I don't know if I've ever heard so much hype for an album. Listening was a stressful task, and I often felt as if I must be missing some crucial context. The samples draw influence from jazz/funk/soul music, as many other pieces of music have. Other albums have tackled themes of racism and black urban poverty. Other albums have been introspective, have been introspective regarding fame and the music industry. Maybe I'm jealous of how he can mask his insecurities with machismo. Jealous of how he can use depression to deflect from the angry young man persona. I've never felt like a white person, nor comfortably non-white, and maybe I'm envious of the confidence with which he wields his background and his identity. This album is not for me. (They not like me.) I probably would have given this a 2 or a 3 but the importance attached to this album makes me feel like garbage. If art is subjective, I hated the experience of listening to this. If art is objective, I still hated the experience of listening to this. Even the cover art makes me feel miserable. I'm sorry I don't get it and I'm sorry if I'm too dumb to explain why.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Still good, really enjoyed the second half this time. Run For Your Life is kinda funny tbh.

A lot of it feels lightweight. I was surprised by how goofy it felt at times. Like the Monkees with more Davy. 'The Boxer' is still incredible. And I liked the Salesman one hearing it for the first time. But a lot of the lyrics aren’t as good as I feel their reputations would have indicated.

Haven't heard this all the way through before. Quick, easy to listen to, solid throughout. Great crafting of songs. I feel like it’s a strong four, four and a half, but being rooted in classic rock and roll, and not being really, well, weird, it might have a hard time standing out in my memory.

Bright, easy music. I’m not a big fan of jazzy, bluesy music, but I think he handles himself well lyrically and vocally. There are moments where the horns have an schmaltzy, almost variety show sort of quality. But it's also an interesting blend of old and modern music.

The best parts for me: the energy, the stompy chanty parts, and the medieval or classical-sounding lead guitar. 'Orion' stood out too me. However, this album feels LONG, and a lot of the songs sound the same, and the lyrics aren’t always memorable. The grunted, strained lead vocals also wear thin.

Obviously very talented musicians. The drums are a real treat. Storytelling is belabored but often unmemorable. When I’m in the middle of listening to a song I don’t mind it, but if I remember that it’s supposed to be a large cohesive work I feel like I’m suffocating.

A lot of this album sounds like it was made by a child. Occasionally some cool use of samples. '20 Dollar' was catchy. 'Paper Planes' was catchy. I hope I gave it a fair shot; I’m not sure I did. But even the catchy songs are self-important, image-obsessed, and arduously humorlessly political. This album came out a year after Kevin Federline’s similarly funk carioca influenced ‘PopoZão’.

I’ve been having some bad days lately but this was much needed. Life can be terrifying and miserable, but it’s so much cooler than being dead. ‘There She Goes’ is the standout from the first half. ‘Breathless’ was good on the second part.

I listened to it while doing a semi-tedious task at work and it was pleasant. Liked ‘Slashers Revenge’ (the dub one) the most. The spoken bits are pretty prominent. Important for the artistic context, and sets it apart from trip hop stuff like Portishead, but kinda dates it.

Good vocals. Lilac Wine was good, did not realize it was a much older song. I’ve heard so much about this album; I was surprised to find it rocked pretty hard. It sounds like the blueprint for a lot of other 90s and 2000s music.

There's a lot of sass and swagger in this album. Not normally my thing. 80s R&B is not normally my thing. But Prince makes it unique and original. ‘Starfish And Coffee’ was a good but strange track: it sounds like a novelty alternative hit from the late 90s. 'I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man' was an instant favorite, and sounds like everything I like in Prince's music, like a counterpoint to 'When You Were Mine'. ‘Forever In My Life’ and ‘The Cross’ were good too, heavy and dark. Songs like ‘Slow Love' and 'Gonna Be A Beautiful Night' simply aren’t the sort of music I like. But the best parts of the album are among the best songs of a truly gifted musician.

Amazing. Energetic, chaotic, creative. How have I not heard this before.

All over the place. The best part is probably the diversity of instruments and arrangements. Sometimes the joke bits feel a bit strained. Sometimes ('Somebody Else's Shoulder') they work. 'Wowie Zowie' and 'You're Probably Wondering' were pretty good too. I’m rating this a 4 because I like stupid things. I do want to make it clear that this is stupid and not genius.

Yeah it’s good, she sounds great, and the record is quick and pleasant to listen to. However I’ve been feeling really depressed lately. (I am writing this on November 7 2024.) Maybe this was a bad time to listen to this. But hearing ‘Respect’ and ‘Change Is Gonna Come’ kinda hurt right now.

Hadn’t heard this one before! Except for Stand and Orange Crush. Man, what a good band. Maybe my familiarity with some of their other work affects this. If I’m looking at just REM albums this might be a 3/5; if I’m considering all albums everywhere ever, probably a 5/5. For this project, I’m kinda feeing a 4.

Despite the band’s clarification that I was in the jungle, I’m not sure where I stand with this one. Rating it a three feels like a bit of a cop-out, since there were some truly delightful parts and some truly idiotic parts, and I want to settle on a two or a four. Ultimately, I must ask ‘where do we go now?’ and then screech a bunch.

Really enjoyed the messy instruments at the end of the first song. Sometimes this album doesn’t stand out since there’s so much good folk music out there. But the really long final song was my favorite. It felt weird and ambitious and over-dramatic and haunting!

I hadn’t heard any of these songs before, even the well-known ones. I don’t think I like this. It’s like a soap opera for hippies. ‘My Old Man’ and ‘California’ I particularly didn’t like. I think there’s something about her style of singing too. I guess I kinda liked ‘River’ but lyrically it still felt cloying.

The album starts off a bit weak, and doesn't really pick up til 'Keeper of Time', but from that point I liked all of it. I have no idea why the Wiki article or the reviews here compare the vocals to Dylan. I like when folk music combines the ordinary with something timeless, something mythical or historical. The best parts of the album accomplish that. 'Wolf of Velvet Fortune' managed to feel relatively large and epic, even though it's under five minutes and the entire album is about a half hour.

People have said they find this album dated, and it's true that the world it depicts has slowly been disappearing. To me, living in the Midwest, a lot of this still feels powerful and relevant. The most dated parts are silly but charming, like looking at a picture of your parents with their 1980s haircuts. This is the Album With All The Hits, and the spaces in between the hits don’t hold back either. It’s a good pop album, good rock album, good saxophone solo album. As a political piece it doesn't feel too heavy or didactic, nor does it feel fluffy and jingoistic. Favorites were Downbound Train, No Surrender, I'm Goin' Down, and the title track.

Fun, listened to it a couple times at work today and it helped me get through a busy day. I’ll definitely go back to it. Mansize Rooster and Strange Ones were really good. This is way more frenzied and off-the-wall than other Britpop stuff, and a good bridge between 70s punk and 2000s UK indie.

The ska/soul/rock influences are there, but it still manages to sound like nothing else before it. His singing is really messy and expressive, pathetic and theatrical, and I think it works well at times. I prefer this version of 'Seven Days Too Long' to Chuck Wood's. That style does start to wear thin by the end of the album. And there were more slow songs than I would have expected. But it was good. The more lively stuff felt outrageous.

Hadn't heard anything by these guys before. It's a well-produced album and I'm surprised that it came out in 1996. It's instrumentally more diverse and mellow than the grunge music my parents liked, and sounds a lot like what I was listening to in the 2000s. Really liked that little baroque bit in 'Sworn and Broken' and then how that song moves onto something harder with 'Witness'. Good vocals.

I don't know if I've ever heard so much hype for an album. Listening was a stressful task, and I often felt as if I must be missing some crucial context. The samples draw influence from jazz/funk/soul music, as many other pieces of music have. Other albums have tackled themes of racism and black urban poverty. Other albums have been introspective, have been introspective regarding fame and the music industry. Maybe I'm jealous of how he can mask his insecurities with machismo. Jealous of how he can use depression to deflect from the angry young man persona. I've never felt like a white person, nor comfortably non-white, and maybe I'm envious of the confidence with which he wields his background and his identity. This album is not for me. (They not like me.) I probably would have given this a 2 or a 3 but the importance attached to this album makes me feel like garbage. If art is subjective, I hated the experience of listening to this. If art is objective, I still hated the experience of listening to this. Even the cover art makes me feel miserable. I'm sorry I don't get it and I'm sorry if I'm too dumb to explain why.

I am listening to this 60 years and one day after it was recorded! This is older than any live concert I’ve listened to, and I don’t always enjoy live albums (I feel a bit left out) but I liked this. It has a warmth to it, and it allowed me to connect more to music and the people involved in it. I think modern blues music has a reputation of being boring, technical, and overwrought, but this doesn’t feel that way. It’s working musicians playing for working people. The singing is clear and powerful, not strained or affected. The solos are talented but not gratuitous. There’s a good energy and this was a delight to listen to.

Had no idea this existed, the concept seems kinda unhinged at first glance. Initial favorites are Blue Skies and Sunny Side. Unchained Melody seemed like a misstep to me but I’m not really a fan of that song to begin with. And Moonlight In Vermont was like doing a shot of perfume. This is really good (in the sense that it’s like sincere, or benevolent.) Like, it’s Lawful Good. Also the only really unusual thing about this album is that someone thought of this idea and executed it in the first place. But I mean overall if you truly hated this you’d have to have a heart of ice.

I like this album, but always thought it was a bit older; it seems dated for 1998. But that's kind of fitting, since it also feels anachronistic, retrofuturistic, electromechanical. An album from an alternate timeline where rock bands have instruments like a saw. Aesthetically I think it fits in with the Elephant 6 bands, or with slower Smashing Pumpkins songs like 'Tonight, Tonight' and 'Thirty-Three'. It feels cold and distant; I think the album artwork fits it perfectly, if that makes sense. I got drunk and high and fell asleep while listening to it a second time, which I suppose is an endorsement, but not necessarily a full-throated one.

First song and title track were standouts. It’s not quite as good as the Beatles or Monkees, but it’s still the sort of music I listened to a lot as a kid and still like. It also does feel rather varied, a bit soulful, a bit psychedelic, and this made for a light breezy listen.

Cool album cover. Makes it look like this is a punk or new wave album and I guess for Fleetwood Mac it is. Nice drums on this one.

Favorites: Jailbreak, Emerald, Massacre, Cowboy Song Thin Lizzy is a legendary band, and a lot of these songs are great. But I don’t think this is a great album. I understand this was pulled from a number of concerts, and overdubbed in parts. So a lot of it sounds fairly good but it doesn’t have a consistent mood or audience relationship. And some songs drag, especially since this is a double album. I think it's unfortunate that this was the one Thin Lizzy album they put on here.

Sympathy For The Devil might be the highlight? Also really liked the fifth track, Jigsaw Puzzle. Sounds a lot like Dylan or the Beatles. I think The Rolling Stones are at their best when they’re not pretending to be American bluesmen.

Rockford’s finest, halfway around the world. Humbling yet unpretentious. I found the crowd’s energy to be genuinely moving, and I’m really happy that Tokyo embraced a band from good old Illinois.

I have fond childhood memories of his greatest hits CD. Didn't have high expectations for this album but ended up enjoying it. Lyrically kind of lightweight but the vocals are excellent and some of the songs ('Father and Son' specifically) have a real emotional punch. 'Sad Lisa' sounds like a Eurovision song. Not necessarily a bad thing. It just does.

More accessible than I thought it would be, but kind of heavy-handed and grim, even for Radiohead. Nothing really stood out.

Musically, it’s like a hypermasculine, hyperaggressive version of some 90s jam band. Lyrically, it’s like … idk, Christian rock for edgelord video gamers. The vocals are turgid. I particularly disliked ‘Spoonman’.

‘We’re Not Right’ and ‘This Year’s Love’ stood out initially. And ‘Sail Away’. Oh, and a lovely Soft Cell cover that I listened to like four times in a row. Great closer.

I had heard about this album for a while but never listened to it; I always wrote it off as the Bruce Springsteen 9/11 album. It is pretty long and the energy flagged toward the end; there were a couple of pretty cheesy songs too. But there were a lot of good ideas and a consistent theme unifying them.

She’s a talented vocalist but I don’t know if that’s what I really look for in music. This is the second Aretha album I got on this site and I liked the first one a bit more. In this one, there were a couple songs (Groovin’ and People Get Ready) that didn’t move me as much as the originals. Also I just don’t like the song (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.

‘The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stoke’, is a painting by Richard Dadd, a Victorian artist institutionalized for schizophrenia and murder. Like Dadd’s work, Queen II is strange, whimsical, cluttered with detail, and highly technically proficient. Anyways I have a soft spot for whacked-out heavy metal concept albums, as long as they’re short and efficient like this one.

I always liked ‘Trying Your Luck’ back when I was a lonely callow inchoate loser. Now I’m pudgy and bloated but so is Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas. My roommates’ band used to cover Someday and Hard To Explain. This isn’t even my favorite Strokes album but it’s one where every song is like oh shit yeah I love this one.

‘Street Joy’ was good. The flute bit on ‘River to Consider’ felt kinda contrived. Not into extended jams. But this was fun.

Hadn’t listened to this before but I thought I’d like this a lot since Supersonic is my favorite Oasis song. The rest of the album didn’t stick with me as much though.