Poor digital underground, settled in my list between two other big early 90s rap albums. This album is great, and I know somewhere I said Ice Cube was the most talented out of NWA, well, this is the best album out of NWA - unfortunately, the gangsta shit is a little more one note compared to Straight Outta Compton, which is a wild thing to say. Pretty obvious Ice Cube was the one thinking socio-politically. That said, high energy, great beats and samples. Probably a 3 lyrical-contently, but the energy is great so it goes up to 4.

I was gonna hate on this because I don't care for this kind of hippie-to-dinosaur-rock type stuff, but I enjoyed my time here. Good music to zone out to, and really, the only time I'd seek it out is watching a period piece movie or maybe driving a Chevy SS, but it's got its place and it's immaculately made. 3 for my taste, 4 for the total package and Bang a Gong, which is a known quantity for a reason. It's fun!

As what feels like a precursor to stomp-clap-hey music, this is better but maybe worse because of what it inspired. There's certainly more variety - no one can deny Adams' talent, but 25 years on it feels a little empty. Integrating Dylan into your songs is clever, but empty. Plaintive slow guitars in between the rockier stuff feels empty. Maybe because this genre got hollowed out by the 'mersh 10-15 years down the line, but I can't get behind it. Really drags in the back half.

Weird to have this after Ryan Adams, since they're...kind of similar? Crazy how I think Adams is probably technically better in just about every way, but I prefer this - just goes to show it's not all about technical acumen. Anyway, I'm somehow less angry about the 70s guitar here on the back half than I normally would be elsewhere. Maybe Crazy Horse is ok! Pretty cool how it does the front half-back half shape, especially for a live album, plus some absolute bangers. Can't believe this is a live album. This is the first album on this list I went back to and listened again before I hit the review button. Pretty big stuff!

Having not been there, this album feels a lot like I how imagine the 70s were: overindulgent, sprawling in new and exciting ways that may not exactly be good, but still pretty fun. Some of these songs I can imagine putting on the 8 track in the AMC Pacer and thinking you're the coolest guy in the world, some of them I hear in a wood paneled basement with shag carpeting. A lot of the sounds I love from much later music show up here, as do a lot of sounds I don't care for. Some of the songs bang (the fuzz in Jet is wild) but then Bluebird is a real stinker. Picasso's Last Words is very clever, but also, c'mon Paul, some of this shit is just elevator music. A lot of good stuff, Paul's Beatles influence is still pretty obvious (good thing) and he's undeniably got a knack for a tune but for my taste overstays its welcome. Starts and finishes with something like a bang, so I guess that's where the head's at.

First song is a certified banger, so how does the rest of the album compare? Well, Let's Get It On is the high point so while it's technically true to say it's all downhill from there, it's not really helpful (though Keep Gettin' It On Is, y'know, about the same high). Any song can go anywhere and the album loses nothing. Easy to put on, easy to listen to. It's not experimental, it does not make a collage of existing music, it does not push the envelope. It's just good, consistent music.

Man, all my notes got wiped out, but I'd call this a transitional album. Clearly Bowie, with all its influences worn on its sleeve, but not fully made his own. While I can agree that 'boring' would be a good descriptor, I think the ambient stuff is pretty decent. Not all music has to go somewhere, and especially not ambient. It's no mistake that there aren't any classic Bowie hits on here, but that doesn't make it bad, just hit-less. The separation between the first half and second half make it feel a bit more like an art project than something coherent, so on that I'm knockin' it down from a 4 to a 3.

I missed this album. In fact, this album made me stop being a radiohead listener, because the whole "pay what you want" thing was something I wanted to support but I was a broke college student, so I never did. Then I fell out of the cycle. Anyway, now that I'm not a radiohead fan, this is a pretty forgettable album.

The opener is a real masterpiece, but the rest of this album is great. A little dated since everything's been plumbed a million times, and a little dated since some of the sounds are just so associated with the time, but still packed to the gills with good stuff. I think it's a victim of that datedness, so it \"only\" gets a four.

Like many Talking Heads albums, it's got a few megahits and then some capable but forgettable stuff sprinkled around it. Not that the forgettable stuff is bad, it's just not really that remarkable. Give it a 3 but bumped to a 4 exclusively for the Take Me To The River cover.

I don't care for dub, and this is an hour long. Probably have to be from the time and place to make it work, but even trying to actively listen I tuned this out. Maybe one day I'll see in it what others see, but I won't be returning on my own.

Holy shit. I've heard the hits but never listened to the album, Prince really was living in the future. Guy had a nose for The Sound and could produce it. This album's got it all, and it feels like it informed a lot of the 80s sound that came after it. I kept having to check the year. Anyway, this rules.

"I'm sick and tired of people saying that we put out 11 albums that sound exactly the same. In fact, we've put out 12 albums that sound exactly the same." That's right. Get in the t-top, loser, we're hitting mailboxes with a baseball bat. Nothing groundbreaking, and somehow too long as an album, but every song rocks.

Jack Antonoff was perhaps the worst person to produce Lorde. Bookends nicely, I guess, in the vein of royals, but everything in between is such a pale Antonoff-based imitation that it makes them worse.

Shit. Stuck in a wii menu that gets worse once the hook goes away. Don't

Finally, an album that answers the question, "What if the Jesus and Mary Chain sucked a lot?" Probably novel in the 70s, but now it's a mostly unlistenable art installation. Let's hear it for Frankie.

Legalize It is a truly terrible song. The rest of the album is a lot better, but goddamn I cannot believe that first track has fans. This is way more layered and varied than the UB40 album I listened to. Really was tempted to give it a 1 based on that first impression, but y'know, this is pretty good.

There was a time when this album probably woulda hit hard, but now it's mostly dated, probably about 20 minutes too long, and not really very interesting. Comfortably in the radiohead catalog with nothing to distinguish it.

It's Metallica. It's not as cool as early Metallica, and it portends later Metallica, but it's still Metallica. The hits are hits, and maybe its the amount of time they spent being played on the butt rock station when I was in high school, but I think they're great.

The natural progression of mid 2000s indie pop, and probably its terminal point. Layered instrumentation, experimentation with The Sound, and lots of ideas jammed into each song. Too bad it just made me think of other albums I could be listening to. Nice as music for a quirky indie flick, but I don't know when in my life I would want to listen to this.

Shit you'd hear in a spin class if everyone in there thought they were too cool for Stanley cups.

George Michael can sing, but the subtlety is not a strength of his. All these songs sound flat, like in an unfinished way, and another review mentioned that they've all been turned into club bangers. Which I'd agree with: just about any cover or remix is gonna have more verve than this. Compare to Prince, who took a different tack on sex as a subject matter, and had better musicality and more ideas, half a decade earlier. This is pointless until someone else comes along and spices it up.

Like most of the albums I've been hearing, they start out slow and then get better. This is just kind of standard proggy stuff with a couple of hits of what Queen's hits would sound like. I don't care for it but it's not bad.

This holds up. Big and intimate at the same time, it just rocks. Guitar noodling doesn't outlast its welcome like a lot of dinosaur rock and I'm a sucker for any singer who sounds like their voice went through a cement mixer. I know there are a lot of hits on here but just about anything coulda been a single. Sets the tone.

Smooth, classic album packed with songs that you just kinda know. Easy 5, except...well, I like a lot of the covers more than the originals. This isn't exactly where I spend my time. Sorry, Carole.

Not familiar with this album, although there are a few Maiden songs I like generally. This starts out way rawer than I was expecting (good thing) but maybe too much guitar noodling for my taste. The boys was figurin' it out, but it's really split between the 70s and what Iron Maiden turned into. The production isn't there for the operatic stuff and when it gets arena rock-y it's at its worst. The glimmer of the future was probably pretty exciting back in 1980 but I don't think it's great.

Never heard of this guy. This doesn't hit for me even though I feel like it should. Cannot put my finger on it - wait, it came to me on track 3: if Rusted Root discovered U2. Also: Deluxe edition? 2 fucking hours long? I got stuff to do, man.

It's good, but I'm certain I could defeat Paul in the octagon.

Loved this album when it first came out. Holds up, I guess, but doing the close-listening thing reveals it to be pretty insipid. I mean, these lyrics are trash. 5 star background music album, but what makes it good for that makes it bad for, y'know, listening. Splitting the difference with a 3. Either way, I don't think this is an album you have to hear before you die.

Hilarious that this pops up right after the xx because this is basically the same review. This album came out of the gate hard, then I forgot about it, and re-listening, well, its transportive but it's not great and it's also not something you have to listen to before you die. Their cover Prince's "I Would Die 4 U" is pretty good, though. Not on this album.

Not the best Pixies but still good Pixies. You get a 4 but only because Surfer Rosa and Doolittle deserve 5s and they're better.

This album is a 3: standard surfy, garagey music from the 60s. Every once in a while, a moment jumps out that makes it a little better. And every once in a while, you get something that makes it a little bit worse. I'm gonna play this for my kids.

I don't know how to say this without sounding pretentious, so I won't bother trying to not sound like a huge asshole. Jack White is an immensely talented musician who's forgotten more about music production and history than I'll ever know. But somehow, listening to his music, I get the impression he brings nothing new to the table. Every song feels like, "remember this sound? Well here's how I'd do it." And it sounds good, but also...why? They're all good songs, but it's like an an album of cover songs except instead of covers, they're originals.

Stone cold classic, every song has something to offer and even the skits are all-timers. I read some other people's reviews and saw their complaints and I want to point out that this album is more than the sum of its many parts: RZA's production is simplistic? Yes, it lets everybody have a chance to shine. Rhymes are simplistic? I mean, in the context of 2024, I guess, but there are some all-timer bars here and the interplay is part of the fun. Kung Fu is corny? Sorry man, you're actually lame as hell.

Hey, the hype is real: A live album that's made better by being live! I think Johnny Cash is a) a legend and b) pretty one-note, musically (with notable exceptions) but this album is fun to listen to. That says a lot. I think any other Johnny Cash album would probably get a three from me, but this seems like an easy 5?

This sounds like so many forgotten 80s pop-ish bands, imitating the smiths or the waterboys or simple minds or the mekons or the icicle works or any of those bands. Just kinda throw 'em into a blender. I like those bands, but this is just...more of it? Who cares.

This isn't nearly as sophisticated as electronic music is today, but as an early, and therefore relatively simple, electronic work, it's quite nice! At first I was going to call it ambient, but there's more engaging me here. Der Konzept carries through, the album flows nicely, and each song has something to offer. Great stuff.

Feel guilty giving this a 4 because the highs are so high, but it's too long, there's some weird shit going on in the middle and the fact that its a smorgasbord of sound doesn't mean that everything works well together. Like putting ice cream on a hamburger - it might work at the right time, but it might just be wrong. Anyway, great album with great breadth.

I never listened to this album. I did, however, listen to about 80% of it over and over and over again in the form of individual kazaa downloads of varying quality. So I have fond memories of some of this stuff, while the arrangement, and some songs, are completely new. Anyway, jazzy hip hop? I'm in. fun album. Not necessarily an all-timer in the gotta-hear-it-before-you-die vein, especially since, well, it drags, but it's a great sound and easy to put on.

Full disclosure, my wife picked the title track as our wedding dance song, so I'm predisposed to have a soft spot here. Ok, now that that's out of the way: she's a good singer with good arrangements and there's nothing here that really blows me away.

Hell yeah, man. Look, part of Tom Waits' appeal to me is his persona - it's like the whole thing is performance art that isn't a performance and isn't really art. So I'm gonna be looking at this album through that lens, because if I didn't know who Waits was, but had this as my introduction, it'd probably get a 1 or 2. It's a tough listen to kick off, shit banging and clanging with Waits' unique voice kind melted in the middle. If a different Tom, like Tom Delonge or Tom Jones, put this out, it would be shit. Norah Jones this ain't. But that's part of the appeal of this album, too: it's something different, built deliberately and, at least to me, challenging in a way that's not so far gone that it's inaccessible noise. It's all stripped down to the bone, for better or worse. I really love a couple of songs on here, like really love. Sometimes it's worse, I think I'd like some new arrangements of stuff. Not my favorite Tom Waits' album, but definitely one that stands out. I don't know what kind of curve to grade this on, so I give it a 4. I have no doubt it was realized as expected, and I like Tom, but the challenge on some of these tracks is a bit much.

Insanely horny. Like, the perfect album for teens to do clumsy heavy outside-the-pants petting in 1996. Waterfalls is, of course, a megahit, but this brand of R&B is really not where I spend my time. It's obvious how this album was a huge hit: slick, well produced, well sung, but it has the unfortunate position of having set the tone rather than being superlative, so it's kind of forgettable in that sense if you didn't grow up to it blasting sex-vibes straight into your teenage brain. Which I didn't.

Nice little album by a nice little singer who inspired thousands of shitty imitators, so he might be guilty of war crimes.

I never got into Nick Cave for whatever reason, even though he's supposedly adjacent to a lot of musicians I do like. Maybe my head wasn't in the right place. Maybe I thought it was a bit overwrought, directly sighted at Theater Kids and Former Theater Kids. Anyway, this album's pretty good! A little long, but I can respect the craft, and you know what, I'm gonna listen to it more than a couple of times. Maybe it even makes it into The Rotation. Good to put on and zone out and good to listen in. No skips! Tunes that get stuck in your head! Somber, erudite songwriting that isn't the southern gothic character exploration that turned me off the first time! Maybe I am a Nick Cave fan, I'll have to revisit some other stuff. This album hits.

Talented guy, and sad story, but this album, while creative, is super uneven. I guess when your brain fragments into itty bitty pieces you have a lot of ideas. Definitely an album you should hear before you die, but not because it's a screamin' classic. I admittedly don't care for this kind of psych but there's enough here to keep me interested even if I don't think it's good. You know who I bet loved this shit? Jeff Mangum.

David Bowie is obviously an all-star, and there's not a bad song on the album, but as a cap A Album it's just ok. Lots of different songs with different sounds stuck together. Luckily, it's got Changes and Life on Mars, so even if everything were dogshit it would still be good.

Absolutely an album you need to hear before you die, but you don't have to like it. Which I don't. I don't quite hate it the way some people do, and Paul Simon is obviously talented, but this shit is so fucking twee coming from a 45 year old man. A something of a developmentally-arrested manchild myself, I can relate to Not Growing Up, but something here leaves a bad taste in my mouth in much the same way K records albums do. I liked the self-titled album, so why not this? I mean, it contextualizes You Can Call Me Al in a way that I hadn't heard before that somehow makes me respect it less? Maybe it's how much it informed Vampire Weekend, a band I also think is talented but annoying. Also, the intro to Northern Exposure. It's hooky and catchy and I bet it would've found purchase in my brain if it had been associated with some Proustian element that makes me look back on it with fondness. Contextuality, the theme of this album. Anyway, this is the first time I've listened all the way through and probably the last.

some of this sounds incredibly dated but some of it is really great. Obvious influences on stuff that came later, but a lot of it makes me feel like I'm driving a Pontiac Fiero while on coke, posters of buxom women in really high hipped bikinis on the wall of my room. I know it's the EDM way but some of the songs overstay their welcome, and I should admit I'm not a fan of acid house. I dunno, I think this might be a bit like the Velvet Underground where there's some good stuff but most of the stuff that came later is better. I zoned out on the second half of this album - seems a bit more relaxed. Anyway, I think I gotta give it a 3 because, while I'm sure this hits for some and was a banger back in '89, I could just play sonic the hedgehog.

Damn, in another world, Rod Stewart coulda been Joe Cocker or John Fogerty. This is standard 70s rock where each song is too long, but with the added bonus of having what I'd call bad production. A long 40 minutes for me, not my cup of tea, but not so hateful to earn a 1. He's got a great voice, though!

Sucker for a dumb radio intro - and then we hit this bouncy thing that is probably a lot better if you're smoking weed and doing something in addition to listening to music. It's uphill from there, though - that nice Hendrix guitar sound is in full effect. I thought I wouldn't be interested in listening to 40 minutes of it, but I kept waiting for the moment when my interest would wane and, well, it didn't. That said, some songs are definitely not as Big as the Big Ones, but goddamn the dude can play a guitar.

I can't do it, man. I hate this stuff. Lightweight, meandering warbling that, I agree, shoulda been a poem. Feel like this is an inverted version of women reading Hemingway and hating it.

Yeah, this is good. What else is there to say?

Haven't listened to this in probably 20 years, during my big post-rock/ambient phase. A lot of that stuff I find pretty boring now, one reason that I burned out on it and had no real need to listen to it again and another because I wasn't doing things that needed hour long albums of three tones blasting disappearing into the sonic ether. Like a lot of post rock, this demands a kind of specific headspace and is helped by place. 4 hours of daylight and dry-ass snow blowing across a barren waste while you wait for nothing but more nothing sounds like Iceland and also my college experience. Surprised by how late-90s it sounds, since it seemed so different when it first came out. The radiohead influence in some of the smaller moments seems clear in retrospect. Big, operatic, and still intimate, it's a great album.

Some bangers, some goofy stuff informed by being from the early 70s, a time where experimentation brought the good and the bad. Prefer the kind of stuff inspired by this than this, but I still like this. Normally, when an album jumps from a to d and then to m and then to c, I get a little annoyed, but this kept it fresh somehow. Reputation deserved.

Kind of neat one to have after a Brian Eno album - some of the same goofy experimentation, but coming from a different place. A lot of highs, some aggressive jazzy noodling, all in all it's a 4 but with some extended pieces that I think bring it down to a 3.

The highs are high, the lows are low, the middling is middling. Weird album, but I guess Queen is a weird band. '39 was a nice surprise, didn't know Queen had that in 'em, or maybe I'm just a dupe. Sounds are all over the place, but some of them are all timers and the production is up to the task of keeping up with the band. Problem is, I don't really care for 70s proggy stuff so there we go.

I don't hate this but I also don't have any desire to listen to it again. It's fun, it's been copied, it's consistent, but while it's bouncy, it lacks a certain kind of energy that I think would improve a lot of new wave stuff.

Embarrassed I never listened to this, but then I heard the first song and realized why. Some of these songs are great: Helpless is great, but it's clearly Neil Young. Really, the overall tone of the album is too folk-y without the hook-y for me. Reading other people's reviews, seems I have an unpopular opinion. This stuff just isn't for me and I guess it turns out that I like Neil Young but maybe not CSN. Shame, because the album cover is sick.

While clearly of the early 90s in terms of style, this one feels more like a blueprint than an imitator. I think it's safe to say that Ice Cube was the most talented member of NWA (Dr. Dre being a talent as well, but maybe not as much of a polymath) because this is a beeline from Straight Outta Compton. The high energy stuff is the best, the gangsta gangsta stuff has aged a bit, and some of the funkier beats get a little one note, and there's some filler (gangsta fairytale is not fun to listen to), and it's a little bit sad that it's still relevant, but you know what? Good album. Someone else said "best while driving in your car" and that's where I felt like I should be sitting when I was listening.

Respect the naming convention. Overwrought that makes the full use of Scott's impressive voice, but other than being background music in a movie from the 60s, not sure where this fits for me. It's too much at once, but people probably ripped some great samples from this. Cannot for the life of me figure out why it's on this list. Decent cover of Black Sheep Boy but not my favorite. Really, seems like the later albums should be on this list, not this one. Maybe the weird shit was really weird in the 60s but it just seems normal today?

Man I wore this album out in college. Still my go-to for a snowy day, but not really a place in my life anymore. Back half not as good as the remarkable first half, and the twee shit that ruined the brains of my arts compatriots in 2005 is now mostly annoying to me, but I still am a fan.

I mean, he's the King of Pop. Compare how much fuller this sounds to, say, George Michael - he's got a great voice, he's got great tunes, and he's got energy. Coming off two other pop-ish albums that are much more layered, it still has an 80s flatness. Listen to the hits, which I think are still good (although the title track is flat) and move on with your life, though I can't stop lovin' you took me by surprise. I'd even go so far to say that the back half is stronger. That said, I think it's just Fine, but that might be the fact that this kind of music doesn't resonate with me.

I liked this album abut this is buttrock with an electronic veneer. This album is basically the time they turned away from Radiohead-lite to become, uh, freddie-mercury-radiohead-lite. Actually, a lot of these sounds are stolen from other songs. It's fine, I guess, and I have a soft spot for Starlight, painful corniness notwithstanding. Whatever, man, feel like I'm eating Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese. No reason for this album to be on this list.

Great album, provided you like that americana guitar stuff. It's folk-y rather than roots-y, a kind of natural progression from stuff like Thunder Road and forecasts his Woody Guthrie stuff. Full disclosure, I love Woody Guthrie. Normally don't care for murder ballads, and I struggle to know if this is a 4 or a 5, but I'm too stingy with my 5s and I know I'll be back to this one again, so up it goes. Snoozefest reviews are understood, it's a low-key album. But I'll take any song on it any day. It's big and small at the same time, which seems to be a common thread for albums I like.

Music is fine, but as an album, man, what an experience. Can't believe I've given two Johnny Cash albums 5s, but they're both (the same) great taste, and definitely one to hit on at least once. No wonder other artists love to put out mediocre live albums, they all want them to be like this.

Music to listen to when your head is bumped up against a window in car at night and you can't go to sleep. Someone described it as mid 90s wine bar music and frankly, not sure why anyone has to write another review, but it does get a little more interesting in the middle. Not sure I had to listen to this before I died.

Solid metal 70s metal album with some surprisingly emotional vulnerability for a bunch of professional-level cokeheads. Definitely more coke on the backhalf, though. As usual, turns out I like the stuff this influenced more than this, but solid album.

Kinda bouncy, but considering how much I loved Funeral (despite giving it less than 5 stars - time has not been super kind), this feels a little like Arcade Fire does Arcade Fire. Surprised this is what got them commercial success, and actually don't remember why I mostly ignored it when it came out - I guess it sounds bigger? Probably still wouldn't have hooked me the way Funeral did. Anyway, I was planning on giving this a three but it grew on me in kind of the same way some of the songs grow a little bigger without me realizing it, then the middle was kind of muddled, but then it ended strong. If it weren't for Intervention I'd probably knock it down a peg.

Good album, masters of their craft (which is an ok craft). I'd give it a 3 but the hits are too good.

Better on speakers than headphones. Better when it's discordant than when it's tuneful. Singer kind of annoys me. Right album for the right time, but not sure when that would be. Absentmindedly woodworking? Maybe I'm a grinch.

Great cowboy music, transportive and with a great voice. But it's still cowboy music from the 50s - some of it sounds like it belongs in an old movie about killin' lawmen, some of it sounds like it belongs in an old movie about being in Hawaii, somehow. Nice artifact.

Nice li'l album here! Good vibes, good tunes, tight.

High 4 because it drags a little bit in the back half, but man the beats are so good, the flow is so distinctive (even if a little one note) that this is just a good album you can put on so it's a 5.

Insane to have this come behind A Tribe Called Quest's People's Instinctive Travels: two albums from the same year where one still sounds good in 2025 and the other sounds like it's stuck in the House Party movies. The rhymes are good but, as the song says, they're not in any particular order, but hey, they're having fun! It's fine, I guess. They're not bad but every song is too long and so is the album, and if I'm not wearing hammer pants then I'm not really in the mood for this. Cool to hear a something bicep sampled in here, so a 2 generally but bumped to a 3 because even though the samples are too long, they're all great choices.

Poor digital underground, settled in my list between two other big early 90s rap albums. This album is great, and I know somewhere I said Ice Cube was the most talented out of NWA, well, this is the best album out of NWA - unfortunately, the gangsta shit is a little more one note compared to Straight Outta Compton, which is a wild thing to say. Pretty obvious Ice Cube was the one thinking socio-politically. That said, high energy, great beats and samples. Probably a 3 lyrical-contently, but the energy is great so it goes up to 4.

Sometimes hits, mostly misses. Smack dab in the middle of the scale. Got to This Time of Night and was like, "hey man I guess it's New Order." Then I get to Elegia and I'm like, "oh damn, maybe this is enough to take it up a notch!" but then it goes back to standard New Order, which I like but don't love. An unfair 3 that maybe should be a 4.

Some people have a weird hate boner for Nirvana. Maybe I'm one of them - but this is a great album. Absolutely owning a couple of covers? Owning a BOWIE cover? This is hits.

God, what the fuck was I doing not listening to this? Wall to wall doesn't stop, full on energy, lot of different sounds that blend together nicely. This is just good music, and a lot of it, and a lot of different types.

Pleasant, smooth, nicely made. I'm entirely uninvested in this kind of stuff and lack the knowledge to make a real vote, but I enjoyed my time and I've given lesser albums 3s so this gets a 4.

Instrumentation is nice, vocals aren't and this isn't a genre I care for. One thing I can say, though, is that the vocals are muddled as hell in this mix! I can barely hear her! That sucks, regardless of what I think of her voice! There's value in doing something new as a function of doing something new, but eventually you have to take something on its merits besides novelty. Just because it's a VU spinoff doesn't make it not frustrating. I gotta draw the line somewhere.

I was gonna hate on this because I don't care for this kind of hippie-to-dinosaur-rock type stuff, but I enjoyed my time here. Good music to zone out to, and really, the only time I'd seek it out is watching a period piece movie or maybe driving a Chevy SS, but it's got its place and it's immaculately made. 3 for my taste, 4 for the total package and Bang a Gong, which is a known quantity for a reason. It's fun!

Mostly makes me think of how I could be listening to a Replacements album instead. Probably giving them the benefit of the doubt since I know they're REM, but stuff that came later did it better. As usual, probably like a bomb exploded when this came out, it does feel about 10 years ahead of its time.

Look, I don't like this stuff, but to suggest that Sade isn't talented or that this isn't a well-crafted album is insane.

I never really 'got' Elvis Costello - rockabilly but not rockabilly, punk but not punk, kind of stuck in the middle. If you heard this in the midst of a lot of the '77 stuff, this would probably be a breath of fresh air. He can obviously write a good song, and Alison's a classic, but I always feel like the songs don't go anywhere. An odd complaint given his contemporaries, but you know what? It's fine - short, punchy power pop doesn't need to go anywhere. I think I gotta give it a 4 even though I don't love it, just because it is really solid.

I maintain Talking Heads have no good Albums outside of Stop Making Sense, and I stand by that. This might be their best normal album (or it might be Remain in Light), and it has Heaven so I give it a 4.

As what feels like a precursor to stomp-clap-hey music, this is better but maybe worse because of what it inspired. There's certainly more variety - no one can deny Adams' talent, but 25 years on it feels a little empty. Integrating Dylan into your songs is clever, but empty. Plaintive slow guitars in between the rockier stuff feels empty. Maybe because this genre got hollowed out by the 'mersh 10-15 years down the line, but I can't get behind it. Really drags in the back half.

Weird to have this after Ryan Adams, since they're...kind of similar? Crazy how I think Adams is probably technically better in just about every way, but I prefer this - just goes to show it's not all about technical acumen. Anyway, I'm somehow less angry about the 70s guitar here on the back half than I normally would be elsewhere. Maybe Crazy Horse is ok! Pretty cool how it does the front half-back half shape, especially for a live album, plus some absolute bangers. Can't believe this is a live album. This is the first album on this list I went back to and listened again before I hit the review button. Pretty big stuff!

Feel like Zep is the apotheosis of the semi-meandering dinosaur rock shit that I hate. And yet: they're pretty good. I don't get why people LOVE this stuff, but I do recognize that every member of the band is at the top of their game. This thing has so many hits it's hard to believe they all fit on one album. Hate all I want, there's no denying this joint is a masterpiece. A mercifully tight 42 minutes, too.

The lyrics feel like a fifteen year old's notebook, written for other fifteen year olds. Luckily for my ears, there are some good sounds here and some interesting mixes. I really don't care for the Neptunes and their all encompassing sound of the early 2000s (ditto for Timbaland, if we're keeping score) and plenty of that shows up here, but there's a lot more experimentation on top of it. Feels a little bit like failed beats that they turned into their own stuff by adding things deemed unlikely to be commercially successful plus Pharrell's ridiculous brain. A lot here: beatles, queen, uhhh, shitty guitar rock; just no focus. Anyway, this shit kinda sucks, liked it way less than I thought I would, but I bet some people have fond memories of it.

The guy writes songs and has nice a nice baritone, but, uh, this is boring as hell. Nilsson's version of Everybody's Talking is better and more tuneful - everything here sounds muddled. I was surprised to read all the positive reviews, and I actually went around again in case I missed something. Nope, just boring. The raga is the most interesting part, and I don't like ragas. Maybe it'll come around for me, but at the moment? Why.

Delightful experimentation for a folk album with a unique voice. Tempted to bump this up to a 4 but I do not care for this kind of thing so I'm dumping it with an unkind 3 because I simply don't really want to listen to this.

This ate my review, but the short version is I remember this hitting harder as a kid. Perfectly fine album, but better examples of the style are available.

An achievement, but also kind of too long. Feel like the beastie boys kept maturing past this lyrically but hit some real highs with the sampling. Since some of the songs are skips, it's a 4.

Absolutely victims of their contemporaries - every song reminds me of something else that fits in "right around that time" which makes me think that how the Triffids were cut from the same cloth. So how do they differentiate? They don't. The lyrics are fine, the delivery is fine, the production is overwrought. There's a bit of variety here, but they probably shoulda fine-tuned their Thing a bit more, if you want my entirely unsolicited and uneducated opinion. Truly in the realm of Just Fine, but probably better left in the 80s.

Not much to say here - don't love the Unchained Melody cover but respect it. Probably won't return to this but it's pleasant enough, even if a little tiresome though its relatively short runtime. A little shocked that this album was so big.

Nice sounds and the hits are huge but the other stuff is just fine. Transportive to a certain time in my life but as an album it's just ok. In fact, some of this stuff sounds like Hard 'n' Phirm.

Bangers back to front. I thought I hated live albums but all my favorites so far have been live albums. As with all live albums, recording suffers a little but I could not give less of a shit here - feel like it adds vitality. What tremendous energy and a tremendous voice.

It's fine. Expect more because I know the hits, but apart from Bob's political consciousness, this is pretty much as tiresome as I find any reggae album. The No Woman No Cry album version is not an improvement over the one everyone knows. Would probably prefer a Reggae/Dub/Ska/Roots/etc playlist over this album generally, but wouldn't be bad to have when you're ripping miller lites at the beach with the bros.

ONE HOUR AND FOURTEEN MINUTES?! I'm willing to admit when I'm wrong...but this time I'm not. Cutting out a solid 20 minutes would dramatically improve this. I don't hate any of the songs, save for the impact Rollin' and Scratchin' had on me when it popped on and made me do a double take, but generally too long. That said, some of these songs are really great and even the dronier stuff would be good to run to or drive down an empty highway at night.

Wild, I was just thinking yesterday that I bet this album would come up soon. Kind of a challenging sound (this is a nice way of saying it fails with respect to traditional musicality) but a lot of fun for some down material. Mike's flow is "bad", but he's remarkably consistent, which somehow makes it good? It's not like he sucks, he's doing this thing like oi bruv spoken word. A single song leaves you going, "is he serious?" but you follow along, maybe hit it again and all of a sudden it starts coming together. And maybe, if you weren't really listen, you figure out it's a concept album, and one that actually holds together. If I hadn't heard this when it came out, I'd probably drop a 1 or 2 on this one, but you know what? No apologies: I like this one, man.

Good music to lift to. I understand this is a competent metal album and there is definitely musicality here, but really there's too much guitar noodling for my taste. I think I gotta give it a 4 even though I'll probably never listen to it outside of shitty gym speakers.

People say you age into this shit but I still haven't. Talented and uncompromising and making the most boring music possible. At least it's only 40 minutes. I want to give it a 5 for its realization and a 1 for how much I like it, but rather than give it a coward's 3 I'm gonna dock it a point for hoping I never have to sit through it again. I'd rather listen to Nico than this.

A lotta fun! Give this man the fire, mancub, I think he earned it.

Maybe it's the lack of sleep last night, but this shit makes my head hurt. The early 2000s has a lot to answer for - I guess britpop was running out of steam so when damon albarn zigged, these guys zagged? Boring boring boring. Dig the JSRF lookin' cover, though. Wish the music lived up to it.

At first I thought this was a worse version of Queen. Then I paid more attention and realized I overrated Queen. Don't care for this glam stuff, but they know what they're doing. Anyway, pretty obvious influence on a LOT of stuff that came after and pretty incredible vocalist and lyricist, but I really just do not give a shit. Coward's 3 because the talent is undeniable.

Bono may have huffed too many of his own farts in the interim, but it's clear he's genuine enough that he doesn't know he's pompous. This album is unsubtle but morally sound, so no complaints there. I'm familiar with the hits, I don't think I've ever listened to it through, so there are some surprises. I'm surprised by how much seconds sounds like the talking heads. I'm surprised at the variety of sounds. I'm surprised how...80s some of those sounds are. I'm surprised at the production - seems flatter than I recall from hearing these songs on the radio, and I'm listening to spotify's 2008 remaster. I'm surprised that I enjoyed the full run.

Solid album, but I don't know what's wrong with me that I can't get into it. Greatest album of all time? Seems like a character ac. Like, I can't tell if Dead Flowers is a piss-take, they're high on their ability to plumb americana, or both. Not bad, just weird. The Stones energy is there across the album, even in the slower stuff, but I don't know if that's enough to make me go Wow! Unkind 3.

I respect the inclusion of an organ, especially when stuff gets "heavier." The fact that this is from 1972 and not, say, 1976 gives it a pretty good lift, but it's still dad rock that feels kind of ur- and underevolved at this point. It's a little bit like AC/DC in that it's too long and kinda all sounds the same but less balls to the wall. Credit due for Smoke on the Water and Highway Star, despite the latter being twice as long as it needs to be. Pretty long 37 minutes, but I don't hate it.