Stars to recognise the quality of his musicianship but this style of music doesn't do it for me.

More hillbilly than expected.

Soporific

Bit of a nostalgia trip for me. I recall it coming out and not long after I visited California myself. I've not listened to it since though and today I find it bland and soporific. Not sure how it made it into this list - was it that influential?

Short and sweet.

Zzzzz

That they went to art school is the least surprising fact about this band.

Critically and commercial successful in the Netherlands. What are they smoking?

Morrissey is problematic but I love the sound.

Had no expectations - pleasantly surprised. Dark, electronic, very atmospheric. The artist is one half of The Knife who made Heartbeats.

Prefer his work with Garfunkel. Julio is a highlight but quite middle of the road otherwise.

Pretty decent grunge-like sound. Need to listen to again really.

Tough one - there are too many artists that fit into the category where I like the music but not the artist (grim allegations against him). Rating based on the music. It was good, albeit a tad long.

Not my style but I liked her attitude. Definitely not background music.

One of my favourite albums. The themes still feel depressing relevant today.

Very decent electronic dance music. Some great bass lines. Suffers in this challenge from hearing it at home rather than out at the discotheque.

I don't like country music on the whole but there is something about Johnny Cash that I make an exception for. He's both serious and fun at the same time.

I know Jack White is not the most technically gifted guitarist and that the band is hardly doing anything that original, but I like the songs and the sound.

I still recall a lot of the words from the hit singles on this album over twenty years later. It's a pretty decent pop album but of its time and doesn't feel like it was much more than a commercial endeavour.

I usually like the post punk sound but I wasn't really feeling this one so much. I felt it would do well with repeat listens. The songs didn't feel distinctive enough from each other with the result that seemed like sets of noises giving way to other noises.

Listened to this a few days ago and can't recall it at all which hardly speaks volumes. New wave in style?

Great opener. Great close. Some songs in the middle don't do very much but I enjoy the overall sound.

Started strongly. You can hear their clear influence on 1990s pop punk. Around song five (Ice Cold Ice) you could also hear similarities with REM. Was going to be four stars initially but it's far too long an album. Over an hour. The album lost any sense of coherency as it went on and the energy dwindled.