kept it together due to some recurring musical themes but it felt a bit disjointed to me.
A passage to Bangkok is nice and bouncy but not that memorable compared to the Overture. Twilight Zone is slower and more moody. It doesn’t stick with me. Lessons and Tears are fine but not that memorable either. Something for Nothing is a nice closer.
The Police
3/5
Marty Robbins
5/5
When I think of old country music, songs like this and Hank Williams Sr come to mind. This sounds like the soundtrack to every old western movie. I think it’s great and sounds more authentic than the shit that is passed as country today.
Roni Size
1/5
Not sure why this would be considered essential to anyone. Guess it’s just not for me.
Sade
3/5
Wire
5/5
I’ve loved this album since the first time I heard Ex-Lion Tamer on Henry Rollins radio show in the mid-2000s. I picked this up not knowing any other tracks and have loved it ever since. I picked it up on vinyl a couple years back and it gets spun more than any of my other punk LPs.
Screaming Trees
5/5
Great album. Mark Lanegan was one of the great voices of the Seattle scene. Also love the inventive guitar work of Gary Lee Conner. This band should have been bigger than they were.
Beach House
2/5
Nothing special
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Scott Walker
3/5
The Louvin Brothers
4/5
When I started listening to this album I thought, “oh no, gospel”. However I focused on the lyrics and noticed most of the songs were actually just about sorrow, tragedy and pain. There was some religious overtones but most of it was about lost love or death. And then came the murder ballads like “Knoxville Girl”. I didn’t expect to hear that one. Also, “In The Pines” was a surprise. I knew parts of it as “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”, as made famous by Nirvana on their Unplugged album. Their version was done by Leadbelly in the 40s before this album came out. The Louvin brothers version seems to be based on the original Appalachian version instead. Still a sad and memorable song.
And then the album ends with a number of overtly gospel songs. Sung and played well but not as interesting to me. Overall an interesting album and pleasant to the ear.
B.B. King
4/5
Def Leppard
4/5
The Roots
2/5
When they slow down a bit they are definitely better. The Seed (2.0) is probably the best song here although the lyrics are a bit dumb. Overall, I like the singing and music much better than the rapping. I know I’m missing out on the message but it wasn’t meant for me anyway.
Alice In Chains
5/5
The Cars
5/5
Classic.
Pavement
4/5
Reminds me of the Fall but way better.
Bad Company
3/5
It’s fine. The hits are overplayed on classic rock radio so it’s hard to get excited about them at this point. The tracks that were not hits didn’t hit for a reason. There’s nothing bad here but it’s mostly just ok. Just ok doesn’t make for legendary albums. I think this is why you don’t hear artists citing this album or this band as an influence. Paul Rogers is a great singer but most of the songs feel manufactured. Kind of like a lot of today’s music where it is a bit too perfect. It’s music for people who aren’t really into music. Some nice guitar work but not enough to make me want to put this on again.
Sebadoh
5/5
I really liked this one. It sounds like a combination of Dinosaur Jr, Mudhoney and Husker Du with some Captain Beefheart thrown in for good measure.
CHIC
4/5
Fun and funky
Stan Getz
5/5
U2
4/5
Pretty solid. The last U2 album that I could car about.
Morrissey
3/5
It’s Morrissey.
The Flaming Lips
4/5
Throbbing Gristle
1/5
Suddenly Yoko Ono doesn’t sound so bad. I like Zoogz Rift, Magma, CAN, Brian Eno and Captain Beefheart 100x more than this.
AB/7A is the only redeemable track. I’m still only giving the album a 1 for the overall pain it instilled on my ears
Avant-Garbage.
The Slits
3/5
I want to like this more than I do because I know it is important to the history of punk rock and the predecessor to the riot girl movement but it just doesn’t so a lot for me. I think it is the reggae sounds. I’m not much of a fan of reggae and Ari’s singing style is very much inspired by that.
Paul McCartney and Wings
5/5
Kraftwerk
3/5
A very influential album for a lot of artists but I always end up tuning out quickly.
Tina Turner
4/5
Overall good due to Tina’s performances. Song selection is interesting as there doesn’t seem to be a consistent theme. Not that there has to be but a few songs felt odd next to each other. The big hits are the best tracks in my opinion and the last song, 1984, sucks. I can’t figure out what the point of that song was. Was it going to be used for the 84 Olympics or Ronald Reagan’s reelection? I’ve never heard a song so focused on a particular year without a good lyrical narrative. It sounded like someone came up with a rhythm and sung -“Nineteen Eighty Four” over that and said “There’s the chorus! Now add a few tossed off phrases and, ta-dah, we got another song!” Baffling.
The Divine Comedy
2/5
Sounds like a bunch of parody songs for an Austin Powers movie but none of it is catchy enough to make the cut.
Depeche Mode
4/5
Brian Wilson
4/5
A lot of this album feels like demos and there are good reasons they weren’t released. However, there are a lot of highs that fit right in with the Pet Sounds era too. It’s an interesting listen.
The xx
2/5
The production choice to bury the vocals on some of the songs was absolutely maddening. I was cranking up the volume trying to hear the vocals over the heavy bass and ambient noise and then guitars would come in and rip my head off and I had to turn it back down. And then more vocals but this time legible and boring. Almost every song is sung like they are bored and talking at their feet. Some of the music was fine but the singing ruined it.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
It’s a classic. However, while it was groundbreaking in 1969, it was completely eclipsed for heaviness by Black Sabbath a year later. This album borrows heavily from the blues and there are complete rip offs here. If I am going to pull out a LZ album it would normally be 2,4 or Houses of the Holy. It still set the template for hard rock for years to come though so I still have to give it a 5.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
Really cool. Has a nice mix of old 70s Neil and Ceazy Horse mixed with some grungy 90s sounds. I’m surprised this album isn’t more well known. A good addition to this list!
The Doors
5/5
Overall great. There are some dumb lyrics but damn near every album has some depending on your viewpoint. I’ve never understood the derision for this band. I’ve liked them since I was a kid so maybe I’m just nostalgic for them. Or maybe their combination of rock, psychedelia and blues just works for me.
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
Fun and funky with some unexpected soul. Only real criticism is that “All about love” had a strange production choice at the end where it sounded like the song was over and then it went back into the opening instrumental again for no reason. It would make sense if the intro but was an intro track and then this was the last track of the album and it was appearing to all start over but it didn’t make sense in the middle of the album. The track isn’t strong enough to be an opener so overall placement makes sense, I would have done away with the outro/intro revisit though.
The Beta Band
3/5
Stephen Stills
4/5
The leadoff track, Love the One You’re With is definitely the most well known piece here but I think it is a pretty empty song. Catchy melody and chorus but lightweight. Thankfully, the rest of the album is more interesting. It shows Stills range from folky, singer-songwriter tunes to more funky blues and hard rock.
Favorite songs: We are Not Helpless, Go Back Home, Old Times Good Times and Love the One You’re With (it’s an earworm). Least favorite: To a flame. It’s that ethereal 70s dreamy soft rock type of song that does nothing for me and never will.
Overall an enjoyable experience.
Nirvana
5/5
Hard to be subjective on this one. This album was the soundtrack of my youth. Came out when I was in 8th grade. They are still my favorite grunge band although Mudhoney is right up there too. I still love the raw energy of Bleach but the songs are just better on this album. A bit more mature and better produced. Five star every day.
The Go-Go's
5/5
Love this album. All the girls played really well and Belinda Carlisle’s voice has the perfect amount of sweetness without being squeaky and she can drop down enough to keep it interesting. Some timeless pop classics.
3/5
Good but not really my thing. Very provocative lyrics for the time which is really cool to hear.
5/5
Great mix of industrial, synth pop rock. Lots of layering, a lot going on in every song. Most songs are just busy enough.
3/5
I like U2’s early music well enough but Bono’s voice wears on me. Not sure why. The big hits are my favorites on this one. Tracks 1-4 are the hits. I also like track 6. The rest, I cannot recall now and I just listened to the album 30 minutes ago. That sums up my feelings on U2. Like most people, I like the big hits, that’s why they are hits. The rest are forgettable and that’s why they are not hits. They don’t have that X factor that makes them stand out. Sadly I would say that also sums up all their releases over the past 20-25 years. Even forcing an album on everyone via iTunes didn’t make those songs resonate with anyone. They are known more for humanitarian affairs now than their music.
Primal Scream
4/5
A lot going on in most songs. Nice mix of horns, strings, synths, sound effects and fuzz guitar. Very good but nothing overly memorable. I think many songs just have too much happening and that is why none of it sticks with me.
Pink Floyd
5/5
Love the whimsy on this album. The band lost that aspect after Syd left but I don’t think they would have ever hit the worldwide popularity that they did with him. This album is a great example of psychedelic-space rock and led the way for later acts like Hawkwind. So even though it doesn’t sound like their later albums it was highly influential and they were one of the hottest acts of the time in England. Classic.
Elton John
4/5
Solid album.
Ice Cube
5/5
Solid early 90s gangsta rap.
The Gun Club
3/5
Leonard Cohen
3/5
He’s a good songwriter but I would rather hear someone else sing most of his songs because he doesn’t have much range. Most of the musical compositions here are pretty simple. I think I would generally rather listen to Nick Cave if I want to listen to a singer with an ultra-low voice sing songs of pain. His compositions are more interesting.
Culture Club
3/5
Screams 80s. A couple big hits but some pretty forgettable tracks too. Nothing awful.
3/5
I find that a lot of X’s songs sound the same. I’ve listened to Under the Big Black Sun and Los Angeles and I liked Los Angeles the best because it was a bit more raw. This just isn’t memorable to me.
Pixies
4/5
Another fantastic Pixies album
Queen
3/5
I think Queen will always be a greatest hits band for me. I’ve liked a few non-hit tracks from this album, Sheer Heart Attack and Queen II but not much else that isn’t on a greatest hits comp. I think it’s the schizophrenic nature of their albums where it goes from hard rock to camp to classical and then back to rock that throws me off. If the campy show tunes were removed or limited to one interlude per album then I might have a more favorable view of their albums. I generally like the music outside of those tracks.
Steely Dan
4/5
I like most of the music. They can definitely play but a lot of their vocals are too soft and melodic for me. I get bored with that smooth delivery. But then in songs like Show Biz Kids where they added female backing vocals it really works because they add an upbeat pop tone that makes for a fun dance song. Also My Old School has that propulsive tempo plus even better backing vocals that lift it up to be a hit. Also some tasty guitar work. More of that please!
5/5
Really fun album. I have heard about this album for years but never listened to it for whatever reason. I need to get my own copy now.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
Alanis Morissette
3/5
I don’t have the nostalgia for this album that I have for many others of this time period. I think it’s a combination of overplaying and it being a favorite of an ex girlfriend of mine. But beyond that, a lot of her vocals are just grating. She makes a lot of weird noises like she is having convulsions and then sings with a harsh nasal twang that pierces through my brain. Add to that a lot of dated production and buzz saw guitars and effects and it just wears me out.
Oasis
4/5
Pretty good. Not as many big hits as their next album but still quite solid
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3/5
Definitely still finding their sound. The best songs here are the hits. The rest either sound like other bands, Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen come to mind or sound like demos. They are just missing that one extra thing that American Girl and Breakdown have.
The Who
4/5
A nice start for this legendary band. Some of the songs are dated but you can hear where they would go. The drums are the standout for me on most tracks.
The Avalanches
3/5
It’s fine background music. Not something I would think to put on.
Jefferson Airplane
3/5
The songs where Grace sings the main vocals are the hits and they really stand out compared to the Marty Balin led songs. Some of these songs feel quaint compared to Somebody to Love or White Rabbit. It’s good that Henry left the folk stuff behind.
The Shamen
2/5
Not good
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Dire Straits
5/5
Jeff Buckley
3/5
Kanye West
2/5
AC/DC
5/5
Yep. It’s great.
Germs
4/5
Raw, early hardcore punk influences.
Flamin' Groovies
4/5
Sounds about like early 70’s Stones
Afrika Bambaataa
4/5
Quality
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Solid
Pulp
4/5
Buck Owens
3/5
Fugees
4/5
Solid
Christina Aguilera
4/5
The Doors
5/5
Classic and it sounded like nothing else at the time.
Michael Jackson
4/5
Tracy Chapman
3/5
The Style Council
2/5
Steely Dan
5/5
Probably my favorite Steely Dan album. It’s got a lot more blues and funk to it than some of their later albums.
Sheryl Crow
2/5
The Beau Brummels
3/5
Interesting. Folky but with some rock elements like the Grateful Dead
The Rolling Stones
5/5
The Cure
4/5
Badly Drawn Boy
2/5
Big nope for me. I’m bewildered at how this made the list.
The Who
5/5
Epic
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Hell of a start
Morrissey
4/5
Pavement
4/5
Cool
Tears For Fears
3/5
Outside the hits, not much here
Prefab Sprout
2/5
The Who
5/5
My favorite Who album. Solid all the way through.
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
Classic
Frank Zappa
5/5
My favorite Zappa studio album. Peaches en Regalia is one of the best instrumentals ever set to record.
Nightmares On Wax
2/5
Music to ignore.
Tim Buckley
3/5
Pretty cool
Madonna
4/5
Pretty cool
Carole King
5/5
Soft Cell
4/5
Way better than I expected. A bit weird and very new wave but that works for me.
Isaac Hayes
4/5
Sounds like a 70s soundtrack for sure. Considering it was 1971, I would credit Hayes as being the progenitor of this sound. Theme from Shaft actually doesn’t fit the rest of the album in my opinion. It feels funkier than most of the other tracks with the exception of Do Your Thing. Still enjoyable but I expected a few more upbeat tracks and less silky instrumentals.
Frank Ocean
3/5
Interesting. I enjoyed most of it
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
The Beach Boys
5/5
Metallica
5/5
There is a reason it sold so many copies. It’s more approachable than their earlier work but still hard edged enough for most of their fans to get behind. Never mind the dickheads who say anything after “..and Justice For All” is crap. They are just butt hurt that they now have to share their favorite band with others.
David Bowie
3/5
It’s Bowie so it’s definitely not bad but it’s not that memorable either. Except for the title track. The instrumentals are good and interesting but I generally gravitate towards songs with words and on a lot of those, Bowie sounds a bit tired. I prefer Low or Lodger as far as the Berlin trilogy is concerned.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Green Day
5/5
Classic pop-punk. It’s just fun all the way through.
Joe Ely
4/5
Pretty cool. Nice mix of honky-tonk and ballads. Reminds me of Dwight Yokum mixed with Jerry Jeff Walker.
Cream
4/5
Fantastic mix of blues and psychedelia.
Nirvana
5/5
The best unplugged album. My favorite versions of some of these songs. So much expression in Kurt’s voice. I like most of their covers better than the originals too.
Love
3/5
a-ha
3/5
Iggy Pop
5/5
Iggy’s best solo record. A lot of Bowie influences since Bowie produced it but that’s not a bad thing.
Gary Numan
4/5
Interesting. Reminds me a bit of Kraftwerk but also Devo and other new wave bands like the Buggles. Overall I liked it.
The Jam
4/5
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Funky but still a wats to go.
The Youngbloods
3/5
Just ok.
Beck
3/5
A very pleasant sounding album that has good musicianship but nothing as hooky as his earlier works. For that reason, the album doesn’t stand out for me.
The Beach Boys
4/5
Some great songs and some lesser ones but even the lesser Beach Bous songs are still pretty good. Nothing in their catalog stands up to Pet Sounds but this is still pretty decent. The last track is a throwaway though.
The Police
4/5
Even though I have all of the Police’s albums, they still remain a greatest hits band for me. I just feel in general, their hits are really great and the other songs are much lesser. The second half of this album is much better than the first half but unfortunately the last couple songs show where Sting was going. Adult contemporary isn’t my thing. I prefer their earlier works that were more edgy even if they were still a mixed bag. But the hits are still great so I can’t go below a 4.
Beatles
4/5
Cyndi Lauper
3/5
Iron Butterfly
2/5
Pretty forgettable outside of In-a-gadda-da-vida. The album track is way too long. I like some prog and psych jams but this one bored me.
Todd Rundgren
3/5
Nah.
Wu-Tang Clan
4/5
Pretty great.
New York Dolls
4/5
Pretty great. I’m surprised more of these songs didn’t get radio play.
Deep Purple
5/5
Classic.
Crowded House
3/5
It’s fine but not essential. Seriously, why is this on this list?
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
A solid start for his solo career
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
4/5
Sex Pistols
5/5
Deerhunter
3/5
Charles Mingus
4/5
I can dig it
Kraftwerk
5/5
Krautrock at its finest
Johnny Cash
5/5
Van Halen
5/5
5. There is no other correct score.
White Denim
4/5
Abdullah Ibrahim
3/5
Neil Young
5/5
Probably my favorite of his solo albums
Siouxsie And The Banshees
5/5
Tortoise
3/5
Femi Kuti
3/5
The Band
5/5
Their best album. Period.
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
Depeche Mode
5/5
Pretty good. Maybe their best album?
XTC
3/5
A weird mess with the exception of Dear God. That song felt like a treat at the end of the album for getting through the rest of it.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
The Kinks
4/5
Nirvana
5/5
Richard Thompson
3/5
Very folky.
Sepultura
5/5
Fantastic thrash album
Santana
3/5
Some very good stuff but also some really drawn out jams that don’t really do much.
Slade
4/5
Black Sabbath
5/5
Classic. Very timely since Ozzy died today. I just listened to the first 3 Sabbath albums today in tribute.
CHIC
3/5
ZZ Top
3/5
Starts strong but runs out of steam. Classic material on side 1 but side two is mostly forgettable
Beastie Boys
5/5
Dagmar Krause
2/5
Big nope.
Bob Dylan
4/5
Classic, early Dylan. Still had that folk thing going where a lot of the songs sound similar but the topics are different. Nothing objectionable, just not something I would listen to often.
1/5
The sound of a mental breakdown.
Cornershop
3/5
Not what I was expecting. Not terrible.
The Clash
5/5
Classic
Beatles
4/5
Pretty solid. Even though it has a lot of covers, I still prefer their covers over some of the originals.
Morrissey
4/5
Better than I expected. More upbeat than a lot of his material I have heard before. Pleasantly surprised.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Herbie Hancock
4/5
Black Sabbath
5/5
Van Morrison
3/5
Saint Etienne
2/5
Does nothing for me
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Eagles
4/5
The Stooges
5/5
Fantastic
The Yardbirds
3/5
Pretty cool. Great guitar but the vocals aren’t great on many songs.
Grateful Dead
3/5
I really want to like the Dead more than I do. Some of their songs sound too much like noodling in a practice space and not real compositions. Live albums are generally worse about this because it is about jamming and doing what feels right at the moment. In person that can be a lot of fun because you are experiencing something unique with others and you can watch it form. On record though it just meanders and turns into background noise. The musicality is impressive for sure but the guitars seem mic’d louder than everything else and I had to turn the volume down on my phone multiple times because the guitars were getting painful. Live sound is hard to get right but it seems like they could have leveled it out a little more on record.
Venom
3/5
Pretty funny. So over the top with the fake satanic imagery. It’s like a sixteen year old writing the most offensive things they can think of to displease their parents and then combined with some ok musicianship and a singer who growls and yells his way through it. I know it was important at the time because it was heavier than Sabbath or Priest but most of it sounds amateurish now. Slayer did it better but someone had to do it first so I will give them credit for that.
The Pogues
4/5
The Black Keys
4/5
Mariah Carey
2/5
Meh
Michael Jackson
4/5
Great slice of disco pop r&b whatever.
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
.
Björk
1/5
Anyone who says they are a big fan of Björk…. I would love to see their record collection. I don’t see how anyone can get into this.
This album in particular lost my interest quickly. Songs that drone on and on and appear to end and then come back but usually the same as before they left. Was there no one around to edit this? Was the motto, “play until you have played too long and then play a little longer”? Or “Let’s take a few good ideas and drag them out until no one likes them anymore”?
I can’t imagine playing this in the car or working out to it or cleaning the house to it or putting it on at a party or falling asleep to it or ever wanting to hear this. It is confused, angry music for someone who feels like no one understands them and they can put this on and draw angry spirals on their notebooks while wearing all black and hating the world. I can see pouty, goth, teenage girls listening to this while plotting revenge. That’s about the only use there is for this. And even for those girls, I think they would get out of their funk and never go back to listen to this again. Just unpleasant.
The Divine Comedy
3/5
The Allman Brothers Band
4/5
I like the Allman Brothers but some of these jams were just too long. I’ve seen them live a few times and it’s always different when you are in the room. On record I find that these long jams just don’t hold my attention. Great song and great playing though.
Meat Loaf
2/5
Miles Davis
5/5
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
Powerful live performances. I actually wish it was a longer set.
The Stooges
5/5
Fantastic. The roots of punk. Every track is a banger except the last one which reminds me a lot of late-stage Black Flag. Iggy’s screams and moans sound a lot like Rollins and the guitar freak out of Ron Asheton sounds a lot like Ginn. I’m sure this was an inspiration to both Ginn and Rollins. Rollins calls Iggy the undisputed heavyweight champ of rock n roll and on this album, that is hard to dispute.
The Beach Boys
3/5
Beyoncé
3/5
Eurythmics
2/5
A bit of a slog. Other than Sweet Dreams, not a lot to get excited about.
Orbital
1/5
If hell is real, then this is on the jukebox there. Unless you are a club DJ and need to know what backing music you have to work with, who would ever choose to listen to this? When would they listen to this outside of a dance club or rave? 1001 albums to listen to before you die and this was picked? Seriously? I would rather listen to an instructional video on vacuum repair. Awful.
Metallica
4/5
Nick Drake
3/5
Gram Parsons
4/5
Pretty great
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Napalm Death
1/5
To the author of this list, Fuck You. Nothing with pig vocals ever needs to be listened to. The instrumentation is mostly good but the vocals are absolute trash and make this unlistenable.
Parliament
4/5
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
Good stuff
Eels
2/5
Meh
Big Brother & The Holding Company
4/5
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Billy Joel
4/5
A solid album full of hits. I’m usually not in the mood for the ballads but I can’t deny that they are still catchy.
Hole
4/5
Good. Grungy as expected. I hadn’t listened to this album in at least 10-15 years. Way better than I expected. The songs I like the best sound a lot like Nirvana. No surprise there.
Aerosmith
4/5
The Associates
3/5
Interesting. It feels like there are a lot of good moments but few of the songs really have a memorable hook.
The Cult
4/5
Good dirty blues rock. Similar to Aerosmith and Guns N Roses with some New York Dolls swagger thrown in.
The Killers
5/5
Very cool. More hits on it than I remembered. No bad songs really.
Belle & Sebastian
2/5
The 13th Floor Elevators
2/5
Serviceable psych at best. The bubbling sound on a lot of songs is terribly annoying and kills some really decent tunes. You’re Gonna Miss Me is the only real standout here.
Gang Of Four
4/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Peter Frampton
3/5
The Incredible String Band
3/5
As someone who quite likes early Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett’s solo work, I can stand this more than most apparently. I get the overall consensus though because I have roasted MANY albums on this site. This sounds like 3 or 4 Syds jammed with Brian Jones and some Renaissance fare minstrels and no one bothered to question if the songs were any good. Was tape rolling? We got it. Ok.
The more coherent songs show some decent playing but the lyrics are just weird nonsense and some of the songs are so discordant that they are hard to listen to. Not a complete fail for me but far from essential. I won’t be seeking out a copy. 3/5 Still better than Yoko Ono.
The Who
4/5
Very entertaining. Not their best batch of songs but the radio spoofs are gold.
Janelle Monáe
5/5
Really enjoyed this. Had heard some of her music before and liked the classic sounds that she would use from vintage jazz to classic soul. There are passages that sound straight out of a 50s or 60s jazz record and other parts that are very modern hip hop. She’s got a great voice.
Grateful Dead
5/5
Hard not to rate this as my favorite Dead album. Truckin’, Friend of the Devil, Sugar Magnolia and Ripple. I mean, come on. Has to be in the top three Grateful Dead studio albums of any fan’s list.
4/5
Jean-Michel Jarre
3/5
Good soundtrack or background music but fairly boring to listen to straight through.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
I’ve always preferred Collins-era Genesis over Gabriel-era Genesis because I found the Gabriel songs to be generally ponderous, meandering or weird. I feel the same way about Gabriel’s solo work. With a few exceptions, I just can’t get into his solo work. “So” is the biggest exception as it was very commercial but each of his earlier albums had one or two tracks I can get into. Overall I would give this 3.5/5. Nothing I hated but not enough bright spots for me to want to own it either.
LL Cool J
3/5
It’s ironic that LL Cool J raps about people calling his lyrics corny because I was thinking the same thing on a lot of these songs. I like old school rap but some of these songs are just dumb. The ones that work, work great though so overall, pretty decent.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
You can hear some hints of what they would turn into later but overall this album doesn’t do much for me. Too many covers and Mick trying a little too hard to sound like the original singers. Nothing objectionable but nothing I will go back to either. No need to own this one.
Gorillaz
3/5
The Psychedelic Furs
5/5
Good stuff
Blondie
5/5
Fantastic
T. Rex
5/5
4/5
Context is key here. This came out in Feb 1969 and nothing else had this level of furious energy. It blew minds and inspired tons of bands. Is the singing good? No. Is the guitar playing good? Sometimes. Is it extremely important to the punk and hard rock movements? Hell yes. And none of our stupid, fucking opinions change that. That said, it is a cd I have owned for 30 years and rarely listen to so I can’t give it more than a 4. Basically 2 points for the music and 2 for importance.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
4/5
I think I like old school rap because you can usually sing along to it. It’s about as far from mumble rap as possible.
Blur
3/5
A couple upbeat tracks, some nice variety. But this could have been a shorter album. I checked out for the last few tracks.
Goldie
1/5
Nope
Baaba Maal
3/5
Interesting.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
Making death and violence sound so luscious.
GZA
5/5
Wow. Really solid. You could tell his rapping ability was way up there. He constantly changed things up song to song and proved he was the best rapper in Wu Tang Clan
Queen Latifah
4/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5/5
Fats Domino
5/5
Coldplay
2/5
Meh.
Traffic
4/5
Interesting mix of British Blues and British folk whimsy with some real funky moments. I can’t say it all works but it is interesting and pretty solid. You can definitely hear Cream influences or they may have inspired Cream as well. The whole scene was very incestuous so who knows for sure. You definitely hear how Blind Faith came to be. 4/5
Big Black
4/5
Pretty cool. A bit industrial. I could hear some Ministry at times. I also heard some singing that reminded me of late Black Flag. I need to check out more of their catalog now. 4/5.
The Undertones
3/5
Reminds me of Johnny Rotten on vocals with the vibrato. Otherwise it’s typical late 70s punk. 3/5
Skunk Anansie
2/5
Wilco
2/5
Dr. Octagon
3/5
I probably have more patience for this than many since I used to listen to ICP. However, I have to admit that most of these rhymes are pretty stupid. Some creative beats though.
Erykah Badu
2/5
Boring. Some decent music but the songs go on too long and don’t really go anywhere. Also some of the vocals are really nasally and grating. The entire album is too long as well. Her bored look on the cover reflects how I felt halfway through this listen.
Common
2/5
Too long. Some misogyny and homophobia which is pretty “common” in rap (see what I did there?) so not surprising. I don’t see myself listening to this again.
Public Enemy
5/5
Arcade Fire
4/5
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
3/5
Sort of all over the place.
Jane's Addiction
4/5
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Classic
Genesis
4/5
Fela Kuti
3/5
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Interesting but it often felt a bit forced like he was trying a little too hard to fit into a more modern sound.
Manic Street Preachers
2/5
The Lemonheads
3/5
Some good stuff but a lot of it was too melodic and mid tempo.
Arcade Fire
4/5
John Martyn
3/5
Some cool guitar work. A bit Mahavishnu Orchestra at times. Interesting. Not crazy about his voice though.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
I forgot how good this is. Haven’t listened to it in years but this is definitely one of my favorite Nick Cave albums. The contrast between the gospel tinged hellfire of disc 1 and the ballads of disc 2 is awesome. And the fact that it all works is incredible. A great comeback after some forgettable releases.
Merle Haggard
3/5
Pretty good. I’m m not a big country fan but this is classic.
Laibach
1/5
Nope
Anthrax
4/5
Pretty great. My favorite Anthrax record.
Underworld
1/5
Ugh
James Taylor
3/5
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
Blah. She’s got a good voice but it just doesn’t do much for me. Nothing offensive enough to abandon the listen but nothing that compels me to listen further either. Standard faire pop country.
Janet Jackson
5/5
Sufjan Stevens
3/5
Black Flag
5/5
Tim Buckley
5/5
Common
4/5
10cc
3/5
Slint
2/5
Meh. The talking over the music gets boring quickly and most of these songs are that style. I’ve heard worse on this list so I’ll give it a 2.
Chicago
5/5
Scott Walker
2/5
Not really my thing
The Smiths
3/5
Randy Newman
4/5
Was not expecting to like this based on some of his cheesy soundtrack songs. Very biting social commentary and witty. Rednecks caught me off guard.
Eric Clapton
5/5
Elastica
4/5
Connect is super catchy. Line Up is really good and Stutter is a good rocker. Definite shades of Blondie in this album. Not a bad thing at all.
Radiohead
3/5
I liked this better than other Radiohead albums but I still wouldn’t own it. Thom Yorke just sounds tired and whiny most of the time.
Sonic Youth
2/5
I have a hard time getting into Sonic Youth. Seems like a lot of droning noise and screeching guitars.
David Ackles
3/5
Sounds a bit like Scott Walker mixed with Leonard Cohen but not as good. There are too many songs where he is doing an over dramatic style that reminds me of a theater production. Reminds me of William Shatner on The Transformed Man when he would do very serious, loud, speak-singing. In other songs though, he shows that he can sing bout them the songs just aren’t catchy. How this was a hit at the time, I’ll never know. 3/5
Mudhoney
5/5
Liz Phair
3/5
I had to stop the first song because I decided Liz couldn’t sing and this would be a painful experience. I then remembered how many articles ranked this album highly over the years and decided to soldier on. The album got better for me but I still don’t think Liz is a great singer. At least my or in this album. She sounds tired and disinterested a lot of the time. It didn’t speak to me but I think it wasn’t meant to/
The Damned
5/5
My second favorite Damned album. I like the rawness of Damned Damned Damned just a little more. The songwriting is probably better on this one but it’s still stating at number two for me.
Tom Tom Club
4/5
Fantastic. This is one of those bands that I always forget about.
Hanoi Rocks
4/5