Favorites: Somebody to Love, My Best Friend, How Do You Feel, White Rabbit Set the stage for that psych rock that would come to define Woodstock and Vietnam-era classic rock. Not very consistent in my opinion, but still worth its weight, especially Somebody to Love and White Rabbit.
Favorites: Gimme Shelter, Country Honk, Let It Bleed, Midnight Rambler, You Can’t Always Get What You Want Incredible album. The Rolling Stones take blues rock in a totally new direction — their own. Gimme Shelter is one of my favorite songs of all time. Just great stuff.
Favorites: What’s Going On, What’s Happening Brother, Save The Children, Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology), Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) Man, words cannot begin to describe the genius of What’s Going On. Marvin Gaye stands as the voice of the oppressed and takes a stand against inequality on the back of some of the most gorgeous soul you’ll ever hear. A timeless record, both sonically and topically, and one that feels just as poignant in 2025.
Favorites: Big Iron, Cool Water, They're Hanging Me Tonight, El Paso Before listening to this album as a whole, I was only familiar with Big Iron, as it was one of the first 7" records I added to my collection. This album is chock full of fantastic western and early outlaw country standards, with each one having its own personality and flavor, which I really appreciated. Robbins's career is storied and long, but I imagine that this record, which left a lasting impression on country music as a whole, stands out as his absolute best.
Favorites: Festival Junction, Newport Up, Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue It's possible I made a mistake listening to the original pressing off of a YouTube rip instead of the complete edition... This was good, but I'm not 100% a fan of the big band sound.
Favorites: Synchronicity I & II, King of Pain, Wrapped Around Your Finger I'm so torn on this album. The highs are very high and the lows are just okay to mediocre to me. What makes it worse is that the biggest song from the album - Every Breath You Take - is probably one of the weakest cuts from the album in my opinion. It's still good, and it is a piece of my collection that I'm happy to own, but as a whole it's not as strong as other new wave bands from that era.
Favorites: Small Hours, One World I think I've always had issues with John Martyn's music that I haven't been able to pinpoint until now. I give this album credit for being completely unique and trying a fresh blend of folk, jazz, and ambient that works to his advantage on one or two tracks, but as a whole this album just doesn't interest me much. I also just can't get past his vocals - they don't really fit on the tracks for me that great.
Favorites: Hit 'Em wit da Hee, Sock It 2 Me, The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly), Pass Da Blunt, Friendly Skies, Best Friends Supa Dupa Fly is awesome. Some of Timbaland's best beats paired with Missy, who is striking out on her own in her debut record and sounds fantastic alongside some of rap and R&B's best at the time. The record boasts some incredible features, especially from Da Brat, Timbaland himself, Ginuwine, and Aaliyah, with the album's intro/outro from Busta Rhymes adding texture and elevating Missy to the level of all of her peers and then some. What a debut!
Favorites: Green Onions, Rinky Dink, Mo' Onions I'm unsure as to whether I want to call this ballpark music core, movie theater organ core, or Napoleon Dynamite score core, but I think it's fun enough in any case. Not my thing for a full LP, but for what it's worth the title track is iconic and wonderful, and as are some of the more memorable riffs that have stood the test of time.
Favorites: Planet Claire, 52 Girls, Dance This Mess Around, Rock Lobster It's insane to me how much better the first side is compared to the second side... That being said, on the whole, this is a new wave staple. They really started to take the genre and have fun with it on this record, with Rock Lobster being the prime example of new wave at its silliest and most innovative. If only the record as a whole was as strong...
Favorite tracks: Skunk, Wail, Chicken Dog, Dynamite Lover The aspect of mixing blues rock with punk rock is so interesting to me, and the way in which Spencer blends the genre into a fully noisy and manic record really works for me. If this were more consistent, I'd consider it to be one of my favorites in the dive so far.
Favorites: Sixteen Saltines, Freedom at 21, Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy Jack White struck out on his own a year after The White Stripes fully disbanded in 2011, and I would argue that this is solid work from him though not entirely up to par with The White Stripes’s best. He’s come a long way since even this album, with his recent solo work being much better in quality in my opinion. This was still worth listening to, though.
Favorites: Speed of Life, Sound and Vision, Be My Wife, Warszawa, Art Decade Wow… What more could I say about this album! Absolutely timeless, and it’s insane that he made this during one of the greatest trilogy of albums of all time alongside Heroes and Station to Station. Just brilliant stuff.
Favorites: Father to Son, White Queen (As It Began), The March Of The Black Queen Queen’s sound has never really been my thing so I’m not surprised I didn’t connect with this one. That being said, it’s nowhere near a bad record. It’s very well-produced.
Favorites: Close to the Edge, And You and I Monumental. Right off the back of making their best album, Yes hit it out of the park with their most influential and one of the most epic prog albums out there. Some things don’t click for me as much as they do in Fragile, but this one is still excellent.
Favorites: Barely Legal, Someday, Hard to Explain While over time I have appreciated this album more for what it has done to define indie rock and its more revolutionary sound in the 2000s, I still find that, seven years since I've heard it for the first time, it's not my cup of tea. There are more songs that I've come to appreciate with time and I'm sure the record as a whole will click for me someday (lol). Unfortunately, it's not today.
Favorites: Girl from Mars, Oh Yeah, Let It Flow, Darkside Lightside I was not expecting to like this one as much as I did. Some really great power pop elevated by an obvious love for making music that Ash display throughout the entire record. It feels fun and fresh!
Favorites: Cry to Me, You're Good for Me Not my thing by a long shot, but I can see why people would adore this type of music. I found a lot of it to be too simplistic for my tastes, and the short length of a lot of these songs leaves a lot to be desired for me. Of course, these were made in completely different times than now, but still.
Favorites: Vento de Maio, O Que Foi Feito Devera(De Vera), O Trem Azul Some very beautiful MPB accompanied by Regina’s gorgeous vocals… though I will say this didn’t hold my attention for very long. A solid 7/10 record, but not one I’m likely to come back to.
Favorites: And It Stoned Me, Moondance, Into the Mystic Didn’t wow me as much as Astral Weeks, but man Morrison at his prime was a standout songwriter and performer. There’s some really great cuts on this record that would be absolute bests for weaker songwriters.
Favorites: Tangled Up in Blue; You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go; Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts Possibly the last great Dylan record. Full of incredible songwriting and performances of all sorts as per usual, but this really feels like a callback to albums like Blonde on Blonde or even Freewheelin’. A return to form for Dylan, even if it is his last true return to form.
Favorites: Don’t Look Back In Anger, Some Might Say, Champagne Supernova As much as the Gallaghers leave a bad taste in my mouth for obvious reasons, this album is incredible. Grandiosity at its purest form, with classic song after classic song.