I don't love this kind of whiny, tremulous vocal style - it's objectively quite similar to things like Bright Eyes that I loved when I was younger but nowadays I find it a bit overly fey and annoying. The music is good, very competently composed, but feels like it's designed in a lab to be uplifting and appear on tv adverts. It doesn't feel very organic or interesting. But I don't tend to like indie songs that have multiple guitar parts all strumming a single note over and over like that. Track 2 (Neighbourhood #2 (Laika)) is a bit more interesting and punky. But of course I don't generally like shouty punk either. The guitars just sound very thin. A lot of small lines of colour on a blank background. A general issue I have with this genre is there's no standout "bit" in the song that it builds to and you get a sense of intense joy and satisfaction from when it finally happens. Like the really brilliant guitar or vocal part or lyric towards the end of the song. It's just stuff happening all the way through and then it's over. So I just fundamentally prefer the structure of, for example, rock or blues songs. Track 3 (Une Annee Sans Lumiere) is very dull to me. I'm not sure why I would be interested in this bland vocal or guitar picking. Although having said that the fast bit at the end is more interesting. Track 4 (Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)) is just nothing to me I'm afraid. Apparently it's one of their singles. I don't know how they choose a single as nothing stands out. Track 7 (Wake Up) is more interesting - like the aaah aaaah aaah chorus. Rhythm guitar is slightly more interesting, with some chords appearing. Still hate the guitar tone. According to A this was one of their big singles. This one did have my foot tapping a bit. And some almost cool lead guitar licks. Like the change of pace at the end of the song. Feels very white and very early 2000s. Which it is, so fair enough. I don't like the vocals, guitar sound, instrumental sound in general or the structure of the songs. I would never choose to listen to this again and don't think it will grow on me with repeated listens. Although having said that it does pick up towards the end of the album. Wake Up and Haiti are better (I like the switch to the female vocalist and the bass line in Haiti). Rebellion is decent too in that generic uplifting 2000s indie way. In the Backseat (the last song) was pretty good and vocal was a bit Bjorky, which is cool. Like the strings. The back half of the album bumps it up to a weak 3 stars overall. I assume everything on this list is going to be competently made so I will rate based on subjective enjoyment and likelihood I would ever listen again. I'm just not sure I like indie much.

Great vocals, great guitar. An incredible debut album from a new line up, that feels fully formed and hasn't dated all that much in the last 30+ years. They had their own sound from the start, that blended a whole lot of influences and was obviously very influential in turn. One of the reasons I've shied away from Pearl Jam in the past is that there were so many "Vedder-style vocalists" in 90s music and I developed an aversion to that whole subgenre of vocal style. But this was the original Vedder-style vocal, and so well-executed. The rest of the album doesn't quite live up to Alive for me (I have simple tastes), but what a song Alive is. That transition from the "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" to the solo is top tier. And what a solo. And the rest of the song. Just brilliant. The second solo is possibly even better. I'm not surprised they let it go on for half the song. Imagine being there in 1991 and hearing this album, alongside all the other incredible new music coming out at that time. I don't usually listen to songs like Porch or Garden when I listen to Pearl Jam, but they are also very, very good. McCready's guitar is such a standout throughout the entire album. So raw and beautiful. The whole thing is grunge, obviously, but so melodic and pleasing to listen to in a way that a lot of other grunge wasn't.

Oh man, I wasn't that excited to see this pop up today. I'd just had Pearl Jam, Ten generated yesterday and reflected on how much I actually preferred Pearl Jam to Nirvana. It's just difficult to have a clear view of Nirvana as a musical prospect as they are SO famous and I know their songs so well. Cobain certainly had a knack for writing catchy vocal melodies and memorable lyrics. Nirvana must have had the highest clear hits to album tracks ratio of any of the grunge bands, and even though this is mostly B sides and covers you can hear why. It is so easy to hum the melody to most of their own songs here, I could probably have done it without just having re-listened through it. Their sound just isn't as interesting to me as most of their peers. It's a very stripped back and basic sound, really, more obviously punk influenced than some of the more "interesting" grunge, even stuff like Pixies. So I suppose the mostly acoustic set works well because it lets the vocals, the catchy hooks and the excellent construction of the songs really shine through. The choice to include so many covers, and some interesting instruments, also made this a much more interesting unplugged set than it might otherwise have been. And they are all very well-executed covers. I don't tend to love live performances but Nirvana were a brilliant live band. Cobain's vocals were so distinctive, technically competent and beautiful to listen to. Novoselic was a of course a great bassist. Of course Grohl was acknowledged to be a pretty competent drummer too. All the parts work together seamlessly here. No surprises today, just a procession of well written pop songs.

Background music in the bar at a local arthouse cinema (not a criticism). It works really well as "vibe" music. I really like the overall sound and instrumentation. But I wouldn't sit down to listen to this because I was desperate to hear any particular song (Sabotage aside). It's interesting listening through this randomly generated list as I haven't listened to Beastie Boys albums closely before and am jumping in a bit in the middle of their career with this. This seems like a more mature sound than their earlier stuff but it's hard to say without having much context.

Not a great dude, it seems, but which musicians were in this era? I enjoyed it. I don't know enough about soul to really rate it or know how influential it was, but I like the fusion of soul, funk and blues here and it's all very well performed and produced. No especially catchy or memorable individual songs for me.

Dusty's voice was generally lovely, no question, although it also sounded shrill to me at times on this album, which started to annoy me. That's probably just a stylistic choice I don't personally like, though. Overall this wasn't my thing. Too many mawkish ballads. Dusty's hits - Son of a Preacher Man, Spooky, Windmills - were great songs that I always enjoy listening to. An entire album, less so.

I like orchestral pop that's a bit experimental and get the impression there's a lot of depth to the lyrics here. I wished it was a bit more experimental, overall, but Paris 1919 is a fantastic song and most of the rest were interesting and enjoyable too.

Not as bad as I expected - I had the idea I disliked this band. This was pleasant sounding stuff, just nothing that interesting either. I still have a song from the album before this in my head but that won't happen with these songs as I forgot them all immediately after listening. Still, they were nice, chill songs.

Lovely album. Everything sounds so pleasing - the tones of the instruments, the vocals. Nothing is discordant but nothing is boring or predictable either. It's not my usual genre but I can't imagine enjoying low key electronicy jazz-influenced pop more than this.

Difficult for anyone who lived through the 90s in the UK to be objective and this. It hasn't aged that well and doesn't have most of the hits. The overall sound isn't great and the whiny Gallagher vocal is like nails on a chalkboard, mostly. Other Britpop has aged better.

Wow, this started on such a high, not at all what I was expecting. The rest of the album doesn't live up to the opener and I found some songs quite annoying (the Jamaican one) but still, a good listen.

Probably as much as I could like an ambient album.

Feels like a greatest hits album when it isn't, there are so many classic songs on here. The mix isn't great and some songs didn't work for me - the vocals on Perfect sound pretty out of tune at points - but not enough to lose points.

I have a few problems with Jimmy Page. Having a child as a girlfriend might have been overlooked in the 70s but it leaves a weird taste in the mouth now when listening to his music. He looks exactly like Geert Wilders, which isn't anyone's fault, but is a bit disconcerting. I also don't love him as a guitarist or producer. I know that he was very talented, and in the context of the time was doing great things, but Zeppelin's sound is small, tinny and underwhelming to me, and a lot of Page's guitar work just sounds sloppy. Hendrix, Deep Purple etc predate this and managed to have none of these problems, so it isn't a technological limitation. And so this album. As with all of their music, I feel it would have sounded vastly better if it were recorded a decade or two later, with a fuller, more epic rock sound. I much prefer the Kennedy Center live version of Stairway for this reason. It sounds like what the song should have been. There are obviously classic songs on here. Stairway, naturally, is one of the best rock songs of all time, even if it was plagiarised to some extent. Levee is brilliant, Black Dog is brilliant. I appreciate the Tolkien nerdery. I don't understand why this is seen as one of the best albums of all time, though. There's a fair amount of folky filler on here too, that is less effectively integrated into the overall than it was in Led Zeppelin 3. I don't hate it, I just also don't get the hype. Yes, it's bluesy, folky rock, and that's good stuff. Zeppelin's sound just doesn't do that much for me, ultimately, and their album tracks can verge into annoying territory, if anything.

I can't give more than two stars to an album that has so many cynical, middle of the road radio ballads on it. Not from somebody with the talent and potential to make good music. Two stars for general competence and the semi-decent stuff songs like Only The Good Die Young.

I'm with Dionne Warwick about the misogyny in 90s rap lyrics. And Snoop to this day doesn't seem particularly apologetic about it. Still, the sound of this album is impeccable. Three stars. Could've been five without all the "bitches" and objectification.

Lots of really interesting things going on. Lots of boring sections and annoyingly dirgey vocals. A curate's egg for me. It warrants repeat listens, I appreciate that about Radiohead.

Some catchy songs but feels so cynical and that cover of American Pie is a travesty.

An easy five stars today

I don't know whether I'm supposed to be listening to the US or UK album here. Paint it Black obviously elevates this but I do like some of the more straight bluesy numbers like Doncha Bother Me. Under My Thumb is pretty gross. Overall it's quite samey, especially the UK version.