Sleepy, dull, not my taste. Yet another album I don't think is remotely essential, though I'm sure Dead fans would disagree.

Back when The Hives came out, I wrote them off as being a pale imitation of The Stooges based on their singles. Listening to this today, I'm not convinced I was wrong. Granted, there are far worse bands in the world to emulate, but that doesn't make it okay. This collection of their songs occasionally makes some decent noise ("The Hives Are Law, You Are Crime" is my favorite, mostly due to the lack of vocals), but overall I just can't take it seriously or find much to enjoy about it.

Brothers is a decent, if unexceptional, record. I like the songs okay, but it's not an album I'd return to often. I get why it helped them cross over to a larger audience, because it's well produced with a handful of catchy songs. (Danger Mouse knows what he's doing). People tend to like that sort of thing, which is fine. I want music that really grabs me and carries me along, preferably with a sound that distinguishes itself as being both genuine and distinctly different, and these songs fall short of doing that. They're trying though. I'm not sure anyone NEEDS to hear this album, but if you're going to check this band out you could pick worse places to start. For blues rock from the current century, I'll take The White Stripes over all the competition, and they've got 5 albums out of 6 that I still enjoy regularly.

Thanks to this project I finally found a starting place with Wonder's discography, and I appreciate that. I've only heard his singles over the years, so I recognized 2 of these songs. This is the first album from the project I listened to again and saved to my collection. Every song on it is excellent. I'll have to dig through his other albums soon, and we'll see if my rating changes.

I challenged myself to sit through this whole thing, and while it's doing what ABBA set out to do much of it annoys me. "Money, Money, Money" is the only song I kinda liked, though it's tough to take it seriously given the band delivering it. They're competent musicians, it's just that none of this is my taste at all. I had to chase it with Black Flag's Damaged and the first 3 Stooges albums to scrape it back off my soul. Y'all can have them.

The title track is a good song, but otherwise it's fine for what it is. After a while all the songs blurred together without much to distinguish between them. It's listenable, but forgettable. Nothing challenging here, just average songs that roll on past without an impact. Definitely nothing I'd insist anyone needed to hear.

Sleepy, dull, not my taste. Yet another album I don't think is remotely essential, though I'm sure Dead fans would disagree.

This is the first album in our run of this project that I already know well. QOTSA has been a favorite of mine ever since Songs for the Deaf, so I like all their albums to varying degrees. Josh kicked things off by laying the groundwork throughout this album, and spent the subsequent albums building and improving on that foundation. I really enjoy this album through "Mexicola", but the rest of the songs after it overstay their welcome. And while that makes for a challenging final stretch that I respect (none of the other albums I've heard from this list so far have been this abrasive or proudly weird) it can also get on my nerves sometimes. For me it's really half of a great album. Thankfully that gets better from here, but it also means that this is my least favorite of their albums. Technically this is a 3.5 for me, but there's no option for that on here that I can figure out.

I listened to this twice in a row and it's not bad but also isn't really sticking with me. "I'm Shakin'" steals some melody from the "Heat Miser"/"Snow Miser" songs, which probably accounts for it gaining popularity. None of it is nearly as good as anything Jack did in The White Stripes, and out of all his post-Stripes work the only album I've genuinely enjoyed is No Name. Maybe this list could swap that album for this one?

I generally struggle to find my way into folk music, so when I read the overview of this album I was kinda dreading the experience. Then add to that the fact I'd never heard of Pentangle until now. Thankfully those fears were unfounded. Yes, it's folk music, but there are layers to it that bring in other genres too, and in ways that feel natural. The variety of vocals also keeps things interesting, rather than just having one singer. My only complaint really is that the version I listened to with my daughter today (linked from here) was the deluxe edition, which has 3 versions of "Sally Go Round the Roses" for some reason. It's a decent song, but not worth repeating when there's not much difference between them (unless I missed something). Otherwise it's pretty good. I don't know that I'd put it in my regular rotation, but I wouldn't mind revisiting it periodically.

There are some interesting musical arrangements here, but for an album that's claiming to be about love there's a lack of heart. Dude may be crooning about love, but I'm just not feeling it come across. It sounds like he's working hard to come off as clever instead of being genuine and honest, which doesn't satisfy me at all. This is yet another album that's far from being a "must hear" in my book.

Absolute classic. Not a bad song on it. I've always preferred the later albums, especially with all the ways they pushed boundaries and expanded their sound. Only thing keeping me from rating it any higher is that The Beatles have other albums I personally prefer over Revolver.

I never could get into Pet Shop Boys growing up, and this didn't change that fact. I've never cared for Neil Tennant's vocals, and when they're combined with the music they make it all grates on my nerves. I forced myself to sit through it all, but spent most of the time wishing it was over so I could listen to something else. I can't even think of anything complimentary to say about any of it.

This confirmed that Suede are not my taste. I even tried listening to their first album to see if I was missing something, but gave up on that after the first few songs. I'm hearing Bowie in their sound, but none of these songs connect with me like his have. They're good at what they're doing I guess, it's just not for me.

This album is all right. I'm generally not big on folk music, but it's fine for what it is. Can't say any of it will stick with me or I'd listen to it again, but I also didn't hate it. That said, I'm also not hearing anything essential here either.

I'm glad this was on here, because while I've always liked this album it was a good reminder I don't listen to it often enough. Same goes for most of The Cure's discography. They're very much a band I have to be in the mood for with most of their albums. Listening to them on a gloomy, snowy day was perfect. I listened to this twice and then kept going with other albums of theirs. Gallup's basslines are great throughout, proving he was a worthy addition to the lineup.