It’s Pixies: soft-LOUD-soft-LOUD. Amelodic shrieking. Sneering lyrics. The band is always at their best when they’re doing deranged 60s pop. See: Nirvana, Weezer. It’s hard to listen now without putting the whole of rock music from grunge to now in context as post-Pixies. The screaming punk songs sound dated, not able to scare my parents any more. Record sounds AWESOME. I can hear every time a pick touches a guitar string and every high hat splash and bass drum kick burrow into my head. It’s no Doolittle, but what is? Boobies.

Ballads are straight 70s cheese, hits are good but hard to listen with having heard them 10000 times. Still, undeniable talent and quality music. Would be better with Screaming Man Chorus.

It’s Pixies: soft-LOUD-soft-LOUD. Amelodic shrieking. Sneering lyrics. The band is always at their best when they’re doing deranged 60s pop. See: Nirvana, Weezer. It’s hard to listen now without putting the whole of rock music from grunge to now in context as post-Pixies. The screaming punk songs sound dated, not able to scare my parents any more. Record sounds AWESOME. I can hear every time a pick touches a guitar string and every high hat splash and bass drum kick burrow into my head. It’s no Doolittle, but what is? Boobies.

It’s hard to listen objectively when I’m sobbing uncontrollably and getting lost in Colin’s voice. One of my all-time favorite records. The only real questions worth pursuing: is Butcher’s Tale a good song? (A good song no, but it’s surprisingly effective. Puts me in some sort of evil trance). Should TotS have been on this record? (I vote no. Great song, but it stands out both because of overplay and very different sound from the rest of the album). It’s funny that The Beatles get all the credit for doing the R&B->bubblegum->psychedelic rock pioneers thing, but the Zombies did it, in fewer recordings, skipping the bubblegum stage, and were often better. The Beach Boys skipped R&B and made one classic album. Give me Odessey over Pet Sounds or Sgt Pepper’s any day of the week. This is a 5-star album and anyone who says otherwise is a BUFFOON. I’m looking at you, phlops.

BB is in fine voice, as good as any period in his career. The band is absolutely on point- props to the drummer and bass man. The crowd is eating out of his hand, which isn’t surprising seeing the level of playing on display. It’s difficult to put in perspective now how revolutionary his one-string blues playing would have been in 1965, now that every John Mayer goofball plays that way too. It’s sometimes hard to not want to just switch to another recording though. “How Blue Can You Get” at Cook County Jail is one of the most powerful blues recordings ever, this version pales in comparison. Big-band blues has never been my favorite. The best tracks are without the full band and focus more on the legendary guitar and singing.

Cool drum sound in most of the songs, but repetitive track-to-track. Nice and swaggery, though it seems like that was the end of the inspiration. Unless you’re The Cars, New Wave singing is always the WORST. I could have been happy hearing “Dog Eat Dog” or “Feed Me to the Lions” in a playlist without ever listening to the whole record. Ugh. After reading the Wikipedia page I see that the drum sound is ripped uncredited from African musicians and the Native American fetishization stands out even more. Yuck.

…what the shit? This sounds like improvisational jazz (not a good thing) played by people taking many drugs of varying effects. I tried to zone out and let the lack of melody stir up something in my brain, and I kinda got there, but the same could be said of sitting in silence or listening to radio static. And it would be less exhausting.

New Wave music is inherently dweeby. Some bands build an entire career out of “look, we’re dweebs!” and it’s grating (Talking Heads), but there’s an alchemy where being the right kind of dweeby becomes cool (The Cars). This is monster riffs, bangin’ drums, big harmonies, and lyrics about girls not being interested that happens to be played on relatively new synths and processed to sound like robots made a Clash record. It just works. The radio singles are near-perfect. And there’s a bunch of them. Unfortunately “I’m in Touch With Your World” heads to goofy Talking Heads land.

I want to like Joni, I really do. But I don’t care for beat poetry, and this is just beat poetry with smooth jazz musicians noodling along. She’s got a pretty voice, and most of this would be totally inoffensive piped over the speakers in a grocery store.

Man, sexy sax and electric piano are just a little too smooth sometimes. I guess once you’re old enough to appreciate Steely Dan, you kinda have to open your mind. The most 80s production I’ve ever heard. Surprised it’s not a Quincy Jones project. Nice and sexy, perfectly pleasant, not something I imagine I’ll come back to though?

The last great WS album, and a formative one for me. I love 60s garage rock, I love blues, obviously Jack does too. Some of the songs get pretty droney, but the attitude and passion and creative guitar playing make the whole record work. The lyrics seemed prophetic when I was 17, now they’re…good I think? I appreciate the variation in style from The White Stripes to Elephant. This record has far more going on than any of their earlier releases. I’ve never hated on Meg’s drumming like some do. It’s simple, it’s effective for the sound Jack wanted. Sure, she was a bit of a puppet in the band, but she does a great job with the task she was given. In 2003, the release of this sort of dirty guitar rock was sooooooo exciting. We still had to buy CDs to find new music! In the streaming era, I can listen to all kinds of throwback garage rock released in the last few years. The whole concept of a new style of music coming to the foreground seems antiquated. Knowing that Jack is an insufferable twat colors my opinion somewhat. Standout tracks: “I Want to be the Boy to Warm Your Mother’s Heart,” “Hypnotize,” “Gurl, You Have No Faith in Medicine” Ugh, please no: “Seven Nation Army,” the intro to “Little Acorns” High school me: five stars Old man me:

Janis saves Big Brother from being another boring-ass Bay Area acid rock group. They’re adequate, she’s electric. It kinda hurts to think what she coulda done with Booker T and the MGs behind her. We’ll sadly never know. The best songs are when the boys just lay down a groove and let Janis do her thing. The jams might be Jefferson Airplane, I can’t be certain. Everyone’s here for the same thing: hearing her bend a note until it breaks, and get so blue that words don’t even work (or matter). Overall, this is an uneven but at times great record. I’ll come back but I’ll choose the tracks.

This record is like a warm hug. Damon Gough has an incredible knack for melody, and at times lyrics. It’s experimental, but not annoying (besides Body Rap maybe?). This is carefully constructed weirdness. No two songs sound alike, and most don’t even use the same “instruments.” Lots of obsessively layered noise combine to make something that rewards multiple listens but isn’t excruciating to dig through. I’ve heard this record a thousand times and I was happy to hear it again today. I guess that means it gets a

Ugh. Too-cool hippies decide they’re smarter than everyone else in the room and record a bunch of masturbatory nonsense designed to freak out the squares. It’s parody music most of the time, and it’s not funny. I think it’s supposed to be funny. Weird Al for the acid generation.

I’m not really sure how to rate this album. It’s kinda cool music, but it sounds like I’m listening to a movie soundtrack. I wouldn’t choose to sit and listen to it, but I wouldn’t mind it on in the background while I’m doing something else.

Any album featuring Kenny Loggins and Kendrick Lamar has to get points for eclecticism. Unfortunately the whole record sounds like Kenny Loggins with naughty rap lyrics. Too smooth, too ridiculous, too boring. Thundercat can play the bass with the best of them, but his songwriting is not my thing.

Premier is consistently great. His beats are about as good as it gets. Love the jazz rap sound, and Premier and Q-Tip did it best. Guru has a great voice and a great flow, but he’s usually stuck in 90s battle-rap mode (and was across all of Gang Starr’s catalog). His best tracks are when he breaks out of that and tells a story or *gasp* a love story.

So this is a weird pop record. No songs under 3 minutes, and 4 of them over 6 minutes? Spoken interludes? Multi-movement songs? And is that… Werewolves of London I hear? I almost think there’s something cool happening here. You never know quite what’s coming next and some of the melodies are fun and catchy. Unfortunately I can’t get over the musical theater rambling song structures and goofy-ass singing. Not just goofy; often way out of tune. The production is very painfully 80s. “Come on Eileen” is no masterpiece but I think I’d rather listen to 12 of those trashy pop songs than this soundtrack to a movie that I haven’t seen.

Let’s have a moment of silence for Ray, Robby, and John. Serious musicians who thought they found a white whale in Jim Morrison. The girls loved him, he had a distinctive voice, he had all the preoccupations of a rock star. By 1970, the serious musicians had a greasy, out-of-breath, drunk pseudo-shaman in front of their band. I’m surprised they could get all these recordings in between naps or bottles of wine. That said, this record works most of the time. Roadhouse Blues is serviceable, but the live at MSG version really captures the sweaty out-of-control hedonism of the song. Peace Frog still hits hard, even if Jim doesn’t know the lyrics. Waiting for the Sun sounds great at high volume. Blue Sunday is a total misfire. There’s just one more thing I need to say WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON A NUMBAH TEEWWWWWWE COME BACK HOME AND MARRY YOU MARRY YOU MARRY YOU AWWWLRIGHT

Huh. I liked the sound of this immediately, and thought it was strange I’d never heard of the band or album. Wait a minute…is that Damon Albarn? Ohhhhhh ok. It’s another Albarn side project with Danger Mouse on the boards. Everything makes sense now. Perfectly catchy, sounds great on my stereo. Unfortunately not a lot to distinguish it from the million other rock star-DM collabs but I’ll keep listening and see if it pops.

I don’t know how to feel about Metallica. Some good stank face crunchy riffs, double kick drum is fun, but I really REALLY despise the overproduced metal sound in every solo. Makes me think I’m listening to Mannheim Steamroller. Hetfield’s got a great voice for this kind of music, but he doesn’t ever change the way he “sings.” So I guess points for practically starting this genre and producing a million copycats, but immediately removing points because I don’t want to listen to the same crunchy riffy style any longer?

Ugh. I guess I have to listen to an entire TSweezy record finally? This is the worst kind of disposable pop music. Produced by committee, enjoyed by masses of drooling children. Engineered to the lowest common denominator. The beats are catchy of course. They’re perfectly calibrated to sound good over the speakers in a Starbucks or in a VW ad or some fucking place. This isn’t music. It’s a commercial project to turn people into millionaires and millionaires into billionaires.

So it turns out before KISS was on shirts at Hot Topic and before Gene Simmons made a legendary ass of himself, they actually made music. I’ll be damned. Standard 70s cock rock but there were many other bands doing it better. Gimme Golden Earring, Bad Company, Foreigner, or even Aerosmith. Less makeup and less marketing budget in those though. The biggest problem for me is that KISS just isn’t any fun, despite their image. It’s almost like they’re taking themselves seriously, and I certainly can’t in 2025.

How do you rate music from this era? It really wasn’t designed for careful listening, it was for dancing or for parties where everyone was drinking Manhattans and smoking cigarettes. I love Frankie’s voice. The music is very well-arranged. “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” is one of the absolute best examples of the genre. So five stars for big-band 1950s vocal music, but it doesn’t make me feel much beyond mellowed out and wanting a smoke.

Some interesting stuff happening here. “Manenberg Revisited” has a really cool bass-driven polyrhythm that I loved. “The Wedding” is the most annoying sort of sax-driven smooth jazz.

Some very fine prog rock, if that’s your thing. Why have I never put Queen in the prog group? I dunno, never tried the full albums I guess. Everything here is carefully made, performed by virtuosos. There’s so much going on in each song it can get overwhelming, but focusing on one part inevitably means you find something interesting happening. Freddie and Brian aren’t my favorites, but damn those boys knew how to use their instruments. “Killer Queen” is an absolutely stunning song. I know I sound like a lame listener, but gimme the 3-minute bangers from Queen. Strip away a little excess and you’ve got a very talented rock band making complex and fun songs. “Tenement Funster” and “Now I’m Here” were nice surprises to me. The back half of the record gets way too cinematic/musical theater for my taste.

This Prince fella seems to know his way around a bedroom. If I were a dancing man, and if this were the 80s, this record would be the shit. Unfortunately I am not a dancing man and it’s not the 80s. These songs are cooler than I expected but I can’t handle just how 80s they sound most of the time. I know it was the Wild West of synthetic instruments, but damn. Prince could play, wish we coulda heard more of that. Also this album seems to be the basis of Bruno Mars’ entire career.

Another hard one for me to rate. Some very cool songs (“Ai Du” sounds like badass Delta Blues) but also some very repetitive tracks that probably are more Malian-influenced. To my ear there’s not a lot happening in many of the songs, but I also don’t understand the style or the words. I liked listening to this record though, even if I would have a hard time focusing on it as a listening experience.

Stunning, timeless, absolutely enchanting. A spare 28 minutes of barely-there music that somehow wrings every bit of emotion out of six strings and a whispery voice. The best thing I can compare this record to is a Salinger short story. It seems so simple, but can break your heart because it’s excruciatingly sad and beautiful in equal measure. You wish it were longer, but it’s exactly how long it should be. Anyway, wish you were still around Nick.

How have I never heard of these guys? Sometimes they sound like My Morning Jacket, sometimes Allman Brothers, sometimes later period Black Keys. I’m not a jam rock fan at all but these jams don’t go on too long or get too noodly. Really cool interplay between instruments. Dual lead guitars rock, I wish more bands had the chops to pull that off (maybe that’s why I think of the Allmans). The drummer needs a special shoutout. Damn. The production is fantastic; even with a lot going on I can hear every instrument clearly, even the bass doesn’t get lost in the mix. And it’s a good thing, because every player here deserves to be heard. Sometimes it still gets a little far out for me, but in the right mood that’s not a problem. Docked some points for barely being able to decipher the lyrics most of the time.

I swear I’ve heard this before in my local patchouli-scented emporium. Or maybe it was a yoga studio? I can’t listen to this music. New age harps and sitars make me unspeakably angry.

What can you say? If you don’t like this record, you don’t like 90s hip hop. This record is a masterpiece of grimy beats, violent scenery, crew-based battle raps, dark humor, and massive ego. The skits are tiresome after the first time, but they contribute to the feeling that this is a whole world you are stepping into. RZA’s world. Where every street corner has its own dope slinger, all the b-boys are strapped, Land Rovers stalk like predators, and….kung-fu. It’s pretty cool that 32 years later this music is still shockingly weird and immediate and fresh. RZA’s production style is like no one else, except for all the people who came after and wanted to be RZA. The MC talent is so ridiculously deep here that they already sounded like a supergroup on the first album. Anyway, if this isn’t a 5-star rap album, then there isn’t a 5-star rap album.

Stevie’s got talent coming out of his ears. His singing and playing (both on the keys and harp) are peerless. He probably doesn’t get enough credit for his “protest” songs, even though I really can’t stand that term. The uptempo songs on this record are fantastic. Unfortunately the ballads get samey and boring, which is a criticism I also have with the other classic Stevie records. There’s nothing objectionable on this album, and there are moments of greatness. On my scale, that makes it a

I know it’s fashionable to hate on the Eagles, but there’s not really much to hate. The production is too slick and the band members are twats, but that could be said about any number of 70s artists full of cocaine. This is still pretty good music, and the fusion of country music with LA sheen was probably pretty novel and exciting at the time. There are a couple of stone cold classics on this record and a bunch of serviceable rock. Good enough for a summer day, but lemme choose the tracks for a good listen.

Hm. I don’t get it. Very repetitive punk rock chords and vague nonsense lyrics. Some of the songs sound very cool for the intro, but there’s absolutely no excuse for them to go on for 4 to 7 minutes. It’s proto-noise rock I guess where you’re supposed to gain something from the repetition? Sadly I’m not able to do that.

I'm going to put aside my bias against the idea of Radiohead for this listen. Seriously. I will try. I'll try to ignore decades of critics telling me that every Radiohead album is the greatest thing ever made. I'm not even going to acknowledge the fact that a Thom Yorke fart sounds record would get 5 stars in Rolling Stone. I will NOT think about how skinny white British guys making grumpy faces were the basis of cool for much of my young life. For real. I kind of loved listening to this record. I tried it all the way through many times long ago, and never bought in. But for some reason, now it clicks. I dig the unconventional song structures and instrumentation. Thom’s voice is annoying sometimes, but I’m getting over that. The singles are badass and often find their way onto my playlists, but the other tunes also have moments of rock song perfection, even if they ramble a bit. I could do with about 50% less feedback. I know it was edgy at the time, but sheesh. Anyway, I “got it” enough to really enjoy listening today. I’ll be back for more and I wouldn’t be surprised if my personal rating climbs the more I let it sink in.