I want to be that guy and say this isn't a 5 star album. Go against the grain. Say "The Beatles are overrated". But maaaaaaaan, I can't do it. This album is just so good. My one complaint is that the middle half of the album doesn't hold quite the same level of quality as the first half and final 2 songs. But at a crazy nearly 35 minute run time, any other problems I'd be able to think of are minor and I'm already half way through the album again. "Taxman", "Eleanor Rigby", "I'm Only Sleeping" "Got to Get You Into My Life" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" are my favorites here. That's 5 entire songs. A huge portion of the album. Ok, so, here is my compromise with The Beatles. I'm going to give this album 5 stars. I'm also going to give Abbey Road 5 stars. Everything else is probably going to get fewer stars than that. But I think with how prominent and influential this band is, it would be actually criminal not giving this album specifically a 5, so I'm going to give it a 5. You've won this round Beatles. Many more to come.

Wow, they really haven’t changed even remotely since their first album. While I still like Dave better as a drummer overall, his iconic voice is always a delight to listen to. 2 songs in and I’m starting to realize this is one of those albums where I’ve heard a lot of these songs before but can’t name any of them off the top of my head. "I’ll Stick Around" and "Alone + Easy Target" are an absolute bop. Peculiar that this is the album they chose for the Foo Fighters, but I’m not complaining. This is a STRONG first album to get. Absolutely screams 90’s. Get used to seeing a lot of Grunge adjacent albums at the top of my list.

Total jams followed by pretty sounds. The first half of this album sounds like what you’d imagine someone from the 70’s thinks the future sounds like. It’s got some absolute jammers with a unique sound to it. Bowie has such a great voice. “Always Crashing in the Same Car” has a killer guitar riff. Not something I think is going to stick with me, but nonetheless still very good. “Be My Wife” is also a banger. The second half of the album is purely instrumental, and while it’s pretty and very well composed, is not something I’d listen to very often. First half of the album is almost perfect, but the ladder half is utterly forgettable. Still, a solid album from one of the all time greats.

Day 3 and already an undeniable 5 star album. Listening to the gradual evolution of Paul McCartney is such a treat. Every single song on this album rocks. The instrumentation, catchy sounds, smooth bass lines, singing, and overall vibe is just incredible. The album frequently changes back and forth from an absolute jam session, to a killer bit of brass instrumentation, to something very reminiscent of The Beatles, and it all blends incredibly well together. One of my personal favorite tropes for an album is when they end with a riff from the first song, so bonus points for that as well.

Day 4. I feel weird giving 2 albums a 5 star in a row. I was listening to this album trying to find a single reason why it shouldn't be 5 stars, but I couldn't. First of all, I am completely unfamiliar with "Garbage" save for an old Guitar Hero cover, so I had no idea what I was getting into with this. What I got was an album without a single bad song. It's a freaking Grunge band with a Scottish Female singer, what a crazy combination!! My personal favorite song on this album is "Queer". When an album is so good that it makes you do a deep dive on the entire band, you know you've done well. Way to go Garbage!!

My first “Oh shoot, I’ve heard this song before!!” moment. I had no idea “Do You Realize??” was by these guys. That song actually makes me more sad than anything, and I don’t know if that was the intended result, but in general it’s clearly the best song on the entire album. This album isn’t something I would want to constantly listen to, but it’s very soothing and melodic. I’ve heard the titular song parodied before as well, but outside of that, this is my very first time listening to this band. This would be a great album to listen to during a drug trip, for better or for worse.

Ok, so, Yes is one of my favorite bands. This is not my favorite Yes album. A lot of the shorter songs are pretty forgettable. But the majority of this album is so good!! It’s Prog, so this is either going to be the best thing you’ve ever heard or a complete waste of your time. For me, it’s the prior. Having the JoJo meme song also really helps, especially because it’s just genuinely one of the best songs ever. Past that, “South Side of the Sky”, “Heart of the Sunrise” and “America” are all 5/5 songs. I desperately want to give this 5 stars, as I’ve just listed like 80% of the album. I just might. You know what? Yes.

There are a number of bands that are automatically just going to get 5 stars, and all of them are absolutely worthy of said rating. The Who is one of them. This is an absolutely epic tale from start to finish. I really could have gone my entire life without knowing why the song "Pinball Wizard" happens though. I greatly look forward to listening to more of The Who and their entire catalogue. This concludes my first "week" on this website, and it's been an incredible experience so far. I look forward to finishing the fight in a few years. Give me more like this and it will be an easy feat.

Welcome back to another episode of “Bands I first heard on Guitar Hero”. I thought about just copy and pasting the lyrics to “Supermassive Black Hole” as my review, but then I remembered this album also has “Knights of Cydonia” on it. I guarantee at some point on this long journey I’ll end up doing that, likely at least a few times. Yeah, it’s perfect from start to finish. The voice, unique and impressive. The beats, all bangers. I love this album. I genuinely can’t find anything to criticize here. Every song is great. If you don’t vibe with his voice or the style of music, I get it. That’s valid, but I personally LOVE this. I seriously don’t know if I’m ever going to rate an album less than 5 stars again… Is that normal or am I just easily impressed? Time will surely tell.

This was pure auditory torture. I found myself constantly checking how close I was to being done with this album, and it was never close enough. The only solace I had were the few and fleeting moments when the singing stopped.

This album kinda feels like it only lasts for around 10 minutes. Playing it on loop, it’s difficult to determine when it stopped and restarted. This one is on the borderline of 3-4 for me. It’s certainly got more great songs than bad songs, but nothing really blows me away either. At the same time, there’s some stuff I want to skip right off the bat. “Big Ten Inch Record” in particular got old pretty quickly. It’s got all the subtlety of a hand grenade, and none of the explosive fun. Everyone knows “Walk This Way” and “Sweet Emotion”, and those are great, but I was pleasantly surprised by “Round and Round” and “You See Me Crying” the most. For the accomplishment of getting me to listen to this album on loop for the entire duration of my work day, I bestow a 4 upon this album.

I've heard a few of these songs covered before but have never heard of Dusty Springfield until now. I was very pleasantly surprised with this album, I really didn't think I would like it at first, but I was vibing hard from the second listen onward. Also, this is just making me want to watch Severance again, as "The Windmills of Your Mind" is prominently featured, even if it isn't the Dusty Springfield version. Overall, this isn't something I would always want to listen to, but god damn is it good when I just want some chill tunes. I will for sure be returning to more Dusty Springfield in the future. My favorite songs on this album are the previously aforementioned "The Windmills of Your Mind", as well as "Son of a Preacher Man".

While this isn’t really my bag, I can definitely respect the sheer talent of the band as a whole. The instrumentation is quite good and well composed. The album is a brilliant celebration of Cuban music in general. I don’t really think it’s going to stick with me for a long time, but I’m still very happy to have spent the day listening to it nonetheless. Very curious if I recognize any of these songs while watching a show or movie at some point.

You know what? This really grew on me the more I listened to it. Once again, not exactly something I would want to listen to daily, but there's nothing bad here. The entire album is catchy from top to bottom, and I think it's more than deserving of a 3 star. This is perfectly acceptable club music that I would be ok with if it came on again. Can't say I'm familiar with the band in any way but name, but this was pretty good and I'm interested in hearing more. My favorite songs on this album are "Shopping" and "It's a Sin". Also, the second track features Dusty Springfield, who was my featured artist 2 days ago. The odds of that happening have to be pretty low. Nice little album you got here, Pet Shop Boys. It's definitely catchy and ear wormy.

I'm sorry, Tom Waits. I don't think you're for me. I've been told there are like 5 of these albums and that this may be his best work based on the reviews for Swordfishtrombones on this site. That being said, I hope they're better than this. I gave it a solid and fair 3 listens, and it just didn't really resonate with me. "Down, Down, Down" is quite good, an actual jammer. While I don't find Tom's voice as bad as some others do, it's just a lot. There were brief moments of good music here, but they were very few and far between. A 2/5 for me.

This is a high 3 for me, almost a 4. Surprised the hell out of me. Every song here feels wholly unique from the last, for better and for worse. The only reason I’m not giving this 4 stars is because more often than not, I don’t think the ideas work very well. However, the songs I do like, I REALLY REALLY like. “The Wall Street Shuffle”, “The Worst Band In The World” and “Baron Samedi” are all fantastic songs. It’s always super cool diving into a band and album I’ve genuinely never heard of before in any capacity. If there were more songs on this album I absolutely loved, this would be an easy 4 for me, but more than anything I think it was cool just how many different ideas got tried out at all. It made for a consistently fun listening experience during my day whenever the album would restart. I may explore more of this band in the future.

This album grew on me so immensely hard that I really want to give it a 5. It didn’t hook me until around the 3rd listen, but when it finally resonated with me I absolutely loved it. It turns out these guys are good friends with the guys from Oasis. Go figure. They sound like them so much, and I mean that as a massive compliment. “Bitter Sweet Symphony” is an absolute classic which I had never even heard before listening to this album for the first time. What really surprised me though is “The Rolling People”. I honestly wish the rest of the album was like that, but it’s not even a problem when the rest of the album is still so good anyway. My only nitpick is that there’s a multi minute long dead air during the final song that makes listening on repeat rather annoying, and I didn’t particularly like the song “The Drugs Don’t Work”. I don’t think that’s enough to dock it an entire star though. Yeah. Sure, it’s another 5 star.

A little bit ago, I said that a few specific artists are just going to get 5 stars automatically. Ladies and Gentlemen, Red Hot Chili Peppers. I love this band, and I love this album. I can't believe how many of their classics are on this album specifically. I often overlook this album when I'm listening to the Peppers, I am no longer going to overlook this album when I'm listening to the Peppers. Is "Under the Bridge" the best song on this album? I don't know. Depends on the day. They're all good.

To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day Hardly spoke to folks around him, didn't have too much to say No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip The stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip Big iron on his hip It was early in the morning when he rode into the town He came riding from the south side, slowly lookin' all around He's an outlaw loose and running came the whisper from each lip And he's here to do some business with the big iron on his hip Big iron on his hip In this town there lived an outlaw by the name of Texas red Many men had tried to take him and that many men were dead He was vicious and a killer though a youth of twenty four And the notches on his pistol numbered one an nineteen more One and nineteen more Now the stranger started talking made it plain to folks around Was an Arizona ranger wouldn't be too long in town He came here to take an outlaw back alive or maybe dead And he said it didn't matter, he was after Texas Red After Texas Red Wasn't long before the story was relayed to Texas Red But the outlaw didn't worry, men that tried before were dead Twenty men had tried to take him, twenty men had made a slip Twenty one would be the ranger with the big iron on his hip Big iron on his hip The morning passed so quickly, it was time for them to meet It was twenty past eleven when they walked out in the street Folks were watching from their windows, everybody held their breath They knew this handsome ranger was about to meet his death About to meet his death There was forty feet between them when they stopped to make their play And the swiftness of the ranger is still talked about today Texas Red had not cleared leather, for a bullet fairly ripped And the rangers' aim was deadly with the big iron on his hip Big iron on his hip It was over in a moment and the folks had gathered round There before them lay the body of the outlaw on the ground Oh, he might have gone on living but he made one fatal slip When he tried to match the ranger with the big iron on his hip Big iron on his hip Big iron, big iron When he tried to match the ranger with the big iron on his hip Big iron on his hip

Another album that kinda grew on me. Initially I wanted to give it 2 stars, as it's really not my kind of thing, but I managed to listen to it on loop the entire day and I ended up never skipping anything, besides "Forrest Gump" and "Bad Religion" which are both pretty bad. While this still wasn't my thing at the end of the day, I grew to understand and appreciate the vibe. Nothing particularly amazing here, but nothing egregiously bad either. The super short prelude songs are also all genuinely fun, like "Start" and "Fertilizer". I think my favorite song here is "Lost". Is this album going to stick with me? Absolutely not, but it's always nice hearing something different for a little bit.

Dude, let's go!! This is some good Punk music. God damn this album is so short though. My only main complaint is that it doesn't go on for any longer. I don't often listen to Punk music and even I thought this was great. "Melody Lee" and "Plan 9 Channel 7" are my favorite songs here, but the entire thing is a banger. See, my biggest fear here is that I don't know if any of the other Punk albums are going to be this good, but I hope they are. I loved the song "Plan 9 Channel 7" so much for how different it was compared to the rest of the album. If every song sounded like that, this would absolutely get 5 stars from me. It was more traditional Rock, and really makes me wish the rest of the album had more of the same structure. Even still, this is a very, VERY high 4 stars for me.

I'm sorry for speeding officer, I was listening to Deep Purple's classic opening song from 1970's Deep Purple in Rock, "Speed King". All jokes aside, Deep Purple is one of my Top 10, maybe even Top 5 favorite bands of all time. Surprisingly, I have never heard this album before past the already aforementioned first song. That being said, I now need to check out the entire rest of Deep Purple's discography to see if I've missed anything else. There is not a single bad song on this entire album. Every song is like 3-10 minutes of pure jams, and every single member brings something godly to the mix. Surprisingly, my favorite song on this album is "Child in Time", having never heard it before until my listen today. Deep Purple, you're getting your first, but not your last 5 star rating.

Listen to virtually any The Cure album after this one. Now listen to this album. Now listen to any album before this one. The differences between the 3 are pretty insane right?? Apparently, the guys were on copious amounts of drugs, depressed out of their minds, and almost ended the band as a whole while making this album. Holy shit does it show in the music. There is a lot to like on this album, and man is it depressing at points. Contextually, this album gets 5 stars from me. The backstory behind the album, and comparing it to previous and future albums from The Cure is very interesting. Personal enjoyment, it gets a 3. Like I said, there's a lot to like, but not a lot to love. As far as standouts, I really enjoyed "One Hundred Years", "The Hanging Garden", "Siamese Twins" and "A Strange Day." I know that's 4 entire songs, but the vibe is very similar throughout the entire album, so it was surprisingly hard to pick a favorite.

One of many albums where I'm glad I relistened to it a few times. My initial reaction was to give this a 1 and move on. I really did not like the guys voice at first. In fact, initially, I hated it. However, it gradually grew on me and by the end of the day I was hooked, and now I'm interested in hearing more Belle & Sebastian. Favorite songs on this album are "Me and the Major" and "Like Dylan in the Movies." Is this something I'm likely to come back to? Again, probably not, but it was very soothing and I'm glad I spent the day listening to it. Not a whole lot to talk about here other than that. Just a bunch of chill beats to vibe to. Succeeds in what it sets out to do.

If ever a 3 star album existed, this would be the very middle of the road in my opinion. This is very passable Indie Rock music that stays fairly consistently ok through the course of an hour play time. A bit grungy, which is typically one of my favorite styles of music, but it’s just kind of boring here. There isn’t anything particularly memorable either. I’m going to forget about this by tomorrow most likely. “Chapel Hill”, “Sugar Kane” and “Purr” are my favorites. Don’t love the female singers voice when she starts screaming unfortunately, I think the male singer is much better personally. Generally, the songs sung by him were leagues above hers. There are some absolutely killer guitar riffs at times that are very good, but the entire album is just kind of disjointed and not very memorable as a whole. Very much a 3 for me. Cute album art though. Maybe I should start critiquing the album art occasionally?? I hadn’t thought about that until now.

I gotta tell you something. I think I love Depeche Mode. I got absolutely lost in this album for an entire day, and while it’s not entirely all bangers, it’s a great trip from top to bottom, and the highlights of this album are some of the catchiest, vibiest (not a real word) songs I’ve ever heard. Those tracks are “Never Let Me Down Again”, “Strangelove”, and “Sacred”. One of my biggest complaints with this album is that the listed 3 songs are SO good, the rest of the album just does not compare. If those songs are a 5/5, the rest of the album is a solid 3/5, sans the last 3 mix songs, which are like a 4.5/5. We’re going to average it out to a very, veeeeeeery high 4, approaching 5 status. I may even change it to a 5 later when I’ve ultimately listened to more albums for this project. More Depeche Mode please!!!!

First of all, let me talk about the album art. It's so funny, instant 10/10. For the actual review, 2 English Club music legends in a row is crazy. I'm just coming off of Depeche Mode and straight into Fatboy Slim, the "Band of the 90's, if you wanna call it a band, because it's a one man name." I actually have no idea how to rate this album objectively. On vibes alone and how much I personally enjoy it, it's probably a 4/5, like Depeche Mode. Yes, it's very repetitive, but with club music you're kind of going to get that. You either love it or hate it, and I definitely love it. However, is it as good as Depeche Mode? I don't know if it is. The double edged sword of Fatboy Slim is that the entire album is just sound, therefore not very memorable until you replay it, but the sound is all super good. So do I give it, as an album, a 3? Or do I go off of vibes and personal enjoyment and give it a 4? I really don't know. The transition from "Right Here Right Now" into "The Rockafeller Skank" is smooth as butter though, really really cool. Also easily the 2 best songs on the album for sure. The funk soul brother check it out now!! The funk soul brother right about now!!

Not even a month in and I’m already at the stage where a rock album is going to have to really impress me to get anything higher than a 3. This is pretty good, but only just pretty good. Nothing to really write home about. As usual, it took me a while to start getting down with it, but I think the ladder half of the album is a LOT better than the top half personally, specifically “Made of Stone”, “I Am the Resurrection”, and my personal favorite “Fools Gold”. The singer sounds ok, the melody is fine, the guitarist can be boring at times and it all just sounds alright as a whole. Another album I probably won’t remember in a bit in all honesty, but hey, it’s definitely still great from top to bottom. Besides being a tad boring in places, I don’t really have any other big complaints with it. I don’t quite understand why this one is so highly rated honestly, but to each their own.

This is one of the coolest god damn album covers I think I’ve ever seen. I almost want to buy it on Vinyl just to look at it. Unfortunately, that’s where the compliments largely end. Legitimately yesterday I had an entire spiel on how Rock albums had to impress me a lot to get anything higher than a 3. Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division unfortunately does not do it for me. That really blows, because I wanted to like it and perhaps get one of those cliché band shirts you see people wearing without having actually heard the source material for whatever it is they’re wearing the logo of. I mean, damn, what’s my favorite song here? I don’t even know, it’s all largely the same generic sound. I think “Shadowplay” is my favorite. Nothing really daring, memorable or unique. Again, everything works, but none of it really blows me away either.

What a delightfully bizarre album. I don’t even really know how to categorize this. I don’t know the validity of this, but it sounds like a random white guy got inspired by various different cultures one day and decided to blend them all together into one bafflingly strange, yet creative album. It has a little bit of everything, from Indian, to Spanish, even a bit of traditional Anglo Rock vibes. I can see it coming off as a bit pretentious and douchey, which is probably why the rating here is so low, but I actually kind of dig this. My favorite song is “Everyman’s an Island”, because it is very replayable and fits the whole World Music theme very well. There’s a lot of different styles blended into this album, and I really think that for the most part, they do work. What a pleasant little surprise of an album this was. Extremely goofy name aside, the album is pretty good.

Zulu Nation!! Don’t touch children!! This was a miserable experience. Next.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Yes, I have seen and actively enjoy watching Stranger Things. That being said, I think listening to this album has actively lessened my enjoyment of that fantastic scene. I just did NOT vibe with this album. Her voice is an enigma to me. I acknowledge that she’s got a beautiful singing voice, but God I really just do not love listening to it. The songs here are mostly passable, some of them are really annoying, some are boring, and only “Mother Stands For Comfort” is truly replayable in my eyes. “Jig Of Life” is actually pretty catchy as well. More songs I want to actively skip than replay as a whole though. I reiterate, I feel like I should like this album more and genuinely understand why people do like it, but man is it hard to listen to. I’m sorry, Kate Bush, I don’t think I’m your biggest fan.

When I rolled Stevie Wonder this morning, I knew how popular he was. I’d never actively seeked out his music before though besides what I already knew. Quite frankly, I was a tad concerned whether or not I would like him. After all, this is the highest rated album I’ve heard so far. Well, now I can certifiably say that Stevie Wonder FUCKING SLAPS. There is not a single song on this album I would want to ever skip. Listening to this made the day go by so much faster, and it only got better over time. Picking a favorite song here is so tough. The popular one is “Higher Ground”, a song I have heard covered relentlessly before. It’s good, but man do I have to think hard on if I want to take the easy way out and label it as my favorite or not, as I may be a bit biased. The whole album really is that good.

What a pleasant, charmingly upbeat album. The duality between the male and female singers is very unique and their voices work tremendously well in tandem with each other. Nothing amazing, but very consistent from song to song. Nothing bad worth skipping, just a solid 3/5 the entire way through with a relaxed, chill vibe. I could see myself listening to this more often honestly. My only experience with this band previously is the song “Crystalised”, which I am already very fond of. This is another album that doesn’t do anything outstanding, but achieves its purpose of being chill very well. And to be honest, I think this one is probably going to stick with me for a little bit. I wish I could give half points, because this is a solid 3.5 stars, but since nothing amazed me, is still very much a 3. Simple album art, but the theme of an identically placed x that they use for all of The xx albums makes them all very cool to look at as a whole. Favorite song? I don’t know. “Lips” and “Replica” are both very pretty.

Another album where I wish we could give half star ratings. If I could, this would be a 2.5. There are a lot of bad, skippable songs on this album. The song "Fantastic Disaster" is in contention for the worst single song I've heard so far. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard a band formed by a bigger band's former bassist over the last 2 weeks, I'd have 2 nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's strange that it happened twice. "Sacred Attention" is my favorite song here and it's not even close. Reminds me of a worse Foo Fighters. I want to give this a 2, but I don't think I disliked it as a whole as much as the other 2 star albums. So for now, Sebadoh (Not really a fan of the band name either, but hey, cool album art), you're getting a begrudging 3 stars from me, and we can all move on with our lives.

Iconic album. One of the best in its genre of all time. Funny skits, sharp, cutting and dark commentary that’s still relevant today. Maybe a little dated with the gay slurs, intent be damned, but not a deal breaker by any means. The song “Stan” in and of itself is one of the best ways to depict a parasocial relationship in an accurate, concise, and scary way. I can’t think of a better thing to even compare it to. “The Real Slim Shady” and “I’m Back” are absolutely iconic, and the features on this album are all genuine legends of their craft. I mean hell, “Bitch Please II” has 5 artists credited, all of which are insanely popular and talented in their own right. Just, maybe be cautious of your surrounding area when the Ken skit starts up. While funny, it’s not something I’d ever want someone to hear me listening to with or without context.

I want to be that guy and say this isn't a 5 star album. Go against the grain. Say "The Beatles are overrated". But maaaaaaaan, I can't do it. This album is just so good. My one complaint is that the middle half of the album doesn't hold quite the same level of quality as the first half and final 2 songs. But at a crazy nearly 35 minute run time, any other problems I'd be able to think of are minor and I'm already half way through the album again. "Taxman", "Eleanor Rigby", "I'm Only Sleeping" "Got to Get You Into My Life" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" are my favorites here. That's 5 entire songs. A huge portion of the album. Ok, so, here is my compromise with The Beatles. I'm going to give this album 5 stars. I'm also going to give Abbey Road 5 stars. Everything else is probably going to get fewer stars than that. But I think with how prominent and influential this band is, it would be actually criminal not giving this album specifically a 5, so I'm going to give it a 5. You've won this round Beatles. Many more to come.

2 days ago, I rolled the follow up to this album. Today, I roll this. Honestly, I'm glad I rolled the follow up first, as it is largely a response to this album. Everything that The Marshall Mathers LP is about stemmed from the initial success of this album. A lot of the bars and references of MMLP make more sense when you've heard this front to back. I rated that album an easy 5 stars, and I'm very much going to do the same for this one as well. Eminem is now the first artist I've had more than once, which is pretty cool, as he's one of my faves. Again, all of the skits here are hilarious. Picking a favorite song is also impossible. Everyone knows "My Name Is", that's probably the hit on this album. But, "Guilty Conscience", "'97 Bonnie & Clyde", "Role Model", and "As The World Turns" are all bangers as well. Eminem is truly on the Mount Rushmore of rappers, well deserving. I'm pretty sad that my run of Eminem is over, it's been such a nice change of pace from the copious amounts of passable Rock this book has. Oh well, back to it.

One of the most depressing stories in music the life of Nick Drake was. I’d never heard of this guy until today, and his music is as emotionally gripping and sad as his own personal fight with depression must have been. As someone struggling with anxiety and depression much the same way, I’m not afraid to say that this album made me cry. This man has a beautiful voice, twinged with an unbearable undertone of sheer sadness. This is really something I think I needed to hear right now. Even though it’s depressing, it made me feel a good type of sad, if that makes any amount of sense. My favorite songs on this album are “River Man” and “‘Cello Song”. Thank you, Nick Drake, for blessing my ears with your music today.

Catchy Hip-Hop. Always a pleasure. Makes the day go by really fast when I’m jamming to the fast pace cadences. “Work It” was the only song of Missy Elliott I was familiar with before this, and I believe it was the right song to get as big as it did. I was pleasantly surprised with the entire thing as a whole though. This was an album made in the wake of multiple tragedies in the USA, including 9/11 and the deaths of a number of prominent rappers in the scene, and Missy mentions all of them, with a somber yet hopeful undertone that we will all heal, slowly but surely. When she’s not rapping about some massive ass or getting laid, there are some surprisingly deep messages here. The features are also tremendous. Would put my thing down, flip it, reverse it, and listen to more of her stuff.

I've been stuck listening to (mostly) barely passable English music for the better part of a month now, and it's crazy to me that the moment I finally roll some good old Dad Rock from the United States, I absolutely love it. Realistically, I think this is a High 3, but the change of pace is extremely refreshing here. I kind of want to give it a 4, but the music starts sounding very same-y after the first few songs. As a whole, it's probably a 3, but compared to the other albums I've rated a 3, the more I look at it, it would be a 4 with my metric. Positives: Nothing skippable, 2 absolute bangers in "Twice As Hard" and "Hard To Handle", hell of a good debut album, and a nice, manageable 43 minute runtime. No huge negatives besides what was previously mentioned about being a bit same-y as a whole. Ok, I've convinced myself, 4 stars it is. As I start to slowly but surely add more albums, this is at the top of my list of albums I may move down to 3 stars some day. We'll see, but for now it gets a 3.8/5.

Funk Music is perhaps the best thing you can roll on a Friday. It is the easiest genre to listen to, and the day will be over so fast. The intergalactic brothers from the top of the Chocolate Milkyway are no exception. I believe every Funk album I’ve heard so far has gotten a 4 star rating, and this is no exception. It doesn’t do anything new or amazing, but man does it do Funk exceptionally well. “P-Funk” and “Give Up the Funk” are my favorite songs here. Special shoutout goes to the hilarious names of the songs, as well as the great and hilarious album art. Funky!!!!

Trent Reznor is a God among men, and this is one of his crowning achievements. I’m a sucker for concept albums, this being no exception. The concept here is extremely apparent and simple. One man is descending into madness very rapidly. When the third song on the album already has him screaming about God being dead and going to hell, you know that bro is really going through it. Every song is unique from the last, and I could see any individual song being someone’s favorite here. The one everyone knows is “Closer”, but the last song on the album is a cover of “Hurt” and is excellent as well. “Heresy” “March of the Pigs” and “Closer” are my top 3 here, and I’m praying to God that this isn’t the only NIN album. Simple but iconic album art as well. The vibes here are dark and gritty, and man do they ROCK!!!!

Torture, unfortunately. Self indulgent music that never should have been included in the book to begin with. Sounds like the songs that didn’t make it into a Katamari game. The children singing on “You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice” and the entirety of the song “Parade” are genuinely torturous. Occasionally, there’s some nice instrumentation, but it’s more often than not in addition to a voice that, and I'm sorry, I just straight up dislike. And when I said “occasionally there was some nice instrumentation”, it’s not always present either. This is elevator music with extra steps. Lounge music that you hear at low volume in the background of a Horror Game. Astrud is perfect in “The Girl from Ipanema” (not on this album, which pains me, because I LOVE that song), but as far as this album goes, the only song I really vibe with is “Nao Bate O Corocao.” Curious how many times if ever again I end up going from a 5 to a 1.