My 1001 Albums Journey

Album	You	Global	Diff
69 Love Songs The Magnetic Fields	5	2.85	+2.15
Slanted And Enchanted Pavement	5	3.03	+1.97
Dirt Alice In Chains	5	3.47	+1.53
Illinois Sufjan Stevens	5	3.49	+1.51
Funeral Arcade Fire	5	3.56	+1.44
Dr. Octagonecologyst Dr. Octagon	4	2.7	+1.3
m b v My Bloody Valentine	4	2.72	+1.28
Disintegration The Cure	5	3.85	+1.15
Merriweather Post Pavilion Animal Collective	4	2.9	+1.1
Very Pet Shop Boys	4	2.93	+1.07

Album	You	Global	Diff
Brothers The Black Keys	1	3.58	-2.58
Tommy The Who	1	3.34	-2.34
Toys In The Attic Aerosmith	1	3.26	-2.26
Only By The Night Kings of Leon	1	3.23	-2.23
Traffic Traffic	1	3.08	-2.08
All That You Can't Leave Behind U2	1	2.98	-1.98
Back In Black AC/DC	2	3.86	-1.86
Destroyer KISS	1	2.86	-1.86
Axis: Bold As Love Jimi Hendrix	2	3.79	-1.79
Olympia 64 Jacques Brel	1	2.77	-1.77

Deerhunter

3/5

Pleasant indie rock that's enjoyable enough, but Deerhunter has never been one of my favorites from this era of indie. The first half is sometimes jangly and sometimes hypnotic, with the jangly songs not sounding different from other artists and the hypnotic songs not making an impression. Things turn around with Desire Lines, which feels more immersive than the other tracks. The album continues to be much better after it; Coronado has some great horns and there's cool drumming on the closer (though that one does kind of overstay its welcome by getting repetitive by the end). Would get a lower score if it didn't pick up by the end.

Tea for the Tillerman

Cat Stevens

2/5

8 or 9 nicely written pop folk songs with a few more songs thrown in. While the songs are nice I can't help but find them a bit schmaltzy, even Father and Son. Stevens also doesn't have much, lyrically of musically, that makes him unique, and I find the louder moments with drums to mostly not work. An exception to all of that is the opener, Where Do the Children Play?, which I like quite a bit and which climaxes nicely. Otherwise it's mostly forgettable. (I also can't help but agree with folks who say that Wild World comes off as condescending, and even if that was intentional it doesn't make me like it more.)

Stand!

Sly & The Family Stone

4/5

Incredible funk and soul album. What I like most about this album is how it mixes some great pop tunes with longer funk rock jams like Don't Call Me and Sex Machine. The ending run is especially great, with the 5/5 song Everyday People giving way to the disgusting (in a good way!) extended jam of Sex Machine. Just when you think the album has nothing left to offer besides that guitar and harmonica it hits you with one last solid pop song as a parting gift. Throw in some social commentary and this still holds up as a hard hitting album over 50 years later.

Funeral

Arcade Fire

5/5

Arcade Fire were part of a wave of bands that brought large line-ups and chamber music to indie rock, and they inspired many more such bands. But few if any did it as well as they did it on this album. The piano and strings perfectly compliment the guitar and drums, resulting in an album that's lush but still rocks at times. "Wake Up" is the big hit, but the first three "Neighborhoods" and the closer are even better. Speaking of the closer: the lyrics on this album can have a beautiful subtlety to them, something that's missing from the band's later albums. At no point does this show better than "In the Backseat," where metaphors hide the themes of growing up and taking control of your life as your parents and relatives disappear.

1984

Van Halen

2/5

You likely know two or three songs from this one even if you haven't heard it, but all three of those songs already have major flaws. "Jump" and "Panama" are both catchy but a little too simple, while "Hot For Teacher" is less a song and more a show of the band's instrumental prowess over some hastily written lyrics. I might like "I'll Wait" more than any of those songs, but all of it is pretty standard 80's hard rock fleshed out with some synths. A little more variety or better lyrics might save this a bit. As it is this is the same so-so formula repeated for pretty much every song.

25

Adele

2/5

There's more variety here than the piano ballad "Hello" would initially lead you to expect. The next track does kind of an alt pop thing (though even that sounds pretty much like any other alt pop you'd hear on the radio), and there are a couple other left turns throughout. But there are still a lot of piano ballads with dramatic vocals. It wouldn't be such a drag if Adele didn't seem allergic to injecting any kind of personal touch to her lyrics. Everything is vague concepts and ideas, no specific details of break-ups or love, which is universal yes but also uninspired. The vocals? They're good, if a little overdone at times, but they don't make the music more compelling.

Rum Sodomy & The Lash

The Pogues

3/5

There are a lot of great Irish folk instrumentation on this album. There are also a lot of mid-tempo drinking songs that kind of crawl by. When the band really lets it rip like on "Billy Bones" it's a great time, and even when the songs are slow the backing music and vocals are always great. The highlight is probably the closer, where the story and emotion makes up for the slower pace. With a little more energy this could have been a great album, but as it is there are definitely some songs worth skipping.

A Little Deeper

Ms. Dynamite

2/5

The main word that comes to mind while listening to this is "safe." When Ms. Dynamite gets more assertive, like on "Put Him Out" or "Now U Want My Love," her songs have a lot of personality. But on other tracks, that personality doesn't shine through, resulting in songs that feel anonymous. On those songs, the lyrics feel more played out and the laid back singing can make for forgettable songs. The beats don't change much during the course of a song, which can make them tiring, especially when the drums sound a bit thin. When the songs get funkier or try new things, like the reggae influence on "Now U Want My Love," they're much more engaging. Unfortunately that's just not always the case.

Diamond Life

Sade

4/5

Delightfully smooth. While the sax and piano are great my favorite part of this may be the lazy, rhythmic percussion. Nowhere is that demonstrated better than on the closer, which is my favorite song on the album. I love the pace at which the song moves - it feels like a slowcore song to me - and I think it has Sade's most longing vocals on the album. Sade's music got more nuanced after this but this is my favorite album I've heard from them. It's great for late nights and puts a lot of 80's sounds in a more refined, relaxed package.

Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs

Derek & The Dominos

3/5

When this albums rocks - like on the title track or "Keep on Growing" - it rocks. When it moves in a more bluesy direction, it suffers. This is partially because I find Clapton's voice a bit weak for conveying these emotions, and partially because while the guitar is great it doesn't have the soul of the best blues I've heard. I'd also be lying if I said it wasn't hard to take the songs about love being so hard and his woman cheating on him seriously given the album's most well-known song is famously about wanting to sleep with his friend's wife. Even then it would all be fine if this album wasn't 76 minutes long; after the first four songs the only new sounds on it are the title track's second half and the short (and limp) closer. A forty minute version of this with the best material might get a 4.

Cross

Justice

3/5

This album is exhilarating. And somewhat exhausting. My ideal house music has bouncy drums and something light over the top with cut up vocal samples. The tracks on here that sound kind of like that - like "D.A.N.C.E." - are great. But most of the others put way more emphasis on the synths than the percussion, and when the beat primarily comes from those distorted synths it's harder for me to get into. The first track is a good example of that - I'm not sure how I'm supposed to dance to that mid tempo synth line. By the end the noise overwhelms me, especially on "Stress." And I'm someone who likes noisy sounds in noise rock and other genres! I just done want it in my dance music.

Tommy

The Who

1/5

For the most part, the playing on this is great, especially Keith Moon's drumming. But it suffers from the lengths to which it goes to tell its story. The choruses on so many of these songs are simple and lame, presumably to make sure you know what's happening. The pacing suffers from multiple minute-long interludes and a 10 minute one that seems to only exist for the "Underture" wordplay. The story ranges from goofy to hard to take seriously. The worst moment is when we hear about abuse by Tommy's uncle in the painfully annoying "Fiddle About" chorus, which is quickly followed by a song about how Tommy is super good at pinball. Talk about tonal whiplash; there are themes here that are worth exploring, but they aren't treated with any care. The biggest problem is simpler though: none of the songs, even "Pinball Wizard," are really all that good.

Aja

Steely Dan

3/5

Slickly produced to within an inch of its life, even compared to earlier Steely Dan records. And I think it fits the laid back nature of the songs. The songs are mostly long and expansive, leaving room for those impeccable guitar parts, drum fills, and horns. But it still leaves me cold, and I think it's because of the songwriting. The Dan's earlier work was tighter, which allowed for more hooks and grooves. Here the grooves are looser and the hooks more spread out. While the instrumental flourishes sound great, I find myself wishing there was less space between them. "Peg" is the outlier, and the best song, as the melody continues during the verses and makes the song interesting throughout. I like parts of "Black Cow" and "Deacon Blues" too, but I find myself wishing the songs were shorter and hookier.

Merriweather Post Pavilion

Animal Collective

4/5

Less energetic and freaky than the Animal Collective albums that came before it, but the many layers of synths still give this a ton of complexity. There are a lot of different sounds, from the watery to the bouncy, that wash over each other and provide a lot of melodies to follow. I'm most immediately drawn to the poppier songs, especially "Summertime Clothes," and sometimes I wish there were more moments like the chorus of "Daily Routine" that really popped. But I also know an entire album of that would get tiring, which makes me appreciate the more hypnotic moments of songs like "Guy's Eyes" and "Brother Sport" more.

Fisherman's Blues

The Waterboys

3/5

I absolutely love "We Will Not Be Lovers." I love the bassline combined with the folk instruments and the momentum it carries throughout. It's a really interesting mix of folk tradition with modern (at the time) rock. I wish there was more like it here. I like the opening track and the "Sweet Thing" cover quite a bit too, but the straight folk songs don't do it for me. This includes most of the second half of the album, as well as what seems to be the centerpiece in "And a Bang on the Ear," which goes on for too long for me. I think it's at least in part because I don't love the vocals. It's a pretty interesting throwback, but an album with more songs like "We Will Not Be Lovers" might get a 4.

Raising Hell

Run-D.M.C.

4/5

Rap has come a long way since the 80's, and a lot of once-classic albums sound a bit weaker next to what came out even in the 90's. This is not one of them. Yes, the rhyme schemes are pretty simple, but the energy the MCs bring is top notch, and they're even able to sell a song about nursery rhymes. The beats hit hard too, they're very percussion-heavy and sometimes fairly complex. A few of the tracks mix in some rock elements, and it feels more seamless than some rap rock tracks made 30 years later. There are a lot of fun ideas here on tracks like "You Be Illin'" (let's forget about "Dumb Girl" though, yeesh...). This definitely sounds like an 80's rap album but turns those elements that are no longer in fashion into something great.

Gold

Ryan Adams

3/5

Ryan Adams can undoubtedly write a song. Most of the songs here have a pleasant hook or melody. The problem is that he's written too many on this album, and too many of them are ballads. "Firecracker" has some great country twang and the kind of hook that makes Adams's best songs great. But it's the only song of its kind here. So much of the rest of this album is slower, aiming for a kind of melancholy or nostalgia that just doesn't come through. "Sylvia Plath" is the worst example for me, there's almost nothing there musically and the lyrics are weirdly parasocial. There are some rock songs that get things going a bit, but they all feel like they're cut from different clothes and don't belong on the same album. A prime example of an album being less than the sum of its parts.

Street Life

The Crusaders

2/5

Impeccably played jazz funk, but to what end? The title track, the only one with vocals, puts you in a world of a late night in the big city, down on your luck or worse. The whole album feels very nocturnal, but the title track is the only song that makes full use of that feeling. The other tracks fade in and out without sounding all that differently, and while they sound good I can't call out anything that differentiates them from other jazz funk tracks. They mostly play it safe; the funk isn't that deep, the solos are short, the grooves nice but not challenging. I do like this, but there would never be a reason to put this on over similar albums.

If I Should Fall From Grace With God

The Pogues

4/5

Raucous folk punk celebrating life in the face of death. If you just listened to the music while ignoring the lyrics you might think this is a happy album, but far from it. There are lots of songs about death, dying, and uncertainty. But the joyful music adds to the lyrical nuance about celebrating one's culture and family in the face of tragedy. It starts with a bang with the terrific first two tracks, "Fairytale," and "Thousands are Sailing." After that I do think the new ideas wear a bit thin, but the upbeat folk sounds mean it's never boring.

The Score

Fugees

2/5

Great performances by all three MCs here, especially Lauryn Hill. There's urgency behind their rapping, and I enjoy the conscious lyrics. That consciousness sometimes slips into a holier-than-thou attitude though, which means this isn't always a positive album (and it's thus a bit ironic when stuff like that Chinese restaurant skit is included here). And speaking of urgency: I wish that was reflected in the beats. These beats are laid back, almost to a fault. The sung covers switch things up, but those songs are also pretty subdued. I think this could use some more energy or variety - there are two MCs here who excel at both rapping and singing, but they rarely do so on the same song. For an album lacking in hooks, that seems like a missed opportunity.

Shake Your Money Maker

The Black Crowes

2/5

Bog standard blues rock, but that doesn't mean it's all bad. If I was at a state fair and I had a couple beers in me, I'd be super into this. But I don't think it rewards a casual listen that much. If there was something more to this, like more keys or more variety, maybe it would. Though maybe not on the variety front, since the acoustic-heavy "She Talks To Angels" is actually one of my least favorite tracks; the singer's voice seems more suited to rock songs. "Sister Luck" was probably my favorite song, it's slower too, but more of a power ballad. I kind of wonder if this would be as loved if it came out in my the 70s and wasn't seen as a throwback, because I don't think there's any doubt this is inferior to bands like The Rolling Stones.

Technique

New Order

4/5

Of the New Order albums I've heard, this is the most consistently engaging and upbeat, and also the best. The songs have a lot going on, but it's never overwhelming. The opener almost gets to that point, with all the synths and guitars flying around in the beginning, but the way it moves from one set of sounds to the next keeps it moving nicely. Elsewhere the bass thumps, the synths sound bouncy, and the guitars compliment everything well without taking the focus off of the grooves. The lyrics are mostly ignorable, but lyrics have never been a strong point for the band. It's hard to pick highlights as it's so consistent throughout, but "Run" and "Vanishing Point" are definitely two of the best songs. All in all just a fun album that brings together a lot of different influences well.

Disintegration

The Cure

5/5

A swirling ocean of immaculately produced ethereal post punk. It surrounds you with feelings of longing that almost drown you. The lyrics are dripping in that melancholy, but they never feel overly dramatic or inauthentic. They feel real and honest. Each song feels carefully crafted, with intricate synths and guitars that compliment each other perfectly. And there's so much range here: the regret of "Pictures of You," the sinister "Lullaby," the pulsing, desperate "Fascination Street." On a different album "Love Song" would be a thoughtful pop tune, but here you begin to second guess whether it's also somehow a downer. Whenever the album gets to those last 5 long songs I always think they're going to drag by, but each has such a lovely, enthralling melody that I feel disappointed when each song ends.

Crazysexycool

TLC

3/5

Super smooth and enjoyable R&B, but I can't help feeling it would be better if it tried more things. The most well-known songs are great: "Creep" has a nice and funky vibe and "Waterfalls" is the catchiest song of the bunch (not surprising since it was the big hit). There are a few good rap verses, both from TLC and also from Phife Dawg and Andre. Outside of those moments, it's largely filled with slow jams. These songs aren't bad, but there's also not much to separate them from similar songs from the era. Like "Red Light Special" is a good song, but it sounds like a song many other 90's R&B artists could write. Definitely has a nice vibe, but there's also not enough unique about it to make me want to come back.

Juju

Siouxsie And The Banshees

3/5

I like the driving basslines on this. I like the guitar tone, although on some songs like "Halloween" it's a bit too high pitched. And most of all I love the thudding, tribal drums. Yet put it all together and it sounds a little...thin? That bone dry guitar tone may be one reason. I also kind of wish it was more menacing? "Spellbound" is basically a jangle pop song and "Arabian Knights" feels like a standard post punk song. So is "Sin in my Heart," but it's faster and more urgent. "Into the Light" is a good example of a more interesting song, the angular guitar on that one is incredible. And the closer is a nice way to end - very drawn out and climactic - but it also feels like it's missing something. I think that as dark and gothic as certain elements of this are, it doesn't feel meaty enough to really get that atmosphere across.

Bad

Michael Jackson

3/5

A mix of good songs and songs that aren't good enough to overcome the 80's production. Most of them are good though! "Man in the Mirror" is my favorite Jackson song not named "Billie Jean," "Smooth Criminal" has those sinister verses and big climaxes, and "Dirty Diana" has some great guitar. There are three other #1 hits on this album, but of those I really only care for "The Way You Make Me Feel." The rest of the songs suffer more from the percussive synths that are all over this. "Speed Demon," is the worst example, it sounds so clunky. Compare that to "Man in the Mirror" and the smoother sound. The vocals are great throughout, but they can't change the fact it doesn't always sound as full and lush as dance pop should. Worth a listen for the best singles, but there's not much more to it than that.

Slayed?

Slade

3/5

Hell yeah rock out man! I'm not always the biggest fan of hard rock, but when it nearly borders on garage rock like this does I can get into it. I like the vocals and how keeps its foot on the gas until the end. My two favorite songs both have "Crazee" in the title; I especially like the keys on the second track and how they flesh things out a bit. Now, the fact that this doesn't let up also means there's not a whole lot knew thrown into the mix once you've heard a couple songs, and like all but the very best such albums I suspect that means I won't be coming back to it much. But it's a fun listen for sure.

The Libertines

2/5

I don't mind sloppy music. Sloppiness can make a ramshackle song sound more cathartic; if the energy is coming through, I don't mind if you miss a few notes. But this album is the bad kind of sloppy. As in, it sounds like the two guitarists aren't on the same page about which song they're playing. I do like the rawness and energy in places, but it's often hard to discern any kind of melody because one guitar is kind of trying to play some chords and the other is noodling over in the other channel. I'm not asking for this to be a pop album, but a catchy riff would be nice - even the garagest garage rock usually succeeds because it's catchy. It feels like the band thinks that rawness is enough to carry them despite the weak songwriting. Given that you hear nothing about this band's legacy or influence these days, I think it's clear that's not true.

At Newport 1960

Muddy Waters

4/5

A live album where you can really feel the energy of both the performers and the crowd. I struggle with the blues because the focus is on the guitar chords and vocals instead of the songwriting, which typically follows the same formula. I do like the sound of electric blues guitar though, and here it's accompanied by raucous drumming, a piano, and a harmonica, the last of which sometimes steals the show. Waters's vocal performance is fantastic; I especially like his word-less ad libs on "Mojo." I do find myself wishing for a bit of variety at points, but the playing is so good and the energy so high that those thoughts quickly go away. This isn't rock music, but it certainly has the swagger of it without losing what makes the blues great too.

The Clash

4/5

As far as no frills, not hardcore, just straightforward punk rock goes, this might be the peak. There are all kinds of great melodies on this to enhance the snotty vocals and fast, simple songs. And there's political and social commentary, but it's not overwhelming. Despite all that my favorite song may actually be "Police and Thieves." It hints at the band's later work with its not-reggae-but-definitely-reggae-sounding-ness. There's only so much you can do with the simple punk formula and while the rest of the album is also great, it's nice to have a groovy left turn in the middle of it.

They Were Wrong, So We Drowned

Liars

1/5

There's groundwork for an interesting album here. But for an album inspired by witch trials and which tries a lot of things, it's also surprisingly boring. The vocals sound emotionless; on the first track the singer drones "blood" a bunch of times - are these witches scary or not? Musically there's a lot of empty space here between the noise that makes me wish there was more happening. There is some cool stuff! But it's very fleeting. An abrasive noise on the 3rd track gives way to a super simple beat. There's a nice vocal melody on the last track that fades into nothing. The 8th and 9th tracks have the most interesting, rhythmic percussion, and the 8th track pairs it with hard hitting noise to create what's easily the best track. But so much of the album is atmospheric without getting any kind of eerieness or dread across, and more engaging moments may have helped.

Tuesday Night Music Club

Sheryl Crow

2/5

There are a couple interesting left turns on this, but the majority of it is a kind of country-pop-rock thing that sounds very similar to other artists with this sound. Her voice fits the songs well - it's authentic and not over-polished. The lyrics are a mixed bag; I like the chorus on "Strong Enough" and the specificity of songs like "All I Wanna Do," but "The Na-Na Song" and it's we-didn't-start-the-fire-ness is a bit grating. The melodies are nice, but rarely better than nice, which is the biggest problem. My favorite songs are the ones that are more daring, even if they don't always work. "Solidify'" is my favorite with its funky groove. "We Can Do What We Can" doesn't work as well, but I still appreciate the jazzy night club vibe it's going for. Replace some of the slower ballads like "No One Said it Would Be Easy" with more adventurous songs and this would be a better listen.

Definitely Maybe

Oasis

2/5

If you can get past the over-singing and the often inane lyrics, this is an enjoyable heart-on-its-sleeve rock album. When I can get past those things, like on "Slide Away" (the best song) or "Live Forever" (the best hooks, even if I hate how the lyrics react to Cobain and his music), I'm right there in the pit singing along. When I can't, like on "Shakermaker" (with it's clunky melody) or "Supersonic" (the worst lyrics of the bunch), it can get a bit tiring. This is right on the edge of a 2 and a 3 for me as an album full of brash songs that are almost too much to take in all in a row. The guitars sound great, but they're so loud the songs have very little room to breathe. It doesn't help that some of them, like the opener, go on for way too long. In the end I can't get past the lack of depth and loudness, though I can't deny it's catchy.

Traffic

1/5

An album that sounds great but isnt very enjoyable. The instruments really pop - I love the thumping of the drums, and the addition of organ, harmonica, horns, and especially flute really gives this a lot of life. But the songwriting is full of moments where the pace of the song changes suddenly, which can be jarring. And then a harmonica or organ will be thrown in, but not in a way that really matches the rhythm. It reminds me a jazz album a bit. "Feelin' Alright?" avoids this and is the most immediately enjoyable song. Then again, it also sounds like a generic 60's rock song, so I guess you have to pick your poison there. The worst thing about this is the lyrics, they feel like they were written because they had to be and are full of forced rhymes and psychedelic rock cliches. Key examples are the goofy opener and the sun/fun rhyme on "Pearly Queen."

Bummed

Happy Mondays

3/5

A fun party album from a band that sounds like they're still finding their footing. While I like the atmosphere here, it is a bit one-note and the songs blur together a bit. The grooves on songs like "Wrote for Luck" are great, but other tracks feel a bit anonymous. If there were more hooks or things were tightened up I think this could be great. The closer feels like an early sampledelia track with its Beatles interpolation, but it's the rare track with a real memorable moment. I don't hate the vocals, but I don't feel that they contribute much. Sounds like they're going for a drugged out haze but they just sound sloppy. I do like the lyrics on the first track though, sounds like a defiant party anthem aimed at the upper class.

Aftermath

The Rolling Stones

2/5

This starts off well with "Mother's Little Helper," one of the best songs from their early period. It's perfectly dark despite sounding cheery. And then it goes straight into a goofy pop song that almost sounds like a joke and a sappy ballad. At least after that one "Under My Thumb" has the catchiest melody on the album (if you can ignore the lyrics). From there there's very little that's worthwhile. The main problem is that it's too long, both because of the interminable, unchanging "Goin' Home" and because there are too many songs on the second side that don't add anything new in terms of songwriting. If this was trimmed down it might be pretty good, because the additions of new instruments and inclusion of some psychedelic elements make even the least interesting songs listenable.

Rising Above Bedlam

Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart

2/5

I was vibing to this during the first three or so tracks. I would definitely prefer to listen to all of these styles and genres separately than as a mishmash like this, but I liked the percussion and vocals enough to get enjoyment out of it. However, it gets less interesting as it goes on. This is partially because I prefer the house-influenced beginning to the dub-influenced end. But as it goes on it also feels more and more half-baked, with the genre influences being used in predictable ways. Ironically it may be more interesting if there was less variety and a smaller number of sounds were explored in more different ways.

Hejira

Joni Mitchell

3/5

Mitchell's previous two albums incorporated jazz into a mix of folk and pop. On this one the jazz is the centerpiece, and it's a sparse collection of guitar, bass, and drums. It sounds good, but it leads to a collection of songs that end up blending together a bit, as it lacks memorable choruses of instrumental lines. I like Mitchell's vocals on this a lot; it has a reputation of coming out at a point where she had ruined her voice a bit but it fits the music well even if it's not as technically impressive as her earlier work. The lyrics I've heard are quite good, but I find it a bit hard to focus on them given the subtlety of the music. This is definitely an album I want to like more than I do, but I've found it difficult to crack so far.

Brothers

The Black Keys

1/5

I've always thought it would make sense for The Black Keys to make raucous garage rock like their two-person band counterparts The White Stripes and Japandroids. Which makes these mid-tempo, safe songs sound pretty jarring. Even once I adjust my expectations, it's hard for me to find anything special about this. The production is clean enough to remove most of its edge outside of the vocal effects that make it feel "old." It lacks memorable riffs and impressive instrumental moments are rare. And the songs mostly stick to the same formula. Which to be fair, is also true of the blues this is emulating, but this lacks the passion, grit, and vocal emotion of blues. I'm not even a blues fan and I'd rather listen to any classic blues over this.

Axis: Bold As Love

Jimi Hendrix

2/5

Like most people, I like listening to Jimi Hendrix play the guitar. Unlike a lot of people, I don't like listening to his songs. Pretty much every guitar solo on this sounds great, but many of the songs are held back by clunky choruses or verses. It's telling that the song that's the most immediately enjoyable (though not the best!) is "She's So Fine," the only one he didn't write. Hendrix's songwriting is less polished, like he didn't know how best to work his guitar into the songs. The first few songs especially suffer from this, but the second half is much better. The closer succeeds as a psychedelic jam where precious songs failed, and "One Rainy Wish" is another highlight.

Talk Talk Talk

The Psychedelic Furs

3/5

A fairly standard early 80s post punk album that's elevated by the horns and noisier elements. The angular synth that opens the album is one example of the sounds that give this a bit more edge than you'd expect if you'd just heard "Pretty in Pink" (which is still quite good!). The highlights are "Into You Like a Train" and "All of This and Nothing," with the former being one of the catchiest songs and the latter the lushest and most expensive. I don't love the vocals though, as they don't really fit the music. They feel too harsh, which is weird since I like the harsher musical elements. It doesn't help that the lyrics aren't very good either, with a lot of moments when they should rhyme but don't. I don't mind that if it's done for a reason, but the ones on "I Wanna Sleep With You" just make the lyrics sound lazy.

Virgin Suicides

Air

2/5

This is a tough one to rate as an album given it wasn't written to be listened to on its own. As a result the majority of songs are really just sketches, many based on the same theme with the same mood. The opener works best as a "real" song (probably because of the vocals), though "The Word Hurricane" and a couple songs near the end also exhibit some evolution throughout. The rest mostly just build on the same melody until they end. Of course there's a reason for that, so the question is how much should my rating account for the fact you're missing something by just listening to this. In the end I'm going with a 2 because I wouldn't want to hear this again, though I can't deny that it sounds lovely and is well produced.

Bookends

Simon & Garfunkel

3/5

Like always, the duo bring some pleasant folk harmonies. They also attempt a song cycle about aging on the first side. It's a shame it doesn't work; the sequence is too short and not obvious enough to feel like a progression. The sound collage experiment with old people's voices also doesn't add anything. However, "America" is a beautifully devastating song and "Old Friends" is lovely as well. They play the hits on the second side, and the ones that aren't about breakfast foods and zoos are great. Overall it's a bit uneven, but there's some good stuff here and the experiments make it more interesting than their contemporaries.

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)

The Kinks

3/5

A fantastically written pop rock album. It tries a lot of styles, both old and modern (for the time), and pretty much nails them all. There isn't a bad song in the bunch, and the lyrics range from nostalgic to the cutting satire of "Yes Sir No Sir". And yet, it leaves me a bit cold. Despite the consistency there are no exceptional songs - "Victoria" or "Australia" are probably the closest. It's almost as if the album is too well-written. This sounds ridiculous, but sticking so tightly to its formula of crafting a distinct sound for each song makes it feel a bit too calculated. There's no room for these songs to breathe, and the tightness turns into stuffiness. It doesn't help that outside of "Some Mother's Son" most of the topics seem approached from a distance rather than feeling personal. This is about as close as possible to a 4, but the fact I don't really care to hear it again keeps it at a 3.

Aladdin Sane

David Bowie

4/5

The album on which Bowie took what made Ziggy Stardust great and made it rock. When it works, like on "Watch that Man," it produces some of the most infectious rock songs he ever wrote. When it doesn't, like on the Stones cover, it sounds like someone who has no business writing rock songs. But it works more often than it doesn't. The horns and piano add a ton to these songs; the horns really flesh out the opening song and the jazzy piano solo on the title track is my favorite moment on the album. It still has the grand concepts of prior albums on songs like "Drive-In Saturday" and "Time." The last three songs dip in quality a bit, but overall this is still an important part of Bowie's glam rock period. Apparently critics didn't like Bowie taking influence from American rock, but he was always a chameleon and this is just another style he took and made his own.

I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight

Richard Thompson

4/5

There's a sharp contrast here between the lush, lively folk tunes and the stark, slow ones. It's a contrast that works well; many of the lively songs have a depressing undercurrent as well, and it makes for a more interesting album than if all the songs were of the same variety. It's all very intricate and well-played, with moments where the guitar is allowed to shine as well as some where other instruments take center stage. Both vocalists and great and their interplay adds even more variety. The best songs are the most strikingly sad ones, "Has He Got a Friend For Me" and "The End of the Rainbow" especially.

Hunky Dory

David Bowie

4/5

If Aladdin Sane was Bowie building on Ziggy by turning everything up to 11, this was him carefully exploring the ideas that would become it. Of his classic albums, it's the most playful, having an almost twee sound at times. But it's also one of the sparsest, being dominated by piano and acoustic guitar with some string flourishes. This formula usually succeeds; "Life On Mars" is a top five Bowie song, "Changes" and "Quicksand" are highlights, and his Dylan and Velvet Underground impersonations near the end hint at the range he'd display later in his career.. But a few tracks, like "Kooks" and "Fill Your Heart," feel a bit too light and airy. It all comes together into a transitional album that exhibits his best qualities without the variety or excitement he'd showcase later on.

The Pleasure Principle

Gary Numan

3/5

There are some cool sounds on this album. But there aren't enough sounds. Not even cool sounds, just sounds. "Cars" is the highlight, a bold minimalist synth pop song. But "Observer" sounds so similar you expect the "Cars" chorus to start in the middle of it. Elsewhere, the synth sound from the opening track pops up fairly frequently throughout. There are probably other albums that use a consistent sound palette like this, but the fact most of these songs run their simples melodies into the ground makes it stand out a lot here. Most of the songs are good - "Conversation" stands out as one that does evolve as it goes - and the synth sounds are lovely, but by the end the similarity and simplicity of it all becomes a drag.

Clube Da Esquina

Milton Nascimento

2/5

Some of the songs here are lush or psychedelic, and those are the best songs. But they're the exception. The majority are simpler pop songs centered on the acoustic guitar. There are traces in those songs of all the genres and influences that inspired this album, but they're pretty subtle. Or, like on "Dos Cruces," they take too long to show up. If you enjoy acoustic guitar and appreciate those subtle influences, this is probably an enjoyable album. If you don't, the hour run time becomes a slog. If it wasn't obvious from my rating, that's the side I fall on. I can't help but wish there were more upbeat songs on this. There's also definitely a language barrier here, but even incredible lyrics wouldn't make it more enjoyable.

White Blood Cells

The White Stripes

4/5

This is the band's highpoint, a perfect balance of raw guitar scorchers and experiments. The rock tracks rock, whether it's because of the riffs ("Expecting") or the general rawness ("Gentleman"). "Fell in Love With a Girl" is the song every new throwback rock band have been trying and failing to write for the last 20 years. The attempts to switch things up, like the beautiful "Friends" or the upbeat "Hotel Yorba" provide a nice respite from the rock tracks. The band tried these kinds of detours on other albums but they never worked as well as they did here. The quality dips a bit by the end and I think it could have been even shorter than its brisk 40 minutes, but it's good enough to not feel feel like it overstays its welcome.

69 Love Songs

The Magnetic Fields

5/5

Some of the most beautiful songs ever written, from the danceable to the devastating. Some of the most clever and touching lyrics. Really just one of the best albums, period. Some of these songs are just transcendental, and some are just really dumb. But so is love. Stephen Merritt claims that this album isn't about love, that it's about love songs. And a lot of these songs do feel like they're mimicking love song tropes or even specific love songs. But you can't pretend to write about love songs and not know anything about love, and that leaks out in all the gorgeously relatable moments on this album. I would never claim it's too long, though it does drag in places. But even then that's crucial to the concept here - there need to be lows so you can recognize the highs. And you need 68 other love songs to help you realize that the 69th is the one that was meant for you.

...The Dandy Warhols Come Down

The Dandy Warhols

3/5

The Dandy Warhols are an American band, a fact that could be missed if you'd only heard this mix of Spiritualized and Oasis. It's a good mix; the guitar tones are interesting and there's a good balance of spacier moments and straight up rock. "Every Day is a Holiday" is a standout. The songwriting is a mixed bag though. There are too many songs like "Orange" that are slow and spacey without being interesting, and ending on 10+ minutes of instrumental noise is kind of a letdown. It's enjoyable but it doesn't use its influences in an interesting enough way to be memorable.

Who Killed...... The Zutons?

The Zutons

3/5

Classic rock filtered through the lens of turn-of-the-century indie rock. The horns on this are a real treat. This is at its strongest when it leans into its quirkiness, like the angular riffs on "Long Time Coming" and the percussion and jaw harp on "Nightmare Part II." When it hews closer to classic rock riffage and vocals like on "You Will You Won't," it's weaker. It's a fun listen, but even the more interesting moments don't quite have the hooks to fully sell this sound.

Synchronicity

The Police

3/5

The Police's final album is a tale of two sides: eclectic, rhythmic post punk on the first side and sleek, 80's pop on the second. Despite the musical prowess of their members, the second side is much better. On the first side, "Walking in Your Footsteps" has really satisfying percussion but awful lyrics, from asking a brontosaurus if we'd be dumb for using the atom bomb to the creature/future rhyme. Tracks 3 through 5 aim to push the band past their usual sound, but they either don't work or don't fit into the album. The second side however is beautifully written, with four essential Police songs. Yes it has their Big Hit, but "Wrapped Around Your Finger" is been better. Altogether it's an album that's more interesting than their previous work but which still confirms they're a singles band.

Peace Sells...But Who's Buying

Megadeth

3/5

Riffs and solos...but no songs? Ok that's a bit harsh, but there's some truth in it. The playing on this is great, but the songs can be structured in odd ways. The opener is a good example: short verse into a riff that repeats for way too long into a solo, then a riff switch at the end that makes it sound like another song has started. The title track is a good example of when a song flows well and you can sit back and head bang to it. Now, thrash isn't exactly a genre known for songwriting and the messiness is kind of the point, but this is also lacking in memorable riffs and the vocals and lyrics are bad. So I think better structured songs would make up for those deficits. As it is, the music is heavy and fast but hard to get into.

Hail To the Thief

Radiohead

4/5

One of the lesser great Radiohead albums, but still a great album. The band brings back the guitars here and mixes them in with the electronics, though it's rare that the two really get going at the same time ("Where I End and You Begin" is one song where they do). It ends up being a nice set of songs that rock while still having a lot of little details in the background. "There There" and the closer are the major highlights, but "Sit Down. Stand Up." and "Myxamatosis" are great too. It's main problem is it's length and the number of subpar songs on the tracklist, with "We Suck Young Blood" chief among them. There's an exceptional 40 minute album in here somewhere, but even as it is it's still great.

Fear Of Music

Talking Heads

4/5

In retrospect this feels like a build-up to the album that followed it, with the groovy jams and African influences on tracks like "I Zimbra" sitting next to the quirky new wave of their previous albums. Despite that, the songs here are strong enough to stand on their own. The jams - "Cities" and "Life During Wartime" - are the highlights, tracks that could be double their length and not get old. But the other highlight is "Heaven," which is much more subdued; the band's lyrics were always good, but this one shows they could carry a song. The last three songs are a bit weak ("Drugs" is ok as a closer, less good as a song), but everything before it is good enough for this to get a 4.

Bitches Brew

Miles Davis

3/5

Miles Davis pushes the limits of both jazz and listenability on this album. He breaks the former (in a good way) but not the latter. There's 90 minutes of music here, but it doesn't feel too long. There's so much going on - piano, electric guitar, horns, drums, bass - but it never feels chaotic or overstuffed. There are subdued moments, but there's always enough going on that you're not waiting for the next loud moment. It's a true jazz odyssey...I'm just not sure it goes anywhere. Having been stitched together from live sessions, it feels like a long jam that doesn't build from or to anything. It's just 6 great jazz tracks. Which can probably be said of many albums, but I think I need to rewire my brain for jazz before this goes from being an album I admire to a personal favorite.

Casanova

The Divine Comedy

3/5

There's an easy comparison to Jarvis Cocker here, both because of the vocal style and because the third track is about the middle class. But it's not quite apt - Neil Hannon's performance here feels much more like a stage show. I don't know how much of this is tongue-in-cheek, but at least 50% of it is, maybe 100%. Combine that with the lavish horns and strings, and on tracks like "A Woman of the World" you can practically see him strutting around on stage. "Middle Class Heroes" may be the highlight, it's dark but still a bit funny. Your enjoyment of this likely depends on how much you can stand the smarm. I usually can, but the spoken transitions between tracks and high brow literary references sometimes make it too much. Combine that with songs that all play with similar sounds and this just falls under a 4 for me.

With The Beatles

Beatles

2/5

If this isn't The Beatles' worst album, it's at least their most inessential. The original songs aren't much of a step forward from their debut or early singles. The best of them, "All My Loving," doesn't do much that "She Loves You" didn't already do. There are also quite a few covers, which don't do much to transform the source material. Despite all that, the album is well produced, and the first few tracks are catchy and punch. As the album goes on though it gets more and more tiring as you long for something new to happen. It's never bad, but it gets at least a little annoying. It's hard to fault the band given they were probably being asked to make more hits, but this is proof that even the most celebrated discographies aren't always free from duds. And if this is your dud, you're doing something right.

Heroes

David Bowie

4/5

Heroes follows a similar structure as it's predecessor, and my unpopular opinion has always been that this is a better album than Low. Both sides are better on this. The rock side contains some of Bowie's most sonically interesting material, with rhythmic songs that grind away and so many cool things going on at once. That includes his best song, the title track; that piercing synth that permeates the whole song and those beautiful lyrics ("cuz we're lovers, and that is that") build to an amazing climax. The second side is mostly ambient-adjacent electronic, bookended by a Kraftwerk-sounding song and a rocker to close things out. I like that ending - it makes the album sound more like a rock album with an ambient interlude and less like two albums smushed together. Overall it's not one of Bowie's very best, but the highlights are enough to push it to a 4.

Dummy

Portishead

2/5

This album never achieves the haunting atmosphere it seems to be going for, instead settling for a kind of monotonous darkness. Every track follows a similar formula: take a drum beat, add one or two elements over it, and repeat until the end. A few of the tracks add new elements (the guitar during the chorus of "Glory Box" is the most effective example), the drums sound nice, and the occasionally jazzy elements are welcome. But it's not enough for the tracks to feel like they're progressing, and this becomes more obvious the longer the album goes on. The vocals also don't help - they feel detached and uninterested, rarely communicating the emotions of the lyrics. The chorus of "Sour Times" is one of the exceptions. This was definitely meant to be a drag, but I find it to be a drag for a different reason than intended.

Screamadelica

Primal Scream

4/5

Drenched in the rave music of the early 90's, and detractors will point out (rightly) that it never reaches the heights of the best acid house. But this isn't just an acid house album. It's also heavily influenced by classic rock and gospel, which makes for a very interesting set of sounds. Heck, the first song is basically a Rolling Stones song. The second, the best one, is a 13th Floor Elevators cover that shows off the hypnotic trippiness that's present on the more low key songs. "Come Together" combines all these influences, even clearly referencing the Beatles in its title. The slower moments aren't always as interesting as the ones that are full of keys and gospel vocals, but the album is rarely truly boring. It admittedly may not work great on an actual dancefloor, but it's a unique enough mixture to be a blast in other settings.

Very

Pet Shop Boys

4/5

While maintaining the elegance of Behavior, Pet Shop Boys bring back the house beats. The result is a combination of dancey and subdued songs that give the album a lot of depth. Songs like "A Different Point of View" and "The Theatre" have so much going on, but they never sound cluttered or overdone; the vocal flourishes on the latter are some of the best moments on the album. The lyrics are great too - Pet Shop Boys were always an introspective group (no pun intended), but songs like "To Speak is a Sin" demonstrate the way they can subtlety pack a lot of emotion into a song. The highlight is probably "Young Offender," a lyrically detailed song that's also one of the catchiest on the album, though in a more restrained way. And it ends on a triumphant Village People cover that's one of the few upbeat moments on the album not backed by cleverly dark lyrics.

Be

Common

4/5

This is a perfect example of a rapper doing exactly what his beats required. Common's performance on this is not incredible. It's very good! But his lyrics are pretty standard conscious rap stuff, despite some great rhymes and a very good flow. It doesn't matter, because these beats are incredible, and Common putting on a good but not otherworldly performance on top of them lets you soak them in. The opener may be one of the best hip hop beats ever, and that's just the intro! The entire thing is incredibly smooth, with hooks and earworms everywhere. It's also a very joyful album, for the most part, both because of the lyrics and the lush beats. And the incredibly optimistic and heartwarming closer ties a nice bow on it at the end.

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols

3/5

Bratty, snotty, and (intentionally) annoying. Beyond that style though, there's very little substance. Musically it's the same chords bashed out again and again; it takes until "Submission" and "Pretty Vacant" for interesting chord progressions to appear. This might work if the lyrics had a purpose behind them, but they're only vaguely political and more often confrontational just for the sake of it. The antichrist / anarchist flip is really clever and the most effectively rebellious moment, but very little else comes close to it. Elsewhere things are more tiring than exhilarating - by the 10th time Lydon has snarled "problems" you just want him to shut up. In a way this rocks, with the overwhelming vocals and simple loud songs. For the same reasons, it's hard to get through all twelve songs in a row.

My Aim Is True

Elvis Costello

3/5

This is a cool mix of power pop and 50s rock, it feels like it could be playing at a diner in an old movie despite obviously sounding more modern than that. Costello's voice really sells the songs and his cutting lyrics. I've never quite understood Costello's reputation as a lyricist though. As far as I can tell, he's just really sarcastic and make a lot of sexual innuendos on this one. There are some great lines ("there's no such thing as an original sin"), but it wears thin by the end, especially on "Mystery Dance." It wouldn't matter as much if there was more musical variety, but as much as I like the style the actual songs are fairly straightforward. And a lot are pretty similar; "Sneaky Feelings" and "Pay it Back" are almost identical. Some songs sound a bit different, in a good way ("Alison") or a bad way ("I'm Not Angry"). A fun enough listen, but in the end there aren't enough surprises.

Done By The Forces Of Nature

Jungle Brothers

3/5

Smooth, lush beats that sound ahead of their time, with elements of funk, jazz, and house. The album just slides from one song to the next. The rapping is more obviously from the 80's. The rhymes are good, but pretty much every song has the same flow. That, combined with the similar beats, means the album kind of stays in the same lane for an hour without a whole lot of memorable songs. The one with De La Soul, Tribe, and Queen Latifah is quite good, and the Afrocentric lyrics on a few other tracks show this is a smart, fun album. But because it's so laid back it can be hard to engage with it. Good for a few songs, less good as a 60 minute album.

Billion Dollar Babies

Alice Cooper

2/5

Alice Cooper straddles the line here between a hard rock album and a campy theatrical album. Musically, it works better as the latter. The songs mostly settle in the medium-hard range, with some good guitar solos but a dearth of interesting riffs and soaring choruses. The most over-the-top tracks, like the closer, are more effectively sold. But therein lies the biggest weakness of this album. It seems to strive for a goofy horror vibe, but it's surprisingly tame in most places. There are songs about such shocking things as...performing on stage, running for president, and not helping ladies across the street anymore. And then the closer pushes things way too far in the other direction; it's definitely gross, but not in a funny way. Maybe when this was released it was more shocking, but listening to it now, most of the things it tries don't quite work.

People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

A Tribe Called Quest

3/5

The Tribe's emerged nearly fully formed on their debut. Q-Tip's lyrics are smart and focus on the positives. His storytelling can be a bit awkward - see "I ordered enchiladas, and I ate em" - and his flow doesnt vary much, but his performance is still very good. The beats are tinged with jazz and hit well on a track by track basis, but there aren't enough surprises for the hour of music to not drag a bit. Despite that there are some classic tracks, with "Can I Kick It?" and "Ham n Eggs" chief among them. That latter track shows the biggest thing the album is missing: Phife Dawg. "Ham n Eggs" is a playoff back and forth between Phife and Tip that shows the way they can play off of each other. Outside of that song, Phife has only 3 verses on this. More variety, from beats, flows, or rappers, would elevate this, but there are enough great tracks to make it worth a listen.

Dirt

Alice In Chains

5/5

Maybe the heaviest album from the Seattle grunge scene, if you can even call this grunge. A song like "Dam That River" just crushes you with its riffs, while the slower songs feel like wading through waist deep mud. The lyrics are intense, with stark descriptions of depression and drug use. The imagery on the title track has to be some of the most shocking on a mainstream rock album. Despite all this its biggest strength is that it's actually quite accessible. As uncompromising as they are, these songs are still catchy, from the melodies of "Down in a Hole" to the hooks of "Would?" Layne Staley's voice is a pleasure to listen to and it really sells moments like the soaring chorus of "Rain When I Die." The heaviness of the album is impossible to miss, but it's still always a pleasure, not a drag, to listen to.

Fulfillingness' First Finale

Stevie Wonder

3/5

Even if this wasn't released between two masterpieces, I think it would still be a bit overlooked. It seems to be aiming to perfect a single sound rather than tackling a bunch of them. It's a very smooth, soulful record, with no bad songs but certainly some anonymous ones. Tracks one and three are a little sleepy despite having great vocals. "Boogie on Reggae Woman" brings a funky groove to show the infectiousness that Wonder is capable of, but even it feels a little restrained, burrowing into your ears instead of bowling you over. "You Haven't Done Nothin" brings in the horns and it's like wow, where have those been this whole time? The whole album seems to alternate between smooth and funky songs, and I'm left wishing there were more of the latter. A good album, but a rare one from Wonder that sounds like something another soul singer could have made.

Songs For Swingin' Lovers!

Frank Sinatra

3/5

It's hard to find anything to complain about for any one song on this album. Sinatra's voice is of course very good, and the perfect fit for these swinging songs. He's loose and able to make the songs feel effortless and airy. The music is jazzy and light. The lyrics are quite good, with the opening lines of tracks 4 and 5 especially standing out. A couple tracks near the end feel a bit quaint 70 years later, but the music otherwise doesn't sound dated outside of inspiring a subconscious association with old movies. So the songs are good, but as an album? A little variety would certainly help, as by the end it feels like you've already heard these songs before. This would be great to listen to in an elegant ballroom at a party. But just sitting down to listen to on its own? It doesn't work quite as well.

Back In Black

AC/DC

2/5

These songs rock non-stop, but like even the band's fans will acknowledge, AC/DC really only has one song. It's a good song, but it makes the non-stop rocking a bit much. The album starts well with "Hell's Bells," which is the best song on the album because of its guitar riff. The songs that have longer riffs like it are the best ones, while the ones with shorter, choppier guitar riffs don't flow very well. "Let Me Put My Love Into You" tries to imitate "Hell's Bells" and ends up sounding too much like it. Maybe every song but the title track uses the title as the chorus, and this only works well on a few, like "Shoot to Thrill." I don't mind the vocals (they fit the songs well!), but the lyrics are undoubtedly obnoxious. All in all, while I can't deny that the album rocks, there's only so much of it that I want to listen to at a time.

James Brown Live At The Apollo

James Brown

2/5

Listening to this, you can tell what a great performer James Brown was. His energy, charisma, and voice are all off the charts. His band is great too. Somehow though, this album still falls flat, and it's because of the songs. The beginning of the album is full of what feels like snippets of songs, with each one ending before Brown can really get to work on them. Then comes "Lost Someone," which Brown sings the hell out of, but which drags on much too slowly. The medley that follows it is the best part of the album, the energy really comes through on that one. By that point though it just can't save the album. This was probably a great show, but in recorded form it ends up sounding surprisingly thin and slight.

Ace of Spades

Motörhead

3/5

The best word to describe Motörhead is "pummeling." Their songs flow from verse to chorus to guitar solo with no breaks in between, just heavy riffs into shredding and then back. The one-line chorus of "We Are the Road Crew" stands out because it's maybe the only time the band stops to catch their breath. Is there a ton of variety here? No. Does it matter? Only a bit. Sometimes I'm looking for music that satisfies the monkey part of my brain, and unrelenting riffs and lyrics about being a badass work perfectly for that. Still, I wouldn't say that this album does anything that's truly amazing - outside of the title track none of these riffs really stick with me - and while it was heavy for its time it's been out-pummeled since. This is on the edge of a 3 and a 4 but that plus some of the lyrics bump this to a 3.

Crime Of The Century

Supertramp

2/5

A mixture of prog and pop that would work better if it wasn't so stuck to certain definitions of both of those genres. Its idea of prog is long songs that jump between ideas, and its idea of pop is big choruses. These make for strange bedfellows; most of these songs start out as quiet and piano-driven before bursting abruptly into the choruses. The slow parts are uninspired and forgettable. The choruses are the best thing about the album: the horns on "Hide In Your Shell," the groove on "Rudy," the climax on the title track. Given the overwrought lyrics and unnecessary prog passages it feels like this was trying to be more than it needed to be - it could have just been a good pop album. As it is, the pop parts are the only thing saving it from getting a 1. (Granted, "Dreamer" is the one song that sticks to just being pop, and it's the most obnoxious, so maybe that's not true.)

The Hour Of Bewilderbeast

Badly Drawn Boy

3/5

An album that doesn't seem to want to sit still, always moving onto new sounds and ideas. An indie folk base is layered with horns, strings, banjos, and more, creating something that feels extravagant but yet still ramshackle. As interesting as the sounds are, that unpredictable nature takes a toll on the songwriting, which lacks engaging moments. A song like "Once Around the Block" attempts to have two melodies at once and kind of ends up having none. "Cause a Rockslide" seems to have what other songs are missing with its galloping rhythm, but the way the song falls apart (maybe as it turns into a rock slide?) makes you wish it had gone on a bit longer. If the vocals were better or the lyrics more interesting they could maybe make up for these things, but as it is this gets a 4 for ideas but a 3 for execution.

All That You Can't Leave Behind

U2

1/5

All of this album's singles are jammed right at the start, giving you the impression that the album is going to be fine. It doesn't sound like the band is trying anything new, sure, but maybe it will still be a pleasant listen. But "uninspired" quickly turns into "bland," which highlights the album's negatives. Like how Bono sounds too earnest and strained on the weirdly soul "In a Little While." Or the clumsy lyrics, from Bono defining grace to rhyming "mole in a hole" (to give one example of a distractingly obvious rhyme among many). By the time we get to "Peace on Earth" things sound like a parody of the band. There are some good melodies here - "Walk On" has my favorite - but as a whole it's painfully one-note.

Can't Buy A Thrill

Steely Dan

4/5

Of the Steely Dan albums I've heard, their debut is the best because it best combines their meticulous songwriting and arrangements with pop hooks. The band gets associated a lot with dads and yachts, but that's mostly for their later albums. These songs are tighter, and feel more similar to an earlier, more laid back version of The Cars. The choruses on "Midnite Cruiser" and "Reelin' in the Years" are huge, some of the best pop hooks of the 70s. Even the more subtle songs like "Brooklyn" have hooks that worm into your brain. At the same time, the music is layered and jazzy, with a lot of small details to get lost in. "Do It Again" is a great example of this with its shuffling rhythm and guitar solo. The Dan may have gotten a bit more ambitious after this one, but if you're looking for slightly out-of-the-ordinary pop rock it's hard to beat this.

Psychocandy

The Jesus And Mary Chain

4/5

A huge influence on both noise pop and shoegaze, and still better than most albums in those genres. The most immediately striking thing about the album is the noise slathered across its tracks, which can both give the songs an edge and wrap the listener in a fuzzy blanket on tracks like the standout "Just Like Honey." But what really makes this work is its pop sensibility. Without the noise these songs could almost be pop songs from the 60s - "Never Understand" sounds almost like early Beach Boys! And "Cut Dead" shows the melodies are lovely and work even without the noise. There's not a lot of variety in sound or songwriting here, but I think it works to the album's benefit. I'm not a big fan of less structured shoegaze, and the short rhythmic songs keep this from meandering. And it's short enough that it's over before the formula wears thin.

Purple Rain

Prince

4/5

A showcase for a bunch of forms of pop music: dance, funk, rock, you name it. I do feel there's only one truly amazing track on this, and that's "When Doves Cry." It's groove is the most infectious thing on the album and Prince's swagger really sells it. The title track is a great album closer, but only a very good song; it's a bit too slow and dramatic for me to want to listen to it on its own. Otherwise the album is made up of good songs, but the variety helps to make sure it never drags. Prince was a great showman and this really does feel like him trying every form of 80's pop music and succeeding at them.

São Paulo Confessions

Suba

3/5

The bossa nova and samba influences on this are so striking that you'd never guess Suba wasn't Brazilian. A few of the tracks sound like bossa nova with electronic beats underneath, while others have a nocturnal downtempo feel with samba drums. The percussion is the most interesting thing about this, with tracks like "Antropofagos" and "Pecados de Madrugada" in particular having interesting beats. Unfortunately, both tracks are also a bit flat outside of the percussion. And that's the album's biggest weakness: when the tracks have less going on, it kind of fades into the background. "Abraco" shows that when there's a lot going on - horn stabs, rapping, singing - it can be really engaging. And the closer shows that a more minimal song that slowly evolves can be exciting. But too often the songs get stuck in rhythms that, while pleasant, don't justify their runtimes.

Dusty In Memphis

Dusty Springfield

3/5

A lot of very good elements come together on this album to make a final product that is merely good. Dusty is a great vocalist, but outside of "Preacher Man" and "Don't Forget About Me" she rarely reaches the passion of the soul this album was inspired by. In many places her singing is so subdued that the arrangements take center stage. Those arrangements are lush, almost bordering on baroque pop in places. But that's mostly in the hooks. Outside of those swelling hooks, the songs largely sound the same and are less interesting. It all adds up to sound like an album very focused on producing a certain sound but lacking in emotion; the fact that these are all covers also adds to the feeling that Dusty is a performer here, not someone feeling the weight of the songs. It's enjoyable to listen to, but not very rewarding.

Arc Of A Diver

Steve Winwood

3/5

Due to the synth and drum sounds, this is reminiscent of a bunch of other 80s pop rock. But then you realize this was released in 1980. That's years before Synchronicity, "Forever Young," or So, just to compare it with some similar "artsy" 80s pop. This doesn't make it better necessarily, but supports what you can guess from the music: this isn't just a trend-hopping "rock musician goes pop" album. Most everything here is subtly groovy and smooth, nothing is overblown or clumsy. The best tracks are the groovy ones, especially the first three and "Night Train" (shame about the lyrics on "Second-Hans Woman" though). The slower moments like "Slowdown Sundown" work much less well, though the closer's smooth hooks end the album on a high, though sad, note. This is really close to a 4 and might get there if it had just a bit more of a groove in its duller moments.

Exile In Guyville

Liz Phair

4/5

Brash, unapologetic, and sometimes still genuinely shocking more than three decades later. Phair's deadpan vocals suit these lackadaisical songs perfectly, sometimes coming off as sarcastic, sometimes indifferent, and oftentimes both. Similarly the lyrics range from obviously confrontational to subtly angry. These topics have been explored in indie rock since, but in 1993 the genre was even more of a boy's club than it is now, making the album feel all that more impressive. And that indie rock - mostly of the slacker variety - is the heart of this album, but there's a lot of experimentation within the genre here too. That makes the pure rockers - "6' 1", "Fuck and Run," "Divorce Song" - hit even harder. But of course the experimental songs are important too; this album wouldn't be the same without "Flower."

Deja Vu

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

2/5

Despite the names involved, this comes off as a pretty unremarkable folk rock record. It doesn't do anything all that new musically, so you'd hope for the songwriting to be top notch. But the songwriting isn't all that special either. The group members' harmonies are pleasant, but they're not present on every track. Outside of "Helpless," which sounds like a classic if by-the-numbers Neil Young song, the slower songs aren't that moving. The more rocking guitar moments are fun, but those moments mostly just act as accents for songs; the one song that does get into a guitar groove is a Joni Mitchell cover. Other songs like "Almost Cut My Hair" just sound clumsy, lyrically and musically. While this was probably a big event album at the time and signaled some kind of turning point in rock music, it hasn't held up as noteworthy all these years later.

Myths Of The Near Future

Klaxons

2/5

This got lumped in with the dance punk revival wave in the 2000s, but it lacks the immediacy of the best acts from that era. There's no obviously danceable "Take Me Out" or "House of Jealous Lovers" here. In a way it's closer to art rock, with creative drum beats buried under piano and guitar. Everything besides the drums are fairly uninteresting though, outside of some angular riffs near the end. It seems to want to make up for this with quirkiness, but everything that tries to be quirky - the lyrics, sudden rhythm changes - grates instead of excites. "Gravity's Rainbow" is both the most immediately satisfying track but also one of the most normal. There's probably a lot of fun to be had with this if you think the zaniness is done well, but I just can't get there.

Illinois

Sufjan Stevens

5/5

So many things about this album are over the top: it's full of strings and horns, there are songs with titles that take longer to scroll across your phone than for the song to play, it basically has three opening tracks, and it's crammed with instrumental interludes. But it's also such a touching, human album. It dwells on evil and wonders how much of it lives inside of all of us ("John Wayne Gacy Jr"), celebrates the joy and fear that come with independence ("Chicago"), and mourns the moments we weren't able to be ourselves ("Predatory Wasp"). And in its most heartbreaking moment it strips the flourishes away and tells a story of loss that doubles as a question about what faith is. It's this deep, nuanced exploration of life that makes the grand instrumentation shine instead of overwhelm and the amount of material feel like a gift with so many sounds to explore.

Vincebus Eruptum

Blue Cheer

2/5

Oh how I wish I could go back and listen to this when it came out with no knowledge of what was to come. I wonder how heavy it would sound then. Now it doesn't really sound like much of a step up from Hendrix or the Electric Prunes. It's still plenty blistering though, just not enough to cover for the songwriting. The jammy moments and solos of "Doctor Please" rock, blasting the drums and chords into your brain. But the verses are clumsy. "Summertime Blues" and "Parchment Farm" sound similarly awkward with their transitions from verses to noise. In general the original songs - written to sound like this - work better than the covers. In its best moments this sounds like it could still rip your face off, but those moments don't last long, and what's left instead ranges from boring to ugly.

Blunderbuss

Jack White

2/5

Jack White takes a tour through 70s rock on his first solo album. It gives mixed results, but it gets off to a roaring start. The piano on the second half of the opener rocks and rolls, while the next two tracks absolutely rip. "Sixteen Saltines" is the closest thing here to his White Stripes material, and perhaps selfishly I think it's the best track; it's at least the most exciting. After that it's hard to find a rocking moment here as he focuses more on piano and folk rock. This didn't need to be all rippers to succeed, but if it was going to focus on more subdued songs I think the songwriting needs to be top notch, and it's not. "Blunderbuss" is such an odd title for the title track given how limp it is. By the end there's not much new or exciting left. White is a good songwriter and I appreciate him providing all this variety, but it's not a cohesive album and most of the songs leave you wanting.

The Modern Lovers

4/5

There's not one single thing that makes this album great. The repetitive chords give it tons of energy as the songs chug along. The lyrics are largely weird and zany, with weird concepts or choruses on songs like "Pablo Picasso" and "Girlfriend." And for an early not-quite-punk album there's some nice variety with upbeat songs and slow ones. But one thing that really elevates all of that is the organ / keyboard from Jerry Harrison. It makes these song sound really full and dynamic, contrasting them with some of the other proto punk from this era. And that era is really the early 70s, given when these songs were recorded. How innovate an album is doesn't usually impact my rating, but I was more impressed when I realized this predated New York Dolls, Patti Smith, et al. There's an easy comparison with the Velvet Underground here, but the Velvets rarely sounded this fun or carefree.

Back At The Chicken Shack

Jimmy Smith

2/5

Soulful jazz elevated by Smith's organ playing. Without that organ it would be difficult to distinguish this from similar jazz, and while it's rarely all that impressive it at least gives the songs some nice swing. Still, the highlight of the first track is when the sax comes in and you think what had been a bit stagnant will become more dynamic. But things don't really change - it's the same song, but with a sax. The rest of the songs don't change that formula too much. While this is a pleasant listen it's not engaging, and hard to recommend to anyone who's not a big fan of jazz unless they're looking for an album to soundtrack a casual dinner party.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

3/5

My most controversial music opinion may be that I think the title track here is a Bad Song. The lyrics are good, but it's so slow and sleepy and the ending climax feels overdone and unearned. Luckily the album picks up after that, turning into what is probably the duo's most diverse album. After the opener come the lovely "El condor pasa" and the hand clapping "Cecilia" - only three songs in and we have three distinctly different tunes. There's some pretty standard folk pop from the duo after that, but a few more left turns as well. It's pleasant, but that's as far as I'll go. The band has trouble nailing a middle ground between the too-quiet songs like "Frank Lloyd Right" and the too-loud ones like "Keep the Customer Satisfied." The best of both worlds is "The Boxer," which is good but not amazing. A pleasant pop album for sure, but not one that's hit after hit.

Only By The Night

Kings of Leon

1/5

The big riffs and solos on this dress it up as a rock album, but strip away those elements and it would probably sound a lot more like Imagine Dragons than you'd think. The pop elements - shimmering guitars on "Be Somebody," a big pulsing back beat on "Crawl" - are just as big. Almost everything about this album is big though; it's clear it's trying to be an album of anthems and meaningful songs. It sometimes succeeds, like on "Sex on Fire," which gets into a good groove and has a chorus that feels triumphant. But elsewhere, like on "Use Somebody," it feels overwrought, like it's trying too hard. The vocals are dramatic and cloying, sometimes strained. It works at times as a pop rock album, but it usually doesn't have the songs or ideas to back up the feelings it's trying for.

Under Construction

Missy Elliott

3/5

Missy puts in a great performance here. Her lyrics are funny, smart, and have a good balance of shit talking and meaningful moments. The spoken passages can get a bit long, but all the talk about wanting to make an old school rap album that stands up for women and the original spirit of hip hop is backed up by the fact that she did just that. Timblaland's beats are good but maybe a little sparse in places. "Work It" is of course a classic it how it manages to be both very weird and inviting. I wish there was more of that overt weirdness here because outside of some ear catching lyrics it doesn't have much else that makes it unique. And the sparser beats means there are no songs on the level of "Work It," though a few are very close (the tracks with Jay-Z and Ms Jade perhaps come closest). Definitely worth a listen though not quite a classic despite how great Missy is here.

Toys In The Attic

Aerosmith

1/5

Most of the big bands from classic rock's golden era have something that makes them unique, but I struggle to find what that is for Aerosmith, if it exists. "Adam's Apple" has some cool backing horns, but most of the songs follow the standard rock formula and are indistinguishable from most songs on rock raido. The guitar solos are good, the best part of the album; they're enough to trick you into thinking a song is decent. There are some good guitar licks, but no memorable riffs and almost no memorable choruses. Steven Tyler's voice is raspy and a bit grating, and the lyrics rely enough on innuendo for it to get old. And of course there's a sappy overdramatic ballad at the end. There is good rock from this era but this album is proof there's also stuff that's not worth remembering.

Chirping Crickets

Buddy Holly & The Crickets

2/5

Time has not been kind to this album. Its melodies, hooks, and pop sensibilities are still obvious today, but if it ever sounded like it rocked that has all been lost. This kind of thing happens to most genres, but compare this to Chuck Berry. His songs, with their big guitar riffs, are easy to trace to what we think of as rock now. With this, the lineage is foggier. Still, it's a fun listen, and while it sounds quaint musically the themes still resonate today. "Not Fade Away" has a good rhythm and "That'll Be the Day" swings. There's a bit of doo wop on this too, which also makes it feel closer to pop. Which is probably the way to appreciate it, but there's not quite enough variety for it to feel essential as a pop album either.

Rumours

Fleetwood Mac

4/5

Pretty much a perfect example of pop rock, emphasizing both the pop and the rock. The guitar on this is fantastic. It makes the rockers rock but is at its best on the acoustic "Never Going Back Again." On the flipside, "Dreams" is a great slinky pop song with that dreamy guitar in the background, while songs like "Don't Stop" expertly mix the rock and pop. Of course the thing that's talked about most with this is the division in the band and how it's great despite that, but it's also great because of that. The absolute spite on the opener is hidden a bit by how danceable it is, but it's not truly lost. Those feelings also give my favorite track, "Go Your Own Way," its edge. This does fall off a bit in the back half of the second side, which keeps it from getting a 5, but it's never less than enjoyable.

Moondance

Van Morrison

3/5

Impeccably played jazzy folk, but it lacks soul. Musically this album sounds meticulous, with horns and pianos coming in at just the right places. It's almost so perfect as to feel stuffy. The title track has a jazzy interlude that's a joy to listen to, but it's the only moment on the album where it unbuttons and lets loose. Some of the tracks have moments that make them stand out - the "Radio!" bit on Caravan and the la-la-las on the closer - but even those moments feel restrained. Van's a great singer but he rarely puts a lot of emotion behind his voice. It's kind of odd that this came after the free flowing Astral Weeks, as it feels like a trial run for that album's adventurousness. "Into the Mystic" is a good example of a song that could use the Astral Weeks treatment; it has a good melody but feels too short and straightforward to make use of it.

Here's Little Richard

Little Richard

4/5

A lot of 50s rock albums have lost their punch over the years, but this is not one of them. The furious piano, burly brass, and especially Richard's piercing voice still hit today. He's obviously the star of the show, yelling and hooting and bringing tons of energy to these songs. I haven't heard anything like that on a record this old, and it clearly paved the way for more vocally emotive genres like soul. The best songs here are the ragers, but the slower songs provide a nice contrast to them. On that topic, this is still a 50s rock album, so the variety is limited. There are at least three songs that follow the same formula as "Tutti Frutti," and many of the others can be grouped by style as well. Still, the short length and piano / horn interludes keep things flowing and make sure the album never gets boring.

Manassas

Stephen Stills

3/5

A tour through blues, country, and traditional folk through the lens of 70s rock. I get the sense that this was meant to be a polished album that shows off a lot of styles. The instruments sound great, the drums and guitar solos really pop. While it sounds nice, I'm not sure it had the ideas to fill a double album, as most of the songs are pretty safe. "Move Around" is one exception, it has a psychedelic, almost synthy sound that gets into a nice groove. But the rest of the jams are just plain ol' rock jams, inviting but not original. Another issue is that I'm not sold on Stills as a singer here. His voice sounds a bit weak and strained on the louder songs, and he leans much too heavily on rock tropes in his lyrics (so many songs mention "rock n roll"). This is never boring and doesn't feel its length, but there's also not much that's exciting enough to bring you back.

Antichrist Superstar

Marilyn Manson

2/5

If you like heavy music with dissonant guitar, you'll probably like this album. But if you're less enraptured by it, or are more picky about it, you'll likely find it to be a slog. This is 70 minutes of industrial chug, and while there are a few atmospheric tracks it mainly just comes at you with a bunch of rock songs. And there's so much happening in those songs. I like dissonant, industrial sounds when the music really focuses on them and you can appreciate their tones. But the amount of layers on these songs makes them sound muddy, and they start to bleed together. Some songs like "Wormboy" have a guitar that's really clear, but those are the exception. I do think the themes on this album are interesting, and maybe even more relevant today, but the lyrics are vague enough that it often just comes off as generally angry without anything too insightful to say.

Live At The Regal

B.B. King

3/5

B.B. King is an expert showman during this performance. I like how the songs flow into one another as King introduces the next song. The crowd is going wild and he seems to feed on that. His band is great, but I find myself a bit disappointed with the makeup of the songs. The lead instruments in most spots are the piano and horns, and while they sound great it leaves little room for King's guitar. The guitar interludes are some of the highlights; the other moments sound more like big band or jazz than the blues. It has the pain of blues, and the vocals are great, but it almost feels too big for those emotions to connect.

Exile On Main Street

The Rolling Stones

4/5

There are arguments that this album is both more and less than the sum of its parts. On the one hand, it has none of the band's biggest hits, but it's still one of their best albums. On the other hand, while it has a lot of great songs, it still feels overlong and disjointed. The best songs find the Stones in dirty blues rock mode, which is my favorite sound of theirs. "Rocks Off," "Happy," and "Tumbling Dice" are absolute bangers. Any time the horns come in is a treat. While the blues and gospel tinges add a lot of depth, the songs that lean heavily into those sounds find the band out of their depth. Around "I Just Want to See His Face" is where the album starts to drag. This could have been pared back into a tighter album, which keeps it from being their best, but the variety and excellent songs sprinkled throughout make it worth the longer listen.

The Sun Rises In The East

Jeru The Damaja

3/5

Very good hip hop album with beats that are ahead of its time. Jeru references Wu Tang and Illmatic on this album and it very nearly reaches the level of those albums. Jeru's lyrics are smart and generally positive - he can border on preachy but that's really hard not to do in conscious hip hop. Tracks like "Mental Stamina" show off his vocabulary and "Ain't the Devil Happy" hits hard. That said, the majority of his topics aren't that unique and his flow isn't as smooth as the best rappers of his era; t's unfair to hold him to that standard but when you're referencing Illmatic the listener's going to notice. The beats here are also a bit too minimal for my tastes. The piano and horns hit hard but I wish there was a bit more going on. An album that doesn't quite match up to its contemporaries but which still shouldn't be forgotten.

m b v

My Bloody Valentine

4/5

After a 22 year wait, My Bloody Valentine returned with an album that picked up where Loveless left off. Fans may have expected something fresher after such a long wait, but for me it's forgiveable given that nothing sounds quite like Loveless and having more of that in the world is a gift. And besides, "Only Tomorrow" stands along their best songs. Also, after the first three tracks the album starts to veer in a new direction. The middle is lighter and dreamier, and while "Is This And Yes" is a bit too minimal the next couple tracks are enchanting. The ending is completely new, going in an almost drum and bass direction. It hinted at a new sound, and it's a shame we may never hear what that would have been. A pleasant album for fans of the band that is mostly comfort food but which has enough surprises to be interesting.

So

Peter Gabriel

3/5

This album floats between two worlds. One is a sleek, sophisticated take on 80s synthesizer pop. The best songs - "Red Rain" and "In Your Eyes" are in that mode. These songs are also weirdly empty though. The synthesizers are smooth, without intricate accents or percussion. This is most apparent on the pretty but overlong "Don't Give Up." The other world is big 80s pop, like on "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time." Weirdly, those songs feel less hooky than their more subdued albummates. Maybe they sound too big next to the more subtle tracks? This is an interesting one because it presents the sounds of the 80s next to what the 80s could sound like with more sophistication. It's nice, but both sounds are lacking in their own way. Which is a shame - an album that's all as good as the chorus of "Red Rain" would be incredible.

Africa Brasil

Jorge Ben Jor

4/5

Just a 40 minute party. No ballads or slow songs needed here, just a bunch of jams. This has a real tropical feel to it, at least in part because of that chirping cuíca drum that's on most of the tracks. Yet it also feels familiar to an American listener with its electric guitar and funkiness. I think it does a good job of integrating non-Brazilian sounds without losing the samba rhythms and other traditional Brazilian music at its core. "Taj Mahal" is the clear standout, though many of the tracks do blur together a bit. This limits my enjoyment a bit but not enough to give this a solid 4.

The Wall

Pink Floyd

3/5

I think this concept of feeling discouraged and beaten down by the world and wanting to retreat had potential. "Mother" is lyrically the highlight as it approaches that idea in a very relatable and nuanced way. But Pink Floyd had to go and make this album literal: this dude has actually built a wall for isolation. It makes it all feel a bit silly; but the time we reach "The Trial" it's as goofy as it is meaningful. Musically the album is focused on Gilmour's recognizable guitar, which is great to listen to but which provides diminishing returns as the album goes on. More left turns like "Run Like Hell" would benefit it. And of course the album is long - some of the shorter interludes are nice but many add very little and could have been trimmed. To enjoy this you have to really believe in how grand the presentation is, and I can't quite get there.

A Night At The Opera

Queen

3/5

A mix of hard rock and music hall that ends up as over-the-top as that implies. When it works, you get one of the best rock songs ever in "Bohemian Rhapsody." Musically, only the part-doom metal, part-a capella "The Prophet's Song" comes close to matching the creativity there. But another key is that it has a good mix of serious and silly. Too many songs here lean too far in one of those directions and end up sounding like novelty tracks or sappy ballads. The guitar work is good, but often these goofy solos pop up and ruin the flow of the song. "I'm in Love With My Car" is much-maligned but really isn't any sillier than the other songs here, it's just more straightforward. It's hard for me to hate this because Mercury is an incredible vocalist and the playing is impressive. But I do wish there was more of the quality of "Bohemian Rhapsody," which is obviously easier said than done.

Innervisions

Stevie Wonder

4/5

While not as sprawling or diverse as Stevie's masterpiece, Innervisions is still a great album in its own right. "Higher Ground" is the hit and the funkiest song, but the more jammy funk tracks like "Living for the City" are better. That one in particular shows how Stevie could weave social commentary into his songs and keep them hard hitting and danceable while not losing the message. I'll never be as big of a fan of his smoother soul songs, like "All in Love is Fair," but there's only a few of them here, and the album closes on a strong run; "Don't You Worry About a Thing" is just pure joy. No one blended funk, soul, and rock quite like Stevie, and though this isn't his most adventurous album it's a more condensed, jam-packed display of this vocal and musical talents.

Dr. Octagonecologyst

Dr. Octagon

4/5

Oh shit there's a horse in the hospital! Having already pushed hip hop boundaries in Ultramagnetic MCs, Kool Keith created something even more futuristic here. His flow is wild, refusing to stay on the beat, spinning ridiculous body horror tales and throwing out words that only barely relate to each other. While this was bettered by later alternative hip hop artists with tighter flows and smarter lyrics (and who weren't just making poo poo jokes half the time), there's still a joy in listening to this untamed craziness. The beats have also not aged a day. Spacy and surreal, they add to the disorienting atmosphere while the excellent scratching gives the album a firm hip hop foundation. Uneven and silly because of the chances it takes, but still a blast.

Bert Jansch

3/5

Sparse acoustic folk, just a finger-picked guitar and Jansch's voice. It sticks closely to folk traditions, alternating between instrumental and vocal songs. Jansch's playing is lovely, and his lyrics are great, especially on "Needle of Death" and the protest songs. But his adherence to folk traditions means the songs all play out about how you'd expect, with few surprises. Your interest in this one then likely depends on how much you like the acoustic guitar or can appreciate the intricacies of his playing. I'm neutral on the former and have no experience playing so I can't evaluate the latter, so for me this is just a pleasant album that passes by me without leaving much of a mark.

British Steel

Judas Priest

3/5

A fist-pumping, heavy-riffing metal album...for the first four songs at least. Those four songs have everything you could want from an 80s metal album: catchy choruses, frantic drumming, and ripping solos. Then we hit "United," which leans way too far into a commercial metal sound. The sing-a-long chorus is incredibly limp, especially next to the other songs here. Elements of that sound are present in the choruses of other tracks too, though the other tracks usually have a solo or riff that rocks to make up for it. Overall this is an exhilarating listen - it falls short of the band's best albums, but it's a quick enough listen to not wear out its welcome.

Low

David Bowie

3/5

Low follows a similar structure as its successor, and my unpopular opinion has always been that this is a worse album than Heroes. Both sides are worse on this. The rock side is full of interesting sounds and perfectly produced bass and percussion. Despite how nice it sounds though, the songs feel underdeveloped, with few memorable melodies or choruses. "Sound and Vision" is the exception, it slowly builds into the best song on the album. The second side is ambient-adjacent electronic. Even if I was a fan of ambient I'm not sure I'd want to listen to it after the rock side; "A New Career in a New Town" acts as a decent transition but the two sides feel a bit like two albums smushed together. Maybe Bowie's best sounding album, but not among his best overall.

Jazz Samba

Stan Getz

2/5

Playful saxophone, strummy guitar, and layered percussion. The most interesting part of the album is the saxophone, as it provides most of the memorable melodies. It's nice to listen to, but not amazing. The percussion is the most Brazilian part of the album, and while I like the layers it's not too discernibly different between the tracks. The guitar has the same problem. Like a lot of softer jazz albums this would provide a nice backdrop for laid back activities, but active listening is less enjoyable for a non-jazz fan. Still, this is a pleasant listen, and easier to follow than more traditional jazz albums.

The Colour Of Spring

Talk Talk

4/5

Before arguably pioneering post rock on their next album, Talk Talk took the same attention to textures and atmosphere and applied it in a pop context here. The result is one of the most stately and meticulous pop albums I've heard, and an album that still manages to be catchy and exciting despite that. These songs take their time to unfold, luxuriating in the carefully layered percussion and guitars. When they hit their groove, with a wide range of instruments - piano, harmonica, cow bells - in the mix, they feel like a tasteful version of 80s pop excess. Despite everything going on, it always feels lively and never feels overengineered. The vocals drip with yearning and passion. Maybe not as immediate as a lot of 80s pop, but definitely more rewarding when you get lost in it.

Lust For Life

Iggy Pop

3/5

Recorded with Bowie around the same time as Heroes, many of these songs have the same almost mechanical guitar tones as that album. The first four tracks take these sounds in a garage rock direction, but the energy is too low for anything outside of the drums on the title track to sound all that exciting. On the fifth track the album moves to a more post punk sound, and it produces the album's two best songs in "Tonight" and "Neighborhood Threat." The former sounds like a Bowie song, to the point you wish he was on lead vocals instead of backing. "Turn Blue" apes Lou Reed instead, and its spoken word rambling makes it the album's worst song. Most of the album's lyrics were written at the last minute, and this is often apparent. Caught between punk and pop, this is a nice album with weak enough writing that it pales in comparison to both Heroes and the Stooges.

Frank

Amy Winehouse

2/5

Winehouse's undeniably great vocals make it so that even the weaker songs here have something that's worth listening to. Musically the album sits somewhere between traditional jazz / pop and neo-soul, kind of moving from the former to the latter as it goes on. It also gets stronger as it goes, feeling freer and less restrained by traditional pop conventions, though it never quite carves out its own sound. Winehouse's lyrics revel in being a mess, focusing on relationship drama and never caring about what others think of her. This attitude is mostly a positive, but it does sometimes cross the line into tiring, like when she calls her boyfriend gay or throws out some slutshaming straight out of a 90s hip hop album on "Fuck Me Pumps." This is worth a listen if you're a big fan of vocal prowess, but outside of that it's just another soul album.

Imagine

John Lennon

2/5

Some nice melodies on this one, but most of the songs are too simple to leave a mark. A lot of them are ballads that just repeat the same chords the entire time. If the lyrics were good there would be a beauty in this simplicity, but the lyrics are also simple without much depth. The lyrics contain such controversial statements as "I don't want to die" and "give me the truth." "Crippled Inside" switches things up, but its jaunty melody and breakdown at the end just sound goofy. "How Do You Sleep" is likely the best song musically, though its vitriol contradicts the whole "brotherhood of man" thing from earlier. "Oh Yoko!" might be the best song, as it's got a carefree melody and there the simplicity is beautiful. And the title track? Pleasant, not bad, but not as deep as it thinks. Like most of the album really.

Triangle

The Beau Brummels

3/5

A nice little folk and country rock album that sounds almost exactly how'd you expect a psychedelic rock album from the 60s to sound. The songs are loose and fun, but not so loose that they fall apart. There's some brass on a few tracks that acts as a nice accent to the guitars. The lyrics are pretty standard 60s psychedelic stuff with wonder and mysticism. That hints at the album's biggest weakness: there's almost nothing about this album that sounds unique to the band. The lyrics are standard, and the music takes influence from plenty of other 60s acts. It feels like half the other songs are about some mystic entity: the keeper of time, the painter of women, the wolf of velvet fortune. The lyrics on the last song are a bit more interesting, but it's not enough to separate this from the pack. It's an enjoyable sound with decent depth, it's just not even close to being the best of its kind.

Timeless

Goldie

2/5

This jumps between stretches of spacey synths and bursts of rapid percussion - an odd combo given engaging dance albums and slow burns usually take different mindsets to enjoy. Every synth lead-in finds me wishing the exciting part would start. "Sea of Tears" is a good example of a song where the drums and bass really come together for a moment, but the ambient portions go on for far longer. Any variations in the atmospheric bits are fairly subtle, and while the percussion is also all pretty similar to the untrained ear that's less noticeable because those parts are a joy to listen to. The vocals don't help make the slower bits more interesting and (like on most dance albums in my opinion) could have been cut. Lacking many memorable melodies or hooks, the 2 hour runtime here is a slog unless you like spacey synths.

Parklife

Blur

4/5

Probably Blur's best - Modern Life is Rubbish is close - and possibly the peak of Britpop. This is a very British album, with all kinds of references to culture and places. But unlike certain songs by The Kinks that celebrate the country, it's not cloying or overly sentimental, it's just charming. And unlike music from a certain other (inferior) Britpop group, it's proper pop music. It's got hooks, like on the opening track. It's got lovely melodies; my favorite might be "Clover over Dover." And the entire thing feels fun and effortless. There are some weak tracks, especially in the middle, and it could be about 10 minutes shorter. But it's always charming to listen to and doesn't feel dated despite being a very 90s album

Destroyer

KISS

1/5

This is a very uncool album, with every song being about rock n roll despite the music delivering a fairly pop version of the genre. But is it a bad album? The first three songs lead you to believe it's not. The opener has great drumming and "God of Thunder" is reminiscent of doom metal with its big riffs and chorus. After that though things plunge straight into cheese with the dramatic "Great Expectations." The album picks up a bit from there but then gets to "Beth," a limp ballad with lame lyrics about ruining a relationship because you want to play rock with the boys. "Do You Love Me?" isn't much better - it's clear at this point the band's only subject matter is being in Kiss. This isn't mean to be a deep album, but the formulaic songs and choruses that are driven into the ground mean it's not very fun either, despite having a couple legitimately good songs.

Disraeli Gears

Cream

2/5

Proof that incredible musicianship does not always lead to an incredible album. Clapton's guitar work is great, swirling around unpredictably. Jack Bruce's drums are even better, providing the main draw on songs like "We're Going Wrong." It all feels very disorienting, in a good way. The big problem is that none of these songs are long or interesting enough to make full use of that feeling; they're all fairly short and mostly pretty standard from a songwriting perspective, without long jams or unexpected elements. This often makes the psychedelic elements feel like more like something that's preventing the song from really getting into a groove. The vocals are also fairly weak, and the final track, while not ruining that album, certainly sounds terrible. The playing almost pushes this to a 3, but the songwriting barely keeps it at a 2.

Station To Station

David Bowie

4/5

After a brief dalliance with soul, Bowie continued his move away from glam rock by getting funky. I'm not sure if this is Bowie's weirdest album now, but it was at the time, with long songs mixing elements of funk with bouncing piano. This doesn't stand up to true funk rock in terms of funkiness, but there's an undeniable groove on most of these songs. The title track makes good use of its ten minutes, building from a tentative opening to a raging dance number highlighted by the piano. I do kind of wish more of these songs had the energy of the second half of that one, but there are enough layers and hooks to keep me satisfied throughout. It's also clear Bowie's interest in soul was still there, given the soaring vocals on many tracks and the great cover at the end. Definitely one of Bowie's best and most unique albums.

GI

Germs

2/5

Being one of the first hardcore punk albums, this likely packed a bigger punch when it was released than it does today. In a world with more abrasive forms of music, the screechy guitar and unhinged vocals aren't enough to make up for the fact that most of these songs follow the basic hardcore formula. "Lexicon Devil" is probably the best song, but it's not different necessarily, it just has a more interesting vocal melody. The bass is a strong point, especially on the final track. That one does deviate from the formula; it's a nine minute plodding nightmare where the comparatively tame vocals sound more sinister than the shouts on the rest of the album. This is a nice history lesson for punk rock, but it doesn't do any thing unique enough to make it worth revisiting.

Public Image: First Issue

Public Image Ltd.

3/5

John Lydon's first post-Pistols album is a challenging listen, but overall it's better than his old group's lone album. One big challenge is the opening and closing tracks. The opener is a long groove with pleasingly mechanical guitars and heavy bass, but it meanders a bit too much. The closer turns a similar groove into a send-up of a dance song that just ends up sounding goofy, and it's the album's one real miss. But in between those bookends is a satisfying set of angular punk that is both harsh and a bit fun. "Public Image" is the catchiest track, but "Annalisa" is probably the best. Lydon's vocals come right up to the line of being annoying without crossing it. Other bands, notably Gang of Four, would improve on this sound by making things a bit more immediately pleasing despite the noise, but this is still a fun enough listen.

Killing Joke

3/5

Cold, mechanical post punk with riffs that worm their way into your brain. This is both aggressive while also being relatively accessible. Maybe the most notable thing about it is the almost industrial guitar tones, which were definitely novel in the genre at the time. Underneath those tones though the songs aren't all that special. Many of them use the same riff for most of the song; I like how the repetition drills the guitar into your head but it does make the songs feel as they don't go anywhere. Take away those tones and this might feel like a pop album. In fact, the synths on the opener make it sound almost like a new wave song. And of course it succumbs to the early post punk trope of having a slow, plodding overlong song that goes nowhere. A nice listen, but the genre has done better.

All Directions

The Temptations

3/5

This feels like two albums in one. The first side is a good funky time. It's got a fairly standard but groovy funk tune, a hard hitting socially conscious message, and a satisfyingly drawn-out funk soul jam. The second side leans into a smoother soul sound and feels a bit sleepy. The music is pretty, but too slow and empty. It would be alright if the vocals were amazing, but they're merely good. The closer is the most interesting song on the second side as it gets back into the realm of funk. A 4 for the first side and a 2 for the second, so a 3 overall feels about right.

The Trinity Session

Cowboy Junkies

3/5

This was recorded in a church around a single microphone, and it sounds like it. It takes basic elements of country - twangy guitar, harmonica, heartbroken lyrics, an affinity for covers - and removes everything else until what's left is a fragile echo of the genre. It's beautiful. And a little hard to listen to. Because it's so skeletal, you have to listen closely or it risks fading into the background. But all of the tracks are so similarly stark that as the album goes on very little that's new happens. Some of the tracks have harmonica, some feel more bluesy, but they're all quietly haunting and deliberate. Even as a fan of slowcore, I find it hard to stay invested. The Hank Williams cover is great (and maybe better than the original), as is the storytelling on songs like "Misguided Angel." But it's a bit too long for an album so dedicated to sounding this hauntingly monotonous.

Black Monk Time

The Monks

2/5

If everything here had the same energy and attitude as the opener, this would be the lost classic that it's hailed as. The opening lyrics are great. "My name's Gary!" "It's monk time!" "Why do you kill all those kids over there in Vietnam!" It's a skeletal, blunt force protest song years before the summer of love and "Fortunate Son." The bare bones, repetitive instrumental hits hard. But after that the lyrics instantly get let interesting, and some of the tracks just have nonsense lyrics. It's only thirty minutes long, so the one-note assault of organ, guitar, and electric banjo doesn't get old. But there's very little substance, and not enough interesting hooks or riffs. The Modern Lovers stand out as a band that took this framework - complete with organ - and churned out some great songs with it. Ahead of its time and worth hearing the opener, but only kind of interesting as a full album.

Sticky Fingers

The Rolling Stones

4/5

The Stones' tightest dirty blues rock album, and possibly their best - it's a close call between this and Some Girls. Similar to Exile on Main Street, the album works best when it's loud and filled with horns. "Bitch" is one of their brashest songs, and "Can You Hear Me Knocking" shows they can jam. But the best song may be "Sway," I love how the melody of the chorus rolls right back into the verses. These highs are up there with the highs on Exile, but this album has much less chaff. There are a couple tracks that are too bluesy and sound weak next to the rest of the album, but it concludes on a very strong run highlighted by the country rock of "Dead Flowers." As far as 70's blues rock goes this is really hard to beat - it's got the grit of the blues with all the catchiness of rock.

Olympia 64

Jacques Brel

1/5

Traditional pop that's limited by the confines of its tradition. Brel is great here; his vocals - especially on the opener "Amsterdam" - carry the performance. He injects every song with a dramatic flair that elevates the music. That music is pleasant, but it lacks variety. There are ballads and more upbeat tracks, but they all feel somewhat predictable. Of course the focus here is likely on the lyrics - I don't speak a lick of French but from reading about chanson the story and poetry of the lyrics seem to be the most important part of the songs. Regardless of lyrical quality, this makes for songs that are often hookless and just a vessel for those stories. And without some kind of variety, it can feel like the same song with different stories. Probably a great performance in 1964, but I would long for something exciting to happen if I were to see it today. I like the accordion though.

Fly Or Die

N.E.R.D

2/5

An almost unclassifiable mix of rock, pop, funk, and R&B. Unlike a lot of modern acts that blur those lines though, this isn't just a bunch of hazy ballads. It's constantly hitting you with new sounds and is always upbeat. Because of this though, it very rarely gets into a groove. The rock influence mostly comes in the form of short guitar riffs, which make the album bouncy but not really danceable. "Maybe" is one of the few songs that feels like it's going to have a memorable chorus, but then like on most of the tracks it ends up clashing with the rest of the song. There are good elements here - the guitar on "Thrasher," the funk on "She Wants to Move," the unpredictable vocals on the title track - that don't quite come together into great songs. I can't help but feel this would be more successful if each song used one or two of these influences rather than every song using all of them.

Rings Around The World

Super Furry Animals

3/5

There are a lot of ways to describe this: 60s psych rock filtered through 90s alternative, Welsh Flaming Lips, etc. But it's hard to describe it succinctly without referencing earlier psych acts because it jumps between a lot of different sounds. Many of these sounds are exciting. The best moments are the trippy synths and complex percussion, and the backing vocals are also a treat - the third track almost sounds like the Beach Boys in places. But much of this is long psych rock tracks that don't evolve much. "Run Christian Run" is seven minutes of the same tempo. The first half of "No Sympathy" is similarly one-note, but it's saved a bit by an electronic freakout in the second half. The best track is probably "Juxtapozed With U," it uses strings and effects to create a really pleasing pop song. Some fun stuff, but also a lot of more normal stuff in between.

Rock 'N Soul

Solomon Burke

2/5

There are elements of rock on some of these songs, but even adjusting for what "rock" meant in 1964 this is a disappointingly normal soul album given the title. Burke has great range, capable of smooth crooning and hitting deep notes. But his presence is a bit lacking, and you can't hear the pain in his voice like you can with the greats. His range does allow him to excell at the traditional pop-sounding "Just Out of Reach" and a couple other notably different songs, but the majority of this is well-produced and well-played soul that doesn't stand out in the genre. Little Richard was not a soul singer, and Burke has a more technically impressive voice, but if you want the energy of rock and the passion of soul, Richard had that years before this album.

Slanted And Enchanted

Pavement

5/5

Possibly the platonic ideal of noise pop. Throughout the album the fuzzy guitar and lackadaisical vocals are fighting with the fact that this is full of blissful pop hooks. Sometimes that leads to noisy freakouts like "Conduit for Sale!" Other times it leads to perfect pop ditties like "Zurich is Stained" and "Loretta's Scars." But the best songs are the ones where those sounds meet. "In the Mouth a Desert" has two or three hooks, and the guitar that makes up the last one is one of the best guitar tones in indie rock. The thumping drum sound is even better, especially on the album's best moment: the end of "Summer Babe." The lyrics are often obtuse, but when they coalesce into something relatable like the downtrodden opening of "Here" they elevate the album to another level. A perfect mix of sadness and coolness, and one of the best rock albums of the 90s, if not all time.

69 Love Songs

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