Mid 1
tuneless vocals, undanceable groves. doesnt even appeal in a retro synth way
Low 4
Best song: strange brew
Hated this album at first but I kept coming back. Production is so good, guitar sounds especially. Vocals too grew on me
High 5
Best song: up on cripple creep
the best
High 2
best song: highway patrolman
Would probs be great if I listened to the lyrics more
High 4
best song: Islands
Great songs, unique sound, close to a 5
Low 4
Best song: Jackie
Scott 3 would of been a 5. Songs are much worse here but still great scott sound
Mid 4
Perfect for working as a software dev
Mid 3
Beautiful sound, it started a 5, but not quite enough idea establishment and development for me. It demands your attention but I can't remember how most of it goes. I need a bit more cohesion in the chaos.
Mid 3
Best song: beetlebum
Damen and the boys show here why they're a quintessential "best of" band. Bold choice putting the 2 bangers right at the front. Rest of the album has far less effort in production but is p good, but it gets worse in second half
Low high 4
Best song: cowgirl in the sand
Great raw sound here, very few overdubs which is cool. Neil's songwriting isn't quite at its heights sadly. I dread to think how long the solos were when they played live.
Mid 2
best song: sunken treasure
Default post beatles music. Strum the chord pattern, plod the drums, why not a bit of piano, backing vocals etc
mid 3
nothing wrong with it, i quite like it too
High 2
thought id be all over this. i blame the vocalists for failing to win me over
Mid 5
best song: station to station
ITS TOO LATE
Title track is top draw as good as it gets. Stay is amazing too. Golden years and tvc15 both very good. Word on the wing drops it a bit. Wild is the wind cover is what it is
Low 4
Best song: girls just want to have fun
Definition of a 4. Hard to love because the voice is a bit gimmicky, but a fun listen all the same
Low 2
Best song: the ones from the first album
Most of this is hard rock at its most generic im afraid. We dont need a drum fill every bar keith.
Bonus points for how lovely and polite the boys seem in between songs
Very high 3
Thought this would be a boring hard rock album,
80s synth stuff sounds a lot less synthetic now we live in the digital age. Shame there's only 2 synth tracks plus the intro
The rock tracks arnt just repeated riffs with guitar solos. Complex and engaging.
Not a fan of the singers voice tho
Mid 3
I found it a tad boring sorry amy
mid 1
I enjoy dark humour, I'm happy to explore the plight of poverty stricken America. This fails to be either, it's just horrid
High 4
Really liked this one. Nice clean sound, melodic song writing.
Low 3
best song: youre my best friend
feels surprisingly mid 60s this, with the mock musical hall numbers etc. its patchy. some unbelievable stuff with the famous songs, but then theres also "im in love with my car". not really for me
mid 2
This is what 2 star is all about
Low 3
nothing wrong with it
Low 5
Mr Cohen conjures his haunting world as well as ever. Production is really tastefully done and keeps the songs different despite Mr cohens limited vocal range. The whispered vocals and minimalist backing combine for a striking and completely unique sound. It warmed my heart to hear one of my favourite artists produce such a great album right at the end of his life. Best I've ever heard by an 80+ year old by a mile, and best from this challenge for some time.
Low 1
"Alexa, play chill music"
Worst album yet. It feels incredibly empty, ai generated even. If I gave amy winehouse a 2 this has to be a low 1. Take away Amy's voice, her cutting lyrics, the modern twist on the instrumentals and what's left is this album. Ie absolutely nothing. The voice doesn't interest me, the backing and songs are utterly bland. Pure background cafe music
low 3
nothing wrong with this at all. i never know if im going to be into this kind of thing. why do i love the black parade but not this? i dont know. maybe its because ive been listening to leonard cohen exclusively for the last few days
mid 4
same issue as all sonic youth albums. way too long.
Mid 4
I should of got into this when I was teenager. I could see it being a 5 if I had. Very good instruments
High 2
I like this kind of sound but this got very boring. I blame the vocalist. Its not very melodic, he just sings. Fails to keep it interesting.
Low 4
Its good but too long, and drifts dangerously close.to hard rock
Low 3
This band have something special. They've worked out how to infinatly generate average songs that sound vaugly like REM
Low 1
Its exactly like spinal tap! Sadly the 2 hour run time is no joke. I couldnt face it. Something talentless about the songs I did listen to
mid 2
ive often wondered, whats the deal with U2? today i learned the deal. theyre eh
Its hard to rate things like this
Mid 4
Feels a bit late to be so into the blues. Classic doors sound tho cant go wrong
Mid 3
Im usually all over stuff like this. Im sorry to say ive never liked Ella's voice, I find it a bit characterless. I love the ambition of this project tho
high 4
This is so close to being amazing. An extremely entertaining listen. Really impressive stuff. But somehow, I dont find myself coming back to it often. Maybe she goes a touch too far?
Low 4
Great to have on and some classics here. Some of the album tracks didn't stand out.
Low 2
Ive never liked eric clapton and i dont know why. Theres not even any interesting guitar work on this album. Tbf ive never heard a solo from him thats interested me in any way. Give me george harrison any day
High 3
I like bob and i like his sound, its just a bit samey
High 3
Listened this while half asleep on the plane and quite enjoyed it
Mid 4
Great sound and exciting tracks
High 2
Any song on here is great. As a collective theyre extremely samey
High 4
Was tempted with a 5. Fun high energy tracks, good songs, good sound. Nice and short too!
High 1
I wasn't in the mood
Low 4
This is what the Stones are all about: some of the best singles you’ve ever heard + an album full of landfill blues. How can a band deliver so many bangers and zero good albums? ABBA, Blur, Queen, and the Stones should fight it out for the ultimate “best-of” band. Queen’s Best Of is not as good as the rest, although their albums are plenty awful. Blur’s albums are a bit too good. Stones vs. ABBA. I probably prefer ABBA Gold to the first disc of Forty Licks. We shall see whose albums are worse over this challenge.
Edit: After listening more, I increased the rating from a mid 3 to a low 4. Some of the album tracks are pretty good, actually—namely “Live With Me” and “Let It Bleed.” “Country Honk” and “Monkey Man” are okay too.
mid 1
haah nah bro, it aint that rad. Not at all
Mid 4
I saw the yeah yeah yeahs at primavera and watched Mia d go absolutely crazy. Good times. This album is perfectly reasonable I enjoyed it
high 5
Recently my favourites been Queen Jane Approximately. It sums up the album well, theres an endless euphoria about it.
high 3
another decent one, but the singer was a bit annoying
low 2
this album feels a bit pointless. its funny at first to hear a country singer doing standards, but his voice and the arrangements bring next to nothing they just plod through them.
low 4
its hard to judge the bands you like. i was a bit disappointed by this, but it being the talking heads it was still better then most.
high 3
to be fair to paul, his belief in these tracks is largely "look at what i can do all by myself in my bedroom at my leisure". this is a man who was made to record his first album in one day as to not take up too much precious expensive studio time. he was also kept downstairs while the lab coat wearing professionals worked with the priceless equipment in the control room. things changed fast in the 60s. this was genuinely the first pop album all recorded by one person as well which is undeniably cool. paul was so desperate to show this off he didnt have time to write some actual songs unfortunately.
a lot of these tracks cant be called songs, but theres some great ones in here too. one year before his a johns scraps of unfinished songs had magically turned into the abbey road medley. no such magic struck here. but who am i kidding ill happily listen to paul scratching out tracks at home in 1970 any day.
high 5
its funny how complex and sophisticated hunky dory is. tracks like "8 line poem", "life on mars", "the bewlay brothers" - really great, measured, artistic stuff. One album later Davey B throws it all away for pure pop fun, yet of course its just as good. I can't think of anyone else """going backwards""" more effectively. It really shows how "artistic sophistication" is just a matter of flavour. daves mastered all sides and can turn the dial at will, delivering high 5s at both ends.
if i had the confidence my perfect karaoke songs are on this album. members of my household regularly enjoy performances of lady stardust, ziggy stardust, 5 years, moonage daydream and rock n roll suicide.
theres a really nice ramen place that me and ruth visit regularly on the street where the cover was taken, id highly recommend it.
its interesting to see the scourge of on street parking was already uglifying london in 1972. Legal litter i call it. Not davids fault of course, at least the cars were cooler.
high 5
this album has ruined my rating system. ziggy stardust is obviously a full marks album so deserves the highest rating. this album is beyond full marks. its like when hermione granger received a hundred and twelve per cent on her charms exam.
some people ( including paul ) say george didnt get going as a songwriter until abbey road. this album ( and rubber soul ) reveal that as rubbish. its said he lost interest in the beatles around the time of sgt pepper, but here he delivers 2 all time bangers and "i want to tell" you as a little 9/10 bonus. this album has the best opening 5 tracks of any and two of them are from george. "love you to" is his best indian inspired track. it bangs.
its the best beatles album and the best album of all time. its a true beatles album: "a hard days night" is johns album, "sgt pepper" is pauls album, "abbey road" has "maxwells silver hammer" on it. the 3 writers are equal on here ( george slightly less equal ), and the reason so many of the tracks bang so hard is ringos unreal performances with a great drum sound. its summed up by the cover ( the best album cover ) where all their faces are big and the same size. heres where they transformed from a band to a super group.
like all beatles albums this one has its dud track, but in recent years ive learnt to love yellow submarine. ever since reading about the recording session where they invited all their friends round to do the sound effects, blowing bubbles in the bath etc, it always brings a smile to my face. its a joke song and a pretty funny one too. who doesnt like a bit of fun.
high 5
pink floyd are so good you forget how proggy they are. im not saying its bad to be proggy, but usually when you listen to something proggy you just think, "wow this is proggy", with this album you just think "damn this good". How many 10 minute guitar solos are there where your on the edge of your seat the whole time?
low 3
I've noticed 1997 as one of the best years for music. Not sure how this managed to win 3 grammys in the year OK computer, Homogenic and Either / Or and many others were released. I suppose we've all got a soft spot for bob.
mid 5
for a short period between late 1994 and early 1995 noel gallagher was blessed by the music gods. what he did to deserve this we can never know. their blessings lasted just long enough for him to write a single album with nothing but timeless pop bangers. then that was it. this album is the oasis best of. every track is a deserved classic.
despite the amount of "wee in a plastic pint glass and throw it" that went on at oasis concerts, theres not a soggy moment on here. im marking it down to a mid 5 simply because it doesnt chime with me on that personal level, and i count that in these reviews. i cant bring myself to put it along side revolver, wish you were here and ziggy, but im astonished to say it probably deserves to be there, it is that good.
theres a lad i play football with from stockport who skills me up each week over and over and over again. ive seen the pictures of him at oasis sobbing his eyes out, i couldnt help but be moved. you can only say fair play to both.
mid 3
nice one for giving it a go, its alright. but theres something forced about it
High 3
first minute of first track takes us in an exciting disco samba direction. sadly moved to straight samba for the rest. nothing wrong with that but disco samba would of been fun
mid 3
Sounds a bit like MJ
low 5
it is sik. i like the ones with the beatles samples
Low 3
Was enjoying the production and cool cover, but its too samey
Mid 5
These guys are underrated these days. Personal favs, city with no children, suburban war, month of May, deep blue, sprawl 1, sprawl 2
High 3
Decent listen this
high 3
some good songs here but lacking fundamental appeal
Low 5
Cracker this. Never listened much before, defo second best talking heads album. Only issue is some of the songs feel pretty unfinished, electric guitar for example. It feels like it doesn't quite meet its own potential, see life during wartime - the stop making sense version is way better
Low 4
Enjoyed this a lot. Most "Woodstock core" albums tend to get very pointless and "jammy". This resists that for the most part. Sucums in the tracks "ball and chain" and "roadblock" in the second half But most of the songs sound different!
high 3
mixed listen. he doesnt pull of the songs about shooting people for me.
mid 3
kind of disappointed in this i thought id like it more
high 5
one of my all time all time favs. makes other albums look absolutely rubbish. in my top 10 i recon. up there for best album of the 60s ( even tho it came out in 70 ) and maybe of all time.
its a simon garfunkel best of in many ways but some of the lesser known tracks are my favs. "keep the customer satisfied" has some of the most pure energy of any recording. its simply exhilarating. have trumpets every sounded better? it just pumps you full of life man can you dig it? many times have a listen over and over to this track.
Mid 4
I find van Halen weirdly irresistible
Mid 1
Minimalist production + boring songs + generic country voice = not a thing to recomend it. Upgraded from low 1 by the song "we had it all" which I quite enjoyed
mid 5
"joe the lion" is my favourite. what a stomper
low 4
just my thing actually
high 5
its the lennon stomper era. beatlemania at its peak. is it the best beatles album?
the slightly weaker tracks are mainly in the first 4.
the title track has always been one of my least favourites although still a classic of course. i blame ringo for playing the same thing for the whole song, it leaves it slightly flat. aunt mimi said it was her favourite.
nothing weak on "should of known better". its a great one for singing for your neighbours pleasure. is this the last hurrah for the harmonica which was such a key part of their early sound? fun as heck.
"if i fell" is a bit of a plodder if we're honest although the harmonies are fun to sing. my favourite bit is when paul bottles the high note on the second B section and they leave it in ( around 1:43 ). a sentimental ballad lacking in real sentimentality. leave them to paul john!
on "im happy just to dance with you" poor george has the role usually reserved for ringo - singing the track john and paul cant face singing themselves. this song is much better then "honey dont" tho so he cant complain. still, good for him for starting to write his own. if he hadn't he would of been fighting with ringo for the scraps for the rest of their career.
from track 5 onwards this album is flawless. its back to back to back.
"and i love her" is beautiful. great work on the bongos ringo! lovely touch with the wood block whoevers idea that was. the effect should be comical but instead its genuinely haunting and stark. is this the first timeless paul ballad? they nailed this one.
"tell me why" is an all time favourite. its perhaps the least original musically but they bring insane energy to it. the harmonies sound unbelievable, such a fun track. just wants to be belted out like so many of these. the bridge is really great too "because i really cant stand it im soooo in love with YOU" ( drums )*babada babada babada babada*
"cant buy me love" - who can say no. i remember paul coming out to this at glasto 2022... top george solo too. i like the choice to go with no backing vocals it makes it different. on an album of lennon stompers, paul walks away with the biggest rocknroll hit? whats he like.
"anytime at all" weeew come on. that snare hit. i love to sing the "at a-a-al, all you gotta do is ca-a-all"s. its quite sentimental and he pulls it off here, touching really.
"ill cry instead" always loved this quirky number. its great writing from john. in his second heyday between 1968 - 1972 john decided all art needs to be hyper personal. he shows on this album how wrong that is. its great fun pop lyrics while still being true to him. lovely bluesy accompaniment from george throughout.
im not quite 100% on "things we said today". its a very slight dip, the least good paul effort here. still the contrasting sections are fun arnt they. good stuff.
"when i get home" is another unforgiving lennon stomper. does george even play on this track? the whole backing seems to be john crunching out those filthy chords. maybe george is doubling. anyway it sounds great. what a banger.
finishing up with the ultimate lennon stomper, "you cant do that" is john all over. a confrontational and abusive front utterly failing to cover the extremely vulnerable insides - sung over a straight rock backing, that john eh. always loved this one. think they released it as a single in america, good choice. fab solo from george too. him and paul sound beaut on the backing vocals.
george says in "get back" that they should of spent more time on "ill be back". i like it how it is but i can see why he picked it out. its a stunning song and could of been done in many different ways. you could picture it as a full on big band ballad. its got a cool structure too ABACABA. great closer. really top song.
ive often said its my favourite beatles album, but its hard to say its the best. some of the tracks clearly had very little time spent on them. you can tell when ringos playing the same thing for the whole song and theres next to nothing from george - theyve probably heard the song for the first time about 40mins ago. its obviously nowhere near their later albums production wise. its also so john heavy. paul does well on his tracks but its only 3 / 14 ( although he no doubt had a large hand it all of johns songs, they still collaborated at this point ). just one for george and no ringo song means it cant be the perfect beatles album.
that being said there are no utter duds. its high quality all their way through. most of their early albums have a few completely forgettable numbers in the second half. the second half here is completely UNforgettable. they were an unbelievable rock and roll band and they just crack on with it. full of energy. a lot of it comes down to john lennons voice. musics all about the human voice really, and hes singing the perfect songs for him. crunchy blues chords and vocals, rock and roll with some more interesting chords. what else do you want from the beatles?
people know john these days for his double denim round glasses era 1968 - 1972. he'd returned to rock n roll by then and had a very focused public persona and world view, but he always seems so brittle. for someone constantly banging on about peace hes always a second from lashing out or biting back. have you ever seen him smile in that period?
the beatles still cracked jokes in 1964. this is johns real peak for me. beatlemania - just knocking out pop songs, full of confidence, the new elvis, "topper most of the popper most". he still gets to be a edgy in interviews but at least its in a funny way. and its before their beatle hair cuts get a bit stupidly long, before they get completely sick of the touring.
you can sadly plot the beatles career through what substance they're abusing at the time and john was always the most susceptible. its no surprise that his real peak in creativity and energy is the "rum and coke" era. the harder stuff did him no favours at all. here despite the touring he write all these classics and still finds time for his books of nonsense poems. these books help complete his image as the intellectual beatle, a real writer and artist. sitting in his new mansion kenwood in front of the telly typing away on his type writer, king of the world....
High 2
Bit disappointed in this
mid 5
we all know elliott as the sad drugs guys, but he was much more then that. he shows it on his album. this is his straight pop rock album. he always wanted to make albums like this and here he gets the closest. great songs with great production. he didnt want to make lofi albums. its his most like big star. so many classics on here.
my current highlight is the instrumental on "stupidity tries" moving in to the chorus. chord pattern is as insane as youd expect. guitarists worldwide play millions of hours a day in standard tuning. elliott is one of so few who managed to pull extremely original things out of it on a regular basis.
the only issue is that its a few songs too long. elliott wanted a double album apparently but the label wouldnt let him. he should of just gone with a standard length album
low 2
insane commitment to writing the same song over and over. its paint by numbers. the singer especially is so generic and could be any one of a number of people. that being said the song they keep writing over and over is pretty fun.
Mid 1
Not sure how this snuck on here. Theres a few random 90s rock albums. Curator exposing himself!
Mid 3
It was fun but the fun wore thin
