What better way to start this challenge than with the debut album of one of my favorite bands? This one's really solid, and contains a great mix of energetic blues-rock and slower psychedelic tracks. Fun times all the way through.
This is an essential MTV Unplugged show. It has its highs and lows, regarding the repertoire and Kurt's performances, but the highs are very high, raw and unforgettable.
Before listening to this, I never really understood why this band had such a huge and dedicated fanbase. I get it now. Leave me alone!
I didn't know who Solomon Burke was until this album was generated, but now I'm glad it did! I'm big on rock and big on soul, so what more could I ask for?
I've listened to this from start to finish many times throughout my life, so giving it a 5 is easier for me now than it would have been the first time, given the sheer volume and variety of songs contained. I truly believe all the tracks hit, and range from fun and inconsequential to touching and poignant.
This was really difficult to rate. My goal here in this challenge is to only listen to records once, but this took me many tries! You really have to concentrate for instrumental albums. Listening in a loud bus doesn't work. Letting your mind wander off doesn't work. Actually take the time to have a cup of coffee, stare at nature and let the music take you where it wants to. Trust me, it's worth it.
Man, what a cool theme for a hip-hop project! Always wanted to listen to this one, and it did not disappoint at all.
I had no idea what to expect from this one, but was pleasantly surprised. It's a bit bland overall, but the lyrics are inspired (as you'd expect from Bowie) and some tracks stand out from the rest. Nothing mindblowing, but an enjoyable rock album.
Sometimes I felt like I was personally there, at the concert, over half a century ago. That's how mesmerizing this record is.
Music, album cover, artist, theme, lyrics, genres... I truly don't know which part of all this is the weirdest. I love it.
"So In Love" might be the quintessential soul song for me. Something about the horns, the feelings evoked... I can't put into words just how much I love this song. That being said, for some reason, some tracks just didn't hit, in my experience. So, a 3 it is.
It usually takes a full listen to an album until a prog rock band clicks for you. Well, now I can finally say I get Rush.
It's funny to watch Yesterday (2019) and wonder what the world would be like if The Beatles didn't exist, but we live in a reality in which Buddy Holly didn't make it past 22, and that's pretty darn unfortunate as well.
The bleak themes and lyrics tie this diverse and exotic LP into a cohesive, meaningful experience. Interesting stuff.
The soul influences were the icing on the cake here. I'm not very familiar with trip hop, so this was a great starting point.
This sounded like a really bad idea of an album until I listened to it. Lots of good songs, actually. Kinda cheesy though.
I enjoy the satirical lyrics, and musically, it's right up my alley.
I didn't expect to enjoy this, but it's a really solid record, with interesting lyrics and beautiful singing.
Everything about this was novel to me. The record is touching, even if you can't understand a single word. And once you search for the translated lyrics, you understand that they are as beautiful as the music. This is timeless and transcendental.
In the LP's solid first half, the band's creativity is balanced with pop sensibilities and delivers catchy songs. And then it falls off. Or maybe, it gets too sophisticated for me. Who knows.
Despite her popularity, I had never heard anything from PJ Harvey. I guess this is different from her usual style, which I'll presumably explore in the future, but this album was really consistent and enjoyable already.
I hate to admit it, but this rocks. I'm always the first to complain when "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" comes on, as I find it overplayed and silly, but the full album made me appreciate Cyndi Lauper more. Her singing quirks drive me insane after a while though, so I'll only listen to this when I'm in a good mood.
Raw as fuck. The lyrics match the anger from the distorted, deafening guitars, and the combination makes for a nice album to commit violent acts to.
Thought an entire album of this formulaic (but fun) music genre would get boring after a while. Thing is, it's Little Richard. To this day, few match the raw energy and talent he did, and those few probably owe much to him in that respect.
Love to discover old school country music. Having never heard much of the infamous modern stuff, my limited experience with this genre has been really positive. Emmylou delivers here lovely performances, and the whole record sounds, at times, like you're attending a gig at the coolest bar in town.
This might be the strangest Hendrix project. It grew on me over the many listens I gave it through the years, and some songs are truly among the best of his.
Never would've imagined I'd listen to an entire album of this. No regrets.
Somewhere between modern indie-folk and Revolver era Beatles, lies this record. Needless to say, this is really cool.
The transition from the emotional "Without You" to the... erm, interesting "Coconut" will forever be etched into my memories.
Didn't expect to like this so much as I did. Musically, it reminds me of Metallica, and all the blasphemy makes the whole thing stand out.
It felt incredibly weird listening to something so wholesome, especially with that final message, being orchestrated by someone so vile and despicable. I don't think I've ever felt so uncomfortable while listening to music.
A diverse and engaging record with great lyrics and delivery. I surprisingly knew some songs, and they go hard.
Instant favorite! Not very familiar with Dylan, but now I get why this album is so well praised.
I've listened to this a lot throughout my life. For some reason, I strongly relate to Syd's music. This album is heartbreaking, and listening to this during the challenge made me notice masterpieces I'd never noticed before, such as 'Dark Globe'. The transition from it to 'Here I Go' is one of the highlights of Barrett's career.
This album is pure magic. Puts me in a great mood every time.
Nice, solid live performance from The Who. I, of course, have only listened to the original tracklist, which is relatively short. The tracks are all fire though, and this is the band in its best lineup, so it's a blast.
Didn't expect to love this one as much as I did! Following up 'Ziggy Stardust' must have been tough, but this was satisfying as its sequel. The album offers great variety, and the songs are grittier than the previous overall. In contrast to that, there are beautiful and meditative songs, such as 'Time' and, my personal favorite, 'Lady Grinning Soul'. Great day for a Bowie fan.
This is one of the records I only got to know because of the project. 'Hey Ya!' and 'Prototype' were the ones I knew before, and because of that, I always wanted to know what else OutKast had to offer. I'm glad to see my expectations were met.
Some real classics in this! If you can abstract the immorality from it, and not take it too seriously, you'll find that it's a fun ride. It is a bit long and samey though.
As punk as 50's style music can be. Some of the lyrics and imagery are surprisingly dark too lol.
Only knew 'Born Slippy' prior to this, so I had high hopes. Unfortunately, only the longer songs were interesting to me. The rest was kinda bland and pointless to my ears.
The lyrics in this are just my thing! Surreal, dark and creative all around.
I always wanted to listen to this one, because most songs I know and love from the band are from this album. Not only is it consistent, but it has even more all-timers than I thought.
I'd imagined I'd like this one, but never expected it to be a 5. Guess Morrissey's really that good (as a musician!).
Took me a while to finally listen to a Siouxsie album. It's as cool and dark as I thought.
Nothing more fitting for a rainy morning than this album. A cozy listen.
One of my favorite rap records so far. It's got some heavy lyrics and messages that, unfortunately, still stand true to this day.
Solid blues-rock thing. Nothing really mind-blowing, but if you like blues, it's got just everything you'd hope for.
As cheesy and on-the-nose as this gets, it's fun as fuck and very novel to me.
I went into this with an open mind and open heart, but no. It just doesn't seem to be that good. There are some bangers, sure, but much of the album is generic and forgettable. Well, deservedly so, this is my first 2-star rating.
I am very much not familiar with this band, or with the genre in general, and yet, I had a lot of fun listening to this. I felt like giving it a lower rating because I didn't really like the execution, in general. The instrumentation was amazing, of course, but the production was too minimalistic and took the punch out of the songs, the lyrics were mostly great and poignant, but at times too cheesy and on-the-nose, and the vocals... they were TRULY the worst part of the record. Never been a big fan of high-pitched/operatic singing in metal, but I can appreciate when it works (like in Iron Maiden). This is not the case. Joey's voice is okay at best and lame at worst, and the quality of it usually depends on how hard he's trying at any given moment. I don't like when he's trying to be Bruce Dickinson and I don't like when he's shouting lines to make them catchy (they usually aren't). Some lines just fit poorly to the rhythm and rhyming, and they feel forced. And that's the problem with his vocals: they feel forced. But whenever they don't, that's when I enjoy it. And I know this is a contrarian take, based on the reviews I've read here, but I like low-effort Joey and I think the record's second half is better. So, while I've considered giving this a 4, the songwriting and the instrumentals make it so there's not a single skip in this, and for that reason, this album deserves the 5 stars.
Everything I've heard from CCR was enjoyable so far, but I never imagined this album would be so solid! About as good as white man's blues/rock gets.
Now we're talking! I had my doubts about jazz, and the general advice I found was that I'd know great jazz the moment I listened to it. Well, the moment did come, at last.
A relaxing, charming and creative 80's album. Solid record all around.
I knew, from the start, this was gonna be a banger. The few songs I knew prior to this blew me away, and I'm glad the rest of the LP is great as well.
Back from a six month hiatus. At this rate, I will be finishing this on my deathbed. This album is kinda frontloaded, but it stops just short of getting boring. Most lyrics are really good, and the songs are dynamic and exotic. Even though this is not a particularly catchy record, it's what I imagine Prefab Sprout's Steve McQueen wanted (and ultimately failed) to achieve.
An excellent record, with clever lyrics, unconventional chord progressions and instrumentation, catchy hits and the gorgeous "Hairshirt" as the standout for me.
If this is my initiation in electronic music, it worked. It was awesome from start to finish. Definitely gonna listen to this more.
Somehow, this record manages to be as punk as proto-punk can be, and also psychedelic, remniscent of some of the work The Velvet Underground was putting out at the time. The latter part is more evident in the John Cale song, of course.
I usually avoid seeing the average rating here before listening to an album, but when I miss a day, I usually see it while trying to read the Wikipedia summary. The mid average led me to expect a mid album. This was far from it. I wasn't familiar with her work, so I was surprised to see everything resonated with me right away. The songs are varied and dynamic, and the lyrics are often very insightful. Definitely deserves to be on this list.
This made me realize I really enjoy 2000's indie garage rock, especially the bluesy stuff. An unexplored territory I ought to discover.
Despite having possibly the worst cover art (yet), this is a really well made album! Most beats are funky and catchy, and some songs feature rapping that transcends the stereotypical late 80's flow. Side one was my favorite, and it ends with an instrumental banger that caught me by surprise: Good Newz Comin'. Inevitably, the music is rather dated, as old school hip hop tends to be formulaic and samey, but it was a breath of fresh air in terms of lyrics and messages.
Nothing gives me the feeling that Shine On You Crazy Diamond does. The profound melancholy in that song is something that only Pink Floyd has ever managed to create, and this song is the best example of it. If words could describe it, I would say that it's the peak of blues' sorrow captured in perfect melodies and soulful performances.
Rarely do I enter an album hoping for more of the singles' sound and find just that. This was a perfect match for my expectations.
Despite being formulaic and saccharine (as the music of this genre and era tends to be), I enjoyed listening to this album. The lyrics all tie into a certain theme, and the production succeeds in giving this a chill atmosphere.
Every song I already knew from this record is 10/10, so I already expected this to be awesome, but damn! So many memorable, moving, unforgettable gems in this! The storytelling, the instrumentation... for some, the latter may seem dated or cheesy, but for me, it captures the very best that era in music had to offer.
I do love me some Morrison Hotel, but L.A. Woman takes all it tried to do and does it better. It's still bluesy, psychedelic and poetic, but this time, Jim's voice is at its majestic final form, and it gives it that extra dramatic kick. There's a truly somber aura in the music. The moody sonority and striking lyrics certainly contribute to that, but there's something about the dynamic between tense, bluesy parts and cheerful, organ-led sections (most evident in L'America) that makes me uneasy. It feels dangerous, for some reason, and that feeling turns into paranoia in Hyacinth House, an ominous prediction of the singer's incoming demise. As tragic as it is, Morrison era's The Doors could not have a more memorable, fitting ending.
The whole album is solid, but this is a rare case of the B-side being much better than the A-side. It is just that good. I can't get enough of Ray Davies' acid satires about British society. I may not be a peasant living in post-war England, but I feel like this was made for me.
Usually, the biggest problem I find with old country music is that the lyrics and themes are often one-dimensional and repetitive. Although there's obviously no Leonard Cohen lyricism in this, I was glad to find that the songs' themes were diverse and interesting, and often related to real life experiences not many other country songwriters have been through. And, despite the variety, it all amounts to a cohesive outlaw record.
Nina shows her excellence by nailing a wide variety of genres and emotions throughout this record. If that wasn't enough, there are things that only she could ever write and deliver, such as 'Four Women', an early moment in the tracklist that already made me want to give it 5 stars.
