The music is pleasant to hear. The lyrics have accessibility and individually each song isn’t bad on its own, but as an album run it blurred together for me. I used to find the cynicism entangled with romanticism charming but then I heard more than 3 songs he ever wrote and that wore off. If he wasn’t so convinced that his is the pinnacle of existential dread, then maybe he could rely on subtlety or variety more, but almost every song has at least one line about how he’s smarter or lonelier or deeper than everyone else. Even his love song is about how his lover thinks the same as him. Even when he values another’s opinion it’s because it’s the same as his. Morrissey could read his own diary in a double-blind experiment and still be convinced that no one has ever felt the way he does. And then he’d write 3 songs about it. Idk how to rate it but I give it a 2.

Chill vibes and I saved a few songs to stay in my rotation. Very much a band that found their sound but maybe doesn’t want to stray too far from it. There were a few times you could feel more energy creeping in and it’s almost like they noticed and intentionally went back to being blasé or nonchalant about it because that’s cooler. This is a headphones on in a crowded room album so that when someone asks who you’re listening to you can say you probably haven’t heard of them. Cigarettes and black coffee and the newest iPhone.

Not my first listen, won’t be my last. Obviously it starts with two certified hits but for a short album it’s really solid. Doesn’t feel preachy when she talks about revolution or reform and you really feel the experiences that have shaped her are genuine. Tracy Chapman is the type of person others pretend to be.

Part 1. I’m starting this review 2 songs in. I’ve never really liked Metallica. I don’t like the dudes voice, I don’t like the tone of the guitar, and I don’t really like the guitar riffs or the drum pacing. I am very singular in my metal tastes and I’ve tried a few times but Metallica has never done it for me. This album so far has not changed my preconceived notions. It’s a bias I can’t turn off because Metallica in particular has been a band I’ve built my musical tastes in direct contrast to. It’s fine I guess if you’re into them. A 9 minute song that doesn’t build that hard is wild, and if the titular song only delivers that much I’m not sure the rest of the album will sway me. Part 2. “One” is at least different. Finally some variety and melody. Still not my style but at least they finally played something besides choppy ass power chords. I skimmed the last few songs. They hardly stray from their core sound and it’s one I don’t care for. The whole thing reeks of body odor and Natty Light as far as I’m concerned.

Zed Zed Top both know how to and thoroughly enjoy rocking out. You can tell that some of the music is almost effortless for them. They find their groove repeatedly throughout the album and Sharp Dressed Man never gets skipped on my playlists. Southern Blues rock is hit or miss for me generally but they do it very well. Their style is iconic and idk who else was singing about 69ing in the 80’s but these dudes just ooze swag. The popping funk bass in Thug? They could’ve just stuck with their classic style but no, funk breakdown mid album. They can’t be stopped. I love some variety in skill and expression and they’re having fun with it the entire time. Like who tf writes a song about TV dinners but doesn’t phone it in. It’s a filler song clearly but it’s still groovy as hell. It’s a very strong 4 or a slightly hesitant 5. No flaws but I have other albums I would still put above it. Fun fact apparently my uncle who lives in Houston was their accountant in some capacity back in the day. I think they played his wedding lol but I could be mistaken it’s been forever since I heard the story. He’s got some connection though.

No emotion, no passion. I didn't even detect a running musical theme. The Taut and the Tame shows they kind of know what music is actually supposed to be which means the whole album was deliberately in the opposite direction. Whack af. “Overproduced, underproduced, a bad song’s a bad song” -Ice-T

As an earlier emo band I can see how people would be ride or die for this band, especially in 88. It has a little bit of that industrial kind of tone that is a bit harsh but is also kind of the point. Some of the melodies are pleasantly haunting and I feel like they both make music for others but also for themselves. I love a rhythm guitar that feels effortless, even if the riff is just hitting the same chord 16 times because even though it’s not perfect, it’s less wrong than the others, and you’re getting closer to what it is you feel. Overall it’s solid enough that I would go around again as an album. I wasn’t blown away really but enjoyed the ride.

Who hurt you Barry Gibbs. I googled it and I still don’t know. Pretty mild album with a few surprising songs. I’ve saved Remembering, When Do I, and Lion In Winter for future listening. I did seriously google each member and their potential divorces trying to figure out who made The Bee Gees so sad but in the process I found out they didn’t really get their iconic sound until about 6 years after this album so it’s not surprising to me that my favorite songs on this album are when they up the energy and lean into it more. A bit melancholy but perfect for staring at an old painting of a boat.

This is exactly the type of album I was hoping would be on this list. I have listened to it before and I likely will again. End of the World and The One I Love are just good songs. The album itself has some variety of sound and some clear devotion to a particular sound. If that makes sense. Like they know where they struck gold and mined strategically around that area. It just sounds good to me even before I dig into the creativeness of the music or lyrics or pairings therein and whatever. A band that can let its bassist shine is in my opinion one that has more than one ace up its sleeve. Individually the songs hold up and collectively I want to re-listen just to understand the political side of the lyrics more. It perhaps would be a 5 if I had reviewed more or even less albums but currently it’s a strong 4. Very solid with no notable flaws, but I tagged 5 songs I really like. I’ve got albums with 8-10 or more and I think I need to leave room for being blown away and not just impressed.

I mean it’s Led Zeppelin. They don’t miss. Stairway is a masterpiece and I mean that in the truest sense of the word. It’s the magnum opus of a band so talented that off the top of my head I could list 15 songs and 5 albums that are all amazing. Jimmy Page is a creep with underaged girls but he’s a guitar god. Robert Plant is a soulful sorcerer and JPJ and Bonham always deliver. I assumed I missed most of the well known stuff on this list but it is refreshing to no longer be debating what a 5 star album is. I’ve listened to this one 20 times at least and I’ve learned several of the songs in part or in whole on guitar over the years. I only do that with songs I love. It almost feels weird for me to type anything to try to justify 5 stars as it seems so painstakingly obvious in my soul.

Can one be objective when one’s sense of self and view of the world is so heavily influenced by the subject? I’m almost honor bound to just give a 5 just by looking at the track list. Unique sound, voice and lyrics. Not the most complex guitar or drums (Grohl admits he basically just bit a bunch of disco tracks but it’s still unique to apply them in such a way) but the bass does drive a lot of the music. Their impact is evident and there’s a reason a lot of people come across Nirvana early in their musical journeys. I’ve listened to this album a few times and while I have some songs I don’t keep on rotation I think that particularly because of the sound and aura that is Nirvana that songs like Breed kind of should be semi-indecipherable noise at times. It’s the song that keeps playing while you grab a drink after the mosh, the one you actually start doing work to when you convince yourself that music was all you needed to get motivated. You write it off until it’s over then you kind of wish you listened more attentively. I had 5 songs I had in rotation before this listen and I’m up to 6. It’s a frontloaded album for sure but as Archimedes said “give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I will move the world”.

What if Michael Caine had to recreate Sgt. Peppers from memory with nothing but the Muppets band? It’s weird and I’m not sure there’s any real depth to it but it’s kind of fun. It’s kind of groovy and the highlight so far me has been Clever Trevor but even then it’s like wtf are you talking about dude is this even a real person or are you just rhyming something with a name and calling it a song. He’s got a dope flow at the beginning of the song though. I think I’d like this whole album a lot more if it had some direction. Feels like they got close to a hit song with Wake up and Make Love to me and knew that there was something shiny in their sound but kept swinging and missing trying to find it. And I think that’s because none of it is serious or real. Pretty sure that was a fart noise in Blockheads. Some of the slurs in Blackmail man are not on the same level as the others lol. Plaistow Patricia should've been the song they built an album around and not the outlier.

I mean it’s music. I felt it started stronger than it ended and I saved the titular track and Down where the Drunkards Roll to see if they grow on me. I felt like those two had some legs. It’s within my style, and I would generally prefer it over silence lol that’s harsh but it’s just not reaching me all that much. Even though I think they’ve put some energy and passion into it it just doesn’t resonate with me the way I would want it to. Glad I listened once, won’t be listening a second time.

I love Bob Dylan and because his work is so prolific I tend to stick to my own playlist of like 15-20 songs and only that. It’s nice to hit some of the other songs that really help define his sound and style as well. Torn between a 3 and 4 simply because it’s good but bc it’s Dylan it doesn’t vary a ton. Bumping to a 4 because I already had 5 songs saved from this album and it ends on Goodbye Baby Blue which is one of my favorite songs by him. Just the passion he sings about the blues fading from popularity itself is such a poignant love letter to the genre. I’ve listened before and I’ll do it again.

Aretha Franklin is often about vibes to me. The album starts with Respect, an all time banger, but the rest is kind of just vibes to me. It could be on loop for 3 hours and I don’t think I’d be able to pick out more than 2/3 songs but I’d also be enjoying myself the whole time. She’s an artist I refuse to be underwhelmed by. If a song didn’t hit me the right way, I’m wrong and I missed something, or I need to recalibrate my sensors or something. It’s like no listen again and humble yourself bc Aretha is a goat for a reason. I’ve listened before, probably will again. Love the artist more than the specific song selection of this album.

I only know Sigur Ros from the Game of Thrones soundtrack where they did a version of Rains of Castamere. Kind of cool hearing a full album. Obviously I didn’t understand a word but it was cool background music to work to. Haunting and melodic is a great mix, and I actually fuck with music in other languages. It’s great to work to like I said and because I don’t speak Swedish my brain wants to match the speech patterns regardless so you end up having thought provoking music that is not too distracting. Saving it for a future work sesh where I don’t want silence but can’t devote too much headspace to the music. I dig the vibes. If Aretha Franklin was a high 3 this is a low 3. Hers was a better album but I can’t say I disliked this album at all so a 2 is out for me.

Bauhaus is alright. There were 3 songs I saved to maybe try again in the future. I get the appeal it’s just not for me and while I respect the depth of some the lyrics (Mask in particular) it’s hard to get into this music fully when I am not actively being rejected by both sunshine and society. And then wtf is Harry lol I didn’t think I’d be skanking at the warehouse vampire rave but here we are. Almost tempted to go to 3 because I appreciate variety and depth of skill and expression but it’s so out of place. I would’ve like them to meld their differing styles a bit. Feels like they all had caffeine and a good breakfast one day and forgot they were supposed to be gloomy but left it on the tracklist anyways. Maybe it’s the drum machine that takes me out of it. Their music overall feels disjointed and like it’s lacking some soul or talent. Like I can’t believe they were emphatic about any of the drums. Maybe it’s meant to feel hollow and inhuman or something but to me it’s lackluster and indicative of a lack of vision or execution.

The author of this list is an English guy who was raised in the 80’s and fucking loved the Blade soundtrack. I went back to Metallica after this to see if I was too harsh on them and I think I was. I still don’t care for them but now that my ire is directed at someone else I can see more merit in Metallica. There’s this thing called Poe’s Law that more or less describes satire that is so on the nose that it cannot be discerned from an actual endorsement of the thing it is trying to critique. Ik this metal band probably thinks they’re thrashing the shit out of Christianity by chanting praise Jesus again and again but post irony exists. I fucking hate Hitler and maybe I’d write a song about it but I wouldn’t say Heil him 10 times in a row ironically. At that point it just seems like you’re kind of on board. Even if everyone knew it was a diss track I still wouldn’t want to chant some shit I vehemently disagree with. Jesus and a hotrod in the same song? I don’t care what the deeper message is supposed to be, it’s a whack ass aesthetic to envelop your message in.

Usually you do a double album because you’re on fire and are just pumping out the jams. This is a double album because they thought every word and jingle jangle they came up with was worth recording. Feels more like an unedited home movie than an actual studio production. They obviously have technical chops but lack any nuance or variety in their expression. Writing 25 songs in the exact same style and cadence has diminishing returns. It wasn’t worth it for me to try for a favorite song because it’s honestly just all the same. They could’ve snuck the same song in there 8 times with a different title and there would be no way to know. Fine background music but I like some thought and consideration out into a tracklist.

Halfway through I realized these are all covers. I thought some of the titles were familiar. Sunny side of the Street was on that bluegrass album as well. All of Me was particularly lovely and it’s not surprising to me that it’s a Billie Holiday song. It’s kind of a sleepy album and I think that’s just Willie’s style. Very mellow, almost melancholy. Aside from my personal subjective taste I can’t say there’s a flaw to it, it’s just not for me. It’s pleasant, but it’s like looking at someone else’s memories. I appreciate the beauty but I’m not connected to it very deeply. Some of the original versions of these songs go hard and I think I would’ve preferred a compilation album of the originals than Willie’s versions.

Loved the last song. I generally prefer some New Orleans style jazz over the more bluesy stuff but this wasn’t bad. Hard for me to catch the real rhythm or groove of some of the songs but that’s very typical for me with this genre. Long enough for them to get into it, short enough that I’m not going crazy waiting for a song to end. Diminnuendo in Blue is definitely my favorite here. High 2 low 3.

My line between 2 and 3 has blurred so heavily. Idt I liked this album but I enjoyed parts of it. I felt like their lyrics were purposefully repetitive, which is fine for a song or two but when it’s throughout the album it loses some luster. Like it’s meant to convey a deep emotion or thought that’s resonating but if in the course of 12 songs you have that several times it kind of diminishes the power of it. I enjoyed the music behind the lyrics more than the lyrics themselves though. Glad I listened but likely won’t return.

This album was amazing. I never did a deep dive on Billy Joel before, I really only knew a handful of songs which I really liked and always wanted to check him out in depth at some point.

I’ve always loved how Sinead does not hold back. She’s not afraid of showing how heart broken she is, or how pissed off. Everything she says she says with her chest. Her power of will with politics has always been admirable. “they laugh ‘cause they know they’re untouchable, not because what I said was wrong” I’ve had the album on repeat I think 4 times now. I’ve listened before and I’m happy to be back. It’s beautifully haunting, and as poetic as she can be she will sometimes lift the mask off of the metaphor because it’s just such a pure emotion, and needs to be expressed directly and simply. Eirinn Go Brach

First album after an almost 2 week hiatus has found me unfocused and unserious. I can’t fairly judge this album as I barely functioned as my weekday self/in my weekday routine today. The vibes were cool, I think I’ll circle back at some point because I enjoyed it more than not, but I think it’s a combo of my brain being at 60% and this album being super chill that it blurred together for me. It’s a nice sound, and I think if I had had coffee before the album I could’ve told you which songs or lyrics I liked, but as it is, and within the constraints of the info I retained from listening, it *feels* cool. I liked what I heard and aside from the double sided coin that is a constant and chill vibe, I have no complaints.

Weird but I liked it. In my head I call this type of sound “Circus-Rock”. It’s ephemeral but in a low-gravity sort of way and not a “spirit of the forest” kind of way, if that makes sense. It’s bouncy and catchy and at first I was pleasantly surprised and thinking a 4 but if I can also describe the album as tedious then I have to take that into consideration as well. A 3.5 would be more accurate but alas.

You’d think a supergroup would have a little more variety in their songwriting. “Song without words” was just not good. By the end I was surprised you could mess up just going “La la la” and “du du Dudu” but one of them was sounding so dumb with their nonsense it was hard to take it seriously. I thought I actually liked them as a group but as a band that has been on my “gotta give them a deep dive” list, I am a bit disappointed overall. At least 5 of those songs were the same thing. We get it, you can harmonize. Maybe without Neil Young they don’t hit as hard.

When it was good it was great but when it was dragging it was a chore. I knew “Once in a lifetime” already and I really enjoy this song but overall the album did not have a ton of parts that made me want to focus in more. High 2 but a 3 doesn’t feel correct.

Another weird one. I can’t say it resonated with me deeply and the language barrier did not help in that regard either. Kind of groovy and fun but it was also a bit chaotic to listen to. Not quite enough to be a 3 for me though.