Dec 27 2024
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OK Computer
Radiohead
3,5/5
When enjoyable, the songs where great at best, but nothing really special. Songs like Airbag and Paranoid Android had some decent and imaginative riffs, but they just don’t raise the quality enough to justify the albums runtime and less interesting and quite boring softer ballads. Though Karma Police and The Tourist where obvious highlight regarding the ballads.
3
Dec 28 2024
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2112
Rush
4/5
2112 is truly a landmark in prog rock and a true masterpiece. Sadly that only fits the a-side. The b-side of 2112 truly drags with boring and uninspired ballads. Luckily the threesome didn’t waste all of the b-side with uninspired material. Among the title track are Rush classics like A Passage To Bangkok and Something For Nothing, which only leaves me wondering why they didn’t play into their strengths for the full 38 minutes.
4
Dec 29 2024
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Brilliant Corners
Thelonious Monk
3/1001
Nothing bad about this album, I’m just not the right audience. For me it’s a bit to experimental as one of my first forays into jazz, and tbh it’s a bit boring. I get why people might appreciate it though. Great musicianship, fantastic production and sound. Just not for me.
3/5
3
Dec 30 2024
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I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
Aretha Franklin
The music isn’t bad, it’s just another case of it not being made for me. The obvious highlight is Respect and the record never really reaches that same high again. The only other song to really pique my interest were Save Me.
3/5
3
Dec 31 2024
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Automatic For The People
R.E.M.
5/1001
Automatic For The People is a boring and at times uninspired album with a lot of songs just kinda blending together to create a sense of nothingness. When it shines, it shines bright though with obvious rock radio classics like Everybody Hurts and Man On The Moon. But again the rest of the album is made up of inferior versions of basically the same songs. The only songs who really manages to escape the pitfalls of the others are The Sidewinders Sleeps Tonight and Ignoreland by mixing up the pretty basic formula of the rest of the album with interesting vocal melodies or added distortion.
2,5/5
I relistened to it, and though most of my original thoughts still hold true, the rest of the album isn’t as bad as I initially thought, so I numbed it half a rating up.
3/5
3
Jan 01 2025
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Cheap Thrills
Big Brother & The Holding Company
6/1001
Fantastic album. The brightest star is of course Janis Joplin, whos iconic coarse voice takes center stage whenever it is present. The rhythm section is tight with great musicianship all around, but especially the guitarist stands out with great riffs and solos throughout. Combining it with Joplin?s soulful vocals makes this one great blues record.
4/5
4
Jan 02 2025
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Born To Run
Bruce Springsteen
7/1001
The Boss’ breakthrough, but more importantly his happy album. Born To Run is straight up a hoot from start to finish. The album starts pretty chill with Thunder Road, which also sets the mood for the whole affair pretty decently. Bruce Springsteen made a party album of fun, intelligent and bombastic songs, who all flow together with one single musical identity without straying to far from said identity.
The album culminates with the grandiose Jungleland, which fits Born To Run to perfection. The album lacks any sort of standout track - the closest being the title track - but that, I would argue, is a testament to the sheer quality on display. The only dip in quality would probably have to be Meeting Across the River, but it’s nonetheless still an excellent song.
Not a bad way to start the new year with one of my favourite Bruce Springsteen albums.
5/5
5
Jan 03 2025
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Damaged
Black Flag
8/1001
Damaged is a very interesting album with some, at times, very shoddy production. Since getting properly into prog and latter doom the shorter songs, which are a hallmark of punk and even more so hardcore, made it hard for me to differentiate and appreciate it. Damaged is both instrumentally and vocally a great album with loads of fast and aggressive songs. Where it lacks, in my opinion, is when the production becomes too unpolished, which takes away some of the quality of Henry Rollins voice. One song I would like to highlight is Damaged I, which to me seem like an almost proto sludge song, and I’ve never heard it being spoken of like the b-side of My War. I just found that pretty interesting.
3,5/5
4
Jan 04 2025
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Black Holes and Revelations
Muse
9/1001
The album started out really funky and enjoyable I must say. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of a good chunk of the material. Of course some of the songs got a bit repetitive or forgettable, but when they were on point it was a great listen. Especially Assassin, which I think had a really great riff.
3,5/5
4
Jan 05 2025
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The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Genesis
10/1001
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is a really perplexing album. Over 90 minutes long and a great and quite imaginative concept, sadly however, it’s way too ambitious. Listening to the first LP was pretty good, and the music definitely held its own in comparison to its ambitions. The second LP though, not so much. Most of it fell flat and blended together until the last few songs on the d-side. I kinda get why people started disliking the pretentiousness of prog in the mid to late 70s. And at over 90 minutes as already mentioned it really is pretentious and self indulgent. That doesn’t mean it’s bad per se. Most of the first half was still very good.
3,5/5
3
Jan 06 2025
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25
Adele
11/1001
2015 seems to me more like a collection of songs rather than a coherent album. It lacks an identity that’s not just Adele’s voice, however impressive it is I may say. Apart from Hello and When We Were Young there really isn’t much else to this album. I came into this with pre established biases towards pop music, and though I should be open to have those biases challenged, this just wasn’t it. It really is a boring and bland pop album.
2/5
2
Jan 07 2025
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Wild Is The Wind
Nina Simone
12/1001
Wild Is The Wind starts of very strong with a great bluesy track in I Love Your Lovin’ Way. Sadly I would say it fails to deliver on its early promises, when it turns into a jazz record. Still it’s not without its moments with songs like Wild Is The Wind and Four Women being the obvious standouts alongside the album opener.
3/5
3
Jan 08 2025
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The Next Day
David Bowie
13/1001
The Next Day is at its core a nostalgic album. At times it songs like songs like Love Is Lost and Dirty Boys could be taken straight out of his Thin White Duke era, while Valentin’s Day is pure 70s glam. Other stuff adds a lot of Bowie’s post 80s pop sensibility to the album. However I think that kinda detracts from the interesting mix of all of his 70s sounds. (You Will) Set The World On Fire is probably the albums most interesting cut. With its almost Fripian-esque riffage combined with the bright production makes this track work incredibly well.
4/5
4
Jan 09 2025
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I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail
Buck Owens
14/1001
This is quite an interesting little album with a great variety within it track list from sombre ballads to fun rockabilly-country so. I’ve always been a fan of the classic 50s - 70s period of country music ever since I first heard about Johnny Cash, and though Buck Owens is quite different in his style and approach I’m impressed by his range. The obvious standouts are the title track (which I must admit is a bad album opener considering the tone of most of the album), Trouble and Me and Streets of Laredo. The latter of these showcasing Owens’ lower register, which is really pleasant to hear.
3,5/5
4
Jan 10 2025
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Unhalfbricking
Fairport Convention
15/1001
I would consider myself a pretty big fan of the American folk and folk rock sound, and I’m therefore hugely disappointed that I’ve never heard of British folk-rock. Unhalfbricking was apparently the album, where Fairport Convention started to incorporate more British folk into their sound, and I really love it. The mix of it all is just pleasant and delightful to listen to. Though the A-side has some great tracks like the opener and A Sailor’s Life, the B-side is really where the album goes from good to great. Featuring a variety of more traditional folk tracks and electric ones, it’s most interesting moment is their almost Grateful Dead-esque jam on the traditional A Sailor’s Life. While Cajun Woman kicks off the B-side in electric fashion owing a great deal of its sound to Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, while incorporating more traditional folk instrumentation into the mix, making for one hell of a song. Overall this is a phenomenal album, that I’m glad I got to know.
4,5/5
5
Jan 11 2025
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Sea Change
Beck
16/1001
Besides the two first songs, this albums really doesn’t do anything. From start to finish it’s just a boring listen with a mix of different genres and influences. Not much to really say about this one
2/5
2
Jan 12 2025
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Red Headed Stranger
Willie Nelson
17/1001
Red Headed Stranger as a concept is quite interesting, and although it consists of a lot of individually decent songs the idea of repeat motifs kinda detracts from the A-sides quality. The B-side is more so where it gets interesting with more songs of traditional nature mixed in with a few instrumentals, it makes for a decent and warm listening. Though I would say the highs of the B-side never matches those of Time of the Preacher and Red Headed Stranger on the A-side.
3,5/5
3
Jan 13 2025
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Gris Gris
Dr. John
18/1001
I’m honestly at a loss for words with this record. I only know of Dr. John from Right Place Wrong Time, while thks is some trippy music, even for me and my favourite genre is stoner doom, but I kinda dig it.
My biggest gripe with the album is the production. The music is good, and so is the vocals, but the mix just sounds weird. The vocals sounds almost like it’s peaking making it feel out of place, which is a bit off putting, but not in the way that the music is off putting. That’s, however, not to say the music isn’t off putting in a good way, it’s voodoo vibe sound scary and mystic in an imaginative way playing across the boundaries of rock. Jump Sturdy is the album’s most straightforward song (also the only song, where Dr. John’s vocals sounds mixed correctly), and is much more in line with the funk of Right Place Wrong Time, and I think it gives the album a nice place to breathe before the climax of the seven and a half minutes long I Walk on Guilded Splinters.
4/5
4
Jan 14 2025
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Seventeen Seconds
The Cure
19/1001
This is a very different listen to what I’m usually into. I’ve never really been much of a fan of goth or post punk, but there is some great moments of the album. I really dig Play For Today and A Forest, especially the ending where the drums are just beating by themselves. I think the atmospheric elements of the album really added to the overall experience of the album even though I’m not much of a fan of the vocal style in general.
I would say this is a pretty good album even if I don’t think it has any amazing songs, it pretty much lacks any complete duds aswell.
3,5/5
4
Jan 15 2025
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At Fillmore East
The Allman Brothers Band
20/1001
At Fillmore East is without a doubt the pinnacle of the Allman Brothers Band’s career. Consisting of 7 songs recorded live at the Fillmore East, with a good chunk of the set being unreleased tracks like Statesboro Blues, while the previously released tracks like In Memory of Elizabeth Reed or Whipping Post are extended jams allowing the band room to breath. Of course the extended jams can at times drag on a bit, though the high level of musicianship by the band generally makes sure that they avoid such blemishes, and they always seems to have a guitar or organ solo in the back pocket to spice things up whenever they drag on for a bit too long. Where they lose their focus a bit is on Hot ‘Lanta, which compared to the rest of the material is just a bit uninteresting, and is in desperate need of some lyrics to keep my retention.
There is a reason why this is regarded as one of the greatest live albums of all time, songs like Statesboro Blues, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed and Stormy Monday as well as the always exceptional Whipping Post are definitely the real deal and some of the greatest guitar songs ever. It’s also worth pointing out, this is acquired taste, where you need to be in the right mood and have the time to listen to some of these behemoths of tracks.
4,5/5
5
Jan 16 2025
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If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears
The Mamas & The Papas
21/1001
Getting the obvious out of the way, California Dreamin’ is one of the greatest folk rock songs ever and the rest of the album sadly doesn’t hold a candle to its quality and warmth.
Now that’s not to say the rest is bad. Far from it Straighter Shooter is a wonderfully uptempo song with a great guitar riff, and in a similar vein is Somebody Groovy. Monday, Monday is another great song. Simple and mellow and it just works. Apart from a few other songs, there sadly isn’t much else to write home about. Some uninteresting attempts, leaving the rest a bit disappointing.
3,5/5
3
Jan 17 2025
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This Is Hardcore
Pulp
22/1001
This is really interesting, while the glam rock influences are obvious and inspire some great tunes, their britpop origins aren’t forgotten, an example being I’m A Man consisting of almost stereotypical britpop riffing and guitar tone, which fits so well with the glam rock. I think the highlight of the album is the title track itself. The intro until the vocals start is brilliant and it’s slow crescendo just works.
4/5
4