Love the political messaging, really urgent and direct album. Wailing lyrics ebbs frustration and so does the almost sympathetic production? Idk how else to describe it, but there is a powerful and uniting sound across the whole record. There’s a sense of community and rallying, more accessible than that of, for example, Rage Against The Machine. Storytelling also emotive and direct. The last song, 40, is a really great ending, a call to arms, a question of how long will the messages of the record have to be spread until War ends? Thought that was a nice touch, especially with the metaphors of the ‘song’ ending both figuratively and physically. All in all, the album is brilliant and really hit me in an emotional place. Also perfectly concise at 42 minutes and 10 songs, a great collection of killer material.

Nice easy listen, enjoy the songwriting a good amount, folklore-heavy and metaphorical. I think the blues cuts are by far the strongest in the album, however, with some great, simple, and more recognisable lyrics and production choices. I don’t see why the album is called ‘On The Beach’ either, considering it isn’t a very summery or upbeat album; maybe that’s the irony! The title track, however, is phenomenal and the drum production on it is really satisfying. Still, somehow my first introduction into Neil Young’s prolific catalog, but I feel he has way better out there for me to try.

Obviously a classic. Heard this so many times, and the vocals, songwriting, and catchiness of the record still amaze me. An almost perfect album with such universal appeal, yet also a breakthrough in the 90s mainstream.

Enjoy the raspy vocals and the 70s production style. Easy enough listen. More of an EP to me though personally, considering the 6-minute instrumental intro and the 1:30 track in the middle, so only 6 full tracks really which is disappointing. Favourite tracks are probably Freedom Rider and Sittin Here Thinkin of my Love, which have the best songwriting and lyrics to me. Overall, a pleasant sound with a great frontman yet too inconsistent and too short for me to fully appreciate.

Now this is what I’m talking about. A proper, new, refreshing classic that I haven’t heard before to delve into. Personality-filled, energetic, Blondie-esque fusion record which has so much to enjoy. Love the vocals and the drums are very well produced and, I’d say, somewhat addictive. Slows down in the last couple of songs and doesn’t offer as much within these due to the length and lack of complexity, however the majority of the record is upbeat, or if not, memorable and confident.

Out of my comfort zone a little with this one but I thought I’m going to give it a try anyway. Obviously I don’t know any of the lyrics as I don’t speak Portuguese, but the vibe and the production on the album is pretty admirable. Really enjoyed the first few tracks but then I think the middle doesn’t give me that same samba-funk fix the first leg did. Despite this, a varied, lush, and deftly curated record, with the percussion taking centre-stage and Ben Joe’s vocals are hypnotising and invigorating. Despite this, I most likely won’t be returning to this.

Quite a witty album, but a bit too silly for me and so annoying somewhat 😂.

I absolutely adore Gil-Scott Heron’s vocals already as I’ve listened to a decent bit of his catalog so far so very excited with this pick. His style of vocal jazz is so smooth and addictive. Really minimalist and accessible jazz and beautiful melodies throughout. Always feels like you’re listening to him live and he’s telling you a personal story.

One of the best live albums ever made, can just imagine the spirit of the prison crowd and the production of the live acoustics is very impressive.

Great vocalist who has stood the test of time, a classic rock album and some pretty good songwriting across the whole project.(I Know) I’m Losing You is an absolute banger and so I wish the whole project was more like that but regardless, the soft rock and the crooning across the whole album is executed with tact and ends up being a very satisfying listen. Balladry galore!

Listened to this before but will happily listen to it again. The Flaming Lips are a criminally underrated 90s band who deserve a lot more mainstream success in my eyes. This record is so experimental yet so cohesive. Compared to their preceding albums, this is so nicely layered and well mixed, and the songwriting is a lot more emotional and ambitious, with some cheek and wit syphoned in, and it still manages to be easy to follow and natural. It defies a lot of 90s instrumental orthodoxy and has bucketloads of personality and fun to enjoy. Post-punk and pop-punk-coded vocals as well work weirdly as the storytelling of the songs are wailed over these expansive instrumentals.

Didn’t think I was going to be that keen on this as it is more traditional country but it turned out to be quite pleasant. Appreciate her vocals and songwriting.

Reminds me of Rage Against the Machine, and therefore doesn’t seem to have its own individuality a lot of the time. I appreciate the country cross-overs, as country rap you do not hear very often. However, the hard rock sound with the rapping is accomplished a lot better by other artists.

Very well-performed, intimate, and comforting album, although not particularly very memorable in terms of the instrumentation and not very varied. Didn’t fall in love.

His guitar skills let’s just say are a lot better than his vocal skills. Not very memorable anyway as an album.

Obviously heard this album quite a few times, and probably Coldplay’s best? The urgency and intimacy of this album is its best strength, with Chris Martin’s light vocals and piano-centric instrumentation providing a welcoming landscape for the post-9/11 context in which the songs were written. However, the ambient yet trying-to-be-majestic nature of a lot of the songs may be polarising, and I am of the opinion that there are memorable and timely tracks, here even though I don’t return to the album much at all, and the second half of the album drops in quality.

I liked Elvis Costello’s debut, ‘My Aim is True’ but this one is definitely more background music to me and a lot less interesting.

The first Talking Heads album I’ve enjoyed the entire way through. A quirky but still catchy set of songs, with David Byrne’s iconic vocals, fantastic grooves and riffs aplenty, and some funny and dread-filled storytelling. Really enjoyed it.

Really funky and well-produced electro-jazz with a good amount of variation. Good summery vibes

Amazing hard rock and punk-rap album which is sufficiently gnarly and revolutionary yet never exhausting

I mean, what’s the point of giving me this album? 😂😂😂

While there is fantastic drum work all over this project, and a good amount of variation, it’s quite unmemorable to me.

Really not very inspiring and Steely Dan’s idea of soft rock is uninteresting and I’m not a massive fan of their work in general to be honest.

This noise rock isn’t for me. Tries to emulate the 60s distortion revolution but instead comes across as too punky to mix well. Much prefer the shoegaze of the 90s to this, a genre which was evidently still in its gestation period with this one.