Musically, I like this. Singing/rapping/lyrics, less so. At first, I thought maybe it was a little dated, but was thinking dated to late-90's aesthetics. Saw that it came out in '91, so actually ahead of its time!
Standout track(s): Unfinished Sympathy, Hymn of the Big Wheel
It's been a long time since I've listened to this all the way through. Of course I know the singles, and they're all classics, but the "deep cuts" here are great, too. Not much more to add. All-time great album.
Standout Tracks: Baby I'm a Star, Purple Rain (duh), I Would Die 4 U (duh)
This is another famous album where I mostly knew the well-known singles. Love the tone of Mick Ronson's guitar. It's so cool and recognizable. I'm a fan of Bowie, but don't think I've ever actually listened to this album front-to-back before. Great stuff. The "deep" cuts all deliver.
Standout Track(s): Soul Love, Moonage Daydream, Rock 'n' Roll Suicide
It’s Stevie, so there are interesting things happening here. But, overall it was a bit of a slog. Lots of songs get close to something interesting, but none get all the way there. A bit of a disappointment for me.
Standout Track(s): Please Don’t Go
I'm more partial to "sad" Sinatra, but I really love this. These songs still sound fresh. Not in their style, but the quality of music and singing is timeless. The music has real dynamics to it. Parts are softer, parts are louder, it’s nice.
Standout Track(s): You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me, I’ve Got You Under My Skin
I'm not very far into this project, and I keep encountering albums where I know the singles/hits pretty well, but have basically zero knowledge of the album cuts. For me, the singles were by-far the strongest tracks here with a couple deeper cuts surprising me.
Standout Track(s): Gasoline Dreams, B.O.B.
This is pretty standard late-70's punk, but on the catchier end of that spectrum. It's good stuff, but not much to set it apart from similar-sounding bands from that time.
Standout Track(s): Lost and Found, Memories Are Made of This, New Centre of the Universe
This is one of the first albums I remember owning because I wanted it. I had the cassette and wore it out. Some great albums can be called masterpieces, this one is more of an achievement. Bruce set out to make a big album and it ended up being so much bigger than I'm sure he even thought. There's really not a weak track here (Working on the Highway is my least favorite, but it's not really bad).
Standout Track(s): Bobby Jean (one of my all-time favorite songs), Downbound Train, My Hometown
I was never able to get too into Liars. I did like a couple of the albums that came after this one (Drum's Not Dead, Sisterworld, and WIXIW), but I didn't give any of the other ones a chance. This is my first time hearing this album. I like it just fine when it's on, but don't see myself revisiting it.
Standout Track(s): Hold Hands and it Will Happen Anyway
There are very few examples in rock of bands that can really only do one thing, but do it so well it doesn't matter. I'd say that list is The Ramones and AC/DC. AC/DC is a band that I'd probably say isn't really "my thing" and yet I'm always surprised at how much I enjoy listening to them. This is a fun album. Nothing really jumped out at me, but it breezed by.
Standout Track(s): Highway to Hell (duh), Shot Down in Flames, Get it Hot
This is a favorite of mine. This was the only album of The Band that I'd heard for the longest time. Obviously, they have a ton of great songs on other albums, but this one is almost a "best of" for me, personally. Everything just sounds great here. There's a bit of a ramshackle feel to it, but everything is exactly where it needs to be.
Standout Track(s): Tears of Rage, To Kingdom Come, The Weight (duh), Chest Fever, I Shall Be Released
This is much darker than I expected. Moody might be a better word for it. I like the driving, yet somehow close to ambient vibe.
Standout Track(s): Europe Endless, Trans-Europe Express, Franz Schubert
Was not expecting the first lines of this album to be from The Modern Lovers' Roadrunner! I appreciate the innovative use of sound she employs here. It's not always something I find pleasing to listen to, but I do appreciate it. While, overall, this isn't really my thing, I did enjoy it. Paper Planes is just an amazing track.
Standout Track(s): Jimmy, Paper Planes, Come Around
I'm not really sure how to feel about a lot of dance music. I guess it's hard to judge it sitting in front of my computer and not on a dance floor. I like a lot of what they're doing here. There's a trippy, zoned-out quality to a lot of the songs that I like. There are also a lot of things that place this firmly in it's time period (early 90s).
Standout Track(s): Hear Me
It will never not blow my mind that an album that sounds this amazing was basically recorded by a dude in his basement. These are songs I heard a lot as a kid and classified them as cheeseball classic rock. Then, fairly recently, I heard More Than a Feeling and was shocked at how much I liked it. All of the songs sound a lot alike, but honestly, they hit on something special with this album, why not keep it going?
Standout Track(s): More Than a Feeling, Peace of Mind, Foreplay/Long Time, Hitch a Ride, All of them?!?!
This is a lot heavier than I expected. The riffs are big and the organ sounds cool. This just isn’t my thing, though.
Standout Track(s): Into the Fire
I'm a Jazz interloper. I like it and listen to it quite a bit, but I am not knowledgeable. It's all very gut-level for me. I like what I like, and I have trouble explaining why. This, I like. It's just the right amount of experimental, in my opinion. It has long jams, but they all go somewhere.
Standout Track(s): Bitches Brew, Miles Runs the Voodoo Down
I'm not a fan of this kind of pastiche. It's fun, and this album is fun, but there's a layer of remove there. The riffs are catchy, and there's a ton of personality in all of these songs. There's real talent here, it's not just mimicry. It just doesn't connect with me. Weird to think that this album is now older than the hair metal they drew inspiration from was at the time of it's recording.
Standout Track(s): I Believe in a Thing Called Love
Despite hearing very little of this band, I did know their rep for sonic experimentation. It's rare, though, when you hear a band experimenting, but also sounding like they're having fun. There are a few tracks that I start to find irritating, and then find myself being won over by them before they end. This album is my biggest surprise, so far, on this project. I can see myself coming back to it often.
Standout Track(s): The Worst Band in the World (If nothing else than hearing the source of the J Dilla sample!), Old Wild Men, Silly Love, Somewhere in Hollywood
I've actually been listening to this recently on my own. It's lost none of its punch for me. It's just so close to perfect, maybe even gets there. Even fitter/happier has its place here. I think sometimes albums that we loved when we were younger (I was 19 when this came out) can lose their impact over time. If anything, this album feels more relevant thematically to me now than it did then. That's probably not a good thing, but at least the music holds up, too.
Standout Track(s): This is obnoxious, but literally all of them.
This is more similar to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew than I expected. I'm not usually a fan of guitar playing like this, but I ended up liking a lot of it. I'm also surprised that I actually prefer the instrumental tracks to the ones with vocals. Overall, this is nice, but not something I'd see myself putting on regularly.
Standout Track(s): Incident at Neshabur
I've always seen this as the platonic ideal of a side project. Try some new stuff, have some fun, low stakes. This one just happened to produce and all-time classic song. The rest of the album is fun and touches on some cool sounds and techniques.
Standout Track(s): Genius of Love (duh), L'Elephant
I was very into this album when it was released. It's been 30+ years since I've revisited, though. While I found Gangsta Rap fun, it wasn't something I could play around the house. I gravitated toward (at the time) more "alternative" rap. This holds up, in my opinion. It's definitely "of it's time", but not dated.
Standout Track(s): Mr. Wendel, Raining Revolution, Fishin' 4 Religion, U, Tennessee, Washed Away
I’m trying to give every album a chance here, but man, I just hated this. There’s a certain kind of white guy blues that I just can’t handle and this is the epitome of that.
Standout track(s): None
There's a lot of cool stuff here. The organ sound is great, and the harmonies are so unique and beautiful. However, I find myself wishing some of the songs were tighter or even broken into smaller songs. Of course, that wouldn't be Yes, then, would it?
Standout Track(s): Yours is No Disgrace, I've Seen All Good People
There's a lot of cool stuff here. The organ sound is great, and the harmonies are so unique and beautiful. However, I find myself wishing some of the songs were tighter or even broken into smaller songs. Of course, that wouldn't be Yes, then, would it?
Standout Track(s): Yours is No Disgrace, I've Seen All Good People
When I saw this was from 2008, I didn’t think I’d be into it. It seems like sort of a throwback. I dug the soul and jazz samples. I liked the vibe overall. I didn’t get a chance to listen closely, but I may revisit this at some point.
This album is slick and a mess at the same time. To me, that’s its charm. There’s so much going on here, and it all hits. You can hear a lot of the sound that dominated indie rock in the 2010s here. I don’t know if this is my favorite Fleetwood Mac album, but it’s the most fun.
Standout Track(s): Think About Me, Sara, I Know I’m Not Wrong, Honey Hi
I’ve heard some Stooges, but really nothing from this album. This could come out next week and sound fresh. The crunch on the guitars is amazing. Iggy sounds so sinister and cool. But it’s the drumming that really jumps out at me. This really stretches out and jams a lot more than I expected.
Standout Track(s): TV Eye, Dirt, 1970,
I mean, this is the best thing any Beatle did post-breakup, right? I never get tired of this album. I don't know what else to say, I just love it.
Standout Track(s): My Sweet Lord, Isn't it a Pity, What is Life, If Not For You, Behind That Locked Door, Beware of Darkness, Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll), Awaiting on You All, All Things Must Pass
This is fun stuff, and obviously important music. The building blocks for so much that came after is here. That said, I just can't get into pre-Beatles rock 'n' roll. It's a nice listen, but rarely goes deeper than that for me.
Standout Track(s): Blueberry Hill, What's the Reason I'm Not Pleasing You
