This album would rip on Guitar Hero. As a listen in 2025, not so much.
Obv Jump, Panama and Hot for Teacher are all-timers. I forgot about I'll Wait, which I know and like from the radio growing up, but never knew the name of. Girl Gone Bad was also fun too. I could go the rest of my life never hearing Top Jimmy, Drop Dead Legs or House of Pain.
I don't think I'd ever put this album on but it's actually stronger than I'd imagine.
This was a rooough first album for me to listen to for this project. Listening on Spotify I found it interesting that the few tracks I half-liked were the least listened to by most people.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Sonic youth is not for me.
Not my typical genre but this was really good! I found out Mary already knows and loves Jazmine.
As a 90s kid who also learned guitar a few years after this album came out, I was very familiar with "Hallelujah" but hadn't heard the rest. I was primarily struck by how good the rest of the album was, with the possible exception of the last few songs that probably slapped in the 90s but now seem more stuck in amber. I was also struck by how long the songs were ("Hallelujah" alone is almost 7 mins!!). Seems like 5- and 6-minute songs were more commonplace in the 90s than today, but then again I'm no Phish fan like others in this group...
This album is very 90s, from the sound of the drums and alternative rock instrumentation to its classic rock influences, occasional strings and coffeehouse ballads. And the quick fade out on the last track! So 90s. It was definitely in the rotation at your local cafe.
All in all, Grace is a good album but not my fav.
Damn, I totally forgot I knew Catching That Butterfly and Lucky Man, both good songs. Some of the others are just okay; while this album would be groundbreaking in the 60s or 70s, in the 90s not so much.
Bitter Sweet Symphony stands the test of the time, the rest of the album not so much.
Loved this album since Walk the Line
Look, I love Lennon. But I don't usually love solo Beatles. They just made each other better in ways that are lacking on their solo stuff. Paul needed John's edge, John needed Paul's joi de vivre and they needed each other as a creative counterweight
Imagine is obviously an all-timer, but the rest of the album is just mediocre 12-bar blues and soft dad rock outside of the OG diss track How Do You Sleep? and Oh Yoko!
The album is fine. Give me Paul's Ram over this any day.
Great album. I know it's not better, but I like it more than Black to Black. It has a more cohesive feel to me and I've always loved Stronger Than Me, F Me Pumps, (There Is) No Greater Love, In My Bed, and Amy Amy Amy.
The highs of Back to Black are much higher, but this album is great throughout.
It remains a tragedy we no longer have her.
Never heard of this jabroni before today. Now I know why.
He’s like Father John Misty without the edge or cynicism, which is a no from me dawg.
This album is like a collection of all the songs George Harrison didn't pick for "All Things Must Pass", which makes sense since the homicidal Phil Spector produced both.
The one highlight for me was that I swear SNL based their “goodnights and goodbyes” song on the title track…
An all-timer but had never listened to it front to back. I'm definitely more of a "singles and B-sides" Outkast fan but even I can recognize the greatness.
Can't say I love an 11-minute song about doo-doo but that's just me. The rest of the album is pretty fun.
I prefer Maggot Brain ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In the immortal words of Tracy Morgan:
EVERYBODY GETTIN PREGNANT TONIGHT
Never heard Ms Monae except for a 30-min stretch at Osheaga Festival but I wasn't exactly of sound mind at the time, so I don't remember much other than thinking it was very tight and fun.
I liked Sir Greendown and Tightrope off this album but skipped a lot of the rest.
I like the Kinks, they're fun.
But beyond Sunny Afternoon, a lot of the songwriting is like if a youth pastor got stoned and tried to write Beatles songs.
That said, it bops. If you turn your brain off and/or get stoned, it's fun.
Funny that we got this the day after the Kinks' Face to Face...
Came out a year earlier and is lightyears better. But that's what happens when you have 2 songwriting geniuses in the band (with an emerging songwriting talent in George as well).
Rubber Soul is as far back as I go in the Beatles catalogue if I'm playing a full album, and it's because of the creative leap they took here. Love Rubber Soul.
AKA when a pop band is inspired by Kid A
Solid through and through!
Always been a fan of The Police and it's between this and Zenyatta Mondatta for their best album.
Look, BB King is a legend. And I loved learning and playing blues when I learned guitar. But I don't think I've purposefully put on a blues record in years. Just not for me.
Big Chem Bros fan, but this album is just okay... Dig Your Own Hole is much better
All in all, The Chemical Brothers are definitely in the top-5 brothers of the 90s along with Dust, Mario and Wayans
i respect the boss but i would never put him on myself.
He's a lot like The West Wing to me – a timewarp to an america that never existed to me/in my experience
That said, Born To Run the song is an all-timer. The rest... meh.
idk im not a big fan ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Reviews by way of errant thoughts:
-I've liked Deep Purple from the ubiquitous Smoke on the Water to deep cuts like Lazy, but I think at this point in my life I've had enough of this sort of thing
-If my dad had been a big fan of Deep Purple and seen them in a memorable concert instead of Grand Funk Railroad, would I like them more than GFR?
-These guys seems kinda stuck halfway between bands like GFR/early Led Zep that were updating old genres like blues and folk in a hard rock format, and bands like Black Sabbath that were really pushing boundaries into heavy metal. I know these guys are also heavy metal-ish, but the organ just doesn't do it for me.
-Maybe I just don't like organ in rock music.
-Or maybe it just comes down to the fact that the songwriting just isn't as good. They're good musicians but the songs aren't really compelling.
-All that said, the breakdowns are good, and are probably when they're at their best. I would be curious what this band would sound like if they had leaned more into the jam band or psychedelic aspects and less riff rock.
-I guess if I had heard this album when I was 13 - or if I was alive when it came out - I bet it would rip. But me hearing it in my late 30s in 2025, that's a no from me dawg.
You know, I actually liked this more than I thought I might...
I know and like Supertramp just fine, but I mostly just know the hits and the later stuff. I never heard this early album beyond School on the radio.
They are definitely easy listening and definitely not something I would put on, but this was a great album to put on while I worked my way through today's to-do list.
better album than the other kinks one we listened to recently.
very fun.
Heard of T.Rex but never listened! I liked
They were very clearly an influence on The Black Keys
Fun album!
sounds like something my dad would've liked, but really not for me
too 80s in all the wrong ways, though I always appreciate Carlos Santana killing in (either on guitar or at 1B)
i like this album more than their others, its prob their best
• Wow I really liked this!
• Is it me or does his voice remind you of Nina Simone?
• I really don't know Nick Drake outside of the song Pink Moon, but 15 year old shmekie would have loved him alongside Donovan, Bob Dylan and Van Morrison
• I like his sound. Even if his songwriting/instrumentation doesn't offer a lot of variety, it is very good at doing what it is trying to do.
kinda like Duran Duran + The Cult + The Cure... it was okay. It was kind of interesting but I found myself 4 songs in and wondering how much more I had to listen to. I turned it off.
This was really nice! I think I liked this more than the other Nick Drake album, although both are good. Not sure if that's the consensus take. It's also much more pleasant to listen to than whatever British band was yesterday's album.
Always tricky to start with the lead single but this album is good enough to pull it off without letting you down the rest of the way.
This was fun, really good work music. A nice changeup from my usual Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Alexandre Desplat or Thomas Newman.
Who wrote this list? One minute it's some super obscure album that has no legacy or even a cult following, the next it's the greatest pop album of all time.
5 stars for Thriller, an essential 20th century masterpiece any music lover must hear before they die. It is absolutely essential to understanding all pop music that has followed, Michael Jackson, and the '80s as a decade of American pop culture (and the '80s revival of the 2010s).
1 star for this list. After we finish this project, give me a half hour, a cup of coffee and a red pen and I bet I can get the list down to 500.
An album for the true LZ heads. Or New Yorkers who accidentally stumble onto the buildings from the cover after having a few too many steins at Zum Schneider.
Not as bluesy as I, as heavy as II, as weird as III, or as iconic as IV, Physical Graffiti is still a worthwhile endeavor – if you are indeed a fan. For any Led Zeppelin enjoyer who wants just the hits please, this album will likely disappoint, especially the back half. I was such a big LZ fan in high school/college my Xbox gamertag was Shmek_Zeppelin, and even I have never willingly put on Down By The Seaside outside of an album playthrough! Although, I'd forgotten how good the bridge was – so good it nearly redeems its boardwalk taffy schmaltz.
There's no question that in addition to classic rock radio stalwarts Kashmir, Trampled Under Foot, and Houses of the Holy, tracks like Custard Pie, The Rover, The Wanton Song and Night Flight still shine. And I love Bron-Yr-Aur as a contemplative instrumental stuck right in the middle of it all. You can feel the band still searching for ways to grow creatively while staying true to their blues and riff rock origins, and it mostly works. But of course, as is the case with many double albums, there are tracks that leave you scratching your head as to why they were included (Down By The Seaside, Boogie With Stu) or why they're over 11 minutes when 6 would have been just fine *cough* In My Time of Dying *cough*.
But that said, this album is still an incredibly solid effort. Though now I'm curious which other Zeppelin albums made it onto this list. Off the top of my head, I would say this album is probably middle of the pack so at least 3 others, right? II & IV definitely... Houses of the Holy? Or maybe I?
In any case, I hope this was the first time listening to PG for some in this group and that they liked it. There was a time in high school when I could play this whole album on guitar from memory, and I still put the record on every now and then. It rocks.
Man, this was fucking weird! In a good (and sometimes bad) way.
Kate Bush reminds me a lot of Robyn & The Knife, and was clearly an influence on both (whether they know it or not). But this album also had elements of Phil Collins, Talking Heads and other 80s sensibilities.
I'm glad I listened to this precisely once before I died. I definitely won't revisit it, but it was certainly interesting.
An all-timer from the prog rock masters during their peak.
None of their other albums can top Dark Side of the Moon, but this comes close, along with The Wall. But that one is so goddamn depressing to listen to, at least this one has a few fun moments amid the darkness. And by that I basically just mean their one fun kinda upbeat song that's still a funky, cynical take on music industry executives. But some of the Shine on You Crazy Diamond sections are fun, too. And though the title track is a somber, melancholic statement on the loss of Syd Barrett, it always struck me as hopeful or at least, accepting of that loss and not in any of the other stages of grief. There's a reason it was rated #18th best rock song of all time; I'd never rank it that high, but people def respond to it.
Pink Floyd's early albums are more fun and weird, and their later stuff is less than stellar but their peak concept album phase is them at their best, and this album fires on all cylinders. It's a more than worthy follow up to Dark Side of the Moon, but I will add that I actually play Animals and Atom Heart Mother more than this album. The songs on those two albums are more enjoyable/easier to relisten to than these, at least to me. But I'm sure part of that is having way more fatigue with this album from classic rock radio growing up.
Wish You Were Here is a better album than either of those two, though its inclusion on this list is interesting. The Wall is probably more popular/has a bigger cult following and DSOTM is an all-timer, so I'd expect those two to make it over this. But it's not a bad pick!
Never heard of these guys before - this was fun! Like some kinda Venn diagram of Talking Heads, The Clash & idk someone else... maybe the Ramones?
Liked a lot of the songs and the overall vibe. I guess my one quibble would be that Marquee Moon didn't need to be so long, but I still liked it.
I turned it off after skipping 3 songs
Solid, not spectacular.
I love Nina and the title track is great, but is probably the only memorable song.
Interesting but ultimately not for me.
I think I'm a "just the hits" Depeche Mode guy
Mick Jagger + 70s pop-punk...
It was interesting but I found myself wishing they had more instrumental/jam sections than noise/pop-punk. Didn't like his voice much, either.
Cash goes electric! I know it's not the case, but this one has a lot more life than Live at Folsom. Both albums are a fun time.
all-timer. do the kids still get high and sync it up with the wizard of oz?
anyway, this one's an all-time medley up there with Abbey Road's back half.
i mean wtf?
i turned it off after 3 songs
I do not like Sonic Youth.
sounds like if teenage shmekie tried to make a pink floyd album by himself in his basement on Fruity Loops
doesn't mean it's bad, it's just very one-note.
a very interesting inclusion on this list.
The weirdest Led Zep album but also still great. From the singles like Immigrant Song to the Lite Rock fare like Tangerine or That's The Way, to the bluesy hidden gem at the end, it's a great listen through and through.
fine, i guess
I like a little ZZ Top, but so many of these songs are just repetitive blues fed through forgettable guitar fuzz. Maybe it was cool in 1973 but I don't ever have the thought "Oh I should put on ZZ Top right now"
La Grange an all-timer.
1) oh man i've seen this t-shirt for years, nay, decades. now i finally know where it's from
2) ohhh so this is where interpol got their whole fucking vibe from, huh? I always thought the Interpol math was B-52 vocals + Heroin = Interpol. But now I think it's B-52's + Joy Division = Interpol.
3) never heard them before, it's pretty good even if it's not something I would regularly put on
ah yes, music for clearing out a bar at 2am
i skipped most of this, not really for me
but the ones i could stomach i half liked.
im sure some of you like it and that's okay
Uhhhhh
I really didn't like it listening to it on its own but in a 1,001 albums first, i put this on with a podcast playing over it. It worked a lot better as the soundtrack to some dumb conversation about Tom Cruise, but it still wasn't great.
Marrying these two ideas together, I will just say this guy writing a soundtrack to a fake movie ON SPEC to hopefully get hired as a composer for a real movie one day is INSANE.
BUT THEN ACTUALLY GETTING HIRED as a composer because of it is....
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
(Bonus thought: track 10 "Intensive Care" sounds like it came directly out of Hans Zimmer's Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack, which for 1989 is, I think, a huge compliment)
One of the weirdest albums that I also like!
The first time I heard it, I really didn't like it. I was hanging with a friend as he got a new tattoo, but since the tat took several hours there were several cigarette breaks. So between those, being hungover, and the artist's station being in the basement bc he was newer at the shop, I think I wasn't in the right headspace when he put this on. It freaked me out, man.
But now, hearing it in a way better headspace, I can appreciate how Bowie just went for it in his swan song, diving headfirst into the abyss of knowing you're going to die soon. It's pretty incredible how he kept experimenting and making interesting music right up until his death.
It wouldn't be the first thing I ever put on but I can appreciate how good it is.
A modern classic. Or maybe it's not modern anymore and I'm old, but that's for another day.
This album has plenty of great tracks, a few great guest appearances, two all-time songs, and one incredible voice.
I remember she once said she'd rather die than have a white person buy her album, but I guess she's walked that back, after some label exec convinced her that's bad for sales, no doubt.
Still, listening to this feels like walking into a raucous party that is not for me, then immediately smiling and leaving. I can appreciate it but don't ever come here on my own volition, for I know I'm not wanted.
oh yeah, this album definitely belongs on this list... not many skips and a lotta great bops!
It was perfect to put on during a home improvement project – a lot of energy, some all-time greats and even the ones I didn't love were still good, minus the skips but let's be honest, this album is probably 3-4 songs too long anyway.
dunno that i ever listened to it front to back so i was glad to have done so today
PS The Card Cheat has to have come out of jamming on I Fought The Law. It's literally the same rhythm and came one year after the famous cover, so that's the story I'm going with. Also it kinda sounds like Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band doing their version of I Fought the Law.
A fine album that peaks up top and slowly peters out. Very European.
Do the kids still listen to The Doors?
I used to like them in high school. I don't really like them any more but they have their time and place when you're young and getting into music. This album is a great one – solid through and through, with iconic tracks and only one skip (I Looked At You).
TBH this is probably in the conversation for greatest debut album of all time: a distinct, new sound, interesting lyrics and about as much variety as you can get from a band that consists only of a vocalist, guitarist, drummer and an organist.
Anyway, any album that spawns a track used in a Coppola film is fine at the very least, and very good – if you like The Doors.
A perfectly fine album for the 90s Seattle coffeehouse in your heart
A fine album of pretty songs but I believe the below to be true:
Crosby, Stills, or Nash – ⭐️⭐️
Crosby & Nash/any other pairing – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Crosby, Stills & Nash – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
While I like Crosby & Nash joints like Mama Lion and Carry Me, and of course CSN&Y tracks like Our House and Teach Your Children, the sweet spot is the trio of CS&N. Their 3-part harmonies are incredible and they each bring a little something different to the gumbo that is missing when it's just one or two of them, and gets too muddled with the addition of Young IMO.
Look, I know U2 is important in the history of rock and roll but I’m just not a huge fan anymore. This album has a couple great ones but otherwise I would never turn it on.
I think I probably just overplayed the U2 greatest hits CD in my car in high school
Never listened to this album before. It's good! Who knew.
He Won't Go sounds like a track someone wrote for Alicia Keys that Adele ended up with.
I do not like this
But I wonder if they influenced Red Hot Chili Peppers bc man, that guy was
SLAPPE DE BÄSS MON
A fun idea for a concept album but I think it was probably more fun to make this than listen to it. Especially in 2025.
Tattoo, and I Can See For Miles are great Who songs and the rest are fine, but it's not an album I would put on.
To quote Bernie Sanders: "Yeah, Good. OK."
On the plus side, it was only 29 minutes. Still, I found myself skipping a lot of these. Other than Help Me, Ronda this is forgettable. Who do I write to about including it on this list!!??
Solid album! Never knew there was a whole intro song to Head Over Heels.
Couple skips but a strong, tidy effort.
A classic rock classic.
Politics of a white band transforming the blues for a white audience, this album is one of the first to combine blues and psychedelia. It works and was innovative at the time, even if it may sound a little boring or tame today. Speaking of, Tame Impala owes a small debt to Cream and this album, as do many other psychedelic bands.
Love that it's just 33 mins, too. Though I would have preferred an actual song to the novelty song Mother's Lament.
lol I can’t take rappers with a British accent seriously, sorry it just sounds wrong to my American ear
After all, we did invent the form so can you really blame me?
A prog rock masterpiece. Of course there's 1-2 tracks you can skip, but there's lots to love – if you like prog rock. And even if the runtimes or time changes aren't your bag, baby, you can appreciate the songwriting, harmonies and guitar SHA-REDDING.
I would tell any young guitarist to learn this album front to back. Not only will you learn a ton of techniques and styles, you'll also hear a bunch of pedals and effects to blow all your allowance on.
Miscellaneous other thoughts:
-I think The Police, Pink Floyd and Rush are probably easier prog bands to get into for someone making their music journey because they're more pop-y. But Yes is still worth checking out
-Roundabout – best Yes song? Probably. But more importantly and controversially – best prog rock song ever? I think it's up there, along with the best Pink Floyd or early Genesis tracks. It's got a lot going on.
-I probably overrate Yes compared to the average person. But that's only because I was weird enough to ask for the box set for my birthday one year as a youth, then saw them at the NY State Fairgrounds. But hey, they still sounded great 40 years after they formed, so that says something about their talent
-If you didn't like this one, just be glad they didn't pick one of the hourlong Yes albums with only 3 songs on it!
This was good to work to and I like it but all the songs kinda sound the same... there were a few that stood out but overall it's just kind of an hourlong groove
This was fine but... why the hell is Elvis singing about the ghetto lmfao... all I could hear is Eric Cartman singing it anyway. There were a couple others that were fine, but the rest were slow, boring, meh
I just never got Elvis... the hair, the drawl, and the dance moves seem to be doing a lot of the heavy lifting w/r/t his aura. His singing & songwriting is nowhere near as good as McCartney/Lennon, or like, dozens of other rockstars. Mick Jagger and Ozzy Osbourne are better in every way and that's just off the dome.
I get that he came first so sure, credit to the King. But only by default. If he wasn't first, someone else with good hair and the instincts to shake his hips on TV would have been.
Good if you like this sort of thing!
Why, it's an all-time classic, of course!
A weird, fun ride. Not his best work but Sound and Vision is an all-timer.
no need to listen, i know it's an all-time album and one of their best
I liked this album! Just not as much as the other two we already listened to on this list.
I made it 5 songs before I turned it off.
Who could've guessed that the band that did Come On Eileen tried to make more music and was much less successful?
It was fine. It's no London Calling or Combat Rock.
a modern indie folk classic
reminds me of when i first moved to NYC and had to drive around a production van and WNYC played this album (and Helplessness Blues) a fair amount... big thanks to them for introducing me to fleet foxes, a mainstay of road trip playlists ever since
Yeah not really into kids screaming "I want my momma" in the middle of a MoTown song...
Plus the Grapevine cover was real bad. The rest were fine.
I love Cash. His baritone and Country & Western influences always remind me of my grandfather, who was a farmer in rural PA his whole life and sang on the church choir for 60 years. Plus they died within months of each other.
But personal association aside, he's a legend for a reason. His straightforward arrangements and vivid lyrics that often told a story made for a stellar combo that catapulted him to stardom. Here, on an album of covers, he imbues the persona of the Man In Black onto each and every one of them, to varying degrees of success, but most of them work.
Of course his cover of "Hurt" stands out, as do "Personal Jesus," "In My Life" and "We'll Meet Again" but even the lesser known/not as eye-popping ones are still solid. Any album that features a cover where the original artist agrees they now own the song, as Trent Reznor did with "Hurt", is a win.
When they slow down and get some dirt under their fingernails, this band is pretty cool. The fun poppy bops aren't for me. But overall I'm glad this was on the list.
Other than Life's What You Make It, this was a much more boring version of Tears for Fears. Not worth the time.
Okay first of all, I refuse to believe this list is truly random. There's no way this came up the day after Ozzie died!!!
That aside, this album still slaps. 10/10. Total classic. Guitar Hero overplays be damned.
Great music to do heroin to!!
I kid
But this album + a stroll in prospect park was a great way to recover my sanity after an intense couple weeks on multiple jobs 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
(well most of the songs, you noisy buggers know who you are)
Okay this was wayyyy more rockabilly/funk than I would have guessed. I always thought of these guys as like classic rock meets a little swing but this whole album is like if someone fed Sultans of Swing into a Rockabilly AI and asked for a whole album. That's not to say it's bad but the rest of the album sort of emphasizes all those aspects of that track.
As John Sterling would say, "Anyway...." Love Sultans of Swing and its legendary guitar work (and of course Money For Nothing and Romeo and Juliet) but to me this album was good but not great.
I don't think I'm a big Dire Straits guy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Before I ever listened to Iggy Pop, I knew him as that shirtless guy who looked extremely punk/rock and roll. Then I heard the title track -- now used in TV spots for Carnival cruises -- and it blew my brain. It's good and catchy and all, but it is in no way punk or rock and roll... devoid of any context I would guess it was by a one-hit wonder named like Jimmy's Backyard Bumpkins during the original British Invasion in 1969.
Anyway, this is a good album but nothing extraordinary. More influenced by disco and late 70s stuff than I would've liked. And the back half is just not very interesting to me. Probably better as an EP that ends with The Passenger.
-Not my fav Kanye album (Late Registration) or his best (MBDTF) but is it his most cohesive? I think it's definitely in the running since the pitched-up soul samples and themes of consumerism, the struggle of African Americans and trying to find meaning in the modern world throughout
-Not a lot of skips! But defeintely a few (the skips yes but also a few tracks)
-Man that Twista verse on Slow Jamz still takes off like a fuckin rocket, huh?
Man when this one hits, it really hits. But when it doesn't, it really doesn't. I don't think there's been an album I've rated for this project that has higher highs and lower lows on the same album.
The all-timers are no doubters and the rest of the tracks range from meh to unlistenable. Still, the good tracks are so good it elevates the whole album.
Lesser Moody Blues
Who mixes the cymbals higher than any other instrument or the vocals?
no thanks.
Damn this one is right up there with Nirvana's In Utero - the hits REALLY hit, the others REALLY don't
Still, Time to Pretend, Electric Feel and Kids make this a 4-star effort. They're that good.
Perfectly encapsulates the feeling of living through the W Bush era
Not my favorite Bowie. At only eight songs you would think they’d all be at least solid, and yet i skipped many.
Now imagine if this was an EP of the title track, Fame, Across the Universe and one other, maybe Fascination. Now that would be at least a four star entry.
Solid album but peters out after Offend In Every Way. Love The White Stripes, but I don't think this is my fav
...and he's back! Ready to rate albums again after an extended hiatus.
I'd never listened to this front to back -- lotta bangers!
Always loved All The Girls Love Alice and of course the quartet of better known tracks Candle in the Wind, Bennie and the Jets, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road & Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting. But Sweet Painted Lady, Dirty Little Girl and Harmony were also fun.
Not a huge Elton John fan and likely won't put this back on anytime soon, but it's very good at being what it is!
I liked Yes a lot in high school and tho I like them less now, there are still moments on this album that still slap
But I bet this album doesn't connect with even the Phish heads in this group not only bc of the generational divide and the super hippie lyrics, but it's so organ/keyboard-driven and Phish and most other modern prog rock are more guitar-driven or at the very least, not keyboard-driven.
A fine album. Some bops, some bores.
A solid album through and through even despite Neil Young's inclusion. I've said it previously in my CSN album review but as much as I love CSN and Neil Young separately (and as much fun as those four dudes had smoking pot and making music), I truly believe his voice and style really don't complement the CSN asthetic. I mean, CSN has perfect three-part harmonies on top of well-blended folk rock and psychedelia, but oh wait here comes country bumpkin Neil coming in with his scratch cat vocals and fumbling thumb solos to mess it all up. I love me some Southern Man, Rockin in the Free World, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere et al as much as the next man, but a value add he is not.
Still, this album sports all-time tracks in Carry On, Woodstock and Deja Vu, as well as hippie favorites Teach Your Children and Our House. Though I will add that a couple of hippies singing about cats and owning property makes me angrily jealous of boomers and Teach Your Children just unlocked a childhood memory of my hippy dippy 2nd grade teacher making us since that song in class. Was also waiting on harmonies to kick in on 4+20 to elevate it past little more than a demo.
In all, this is a fine album but not what I want from CSN.
Lol no thanks
I like Tangerine Dreams when they're scoring Miami Vice. Not when it's an album I'm listening to on its own.
Although Movements of a Visionary was perfectly good.
This was a solid 2 until I hit Wake Up, then I thought "well this would be a 2 but this song elevates it to a 3."
Then I heard the last few tracks, which I never did before and it's a solid 3. A lot of skips and a lot of it is too artsy fartsy for my taste. But Wake Up is a banger and there's a couple others I'd revisit.
Now that's a 5-star album right there! First one with more than one skip for me, too. Apologies to Oceans and Porch.
Immediate flashbacks to the 90s and singing in the car, with this CD in heavy rotation among the many others from my zip wallet case thing.
I like this album but it's not amazing... curious if this made it over Sound of Silver or even This Is Happening, two far better albums
As fun and dancey as the day it dropped. They have a very limited range of what they can do, but they do that one thing very well.
idk man i like a fair amount of Dylan but this album did nothing for me
when he hits, dylan really hits but the misses are real misses
too many skips on this for me to ever play this again but out of respect it gets a 3
I love DLZ, and some of the others are fine but too many funky bad ones.
There are pros and cons to falling behind on this list.
Pros: you get to choose an album based on mood, and you see others’ reviews as soon as you’re done
Cons: you are left wondering if anyone cares to read your review so after the fact, it also sort of defeats the purpose of the project
I listened to this on a cold, blustery, grey winter morning and it was *just* the soulful medicine I needed to have a great day despite the weather. This album rips. No skips, all bops. An all time disco classic.
Now THIS is what this list is for! No stupid beep-boop bullshit (looking at you The Shamen) or dumb c-list classic rock castoffs (The Sensational Alex Harvey Band).
This is a great album, if not the Pumpkins' best.
Also, I STG if The Strokes aren't on this list but all this other bullshit is, I'm gonna hunt down the author and cuss them out in person...
Rock radio classics. They can keep the slow jams outside of Ready For Love.
Not for me, dog
Flutes and How Do You Do? are all-timers but there's so many skips... how did this make the list?
Again I must have words with whoever made this list. This album is not one of the 1,001 albums you need to hear before you die. Not even the top 10,001.
This band is the lovechild of Meatloaf, Queen and Frank Zappa cover bands. Who else would have songs about a faith healer, the death of the teenage idol and gang bangs on the same album?
I will never listen to these guys again. But oh were they fun.
70s California rock radio
He's got a little bit of Eagles, a little Supertramp, and a little ELO with some CSN harmonies thrown in for good measure
Crazy to think he recorded most of the album all by himself! It was the perfect thing to listen to as I paid bills, made a grocery list and took the subway to play squash, which is what I assume he intended it for
Any album with Changes, Life on Mars? and Queen Bitch is gonna be at least 3 stars.
Featuring a personal fav in Andy Warhol gets it up to a 4.5, and even though the rest of the tracks don't stand out in any Forever Track™ kinda way, they are all some combination of fun/interesting/of a piece so Hunky Dory gets a 5 from me
Not sure I need to listen to the whole album again any time soon, but I appreciate it as a statement!
Alive 2007 is a much better album! This one is fine, just a lot of skips and really not their best work. Discovery is an all-time dance album and Alive 2007's genius is in infusing and elevating those tracks with the great bits from this album that work, and discarding the 40-60% of Homework that doesn't.
A classic for sure but more skips that didn’t resonate with me than I remembered. An all time voice and presence gone far too soon.
I still like Frank better.
I saw a tweet asking why Paul Simon doesn’t get the same respect as Bob Dylan. He’s just as fine a songwriter AND he can sing.
I don’t disagree.
