I’m not exaggerating. This might be the worst album I’ve ever heard. I never want to experience it again. And I will never watch the movie. I actually think all copies of it should be burned. And the google data centre floating in the middle of the ocean that holds the digital version of this abomination should be allowed to sink to the bottom of the sea as a mercy killing. I can't fucking believe this album is on the list of 1001 albums you need to listen to before you die. The only possible reason I can think of is that it’s the last album in the book and it’s accompanied by the following disclaimer: Save this album for the day of your demise. Once you have finished listening, you will no longer fear death. In comparison to the 74 minutes of Tommy (AKA the 7 circles of hell), death will be a breeze. You will look forward to it, because it will mean no longer living on the same plain of existence as this abhorrent piece of “music.” You’re welcome. It goes without saying that this is a strong 0 out 5 for me. I don’t think this system allows you to give a 0. I believe a 1 is the lowest you can give, which is total bullshit. Before this album, if someone asked me if I was a fan of The Who, I’d have said “sure, I like the big songs.” And now my answer is hell fucking no. I can’t support any artist willing to put their fanbase through an atrocity like this (and make a movie of it). It’s boring, self indulgent, offensive, never-ending, gaudy, unmemorable, pathetic, pretentious and more. I’m torn between continuing to rant about what I hate about this thing or just ending the review now because it doesn’t deserve another millisecond of my time. I think I could write a thesis on how awful this thing is. This album deserves to be the star on the Christmas tree of reasons why we shouldn’t worship 20 year old boys like they’re gods just for making a few catchy songs. 20 year old boys who are treated like gods may start to believe they are in fact gods. And when people believe they are gods, they start to think that every stupid little idea that pops into their under-developed brains is brilliant and worth being invested in financially and shared with the world. Or in the case of Tommy unleashed on this world like a plague that has humanity questioning whether or not we should allow humans to make art at all if there’s a chance of something like this being created. Things I hate about it: 
I was driving while listening to it. It made the idea of sitting in silence for 2 hours in stand still traffic on the 401 seem alluring, heavenly even. “Tommy can you hear me” in Christmas made me laugh out loud in a bad way. So fucking stupid. Underture being 10 minutes long??? At first I was like, “o, without the lyrics, maybe this album is tolerable.” And then it went on and on and on and on. Holy shit. I thought it would never end. I felt physical relief when it was over. Cheesy/shit songs: It’s a boy, 1921, Cousin Kevin, The Acid Queen, Sally Simpson, Tommy’s Holiday Camp. The rest are either disturbing or dull or some combination of the two. The theatrical delivery of some of the lyrics on this album was goofy and awful. I want to un-hear it. So many short, unsatisfying songs that probably make more sense when accompanied by the film but also… fuck that. The sequence of Do you think it’s alright?, Fiddle about and Pinball Wizard might be the worst 3 song run in the history of music. The first 2 are about Tommy being molested by his Uncle Ernie and then it’s a hard cut to a song about how great Tommy is at Pinball. I guess they cut the song where Tommy deals with the trauma of this very upsetting experience. Probably for the best. I don’t think I could have endured a 25th track. I used to think Pinball Wizard was “fine.” Of the big Who songs, it was not my favourite, but it was inoffensive to me. Now hearing it in the context of the album, it’s horrific. I think that radio stations should have to play the other two songs first before playing Pinball Wizard to give the audience the true Tommy experience. I don’t think it’d be the classic rock radio staple it is today and that would be a gift to society. I can’t unhear this now. I will dodge Pinball Wizard like the plague from now on. Using the phrase “deaf, dumb and blind kid” as a refrain throughout the album just feels offensive the more I hear it. Just because Tommy is the first rock opera, doesn’t automatically make it good. Lots of things that were “first” were bad. Would you want to use the first cell phone or computer? Watch the first movie? I doubt it. I’d even argue rock operas in general aren’t great. There are definitely more bad ones than good ones. 74 minutes is long for any album. For Tommy, it felt more like 5 hours. Musical purgatory if you will. The final song on this album brings back lyrics and musical elements from several songs in the tracklist as if this is a stage musical. But on Tommy it feels a bit like someone vomited, ate the vomit and then threw it up again. What specifically bothered me was a refrain that references the molestation sequence on the record. The refrain was: We foresake you, gonna rape you. I will not explain why I was bothered by this. I think the quote speaks for itself. I don’t think they wrote lyrics for this album. Instead they just wrote a long rambling story and put it to music. They didn’t tweak that story so it fit that music or feel like song lyrics, they just left it as is, first draft. I kept waiting for a song on this album to be good. It has 24 tracks. They can’t all be bad right? It’s statistically unlikely. And yet… they did it. It’s an accomplishment really. The closest thing to a “good” track was probably Pinball Wizard but again due to sequencing it is now unforgivable. There is not a single track on this album that stuck with me in a good way. Normally when I encounter a double album, I come up with a single album track list that cuts the filler, but that’s not really possible here. I guess my cutdown would just be Overture. It’s an instrumental, so none of the nonsense bullshit, cheesy lyrics. And since it’s the first song on the album, you aren’t yet bored or disturbed by the musical motifs being introduced. Things I like about it:

It’s over and I never have to experience it again 
I guess John Entwistle’s bass playing was solid. That’s all I got.

Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes and Won't Get Fooled Again are classics... the rest of the album is pretty shit (especially bargain). There's a cheesy vibe that just doesn't work for me. The punk edge of my generation is long gone. That was my opinion when I bought this album at 15 and it's still my opinion now.

I'm not a supertramp fan in general... I don't enjoy the singles at all. Dreamer specifically is a stain upon this earth that i hope is someday scrubbed away. Turns out I also don't like the deep cuts. This album felt like a mix of shitty The Wall-era Pink Floyd and shitty Elton John. The nicest thing I have to say about it is that occasionally there's a cool instrumental passage like the piano bit in the middle of School. I swear I've heard it in a movie and it's just an awesome little piano interlude rammed in the middle of a shitty song. I wish it was it's own song. I swear this is probably the album that upset angry teens in the 70s so much that they decided to invent punk to try and kill it. Why won't it die?

This ones a bit of a mixed bag. It felt like Psychedelic brit pop meets 90s dance music with some top 40 alternative rock thrown on top. The songs that leaned more towards dance music were definitely the better tracks. Overall the record wasn't weird/psychedelic enough to be interesting (except maybe the hidden track with the baby crying vocal)... or poppy enough to stick with me. I feel like the debut record from the Stone roses is such a better combination of these ideas. It's weirder and it's catchier. I hope it's on this list. Highlights: The drugs don't work - good pop song, good lyrics This time - good mix of dance music, good beat Velvet morning was solid And ofcourse.... Bitter Sweet Symphony is a classic... love a pop song with really bleak/existential lyrics In general the hits of strings in the background across the record were nice (i wanted to give it a 2.5 but you can only give whole numbers)

This was a tough one to rate... on the one hand, the playing on this record is really impressive... the instrumentals are just fuckin cool.... I almost think the record would be better if it was just an instrumental album (my favourite track is Clap, the live instrumental acoustic folk extravaganza). Because on the other hand, the vocals and lyrics are hippy garbage. These vocals do not fit the instrumental and are a mix of annoying and forgettable. It almost sounds like they're ripping off crosby, stills, nash and young... but doing a shit job at it, in a genre where it doesn't make sense. I also feel like this album influenced a ton of prog-wankery over the years which is hard to dismiss.

I want to like this record. I tried. It's so "important" to the history of punk. But i really do hate most of it... and it's all because of Rotten. I actually think the instrumentals are good. There's some cool bits with the guitar distortion and bass parts. I bet if you put Joe Strummer on these songs (even with the same lyrics), i think the record would be wildly better. Johnny Rotten really drags the whole experience down. He fucking sucks most of the time. His delivery is just so monotonous and bland. The verses especially... i feel like you could swap out his verse vocal from one song to another and i wouldn't even notice. The two tracks that really stand out are the 2 "hits"... Anarchy and God save the queen... on those 2 the verses are actually catchy and solid and unique... some effort was put into them. So i get the hype on those tracks... they're good. The only other track that stuck out to me was EMI... the chorus and the outro save it.. and those goofy, direct lyrics. I feel like Rotten is to blame for countless monotonous lazy punk singers which really sucks. The pistols are by far the worst of the big 3 of early punk. The Clash and the Ramones are just wayyyy better. The Sex Pistols should be cut and replaced with someone else like... The Buzzcocks, The Fall or Death Kind of made me think of a tech product. The first iteration of something has a huge influence but eventually gets annihilated by everyone who came after. Like Blackberry inventing the smart phone and then getting trounced later on by the iPhone. You don't want to be first. You want to be best... and the Sex Pistols are definitely not best... so they got annihilated and i'm not sad about it.

This album is a vibe. It's consistently warm and pretty and emotionally charged. Just a great sounding record. At times it would pass by in a gentle acoustic blur and then boom a huge vocal melody would hit or a gorgeous string part would take the track in a completely different direction. The strings in general on this album were magical. It kinda felt like I was listening to a Brazilian folk Beatles and this was their white album. Some highlights: Tudo Que Você Podia Ser - super catchy guitar and vocal melodies O Trem Azul - huge chorus Cravo e Canela - a nice dance-y cut Um Girassol Da Cor De Seu Cabelo - that piano/guitar rave up outro rocks Clube da Esquina Nº 2 - beautiful instrumental cut, especially the strings Paisagem Da Janela - a very catchy pop song - I was singing along to that chorus and I have no idea what I was saying Um Gosto De Sol - 1st half: a nice piano ballad - 2nd half: beautiful cinematic strings Trem De Doido - that distorted guitar tone fuckin' rips - Just a great Psyche rock ballad Nada Será Como Antes - really fuckin' catchy My main criticism for the album is the language barrier... but that's my fault really. I feel like some of the more lowkey/less adventurous cuts would have hit harder if I understood the language. My other criticism is that like all double albums... it's a bit long. I think a few of the ballads/interlude tracks could be cut. I wish I spoke the language and I wish I had more time to listen to it but this damn challenge only gave me 24 hours. I feel with more listens i'll like it even more.

I like this album in theory, but not in practice. A mash up of grunge, indie, alternative rock and emo from the 90s with 2 singers, that's my fuckin' jam... on paper. Yet when i listen to this album i feel a mixture of boredom and annoyance. It's a real conundrum. I'm a big Pixies fan and this album is like the Pixies but shitty, shallow, boring and uninspired, but hornier and grungy-er.... ultimately not much like the pixies past a broad description. I regret even mentioning their name in this review alongside the Whigs. I just feel like this album should work... but it doesn't... and that frustrates me. Other bands have just done this mix of sounds better. I even have a hunch this band has done this mix of sounds better at some point in their career... but I don't care enough to listen to the rest of their discography. I really don't like the main singers voice, especially on the more aggressive tracks. On ballads his voice is definitely better. But overall, it's at best generic, at worst annoying. I prefer the single track where the other singer takes the lead, her voice is much better. I wish there was more of an interplay between their vocals throughout the record. Woulda been a big improvement. Some highlights from the record: Be sweet - the catchy "be sweet" outro is quite nice - the lyrics "i have a dick for a brain" did make me laugh... i appreciate the honesty What is Jail Like - I dig the moody piano driven instrumental and the escalation in the back third My Curse - the lead singer isn't on this track... which i'm sad to say is a plus. I like her vocals more. I like the drama of the track in general. Strange side note: the main chord progression reminds me of tears in heaven... but that doesn't ruin the track for me Now you know - it makes me think of a different, better band... but i just can't place it. Maybe the song Black by Pearl jam (when Vedder starts screaming/singing/yodelling in the outro)? but i'm not certain Brother Woodrow/Closing Prayer - I enjoyed the string kissed instrumental outro Note: i wrote this review a few deep after the leafs won game 3. If there are any typos, i apologize in advance. Go leafs go.

When the Morrissey decides to put effort into a track, it's pretty fuckin' amazing. The rest of the time the instrumentals are really carrying the album. Front to back, Marr and the other two guys that no one remembers are putting together these beautiful jangle-y, bass-y shimmering 80s indie rock gems and it's fantastic... it's The Smiths. Morrissey only really delivers on half the tracks... but when his lyrics and vocal melodies hit, they hit really hard. They're witty and funny and devastating... and catchy as hell. But when they miss, they really drag down the track with their boring melodies and wordy ramblings. O and I really hated that growl in the pre-chorus of "A Rush and A Push". What the hell was that. Going into this record I had this assumption that The Smiths were more a singles band than an album band... and that held up pretty true here. Highlights: I Started Something I Couldn't Finish - very Smiths-y Girlfriend takes a long nap - good silly fun Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before - extra extra Smiths-y Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me - love the keys and strings - love the devastating lyrics - favourite track on the album Death at One's Elbow - weirdly upbeat for The Smiths, love the harmonica?

This is what the the Sex Pistols shoulda been... first and great. Sabbath started a genre and were still able to make incredible records that hold up decades later. Very impressive. It's actually kinda shocking how well this album holds up. I can't believe War Pigs, Paranoid and Iron Man are all on side A. It's almost overwhelming. In my head they were spread out across their entire discography. And then there are the deep cuts. Also great. Whenever I had an inkling of boredom, the album would cut in a fun new direction. The middle sections in Electric Funeral and Hand of Doom are so hype. In general, I think Sabbath is best when they up the bpm. Rat Salad with the drum solo is excellent. Planet Caravan is weird and spacey and slow, in a good way. Feels like a totally different band, especially with the vocal effects and hand percussion. It's just a great fucking record. I honestly didn't think Ozzy had it in him. I feel like I know him more as a media personality than musician. I underestimated him. He's great on this record.

I'm very torn. This damn app doesn't allow for half stars. Is this a 4 star album? Or is this a 5 star album? My gut says it deserves 4.5 stars but that's not an option. This is a real Sophie's choice... but worse. My only real criticism of the album is they could cut a song or two... and not because those songs are bad. They just don't live up to the classic level of the rest of the album. The problem is they're both right at the end which leaves the album on a strange note. For that reason... I'll give it a (see star number below). This album has everything I want in a rock album. It's catchy. It's weird. It's funny. It's abrasive. It's original. It sounds good. It has variety. It has a strong point of view. It has great album art. The intros to every track are iconic. And it kicks the ever-loving piss out of whip it. I wish i had discovered it at 16 instead of 26. When I make music, this is what I aspire to create. Highlights: Uncontrollable Urge, Space Junk and Come Back Jonee are just so catchy Jocko Homo is hilarious with it's "are we not men?" chorus Their rolling stones cover is so great and weird. I really believe that these men are dissatisfied. Mic jagger on the other hand is doing just fine... satisfied even. I love the dissonance of Too Much Paranoias Gut Feeling is just a rollercoaster I never want to get off Mongoloid and Praying Hands... they're just great fuckin' tracks Stop what you're doing and listen to this album.

I swear I listened to this album once. I swear I did... but it already has been deleted from my memory. Or perhaps all 15 tracks just congealed into one beige smear of sound. I can't believe this band is came out of Birmingham at the same time as Sabbath. I can't understand how these 2 bands can coexist in the same time and place. It feels like faux-American music... like a novelty diner but instead of a 50s setting, it's woodstock themed and there are AI pictures of hendrix on the walls holding cheeseburgers and advertising the daily specials. It's cringey CCR. It's bad CSNY. It's "soul"-ish. It's Jethro Tull... but blander? The only thing that rescued my attention from the flavourless muck of the track list were the hippy dippy cringe-ass "peace and love" lyrics. I won't quote them here. I don't want to. This album made me question the validity of this 1001 album list. How can this be a significant album in the history of humanity? I call bullshit. And you may be wondering, why after that scathing review did I give it 2 stars? The answer is... 1 star albums are bad. This album is not interesting enough to be truly bad. It's boring. It's elevator muzak genetically engineered in a lab to soundtrack a walmart commercial set in the 60s. It's audio wallpaper for fake hippies. It doesn't deserve a 1... in a bad way. Normally I listen to every album at least twice and I couldn't do it this time. I got bored during my second play-through and turned it off so I could do my taxes in peace. Also...how dare they reference Shanghai noodles. In the words of Will Smith: Keep the name of my favourite noodles out of your fucking mouth. Highlights: None that I can think of.

I really want to like Sonic Youth. I get how important they are. I know that many bands I love have cited them as an influence. And I've tried many times to get into them... but their music just never clicks with me. Unfortunately, today was no exception. I've tried to pinpoint the problem and here's what I've come up with: 1) the vocals are mixed too low in a shoegaze-y sort of way... but it doesn't work for them 2) his voice isn't distinct or interesting... its kind of just there (her voice is way better) 3) the songs are a bit too long... when they have a good or bad idea, they repeat it to death... really drag it out (that cinderella track was a slog) 4) the melodies are lacking... the hooks aren't hooky enough Really, the biggest problem of all is that so many bands that came after sonic youth did their sound better. They took the parts i like (the distortion, the vibes, the instrumentals, the abrassiveness etc) and incorporated them into better songs. Kurt Cobain is the biggest winner of this approach. Bleach specifically reaks of Goo worship... but I like Bleach better. Nirvana is basically just Sonic Youth meets the Pixies filtered through the John Lennon songbook. And i'm greatful that Sonic Youth existed at that time to influence Nirvana and many other great bands... i just don't love their music. If i could, i'd score this record a 2.5. But i'll round it up to a 3 because it inspired so man great grunge, punk and alternative bands that i love. Highlights: Mary-christ - good energy Kool thing - great track... except for that bridge Mote - nice and warm if you ignore the 5 minute noise jam section My friend goo - good silly fun Disapearer - catchy chorus Mildred pierce - i love a good oldfashion gutteral scream Titanium - great catchy sour riff

This is a solid album... but every time I listened to it, I couldn't help but think "I wish I was listening to Blue instead" .... which feels unfair. Blue is one of the greatest records of all time (and better be on this list)... and this album is just solid. It has a lot in common with blue, the piano/guitar folk tracks, the sad vibes, the detailed and specific lyrics. I just feel that Blue does all these things better and with catchier songs. Where this album differs is that it's a lot more experimental and linear and genre-diverse. It has the classic Joni folk songs but it also has a bit of psychedelic rock and Jazz and funk. There is a lot more variety in the instrumentation. In general the record keeps you guessing. I'm just not sure all the experiments land for me. I know that she would eventually transition into full-on jazz records... so this record feels like a step in that transition from folk to jazz... which is interesting... but not always good. Also, the lyrics can be really hit and miss on this album. Sometimes they are overly wordy and sorta winey. And there's that one where in a very jazzy voice sings about how she's a genius and compares herself to Albert Einstein. Now if any other folk singer said this, it would be full on insane. But, Joni is a genius and I guess if we're naming an Albert Einstein of folk music, her name would be in the running. But even though it's true, it was still annoying and cringey to listen to. And it happens on the very last track which definitely left a bad taste in my mouth. Sooooo... I'm gonna go listen to Blue. Highlights: Help me Car on a hill - crazy vocal break part way through the track Down to You - sprawling track - beautiful strings Just Like this Train

This is a double album... so naturally only half of it is good. And the other half should have been cut. Unfortunately, Elton was in the prime of his career, so reigning him in creatively was just not on the table. Thus we have this bloated, indulgent, never-ending double album that was honestly tough to get through. It does have 4 classic songs on it though... which is very impressive. But it would be much more impressive if there were only 10 songs on the album... not 17. It does start off strong though, really lures you into a false sense of security. For 4 tracks, I thought maybe my campaign against double albums was misguided. Maybe this would be the album that proved me wrong. But then the middle third hits and boy is it a mixed bag. The final third is similar but at least Saturday Night is there to soften the blow. There are just so many songs on this record and each one is over 4 minutes long. Time moves slowly when I listen to this record... and not in a good way. But there is a good single album somewhere in this track list. So instead of giving a list of tracks that i enjoyed, i'm going to give a new track list for the record... cutting out about one album worth of material. The goal being to make one legendary single album instead of a mediocre double album. So here it goes... the new track list: 1. Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding - Love the prog rock intro. I've never heard Elton go in this direction before, but he really nails it. Love Lies Bleeding is a banger, a piano rock barn burner. I love that chorus. 2. Candle In the Wind - It's a classic. But I do think I enjoy the 90s version better... the one dedicated to Princess Diana with deep voice Lion King Elton. 3. Bennie And The Jets - iconic. love that glitchy keyboard part at the end. nothing more to say. 4. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - just a beautiful, classic song. That chorus. the pre-chorus vocal build. no notes. 5. I've Seen That Movie Too - Moody, tense track with an epic solo 5. Jamaica Jerk-Off - a fun novelty cut. I feared it when I saw the title in the track list, but it's just really fun and gives some variety to the album 6. All The Girls Love Alice - love that dramatic stompin' groove 6. Sweet Painted Lady - a nice little piano ballad 7. Saturday Night's Alright - great driving rock track. perfect for compilations of NHL highlights. 8. Roy Rogers - fun tear in your bear country-tinged number 9. Harmony - really nice album closer. I dig the line: Harmony and me, are pretty good company. Love the harmonized vocal bits.

I'm normally not a fan of this era/style of hip hop, but I enjoyed this. It's great to work to. It's very driving. The beat is this constant vintage metronome you can get lost in. The instrumentals in general are very hypnotic. Every once in a while a specific sample or synth bit breaks through like the soul sample/ keys on Tearz. The lyrics sorta float by in this haze of moody anger. Every once in a while a hook will break through (Wu-tang clan ain't nothin' to fuck with) or a disturbing/agressive interlude. I think with more time I'd be able to dig into the lyrics and get more out of the record. I can definitely feel the influence of this on hip hop still to this day. Very cool album (feels like an understatement).

When I was 18 I actually spent a lot of time hunting down this record. I had discovered Neil Young through the radio. I bought harvest and loved it. I really wanted to find the album that had Hey Hey My My on it. Unfortunately, the cd was out of print at the time (or that's what google said). This was before spotify... so I remember going to like 15 different cd stores looking for it... and nothing. Eventually I bought a copy online... handed my parents credit card info over to some sketchy site... and boom I finally had a copy. Luckily, it lived up to the hype. I would listen to this album constantly while driving around the country in my green jeep grand cherokee. It was a 5 out of 5 for me then for sure. Recently, I actually revisited it on a whim... not as part of this challenge. And it holds up pretty damn well. I love the transition from acoustic to electric over the course of the album. I love how its bookended with 2 versions of the same classic song. The electric version of hey hey my my just hits so fucking hard. The distortion is like a sledgehammer. Thrasher is one of my all-time favourite Neil Young songs... an amazing folk song about quitting society and walking into the woods and the passage of time (or something like that). "It was then that I knew I'd had enough, Burned my credit card for fuel, Headed out to where the pavement turns to sand." Incredible lyrics. Powderfinger does such a great job of transitioning from the folk side to the electric side. On Welfare Mothers and Sedan Delivery, you can feel the influence of punk on Young which is just cool. Sail away and Pocahontas are just pretty (sad) folk songs. There's no real bad song on this album for me... sure some of the lyrics are a bit wonky (may don't age well). It's probably a 4 for me now? And that almost feels harsh. Perhaps it just couldn't live up to the memory of discovering to the album 15 years ago

This album is my shit. Weird and experimental, but still catchy. I finally get krautrock now... especially the song Krautrock. I've tried many times to get into Kraftwerk, but their music never clicks with me. This hit immediately. I want to put more time into this album and their discography for sure. I love the track variety. i love the bleeps and bloops. I love the noise they throw on top of the more standard rock tracks. I love how it takes psychedelic rock and breaks it in strange ways. I love the driving rhythms. I love how huge and epic the tracks are. It just works for me. Highlights: Krautrock - epic, driving, noisy, hypnotic The Sad Skinhead - 90s slacker rock/Velvet underground vibe with, cool groove, catchy xylophone bit on top Jennifer - another velvet underground vibe track that really melts into wild static joy... almost shoegaze-y Just a Second - it's half moody prog rock, half avant-garde synth soundscape It's a bit of pain - feels like Nick Drake put through a blender, love that ending solo

I find it hard to describe The Velvet Underground because normally this is the band you reference when describing other bands. Most rock band are influenced by them or influenced by somebody influenced by them. But i'll do my best. So ya... this is a great record. I really enjoyed it. It definitely focuses more on songwriting/vibe than the debut. Gone are the noisy freakouts and abrasive instrumental bits. It's more restrained, and poppy. Candy Says, Pale Blue Eyes and After Hours are just beautiful, low key tunes. I knew Pale Blue Eyes going in but the other 2 were a complete surprise. There are still those classic driving, escalating Velvet songs... more low key versions of heroine... but still very propulsive... like you're running down a hill... and gravity takes over. What Goes On and Beginning to See the Light and I'm Set Free definitely fit this mold. Really... most of the songs on this record are great. I won't list them all here. Buttttttt it's not a perfect record... who authorized The Murder Mystery? That song really drags on and on. The second half with the piano is good... but the first half is a real slog. I think if they cut it down to like 4 minutes, it coulda worked. On other records they've done weird talky tracks way better, like The Gift on White Light/White Heat. Other than that, i don't have many complaints and I plan to revisit this album.... especially After Hours. You did it Lou. You fuckin did it.

Writing positive reviews isn't near as fun as writing negative ones. Bad news for me, this is another positive one. Here we go: It's 1 hour of very beautiful Cuban music. It has a very warm vibe to it. I listened to it 3 times while going about my evening. It's the perfect background music for cleaning your bathroom or hosting a dinner party. It would just fill the room, create a sense of place... I felt like I was at some sort of Cuban lounge where the lights are dim and I'm smoking a cigar and sipping a whiskey.... I don't like cigars or whiskey, but I wanted both while listening to this album. The instrumentals impressed me more than the vocals... some of my favourite tracks were purely instrumental. Really the piano driven ones were the best, Pueblo Nuevo and Buena Vista Social Club specifically. That piano tone is just incredible. It reminds me of a Mars Volta track called L’Via L’Viaquez... which I'm sure was influenced by more traditional latin music. Also I swear there's a couple tracks that sound vaguely Hawaiian and remind me of the music in sponge bob square pants... this is compliment. Orgullecida for sure is one. Overall, it's a real feel good, warm, inviting album. I hope that the lyrics match this vibe and aren't horrific or something... but perhaps that would also add to the intrigue of this album. I may never know though... i have no plans to learn Spanish. Which leaves the vocals on the album feeling almost like another instrument in the mix... in a good way. Anyways... really good record.

What the hell was that? I knew The The going into this, mainly the song This Is the Day. It’s this amazing proto-brit pop/80s indie new wave track. I stumbled onto it last year and was obsessed for at least a month. So when I saw them show up in the 1001 albums challenge, I was excited. I was expecting more of the same. And... I was wrong. This album is not at all like This Is the Day. This is a weird Frankenstein’s monster of 80s production, 70s prog, 90s brit pop, dance music? and 80s Smithsian-indie/new wave/college rock (basically all music genres around at that time)… and it does not work for me. I love it in concept… but in practice it's a mess. What I will say is that it doesn’t sound like any other album I know of. There are tons of interesting ideas all over this thing. It’s not boring for a second. It’s impressively weird. I want to like it. But I kinda hate it. It all comes together into this strange, cringey mess. It’s a new wavy Smiths meets love-shack era b52s meets 90s radio rock but proggier and cheesier? It’s definitely ahead of it’s time. I feel like if I heard this album in 1986 it woulda blew my mind. It still sorta does but for the sheer audacity of the style mashup and sound of the record. The 80s aesthetic/sound is really something. It definitely hurts the record for me. If it had been done with 70s sounds or 90s sounds or even 2010s sounds, I think the album would sound infinitely better and less dated. Random thoughts I had while listening to this thing: Whatever the opposite of chemistry is, that’s what these 2 singers have. I like his voice but it does not work with her voice at all. Also they produce the hell out of her vocals... she almost sounds like that venus shaving commercial song by Bananarama There’s a line about being the 51st state which is weirdly timely… I assume it has to do with a fear of American culture dominating British culture in the 80s? In one song he describes a sexual encounter... that was very unpleasant Was there also some jazzy/bluesy piano on a track or did I imagine that? The politics in general are quite in your face which gives it a punk edge as well. Throw another genre in the blender. The end of Angels of Deception is pretty hype with the choral vocals. Deranged Kenny Loggins on acid? This album sounds very expensive in a bad way. I bet this album flopped at the time but gained critical approval over time. High on the success of their debut... they went crazy on this one. Some cool sax i guess? I wonder what percentage of the instruments on this album are from synths/samples etc. A lot? Is this massive mishmash of genres just called Mercy Beat? Are there more albums out there like this that make my review sound foolish? Perhaps.

Roxy Music sound fully formed on their debut. Dramatic. Glammy. Moody. Epic. Strange. Like a crushed velvet suit worn by a 70s lounge singer. I really enjoyed this thing. I knew them going into this record... mainly the singles. I love Do the Strand. And this album did not disappoint. Their music is part big band Sinatra, part bowie glam, part manic punk energy. My main complaint is that I wish there were more hooks on this thing, more choruses that stuck with me... like they'd have on future releases. I give this thing a 3.5. Random thoughts... The horns and piano are a real highlight. They really drive the tracks forward and give them a lot of flavour. I don't know if Brian Ferry is an asshole, but he certainly gives off that vibe while singing... and I dig it. There's something arrogant, yet pathetic about him. His voice, his phrasing... it's very distinct. I really love when he fully freaks out on the mic - it gives tracks a punk vibe. Virginia Plain is great - love the opening vocal melody. it hooks you right away. Love the end of If There Is Something - transcendent The synth work is tasteful... sometimes synth sounds in this era don't age well (see The The). Love the 50s doo wop vibe of the closer. I swear the opener has a tiny bass solo that is a beatles reference The songs are long... but they don't feel long

When it hits, it really hits. The music swells and Bjork's vocals grab you and they won't let go. You can really feel the devastation, the pain. It's beautiful. Those crescendos have almost a soundtrack quality to them, especially when there are strings involved. On the other hand... large sections of this album sort of float by without grabbing me. The album is never bad, it's quite pretty actually... I just think the lack of a strong beat loses me. The beats on this record are often abstract and formless. My mind wanders without a rhythm to latch onto. However, I do think this album will grow on me over time. I don't think it's meant for a challenge like this. It really feels like something I need to sit with to fully appreciate. You're supposed to casually stroll through the 64bit fairy forest admiring the scenery, not sprint through it flinging your head back and forth trying and failing to catch the highlights. I want to give it a 2.5, but i'll round up to 3 for its potential to grow on me.

This is another album that meant a lot to me when I was younger... I think I discovered it at 20? Bookends was on the 500 days of summer soundtrack and The Graduate was directly referenced in the film. That ofcourse lead me to Simon and Garfunkel... and this album. It was fun revisiting this one... it's still great. Not sure it's the 5/5 it was to me 10 years ago, but it still means a lot to me now. My main knock against it is that It feels less like one cohesive album and more like two EPs stuck together. The first half is this concept EP about time and memory and aging. And the second side is just a collection of fun, light classic singles. I think if they were releasing it now, with the freedom of digital releases, the 2 sides would be separated. I love both halves for different reasons. But together they don't feel like one cohesive album. The first half is dramatic, cinematic, intense at points.... emotional. It makes me contemplate my own aging. Bookends is beautiful... "preserve your memories, they're all that's left you." America just has this massive, high drama chorus. Overs is lazy, reflective, sweet (i kind of think its about their friendship and not a romantic relationship). Old Friends feels like a folk song at war with the orchestra... and in the end orchestra wins in this epic, crecendo that turns sour (much like the relationship of Simon and Art). The second half is just a good time that brings a smile to my face. It's proof of how incredible Pual Simon was at writing catchy folk rock bangers. Punky' Dilemma makes me feel like I'm relaxing by the pool owned by a glamorous 60s starlet, sipping a decade appropriate cocktail. Mrs. Robinson... is just one of the greatest folk rock songs ever written. I'm not ashamed to put in writing that I enjoy it. Hazy Shade of winter is pure momentum and has this strange moody vibe. I love it. Reminds me of April come she will. Simon is the best at using seasons and weather to contemplate the passage of time. At the Zoo is just a really fun song about the animals at the zoo. Anyone trying to get their kids into Simon and garfunkel, start here. 4.5 stars?

Wow... this was a disappointment. I've been surrounded by the music Van Halen for decades now. I know the singles. I know the history. But I never checked out a record. Not for any particular reason, it was just a blindspot in my listening. Teenage me fucked up when digging into classic rock bands I guess. Sooo I was excited when this album came up. I know the singles. I love Eruption. I love Hot For Teacher. I love Jump. I tolerate Panama. I figured they'd have at least one good album in them. But holy shit, I was wrong. Outside of the 3 big songs and that cool synth intro, this album fucking sucks... and it really feels like it's Eddie Van Halen's fault. He is the best and worst part of this album. When the riffs and the synths hit, they are amazing... iconic even. But when they're bad, they're "inspire multiple generations of dickhead guitar wanker-y" bad. "Top Jimmy" is trash. Those harmonics, that ugly, overcomplicated riff. Why Eddie? Why? And why did so many shit guitarists rip this off? It's hideous. "i'll wait" is a boring, cheesy synth ballad that I had never heard before despite it being the second single to this album. I guess it was lost to time and i'm not mad about that. This is the only Van Halen ballad I've ever heard, and it really doesn't work. Maybe this one's Roth's fault... his charm doesn't work here. O, and it has a big cheesy guitar solo, that also sucks... so Eddie is not off the hook on this one. The other 3 tracks just have garburator solos and ugly guitar riffs that would soon become hard rock cliches. I just can't. I didn't know so much bad rock music was Eddie's fault. That rat bastard... RIP. It's only a 30 minute album, but it felt sooo long. Maybe you have to be a 15 year old boy hearing this before the fall of the Berlin wall to understand it? I guess I'll never know. Some positives.... 1984 - this is some nice, tasteful, epic 80s synth Jump - It's a fuckin' hard rock pop banger. Love it. Love the synth. Big fan. Hot For Teacher - The best Van Halen song of all time in my opinion. THE DRUMS... the drums alone are fucking iconic... they have this almost big band, rolling vibe. The guitar riff is incredible... that opening solo is just... chefs kiss. David Lee Roth is just being charismatic and horny as hell and it's great. A horny sex anthem written by a 30 year old for teenagers shouldn't work, but weirdly it does. Panama - i tolerate. It's better than the rest of the album and i get that it's a good song... but I don't like it. It's overrated. I remember vividly when I was a teenager, my uncle asked me if I liked Van Halen... and I said I don't get Panama... it's not good. And he said.... someday, when you're an adult, you'll go to a strip club and you'll see a beautiful lady dance to Panama and take off her clothes... only then will you understand that song. As far as i know, I haven't seen someone strip to Panama yet, so it's still lost on me. I really hope no one is stripping to the deep cuts on this album. I don't even think nudity could save those songs.

This record was... something. All I know Randy Newman from is Toy Story... "you got a friend in me" is a classic... and that Family guy joke where Newman won't stop singing about everything he sees. So I was expecting something fairly family friendly? And boy was I wrong. Randy seems to be tackling racial issues and north verses south politics in America up until the 70s through a collection of Springsteen-esque character portraits. Definitely not family friendly. A truly bold choice for a white guy from California. The lyrics on this one are a tough sell. He throws around a lot of slurs on this thing... especially on the song Redneck and Back on My Feet Again. I get that it's satire and he's criticizing racism, but it's a tough listen in 2025. It doesn't work for me. We're past the point of white dudes throwing around the N-word to make a point. But this album is from 1974 when that sort of thing was "acceptable"... and i do think he has good intentions? I have no clue if his takes stand up well... i don't have the time to dig into them and I don't want to. In general, the lyrics just don't age well... which is a big knock against the album for me. It would be hard to recommend this to anyone without a big upfront warning. Beyond the lyrics... the songs do have a nice warm vibe. They are mainly slow piano driven bar-room ballads with some cinematic strings for emphasis, or jaunty piano man tunes that had me nodding along. It is very pleasant on the ears... until a lyric catches your ear and spits in it... but until then it is very pleasant on the ears. Newman's voice is also very distinct which is a selling point... no one else sounds like this guy. This is a weird one... I wonder how music criticism handles this one in retrospectives or 50th anniversary reviews? Maybe they just avoid it like the plague, and try to forget they raved about it at the time. These things happen though... there are albums that are timeless and there are albums that are of their time. This one is definitely the latter for me.

Kind of felt like I was listening to an early hip hop mixed tape, or a very eclectic radio station. There's rap, African music, funk, Caribbean music, latin music and more on this record. It's a lot of fun. Some of the beats hit real hard. It's very danceable. I was a bit surprised though when I saw the guy listed as the creator of this album. Apparently the artist is Malcolm McLaren... the fashion designer who helped mastermind The Sex Pistols and the punk subculture. He does do some vocals on this thing... but from what i've read he's more a musical curator than an actual artist. He doesn't play an instrument. He just knows talent when he sees it and brings people together. He's the DJ Khalid of this record. A bulk of the album was created by 2 DJs/rappers i've never heard of (they go by the duo name: The World's Famous Supreme Team). It is a little concerning that neither is credited on Spotify or on this review site. I have a bad feeling that Malcolm is the only person getting paid off this thing, but I could be wrong. Random thoughts: -> Good listen. Great vibes. Gets you moving. -> Even though this thing was made in the 80s, the production holds up. -> World's Famous is a highlight, amazing beat. -> Did Eminem get "2 trailer park girls go round the outside" from Buffalo Gals? Who knew. Who knew. -> Duck For The Oysters is a weird novelty country song... that I think Malcolm actually sings on. Feels like his vibe. Note: His voice is not very good. He's definitely the weakest singer on this album. Luckily he's not on most tracks. -> I do like the title "Duck Rock"... just not sure it fits this album. Feels like the name of a post-punk album that either doesn't take itself seriously at all or takes itself wayyyy too seriously

I vividly recall getting into the pumpkins as a teenager. It wasn't through their classic 90s material that played constantly on the radio. It was actually through their comeback record in 2007, Zeitgeist. The lead single Tarantula got a ton of airplay on much music at the time and I loved it. I even bought the album. I went to revisit it because of this review and it turns out the album is not on streaming. I think there's a rights issue and Billy doesn't own it. It's on youtube though... and it's still a fun song (no idea if the rest of the album holds up). Anyways, because of that album I dug into the rest of their material. My girlfriend at the time owned the greatest hits and burnt me a copy of it... and holy shit that greatest hits is incredible. Their run of singles from Cherub Rock to Tonight Tonight is insane. Because the greatest hits was so good, I tried to to get into their albums... but they never stuck with me. I listened to them all as a teenager but i just kept going back to the greatest hits. At the time I thought... "maybe they're just a singles band" and then moved on. Fast forward to today and I sort of feel the same way about this album... but it's not so black and white. The 3 singles on it are these massive omnipresent 90s alt rock classics. Disarm specifically is gorgeous. Even though I've heard it a hundred times, it still gets me. It's hard for the rest of the album to compete with these 3 songs. The first two-thirds of the album is especially mid in comparison. It's full of these fuzzy gish-era pumpkin songs that don't have memorable tunes. They all sorta blend together and underwhelm when wedged between the 3 big boys. The back third though was quite nice. There's a lot of variety there. I really enjoyed Mayonaise. Yes, it's pretty standard hazy pumpkins, but the tune is catchy as hell. Silverfuck is a big multiphase grunge rock epic. Sweet Sweet is a light, chorus-y vignette. Spaceboy and Luna are nice, vibe-y little ballads. I especially enjoyed the strings on the former. The ending of this album really saved it for me. At first I was quite annoyed that my 16 year old analysis held up. But then hit those last 5 tracks and really enjoyed it. Perhaps in time the rest of the album will grow on me. For now... it's a 3. But It has inspired me to revisit all the other Pumpkins albums and see if there's more than just the singles. Correction: all of them except for Melancholy and the infinite Sadness... that one is still a bloated, messy double album and no matter how many times I go back to it, i'm still bored even though Tonight Tonight is probably my favourite pumpkins song. God damn double albums. Anyways, ya, I enjoyed Siamese Dream. It's a good album.

I felt scared when this album landed on Friday. I love this record. This was a huge record for me in my 20s. I'm a massive fan of Arcade Fire's first 3 and a half albums (I really wish they had cut Reflektor down to a single album). I've seen them live multiple times. Watching this band perform Rebellion (lies) on TV at the Much Music Video Awards changed my life, shook me out of my very close minded view of rock music. Funeral is still a 5 star album for me (at least I want to believe it is). I vividly recall sitting in the common room of my university dorm, surrounded by new friends, watching this album win Album of the Year at the Grammy's and just feeling amazed that a little band from Montreal could do something like that. It was surreal and special. It made me want to make music. So ya… this was a big album for me… but that’s not exactly why I’m scared to review it. A few years ago there were some allegations of sexual misconduct against the lead singer, Win Butler. Ever since, I’ve been avoiding their music, and I stopped going to their shows. I have no clue if he’s guilty of a crime but the stories these women told about their interactions with him left a very bad taste in my mouth. For me, the shiny, positive, morally sound image that Win and the band had built over 20 years came crashing down. I felt disillusioned and walked away from the band.
 So ya... I’m went back into this record with complicated feelings. On the one hand, I wanted it to live up to the happy memories I have of it. On the other hand, I wanted to realize that it actually sucks and tear it down to hurt Win for ruining one of my favourite bands. Without further adieu… my thoughts on the record:

As much as I hate to say it (but I’m also a little relieved), I still love this record. I listened to it twice over the weekend. On the first listen, I felt like I was hunting for issues. I wanted to dislike it. I had mixed feelings when it ended. On the second listen, I let it wash over me and stopped overthinking it…. Let myself enjoy it. The big songs, the singles, they still hit. The Suburbs, Ready to Start, We Used to Wait and Sprawl 2… they’re all pretty amazing. There’s so much variety in those 4 tracks. The slow nostalgia of suburbs, the driving hype of ready to start, the moody, sadness of we used to wait, and the electronic, synth bliss of Sprawl. Each one is special in a very different way. Deep cuts like Month of May, Modern Man, Empty Room, Suburban War, Wasted Hours and Deep Blue are also pretty amazing. The punk edge of May, the existential dread of modern man, the aggressive strings of empty room, the latin guitar on suburban war, the warm vibes of wasted hours and the Funeral energy of Deep blue. These songs still really work for me. There isn’t really a bad song on this album. It’s incredibly consistent. The closest might be Rococo… but even that one gets me singing along by the end. Every time my attention wandered from the record, some refrain or bridge or instrumental bit would hit and bring me back and have me singing along. My main criticism of the album is that sometimes it sorta blurs together and overall it's a bit long. Maybe it’s a sequencing issue? Maybe they coulda cut a couple mid-paced songs from the middle stretch of the record, kept them as b-sides? I dunno. There’s something holding it back from being a 10/10, no notes kind of album. Right now, for me… it’s probably a 9/10? But in this 5 star rating scheme… do I give it a 5 stars for 20 year old me who loved the shit out of this thing. Or do I give it 4 stars out of spite for Win Butler. Tough call. Tough call.

For years and years, I tried to get into Radiohead and failed. I remember hearing OK Computer at a young age and hating it. I mocked my little brother for wasting his money on that CD (that didn't age well). I remember a high school teacher of mine showing me Kid A and it not click for me at all. I remember buying In Rainbows, listening to it once and then forgetting about it. I knew all about the big songs and the legacy and the hype. And that made me really want to get into this band... but I kept failing. That is until I bought The Bends. I had heard High and Dry on the soundtrack for the JGL movie 50/50 and fell in love with the song all over again... so I bought the album. And that's when Radiohead finally clicked in my brain. And now i'm a huge fan and I love all the records... except King of Limbs and Pablo Honey (does anyone actually like those ones outside of the people fully in the band's cult?)... and I really regret not seeing them live the last time they were in Toronto (fingers crossed for this year) etc etc. And it's all thanks to The Bends. Even though it's not my favourite Radiohead album, it still holds a special place in my heart. Side note: I think my favourite is In Rainbow... not that that really matters. Anyways... onto the album: 1. It's catchy as hell. So many hooks. It's fully of poppy, grungy alternative rock classics with choruses that constantly had me singing along. 2. The singles are still incredible and deserve their place in the alternative rock radio cannon. High and Dry and Fake Plastic Trees are beautiful. Just just fuckin' rocks. Street Spirit (Fade Out) reminds me of a later Radiohead track, maybe something off In Rainbows... either way it's a haunting way to end the album. (Just googled it and i had no idea My Iron lung, Planet Telex and The Bends were all also singles. Radio has forgotten them I suppose.) 3. I really love the stretch from High and Dry to Just. Incredible. But really there isn't a bad song on the record. I will admit i'm not the biggest fan of Planet Telex and The Bends... which makes the start of the album a low point for me... but it only gets better from there. 4. Favourite deep cuts: Black Star (love that chorus), Bones (what an underrated poppy track) and (Nice Dream) (this track snuck up on me... i didn't remember it from back in the day, but i really enjoyed it.. the subtle chorus, the guitar at the end). Ultimately, I think I enjoyed it even more now than when I bought it. At the time it felt like a stepping stone and I quickly jumped to the bigger albums... so i'm glad I got to revisit this. What a great record.

I think I finally get Pavement? For a while now, I’ve been a fan of the big songs, but the albums have always alluded me. I know they’re “classics” and on paper they’re right up my alley, but they just never hit for me. I’ve even listened to this very album multiple times over the years and felt nothing… until now. Finally, I get it. They were right. I was wrong. It’s a great record. I actually listened to it 4 times in one night. I love the snarky lyrics. I love the weird catchy humming/whistling/oooo-ing bits. Malkmus is like a more literal, sarcastic 90s Lou Reed and it’s great. The hooks are unconventional but very sticky and it feels like there’s one buried in every track if you’re open to digging around. Writing a catchy verse is an underrated skill, and Stephen does it regularly. His words just have a momentum to them that drives the tracks forward. I love the screechy, primal screams. I love the rumbling, prominent bass lines. They’ve really nailed the neurotic slacker vibe on this album. My main knock against the album is that it’s very front loaded. The first 7 songs are much stronger than the second 7, except for Here which is probably my favourite song on the album. I wish they’d spread out some of the catchier tracks and maybe cut a couple tracks from the back half. There’s no bad songs exactly, just some that are lacking in comparison to the highlights. For this reason, it’s probably a 3.5 for me? I’ll put it to a 3 for now. I think over time it will grow on me even more. I’m definitely going to listen to this album more and dig through their discography again. Highlights: Here - This song is beautiful. Such a sad, pretty vibe. My favourite song on the album for sure. Summer Babe - catchy yet abrasive, fuzzy and warm. Love it. Love lyric: “eating her fingers like they’re just another meal” Trigger Cut/Wounded-Kite - amazing chorus, so catchy. The verse to the pre chorus to the chorus… there’s just so much momentum being built. It’s enthralling. No Life Singed Her - love the weird screams contrasted by the sweet verses In the Mouth a Desert - love the ooooos that follow the guitar lead Weird note: Zurich Is Stained - I don’t understand how this is the most streamed song from this album. It’s a good track, but it doesn’t scream pop hit to me.

I love Bruce Springsteen. But I kind of hate this album. It feels like a parody of Springsteen. The magic of his best stuff is that it feels very grounded and relatable. He's able to tell the stories of blue collar Americans in such an authentic way that you believe the stories are his (even though you know they're not). But on this album, it feels like he’s run out of that magic. It honestly just sounds like a rich guy pretending to blue collar and failing miserably. It's 80s Bruce cosplaying as 70s Bruce with a synthesizer duct taped to his hands. While I can’t say for sure that the lyrics on this album are worse than on his older material. What I can say is that the 80s production and synth work really fails these songs and creates the cheesy, fake vibe. There’s always been a hint of cheesiness in his work but I think the grounded, gritty 70s pub rock production reinforced the authenticity of the songs and made you believe. But on this album, the glossy sound and questionable synth work amplify the cheese factor. It becomes a strange smelling elephant in the room. This leaves the album feeling like a shiny label driven imitation of his better work. He even sorta backs up my point on Glory Days without realizing it: And I hope when I get old, I don’t sit around thinking about it, but I probably will. […] Well, the time slips away, leaves you with nothing, mister, but boring stories of Glory days. Springsteen doesn’t realize it, but on this album he’s already the guy trying to reclaim his glory days (his run of classic albums that lead him to this point). His "boring stores" are the tracks on this damn album and the many albums he'll put out in the future. Sadly, he'll never recreate the success of this album or the quality of his previous work. It's over... and he doesn't even know it yet. Side note: I fucking hate Glory Days. I always have and I think I always will. Additional side note: Glory Days is my Dad’s favourite Springsteen song. I hated it before I knew this, but it makes sense since we have almost zero in common musically. Weirdly the songs that feel like new territory for Bruce are the ones that are stone cold classics. When he stops trying to tell Springsteen-ian stories and instead tackles something more personal and brief, he writes 2 of the greatest synth rock bangers of all time: I’m on fire and Dancing in the Dark. These 2 songs completely cary this album. I’m going to give this album 2 stars and those 2 songs are doing 90% of the work to get that rating. I want a whole album of Bruce singing songs like these… but that is not what we got on Born in the U.S.A. These 2 songs actually stick out like beautiful sore thumbs in the track list. The rest of the songs feel like old Bruce with an ugly new coat of paint, while Dancing and Fire feel like a brand new Bruce fit for the future of music. It’s a shame we didn’t get more of this. Side note: I still love that music video with Courtney Cox. Additional Side note: I got into Springsteen through a scene in The Place Beyond The Pines where Ryan Gosling is holding a dog and swaying to Dancing in the Dark. There are so many better Springsteen albums than this. Listen to Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River or Nebraska. Those 4 albums came right before this one and they’re all way better. It’s wild that the most pure, authentic release in his whole catalogue, Nebraska, came out right before this album. It makes zero sense. Additional notes….

 Cover me - It’s a good track. Maybe the third best song on the album. I dig its lounge-y swagger. Born in the U.S.A. - I want to love this track. I love parts of it. The lyrics are great. The energy of his voice is aggressive in a good way. I love the politics of it from what I can glean. Unfortunately, it's really brought down by the synth work and the production. There’s that famous anecdote of Regan playing it at his rallies, not realizing that it’s satire and that it’s actually anti-American. Normally this story is told in support of the greatness of Born in the U.S.A…. but to me it’s actually evidence of my issue with track. Is it good satire if no-one gets the joke and people instead take it literally? Trump played it at his rallies in the past 10 years, so people still haven’t figured out the song’s true message. Even knowing the truth, it can be hard for me not to hear it as a pro-America anthem unless I’m really paying attention to the lyrics. The production screams all American hero and it can be hard to get past that. I can see Hulk Hogan tearing a shirt while it plays. I think if the synth tone had been a bit more sour or gritty or something… if the production had been more subversive… it could have gone a long way to supporting the satire of the track…. And made it actually cool. Darlington county - Reminds me of Hey You by BTO in a bad way with it’s annoying shalala chorus. Working on the highway - Feels like a goofy 50s pastiche with more cheesy synth/organ. I didn’t like it. Im goin’ down - Sounds vaguely like Wagon Wheel? It’s a solid track I guess. Glory Days - Fuck Glory Days. I hope I never hear this song again.

I was a fan of XTC going into this album. I love Making Plans For Nigel. I own their greatest hits on vinyl. And for the first half of this album, I was very open to the direction they were going in… but then the song Greenman hit and they lost me. In 30 seconds my opinion soured like 3 month old milk that had been left on the surface of the sun. That song then proceeded to play for 5 and a half more minutes, which felt like an eternity. Then the Dictionary song hit and that was another piece of shit, but at least it had the curtesy to be only 3 minutes long, so I guess it was an improvement. I’m not sure if the rest of the album was as bad as those 2 tracks, but mentally I had checked out after those 9 minutes of hell. Why was the Greenman song so bad? I will get to that. Why was the dictionary song so bad? I’ll give you some lyrics and you can decide for yourself: “H-A-T-E
Is that how you spell love in your dictionary? K-I-C-K Pronounced as kind F-U-C-K Is that how you spell friend in your dictionary? Black on black A guidebook for the blind” And that’s only verse one. I rest my case. This album did have some promise though. And I did enjoy the first 5 tracks overall. In general, it has a really intriguing mix of time periods. This is an 80s new wave band writing songs that are a mix of Pet sounds-era Beach Boys and late Beatles McCartney (think Maxwell’s Silver Hammer or Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da or When I’m Sixty-Four) with a glossy 90s production style. I love all of those things, except for the production. I wouldn’t say any of the first 5 tracks were spectacular, but they were fun, weird, a little catchy. There was variety and some cinematic string work. I wasn’t mad at it. I was intrigued. I will say though the production style didn’t do even the best songs any favours. When you filter off-brand beach boys and the Beatles through that production, turns out you get something that borders on adult contemporary. I think a shaggier 60s/70s psychedelic rock production would do these songs a lot of good. So anyways I’m bopping along, having a good time, minding my own business and then fucking Greenman hits and my world was flipped turned upside down. It validated my Beatles comparison in the worst way. It feels like XTC are really into those Beatles songs with the Indian music influences, think Norwegian wood, Within you without you and tomorrow never knows. And they thought to themselves “we can totally pull that off in the late 90s” and boy were they wrong. What an ugly, never-ending, boring, cheesy mess of a track that’s borderline cultural appropriation. Sure you could argue the Beatles also appropriated Indian culture but at least they had the decency to turn it into great fucking songs. This track is an abomination. It’s embarrassing. Once it was over and the dictionary song was done, I sorta blacked out the rest of the album. I was done with it. I don’t know if it was good. And I didn’t give this album a second listen. And I likely never will. I’m gonna pretend XTC broke up at the end of the 80s and live in that version of reality… where this thing doesn’t exist.

This album is the most 60s sounding album of all time. It’s almost like stock music written for a Walmart commercial set in the 60. It’s basically AI generated “60s rock.” It feels like a mix of a bunch of more interesting bands. It’s a little bit Beatles, a little bit Beach Boys, a little bit The Byrds, a little bit Jefferson Airplane, a little bit CSNY, a little bit Bob Dylan… but it’s not really as interesting as any of those other bands, except for the song California Dreaming. That’s a classic. It deserves its acclaim and longevity. The rest of the album is pleasant when it’s on, inoffensive, but not memorable. Even their cover of “Do you wanna dance” is kinda of boring. There are tons of better covers of that song, including The Beach Boys version (and the Ramones version). I think the nicest thing I could say about the album overall is that it does really summarize a lot of popular 60s rock music in a weird way? You kinda get the gist of the rock space at the time through this album. But personally I’d rather listen to almost any of their contemporaries. Ultimately, I feel that this record deserves a 2.5 out of 5… it’s fine. But because I have to either knock it up to 3 or down to 2, I’m gonna knock it down because of the final track, The “in” crowd. It’s the only outwardly bad track on this album. The lyrics really lack self awareness. Either they are bragging about being cool, which feels deeply uncool. Orrrr they’re not cool and they are do this ironically and are seemingly bitter about not being cool… which also isn’t cool and isn’t going to convince anyone that you deserve to be cool. So ya… because of this stupid final track, I’m rounding down.

I've never really given Janelle's work a shot until now. I knew her as an actor, and as a celebrity who wore eccentric outfits. She was good in Knives out 2 and Moonlight. I knew she was a musician. I remember the hype around her work in the 2010s. But none of that matters right now. The important question is: is it any good? And my answer: not really... but i respect what she's going for. This album is massive. Very ambitious. I think it's a concept album? It's quite impressive. I just... don't really... enjoy it? It's not bad... it just feels sorta sterile? And it's way too long. I got bored. Out of 18 tracks, only one or two piqued my interest. I didn't have time to listen more than once. Perhaps with more listening it might make more of an impact? It definitely wasn't a very immediate album. Things that did stick with me... The lyrics are a bit cheesy? They have a save the world, late career Michael Jackson vibe which didn't really work for me. I like the orchestral interludes. There was a lot of variety in the track list, which was nice... I guess. I recognized Tightrope. I think I heard it in an advertisement years ago or maybe a film. It was solid. I do love Big Boi. The instrumental sounded a bit like that shitty Happy song by Pharrell... but Janelle does a better job with it. Oh, Maker was probably my favourite song on the track. I dig the vocals at the beginning. It sounds expensive. And it definitely has a film score vibe on certain tracks... in a bad way. The closing track fits this to a T. Some cool horns and guitar work throughout the album.

Discovering Van Morrison was a bit of slow burn for me. I remember hearing Brown Eyed Girl as a teen and loving it, but not going further than that. He didn't seem "cool" at the time so I stayed clear. I remember Ross on friends calling Tupelo Honey the most romantic song ever written. I checked it out and found it underwhelming. Fuckin' Ross. And then I saw the movie The Five-Year Engagement with Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, and I’ve been hooked on Van Morrison ever since. He's basically the unofficial composer of that soundtrack. There are 8 Van Morrison songs in that movie, some are covers, many are the man himself. That includes the song Sweet Thing, which plays in the first 5 minutes of the movie. I had never heard that song before and it completely blew me away. It's now my favourite Van Morrison song and I love the album it's on, Astral Weeks. I would be shocked if that album is not on this list. When I go through a breakup, I rewatch that movie and the scene with Sweet Thing playing often makes me cry (note: it's not actually a sad scene). It's a classic for me... and it's not included on this damn live album which is a crime, unless you dig into volumes 2, 3 and 4... then it's there. Note: There are actually 2 versions of Sweet Thing on the extended album, neither do the original justice so maybe it's for the best they weren't included in volume 1. Anyways.... TLDR: I'm a big fan of Van Morrison and I was excited when this album showed up. I have a couple of his albums, but I’d never heard of this one. Apparently it’s a big deal in the world of live albums. I’m actually not typically a fan of live albums. The songs are either too similar to the originals and feel pointless (and often slightly shittier than the studio versions), or they’re different from the original songs in a bad way. Occasionally though there’s a live album with versions of songs that elevate them beyond their original recordings… and I’d say this album has some of that magic, especially on Disc 1. Disc 2 is a bit of a mess though… a few too many extended jam versions of tracks and big long rave-ups that ruin the original songs. A concert only really needs max 2 songs extended like that, one pre-encore and one-post encore, and preferably not back to back. I count 3 on Disc 2 of this album. It’s too much. I’m looking at you Caravan and Cyprus Avenue. Those are classic Van songs and these live versions are just bloated and messy, which is too bad. Van does Caravan live with The Band for The Last Waltz and it’s probably the best performance of the whole movie. It’s electric. It’s incredible. And his sparkly jumpsuit is on-point. Highly recommend. The third of the big rave up songs is Listen to the Lion, and it might be my least favourite song on the whole thing. It almost seems like he’s doing an accent on it? It’s not good. It’s not working. There is also a bluesy numbers that wasn’t for me, Take Your Hand Out of My Pocket. Anyways, enough dumping on Disc 2. It’s not all bad. Bring it on Home to Me is a great cover. He does a good job with Gloria and Here Comes the Night from his old band Them. Hearing the crowd jump in on the chorus of Gloria is great. Parts of are Caravan are good… if you can ignore the band introductions. Saint Dominic’s Preview is fine. Disc 1 though… is pretty amazing. His voice is incredible. He really commands your attention. He’s magnetic. The performances around him are also quite strong. The keys and the horns and the strings are powerful. I love the big band vibe. And… the songs are all under 6 minutes which is a selling feature (see comments on disc 2). There are no bad songs on disc 1, it’s all pretty awesome. Ain’t Nothin’ You Can Do kicks off the album with a bang. I love it. Those horns! Warm Love is delightful. The versions of Into the Mystic, These Dreams of You and Domino are groovier and more dance-y than normal which is great. I Believe to My Soul is high drama. I’ve been Working is hype as hell. Help Me is good bluesy. The piano on Wild Children is very pretty. I Just Want to Make Love to You goes right up the edge of my blues quota without going over. I thoroughly enjoyed Disc 1… I get the hype. If this album were just Disc 1, it’s a 4, maybe a 4.5 for me. On the other hand, Disc 2 on It’s own is a 2 or a 2.5. Thus I’m forced to give it a 3. I really wish they’d cut a bunch of tracks from Disc 2, saved them for the other volumes. This thing has the potential to be a 5/5 with some tweaks. But alas… it’s a lowly 3.

I like The Kinks. I like this album. But I don't love it. And it's not my fault. It's a man named Nathan's fault. Many years ago I was part of a trivia team and that trivia team was 5 guys in their 60s and me. I didn't get a lot of questions right because the trivia was very boomer centric, but it was a good time. It was sort of a ghosts of Christmas future situation, in a good way. They were all music guys who had lived in Toronto since their 20s. I think they saw their past in me and I saw my future in them. It was great and I miss it. Anyways, there was one guy there who had a very hot take and that take was that "The Kinks are better than The Beatles and they deserve the acclaim and respect that society has heaped on The Beatles." No one else at the table seemed to share this opinion, and had already made up their mind that society got it right and The Beatles were in fact better. At the time, I did not know The Kinks that well. At most I knew the hits: You Really Got Me, Lola and Sunny Afternoon. O, and I knew A Well Respected Man because it was on the Juno soundtrack. It also is probably still my favourite Kinks song. I could watch Michael Cera get ready to that song forever. Anyways, my lack of Kinks knowledge left me open to this hot take. I had my doubts but I said okay, i'll give it a go. So he recommended a few albums for me to check out. The one that sticks with me is The Kinds Are the Village Green Preservation Society. It's supposed to be their Sgt. Peppers. I'm not sure that it's better than Peppers, but it is a great album. So then I spent the next month diving into The Kinks, going through all their big albums, testing his claim... and ya, there stuff is good. Great even. I definitely listened to this album at the time. I love Waterloo Sunsets. It's a beautiful pop song. I actually discovered a bunch of great Kinks songs at the time, so I am glad that I listened to Nathan. Butttt they're just not The Beatles damnit. They can't hold up to that comparison. No band can really. It's not fair to The Kinks to have someone listen to their music with that bold ass take looming over them. It's too much pressure. They don't have the hooks, the sonic variety, the relatability, the charisma, the consistency. Nathan was wrong in my books. Society got it right. And now every time I listen to The Kinks, I think about this take and mutter to myself "they're no beatles." And fair or not, that's how I felt about this record. It's no beatles... but it is a solid album. It's pleasant while it's on, it sounds great, there are some catchy tunes... but it just doesn't stick with me. It doesn't help that it came out the same year as Sgt. Peppers and Magical Mystery tour. It just can't compete with those records. Sorry, I must try to consider this album in isolation. I must kill the shadow of the take. So ya, there aren't really any bad songs on this album, but many of them blur into each other. And Waterloo Sunset is just so much better than the rest of the album, it's a supernova swallowing the rest of the album hole (I guess that would make A Day In the Life the big bang allowing this album to exist). There were a few other tracks that stuck with me a bit: Death of a Clown, Two Sisters (this might be my second favourite song on the album, love the organ and the melody on "jealous of her sister") and Harry Rag (has a good baseline, good refrain). The rest are just solid. Maybe it would grow on me over time? I dunno. Side note: A comparison that came to me while listening to the record that's not a pure 1 to 1, but in Brit Pop... Oasis are The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are Blur... which leaves The Kinks as Pulp... the underrated band from that time that has a die hard contingent claiming they are the best band of the genre. I guess that would make You Really Got Me their Common People. Anyways, I hope someday I can put aside The Beatles comparison and just enjoy The Kinks for what they are. But that day is not today. 3 stars.

I want to like this album. I've read the reviews. I've watched Joanna and Andy Sandberg be adorable together. I've consumed harp lady content on youtube. I'm here and ready to like it this damn album as much as i like the orbit of culture swirling around it. But... I just don't get it. It doesn't click with me. I've tried to get into it several times over the years (including today). And I feel nothing. I think i'm actually starting to hate it? Which is the opposite feeling I want. Note: it's no small task checking out this album. It's not on streaming. You have to listen to it on Youtube. In this media landscape, that's insane. Why god won't this album connect with my brain? I've put in the time. I've done the work. I deserve to like this hour long folk harp oddesy... but I just don't. I will say this attempt has given me some clarity on why I kind of hate this album. I'm sad to say... it's her voice. It's grating and sorta childish. I can't handle it. It's like nails on a chalkboard to me most of the time. I can't even engage with the lyrics. I just feel annoyed by the voice. The best I can say about her vocals is that on the final song, Cosmia, there are a few nice refrains that didn't bother me. The rest is rough... especially track 1. On that song, her voice has ice-pick in the ear energy. I don't know how I didn't come to this realization the first 5 times I listened to this album. Perhaps i was blinded by hope and optimism, but now as a crotchety old man i see this thing for what it is... a beautiful folk classical instrumental album with a snotty 10 year old girl ranting over top, bringing down the vibe. What the hell man? I do hope that someday they release an instrumental version of this album. I think it would be a very nice listening experience, very pretty. Fingers crossed. Also, why the hell are the songs so long. There are only 5 damn songs on this thing and it's almost an hour long. That is a lot of pressure to put on 5 songs. I just don't think it works for me. It's probably a 1.5... but i'll give it a 2 for Andy.

It's sorta jazz, sorta big band. It's nice. Very pleasant to have playing in the background. I swear I recognize bits and pieces of it. Some of these songs have definitely been used in movies and television. I didn't find any proof of this on the wikipedia page, but I did learn that this album won the best jazz album at the very first Grammy's. Neat. Honestly, I don't have much to say about this. It's nice while it's on. The horn work is great. It's eerily familiar. It feels like music i already know (reminds me of the music on everybody loves Raymond?). But it also doesn't really grab me. The album played through multiple times and it all sorta blurred together. Maybe the most interesting and attention grabbing thing about the album is the album art. Looks like a real picture of a mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb. Bold choice. Anyways, ya, it's a real solid 3 out of 5 for me.

I like Elvis. When one of his songs hits, it really hits hard. His voice is just so powerful which makes him a great cover artist. But a cover artist is only as good as the songs he's covering... and this album doesn't have many ear-catching tracks for me. The first 3/4 flew by without me noticing. I exited my fugue state when In the Ghetto hit, a song I've always hated. I mean sure, his heart is in the right place... but it's so cringe. I can't take it seriously. But then there's Suspicious Minds which is an amazing Elvis track that i've loved for awhile now (the guitar line is amazing, the rhythm is driving and every vocal line on the track is a hook). It's not my favourite, that might be the live recording of Unchained Melody... so devastating. But Suspicious Minds is a banger and by far the best song on this album. Kentucky Rain and Mama Liked Roses were the only other tracks I enjoyed (well mama was good until the spoken word bridge hit, that never works). There's nothing bad on this album... other than in the Ghetto... but also nothing sticks out to me. It's a shame though, you put this man on the right song and he can really elevate it. His talents are wasted on this material. 2 stars... mainly for Suspicious Minds.

I mean... it's good. I like this album, but I don't love it. I own a copy of it. I've listened to it many times. It's a right of passage for anyone getting into rock music... and i think its deserving of its place in rock music. I can feel its influence in countless albums. I like some of those albums more. I wish i liked this album more. General notes: I like the mix of soft nico tracks and harsh lou tracks. Heroine is amazing... the momentum is incredible. Its a rush. Sunday morning is pretty, love the twinkle I'm waiting for the man is classic driving velvets Love femme fatale. Great nico track. Love the back up vocals too. Run, run, run ... i love the run run run refrain There she goes again is great. Love the vocal interplay. I'll be your mirror is very catchy. Weird it was in an airbnb commercial. I like a lot of tracks... but it doesn't stick with me ... it doesn't hit me the way it hits so many other people. Maybe someday.

It was fine? Pleasant even. It's a neat mix of dance beats, french music, tango and electronica? It was nice while it was on, but I have no memory of any track. It really blurred together into a pleasant blob. At one point I was worried that the album had started over again, but i was on the last song. It was a surprisingly long album of music that sort of sounded all the same. I didn't hate it? It has elevator Muzak energy. But elevated Muzak... so elevator music*? I dunno. 2.5 maybe? I forget.

This is one of those cult albums that doesn't deserve the hype. It's not bad. It's a perfectly solid album. I just don't think it's this buried treasure people claim it to be. It's not consistent enough. The Brian Wilson songs are good... but the rest is a mixed bag. Sometimes the best album is the popular one... the one everyone likes ...cough....Pet Sounds... cough. Sometimes the generic take is just the best take. We don't need to have a hot take on every band. The classic surfy Beach Boys songs are awesome. The Brian Wilson magnum opus is incredible. Both are way better than this album. And that's okay. Let it go Beach Boy hipsters... let it go. And rest in peace Brian Wilson, thanks for all the beautiful music. And thank you to the random algorithm gods who selected a Beach Boys album for the day after Brian's passing. The 4 Brian Wilson tracks on the album are interesting and seemingly very sad (mainly the final 3 tracks). Which makes sense since this album sits after his mental health started to decline (as far as i know - post the smile sessions). A Day In The Life Of a Tree is a very sweet and pretty song about a tree. Love the instrumentation. The pro environment/anti-pollution angle aged very well. 'Til I die (the only song that's fully credited to Wilson) is sad and existential. He is insignificant and then he will die. Aren't we all. It's a downer, but very good. Surf's up is this sprawling, multiphase devastating piano ballad about endings and beginnings (i think anyways). It feels like the end of the surfing 60s era of the band. I love this one falsetto line in the "chorus" in the first half of the track. Haunting. And then there's Take A Load Off Your Feet which is just good silly fun (not sad at all). The rest of the album is a bit of a mixed bag... Don't go near the water is pretty cool. It's a moody, kinda dark beach boys song. Like you were having a bad acid trip and listened to a happy surf beach boys song but it got twisted by the drugs. It's neat. I'm a fan. Long Promised Road is a good, catchy rocker. I'm also a fan. Feel Flows feels like some Beatles worship? It's whatever... and also the most popular song on the album on spotify? Not sure why. Lookin' at tomorrow is fine? Forgettable. Disney Girls is weird... I'm not into it. I don't like. Something off about it. Student Demonstration Time... woof. Are they sort of siding against the Vietnam protesters on this song? It seems like they're saying... ya that happened, and it was dangerous and people should stay away... but ya there's problems in America, but don't get involved in a riot.. how dare they say mean things about cops... and those cops shouldn't have shot them... but they shouldn't have been there in the first place. A weird bad guys on both sides take here. Did not age well. I'm gonna blame Mike Love... his conservative values are well documented... he had them play one of the Trump inaugurations (Brian Wilson did not attend) [googled it and he did write this shit track]. It also kinda sounds like Revolution by the beatles or some other Lennon blues rock song... but way shittier. Fuck Mike Love. The wrong Beach Boy died the yesterday... that's all I'll say.

I’m not exaggerating. This might be the worst album I’ve ever heard. I never want to experience it again. And I will never watch the movie. I actually think all copies of it should be burned. And the google data centre floating in the middle of the ocean that holds the digital version of this abomination should be allowed to sink to the bottom of the sea as a mercy killing. I can't fucking believe this album is on the list of 1001 albums you need to listen to before you die. The only possible reason I can think of is that it’s the last album in the book and it’s accompanied by the following disclaimer: Save this album for the day of your demise. Once you have finished listening, you will no longer fear death. In comparison to the 74 minutes of Tommy (AKA the 7 circles of hell), death will be a breeze. You will look forward to it, because it will mean no longer living on the same plain of existence as this abhorrent piece of “music.” You’re welcome. It goes without saying that this is a strong 0 out 5 for me. I don’t think this system allows you to give a 0. I believe a 1 is the lowest you can give, which is total bullshit. Before this album, if someone asked me if I was a fan of The Who, I’d have said “sure, I like the big songs.” And now my answer is hell fucking no. I can’t support any artist willing to put their fanbase through an atrocity like this (and make a movie of it). It’s boring, self indulgent, offensive, never-ending, gaudy, unmemorable, pathetic, pretentious and more. I’m torn between continuing to rant about what I hate about this thing or just ending the review now because it doesn’t deserve another millisecond of my time. I think I could write a thesis on how awful this thing is. This album deserves to be the star on the Christmas tree of reasons why we shouldn’t worship 20 year old boys like they’re gods just for making a few catchy songs. 20 year old boys who are treated like gods may start to believe they are in fact gods. And when people believe they are gods, they start to think that every stupid little idea that pops into their under-developed brains is brilliant and worth being invested in financially and shared with the world. Or in the case of Tommy unleashed on this world like a plague that has humanity questioning whether or not we should allow humans to make art at all if there’s a chance of something like this being created. Things I hate about it: 
I was driving while listening to it. It made the idea of sitting in silence for 2 hours in stand still traffic on the 401 seem alluring, heavenly even. “Tommy can you hear me” in Christmas made me laugh out loud in a bad way. So fucking stupid. Underture being 10 minutes long??? At first I was like, “o, without the lyrics, maybe this album is tolerable.” And then it went on and on and on and on. Holy shit. I thought it would never end. I felt physical relief when it was over. Cheesy/shit songs: It’s a boy, 1921, Cousin Kevin, The Acid Queen, Sally Simpson, Tommy’s Holiday Camp. The rest are either disturbing or dull or some combination of the two. The theatrical delivery of some of the lyrics on this album was goofy and awful. I want to un-hear it. So many short, unsatisfying songs that probably make more sense when accompanied by the film but also… fuck that. The sequence of Do you think it’s alright?, Fiddle about and Pinball Wizard might be the worst 3 song run in the history of music. The first 2 are about Tommy being molested by his Uncle Ernie and then it’s a hard cut to a song about how great Tommy is at Pinball. I guess they cut the song where Tommy deals with the trauma of this very upsetting experience. Probably for the best. I don’t think I could have endured a 25th track. I used to think Pinball Wizard was “fine.” Of the big Who songs, it was not my favourite, but it was inoffensive to me. Now hearing it in the context of the album, it’s horrific. I think that radio stations should have to play the other two songs first before playing Pinball Wizard to give the audience the true Tommy experience. I don’t think it’d be the classic rock radio staple it is today and that would be a gift to society. I can’t unhear this now. I will dodge Pinball Wizard like the plague from now on. Using the phrase “deaf, dumb and blind kid” as a refrain throughout the album just feels offensive the more I hear it. Just because Tommy is the first rock opera, doesn’t automatically make it good. Lots of things that were “first” were bad. Would you want to use the first cell phone or computer? Watch the first movie? I doubt it. I’d even argue rock operas in general aren’t great. There are definitely more bad ones than good ones. 74 minutes is long for any album. For Tommy, it felt more like 5 hours. Musical purgatory if you will. The final song on this album brings back lyrics and musical elements from several songs in the tracklist as if this is a stage musical. But on Tommy it feels a bit like someone vomited, ate the vomit and then threw it up again. What specifically bothered me was a refrain that references the molestation sequence on the record. The refrain was: We foresake you, gonna rape you. I will not explain why I was bothered by this. I think the quote speaks for itself. I don’t think they wrote lyrics for this album. Instead they just wrote a long rambling story and put it to music. They didn’t tweak that story so it fit that music or feel like song lyrics, they just left it as is, first draft. I kept waiting for a song on this album to be good. It has 24 tracks. They can’t all be bad right? It’s statistically unlikely. And yet… they did it. It’s an accomplishment really. The closest thing to a “good” track was probably Pinball Wizard but again due to sequencing it is now unforgivable. There is not a single track on this album that stuck with me in a good way. Normally when I encounter a double album, I come up with a single album track list that cuts the filler, but that’s not really possible here. I guess my cutdown would just be Overture. It’s an instrumental, so none of the nonsense bullshit, cheesy lyrics. And since it’s the first song on the album, you aren’t yet bored or disturbed by the musical motifs being introduced. Things I like about it:

It’s over and I never have to experience it again 
I guess John Entwistle’s bass playing was solid. That’s all I got.

I like Thin Lizzy. I think they are an underrated band. I love the hits (The boys are back in town, dancing in the moonlight and Jailbreak). I like some deep cuts (Emerald specifically is awesome). I actually got into them through a cover of Emerald by the band Mastodon. Great cover. Just a great Irish band. Butttt i just don't care about 99% of live albums and this one fits in that 99%. These are very accurate, well performed versions of Thin Lizzy songs... and they're just 2% shittier than the original studio versions. I don't see the point. I did chuckle when he told that pickup line to the whole audience... maybe it was a new pick line at that time. Who knows. The singer does sound quite good live. The guitars are good live. I still am just left with an overall shrug. I'm sure in person is was awesome... but i'm not there.... so it's a 2.5 for me.

When this album came up, I was excited. It's Zeppelin... I love Zeppelin... I know this album... I like this album... right? I've now listened to it 3 times and i feel pretty neutral on it. I don't hate it. But maybe i've outgrown it? 16 year old me really did enjoy this album. Maybe not as much as Led Zeppelin 4... but i do remember liking this one. And now I feel a general shrug. The guitar work is impressive... the riffs are iconic. There's a good amount of variety in the track list... it's rarely boring. The drum work is amazing (of course). The bass is coool. The lyrics are.... something. I always forget how dirty Whole Lotta Love is (it's jarring when you listen too close). I find the less I think about he lyrics on this album, the better. I really don't have many bad things to say about this album. And I have said some good things... but i'm almost numb to them? Maybe i've just been overexposed to Zeppelin over the years and they no longer feel special to me. Some of these songs have been on the radio my entire life and in movies and media, plus i had a Zeppelin phase in high school where I listened a lot. I just don't feel excited by them anymore... at least not this album. The only exception being the ending rave up bit on Lemon Song and Ramble On. Those 2 parts still rock. I'm now realizing that whenever I listen to Zeppelin these days it's normally late career stuff like Over the Hills and far away OR D'yer Mak'er or fool in the rain (my fav zeppelin song). Maybe the early stuff is just not for me anymore. Anyways, this album feels like a 2.5... but for nostalgia, i'll go 3.

It was fine? Chill? Spanish/French reggae... with some sort of digital beats? The songs really blended together in a nice way. It just had a nice chill vibe. But didn't really stick with me. I think i preferred the songs that were not in english. The bongo song did not impress me. I liked not knowing what he was saying. I think he's pro Marijuana? I gathered that from the Spanish. I bet he's happy with the legalization movements. I hope he's doing well. He seems like a nice chill individual, who made a perfectly fine album. A real 2.5 album. But i'll bump it to 3 for the vibes.

Incubus? Really? We all really need to hear Incubus before we die? ... are you sure 1001 album gods? I dunno about that. I think my life would have been just fine without hearing this album, maybe even better. I actually predict this album will have a negative impact on the trajectory of my life. So thanks a lot 1001 records... look at what you've done. So, ya... I really didn't like this. It's moody post-grunge with hints of hip hop and nu metal. It's as bad as that genre mashup sounds. O and the cherry on top of this shit sundae of an album: cheesy record scratches sprinkled throughout the track list. What a choice. I must say I'm really baffled by the significance of this album and band. Is this the peak of the post-grunge genre? And thus it's included on this list to have that genre represented? That must be the reason. Or maybe they're massive and relevant in America? I dunno. They didn't seem that big here when I was growing up or maybe I just missed the boat. I know the radio singles that still get airplay and I remember enjoying a late career song from them called Megalomaniac that got a lot of play on much music. Honestly, that song was better than most of this album, but apparently that's a hot take. I consulted an Incubus fan and I was told that Megalomaniac is from a bad album and is not considered classic material. But I have a feeling that the Incubus fanbase doesn't have the best taste in music... but that's obvious from the phrase "incubus fanbase." Thank god for the song Drive or else I'd probably have given this a one. It holds up well. It's a good song for alternative rock radio. It's for sure this album's saving grace.

This album is a lot. Very jazzy... but also kind of abrasive and overwhelming. It's certainly not smooth. It's more of a sprawling epic assault... in a good way. It constantly moves between genres and tempos and moods... building up and crashing back down. Some parts feel like the soundtrack to a Hitchcock film. Some bits feel like they're strait out of film noir. Some passages are purely latin acoustic guitar. And that list of 3 doesn't even scratch the surface of the variety on this album. But somehow it still feels very cohesive? It's a lot to digest in 1 or 2 listens. There is so much going on. I need more time with it. I have a feeling this one will grow on me. The second listen already made more sense than the first. Side note: I can definitely feel the influence of this album on genres outside of jazz. Any sort of rock, punk, post-rock or prog album with weird abrasive sax owes this album a shoutout.

I'm glad this album finally hit for me. I tried it a few years ago and was underwhelmed. But now I get it and I'm even more mad that John and Paul were such dicks to George in the later years of the Beatles. I swear in that let it be documentary there's an audio clip of Paul calling George's songs shitty right to his face. Brutal. They even rejected some great songs that ended up on this album. Those fuckers rejected Wah-wah and Isn't it a pity (i assume he put it on the album twice just for Paul) and All things must pass. 3 beautiful tracks that woulda been great on a later Beatles album. All this to say, I am not normally forgiving of artists doing double albums... but for George, after years of being told no, I kind of get why he threw everything at this. He was finally allowed to do his own thing and decide which songs were good enough for the album and the answer was all of them. Sure... would I cut some from the middle? Definitely. There's no bad songs really, just songs that kill the momentum of the album (Beware of Darkness, Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp, I'd have you anytime). But I get why George kept every track on this album... spite. And I can respect that. And for me, it works for the most part. It’s a really beautiful record… maybe the best double album we’ve hit so far. Thoughts on the album: This thing even has a third disk that was a bonus pack in with the original record called Apple Sauce. It has these random long jams with him and Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker (i think) etc? I listened to it too and it was pretty fun. The highlight though is definitely It's Johnny's Birthday. It's apparently a birthday song to John Lennon for his 30th. What a strange and deranged birthday song. It sounds like they’re gradually speeding up the tape. It sounds psychedelic and sinister. Really cool. Harrison really sells religion hard on this and he’s damn good at it. As an atheist, he has me intrigued. He makes god seem almost romantic. Perhaps it’s because he speaks about his partner as if she’s a god that he’s devoted to. Well he’s really selling love and god very well. Behind that locked door - feels like the first alt country song. If not for you - feels like a Traveling Wilburys track, which i dig The run of My Sweet Lord, Wah-Wah, Isn't it a pity (V1) and What is Life is incredible. Just 4 amazing songs. Makes it hard for other parts of the album to compete. Some great deep cuts: apple scruff (great dylan-y folk track with some awesome harmonica), run of the mill (the chorus feels so beatles and it's amazing), awaiting on you all (great church song - this is what christian rock wishes it was - but i guess since it's George, it's Hindu rock?) All things must pass and isn't it a pity (v2) are also great. I think i even like v2 better than v1. Whoever is running George's spotify needs to get their shit together. One version of this album puts some of the bsides in the middle of the album and totally breaks up the flow. The 50 year anniversary version is much better with how it's organized and with the mixes.

It's The Smiths for Tears for Fears fans. It's The Smiths for people already in love. It's The Smiths for optimists. It's The Smiths for people too into the 80s. It's The Smiths for people who voted for Reagan. It's The Smiths for Americans. It's The Smiths for normies. It's The Smiths but mid. It's The Smiths but less problematic... hopefully. It's The Smiths but not The Smiths. It's The Smiths for people who hate Morrissey. It's The Smiths without a sense of humour. It's The Smiths for people who get what they want every time.

That was a lot of instrumental dance music... trip-hop maybe? I swear at one point they were remixing the James Bond theme song? Overall... it was cool. It pleasant on the ears. Easy to work to. Maybe it would hit way harder on a dance floor in the 90s on MDMA? But turning my kitchen into a dance floor and doing some MDMA on a Wednesday just didn't seem feasible, so i remain underwhelmed, but positive. It's a solid 2.5 for me. But i'll give it a 3 because it's a good work album.

The lyrics are saying drugs are bad, but the vibes are saying do drugs and dance to this album. Definitely found myself bopping my head to this one. Love the instrumentals. Love the vibes. Very warm. Needed more time with it.

I have come to terms with my R.E.M. situation. I get it now. Well.. not it... i mean me. I get me now. I just hate the man's voice. It does matter if he's singing an indie rock classic or a politically charged deep cut, i don't care for the man's voice. I tried. I really did. I've been trying for 20 years. His voice just doesn't click for me. Its annoying. I don't want to listen to him spew out his own version of we didn't start the fire. It's just plain annoying. I'm done with this band.

This was more interesting than I was expecting? I was expecting something more conventional from one of the biggest pop records of the 80s. But it's big and strange and ambitious. It's so 80s but not in a cheesy way. It's very well produced and the sounds are very of that time, but it ages weirdly well. It's more stark, moody and haunting 80s vs a shimmery fake optimistic 80s. I only had time for 1 listen, but I'll definitely check it out again. Weirdly I think i have a copy of this on vinyl from my parents who gave me their sparse collection. General thoughts... The three hits are great (shout, everybody wants to rule the world and head over heals). No complaints. I know head over heals from Donnie Darko, might be my favourite of the 3. So good. Also these songs are weirdly long for 80s pop hits, but it works. They don't feel long. The deep cuts didn't grab me on first listen, except for Broken. I dig that instrumental and how it teases Head over heels. The other 4 are a bit all over the place. Not bad. Not boring. Interesting even. I need to give them more time. The ending did stick out to me... very ambitious. Not what i was expecting from a pop record. Is this new wave? I dunno. I respect the restraint on the track list. 8 tracks is bold, and one of them's basically an instrumental interlude. And yet 3 of the 8 are huge hit songs. I originally clicked on the big anniversary version of the album and holy shit they cut a bunch of a material. They even cut the song called The Big Chair. They were really ruthless in cutting this album down to the core tracks. I wonder if that was driven by the 2 of them or by the record label? Who knows. I like that approach though to an album. Even if you get it wrong and cut something good, you can release it as a b-side... The Smiths approach. It's better to have an album that leaves people wanting more than one that has the audience wondering when it's finally gonna end. Wow... this thing sounds expensive as hell. Like a film score to every sad 80s teen movie combined.

Sigh. Why the hell is this album on this list? I don't get it. It's dog shit. At least Tommy was the first at something. It's hard for me to understand how this thing was ever culturally significant. It essentially sounds like a record executive saw the college rock radio scene making the jump to the mainstream (see R.E.M.) and thought "hmmm can we pull together a soulless, cheesy, pop rip off of that and sell it to boring people? I dunno, but we're gonna try." And that's essentially this album. It's R.E.M. but worse.... and i really don't like R.E.M., but at least I can respect them. This album is disrespectful to my ears. Sigh. I also hear shades of Big Star but filtered through 90s adult contemporary and that makes me feel very sad. The sound is soooo lame and the lyrics are just awful. Weather with you? Dumb. Four Seasons In One Day? Also dumb. Italian Plastic? Very dumb. The only song i recognized is Fall At Your Feet. I remember hearing it on the radio while channeling surfing and quickly moving on because it sounded deeply uncool, and as a teen it was important to not be caught listening to deeply uncool music. And sure, in hindsight some of the music i avoided as a teen is actually good and i was letting this idea of "coolness" get in the way of my own happiness, but in this case teenage Terrence was spot on. The only redeemable song on this whole thing is "I'm Still Here", the secret bonus track at the end of the album. It's rowdy and weird and a little punk? This one minute track has more personality than the rest of the album combined. I burst out laughing when it came on. I was imagining the U.S. government using this album to torture POWs in Guantanamo (probably people who don't deserve to be there) and then the silence of the last song hits and the poor POW thinks "thank god that album is over, i couldn't take one more second of it, I'm never going to tell these Americans anything"... but then the singer comes barreling back through the speakers with the refrain "i'm still here" like a poltergeist with unfinished business left on earth and then the POW just starts screaming "i'll tell you whatever you want, just make it stop." Sigh. I always thought that Crowded House were a one hit wonder and I fucking love that hit. Don't Dream It's Over is a beautiful song. I could listen to it every damn day. It is a hundred times better than everything on this fucking album. I wish they had just quit after their debut. Woulda saved me from wasting 48 minutes of my life this dog shit album. That is time that i'll never get back.

I really don't think this is how this music was meant to be consumed. I bet no one even sat through this album in full in it's heyday. Instead you heard tracks from this thing mixed into a DJ set while you're at a rave in Norfolk in 1995, high as fuck and dancing your face off while dressed like a character from Trainspotting as god intended. And i bet that's how Goldie intended it too. He did not intend for me to listen to all 2 hours of this thing while putzing around my kitchen, sober as fuck, not dancing in 2025. It's just not the right way to consume this music... so it's hard to give it a fair rating. I also think having the tracks cut and mixed in with other 90s dance tracks would do a lot to improve the experience. There is a lot of long tracks that are very similar. I bet in a good DJ set these 10 minute tracks get cut down to short 3 minute bursts before transitioning to other songs. I could see how this could be a 5 star experience in the right context... again high as fuck in '95, dancing your face off. But right now... it my current state it's more of a 2 star experience. There are some cool tracks on this thing. The driving break beats are good. It's a good album to work to and sort of get lost in. I do think it's at its best with minimal vocals. There was one track near the start that had a ton of female vocals and i fuckin' hated it... but it was all up from there. It does blur together though... which is fine? The best I can say is after hearing this album I am interested in going to a 90s British rave night. I think that would be a good time. Side note: hideous album cover. 0/5 stars. What were they thinking?

This was... boring? I was expecting to really hate this thing. But I don't. It just bores me. It's just a waste of time. It wants to be seen as this abrasive, edgy, weird counterculture piece of art... but it's just not. Fred Durst wants to be polarizing. He wants you to either hate his music and think he's the devil orrrr love him and praise him for being an edgy, misunderstood, innovative outsider. Both perspectives support his narrative and relevance. But the truth is this record is far too boring for hate or love. I shrug in its general direction. The cover art and the song hot dog made me think "this thing is going to be weird as hell". Made me think "is this gonna be some wacky Mr. Bungle shit?" But then you listen to the full record and realize it's just angsty sad boy incel pop music cosplaying as edgy revolutionary rap rock. It does not upset me. I felt nothing. And that's why i'm going to give it a 2. It's not interesting enough to be a 1. It doesn't inspire enough hatred to be a 1. It's just mediocre pop music with a garish aesthetic and a few curse words. Other thoughts: Bold call referencing closer by nine inch nails in the chorus of hot dog. Closer is wayyyyy too good for durst. Also, bold call referencing my generation by The Who with the stuttering. I now hate The Who but I still respect their song more than this beige wall piece of shit. Bargain bin spy music guitar? I think limp bizkit's popularity is similar to Trump's popularity. Both say the quiet parts loud. They take the dark thoughts of their fans, the thoughts their fans would be ashamed to say out loud and broadcast them to the world and say "it's okay to feel those bad thoughts, those bad thoughts aren't actually bad and fuck anyone who tells you otherwise... don't grow, don't improve, be an asshole, be cruel, it's okay... i'm right there with you." Trump did this with racism and xenophobia. Durst did it with misogyny and incel bullshit. Rollin' is pretty fun. It works at a 90s night. I don't hate it. There are some hooks on this thing? A lot of effort was put into having this thing be catchy on some level. Again more proof of it not being this edgy album it claims to be. Hideous album cover... but i think that was intended. I think the outro proves my point about how important he thinks he is. Between his statements on starting rap metal and the choice to waste 10 minutes of his fans life with that nonsense, he is definitely one arrogant motherfucker. I swear at some point it turned into just a loop of laughing and farts. This might be the only emotion inducing track on the album... and that emotion is anger. Does that make "outro" performance art? I hope not. I don't think they created nu metal... if i'm not mistaken it was Korn who created this sound and limp bizkit just made it pop. Almost like Korn was punk and bizkit was pop punk.

This was quite boring. I thought for a second this was the polarizing flop U2 record from the 90s (Zooropa) and for that single second, I was intrigued. Sadly, I was mistaken. This is one of their big "significant" hit records and it's pretty fucking dull. Most of it has already left my brain. The 2 hits on this thing are a mixed bag. I am a little ashamed to admit that I do love One. It's GenX Imagine and it just works for me... but i understand why people hate it. Mysterious ways on the other hand...sigh... it kinda sucks. I've never liked it, but it did stick out as better and more interesting than the rest of the album, which isn't saying much. The only other track that had an interesting vibe was the closer... very moody and emotional rather than sterile radio rock sludge present on every other track. This album really fits under the too boring to hate category so it's a solid 2 for me. I do have an aside though about the lyrics.... The man loves using the word and talking about love. But in my head, Bono was a peace in love hippy guy (see One). After this record, he seems more like a sad lover boy toxic nice guy character. I didn't dig into the lyrics on this album for the most part... but the general vibe is he loves these women but they don't love him back or he's going to help these women but they don't need him and that makes him sad... and it gives me the ick. I don't like his energy around women and love at all. It also makes his big peace and love generalizations feel hollow when juxtaposed with these other tracks. On the track Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World, I thought he figured out that women don't need his shit when he dropped the line "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." I was impressed. It's a great line. Then i googled it and it turns out it's a famous feminist slogan, and Bono deserves zero credit. Then i dug into the lyrics and i don't know if i'm reading it right but i came up with 2 different interpretations. One makes Bono seem like a real asshole and one is normal famous guy shit. I'll do the neutral one first. IN that interpretation, he's trying to throw his arms around the world as an artist, but that leaves him with nothing left for love and makes it very hard for someone to date him and for him to be there as a partner but he tries (i'm gonna run to you [...] woman be still). I suppose the Dali verse contributes to this as perhaps he was another artists who neglected his personal life for his art. The Bono's an asshole take would be that feminism/women are trying to throw their arms around the world and it's a frustrating, all-consuming and fruitless endeavour trying to change things. But don't worry, Bono is gonna run to them, comfort them, be there for women... they just need to be still. I dunno. Maybe it's the fame one but i still don't like Bono's vibe on this album. His lyrics are just not good and made me like him even less than I did before.

This was definitely an improvement on Document, but I still feel underwhelmed by this band. R.E.M. are supposed to be this iconic alternative rock band... but outside of the hits, it just sounds like hipster soft rock. It's almost like this band is for people who are too afraid to listen to punk or anything remotely abrasive, but also don't want to be seen as a mainstream and basic. That's not them, they're alternative and intellectual... and that's where R.E.M. swoops in to save the day and give them exactly what they need to feel cultured and respectable, alternative lefty pop rock and with a hug. I guess... good for them? But it's just not for me. Side note: It's strange. There really is no edge here that i can find. Not much musically interesting for me to hold onto. Perhaps it's in the lyrics (i'm guessing leftist politics)? But that would take more listens and reading that i'm just not willing to do for this band. Positives: The production does a lot to soften Michael Stipe's voice, which was a big sticking point for me on Document. I hated his voice on that album. I actually like his voice on this record. It works. I love Man on the Moon. Might be my all time favourite R.E.M. song. It's catchy, specific... a very interesting pop song. And it inspired that solid Andy Kaufman Jim Carrey movie. The one where Jim lost his mind going method. Kinda seemed like he was just being a dick though, but still a good movie. Everybody Hurts is okay. A little cheesy, but in the right mood it hits. I enjoyed New Orleans Instrumental No.1... probably the most interesting song musically on the whole album. I wish there was more stuff like this. I really enjoyed Nightswimming. Outside of Man on the moon, it's probably my favourite song on this album. I kind of wish it was the closer. Find the River is a solid track (actually kind of felt like a Neil Young track), but I'd swap the 2 in the track list to end on Nightswimming. When i put this album on in the background while working, it was very pleasant. A good vibe. Negatives: When I played it in headphones and it was my soul focused, I found myself bored outside of the songs listed above. I found a majority of the songs pretty bland. There aren't any bad songs, just a lot of middle of the road alternative pop rock. So i guess this album is better the less you pay attention to it? Eeeek. Ultimately, I want to give this a 2.5, but i'll round up to 3 because it deserves more than documents and Man on the moon is a banger.

Now this album deserves to be on this list. It feels way ahead of its time. If you told me this was some genz bedroom producer into 90s nostalgia, folk, early hip hop and hyper pop, i'd believe it. The chaotic production, the genre fusions, the beats, the rap-rock... it's very 2020s. The fact this came out in 96 is wild. Now i get why he won a late career "we're sorry we ignored you in your prime" grammy. The production and instrumentals are a strong 4 from me. I love the variety, the energy, the agression, the grooves. Beck is mashing together so many influences, it shouldn't work... but he pulls it off. It's punk, it's folk, its r&b, its funk, its hip hop, its psych rock, its dance music. Its more. The elephant in the room is... beck's vocal performance. Sometimes it matches the energy and creativity of the production, sometimes it feels lazy and lifeless. I dig his singing and screaming, anything where he puts energy into it. I'm not into his lazy rap/spoken word shit... it's kind of boring and gets overshadowed by the production. Highlights where the vocals and production came together: Minus - love the dance punk energy and the screams High 5 - is 90s meets 2020s rap rock in the best way - i love the chaos - getting a good rapper to help beck adds so much Ramshackle - a really pretty little acoustic song. Great almost closer Sissyneck: feels like a mix of 60s country rock and hip hop, so cool. Also makes me think of elvis? There are more great tracks but i must sleep. Ultimately i'm torn on how much to punish the score because of his vocals. I think they will gorw on me, but right now i'm feeling a 3.5. Because of the inovation and influence, i'm gonna round up.

This album is the epitome of a mixed bag. When it's good, it's really good. But when it's bad, it is quite bad. My honest rating is probably a 2.5 but in this rigid system of whole numbers, i'm torn about whether to go up or down with the rating. Why go down? Well... on several tracks, Nick Cave doesn't seem that interested in editing himself or honing his stories or sticking to a damn rhyme scheme etc. And that leads to some really really long songs and some really low moments for the listener. This album is at it's worst when it completely gives itself over to his rambling, improvised nonsense. It almost feels like some of these were one takers... or he wrote the story on paper and was committed to putting that story to the music whether it made sense or not. There are some poetic lines... but there are also a lot of blunt, unpleasant, mediocre lines. I love a good story track... but the story needs to be satisfying and have momentum and have a good rhythm to it. He really struggles with that. The opening 2 tracks are pretty brutal. O'Malley's Bar just can't hold interest for 14 minutes... it's fine for a bit but eventually I got bored. Even on a track I do really like, The Curse of Millhaven, he goes on like 2 minutes too long. Another issue I have is with one of the female vocalists.... Kylie Minogue does not work on this album. Any songs she's on, she drags it down for me, especially Where the Wild Roses Grow. That even includes the closer. I like the song at the core of the track but the mix of vocalists is just a mess. I wish Nick Cave sang that on his own... woulda been more of a highlight. Why go up? I love the concept of this thing. A collection songs telling stories about murder and outlaws... that intrigues me. And it's a big swing, which i like. I like that this album is weird and wild and ambitious and arrogant. It tries something and even though it doesn't always land, it goes for it and I find that admirable. It's better to make art that people hate than make art that people are indifferent to. For me, i felt hate and love towards this album. It's very interesting. And I was never bored. I also like the spooky, goth country vibes/aesthetic. His voice is very at home in it and it works for me. And I think when he reigns himself in and delivers a song of reasonable length with choruses and everything, he does a great job. I love Henry Lee with PJ Harvey (great, catchy little chorus), might be my favourite song on the album. Lovely Creature is haunting and driving. The Kindness of Strangers is a great piano ballad. Love the name (refrain) Marry Bellows. Makes me want to be in a room full of cigarette smoke. And then there's The Curse of Millhaven. If this thing was cut down a few minutes, it would be by far my favourite track. I love the driving bass and beat, the country rockabilly energy, the punk freakout at the beginning, the organ in the background and that la la la refrain is incredible. It just didn't need to be 8 minutes long damnit. 5 would have been perfect. Damnit Nick! You fucked it up. Anyways... I'm gonna round up... in spite of Nicky Cave.

Hmmm I found myself enjoying several individual tracks, but as an album it felt somewhat... disjointed? There's a little bit of everything on this, which typically is my thing, but here it felt sorta inauthentic. It almost felt like Blur were taking a step back from the brit pop explosion for the first time and realizing “wow there’s a lot of other cool music going on right now, we don’t have to just do brit pop, we can do other shit”… and then they tried a little bit of everything on this album. So there's a Portishead track and a Radiohead track (theme from retro for sure) and a Kinks track (look inside America has strong kinks energy) and more. Some of it works better than others? I’ve never really been a big trip hop fan (I really don’t get Portishead), so those inclusions were a bit lost on me (I’m looking at you Essex dogs, all 8 minutes of you). The Radiohead influence I actually found quite jarring. This thing came out after the bends and before Ok computer, but certain melodies and instrumental choices felt very The bends/creep inspired. I mean I’m sure Blur was an influence on Radiohead in some way since Blur was the bigger band at the time. But the darker/moodier melodies and guitar tones felt very Radiohead. And they did it so accurately that it felt distracting at points. Took me out of the experience. To be clear though, I did enjoy this album overall. The song writing is great. There’s some really catchy stuff here. I can feel the influence of this album on many future rock albums. And I can feel Albarn creeping towards the gorillaz sound which I think is perhaps the “final form” of these early experiments. This album is way more interesting than every oasis album, which doesn’t say much but what’s a blur review without a reference to Oasis. I love and respect that they are experimenting with their sound and taking a ton of swings on this thing rather than just doubling down on their britpop stuff. Not that there’s anything wrong with that stuff. It just seems that the band is saying through this album, we’ve done that sound and we don’t have anything more to say with it and we want to do something different… and I think that’s a hard realization to have and pursue. So I really respect that. Perhaps with more listens, the album of it all will come together in my mind. For now I kinda just want to take the tracks I love and stick em in a playlist. It’s a 3.5 for me but I’m going to round down. Stuff I liked….
 Beetlebum - love the falsetto chorus, great track Song 2 - it’s an all time grunge, alt rock banger. Weirdly I was introduced to it through an MCR cover, which still rocks. The original is the superior version of course. Plus, it’s one of those great examples of art meant as satire that was ultimately taken literally and loved unironically…. which always makes me laugh. Country Sad Ballad Man - some nice slacker rock, has pavement vibes with a hint of country 
 You’re so great - just a sweet, catchy little acoustic track. Loved it. Might be my new favourite Blur song. Chinese Bombs - great punk track. Almost felt like Arctic Monkeys before Arctic Monkeys.

This is a tough one. I love the instrumentals on this album. There's so much variety. So many great beats and style switch-ups and catchy little bits. They use some very inventive samples and cool live instrument bits. It's all genuinely great. And kept me entertained for the full hour. But holy shit, i hate them as rappers. Their flow is like a woodpecker hammering my eardrum until there's nothing left but a bloody socket. Especially when they're trading off lines between the 3 of them... that shit is cursed. It's so fucking annoying. It feels like a lonely island sketch, in a bad way. I honestly think i'd rather listen to sandberg do his beastie boys impression than the real thing. Their flow is terrible and repetitive. I don't get it. I know they're known for being influential new york rappers, but honestly the tracks where they go in a rock direction and do more singing/shouting, are wayyyy better. The hardcore tracks on this are highlights. Even sabotage with it's sing-song rap style works so much better (and i am so sick of this song, but vocally it was a highlight). Anything that deviates from their horrible dated 90s rip rippety rap flow, is a welcome change to my ears. I honestly wish there was an instrumental version of this record. ORRRR i think a bunch of better rappers should take the instrumentals from this album and do something else with them. I think there is potential for a great rap record here... you just need to mute the beastie boys. But damn... they are good producers. They should be making beats for other rappers.... anyone other than themselves. It's honestly crazy that they are seen as great rappers. i don't get it. I know they started as a hardcore punk band... maybe they shoulda stuck to that lane. I think they're pretty good at it. But sadly that's not the universe we live in. Highlights: Tough Guy - hardcore track Sabotage - reluctantly it's good Sabrosa - cool instrumental The Update - a track with rapping i actually liked. It had a different slower vibe and flow. I enjoyed it. Reminded me of a ween track. Futterman's Rule - another cool instrumental Eugene's Lament - cool weird experimental string based instrumental Heart Attack Man - cool hardcore punk track - they're good at this style. it's abrasive but catchy. Shambala - i like the gregorian chant sample? Neat. Low-lights: Any track where they rapped a lot.

That was pure Jazz. Great piano. Great Sax. Great drums. Went by in a bit of a warm blur. Sorta reminded me of the peanuts soundtrack in a good way. This album probably was an influence on the Vince Guaraldi trio (side note: Guaraldi had an incredible moustache and only paid the other 2 musicians $50-ish for their work on those iconic tracks. Great moustache... bad dude. I hope Thelonious Monk paid all the players on this album.).Anyways... i need more time with this to have more to say about it. I did enjoy it. But I can't give a specific reason why. I think i need to put together a playlist of all these great jazz records i've listened to as part of this challenge and revisit them later on when I have more time to dig into them. 3 stars.

A tiny part of me wishes I was in a place where I could better understand this album... but the rest of me is quite glad that I'm not. You can feel the anger and bitterness and frustration on ever single song of this record. If you were in that state of mind as a listener, I bet it would be very cathartic and validating... but i'm just not in that place right now. I get it from a distance... Men are trash and dating is fucking awful. Hard to disagree with that. But I don't feel in it in the way she is feeling it and that leaves me feeling disconnected from the album. I really respect how personal and direct and specific the lyrics on these songs are. It feels like I'm reading her diary. I can also image how wild this would have been in 93 to hear a woman being so blunt and honest about dating and sex. I bet without this album, there's no Jagged little pill. Hard not to see this as an influence on Alannis. And really this thing influenced a shit ton of female singer songwriters. I hear this in mitski and many more, which is really cool. An issue i have with the album, separate from my disconnect, is it's a bit long and instrumentally monotonous? The lyrics are the star here, i get that. But i find the instrumentals often very similar. And the production has that shiny REM alt rock vibe that lacks grit - i'm not a fan of it. I don't think this would bother me at all if i was more connected with the storytelling. I do think though she coulda cut a few tracks... 14 woulda been enough. Overall... this lands at about a 2.5. I respect it, but i don't connect with it strongly. I'm probably going to round down because ultimately it's just not for me. Songs I liked.... Fuck and Run - heck of a refrain, great alt rock track Flowers - graphic minimalist acapella track - very interesting Canary - bleak little piano song, i dig it - a good change of pace Soap Star Joe - good little bitter driving rock track

The Yardbirds are a strange case. Three members of this band are now considered the some of the best, most influential guitarists of all time... but for music they wrote with other bands (Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck). Their later work really overshadowed The Yardbirds... and i kind of get why based on this album. It's not bad, it's just not distinct. It feels like generic 60s blues/psych/hard rock. It feels sooooo 60s, unmistakably 60s. In my mind, there's a huge pile of bands that sound just like this. The piss off is for the yardbirds is that they were the originators of this sound if i'm not mistaken... but then it was so influential and copied that it became cliche. I think this hurt their ability to become timeless like other more unique bands of the time (many of whom ripped them off, i'm looking at you The Doors). If you wanted to pick a cartoonishly 60s song for a movie scene, you could go with the Yardbirds. I could see Austin Powers dancing like a buffoon to their music. Anyways... enough about them in general... is this album any good? Ya, it's pretty good. I listened in Mono as the Beck intended. They're all great musicians (the bassist especially rocks... some really cool bass lines). The generic 60s vocalist guy works ok (maybe that's why they're not well remembered, they don't have a distinct vocalist). Over Under Sideways Down is one of those generic 60s songs I referenced, but it's a great one. I can't make your way is just a fun sing along with some harmonica... maybe? Hot House of Omagararshid is a cool rave up track. Love that drum beat. Jeff's Boogie is some fun Jeff Beck guitar wankery... it works cus it's under 3 minutes. The outro of Ever Since the World Began is super fun, great bass... too bad the first half of the track kinda blows. I'm probably at a 2.5 for this... but i'm going to round up. I feel bad for The Yardbirds, sorta being forgotten, stranded in the 60s... overshadowed by their guitarist. You can feel their influence in a lot of other bands, yet they are largely forgotten. I hope this 3 star rating makes up for things.

When I saw k.d. lang's name appear this morning, I immediately cringed. Something about her mix of blues, pop, country and jazz has always rubbed me the wrong way over the years. I especially remember hating her performance of Hallelujah at the Vancouver Olympics. As a fellow Canadian, I know I should try to give her a break, but we just have better country stars. We have Shania Twain damnit. She's way better than Kraft Dinner Lang over here. This is all to say I went in with very low expectations. And i'm surprised to say... it was better than I was expecting? This album is at it's best when it goes full 50s kitschy Hawaiian Elvis country. Sugar Moon is the best example of this. I love the instrumental. It's just a fun song. I also quite like I Wish I Didn't Love You So. It's a good retro country ballad. Western Stars is also solid. I kind of wish I could hear Elvis sing all of these songs, he'd crush it... but k.d. does a solid job too. On the other side of the spectrum, this album really sucks when it goes in an ugly modern jazz/blues/lounge singer direction. She just can't pull this off. It's really cheesy. Black Coffee and Busy Being Blue are brutal. Tears Don't Care Who Cries Them is... well just read the title again and you'll understand why it sucks. So ya... this album was better than I thought it would be... but still not good. I kinda want to dig into the 50s/60s country that inspired the better tracks on this album. It's gotta be better than this 80s nostalgia version. So ya... it's a 2... but I was expecting a 1. So way to go K.D.... you did it!

Wow... this was so fucking boring. I almost fell asleep standing up in the grocery store trying to focus on this thing. There's a weird phenomenon where music that could be considered pop or rock or jazz or whatever slides into adult contemporary. Whatever that intangible thing that makes a piece of music adult contemporary, this has it in droves. And i really hate adult contemporary. It's a genre full of people either past their prime but compelled to make music to pay their bills even though they have nothing left to say... or people profoundly boring to begin with who inexplicably have decided to channel their blandness into art. This album is in the latter if i'm not mistaken, which is the more offensive of the 2 categories. I can understand and respect a legacy act who has hit middle age but still needs to put out albums (even boring ones) to pay the bills. But having that as your starting point? Yikes. Squeaky clean production? Check. A lack of any musical or lyrical edge? Check. A general nothingness that would allow this to play in a Starbucks without anyone looking up from their smartphone? Check. I had the time this weekend to listen more than once but I couldn't put myself through a second listen. I am self loathing... but not that self loathing. It's a 2. It's not interesting enough to be a 1.

I've been dreading this album since the day we started this challenge. I knew it would be here. I know how important it is. I love so many bands inspired by this album. I love songs from this band and from New Order and on this damn album. But I just don't love this album... and now I have to put that in writing. I want to like it. In theory I should. I remember listening to it for the first time thinking it was going to change my life ... and it just didn't. And that was baffling. This is Joy Division, the creators of post-punk, and this is their iconic album that inspired 10,000 imitators, the one with the artwork that everyone has on a t-shirt. So much hype... and it just doesn't live up to that for me. It's a solid post-punk album. But I prefer New Order. Revisiting it hasn't changed my feelings. I had a feeling it wouldn't. What I like about this album... Disorder is incredible. It's the song that basically created a genre. I don't think the album ever reaches the height of this track. I love this song so much. It has strong New Order energy, but with the sad baritone of Ian Curtis. It's an awesome combo. It's proto-Age of Consent. It's perfect, even with all of it's weird flubbed bass notes. I wish the rest of the album was more like this. In 1979, nothing sounded like this. Now you can't throw a stone without hitting a post-punk band that rips this thing off... and you have to respect that. New Dawn Fades is one of the few slow burns that really works. The interplay of the guitar and bass (especially that big heavy riff), the dramatic vocal performance. It's awesome. I never made this connection before, but it has real Black Sabbath energy. Reminds me of a slow song from the debut album. Shadowplay is the closest this album comes to matching the energy of Disorder. Love the solo. Great track. I wish there was more of this on the album. She's Lost Control is solid. I've never got the hype of it... but I still enjoy it. I like the ugliness of the sound pallet. The driving bleakness is cool. I like it Interzone. it has a weird Born to Be Wild roadtrip energy... but also it's still bleak post punk. it's cool. The way that the bass and guitar play off each other in strange ways is just iconic. I want to rip it off... just like everyone else has. In general they do experiment a lot within this sound they've just invented. It's very respectable. I feel like they could have just made 10 songs that sound the same in this new style and people still woulda lost their minds. But no, they experiment a lot on this thing. There's variety. Some of the experiments don't land for me, but I respect the risk taking. What I don't like.... The track order is awful. You start with this high energy, iconic song... and then you completely drain the momentum out of the record by following it up with two slow, bleak dirges that are probably the weakest tracks on the album. Candidate specifically sucks. Curtis seems lost on this thing, especially in the verses. It sounds like someone doing a bad Ian Curtis impression... it's ugly, low effort and meandering. Day of the Lords does have an iconic refrain... but i have mixed feeling about the track overall. Perhaps I could appreciate it more if it was later in the track list... in the back third. When they've earned the placement of a funeral dirge. I think Shadowplay or She's Lost Control would fit way better. Something that keeps up the momentum of Disorder and then around the mid point of the album some slower tracks could hit to create a more impactful contrast. This makes me want to do a re-order, but i don't have time right now. The slower tracks are a real mixed bag. I'm not a big fan of Day of the Lords or I Remember Nothing. I hate Candidate. I prefer his voice when there's more energy to it, when he's trying to match faster paced songs. Wilderness is a wonky experiment that doesn't do much for me. It's meh. Insight is forgettable. In summary, it didn't change my life, which made it feel like a disappointment. Damn you expectations! But it's a solid album. 3 stars.

For better and for worse, this is some Funky Cypress Hill shit. Going into this, I knew a little bit of Cypress Hill... Insane in the Brain and Hits from the Bong (sadly neither of these songs are on this album). The tracks on this album felt like less catchy versions of those songs. The best part of this album is definitely the funk and soul sampling. Now this is super common, but I imagine in 91 this was mind blowing. I assume this album influenced a lot of people (jump around by house of pain definitely rips off this sound). The beats on this album still hold up though. Very cool. A lot of great guitar parts sampled and weaved into the beats. A lot of great samples I'm surprised they were able to get cleared. Unfortunately, the rap style is just not for me. The flows are very monotonous and the one guy is very nasally (I think this rapper was a big influence on Danny Brown, who I also have mixed feelings about). I kind of wish another rapper could have a shot at these beats. I think there's a much better album in here with a better vocalist. The beats feel like there is some variety, but the rapping is so same-y across the tracks that it gives the whole album this repetitive vibe. It's just a wall of funk rap. I vaguely recall it improving near the end but I can't say for sure. On the plus side, there were no dated cringey skits. I feel like that's always a risk with old rap albums. So good for them. O and one more complaint... i'm not a fan of the album cover. But rap album covers from this time are normally pretty rough. (I just flicked through the rest of their album covers... and this actually might be one of the best ones. Yikes.)

Sigh. I found this album kind of underwhelming. I went in with the hype of Paranoid bouncing around in my head, an album that took me completely by surprise. I love that album. Add to that the hype from looking up "best Black Sabbath albums" and seeing Vol. 4 at the top of almost every list. So I was expecting something even better than Paranoid, which I gave a 4. And to add even more to that hype cocktail, the passing of Ozzy. I really wanted to his "best" work as a way of honouring him. Sooo ya, my expectations were high going into this album, and it just doesn't live up to the hype. Sigh. Maybe I ruined it for myself. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. And the worst part is... *whisper voice* I think Ozzy is the weak link. He just doesn't deliver many memorable vocal melodies or lyrics throughout the vast majority of this album... except for one notable exception that i'll get to in a minute. Weirdly the rest of the band totally kicks ass on this album. The riffs are iconic and heavy and familiar in that they've been ripped off by 1000 other bands. The song structures are full of those rave up sections I loved so much on Paranoid (i still think fast Sabbath is better than slow Sabbath). There's a solid amount of instrumental variety. A folksy acoustic song (Laguna Sunrise). A dramatic piano ballad (Changes). A weird ambient noise cut (FX). All fun and welcome asides to the hard rock/metal that fills the rest of the album. The production is great, much more polished (which I like but I'm also a sucker for scrappy, lofi production so i'd probably prefer Paranoid, but I understand that on paper this is better). It feels like musically they have really pushed their original sound to its apex, and finally realized it (I bet this sounds like it sounded in their heads back in Birmingham when they were nobodies). I just wish Ozzy delivered a more memorable performance on top of all this badass instrumentation. Outside of Changes, which I'll get to in a minute, the only other memorable vocal melody I can think of is on Snowblind (which if i'm not mistaken is about the mountains of cocaine they were doing while recording this album). Maybe the cocaine was not helping him focus on the lyrics and melodies... but whose to say. Compare that to Paranoid... you've got War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man where half the planet knows the words and lyrics to at least one of those 3. Then you have the deep cuts with great, interesting vocal lines like Hand of Doom and Planet Caravan and more. Other than Changes, this thing doesn't even have a hit on it. Not that that means it's a bad album. But it's a symptom of the greater issue, that vocal performance is very underwhelming... again, except on Changes. And the piss off is... you know he still has it in him to craft hooks and good lyrics, he still hasn't written Crazy Train yet when this album is released and on this damn album there's the song Changes which has this absolutely incredible, heartbreaking, iconic chorus. It is by far my favourite song on this album. I love the simple lyrics, the minimalist piano, the synthesizer strings... and at the centre of it all is the wonderfully sad performance by Ozzy. It made this album worth checking out. I had no idea this was a Black Sabbath song. I only knew it from the Charles Bradley cover that's also the theme song for Big Mouth. Such a great song, both the Sabbath version and the cover. I really wish Ozzy had put the effort into the rest of the album that he put into Changes. The rest of the tracks are underwhelming in comparison. Sigh. This is a 2.5 for me, but in honour of Mr. Osbourne (and the effort the rest of the band put into this album), i'll round up to a 3. "You can do it Ozzy, bite his fricken head off" RIP.

It's... fine? I understand that this is an important album. If i'm not mistake, Queen Latifah is one of the earliest popular female rappers. So this record is inherently significant. It's just not for me. The instrumentals are fun, but the rapping doesn't grab me. I'm not normally into "i'm the greatest" kinda rap and there's a lot of that on here. Hell that's kinda why i don't like the newest Kendrick Lamar record. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with Queen Latifah taking this angle. There are so many rap albums like this throughout the history of the genre. It's still a big thing today. And it rarely clicks with me. If anything, she's more justified than most rappers doing this because she's a woman in rap in 1989. The genre itself is trying to establish it's importance in the world at that time and as one of the earliest women in the genre, i'm sure she had to fight 10 times harder than the men to be taken seriously. So i totally get why her lyrical focus is often "i'm fucking great at this and you should respect me." On top of that, there's always been a joke/idea that there can only be one successful female rapper at a time. That trope/situation is only just changing in the last 5 years, but historically it pits women in rap against each other to be that person. I assume it was no different at the time. So she's trying to convince male rappers to take her seriously and be the best woman in rap. I imagine it was a huge struggle/pain in the ass. So ya, that's my hypothesis for the subject matter. I respect it (even understand it), i just didn't enjoy it. When she talked about other topics, i was more interested, like on Evil That Men Do. But those moments were few and far between. For the most part the songs and the bragging blurred together. One of the only ones that stood out was The Pros, but it stood out in a bad way. I really hated that song and it felt like it went on forever. Another one that stood out was Come into My House, but for a good reason. That chorus is catchy. Anyways, ya, this album was fine. A solid 2. I think I prefer Queen Latifah as an actor. I'll always remember her from that one episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air where Will learns a lesson about being shallow, very after school special. Classic.