Like, it was fine. When it started I was sort of fighting against it. I had a thought like "this sounds sort of like music I would put on to concentrate on something, but I would never choose this specific music". By the end it actually had slid into the background and I was focusing on work. But I don't "it's tolerable when you forget you're listening to it" to be a huge selling point.

before: I've never listened to this full album before. I know some of the songs, but I think many just by name. I couldn't sing lyrics or melodies from them like I can from his debut (Hey Joe, Purple Haze, Fire). I should say I mostly know Hendrix's actual music from the BBC live album, which is amazing, I love the vitality that comes through in his live playing The first track instantly made me think of how innovative his playing must have been seen as at the time. Like hearing Tom Morello in 1992. One (overly simple) way to categorize songs is vibe songs vs plot songs. To me the best Hendrix songs combine those, and I'm not getting that from this album, I'm getting too much vibes. That said, I just looked and the song that was playing while I had that thought was Voodoo Chile, which is 15 minutes, so I might just be commenting on that one song Stopped thinking and started listening for a bit. This is obviously a great album. The two 13+ minute tracks don't really fit with my tastes. I'm reminded of the saying "genius is a great idea and not quite enough time to work on it". I think constraints can add to great art; those tracks were unconstrained. I'm very aware of the tendency to downplay the works of innovators when you hear the people they influenced before you hear the influencer themselves. I suspect I'm falling prey to that here. How amazing would it have been to hear this album in 1968?

Because yesterday was a holiday I didn't find time to get through the whole album. Listened to the first 5 or so songs then skipped around. I could see a time when I would want to put this on but it wasn't today.

pre: Oooh, genuinely excited, I have no idea what this is going to be is the sample under "Man" from Queens of the Stone Age? (I found it, Regular John from s/t) I don't know enough to comment intelligently but I liked this, would listen again

Pre: I obviously know Husker Du and have liked and appreciated Bob Mould and Grant Hart's post-HD stuff, but the band itself has never been my favorite. I respect what they did, but their music rarely catches me (except for Statues, which is one of the best punk singles ever). All that said I'm fairly certain I've somehow never listened to this album before. The spotify description listed them as post-punk and a bridge to poppier stuff in the 90s. That actually helps me contextualize their music and appreciate it a bit more Bed of Nails caught my ear, I liked that one. I caught some vibes in there that reminded me of (the much more on-her-sleeve) Trans Mantra by Ezra Furman. I know not everything is about gender or sexual identity, but in retrospect maybe Bob was dropping some pretty big hints. Anyway, good song, it's one of the few that made me stop and listen. Overall I have a tremendous respect for Husker Du but the album didn't do a ton for me.

pre: never listened, I tend to associate Sufjan Stevens with pretention in my head. Looking forward to being wrong I liked this more than I anticipated, that's about as far as I'm willing to go

pre: I know nothing about Elliot Smith except recognizing the name as a musician I actually liked this album, for some value of liked. Seemed like Ben Folds on Xanax. That said, I will never listen to this album again

pre: don't know this album per se, but I know a ton of songs on it. Esp looking forward to hearing the studio version of wait until tomorrow; the live at the BBC version is one of my faves. Man, I get almost angry when I hear a song like Up From The Skies. Like, it's fine? I guess? But knowing how little output we would ultimately get from JH, simple little tracks like that seem like such a waste. Not that that's his fault for not displaying his genius on every single song, but still I liked this much better than Electric Ladyland. It's funny to me how well his guitar playing has aged and how quaint his lyrics seem.

pre: I am not really looking forward to this I forgot that Linkin Park is rap-rock. In my memory they're Rock With Very Heartfelt Lyrics that the Singer Feels So Hard He Can Barely Get Them Out(tm). It's hard for me to take this genre seriously. I liked some of the music, less of the singing, and almost none of the rapping. If someone else put this on I wouldn't complain, but I wouldn't choose to listen to this again

pre: I owned Circa: Now! at one point, back in the days where a CD purchase was a big deal and you sometimes bought blind. I wanted to like this band more than I actually did. The only song I remember liking at the time was Hippy Dippy Do, which is basically a novelty song. Looking forward to seeing if I like this album more I don't know when but I've definitely heard On A Rope before. This should be a 5 star album for me based on genre and content. There's just something about these guys that are slightly too try-hard. One too many guitar? Too many harmonies/bv for the genre? Some of the back half of this album has early QOTSA vibes, in particular You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar... keeps popping into my head. It's definitely not as good though. I'm so puzzled by this album. It should be up my alley but it's not. Even weirder, there are definite similarities between this album and the s/t album by Dig which is one of my guilty pleasure albums. Shrug. The heart wants what it wants I guess 3.5, a mixture of neutral and I might listen to this again

jfc, I Come And Stand At Every Door is a laugh a minute, huh? I like a lot of this. The vocals are 100% Wonder Years. Most of the music was really good, much of it made me realize what Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were making fun of, especially the weird guitar noodling. I would definitely listen to this again

pre: I really like Janelle Monáe but I mostly know her from songs here and there (I have listened to Come Alive approx 1 million times). I like the theatricality of her performance. Looking forward to seeing if a straight-through listen holds up. Not my normal listening but I really enjoyed this, I will listen again

There are parts of this that I really liked, and parts I liked less but respected. It made me want to learn more about the Temptations' catalog, but didn't really hold up for me as an album. More specifically, the first three songs were muscular and awesome. The back half of the album was obviously skilled, but too slow and downbeat for my taste.

pre: I only know the name and have a vague note in the back of my head that people I respect respect them. nope nope nope. I recognize this period of this genre as important in linking music I like to music I like, but I do not like this specific period. I fully support everyone's right to be whiney about they emotions, but it needs to be better music for me to listen. Listened to the first two songs then sampled every other song, nothing for me here.

pre: to the best of my knowledge I have never heard of this group before. I don't mind this, it's perfectly fine background music, but I'm not really sure what made this get included on a great album list. It's like the arithmetic mean of 100 other bands in this genre.

Pre: don't know much about orbital other than the name and listening to Halcyon and On and On a bunch as part of the Hackers soundtrack I have a 20 year old file somewhere on my computer names sbtechno.mp3, which Strong Bad making a techno song via saying stupid stuff. I swear it sounds exactly like 1:07->2:14 of Sad but True (I found it under "The System Is Down" on spotify, verify for yourself) I couldn't finish this. I was at least excited about having some background music to work to and I couldn't even use it for that. Usually not finishing is a 1, bumping to a 2 because I'm pretty sure at least some of the issue is my mood

pre: not a fan of kanye as a person. Never listened to an entire album, but there are a few singles I have worn out (including Jesus Walks and School Spirit from this album). Interested to hear them in the context of an album. Super mixed feelings. Any given song, in a vacuum, was pretty damn great. I like Kanye's lyrics and vocal style, and he's an inarguably great producer. As an album, I'm not sure what I would think, but my listening was so disjointed today that I didn't really get that experience. I hate the skits, as I do for pretty much every rap/hip-hop album that incorporates it (except Enter the Wu-Tang of course). And then there's the Kanye of it all. Oof. I think this would normally be a solid 3.5 for me (between "I wouldn't mind if someone else played this" and "I would choose to put this on"). I have rounded up in the past, but I think the Kanye-ness of it plus the skits are going to make me round down. Specifically, they are genre and period appropriate, but they would be a slight deterrent to me listening to the album again. I do want to listen to the other two albums in this trio though

Listened to this on a car trip after an emotional experience and it was perfect. I don't need a ton of albums from this genre in my life, but this one is perfect. My only real criticism is that the attempted rapping in a couple of songs detracted from the songs as a whole

I think this is probably another album that was groundbreaking at the time but I've heard so many derivative bands that this doesn't really make an impact. Not liking this. Some is better than other, but the operatic singing in particular isn't working for me. I appreciate the almost proggy music but it's not doing much for me emotionally.

By my own scale this is a solid 3, but I have to admit I was disappointed. Maybe I wanted less disco and more funk? Good Times was amazing, and some of the other songs were fun, but reading the CHIC bio I kept wanting to hear songs that weren't on this album, like Le Freak or stuff the produced for Diana Ross

pre: omg do I have thoughts I love this album. I've listened to it a million times and listen to it a million more. I'm sure it's not everyone's cup of tea but it is mine. A couple of thoughts while trying to listen critically: 1) the phased guitars sound really dated, and the production overall sonuds more like a street corner busker than a studio album. Not sure if that's a bad thing or not. 2) I have always been dismissive of the "It's a response to Exile on Main Street" line. But this time through I think I could build a case about taking a feminine position in the world vs the hyper masculine Stones album.

pre: I know the name and some of their place in late-70s London, but I don't know that I've ever really listened to them. I'm not sure what to make of this album. It's a 3 on my scale in that it didn't actively piss me off, but it's not great. I found Monitor to be useful. When that music started I actually got excited and thought maybe I judged this album too early. But then she started singing and I became much less enthusiastic. I don't know if it's style or lyrics or her voice in particular but the vocals take me out of it a bit. Which is a bad sign for a band that has the singer's name in the band name

pre: I haven't listened to this in years, but probably because it's the one I played the most when I was much younger. I can sing most of these songs by heart, and have memories of my Dad singing some of them to me. I'm going to listen to it, but it's going to be a 5 No notes

Putting any one of these songs on and I would be fine, but as an album it annoyed me. I would not choose to listen to this again. So much of it is Michael Stipe's voice. It's not bad, it's just such a specific thing, it gets tiring after a while 2.5 -> 3

pre: never heard of this band before I would never choose to put it on for a car trip, but I would throw it on in the background if my brain was occupied by something else. Strange album. Not engaging enough to be a primary focus album, but just when I thought it was background music it would pull out a weird key change or vocal.

pre: no idea who this is, and once again highlighting the 2000-2015ish range when I stopped trying new things Love it. I don't know if it's just Bossa Nova or what, but loved the Seu Jorge-esque guitar. Beautiful voice. Foreign language that's not too distracting. This is going into active work rotation for me (except for the last song, which is in English)

pre: yes please post: no notes on the album, but reading briefly about George Clinton's career makes me want to read a full biography, and also go down a deep Parliament/Funkadelic/P-Funk All-Stars rabbit hole.

pre: not usually my genre but I'm excited about this The arrangement of the back half of Hard Feelings/Loveless (which is maybe just Loveless itself?) is kind of great, it reminds me of old Art of Noise. This is not representative of the whole album, but it was kind of fun to feel my ears perk up when it came on. Solid 4 for me. Won't be in heavy rotation but I will definitely choose to play this again.

pre: I love the Faces. Rod Stewart without quite so much pretense. mid: maybe I only like the singles or the up beat numbers. This album feels very uneven to me I found this super uneven. If any one of these songs came on the radio I'd be happy, but I found listening to them in order to be a chore. 2 as an album, 3 as a collection of singles to sample

I can't fit this in any sort of continuum of music I normally do and don't like. It was totally left field for me as an album. I didn't even listen to it in the same circumstances that I've listened to most of these other albums. That said, I kind of loved it.

I should have liked this but I just found it sort of tedious and pretentious. Maybe it wasn't at the time.

This didn't really do anything for me. Maybe in a different time or a different place...

I had a huge review typed in here that appears to now be lost. My main thesis is that they sound like a really good bar band (and that's based on their originals, not the extra covers at the end). You could pick Grateful Dead vocals, Elvis, Rockpile, and a bunch of other similarities out of their music. I'm not accusing them of copying, just of not having a strong identity. They get a 2 because they annoyed me - they are so close to being something perfect to me and they just kept not being.

Hold me closer, Tony Danza! "According to Gus Dudgeon, Taupin named the character in the song after the Band's co-founder, drummer and singer Levon Helm. The Band were apparently John and Taupin's favourite group at the time. In 2013, however, Taupin said that the song was unrelated to Helm." - that's funny, that's instantly what I thought of when I read the track name Holy hell Indian Sunset is six minutes of something else. Not for me. I kept wanting to complement the lyrics, or the orchestration, or anything; but to be honest I found almost all of it annoying. Tiny Dancer is kind of a comfort just because it's so famous. In the end I would say that I tend to like John's voice and performing. But other than that it was trite lyrics and overworked arrangements.

I didn't enjoy this as an album. The singles were good, but frankly any individual song was pretty good by itself, but as a whole album I found it boring and tiresome.

I checked twice during Legend of a Girl Child Linda to see if it was somehow still the same song. Sheesh. I really disliked this album, with the exception of Sunshine Superman and Season of the Witch. Most of it just sucked. There were a few upbeat, groovy-ish songs that gave me hope, but invariably their lyrics made my brain want to move out. Which is the worse idea, that he's a sheister who thought these lyrics could be passed off as deep, or that he was sincere and thought these lyrics actually were deep?

I think I knew the name of this band but nothing else. I ended up really liking this. It started a little slow but as the album went on I found myself enjoying it quite a bit. Oh dang, I've been listening to whatever Spotify suggests after this album for a couple of hours and enjoying it quite a bit. Kill the Sexplayer (which I know from the Clerks soundtrack) just came up on shuffle - I did not know it was by Girls Against Boys! Makes me like them even more. This is crazy, I've spent all day listening to artist radio and I really like this band. I'm leaving this album at a 4, but there's at least one other I would give a 5. This is reductive but their best albums me of Big Black mixed with Kyuss. Also learned about Hot Snakes, which is a band worth checking out.

I think this is worth the 3.5/4 I'm going to give it, but I was really shocked that they didn't choose the first album. And also by how week Side B of this album was (compared to other Specials at least)

1995 John: fuck U2, they suck 2024 John: I expected to hate this. I didn't. There are some bands whose singles always make me think I hate the entire band (Smashing Pumpkins) and I think U2 is on that list. I like almost all of the rhythm section on this, some of the guitar, and the song writing is great. It wasn't really for me, but it made me respect their obvious talent.

I liked this but didn't love it. There was nothing in it that annoyed me, but there wasn't a ton in it that grabbed my attention either, save the Paul's Boutique samples.

Thanks to the penny arcade podcast I know that Incubus means "to lay on top of" (compare succubus, to lay under). This kind of sucks. I want to give it credit but I can't. I grew more and more annoyed the longer it went on.

Never heard of this band before. I can't decide if I like them or not. If they can keep themselves from using dumb sound effects they kind of sound like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (which is a compliment). But I feel like they can't help but throw in dumb sounds to justify being an "art" band. There are some sections of this I would give a 4 and some a 1. Going to give it a 3 I guess.

It was alright, it was fun as a novelty, a point in time of the development of a world-strangling genre. Worth acknowledging the ground breaking thing that it was, but also worth acknowledging that it mostly isn't that much fun to listen to. Still, it was better than I expected. I found it interesting that the back half had actual singing, and the music was still basically funk. 3 for making me think without being too annoying, but also 3 for not really being that arresting

meh. Some songs were kind of interesting, some were tedious. There wasn't enough new here to make me want to listen to more.

I appreciated the musicianship but not always the music. Any 30 second span in isolation was amazing. Strung together, I was ready for the album to be over.

nope

You know, if you take out all the cultural baggage of this band, it's a decent album