Bluesy, country-influenced rock.... Flashy guitar passages..... Visions of Mick Jagger..... Much like all past Rolling Stones, this album was sadly doomed to a 2....

What the hell was that??? Straight garbage from beginning to end. The vocals are a drunken, mumbling mess, with "L.A." being a highlight in how annoying Mark E. Smith's singing can be. The backing instrumentations aren't much better - at their best they're basic and repetitive; at their worst they're competing with the vocals in being as annoying as possible (the harmonica on Couldn't Get Ahead somehow wins that one). I didn't pay attention to the lyrics, muffled and slurred as they were, but I don't think I'm missing much if Spoilt Victorian Child is anything to go by. Dogshit. Just pure, concentrated booty.

FIRST LISTEN - Vocals really didn't gel with me, and they stopped me from appreciating the instrumentals. Might have to listen again just for that. Standout tracks were LETS GO AWAY FOR A WHILE and PET SOUNDS, precisely because there were no vocals. These reminded me a lot of Masayoshi Takanaka, in that tropical summer dreamy vibe. Other than that, kinda meh for me. 2/5

Classic My least listened to album of his from that era The synths are on point on this one Liberian Girl is still a standout to me

Louis Prima somehow has a different style for each song, from a call-and-response big band track in The Lip, to some slower but still fully jazzy tracks like Body and Soul. This came out of left field as a type of music I rarely explore, but it absolutely delivered. This album is so much fun, and on top of that the musicians behind it are GOOD. Giving this 5 ⭐ because of the listening experience

Nutty guitar all the way through Wish I could dive deeper into some lyrics Petit Metier stood out in particular

The vocals constantly distract from some legitimately banger arrangements 💀 -Standouts- Venus as a Boy was genuinely pretty, reminded me of a Little Dragon song Come to Me: the instrumental really shines here. Felt almost nostalgic for some reason 2⭐ only because these two songs did make me go back a few times. The rest of the album was a hard listen tho

Good fuckin album The bassline on Josie is 🤌✨ Very strong 4⭐ - nothing life changing, just some banger music EDIT 3 days later and just about every song is on loop in my head. This is more than a banger

Listened to it while cooking and had a fun time. Once my food was done, I still had 1h30 left. At that point I tapped out, it was too much of the same. To me then this album is great in adding a classy, old-school soundtrack to life. But as front to back, critical listening deal? I couldn't even do it for the challenge. In the end though, my carne adobada came out delicious as fuck, and maybe I have Ella to thank for that.

👋 Jazz 👋 This whole album feels heavy in experimentation - no minute goes by without a total switchup in the song structure. Maybe this is the zoomer in me, or maybe it's just a style of jazz I'm not used to, but as an album experience it felt absolutely disorienting. With so many different ideas every second, though, you do end up with a lot of very cool individual moments. Standout track was Bemsha Swing

This album fucked me up. My ass is not made for noise rock. Standouts: When You Sleep, Soon

The first two tracks were okay, but had me thinking this was going to be a bit of a generic rock album. I'm so glad I was proven wrong - everything that followed was weird, psychedelic, funky and fun. Some instrumental tracks (such as Butter the Soul) had me thinking, "this would go hard with Damon Albarn vocals and a guest rapper" - well damn if Candyman didn't deliver on that exact vibe later in the album🔥🔥 Lots of different genres at play here, but all around it was an enjoyable listen

An overall cohesive and energetic listen, but not much stood out to me. Certainly a refreshing listen in this challenge. Standouts: The Day I Tried To Live, Kickstand

I really dug the instrumentals, most tracks have a lot of layers to them. Other than some fuckass lyrics here and there (the dictionary song has straight stinkers from line 1) there really is a lot to enjoy here. 2.8 ⭐

Keep the Streets Empty For Me has a cinematic atmosphere that I enjoyed. As much as I tried to appreciate the album's production, I cannot give it more than 1⭐ when I actively despised the singer's voice on every single track.

As a big fan of hiphop I was excited to finally see some representation in this list. This album was a first listen for me, but being familiar with the members' later work, it was super fascinating to hear them at this very early stage of their career - notably Dr Dre's production and Ice Cube's rapping. Unfortunately, I don't think the album has aged terribly well, and don't see myself coming back to it much. Definitely a prime choice for this list nonetheless, and I appreciate its huge influence on everything that would come after it.

Absolute banger from beginning to end. Layered, jazzy, funky, with some fresh latin flavor and a dash of psychedelic. Easy 5⭐on first listen.

I found the vocalist to be really grating on first listen, but the rest of the band sounded really fuckin great so I gave it a few more tries over the course of the day. Eventually I warmed up to the vocals and everything clicked. Today, the British won.

I see the potential in Dog Man Star. This album had a couple of outstanding tracks (highlights: We Are the Pigs, Asphalt World), however they were usually followed by one or two duds that took me out of the album.

Some good jazz tunes, the vocals have some oldie recording quality that really adds to the charm. Standouts : Blueberry Hills, Blue Monday

It was..... Okay. Decent instrumentation throughout, but nothing that stuck with me. Sounded like background bar rock. One track did stand out as pure garbage, and it was ironically not "Trash" but rather "Frankenstein" with horrendous vocals that go on for 6 minutes??? Not all of the album is like that, but it IS just about the only thing I can recall about the album by the end of my listen. Actually, no, "-Ah, how you call your loverboy? -TRASH" did stand out as a great line. Perhaps I was too harsh.

From the moment I saw the album cover I knew this would be a fun one, and it did not disappoint. Every song has a different mood, the slower moments feel classy, and they always pick right back up with some type of fun and energetic (dare I say 💥 explosive) swing. This is some of the best jazz we've had on the list. Bravo Mr Basie 👏

Nothing clicked for me on this album. The very last track had some interesting drumming, but that's about it.

I have many memories with RHCP, and always enjoyed their bigger hits but never really bothered to sit down with their albums. This record has an insanely good run from tracks 1-8, and proceeds to shit the bed for the rest of its runtime. I'm fairly used to the band's questionable lyricism, and yet I Like Dirt still stood out as particularly awful writing. The last song, Road Trippin', is at least a real breath of fresh air to close the album, genuinely good song. Overall this is a bad album with some absolute banger tracks. Even the bad songs have some great instrumentations that are soured by Anthony Kiedis' weird-ass singing/rapping.

Now I'm a sucker for soul and disco, so I was very easy to please with this album. Some of the sounds are pretty dated by today's standards, and from a critical listening standpoint, a lot of the songs overstayed their welcome by 1-2 minutes. None of this stopped me from 🕺 BOOGYING 🕺 though. The 6-minute pan flute track hit me by pure surprise, and was ironically one of the few songs that never got old/repetitive - banger the whole way through. Highlights: Holdin' On, Feeling Free, African Dance

Ehhhhh *muffled guitar noises (Live)*

A lot of rock with country influence which I personally am not a fan of, but I wouldn't totally discredit it just for that. I at least appreciated the variety here, with every track trying something a bit different.

On first listen, this was pretty horrible. The music is messy and the singing sounds like rambling. It was once I read up on the album's context that I saw it in a new light. A close friend of mine was once admitted under very similar circumstances to Spence's. He's better now, but visiting him on those days he was unlike himself in ways that I see reflected here, on tracks like Weighted Down, Broken Heart, and Grey/Afro. Isolation, confusion and spirituality are prevalent throughout. Of course, I can't possibly claim to truly know what they were going through. I did however end up approaching and reflecting upon the album in a way I didn't expect.

Going in blind for this one was a bad idea. I did two first listens without looking up lyrics and was very confused, as this is a VERY narrative-focused concept album. This took me by surprise since my only true experience with Pink Floyd beforehand was Wish You Were Here, a much more straightforward, instrument-forward album. I could tell I was missing something though, so I sat down and did a full dedicated third listen with lyrics and a cold one in hand--- All I can say is DAMN. What a hard-hitting cinematic experience. The Trial + Outside The Wall was an incredibly cathartic ending (somehow even when I didn't understand the lyrics!). To truly give it a 5 I'd have to warm up to some of the songs a bit. Especially during the middle I felt that the pacing was a bit slow, though it did make for a great buildup to bigger moments like Comfortably Numb. 4.5⭐️ EDIT - 3 days after this review, The Wall has remained on constant loop in my head. The depth of this album is unbelievable. Now being familiar with the songs, the production and details stand out a lot more. Absolute cinema - 5 star experience

Another bit of a miss from the Rolling Stones, for me personally. At least it had some interesting moments like Can't You Hear Me Knocking and Moonlight Mile!

FUNKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK ( 益 )

The first half of the album was forgettable. Every review was revering the final track, the 17-minute legend, the one and only title track, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. ....Shit, I think everyone gets misled by the runtime into thinking it's a masterpiece. I waited the entire duration for something interesting to happen and it just *never came*. It's all a series of instrumental noodling sections - if you were to separate each section into its own track, nobody would talk about this. It's just not that good I'll give it its props - Termination and Are You Happy were very decent, and the bass guitar throughout the album was pretty fucking great! With that said, maybe it's my fault for getting baited by the reviews, but my disappointment is unmeasurable. This is not an album I'd come back to either way, so for that reason I exercise my right to be a hater 😭

Pretty good music! Some of the earlier tracks were a bit on the weirder side, but the album really picked up after Tick. I especially enjoyed the singer's voice, I'd be interested in exploring some of their other material in the future. Standouts: Black Tongue, Maps, Y Control

Against all odds, the Stones have rolled in for a third time this week, and I am once again underwhelmed. 3 tracks out of the first 4 were pretty decent, but everything that followed was ehhhh. Special mention to the bad trip that is Gone Home: the 11 minute experience of Mick Jagger grunting. Even if I were to rate this by the US version, which has Paint It Black (🔥) and an all-around tighter tracklist, this is once again a miss from the Rolling Stones.

With such an iconic opening track, I felt a bit let down that the sound never built up or shifted in any surprising way. Instead, it’s *ei o let's go* on repeat, and nothing particularly revealing or adventurous past that. Still, it's certainly impressive how consistently fun this album is all the way through.

Very talented band, but the vocalist got on my nerves by the end of the album with constant voice cracks and angsty delivery Standout: The Hives Are Law, You Are Crime

First Hendrix experience here. As daunting as the runtime was, this album offers so many bangers that I can't quite complain. Phenomenal guitar playing all around that makes you wonder if this is even from the 60s - by this point in the challenge I thought that era was all roots and blues. No wonder this guy's a legend!

Once again an album where the vocalist gets massively carried by a phenomenal band. At times the singing sounds like bad karaoke underneath layers of reverb. This put me off enough that I can't *quiiiiite* justify a 3. Solid project otherwise!

Talking Timbuktu was very refreshing at this point in the challenge. Laid back and full of warmth, it had me in a good mood with just its first few songs. Although some of the middle tracks felt a bit drawn out on first listen, the overall vibe was strong enough to briefly make me consider a 5⭐️. Definitely one I will keep in the rotation and could see growing on me with time.

It's funny, the beats here are heat, the flow is acrobatic, and anytime I checked the lyrics I was impressed by Jeru's skill with the pen. And yet, I feel like it somehow fails to stand out much compared to other similar albums from this era. As technically impressive as it is, I don't see myself coming back to it much, though it is some good fuckin boombap.

This is some jazz that anybody, from the turbonormies to the jazzheads, can enjoy 🔥 Bravo Mr Davis

A couple of times I thought to myself, "perhaps this is the album that gets me to enjoy the folk genre". Songs like Over the Hill were very enjoyable, and mixed with some more jazzy elements on other tracks consistently kept it fresh. Ultimately I'm not quite there yet with the genre, but this was one of the better examples of it I've had. Not a bad listen!

I was expecting something groovier and more latin influenced from the band that brought us Low Rider. Heartbroken to say that this fell flat for me.

Hella funky, hella groovy, tons of variety from song to song. I don't quite see this one making it into my rotation, but for the purpose of the challenge it was a banger. Standouts: Rockafeller Stank • Gangster Trippin

What surprised me here was the production, which absolutely SHINED and complemented Madonna's voice beautifully. Lots of musical details - like the little guitar riffs all throughout Skin - make this a very fun and textured album that will be great to revisit. Standouts: Skin • Nothing Really Matters • To Have and Not to Hold

One must not be fooled by the name "Cowboy Junkies"; this defied my expectations of what country music could be. It's slow but never boring, with beautiful instrumental work and a very pleasant singing voice. Super chill 52 minutes. Standouts: Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis) • Dreaming My Dreams With You

This one wasn't really my thing. The slower songs to take up most of the album, and I felt they didn't do anything very interesting in that time. At least when the pace does pick up, on songs like You Can't Have Me and Till The End Of The Day, it does get pretty good.

Excellent basslines and synths. They are really good at setting an ambience! The run from Fascination Street to Disintegration was absolute 🔥 on my first listen. Somehow that enjoyment dwindled past that first experience though, and that same run of 5-9min tracks was feeling a tiny bit stretched out by the end of my second/third listen. I respect the talent so much, but I don't think it quite makes it into my rotation!

Short and sweet listen. Bangin instrumentals. I can see how the singer's voice could be polarizing, but it never took me out of the songs too much. Standouts: Oh, Me • I'm A Mindless Idiot

The concept behind this album is pretty interesting for its time, I'll give it that. I liked some of the humour and lyricism here and there. Musically, I don't think I enjoyed a single song. The commercial jingles were the high points on here, ironically enough. I suppose it's an era of Rock that continues to elude me. 1.5/5

The arrangements here are so so so gorgeous. "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!" was so beautiful on first listen that I had to take some time to process it. And then once more after "Chicago". The storytelling is another of Sufjan's strengths, though it does take some digging on Genius to fully understand it. Still, it made Casimir Pulaski Day one of my favorite songs here. With such high highs, what does end up bringing the album down a bit is its 74min runtime. It feels harsh to say because the Illinois concept is genuinely so fun and unique, and every track an important contribution to that.... it just ends up diluting itself a bit by the end.

A 1986 album that mostly sounds 20 years older than its contemporaries. Elvis puts a "modern" twist here and there, but when it's riffing off the worst era of rock music to begin with, it's just not very appealing.

"En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style!" RZA's production is a fucking treat - dark, grimy beats that get your head bopping, as it should be for this sort of rap. And the use of martial arts movie samples? Absolute peak 🔥 This is, however, a Method Man joint, and good production only gets him so far. His energy and delivery are great, but his flow and rhymes are nothing mind-blowing or deep.

This gave me occasional flashes of The Cure, but poppier. It's a bit weird that a 2005 album sounds 15 years older than it is, but it's pretty alright.

First Bowie experience. He has an uniquely theatrical vocal style. The accompanying instrumentals are very layered, very fun. Dirty Boys has a sax and guitar combo that goes pretty hard. It would probably take more than a few listens to really get this album. Nothing has me immediately coming back to it, though I doubt that an album this late in his career is an appropriate entry point for a first time listener. Still some solid music tho

Bowie does two sides really well: the all gas no brakes first half, and the slower, provocative, soundscapey second half. There is no transition between the two. What context calls for an album sequenced like this? .....I don't have an answer. I'll instead choose to see it as two very different but delicious cakes, and in that sense this is an excellent music experience. Highlights: Sound and Vision, Subterraneans

PRIMAL, ENERGETIC, MENACING, NOISY, MATHEMATIC. MUSIC TO RAM THROUGH A FUCKING BRICK WALL 👹🐂 Standouts: Luau, New Intro, Sinews

Pretty good grungy textures and atmosphere all through the album, contrasted with Shirley Manson's absolutely beautiful voice. I think my one gripe is that at a certain point, all of the tracks start to feel the same. They're all technically good, but even the standouts don't have very memorable moments. Solid experience nonetheless! Standouts: A Stroke Of Luck • Fix Me Now

Now, I considered myself a Certified ’60s Hater, having had a rough time with other classic albums from that era (Pet Sounds, My Generation, etc.). Somehow, The Everly Brothers totally sidestep that hate and deliver something genuinely fun. In concept it's laughably basic - all of it's just kind of dated songs about love and girls - but it manages to be really charming in its simplicity. By the end of the record I was ready to go out and buy my girl some flowers. Very unexpected 4 from me, in a rare W for the 60s. Standouts: It's Always You • Donna Donna

Lots of weirdness but none of it sounds very good. It's so dramatic and flamboyant it makes me want to set myself on fire

Pet Sounds was my very first album on this challenge, and my feelings toward Smile are much the same - I love the production, but the cotton-candy sweetness of their singing wears thin real fast. It feels really silly to dislike something so cheerful and whimsy in sound, especially given the sheer ambition on display. It's all the more a shame to not fully enjoy the project in light of Brian Wilson's passing yesterday. Try as I might, though, I just can't seem to vibe with the music. Standout: Heroes & Villains

Fat fucking riffs Standouts: The Straightener • Changes • Snowblind • Laguna Sunrise

Sort of bland... I somehow expected this to be a quirky '90s alt-teen experience. Instead the whole thing just kind of came and went. Standout: Hannah & Gabi

Did Bitte Orca NEED to be on the list? Questionable... I didn't fall in love with the album, but it's a unique, quirky experience and a welcome breath of fresh air through the usual early rock stuff on here. I put this on the speaker, and looking past the sometimes overbearing vocalizations, it was a decently fun vibe. Standout: Useful Chamber

What can I say, this is one of the R&B GOATs. The songs are ear candy, with some incredibly evocative storytelling if you care to dig deeper. And I just have to mention my love for the ending track, the sound design just puts you straight into that scene, and there's something about it that makes it a comforting, if bittersweet, end to the album. I remember it taking me a while to get into his music, so had this been my first listen, it might have been rated lower. By now though, I have had many years and memories with it, and it deserves nothing but the fattest of 5s. Standouts: Sierra Leone, Sweet Life, Pyramids, Lost

I want to say I liked this, but at the same time almost nothing stuck with me. A lot of it sounded like a other stuff I've heard before. Maybe that's a testament to its influence? I don't know. It was fine. Standout: If I Can't Change Your Mind

You can never know what to expect on a foreign album with a language barrier, but the vibes completely won on Lam Toro. These guys know rhythm!! I also noticed some remarkably clean production, and I highly recommend listening to Sy Sawande with headphones on - it's a simple track, but the way the guitars were recorded is ear candy. Had a lot of fun with this one! Standouts: Hamady Boiro • Daniibe • Sy Sawande • Ndelorel • Minuit

Neil Young was sadly not the vibe today. Now, the instrumentations and atmosphere were actually pretty great! I just don't think they were unique enough to warrant tolerating Young's singing style, which felt more like rambling than anything else. For The Turnstiles was an especially rough listen. I'm sure I could eventually warm up to this album and enjoy it, because it certainly had some cool stuff going on. Maybe a future Neil Young project will win me over, who knows. Standout: On The Beach

These German dudes were fucking around with synths in 1977 and truly ended up in the future - a lot of this sounds like electronic music from much later that I enjoy now. Now that's cool and all, but the listening experience here is just ok. I didn't totally vibe with the robot voice.

The energy was on point from track 1, but it was only until No One Has that I really started ROCKIN. There's some very good stuff on here, but there's also a lot of ehhh which holds it back from a 4. Standouts: No One Has, If I Think, In 'n' Out Of Grace

This album is fun as hell. It's super goofy - there's a 4min track of yo mama jokes; at one point they smoke a blunt with a 4yo kid - but the beats are good and they're all rapping their ass off. Just don't mind the dated lyrics here and there.

Van Halen cooks some absolute guitar riff wizardry here. If Electric Ladyland hadn't come up earlier on the list, this is what I would have imagined Hendrix to sound like. I debated giving this a 5, but I'm not sure how well it's gonna stick with me long-term. I'm 3 listens in, and I can only really recall You Really Got Me. That said, I do know what to put on when I want to hear some sick riffs in the future. Standouts: You Really Got Me • Jamie's Crying • On Fire

The first listen was very fun. Zuton Fever is an instant earworm and sets up the vibe of the album pretty well - a kind of wacky vibe that's also present in the cover art. I liked that every song feels very different from one another, while staying coherent with the sound of the band. Unfortunately a lot of the weirdness and wackiness that was fun and interesting the first time around, got real old on further listens. I found myself skipping a lot. It's a tough one to review then, because I truly enjoyed it a lot at the beginning. Standouts: Zuton Fever • Havana Gang Brawl • Not A Lot To Do

What the hell was that??? Straight garbage from beginning to end. The vocals are a drunken, mumbling mess, with "L.A." being a highlight in how annoying Mark E. Smith's singing can be. The backing instrumentations aren't much better - at their best they're basic and repetitive; at their worst they're competing with the vocals in being as annoying as possible (the harmonica on Couldn't Get Ahead somehow wins that one). I didn't pay attention to the lyrics, muffled and slurred as they were, but I don't think I'm missing much if Spoilt Victorian Child is anything to go by. Dogshit. Just pure, concentrated booty.

There's a bit of everything on this album, lots of different moods and genres. It's clear the band was having a hell of a time, so even though I didn't love all of it, the vibes were consistently good. Fun listen! Standouts: Do Nothing, Holiday Fortnight

What a freaking journey, man. This album takes you through so many moods, at times switching them up all rapid-fire like, but with a real sense of narrative behind it all. I could not tell you exactly what the intended story about - all I know is it's a ballet with a black saint and a sinner lady somewhere in there - but the emotional beats, the musical callbacks, the cathartic fuckin ending, they're all pretty evocative even without any lyrics. Hell, I'd consider the Spanish guitar as its own character the way its appearance (and later reappearance) had me hyped the fuck out. Incredible stuff that goes beyond just jazz here. Love the way everything comes together. It'll need a few more listens to fully digest, especially the more cacophonic parts, but I feel good about a 5 given the peaks it had on these first two listens

Oof. I think my appreciation for Kraftwerk starts and ends with admiring their role in early electronic music. Some of the sounds here reminded me of classic video game soundtracks, which is pretty cool. But man, the actual listening experience is *rough* by today’s standards. Most tracks feel like 90-second ideas stretched way past their welcome. Their robot voice I didn’t love on The Man-Machine is back, and I still don't care for it much. It was only until Frank Schubert that I really started vibing… and of course, that’s right about when the album ends. Overall, it's far from being bad, but I didn't care much for it. Much respect for their appreciation of public transport though 🚆 Standouts: Frank Schubert • Endless Endless

I'm a very visual guy. Metal albums tend to put me off because of their cover art looking like dick. Ironically, I do usually enjoy the genre a lot, so I'm aware that this dumb prejudice has kept me from experiencing many great albums. I'm glad, then, that Iron Maiden popped up on this challenge, because I know I never would've checked them out with this ugly-ass ghoul thing on the cover. And I would have missed out on some sick fuckin shredding and nonstop bangers. The songwriting caught me off-guard with how melodic it gets at times. Goooood stuff. Standouts: Prowler • Phantom Of The Opera

Great variety of beats, with the bass and drum selections being a frequent highlight across the album. The low end on Changeling had my apartment shaking, it's so fire. Overall it's an album that I'm sure to revisit for the vibe. Standouts: Changeling • What Does Your Soul Look Like, Pt. 4 • Napalm Brain / Scatter Brain

This has to be among the most interesting '60s rock albums we've had yet. There's a lot of experimentation and effects that sound ahead of their time, like the reversed guitars on Thoughts and Words. It's still a 60s rock album though, so 3 is the best I can do. Shoutout to Glorp on track 3. Standouts: Thoughts and Words • Time Between

Bluesy, country-influenced rock.... Flashy guitar passages..... Visions of Mick Jagger..... Much like all past Rolling Stones, this album was sadly doomed to a 2....

The falsetto voice suuuuuucks, and the lyrics aren’t helping. Right from the opener, you’ve got bad lines like “disowned us daddies like the poopers of the party,” delivered with an off-putting cadence that plagues a lot of the album. Thankfully, tracks 8-10 save this from being a total disaster. This Is Our Lot actually cooks, and the transition from Underbelly into Empty Nest was genuinely a cool moment. Standout: This Is Our Lot

None of these songs were in lilo & stitch 🤔