Starting an album with a "When the Levee breaks" sample is a good idea. Sampling another Led Zeppelin song 2 songs later is less of a good idea. What a 13 year old with a computer would think to do. "Girls" is a war crime. Notable that "Fight for your right" is a straight ahead rock song and not like the rest of the album (more like Twisted Sister than a rap group). "Brass Monkey" works the best because it's a cool beat and they do enough with their raps to give you something a little unexpected. A few of the samples/beats are cool...ultimately it's hard to really get into any song because they are so limited rapping that any track gets repetitive within 40 seconds. Not a fair comparison but early 90s rappers would destroy a verse "Ryhmin & Stealin"...doesn't feel like the same universe

I've listened to "Another Girl Another Planet" a bunch before this but never checked them out (a song that sounds like if 'Already Gone' by the Eagles flew to Manchester in 1975 and did heroin for 5 years). Uneven song quality but I like their sound...a mix of Lou Reed, The Knack, Peter Frampton. Tight band and I like the production.

Recording feels very 40s/early 50s...I don't really like the mix, the horns sound like they are in a different room. The vibe is the coolest part--he's always a little laid back with energy and tempo even on very rock n' roll blues. The damn Swedes won't let us listen to half of the album so maybe he kicks it up a notch on the back half of the album.

I’m a normal Bob Dylan fan but not familiar with post 80s. My first reaction is that for 1997 he’s putting in good effort and his band is solid (some particularly cool drum parts). Most songs are a verse or minute too long. "Love Sick" is a good opener..."Dirt Road Blues" loses the momentum with a really mediocre blues song. “Lost in the light” by Bahamas owes a lot to “Standing in the Doorway”. "Make You Feel My Love" comes out of nowhere and is clearly the standout. It's bizarre that he came up with that in 1997 and even more bizarre that it comes out of nowhere on the album. This excercise made me appreciate how incredibly boring it would be to be a session musician for Dylan..."OK BOB, I'll hold the chords again for 7 minutes while you mutter on".

If I'm trying to get proggy weird...King Crimson/Yes is far more listenable. I give them credit for not being just bad punk--they are trying to do something different. Some of the songs are nonsense. "Modern Dance" is my favorite track. If I still lived in Brooklyn I'd pick up girls at Union Pool with "I know TV On the Radio is cool but have you listened to 'Modern Dance' by Pere Ubu....white guys did it first, heh". I would go home alone sad on the G train.

It’s hard to know how much Led Zeppelin rules and how much they’ve carved a valley in my brain from when I was 12. Immigrant Song has to be one of the best opening tracks to a rock album of all time and a top 5 zep song. The hiss/echo effect in the beginning is also incredibly cool to build into the riff. All the little things. On this listen I was really struck by Bonham and JPJ. They have 3 songs where Bonham doesn’t play…which is crazy but also a testament to them as a band. When Bonham plays he’s just so good…his personality comes out in “Since I’ve been loving you”. The kit sounds so good and the panning they do across the kit makes the fills sound so good. When your drummer is that good you make him loud and get to hear all his nuances. The more Bonham rips the more JPJ matches him and some of his bass lines are nuts. Along with all the other arrangements he does on non bass instruments. It’s not their best album but anything less than a 4 is an insult to how good of a collective band they were at this point.

Phenomenal. Chameleon and Watermelon Man make it 5 stars by themselves.

My dad always made sure to tell us that Christie Hynde was a bad bitch. Impressive debut with a lot of hits. Surprised that the reviews at the time were mediocre. I particularly like the drum mix

Dinosaur Jr. is music for guitarists. The most interesting parts of the songs are pedals and solos. I'm not a guitarist so...the ceiling for any Dinosaur Jr. song is a 3. J Mascis is not a singer and this is not an album I would have on as background music nor is it boppy enough to have as ROCK OUT music. Just like the mighty tyrannosaurus rex, Dinosaur Jr. and Gen X shoegazers will die and I won't think about them much.

The noises from the crowd (or Keith?) are a lil weird. Other than that, very listenable and I like how he shifts across different styles (gospel/blues, classical, contemporary) but all of it is done well. Definitely on my list to get on vinyl and drink whiskey with.

A great band. I have an aversion to Earth, Wind & Fire because of wedding bands but that's not their fault. Their versatility and fusion of styles is the most striking thing in listening to the full album. They are at their best when they are boogie-ing (Shining Star, Happy Feelin', Africano). The ballad-y stuff is OK but not great. Takes a LOT of swag to do a spoken word interlude in "All About Love" but I'm not a 60 year old black woman so it doesn't get a full "amen".

The feedback to start Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground is a perfect start to an album...similar to the hiss/echo effect with LZ on "Immigrant Song"...I respect bands who think about "how should we make the first seconds of this album cool". There are some awesome musical ideas on this album and I give Jack a ton of credit for all of these songs being 2-3 minutes. He distills the song idea...rocks out...finishes the song. I find this album quite listenable but it doesn't get to the heights of making it a "classic". I love the spirit of Meg but at points her splashing away on the crash cymbal gets tired after 16 tracks

This was OK. I genuinely don't understand how this is a top selling album of all time...unless everyone liked the first 3 songs enough to get the CD. The vibe is so laid back and self-assured...it makes complete sense this is his 5th album. Zero percent surprised this was recorded in Montserrat...this is exactly the kind of album you record when you're already successful, in the middle of the 80s, on a Caribbean island. Back half of the album definitely drags. I'd happily listen to a greatest hits Dire Straits album because he's got 10 good songs...there just aren't a ton on this album

Steve Winwood should be more famous. I'm not going to say he's a british farmer version of Stevie Wonder but.....maybe I am. This is just the kind of music I want playing in my house. The synth sounds are very particular but I really like all the tones and his vibe...he knows what he's doing in the combo of those textures and his vocals...it just sounds good. Even when the songs are a bit long they don't really drag. I also respect a man who knows who he is...the first song is the best song. He knew he had a single.

Doesn't blow my socks off. I respect what he's trying to do with lo-fi and spanning genres but I can't think of an occasion where I'd want to listen to this again. The first line of any Beck write up highlights that he's a native Angeleno. Maybe this music goes over well at Scientology listening parties.

Van Halen are serious musicians but not serious songwriters. Eruption is parity at this point but for 1978 was undeniably RAD. Saturday Night Fever was 1977.... Runnin' with the Devil and Jamie's Cryin' are "B" songs and I think the comparison with average Aerosmith songs is a fair one. Ultimately VH is best experienced as a single song turned ALL THE WAY up or a best hits album...they don't have a single end-to-end good album. Note: The drummer in me knows that Alex Van Halen is criminally underrated and is a Top 20 rock drummer (Hot for teacher not on this album but is one of the more inventive and musical drum parts for a rock song).

I just said Van Halen are serious musicians but not serious songwriters. Leonard is a VERY serious songwriter, maybe too serious. Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave both exist as artists I respect and can get into at moments but both seem to pretty explicitly want me to kill myself. The outro of "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" made me audibly laugh...lookin' like Michael Corleone on the album cover and just HOWLING in pain. Maybe this is what Michael listened to after Apollonia got blown up. At the outset of Suzanne you can immediately tell he's a storyteller...I owe this album more listens to fully appreciate all work he put into his poetry. For the time being I'd rather listen to Paul Simon or Bob Dylan, but Leo is OK in my book.

Michael Stipe is in the same tier as Billy Corgan for me as vocalists who you can't explain why they are so listenable but their voice just makes you want to pay attention. This album doesn't have a ton of "hits" ('Sitting Still' was my favorite) but is really listenable as an album and one I'd revisit. DRUM GUY CORNER: I always hype good drumming/tone when I hear it...this album is all about the guitar/bass sound. Guitar is really forward and bright and the bass does all sorts of grumbled sometimes muted lines but the interplay of those two things + Stipe make all the things. I imagine you could pull out the drums and almost all of these songs would have the same life.

CCR rules. This is insane to have this much energy and good songwriting on album #5. Ramble Tamble is the standout for me on a fresh listen--just a sick intro riff and jam. Long as I can See the Light is a beautiful way to end an album. I want to penalize Fogerty for completely making up he's from the bayou even though he's from California...but alas, it's a 5 for me.

I almost swerved my fan boat off the side of the bayou when I saw this was the album. Simply can't have bigger whiplash from CCR. I did NOT like Diddy whispering "MC, I like that" the first 30 seconds of the album on "Honey". Good R&B, Hip-Hop track but an indulgent 5 minute song when there's no melodic, rhythmic change. "My All" is the best ballad and "The Roof" is by far the coolest song on the album. I guess it's hard to make something uncool when you use the Shook Ones sample but it's awesome how they fade into it and Mariah just lets it rip. I want to have a hotter take but ultimately...Mariah is a very good singer, a couple of these songs are good, it is well produced but not anything particularly special.

I'm writing this as I watch the 2004 Red Sox documentary and it occurs to me that Outkast has a perfect pitching line up: Andre 3000 (Tim Wakefield) throwing knuckleballs and Big Boi (Pedro) closing with heat. Undeniably the best rap duo of all time. A surface level observation is that this is clearly meant to be an ALBUM--which is awesome for this exercise and for 2000 relatively uncommon. So many weird (and maybe too horny) interludes. So Fresh and So Clean, B.O.B, Ms. Jackson are incredible. The variety of beats, instrumentation and melodies makes this stand out from anything else in hip hop. It’s truly a shame Andre hasn’t been recording more music. This isn’t the perfect album for leather arm chairs or roadtrip…but give me a weed filled basement and some pong and there’s nothing I’d rather listen to.

I missed the first Fela Kuti album so this was fun for me. Ginger Baker's drums sound huge. Ultimately these are pretty simple jams so the songwriting/overall album ceiling is lower...but for a live jam session pretty great. At first I was absolutely insulted that they put on a 16 minute drum solo (Alex drum corner: drum solos aren't cool...just do your fills in the song) but upon wiki research it's listed a "bonus track" so I didn't penalize them.

I could listen to Ray read the phonebook. The band and recording sounds terrific. A lot of these are "standards" but done incredibly well and with Ray's own twist at the peak of his powers.

This kind of album is why I love this exercise. Zero context for Red Snapper. Makes me want to drive all night in the rain. If I hadn't listened to Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor this would be a bit more special but I respect that these guys did it first. "The Rough and The Quick" is too horny.

Mamas & The Papas are ALL about the HARD PAN. It was so striking on "Monday, Monday" that I had to research. According to reddit this is the answer: "John Phillips kept bouncing the mixes down to another track each time he’d overdub harmonies. Its the same reason the first Crosby Stills Nash album isn’t a sonic marvel. Bounce downs made the sound weaker and also limited mixing options, which is why the backing tracks are often confined to one channel only." 1950/1960s was also apparently the early days of stereo mixing and professionalizing audio engineers. In early days they could only pan 100% L or R. I know this is incredibly snobby but if I could get my hands on the mono recording it'd be a 3.5 but this stereo recording hurts my head. If I ran the Mama & Papas estate I'd make this my top priority to get my mono recordings to replace this trash.

I'd like to take a moment to defend my STEREO hot take from yesterday. Yes, listening in headphones is going to make L/R pan more aggressive than proper speakers but John Phillips still fucked up the mix. George Martin and The Beatles were not making these mistakes and I stand behind Mamas and Papas being "mid". Ahem, traveling south... I wonder if Tom Brady listens to this on the dock of his Miami house--staring out at the ocean and wondering why he would ever leave the smooth, comforting embrace of BRAZIL. I'm familiar with a few of the now "standards" but hadn't listened to the full album. Obviously stripped down jazz/bossa nova but great playing and very enjoyable to listen to--it's a lot of saxophone but really melodic and the guitar and (sparse) piano give the rhythmic counterpoints. Maybe stupid but Portuguese is very pleasing to American ears. Alex drum corner: A real lesson that all of these songs have percussive life but 95% of what you hear it is dynamic hi-hat/ride cymbal with some woodblock/brush snare. I can't even tell if there's a bass drum or it's just supperrrrrr soft.

OK I promise I'll stop with the stereo stuff (I truly don't know enough to keep mentioning it) BUT worth noting that Spotify only carries stereo for a bunch of 60s stuff and old heads are pissed because the mono versions were what was intended (unsurprisingly r/bobdylan had LOTS of rage about this) . For some of the classic albums/re-releases (like this one) Spotify has mono AND stereo versions...if nothing else, especially with headphones, it's kinda fun to listen to the differences in feel and make up your own mind. Brian Wilson liked the original mono, wall-of-sound mix. This is clearly an inspired album. Harmonies are crazy and you can feel Brian Wilson spending so much time on these songs. It makes sense that Phil Spector and Brian Wilson knew each other because that "wall of sound" fingerprint is all over it. It's a 5 for me--my only hesitation is that I don't really like the "California sound"/specific voices of the Beach Boys. I listened to the instrumental versions and obviously the vocal melodies are missing so there's not the same magic but I didn't miss their actual voices and was nice to just sink into Brian Wilson the orchestrator. Might be why "let's go away for awhile" was my favorite discovery on relisten. Not on the album but a pitch to listen to "Feel Flows" (released later)...can't explain why I like it so much but it's my favorite BB song, more psychedelic for sure.

Great times with Don and Walter. This is an insane first album. It's got all of the ingredients but less of the (indulgent!) jazz of later SD. I didn't realize that so many of the vocals weren't Don/Walter I like that it's a very straight ahead album...the sound is fully formed but most songs are 3-4 minutes and they feel like they need to earn your listen. "Only A Fool Wood Say That" is...yacht rock (peep the HBO doc if you haven't, if only for Fagen's phone call) My recent favorite and confirmed on this listen is "Fire In The Hole"--moody, swinging, angry piano playing. "Change Of The Guard" is also great some awesome guitar sounds and flourishes. For those keeping score at home...it's 1972 and mono is gone and this is released as stereo mix as well as a four-channel quadraphonic mix...I love human hubris...spend the 60s fucking up stereo mixes and there's like 5 years where people have a handle on it and we go up to 4 channels. Wikipedia tells me that was a commercial failure and anything more than stereo didn't find traction until the 90s with surround sound home systems.