Jul 01 2025
Palo Congo
Sabu
Weirdly, kind of the best place I could have started for this. Would I listen again? No. But what good would it have done me to have started with Is This It? and gone 'Huh, yeah, still think the Strokes are pretty good'?
Driving, percussive - my god, is it percussive - and the sort of thing I'd never have actively sought out. Problem is that I don't really see where this sits. It's not compelling in the way where the emotion is immediately intelligible, even if the words aren't. It's almost too raw in that way. But it's not easy enough to listen to where it can sit in the background.
Highlight Track - Rhapsodia Del Maravilloso.
2
Jul 02 2025
Heaven Or Las Vegas
Cocteau Twins
5
Jul 03 2025
Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs
Marty Robbins
Yeah it turns out that this simply cannot be rated in any meaningful way, because if you listen to this while smashing through the Lakes as the sun's going down on a train home from Glasgow then there is literally nothing finer to have on.
Best song: Big Iron. But that was the opener during a particularly idyllic stretch. And A Hundred And Sixty Acres is a bit crap, so it benefits in retrospect from that.
4
Jul 04 2025
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
Genuinely mad how many of the tunes on this would be absolutely sensational singles from any other album.
5
Jul 05 2025
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Arctic Monkeys
Before he started crooning about the milk going off on his spaceship, Alex Turner really was an incredible storyteller.
5
Jul 06 2025
1984
Van Halen
Man, I think this is the first one where I've gone 'just not for me this'. Jump and Panama are listenable but there's not a single tune elsewhere I'd go back to.
Best song: Jump
2
Jul 07 2025
American Gothic
David Ackles
Feels weird that I'd never encountered this. Never even heard of it. Sounds like it's ripped straight from a rom-com-that-everyone-thinks-is-good soundtrack. Huge span in terms of what it covers. Oh, California is a bit sub-Lehrer and some of it gets a bit show-tuney, but Love's Enough was just a really decent simple love song.
Best song: Love's Enough.
4
Jul 08 2025
Aftermath
The Rolling Stones
I don't know if this is because I've never been that big a Stones fan, or because I'm a big woke liberal who found 'Under My Thumb' a weird listen, but I enjoyed this a lot less than I thought I would? Paint It Black is good, there's good guitars and some fun experimental stuff here but I think I went into this with high expectations and they weren't met.
3
Jul 09 2025
Caetano Veloso
Caetano Veloso
Didn't enjoy this and didn't finish it. Feel bad to say but just didn't sit with me at all.
1
Jul 10 2025
The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Pink Floyd
Went into this thinking I'd hate it. The Wall is fine but, in my view, just not as good as people make out. It's not as bad, either - I find a lot of the critiques of it overwrought. But I actually enjoyed this far more than I thought I would. Would go back and listen to this *as an album* again, I reckon.
4
Jul 11 2025
Winter In America
Gil Scott-Heron
Loved it. Not to knock Scott-Heron's poetry or whatever but I think the thing I liked *most* was actually Brian Jackson's instrumentals here? Would enjoy this almost as much if it was just a faintly jazzy/soul instrumental album.
Best Song: Rivers of my Soul
5
Jul 12 2025
Zombie
Fela Kuti
Christ, looked at the backstory to this. Don't know if I can separate story from the art here, found it really interesting in that context but don't know if I'd have had as good a time without it?
3
Jul 13 2025
Group Sex
Circle Jerks
Absolutely woeful, made tolerable by being very very short.
1
Jul 14 2025
Skylarking
XTC
I enjoyed this during listening but very little stood out afterwards. Maybe I had this one while really absorbed in writing, maybe it's a forgettable album - and I kind of lean to the second because I did that with 'Heaven or Las Vegas' but came back to it.
3
Jul 15 2025
The Band
The Band
Absolutely YES boys. Delighted to have found this. Makes me want to rent a large car with no top and drive it to California. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down is a weird listen, even though the instrumentation is great.
5
Jul 16 2025
Band On The Run
Paul McCartney and Wings
Oh no please don't make me like Wings.
4
Jul 17 2025
John Barleycorn Must Die
Traffic
4
Jul 21 2025
Lust For Life
Iggy Pop
Banger after banger mate. Second instance though of 'Christ this is horrible' on the old gender politics side. Sixteen? Just bad! A bad song with bad vibes! Everyone knows the Big Two on this but Tonight also really good. Best track's still Lust for Life though.
4
Jul 23 2025
The Who Sell Out
The Who
Previously I noted that I don't dislike Pink Floyd, I dislike Late Pink Floyd. This made me hate The Who, despite enjoying 'Who's Next'
1
Jul 24 2025
Vol. 4
Black Sabbath
5