I am not a fan of Bruce Springsteen at all; he just seems to lack the kind of insight into human nature, the ability to make a song embody a situation rather than just describe it. I'm sympathetic to the blue collar concerns in his lyrics- he just seems like a second-tier songwriter who somehow hit it big. That said, this album is as close as I've heard to him getting it right. If his career had devloped from this point, instead of this point being a deviation, then I might be a fan. it's still a bit too slow, and the lyrics a bit too literal, but I can feel the pain and anger in them. and the two songs about cops were amazing. so all in all a decent record from Bruce. I know it stands tall in his discography, and the critics will give it 5 outta 5. but this is just my opinion.

Sounds like over produced radio friendly frat boy rock. It belongs to the parts of culture I despise the most, and that’s all I can hear in it. I do like their one song “Don’t Shoot Me Santa Claus” as a guilty pleasure, but that track isn’t here.

The more austere tracks on this album re as beautiful as her best work- and while I’m not a big fan of hers, I do appreciate her. The full band stuff sounds like 70s AOR and I do not care for it- they aren’t bad songs, but the production kills them for me. And she’d do jazz better once she hooked up with Charles Mingus.

So far better than I remember it. Much better for me, more austere than Bryter Later. A little bit too soft and dreamy- I still like his demos and Pink Moon the best, but this is a good representation of his work. A nice listen.

An important album for the band, establishing them as less hardcore punks and more rappers... and their style of trading lines and being not altogether serious is here. but the music is so-so, and the lyrics are juevenile. I liked this album when I was a kid, but Paul's Boutique and Check Your Head just crush this thing. I'm not going to listen to it again.

green onions song is lightning in a bottle/ more onions is the afterglow. the rest of the album is so-so. if you like soul music or organ music, it probably does a lot for you- it's all very well played by a super-tight band. it's just not my thing. I dig it a bit more when the blues brothers stand in front of them....

I am not fond of heavy metal in general, but I grew up in the 80s, so I have some nostalgia. I did listen to Metallica from Master of Puppets through the Black Album and liked them then- they're still in my iTunes library. Going back to Master of Puppets now- it sounds sort of monochromatic and dry- and like every song is at least two minutes longer than it has to be. there are some good moments thorughout, but it is a real chore to listen to. I'm afraid to go back to And Justice for All now... it was my favorite back in the day...

I don't love all psych flourishes here, but this is an obviously restlessly creative band, and it's an entertaining record- if you don't like one song, wait a minute things are about to change. Lots of looping sounds here, kind of minimalist in parts- but mostly a pretty solid rock 'n roll album.

Nope. I hate this fucker. I know it's his best album. I don't care. I've heard plenty from this record, clearly his one of his most introspective albums, but still full of that shock-for-shock's sake shit he deals in. I know he's influential- but I'd aver it's mostly for the worse in the culture that he ever had any career at all. Burn it.

Horror show 80s production; white kid funk and island music out through a blender of super-80s synth. Unlistenable.

System's first album; Sugar is a great tune of course, but the work here is immature and not a lot of fun to listen to at album length. This was never the most lyrically nimble band, but it's embarrasingly bad here. The next album would be a masterpiece, and the albums after that a step downwards from which they would almost never record again. an extremely high potential, highly frustrating band.

not the most sonically varied album is this R.E.M debut; they'd broaden their palette in the 90s- but it's got plenty of youthful energy and a couple of indelible songs (radio free europe being the standout). And there's not a bad track on it really, quite pleasant to listen to. the only downfall is the saminess of the track list. it's an auspicious beginning for a major band, and I'm glad to have finally heard it all.

I like the acoustic blues plenty- recorded in the 30s and 60s- all favorites. the Mississippi juke joint stuff recorded in the 90s is fire too. but this boogie-woogie Chicago style blues rock like here--- can't stand the stuff. just like sandpaper in my ears. there's no blues emotion here- just whisps of the form- it's overworked and underformed. hate it. though I don't disdain BB King himself- so it can have one extra star out of respect.

Much better than the BB King disc. I’d prefer a more stripped down version- but Muddy Waters in any context is good blues.

Loved it. A bad idea boyfriend heard of but never heard. Poly Styrene must have been Corrin Tucker’s favorite…

Read the lyrics to Born in the USA for the first time- so it’s about the mistreatment of the middle class, and in particular Vietnam Vets upon their return. More progressive than US Fascists seem to think. Two issues: musically it’s extremely obnoxious- just a terrible fucking song. AND it’s viewpoint is parochial- focused on the poor vets- but while they are victims- haw about the millions of Vietnamese lives disrupted and ended in the “kill anything that moves” doctrine that war was waged by. Fuck the USA. Also- this album’s production is 80s in the bad way, and Bruce is always singing anthemically- it’s wearying. He chills out on “I’m on Fire” probably the best track on the record. I didn’t know “Dancing in the Dark” was on this record- obviously the biggest hit (504 million views!). It’s catchy and were it arranged and performed in the 1950s I’d probably love it. As is it’s the most synth and sax laden but of 80s schlock imaginable. Put this goddamn album in the discount bin or burn it. My enjoyment- one star. For its earnestness, I’ll give it one more.

Vocals are too low in the mix most of the time- indistinct and flat; shitty 80s synthesizers are poured all over every song. Really unpleasant to listen to. the title track and closing track are tunes strong enough to stand out to me despite the production- so maybe if the whole thing was re-recorded by an actually decent band, even more songs would reveal themselves. but yeah, I profoundly dislike this.

A good one; strong songwriting, decent singing, powerful emotional core.

A decent sound that surpassed what I expect when I hear the genre is rap-rock. Still, it’s lyrically super shallow and I got about six songs in and had to wave the white flag.

Boogie woogie blues that George Thorogood got his shtick from. I don’t like him, and I don’t like this. Jimmie some Mississippi John Hurt or Skip James or Taj Mahal or RL Burnside. Keep this shit to yourselves ye drunken vapid party people.

I listened to more than half of every song (except pyramids, only ⅓ of that monster), waiting to hear anything that would make it clear to me why this guy is so acclaimed, and why people so fervently wait for his mercurial ass to just release a fourth album already. BUT- no. All I hear is competent pop r&b. Nothing I would normally listen to, or am I interested in starting. Kinda crap actually; it’s ok with me if he can’t get himself to produce any more music. if someone perused my reviews thus far they'd think I hate almost everything... it ain't true. I have a music library 6000+ albums and growing- all of which I like quite a lot. but I haven't liked much pop music since the early 60s. the music seems tainted by market expectations. Not Frank Ocean so much- he's an earnest singer influenced by other capitalist pap. so he does a better job of making it, but it can't help but be what it is.... i'm sure i'm missing something- but i gave it a real good chance....

A strong psychadelic folk/rock album. of course I was very familiar with the White Rabitt and Don't You Want Somebody to Love, but I was unfamiliar with the whole ouevre of Jefferson Airplane's mach 1 run of the late 60s early 70s. Turns out that this is a very tuneful and well-written record. I'll be keeping it in rotation in the future to get to know it more deeply.

ok. i'll listen to it- but for christ's sake, why is ithis shit in the book? why do you make me suffer? OK- i've skimmed it- and that's all I can take. Positives: she has an amazing voice and great phrasing. some of the songs, especially the closer are very well structured pop songs. Finally- all real instrumentation- no synths or overproduction. BUT- the songs are all hallmark-movie level love songs filled with non-specific lyrics that could apply to anyone at anytime- which is I guess how it gets billions of streams. She sings them with gusto, but they all seem hollow.... and man, well structured or not- if I can't buy your heart is in it- you just annoy the hell out of me. which this record does. it was calculated for mass appeal down the second. hundreds of millions of people seem to love this record. everyone has terrible taste.

Probably the first great Beatles album; the first two are fine, but just collections of pop songs. This one is too, but these songs were written in a compressed time period and they sound like they belong together. It's also nice that this and Beatles for Sale both have tolerable stero mixes. I'm not going to write a review here- if someone likes the early Beatles, which I do, then there's not a bum track on this record- it's 30 minutes of sonic joy. I'm only withholding a fifth star b/c there are better Beatles albums to come....

It’s techno; nice samples provide an olden times vibe in spots. Wish it was more haunted…. Still it was good to work to.

some decent songwriting here- in the vein of rock n' roll stompers. vocals are often a bit higher pitched than I like; they're kind of like a dollar-store led zepplin with really stupid lyrics. anyway. nice to experience the band whose song dominated a year of my youth via quiet riot. but i'll never listen to it again.

well geez. I know this record back and forth. One of my top 3 for Dylan- "It's all Right, Ma" and "Gates of Eden" and "It's all Over Now Baby Blue" are probably the best closing triad of any album ever. Even the lesser known cuts are gems- Love Minus Zero/No Limit is one of his more beautiful love songs; his 115th dream his liveliest farce. i'm not qualified to talk about how good this record is. 5 stars goddamnit

They’re an ok band. I skimmed all their early records; for me there’s too much keyboard and too many mid-tempo tunes. I don’t care for it, but I’m glad to have heard it.

it's ok. I like the 60s production: the jangly guitars and the harmonizing they do. but the songs are slight in concept and super literal in lyrical meaning. it really is bagain bin 60s pop, which means I like it better than most anything in the last twenty years of pop music, but I'd never choose to listen to it again.

an album that highlights how absolutely tragic this man's early death was; he's not just a brilliant guitarist but also a brilliant songwriter. Little Wing is one of my favorite songs of all time (first heard the instrumental by Stevie Ray Vaughn); But there's classics abounding on this thing. Even the less famous songs, even the song that Noel Redding leads go down easy because the band is so effortlessly muscular. Again, that we only got three records and he died before fully transitioning into what would come next- the mind boggles at what could have been. If I were to lob one criticism at it- several songs are only 2-3 minutes long, and I really think they could have been doubled in length because Jimi can stretch any tune out and make it even more brilliant.

I listened to about half of it. It’s fine. Nicely played UK pop rock. Boring mostly, it made little or no impression on me. I listened to a bit of their 2025 record after this where they sound more grizzled and tempered by the woes of the world- and it’s an improvement.

Solid high energy punky rock ‘n roll. A bit one-note, but if you’re in the mood for what they do, they absolutely deliver. Very enjoyable.

I am not a fan of Bruce Springsteen at all; he just seems to lack the kind of insight into human nature, the ability to make a song embody a situation rather than just describe it. I'm sympathetic to the blue collar concerns in his lyrics- he just seems like a second-tier songwriter who somehow hit it big. That said, this album is as close as I've heard to him getting it right. If his career had devloped from this point, instead of this point being a deviation, then I might be a fan. it's still a bit too slow, and the lyrics a bit too literal, but I can feel the pain and anger in them. and the two songs about cops were amazing. so all in all a decent record from Bruce. I know it stands tall in his discography, and the critics will give it 5 outta 5. but this is just my opinion.

Michael Jackson is a hard NO. Disco is an even harder NO. Michael Jackson’s disco album is a FUCK NO. I managed to skim it for a minute. That was a minute I’ll never get back.

What can I say? This is an interesting eclectic band- that is all brains and no heart. Bowie did things like this in the 70s- and much better. I think there's something here, but other than the one big one, "Once in a Lifetime", I'm just not into this music. I personally find David Byrne annoying and the songwriting underbaked- it just does nothing for me.

I first heard a Smiths' song when Radiohead covered the Headmaster's Ritual- and so this is the first album I looked for, and it remains my favorite of the four Smiths albums (though some of the singles might eclipse any of the material here). It's a great record- Barbarism begins at home is a bit overlong, and from the first 8 tracks that's the only bad thing I can muster. Most of the album is so great in fact that the lumbering, preachy, joyless, maudlin album closing vegan dirge that somehow became the stupid title of the record- not even that colossal piece of shit can stain the rest of the record. it does take a star off though. I mean, fuck industrial capitilist farming for it's cruelty to animals and it's degridation of all our food quality as well. but vegans can bite it too; nature is cruel, I don't care for it myself, but all of natural slection is red in tooth and claw. Have as many cries about it as you like, the universe is stubbornly indifferent.

I listened to two songs fully, then skimmed the rest of the record. Yep. I hate everything about this. I don't like synthetic pop music as a rule, but add vapid technical show-off lyrics, and drench it all in 1990s mainstreem cool.... ick ick ick. 0 stars or one if I must.

My dad liked this album a lot. My first boss loved it too. The lyrics are clever, and somewhat thoughtful. Ok, that's the end of the compliments. The music is light jazz/light funk/yacht rock shit for yuppies. Fuck this band right to hell; they are literally everything I hate in music all in one package- and what's even more irritating is that b/c of all the old people in my life digging this record, I've heard it a lot, so I know all these songs back and forth and my brain gets a little hit of dopamine when I hear them. It reacts like listening to this garbage is pleasant. UGH.

What can I say? 50% I like this; nice, no-nonsense rock ‘n roll with a bit of punk energy. And the songs are pretty well written too. But I don’t like the sound of it at all. Not Costello’s voice/persona and not the rinky-dink keyboard that pervades the whole record. Not for me.

For what it is, the last writings of a mentally ill man in the throes of addiction, it’s necessarily of variable quality, but when it hits it hits. Surreal psychedelic folk- it goes down nice. Pink Floyd was a lesser ban without him.

A lumbering drunken ox of a rock n roll band. Don’t like them at all. Two stars for being not shitty prog or rap metal.

it's not for me. I know Bill Callahan from the Smog Days and his quarantine collab with Will Oldham. I like him OK, but something about his voice/persona and the songwritng, while it is so so close to so many other artists I enjoy, it constantly sits just to the left of something I would ever actually want to listen to. ah well. close but no cigar.

I am not a huge Beach boys fan, but this album is solid throuought. Sloop John B, I just wasn’t made for these times, Caroline no…. All stone cold classics and a remarkable turnaround from their early days. Too bad that they never reached this height again

decent vocals and sometimes even decent songwriting. arrangements are poppy trash tho'. could only make it halfway through. i'd give it 2.5, but if I can only give whole stars, it gets rounded down.

Nope. I like the sound of Sonic Youth, even as they restrain themselves and try out more conventional rock songs, they tune their instruments differently, they let feedback fill all the empty spaces in songs… decent noise rock sounds. But the songs aren’t that good, and the lyrics are embarrassingly bad, sing-songy literalist and full of forced rhymes. The songs’ concerns are not interesting, and the music doesn’t make up for it. And any time Kim Gordon “sings” it pains the ear. Sonic Youth is best when they shut up- gummies the SYR series over this any day.

really having a loser of a week aren't we. this may be the most annoying album I've ever heard. sing-songy children's choir faux adult pop music. do people actually listen to this shit? FUCKING AWFUL. if the next few albums are anywhere near this level, i'm done with this project. I wish I could give negative stars.

it's sixties pop rock. unremarkable, but not awful. kind of boring is the biggest problem- also the rinky-dink organ that pollutes the songs isn't helping. there's a nice variety of styles here, but they're all aimed in the same direction. I guess if I were twenty years older than I am, and I heard this as a kid, I'd be nostalgic for it, it is redolant of that era- but it's far from the best the era offered. 3 stars (2.5, rounded up)

The first decent album recommended by the site in a week. Good experimental rock 'n' roll. Of course I've heard of the Pixies and I know some of their songs, but I never listened to a whole album before. I'm not real fond of Black Francis' high pitched singing voice- Kim Deal fares much better here, but it's not a deal breaker. This is a good album that I'll listen to again. 4 stars.

Steve Earle goes on to do albums I like a lot more, this one is just a bit too mainstream country in arrangements and production. It speaks to how good he is that I could listen to the whole thing anyway (I usually wouldn't get more than thirty seconds into an album that sounds like this). on the deluxe edition he does a killer version of State Trooper too. anyway, everybody starts somewhere. I like Steve Earle a lot- this record, not so much.

I knew a couple of these songs as covered by others. This album could do with a bit more stylistc diversity, but the one mode most of it is in is amazing- moody, mealnacholic, classical sounding guitar picking. and cohen sounding so young with his voice in a higher register than I'm used to. anyway. I loved it.

I haven't listened to this record in decades; It was nice to come back to it. It is definitely lacking in tonal variation, but if one is in the mood for a blend of free jazz mixed with hardcore- this is the album to go to. Zorn's mid 80s to late 90s output is mostly stellar, and this is not exception. An exhilarating and enjoyable ride. i'd give it 94/100, but 4 stars is our closest approximation.

I like some Sinatra albums; yes, he's a great singer. no, these upbeat orchestral pop tunes nothing for me. his more melancholy stuff hits harder. this is OK.

Ok, for reference- I like jazz. I don't understand it on an academic level, but it just sounds good to me- I've got more jazz albums in my iTunes library than any other genre (1500 or so). So I get this right away. Mid 50s hard-bop and bebop with Latin rhythms. It's not bad, but Latin Jazz has never done anything for me- that beat isn't awful, but it is like putting a straitjacket on the rhythm section. again, not terrible- just nothing I'd usually willingly listen to.

more Elvis Costello. Dammit. I don't care if it's his best album (if it is)- I do not like the guy. at all. I'll try it- briefly. If it isn't as dominated by low-grade keyboards as the last one maybe it'll be tolerable.... Ok, I listened to the first five tracks. It sounds decent this time, but I DO NOT like his vocals or inflection or phrasing or something. This music is not for me. It’s for the classic rock loving drunken thick necks that I grew up around.

Austere, boring as shit, thin sounding German techno. Music for AIs to relax to after they’re done harvesting all the world’s data. From both musical and cultural perspective, I couldn’t hate it more than I do.