Pleasant enough. I lost interest a couple of times. Few stand-out moments. 3/5.

I still find Young's whiny vocals irritating at times. Occasionally lyrically obvious. Better than "After the Gold Rush?" 4/5

No expectations of this. Rather enjoyed it. 3/5

Already have this. Great album 4/5.

Some albums are timeless but this really hasn't aged well. It comes off as a selection of show tunes. A "rock opera", supposedly. 2/5.

I like this. I'd love to give it 5 stars, 'cos it's Bowie... and it is better than most of the stuff I've given 4 stars to so far. But... to get 5 it has to be as good as "Hunky Dory" or "Ziggy Stardust" or "Aladdin Sane" and it isn't. It will probably grow on me, most Bowie albums benefit from more than one listen... but currently this is a 4. I'll probably regret it. Oh... and the mastering is terrible. "Loudness war" writ large with audible clipping at times. That's disappointing.

Tedious, bland, derivative and unoriginal pop. Lyrically puerile. Michael Jackson ("Off the Wall", "Thriller", "Bad") or Prince ("1999", "Purple Rain"), all of which are echoed here, do this sort of thing so much better. George Michael has a good voice but the arrangements and backing are plodding at best. 1/5.

What a surprise. Excellent. Great voice, intelligent lyrics. Catchy tunes. Sound quality very good. Nicely mastered. 4/5.

Yeah, this. Had it for donkey's years. Fantastic. 5/5.

Not my style of music. I didn't like it in period and a re-listen isn't helping. If you like that sort of thing, it is well done. 2/5 'cos I "don't like it" rather than being "awful".

Yeah. Groovy, man! 4/5. Only a couple of tracks are stopping this from 5/5. On a second listen, on speakers instead of headphones, this gets a 5 :)

No expectations, somehow this band passed me by in period. Grew on me as I listened. 3/5 for now. If I'd stumbled across this when I was 17 I might have liked it more.

An unholy mix of The Doors, The Rolling Stones with hints of The Velvet Underground. This will undoubtedly grow on me if I let it. Levels on the album are way too high with excessive clipping. Loudness wars write large. It's a pity. 4/5

Nice. Perhaps a bit too nice. A bit too smooth, a bit too "easy listening". 3/5.

Mmm... I did not expect to like this at all. Colour me surprised but there were few songs on here I enjoyed. There was nothing "awful" either. Enough for a 3/5.

No expectations other than I wouldn't like this. I was wrong. Mastering could be better, there is audible clipping at times. 3/5

Typical solo Steve Winwood effort. Nothing bad, nothing really stand-out. Pleasant. 3/5

Yay, Bookend. Some great tracks on here. There's the odd "filler" and so 4/5. Oh, yeah. "Voices of Old People". Why?

One good single ("The Wall Street Shuffle") isn't enough to rescue this mix of pretentious waffle and "show tunes".

Really not what I was expecting at all. Huge influences from contemporary classical music in this. At times I might have been listening to Max Richter or Roger Eno. 4/5

Once again a Radiohead album that I liked. Whatever is the world coming to? Kept me interested all the way through. 4/5

Nothing about this appealed to me. The whiny vocals, the music, the sound quality. All left me cold. 1/5

If you ever listen to one ELO album... If you were a teenager in the late 1970s or early 80s you weren't supposed to like ELO. They weren't trendy. They were a bit old fashioned. Your uncle and aunt liked them. This album is very much a "guilty pleasure". 4/5.

Had this for a while. Pleasant enough. Little excitement, though. 3/5

Smooooth. 4/5

The title track is an all-time Bowie classic. That aside, some of my favourite tracks are the instrumentals. Otherwise, not my favourite effort from Bowie. 3/5.

Great album. 5/5

I can understand why this seemed interesting, relevant and a message of hope in 1987 during the apartheid era. In 2014 it leaves me cold. I struggled to get through it. I'll give it a 2, simply on the basis of the fine performances, there's no doubt they are very good at what they do, and the technical quality of the recording.

The problem with listening to a bunch of 20 something's lyrics on capitalism, greed, politics and social issues is that, in retrospect, they're mostly naive bollocks. Does the music compensate? Nope... "Let's All Make a Bomb", you succeeded beyond your wildest dreams with this howler! 1/5

Utter, pretentious, claptrap. Was this supposed to be a comedy album? A Noel Coward tribute band? I did a lot of laughing. Mainly at the compositional awkwardness, curious arrangements and choice of "instruments". Another 50 minutes of my life wasted. 1/5. Why can't I give this zero?

This sounds very odd, particularly on headphones. Drums are very "forward" and centred. Where is the bass? The guitar is evenly split on both channels but "wide". It sounds quite unnatural. It's quite well played but I found my attention drifting. 3/5 but a 3/5 I have no desire to own. It's not unpleasant but not that engaging either.

Nope. Not for me. 1/5

Kevin Rowland's vocal affectations are pretty marmite. I can live with them. This is a good album. Varied and kept my interest. 4/5.

They're undoubtedly good at what they do. Unfortunately, what they do isn't something that resonates with me. The sound quality on the "2008 remaster" I am listening to is very good. 2/5 is my "OK, if you like that sort of thing (I don't)" rating.

This is a hard listen. I want to like it. I wonder how much of that desire is due to the tragedy that Syd's life became. The album may be more important for the influences it had on other artists; at times you could be forgiven for thinking you were listening to "Hunky Dory" period David Bowie. Perhaps that makes it "important" and so something I should listen to. It doesn't make it "enjoyable", though. I've heard it, I am unlikely to listen to it again. This doesn't work for me, unlike "Piper". Syd's songs need the rest of Floyd. 2/5.

Significantly better than "Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)". Still a few weak tunes. This gains a 3/5.

Not my favourite doors album. They've done better. They've also done a lot worse. An enjoyable 4/5.

A perfect slice of 1980s pop. Many of the refugees from the big rock bands of the 70s were trying to reinvent themselves in the mid 80s, Robert Plant, Roger Daltrey... Gabriel manages it better than most. If I was a fan of 80s pop I'd give this a five. I'm not but regardless of that it rates a 4/5. Catchy tunes, Gabriel is in fine voice and high production values.

I didn't expect to like this. Surprisingly, I sort of did. 3/5

Appalling, naive, pretentious, twaddle from a young man trying to be "clever" but in reality just showing his musical inexperience. I burst out laughing several times during the listen. I wish I could give this rubbish 0, 1 will have to suffice.

The last in a run of truly great Bruce Springsteen albums. It was all down hill for my relationship with his music after this one. I loved this album as a kid and I still rate it now. Perhaps not as fresh and exciting as the first two, it foreshadowed some of the bombastic tone his later albums adopted. Worth 4./5 of anyone's money.

I struggled with this one. I wanted to like it more than I actually did. It is unpretentious, unsophisticated, blues rock. I'm not a fan of the vocal delivery. Reluctantly 3/5.

Not unpleasant but I failed to engage; instant background music. Insufficient variation between the tracks to interest me. I'm going to give it 2/5.

No.

Great album. Has a slightly earlier feel that 1972. More late 60s... even so, thoroughly enjoyable. A solid 4/5.

Formulaic pop that left me cold. Awkward sounding with a techno-esque/EDM beat applied to vocal lines and melodies that really don't suit them. "Here are some songs... make them 'club'". Madonna has a great voice but it is wasted on this. Was going for 2/5 but the longer I listened... 1/5. It loses a point for wasting the talent of her voice.

This took a while to get going. Two same-ish tracks to start off and I was starting to lose interest, then it got much, much. better. I'm not quite there yet but I can easily see myself thinking this is "good" after a few listens, so 4/5.

Musically very competent. Just not my thing. 2/5.

No, sorry. I never did like Abba in period. Neither did anyone I knew. It was the band elderly relatives said they liked in order to try and relate to us young folk. Abba weren't in any respect "cool". I cannot comprehend the nostalgia for them now. 2/5 but it only gets that much because it is "well done" nonsense.

The greatest Christmas album ever? Could be. As Noddy said, "It's Christmaaaaaaaaas". It loses a point for Spector's self indulgent nonsense at the start of "Silent Night". Can't give it other than a festive 4/5.