Jan 19 2025
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Reggatta De Blanc
The Police
5
Jan 20 2025
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Lost In The Dream
The War On Drugs
It’s like Bryan Adams with a pedalboard
3
Jan 21 2025
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Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
This was not a bad album, but it sounded like meat loaf and the velvet underground collabed.
2
Jan 22 2025
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Electric Ladyland
Jimi Hendrix
I was a huge hendrix fan growing up, but somehow never listened to this full album. It's "raw" compared to some of the others, but that's what rock and roll is supposed to be all about.
4
Jan 23 2025
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Murmur
R.E.M.
REM was already popular when I “discovered” them my freshman year of high school. I hated them. This was when the automatic for the people album launched. Shiny happy people was awful. Stand was the most derivative thing I’d ever heard (as a young teenager). This album, however, was not bad. It embodies “college” rock.
3
Jan 24 2025
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Diamond Life
Sade
JFC, how many babies were born 9 months after this album came out. If you don’t like this, you don’t like sex. This album is probably called diamond life due to all the engagement rings people threw at her during her shows.
4
Jan 25 2025
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Exodus
Bob Marley & The Wailers
REM was already popular when I “discovered” them my freshman year of high school. I hated them. This was when the automatic for the people album launched. Shiny happy people was awful. Stand was the most derivative thing I’d ever heard (as a young teenager). This album, however, was not bad. It embodies “college” rock.
4
Jan 26 2025
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In It For The Money
Supergrass
Are these guys British? How did this come out in 1997, when I was literally a college radio DJ, and I’ve never heard them? Anyway, good stuff. Love the random moog synths and other psychedelic FX.
4
Jan 27 2025
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It's A Shame About Ray
The Lemonheads
As a gen Xr, you can’t think of lemonheads without thinking of their cover of Ms Robinson. Back when mtv was a thing, this song was on heavy rotation during the alternative time slot. It goes without saying that it's a banger. I never gave the rest of the album a listen, aside from the track “my drug buddy” which is great. I also recognized the main guitar parts from the title track which is also OK, as is the rest of the album now that I think about it. Not really my jam.
3
Jan 28 2025
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Odessey And Oracle
The Zombies
Sorta reminds me of the Beatles in their psychedelic phase. Although I am staunchly in the Stones camp in the age old "Stones or Beatles" conversation starter, I do like them a lot better after they discovered acid. All this to say, I dig this album a lot. This would be a good album to listen to while hanging out by the pool, or cooking, or working on a motorcycle.
4
Jan 29 2025
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Home Is Where The Music Is
Hugh Masekela
If you don't like this album, you don't like jazz. And I can confidently say that I don't like jazz.
2
Jan 30 2025
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Highway 61 Revisited
Bob Dylan
I know a lot of people give Dylan a hard time about having a shit voice, but I really dig it. It's instantly recognizable. You know it's Bob Dylan when you hear Bob Dylan. How many artists can you say that about? Listen here, I know what you're going to say, "I always know Led Zep when I hear them!" Well did you know that "Lonely is the night" was actually Billy Squier? Checkmate, bitches. Dylan is a songwriter without peer and he's got a unique voice. This is a fantastic album. The only reason I'm not giving this 5 stars is because of all the harmonica. Harmonicas and bagpipes can fuck right off.
4
Jan 31 2025
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Superfuzz Bigmuff
Mudhoney
This album is called Superfuzz Bigmuff. Those are two of the most legendary guitar fuzz pedals of all time and boy do you hear them. The guitar tone on this album is FILTHY! I'm not sure about timelines here but my gut says that these guys paved the way for Nirvana in shaping the Seattle sound of the early 90s. Also, if you look closely at this album cover Mark Arm is playing a Hagstrom guitar. Hagstroms are Swedish. Vikings were Swedish. Vikings were metal. Therefore Mark Arm is metal. It's science.
4
Feb 01 2025
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MTV Unplugged In New York
Nirvana
I lived through Nirvana at the perfect time. I was in high school when Nevermind came out and changed “rock” music. Sure there were other alternative bands, but they weren’t commercially successful so if you wanted to check them out you had to buy their cd (pre internet and pre cd burners were the dark ages). Just prior to this performance, they had reached mainstream and I remember being sick of them (or maybe sick of the hype) so I didn’t really give it any attention. Listening to it now with objective ears- it’s good!
4
Feb 02 2025
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The Contino Sessions
Death In Vegas
If I ever need to walk through a precarious environment in slow motion, I hope this album is playing in the background.
2
Feb 03 2025
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Life's Too Good
The Sugarcubes
I once ordered a t-shirt from the band Sasquatch's website and it arrived with a return address name "music for pirates". If you are not familiar with Sasquatch, they're a stoner metal band that sound just like something a pirate would like. I mean, If I were about to go pillage, i'd want to be AMPED UP and I can think of no better way to get the adrenaline flowing than by blasting some badass stoner rock. Anyway, it got me thinking, bands do a really good job of aligning with culture. If you're a leather jacket wearing, motorcycle riding, guy- chances are you're a fan of metal. If you're a hippie type, then jam bands are probably your thing. Art resonates with us because we see ourselves in things that are not us. All this to say, I can't figure out who this music is for. Maybe you have to be Icelandic to understand the Sugarcubes, because I don't.
2
Feb 04 2025
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More Songs About Buildings And Food
Talking Heads
Aside from "take me to the river", I didn't recognize a single track on this album. However, I would have instantly known it was them... Defo the mark of a good band. And since I resonate most with guitars, I'ma call this album "jangly"
2
Feb 05 2025
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Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)
Loretta Lynn
You know how the preacher's kid is always the one that gets in the most trouble? The girl with the slutty mom is the bookish "good girl" in the class? Teenage rebellion is REAL! Well, I grew up in Nashville so the laws of adolescence prevented me from listening to country music (or wearing cowboy boots). I'd never listened to this album. It's great! Every contributing musician to this work is world class.
3
Feb 06 2025
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Vincebus Eruptum
Blue Cheer
Anyone: "Black Sabbath started heavy metal."
Some pedantic asshole: "Ackshuulllly, Blue Cheer were active in the 60s and Sabbath didn't come out till 1970."
To my ears, I don't hear any similarities between the two bands. Sure, there's a gnarly guitar tone on this album. But this guy plays nothing like Tony Iommi. If anything, the guitar work on this sounds more like Hendrix... in which case why not just say Jimi Hendrix started heavy metal if you're going to start naming random bands that chronologically came out before 1970.
If you want to say that these guys were an influence on somebody - The break beat bass lines about 2 minutes into "Parchment farm" sound exactly like "Hello, I love you." by the Doors... Oh god, here comes that pedantic asshole again. Yes, I know the Doors didn't have a bass player.
3
Feb 07 2025
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BEYONCÉ
Beyoncé
Meh.
2
Feb 08 2025
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Back To Black
Amy Winehouse
I want you to picture yourself throwing a dinner party. It's for college students. No wait, It's for college professors. No wait, it's for work colleagues. No wait, it's for your house warming in a new neighborhood. Actually, fuck it... it's for all of those people. Here's the catch... you want to seem cool. Well here's the record you're going to play. It's literally impossible to hate on Amy Winehouse because EVERYBODY recognizes real talent when they hear it.
5
Feb 09 2025
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The Cars
The Cars
Why do I feel funny when in my pants when I hear "Moving in Stereo" from this album? IYKYK DOGGLER! Seriously though, next time you listen to that track- pan between the left and right channels. Trust me, it's cool. The rest of the album is a damn-near masterpiece. If they had an extra guitar playing the keys parts instead it would be perfect, but that's just my own personal preference.
4
Feb 10 2025
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Butterfly
Mariah Carey
The talent is undeniable. Just not my kinda jam.
2
Feb 11 2025
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The Chronic
Dr. Dre
This is a desert island album for me... You know, you're stranded on a desert island and you can only take 10 albums with you? Well, I'd only get 4 because how do you choose between the first 6 Black Sabbath albums? So of the remaining 4, this would be one. You know who agrees with me on this? Duck, Mother fuck'n, Mouth and Booteny Lee Farnsworth, that's who.
5
Feb 12 2025
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Sister
Sonic Youth
I remember trying to be a Sonic Youth fan many times growing up in the 90s. For some reason, they were the alternative band's alternative band. They were; too cool for hits, they had a super cool style, they had Kim Gordon on bass, and let's be real- Sonic Youth is one of the best band names of all time. But I just could never click with them- the guitar work is just so... unpleasing to the ear.
2
Feb 13 2025
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Logical Progression
LTJ Bukem
If you would have played this album for me when I was ten years old and told me that this is what music would be like in the future I would have believed you. And you know what, you would have been right. However, as a citizen of the future, I can confidently say that we don't listen to this when we're cooking, or working out, or having futuristic sex orgys. We listen to this in the background of our video game load/ menu screens.
1
Feb 14 2025
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The Good, The Bad & The Queen
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
Does the title of this album/ band title mean that the queen is neither good nor bad? She's... neutral? She needs to be acknowledged, but not ascribed any sort of feelings either way? Well what a coincidence, that's exactly how I feel about this album. I don't really dislike this, but there isn's a single song that resonates with me.
2
Feb 15 2025
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Cosmo's Factory
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Bother me tomorrow, today I'll buy no sorrow.
I’m going to buy another guitar instead. Holy shit, John Fogerty can play.
4
Feb 16 2025
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Cut
The Slits
“Oh, I know this one!” I said to myself as I looked at this album cover. “These are those sisters that can’t play their instruments!”
Then I started listing to it and was all, “ok, the drummer and bass player are keeping time. The guitar is in tune. Vocals are weird, but in an artistic way. And this whole thing has been recorded and produced really well. No wait… I was thinking of the Shaggs”
So I had to go down the rabbit hole on this one. Turns out the singer is John Lydon’s stepdaughter which partially explains HOW this album got made. I also learned that music critics love this album. I also learned that Kurt Cobain loved this album. Personally, I can’t imagine a scenario in which I would want to give this another listen.
2
Feb 17 2025
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Dust
Screaming Trees
I remember trying to like this band back in the day. Teenager logic- Soundgarden or Alice in Chains are from the Pacific Northwest and they fucking rule so therefore every band from the Pacific Northwest must also rule. But, I just couldn't get into 'em. Only later in life did I become a fan of Mark Lanegan thanks to his stint in Queens of the Stone Age... So I'm glad this album came up in the rotation. Still not sure I would call myself Screaming Trees fan, but I'm glad I gave it another listen.
3
Feb 18 2025
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Dookie
Green Day
Does the accusation that Michael Jackson touched up kids make you like his music less? We'll come back to that in a second.
I first saw Green Day play at Lollapalooza just one day before their legendary mud fight set at Woodstock '94 that was ALL OVER MTV rotation that year. I thought they were awesome! If you could wear a CD out, I probably would have worn this one out. They went back on tour a year later in 1995, headlining larger venues, and I saw them at a proper arena. This time, however, I noticed something peculiar. I am not being hyperbolic when I say this... the crowd was 50% children. Like, 10 year old children. Was I there to watch modern punk rock or Disney on ice? I think there may have even been vendors walking around selling cotton candy for fucks sake! I know it shouldn't matter. I know that you should listen to music on it's own merit. Thriller will always be an awesome record no matter what Michael got up to. But from that day forward I could not hear them for anything other than a kid's band.
And you know what- the signs were there all along. This album is called Dookie, a word I've never heard an adult use. The biggest hit on this record is about jerking off. The last song on this album is literally just baby-talk. They were ALWAYS a kid's band.
2
Feb 19 2025
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Blood On The Tracks
Bob Dylan
As far as Dylan goes, this album feels a lot less catchy and a lot more ballady than some of the others. I'm not going to do the thing that everyone does where they say that Dylan's voice sucks, because I actually like his voice on the catchy songs. Ballady songs, however, not so much.
Side note: can we just say that putting some form of the word blood into the name of your album makes it 1000% cooler. Example:
Rolling stones - Let it bleed
RHCP - blood sugar sex magic
Slayer- Reign in Blood
Mastodon- Blood and Thunder
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
2
Feb 20 2025
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Pretenders
Pretenders
what do you call chicken breast strips that have been battered and are about to be fried?
Pretenders
Seriously, though... This album is legit!
4
Feb 21 2025
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Trafalgar
Bee Gees
Remember when Metallica put out those albums Load and Reload because they were growing as artists and didn't want to be stuck in the thrash metal, 10000 notes a second box? Everyone was like, we're here for the thrash metal. Can't you please just give us some thrash metal? You guys are really good at thrash metal. WTF is Lars playing? an empty beer keg instead of a snare drum? has Kirk gone... bluesy?
At first, I thought that's what was going on here. Like... the Bee Gees were tired of being stuck in the fun disco dancy box and set out to write an album with a bit more gravitas. Then I looked into it a bit and realized that the fun dance stuff didn't come until later, so now I don't know what to think.
I do like the fun disco dance stuff better, tho.
3
Feb 22 2025
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Pet Sounds
The Beach Boys
I've got no notes about this album musically. It's perfect. Not a single wasted note.
Instead I'm going to tell a quick true story. One day I randomly sat next to this super quirky, super friendly girl at a work thing whom we'll call "G". "G" and I became fast friends. She was one of the most outgoing people I'd ever met. Through her I met "M". Through "M" I met "H". One day I was hanging out with "H" and she introduced me to her former roommate "R". I married "R" and we have a beautiful family together. I often wonder how different my life would be if I'd randomly sat next to someone else that day at work.
Anyway, this album is kinda like that story. The Beatles apparently wrote Sgt. Pepper because they wanted to write something as good as Pet Sounds. Sgt. Pepper inspired Ozzy Ozzborne to pursue music. Black Sabbath inspired every metal, grunge, & hardcore band ever. So... I often wonder what music would be like if this album was never made.
5
Feb 23 2025
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Architecture And Morality
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
I love it when you hear songs that sound like other songs and wonder if they influenced each other. The main synth part on Extended souvenir from this album sounds a lot like the main synth part from bizarre love triangle by new order.
2
Feb 24 2025
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Sea Change
Beck
There’s never a good time for anyone over the age of 25 to do a flip. Nobody wants to see an adult show off.
Sometimes I listen to an album and it feels like showing off. The artist writes some poignant songs and brings in some stringed instruments and slows everything down, carefully choosing each arrangement. And it's objectively good, but not what I showed up for. Sea Change feels like a cloying attempt to be taken seriously. I would argue that it takes just as much talent to write Loser, for example, which is literally just a random string of words that have no meaning.
Maybe I'm just a heartless asshole who has never broken up with somebody that I truly loved. Yea, that's probably it. The Beastie Boys made a similar move with Check Your Head (ditching samples for instruments) and I love it. I guess I just don't like sentimental music that much.
2
Feb 25 2025
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Songs For Swingin' Lovers!
Frank Sinatra
I can't imagine a scenario that wouldn't be improved by having this on in the background. Cooking? Check. Palm Springs Pool Party? Check. The end credits of a rom-com? check. Swingin'? DOUBLE CHECK. Speaking of, would you just look at this album cover? An apparition of 'ol blue eyes creepily looking at a couple that's clearly seconds away from get'n it on. I wonder if Diarrhea Planet wrote the song Ghost With a Boner about this album cover.
4
Feb 26 2025
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Reign In Blood
Slayer
Somewhere lying within the fiber of my being, in the deep epigenetic recesses of my DNA, there is a part of me that yearns for a bar-fight, that yearns to swing the hammer of the gods on a battlefield, that yearns to hoist the black flag and commence to slitting throats. I am of Scandinavian lineage, so perhaps it's my long since diluted viking blood bubbling to the surface every now and again. I can't be the only one, either. Maybe all the toxic male masculinity in the modern world comes from our being the descendants of savages. If this sounds like you, here's your LIFE HACK of the day. Don't suppress those urges, bros! Put your headphones in and blast THIS ALBUM on 10 and go for a flat-out run or lift some heavy objects while doing so. For me, it scratches the pillage-itch and I can go back to being the gentle and devoted father and husband that I strive to be day to day. Remember: Slayer + some fitness = a safe and happy Mrs.
5
Feb 27 2025
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Paris 1919
John Cale
Damn, I love it when I get an album I've never heard. Just look at this rascal... you can tell this guy knows his way around a clit. There's a 100% chance a few of these less jaunty songs will make it onto my "the kids aren't home" (aka boner jamz) playlist.
3
Feb 28 2025
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Skylarking
XTC
I suspect that most of us can't think about the band XTC without also thinking about the song "Dear God". For me- It came out in a time of my life when I was literally a Catholic schoolboy. Hearing it for the first time had me clutching my proverbial pearls. Was this satanic? It didn't sound anything like the satanic panic bands of the era. But the song was so catchy. So goddamn catchy. It felt so wrong to love the song as much as I did (do). Eventually the lyrics began to resonate and I started to examine my own personal belief system. Sooner or later everyone needs to accept that change is hard, but there is no growth without change. So I think I owe a lot to this band for this song alone.
I don't know if XTC is still making music but we could sure use a few more songs in the same vein. Here's a few suggestions:
Dear responsibility - the drinking bone's connected to the drug bone.
Dear political ideology - maybe I shouldn't be voting on whether or not Einstein got his math right.
Dear bewildered - trying and failing is still progress.
4
Mar 01 2025
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Kind Of Blue
Miles Davis
Jazz sets me on edge. I know it's considered by many to be the only true American art-form so I'm probably being un-patriotic when I say that I dislike it. But there is something about this album that resonates with me. I can't hear the trumpet on this album without evoking a dimly lit, smoke filled, prohibition era jazz club where everyone is dressed to the nines and swigging martinis. The sound is cloying, but it a genuine way- And yes, cringe alert*, I'm about to reference a James Baldwin novel when I say it reminds me of the sax player in "Another Country" when he's repeating "do you love me?" through his instrument over and over.
*For some reason it feel pompous for white dudes to quote James Baldwin, IDK why...
3
Mar 02 2025
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Deja Vu
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Oh hell yes. I love it when I get an album I already dig. You know that scene in the lord of the rings that goes like:
Aragorn: "you have my sword!"
Gimli: "you have my axe!"
Legolas: "you have my bow!"
I picture the formation of this band as follows:
Crosby: "you have my guitar!"
Stills: "you have my guitar!"
Nash: "you have my guitar!"
Young: "you have my guitar!"
4
Mar 03 2025
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Cee-Lo Green... Is The Soul Machine
Cee Lo Green
Did y'all see that solid gold outfit he wore at that one award show? If you don't know what I'm talking about go ahead and give it a google. Why didn't anyone say Cee-3P-Lo? It was right there!
Anyway- IDK why, but I feel like I'm supposed to be giving this album a haughty critique, but I like the overall vibe of this. So I'll say "Bonne Surprise" which just means "pleasantly surprised", but in French so that I can keep up my streak of being pretentious edgelord.
3
Mar 04 2025
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Innervisions
Stevie Wonder
This came out in '73. Stevie was born in in 1950. By my math, he was 23 when this was released... Could you imagine creating something this good as such a young age? Well here's the thing- it was his SIXTEENTH album by that point. JFC... just... JFC.
4
Mar 05 2025
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Something/Anything?
Todd Rundgren
This is a tough write-up... I vacillated between being bored, to holy shit that was a pretty sweet guitar riff. I loved elements of this, but when you put it all together it's kinda mid for me. Grits... this is sorta like grits for me. I don't hate grits. Now grits with salt and butter? Better! Kosher salt and Irish butter? Even better! But at the end of the day I'd prefer hash browns.
3
Mar 06 2025
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The Man Machine
Kraftwerk
Every time I listen to a new record I'm always thinking about what setting the music would be perfect for. Is this a cooking album? Is this a chilling by the pool album? Crafting? Anyone else do this? The only activities I'm coming up with on this one are: Hacking into a mainframe, piloting a spaceship, and dancing the robot. Since I rarely do these activities, I probably wont be revisiting this album much in the NEAR future.
PS- Can I just say that these guys got a lot about the future right:
"The Robots" is clearly about AI
"The Model" is clearly about social media influencers
"The Man-Machine" is a all too accurate commentary about how our smart devices have become an extension of, and thus intermeshed with, our personalities.
2
Mar 07 2025
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Songs The Lord Taught Us
The Cramps
Can figure out what size pilot jets to install in the carburetor to make your vintage motorcycle idle better? Listen to this album.
Worried that you can't muster the courage to pick up the phone and ask out your crush? Listen to this album.
Can figure out how to resolve the main conflict in the great American novel you're writing? Listen to this album.
Want to be a better guitar player? Listen to this album.
This isn't music, it's a marinade. You soak yourself in it and you become at least 50-75% better at doing cool shit.
Don't believe me on this one? Well try this experiment- put in your headphones, hit play on this bad-boy, and go for a walk down a crowded city street. If you don't feel like the main character in a Tarantino flick I'll eat my hat (mesh-back trucker style, natch).
4
Mar 08 2025
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So
Peter Gabriel
I'll take "Albums I got from Columbia house for a penny, Alex."
Solid bangers on this, obviously. I do, however, feel like the studio ordered 45 minutes of music and Pete was tapped out of creativity at 25. It's taking everything I've got to not drive down to the local swap meet to buy a fedora and a faux-Damascus steel butterfly knife that I expertly flip around before writing "Peter Gabriel So... More like Peter Gabriel So So" into my keyboard and walking away.
4
Mar 09 2025
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Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches
Happy Mondays
The song "bob's yer uncle" is the sexy track? I know that "Bob's yer uncle" is a way of saying "problem solved" in merry old. In the American south Uncle + Sexy time = very much a problem. Good thing I have such a refined cultural palette so that I can catch these idiosyncrasies. I also know that fanny is NOT slang for ass in England. I bet that's going to come in handy as I continue to listen to this. Sorry if I'm rambling but if you also just listed to this I bet you're used to the feeling.
3
Mar 10 2025
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Guero
Beck
"Que' onda Guero" is Mexican slang for "what up whitey?" I'm telling you this because I took two years of high school Spanish, a very ill fated run on duo-lingo, and have Mexican-American friends and never knew that. I feel like that should be some day one shit, and not something you learn from a Beck album title track.
Musically, I find this album to be peak Beck. There's so many interesting things going on instrumentally and lyrically. This is definitely one I'm glad I re-listened to through headphones.
Bonus- That's Christina Ricci saying "please enjoy" in "Hell Yes"
5
Mar 11 2025
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Natty Dread
Bob Marley & The Wailers
There was a time in my life when I can remember not liking Bob Marley. I went to college in a smaller town in Tennessee and it seemed that a lot of my peers were going through their own musical awakenings. Maybe that's typical for any college age kid, but holy shit Bob Marley was everywhere. I think we get a lot of our identity through the kind of music we listen to and Bob hits the intersection of "culturally worldly" and the whole "good vibes only" scene. I can't tell you how many cats named Marley I encountered during that era. It was overwhelming... Anyway, glad I was able to get over that.
4
Mar 12 2025
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Bryter Layter
Nick Drake
I wasn't familiar with this album aside from "one of those things first" which I probably heard in the background of a Wes Anderson movie. No hate for this vibe, it's chill.
2
Mar 13 2025
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Hunky Dory
David Bowie
One time when my daughters were toddlers I made them some shirts featuring their favorite music. One of them was a "David Bowie, Oh you pretty things!" shirt in a cute rainbow font. My wife posted a pic on social media and some twat insinuated that I was a band shirt bootlegger. It was that day that I decided that facebook will be downfall of western civilization. Anyway, this album is great.
4
Mar 16 2025
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The Modern Lovers
The Modern Lovers
Well, some people try to pick up girls
And get called assholes
This never happened to Pablo Picasso
He could walk down your street
And girls could not resist his stare and so
Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole
I can really get behind this message. You don't have to be good looking, you just have to be an artist. And, that can be cultivated. Artists have to have confidence.
3
Mar 17 2025
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Planet Rock: The Album
Afrika Bambaataa
WTF is this? The village people in space?
Just kidding. Of course i know this album. I've often thought that the reason I love grunge music so much is because the guitars sound so much like the guitars in my favorite band, Black Sabbath. Sort of like, you can tell the jar came from the well. I feel like this is the well for all hip hop.
3
Mar 18 2025
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After The Gold Rush
Neil Young
Not sure if this is actually the case, but is sounds to me like young Neil is singing the vocal track, then overdubbing it so that he harmonizes with himself for a lot of this album. It's especially prevalent on the "When you dance I can really love" song. For me, the thing I like the least about his music is his voice. But somehow, when you double it it gets better. I wonder if that trick works anywhere else in life... Shitty cat? Get another. Bland slice of pizza? why not have two? I've tried this trick with guitar ownership and it doesn't seem to work. I keep buying guitars but my skill doesn't seem to be improving.
3
Mar 19 2025
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Celebrity Skin
Hole
Did you know that Courtney Love's dad was the tour manager for the Grateful Dead? A lot of people in the 90s dismissed her as just riding Kurt Cobain's coat tails, but I'd say that she probably had the more credible rock and roll resume. In fact, Kurt apparently ODed the night of Nirvana's first appearance on Saturday Night Live and she had the wherewithal to revive him by sticking ice cubes up his ass to get the adrenaline flowing, something she'd seen it done so many times in her youth.
Anyway- "Hole was definitely not overrated" is something you don't hear a lot of gen-X males saying, but not me. I thought their first two albums were great. This one is alright.
3
Mar 20 2025
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Isn't Anything
My Bloody Valentine
Holy shit, I think they misspelled ears. My bloody ears. Please make it stop. It's clear this band has talent, but it feels like they're intentionally trying to be contrarian or something. Almost as if they're too cool for hits.
1
Mar 22 2025
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Raw Power
The Stooges
I love it when I get an album that I had in the before times. You know, before they were all free and you could just stream them out of the ether without having to make a trip somewhere and exchanging cash money.
4
Mar 23 2025
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Crime Of The Century
Supertramp
I feel like this is an album that can only be enjoyed in soft times. It's like, too whimsical to be enjoyed in 2025.
2
Mar 24 2025
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No Other
Gene Clark
I cant really think of anything clever to say about this album. It reminded me of a cross between the beach boys and... Dylan maybe?
2
Mar 26 2025
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The Beach Boys Today!
The Beach Boys
I once had this dog that I'd had since he was a puppy. Once day, a couple years into my owing this dog he saw a bird and went into a perfect "point" stance, alerting me of it's direction just in case I wanted to shoot it. How did he know how to do this? I'm not hunter. I had not taught him how to do that stance?
What I had witnessed was epigenetic response. Somewhere in that dog's lineage was a bird dog that had been taught by a human to point out prey. That somehow got encoded into the dogs DNA for future generations. Really crazy right? We teach a dog how to do something and it sticks with them for future generations.
I've often wondered if the reason I like the Beach Boys is because my dad liked the Beach Boys. Was the fondness passed down in my genes? Here I am, a total metal head... And I'm all, "oh yea, give me that doo wop style vocal harmonization."
4
Mar 27 2025
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A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse
Faces
Blind Horse would have been a cooler name for the band. Aside from that, what's not to like about this?
3
Mar 28 2025
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Apple Venus Volume 1
XTC
I feel like I've run out of clever things to say about XTC. I once heard that the singer has awful stagefright, so they don't tour much.
3
Mar 30 2025
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Immigrés
Youssou N'Dour
Remember that scene in the US version of the show The Office where Michel Scott comes back from an all inclusive Jamaica trip with a braid and beads in his hair? He feels worldly and changed by his travel experience to Sandals. I feel like if I were to play this album at a party It would be a similar cringefest. This feels like it's not for me, which is a total shame because this is really good.
3
Mar 31 2025
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Rings Around The World
Super Furry Animals
I wish I was able to find the "original" version of this and not the 20th anniversary that's 3 hours long...
2
Apr 01 2025
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Arrival
ABBA
When I was a kid I set a challenge to myself to see what would happen if I ate 1 piece of every kind of halloween candy in my bag. It was fun at first... then I felt sick. ABBA is like that. I like them in small doses, but a whole album makes me want to barf by the time I get to the end.
3
Apr 02 2025
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Pretzel Logic
Steely Dan
Prior to Steely Dan, Fagan and Becker were in a band called Leather Canary. Guess who played drums in that band? Chevy Chase. I've heard that Chevy is a dick in real life... It's a shame he wasn't in this iteration of the band that put out this album. It feels like It could use a bit of the rough. WTF is this toodle-oo bullshit?
3
Apr 03 2025
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Lust For Life
Iggy Pop
Somehow I ended up in a mixed musical marriage. My wife and I have a lot of overlap in terms of bands we like, but there is also a ton of stuff I like that she doesn't. It can become problematic from time to time because there is ALWAYS music on in our house. I never get to put on Slayer when cooking dinner, but on the flip-side I also never have to listen to the Indigo Girls. This album feels like a loophole. I know she's not the biggest Iggy Pop fan, but I can lie and say that it's a Bowie album. Talk about sneaky compromise!
4
Apr 04 2025
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Disraeli Gears
Cream
Apparently one of the roadies wanted a bike with derailleur gears and called it Disraeli Gears by mistake. So, just to clown this poor guy, they named this album Disraeli Gears. Seems pretty rock and roll to me.
4
Apr 05 2025
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The Low End Theory
A Tribe Called Quest
Dogs have no sense of rhythm. I suppose animals, in general, don't have a sense of rhythm but I can PROVE that dogs don't. How, you say? Well I took my dog for a walk with a bluetooth speaker playing this album and he didn't bob his head once.
4
Apr 06 2025
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Run-D.M.C.
Run-D.M.C.
Boy do they have a sound! And it's whatever drum machine they used on this.
2
Apr 07 2025
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São Paulo Confessions
Suba
I don't have a lot of notes on this... Give this a shot along with say, Serge Gainsbourg, if you're a boring white dude living in the suburbs and you want to feel culturally expansive.
3
Apr 08 2025
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Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
OutKast
Everyone has that friend. He's kinda funny at times, but overall he's a dick and he's got super strong political and religious beliefs that he's always going on about. Eventually, you decide that on the whole you'd prefer not to hang around him all the time. I sorta feel like that with this album. There are some BANGERS on here for sure, but there's also like 30 tracks that are unlistenable.
3
Apr 09 2025
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The Who Sell Out
The Who
When I was a teenager in the 1990s I stumbled across my dad's old record collection. This album was in the mix. His only comment, "I got it for that miles and miles song." I guess my dad had pretty good taste back in the day.
3
Apr 10 2025
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AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
Ice Cube
Goes hard, what's not to like about this?
3
Apr 11 2025
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Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
Lucinda Williams
I started to type something snarky like. "Where else would the car wheels be?" But then I remembered that cars do better on asphalt.
2
Apr 15 2025
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American IV: The Man Comes Around
Johnny Cash
What are the odds I get this very album just a couple days after seeing the comedian Jim Jeffries at the Ryman Auditorium, with his opening joke being about Johnny Cash being a "shit musician"? He was almost booed off the stage until he made the point that most people like the idea of Johnny Cash more than they like his music. People have bought more middle finger t-shirts then they have albums. There may be some truth to that, but this album proves that he's the real deal.
4