Guarantee they bring a ton of energy to the performance. Versus the album, which is great, but always feels a little… restrained, and not in a way that’s helping the songs. I can see why Bowie loved these guys. His sensibilities are written all over these songs. “Antichrist Television Blues” reminds me of a Springsteen song. Just can’t place which one. Everything has this folky spoken word quality. I never quite got the vocal contrast between verse and chorus I wanted, where the verse was doing one thing and then the chorus did something that really contrasted with it. Love that the vocal isn’t perfect. Plenty of bum notes but he’s selling the shit out of it so it totally works. Where is that female vocal coming from? With all the AI vocals running around now it made me curious if it’s a real person or if it’s the lead singer’s voice pitch shifted. I wonder the same thing when I hear a female vocal in Steven Wilson’s music. “My Body is a Cage” is very strong and a GREAT close to the album.

Once I saw Mutt Lange produced this, I knew I was in for a treat. What I didn't know was everything about it would remind me of Def Leopard's Pyromania. "Touch Too Much" LITERALLY sounded like Def Leppard. Was surprised by how relatively dry everything sounded, especially the drums. The song sequence reminded me of Mammoth WVH. All of the songs are great, but as an album, I wish there was a little more variety instead of just one banger after another. That being said, they are ALL BANGERS, the album is short and sweet, and the closer "Night Prowler" mixed it up enough that I felt more than satisfied by the end.

Guarantee they bring a ton of energy to the performance. Versus the album, which is great, but always feels a little… restrained, and not in a way that’s helping the songs. I can see why Bowie loved these guys. His sensibilities are written all over these songs. “Antichrist Television Blues” reminds me of a Springsteen song. Just can’t place which one. Everything has this folky spoken word quality. I never quite got the vocal contrast between verse and chorus I wanted, where the verse was doing one thing and then the chorus did something that really contrasted with it. Love that the vocal isn’t perfect. Plenty of bum notes but he’s selling the shit out of it so it totally works. Where is that female vocal coming from? With all the AI vocals running around now it made me curious if it’s a real person or if it’s the lead singer’s voice pitch shifted. I wonder the same thing when I hear a female vocal in Steven Wilson’s music. “My Body is a Cage” is very strong and a GREAT close to the album.

The opener and all the religious interludes were blasts from my past. I'm the son of a Southern Baptist minister, so The Sinner's Prayer and all its variants was played more often than the radio during my childhood. Musically the album started a little weak. The first few tracks felt very haphazard and the vocal was weirdly out of time. Constantly missing the beat in the most awkward ways. A LOT of hiphop is written in the studio behind the microphone and then edited into something coherent after the fact, and the first couple of tracks had that feeling, like it was being improvised in the worst way, without ANY eye for going back and revising it into something more sizzling and precise. I usually have the same thought about Stephen King and Anne Rice novels. And yet, my strongest note about the album is that it felt constantly injected with humanity. It wasn't polished to perfection. I can't imagine there wasn't pitch correction, but even the vocal left room for "mistakes", and in the end, that was the most charming aspect of the album. The songwriting and performances got stronger and stronger until by the closing track I was in full on bop mode. The vocal delivery was precise, the lyrics were clever and concise, and every song on the last half (to my memory) contained a memorable chorus. This album didn't quite do it for me the way a Jay-Z album would, but I get the hype now about Kendrick and will be excited to listen to more from him.

Never heard this before! Really never paid a lot of attention to Annie Lennox. My first memory of Annie Lennox - again, very casually informed - is of a fine songwriter but vocally not very impressive. A little like Sinead O’Connor. But these first few tracks are changing my mind about that! Love her phrasing and use of harmony. There is an element of sameness quickly creeping in. Each track pretty well feels like the last one. “The Walk” - Love the saxophone. Musically this track was something special. So I’m sad the vocal was so underwhelming. “Sweet Dreams” - I figured I’d be bored to tears by this. I’ve heard it incidentally off the radio so many times. But now listening to it intentionally… Wow. Everything about this track is excellent. “Jennifer” - at first the bass line made it seem like a redux of “Sweet Dreams”, but the song quickly set itself apart with a catchy but haunting vocal. “This is the House” - I actively dislike this song. It’s the vocal melody that’s killing the song. Everything about it screams “I wrote a poem and then tried to spontaneously sing it over music”. “Somebody Told Me” - love the intensity on the vocal. Finally she’s bringing some heat! Album closer “This City Never Sleeps” gave me a real Peter Gabriel vibe. Never a bad thing! Everything about this album SCREAMS the 80s. It sounds dated, but not in an off putting way. If someone wanted to know what the big deal was about 80s pop music, this would be a great album to point people to. They might not like it, but they will get it.

Thoughts on Adele 25: Adele has the distinction of being the only artist I've ever heard on a retail PA that made me find an employee and ask with feverish urgency, "WHO IS THIS????" She's always blown me away, and paying proper attention to this album, she's done it again. The woman has IT just raining off of her. The first two tracks are perfect. Unimprovable. "Water Under the Bridge" was so good I had to go back and listen to it 3 more times. There are a few songs that suffer from "poem stapled onto song" syndrome - those are inevitably the weakest songs - but the production is strong enough and her performance is always so powerfully heartfelt that she still sells it and makes it work, even when I'm wishing the whole song that she'd put it through another draft. But overall, WOW. What a singer. What a songwriter. You never know, but I'd bet big fat money they're still talking about her in 100 years.

This is a legendary classic and with good reason. All those quibbles I had with Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, mad city? Not to be found here. The songs are structured brilliantly. The rap flow is tight and precise. Who knows how much of this was written beforehand or off the cuff, but every word and turn of phrase lands like a sniper rifle. Every song feels perfectly realized. Maybe it’s just a generational thing. I know the younger generation LOVES modern hip-hop. But for me, a lot of new rap feels haphazard and lazy, versus Notorious B.I.G, where every lyric feels so full of wit and precision. “Juicy” is the standout, and with almost a billion spins, clearly plenty of people agree. There’s a bit of a feeling of sameness throughout the album. It’s 19 tracks long, and there sure aren’t any “ballads” to mix it up. But when the songs are as clever and catchy as this, that’s not a deal breaker. 10/10. Surely one of the finest hip-hop albums there will ever be.

Thoughts on Bjork, Debut: Am I crazy for getting Peter Gabriel vibes from this? Some of that is the rhythmic qualities. Some of that is the bizarre theatricality. But a lot of it is just the genius on display. There are very few artists who can ever say they were writing at this level. She's tapped into something otherworldly. Love how many brass parts there are throughout the album. The closer "The Anchor Song" in particular. Those jazz influences are on stark display. A lot of the music sounds VERY 90s, but never in a hopelessly dated way, more in a "this is the very best this decade had to offer" kind of way. "Violently Happy" is maybe the best example of this. It's a vaguely techno infused track that could easily have appeared on any number of 90s movie soundtracks. Hackers, anyone? The Matrix? A few songs have the PSOS problem - "poem stapled onto song". You can hear that she's making up the melody as she goes, and not in a good way. But I defy anyone to listen to this album and not come away with the certainty they've witnessed a work of genius. "Human Behavior" and "Venus As a Boy" in particular are haunting, catchy, captivating, and utterly weird.

This is peak 90s. The kind of electronica hinted at on Bjork’s Debut is on full display here. At the time it was a groundbreaking smash. But now, it’s hard not to regard this as background music. There was almost never anything to really grab me and let me know “THIS is the heart of the song”. It wasn’t until close to the end of the album when the song “Love Island” came on that my ears perked up. It was so different from the previous 9 songs that I thought the album was over and a new artist was auto playing. Which, speaking of… When the album was over, this song "Spitfire" by The Prodigy came on, and it blew me away in all the ways Fatboy Slim didn’t, so I put on the full album it came from - Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. The songs here were full of hooks and variations and melodies that wormed their way into my brain. Every track found some way to surprise me. So even if I was disappointed with the Fatboy Slim album, it was worth it to be led to The Prodigy, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned.

This is Smashing Pumpkins meets Nic Hamilton. That Billy Corgan vocal with punk rock sensibilities. I have literally no idea what they're singing. I can't understand a single word LOL The intro to Secret 77 sounded eerily like the Rush song Test for Echo. "She's Calling You" is my favorite. The bass on these songs is just thunderous! "Sacred Love" reminds me of The Offspring. Some of these guitar solos really remind me of The Marbled Page. The irony is because I DIDN'T immediately like this one... I listened to it twice. The songs have sort of a half baked approach. Maybe that's just the Desmond Child in me, but I kept thinking man, with one more pass, this song could have had a real hook and even been a hit. But those are my goals and maybe not theirs. Anyway, vocally is Smashing Pumpkins meets my friend Nic Hamilton . There's suuuuuch a Billy Corgan sound but with punk rock sensibilities. I have literally no idea what they're singing. I can't understand a single word LOL The intro to "Secret 77" sounded eerily like the Rush song "Test for Echo". "She's Calling You" is my favorite off the album. Gave me a bit of a The Cult vibe. The bass on these songs is just thunderous! So much attack! "Sacred Love" reminds me of The Offspring, "Self Esteem". Some of these guitar solos really remind me of The Marbled Page. Overall, I appreciated the sheer amount of energy poured into these songs. The production was perfect for the songs. Reminds me how much clarity you can get from your mix when the arrangement is relatively simple. Wish I could say I connected with the songwriting more, but nonetheless this was a record I have a lot of respect for.

I’ve only ever heard the big song the Rolling Stones sued them over. This will be a fascinating listen. Sad to learn they hit it big… And then very quickly started fighting and broke up. Love the big single, but do not do not do not like the vocal. It’s whiny and ear splitting. Track two “Sonnet”. Wow. Everything about this is beautiful. I hope the rest of the album is more like this. “The Rolling People”. You honestly expect me to believe this isn’t an Oasis song?! “The Drugs Don’t Work”. Everything about this is perfectly beautifully heartbreaking. The songwriting and the production are exactly what the song needs. Wow. “Weeping Willow”. Immediately conjured Oasis “Cast No Shadow”. I have read that these guys started as a shoegaze band, and there were hints of that as the album progressed! Tracks that were much more mood focused than song focused and that definitely felt like the guitarist going “oooo what does this button do…” Especially the final track “Come On/Deep Freeze”. The album could have stood to be cut by a few songs. They’re all fine, but a little tighter of a track list would have been a stronger sequence and stopped me from feeling tired by the end. All in all a very good album and I’m sad the band didn’t last long afterwards!

Hey! I just listened to this album yesterday! But back then it was called Urban Hymns by the Verve… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: I jest. Just funny I got two seminal Brit pop albums in a row. This was great! Everything I loved about that Verve song “The Drugs Don’t Work” but done 12 times in a row, which was just fine with me. The jangly guitars really did it for me. So much sonic sweetness in the mix. Highlights were “Satellites”, “Friday’s Dust”, and the epic album closer “Caught in a River”. “Friday’s Dust” was so good I had to listen to it 4X in a row, and then when the album was done, go back and listen a 5th time. What a masterpiece of a song.

I’m coming right out of the gate with it - This album isn’t for me. That doesn’t mean I didn’t think it was great. In particular, I LOVED finding out where a ton of prog that DOES do it for me got its roots. One of my favorite prog albums is Dream Theater, Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory. There’s a song on there called “The Dance of Eternity”. The song is 6:15 of prog glory with instrumental solos from everybody and more time signature and key changes than a mathematician can keep track of! It’s a wild ride in the middle of an otherwise fairly concise bunch of songs. This album was the other way around. Brief moments of concise songwriting but otherwise just one song after another challenging me to sink my teeth into any of it. Ideas appear and disappear. Song structures exist only inasmuch as the songs have a beginning and an ending. The band is tight and the playing is phenomenal and it’s not hard to imagine this album blowing anybody’s mind. But for me, I was impressed without enjoying it very much. Highlights for me were “Firth of Fifth” and the album closer “Aisle of Plenty”.

Never heard this before, besides “Homeward Bound” and of course “Mrs. Robinson”. This is my first 5 star album from this playlist. Everything about it is perfect. The instrumentation, the performances, the songwriting, the arrangements, the harmonies, the lyrics, the track sequence, EVERYTHING is perfect. I listened to the whole album three times in a row effortlessly. And yet I have to imagine the amount of sweat they put into something this good because this level of quality doesn’t just happen. I am in awe. Most of all I want to say what a study in contrasts and dynamics the album is. Wikipedia classifies this as folk rock, and it’s kind of wild to think of this as a rock album at all beyond the fact that it includes guitars, AND YET - When they DO go electric, because the songs are full of so much dynamic range, even though the album never goes to a ten in intensity compared to a Nirvana song, in relation to themselves the songs soar to a 12 because they draw such contrast between the song sections and performances. Music does not get any better than this. I have literal tears in my eyes from it. Thank God for music this good.

Faith is one of those amazing Thriller like albums where most of it got released as a single, so all these songs were hard to avoid in their day. Thank God every song is amazing! This is another 5 star album for me. Everything about it is perfect. And not just for its day - and in its day, it was already hailed as a masterpiece - but because it has aged so very well. The songwriting has a maturity to it and songs that could easily have become saccharine and stupid are injected with heart and soul by both the arrangements and OF COURSE the flawless vocal performances. That’s the biggest thing I get every time I listen to George Michael. I just cannot believe that the vocal is this pristine. Everything about it - the pitch, the tone, the inflection, the dynamics, the girth and power, the delicate nuances of expression - everything about it is exactly what it needs to be. I’ve read from the engineer on this album that when George was recording vocals he always wanted the vocal effects dialed into his headphones the way they would sound on the album and that he would use the sound of the compressor or the reverb or the delay to influence the way he sang in response to it. Now that’s a level of vocal mastery I can’t help but look at with awe and wonder. And all of this before any of the pitch correction tools everyone can reach for these days. This isn’t my favorite George Michael album - that honor goes to the follow-up, Listen Without Prejudice - but it is a masterpiece and now I miss George more than ever.

There’s a lot to love about this. The songs have a delightfully weird quality. You can tell the two guys that made them are quirky and charming. Track 6 “A Minha Menina” appears to have been featured in lots of commercials, and It’s not hard to see why. The song has an unusual flavor but with an also undeniable commercial appeal. The sort of thing that screams Starbucks and Apple products. This is a home studio album made in the home studio space home studio gear so I have to give it some love. Combine that with the fact that it was made more than 20 years ago and the quality of the songs and the sounds is nothing short of impressive. But I will admit - this was a little like Selling England By the Pound in that I respect the hell out of it without enjoying it very much. Mostly that comes down to a sense of sameness in the vocal. The songs didn’t surprise me and there was never a moment where the vocal grabbed me and said “now sing along!” Later on when track 10 “Zia” arrived as an instrumental things for better for me. Maybe it was just because that made the song different than the rest, but it was my favorite. Overall this is perfectly pleasant background music and I give it a solid 3 out of 5

I'm sure people that love the Stones LOVE this album. They've always been one of those bands I respect without enjoying very much. Most of that comes down to Jagger's vocal. You either love it or can't stand it, and I'm in the latter camp. Which means in the Beatles versus Stones camp, even apart from the songs, I gotta go with the Beatles just because those guys all have such stellar voices. The fact this is a double album made it a bit of a challenge to get through. A normal Stones album is like watching one of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. But this was like watching the extra long 4 hour extended editions. Still everything that's great about the Stones, but so much of it that by the final third I thought I might need an intermission. Fortunately, the final third kicked in and it was absolutely my favorite part of the album. They mixed it up a lot for those songs and honestly if they had cut down the whole album to a normal sized set of songs that was just "I Just Want to See His Face" through "Soul Survivor", they might have even made a convert out of me. But as it was, the album did two things - reaffirmed for me why the Stones were and are such a big deal to so many people, and reminded me that they're just not quite my flavor. Still - great music, great band. 3 out of 5.

The level of songwriting on display is gobsmacking. This was a perfect album. I thought I'd never heard this, but every other song I’d go OMG I know this song!!! And even the tracks I didn’t know - they all had this timeless quality that made me feel like these songs have always existed, that they’re as old as the earth and that our most primal ancestors sang these songs around the fire.

Once in an interview Seal was asked, “What’s the most important part of a song?” And his answer was, “It’s the song… And the voice. but if you REALLY pushed me, it’s the song, because a good enough song will transcend the voice.” I’d agree with that. A good enough song will still be good even with a bad voice. Unfortunately, in my opinion, none of these songs were good enough to do that. Stevens’ voice was nails on a chalk board, the songs were dull and monotonous, and this was the first record where I was actively waiting for it to be over. It reminded me of Arlo Guthrie’s work. Guthrie is a folky singer who doesn’t have a tremendous voice, but he knows how to write a song that belongs around the campfire, and he’s a master at making the most of his humble instrument. I know Cat Stevens means a lot to a LOT of people, but for me, I just didn’t get it at all.

Ok, I'm feeling criminal that I've never even heard of this. Sometimes things just slip through the cracks because I can't listen to this and think this soundtrack and the movie it belongs to weren't a big deal. This album is EXCELLENT and puts me right in the mood of what MUST be a movie full of romance and adventure and fun and laughter. The music was full of stuff you just wouldn't do in "Western" music - those women giggling as part of the vocal melody was the one that really stood out - and yet it's all written with such a propulsive sense of melody and rhythm that I couldn't help but be drawn in and thoroughly enjoy it.

This kind of renews the debate about if Prog can be commercial because this is one song after another of a band just riffing and plain showing off - AND YET. It’s great!!! And apparently LOTS of people thought so because it sold a ton of records and won Album of the Year. Was much of it tuneful or whistleable? Not for me, but as groovy background music, it did the trick, and quite nicely indeed. Also, this song auto played when the album was over. Does this count as commercial prog? :slight_smile:

Pros: The flow is tight and the passion is abundant throughout the songs. None of these guys are phoning it in. They're pouring their hearts and souls and lives into these songs. Even when they're just rapping about sex, there's a level of heart here that's inspiring. Cons: But content isn't enough for me. I need the songs to be interesting rhythmically and melodically and almost none of the album did that for me. Songs were the same 4 bar loop over and over without ever doing anything to surprise me, and almost every song had the same rhythm and intensity. Which makes critical reviews and comments from band members land even more flat for me. Said frontman Chuck D., "We understood the magnitude of what an album was, so we set out to make something that not only epitomized the standard of an album, but would stand the test of time by being diverse with sounds and textures, and also being able to home in on the aspect of peaks and valleys". So while I recognize the cultural and historical significance of this album, it didn't much do it for me. Also - Whenever I distinctly dislike something, I tend to ruminate a little on why. Because sometimes it’s not the material’s fault. Sometimes I’m just tired or in a bad mood or I’m already dopamine saturated and I’m not going to like chocolate cake, forget about new music. So I put on another celebrated (albeit newer) album - Beck’s 2019 release Hyperspace. And after giving it a fresh listen, I can confirm - I just honestly didn’t like the Public Enemy album, because even after feeling tired from listening to that, every song on Hyperspace blew my mind. What a work of eclectic pop genius. If you haven’t heard it, check it out!!!

This was funky and delightful! I read that this was one of the first albums to make heavy use of analogue drum machines. I love when people find ways to use electronics but their music still feels so soulful and human. The vocals were soft and sweet. They made me think of something my vocal coach Ken Tamplin is always saying - if you build up a strong chest voice, you can go soft or heavy and everything in between. But if you only develop your soft stuff and your head voice, that’s all you’ll have. So it’s ok that the vocals here felt limited to the softest crooning because that definitely served the songs, but it would have been great if they could have wailed a little at some point.

Ok, right back round to the subject of Jazz and Prog. Because this album is a GREAT way of showing how to make music that's sophisticated and smart and yet perfectly accessible to normal people like me. The songs are all over the place but they always return to a central idea and make it easy for me to go oh yeah, that's the song. Full of passion and variety and dynamic songwriting and performances. This was a 5 star album. It's dated in the best way. You can hear it came from the 60s, but it still sounds fresh and vibrant and alive. If it came out today it would just be called retro. The vocals were a particular standout. Makes me want to step my own singing game up. WOW.

This was a lot like listening to Public Enemy, Fear of a Black Planet. Legends, and rightfully so. The album was huge and it’s easy to see why. And you can tell immediately you’re listening to world class performers. But for me, it was one track after another of the same thing over and over without any surprises. I hate saying this about music that people love, but this just didn’t do it for me at all, and I was actively waiting for it to be over. Versus Kenny Wayne Shepherd's "Blue On Black". It auto played afterwards. It’s blues rock and it’s pretty much a 4 chord song, but everything about it surprises and delights me, and I’ve heard this song 4,000,000 times.

I can already tell you - just a pet peeve. I HATE when the only version of an album available to stream is some deluxe edition with bonus tracks tacked on at the end. I want to be able to listen to the album beginning to end the way it was originally released, including the natural ending to the track order. I love when the final track of an album plays and I get that feeling of completion. Mandatory bonus tracks ruin that. All that being said - Ok, what if you took the raw verve of the Stones, the richly layered harmonies of the Beatles, and the ambitious narrative reach of the Who? You'd get this album by The Kinks! It was awesome. A real collision of different tastes and sensibilities. Frontman Ray Davies is no Paul McCartney, but he's also no Mick Jagger. He's not a GREAT singer, but he's not terrible the way Jagger is, so he's got a real raw charm that he brings to the songs. And the songs are catchy as hell. They've got that same irresistible pull early Beatles stuff did, and I mean that as the highest compliment to both bands. I dunno who came first or if either band was even influenced by each other, but the music was amazing and however they got there is fine by me.

A perfect album. Right up there with Thriller. Every song is familiar, even the ones you've never heard before (and most of these songs have been all over radio) and you're singing along with every chorus. It reminds me of Nevermind in the sense that if you don't have the songs then there's no point but even still the production definitely matters and just as essential to the songwriting here the PRODUCTION really brings the genius out into the open so you can just lose yourself in the songs and enjoy how massive they sound.

I'm a rarity among Prince fans. I think his songwriting got BETTER as time went on, and I regard this excellent album as a relatively primordial example of a man still gestating inside the chrysalis of pop music mastery. It's the MUCH later stuff - Planet Earth, Art Official Age, Hit n Run - that really does it for me. A lot of the "early" stuff - including Purple Rain - for me sounds fairly repetitive and does the most for me when I remember where it's pointing rather than where it is. Does that mean I don't love Sign O the Times? Oh hell no. This album is BONKERS level amazing. One song after another of a man taking a simple musical idea and then riffing on it until it's become a multi layered love affair. I still can't believe the utter consistency of Prince's performances and musical output. His worst music still sounded fucking amazing, and his powers as a performer never waned. The album length for this one can be a little intimidating - it is a double! - but it's worth doing whatever you've got to do to get from beginning to end because you can't get to the end without reaffirming why Prince was and is such a big deal.

Oh so THIS is the guy Metallica made Lou Lou with :joy: This was an AMAZING album. I’m not familiar with Velvet Underground at all except that “Pale Blue Eyes” is considered a legendary love song. I can't say I loved how understated every song was. Nothing ever really came to life. But the songs are there and I feel like if another artist covered these songs they would start to soar. Folks have called this the father of bedroom pop, and that’s the truth. Wouldn’t be surprised if I learned Billie Eilish loves this record.

Never heard of these guys! But they're great. Absolutely great. From the jump they just EXPLODE with energy. The production and mixing on the record is stellar. The bass thunders and the drums punch without any of the weird hollow flatness that's started to pervade a lot of modern rock records. The only problem with this album is shared by Royal Blood and Mammoth WVH. Every song is a banger, but EVERY song is a banger, so a whole album of them one after another gets fairly tiring, even though each song individually is genuinely spectacular.

Now this is classic country! Simple songs with concise storytelling and a message of love and longing and heartache that anyone can latch onto and relate to. Was listening to Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison the other day and it's funny that both of them have a little monologue from the artist expressing gratitude to Columbia Records. That's the record company wanting recognition because there's no way the public gave a damn about that little factoid. Oh Columbia Records! Well now we GOTTA buy it!!! One thing that struck me about the vocals. The diction is sooooooo clear. You can understand every word this guy sings. His accent is always audible, but still! That's impressive. As a singer, his caprino vibrato was a little off putting, and a little surprising given how strong his voice was otherwise. Every once in a while he'd have healthy vibrato and it was funny because it was a total fluke. Love how strong the song titles are. They make you want to hear the song and hear the story. "There's No Fool Like a Young Fool" in particular was just beautiful.

OK here’s an album where you’ve got to leave all your assumptions and expectations at the door. Just looking at the cover and the song titles and the little bit I knew about Janelle Monae… I was thinking, ok, probably an R&B and hiphop album, and given her reputation, probably a pretty good one. And it IS that. But it is SO MUCH MORE. There are blistering guitar solos on here. There are straight up jazz numbers. There’s blues and gospel and folk and everything and EVERYTHING is done SO SO SO SO SO well. I can’t even believe how good this album is. One of the best things I’ve ever heard in my life. Put it up there with Def Leppard’s Hysteria as a masterpiece. I wouldn’t call it a singles factory, though. There wasn’t anything here that made me think, oh yeah, this is the one that would rule the radio. But I mean that as a compliment. It was an album where everything felt like an undiscovered deep cut, the kind of song that’s meant for people that F***ING LOVE music and want something that’ll catch their ear AND reach their heart. God bless this album. 10/5 stars. Just amazing.

Great example of what 70s rock had to offer, especially those utterly locked in vocal harmonies. Wikipedia says this album didn't land big but had huge staying power. It made its money over a long stretch rather than the first six weeks and I love that about it. You've got a group of songs that are all solid and memorable so it's a little surprising none of it really hit radio in a big way, but that's ok! It's a reminder that sometimes it takes time to find your audience and for your audience to find you.

This has a MUCH more distinctly British feel than Oasis to me... Whatever that means 😂 I just mean there are many more examples of slang and strong accents and sensibilities that just seem quirky and strange to an American and probably aren't utterly mainstream to a UK resident but probably make more sense and feel more familiar. Anyway, the music is great! Not hard to see why this album did so much business. The production is strong and the songs are catchy without being bubblegum and weird without being off-putting. It's not really fair to compare them to Oasis. They are totally different bands. VERY different styles of songwriting. But if I had to choose... Sorry, boys. It goes to the insufferable Gallagher Brothers!

Ok. So. Radiohead. A band I have tried many times to properly appreciate. Lots of people I love and have huge respect for adore this band. And when I hear them talk about why, it always draws me in. I always think, wow, that band sounds amazing and right up my alley. And then I go and listen, and I have an experience roughly similar to when I read The Lord of the Rings. I love reading ABOUT Lord of the Rings. But actually reading it? Well... Likewise, listening to Radiohead always pales in comparison to hearing people discuss Radiohead. Mostly that comes down to the vocal. For me, I either love the singer and that makes me connect powerfully with the music, or I just can't stand the sound of their voice and it makes listening a chore. Musically the band is right up my alley. They mix up genres and rhythms and dynamics and everything is this nonstop series of beautiful surprises. But Thom Yorke is just always the same reed thin monotone drone. It works, and if I listen to the band one song at a time, it REALLY works, but an entire album of him sounding like air squealing out of a balloon is just too much for me. That being said, much love to anyone who's here for the band. Highlights for me were "2+2=5" and "Myxomatosis", the latter because it gave me something a little different from Yorke's normal whiny vocal and the music was just incredible.

All killer, no filler. "39" was my favorite - just love when Brian sings lead - but pretty well every song on here is perfect, and of course it's for THE Queen song on it, the one that makes Wayne's World a beyond perfect film.

Ranked 149 on Rolling Stones 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time! I am intrigued! This man is a true poet. “There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes.” That’s powerful. Hang on - he wrote “Angel From Montgomery”! Ok, so we’re talking about a bonafide genius here. This isn’t quite my style of music, so I can’t give it a perfect score, but good Lord this was great. Absolutely belongs on the list of albums you must hear before you die.

I was almost along for the ride, but by track 2 I had become actively hostile against the album. Track 2 featured this small sample of a guy talking about giving up his material wealth and getting on a bicycle to look for a new path and it just repeated the sample SO MANY TIMES that I finally had to skip the song. After that my attitude never recovered. The album just strikes me as an amateur fiddling with knobs in his DAW and thinking a filter sweep counts as a composition. There have been other albums on this list I didn't get but still recognized were important to other people. This one I formally object to. There's no way this is important to anyone except the person that made it, and I hope they've moved on to more inspiring songs. By the time the title track came on and a spoken word sample started playing and then it started REPEATING I said enough, I hate this, and I found something else to listen to. I hated this.

Listened to this three times. The first time my reaction was - pretty good songs, wish the arrangements and the production was a little bit more so the beauty of the songs could be brought out a bit more. Second time my reaction was - wow, I don't think I realized how hook laden all these songs are. All of them feel familiar. Third time through - ok, I get it now, this is a real gem. I still wish I could hear a bit more of a dynamic arrangement and certainly a more dynamic vocal performance, but that's just because I think these could be great pop songs. As it is, the album is serene and savory, and it's absolutely going on the next time I want a quiet moment with someone special.

Coming hot on the heels of Nick Drake's Pink Moon, I couldn't help but be affected by the contrast between the two albums. Pink Moon was utterly underwhelming instrumentally and vocally. It never roared. But because everything was sedated, it came across as intentional and understated rather than underpowered. Unfortunately, There's No Place Like America Today comes off the opposite - the music is powerful and funky and propulsive, but the vocal is weak like the skin of a balloon, and it just meant the singing never felt up to the challenge of the songs. Basically the same effect as making Chris Martin the lead singer of a rock band, or worse, an EDM band. Oh, hello Coldplay, I didn't see you there. Anyway, the songs were quite good, but the vocal really lets them down, so it's hard to give this more than 3 out of 5 stars.

Round two for Genesis! First one was Selling England by the Pound. On this record, I discovered Phil and Peter have moments where they sound quite similar vocally. At least back then they did! For the first 5 songs off this album, I found myself going, WOW, finally, a bunch of SONGS! These are weird, but there are motifs and choruses and just enough structure for me to sink my teeth into. If this is a nice 8-10 song record it'll get 4 stars from me. Alas. The record just gets bizarre by the end, and it goes on and on and on. So many songs. I found myself wondering if it was just a jam session. So much of it felt like a one take improv session. Then I read the Wikipedia and it turned out to sort of be exactly that! I know a lot of Genesis fans LOVE this album and I'm not here to argue. In fact, I'd love to hear from them and learn more about what they connect with about it. Because for me, I liked this more than Selling England by the Pound, but it still wasn't something I'd eagerly return to.

I've heard a little from Jeff Buckley. Most of it is his rendition of "Hallelujah" and Chris Cornell citing him as a primary influence on his first solo album Euphoria Mourning. I LOVE that album, so it's incredible getting a deeper look into what Cornell was tapping into when he said that. And wow - the genius on display here is shattering. From the first phrase of the first song I get it. This guy has that special something just overflowing out of him. And it turns out I do know a Jeff Buckley song - "Last Goodbye" came on and I was flooded with nostalgia. That's Cameron Crowe for you. His movies are always an epic tour through must hear classic rock, and probably the best thing about his movie Vanilla Sky is the soundtrack. And in a fun way, the soundtrack actually becomes part of the storyline itself and makes the text of the film that much sweeter. Anyway, I can't say enough good things about this album. Every song is special - plus, "Lover, You Should Have Come Over" is top tier - and every song has that exquisite blend of slightly weird but totally accessible. Can't quite understand why the album initially got a mixed reception at the time of its release, but I am glad it got and continues to get its due because it is a legendary 5 out of 5 collection of songs.

An album that seems standard and generic by today's standards but only because back in 1969 it was a trailblazer and a revolution. The influence from this record is ubiquitous and perennial. You haven't heard any rock music that hasn't been blessed by its roots. The highlight for me was "Ann". Love how slowed down and haunting that one was.

Much like The Stooges debut album (that was yesterday's listen), this is an album that can feel utterly generic by today's standards. But that's because of its reach and its influence. When this album came out in 1979, it would have blown people's socks off and changed the way they thought about music. The highlight for me was that in these raucous punk songs... There's a real intention behind the rhythm section, the vocals have got hooks, and WOW, the lyrics are always amazing and downright literary. Take these lines from "Strange Notes": He wears the lines just like Garbo And talks at a saturmine pace Listening to the strange notes marvel Only giving what it takes That could be from a Bowie song. It's just incredible. So put this in the category of music that's not quite for me, but I recognize its value and its beauty.

Ok so after a run of albums from the 60s and 70s, the thing that jumped out at me immediately was how much wetter this album is. The 80s truly was the decade of reverb and these songs sound much more massive and ethereal because of it. On the whole, I LOVED the SOUND of the record. But the songs themselves? Listen, I made it through the whole album, so I don’t want to go too far with this comparison, but… It reminded me a lot of that dreadful Destroy Rock & Roll record. Lots of ideas for songs never properly developed and just looped until I was eager to get on with it to the next song. The difference here is that I genuinely liked a lot of the ideas here and was disappointed they weren’t developed into proper songs. Funny enough - I learned the band agrees with me! They’ve used the word “underdeveloped” to describe the record. So it sounded good enough that I got through it pleasantly! And I can see why this ended up being the album that cemented the bands signature ethereal soundscape.

So my first thought was - WTF? THIS is the REM album on this list? Why on earth would you do this instead of Automatic for the People or even Monster? But then I realized - this is their debut album, and the high quality and high impact of these songs at such an early stage of their career really is something worthy to behold. Is it a must listen for everybody? No way. But is it a must listen for REM fans? Oh heck yeah!!

This was my first proper listen of him. I've heard "Wishing Well" before. Great song. But aside from that, almost everything I knew was reviews of Seal comparing the two of them. And now having listened - I kind of don't get the comparison at all. They have completely different voices and styles. But that being said, WOW does this album work. Almost every song is a full on display of heart and soul and downright genius. The man can not just sing, but he sings with so much agility and soul. I was in awe. Which makes it ironic that the only song that just utterly did not work for me was the penultimate track "As Yet Untitled" where it's basically him acapella figuring it out as he goes. It's kind of impressive, and if you were watching it happen in the moment you'd have to admit it was going to become a great song, but as it is it's a weird half baked overly long totally self indulgent track that mars an otherwise lusciously strong album.

Great production. Just ok songs. Strikes me as their Be Here Now. A band flush on the high of superstardom decides there's magic in first drafts and first takes and whatever happens when they hit the red record button is GOLD and deserves to go on the record. It wasn't bad. And maybe I'll listen again later and feel differently. But this was another example of an album that just does not belong on any MUST LISTEN list.

GREAT music. AMAZING songs. OBNOXIOUS vocals. I'm impressed by the range of influences and genres they draw from. This is a sampling masterpiece. But the drunken teenage shouting every song is unbearable.

Coincidences abound! Just yesterday I was watching an episode of Six Feet Under and the mom brought up Joan Baez. So when she came up on this playlist... I was excited! On the one hand, she's a master of song craft and subtlety. Every song feels like a message of love from the feminine divine. It touches you in the heart. But I also had the flip side of the experience I did with Beastie Boys. There, every song was shouted at full volume. Here, every song was crooned with lullaby softness. I didn't need her to ever rock out. But it did get a little tiring hearing every song done EXACTLY the same way. All the same, this was great, and I get it now why the mom on Six Feet Under loves her so much.

How have I never heard of these guys?! Great album. Great songs. Great vocals. Great everything. What a treat. The singer kept giving me shades of Bowie, and I mean that in the most delightful way. Made me wonder if Bowie's band Tin Machine could have sounded this good in an alternate universe.

Some things from your childhood stand the test of time, some don't, and some still hold up but YOU'VE changed and it just doesn't play the same anymore. I grew up listening to this record so I know every song. There is something almost catchy about a lot of them. They've got hooks! And there's that inimitable and instantly recognizable snare sound from Vinnie Paul. It's weirdly missing low end. Everything just feels like harsh high mids. The thing that really keeps me from loving it is the vocal. Phil Anselmo is THE cautionary tale about how to ruin your voice. He used to be capable of glam metal wailing but he took zero care of his voice and sang with zero healthy technique and these days he sounds less a human and more like a wood chipper with a head cold. His approach to distortion just sounds miserable and always makes him sound flat. And I dunno - I love metal, but this isn't it for me. All the same, it's a legendary record for good reason. I'd recommend anybody listen to "Fucking Hostile" to understand the impact the band had on Thrash Metal and then to album closer "Hollow" if they want to hear a song that's just plain powerful and easy to listen to - featuring, gasp, actual singing!

This is how to do a double album properly. Every song gave me something new and novel and fresh without ever losing the through line of what the band's sound is. That kind of cohesion on a debut album is bonkers! Turns out I know the song "Clint Eastwood". There was a time there on terrestrial radio you couldn't get away from that song. Fortunately it's a masterpiece so I loved it then and I love it now! Also a great example of an album where there are never really any powerhouse vocals. It's all pretty sedate therein. But they write the songs in a way where there's still a sense of contrast and rise and fall and it all adds up to a pretty damn near perfect album.

Six songs in and I’m tapped out. This is hilariously boring. For a moment it seemed like “I Believe It” was going to erupt into something interesting, but they swerved hard around that possibility and went right back to boring town.

Nope. I’m out. Music can’t be accidentally this bad. Whoever made this did it deliberately and while it does have a “you have to hear it to believe it” quality what the hell is this doing on a must hear playlist. Unbelievable.

Ok, two positives, two negatives. One - There's so much humanity to this album. No feeling of studio wizardry. Reminds me of Fleetwood Mac's Rumors. You can tell these guys were just in the room playing these songs together. I love that. And two - the songs have such a homespun quality, and I mean that as high praise. These guys are putting their hearts into this stuff. You can tell immediately these guys must put on a hell of a live show. But three - the name of the band. The Band. There's no way that plays well. It either comes off as spectacularly arrogant or profoundly uninspired. And four - these guys have got nothing but passion, but something always felt strangely restrained. Maybe it's just the production style back then, but the songs never really roared into my ears the way it felt like they needed to, so I always felt a little underwhelmed. All the same - I get it why folks love these guys, and given their place in rock music history, I'm not going to argue with them being on this list!

Jam band stuff isn't quite my thing, but if it was, this album would blow my socks off. The band is loose but tight all at once and there's an immediate vibe to the record. I get it why this is on the list. My one quibble was the singer had tons of swagger but not much voice to back it up and I'm curious if that was a result of the intense lifestyle the band was reportedly living at the time. Anyway, this was good! Glad I finally got to check out what's the big deal about Sly and the Family Stone.

In an alternate universe... This was the Red Hot Chili Peppers. A nonstop series of non sequiturs. There's no meaning or coherence here, except the common thread of comic book character names and poop humor. The fact that reviewers dub this a concept album is just proof how willing and able human beings are to find patterns and meaning in anything. At this very moment, I'm looking at an electric socket in my wall, and it REALLY does look like a human face making an O expression, and that's the same phenomenon at work when folks find a storyline in these utterly nonsense lyrics. AND YET - That's not me saying it's bad. The production quality is high, the songs actually have hooks, and Dr. Octagon himself keeps up a tight and lyrical flow that any rapper should be proud of. There were lots of highlights throughout, but most of all I enjoyed "Blue Flowers", and especially "Blue Flowers Revisited".

This belongs up there with the albums we’ve gotten on this list so far from Carol King, Paul Simon, The Cars, and a few others. It is PERFECT. Every song brings something subtle and wonderful to the table. It’s more proof that it’s not about how loud a song is that determines how powerful it feels. Each track is an expert display in mood and contrast and harmony. Every song feels like a journey and it’s one of those albums that makes me so glad I’m listening to this list because otherwise I might never have heard this. Everything was spectacular, but my personal haunting favorite was The Great Valerio.

Two perfect albums in a row! First Richard and Linda Thompson, now this one. Maybe it's just the duds on this list giving me a healthy perspective on quality music, but wow. Just wow. Can't believe I've never even heard of her. Every track was a standout, but certainly the big single "Love and Affection" deserves every bit of praise it's gotten. Armatrading has one of those classic voices that brings every song to life. There's the old saying about "She could sing the phone book", and that's certainly true here. Put her up there with the greats.

The fault lies with me. Reggae is just spectacularly boring for me. I tapped out at song 4. I'm certain if I've heard one of these songs I've heard all 13 of them.