At its best, it's one of the greatest electronic albums I've heard. However, it's sound isn't consistent enough to sustain that greatness for its entire run-time
The A side of this record one was consistently one of the best WU-Tang solo projects, but it simply cannot sustain its brilliance into the B side.
Easily the best Beatles solo record, the best Wings album, and the best album that Paul was involved in during his post-beatles stint
There's a reason that this album has long been considered the zenith of the 90s brit pop movement. That being said, it's grown stale with age, and the constant jokes about first year guitar students.
Simply one of the best psychedelic rock records ever recorded, and a prime example of why live albums are often better than studio recordings.
It's an awful shame that Maps far overshadowed anything else that this band ever recorded when it's so imminently clear that they had zero interest in making more music like that. If they weren't contemporaries, I'd sad Jack White owes Karen O a creative debt.
Is there a better Hendrix album than this? I think not. Even 60 years later, it's just as revelatory as ever and continues to prove that Jimi was not only the best guitarist of his generation, but probably any generation.
Michael is at his best when he's energetic, and has an outstanding, loud horn section backing him up. To that effect, the first half of this record is excellent but it drags as soon as he starts slowing it down.
Perhaps one of the most important post-punk records ever made, and one of the best records Mark E. Smith ever released, even if it does end up overstaying it's welcome by just a few tracks.
One of the greatest early hip hop records, one which happens to be at its best when the elements of the band's hardcore punk past are seamlessly blended with the new sounds they were experimenting with.
I'm sure that this record was a big deal in it's time, that being said, there's little to no reason I can see that it would be included in a list like this. Nothing that Robbie Williams does is particularly unique or interesting and there's very little reason to listen to this record. He turned out a record that is boring, and retreats the same well worn ground as most of the records produced during the britpop movement. It's not an insufferable listen, just an uninspired one.
Raw Power is always going to be the second best album the Stooges ever recorded because there's simply no way to match the brilliance of Funhouse. That being said, it's an enjoyable listen, even if there isn't much in the way of variation over the course of the whole run-time.
The clear standout here is the 20 minute opener, that's among the best prog rock songs ever recorded. However Rush loose some of their momentum in the middle once they return to songs of a more typical length, especially when it's so clear that they want room to experiment.
This was an enjoyable album, Miriam has an incredible voice and is at her best when performing songs from her native culture, I just wish the whole album had been made of those rather than being mixed in with covers of English classics.
If it wasn't for the opening track of the record, it would have been forgotten amongst the ground swell of britpop albums that all seemed to appear almost overnight in the 90s. The members are good enough at their instruments to make music better than this, and I wish they had.
Just a lovely, if slightly melancholic folk album from one of the great 60s masters of the genre. Pink Moon and Bryter Layter may get all the press, but Five Leaves Left is just as good and it'll tell you where artists like Elliot Smith came from.
This has long been one of my favorite albums by Bowie, and a standout example of why he was always at his best when he was experimenting. No one would have expected this turn in his sound back when it was released, and it remains just a revelatory now as it was then.
I have little experience with Reggae outside of some of the biggest songs that everyone knows. This was an enjoyable listen, but a bit overlong, and had most of it's enjoyable moments in the upbeat, high energy songs. There's no doubt that the slower songs aren't sweet in their lyricism but boy do they play out at a snails pace.
I've always been some what lukewarm on Neil Young. When he goes fully electric and is clearly very invested in what he's making, he's excellent. But in many of his quieter moments on this record I just find his tone of voice distracting, and his writing a bit half baked.
It's incredibly interesting to listen to Randy Newman in the 21st century, when his contribution to film, particularly Disney films, has far outweighed the cultural impacts of his earlier, solo career. Especially when you consider that the man who wrote a satirical song about "dropping the big one" would go on to write "You've Got a Friend in Me". His lyrics are often dark, and focused on a changing modern world, but I couldn't help but not feel particularly affected by it.
I really enjoyed this record in a way that I didn't expect to. Previous to this, I don't think I'd say that I was a fan of R.E.M but this record combines both post punk and jangle pop together in a very pleasing way.
Probably the best duo to ever exist in any genre anywhere? It doesn't matter if they're singing upbeat tunes satirizing folk rock, or slow ballads about life and love. It's all great. That being said, the closing track somewhat confuses the message of the album to me. Perhaps I missed the point, but it didn't seem to be an album about the issues of modern America until the final track.
This is an interesting album, it blends a lot of styles of popular 80s music into something that works better than it should. That being said, the vocal tonality of the singer really distracts from the standout production and instrumentation. Most of the time, he sounds like a distant cousin of Sting. That kind of vocal works for a deconstruction of reggae, significantly less so for a fusion of post-punk, goth, ambient, and new wave.
One of the best world music albums I've listened to, the opening track, and track 3 are wonderful odyssey's full of interesting rhythm and the usage of drums across the whole album pleases these percussionist's ears.
It's an excellent debut album, and shockingly close to the sound they would have once the band fully came into its own. That being said, it suffers from a slow pace, its runtime clocks in at only 45 minutes, but it feels significantly longer.
For my money, this is the best Public Enemy record ever released. It's still just as relevant as it was when it came out, it sustains an incredible amount of energy over the run-time, and the beats are on a whole different level. Essential listening.
Its undeniable that this is a great live record, and likely one of the best in its day, but it's since been outclassed by 50 years of development in the genre and live performances as a whole.
