AAAAHAGHGGHHHGGG This is the absolute, ultimate art-from-the-artist question. I gave "Layla" 4 stars even if Clapton is a fascist shitbag, so, ughhhhh, here we go: It's sort of funny that I got excited when this came up because I totally gave up on Kanye, to the point where I didn't want him to get the one-trillionth of a cent for even a single stream. But I was really, really looking forward to listening to this again. Not sure what that says about me. Ok, but the music! This album was absolutely unescapable my senior year of college when it dropped. Kanye didn't invent backpack rap, or conscious rap, or Autotune, or incorporating gospel, or much of anything, but goddamn he did something incredibly fresh with it. Lyrically, musically, overall it's a fascinating moment in time. Kanye mostly does a great job walking the balance beam between his desire to an advocate and a poet while acknowledging his materialist, misogynist core. Here, he's still conflicted about it, which is what makes it great. By the time he's done he just wants to wallow in and celebrate his awfulness. Some of this aged poorly: "The New Workout Plan" (really encapsulate the misogyny that runs through all his work), "Breathe In Breath Out," the stupidly long adlib at the end, and the goddamn skits. But this album is so, so dense, and has so many bangers I almost forgot some existed (e.g., "School Spirit," "Two Words," "Spaceship"), along with some of the best songs of the aughts ("All Falls Down" "Family Business" "Jesus Walks"). A great album by a rotten, mentally ill man.

An absolute masterpiece. No weak spots* whatsoever. This album was lightning in a bottle, as none of them (even Lauryn) would reach these heights after. All three of them play off each other in an elegant, incredible way. The contrasting voices, styles, and modes of wordplay give it an unimpeachable base to build on. When you add to that Lauryn's incredible versatility as an MC and a singer, it's near-perfect. * - Near perfect because it's so badly marred by the skits, especially the Chinese restaurant one. Skits in rap music are often tedious and almost inevitably date an album. This isn't always the worst, but the racist, stupid, un-funny Chinese restaurant skit is almost enough to knock off a star, IMO. It's a testament to the greatness of the album that it overcomes this real weakness.

It's remarkable how many of the albums that have come up are in my regular rotation. This is one of them. Television isn't really a punk band, they were just around punk bands and once had Richard Hell as a member in the same way Metallica had Dave Mustaine. As I learned punk history in high school I knew this was an important album and I absolutely did not get it in the exact same way I didn't get London Calling at the time. In both cases, I came to realize what a philistine I was. Television is almost hard to describe, frankly. They're artsy, weird, and they can really fuckin' play. The title track is perhaps the best 10 min+ rock song ever made. "Torn Curtain" is the only possible weak spot, and even that isn't bad, it's just mediocre. The rest of it still hits. I'm sure it doesn't have universal appeal, but for the right person this could've been released at any point in rock history and hailed as genius. It's like a movie you finish watching and immediately want to watch again.

Heretical as it is for me to say as a Chicagoan, pure blues has never really been my genre, as much as I can appreciate it as one of the crucial building blocks of modern music. King's technical skill and overwhelming charisma come through in spades on this album, but for me, personally, I struggle with each track seeming sort of same-y, which I often feel when tackling blues-qua-blues.

This is very much not my sort of thing. Fast Car remains a jam, but for me this sort of washes over me like a lot of other socks-and-sandals folk records.

Sort of impossible to listen to an album of what were mostly at the time and now are standards and come away truly wowed. As thieves of Black music go, he's no Page & Plant, but I enjoyed it well enough. Great cover tho.

This greatly exceeded my expectations. The first two tracks absolutely whip, the first sort of struck me as pleasurable in the same way a Henry Mancini soundtrack is, and the second genuinely rocked, which is not something I expect in the jazz fusion world. The rest sort of wore on me and got pretty same-y, but overall a good listen and something that may enter the rotation as background/working music. Will probably check out other Zappa as a result, which is also contrary to my expectation.

With the exception of "Ohio" and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" most of CSNY is pretty meh for me, although it has a few standout moments, mostly from Young.

Reminiscent of the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack (complimentary). Not a jazz guy but lovely as background music.

This came up and I audibly said "Yesssssss..." So sad, so sexy. Great album.

I prefer weird rock Bowie to weird dance Bowie, but the latter is still a pleasure as well.

Meh.

A few high moments, but indie pop just ain't my thing. Meh.

Exceeded expectations by a good bit. Some of the ballad-y stuff was just so-so, but a few of these tracks--"Sober II (Melodrama" "Liability" especially--really hit. It's profoundly un-fun pop music, which is a tough needle to thread. I didn't know her much beyond "Royals" aside from knowing she was lauded across the spectrum, but I may check out more after this.

Lauryn is a hall of famer in my estimation based solely on this and The Score. A great, great album, with some incredible standouts (the singles, obviously, but also "Every Ghetto, Every City" "Can't Take My Eyes off of You"). Was thinking 4 before I re-listened, but it's an obvious 5 after.

So much of this is old hat, but a little bit of it really hits. The circus-y/creepy nonsense ("Alabama Song") and the sleaze ("The End" "Twentieth Century Fox" ) are a total lead balloon. But when its rock and keyboards, I like it. I'm surprised it made it up to 3, even though the songs of theirs I like the most ("Roadside Blues") are pretty great.

Came into this not knowing what to expect. It's tough for me to grade relative to anything else because I'm totally unfamiliar with this kind of music, but on its own merits I found it pleasurable. Don't know that I would seek it or something similar out again, but I wouldn't mind it if I come across it.

At first I was thinking it was fine for the background, but God it's SO long and SO tedious. No one needs 90 minutes of quick high hats and snares. It's like a soundtrack to a 1990s technothriller chase scene except the scene just keeps going and you're watching some computer nerd ride a bike REAL FAST for an hour and a half. Ugh.

I don't know that I've ever sought out Eels, but whenever their music works it way into my feed I really enjoy it. As it turns out, I think I'm maybe a singles guy for them? This album is good, not great, and I had really kind of anticipated the latter. It does have the great mellow/weird vibe that I wanted, but in the cases where they clearly want it to be darker and grittier it doesn't accomplish what it sets out to.

An extremely easy 5/5, along with much of their catalogue. I've come around to the view that this is probably only the *fourth* best Radiohead album (OK Computer, Amnesiac, In Rainbows) but at its very highest ("How to Disappear Completely"; "Idiotique") it is absolutely untouchable, IMHO.

Great voice, but allsoundsame.

The crooning and twinkling piano at the beginning was fine enough, but didn't do much for me. The spoken-word, slam-poetry style jams at the end, on the other hand, really hit for me.

Wish I had half-star ratings available, 3 too low, 4 too high. Not his best work, but it does contain, probably, his best song ("Little Wing") along with a few other gems. Doesn't blow me away, but still quite good.

Fine. I like some trip hop well enough, but this didn't have much that really stood out.

I was huge into 3rd wave ska when I was a highschooler, and I dipped in and out of 2nd wave and Jamaican stuff, but I wanted it to be more punk. I even think I saw one of the Zombie Specials live once in the 2000s, but it might have been some other rudeboy outfit. I appreciate this a lot more now then I did then. It's fun but pointed, extremely listenable.

Incredibly listenable. The hits are good, the deep tracks are good, everything is good. Not a ton of transcendent moments, in my opinion, but loads of good ones and few to no dead spots.

Ups and down. The more instrumental, riff-based songs ("Bloodsport" "The Wait") are pretty excellent. As for the others, when it's in more of a punk-y/post-punk-y vibe rather than a grimmer/metal mode, I think it's more effective. It's not scary music, though it wants to be, but it is enjoyable. Their insistence on constantly using echoes is tiresome, however.

It's very on the nose that they post the day after Ozzy died, which is probably coloring my reaction, but this is just terrific. I've always enjoyed the first three Sabbath albums a great deal, the riffs are just undeniable and it isn't like a lot of the later stuff (esp. Dio-era) that feels like a parody. RIP to the Prince of Darkness

The limited bits I had heard of them washed over me with little more than the impression "goddamn this is British as hell." This, too, was British as hell. I found myself enjoyed the snotty, punk-ish vocals more than I had in the past. Scratches a nice post-punk itch without profoundly standing out from the crowd. I bet it did in 1979 though.

Few songs hit as hard as "Gloria," genuinely the baddest, punkest shit you'll ever hear. Pure tear-the-roof-off energy. It's sort of impossible for the rest of the album to not feel like a let down after such a high high, but even in its more drawn-out and uneven stretches it's captivating. Other highlights include "Birdland" and "Free Money", and the "Land" medley. Just a massive, powerful talent.

I've listened to other live James Brown albums and this very much captures the electricity of what he does. It's a very interesting contrast to modern concerts with the amount of interstitial instrumentation involved. A great listen.

An absolute masterpiece. No weak spots* whatsoever. This album was lightning in a bottle, as none of them (even Lauryn) would reach these heights after. All three of them play off each other in an elegant, incredible way. The contrasting voices, styles, and modes of wordplay give it an unimpeachable base to build on. When you add to that Lauryn's incredible versatility as an MC and a singer, it's near-perfect. * - Near perfect because it's so badly marred by the skits, especially the Chinese restaurant one. Skits in rap music are often tedious and almost inevitably date an album. This isn't always the worst, but the racist, stupid, un-funny Chinese restaurant skit is almost enough to knock off a star, IMO. It's a testament to the greatness of the album that it overcomes this real weakness.

Sam Cooke had one of the very best voices in all of music, and simply oozes charisma and charm. The album suffers slightly from period-appropriate flaws with the production that mutes the instrumentation a bit, although it also provides some sense of verisimilitude. Truly great showcase for a truly great talent.

Still in the heart of the Golden Age of Wu-Tang, where all the solo albums were in many ways extensions of the whole (RZA producing, others guesting). This one, of course, is really a Ghost & Rae production, and Ghost has the best bars because, well, he's better, but that's no knock on the Chef. (Best single verse on the album, however, is Inspectah Deck on "Guillotine (Swords)".) Hard to ignore the importance of this album in the creation of the mafioso/coke-dealer persona that would be followed by rappers for decades (Nas predates this, as does Jay-Z, but the latter owes a ton to this record, as do Rick Ross, Clipse, and countless others). This is not the best Wu solo album (Joe Biden was right, it's LIQUID SWORDS). Nonetheless, it's very, very good, although still somewhat uneven, with a few spots that drag ("Can't It All Be So Simple (Remix)"; "Wisdom Body"), but it has some absolute bangers, especially "Crimonology," "Guillotine (Swords)," "Ice Water," and "Wu Gambinos." It's not on the level of 36 Chambers, Liquid Swords, or Supreme Clientele, but it's excellent.

I find listening to any album by The Who as a whole confounding. When they commit themselves to truly rocking out, they are among the greats, although a lot of their (earned) legacy seems borne out of the more out-there moves they make, especially later with the concept albums, rock operas, etc. Here, for my money, it's wildly uneven, but when it's good it's so good. On the bad side: when they attempt standards or originals where they sound like they're aping American blues ("Please Please Please" "I'm a Man") it's cringey and borders on unlistenable. The harmony-based, British-invasion-sounding stuff is good not great ("The Kids Are Alright" "A Legal Matter"). Having said all that, I certainly can't bury an album that has perhaps the first punk song ("My Generation") in both its sound and sensibility. Even more striking, however, was "The Ox," which I'm not sure I'd ever heard before. When it began I had to check to see whether the album had turned over and there was something on Spotify shuffle. The song sounds like proto-metal with some blues sensibility and transcends everything on the album except maybe the title track. It's brilliant, not just for its time, but in general. I'd listen to hours of instrumentals like it.

I don't know whether I don't get Dylan, or just don't like Dylan, but outside the well-known songs, it just doesn't grab me. Awesome cover tho.

They're really not beating the allegations that it's just noise. That said, I'm sorta down for just noise sometimes.

I've always thought that Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers have universal appeal but is also basically no one's favorite act. They're great, and the sheer number of undeniable classics across the catalog. I had never listened to this album in its entirety, but like so much Petty, I'd say it's overall good not great. American Girl is obviously fantastic, and many of the other songs are very good. I don't see a lot in this (or most Petty) that's inventive or innovative, but damn if the man can't just write a ton of extremely good rock songs.

Pleasant enough, but nothing special. Extreme background music.

I'm not sure I knew anything about Fleet Foxes, though I recognized the name, and when I listened to this, I recognized some of the songs. tldr: BORRRR-INNNNNNG Longer version: I really hated this era of music, all that Americana-revival stuff (your Avett Bros., your Mumford and Sons, UGGGHHHH THE LUMINEERS). It might just be that I'm a lunk-headed rock bro, but I just find most straight-folk stuff with no other elements really enervating. I have no doubt there's real talent, the harmonies are impressive, but it's just not for me.

This was a damn delight. Extremely lively, interesting, and complex throughout. Don't have enough experience to grade it relative to other exemplars of the genre, but I would definitely throw this on to hang outside, at a get-together, or just cuz.

This was an enjoyable, mellow listen. No real highs or lows, but it was pleasurable enough.

Man, I don't know. The ambient/prog-y/shoegaze-y stuff in the first few tracks I enjoyed, and I imagine it was pretty groundbreaking. Almost anything with lyrics didn't hit for me, with some of it being actively off-putting (esp., "Giggy Smile"). There are pieces of intentionally irksome music I've enjoyed and found interesting (see, in particular, the early work of IDLES), but this ain't it.

I enjoy Queen, but don't love them. They rock pretty hard while maintaining the silliness and camp that I associate them with. Highlights: "Brighton Rock", "Now I'm Here", "Stone Cold Crazy"

This is a great, upsetting listen, which is my favorite kind of upsetting listen. Curtis' vocals would haunt your dreams even if you didn't know what happened to him. The gloom-punk collision is often imitated and never quite emulated. Really loved it.

God DAMN this is the whackest shit. I get they're virtuosos and whatever, but it's just so, so whack. RIP to Steve Albini, whose final post said it all.

This really just sort of washed over me. Listenable but quite unremarkable.

I was going to say that this album feels ahead of its time, but then it registered to me that it would feel totally in place as a classic soul album, albeit with funkier instrumentation and better production. So perhaps it's "out of time" or perhaps just timeless. I feel like I've only ever listened to the hits, which feels like an oversight on my part after this.

An album that answers the question "What if we just made the whole plane out of awesome riffs?" QOTSA is, in my view, the best hard rock band of the 21st century and one of my personal favorite acts. This album is a blueprint they would build on in the years to come, getting weirder and more diverse, and reaching much higher highs (esp. on Songs for the Deaf, ... Like Clockwork). They lyrics here never really pop, but that's not the point anyway. This is an album that meant to make you bob your head and air guitar, and it does that in spades. Best tracks: "Regular John," "If Only," "You Would Know," "Mexicola."

Like all Doors music, some of it is pretty good ("Peace Frogs", "Maggie M'Gill"), a little bit is great ("Roadhouse Blues") and some of the woo-woo mystic stuff is tedious and not as cool, pathbreaking, or interesting as it thinks it is. This was fine, but when I saw it pop up I was not excited by the prospect of listening to an entire Doors album.

I cannot explain what makes me like one prog album versus another. I like peak Pink Floyd, really loved the first two Mars Volta albums, dig a few other things, but then I hear something like this and I want to jump out of my goddamn skin. There were a scant few of the longer instrumental sections where they had the guitars lead and the keys in support that I truly dug. But beyond that, I really hated it, and the vocals were nails on a chalkboard to me.

Like most double albums, it's a little bloated. I very much appreciate that they were trying a lot of different stuff in their later albums, but little of it is actually nearly as good to me as when they just allow themselves to be the Hammer of the Gods. And the God-Hammerin' on this album is great ("Trampled Under Foot" "Houses of the Holy" "The Wanton Song" "The Rover"), as is a lot of the blues-ier stuff ("Custard Pie"). It's a little too overstuffed to rank with their very best, but a great rock record by one of the great rock bands.

A really wonderful and unique voice. Great listen, great vibes.

This sort of thing is just not my genre. The more broody, ballad-y songs do very little for me. The man has a wonderful singing voice, and I think the arrangements and lyrics are perfectly lovely, but I often found myself pretty bored. Had a few real highlights, however, especially "Crumb by Crumb," which I thought was truly delightful.

This is such a landmark for a reason. For a group that couldn't really play for shit, it sounds really good (although that's more the production than the musicianship, IMO). The snotty, sneering vocals and the withering sentiment across every moment just exudes punk attitude. I know much of this was manufactured and less than genuine, but as an experience it really does make you want to flip off the Queen and punch a Tory in the goddamn face. It's not perfect, and some of the later tracks are quite same-y ("Seventeen" "Submission" "New York"). But the iconic tracks ("Anarchy in the UK" "God Save the Queen") are iconic for a reason. There's more to like too: the great kickoff of "Holidays in the Sun," the grim, gross "Bodies," the call-and-response of "EMI." Loved this album since I was a kid. Holds up.

I obviously knew "Black Magic Woman" and "Oye Como Va," both of which I enjoy quite a bit. The remainder of it has a similar sort of psychedelic Latin vibe. Dug it a lot.

I came into this knowing: a) Def Leppard was hugely popular; b) among music knowers, they're considered better than a lot of their contemporaries/comparators (Poison, Tesla, RATT, etc.); and c) the hits on this albums ("Love Bites" "Pour Some Sugar on Me" "Hysteria") and Pyromania. I groaned when this came up and expected to find myself plodding through some tedious buttrock that I'm superior to. And... I actually really liked a lot of it. I think the lyrics are dumb, and I don't really like the singing voice either, but I get it. Some of the tracks I may have never heard ("Don't Shoot Shot Gun" "Run Riot") are buttrock, but kickass buttrock. It's overproduced, but in a way that actually really suits the music. It's... kinda good? I'm sort of amazed this is what I've concluded.

Accidentally listened to this on shuffle without realizing it. Doubt that really shaped the experience. This just isn't my thing. I'm sure she's mighty talented and all, but I did not enjoy this.

I don't remember where I was in Chicago around the time this album came out (prolly Wicker Park, if I'm being honest), when someone handed by a CD single of "Golden Skans." I *hated* it, as I did a lot of the sort of dance-pop of the time. Listening to the album as a whole, I come away feeling somewhat differently. Some of the tracks, including "Golden Skans," are still just not by sound, but there's a greater depth and versatility here than I might have expected. I also think my tastes have changed to a decent degree and there are definitely some songs here that veer closer to the sort of dance-punk of DFA 1979 or later IDLES that I quite enjoyed.

I've loved this album for 30 years. Still do. It's tempting to pick nits about the ham-fisted lyrics, the hypocrisy of rich rockstars raging against the machine, and whatever, but this absolutely rips. There are weaker spots but that means they're simply good, not great ("Settle for Nothing" "Fistful of Steel"). There's also a few things that aged poorly, but they were huge for a reason. Rap-rock generally sucks, but not always. RATM forever.

Good-to-very-good throughout. The best known tracks ("Born on the Bayou" "Good Golly Miss Molly" "Proud Mary") all still pop. I wasn't bowled over by "Bootleg" or "Keep on Chooglin'", principally because they practically sounded like Fogerty was trying to scat or something, but the other two tracks ("Graveyard Train" "Penthouse Pauper") rip. The whole thing is all extremely Creedence. If you're into that sort of thing (I am), very enjoyable listen.

Clapton is obviously a racist, fascist shitbag, which is particularly rich for a guy who built his career on Black music. But there's also a reason the graffiti called him God. Both halves of the title track feel transcendent for a reason. The covers are great, especially "Little Wing," where Clapton really shows the fuck off. Some of the deep tracks ("Anyday", "Key to the Highway") rank with the hits. Like most blues rock, it gets a little noodle-y for me at points, but I find it hard to deny that it's a great album made by a bad, ignorant man who happens to be a guitar genius.

Had never heard of this, let alone listened to it. It was fun, immensely listenable. Not my genre, but I found myself getting pretty pumped along with it. The version Spotify pulled up for me had some bonus tracks, one of of which "O Medo De Amara E O Medo De Ser Livre," absolutely blew me away both in the vocals and the instrumentation (the guitar outro, in particular, kicked all sorts of ass). The rest was fairly indistinguishable from one another, but was good.

Portions of this are the sort of off-putting psychedelic silliness that might seem deep or fun if you're very into drugs, which I'm not. I'm thinking here of "Chapter 24" and especially "The Gnome" and "Bike." On those tracks I went from bored to genuinely irritated. Some of it, though, it's absolutely transcendent even if sober. "Interstellar Overdrive" is an all-time kickass jam that echoes throughout rock history. It's so far ahead of it's time it's almost difficult to conceive of it being released in 1967 were it not for, say, the Beatles experimenting similarly. "Astronomy Domine," "Lucifer Sam," "Matilda Mother," all whip. It's a bizzaro funhouse mirror of an album. It's tedious and trite at times, but overall I don't think I had properly appreciated it before. It's almost (pardon the play on another title) apples-and-oranges to the Waters-era concept run (Wish You Were Here, Animals, Dark Side, Wall), which I love, but this is great too. Curious what would've happened if Syd hadn't lost his mind. I'm skeptical it would've remained great, but who the hell knows.

This was a lot of fun. I'm more familiar with the Ruffin-era Temptations, although I had obviously heard the title track. Some of these songs were fairly standard crooners done by men with great voices, but some were far beyond that. I'm thinking in particular of the title track and especially "Runaway Child, Running Wild," which had some great vocal and instrumental flourishes. A very good listen.

AAAAHAGHGGHHHGGG This is the absolute, ultimate art-from-the-artist question. I gave "Layla" 4 stars even if Clapton is a fascist shitbag, so, ughhhhh, here we go: It's sort of funny that I got excited when this came up because I totally gave up on Kanye, to the point where I didn't want him to get the one-trillionth of a cent for even a single stream. But I was really, really looking forward to listening to this again. Not sure what that says about me. Ok, but the music! This album was absolutely unescapable my senior year of college when it dropped. Kanye didn't invent backpack rap, or conscious rap, or Autotune, or incorporating gospel, or much of anything, but goddamn he did something incredibly fresh with it. Lyrically, musically, overall it's a fascinating moment in time. Kanye mostly does a great job walking the balance beam between his desire to an advocate and a poet while acknowledging his materialist, misogynist core. Here, he's still conflicted about it, which is what makes it great. By the time he's done he just wants to wallow in and celebrate his awfulness. Some of this aged poorly: "The New Workout Plan" (really encapsulate the misogyny that runs through all his work), "Breathe In Breath Out," the stupidly long adlib at the end, and the goddamn skits. But this album is so, so dense, and has so many bangers I almost forgot some existed (e.g., "School Spirit," "Two Words," "Spaceship"), along with some of the best songs of the aughts ("All Falls Down" "Family Business" "Jesus Walks"). A great album by a rotten, mentally ill man.

A sign of a good album: When this popped up I immediately said, aloud, "Hell yeah." There's not a lot to say about this album that would break new ground. Rubber Soul seems for most to mark the moment when they truly catapulted creatively and that begins to crescendo here, continuing to peak over the next several albums following. For my money, the classic, four-chord R&B Beatles songs on Rubber Soul are, mostly, superior to the ones you find here, and the far out craziness and adventuresome stuff hits higher highs for me in Sgt. Pepper and especially Abbey Road. That is, however, sort of like saying that, I dunno, Albert Pujols wasn't as good as Babe Ruth. Everything pops here. It's astonishing the outpouring of genius these guys had in such a short time. A million monkeys in a million years might stumble on "Master of Puppets", but they'd still never replicate "Eleanor Rigby". The Beatles are amazing, and the fact that they have even *better* albums than this (IMHO) is bananas. (There's a small list of bands where their, like, fourth or fifth best album is still a perfect score. The only others I can think of immediately are the Stones, Radiohead, REM, and OutKast)

Like all 90s kids, I first learned of Tito Puente from the "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" episode of The Simpsons. The only thing that's disappointing about this album is it lacks a diss track telling C. Montgomery Burns to burn in hell. I've dipped in and out of mambo music and Tito specifically over the years. It's really great listening for a get-together, outside time, or when you're just looking for something joyous and fun. This is of a piece with that. There's no particular bits that jumped out or sagged for me, just an overall, consistent bop front-to-back.

Some of the instrumentals could be decent ambient listening, and I didn't hate every moment, but c'mon man, being avant-garde without more does not make something worth listening to

An album recorded in a literal goddamn American prison full of songs about murder, death, betrayal, capital punishment, and it's fun as hell. We used to build things in this country, dammit.

Over the years, I've had many different reactions to this album, and Arcade Fire in general. Some of this more recently has been colored by their post-Suburbs output (not all of which I've heard, but what I have I have universally disliked) and learning that Win Butler may well be a sex pest. I'll ignore those last two things for these purposes. I *HATED* this album when it first blew up, largely because I was over it regarding bloated, pretentious indie stuff. A few years passed and I gave it another shot and went 100% in the other direction on this (as well as the next two albums, both of which are superior, IMO). I'm now largely positive on it, but not blown away by it as a whole. Their music remains excruciatingly melodramatic, sometimes to great effect ("In The Backseat") and sometimes cringingly so ("Crown of Love"). But they really were innovative and sounded different from everything else, in a way I now can't help but admire. That said, all three of their first albums are capital-G Great, but uneven. The "Neighborhood" suite is sometimes quite good, sometimes boring and overwrought. The dirge-y stuff can drag. But "Wake Up" and "Rebellion (Lies)" are both, for my money, among the very best rock songs of this century. That alone merits many plaudits.

Love punk music, but like a lot of earlier hardcore stuff this just sorta washed over me. I do love an economical punk album (Bad Religion's "No Control" being the epitome of the form). No song over 2 minutes, the whole album is only like 15 minutes. Vocals are fine, musicianship is good, but they lack the something extra that some of the other hardcore greats (Minor Threat, Husker Du, Black Flag) have. Not sure what this is, but it's not there. Album leads to a great shuffle afterwards, FWIW.

Reggae has never really been my jam. It's perfectly pleasant to have on in the background, and it's a good vibe, but I was just so-so on it.

I sort of sighed when this came up because folks just ain't my thing. And true to form, much of this blended together and sounded pretty much the same. Fine enough to listen to, but didn't do much for me. That said, I knew the Tom Petty version of "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" and had no idea it was originally a Byrds song. And it really rules! It sounded to me fresher and more alive than the Petty version, probably because it's new to me, but for something recorded in the mid-60s it sounds really fantastic.

Once again, fine, not great. Reggae is just not my thing, but pleasant enough to listen to from time to time.

Hadn't heard most of the tracks on this one being more familiar with Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life as well as his whole litany of big hits. This was characteristically great. Funky, fun music from Detroit's finest. Great stuff.

/biggest goddamn eyeroll you've ever seen /wanking motion /weary sigh

I groaned at the prospect of even more electronica crap, and I was pretty bored by it, but it's better than most. Repetitive, not terribly exciting, but with a few high moments that make it stand out from a pretty bland crowd. Clears the mediocre bar, which is better than I expected. Best track: "Human Being," especially the breakdown at the end.

Befittingly grim, as per the title and the album cover. I usually don't like stuff this understated, but it was pretty great.

Another album that got the "hell yeah" reaction when it came up. First off, all-time album cover. I loved this album when it came out, and still do now. The fact that Beck does this genre-bending stuff, going from country ("Lord Only Knows" "Sissyneck" both of which I have sung to myself regularly) to punk(ish) ("Minus") glam rock ("Devil's Haircut") and even tries to rap ("Hotwax" "Where It's At" "High 5 (Rock the Catskills)") without managing to sound like a total dork is in and of itself an accomplishment. . If I had first listened to this as a grown-ass man, I'm not sure I'd have the time for THIS many nonsense lyrics, but be it nostalgia or just loving the music so much, I don't find myself irked by "Going back to Houston/do the hotdog dance/Going back to Houston/Get myself some pants" or literally every line of "Devil's Haircut" and "The New Pollution." It's fundamentally just a fun, silly album from an incredibly talented musician. It's a no-skip listen for me, as are all of his best albums (this, Sea Change, Morning Phase, Midnite Vultures, Guero). This is all 90s as hell. I'm 43 and the world is falling apart. I'll admit it, I miss the 90s. Five stars.

I mean, I like to hate on Billy Joel as much as the next man... I have little to follow up on that. Ok, he writes a good pop song. I don't especially *like* any of them, but it's more tolerable as an entire album than I would have thought.

I've always liked this band well enough, but there's a real same-y-ness to the music. Listenable, fun, but nothing special.

I've heard the name Todd Rundgren so much on my favorite local rock station, but I don't know that I could name a single song. Still can't. I don't really love this kind of 70s, falsetto, circus stuff very often, and don't here. T. Rex or Bowie this ain't. It's not, like, Steely Dan bad, but I don't much care for it. Highlights: The medley, which is passable covers of R&B songs that are enjoyable enough, but inferior to the originals. The beginning of "Is it my name?", which I had thought at first was the album flipping over to "Interstellar Overdrive," but which got worse when the vocals kicked in.

Godammit, no more of this. Hated it, HATED it. Only redeeming portion was when I found that little bit that De La Soul sampled. Terrible.

Listen, I know Coldplay is whack. I think they're whack. Honestly, I cringe most of the time they come on the damn radio. HOWEVA, I'll say that I recall this at the time, and it's pretty good. When they were basically aping Bends-era Radiohead, they were a pretty solid band. Sad boy rock? That I can get down with. "Yellow"? Great song. "Don't Panic"? Great song. Are there boring songs, like "Spies"? Yes, very much so. But this isn't some Maroon 5-ass pop slog, it's an actual-ass album of pretty good sad rock. I'll admit I dug it. Spotify then rolled over into an acoustic version of Deftones' "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)", a GREAT sad rock song, which is, IMO, an endorsement of the Coldplay album as well.

Has it's moments, but I find this sort of electro-indie-pop tedious. Also hate the band name. And most of the song titles. And the album art.

To borrow a phrase, this is a kick-ass, fun-as-hell work of staggering genius. It's not a perfect album, but the highs are about as high as they can possibly get. In fact, It's pretty amazing how far away from being a perfect album this is given that it is, simultaneously, one of the very best albums ever made. Several duds on here, several weak features, plenty of stupid skits, but the good shit is SO good it overwhelms everything else. I count, even trying to be selective, seven elite level bangers ("Gasoline Dreams" "So Fresh, So Clean" "Ms. Jackson" "Spaghetti Junction" "B.O.B." "Xplosion" "Red Velvet"). Also hard to argue with Pitchfork dubbing "B.O.B." the song of the millennium (thus far). Most of the other deep tracks are good, or at least tolerable, but it's got some big misses ("Toilet Tisha" "We Luv Deez Hoez") and mostly forgettable or bad skits (I'll exempt "Drinkin' Again," which I have a soft spot for as well as "Cruisin' in the ATL"). I think we're past the point where people slag on Big Boi for the sin of simply not being Andre 3000, even though Andre is literally the greatest to ever do it. This sells Daddy Fat Sacks so far short. He's every bit the legend, untouchable, God-Tier MC. Collectively, OutKast is the GOAT for me. Recognizing the unique chemistry of the two of them as MCs here and everywhere (except Speakerboxx/Love Below, obviously), the amazing production, and the diversity of sounds, topics, and moods, this might, might be their best work. But that's almost like picking a favorite kid. Power. Music. Electric revival.

It's remarkable how many of the albums that have come up are in my regular rotation. This is one of them. Television isn't really a punk band, they were just around punk bands and once had Richard Hell as a member in the same way Metallica had Dave Mustaine. As I learned punk history in high school I knew this was an important album and I absolutely did not get it in the exact same way I didn't get London Calling at the time. In both cases, I came to realize what a philistine I was. Television is almost hard to describe, frankly. They're artsy, weird, and they can really fuckin' play. The title track is perhaps the best 10 min+ rock song ever made. "Torn Curtain" is the only possible weak spot, and even that isn't bad, it's just mediocre. The rest of it still hits. I'm sure it doesn't have universal appeal, but for the right person this could've been released at any point in rock history and hailed as genius. It's like a movie you finish watching and immediately want to watch again.

When I was still getting into music as a kid but was still scared of drugs, I nonetheless found this album, specifically, to be the kind of trippy nonsense I can get behind. I've obviously heard "Time," "Money," and "Brain Damage/Eclipse" a thousand times since then, but it's been a long time since I listened to the whole thing. I expected to find it tiresome. But, NOPE. Holds up. I can absolutely understand someone wanting to roll their eyes at it, but it still grips me. Another all time album cover too.

Simon & Garfunkel, perhaps simply because of saturation and over-familiarity, might be the exception to my general disposition that folk is boring. Only *a little* of this album is boring ("Overs" and "Voices of Old People" really). The rest is pretty excellent. Obviously, some of these songs I've heard a million times ("America" "Mrs. Robinson") but they're classics for a reason. "A Hazy Shade of Winter" and "At the Zoo" sound archetypally like S&G, but have a pep and verve they don't always show. I'm still not a straight-up folk guy, but this is a pleasure to listen to. Great voices, great lyricists, great album.

This is baffling, and not necessarily in a favorable way. These folks know a great deal about music and are talented, that's clear, but what the hell is this?!? I'm not even opposed on principle to weird for the sake of weird, but what is this bizarre circus nonsense? Is the record itself racist or just odd? What the hell is going on? I feel like I need to listen to this a couple more times. I'm simultaneously annoyed but digging it. Seriously, what the fuck. Notes on a second listen: It's like weirder Queen? And I dig it? Maybe it's really good?

I went back and forth on this. The more blues-y, riff-y stuff ("Like Fire" "Tall In the Saddle") hit for me. Other aspects of it felt a little boring, although she's got a great voice and can play. Having no idea what to expect, I liked it a good bit. Side note: There were some awful 90s, '00s acts that went for a similar mellow-ed out sound on the first half of this album (your Bens Harper, your Jacks Johnson, G Love), and that's a big demerit. This is good, those are bad.

I've vacillated between 4 and 5 again and again. This is a quintessential loud-quiet-loud album, and a great one. I think Doolittle is their masterpiece, but this isn't far behind. Gets a little uneven in the back half, but it's still a no-skip album for me.

This is a Mount Rushmore album. This is one of only two double albums (see also: London Calling) that justifies being that long. This is the rock n' rollest record to ever rock n' roll. When I don't know what to put on, I put on Exile. I can't say whether it's all things to all people, but it's all things to me. Fun, exciting, sorrowful, inspirational, goofy. Pretty much a perfect rock record.

Not a disco guy, but I can see why this is popular. It's fun, probably great to dance to (I imagine "Le Freak" has come on at a wedding I was at), and some of the instrumentation was pretty great. Enjoyed more than I thought I would.

I enjoyed this well enough, but it left no lasting impression.

I got into a huge Soundgarden binge about two years ago that has not abated. The stuff I'm most enamored of is their live albums, where they crank up the tempo, Kim goes nuts on his solos, and Cornell really wails. Some of the studio tracks end up seeming tame by comparison. Examples here include "Let Me Drown", "My Wave", and "4th of July." Both still sound great, but it feels a little overproduced as opposed to just fuckin' letting it rip. That's really my only complaint. This album is great. To be honest, some of it is STILL at a saturation point for me (the "Black Hole Sun" video was so completely inescapable when I was in middle school I can practically run the whole thing in my head). But even some songs I've heard a billion times ("Fell On Black Days" "Spoonman") still blow my wig back. A bunch of the deep tracks ("Head Down" "The Day I Tried To Live" "Kickstand") rate with the hits. Even the weaker spots ("Fresh Tendrils" "Half") are still no-skips for me. Not enough bands go for straight-up hard rock instead of metal, and many that try seem mired in parody. Soundgarden doesn't. Kim Thayil is an all-time great guitarist. Chris Cornell is probably the best frontman of his generation. I wish I had been as into them when he was alive as I am now, I would've loved to see them. Recommendation for folks who dig this: Listen to "Live on I-5", and in particular the back-to-back of their cover of "Search and Destroy" and "Ty Cobb." Will kick your ass in the best way.

Not for me. Some of it is pleasant enough in the background, but ughh. And the robot voice was dumb and bad. Rolled over into "Computer Love," which is not on this album, but which I did like.