it's fine
My dad used to play this album on our annual family road trip to Florida during the first week of February as we retreated from the cold to escape somewhere warmer. No matter how often I return to listen to it on my own I find it to be straight forward and comforting. However, I will refuse to acknowledge that my preference for it is completely skewed by nostalgic bliss, but instead as I listen to it now as the summer heat relentlessly blasts 100°F temperatures I will unabashedly rave about this album and the sounds of Van Morrison as being about the joys of life during summer.
It's a solid album throughout. Gimme Shelter is a great intro, Midnight Rambler has some killer instrumentals, and I do like the choir and vocals in You Can't Always Get What You Want. But as a whole it doesn't convince me I'd consider it a favorite.
I too often unfairly dismissed Franz Ferdinand as a one hit wonder due to the degree Take Me Out overshadows their entire discography, but the album as a whole does stand up on it's own and features a few other songs that can match it.
4.5 but rounding down / taxman is a terrible opener but Tomorrow Never Knows is a fantastic closer. I'm Only Sleeping is my favorite Beatles song. Generally enjoyable throughout though, The Beatles really exercising their creativity on this album for the first time (not bashing Rubber Soul, but Rubber Soul was much more cohesive in style still, while this felt like the first time they really stretched outside their comfort zone).
I like punk
it was a fun album to listen to but wasn't particularly moving. unfortunately that leads me to downgrade from a 3.5 to 3
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3.5 overall since I zone out quite a bit when relistening to this but rounding up because Till There Was You is one of my favorite Beatles songs lyrically and instrumentally really enjoyed this throughout even if I zone out
Not impressed by this classic rock album. For some of the slower songs I did enjoy the sounds of folk rock allowing for the lyrics to shine through and to create moments of thoughtful reflection. Sad Memory was a standout. But I just could not find myself interested in this as a whole. Buffalo Springfield remains a one hit wonder to me for For What It's Worth with only a few other songs I would want to revisit.
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each song is too long and unnecessarily drags on just for Jimi to make every second a vanity project for him to show off how amazing he is at playing guitar
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One of my favorite live albums. The live audience is great.
The Rolling Stones know how to kick off an album and Rocks Off doesn't disappoint - the keys, the horns, the vocal manipulation all paired with a sound that is still distinctly The Rolling Stones make for a great entrance. Rolling right into Rip This Joint shows they're going to continue on their rampage, with more of those great keys and horns. Sweet Black Angel has these interesting blunt instrument sounds, I'm not well versed enough to identify them but I like the sound. Near the end, the slide guitar on Stop Breaking Down really stands out as representing the climax of this blues inspired album, with the progression into Shine A Light representing the start of the ending encore. The instrumentals, continued use of keys and horns, and Mick Jagger's vocals helped carry me through this album to the end, but I empathize with the common complaint that I did feel a bit lost at times through the entire track list due to how long and expansive it is. I was never disappointed or bored though, and believe this album rightfully deserves it's place as one of The Rolling Stones' greatest contributions to music.
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At the beginning of this album I thought about how it is a quintessential example of a punk album that on a modern day relisten comes off as no longer being relevant when comparing it to the genre as a whole after it's release, even if it was transgressive for the period it was released in and for the genre it pioneered it has an undeniably impactful legacy. But in 2025 listening to God Save the Queen and Johnny Rotten yelling about England's fascist regime it continues to feel pointedly sharp in it's continued relevance.
One of my favorite atmospheric albums ever, it perfectly captures a sullen melancholy mood in a setting that feels like a dimly-lit smoke-filled cocktail lounge.
I needed an excuse to listen to this album because it's not my favorite Kanye album and I rarely revisit it, especially because of how long it is. I was excited that this was the album of the day giving me the excuse I needed. But relistening to the album my experience was aligned with my expectations, and I feel justified I am hesitant to listen to this without an excuse.
After spending time as a producer hidden behind the curtain, Kanye's ego forced it's way out in a debut album that solidified him as one of the greatest rap producers of all time, and kicked off his career as the rapper unafraid to write the corniest lyrics of all time. College Dropout is a sneak peek into everything Kanye will do in the future: an album that drags on, music where I get bored and irritated wanting it to end, songs with stand out production, songs with surprising instrumentals and excellent production that I never noticied before when listening closely, Kanye showing his genius in good ability to know who to collaborate with to make a song really stand out, Kanye lyrics being annoying, Kanye lyrics being clever, Kanye lyrics being funny.
However, I'm at my happiest when the album is finally done and I can move on to something else. Rating 4 stars because 3 is an injustice to Kanye's production.
In January 2021 I only gave this a 3.5, but I really enjoyed it on relisten so it deserves a 4. I'm not well versed in jazz for it to be higher, though, or to provide a more thoughtful review.
I like New Wave
enjoyable Bob Dylan album
its fine
This had some good droning guitar sounds. I like the album cover.
second half gets a little boring but instrumentally Lou Reed and John Cale aren't pulling any punches to help create that perfect mix for haunting pop sounds as a backdrop to Nico's voice
3.5 but rounding up / I like punk music, but I have a hard time thinking that I'll come back to revisiting this album. It lacked any feeling of a wow factor. Listening to the first two Bad Brains albums before this I did find this album to be more succinct in its sound, though, and one of the reasons I rounded up instead of down for it felt like an exercise in reaching what might be their peak.
pop rock
One of Dylan's best.
Enjoyable pop punk. I listened to this on a road trip and when Boulevard of Broken dreams came on my wife pointed at it and said "that's me!". I then told her she is "lonely edgy angsty teenage wolf meme". The use of the f-slur and the r-slur is sooooooo early 2000s I love it.
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https://x.com/MarkRonson/status/1288485122732326917?s=20 // My friend stereotypes The National as being "sad dad music.” I tend to agree. High Violet is a stark example of the band's place in the pinnacle of Pitchfork's indie rock fever, and their sound is forever marked as being that of an aging millennial who’s reached parenthood. But by the circumstances that I exist, with having to attend high school during that period of time, early 2010s indie rock will always be one of my favorite genres. Terrible Love is a standout opener for me. Afraid of Everyone’s shoegazy instrumentals pulls me back in, and Bloodbuzz Ohio sends me goosebumps throughout for its poignant reminder of my upbringing. However, besides that, the album overall does get a bit boring throughout with a certain tone of melodrama that isn't quite dramatic enough for me nor self-deprecating enough for me to empathize with it's monotone. However, I thoroughly enjoy The National’s unreluctant assertion of their roots and a sound that sounds so specifically dated from 2010, because it's better than the alternative that Spotify and Big AI proposes in 2025 - that of generic sounding singles that blend together for the purpose of being thrown on a playlist to be listened to completely in the background. The National, whether you like them or not, has stamped their sound on culture to the point that even Taylor Swift is recruiting them.
An album i'll permanently associate with /mu/, the greater general terminally online internet music community, and Kanye West. It's awesome nonetheless.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BW92t264eBM
the album as a whole, but especially Peking O, made me feel as if I lived in an alternate universe while simultaneously making me feel seen and understood when reflecting about how I feel living in our given society today, really awesome and cool and fun stuff 👍
it was fine. i listened to their first two albums prior to this, and Green River _did_ feel notably more engaging than the other two, but I don't know if my perception was pre biased by the fact that this album was the one for 1001 and not the other two. all three of them were around a 3, this one might be the best but still not good enough to rate up. Bad Moon Rising is fun tho.
First song on the album was the start of the letdown. Even with my penchant for poppy New Wave, both the single and the album as a whole wasn't quite the right mix of dark synthwave for me to feel like this was going to be spectacular. I did like some of the haunting synths on Despair. The All Tomorrow's Parties cover was ok in general, but I love the original so much that this was also more of a letdown. Overall the production value sounds nice, but nothing stands out too much on a single listen.
A perfectly appropriate cold weather album, feels very cozy adhering to the stereotypical "coffee house" music with warm vocals and acoustic instrumentals. I made myself a cup of tea to accompany the album. I think my mom had this on CD at some point in my life so I tend to associate the album with "mom pop." Don't Know Why and Come Away With Me are great singles. The album as a whole becomes monotonous throughout though. Rounding up from 3.5 to 4 because I personally enjoyed the slow-paced wistful atmosphere the album creates.
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I enjoyed listening to this throughout, but nothing stood out. Maybe the last song if anything. Would I revisit it? Maybe. Probably. Is it a generational, monumental ground breaking album? I don't think so.
not my favorite jazz album out of the few I've listened to, but solid nonetheless
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I will forever stand by the idea that clubs should play Heroin, appropriately named as it's delicious screeching drone sounds elicit visions of heaven.
Sunday Morning's ethereal reverb, Nico's haunting vocals on Femme Fatale and All Tomorrow's Parties, John Cale's experimentation balancing out Lou Reed's penchant for pop rock on songs like I'm Waiting for The Man, There She Goes Again, and well really throughout the entire album. Ending the album with even more visceral screeching drone sounds and glass breaking with European Son. The album is perfect.
Axis: Bold As Love is the Hendrix album showcasing a succinct sound. Are You Experienced has songs that felt a little rough. He also doesn't terrorize the listener with his guitars like he will on the following album Electric Ladyland. This album there's a nice mix of elements from different genres and it's comprised of straight forward songs. These aspects are both a good thing and a bad thing. I consider Electric Ladyland his best studio album (but my favorite is his live album Band of Gypsys), but Electric Ladyland is tedious for me because of it's length and constant display of chaotic egotism in the form of Hendrix's guitar playing. However, this album suffers (if only ever so slightly) for that reason, it's a little bit _too_ concise with Hendrix exercising some restraint and not being able to show off his technical prowess. But some songs are enjoyable standouts when it feels he perfectly hits his stride (the guitars on Spanish Castle Magic, for example, or Little Wing's composition in general).
Overall, though, the low points are a little boring and don't feel as engaging as the highs. The highs carry this album to a 4.
this was a fun album - the post punk and rockabilly elements are comically straight forward that it almost feels satirical, but mixed in with static noise on songs like Sunglasses After Dark before devolving into some catchy and weird instrumentals pull me in. the album gets a bit tedious at the end though.
what a killer debut opening track. unfortunately kinda zoned out while working and listening throughout the album after that. I did like the marching band sounds of Cloudbusting. I liked how haunting Under Ice is. Waking the Witch was awesome and weird and completely unexpected. The return to instrumentals for a subtle pop song at the end with The Morning Fog was a nice reset from some of the art pop sensibilities on the past few songs. Overall enjoyed Kate Bush's creative decisions and this album's explorations, even if it did not necessarily cement itself as one of my personal favorites for this listen.
Very enjoyable. I listened to their first two albums before checking this one out. At the beginning of this album I was starting to get a bit disappointed because it felt like Bug was _not_ going to be as adventurous as You're Living All Over Me.
However, before finishing my listening session, I saw the-bright-spots-of-2025's review of this album where they mentioned "Don't came on and I really struggled with making it through that song" and that's when I got really excited. I've found that if bright-spots explicitly mentions something they disliked in their review, there will be a 90% chance I abslutely love that specific aspect. In this case, that was (brightly) spot on - the song Don't is the magnum opus of the album. Chaotically evil, distorted noise that conveys raw emotions that I felt was lacking on the rest of the album. It was the adventure that I was seeking after listening to their other albums, that specific flavor of noise rock that aims to annihilate anything and everything.
When I was in high school I had a philosophy class with our eventual valedictorian/my nemesis/academic rival. One day for a presentation, she went up to the front of the class to discuss Sticky Fingers and the album cover's transgressions. She preached how scandalous it was at the time for an album cover to provide a fully functioning zipper on the front that let anyone unzip at their discretion, the skinny jeans' dick imprint, the album title, and how all of these factors were an example of how art can push the boundaries of societal norms by brazenly marketing the sex appeal of The Rolling Stones. I, being the annoying twit I was who felt the need to one-up her at every opportunity, readily volunteered to give the next presentation immediately following. Similarly, I was instructed to give a presentation on how art can challenge societal boundaries. However, more important to me than the subject matter or even the class' intentions of what we were there to learn and discuss, I was determined to give a presentation that belittled the shock factor of Sticky Fingers, and therefore, more specifically, was an affront that antagonistically belittles the integrity and intelligence of my enemy. I proceeded to go up to the front of the class and described the album cover No Love Deep Web by Death Grips, featuring an uncensored photo of Zach Hills' erect penis, and the impact that the album had on the early 2010s Pitchfork-era music scene. My classmates perked up, and I saw all of them hurry to search for the album cover on their iPads to take a look for themselves what I was describing. As I continued my presentation, I notice all of them entrenched with the album cover, including my teacher as she peeked over the shoulders of my classmates to take a look without doing so as conspicuously as they did. I don't really recall how the presentation ended, or if there was a discussion afterwards about it. But no matter the context now where or when I find myself relistening to this album, I still will forever relate it to this memory and No Love Deep Web.
The album itself - Fantastic. One of my favorite Stones albums. The first three songs are a killer intro already, with Wild Horses already being an album stand out, but then Can't YoU hear Me Knocking devolving into an instrumental jam session is incredible. I love the pensiveness on I Got The Blues. Oddly on Sister Morphine I felt like Mick Jagger's vocals seemed like they were imitating Bob Dylan. Dead Flowers is one of my favorite Stones songs so it being near the close of the album feels comforting. The album ending with the inclusion of orchestral strings on Moonlight Mile was both unexpected and welcome, feeling as if it was a self aware bow from The Rolling Stones to the audience to both thank them for listening but also to acknowledge a triumph in their artistic output.
Given I now view the album as one of the greats, retrospectively do I feel any remorse for my unprovoked take down of the album as a high schooler? Nah, I still think it's a funny story.
Early Saturday afternoon I went for a walk in the frigid cold and returned back home to listen to this while accompanied by a cup of hot coffee wrapped in a blanket. The Girl from Ipanema is such a comforting song to start with and the vocals are beautiful. To me this album represents _the_ canon entry level bossa nova album, but nevertheless it's precisely because it's an excellent album that it's used for genre tourists such as myself to get a glimpse into the genre's beauty in a singular album. I'm sorry that I'm not well versed in the genre to know if it is undeserving of being praised as such, but at face value it's wonderful.
https://cdn.vlipsy.com/clips/uhqmV8Ik/480p-watermark.mp4
it's hard for me to listen to ska without perceiving it as some sort of satirical joke. for me the sound of ska bands are the equivalent of a townie bar's open mic night featuring a jam band with the biggest local losers who were a little bit _too_ into marching band in high school and are now there to "have a good time". even the album cover exemplifies my feelings to typecast ska, because regardless of the band being suited up and having the benefit of a black and white cover to add some edge, knowing that this is a ska album makes them appear as a bunch of dorks who are just cosplaying to me. the music is annoyingly happy-go-lucky and upbeat - i'd rather have a lobotomy than listen to ska. ska is frequently referenced in portlandia and has it's influence on 100 gecs, but I find it extremely hard to engage with the genre as a whole regardless of it being this defined subculture, because I struggle to tolerate the music after just a couple seconds. But I can see why it's referenced in Portlandia and why Fred Armisen is attached to the genre based on the genre's relationship to punk.
Do the Dog had those punk elements which were fun and engaging, and that was a reoccurring motif I tried to look to for some faint glimmer of hope throughout the album. I guess the punk influence is the calling card of 2 tone ska. I did like glass breaking sounds in concrete jungle too, which also has a punk edge to it, and the song featured some fun guitar after that. But the actual ska musical elements ruin both of those songs as a whole.
Listening to this album was a teeth-grinding irritating chore. I would rather do manual labor than sit at my work from home job and listen to this again.
I used "Black Skinhead" as inspiration for a short literary analysis of the film King Kong (1933) for my Intro to Film course in university by calling out the long lasting racist comparison of black Americans to King Kong. I look to "Black Skinhead" for personal life inspiration in it's declaration of "For my theme song, my leather black jeans on." One of my favorite albums of all time.
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