Jul 01 2025
Fred Neil
Fred Neil
I listened to his albums Tear Down the Walls (with Vince Martin) and Bleeker & MacDougal years ago and never really felt the need to investigate further thinking he was one amongst many 60's folkies but this is much more to my taste, it's looser and jazzier. I wish I'd listened to this years ago, definitely one I will come back to.
4
Jul 02 2025
Rain Dogs
Tom Waits
I started off thinking this was all vaguely ridiculous but by about half way through I was thinking 'I'm a Rain Dog too'. Always great to hear something that you've written off for years without ever really giving it a try and be pleasantly surprised. Lesson learned not to prejudge based on what you think something is rather than what it actually is. I have a lot of Tom Waits to catch up on.
5
Jul 03 2025
John Barleycorn Must Die
Traffic
I like this album, the almost title track stands out for me and I wish there was more on the record in that acoustic folk style. Overall a solid listen though and well worth checking out.
4
Jul 04 2025
Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)
Loretta Lynn
A great voice and a good collection of songs, sympathetically arranged without the syrupy strings that, for me, spoil a lot of mainstream country music from the era.
4
Jul 05 2025
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Sinead O'Connor
4
Jul 06 2025
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
I've never really been able to get into this album, I gave it another try today and it played softly in the background while I got on with other things, not horrible but not exactly arresting either. A pleasant listen but I don't feel like it's a particularly memorable one.
3
Jul 07 2025
Sweet Baby James
James Taylor
Bland and boring, I really struggled to finish this album.
1
Jul 08 2025
Guitar Town
Steve Earle
Classic first album, it's been a while since I've listened to this and while I personally prefer some of his output from the mid-90's onwards there's some great stuff on here.
4
Jul 09 2025
Scott 4
Scott Walker
I avoided this album for a long time, I know how highly regarded it is but it wasn't anything that I went out of my way to seek out. I regret that now, I like this a lot. I'm listening to it in the middle of a summers day but it is an album I will come back to on a long winters night and I feel like it might become something I get a lot out of in the long run.
4
Jul 10 2025
Tea for the Tillerman
Cat Stevens
Solid enough album, sounds very much in the mould of other early 70s singer songwriters, towards the poppier end of the spectrum, more James Taylor than John Martyn. Pleasant enough and some nice songs but no real edge to anything and nothing that surprises. Nice escapist Sunday afternoon music.
3
Jul 11 2025
Third/Sister Lovers
Big Star
A masterpiece of turning disappointment and disillusionment into a quesy and hollowed out version of Big Star's classic sound. Sounds eternal.
5
Jul 12 2025
Songs Of Love And Hate
Leonard Cohen
There's dark and then there's Songs of Love and Hate, it's an intense listen and not something that can be enjoyed casually. It's hard to put a star raring against this album without diminishing it in the process.
I've just read a few of the reviews peoe have left for this album and it seems to be one that provokes strong responses from everyone who hears it which I think makes it worth anyone's time to hear it at least once in a lifetime. I also didn't know it was possible to listen to Famous Blue Raincoat and not be stopped dead in your tracks but apparently some people think it's awful.
5
Jul 13 2025
Bitte Orca
Dirty Projectors
I intentionally avoided this album at the time it came out because everything I read about it made it sound really unappealing and pretentious but I was pleasantly surprised, there's always something interesting going on and it sounds like something I will enjoy even more with repeat listens.
4
Jul 14 2025
If I Could Only Remember My Name
David Crosby
I grew up with my dad's Byrds albums and other related releases by members of the band but he had no time for Crosby so I was never introduced to this album. I assumed my dad's opinion was the right one so while I've listened to lots of Gene Clark, Gram Parsons, Roger McGuinn I've sadly never checked this out, I love it. I think it's time for me to convince his to change the error of his ways.
4
Jul 15 2025
Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Vega
Some good songs but I'm not a fan of the production on this album, it sounds too polished and sterile. I think it's a solid enough debut but not an album I'd consider to be a classic hearing it for the first time in 2025. Maybe if I had heard it 40 years ago I'd feel differently about it.
3
Jul 16 2025
Night Life
Ray Price
This was OK, the title track which was written by Willie Nelson is the best thing here. Overall enjoyable but not one that I feel like I'll come back to for more.
3
Jul 17 2025
Mermaid Avenue
Billy Bragg
Good album, I used to love the songs that were sung by Jeff Tweedy and skip the ones with Billy Bragg singing, I like almost all of the songs on this album now and the back story is interesting. Jay Bennet deserves a lot of credit for making California Stars into an absolute classic. I love one by one too.
4
Jul 18 2025
I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail
Buck Owens
I didn't not enjoy this but it sounds hopelessly dated for 1965 - the same year that Bringing it All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Out of Our Heads, Mr Tambourine Man, Rubber Soul and Otis Blue (amongst many others) were all released.
3
Jul 19 2025
Southern Rock Opera
Drive-By Truckers
Listened to this while walking the dog, while tidying up the shit my kids left everywhere, while I was staring into space after a day of it. It still sounds as good as the first time I heard it, for about ten or so years the new DBT album was the best one. This was the first of their albums that I heard and when I listen I like it better than the others until I listen to them. The amount of people leaving reviews who didn't understand what the album was about it truly worrying. To counter the 1 star reviews that just said I'm European: I'm European.
4
Jul 20 2025
Bert Jansch
Bert Jansch
All good, there's something to be said for an album that is basically one man and a guitar which gets better with each listen. It's also the best part for 60 years old and it feels relevant in any era.
5
Jul 21 2025
Unhalfbricking
Fairport Convention
I love everything about this album, from it's cover showing Sandy Denny's parents standing in front of their garden while the band sit on the lawn in the background. It's like the perfect album to lose yourself in on an English summer evening, Rightly considered a classic, hard to believe that some members of the band had barely turned 20 when they made this. A Sailor's Life and Who Knows Where the Time Goes? are the obvious standouts but the whole album stands up to repeated listens.
5
Jul 22 2025
The Gilded Palace Of Sin
The Flying Burrito Brothers
Great stuff, love the Nudie suits on the cover and the music is a good blend of country and soul, great version of Dark End of the Street. The playing is excellent throughout and there are some nice psychedelic guitar lines mixed in especially on Hot Burrito #1 and #2. I think Gram Parsons had the perfect voice for this music.
4
Jul 23 2025
Goodbye And Hello
Tim Buckley
Really very good album, some of the post-Sgt. Peppers production actually distracts from the quality of the songs and performances. The less fussy sounding tracks are the ones I find more enjoyable. I discovered Tim's music through listening to Jeff and was initially disappointed as a teenager in the 90s but I have to say his music has grown on me over the years and all of his albums are worth investigating.
4
Jul 24 2025
Vol. 4
Black Sabbath
Great album, there's something much going on here and it's had an impact on multiple metal sub-genres over the last 50 years and the sounds and ideas that Black Sabbath made popular have informed so much popular music since this album was released that their influence must be up there with the Beatles & the Velvet Underground.
5
Jul 25 2025
Joan Baez
Joan Baez
I was fearing the worst but this album made for an enjoyable late night listen. 1960 seems ancient but it wasn't anything difficult or boring listen in my opinion.
4
Jul 28 2025
Tapestry
Carole King
I liked his much more than I expected to, the songwriting is top tier pop/soul and it the playing is super smooth, not normally what I would listen to but sometimes you can't deny greatness when you some across it. One of those 70s blockbuster albums like Rumours where One listen is enough to confirm it's right to seemingly exist in every record collection on the planet.
5
Jul 29 2025
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Simon & Garfunkel
They lay it on a bit thick for me on the title track, tone it down boys and don't overplay your hand! The rest of the album is pretty sweet, looser and much more of an interesting mix of sounds that Paul continued to explore in his solo career.
4
Jul 31 2025
Live 1966 (The Royal Albert Hall Concert)
Bob Dylan
The Judas portion of the concert is the real reason to revisit this. The acoustic section is fine and Dylan plays some of his classic songs very well but once he goes electric, erm, it's electric. I always wonder if I would have been booing if I'd been there in 66? I hope not, but who knows, we all want to believe we're on the right side of history.
4
Aug 01 2025
At San Quentin
Johnny Cash
This is wild stuff, JC is on top form, it's just so far removed from other mainstream country artists of the time. A real rebel, still feels electric hearing this in 2025.
5
Aug 02 2025
After The Gold Rush
Neil Young
Five stars, perfect cover art and beautiful gatefold sleeve. Theresomething about an album like this where everything comes together, you get some perfect vulnerable ballads and a couple of more rocking tunes but everything is just right and the songs never outstay their welcome. Five stars.
5
Aug 03 2025
Heartattack And Vine
Tom Waits
Had Rain Dogs come up a couple of weeks ago and it was the first Tom Waits album I'd listened to in it's entirety. I'd heard some of his songs before but never been inclined to dig any deeper but I am big enough to admit when I've made a mistake. This is another strong album, I will definitely be listening to more by Tom Waits, there's plenty to get my teeth into.
4
Aug 04 2025
The Trinity Session
Cowboy Junkies
I listened to this on a rainy Sunday morning and it was the perfect soundtrack. I think it's definitely an album where I would need to be in the right mood to really enjoy it but it's definitely worth making the time for.
4
Aug 05 2025
I'm Your Man
Leonard Cohen
Lots of people seem to really appreciate the lyrics but not the music and when I first heard this album after being familiar with his earlier output I felt the same way but over the years it's grown on me massively and it's one of LC's albums that I return to again and again.
5
Aug 06 2025
Nick Of Time
Bonnie Raitt
Proto-Shania Twain, I was hoping not to hate this and I but it's a fine line and between love and hate and this album crosses it for me. I might be way off here but I feel like it's a last desperate attempt for mainstream success by an otherwise credible musician and it just sounds of it's time in the worst possible way. I might go back and listen to some of her earlier albums because I hope that they're less moulded with sales figures in mind. I just checked and before this album she never sold more than 500,000 copies of a single album and this shifted over 5 million so I guess it paid off.
1
Aug 07 2025
Swordfishtrombones
Tom Waits
I was never a fan of Tom Waits before this challenge and this is the third of his albums that has come up so far and they've all been great. There are always unexpected moments of genuine beauty waiting around the corner and this album like the others by Tom Waits that I've listened to so far really draw you in to a world of his construction.
4
Aug 08 2025
Bryter Layter
Nick Drake
It's fine margins but I come back to Bryter Later slightly less frequently than I return to Five Leaves Left or Pink Moon. It contains some of his finest songs but overall I tend to agree with his own feelings that some of the songs have a bit more decoration than they really need. Having said that it's still a great album and it boggles the mind that he didn't achieve at least a modicum of commercial success during his own lifetime.
5
Aug 12 2025
Bringing It All Back Home
Bob Dylan
Iconic, blistering from start to finish, I can never come to terms with this album starting with such a high bar and maintaining that standard throughout. You can make a case for each of the songs on the album being one of his best, Bob was on such a hot streak in the mid-60s.
5