169
Albums Rated
3.03
Average Rating
16%
Complete
920 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
2000
Favorite Decade
Metal
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
14
5-Star Albums
12
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
Top Styles
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor
Lupe Fiasco
|
5 | 3.13 | +1.87 |
|
Cross
Justice
|
5 | 3.28 | +1.72 |
|
The Slim Shady LP
Eminem
|
5 | 3.29 | +1.71 |
|
Homework
Daft Punk
|
5 | 3.29 | +1.71 |
|
Bossanova
Pixies
|
5 | 3.38 | +1.62 |
|
Power In Numbers
Jurassic 5
|
5 | 3.48 | +1.52 |
|
Definitely Maybe
Oasis
|
5 | 3.53 | +1.47 |
|
Appetite For Destruction
Guns N' Roses
|
5 | 3.73 | +1.27 |
|
Dookie
Green Day
|
5 | 3.79 | +1.21 |
|
Siamese Dream
The Smashing Pumpkins
|
5 | 3.83 | +1.17 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Fat Of The Land
The Prodigy
|
1 | 3.4 | -2.4 |
|
Something Else By The Kinks
The Kinks
|
1 | 3.25 | -2.25 |
|
Screamadelica
Primal Scream
|
1 | 3.17 | -2.17 |
|
Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo
MC Solaar
|
1 | 3.1 | -2.1 |
|
Kick Out The Jams (Live)
MC5
|
1 | 2.91 | -1.91 |
|
A Hard Day's Night
Beatles
|
2 | 3.9 | -1.9 |
|
69 Love Songs
The Magnetic Fields
|
1 | 2.85 | -1.85 |
|
Graceland
Paul Simon
|
2 | 3.74 | -1.74 |
|
Movies
Holger Czukay
|
1 | 2.71 | -1.71 |
|
Birth Of The Cool
Miles Davis
|
2 | 3.64 | -1.64 |
5-Star Albums (14)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Ryan Adams · 3 likes
3/5
Generic pop country leads into vibey rock (Nobody Girl is a banger). The whole album is a very easy listen, so it's a shame Ryan Adams is kind of a gross human being (some of those allegations are a big deal)
Beatles · 2 likes
2/5
I've never really understood the Beatles hype, so I was excited to listen to a full album in case it flipped a switch in me.
Listening to this just reinforced my opinion. They're creative songwriters, but sometimes they feel a little too polished/manufactured (not corporate though) instead of truly genuine, and the constant echo/reverb added to their vocals gets annoying.
Siouxsie And The Banshees · 1 likes
4/5
Very witchy and has some great hooks. I can definitely vibe with this album if I’m in the right mood.
Talvin Singh · 1 likes
3/5
I respect the concept behind the album, mixing Indian/south asian influences with electronic music, but it's not something most people would be interested in, myself included.
Still, Talvin did a pretty good job keeping this from sounding like a horrible mashup of sounds.
Soft Machine · 1 likes
1/5
I know it's experimental, but this lacks all of the hallmarks of good/popular music. They kind of just threw together a bunch of semi-coherent musical ideas and noises without any thought and called them songs. Each song is super long so I wonder if they could have been edited down into something decent.
1-Star Albums (12)
All Ratings
Harry Nilsson
3/5
American version of The Beatles - some decent songs, and some that really aren't my thing; Slightly folky indie pop. Cool that this guy was actually friends with John Lennon though.
Most famous song in the album is Coconut (as in - put the lime in the coconut).
Little Richard
2/5
Blues/R&B, and a precursor to Rock and Roll.
Always cool to hear where iconic songs like Tutti Frutti came from, but a lot of the songs on the album had a very similar beat/pattern that made everything feel a bit stale to me. The sax solos and riffs were always a highlight though.
Beck
4/5
Lightly psychedelic, melancholy, and mostly acoustic. None of the tracks really stood out to me as amazing (though Lonesome Tears was solid), but I generally liked everything.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Not in my usual rotation, but there are several classics in this one, and CCR has a very recognizable sound.
Up Around the Bend was my favorite.
T. Rex
3/5
Decent, but nothing outstanding. Chill glam rock, almost like a less exciting version of Queen at some points.
Guns N' Roses
5/5
Infectious energy and includes several big hits - Welcome To The Jungle, Paradise City, and Sweet Child O' Mine are great.
Lots of albums throw together a bunch of distinct, unrelated songs, or they are filled with very similar songs that get repetitive. I think this album finds a good middle ground though.
Nick Drake
4/5
Not perfect, but way better than I was expecting given it's from 1969 - a lot of it still sounds relatively modern. I liked the orchestral parts a lot, they added some complexity that kept the album from getting stale.
Time Has Told Me was pretty good, but my favorites were Way To Blue and Day Is Done.
The Kinks
1/5
Like a budget version of The Beatles. Some songs were just comically bad, especially Harry Rag.
Two Sisters wasn't bad though.
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
"Today" is phenomenal and the epitome of 90s grunge, and "Disarm" is awesome too. I didn't dislike any songs on the album, but those two really stood out, along with the guitar whistle/feedback in "Mayonaise"
Very vibey, and very grungy rock with some psychedelic and shoegaze elements.
The Magnetic Fields
1/5
If you set out to make almost three hours of music, not all of it is going to be good. I really didn't mind some of it, even if the lyrics and rhyme schemes were sometimes repetitive, but there were a lot of duds and no diamonds in the rough.
"How Fucking Romantic" was beyond horrible, "Punk Love" was just the same words and melody repeated a ton, and "Washington, D.C." was basically a joke song. At first I was thinking I’d give this 2 or (maybe) even 3 stars, but most of the decent songs are in the first half of the album, so the back half was all downhill.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Sounds like TSO but with mostly piano so it’s more mellow, and a little boring because it doesn't have the same kind of energy or emotional range. It seems like a controversial album, but I didn't hate it, I was just a little underwhelmed.
The Modern Lovers
2/5
70s rock - not horrible, but definitely not my style, and kinda boring.
Eminem
5/5
I'm biased because Eminem is one of the artists who jumpstarted my interest in music, but this album is a great example of exactly why he got so popular.
His alter ego Slim Shady is intentionally problematic. He's a villainous character who says outrageous, offensive things, and songs like Guilty Conscience and the Paul/Bitch skits play on this, using other people to call Slim Shady out.
But the album’s main appeal to me isn’t its shock value/edginess. It’s the combination of clever wordplay and storytelling that makes each track memorable. Lines like, “Hi, kids, do you like violence? Wanna see me stick nine-inch nails through each one of my eyelids?” are graphic, creative, and hard to forget, while songs like My Fault create emotionally charged scenes that stick with you.
Bob Dylan
3/5
Overall a nice album, even if it was a little too simple for my tastes. I really can't stand harmonica though so that held it back.
Girl from the North Country was my favorite of the bunch.
Janet Jackson
2/5
80s pop with a heavy social change theme. The beats are pretty catchy, but the lyrics just feel extremely cheesy to me because they're so simple and generally vague.
I think the issues aren’t as noticeable listening to a single song, but listening to the full album makes it obvious how generic each song is.
Elvis Presley
2/5
Elvis has a great voice, but he always sounds like he’s overdoing it. Beyond that, the album is pretty standard for the time period and takes a lot of inspiration from Little Richard (including a Tutti Frutti cover), so it’s unsurprising that I’m not a big fan.
The Only Ones
3/5
Overall a decent 70s album, but most of the songs were a little too slow, and the vocals on a couple songs were really annoying. My favorite song was The Whole of the Law because of the sax parts.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
I would have liked the album a lot, if not for Nick’s overindulgent (or even somewhat pretentious) vocals. He’s a great singer but he sounds like he’s trying too hard.
I didn’t realize at first that O Children sounded familiar because of Harry Potter, but it’s a great song and probably my favorite in the album.
Dolly Parton
4/5
I wasn’t sold at first, but it only took a couple songs for me to get into it. I don’t think Dolly will join my rotation of frequently played artists, but I’d happily listen to this full album again.
I’m not a big fan of the singalong-esque style that I feel pops up at times, but she avoids the repetitive cliches modern pop country is known for and has a very inoffensive sound and lyrics.
Santana
4/5
Pretty good - latin psychedelic rock/jazz fusion leaning towards prog, and probably an inspiration for bands like Zeta.
The album had a good mix of styles too, from very jazzy guitar/piano solos (Black Magic Woman), to more tropical or beachy music (Oye Como Va), to songs I could see in some older videogames (Se a Cabo), and more traditional 70s rock (Hope You're Feeling Better)
Moby
4/5
A much better album than I expected it to be. Not amazing or anything, but just generally good electronica and ambient chill music with enough variety to keep it from getting stale.
Funkadelic
3/5
Funky and fun to vibe to. It really starts off on a high note with some great psychedelic rock in Maggot Brain , but it slowly drops off after that (other than Super Stupid, which also had some great solos)until you get to Wars of Armageddon which ends with a screaming lady and fart sounds?
The Who
3/5
Supposedly the best live album ever, but I wasn't impressed. It isn't bad or anything, I just expected more than generic 70s rock. My favorite live albums usually have extended solos, unique sound mixes, and an unpolished feel to them in general that this mostly lacks.
I listened to the original six track album instead of any of the super long expanded or deluxe versions.
The Residents
1/5
Just a very bizarre album, and not at all something I'd expect to find in this list. I like some of the experimental aspects of it, but the weird voices and sounds take things too far for it to be enjoyable.
Several songs have annoying high pitched vocals and what sounds like a kazoo, one has people chanting with plugged, nasally noses, and another includes a decent sax piece that starts to screech at the end. Most of the songs sound distorted or creepy enough to belong in a horror playlist
The Black Keys
4/5
Blues rock, but a little grungy, like The Blue Stones, The White Stripes, or Arctic Monkeys. I'm a fan of The Black Keys and this style, but I couldn't help but feel like most of the songs would have benefitted from a more energetic playing/singing style.
Tighten Up and Howlin' for You didn't have this issue, which explains why they're so much more popular than the rest of the album, which is good but has a lot of filler songs that drag on.
David Bowie
3/5
It feels wrong to rate Bowie even this low, but while the album sounds like him and fits his style, most of the songs are forgettable or a little awkward. That said, both Changes and Life on Mars? are hits, and I liked The Bewley Brothers a lot too.
It's cool to hear this album even if it's not his greatest hits though because it was the start of him finding his unique sound.
Sarah Vaughan
3/5
I don't listen to too much jazz, especially not with vocals, but this wasn't bad. I wished it was more uptempo at times, but Willow Weep for Me was a highlight, and Just One Of Those Things was decent too.
I really prefer listening to original songs though so I didn't like that every song in this album was written by someone else.
Hugh Masekela
3/5
The intro was probably my favorite part of the album - the rest was alright, but I thought there was too much growling/screeching, to the point that it took away from some of the solos.
My issue with Jazz (or instrumental bands, actually) is that sometimes the players focus on making music that is technically difficult instead of fun to listen to. There wasn't too much of that in this album, so it wasn't bad, but still something that came up a few times.
Iggy Pop
3/5
I wasn't a fan of the start - I'm not sure how Lust For Life got so popular, but both it and Sixteen have good melodies which get repeated way too much, and weird lyrics (asking about lotion, hypnotizing chickens, and lusting after a sixteen year old?). After that the album got a lot better for me, with The Passenger being my favorite, probably because Holiday by Green Day uses the same exact chord progression.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
The sort of basic music you'd expect to hear playing in a hotel lobby. There's nothing wrong with that, it's inoffensive and hard to dislike, but I can't help but feel like this album would make for such a boring concert.
Superstition is pretty awesome though.
Sex Pistols
4/5
This is exactly what comes to mind when I think of British punk rock. There aren't any standout songs and they all sound pretty similar, but I can't say I disliked any of them either.
The lyrics are nothing special in my opinion (though they definitely fit the punk label), but the whole album has great energy and would be perfect for a live show.
Mudhoney
4/5
Very grungy, mostly high energy, but some songs are a bit too simple for me to really get into them. Standouts were Generation Genocide (instrumental intro to the album), Into The Drink, and Broken Hands (more vibey than the earlier songs). I thought Don't Fade IV was a bit of a dud, and I didn't like the harmonica in Pokin' Around - the rest of the song was pretty good though.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
I prefer more modern folk music, but this wasn't bad - America sounded very familiar, Mrs. Robinson is famous, and A Hazy Shade of Winter is an absolute classic. The rest of the album ranged from mediocre to decent, but since most of the songs were relatively short, nothing dragged on enough to bother me.
Beastie Boys
4/5
Mostly simple rhyme schemes, but very fun since they don't take any of it seriously. She's Crafty and Fight For Your Right were my favorites, while I thought some of the songs like No Sleep Till Brooklyn and Brass Monkey were too repetitive.
The obnoxious voices started to annoy me later in the album, but I liked them at the beginning because they added to the unserious/sarcastic vibe.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Several classics, with Black Dog, Stairway to Heaven, and When the Levee Breaks, but there's something to like in just about every song, and there are several genres represented throughout the album (albeit with a rock tinged Led Zeppelin sound)
The whole album is good, but Stairway to Heaven is on a whole other level, and almost makes the rest of the songs sound slightly worse in comparison.
Elastica
4/5
Very inoffensive rock, but I didn't notice any standout songs. While I don't feel like I need to come back to it, I'd happily listen to the full album again.
Annie was probably my favorite out of the bunch, but Blue, See That Animal, and Stutter are also playlist-worthy.
I don't like that they apparently ripped off other artists with a few songs, but at least none of those were my favorites. Maybe they would have sounded better if they stuck with original music.
Willie Nelson
3/5
Not really my thing, but Willie's got a great voice. I do like that the full album tells a story, and pretty much any song could be put in a western. The main melody that repeats across the album is great, but I think I'd rather listen to it in smaller doses. Time of the Preacher Theme was probably my favorite, while I wasn't as much of a fan of some of the faster paced songs like I Couldn't Believe It Was True or especially Down Yonder.
Ella Fitzgerald
2/5
While Ella Fitzgerald is a great singer, I don't understand why this album is on this list of albums when it's just a collection of songs other people wrote. This isn't too different from including a cover band instead of the original.
As far as the album itself goes, I don't think it's anything special, and it's way too long for anyone to actively listen to it.
The Prodigy
1/5
I could see some of this album fitting in as background music for a video game, but in my opinion it's really bland - if I want to listen to EDM, I'll put on some modern house music, not some repetitive beats to zone out.
John Prine
3/5
Very Bob Dylan coded. I wasn't really liking the first few songs, but Paradise was so catchy that I think it made me like the rest of the album more than I would have. Still, this isn't really music I'd choose to listen to unless I'm in the right mindset.
Earth, Wind & Fire
2/5
It's hard not to picture most of these songs being played during a 70s disco, especially since funk was mainstream then.
Too much gospel singing for me and I'm not usually a big fan of soul/funk music, but there are some fun beats sprinkled throughout the album.
The Chemical Brothers
2/5
Not for me. Would definitely fit as the soundtrack of an action sequence in a movie, but this kind of background-noise electronica bores me.
Terence Trent D'Arby
3/5
Like Michael Jackson but less iconic. Still pretty good, it just isn’t my favorite genre.
Miles Davis
2/5
Miles Davis is great, but this album runs into the same issue I have with a lot of jazz albums - it’s just a series of musical phrases without any overarching theme or melody. As impressive as some solos can be (especially live), a solo by itself isn’t a song.
Paul Simon
2/5
You Can Call Me Al is a classic, but the rest of the album was very hit or miss for me. I also don’t like that he was involved with South Africa during apartheid or that Chevy Chase was part of a music video, but that doesn’t affect the music, just my opinion of Paul Simon.
Gene Clark
2/5
Please just put down the harmonica Gene. A bunch of the other criticisms people have are valid too, but I just really don’t like all of the harmonica in this album.
Van Morrison
3/5
Mostly mellow 60s folk/folk rock. Not bad, but kind of forgettable.
Green Day
5/5
It’s not perfect because a lot of the same chords are reused and the tempo is similar in most songs, but the overall melody ‘template’ for the album is very catchy, and on a re-listen you can hear all of the differences (like in the bass line and drums) that make some songs better than others. The songs sound very similar sometimes, but I wouldn’t have favorites if they were that similar.
Longview, Welcome to Paradise, and Basket Case are definitely my favorites, while the closing song All by Myself sounds a bit off and doesn’t really fit with the rest of the album.
CHIC
2/5
The epitome of disco music. I kind of liked My Forbidden Lover, but in general I just wasn’t a fan of the album.
Good Times sounded very familiar, but apparently some members of the band wrote We Are Family the same year, it was just released by a different group.
William Orbit
2/5
This guy really knows how to start a good song, then ruin it. There are a lot of good beats in this album, but most of them are mashed together in a really grating way.
I had a hard time understanding why this album would be included on this list at first - it’s not critically acclaimed, there are no big hits on it, and it doesn’t appear to be influential or historically important either. A bit of digging, however, shows that the artist has worked with a few big names (Madonna, P!nk, U2) and is relatively popular in the UK, so I assume this is one of many albums which the author included due personal preference.
Wilco
3/5
Mild, a bit relaxing, and nice to listen to in the car.
Simple, a bit boring, and hard to pay attention to.
Primal Scream
1/5
How can a band named Primal Scream release an album named Screamadelica, and not include any screaming? This was disappointingly tame, even with a mashup of genres.
Honestly, some of the songs were alright, but nothing grabbed my attention and the neo-psychedelic parts were kind of underwhelming.
Lupe Fiasco
5/5
I’ve listened to Lupe Fiasco before but never paid much attention, and clearly that was a mistake, because this album has (almost) everything I look for in rap.
Kick, Push is great, with a beat reminiscent of old school hip hop that Lupe uses to tell a story. The Instrumental sounds a lot like a Mike Shinoda/Fort Minor song, and Grammy award winning Daydreamin’ is a major hit and so catchy.
It isn’t all perfect, especially since the outro drags on listing names, but this album is really solid, especially for a debut album.
Tim Buckley
2/5
Dream Letter and Sing a Song for You weren’t bad, but for the most part these songs were way too long and slow. Buckley has a smooth voice, but when you drag notes out like that, vibrato starts to sound like inconsistency.
Blur
4/5
Beetlebum was pretty good, and Song 2 is super popular for a reason. The rest of the album was filled with more average rock tinged Brit pop - it wasn’t bad at all, and I’d happily listen to the full album again, but it just wasn’t very memorable.
Amy Winehouse
2/5
As much as I liked the jazzy yet modern sounding melodies and Amy’s voice, the lyrics of several songs were problematic and kept me from enjoying the album. They’re objectifying, demeaning to both herself and the men she talks about, and it almost feels like she recognizes this fact and makes excuses for it.
The Associates
3/5
It’s a little extra, but that just comes with the territory of 80s new wave/post punk. The album isn’t as creative as anything Bowie put out, and several songs just blur together, but overall it’s catchy music I could see any retro or goth clubs playing.
Michael Jackson
5/5
Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Pretty Young Thing - half the album is a Michael Jackson greatest hits playlist. Honestly, the genre isn’t my favorite, but some of these songs are so entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist that it’s hard not to enjoy them - Thriller makes me think of Halloween, and I’ve heard Beat It in more contexts than I can remember.
The rest of the songs are nothing special, but they don’t drag the album down.
1/5
So much distortion and feedback that it’s hard to make out the already chaotic instrumentals, and the singer is all over the place too. I like high energy music, but you need more than energy to be great.
There were a couple cool solos, but they were hard to make out in the cacophony.
Oasis
5/5
A lot of the album sounds more like 80s music than 90s, but I think that’s mostly just because it’s britpop/rock. Some major hits in this like Shakermaker, Live Forever, and Supersonic.
My favorite was Supersonic, but I was surprised at how much Portugal. The Man references Oasis - It’s easy to hear similarities in some of the melodies and occasionally lyrics.
Jean-Michel Jarre
2/5
My first thought listening to this was “This is so simple, I bet I could make this” which might sound cocky, but there isn’t anything too complex or profound in the album.
That said, Jarre making this in the 70s makes it much more impressive - we now live in a world where electronic music is more accessible than ever for both music makers and consumers, so while it may be pretty simple compared to modern techno/house music, it’s pretty awesome for something so early in the genre.
Still, if I rate this purely based on how it sounds… it really is a bunch of random laser sounds put over some soothing chords and keyboard melodies.
Pixies
5/5
Overall a great alt rock album, with a bit of grunge and weirdness mixed in. Starts with a fun intro, before transitioning into a bunch of Catchy 90s alt rock like Velouria (which Weezer has a good cover of, even though I’m not usually a fan of covers), Allison, and All Over the World, with a couple of goth-tinged songs mixed in.
The second half of the album wasn’t as memorable for me, but I think that’s just because there aren’t any weird/different songs to break things up. Most of the songs are great but not amazing on their own, so I think listening to them all together (with stuff like Is She Weird mixed in) made the experience better.
The White Stripes
4/5
Starts off with the absolute banger Blue Orchid, then has a jarring cut to marimba in The Nurse which fits the vibe of the album better. I always like The White Stripes, but this one just doesn’t have the same ability to hook you in and keep your attention the same way a good riff can.
Led Zeppelin
3/5
Immigrant Song makes a great start to the album, but the rest of the songs are drastically different. The folk influence/acoustic focus takes away from the impact Led Zeppelin’s sound usually has, and they don’t adapt to match it very well. There are still some great sections and riffs throughout the album, but they happen in spite of the overall sound direction, not because of it.
The Verve
4/5
Bitter Sweet Symphony is a classic and sounds more modern than it is, and Sonnet is also great but sounds more like regular britpop. Nothing else in the album specifically caught my attention, but it’s just solidly good music, with some of the songs leaning slightly closer to a psychedelic vibe than the rest of the 90s britpop album.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
2/5
Starts off like any other average 80s alt rock album, but Taste the floor has white noise covering the whole song making it hard to hear, and several other songs are similarly noisy because of the amount of feedback used.
It’s a good album to include on this list because the experimental, borderline psychedelic sound influenced shoegaze, but it’s not a good album by itself.
Jurassic 5
5/5
A great album start to finish, with lines on par with any of the best old school hip hop artists. It’s also refreshingly positive, and the beats are more musical than some rap songs. My favorites were Thin Line and Freedom, but I liked almost every part of the album.
Radiohead
5/5
Starts off good, and keeps getting better (except for Fitter Happier, which seems out of place). Let Down, Karma Police, and No Surprises are all major hits, and Exit Music precedes a couple of them to really kick things off.
Makes me wonder how much Radiohead’s sound influenced Manchester Orchestra, since they have the same slow singing style, just with less of a rock vibe.
Ray Charles
3/5
Starts on a high note with Let the Good Times Roll but the rest of the album doesn’t quite match up, probably in part because the tone shifts to slower jazzy soul music for most of the album. It’s still not a bad album overall, it would just work best as background music in a nice restaurant.
Marty Robbins
3/5
The title of the album couldn’t be more accurate. It’s a bunch of stories about gunslingers and cowboys sung as if narrating an old western. A lot of the melodies are repetitive, but the stories are pretty interesting so that makes up for it.
Radiohead
3/5
It takes something really special for me to like ambient music, and this album just doesn’t have it. It’s still enjoyable, but very forgettable.
Considering none of the songs are big hits individually, I wonder how much of the album’s success came down to marketing it using the internet and riding on the popularity of OK Computer
Run-D.M.C.
2/5
It's Tricky is a classic, and the lyrics are fun throughout the album, but there's very little variety in the beat. Their cover/sample of Walk This Way is great, but I think it's mostly Aerosmith that makes it good (despite this version charting higher than the original on release).
Nirvana
5/5
Starts off with three incredible songs, and while the rest of the album can't quite compare with the start, more hits are sprinkled in. Out of 13 songs in the album, 5 are phenomenal and 8 are still pretty good.
Elliott Smith
4/5
Overall a very sad album, especially Between the Bars, No Name No. 5, 2:45 AM, and Say Yes.
I didn't know he had ties to Portland until listening to Rose Parade, so that was a cool connection to make, even if the song isn't really about the parade (it's about self-congratulatory events like the Oscars).
Public Enemy
3/5
I like the message, and the album has more variety than some of Public Enemy's predecessors like Run-D.M.C. That said, it feels unpolished compared to other major hip hop artists at the time - Eric B. & Rakim, Gang Starr, etc. were putting out higher quality songs.
The Smiths
3/5
Pretty generic britpop. It’s not bad, but most of the songs blend together.
Suzanne Vega
3/5
Sounds like if an indie pop artist like Dora Jar went acoustic and lost all enthusiasm. The lyrics are well written, but there aren’t any climaxes or even much variation in the energy of the songs so I was a bit underwhelmed.
2/5
I’m not a fan of the constant vibrato she uses, and this era of country isn’t my favorite either. I didn’t mind some of Willie Nelson or John Prine’s music, but this is worse.
The Kinks
3/5
Most Brit pop/rock sounds pretty similar to me, but a few songs in this album branched out a bit from the genre. The choruses got a little repetitive sometimes, but it wasn’t bad.
1/5
Noise rock with almost all of the emphasis on “Noise”
Experimental music like this isn’t always bad, but there’s a line between something being experimental music and it just being noises, and this album crosses that line several times.
Johnny Cash
3/5
The songs are alright, but Johnny’s energy is contagious so I didn’t mind it. The idea of someone singing about cocaine and murder at a prison while recording it for a live album is hilarious though.
Daft Punk
5/5
I wasn’t sure if I’d like this because so much electronic music is repetitive and either annoying or boring. While this was definitely repetitive, I’m surprised to say that I never got tired of it. There were some bad parts but I really enjoyed the majority of the album. Da Funk and Funk ad weren’t as repetitive so they were my favorites, along with the classic Around the World.
The Undertones
4/5
Surprisingly fun, catchy songs. Technically punk, but sounds more like britpop/beachy 70s pop (a couple songs would fit in the movie Grease, or at a water park).
Jacques Brel
2/5
French Pop from the 60s is not at all what I expected to find on this list. Amsterdam is awesome, but the rest of the album can’t quite compare.
The Doors
3/5
Mostly average blues rock, leaning more towards country/bluegrass in some songs. I think it was a little slow at times, but otherwise the album was decent.
The Band
3/5
Pretty good folk/country, with a more modern sound than I expected from the era.
Afrika Bambaataa
3/5
Fun to listen to, but kind of all over the place, and other old school hip hop artists are much better.
The Last Shadow Puppets
4/5
Very solid indie rock which is unsurprising considering the lineup (several songs are similar to Arctic Monkeys). It does feel like something is missing from the album though. I'm not sure if it's the drums or vocals, but the songs feel like they're supposed to have more energy than they do.
Calm Like You was my favorite song from the bunch
Marvin Gaye
3/5
Too religious and a little too mellow for me, but it’s still pretty good. Marvin sounds great and keeps things simple (none of the pretentious vibrato that some soul music has), and there are some solid sax parts in a few songs.
Justice
5/5
Reminds me a lot of Daft Punk. D.A.N.C.E and One Minute To Midnight were my favorites, but the whole album is super vibey.
The concept of microsamples is interesting too. They used regular samples in some of the songs, but for most of the album they took small pieces from hundreds of songs and frankensteined them together to create something unique.
Country Joe & The Fish
2/5
Starts as a mostly country album with some blues guitar solos, then gets a more psychedelic as it goes on.
There are some decent guitar parts in the album - Death Sound and Super Bird weren't bad, but Credence Clearwater Revival did 60s protest music much better
Queen
4/5
Queen has one of the most easily recognizable sounds to me, but this album shows how their music developed over time, with less of the theatrics they're known for (but still some, especially towards the end).
All in all a really solid album, though it's not quite as exciting as the stuff Queen is known for.
Holger Czukay
1/5
Experimental, but not really experimenting with any direction/purpose. There are some nice melodies, but they're almost always ruined by this warbling singing, and Holger added distortion to a lot of the songs despite them already being chaotic.
Supergrass
3/5
Great energy, and Alright is a classic, but a few of the songs get repetitive while the rest are just a bit plain.
Elis Regina
2/5
This one was hard to find on spotify, I had to find one of the songs and click to view its album, because the album itself refused to show up directly in my search.
The songs kind of remind me of music you might here in the credits of a movie (except Portuguese). The genre is supposed to be Samba, but I don't know how danceable most of the songs are.
Pixies
3/5
I like grunge/alt rock and the band in general, but this album just isn't very memorable. Even the most popular songs in the album are kinda forgettable, even though they're pretty good to listen to in the moment.
3/5
Not really my thing, but it's decent for what it is. Mixes jazz solos/melodies, funk and reggae beats, and soul vocals to make something half decent.
This album predates Seinfeld, but there are a few parts where the bassist sounds a lot like the theme.
The Pretty Things
3/5
Definitely fits the 60s psychedelic genre, but I’m not sure they do it as well as others did. Loneliest Person was my favorite because it sounds a bit like 21 Guns by Green Day, but I still didn’t love it, which kind of sums up how I felt about the whole album.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
You Make Me Feel So Young is a classic, if only because it was used in Elf. Sinatra didn’t compose it though, just sang a great version.
This album flows so smoothly that the songs blend together, for better or for worse.
The Birthday Party
2/5
I'm not really a Nick Cave fan, but this album ranges from pretty horrible to pretty alright. Lots of noise/chaos and none of the songs really stand out from the pack.
Might be worth listening to again, but there's a good chance I'd regret it.
Kelela
3/5
Not sure why this was considered futuristic in 2017 when it sounds like it came out in 2003, but it's not bad. Generally inoffensive 2000s r&b.
Talvin Singh
3/5
I respect the concept behind the album, mixing Indian/south asian influences with electronic music, but it's not something most people would be interested in, myself included.
Still, Talvin did a pretty good job keeping this from sounding like a horrible mashup of sounds.
Nirvana
4/5
Hard to complain about Nirvana. Heart-Shaped box, Rape Me, and Dumb have catchy familiar melodies, while the rest is just very grungy 90s alt rock.
The Sabres Of Paradise
1/5
More than noise, but not quite music.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
3/5
Pretty standard blues rock. There are some fun solos, but the rest is nothing special.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Very witchy and has some great hooks. I can definitely vibe with this album if I’m in the right mood.
Soft Machine
1/5
I know it's experimental, but this lacks all of the hallmarks of good/popular music. They kind of just threw together a bunch of semi-coherent musical ideas and noises without any thought and called them songs. Each song is super long so I wonder if they could have been edited down into something decent.
MC Solaar
1/5
The main draw to hiphop is usually the lyrics, while the beat is something basic and repetitive. This album is French. Maybe French people like this, but when I don't understand the lyrics they can't add much to my enjoyment of the music, and this wasn't something I'd bother listening to again for the beat.
Doves
3/5
Britpop that tries to be trippy/psychedelic at times and leans more towards rock at other times. Inoffensive but a bit bland.
Here It Comes was a nice start following Firesuite, Catch the sun was good but too repetitive, and The Man Who Told Everything is both a slower song and probably my favorite.
3/5
I guess The Kinks just aren’t for me. This sounded no different than half of the 60s British rock albums on the list, and certainly wasn’t revolutionary in any sense of the word. Don’t hate it, but can’t love it.
Jimmy Smith
3/5
Not many songs, so I can review them one by one:
1. The kind of waiting room music I want to hear
2. Nice waiting room music for the holidays, or background music for a late night NYC dinner in a tv show
3. Theme song for a drama show following a down on his luck PI. Not as good as the others
4. Mostly standard jazz
5. Jarring enough to hurt my ears, and the sax has an unpleasantly airy/breathy tone
Overall, I would listen again, but wouldn’t go out of my way to do so.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Not bad, but not my favorite CCR album. Bad Moon Rising is probably the main reason this was on the list.
Carole King
4/5
Mellow, but very fun and the melodies are catchier than expected. Very easy to listen to overall.
Paul Simon
2/5
Overly mellow to the point of being boring. There are also a couple weird songs in the bunch, like Cars Are Cars.
Giant Sand
3/5
Pretty chill, but hard to label - somewhere between alt country and psychedelic for the most part. Some of the songs were kind of boring while others were decent, but the album is super long so there were bound to be good and bad parts.
Bob Dylan
3/5
Not my favorite Bob Dylan album. It’s not horrible, but I’m not a fan of his singing and the rest of the music is mostly forgettable.
Alanis Morissette
4/5
Such a 90s album - with You Oughta Know, Hand in My Pocket, and Ironic scattered throughout, it’s super catchy. Alanis’ voice is hard to get used to though, and kind of takes away from my enjoyment.
Madonna
4/5
Not a fan of how religious the album is, but the music is phenomenal 80s pop. Almost every song is solidly great, which should be unsurprising given Prince helped on several of them.
Joy Division
4/5
It’s a great post punk/goth album - very bleak while still being upbeat enough for a Halloween party. That said, Joy Division’s music is so homogeneous sometimes so none of the songs in this album stand out from the rest. It all sounds a little generic.
Prince
3/5
Feels a bit like blasphemy to think this about anything Prince was involved in, but I was underwhelmed by this album. You can hear in his voice how Prince would give a great live performance, but outside of his energy, I didn't feel like there was anything special that I would actively want to listen to again.
Let's Go Crazy, When Doves Cry, and I Would Die 4 U are all pretty good 80s hits, but they can't compare to Thriller or even Kate Bush.
Crowded House
3/5
Easy to listen to and kinda catchy, but I think some of the songs would be better if they played with more passion/energy. Four Seasons In One Day was probably my favorite, maybe because it's a slower song that doesn't rely on a high energy performance.
Eminem
4/5
Love him or hate him, everyone has strong opinions about Eminem. He was definitely homophobic at this point in his career, but it's masked a bit by Slim Shady being so over the top offensive to everyone and everything. From Stan to The Real Slim Shady and more, this album has some of Eminems most iconic songs, mixed in with some pretty uncomfortable skits.
I like that some of the other artists featured change the overall feel/style of the album a bit by bringing old school or gangster rap into a few songs.
Julian Cope
2/5
Aside from a couple solid solos (guitar in Safesurfer, sax in You...), I thought this album was kind of bland.
Slightly psychedelic, mostly forgettable.
Beatles
2/5
I've never really understood the Beatles hype, so I was excited to listen to a full album in case it flipped a switch in me.
Listening to this just reinforced my opinion. They're creative songwriters, but sometimes they feel a little too polished/manufactured (not corporate though) instead of truly genuine, and the constant echo/reverb added to their vocals gets annoying.
Talk Talk
3/5
Not bad, but kind of forgettable. That said, the guitar in Life's What You Make It is super catchy, and Give it Up is pretty vibey too.
Joy Division
3/5
As always, Joy Division sounds like themselves. A little less homogenous than Unknown Pleasures, which is nice, but not necessarily better.
A Tribe Called Quest
3/5
Hugely impactful album, but not for me. I Left My Wallet in El Segundo and Can I Kick It? are the songs I was most familiar with.
King Crimson
4/5
The chorus of 21st Century Schizoid Man is hugely famous from Kanye sampling it, but it's pretty good by itself, and Epitaph was even better. The rest of the album was decent but couldn't quite wow me in comparison.
All of the songs are pretty long because they have extended outros which felt like incomplete separate songs to me. I'd prefer if they were made into different tracks, even if they were more like jam band interludes than actual songs.
Peter Frampton
3/5
Filled with some great guitar solos, but outside of that, it’s over an hour of classic rock that couldn’t quite keep my attention.
Orange Juice
2/5
Sounds like Joy Division on Zoloft, it just doesn’t work. Some of the songs don’t really fit in either, so the album feels a little disorganized.
Talking Heads
2/5
Psycho Killer is iconic, but the rest of the album was disappointing 70s rock.
Christine and the Queens
2/5
An hour and a half of French pop songs, and a bunch of them are just variations of the same song. It could have been worse, but it was frustrating to hear her rapidly switch between French and English with an accent, which led to me not understanding most of the lyrics even when they were in English.
Flamin' Groovies
3/5
Not a big fan of the whole rockabilly genre so even though this mixes it with 70s rock I can’t really enjoy it. It’s not bad for what it is though.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
An interesting album for sure, several songs are rap or rap-adjacent, which I never expected (or wanted) from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Other than those, the remainder of the album consists of decent songs with the band’s unique sound, and awesome songs like Breaking the Girl and Under the Bridge.
An album over an hour long is bound to have flaws. In this case I wish they’d cut it in half to remove the bad rapping and some of the less inspired songs.
Method Man
3/5
I’ve never been able to get into any Wu-Tang Clan music even though I associate NYC hip hop with them more than anyone else. Method Man is no different; his lyricism is great but the cadence gets a bit repetitive.
Eric Clapton
3/5
Not a big fan of blues rock, but this wasn’t bad.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
3/5
Super chill, but a little too goofy to be background music.
classical ambient music mixed with some more experimental stuff
The Isley Brothers
3/5
Great guitar riffs and energy. The worst parts of the album are when they slow down and lose the funk. I'm not usually a fan of 70s funk or soul, but this was half decent.
Rocket From The Crypt
3/5
I think a lot of these songs could have been great if they were in a different genre, but the chaotic, high energy punk/garage rock covers up some of the better motifs. As is, it's decent, but not something I think I need to hear again.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Solidly good, but I'd hesitate to call it great. There are no memorable hits or exceptional songs despite the album's popularity. Not their best work, but it's still The Rolling Stones.
Sam Cooke
3/5
High energy and fun, but I'm not a big fan of the style, or soul music in general. Would be cool to see live or listen to when I'm in the right mood.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
2/5
Not surprising that it has great energy since it's salsa music, but the similar tempos and drum patterns made it sound repetitive. It also didn't wow me - there were some songs I wouldn't mind listening to again but others were boring, though I'll admit I may be too hard on the album because it's so far outside of my usual tastes.
Brian Eno
2/5
I have mixed feelings about this album. On one hand, I really dislike the more minimalist/ambient 'songs' scattered throughout, especially those at the start, but on the other hand some songs were decent (St Elmo's Fire) and others were actually pretty good for ambient music (The Big Ship, Zawinul/Lava).
The Beach Boys
4/5
I've never considered myself a fan of The Beach Boys, but I might have to start.
I wasn't a huge fan of the first couple songs - 70s surf rock always sounds cheesy to me, but Disney Girls was surprisingly decent even though it doesn't really fit the era or genre, and while some parts of Student Demonstration Time were disappointing, the overall melody is super catchy and there are some awesome lyrics (especially "the pen is mightier than the sword, but no match for a gun").
After that, the album settled into mostly mellow psychedelic rock which was great, though nothing really stood out to me.
Beck
3/5
Jumps between genres a lot, with some songs being alright while others are just strange.
System Of A Down
4/5
SOAD has such a distinct sound because of their singer, but his voice doesn't fit with every song. I really liked Suggestions, Spiders, and Peephole, but the vocals in some of the other songs made them sound worse.
Feels like this was SOAD figuring out their style, so they could come back and create Toxicity.
Les Rythmes Digitales
1/5
Almost everything I liked about this album was sampled from somewhere else or came from a featured artist. Obscure french house music is not something anyone needs to hear before they die.
Keith Jarrett
3/5
At first I thought it sounded a little basic, but after reading the story behind the performance and learning it was improvised, this is a much cooler album than I expected.
Ryan Adams
3/5
Generic pop country leads into vibey rock (Nobody Girl is a banger). The whole album is a very easy listen, so it's a shame Ryan Adams is kind of a gross human being (some of those allegations are a big deal)
The Vines
3/5
Catchy garage rock, and definitely better than a lot of albums on this list, but there’s something missing. It sounds like the band was trying to make music to fit the genre, rather than making something original.
Janelle Monáe
4/5
Definitely sounds like 2000s art pop, but this album bounces around pop, r&b, and sci-fi enough that it’s hard to label. I definitely enjoyed listening to it but would have preferred something a little more grounded.
Nina Simone
2/5
Not terrible for a slow jazz album, but I didn’t love Nina’s voice (especially because of the reverb so common in the 60s) and there was way too much vibrato.
R.E.M.
3/5
Would do well in an 80s brit rock playlist (despite the band being American), but it also wouldn’t stand out at all. Easy to listen to and boring go hand in hand
The Police
3/5
Message In A Bottle is super catchy, even with how repetitive Sting is. Most of the rest of the album misses the mark, with a little too much reggae for my liking. There are still some decent parts, but only Message In A Bottle makes the playlist.
Parliament
4/5
Funk isn't my favorite, but this album had more than a few good songs. Give Up The Funk is a classic, but I also liked P-Funk, and Mothership Connection had some good parts.
Rod Stewart
2/5
This was fine, but not particularly good. It mixes folk rock and classic rock songs, but most of them feel like they lack passion, maybe because the lyrics are pretty bland.
The United States Of America
3/5
Psychedelic rock with an art rock theme, political circus music gives way to Sgt. Pepper. I really liked The Garden Of Earthly Delights, Coming Down, and Stranded In Time, but a lot of the rest of the album gets bogged down in the theme (common with art rock in my opinion) and is less enjoyable while being more weird.
If this album was cut in half I'd probably like it much more.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Overall a solid album, but most of the good songs were in the first half, with my favorites being The Rover and the classic Kashmir. In general I think most songs were a little too slow, a little too long, and could have used some more dynamic drum parts, but the guitar solos made up for it.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Starts off on a high note with Scarborough Fair, but the rest of the album doesn't quite compare even if there are some smooth harmonies.
John Lee Hooker
2/5
Some solid guitar solos, but I can't stand the vocals and it feels a little forced at times, maybe because of all of the collaborators.
The Beau Brummels
2/5
Not really a fan of psychedelic folk or 60s music. I liked the energy, but the vocals kept me from enjoying it much. Magic Hollow and The Wolf of Velvet Fortune were alright though.
U2
3/5
It's alright, but pretty bland. Mysterious Ways is catchy, but mostly because it's popular. The song itself is a little overproduced. I think the song I liked the most was Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, but it was still very tame.
Metallica
4/5
Overall a great collection, but not perfect. Battery has some great parts, but I think the repetitive flow of the lyrics holds it back. Master of Puppets then succeeds where Battery failed by breaking up the repetitive bits. Orion is a sleeper hit and would be way more popular if it had lyrics.
The Offspring
4/5
Edgy skate punk with enough energy to make you forget the rough parts. Come Out and Play and Self Esteem are the major hits in this one, but the rest of the album is also great, just missing the catchy hooks and melodies needed to become popular.
Not quite good enough for 5 stars, but close.
The Black Crowes
3/5
It's a fine blues rock album, but pretty generic and forgettable. I could very easily see any of the songs being played as background noise in a bar on Broadway and I'd enjoy them in that context, but they wouldn't make the cut for a roadtrip playlist.
Hard to Handle has a popular chorus, but the rest of the song falls flat
AC/DC
4/5
The album is decent, but pretty samey. It pops off with Highway to Hell at the start, Touch Too Much is even better, and Night Prowler is pretty good, but the rest of the album is just good for background music.
The Divine Comedy
2/5
Songs that sound like they should be in a bad musical that takes itself too seriously. Some of the orchestral pieces would be alright if they weren't ruined by the singing and lyrics.
The Crusaders
3/5
You ever think "damn, this elevator music slaps" and then forget about it two minutes later? That's this album, and I'm kinda here for it.
That said, if I were stuck in an elevator for 39 minutes I'd get sick of the music pretty quickly, which is how I felt about halfway through listening to this.
Rush
4/5
Overture is great, I just wish it was broken up into different tracks so I could choose to listen to the good parts instead of committing to a 20 minute epic. The B side of the album is still pretty good, it just lacks the wow factor of the first song.