Really good! Very mature for a debut. Groundbreaking and singular for its time (other than Marquee Moon from earlier that same year). My Top 3:
3. Happy Day
2. Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town
1. Don't Worry About the Government
Lays solid groundwork for what they would become, but still not fully formed lyrically or musically.
My Top 3:
3. The Ox
2. The Kids Are Alright
1. I Don't Mind
Love it so much! Beautiful and sorrowful just like Elliott Smith with some heavier tones here and there. Really great album.
My Top 3:
3. Junk Bond Trader
2. Happiness/The Gondola Man
1. L.A.
Not my preferred kind of music. Some good guitar licks here and there. I really don't care for the lyrics/vocals.
Top 3:
3. Paradise City
2. Nightrain
1. My Michelle
Good! Lots of good lyrics and lively spirit throughout the entirety of the album.
My Top 3:
3. I've Seen That Movie Too
2. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
1. Sweet Painted Lady
First time ever hearing this artist, and I really enjoyed this album! I don't speak the language, so I have no clue what he's saying, but I do like the rhythms and music!
My Top 3:
3. O Plebeu
2. Africa Brasil (Zumbi)
1. Meus Filhos, Meu Tesouro
Completely terrible and abhorrent album. No top 3 for this as I found its entirety to be insufferable and whiny with no silver linings anywhere.
Really good! Pretty, and sweet. Strange listening to such a pretty album knowing some of the crazy stories about the band that created it.
My top 3:
3. Go Where You Wanna Go
2. Straight Shooter
1. I Call Your Name
This was my first time hearing this record, and I really enjoyed it! Had to do some work to get my hands on it (scraping the tracks together from various Fats compilation albums was the only way I could get the whole album together in one place). It feels so nostalgic for a time 50 years or so before I was even born, makes me think of my grandparents in their youth. Still, today, nearly 70 years later, I thoroughly enjoyed the record and the great musicianship and the powerful, yet sorrowful voice of Fats belting out throughout the record. Love the backing band as well.
My Top 3:
3. What's the Reason (I'm not Pleasing You)
2. So Long
1. Blueberry Hill
Decent guitar licks, Suuuuuper corny vocals. Overall while it tries to be angry and menacing, my takeaway is that it feels very cheesy, in keeping with a lot of the "heaviest" albums. However, these albums do tend to come with some legitimately tricky drum, bass and guitar parts which earns them some respect from me. Overall, just not my bag. I wasn't able to put together a top 3, because the vocals just took me so far out of each song, despite otherwise enticing instrumentation.
Now here's an album! One of the most intricate and sophisticated albums ever made. Donald Fagen is a genius. Really, really brilliant album. The drumming on the title track is quite literally as good as it gets. Really hard to choose a top 3 because the album is essentially perfect as far as I'm concerned.
My Top 3:
3. Home At Last
2. Aja
1. Deacon Blues
I think Joan Baez is very skilled, and her music comes out exactly as she intends for it to. She's obviously a cultural icon, and a very significant figure in the 1960's counterculture movement. For me, she comes off a bit too earnest, which I don't mean as an insult and I highly doubt she would take it as one, but that is the only detracting factor in my eyes.
My Top 3:
East Virginia
All My Trials
Wildwood Flower
Good. I think melodically a lot of the songs of carbon copies of one another, but man could he hold a room. And really hold his own in a room of hardened criminals. Really impressive charisma.
My top 3:
3. Wanted Man
2. Starkville City Jail
1. San Quentin
I think this album was good but I do find with a lot of core blues albums, it is often just very repetitive riffing with very weak lyrics. When the band starts really jamming on some of these, that's much more my speed, but "Mannish Boy", the most popular song from this albums is actually my least favorite because of just how repetitive it is all throughout.
My Top 3:
3. Walkin' Thru the Park
2. Little Girl
1. Jealous Hearted Man
Very Good! Very chill, and minimalist, but I like that a lot. It does what it means to do, and I thoroughly enjoy it.
My Top 3:
3. Grumpus
2. Up With People
1. The Book I Haven't Read
So good! A purely entertaining album! Funny and clever but also quite beautiful. Some of the Who's very best work.
My Top 3:
Tattoo
Our Love Was
Rael 1
Not necessarily my cup of tea. I get the idea they're going for but to me this stuff can just be boring and kind of a waste of time. I find the repetition kind of annoying at times. Each song is at least 3 times as long as it needs to be given how much actual content they contain.
My Top 3:
Around the World
Da Funk
Teachers
Pretty Good! I don't love the singing style or rhyme schemes at times, but overall not bad at all.
My top 3:
3. I Guess I Should Go to Sleep
2. Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy
1. Blunderbuss
Very good album. I've heard it several times and still like it very much. I also happen to be vegetarian so that's a plus.
My Top 3:
3. Barbarism Begins at Home
2. Meat is Murder
1. The Headmaster Ritual
