354
Albums Rated
3.39
Average Rating
33%
Complete
735 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1970s
Favorite Decade
Post-punk
Favorite Genre
UK
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
79
5-Star Albums
24
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Honky Tonk Masquerade
Joe Ely
|
5 | 2.68 | +2.32 |
|
Snivilisation
Orbital
|
5 | 2.71 | +2.29 |
|
Phaedra
Tangerine Dream
|
5 | 2.74 | +2.26 |
|
What's That Noise?
Coldcut
|
5 | 2.78 | +2.22 |
|
Go Girl Crazy
The Dictators
|
5 | 2.85 | +2.15 |
|
Among The Living
Anthrax
|
5 | 2.85 | +2.15 |
|
Quiet Life
Japan
|
5 | 2.85 | +2.15 |
|
Beach Samba
Astrud Gilberto
|
5 | 2.92 | +2.08 |
|
The Notorious Byrd Brothers
The Byrds
|
5 | 3.04 | +1.96 |
|
Here Come The Warm Jets
Brian Eno
|
5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Joshua Tree
U2
|
1 | 3.67 | -2.67 |
|
The Marshall Mathers LP
Eminem
|
1 | 3.48 | -2.48 |
|
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
|
1 | 3.46 | -2.46 |
|
Reggatta De Blanc
The Police
|
1 | 3.45 | -2.45 |
|
Hybrid Theory
Linkin Park
|
1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
|
Doggystyle
Snoop Dogg
|
1 | 3.37 | -2.37 |
|
Urban Hymns
The Verve
|
1 | 3.36 | -2.36 |
|
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
|
1 | 3.32 | -2.32 |
|
Achtung Baby
U2
|
1 | 3.3 | -2.3 |
|
S&M
Metallica
|
1 | 3.26 | -2.26 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| The Smiths | 3 | 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 5 |
| Talking Heads | 3 | 4.67 |
| Iron Maiden | 2 | 5 |
| Eagles | 2 | 5 |
| Steely Dan | 3 | 4.33 |
| Led Zeppelin | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| U2 | 2 | 1 |
| The Police | 2 | 1.5 |
| Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | 2 | 1.5 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Metallica | 4, 1 |
| Rush | 2, 5 |
| David Bowie | 5, 5, 3, 2 |
5-Star Albums (79)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
The Charlatans
3/5
Before listening to this my only exposure to the Charlatans was their single 'The Only One I Know' which is a banger that I pretty much never skip if it comes on shuffle.
With No Shoes is a solid opening but unfortunately all I can think of is how they probably found Rob Collins, booze cruiser, With No Shoes when he died in a car crash after being more than double the BAC limit flung out of his sunroof.
North Country Boy is groovy and shows that the album has a cohesive direction in its sound. A bit forgettable mainly because I was still laughing about how Rob Collins managed to get ejected from his car while drink driving and then still stand up before passing away in an ambulance on Monday 22 July 1996.
Tellin' Stories is fantastic, I have no idea what this guy is saying but I can only assume he's tellin' cautionary tales about the dangers of driving a BMW 520i on the B4233 after having a big day at the pub with your producer in the car who would survive with minor injuries.
One to Another is where I realised that this band has more to offer than just 'The Only One I Know', the vocals here work well with the guitar work and the keyboard riffs are fantastic. The song is supposedly about a guy trying to keep his relationship together but I like to think the title is a nod to how Rob Collins went from being a getaway driver for his mate to being involved in a fatal single vehicle collision that left his wife widowed and his daughter without a father.
You're A Big Girl Now is a song about how Rob Collins' daughter will have to learn to live without her late pisswreck father (who is not present on this track).
How Can You Leave Us was initially written by Burgess about a girl, some lyrics were changed after Rob Collins' death (not a joke i copy-pasted this straight from wikipedia)
Area 51 is a great instrumental piece which really highlights the talent of Rob Collins as a keyboardist. This song is like a nice intermission between the two halves of the album. Rob Collins demonstrates here that he is very good with his hands, even if he can't put on a seatbelt to save his life.
How High is the question the British public were asking when it was revealed that Rob Collins was ejected from the sunroof of his BMW.
Only Teethin', much like a lot of Cool Britannia and Britpop, is clearly very inspired by 60s rock and roll; a time when the Beatles were big, Britain was a somewhat serious country, and a time before the 1962 Road Traffic Act which criminalised drink driving and before seatbelts were made mandatory in 1983.
Get On It sounds like someone put on some Bob Dylan before a jam session and now they have to get the annoying vocals and harmonica out of their system. It's songs like this that make me understand why the producer, Ric Peet, would get into the car with a drunken convicted armed robber, ironically named Rob Collins.
Rob's Theme is an instrumental that was included after the passing away of the keyboardist of The Charlatans, Rob Collins. In all honesty, this is a sweet tune and it warms my heart to see a loving tribute to Rob on here (even though his brother/the label decided to leave him off the album cover?). This song slaps, but as there are no lyrics I am going to find it difficult to make another joke about drink driving and crashing your car. Almost as hard as I find it to believe that Rob Collins was able to get only four months in prison and charges dropped for assisting his mate in robbing a store. But seriously, this song is great and is 100% getting added to some of my playlists.
Neil Young (who has 9 albums in this book, God help me) once said it's better to burn out than fade away. Rest in power Rob Collins, may you join your brothers in arms in Alcohalla, the afterlife for all brave booze cruisers.
7 DUIs out of 10
8 likes
Throbbing Gristle
1/5
I.B.M. lets you experience life inside one of those room-sized computers they had in the 1970s.
Hit by a Rock opens with someone being tortured just outside that same room?
United came and went, didn't notice it
Valley of the Shadow of the Death is clearly just a result of a Dictaphone being left in a council housing flat somewhere. I'm convinced this whole track is raw audio.
Dead on Arrival, this shit is ass
Weeping
Hamburger Lady is more of the same random noise, which is good because it signals to me that the album does not have a change of heart in its second half to be something at least entertaining.
Who gives a shit about the rest of the songs? Not the guys 'performing' it, that's for sure. I feel about these 42 minutes of noise as I imagine a lot of people do about modern/post-modern art. It's bullshit, and I don't know what level of degeneration of your frontal cortex/serotonin imbalance you have to have for this to be enjoyable.
This shit sucks, anything higher than a 1 is a Christ-like level of charity and generosity. Music critics should be rounded up and forced to break rocks in that labour camp from the start of Rambo 2.
1 likes
Tangerine Dream
5/5
My first time listening to Tangerine Dream was like the musical version of taking random research chemicals. I did not know what to expect but I was blown away. Coming into this album, I knew what to expect. I wouldn't call their albums 'albums' per se but a soundscape to a really funky daydream you're about to have.
It makes sense that these guys do soundtracks because they know how to set the stage for a story with their music. Phaedra is no different, to me this is like sitting down and watching a sci-fi movie in my head, I absolutely love it.
Tangerine Dream composed and performed probably my favourite movie soundtracks of all time for (probably my favourite movie) Michael Mann's 1981 debut feature film Thief. It was nominated a razzie for worst movie soundtrack.
The group were maligned at the time and reading the global reviews here are still maligned. I can understand not enjoying this type of music, but for me this is my jam.
Highlights: All
1 likes
The Byrds
5/5
David Crosby was fired from the Byrds for writing a song about a threesome? What a bunch of fuckin' squares.
An album of collaborations and crossings between artists and genres. It's a very solid intersection between country/western/psychedelic/folk music that is thoroughly listenable.
I prefer side A over side B (but really they're both fantastic) and it is not surprising at all that the best songs on this album are written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin.
Side B is great and leans more into the rock/psych angle of the album, probably because it's entirely written by the band themselves, and the vision here is very focused. Not to say the first side was unfocused, but it explored with more genres and styles and I found it much more playful.
Really, the only negative thing I have to say about this album is that the final track just doesn't stick the landing? But even then, it's a fine song. The album is less than 30 minutes long but it feels longer than that, and NOT in a bad way.
Bonus points for the pedal steel guitar on this album throughout, what an absolute treat this was.
Highlights - Goin' Back, Wasn't Born To Follow, Get to You, Change Is Now
1 likes
Fugazi
5/5
Not super familiar with post-hardcore as a genre but this shit rocks. As an album this is my jam. Reading about the band, big fan of their ethos of not selling out even though these guys could have made an absolute killing exploiting the same target audience as Nirvana or something.
No skips on here, a joy to listen to.
1 likes
4-Star Albums (94)
1-Star Albums (24)
All Ratings
Van Halen
3/5
A foundational album in the genre of Sex Offender Metal
Michael Jackson
4/5
Really strong opener with Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'. Thriller, Beat It and Billie Jean easily cement this as a fantastic album and a single listen to this album would make any rational person an MJ truther.
Didn't gel much with The Girl Is Mine and The Lady in My Life, the rest of the songs were good.
Steely Dan
5/5
Very few albums have an opener as strong as Do It Again not only in terms of its qualities as a standalone tune but also as an introduction into the mood and themes of Can't Buy A Thrill (and Steely Dan's broader work as a whole). As a side note this might be one of the worst songs to pick on karaoke night as you have to just stand there for 3 minutes while Jeff Baxter and Don Fagen fuck up the guitar and piano in one of the best instrumental bridges of all time (speaking from personal experience).
Dirty Work is a beautiful tune about being an absolute scumbag, a musical niche that Steely Dan will come to perfect if they haven't already with this song.
Kings is probably the weakest song on Side A but basically every song on this album is phenomenal. Excellent piano work, a catchy chorus and more beautiful guitar work from Baxter.
Midnite Cruiser is an anthem for deadbeats and burnouts, this is one to put on driving three times over the limit. The musical manifestation of a mid-life crisis, later to be dethroned by Hey Nineteen on the Gaucho album.
Only a Fool Would Say That is a solid end to Side A and a song I find myself returning to way more than I should.
Reelin' In The Years opens with a killer guitar track and does not let up throughout the entire song. Fagen and Becker's bitter lyrics persist on what is probably the most mean spirited song on this album seeing as it's basically a big 'fuck you' to an ex-girlfriend.
Fire In The Hole is a janky, off-kilter song and I absolutely love it, every time I hear it I want to go on marketplace and buy a piano and learn to play.
Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me) is probably my favourite song on this album. Instrumentally, the slide guitar after the chorus just does it for me and the vocals are just perfect. The line 'a piece of island cooling in the sea' is the peak of this album that I look forward to each time I listen to it.
Change of the Guard is the weakest song on the whole album in my opinion but it's still an absolute banger by any metric.
Turn That Heartbeat Over Again Palmer, Fagen and Becker come together for the last song on the album and it's a sweet-sounding song about sticking up a liquor store. A perfect ending to one of my favourite albums of all time.
On a side note, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen would later write that their fifth album, The Royal Scam, had "the most hideous album cover of the seventies, bar none (excepting perhaps Can't Buy a Thrill)."
Marty Robbins
4/5
An absolute joy to listen to this whole album finally. I have heard Big Iron and El Paso more times than I've had hot dinners and they still never get old. Highlights from this album besides those two are definitely Cool Water, Master's Call, They're Hanging Me Tonight and Saddle Tramp. Back to back songs both about valleys (at least on spotify which seems to be the CD version of the listing). My favourite song on this album is still El Paso.
The Police
1/5
I have heard two songs off this album before I sat down and listened to it. Message in a Bottle and Walking on the Moon.
Instrumentally I can't say anything bad about this album, Walking on the Moon is kind of boring if you take away the lyrics. But ironically enough that's the only instance where that rule would apply. Probably every song on this album would be better without vocals and lyrics.
How did this make the Police a big band? Did they really just coast off the success of songs like Roxanne and shit?
I'm giving this a 2 because each individual member of this band is a great musician but together Regatta de Blanc is fucking boring.
On second thought this album should be a 1. It just fucking sucks, one and a half good singles from an album does not salvage it. IN FACT this album does a disservice to the actual musical skills as a band. Andy Summers is a great guitarist, each member of this band INDIVIDUALLY is talented. This album is like getting a bunch of classically trained painters to try and fingerpaint a recreation of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the same is true for getting three quirked up white boys to sit around and play reggae.
So how the fuck do you end up with a song like "The Bed's Too Big Without You"???
I wrote the majority of this review right after I finished a session at the gym where dogshit like "Deathwish" was my soundtrack to pumping out one of the saddest sets of overhead presses anyone has ever done in their life.
Why on earth did the USMC decide to used Panama by Van Halen as part of psychological warfare when this album exists? 'White Reggae' does to the human brain what VX gas does to lungs.
Go listen to Sons of Beaches by Australian Crawl instead.
Arctic Monkeys
3/5
The first time I listened to this album was when I was 14. I probably listened to it like ten times in one day to try and impress a girl I had a crush on. It turns out not only did she think I was a gross retard but the album she was actually talking about was some bullshit by Interpol so I have memory holed this album completely.
UNTIL NOW
I have never been a big fan of a vocalist with a very prominent British accent it sounds kind of lame and put-on but it definitely works for this style of music. It’s the kind of music I associate with annoying male baristas who would go on to glaze artists like Tyler the Creator and MF Doom. I’m saying this because I’m a petty person whose ability to enjoy media is hampered by thinking about the fact that somebody who irritates me likes the same thing.
However the album is good, my feet are tapping to some songs even though they all kind of sound the same. Nothing here is crazy good and to be honest I couldn’t really name anything from here that’s memorable.
Overall, if I had a bunch of people over at my house for beers that I didn’t know who were my age or a bit older I would probably put this on as background noise and it’d work.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Before Deftones and the Smiths, male boomers had to listen to this to fuck weird chicks.
Leonard Cohen has famously said he doesn’t like making music and only does it so he can make money to support his weird artist lifestyle. This album, as well as Songs of Love and Hate, are best seen as Cohens poems put to simple instrumentals. It’s definitely not for everyone and it definitely lacks musical variety.
Overall, it’s a good album the highlights for me are Suzanne, So Long Marianne and Teachers. I do prefer his later albums as a whole but the highlights on here are just as good as anything he made on I’m Your Man.
The Allman Brothers Band
4/5
I have always heard about the Allman Brothers band, mainly I knew that Free Bird was written about Duane Allman but I never really bothered to listen to any of their songs except one time when Midnight Rider was recommended to me on spotify.
Which is a massive error on my part. If there's two things on this planet I love it's long guitar parts and soulful semi-literate white boys performing songs written by black dudes.
Every song on this album is great, it's the kind of thing you can put on and sit on your balcony, demolish a pack of darts and drink 10-20 beers to. No real complaints about this album other than the fact I think Zappa did a better and tighter cover of Whipping Post but that's just me being a dickrider for music's biggest wanker.
Since this album is mostly instrumental work I thought I would bring attention to the brains behind the band, Greg Allman. This dude was married SEVEN times, including once to Cher. It would have been six but looks like he got one in right before the buzzer in 2017 when he married his seventh wife after an engagement of 5 years which is ironically longer than 5 of his 6 previous marriages. Totally understandable as this dude was a boneyarder who testified against his security staff and got him locked up for 75 years (served 18 months) and that's what got his bandmates to stop talking to him for like three years.
Bon Jovi
4/5
There is the cringe/based horseshoe theory. Someone can be so based that they end up being cringe (Sam Hyde). The opposite is true of Jon Bon Jovi. A pioneer in the genre of cocaine pop-rock, Bon Jovi makes corny music that is so true to itself (cringe) that it comes around the horseshoe and becomes certifiably BASED in the truest sense of the word (being true to oneself and beliefs).
I first became aware of this album's existence in Bill and Ted when they make a joke about this being Beethoven's favourite album. I first decided to listen to it when I was 14 and I heard 'Raise Your Hands' in Spaceballs in the scene where they introduce Lonestar and Barf in the Space Winnebago.
13 years later I have developed a disdain for Bon Jovi for being a corny hair-pop-rock band, and then later got over myself and learned to embrace his music for what it is.
Let It Rock is a solid opener and a good representation of exactly what you're gonna get for the rest of the album.
You Give Love A Bad Name was ruined for a long time for me by How I Met Your Mother (Gen Y brainslop garbage television for dickheads) but this song fucks.
What really is there to say about Livin' On A Prayer? You can't say anything bad about this song? "Wah wah it shit talks unions" grow up, this isn't On The Waterfront, nobody can even understand the lyrics outside the chorus.
Social Disease has great production and decent instrumentals but it drags on and the lyrics aren't really that special.
Wanted Dead Or Alive AKA the song that plays at the funeral of a young man who died in a quadbike accident. This song is the musical manifestation of the cringe/based horseshoe theory. The lyrics are lame, the instrumentals make me think of a TapOut singlet and oakleys, but goddamn this song is so fucking good man. 'Loaded six string on my back'? Tom Waits wishes he could write shit like this.
Raise Your Hands, because of my memory associating it with Spaceballs, is probably my favourite song on this album and is what plays in my head when I slam Fireball against the advice of my friends who care for me (fuck you).
This album is frontloaded, the rest of the songs on the album are not bad. They are all technically competent songs, well-produced with decent instrumentals. The songs vary from pop-rock (Without Love) to ballad (Never Say Goodbye), it's just a bit forgettable.
The album mainly suffers from a lack of consistency, not in quality but in theme. I don't think a song like Wild In The Streets should be on the same album as Livin' On A Prayer. Actually I looked up the producer of this album, Bruce Fairbairn, to see if he worked with Bryan Adams because this song (especially the guitar solo with the sliding piano) sounds like some shit he would do.
Is this album commercial as fuck and creatively bankrupt? Yes. Is it enjoyed by people whose hairspray use is responsible for a hole in the ozone layer? Yes. But goddamn this album is a lot of fun. Also the album cover is a personal favourite and I am glad they didn't go with the original one (it's just a chick with massive tits).
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
I can’t say I was looking forward to listening to this. I have heard Come On Eileen (a million times) and Geno and while I like those songs I had a gut feeling that the rest of the bands work would be a bit shit.
In a running theme for English artists, I am not a fan of the vocals on here. It’s fun as a little novelty on songs like Come On Eileen but a whole album of this? Sheesh
No shock that the first song that I really enjoyed on this album is The Teams That Meet In The Caffs, banging instrumentals that are free of the nervous pitch shifting vocals from the first two songs.
Geno is a great song, won’t skip it if it comes on shuffle, it’s a bop
I Couldn’t Help It If I Tried is where the vocals finally clicked for me, this song fucking rocks and makes me wonder why I haven’t heard it before but I’ve heard Come On Eileen an annoying number of times
Arctic Monkeys should pay royalties to Dexys for continuing the time honoured English tradition of overly long song names. I’m not typing this one out, it’s the one where he’s high pitched. Eh. It’s got its moments, but most of this song sounds like a Wiggles track on speed.
Dexys Midnight Runners should make a supergroup with the Police and call it wasted talent because the instrumentals on here are really something else but my lord if this was the kind of music that was getting around the UK in the 80s you better believe I would vote Thatcher everyday and twice on Sunday
5.7m Spotify listeners? Yeah I bet, mate. Some of these songs don’t even have the lyrics synced up on the Spotify app.
Overall it’s not bad, but I don’t know if I would give this whole album a spin again.
Beck
2/5
Good opening track, I have only heard a few Beck songs before and I wasn’t particularly keen on them but this is groovy.
Track 2 feels kinda racist but is undeniably groovy. The production and sound mixing is pretty competent and this song is pretty fun.
Track 3 is a bit repetitive, perfectly cromulent song but not my bag.
Tracks 4, 5 and 6 made me realise I probably should have put this album on in the lounge room and had a coffee instead of listening to this on a stroll. The music here is fine I’m just having a tough time really meshing with it.
Track 7 more of the same, good production value but realising that Beck maybe isn’t for me.
Track 8 a welcome surprise, I enjoyed this song.
Gave up on tracking and doing a song by song for this album. Beck sounds as bored performing this music as I was listening to it. I’m sure there’s an audience for this but it’s not me.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
The fact that Eric Clapton played guitar on this album and is still racist is proof that God has a sense of humour.
Rolling Stone has listed Aretha Franklin as the greatest singer of all time on multiple occasions and they are 100% right. 'Despite' the fact that she was an alcoholic and a chain smoker she had a voice of solid gold just leading to proof that partyphobic movements like anti-smoking and anti-drinking laws are stifling an entire generation of future soul singers.
No two ways about it, this album is perfect. Back to back hits, no song misses in any department at all. There's nothing negative I can say about this album at all except that it is a crime that in my 27 years I had not heard 'Ain't No Way' before.
Love
2/5
Narcolepsy rock for the silent generstion and boomers.
The first track is good but the Damned do a MUCH better cover so please go and listen to that.
Great as a sleeping aid/if you need to pacify a geriatric.
Sonic Youth
4/5
I usually skip Sonic Youth songs when they come on Spotify radio due to the same four songs constantly being recommended to me by Spotify.
It’s always a good sign when I’m not checking the track list to see how long I have to go on an album. I will begrudgingly admit I enjoyed this album a lot! I really had low expectations going in.
Some of the vocals can miss and not every song is fantastic here but the album as a whole is good, the variety of sound here means that it’s a pretty entertaining time. The sound itself is pretty unique and I'm surprised that this album was from 1987, feels like it was pretty ahead of its time.
The album definitely meanders towards the end, the last couple of tracks kind of feel like filler and that the band sort of ran out of ideas. This is evidenced by Master-Dik being a lot of word salad and noises from Thurston Moore. This song is the musical equivalent of trying to meet the word limit in an assignment. Still not a bad song.
Overall this album is a great introduction for me personally to Sonic Youth and I have no doubt that I’ll listen to the rest of their work and be disappointed inevitably!
Animal Collective
4/5
I have seen this album plenty of times on /mu/ and other music discussion pages and formed an opinion without having listened to it. I thought it would be music for wankers (please see my review of arctic monkeys for my inability to enjoy things).
In The Flowers is a great opening track, really hooked me in on a first listen and remained fresh on a repeat listen. This track set very expectations for the rest of the album.
My Girls is great on an instrumental level, but the lyrics can make the song pretty repetitive, it's a fine track but it can get a little grating, specifically the 'social standing' line. Skipped on a repeat listen when I realised what song I was on.
Also Frightened is also a repetitive song but I enjoyed this one more, it's a groovy track, just as good on a second listen.
Summertime Clothes is a banger. Sounds like a marching band forcing you to have a good time. On a repeat listen I went back to listen to this a few more times, it's a very fun track.
Daily Routine is probably my favourite song on this album. One of those songs that totally changes what its doing halfway through. I have gone out of my way outside of album listens to put this song on. I really enjoy the long, drawn-out soundscape of the second half of this song that really shows off Animal Collective's skill as producers.
Bluish is a fun track but a little forgettable, on a repeat listen I forgot that I had heard this song before.
Guys Eyes was a not my cup of tea on a first listen with its multiple vocal tracks playing over eachother, but I enjoyed it a lot more on a repeat listen.
Taste is another that I tuned out of on my first listen but appreciated much more on a repeat listen.
Lion In A Coma I remember well from my first listen for its annoying fucking jaw harp at the opening leading into mumble-mouthed vocals. Honestly the first minute or so of this song is annoying as shit and feels overproduced. Around 40-45 seconds in there's this annoying vocal effect which sounds like those "erm what the glorp" alien cat memes on twitter. Unfortunately the annoying production continues. This
No More Runnin is a very welcome slower track after Lion In A Coma. This song is to Merriweather Post Pavilion what Caroline, No is to Pet Sounds for me. On a repeat listen this felt very cathartic especially after resisting the urge to skip the previous song.
Something about Brother Sport rubs me the wrong way. Both on my first listen and on repeat listens, this song sounds like it laid the groundwork for the boom-clap, feel-good, advertiser friendly musical scourge of the 2010s (Mumford and Sons etc.). Credit to Animal Collective for what is a funky track with interesting production and arrangement but this song feels to me like a sign of the evil that is to come.
Reading about this album and this band inbetween listens the inspiration of Brian Wilson and albums like Pet Sounds and Smile is very clear in the tone and production style of Merriweather Post Pavilion.
Despite how harsh I was on a few songs on this album, they are still listenable and enjoyable (except Lion In A Coma). I am a big fan of this album and I'm hoping the rest of Animal Collective's catalogue is as adventurous.
The Smiths
5/5
A fantastic listen from start to finish, The Queen Is Dead gives an opportunity for every member of the band to stand out. The lyrics hit me right, the vocals are next level, Matt’s guitar work is only matched on Strangeways. The Smiths made four albums and they’re all solid gold. The songs that I find are weaker (Frankly Mr Shankly and Vicar In A Tutu) are still supremely listenable.
Giving this 5 because it would be a pisstake for me to try and dig this down to a 4 for the sake of ‘critique’, I can listen to any of these songs ten times in a row and not get sick of them. I really don’t have a whole lot to say other than I love this album.
Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others is one of my favourite songs ever, an anthem for tit guys.
Michael Jackson
5/5
Absolutely wild to me that there was a 5 year album gap between this and Thriller with NO drop in quality whatsoever from the King of Pop.
Bad is a classic, lots of memories of watching this on MTV while my parents could still afford to pay for Austar.
The Way You Make Me Feel opens with a few well-deserved 'hehe's and is just as funky now on my 100th+ listen as it was the first time I heard this at a blue light disco.
Speed Demon has some absolutely wild synth/bass work so whoever led the production on this song between MJ and Quincy Jones deserves a medal. I'm also a huge fan of putting car noises into songs. This song goes really fuckin hard.
This whole album is full of extremely well-produced, well-written, and masterfully performed music. When your albums hits include songs like 'Bad' and 'Man In The Mirror' and your "filler" is songs like 'Just Good Friends' and 'SPEED DEMON' you know this is an undeniable 5/5.
I prefer side 1 to side 2, but it's hard to say that when side 2 ends with the musical atomic bomb that is Smooth Criminal. It was said about Thriller when we reviewed it a couple of weeks ago, but I totally understand MJ Truthers after listening to this whole album. The video footage of people passing out at an MJ concert is no longer ridiculous to me.
Cypress Hill
3/5
Super tight 45. Production and mixing is great, lyricism is hit or miss but overall a good album. How I Could Just Kill A Man and Hand On The Pump are classic and those songs bring back memories of sitting with my mate's older brother in his room, PC wallpaper is either a hot chick or a skyline and the place smells like shit. Not a whole lot to say about this album, it's not really my kind of music and I don't see myself giving this a spin out of the blue.
John Lee Hooker
3/5
A really solid blues album. All of the collaborations here have enough of John Lee Hooker to make them distinct solo songs and enough from the guest artists to make them unique. Enjoyed the whole album apart from Rocking Chair, which I felt dragged on a little.
The standouts here are definitely the title track, Cuttin' Out, My Dream and No Substitute. Listened to this three times in a row when I put it on after work and this will definitely be getting more spins.
Before this I had never heard of John Lee Hooker but noticing the featuring artists I knew this would be something good. Listening to his other works after a few listens of this made me realise that his earlier work certainly has more energy and sounds less like it was made to be the ambient music in a piece of southern gothic media.
I very reluctantly give this a 3, it would be a 4 if it had a bit more energy and didn't drag heavily on certain songs. I really enjoyed this album but I can't give it a higher rating out of good faith.
Having said that, this album is making me realise that I need to broaden my horizon with blues music beyond artists with the last name King.
The Everly Brothers
2/5
Painfully mediocre. This shit probably went crazy at the milk bar in 1960 but it’s just shallow, competently performed music. Very glad this was only 27 minutes long. Love Hurts is the standout and Nazareths cover is way better than this. If this album came out today and I had to hear it all the time I would pray to be drafted into Vietnam. I would much rather have listened to anything by the Beach Boys than an album that was clearly put on here because one of its songs became bigger when covered by another band. Not entirely unlistenable but extremely boring.
Beastie Boys
2/5
As a fan of Frank Zappa's wackier comedy albums and stupid songs I feel like I should have enjoyed this album a lot more than I did. I had very limited exposure to Beastie Boys before this, I could only really say I have listened to Intergalactic and Sabotage which are fun novelty songs that I usually won't skip if they come on shuffle.
But a whole album of that kind of music just doesn't work for me. This album has good production with the Dust Brothers who also did the production for Hanson (music to sacrifice children to) and Guero by Beck.
Songs like 3-Minute Rule have some okay lines and fun lyricism but overall this album wasn't able to hold my attention primarily because I just really don't gel with the vocals here at all. As I said before, fun for a single track, grating when you have to listen to 57 minutes of it. The vocals especially on songs like Hey Ladies really had me checking how long the album had left. I imagine this is what Woody Allen would sound like if he decided to make rap music instead of raping his step daughter.
The most enjoyment I got out of this album was recognising the Mississippi Queen sample on Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun, which is also one of the only songs I wholeheartedly enjoyed.
I gave this album a couple of goes and unfortunately my feelings on it didn't change.
Also these guys did a concert for Tibetan 'freedom' lmao
Radiohead
3/5
I have only listened to The Bends and OK Computer before listening to this album, I have heard a few post-OK Computer songs when they come up on spotify shuffle so I had somewhat of an idea of what to expect here.
Everything In Its Right Place as an opener didn't grab me but the song is fine.
Halfway through the title track I totally clicked with the vibe of what this album is trying to do and was able to successfully separate the radiohead I had listened to previously in my head from what I am listening to now.
The National Anthem was a bit much for me especially towards the end, didn't care much for this track. But it has a great bassline
How To Disappear Completely and Treefingers are good back-to-back songs, I liked Treefingers a lot as a track but How To kind of made me want to listen to Sea Power instead
The last 20 seconds of Optimistic are funky but this song for me is just okay. Yorke's vocals are sometimes hit and miss for me and this is a miss.
Great transition into In Limbo, this song is great
Jarring transition into Idioteque, a bit heavy on the electronica for my taste and maybe the sound system I am listening on isn't tuned well but the bass is mixed weirdly and can overpower the lyrics, also the drum machine in this song is kind of annoying, did Lars Ulrich get the idea for St Anger from this? Also realised I have only heard this song in memes before from the 'ice age coming' line
Morning Bell is kind of boring, not a lot to say about this
Motion Picture Soundtrack is a simple and well-produced song, Yorke's vocals work well here and the second half of this sound reminds me of the flowers blooming scene from Master Gardener, I wish more of the album was like this
Untitled is more of a musical flourish than a song, nothing else to say about it
Album as a whole is a 7 from me it's not my usual type of music but it's something I can appreciate. Maybe repeat listens will condition me to become a massive musical afficionado (wanker) and I'll grow a deep appreciation for this and have a more refined opinion (parroting what critics and /mu/ says). Probably won't listen to any of these songs on their own but this album seems like something I would like to have on in the background at home after work, but in that circumstance I would rather listen to anything by Eno
What is most striking to me about this album is the critical response both at its release and years after. The album looks like it received lukewarm reviews in 2000 and was later re-appraised seemingly because it became trendy and cool to like Radiohead and the band itself has become a signifier that you're smart or whatever.
This, however, is only a problem if you take the profession of music criticism seriously. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsFzHpBlugs
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
4/5
History Song: If this intro is representative of the rest of the album then boy is the crowd gonna go mild for this one
80's Life: Interesting things going on with staccato strings here, this song definitely picked up a lot at the minute and a quarter mark as the backing and lead vocals worked well together. This song is arranged really well, mixing is great and it's a joy to listen to!
Northern Whale: A bit of a drone, this song sort of blends into itself and didn't particularly grab me
Kingdom of Doom: This song was good but in this song I became aware of what was irking me about this album so far. The mid 2000s bouncing piano line that was so popular at this time in music triggers a pavlovian response in me and reminds of how much I hated living in the 2000s. Looking past that, I am big fan of the return of the sweeping, distorted guitar work that was also on 80's Life. Cool song name, cool song!
Herculean: Personally not what I would have picked as a single from this album. Arranged well, tasteful use of choiral vocals at the three quarter mark. I can see this song being played in Act 3 of a Danny Boyle movie about a rough-around-the-edges hero from council housing or some shit.
Behind the Sun: A nice comedown from the last track (not that I disliked that), I think if I say I like the arrangement again on this track I'll sound like a broken record but these guys really know what they're doing.
The Bunting Song: Not as fun as the other songs so far but not bad, bit of a drone.
Nature Springs: You love to see it when you're enjoying what a song is doing and then it totally changes its vibe towards the end, the last minute of this song is a fantastic instrumental that just clicks for me.
A Soldier's Tale: Good, short song.
Three Changes: Opens like some circus music played by a shoegaze band, settles into a funky groove with british vocals that are NEARLY annoying. This song reminds me of getting drunk on only lager.
Green Fields: I bet this song would have hit a lot harder in 2007 when the Iraq War was still going on and the boxing day tsunami was a fresh memory but this song kind of feels a bit kitschy now. Rega
The Good, The Bad, The Queen: This song feels like a proper end track, totally ties the whole thing together. Nothing but good things to say about it.
Had low expectations for this one and was pleasantly surprised!
Tom Waits
3/5
This album is like a comedy album for people who don't find things funny anymore.
I could put this on in my flat and it would transform it entirely, this album is oozing with atmosphere but it is not an album to actively listen to and consume like I normally would.
It is difficult to rate this album. Love the atmosphere, but I find it repetitive. Love the vocals, find the lyricism irritating. The instrumentals are sparse and barebones, and I find it difficult to even classify this as music.
Regardless, I am going to give it a 3/5 as this is great background /noise/ rather than a musical album per se.
The La's
3/5
Not much to say, enjoyed a few of the songs on here and from what I’ve read this album was pretty inspirational to British music in the 90s but apart from there she goes again (which sounds totally different from the rest of the album) the songs here are groovy but neither remarkable nor memorable.
Competently made background music. Good for pacifying Gen X Brits.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
The only song I heard from this album before listening was Pusherman which I heard at a house party of a rich guy I met who studied fine art at QCA (the biggest dickhead you can imagine).
I don't have a lot to say about this album other than I really enjoyed it. It was sort of difficult for me to divorce this album from my mental image of Black Dynamite. Listening to this album after having watched this movie is like when you first watch the Shining after having already grown up with the Shinning episode from Simpsons Treehouse of Horror.
I am sure overtime as I listen to this album more I will enjoy it a lot more but at the moment I just cannot stop laughing when listening to a song like 'Freddie's Dead' because it makes me think of Black Dynamite's RP-accented brother getting killed by whitey.
My closing thoughts will therefore be written in jive.
Man, this jam is slick! My brother Mayfield got the vocals swinging. These instrumentals here got dat funky 70s vibe. It’s got just enough kitsch to be more tastefully corny than a can of cream corn.
(This review is brought to you by Ron Don Volante's Playpen, home of the 2 dollar lapdance)
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ2lqro2NR1MxxKs3W5pr3vQSnrDTxveYEPcQ&s
Deep Purple
4/5
Highway Star slaps, but somehow this is not my favourite version of it. They did a cover of this in The Expanse series with the vocals sung in Belter Creole and it's a fuckin JAM.
Maybe I'm A Leo feels sort of like a demo of a song that should be more complete, especially compared to Highway Star, this song feels like a step down musically. Maybe I am just jarred by the sudden shift in tone, this song is good for what it is but it shouldn't come after something as high-energy as Highway Star.
Pictures Of Home is a song I'm surprised I've not heard before. Galloping bassline, rising vocals and solid guitar work; I would not at all be surprised if I found out this was young Steve Harris' favourite song, it really does feel like a prototype for Iron Maiden. Also the bass solo in this song goes really fucking hard.
Never Before feels like it could have done a lot more, the song was okay and became great when the keyboard solo kicked in. Unfortunately this is at the very end of the song.
Smoke On The Water is about a better band than Deep Purple. It's a classic, and no matter how many times I've heard it (on stream or some dickhead finger picking it), I don't think I'll ever get sick of it.
Lazy is a decent jam, it has a good intro but I think this song meanders a bit and doesn't have as much of a direction as the other songs on this album.
Space Truckin' gets bonus points for being about travelling through space in a truck.
I'm including When a Blind Man Cries because it seems like it's included on the track listing for every release except the very original. This song should have been on the original, to end the album on Space Truckin' would have been a mistake to the flow of this album. This track perfectly carries out the album and ends on a high note. The guitar work here is excellent, the organ totally carries this song on its shoulders. Vocals are better here than on any other point of the album.
Listening to this album feels more like riding an antique bike. Deep Purple was the inspiration for a lot of bands that would go on to do technically much more intricate and complex musical work. Having said that, this antique bike was a lot of fun to ride.
The Charlatans
3/5
Before listening to this my only exposure to the Charlatans was their single 'The Only One I Know' which is a banger that I pretty much never skip if it comes on shuffle.
With No Shoes is a solid opening but unfortunately all I can think of is how they probably found Rob Collins, booze cruiser, With No Shoes when he died in a car crash after being more than double the BAC limit flung out of his sunroof.
North Country Boy is groovy and shows that the album has a cohesive direction in its sound. A bit forgettable mainly because I was still laughing about how Rob Collins managed to get ejected from his car while drink driving and then still stand up before passing away in an ambulance on Monday 22 July 1996.
Tellin' Stories is fantastic, I have no idea what this guy is saying but I can only assume he's tellin' cautionary tales about the dangers of driving a BMW 520i on the B4233 after having a big day at the pub with your producer in the car who would survive with minor injuries.
One to Another is where I realised that this band has more to offer than just 'The Only One I Know', the vocals here work well with the guitar work and the keyboard riffs are fantastic. The song is supposedly about a guy trying to keep his relationship together but I like to think the title is a nod to how Rob Collins went from being a getaway driver for his mate to being involved in a fatal single vehicle collision that left his wife widowed and his daughter without a father.
You're A Big Girl Now is a song about how Rob Collins' daughter will have to learn to live without her late pisswreck father (who is not present on this track).
How Can You Leave Us was initially written by Burgess about a girl, some lyrics were changed after Rob Collins' death (not a joke i copy-pasted this straight from wikipedia)
Area 51 is a great instrumental piece which really highlights the talent of Rob Collins as a keyboardist. This song is like a nice intermission between the two halves of the album. Rob Collins demonstrates here that he is very good with his hands, even if he can't put on a seatbelt to save his life.
How High is the question the British public were asking when it was revealed that Rob Collins was ejected from the sunroof of his BMW.
Only Teethin', much like a lot of Cool Britannia and Britpop, is clearly very inspired by 60s rock and roll; a time when the Beatles were big, Britain was a somewhat serious country, and a time before the 1962 Road Traffic Act which criminalised drink driving and before seatbelts were made mandatory in 1983.
Get On It sounds like someone put on some Bob Dylan before a jam session and now they have to get the annoying vocals and harmonica out of their system. It's songs like this that make me understand why the producer, Ric Peet, would get into the car with a drunken convicted armed robber, ironically named Rob Collins.
Rob's Theme is an instrumental that was included after the passing away of the keyboardist of The Charlatans, Rob Collins. In all honesty, this is a sweet tune and it warms my heart to see a loving tribute to Rob on here (even though his brother/the label decided to leave him off the album cover?). This song slaps, but as there are no lyrics I am going to find it difficult to make another joke about drink driving and crashing your car. Almost as hard as I find it to believe that Rob Collins was able to get only four months in prison and charges dropped for assisting his mate in robbing a store. But seriously, this song is great and is 100% getting added to some of my playlists.
Neil Young (who has 9 albums in this book, God help me) once said it's better to burn out than fade away. Rest in power Rob Collins, may you join your brothers in arms in Alcohalla, the afterlife for all brave booze cruisers.
7 DUIs out of 10
3/5
A minute into the first track I really thought to myself “fuck me dead, an hour and a half of this shit”.
To preface, I like Bob Dylan. The first song on my giant playlist is The Man In Me, I think a lot of his songs are great. However he usually performs the worst version of the songs he writes.
Anyway fuck my life the harmonica really hits badly on this first track and i was glad to see the mix in Fourth Time Around was a lot more forgiving on the ears. Thankfully so was the rest of this song: light and airy guitar work, great lyricism from one of the best to ever do it, so-so lyrics and unfortunately an annoying fucking harmonica. I don’t know what level of heavy metal poisoning you need to have to enjoy Bob Dylan fuckin annihilating your ears but I’m sure the dickheads clapping at the end of this track can let me know what the appropriate level of mercury PPM in your bloodstream allows you to enjoy it.
Visions of Johanna, absolute classic. But that harmonica sneaks in and forces me to quickly hit the volume down button. It’s quickly becoming clear to me it’s going to be hard to give an album that has this and Like A Rolling Stone a 3 because of this annoying fucking harmonica.
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue is a song I first heard covered by Marianne Faithful and then The Animals and then Graham Bonnett. All of these artists did it better than Bob Dylan.
Desolation Row was alright, the mixing here is a bit shit but whatever it’s a bootleg.
My thoughts about Just Like A Woman are the same as many of Dylan’s songs: “great lyrics, so-so vocals and instrumentals”.
Mr Tambourine Man is where I really started to lose it with this album. These songs are long, Bob Dylan sounds like he is parodying himself and it honestly is disappointing given how great of a writer he is.
Wow the second half of this shit really picks up. I’ll summarise my thoughts instead of wasting mine and everyone else’s time by trying to pad out my review.
There is a special place in hell for those who said Bob Dylan sold out by going electric. At a concert someone called him a sellout and he called that audience member a Judas and told his band to crank up the volume. And thank fuckin god cause this shit is WAY better.
This half would be a 4 or a 5 if it was its own thing and not burdened by side one which sounds like it was made by the USAF psyop guys who were too privileged to get sent to Vietnam.
Closing thoughts on this half is that this version of Ballad Of A Thin Man rivals Kula Shaker’s cover which has always been my favourite. Like A Rolling Stone is a very special song to me and always makes me think of my father, if side one had not pissed me off so much it would have been enough to give this a 5.
Throbbing Gristle
1/5
I.B.M. lets you experience life inside one of those room-sized computers they had in the 1970s.
Hit by a Rock opens with someone being tortured just outside that same room?
United came and went, didn't notice it
Valley of the Shadow of the Death is clearly just a result of a Dictaphone being left in a council housing flat somewhere. I'm convinced this whole track is raw audio.
Dead on Arrival, this shit is ass
Weeping
Hamburger Lady is more of the same random noise, which is good because it signals to me that the album does not have a change of heart in its second half to be something at least entertaining.
Who gives a shit about the rest of the songs? Not the guys 'performing' it, that's for sure. I feel about these 42 minutes of noise as I imagine a lot of people do about modern/post-modern art. It's bullshit, and I don't know what level of degeneration of your frontal cortex/serotonin imbalance you have to have for this to be enjoyable.
This shit sucks, anything higher than a 1 is a Christ-like level of charity and generosity. Music critics should be rounded up and forced to break rocks in that labour camp from the start of Rambo 2.
Supergrass
2/5
Another Britpop album. 1001 albums that some poms think I should listen to, as much as I like British music this shit is getting to be cultural imperialism.
I'd Like To Know is a solid, frenetic track but ultimately forgettable with nothing lyrics and okay vocals. Good opener, if it's indicative of the rest of the album then it'll at least be a /fun/ listen.
Caught by the Fuzz is supposed to be a song about getting caught with hash but let's be real, these guys are british so it's probably about fucking underaged girls.
Mansize Rooster is more of the same: fast-paced, energetic and boppy stuff. All these songs probably were necessary for dealing with the hell of living with John Major as your PM in Nonce Island.
Alright is the most successful single from this album, peaking at number 2 which is pretty huge considering 1995 had stiff competition (all britpop slop) really the only interesting to say about this song.
The rest of this album I really just glazed over, I can’t interface with this I think I might have britpop fatigue. The songs are competent and listenable but utterly forgettable.
Lose It is my favourite song from this album and it’s a merciful 2m36s and it’s fine.
5/10 God save us and deliver us from Britpop
Stan Getz
5/5
MASHALLAH
Finally an escape from Samsara/the Eighth Circle of Hell (Britpop) and into something else, anything else.
Seeing as I don't speak Portuguese and I couldn't understand most of the lyrics, the best way I can summarise this album is like sitting in a homeware store in heaven. I can see how it might sound a bit elevator music-y at times to some people but this album is charming as hell.
There is no real way to deride this album, it's masterfully crafted music that's fantastic to actively listen to or to set as background music to set a mood.
No complaints. Phenomenal.
Shack
2/5
Psalm 25:6-7
"Remember, Lord,
your compassion and mercy
which you showed long ago.
Do not recall the sins and failings of my youth.
In your mercy remember me, lord,
because of your goodness."
We have returned to the Paedoph Isles to hear some more LOVELY Britpop. Going to keep this short, this is a concept album. The concept being 'music for car commercials'. Competently made, inoffensive sound. Comedy was probably my favourite song on this album. This album is fine, but I will not be listening to it again.
Johnny Cash
5/5
This album is a 5 and it's no question. I'll admit personal bias because my father and I bonded a lot over Johnny Cash and other country artists, I won't ever be able to hear Cash's music without thinking about Old Tetris Joe.
This album is electric, the audience itself basically acts as an instrument on here. This is exactly what a live album should be, the music is fantastic, the banter between song is top. I really can't put into words how much I love this album.
Sabu
2/5
This album was enjoyable enough, but it feels like it was pretty inaccessible. Lots of call and response which can get a bit grating. Rhapsodia del Maravilloso was the standout on this album mainly for being a departure from the heavy drum work into guitar work which is splendid.
I can't see myself going out of my way to listen to this again, it's pretty repetitive and I found that after Rhapsodia that the album kind of flew by me. On a repeat listen it didn't stick in my head any more than it did the first time. This album for me is a 5/10, wouldn't be upset if I heard it in the background but would probably skip it if I was in charge of the music.
OutKast
4/5
The production on this album is unreal, pretty frontloaded though. The music is dynamic throughout, switching styles and the second half of this is less memorable and slows down quite a bit. The interludes on the album vary from funny to kind of annoying.
Overall this album fucks and the slow down in the second half is not necessarily a bad thing, I think if it maintained the energy at the peak of Bombs Over Baghdad this would have honestly been a bit too full on. The hits here are phenomenal (with the exception of So Fresh, So Clean, I have never liked that song and I can't explain why) and the rest of the album is competently made and entertaining.
Favourite tracks from this were Gasoline Dreams and Bombs Over Baghdad.
Also watching the music videos from this album on MTV a lot probably did a lot of things to my developing 6 year old brain.
Amy Winehouse
5/5
The candle that burns twice as bright lasts half as long. In Amy's case the candle burned 0.3335 times as long as the life expectancy for women in the UK in 2011.
I was going to do a song by song analysis of this album but I think it does well as a whole. I love soul music and nothing has changed. This album is tight, well-produced and great to listen to. Amy Winehouse has a fantastic voice, as for the lyrics? Who cares. Phenomenal album, will be listening to this plenty more.
The Dictators
5/5
How have I not heard this before? It feels like the Sonny and Cher cover was literally made for me.
The lyrics are clever and pretty funny, the band clearly had a great time playing these songs. Master Race Rock really feels like it came from the Frank Zappa school of 'write the dumbest thing you can think of and make it funky'. One thing I wish that future punk music would have taken from this album also is great sound mixing! But I suppose it's easier to play like shit when nobody can tell what's going on.
Side 1 is fantastic, the only weakish song on here is Back to Africa.
First track on side 2 was good, but when California Sun started playing and that bassline kicked in I was hooked properly.
If I were a music journalist in the 1970s and I heard this, then I too would have become a massive dickrider for punk music. This album totally explains (but doesn't excuse) the mass hysteria that music journos experienced at the time.
5/5 would get fucked up to this album
Coldcut
5/5
Absolutely funky, cannot believe this album is from 1989 feels extremely ahead of its time. Hard to put into words exactly how I feel about this album but it’s like the music equivalent of patchwork rug that smells like incense.
Both sides as good as eachother, this album is absolutely going to be getting a lot of spins from me and it’s a crime that this isn’t on Spotify, copyright be damned.
Favourite tracks here are People Hold On, Which Doctor, No Connection.
Sparks
3/5
Insane opening track, genuinely difficult to move on to the next few tracks. This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us really set too high of a standard. The album picks up again on Thank God It's Not Christmas and stays good until it gets to Equator which is one of the most grating songs I have ever heard in my miserable life. Honestly the end of this album is just these two assholes padding for time as seen in Barbecutie, Lost and Found is just whatever.
Honestly this album would be a 2 if it wasn't for the opening track, but my lord it really wore my patience thin on some songs. The rest of the album after the opener is mid to bad. I can see how a music journo would put this on here cause Morrissey said he likes this album so I guess that makes it 'influential' and 'foundational'. Whatever, one absolute fucking ripper of a track, a handful of mid ones and a couple DOGSHIT ones equates to a 3.
The spotify bio for this band (usually written by the band's PR person if I'm not mistaken) wanks on about how influential the band is so I guess they really bought into the bullshit framed around them.
Kanye West
4/5
Hip Hop isn't really my thing but I perked up during All Falls Down and when Jesus Walks came on I had a 'I finally get it' moment. It goes without saying the production value here is incredible, but the album does feel extremely early 2000s for my taste (derogatory). The lyricism is fantastic especially on basically every track on this album.
The album has an extremely strong opening string of tracks, the middle of it fall off a bit after Jesus Walks up and really picks up again on Two Words. The end of the album more than makes up for a slump in the middle.
Great album, a super solid 4/5 for me. Looking forward to seeing more Kanye in the future.
Favourite line: "The doctor said I have blood clots but I ain't Jamaican"
The Band
5/5
Whenever I hear The Band, specifically The Weight, I think of the scene in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes when they turn on the hydro dam and the gas station starts working again.
From wikipedia: "Bob Dylan offered to sing on the album, but ultimately realized it was important for the Band to make their own statement. Instead, Dylan signified his presence by contributing a cover painting."
AND THANK FUCKING GOD.
The worst thing that this album does is make you wait till the end of side one to hear The Weight, arguably the most well known song that this group recorded. Side one itself is great, Tears of Rage is a wonderful opener and the variety in vocal performances from different members works really well here. The quality of each of these members of Bob Dylan's touring band really makes you considering how much more talented Dylan's contemporary BAND MEMBERS were as musicians than him.
Side two fucks just as hard as side one and has probably the best song on this album, Chest Fever. We Can Talk and Long Black Veil are standouts here too. If The Weight wasn't on side one I would say side two is better bit honestly both halves of this album are as good as eachother.
Easy 5/5 from me, will be getting this on LP.
The Cars
4/5
This album is pretty ahead of its time, you could have told me this was made in the early to mid 80s and I would have believed you.
Opens strong with Good Times Roll, Best Friend's Girl (the best song on side one) and Just What I Needed. The latter has definitely been overplayed for me but it doesn't stop it from being a great song. I'm in Touch with Your World is a change of pace that I really don't like and I found myself skipping this one as soon as it plays on repeat listens. Don't Cha Stop is a nice return to form and closes out the side neatly.
Side two is stacked, there is only one hit from here but the quality of the album here is just better. There is no point talking about the individual tracks here (they're all great) because all I am going to focus on is Moving In Stereo. The fun production of fucking with the L/R channels is cool (and hasn't lost its novelty after 1000+ listens), the lyrics are succinct, the instrumentation rocks. This song is the reason this is a great album.
All in all, a really good debut album from a band whose sound would become influential to pop music that came after it. Even I'm in Touch with Your World isn't a bad song, just one that I feel doesn't fit the flow of the album. Each song here is crafted with care, a lot of albums seem to be a vehicle for a hit song and the filler that is packed in is unimaginative drivel.
I am genuinely impressed with the artistic effort that went into making this album so varied and adventurous. In the year of 1978 when the top 100 was dominated by Bee Gees, the fucking Grease soundtrack and the kiddy-diddlers at Sweet, The Cars deserves kudos for doing something genuinely innovative. Big ups to Roy Thomas Baker on the production here.
The Flaming Lips
2/5
"The album was also noted for its fusion of ordinary rock instruments, electronic beats, and synthesizers. Its large, layered, symphonic sound has also earned it a reputation as the Pet Sounds of the 1990s from a few critics."
Perhaps these same music critics were too busy doing whippets and sucking each other off to remember one of the pillars of the Beach Boys' sound was the vocal harmonies between the band members.
Straight up, this album was a fucking slog to listen to. The Spiderbite Song genuinely made me physically uncomfortable the first time the singer first said the word 'spiderbite'.'
The instrumentals here are phenomenal, the arrangement is great EXCEPT FOR THE DRUM TRACK. Good fucking god, you're telling me this is their ninth album and they let the drums come out this shit? I guess the critics are right, Pet Sounds was known for innovating by using unorthodox methods of making music like using hairpins to pluck piano wire. I suppose drums that sounds like shit is basically the same thing right?
In all seriousness, the instrumentation here is amazing if you can get past the drums here.
I am not going to talk about the vocals.
This album doesn't have the luxury of being released at a time where it would have been considered innovative. The fact that this has a 100 on AllMusic is fucking crazy to me. The Observer is a song that demonstrates how great this album is without vocals.
The more I listen to albums from this book (especially 90s-onwards) the more I realise that Joe's Garage is not on here because it shit talks music journalists.
5/10
Travis
3/5
Inoffensive paint-by-numbers music. This is probably some Gen X consultant's favourite band.
The music here is very well-played, the arrangement and production is good and the vocals are good. That's all I can really say about this album is that it's good. Highlights here for me are Turn and Slide Show.
7/10 don't think I would go out of my way to listen to this. (Also not sure if I would recognise a track from this if you played it to me in a week)
Neil Young
4/5
Gonna keep this one short. My first proper introduction to Neil Young. The southern man may not need him around but I certainly do.
Highlights were Revolution Blues, On The Beach, Walk On
Soundgarden
3/5
Pretty inconsistent quality, this album feels like it was made to fill airtime on a “classic rock” radio station. It slaps when it’s good and it’s just forgettable most of the time. Wouldn’t put this album on as a whole any time soon but I never skip Black Hole Sun when it comes on.
Highlights: Fell On Black Days, Head Down, Black Hole Sun
The Stooges
4/5
Listened to the Iggy Mix instead of the Bowie mix because that’s my preferred version of Gimme Danger which is my favourite song on this album.
The mixing here isn’t great due to a very short post production schedule but I think it adds to the charm of this album. The album sort of loses its charm when you read about Iggy Pops nonce bullshit as well as Bowies involvement.
Mixing and transatlantic kiddy diddling aside, this album rocks. The tone is consistent, the scumbag theme is prevalent throughout and Iggy Pops vocals are pretty varied and pretty much knock it out of the park on each track.
If this album was 7 shit songs and Gimme Danger it would be a 3, I absolutely adore that song. Fortunately it’s 7 good songs and Gimme Danger so it’s an easy 4 from me.
Bee Gees
1/5
More like the Slee Pees
An overly-long, sleeping aid of an album. Symphony of the Seven Seas was a good instrumental but overall this album kind of blows. I can remember one track from this distinctively and it doesn’t even have vocals.
Peter Gabriel
5/5
An album probably best known for the music video for Sledgehammer, this was an absolute joy to review.
Each track is masterfully produced, the sheer amount of artists that Gabriel collaborated shows that he really cares about the craft of making music. Pulling influences from around the world, this lost out to a similarly innovative album for the grammy in the form of Graceland by Paul Simon. And fair enough, I would be hard pressed to decide which of these albums is better. Every song on this album rips, Peter Gabriel manages to turn every track into a groovy soundscape. Big shoutout to the bassline in Big Time, probably the high point of the album for me besides the entirety of Sledgehammer.
No negative comments whatsoever, perfect album.
Elliott Smith
4/5
Like the Smiths but not embarrassing to say you enjoy it. The album is very consistent in tone and quality, I don’t care that much for the vocals but the instrumentation is simple and works very well. My only exposure to Elliott Smith before this was Good Will Hunting.
Was going to give this a 3 but decided that since I listened to it multiple times and it didn’t have any skips at all that it deserves a 4.
Highlights for me are Son of Sam, LA, Colorbars, Happiness, Pretty Mary Kay.
Iron Maiden
5/5
Before Steve Harris wrote songs about movies he liked, warriors and other cool shit he mainly wrote songs about murdering women. Iron Maiden's debut LP has no skips at all. While I prefer Dickinson's vocals, Di'Anno's style here suits the tone better. This album wastes absolutely no time, every song is as long as it needs to be.
There are definitely bands that have pushed the boundaries of heavy metal further than Iron Maiden, but this album stills fucks today and it is truly timeless. While I enjoy the Dickinson era more and I wouldn't even put this in the top 5 Maiden albums I can't give this anything but a 5 in terms of not only importance to the genre but also musical quality.
I'm very glad that Steve Harris gave up on playing for West Ham to become possibly the best heavy metal songwriter going.
Khaled
2/5
I enjoyed this album when it stuck to it its less poppy side. But honestly I was just waiting for this one to end. My idea of purgatory is being stuck in an infinite Uber ride and this is what is playing in the background. This can never hope to achieve anything higher than a 2/5 because of the Imagine cover.
Highlight for me was Ya Aachkou, I would definitely try my best to hold my vomit in if this came on in an uber.
Fugazi
5/5
Not super familiar with post-hardcore as a genre but this shit rocks. As an album this is my jam. Reading about the band, big fan of their ethos of not selling out even though these guys could have made an absolute killing exploiting the same target audience as Nirvana or something.
No skips on here, a joy to listen to.
Otis Redding
5/5
One way that God likes to tell musicians that he really likes their music is to have them die in a plane crash.
No skips at all, the vocal performance here is insane. I got goosebumps when My Girl came on, how can I give this anything except a 5?
Bob Dylan
2/5
I'm going to rock up to the Bob Dylan biopic in a fucking suicide vest I swear to god.
1001 albums you need to listen to in order to see how far music has come since the days of skinny losers and grifters. There is no way that a group of people listened to It's All Over Now Baby Blue and thought 'yeah mate, this is the best version of this song we could have done, nobody is ever gonna top this'.
I think baby boomers only remember songs like Blowin' In The Wind, Hurricane and Like A Rolling Stone when it comes to Bob Dylan. Maybe this was just the only thing going in a musical landscape but upon checking the Billboard charts for the year this came out the same year as Help! and Out Of Our Heads that's obviously not true.
Bob Dylan is a fine songwriter but as I have said before, I cannot take a whole fuckin album of this guy. Two and a half listens of this and I just can't shake the feeling that Dylan's music sounds like a homeless guy ranting set to music. Gates Of Eden onwards is a fucking slog on here good lord.
Songs I enjoyed (didn't hold my head in my hands while listening) were Subterranean Homesick Blues, Outlaw Blues, Mr Tambourine Man.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2/5
2000s sports game menu music. Vocals are good, instrumentation is alright, performance is competent but overall a forgettable album I won't be listening to again anytime soon. A true 5/10. Favourite song from this was Pin.
The Beach Boys
5/5
Perfect album
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Writing music about a tragedy can weigh it with baggage for me. It could make the whole thing very funny (Tears in Heaven) or quite poignant (The Final Cut).
While there are definitely songs that lean heavily into the 9/11 stuff (Title track, Empty Sky, etc.) to me, this album feels like a re-treading of the same themes in The River and Born in the USA which isn't a bad thing at all.
Springsteen's lyricism and writing is the best part of this album, his vocals are just as strong as they were on albums like The River and Tunnel Of Love. However the arrangement and production on some songs veers a little too far into the patriotic 2000s Country and Western style of music that was popular in the bloodthirsty warmongering culture of Bush Jr America (Waiting On A Sunny Day).
The Homeric length of 72 minutes makes this a difficult listen at times but it's still Springsteen so there are some great tunes on here that make it worth multiple listens. The album falls off after Further On (Up the Road) and doesn't really pick up again until the title track.
Highlights here are Lonesome Day, Nothing Man, Countin' On A Miracle, Further On (Up the Road), Paradise.
I love the Boss but this album makes me think he needs to be put on a performance improvement plan.
Public Image Ltd.
1/5
The fact that we live in the timeline where this album got rave reviews on release and the Brighton Hotel bombing was not successful shows how awful this world really is.
Albatross has a line that sums up my thoughts on this album and Public Image Ltd in general: 'You are unbearable'.
Following the intense dickriding of punk music, John Lydon decides to form a new band and lead the wave of post-punk which would be met with more intense dickriding from music critics whose minds have become so drained of whatever brain chemical allows you to actually enjoy music that they decide THIS dogshit is good music.
Once you place this album in the context of late 70s England a lot of things begin to make sense, life was fucking dogshit and this clearly seeps into some of the music of the time. They could have fixed their economy however by manufacturing and selling hatchets to the general public with which they could hack music critics and journalists into tiny pieces which could be processed into biofuels and fertiliser, thereby making the UK a leader in the field of alternative fuels and agriculture. Therefore Thatcher would not have been elected and Neoliberalism wouldn't have taken off.
In short, if this album was not released it would have definitely prevented the Falkands War, and maybe at least one of the Iraq Wars.
Bob Dylan
4/5
Bob Dylan is a musician with a very wide range. The range being the quality of his songs.
This album opens with Like A Rolling Stone, one of TWO Bob Dylan songs where his version is the best one and arguably the best Bob Dylan song (the other one being The Man In Me). I can't put into words how much I genuinely like this song, I get the feeling from listening to this song the same feeling I imagine boy lovers/lover boys in Ancient Greece would have felt listening to Homer prattle on about the Iliad inbetween slathering himself in olive oil and chasing after some Aegean bussy.
This is followed up by Tombstone Blues, which is classic Dylan rambling. This song is ass.
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry and it takes a the supposed greatest songwriter of all time to come up with the worst title for a song I've ever seen, this song is alright but suffers from BAD harmonica.
From a Buick 6 is a tight song with GOOD harmonica, and I quite liked this one probably because I just tuned out whatever bullshit Dylan was saying and enjoyed myself.
I have previously said that Ballad of a Thin Man was best performed by Kula Shaker and I still maintain that but Dylan's studio version here is great. The instrumentation and the lyricism here is peak Dylan for me, this is one of his best.
Queen Jane Approximately is alright, the thing that stands out here is a very groovy and understated electric guitar track. BAD harmonica present on this track.
The title track opens with a really fuckin goofy slide whistle which tells you this song is gonna be dogshit. FORTUNATELY this song is actually pretty good! Dylan does some of his usual bullshit where he just rips biblical shit into this lyrics and boomers swoon over it. Despite this, I actually quite like everything about this song except for the stupid fucking slide whistle.
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues is a fine song, more homeless man-esque rambling lyrics and GOOD harmonica features on this track. The instrumentation here really carries it but overall this song is fairly mid.
Desolation Row is a song that if you described to me, I would hate it. I would describe it as the musical equivalent of being tired drunk at a party and some guy is just yapping your ear off talking about bullshit for 11 minutes. But I love it, this song fuckin rocks, and I can't explain why.
The wikipedia page for this album has more glaze on it than a krispy kreme donut. On the standards of general music, this is a good album, on the standards of Bob Dylan albums this is a freaky fucked-up listenable aberration which makes it basically a masterpiece. A lot of the praise for this album is Dylan's lyricism and I feel like there is some big in-joke I am missing out on. Which is what makes my love for this album all the more confusing.
To summarise my thoughts on this album, I will use the words of Werner Herzog: "But when I say this, I say this all full of admiration for the jungle. It is not that I hate it, I love it. I love it very much. But I love it against my better judgment."
Eagles
5/5
Anti-shoutout to Robert Christgau for giving this album a poor review because he doubted how legit the country roots of the Eagles were. Kris Kristofferson (Rest in peace) is one of the most acclaimed country artists of all time and that guy was a Rhodes scholar, hardly a hard knock country battler. He certainly didn't let the 'authenticity' of music influence his judgement of artists like 2pac who went to fucking Juilliard.
Evil scummy music critics aside, this album absolutely slaps. I listened to Hotel California and was a bit bummed that it was very frontloaded. Mainly it was buyer's remorse because I bought the thing on vinyl because I liked the title track and New Kid In Town so much.
This is not true for this album. Every song on this album is listenable and there are some real deep cuts that I'm surprised I haven't heard them before. Specifically a huge shoutout to Most of Us Are Sad and Train Leaves Here This Morning.
The harmonies here are great, the instrumentation is great, this is peak easy listening music. This isn't some bullshit that sophists can get together and glaze, and it really shows in this albums critical reception both historically and on this website. The negative reviews on here generally are crybabies who are mad the music here isn't Bob Dylan butchering bible verses and putting a leaf blower into a harmonica or it's not some factory produced Britpop from the 90s (the music that plays in the eighth circle of hell).
The band have a reputation for being a bunch of scumbags (Don Henley is a paedo), but fuck man if this was my debut album I think I would have earned the right to be a piece of shit too.
Fun fact, the bassist Randy Meisner's grandparents are all Volga Germans. Joe Exotic is also descended from Volga Germans. Also the later drummer's sister-in-law has been a missing person since 1996.
The Strokes
2/5
Inoffensive, competently-produced music. Multiple listens did not leave an impression on me, unfortunately in this case the album cover was the most memorable thing here. It's fine as background noise but overall I think this is just mid.
The Stone Roses
5/5
The Stones Roses are to Britpop what Oppenheimer was to nuclear warfare.
In terms of both musical merit and legacy, this album is a 5. Every song here is a banger, no skips whatsoever. The producer for this album was the same one as on Pink Floyd's Meddle which probably explains why I have such a love for this album. Such an energetic and varied album, it's a blast from start to finish. Just the fact that Don't Stop was a silly studio experiment with backwards sound that doesn't just sound like a dumb gimmick track is testament to the quality of this album.
Also another anti-shoutout to Robert Christgau who called this band overhyped.
Personal highlights for me are Made of Stone, (Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister, and I Am The Resurrection. I listened to the UK LP which doesn't include Fool's Gold (if it did this album would be a 6/5).
Fun fact: the leader singer was diddled by his teacher and he's also an ant-vaxx covid cooker.
Nirvana
4/5
I have heard Smells Like Teen Spirit far too many times in my life and honestly it’s a perfectly fine song but I have never been able to get past the word salad lyrics.
Nirvana is a lot more than just that song though and there are some great songs on here which show the talent that this band had. Growing up listening to groups like EKV and Haustor it’s fun to see how Yugo rock influenced this album through Krist Novoselic.
Some of the songs here like Polly and Lithium I don’t care for that much but I would never skip them on a listen of this album.
In terms of musical merit it’s nowhere near the most technically good album of the 90s, not even in the grunge scene but the group understand what makes music entertaining and gripping.
Highlights: Come As You Are, Drain You, On A Plain, Something In The Way
DJ Shadow
5/5
Truly something I would not have listened to if not for this list. Looked at the length at first and rolled my eyes at another album that goes for over an hour. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this. Multiple listens, no skips here at all. As someone who is not familiar with the genre at all, I don't know how monumental this album is in its production and style. From the little reading I did, it seems this album's was very influential in music. For me, this album feels like the precursor to the endless waves of lo-fi slop study music on youtube (not a bad thing at all!).
Not many albums have piqued my interest this much to go and explore more of the genre, so for that and how much I enjoyed it I can't give it anything lower than a 5.
Highlights: Changeling, Stem/Long Stem, Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain
Kate Bush
3/5
Pretty front loaded album, Running Up That Hill has been thoroughly ruined by becoming a huge trend online, but is still a great song nonetheless. The production is good and Kate Bush is a great songwriter but this album didn't particularly gel with me, a lot of the songs feel like they are a minute or so longer than they should be and the album itself feels quite long-winded (this feeling definitely peaked for me in Jig of Life).
Overall, I did enjoy the album but it's not something I see myself returning to as a whole despite enjoying the major hits from the album.
Highlights: Running Up That Hill, Cloudbusting, The Morning Fog
2Pac
4/5
God rest the eternal martyred soul of 2pac. The standout tracks on this are great, the lyricism is top notch but a lot of this album went by me on repeat listens and I just found myself listening to the highlights again. Not my preferred 2pac album. I'm definitely not the target demographic for this, nor was I when I first was exposed to it as a child. Ummed and ahhed about giving this either a 3 or a 4 but if I'm going to come back to it (albeit with skips), it's gonna be a 4.
Highlights: If I Die 2Nite, Me Against The World, Dear Mama, Fuck The World
Buck Owens
3/5
"Lord it's the same old tune, fiddle and guitar; Where do we take it from here?"
A bit goofier than the country music that I normally enjoy. There's a good mix of sad ballads and upbeat songs. The cover of Streets of Laredo was enjoyable. Don Rich's slide guitar throughout was a joy, Buck Owens vocals aren't exactly my cup of tea and on a few songs they wore out their welcome for me personally.
Highlights: Let The Sad Times Roll On, The Band Keeps Playin' On, Streets of Laredo
Mudhoney
4/5
Pretty competently made music, has all the parts there to be something great but it just didn’t go the extra mile for me. Still enjoyed it and would probably throw a couple of these songs into a garage/grunge mix to avoid putting in Pearl Jam filler. The highs here were very high but a lot of this felt same and despite its length it did drag. Special shoutout to If I Think, best song on this album. I was going to give this a 3 but I think I listened to the entire deluxe version of this on Spotify and then went back and listened to just the EP a few times so on second thought this is a 4 for me.
Last song on this album shares a sample with Loaded by Primal Scream, that song rocks too.
Highlights: Touch Me I’m Sick, Mudride, If I Think
The Pogues
2/5
The instrumentals and the lyrics work fine on their own, but together they just didn't gel with me. Gave this album a few goes and just wasn't able to get into a groove with it.
Highlights: Metropolis, Sketches of Spain
Eagles
5/5
Possibly the most front loaded album of all time? Hotel California, New Kid In Town (one of my favourite songs of all time), Life In The Fast Lane really sweep you off your feet on this album until they totally change gears with Wasted Time. After this, all the songs work together cohesively as an album but individually don't hold a candle to the opening 3 tracks.
When I first listened to this album in its entirety last year, I was a bit let down with how the B side slows down compared to the first but with repeat listens I have greatly grown to appreciate it. Special mention to Pretty Maids All In A Row, Walsh kills it on vocals and lyrics.
The instrumentation and vocals here are much better developed than the Eagles' debut album, each band member is allowed their time in the spotlight. I will never stop glazing New Kid In Town, Frey's vocals, the instrumentation, the lyrics, everything works together and fits the theme of the album. Though I'll never be able to relate to the feeling of being yesterday's big thing/hasbeen in the music industry, the feeling that's cultivated in this song of being over the hill and past your prime is something that really moves me.
I don't think I need to say anything at all about the title track.
Every song is a highlight.
I've had a great day and I love the fuckin' Eagles, man.
The Cardigans
3/5
Well-performed light pop. Really enjoyed a listen of this but on repeats it didn’t stick with me much apart from Lovefool which is probably going to get way more plays now that I can finally put a name to a song I’ve heard on and off since I was a kid.
Highlights: Never Recover, Step On Me, Lovefool, Great Divide
The Doors
4/5
The Doors were the first band I really got properly into when I 'got into music'. Blah blah blah it's a psyop whatever yeah Jim Morrison's dad was responsible for the Gulf of Tonkin and started American involvement in the Vietnam war. Well his son died a fat bloated overdosed corpse in Paris so I think that's pretty decent karmic balance.
This album rips open with The Changeling and Love Her Madly, songs I have probably heard more than my own name and I cannot get sick of them. Manzarek's on the keyboard really shines on both of these songs, but the same is true for basically every single Doors song where his keyboard work is the best part of it (sure as shit isn't the lyricism).
Been Down So Long and Cars Hiss by My Window are a lull, not a whole lot to say about these songs.
L.A. Woman, really probably the best song the Doors ever did, really a culmination of Morrison's vocals/nonsense lyrics working perfectly with the instrumentation from the band. If this album is a bookend with their debut, this is like if you took The End and made it a good song.
L'America/la snoozefest.
Hyacinth House is a deep cut I've always been a fan of, it's a shame this song doesn't get talked about but bullshit like Soul Kitchen gets glazed to no end.
Crawling King Snake, The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat) AKA 'I am waiting for the end of this side so I can listen to Riders on the Storm'.
What else is there to say about Riders on the Storm other than this song fucking slaps six ways to Sunday? Most of the time I listened to this song on shitty cheap ipod headphones so it was a whole new experience to listen to it on a decent hi-fi system and really be able to soak it in.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Nick Cave has two good songs, and neither of them are on this album.
Only a single listen for this one, and it was an absolute slog.
Some songs were half-way tolerable like Straight to You. When I First Came to Town is great because the harmonica signals that the song is over and it's got good harmonica a la Neil Young not BAD harmonica like Bob Dylan.
That's followed by John Finn's Wife, more rambly shitty lyrics with good production value at a duration that is long enough to be considered legitimate torture much like the next (AND THANKFULLY LAST) two songs on this album. Loom of the Land is probably the best song on this album especially because it's juxtaposed by Jack the Ripper which is a fuckin stinker.
The musical assembly here just doesn't click for me. Cave's vocals are grating, the lyrics are rambly and it helps to just tune it out and honestly this bloke's whole spooky edgy aesthetic just rubs me the wrong way.
When people say they are Nick Cave fans I am convinced they have only listened to either Into My Arms or Do You Love Me? and then decided "yeah the vibe is good". The only other explanation is that you barrack for him cause you are Australian.
And for the latter reason I am giving it a 2/5 instead of the 1 is deserves.
How I felt for the majority of this album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQjj1uPL1Ds
Queen
4/5
The hits band to end all other hits band. One that is mostly remembered in the public consciousness for songs that are used in stadiums and car commercials. And also having obnoxious orchestral covers in trailers for dogshit movies,
It's a shame too because Queen albums are fantastic and have a lot more going for them than just upbeat advertiser-friendly music that costs an arm and a leg to get licensed.
Sheer Heart Attack is a reminder that their best work does not merely extend to the songs that you have heard a million times. Mercury's vocals are fantastic, May's guitar is always recognisable and is played to a tasteful amount. There are some filler songs in here that don't hold up that well on multiple listens but the album as a whole works very well.
Highlights: Brighton Rock, Killer Queen, Flick Of The Wrist, In The Lap Of The Gods (both versions), She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes)
Prince
5/5
The arrangement and production on this album is the definition of 'just right'. There are so many moving pieces on here and they all work together, nothing feels superfluous or awkwardly shoved in. Prince has an amazing voice with great range and knows when to kick it into a higher gear for good effect (best seen on the second half of both The Beautiful Ones and Purple Rain).
This album is a joyride from start to finish, every track is phenomenal. I have heard the title track a million times and I'll admit personal bias, I was never going to give this a bad score because it's the song my dad sang the most when I would drive in the car with him as a kid. Most people probably only know When Doves Cry and Purple Rain but this album is chock full of bangers admittedly I prefer side 1 to side 2 but it's really like comparing a 9 to a 9.5
I am struggling to think of any criticism of this album but apparently the movie isn't fantastic. The album art is kinda goofy, it never quite gelled with me.
Highlights: every track
Wu-Tang Clan
4/5
As someone who doesn’t know a lot about hip hop I would hazard a guess that the production and musical style here would have been extremely influential. From the little hip hop that this list has given me this one by far has the “worst” production value but it definitely enhances the vibe of the album. The lyricism and flow here are fantastic, and even though I’m normally not a fan of skits and intermissions in music generally the ones here are a welcome break and segue well between songs especially with the clips from Shaw Brothers movies.
Having said all of that It’s not something that I can see going in my usual rotation of music, but it’s definitely an enjoyable listen.
Highlights: Can It Be All So Simple, C.R.E.A.M., Protect Ya Neck, Tearz
The Youngbloods
3/5
Part of the musical bridge between the 60s and 70s sound, I think this band is included not because they are particularly influential but for the same reason as an artist like Nick Drake. It seems these guys were overshadowed by the bigger acts of the time and the authors of the book wanted to bring attention to them.
In terms of an album, it works well as a whole piece. It's understated and very well-performed. There are no bad tracks on here but also no tracks that blow your hair back. Tracks like Ride the Wind overstay their welcome but whatever it's the last track on the album that doesn't count. Overall, a fun little album that is pretty frontloaded and would be perfect to give a spin on a lazy Sunday afternoon but not something I'm dying to return to.
Biggest critique here is the goofy fuckin slide whistle in Don't Let The Rain Bring You Down
Highlights: Darkness, Darkness, On Sir Francis Drake
Badly Drawn Boy
2/5
Camping Next to Water was is a little microcosm of how I feel about this album, a thoroughly boring song throughout except for the two parts where a guitar comes in way louder than the rest of the instrumental tracks and for those two parts the song comes to life. But unlike the album itself, that song goes on for as long as it needs to.
Tonally it's a weird one, sometimes it feels like a 2000s attempt to catch lightning in a bottle a la Pet Sounds, other times it feels like you're standing in the red bathroom at the Overlook Hotel with Delbert Grady.
At least nobody says the n word.
Highlights: Everybody's Stalking, Fall in a River
The Police
2/5
Lead-based paint was federally banned for residential use in 1978 in the United States. While some states banned it earlier than that, the health effects would linger for years to come. In the 1983 Rolling Stone readers' poll, Synchronicity was voted "Album of the Year".
There are two songs on this album that are not written by Sting, and they are far and away the worst songs on this album. In fact, the best way to enjoy this album is to completely skip everything until Synchronicity II. I have never had Spotify recommend me Synchronicity I, probably because its algorithm recognises that not a single person on God's grey earth would ever listen to this album from back to back more than once.
Reading on wikipedia, the insane amount of cope around Mother is unreal. Stephen Holden from Rolling Stone noted that "corrosively funny 'Mother' inverts John Lennon's romantic maternal attachment into a grim dadaist joke." Yeah, get fucked mate it's just a shitty song that was shoved onto here so this would have enough material for an LP instead of an EP. Calling something Dadaist is the wanker's equivalent of pissing yourself on a night out and then saying you did it on purpose to protest poor bathroom quality/laws that criminalise public urination.
Seriously, this song is so fucking ass and the justification is that Andy Summers had an overbearing mum. The duality of Br*tish people on full force here, Roger Waters' mummy issues gave us The Wall and Andy Summers' ones gave me a cluster headache.
This album well and truly deserves a 1. How the fuck was this band considered the biggest in the world? I am convinced that Sting has dirt on music journos, this goes far beyond favouritism and nepotism. There must be something sinister going on here.
This album got rave reviews and consistently appears in lists for best album of the year but Feline by The Stranglers gets nothing more than lukewarm reviews because Jet Black didn't have photos of the editor of Rolling Stone sucking off boys at Bohemian Grove. Also True by Spandau Ballet came out this same year and if you think that this is a better album than the one that has GOLD on it I will be more than willing to die to defend my opinion.
I'm giving this shit a 2 for the three good songs on here.
We may never again see such an album again but there is always hope. As of 2018, there are an estimated 37 million homes and apartments with lead paint in the United States.
Highlights: Every Breath You Take, King of Pain, Wrapped Around Your Finger
Jeff Buckley
5/5
After multiple listens to this album my thoughts stray from "this is some well-performed crybaby bullshit" and "this is some well-performed crybaby gold".
Buckley's vocals are next-level but it feels in every song that he must demonstrate his full vocal range and go over the top, which can become a bit tiresome on repeat listens (if you're a sicko who doesn't take breaks between repeat listens). Buckley isn't just a great singer but he knows how to write lyrics and instrumentation that works perfectly well with his voice.
Having said that, it does feel cathartic to just having this soulful white boy just belt out in every single track and give it his all. Very few songs here are a miss and the variety in musical style here makes this an interesting listen. The songs on here work super well to put into a "i am going to feel upset on purpose" playlist and together as an album.
I was going to give this a 4, but then I realised I had listened to this about eight times in the day that it was assigned to me. That and Jeff Buckley died the same time I was born so I really only have one option.
Highlights: Grace, Last Goodbye, So Real, Hallelujah, Lover, You Should Have Come Over, Dream Brother
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Rocks Off is a lively introduction to the album, you would hope so after seeing this is a double LP, so you better hope this album can be this engaging for all 70 minutes. A solid opener.
Rip This Joint is a fun rockabilly track, not a particularly memorable one and not quite my taste.
Shake Your Hips made me think something is up with this album production-wise, and yes it turns out that this album was recorded over a number of years in different studios because it really shows as you go from song to song. The production value/musical style seems to vary quite a bit on this album and I suppose that's an artistic choice but not necessarily one that I know if I like. A serviceable song, nothing much else to say about it.
Casino Boogie has some great horns on it, but is definitely one of those songs where I think "is Mick Jagger racist for basically doing blackface with his voice?"
Tumbling Dice is one of two songs from this album I knew beforehand and it's fantastic. Classic weird ass Jagger vocals that I can barely understand the lyrics through, backing vocals hitting at the right time, I can picture Keith Richards laying down the guitar track while nodding off. Banger.
Sweet Virginia is a return to the more downbeat, lo-fi parts of this album. It was at this point I decided to look up when the Stones kicked their drug habit (at least Jagger) and discovered that the recording of this album was basically a sideshow to the drug cyclone of which Keith Richards was the eye. It definitely shows!
Torn And Frayed is a fine song, there really isn't much to say. The honky tonk/keyboard track as well as the backing vocals really makes me think the stones were quite fond of Songs From The Big Pink.
Sweet Black Angel has a sweet percussion track, GOOD harmonica unlike a certain folk artist who is a contemporary of the Stones. It was somewhere the start of this track and the end of the next one where this album really clicked for me.
Loving Cup closes out the second side of the first disk well, this song brings it all together and its good to see that though I had my doubts about the pastiche of production value and styles here that it came together quite well.
Happy is sung by Keith Richards and he gets to show off that just because his body is a garbage disposal for schedule 2 drugs, does not mean that his voice has gone to shit (yet)!
You have an album with this many songs on it, you're eventually going to have a name for a song as stupid as Turd On The Run. This song is fine, it sounds much like a few of the more forgettable songs on the first disk.
Ventilator Blues feels like a rusty hand-cranked hurdy gurdy, its probably the grimiest and most lowdown track on either disk here and definitely a high point.
I Just Want To See His Face has some really great keyboard work that goes well with the scatting lead vocals (going to assume it's scatting cause I can't understand anything he's saying) and backing vocals here. The smooth fading intro from the last song here works really well, and the drum track provides nice bookends.
I am never going to be able to listen to Let It Loose without thinking of Jack Nicholson beating the shit out of Leonardo DiCaprio while he yells "I'm naht a fahkin cawp". This song fuckin rocks especially cause it makes me think of Jack Nicholson's way over the top performance in The Departed. Especially that one line in his opening monologue. You know the one.
The last side of this album is alright, a lot less remarkable than the other sides with the exception of Shine A Light which stands out as probably my second favourite song on this album behind Let It Loose. Soul Survivor is a good closer but I will say after a few listens, each time I did feel kind of blues'ed-out by a full listen of this whole thing.
This album is good, I certainly don't think that it deserves the EXTREMELY high praise that it has received. I think maybe the fact that this was recorded in such a tumultuous period, the return to a more 'basic' sound versus their previous albums, and the mythology surrounding the culture of the band and all the guests that visited them in this period probably contributed more to the band's favourable reception than the actual musical merit here. The Rolling Stones are the embodiment of the old saying "Good artists copy, great artists steal", this album is a bunch of university educated Br*tish toffs stealing tunes from starving black American artists.
But at least they're honest about it unlike Led Zeppelin.
Highlights: Sweet Black Angel, Ventilator Blues, I Just Want To See His Face, Ventilator Blues, Let It Loose, Shine A Light
https://youtu.be/u5AuLTra3t8?si=whBm8Ha_L1MddB7i&t=53
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
5/5
It is genuinely impressive that the writing credits for this album are so evenly spread between the four members of the supergroup and that the musical style maintains consistency so well. You can clearly tell who is writing what song, and it's not that any of the writers here are better than the others (although I have a soft spot for Crosby), but that their musical styles are different.
Even though they all shine on their own, when these guys come together their harmonies are phenomenal. Not just in the sense that their voices work well together, musically these guys blend into something that is more than the sum of its parts.
This album gets better and better with each listen and I can't say there are any weak tracks.
Highlights: Almost Cut My Hair, Deja Vu, Our House, 4+20, Country Girl
Roxy Music
2/5
A mixed bag if there ever was one. I like Brian Eno and I like Bryan Ferry, I don’t think I like them together. There’s some good stuff on here but honestly it’s such a confused album that it just gets muddled.
I would say that this album is entirely forgettable except that In Every Dream Home A Heartache is by far one of the most annoying songs I’ve ever heard except for the very end where it’s good all of a sudden?
Not something I would voluntarily listen to again, maybe only to be reminded how much I like later Roxy Music?
Green Day
2/5
Took me three attempts to listen to this at home without falling asleep. This shit is ass. Sitting through this was like the ludo vico sequence.
I guess the drumming is okay
Radiohead
4/5
Tied with OK Computer for my favourite Radiohead album, while it doesn’t have the same level of complexity as OK Computer, this album has a good balance of the meat and potatoes alt rock where the band started and a taste of where it would end up musically.
A tad front loaded but an enjoyable listen and something I’m happy to return to after many years seeing as this was probably my most listened to album in my second year of uni.
Highlights: The Bends, High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Black Star, Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Hot Chip
3/5
An enjoyable album with some fun arrangements and very competent production. Apart from that I don’t see myself seeking this out again voluntarily. Not exactly sure why this 2012 electronic album is in this book instead of something by Tame Impala?
Highlights: How Do You Do?, Night And Day, Flutes
Suicide
2/5
Would be FAR better without the vocals.
Highlights: Cheree
Peter Tosh
3/5
This album looks like a novelty album whose owners would enthusiastically show off to visitors either ironically or with an eye-watering level of sincerity. I generally tend to thing a lot of reggae sounds the same, and it tracks here considering this guy was a founding member of the Wailers.
This album is enjoyable though, the title track drags on forever but is fun enough. This is not something I can see myself listening to routinely but it is an album I can totally see myself putting on during a long road trip and microsleeping into a tree at 120kmph.
Highlights: Burial, Why Must I Cry, Till Your Well Runs Dry
The Smiths
5/5
Maybe not as good as the Queen Is Dead but this has my favourite smiths song on it (That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore).
The instrumentals here are as strong as Queen Is Dead, Morrissey definitely leans a lot more into his mopey shit and it works for me.
The weak songs here (Rusholme Ruffians, What She Said, Meat Is Murder) aren’t always a skip and the strong ones here always have me rewinding to listen again.
This album isn’t going to make me a vegetarian but goddamn if it isn’t good enough to make me forget what a colossal jackass Morrissey is (mainly thanks to Johnny Marr).
ZZ Top
3/5
Is this only on here because of La Grange? Because that’s what it feels like. A serviceable album but there is a reason people only know La Grange and Sharp Dressed Man (and I guess Sleeping Bag too if you’re a REAL ZZ Too diehard).
It’s a garage beers album, not something I’m going to go out of my way to listen to but not something I’ll complain about if someone gives it a spin.
Highlights: Hot, Blue and Righteous, La Grange
LTJ Bukem
2/5
Cisco hold music but the guy who did it was on pingers.
The Beach Boys
4/5
An almost sickly sweet album. Beach Boys just before Brian Wilson lost his mind/peaked artistically. When we got the Everly Brothers I complained about the short length at first and then was happy when it ended early. I was not happy when this ended and I needed to give it another spin (or three). No artist ever did harmonies like these guys.
Highlights: Do You Wanna Dance?, Good To My Baby, Help Me, Rhonda, Im So Young, She Knows Me Too Well, In The Back Of My Mind
Talking Heads
4/5
Not their best album and not one that I would include in this book. Wild to me this was picked in place of Speaking In Tongues? Probably because this album was produced by Eno and Speaking In Tongues was not (Music journalist moment).
Regardless, I love Talking Heads and this album is not an exception. This album definitely doesn't have as many hits as other albums of theirs and the songs that I like the most on here are not as good as the live performances in Stop Making Sense. Still a fantastic album and a wonderful collaboration between the band and Eno.
Highlights: Thank You For Sending Me an Angel, Found a Job, I'm Not in Love, Take Me To The River, The Big Country
1/5
Produced by Daniel Lanois and Eno? This album should be good!
Metallica
4/5
I was originally going to write some derisive review about how this album represents Metallica selling out, Lars Ulrich being a shitty person and a worse drummer, the band themselves being a bunch of belligerent alcoholics, this being their last good album, or make a bunch of juvenile puns based on “Metallica if they were gay” videos (exit wife, enter guys)
And while a lot of that may be true, this album is still great. It’s definitely not Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightning but this is still fantastic if a little front loaded. It’s also probably the most accessible metal album out there and its influence in the genre and in music in general can’t be understated.
The hits here were commercially successful on release and are still just as good more than thirty years later. While the filler here is serviceable, it’s just not quite memorable in the same way that the non hit songs were on the earlier albums. I don’t really see something like Struggle Within being as relistenable as Disposable Heroes or Harvester of Sorrow.
But the main reason this album is good is because unlike the album that Harvester of Sorrow is on, they didn’t kill the bass in the mix here (Justice for Jason Newsted)
Highlights: Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven, Wherever I May Roam, Through The Never, Nothing Else Matters, The God That Failed, the second half of My Friend Of Misery
Doves
3/5
I understand that some of the intention of this book and its authors is to bring attention to lesser-known artists like Nick Drake or whatever bullshit they found in the 'world music' (shitty ass term) section of their local record shop in whatever fancy gentrified part of London these parasites (music journalists) live in.
This album charted well in the UK, Ireland and Australia and at the time of writing the book was not forgotten. Nor was it particularly innovative or groundbreaking apart from sycophants at NME and other musicians saying 'yea man this is what walking home at 4am sounds like aye'
Well we have a whole genre of that music now and it's called putting 'slowed+reverb' into youtube and enabling autoplay.
I like this album a lot but it sure as shit doesn't deserve to edge out much more deserving artists and albums from being on here. This project is fun but the source material suffers massively from having a Western-Centric, specifically Engl*sh-Centric perspective.
There are only a handful of non english language music albums here on this album and they aren't anything memorable. Would it have been so difficult to liaise with the overseas offices of Rolling Stone (of which the main author of this book is a founding editor) to get one or two albums from other countries?
There are more Morrissey solo albums on here than Smiths albums and instead we could have had something like Kino whose music was not only basically the anthem of youth dissatisfaction with late 80s USSR, but is fondly remembered still today as one of the best musical acts to ever come out of Russia/The Soviet Union and was massively important to the native rock scene in Russia. That's not even to mention all of the odd genres that this album could have touched on from across the rest of the world. Tuareg blues, YuMex, Schlager, J-Pop, etc. There are so many unique and interesting musical movements that
No, you can have fuckin' Shack and The La's.
Maybe I'm missing the point of this book, but I think it should be renamed '1001 albums that a bunch of pommy hacks recommend to bring you up to speed to the tastes of a very specific group of music journalists so that on the 0.0001% chance you get invited to some bullshit industry party in a renovated warehouse in Shoreditch you can nod along when someone says how much of groundbreaking album Kid A is while you resist the urge to break a glass over this cunt's head'
In terms of the actual album, this would have been good to be assigned as a weekend album, but instead I got Joshua Tree by U2. Luckily the weather here has been overcast and grim, so I am able to slip into the mood for listening to this album. It was pretty good.
Highlights: Firesuite, Sea Song, Rise
The Dandy Warhols
3/5
Was a bit skeptical when I saw we had been given Dandy Warhols, seeing as my only real exposure to them was the theme song to Veronica Mars.
Really great opening track, harmonies working super well with the instrumental work here. Next few songs are forgettable/mid, special anti-shoutout to I Love You.
Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth is a good song, the lyrics sort of remind me of a modern Pacific Northwest version of Dancin' Fool by Frank Zappa.
The speed and vibe of the album slows down after this, and I enjoyed it a lot more than if they had continued with the same high-energy "90s era 60s nostalgia" bullshit. The energy picks up again, and the last couple songs on the album are instrumental tracks which are a lot more musically adventurous than you would expect given how this album starts.
The real reason this was included in this book is its very obvious attempt to ape the Britpop sound. The band's later sound would develop into something more unique (evidenced by the fact that the two songs people actually remember them for came from their 3rd and 4th albums, but probably only because one of them was used as in a Vodafone and as mentioned earlier the other was the theme for Veronica Mars).
The real question is, were the band's intentions noble? I can't blame them for appealing to the tastes of the people who will tell the public if their album is good or not. Actually, this inspired me to go and listen to their next album, Tales From Urban Bohemia, mainly because it has the badge of honour of a negative review from King Hack Robert Christgau.
All up, an album that should really be 20-30 minutes shorter. A mix of different types of songs normally would normally mean variety but in this case it feels like a confused attempt to pad for time. Pete International Airport belongs on an ambient album, not on the same thing as a song like Boys Better.
Overall, this is very much a mixed bag of an album. Not like trail mix, more like "I have a bag of peaches and some of them are starting to go off".
Highlights: Be-In, Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth, Good Morning, Whipping Tree, The Creep Out
ZZ Top
3/5
A very fun album, and one you have only heard two songs from. Reading about this album, it marked a huge shift in ZZ Top's sound and also their appeal. Moving from their blues-y sound like on Tres Hombres, into the coveted space of "songs that play on the PA of fishing/camping/auto stores". I don't think that the band here were trying to create anything groundbreaking, I think they wanted to have fun playing music and wanted their audience to have fun as well. And that's exactly what this album is.
The two hits here are good, I have probably heard them both one too many times and on repeat listens of this album I found myself skipping Gimme All Your Lovin' as I am mentally transported to being 12 years old at TimeZone, returning to the skeeball machine because I did not get enough tickets to buy a sticky hand.
The line 'Clean shirt, new shoes' will never not be funny to me as the defining features of a Sharp Dressed Man.
This album is frontloaded as fuck, not saying the second half is bad per se but certainly not as memorable. Before listening I had a suspicion that I would walk away from this only having enjoyed the hits, but I was pleasantly surprised with Thug which has an absolutely killer bassline and I found myself replaying it more than a few times.
If/when I open a hobby store that caters to middle aged men, I know what I will be putting on the shop radio.
Highlights: Sharp Dressed Man, I Need You Tonight, Legs, Thug
Radiohead
2/5
I find it extremely ironic for an album's theme to criticise the Iraq War and the regime of Bush Jr while at the same time Thom Yorke will play concerts in an apartheid state and ignore calls from his fellow artists to boycott Israel.
A thoroughly same-y, forgettable album. A great sleeping aid. It took me multiple attempts to get through this album and I do not see myself returning to this.
Highlights: Punch Up at a Wedding, Myxomatosis
De La Soul
2/5
An album that is foot-tappable at best, outright annoying at worst. Some of these transitions sucked ass, the songs were well-produced and it seemed like the artists had fun creating this but I did not have a lot of fun listening to this.
Highlight: Me Myself and I
Solange
2/5
Unfortunately Solange's best performance, a live set in an elevator on 12 May 2014 featuring her brother-in-law Jay Z, was not what I had to review today.
Competent vocals, competent production, competent instrumentals, etc. etc. This is a paint-by-numbers album that only exists because of nepotism. The album is repetitive, the interludes are whatever. Some of the instrumental parts here caught my ear but only for a fleeting moment. It's not a bad album, it's just boring.
1001 albums you must listen to cure your insomnia
Stephen Stills
4/5
Double LPs can be a chore to sit through, I'm pretty sure the band knew this when they made the very smart decision to have a different musical theme for each side. Each side as well has enough variety within it to keep things fresh.
Side 1 starts off slow but really picks up on the last couple tracks, really kicking into a higher gear with Anyway.
Side 2 starts off strong, carrying over from the end of side 1 and has a very distinct country and western influence, both to its benefit and detriment as it kinda meanders and sounds samey towards the end. None of the songs here are bad, I like them a lot but they're not memorable.
Sides 3 and 4 musically are pretty similar and really carry this album through all the way.
Very glad to have finally listened to some Stills and I’m happy that I can say now it’s more than just a name I see along side the other guys in CSNY in my recommended songs. This isn’t a masterpiece or whatever but it’s easy listening and musically very well done.
Thank you to Rita Coolidge for cheating on Stephen Stills, thereby breaking up CSNY and inspiring him to make this album.
Highlights: Anyway, Both of Us (Bound to Lose), Jesus Gave Love Away for Free, It Doesn't Matter, Bound to Fall, The Treasure - Take One
Terence Trent D'Arby
3/5
An album that knows the vocals are the most important instrument here. Some of the songs here are a bit repetitive at times and the extreme performance of the vocals coupled with the at times goofy production can pull me out of the experience. But the songs here that I enjoyed, I enjoyed quite a bit even if I can't see myself coming back to them super often unless I feel VERY much in the mood for some 80s sound.
Also this guy said that this is the most important album since Sgt Peppers lmao.
Highlights: I'll Never Turn My Back On You, Dance Little Sister, Who's Loving You
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Led Zeppelin, Arthur C Clarke, Gary Glitter, Harry Dean Stanton, Roman Polanski. All famous paedophiles and sex criminals whose art, despite my better judgement, I enjoy a great deal.
And by god, just like Lori Maddox was kidnapped by Jimmy Page for years, I too was enthralled as soon as Whole Lotta Love came on. None of the “women” that these songs are about could possibly be over the age of 15.
I know that the guys in the band weren’t particularly good friends and would not see eachother outside of touring or recording these albums and bro I don’t blame them if I were John Paul Jones (a relatively normal person by 20th century musician standards) and I had to see Robert Plant scream baby and make sex noises into the microphone while Jimmy Page did the same thing but to a child that he had held against her will, I wouldn’t wanna see those cunts for six months at a time either.
The best song on here is either Thank You cause I can see some burnt out boomers having their first dance at their wedding to it or Ramble On because of all of the songs on here this one sounds like it’s the least about being a paedophile (yes, I am including moby dick)
I really do love this album and Led Zeppelin in general but I can’t get over the fact that these guys aren’t JUST plagiarists AND paedophiles AND heroin addicts but they’re also English and that’s fucking disgusting
I enjoy this album like I enjoy watching car crashes online: too much.
Highlights: Everything except Living loving maid that song is mid
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
Jazz to me has always been like tea. I like it, but I’ve always preferred coffee. This album isn’t something I could listen to anytime but, like tea, it’s nice to sit down and really take it in when you have the precious time to do so.
The live performance aspect of this doesn’t add as much as something like Live At San Quentin but it gets you in the mood to listen. The vocals are amazing, the instrumentation is good and if you have a rainy lazy Sunday I couldn’t think of anything more suitable to listen to.
Highlights: Be Anything But Darling Be Mine, Thou Swell, Just A Gigolo
Radiohead
4/5
I am not the biggest Radiohead fan but this album worked really well for me. Interesting production and instrumentation, the vocals complement the music and aren’t overbearing and overdone like on other albums I’ve listened to. No huge songs here for me but there were a few ones that stood out, nothing that I would go out of my way to listen to outside of a relisten to this album.
Which I am very happy to say I would listen to it again, I’m glad to have actually properly enjoyed a post-OK Computer album!
Highlights: Nude, Weird Fishes / Apreggi, Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Various Artists
3/5
It’s the most tolerable Christmas album I’ve ever heard. Great version of frosty the snowman. Listenable 1/365 days of the year.
Gang Starr
4/5
Good production, decent lyrics, great vocals. This album was a pleasant surprise. I'm not a big fan of hip hop as I've established in previous reviews and I haven't been particularly impressed with early hip hop, thinking that it generally doesn't hold up some thirty years later. I don't think the same is true here, Guru's production, mixing and sampling here sounds old school but has a unique flair that makes it very fun to listen to especially on Just To Get A Rep (probably the best example of what I'm talking about, and as a microcosm is a good example of what makes this a great album). Some filler on here and album bloat holds this back from being truly great but this is a very pleasant surprise for me!
Highlights: Step In The Arena, Beyond Comprehension, Street Ministry, Just To Get A Rep
Red Hot Chili Peppers
2/5
RHCP is an interesting vehicle. Each of the band members are pretty talented, Flea is a good bassist, Frusciante is a competent guitarist. Unfortunately this is art in capitalism so talent is not the reason that these guys were able to achieve huge success.
Anthony Kiedis' father is a failed actor and a failed father. At age 12, Anthony Kiedis moved to Hollywood because his father wanted to be an actor. Giving up after only 2 years, his father turned to dealing heroin to actors and ruined his son's life. The silver lining here is that Anthony Kiedis would have plenty of connections later in life to make his band really popular even though it sounds like shit!!!!
The fact that this is one of the best selling bands of all time, along with the Police, proves that capitalism is a disgusting system that needs to be ripped down by violent revolution.
Overly-long, dogshit album full of nonsensical lyrics with 2 "good" singles out of the FIVE on this album. This shit is ass.
Frusciante left the band after the release of this album/subsequent tour and the reason cited is he was uncomfortable with the group's success which is probably a euphemism for he was sick of seeing Anthony Kiedis have sex with children.
I envision that the storming of Warner Bros. records HQ will be as beautiful as when the workers sacked the Winter Palace in the October Revolution.
2/5
Highlights: Under the Bridge
Sex Pistols
1/5
This album is responsible for post-punk, so without them I wouldn't have New Order or Talking Heads. I praise this album in the same way that I praise factory owners for inspiring Marx to write Capital.
Faux angsty talentless thrashing and whiny vocals delivering kiddie pool-depth lyrics. Why this inspired a MOVEMENT and enthralled a generation of the musical commentariat escapes me. Perhaps the answer can be found in whatever was in England's waterways or whatever fucked up narcotics passed as prescription medicine back in the late 70s.
Much like slavery, genocide, exploitation, class war and systemic racism; punk was born in England and perfect in the USA.
Highlights: the silence before I hit play
The Stranglers
5/5
Talk about a band that knows its strengths. Sometimes opens with arguably the one thing that sets the Stranglers apart from other bands of the time, Dave Greenfield's magical keyboard work. I have seen these guys live, unfortunately Jean-Jacques Burnel was the only remaining original member on the tour but the spirit, humour and musical talent of the band were still present.
I have TRIED to certain bald, retarded, impotent and gay members of this group but have been met with a lukewarm response. Which is understandable, the band isn't necessarily for everyone.
Odd to call this a 'punk' band, though they have the aesthetics of punk with makeup and leather, the musical style here has more in common with the Doors than it does with the Sex Pistols, which makes sense considering they're cited as a direct influence. Their sound would drift into goth rock/pop in the 80s and 90s and they would prove to be just as competent in writing songs for those genres as well. These guys are an absolute joy to have included in this project.
Some songs on here are ones that I had to grow to love over time (Peaches, London Lady) and some here that hooked me straight away like Hanging Around and (Get A) Grip [on Yourself].
While some bands have stories about meeting at school, uni or being childhood friends, The Stranglers was founded because the drummer Jet Black RIP was a successful ice cream van and liquor store operator who thought it would be cool to be in a rock band.
Overall, this is a stellar debut effort from a band that would go on to transform their sound overtime with mostly good results. I'm not even going to try to hide my bias here, I love the Stranglers.
Highlights: Sometimes, London Lady, Hanging Around, Peaches, (Get A) Grip [on Yourself], Ugly, Down in the Sewer (Medley)
The Boo Radleys
4/5
Great opening track, wouldn’t exactly call this shoegaze based on what I normally listen to. Later in the album I realise what they mean by shoegaze is “in a lot of these songs the producer/band decide to spill beer on the pedals and recording equipment”. Shockingly, this worked really well for me.
The vocals here aren’t exactly what I expect from a shoegaze/dream pop band, not necessarily a bad thing but not exactly my bag. It works well for the albums sound despite apprehension early on in my first listen.
At times it seems they want to dip into slow baroque pop (which they do really well on Thinking Of Ways) and other times they go whole hog 90s shoegaze.
The musical whiplash between really makes this album feel like the first time I tried black coffee. Initially I thought “who on gods grey earth likes this shit?” but that’s quickly followed by “fuck that’s not bad actually”.
I really wanted to deride this album for the absolute dogshit track names here but the variety of sounds, styles and songs here really gives this album a charm as a colourful mosaic of sound (some of which is a little bit shit/an acquired taste!!!)
Slightly front and middle loaded, albums slightly falls off around Run My Way Runway where the band discovered washing machine modulation.
In short, expected to shit on it, loved it.
Highlights: I Hang Suspended, Wish I Was Skinny, Leaves and Sand, Rodney King - Song For Lenny Bruce (begrudgingly adding this, great song with such a stupid fucking name), Barney (…and Me), Take the Time Around, Lazarus
Jane's Addiction
5/5
An important band to lie about having listened to before listening to death grips to impress fellow wankers.
In all seriousness, before sitting down for this I had heard Up The Beach and Stop! in high school and thought they were pretty groovy, would later become more familiar with them as previously mentioned.
To be honest, I thought there would be a good reason that I had only ever heard 2 songs by Jane’s Addiction. Turns out the reason is I’m actually really fucking stupid.
I had a big stupid grin on my face listening to this. I fell off this project a little bit and had to drag myself through listening to the sex pistols and their talentless bullshit, and it was SO refreshing to listen to listen to something played with grit and talent. All the moving parts here are in sync.
The album is a full-on assault from Up The Beach to Standing in the Shower…Thinking. It knows when to slow down and give you time to recuperate. The second half of the album doesn’t have the same high energy as the first half but it shows that the band isn’t just noise and aggression. Also the choice of instruments gets interesting along the way, huge shoutout to the horns on Idiots Rule and the STEEL DRUM on Jane Says.
In the best possible way, this albums reminds me of what it felt like to play Postal 2 when I was 16. This album is fun as fuck.
Highlights: the whole thing
Led Zeppelin
3/5
Getting this out of the way first. Once you have actually put time into listening to real blues music, the theft on display here is absolutely shocking. You Shook Me is the worst example and the organ track on that is ESPECIALLY egregious. These mfs should pay fucking reparations. Yadda yadda they’re also paedophiles, you get it.
I’ve said it before I’ll say it again, I honestly could not picture myself getting into a studio with my mate and he starts moaning and stroking his shit like Robert Plant, I would never be able to look that man in the eye again now that I’ve seen the depths of his depravity.
In reality however, this inspired the band to shove a mudshark into a woman’s vagina and (possibly related) Jimmy Page to kidnap a 14 year old girl to keep as a sex slave.
Disgusting shit aside, it’s Led Zeppelin, man. The album is good, the songs are overly long and go all over the place. This shit was designed for white boomers to listen to while they get high and try to fuck their missus (consent optional).
Some songs here are punchy, exciting and well done and others drag to an eye-rolling degree. They’re not even that long but man sitting on a plane with this as your only source of stimulation beside the lady next to you watching Derry Girls or the guy on your left watching Challengers while you’re listening to I Can’t Quit You Baby makes you wish for Carlos the Jackal to hijack your plane
“You hear me moaning and groaning, baby” yes Robert mate, for nearly a fucking hour.
Highlights: Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, Dazed and Confused, Black Mountain Side, Communication Breakdown
Black Sabbath
4/5
Crazy ratio of worst album cover to best music right here. Unfortunately this is also crazy front loaded.
War Pigs/Paranoid/Planet Caravan is an absolutely god tier hat trick of great songs to kick off an album with. Iron Man is a pretty good song but I’ve always found it a bit corny.
People talk a lot about Tommy Iommi’s guitar work here but the drums are absolutely the heart and soul of this album for me.
The last few songs are okay, none of them are bad (except for Electric Funeral) but nothing that has the same energy and magic as the first half.
Highlights: War Pigs/Luke’s Wall, Paranoid, Planet Caravan
Sam Cooke
4/5
A very energetic and vibrant album, shame to the record label for delaying its release 22 years after the fact. Having said that, I cannot help but look at the more romantic 'I need you' type of songs without thinking about how Sam Cooke got plugged by a hotel receptionist while he was wearing only a sports coat and one shoe in search of some groupie he *totally* was gonna be friendly with.
Overall, a thoroughly good album with no misses but on repeat listens I found it hard to distinguish one part of the album from another and it became a little repetitivey.
8 out of 9mm
Highlights:
Chain Gang
Medley: Yadda Yadda
Nothing Can Change This Love
New York Dolls
2/5
Early in my listen of this album, I became bored and checked the wikipedia page to see that this has received the mark of the Antichrist himself: Robert Christgau. How he gave this a A and gave Raw Power a B+ is totally beyond me. Probably because Iggy wasn't a NYC/Village rat.
This album is a fun novelty of the early days of punk and you can see the influence here, probably. The lyrics are nonsense, the vocals are okay at times, the instrumentation and production are serviceable. There's one good song on here and the rest I hope to never have to hear again except maybe in a Gitmo 'advanced interrogation room'
Highlights: Jet Boy
Astrud Gilberto
5/5
Though you can no longer smoke inside of a commercial office building (unless you are really brave), gender relations and equality have marched forward and nobody wears a full suit to work anymore; listening to this album while staring at spreadsheets and answering emails at your office drone job will make you feel like you are back in the sixties. You will imagine your eyes watering from the smokey office, you will imagine the clacking of typewriters, the smell of really shitty bourbon and if you are a Queensland Public Servant you will imagine for a moment you are wearing business shorts and long socks.
I don't want to listen to this album outside of work for fear that it will ruin the little time machine that this is to me.
Also the personnel section of this album on the wikipedia page is longer than War and Peace.
Highlights: All
The Killers
3/5
When I saw this album had Mr Brightside, I was immediately visited by the ghosts of Budd Dwyer and Ronnie McNutt. 'I just can't look, it's killing me' indeed!
I think I may just have associated the hits from this album with some of the lowest points in my life and I am unable to divorce my trauma and provide an accurate assessment of the 'highs' of this album.
The rest of the album outside of the Mormon black speech of the singles here are good, but much like LDS ideology this album feels like a simulacrum of something else. It's commercial friendly bops that you can put on in a shopping centre or at a hip barber shop where they give you a beer while you get a short back and sides.
I don't hate this album, it is technically good and objectively competent and well-performed music but I am unable to critique this without thinking of some of the lowlights of my miserable life playing out to Mr Brightside.
Highlights: Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine, Everything Will Be Alright
Ray Charles
4/5
Maybe it's major depressive disorder, but I find the second side of this album goes a lot harder than the objectively more upbeat and lively first side. While the first side isn't bad by any means, it just does feel to me like a very talented artist (and supporting musicians!) going through the motions.
Charles' voice shines in the slower songs, the lyrics hit hard with his vocal style, the instrumentation has more of a dreamlike atmosphere that gels a lot better with me than the bombastic-ness of the first side. Very pleasant to also have an artist know when to cut a song and how to tightly pack an album. This is a lean album with a lot of personality on both sides, a joy to listen to.
Highlights: When Your Lover Has Gone, Just For A Thrill, You Won't Let Me Go, Am I Blue, Come Rain or Come Shine
Dire Straits
5/5
Peak dadrock. Knopfler and co really bring it home here and find their solid pop rock sound after darting between genres and feels on previous albums. I think that the first side is definitely stronger, not to say that the second half is bad but the strength of the title track can make it feel like you're sitting through the opening act before your favourite band when you listen to the second side. The album slows down as it goes on and it works perfectly for me.
But there are no skips on this album, the production flirts with being corny 80s English music but manages to walk the line well. What is there to say about the instrumentation other than Mark Knopfler is probably one of the greatest guitarists to ever live? This album probably also has the single hardest single and music video in the form of MONEY FOR NOTHING. I cannot in good conscience give this album less than a 5.
Highlights: So Far Away, Money For Nothing, Walk Of Life, Your Latest Trick, Why Worry, One World, Brothers In Arms
Todd Rundgren
2/5
'Rundgren became uncomfortable when these descriptions also came to include "the male Carole King"' and decided to take a fuckload of drugs and say 'yes I like Zappa do you guys think I could be like him?'
Yes, Zappa was 'werid', but I don't think he was ever as offensive as whatever the fuck Dogfight Giggle was. There are some parts here that shine but there are some real low points here especially the transition from Zen Archer to Just Another Onionhead / Da Da Dali which really doused the enjoyment that I was beginning to develop. The album is overly long, some of the decisions here in terms of instrumentation, mood, transition are outright weird and jarring. This is a fun novelty but I don't see myself returning to this.
I have to pay respect to the album for being influential to artists I really like (Tame Impala and Ariel Pink) but I cannot lie, those guys did the whole 'write, perform and produce' thing a lot better. I can't deny Rundgren's talent as a producer, writer and a musician. He's worked on albums that I love and his pop music is top notch but this album feels like his version of Wish You Were Here 'I was acclaimed so now I'm lashing out' but this is certainly not WYWH.
Highlights: You Need Your Head, Zen Archer, Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel, Just One Victory
Everything But The Girl
2/5
1001 albums to put on the PA in your money laundering front disguised as a mattress shop.
Not sure exactly why this album was included in here, but it was a mostly enjoyable listen. Very competently written and performed pop music but ultimately forgettable. It is weighed down by Watt's production which ultimately makes the album feel extremely dated. I thought I found similarities with this and some of Sade's work and was not surprised to see he had worked with her as a producer.
The album drags on quite a bit and I don't see myself clamouring to listen to this again.
Highlights: Love Is Here Where I Live, Goodbye Sunday
2/5
The opening track on this album has a writing credit to Gary Glitter. It is also probably the only song on this album where the lyrics are not just word salad.
This VERY beloved album is very much a reflection of the UK at the time, a lot of good vibes and boisterousness obscuring a whole lot of nothing (Oasis predicted Tony Blair). No song on this album means anything apart from the title track which is just about doing cocaine in the morning - the closest the album comes to a single coherent thought which is impressive as I am convinced that Liam Gallagher has not fired a single synapse in his life.
I am fortunate to have avoided consciously listening to Oasis until a few years ago so I do not have a great nostalgia for this album as many people do. When I first listened to Oasis I made a concerted effort to listen to all their albums and watch the doco Supersonic to see what all the fuss was about.
Listening to this again, I realise that I only remember a handful of songs here mainly because those same songs are so ubiquitous in public probably as part of some Malthusian government scheme to export English depression around the world to convince people to commit suicide en masse.
The Brothers Gallagher are often noted for their reverence of the Beatles and specifically John Lennon. This is reflected in their music because they have guitars and drums and stuff and Liam wears round sunglasses. The only thing that these bands have in common is a working class background and their 'rivalry' with a band with a more refined/university educated/wanker background (who are arguably better) in the form of The Rolling Stones/Blur.
To quote Marx, “History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce."
The album is okay, I would listen to the highlights again but the filler here is awful and I cannot say this about many songs, but I genuinely hate Wonderwall and if there is a god, Noel and Liam Gallagher will replace Judas and Brutus in the mouth of satan in the 9th circle of hell for betraying humanity. Everytime some LOVELY PERSON plays Wonderwall at a house party, this is the mental image that helps me cope with being subjected to what could honestly be considered a musical hate crime.
Just as LSD and pot were integral in the creative boom of music in the 60s and 70s; methamphetamine was responsible saving the world and totally ruining Oasis' American tour, thereby saving our universe from a dark future where these cunts were popular all over the world and not just Austerity Island.
'Where were you while we were getting high?' fortunate enough to not have been born for the cultural mass hysteria that was Oasis' peak fame.
Highlights: Don't Look Back In Anger, Morning Glory, Champagne Supernova
David Bowie
5/5
Our first Bowie album is the one in between my two favourite ones! Peak Bowie and peak Eno working together to create an album with two distinct halves. The first side is great pop with some real highlights, not just for the album but for Bowie's whole career (Sound and Vision is easily in my top 5 all time Bowie songs). The end of the first side gives you a preview of what's to come.
The first time I heard this album and listened to the second half it felt like the musical equivalent of when they land on LV-426 in the first Alien movie. Really my first introduction to ambient music as a teenager and it still holds up just as well a decade later for me.
Highlights: Speed of Life, Sound and Vision, Always Crashing in the Same Car, Warszawa, Weeping Wall, Subterraneans
Soul II Soul
2/5
I can’t explain it but this feels like the musical equivalent of the fake video games that actors play in movies.
Highlights: Dance
Baaba Maal
3/5
Some albums have a verbose wikipedia page bloviating about their influence on music/the world. Some albums have a short page where the only sentence in "Reception" or "Legacy" is that it was included in this book.
This album does not have a wikipedia page.
Usually my favourite part of listening to albums in this project is reading the background of the album, the history of the artist up to that point and how it all came together. From what I can gather, Toro collaborated with Eno and has enjoyed success working as a musician in the English music scene, I don't imagine that this would have ever been included here if he had not worked with Eno.
Regardless of why this album was chosen, it was a novel listen. I think that African artists in general are very underrepresented in musical discourse (shoutout Afous d'Afous, cool as fuck Touareg blues/rock group from the Algerian Sahara). The production here interferes a bit with what I think the artist's vision was as I think some of the synth heavy production on songs like Gidelam and Olel are a bit oil and water with the vocals and some of the instrumentation.
Overall, a fun listen but I don't see myself coming back to this. This album to me sounds like songs you would hear on the PA at Nandos but in this case I would try to shazam the music rather than continue to demolish a half chicken (mild because I am weak) and chips.
Highlights: Daande Lenol, Hamady Boiro, Sy Sawande
The Associates
2/5
This album has the feel of the fake Kraftwerk knockoff band that the nihilists are in from the Big Lebowski. As far as I can tell, this band did NOT have a whole album in them.
I have a feeling that this was included in the book to contrast to bands like Depeche Mode to show both the highs and lows of New Wave music. Fuck man, even to show how quality can vary on one LP. How this has a special edition which is half an hour long on spotify is beyond me. Bam De La Bap really just sounds like the musical equivalent of a guy who didn't prepare anything for his school presentation and he's up in front of the class winging it.
And then you have songs like Gloomy Sunday and Party Fears Two which is what would happen if you gave that same bloke 90mg of lysdexamfetamine? Props to the vocalist for trying different styles, doing some nearly Sisters of Mercy type of shit on Skipping.
I am a tragic for new wave, post-punk and synth shit but I'm not drinking the kool aid (or Irn Bru in this case) on this one. I knew Party Fears Two before going into this, and coming out this tomorrow I am only going to remember Party Fears Two and its killer keyboard track that my coworkers is going to be forced to listen to me whistle.
Highlights: Arrogance Gave Him Up, Gloomy Sunday, Skipping, Party Fears Two
OutKast
3/5
TWO AND A QUARTER HOURS? I enjoyed Stankonia more than I thought I would but I thought it was overly long
Liked the first few songs and perked up when I heard The Way You Move. As the album continued I enjoy myself but I got to thinking, a lot of albums deal with one or two major themes and have a line they stick to. This album feels very much like a big melting pot or mosaic of ideas, themes and styles. The interludes are fun and creative, but after a while this just became a bit full on for me.
There are songs here I would return to without a doubt (it's got Hey Ya! and Roses for fuck's sake) but as an album it's a bit much. Probably great to put on at a party or hangout, but who is putting on a whole album at a party instead of a collaborative playlist/jam where the vibe is 'improved' by some really funny, original and tolerable person who puts on Ram Ranch?
Also just to reiterate, this album is really fuckin long
Highlights: The Way You Move, Bust, War, Tomb of the Boom, The Love Below, Love Hater, Hey Ya!, Roses, My Favorite Things
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
With many albums on this list where you know one or two hits from the band, they're usually at the front and as the album goes on it becomes an unfocused mess of filler and deep cuts of varying quality. With Electric Ladyland, the album becomes more focused as the album goes on with the two big hits being on the last side of the album.
It was an absolute joy to listen to this. From the extended blues jams, songs without Hendrix on vocals, the hits and the deep cuts. The production here rocks and while it seems that there was a risk of a 'too many cooks' situation during the recording of this album, the mammoth collaborative effort here between the who's who of the 60's rock scene paid off.
This album also contains one of my favourite songs of all time, 1983....(A Merman I Should Turn to Be), and it took me longer than usual to write this review as I kept going back to listen to Side C just so I could play it again and again. Of course this album also contains arguably the greatest cover song ever performed in All Along the Watchtower.
You constantly hear about how Hendrix is the most important guitarist of all time, and if you had not suffered through some of the dogshit made prior to this and milquetoast (by modern standards) rock and roll that was coming out prior to him exploding on the scene you would think "yeah man, whatever" but this album underscores just how important his style and talent in both musicality and production was to musical history.
This is the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, giving this anything less than a 5 feels wrong.
Highlights: Crosstown Traffic, Voodoo Chile, Gypsy Eyes, Burning of the Midnight Lamp, 1983....(A Merman I Should Turn to Be), House Burning Down, All Along the Watchtower, Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Harry Nilsson
4/5
The mark of the Antichrist, Robert Christgau, is on this album rating it an A.
Two albums in a row that have great covers! First Electric Ladyland and now this. As much as I love Badfinger, I have to admit this is the best version of Without You.
A fun album, as the title and album cover indicate that's exactly what the artist was going for here. Not every song is great (Coconut) but overall it's a tight 35 minutes with enough variety in mood and style to make it a fulfilling listen.
It pains me to enjoy an album that Antichristgau rated highly, but this is too charming to not love.
Highlights: The Moonbeam Song, Without You, Jump Into The Fire, I'll Never Leave You
The Young Rascals
2/5
The Beach Boys sans latent schizophrenia? Whoever mixed Find Somebody should be shot against a post. Anyway, the rest of this album was pretty forgettable. Considering the short length, I gave this a few spins and while it's a fun listen and very easy-going background music I could not look you in the eye and honestly say I remember a single song off this album.
Tangerine Dream
5/5
My first time listening to Tangerine Dream was like the musical version of taking random research chemicals. I did not know what to expect but I was blown away. Coming into this album, I knew what to expect. I wouldn't call their albums 'albums' per se but a soundscape to a really funky daydream you're about to have.
It makes sense that these guys do soundtracks because they know how to set the stage for a story with their music. Phaedra is no different, to me this is like sitting down and watching a sci-fi movie in my head, I absolutely love it.
Tangerine Dream composed and performed probably my favourite movie soundtracks of all time for (probably my favourite movie) Michael Mann's 1981 debut feature film Thief. It was nominated a razzie for worst movie soundtrack.
The group were maligned at the time and reading the global reviews here are still maligned. I can understand not enjoying this type of music, but for me this is my jam.
Highlights: All
Amy Winehouse
4/5
A very solid debut with a SEAL OF APPROVAL from Robert Antichristgau who gave this a score of a dud. Maybe it's because I like soul music and perhaps part of it is my nostalgia for the news about Amy Winehouse's dumpster fire of a life in the public eye as a kid that gives me a soft spot for this album but even so I don't think you could call this a dud even if you're not a big fan.
The album itself is interestingly produced with the instrumentation and production varying in tone from song to song, with the album itself as a result sounding like a mosaic with the common themes of debauchery and being a trainwreck.
Not as good as Back To Black but a killer debut, I can see how thrilled her record company would have been to nab her early and can't imagine the shitshow that would have been that office when she bit the big one.
Highlights: Fuck Me Pumps, I Heard Love Is Blind, (There Is) No Greater Love, Take The Box, Help Yourself
Dusty Springfield
4/5
If you placed a gun to my head before I listened to this album and asked me to say where Dusty Springfield was from I would have looked at you and my last spoken words on this earth would have been "USA. The south.", prior to this I had heard a handful of Dusty's songs (all post Memphis clearly).
Listening to this album is a rollercoaster ride, some song slow up and others give you whiplash in the best way possible. The upbeat songs feel triumphant and fills a room with positive energy. Dusty's voice is unique and commands joy, people say that you can't listen to Mr Blue Sky without cracking a smile and the same is definitely true for songs like Nothing.
Banger after banger, this is a short and sweet album that takes you on a ride.
Highlights: Mama Said, You Don't Own Me, My Coloring Book, Nothing, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Wishin' And Hopin'
Arcade Fire
2/5
Revising a book and creating new editions is serious business! So you want to make sure to really add albums to this that live up to “albums you MUST listen to before you die”.
2010 produced a lot better than this, and though this has more accolades than a North Korean general, this book also has the gift of hindsight to look past that and see it in full context.
Instead of choosing a great album that stands the test of time like Diamond Eyes or a very influential and groovy one like Innerspeaker we get the most middle of the road album possible. It’s well performed but my god this shit is BORING
Highlights: Half Light I, Deep Blue, Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Not a terribly huge fan of the first few tracks of Side A, I found them to be pretty forgettable until The Long Honeymoon when the side slows down. Until listening to this album, I only knew three Elvis Costello songs and my favourite of the, I Want You, feels the most like the songs I enjoyed most on this side.
The combination of Costello's lyricism and the production/instrumentation on this album makes it feel like a English/funhouse mirror of Leonard Cohen. Sarcastic, poetic and talented. Not everything lands, songs like ...And In Every Home feel like I would come to enjoy them after repeat listens and time has warmed me up to them. The lyrics on that song are great but the production felt a bit TOO baroque pop for my taste but whatever it's the last song on the side.
My enjoyment of side B was the same as side A, the first few songs flew by me but the peak of this album was Pidgin English, the song opened and clicked with me and everything fell into place with the acoustic guitar instrumental bit. You Little Fool and Town Cryer stick the landing for the rest of this side.
So how do you rate an album where you only really like half the songs but you feel the rest could grow on you later? I am in a good mood (mainly because I am happy to discover Elvis Costello is not shit), so I will give this an optimistically high score in anticipation of enjoying the rest of this more in the future.
This bloke has a lot of albums in this book so I am hoping it's for the same reason as Bowie (cause he's actually good) and not for the same reason as Nick Cave (no comment).
Highlights: The Long Honeymoon, Man Out Of Time, Almost Blue, Pidgin English, You Little Fool, Town Cryer
Django Django
3/5
As I have mentioned previously, I would think the authors of this book would have a little more consideration as to what they include in this list. It appears to me the only impact this album has had is having a song on the radio station nobody listened to in GTA5, Worldwide FM.
This was okay, nothing to say but it's competently performed and enjoyable enough. The Honda Accord of albums.
Vinewood Boulevard Radio for life.
Highlights: Default, Storm (probably others but it was pretty forgettable I am sorry)
Jorge Ben Jor
3/5
Music that would play in the background of party with the most annoying people you have met, the worst tapas you have ever tasted, the shittest alcohol you have ever drank in the simultaneously lamest and most expensive apartment you have ever set foot in.
I imagine the music critics/ghouls who wrote this book often attend parties like this.
Regardless, this was a fun samba album with some funky overt African influences. Enjoyed side B more than Side A but in the end, there are better samba albums that stuck with me a lot more than this one.
Highlights: O Plebeu, A História de Jorge, África Brasil (Zumbi)
Pink Floyd
5/5
This album has two themes going on here, one is spelled out in the title and the other illustrated in the album art. The two themes being: 'General longing/missing someone' and 'we fucking hate the music industry'. Pink Floyd were not a band that was on the track to stadium-packing, merch-peddling stardom. In fact, in the mini-doco attached the Live At Pompeii, during the recording of Dark Side of the Moon the interviewer lays out the mood that rock is dying and Pink Floyd with it.
And then DSOTM came out and made these guys a household name. With fame came way bigger demands from their studio and the creative pressure to top their last album. This got them thinking about their old bandmate, Syd, who lost his mind as they began to achieve success and they just decided to not pick him up for rehearsal one day.
It is often interpreted that Shine On You Crazy Diamond is a personal tribute to Syd, but rather it is a song about people who have withdrawn entirely being unable to cope with modern life. Having said that, after the famous visit to the studio that Syd made where Roger Waters was moved to tears, Richard Wright added in the keyboard riff from See Emily Play to part 9 of SYCD as a small personal tribute to Syd. Syd thought the song sounded old and did not like it, it would be the last time any band member interacted with him until his death in 2006.
Welcome to the Machine is an angrier song (a sign of things to come as Waters became the leading creative force in the band), and was my favourite song growing up as a child and the first Pink Floyd song I had ever heard at the age of 10. The message seems cliche and trivial now but when I was a kid and it clicked that this song was taking aim at industry coopting youthful rebellion and exploiting artists transformed this song into a lot more than 'a Floyd deep cut I adored as a kid'. This album, Waters' lyricism and this song specifically; when I really listened to the lyrics is what really got me into music made me look at music in a different way.
Side B opens with Have a Cigar which is a delightfully sleazy song. The opening riff and keyboard makes you think of an overly-carpeted 70s conference room where it smells like cigarettes and music industry ghouls with fat ties and kitschy glasses. Getting Roy Harper to sing while Waters was unwell was a happy little accident and adds to the bite of the song as a critique of the music industry.
What can be said about the title track? The production here is unreal, the little effects, the radio intro and Gilmour's cough over a faded version of probably one of the most iconic rock riffs of all time. As with SYCD, a lot of people have said this song is about Syd but what makes this song brilliant and beautiful is that it's not. Waters' lyricism, Gilmour's guitar, Mason's drumming and Wright on the keys all come together to make this pretty vague song about distance, loneliness, alienation and missing something personal for so many people. It really is the peak of Floyd as it's one of the last times that Gilmour and Waters would really collaborate so wholly on a track (the next time would probably be Dogs and Comfortably Numb which are also two of the best songs that the band ever made).
The song fades into a return into parts 6-9 of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, closing out an album that is incredibly near and dear to my heart.
Even without knowing the context and story behind the band and the album and being a kid who did not have the best grasp of the English language, I loved this album.
I am extremely passionate for my love for this album, it never gets old for me. I could listen to this entire album in my head from memory, it's the reason I don't have an internal monologue. To me, this is the best album ever made.
Highlights: What do you think?
Def Leppard
3/5
This album is cornier than an American diet. It's pretty entertaining but it's also pretty frontloaded. If you asked me to tell you which of these songs comprised the seven singles from this album I could honestly only guess two of them. I've said this about ZZ Top as well, this album isn't trying to say anything or be any deeper than "hey let's have a good time" and it does that really well. To be honest this would have been a 4 if it were just shorter and a little more focused, as the album goes on it falls off for me.
But I'm not gonna sit here and try to pretend like I didn't enjoy it.
Highlights - Women, Love Bites, Pour Some Sugar On Me
Ian Dury
1/5
"Genre: Punk Rock", now I'm inspired to put Simon and Garfunkel in the hair metal section of the record store. This statement isn't false just because he yells a bit on three songs towards the end with some electric guitar, this is taking the absolute piss.
This is probably how it feels to my mates when I play Serbian music and I'm like "ah this might sound silly but boy oh boy this Balasevic fella paints a story!".
This was hard to sit through. Sometimes I complain about albums being too broad and unfocused in style, this is FAR too uniform. This was like Ludovico at points but instead of making me ill when I see violence I now walk around the city and gag when I hear a British expat
Highlights: when he shuts the fuck up
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Mi first time a lisn tu Bob Marley outside a di greatest hits an mi did pleasantly surprised fi find out seh him actually good! Afta mi seh dat, mi a nuh no massive fan a reggae as di non-hits dem pan yah can really sound samey an drag on. But it did enjoyable enough but mi really nuh see nobody a put dis whole album on fi a spin sober. Di laas two song dem a evergreens though, absolute classics.
Highlights: So Much Things To Say, Exodus, Three Little Birds, One Love/People Get Ready
The Doors
2/5
Good job to Mr Mojo Risin and co for making 37 minutes feel like forever. I am a sucker for The Doors but not this album. Roadhouse Blues feels disjointed on this album, especially compared to the subdued tones in songs like Blue Sunday and Indian Summer. That and Peace Frog are supposed to be the standout hits on this album, maybe I've heard them too many times but they are honestly just corny as fuck.
Not their best work, by a long shot.
Highlights: Waiting for the Sun, Blue Sunday, Indian Summer
The Verve
1/5
Bittersweet Symphony, the pinnacle of nightmare commercial music. 1.2 billion listens on spotify, more than 6 times their next song on their spotify top 5. The Wikipedia article for this album rivals that of Jesus Christ and Napoleon. And for what? The cultural impact that this album has had on the world is creating the anthem for consumerism. The first song on this album is the same fucking riff over and over again with this annoying vocalist droning on and ON.
Rhyming "it" and "sonnet" is so fucking lazy man. 75 minutes of music and you have already run out of gas lyrically? Good to see that they weren't saving themselves and taking it easy with the first song, they're just shit. This is their third album, I shudder to think what the first two were like.
The real influence that Oasis had on the music scene is illustrating to other artists that it actually doesn't matter what the lyrics are in your music, nobody actually gives a shit. You can just slur into the microphone and brain-damaged Gen X/Y English people (who the fuck else is listening to this shit) will nod along and go 'yeah this is it bruv'.
Just as you can track a massive drop in crime in the USA to 18 years after the signing of Roe v Wade, the effects of neoliberalism and Thatcher are on display here. You really would have to be the victim of a grand plan of the erosion of public health, education and administration to be stupid and tasteless enough to love this album.
"Urban Hymns received widespread critical praise upon its release" according to wikipedia. But there are always voices of reason and those who will speak out against genocide and atrocities. Following in the footsteps of people like John Brown, Emily Tartanella of Magnet wrote that the release was "one of the most bloated, boring and overpraised albums of the '90s."
Highlights: when you find out the light at the end of the tunnel is a train
Destiny's Child
2/5
Destiny's Child spoke and thus, so began twenty plus years of hearing their music remixed in night clubs. Survivor and Bootylicious are bangers, evergreens that have entered the canon of nightlife music.
Nasty Girl is fucking WILD to listen to. It is insane to have songs about female independence and empowerment and then have basically slut-shaming/internalised misogyny: the song FOLLOWING Bootylicious which was a hit back against the insane anorexic culture of the early 2000s after Beyonce had been attacked in the media for weight gain. Not to mention the story of SA that inspired The Story of Beauty, this album isn't just inconsistent in its theming, it's practically schizophrenic.
Normally for this kind of album I would say "ah whatever, it's just trying to have a good time" a la my reviews for ZZ Top and Def Leppard but this is different. To have songs named Independent Women and Survivor which are so obviously about female empowerment makes this feel kinda gross.
All that aside, I have always loathed production in early 2000s music, much like the period itself it is bawdy, bloated and tasteless. It's my own personal bias which I'll freely admit but prevents me from enjoying this album outside of the nostalgia factor of a select few songs on here. Outside of the big hits, I did not enjoy this.
Highlight: Survivor, Bootylicious
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Getting The Rising as my first and only Springsteen album before this is proof that whoever runs this website has a great sense of humour.
Whereas The Rising was a concept album about how 9/11 happened and the CIA Culture Club division instructed Springsteen to go the way of Country and Western Jingoism, Darkness on the Edge of Town is an album where the concept is being poor and desperate, summarised best by a line in the first song on the album: 'You spend your life waiting for a moment that just don't come'. Despite the overt tones of how grim life can be, the album has a strong message of perseverance.
The Boss has a way with words and the E Street Band are top class outfit. Not a whole lot to say about this album that he doesn't say himself in the lyrics. Side A is a little better than Side B but this is peak Springsteen. Very much looking forward to getting more.
Highlight: The whole thing
Marvin Gaye
3/5
"The marriage between Marvin and Anna was reportedly turbulent, including two public spats. In order to bring some stability to their home life, Anna and Marvin adopted a boy" proving time and again that if your relationship is going south that having a kid will fix everything.
Anyway this album is about Gaye's divorce and from the length of the album he was clearly working some thing out on this. And unlike a lot of divorced men, the product is groovy as fuck. However, after reading the personal life article (yes, there is an entirely separate page for this) on Wikipedia, clearly there was A LOT that Mr Gaye desperately needed to speak to a therapist about.
This album did not perform well commercially which is probably best explained by the scenario of some guy who has been fuckin to Marvin Gaye goes and buys this album, puts it on when he's putting the moves on some (un)lucky lady and gets distracted when listening to Is That Enough and hearing all the lyrics about alimony and getting distracted. Just a thought.
The album is thematically consistent, but at times the bitterness in the album can be a bit grating. I have mixed feelings about the length, I think it definitely meanders in places but comes back together on Side D. Overall, a good album but not the first thing I would want to pull out of a Marvin Gaye mystery box.
Highlight: When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You, Is That Enough, Anna's Song, You Can Leave, But It's Going To Cost You, Falling in Love Again
Talking Heads
5/5
I found it difficult to rate this album since it contains two of my top five favourite Talking Heads songs, it also contains some deep cuts that are enjoyable enough but aren't particularly memorable. Except Mind, that one is memorable but not in a particularly good way. Another issue with this album is that the songs I do like on here are better performed on Stop Making Sense.
Having said all of that, the songs on here that I consider to be GREAT are lumped in with songs that I would call GOOD. It is better to interpret Talking Heads as the musical output of an art collective rather than a band. And unlike CERTAIN art collectives who make 'albums' (Throbbing Gristle), this shit actually rocks.
I was umming and ahhing over whether to score this a 4 or a 5, but then Drugs came on and I remembered my favourite video of my cat Charlie (the queen of my world) has her thousand yard staring the camera to this song. So for personal reasons I am giving this a 5.
Special shoutout to Animals for sounding exactly what I think it must sound like in the head of the guy who yells at me on the bus sometimes.
Also the guy who played congas on I Zimbra is named Gene Wilder. Not the same person as the actor.
Highlights: I Zimbra, Cities, Life During Wartime, Heaven, Drugs
Jimmy Smith
3/5
Groovy music for when you have coworkers over at your place who you don't know super well but you don't want them to know that the music you listen to mostly is your spotify 'On Repeat' playlist.
It's jazz, I'm not crazy about it but it's groovy.
Highlights: Minor Chant (esp. the keyboard)
Skepta
2/5
I have never been a huge hip hop fan, but I'm not going to pretend like the album that has That's Not Me on it is a bad album. Unfortunately, outside of that and Crime Riddim I don't see any reason to come back to this and as an album itself the skits do nothing for me. There are a few good tracks here, two standout ones but as a whole it's not something I would give a spin again.
Highlights: Crime Riddim, That's Not Me,
Joni Mitchell
3/5
A few strange production choices on the first two tracks kept me from really engaging with the album (the chorus of the first track and the weird ass moog on the second track that belonged in a Tangerine Dream song). However the production here seems to have been a watershed moment for western musicians, taking inspiration and sampling artists from Africa would become a lot more commonplace so I guess we have Joni Mitchell to thank for that.
Once Edith and the Kingpin hits, the rest of the album the lyrics, vocals and instrumentals really worked well together for me. There is a good variety of sound and dabbling of different genres. But the album did lose my interest towards the end. Definitely an album that warrants multiple listens to mull on the lyrics here.
This album also receives bonus points for receiving a lukewarm review from Robert Antichristgau (fuck you).
Highlights: Edith and the Kingpin, Shades of Scarlett Conquering, The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Sweet Bird
Girls Against Boys
2/5
We return yet again to the later years of this album where the authors had the same problem as my masters dissertation, recency bias and a need to just fill out the end with whatever the fuck will make it look like I put effort in.
This album sounds like it would be used in the background of a 90s David Fincher movie cause he owes someone a favour from his days as a music video director.
A Wikipedia article shorter than a bisected horse jockey, what the fuck is this shit man it's not even bad but why. I was honestly shocked to see these guys are American, thinking surely this is another case of English bias but to my surprise the reason this seems to have been included is even hackier. They did a cover of She's Lost Control and their songs appeared in Clerks and Mallrats.
My feelings on this are the same as the movie Natural Born Killers, probably cool if you were exposed to it when you were 14 and/or were alive and conscious when it was released.
Highlights: Go Be Delighted
Derek & The Dominos
5/5
Yeah look mate, I've also done some really stupid shit when I've been toey. Written a whole double LP cause I wanted to fuck my mate's missus? No. After listening to this I went and googled Pattie Boyd and while she is a looker I don't know if she's hot enough for a whole double LP.
It wasn't enough for Clapton to steal songs from 5 black dudes here (Jimmy Hendrix, Charlie Segar, Willie Broonzy, Billy Myles x2) but this bloke went back in TIME and ripped off a Persian poet from medieval times for 2 of the songs (I Am Yours, Layla).
When I watched the movie Vice I had to take my hat off to the sheer unabashed evil of Dick Cheney, I admired him like you would Darth Vader. I feel the same way about Eric Clapton. If you wrote a character in fiction who was a plagiarist, racist, cheater, homewrecker, junkie, anti-vaxxer and English your publisher would look at you and say "Mate, really?".
And despite all of this, this album fuckin' rocks. Yes, it definitely drags on Side C if you aren't a huge fan of blues or if you are suffering from blues fatigue. Or maybe it drags because you know the big hit is right at the end of the album.
RIP Duane Allman, credit to you for writing one of the guitar riffs that belongs on the Mount Olympus of music. Step aside Trojan War, this song represents possibly the horniest a man has ever been in human history. The second half of the song is one hell of a tune to listen to while you whack all your accomplices from an airport heist.
Good artists copy, great artists steal (their mate's missus).
Highlights: Bell Bottom Blues, Keep On Growing, I Am Yours, Key To The Highway, Little Wing, Layla, Thorn Tree In The Garden
Electric Light Orchestra
3/5
An enjoyable album but far too long for what it is, I can't be in a good mood for this long. The arrangements and production here is great, with some deep cuts that I wish I had heard before diving into this. The hits here are great, and unfortunately this also means that listening to this can sort of feel like you're just waiting for Mr Blue Sky to come on. Luckily the album really picks up on sides C and D!
I couldn't see myself eating a tub of cotton candy, nor could I see myself regularly listening to a whole double LP of ELO.
Highlights: Turn to Stone, Starlight, Big Wheels, Summer and Lightning, Mr Blue Sky, The Whale
CHVRCHES
3/5
I am once again voicing my anger that this was chosen over Lonerism by Tame Impala, or even Random Access Memories by Daft Punk got looked over for this.
A perfectly cromulent album, with only the last track really impressing me.
However I am now going to express my gratitude to the authors of this book for choosing this for the revision instead of the following albums from 2013:
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away
- Beck - Song Reader
- Avicii - True
- J. Cole - Born Sinner
- Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt
- Keith Urban - Fuse
- Miley Cyrus - Bangerz
- Drake - Nothing Was The Same
- Jake Bugg - Jake Bugg
- Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Highlights: Tether, Lies, Science/Visions, You Caught The Light
R.E.M.
4/5
Coming in at a merciful length of 39:51, Document No 5 is like the evil mirror universe rival of Hotel California. The most frontloaded album of all time meets the most backloaded.
Yeah, the first side of the album has its moments like the lap bass at the end of Finest Worksong that only lasted for a blip? Why? Did the producer do this as some kind of 38-year long prank to fuck with me for enjoying slap bass? The saxophone on Fireplace was an another groovy production choice, in fact I quite enjoyed the variety in production and musical style on this album. And despite the variety in style here, the album still feels cohesive and you can put it on at any point (even during the cover of the Wire Song) and still think 'yes, this is REM'.
This is an album I struggled to interface with when I was a teenager, though I absolutely adored Automatic For The People and Green, but coming back to it now after a decade I appreciate it much more. Though it does always pain me when I realise how much I enjoy the same music as irritating Gen X coworkers I've had before.
Time for some quiet reflection and 100 Hail Marys.
Highlights: Finest Worksong, It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine), The One I Love, Fireplace, Oddfellows Local 151
John Martyn
2/5
Literally the second I heard the vocals on this album my first thought was 'This guy 100% died from substance abuse'. Rushing to the 'Death' subheading on his Wikipedia page immediately confirmed my suspicion. On the song Smiling Stranger, Martyn's vocals remind me of Steven Seagal. Not Seagal's REALLY GOOD reggae/blues album he did, just his speaking voice in general. Like in the later part of his career when he pretends to be black.
According to 'By the 1970s he had begun incorporating jazz and rock into his sound' yeah and Zappa had been doing that as well as mixing his own live performances together for his albums. Unfortunately for the only guy to ever pull off a soul patch, he wasn't born in the UK.
No album in Martyn's discography has charted anywhere outside the UK, even then fewer than half of his albums even charted there. It's a good album, and parts of side A are funky but overall it's a forgettable pastiche of reggae-jazz-blues-rock? Some artists on this list deserve to have their names dragged out of obscurity like Nick Drake, I'm not sure that John Martyn does.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2717AbGPoMw
Highlights: Dealer, Big Muff (just for the song name though), Small Hours
Booker T. & The MG's
4/5
A very pleasant listen. Reminds me of driving unfathomably long distances to do stupid shit while I was in university. Not much else to say about this album, it is a barebones affair with an unforgettable opening/title track.
Highlights: Green Onions, most of the rest of it too I suppose?
Beatles
5/5
Unlike most 'born in the wrong generation' wankers, I am not a well-versed Beatles historian so I quite enjoyed reading about the significance of Rubber Soul as a watershed moment between Beatlemania-Beatles and the more sophisticated pop/rock band that they would later become. This is also the first album where the band had full creative control which, for better or worse, is why the sitar is on this album.
Cultural and musical significance aside, even if you have no/very little idea about the history of the Beatles and where this sits in their discography, the influence from bands like the Byrds is obvious here and the level of experimentation with different instruments and styles is evident. Some songs are a bit kitschy but I find them endearing and it is impossible to listen to this without thinking that this is a truly foundational album that has influenced every artist that comes after it.
In terms of who is the better songwriter? I'm gonna go with the wifebeater. I was gonna give this a 4 to be a hater but considering the majority of this album is in my highlights that would really be taking the piss. Also it has Nowhere Man and In My Life, of course it's a 5.
Also the global reviews page for this album on here is a hoot.
Highlights: Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), You Won't See Me, Nowhere Man, The Word, Michelle, Girl, I'm Looking Through You, In My Life, If I Needed Someone, Run For Your Life
Ryan Adams
1/5
Stephen King is historically a fan of Adams, stating in 2007, "I won't say Adams is the best North American singer songwriter since Neil Young... but I won't say he isn't either"
LMFAO
Robert Christgau of The Village Voice selected "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)" as a "choice cut",[15] indicating a "good song on an album that isn't worth your time or money."
Imagine living in the day and age where you would have to pay for the privilege to listen to shit like this
Highlights: To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)
Isaac Hayes
2/5
Always a pleasure to see the Robert Antichristgau seal of approval in the form of a negative review before listening to an album, always raises my expectations.
Side A was good, always a pleasure to hear a talented artist perform their own rendition of Walk On By
Side B is a mixed bag, One Woman is alright and the SECOND HALF of By The Time I Get To Phoenix is fantastic but sitting through the intro is a real chore.
Overall, it was alright. The novelty of listening to an album by Chef from South Park wore off after the first track and I really don't see myself coming back to this. Though the first and (half of) the last tracks were good, there are other versions of both songs that are better (or more accessible in the case of the former).
Still, there is no doubt that this is the album I'd put on to fight Xenu with my fellow Operating Thetans.
Highlights: Walk On By, By The Time I Get To Phoenix (from approx. 8:45 onwards)
Metallica
1/5
I find it ironic that Metallica walks out to The Ecstasy of Gold at concerts in the same way I found that Pink Floyd's The Wall inspired a group of real-life Neo-Nazis. A bunch of greedy pieces of shit walking out to a song about a greedy scumbag?
Do you think the old timers in the SFSO felt shame? Why is this album on here? It's like someone made a 'foods you must eat before you die' list and included gum and nuts from the Simpsons. It's the musical equivalent of when Homer designs a car, who the fuck is this for? If you wanted symphonic metal, go listen to another band.
Very few songs on here are improved by the presence of an orchestra. The second half of the first disc is bloated with dogshit from Load and Reload, sprinkled in with No Leaf Clover which is an original composition for this album (and is good).
The second disc of the album is what you came here for, the reason you sat through (or skipped) everything after Master of Puppets on the first disc. I have such conflicting feelings about this album after listening to the GOOD parts of this album. Metallica songs don't work well in a symphonic metal style, they are a thrash band with a thrash vocalist, a shitty drummer, a guitarist addicted to pedals and a bassist who gets 'lost in the mix' (fucked over by the former 3 pieces of shit).
I absolutely dreaded listening to this, I feel a great sense of personal shame that my existing love for Metallica has tided me over here. This dogshit half-baked idea unfortunately still has good Metallica songs on it
Hetfield's voice is ass, the orchestra still doesn't fit in with the sound, Ulrich is a shit drummer, this idea was totally fucking half-baked and whatever I still liked it. If this were just disc 2 it would be a 3 or a 4, but it's both discs; it's overly-long and full of post-Black Album shit.
This album is entirely carried by the songs I put in the highlights section, and I feel a deep sense of personal shame that I enjoyed this dogshit. I think the band itself had a deep sense of shame, 'oh our dead bassist that we love, unlike our new shity bassist, LOVED classical music and ummm uhhh he would probably think this is cool?'
They couldn't just admit the truth? Lars Ulrich probably saw the ticket price for an orchestral performance and had his eyes roll up dollar signs. Probably the same reason that tickets for the Australian leg of their 2025 tour start at $500 AUD.
Despite the songs I enjoyed on here, I won't be listening to this Tuxedo T-shirt of an album anytime soon.
Highlights: Call of Ktulu, No Leaf Clover, Nothing Else Matters, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Wherever I May Roam, One, Enter Sandman, Battery
AC/DC
3/5
The title track carries the first side, if not for musical merit then for the fact that every Australian has this song burned into their neural pathways. On a genuine musical assessment of this album, it is okay/good. Touch Too Much is really the only other song here I would go out of my way to listen to. On a cultural assessment, the impact that this band and album have had on Australian rock scene really can't be understated. Were it not for this album, Supercheap Autos around the country will fall silent.
Jokes aside, it is a good album but you're really here for the title track. The rest of the album blends together in a samey, but enjoyable mash of noise.
Highlights: Highway to Hell, Touch Too Much
Cocteau Twins
5/5
I am an unapologetic dream pop fanatic and I will stand for no slander of Cocteau Twins. This album especially is something special to me, my first introduction to the genre. It's said that this is their most accessible and commercially friendly album, which may be true but I still love it both on its own merit and for opening me to albums like The Moon and the Melodies and Blue Bell Knoll.
2:50 and 4:16 during the title track are peak, it's like being carried away by a musical rip tide and peacefully drowning in torrential water. It's a musical triumph and perfectly captures for me the feeling of happily accepting powerlessness.
There are no skips on this album, it's a full experience. Cocteau Twins poured their soul into this album, every note feels deliberate in constructing a dreamscape for you to get lost in, even the odd legible word feels like when you see a hyper-realistic familiar face in a dream that you know you've never seen in real life.
God help whoever is around my house for the next few weeks because they're going to be hearing more Cocteau Twins than they ever should.
Highlights: Cherry-coloured Funk, Pitch the Baby, Iceblink Luck, Heaven or Las Vegas, I Wear Your Ring, Fotzepolitic, Road, River and Rail, Frou-frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Some of the songs on here make me think that maybe Mr Costello should have considered a career as a novelist or a poet rather than a singer? Tokyo Storm Warning could have done with like 70% fewer words and it would have been a stellar track.
I guess whoever the producer was on this album gave him the same message as the next two songs on side A are less verbose and tighter overall (I Want You drags but it's the end of this side and I have always loved this song).
This album doesn't have any bad songs on it, but I did find myself having to rewind tracks as sometimes they kind of flew by me. On a repeat ACTIVE listen (i.e., not listening to this while writing a report at work) the clever lyrics elevate the music and you can appreciate the instrumentation a lot more.
All that said, I didn't walk away from Imperial Bedroom as a stark raving Evlis Costello fan, and despite this containing my favourite song of his I don't see myself coming back to listen to this whole thing anytime soon but there are certainly songs that will make it into my rotation of dadslop.
Minus points for Crimes of Paris not mentioning two guys mugging you at knifepoint on the Paris leg of your post-university solo holiday to Europe :)
Highlights: Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head, I Want You, Battered Old Bird
John Grant
3/5
"Although he was pained for a long time by the fact that his mother called him a "disappointment" on her deathbed and then died soon after, he later came to terms with the experience", and she died BEFORE he started making music!
Judging that this album came after a four-year hiatus from music, and after reading the rollercoaster of the personal life section of John Grant's Wikipedia, this is clearly a very personal and vulnerable album that the he used a vehicle for working some stuff out about himself.
Now for my usual protest of albums added in revisions. Personally, I would not have included this album in a revision of the book. I can understand why it was added but picking it over other artists (Wavves, Ariel Pink, Tame Impala, Deerhunter) feels wrong.
As for the actual album itself, it's about three songs too long and as a result some of the songs that might have left their mark on me blend together and make me think 'which mopey song was that, exactly?' when I try to remember them.
The lyricism here is very 'back of your high school notebook' in a very straightforward way. I can see how this would rub a lot of people the wrong way. I think it's quite endearing, it has its own perverse charm and feels a bit like a proto-Bo Burnham in some ways. The most tracks on the album that stand out the most to me lend their memorability to the lyrics on here especially on songs like Sigourney Weaver and Where Dreams Go To Die
Overall, I am glad I listened to this album. I had only heard Outer Space before and while I enjoyed it, it didn't drive me to explore the album it's from. There are a couple of skips on here but the highs (Outer Space, Title track) definitely outweigh them.
Highlights: TC and Honeybear, Where Dreams Go To Die, Sigourney Weaver, Outer Space, Queen of Denmark
Wire
5/5
How is it the first good punk album we get from this project is labelled post punk?
While I prefer albums like 154 and A Bell Is a Cup Until It Is Struck, this is absolutely killer as a debut album. Each song goes on for as long as it needs to and the music holds your attention the whole time.
Apart from that, no notes at all, multiple listens just made me enjoy it more and more.
Highlights: Reuters, Three Girl Rhumba, Ex Lion Tamer, Lowdown, Pink Flag, Mr Suit, Mannequin, 1 2 X U
Duran Duran
5/5
I wish that this review also encompassed music videos because I'd certainly like to give this album extra points for the video for Hungry Like the Wolf
This album received lukewarm reviews on release for being formulaic, but when your biggest critics are people like Rober Antichristgau and the consent manufacturing machine of the New York times who massively ragged on this album then you know you've done something right.
This album is danceable, but it's also full of great arrangements and lyricism. Its influence on the New Wave genre immediately following its release and on synth pop and dance rock in the future can't be understated. Yes, Side A is a bit better than Side B being bookended with two massive hits. Side B does a good job of slowly turning down the dance-y energy and flowing into the peak of the album (imo) with Save A Prayer.
The album doesn't overstay its welcome, there is no wasted time on this album. Each song does something a little different while maintaining the cohesive, slick synth sound.
Honestly any album that can make you bust a move as hard as Hungry Like the Wolf and make you feel a little sentimental during Save A Prayer just gets an automatic 5.
Highlights: Rio, My Own Way, Hungry Like the Wolf, New Religion, Save A Prayer, The Chauffeur
John Coltrane
3/5
It is a good album but I think I am too stupid to understand/gel with jazz. Overall, I think I liked Pt. III - Pursuance the most. I'm not going to pretend like I 'get' it, nor would I reach for this over other albums I own if it were on my shelf.
Wouldn't complain if I heard it at someone else's house or in a restaurant though.
Anita Baker
3/5
I was only familiar with the first track on this album, Sweet Love, which transported me back to being 8 years old accompanying my mum to a routine, EXTREMELY LONG routine shopping trip to Spotlight for knitting gear or something.
Some people say all reggae sounds the same, but I would argue that all R&B from the 80s sounds the same. I don't know if the lyrical content here is just less punchy than the R&B/Soul music that we've received before from artists like Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles or if it's the production and arrangement here really holds this back for me.
Anita Baker is a very talented singer and there isn't anything necessarily wrong with this album but it's not for me. There are a couple of songs here that I would listen to again but the album as a whole isn't for me. If the sound was a little more over-the-top and really leaned into it like Casiopea does with a similar noise it would be better than the lowkey effort here. The songs can be a bit same-y and having the instrumentation be a bit more jazzy and outgoing really could have made this more enjoyable for me.
This is better than the last album that had similar production that bothered me (Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby) because though both have very talented singers, Anita Baker also has taste and doesn't absolutely send it in every single song and that's why I'm giving it a 3.
Highlights: Sweet Love, Been so Long
Pavement
1/5
Thoroughly boring and unengaging, only on my third listen was I able to listen to this back-to-back. It's albums like this that are the low points of this project. Reading the Wikipedia page for this made me think I was schizophrenic, there is certainly no way that this album deserves this much praise unless the lead singer/band manager has blackmail material on journalists.
M.I.A.
4/5
We should ban more artists from producing their albums in the USA. This is going to sound wanky but this feels like a good representation of voices from the global south (rural NSW counts)
Jimmy samples a Bollywood song which as soon as I heard the strings on this I went seeking it rabidly as I'd heard it somewhere before. Turns out I had first heard it in You Don't Mess with the Zohan. I should watch the movie, Disco Dancer, to cleanse my mind of Zionist slop (even though Zohan is pretty funny icl). Paper Planes is also a certified GOLD banger and if it were the only good song on here this album would still receive 3/5
I am not going to pretend like this is kind of music is in my usual wheelhouse and that I will give this whole thing a spin regularly but I enjoyed the highlights on here far more than I expected and the album in general was novel and entertaining. There is a good variety of musical style here and the songs are arranged in a way that doesn't leave it back/frontloaded.
On a second listen, the variety of style and the quality of the production here is too good to give this a middling 3/5.
Also I respect any artist with a massive chunk of their Wikipedia page dedicated to their political/social shitflinging.
Highlights: Jimmy, The Run, XR2, Paper Planes
The Cure
5/5
What a great album to listen to make yourself sad on purpose. A very pointed and purposeful album, I'll admit I am not a massive fan of Robert Smith's vocals but it doesn't take anything away from this album. My main criticism that I can level towards this album is that it's sort of front loaded and the second half does begin to blend together. Repeat listens didn't reveal anything except for the final track Untitled which I found myself enjoying a lot more on repeats.
The highs on here more than make up for the lows, and the lows themselves if they were an album by themselves would still be a very solid 7/10. I began writing this at the end of a repeat listen and was tossing up a 4 and a 5 when writing this when the album looped back onto Plainsong. The soundscape and arrangement reminded me just how lush and dreamy this album can be. It has to be a 5 this is an absolute joy (irony) to listen to.
Overall, a phenomenal album for people who stand around at parties waiting for people to talk to them while they feel sorry for themselves.
Highlights: Plainsong, Pictures of You, Lullaby, Fascination Street, Untitled
Rush
2/5
The album you discover in high school that makes you go 'woah, you can do THIS with music?'. Or at least that's how it was introduced to me by my mate's dad who was at home because his licence was suspended for drink driving. By virtue of having 2112 the song in my playlist, I have listened to this album many times. Sort of, I have listened to the second half once and the first half many times.
At first, being 15 and the novelty of a 20 minute sci-fi short story song seems really cool. Then you grow up and find out that it's some libertarian/objectivist schlock and it feels a bit grimy. But the instrumentals are still very cool even. I still can't really tell if there are parts of the song I dislike from how many times I have sat through it 'meek shall inherit the earth' line, Geddy Lee's over the top vocals in the part where the protagonist kills himself, whatever. Having said all that, the III. "Discovery" and V. "Oracle: The Dream" parts of the song are banging. The very end of this is kind of cringe though, can't explain it but the last voice-over feels very lame and I always skip the song before it comes on.
The only thing I can recall from the second side after a couple of listens from this album is how corny A Passage to Bangkok is. Other than that it's entirely forgettable and I'm unsure if it's because of how the second half lives in the shadow of the first or if it's genuinely boring music (it's probably both).
Overall, 2112 is a cool song but AS AN ALBUM this kind of sucks. There's no reason you would own this album instead of just listening to the song on a streaming service unless you were a member of the Ayn Rand fan club/NAMBLA.
Highlights: 2112
Genesis
4/5
My lord the transitions here are phenomenal on the first and second sides. This is a lot to take in at once, 1h34m runtime is daunting. This is a good album but my lord is it LONG. I am not opposed to a double LP but in this case, getting Eno as a producer made this feel a lot longer than it is. There are some definite highs here musically, conceptually I really can't remember what this was about. I tried to pay attention but man it just lost me. Would have been a 5/5 if it were just side A and B but this really gets stretched out. If side C and D were their own album and I hadn't just listened to A and B it would 100% be at least a 4/5.
I will return to this at a later date, I did not feel I was in the right headspace to consume this in one sitting and there were some songs that really blew my socks off specifically Fly on a Windshield and In the Rapids/It (the transition is so smooth it's basically one song, whatever) for two entirely different reasons.
Highlights: Fly on a Windshield, Hairless Heart, The Chamber of 32 Doors, Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats, In the Rapids, It
Ray Charles
4/5
Ray Charles doing country music for an hour and a bit. He's a phenomenal musician with a very talented gallery of musicians behind him. We have yet to receive a soul album on here that wasn't a pleasure to listen to.
I do feel that because they are covers that the 'soul' of the album doesn't resonate with me as much as the previous Charles album we reviewed. The instrumentals here more than make up for it, each instrument here is arranged wonderfully and sounds off just when it needs to.
Death In Vegas
4/5
My first thought when I saw this was 'What the hell is this?' and then I saw I had Aladdin's Story saved in my liked songs. Whatever my expectations were for this album were immediately dashed when Dirge came on and I was very intrigued with what I heard. Some songs on here are a miss, Aisha looks to be the big track on here but I didn't care for it at all, Neptune city feels a bit out of place compared to the rest of the album.
Apart from those two, I loved every song on this album. Death Threat feels like it would be a looping music track in an edgy 2000s action flash game on Newgrounds, Flying is the peak of the album for me. The first four tracks on this album really grabbed me in a way that not many albums have on this list.
Highlights: Dirge, Death Threat, Flying, Lever Street, Aladdin's Story, Broken Little Sister
Tears For Fears
5/5
Endlessly listenable. Top notch production with three monumentally massive hits on here. The deep cuts and slower parts of the album aren't necessarily songs that you are going to reach for first when you think of Tears For Fears but as far as album filler goes, this is pretty much as good as it gets when it comes to pop music.
I listened to this probably five or six times in a row before I bothered to open up my notes app and write something down for this. For better or worse this is peak 80s, and I just so happen to love this to death.
Highlights: Shout, Everybody Wants To Rule The World, I Believe, Broken, Head Over Heels
Sigur Rós
4/5
Post-rock is a weird genre for me. The title track honestly feels like someone took Radiohead and made it better, I can't lie. Maybe it's that I've been getting more into the genre recently with Low and Talk Talk's later albums, but I felt like this came at just the right time. The music here is played with intent and purpose, without frills or superfluous nonsense in it.
I must admit that I am often very heavily swayed by a first impression, and the first three tracks of this album did not grab me very well. On the second half of Ný batterí was when I thought 'gee, this is great' and really every other track after that was better than that.
The Icelandic vocals here work sometimes, when used sparingly on a more ambient track like Viðrar vel til loftárása, it works well but early on in the first half of the album when it they are more prominent it didn't land well with me. Viðrar vel til loftárása was the peak of this album and I found myself coming back to specifically this song multiple times inbetween listens.
A moody and sweet album, this was a big surprise for me to enjoy. If the first three and a half tracks were stronger this would have been an easy 5.
Highlights: Ný batterí, Hjartað hamast (bamm bamm bamm), Viðrar vel til loftárása, Avalon
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Some people will do anything to say the n word, huh?
Listening to this album really requires a full focus. There is a lot packed in here and a passive listen of this really feels like someone ranting at you set to music. Side A is very catchy but as a whole, this is a very dense album to digest all at once. Luckily I have enough experience and patience from dealing with gasbags in real life (I live with the king of them!) to enjoy the musical equivalent of a human wave attack.
Green Shirt made me consider how effective his second-person lyricism is, it is pointed and vindictive like he is telling someone off in his music or using songs as therapy for little gripes he has and I love someone that petty.
The edition of the album available on spotify tacks on (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding which is a fine song but it feels a bit out of place, like Costello's voice is a few octaves lower and the mixing is different but whatever.
The political/satirical songs on here are snappy and the non-political ones are so bitter that it makes me think that Elliot Rodger may have had a future as a singer-songwriter if he had channelled his energy into writing music instead of spending 0900-1700 sitting in Barnes & Noble for weeks waiting for a woman to approach him for months on end. He even looks like the same vein of freak as Elvis Costello and Woody Allen so I honestly think we really did miss out on something there.
But I digress, this album was difficult to interface with at first but it really paid off to give this several listens. Forgoing one song that sounds like goofy circus shit (Sunday's Best), this is a great album and unlike other artists that have 5+ albums on here I am beginning to understand why the people who like Elvis Costello REALLY like him.
Highlights: Oliver's Army, Party Girl, Busy Bodies, (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding
Leonard Cohen
3/5
I feel sorry for women who slept with beatniks and men who were into this. A few decent songs but I can see why Leonard Cohen says he loves poetry but does music for the money. I curse capitalism for not just letting him write his heart out.
The jaw harp nearly brought this to a 2, but the songwriting and lyricism here is world-class. I like Leonard Cohen but I'm going to lie to you and tell you that I ever plan on listening to this again. I can't deny its quality in songwriting but the lack of musical complexity really drags this down.
Highlights: Bird on the Wire, A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes
Linkin Park
1/5
I think of all of the people who have cheated listening to Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. I think of all the people who smoked pot for the first time to Dark Side of the Moon. I think even of all the DUI charges that Lynyrd Skynyrd are responsible for.
And now I think of all the teenage boys who put holes in their parents' walls due to this album.
A Place for My Head was the hardest song to get through, both because the song is shit and it comes right after In the End which is only listenable due to the unspoken social contract between the people of the English-speaking world that this dogshit song is entertaining because it's so endearingly corny.
Since 9/11 culture has stagnated and the Global North's culture (as dictated by the culture division of CIA) has just been recycling shit endlessly, nu metal is apparently cool again in a post-post-post-ironic fashion. I am putting my foot down.
I hated this shit as a kid, I hate it now.
Bob Dylan
3/5
I am sure this would have blown your socks off in 1963, and would have felt like a musical rock to cling to considering how things were going tits up at the time. Unfortunately now it feels very, very dated. There are some good tracks on this carrot-and-stick of an album.
My fists clenched during Talkin' World War III Blues between the nonsensical lyrics and the annoying fucking harmonica. I was only able to successfully listen to this song in one of my three listens. Prescient track listing because you can skip right to Corrina, Corrina which is a MUCH better song. It is a unique experience to experience that level of frustration a few songs after nodding happily along to Don't Think Twice, It's All Right.
Maybe Bob Dylan was really in Daoism because it appears for every shit song on this album there is an equally brilliant song. This Yin-Yang of an album gets a very generous 7/10 from me for having songs that are not only historically significant both for music and culture in general, but also for those same songs not sounding like complete shit.
Part of me is now a bit in awe of Bob Dylan and part of me really wishes he was in an motorcade in Dallas on the 22nd of November 1963
Highlights: Blowin' in the Wind, A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, Don't Think Twice, It's All Right, Corrina, Corrina
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Scorsese's favourite album. I mean, the guy LOVES the Stones but he really used Gimme Shelter in THREE films.
And can you really blame him? If anything, having heard that and You Can't Always Get What You Want so many times in my life makes them feel a bit out of place on this album. Not because they don't fit but because they are so prominent in popular culture.
The rest of the album admittedly did not have the same meteoric impact that the songs that bookend this album did, but after reading about the circumstances of the recording of this album it is fascinating that they were able to dip their toes into so many different genres and come away with a very entertaining and varied album.
While every song does feel fresh (and also has Keith Richards on vocals for the first, and thankfully not last, time), it never quite reaches the highs of the two big hits here with the exception of Love In Vain which was a very pleasant discovery for me.
Overall, two masterpiece songs does not make a perfect album and there are a few tracks here which I had middling feelings towards on most of my listens. A phenomenal album, but not their best.
Highlights: Gimme Shelter, Love In Vain, Let It Bleed, You Got The Silver, You Can't Always Get What You Want
William Orbit
3/5
Half of the music here belongs in some edgy 90s stealth-action/immersive sim game, the other half sounds like the evil version of the SimCity 4 soundtrack.
The lesson I learned from listening to this? Don't judge an album by its Wikipedia page (stub). I totally expected this album to be some late 90s hogwash thrown in to fill out the backend of this book but the further I got into the album the more I saw how this album fits into the musical mosaic of the late 90s/early 00s.
Coming in at a shift-worker friendly 1h3m, it is a bit too long and often times feels unfocused. But this feels like the sort of thing you want to put on in the background while you work at a café or if you play starcraft or some shit.
Personally, listening to this reminded me of listening to an Engima album (something that I initialyl thought was an Enya album but some guy on LimeWire had other ideas) while getting flamed in Barrens chat in WoW.
There are songs on here that I have put in playlists and it is a novel listen with some impressive flourishes here and there but not something that I would actively return to.
I cannot give this guy extra points for being influential and producing some hits for major artists.
But I can give bonus points for The Monkey King being in the film Heat
Highlights: Harry Flowers
Stereolab
2/5
Two albums in a row that my first thought was about video game soundtracks. Honestly most of these songs sound like the Sims 2 soundtrack.
I have no strong feelings on this album except that I think this would have been better as an instrumental and maybe the second half of the album is better than the first. But if you asked me to hum a single track from this or you'd kill me if I can't, please just give me a shovel.
I gave it multiple listens and it didn't stick with me and I found myself reaching for the skip button as a lot of songs here seem to really unwind and spin out rather than just end. Not offensively bad, just boring.
Highlights: Monster Sacre
Suede
3/5
Of all of the Britpop bands that have been lost to time (at least to the civilised world) that have come up on this list, this one was probably most interesting to listen to.
At points its musical influences are extremely obvious and took me a bit out of the experience, the opening track is probably the most notable example as it feels like the band were a bit TOO into Live At Pompeii (reading the wiki for this album basically confirms this.
Regardless, the majority of tracks on here are very listenable but I would find it hard to say that this album is particularly memorable. It was novel to get a britpop album that wasn’t total shit for once though, so this gets bonus points just for that. There is a good variety of vaguely sad music here and it’s colourful without being unfocused.
These guys were overshadowed by the Cranberries on their own tour for good reason, if they had come out at a quieter time I’m sure they would have been bigger.
Unfortunately we ended up with Oasis instead.
Highlights: Heroine, The Power, This Hollywood Life, The Asphalt World
Pink Floyd
5/5
The Wall isn't the first rock opera/concept album to ever exist, nor is it the most complex or far-out one. But, in my opinion, it is THE rock opera and THE concept album. Not much other music comes close to this in terms of just how an artist can lay out exactly how they're feeling like Roger Waters does here.
This is an album that definitely benefits from a proper sit down and listen session on vinyl, all four sides are perfectly crafted and tell a different stage of the protagonist's decline into isolation and despair. The story behind the album's creation and the drama during production is as fascinating as the album itself. Despite the creative and personal tensions between members of the band, Comfortably Numb was a result of Waters and Gilmour melding together songs they were writing independently of each other to create what is, in my opinion, the best song ever made.
The album is quite long but it knows when to ramp up the story, when to go into a lull and when to really bring it home which is something every final song on a side does exceptionally well.
Whenever I think of my favourite albums of all time, this is regularly in my top 10. I listen to this every year on my birthday and it has been a huge influence on me since I was young. It's one of the best pieces of art ever made, a masterpiece by any metric and I think it's unconscionable to give such a vulnerable, angry, honest and personal piece of art anything less than a 5.
This represents the peak of Pink Floyd, the last real album they did together before they fell apart (The Final Cut is just a Waters solo album with the band acting as session musicians). It belongs on this list both for how it defined the genre of rock operas, but also as the swan song of one of the greatest and most influential rock bands to ever exist.
Who needs therapy when you can just listen to Comfortably Numb and cry in your car?
The White Stripes
3/5
One super iconic song followed by filler, filler, filler with a couple of gems here and there. And by gems, I mean I can recall how the song goes more than 5 minutes after I finish listening to it.
All in all, perfectly cromulent rock music but nothing crazy. It will make you tap your feet and listen intermittently, but I think the only reason that Seven Nation Army is such a standout song is how often I was beat over the head with it growing up.
Highlights - Seven Nation Army, You've Got Her In Your Pocket, The Air Near My Fingers
The Byrds
5/5
David Crosby was fired from the Byrds for writing a song about a threesome? What a bunch of fuckin' squares.
An album of collaborations and crossings between artists and genres. It's a very solid intersection between country/western/psychedelic/folk music that is thoroughly listenable.
I prefer side A over side B (but really they're both fantastic) and it is not surprising at all that the best songs on this album are written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin.
Side B is great and leans more into the rock/psych angle of the album, probably because it's entirely written by the band themselves, and the vision here is very focused. Not to say the first side was unfocused, but it explored with more genres and styles and I found it much more playful.
Really, the only negative thing I have to say about this album is that the final track just doesn't stick the landing? But even then, it's a fine song. The album is less than 30 minutes long but it feels longer than that, and NOT in a bad way.
Bonus points for the pedal steel guitar on this album throughout, what an absolute treat this was.
Highlights - Goin' Back, Wasn't Born To Follow, Get to You, Change Is Now
Queen
3/5
A really solid opener and closer and a lot of fun inbetween. I really can't say any track between the first two and the last one stuck out to me too much but as a whole experience this album is enjoyable. As a sophomore effort this is remarkable, the technical ability of the band is extremely strong but apart from Father To Son no other song really leapt out at me and kept me going back to replay them like it did.
It is refreshing to get a Queen album that doesn't have their massive hits as it's sort of hard to review an album where some of the songs have become very deeply ingrained into the mainstream soundtrack of life. We Will Rock You really should never have been played in a movie or in public again after A Knight's Tale, that shit was peak.
Like sinking lager in a blow-up pool in spring: fun at first, but shallow and you might not wanna stick around for THAT long.
Highlights - Father To Son, Seven Seas Of Rhye
Super Furry Animals
3/5
I enjoyed the slower, more downbeat songs on here but if it were an album with only those kinds of songs from these guys I am not sure I would have enjoyed it as much. The other songs did well to JUXTAPOZE and made the slower songs stand out more.
A bit backloaded, but with a fantastic opener, this album is representative of an experience I have a lot with this project. 'I have never heard of these guys' which becomes 'Wow this shit rocks'.
The band are clearly having fun exploring genres ands styles on this album and even in some songs (Receptacle for the Respectable and No Sympathy, though the former is kind of shit and when it started I thought it was a Smash Mouth song and feels as though it was made to play during a happy montage of a 2000s film).
Well-produced, fun, a few misses here and there but a worthwhile listen and definitely something I would have dismissed if it came up on my Spotify radio. Glad we got this.
Highlights: Alternate Route to Vulcan Street, Shoot Doris Day, No Sympathy, Presidential Suite, Run! Christian, Run!
David Bowie
5/5
This was the album I decided to listen to first when I decided I was going to 'get into' Bowie and it has stuck with me in a profound way. Every time I listen to this I am immediately transported back to being 18 waiting for the uni bus at Buranda station on a rainy day. The title track brings up a lot of memories, most of them shit, but it is a very dear track to me that always elicits an emotional response from me.
Despite (or perhaps because of) how many albums Bowie had released (eleven!!!) in the 70s, you would probably expect him to seem tired. Of course he has a reputation as a musical chameleon, changing genres and playing with different styles, but he does seem tired especially singing on the title track, but not in a bad way, I think it definitely adds to the charm of the album!
Much like Low, Side A and Side B are remarkably different, where A is a playful and loud rock album performed with passion and vigor, Side B is 3 songs of dread and unease bookended with lighter songs. Sense of Doubt, Moss Garden and Neuköln are the heart of this album for me. The title track is good, it's special and I have butchered it at karaoke enough to warrant a lifetime ban but these three songs on Side B capture for me the essence of what life was like for me at a certain point. Messy, uncertain and obscure.
I could say more about the instrumentals, or the vocals, but this album really did, and still does, move me. Before this project I had probably not listened to this end-to-end for a number of years and it brought me immense job to experience this again.
Highlights: Everything, no misses
Steely Dan
5/5
Jazz for people who don't get Jazz (me). I love Steely Dan, it's like watching an extremely well-oiled chrome machine go to work. The instrumentation and production is perfect here, all the musicians involved here are playing at their peak. Literally my only complaint is that Gaucho isn't included in this project because it's a better album but I'm really arguing between a 9.4/10 and 9.5/10.
Lyrically this has some of the best stuff Steely Dan ever did. The two big ones are Deacon Blues is a very fun tongue-in-cheek poke at the band themselves, deriding suburban white people who romanticise the trainwreck jazz musician lifestyle; and Peg, which is the best song ever written about a stalker.
It's yacht rock. But's a party yacht; all the women are paid to be there and are forty years the junior of the men on there who are the biggest and saddest sleazes of all time.
And everyone is wearing Tommy Bahama.
Highlights: Black Cow, Deacon Blues, Peg, I Got the News, Josie
Keith Jarrett
5/5
Arguably more famous for the circumstances regarding its recording than the music itself. However, I did not know this until about halfway through my first listen. As a self-professed Cro-Magnon tier consumer of Jazz, I can't say much about the intricacies of the music but I was frankly blown away when I realised that this is entirely improvisational. Specifically 7:20 to about 8:45 in Part I is magical, I was totally rapt.
I have no idea what the artist did on his keyboard but I know what I will be doing on mine:
Typing "Keith Jarrett LP for sale" into google.
The Who
2/5
I like The Who but my lord this was just a nothing album. After coming off probably one of the best live performances I have ever heard (Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert) I get to listen to one of the most mid experiences ever.
It is undoubtably energetic and captures an image of the band at the peak of their success after Tommy and a moment in time for Hard Rock as a genre. However, I think the album It's Hard (despite being shit) had more of a cultural impact purely due to Eminence Front being in the soundtrack for both GTA: San Andreas and Law Abiding Citizen.
I don't have a problem with live albums, but I have a problem when I need to constantly go back to check how long is left on an album that is only 37 minutes.
Highlights: My Generation
Portishead
4/5
This album tries to do a lot at once, and mostly succeeds. Very adventurous and competent exploration of musical sounds here, it feels like the band is spinning a lot of plates at once and only dropping a few. Small is a microcosm of the album's effort, it feels like three songs at once and they're all fantastic.
There is a sonic dissonance in some songs where an instrumental track will stand out A LOT more than others (piano in Magic Doors for example) and gives me a feeling of unease that really gets me in the mood for this album.
My major criticism of this album is that it is backloaded, I wasn't grabbed in particular from the first half. The reprieve of Deep Water before launching you into second half is like the small, quiet tunnel leading into an aquarium before you get to look at a hammerhead shark.
Also I fuck with the album design. Scratches a mental itch for me, I guess.
Highlights: The Rip, Machine Gun, Small, Magic Doors, Threads
The Black Keys
4/5
This album has a lot of personality, however the personality is that of a divorced dude who drinks far too much. The vibes here are bad (in a good way) and reading about the recording and background of this album, a lot of things make sense.
Overall, an enjoyable listen with a few forgettable tracks. I have not listened to the Black Keys prior to this and was pleasantly surprised. The group harkens back to an older sound and manages to do so without sounding fake or like a musical simulacrum.
I wasn’t impressed by the first few tracks but I couldn’t tell if as the album continued “were the songs getting better or am I just adjusting my expectations?”
The answer was revealed on a repeat listen to be the latter, this was a pleasant surprise.
Highlights: Howlin’ for You, The Only One, Too Afraid to Love You, Unknown Brother, Never Gonna Give You Up, These Days
CHIC
4/5
Supremely danceable, very funky and effortlessly cool. Normally I really pay attention to lyrics but I am not going to bother looking into something like “Happy Man” for any kind of depth. The instrumentation here is top notch and it is extremely dated in the best way possible.
I want to have a cocktail party with this playing in the background. Flare trousers or be turned away at the door.
Highlights: Le Freak, Savoir Faire, At Last I Am Free, (Funny) Bone
Merle Haggard
4/5
Before he became an outlaw country legend (both in the music world and the real world), Merle Haggard was still able to deliver down-to-Earth and real lyrics during the period of flashy country music. This is the sort of album that paved the way for his peers in the 70s to express themselves and after listening to this, you can see his and Hank William's lasting legacy on country music. To say this is a pleasant listen means you didn't hear what old Merle was saying. This is a very tight half an hour of introspection and regret. Without Merle, I wouldn't have my dear Waylon and Willie as they came to be.
David Allen Coe said the perfect country and western song mentions trucks, trains, mama, prison and getting drunk. He doesn't mention mama, but four out of five ain't bad and that's what this album gets.
Highlights: Life In Prison, Drink Up And Be Somebody, Someone Told My Story, My Rough And Rowdy Ways
Giant Sand
2/5
The best parts of this album reminded me of what I like about Silver Jews, and the weaker parts struggled to remind me I was listening to an album at all. That is to say that I like the lo-fi folk sound on some of the songs here. The vocals are very good but it really isn't something that's suited to a whole hour of listening. I wish that the band exercised the same restraint with their very excellent instrumental flourishes with the vocals, it would have made for a much better album if it were just leaner and leaned less on the vocals.
Apart from that, I found the album to be quite backloaded. An excellent opening track leading into a few tracks of nothing before hitting a good streak from Shiver onwards (where the pedal guitar really did a lot for me). I had never heard of this band prior to this nor was there a whole lot to read about the album's production. Overall, while some of the alt rock stuff was alright this would have been a whole lot better as a focused folk album.
Highlights: (Well) Dusted, Shiver, Astonished (In Memphis)
Yes
4/5
Roundabout, Heart of the Sunrise and a mixed bag inbetween. I love prog rock and this album is fantastic but I can also recognise when it's being self-indulgent.
Highlights, Roundabout, South Side of the Sky, Heart of the Sunrise
Adele
2/5
The writing credits here has fewer names than the staffing history for the construction crew of Sagrada Familia. Maybe it's the fact that I have mainly listened to Adele involuntarily but I just can't help but shake the feeling that this is the musical equivalent of consuming Mortadella.
I was hoping that I had reached the age where I would look back on music like this with fondness and nostalgia. Either I'm not old enough or the deep cuts on here are ass. Adele has a wonderful voice and a lot of talented people worked on this, but at the end of the day it is soulless music-by-committee.
The Lovesong cover was novel but I won't lie and tell you that I wasn't very happy when this album was over.
Highlights: Rolling in the Deep
Elliott Smith
5/5
I am going to refrain from making any Good Will Hunting references as I blew my load on the last Elliott Smith album that we got and now I regret it.
Much like the last Elliott Smith album I listened to for this project, I enjoyed it on a first listen but it didn't leave a great impression on me besides Ballad Of Big Nothing which is a phenomenal track.
This album really benefits from multiple listens and reading about Smith's upbringing and issues helped me get into the mood for this. Had I only listened to this once I would probably only have given it a strong 3. This also inspired me to "rewatch" Good Will Hunting (I watched youtube clips and shorts of the movie for an hour when I could have actually just watched the whole fuckin' thing).
There are no misses here, the middle of the album only feels a little slow in the middle because of the consistently high quality of mope-i-ness on display here. This could have been a lot sadder and melancholic (as I was anticipating) but it is varied enough in its sound and mood that it kept me engaged the whole time and warranted multiple listens, more than just the two I normally give albums out of obligation. If you're a bit despondent, this shit is peak.
Highlights: Alameda, Ballad Of Big Nothing, Between The Bars, Pictures Of Me, Angeles, 2:45 AM
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
This album made me think that maybe I don't actually like prog rock that much, that I just like some songs from certain artists. Either way, as novel as this was (classical music as interpreted by prog rockers), this album was pretty boring. Don't get me wrong, the instrumental work here is great and all members of ELP are superbly talented (I like these guys a lot) but there isn't much here that grabs me to say "you NEED to listen to this before you die". As far as albums go, it's mid and as far as live albums go that I've seen on this list, it's not anything to write home about (despite the length of this review).
Fun, but never listening to this again.
Highlights: The Sage, Nutrocker
The Avalanches
5/5
Talk about a proper ALBUM experience. This really takes you on a ride and never has a dull moment, a few points where I felt that I zoned out a little bit (because I was at my extremely dull job) but in fairness this album was a lot to take in on a first listen. The artists here have a good understanding of exactly when to change lanes and hit you with something unexpected or to take things down.
I have listened to DJ Shadow on this list but reading about this album was the first time that I had heard the term plunderphonics. Admittedly, I don't have a great vocabulary when describing music so my best analogy for listening to this is like going on a night out early and coming home at sunrise, changing venues every half an hour as you reach peak drunkenness about three-quarters of the way through and just about everything in your night goes right for you.
I will say that Avalanches is a much better name for the band than one of their earlier names "Whoops Downs Syndrome". But what can you expect from people who moved from Maryborough (cult country) to Melbourne (dickhead city).
This was a phenomenal experience on multiple listens, I am very grateful to have received this as today's pick for an album, truly something that is well out of my wheelhouse. A true joy.
Highlights: Since I Left You, A Different Feeling, Tonight May Have to Last Me All My Life, Frontier Psychiatrist, Little Journey, Extra Kings
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Trail mix as an album, even the weaker (barely) stuff here is still great. Side B is better is better than Side A if you really had to pick, but this album really encapsulates the term 'easy listening'. As much as I love an album that rewards re-listens and gets better as you read the lyrics and the story behind it, this is the exact opposite. I think it would be practically impossible to find a single person who would sit through this album and go 'yeah this sucked' unless they were the world's biggest contrarian.
Sometimes music is just supposed to make you feel good, and this album does just exactly that. Put this on, sit on the couch, put on a lamp (NO BIG LIGHT), have a cup of tea and let Stevie Wonder fix whatever bad day you're having. I can name one or two songs on here that drag a little bit and that is the biggest fault that I can find here. Well-arranged, competently produced, performed with feeling and with that soulful je ne sais quois: this album really hits all the musical food groups.
The opener is a classic, You and I is a serious contender for a wedding song and Superstition is a rare track that you hear on the radio/in the supermarket/in an ad and you don't roll your eyes, it's a beautiful song. The sound of this album is timeless, it doesn't feel dated despite being 53 years old at the time of writing, it is truly a marvel that Stevie Wonder can create music like this that has really stood the test of time and has had an unmeasurable impact on every artist that has come after him.
Highlights: You Are the Sunshine of My Life, You and I (We Can Conquer the World), Superstition, I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)
B.B. King
4/5
A live album that manages to capture the strengths of a live performance versus a studio recording. There is just enough noise from the crowd, ambient sounds of the venue, chatter from the artist and little flourishes of character from BB King. Naturally, as an artist, his influence cannot be understated as an absolute titan of Rock and Roll. To my fault, I have never been a proper afficionado of blues and for my sins I was lucky enough to receive this as a weekend album to really give it multiple listens.
Coming away from four listens at various levels of attention-paying, there are two real standout songs on here for me. As far as live albums go, I can't fault this at all but I've certainly heard other ones on this list that floored me a lot more than this one.
All in all, this is a hell of an album to polish off a bottle of red and eat some slowcooker carnitas to (oddly specific but this was my favourite of my four listens).
Highlights: It's My Own Fault, You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now
Solomon Burke
4/5
On first listen, this hit pretty hard but after multiple listens it is easy to see why soul artists like James Brown had more of a profile in the mainstream of music. This was a pleasant surprise and this feels like it was tailor-made to be on the Goodfellas soundtrack. Solomon Bourke's ability to change from silky smooth to just the right amount of rough with his voice is best demonstrated on Can't Nobody Love You, which is a song that commands you to sit there and really listen.
It's not just Burke's voice and lyricism that makes this album great, but a tasteful blend of rock n roll influence in here really sets this apart from other soul albums. Granted, some parts of this album can just pass me by on re-listens but overall, this is a very fun experience.
After reading about Solomon Bourke, especially his Olympic performance as a natalist, it seems that if he put in as much effort towards his performances as he did to the continuation of the human race he could have been as big a name as the Hardest-Working Man in Show Business, but I suppose the Hardest-Working Man in the Perinatal Ward is just as big a title.
Highlights: Can't Nobody Love You, Won't You Give Him (One More Chance), You Can't Love Them All
Frank Ocean
3/5
A comprehensive and varied album experience, excellent output from all involved on this collective effort. Very consistent theming and tone, maintains a strong bisexual energy throughout. This does feel like the work of an art collective with the creative lead and vision of Frank Ocean and the producer Malay.
Having said all of this, I find myself unable to fully enjoy and interface with this album. The genre here is not quite in my wheelhouse, which usually has not been a problem for me during this project however, due to a number of personal reasons I will not get into in this review I find it very difficult to wholly enjoy this album especially the track Pyramids.
Highlights - Thinkin Bout You, Sweet Life, Pink Matter
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
4/5
I have heard progressive rock described once by a ragebaiting music journalist as 'the whitest genre of music'. If I recall correctly (I'm not gonna search for this) they were specifically talking about Yes and ELP. Regardless of the melanin content here, this is a very solid album. A departure from the ELP that I have been exposed to before this project, mainly just listening to their debut album.
Emerson's keyboard work is the foundation on which the rest of this album lies upon and with so much emphasis on it, any lesser of a songwriter/keyboardist would have turned this into 40 minutes of semi-experimental slop. Side A is a wild ride, Tarkus as a track took me multiple listens to properly digest. I would compare it most to Shine On You Crazy Diamond in that the parts very much so blend together and don't have divisions that are clear on a first listen.
Side B is mostly good with some odd creative choices that don't quite land for me (The Only Way, Are You Ready, Eddy?) but it's a nice palate cleanser after the marathon Side A. If Side B were more tonally/creatively consistent then I could seriously consider giving this a 5.
Overall, a very novel album made by a very talented group but not without flaws. A thoroughly entertaining and lush listening experience that is weighed down by some flat tracks that take me out of it. I am glad I enjoyed this as the last ELP album (the live one) made me seriously consider whether or not I actually lime prog rock or I'm just the world's biggest Pink Floyd glazer and refuse to call it space rock for some reason.
Highlights: Most of Tarkus, Infinite Space A Time and a Place
Emmylou Harris
5/5
This is an album that makes me want to pack a bag and a toothbrush and drive out west. I was enjoying the first track, swept off my feet by the second track but as soon as the pedal slide guitar hits (my one and only weakness in this world) during Before Believing I was totally rapt.
Whenever you get to know someone and ask them what kind of music they're into and they respond with "oh, anything but rap and country", I'd like to strap them into a chair a la clockwork orange and force them to listen to this.
It is always a very special treat when you hear a song that you like be covered in a better way. I love Merle Haggard but I think Emmylou Harris does something with The Bottle Let Me Down that he couldn't, he may have had the pisswreck street cred to pen and sing that song, but something about Harris' delivery elevates it.
I hate to blaspheme, but the same is true for Coat of Many Colors, Dolly's version of this song means a lot to me personally and hearing it here moved me a lot.
Every track here is masterfully performed with a lot of heart, I cannot fault this album at all except that a physical copy of it hasn't found its way to me yet.
Highlights: All of it
Public Enemy
4/5
The production style here would have been groundbreaking at the time, sampling and musique concrète would have blown my fucking mind if I were alive when this came out. However, the 'right about now' sampling at the very end of Power to the People on Side A genuinely felt like being in a multiplayer lobby where someone is spamming something on their soundboard and all you can do is sit there and listen because you're too focused on being bad at video games.
However, the lyricism and musicality here really shines. People who say politics and music don't mix should be pelted with rocks. The significance of this album cannot be understated in terms of what it did for music at large. In terms of music, this had far-reaching impacts on a lot of artists that I love across a lot of genres (couldn't imagine NIN being a thing if not for this album).
I am certain this is like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey in terms of hip hop music, but I must confess again that it's not a genre I am as familiar with as I am with lily-white milquetoast 70s easy listening slop so I can't speak to its exact significance for the genre.
Despite my very idiosyncratic issues with the production, I enjoyed this album. The second side is preferable as I find that I enjoyed the production more (or I got used to it?). As an album it's a well-curated experience and clearly something that the artists had great pride in creating. Whether you like hip hop or not, you can't deny the influence this has had, and you cannot look me in the eye and honestly tell me you listened to all of this and didn't thoroughly enjoy yourself.
Highlights: Burn Hollywood Burn, Fear of a Black Planet, Fight The Power
Neil Young
5/5
Going into this I was only familiar with Heart of Gold and Old Man, the latter of which I had mainly heard used as audio in people's travel videos. I was totally floored by the opening track of side A and I mean I really have been playing the shit out of this song. I was really expecting to come into this liking Heart of Gold and coming out of it thinking it's the best song on this album but Out on the Weekend is really something special and it may have something to do with the pedal steel guitar AKA my musical kryptonite.
The mood of the album transitions well from romantic and cheery to cynical and downtrodden towards the end. This album was Young's first big proper commercial hit mainly thanks to the world-salad that is Heart of Gold (funny how people love that?) but the REAL influence that this album had in my opinion was Alabama inspiring Lynyrd Skynyrd to tell Young to go and get fucked in Free Bird.
Neil Young, in my opinion, was the weakest part of CSNY but on his own he really shines. The most criticism that I can level towards this album is that at times Young's vocal delivery falls a little short. The collaboration here from other artists is tasteful and limited and works when it's brought in. This could have easily been a big family and friends affair where Young relies on the talent of others to prop up his project but that's not the case.
I've listened to this at least eight times since I got it for this project, it's a fantastic album that works both as easy-listening background music and pays dividends if you actively listen to it.
Highlights: Out on the Weekend, Harvest, Heart of Gold, Old Man, The Needle and the Damage Done, Words (Between the Lines of Age)
American Music Club
4/5
I was very surprised to see this was released in 1988 and not ten or twenty years later. I couldn't derive from the little info about the band on Wikipedia about who exactly they influenced (I didn't try very hard) but you can definitely hear a lot of 90s acts can trace their DNA to this album whether they (or I, clearly) know it or not.
It is much more fun to listen and read about the kind of music that may have influenced bands and genres you like in this project, a lot better than the alternative which is like finding out a portion of your ancestry were Nazis or rockabilly fans.
On the third and fourth tracks I realised it, this band is basically The Smiths if you replace beans and Thatcher with high fructose corn syrup and Reagan. Jangly English guitar tracks swapped with REAL Americana (the blessed and trusty pedal steel guitar, my beloved).
There are a couple of dud/forgettable tracks on here but as a whole album experience this was novel and a pleasant discovery. It's not surprising to me that this group isn't bigger though, it seems they came in at an inopportune time and would have probably killed it if they came in twenty years later.
Highlights - Firefly, Pale Skinny Girl, Western Sky, Highway 5
Foo Fighters
3/5
A well-performed novelty. The lyrics, according to Dave Grohl, were written 20 minutes before the week-long recording of this album, of which only one instrumental track is played by someone other than him. In terms of industriousness I suppose this album gets top marks.
In all honesty, it would have been more fair to review The Colour and the Shape as this album feels overshadowed by the loss of Cobain and feels more like a coda to Grohl's career in Nirvana, whereas his sophomore effort feels like he's come into his own.
Music serves a purpose, some music is designed to make you cry, self-reflect, be happy, run, pine for something long gone. This album is designed to pine for another garage beer, this is music to drink mid-strength lager to on a Saturday afternoon with 4-5 other people. The kind of music for conversations that begin with "Remember when..." and "What happened to X?".
Highlights: Oh, George, X-Static, Exhausted
Elbow
2/5
This feels like coworker music, but one has to imagine what your coworker would be doing in a world where capitalism didn't prevail. Would your boring, abstemious colleague be sitting and staring at excel in a world with no profit motive or would he be hiking up and down the Andes till he dies?
You have to think the same of this band. Would they be making boring ass music for record labels if there was no money behind it? The regular flourishes of brilliance in the instrumentals here lead me to believe that these guys would be better off composing and collaborating on soundtracks. Specifically the start of Mirrorball sounds like it should be the soundtrack for a movie that critics/studios would label as "cerebral".
This is entirely subjective (it's a music review, go figure) but the vocals here just weigh this album down so heavily. It feels like it was added as an afterthought like "deary me, commercial music needs lyrics!". Most, if not all, songs on here would have better without vocals but here they are and they really don't let up. At times, listening to this album is like watching a movie with someone taller than you standing in front of you.
Grounds for Divorce sounds like some proto-Imagine Dragons bullshit and its existence alone places a hard cap of 3/5 on a possible score for this album. You know what I mean too with the "oooh-ahh-oooh" backing vocals. One Day Like This feels like it was made for a corporate keynote presentation for a luxury SUV.
Highlights: Mirrorball, The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver, Friend Of Ours
Bob Dylan
3/5
I can't tell if this album is front-loaded or if I enjoy post-folk Dylan. Some really nice and inspired instrumentals here. Dylan as always is a great wordsmith but it did become grating at points (Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts this shit sucked). However, it got multiple listens out of me and I very much looked forward to listening to the tracks that I consider highlights.
Props to the sound engineers for finding the perfect level for Dylan's harmonica. The light touches of electric guitar and keyboard here were great, as an album this was a little bit difficult to digest in one go and the first half is much stronger than the second. Overall, a solid listen but I will still be rolling my eyes next time I get a Dylan album on this project.
Highlights: Tangled up in Blue, You're a Big Girl Now, Buckets of Rain
The Clash
4/5
Lean and raw, fuck the Sex Pistols, without these guys and the Damned we wouldn’t have punk as we know it in the UK or USA. It lacks their big commercial hits that you would find on their later albums but as a proof of concept this is a good punk album, undeniably a watershed moment.
If I were rating purely based on musical impact this would be a 5, but they’ve got better albums and I personally wouldn’t pick this over something like Combat Rock by them, or Machine Gun Etiquette by the Damned (or literally any west coast US punk).
A couple of duds in the tracklist really weigh it down for me, if this were better balanced it would have probably been a 5.
Highlights: I’m so Bored with the U.S.A., What’s My Name, Cheat, Police & Thieves
Brian Eno
5/5
After making the real stinker that was For Your Pleasure with Roxy Music, Eno explodes with this debut album. Recorded in twelve days with guest musicians picked specifically because they seemed musically incompatible, this album is a total mess in the best way possible. For a rush job of a debut, this is very impressive.
Only track two of Side A I would consider to be bad, with track two of Side B being only bad in comparison to On Some Faraway Beach which is the most lush fuckin song I have ever heard. I have always maintained, since hearing it 6 years ago, that this is the song I want played as my casket is lowered into the ground.
This is an extremely diverse album with a very interesting story behind its recording and production. In terms of legacy, it's Eno, he is a legendary producer and musician who left a massive mark on the musical world. It's probably his most accessible work but that doesn't take away from the experience, it's eclectic and all-over-the-place but a joy to listen to. And frankly, I can't see myself giving this any lower than a 5 based on how many times I listened to this in the last 24 hours.
Highlights: Needles In The Camel's Eye, Baby's On Fire, On Some Faraway Beach, Here Come The Warm Jets
The Damned
5/5
Super energetic punk that experiments with the formula of what British punk is by having fun with the instrumentals and venturing away from the 'traditional' (ironic) formula of what punk is. The Damned would go on after this to explore more of a Gothic sound in future albums with less commercial success but you really have to give them props for trying, there's nothing less punk than doing the same shit that's expected of you.
Sometimes the exploration of different sounds/styles doesn't pay off (These Hands) but weird Gothic-Circus shit is still more interesting than if they just stuck with 'what works'. The second half of the album is by and large weaker than the first half but never takes its foot off the gas.
I'm not going to let a few half-duds weigh down what is an extremely engaging, adventurous and entertaining album. Always appreciate seeing a band make an effort to not be penned into one style. Still a shame that their debut album didn't make it onto this list for some reason but I guess the authors thought it was much more pertinent that we hear a Bob Dylan live bootleg rather than one of the most important punk albums ever made I guess.
Highlights: Love Song, Machine Gun, Etiquette, Melody Lee, Anti-Pope, Plan 9 Channel 7, Smash It Up - Pts. 1 & 2
Frank Sinatra
3/5
It's the first album in the list! A comeback album of sorts, listening to this album is kind of like the moody version of hanging out with the guy from your high school who has just done it all. It's very impressive, but it's very much a lot of the same. Loads of talent right in your face and it doesn't relent. This kind of makes me appreciate album composition and the decision-making that goes into making a tracklist.
I would hazard to guess that very few people have actually listened to the entirety of this album (at least on spotify). The play numbers for each song drop one after the other, with a drop from 7 figures to 6 between tracks 1 and 2. It's a shame too because both the vocals here and the instrumentals are great, it's a warm album about feeling cold. But it is unyielding in its constant misery. It was hard to pick highlights for this album because it really does blend into one big stew of misery.
I enjoyed this, but it is a tiresome experience. Some albums benefit from a focused listen, especially a concept album like this. Unfortunately the concept of this album is "things didn't work out with Ava and I". I don't enjoy listening to sob stories about relationships at the best of times and I don't care how nice Sinatra's voice is, fuck me mate just go out and get drunk or something (apparently he was also a very aggressive drunk, my comment still stands).
This is an album to put on in the background of a dinner party (NO BIG LIGHT) in the middle of winter, everyone is rugged up and seated ready to eat what is about to be the most mid fucking pasta you've ever had that you bravely swallow, look the host directly in the eye and say "Yeah mate, it's good."
Highlights: In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, Glad To Be Unhappy
Snoop Dogg
1/5
Album from the guy that Wow, an album from the guy that does UberEats ads. I don't like skits at the best of times and my lord this can get grating. There are a couple of standout tracks in the first half but this really dragged. This probably hit like a ton of bricks when it came out but this honestly hasn't aged well especially lyrically, 55 minutes of this is far too much. As an album experience this was thoroughly unenjoyable, and having Gin and Juice on here doesn't salvage it.
Highlights: Gin and Juice, Murder Was The Case
Pink Floyd
5/5
The album I avoid answering with when asked "What's your favourite Pink Floyd album?" because it's too obvious an answer.
While I personally prefer Wish You Were Here this is undoubtedly peak Floyd. Following Syd Barrett's departure (ejection?), the band were a bit creatively lost and in the woods as to where were going. They meandered around a little and some incredible work came out of their experimentation (Saucerful of Secrets, Meddle, Obscured By Clouds) as they each tried their hand at songcraft.
This album marks the peak of the group's collective creative output before Roger Waters became the lead (and eventually sole) creative driving force behind Pink Floyd. The best song on this album is arguably Time and it's the only track where every member of the band has writing credits (and also one of the only songs where Richard Wright is on vocals!).
Technically this album is magnificent, the production and engineering is marvellous, the interviews with the roadies are cool and while the theming/concepts explored here aren't as nearly as deep or interesting as when this first released in 1973 or when I heard it at the age of 12 it's still a pretty holistic and fun as a concept album.
I prefer Side B to Side A personally and that's the closest I can come up with in terms of criticism for this album. It literally never gets old, it is the gold standard for the album experience for me and it's extremely dear to me. I can't find the words to express just how much I love this album.
Drive-By Truckers
2/5
The album art here looks like the kind of stuff Napoleon Dynamite would draw in class if he grew up in West Texas instead of Idaho.
Very much a kitchen sink concept of 'the south'. Fortunately I'm not American, and I imagine that I am unable to interface with this album in the intended way as a result. Therefore, I can only make an assessment of the musicality here. It is a rock album, that's for sure.
Three Great Alabama Icons makes me think maybe the content of this album would have been better delivered in the medium of a coffee table book or an artsy doco. But it's an album, so here we are for an hour and a half. Frankly, I enjoyed this song a lot more than other stuff on here as it was an interesting story.
This was mostly forgettable, maybe I would be kinder if I gave it more relistens but frankly a lot of this was competently-performed noise. A few standout tracks from a lot of white noise coupled with a long runtime does not make for a particularly enjoyable listen.
Highlights: Dead, Drunk and Naked, Three Great Alabama Icons, Angels And Fuselage
Doves
1/5
The first Doves album we received (this one will hopefully be the last) I gave a 3 and spent 90% of the review lamenting the britcentric nature of this book. I will not repeat myself on the latter point and I am lowering my score.
This was a chore to listen to, global reviews of this album compare the band to Coldplay but at least they're quite a popular act so their music has utility as it allows you to talk about music with people who live life on autopilot.
I much preferred their debut, that at least had something interesting going on with elements of shoegaze and dreampop. I will commend the band for crediting the members of King Crimson for M62 Song but personally if I saw my name on the writing credits for that song, I would blow my fucking brains out. The only thing that song does more than make me want to have my friends and family discover my bloated corpse in a bathtub, is listen to Moonchild by King Crimson instead. Barely.
The only other songs that stand out here is N.Y. as some of the production choices here were... slightly different to the songs that came before it, I guess? The Sulphur Man was the most tolerable song on here.
England delenda est
Highlights: Listening to St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) while watching car crashes on YouTube as soon as this ended
Brian Wilson
4/5
It would be very easy to judge this album through the lens of what it would have been if it came out following Pet Sounds. It would be an easy 5 in that case, the musical equivalent of Klaatu landing on Earth. Judging it like a normal person: I enjoyed this album a lot. I'm also not going to let the wild history of this album and Brian Wilson's personal life cloud my judgement, but seriously it's a great story go read about it or at least watch Love and Mercy.
Unfortunately for me, it does feel like this album exists in the shadow of both the Beach Boys and the potential of what Smile could have been if it had been finished forty years prior. Surf's Up and Good Vibrations are great songs but their addition here serves as a reminder of this fact. It also helps to illustrate that this feels like a recreation to me, like a lost language that was reconstituted by a team of linguists thousands of years after the fact.
Weird feelings aside, this is still phenomenal. Of the three movements that the album is divided into, the first is my favourite and while the third is very novel it falls flat compared to the first two. This album can feel like a weird circus act at times and I love it for that reason, but it can be a bit much at times. This is a pleasant, joyous album that genuinely gets me grinning and happy listening to it but it's just not quite a 5.
Fun fact: when asked, Brian Wilson said his favourite movie is Norbit.
Highlights: Heroes and Villains, Child Is Father of the Man, Surf's Up, Good Vibrations
Rush
5/5
Tom Sawyer actually might be a contender for best Side A Track 1 of all time, and this leads into an insanely loaded Side A. Side B is only weak in comparison to the first side, and would be rock solid if it were on any other hard rock album. I don't really consider this to be prog rock, The Camera Eye is probably the only real prog song on this album if only for how self-indulgent it is and whether that's a good thing or not is entirely subjective (much like Geddy Lee's vocals).
I happen to like both of those things, good for me and good for this album's rating. We had 2112 last time and I did not enjoy that as an album experience. This however, is thoroughly enjoyable. The album art is sick, each song does something special and different. I can't level a genuine criticism of this album, even the album art is fantastic. An album with great hits and great deep cuts that isn't bloated and keeps things interesting? It's gotta be a 5 unless you were recently diagnosed with a TBI and now go around proudly calling yourself a contrarian because you think you're hard.
Highlights: Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ, Limelight
Cat Stevens
5/5
Yusuf Islam is a rare combination of a brilliant songwriter and a phenomenal singer. He really can paint a picture in my mind; something about listening to this album feels like going on a hike through a meadow with someone wise beyond their years. Equal parts melancholic and joyful, this is an album that you can put on in the background having your tea on a Sunday morning but also an album where actively listening to the lyrics pays dividends.
The standout tracks here are obviously Wild World and Father And Son, but the deep cuts here are honestly just as good. The latter of which is a song that I listen to very rarely, I don't want to wear out how special and beautiful that song is. Each track is simultaneously simple and complex in its lyrics and composition, some albums are lucky to have one track included in the world's songbook and this one has two.
You often hear people say "they don't make 'em like they used to" and you roll your eyes, but in the case of Yusuf Islam, it is 100% true. There is a beauty in the sincerity, optimism and tenderness of this album that doesn't appear in many other albums that I've heard. I honestly had to stop myself from listening to this a fifth time in a hope to preserve how this album makes me feel.
Highlights: Where Do The Children Play?, Wild World, Longer Boats, Father And Son
Steely Dan
3/5
Reading about this album after a listen, it is obvious that compared to their other works that this album was designed to be more commercially viable/accessible. While it certainly worked, this album spawned their most successful single and arguably the group's most popular song. Unfortunately, I don't think that Steely Dan as a group shines their brightest when catering to what sells.
Side A is clearly stronger with the first three tracks being the standouts of the album, Barrytown is decent and East St. Louis Toodle-Oo is a novel, funky and off-kilter tune.
The only thing that really sticks with me about Side B is the refrain of With A Gun. Even though I consider this a weaker Dan album, everything here is performed and arranged to an extremely high standard without sounding clinical. It has all the hallmarks of Dan album, especially the lyricism.
If any other band released this, it would be a great album. But when the band that did Aja and Gaucho release this, it's just good.
Highlights: Rikki Don't Lose That Number, Any Major Dude Will Tell You
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
A really great album cover, which would probably be a lot of fun to look at while you sit and listen to this album because it is pretty boring. There are a lot of comparisons to Thom Yorke in the global reviews on this site (many of which are negative) which does answer the question of "What if Radiohead wasn't popular and English?". The answer is that nobody would pretend like they're the second coming.
A competently-performed and well-made album. I just don't gel with it. Each successive listen had me alt-tabbing more frequently to see how long is left on this. It's not you Rufus, it's me. I just don't like your singing enough to enjoy this. Literally only the last track had me perk up because it's at least something different.
Highlights: Realising the last track on spotify is a bonus track so I can skip it and save 2 minutes and 46 seconds
The Go-Betweens
4/5
QUEENSLANDER!!!
Any genuine criticism of this album is outweighed by my love for BRISBANE, the greatest city on Earth bar none. I purposefully go out of my way to take the Go-Betweens bridge when driving through the city and as the toll tag in my car beeps my heart is filled with childlike wonder and joy. Unfortunately this was recorded in HELL (Sydney) following the band's return from SUPER HELL (London) but I am willing to forgive that because Streets of Your Town is on here.
Upon a relisten, I was able to go into this with less bias and put my Queenslander patriotism aside for a moment. this is a phenomenal album, Aussie jangle-pop that would define the Australian music scene. The sound of the Go-Betweens is so familiar and comforting that I really don't know that I could give this an honest and objective score. This might be a 2 or a 3 to a listener from outside Antipodean Paradise but to me this is a solid 4. Nothing quite reaches the highs of Love Goes On or Streets of Your Town but it's a charming album.
Highlights: Love Goes On, Streets of Your Town, Was There Anything I Could Do?, Dive for Your Memory
The Temptations
3/5
This feels like two albums. Side A is well crafted: Cloud Nine is a great opener and a fantastic track (albeit with some weird production value, the vocalist sounds like he is moving away from the mic at times), I Heard It Through the Grapevine is fine but Marvin did it best sorry fellas. Run Away Child, Running Wild is a cool jam until they got a crying child which really threw me off, but that doesn't stop this from being a really solid track.
Side B is filled with shorter songs that are definitely here as a backup in case the band's venture into psychedelia didn't pay off. I'm sure this side would have hit hard in 1969 (or maybe not idk) but to me, these are very serviceable pop songs that I am struggling to recall to memory after three listens.
One great side, one side of background music and tastefully short.
Highlights: Cloud Nine, Run Away Child, Running Wild
Stevie Wonder
3/5
A fantastic first side with some big hits on it and a lot of variety in its style. Side B really doesn't hold my attention, worse still some of the tracks here are straight up skips. Side A is absolutely phenomenal though and if this were a standalone album on its own it would be an easy 4 or 5. Stevie's the master of easy listening but the wheel sort of fall off in the second half.
Highlights: Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away, Too Shy to Say, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Creepin'
Jane Weaver
2/5
It took a few listens for this one to properly stick, there are a couple of standout tracks here but this isn't something I could see myself returning to. There are parts of this that remind me of Wolf Alice, which made me wonder why they aren't on here. The great transition between the opening track and Did You See Butterflies seems to be a once-off production flourish, which is disappointing.
It's a well-made album and I did enjoy this but unfortunately it's also forgettable and I'd much rather listen to Wolf Alice.
Highlights: H>A>K, The Lightning Back, Valley
Anthrax
5/5
Of the Big 4 Thrash acts this is the one I am least familiar with, and that's a shame because I was able to enjoy these guys straight away unlike Megadeth where learning to enjoy/tolerate Dave Mustaine's voice has the same timeframe as learning to enjoy running. Unlike basically every other contemporary metal band, Anthrax's band members all seem to be good people for some weird reason?
Anyway, this fucking rocks. I loved heavy metal in high school, Iron Maiden especially, and if I wasn't hyperfixated on them I would have adored this if I had listened to it. The album doesn't have a great amount of musical range but the band know what their strengths are and they excel at them. Each song had me looking up the lyrics, the chorus of each song is catchy and the whole thing is thoroughly entertaining.
As far as criticisms go, Side A is better than Side B which becomes apparent on relistens but it's not by a great margin. There wasn't a song on here that I didn't enjoy, I couldn't sit still for the entire album and each time I finished it I wanted to start it again. I love this album.
Highlights: Among the Living, Caught in a Mosh, I Am the Law, Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.), Indians, Imitation of Life
JAY Z
1/5
This was the worst thing to happen on the 11th of September 2001.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
Two very different sides, I enjoyed Side A far more than Side B. Reading about the album before listening I really thought I would enjoy the more electric side more but Young's lyricism and the acoustic tone of the first half really hits differently than the second half. Powderfinger is an evergreen song but the rest of the tracks on the second half don't hold a candle to a track like Thrasher. Was tempted to give this a 4 because the tracks on the first half are just that good, but on repeat listens I found myself going back to the first track right after Powderfinger ends.
Highlights: My, My, Hey, Hey (Out of the Blue), Thrasher, Powderfinger
Paul Simon
4/5
I first heard about this album from a co-worker when I had my first office job at a newspaper. He was the son of Bush War veteran and lived in what is now Zimbabwe. He said some of the most vile and racist shit I have ever heard in my life, which is saying something because one of my oldest friends is from Perth and lived in Alice Springs for a while.
My co-worker LOVED this album and talked about what a moment it was when Paul Simon broke the cultural embargo on Apartheid-era South Africa to record this (he also loved Queen and Linda Ronstadt because they too broke the embargo by going on a tour, I am beginning to think this older white South African gentleman MAY have been a racist).
The breaking of the cultural embargo was a big deal and it landed Simon on the hitlist of some organisations in South Africa where Silvio from the Sopranos had to step in to negotiate for his life.
I wish that I could say the album itself is as interesting as the story behind the album. This would have been huge in the 80s when it came out, but if you have ever eaten at Nando's before you would have heard this sort of thing before.
Having said that, the hits here are massive. Side A is stacked with hits and Side B opens with the best song on this album. The album doesn't really hit those same highs for the rest of the runtime but it is such an easy listen. I can't really level any serious criticism of this album, it's an absolute joy.
I'm not giving this a 5 because the Everly Brothers are on here and I know my old co-worker is looking up at me from hell and I'm not giving him the satisfaction.
Highlights: The Boy in the Bubble, Graceland, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, You Can Call Me Al, Homeless
Deerhunter
4/5
I love mopey, dream-pop shit and this hit just right for me. Only a few tracks stand out to me as highlights but the overall vibe of this album is immaculate. It does verge on becoming repetitive but I have a feeling this may be due to listening to it too many times in one day. Four solid tracks and a bunch of other decent tracks makes for a good album, the quality peters out towards the end but the closer brings it home.
Highlights: Earthquake, Revival, Basement Scene, He Would Have Laughed
The Who
4/5
After a few days and listens to let this bake in, I conclude that although the non-hits on here aren't remarkable per se, they are very very good. The hits on here bookend the listen and those three tracks are probably the best songs The Who, maybe even the entire British Invasion ever produced.
Highlights: Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes, Won't Get Fooled Again
Nina Simone
5/5
Reading about Nina Simone, I came across a quote by Maya Angelou regarding Ms Simone that sums up my feelings better than I ever could: "few who have met her music or glimpsed her soul react with moderation."
Simone's vocals and the instrumentation here could draw blood from a stone. Simone's control over her vocals is something to be in awe of, she takes lines and elevates them in a way that just floors me. I was reading the titles of each track before a listen and thought What More Can I Say? would be the same song as performed by the Notations, was a little disappointed when it wasn't but oh my days this song absolutely floored me.
There are no skips on here and the highlights absolutely levelled me, what a joy.
Highlights: What More Can I Say?, That's All I Ask, Break Down and Let It All Out, Wild Is the Wind
Alanis Morissette
5/5
My main association with Alanis Morissette is hearing Gen X women sing Ironic at the karaoke bar that I frequent (shoutout Blute's Bar), I have heard some renditions of this song that should be referred to the ICJ. I was also shocked to learn none of Morissette's music ever featured in Charmed, which seems like it would have made a lot of sense?
I don't know if the vocals were abrasive to me at first because of the sound itself or my association with the drunken patrons of varying talent of the aforementioned karaoke bar. Long way of saying I found the vocal style needed time to gel with me but when it did, my enjoyment of this album increased A LOT.
Some albums on this list have been incredibly dated (not a bad thing) due to their production and choices in instrumentation, Terence Trent D'Arby the most prominent example that comes to mind, this album is probably the 90s equivalent of that. Again, that's not a bad thing, I feel like this definitely encapsulates a certain moment in time very well, and instead of feeling like this would be a kitschy nostalgia trip for a certain cohort of annoying people, this feels like an angsty, charming and well written time capsule.
I was going to give this a 4 based on my quasi-criticisms but I then realised I had listened to this three times in a row and only skipped the last song on repeats. I think it would be dishonest to rank it lower given that.
Highlights: All I Really Want, You Oughta Know, Right Through You, Forgiven, Ironic
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Both sides of this album open with great tracks, the tone is consistent throughout. That tone, you might ask? Articles about this album talk about how it reflects the 'down-beaten', 'downtrodden', 'ragged' and 'defeated' feeling of America and the working class at the time. It is amazing what a massive fuckin cry denizens of Empire will have when they lose a war to the Vietnamese and find out their politicians might not be angels.
This is the album that made Springsteen a superstar. It is on here because the title track is magnificent, and the leadup/release of this album was subject to a media frenzy. This album was a moment in and of itself both for music and American culture.
Context aside, the album is good. It is clear why Springsteen blew up after this, the songs mix being sappy and bombastic in a way that throws me off, but it works. Side A opens with Thunder Road and the tracks that follow it are good, albeit a little forgettable apart from Backstreets, this song is great.
Side B opens with the title track and this is the main event, this song fucks. This album took forever to record and Springsteen agonised over the production and it really pays off on this song. It is lush and over-the-top but so well-constructed that you can't help but be in awe. The lyrics here are the peak of Springsteen's poetry, some of the other songs are a bit TOO on the nose and verbose.
This album is musically great but one of my issues with 'Heartland Rock' is that it relies too much on the listener to share in this idyllic, overly-optimistic and naïve view of what America 'should' be. A collective mass hysteria of small town main streets, blue denim and a thorough whitewashing of the horror that is the American Empire.
Shoutout to Clarence Clemons on saxophone and Roy Bittan on the keyboard, without them this album would be a sappy, drab series of decent poems. Their performance here elevates Springsteen's poetry and makes this album special.
The state assembly of New Jersey wanted to vote to have Born to Run as the state song, this did not pass the senate however probably because someone bothered to read the lyrics before they realised that this song, much like pretty much everything else Springsteen wrote, is about escaping New Jersey.
New Jersey is still the only state without an official state song.
Highlights: Thunder, Road, Backstreets, Born to Run, Jungleland
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
Probably fairly heavy for the time it was released, but really this felt like the musical equivalent reading a novel as part of an academic syllabus rather than something you actually want to read. Kicks was good, Side B was better than Side A and it didn't exactly get better on repeat listens.
Highlights: Kicks, Get It On
Mercury Rev
3/5
Fun, enjoyable but a little forgettable. Perhaps with time and repeated listens this will get better but apart from a few flashes of brilliance there wasn't a great deal here that stood out to me. Special mention to Goddess on a Hiway, a personal favourite song of mine but not enough to push this any higher than a 3.
Highlights: Holes, I Collect Coins, Goddess on a Hiway
The Residents
1/5
This is what my nervous "I had ten different cocktails at work drinks" hangovers feel like. I'm sure this album has inspired some good music but whatever, this is ass.
Creepy fuckin spongebob night terror music.
Highlights: the fact that this is only 33 minutes
Nine Inch Nails
5/5
"How are you tonight? Having a good time? Ready to party, have fun? Well, that was the last guys, wrong fucking band. We are here to have a bad time."
This is the second CD I ever bought when I got my car (first being ABBA Gold). I don't have the words to exactly articulate how much I love this album but put simply, I wouldn't have HEALTH or Deftones without NIN. As much as I adore Johnny Cash, I really do think this is the better version of Hurt.
Can't think of many other albums that foster such a hateful atmosphere it is truly wonderful to listen to something so sincerely grim and angsty. Parts of this album feel cathartic in the same way that a lobotomy would be and I am very happy to own good headphones to listen to this on. One of the easiest fives that I have given during this project.
Also on a repeat listen of this album, I found that it really elevated the experience of browsing /r/kitchencels.
Highlights: Mr. Self Destruct, Piggy, Closer, A Warm Place, Reptile, The Downward Spiral, Hurt
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
I have heard the hits from this album so many times that I was very surprised to realise they're all on the same album. Not because I doubted CCR's ability to make a great album but because of the variety of musical style here. I find it hard to believe that Run Through The Jungle is on the same album as something like Long as I Can See the Light.
The guys from CCR were indeed not born in the bayou, these 'good ol' boys' were actually from San Francisco. But unlike that Italian guy who pretended to be Native American and made a career out of it, this music is phenomenal regardless of its 'authenticity' (the Eagles copped the same shit, but The Dude from the Big Lebowski didn't have a cassette of theirs in his car, CURIOUS).
I'm going to end my rambling, this is an amazing album.
AC/DC
2/5
Two sides of the same three songs, the only way to distinguish them is how many times you have heard them on Triple M, in a auto parts retailer, at a garage, during the footy or at a gathering where the mean age is above 40.
I didn't need to listen to this more than once, I have heard the hits here more times in my life than I would like and of the deep cuts Let Me Put My Love into You might be the stupidest name for a song I have ever heard.
It's a fine album but whenever I hear these guys on the radio the prospect of dying in a car crash becomes comforting.
Highlights: Shoot to Thrill
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Ever since I saw someone say that all reggae sounds the same, I can't help but agree. It's not necessarily a bad thing, there are definitely far worse genres of music. This is a bit more sombre than I had expected which was welcome. Frankly, I don't have a lot to say about the album other than appreciating the social commentary in the lyrics and some nice instrumental tracks (guitar on Baby We've Got a Date comes to mind).
It's a good album but it's not making me a reggae fan anytime soon.
Highlights: Concrete Jungle, Baby We've Got a Date (Rock It Baby), Stir It Up
Traffic
2/5
I'm going to be honest this was really boring. This is on here because Steve Winwood is on here. It's well-performed and very chill, coming in at a merciful 34 minutes. Despite its length, this dragged for me and did not improve on a repeat listen.
Highlights: Glad
Arcade Fire
3/5
I thought the first half of this album had some really silly names, then I saw it was written about the Ice Storm of 1998 which got me reading about it. Turns out that there was a study done on pregnant women who endured the storm and that the impacts of a severe natural disaster can lead to lower cognitive and language abilities among their kids. There is no joke here, I just thought this was interesting.
Listening to the actual Neighborhood/Ice Storm suite was, unfortunately, marginally less interesting than it was to read about the event that inspired it. I did enjoy this album more than the other Arcade Fire album (Suburbs). This is a very impressive effort considering it's a debut.
My appreciation grew on a second listen, but I really couldn't push this beyond a light seven. There are a couple of standout tracks here in the second half, the first half is well-made but frankly I don't see myself going out of my way to listen to this again other than curiosity for the Ice Storm suite.
Highlights: Crown of Love, Rebellion (Lies), In the Backseat
King Crimson
5/5
The album that arguably defines prog rock is a debut effort? That's wild. There isn't a lot to say about an album that approaches perfection. Iconic album art (the only painting done by the artist who tragically died very shortly after), genre-defining hits and about as influential to music as it gets. An easy 5.
Highlights: The whole thing but especially The Court of the Crimson King
The Divine Comedy
1/5
A concept album where the concept is getting laid and I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a comedy album or not. This reminds me of Moore-era Bond, but without the charm of Roger Moore. I hate the skits on this album, it makes me feel embarrassed to start playing this and also makes me thankful for headphones.
There are some albums on this list that are bad, but at least I am interested in what they're trying to do even if I think it's bad. I don't remember the last time I checked how many songs are left or how long I have to go. I probably should have liked this considering some of the slop I regularly listen to but this was ass.
Highlights: In & Out of Paris & London
Black Sabbath
4/5
RIP Ozzy
The first album of Black Sabbath's I ever went out of my way to listen to because a girl I met at an Iron Maiden concert recommended it to me and I was super keen on her so I listened to it a bunch (you can guess how this ended).
That was ten years ago and now it's time to revisit it (along with all my trauma-blocked embarrassing memories)! Overall, it's not exactly what you expect from a metal album with my two favourite tracks being the soft ones (Changes and Laguna Sunrise). The variety here is what makes this a great album. Rather than being a one-track metal/rock album, the band experiment and change things up. Sometimes this even happens on the same song (Wheels of Confusion and Under the Sun feel like they're frankenstein'ed together in the best way possible).
The original title for this album was Snowblind, owing to the fact that these guys were consuming marching powder by the kilo during its making. Whatever they paid for all of that, it was well worth it.
Highlights: Wheels of Confusion, Changes, Supernaut, Laguna Sunrise, Under the Sun
Coldplay
2/5
Have you ever met anyone who says they really like Coldplay?
Personally, I have never voluntarily listened to them until. I have always associated it with shopping centres, advertisements, corporate videos and presentations. Music that you are forced to consume.
The nicest thing I can say about this album is that Clocks reminds me of my childhood. I'm not particularly interested in wasting my energy on ragging on this. It's boring and forgettable and really the only reason that the one highlight I have stands out to me is because I have heard it so many times. The Scientist is the other 'good' song on here but like the rest of the album, I guarantee you if I had never heard any of these songs before I wouldn't have been able to pick it out from the rest of the tracklist.
Politik is a decent opening track and gave me a glimmer of hope that this would actually be a good album. This the glimmer of hope was cut short by the next song much like the same glimmer of that the liberal "rules-based international order" and "end of history" would last ironically enough by the same event that inspired the writing of Politik.
Highlights: Clocks
Elvis Presley
4/5
No skips, consistent quality with a few belters. Not a whole lot to say about Elvis that many people much smarter and more eloquent than me have already said. The dilemma for me here is whether to review this with the original track listing or the one with Suspicious Minds on it. If it were the former, I'd give this a strong 3. However, as the latter includes probably my third most sung song at karaoke, I'll be reviewing that version instead.
Highlights: I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms), Long Black Limousine, In the Ghetto, Suspicious Minds
Parliament
4/5
Prior to this my only exposure to Parliament/Funkadelic was through the show Tales From The Tour Bus (HIGHLY recommend) and they were on the soundtrack to True Crime: Streets of LA. A wholly groovy album that doesn't take itself too seriously. Which is about what I expected from them.
The talent on display here is unquestionable and you can tell that the band had a lot of fun making this. It is undoubtedly FUNKY, as the album itself lets the listener know many times. I enjoyed listening to this but only one of the songs really stands out to me is the second last track which I found myself rewinding and coming back to. Overall, this album is great but it lacks the juice to bring it to a 5 for me.
Highlights: Unfunky UFO, Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)
Cornershop
1/5
What a fucking joke. The biggest hit on this album (and of Cornershop's entire career) is Brimful of Asha. This honestly felt like torture. There have been a few albums in this project that have been painful to listen to and this is one of them. A repetitive chorus of nonsense. Music is supposed to make you feel something? I feel like setting myself on fire.
Chocolat is is arguably the most evil song on here as it represents that the band are capable of making decent music, but it's sandwiched between awful fucking music. The rest of this album can be described as repetitive riffs, hamfisted sitars and bongos, dogshit vocals and a guest appearance from king of the hacks Allen Ginsberg.
It's Indian Tobacco My Friend is a genuinely good song and you have to wade through chest-high toxic sludge to get to it. It doesn't belong on this album and is the only thing here that comes close to being a reason that this album is on here.
It's been a long time since an album pissed me off in this project but by golly it's happened again. 54 minutes of dogshit. The most notable thing on this album's Wikipedia page is that the song Candy was in a nike commercial. The Norwegian Wood cover is fine but really who gives a shit this album is boring as fuck. I can appreciate the artistic merit in an Indian guy singing this song of all songs but really this album lost all its appeal to me around What Is Happening? (what a great question) this shit blows.
"The band also toured Europe with Beck, Stereolab and Oasis." I reacted to this sentence the same way as Ethan Hawke' character in First Reformed.
Highlights: It's Indian Tobacco My Friend
Ray Price
4/5
I haven't heard many albums that have a personal thank you (at least not at the very start) so I was immediately impressed by its charm. I haven't heard of Ray Price before and I'm worse-off for it, this man has such a beautiful voice.
I can see myself giving this album a spin anytime, it has a few standouts for me (especially the title track and Are You Sure). There are a few tracks here which are rather forgettable, even on repeat listens I found I just couldn't place them, but overall this is a great. This is one of those albums I don't think I would have encountered in my life without this project and I'm happy to be reviewing it now.
Highlights: Night Life, Lonely Street, Sittin' and Thinkin', Are You Sure
The Teardrop Explodes
3/5
Listenable, but no matter how many times I gave this a spun really nothing here stuck out to me and if I didn't take notes during my listens I probably wouldn't have a highlight list. Having said that, only the big hit here stuck out to me. This is definitely on here only because Blur and Morrissey cited them as an inspiration which is whatever, I can only complain about this bullshit so many times (I will continue to complain).
Highlights: Reward
Bob Dylan
3/5
I was inspired to write a full review and post it after listening to just the first side. My initial review compared this album to my grandmother’s experience of famine during WW2. The second side wasn’t much better but the third and fourth sides are genuinely very, very good.
I thought that I would come back and listen to the first two sides with a new appreciation.
No, it still sucks.
I was so put off this album by the opening track, a cacophony of rambling and harmonica. This is the mission statement for a lot of the songs on the first two sides.
The third and fourth sides are just nice, I would give this a four or a five if it were just these but alas I have to lump it in with the fucking chore that was the first two sides. Is it a shit test? Am I the recipient of a poorly-told (or slurred, if you’re singing like Dylan) joke from 59 years ago?
Highlights: I Want You, Just Like a Woman, Fourth Time Around, Obviously Five Believers, Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
Joy Division
5/5
This is, at one point, every wanker’s favourite shirt (myself included).
When I think of post-punk, Joy Division is the first thing I think of. My only complaint about this album is that is isn't Closer. Iconic album art, Ian Curtis' distinct voice, Peter Hook's magnificent bass. I love everything about this, on the same side the songs can go from danceable to dramatic and dour. Beyond the musical merit of the album this kickstarted a whole musical and cultural movement.
The fact that we lose people like Ian Curtis, Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley while Oasis are performing reunion tours that God not only has a sense of humour, but is a miserable bastard.
Highlights: Disorder, Day of the Lords, Insight, New Dawn Fades, Shadowplay, Wilderness, I Remember Nothing
Sister Sledge
3/5
When I listen to the title track, all I can think of is the scene of Gene Hackman doing drag in Birdcage, what a great fucking movie. Alternatively, I think of many cringey work and school events where this played in the background.
Apart from that, the title track is the only real standout on here. The rest of this is very serviceable disco music so if you are having a 70s themed dress-up party I suppose you could put this on if you found it at an opshop. The deep cuts here are good, surprisingly so, but not enough for this album to warrant more than a couple of spins for this project.
Highlights: We Are Family
Joe Ely
5/5
It is shocking how listenable this is. Every song has its own charm and special twist to it. I listened to this five times without taking any notes, just soaking it in. This album does make me a little bitter that there isn't a lot more of this kind of thing on here. The autoplay afterwards gave me some more of Ely's work and this guy just doesn't miss, how have I slept on him all my life?
Would it kill this bloke to wear some shoes though?
Highlights: Basically every song, side A is slightly better though
Faust
2/5
If, before I started this project, that fans of this band would criticise this album for being 'sellout' and too palatable, I would not have believed you. The opener is good, the rest of these songs range from goofy to experimental (read: shit). The one with the really long name in German is pretty cool too.
At least it isn't Throbbing Gristle.
Highlights: Krautrock
Iron Maiden
5/5
I cannot imagine how many people gave Iron Maiden a listen because of their album art, I would guess it's responsible for 90% of their fanbase.
I obsessed over Iron Maiden as a teenager, this album in particular. I don't think it's their best work (that would be Powerslave) but in no way is that a criticism. There are no skips on this album, and the second half of the album is loaded with hits, containing arguably the best song of their entire discography in Hallowed Be Thy Name.
There is no scenario in which I give this anything less than a 5, even as 15ish years have passed since I first heard this and as my music taste has evolved (debatable), I will always have a fondness for Iron Maiden and I don't give a shit how corny that makes me.
Highlights: All of it, up the irons
The Temptations
4/5
Both easy listening and socially conscious music, a great combo. However, despite being only 34 minutes long I found that only three songs really stuck out (one for extremely juvenile reasons). The standouts here are really Papa Was A Rollin' Stone and The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face). The former is what I know the Temptations best for and is an INSANELY good single, the latter is best performed by Roberta Flack (RIP) but this version absolutely blew me away when I heard it. The other tracks here aren't that memorable but I'm not gonna lie to you and say I didn't listen to this five times in a row. This was fantastic.
Highlights: Papa Was A Rollin' Stone, The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face)
Thin Lizzy
4/5
Prior to this, I didn’t think that much of Thin Lizzy. I knew their big hits and didn’t mind them. After listening to this, I was absolutely charmed by Phil Lynott and I was absolutely blown away by the highlights on here.
It’s not the best live album I’ve ever heard but goddamn this is very entertaining. There are a couple of transitions here that are insane and the limited chatter from Lynott is very fun, especially the one at the start of Emerald.
Highlights: Jailbreak, Emerald, Still In Love With You, Cowboy Song, The Boys Are Back In Town, Suicide
The Cure
3/5
A difficult one for me to score out of five. In terms of atmosphere, this album is basically a dark cathedral of sound. As for standout tracks, there are a couple of highlights. Unfortunately this album sort of blends together in the middle. Perhaps every song being as depressing and gloomy as the last one was the cause. It's good, but it's not reaching the heights of something like Disintegration.
Highlights: One Hundred Years, Cold
Jane's Addiction
4/5
Loved the first Jane's Addiction album I heard on this project and had high hopes going into this. The highs of this album reach the same level as Nothing's Shocking and the group's style has evolved in the three years between this album and that one.
However, a couple of the songs on here really bring it down. Been Caught Stealing and Of Course are by far the weakest songs on here and I nearly skipped both of them on a first listen, and would come to skip them on repeat listens.
Overall, there's a lot of stuff here that I liked from Nothing's Shocking and I found myself getting REALLY what's good here.
Highlights: Stop!, Obvious, Three Days, Classic Girl
Funkadelic
4/5
Shoutout to Gary Shider and Mike Hampton for being the 'Throbbasonic Funkgeetarists' who carried this album, the shredding on this was unreal. It is a supremely listenable album, I would wager you to find me a bad Parliament/Funkadelic album.
The vibe of the album is great, slightly less goofy than Mothership Connection and I was able to gel with this much more. To be completely frank, I enjoyed side A but was pretty nonplussed. Side B was much better and the bonus tracks that came after it really confirmed this for a very strong 4/5.
Fantastic album, makes me want to go back and watch the Parliament/Funkadelic episodes of Tales From The Tour Bus (a show, along with Kenny vs Spenny, that I will never stop pestering every single person I know to watch)
Highlights: Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad (The Doo Doo Chasers), P.E. Squad/Doo Doo Chasers
Meat Loaf
3/5
Theatre kid album. This was pretty good at first, very bombastic and full-throttle. As the album continued, I found myself getting tired of it. The first two songs are great, especially the second track. By the time it gets to Paradise by the Dashboard Light, I am ready to stop listening.
The original song was supposed to be 27 minutes? Yeah I bet it was just an additional 20 minutes of baseball commentary. Jesus fucking Christ. 'kitchen sink rockabilly' is the best way to describe this song.
I need to be in the right mood for this, I can't just throw this on at anytime. This would be great for a roadtrip with likeminded (drunk) people or in a an environment with enough stimuli to distract me from focusing on the finer details of the album (being drunk).
One good half, one admittedly shit half. I'm feeling generous so it gets a 3.
Furthermore, I am finding it difficult to not make a link between how indulgent this album is and the artist's physique.
I'm choosing to be the bigger man.
Highlights: You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)
Bad Company
4/5
This is real dadrock. None of this 'divorced dad rock' bullshit that so many people bang on about. Creed, Alice in Chains, whatever other small fry shit you wanna label. THIS is real dad rock. Those other bands only know of a simulacrum of pain, bands like THIS lived through real pain (lead poisoning).
What kind of music is dadrock exactly? It's something that's best communicated through concepts:
A car that smells like cigarettes, a warm can of beer, a Tommy Bahama shirt and asics, knees that don't work and a hairline that hasn't been within 5cm of your eyebrows since the Berlin Wall was standing.
This is the musical equivalent of a carvery. It's functional, it's straightforward and it's popular with guys who are about to have 20-40 beers in a few hours.
Regardless, it's a meat-and-potatoes hard rock album. The first half meanders until it gets into a groove with Ready For Love. Really only track one side A could be considered bad, even then it's a mid song. The album peaks on side B with the title track and The Way I Choose. The second half is much better and I found myself getting excited for it on repeat listens.
Overall, a very solid album with one hell of a hit in the title track.
Highlights: Bad Company, The Way I Choose
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
My parents love Buena Vista Social Club, I grew up listening to this throughout my childhood. I don't think it's a perfect album but the vibe is immaculate, and frankly I cannot give any kind of objective review.
Cuba has one of the highest doctor-to-patient ratios in the world, providing universal healthcare that is the envy of many developed nations, all completely free at the point of service.
Following its revolution, Cuba eradicated illiteracy in a single year. Its literacy rate of over 99% is on par with global superpowers, achieved despite a crippling embargo.
While powerful nations drop bombs, Cuba sends doctors. Its "army of white coats" has provided disaster relief and medical aid to victims around the world, from Pakistan to Haiti to Italy during COVID-19.
This small island, under a relentless economic war, has developed its own world-class biotechnology industry and produced five COVID-19 vaccines, sharing them globally.
Despite decades of pressure, Cuba's vibrant and unique culture—from music to art to dance—has not only survived but thrived, influencing the entire world.
The U.S. blockade of Cuba is the longest sanctions regime in modern history, deliberately designed to cause hunger and despair to force political change. It's a blatant act of economic terrorism against a sovereign nation.
The U.S. has attempted to assassinate Fidel Castro over 600 times using farcical methods like exploding cigars and poisoned wetsuits, showcasing a blatant disregard for international law and other nations' sovereignty.
The U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay is a global symbol of torture, indefinite detention without trial, and human rights abuses, operating for over two decades in defiance of international condemnation.
The U.S. record in Latin America is a blood-soaked history of orchestrating coups, propping up murderous dictatorships, and crushing democratic movements (Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua, Brazil) to protect its corporate and political interests.
The U.S. military-industrial complex fuels perpetual warfare, dropping over 300,000 bombs on other countries since 2001 and creating millions of refugees, all while its own citizens lack basic rights like healthcare and housing.
In short: Cuba, a small island, prioritizes its people and global solidarity. The U.S. empire prioritizes power, control, and profit, enforcing its will through economic starvation, covert violence, and open warfare.
Hasta la victoria siempre!
Ms. Dynamite
1/5
This was competently performed but left absolutely no impression on me. Not my bag.
I really wanted to give up during Watch Over Them. There are some fun instrumentals on here to focus on to get you through the album.
Perhaps its my loathing of everything from the early 00s that prevented me from listening to this. But I would rather listen to some dogshit experimental 'masterpiece' than sit through this boring Frutiger Aero, pre-GFC schlock.
Elvis Costello
4/5
Two big hits and a bunch of very bitter, well-written tunes. It's a tight 36 minutes and while all of the songs here don't reach the highs of the highlights, it's a consistently good album. I wouldn't come back to a lot of these songs outside of a full album listen.
But hell if I won't listen to Watching the Detectives until I get sick of it entirely. Only for about a week then I'm back to listening to it on repeat again. I love this fucking song SO much. Reminds me of one of the most irresponsible times of my life in the best way possible.
Overall, it's great but I can't give it a 5 just because it has an absolute belter of a closer.
Highlights: Welcome to the Working Week, Alison, Watching the Detectives
David Bowie
3/5
It's good, don't get me wrong. It's a unique sound and totally different to The Man Who Sold the World and Ziggy Stardust which came out either side of this. But I'm not rating albums on novelty here. Frankly, apart from the two big hits on this album (which don't need to be named) there isn't a lot to grab you here.
Multiple listens left me with an appreciation for some of the deep cuts here but between Life on Mars? and Queen Bitch there isn't a great deal here that makes me want to listen to the whole album rather than just the things I like.
Highlights: Changes, Life on Mars?, The Bewlay Brothers
Gillian Welch
3/5
A mixed bag, some high points on here. Much like a drive out west, it's quite long and can begin to blend together. The Last track would have been a highlight for me if it weren't so long and repetitive.
After a few listens I can safely say this is not best experienced while at your boring office job. It's not a casual listen and asks a bit more from the listener. I don't think it's a perfect album and there are a few skips on here but it's well-made, charming and Welch's vocals are next level. If it were a lot of other artists I think I would outright hate some of the tracks on here.
Highlights: Revelator, April the 14th Part 1, Everything Is Free
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
The first song excited me because the tuba line sounded like the Papers, Please intro song (shoutout to Nick Hitchens for playing the tuba on this track). There is a (deliberate?) dissonance on this song which is present on many of the songs on this album between the monotone and dreary lead vocals and the bombastic and lively instrumentation. It could have worked well, but it sounded like the musical version of that smudged-up Spanish painting of Jesus.
The pedigree of the producer and performer really makes me feel like this album should have been better. Unfortunately, there are very few engaging songs on here.
It's not unlistenable, but it's also not re-listenable.
Highlights: Oh What a World
The Flaming Lips
4/5
Pleasant. Took me a few cracks of listening to this to be in the right mood for it but it is a well-crafted album. Each time a song didn't quite land with me, the following song would knock me off my feet. Got better on each listen. Far from perfect but very enjoyable and not at all what I expected! Was originally a solid 3 but as the album grew on me I settled on a 4.
Highlights: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1, Do You Realise??, Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia)
The Velvet Underground
3/5
While the influence of the Velvet Underground cannot be overstated, I am finding it difficult to marry up that fact with the reality of what I'm listening to. Sure, the big songs on here are good, and maybe a couple of deep cuts I haven't heard before.
But the majority of this stuff is repetitive and forgettable. The enjoyment I got from the delightful surprise that is After Hours is massively outweighed by having to sit through stuff like The Murder Mystery.
5/5 for influence, 2/5 for how boring this was outside of the highlights. This album is really carried by 3-4 songs.
Highlights: Candy Says, Pale Blue Eyes, After Hours
George Harrison
5/5
A mammoth album. I was not able to listen to all of this in one sitting over the three days that I sat on this album. I was going to deduct points from this for being so long originally, but this album is too good. Not only is this full of genuine bangers but even the 'filler' here has no skips.
It's easy to look at the length and be put off, but when you consider this as catharsis for all of the years that Harrison was sidelined as a writer by Lennon and McCartney you can't really blame the guy for pouring out all his ideas into one FANTASTIC album.
Highlights: I'd Have You Anytime, My Sweet Lord, Wah-Wah, Isn't It a Pity, What Is Life, If Not For You, Beware of Darkness, All Things Must Pass
Nanci Griffith
3/5
A serviceable country/folk album. Frankly, nothing here stands out to me aside from the last track on the album. A nice length, a lovely listen but not necessarily what's gonna come to mind for me when I think of country music that I like. The most notable thing about this album was that it reminded me of the smell of the industrial oils and butters they use to cook hot food at the ice rink I went to when I was a kid. So that was a nice memory.
Highlights: The Wing and the Wheel
Supergrass
3/5
Prior to this, I had only listened to I Should Coco which is an entirely unremarkable album in all aspects except for the feelings of hatred and rage that seep into my mind palace when I think of it. I listened to that album like Jesus listening to Satan in the desert (of britpop). This may have soured my feelings towards the album and perhaps I should go back and listen to it with a clearer mind.
I went into this expecting to despise it. Unfortunately, there will be no rage-fuelled negative review today. It's good. It's actually quite good.
"In 1998, Q readers voted it the 68th greatest album of all time, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 57 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever."
I wouldn't say it's quite *that* good though.
Highlights: In It for the Money, Sun Hits the Sky, It's Not Me
Paul McCartney and Wings
3/5
On its own, a great album but there are just some songs that hold me back from giving it any more than a 4. Both sides are bookended by great tracks but the second half just drags. Not an album that grew on me with repeat listens.
Getting this after All Things Must Pass feels a bit unfair. It's a fine album but it doesn't hold a candle to what Harrison achieved on his first proper solo venture. I guess the real novelty here was realising that Christopher Lee is on the album cover.
Highlights: Band on the Run, Mamunia, Let Me Roll It
Nick Drake
4/5
A delightful and charming album. The album feels quite lean and bare, no superfluous instruments or fancy production, simple in the same way that orange juice only has one ingredient on the label. Gripping from start to finish with a couple of songs that don't quite hit the same highs as the highlights.
The simple instrumentation contrasts the lyricism well, which increased my enjoyment of the album as I paid more attention on repeat listens. Nick Drake has a unique, melancholic voice and I can't think of many artists who could deliver these lines with the same sincerity or weight. I can't give it a perfect score but it comes quite close to a 5, a joy to listen to.
Highlights: Time Has Told Me, 'Cello Song, Saturday Sun
Beck
2/5
The production is good, it's a novel album and plays around a lot with samples and instrumentation. It also just happens to be boring as fuck. I can appreciate the craftsmanship that went into it and clearly there was some fun and creative collaboration between Beck and the Dust Brothers.
There's a lot of ideas and sounds that are explored in this, it hops from genre to genre and frankly all it does is make me wish it would just stick to one. If you were generous you would describe this as eclectic.
This is my second Beck album in this project, I cannot remember the first one. I didn't particularly enjoy this one and I am not looking forward to the next one. It's really just not my thing.
Highlights: High 5 (Rock the Catskills)
Einstürzende Neubauten
3/5
Wow nothing says industrial music quite like literal fucking construction equipment in my ears. Honest to God more albums just need to have LOUD AS FUCK POWER TOOLS interspersed in them (shoutout U-Haft-Muzak). These noises are included not for any particular reason other than to fuck with people like how Citizen Kane has that screaming parrot in it to wake up anyone who may have fallen asleep.
One of the songs is literally called HEARING PAIN (LISTEN WITH PAIN) and it was the part of the album where I thought I was going to have a nosebleed. Shoutout to the scream at the end of Negativ Nein, that shit rocked.
After listening to this: I get it, after so many nothing albums that elicited no reaction from me whatsoever, I get it. This is *something*. It is undeniably shit. This is an abandoned Salvation Army shop that was burned down. But in sifting through the charred wreckage, amongst the debris you can find some nifty things that you can take with you.
That's exactly how I see this album. You can see this as the progenitor DNA for a lot of musical acts that came after it. It's not good music, and frankly it gets corny when it attempts to do something that is approaching listenable music. If I had heard this at 15 I would be playing this over voice chat on Garry's Mod. God bless this retarded album.
I am conflicted in giving this a positive score though, it's influential and fucking hilarious but doesn't mean I will be giving this a spin regularly. I enjoyed this far more than Throbbing Gristle and Public Image Limited, maybe it's the Croatian half of me giving these guys a free pass for being German or it's my Serbian side that makes me a masochist.
It does make me sad that I no longer have this to look forward to on this list anymore. It sat in the lowest rated section of this website like a portent of doom or more accurately like a cartoon anvil on a wire. Listening to this was objectively enjoyable but now that it's over what else is there to look forward to? Kid Rock? Everything else is small fry compared to these German psychos.
I certainly won't forget this anytime soon, for better or worse.
Highlights: Kollaps
Morrissey
4/5
After exhausting all of the Smiths albums, it is now time to work our way through Moz’s solo work which, for some inexplicable reason, outnumbers the Smiths albums in this book.
Regardless, You Are The Quarry is his comeback album and did quite well in Terf Island, and for good reason. On my first listen, I thought it was strange to hear how Moz’s voice had changed between Strangeways and this. I also thought it was strange to hear his voice without jangle pop production.
By the end of track two, this feeling goes away entirely. Moz proves that he’s his own artist, and is capable of making a captivating and compelling record. The lyrics are cringe but I love this shit, I really do. I am a massive crywank loser and I kill for music like this. He is still able to write lyrics truly like nobody else, for better or worse.
I really expected this to just be a Smiths album without Marr’s guitar but I was very happy to hear that it’s its own thing. The album is consistently good with a few tracks that I looked forward to on each listen. I just don’t like it enough to give it the same score as the Queen Is Dead, though it’s a bit backloaded. Apart from that, it’s a phenomenal album.
Highlights: I’m Not Sorry, First of the Gang to Die, Let Me Kiss You
John Lennon
4/5
As far as Beatles solo albums, it is safe to say that Lennon's were probably the most influential. If this project has taught me anything it's that influential and good are not synonyms. I can appreciate this album for how I can see traces of it in music that I like, I can imagine that this would be included in one of those online lists like 'your favourite artist's favourite albums'.
At first, I did not gel that much with the lean production here, I thought most of Side A was alright, with Mother and Isolation being the standouts (Working Class Hero is not that good). Love is the song that really sold me on this album. I don't like using this word, but Lennon's voice really is iconic and it's songs like this that make me really love him as an artist.
John Lennon really should have gone to a real therapist and not just primal scream therapy. Having said that, I am glad he decided to make this album instead of seeking out an actual professional to help him work through what is a tumultuous and rough life. As a fan of Roger Waters, it would be extremely hypocritical for me to rag on this for being a therapy session put to music.
This has no bearing on my score but in my notes I wrote that Well Well Well reminds me of Rock and Roll Pt 2 by Gary Glitter.
Highlights: Isolation, Love, God
Cream
4/5
A psych-rock album that eventually evolves back into a blues album. I really enjoyed Side A but felt the last track felt a bit like that joke 60s song from Spinal Tap that they show in a flash back. Side B is solid, with some amazing drumming on We're Going Wrong after which the album returns to a solid blues sound. Making the last song on the album a joke song when the album is only 36 minutes long is bold, I didn't really care for it though.
It's a great album with some really big hits, one of which would go on to be one of my favourite needle drops in all of cinema. When Jimmy whacks all of the Lufthansa heist guys in Goodfellas while Sunshine of Your Love plays.
Highlights: Strange Brew, Sunshine of Your Love, SWLABR
A Tribe Called Quest
2/5
Shoutout to the jazz bass player on this, really the star of the show. It's clear from listening to this that Check the Rhime is the standout track and did well as a single. The album has good moments, but most of the time I found myself zoning out. I don't have a valid criticism for this other than to say that despite listening to this three times I really wasn't able to interface with this for no reason other than the simple fact I found it boring.
It was a novel listen at first, but this isn't the sort of album I would go out of my way to listen to. I can see this playing in a cafe or at some 'vinyl bar' where they pretend to play an actual LP but it's just spotify on an expensive PA system where a shitty excuse for a cocktail is 28 dollars and its really just a gin and tonic with food colouring.
Highlights: Check the Rhime
2/5
At the time of writing this is the seventh worst rated album on the website. I don't think that's fair. I don't think this is a great album, but I really don't think this is as bad as some of the forgettable 90s slop I have been subjected to. Whereas a lot of albums seem to have no mission statement or raison d'etre other than to make money, this one wants to create a vibe. The vibe is being sent home in a taxi from a night out by your friends because you are a mess and you're fighting off the urge to vomit while late night top 40 radio plays.
It is an interesting experience. I find it hard to write my thoughts about it, outside of what I described two lines ago, I really don't have any particularly strong feelins towards this album. It is certainly evocative and I can appreciate it for being art that gets a reaction out of me, but I don't think I will listen to this again.
Highlights: We Fenced Other Gardens with the Bones of Our Own
The Monks
2/5
Pretty good for a bunch of army guys blowing off steam. My main criticism is a question: was this guy the best singer they had in the group or was that the style they were going for? A couple of good songs on here but nothing that is going to make me come back to this.
Highlights: I Hate You
Scissor Sisters
2/5
This is impressive as a debut album but I wasn't thrilled by it. Plastic, new-millennium, knock-off disco. I have never been so non-plussed listening to music that is very clearly supposed to evoke a feeling of fun. The cover of Comfortably Numb wasn't very good but at least they gave it a new spin rather than doing a straight (har har har) cover. As far as genres go, all the disco influence in this reminds me how much I would rather be listening to actual disco.
Ramones
2/5
Picking a highlight song from this album seems pointless as they're more or less all the same song. If my score was measured by cultural and musical impact this would score top marks as throughout my life I have been unable to escape Blitzkrieg Bop, I fucking hate that song. It does serve as a good sign that if it is in a piece of media or a movie trailer that those involved in making this are lazy and creatively bankrupt so I can save myself sometime and avoid it.
Despite a lean runtime of 29 minutes, it feels extremely bloated. I am glad that basically every musical act that cites these guys as an inspiration are better than this.
Highlights: Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Opens with one of the biggest singles the band Led Zeppelin ever made, arguably one of the defining songs of 20th century rock. After that, the album becomes a much more intimate affair than you would think if you only know that Immigrant Song was on this album. The band play with a number of genres here and while instrumentally the band can navigate these changes with ease, I am not sure that Plant's vocals do as good of a job moving between musical styles. However that last point is probably just my personal distaste for Plant's vocals. Put nicely, I think they are a bit much but on a song like Since I've Been Loving You it's basically perfect. It is difficult to overstate the mammoth impact that LZ have had and I fully expected to listen to this and come away unimpressed but it is a clear demonstration of why they are the quintessential rock and roll act of the 20th century. Though no song comes close to the barrage that is the opening track, they don't have to. They have done the hard rocking thing on the last two albums and their foray into other genres pays off here.
A great album, and one that you truly do need to listen to before you die.
I have always thought this album cover looks like total ass, though.
Highlights: Immigrant Song, Since I've Been Loving You, Tangerine
Eminem
1/5
Like a pizza cutter: all edge, no point. Is there a word for bad nostalgia? Because I cannot seem for the life of me to put on rose-tinted glasses when looking back at the 2000s. I grew up with this album and Eminem in general and frankly I've never enjoyed it nor has it grown on me. Two decades later I am really, really listening to the lyrics and I am sincerely struggling to get through this. "Satirical" rap doesn't excuse how crude and dogshit this is and good production doesn't save this at all. This is 72 minutes long and I needed multiple breaks to get through it.
Corny music enjoyed by dickheads.
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
A really pleasant pop album. Some very clever lyrics and truly great composition especially on My Wandering Days Are Over, the cascading vocals and trumpet work so well together. I was surprised to read that the group had effectively formed during the recording of this album since it has such a clear direction with its sound and style. There are a couple of minor gripes I have about the album that aren't worth mentioning outside of justifying why I'm not giving this a 5. Supremely chilled, airy and very re-listenable. I am kicking myself for not listening to this much earlier.
Highlights: The State I Am In, Expectations, My Wandering Days Are Over
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
2/5
Standard fare blues music performed by standard fare Englishmen. You've heard better and you've definitely heard more authentic than this. A few good tracks on here but overall it's boring.
And that's without mentioning Enoch Powell's number one fan on guitar.
Highlights: All Your Love, Have You Heard
Talking Heads
5/5
When Talking Heads began, bassist Tina Weymouth describe it as 'Thinking Man's Dance Music'. I really couldn't think of a better way to describe this album, even if it is a bit wanky. Blending together multiple genres, especially afrobeat, this album is a wonderful partnership between Talking Heads and producer Brian Eno. It has their most recognisable single, most famously covered by Kermit the Frog, Once in a Lifetime.
The two sides of this album are remarkably different but are united by their eclectic musical nature. Side A is defined by longer tracks with funky instrumentals and chanting lyrics. Side B is more introspective and there is no real overlap between these songs, they all do their own thing and do it really well. I cannot remember the last time I listened to an album with so much variety and quality.
I came into this thinking that Once in a Lifetime would be my favourite track but I was absolutely blown away by Listening Wind. No skips, no notes, this album is pretty much flawless. I think I could confidently recommend this to absolutely anyone.
Highlights: Crosseyed and Painless, The Great Curve, Once in a Lifetime, Listening Wind, The Overload
Joan Armatrading
4/5
This is the kind of album that I hope for from this project. A great album from an artist I'm unfamiliar with. A great intersection of folk, pop, soul and country. Extremely groovy, poetic and full of energy with an amazing vocal range to boot. No real criticisms but it fell just short of a 5 for me.
Highlights: Water with the Wine, Save Me, Tall in the Saddle
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
An album that that blends dance music and political commentary without ruining either element. A lot of the songs on here could really have just been album filler to support the two massive hits on here but it's certainly much more than that. Not every track is a hit though, the opening track goes on for a bit too long and some of the other tracks have some pretty hammy lyrics, but I suppose that's part of the charm. Unfortunately there are no bonus points for music videos but if there were, this would have gotten a 5 from me. Am I mainly giving this a 4 because I can't stop singing What Have I Done to Deserve This? Yes, and I don't think I need to justify that decision.
Highlights: What Have I Done to Deserve This?, It's a Sin, King's Cross
The National
3/5
Dull in a weirdly pleasant way. Only one song really grabbed me here on multiple listens. The album's production is great, the vocals are good and clearly the band are very talented with a clear vision. It just didn't really land with me. It's a good album, just not my thing.
The vocals sounded familiar, then I read that these guys recorded the Rains of Castamere for Game of Thrones. A fun fact that made me think about how much that show sucked ass from season 5 onwards, but I won't deduct points for that.
Highlights: Little Faith
Kanye West
2/5
Kitchen sink production that is charming at first. Big, recognisable hits that are well-cemented into culture albeit through stupid online memes and the opening of Saints Row 3 are the reason that I know these songs. Outside of those songs, only So Appalled really appealed to me. As for the rest of the album? It's too long, too bloated, over-produced and grating at times. I can't deny the talent of Kanye's production but I really didn't care for this, it gets outright bad towards the end especially on Runaway and Blame Game, the former for the godawful vocoder outro and the latter for the skit at the end both of which compelled me to skip to the next song. No repeat listen on this one, I did not enjoy it.
Highlights: Power, So Appalled
4/5
Has a slow start with the first two tracks but sticks the landing with the last (lengthy) track. The second side continues in much the same fashion. Something that's meant to be listened to in its entirety. My first exposure to War outside of Low Rider. Fantastic album.
Highlights: City, Country, City
The Band
3/5
Pleasant, but boring. Really there is one great song on here mixed in with a lot of folksy, saccharine, Americana lullabies. If I wasn't feeling generous I would give it a 2. Maybe this would grow on me but the peak of excitement on this album for me was seeing the name of the first song and being reminded of a Fallout New Vegas DLC. A shame too, as I quite liked Music From Big Pink and I'm a little disappointed that this album had nowhere near the impression that their debut had on me.
Highlights: Whispering Pines
KISS
2/5
34 minutes with 2 minutes of intro and outro courtesy of Bob Ezrin. Five years before he would work with Roger Waters on the ground-breaking rock opera The Wall, he was here with a whistle around his neck barking at the sex criminals of KISS to learn to play their fucking instruments. Barring that, he would get the guitarist from Alice Cooper who he had worked with previously to come into the studio to just play the guitar on the lullaby Beth.
Detroit Rock City is the only good song on this album. It is a song about a KISS fan who died on the way to a concert. According to the Wikipedia page, details are disputed, it probably didn't happen in Detroit, maybe it didn't happen at all. But this song certainly exists, and it is the single that is singlehandedly responsible for this album getting any sales at all. It's corny as fuck, overplayed and dumb as hell and despite my better judgement I love it.
The only other song I really have anything remotely interesting to say is the lyrics of Do You Love Me make me think that Sean William Scott's character in Role Models, a KISS superfan, should not have been allowed to work with kids, not that any other song in KISS' discography inspires any hope in me that someone who listens to this would be a good parental figure. Having said that my favourite teacher in high school was a KISS superfan who would put on face paint when they came to Australia. But he also grew up with them and described it as "music you could listen to and not get called a poofta".
As for the rest of this album. It's juvenile and repetitive at best, boring and perverted at worst. The aftermath of the sexual liberation movement is that many norms were questioned. Sure, challenging the concepts of abstinence and no sex before marriage is probably a good thing. UNFORTUNATELY, some OTHER concepts were also challenged which, combined with a very liberal attitude towards narcotics and a wave of cocaine abuse in the United States, resulted in the normalisation of paedophilia. This is demonstrated in, well, every fucking lyric in this overproduced piece of shit album. Seriously man, the opening scene in Animal House was a guy contemplating 'fucking the brains out' of a 13yo who had passed out. 'The good old days' my ass, everyone was a fucking nonce.
Four dickheads who dress like clowns, can't sing, can barely play instruments led by a producer who was probably complicit in whatever fucked up shit KISS was doing backstage to any school-aged child who was walking within the vicinity.
Still gets a 2 cause it has Detroit Rock City.
Highlights: Detroit Rock City
Michael Kiwanuka
3/5
An interesting genre melting pot, the end result is groovy if a little boring for my taste. I think this probably would have worked better as an instrumental album. Would definitely not have given this a shot without this list. Pleasant but a little forgettable.
Highlights: Hard to Say Goodbye, Final Days
Peter Gabriel
3/5
A good album, but not flawless. The opener rocks and sets a good, claustrophobic tone for the rest of the album. Unfortunately nothing from the first side really reaches the same high as Intruder. I much preferred Side B, the variety of style here worked a lot better for me particularly the track Lead a Normal Life. I am certainly glad this was shorter than Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, I liked that album but I really don't know if I could deal with this being three times longer. Overall, this was really close to being a 4/5 for me, but considering that I didn't gel with like half the songs on this album but I really like a couple of tracks it's a strong 3.
Highlights: Intruder, Games Without Frontiers, Lead a Normal Life
The Isley Brothers
4/5
A great blend of funk, soul and rock. At times though, you sort of wish that the band had just sort of leaned into the style that they struck with the opener. That Lady really carries the first half of this album, and I suspect they knew it by putting it as Track One, Side A. It is a song that feels like it is going to collapse under its own groove but just keeps going, a supremely listenable track. The cover of Listen to the Music isn’t as good as the original however the lyrics are now comprehensible?
The rest of the album is good, very competently-performed soul/funk the only other track that stood out to me was the cover of Summer Breeze which is a very unique take on a great song and the return of Ernie Isley’s distorted guitar here doesn’t hurt either. I am being a bit too negative here, I enjoyed every track on this album. This isn’t an experimental, groundbreaking album but it has no skips and it’s really, really enjoyable.
Highlights: That Lady, Summer Breeze
Count Basie & His Orchestra
3/5
A very solid big band jazz album, not that I would know a bad jazz album from a good one if it hit me in the face. It’s crisp, energetic, bombastic and lively. I am impressed with the arrangement and the solos are good.
If I am being 100% honest I don’t engage with jazz the way that I do with more mainstream music. I can see why this is highly regarded and the musicianship on display is great but I am finding it difficult to actually critique this album so I am going to make this simple.
I would put this on, not skip any songs, enjoy myself and I’d probably own it on vinyl. Would I pay full price for it or go out of my way to seek it out? Nah.
The White Stripes
3/5
After listening to the opening track I thought it ended abruptly and that it felt like it was missing something. Bass. The entire album is missing bass. I think this is an interesting artistic choice like if I were to walk across the road in summer without any shoes on. A bit harsh yes, but frankly I do not think that Jack White’s vocals are good enough to carry this album without bass.
As the album goes on, I am just kind of non-plussed. It’s very serviceable rock music, I suppose this came out at the peak of overproduced nu metal bullshit and a while after grunge had declined in popularity. In context, it makes sense why this was popular and make the White Stripes so big. I am trying to keep this in mind because I think on its own this album is kind of boring.
It's impressive what the duo can do on their own, and reading that the production was intentionally rushed is cool and all but if you are judging albums based on that then this does not hold a candle to something like the Koln Concert. Seems like it would have paid off more if they had just produced it like a normal album. Then it wouldn’t be garage rock? Who cares, I have spent enough time writing about this. Side B is better than Side A but not enough for me to say this is a great album.
Is the best song on this album good because it was in Napoleon Dynamite or was it in Napoleon Dynamite because it’s the best song on the album? Hard to say.
Highlights: We’re Going to Be Friends
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
For the most part, this was a great intersection of African music and Blues. It’s an album with no frills or gimmicks to try and make itself stand out. It took me a while to warm up to this on a first listen. A great background listen with a couple of standout tracks.
Prince
3/5
One of the most front-loaded and horny albums I’ve ever listened to. Side A is GREAT genuinely, 1999 and Little Red Corvette are massive hits but unfortunately this side also ends with a song that legitimately sounds like a high production Wesley Willis song. Go and listen to Delirious and then Rock n Roll McDonalds, trust me.
I am disappointed in the rest of the album, Sides B and C left me nonplussed outside of how randy this was. Side D was good and makes me wish that the middle part of the album was removed because this would have been a tight album in that case.
Even if that happened, the album would still end with Prince stroking his shit on Seduction 747 for the last track. Seriously man, I swear I just listened to a guy bust a nut on record.
Highlights: 1999, Little Red Corvette
Lynyrd Skynyrd
5/5
This would have been really disappointing if the tracks on here that I didn’t know were shit. Thankfully they are decidedly not. Both sides are great, there are no skips. This is incredibly solid meat and potatoes hard rock with three of these songs being legit contenders for the best song to come out of 70s rock. There’s nothing particularly enlightening that I can say about this album that won’t sound wanky. The worst part about this is that I’ll never get to see these guys live.
Highlights: Tuesday’s Gone, Simple Man, Free Bird
The Smiths
5/5
For the final album that the Smiths would make as presumably Marr was done being the apple of Moz’s eye?
There is a good level of exploration and experimentation with what the Smiths sound is. This can range from something like the openers of both sides which sound like something they’ve never really done before and other songs which sound like proper Smiths songs with extra bells and whistles. Personally, Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me is my favourite song that either the Smiths or Morrissey ever released.
Both sides are great, I don’t think that overall this is as good as something like The Queen is Dead but it maintains a consistent grim, sometimes humorous tone, the instrumentation is legitimately some of the best stuff the band has put out and Moz’s lyrics are as great as ever.
A brilliant send-off for a brilliant band, it’s remarkable the impact that the Smiths have had on music despite releasing 4 albums and being together for a total of 5 years.
Highlights: Girlfriend in a Coma, Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before, Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me, I Won’t Share You
Hole
4/5
Waiter, waiter! More furious 90s female artists please! Love’s excellent songwriting ability makes this feel like a 38 minute tumultuous therapy session, being both thoroughly personal and accessible. It was bizarre to read that there was a rumour that Kurt Cobain was a ghostwriter for this album, they’re both grunge acts but Love’s lyricism is a lot more pointed and less word salad-y than Cobain’s. Without addressing the elephant in the room, this is a killer album.
Highlights: Violet, Asking for It, Doll Parts, Gutless
Dolly Parton
3/5
Three of the best country singers to ever do it with songs written by some of the best lyricists of the 20th century including Linda Thompson (who wrote the best song on this album) and ‘Pistol’ Phil Spector. An easy listen from start to finish, reminds me of something my dad would listen to.
Highlights: To Know Him Is To Love Him
Megadeth
5/5
Dave Mustaine’s vocals are a lot like liquor. The first time you drink vodka, it tastes like shit and it burns. Eventually, you consume enough of it and become used to it and you can enjoy it. Sometimes you drink enough alcohol that you end up like Dave Mustaine and get kicked out of Metallica for kicking James Hetfield’s dog and being a colossal asshole.
This album doesn’t just have three of Megadeth’s best songs (the bar is low) but three of the best songs in the genre of Thrash. The lyrics here allegedly explore themes about politics or some shit but Mustaine’s analysis of world events is as complex and nuanced as Alex Jones’ (they are friends btw) and is equally entertaining. Seriously, the first song is about Palestine, Ireland and the fucking Punisher this shit is juvenile as fuck.
If you ever meet anyone who wholeheartedly believes in aliens at Roswell and Area 18 shit they’re either the coolest person you’ve met or the biggest dork. Luckily this album is the former.
However, did the Japanese PM’s skin on the album cover need to be that yellow?
Highlights: Holy Wars… The Punishment Due, Hangar, Tornado of Souls
T. Rex
4/5
For what is the definitive glam rock album, it is far more understated than I would have expected. Somehow it manages to be both a very 70s album and timeless, you can see the influence this had on both its contemporaries, musicians in the 80s and modern artists. My only criticisms is that some of the songs seem a bit same-y (though the album has a cohesive identity and I'm a big fan of the sound, strikes a good balance between grime/sleaze and sincere) and Side A is a bit stronger and more tightly curated than Side B. I would have liked to see more songs like the closing track on Side B. Apart from that, it's an great album.
Highlights: Cosmic Dancer, Get It On, Life's a Gas, Rip Off
Jethro Tull
5/5
This is really something special. I have often seen Jethro Tull derided for their use of flute and I am sure those same people have not heard this album. My God genuinely blew my mind, I really thought I would come away from this album thinking 'that was good, but I already knew the best song on this album' but I was wrong. The title track is probably the least representative song of this album's sound ironically enough.
No skips, two amazing sides that combine hard rock and folk creates a unique sound that sounds like Ian Anderson time-travelled back to Stonehenge days and got in the neolithic music studio with a bunch of druids and they created Aqualung. Pay no mind to all the references to Christianity and homelessness, the druids simply had clairvoyance.
Also, it's a crime that Thick As A Brick isn't on this list.
Highlights: Aqualung, Cheap Day Return, My God, Locomotive Breath
Public Enemy
3/5
Full of energy albeit a bit dated. This was probably groundbreaking on release, the production and lyricism here definitely paved the way for the next three decades of artists that came after it. Which isn't to say that the production and lyrics are only good for their time, it still holds up today. There is some great sampling and at times the album is very catchy, but other times it gets a bit repetitive and I feel the album is longer than it needs to be.
Shoutout Louis Farrakhan
Highlights: Terminator X to the Edge of Panic, She Watch Channel Zero?!
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
A bit of a let-down from the last Pet Shop Boys album that I listened to. The instrumentals here are good, flashes of brilliance are on every track but I think a lot of these songs are bloated, like they're being stretched out to a radio runtime. I have to give an anti-shoutout to A Different Point of View. This sounds like a parody of Pet Shop Boys instrumentals with a parody of New Order lyrics
It's a good dance album and I can see some songs on here getting a facelift with a remix. However, overall I just don't find it as listenable as Actually and it lacks big hits like that album had.
Besides Go West, which is the reason this doesn't get below a 3, this song fucking BANGS. Genuinely makes up for what is kind of a mid album, I love this song so much.
Highlights: One and One Make Five, Go West
Bill Evans Trio
5/5
I lament the fact that I am listening to this at work. My headphones are noise-cancelling and spotify has lossless audio quality but this is the sort of album I should really be listening to at home on vinyl or live.
The album is without flaw, I often fail to find words to describe why I enjoy or dislike Jazz albums. For this one all I can say is that it is truly tragic that Scott LaFaro passed away only days after this was recorded. The bass on My Man's Gone Now was a real highlight of this album.
Not that it has any weighing upon the final score but it is always a pleasure to listen to an album whose artist's Wikipedia page is a wild ride.
R.E.M.
2/5
To start, I am going to focus on the parts of this album I like. You Are the Everything is a good little acoustic piece, the accordion track is great here. World Leader Pretend is proof that any song is improved with a slide guitar. The rest of this side ranges from ok to ass.
Orange Crush is the best song on this album, Turn You Inside-Out is great, Hairshirt is on the border of endearing and annoying and ends up falling into the latter despite a nice instrumental track.
All other songs on this album are either forgettable or make me want to forget listening to this (Stand is the biggest fucking piece of shit I wanted to turn this off when it did its key change).
A few good songs do not salvage this album, I have no interest in listening to this again.
Highlights: Orange Crush, Turn You Inside-Out
Beck
4/5
I think this guy should experience more heartache and terrorist attacks. Seriously, his other albums have been pretty awful. Instead of slogging through one sitting like I did with other albums, I listened to this multiple times end to end. The production is great, the mood is well-crafted and it is thoroughly listenable. I am not the biggest fan of the vocals, which is the worst thing I can say about this album. A very pleasant surprise.
Highlights: Lonesome Tears
Orbital
5/5
Days after writing that I wish I had not listened to jazz music while working, I receive an album that I found really suited my job working in the email mines.
This bangs from end to end. No skips, no notes other than some of the tracks on this album sound like you are drunk playing the sims with an infomercial on in the background. That's not a bad thing.
Highlights: I Wish I Had Duck Feet, Kein Trink Wasser, Quality Seconds
Venom
4/5
This album inspired a bunch of freaks to go and burn churches and murder eachother in Norway, revenge a thousand years in the making for the Viking Age? Not just that, but apparently one of the tracks on here inspired the riff for Smells Like Teen Spirit.
The context and history of this album aside, it's A LOT of fun to listen to. If I heard this when I was 14 I would have loved this shit and been a little bit crestfallen that these guys were taking the piss. This album is clearly a bunch of dudes having a lot of fun, they seem like they would have been phenomenal to see back in their heyday.
The only song on here I didn't care that much for was Teacher's Pet as it feels like it's simulating what it's like to be a lone woman being heckled and harassed by a group of drunken English lads, probably. So points for atmosphere, I guess.
Not without flaw, but also very, very listenable. It doesn't want to make me burn a church per se, but I do really wanna put on some corpse paint, wear all black and stab one of my mates to death.
Highlights: Buried Alive, Leave Me in Hell, Countess Bathory
Bert Jansch
3/5
Intimate and minimal. It's quite fascinating how much you can get out of just one bloke and a guitar. Reminds me of that Beethoven line about the guitar being an entire orchestra within a single instrument. Poor paraphrasing of composers aside and in the interest of brevity, it's a fine album.
Highlights: Needle of Death, Running from Home, Angie
The Who
3/5
I can see why this was so influential. If I heard this in 1965 and saw the absolute fucking dweebs on the cover doing this I would think to myself "yeah I could probably do this better".
Side A is good, great even. Side B kinda sucks except for the last track as there are no lyrics to interpret with suspicion given the band's sketchy (being generous) history with minors. As such, song titles like My Generation, A Legal Matter and The Kids Are Alright are hard to view as anything other than Qanon level signalling.
It's not bad, it's fine. I won't listen to anything outside the highlights again and the band have put out far better albums. As a debut album it's good, for its influence on everything that came after it, it's amazing. As for listening to it in 2025, it's boring.
Highlights: I Don't Mind, My Generation, The Ox
Dolly Parton
5/5
Really an album that's impossible to hate. Infinitely charming, with a LOT of heart. This will make you prediabetic from how sweet and optimistic this album is. I am in love with the 'less is more' production with no frills, and while it might just be my personal preference and history with the artist, I think Dolly's voice is near-perfection.
Highlights: Coat of Many Colors, My Blue Tears, Here I Am
Pentangle
4/5
If this didn't have vocals this would have been perfect to put on in the background of one of my DnD/Pathfinder sessions. A good blend of pop, folk and the kind of music you might hear in a medieval tavern. I thought this would wear thin but I really quite enjoyed this.
Highlights: Light Flight, Lyke-Wake Dirge, Sally Go 'Round the Roses
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
2/5
Like early Bob Dylan, with a far less annoying voice. I have never been crazy about folk music and this album didn't win me over in particular. I appreciate it as a piece of American musical history and for its personality, it has more skips than it has listenable songs for me.
Highlights: Mule Skinner Blues, Cocaine
Soft Machine
1/5
I would like to give a shoutout to the youtuber 'gaypenis' for producing some of the 'best' micspam to grace the internet. Without that, I would have turned this album off immediately.
It's boring. Yes, the band are talented and some parts of these very, very long tracks are good but frankly it is mixed in with so much dawdling shit that it's just not worth it. I don't care that it's a live album, if these guys spent some time in the studio and trimmed up this album it could be great. Instead it's a slog that I won't be listening to again.
Highlights: Slightly All the Time (somewhat)
U2
1/5
The band decided to record this in Berlin in some half-baked attempt to make the album more European or somehow artistically benefit from the reunification of Germany. This only resulted in the band being miserable as they recorded in a studio that had fallen into disrepair. Their arguments led to them almost breaking up. What a shame.
Einstürzende Neubauten is cited as one of the bands that U2 listened to as part of their quest to find a new musical direction. How this appears in this album's music is completely lost on me. That album was at least interesting.
The most boring person you know fucks to this.
Highlights: Mysterious Ways
3/5
Very well-produced, performed and arranged. It feels a little too 'clean' though. It's a good album but fairly forgettable despite multiple listens. Knights of Cydonia is the exception mainly because of Guitar Hero though. It's just okay. Rock without soul.
Highlights: Invincible, Assassin, Knights of Cydonia
Grateful Dead
4/5
This is a good album.
The real story here is about Owsley Stanley AKA the guy that the Steely Dan song Kid Charlemagne is about.
I am not a proponent of great man history but there are undeniably some individuals who have a staggering, profound impact on human history. This guy personally produced MILLIONS of doses of LSD that basically fuelled the whole flower child psychedelic scene that the 60s is known for. He was not trained in chemistry, he just understood the vibe. He did not 'get into' LSD, he manufactured this shit on an industrial scale.
Having said that, he definitely was not acting alone. This guy was to LSD what Jeffrey Epstein was to human trafficking. This guy was 100% a tool of the CIA when the cleanshirts at Langley decided they wanted to experiment on people with LSD just to see what would happen. One day when the Empire collapses we will find documents that vindicate easily excitable idiots like me confirming every single half-baked conspiracy theory that’s ever been spouted.
He was the Grateful Dead's freaky wizard-vizier companion. Like a DMNPC that you pick up in a tabletop game that just gives you all the answers. Yeah whatever this album is known for pioneering sound engineering technology or something and you can credit that to Mr Stanley and his ingenuity as a sound guy.
But more importantly than that, this guy was convinced that the northern hemisphere was going to suffer an ecological collapse due to global warming. So he moved to Australia, but not just anywhere, he went to fucking CAIRNS. I don't know what level of MKULTRA he was subjected to in order to fry his brain enough to move to the most humid, BOILING HOT, storm-battered city in Australia but I commend him.
As the unlikely forerunner of the drug-fucked cooker health/sex freak archetype, he became convinced that human beings are carnivores and you could cure diabetes (which is fake and caused by insulin) by having a zero carb diet. Like many intelligence assets, he died in a car crash.
Highlights: Reading about Owsley Stanley while listening to a pretty good live set.
Lauryn Hill
3/5
This is a great album, that’s undeniable. Hip hop and R&B is just not to my taste. Listening to this in one sitting was genuinely a chore. This is someone’s favourite album of all time, it’s not mine. There’s great songs on here but this isn’t for me. The production is good, the skits are bearable unlike a lot of rap albums I’ve heard and there is a good mix of genres here.
Highlights: Doo Wop (That Thing), Can't Take My Eyes Off You
Fela Kuti
5/5
Fela Kuti is a silent giant in western music. He, and the wider genre of Afrobeat, have had an incalculable impact on pop, hip hop and rock. This doesn’t influence my final score but I think it’s important to note.
I only discovered Fela Kuti a couple of months ago and this is not even his best album, I think it is only included on this list because Ginger Baker is on here. It’s a shame that this is his only album on this list, he is really an incredible artist. This is an end-to-end good time, no faults.
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
This really hits hard sitting in my comfortable job, at my desk working the email mines.
It’s phenomenally angry without wearing out its welcome. I’m grateful that the empire allowed these guys to exist as controlled opposition, but I do wonder what the world would look like where instead of growling into the mic, Zach De La Rocha is a really angry faculty member at a university.
This shit rocked, I’m gonna go watch the yellow Parenti video again.
Highlights: Killing in the Name, Bullet in the Head, Wake Up
Elton John
5/5
Truly the worst thing you can say about this album is that it sets its own standards far too high. I'm always a bit sceptical when I see a double album. Elton John and Bernie Taupin have a reputation for extravagance in their music, and it's fully realised here.
Even the deep cuts here seem to receive the same amount of love as the tracks that the band probably knew would be big hits. None of this feels phoned-in or like they are going through the motions. Sure, Side D doesn't hit as hard as Side A but it's still good.
Highlights: Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, Candle in the Wind, Bennie and the Jets, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I've Seen That Movie Too, Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
The Zombies
4/5
This album, for me, really captures the late sixties quite well. I was surprised to read that this was recorded in a huge rush while the band was on its last legs. For the most part, it sounds well-produced and put together. It’s a great album, there’s really only one song on here that I would say is subpar (Changes).
As for the rest, I am actually baffled that these guys broke up due to financial difficulties before the album came out. Even reading the Wikipedia page seems to riff on how close these guys were to making it big. This was recorded in the same room right after Pink Floyd in Piper and the four track machine was later used by the Beatles.
The last song on this album (the best one) was such a hit, that other musicians went around pretending to be the Zombies to bank on the success of the song. Two of the musicians who did that went on to form ZZ Top. Wild.
The irony of a single making it big after a band called the Zombies is not lost on me.
Highlights: Beechwood Park, Hung Up on a Dream, Time of the Season
Eurythmics
4/5
I listened to this album pretty much after getting some really shitty news and I still liked it a lot.
Annie Lennox is an exceptionally talented vocalist and I don’t think, despite some great and sleek production, that this album would be anywhere as good without her on here.
This really could have been ‘the one big hit and then a bunch of forgettable shit’, and thankfully it was not.
Highlights: Love is a Stranger, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), Jennifer
Japan
5/5
I love Duran Duran, I love Spandau Ballet. If I didn’t love this, there would be something wrong with me, no?
Ahead of its time and tastefully haunting, I am an absolute sucker for synth and this has it in spades. I was surprised to see this came out in 1979, it’s quite ahead of it’s time and you can see the influence here from Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy especially on a track like Despair.
A really prominent and powerful bassline throughout this album. Despite being nearly fifty years old this sounds very futuristic, or at least someone’s vision of the future that sounds way cooler than what we actually got. Supremely sleek and listenable, this rocked.
The vocalist of Japan considers this to be the band’s peak, and after listening to it I wouldn’t be surprised. Also this was apparently the first foreign record to chart in Japan.
Highlights: Fall in Love with Me, In Vogue, Alien
David Bowie
2/5
If you asked someone to draw what David Bowie looks like, they would most certainly draw this album cover. If you asked them to name the album, or a song from it, they probably couldn't.
This just didn't click for me. The first side is alright, pretty forgettable for most of it. I gave this thing several goes (I wanna say like 4 listens) and frankly only the last two songs really stuck out for me. Apart from the last two tracks, this album ranges from good but boring to shit.
This is probably a great album but it's not my cup of tea.
Highlights: Jean Genie, Lady Grinning Soul
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
1/5
The Fosters Beer of musicians, popular overseas but you will never meet any tolerable person in Australia who listens to him.
Two discs, seventeen songs and not one of them has answered for me why this guy is so popular. Instead of going on a massive tirade about how fucking boring and long this was, I am just going to say the quest continues to answer that question.
Christine and the Queens
2/5
Well-made pop that didn't leave an impression on me. The vocals were nice and some of the instrumentals were good (Goya Soda) but overall I didn't gel with this in particular. Some songs were repetitive to the point of being grating and I can't see myself returning to this.
Highlights: Doesn't Matter
Tom Waits
1/5
Yeah I don't give a shit if the lyrics are good, this fucking sucks. Jersey Girl is a good song, great even. This is in spite of its performance here on this album. Downtown and On the Nickel are also good but fuck me man this was really hard to get through. My notes for this album include various iterations on "fuck this" and comments about Tom Waits' voice.
I will probably listen to Jersey Girl again but if I find that the Springsteen performance of it is even 1% better I will never touch any song from this album again.
Highlights: Jersey Girl