Difficult to really know/hear the importance or significance of this album. We all hear about the Rolling Stones as this legendary band, but difficult to hear it here. Music is decent, but really feels like context is missing.

Not a fan of the old school back and forth and echoing style of rap from the 80's/early 90's, but you can't deny some of the hits from this record that carry into today IE It's Tricky and Walk This Way with Aerosmith. Easy to hear some of the early samples that are still used and today, which is fun. I'm glad we have evolved beyond all the just completely unnecessary filler that is plaguing some of these lyrical tracks - with "Now listen up here cause i'm here to say..." elementary school rhymes, which I guess pretty much started because of Run DMC and early rappers. I find all of the filler and useless intro-sentences really take away from the song Proud to Be Black, which would have a lot stronger of a message if it were better written without so many bars wasted on leading up to the point.

wow Pastime Paradise. No idea Gangsta's Paradise had direct inspiration from this song. Overall this album is incredibly soulful and funky. The lyrics are powerful and significant, but at times hidden behind music that feels upbeat and positive. It's a very interesting juxtaposition. Not to mention the obvious hits Sir Duke, I Wish, Isn't She Lovely; Pasttime Paradise and Village Ghetto Land were very interesting songs that made me stop and reflect for a bit. Disc 2 was a bit exhausting and difficult to get through. With the exception of Isn't She Lovely, I just got tired of it. There were so many parts where there was some dialogue or dramatic scenes in Black Man and Isn't She Lovely specifically that seemed so out of place and distorted that it was difficult to enjoy the song and in Black Man specifically, lost meaning. I understand the point of Black Man is to shine light on the achievements of people of color throughout history, but the part with the teachers and children regurgitating facts was more annoying than powerful since you couldn't really hear what they were saying other than the......color of the skin of the person they were shouting about. Is it about the accomplishment, the person, or are we just reducing them to the color of their skin? I think we could think of a better way to highlight the achievements of black or indigenous individuals in the past. Overall, If we put Isn't She Lovely on Disc 1 and just removed Disc 2......it would be a better experience.

This feels like David Bowie's existential dread album. 66 years old, just had a major heart attack, dark, seems like there's a lot of anxiety, dread and despair. For someone not familiar with Bowie's music, this album does not reflect him in his prime. I just feel sorry for him. I agree with others that said it was probably included assuming that it would be his last album. Just because it's their last album, doesn't mean everyone should listen to it. But maybe I would feel different about this album if I was a bit closer to the end of my own life.

Steve Huey said that this album is the first "artistic punk" album and I couldn't agree more. The album is exactly a blend of poetry and punk. Each song is a story with a specific purpose in mind, but some of the songs have so much going on (Land) that it needs to be analyzed. Elegie is straight up a poem set to music. There's one part in Break It Up when you can hear her obviously pounding on her chest while she sings.....which I have never heard before from a studio album. I can really understand why this album was so important as it is very unique and really needs to be analyzed. I completely get why Patti Smith has been such a huge influence on a lot of female artists even to today. There's definitely punk vibes, but the music perfectly accompanies the story that's being told, ranging from smooth to chaotic.

This entire album is 30 minutes long, so I guess within the span of my life, I can find 30 minutes to listen to it. This isn't what I think about when I think of rock music, but I can imagine myself cruising down Route 66 with it on while i'm not really thinking about anything. It feels like default easy listening. Not threatening, not controversial, very safe, the kind of rock music your Christian grandmother probably likes because she saw it on Good Morning America. Nothing groundbreaking here. I think this album was included simply because the author thought people should know who Tom Petty was.

Having never actually listened to Sinatra or the other crooners, I guess this is my chance. I only really appreciated the album on my second listen. The first listen, everything just kinda blended together. Second listen everything came together. Pull up the lyrics and digest what he's saying as even if they kinda sound similar, the nuances of each song are just perfect. I wasn't ready for this so early in the morning. This is a concept album mostly about loneliness and losing/lacking love. I think this type of music really hits different for expressing this feeling as it just seems to stop you in your tracks. He doesn't say much in the songs, but what he does say is incredibly impactful and perfectly encapsulates the emotion and there's nothing else to say. Everyone that's gone through it gets it. I like the little jazz sprinklings that you can hear in the album. In sections of Mood Indigo, it just sprinkles lightly in the background, just teasing you, in stark contrast to the absolute despair of the lyrics. I Get Along Without You Very Well is so comical. The whole song about him saying how great he's doing without her, except he's constantly thinking about her and reminded of her. Deep in a Dream is genius. A quick snapshot of him smoking in bed, falling asleep and dreaming of the girl he lost, startling himself awake and just being like......damn....... it perfectly follows up I Get Along Without You Very Well because even when we convinces ourselves we're doing great, there are these moments where memories just force it upon us to reflect and it almost starts the cycle over again. Can't We be Friends? Classic Friendzone. Love the jazzy vibe of this song and again, absolutely relatable. Timeless. These songs are just so relatable for anyone that has gone through a breakup and Frank did a fantastic job of covering so many nuances of what we go through. One particular note is that he doesn't seem to particularly disdain or hate the women who broke his heart, he's just heartbroken. At least the album ends on a hopeful note as I'll Never Be the Same and This Love of Mine are both decidedly hopeful. I learned after the fact that Frank didn't write this stuff, which is a same. But everyone that worked on it did a phenomenal job.

I have no clue how someone could conceptualize this album in 2006 as a 24 year old because it sounds like it's from the 1500's and we're on a pirate ship sailing the seas. There is such an incredible whimsical approach with lyrics that are more similar to Ye Olde English than anything we typically hear today. Her metaphors and analogies are so unusual that it makes it difficult to keep up with what the heck is going on in any of the 10+minute songs. Use of vocabulary is exceptional because it's just so out of place for today. This really is musical poetry and each time I hear an unusual analogy, I have to go back and try and figure it out. Like in Monkey & Bear, when the bear is frolicking in the sea and the bear's shedding it's clothes, which "fell off as easy as if sloughed from boiled tomatoes". Ok it's easy when it's written, but when you randomly hear her talking about boiled tomatoes in a song, you wonder how we got here. Also, she plays the harp. WHAT?! Honestly it seems unfair to have this album on a list with some of the more vapid, well known singers. Popular singers certainly have more public sway, but in terms of true artistic ability and value, I find this album on a completely higher plane.