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!
