My 1001 Albums Journey

Album	You	Global	Diff
Opus Dei Laibach	5	2.39	+2.61
Bitte Orca Dirty Projectors	5	2.69	+2.31
Beyond Skin Nitin Sawhney	5	2.77	+2.23
Kings Of The Wild Frontier Adam & The Ants	5	2.83	+2.17
Bone Machine Tom Waits	5	2.86	+2.14
Swordfishtrombones Tom Waits	5	2.95	+2.05
Peace Sells...But Who's Buying Megadeth	5	2.98	+2.02
Post Orgasmic Chill Skunk Anansie	5	2.99	+2.01
Seventh Tree Goldfrapp	5	3.08	+1.92
Youth And Young Manhood Kings of Leon	5	3.1	+1.9

Album	You	Global	Diff
The Low End Theory A Tribe Called Quest	1	3.7	-2.7
Getz/Gilberto Stan Getz	1	3.64	-2.64
Songs For Swingin' Lovers! Frank Sinatra	1	3.52	-2.52
James Brown Live At The Apollo James Brown	1	3.46	-2.46
Live! Fela Kuti	1	3.44	-2.44
Hot Buttered Soul Isaac Hayes	1	3.42	-2.42
At Mister Kelly's Sarah Vaughan	1	3.38	-2.38
Channel Orange Frank Ocean	1	3.31	-2.31
Honky Tonk Heroes Waylon Jennings	1	3.14	-2.14
Queen Of Denmark John Grant	1	3.14	-2.14

Artist	Albums	Average
Metallica	3	4.67
Tom Waits	2	5
Black Sabbath	2	5
Megadeth	2	5
Iron Maiden	2	5
Led Zeppelin	3	4.33

Artist	Albums	Average
Todd Rundgren	2	1.5

Artist	Ratings
Prince	2, 5

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

4/5

First album for me and when I saw what it was I was a bit disappointed it wasn't a really really famous one. But this is going to happen more often than not, so just go in with an open mind and see how it goes. I certainly didn't expect it to sound as hard rock as this, particularly given the year of release. I did think the last two tracks were slightly weaker than the rest. From reading other reviews, I think the general consensus is that people love or hate Neil Young's voice, and I am the former. I really enjoyed this album a lot and am looking forward to hearing more, and not just from Neil Young. Cinnamon Girl was the highlight.

Tracy Chapman

4/5

Really really enjoy her voice a lot. It almost seems as though if this was any other artist there would be a lot of belting out the tunes, but Tracy doesn't need to do that at all, her voice absolutely carries this album. It dips a little bit for a couple of songs in the middle but ends just as it started. Fast Car is the obvious highlight but I'm glad the rest of the album matches up to it. Across The Lines is the other best song. If I could give it 4.5 I would, but alas, it's a 4.

Sign 'O' The Times

Prince

2/5

Waited for the opening song to get going and kick into another gear for 5 mins but it never came. And that was the case for a lot of songs on this album. Pretty boring and repetitive and just waiting for something good to happen. The opener had the most plays on Spotify so thought it would be the best (or close to) but it wasn't anywhere near. Play In The Sunshine was next and was immediately a better song. Side 2 is much better. The Cross and Adore are so very easily the best songs as they have the best vocal performances of the album. The Cross also builds to something pretty damn good, almost heavy metal. Overall it's just a bit wanky for my liking. Which I maybe could have guessed if I were to prejudge what I thought Prince would be like. Really not my thing at all. Half of the tunes sound like they would be okay for background music in an 80s industrial club or something, but to actually listen to, not good. Really like Prince's voice though. The non industrial sounding songs are much better, otherwise it sounds like I am listening to a bad radio station on GTA Vice City.

Marquee Moon

Television

3/5

The title track has the best lick and instrumental and solo section. Prove It is catchy. Torn Curtain also stands out. Doesn't sound like an album released 50 years ago. Great guitar work throughout. Easy 3. A collection of OK to good songs. A few of highlights but overall, just decent.

Illinois

Sufjan Stevens

5/5

I didn't want to give out 5's easily, they have to deserve it. It's only my fifth album of this journey and dammit this deserves it! A really lovely opening which sets the tone for the rest of the album. 'Casimir Pulaski Day' was the best, an absolute treat. The Man of Metropolis teases you thinking it'll be more upbeat and it eventually is, as it slips in and out of a great bit of rock guitar. I feel like this is what every wanky, indie, acoustic, breathy artist WANTS to sound like but doesn't get anywhere near. Nothing bad on this album, every song a delicate delight to listen to. The song titles are stupid though.

Synchronicity

The Police

4/5

A fantastic opening 1-2 punch. Probably the best songs on the album. 'Mother' I did enjoy, but I had a moment where it clicked that I was actually listening to something so bizarre and out of place with the rest of the album. Feel as though they gave the guitarist one shot at writing a song and he came up with this and Sting had to include it on the album as it's his only sing writing credit. Must have felt sorry for him or something. Every Breath You Take is obviously a classic, although not my favourite song by The Police. A little too overplayed in my opinion. Still a great tune though. 'Murder By Numbers' has a good groove in the chorus. Almost a bit bluesy. Sting has a great voice and The Police know how to mix pop/rock and a bit of ska/punk/reggae effortlessly.

Physical Graffiti

Led Zeppelin

3/5

I don't love Led Zeppelin's folk-y acoustic material as much as their heavy metal/hard rock stuff. Their albums are normally a mixture, so I find them somewhat inconsistent. I find that they venture slightly into 'overly long wank fest' at times and 'In My Time of Dying' is guilty of that. It sounds like they were just jamming in the studio, someone pushed record, and it ended up on the album. Some solid stuff on this album though. 'Ten Years Gone' is great and Robert Plant's vocals absolutely shine on 'Night Flight'. 'Kashmir' is a classic but not the best on the album. That belongs to 'The Rover'. It has a fantastic riff that drives the song forward with such a swagger and attitude. It's a 5 star 45 minute album if you trim the fat a bit. Don't want to give in to the Led Zeppelin tax and there are better Led Zep albums than this so it's getting a 3. A very high 3 mind you.

At Mister Kelly's

Sarah Vaughan

1/5

This type of smooth lounge jazz clearly isn't my thing. Take away the instruments and it wouldn't really make too much of a difference as it all blends into one. 'September in the Rain' and 'Just One of Those Things' are highlights purely because they're upbeat and bouncy as opposed to much of the albums slow jazz tunes. It's not bad music, but it's really not my cup of tea. Sarah Vaughan has a really lovely voice, but it's not enough to carry this to anything more than one star. It's too similar sounding throughout in a sub genre of music that probably already sounds very similar as it is.

Welcome to the Afterfuture

Mike Ladd

1/5

The trouble I have with hip hop music is that it's JUST the beat. There's no riffs, licks, instrumental sections, solos, fills, nothing. So if that main beat that will repeat throughout the whole song is weak then you only have the rapping to save the song. And if the rapping is weak, or in this album's case, doesn't appear that often, then you aren't left with a lot to like. I do like that it sounds slightly experimental, like you're in a trance in space a lot of the time - 'To The Moon's Contractor' and 'Airwave Hysteria' are the best examples - but it can't save this album. The beats aren't that interesting, the rapping isn't that good and overall it's a bit all over the place.

Kings Of The Wild Frontier

Adam & The Ants

5/5

Didn't know what to expect coming into this knowing only 'Prince Charming' and 'Stand and Deliver' which are both on the next album. 'Dog Eat Dog' opens fast. 'Antmusic' has the catchiest chorus on the whole record. 'Ants Invasion' has a great riff. I absolutely love Adam Ant's voice and random almost yodels and noises he makes. The guitar can get quite heavy at times which was a surprise. Always a fan of music that makes you headbang even though it's not all out rock or heavy metal. Difficult to say why I love this so much. Glam rock meets punk meets pop meets Burundi Beat (Google it). Just 40 mins of really fun, very catchy, a bit over the top and silly music. Absolutely loved it.

James Brown Live At The Apollo

James Brown

1/5

I know he's a legend, I know it's probably blasphemy, but I just didn't enjoy listening to this. Honestly was a bit bored. 8 tracks and one of those is an introduction to the album/band. None of his big big hits. Don't see what is so special about this really.

A Northern Soul

The Verve

3/5

Only knowing 'The Drugs Don't Work' and of course 'Bittersweet Symphony' I would thought there would be more acoustic stuff here and didn't expect it to sound as psychedelic as it does. Perhaps could have been cut down by 10 minutes. Can definitely hear elements of Oasis and Radiohead. Overall, a long album with lots of spaced psychedelic guitar and I enjoyed it because of that, not despite it. A very high 3. Perhaps Urban Hymns is on the list and is better.

21

Adele

5/5

When first released, I wasn't a fan of 'Rolling in the Deep' or 'Set Fire to the Rain' so never listened to them, but having to listen for this review, I've done a 180, they're both really strong tracks, the latter in particular is very good. 'Turning Tables' has a lovely piano 'riff' (if you can call it a riff, that's the metal head in me speaking) 'I'll Be Waiting' has a catchy feel good chorus and is probably the best song that isn't one of the big three singles that was released from this album. Adele really goes for it vocally on 'One and Only', she really does have a phenomenal voice. 'Someone Like You' closes this album, and not only is it the best track, it is, in my opinion, one of the best pop songs of all time, I really do think it's a fantastic song, that I got goosebumps listening to. This album gains an extra star just for this song alone. Overall I debated giving it a 4 because it's quite similar when listening as a whole, but the tracks are easily strong enough to warrant a 5.

Ragged Glory

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

4/5

I don't know if it's because he's a bit older on this record or going for more of a country vibe, but Neil Young's voice on this isn't my favourite thing in the world, it sounds strained at times. I now understand the hate for it. 'Over and Over' is particularly bad. He doesn't sound in tune in places, like he's just wailing over the music. It features a lot of anthemic singalong choruses, which is definitely one way to get songs to stick in your head. The guitar throughout is really great and is easily the best thing about this album. It's gritty and raw. I'm surprised it sounds as grunge as it does, definitely not something I was expecting. It's actually really heavy sounding in places! I kind of want to be the guy who hates Neil Young, but fuck this was an enjoyable listen. Would have been a 5 if it wasn't for his voice which honestly isn't amazing, and also by the end of the album it does start to merge into one ever so slightly.

The College Dropout

Kanye West

3/5

I find it difficult to describe and review music. Rap is even harder. Upon first listen it was an easy 2. Maybe I just don't get rap? Then again maybe I just don't like it? But that can't be true. I find myself rapping along to the really famous tunes over the years, knowing all the words and enjoying it. Maybe it's the lyrics. Maybe it's the beat. Maybe it's because it's familiar to me. Or a combination of the three. I decided to give it a second spin, follow along with the words and really listen to the lyrics, and lo and behold, it was a much more enjoyable experience. Kanye is very clever with his lyrics and flows really well. The first two tunes are the best and the quality dips as the record goes on but returns on 'Family Business'. Skits shouldn't be a thing. Minute long waffle that breaks the flow of the album and there's quite a lot on this one. I enjoyed this. Being unfamiliar with his work as a whole, I imagine it isn't Kanye's best and merely laid the groundwork for a future masterpiece. I hope there's another album of his on this list and I look forward to it.

Daydream Nation

Sonic Youth

2/5

Up until about track four, it sounded pretty similar. Indie. And I know people don't like to use the term indie when it comes to describing music, but you know exactly the kind of sound I mean when I say that. Then 'Cross The Breeze' is up next and what a change of pace. It's fast, loud and raw and really made me sit up and listen. You can hear the punk tinged influence. I can absolutely see why and appreciate that this may have inspired a lot of bands, but for me it was just a little too distorted and messy at times. It goes past the point of liking it and more towards 'just noise' in my opinion. Some really good highlights though. 'Z) Eliminator, Jr.' is definitely leaning into the heavy metal sound and 'Teen Age Riot' and 'Hey Joni' are also very good. As is the case with a lot of alternative indie-esque bands, I just find it all slightly too samey sounding. I enjoyed the heavier and faster tracks a lot, and just wished they would have done a 45 minute album in that style.

Repeater

Fugazi

3/5

Today I learnt that this is the lead singer of Minor Threat's other band and it's clear to see how they're an influence. 'Merchandise' and 'Styrofoam' are the two highlights here. Some of the less heavy, more pop-punky sounding tracks sound like they would fit perfectly on a Tony Hawk, or a mid 2000s WWE video game. Lots of energy and attitude, it was enjoyable to listen to but not really my kind of thing.

Ramones

2/5

I feel like certain bands happened to be playing the right music in the right place at the right time and because of that, certain albums of theirs are propelled to legendary status even if they are good or not. But I suppose that's what this list is. Important and influential albums. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of variety to punk in general. Sure, there's the odd riff here and there that stands out - 'Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue' has a really cool riff - but if I wasn't paying much attention you could tell me this album is one 29 minute long song and I'd have believed you. If you like punk, you'll love this. I don't like punk that much. I am definitely more of a metalhead and listening to this album has confirmed that to me. It has everything that I SHOULD like. It's loud, fast, raw and high energy, but after 10 minutes I've heard it all and it just does nothing for me.

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Pink Floyd

1/5

I was looking forward to this when I saw it was Pink Floyd. Some tracks are so strange, but all of them are boring. It's as if they found whatever objects they could in the studio and started banging them together and whatever noise came out ended up on the record. Is it genius and I just don't get it? Am I taking it too seriously? Or is it just really crap? I actually gave it a second listen and I do genuinely think it's just a bad album. I can certainly hear a lot of early Beatles and Bowie in this, it's just a shame that those two artists do it so much better. Take 'The Gnome' for example. Bowie's 'The Laughing Gnome' is a fun, whimsical tune and he gets away with it because that was his whole shtick back then, it wasn't too serious. However I do think that Pink Floyd wanted this to be taken very seriously, like they thought they'd written a masterpiece and we should all sit up and listen. The lyrics are laughable. Take 'Bike': 'I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like / It's got a basket, a bell that rings and things to make it look good / I'd give it to you if I could but I borrowed it' Then it's all about red and black cloaks, a mouse named Gerald in a house and gingerbread men clans. And then the second half is quite literally 'just noise'. Creepy alarm clock is the only way I can describe it. Genius or crap? Whatever the answer is, I don't get it. Take some hallucinogenic drugs and you'll probably have a better time than I did listening to this. Let's just hope that when they pop up on this list, their other albums are better than this.

The Visitors

ABBA

5/5

For me, when it comes to the UK charts and famous pop/rock singles, you can't get much better than Queen, Robbie Williams (yeah I said it, don't come for me) and ABBA. Quality AND quantity. There's a reason 'ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits' is the second best selling album in the UK (behind Queen Greatest Hits). So how would full album fare? Particularly one with no recognisable tunes or big hits on. It turns out I needn't have worried, it's very good. The two B's of the group, Benny and Björn know how to write a catchy pop song that's for sure. It's slightly darker and moodier in tone than you'd perhaps expect of ABBA at times, but still has its lighter moments too. I feel like they could have released any track from this album as a single in their heyday and it would've been successful. A joy to listen to, an easy 5 stars and I hope there's more ABBA to come.

Butterfly

Mariah Carey

1/5

Run a bubble bath, grab a glass of wine, relax and stick this on for an hour and you'll probably give it five stars. The definition of easy listening. It's pleasant enough, but it's just too similar and honestly a bit dull. I really don't like the slow, breathy tunes of 90's R'n'B. The better tracks are the ones that are more pop, or where Mariah actually shows off her fantastic vocals and belts it out like on 'Whenever You Call'. 'Honey' has a funky beat and 'Breakdown' is somewhat catchy. You know at the end of 90's kids films when they have a slow R'n'B version of a song from the film playing through the credits and you think 'I just wish I was listening to the original'. Imagine that, but for twelve songs. Not for me, and I wouldn't actively pick anything out to listen to again.

Back In Black

AC/DC

5/5

The second best selling album of all time, but is it actually any good? Abso-fucking-lutely it is. In my opinion it's the best album AC/DC ever did. There are no bad tracks here. Objectively speaking, Bon Scott is the better singer, he was effortlessly good. But I prefer the vocals of Brian Johnson. I think it fits the music of AC/DC better. On later albums he overdid it and sounded as if he was shrieking, but here he's brilliant. Every single member plays their part. The rhythm section is so tight, Angus is on fire with every riff. Obviously everyone knows 'Back in Black', 'You Shook Me All Night Long' and to a lesser extent 'Hells Bells' but you could have picked any of the 10 tracks as a single and it would have ended up being a fan favourite played on every tour. It's that strong a selection of songs. AC/DC at their loud, balls to the wall peak.

Swordfishtrombones

Tom Waits

5/5

I'm a fan of music that's "weird" or "different" so long as it can still be seen as music and doesn't lean TOO far into weird and different. As soon as I heard the vocals I knew people would either love them or hate them. They are very strange. But I really enjoyed them a lot! It definitely fits with the music. 'Underground' is a thudding plodding opener. Really sets the tone for the rest of the album. The next track 'Shore Leave' he is whispering menacingly. '16 Shells From a 30.6' had me tapping my foot, really grooves along nicely. 'In The Neighborhood' is, dare I say it, quite a lovely song. 'Down, Down, Down' is very rock 'n' roll. The music evokes images of a video game about cavemen but they're travelling aimlessly around an abandoned fairground. That is the only way I can describe it. It's bizarre and slightly over the top at times, but never takes itself too seriously. If it was described to me, it's not something I would have thought I'd have liked, but I'm glad it came up on this list! I wouldn't go as far to say that it's genius (or maybe I just don't get it) but I do know I really enjoyed listening to this a lot!

Scissor Sisters

2/5

I never really liked Scissor Sisters when they became big so I was intrigued that this album was on the list and how it would fare. There's not really that much I can say about it in all honesty. It's mostly just inoffensive pop and dance music. 'Lovers in the Backseat' is the best track that wasn't a single and I hadn't heard before. 'Filthy/Gorgeous' which is another highlight, has to be one of the most outrageously over the top songs to ever enter the UK charts. Overall, I didn't hugely enjoy it that much. A few highlights here and there but overall slightly boring.

Eagles

2/5

Was somewhat looking forward to an Eagles album. That was until I found out they're not quite as revered as I thought they were. I just hope 'Hotel California' is better than this. 'Nightingale' is pretty good and 'Take the Devil' has a cool groove and riff in the middle of the track. Overall it's decent enough background music if you're into country rock, otherwise just a bit bland. Not anything too bad, just nothing that I particularly cared for. Just inoffensive, middle of the road, dad rock. Just meh.

Bayou Country

Creedence Clearwater Revival

3/5

Had no idea 'Proud Mary' was originally a CCR track. That was a good one, the opener 'Born on the Bayou' was also very good. The highlight of the album though has to be 'Keep On Chooglin''. It's a foot tapping song that rocks away nicely for all seven minutes. John Fogerty is a great vocalist, his style of singing fits perfectly with the style of swampy rock music being played. 'Graveyard Train' is just a slow bluesy jam session which I didn't like, it was overly long and out stayed it's welcome by the four minute halfway mark. A decent record overall and wouldn't mind another CCR album or two.

Something/Anything?

Todd Rundgren

1/5

You get given your randomly selected album of the day, you read a little bit about it and you see those two words no one wants to see: 'Double album'. It must be hard enough to write a 45 minute long album that is consistently great and stands the test of time. But to write one that's over 80 minutes in length? I'm sure it's been done but this certainly isn't one of them. Each side is something a bit different. Side one is mainly pop music, side two turns slightly more psychedelic. Sides three and four are more rock focused. Quite a cool thing to do but overall there's nothing that grabs me and makes me want to listen to the whole thing again. For an album that's an hour and a half long you want it to be worth it, and this just isn't. Potentially a solid three if you cut the album in half and keep the best tracks. But the odd decent track here and there doesn't save this from the lowest rating I can give I'm afraid.

Ogden's Nut Gone Flake

Small Faces

3/5

The Album opens with the title track which is a really great instrumental that I kind of wish would be the sound for the whole album. That's not to say the more weird British quirky and whimsical tracks are bad but the more psychedelic rock tracks are definitely better overall. It was SO close to being a 4 but it's just missing that extra something. That standout track or catchy riff or vocal line. Perhaps it's a little TOO weird and the spoken parts at the start of the tracks on the second half of the album spoil the flow. Glad I listened though and some very good songs to be found here.

Boston

5/5

Obviously everyone knows the opening track 'More Than A Feeling' but does the rest of the album live up to that? Honestly I think the opener is one of the lesser tracks here. It's full of absolutely brilliant songs. Every track on this album could go onto one of those compilation CD's. 'Dad Rock: Songs To Drive Down the Motorway To' and they would all fit nicely between some Thin Lizzy and Status Quo. The first two minutes of 'Foreplay/Long Time' was so good I went back to it first thing after finishing the album. The fact they wrote and recorded the demo years prior to the album's official release, and when it came to making the actual album they didn't change a single thing tells you they knew the material they had was brilliant. If you're into 70's rock then you'll really enjoy this a lot. Catchy tunes, radio friendly choruses, perfect production, great riffs and solos, fantastic vocals. It's just a hell of a lot of fun from start to finish.

Bubble And Scrape

Sebadoh

2/5

Perfectly serviceable album and if you're into this then great, I'm pleased for you, but it's just not my kind of thing in all honesty. Some tracks have a great energy about them. I think 'Emma Get Wild' is the best offering. It has a cool groove to it. It's a bit different from the rest. I find the vocals to be very all over the place, I don't think he's very good and I'm not a fan. It does all blend together in my opinion, rather indistinguishable. Decent enough to just stick on in the background though if you fancy listening to the genre.

Bug

Dinosaur Jr.

2/5

Joy. More grungey, alternative, whiny indie. Wikipedia lists this as 'Noise Rock' which is actually pretty accurate. Just noise, where all the tracks just sort of blend together to create one long 35 minute song. They sound a little bit like a bad high school band trying to emulate their favourite artists. I don't like the singer's voice, it seems very out of tune. Is that the point? I will admit there are a couple of cool riffs here and there ('Yeah We Know' and 'Let It Ride' for example) and the solos are very loud and over the top, I quite enjoyed them. I thought 'Don't' was actually pretty cool. Everything on this track is screaming, the guitars, the vocals, really great. This type of music just isn't my thing. I'm just glad it wasn't a double album and was finished after a little over half an hour. Decent enough background music but nothing more. A generous two stars.

Live!

Fela Kuti

1/5

This is not my thing at all but I can appreciate it. I respect the tight playing of instruments and I get why people may somewhat enjoy it. But people love this? I think people pretend to like this sort of stuff so it makes them seem cool. Whether the tracks were two minutes long, over ten minutes like they are here, or even if it was just one long track it wouldn't matter, it all sounds the same. Fela introduces each song and on 'TRACK 3' says he wrote it for Ginger Baker. He wrote these songs? I can't help but feel that you can't write stuff like this. It's as if some talented musicians all got up on stage and just played whatever they felt like. It's an overly long jazzy wank fest of the highest order with occasional decent vocals. To my ears, it's essentially a jam session. Maybe I'm more standard thinking when it comes to music. It should have a catchy melody or a memorable tune. A riff, a vocal line, something to hum or sing along to. This has none of those things, which is fine, if you're into this then great, I'm pleased for you, but I don't get it.

The Joshua Tree

U2

5/5

The three hit songs from this album ('Where The Streets Have No Name', 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' and 'With or Without You') are three of the most popular of the band's career so I can certainly see why this is seen as the quintessential U2 album. Those three hit singles also are the first three tracks, and the fourth track 'Bullet The Blue Sky' is also fantastic so it really is such a good opening to the album. I don't really want to call this rock music as it sounds far too soft in my opinion. The track 'Exit' which is quite dark sounding is as heavy as it gets. This album pairs unique rock instrumentation with Bono's soaring sometimes gritty voice to make every track something interesting and unique. It's ever so slightly country and blues influenced also with a hint of Irish roots music. It's U2, and it's cool to hate on U2 so I didn't want to like it, but I (un)fortunately enjoyed this a lot.

Cupid & Psyche 85

Scritti Politti

4/5

I enjoyed this quite a lot. It's sickly sweet, synth heavy, happy, upbeat 80's British pop music. It's quirky, a little funky and also a bit cheesy in places in a bubblegum pop kind of way. Most of the tunes are good with catchy hooks and interesting and pleasant vocals throughout, very enjoyable. The baselines are funky and it's got a hint of disco. It's just over half an hour of fun, which is just the right length of time before it starts getting a little too samey.

Mermaid Avenue

Billy Bragg

3/5

I saw the words 'country music' and sighed. I'm not a fan. Luckily though this is actually, more specifically, 'alt-country' which is less southern drawl and more just an alternative rock type sound with country elements. Plenty of catchy stuff to choose from here. 'Walt Whitman's Niece' is a solid opener and I liked the back and forth between Billy Bragg and the backing vocals. 'Christ For President' has a good foot tapping beat. 'I Guess I Planted' gives me strong The Beatles vibes. 'Eisler on the Go' is a lovely tune. In 'Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key' Billy Bragg sings "Ain't nobody that can sing like me" and I do think that's true. It's quite a unique voice, but I'm not a huge fan in all honesty. Not that every singer has to be able to belt, but I find it a little weak and not the most satisfying voice in the world. It's fine. It's serviceable. The absolute best song on this album is actually the only one where Billy Bragg doesn't sing. 'Birds and Ships' features Natalie Merchant on vocals and it's a really beautiful song and it's a damn shame it's only two minutes long. I don't know who Natalie Merchant is, but I'm now a fan. She has a really lovely voice. When I first listened, I gave it two stars. But I actually had time to give it a second listen and decided a three. Would maybe have been a four if I liked Bragg's voice.

The ArchAndroid

Janelle Monáe

5/5

I can't believe how different each track is on this album! It's a fantastic sound, with catchy songs and a consistent musical theme. It's a very eclectic group of songs, spanning so many different genres and transitioning between them so effortlessly. 'Locked Inside' is a funky sounding track. 'Sir Greendown' is more relaxed and psychedelic whereas 'Cold War' starts off and you're wondering where it's going to go, and it ends up being a dance track. 'Tightrope' goes back to funky. These four songs all come in succession! 'Come Alive' is my favourite here. I can only describe it as a kind of rock and roll burlesque sound which really shows off vocal Janelle's vocals. She hits and holds a high note at the end of this track for a good twenty seconds before ending it with a great rock sounding "Ow!" 'Wondaland' is a sweet and sparkly pop song with a catchy chorus and the final one 'BaBopByeYa' sounds almost like a modern James Bond track. This album keeps you guessing what's coming next with everything sounding so different genre wise, yet sounding so similar and fitting together so well.

Hypnotised

The Undertones

3/5

It's another punk album, but this one is on the better side of punk. More pop orientated, more fun, some cool guitar licks here and there. But unfortunately, on the flip side of this, it's still punk. By the half hour mark, you've heard it all. Not too much variation. But it's only a 35 minute album so thankfully it doesn't outstay its welcome too much. 'More Songs About Chocolate and Girls', 'Whizz Kids' and 'Boys Will Be Boys' are all highlights, as are Feargal Sharkey's vocals. They are a lot more enjoayble than most punk singers. A fairly generous 3 stars seems fair.

Konnichiwa

Skepta

2/5

I only know the most popular tracks from the big hitters of grime so I wouldn't say I'm an expert by any means. I don't know enough to comment intelligently, but I thought that this was decent enough. I do feel like the lyrics and flow has to do a lot of the heavy lifting with grime. The beat can only do so much considering it just repeats throughout the song. Having said that, I do think that British rappers just sound cooler. I prefer the rhythm of the words and - being British myself - the dialect. I also think grime is best when its loud, aggressive and in your face. 'Man', 'Shutdown' and 'That's Not Me' all come in quick succession and are easily the best tracks on the album because of the reasons I stated. I would have preferred if the album was made up of tracks similar to these. Overall though, I'm just not that into grime as a whole. After 45 minutes I was getting a little bored. There isn't much variety in it in terms of musicality and no melodies or catchiness to speak of.

Hybrid Theory

Linkin Park

3/5

I'm a bit ambivalent when it comes to Linkin Park. Some good stuff, some not so good stuff. This album has three of their most popular singles. 'Crawling' and 'One Step Closer' being two of them and they are easily the best tracks. Could be partly down to nostalgia. They had a lot of airplay in the early 2000's on Kerrang which I watched a lot. The other single 'In The End' contains what I think is the biggest problem about the band. The rapping. I know it's Nu Metal and it's part of the music, but Mike Shinoda is definitely a weak point in my opinion and makes songs worse. He's so basic in his rapping. Chester Bennington on the other hand is a very good vocalist. Less Mike, more Chester please. 'With You', 'Runaway' and 'Pushing Me Away' are the standouts that aren't singles. 'Be Myself' is a bit of an assault on the ears. The guitar just screeches and Chester must absolutely blow his vocal chords to bits with the screams he does. It's pretty good but gets a bit tired towards the end. I always preferred Limp Bizkit anyway.

Pearl

Janis Joplin

2/5

I didn't like the actual music much on this one. It just didn't really reach out and grab me like I thought it would. It's fairly average rock of the time and I was hoping for something ever so slightly heavier. Janis Joplin has the voice of an angel, if that angel smoked 50 a day. It's rough but it's powerful and very enjoyable. 'Mercedes Benz' is the best track as it shows off her voice with no instruments to drown it out. Shame really, was hoping for more and could have been better in my opinion.

Brown Sugar

D'Angelo

1/5

I am sure this is a good record for the genre. But I just can’t get on board. Sure, it's peak 90's R'n'B but is that really saying much? For what it is, it's good. It's just that what it is isn't my thing. This is a genre I just don’t like. There are many genres where I can find something that's interesting. But unfortunately 90's R'n'B/soul I just find so dull. D'Angelo may be a very good singer, but he is also a boring one. No excitement, the same energy the whole way through. The songs are okay but they’re all of very similar tone and they also go on for a minute or two longer than necessary. This album could have been cut in half easily.

Slippery When Wet

Bon Jovi

5/5

I actually groaned out loud when I got this as my album of the day. I had it in my head that Bon Jovi is crap. I went into it thinking I was going to hate it and then the strangest thing happened. I started to like it. A lot. This album is basically just hair metal/arena rock. Big guitars and drums with really catchy riffs, hooks and solos. Singalong choruses, crisp production. Dad rock but with more hairspray. There are a couple of criticisms. Firstly, I would have rather this album lean slightly more towards the hard rock and heavy metal side of things instead of pop, but that's purely just personal preference. Secondly, I still think 'Livin' on a Prayer' is very overplayed, butchered to death on karaoke and probably my least favourite track on here. Thirdly and most importantly. Jon Bon Jovi's voice. It's difficult to describe, but I'll try. It's like he's putting on a "cool" voice, like his upper lip is curled up whilst singing. There's a certain whine to it. It isn't quite rough, raspy and harsh, and it isn't quite as clean as a whistle, it's this really awkward middle ground and despite how objectively good at singing he may be, I'm not a fan. Plus his diction when singing those high notes is pretty bad. Despite this though, it's not quite enough for me to take away a star from the rating. This is a really fun album, just don't take it too seriously. I enjoyed this a hell of a lot, and I hate myself for saying that.

Hot Buttered Soul

Isaac Hayes

1/5

It's a no from me. I feel like I'm missing something, clearly I'm just not getting it. There's a lack of anything interesting. The musicianship is obviously good, but that's all I can say that I enjoyed. 45 minutes of nothing. Saying an awful lot but not really saying anything at all. It just didn't grab me, it was very dull and too repetitive. I don't mind at all when tracks are long, but at least make them interesting or go somewhere. Any song that length needs to feel epic. The last song was 18 minutes long. Fine, not a problem. The first half is Isaac Hayes just talking. Literally just talking over an occasional cymbal. It's not cool. It doesn't make you cool to like this. In fact, I think it's quite pretentious. I will honestly never listen to this album again and I'm absolutely fine with that.

Rum Sodomy & The Lash

The Pogues

5/5

How can you not like The Pogues? They're a perfect blend of Irish folk music, slightly tinged with punk. Makes you want to get up and dance. It's very fun, catchy, feel good music. 'Wild Cats of Kilkenny' almost strays into heavy metal. It's a really good instrumental track that builds nicely and sounds quite dark, despite the jiggy Irish melodies and instruments. There are also some more gentle arrangements as well which still manage to keep the Irish sound. 'Dirty Old Town' is one of their most popular and understandably so, it's a quality track and shows off Shane MacGowan's vocals very well. It's a perfect song for the middle of the album to slow things down a bit after the bouncy and very catchy 'Sally MacLennane'. You can't accuse the Pogues of being boring and they're so much more than their Christmas song. Go into this knowing what you're going to get and I promise you'll have fun and enjoy it.

I See You

The xx

4/5

I can completely understand why people may describe this as boring, and maybe once upon a time I'd have done the same. When I was 16 and was discovering the world of heavy metal, I would have probably dismissed this as utter shit. I wanted more from my music. I wanted it to be exciting, full of huge guitar riffs and soaring vocals. I most likely would have said about this album something along the lines of: "Nothing happens. It's dull. Monotonous". But now I'm older I have to say I like this sound. It's lo-fi, but also adds something a bit more. It transports you to another world. It sounds slightly ethereal. a delicate dream like sound in places, which I enjoyed. I like both the male and female vocalists. they definitely help keep the sound that the music is pushing. At the risk of sounding cringe as I'm now 30 years old. It's vibes. It's pure vibes. Before I knew it, it was over. A short album at just under 40 minutes long, but it seemed to go by quick as a flash and didn't drag at all. A delight to listen to.

My Aim Is True

Elvis Costello

2/5

My first Elvis Costello album and I happen to know he has a few on this list. I just hope his other efforts are better than his debut. It came out in 1977 so it's nothing particularly groundbreaking for the time. This album is just incredibly okay. Not unpleasant to the ears. Consistent, yes, but only consistently tolerable. He has a very distinct voice and the music is playful enough to get along with. I most likely won't revisit this one or go out of my way to stick it on, but I wouldn't turn it off if it came on. Nothing special whatsoever.

Appetite For Destruction

Guns N' Roses

5/5

It's difficult to label Guns N' Roses. They're a little too heavy for hard rock, but they're not quite full on heavy metal. It's glam like Mötley Crüe but there's an edge to it. It's got a grittier sound. Everyone knows the three big singles. I think I've been worn out on 'Welcome To The Jungle' by playing it a lot on Guitar Hero 3 and 'Sweet Child O' Mine' is just overplayed in general. Having said that though, I absolutely can't deny they're both very good tracks. 'Paradise City' is the other single and for me is the best song here. The mini epic of the album. Fantastic riff that makes you want to headbang, and when it kicks into overdrive, it's fast and furious with a great solo. 'My Michelle' is probably my favourite from the rest. Really catchy chorus and a gritty riff. Now to what I don't like. I'm afraid Axl Rose is the weak link here. His voice isn't for me at all. He sounds like he's squawking a lot of the time or like he's holding his nose shut. He's so nasally and whiny. Not all the time I have to say, but he's certainly more bad than good. Slash is the star. He plays very well throughout and really is a great guitarist. I can't knock a star off purely for Axl's vocals though, because the actual music is that good. A fantastic debut and from what I understand, they never quite reached these heights again.

When I Was Born For The 7th Time

Cornershop

2/5

This is quite an interesting mixture of genres. It's something that I think could and maybe should work better than it does here, but somehow Cornershop manages to make it quite boring for a lot of the time. The three song run of 'Coming Up', 'Good Ships' and' Good To Be On The Road Back Home Again' are the best tracks. 'Coming Up' is an instrumental which combines Indian music with a cool slow funky beat. It goes straight into 'Good Ships' which is decent enough and the third is my favourite track on the album. It is definitely helped by the guest artist Paula Frazer who sounded really great, but it made me wish the whole album had her on vocals. It's quite a bittersweet sounding song and she adds a lot more emotion in six minutes than the actual singer does for the whole album. Listen to those and the original of 'Brimful of Asha' and the rest you can skip. Could maybe have been three stars if it was cut down by 15 minutes and wasn't as inconsistent.

Pictures At An Exhibition

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

3/5

Over ambitious? A little. Pretentious? Arguably yes. Good album? It's decent. It's prog rock at its best or maybe at its worst. It depends if you like prog or not I suppose. A noodling wankfest which goes off in the random of directions quick as a flash, which is fine if that's your thing. I will admit that it's an interesting album to sit through. It's intriguing and the guitar playing is impressive, and actually, all things considered, is quite enjoyable at times. I guess it would be more enjoyable if you were familiar with the classical piece it was adapted from. It's an album that will pop up randomly in a year or two and I'll remember how weird it was but also how surprisingly decent it was and will happily listen to the whole thing - although I'm glad it's only half an hour long.

Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs

Marty Robbins

4/5

This starts off with a -1 star rating purely because of the goofy ass album cover. I joke of course but wow it's awful. Anyway, this is half an hour of songs about the wild west and gunslingers. It evokes imagery of being in a saloon with duelling pistols at dawn going on outside. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this, but Marty Robbins' voice is like smooth liquid gold and the tracks are just catchy and fun. 'El Paso' swings along nicely. The vocal line actually sounds like a gallop. 'Big Iron' is the most famous apparently and I can see why. This and 'The Masters Call' are the best offerings. They sound very similar, you could probably sing one over the other and it would fit. They both have this rhyming couplet thing going on where the first line ends with a higher tone and the second line ends with a lower tone. It gets stuck in your head. Overall it does start to get a bit samey towards the end, but I can't believe I enjoyed this as much as I did. I'm glad it's on this list and I was able to discover it!

Searching For The Young Soul Rebels

Dexys Midnight Runners

2/5

If I really think about it, 'Come On Eileen' is a crap song. Over the years I think I've been conditioned to sing along to it purely out of familiarity and mob mentality. It's not on this album, but whilst giving this a listen, it suddenly hit me that I actually don't like that song. I think it's the god awful vocal style that shits all over a clearly talented band. The vocals work on a couple of tracks, but mostly they don't. He's actually horrendously annoying. 'I Couldn't Help Myself If I Tried' is especially difficult to get through because of the vocals. Just incoherent wailing and warbling all over the place and it ruins the song. Whereas in 'Thankfully Not Living In Yorkshire It Doesn't Apply' it actually is so over the top that it actually is an enjoyable track that matches the fun music. It seems to me that Dexys Midnight Runners are a bit of a ska band in disguise. 'Geno' starts off sounding like it'll be something fast and in the vein of Madness or The Specials. But before it even has a chance to get going, it then slows itself down into a pretty average track. It's annoying hearing what this band could be but they fall short, and it's mainly the vocals that let it down.

The Soft Bulletin

The Flaming Lips

3/5

I try not to read other reviews before I listen to an album as I don't want to go in with any preconceived ideas. I want to form my own opinions. For some reason I read some before listening to this one. I have to say, the singing isn't THAT bad. Objectively it's not great, I'll admit that, but I feel like it fits the music quite well. Speaking of the music, it's quite pleasant listening. Dream-like, sweet, maybe slightly melancholic. Nothing particularly stand out or groundbreaking, but overall just quite a nice sounding album. Only had time for one listen today. Could possibly have been four stars if I had time for another, but my first impression gut instinct tells me it's a three.

Raw Power

The Stooges

4/5

Punk, but with more of a rock and roll edge to it. It's a really great sounding album. Iggy kills it, like he's trying to sing from the bottom of his gut. The guitar sound is definitely a highlight here. I would describe it as dirty, scuzzy, filthy. The whole thing is just loud and the production is really raw. A bit of a wall of noise, but some great stuff to be heard here with good guitar work and solos. The vocals I really enjoyed a lot too.

California

American Music Club

3/5

This album started off very well. The first few tracks came and went and I was thinking to myself that this will be an easy four stars at least. Pretty sounding, American soft rock and I was enjoying it. Then the middle of the album was much of the exact same and my excitement started to wane slightly. Come the end of the album I was slightly disappointed. I feel like after listening to this, you would be better listening to a few songs as and when you feel like it. Any of them will do, they're pretty similar. The sum of its parts are better than the album as a whole. Could maybe have shaved off 10 minutes to make it a stronger collection of tracks. If any of the songs here came up on shuffle, I wouldn't skip them. However, listening to the whole thing, it got very samey towards the end and loses a star because of it.

Cypress Hill

3/5

The beats on this album are very jazzy and funk influenced which I absolutely didn't expect at all. It was quite a nice surprise. The tracks have a trippy atmosphere and there is something about the rapping that gets me. They have a smooth delivery. They sound very nasal which is actually fine and not annoying like it has the potential to be. B-Real in particular has a very satisfying flow and sound which I liked. They don't sound overly angry (on most tracks) and it fits perfectly with the beat. I'm not massively into rap, so overall, after three quarters of an hour, it did start to wear slightly thin, but I did enjoy it. 'Pigs' is easily the best track here closely followed by 'Real Estate'.

Maverick A Strike

Finley Quaye

2/5

It's kind of reggae but kind of not. The actual music is quite enjoyable I would say. Don't know what's going on with the vocals though. Apparently Finley Quaye is Scottish so it sounds like a slightly bad imitation of a Jamaican accent. Pretty decent overall. It's a perfectly pleasant album, but ultimately quite unremarkable.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

5/5

This album is fucking great! Half an hour of really fun rock. There are no duds here, it's all killer, no filler. 'Rockin' Around (With You)' is a catchy upbeat opener. Before slowing things down a bit with 'Breakdown' with an equally catchy chorus. 'Hometown Blues' turns things a bit more country. It's a real toe tapper. A great opening three. 'The Wild One, Forver' is an almost ballad. 'Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)' shows off Tom Petty's harsher vocals. The whole album just oozes classic rock. The reason I started this list was to be able to have more music to listen to and this album is definitely going to be listened to a lot from me.

Smile

Brian Wilson

1/5

Brian Wilson may be a genius, but whatever this is, I don't get it. The whole album just blends into one. I could put any track on from this album at random and it wouldn't matter. The whole thing is 'Good Vibrations' (but slightly less good) 17 times. It sounds like when a character in a cartoon or dumb film daydreams, then the weird effect plays on screen. Strange sound effects, warped, dream like or on acid sounding music. That's this whole album. The type of music a 70+ year old would put on and then says that music in their day was so much better. I feel like the whole album suffers from the bad stuff from prog rock and psychedelic music. The weird sounding, dream like, LSD inspired noises. Weird, quirky eccentricity in place of where the actual music should be. One star does seem very harsh considering who it is, but I genuinely don't think I'd go back to any of this unless I had a real hankering to listen to cartoon daydream music.

Bitte Orca

Dirty Projectors

5/5

People may describe this as pretentious, hipster trash, and I can understand why, and maybe it's true. It's definitely a bit wanky and a younger me would have probably hated it. But I think sometimes the question is very very simple. "Did I enjoy listening to this album?" The answer is yes! I really like the abstract songwriting and peculiar delivery. I like the colourful sound. I like the way the layered voices are used and the vocals themselves are very fun and pleasant to listen to. I like that the music is crisp and precise. The music can feel a bit meandering at times, with random harmonies and notes for the sake of it, but I actually like the randomness, like they might go off in another direction at any moment. Have I become a hipster now? Maybe, but I don't care, I loved this.

L.A. Woman

The Doors

4/5

This is a blues rock album, no way around it. The band is hitting firing on all cylinders and the vocals are great. The playing is really tight and overall I feel like it takes the best parts of blues and the best parts of psychedelic rock and combines them into a great package. I must admit, I find that is starts a little weak, but as the album goes on it gets better and better. The first two tracks aren't my favourite, but the third track 'Been Down So Long' picks things up and chugs along nicely. 'L.A. Woman' which is bluesy rock and roll is tied for the best track along with 'Riders on the Storm' which is a journey. 'L'America' and 'Hyacinth House' are both great but a little weirder than the rest. Overall a fun album, and I enjoyed listening to it quite a lot.

LP1

FKA twigs

2/5

I quite like the weird and wonderful realms of pop but it has to be the right balance. This is slightly weird and different but not ridiculously so. It's a bit of an awkward middle ground. I found it a little boring and halfway through listening I think I worked out why. It's very minimal. There's not a lot going on at all in the background and there's only so far the lack of interesting music can take you. That's not to say it's all bad. The opener is mysterious and 'Lights On' is creepy with a sense of unease. 'Pendulum' is a lovely song, the vocal lines are catchy with some interesting music. 'Closer' is just the right level of weird with a heavenly, angelic sound and the last song 'Kicks' is quite trippy with the best vocals on the album. However, most of these tracks are like the bridges of dance songs. Breathy, glitchy, nice enough vocals, but nothing comes, there's no payoff, it just lingers there for the entire track. It never seems to quite get out of first gear and I wanted slightly more out of pretty much every song. I don't mind if it's lo-fi but it still needs to be interesting, and unfortunately, for quite a lot of this album, it isn't.

The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators

2/5

I like to try and write a detailed review for every album, but sometimes I struggle to find ways to describe it. This is a psychedelic rock album and it's decent enough, and that's pretty much all I can say about it really. Nothing really stood out and grabbed me. There's probably a reason why this is an album I've never heard of from a band I've never heard of. I imagine it was a lot more influential and cool when it was released in 1966, but in 2024 it's nothing special.

Underwater Moonlight

The Soft Boys

4/5

When I heard the opening notes I thought "oh joy, more indie rock" and wasn't much looking forward to hearing the rest. The first track 'I Wanna Destroy You' is their most popular (according to Spotify) and I didn't like it much. I thought the chorus was weak. It didn't bode well. But after a lacklustre opener, it actually went from strength to strength. 'Positive Vibrations' picked things up a bit. 'I Got The Hots' was a slow, bluesy, country sounding song that chugs away nicely with a catchy chorus. 'Insanely Jealous of You' is a slightly frantic track, with an uneasy sound. 'You'll Have To Go Sideways' is a great instrumental. 'Old Pervert' almost ventures into heavy metal territory and the closer and title track is the closest thing to a ballad this album gets. I read that R.E.M. was inspired by the band, and I can certainly hear shades of them in certain tracks here and there. The vocals are pretty good and not monotonous like I thought they would be. The guitar work shines here, there's all sorts of little riffs and licks on every track. I don't really understand how this was "influential on the development of psychedelic rock" according to Wikipedia. I guess in 1980 it may well have been. What I thought was going to be a slog to get through turned out to be a good little album.

Van Halen

5/5

This album turns everything up to 11. It's like a perfect middle ground between glam and heavy metal. It sounds really great. It's difficult to explain why, but this just sounds really fucking cool. Compare this to other similar bands around at the time and Van Halen just sound so much cooler. It's a much grittier sound, the guitar playing is fantastic, and the vocals are great. It sounds like everything is being played with such a swagger and why wouldn't it be, with material this good. Everyone is at the peak of their powers. If you're into this kind of music then I don't see any reason why this wouldn't be considered a classic. Very glad this was on the list and I got to listen to it for the first time.

White Blood Cells

The White Stripes

5/5

I really enjoyed this a lot. Every track is something different than the last. Jack and Meg just know how to write a great song. Some blues, some folk, some loud alternative garage rock bangers. Jack's vocals, though they may be a bit nasally, are awesome. The way he snarla the chorus on 'I Think I Smell A Rat', he just sounds cool as fuck, as does his harsh sounding, back to basics, stripped down guitar. 'Aluminium' is a perfect example, it's a loud and heavy hitting instrumental. I know people slate Meg's drumming. It's fine. It's simple yet effective and works in the context of the music. 'Union Forever' was my favourite. Really heavy in places, trippy sounding that turns almost into a creepy nursery rhyme in the middle. 40 minutes of music would be a good length if there's 8-10 tracks, but there's actually 16 here which works out to two and a half minutes per song on average. They clearly wanted to pack as many ideas in here as possible. Great album and I hope there is more.

Hotel California

Eagles

3/5

I can't deny that the title track, though overplayed, is a very good song and probably the highlight of the album along with 'Try and Love Again'. 'Life In The Fast Lane' is a catchy song with a really cool riff. A proper toe tapping driving song. 'Pretty Maids All In A Row' is quite a nice ballad. It's not all good though. 'Wasted Time' dragged a bit and the reprise directly after it seemed unnecessary. The next track 'Victim of Love' is thumping with its verses, but the chorus brings it down to be quite forgettable. Overall I would say that it's better than the previous Eagles album I reviewed. It's just better songwriting. But I'm still not an Eagles fan by any means.

Sea Change

Beck

3/5

Sad music can be quite beautiful, but this isn't quite there. There's something about it that's missing but I can't quite put my finger on what. I thought 'Paper Tiger' and 'Little One' were the best tracks for their use of strings and they build up nicely to an epic ending. I find Beck's vocals to be quite pleasant to listen to. Not bad by any means but it's a bit long for an album where every song sounds very similar to each other. Some good moments, but a little boring in places.

G. Love And Special Sauce

G. Love & Special Sauce

1/5

I don't know what the special sauce is, but it's pretty bland. 'Walk To Slide' and 'Shooting Hoops' I could probably add to a playlist, but anything more than that and I would just be so bored. It sounds like it's trying so hard to be cool, and maybe it is to the right person. Maybe it was cooler in the 90's. I have nothing against mixing genres of music together to create something unique, but unfortunately it's a mix of blues, jazz and rap. All of which I'm not particularly fond of so this was never going to be a good album for me.

Space Ritual

Hawkwind

2/5

Considering Lemmy was more into speed than psychedelic drugs, I'm not surprised he left this band to form Motörhead. The tracks are good for about 3 or 4 minutes, but when they're going on for 8, 10, 12 minutes with very little variation, we have a problem. They're much too samey to keep my interest. Its a shame really because the riffs here are absolutely fucking great. If you told me it was Black Sabbath, I'd believe you, it sounds very much like them. They're heavy and catchy. But then you have space noises, overly long songs and awful spoken monologues to contend with. The guitar solos are great and the rhythm section drives the tracks, really thumping away making you want to headbang. It could have been a fantastic 40 minute album, there's some solid stuff here, but unfortunately this is just too much space wankery.

Beyond Skin

Nitin Sawhney

5/5

I had a really good time with this album. After the first two tracks I thought it would be very similar throughout but it's actually quite varied. The spine of the album is a constant but it branches out into other areas. A little jazz piano in 'Tides', a bit of drum and bass with 'Nadia', some chilled out vibes, some more pop orientated tracks. 'Homelands' is more Indian inspired and 'Pilgrim' is down tempo rap. There is some really weird stuff on here. 'The Conference' is absolutely bizarre and I'm not sure if I like it it's that weird. Some of the pop songs are really beautiful though. 'Nostalgia' and especially 'Immigrant' which I really enjoyed a lot and is easily the best track on the album. I'm not sure who the female vocalist is on it but I need to find out, she's got a beautiful voice. Though there are a couple of duds here, the good stuff far outweighs it. I really enjoyed listening and was looking forward to what genre would be next. It kept my attention and kept me very intrigued and interested.

Black Sabbath

5/5

What a truly unsettling album cover. The opening and title track matches it perfectly. It starts off with rain and church bells with ritualistic drumming when suddenly a thundering guitar plays a simple yet evil riff evoking scary images of a "figure in black which points at me" which is perfectly sung by Ozzy before letting out a distressing scream. My dad used to play this when I was very young and I didn't get it, it bored the life out of me. How wrong I was. Despite this being regarded as the first heavy metal album (which I do agree with), it's very much deeply rooted in blues and finding its feet. Whilst the guitar sound and riffs are very heavy in places and the drums bludgeon away, you can still hear the bluesy sound and they wouldn't fully lean into the heaviness just yet. Bill Ward is on the drums who is so close to taking the MVP spot if it wasn't for the guitar work by Tony Iommi. The album is packed with memorable riffs and solos. Ozzy, despite not being the best vocalist of all time, sounds really great here too. Before the rock lifestyle took over he was a very good metal singer and his voice is iconic. His vocal melodies are very catchy and he fits the music perfectly. I think the album quality dips slightly on side two, but the first half is as good as metal gets. 'N.I.B.' has the best riff on the album. It's so distorted and sludgy. A truly landmark album in music giving birth to a whole genre and when Sabbath are good, they are up there with the greatest of all time.

Back to Mystery City

Hanoi Rocks

3/5

Pretty decent. Nothing special or anything to write home about. Doesn't do anything new, or groundbreaking. It's just an album that you can stick on, have fun with and go about your day, nothing more, nothing less. It's just another 80's glam rock band, and I feel like other similar artists did it better.

Tanto Tempo

Bebel Gilberto

2/5

Only half of the album was on Spotify. Not a problem, I'll listen to what's available and if I like it, I'll seek out the rest on YouTube. I didn't have to seek out the rest on YouTube. As far as background lobby music goes, it's pleasant enough. Easy listening, chilled out Ibiza vibes. I've probably heard this many times in dentist waiting rooms over the years and don't actually realise. I didn't bother trying to find the other half of the album as it was all very similar to begin with and didn't think I would be missing out on anything special.

Automatic For The People

R.E.M.

4/5

Michael Stipe has an iconic voice. I really like it, though sometimes I find he becomes a bit of an American Morrissey, just warbling and rambling out of time on certain tracks. 'Ignoreland' and 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite' is where it's most prominent, though both tracks are among the best on the album. 'Everybody Hurts' is still amazing. A bittersweet sound which is prominent on most of the album but nowhere moreso than on this track. I like the more happy sounding songs too, a fun jangly pop sound. I enjoyed this a lot, but there was something missing. Just that extra piece of the puzzle that would have made it incredible, but I'm not sure what that is.

American IV: The Man Comes Around

Johnny Cash

3/5

A lot of the tracks are just Johnny with his guitar and vocals. It can be quite haunting, stripped back and chilling at times. There are some very good highlights to choose from here. The cover of 'Hurt' is the most famous and it's good. It's bloody good. I still prefer the original, but this is not far behind at all. The fact that this was his final album before he died adds to the weight of the track. It's like he knew that this was it. 'Personal Jesus' is also a great highlight. The cover of The Beatles' 'In My Life' is my favourite track. By using the same lyrics, the context of it being Johnny's last album and his husky voice, it turns the best love song of all time into an almost retrospective celebration of his life. It's quite sombre but hauntingly beautiful. I must admit it does get a bit samey though. Just under an hour of this is enough for anyone in my opinion.

A Hard Day's Night

Beatles

3/5

Finally my first Beatles album. I've never listened to one in full before, I've only ever listened to their biggest hits, so I have nothing really to compare it to. I know that they were more experimental and certainly less pop oriented as they went on. This is good though. It's all just fun, jangly, bubblegum pop, but the absolute best of the genre. Lennon and McCartney are just the best aren't they? Great at writing songs, great vocalists, the harmonies are really good. I know the title track, 'Can't Buy Me Love' and 'Any Time At All' but there are some hidden gems on here too. 'And I Love Her', 'Tell Me Why' are both really good, but my favourite song on the album goes to 'If I Fell'. As I said before the harmonies are great, it's a catchy song. I think any of those three could have been released as a single back in the day and would be just as famous as any other Beatles single and would be on greatest hits albums. It's not quite perfect, or anything massively groundbreaking but it's very good.

Fly Or Die

N.E.R.D

2/5

How the hell has Pharrell managed to get his finger into so many pies over the years? It's a fun album of jazzy rap-rock, but I do feel that after an hour it starts to get a little tiresome. I don't think the tracks are strong enough to carry it for that long. If you like Pharrell a lot you'll probably enjoy this a lot. I thought it was alright.

Private Dancer

Tina Turner

4/5

I didn't know what to expect with this album. I certainly didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did, that's for sure. It's so 80's. Ridiculously 80's. Possibly the most 80's thing I've ever heard. The sound, the production, the instruments. Not a bad thing necessarily. I like it all. The songs themselves are strong for the most part other than a really terrible cover of Beatles classic 'Help' which was truly crap. It was turned into a slow, desperate sounding ballad and I actively disliked it. Everything else though is really great. Fun, upbeat tracks. The pop and rock genres are perfectly moulded together with Tina's fantastic voice shining through. I really enjoyed the Bowie cover of '1984' and obviously everyone knows 'What's Love Got To Do With It'. I've seen that people dislike the solo on 'Steel Claw' and I couldn't disagree more. A bit screechy to start with but it's great and fits the song well. Overall a really fun album from Tina.

Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Wu-Tang Clan

2/5

It's another rap album for me today. I can't say I was looking forward to it, but I was at the very least intrigued to hear what it sounded like after briefly reading up on it. Apparently there's 9 different rappers featured. Some I like, some I don't. I'm not sure who's who but one sounded like he was struggling to get words out because he's cheeks were too puffy or he'd been sat in a dentist's chair having work done. One of them who raps first on the opener 'Bring Da Ruckus' I liked a lot though. He rapped with anger and venom in his words and I kind of wish the whole album featured him more. Whoever did the first verse on 'Da Mystery Of Chessboxin'' was also very enjoyable. I'd enjoy the tracks separately I think. Like if I chose a few to listen to and then moved on to something else. But as it is, it's nearly an hour and it's too much of the same for me. Also please stop with the overly long skits.

Out of Step

Minor Threat

3/5

This is everything that hardcore punk does so well. It's got attitude, edge, energy, it sounds angry and it's shorter than 30 minutes. The fact that it's only 22 minutes long definitely works in its favour. It gets in, shouts in your face and gets out again before you have any idea what happened. It's a lot catchier than other punk albums I've heard which surprised me. I'm still not really a punk guy, but I have to say I can see why this is peak hardcore. It's the best punk album I've heard so far and I can't see it being topped any time soon. A 3.5 which I can't do. Probably a 4 on a good day where I need to listen to something fast, loud and rude, but on any other day it's a 3 for me.

The Specials

4/5

Who doesn't like a bit of ska? It's just great. You can put it on and people just love it, especially if they're of a certain age. The fun jangly bits of reggae and the upbeat energy of punk. The faster tracks get everyone up and moving and the slower tracks you could just put on in the background and people would still love it. There are some really good recognisable songs on this album, but even some of the deeper cuts are really fun as well. I can't imagine how nuts people must have gone for this in 1979. The energy and musicality is fantastic, the vocals I love. The MVP here though is the bass. Bass can sometimes just be there. It's subtle but it gives tracks that extra boost, but on this album it's front and centre, it's all over the place in the best way and the horns make everything sound better.

Power In Numbers

Jurassic 5

4/5

What is it with hip hop albums being around an hour? You haven't got that much material to record every single time, surely? I thought I wouldn't be able to name many particular tracks that stood out because, as is the case with this kind of music, to my ears it kind of blends into one, but I was surprised when I starting picking out certain tracks I enjoyed. 'I Am Somebody' was probably my favourite and has the best beat. 'Thin Line' featuring Nelly Furtado was up there as well. 'High Fidelity' had a cool beat with what I believe is a flute. It works really well. I will say that I enjoyed this more than I thought and more than other hip hop albums I've had so far. It's a lot more of a laid back vibe than gangsta rap, the beats are more enjoyable and catchier. It's funkier and just has an overall cooler sound. The actual rappers are very good. There's one with a really deep voice who was my favourite, I think it was Chali 2na. They are very tight as well. They stay well within the beat of the track, rarely straying outside of it if that makes sense. Thankfully there's very few skits and it's a cool album cover too. I'm feeling really generous and on the basis that I actually think I'd enjoy this even more if I followed along with the lyrics and properly absorbed them, I'm unbelievably going to give this a 4. Well done Jurassic 5, you're now currently my favourite hip hop artist!

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Wilco

4/5

I really enjoyed this a lot. I see a lot of reviews saying boring, and maybe a younger me would have agreed. I would have said it's background music at best, but after absorbing it, it's so much better than that. Soft indie rock. I should hate it, but I actually found it quite an interesting listen. I really like the singer. There are guitar solos scattered throughout and they are very cool such as on 'I'm The Man Who Loves You'. 'Kamera' is a lovely little tune. 'Heavy Metal Drummer' is so damn catchy. There's a lot of atmospheric stuff here as well and a lot of the songs build very nicely. They don't quite explode into anything but that's fine because the build itself is very good. Enjoyed listening to this, and actually found time to give it a second listen and I'm glad I did as I was able to pay more attention to it. An easy 4 for me.

Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge

Mudhoney

2/5

I really tried to like this one, honestly. All of these tracks are fine. Some of them I'd even say are quite good. But this album felt like a bit of a slog to get through and I have no idea why. It sounds like an album full of songs that didn't quite make the Tony Hawk Pro Skater soundtrack. They sound like the opening band you have to sit through before you get to the band you paid to see. Decent enough. Would probably stick on a track or two if I was in the mood for it, but otherwise not for me.

Another Green World

Brian Eno

5/5

I was excited for Brian Eno to appear and wondered how a whole album would sound. Listening to it is like a soothing, surreal dreamscape, with some occasional darker moments. It's ethereal and delicate in places. Some tracks are really beautiful, with 'Becalmed' being the best of the songs leaning towards more ambient sounds than a traditional song structure. That's not to say there aren't any pop songs here. 'Golden Hour' is my favourite out of those. It has a slightly odd time signature and an eerie, almost unsettling sound. It may be "just weird noises" to some people, but whether that's true I guess is down to whether you enjoy this or not. I for one really loved it. I thought it was a beautiful listen and am more than happy to give it top marks and I hope there is more Brian Eno on the list.

Document

R.E.M.

5/5

I got Automatic For The People a couple of weeks ago so I guess it's only right to compare the two. For me, I think 'Automatic...' had the higher highs, and although 'Document' doesn't quite reach those highs, it is overall a bit more of a consistent record. It doesn't dip in quality slightly in the middle, if anything it gets better with the two well known tracks 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)' and in my opinion, the best track on the album 'The One I Love' which has a great riff. These two have the catchiest choruses and I have to shout out whoever does the backing vocals, they're top notch every single time they appear throughout the record. A great listen, very enjoyable, glad it appeared. Still love Michael Stipe's vocals. Prefer it to the other R.E.M. album on this list which I gave a 4, so this one is going to be top marks.

Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

Spiritualized

3/5

I imagine this is quite a polarizing album. If you like it, it's great. If you dislike it, it's crap. I do think it a little from column A and a little from column B. The production is top notch, I can't complain at that. However, I feel as though there is a lack of any significant melody or catchy hook. It feels as though the band prioritised the sound of the album as opposed to the content of the album. There's some decent stuff to be found here, and I did quite enjoy it, but at 70 minutes long, you have to make sure that you're writing good and engaging stuff to keep people listening. They did very well to get the album sounding good, but maybe cutting the run time in half would have made it a better experience.

Violator

Depeche Mode

5/5

After hearing 'Personal Jesus' and 'Enjoy The Silence' so many times in my life, it was great to hear the whole album that those songs came from. The former having a fantastic riff throughout the track which drives it and the latter being the catchiest on the album and almost impossible not to sing along to. The whole thing has a very dark sound. Maybe evil is too strong a word but you'll know what I mean if you've heard it. Even 'Waiting For The Night' which has more of a hopeful vibe, it has an underlying creepy sinister sound of impending doom which I love. I also love Dave Gahan's vocals a lot. Recognisable and commanding. My favourite one that I hadn't heard is probably 'Blue Dress' which is a really lovely track. All of these are the perfect length. Depeche Mode have a riff or hook and they repeat it, that's what they do, but they never outstay their welcome. They get in, grab you, and give you just the right amount. Overall a very good album which I'm very glad was on the list and I can see why this is seen as a classic.

Rejoicing In The Hands

Devendra Banhart

4/5

Coffee shop guitar and soft vocals. That's essentially what this album is, and I really enjoyed it. The guitar work throughout the 45 minutes is impressive and the vocals, though they never reach anything spectacular, fit this kind of music perfectly. I found his voice slightly too warbly at times. It was as if he trying to sing as softly as he possible could manage, and the noises that ended up coming out were trembling whispers. I was worried after the first few tracks sounding similar that I would find myself bored by the end, but I found myself liking it more and more. The one-two punch of the instrumental 'Tit Smoking In The Temple Of Artesan Mimicry' (what a strange title) and the title track in the middle of the album were the highlights. This record evokes images of cold Autumn in front of a fire. I think the second half is much better than the first. The tracks become more catchy as it goes on. I would say that this is a bit of a hidden gem, and exactly the reason I started this list. To find music I wouldn't normally listen to, or seek out.

At Folsom Prison

Johnny Cash

4/5

What a bad-ass album. Johnny Cash performs in a prison singing about doing cocaine and shooting people in front of prisoners. Johnny's performance is flawed. There are little slips and laughs here and there but it doesn't actually take anything away, if anything it adds a charm to it. It's all about the atmosphere, the reactions from the crowd, Johnny's jokes between songs, the prison warden's announcements. Johnny has the crowd in the palm of his hands. At the time of recording, he sounds like he's the coolest guy on the planet. A track that stood out to me was '25 Minutes To Go' which sounded just like a countdown to death. At the end of every line, the clock ticks down and Johnny has less and less time left. It's brilliant. I would need to listen to this a few more times to be able to fully differentiate between every track on the album though. As is that case with this genre of music, it can be a little samey, but overall I really enjoyed this a lot.

Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs

Derek & The Dominos

3/5

There's a lot of wankery and noodling on the album. To be expected I guess from a bluesy Eric Clapton record (only found out Clapton was in this band when I got this as my album of the day). But he can't half write a riff or two, and he's a pretty shit hot guitarist as well. That's easily the best part of this whole 75 minutes. It does go on a bit too long for my liking. The material as a whole isn't quite strong enough to carry it for over an hour but there is some great stuff here. I would happily select any of these tracks at random to listen to on its own, but would struggle to listen to the whole album at once.

A Wizard, A True Star

Todd Rundgren

2/5

This was a weird one. I don't want to compare it, but I had a Todd Rundgren album previously and gave that a single star because I found it boring and overly long. This album cuts down then length by 35 minutes so that's a good start. This album also is a lot more interesting with more ideas, so that's another tick. It's still not hugely interesting though. The odd decent bit pops up here and there. Apparently Todd was experimenting with psychedelic drugs at the time and moved away from tradiontal pop song structures and you can absolutely hear that. Unfortunately, for me, it sounds a little bit like he took his narcotic of choice, wrote and recorded a track whilst still high, it ended up on the album without listening to it with sober ears. The album is a little all over the place and not in a good way. It just didn't quite grab me like I hoped it would.

No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith (Live)

Motörhead

4/5

"We are Motörhead and we play rock 'n' roll." What a ride. 40 minutes flies by so quickly. Loads of people say this about loads of different bands and most of the time it isn't true, but the tracks on this live album genuinely sound better than the studio versions. Faster. Louder. Heavier. 'Overkill' sounds particularly fantastic. For me it's one of the greatest rock songs of all time just made even better by the way they play it. It makes you want to get up and move, as Lemmy perfectly sings: "On your feet you feel the beat, it goes straight to your spine / Shake your head, you must be dead if it don't make you fly. Know your body's made to move you feel it in your guts / Rock and roll ain't worth the name if it don't make you strut." If you want 40 minutes of your head being blown clean off by Lemmy's bass and iconic voice and gut busting drums then this is the album for you. I thought it would be an easy 5, but the song selection I don't particularly think is their strongest material. So purely for that, I'll subtract a star. Make no mistake though, this is a band at the peak of their powers and playing like their lives depended on it.

The Low End Theory

A Tribe Called Quest

1/5

Either there's something I'm not getting or I just don't like this. It didn't click with me whatsoever. It's meant to be a jazzy rap album. But for me that just means it's simplistic, ridiculously boring and very very repetitive. I could barely tell any track apart. Isn't jazz meant to be interesting, melodic and full of variety? It never seems to get out of first gear. This is probably blasphemy to some, but I just don't click with hip-hop at all. A full album with such little variation is obviously too much for me. Didn't enjoy this at all and maybe it's harsh but I'm giving it 1 star. Very cool album cover though.

Morrison Hotel

The Doors

4/5

Generally it seems that people either really love or really hate The Doors. This is my second album from them and I'm starting to become a fan, I thought they have both been great. For all of the rock on this record, I personally think the best track is 'Indian Summer' which is actually quite a beautiful track. Lovely guitar, soft vocals. Very good stuff. A solid blues rock album. I really enjoy Jim Morrison's vocals. I wouldn't say anything particularly blew me away, but this is a solid record if you're into this sort of music.

Signing Off

UB40

4/5

I went into this with the idea in my head that I hate UB40 purely based on one song. I really don't like 'Red Red Wine' at all, so I didn't think I was going to like this either. After listening to this album I can say that 'Red Red Wine' was a bit more pop whereas this is very much more reggae, and I can confirm that UB40 aren't half bad. The formula doesn't really change. The songs meander a bit much and some tracks are indistinguishable from each other (after one listen) and are just crying out for something to happen at times, but I guess that's just reggae. However, the overall groove was pretty cool, and I was enjoying it more and more with each track. I was really vibing with it come the end of the album. 'Burden Of Shame' is very good and easily the best track on here and the last couple of minutes has a very cool instrumental that I wish was the sound for the whole album. It needed that last bit to make it stand out. It was this track's 'solo.' Why couldn't more of these 'solo's' appear on the album? I actually enjoyed this a hell of a lot more than I thought I would, after audibly groaning when this appeared as my album of the day. I do think I would like it even more after more listens and familiarising myself with it a bit more too, so this is getting a fairly surprising 4 stars.

Metallica

5/5

This is certainly not the Metallica of the previous four albums of fast and furious thrash metal. This is certainly a more hard rock effort, but it's the perfect blend. It's not quite heavy enough for people who hate heavy metal to dislike it, but it's just heavy enough for metalheads to enjoy. It's a head banger of an album. Lars Ulrich’s drums sound like artillery and machine gun fire, James Hetfield sounding fantastic as usual. I've always loved his vocals. Every riff is good, every solo is good. The singles are brilliant. 'Enter Sandman' and 'Nothing Else Matters' being the most popular and for good reason. They are a solid hard rock song and a really nice ballad respectively. 'Sad But True' and 'The Unforgiven' are slow and plodding but in the best way possible. I have to say though, there are a couple of tracks that could have also been chosen as singles and they would have been up there with Metallica's most played. 'The Struggle Within' is very catchy with a great solo and 'Don't Tread On Me' is a heavy one that chugs along really nicely and probably has the catchiest chorus on the whole album. People say Metallica sold out with this album. In my opinion, if you stick with your signature sound, people will call you stale and you write the same song over and over (Motörhead, AC/DC, Slayer) but if you try and change your sound a bit people will call you a sell out, so you can't win either way. You write what you are feeling at the time and this is what came out, and I for one think it's a brilliant album, thrash metal or not.

Led Zeppelin

5/5

What can be said about Led Zeppelin that hasn't already been said for the past 50+ years? Robert Plant has not only one of the best voices in rock, but also one of the coolest. Jimmy Page is a legendary guitarist. John Bonham's drums are gut busting. I'd have to listen to all of their albums again to say if this is my favourite or not (off the top of my head, I believe that title belongs to one of the next three releases), but this is still damn good. A perfect blend of the times. Bluesy folk rock with a slight middle eastern flavour at times mixed in nicely with some very early glimpses of heavy metal. 'Good Times Bad Times' is a perfect opener. The opening lines from Robert Plant in 'Dazed and Confused' always gives me goosebumps along with the slightly psychedelic guitar. 'Communication Breakdown' is probably my favourite track. Amazing rhythm section, fantastic vocals, great riff and brilliant solo. A perfect rock song in two and a half minutes. As I've said previously, I prefer Led Zep when they write heavier songs over their more acoustic folk rock, and this album does that in abundance.

Vauxhall And I

Morrissey

4/5

We all know Morrissey and we all know what we think of him. Fine, let's move on. What I want to know is, why does he always seem so very sad? I imagine it's quite a polarising opinion, but I actually love his voice. Distinct, soft, airy and pleasant. Good instrumentation and he taps into that melancholic energy. There are some really great tracks to be found here, The opener and closer of the album are probably the strongest two. Enjoyed this a lot and would happily stick this on at any time.

Red Dirt Girl

Emmylou Harris

4/5

I saw the album title, the artist's name, the cover, the genre of music and even skimmed through a few reviews and I thought 'I'm going to really struggle with this one'. Quite the opposite in reality because this was a delight to listen to. Never heard of Emmylou Harris but I like her voice. It's supposedly country music, but I would barely describe it as such. It's got hints of country, definitely, but it's more folky. The tracks that have a tinge of sadness are the best ones. I don't know if that's a reflection on me or not, but I genuinely think they're the strongest songs on the album. The first two tracks, 'The Pearl' and 'Michelangelo' for example are a great opening one two gut punch. They sound very bittersweet as does 'Bang The Drum Slowly'. I think she just has a voice for the slower, more emotional songs. Overall, a very pleasant surprise and an album I would be glad to listen to in full if it was ever put on.

Songs Of Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

2/5

I have to say that musically, every song on this album is strikingly similar. Yes, I only had one listen through, but it difficult to distinguish between tracks. 'Teachers' was probably the best one as it was a bit different sounding and the guitar throughout does sound quite cool I must admit. It was all very nice and pleasant, but nothing stood out to me and no particular track felt special because they were all very alike. Also a word on Cohen's vocals. Also nothing particularly special and on some tracks I actually thought that it was a very weird middle ground between soft singing and talking. It sounded very low effort from him. In places it sounded like it was building to something, like it was going to get out of first gear but never did. Overall I think I would be alright listening to the whole album ever so often, maybe pick out a few select tracks that stand out after more listens, but I didn't think it was a necessary listen and I didn't need to hear this before I die.

Giant Steps

The Boo Radleys

3/5

The Boo Radleys? The same Boo Radleys who did 'Wake Up Boo!'? I didn't expect them to sound very much the opposite of that happy, upbeat song. This was a bit of a mixed bag. The more happy upbeat pop tunes were decent, the more rock orientated tracks weren't too bad. But mixed in between was the more shoe-gazey songs. I don't like using the words "just noise" to describe music, I think it's lazy and simply not true, but genuinely some of it sounded like just noise. It often changes tone quickly as well. From one nice pop track to droning, wailing guitars. I'm not against that type of music at all, but on this album it gets very irritating quite quickly. It didn't seem like it was a good fit, it's quite a jarring shift in tone and volume. Listen to 'Spun Around' to hear what I mean. Still, there were some good tracks as well. The more radio friendly it was, the better. Cut the length down by 20 - 30 minutes and you'd have an easy 4 star album, perhaps even full marks. As it is, it's a bit bland and bloated.

Youth And Young Manhood

Kings of Leon

5/5

I'm really glad this was an older album from Kings Of Leon. I know a few older tracks and I like them all so was looking forward to hearing a full album. I'm glad it wasn't the newer more popular version of the band, with songs like 'Sex On Fire' and 'Use Somebody' which I really don't like at all. If I could try and describe it accurately. It's as if you took the garage rock sound of The White Stripes, mixed it up with the faster tunes of very early Bon Scott era AC/DC and sprinkled in some country vibes. It's a great sound and I don't think there's a dud track here. Some people won't like Caleb Followill's vocals but I enjoy them a lot. They sound a lot better with this type of music than they do with later Kings Of Leon stuff. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this but I'm very glad it was on the list and it makes me want to check out more of their earlier stuff.

Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby

Girls Against Boys

2/5

The vocals aren't my favourite thing in the world. They're pretty aggressive sounding and raspy which is great, but they're so monotonous. The pitch doesn't change, just the volume. When the guitar and drums really get going and turn up their volume, they really drown out the vocals. So overall, it's just a little bit of a mess in that department. That's the bad out of the way. There are some decent riffs scattered throughout though ('Learned It' is a good example and is actually the best track on the album) and I do actually quite like the overall vibe of it. It does sound quite dark, almost menacing in places. 'Get Down' sounds very creepy, like you're being watched. This is a perfectly serviceable noise rock album. Perhaps a bit unremarkable, but I'd be happy to listen to the best tracks here.

Is This It

The Strokes

2/5

Now That's What I Call Fifa Music! I know I'm definitely in the minority but what's the appeal here? It's quite monotonous. It's probably on purpose but the vocals are distorted, mixed so far back and drowned out by the instruments, it makes the words unintelligible at times. There are some decent riffs scattered throughout the album and I really like that the catchy basslines are so high in the mix and you don't have to go looking for it. The problem I have is the absolutely relentless strummy guitar which is a problem for indie music in general (yes I called indie a genre, you know what I mean). The game you can play is "when will the relentless strummy guitar change key"? Count along. The first 8 will always be the same, but when in the next 24 strums will it change? Could be the next 8 or maybe they'll keep it the same until there's 8 left and they decide to change the key and the last 4 notes are a bit different. Part of me wants to give this a three because I know this is a well loved album. But I'm also that miserable contrarian who enjoys disliking things that others love. I wish the cool riffs were the central parts of the songs. The two best songs are the two most popular 'Someday' and 'Last Nite'. I don't know if that's because they're familiar or they are simply the best written tracks. There's not enough variance going on here and by the end of the album I was just wanting it to end. It's a two.

Rubber Soul

Beatles

5/5

This is a turning point for The Beatles, moving towards a bit more maturity. The bubblegum pop is still here, but less so and the songs are stronger as a whole. It also marks the start of a bit of experimentation. 'Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)' with its lovely sitar riff and catchy vocal lines is a top 5 Beatles track for me. Now we come to 'In My Life'. My favourite Beatles song. I'm not exaggerating when I say this but not only do I think it's the greatest love song of all time, it's one of the greatest songs of all time. I could write a whole review on just this song and the album an extra star for this track alone. A delicate little 'riff', great sped up piano solo, lovely vocals, subtle yet brilliant drums, beautiful lyrics. Two minutes and twenty six seconds of perfection. Of the songs I had never heard before 'Michelle' and 'Girl' were easily the best. The former is a cheesey love song, but let's be honest, it's what this band does best and McCartney sounds very genuine and heartfelt, and the latter has a bit more of a sombre mood but Lennon sounds equally great. 'Run For Your Life' has very serious lyrics for a jangly pop song. The most famous track, the opener 'Drive My Car' is great and 'I'm Looking Through You' is so catchy and that's basically the story of this album. Every song has a catchy little hook, melody or vocal line. Lennon and McCartney harmonise so well together. I have to say that side one isn't as good. The quality dips a little after the first two fantastic tracks before the quality comes right back up with 'Michelle', but side two is as good as any I've heard. I'll have to wait and see if this turns out to be my favourite Fab Four album, but at the minute it's definitely in the lead and will take some beating.

Midnight Ride

Paul Revere & The Raiders

3/5

A perfectly fine album. It's from the 60's so I'm sure you can imagine exactly what this sounds like. There's a slight edge and roughness to it though. Some nice melodies and guitar playing throughout. Though there is nothing particularly outstanding about this album, it is half an hour of fun. Just enough time before it starts getting a bit boring and samey. I can't really think of much more to say about it really. It's inoffensive and a good time but doesn't excite me like other albums have done.

You're Living All Over Me

Dinosaur Jr.

2/5

I will echo my review on the previous Dinosaur Jr. album I had and say that the vocals aren't great. I don't know if it's the point but they're whiny and out of tune. I will say that I enjoyed this one slightly more though. A little heavier and faster, but still not exactly the type of rock music I like. This is the first time I've said this whilst doing this challenge, but how the hell does this band have two albums on the list? If this band has two, there are a few heavy metal bands out there that I feel could and should have more inclusion and representation for not only making better music, but for being more popular and genre defining. Anyway. My favourite track is 'Poledo'. It starts off as a quiet acoustic guitar track and after about a minute and a half, it's like someone flicked a switch. The vocalist and the guitar are absolutely screaming so loudly which then turns to something quite sinister sounding. The last minute is very eerie. Not enough to save it I'm afraid, as with the previous album by this band, it gets a two.

Ready To Die

The Notorious B.I.G.

3/5

Why is every single hip hop album over an hour? Have these people ever heard of "leave them wanting more"? This isn't the fairest review as I only gave it one listen. I was debating one or two stars. But I decided to go back through some of the tracks and read along with the lyrics and properly concentrate and focus my thoughts fully on the music which definitely helped a lot. If I had time I'd listen to albums as many times as I could. With other genres, there are vocal lines, melodies, solos, riffs, something catchy to 'grab' onto. With rap, there's a constant looped beat and unless you follow along with the words it's difficult to 'grab'. That's the best way I can describe my personal feelings towards hip hop. 'Juicy' is obviously the best track here. It's got a really funky bass line running through it and actually sounds quite uplifting in comparison to the rest of the album. I wish the whole album was exactly like this track. Biggie really shines on 'One More Chance' and 'Respect' too, they're both very good. He's an enjoyable rapper to listen to. I like the laid back delivery of most of the lyrics. 'Gimme The Loot' however is quite an aggressive track, Biggie and whoever else that is on the track sound great. The skits are probably funny once, and then just ruin the flow of the album. Stop with the skits. These ones were particularly cringe. I would probably enjoy this more with more listens. Really popular stuff like Kanye and Eminem I like because it's familiar and I can follow along with the lyrics that I already know which helps a lot, so this is difficult to rate after just one listen. I'll assume I'll like it more after more spins, so I'll give it a 3.5 rounded down.

Surfer Rosa

Pixies

5/5

I think this album takes the best bits of different genres. The aggressive rawness of punk, the noisy garage rock sound with a slight tinge of indie. Despite it being a big influence on the grunge sound of Nirvana, I can't say I personally hear too much of that though I can see why it was an influence. I like both the male and female vocalists and I think they both intertwine well despite being a bit of a contrast to each other. The male vocalist in particular can shout. scream and shriek very well but I also love the more restrained singing he does, which is quite Jack White-esque. The female vocalist is perfect for the slightly more indie sounding tracks. The drum sound is huge. It powers through everything in its way particularly on 'Cactus' which I thought was going to explode into a loud massive wall of noise, but stayed very constrained which surprised me. 'Vamos (Surfer Rosa)' sounded like a throwback to surf rock from the 60's. Very Dick Dale I must say. 'Something Against You' gets in, screams in your face and gets out again before you know what's happened. I really didn't think I'd like this at all, but it was so good. An easy full marks for me.

Fromohio

fIREHOSE

4/5

Very surprised by this one. Going off the album cover, name of the band and album, I would have put money on it being a loud, fast, noisy, shouty garage rock album. To my surprise, from the first track all the way to the end, it was filled with nice little riffs, jangly guitar, really pleasant vocals. No one track in particular stands out as the best one after only one listen, but it all flows nicely together and it was such a nice surprise of an album which I enjoyed throughout its short half an hour run time, I can't give it less than a four.

Straight Outta Compton

N.W.A.

5/5

I really enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. The sampling is good and the beats are funky and fun. It has a lot of variety too. The opening title track and 'Fuck Tha Police' go hard. The radio friendly 'Express Yourself' is surprisingly upbeat and uplifting and 'Something 2 Dance 2' does exactly what it says on the tin. Eazy-E has the best flow but the worst voice, whereas Ice Cube is the opposite, he flows slightly more basic but has a loud in your face voice which suits the music better. MC Ren is a happy medium. Overall the flow is a little bit simpler than other rap music but it doesn't really matter when the words which transport you into their world are said with such aggressiveness and venom. There's a lively energy about them. I was tempted to give this a four, but there weren't many dud tracks here and it's a hip hop album under an hour! A damn shame they only did the two albums (and their follow up doesn't even feature Ice Cube) because I'd have liked more from N.W.A.

Heaven Or Las Vegas

Cocteau Twins

4/5

This is the reason I signed up for this challenge. I've never heard of Cocteau Twins and was intrigued, and after listening I'm so glad they were on the list. The vibes are immaculate here and it feels like you're floating on summer air. The lyrics are absolutely unintelligible, even when listening very closely, perhaps on purpose. But that doesn't matter because the actual vocals from Elizabeth Fraser are flawless. Not the greatest of all time territory, but they're so perfect for the music and a delight to listen to. There are some five star tracks. The opener 'Cherry-Coloured Funk' is ridiculously catchy and the title track is phenomenal. It lifts your soul, instantly puts you in a good mood, it's catchy, sounds ethereal and dreamlike. It evokes images of a heavenly paradise. You're content. Bloody superb. Despite the perfect scoring songs, I'd be lying if I said that the album overall doesn't get a little bit samey and difficult to distinguish between tracks at times (after only two listens). I listened whilst driving but I can imagine with a good set of headphones, in a dark room with no distractions that this is probably a better listen.

Nothing's Shocking

Jane's Addiction

5/5

This album seems to act as a bit of a bridge between the over the top hair metal and glam of the 80's and the heavier rock of 90's alternative and grunge. It's a good mix. The opening one-two of 'Up The Beach' and 'Ocean Size' is really good and sets the album up nicely. The guitar work throughout the album is brilliant and my favourite thing about the record. Great riffs like on 'Mountain Song', blistering solos like on 'Standing In The Shower... Thinking'. The vocals from Perry Farrell are brilliant. Powerful and over the top, though I feel like they are slightly pushed back in the mix and almost sound slightly not real at times? Maybe they're just that good. Really enjoyed this dark, raw and rough album.

Neon Bible

Arcade Fire

2/5

I was kind of looking forward to this one. I'd heard of Arcade Fire and how highly regarded they and their albums are but had never heard any of their songs before. I don't really know what all the fuss is about to be honest. Whiny and dull is what I got from this album, and this is meant to be one of three of their holy trinity of work. I just hope the other two are better than this. Nothing really reached out and grabbed me, I was struggling to find a song that really stood out. Maybe 'The Well And The Lighthouse' and '(Antichrist Television Blues)' because they upped the tempo a bit after the slow tunes. I quite liked 'No Cars Go' because it sounded quite similar to the Prefab Sprout classic 'The King Of Rock 'N' Roll'. I wouldn't say I outright disliked this, but I was bored, and sometimes that's worse. At least if you don't like something you have feelings about it. With this album though, I wouldn't care in the slightest if I never listened to it again. I certainly don't think I needed to listen to it before I died.

London Calling

The Clash

5/5

The opening title track is a classic, and if the whole album followed suit I wouldn't have minded, but it's a melting pot of punk, reggae, ska and pop. It's constantly changing on a track by track basis, but there's hardly a weak song on here. I really enjoy Joe Strummer's vocals They're not perfect all the time but it fits the music very well. Great guitar work throughout. Catchy little riffs and vocal lines. The tracks don't follow a traditional song structure as you would expect sometimes. 'Lover's Rock' for example just goes into this cool little instrumental, repetitive singalong bit. I did really enjoy this a lot, the quality shone through despite the variety of genres on show. I wasn't bored at any point and would enjoy giving it a spin any time, but I wouldn't say it absolutely blew me away considering how highly regarded it is. It's over an hour long and only had time for one listen so I imagine if I listened more and was more familiar with it, I would like it even more. Very easy five.

The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground

4/5

I can't see how this influenced so many genres including punk, garage rock and indie. I think it sounds too pop overall to be considered that influential on these heavier genres. It wasn't very well received back in the 60's so I don't really know how it becomes more and more popular since then. 'Heroin' is probably my favourite here. A 7 minute dark, loud, attack on the ears. There are interesting ideas here and unconventional song structures particularly when you remember this was released in 1967. I prefer the haunting vocals of Nico than I do the vocals of Lou Reed (I don't think I actually knew he was in this band), even though objectively Nico isn't exactly a 'great' singer. That being said, just because I can't see how it's as important as it is, doesn't mean I didn't like it. I enjoyed this a lot. I normally want to be that arsehole that hates popular things to be different but I couldn't help but like this.

Californication

Red Hot Chili Peppers

5/5

It's that unmistakable Chili Peppers sound. Some variation here and there but you instantly know it's them. 'Porcelain', 'Scar Tissue' and 'Road Trippin'' are all really lovely songs but in different ways, like different sides of the same coin. The first is slow and sad, the second is uplifting and the last one is very sombre. 'Get On Top' is probably a throwback to their earlier stuff and it works, it's funky as hell. 'Emit Remmus' is the heaviest track here and is also very good. Flea is a great bassist and I'm actively trying to pick him out to hear it. Frusciante is so good as well. The solos he does can be short, sweet and subtle like on the title track, but can also be soaring and distorted, and they both sound good. The drumming on 'Savior' is almost tribal. Anthony Kiedis shows off his vocal prowess here too. Speaking of Kiedis, he is somewhat of the weak point. I love his vocals, he's got a great singing voice that I really enjoy. The rapping is slightly hit and miss though. I feel like when it's on funkier tracks and it's very over the top like on 'Right On Time' it works and fits well. On more traditional rock tracks though like the opener 'Around The World' he holds back and I don't enjoy it half as much. Also what the fuck is the "ding ding dong dong" all about? I swear these guys just spout utter nonsense in their songs! That's the only negative I can find though. It's a cracking album. Every song has a little earworm. A catchy vocal line, a singalong chorus, a solid riff. 15 tracks, nearly an hour long and I wasn't bored for a single second.

Another Music In A Different Kitchen

Buzzcocks

3/5

It's punk. I'm surprised to say it's a little more melodic than usual and the guitar work in places is pretty good, but it's still got it's root in that punk rock sound. Buzzcocks sound a little more fun and joyful than your typical angry punk band. I'm not the biggest fan of the vocals either. 'Fiction Romance' and 'Moving Away From The Pulsebeat' are the best tracks here. The former has a great, driving, headbanging guitar and the latter sounds a little less punk and is on the verge of being almost heavy metal. I can't give it more than three stars. Decent album but there are others I've already reviewed that I'd much rather listen to than this.

Music in Exile

Songhoy Blues

4/5

I didn't know what to expect going in to this album. Who would have thought that African beats and blues rock would mix so well together though? Certainly not me. I was so surprised to like this at all, let alone as much as I did. The guitar work on this album is an absolute treat. It's nothing mind blowing but it's solid throughout. So many cool little licks and riffs. The opener 'Soubour' has one of the best. 'Irganda' is a little more upbeat and sounds almost like an African disco track. 'Al Tchere Bele' has a bouncy beat that makes you want to tap your foot. The quality does dip ever so slightly in the middle but overall this was a delight to listen to. It's not probably something I'd ever seek out to listen to ever again, but who knows. Maybe one day I'll be in the mood for it. Whether I listen again or not, I can't deny how much I enjoyed it so it's getting four stars.

Getz/Gilberto

Stan Getz

1/5

Perfectly fine if you're into this sort of thing but I am definitely not. Very delicate piano over even more delicate drums. Vocally doesn't blow me away. At least Sarah Vaughan has a beautiful voice. Theres nothing to grab onto, no vocal melody, catchy ear worm that gets stuck in your head. It's very nice background music at a fancy dinner party, or when drinking your morning coffee on a summer's day. But to actually sit, listen and concentrate on it, it's 40 minutes of the same, slightly dull stuff. This did absolutely nothing for me and I want a little bit more from music.

White Light

Gene Clark

1/5

Just dull. So very dull. Simple, to the point and lacking any depth or passion. Never once gets out of first gear. The harmonica adds nothing. Musically it's very plain. Country folk rock monotony. No innovation. Clark’s voice is timid though I will admit that on the final track '1975' the vocal lines are pretty catchy, but that's all I could pick out. I have no idea whatsoever how this album has ended up on this list. If I die today with this being the last album I listened to, I'd be severely disappointed.

The Trinity Session

Cowboy Junkies

3/5

I feel like reviews of this album will be mixed. It's definitely not everyone’s thing. It’s quiet, casual, and chill. It's slow too. Very very slow. I’d understand if someone called it boring. The soft, melodic and smooth instrumentation sets a mood along with the mellow, wispy vocals which is definitely the best part of the album. Margo Timmins has a haunting, emotive voice which fits the aesthetic of the album perfectly. The best track is arguably the opener 'Mining For Gold' as it's just Margo and no instruments, it's beautiful. The next track 'Misguided Angel' is also very good. After nearly an hour it does get a bit samey, a bit tiresome, wishing someone would just pick up the pace a bit. I enjoyed it a lot, there's not exactly any bad tracks but 53 minutes worth of slow country is definitely teetering on the 'too long' side of things. Would have been a 4 or even a 5 if it was shorter but as it is it's a 3.5 rounded down.

Don't Stand Me Down

Dexys Midnight Runners

2/5

There are parts of this album I like more than their debut which I have previously reviewed and parts of it I like less. Musically it's a bit more mature than their debut, probably a little less fun overall and it's still got really annoying vocals. It's the purposeful up and down shift in pitch and tone, like yodelling but not quite. It really grates on you. I don't know why he can't just sing it straight, and use his voice properly. There's too much talking in places. 'This Is What She's Like' has a two minute conversation to start the track off. The music is slightly overlong and disjointed with the talky bits throughout the album. This is carried by its occasional catchiness but brought down by the irritating vocals and conversations that happen on tracks.

Rust In Peace

Megadeth

5/5

Been a long time since I listened to this one in full and I have purposely been skipping tracks on this album because I knew it would pop up on this list eventually. 'Holy Wars... The Punishment Due' for me is one of the best metal tracks of all time. Opens fast and furiously before some chimes and delicate Middle Eastern sounding guitar lick slows things down a bit but still chugs along nicely. Before you know it it's right back to breakneck speeds with some blistering solos. 'Hangar 18' is another of their best tracks ever. The whole second half is just a back and forth guitar solo duel interspersed with a fantastic headbanging riff. Probably one of the greatest opening one-two punches in the history of heavy metal. 'Poison Was The Cure' opens ominously and then explodes into Megadeth's high-speed thrills. 'Rust In Peace... Polaris' opens with some great drumming before yet another good riff. It's sung from the perspective of a nuclear rocket which is pretty odd yet pretty unique and lyrically menacing. It's probably my other favourite track other than the opening two. It's catchy as hell and surprisingly got a pretty singalong chorus. Mustaine spitting out "I spread disease like a dog!" and "Launch the Polaris! / The end doesn't scare us / When will this cease / The warheads will all rust in peace" is fantastic. Mustaine's vocals, though not perfect or technically fantastic, fit the music so well. It's like you can hear the dripping snarl behind every word. He sounds pissed off and I will always love him as a vocalist. The guitar sound is difficult to describe. Compare this to say 'Master of Puppets' by Metallica. The latter sounds thick and fuzzy, whereas this sounds slightly thin and crisp? Still good, but a distinct difference is sound for two of the most famous trash metal albums. Just something I find quite interesting. There's no fat to trim here, it's the definition of all killer, no filler. There's so many riffs packed into this, the solos are phenomenal. A band at the peak of their powers.

Chirping Crickets

Buddy Holly & The Crickets

2/5

It's exactly what you'd think music from the 1950's would sound like. Buddy Holly does have a very nice voice, I must admit. Of course this was probably influential in the development of rock and roll, but it's nothing more than a historical artifact. An album from a very specific point in time. A comforting sound from a time gone by, but nothing more unless you're a diehard fan of this type of music. The songs are fun to hear once in a while and I'm sure it was better 70 years ago, but there's much more exciting music out now. Thankfully it was under half an hour.

Music From Big Pink

The Band

2/5

There are some nice jams to be found on this album, but for me personally, this is nothing more than a bit of rock easy listening. The songs are nice as they're happening, but they aren't distinctly memorable. 'Chest Fever' was a highlight. It opens with a nice little keyboard jam and has a cool, slow, groovy riff. There's a cool keyboard solo that I enjoyed, before the cymbals crash and we're back into the guitar riff again. Best track on here. 'I Shall Be Released' slows things down that little bit more. The drums almost sound like they march through the song. It's a quiet, lovely ballad that closes the album really well. Overall, I just didn't really care too much about the jangly jamming and found it a bit boring in places.

Wild Is The Wind

Nina Simone

3/5

Being that this is an album that was made using leftover tracks from recording sessions from the past few years, the material here is understandably a bit all over the place. The opener 'I Love Your Lovin' Ways' is a blues rock tune which surprised me. The next one 'Four Women' is a dark jazz track with a cool little piano 'riff' and is the only original track written for the album. You can tell because it's definitely one of the strongest tracks here. Simone's nasally, unique voice isn't for everyone, but you can't deny she sounds full of emotion. There are ballads, folk songs, jazz tracks. The quality drops in the second half of the album. You can tell that the material wasn't strong enough before and was left on the cutting room floor for a reason. It's a shame that this happens to be Nina Simone's only album on this list because I would have liked to have heard more from her with an album with a little more direction and focus.

Highly Evolved

The Vines

2/5

I feel like the British press may have hyped this one up a bit too much. It's fine. I wouldn't particularly say that it deserves a spot on this list purely based on the music. I can't really recall many tunes from it and I've literally just finished listening. It just didn't excite me like good albums do. It didn't grab me by the neck and make me sit up and listen. I found it to be pretty generic in all honesty. Feel like I want to say more but can't really think of anything else to comment on. If you like this kind of music, you'll probably love it. I found it alright. Just another 2000's alternative rock album.

Parachutes

Coldplay

4/5

I like Coldplay. There, I said it, it's in the open. They get an unfair amount of hate for being "whiny and depressing". Firstly, I don't think that's true and secondly, depressing songs do not equal bad. Granted I only know the singles, I've never listened to a full album so I was looking forward to this. I've always liked Chris Martin's voice. His delicate falsetto in particular sounds very nice. On this debut, there's an unpolished almost rawness to it, like he hasn't quite mastered how to really control his vocals just yet. It's like they did one take and whatever came out ended up on the record (in a good way, I really like it). This is a lovely album overall. It's a lot less pop, and a lot more coffee shop-esque songs and alternative soft rock than I thought. Although it was one of my least favourite singles, 'Yellow' is a shoegaze song in disguise and is a classic. I hadn't heard 'Trouble' for a very long time and forgot how great that track was. The closer 'Everything's Not Lost' is easily my favourite song I hadn't heard before. I imagine the guitarist is probably so underrated in the world of music purely because he's in Coldplay, but there's so many cool, lovely little licks and riffs throughout this album. They aren't trying to go for radio friendly hits on this debut, they're just writing good music that happened to become radio hits. I enjoyed it a lot. There are a couple of duds and bland moments but overall it's a very good album, not a phenomenal one.

Seventh Tree

Goldfrapp

5/5

This is the dreamy, ethereal, atmospheric kind of music that sounds really pleasant while you're listening to it. But it's also the kind of music where it does slightly merge together at times and you forget what each song sounded like by the time the album is finished. That's not to say it's bad, but this type of music doesn't really lend itself to catchy melodies and singalong choruses. I just know that I really like what I'm listening to. The airy vocals match the carefree laid back music perfectly. I'd describe it as folk vibes combined with electronic pop. Bearing in mind I only get time for one, maybe two listens if I'm lucky enough to find the time (I carved out another 45 minutes to give it another listen today), it may seem strange I'm going to give it top marks considering what I've just written, but this album was an absolute delight to sit through and I know for a fact that the more familiar it becomes to me, the more I'd enjoy it.

Hejira

Joni Mitchell

5/5

I've heard of Joni Mitchell before but never heard a song of hers. I just know that she's a legend. It's definitely a grower of an album, and it will take multiple listens to fully appreciate it but after only two spins, I already love it. It's a collection of some of the loveliest songs sung by someone with one of the loveliest voices I've heard. The title track has a slight south Asian tinge to it which sounds great. An immediate standout would have to be the epic 'Song For Sharon'. It's gorgeously haunting. The bass throughout the album is a highlight but on 'Black Crow' it's so so good, it oozes cool, coupled with the equally good guitar riff and solo towards the end of this slightly heavier sounding track. There's not exactly a typical structure to the songs and I love how loose and open they are. Albums like this are the reason I started this challenge. Great from start to finish.

The Yes Album

Yes

3/5

It's got power, melody and great musicianship. I've always loved Jon Anderson as a vocalist. I think he's got this upbeat, positive, bright tone to his voice, and he can't belt out a tune as well. 'Clap' is a really nice little acoustic instrumental track. A great bit of guitar picking from Steve Howe. The other five tracks have moments of catchiness that you'll pick up on. This album is an ideal compromise. Just enough to please fans of rock music, but also not quite heavy enough that you could put it on in the office at work and no one would mind. I thought this was pretty decent. I'm sure there are better Yes albums and I'm definitely sure there are better prog rock albums (looking forward to finally getting some Rush and Pink Floyd).

This Year's Model

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

4/5

My previous Costello album was his debut and this is his second so it's nice that I'm getting them in order so far. In comparison to his first album, this is infinitely better in every way. The songwriting is better, it's a lot more of a fun listen, there are a lot more ear worms and it's catchier overall. His debut got very samey and a bit boring, whereas there's a lot more variety here. This is loaded with little riffs throughout. '(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea' is very cool sounding and 'Living In Paradise' is a spritely and unusual riff, but again, very appealing to the ear. It sounds almost like a video game type sound. 'Lipstick Vogue' is fast, punky and is vocally a highlight, and 'Pump It Up' is a classic with a solid, riff driving the song forward. I'm still unsure how I feel about Costello's voice. There are times I like it, and times I find it a bit silly parody-esque. But overall I lean more towards like than dislike. A much improved second offering from Elvis Costello. Let's hope he keeps on improving!

C'est Chic

CHIC

2/5

Yeah yeah yeah, Nile Rogers is a legend, and I'm sure Chic were highly influential in the world of disco, but fuck me this is repetitive at times. Excessively so. The best tracks are the ones that break up the monotony or are that catchy it doesn't matter too much. For example 'Happy Man' does repeat but it's an effortlessly cool song and a huge ear worm so I can kind of forgive it. 'Savoir Faire' is the best track. There's fantastic guitar solo playing throughout this great instrumental. An easy highlight. These two I'd happily add to a playlist and I wish they were up there with Chic's most popular singles so we could hear them until the end of time. In contrast, the opener and 'Le Freak' (which I've never liked anyway) are ridiculously unvaried. There are good riffs throughout the album but the song lengths are a lot longer than they have any right to be. I get that it's probably the point but it's not for me. It's cool, groovy and funky with great guitar, bass and production, but it gets boring in places and I didn't enjoy this a huge amount.

Led Zeppelin II

Led Zeppelin

5/5

I'm far from the biggest fan of this band, there are hits and misses, but this is my personal favourite Led Zep album and it's easy to see why. There's no duds and they crank up the heaviness from their debut which was already pretty heavy. Everyone is on fire here. Jimmy Page's great heavy riffs and Robert Plant's effortlessly cool vocals always had the aura - what you would notice first. But the rhythm section of John Paul Jones on bass which is really prominent on this record and John Bonham blasting away on drums yet still playing so tight were the heartbeat which is more evident on this album than any other. 'Whole Lotta Love' is still a classic. Fantastic riff driving the song, the middle section is iconic and the explosion of Bonham's drums into the screaming solos from Jimmy Page and back into the riff to take it home. Brilliant. Pretty much the same story with 'Heartbreaker'. 'Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)' has a great singalong chorus and the cool riff after Plant sings the title of the track 'Ramble On' will be another one you'll be humming for weeks. One of the easiest five star ratings I'll ever give.

Beggars Banquet

The Rolling Stones

2/5

Nothing about this album makes me believe it deserves a place on this list other than the huge single 'Sympathy For The Devil' (which admittedly is a highlight) and the fact that it has the name 'The Rolling Stones' on the front cover. How can you open with such a great track and follow it up with such bland crap. 'Salt Of The Earth' which closes the album is the only other highlight in my opinion. It's pretty stale and didn't excite me despite having a variety of music, including rock and roll, blues rock and even a bit of country at times. I forgot it almost as soon as it ended. I also didn't realise until listening to this album that Mick Jagger's voice is very grating and actually just not very good. It just seems like he's shouting over the music at times. I'm not even a fanboy but please, let's not compare these to The Beatles ever again, there's no competition.

Only By The Night

Kings of Leon

4/5

I was disappointed when I saw this was my album. I always hated 'Sex On Fire' and 'Use Somebody' so if the rest of the album was similar I knew it would be a low rating. How wrong I was though. The opener 'Closer' is a weird almost psychedelic sounding track and the next one 'Crawl' turns up the heaviness but maintains a slightly electronic vibe. I enjoyed them both and think they're the best songs on the album. The next two tracks were the two popular singles I thought I hated. I still detest 'Use Somebody' which I think is just utter crap and annoying, however after giving 'Sex On Fire' a fair listen, my mind has changed somewhat. It's by no means outstanding, but I have to say I did like it. The whole album is filled with catchy choruses, great drumming and appealing vocals (although at times perhaps indecipherable and slightly over the top almost yodelling). A very solid effort and one that I was pleasantly surprised by considering I thought I'd hate it.

Horses

Patti Smith

2/5

I appreciate Patti Smith was groundbreaking and this is probably one of those albums that you're supposed to love, but I didn't. I just thought it was alright. I'm not sure I'll ever "get" it. The tracks do tend to go on a bit, at times it sounds a bit like spoken poetry that happens to have background music and I'm entirely convinced Patti Smith is singing irritatingly on purpose just to piss me off. Listen to 'Birdland' and tell me that you don't want to just punch her and her annoying, whiny yodelling voice. Despite this though, I gave it a second listen and enjoyed it slightly more. Regardless of how annoyed I was with Patti's vocals, musically this album had its moments. It's probably not something I would listen to again but I wouldn't say I outright enjoyed it.

Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul

Otis Redding

3/5

What a voice Otis Redding has. It's surely worth an extra star for being so soulful. The actual songs are a little hit and miss. I like the cover of 'Respect' which is pretty good (I never really liked that song to begin with to be fair). I really really enjoyed the cover of 'My Girl' which I actually think is better than the original, or at least I enjoyed it more. Once again, Redding's voice pushes it to that next level and the horn section is great. Redding's version of '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' was very interesting. The slightly quicker speed, his vocals and the horns add a different flavour to the song. I think the Stones version is good as the drums drive it forward, but this is a very very good version and very close to pick between them. I have a huge soft spot for 'I've Been Loving You Too Long'. When I was younger, my parents had a performance of it on VHS and we replayed this track over and over so it's ingrained into my brain. It's a beautiful song, sung perfectly by Redding. The building of the horns into the almost desperate cries from Otis are perfect. The rest of the album is okay, I can't say I've heard of any of the other songs but they're decent. Just upbeat soul. A rating of 3 stars seems fair to me.

Like A Prayer

Madonna

4/5

There's not a whole lot I can say about this album. It's perfect 80's pop music. Cheesy in places, sickly sweet, perfect production. I guess there's a reason why Madonna is dubbed the Queen of Pop. The title track is a classic. Prince pops up on a track or two which was a surprise. 'Cherish' is the epitome of 80's pop, my god it is so ridiculously catchy. 'Dear Jessie' has some nice classical elements to it and doesn't go in directions you think it will. I genuinely don't think there's a bad track on here. Some a bit "less good" than others (I didn't care too much for 'Oh Father' or 'Act Of Contrition') but overall a very good album.

Street Life

The Crusaders

4/5

I wasn't looking forward to this. That dreaded word "jazz". But I think I've had a bit of an epiphany. This is the kind of jazz that I like. I'm not a fan of that slow, monotonous, really quiet and soft, almost dull jazz. The kind of jazz you would hear in a poncy coffee shop or wine bar. This though was really enjoyable. It's more upbeat, it infuses elements of funk and soul. The playing of the bass is great, the cool mini guitar licks and solos are great, the saxophone is great. The vocals on the opening title track - which was the best on the album - were really catchy and are perfect for the song, they really are sublime vocals. Yes it was slightly "elevator music" or "dentist waiting room" or "hold music", but it was all good stuff and each of the six tracks had their own flavour. I feel like I could put this on at any time of the day, no matter what mood I'm in and I'd smile and enjoy it. A really surprising four stars and I'm very glad it was on this list.

Want One

Rufus Wainwright

4/5

There may be some that criticise this album. They would probably say that it all runs together a bit, in tempo and mood. I somewhat agree, but I also think that if I gave this enough listens to familiarise myself with it and be able to differentiate between tracks more that this wouldn't be much of an issue because it's a damn good collection of songs. They may also say it's overly dramatic in places, but I don't personally see that as a bad thing. There's something about his vocals and the way he sings, it's a treat for the ears. He drolls over the music, but it works. Almost Thom Yorke-esque. There's an eccentricity to some of the tracks and it's all a bit theatrical. As I said before, I couldn't really differentiate between songs but I know that I liked what I heard and surely that's all that matters. Would happily listen to this again any time.

Odessa

Bee Gees

2/5

I genuinely had no idea that the Bee Gees were releasing albums in the 60's. So this would be a pre-disco sound for the brothers. Vocally, this is as good as you'd expect and is easily the highlight of the album. There's absolutely no denying the vocal talents of the brothers Gibb. The harmonies and falsetto are as good as you'll hear. Musically it's odd. It's like if The Beatles were less good and started releasing folky prog music. 'Whisper Whisper' in particular sounds very Fab Four. A lot of the tracks just aren't that interesting and do sort of merge together. The only highlight I can remember is 'Edison' which I thought was a hugely catchy ear worm. It's not exactly bad, but it is pretty dull in places. Not exactly what the Bee Gees are known for.

Sound Affects

The Jam

3/5

The guitar is very good, and probably the high point of the record, some nice riffs scattered throughout the album and surprised me with how prominent it is and how enjoyable it was. The bass is very punchy and front and centre. I enjoy Paul Weller on vocals a lot, an iconic voice. He shines most on 'Man In A Corner Shop'. I really enjoyed the more upbeat punky tunes 'But I'm Different Now' and 'Set The House Ablaze'. 'That's Entertainment' is another highlight, very familiar to me thanks to my dad listening to it a lot when I was younger. This is probably the most three star album I've heard so far. It never dips below that and occasionally ventures into four star territory.

Dirt

Alice In Chains

2/5

I will start this off by saying that I really really love the guitar tone and sound on this album. It's heavy, chuggy, sludgy, at times pretty psychedelic and sounds really great. Unfortunately I'm not a huge fan of the vocalist. A bit boring for my tastes and also slightly robotic sounding, like he doesn't sound real. He's also pretty whiny for the most part too. I also don't think the actual songs themselves are all that interesting, they don't excite me, there's not enough melody. Maybe I need more listens, but from my one playthrough and subsequent quick flick through I just don't think the sound of Alice In Chains is for me, which is a damn shame because as I said before, that guitar sound is brilliant. An unfortunate two stars and I wish it was more.

Slayed?

Slade

3/5

Slade are fucking great. It's just your basic rock 'n' roll. It's meat and two veg, balls to the wall glam rock. I would say they're probably the United Kingdom's answer to AC/DC just with a few less riffs. Noddy Holder has got such a booming voice, and it's such a presence on this album. It's effortlessly powerful and loud, but without sounding like he's screaming without purpose. There's nothing more to say really. If you don't like this kind of music, you'll rate it lower. If you enjoy 70's British glam rock you'll rate it higher. Half an hour is just about enough before it starts to get a little samey, or perhaps grating.

The Number Of The Beast

Iron Maiden

5/5

The album that broke Maiden in America and it's not hard to see why. It's heavy, it's packed with riffs and loaded with melody. Steve Harris' fingers must be on fire with how quickly he plays bass on some tracks. Clive Burr on drums brings an almost jazzy infectious beat to the rhythm section on his last appearance on a Maiden album. Then there's Bruce Dickinson - for my money the greatest heavy metal vocalist of all time - who replaces Paul Di'Anno from the previous two albums. What Bruce lacks in the rawness that Paul had, he more than makes up for with his operatic style vocals. He certainly earned the nickname "The Air Raid Siren". Every track is a killer. There are some tracks that open with pace, some slower tracks, catchy singalong riffs and choruses that work so well in a live setting. This album has everything you could want in a classic metal album. I've heard the title track too many times but it's still a fantastic song. The scream Bruce lets out is iconic, cool riff, blistering solos. 'Run To The Hills' is radio friendly but to no detriment. How Bruce manages to sing that high is a mystery, the bass is so quick. 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' is the epic of the album. A gloomy, ominous intro with a gong opens the track before the melodic ear worm of a riff kicks in. The back and forth guitar solo duel is one of the best in Maiden's catalogue. The jazzy feel of the drums and instrumental that follows makes you want to head bang before Bruce wails out the title of the track again. Perfection in seven minutes. This is an easy five stars and it's not even Maiden's best. I'd probably put it mid table in the list of 17 studio albums they've made. So if you enjoy this, I implore you to delve deeper into their discography. Up The Irons.

Let's Get It On

Marvin Gaye

3/5

Marvin Gaye is soul personified, what a voice. It's silky smooth. The actual album itself starts off strong with 'Let's Get It On' which is an absolute classic. It's brilliantly sung, catchy, soulful and Marvin doesn't sound like he's just jamming and riffing over the music like in other tracks. For example 'Keep Gettin' It On' acts as a sequel to the opener. It's essentially a reprise. Musically the same song with changed lyrics that sound loose and free. It's almost a waste of a track in all honesty. The first half is much better than the second. 'If I Should Die Tonight' is the best track other than the opener. Marvin really shows off his vocal prowess here. Overall it does get a little samey, but thankfully it's only just over half an hour long. I'll give it a generous three stars, two for the music and an extra one for Marvin Gaye's voice.

Dirty

Sonic Youth

3/5

My second Sonic Youth album and I have to say, I do think it was better than 'Daydream Nation'. This record came out four years after and I feel like I can tell. The songwriting is not only a better quality, I do feel like it's a more mature effort. It's seems more focused than before. Still present, but less scratchy, screeching guitars. Not only were there more standout riffs scattered throughout the album, I would say there were more standout tracks too but it can still be a bit of a distorted mess here and there. I prefer it when they absolutely all out balls to the wall, otherwise it's a weird middle ground. Overall a better effort from this band, but I still don't quite get the hype surrounding them.

The Suburbs

Arcade Fire

3/5

I do wish that whoever the female singer is would get more time to shine on this album, I find her more enjoyable to listen to than whoever the male vocalist is. She's on 'Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)' which is definitely a big highlight. An 80's vaporwave sounding track which is pretty dreamy. I wish there were more electronic and hard rock tracks. For every 'Empty Room' which is a catchy, upbeat hard rock delight where both singers harmonise well together, there's a dull meandering track. For every 'Month Of May' which has White Stripes or early Kings Of Leon vibes there's generic indie which you could hear from any band from the same era. For every 'Half Light II (No Celebration)' which is another great track, a real foot tapper that builds and builds as it goes on, there's boring filler. I liked this a lot more than the other album I had from this band, 'Neon Bible' and I do think I would enjoy this more with more listens.

Legalize It

Peter Tosh

3/5

After the first two tracks finished, I thought I'd be in for a long slog of samey, repetitive, boring, inoffensive reggae. They were pretty stereotypical reggae. What you'd think of when someone said reggae. But after the third and fourth track, the strangest thing happened. I started to enjoy it. I still maintain that overall, musically, reggae is pretty similar sounding. But tracks like 'No Sympathy' added a little bass line giving an extra bit of a push, 'Till Your Well Runs Dry' has elements of 70's soft rock and even has a pretty cool guitar solo, and 'Ketchy Shuby' is such an ear worm that you'll be singing the chorus to yourself for days after you hear it. Nothing groundbreaking, but a pretty enjoyable, harmless album, that I ended up liking more than I thought I would.

After The Gold Rush

Neil Young

3/5

The more Neil Young I get, the more I become a fan. This wasn't quite as good as other two albums I've had already on this list, but still a solid effort. There's a lot less rock on this album than his previous album, and more soft piano ballads. Not that that's a bad thing, he can clearly do both. I don't think Young sounds whiny at all like a lot of people says he does, he sounds great on this album. In fact, on the title track, I think he sounds rather lovely. It's easily best track on the album, and is quite hauntingly beautiful. 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' is another really nice song. A decent effort from Neil Young who seems to be consistently good but nothing phenomenal. This album was slightly "meh" in places but also had some very good highlights.

Reign In Blood

Slayer

4/5

I can see why people hate this. It strangles and pummels you and doesn't let you breathe for half an hour. But as a metalhead, this is fucking great. There's such a relentless frenetic energy to this album, packed with riffs. The solos, though not technical masterpieces, wail and scream from the guitars. Tom Araya on vocals has always been a favourite, loud and powerful without sounding like he's mindlessly shouting. His scream on 'Angel Of Death' is iconic and genuinely sounds like one of the previously mentioned solos. The band as a whole sound evil. 'Altar Of Sacrifice' has a truly monstrous demonic sounding riff. Obviously the (sort of) title track 'Raining Blood' is a classic. I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much after playing it over and over on Guitar Hero III years ago, but it still hits hard. Demonic opening with rain and ritualistic drums, great riff, really heavy headbanging instrumental breakdown in the middle, before exploding into a solo and abruptly finishing with the crashing of thunder and the patter of rain. Brilliant. It's not perfect though. Sometimes it is a little TOO fast. Unless you read along, the lyrics to tracks like 'Necrophobic' and 'Reborn' are unintelligible. Araya sounds almost comical in how quickly he tries so sing which is a trait of not just Slayer but thrash metal in general. It's not quite their best but I can absolutely see why this is the only Slayer album on this list. I personally preferred their next two albums which slow things down (slightly) and sound a bit more of a mature effort and not "look how fast we can play".

Jagged Little Pill

Alanis Morissette

4/5

I don't know why, but this particular album I really wanted to love. I only know of a few Alanis Morissette tunes and I like most of them. I never cared for 'Ironic' though which is on here. I feel it's slightly hit and miss. Probably more listens needed to fully digest it, but I was every so slightly underwhelmed on the whole. I really didn't expect it to be as grunge tinged as it is which was a nice surprise. I will say that I absolutely adore Morissette's unique voice. Vocally really strong, and an almost yodelling, over-singing quality which I love. She sounds best on the hidden final track 'Your House (Forgive Me Love)' which is an acapella song, and the lack of instruments really do show off her vocals in all their stunning glory. A perfect closer to the album and a beautiful song. 'Hand In My Pocket' is a high point, a great catchy track with a chorus that's fun to sing along to. 'Mary Jane' and 'You Learn' are also highlights. 'Right Through You' and 'Forgiven' show off the grunge vibes. I think a three is fair but because I love her voice so much and I do genuinely think I'd enjoy this more with more listens, I'm going to give it a four and hope that future me agrees with this sentiment.

Harvest

Neil Young

2/5

They're really loading me up with Neil Young aren't they. Though this one seemed to contain some of his most popular songs (according to Spotify), I actually found it to be a little boring in places. Certainly the least interesting album of the four of his I've had thus far. Still some good stuff here though. 'Harvest' is a lovely track, 'Alabama' is solid rock tune, and I still don't think that Neil Young is whining. Not technically the best singer but a certain charm to it. I didn't enjoy this as much as the Neil Young album I had a couple of days ago which I rated a three, so I can't go higher than a two for this one I'm afraid.

Post Orgasmic Chill

Skunk Anansie

5/5

Somewhere in the depths of my mind the name 'Skunk Anansie' sounds vaguely familiar, I'm sure of it. The guitar riffs are heavy, the bass is prominent and punchy, but the MVP of this album has got to be Skin. Her vocals are absolutely killer throughout the album. She can do it all and she can do it all very well. She grabs your attention immediately. 'Tracy's Flaw' is a perfect example. They slow things down and it gives Skin the perfect opportunity to sing with a bit more sincerity and sounds more heartfelt. But this track also shows off her powerful belts and raspy, growly shouts as well as her falsetto. A fantastic voice that matches the music perfectly. This was aggressive from the first track and also had its slower moments. Heavy yet melodic. Riff heavy. Such a good album and such a pleasant surprise. The vocals force an extra star out of me, they're that good.

Lust For Life

Iggy Pop

3/5

The title track opens this album and it's very familiar to me. I haven't heard it in a long time but it's still a great tune that makes you wanna get up and move to its ridiculously infectious beat. That's pretty much the story for this whole album - infectious, melodic tunes. It's produced by David Bowie and you can tell, it's got his fingerprints all over it. Every little guitar melody that gets stuck in your head you can just tell it has his influence. Overall there is some very good stuff here and it's pretty catchy throughout. The backing vocals are a highlight too. I will say that the quality does take a slight dip in the final third but this is a solid album, more than likely a bit of a grower. A very high three.

Young Americans

David Bowie

3/5

My first Bowie album and it's a somewhat contentious one that some like and some dislike. I feel as though this is quite hit and miss. Some decent to very good stuff and also some stuff which is just a little slow, plodding and boring. The title track opens this up and it's catchy, upbeat and cheerful. 'Fascination' for me is the best song on the album. It has a real funkiness to it, the bass is great and the electric guitar has the little frills and licks as well as the saxophone. The backing vocals really add to the song too. The next track 'Right' follows in the same vein. 'Somebody Up There Likes Me' really builds to something great during its six and a half minute runtime. Another really good bit of sax in this one. The closer 'Fame' is another very funky track. So to summarise. Eight tracks. Three very good ones, two decent ones, and three meh ones. Three stars.

Bossanova

Pixies

3/5

I loved the heavy metal surf rock instrumental opener and had high hopes for the rest. The next track 'Rock Music' also didn't disappoint, the singer screaming into the mic, heavy guitars. I didn't find this album as good overall as Surfer Rosa though. It's not as harsh and heavy, slightly more boring, straightforward and almost radio friendly. Much more of an indie sound. Though a quick flick through Surfer Rosa and actually they're more similar than I remember, and perhaps a full five stars for that album seems a little high. It's a mostly traditional rock record with noise and aggression sprinkled throughout.

Melodrama

Lorde

2/5

I never go in wanting to dislike an album. I go in with high hopes, otherwise what's the point? This one I really wanted to like and I really tried, but I just didn't get it. It ticks the right boxes. Breathy, ethereal, dream-like, electronic and atmospheric music. I enjoyed other albums with similar vibes, but for some reason this one just didn't do it for me. It opens well. 'Green Light' is very catchy, and starts off with very light piano and lovely vocals. After nearly a minute the piano gets into second gear along with a bass drum - which I loved - before bursting into the chorus where it picks up again. A great opener that hooks you in with its catchy melody and upbeat dancy piano. Unfortunately the next few songs I found myself bored, and again, I'm not sure why. The quality comes back with 'Liability' which is brilliant. It's just vocals and soft piano and that's all it needs to be. Lorde sounds her most vulnerable and intimate in this song. A beautiful track, beautifully sung with beautifully painful lyrics. And then I'm bored again for the next ten minutes. 'Writer In The Dark' is another highlight in the same vein as 'Liability'. Just vocals and piano. There's a pattern here. Maybe it's the instruments that bore me? I honestly almost gave this just one star, but luckily the final track 'Perfect Places' came in and saved it because it's also a good one. A little more upbeat, cool uplifting chorus and a good way to end the album. Her voice fits the music perfectly, and there's a few songs with actual hooks, but there aren’t enough interesting ideas musically to keep me interested for the duration of an entire record. Two stars. Gutted.

Golden Hour

Kacey Musgraves

4/5

This is definitely more like a pop album with a country twang than it is a country album with a pop twang. I think there's a difference. There is in my head anyway. There's some unique production things going on that make more than a few songs pretty atmospheric and it really tiptoes the line of pop and country. It's a really nice mixture of both and hits a good sweet spot. The added synth and strings really elevate the tracks. Kacey has a really lovely voice with an ever so slight southern drawl that makes it very appealing to listen to. She has some catchy vocal lines and the more pop influenced tracks are ear worms in themselves. 'High Horse' is the catchiest track and also my favourite on the album. It's nothing mindblowing, but it is a very pleasant listen and I would happily stick it on at any time. A generous four from me.

New York Dolls

2/5

I imagine this was great in 1973. Don't get me wrong, it's not 'bad' but it just did nothing for me at all. It's proto-punk so it wasn't quite fully formed yet. I'm not a big punk fan as it is, so this is just even worse for my tastes. Nothing jumped out and grabbed me, nothing stood out, I couldn't hum you a tune from the album as soon as I finished. I was somewhat bored throughout. Again, it's not bad, but there have been albums that sound bigger, badder, stronger, louder and heavier than this since its release 52 years ago so this is just a bit of a time capsule of a record.

Homework

Daft Punk

4/5

I asked a friend why dance tracks were so long. He told me that it's easier when DJ'ing as you have more time to mix and set up the next song. Fair enough, makes sense, but I didn't think it would be good for a whole album and maybe all radio edit versions of tracks would be better. I was so ready to rag on this album after looking at the length and some other reviews, but I enjoyed it. A hell of a lot more than I thought. There are certainly still a few duds. 'Around The World' is a perfect example of a 7 minute song that could be cut in half, the music isn't enough to carry the repetitive words 144 times, as well as a couple of others. In general though, there are enough iconic hooks and the music and melodies are absolutely catchy enough to carry the songs. It did feel slightly like the music equivalent of edging at times. You just wanted it to move on to the next bit, or build into something and explode into the drop, but I suppose that's not what house music is all about. Repetitive? Yes. To its detriment? Only sometimes. Overall I found this a very fun listen and I'd happily stick it on again any time and it makes me want to listen to more Daft Punk albums. A pleasantly surprising four.

The Slider

T. Rex

2/5

This is literally "Songs that sound suspiciously similar to 'Children Of The Revolution' and 'Get It On': the album". The opening riff of 'Buick Mackane' (which is one of the best tracks) sounds very much like 'Children Of The Revolution' and the next track 'Telegram Sam' is uncannily similar to 'Get It On'. I was actually quite surprised at how alike they were. It wasn't bad, but I found it a slight chore to get through. The title track and 'Chariot Choogle' were the other highlights. Not much more I can say really. If you like T. Rex's most popular tracks, you'll love this album. I was going to give it a three but I found little variance in it and it was slightly boring at times.

Tarkus

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

1/5

Clearly these guys can play, there's no disputing that, but they're not very interesting to listen to. Complex music but can't actually write an engaging song. This is certainly the kind of music I think of when I think of prog rock. Drum fills, a dancing organ, guitar noodling. I think it's playing for playing's sake. It doesn't really go anywhere or evoke any imagery or emotion from me. I have no problem with a song being 20 minutes at all, but it has keep you interested and the opener just doesn't do that for me. The shorter tracks that make up the rest of the album aren't that great either. Plus they're very different. The closer 'Are You Ready Eddy?' is a 50's rock & roll tune. Why? I was going to be generous and give it a two, because I didn't hate this and clearly they're talented at their instruments. But would I ever listen to any of these seven tracks ever again? Probably not. I'll probably start being a little harsher going forward starting with this.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

3/5

It's the first time I've ever heard the title track, and my God what a beautiful song. Perfect angelic tones by Art Garfunkel. Just when you think it ends, it comes back with more intensity, more percussion and some nice orchestra and builds to a wonderful crescendo. What an opener. 'El Condor Pasa (If I Could)' follows it, and it's a really lovely track. You don't get enough flute playing in songs for my liking! From here it's slightly hit and miss. Nothing bad by any means, but wavering quality. I will say though, you can hear the influence from The Beatles on some of these tracks. 'Keep The Customer Satisfied' and 'Baby Driver' you could absolutely find right at home on an early album from the Fab Four. I personally don't think the rest of the album lives up to these heights of the opening two tracks. It's ever so slightly boring in places, but the dull tracks are worth enduring for the jewels that they surround.

Coles Corner

Richard Hawley

1/5

I'm currently four songs in and I'm ridiculously bored. I've heard no change in just over ten minutes. It's very slow, very monotonous, and very boring. Seven tracks done now. There seems to be a slight country vibe on this one. Still bored though. I want this to be over. If I don't finish this review, send for help. Track ten now and the first half is a capella. I fear I might not make it to the end. Last track and I've made it. I feel relief that it's over. In all seriousness, a few tracks did stand out. 'The Ocean' had a nice orchestral sound and built itself up nicely before fading out. 'Tonight' was actually quite a beautiful track and Hawley's voice fits this one the best. 'Last Orders' the closing track is an ambient, atmospheric tune with a lovely piano. This is a bit of a snoozefest. It's not bad and it doesn't hurt my ears, but it's definitely boring. Three tracks out of eleven isn't good enough. I'd describe it as "forgettably pleasant'.

Rust Never Sleeps

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

2/5

I believe that this is my fifth Neil Young album so far? I still think he's pretty good, and I still don't think his vocals are that bad. The first half of this album is a slower, more acoustic half. The songs do slightly bleed together into one I have to say. All very nice and very lovely inoffensive stuff, but nothing that I would actively choose to pick out necessarily. The second half is where the grungey hard rock comes in, and I like it a hell of a lot more than the first half. Young is a great guitar player. The solo on 'Powderfinger' is great and the fast rocking riff on 'Sedan Delivery' is a proper foot tapper. There's not much more I can say that would add anything extra to my previous four reviews of Neil Young albums. I would have given this a three, but I did say I was going to be harsher in my ratings. First half would be a 1.5, second half a 3. Overall I'm rounding down to a two.

Stephen Stills

2/5

Sometimes decent and other times, slightly worse than that. A little bit of a snoozefest in all honesty. Some pretty okay guitar work. In comparison to Neil Young's 'After The Goldrush' (because apparently all the members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young all released albums in 1970) which I got a couple of weeks ago, it isn't as good, but it's not quite a single star.

Beach Samba

Astrud Gilberto

1/5

Elevator music. Pure and simple. The type of music you'd hear in a wanky wine bar or piano lounge. There's absolutely no meat on the bones of this album. There's nothing to sink your teeth into, and it all sounds like a variation on the same song. It not awful, it's just pretty samey and boring, and for me personally, it's background music at best. After 20 minutes you've heard it all and just want it to end.

Stand!

Sly & The Family Stone

3/5

Not exactly my kind of thing but I enjoyed this. Psychedelic, funky soul with some great powerful vocals. There's a great energy to this album and you can feel it as you're listening. I'd happily add any one of these tracks to a playlist and wouldn't mind them popping up at any point.

Iron Maiden

5/5

As a huge Maiden fan, I can say with certainty that this is not their best album. I'd put it somewhere around the middle to bottom half. Still five stars, but they've done some incredible records and it's a shame there's only two of their albums on this list. I can see why this would be one though. It's their debut and they came sprinting out of the blocks with a point to prove. Lyrically it's not great. In fact a lot of the tracks just repeat the same verse two or three times. But the music more than makes up for this. Every single track has a very catchy hook, melody. riff or singalong chorus that you'll find yourself humming for ages. The awful production actually adds to the charm of this album in my opinion. It's really rough and unpolished which gives it a bit of a punky vibe along with the vocals of Paul Di'Anno. As I said before with 'The Number Of The Beast' if you like this album, please do yourself a favour and check out their discography. You won't be disappointed. Iron Maiden are the best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be. Up The Irons.

Damaged

Black Flag

2/5

It's nice to finally put a singing voice to the face of Henry Rollins who I've seen pop up throughout the years in various documentaries and interviews. I like the sound of the guitar. It's rough and heavy. Thick and fuzzy. The notes the guitar is actually playing excited me slightly less. Better than most hardcore punk I would say but still doesn't make me want to check out more of Black Flag. The vocals are your typical hardcore punk vocals really. Loud, aggressive, not melodic in the slightest. Almost shouting. Thankfully, like most punk, it is quite a short listen. I would have started to hate it more and more as time went on. Not quite my kind of music, but good to stick on if you're in the mood for something aggressive.

The Fat Of The Land

The Prodigy

3/5

There's a reason why The Prodigy were allowed to grace the stage at festivals like Download and Sonisphere. This album is a world where dance and metal collide and metalheads took this band in and claimed them as their own. You can see why, it's very heavy dance music in places. There are some cracking tracks here. The three singles 'Firestarter', 'Breathe' and 'Smack My Bitch Up' are easily the strongest ones. The latter in particular is my favourite. It's got a really cool groove and the wailing by whoever the female vocalist is is a cool highlight. Of the other tracks that I'd never heard, 'Climbatize' was really cool. It stood out because it was almost chilled out despite the heavy drums which were prominent throughout the album. It's got a cool melodic hook to it and had an almost Middle Eastern flavour. 'Mindfields' was a cool, Asian inspired almost psychedelic track. Closer 'Fuel My Fire' was also good with its infectious groove and foot tapping beat. I will say that it's slightly one note overall so you have to really be in the mood for it. The tracks really could have done with being a minute or two shorter as well. I don't know how much fat is in this land, but it could have done with being trimmed. I can see why it's a classic and I can see why people love it. I would say I liked it, I enjoyed it but I wasn't blown away. Would have been a four if they cut the runtime down by ten minutes.

Mask

Bauhaus

2/5

I didn't enjoy this album all that much. The vocals, though a bit weird and different, I didn't think were particularly nice to listen to, and definitely got a little irritating when getting through the whole record. There were some decent and catchy enough tracks with a bit of drive and momentum here and there, but the 'sound' of this album does get repetitive and boring after a while. Overall, a moody, slightly creepy album. Nothing I would actively seek out to listen to but wouldn't necessarily turn it off if it was playing.

Yeezus

Kanye West

2/5

I didn't enjoy this as much as 'The College Dropout'. Nowhere near. It seems to me that on this album, Kanye decided to do less and less of what he does best which is rapping clever lyrics over clever samples and cool beats, and more of whatever the hell this is. The opening two tracks are good. 'On Sight' is heavy and electronic and 'Black Skinhead' is very intense and threatening and Kanye sounds great on it. A lot of the rest of this album though is really obnoxious. It's filled with these screechy parts that are more irritating than they are interesting or captivating. The two singles are the aforementioned 'Black Skinhead' and the closer 'Bound 2' which I also really like and have done since it first came out. It's weird though, how these two singles, which for me are the two best tracks, sound like they don't belong on this album. They're the standouts in quality and also in sound. It sounds like he wanted to sound bigger and grander but to me it just sounds a bit pompous. I'm hoping the final album of his on this list is better.

Abbey Road

Beatles

3/5

There's some fantastic stuff here. McCartney absolutely shines on 'Oh! Darling' with some really lovely vocals. The massive hits 'Come Together' and 'Here Comes The Sun' are brilliant and have stood the test of time and will do so for the rest of time. Even 'Octopus's Garden' which is pretty kooky is a really good, catchy track by Ringo. Most of the other tracks I find slightly dull or they go on for a bit too long. Overall I would say that my feeling towards this album is "unimpressed". There's not much on this album that interests me. This is the highest rated album on the 1001 Albums Generator site. I personally don't think it's THAT good. It's not even the best album by The Beatles. Give me 'Rubber Soul' any day of the week (I've only had three Beatles albums so far).

Brothers In Arms

Dire Straits

3/5

I knew Mark Knopfler was the guitarist for Dire Straits, but I genuinely had no idea that he was also the lead vocalist. I have to say that his guitar playing is a lot better than his singing. At times it reminded me of that Family guy episode when they meet Randy Newman and he sings everything he sees. Quite dreary and unenjoyable at times. The opener 'So Far Away' get us off to a pretty strong start. Next is 'Money For Nothing' and obviously the riff is iconic, but I really don't think it's good enough to carry it for eight and a half minutes. That's way too long for a track that's so unvaried, which is the story of this album. Any song that's 5 - 8 minutes (two-thirds of the album) definitely could have been cut in half. 'Walk Of Life' is next and is easily the biggest ear worm and my favourite track. 'Your Latest Trick' has some really nice jazzy trumpet and sax which you'll be humming to yourself, but again, it's longer than it needs to be. The second half of the album really steps up the little riffs, licks and guitar melodies. They're sprinkled into every track and they're really great when they do happen. 'Ride Across The River' sounds exactly like a quest through the jungle. 'One World' is a funky bass driven track with more guitar licks. This is probably the best three star album I've had so far. It's really good in places. Memorable, catchy and some really good instrumentation. Unfortunately the vocals and long runtime let it down. It 100% should have been cut by 15 minutes.

From Elvis In Memphis

Elvis Presley

2/5

I only know the famous classics of Elvis (and love them) but have never ventured deep into his back catalogue of tunes. This is a lot less rock 'n' roll and a lot more of a warbling, soulful, country sound which I didn't expect. 'Only The Strong Survive' and 'In The Ghetto' are the best tracks. I can't fault Elvis' vocals whatsoever. They're like smooth liquid gold and you can practically hear the famous curled lip of his as he sings. Overall, it's not massively interesting, a little boring in places, but Elvis himself is definitely the highlight.

Rattus Norvegicus

The Stranglers

3/5

Punky new wave with a bit of pub rock thrown in. I have to say that I was pretty disappointed that nothing sounded like 'Golden Brown' which is the only track of theirs I know (until I heard 'Peaches' which I had absolutely no idea was them and would never have guessed it in a million years). I really like the psychedelic trance-like sound of 'Golden Brown' so it was a shame that this album was an earlier one of theirs. Apparently they never really stuck to a sound so maybe I'll get another later album by The Stranglers to listen to. Anyway, back to this one. It was alright. Didn't blow my mind or anything. Pretty standard punk tinged classic rock. Accessible, fairly melodic and quite happy and upbeat but all pretty average. It's good but never ventures into 'great' territory.

Paris 1919

John Cale

2/5

Largely forgettable. Just kind of there. Fairly uninspired. Nothing that I would actively go out of my way to listen to. Not much more I can say really. There was some pretty okay guitar work here and there, and the vocals are pleasant enough. Title track was quite upbeat, as was 'Macbeth' and 'Half Past France' was probably the best of this slightly below average bunch. I can't see how this is on the list. It's not a bad album by any means, but it does absolutely nothing for me, it doesn't sound very groundbreaking for an album that came out in 1973 so I can't see what this album does that warrants an inclusion

Franz Ferdinand

3/5

I can see why this album was included. In 2004 the two big singles were pretty popular in the UK. 'Take Me Out' is a good track that ended up on the first Guitar Hero game. 'The Dark Of The Matinée' is my personal favourite and has remained in constant playlist rotation throughout the years. A very catchy singalong chorus. Despite it being a bit FIFA soundtrack, indie sounding, there are a lot more cool guitar riffs than you'd think found throughout this record. 'Tell Her Tonight' has a gooden as does 'Michael'. 'Darts Of Pleasure', 'This Fire' and '40'' are the other highlights. Franz Ferdinand are certainly better than a lot of the British indie bands of the 2000's, but it is still indie, and there's only so far cool riffs can carry this album. Pretty good, but I didn't absolutely love it. I'd stick it on but would have to be really in the mood for it.

Kid A

Radiohead

2/5

I didn't get this. At times it sounded like the band had a fragment of an idea, recorded it and left it at that. Didn't bother to come back to it, add to it, make it better. It feels deliberately difficult to understand and obscure. They sound like a less good Muse and I'm being serious when I say that. The first three tracks sound a bit like what I think having a stroke would sound like. Or like dementia in music form. It's all a bit mumbly. The next four tracks are the best run, they're all pretty good to great. 'How To Disappear Completely' is quite a hauntingly beautiful track and 'Treefingers' is light, airy and Brian Eno-esque. The next two are also good. 'Idioteque' starts and is fairly catchy, but has this really annoying drum sound as the spine of the song which plays throughout. It's somewhat intriguing, but never quite interesting. It's like their previous two albums (the hugely popular and critically acclaimed 'OK Computer' and 'The Bends') allowed them to do whatever they wanted without consequence and this is what they decided to churn out.

Like Water For Chocolate

Common

1/5

Joy, another rap album well over an hour long. There's no way Common listened through this and thought to himself "yeah, this doesn't need trimming at all". There's not a chance he had this much to say. Some tracks are six minutes long and the whole album is an hour 20 minutes. It's too much. Its not good enough to be that long. The beats don't really grab you, the flow isn't the best. It's all just a bit dull most of the time. I'll end on a good note. 'Geto Heaven Part Two' was alright, 'Cold Blooded' has a pretty cool guitar riff beat and is a decent track and 'The 6th Sense' is really good and easily the highlight. It's got an uplifting sound, Common sounds good and has something interesting to say. These three can go on a playlist, the rest can get in the bin.

Live At The Regal

B.B. King

2/5

B.B. King has a really good voice, he can make the guitar sing and the backing band was great. But it's very typical blues. Some tracks are more upbeat, some a little slower, a lot of guitar noodling, but it's all pretty similar sounding. I could jump into any of these songs and wouldn't be able to tell them apart. I enjoyed the faster paced tracks more than the slower ones. I recognise the immense talent, but it's not to my tastes. The type of album I'd put one song on at a time if I was really in the mood for it but never listen to it in full.

Odessey And Oracle

The Zombies

2/5

Perfectly serviceable 60's album. Elements of psychedelic rock, but only a hint, not a full frontal hallucinogenic mindfuck. It's only 35 minutes long, just the right length before it starts getting too samey. 'Time Of The Season' is easily the best track here. A really really good song. Not that much else to say really. Fairly forgettable and I'd rather listen to The Beatles.

Opus Dei

Laibach

5/5

I had never heard of this band before and was really intrigued when I saw the album cover. I really loved this a lot. Finally something completely different from anything I've had so far, with a personality and distinct atmosphere. This is exactly why I started this list. I found it compelling, eerie and unsettling in places. It's military-esque with a big marching beat behind most of the tracks. It's unique, cinematic, menacing. It's industrial with a really strong, dark beat. There's a really cool 1980's synth vibe running through it, but it doesn't make it sound any less heavy and dark. In fact, it really adds to the music. It even features a cover of Queen's 'One Vision' which was a huge shock and it sounds fantastic. I can't explain to you how nice it is to have something like this after having a constant flow of generic and boring one, two and three star albums. I enjoyed it so much I listened to the CD version which was an extra 20 minutes. If you want something a bit different, a beg you to listen to this album. I haven't got a clue who Laibach are, but they're fucking great!

Imagine

John Lennon

4/5

Yeah yeah yeah, John Lennon is an arsehole and not a nice human being. I don't give a shit. This is a very good album. 'Imagine' may be overplayed, but it's such a good way to open the record. It's a fantastic song, as are the other ballads 'Jealous Guy' (which is a song my dad used to play when I was young and I hated) and 'Oh My Love'. They're all done with piano accompaniments rather than guitars resulting in the album having a soft touch. The guitars are saved for the rockers like bluesy tune 'It's So Hard' and the political 'Gimme Some Truth'. I wasn't a huge fan of the jaunty country tinged 'Crippled Inside' and 'I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier Mama' went on for a bit too long. But the rest of the tracks range from solid to very good. Better than some of the offerings from The Beatles, but not quite the best of the best. Most difficult three or four decision so far and I've landed on a four.

Bringing It All Back Home

Bob Dylan

2/5

I listened to this whilst doing some housework so wasn't paying full attention and thought I'd give it a four. I had time for another listen, full attention this time, and I thought I'd give it a two. I know Dylan's voice is pretty divisive. Despite finding him somewhat nasally and whiny, I actually quite liked it so that's a positive. The problem is, the tracks themselves repeat FAR too much. A lot of them follow the 'bluesy folk rock guitar, a lot of words, followed by a quick razz on the harmonica' formula which gets dull quickly. 'It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)' is a seven and a half minute track that does not change once. There's far too many words as if Dylan is jamming with himself trying to work out the words of his own song and it definitely goes on far too long. 'Outlaw Blues' is the best track on the "electric side" because it's a faster bluesy track that's a real foot tapper. The best on the "acoustic side" is 'Mr. Tambourine Man' but I also quite enjoyed 'Gates Of Eden' but it also suffers from the 'same thing repeated ad infinitum' like most of the tracks on the record do. I'm sure people connect with this more lyrically and that's fine, but I'm not too interested in learning the lyrics of songs I don't care all that much about. Not a great introduction to Bob Dylan for me. As I said before, it's better as background music when you aren't paying too much attention.

Deja Vu

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

3/5

'Carry On' is a really good opener. A proper jaunty bluesy foot tapper of a track. Halfway through it changes up and turns into a more funky track with a really good solo running through it. 'Helpless' is a lovely tune sung by Neil Young (yes, I still like his voice!), 'Deja Vu' is also sung really well by David Crosby who probably has the best voice and suits 1970's rock music best. It's a good rock song. '4 + 20' is a really nice acoustic song and 'Everybody I Love You' is a great closing track, it's a classic 70's upbeat rock tune. I really enjoy the harmonising on this album a lot, it really sounds great and is always a treat when it appears. Some good songs, some okay songs, some dull songs. Overall a mixed bag but some good highs.

Purple Rain

Prince

5/5

This album takes everything that's good about 80's over the top cheesy pop, rock music and soul and puts it all into a melting pot. Catchy hooks, melodies and earworms everywhere. But underneath that pop surface it's just really great music. I bet there will be more little bits and pieces I pick up on with multiple listens too. Prince oozes charisma when he sings and I absolutely love when he screams the really high notes. He can't half play a guitar solo either. It's just full of solid tracks. The opener 'Let's Go Crazy' is a fast foot tapper, 'The Beautiful Ones' slows things down and builds to the aforementioned trademark Prince screams and 'Computer Blues' is essentially a 90 second song followed by a 2 and a half minute guitar solo. It's metal as hell. Speaking of metal. 'Darling Nikki' has a really heavy and filthy guitar sound which matches the track's lyrics. 'I Would Die 4 U' is my personal favourite. It's got a hugely catchy chorus that I'll be humming for ages. Now for some blasphemy. I'd never heard the full 9 minute version of the title track before, or even the radio edit all the way through. It's a good song, with another catchy chorus but I'd argue it's one of the weaker tracks on a stacked album. At the four minute mark there's a two minute guitar solo and it's great, but there's two minutes left! What else is there? I really hoped it would build to a massive crescendo and wall of sound with a blisteringly in your face solo, something maybe along the lines of 'November Rain'. Unfortunately it was the opposite, it just kind of fizzled out into a fade out. Still, it's a cracking album and one that I definitely should have listened to sooner. Upon first listen I thought a four was fair. Nah. I gave it another spin and it's an easy five.

Master Of Puppets

Metallica

5/5

What a monster of an album. Intense and loud while still remaining incredibly melodic and intricate. The guitar sound is brutal, thick and fuzzy. Everyone has heard the title track and it's one of the best metal songs ever written, but there are some other fantastic tracks here. 'Orion' is a pretty beautiful instrumental, 'Welcome Home (Sanitarium)' starts off like a ballad but soon builds into that trademark Metallica speed and 'Battery' opens the album in a fast and furious way. The biggest "surprise find" I guess you could call it was 'Disposable Heroes'. I obviously already know of the track, but something clicked when listening this time. Lyrically it's your standard "war is bad" but it's more about how replaceable soldiers are. Just throwaway men. There's a little riff just before the chorus that is phenomenally good. I absolutely love the chorus where Hetfield shouts "You will do what I say when I say / You will die when I say you must die / BACK TO THE FRONT!". One expendable man dies, replaced immediately by another. Such a good track and a new Metallica favourite. Solos are blistering, I've always absolutely adored James Hetfield's early vocals. Probably Metallica's magnum Opus (though not my personal favourite of theirs). There are a couple of less good tracks for me, but I think the really good ones carry this to the highs of five stars.

Every Picture Tells A Story

Rod Stewart

3/5

Okay, but why does Rod Stewart kind of slap a little bit though? He's got a unique rasp and gravelly vocals and delivers them with a lot of enthusiasm and you instantly know that it's him. I think he's got a natural voice for this type of rock music. 'Every Picture Tells A Story' is a really fun, rocking, foot tapping opener. It's driving and upbeat. I'd never heard 'Maggie May' before, but I can see why it's one of his most popular tracks, it's a catchy banger. '(I Know) I'm Losing You' is the heaviest track here and is also a highlight. Surprised to like this at all, let alone it be as much fun as it was.

Night Life

Ray Price

1/5

I want you to imagine what you think old 50's and 60's country sounds like. The music, the imagery, the vocals. Whatever it is you've got in your head is exactly what this album sounds like. It's very slow and moody. I can imagine old timers sitting around playing poker in an old saloon. Thirteen tracks over 37 minutes and 8 seconds and it all sounds the same. I know I've said that previously in other album reviews but this one really does. Randomly drop into any of the songs at any time stamp, and then do it again for another song and there's no difference, bar maybe the tempo. It's all very pleasant but it's not my kind of music at all. If you like this genre, then it's probably an easy five stars. If you're having a "Wild West" themed party, stick this on and you'll set the mood perfectly. I found this very boring and very samey. There's absolutely no way that I needed to hear this at any point in my life. Is it culturally significant? Did it inspire other artists? I've never heard of the guy and his Wikipedia page is very short. Night Life? More like Shite Life. One star.

Coat Of Many Colors

Dolly Parton

3/5

I know I'm going to sound hypocritical after my previous review, but I enjoyed this. It's still old school twangy country but it's so much more enjoyable. It's more fun, it's more upbeat, it's livelier. Also Dolly Parton's vocals, which I've always loved, absolutely shine through here. This album has just reinforced my opinion that she's just a bloody good singer and songwriter. She's got a great vibrato, her voice could cut through glass, spot on pitch. She's just great. My favourite track is 'She Never Met A Man (She Didn't Like)'. It's a slow ballad and Dolly sounds fantastic. You can always hear the emotions in her voice when she sings. She manages to take a repetitive and pretty boring genre and makes songs that are poignant and fun, and her vocals only add to the tracks. Now, again, this is still old school twangy country, but the run time is only 27 minutes long so before it starts getting a little too samey, it's over before you realise.

All Mod Cons

The Jam

3/5

I could probably near enough copy and paste my review of 'Sound Affects' by The Jam and it would fit here. In fact I will copy part of it: "The guitar is very good, and probably the high point of the record, some nice riffs scattered throughout the album... The bass is very punchy and front and centre. I enjoy Paul Weller on vocals a lot, an iconic voice". Nothing more to say really, consistently good, nothing incredible.

Bongo Rock

Incredible Bongo Band

2/5

There's no way that this is actually real. A bongo album. Is there a market for this? This is an album that we all MUST listen to before we die? Don't get me wrong, it's not bad. But it's all covers. The opener 'Apache' is essentially the song you know and love from The Sugarhill Gang. When looking through Wikipedia, I was not too surprised that there were many versions before this. I was absolutely shocked to my core to find out that The Sugarhill Gang actually covered Incredible Bongo Band when writing their version and that the bongo version is actually heavily sampled by a long list of artists and even called "hip-hops national anthem". So that's why this album is on the list, then. Anyway, the rest of this album is just funky background music, with a hell of a lot of bongo thrown in. The bongo doesn't particularly add anything and it the weakest bit of the whole of this instrumental album. I'd be a lot more intrigued if the bongos were the main focus of the album, but they're almost pushed to the background for the most part. Understandable I guess, as it's only a percussion instrument, but still. Don't go all in on bongos and not deliver on bongos. Despite the cool sounding music and the cool link to the song 'Apache', this is a gimmick album at best. This is definitely for someone, but it ain't for me I'm afraid.

Darkness on the Edge of Town

Bruce Springsteen

3/5

It seems a lot of people love Bruce Springsteen, and I can see why. I will admit, musically, it's good. It's actually very good. It's just such a shame that Springsteen's vocals are so grating. Like, they really got on my nerves. He sounds as if he's drunk or really tired, like managing to get the words out is almost a chore or painful to him, so he moves his mouth as little as possible and what comes out is just mumbly warbles. His diction is terrible. Some tracks sound better than others but overall it's not enjoyable. I had to go back to his most popular tracks to see if he was this bad all the time. 'Dancing In The Dark'? Fine. 'Born In The U.S.A.'? Very shouty but pretty okay. 'Streets Of Philadelphia'? Lovely song. To be fair 'Born To Run' is much like this album's opener 'Badlands'. Very over the top, like when a cartoon character is about to fall and let's out an exaggerated 'woooooahhhhhh'. Anyway, back to this album. The only track where I think Bruce sounds good is 'Adam Raised A Cain'. It's a proper dirty hard rock track and his raspy blown out vocals really suit it, especially when shouting out the chorus. I actually like it a lot! 'Streets Of Fire' is also a good track. If the music was accompanied by someone who can sing, the album would be really good.

Elephant

The White Stripes

4/5

I can't believe I didn't get into The White Stripes when I was a late teen, discovering the wonders of hard rock and heavy metal. I feel like they'd have been right up my street and a personal favourite. This album opens so strongly. 'Seven Nation Army' though perhaps overplayed, is iconic. Iconic stripped back verses, iconic riff, iconic music video. A solid case for it to be called one of the best rock songs of all time, certainly of the 21st century. Before it gives you time to breathe 'Black Math' starts, and though it's not as popular, that monstrous, Led Zeppelin-esque riff is ridiculously good. If you don't want to headbang to this you must be dead. 'You've Got Her In Your Pocket' is a tender and sweet love song about insecurity. 'Ball and Biscuit' has yet another good bluesy riff. 'The Hardest Button To Button' is the same. That's the story of this album. Plenty of hooks and heavy riffs. A huge, loud, fuzzy garage rock sound. Meg White absolutely loves to come crashing down on those cymbals which I enjoy a lot. A great album by a band that I wish I paid more attention to when I was younger.

Life Thru A Lens

Robbie Williams

3/5

I stand by my opinion that purely in terms of singles, Robbie Williams is up there with the likes of ABBA and Queen as the GOAT. From the late 90's to late 00's almost every song he released onto the UK charts was an undeniable pop banger that seems to have stood the test of time and has remained popular. So how would a full album fair? It does sound a little like an ex boy band member trying to sound a bit edgy by going in a slightly rock or brit pop direction. I guess that's entirely the point. As I said before, the singles are good. The Oasis sounding 'Old Before I Die' and the Coldplay sounding 'Lazy Days' though not Robbie's absolute best are still good pop tunes. 'Angels' is still a banger. I don't even care. A little cheesy, but a great pop ballad, with a perfectly serviceable guitar solo. I'd gone off 'Let Me Entertain You' in recent years but listening to it today, again, it's undeniably a banger and the verses are very catchy. Of the non-singles, 'One Of God's Better People' is my favourite. I like Robbie's voice, in particular when he goes for the higher notes like in the chorus of this track and there's a slightly throaty gruffness to his voice. 'Clean' sounds very Beatles-esque. A little over produced overall, lyrically not great and probably a little basic and "cookie cutter" music, but it's a fun pop rock album. I like Robbie Williams, always have done, always will do, and I don't care who knows it. Eight decent to great songs that I enjoyed out of a possible eleven can't be bad!

Live Through This

Hole

2/5

A lot of grunge and punk elements coming together for this album. It had that 90's feel and Courtney's voice brought the rage. It's alright, for the most part. It's not hugely interesting to me, and a little bit annoying at times. I do like the vocals, I think she sounds great when she really lets loose and wails. The guitar sound is also great. Grungy and heavy. I do think towards the end of the album, it starts to get a little samey. I just wasn't really feeling this album on this particular day and I more than likely won't revisit this any time soon, unless I'm really in the mood for it. Perhaps another listen at another point in time and I'll completely change my mind, we'll see.

Nilsson Schmilsson

Harry Nilsson

2/5

I've only ever heard 'Everybody's Talkin'' by Harry Nilsson, and I really love that song so I was hopeful for this one. I will echo the sentiment of other reviews saying that he's a bit like the American version of The Beatles. I also want to say that he's not QUITE at the level of The Beatles (and I'm not even a Fab Four Fanboy). It's almost there, but there's something missing and I'm not sure what. 'Early In The Morning' was quite an interesting tune. Minimal and delicate. 'Down' was also a highlight. A bouncy big feel type track. 'Jump Into The Fire' was also pretty good. I had no idea he did a version of 'Without You' or that he was the guy who wrote 'Coconut' so that was pretty cool to find out. Honestly, if you ever want to listen to this album, listen to The Beatles instead and you'll have a better time in my opinion.

Honky Tonk Heroes

Waylon Jennings

1/5

I went into this thinking I'd hate it which I don't like doing but I've been stung a couple of times with country. Reluctantly I start the first track. It starts off slow, with a little guitar riff. Waylon Jennings comes in with a bit of a stereotypical but enjoyable voice. Then a little delicate violin in the background. The vocal melody is really catchy and has the sound of a big singalong chorus. Then a third of the way through the track a blues electric guitar starts chugging away and the drums kick in. It turns into a proper foot tapping bluesy country rock song. I am genuinely loving this. Another verse and chorus followed by a back and forth harmonica/guitar battle then Jennings takes us home with a final chorus. I hope, wish and pray that the rest of the album follows suit. Next track is a slow old school country saloon track, as is the next one. Please don't do this to me Waylon! The rest of the album never hits the heights of the first track. I'm not sure what it is about the opener. The blues tone, the rock and roll vibe? Something about it grabbed me and it's going straight on every playlist I have. It's honestly so good. The rest is your standard country. Slow, moody, drones on and on. Mercifully it's only 27 minutes long. Damn you Waylon, you nearly had me for a few minutes!

My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Brian Eno

3/5

This album is almost good. I can very nearly get into the songs but there is a lack of payoff. They lay out how the track is going to sound and that's that for the next three or four minutes. No change. Pick a track and randomly pick somewhere to go to in said track, and then pick somewhere else and there's literally no change. It piqued my interest from the get go, but that enthusiasm dwindled with every passing track. There's a lot of cool sounds, but little musical cohesion of a traditional song structure. Throughout this album I was almost liking it but it just gets lost in a bit of a mess of sounds. It gets a bit tiresome and one-note. To be fair, I do reckon it would grow on me in all honesty, but for now I can only go by my reactions after two listens and I also reckon it could easily jump from a three to a five if and when it clicks with me.

S&M

Metallica

4/5

This is a good live album and certainly one of the better ones in the world of music. The band is on fire. Guitar is clear and easy to hear despite am orchestra playing at the same time, drums sound full and pounding. James Hetfield does sound a little worn and tired but I'll always love him as a vocalist. Heavy metal and classical music definitely go together. A hell of a lot more than you may first think. I actually think the addition of an orchestra make some of the songs sound a little fuller and add a certain level of gravitas and sense of ominous foreboding. It's essentially a Metallica greatest hits album so it can't be any less than a four from me.

The Downward Spiral

Nine Inch Nails

3/5

I'll get it out of the way early. I didn't get this as much as I thought I would. I went in thinking I'd really enjoy it. I prefer the original of 'Hurt'. It's ominous and downright creepy and Trent Reznor sounds angry and in pain. So I was hoping the rest of the album would follow suit. I like heavy music but it's too abrasive for me at times. I don't know how people criticised the lyrics when it first released because half the time the vocals are so fuzzy, static, and drowned out by the loud music that it's unintelligible anyway. (Yes, I know that's probably the point). It's not enjoyable to listen to for a full hour. Every so often there's a really cool riff that I like but unfortunately the songs aren't built around them. 'Heresy' has a really cool groove and 'March Of The Pigs' could easily have been a speed metal song from the 80's. A hit and miss album overall, although I did like it more on the second listen, so could very well rise higher with more listens in the future. For now it's a three.

Deep Purple In Rock

Deep Purple

5/5

It's difficult to say who is the MVP for this album as everyone is on fire. Ian Paice and Roger Glover on drums and bass respectively are a massive rhythm section that drive the tracks forward. Jon Lord on the organ, although sounding a little "old bingo hall" at times, is great and has some very good solos of his own. Ian Gillan is brilliant on vocals and his soaring high pitched falsetto heavy metal screams sound effortless. Ritchie Blackmore is a force of nature on the guitar with huge riffs and screaming solos. It's a band who are playing like their lives depend on it. It's a relentless album that starts big and just keeps going with an uncompromising and unstoppable energy. I can't believe I made it to 31 years old as a fan of rock and heavy metal and this is the first time I'm listening to this album. Loved it from my first listen and will probably continue to love it with more listens throughout my life.

Kollaps

Einstürzende Neubauten

1/5

I really wanted to be wanky and pretentious and say that I loved this and it doesn't deserve to be the second worst rated album on the 1001 Albums site. Unfortunately the "music" didn't do much to convince me otherwise. That's if you can call it that. This album seriously pushes the boundaries of what you could classify as music. Let's list some positives. Firstly, it wasn't THAT bad in my opinion (yes, that is a positive). Secondly, I actually think the high pitched shouts screams are very impressive. Thirdly, at least it was different and somewhat interesting. I'd probably take this over some generic rock, a 75 minute long rap album, or boring soul. At times, I really do think you'd be hard pressed to call it actual music. Art? Maybe. Expressionism? Probably. Just noise? Most people would agree with that last one. It's very harsh, very abrasive, very industrial sounding. I'd probably come back to it, but only out of curiosity's sake more than anything. I was going to be a bit funny and give it a two but I'd just be lying to myself.

Strange Cargo III

William Orbit

2/5

Fairly tricky one, this. If someone were to describe this album to me, I would probably say it's something I'd quite enjoy. Weird, noodly noises, ambient, a little atmospheric, chilled out. It's all those things but it's also a bit boring. There's some good stuff every so often, but it's few and far between. The big problem that this album has is that it could have been halved. Seriously, all 12 tracks could have been cut to half the run time and get it down to a lovely album in a nice 35 minute package. But they go on FAR too long with not a lot of variance. Any cool beat is killed with repetition by the end of the song. I get the point of this type of music, but theres no pay off. The best tracks are the ones that are a little less dub/trip hop, and a little more ambient and pretty sounding. Opener 'Water From A Vine Leaf' is cool and almost psychedelic. 'Time To Get Wize' has a trance-like piano. 'Deus Ex Machina' is creepy. Closer 'Water Babies' is a really nice track that does bring your imagination to the miracle of birth and is probably the best of the bunch. It's bright, uplifting, euphoric, and a really lovely tune. This album is SO close to being good. It's difficult to write about because although I did enjoy it, I was also fairly bored. Potentially would click with more listens, or maybe listening to more of William Orbit's work wouldn't be the worst idea in the world.

Done By The Forces Of Nature

Jungle Brothers

1/5

Yet another hip hop album over an hour long. No need for it in my opinion. I quite liked how this was a very positive and upbeat sounding record in comparison to a lot of rap. It's got a cool groove and at times is quite danceable. 'Wat U Waitin' 4' being the best here. The beat is heavy on the funky, foot tapping bass. The second half of 'Good New Comin'' is really good too. It's got a spritely guitar solo with a lovely, catchy rhythm guitar too. 'Doin' Our Own Dang' is another highlight, again, because of the beat. This time it's a funky piano and bass combo. The actual rapping didn't really impress me or grab my attention. It's good but not amazing. Overall the beats feel very plain and the tracks really run together a lot and I was bored for most of this. There's some upbeat funk, but I want more! Three tracks I enjoyed out of sixteen isn't good enough I'm afraid.

With The Beatles

Beatles

2/5

The Beatles were pretty bland back in the early days weren't they? Not being a mega fan, I can only imagine that this was just how the record label wanted to package and present them. But this is the band that made girls go absolutely crazy? It's fairly standard, generic sounding late 50's/early 60's rock and roll/pop/merseybeat. Having said that though, you can definitely hear what they will be capable of in the future and the seeds are definitely there ready and waiting to grow. As always with The Beatles, the harmonies are great and some of the tracks are ridiculously catchy. That Lennon - McCartney songwriting duo never disappoints. My favourite from this is probably 'All I've Got To Do'. It's just classic early Beatles, everything I mentioned before in a track. A bit hit and miss, and probably still finding their feet, but still a decent enough outing from the Fab Four. My least favourite album of theirs though (so far).

In Utero

Nirvana

4/5

This is a raw, heavy, abrasive and quite a dark album. I've heard it's more grungey, punky and darker than 'Nevermind' so it'll be interesting to compare when I get that album. Kurt Cobain sounds great. His screams on 'Tourette's' and 'Scentless Apprentice' sound like he's in pain and he's letting his anger and frustration out. What a great riff on the latter track too by the way! Despite it being less poppy than their previous album, it still has its pop moments. Opener 'Serve The Servants' is a catchy way to start the album and 'Heart Shaped Box' was the only familiar track to me (thanks again, Guitar Hero!) and I used to find it so boring. Listening to it today though, I really enjoyed it. It's one of those tracks that you think a loud and heavy guitar is coming to blow your ears off but it never comes and I like that. A couple of dud tracks here and there and it did every so slightly sound a bit samey at times (need more listens) but this was great, and I'm very much looking forward to more from Nirvana.

Meat Puppets II

Meat Puppets

4/5

This is a very interesting sound for a record that came out in 1984. It's a noisy, hardcore punk, garage rock feel with elements of country which you would think wouldn't mix at all, but I think it works really well. It's a little all over the place at times but I found myself enjoying it more often than not. There's some great guitar work here. The opener has a good riff and the next track 'Magic Toy Missing' takes the fantastic picking and soloing of country music and turns it into a fantastic instrumental complete with foot tapping drumming. 'Lost' also has a good solo. 'Aurora Borealis' is another instrumental that almost delves into psychedelic. Apparently Nirvana covered three tracks from this for their 'MTV Unplugged' album and you can see why. 'Lake Of Fire' in particular does sound like Nirvana, especially the vocals, I can see Kurt covering it for sure. Speaking of vocals I see a lot of reviews slating them but I'm not having it. On the more punky tracks like 'Split Myself In Two' he sounds over the top and I like it It's a very enjoyable half hour and I would definitely give it a spin if I had 30 minutes to spare.

Superunknown

Soundgarden

5/5

My God, Chris Cornell couldn't half belt out a vocal could he!? What a voice! One of the greats of rock music, for sure. He's absolutely the MVP of the record. Another great thing about this album is that it has the hooks, melodies and catchiness of a pop album without having to sacrifice any of the heaviness. That guitar sound is really fantastic and pretty heavy which I obviously love. Honestly, pick any track and you'll be able to pick out a riff or vocal line that'll get stuck in your head for ages. It's honestly Black Sabbath-esque at times. It can get so heavy and sludgy (see '4th Of July) and it can also get psychedelic and dreamy ('Black Hole Sun' is still fantastic). It's like this really cool mixture as if Soundgarden are their own genre. A really solid and surprisingly consistent album with plenty to love and not a lot to dislike. I preferred this over 'Dirt' and 'In Utero' by Alice In Chains and Nirvana respectively. Over to you, Pearl Jam.

Dr. Octagonecologyst

Dr. Octagon

1/5

Another 90's rap album over an hour long. What did I do to deserve this one? I will give this album some credit. It tried something a bit weird and different that's for sure. It introduces the character of Dr. Octagon who is a homocidal, extraterrestrial, time traveling gynecologist and surgeon. Yes, really. Unfortunately my praise stops here. It's crap. I don't like to use words like that, I normally like to say it's my opinion, but no, this is rubbish and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It bored me. The flow isn't great. The beats are low energy and it went on for what felt like 572 years. I didn't like anything about this. The track 'Visit To The Gynecologist' is absolutely bizarre, and ventures into creepy territory and that was the only standout because of how weird it was. Please stop giving me rap albums that fill the maximum length of a CD.

Songs The Lord Taught Us

The Cramps

2/5

This album sounds as if it should exclusively be played around Halloween. It's just got that spooky sounding vibe, but a fun goofy spooky, not creepy spooky. I don't dislike it but I wouldn't say I fell in love with it, it personally didn't quite land with me. A punky, surf rock sound which works pretty well, but does start to sound tired and repetitive halfway through the album. I preferred the lighthearted sounding rockabilly stuff over the heavier sounding rock. There is some nice and fast guitar work on display that makes you want to move and the vocals, though weird, fit the music well. It's a bit hit and miss in places, but give it a go though if it sounds like your kind of thing, it's a pretty fun record.

Bat Out Of Hell

Meat Loaf

4/5

Loud. Over the top. Bombastic. Operatic. Cheesy. Melodramatic. Grandiose. Epic. You could probably guess what the album would be just by those clues. 'Paradise By The Dashboard Light' is the best track that I'd not heard before, easily. A really good rocking duet with a funky middle section. 'Bat Out Of Hell' is a classic over the top rock track and a great opener. The spoken opening to 'You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth' I find pretty cringe, but the actual song makes up for it. A catchy banger. 'All Revved Up With No Place To Go' has a huge ear worm of a sax 'riff' which wouldn't sound out of place on an 80's sitcom or gameshow theme tune. Meatloaf has a great voice that I really enjoy and it's suited perfect to this rock opera sounding album. It's not perfect. I think the slower ballads let it down a bit but it's a fun and accessible album.

Innervisions

Stevie Wonder

4/5

Opener 'Too High' perfectly blends funk, soul and pop. 'Living For The City' is my second favourite track of Stevie's. The opening instruments make it sound pretty ominous. It's a story of a young Black man who moves to New York City seeking opportunity but encounters racism and injustice. The lyrics are intense and the song itself is an absolute banger. The vocal melody is phenomenal and catchy as hell. 'Higher Ground' is ridiculously funky, and again, ridiculously catchy. (Admittedly, I prefer the heavier and faster Red Hot Chili Peppers version). 'He's Misstra Know-It-All' is a cool chill pop track. The bass line in 'Jesus Children Of America' is an infectious funky groove and the second half of the track takes this from a decent track to a great one. Stevie and the backing singers start the vocal runs and letting loose on the track. 'All In Love Is Fair' is a great ballad and Stevie sounds really good. There's a couple of not so good tracks here, but this is filled with great bass lines, great vocals and great hooks.

Armed Forces

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

3/5

I'm finding Elvis Costello increasingly "decent". He's a very "just alright" artist. Third album of his and it pretty much follows in the same vein. There's the odd really good track (this one's being 'Oliver's Army') followed by some "just alright" tracks. There's a pretty cool idea and some more "just alright". There's a catchy hook or melody followed by something "just alright" yet again. If you took all the best bits from Costello's first three albums (the three that I have now reviewed) you'd probably have yourself a damn good five star rated classic. Unfortunately I find him a little hit and miss to be considered a great and this album is no exception. His records are pretty fun, easy to listen to and at times fairly interesting, but for me personally, he's definitely someone you have to be in the mood to listen to.

Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor

Lupe Fiasco

1/5

Another 70 minute rap album and I couldn't handle this one. I have limited time so once I knew if I liked (mainly disliked) a track, I just skipped it halfway through. It's rap music. I very highly doubt it was going to kick into gear with a time signature change, a guitar solo or cool breakdown. The only things I can pick out that I enjoyed are the track with Jay-Z called 'Pressure' which had a cool beat and the second track 'Real' which had an electric guitar riff as a beat that I really enjoyed. Other than that, there's literally nothing I would come back to, sorry.

Bert Jansch

2/5

The type of music you'd hear at an open mic night. You really wish they'd just play something you know, but they insist on playing original songs that they have written. I'd have to be in the right mood to listen to this album in full. I probably wouldn't turn it off if it was on, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it. It's all passable stuff. The chillest of vibes throughout this slightly bluesy folk album, but nothing excited me, there's nothing absolutely amazing here. It's a fairly enjoyable experience overall. There's some nice guitar work which definitely makes up for the not so strong vocals. That's all I have to say about this one really.

Grace

Jeff Buckley

4/5

Seeing that this was my album for today, I went into it thinking that it would be whiny crap. I was wrong. I enjoyed this a hell of a lot. This guy is so much more than the second best version of 'Hallelujah'. (Shoutout to John Cale's version appearing in Shrek). I feel like Cale's just has the edge by having a little bit more emotion behind it. I was also pretty surprised that despite a lot of acoustic tracks being present, this album also got quite heavy. 'Eternal Life' was pretty grungey with a heavy riff and there's a good solo and some shredding as well. The title track is a highlight. It starts off with a nice upbeat spritely guitar and by the time it ends it becomes a chaotic heavy track with Buckley letting out some good wails. 'So Real' sounds almost shoe-gazey. Buckley's vocals sound like they're weighed down with tears (in a good way). They're quite hauntingly beautiful, but he can also belt out a high note or desperate shout. 'Corpus Christi Carol' is a really lovely song where Buckley shows off some impressive falsetto high notes. It's a stripped back tune with just him and some gentle strumming of a guitar. A really good album and a big shame that this is his only one.

Go Girl Crazy

The Dictators

2/5

It's kinda fun, it's fairly simple, it's not hugely essential, it's just very very early punk rock. Which is fine, but I don't really like punk rock. So I probably wasn't going to like what punk sounded like before it even existed or had a name. I was right. I didn't enjoy this much, but thankfully as is the case with most punk records, it's pretty short. Nothing excited me here and I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to hear it again. That's pretty much all I can say on it really. A bit of a crap review unfortunately but there we are. If you're a fan of the genre you'll enjoy it, if you're not, you won't. Simple as that.

Bone Machine

Tom Waits

5/5

I absolutely love the caveman-esque music that Tom Waits manages to create on this album. Some tracks remind me a lot of the 'Underground Theme' music in Super Mario World. It's the same vibes. Almost as if he's playing music on anything he can get his hands on, including bones. 'The Earth Died Screaming', 'Such A Scream', 'In The Colosseum', 'Goin' Out West' all have this exact sound, and Waits lets out his trademark gravelly shouts. Interspersed between these tracks though, it's the opposite end of the spectrum. There are some really lovely ballads on the record where Waits still has his usual gritty raspiness, but this time it's being sung over a hauntingly beautiful piano, or some lovely acoustic guitar. Some of these are pretty gorgeous. 'A Little Rain', 'Who Are You This Time' and 'Whistle Down The Wind' are very pretty with the latter even adding some nice violin and slide guitar. In 'Dirt In The Ground' which is another ballad, Waits puts on this almost falsetto vocal, but still maintaining the husky gruffness in his voice. It's certainly bound to be controversial, but I enjoyed it a lot. 'Goin' Out West' has the really cool, almost muted and muffled guitar riff. This isn't your typical "5 star album". It's not 'Abbey Road', 'Rumours' or 'Dark Side Of The Moon' where the overwhelming majority of people agree it's a classic or masterpiece. This will split people, but I for one am on the side of people that enjoy Tom Waits. I only thought there were two or three tracks out of fourteen that were "meh", and that's a good enough ratio for me to award it full marks. Maybe on a six month relisten, when I'm not particularly in the mood for this dissonant, weird music I'll feel differently, but right here, right now, in the mood I was in at the time of listening, I loved it.

Group Sex

Circle Jerks

3/5

This is the dictionary definition of punk. Fast, loud and rude. But I don't like punk. Never have done. I used to hate it when I was younger and my dad used to play it. Now that I'm older with my own more refined music tastes, I still don't like it. It just chugs away relentlessly and it just does nothing for me. I will say though, this is mercifully short, clocking in at just under 16 minutes long. There are also some very nice drum fills and some decent guitar work. The vocals are alright too. I mean they're not amazing but they fit perfectly with the music. If you want 15 minutes of aggressive music before you start to get the arse with it, this is the album for you. I'm actually going to give this a three because of how short it is and I'd rather stick this on for a quarter of an hour than I would listen to any of the two star ratings I've given. Also because this really really leans into hardcore punk. This album knows what it is and doesn't give a shit whether you like it or not.

Songs From The Big Chair

Tears For Fears

4/5

This is such an 80's sounding album, but not to its detriment. I think it adds to the charm of it. I've honestly never been a fan of 'Shout'. Never liked it, and listening to it as the opener of this album I haven't changed my mind. I also don't think there's any need for it to be over six minutes long. The next track 'The Working Hour' is much better. Soaring vocals, great saxophone throughout, including a cool solo opening and closing. There's a more uplifting and hopeful sound in this track. 'Mothers Talk' had a slight tinge of an industrial sound but still keeps a big chorus. 'I Believe' is a really nice ballad with some lovely vocals which segues nicely into 'Broken' which has a catchy bass riff before the guitars come in. The bands biggest hit 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World' is an 11/10 song. One of the greatest pop singles of all time in my opinion. From the opening short synth intro and little glistening guitar riff, then the plodding bass coming in. After the second chorus the electric guitar comes in and the vocals step up a gear. Then the outro guitar solo with a slow fadeout. It's a phenomenally good track with an ethereal quality to it and a hugely catchy vocal line that you'll be humming to yourself for ages. It's a great album and one I'm glad I finally have been able to listen to considering how much I like their signature song.

Tragic Songs of Life

The Louvin Brothers

1/5

I will admit that in terms of vocal harmonies, it is absolute perfection. The two brothers had clearly been singing together their whole lives and it shows. Their tones match up perfectly. The guitar is decent too, I guess. That's where the praise ends. I think I zoned out for five or ten minutes and when I snapped back to reality, I could have sworn that the same song was playing in a loop. Nope. Turns out it just all sounds identical. My god it's boring. Thank God for people like Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis injecting a bit of fun, speed and excitement into music at around the same time. To save yourself some time, just pick one song, and you'll have heard the album.

Urban Hymns

The Verve

3/5

I feel like this is yet another album that could have been trimmed down. Almost every track goes on for a minute or two too long, just meandering with reverb-y guitars and a nasally drone from Richard Ashcroft. Considering how little variety there is on offer here, it could have done with being half the length. 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' is one of the all time great singles in my opinion. A fantastic track track, that has a more epic sound than the rest of the album thanks to the string section 'riff' that plays throughout the song. I don't care if it was ripped off or not, it gives me goosebumps. A brilliant opening, but unfortunately it never quite reaches these heights again. Overall, it's a bit sleepy, definitely too long, the same slow tempo throughout. It sounds a bit like a depressed and downbeat Oasis, and could really do with a kick up the arse. Despite that though, I did quite enjoy it up to a point then just became tired of it and a little bored. More listens would help I reckon, but with an album this long, I'm afraid my time is scarce.

Bookends

Simon & Garfunkel

2/5

I honestly thought Simon & Garfunkel would give me more than this. Their songs are quite pretty at times ('Overs', 'Punky's Dilemma' and 'Old Friends' are the best offerings here) but I thought they would be more beautiful more often. Like they'd give me goosebumps more often than not. The rest of these tracks sound like early Beatles stuff, which is fine. But just fine, no better no worse. Even 'Mrs Robinson' - which I don't think is a particularly amazing track - has a "coo-coo-ca-choo" in it straight from 'I Am The Walrus'. (I looked it up and The Beatles did it first). Right in the middle of the album is a track called 'Voices Of Old People' and it literally is just that. I don't know if it's genius or crap. I suppose it depends on whether you like the album or not. I think it's decent at times but nothing more.

Transformer

Lou Reed

3/5

Musically I thought this was pretty good and quite interesting and different at times. I really can't get on with Lou Reed's voice though. It's so... Basic? It never gets out of first gear, and I find his voice pretty dull. The vocals really let the music down for me, and looking through other reviews on this site, I was quite surprised to see I'm in the minority. It's a very well liked album. It's only now I can appreciate 'Perfect Day' which was yet another song I know because my dad used to play it a lot when I was young, and again, I used to hate it. It's a lovely tune but unfortunately the vocals really do let it down! It just didn't really do that much for me, somewhat interesting music aside. I found it a bit underwhelming. I'd probably stick it on if I was in the mood for some upbeat rock with a tinge of early punk.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill

3/5

I feel like Lauryn Hill has a bit of mistique about her. Going onto her Wikipedia and finding out she only released one solo album and Fugees only released two adds to the mistique in my opinion. Firstly, the album is a bit long. Anything over an hour you best make sure every minute is worth it. This goes on a little too long. Secondly, there are skits, but they don't have their own titles. They're "hidden" at the end of tracks. Very clever Lauryn, you thought you could fool me into listening to them? Not today I'm afraid. I listened to the first one but skipped the rest to save some time. (I know it's a concept album and they help that but I couldn't be bothered, sorry). She's a good, solid rapper, with a nice flow. Having said that though, I much preferred the songs where she was showing off her vocals which I think is her more superior talent. She has a really lovely voice. 'Ex-Factor' has a nice ear worm ending and solo. 'To Zion' really shows off her great vocals, ending it with a lovely high pitched almost whistle. 'When It Hurts So Bad' and 'I Used To Love Him' are another two with some great vocal runs. 'Forgive Them Father' has a nice guitar lick beat. 'Nothing Even Matters' is a typical R'n'B track which features D'Angelo and is pretty lovely sounding though a touch long and repetitive. Overall I was pleasantly surprised but by the end I was a little tired and just wanted it to get to the end. I definitely would need more listens but right now a three is fair I think.

Songs For Swingin' Lovers!

Frank Sinatra

1/5

I'm going to say something probably controversial now. Did Sinatra really have that good a voice? Like, it's really lovely, but it's almost like he isn't singing. It's like he's talking really really nicely at times. Every track is very similar, I can't lie. That repetitive double bass 'badum badum badum' and the drum sticks with a brush on the end to get that distinctive sound. Maybe a bit of trumpet or twinkling piano here and there. I also dislike how Swing music sounds as if it's so off the cuff. This is most noticeable on 'Pennies From Heaven'. I'm so used to the Louis Prima version and listening to Frank's version it honestly sounded like he was plucking the vocal notes and length out of thin air. You'd have no chance at guessing what's coming next and trying to sing along is pointless. I'd have to REALLY be in the mood to listen to this. One star does seem harsh but after 15 minutes of this, you've already heard it all and you still have another half an hour to go. Sorry Ol' Blue Eyes.

Blood, Sweat & Tears

3/5

It's a bit of a mess. The changing of genres comes out of the blue and quickly. Bits of rock, funk, jazz, big band lounge, prog. It's all over the place and some genres sound better than others from the band. It's a mix that sometimes works and sometimes not. I quite like the little jazzy bits, some twinkling piano and quick light drumming which doesn't overstay it's welcome. The 60's rock is where they shine though. The bass player kills it on every track. 'And When I Die' has this slow almost oompa sounding start that picks up as it goes to an abrupt end to start back at the beginning again. 'You've Made Me So Very Happy' is easily the biggest earworm on the album. You'll be gleefully singing that chorus all day. It's a great, cheerful track that puts a smile on your face. The penultimate track 'Blues, Pt. 2' is a 12 minute proggy, jazzy, soul wank fest with long drum solo which let's it down overall in my opinion. Also the first and last track is a beautiful piece of classical music. I add this in case I come back to the review and forget how nice it is and want to listen again. It's a bit hit and miss, but quite a fun album that I wouldn't be mad if it came on randomly.

Emperor Tomato Ketchup

Stereolab

2/5

This was a bit of a strange one. It's a bit like French house music in terms of the song structures. What I mean by that is that it's quite repetitive at times. But it's actually a bit indie rock but also a bit electronic? It's different, I'll give it that! I'm sorry that there's not much else I can really say. This is one you'd have to listen to yourself to decide if it's your thing or not. If I had to pick some standouts, the title track is a pretty catchy indie foot tapper and the opener 'Metronomic Underground' is the biggest example of the house music I mentioned. It really is like a metronome and it will be stuck in my head for a long time I should think. I can imagine this is one I'm probably missing the genius of. I didn't hate it, but I'm not sure if I really enjoyed it either. By the end of it though I'd pretty much had my fill of Stereolab and was glad it was finished. I actually found reading about the origin of the album title more fascinating than the album itself. (Okay that's a slight exaggeration but it's somewhat interesting). It honestly wouldn't surprise me if I came back to this in five years time and loved it, but then again it wouldn't surprise me if I didn't. What an utterly useless review.

Vol. 4

Black Sabbath

5/5

This is what heavy metal is all about. The bass is thick and punchy, the guitar sound is fuzzy and sludgy and Tony Iommi produces some absolutely meaty riffs. The opener 'Wheels Of Confusion' has the best riff in my opinion which just makes you want to headbang but the whole album is filled with them. Sabbath were never afraid to do something different though. I remember listening to my dad's old iPod Shuffle which had no screen so I was often unaware what artist or song was playing. There was a lot of Sabbath on there but I wouldn't have guessed it. 'Changes' is a nice change of pace and a lovely track and 'Laguna Sunrise' is such a gorgeous sounding piece of music. You could tell that Ozzy loved The Beatles because the opening riff to 'St. Vitus Dance' sounds just like them. It's not Black Sabbath's best in my opinion. But I'm a metalhead at heart and this is so metal.

Hunky Dory

David Bowie

3/5

Never was the biggest fan of 'Changes' which opens this album. Not sure why, it just isn't my favourite of Bowie's popular tracks. I find the chorus more annoying than catchy. 'Life On Mars?' however, I think is brilliant and easily one of his best. It builds up really nicely, to a fantastic chorus before starting all over again but this time the drums stay. 'Oh! You Pretty Things' is a great track which has a better chorus than 'Changes' in my opinion. 'Kooks' is a pleasant if a little bland song. I really liked 'The Bewlay Brothers' a lot though. A really nice ballad "epic" to end the record. A pretty decent, if a little all over the place album. Some hits, some misses, a bit inconsistent.

Dire Straits

3/5

Dire Straits are a guitar band, that's for sure. My second album by them and I'm still not the biggest fan of Knopfler's vocals, but his guitar work is definitely still a high point. 'Sultan's Of Swing' is obviously a highlight, though it doesn't blow me away. It sort of meanders a bit. The opening track is like 'Sultans Of Swing' but less good. 'Setting Me Up' has a cool country vibe with yet again some more good guitar work. This kind of mid-tempo rock is alright, but it just doesn't light a fire under me. It's fine to put on and chill out. Maybe notice a cool lick here and there. The guitar playing is smooth and slick. Maybe "emotionless music" is too harsh, but that's what it kind of feels like at times. It doesn't excite me. It's a low three and 'Brothers In Arms' was better.

Queen Of Denmark

John Grant

1/5

The first few tracks did nothing for me at all. I was pretty bored and thought this would be an easy one star. They were pretty basic sounding, pretty forgettable and pretty nursery rhyme-esque. I didn't like his voice, and the tempo didn't change at all, it just maintained this slow, plodding speed. To his credit though, the songs became slightly better as the album went on. Don't get me wrong, they were still slow and plodding with his monotonous vocals, but the tracks were definitely better than in the first half. I don't usually care about other reviews, but I'm actually annoyed that so many other people on this site have given it five stars. I clearly am missing something. If I had to pick out a highlight, I'd say 'Outer Space' is the best track here. Also as a side note, the album cover really creeps me out for some reason.

Let England Shake

PJ Harvey

2/5

I wasn't a big fan of this one. I felt like the vocals from PJ Harvey were a bit whiny and didn't like them much. The actual music I felt was a little boring and there wasn't much to shout about or any standout track I could pick out. There's the odd catchy vocal ('The Glorious Land') or piece of music (the title track) sprinkled here and there but there's not much meat on the bones of this album. It all sounds a little bit dreary. I wasn't gripped by anything melodically, despite it being pleasant enough. Nothing made my ears bleed, but it's not something I would come back to any time soon. It's a very slow and moody album without ever venturing into beautiful territory. Critics loved this apparently, but I must be missing something because this wasn't for me.

Dummy

Portishead

4/5

After finding out this was a trip-hop album I didn't think I'd like it. It sounded like it would be all the worst bits of genres I'm not particularly fond of. I also thought this will be difficult to review after only one listen, as the music does undeniably sound quite similar. I did enjoy it though. The delicate yet icy beats are great. It's sleek, chilled out, elegant, and those vocals are so good. They're cold yet lovely and they fit the stripped back, dark sounding music perfectly. I really like the eerie sound they manage to create, particularly on tracks like 'Numb', 'Biscuit' and 'Glory Box' which also had some cool distorted guitar soloing throughout. 'It Could Be So Sweet' sticks out as a vocal highlight.. This one also sounds slightly more optimistic sounding track. As I said before, the music does bleed together a bit, but this is one I will be coming back to with a good set of earphones to give a fairer chance, but for now, it's a four.

Channel Orange

Frank Ocean

1/5

When I listen to these albums, sometimes I think that I'm not the right audience for the music. That it's not really my thing. It's probably great music that people love but I just don't care for the genre. I think this is one of those occasions. I don't think it's bad, really. But I did find it a boring and samey. I suppose it's good to hear some modern R&B after getting some of the older stuff the genre has to offer before. Boring beats. Slow, plodding, meandering stuff. Nothing that excites me. It's almost like a vocal jam session. I see a lot of the reviews say that they think Ocean's vocals are awful. I don't quite agree, I think they're decent enough. I actually think he sounds a little like a Stevie Wonder lite at times (see 'Sweet Life'). 'Forrest Gump' stood out as my favourite of the bunch because it was quite an uplifting sounding track and 'Pyramid' was pretty good too (funnily enough, they sounded the least R&B on the album), but overall I didn't really enjoy the hour I spent listening. When I first started these reviews I'd have probably given it a two, but I'm trying to be "harsher" and more accurate, and I genuinely don't think I'd find any reason to ever come back to this.

Green River

Creedence Clearwater Revival

3/5

A short burst of tight, bluesy, country rock and roll. I said this in my previous review of a CCR album, but John Fogerty is a great vocalist and his style of singing fits perfectly with this style of swampy rock music being played. It's a good album but I personally wouldn't say it's a great album, other than a couple of select highlights. 'Green River' is a foot tapper, 'Sinister Purpose' has a heavier edge to it, and there's a reason 'Bad Moon Rising' is one of their most popular songs. I wouldn't say it was any better or worse than their previous album I had. Maybe if you took the best tracks from the two you'd have a four star album but this is just a three.

Back To Black

Amy Winehouse

3/5

Before going into this, my opinions on Amy Winehouse weren't good. I thought the best song she did was a cover and I wasn't a fan of the two biggest tracks on this record finding them annoying. I didn't like her voice, thinking it was a bit whiny and nasally and I thought she was overrated and her music had become almost more illustrious because she died very young. After giving this a few spins, I have to say I probably judged her a little harshly. This album has a classy feeling to it with its great production and vocals and with its slightly soulful swing doowop sound. I still don't think she has the greatest voice in the world, albeit its distinctive and soulful, I still find it a little warbly in all honesty. But this album is filled with catchy vocal hooks. I'd maybe like this more with more listens, but for now it's a pleasantly surprising three.

Thriller

Michael Jackson

5/5

I remember this being one of the first albums I ever bought with my own (pocket) money along with Stevie Wonder: The Definitive Collection. Two for a tenner in HMV on a school trip to London. I feel as though this is a bit of a bridge between the funky disco that came before, and the mighty pop hits that came after. My favourite MJ song has changed many times over the years, and every massive single on this album has taken the crown at some point. I loved the title track since seeing the music video when I was young. That thick and punchy electrifying bassline is ridiculously good and the little picking guitar towards the end that joins it is great. 'Beat It' shows off Michael's slightly harsher vocal style and is so catchy. 'Billie Jean' I didn't like as much back in the day but hearing it now, it's another fantastic track. 'P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)' is another one with a funky bassline and another huge ear worm. My current favourite track of Jackson's though has got to be the opener 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin''. Yet another insanely catchy hook and a monster of a bassline (can you sense a theme?). So those are the really really famous tracks. How do the rest shape up? For me there are two greats, an OK one and a dud. 'Baby Be Mine' is great (with yet another good bassline) and 'Human Nature' has such a dreamy, ethereal guitar lick running through it coupled with Jackson's airy vocals, it's a gorgeous track. I actually think that the duet with McCartney is the worst track here, which is crazy really considering who sings on it. I personally think because of the news worthy shenanigans, the controversy, and the stage presence, people forget or overlook how good a vocalist Michael Jackson was. From soft and delicate, to high pitched falsetto, to an almost throaty growl, Michael could do it all. This is honestly like a greatest hits album, and despite the couple of skips, it's an easy five stars, and I think it would be difficult to convince me otherwise.

Cloud Nine

The Temptations

2/5

My knowledge of The Temptations is very vague. I know they did 'My Girl' and that's pretty much it. This is an easy, if unexciting listen. It's pretty much just your standard Motown but the first few tracks are actually have a psychedelic soul sound and they're the best tracks! A whole album of that would have been much better than the pop soul that the majority of this ended up being. It's just not really my thing although I did resist the temptation to skip any track.

Woodface

Crowded House

3/5

This is a fine album. I don't meant fine as in good quality, I mean fine as in satisfactory. An "it'll do" type of album. Some tracks are a little bland and forgettable, although some are catchy and it evens out to probably about 3.5-ish. 'It's Only Natural' has a memorable chorus, 'Tall Trees' and 'Fame Is' are short and sweet pop rock tunes, 'Four Seasons In One Day' is a lovely track. 'How Will You Go' is a really nice, calm closer and shows off my favourite thing about this album which is Neil Finn on vocals. I think he has a really lovely and quite distinct voice and it's on the closing track and my favourite 'Weather With You' where it really shines. The latter is just one of those songs that for some reason I just know and has always been around. I think it's a great, slightly dreamy, psychedelic and catchy pop track. The rest is a bit unexceptional and I could take or leave on any given day or mood.

Fear Of Music

Talking Heads

4/5

It's really nice to hear some other tracks by this band that aren't 'Once In A Lifetime' (great song by the way). I enjoyed this a hell of a lot. It has these unconventional yet unswerving rhythms that are fun and funky. The whole album has an almost gritty weirdness to it. It's full of funky bass basslines and cool guitar licks and David Byrne in vocals sounds great if a little all over the place but in a good way. There's some proper footstomping tunes on this album and it's good fun. 'Memories Can Wait' gets quite heavy and almost psychedelic. Overall a very good time and I'm hoping there's more Talking Heads albums to be enjoyed on this list!

Treasure

Cocteau Twins

4/5

This Cocteau Twins album had a much darker sound than 'Heaven Or Las Vegas' that I had previously which was more of an uplifting album. This has a gloomier, shoe-gazey vibe although still manages to be dreamy and ethereal. It's an eerie and unsettling listen at times and a combination that I liked. It actually got fairly heavy at times. 'Persephone' is a pretty rocky sounding track with some nice guitar and 'Cicely' sounds outright industrial. 'Aloysius' is the most uplifting track here. I actually Googled Cocteau Twins lyrics and there were Reddit threads with discussing the most accurate interpretation of the lyrics, which is absolutely bizarre, but clearly shows that the difficult to decipher words are a deliberate choice but they add to the surreal sound. I personally enjoyed the vibe of this album more than their previous album on this list. They're an interesting band with a very intriguing sound. It just scrapes a four for being so unusual.

War

U2

4/5

This album has quite a punky vibe to it which I didn't expect and also a rawness. There are some catchy tracks here and I think Bono is a highlight on vocals. The drum sound is really loud and heavy which I enjoyed and there's some really cool guitar licks throughout. I have to say that I've had two albums from U2 now and I've really enjoyed both of them. I feel like U2 are a band that get an unfair bit of hate but I'm now a fan, and I think they're bloody great.

evermore

Taylor Swift

2/5

There is a thin line between a song being a beautiful track and a dull one. I really don't know how a song goes from one to the other honestly. I guess if the melody from the music or vocals actually catches my attention or is memorable. A lot of this album isn't memorable and it bleeds into one more often than not. This album was written, recorded and released during lockdown so I feel as though the critical acclaim that this apparently got is probably slightly exaggerated although I'm more than willing to told by the Swifties that I'm wrong. I don't know what Taylor Swift album is considered her best. I much prefer the upbeat pop tunes of Taylor Swift than the slow, sombre stuff so this album wasn't really for me. It opens strong with 'willow' which has some nice sounding guitar picking and soft vocals by Swift. I also really enjoyed the one-two punch of 'coney island' and 'ivy'. The former being a really calm tune and the latter being the catchiest track on the album. This isn't me hating pop music either, I love stuff in the charts and I'm don't care about admitting that. But I was struggling to find anything that enjoyable while listening to 'evermore'. Granted I only gave this one listen, which I absolutely know isn't enough to have a "proper" opinion but it's going to have to be a two from me. Apparently the lyrics are fantastic and the music is pretty and nuanced, but honestly after the hour had finished, I was a little bored. I'm looking forward to listening to '1989' though.

16 Lovers Lane

The Go-Betweens

2/5

This is pleasant enough pop music. Decent guitar work, decent vocals, but ultimately it's relatively boring and pretty underwhelming. There's no dud tracks, but I also wouldn't say there's any standout ones either. I can't remember any vocal line, jangly guitar riff or anything. This album is just there. It came, and 40 minutes later it's gone, and I honestly don't see any reason to relisten to it ever again. It sounds like a less good version of this type of music. At times it sounded like a really tame version of The Smiths. It very rarely kicks into a higher gear. 'Was There Anything I Could Do?' goes for a slightly more urgent and dramatic sound and is probably the best track on here with some really nice strings in the background but other than than, it's not very memorable at all.

Live And Dangerous

Thin Lizzy

3/5

I feel like live albums shouldn't be on this list. Yes, some are legendary, but I think it's a sneaky way to get what is essentially a Greatest Hits album on the list. This is good though, I can't deny it. Going in, I only know two or three Thin Lizzy tracks, but after listening to this, I can confidently say they are pretty damn good. Tight playing, good solos and great hard rock tunes throughout. It makes me want to hear the studio versions of tracks which is a good sign. 'Emerald' really chugs away nicely with blistering solos to end it, everyone loves 'The Boys Are Back In Town' and for good reason, it's a phenomenally good track, but again, I think I'd rather listen to the studio version although this one does have a great energy about it. 'She-La-La' almost wanders into speed metal territory. Overall a really solid offering, and a shame that this is the only Thin Lizzy album this list has to offer.

American Gothic

David Ackles

3/5

I read through some reviews before listening on this occasion and I really wasn't looking forward to it after doing so. It sounded bad. However, although I agree with the "Broadway musical" and "high school theatre" descriptions, I actually unironically enjoyed this. The whole thing is tinged with a sadness, thanks in part to Ackles' vocal performance. He hasn't got a massive voice, but it's quite distinct. 'One Night Stand' for example is slow and brooding, with 'Midnight Carousel" being particularly dark sounding. It gives me horror movie vibes, the piano specifically gives it an urgency and makes it sound like a chase scene. I really like it a lot. It's also the catchiest track on the album thanks to the vocal lines. 'Oh, California' is the opposite, and is quite uplifting and a fun burlesque knee slapper. 'Love's Enough' is a really lovely track There are a couple of boring tracks sprinkled throughout. The ballad 'Another Friday Night' plodded along for too long before a big ending, 'Waiting For The Moving Van' is just a bit dull and 'Blues for Billy Whitecloud' is a jazz lounge sounding swing track which is decent enough. The ten minute closer tries so hard to be epic but falls short, it's just missing that extra something. Overall, it's a very strange, peculiar album which has a vaudeville vibe. I'd much rather have albums like this which are a little different and against the norm than a boring album any day of the week. If you're into this sort of thing, you'll love it, but I can completely understand why many would hate it. It scrapes a three, but I can also imagine I'd come back to this every so often because of how different it is.

Peace Sells...But Who's Buying

Megadeth

5/5

Megadeth are on the heavier side of heavy metal to a complete newcomer (although actually fairly tame when looking at the genre as a whole) so to read reviews saying it's dumb, cheesy or "just noise" I think is quite unfair although it's a pretty standard thing to hear. This particular collection of tracks is definitely not dumb or cheesy - it's quite serious sounding, almost evil in places, and certainly not the power metal vibe. In terms of technical prowess, it's brilliant. Everyone is on top form. The guitar work is blistering, that bass intro to the title track is so killer, and the vocals are as snarling as ever from Dave Mustaine. It perhaps lacks the finesse of a Metallica album, but Mustaine was still on a mission to be faster, angrier, louder and ruder than his former band and he succeeds. There are riffs and solos galore to be heard here. I personally prefer to their debut to this second offering purely because of how raw sounding and over the top it is, but in this humble metalhead's opinion, this is an easy five star album.

Pretzel Logic

Steely Dan

3/5

Overall I would say it's pretty standard 70's soft rock, which isn't a bad thing, but this album doesn't exactly set the world on fire. There was some really nice guitar work on 'Night By Night' which I enjoyed. 'East St. Louis Toodle-Oo' is a very interesting track. It's sounds as if you're walking through a busy New York street. Very cool sound. 'Charlie Freak' has a very up and down hook which is a proper ear worm. The opener was also one of the better tracks. Technically sound and I'm sure a lot of people love it, but I kind of drifted in and out of this one. It was alright.

Da Capo

Love

2/5

There's a few genres on offer here. There's a bit of folk, some punk, some psychedelic rock, some pop. It's actually quite surprising considering this came out in 1966. The last track is 19 minutes long, which isn't a problem in itself, but it is when a vast majority of the middle section is like what bands do at live shows. It's just endless noodling and wankery as if the band members are being introduced by the lead singer. Honestly a good 15 minutes of this track is meandering shite. Overall a somewhat interesting album which maybe would have gotten a three or four from me if it was 1966, but today it's getting a two.

Sex Packets

Digital Underground

1/5

Had no idea that Tupac was in a group, so that's a somewhat interesting tidbit that will hopefully come up in a pub quiz at some point. This hip hop album is thankfully only 65 minutes (most are longer than that, so this felt like a blessing). The beats are definitely funkier than most hip hop albums I've heard thus far and the raps seem almost cheerful and old school. Christ, this got boring after a while though. Rap songs have no business being longer than five minutes in my opinion, and a lot of these are stretched out to up to nine minutes which is ridiculous. I don't want to listen to this again and definitely never will.

Pretenders

3/5

How is this the same Pretenders that did 'I'll Stand By You' and 'Brass In Pocket'? The latter appears on this album which as a whole is a lot more upbeat and punky than I thought it would be. 'Tattooed Love Boys' has an underlying bright sounding hook beneath the punky chords and has a very cool solo. 'Space Invader' is a cool instrumental and everyone loves 'Brass In Pocket' which I think is the highlight. Memorable riff, singalong chorus and just a cool vibe throughout. I don't know if I like Chrissie Hynde's vocals. It's talk-singing. It works for the music, but I'm not sure on it. Some good stuff and some stuff that just is there in the background and doesn't grab me, but overall a decent debut and a pleasant surprise. The less good tracks bring it down, and it's not quite enough for a four.

Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk

2/5

I'd really love to love jazz. A seemingly endless possibility of music. But it's so difficult to "latch" onto. There's no discernible merits of a "song" anywhere. No verses, choruses, memorable hooks, riffs or vocal lines to hum to (I know that's not the point of jazz but my point stands). This is a genre of music that you have to judge as a whole, because it does just sound like endless wankery. Plucking notes seemingly at random, with every instrument getting their turn at a solo. No doubt technically amazing, but utterly useless to listen to. Music only to those actually playing it. At no point did I say "Oh, I liked that bit" because it's over and done with and forgotten about by the time you've analysed it in your head. Strangely I did kind of like it though. There absolutely is just something about it. But again, there's nothing I can pick out or point to. Jazz like this for me is purely vibes, and background music. I give not just this album, but the whole genre of jazz and all of it's sub genres two stars. I did like it, but I honestly don't think I know of a situation that I'd choose to put this on.

Third/Sister Lovers

Big Star

2/5

Meh. It's a pretty easy album to listen to, but it's also pretty easily forgettable too. It doesn't really stand out much. 'Big Black Car' really really droned on. It was ridiculously stripped back, slow and depressing. Same with 'Holocaust' which to be fair had a slightly redeeming creepiness to it. It wasn't all bad. 'For You' was decent enough and I thought 'Femme Fatale' was actually a pretty beautiful track (which I've just found out was actually written by Lou Reed, so that is another negative for this band and album). I will say however, comparing the two, I actually slightly preferred the Big Star version. It's beautifully sung. Everything else I would say was pretty generic easy listening soft rock music. Wildly inconsistent, and it wasn't all on Spotify, so I decided if it was good enough, I'd seek our the missing tracks. Spoiler alert: I didn't seek out the missing tracks.

The Good, The Bad & The Queen

3/5

I quite liked this. There are cool hooks, interesting rhythms and ideas, and the tracks are chilled and laid back. At times it does sound like a slightly less upbeat Gorillaz, which I guess is to be expected. I also feel like the songs don't really go anywhere. It's like they're building up to something and then they just end before anything happens. But not in a bad way if that makes sense. Until the last track that is, when all of a sudden it explodes into a loud, heavy garage rock sound seemingly out of nowhere. There's ambience, texture, and space and the album evokes imagery of a dreamlike landscape. I only had the chance for one listen and another quick flick through and I think I'd enjoy it more with repeated spins. I'll give it a very high three, but could be a four this time next year.

Roots

Sepultura

3/5

Finally a metal album that I've not heard before! I really did not expect this to sound so similar to bands like Korn and at times System of a Down - it's very nu-metal sounding. I guess the 90's got every metal band in the end! The riffs are very heavy and chug away nicely, there are some interesting things happening such as the tribalistic drumming, and I like how angry it sounds, particularly the vocals (although they do wear thin). At times there are some very good blends of traditional Brazilian music and heavy metal which work well together. So that's the good. One not so good thing is it's over an hour long and it does get a bit tiresome in the end. Also because the guitars are so downtuned, there's little dynamics or tempo changes so the tracks do eventually just bleed into one long song. Not an album I'll be returning to that soon, despite the really cool sounds that they manage to blend together seamlessly. I personally think that Slayer's 1998 album 'Diabolus in Musica' is very underrated and if you want an 80's thrash band doing their version of 90's nu-metal, give that a listen instead of this.

The Blueprint

JAY Z

3/5

I've given rap a bit of hard time but on this occasion I have to say I enjoyed it. I don't really know why, it's tough to explain. This album sounds nostalgic yet fresh. I like the style, I like the beats, the samples and general sound. I like the way Jay-Z raps, he has a good flow, sounds serious, has great diction and is good at what he does. 'Izzo (H.O.V.A)' is one I already knew and is definitely a highlight. It's still a little long for my liking, but this is definitely up there with the better hip hop albums I've had.

Sticky Fingers

The Rolling Stones

2/5

It's sleazy, dirty sounding blues rock music. I don't think it's anything more or anything less. It's decent enough. I just don't think I'll ever be a Stones guy. I much prefer The Beatles, Led Zep, and probably most of the popular bands around at the same time. 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking' is a great song I can't deny that. 'Brown Sugar' though popular, I find pretty bland and nothing special. This is probably sacrilege but Susan Boyle did a version of 'Wild Horses' that I think is infinitely better, and more beautiful and I will die on that hill. I just don't think I'll ever get the hype around the Stones. As much as Jagger is a very eccentric frontman with a distinctive voice, I think they were around at the right time playing the right (pretty bland for my tastes) music.

The World is a Ghetto

War

2/5

A promising album that never really takes off. It's just a little bit boring. It's slightly jazzy prog rock, and it does work well together, but they're also the two most overindulgent, wankfest genres going, so to combine the two, you can imagine the result. Really really long instrumental sections that meander all over the place and don't seem to end. 'The Cisco Kid' sounds exactly the same as 'Low Rider' which coincidentally is another War song. 'Where Was You At' was a pretty catchy foot tapper. But the rest is pretty forgettable. All the songs seem to merge into the background with me not having heard anything notable or anything to make me enjoy or hate it.

Unknown Pleasures

Joy Division

3/5

I finally get to listen to the album that has that famous image on it. It sounds a bit like a less upbeat and less dancey version of New Order, which after just learning about the connections between the two today, would make sense. After giving it a listen, Joy Division feels like one of those bands that everyone seems to get but me. This is probably your favourite indie band's favourite indie band. Surprisingly though I didn't outright hate it like I assumed I would. It had a very cool dark and gloomy atmosphere. I liked the production on it. It has a slightly muffled, muted and echoey sound, as if you're listening to it in the room next to you with the door closed. I'm not a huge fan of Ian Curtis on vocals though. Showy yet gothic and annoying spoken word. It fits the music, no doubt, but I don't enjoy his voice that much. It's all about the moody atmosphere created by the instruments for me. The rhythmic drumming, cool sounding guitar work and punchy bass. It's heavy without being heavy metal. I prefer the slower moodier tracks to the more upbeat spritely sounding ones. A surprising three stars, though probably in my head could be a bit of a grower. It all depends on if I can get on with the vocals a bit more and they click with me.

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