Jun 04 2025
So
Peter Gabriel
Perhaps it is because I have heard "In Your Eyes" a million times but it is difficult to really say with confidence that (at least, as far as So goes,) Peter Gabriel succeeds in the realm of romantic ballads... That isn't to say that he is bad at gentle tunes because I do really enjoy "Mercy Street" and "Don't Give Up." Really great album :)
4
Jun 05 2025
Licensed To Ill
Beastie Boys
Listening to this with no prior knowledge about the Beastie Boys my knee jerk reaction is that this has to be satirical. Constant references to White Castle, beer, school lockers, "wasting" enemies, their intense desire to let everyone know they are from Manhattan... It is obnoxious, repetitive, and does not appeal to me. I can see how young audiences in 1986 would have enjoyed it, and unfortunately I cannot ignore that many of these songs are to this day incredibly popular. Still, I did not enjoy one second of it. Not for me ! I suspect their later works might be better and more refined
2
Jun 06 2025
Exodus
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Very gentle very chill cannot complain much
3
Jun 09 2025
From Elvis In Memphis
Elvis Presley
It is just fine
3
Jun 10 2025
Never Mind The Bollocks, Hereβs The Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
Pretty fun :) Can't go wrong with good old punk. Cannot say I am too much a fan of highly repetitive albums but I always like music that makes me want to break objects so I enjoyed it
4
Jun 11 2025
Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Red Hot Chili Peppers
This was a very pleasant surprise! I've remained relatively ignorant to the music of RHCP besides the popular ones your dad always listened to in like 2006. So to me they were just west coast Pearl Jam with some rapping. By the second song of Blood Sugar Sex Magik it became very clear to me that they were (are?) highly influenced by acts like P-Funk and dare I say Prince... Which I can always get behind :) The un-funky songs were pretty unremarkable to me, but still a welcome change of pace in keeping the album fresh for its 70 minute duration. How did I never realize they do funk rock... its like right there on their wikipedia page...
4
Jun 12 2025
Arrival
ABBA
I found that this listen made me realize I don't really have a strong opinion on ABBA one way or another. THOUGH I will admit that there are much better ABBA songs out there. I appreciate its brief runtime given the lack of substance.
3
Jun 13 2025
Surf's Up
The Beach Boys
It is so interesting that without looking at any of the album's credits it is immediately clear to me which songs have greater involvement by Brian Wilson versus those that do not, despite the fact that I'm not a big Beach Boy Head; obviously the stronger songs on this one are few and far between since he did not have the same creative input as with previous albums. Experimentation is fun either way. Oh... As I am writing this I just learned that Brian Wilson passed yesterday... Fly high angel :)
3
Jun 16 2025
Purple Rain
Prince
By June 25, 1984, Prince was no longer with Denise Matthews, a woman whose history and eyes would seemingly aid in shaping all of his creative output until his untimely passing. Before its release he had already moved on from Purple Rain by January of that very year, beginning Around the World In A Day long before his most mainstream work went platinum. It almost seems like everything to Prince-- the music, the fashion, the people-- was a project he needed to expunge from his system the moment it stuck around too long.
If you couldn't tell it almost feels impossible at times for me to listen to Purple Rain (or any Prince album for the matter) without thinking of the context within which it was fashioned, but I figured today was a good opportunity to take Purple Rain for what it was; no film plot, no drama, nothing but the music. It is far from my favorite Prince album. There are many songs (and iterations of those placed on this final track listing) created during this stretch of time that I would have preferred to see the (official) light of day while he was still with us. It makes me terribly sad that this album, reflective of such a singular and easily consumable period in Prince's life, is what most people think of when they hear his name.
For this reason Purple Rain is most often reserved for putting on the CD during a long car ride. This time around I put on my nice headphones, set the EQ to something neutral, closed my eyes, and rode the purple wave for its entire duration. Nothing exciting revealed itself in this ~100th listen, beyond some sneaky little giggles and finger snaps that give the impression that Prince indeed was a human being. But what it did impart upon me was this infectious positivity. You cannot listen to any song off of Purple Rain without feeling some level of whimsy tickling your soul, even if you don't particularly like this brand of cheesy pop music. Thank u P for all the love you poured into these perfectly imperfect albums
5
Jun 17 2025
Bad
Michael Jackson
I've always found Quincy Jones' production to have a really great eerie quality that lends itself well to Michael Jackson's banshee voice.
4
Jun 18 2025
Back to Mystery City
Hanoi Rocks
The first track tricks you into thinking there may be proggy elements present on this record but it certainly lies... It is woefully mediocre glam rock. I am not the biggest fan of the genre post-70s, though this is not the worst album I've ever heard.
3
Jun 19 2025
Bubble And Scrape
Sebadoh
Fun! There is always a soft spot in my heart for dissonant indie garbage from the 90s.
3
Jun 20 2025
Different Class
Pulp
I'm sorry but listening to this I got a massive headache and it almost prevented me from finishing because it just kept getting worse and worse as the album went on and I was suddenly so very acutely aware of how I need to brush my teeth and I am NOWHERE near a hater of 90s britpop but something about this is just so disturbing and unappealing I'm really not sure how people could have grown up listening to this and consider it massively important to their personality and identity when its just the same song about this skinny fucker committing adultery over and over like who gives a shit
But in all seriousness I cannot find one thing in this that I wouldn't find executed more successfully in a different English group.
2
Jun 21 2025
Hunky Dory
David Bowie
I wasn't always the most keen on the album format up until the last several years thanks to the ease of streaming, so when I was 14 I would just cherry pick the best songs from side 1 and say yep this is my favorite Bowie album I like hunky dory best. Well in giving it the full attention it deserves I can say it is definitely very sweet and has several of my favorite songs by the guy. yep this is not my favorite Bowie album
4
Jun 21 2025
Either Or
Elliott Smith
I will always and forever adore this album. A wonderful little intimate, heartbreaking, mirror-like package wrapped in a dulcet voice that fell into my lap exactly when I needed it. <3
5
Jun 22 2025
Billion Dollar Babies
Alice Cooper
This was really funny
3
Jun 23 2025
I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
Richard Thompson
A very sweet balm 2 soothe the sensitive soul... first 5/5 I've never heard so far :) !
5
Jun 24 2025
Hail To the Thief
Radiohead
Just imagine all the other albums that could've been on this list instead of Hail to the Thief. This is not, and never will be, an album that requires repeated listening to fully appreciate. It is unfortunate that it tricks some people into believing it is anything more than ok and holds a deeper complexity simply because it is Radiohead
3
Jun 25 2025
Lust For Life
Iggy Pop
It is funny 2 me how many 80s goth (and adjacent) lead singers seemed to emulated his voice. I can appreciate this one, despite the skeevy lyrics, for the way it clearly informed many albums I like more. I GUESS.
4
Jun 26 2025
Be
Common
This was delightful :)
5
Jun 27 2025
Illmatic
Nas
A spectacular collage
5
Jun 28 2025
Songs From The Big Chair
Tears For Fears
IN MY MIIIIIIIIIND'S EYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
5
Jun 29 2025
Another Green World
Brian Eno
Strange and alien but at the same time so deeply human that its kind of painful and hurts my brian eno tulpa when anyone says this album is boring and uninteresting... This wasn't a record I came back to frequently for a very long time but when I downloaded it onto my phone and listened to only it for a whole month during the winter time it did grow on me I used to not really enjoy Ms. Eno's voice but he never has claimed to be a musician or vocalist so it is okay that he sounds like if u put a microphone directly against my lips while I hummed through my teeth in the shower
5
Jun 30 2025
Happy Trails
Quicksilver Messenger Service
This seems like something I would have found at a goodwill and brought home simply because I liked the cover (+ they had no other albums worth any interest) and would only listen to because it was one of the 6 records I had
2
Jul 01 2025
Power In Numbers
Jurassic 5
3
Jul 02 2025
Protection
Massive Attack
4
Jul 03 2025
Tommy
The Who
It's okay
3
Jul 04 2025
Justified
Justin Timberlake
In the song "Take It From Here" there is a lyric that goes "I wanna be your mother" followed up by a derisive, joking, "...Wait." And I think that pretty much sums up the album for me. The lyricists, (I am going to assume timberlake did not work alone) in an attempt to portray this album as some modern r&b masterpiece by a young singer, makes a callback to Prince's "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and does away with it immediately by mocking the lyric it quotes... Effectively calling the level of intimacy and emotional connection that the original lyric alludes to, weird, ridiculous, not fitting in with the image of the sexually virile young man of 2002. There is not one ounce of originality or sincerity present in this entire album.
2
Jul 05 2025
Hot Fuss
The Killers
3
Jul 06 2025
Picture Book
Simply Red
2
Jul 07 2025
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
A Tribe Called Quest
Very delightful! Gets a little too repetitive for me after awhile.
4
Jul 08 2025
Machine Head
Deep Purple
I am inclined to agree with those who deem this list to be rockist and thus would love to engage in the fun sport of hating on old, cheesy rock... But, against my hater brain's wishes, my gut actually really enjoyed this. It is quaint and I don't imagine I will keep any of the songs to listen to casually. But I liked it nonetheless. "Smoke On the Water" isn't even the best track on here
4
Jul 09 2025
Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago
I actually really like the garbage noise guitar instrumental in this... everything else is mediocre
3
Jul 10 2025
The Stranger
Billy Joel
this is my brother's favorite album, so while listening I was placed into the mindset of an angsty 15 year old in the year 2009... Incredibly endearing and sweet album :) Although a few songs really aren't my style his storytelling is pretty irresistible.
4
Jul 11 2025
Sea Change
Beck
This year I've become something of a Beckhead (Beckfreak? Becker?), and from the outset many of the albums of his I've entertained have taken several listens to really feel like I could fully appreciate them... However, any of his more somber, slow songs like "Ramshackle" or "Blackhole" immediately clicked with me.
Sooo its a no-brainer that I adore this album. Astute listeners will notice the beautiful production thanks to Nigel Godrich, a pretty prolific fella. Beck excels at writing total gobbledygook lyrics that somehow translate into musical profundity; that isn't too on display here, meaning we get some sappy realness from this alleged NOT Scientologist. Great stuff ! Another album great for a blistery morning walk in the dead of winter
5
Jul 12 2025
Superfly
Curtis Mayfield
Fantastic! It makes sense they call him the "Gentle Genius."
4
Jul 13 2025
Out of Step
Minor Threat
So I was driving home from dancing at the goth bar last night (it is about 40 miles away because I am a simple country bumpkin) and I'd already listened to yesterday's album on the way 2 work so I put this on, not knowing what it would be at all! I know I've heard of the name Minor Threat but I could not have told you just what genre they were, what decade they're from, etc etc.
As the music started playing I realized it was exactly what I needed in the moment... Trying desperately not to doze off on the highway and determine whether the two Chargers in front of me were cops, all while maintaining a normal speed of 5-10mph above the speed limit is not easy in the dead of night on these woefully banked turns. Thank heavens for these screaming little men! It felt like years had passed every time I looked at the runtime of the album, but car console would only read small increments like "2:30," "5:43," and "10:59." Genuine sorrow ran through me when the time ran out and there was no more Step to be out of.
I was never really a punk growing up but occasionally in I would latch onto random albums here and there depending on the level of angst I was feeling. This one seems like it would've been perfect just for that. Lyrically it is just as juvenile and self-reflexive as you might expect from a 21 year old who would one day go bald. Overall I think you can tell this one is definitely "Classic Hardcore" material... So many a local show (like 2) I've attended just seems derivative of this. Angry stuff is fun :)
Gazing off into the distance ahead of me, white and red taillights flickering in and out like we were all driving across a vast concrete ocean, I imagined I was a child, who had never even heard of punk, coming across this album pre-internet. How exciting that must have been for anyone who did experience that! THX Minor Threat XOXO
5
Jul 14 2025
Guero
Beck
It is just okay, standard alternative rock from 2005. Doesn't really stand out much compared to other Becks. I find I enjoy his more rock oriented work when it isn't quite so polished... The song dedicated to Elliott Smith was nice
3
Jul 15 2025
Is This It
The Strokes
Rather monotonous
3
Jul 16 2025
Steve McQueen
Prefab Sprout
A very nice drink of cold, fresh water. The lyrics are very sensitive with the gentle voice of Paddy McAloon to match. It is very sappy in a way that seems to have only been achievable in the 80s. Some songs are much stronger than others but there is a little glimmer of gold in all of them. I am very surprised that I've never even heard of Prefab Sprout before!
4
Jul 17 2025
Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading
I love it !
4
Jul 18 2025
Searching For The Young Soul Rebels
Dexys Midnight Runners
Meh
3
Jul 19 2025
Songs For Swingin' Lovers!
Frank Sinatra
Good for listening to while crocheting
3
Jul 20 2025
The Man Machine
Kraftwerk
Earlier in the year when I went dancing meine lieblingsDJ (travis if u are out there I miss u homie) was playing Das Model or something and I had 2 explain to my best friend who Kraftwerk is and that's kind of difficult to do when you are screaming over Kraftwerk and there's like a whole bar of people (NOT dancing to Das Model...) chattering away... How do you even begin to describe their significance...? But ANYWAY I love how this one sews the seeds for the glorious world of italo-disco and like. Works akin to Klaus Schulze's Kontinuum. Lovely stuff ^_^
5
Jul 21 2025
The Coral
The Coral
42 minutes of pure ear-grating material and yet I still cannot bring myself to give it a 1/5 because I know there are worse... much worse... in the days to come. Still, not a fan!
2
Jul 22 2025
Beauty And The Beat
The Go-Go's
Irresistibly fun and cute! The lack of variety between tracks brings it down a few notches for me.
3
Jul 23 2025
Warehouse: Songs And Stories
HΓΌsker DΓΌ
There is some good stuff in here, but it is totally bogged down by terrible mixing and homogeneity between nearly every song. At least the cover art is nice? I've never explored early R.E.M. but at moments it does feel like I'm hearing an earlier, even less polished R.E.M. Which I do not mind.
3
Jul 24 2025
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Very cute and spooky!! I very much enjoyed the bluesy aspects of it. There is a certain rawness to Mr. Osbourne's voice here that seems to get obscured in the production choices of the (few) later tracks of theirs I have heard.
4
Jul 25 2025
Henry's Dream
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Nick Cave is great at writing vivid lyrics buuut that's about it. I find this album to be reminiscent of walking into a Spencer's with your older cousin in 2012
3
Jul 26 2025
Thriller
Michael Jackson
I would love to have a dialogue with a big Michael Jackson fan about the bizarre, manufactured innocence that is encapsulated in the lyrics on every track of this album. Was it intentional? Whose idea was it? Would the album have been less successful if Michael Jackson gave a singular detail about how he would have touched the women (girls) he sings about here, rather than resorting to totally insincere vagueness? >_>...
This record is endlessly danceable and very thoughtfully pieced together. I don't even mind the silly Paul Beatles duet. Billie Jean was always a favorite on my ipod shuffle. Before anything else I am a Barthesian, and so this must get my stamp of approval.
5
Jul 27 2025
25
Adele
This was listened to while making the drive to my sister's at 5am. I was fine with the slower songs. Everything else gave the impression of those local ads you see playing before the movie previews... Especially if you were to take away the vocals. It is endlessly annoying to me to hear several songs of a 25 year old talking about when she was young... You are 25. Come on now.
2
Jul 28 2025
At Budokan
Cheap Trick
If I was at this concert I would have been booored out of my mind. At least they made the song in 10 Things I Hate About You
2
Jul 29 2025
good kid, m.A.A.d city
Kendrick Lamar
My only exposure to this album (and pretty much Kendrick Lamar's music) until now were Vines in 2013 that took the most memetic 7 seconds of songs like Swimming Pools (Drank) and spun them into some eye catching joke. Very sad considering the fact that pretty much none of it is jokey... I love albums that depict very real pains and imperfections that are inescapable by many.
5
Jul 30 2025
Supa Dupa Fly
Missy Elliott
It was okay! you can tell from this debut that ms. Missy was destined for success. I really liked "Friendly Skies," it is verrrry reminiscent of "International Lover" <3
3
Jul 31 2025
Elvis Is Back
Elvis Presley
I am very bothered by the way he pronounces "reminisce" as "riminesce"
2
Aug 01 2025
Let's Stay Together
Al Green
Delightful vocals!
4
Aug 02 2025
At Folsom Prison
Johnny Cash
Classic !
5
Aug 03 2025
Maxinquaye
Tricky
I really enjoy the layering and sampling going on here. Moody and silky and perfect for doing ur laundry to. But not when anyone else is home
4
Aug 04 2025
Welcome To The Pleasuredome
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
A little bloated for me. I cannot see why this needed to be a double album that includes two covers. Neither of which are very compelling.
3
Aug 05 2025
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Yep !
3
Aug 06 2025
Buffalo Springfield Again
Buffalo Springfield
I don't really have any notes for this one either. Really, really bog-standard 60s folk rock. The guitar is nice at points but none of this really stands out to me.
3
Aug 07 2025
Madman Across The Water
Elton John
Yep !
3
Aug 08 2025
The Contino Sessions
Death In Vegas
I find it interesting that this is listed on wikipedia as being only "neo-psychedelia" and "shoegaze" when more than anything this reminds me of the output of Coil between the years from 1984-1990ish. Which isn't not neo-psychedelia but it is also so much more. At moments it can seem a little derivative of the droning guitar work you might typically hear on a Joy Division track, but I am a fan of recursive music soooo... I liked it :)
4
Aug 09 2025
Aja
Steely Dan
What strikes me about this album is that in opposition to what comes of most pop-rock with elements of soul and funk, Aja seems to not really feel derivative of anything in those particular genres. Like its follow up Gaucho it is its own thing. Perhaps that is a sign of like, the staleness people tag Steely Dan with at times, but I don't find it bothersome. It is groovy and beautifully produced. Wasn't too keen on the mixing at times but it wasn't so bad.
5
Aug 10 2025
Giant Steps
The Boo Radleys
This one gets a 3 but it is a fun 3 not a meh 3. There is variety between individual tracks, but as a whole it blends together. Perfectly adequate britpop. Still it is probably is worth another listen to!
3
Aug 11 2025
Legalize It
Peter Tosh
This is only the second reggae album I've listened to, and I would say I enjoyed this more than the Wailers one. The funky rhythms will always endear me to the genre a little, and this record one was no exception. Very summery, very outspoken, very fun synths sprinkled here and there.
3
Aug 12 2025
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
It lacks any of the personality you might find in the songs that are covered here.
3
Aug 13 2025
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Kanye West
It is fine... The production is very solid obviously but each song drags on a bit too long considering the fact that there is little of substance to be extending by the time Ye is done pontificating on how people dislike him and how lowly he views women. I am not a fan of the lyrics either beyond the Monster Mash going on about 20 minutes in. That being said I did laugh out loud when the 21st Century Schizoid Man sampling began. Music For Assholes
3
Aug 14 2025
To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar
A very finely woven tapestry... I loveee the inclusion of Mr. George Clinton. I think it was a great choice to lean into the experimental modality that you can hear peaking through in the previous album. Unfortunately I found that it kinda lost me towards the end. Perhaps it will need a reappraisal at a later date!
4
Aug 15 2025
Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs
Marty Robbins
You can't really go wrong with this one
4