Distinctive sound: Bright, hazy guitars with low & emotional vocals. Nice as a vibe for particular moods. The whole thing kind of runs together. No standout individual songs. Enjoyed listening while driving for the most part - hated the last (and unfortunately title) track.

Like the Sgt Peppers framing. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. A Day in the Life was new to me & really good.

Don’t think I’ve intentionally listened to Led Zeppelin before, certainly not a whole album at once. I truly enjoyed this and was surprised by the versatility, the range of instrumentals, and how, well, interesting it was the whole way through. Absolutely loved Since I’ve Been Loving You. Other standouts were Immigrant Song, Gallows Pole, and That’s the Way. Could have done without Hats Off to (Roy) Harper. Otherwise a really solid record I’ll probably come back to.

Really lovely, never gets old, always right for whatever the situation.

Best Beatles album

Solid, fun album - can see how it lays the groundwork for a lot of other 90s/2000s female artists. Liz Phair is a super talented songwriter; less great as a singer herself though. Enjoyed listening.

Highlights: - I Zimbra - Memories Can’t Wait - Air Animals was silly fun. Entire record was light, funky/pop/rock? Seemed like the band was having a good time and playing around with their sound which is cool. Didn’t always bring me along though.

The covers and the last song with the English intro and the chanting were gimmicky and trite, although I assume there were pretty valid commercial reasons to include (and bookend the record with) them. Metamorphosis was a five star track, with Sagar (Ocean) close behind. Overall the sound feels kind of dated, which is a little odd for fusion music. I read the Wikipedia summary which noted this was originally intended to be a collaboration with Jimi Hendrix - that made me resent the moog synthesizer that took his place more than was probably fair. Not mad I listened to this album, but I am a little surprised it made this list.

Was fine

I really enjoyed the clips of her talking at the beginning and between some songs - the whole album felt like a time capsule to 2001-2, and it was cool to hear from Missy about what she was thinking at the time she was recording & releasing it. Work It obviously is a classic for a reason but other standouts for me were Gossip Folks, Nothin Out There For Me, and Slide. Pussy at was by far the weakest track, but everything else was so good, whatever. Joyful and fun, with real depth and an artist who’s not afraid to take risks while giving it 150%. Loved listening, will play it again many times, AND I feel like I got an education on a very particular moment in hip hop history. Thanks Missy.

I did not expect to particularly enjoy this but I also didn’t expect to actively dislike it even more after listening the whole way through. Listen, I get why it’s on this list; it was and remains ubiquitous. And technically, yeah, these guys seem like good musicians - particularly the guitar work. But that almost makes it worse, because everything about this record is slick and soulless. In its best moments it’s like the opening music they do for Sunday Night Football on tv - obviously designed to get you amped up, smooth & distracting enough for you to not think at all about how it’s turning your own human emotions against you for someone else’s commercial gain. So much of American culture is this now - it infuriates me to learn that we checked in here all the way back in the 70s. I want us to leave! Having now actually listened to them sort of on purpose, I guess I also hate the fucking Eagles, man.

God Save the Queen was okay, the rest ran together, and I found a lot of it very repetitive sounding. Maybe groundbreaking or edgy when it came out? But without that history/nostalgia factor it didn’t do much for me.

Best way I can describe this is - I bet Ted Mosby listened to it a lot in college. Vocals were annoying, lyrics immature, no particular standout tracks. Not for me.

The Go-Betweens were totally new to me. Enjoyable record with a consistent pop/rock/indie vibe. Nice on like a bike ride or something.

Calming, pastoral acoustic. You can zoom all the way out to background sound or all the way in to close, close listening and quietly enjoy it everywhere on that spectrum. Homeward Bound was new to me and good.

Beautiful, human. Jazz/blues/funk/soul - really smooth, exceptional musicianship. Very political and of its time but still feels relevant today. Easy five stars. Wish it wasn’t so hard to find, but glad to have been introduced.

Solid. Some interesting, excellent moments and some not great bits where they lost me. Standout for me was Space Invaders. Did not like Stop Your Sobbing or Private Life.

Had never heard of this band before. One of the reviews quoted in the Wikipedia article said "Imagine a technically imperfect band that has the art of free-form fusion mastered,” and I think they nailed it. I liked this - fun to listen to. The instrumental tracks in the middle and the two drum solo bits made me feel like I was just hanging out with the band or at a really small show of their friends or something. Highlights were Vastopol, The Softest Hammer, and Understanding

What’s the best pop song ever written and why is it Life on Mars?

Everything about this felt off-putting, hollow and soulless. Based on other reviews this is clearly not a widely held opinion but Jack White just seems kind of shallow and juvenile to me - music, lyrics, themes, vocals, all of it. Particularly stark on this solo album.

I just had to listen to Jack White’s solo album yesterday, curse this algorithm. I know this was so popular but I just can’t, never could with this band. I didn’t get the appeal in the 2000s and if anything their sound and lyrics and vibe have gotten even more cringy with age. Not for me.