What a classic. Layne Stanley knows how to talk about heroin and he knows how to communicate that pain. I can't count the amount of times I listened to "Down in a Hole" when I was an active alcoholic and thought about being too deep in. "Rooster" will always be a favorite to me with the guitar playing such a major role in boosting the song's grungy nature. This is peak 90s Seattle Grunge and has all the elements to make it one of the best.
A return to form for the Stones. While the tracklist is solid and no track stands out as objectively bad, the Rolling Stones have tread this ground before. What comes out is a perfectly fine album with fantastic songs but nothing innovative or unique from what we have already heard. Worth a 4 for composition, not mixing.
Artful and tasteful. It's quintissential late 90s early 2000s brit rock at its core and deserves to be acknowledged as such.
Droning. ZZ Top is already a bit out of my personal realm but this is a fairly generic rock album that could be applied to a number of different bands without noticing.
I've reviewed this album before on a prior playthrough and to be honest, I still am not entirely onboard with giving it a 5. The album itself is a work of art and has so many moments where you think, "This is the Beatles!" but it just can't escape it in a bad way. Every time I think Paul is gonna come on the mic and it isn't there. This is by no means a bad album or undeserving of a 5, but I hyper-focus on this genre and anything 60s to 80s and when I put it up against it's legends, it just doesnt break the barrier.
Rolling Stone rated this the best album in the world in 2022. I would be hard pressed to disagree. Granted there are a lot of albums out there and I primarily consider myself to be a rock fan, but this album just can't stop getting better. As a bass player myself, James Jamerson is a god of the trade and no matter how grueling the vocals are about the reality of life in that era, we will always know what's going on.
Tasteful soul music that gets down to basics. There will always be a place for calming "sit by the fire" music.
What an experimental album! Delightfully complex and bridging that early gap into rock and roll in a way that doesn't seem forced. Not particularly my cup of tea, but influential and deeply worth listening to.
Funky, soulful, and just a pure blast to listen to. I don't really have much to rate as this normally isn't my favorite style of music, but anytime I can hear the hook to "Let Me Ride" is another good day.
Strange. Not bad, but strange. Funky jazz with sax solos but with a 1st or 2nd gen synth that seems to do more harm than good. The composition is varied, and I think to a larger degree there is something interesting about how they approach sub-genres with each song; however, there is something lacking. Worth a listen to but unlikely to strike a chord with most people. 3/5
Big emphasis on percussion in this strange but inticing album. You can almost feel that these tracks were moreso meant to display their beat and be used for future sampling by the rap industry at large. Cutting the vocals out with the exception of the chorus' would likely result in exactly the same listening experience. Trippy and psychedelic in it's own regard, this album stands out as influential and incredibly unique.
Delightfully unique as not a lot of Latina girls were making rap around this time and with it only being 1989 there was still a lot of room to experiment. That is the proper word to explain this album: experimental. Not much that will excite but a solid album with nothing obscenely bad that will show you a bit of what happens when a new genre is being invented.
I gotta be honest and say I don't really know what to say about this one. Do I talk about how awful the singer's voice is and how he is trying to do death metal vocals over an accordion? Do I talk about the drummer who is playing way too fast for the other instruments in the lineup? Do I let anyone reading this know I can't speak French so it all sounded like gibberish to me, losing all semblance of how impactful the lyrics are? Do I talk about how unique and how unlike any other music it is and how even though I disliked it personally, I knew it made sense as a groundbreaker? All I know is that listening to this album was a bit of suffering but made me appreciate that I don't live in Germany.
This review could have been more substantial but the instant this album starts I smell herb and feel sleepy. Santana knows how to bring it up then lay it down.
The. Live. Band. Album.
If you smoke some herb with this album on a Friday you will have quit your job to pick up the guitar on Monday.
The Dogg does it right every time. Such a classic album from a much better time in the rap scene. Uniquely made, this album features a wide range of beats and real experiences that make it authentic and personal.
Thrash metal at it's finest. I completely understand the historical significance of the album and deeply appreciate it. Listening to albums like this does take me out of my comfort zone and I didn't particularly like the album with my tastes but good music deserves to be recognized even if you don't get it. A bit like art if you think about it.
One single word - Classic.
Look man I appreciate the White Stripes but I just couldn't do it. Stopped halfway and went back to other Brit Rock.
I have some recency bias about this because I keep getting brit edm/electric and I just can't do it. I can appreciate EDM for what it is, but this album just seems the same as all the others.
Boy did they want to be Radiohead so so badly
A stunning, moving, and beautiful album made by a man who makes it clear this album is an extension of his soul and his feelings.
