worst thing about it is Elvis. Not a fan. The music is actually not that bad though, supporting band is very tight and suits the gospel choir when they also come in.

Enjoying the beats, but can’t seem to find a hook or a killer song. Sounds like a grittier de la soul.

Never heard of this album before but enjoyed. Reminds me of Scott walker or a more melancholy don mclean. Can hear influences of its time (eg. Love) but can see resemblance in current music. Nick Cave etc.

Struggle a bit with this genre of music as it doesn’t half sound samey to me after a while. A bit of light and shade would go amiss but appreciate that it’s not really something that fits.

I’ve had a bit of a soft spot for some of their songs as a bit of a guilty pleasure. The album has peaks and troughs. The synths on some of the songs haven’t held up well, even when trying to eke out 80s nostalgia from them. Ballads and slower songs aren’t great. Suspect they are better as a singles band.

Never listened to this front to back. It’s a great pop album, surprisingly funky even on some of the deeper cuts, percussion carries it subtly throughout along with horn section. Can see why this is often cited as a stand out moment in pop music.

Hard to evaluate this one. Is it a standout in the genre? Why this over other Bollywood albums? Feels very directly western influenced but has taken a heap of styles and pulled it together and layered on more traditional sounds. Some songs have a decent groove going on but then will quickly change in the next - sometimes the difficulty with soundtracks I guess.

It’s just not ‘funeral’ is it? To be hyper-critical, some of the songs sound like filler and meander without going anywhere special. I do really like ‘no cars go’ though, and it’s pleasant enough for the majority.

Something in the back of my head told me that I didn’t like Billy Joel in the same way that I just can’t stand Elton John. Yes it’s a bit schmaltzy, there are over the top flourishes that it doesn’t really need, and some of it is overplayed to buggery but underneath this album is some really good production and some genuinely good songwriting.

It’s not bad, but it doesn’t sound strong in any major area. By the end of it, I’d just kind of tuned it out - not because it was bad, just wasn’t grabbing me at all.

THIS is the kind of thing I wanted to come across doing this. What a wierd and wonderful album. Production is very rough around the edges but the mix of blues, soul, gospel, psychedelia is unlike very much I’ve ever come across before. Absolutely loving ‘I walk on gilded splinters’ in particular.

Not if a madcap concept and just seems to meander without going anywhere in particular. Even the more popular songs from are bit meh. Not a particular fan.

Have listen to both individually but didn’t know they’d collaborated. It’s good, I like the grooves they get into. Rather than get the most from both, I feel like they are both perhaps playing it a bit safe so neither necessarily take the limelight though? Definitely heard more virtuosic performances in some of their other music but enjoyed it from start to finish nonetheless.

Absolutely horrendous. The affectation in the singing to add the western drawl, singing about heartbreak in a major key, surprise fiddle in pretty much every song. The whole thing grated on me and I couldn’t wait for it to finish. Not sure if this is a milestone album in country and western but please, no more of it.

Saw a review that said this was a heterosexual’s Elton John which seems pretty on the nose. Seems to employ similar tropes in a lot of songs, lyrical or melodic hook, followed by quieter piano part, build up to uptempo rock part, changing tempo occasionally and repeat ad infinitum. It’s just a bit…much isn’t it? Very little finesse on a lot of it.

Hotel California is a strong opener but I don’t think the rest of the album lives up to that promise and it becomes a lot more formulaic afterwards. I’m not all that averse to it but (possibly due to overplay on ‘classic rock’ radio stations) it does descend into dad rock territory fairly quickly and doesn’t pique the same interest.

I feel like I’m listening to a spin̈al tap album only it’s not funny. Sounds like it wants to be hyper masculine but just comes across as cringey and has aged really poorly. Did not enjoy at all.

This had a contender for the best metaphor I’ve heard in a long while - “I’m a cement fixer, a churning urn of burning funk”. Actually quite enjoyed this. Guitar playing was good though restrained although I quite like that it wasn’t too showy here as I thought it fit the aesthetic.

About as close to a 5 as I can give but some of the later albums are just that bit better so have to hold a little something back. Despite that, it holds together really well, the bass in particular really drives a lot of the songs forward without being too showy. ‘A forest’ has always been a particular standout on their discography.

Nice enough but all seems a little safe. When think back to when I was listening to it yesterday I can barely remember any of the songs which segments none of it is good enough to stick. I can’t imagine it was all that groundbreaking at the time let alone looking back.

This clipped by at a pace and seems to be a trait of some of the songs/albums recorded in this genre at the time where very little time is wasted, leaving its mark and not overstaying its welcome. Another girl, another planet’s solo is great. I imagine some would find the lead singer’s voice grating but I don’t mind the lackadaisical delivery.

Hard to overstate the importance of Drake’s music to me. Something about it just ticks all the right boxes; the lyricism, guitar playing, orchestral arrangements supporting, his voice, and the general sense of melancholia I get listening to it. Cello song is up there with one of my all time favourites.

Not Hnuk favourite work by him but reasonable nonetheless. May have just been where and how I was listening to it, or a stylistic choice but the production was very washed out with only Cave’s voice really discernible in the mix which detracted from it.

Can definitely hear some of the virtuosic abilities coming through but overall found it to be unfocused and a bit…messy? Having the rest of the band around him presumably gave some more of the melodic hooks that this seems to be lacking some of.

This the kind of thing I think of when trying to conceptualise what dad rock sounds like which isn’t neccessarily a criticism but is very ‘safe’. Obviously ‘money for nothing’ is a bit of a standout, and there are some other decent tracks on the album but some of the other soft rock ballads on here are poor and quickly lose my interest.

Enjoyed this. Good amount of variety and the albums holds up until the end. Sounds more consonant than the previous two releases which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but there are enough flashes of their discordance in it which keep the tracks interesting.

Lift music for an aging corporate bank that’s seen better days. Uses a lot of sounds that have aged poorly and haven’t retained their nostalgia factor. I don’t suspect it was particularly innovative at the time either. I’m only happy I listened to this as I was able to finally identify ‘I.G.Y’ as the track used at the beginning of Wardown’s isolated mix 119 (would recommend!) which has been bugging me for ages.

I like that it wears its influences on its sleeve and isn’t apologetic about it (is that ‘Apache’?!). Found that I wanted to like it more than I did. For all I’d heard about ?uestlove and his links with the roots, a lot of the beats seemed a bit…lacking? Probably benefits from repeated listens as found some of the lyricism hard to make out or follow.

Does a good job of capturing the ‘lightning in a bottle’ that this performance had. Not generally a fan of this kind of music but I can see the relevance of the performance to the inmates there and the authenticity of which Cash seems to have performed it.

I expect this to be divisive. Turns out I was naive to Deep Purple because this live album showed another, more psychedelic and prog side to them than I realised. Although the solos descend into the worst form of prog wankery (that call and response bit was awful) and I found some of their more well known tracks to be weaker than the rest, underneath it, found some decent musicianship there - the vocals in particular were surprising solid.

Found it to be quite self absorbed and missing much of the more interesting musicianship and chord progressions of his work with the rest of the Beatles. Might have my judgement clouded by how he came across in ‘get back’ though. Never liked imagine as a song and found a lot of the rest of the album to be trite.

No frills which was probably a large departure from everything else going on at that time, so in a way it was probably quite a brave thing to do. That said, there wasn’t enough to keep my interest for the duration, where a bit more subtle percussion or layering might have helped. With the sparse instrumentation, I didn’t find her voice strong enough to carry the rest of the music.

Likely hugely biased as listened to this a lot when it was first released. Probably not his best album (Michigan or Carrie and Lowell are probably better standalone pieces of work, Seven Swans my personal favourite), but perhaps the best introduction. Could see why some people might find the shift from more symphonic pieces to more delicate arrangements jarring but I like the meandering styles that it dips into. There’s a lot of lovely sprinkles in the mix to make the music pop (the woodwind on ‘the predatory wasp..’, piano on ‘John Wayne Gacy, Jr’, horn section on ‘Jacksonville’, the shift from 5/4 to 4/4 in ‘come on! Feel the Illinois’). If there was a criticism, it would benefit from having some of those ideas refined a bit more but I enjoy the maximalist approach of just throwing everything into the pot by virtue of the concept and variety of stories attempted to be told.

I want a refund. This was neither crazy, sexy, nor cool. Not a genre I think I’ll ever really like, and this just came across as bland. It might have been culturally significant (was this a particular standout moment in all female, black pop groups?) but that cultural significance is probably lost on me.

Chaotic, but I like the raucous energy that it brought. The production of it seems fitting and give it that garage rock feel. Loses its way on some of the slower tracks where the vibe didn’t really match as well but then again, I’m not sure I could take a whole album of high intensity either. Probably works better in small doses.

Grabs you from the outset and shoves it in your face. Likely a game changer in hip hop at the time but is much more socially conscious than some of the other rap and hip hop listened to as part of this process so far and the better for it. Some of the beats sound a little dated now but I think it gives it that nostalgic ‘old school’ vibe which has been emulated by so many since.

Wanted to dislike this more than I did. Genuinely catchy songs, and there is an obvious talent for writing earworms, although some of the album tracks are a bit lacking. I do find that it is a bit relentlessly saccharine and upbeat though and there’s only so much that I can take.

Nice enough but not finding much in the way of standout moments in this particular album. I get a similar slacker vibe from this to that I get from pavement and others of that ilk but others may have done it better than this album. Potential to rate it higher than I have but in my opinion they later refined their sound more (‘rings around the world’) and put out a generally better album (‘mwng’) as they progressed - surprised this particular one was included on the list.

Am a bit of a sucker for some of the things Dave Sitek has produced. Seems to do a great job of capturing layers of sound whilst still having key instrumentation/vocals shine through. I’ve found that a number of TVOTR albums have the front half stacked but lose momentum in the latter half but this holds up better than their others to the end. Doesn’t have my favourite songs of theirs on it (‘staring at the sun’, ‘wolf like me’) but is a more consistent record.

Been a while since I’ve listened to this in its entirety but enjoyed revisiting it and it holds up well, probably because it’s sparse and not over-engineered so not very much to have dated. A lot of criticism is/was directed towards Meg’s drumming but it is absolutely fitting here and gives space for the guitar and vocals to shine. I see this as having been a catalyst for some of the indie/garage rock revival that we saw at the start of the century.

For a band that released this album at a time of great experimentation, this is surprisingly bland. It’s not awful (which to be fair, I was expecting it to be) but came away from it feeling very little.

Liked this a lot more than I expected to. Got shades of ‘closer’ from it and was surprised to see that it was released in the same year. No fuss, and the darker, plodding sound was probably a significant departure from other releases at the time. Would like to look into their back catalog more following this.

Funky, percussive, warrants repeated listens but some great nuggets to be found. Although not my favourite of theirs, where I think they peaked a few years after this, it shows the promise that they had and broke new ground in the musical structures and influences that it could manifest.

It’s a shame that this plays it so safe as I genuinely do like Chapman’s voice. The melodies and instrumentation are so MOR though, as if they are contrived to be middle class dinner party songs.