Out-bloody-rageously awful.

I’m really not sure what to say about this one - just like my last foray into what I suppose is termed “world music”, this was effectively an hour’s worth of background music.

… nah.

It gets 3 stars for “Heroes” alone. Quite liked “The Secret Life of Arabia” too. The rest was utter nonsense.

Gets 2 stars for Roundabout. The rest is just prime Rick Wakeman knob twiddling guff.

So good it got a second listen.

It’s getting 1*, and it should be grateful.

Meh.

Liked it more than I thought I would. Just about.

I suppose Maggie May is worth 2 stars.

I had never heard of Nick Drake before now, and I liked this much more than I thought I would.

I expected to like this much more than I did.

Could listen to Sade all day.

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would, but it loses a star for the unnecessary “jam” tracks at the end.

Unnecessarily long. Did nothing for me, but I had forgotten about “The Way You Move”, which I always liked, so it gains it an extra star.

Just dull. Dull, dull, dull.

Even the presence of the only Pink Floyd song I like being on this album couldn’t save it. Absolute tripe.

Having spent over an hour of my day listening to this, I may as well have not bothered. Couldn’t tell you anything about it.

It has a nice album cover, at least.

I didn’t hate it, I suppose.

I think this made it onto the list by accident.

I should’ve enjoyed this - but I didn’t. At all. Completely forgettable, and far too long for a 6-track album.

This album should be grateful I can’t give less than 1 star. So bad, it made my dog’s ears pin back with fear when she heard it.

It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t close to being good either.

I fully anticipated despising this, having been on the Oasis side of the debate in the 90s. However, listening to it as an adult has me realising that they were a lot better than I remembered. Still can’t stand Damon Albarn’s voice, mind you.

Out-bloody-rageously awful.

It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve heard so far on this list, but it just wasn’t for me.

Beyond “Glory Box” I was largely unfamiliar with Portishead, and this album is much the same vibe as that - not a bad thing, just not really my thing, really. It’s atmospheric and I can see its appeal, but I doubt I’ll ever think about it or listen to it again.

I felt really conflicted about this because when it’s good - “Live Forever”, “Supersonic”, “Slide Away” - it’s perfect. When it’s not, like with “Digsy’s Diner”, it’s just a bit forgettable. A solid 4* album, but not the 5* I assumed it would be when listening back as an adult.

I didn’t hate this, but I genuinely couldn’t tell you anything about it. Not for me, and totally forgettable.

I hovered between giving this 3* or 4* - it’s a decent album, with the standout obviously being “Up Around the Bend”, but some of it was just a bit middle of the road. Out of the covers on the album, I preferred “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” over the Roy Orbison cover, but it didn’t need to be over 10mins long.

Albums shouldn’t be instruction manuals.

It gets an extra star for amusing song titles.

I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t like it either - I’ve never been a fan of Suede and that opinion hasn’t changed listening to them again as an adult.

A fabulous album, showcasing the tight grooves that would be heard on most of the defining hits of the next decade.

I was mildly drunk whilst listening to it, which I think helped.

I liked the opportunity to listen to an artist I have never heard of before and, whilst I didn’t hate it, it just wasn’t for me.

This was better than the last jazz offering thrown my way by this generator… but only just.

Even as a firm believer that The Beatles are hugely overrated, I quite liked this - it starts strong, with “Taxman” and “Eleanor Rigby” already on my (very, very short) list of songs by The Beatles I actually like. I didn’t even mind the sitar of “Love You To” (though do dislike the poor grammar), even after listening to Ravi Shankar earlier in this generator and despising it. However, by the time Ringo starts clapping away about his yellow submarine, the wheels had come off for me and, once more, I had started to wonder just what all the fuss is about.

My biggest problem with this album is that it feels like hard work to get to the good stuff - and this has some good stuff (compared to The Wall, which I heard earlier in the project, and was utter tripe beyond the title track). It just doesn’t really feel like it was worth the effort, which takes all the shine (ahem) off of it.

I was sure I liked Roxy Music before I listened to this. Now I’m not so sure…

Each of Billy Joel’s 4 previous albums have “that” song on them - “The Stranger”, from beginning to end, is all “that” song; back to back classics that cemented him as music’s great, New York storyteller.

I don’t have the words to express how bad this was.

I don’t mind Neil Young generally, but I find his early efforts quite dull and this is no exception.

Whilst my Curtis Mayfield knowledge may be limited, I was just expecting more from this - it never really got going, keeping itself firmly in the realm of (pretty underwhelming) baby making music.

I generally don’t mind Cream, and this was on track for a middle-of-the-road 3* review from me. And then “Mother’s Lament” happened.

I’m not as clinically depressed after it as I thought I would be, oddly.

In some moments, this album had flashes of what it could have been. Whilst the inclusion of “Good Vibrations” might have seemed like a good idea at the time, it only highlighted all the ways this album felt like a let down. Listening to this album the day after Brian Wilson passed away was still a lovely thing, though.

My inherent dislike of Bob Dylan stems from an almost visceral hatred of his voice. I have been reliably informed by my dad that, some day, I’ll get it - alas, that day hasn’t come. I’ll be amazed if it ever does. Objectively, “Like a Rolling Stone”, is a good song - as are so many of his compositions. I just prefer when someone else sings them.

This just wasn’t for me. I don’t mind some of their later singles (especially the ones which have vocals), but this just didn’t do it for me.

Having suffered the misfortune of listening to “Heroes” earlier in the Generator, I went into this with low expectations. Just as well, because when we opened with a track that was 10mins long, I feared this was going to be another disaster. Thankfully, the album picked up after that - “Golden Years”, already one of my favourite Bowie songs, and “TVC15” are obviously the standouts. The rest of the tracks are all quite inoffensive, but mostly unmemorable.

This is a bit of a slow burn to begin with but, once you hit “Lovesong”, picks up, and has a run of songs that cement this as maybe their most cohesive album. It’s not perfect - you could lose probably 20 minutes of intro and outro, across the whole album, and it would still keep its coherence. Even my love of The Cure doesn’t temper an dislike of too-long songs.

Adele is someone who can be a bit hit and miss for me (in terms of her music, not her as a person - I’d very much like to be friends with her). The standout for me on this album has always been “River Lea”, and listening to it again just reminds me how much I love it. Whilst there are some misses on this album for my personal taste, even they are clearly well-crafted, well-written tracks that show just what a talent she is.

The highlight is “Street Life”, but there was no need for it to be 11mins long. The rest of the album was all instrumental - something which, thanks to this project, I’m learning I don’t really like. Especially in this case, as I felt like I was listening to the sort of music you’d hear in the lobby of a hotel.

I’d never heard of this album before but, as a fan of Costello’s early work with The Attractions, had high hopes. I wasn’t disappointed.

This was always going to be at least a 3* for me, given “It’s Tricky” and “Walk This Way” are on this album. I enjoyed listening to the rest of it, although no other tracks stood out to me quite like the two biggies.

For an album that was only just over an hour long, it seemed to go on forever - and not in a good way. 99% of it sounded the same, to the point where, multiple times, I realised I’d heard two or three different tracks instead of the one I assumed I was still listening to. “Once Around the Block” is the only song I’d heard before, and it is still lovely. I also really liked “Disillusion”, which I’d never heard until this project.

I really don’t know what to say about this - I didn’t hate it, but I couldn’t tell you anything about it either. It went in one ear and out the other. Just not my thing.

Undoubtedly “Superstition” is the standout track on this album; when the horn section kicks in midway through the first verse, the effect almost feels visceral. Sadly, the rest of the album feels almost like filler in comparison. It starts promisingly, but after “Maybe Your Baby”, never really gets to the cohesive heights that will be found on an album like Innervsions or Songs in the Key of Life.

Beyond standouts “Juicy” and “Big Poppa”, this was little to write home about.

I’m really not sure what to say about this one - just like my last foray into what I suppose is termed “world music”, this was effectively an hour’s worth of background music.

Having already established that I’m not a fan of albums which are purely instrumental, this was never going to score well from me. “Green Onions” is obviously the track that is most well known, but opening with it meant I lost interest quite quickly after that.

My Joni Mitchell knowledge was limited as I lined this up for a listen, but I was fairly sure it wasn’t going to be for me - and I was right. I can see her appeal, and why she is lauded, but she just doesn’t do it for me. She nearly got a bonus star for her excellent grasp of a song-coming-in-under-three-minutes, but I resisted.

This album should be in my wheelhouse but, if it weren’t for the title track, this would just be a standard 45mins of synth pop that isn’t anything to write home about. If anything, all the tracks up to the title track are passable - then you get to the standout, and everything after is just boring in comparison.

My joy at noticing this album came in at less than 30mins was short lived.

This starts off strong with the classic “Cry to Me” but, having reached that peak so early, I felt it quickly descended into mediocrity.

Oh dear.

I didn’t hate it, but don’t lure me into a false sense of security with tight, under 3-minute tracks from the get go, only to throw a 17min track in at the end.

When one of the greatest songs in the world is your opening track, you set yourself up for listening to a masterpiece - thankfully, this is exactly what this album is. The title track remains as relevant today as it was in 1971 and, along with every other track on the album, demonstrates that politics and protest music doesn’t need to sound angry - sometimes, it can sound as beautiful as this.

Whilst I can appreciate Nina Simone’s talent, unfortunately I don’t like her voice - and this album has her at her warbly “best”.

I was clearly spoiled with having Run DMC in this project previously, because it has all just been downhill on the hip-hop front since. I had never heard of this artist before, and I’ll not be running to catch his other work.

When the first couple of tracks included the lyric “beat your meat” and meowing, I nearly wrote this off as a batshit, 1-star listen that I would let in one ear and out the other. Then Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald came to save the day. The following batch of tracks had great guest stars, tight grooves - and no more ridiculous lyrics. Despite the album picking up in the middle, I felt, as it got towards the end, it just became a bit dull. I was almost longing for more silly lyrics to at least make me react somehow. An excellent grasp of my rule of “keep songs under four minutes” though.

This album ultimately sums up my thoughts on Simon & Garfunkel: inoffensive, but does nothing for me.

This showcases everything ABBA do so well. “Dancing Queen” might just be the greatest pop song ever recorded, and “Knowing Me, Knowing You” (ah-haaa) is a fine example of the kind of ballideering that would culminate a few years later in the most devastating and heartbreaking of break-up songs. It’s not a perfect album: songs like “When I Kissed the Teacher” and “My Love, My Life” are a bit dull in comparison to the classics of their type. The latter, in particular, I can now only visualise as being sung by the ghost of Meryl Streep in “Mamma Mia 2”.

This is the first of Supertramp’s albums that moves away from its art school wankery and into a poppier vibe. Songs like “Bloody Well Right” and the classic “Dreamer” are clearly the standouts, but really this album starts to move the direction of traffic into something that will culminate in the masterpiece that is “Breakfast in America” a few years later.

I genuinely could not tell you anything about this album, except I don’t think I hated it?

Never again.

Having just suffered the indignity of listening to the Beastie Boys for this project, the only thing I can say is that it this album wasn’t as bad as that.

I had actually managed to blank this album from my mind until I came to review it. Make of that what you will.

One day soon, this project will realise that no amount of offering me jazz will make me like the genre, and we’ll all be happier for it.

I knew little about The Offspring prior to this, my knowledge largely extending to the song “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)”. Armed with that, and a general sense of how songs of this genre and era sounded, I didn’t anticipate I would much like this. And I was right.

Yep. Still hate Radiohead.

I’m almost glad Lauryn Hill has only released this one album, because it’s unlikely she will ever come close to its brilliance again. But we’ve been through this - most songs of +4mins make me lose interest, and there is no need for excessively long outros. Even an album as great as this doesn’t get let off.

I tried to come up with an actual review, but I couldn’t.

Having never listened to anything by John Cale before, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. Very easy to listen to, a good, tight run time of 30-ish minutes. Lovely.

This is my favourite of the “world music” selections we’ve been offered as part of this project so far, for reasons I can’t really explain. I just quite liked it.

Whilst I may have listened to this, it went in one ear and straight back out the other. So I guess that means I didn’t hate it if I don’t remember listening to it?

One of my favourite openings to an album is this. “Runnin’ with the Devil” leads into a run of songs which showcase Van Halen at their very best. “Eruption” highlights the talent of Eddie Van Halen in a little over a minute and a half, and then a rockin’ version of “You Really Got Me” leads to my album highlight of “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love.” A solid debut that I don’t think they topped with their subsequent releases.

Would this have been the album I’d pick? No. But it doesn’t really matter. RIP Ozzy 🖤

This sounds like what I imagine an acid trip feels like.

Knowing very little about Harry Nilsson, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this album. “Without You” still sounds better coming from the mouth of Mariah Carey, and “Coconut” made me smile - I hadn’t realised that was a Nilsson song. All in all, this was an easy listening joy.

This is now my second Joni Mitchell album of this project, and I still don’t really get it - maybe it’ll be third time lucky?

If you asked me to imagine what Talking Heads sounded like, it would probably be this album. I enjoyed listening to it, and was familiar with some of the tracks, but it was just missing something for me - I don’t know what that something is, but their output during the 80s has always been my preference over their earlier stuff.

This starts off strong, with “My Name Is” and “Guilty Conscience” being your opening tracks - a problem, because the album never reaches those heights again. What this does give you is a glimpse into the lyrical genius of Eminem, and a feel for just how good his later albums will be. This one is just not quite there.

I had never heard of Bert Jansch before this and, whilst this was inoffensive and easy to listen to, I’m not sure I’d actively seek out his other works.

I still don’t like Bob Dylan, but his voice was less grating on this album so it gets an extra star.

Sometimes words are not enough to convey how truly bad something is. This is one such time.

Being only really familiar with their hits, I was a fan of “Spellbound” already. I have learned from this project that plenty of albums start going downhill after “the hit” - refreshingly, that wasn’t the case here. This is a consistently strong album, showing Siouxsie’s unique sound.

I don’t know who I pissed off to have Tom Waits so soon after Captain Beefheart and Bob Dylan, but I’m sorry.

If ever an album highlighted the reason why the singles were chosen for release, it’s this one. “Frozen”, especially, is the standout and still sounds amazing, but I’ve always enjoyed “The Power of Good-Bye”, as well. Whilst the rest of the album is cohesive, with William Orbit’s fingerprints all over it, the album tracks just sound like filler compared to the singles.

This is an album in two halves: the first half is a belter - “Rolling in the Deep” still sounds as good as it did the day it was released and begins an almost perfect run of tracks, any of which would be strong enough to release as singles. The second half of the album loses some of that momentum for me, and isn’t as strong. It took me a minute to realise “Lovesong” was a (quite nice) cover of The Cure and, of course, “Someone Like You” will forever be the heartbreak anthem of the 2010s, and is the standout track at the back-end of the album.

There is a period in the 90s where I think U2 become a bit guff - this album is the start of that process. “One” is a beautiful song (even if I do prefer the later version with Mary J. Blige), but I’ve never really got the rest of the tracks - even the other singles. It just wasn’t for me, but was still inoffensive (or as inoffensive as I can find Bono) enough not to hate.

For a split second I considered giving this 3* on account of the fact that I like the video of Subterranean Homesick Blues, and think the line “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows” might be one of the finest ever written. Hearing “Mr Tambourine Man” in its original construction also highlights what a delightful and beautiful song it is. But none of that changes the fact I just can’t get over the vocal style of Bob Dylan and, no matter how talented I can objectively say he is, I won’t ever enjoy his music or see how others can enjoy it.

I really don’t know what to make of this - I’m not even sure if I liked it - but it certainly had my attention. I just don’t know if that was for good or bad reasons. Indisputable, however, is the fact that singer Jay Anderson’s best contribution to music is his work as Kevin’s guitar player in his tribute band in “The Office” (and his composing the theme tune to the show, I suppose).

I’m not particularly a fan of Iron Maiden, but I suppose this sounds exactly how you think a Maiden album would sound - soaring vocals, interesting lyrical imagery, and unnecessarily long guitar solos. Ticks all the boxes if it’s your thing, I guess - it just isn’t really mine.

This darkness of this album, I would imagine, reflected Ian Curtis’s state of mind during its recording. I found it an uncomfortable listen; very “moody”, for want of a better word, and very dark and despairing. I didn’t enjoy it, at all, but giving it only 1* feels harsh, for some reason.

This started strong, with an excellent run of tracks (who doesn’t love a children’s choir?!) until you get to the brilliant “Life’s What You Make It”. At this point, the album hits a bit of a lull and I have zero recollection of any of the tracks - until we get to the closing number. All 8 and a half minutes of it. Which, as we’ve already been through, is unnecessary. All in all, it’s 5* for the first half of the album. The second half is absolute dirge.

This is a bizarre album. Its standout track is “Psycho Killer” - which is a song which does not fit the overall vibe of the album (which is quite… happy? For want of a better word). It also makes you wait for said standout track - it finally appears as the penultimate song on the album. By the time I got there, I had lost interest.

I didn’t mind this, even though I knew that it wouldn’t really be my thing. Bonus points for sharp, non-rambly songs that show you can get to the point in under 3mins should you desire.

This album just didn’t do it for me, despite it being a Pharrell / The Neptunes record. “She Wants to Move” is incredible - still sounding as unique as it did 20yrs ago, but the rest is, despite some talented guest appearances, a bit of a let down. “The Way She Dances” is a funky joy with a great guitar hook. I suspect I would have much better enjoyed an album in the same vein as those two standout tracks. I also expected more from a producer of the talents of Pharrell Williams when it comes to track length - he, if anyone, should have the ability to craft and execute a tight pop song in less than 4mins. No need for any of this 8 and a half minute nonsense.

It’s the Pet Shop Boys, so already there will be a lot to like about this album. I just didn’t love it - it was all a bit early 90s, euro-dance for me to really love it. It also suffers the unfortunate fact of having “Go West” as its closing track - a song that I have an abject dislike of. All in all, though, it kept my attention and my interest throughout, and I had largely quite a nice time listening to it.

I am yet to remain convinced that The Who are not massively overrated. This album did nothing to change that opinion. Clearly “My Generation” is the standout track, and all of the others barely registered with me. Kudos to them for having short songs, though.