335
Albums Rated
3.55
Average Rating
31%
Complete
754 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1960
Favorite Decade
Hip-hop
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
42
5-Star Albums
11
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Yeezus
Kanye West
|
5 | 2.77 | +2.23 |
|
Southern Rock Opera
Drive-By Truckers
|
5 | 2.82 | +2.18 |
|
AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
Ice Cube
|
5 | 2.93 | +2.07 |
|
Like Water For Chocolate
Common
|
5 | 2.95 | +2.05 |
|
Rhythm Nation 1814
Janet Jackson
|
5 | 2.99 | +2.01 |
|
The Pleasure Principle
Gary Numan
|
5 | 3.14 | +1.86 |
|
Lost Souls
Doves
|
5 | 3.16 | +1.84 |
|
Step In The Arena
Gang Starr
|
5 | 3.17 | +1.83 |
|
The Chronic
Dr. Dre
|
5 | 3.32 | +1.68 |
|
Channel Orange
Frank Ocean
|
5 | 3.32 | +1.68 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Tommy
The Who
|
1 | 3.34 | -2.34 |
|
Murder Ballads
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
|
1 | 3.08 | -2.08 |
|
Swordfishtrombones
Tom Waits
|
1 | 2.95 | -1.95 |
|
Merriweather Post Pavilion
Animal Collective
|
1 | 2.9 | -1.9 |
|
Damaged
Black Flag
|
1 | 2.87 | -1.87 |
|
Among The Living
Anthrax
|
1 | 2.85 | -1.85 |
|
All Hope Is Gone
Slipknot
|
1 | 2.7 | -1.7 |
|
Penance Soiree
The Icarus Line
|
1 | 2.5 | -1.5 |
|
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
|
2 | 3.44 | -1.44 |
|
Rock Bottom
Robert Wyatt
|
1 | 2.39 | -1.39 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 5 |
| OutKast | 2 | 5 |
| Stevie Wonder | 3 | 4.33 |
| Steely Dan | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Waits | 2 | 1.5 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Björk | 2, 5 |
| The Who | 1, 4, 4 |
5-Star Albums (42)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds · 10 likes
1/5
Nick Cave has a unique way of making you envy the characters who die in each of the songs on this album, by delivering vocal performances so bad that you’ll wish that you were dead too. Hated the vibe, hated Nick’s singing, hated the production (and the addition of a woman crying or other strange noises throughout). Just total shit.
Lauryn Hill · 2 likes
3/5
In my lifetime, I’ve made three or four attempts to get into this album to understand the hype behind it. My conclusion is that it is mediocre - nice instrumentals but a bit too long and few standout moments. It’s just pretty bland R&B with hip-hop drums and a bit of rapping. There’s a couple of great tracks (Lost Ones and Doo Wop), but the rest is pretty boring.
Black Flag · 1 likes
1/5
I concur with my learned colleague that one ought not to take an album's influence into account when assigning their own personal rating. What would be the point, then, of listening to albums that we all know to be incredibly influential (e.g. 'Nevermind' or 'Sgt Peppers')? Wouldn't they just be 5/5 for their influence alone? I think it devalues the experience to consider anything other than your own personal listening experience. In fact, I try to avoid looking at other ratings within my group or reading anything about the album before my first playthrough - lest it unduly influence my enjoyment. I do not want to be thinking about a wider societal expectation of how listeners should receive the album before I jump in - too many times, where this has been unavoidable, albums have failed to live up to that same expectation.
I dissent from my learned colleague's view, however, that this album is 5/5. Personally, influential or not, I thought it was atrocious.
Derek & The Dominos · 1 likes
4/5
No review of Eric Clapton is complete without a reminder that he is a horrible racist. That being said, good album.
Sabu · 1 likes
2/5
This is not an album for a man who hates drums. That being said, I liked the songs where the percussion took a backseat, such as 'Rhapsodia Del Maravilloso'.
1-Star Albums (11)
All Ratings
The Stooges
4/5
Yes
2/5
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Ray Charles
4/5
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
Prince
4/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
5/5
Steely Dan
4/5
Lou Reed
4/5
Johnny Cash
3/5
Pink Floyd
5/5
Eagles
4/5
Eagles
4/5
OutKast
5/5
The Clash
5/5
Sam Cooke
4/5
B.B. King
4/5
Beatles
4/5
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
Beatles
3/5
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Considering this is my inaugural review for newfilewav, I will treat it with the care and consideration that testifies to my worth as a member of this group. What a joy to begin with this album. The resonant bass takes you straight to the dive bars of Bruce Springsteen’s native New Jersey. The gritty vocals ring home the themes of working class struggle and triumph over adversity. The melancholy organ which crops up now and again testifies to the fact that there is beauty in the struggle. Very enjoyable listen. Personal favourite: Streets of Fire.
Prince
3/5
Classic Prince - a few sensational songs diluted with some average and a couple poor ones. Favourite: The Ballad of Dorothy Parker. Least favourite: Housequake.
Megadeth
2/5
I was surprised I didn’t hate this album more, but the opening couple of tracks weren’t terrible.
The Band
2/5
More like “The BLAND” by The BLAND. Am I right???
Scissor Sisters
2/5
Some great tracks, but as an album it didn’t move me.
Kanye West
4/5
ZZ Top
4/5
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
4/5
The Residents
1/5
I can’t rate this low enough. Unlistenable and unbearable.
Brian Eno
3/5
Count Basie & His Orchestra
3/5
Marty Robbins
4/5
El Paso, Big Iron, A Hundred and Sixty Acres = all classics.
Soul II Soul
2/5
Back to Life is a classic but this album wasn’t that great.
Doves
5/5
Super Furry Animals
2/5
Sister Sledge
3/5
Three feels harsh, but four seems generous. This album is a solid 3.5.
Sigur Rós
4/5
The Strokes
5/5
Classic.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Marianne Faithfull
2/5
Radiohead
4/5
I’ve never fully understood why this album is always considered one of the best ever. That being said, it is very good and ‘No Surprises’ is excellent.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Franz Ferdinand
5/5
Hood classic 🏴
The Icarus Line
1/5
Songhoy Blues
2/5
The Stone Roses
5/5
Tim Buckley
2/5
Terence Trent D'Arby
3/5
The Who
1/5
Public Enemy
3/5
Some 5/5 songs, but I don’t love the album as a whole.
4/5
Iggy Pop
5/5
Choose your future, choose life.
Erykah Badu
4/5
Hugh Masekela
3/5
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
I found this one hard to rate. It’s an eclectic mix of great, good, and not great. I’m giving it 7/10, which translates to 3.5/5, and I’m choosing to round that number down rather than up.
Ride
4/5
Funkadelic
3/5
Yes
3/5
Fleet Foxes
2/5
I’ve had a couple of people recommend Fleet Foxes to me over the years and I’ve never taken them up on this. Now, I realise I wasn’t missing anything special. In fact, I hated this. There’s few genres I hate more than “indie folk”. I resisted giving it one star because there are some moments which are not terrible.
Talking Heads
4/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Portishead
3/5
I really like the style, but I feel like it got boring after a little while. I’ve had this album downloaded for a long time, intending to listen to it but it fell below expectations.
Blur
3/5
Blur have some great songs, but at other times, Damon Albarn’s whining singing voice is too much for me.
The Stooges
4/5
If there’s one thing that I’ve taken away from this 1001 Albums challenge so far, it’s a love for Iggy Pop and The Stooges.
ZZ Top
4/5
Guns N' Roses
3/5
There are no dull moments on this album, but it’s just not my kind of thing. Sweet Child Of Mine is 5/5 and there are some other great songs, but a full album of Guns n Roses is a little too much for me to bear. Under the right circumstances, I would agree that the album is 5/5. But I gave it a few tries and I just couldn’t get into it.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
1/5
Nick Cave has a unique way of making you envy the characters who die in each of the songs on this album, by delivering vocal performances so bad that you’ll wish that you were dead too. Hated the vibe, hated Nick’s singing, hated the production (and the addition of a woman crying or other strange noises throughout). Just total shit.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Superb. “Moonlight Mile” is one of my favourite Rolling Stones songs. I wasn’t familiar with the album, but I loved every track.
Derek & The Dominos
4/5
No review of Eric Clapton is complete without a reminder that he is a horrible racist. That being said, good album.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
The Waterboys
3/5
The “diddly-diddly-dee” vibes at the start of this album were great, but it got a little bit too “hurdy-gurdy-gurdy” towards the end. I did not like “When Will We Be Married” or “The Stolen Child”.
Charles Mingus
3/5
Like every great jazz album, it goes from moments of 5/5 to 1/5 at a second’s notice.
Billy Joel
4/5
There’s no real low points, but there are some points which are a bit too cheesy (and a bit too ‘Billy Joel’), such as “Everybody Has A Dream”. That being said, solid album.
Neil Young
3/5
Neil Young’s vocals are terrible, a full album is too much.
Hole
3/5
When this band broke up, the joke was to say “Did you hear that Courtney Love’s ‘Hole’ Has Split?” Anyway, good album but pretty dated.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Minutemen
3/5
Otis Redding
5/5
Incredible.
Fela Kuti
3/5
Pretty good, but 16 minute drum solos are just not my thing.
Tim Buckley
3/5
Started off well, slowly got worse.
Parliament
4/5
Steely Dan
4/5
Dire Straits
4/5
Rush
4/5
Van Halen
4/5
Air
3/5
Boston
3/5
Duran Duran
3/5
The Incredible String Band
2/5
Terrible, but mundane enough that it didn’t become a pain to listen to.
Snoop Dogg
5/5
Prime Snoop Dogg and prime Dr. Dre. This album might not be in my top 10, but it’s definitely in my top 20.
Neil Young
3/5
Was the 1001 Albums book sponsored by Neil Young? One great song on here (Harvest), the rest are somewhere between good and boring.
Pere Ubu
1/5
A basic understanding of French will help anyone appreciate avant-garde music. “Avant” means “before”, and “garde” means “anyone-realised-being-experimental-didn’t-equate-to-being-interesting-or-good.” It can also be described as merde-totale (total shit). I did not enjoy this album.
Cypress Hill
3/5
A full album of Cypress Hill is a little bit too much - their voices become a bit grating after a while. That being said, nice beats and a few good songs (“How I Could Just Kill A Man”).
PJ Harvey
3/5
Paul McCartney and Wings
4/5
Herbie Hancock
3/5
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
The Cure
4/5
Britney Spears
3/5
There wasn’t anything I disliked about this album, but there wasn’t much I enjoyed about it either.
David Bowie
4/5
Sarah Vaughan
3/5
Enjoyed this - it’s a 7/10, and I’m afraid 4/5 is much too high, so it gets a 3/5 on a technicality.
Common
5/5
I can’t believe I’ve missed this album my whole life, it’s incredible.
Wild Beasts
3/5
The B-52's
3/5
Giving this three stars rather than two on account of the fact that Rock Lobster is a classic song. I’m giving it three stars rather than four or five because the B-52s have a unique singing style which is difficult to stomach in such a large quantity. Also, all the songs are so similar that it gets slightly irritating.
Black Sabbath
3/5
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Adele
4/5
Spiritualized
2/5
Mostly quite boring and inoffensive, with some moments which are entirely unlistenable.
The White Stripes
4/5
9/10. I think that I need to sit with this album for more than a few days to form a fuller opinion, but it made a strong first impression. I may regret not giving it a full five stars.
Eminem
5/5
Van Morrison
4/5
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Don McLean
3/5
American Pie and Vincent are both incredible songs, but there’s a few terrible songs which bring the average down (Sister Fatima, The Grave and Babylon). If the album finished three songs earlier, it could’ve been a 4/5.
Barry Adamson
4/5
Art rock will always be my least favourite genre. That being said, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this album. It's very consistent, and even the album's more experimental tracks ("It's Business as Usual") were really enjoyable. It feels like this album covers a lot of ground but is still very cohesive in its sound (which is where a lot of other experimental albums fail for me).
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
Great album. I love any music that can evoke a strong sense of a time or place - I’ve never been to Cuba, but listening to this album feels like Cuba.
Talking Heads
4/5
Dion
3/5
Lauryn Hill
3/5
In my lifetime, I’ve made three or four attempts to get into this album to understand the hype behind it. My conclusion is that it is mediocre - nice instrumentals but a bit too long and few standout moments. It’s just pretty bland R&B with hip-hop drums and a bit of rapping. There’s a couple of great tracks (Lost Ones and Doo Wop), but the rest is pretty boring.
Earth, Wind & Fire
3/5
David Bowie
4/5
The Specials
4/5
Beatles
3/5
This album is enjoyable, but not great. Most of the songs on here are pretty forgettable and have the stereotypical Beatles sound. “All My Loving” might be the only great Beatles song on here, but the cover versions of “Please Mr. Postman” and “Roll Over Beethoven” are also pretty good.
Queen Latifah
3/5
A lot of 80s hip-hop sounds very samey, and this is no exception.
David Bowie
3/5
A great opening seven Bowie songs, ruined by the closing four Eno songs.
Prince
5/5
Arcade Fire
4/5
The Who
4/5
I find too much of The Who's music is drawn-out and their style isn't usually for me. But being a live album, this was a lot punchier and not as complicated as their studio albums. It helps that the only two Who songs which I like "Substitute" and "Magic Bus" are on here, plus a cover of "Shakin' All Over" which is a great song.
Os Mutantes
3/5
Throwing Muses
2/5
Every song sounds so similar that the album started to annoy me.
The Flaming Lips
3/5
Queen
3/5
Christine and the Queens
3/5
Enjoyable, but nothing special.
Madonna
3/5
The Cardigans
4/5
I found myself falling in love with the lead singer’s dreamy voice. When she sang “love me, love me, say that you love me”, I shouted back at the speaker “I do love you!!” I also really enjoyed the Black Sabbath cover - this is how all cover versions should be, they really made it their own rather than trying to imitate the original. I’ll find it hard to move on from this album and leave Nina Persson behind, so I will definitely give it another listen.
Duke Ellington
4/5
Dusty Springfield
3/5
This is a difficult album to rate. I’ve always loved Dusty Springfield, but this isn’t her best work. No surprise that it’s her debut - it’s generic 60s pop, without the soul of her later work (“Son of a Preacher Man”, “Spooky”, or “Windmills of Your Mind”). As such, we don’t get her best vocal performances. Wishin’ and Hopin’ is the only song I really like here, and there’s a couple of others which pale in comparison to the originals (“You Don’t Own Me” and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”) - this wouldn’t matter as much if Dusty’s versions were a bit more elaborate rather than just imitations of the originals. The rest is just easy-listening background music.
Metallica
4/5
Ian Dury
4/5
Sweet Gene Vincent is a classic. I love how he brings in so many funk and soul elements to an otherwise punk record. I also love the humour in songs like Billericay Dickie. My dad used to play a lot of Ian Dury when I was young and he was always one of my favourites of my dad’s favourites, but this is the first time I’ve heard this full album.
Pixies
4/5
The Kinks
4/5
The Go-Go's
4/5
The Doors
4/5
Anthrax
1/5
Thrash metal has always been my least favourite genre. So far, I’ve been won over by Metallica and Megadeath, but Anthrax is the worst of the worst.
Kraftwerk
4/5
This album grew on me the more I listened. Had it at three stars after the first listen, but it worked it’s way up to four.
Steely Dan
5/5
Very very good.
The Police
4/5
Finley Quaye
3/5
Lot of great stuff on this album - Sunday Shining and Ultra Stimulation are highlights. But there’s also a lot of filler - if the last four tracks were removed then I think this would be a great album. Red Rolled and Seen feels like the background music of a Crash Bandicoot game - there are a couple other tracks like this which are repetitive and irritating.
Regardless, Finley Quaye remains Scotland’s finest reggae artist. I feel confident in saying that’s something nobody will ever take away from him.
The United States Of America
3/5
Definitely the most enjoyable 'experimental' album that I've heard so far. My favourite tracks were "I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar" and "Love Song For the Dead Che". I really like the psychedelic style and I particularly like the musical interludes where it reverts back to a more typical 60s style - it even sounds like a parody of a particular band/song at points. E.g. The beginning of Stranded in Time sounds like a parody of Eleanor Rigby to me.
But, despite it's strengths, it was quite drawn out and there are a few weak tracks. Considering the album and the band are both called 'The United States of America', I feel compelled to slap a 25% tariff on this review.
4/5
I really like this style and I think Loretta Lynn has the perfect voice for it. Country music really peaked as a genre in the 1960s.
The Who
4/5
I think this early stuff by The Who is so much better than all the experimental stuff that followed. I've never really liked the song 'My Generation' and my favourite tracks on here are the cover versions of old souls/blues songs. That being said, it's a very good album overall.
King Crimson
5/5
Simply incredible.
Elvis Presley
4/5
Björk
2/5
Disappointed because I loved Debut, but this album was really boring.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
Bob Dylan
4/5
Absolutely Sweet Marie has been my favourite Bob Dylan song ever since I seen George Harrison performing it at the ‘30 Years of Bob Dylan’ celebration concert. I don’t love all the other songs quite as much, but it’s a great album nonetheless.
Björk
5/5
I can’t believe that I find myself leaving a five star review for a Björk album. This is what the generator is all about!
The Triffids
4/5
Billy Bragg
3/5
Dr. Dre
5/5
Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang was the first rap song I heard and loved (via Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas). I completely appreciate why people would knock points off this for the misogyny and the juvenile humour. Alas, “Bitches Ain’t Shit” just hit different when you were 14 and hadn’t yet spoken to a girl. Dre and Snoop had the same effect as the Tate brothers - they let young men mask their anxiety behind machismo and aggression. Much less harmful than the Tate brothers though, as the defence was always that music isn’t to be taken literally. It was cathartic nonetheless.
We all know that this doesn’t hold up today. But what does hold up is the seamless production, the social commentary and the g-funk. Dr. Dre single-handedly created the west coast sound which still comes through in rap music coming out the west coast today, more than 30 years later. Credit is due to George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic. In an era where intellectual property lawsuits were clamping down on the art of sampling and crippling hip-hop, George Clinton seen the future. Being an artist who owned his masters (very rare in the 90s), he let Dre use his material however he liked (for low-to-no cost, if I recall correctly). Dre turned the P-Funk to the G-Funk and the rest is history.
Carole King
5/5
The Soft Boys
4/5
Janet Jackson
5/5
The Only Ones
4/5
The Mamas & The Papas
4/5
Moby
4/5
Good background music.
The Velvet Underground
2/5
I didn’t realise it was possible for Lou Reed or the Velvet Underground to make an album this bad.
Meat Puppets
3/5
A mixed bag - some really nice songs (Aura Borealis), some fine songs, and some terrible.
Sinead O'Connor
3/5
Quite surprising - I didn’t expect songs like Emperor’s New Clothes and Jump in the River. I expected Nothing Compares 2 U, and then nine sad (perhaps political) ballads. The latter of which is not my thing, (I also don’t want to seem like a defender of Thatcher’s Northern Ireland policy, but it’s hardly comparable to the Tiananmen Square massacre). That being said, I really like the punk elements of this album and it would’ve scored another point or two from me if the whole record was more ‘Jump in the River’ and less ‘Black Boys on Mopeds’.
Bob Dylan
4/5
John Coltrane
4/5
I’ve heard this album a couple of times before today, and always felt like it wasn’t really thing. But, I found myself listening to it on repeat today - it went from a 2/5 this morning, to a 3/5 in the afternoon, to a 4/5 in the evening. It definitely took me a few tries to appreciate it, but now I do.
Paul Weller
4/5
Animal Collective
1/5
Made for Pitchfork journalists.
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
A very strong 4.
Johnny Cash
5/5
Johnny Cash has long been one of my favourite artists and this is in my top 10 albums of all time. When I was 8 years old, I loved ‘Cocaine Blues’ so much that I changed my status on MSN Messenger to “Lay off that whisky, and let that cocaine be” - I was fortunate to have parents who had faith that the developing mind of their child would not be moulded by violent hyperbole in music. To this day, I have not yet woken up one morning, snorted cocaine, then shot a woman down. I’m proud of that fact. At a time where the courts in the United Kingdom are stipulating in the bail conditions of budding rap artists that they must not release music with any violent lyrics, I yearn for the type of societal understanding that placed Johnny Cash at the heart of Folsom Prison to play for the inmates and I am thankful that this was recorded for posterity. It is a true testament to artistic freedom of expression.
The songwriting is 10/10 - it can be violent but also funny, or moving and sad. In my view, it will always be the best live album ever recorded because the cheers of the inmates create a palpable energy. And finally, Johnny Cash has a unique talent for covering songs where he can make you forget about the original completely - the cover of The Green Green Grass of Home is one of my favourites.
Jack White
4/5
This was excellent - 4.5.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
Nico sounds amazing on every song she’s on. The only thing preventing this album from being a 5/5 for me is European Son. I can see why it’s regarded as one of the best albums of all time by so many.
Napalm Death
2/5
Not much to like about this album, but not much that I hated either.
Jefferson Airplane
4/5
Jethro Tull
4/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
The live version of ‘No Woman, No Cry’ is so iconic that I only realised upon listening to this album that I’d never actually heard the studio version before. The studio version sounds like a knock-off in comparison.
R.E.M.
3/5
I love some R.E.M. songs, but I’ve never loved an R.E.M. album. For example, Pop Song 89 and Orange Crush were excellent, but The Wrong Child and Hairshirt were not enjoyable. They’re great songwriters, but I think part of the issue is that I’ve never liked Michael Stipe’s singing. Now that I think about it, he doesn’t sing but rather talks through my favourite R.E.M. song (Man on the Moon), and yells through the other (Shiny Happy People). Anyway, 3.5 stars.
Neneh Cherry
3/5
A lot of 80s hip-hop leaves much to be admired, and this album feels almost like a parody of that style of music. It’s got a great energy, but the lyrics are so cheesy. If you like rap music about getting good grades in school and uncontroversial social messages like “public libraries are cool”, then this is the album for you.
Eurythmics
4/5
Thelonious Monk
4/5
Supergrass
4/5
Very strong 4. Only issue is that I had it on repeat all day and I started getting tired of it (which is probably my own fault).
Bob Dylan
4/5
Some of his best work.
The Beau Brummels
3/5
Janis Joplin
5/5
I was already really enjoying this album (and was likely to give it a five), when Mercedes Benz came on and unlocked a core childhood memory. I had forgotten about it for 25 years, but my mum used to sing Mercedes Benz to me to try and get me to sleep when I was very young, (I can only assume she had already tried all the more traditional lullabies). I played the song for her to confirm and she recognised it instantly. I’ve now been playing this album all weekend. Mercedes Benz aside, it was always going to be five stars.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Mudhoney
3/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
Superb. Had it on repeat all day.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
4/5
Joy Division
4/5
Anything less than a 5 might be controversial, but a couple of the songs were just a bit too morose for me. Other than those few tracks, it would have been an easy 5.
Michael Jackson
5/5
Wall-to-wall bangers.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
4/5
Janelle Monáe
4/5
I really like this and took my time before writing a review because felt it had five star potential. But after a few listens, it just feels a bit too long. Not as good as ‘Dirty Computer’.
Foo Fighters
3/5
Thundercat
3/5
Agree that this is overrated. There are some standout brilliant moments, but the most that can be said for the rest of the album is that it's like listening to a collection of really good jingles from TV adverts.
Elvis Presley
4/5
Some of Elvis’ best work.
Isaac Hayes
5/5
Most people would say "Tom Cruise" when asked "who's your favourite mental scientologist?", but for me, it will always be Isaac Hayes. Every second of this album is incredible.
Frank Ocean
5/5
4/5
TLC
4/5
This album was a nice surprise. Despite being a huge fan of A Tribe Called Quest and Outkast, I had never heard the opening and closing tracks with the verses from Phife Dawg and André 3000. It is a bit dated, but really nice early 90s vibe.
Joe Ely
4/5
Beyoncé
4/5
Every Beyoncé album I've ever heard has been somewhere between average-good. This is definitely at the 'good' end of the spectrum, but I'm still baffled when I see it appear in places like Apple Music's 100 Greatest Albums of All Time. There are a couple of weaker and more forgettable tracks (e.g. Rocket).
Pink Floyd
5/5
Deserves it's status as one of the best albums of all time.
Frank Sinatra
4/5
Very smooth, I liked it a lot. It could be a five, but I'm giving it a four for now.
The Charlatans
3/5
PJ Harvey
2/5
Booker T. & The MG's
5/5
Led Zeppelin
4/5
I know Anete is going to hate me, but I can’t give this album a five because of “The Battle of Evermore”.
Frank Black
4/5
Rocket From The Crypt
3/5
The Beach Boys
4/5
My most controversial music take is that this is the most overrated album of all time. For me personally, it's somewhere between a 3 and a 4 - I have given it the benefit of the doubt because the highlights are so incredibly strong ('Sloop John B' and 'God Only Knows'). Beyond them, there's a couple of good tracks, but I never understood the appeal of this whole sound.
Robert Wyatt
1/5
Joni Mitchell
3/5
I love Joni Mitchell but I do not love her albums. I like my melancholy in small doses.
Rahul Dev Burman
3/5
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
Sounds exactly like what you'd expect a Red Hot Chili Peppers album to sound like.
Peter Gabriel
2/5
Turgid. Solsbury Hill couldn’t save this album.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Rage Against The Machine
4/5
Japan
3/5
A couple of great tracks but the album itself drags a bit.
Kraftwerk
2/5
I was surprised by how much I liked the other Kraftwerk album on this list, Transeurope Express, and subsequently surprised by how little I liked this one.
The Byrds
2/5
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
This is a very strong 4. 8.5/10.
Syd Barrett
3/5
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
Fever Ray
2/5
The Divine Comedy
4/5
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I naively assumed that The Divine Comedy were a comedy music group, considering their name and that the only song I knew before now was "National Express". The music (and particularly the singing) put me in mind of The Walker Brothers, and I think this is supported by their cover of 'Make It Easy On Yourself' (on the expanded version of this album). The style is a kind of baroque pop which I didn't realise had made it out of the 60s, but I like it. All that being said, it seems unlikely I'll ever listen to this again.
Muddy Waters
4/5
Nitin Sawhney
2/5
Flamin' Groovies
4/5
The Hives
3/5
Strange choice to put a compilation album on this list, and even stranger still that all 12 songs sound exactly the same. I like the music, but it was just far too repetitive.
Kings of Leon
4/5
Before listening to this album, I had definitely overlooked the amount of good songs that Kings of Leon had. This is the most 2008-sounding album of it's time.
Hookworms
3/5
Some parts of this I really loved. When the album started, I thought it'd be a 4 or a 5, but then some of the other tracks really dragged.
Elbow
2/5
Disappointing. “One Day Like This” is still very good, but the rest of the album is a miss (I even got sick of Grounds for Divorce after a few plays).
Black Sabbath
5/5
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Incredible Bongo Band
4/5
Roxy Music
2/5
The Temptations
4/5
Tom Waits
1/5
I just don’t know who Tom Waits’ audience is, still waiting on an album that demonstrates his appeal.
The Roots
4/5
The Roots are incredible. There were a couple of songs which I wasn't too crazy about, including "Something In The Way of Things (In Town)" and the chorus on "The Seed 2.0" which is why it falls a bit short of a five.
Kacey Musgraves
4/5
This album was somewhere between a 3-4, and I've decided to give it a 4 because there wasn't anything I really didn't like about it (other than the fact there wasn't anything I really liked about it). I was really surprised to find that this album appears in 'Apple Music's 100 Best Albums of All Time', and similar lists written in the last few years. I can't help but feel like this is a product of recency bias, in much the same way that 'Robbie Williams - Life Thru a Lens' was considered one of the greatest albums of all time in it's time. I'll be happy to be proven wrong, but I only listened to it yesterday and I've forgotten it already.
Blur
4/5
Public Enemy
4/5
Air
4/5
Atmospheric. Have added the film to my watch list.
Van Morrison
4/5
Moonlight Mile is my favourite Van Morrison song. This is a really nice album.
The Stranglers
4/5
"Peaches" is a classic, but I also love "Hanging Around".
Bon Jovi
4/5
Undeniably a good album, but just a little bit too American for me.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
Deserves all the recognition it gets. Probably in my top 10 albums of all time. "The Boxer" and "The Only Living Boy In New York" >>>>>>>>>>
The Cramps
3/5
Perfect 5/10 - nothing I enjoyed, nothing I disliked.
Gary Numan
5/5
I think it's fair to say that we have all been shaken by the decision taken by the user known as 'ooogram' to hand down a 2/5 rating to 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'. I, too, have had to do some soul-searching to ask myself "what is a 5?". Is it only possible where technical perfection meets maximum enjoyment? Or should it be more holistic, perhaps reflecting nothing more than the listener's experience? This album pales in comparison to the masterpiece that is Simon & Garfunkel's final album, but, it is excellent nonetheless. It's so ahead of it's time that it's difficult to imagine that it was released in the same year as Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. And after all these years, it's still great. Some of it even still sounds new (specifically, the opening of 'M.E.'). Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay five down.
Lorde
3/5
I can’t really fault this album, just not my thing. It was easy enough to listen to, which is why it’s a three rather than a two, but I won’t be coming back to it.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
This was a bit of a disappointment because I've never listened to much Hendrix and I was expecting to love it. Some great songs, but it just didn't resonate with me in the way I was hoping. 7/10.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
2/5
I know that my dad will be disappointed in me, but this was a hard listen.
Gang Starr
5/5
DJ Premier is one of the best hip-hop producers of all time and this album is evidence. I had never listened to Gang Starr before now, but I loved this so much that I'm going to work my way through their discography. RIP Guru.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
3/5
I really don’t know how to rate this album. At first, I hated it, but I felt compelled to listen to it a few more times and it really grew on me. It went from a 2 to almost a 4. I’m going to settle on 3, because whilst I liked it, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to it.
Carpenters
4/5
Missy Elliott
4/5
Ice Cube
5/5
The Bomb Squad deserve so much credit for giving Ice Cube a new home after the split with NWA. He found an entirely new sound which defined his solo career, and for my money, nobody sounds better over these beats than young Ice Cube.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
4/5
Depressing, but not bad.
Iron Maiden
4/5
One of the biggest revelations for me in doing this list is that heavy metal isn’t all that bad. It just gets a bad name because it’s the music of choice of many of the arsehole teenagers who occupy public spaces on the British high street, drink Monster, and vape. They wear hoodies that are two sizes too big for them, and all know a tattooist who doesn’t ask for ID. Anyway, good album.
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
Pretenders
3/5
Years from now, I might feel like a three is too harsh but this album just didn’t resonate with me at all. I love ‘Brass in Pocket’, so I was really looking forward to this one but think my expectations were too high.
The Prodigy
4/5
This isn’t really an album review, I just want to say that The Prodigy are amongst the best live performers I’ve ever seen. I hadn’t listened to them much at all when they came on stage at T in The Park in 2015 and their set blew my mind, so much energy. I went to see them again that same year, where they were supported by Public Enemy. I still wouldn’t say their my favourite group or that I’m into this kind of electronic music, but when you’re 18 and drunk and in a field, there’s truly nothing better.
Bob Dylan
4/5
After the first track, I thought this might be a 2/5 album. "Standing in the Doorway" really won me around. One thing that's worth noting is that Bob Dylan is really gifted at writing songs of an epic length and holding the listener's attention throughout. It's barely noticeable that "Highlands" is over 16 minutes long.
Grateful Dead
3/5
Nothing I didn’t like, nothing I really liked.
Orange Juice
2/5
This album cover looks so much like a photo taken of a boyband from the early 2010s and edited with an Instagram filter of that same era. I was expecting to hear The Vamps, so I was surprised by the intro track. I was also surprised to learn that these guys are from Glasgow (albeit, Bearsden). From Track #1, it seemed promising, but the rest of the album was quite bland and I found it got boring by the second listen. 2/5 might be the lowest score I've given for an album which has no decisively bad tracks, it's just that it's dull overall.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
🐐🐐🐐🐐
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
Only just realising that 'My Bloody Valentine' and 'My Chemical Romance' are two different bands and they're not related to each other in any way whatsoever.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
4/5
I loved this and would give it a 9/10 if I could. Listening experience was improved by the fact that the weather is getting cold and it was raining this weekend.
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
There were moments where this album was not insufferable.
Cocteau Twins
4/5
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
2/5
Very annoying.
Genesis
3/5
Blood, Sweat & Tears
3/5
Really conflicted because I loved the intro and outro and “And When I Die”, but the rest was quite poor.
Crowded House
4/5
The La's
4/5
De La Soul
3/5
Muddy Waters
4/5
Nirvana
4/5
David Holmes
3/5
It was immediately obvious that this guy had composed the score for Ocean’s 11. The music is good, but it’s a little bit too ambient that I can’t imagine anyone absolutely loving it. It just fades into the background (as you plan a heist with the boys).
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
2Pac
4/5
West Coast Tupac > East Coast Tupac.
Portishead
3/5
Some parts of this album were really good, but as an album, it just drags.
Burning Spear
3/5
Jeff Beck
4/5
Public Enemy
4/5
Alanis Morissette
4/5
A classic of the angry lady genre.
Gram Parsons
4/5
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
Started out ok, but the last three songs were dismal. If you like blues rock with one musical theatre interlude, this is the album for you.
Buffalo Springfield
3/5
By no means is this a bad album, but it does cement my view that Neil Young (as a member of Buffalo Springfield) is really overrepresented on this list.
Kanye West
5/5
For a long time, Yeezus was the single most divisive thing among Kanye’s fan base. Now it’s his support for the Nazis. I could take or leave “Guilt Trip”, but I think the rest of the album is so good that this one less-good track doesn’t take away too much from the overall quality. As for German Nationalist-Socialism, I’ve always been staunchly opposed to the creation of an Aryan race.
Who would have thought when Yeezus dropped that Kanye would be in sharp decline by 2025 but fascism in Europe would be on the up-and-up?
The Cult
4/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
One of the rare occasions where I'm giving a five to an album that I'd never heard before coming across it on this list.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
9/10
808 State
3/5
Small Faces
3/5
I really like a lot of the music on this album, but I didn't love the interludes by the narrator which became quite pervasive.
The xx
2/5
Nothing notable about this album, not sure why it's on this list.
Method Man
4/5
Christina Aguilera
4/5
I was expecting this to be dated, but I think it still holds up. The production is amazing. Sometimes when you revisit an artist like this, you wonder how they ever had such an impact, but I think it's clear why Christina Aguilera was so omnipresent in the early 2000s. In fact, I was surprised to learn that she's released four albums since 2010 because I don't remember hearing anything about these albums on release.
The Pharcyde
4/5
4/5
Buck Owens
4/5
I’m glad to finally have a name for this subgenre of country music: “the Bakersfield sound”. I really like it.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Tom Waits
2/5
I feel like I'm the victim of an elaborate practical joke where people are pretending to like this shit. I don't understand how else Rain Dogs (or any Tom Waits album for that matter) can get a perfect score from pretty much every critic. Putting Tom's voice aside (which is hard to do), there's so many other annoying sounds throughout many of the tracks. The clown horns on Singapore and whatever is being used for the drums/percussion on Clap Hands, as an example. Most of the first half of the album is completely intolerable. I'm giving this a 2 rather than a 1, because I don't feel like it's entirely without it's merit. There's a few songs that are ok, and one which I thought was good ('Blind Love') - however, I will not be returning to any of them ever again.
Motörhead
3/5
Unnoteworthy but inoffensive. I'm sure I could think of 1001 other albums that everyone should listen to before they die.
Brian Eno
3/5
“On Some Faraway Beach” is the best song I’ve heard in a while. As for the album as a whole, I didn’t love it but there are some great moments. This is the first I’ve been convinced of Brian Eno’s genius.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
4/5
There's something I find inherently cringey about "rap rock", but I find it really hard to fault the music. I have to fight against my prejudices which tells me that I can't score this album higher than a 3, but I think that it's actually quite easy to listen to and a lot of the songs are enjoyable.
The Police
3/5
G. Love & Special Sauce
2/5
There are some elements of this album that I enjoy - most of the tracks have a nice bass. But, it feels like the same track on repeat 14 times in a row. I also really don’t like the vocal delivery which, again, barely changes throughout the entire album. Despite its funky bass, this album gets boring very quickly.
Buzzcocks
4/5
Korn
3/5
Lou Reed
4/5
This is an album which needs a few playthroughs before it clicks, (which I think is true of so many great albums). I didn't love it on first listen, but I was compelled to listen again and again.
Black Flag
1/5
I concur with my learned colleague that one ought not to take an album's influence into account when assigning their own personal rating. What would be the point, then, of listening to albums that we all know to be incredibly influential (e.g. 'Nevermind' or 'Sgt Peppers')? Wouldn't they just be 5/5 for their influence alone? I think it devalues the experience to consider anything other than your own personal listening experience. In fact, I try to avoid looking at other ratings within my group or reading anything about the album before my first playthrough - lest it unduly influence my enjoyment. I do not want to be thinking about a wider societal expectation of how listeners should receive the album before I jump in - too many times, where this has been unavoidable, albums have failed to live up to that same expectation.
I dissent from my learned colleague's view, however, that this album is 5/5. Personally, influential or not, I thought it was atrocious.
William Orbit
4/5
Norah Jones
4/5
9/10. A classic of the sad lady genre.
The Fall
3/5
Def Leppard
4/5
Simple in its ambition with some great tracks.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
I listened to this on a very cold day in Edinburgh whilst making mushroom soup. Incidentally, that’s exactly what the album feels like: hot soup on a cold day. Joni’s voice is its own instrument. I particularly liked “Blue Motel Room”.
Tears For Fears
4/5
Fleetwood Mac
4/5
Pink Floyd
5/5
Comfortably Numb is my favourite song of all time. I can see why people would be put off by the album, as it requires a lot of patience and must be consumed as a whole. I had to give it a few chances to fully understand it - despite the fact there's a couple of tracks that I wouldn't rush to stick on, I think the entire record is amazing to listen to.
Aerosmith
4/5
The Associates
3/5
"Nude Spoons" almost dragged this down to a 2.
Slipknot
1/5
If I was to make any defence of this album, some of the guitar riffs and hooks are enjoyable. But on the whole, it’s terrible - I can’t stand the screaming.
Eminem
4/5
Starts great but it’s far too long. I don’t really care for tracks 14 - 20, and I think if he had trimmed those off that this album would be a five.
Sabu
2/5
This is not an album for a man who hates drums. That being said, I liked the songs where the percussion took a backseat, such as 'Rhapsodia Del Maravilloso'.
Bonnie Raitt
3/5
This album was fine - 7/10. I can’t really fault it. However, I was surprised to learn that it consistently makes the Rolling Stones’ 500 Greatest Albums list and that it has been preserved by the Library of Congress for its significance. I wonder if the fact that it has slipped down the Rolling Stones list from 229 in 2003 to 429 in 2020 signifies that this album was a product of its time.
Turbonegro
4/5
A very strong 4.
The Fall
2/5
I quite enjoyed the music but was so badly put off by the lyrics and vocal performances. Credit to Mr. Fall for addressing criticism of his unique vocal stylings on "It's A Curse" - however, I still can't get over the "ephemeral whinging aspects".
The lyrics totally lost me in each song - they oscillated from abstract to on-the-nose in the way of a pretentious slam poet.
Finally, the cover of "Lost in Music" was woeful. I think it was a bold choice to cover a disco classic with a frontman who has an ephemeral whinging voice, but it simply took all the joy out of the original.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
Is it my imagination or is a lot of this album really quiet?
OutKast
5/5
I'm a huge OutKast fan, so from my perspective, this is a classic album.
I think Big Boi's creativity is underrated, probably only because he was standing next to Andre 3000. It's a bit like pairing Banksy with Dali. But, some of the beats on 'Speakerboxxx' are incredible. His only problem is that it pales in comparison to 'The Love Below' which deserves more than five stars.
The only negative is that I think Speakerboxxx drags a little bit towards the end. I don't love 'Tomb of the Boom', 'Last Call' or most of the interludes (with the exception of 'Bamboo'). If I was rating Speakerboxxx alone, I might be tempted to give it a 4/5.
Drive-By Truckers
5/5
As an album: 4/5; as an opera: 5/5. It sounded quite run-of-the-mill when it started and I thought that would get boring quite quickly. Most of the albums on this list which have described themselves as a 'rock opera' have fallen foul of that (with the exception of 'Pink Floyd - The Wall'; NB: 'The Who - Tommy').
But actually, the narrative was really captivating. I loved hearing these guys stand up for the south, but also tell the story of it's ugly history (for example, on 'Wallace').