My 1001 Albums Journey

Album	You	Global	Diff
Get Rich Or Die Tryin'	5	3.05	+1.95
Rust In Peace	5	3.24	+1.76
The Slim Shady LP	5	3.29	+1.71
Fragile	5	3.32	+1.68
Deep Purple In Rock	5	3.33	+1.67
Tommy	5	3.35	+1.65
The Downward Spiral	5	3.35	+1.65
Urban Hymns	5	3.36	+1.64
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back	5	3.37	+1.63
Smash	5	3.37	+1.63

Album	You	Global	Diff
James Brown Live At The Apollo	1	3.46	-2.46
Beach Samba	1	2.92	-1.92
Good Old Boys	1	2.86	-1.86
Planet Rock: The Album	1	2.79	-1.79
The Grand Tour	1	2.79	-1.79
Live At The Witch Trials	1	2.64	-1.64
A Love Supreme	2	3.63	-1.63
Hounds Of Love	2	3.61	-1.61
Tragic Songs of Life	1	2.58	-1.58
American Gothic	1	2.49	-1.49

Artist	Albums	Average
Deep Purple	2	5
Eminem	2	5
Led Zeppelin	2	5
Pink Floyd	2	5

Foo Fighters

4/5

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.

Low

David Bowie

3/5

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.

Band On The Run

Paul McCartney and Wings

5/5

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.

Garbage

5/5

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!!

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

The Flaming Lips

3/5

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.

Fragile

Yes

5/5

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.

Tommy

The Who

5/5

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.

Black Holes and Revelations

Muse

5/5

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.

Live At The Witch Trials

The Fall

1/5

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.

Toys In The Attic

Aerosmith

4/5

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.

Dusty In Memphis

Dusty Springfield

4/5

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".

Buena Vista Social Club

3/5

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.

Actually

Pet Shop Boys

3/5

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.

Swordfishtrombones

Tom Waits

2/5

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.

Sheet Music

10cc

3/5

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.

Urban Hymns

The Verve

5/5

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.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Red Hot Chili Peppers

5/5

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.

Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs

Marty Robbins

2/5

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

Channel Orange

Frank Ocean

3/5

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.

Machine Gun Etiquette

The Damned

4/5

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.

Deep Purple In Rock

Deep Purple

5/5

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.

Pornography

The Cure

3/5

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.

If You're Feeling Sinister

Belle & Sebastian

3/5

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.

Dirty

Sonic Youth

3/5

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.

Music for the Masses

Depeche Mode

4/5

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!!!!

You've Come a Long Way Baby

Fatboy Slim

4/5

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!!

The Stone Roses

3/5

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.

Unknown Pleasures

Joy Division

3/5

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.

Rising Above Bedlam

Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart

3/5

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.

Planet Rock: The Album

Afrika Bambaataa

1/5

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

Hounds Of Love

Kate Bush

2/5

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.

Innervisions

Stevie Wonder

5/5

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.

I See You

The xx

3/5

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.

Bubble And Scrape

Sebadoh

3/5

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.

The Marshall Mathers LP

Eminem

5/5

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.

Revolver

Beatles

5/5

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.

The Slim Shady LP

Eminem

5/5

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.

Five Leaves Left

Nick Drake

4/5

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.

Under Construction

Missy Elliott

3/5

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.

Shake Your Money Maker

The Black Crowes

4/5

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.

Mothership Connection

Parliament

4/5

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!!!!

The Downward Spiral

Nine Inch Nails

5/5

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!!!!

Beach Samba

Astrud Gilberto

1/5

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.

Your Arsenal

Morrissey

3/5

The ever controversial Morrissey. Personally, this is a little too light for my liking. A grand majority of the songs here are both skippable and forgettable. This one isn’t really going to stick with me after today. I understand and appreciate what he is doing here. His voice is beautiful and clearly the entire band is very talented, but the only song that truly ROCKS on this album is the opener, “You’re Gonna Need Someone on Your Side.” Alternatively, “You’re the One for Me, Fatty” is an instant skip. That song is just annoying and repetitive. Everything else isn’t entirely memorable, or is too light and repetitive to play on an immediate repeat. Again, none of the songs except for Fatty are bad, and they’re all very pretty and well written. They’re just not really my thing is all, but as a whole, this is a very passable little 39 minute album. 3.5/5.

Vauxhall And I

Morrissey

3/5

Before my little review, I just want to point out a coincidence I thought was actually insane. Yesterday, I was reviewing this guys third album. Here I am today back with his fourth album. If that album was a 3.5, this one is like a 3.6. It's not much better, but it's definitely not worse. The same praise and criticisms I had for the last one remain for the album today. This guy has an incredible singing voice, his music is just a little too light and boring for my personal taste. I thought this album as a whole was a little more consistent in tone, and even though it was even lighter than the last one, I found it easier to listen to. Plus, last album has some instant skips, while nothing on this album is really skippable, I also don't really have an easy time remembering most of it, or really caring enough to do so. I guess the one that stuck with me the most was "Hold on to Your Friends", as I can relate to the message it was sending out. As a whole, this is just another solid album that I'm going to forget about in the morning probably. Apparently there's a lot more of this guy to get through. I'm just going to keep giving him a 3. Seems like the right call to me.

Ready To Die

The Notorious B.I.G.

3/5

A great album that unfortunately needs to be docked an entire point because of the annoying ass skits. Biggie may very well deservingly be one of the best rappers of all time, and when he's dropping bars on this album, they absolutely hit each and every time. However, there are a LOT of skits here, and after the first listen (Or in some instances, during the first listen, looking at you "Fuck Me (Interlude)"), I have to end up skipping them. This wouldn't be that big of an issue if they didn't have skits at the beginning and ending of some good songs as well. If you've heard the album, you'll know what I'm talking about, so I won't elaborate, because they all have to do with one of three things; Getting shot, shooting someone, or having sex with someone. Picking a favorite song is easy at least, it's "Big Poppa", an absolute classic. The other songs that aren't skits are all bangers as well, but every single last one of them is about the 3 aforementioned skits and are pretty hard to distinguish from each other. This is an album I kind of want to give a 5, but there's a LOT, and I mean a LOT of annoying shit here that as a whole, brings my actual enjoyment down to a 3.

Violent Femmes

5/5

Yet another band I've never heard of before, and I don't think I was familiar with any of these songs before hearing the album for the first time. I gotta say, this absolutely rocks from top to bottom. Hell of a debut album. Killer guitar riffs, great voice, and a good mix of Rock styles that make a lot of the songs feel unique, and at times even extremely ear wormy. I mean, try not to dance listening to "Gone Daddy Gone", you can't. Personal favorites here are "Gone Daddy Gone", "Add It Up", and "To The Kill". I mentioned this before, but after enduring so much UK Punk, UK Rock and UK Funk, whenever an American band comes around, it's just automatically one of the best things I've heard in a while. Call it national bias, pride, or whatever else you want to label it as. At the end of the day, this album still absolutely slaps hard. Great start to the week, looking forward to whatever I end up rolling next.

Music in Exile

Songhoy Blues

3/5

I have no idea what these guys are saying, but man are they saying it. African music at its purest. The first two songs “Soubour” and “Irganda” absolutely rock and then the rest of the album calms down considerably. Despite that, this was a very pleasant experience. One of the ultimate examples of why I’m so glad to be doing this challenge. Were it not for this site, never in a million years would I find a charming little album like this. As a side note, the documentary these guys are prominently featured in, They Will Have To Kill Us First, is a very compelling story.

Harvest

Neil Young

3/5

The first Neil Young album of many. This is one of those albums that I can absolutely appreciate and understand why someone would adore, but isn’t entirely for me. It’s absolutely beautiful for the first 2/3 of the album, and then the last couple of songs (my favorites of the album) absolutely rock. I personally wish the first half was more like the ladder half, but still appreciate it for what it is as a whole. I hear so much Pearl Jam in this, which makes sense as they call him “Uncle Neil”, and I can really understand why. For instance, I know Neil Young didn’t invent the harmonica, but whenever it gets played on this album I just think “Wow, that reminds me of Pearl Jam.” This is as close to a 4 star album as you can possibly get for me. A very solid 3.9/5. My favorite songs here are “Old Man”, “Alabama”, and “Words (Between the Lines of Age)”.

Who Killed...... The Zutons?

The Zutons

4/5

I have no idea why this album is on the list. I've never heard of The Zutons, and I still don't know what a Zuton even is or who killed them... but I think I love them. Like, genuinely, this is a 4.9/5 of an album, and the ONLY reason it isn't a 5 is because I didn't always love every song. But, the ones I did like, I absolutely L O V E D, and it's more than a few. "Zuton Fever" "Pressure Point" "You Will You Won't", "Havana Gang Brawl", "Dirty Dancehall" and "Don't Ever Think (Too Much)" are all phenomenal songs. The singer's voice is oddly reminiscent of someone else and I just can't for the life of me place who it is, but clearly I like them as well. I haven't been doing this a lot, but I'm actively going to seek out more of this band's music and hope it's comparable to this album, because this might have surprised me more than anything else I've listened to so far up to this point. This is a strong contender for moving up to 5 stars if I do a rebalancing of my list. Great job Zutons, you've gained a fan.

Either Or

Elliott Smith

3/5

More sad white boy music that makes me feel things that I really don’t want to feel when listening to music most of the time. This is a great album that I just really don’t think I would ever be in the mood to want to hear very often. Sad vibes, especially considering what happened to Elliott Smith in general. It makes listening to this even more depressing. While I can appreciate this album for what it is, and realize how great it is, it’s just too sad for me to truly love. However, “Cupid’s Trick” absolutely rocks, and I also really liked “Pictures of Me” and “Rose Parade” the most. The album is technically great, just not my sad cup of tea. 4/5 as a whole, 3/5 for personal enjoyment.

Get Behind Me Satan

The White Stripes

4/5

Perfect start to the week. Jack White is my all time favorite musician. However, I have to say, generally, the albums he's been a part of are very rarely perfect as a whole. There's always some stuff on his albums I don't absolutely love, and this album is no exception. However, as usual, the songs that are really good here are some of my favorite songs of all time. In particular, "Blue Orchid" "The Denial Twist" and "Take, Take, Take" are my favorite songs on this album, and rightfully so. They all freaking slap and are extremely earwormy. Every band that Jack has been a part of is golden, The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and his solo career are all consistently great, so I hope we can get at least one of each if not more for this project. It's always nice to go back to his early stuff so we can get some of the ever reclusive Meg. I hope she's doing well. Oh, and I LOVE this album art. The posing, simple but effective story telling, and clever use of a 3 color scheme are all very interesting to look at.

Led Zeppelin II

Led Zeppelin

5/5

Just over 50 days in and I’m already on my 2nd album in the Top 20 for the site. It’s Led Zeppelin, dude. What is it that I could possibly say about them that hasn’t already been said 1 million times before? It’s almost flawless. It would be easier saying what I didn’t like about it. I am not the biggest fan of the weird drum solo filled song “Moby Dick”. Other than that, I’d be filling the rest of the review with my favorite songs. So I’ll just tell you my favorite song on this album is “Heartbreaker”. Every time I roll a Led Zeppelin album is going to be a special occasion but it also means one less Led Zeppelin album to look forward to later, so it’s a double edged sword really. I’m rolling heat in general this week and it’s only Tuesday, hoping to keep it up.

Idlewild

Everything But The Girl

2/5

Ok, yeah. It’s pretty bad. It’s not 1 star bad, but it’s bad. Let’s start with the positives. The lead singer has a pleasant voice. The background instruments and overall mood are pretty upbeat. Those are the positives, now let’s talk about the negatives. This album is so boring I can’t even put into words how much I wanted to fall asleep listening to it. The lyrics are cheesy, and every song sounds exactly the same as the one before it. Picking a favorite is pretty hard because of that. I guess it would be “Tears All Over Town” because of the smooth Jazz going on in the background of the song. Very well, they can’t all be bangers, but at least this wasn’t offensively bad. On to the next one.

Pet Sounds

The Beach Boys

3/5

First of all, RIP to the legend Brian Wilson. Kind of crazy that I would pull this album on the day that he died. It seems like a perfect tribute to me. Second, man this is a lot of music for an album from the 60's. There's a lot of filler here that's just passable at best. This is an album that consistently makes me happy, and even if it's really not my thing I can still have a great time listening to it. There are very few things to criticize on this album, but for me personally, I just think that as a whole, it doesn't really hit me the same way as it does for others. After a while, I kind of get the point and am ready to listen to something else. Especially with 27 songs on an album that goes on for an alarmingly long 1 hour and 16 minutes. There's only so much joyous music I can take at a time. Speaking of, my favorite songs are the ones I've heard before. I think the most successful song here really is the best one, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" is great, as are "Sloop John B", "and God Only Knows." I don't believe I'd heard "That's Not Me" before, but it was also one of my favorites.

James Brown Live At The Apollo

James Brown

1/5

This was genuinely hard to get through. A 31 minute album that took me 3 days to get to the end of. Thank God this was my weekend album. I don’t even hate James Brown’s music generally, but for the love of God I can not in good faith enjoy this album in the slightest when it’s bogged down by 31 minutes of annoying fan cheering, and the most mid, boring instrumentation I’ve ever heard. I know this is blasphemy, but I don’t even enjoy his voice. “Soul” is listed as one of my favorite genres currently, but unfortunately this is going to tank that, probably for the rest of this challenge. “Instrumental Bridge #1” is my favorite song here, as it lasts for a little over 10 seconds. I don’t give 1’s very often, but this was offensively bad to my poor ears.

Cosmo's Factory

Creedence Clearwater Revival

5/5

Here’s my entire experience with this album this morning, summarized in order of events. “I’ve heard of this band but can’t really name any of their songs.” “I don’t recognize most of these song names.” “Wait, I’ve heard this song before.” “Damn, this song ROCKS.” Repeat the last 2 statements for the remainder of the album. Turns out I’d heard damn near all of them before. Needless to say it’s a 5. “Ramble Tamble”, “Run Through The Jungle”, and “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”, especially that last one, are my favorites on this album. May have just turned into a big CCR fan with this one. This album is goated.

Good Old Boys

Randy Newman

1/5

Man, I really did not need to hear Randy Newman singing the gamer word "artistically" probably 10 plus times in the same album. Hot take, extremely not a fan of his voice. This may be my first "Least Favorite Artist" when I roll him for a second time. I really don't care what the point of this album was, it was all just dreadful from top to bottom. I didn't enjoy any of it. His voice is just so hard to listen to in my opinion. Somehow I lasted the entire day though, and for that reason it's still a 1 star, but it's a high 1 star. Call it a 1.8. This is the least subtle music I've ever heard, and I just really don't know why he made an entire album like it. What's the concept? "I hate the South, wait, actually no, I hate everyone?" Phenomenal. Thank you Randy, now go away for a while so I don't have to hear you again for a while. No, actually, give me the other album so I can just get it over with. Anything has to be better than this. I give a lot of 5's on this site, and when an album gets rolled that is received very well by critics pops up that I don't like, sometimes I truly don't understand what they saw in said album. This is one of those times.

A Love Supreme

John Coltrane

2/5

Guys, I've got some bad news. I think I hate Jazz music. I went into this with an open mind, and even a good friend talking me through what the "structure of Jazz music" entails. None of it helped. This was just bad. I don't understand Jazz music and I don't know if I ever will unfortunately. A big reason I started this challenge was to broaden my musical horizons, and in many aspects I believe I have succeeded. However, I tried to listen to this album and find ANYTHING to enjoy for multiple hours, and I just couldn't. So, I'm sorry John Coltrane. I gave it my best shot, and I still didn't enjoy it. However, each musician is clearly very talented, and for that reason this wasn't absolute torture. A 2 star, very low 2 star, but still a 2 star out of 5 nonetheless. I'd feel bad rating 2 albums a 1 star in a row anyway. Maybe I shouldn't, this was still pretty bad.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

Genesis

4/5

Finally, after more than 50 days of using this website, it hits me with another Prog album, my all time favorite genre. It may not be perfect, there may not have been a lot that stood out on this album by itself, but as a whole, it’s really really good. You can just skip around to any song on the album and get something that at the bare minimum is at least enjoyable no matter what. That’s also a slight double edged sword, because not everything is groundbreaking here, and nothing pushes into the truly amazing territory, especially at 1 hour and 34 minutes. I believe that makes this the longest album I’ve heard so far, and for that reason I have to judge it as a whole. As a whole, it’s a fantastic album, but far from perfect. There are multiple times here when I just drowned the music out, which isn’t always bad, it just doesn’t really add to my enjoyment. Plus, about an hour in I’m just ready for it to be over, another point against it. Despite all the critiques though, a few songs on this album truly are extremely memorable in my eyes, those being “Fly On A Windshield”, “The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging”, and “Back In NYC”.

Be

Common

3/5

This is one of those albums that really, REALLY grew on me after a couple of listens. On my first listen through, I found a lot of the songs same-y and annoying. After like the fourth playthrough though I generally liked every song. The only ones that I didn't really like were "Faithful" and the end of "It's Your World." Also, listening to Kanye in any capacity just makes me sad knowing how terrible of a person he is now, so as much as I like the song "They Say", I just can't truly enjoy it fully. Besides that, I enjoyed very much of this album. A few days ago I mentioned growing a lack of interest in Jazz music and that upsetting me greatly, I'm glad to say that the opposite is true for Hip-Hop. I've pretty much enjoyed all the albums I've rolled so far, this being no different. "Be (Intro)", "The Corner", and my personal favorite "Chi-City" all absolutely SLAP. I kind of want to rate this one a 4, but I also skip a few songs per listen, and unfortunately it's getting a Kanye Tax, so it's a 3.99/5. Realistically this is a 4 though.

Rock 'N Soul

Solomon Burke

3/5

Another artist I’ve never heard of before. First things first, this guys voice is absolutely incredible. It’s just unbelievably smooth. The backup vocalists? Also incredible. My biggest problem with this album as a whole is simply that nothing stands out, and it’s very similar the entire way through. That isn’t a big problem, I just don’t particularly love it enough to give it anything past a 3. Objectively this guy is a fantastic singer, and I can easily appreciate that. Personal enjoyment though, it’s just ok. Would I listen to it again? No, but that’s also ok. Not really my thing, but I’m very glad I listened to it in general. Favorite song? I also have no idea. Let’s go with “You’re Good for Me.”

Crooked Rain Crooked Rain

Pavement

3/5

This album really grew on me throughout the course of the day. As a whole, when listening to the album completely from top to bottom, it's very good as a full listen, but listening to just a song by itself doesn't really do it justice. Initially, I hated the singer's voice, but around the 5th (seriously) complete listen through, I kind of ended up loving it. Surprisingly that's happened a lot during the course of this challenge. For that reason, I'm glad I stuck with it, because this album really is pretty good. I heard it compared to "Fake Grunge" and I couldn't agree more. At times it sounds like they're just trying to mimic or mock what Grunge is supposed to sound like, for better or for worse. My favorite songs here are "Stop Breathin", "Range Life", and my actual favorite "Fillmore Jive". Curiously, my least favorite song was the hit single "Cut Your Hair", as I found it pretty annoying. Interesting little album they got here, I'm excited to see if I like the first one any more or less, It's supposed to be fairly different from this one.

American Gothic

David Ackles

1/5

Stuck between giving this one a 1 or a 2. The first song, “American Gothic” is so comical that it actually made me laugh. It paints the woman as a shoe hungry villain, and the worst part is that I I think they expect you to take it seriously. For that reason it’s my favorite song on the album. Everything else is just forgettable, boring, bland and bad. This is listed as Country, I wasn’t aware Country could sound like this, but I do not like it. I’m having a generational run on bad music, surely a banger is coming my way soon. You know what, I only made it through once before I wanted to turn it off. It’s a 1 out of 5.

Whatever

Aimee Mann

4/5

I really can’t imagine why this album is so low rated on this site. It’s pretty consistently great from front to back. Wikipedia suggests that Aimee Mann often writes songs about underdogs, and I think that’s an apt depiction of this album. It’s very up-lifting. It makes me happy, and her soothing voice is very pleasant to listen to. However, she also just absolutely rocks as well occasionally, like in my favorite 2 songs on the album “I Should’ve Known”, and “Say Anything.” This isn’t boring at all, some of the other reviewers are out of their minds if they truly believe that “Say Anything” isn’t a fantastic song. Plus, the guitar riffs in songs like “Stupid Things” are just incredible. Great album, hopefully a solid 4 star review will balance out the negativity surrounding this one a bit. :-)

Horses

Patti Smith

3/5

This was a pretty good album. As usual, it took me a few listens through to really appreciate what it's going for, but when it clicked, I grew to appreciate the weirdness. This is proto-punk, and is very unique for what it is. Patti has a very good voice, and while the only song that I think stood out to a notable extent was the opener, "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo", this was a very unique listening experience as a whole, one that I'm glad I partook in. It might have been a cover, but I have to say, I really liked that song, especially when she finally gets to the part where she's singing the titular name. The more weird albums I roll, the more I grow to appreciate music in general. So thank you, Patti, for opening up my mind to this strange but great album. This is another artist and genre I've grown to appreciate a lot thanks to this site, so thank you to the site owner as well, for putting this cool site together.

Debut

Björk

3/5

What noise does an Icelandic dog make? Björk Björk. Anyway, this is day 3 in a row of having wildly different female artists, and all 3 of them have been tremendously enjoyable. This is the first of 5 Björk albums I’ve rolled, and it’s a great start. She just sounds very unique and friendly, and anything even remotely electronic is typically going to get high praise from me. I think this is the third day in a row stating that a unique album is pretty refreshing compared to the mediocre or generic kind of sound some albums provide, and this is definitely very unique. My favorite songs on this album are “Human Behavior”, “There Is More to Life Than This”, and “Play Dead.” Curious to hear the evolution of her musical style over time. I am entirely unfamiliar with Björk, and I’ve heard her later albums are quite different than this one. Luckily I started with her first solo album here. Björk Björk.

Remain In Light

Talking Heads

4/5

Really considered just copy and pasting the lyrics to my favorite song on the album, “Houses in Motion.” How much do I love David Byrne and his comically large suit? A lot. I love him a lot. This is the first Talking Heads album I’ve rolled, but it certainly won’t be the last. The only songs I’d actually heard on this album before today were “Once in a Lifetime” and the previously aforementioned “Houses in Motion.” Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to tell you that the entire album, Deluxe included, is an absolute bop. In other words, goes on, and the heat goes on. Goes on, and the heat goes on.

Bert Jansch

3/5

A lot of reviews here are comparing this to the works of Nick Drake, and I can definitely add my name to that list. Never heard of Bert Jansch before, and while I can’t say I’d ever actively seek out his music, it’s not bad. Folk Music in general is not my cup of tea, and yet it’s very rarely going to be something that makes me upset listening to either. Everything here is passable, but none of it is amazing. It’s chill vibes throughout. The best thing I can say about it is that I wouldn’t really skip any of it, which is good, as it makes for an enjoyable experience from top to bottom. I will also add though that his song “Angie” is his best song, so much so that there’s even a live rendition of the same song on this very album. If the rest of the album was even remotely comparable to “Angie”, I’d honestly consider giving this a 5, and that’s no joke.

Germfree Adolescents

X-Ray Spex

3/5

That saxophone though!! Add this to the ever growing list of bands I’ve never heard of before, as well as the “debut album” list. And just for good measure, even the list of UK albums. It’s pretty good, some of the songs are annoying and I would likely skip a few of them, but the saxophone ties everything together and truly adds to the experience. It’s Punk with a sax, which is truly the most Punk thing of all. I love their most popular song “I Am a Poseur”, but my favorite song on the album is actually “Let’s Submerge”, as it does an excellent job of letting every member of the band display their talents and really just lets them all fit together perfectly, like a puzzle. Love the goofy album art as well, tremendously 70’s.

Let's Stay Together

Al Green

3/5

Soul music is generally just a good time all the way through, but it’s not always all that memorable. This is one of such cases. On a positive note, I definitely would not skip any of these songs. They’re all objectively good. Love this guys voice, but it does legitimately put me to sleep, and in my opinion nothing really stands out at all. Not a problem, but this was little more than just background noise to me. My favorite song, as I felt it did things in a somewhat unique and different way, is “La-La For You.” I would for sure be excited hearing more of this, so for that reason it’s at least a 3.6, if not slightly higher.

Rumours

Fleetwood Mac

5/5

God, the beginning of “The Chain” just sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it. I could listen to that song 1000 times in a row and still get emotional. As the highest rated album on this website, I was wondering when I’d roll this one, but never expected it to be so soon. The fact that you could ask 100 people what their favorite Fleetwood Mac song is and they’d all have different answers is directly proportional to just how fucking good they are. This album is sex. I’d never actually heard it from top to bottom before but you can be damn sure I’d already heard a grand majority of the songs before today. Do I need to pick my favorites for this one? Absolutely not. Whatever trauma this band was going through somehow ended up producing what truly is one of the best albums of all time. Even the album art is iconic. Bravo!!

Fuzzy

Grant Lee Buffalo

3/5

Quick side note before I begin my review. Wikipedia lists this album as a type of Country music called “Y'allternative“, which is one of the best names for a genre of music that I’ve ever heard. Regardless, this site says the album is Rock. I don’t hear any Country in this at all, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. The day I hear Country music that I actually enjoy, the world may actually end. Ok, goofy stuff out of the way, this album surprised the heck out of me. Judging a book (the album art) by its cover, I thought I would hate it. However, it really hooked me right from the first listen. Everything I care about is accounted for here, great guitar playing, some all out rocking hooks, and a singer with a great voice. It’s a little formulaic, but that’s never going to be a negative to me. “The Shining Hour” and “Fuzzy” are my 2 favorites songs on this one. Would definitely listen again. Way to truly surprise me, Mr. Buffalo.

White Blood Cells

The White Stripes

5/5

This may honestly be the best week of music I’m ever going to have on this site. I had Rumours on Monday, and now this today. This is the second Jack White album I’ve rolled so far, and I’m pretty bummed that I don’t have many left after this one. For some added context, this album is extremely special to me for sentimental reasons. We had it on CD when I was a little kid and listened to it a ton. For many of these songs, I haven’t heard them in a long while, but as I was listening to them today, I was extremely happy and still remembered all of them in their entirety, almost like I was catching up with an old friend. Every single song is good. Not a single dud on the entire album. Picking my favorite song would be a gargantuan task, so once again I won’t even attempt to do so. Previously, I gave the album Get Behind Me Satan a 4 star rating and felt guilty doing so, as Jack White is my favorite artist of all time. To put it simply, this is the easiest 5 star I’ve ever given in my life. At least, it's the easiest so far.

Exit Planet Dust

The Chemical Brothers

3/5

Oh, hey, these are the guys that made “Galvanize”. I hear that song everywhere. If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it 1000 times, Electronica is never going to be unenjoyable for me to listen to. This is a little basic, nothing spectacularly out of the ordinary, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Sick beats to rock your head to and make the work day go by super fast, as is usual for the genre. However, I’m going to give this one a 3 because I don’t think any favorites easily jumped out at me. Nothing that made me really say, “Damn, that kicked ass.” Nevertheless, still an enjoyable experience. It’s like a 3.4.

Machine Head

Deep Purple

5/5

I’ve got a list that I’ll bring up a few times during this journey. It’s a list of my Top 10 favorite songs of all time. “The Chain” is on it. I rolled that album on Monday. I bring the list up today because Machine Head has “Highway Star”. It starts with it as a matter of fact. Not only do I love that song, but I love this album. It’s previously been on a separate list of my personal favorite albums, and will continue to be praised extensively by me today. For the second time already, welcome back to the 5 star club, Deep Purple. I’ve already talked about how much I love this band, so I’ll save a bit of excess gushing. It all just works for me. It rocks. Every song. End of story. I’m almost 80 days in, and I can PROMISE you that I’m not going to have a week as consistently good as this one was for the rest of this experience. Wow!!!!

Ellington at Newport

Duke Ellington

3/5

So, good Jazz DOES exist!! I’ve rolled a couple Jazz albums so far and really just did not care for them, so when I saw this album was over 2 hours long, I about screamed. However, it turns out that Jazz actually can be good, it just has to come in the form of Big Band. This was a super cool little time capsule as well. I liked the introductions given to everyone, and some of the live segments like “Riot Prevention” actually got a genuine chuckle out of me. My favorite song on this album was “Diminuendo In Blue - Live” as it’s fast paced and smooth all the way through, with plenty of fun mood shifts.

Birth Of The Cool

Miles Davis

3/5

This website is going to Stockholm Syndrome me into liking Jazz, I swear. It saw Jazz listed as one of my bottom 3 genres and then gave me some pretty good albums for 2 days in a row. Not a lot to say about this one other than that it’s good. Easy to follow, and very soothing on the ears. Not something I would ever actively seek out, and picking a favorite song for a Jazz album just sounds like a gargantuan task, but overall it’s pretty good. Was able to groove to it for the entire day. Apparently Miles Davis is considered by many to be the best Jazz artist of all time. He's got a few albums on here, including the highest rated Jazz album on the site. This is the first one of his that I've rolled so far though. So, yeah. I’m actually starting to feel it now. You win this round, Jazz. I’m bestowing my highest honor for this genre of music, a 3.

Chemtrails Over The Country Club

Lana Del Rey

3/5

You know, I didn’t really expect to like this one as much as I did, but it’s quite good. I don’t like the weird whispering thing she does on the first song, but after that, the album actually gets pretty good. It’s a little overproduced, but Lana has an incredible voice regardless. This album is extraordinarily relaxing and vibey. I actually thoroughly enjoyed “Tulsa Jesus Freak” and “Dark But Just A Game” the most. Put this down as one of the albums that genuinely surprised me with how good I found it. Little fun fact, as of writing this, this album is one of just 2 that came out the same year as the last revision of the book that this site pulls from.

Dire Straits

4/5

Another absolutely killer debut album. Dire Straits is one of those bands that I’ve never actively seeked out, but always end up adding their music to my playlist when they pop up. This is consistently good from start to finish, but the only song that truly blows me away is “Sultans of Swing”, which of course I had heard a ton of times already before. Don’t get me wrong though, this album still absolutely kicks ass, and the singer/guitarist is so unique that I could probably recognize any Dire Straits song as soon as it starts, which is extremely impressive. 1 more Dire Straits album to go, very curious to see how they evolved over time, so I’ll for sure remember this album until then.

That's The Way Of The World

Earth, Wind & Fire

3/5

Getting down with your bad self and dancing to this is album like a madman is not a recommendation, it is a legal requirement when you begin. It starts off with an absolute banger right out of the gate with “Shining Star” and then slows down ever so slightly the rest of the way. Besides the first song, “Happy Feelin’” is also a favorite of mine. This is some Grade A funk right here. You’re a shining star, right on!! Have Mercy!! The Funky 70’s catchphrases are all here, and they truly add to the experience considerably.

If I Should Fall From Grace With God

The Pogues

3/5

As a redheaded Irishman myself, this is the most Irish thing I’ve ever heard. Well and good drinking music to sing while getting absolutely sloshed in a pub right here this is. I’d be doing a great disservice to my heritage by not giving this at least a 3. That being said, an hour of this is asking a lot from me. Listening to it twice to find a favorite song and get a lasting impression is also a lot. I enjoyed it more the second time through at least, so that’s something. I listened to it for most of the day, but there's a strict cutoff point for listening to this. There’s really only so much of I can take at a time, and I’d really imagine the same opinion would be shared for anyone. Favorite song here is “Sketches of Spain” as it’s something I could listen to on repeat easily. Wonder how much more if any Irish music is on here, and if any of it could possibly be any more Irish than this. I guess we'll find out at some point or another.

Legalize It

Peter Tosh

3/5

If the website is to be believed, the book this site pulls from only has 10 Reggae albums. This is the first one that I’ve heard so far, and it’s pretty good. Nothing groundbreaking, it’s a whole album about smoking weed, but it doesn’t really need to be anything more than it is to be a good vibe that I’m pretty much always going to be in the mood to hear. Reggae music as a whole is generally always inoffensive on the ears and vibey, it’s just good and fun to listen to in most situations. While nothing here absolutely wowed me, I don’t think anything fell flat either. Not going to remember it all that much, but I would still return to it for sure. Favorite song on this one is “Igziabeher (Let Jah Be Praised)”. Also, the album art needs to be mentioned. Lmao, it's so good. Perfect encapsulation of what Reggae music is typically considered to be in a single image.

Black Sabbath

5/5

“I mean, they say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time.” By this logic, Ozzy is going to live forever, because I for one am never going to stop talking about how much ass he kicked. This is the debut album of not only Black Sabbath, but the debut album of Heavy Metal as a whole, and it is absolutely packed with bangers from top to bottom. I could listen to only this on loop for a year and still enjoy it. “N.I.B.” is my pick for favorite here. I can’t believe he gifted us with that gem right at the start of his career. I’m here to pay my respects and give this man the 5 stars he deserves. Fuck it, I’ll give him 6 stars. 10 even, we’ve just lost one of the last true pioneers of music, and I’m still grieving. We love you, Ozzy. Until I roll your next one and rate that a 10 as well. Rock on you absolute legend ❤️🦇!!

GREY Area

Little Simz

3/5

How many Black, female, UK rappers can I name?? Just this one. This is a prime example of the type of music I would absolutely never find on my own if it wasn’t for this challenge. What do I think of it overall? Eh. It’s fine. The beats are all pretty catchy. Vocals are a bit of a mixed bag, frequently bordering on just being obnoxious and a tad cringy. This is on the borderline of a 2-3 for me. Call it a 3.1. Favorite song is the opener, “Offence”, strictly because of the beat. Probably going to forget about this one fairly quickly, but honestly I really am glad I listened to it. Liked it enough to at least give it a 3 after all.

Home Is Where The Music Is

Hugh Masekela

3/5

Yep, this is definitely Jazz. What, you wanted me to say more? My favorite song on this album is “Part Of A Whole”, as it’s the only one I really remembered. It’s the only one I kept coming back to since it’s the first song on the album. I don’t know man, it’s really, really hard reviewing Jazz due to its very nature. Further more, the more of them I listen to, the harder it becomes to give a unique review that's not just a copy and paste of the last one. The best compliment I can give this album is that the piano player goes pretty crazy at times. Would I come back to this? Not really. Did I enjoy it more or less compared to some of the other Jazz I’ve heard so far? Couldn’t really say that either. It didn't really annoy me, excite me, bore me or offend me in any meaningful way so it’s getting another 3. One thing is for certain though, I still don't know how I feel about Jazz as a whole.

Back At The Chicken Shack

Jimmy Smith

3/5

Let me tell you today about the phenomenon known as the Clustering illusion. According to Wikipedia, “The clustering illusion is the tendency to erroneously consider the inevitable "streaks" or "clusters" arising in small samples from random distributions to be non-random.” That being said, I swear to God I have rolled every Jazz album on the website over the last couple of weeks. My continuous review for all of them has, and will continue to be, “Yeah, it’s alright.” The same can be said about this album. It’s Jazz. If it sounds good, it’s more of the same. If it sounds bad, it’s almost unlistenable. This is pretty good. My favorite song is the titular “ Back At The Chicken Shack”. Can’t wait to roll more Jazz tomorrow.

Sea Change

Beck

4/5

Oh man, I am REALLY conflicted on this one. Listen, I absolutely love Beck. Guero is probably going to be an instant 5. The fact that he’s got 3 albums on here makes me incredibly happy. But that’s just the thing, usually his albums make me incredibly happy. This is sad Beck. I don’t like listening to sad Beck ☹️. That being said, this entire album is absolutely beautiful, even if it makes me incredibly sad listening to it. Favorite song is “Paper Tiger”, with a special shoutout to “Sunday Sun”. Also worth mentioning is the super cool album art. Whenever I like the album art, I always internally give a bit of a bonus point. It’s simple yet cool, and really compliments the vibes of the album. I really don’t know if I want to return to this album again, but objectively it’s gorgeous and incredibly well done. Perhaps Beck at his saddest, least goofy and most vulnerable. So, final verdict? Let’s give it a 4, on the dot a 4.0. I am going to need to listen to Guero as a palette cleanser though after this.

The Grand Tour

George Jones

1/5

I can’t imagine why this guy was divorced 3 times. If this is one of the “Kings of Country”, Country is going to get a lot of 1 star reviews from me. Every single god damn song is about some cheating, promiscuous woman, or him cheating on someone as well. I can’t stand his Country drawl, the simple guitar playing, lyricism, or really anything else. At 28 minutes, this was actually hard to get all the way through. One of 2 albums so far I only got through once without attempting to listen to again. I could not wait to turn this off. May God give me the strength to get through whatever mid Country album I roll next, because I foresee a lot of 1’s and 2’s in the future.

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Public Enemy

5/5

Before listening to this album, I was only familiar with Public Enemy by name only, especially Flava Flav and his dope ass clock. After listening to this, I’m a big fan. They have 3 albums on the list, so clearly they’re pretty revolutionary, in more ways than 1. Every time I hear a “Yeeeeeeeeeeah Booooooyyyyy” or a “Terminator X”, it gets me more excited. I’m hearing familiar samples and some lyrics that I had no idea stemmed from, or at least were popularized by this album. The beats, fire. The lyricism without relying on heavily using the gamer word every second, fire. The way every band member plays off of each other, fire. This is a good ass album!! Best songs are “Terminator X To The Edge Of Panic”, “She Watch Channel Zero?!” and “Party For Your Right To Fight”. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeah Booooooyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

3/5

Well, here we are again. Another one of the top rated albums of its respected genre on the site, this time being Folk Rock. And, it’s another example of something that I can confidently say is objectively a 5, and yet personally I would only give it a 3. When something just isn’t for me, it’s always tough giving it a fair score, which is why I think everyone using this site should use their own individualized metrics to grade albums. Mine isn’t by objectivity, no one is ever going to read this review. It’s more of a fun journal to tell myself how much I liked an album and what songs are worth coming back to, if any. Sometimes these reviews can go wildly off track and I could just end up talking about something that happened in the world that day, or I could simply just tell you how my day was specifically. The point being, it’s not to be taken seriously as gospel. But yeah, “Cecilia” is my favorite song here. They’re all great, just not my cup of tea. I wouldn’t necessarily even call this Rock. The 36 minute playtime is also just the perfect length, bonus points for being so tight with no filler. So, yeah, I reiterate. Objectively a 5, personally a 3.

Aladdin Sane

David Bowie

3/5

Second Bowie album on my journey, and my opinions are more or less the same as they were for Low. That is, it’s alright. Lyrically, he’s a genius, and the titular song “Aladdin Sane” going crazy with the piano was downright funny. I love Bowie and his voice, but nothing really blows me away here, with one exception. I know he’s made an unbelievable amount of music, but I’ve never actively seeked any out, and I’d never heard any of these songs before, just like with Low. It needs to be said though, of all the songs on this album, “Lady Grinning Soul” is perhaps one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard, and it came out of nowhere as the final track. That riff at the end is beautiful and I think I listened to it on repeat 30+ times before looping the album again. That song really did blow me away. This album rocks a hell of a lot more than Low did as a whole. If I gave that album a 3.4, this is at least a 3.8. Also worth mentioning, the album art is one of the most iconic pictures of Bowie that exists, and man is it cool. I’d get that on a poster or wear it as a shirt for sure. Maybe I should do a separate ranking of album arts as a side project. That could be a lot of fun actually. This one is S tier for sure.

Quiet Life

Japan

3/5

With a name as interesting as Japan, I’m honestly a little surprised I’ve never heard of this band before. One of the reviews mentioned “Quiet Life” being in one of my favorite games (Metal Gear Solid V), but I don’t even remember it. That also about sums up my take on this album. None of it was bad, but none of it was particularly memorable either. I suppose my favorite song is “Halloween” here, as it’s the catchiest. Nothing terrible, and there is a lot to like here when you listen to it, I just won’t really remember it after a while. Little too samey and generic at parts, even though as a whole the background elements to a lot of these songs are incredibly catchy. The singers voice bugged me at first, but it grew on me very quickly, which has happened a lot for this challenge. Ultimately, I’d come back to this band again. It’s piqued my interest. This is another instant lock for a 3.

Double Nickels On The Dime

Minutemen

3/5

“Hey, wait a minute. That’s the Jackass theme”. I wonder how many times those words or something similar have been uttered when someone gets to “Corona” for the first time. For obvious reasons, I have to say that one is my favorite. This is a crazy album. 43 songs, 1 hour and 14 minutes is so much. The good news is that it never gets boring. There’s a lot of different genres and fun things going on in this album. The bad news is that I’m never going to remember any of these songs because they’re all so short, and some of them are either forgettable or outright bad. I really wish at least some of these songs were given a second to breathe, because all of them are quite good, with very few exceptions. The singer is nothing to write home about, but he’s pretty good, no complaints in that department. The Punk Rock aspects are also all pretty good, occasionally bordering on, but never quite reaching “Hard” status. I think I’m going to put this one at a 3.9, it’s really good but never QUITE reaches the level of extraordinary.

Savane

Ali Farka Touré

3/5

If I had a nickel for every album straight out of Africa that I’ve rolled so far, I wouldn’t have very many, but it’s interesting that it’s happened more than once. Perhaps more interesting than the music itself was the stuff the artist was going through while making this album. It’s a pretty cool story. Here’s some things that coincided with this album being made. Ali was; Actively dying of cancer, being the mayor of a city in Mali and helping them out by building necessities with his own money, and helping his son write his own first album. Freaking incredible. The music isn’t bad either. He’s a tremendously talented guitarist, my favorite example of that coming from “Savane”, the titular song of the album. I may not know what he’s saying, but I can definitely feel it in the music. It’s good and vibey, therefore it gets a high 3 from me. And clearly, he must be a fairly prominent artist, as he’s actually got a second album on here. I look forward to hearing that one as well. This website continues to surprise me by playing good music I would never in a million years stumble upon by myself.

Smash

The Offspring

5/5

Often times during this project I have criticized and truly wondered why they chose some specific albums from great artists over others. They always seem to go with the ones no one listens to over the hits. That being said, this album has “Gotta Get Away”, “Come Out and Play” and “Self Esteem”. Ladies and Gentlemen, they absolutely cooked with this one. I am pretty bummed this is the only Offspring album on here, but it would be hard to argue that this isn’t their absolute best. Somewhat of a bias because I grew up with it, but I absolutely LOVE this album, even though I’m not always the biggest enjoyer of Punk music. But there are always exceptions to rules, and The Offspring is perhaps my biggest exception yet when it comes to Punk. This is one of the first examples I’d come up with when asked the question “What did the 90’s sound like?”. Put this on with some Pearl Jam and you’ve got a great thing going. Unique sounding singer, all bangers, cool album art, super tight and under 50 minutes long, you’re damn right I’m giving it another 5!!

Blue

Joni Mitchell

2/5

Another example of something that really just didn’t do it for me at all, but I can see why other people would like it. This album is apparently one of the most highly reviewed albums by critics of all time, but I found it rather boring if I’m being completely honest with you. She has a pretty voice (That I also didn’t really vibe with), and the instrumentation is pretty, but absolutely nothing about this album stands out to me. I listened to it all day, and I couldn’t even Stockholm Syndrome myself into liking it. Not entirely sure my favorite song either, as it’s all very similar. Just a lot of boring topics that I didn’t much care about. Singer Songwriter is a mixed bag in general for me, and this is a prime example of it not being in my favor today. I just did not enjoy this enough to give it anything past a 2 star rating. I’m sorry, Joni. I really tried. 3 more of your albums to go…

Tracy Chapman

3/5

Day 2 of rolling highly praised Folk/Singer Songwriter albums. This one is marginally better than the one from yesterday. It grew on me enough to bump it up from an initial 2 to a 3. The subject matter is obviously immensely depressing and I don’t want to listen to it past today, but as a whole it was a worthwhile experience. It’s an important album for addressing many political and social issues plaguing the African American community, through the music of someone with a beautiful voice. While depressing, her voice is somewhat uplifting and soothing at the same time, which makes you really want to keep listening. My favorite song on this album was “Why?”. I like the rapid fire questioning and tempo of that song specifically. Hoping I don’t get stun locked into a bunch of Folk/Singer Songwriter albums. I’d like to get back to some good old Rock that I'm more familiar with, but this album was pretty good. Not something I would want to come back to, but it was good. Just, for the love of God, please give me a happier album tomorrow!! Please!!

Tusk

Fleetwood Mac

4/5

"How are the tenders, Johnny?" Oh man, when I rolled Tusk to start the day, I was so thrilled to do a deep dive on it. I had only ever heard the titular song before, “Tusk”, and while that’s still my favorite song on the album at the end of the day, now I’ve gone and found “Sisters of the Moon”, which is just incredible in its own right. This album is a lot, both length wise and, well, everything else wise as well. Tusk had the literally impossible task of following Rumours. Everyone knows how good that album is, I don’t need to tell you about it. The public wasn’t very kind on Tusk, but again, how could they be? It followed Rumours. For better or worse, this album still kicks ass in its own right. It’s got a great mix of ups and downs. A lot of the songs don’t connect with themselves very well, which is apparent right out of the gate. That’s part of the “for better or worse” aspect. Some songs rock, others are beautiful, a few aren’t all that great, a few are GOD like. Is it the perfect album? No. Far from it. For the third time, it’s not Rumours, but man I hope more people discover this one and really try to appreciate it for what it is, because it’s still really really good. Bonus points for the album art. Random picture of a dog biting someone’s leg on a beige background with a bunch of dots, and just a teeny tiny “tusk” randomly placed towards the top left. Perfect.

evermore

Taylor Swift

2/5

Pre Listen: I’m going to listen to this 1 time on Spotify with a private session so it doesn’t ruin my algorithm, and then rate it a 2, just so I don’t see this shit on my profile. Damn you for making this not only be my 100th album, but having it be right after Fleetwood Mac. That’s just not fair. Post Listen: So boring. Overproduced, overrated, tiring. Everything I feared it would be. Next album please.

Dookie

Green Day

3/5

I’m very mixed on Green Day as a whole. I always have been. I feel like I should really like them, but I never really have. Yet, at the same time, I grew up with them and have heard quite a bit more Green Day than many other bands, so they still hold a special place in my heart. Every song on this album is hit or miss to me. It’s got so many all time classics. I have a lot of favorites, like “Basket Case”, “Welcome to Paradise”, and “When I Come Around.” Most other songs on the album are relatively forgettable. I’m going to give it 3 stars because I’ve never really vibed with Green Day personally but I respect them a whole lot. The guitar playing rocks, the vibes rock, but as much as I hate to say it I’ve never really resonated with Billie’s singing, and repeated listens didn’t change that. I can’t disagree with people who give this one a 5 star rating, but it’s just not something I would find myself listening to a whole lot.

All Directions

The Temptations

4/5

Funk music continues to blow my mind album after album. This is some Grade A stuff right here. Absolutely makes you dance for most of the album. A select few lighter songs of below average enjoyment are the only thing keeping this from a 5. My favorite songs from this one are “Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On”, “Run Charlie Run”, “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone”, and “Do Your Thing.” Put this one down as a 4.9/5 and I may be back and up it to a 5 at some point, because I absolutely will be returning to this one in the future. Absolutely thrilled to hear more of these guys at some point. Had only heard of them by name until today but I’m definitely a fan now!!

Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water

Limp Bizkit

3/5

I’m honestly surprised how much I liked this album. I know it’s a massive meme on this website, and for good reason, but it’s not nearly as bad as the ratings would imply. First of all, it’s just one giant shitpost. When treated as such, it becomes substantially more enjoyable. Literally a few friends just having a good time. The way they blend multiple different genres together like EDM, Rock and Rap is actually quite creative and catchy. Yes, Fred Durst is an obnoxious douche canoe who can’t sing, but it doesn’t really detract from the album enough for it to become unenjoyable. The songs “My Way” and “Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle)” are my favorite songs on the album. The constant pop culture references are also pretty funny honestly, with direct riffs and references to things like Nine Inch Nails and the Mission Impossible Theme. But man, that album art is truly one for the ages. One of the album arts of all time in fact.

The Who Sell Out

The Who

3/5

What an extremely random The Who album. I don’t even know where to begin with this one. First of all, I find the ads hilarious. I know that’s a point of contention in the reviews, but lyrically they are quite funny, especially “Odorono”, which got an audible chuckle out of me. “I Can See For Miles” is both my favorite song on the album, as well as being pretty much the only song I would consider to be a real The Who song in general. That’s where my biggest criticism of the album stems from. The ads are funny, but they take up virtually the entire length of the album. They’re weird, and are more so comical little jingles than actual real songs. I know they’re parodying Pirate Radio, but the fact that they made an entire album on that concept is kind of amazing, and not in a particularly good way. So, while I still enjoyed the album because I love The Who, this will likely be the only one of their albums I give a 3 or lower. At least they had some fun with it, it’s very goofy and shows.

Honky Tonk Masquerade

Joe Ely

3/5

I believe, quite understandably, for some people that actively dislike Country Music, taking a gander at the name of this album would be enough to write the entire thing off just like that. It’s me, I’m those people. I was all ready to give it a 1 and move on. But then I listened to it, and you know what? As far as Country is concerned, I found a few songs in here that were actually pretty good. Joe Ely, I don’t know who you are, and I’m unlikely to hear you again, but you know what? I don’t dislike some of your music. Sure, it has a LOT of songs that are just annoying Country garbage, and I never want to hear the words Honky Tonk again, but “Cornbread Moon” and ESPECIALLY “Boxcars” are the clear standouts here. Those songs genuinely surprised me. This one is getting a 3.0 on the dot since I managed to listen to it all day and found at least 1 hidden gem in the mix. That puts it well above most other Country albums I’ve suffered through so far.

Highway to Hell

AC/DC

5/5

Bon Scott, you legend. Probably still rocking out in heaven after releasing his final album, Highway to Hell. AC/DC has a tendency to be categorized as a band where every song sounds the same. I’m here to tell you that is 100%, categorically… true. Ok, it’s true. They’re all really similar, BUT it’s all the same banger song. I deduct points sometimes when that happens, but this is one of the exceptions to my rule. Of my favorites, the title track, “Highway to Hell” does stand out the most. Bonus points for being one of my favorite album covers of all time as well. It’s an absolute classic. Now, I’m going to rate this a 5, but I’m curious what I would rate this had I rolled Back In Black first, as obviously it has a new singer. Regardless, this is likely going to be one of the next bands joining my Favorite Artists at the top of my profile, and deservingly so.

Dirt

Alice In Chains

5/5

Pearl Jam, STP, Nirvana, Alice In Chains. Grunge!!!! Give me more Grunge. They’ve got every freaking Nirvana album on here but only one of each for everyone else, besides STP who have NONE!! It’s a crime, really. This album is absolutely perfect. It was always going to be a 5 for me. The hardest part about rolling this today is picking a favorite song. I’d be wasting my time just copying the name of every song on the album to select as my favorite, so I won’t. Just know that the Grunge bands are all extremely important to me and I love all of them. No one has a voice like Layne Staley, and no one ever will. Do you want a truly unique sounding album, complete with sounds you’ve never heard before and absolute bangers song after song? Here it is. It’s Dirt. Bummed this is the only Alice In Chains album, but yeah, they picked the right one. Hitting a good streak of legendary album covers as well. This one is so cool. They do so much with what is essentially a single color and make it stand out at the same time.

Pink Moon

Nick Drake

4/5

After rolling Five Leaves Left a few months ago, I was really hoping to hear more of Nick Drake and his music as soon as possible. I called the last album extremely depressing, yet uplifting. I feel the same way about this one. It makes me unbelievably sad, but sometimes that’s ok. Knowing that Nick made this album and would be dead shortly after contextualizes it succinctly, I believe better than anything else possibly could. It’s just one beautiful, tragically depressed soul, playing sad music from the deepest corners of his heart. He was 26 when he died, but before he went, he created 3 albums that each found their way onto this list. This is the second of 3 I’ve had the pleasure of hearing, and I’m betting the last one will be just as good as the other 2 have been. Pink Moon is only 27 minutes long, likely making it one of the shortest albums on the list, but man, those 27 minutes really say a lot. Once again, RIP Nick, I hope your family takes at least some solace knowing how highly people think of your music. Favorite song? All of it. I think “Know” is my favorite.

Joan Baez

3/5

This is going to be another very similar album review compared to the other Folk albums I’ve rolled so far. Folk isn’t generally my thing, but I can appreciate it for what it is. It makes it a lot easier when I like the singers voice, obviously. Joan has a very soothing voice, and it’s extremely relaxing. The way she can hold a note for so long and really make it vibrate is very impressive. It’s also really cool hearing her start singing in Spanish on one of her tracks. Unfortunately, much like the other folk albums I’ve rolled, I’m probably not going to remember this one all too much in a few days. That being said, I’m an absolute sucker for good “House Of The Rising Sun” covers, and this one is pretty dang good. For that reason, that and the aforementioned “El Preso Numero Nueve” are my favorites on this one. Very pretty, but not the most memorable, as has been the same case for a lot of the other Folk albums.

Get Rich Or Die Tryin'

50 Cent

5/5

Sometimes I feel like I’m super easy to please when it comes to music. Then I quickly realize how good it is being this open to so much heat. Point being, this is absolutely fire. If anyone gets a pass rapping about dropping people, it’s the guy who was shot 9 times and survived. I’m largely unfamiliar with 50, but whenever he’s featured in a song I always get excited. So how is he by himself? Turns out, he’s just as good!! I went through this entire album going “No way this gets 5 stars, not every song can be as good as the last one.” I was astronomically wrong. With very few exceptions, this is one of the most solid Rap albums I’ve ever heard from top to bottom. Yeah, the hits like “In Da Club” and “Many Men” are probably the catchiest and objectively best songs on the album, but even the lesser played songs are at the bare minimum catchy as hell. Great flow, great beats, some incredible features (Eminem, Nate Dogg, Snoop on the bonus track). It’s another Rap album I’m giving a 5 to. Had no idea I’d be here when I started this project, but here I am.

Live!

Fela Kuti

3/5

Funk?? Soul?? World?? Jazz?? What can you really even describe this album as?? I’m not entirely sure, but either way it’s pretty good. The energy that Fela Kuti brings to this performance is electric, and the addition of Ginger Baker makes it even better. The little intros to the songs with Fela explaining the meaning behind the song names is charming and adds some flair to the mix. While this one won’t stick with me for a long time, I enjoyed every song on the main album, and listening to Fela belt out a “Yeeeeeeeeah, Black Man’s Cry” or a “La la la la” is hype as hell. My favorite song was “Egbe Mi O (Carry Me)”. The only thing on the album I could have done without was the 16 minute long drum solo. I found it more annoying than enjoyable. Next up, the regular Non-Live Fela Kuti album.

Licensed To Ill

Beastie Boys

5/5

Oh MAN does this album have some legendary bangers on it. Beastie Boys is another band on an increasingly growing list that’s very likely just automatically going to get 5 stars from me, and deservingly so. No other band like them. Every song is a certified bop. The samples they draw from are iconic, every song is quotable, and the music is still solid almost 40 years later. Crazy to me to think this album could be that old and still hold up as well as it does. Anyway, “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” is my favorite song on the album, but I believe “Fight For Your Right”, “Paul Revere” and “Brass Monkey” equally deserve a shoutout, as well as “She’s Crafty” for sampling another iconic riff from Led Zeppelin’s “The Ocean”. Licensed to Ill is my personal favorite Beastie Boys album for multiple reasons, but I couldn’t help but notice that a grand majority of the songs I already have favorited by them are on this album. That being said, I’ve got 2 more Beastie Boys albums to go, so we’ll see if this one is truly the gem of the lot. If it’s not, I’ll end up adding a ton of new Beastie Boys songs I’m less familiar with. Either way it’s a win win for me!!

Want Two

Rufus Wainwright

3/5

On today’s review, we’ve got another rare case of “How on Earth is this album rated so low on this website?”. Just to be fair, I’ll start with the biggest criticism I have, it can be a tad boring for some stretches. I only know about this guy because he did the version of "Hallelujah" from Shrek, which is an awesome accolade to have in and of itself. This is the second of 2 albums released one year apart, both being on this list, and the first one of the 2 I have heard so far for this project. The way he stretches out notes is extremely impressive, and the music itself is very pretty. Looking into his backstory is also very worthwhile, dude has lived a hell of an interesting life. My 2 favorite songs from this one are “Old Whore’s Diet” and “The One You Love.” I reiterate, I don’t understand how an album this beautifully written and melodic can be rated so low. It’s quite good. I'm very interested in hearing the other Rufus Wainwright album to compare the two.

The Good, The Bad & The Queen

3/5

Oh, hi Damon Albarn. I didn’t expect to find you here. Gorillaz is one of my favorite bands, and I’m largely unfamiliar with Blur outside of “Song 2”, so to roll this album first before any of those is kind of funny since I wasn’t expecting it. Your enjoyment of this album is going to be LARGELY dependent on how much you like Damon’s singing. Even though this is a Super Group, I still only hear one solid Gorillaz album that I didn’t know existed. It’s got some bangers, I think “Herculean”, “Northern Whale” and the titular “The Good, The Bad And The Queen” are my favorites of the bunch. I do wish it had some more personality to it though. I like it, but I’m not really going to go back to it very often in my usual rotation. The entire album kind of blends together into one song, which is both a positive and a negative. Positive since I can get lost in it so easily, negative since I’m not really able to distinguish the songs from each other easily. I wish they did more with the other band members, I was kind of expecting a different vibe from Albarn than I’m used to. That being said, he very rarely misses, so I’m still going to give it a high 3, because I’m always going to love him as a singer and the vibes are still immaculate, as is typical of anything featuring him.

We're Only In It For The Money

The Mothers Of Invention

2/5

This is just an astounding album for multiple reasons, and very few of them are good. I know Frank Zappa can make good music, I’ve heard him do it before, so why he chose to just deliberately make this bad on purpose is a choice that leaves me scratching my head wondering why. When viewed through the lens of a shit-poster, this album becomes better. It’s still not good, but it’s still better than some other music I’ve heard so far. I’m able to pick some favorites, so it’s not a complete loss. I thought “Flower Punk” and “Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance” were alright. Just weird enough to not be overtly annoying, and fine overall as tunes. But as a whole, the music, skits, and overall vibe are a net negative on this one. The random sound effects, entire songs being unfunny skits, occasional music played backward, and other deliberate artistic choices that are weird for the sake of being weird work on some albums, but not here. This is the musical equivalent of going to a modern art museum and admiring a banana taped to the wall. It might be for some people, maybe, but it’s not for me. Sorry Muffin Man, you glorious little oddity, maybe next time.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill

3/5

It’s fine. Great voice, good vibes, just the poster child of a very middle of the road album in general. It’s overly long and well outstays its welcome, it’s very bloated, and once again this is another album where the skits completely take me out of the flow of the album. I know it matches with the premise of the album, I’m just not the most fond of them, especially with all the bloat in the mix. Again, it’s fine. Nothing really much I can say about it. It’s fine to chill out to and let it play in the background, but I wouldn’t really call any of these songs something I would immediately want to come back to hear again. My favorite song on the album is “Forgive Them Father.” I’m sure this was revolutionary at the time, but it’s extraordinarily average sounding listening to it today, I may even go so far as calling it overrated?? Apologies Ms. Hill, I enjoyed it enough, but I’m not likely to remember it after a little while. Great little feature by Santana though, he makes any album better with his presence.

At Fillmore East

The Allman Brothers Band

5/5

Do you enjoy listening to legendary Jam Bands?? If so, yeah, this is some good stuff. Do you like extended guitar riffs that just absolutely rock, occasionally lasting upwards of 10-20 minutes?? They may not be for everyone, but I know that I sure do. They even removed the very common and quite frankly annoying aspects of most other Live albums. The actual “Live” elements like fan noise and overtly long introductions are dialed back as much as they possibly can be. While you’re getting absolutely lost in the riffs, you’ll forget it’s a live album entirely with how well it’s been recorded here. Every song is unique, with plenty of identity and variation to make sure you’re never bored. My favorite songs on this album are the closers, “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” and “Whipping Post”. They just absolutely ended this set with the best, most extended bang possible. As far as Live performances go, this may be one of the best. Great inclusion to the list!!

Shalimar

Rahul Dev Burman

3/5

I mean, after listening to a day of Shalimar with absolutely zero context to what it’s about, I feel like it’s a legal obligation to watch the actual movie at this point, no?? Bet I can guess the plot by hyper analyzing the soundtrack. I wonder how culturally significant in the UK this movie was to warrant a Bollywood Movie Soundtrack making the cut. To my great surprise, I actually kinda vibe with it. It is undeniably Indian, and again to my surprise, this album is mostly instrumental. I was really expecting something different from this, something with a lot more singing and a faster pace overall, but I’m not complaining. You probably know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen a Bollywood film. This mostly female lead vocal soundtrack is the perfect amount of background noise to still let me be able to focus on my daily tasks and relax, instead of getting me amped up like I was expecting it to. My favorite track is the opener, “Title Music”. That’s one smooth opening that I greatly enjoyed. You know what, I easily liked this more than I disliked it. I would actually come back to this. Another good obscure album from the site that I’d never find by myself in a million years. Sure, let’s call it a 3. Why not??

Superfly

Curtis Mayfield

3/5

Day 2 in a row of rolling the soundtrack to a movie. Yesterday was Shalimar. What are the odds of that?? Really wondering how many movie soundtracks are on this list. I’m just going to repeat some of what I said yesterday. Notably, I bet I can guess the plot of the movie by listening to the soundtrack all day, and I feel it’s a requirement for myself to watch the movie at this point after listening to this. As far as Funk goes, this is just ok. I’ve heard some absolutely electric Funk albums so far, to the degree that they’re going to have to start living up to the ones I’ve already heard. This one specifically is nothing to write home about. It’s very average, yet still thoroughly enjoyable. Good mix of slow and faster paced songs. My favorite of the bunch is “Freddie’s Dead”. I’m always going to enjoy a good Funk album, and this is no exception, but I don’t think this one is going to stick with me much after today. That being said, I’m absolutely going to watch the movie. I love a good Blaxploitation flick!!

On The Beach

Neil Young

3/5

Another album of Neil Young bangers. Second album of his I’ve reviewed following Harvest. I may even like this album more than that one. Maybe. I gave it a 3.9/5, and I’m going to give this one the exact same rating. It’s really good, still a ton of fun Harmonica riffs, and a solid measure of pretty Rock songs vs jamming Rock songs. As close to a 4 star album as you can possibly get. The song “Revolution Blues” is my favorite song on the album, and it’s really not even close. That song absolutely makes the whole album, and without it I think this would fall to about a 3.4 or a 3.5. That being said, I still don’t think this album has a bad song, I just like that one that much more than the rest. This is something I’m actually likely to return to, and some other songs like “For The Turnstiles” are good enough to make the rotation of songs I frequently listen to. Great job with this one Uncle Neil.

All Things Must Pass

George Harrison

3/5

Listen, it’s a great album and all, but no album on Earth needs to be over 2 hours long. That’s maybe a tad much. To rephrase what someone else has already said, there’s a 4 star album in here somewhere, but it’s lost in a sea of bloat. This is the third Beatles related album I’ve reviewed, following Band on the Run and Revolver, and despite being the weakest of the 3, is still something I’m very glad I was able to listen to. When it’s good, it’s really good. Most of the time it just makes for good background noise, especially the entire back third of the album which is just an added instrumental. It doesn’t bother me, just adds to the already very bloated album even more. Being as long as it is, I’m extremely back and forth on my favorite song. The one everyone knows, “My Sweet Lord” is my bronze medal, but my favorites have to be between “Art of Dying” and “Hear Me Lord”. I believe Disc 2 is actually, as a whole, my favorite part of this album. It seems to be the half I keep coming back to hear again more often than not. I also believe out of all 4 Beatles, I’d say that I probably know the least about George Harrison other than the fact that he was clearly very fond of writing music, so I’m glad I was able to listen to what he came up with here. I for sure didn’t regret any of it, album length included.

Electric Ladyland

Jimi Hendrix

4/5

So, if we’re talking about the Mount Rushmore of guitarists, I’d probably put Jimi Hendrix at Number 1. He makes sweet, sweet, tender love to that guitar on every note of the album. The problem is, it’s very disjointed and not every song is very memorable. When your album ends with 2 of the best songs ever made, “All Along the Watchtower” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”, the rest of it is going to have to be comparable, and unfortunately, I don’t think it is. I am, of course, very familiar with Jimi Hendrix, but I think this album is just a little bit too long for its own good, and has some songs that are just meh. But oh man, compared to most other albums, this is still an absolute legend in the mix. First of 3 Jimi Hendrix albums I have rated so far. It was only a matter of time. A tremendously solid 4/5. Oh, and bonus point for the album art. Another classic picture I would LOVE to get on a poster. This is an album I want to give a 5 so desperately that I may just come back to it another day and see if I’m feeling it more then.

Rain Dogs

Tom Waits

2/5

Oh boy, he’s back for the second time. Tom Waits strikes me as a pretty cool guy, but man is his music one massive mixed bag. I can understand the appeal of his deep, gravely voice, but do we absolutely NEED 5 entire albums of this?? It’s just not for me, which doesn’t automatically make it bad, it simply is what it is. To his credit, I think I enjoyed this more than Swordfishtrombones as a whole. “Clap Hands”, “Jockey Full of Bourbon”, and “Gun Street Girl” all stood out as pretty good to me. So there’s enough to save it from getting a 1. Unfortunately, the majority of this album is just something I would liken to bad circus or pirate music. I don’t absolutely despise it, but I for sure don’t like it very much either and likely won't be coming back to it any time soon. It’s another Tom Waits 2/5, a tradition that I foresee continuing with his other 3 albums. Really it’s just more of the same from him, about what I expected.

When I Was Born For The 7th Time

Cornershop

2/5

Surprised this isn’t labeled as Electronica. I liked “Candyman” ok enough but man was this album dreadfully boring. I managed to spend the day listening to it and I seriously don’t think anything has stayed with me at all. It’s just very repetitive base level EDM beats and other similar aspects and not much else. I mean, I didn’t hate it, but there’s thousands of other bands I’d rather be listening to. Will likely not be returning to this one either, sorry Cornershop. The fact that their most popular song on Spotify is a remix of one of their own songs made by Fatboy Slim is fairly telling, give it to someone else and they’ll make it better. Nothing personal, this one just wasn’t very enjoyable unfortunately.

Alien Lanes

Guided By Voices

2/5

Hitting a bit of a rough streak on the site lately. I’m not very fond of this guys voice, I feel like this album is stylistically disjointed and all over the place, and I really dislike most albums that consist of short songs bordering on 1 minute long each, with very few exceptions. Not entirely sure that Lofi is for me, but this definitely wasn’t. It’s a low 2 bordering on a 1 for me. I think my favorite song was the closer, “Alright”. I just find most of the songs either too short and never really get started, excruciatingly boring and repetitive, or worst of all, all of the above. Sorry guys, I gave it the day. Tried to find something redeeming or an aspect I could end up appreciating, just couldn’t do it.

Heroes

David Bowie

3/5

Bowie album #3/9. Bowie album #3 getting a 3/5. So, right off the bat, this has the same aspect of Low that just did not do it for me, the entire back half of the album is just borderline uninteresting filler instrumental beats, besides the last song which actually is pretty good. If this was a more condensed album without all the filler, it would be an easy 4 or even a 5. As it stands, the only songs that really did anything for me were “Beauty and the Beast”, “Heroes”, and “The Secret Life of Arabia”. Now, those songs are absolutely good enough to warrant giving the album a 3, but that’s literally 3 of the 10 songs on the album. Maybe one of these will get a 4, but after Low, Aladdin Sane and now this, it’s still a very safe 3 for me. At least I enjoy all of these, always something good to look forward to at the bare minimum when I end up rolling Bowie. Also, once again, simply an iconic album art picture. He even used it again later for another album I haven’t gotten around to rolling yet. Until I roll you again, Bowie. You’ve always got a high chance of popping up on the list.

Surf's Up

The Beach Boys

3/5

The tonal whiplash I felt jumping from “Long Promised Road” to “Take A Load Off Your Feet” can not be understated. This is a much darker tone than I’m used to from The Beach Boys, with that one single goofy and more lighthearted song thrown in just completely randomly. Before I forget to mention it, that album art is absolutely Metal. I see it and think we’re about to start listening to Heavy Metal or something. This is the second of three The Beach Boys albums I’ve rated, and I feel about the same way ratings wise as I did listening to Pet Sounds, although I enjoyed this one more for sure. However, I do appreciate how tight this one was. No filler, which is always huge when I’m trying to pick a favorite song. That being said, I really liked “Student Demonstration Time” the best. Some of the songs on this album just straight up rocked, which surprised me. I really didn’t know they were able to sound this way, but I like it. The flute solo in “Feel Flows” is particularly noteworthy and stands out in a big way. This is by all means a darker The Beach Boys album, and it’s actually really good. A VERY high 3, nearing a 4.

Porcupine

Echo And The Bunnymen

3/5

Yet another picture perfect example of a 3 star album. Did I enjoy it? Yeah, I enjoyed it enough. It did things musically I enjoyed. Am I going to remember this after 24 hours have passed? Absolutely not. A lot of the songs had vaguely Egyptian or maybe even Indian sounding themes which I enjoyed. I don’t know, it was all good. None of it was bad, but none of it was particularly memorable either. I liked his voice well enough, and the music all passed the vibe check. An incredibly standard, generic review for an equally standard and generic sounding album. I liked the last song the best, “Never Stop - Discotheque”. There are 3 of these albums on here, so I can only imagine these guys are huge across the pond. Sure, I can see that. They’re good enough. Side note, as a great man once said, “Name something that follows the word Pork”. “Upine”. Call it a 3.6/5 and I’ll see you tomorrow for another one.

Goo

Sonic Youth

3/5

I give whoever writes this book criticism on occasion for having so many British bands represented, and draw attention to the failure to add some super obvious bands that are more deserving from elsewhere, notably the United States, naturally. That being said, when I found out that American Indie Rock band Sonic Youth of all bands has a whopping FIVE albums on this list, I was really, reeeeeeally confused. Why on Earth do they need to have 5?? They’re exceptionally average. Just monumentally, aggressively ok. 5?? Why?? So many other deserving bands don’t have any at all. Are these guys huge in the UK and that’s why they’re on here so much?? I don’t know. I already listened to Dirty, and this is comparatively better. In my review for that, I also mentioned how average it was. I’m likely to mention it as well for the other 3. With all that being said, this album has their big hit, and likely the only song of theirs I’m going to recognize, “Kool Thing.” That one I’ll admit is a certified banger. I still like the male singers voice better, “My Friend Goo” is proof enough of that, it’s unlistenable garbage, and yet “Kool Thing” is the exception to the rule and ends up being the best song on the album by far. There’s a ton of down time and filler here as well which is all just inoffensive noise and adds to my overall reasoning in why this is like a 3.65/5.

Tragic Songs of Life

The Louvin Brothers

1/5

On God, my favorite part of this album was when I didn’t have to listen to it anymore. This is one of about 3 or 4 albums that I just could not bear to listen to a second time. So, it’s got that going for it at least. Now, let me tell you, when I say I don’t like Country, this is the shit that I’m talking about. I’ve heard good Country albums on this list. I know they exist. But man, every aspect of this one was just grating with a capital G. Bad bad bad. Tragic even. Wouldn’t surprise me if every 1 star album I end up giving is going to be a Country or Country adjacent album. But hey, I’ve had an entire week of bad music, next week is going to be all 5’s, right?? Right…

Let It Bleed

The Rolling Stones

3/5

Oh man. Would you hate me if I said I only really enjoyed 3 songs on this album?? This is the first of many Stones albums I’ve heard so far, the second highest rated Stones album on the website, and I’m going to give it a 3/5. I’m always hearing that you have to pick either The Beatles or The Rolling Stones as the best band of all time, and it may be blasphemous to say this, but I’ve already rolled Revolver, and I gave that a 5, easily. Now, listen, “Gimme Shelter” may be in the Top 10 for best songs ever. It’s an absolute achievement of music and should be acknowledged as such. Watch both the documentary of the same name, as well as the documentary 20 Feet from Stardom if you want a really cool history lesson on it. The background vocalist alone sends a shiver up my spine, and the sick beat mixed with Mick belting one out really gave me hope that I was about to listen to the best fucking album of all time if it could even remotely match up to the sheer presence of this opening song. It single handedly gives this album a high rating in my book. It’s so good that I kind of want to go back and rate the top song of each album in this book and rank them separately. It would be pretty hard to beat. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” is another classic, that’s the second song I enjoyed. I was unfamiliar with “Monkey Man” but that one was also deeply enjoyable. So, 3/9 songs is, eh, not great, but I didn’t outright dislike the others, so a 3 is very fair. That being said, every other song on the album is just filler that ranges from just fine to utterly boring filler. A lot of them are filler. After the brilliance of “Gimme Shelter”, I was pretty disappointed with the rest of the album, and man does it absolutely hurt every fiber of my being typing that out. Do they have a more solid album from top to bottom, or am I going to ultimately side with team Beatles? Time will tell.

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

5/5

Finally!! I get it now. Three Neil Young albums in and I’m finally introduced to this banger of an album. You know it’s good when you have to spend the day trying to pick between multiple favorites. Ultimately, I ended up going with “Cowgirl in the Sand” over the all time classic “Down by the River.” That being said, “Cinnamon Girl” and “Running Dry” also deserve a shoutout. I’m an absolute sucker for extended riffs and songs that just go on and on and mix things up like those do. After previously listening to 2 other Neil Young albums, I felt like some of the songs were just a bit too light on notable Rock aspects, and existed as mostly filler. This one, on the other hand, absolutely rocks from top to bottom. Finally, after all this time, I can give a Neil Young album something higher than a 3. Higher than a 4, even. I truly enjoyed the hell out of this one. Way to go Uncle Neil. You’ve earned this rating. Here’s hoping there’s another 5 coming from you in the future. As always, time will tell.

Music For The Jilted Generation

The Prodigy

4/5

“The Voodoo, who do what you don't dare do, people!!”. I have been hearing that sampled in songs, and the song itself covered in general for the better part of my entire life. “Voodoo People” is such a critically important song in the history of Electronica, and I’m very happy to be listening to the album it stemmed from. The Nirvana sample also really helps make it something truly special. Now, I’m not the most familiar with this album as a whole, but The Fat of the Land is perhaps my favorite Electronica album of all time, right on top with Justice. So, both of those albums are going to get 5 stars from me no questions asked. While this album is still absolutely fire in its own right, I can see how The Fat of the Land eventually came into being by listening to earlier The Prodigy music like this. It’s hard rating it fairly for that reason, knowing just how good the other album is, and how important it is to me. Still though, this is The Prodigy we’re talking about here, and despite sounding a bit more dated overall, this is still an outstanding piece of history that made my day go by in the blink of an eye. No duds, all bangers, high marks. You know the drill. It may not have a crab, but the album art is still pretty cool, if not creepy as shit. 🦀🦀

The Notorious Byrd Brothers

The Byrds

3/5

The random horse on the album art absolutely kills me. This is the first of 5 The Byrds albums I have listened to for this project, and I’m pretty sure it was exactly what I needed to hear today. I am wholly unfamiliar with this band, so having 5 albums is a bit surprising to me, but this was a great first time listen-through. Nothing absolutely blew me away, but as a whole, every song was psychedelic, rocked, and was different enough from the one before it that I was fully engaged the entire time. It all flows very naturally into itself. Love the singers voice, love the smooth bass and the psychedelic guitar riffs. Yeah, this was a pretty good one. As the “newest” The Byrds album on the list, I guess I’m now very interested to see the reverse progression of the band and find out how we ultimately got here. My favorite song on this album was “Tribal Gathering”. When the site states that this one is 4 different genres of music in 1, it’s not kidding. You can really hear all 4, and that’s for the most part what makes this one so unique and memorable to me.

Astral Weeks

Van Morrison

3/5

Less singing, more sweet instrumental riffs, please. This is the first of 3 Van Morrison albums I have reviewed for this project, and I’m just not really a fan so far. The only song worth mentioning is “The Way Young Lovers Do”. The rest are fairly repetitive and bland songs that I just wouldn’t really want to come back to unfortunately because I’m not a huge fan of his singing. They aren’t outright terrible, I just didn’t really enjoy them personally. So I’m conflicted whether this should be a 2.9 or a 3.0. Not much to talk about with this one. It’s the oldest of the 3 albums, so I guess I’ll see how his music evolves over time. Perhaps the other 2 will be better. Like I said, not terrible, but not great either. At least it’s got “The Way Young Lovers Do”, which reminded me of something you’d hear in Kill Bill. I really actually liked that one. Sure, that’s enough to give it a low 3. Why not??

Physical Graffiti

Led Zeppelin

5/5

Alright, I have to go a little outside the scope of how I normally rate albums for this one. Generally, I rate these albums and weigh how solid they are as a whole from top to bottom. However, exceptions are rarely made for extenuating circumstances that hit heavy on my nostalgia or music that I grew up with. For those reasons, this one is going to be rated on personal enjoyment more. Led Zeppelin has earned that right. Disc 1 of Physical Graffiti is an absolute masterclass of music without a single track worth skipping. If it was only Disc 1, this may very well be the best album they ever made. In particular, “Trampled Under Foot” and “Kashmir” are my favorite tracks on the album. Disc 2 is mostly filler. But, and this is a huge but, even Zep filler is better than 99% of the albums on this list. So, personal enjoyment for me was still a 5. As a Zep album, the uneven second half makes me rank this below the other Zep album I’ve rolled so far, Led Zeppelin 2, but still not nearly enough for me to rank this anything but a 5. So, yeah. Expect every Zep album to get a 5 star rating. One of the best bands of all time.

Is This It

The Strokes

5/5

This is the type of music you’d hear in a show or movie where things are going perfectly. Everything is going great for the crew and life is pretty good. Immediately following this rise (usually in the form of a “Life is great” compilation), things are about to go terribly, terribly wrong. All that being said, fuck this is some good shit right here. Indie Rock has been a real mixed bag for me so far with this project, but this is some real primo stuff. It’s tighter than the ass on the album cover, there isn’t a single filler song on the entire album, and picking my favorite song in general is a real challenge. This may very well be one of the best Indie albums on the entire list. I am actually quite baffled I haven’t heard any of this before, and if I have, I don’t recognize it. Everyone I talked to today was baffled I had not heard this, as it’s right up my alley. I’ve probably said this before, but you know an album is good when it makes you want to explore the bands entire catalog. Ultimately, my biggest complaint is that occasionally at the end of a song, they’ll have a little riff that absolutely shreds for about 30 seconds, and then leave you wanting more of it. And I do. I want more of it!! Bet these guys kick ass live. The little riff in the middle of “The Modern Age” and towards the end of “Take It Or Leave It” are good examples of this. All of the hits are so good, but I think my favorite song on the album is actually going to have to be “Alone, Together”, which actually has 2 separate moments where they step out a bit more and just shred that shit out. Wish they included the follow up album, as it contains the one song of theirs I actually recognized, “Reptilia”. Man, what a hell of a debut album!! Apparently, the entire band is still together to this day, which is pretty damn cool. Rock on, The Strokes. You’ve gained a fan. Is this It? Nah, I’m not done with you yet.

Tea for the Tillerman

Cat Stevens

4/5

This one surprised me in every sense of the word. I’m not generally fond of Folk and Singer Songwriter albums. They’re usually fine and well written, but aren’t my cup of tea. So, it was unexplainable to me why I ended up liking this one so much. It’s slow, it’s as Folk as you can get, melodic, and somewhat depressing. But man, that voice is angelic. Something about the sheer passion you can tell went into this just makes every song really stand out. It’s very real, and I don’t think picking a favorite is going to be easy here, but if I had to it would be “Hard Headed Woman”. The way everything comes together, builds up and just blows you away is nothing short of impressive. I would actually come back to this one. At 36 minutes, this is the perfect length for an album and does a good job of having no filler. With this album alone, I can see why this guy is in the Rock Hall. Well deserved. Pretty difficult not singing “Wild World” out loud.

The Slider

T. Rex

3/5

The only thing I know about T. Rex is that they were inducted into the Rock Hall a few years ago. As far as their music goes, it’s alright. This is aggressively average but still very passable Rock music. It’s a little repetitive, a little formulaic, but still very easy to listen to and enjoyable enough. A few songs are more annoying than entertaining, but as a whole it’s not bad. I love the lead singers voice, and a few of the songs, including my favorite, “Telegram Sam”, remind me of my current favorite band, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (which absolutely should be on the list). I don’t really think this one is going to stick with me, but it was good. I would absolutely listen to more T. Rex. I think my favorite part of the band might just be its name. I want to be in a band named T. Rex. That’s some cool stuff. They have another album on here, but I can’t honestly imagine it’s going to sound much different than this one. So, yeah. Pretty average but still good. I liked it. On to the next one.

One Nation Under A Groove

Funkadelic

5/5

I think my favorite part of Funk music is the continuous running trend of just about every song bluntly stating “You are listening to Funk. This is Funky. We Funk. Funk.” as if it isn’t the most obvious thing in the world. Man, I wanted to just give this a low rating and move on out of spite because it isn’t on Spotify. I imagined it just couldn’t possibly be that good. I was terribly, catastrophically wrong. This is Psychedelic Funk Soul Rock and at the same time, it’s genuinely funny. Unfortunately, I was listening to it without knowing the names of the songs, as again it wasn’t on Spotify, but any of the songs with extended psychedelic jams were my favorites. Those just absolutely rocked and it’s an outright SHAME that this was as hard to find as it was!!!! This one wasn’t just Funky. It was outright Funkalicious. Another Funky banger. A 5/5. Just praying this doesn’t become a trend of albums not being on any of the streaming services like this one. Docking it a point for being hard to find would just be petty of me, and I just can’t do that knowing how good this album is from top to bottom unfortunately.

The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground

3/5

Eh. Not even remotely what I was expecting based off of what I had previously heard about this album elsewhere. I think I hyped it up when I rolled this one too much and was just left fairly disappointed overall. Sure, it’s fine. But it just kinda exists. All songs on this album rank anywhere from mediocre to just ok. There’s some songs that are pretty boring, and others are fine. But that’s about it. Classic album art, passable album at best. Nothing really stood out here. I heard Funk with more memorable riffs than this the other day. I didn’t even particularly care about Lou Reed’s singing here, which may be blasphemous to some. Maybe you had to be there for this one. I’m sure it’s influential and an all time classic album, but unfortunately it was just barely passable enough to scrape by with a 3 for me. Sorry banana album. I wanted to like you so much, but I’ll likely forget about this album by tomorrow. Just don’t really get this one man. It happens. I think I liked “Venus In Furs” the best. It had some fun things going on with it.

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Ray Charles

3/5

It’s old and dated, it’s very long, and it’s very similar from top to bottom. But, man is it still pretty good despite all of that. Ray has an amazing voice and absolutely carries each and every song on this album. It doesn’t matter how old it is, this is always going to be just straight up good music. Not a lot I can say about it that hasn’t already been said. Picking a favorite is also hard because there are so many songs on the album. I’m sure each one is someone’s favorite, and they’re all valid. Naming the album “Country and Western Music” is also just inherently funny, and must have been pretty risky as a Black man in the 60’s. Mad respect for being one of the first shit-posters. Game respects game. At the end of the day, I think my favorite song on the album was "Oh, Lonesome Me." But there are a ton of good ones to pick from.

Architecture And Morality

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

3/5

A bit whiny. Some pleasant noises, but otherwise pretty average. This is distinct from a lot of the other albums I’ve listened to so far, so it’s got that going for it. That isn’t always a good thing, but it’s definitely something. It’s just not really my cup of tea. This is pretty much just noise to me. The vocals really did not help. I’d rather be listening to a few other bands that make the same kind of noises but better, like Depeche Mode, which I’m sure has been mentioned by more than a few people here. Was this a pleasant way to spend the day? Absolutely, I don’t regret it. Am I going to return to this? Probably not, but I’m glad I listened to it. The hits are probably the best songs on the album, but I kinda just picked a favorite at random honestly. Hard to tell the songs apart when this is yet another hour long album filled with exclusively this kind of sound. I don’t know, maybe if I come back to it later when I’m less busy I’ll appreciate it more. As it stands, it’s nothing outstanding but isn’t terrible either. Again though, it’s unique, so I’m likely to remember it if I see it again.

Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

4/5

No one in my family has heard of this band before, me included. I asked them, and considering there are 5 of his albums on here, I was banking on at least SOMEONE knowing who this guy Nick Cave is. They’re all rated pretty poorly on the site, so all things considered, it seems like a questionable choice to have that many, if any at all included. This is the first of them that I have heard, and it’s the highest rated on the site. What are my thoughts on this album? Holy shit. No dude, it’s actually good. It’s actually quite good, easily the best thing I’ve heard this week. It’s funny how the mind can draw parallels to things. Earlier in the week, I heard a Black man (Ray Charles) singing traditionally White music and making it his own, and now I’m hearing the reverse of that. These are all very Black Gospel coded songs, and you know what?? Nick Cave absolutely crushes it here. I don’t know if his other 4 albums are even remotely this good, but I actually loved this one. As a double album, it has a massive 1 hour and 22 minute playtime, and the first half kicks the shit out of the second half, so it’s not perfect, but it’s pretty close. I found myself adding 4 songs from this album to my favorites playlist, and even the ones that did not make the cut were at the bare minimum all good enough to not skip. My favorites on this album are “Get Ready for Love”, “Cannibal’s Hymn”, “There She Goes, My Beautiful World”, and my personal favorite, “Hiding All Away”, which has an absolutely electric, energetic, crazy finish. “There is a waaaaaaaaaar comiiiiiiiiiiiiiing”, (Crazy guitar solo). That song kicks ass. So yeah, it all came together nicely and gave me a hell of a surprise on a random, slow Wednesday. Thank you Nick. Interested to see what else you’ve got, I might be a fan.

Figure 8

Elliott Smith

4/5

I’ve listened to a lot of sad white boy albums so far. This one might be my favorite. I don’t know if I compared Elliott Smith to Nick Drake in any of my previous reviews, but they had 2 very similar stories. Both of them involve young, insanely talented men who tragically lost their battles with depression. If you’re not in a good mood, it’s going to make you feel even worse listening to either of them most of the time, but sometimes that may be exactly what you need, if that makes any sense. This album still has all the patented sadness of an Elliott Smith album, but the production, implementation, vocals, instrumentation, energy and just overall mood is a lot happier and better as a whole somehow. I don’t really know how else to explain it. I really don’t, this one just made me a lot happier, it was full of energy and life, rather than just a wall of sadness. You feel me?? The opener, “Son of Sam” and “L.A.” are my favorite songs on this album. They’re absolutely killer and end up giving me hope, instead of just making me sad. The entire album as a whole kind of does that. Occasionally, some tracks won’t hit the same, some of it is a bit forgettable, but I honestly think I enjoyed this more than his much more popular album, Either/Or. Rest in peace buddy. Thank you for the killer album today. A very easy and very high 4 stars out of 5.

Neon Bible

Arcade Fire

3/5

Eh. If this was from like the 80’s or something I might give this a bit of a pass for being boring and bringing nothing new or interesting to the table, but these guys have 3 entire albums on here and this album specifically released in 2007, so it gets no passes for being unoriginal from me. This is the first of them I have heard and the most popular on the site as well. It’s just kind of boring and generic indie electronica rock. It’s melodic and orchestral, but never really that good or exciting for the entire length of the album, until you get to the last song on the album, which I LOVED, “My Body Is a Cage”. Around 2 minutes into that song, there’s an absolutely killer tone shift that is unlike anything on the rest of the album. I really wish anything was even remotely comparable to how much I enjoyed that riff. This is a band I feel like I heard mentioned a ton around the 2010’s, never heard any of their music, knew nothing about, and then they were quickly excised from public conscience a few years later. Don’t know why we need 3 of these here, but who knows, maybe the other 2 show me something new. Somehow, I doubt it. This was a bit pretentious, I wouldn’t really return to it, and didn’t really connect with all that much of it, but I still never actively disliked any of it, so it’s still getting a 3 from me.

Young Americans

David Bowie

3/5

Bowie album 4/9. Bowie!! You’re back. Oh snap, this is the one with “Fame” on it. I love that song. Sure enough, it was my favorite song on the album as well. The more of these I listen to, the harder it is to rank them against each other. Do I like this better than the Berlin Trilogy? Without a doubt. Is it better than Heroes? Debatable. Probably. Is this finally getting a 4? Hard to say. It’s mostly filler, but it’s undeniably better than the purely instrumental filler I’m used to hearing from Bowie’s other albums in my opinion. I think this may be the most consistently good Bowie album I’ve heard so far from top to bottom. His vocals are an amazing part of every song here, and there’s a fair bit of differentiation from song to song as well. It’s never boring, but as usual, nothing really just stands out and blows my mind. To quote one of the best reviews on the site, “It’s David Bowie”, so you know it’s at least going to be worth listening to. I love how Funky this one is at times, and the backing vocalists all kick ass. It’s probably my favorite of the 4 albums I’ve heard so far. Ok Bowie, 5 more albums to go. Until next time buddy.

Nixon

Lambchop

3/5

Pre-Listen Thoughts: Why is this here?? What business does this legitimately have being here?? “Nixon became a breakthrough release for Lambchop in the United Kingdom.” Oh. That’s why. Guys, we’ve made better music than this in the States you could have picked from. I promise there are better albums than this. Post-Listen Thoughts: Ok, so admittedly I was WAY too harsh on this album. It’s actually pretty good. I still stand by the fact that we have much better albums to pick from, but I enjoyed my time with this album substantially more than I had anticipated after reading the genre was “Pop Country”. So, first of all, I don’t hear Country in this album at all. This is borderline just Indie Rock. It’s the good kind of chill where you’re not really engaged in the music the entire time, but you’re still happy that it’s on in the background regardless. I’m not the fondest of the lead singers voice, but it’s at least passable. Then you get to the last 2 songs on the album, and they’re actually kind of just great. “The Petrified Florist” and “The Butcher Boy” are by far my favorite songs on this album. So, you know what. I’m sorry for pre-judging you, Lambchop. This was a nice, chill, pleasant listen-through on an otherwise busy, stressful day. I think I was also thrown off by the first song, which is actually my least favorite on the album. If you can get past that, you’re home free. And if you like it, hey, you’re probably going to enjoy the rest of the album a lot. Bonus.

GI

Germs

2/5

This one is a low 2 for me. Everything I dislike about most Hardcore Punk music, only saved by how killer some of the riffs are. This guys voice is just nails on a chalkboard. I know that’s the point of “REAL” Punk Music, but it’s just not for me. If he didn’t sing at all, this would be an easy 3 for me, but his annoying wailing just ruins it entirely. Wouldn’t return to this one sadly, but it’s not a 1. I kind of thought it was going to be a 1 for a while. It’s almost a 1. I kind of want it to be a 1 low key. It didn’t exactly grow on me, but the more I could drown out the sound of the singers voice, the easier it became to appreciate the guitar and other, better aspects of this album. My favorite song on this one was “Our Way”. Gracefully, this one is 38 minutes long. The perfect length for an album. I also really like the album art. It’s simple but very cool. Stands out.

World Clique

Deee-Lite

3/5

Did you guys ever play any of the old Tekken games, or other similar PS2 era fighting games like MVC? You know the background tracks they play while you’re fighting? Got a bunch of random fun noises and sound effects. Yeah. This is that, and I kind of love it. It’s extremely dated, but in a very delightful and fun way where I still had a blast listening to it. A medium-high 3. It doesn’t do anything new or amazing as an Electronica album, but it’s fun to listen to all the way through, which is all I would really want from it. “Groove Is in the Heart” is the big one from this album. I’d actually heard of it before, and yeah, it’s the best song on the album as well. Very, very catchy stuff. I’m never going to complain about having to listen to an Electronica album. They’re always at the very least going to be an enjoyable experience. This one is no different. Groove is in the heeeeeeeeeeeeart (astronomical).

Station To Station

David Bowie

4/5

Started the week with Bowie and I’m ending the week with Bowie. This is album 5/9 from him, and by God I’m starting to run out of things to say about David Bowie. I’m already a slight bit over 150 albums into this challenge, and it’s front loading me with a metric ton of Bowie. They’ve all gotten a 3 star rating, I would say deservingly so. So, what makes this one different? I don’t know myself really. Vibes mostly. I just find this to be the most consistently good from top to bottom. Every single Bowie album has 1 notable song and then a ton of filler. This has a few notable songs, and it’s really short at just 38 minutes long, so the notable songs take up a good little chunk of the album. My favorites on this one are the title track, “Station to Station”, and my actual favorite song on the album, “Stay”. This album does a lot of experimenting. If this even makes sense, that feels like the theme of this album, and it works here. There’s a good blend of rockers and lighter songs, instrumentals and vocal tracks. It took 5 albums, but I may have finally found the best Bowie album. We’ll see what the next one has in store within the next couple of days if this keeps up, so until then!!

Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk

2/5

Ok, I’ll start on a positive note because I don’t really have much else in the way of positivity for this album as a whole. I think the name Thelonious Monk is pretty great. I don’t know if that’s the guys name, the name of the band, or even a stage name, but it’s pretty cool. Part of the charm is that I have no idea, and don’t care enough to google it to find out. Ok, so that’s what was good about the album, now the negatives. It’s more Jazz. I don’t understand Jazz, and every time I think I’m starting to finally get it and roll a Jazz album I like, I soon after end up rolling an album like this, and just strongly dislike it. It’s just boring man, plus the lack of a structure doesn’t soothe me, it gives me anxiety. The overbearing piano and trumpet just make me dizzy. I don’t like this. I recognize and am easily able to appreciate the greatness and talent of the band, but personally I would never seek any of this out, and will not be returning to Mr. Monk, if that is in fact his real name. I just don’t get it. I’ll chalk it up to that and simply be satisfied knowing that I gave this one an honest attempt by listening to it all day. It’s Jazz, I can’t pick a favorite. Sorry. It’s between “Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are” and “Bemsha Swing”. Those were at least bearable.

Heaux Tales

Jazmine Sullivan

2/5

“Heaux Tales”, huh?? Yeah, I’m sure this is empowering for women somehow. Nah, this is not it fam. This is the latest album to be added to the book, and I’m sure when they did so they probably figured it would become a classic at some point. While I can’t vouch for how it’s held up myself, I can tell you personally that I just did not care for it at all. First of all, I don’t get why every one of these Hip-Hop albums has to constantly be interrupted by these annoying ass skits. I hadn’t realized it before, but I guess that’s just integral to the genre, so while I can’t hate on that aspect specifically, I still just don’t like it. Second, I find this to be wholly generic, and unfortunately don’t enjoy Jazmine’s singing style very much. When I don’t like someone’s voice, it’s always going to make the album substantially less enjoyable. I really don’t think this album was made for me. That’s ok, but this one was pretty hard to get through. An occasional good song or 2, like “Pick Up Your Feelings”, but I couldn’t last the day listening to this one. Ironically, the best part of this album was the feature where someone else was singing instead of her. It’s nice and short at least, but the length just draws attention to the skits that much more. Not a questionable choice to add this album, I get why they would feel the need to do so, but it just wasn’t for me. Oh well, on to the next one I guess. Sorry Jazmine.

Bad

Michael Jackson

5/5

There’s a reason why MJ is known as the King of Pop. Regardless of public perception, his actual musical abilities were, and will continue to remain unparalleled. His status as a social pariah is an elephant in the room that many have already addressed, but god damn it, it’s so hard to not enjoy his music. “Man in the Mirror” may be one of the most popular songs on the album, and it happens to be one of my least favorites here. Which is insane because it’s still a really good song. I’ve never heard an MJ album from top to bottom before, this is the very first time I have done so, and when I tell you I added more than half of the songs on this album so quickly, I mean it. That last stretch of 3 songs alone, “Dirty Diana”, “Smooth Criminal”, and “Leave Me Alone” is absolutely legendary. My only criticism of this album comes from the middle, which has some skippable (but still absolutely outstanding) filler. Favorite song on the album? I mean damn, I can’t go with recency bias here and pick something I’ve never heard before, that would be disingenuous, “Smooth Criminal” is a brilliant song and deserves to be admired, so I’m going to pick that. I’ve been listening to it for a long time, for good reason. There’s so many good songs on this album, I didn’t even get around to talking about how good “Bad” and “Speed Demon” are. That’s just how good this album is as a whole. I know people like Thriller more, so I’m extremely excited to check that one out now. Bad? More like Good. I’m sure I’m the first person to ever make that joke.

Murmur

R.E.M.

3/5

Very middle of the road indie rock album. A fine example of an album that I’m going to listen to for 1 day, and immediately forget about the next. This was good, but nothing particularly stood out. As far as first albums go, it’s really good though. I know that a ton of people absolutely love this band, so for that reason I have a fun opportunity to see how they evolved over time. I am largely unfamiliar with R.E.M., but this was a pretty good start. Again, it wasn’t amazing, but it was still pretty good as a whole. Nice little peaceful album to get me through the long day, served its purpose. Never really grabbed me, but hooked me enough to let me still feel actively engaged in the music. Love the singers voice, even if this album was a bit too light for my liking as a whole in most places. At least it was easy to listen to. Another very middle of the road 3.5/5 on this one. I really liked the energy and funky guitar playing in “Moral Kiosk”. Easily my favorite song on the album. That one was really fun and ear wormy.

The Village Green Preservation Society

The Kinks

3/5

The Kinks are a very peculiar band to me. They’re one of those bands who I know are immensely popular, and I even have a good bit of their music saved to my Spotify already, however, I can’t for the life of me name any of their popular songs, let alone even remember what the ones I have saved are. It’s a band that I know I like sometimes, but know nothing about. If someone tells me one of their songs, I’m sure it would ring a bell, but I sure as hell haven’t even heard of a single song off of this album in particular. If I had to describe this, it would be a Beatles knockoff with just a touch of The Who mixed in. It wasn’t terrible, but I’ve already forgotten it entirely as I’m writing this review. My favorite song was “Last of the Steam-Powered Trains”, and even that was just ok. A few skippable songs that I found more annoying than good, but none that were offensively bad. As I listen to more albums, these are going to become dreadfully common, but this is yet another middle of the road 3 star affair that will quickly fade away out of my head in due time. The best thing I can say about it is that the singer sounds pretty good, and I would absolutely be willing to give these guys another shot at a 4 or 5, hopefully with an album where I’ve actually heard of some of the songs on previously. Being the first of 4 Kinks albums I’ve heard on here, I have a pretty good shot of getting my wish later. Will they all be this average, or will one of them surprise me?? As always, time will tell.

Grace

Jeff Buckley

5/5

Sometimes, quite often actually, before I start listening to these daily albums, I like to do a deep dive into the band/artist that I’ll be spending my day with, and look at their Wikipedia pages to see what they’re all about. Man, after reading about Jeff Buckley’s story and all the people who he inspired, I was absolutely fiending to check this album out. This guy made 1 album, and then tragically drowned while fully dressed, singing a Led Zeppelin song at age 30. Insanity. God must have wanted this guy to sing for him personally in heaven, because it’s an actual sin that we only got him for a single album. I want more. Why am I giving this album 5 stars?? Because I hear a lot of Chris Cornell here, a friend of Jeff’s, and my favorite musician of all time. It may actually be crazy to say this, but I think Jeff may have better voice control. The places he goes with each and every note are nothing short of amazing. Not only does Jeff’s voice absolutely kick ass, but this album is a near perfect mix of absolutely electric, balls to the wall bangers where he sings his heart out, like in “Grace” and “Eternal Life”, while also including genuinely beautiful pieces as well, like “Hallelujah”. Then there are the songs that are somehow both at the same time, like “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over”. Wow. What an incredible album this was. I can’t believe there are artists that were this talented out there with albums this good, and I’d never have found them if it wasn’t for this site. This was truly something special. Favorite song? It’s gotta be the title track, “Grace”. I’m a sucker for the songs that rock the hardest after all.

The Madcap Laughs

Syd Barrett

3/5

Ironically, this is the first Pink Floyd adjacent album I’ve rolled so far on my journey through every album on the list, and man do I wish I was actually just listening to Pink Floyd instead. There are so many Pink Floyd albums they could have picked from that didn’t make the final cut, Animals being my favorite of the lot that didn’t make it, but instead they went with this. Listen, I get it. Syd was an integral part of the band and its history. Wish You Were Here is my favorite Pink Floyd album, and one of my favorite albums of all time, but putting this here as well next to that is just sad man. It honestly kind of hurts. Again, I get why they included this, but knowing the story behind Syd Barrett just makes it all the more painful. The way virtually half of the album on Spotify is outtakes is a weird decision. It feels like they’re making fun of him almost. In a way, it’s a rather brilliant way of looking into the mind of a man who is in the ongoing stages of literally losing his mind. And you know what? This album isn’t actually that terrible, outtakes included. And in a way, knowing how talented he was just adds to the sadness. This is a sad album man… Favorite song? I actually thought “No Man’s Land” rocked sufficiently hard. For the unique background this album has, as well as the fact that it still surprised me a few times and was never actively terrible, I’m actually going to give this one a very low 3 stars.

Call of the Valley

Shivkumar Sharma

3/5

I’ll do my part and inform new listeners that the Spotify version of this album is incorrect. You’ve got to find the real version elsewhere, I used Youtube personally. This one is really tough to rate objectively. It is purely instrumental background noise. It’s inoffensive and pretty nice on the ears, but does absolutely nothing for me and I’m going to forget about it by tomorrow at the latest. The second song was also so quiet I could barely even hear it at all. I have no idea if that was intended, but it was just irritating enough to mention discussing here. Was it enjoyable? Ehhhhhhh, not really. Was it memorable? Absolutely not. Was it nice to have on while working? Kind of. It was, to its credit very relaxing and made me very sleepy. Maybe that’s both a positive and a negative the more I think about it. It’s clearly very well made for what it is, even if what it is isn’t for me. Every prominent artist in history just about has an “India” album, and it seems like this may just be the very album that inspired a ton of prominent, well known musicians to make their own “India” albums. So it’s got that going for it. This album, for that reason, is culturally significant, and more than welcome on the list. Now, the big question is whether I’m going to rate it a 2 or a 3. I don’t know. This one is really tough. You know what, it’s easy to get through. If I genuinely struggle to get through an album but can find aspects to appreciate, I’ll go 2. If it’s at least easy to get through, I’ll go with a 3. This is a 3.

A Seat at the Table

Solange

3/5

Pretty good. A lot more Soul than Pop on this one in my opinion. Solange has a pretty voice that makes her very easy to listen to. This album was peaceful, upbeat, and never once bored me. However, like many others have said, it is very one note, samey, and will not stick with me for a very long time. It’s a middle-low 3, as nothing really stood out and grabbed me, but the vibes were immaculate. It was extremely easy to get through the day with, and I would even check out more of her music. My favorite song on the album is “F.U.B.U.”. That song was catchy as hell. A big criticism I have for a lot of Pop/Hip-Hop albums is the implementation of skits spread throughout the course of the album. I’ve mentioned that to death already. This album has a few of them, but for the most part they’re non-intrusive and work well. For that, I’m awarding a few bonus points to this album. Overall, yeah, I thought A Seat at the Table was pretty good.

Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd

5/5

Not entirely sure where to begin with this one. I’ll start with this though. Earlier in the week, I rolled a Syd Barrett album. The odds of me then pulling this album only days later are nothing short of amazing. This is one of those albums where nothing I could possibly say hasn’t been said before. If you like Floyd, this is their absolute best album in my opinion. If you don’t like them, you’re objectively wrong and have bad taste. Them’s are the rules. Every single song on this album works, and they all add so much to it as a whole. The first and last songs, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 1-9”, are an absolute love letter to Prog Rock and I could listen to them all day. “Welcome to the Machine” and “Have a Cigar” (My favorite Floyd Song) are both pointed jabs at the music industry in general, and also just rock. Finally, “Wish You Were Here” is a sad, but otherwise sweet tribute to Syd. Every one of these songs is absolutely amazing, and it’s another one of those albums where every song is going to be someone else’s favorite. It’s perfect. Not many albums on this list are going to come remotely close to just how much I love this album. You should listen to this one from top to bottom and just let it take over you for a bit. It’s magical. First Floyd album down, and they started with the best of the best.

The Wall

Pink Floyd

5/5

It's The Wall. Be real here. It's musical perfection. I may not enjoy this as much as Wish You Were Here, but it's still one of many in a list of perfect or near perfect Pink Floyd albums. Noted, it's my least favorite of them, but it's nonetheless still perfect. Hilariously enough, I actually rolled Wish You Were Here yesterday, so there is a non zero chance I get 3 Pink Floyd albums in a row. Now that would be insane. Anyway, if Wish You Were Here is a Prog Opera, this is an entire Prog Movie. It's long, it's sad, it's intense, it's a lot of things that have already been said better than I ever possibly could. The filler adds to the experience, and there is plenty of it. That is the only reason why it can never be my favorite Floyd album. That being said, the hits absolutely rule. "Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 1-3", "Comfortably Numb", "Hey You", "Young Lust" and "Run Like Hell" are all God-Tier songs littered throughout the album, and when you get to them, it's definitely worth the wait. The rising and falling actions on this album are just one of many brilliant aspects to an album that deservedly gets a ton of praise. Another 5/5. I could listen to this on repeat for the rest of my life and find something new to enjoy and appreciate.

Shaft

Isaac Hayes

3/5

“Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks?” You know, I’ve always been interested in checking out this movie, and now I’ve heard the entirety of the soundtrack to it. This is the third movie soundtrack I’ve rolled so far for this project, and for the third time I think it would have been better had I already seen the movie going in. Listen, I love Isaac Hayes as much as the next guy, but this is not the best representation of his work. He barely even sings at all here, and his voice is the most notable thing about him. None of these songs, besides “Theme From Shaft” and “Do Your Thing” really stand on their own legs without whatever scene they are supposed to accompany. Without that very important added context, this is like 99% background music and 1% gold when he’s actually singing. The good news is that even the instrumentals are at the bare minimum good, even if some of them go on way too long. I’m an absolute sucker for some Funk/Soul, so it was at least enjoyable for the most part. It’s a tad boring in places, but with background music to a movie, that feels inevitable really. Another strange inclusion to this list to have a musician beloved for his voice, and inexplicably have him not sing for the majority of the album. Thank God for the fact that Hot Buttered Soul is on this list, that’s one I expect to enjoy substantially more. Important to note that I didn’t not enjoy this one, it just wasn’t what I was hoping it would be.

Cloud Nine

The Temptations

3/5

2/2 Temptations Albums down. Having listened to the album All Directions previously, I had extremely high expectations for Cloud Nine. I added virtually the entire album after listening to it last time. So, how does this one compare? Well, in my honest opinion… This one isn’t nearly as good, sadly. The good news is that all the singers sound amazing, especially the guy with the immensely deep voice. Love that guy especially. The bad news is that as a whole, these songs are all just barely passable, maybe slightly boring, and I didn’t love the rendition of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” nearly as much as the CCR Version, so that kind of disappointed me even more. I think what held this album back compared to the other one is the level of Funk. It was easier getting down with All Directions because every song made me want to get down and dance, but this one felt like more traditional Motown and did not make me want to get down and dance. Not a bad thing, just not as good. It was a high pedestal to but the album on admittedly, and it did not pass my expectations. All that being said, it’s a slightly above middle of the road 3. Let’s go with a 3.68/5. My favorite song on this album was the opener, “Cloud Nine”. It teased me right away with a banger of a song and then went downhill rather quickly after that. Still, now that I’m done with these guys as far as this project is concerned, I’m free to check out their entire discography, which I absolutely will. That’s a huge compliment.

Rust In Peace

Megadeth

5/5

The review that links to the Onion Article about this album may just be the greatest review on this entire website. Dave Mustaine has a unique, iconic voice, and I will absolutely accept no slandering of his vocal performance on this album. He really adds something special to it. This is EXACTLY my tempo for an album. When I want to play true Metal, this is the kind of thing I’m talking about. Same reason why Metallica is going to get a bunch of 5’s. This is one of those albums where you can just take your pick for favorites, and it might change daily. There’s so much to love between all of the songs, but god damn are the hits amazing. The riffs on this album are some of the juiciest pieces of ear candy I’ve experienced with this project so far. This is one of those albums I have actually heard 1000 times before, which always have a bit of favoritism when I’m ranking these. That being said, I love this band, so it’s easily getting a 5 from me. Favorite songs are “Holy Wars…The Punishment Due”, “Hangar 18”, “Five Magics” and “Tornado of Souls.” This album is Metal as hell, it’s extremely goofy, and most importantly it just kicks so much ass. I haven’t even mentioned the album art yet. This might make the podium for best album art with all the funny political figures rallying around Vic Rattlehead messing around with an alien and some kind of glowing artifact thing. Uranium maybe?? Don’t know. Regardless, goated album. I even have another one to look forward to at some point.

The Suburbs

Arcade Fire

3/5

“Oh, good, these guys again.” - Me, said sarcastically after rolling my second Arcade Fire album for this project. I really don’t know what it is about this band specifically, none of this is bad and the background aspects are very well done, I just find it all so pretentious, by the books, generic and boring. If someone were to play any of this, I wouldn’t object listening to it, but I would absolutely skip it 100% of the time if it was just me in the car. This is a prime example of the kind of generic indie rock that I can tolerate listening to, but do not prefer or recommend to anyone I know. They for sure aren’t the first band I’ve heard that just sound disingenuous, and they won’t be the last, but they just come off sounding kind of fake and phoned in. Damn, I’m being kind of rude to this album. It’s not as bad as I’m making it out to be, I promise. It’s fine. Passable at best, and more good then bad, but it’s very easy to critique as well for its faults, and hard to praise when every song sounds the exact same as the one before it. Not sure if I liked this or Neon Bible more. Probably the ladder, as it had 1 song I really loved. This one, not so much. I think the opener was probably the best song, “The Suburbs”.

At Newport 1960

Muddy Waters

3/5

This is one of those albums I appreciated listening to, and would not have seeked out if it wasn’t for the site. Obviously I have heard of the legendary Muddy Waters. Truly a revolutionary, and one of the best to ever do it. What I didn’t expect was to enjoy his music as much as I did. So, it’s very dated, obviously, but it is so incredibly easy to listen to that it really doesn’t matter. The repetitive nature makes it just the slightest bit less enjoyable, but I would take this any day of the week over something like Jazz. Muddy has a great voice and can play the guitar very well to boot. His charming and confident nature radiate with each song on the album. While this isn’t something I would often return to, I don’t believe this album has a single song I would skip on it. My favorite song on the album was the all time classic “I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man”. Very glad I got to spend the day with Muddy Waters. This is absolutely foundational music for so many reasons, and still holds up well today.

Time (The Revelator)

Gillian Welch

3/5

I’m learning. When I rolled a “Country, Singer Songwriter” album with a somewhat low rating this morning, I decided not to just write it off before listening to it. For that, I was rewarded with an album that more or less surprised me a ton. It was a dark, gross, and very rainy day outside today. Somehow, listening to this peaceful album with the rain pouring outside was just the vibe I needed to get through the day. The rain actually added to the experience, which was cool and unexpected. Listening to Gillian and her soothing voice made the rain feel more serene, peaceful and less chaotic, if that makes any sense. This album is a fairly mixed bag of genres and tone shifts at random points, so it also gets bonus points for feeling unique and interesting. It will shift between a soft spoken Singer Songwriter piece, more traditional Modern Country, or sometimes even some Country Rock, that last one of course being my favorite. Every song stands out from the last for both better and worse, which as I’m finding out over the course of this project, is actually pretty hard to do. The more Modern Country drawl ditty songs like “Elvis Presley Blues” don’t really do it for me, but even those I don’t straight up dislike. The opener, “Revelator”, was so good that I added it to my playlist. It’s got a killer riff at the end, and is both peaceful and also kicks ass. The song builds on itself and culminates in a song that ends up just being fantastic from start to finish. So, yeah. I’m learning. Never judge a book by its cover, go in with an open mind, and you might just end up being very surprised. Great album you have here Gillian!!

Aqualung

Jethro Tull

5/5

Jethro Tull beat out Metallica in 1989 at the Grammy’s in the category of “Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental” with the album Crest of a Knave, an album most Jethro Tull fans wouldn’t have in their Top 5. It was the first and only time the Grammy’s held that category. Did you know that?? It’s one of the funniest things to ever happen in music. Not only did it paint the awards show as a total joke (which it absolutely is), but it also confused the shit out of Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull, who are not, and have never been a Metal band. By Ian’s own words, he doesn’t even consider it Hard Rock. Now, jump to the year 2025. Jack White is finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, extraordinarily deservingly so. If the laws of nature abided, I would have that man’s babies. He thanks over 30 bands not already in the hall. Notably among them, a bunch of Prog artists, including Jethro Tull. This has all been a long winded way to say that not only is the Rock Hall committee an absolute joke as well, but Jethro Tull and his signature flautistry are absolutely iconic among bands. Ian isn't the first person to play the flute, but he's definitely one of the most notable to do so in the field of music. This album is so good from top to bottom, and it's going to surprise a lot of people with just how good it is. Every hit is incredible, and could all be considered my favorites. "Aqualung", "Cross-Eyed Mary", "Up To Me", "Hymn 43", "Locomotive Breath" and "Wind-Up" are my favorite songs on this album. Which one is my favorite favorite? Man, I can't even tell you. Even the interview at the end of the album is interesting, a cool insight on how the album was made. My all time favorite genres continue to be Prog and Grunge. High chance they're all going to get a 5, and this is for sure no exception. I wish we had more Jethro Tull albums on the list, but this is the most famous and most accessible of all of them, so I'm more than ok with this being what they went with.

Gorillaz

5/5

I’m having a generationally good run on music this week again. 2 5’s in a row is always a good omen. “Feel Good Inc.” and the Gorillaz were my first big love in music. I’ve been listening to these guys my entire life. I’ve grown up with them and seen every stage of their evolution with great interest. While I’d rather have preferred Demon Days over this if I had to pick only 1 Gorillaz album, this is still undeniably a 5 star album. Me labeling it as anything other than that would be directly antithetical to my entire being. This is the band that introduced me to Deltron and MF DOOM, 2 of my all time favorite rappers. While only the former is present on this album, he’s also responsible for what I believe are the 2 best songs on the album, “Clint Eastwood” and “Rock the House”. Both of those songs are worth the price of admission alone. That isn’t to say 2D doesn’t absolutely kill it on vocals though, he’s another absolutely iconic part of the band. They must have had so much fun on this project. Every song sounds completely distinct from the last, and they’re all absolute ear candy. When this came out, it was unavoidable. You either loved it or hated it. After that, it took on a life of its own and the rest was history. What a great first album by one of my favorite bands of all time. Bonus, I’ve never heard this version of “Clint Eastwood” before either with Ed Case, but it’s fantastic. There’s a 3rd version on the album G-Sides with Phi Life Cypher, and even that’s good. I guess they just have a million different versions of that song, and it makes sense. The song is fantastic!! They’ve even sang it live with MF DOOM himself, which was legendary as well btw. I could talk about this band all day in a positive light. Listing my favorite songs on this album would simply be me copy and pasting the entire set list. And the album art!! Gotta love the classic Gorillaz geep with the graffiti of the bands name. It even manages to capture their unique personalities as well. Love this album. Love the Gorillaz. If the book gets another update, it would be a crime not to include Demon Days or Plastic Beach. Further more, since they were frequent collaborators, this may be one of the few moments where I get to request they add MF DOOM as well.

Achtung Baby

U2

4/5

As a guy with Irish heritage, I’m surprisingly not the most familiar with U2. When I was a kid, we had a single U2 CD my parents would play in the car. Whatever record had “Elevation”, that’s the only track that stuck with me all these years later. I suppose I could easily just look that up on Spotify and see if I remember the other tracks, but I’ve never really cared to do so. It wasn’t really all that impactful of a memory, just a very old one I have. Anyway, I didn’t recognize any of the tracks on this album, hits included. I know about the reputation this album has though, and I know about the reputation Bono has nowadays. His portrayal on South Park as well as the whole forced album on Apple phones thing really fucked the band as a whole in the public eye, didn’t it?? All that being said, I guess I’m a fan of U2 now. This was nowhere even remotely close to what I remember them sounding like. This album is damn near a 5 for me. The electronic elements are stellar, as are the guitar playing and Bono’s iconic singing. I enjoyed just about every song here. The only thing keeping it from being a 5 is that, despite all the ways I enjoyed this album, I still don’t think anything stood out as truly incredible. Fantastic, yes. But not incredible. The closest song to true perfection I thought was “Even Better Than The Real Thing”. This is a really good album and it’s currently first place on the list of albums I may go back and change to a 5 if I feel like reranking a bit. I know this is considered by many to be their magnum opus, so I’m curious to see what I think of their other albums on this list. Really good first impression with this one.

The ArchAndroid

Janelle Monáe

4/5

Wow. Talk about an album that really surprised the hell out of me. I have no idea who Janelle Monáe is, but now I want to hear more of her. My first listen through and I thought it was a lot. Fast paced, sounded like an upbeat women’s haircare commercial, and insisted heavily upon itself. Kind of gave me anxiety. Wasn’t bad, just a long album that didn’t really do anything for me. On the second listen, I was absolutely hooked harder than I could possibly have imagined. Janelle is an incredible singer, and she brings a certain energy to these songs that I haven’t heard a lot of for this project. Now, this is a long album, and not every song is perfect, but god damn does it sure feel like it ends quickly, even at 1 hour and 8 minutes of runtime. Every song does a great job of blending into each other, and there is a good bit of variety in the songs. Occasionally, there’s even a killer breakdown, like on “Cold War”. The filler on this album is mostly just short intermission tracks that are still actual, real songs and not annoying skits. Picking a favorite song is actually really hard. The hit is “Tightrope”, and that’s probably the song I’m going to pick, otherwise it would take me hours to decide on what my favorite song on the album is. The feature is very good, and it’s definitely the catchiest song on the album. Man, this might literally be another contender for a 5. It’s close. The production is just insanely well done. I think by the time you hit a certain point, you kinda get the point. I don’t have many aspects to fault this one on, length included. Not only would I come back to this one, but it might fall into my usual rotation. A huge compliment for someone I’d never heard of before. It’s a very, very very very high 4 for me. I didn’t add any one specific song to my playlist, but god damn it’s all so good as a whole. This was catchy.

The Dreaming

Kate Bush

2/5

Man, this is a WEIRD album with a capital WEIRD. The first listen through was one of the most miserable experiences of my entire life. I could not wait to turn this off. This is the second Kate Bush album I’ve rolled for this project, and I gotta be honest and say she’s 0/2 on personal enjoyment. Here’s why this album is so weird. Kate has a great voice, but the ways she chooses to use it range from caterwauling like a mad woman with plenty of voice cracks left in the final product, using way too much unnecessary grumph, or as another reviewer mentioned, literally making animal noises. It’s not only off-putting, but it takes me out of the songs completely. A cardinal sin when I’m trying to get lost in the music or work with it in the background. Even the songs that I actually do like have these random interjections that I just don’t vibe with. Bad vibes on this album all around. Yet, I managed to spend the day listening to it. Have I sort of found a weird level of understanding with Kate that makes listening to this easier, or have I just lost my mind completely?? I don’t know. When it’s good, it’s a 3. When it’s bad, it’s a 1. Therefore, I think I’m going to give Kate Bush a second 2 star review, even though some of the noises she makes on this album are actually offensive to my ears. My favorite songs on this album, when she’s not being annoying, are “Leave It Open” and “Night Of The Swallow”. To my astonishment, I found something to actually enjoy with both of those songs. One more try at an average rating for Kate Bush. I don’t like her odds honestly. If anything can be said about Kate Bush, it’s that she’s unique and clearly having a lot of genuine fun here. That should at least be celebrated, even if I don’t enjoy it personally.

1984

Van Halen

4/5

Going to start off by mentioning the album art. Few are as iconic as the angel baby smoking. Permanently engrained in my mind, and always will be. I’ve got some very fond memories of playing “Hot for Teacher” on Guitar Hero. Imagine that song coming out today though. It could never happen. Probably for good reason, but as it stands it’s one of the catchiest songs on the album, and I can’t stop singing it, lol. This album is so tight. It’s over in the blink of an eye. It would be easier to tell you the tracks that I didn’t recognize on the album. Having not heard this from top to bottom before, I knew all but 2 of them. That is to say, with songs like “Jump” and “Panama”, and the lesser known, but maybe my favorite song on the album “I’ll Wait”, this is a pretty damn good collection of hair metal jams. You’re either going to love it or not. I think most people are going to love it, personally. I know this came out in the 80’s, but for some reason I was kind of surprised just how psychedelic and funky this album was. Always going to be a fan of “future noises”, especially when it’s contextually relevant to when the album came out and not just a throwback, although those can be cool as well. I was going to say that this is Van Halen at its absolute best, but holy shit their first album is also pretty good. Going to be fun trying to determine which one I like more when I roll that one. As it stands right now, I’m on the border of giving this a 3 or 4. While I enjoy most of the songs, none of them absolutely blow me away. But it’s iconic, very tight, and I knew pretty much every song going in. So I don’t know man. Damn, this one is hard to rate. I’ll be nice and let the cool album are have a place on my profile.

The La's

3/5

This was my Thanksgiving album today, so it didn’t get the love or time I usually give to the other albums. I was spending some quality time with the family. Stuffing is the best Thanksgiving food btw, fight me if you disagree. Luckily, this album doesn’t seem to be all that great or memorable. Ok voice, fine instrumentation, just another album I’m going to forget about shortly. Maybe I’ll spend more time with it and see if it hits me differently when I’m not so busy. It was fine, but at the moment I don’t really have much to say about it. Too light for my liking and I was kind of falling asleep listening to it a few times. It’s very passable. Just one of seemingly a thousand of these middle of the road English Rock albums that get progressively harder to write a unique review for. I’m well over 150 albums in now, and it’s already getting rather difficult at times to be unique for these. I don’t know if that says more about me or the rather generic, unremarkable but still passable nature of the album as a whole. It’s almost an hour long, which is a little on the long side for what it is. Plenty of filler here. Most of the songs are forgettable after a single listen and some, especially “All By Myself”, are at times a little hard to get through and outstay their welcome. This is probably a band that falls in the “Hey, remember that band??” category, noting that they only ever made this single album. A few songs were pretty good, I particularly liked “I Can’t Sleep”, and “Doledrum”. There’s just enough variation between the songs here that it’s at least not a chore to get through for the most part, but I don’t think I’ll be keeping this one in the usual rotation or returning to it any time soon. After about a minute, it just fades into background noise. Again, it’s fine for what it is. But only just fine. A 3.3/5.

So

Peter Gabriel

3/5

Before I begin this review, I want to mention that the only song I knew of Peter Gabriel going into this was “Sledgehammer”. Luckily, it happens to be on this album. This is the first of 3 Peter Gabriel albums on the list I’ve rolled, and the highest rated by the users on the site by a pretty good bit. I wonder if it’s because of the inclusion of that song. While undeniably the highlight of this album, I’m also obsessed with “Big Time” now as well. Listen, as a whole, I’m not in love with this album. It’s 9 songs, 46 minutes, which is a good length, and has 6 very light and slow songs, and 3 which are faster paced, better, and more to my personal taste and liking. The third song I really liked was “This Is The Picture (Excellent Birds)”. Undeniably, Peter Gabriel has an amazing voice I could listen to for a long time. The drummer beats the hell out of whatever he’s using. You get a lot of noticeable, heavy steel drum noises all throughout this album which are pretty awesome. If I was in to the more slow paced and pretty 6 songs, this would absolutely be a 5 star album. If those 6 songs were even remotely like the 3 I enjoyed, this would probably be a 10 star album. As it stands, I’m going to give it a 3.7/5. “Sledgehammer” happens to be my favorite music video of all time, and I recommend anyone that enjoys that song, or anyone who simply enjoys good art to go watch it!! Also humorously enough, but more off topic, Stranger Things finally just came back this week for a final season. I rolled a Kate Bush album earlier this week, and I’m ending the week with a song featuring her on this album. Anyone who has seen the show would know why that’s funny, and if I didn’t know any better I would say the owner of this website may just have a great sense of humor.

Frank

Amy Winehouse

4/5

Oh look, it’s another tragic artist that just so happened to blow me away with how good they were. Why do the most talented people have to die so early? It’s such a depressing reality of life. Admittedly, the only thing I knew about Amy Winehouse going into this album was that she died, and it was a huge story at the time. No idea how she sounded before listening to this, as I’d never really sat down and listened to an Amy Winehouse song before. When I saw the genres listed as Soul, Jazz and Rock, I really didn’t have a clue what I was going to be in for here. What a unique and catchy style of music this was. After listening to it, yeah, I can clearly hear elements of all 3. Her singing style is very reminiscent of Soul, the instruments are very Jazzy, and most of the songs on the album clearly have some Rock focus as well. That just about covers all 3. The only thing keeping this album from a 5 star rating is one of the most common issues I have with albums, the filler. It’s NEVER an issue here, but some of the songs are just here to extend the album a bit and end up being a little forgettable. Now, I ended up adding 4 songs to my playlist from this album, which was also way more than I expected. My favorites here are “Intro / Stronger Than Me”, “In My Bed”, “ What Is It About Men”, and my personal favorite, “Amy Amy Amy”. This was an album that immediately hooked me during the first listen. Holy shit her voice was on fire on this album, which also happened to be her debut. It was catchy, smooth, sexy, and easily replayable from top to bottom, filler included. This one is a solid 4.8/5. Notably, this album does not include any of her Top 10 songs on Spotify. A grand majority of them, including her Top 6 songs, are on her next album, Back To Black. That album is also on the list. If it’s as good as the listen count implies, we’re looking at a very solid chance that one gets a 5 star rating from me. I’m going to specifically refrain listening to it so whenever it gets rolled I can get excited about it popping up here. What else can I say? Amy, Amy, Amy, I’m a new fan of yours.

Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim

Frank Sinatra

3/5

Listen, I know some of these albums are going to be dated and are very much products of their time. I get it, times were different, it was a different world and all that nonsense. That being said, man, this entire album just feels kinda… well, overtly rapey. Makes it kind of hard to enjoy. Not to mention it’s just not really my thing in general, so that’s a double whammy. I have no idea how Frank Sinatra was as a person, but it’s not relevant to the album. I kind of got the impression that he was one of the most well respected artists in general, but man is he getting absolutely RAILED in these reviews. There aren’t many, but there are enough albums on the website that reading the reviews for are a substantially more fun time than listening to the actual album they’re reviewing. This is one of those times. I expected to like this album a lot more than I actually did. I mean, it’s Frank Sinatra. From what I had initially understood, he’s some kind of music royalty. And yes, again, dated, product of its time, etc etc. I’m sure this was probably absolutely groundbreaking at the time. But now, all I hear is “Please cheat on your husband” or “I’m stalking this unsuspecting woman”, or “I’m going to buy the old washing machine some jewelry. Broads love shiny things.” I don’t know. It’s pretty boring, and I didn’t manage to get through the day just listening to it. This is also not my favorite rendition of “The Girl From Ipanema”. But, a positive note, he’s got a hell of a good voice. Conflicted, if this one’s not a 3.0, it’s a 2.9. The least rapey song I enjoyed the most was probably “Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)”. In case you couldn’t tell, I wasn’t really all that much of a fan of this one. A pretty rough outing by one Frank Sinatra. That’s all folks.

Devotional Songs

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

3/5

World music is always a mixed bag. I almost guarantee I’ve already stated that during one or multiple of these reviews so far. The ratings are generally always very low, and I can generally always understand why. It’s music from a different culture that often speaks an entirely different language. Unfairly, a lot of people are immediately going to not vibe with that. I’ve had multiple of these albums at this point, including some notably of Spanish, African, French, Hindi and Indian origins. Not all of them are bangers, but to be honest, this one was pretty good. High energy, energetic vocals that aren’t overbearing, and a good usage of some very prominent traditional South Asian instruments. While thematically similar, the songs on this album all have a unique feel to them, and even if I can’t understand them, I can kind of pick up what it is they’re trying to say and appreciate it for what it is. My favorite of the bunch this time was “Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam”. Never in a million lifetimes would I have bothered seeking this album out, but thanks to the site, I was able to enjoy this today, and it surprised me with how good it was. A pretty solid 3.6/5 stars. No skips here, just a fairly consistently good blend of catchy World music. Right on.

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