Fantastic album I never would have tracked down. The Girl From Ipamena is well known, but I had never heard the version with Portuguese lyrics and a male voice. The rest of the album was a fantastic showing of classic bossa nova / jazz music, things I never really explored beyond the somewhat related jazz / swing / ska of the 90s.

I missed the 90s era of hip hop, was fully into metal and grunge/post-punk back then. I can hear why this group hit the levels they did, but at the same time I can understand why this album in particular did not perform as well as some of their later releases. There is a great amount of repetition, and some of the hooks and loops are so short that the ear is begging for some resolution that never comes. Can I Kick It? is one track I remember hearing during its heyday, and listening to it again all I can think is how I wish the loop would resolve into something more developed than a re-loop. Good stuff and an absolutely fantastic sample of the Golden Age of Hip Hop. More complicated than much of the rap that came earlier, but not nearly as angry (while still needing a number of listens to appreciate) as the also-emerging gangsta rap. I am a little sad I missed out on this when it was new, it seems perfect for the time in the same way that Nirvana was - This release was integral to the sound of the time, but as a release did not have nearly the impact later releases did, much like Bleach vs Nevermind. Does anyone else here Sheryl Crow's 'All I Wanna Do' in a number of the breaks?

Nice treat.

The Doors are tough for me. On the one hand, the stuff I really like I *really* like. On the other hand, I don't like most of their stuff. Morrison's voice gets nasally and whiny, and while the instruments behind him are great he distracts from their quality. It's no wonder he died at 27, and everything that lead up to that shows through in his voice.

To be honest, this one was a struggle. It took me most of the day to make it through, and it wasn't the best experience. Individually, the songs ranged from fine to good. Dissonance can be a useful story telling tool in music, but their reliance on it throughout their tracks is too much. I wonder if maybe live it wouldn't be quite as painful for my ears, if maybe the production value (which seemed fairly high) on the album ended up making the dissonance far worse to sit through.

It was okay, but not my cup of tea. It was interesting to note that The B-52's were just as 'out there' from their 1st album as they were later in their career, but that same 'out there' aspect takes me out of the music and into wondering what they were on when they wrote and recorded it.

I found it quite boring. I think, in context, it was likely a fantastic work at the time of release and had an impact. The radio/MTV song on there appears to have been one of the first crossover tracks, and the album itself appears to have been a record maker - but frankly I found the beats boring, the rap basic (though rhymes were good), and overall that the album doesn't stand up against their later releases. It is an album I wish I could go back and listen to *in context*, but sadly without that context it is mediocre to me.

This - was - amazing. I don't typically listen to rap/hip-hop, but oh my goodness that might need to change. I have been exposed to more through this site than I ever would have on my own, and aside from one mediocre (to me, and likely just because it's out of context to its release date) experience and one album skipped because an insane Nazi was the recording artist (Ye know the one), they have all been spectacular. This release showed the different styles of the guys in OutKast, without excluding the other's influence from shining through. The melding of the lyrical artist with the producing artist combined with the distinct styles of rap and genre bending - chef's kiss. I am currently listening to the rest of their catalog because I was so blown away by this release. I kind of feel bad about how much I discounted them due to Hey Ya! being so overplayed when released - but it felt 'right' where it was in the pack of tracks on display here.

Enjoyable, but not really my type of music. The variety on the release kept anything from being stale, seems to be a nice cross-section of sounds from the time.

I had to quit at the 4th track. Started out kind of promising, similar to the Tron Legacy soundtrack by Daft Punk. 4th track went back towards DP's earlier work, where the good stuff was punched in the face over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over (ad nauseum) with noise by people pretending their stuff doesn't sound like shit. And then people lapped that shit up like the good little dogs they are.

Good god I cannot stand country and their bullshit baby whiny fucking voices.

Not the best of McCartney, not sure that being just post-Beatles justifies how short and non-technical the songs are. Considering his impact as a member of The Beatles, I frankly expected quite a bit more adventure on these tracks, something more like Peter Gabriel post-Genesis. Instead it comes out as someone figuring they don't need to bother, it'll be successful no matter what - and it was.

Oh so good - there's a reason it was one of, if not the, highest performing release of their too short career. Everything is effortlessly tight and connected. Led Zeppelin always had a knack for making extreme complexity feel like a group of stoned out friends jamming in their garage, and I can't think of another album from them that proves it as clearly as this one.

As I go through all these albums, many of which I've never heard or just heard a few tracks from, I am learning that my tastes have drastically changed from when I was younger. Tom Waits was always, in my mind, a country singer - not entirely sure why because I checked out some more of his stuff after listening to this and it hardly seems fair to chuck him into any genre bin at all. I enjoyed the album. It's not something I'll go back to on a regular basis, but it definitely got put on my 'listen to something outside of my normal' playlist. Normally the lack of a coherent 'style' across the album would throw me off enjoying it, but his talent for altering his vocals to fit the playing style on display kept me from even noticing the overly broad (not in a bad way) range of music.

It was just okay. I can't really knock it, it was Madonna and definitely one of her stronger showings. Problem, for me, is that Madonna seems to get a great sound stuck in her head and not really know what to do with it, so she just loops it over and over. Being as this is a pretty electronica album, that repetition kind of turns into noise, though not really in a bad way. It's just that the album is the kind of music to play in a store - non offensive to the ears, but also incapable of distracting people from shopping - just background noise (though not quite elevator music).

I vaguely remember this when it came out, but definitely slipped by me. It's kind of odd, some of the music is pretty heavily influenced by country/western, but since her voice doesn't get into the whiny/nasally range of most of that, it worked well. Makes me understand I don't dislike country as a style of music, I just dislike the whiny noises the people that 'sing' it create.

While I can appreciate the concept behind it, this thing was not nearly as enjoyable as it could have been due to the content. Have to give props for basically kick starting a genre, but not the first artist I'll probably never listen to (on purpose) again due to some of the subject matter. It's a good 'struggling getting older and dealing with it all' album, but I can't listen to it with my son around.

The Boss

what is this trash, why doesn't he sing?

Better than ever before since the jackass in chief is in a pissing war so he can bathe his face in yellow pee.

I never got into shoegaze barring one band (Silversun Pickups - one of a handful of 'buy unheard' groups left for me), but this release makes it more compelling than when it had its heyday. While I can appreciate it for what came after, though, I felt it relied on the aethereal voice modulation aspect more than on any actual song lyrics. Sure they're there but lyrically they seemed to focus on one type of vocal over the other, whereas Silversun Pickups has the lead lyrics and the aethereal vocals happening at the same time. That said, I put more of their discography on after I finished this album and there is quite a lot to like in there, and I feel secure in saying that one of my favorite bands wouldn't exist if they hadn't paved the way, so a 5-star from me.