Liked this more than I expected to, Time of the Season is a classic but my favorite track has to be Maybe After He's Gone. This guy is down bad

Absolutely zero onramp, just BB King immediately kicking your ass 10 seconds in. It's worth noting that such a morbid topic as chronic depression in the hands of BB King can somehow form an electrifying opening track. We get to slow down a bit during Sweet Little Angel and It's My Own Fault, but without the energy of the first track I wouldn't appreciate the second two as much. Masterful live audience energy direction on display. One thing that surprised me is how well balanced this is between vocals, instruments and the crowd noise. So many live albums overindex on crowd noise, which is understandable especially for older recordings or when an artist isn't great live. Fortunately BB King absolutely shreds live so they were able to feature that prominently while still capturing the background intimacy of audience reactions and acoustics of The Regal. I've never studied the history/etymology of Diss Tracks but hearing this rendition of How Blue Can You Get has me considering that this may be a formative entry in diss lore. It is my first time listening to this, and much of my overall value system for albums stems from how often I think about an album or find myself reaching for it consistently. Hard to tell what the revisit future holds here, which makes rating it confounding. I will say the overall flow and cohesiveness of this album makes it ideal for throwing on during dinner entertaining, or post dinner digestif libations. Hard to tell if I'm prone to hyperbole amidst so much disaster and catastrophe because I want things to be better than they are as a salve, but I really dig this. Conversely, it's hard to tell if I am somewhat numb to greatness because of the ubiquity and ease of access to art in the internet era. Probably would rate this a 3.75 but rounding up to 4.

not my cup of tea, the cover art and album title had me thinking it would be better than it was. Strikes and Gutters dude

This is not the type of joke I find funny. The nicest, most approachable & intellectual person you can imagine could pitch this album to me and I would tell them to piss off. Don't you dare tell me it is avant-garde or some shit. Any asshole can make noise, call it art and then cringelord hipster bros will pretend it's simply too experimental/innovative to be appreciated by mainstream audiences. They called this album a "a truly challenging listening experience" while still lauding it as some sort of boundary-pushing triumph. Which is a republican ass way to frame an unnecessary slog through shit as virtuous. No. This album is just bad, I feel bad for wasting my time listening to it and so should you.

this is the good shit

Love Joni, but this album is forgettable for me. I tend to agree with critical reception from the era regarding her amazing lyricism being diluted / overshadowed by the experimental jazz stylings.

Had zero idea what to expect but I enjoyed this. Frankie's First Affair and Sally sound like the soundtrack to a romcom with a noir detective as a main character. Not sure how much I'll reach for this in the future but discovering it was fun and interesting.

what else is there to say? this album rips

I respect the artistic choices being made and appreciate that this album exists, but it's not necessarily one I'm reaching to play again or picking up on vinyl.

This shit rules. To be truly great you need both amazing beats/production and a master rhymer/writer and Gang Starr has both. Quintessential OG NYC / east coast hip hop. Hard to Earn and Moment of Truth might technically be “better,” albums, and consequently more widely recognized/lauded, but Step in the Arena is more pure and could be my favorite of theirs. Check The Technique wasn’t a single but was a flag planted in the evolution of diss technology. While others may have been effectively executing more surface-level diss work at the time dueling with swords, Guru was out there with an anti aircraft turret. There are plenty of classic slights thrown at haters here, but the nuance with which Guru dares others to explore why his technical prowess simply leaves them in the dust is next-level. I imagine if the Kendrick vs. Drake beef was happening in the nineties Drake would have been most sad about being denounced by Guru, not as a function of his fame but because his music is cool in a way that isn’t forced and seems mythical to Drake. There are a few minor places where I personally think they could have used a tad bit more tightening in the edit but not enough to make me rate this less than a 5. Some of the roughness makes it endearing and lends to the nostalgia value of listening in 2025.

*scratches head*

Not my favorite Taylor but still a good pop album.

Never been one much for Queen. I respect other people's love for them, but it's not really something I'm seeking out. Some compelling guitar shredding on this one elevates it to a 2 for me, but otherwise a generally forgettable/milquetoast glam rock experience.

there needs to be music you can play in the background of weird backwoods museums, and this fits that bill perfectly. 3.75 honestly would listen again

I mean shit. Wu-Tang forever

Wasn't previously very hip to Stevie Wonder, to my great shame. This album is awesome. You Haven't Done Nothin' is incredible.

The Fucken' Eagles, Man! Genuinely good rock n roll that I dig, unfortunately how ubiquitous and overplayed some of these songs are dilutes their true value and the listening experience of this album.

I generally dig Common's work, 6th Sense is one of my favorite hip-hop songs of all time, but listening to this album front-to-back in 2025 was a confounding experience. It is jarring to hear someone who is so clearly in tune with and supportive of the struggle to liberate oppressed people causally use slurs. I mean there is a tribute track to Assata Shakur on here for fuck's sake, and the album cover itself plus countless other lyrics I could point to that makes the glaring homophobia seem even more bizarre and out of place. It bums me out to rate this so low, but I also see the argument for giving it a 1 despite all the redemptive qualities.

Memory and nostalgia are strange things. The vividness of youth often fades with age and the rollercoaster of modern life. But hearing this album, especially after time away, viscerally teleports me back to younger days. I can see and feel my younger self in these lyrics and the uncut splendor of Green Day's early sound. Some hardcore punks will shit on Green Day for being over commercialized and especially them "selling out" on their later albums, but I am not a hardcore punk. I'm a kid who grew up snowboarding and Dookie was the perfect foundation for a soundtrack to the unbridled freedom that comes from participating in an anti-establishment subculture than involves hurtling down steep hills with little regard for personal safety or public decency. I love this shit.

Listening to Steely Dan makes me feel like I'm placidly wasted careening around somewhere like Palm Springs with wiley perma-partying boomers I just met. Which is, as they say, a great vibe but unfortunately this album doesn't have any of my favorite songs by them which makes this sound like a big glob of Steely without any remarkable standouts. Not surprising this didn't have any single, still a fun listen though.

not very appealling to me

I liked this album when I first heard it, and still like it today. I get it if Coldplay isn't some people's speed, but I maintain that they're overly maligned.