"Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball" Listened to B4: Yes (30 years ago) Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 4 - Champagne Supernova, Don't Look Back in Anger, Morning Glory, Wonderwall Standout Tracks : Champagne Supernova, Don't Look Back in Anger, Morning Glory, Wonderwall I expected to like this record a whole lot more than I did. The 30 year old memories of it vs. the 2025 reality of it, is quite different. A great album is the sum of its parts. There are gems here - most of them being the big hits. The rest of the tracks, are, well...mid. With (some of) the big hits - i.e. Ww, DLBiA, CS, MG - you can forgive Oasis for borrowing from everyone before them because they do it so damn well. Imitation is the best kind of flattery, and the imitation here of the Beatles, solo Lennon, REM, et. al., but infused with their own 90s Mancurian sensibilities, shows these guys were musical geniuses, even if they lacked originality (or perhaps had loads of it in the sense they could imitate but make it fresh and their own). But the other tracks are mostly eyerollers. The opener "Hello" is Gary Glitter on boring pills. "Swamp Song" is "La Grange" fed through some really shitty amplifiers. And when my brain couldn't place who or what they ripped off, my ear knew they were ripping off someone or something. And herein lies the problem. When influenced by and borrowing crosses into ripping off, the line between great and meh grows very thin and much more difficult to straddle. (68/100)

"Is it strange to dance so soon? I danced myself into the tomb" Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 1 - Get it On Standout Tracks: Mambo Sun, Cosmic Dancer, Jeepster, Get it On, Planet Queen, LIfe's a Gas Superb. You can hear how T. Rex, Bowie, and Lou Reed were feeding off of each other - the early 70s glam version of the mid-60s psychout Beatles-Beach Boys rivarly. Mambo Sun is such a killer opener. Really sets the tone for the rest of the record. Cosmic Sun then sets the ballad standard for the rest of the record. Catchy af and a massive middle finger to conformity. The rockers here, the ballads, the bluesies, all hit. Love the instrumentaion - flanger guitars with great riffs, the pounding driving rhythm section, the bizzare yet perfect androgynous flo & eddie background vocals, the strings, the horns... Lyrics are fantastic: weird, sexy, existential, dreamy, and who doesn't love some good car metaphors? Even when Marc Bolan approaches the line of lyrical cheese, he never crosses - either because he stops himself or the music stops him. And what a fucking epic album cover. (93/100)

"Fertilizer, I'll take bullshit if that's all you got." Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 2 - Thinkin Bout You, Lost Standout Tracks: Thinkin Bout You, Sweet Life, Lost. I get it's innovative. I get the production is interesting and complex. I love the album concept of channel surfing through his memories beginning with the the Apple, Playstation, and Street Fighter startup sounds of his youth. But I found myself bored. The themes of the record get stale after he goes back to them for the umpteenth time. The lyrics are mostly a miss with way too much corny melodrama cringe. Outside a a small number of tracks, this just isn't my kind of thing. (33/100)

"Aniiiiimalll!!!......Aniiiimalllllallllll!" Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 3 - Jump, Panama, Hot for Teacher Standout Tracks: Jump, Panama, Hot for Teacher, I'll Wait VH goes synth was the biggest sin since Dylan goes electric. (69/100)

"While one who sings with his tongue on fire, gargles in the rat race choir, bent out of shape from society's pliers, cares not to come up any higher, but rather get you down in the hole that he's in." Listened to B4? Yes Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: All of them Standout Tracks: All of them God made records from 1964 to 1966 and named himself after a Welshman. (100/100)

Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 0 Standout Tracks: Don't Know Why Come Away With Me, I've Got to See You Again Her voice is amazing. Love the jazz arrangements. But while the record starts out strong, after a few tracks it all gets boring. (51/100)

"Here we are, stuck by this river, you and I, underneath the sky that's ever falling down... down... down.... ever falling down..." Listened to B4? Yes Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 2 - King's Lead Hat, By This River Standout Tracks: No One Receiving, King's Lead Hat, By This River, Julie With..., Spider and I Ambient musician Brian (3 letters) What a gem. Makes me sad that this was it before he dropped rock as a solo artist forever. Side A is what the Talking Heads wished they could have pulled off later in their career (even with Eno's help they couldn't come close). It's a production smorgasbord of tasty treats layered on top of or beneath each yummy morsel. Side B is pure ethereal bliss and has one of my favorite tracks of all time, BTR. (96/100)

"Is this a nightmare or the American dream?" Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 2 - O.G. Original Gangster, New Jack Hustler (Nino's Theme) Standout Tracks: O.G. Original Gangster, New Jack Hustler (Nino's Theme), Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous, Body Count, The Tower The rage is palpable. The production is stellar. I just wish it was 20 minutes shorter. (75/100)

"You crazy for this one, Rick!" Listened to B4? Yes Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 5 - The Man Comes Around, Hurt, I Hung My Head, Personal Jesus, In My Life Standout Tracks: The Man Comes Around, Hurt, Give My Love to Rose, I Hung My Head, Sam Hall, We'll Meet Again You can hear in his voice he knew he and June only had a few months left. Brutal. (86/100)

"My name is..... PEACHES!!!!!!" Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 0 Standout Tracks: I Love Your Lovin' Ways, Four Women, What More Can I Say?, Lilac Wine, Why You Keep Breaking My Heart, Wild is the Wind God I love her voice. One moment it's loving. Another it's yearning. Another it's wistful. Another it's the embodiment of pure unadulterated rage. Nina Simone is who every female blues, jazz, and soul singer who has shown up over the past 60 years wants to be, and never can. (91/100)

"Cocaine is a helluva drug" Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 1: Sara Standout Tracks: Sara, Sisters of the Moon, Brown Eyes Whenever a band has a colossal megahit, the next move is to make an album that sounds nothing like its predecessor. This is to ensure the band isn't defined by their past success and to maintain what they argue is their "artistic integrity." The record often ends up being a huge middle finger to the band's record label, and often, at least temporarily, to their fans. And sometimes it works beautifully. Kid A post Paranoid Android. Paul's Boutique post Licensed to Ill. In Utero post Nevermind. Smiley Smile post Pet Sounds. All post-hit records that were originally maligned by critics and/or fans, only to become recognized as beloved classics, and rightfully so. Tusk is not one of these albums even though people for some reason try to make it one. The record is ok for most of its runtime, good in stretches, and unlistenable in others - there is way too much insuferable Buckingham-honkytonk-three-ring circus-sounding bloat-causing rubbish that would've been better served as advertising jingles for laundry detergent or pet food than appearing here. Tusk works in all its weirdness, as do a few others. But the real good stuff here are the Nicks and especially the McVie brooders, like Sisters of the Moon, which does feature some straight fire guitar work by Buckingham, and Brown Eyes. (64/100)

"(Portuguese)" Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: None Standout Tracks: Tudo Que Você Podia Ser, O Trem Azul, Trem de Doido, Nada Será Como Antes Wow. What a gem. I had no idea this even existed. An amazing amalgam of Beatles and Beach Boys psychadelia with Brazilian pop, samba, and jazz. I have no idea what they are saying, but it didn't matter one bit. Such a unique and beautiful record. (86/100)

"I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die" "Woooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!" Listened to B4? Yes Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 2 - Folsom Prison Blues, Cocaine Blues Standout Tracks: Folsom Prison Blues, Cocaine Blues, 25 Minutes to Go, Jackson One of the best live records of all time. That iconic "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" followed by Folsom Prison Blues...chef's kiss. I know there's debate on whether a lot of the audience applause, chatter, laughter, and the infamous shouting glee to the opening stanza of FPB was picked up live or added in post, but it doesn't matter. It works. The first half of the album is gold. The choice of songs is perfect for the audience - and those choices make it seem like Cash cared more about his audience that day than selling records, which only makes the record more special. The latter half of the album isn't as strong as the first, but the short lengths of the novelty-like songs allows everything still to work, and that great live rendition of Jackson with June just kills. Cash's sympathy for those suffering in a broken American penal system, and his strong advocation for prison reform, was admirable, and you can hear in his voice how he cares about these people, empathisizes with their plight, and how he wants to put on the best show he can for them as it is one of the only positive things a lot of those men had going for them, perhaps for the rest of their lives. (93/100)

"An ominous landscape of never-ending calamity" Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 3 - Pardon Me, Drive, Stellar Standout Tracks: Pardon Me, Drive, Stellar, Make Yourself It's fine. The 3 hit singles plus Make Yourself make for great radio rock. The rest of the album is fine. I'll likely never listen to it as a whole again, but the standout tracks are great. (63/100)

"All the stony people, walking 'round in Christian-licorice clothes" Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: None Standout Tracks: Pleasant Street, I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain, Goodbye and Hello, Once I Was, Phantasmagoria in Two Kind of crazy I never got around to check out Tim Buckley before. Such an interesting record with so much going on. Buckley has one foot barely still grounded in the 50s and 60s folk-revival of the Village, moving that foot toward his other, which is planted in late 60's psychedelia and even early prog. I liked the first two tracks, but Pleasant Street is when I got deeply invested. Such a gem. The experimentation throughout the record is pretty wild, especially on the title track. Throughout you can hear the inspiration of Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds, and like with what Pink Floyd was doing that same year, Buckley tries to bring you with him into the ether. (84/100)

"Can you help me occupy my brain?" Listened to B4? Yes Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: All Standout Tracks: All (97/100)

"Can you help me occupy my brain?" Listened to B4? Yes Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 1 - Androgynous Standout Tracks: I Will Dare, Favorite Thing, We're Coming Out, Androgynous (81/100)

"Big black shape with eyes of fire, tellin' people their desire. Satan's sittin' there, he's smilin', watches those flames get higher and higher. Oh, no, no, please, God, help me." USA 2025 Listened to B4? Yes Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: All Standout Tracks: Black Sabbath, The Wizard, N.I.B. (91/100)

"(Portuguese)" Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: None Standout Tracks: Vento de Maio, Tiro Ao Alvaro, A very disjointed record. Distant. And just not my thing. (42/100)

"Oh God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son.” Abe says, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on.” God say, “No.” Abe say, “What?” God say, “You can do what you want, Abe, but the next time you see me comin’ you better run.” Well Abe says, “Where do you want this killin’ done?” God says, “Out on Highway 61.”" Listened to B4? Yes Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: All of them Standout Tracks: All of them God made records from 1964 to 1966 and named himself after a Welshman. (97/100)

"She announced: "I've just seen my therapist, who's convinced I have a borderline personality disorder with narcissistic traits, which means I'll be unhappy all my life as nobody will be able to measure up to the fantastically high standards that I just can't help but impose on them."" Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: None Standout Tracks: Set the Controls for the Heart of the Pelvis, The Vibes Ain't Nothin' But the Vibes, Something Wicked This Way Comes Pretentious to a fault. Most of the record sounds like Adamson is trying way too hard. (57/100)

"All of your children and all of my children are gonna have to pay for our pay for our mistakes someday" Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: None Standout Tracks: Peace Go With You Brother (As-Salaam-Alaikum), The Bottle, Song for Bobby Smith (80/100)

Perfection. (100/100)

Oof. (12/100)

Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 1 - Only Love Can Break Your Heart Standout Tracks: Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Carnt Sleep, Stoned to Say the Least, Nothing Can Stop Us (82/100)

"Givin' you more of what you're funkin' for..." Listened to B4? No Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: None Standout Tracks: One Nation Under a Groove Title track is a banger. The other 5 tracks are mid to oof. Big let down. (59/100)

"And when that foghorn blows I will be coming home. And when the foghorn blows, I want to hear it. I don't have to fear it." Listened to B4? Yes Tracks Already Saved on Spotify: 6 - And It Stones Me, Moondance, Into the Mystic, Brand New Day, Everyone Standout Tracks: And It Stoned Me, Moondance, Into the Mystic, Brand New Day, Everyone (85/100)