Fun and funny, great for a driving listen. Woo be do 🐵

I first heard this in probably ‘94 when a mate lent me his tape and I was just blown away. Hugely influential album and it’s easy to hear why. The only thing that marks this down are the skits which I could do without but the rest is pure fire!

Better than expected but needs more time to get into

Just a classic, generally considered one of her best. What a voice and oozing confidence following the previous two albums going into the R&B charts at no.1. Despite most of these songs not being penned by her, she fully embodies them making them her own.

My Dad is a big Beatles fan and I got into them through him. They actually played at a park in my home town of Urmston in Manchester on 5th August 1963 on the tour for Please, Please Me, presumably booked before the album broke and made them superstars. My Dad was there and cemented his love which eventually transferred to me. He quite literally passed this love on when he gave me his original Mono version of the vinyl album which, along with Dylan’s The Freewheelin’ became the first vinyl album in my collection and holds a special place for me and In My Life is my fave Beatles song.

This was the album every dad had when I was growing up and I must have listened to it a fair bit back then. Not much of it has stuck though, beyond the singles and most of the rest of it I found long, laborious and just a bit boring. Not one I’d return to

There’s nothing wrong with this, it’s perfectly good but I’d reach for later Beatles albums before this one and probably the Red album if I wanted to listen to this era Beatles. It’s pretty side 1 stacked too but there are a few bangers on here though in _Can’t Buy Me Love_, _And I Love Her_ and my fave, the title track

Definitely a band of a time and despite liking some of their more well known songs, I find a whole albums worth a bit much and containing a lot of filler, especially coming in at over an hour. I’ll stick to their greatest hits thanks.

My Beatles knowledge is patchy to be honest having grown up mainly listening to the Red and Blue compilations. It's more recently that I'm working my way back through albums and, as a double, this is literally a big one to get your teeth into! But I've been taking big bites of it of late and, whilst like many doubles, it can be a bit patchy and overly long, there's a hell of a lot of quality on it and it contains a number the great Beatles songs, including.....

Really solid hip hop album with a lot to enjoy from the cool grooves to Black Thought’s excellent rhyming. Would soundtrack the summer vibes very well. As with a lot of hip hop albums, at over an hour, it outstays its welcome a little but there’s plenty of top tracks here to warrant a revisit and a more in depth listen

I know Bebel from her appearance on Mike Patton’s Peeping Tom album singing Caipirinha and perhaps this would have sounded better had I listened to it sitting in the recent hot sun supping one of those Brazilian cocktails whilst listening. As it is, the hot sun has turned to a chillier rain. It’s still perfectly passable and she has a great voice but I’ve heard better Latin based albums and there’s really not enough here to lift it above decent.

The writer of the signature **Blues Brothers** track _Everybody Needs Somebody_, a song I know inside out as a friend and I would regularly perform it on karaoke (I was Jake). So this was a good opportunity to get to know more from the man and, as a fan of early blues, soul and R&B, this is very much in my wheelhouse. Probably doesn't sound as groundbreaking as perhaps it did in 1964 but gave enough on first listen and one to explore further.

I was actually disappointed by this, thinking the title would be tongue-in-cheek, based on what I do know of AT which are the much more aggressive and subversive, _Come to Daddy_ and _Windowlicker_. Truth is that this is exactly what it claims to be, and that's fine. If you're a huge fan of ambient music then maybe what I'm saying is sacrilegious, but for my personal tastes, this is background music. It's a good example of it, but it's not blowing me away and I feel this album is quite overrated. If someone puts it on, I'm fine with it, but not something I'd revisit.

I'm very hit and miss with Blur.. they were the 2nd band I saw live and it remains one of the worst gigs I've seen! I do think that they are capable of great moments and theres a couple of them on _Parklife_ in _To the End_ and _This is a Low_. But for the most part, and particularly this era Blur, the mockney, end-of-the-pier schtik is tiring and absolutely grates on me these days. _Boys and Girls_ and the title track being the biggest offenders, two songs I never need to hear again. The album _Parklife_ as a whole sounds of it's time and despite knowing it pretty well, I don't have any nostalgia for it. And whilst I can't deny the catchiness of some of the well-known songs here that I'm not a fan of, there's also a fair bit of filler too, particularly the back end of the album. So not one I need to return to and Blur will remain a playlist band for me.

Sounds like cosplay country, which is a genre i'm not massive on anyway. I know the track _Guilty_ as a much bluesier version appears on **The Blues Brothers** album _Made in America_.

A complex and experimental double album which followed their absolute smash _Rumours_, and was fuelled by Lyndsey Buckingham's desire not to create _Rumours 2_. The tension that existed within the band and that brilliantly underpinned _Rumours_ starts to move the members apart here, resulting in a lack of musical cohesion that they achieved on the previous album ,despite the personal tensions. That's not to say that this is a bad album! It's certainly too long, as many double albums are but there are a lot of great songs from _Sara_, Storms, Sisters of the Moon, and the brilliant title track and my personal .....

I was taken in as much as anyone back in '92 by the 3 singles from this. I subsequently bought the album and remember being a little disappointed. Firstly because the version of _Everyday People_ on here is not the version that that I'd heard in the charts, and listening back again, it still lacks collective power on display in that version, opting for a much slower, less vibrant beat. But more because, after a solid first few tracks, the album tends to meander for most of its near hour length, until we hit the penultimate track, the first single from it and my personal fave, _Tennessee_. I just didn't connect with it in the way I thought I would based on what I'd already heard. Listening back now, it's certainly not a bad album, and I had a fine time revisiting, but my opinion didn't really change and I didn't find a reason to return to it again as a whole.

Not sure why all the hate for this, it’s a landmark album for both funk and soul and explores some complex themes about sex, love and longing, particularly given the context of Marvin’s upbringing and abuse. On the surface, there’s an extremely sensual sound that no doubt influenced more modern R&B, but whereas that took it at face value, running with the sound alone, Marvin’s sincere lyrics give the all important balance and depth that much of that genre lacks. It was also a controversial album given the subject matter and was deemed as a huge risk for Motown to even release it but it gained both critical and commercial success and showed a markedly different side to Marvin following his much more well known and politically themed album _What’s Going On_

I bought a copy of this LP from Discos Impacto in Barcelona about 10 years ago having never heard it, but was aware of the regard it was held in. For the 4€ it cost, I thought it was worth the risk, and so I proved to be right. I say 'never heard' but in fact I'd heard several of these songs before, either these versions or ones made popular by others. But the whole album is just a series of uncomplicated yet captivating, beautifully written and performed songs with Carole's soulful voice as the storyteller

I know William Orbit only from his work with **Madonna** on _Ray of Light_ and even then, only through the singles. there were a couple of decent moments, usually when the bass was prominent and there was a bit more groove to the trakcs. But much like **Aphex Twin**, this largely passed me by and probably demands a more focussed listen than I was able to give it. As such, it was little more than background music and not engaging enough for me to return to.

A mix of psychedelia, experimental and proto-prog that, at first listen whilst trying to get my head around parts of my new job, went completely over my head and at over an hour, went on for ages! I've come back to it again just to see what I'd missed and realised that I'd been listening to a load of bonus tracks and the album is actually a very palatable 37 mins. With the headspace too, it's quite enchanting too and I was amazed to read that they have no guitarist, instead using _"strings, keyboards and electronics, including primitive synthesizers, and various audio processors"_ to create their sound. This comes alongside soundscapes and effects evoking sci-fi, low-key horror and the circus. It feels very ahead of it's time, that being 1968 and it's perhaps no surprise given the lukewarm reception of the album at the time, and the apparent infighting, that this was their only album and they would split, or from the sounds of it, more like slowly crumble to nothing.... great shame!

I get why people like Springsteen, there's a certain anthemic quality to what he does but as I've said before, heartland rock just doesn't really do it for me. It's fine, I can listen to it but for my tastes, I find it to be a bit 'bright', a bit plodding and just lacking a bit of bite. I believe he's very good live and 'Id probably get more out of it in that environment.

I don't think I've even seen this album cover before, let alone know its name and well.... this was a huge surprise, and a great one at that! I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't an album as good as this! It's very evocative of his earlier work, especially his early to mid 70s period but with a more modern production. Unlike many very late stage albums, that might have a couple of half decent tracks (if you're lucky) and a load of filler, this keeps its quality pretty much all of the way through with almost every song offering something engaging. It's near hour flies past and I'll 100% be returning to it later.

I’m vaguely aware of HH and actually have heard the first two tracks from this in the normal course of life. I found it very enjoyable and an album that I found to be the perfect accompaniment to a weekend morning with a sound that is reminiscent of a lot of the UK funk/soul/jazz/electronica scene that labels like Tru Thoughts and Catskills championed and that I was hugely into during the 2000s. Many of those artists were surely influenced by this as the through-line is evident.

I wasn't looking forward to this one and physically groaned when I refreshed the page this morning. Got it out of the way quick though and can report that this album is exactly what I expected it to be which is largely very bland! It's all very well written, put together and produced, but it feels like a dull cosplay version of much better things. It's magnolia paint, generally inoffensive but there's no oomph or wow and it's exactly what I hate most about music! The bluesier, stompier tracks were the most listenable but most of it was just 😩 and it frustrates me greatly that it’s artists like her that are championed by the industry.

I wasn't looking forward to this one and physically groaned when I refreshed the page this morning. Got it out of the way quick though and can report that this album is exactly what I expected it to be which is largely very bland! It's all very well written, put together and produced, but it feels like a dull cosplay version of much better things. It's magnolia paint, generally inoffensive but there's no oomph or wow and it's exactly what I hate most about music! The bluesier, stompier tracks were the most listenable but most of it was just 😩 and it frustrates me greatly that it’s artists like her that are championed by the industry.

I wasn't looking forward to this one and physically groaned when I refreshed the page this morning. Got it out of the way quick though and can report that this album is exactly what I expected it to be which is largely very bland! It's all very well written, put together and produced, but it feels like a dull cosplay version of much better things. It's magnolia paint, generally inoffensive but there's no oomph or wow and it's exactly what I hate most about music! The bluesier, stompier tracks were the most listenable but most of it was just 😩 and it frustrates me greatly that it’s artists like her that are championed by the industry.

From the 8 minute proggy opener to the doom-laden epic closer we're treated to riffs, sometimes crunching, sometimes, atmospheric, sometimes driving, all the time... brilliant! The drums swing and thud, the bass rumbles and Ozzy soars above it all, as only he can Soul singer **Charles Bradley** released a cover of _Changes_ for RSD in 2013. I had heard the song before of course when Ozzy duetted with his daughter but I wasn't a fan of that version. Charles Bradley really brings the soul out that was baked into it and it really heightened my appreciation of the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi49yirJiEA I don't gather that this is Sabbath's finest hour and most of the rankings I've seen from you guys back that up. It does feel a little clunky in places but what an album to have as your 5th or 6th best! I'll definitely be returning to this and expanding out into their other earlier albums.. There's a few tracks that caught my ear, Wheels of Confusion, Snowblind, Under the Sun and my... Fave track: Supernaut RIP Ozzy 🦇