1001 Albums Summary

Album art is sharp. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning David Bowie thinks about tight leather pants and ponders the end of glam rock AKA the end of the world. Unfortunately praising K. West ages POORLY. D. Bowie secretly Nazi-sympathizer? Must investigate. Would the news man really weep now if he told us the earth was dying and we had five years? Some might argue it would be a relief. Sorry David this ages POORLY. Send the meteor! 1/5. Moonage Daydream back to back with Starman. HEATERS. D. Bowie secretly Nolan Ryan? D. Bowie secretly Randy Johnson AKA Big Unit? Regardless D. Bowie inspiration for X-Files CONFIRMED. 6/5. It Ain't Easy being so bold to pen song imagining being CHRIST tempted by LUCIFER on top of mountain. Sacrilegious! Life's problems cannot be solved by Hoochie Koochie women. Recommend D. Bowie tests for Great Pox. Satan/5. Sources reveal secret fourth verse involves Lady Stardust FALSELY WINNING Women's Volleyball NCAA Championship. Thank you for SAVING our country Mister President! Androgyny/5. Flirtation with SACRILEGE, APOCALYPSE, and NAZISM notwithstanding D. Bowie's paeans to the pleasures of SELF-LOVE on Hang on to Yourself and the close-kneed women of SUFFRAGETTE CITY seal deal and make ZIGGY STARDUST a certified CLASSIC ALBUM. CLASSIC / 5 DEBATE ME IN COMMENTS

We're going to look back if we're not doing it already and compare some of these 90s NYC rappers with the all-time singer-songwriters of the 60s and 70s. Biggie has to be one of our most evocative songwriters and the delivery and phrasing is on par with Sinatra and Dylan. Calling Ready to Die cinematic is probably a tired cliche but it's there for a reason.

Came into this expecting to hate it after being drowned in AM against my will by my friends when it came out 2013. This is not that album and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this. Get the sense this would've been a fantastic band to see live at the peak of their powers. Unbelievable energy, these guys know how to put a hammer down.

I really wanted to like this album because Nick Drake has such a great reputation but I am ashamed to admit I found myself pretty bored for the majority of this album.

Serial killers, the Douglas-Lincoln debates, and UFO sightings with magnificent arrangements. Definitely adding this one to the rotation.

Dear Gabriella, I'm sorry I blasted Misty Mountain Hop and Four Sticks in the car on prom night instead of asking if you were excited for the evening but John Bonham's drumming seemed more interesting than the way you had done your hair.

I can’t imagine not liking this album

I wish I had discovered this album when I was fourteen

I just couldn't get into this. First real stinker of this endeavor.

If there's an album more Sixties than this one I'm unaware of it. If I was an undergrad when this came out I would've either been convinced these guys were the height of Western Civilization. Album has some outstanding highs in Homeward Bound, Flowers Never Bend, and For Emily and some real low lights like the Dangling Conversation and 7 O'Clock News. Paul Simon said something to the effect once that he could only sound earnest in his singing and was incapable of sounding ironic which is both a strength and limitation on this album. You can actively hear Paul Simon's songs entering the Great American Songbook with Art Garfunkel singing them. Dude can sing.

You know the hits. You don't know the songs that aren't the hits for a reason.

I want my goddamn MTV. I don't care how oversaturated Girls Just Wanna Have is you bet yer bottom I'm shouting the lyrics in the car. There aren’t misses on this album just songs you don’t dance as hard to. This album is a blast. 1001 Album Listeners Just Want to Have Fun.

Consider me intrigued, Pet Shop Boys. Maybe even a little curious. Definitely flattered.

Nice little album

In an era of horny motherfuckers Prince might have been the horniest.

Absolutely got my rocks off listening to this. Someone hand me a Kleenex.

They've definitely been lost in the rain in Juarez when it's Easter time too.

It's like this, Aja, and Rumours for best albums of the 70s. Television can't believe they're being grouped with Steely Dan fifty years later.

Nice little album, getting exposed to a genre you've never heard of in Folktronica is what keeps you coming back to a project like this. Unfortunately I found my mind wandering way too much while listening to this album. Blame the phones.

Too much of this album reminded me of Adriana’s ex-boyfriend’s band from the first season of the Sopranos that she wants to produce with the rapper that wants to sleep with her until Christopher beats the shit out of the guy that owns the studio and holds the band at gunpoint. Hallelujah is an outstanding cover though. Now that's a hit.

Things to do instead of listening to Bono's whiny-ass treacly screeching: 1. Watch paint dry 2. Taxes 3. Rip your fingernails off 4. Sell life insurance door to door 5. Stare directly at the sun This album fucking sucked. I've never understood why people lose their shit over this band.

Sometimes you need to encounter music at a specific time in your life to truly appreciate the artistry. If only I had encountered Rage Against the Machine as a sweaty eighteen year old in my dorm room instead of many years later as a suburbanite with a mortgage who likes fussing in the yard. We could have had a fling once upon a time, Rage, but when you own land you are the Machine. EDIT: Listening to this later in light of the onslaught of outrages coming down from our present day wannabe fascist regime is definitely an experience. I appreciate the lyrics much more now but I don't think I'll ever be able to get over the metal-rap thing. But I have more respect for the band and its fans.

KNICKS IN FIVE

I listened to this imagining I was a detective in an 80s neo-noir movie where I go into a downstairs nightclub in the Midlands or a seedy part of London to search for my quarry among the men with hollow faces laid off because of Mrs. Thatcher's austerity.

This is an album that's less than the sum of its parts. Everyday People and Stand! are all-time bangers but the rest of this album is pretty underwhelming.

Typically I'm not really a David Bowie guy and I was very lukewarm on this album when it came out but listening to it ten years later good gravy does it hold up. Probably a 4.5/5 but the title track is as good a song as any popular musician has made the last 50 years.

Look past the white people with dreads and shitty graphic t-shirts and see what is an outstanding album.

The musical equivalent of answering the doorbell and stepping in the flaming bag of dogshit the neighbor kids left on your stoop. Bjork has a way of phrasing words in the most annoying fucking way possible. de-vvvvvvvOOOOO-SSSShhhhiooonnnnnn

First half of this album was delightful. Jazzy little ditties to tap your toe along on a nice cool morning. Takes a turn at A Gospel which functions as the Jazz Police of this album in the literal sense. Strength of Your Nature felt like when Monty Python yelling "and now for something completely different" halfway through the album. Overall an extremely pleasant listen, probably a 4.5.

I am sad to report I did not make it through this album. This is fun music to play in the background during nocturnal adventures but I can't imagine just listening to this by itself so I was fucking floored to see two of their top ten songs on Spotify were live renditions of their songs. 2.5/5

I was genuinely startled by the first guitar hit on The Nurse, don't if that's ever happened to me when I've listened to music. They're able to cut their own path and respect the many rock traditions they're working in without being a purely derivative band like their fellow Michiganders Greta Van Fleet. I've always thought of the White Stripes like Detroit-style pizza, hometown heroes fiercely defended because they're local and it must always be Detroit vs Everybody. However, unlike Detroit-style pizza, I've sampled this and found it actually matches the hype.

This reminded me of the first time I listened to Lee Hazlewood, rarely do you get to listen to an artist for the first time and have them scratch almost every musical itch that you have. I think this is what I wanted Nick Drake to be when I was listening to him earlier in the process. 4/5 for now with the chance to grow into a 5 with time.

This worked shockingly well for me. Delightfully hypnotic with the repeating drums and droning synths or guitars or whatever it's got going on and her vocals are quite otherworldly. Felt almost like the Minecraft soundtrack.

Splendid to return to the chart toppers of the high school years. Had completely forgotten pounding desks shouting RUMOR HAS IT waiting to start religion class. Adele is one of our best singers working. However I wish she had better judgment in picking what's going on around her voice.

Thelonious Monk has to be the most distinctive musician we've had since they started recording music. The notes sound incorrect but it just works. He's just as impressive for what he doesn't play as for what he does. Solo Monk on I Surrender Dear has to be one of the loneliest sounds out there. It's not a warm, comforting solitude like Bill Evans or Marty Robbins yodeling his cowboy songs, this is the solitude of the guy you ignore asking for money at the exit on the highway.

A STRAIGHT LINE EXISTS BETWEEN ME AND THE GOOD THING It's the fourth-best Talking Heads album, all the live versions of these songs on Stop Making Sense are superior versions and it's still a fucking masterpiece. Get ready to dance and be agitated. Finally, as a rebuttal to Mr. Byrne: I wouldn't live in New York City if you paid me to.

Our Great American Rock Band. It feels very American that a bunch of San Francisco boys could ape the Deep South this successfully. They've always felt a little like an anomaly, I can't think of a band that evokes the Sixties and Vietnam more than these guys but they don't really sound like anyone else from that era. Graveyard Train could've been 2.5 minutes instead of the 7.5 they give it but this is me quibbling, Born on the Bayou, Bootleg, Proud Mary, and Keep on Chooglin' more than make up for that shortcoming. Bootleg is a goddamn banger. Maybe with more familiarity and time with Graveyard and the Penthouse Pauper this can get to a 5 but this is a solid 4.5.

I enjoyed looking at the Spotify profile picture

The God Only Knows needle drop in Boogie Nights is an all timer. Rest in power young king

Everyone tells me I should like you Neil Young and everybody tells you that you should like me but when the time comes and we try spooning on the couch there's just no spark. Sorry, pal.

This album always makes me think of one of the guests on the Bob & Tom Show trying to make a vibrator pulsate to the riff of Whole Lotta Love. Great fucking album. These guys made the same album seven times over seven years and they're all A+ All-Star efforts. Long Live John Bonham.

This is the kind of bloat, self-seriousness, and terrible lyrics that people crave in their prog rock. 1812 Overture riff four minutes into the twenty minutes is a nice touch. Always appreciated how ugly Geddy Lee was. One of us!

Liked this about as much as I could for an album I'll never listen to again. The droning guitars and the moodiness work surprisingly well and the melodies they sneak in there can make for nice little ditties. Side note for a lot of these albums from the 90s on, moving to CDs after vinyl/tapes was terrible for the consumer. Too many of these artists think they need to fill sixty to eighty minutes with songs that normally would've been left out when an album couldn't be more than 45 minutes. Less can be more. Fitting for our demented post-Cold War era.

Good to know I wasn't missing anything by waiting to listen to this for a month or two

Blueberry Hill is such a great song. Let me tell you in 1950s euphemisms about how I drove out to Inspiration Point and got a handy from Barbara in the front seat.

Not my favorite Smiths album but still rock solid. Always loved the pop melodies and Morrissey's weird lyrics. Only my truest friends are getting Unhappy Birthday sent to them on their big days.

This had much more variety than I was expecting out of a Byrds album. I might need more time with the album but after a couple listens I was left with a "just fine" feeling.

The weird uncles of America owe the rest of us an apology for making this guy into a thing. It took me until this album to realize that American culture is too materialistic and that there are flaws in our political process. It's too bad I'm dead now that Frank Zappa bludgeoned me to death with the message for 35 minutes.

Absolute masterpiece. If you're looking for Great American Album you could probably stop your search right here.

Mercy mercy me I need a cigarette after that. Let's Get It On has the wonderful quality of having a beat that makes for steady, purposeful hip thrusting.

Really appreciated the grandiosity of the production--the epic organ on Intervention stands out. Seeing some apt Springsteen comparisons and I endorse all of them, good and bad. Not sure I'll ever listen to this again so by definition it can't earn more than a three, which I grant it.

Al Green can whisper sweet nothings in my ear anytime. The backing band can come too.

I appreciate that the Who took this impressive of a swing even if it resulted in as violent a miss as peak Prince Fielder trying to plant the ball in the right field seats. If there's one redeeming factor to this album it's that Keith Moon's drumming is epic enough to almost carry the opera piece of this. Unfortunately, the lyrics and story are about as awful and terrible as you’ll hear on an album. As a serious album it’s self-parody, and if it’s deliberately a parody the Who do not possess the lyrical prowess of a Randy Newman to properly deal with their chosen subject matter. If you’re going to be offensive you better be funny. The Who made great songs and great albums, and I appreciate their ambition here, but this album is a fucking atrocity.

After the first several songs I was expecting an album of straightforward early 70s rock. Then we hit the country portion of the evening and my estimation of this album went up two rating scores. Give me rock bands that can properly play country AND western.

This is a wonderful album that's just a shot of sunshine. If there's a drawback I prefer most of the originals to the covers presented here, although Satisfaction comes pretty damn close to beating the original.

Don't Stop and Rock With You are inner circle best pop songs OF ALL TIME. Just perfectly constructed. Those fucking strings on Rock with You...mah gawd. She's Out of My Life sounds like it belongs on a straight to VHS Little Mermaid: Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The A-side of the album is as good of an album side as exists on this list of 1001+ albums and worth a 10/5. The B-Side is probably a 3.5/5--still good but a lot closer to just fine. Average it out and it’s still five stars.

Elvis Costello seems like he's big with the crowd of people that flatter themselves for having correct political opinions and intelligent music tastes so naturally I took quite nicely to this album. Seeing as how he's somehow at the cross-section of Springsteen and punk/new wave, this shouldn't come as that big of a surprise. I like fishing, the movie Patton, and No Kings protests. Pat me on the back and give me a lollipop.

Really funny listening to Poetic Justice in light of...everything. Local sports radio uses the sample on Sing About Me I'm Dying of Thirst as an intro to rant about Steve Yzerman's decision making and the hubris of Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell. Same same. Great album, Kendrick is one of the great songwriters of our generation. Feel like it drags a little bit at the end but I think this is probably my favorite project of his.

Ska music. Hell yeah Helps my half baked theory that punk music works better as a means rather than an end. I’d rather listen to the Pogues and Talking Heads than the Ramones and the Clash. Fun convergence of punk and Jamaican music.

This is on a very short list for my favorite album of the 80s. There are times listening to this album that are spiritual experiences. Perfect example of a project being infinitely more than the sum of its very very 80s parts.

The Crime of the Century is including this album on the 1001 list. Presumably Breakfast in America is coming later so I guess we're doing two Supertramp albums. I came to this primed to enjoy this album because the song Goodbye Stranger is a banger so I was rather disappointed for what was mostly an unforgivingly boring album full of songs that are escalators to nowhere. I'll start with a two because it's not gratingly terrible like Tommy but I reserve the right to revise this down to a one at a later date.

I appreciate the use of nature imagery, it’s something that’s been on the way out in modern songwriting for a long time. Production really captures a modern lonely prairie feeling quite nicely.

I think I hate hippies

Fun album. Definitely a little long and it drags a little in the second half but this still grooves. It's a limited list but this is a personal favorite of the 2010s.

Liked this more than I thought I would but I was primed for a patented one star pan so you could say this gazpacho soup burned my lips.

I DON'T WANNA DO YOUR DIRTY WORK NO MORE --Tony Soprano, gentleman loser who never had the makings of a varsity athlete Definitely on the shortlist of greatest worst album covers. Don't trust anyone over thirty. I think Abe Lincoln said that. Don't trust anyone over thirty that doesn't like Steely Dan. I said that.

Tony Blair's primary contribution to the War on Terror was giving a copy of this to Dubya so the CIA could blast it at the black sites and Guantanamo.

I listen to a lot less hard rock and metal now than I did when I was a teenager but this was good enough to make me want to revisit the Megadeth album we got a couple months ago that I gave a firm 2. Hard to believe this and the other early Sabbath albums were happening as early as they did. Truly one of the few bands dropped from outer space.

Fun and offbeat. Definitely got the Brian Eno vibes. Solid 3.5

Fun album but this didn't grab me like a lot of other bands from the same era have. Absolutely one of the most gifted bands of the 70s and 80s but a lot of the songs on this album don’t really seem to go anywhere.

Brazilian music of the sixties is such a trip. This is the weird Sixties Psychedelia I've been waiting for from the generator.

Funkiest thing this side of James Brown. Somehow the first time I've listened to this and whoa nelly this did not disappoint. 4.5 for now but might come back later to revise it up into a 5.

I don't want to disrespect Alice Cooper but there wasn't a lot here distinguishing it from other rock and roll of the same era. Really more of a 2.5.

Is there an album whose sound matches the cover as well as this one? Many fond memories of avoiding studying during undergrad and listening to this album with the headphones in the library. Pueblo Nuevo is one of my all-time favorites, the way that thing builds like a sunrise to the trumpet at the end is pure magic. +2 for being in Spanish and not being able to understand the lyrics.

Perhaps there's hope for me liking 90s music yet. This is the right amount of noisy guitars and moodiness. Really appreciated the quieter songs like High and Dry and Bullet Proof.

I'm sure this was a common problem in America and the UK at the time but there was this aspiring musician at my high school that played Wonderwall with his little acoustic guitar at every assembly or school function so I've deliberately avoided Oasis and Britpop generally as a result. That said I enjoyed this way more than I was expected, there are a lot of rip off indie bands that came after these guys in the 21st century. Somewhere around a 3.5 I believe but the door is cracked to let more Oasis into my life.

I tried getting into Joni Mitchell by way of Blue and it never took until I listened to this song and then I finally got why the people love Joni. Help Me is another one of those inner circle All-Time pop songs. I feel like I'm giving Fives out like they're candy but a hit is a goddamn hit.

Nice little album that I'd definitely play again. Bonnie Lass can definitely pipe a tune.

Are the songs a bit too long and noodly? Yes. Did I care? Not really. Really enjoyed this one, this is going next to the Wynton Kelly album I like to play when making the Thanksgiving turkey.

I strongly recommend listening to this full blast in the car with loved ones during the harmonica solos

The hits (Riders on the Storm, LA Woman, Love Her Madly) all absolutely rip. A couple deeper cuts like Hyacinth House hit too but the other stuff leaves a little to be desired. This is probably their next project after the debut album but it's really only a 3.5.

Really liked this album so I guess I have to dress in sack cloth and dump ashes on my head according to my fellow 1001 killjoys.

I judge Peter Gabriel's solo work by how many songs on any given project I'd play on a boombox I held above my head outside of Ione Skye's house. Solsbury Hill qualifies but the rest of this album is pretty uneven to downright bad. The more of these 70s prog rock adjacent albums we get the more refreshing the late 70s punk/new wave albums sound. There's just a vitality and spirit to those other projects this lacks.

The bad songs aren’t that bad but the good songs aren’t as good as the hits in the debut album and LA Woman although Roadhouse Blues does rip. Another 3.5 from rock and rolls favorite pervert.

You can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat is such a great fucking line. My favorite part about the Band is that they look like they could've fought in the Civil War. Lieutenant Robbie Robertson orders his Acadian regiment on a bayonet charge into Levon Helm's boys of Alabama to defend Little Round Top thus driving Old Dixie Down.

Paul McCartney could craft a more beautiful melody but I'll be damned if you can find a finer English lyricist from the Sixties than Ray Davies. I prefer Village Green and Arthur more than Something Else but this is as good as rock and roll can get. Waterloo Sunset is another one of those Inner Circle songs. 4.5 for me.

This went well with the pseudo-fall weather we've been having. Felt like strolling down to a dumpy college coffee shop putting a scarf on and pretending to read my French existentialists.

Aptly named album. Really wanted to shit on Aerosmith coming into this but they made me eat that shit. Glad to do it too, half this album is getting saved in a variety of playlists.

NOW THAT'S what I call psychedelic rock! Turns out Eric Clapton can play the guitar pretty well. Who knew? First half of the album made me think we were headed towards a 5 but the last half is just fine. They're better incorporating the blues into a more psychedelic song than playing the straightforward blues they had at the back half of the album.

After the first two songs took me to pop music nirvana the rest of the album was just fine.

Will definitely return to this on days that require a lot of chores around the house. Really enjoyed it.

Radiohead meet Neil Young and the Who in the I Don't Understand the Hype Room of the 1001 Albums Generator Inn. If there's anything redeeming about this it's that it's about my own personal fixation, the war on terror.

Modern tales of infidelity blues and retro sounds. Loved how raunchy this album is. Tears Dry On Their Own is a magnificent song. Yee-fucking-haw. New add to the 4.5 list.

Music to listen to as the cocaine wears off. Michael McDonald and Christopher Cross look out, there's a new monarch of Yacht Rock Island and her name is Sade. Smoove and cool.

I might get crucified for this but most of this album was shockingly boring. The experiments with feedback are best left unrepeated. Little Wing and Castles Made of Sand are obvious standouts.

Pretty pleasing to listen to while the snow falls. I hear the complaints about her voice but I think it works in that 90s/early 00s r&b sort of way that conveys authenticity but I also think I have a higher tolerance for unconventional singing voices. Production is really good too. I award a 3.5 with the right to revise upward at a later date if this sticks in the craw like previous albums heard for the first time.

I appreciate the swing here and chaotic nature of the album, I just found little to enjoy here.

So deep

George Clinton feels extremely underrated, the opening track might be the best single song we've gotten on this project. The rest of the songs are still really good but don't grab me quite the same way. I just love how much is going on in these songs, it's overwhelming in the best possible way. Sweet and sour bowel movements is also an amazing throwaway line lol.

Like the 2002 Red Wings adding Dominik Hasek the Talking Heads adding the African drums turns this from Stanley Cup winners to one of the finest albums we have. Add Crosseyed and Painless and Once in a Lifetime to the Inner Circle Pantheon of Popular Songs

POV you walked into a CSI knockoff produced in 2006 that's headed to a nice little syndicated run on A&E for your dad to watch on Sunday mornings

This is a very pleasant, very accessible jazz record. Pieces of pop without sacrificing too much of the true blue jazz elements. Don't know if this quite rises to a 4 for me, so we'll lay it down in the cellar as a 3.5 and see how it ages with time.

This feels like an album I will really like and that my partners in review will wonder why the fuck this is on the list. Anyways this was a pretty solid entry into the list of 1980s rock and roll. Nice little melodies and what appear to be thoughtful lyrics.

More of a Samba Esquema Novo guy but this plays too. Even if I have no idea what's being said Portuguese is such a great language for song.

Good clean living. She doesn't get enough credit as a songwriter outside of country enthusiasts. Dolly's secretly up there with Paul Simon and Tom Brady for biggest winner after breaking up a successful partnership with Porter.

Country music by criminals for criminals. Go jump in the creek with your limp dick try that in a small town ya Nashville cocksuckers.

Moral panic

Donald Trump is the greatest American to have ever lived and anyone that says differently is a goddamn communist and should be put on one of those Venezuelan drug boats. He read econo.

What's the deal with all these Peter Gabriel albums? --Jerry Seinfeld

I don't know how anyone can hear Seven Nation Army with fresh ears. Great album, every song has that vital energy required of great rock and roll.

Good clean rock and roll

Couldn't believe how much I liked this, there was a moment when the French really had a monopoly on making the best dance music

Couple of pure noise moments that are the Jose Mourinho headphones meme but outside of that this is a solid album that I would definitely play again. A+ cover of Just Like Heaven.

It's a solid album, Yes is always shooting for Mozart and usually ending up around Salieri

Delightfully strange and close to magnificent. If I needed to turn to someone to make five to ten seconds of perfect music Jeff Lynne would probably be one of my first calls, there are moments on Turn to Stone and Sweet Talkin' Woman that just go places few people in popular music can take us. The album drags a bit in other places but when it's on holy mother of god does it hit.

Pretty underwhelming and indistinguishable from the other noodly albums of this era. Count me among the haters, I don't think I've really gotten the appeal of Janis Joplin's voice.

Rock steady mid-70s rock. Nothing to complain about and nothing to write home about either. Don't know if I realized how many Bad Company songs were staples of the classic rock radio of my younger days.

It’s spooky season

Delightful. Cannot believe this is from the mid-70s this sounds so fresh.

There is a combination of raw power and precision that's exclusive to big bands that is here in spades. Great-Grandma and Grandpa could throw down and keep time. Pretty good for a guy who lived in Nick Kroll's attic.

I understand why this is "influential" and there are moments that they are clearly looking into the future like on Peking O. However, that doesn't mean I have to like it this was about as tough a listen as we've had on this list.

Waterfalls is a heater and Red Light District or whatever is pretty good but the rest is very flaccid and mediocre.

Really liked how loose and accessible the instrumentals were, sometimes the punk and punk-adjacent bands can be a little too grating on first listen. I understand the vocalist's very intense English accent will cause controversy among some of us but it worked for me. Solid 3.5.

Fine enough, the hits are the hits and the rest leaves me a little cold.

The hits don't fly as high as Off the Wall and the filler doesn't fill as much either. Normally I'm a fan of obvious eighties production quirks but it got a little old as the album went along. Still a toe tapper but there are other places in Michael's mansion I'd rather spend my time.

I think I prefer Sweetheart of the Rodeo and Flying Burrito Brothers Gram Parsons to solo Gram Parsons but this still really works too. Emmylou Harris is the ultimate country music glue guy, this album is just fine without her contributions.

The two greatest moments of the 1980s were Ronald Reagan dragging his nuts across Gorby's face shouting tear down this wall and the second minute of Money for Nothing where they build into the greatest riff in rock history.

I'm starting to think that the Who are just one of those cultural blind spots.

When I smoked a lot of weed I thought the Beatles post-drug discoveries were the best Beatles. But now that a weed is something to be chased from my front yard instead of smoked early Beatles are starting to sound better than post-LSD Beatles. General rule of thumb, rock and roll is best when it's at its most straightforward.

I remember being vaguely interested in the Black Keys as a teenager and undergrad but I think it had more to do with the sort of retro rock sound than anything special they were doing. If you're going to play this heavily it has to be skillful like Zeppelin or have a vitality to it like the Ramones or the early Green Day. This has aged poorly, future generations will look at these guys like we look at the Monkees. Her?

This is a tough one to rate. Billie Holliday is in that inner circle of Very Important American Musicians with Ella, Dylan, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Elvis, Sinatra, Bing, Gershwin etc. but this is an extremely diminished Billie Holliday whose voice is a rough listen at times. It's a magnificent orchestra that's accompanying her though and it makes for a good send off. Three with all due respect.

Pretty easy listening but this is in one ear and out the other for me.

Gas. Fuckin GAS.

It's hard to hear this with fresh ears, this and Jimmy Buffet were the soundtrack to the backseat of my Mom and Dad's car. Such a great album, this album is just hit after hit after hit.

The absolute perfect blend of pop and punk. I will be back later to upgrade this to a Five later but I need a little bit more time with the lesser-known songs. The hits have aged magnificently.

This had flashes of real quality, Jesus, etc., war on war, kamera really stood out. With time I feel like I could get to a higher rating on this but I need more time with it.

I think I have a new favorite hip hop album, this was an amazing listen. After Ms. Jackson I was moving and at Bombs Over Baghdad I was dancing on top of my desk at work. Probably too long but this was a blast.

Splendid. This is on a completely different planet from the Big Brother and the Holding Company album, where that is noodly and often an escalator to nowhere this is tight, focused and powered by that throaty howl that makes Janis so beloved. The hits hit here and Half Moon is a revelation. Me and Bobby McGee is an all-time cover.

I'm starting to think the Who are that one meme with the three hot chicks in bikinis (Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks) next to the squat girl in the one piece and bathing cap (the Who). Simply shocking I thought I was primed to really like this band.

Truly the year I discovered I am much lower on the music of the hippies than previously believed. Presumably Donovan did a lot of yoga in this sitar phase because it requires immense flexibility to crawl this far up one's own asshole. The title track is a heater on an otherwise unremarkable project.

George Clinton has an excellent claim to be the premier musician and bandleader of the 1970s, the man is very much not afraid to let his muse take him wherever the fuck it decides he's going.

I think I can admit that I've never been the biggest hip-hop guy but that I enjoyed this about as much as I can for a hip-hop album I've listened to the first time.

Southern California had a good thing going in the 70s huh Came into this wanting to give a contrarian take on the title track and the overrated nature of the Eagles in general but I can admit when I'm an idiot. The first twenty seconds of Life in the Fast Lane is on the Mount Rushmore of dad rock. This is short of a five because I didn't really care for the Wasted Time interlude in the middle.

How about that, an album of the 1990s that I actually enjoy. Like everyone else I've heard Alright but the rest of this album plays. Nothing terribly innovative going on here but that doesn't matter if it as pleasant to the ear as this is. Making me a little curious as to what is in store for the rest of the Britpop, I just imagined it was Oasis and Oasis knockoffs.

Brave and stunning, an indie rock album about suburbia. I suppose the irony is lost on them that the album is as boring and bland as The Suburbs can be so at least that's true to life. Tell me more about your fair trade coffee beans and how you didn't do the touristy things on your vacation, brother.

I understand I might be off on my own here but this album is great fun. One of music's primary functions to make your body move and that's here in spades. It drags a little towards the end but that's a criticism of electronic dance music in general, my endorphins and dopamine have a time limit. Hilarious album cover too. Someone do a where is he now with the little fella wearing the t-shirt.

I would need more time than I'm willing to spend to get to a place where I like this album.

Boy, do I feel ancient seeing this is almost twenty years old. The big hits (Time to Pretend, Kids, Electric Feel) still really hold up. I also really appreciated the modern psychedelic twists like on Of Moons. The more acoustic stuff is just fine.

Tangled up in Blue is the best American popular song since the end of the war. It’s that simple. To dissect yourself and a relationship that many different ways from that many different perspectives and making each verse a novel on its own...it’s just fucking perfection and delivered with the force of a goddamn freight train. And yeah the rest of the album is pretty good too. I don't care if Shelter from the Storm is used to sell insurance or whatever, that song fucking rips too. To me this is the album that earns him the Nobel Prize. Seasons come, seasons go but remains hands-down my favorite album ever.

Anymore I get annoyed when the albums are this obviously "save the world", "everybody love everybody", and "will someone please think of the children", but when it sounds this damn good with peak Motown productions and put through Marvin Gaye's sultry voice it plays. Orchestras add such depth to anything they're on (see Gordon Lightfoot before and after stringed production). Half-assed internet research also reveals that three Detroit Lions sang backing vocals on the title track. How about that.

This is actually a pretty good listen but this comes out at a time when rock music in general ceases to have anything new or interesting to say. Also, THREE Kings of Leon albums? Heh???

Fond memories of getting high as shit with Tyler and listening to this on Isaac's couch. Not the world's biggest Pink Floyd guy but this is definitely my favorite. Plus one for the nostalgia piece.

For the Bowie completionists I guess. It's fine enough. It's more a 2.5 but I'm giving a PROTEST one star at the excess of minor David Bowie albums.

Wasn't expecting the clip of the Prisoner, that was a lot of fun. I AM NOT A NUMBER I AM A FREE MAN. Some of these albums (the Megadeth comes to mind) I wish I had really gotten into when I was a teenager. It's not that the music is juvenile it's that I no longer have the spare energy to head bang the way that this music demands of the listener. Still a rock solid 3.5.

Aw HELL yeah. The title track is just a mind-trip. Look at the band on this too. Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck, and Buddy Emmons. You probably can't make a better country record than this in the 1960s without the novelty of recording in a California state prison. I don't know if you can find many other projects with a steel-guitar that sounds better than this. Country is such a singles driven genre, there's just a huge difference between the number of great country artists and great country albums outside that 70s outlaw period when Willie Nelson goes on his tear so I'm grading this on a curve and adding one star because of it. Ray Price is the fucking man.

There’s no way the Secretary Rock review is real, I refuse to believe we live in a world where Comic Book Guy and Ben Shapiro are capable of procreation. What's the Mount Rushmore of car songs? It has to include Fast Cars, right? Probably something by Bruce Springsteen (I'd pick Thunder Road but know some would probably be more partial to Born to Run)? Are the trucker songs of the 1960s and 1970s like you're Convoys and Six Days on the Road qualifiers? Does the car have to be a means of escape like it is for Tracy and Bruce or a means of returning home like it is in so many country songs? It probably has to be by an American given the automobile's place here after the war, and there are personal bonus points if they mention the make/model and Detroit. This feels back to basics for the folk genre when a lot of the giants of the genre were trying and failing to experiment with synths and creating ill-advised super groups. This feels as forward looking as the Joan Armatrading album we got earlier. Extremely fresh and modern sounding even 40 years on. After the first two songs there's a bit of a drop off but that doesn't diminish the power of those first two.

I get why this receives a lot of hate here and I fully expect my compatriots to hand out a couple of ones but I can't help but really appreciate and like how raw the album sounds and the pure energy song to song.

I have mixed feelings about David Bowie. He's solid but good grief we're 150 albums into this and this is like Bowie album number five. I really like his Berlin period and that swan song was pretty phenomenal but, and I know this is sacrilegious, I find most of his stuff to be pretty underwhelming and boring and this doesn't prove to be an exception to that rule. Absolutely hideous cover of Across the Universe.

The rare album that seems to float outside the time they made it. Wanted to offer something contrarian but sometimes classics are classics for a reason.

I don't know if Snoop is giving us many insights into the human condition but holy moly will this make you chuckle and tap a toe.

We've gotten bands previously that I wished I had discovered when I was a teenager (Rage Against the Machine, Megadeth) but this is definitely one I'm glad I dodged. Great music but the Smiths are just smallpox blankets into the tribes of teenage malaise and angst. It's a tight band, I've always loved their jangly guitars, and you truly never really know where Morissey is taking you with his lyrics.

I guess you had to be there with Oasis. They're a pleasant enough band and I tap my toe to enough of these songs that it makes for a decent listening experience but none of these songs strike me as particularly memorable 30 years on.

Is Papa Was A Rolling Stone the best song to come out of Detroit in the 60s and 70s? I Ain't Got Nothin and Love Woke Me Up This Morning are also excellent standouts. Just like Marvin Gaye the luscious strings and raw funkiness are a elite combination.

Meant to be listened to at eleven, make the neighbors call the cops complaining about the noise. I don't know how many bands can make the same fucking album five times in a row with a sixth double album at the end of it and have them all be five stars.

This isn't the best Beatles album (Abbey Road) but some of their most beautiful melodies are here--Michelle, In My Life, Norwegian Wood are timeless inner circle pop songs. I understand the appeal of being needlessly contrarian but I really can't imagine genuinely not liking the Beatles.

I have no way of knowing if this is good for its genre or just slop but I do know I nodded my head for 40 minutes so that's an advantage it has over many of the albums here. Never would've come across this album if it wasn't for this generator so that's a bonus.

I expected to be very bored by this but was pleasantly surprised. Run time is a titch long but I would definitely put it on again if I was trying to set a certain mood on a sleepy summer evening.

I'm old enough to admit that I just don't really like hip hop. I appreciate that according to the hip hop historians that this sits in a special place in the hip hop canon, but it's just not to my tastes. And that's fine.

Best listened to in a big group of sweaty twenty-somethings slightly crossfaded instead of blasting through excel spreadsheets in an office setting. Graded on a curve accordingly. Kind of amazing how little dance music has changed in the last 30-35 years. Other than the big hit, Good Beat and ESP really stand out as toe tappers for the abandoned warehouse. Shoutout to the Morricone cowboy whistle on ESP too. 3.5.

I expected this to be a horny album and it did not disappoint. Don't know if the sound has aged particularly well but it's definitely a toe tapper. Pleasantly surprised.

Like the Samba album I have no idea how to compare the quality of this with other albums like it. That said I do love a good hammered dulcimer. I don't know if enjoy is the right word but I could talk myself into handing out pamphlets at the airport like the Hare Krishnas with this playing in the back of my head.

Randy Newman built a pretty great career by wrapping some pretty dark and terrible lyrical material with some wonderful melodies. For example, Rednecks being that catchy is fucking diabolical. It’s a good thing history came to an end thirty years ago and none of this has any continuing relevance anymore. Very much a cultural artifact that has no bearing on anything anymore, like VHS tapes and the telegraph. Presumably the people saying this hasn't aged well must not live in the United States or are in a headspace of the cultural salad days of the Obama years. Look around dingus, the Good Old Boys are running the WAR and Justice Department and the Kingfish is President. Side note: what’s a more surprising career move, Randy Newman becoming Pixar Guy or George Carlin becoming the conductor and narrator for Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends?

Yeah I hate the Who

This is about as perfect as an album can be, Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones are truly a match made in heaven. The closest thing to a clunker still features SIR Paul McCartney.

It's listenable enough but stuck in a weird middle ground. Other than a handful of songs (Steppin' Out, It Ain't Right) it completely loses the vim of the old blues masters and doesn't offer any interesting new interpretations of the blues like Cream or Led Zeppelin would later. I see it's a historically important album. Thank God history progressed fast enough to leave this behind. Leave it to a British band to turn our SACRED American blues into dry toast on beans or whatever these people call food. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

My predecessors are right he does go for a whimsical Scott Walker but doesn't quite get there.

Sometimes something really gets under your skin and you can't tell why you really hate it.

I'm contractually obligated to like this album as a resident of Southeast Michigan

What an incredible run for these guys. Four albums in eighteen months, four absolute classics. This one is probably the best but like Led Zeppelin you're picking from four pretty similar albums. They had a formula and worked it to perfection.

I truly have no idea what Elton is singing about on half of these songs. 2.5 for a couple hits and some tough listens.

Never listened to this band or album but holy smokes was this amazing. Psychedelic minus the heads shoved up asses. Can’t say enough good things about 8:05. I need to find the two missing songs not on YouTube and to spend a couple more days with this album but this might get a five by the end of the week.

A hit is a hit and side one of this album is as good as anything that's been put on an album before or since. Everyone and Glad Tidings carry a more mixed second side. Easy 4.5. How can you not tap a toe or move your body to this?

All due respect to You Want It Darker and Blackstar but Johnny Cash singing the Book of Revelation as his swan song probably takes the cake.

Desert Blues > English Blues

This was a much more enjoyable album than I was anticipating. I'm developing a weakness for this late 70s to 80s post punk and new wave nonsense that I've never heard of until the generator spits it out.

I'm not going to overthink this, it's probably a tad too long but there are some all time hits here that are Stevie Wonder at his absolute best. Earnestness is a really difficult tone to strike in great albums and he nails it here. Shoutout to the As and Another Star dance party at the end of this album too.

There were parts of this album that sounded like what I had wanted the Go-Go's album to sound like. Walks the fine line of pop tunes and grinding alt-rock bleakness mostly with success. However, I'm not sure how often I'll be returning to this glorious Hole.

Springsteen fandom has always felt the most religious of a lot of the classic rock and roll artists. There aren't any Deadhead pilgrimages but fans of Bruce have probably asked you if he is your personal savior or if you've been Born to Run again. As a card-carrying member of the Church of Bruce I just feel bad for the people that have never experienced a proper Bruce tent revival and shouted Thunder Road or Badlands until their voices went hoarse and they all got migraines. Yes, the songs are pretty much all the same. Yes, I sound like a crazy person.

It's fine enough and I don't hate it but for the most part Neil Young has never inspired anything in me other than apathy. 3.5

Toe Tappers

The first half of this album is the sound my mind made when Jamo threw the reverse pass for an interception against Washington, when the ball went off Kindle Vildor's face for a fifty yard Aiyuk bomb, and when Torii Hunter went hurtling over the wall at Fenway in Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS.

As Sam pointed out I'm not really sure what the historical relevance of this album is but I have a weak spot for this type of 1960s type of pop production. I loved the Groovin' song as a kid so I'll add a half point accordingly.

SUITE JUDY BLUE EYES WOO

Like probably everybody else here this was the first jazz album that wasn't the Charlie Brown Christmas that I sat down and tried listening to as a teenager and several years later I'm glad I did. I don't really know how to rate these jazz albums other than by how much it makes you...........swing your head......but give me the world's most melancholy man Bill Evans on the keys every time.

Iowa Football 9, xx 7. About as interesting as waiting in line at the Secretary of State. I vaguely remember this being popular in its time, its inclusion in the 1001 serves as a testament to the how terrible most rock and roll has gotten. Coming up next: Old man yells at clouds.

Sorry bud the fifty-first state of the USA is actually Canada we don't need your toe of a PM Keir Starmer. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Pound for pound the best classic rock album of the 70s. Also another one of those albums that I can't imagine not liking, you just want every one of these songs to just go on forever. As a respected sportswriter put it, this is the Tim Duncan of classic rock.

Straight poop. Fuck this album

I was at a party with a friend from my schooldays named Donald once and he just kept singing Sixteen over and over again until he disappeared into the night. Wonder whatever happened to him.

I think this is perfect example of the hippie aesthetic, fundamentally talentless musicians guided by misunderstood eastern spiritualties skipping around a maypole that somehow comes together to be vastly more than the sum of its parts. Sometimes you just get an 83 win world series team, it makes no sense.

God blessed Texas

On the one hand, rock and roll peaked with the song Layla. On the other hand, I could probably cut this album in half and end up with a better album--not everything needs to be a double album and in a way we get a very appropriate album title. There are some other outstanding songs here (I Looked Away, Keep on Growing) surrounded by an unfortunate amount of filler (Nobody Knows, Key to the Highway). 3.5 if I've ever seen one.

They really are one of our premier pure rock bands. Energy! Violence! Sex! Toe Tappers! "She liked it medium rare" made me laugh. Look out Prince, there's a new horniest m-fer on the block. I don't think there are enough heights here to get to a 4 but there isn't a lot to complain about either. 3.5

Borrowed Tune is an outstanding song and the rest is the generic Neil Young we've all been told is some of the best music of all times.

This was shockingly good, the perfect balance of forward facing (for 1991) while firmly rooted in the rock of the 1970s. I can hop on this bandwagon.

Finally, an artist known for inspiring reasonable opinions among those who love or hate her music. My biggest gripe with Taylor-mania is that her lyrics seem more intent on laying easter eggs for her fans to try and figure out instead of trying to write a good song. Finding your way to the universal from the specific is what great songwriters do but with Taylor the specific usually remains the specific which leads her to a lot of non-sequiturs. That being said, and in fairness to 1989, I think a lot of that comes from her later work as she moves from Taylor Swift the Musician and into Taylor Swift the Media Institution and an American Princess Diana worth more than the GDP of Samoa. The album itself is about as good a pop record as you'll find for the 2010s even if it is slightly overcooked.

This is a time and place album, I probably listened to this thing a hundred times the fall of 2020. It was a calming presence at a weird time to be alive

I think is in the Rage Against the Machine lane. I recognize the quality and I think I liked this more than It Takes a Nation but it's just not for me at my present stage of life. I am afraid of the black planet.

I have a weakness for Celtic music and New Wave so combining them as skillfully as these guys do has my knees knockin' and brow wet.

As others have pointed out there's a lot of fun mid-60s rock and roll through a noisy 90s kaleidoscope, outside of the opener, Striped White Jets and ex-supermodel I thoroughly enjoyed this. With this type of music short punchy songs are better and obviously that's here in spades.

The British really had quite the dalliance with reggae and ska in the late 70s and 80s. I'm here for the Randy Newman cover. Also here for portraying Mrs. Thatcher as Madam Medusa. Somewhere between a 2.5 and a 3, there's not a ton to hate but we aren't really reaching the mountaintop either.

Pretty good

This is just about everything I want out of an 80s style pop album. Really just need this overlaid with some footage of people tearing down the Berlin Wall. Can't believe the Americans never used these guys for a needle drop. There's a really fine line to walk with this kind of music between transcendent and so boring and/or grating you want to rip your ears off and these guys fucking nail it. I'd go five but the last two songs are just ok compared with the rest of the album. Came back and listened to it a second and third time. Have never listened to this before. Verdict: This is a brilliant album. FIVE. Editing this for a third time to reiterate that this went from never having heard of it on Monday to top 5 album all time on Wednesday. I cannot stop listening to this

The more things change the more they stay the same, yeah?

This is a very good album by itself and an outstanding one when put in the context of Bruce's overall output. Used Cars and Open All Night could be dressed up and put on the River, Darkness on the Edge of Town, or Born in the USA. The rest could only exist in this album. You can get a desperate sort of hopefulness in songs like Thunder Road, Born to Run, or Badlands or the romantic tragedy of Jungleland or a lot of the Wild, the Innocent, the E Street Shuffle. You can get the blue collar "you think you're better than me" on a lot of Born in the USA and the River. But here those dreams and hopes are curdled and the universe has folded in on itself. We ran away with Wendy but now I'm sitting in my car staring at the radio towers going insane listening to Rush Limbaugh precursors at 2am wondering what the fuck happened to my life. Maybe we drove out of town with Mary but now I'm on trial for murdering four people and headed to the electric chair. All of that is what makes the closing song such a fucking heater. Bruce has taken us into the minds of some extremely isolated and hopeless people, explored his own fucked up relationship with his Dad, drops some images of dead dogs on the highway and lets the listener decide if he's being completely earnest or tongue in cheek when he says people find some reason to believe.

Kind of weird hear the Beach Boys doing the socially conscious album. Student Demonstration Time is a hilariously terrible song but Disney Girls and Surf's Up are outstanding. The Tree Song is honestly one of the weirdest songs I think I've heard.

Sir Paul McCartney, king of the toe tappers and definitely my cuppa tea. Front half is definitely better than the back half, I thought we had another Fiver on our hands.

This was a really fun mash-up of a lot of genres I didn't expect to find here. Yes it's punk but there was plenty of early punk and electronic music on the front end and Os Mutantes on the back end. Bonus points for the album cover from Spongebob Squarepants. Really liked the electronic touches that seemed more in place in the late 70s/early 80s than the late 90s. Probably a 3.5

There's a touch of nostalgia with this rating but 21st Century Schizoid Man, I Talk to the Wind, and the title track are just outstanding. Epitaph drags and we won't discuss the backhalf of Moonchild.

Neat to hear a band cutting an album in the early 80s with a half foot in the 1950s and a foot and a half in the 1990s. Other than the surprising recording date and me not liking Blister in the Sun as much as I remember I really didn't care for any of this. Three minute songs shouldn't feel this long.

Some day my kid will ask me for some music from when Dad was a kid and from my perspective I couldn't do much worse than this. It's an immaculately produced album that perfectly captures that late 00s to early 10s folk sound that the kids stomped their feet and clapped their hands to. I imagine she'll look at me the same way I did at my Dad when I asked him the same question and wanted him to hand me Led Zeppelin or Aerosmith and instead received Dan Fogelberg and the Little River Band.

Probably the weakest of the three CCR albums we’ve been given but it still rips. The generator knows it’s springtime and it’s time to drive with the windows down.

Ken Burns probably could've just played this album for two hours instead of making his 12 hour documentary about country music. Nothing better to bring out the inner hillbilly than this. Also shoutout sneaking in Both Sides Now backed up by Foggy Mountain Breakdown. HELL YEAH.

The banality of 2010s Chainsmokers pop

I did not think I was going to like this in the slightest but here we are with further affirmation for my enjoyment of pop punk. A lot of good songs here, Nitro (Youth Energy) and Gotta Get Away are personal standouts. Settling on a 4 for now but this could go up or down with time.

What a debut album. Wonder where he ended up later

The awaited Radiohead breakthrough shall remain awaited. Give me 200 more albums from the generator and I think we'll get there. In the meantime: Radiohead, have you met my good friend Neil Young?

There's no defending that Where You Love interlude and Calvary was truly a Golgotha for the ears but I thought this was a clear cut above most of what the Grateful Dead shat out in this era mostly thanks to a lot of that driving Bo Diddley beat.

This reminds me a lot of that Lemonheads album we got a year ago, it's pleasant enough to give it a reasonable floor and earn it a place to make it background while you clean the house but if this thing was an electrocardiogram you'd think the album was dead because the line was flat. No peaks. That said I'd take these guys over Oasis any day of the week. Fight me.

Outside of moody guys playing Wonderwall at house parties Britpop is a big blind spot of mine, and after a couple Oasis albums I thought we were heading for the Neil Young zone. No longer. This album was a blast and all over the place in the best way, it feels like they're pulling sounds from a lot of different places without sacrificing listenability.

I probably won't be returning to this album often (if ever) but there's a sincerity in the delivery and compositions that I appreciate. Also thank you for creating a modern album that isn't 100 minutes long and full of crap that should've been left on the editing room floor.

Hello old friend

Other than that Stranger Things kid running up a hill to tell the evil mutants he's gay I'm truly a tabula rasa with Kate Bush. Coming to this by way of the Cocteau Twins album means we're primed to also tell the evil mutants that we're a little curious too. I'm probably really late to the party but between the Cocteau Twins, Enya, and Kate Bush the the late eighties were a hell of a time for unbelievable female vocals.

I don't hate it but I am bored to tears with it

Outstanding album, you have to lift yourself from repetitive to hypnotic with this genre and they nail it on most of these songs. 4 to 4.5

Probably my least favorite of their first seven albums. That said it still rips. Kudos to the Dan for not turning East St. Louis Toodle-Oo into an interminable 35 noodle noise odyssey that some of their contemporaries would have done. Thank you generator for sending Steely Dan as the first album of fatherhood. Well done.

Please play Some Of Them Are Old and Here Come the Warm Jets at my funeral

The hits hit, the other stuff is a tad boring which surprises me.

This is the kind of album that plays better on AM radio road trips. The "misses" on this still have really high floors and the harmonies are incredible.

Quentin Tarantino: The Album

I don't think War meant for this to be a pleasant listen but I enjoyed the extended 10 minute toe tappers.

Holy apathy Batman

There are some catchy tunes here but I can't shake the feeling that there is something missing with a lot of these songs that leave them feeling a little limp in the ear hole

Time was when I'd lift weights in blue jeans with Fletcher in the basement of Hogan to this album at full blast.

Fun album, Bang a Gong really stands out in context of the whole album. 3.5.

Skubal loose bodies in the elbow? Emotional Valdez meltdown? Fifteen guys on the IL?? PANIC IN HOCKEYTOWN

Very enjoyable if not particularly memorable. Will definitely wait for the weather to warm up and put this on while out in the yard with a drink with some fruit in it.

Knock me over with a feather, a hip hop album that isn't 90 minutes long. Really, really enjoyed the production. Somewhere between a 3 and a 3.5

Not sure if it's good or bad but this is what I imagine the School of Rock kids grew up to play

D.A.R.E. to be funky. 3.5.

Even the average songs from the Stones in this period sound incredible.

I no longer have the patience, stamina, or desire to understand why the man recording the saw mill means fascism is coming to 1970s western Europe.

I actually find a lot of the lyrics here pretty compelling but the music itself is kind of bland and generic compared with some of his contemporaries. That said I'm still keeping an open mind to this Elvis. Also enjoyed the Crimson Tide album cover.

The guitar playing is justifiably praised to high heaven but their ability to make some wildly catchy pop songs is the core part of the appeal to me. A song like Eruption can feel like an intricate escalator to nowhere but the more pop type songs combine the best of Boston with the technical proficiency.

Early Swinging Elvis is the Very Important Artist but as time goes by I find myself partial to Tortured Fat Elvis. Pills and blubber apparently help a voice age. Go and google Fat Elvis singing Bridge Over Troubled Water live in Vegas or Hawaii or some other 1970s Lounge Lizard Mecca. Unbeatable. Also I'm going to kill myself if I ever hear the phrase cultural appropriation again

Absolute vocal masterclass. How can someone sound so earnest with so little to say?

This is what the lady in the corner is playing at the brewery up north when Billy comes back to the outside bench with two 15% IPAs. He's very excited to tell you about how they used pineapples and gym socks to achieve the zesty taste. It still tastes like piss and pine cones to you but you're just happy to get a buzz on among friends. Good album.

The album is too long but it won me over as it progressed--the downtempo and more acoustic songs like Breaking the Girl and I Could Have Lied are easy winners, and Under the Bridge is a great song by any metric. The faster and heavier stuff skewed a little too closely to rap metal at times for my tastes but there is something very infectious about the way these guys come at these songs. Came in expecting a 2 after the first couple songs and it rose to a 3/3.5.

I am appointing Misfire song of the summer. However I can't help thinking through most of these tracks that I'd rather be listening to ELO or Boston

A psychedelic rock album with the proper amount of crawling up one's own anus (electric jug) but not to the point of 27 minute noise odysseys that half the bands were "experimenting" with at the time. I will be taking the elevator to the 13th floor.

The only songs worth a salt that Neil Young recorded are on this album, and if you ever questioned Joni Mitchell's songwriting chops Woodstock will correct your bad opinion. Man alive what an album. Straight gas until the last couple songs and even those are excellent.

Greta Van Fleet is to Led Zeppelin as these guys are to Stevie Wonder. Right in my Q Zone so I can excuse some of the other issues. 3.5

First couple songs are heaters and my guess is Without You inspires a lot of strong opinions both ways. Doesn't feel like there is a lot of substance to this album as a whole, however.

Not the biggest reggae guy but it always plays and has a very high floor. This of course is no different.

The second side might be a drop off but I don't think it's that it's as bad as some do---the first side is just that good. This is the best album we've gotten that I haven't previously listened to since the Cocteau Twins graced us with their presence. The first side really caught the better impulses of King Crimson, the weirder tendencies of Led Zeppelin, and probably other English bands at the time that I'm unaware of. Great fun. Shoutout to the Day Tripper bass lick immediately followed by Wagnerian Valkyries.

This is a paradox in that it's a slog to get through yet I'm intrigued enough to consider exploring some of their other stuff.

There's more variation here than on Catch a Fire and Exodus but it's also a lot limper than those two albums.

What if we married Phil Spector girl groups to 1970s urban hellscapes

This is exactly what I want from my extremely 1980s synth bands and what I thought Violator would bring. Couple of moments on side two that were a touch too weird for me but overall a Good Album.

Parklife was an awesome find and has the inside track to runner-up on the list of best album find of the year. This was rather disappointing by comparison. Too much distortion by more than a wee bit--be Blur of Parklife, not Radiohead knockoffs. I think Blur and I have some fruitful listening years ahead of us but this is a tough listen for the time being.

Not sure if I buy this being on a shortlist for greatest album ever but it goes hard and actually has a guitar-forward sound and actual guitar solos which appears to be unusual for the era. It's obviously a moody album but it doesn't sink into being a terrible listening experience which is a mistake a lot of American bands from this time seem to be making (see: Nine Inch Nails). Pain for the sake of pain means an auditory nightmare and that its time to take your meds; pain as a means to a greater end for your art means critical acclaim and $$$

Wanted to roll the eyes at yet another 90s alternative rock album but As Heave Is Wide made me sit up in my seat. Also loved the use of the Train in Van drums on Stupid Girl. Wikipedia says they wanted to make unpalatable sounds palatable and they mostly succeed at it. Solid 3.5, this era of rock inexplicably continues to grow on me.

Solid. The man can sing like nobody's business and there is some fun guitar work on a handful of the songs.

Full Throttle and Voodoo Music are absolutely in my wheelhouse, I would have had a great time listening to that at Movement. The whole thing is just all over the place in a way that, Poison and the Howard Dean screaming aside, gets more enjoyable as the album progresses. The Narcotic Suite coming out of the bullpen to shut it down is great fun.

This feels like a software update on the 1950s/1960s instrumental lounge music you can find for fifty cents in the back of really bad bookstores and I am here to embrace it with arms open wide

Strong Bob Dylan vibes which makes sense since this guy had a stint with the Byrds. A solid album and the lyrics are good enough but this kind of music has been done better in different places enough times.

The rare album I wanted to be twice as long. I've always been a sucker for the jangling guitars and outside of Ticket to Ride this is the best version I've come across. I can't believe how catchy these songs are, this is the rare straight five that I'd never listened to until the generator sent it our way. I probably listened to She Bangs the Drums twenty times this weekend.

Not sure if it meets the definition of the Mandela Effect but I went a number of years thinking Adventure Time used After Hours in one of the Marceline episodes. The feedback guitar solos on this and the Banana album are up there with Bob Dylan harmonica solos for destroying your family's ear drums in the car. I think this is my favorite Velvet Underground album. It’s certainly the most listenable of their first three albums, the Murder Mystery notwithstanding.

A pleasantly inoffensive wall of turds. New York City Song is a nice little ditty

Rock solid album, this is about as good as that spoken word/singing style can get.

I mean it's no Neil Young

I like how much 1970s Britain has to say to 2020s America

This is a fun little album, we're swinging from what appears to be an update on the Doors to demented polkas. One of us knows this listener to be a fan of a polka.

There's a high enough floor here because the Fleetwood Mac sound is one of the best we have but most of the songs feel pretty flimsy and undercooked.

If I walked into a barbecue joint and this was playing I would be very happy. Goodbye belt, hello heartburn.

Pretty middle of the road but I'm a sucker for the pop punk sound. Shoutout Derry

Robert Fripp is definitely one of the most distinctive guitarists in rock. Wanted to dismiss this as experimental dreck but I feel like there's a lot here to sink your teeth into with time. Tentative three for now, I feel like I could fixate on this for a month or come back a season later and rate it a two.

I just spent four days smoking five packs a day because of the wildfires and this album is the worst thing I can think of to ever come out of Canada

The definition of a nice little album

I really like REM's sound here but all of the songs on this album seem a bit half-assed and underwhelming which is an odd combination.

I do enjoy this album even if I've never understood the intensity it looks like it inspires.

The middle to end of this album is as good as anything that's been recorded but the opening third is middling to outright bad--I Know It's Over and Never Had No One Ever are automatic skips anytime I play this album. That said the highs are so damn good and are as good as a British band had sounded since the Beatles.

They sound as bored as I feel listening to this

I like my techno and industrial noise type music but this fails to move break through from repetitive to transcendent that this type of music requires.

Great Sunday type of album without being overly moody. Sort of feels like a female Lyle Lovett with the country and cabaret crossover.