Bit dull and dreary.
Overblown and not in a way that appeals to me.
Another album that doesn't go anywhere.
Nice noises, but an hour of it isn't for me.
Title track is a masterpiece. Most of the points for that.
The rest is overlong, not very interesting. Often sounds like a soundtrack to a planetarium show.
Welcome to the Machine is awful.
Started strong, drifted off a bit after the first three songs.
Probably won't listen again
I mean... 5 stars obviously
Amazing, good enough to excuse when the bike horn comes along in You Still Believe in Me.
Not listened to it in full for years till now. Gives me goosebumps.
It's impossibly beautiful.
Going in blind, I don't know any songs from this.
Title track really good.
And then gradually I started hating it more and more. Considered a point for the influence on blur, but I just dislike everything about it from track 2 till the end. The sound, the singing voice, the drumming, the songs, everything.
Only know the one single from this.
Can't believe he was in his forties when they made this. Only Janie's Got a Gun is surprising at all.
The rest is fine, what you'd expect, Love in an Elevator is plenty 80s soft metal for me. It's ok.
Won't listen again.
Another one that I don't think I've ever heard any of before.
It's pretty incredible.
I think it would be a definite 5 star if I were American. But I'm not, so I admire it rather than it speaking to me. 4.
It's a vibe. I feel like I'm in a 70s TV show.
If you want your funk uncut, you found it.
It's two albums, both with no idea left out.
It feels like it never ends.
There's probably a great album in there.
Never heard of this.
It's background music to a bar 20 years ago, or a scene from a film where the protagonist is in a taxi and it's raining.
Pretty average.
Interesting, never listened to this before.
Confirmed I just don't like Neil Young.
Thought a Hot in Herre was going to break out at one point, but no such luck.
It's ok.
Looking forward to hearing all of this.
I'd be impressed by any album that can claim a better opening track than the title track here. It's just sublime.
The rest is easy to listen to, he has a beautiful voice. Nothing overstays its welcome, and at 34 minutes, neither does the album.
4/5
I don't hate it. I didn't enjoy it.
I don't think I know the xx, but I know the name.
Intro is beautiful.
There's a lot of New Order in there, with distracted vocals on top.
Shelter comes along and I think I'm starting to get hooked.
Infinity reminds me of that Chris Isaak song, but doesn't work for me.
The last couple of songs not grabbing me. It's ok.
Another Kinks album so soon?
Better than the other one, but I don't like.
Can't work out why this is on the list. It's fine.
Borderline 5. I love the way their voices sound together, so I enjoyed listening to it. Owned it in a box set, but not sure I ever listened to it all before.
Some classics (Scarborough Fair, Homeward Bound, 59th bridge street) a terrific run of For Emily, A Poem on the Underground and Silent Night to finish.
But a few less interesting songs, and I really didn't like A Simple Desultory Philippic.
Never heard of her, never want to.
So bland it makes me want to punch a wall.
Starts good (Wearin That Loved On Look), ends good (In The Ghetto). Plus Suspicious Minds is in the bonus tracks.
In between it veers towards the club singer (particularly I'll Hold You In My Heart) and occasionally the more excruciating bits of the 68 TV special.
Not my bag, but it's alright.
I love this, I've always loved this. Easy 5 stars.
It's hilarious, so completely inconsequential but beautifully told at the same time.
Blinded By The Lights is incredible, and the tracks with guest voices just make the whole album better.
I love love love it
Agree that Original Pirate Material has aged better and should be on the list, but as well as this absolute classic not instead.
I actually quite like the music, but I so so hate Jim Kerr's voice it overwhelms any points it might have got.
I don't suppose there's an album of instrumental versions?
Gotta Get Up and Driving Along - nice start.
Without You - absolute banger.
Jump Into The Fire is great and rocks with an admirably insane mix.
I'll never Leave You could have been Brian Wilson.
That's not bad - the rest is less fun but has enjoyably deranged moments.
Almost every track is a half a minute of music in a song that lasts four minutes. Then the same, without a beat, with a beat, with a beat and some synth strings, without a beat but with strings etc. No real progression.
There's a reason it all worked in adverts - those snippets are pretty good. An hour of it is way too much.
It's ok if you don't want to listen to music, just to cover the silence and thoughts in your head. I guess that's why it sold so many copies.
South side is good though, but then Machete comes along and is like a weak Prodigy copy.
Horseshit.
Just appalling nonsense.
Stunning voice, over pub blues
This is absolutely fire.
Love it.
Some good beats but man, there's a lot of it.
The chatting bits are especially tedious.
I liked when it finished.
Good vibes, good flow, good beats, and the sun is shining in London.
Not totally classic blur but an interesting step into experiments, especially from Coxon.
The bangers are there, (Beetlebum, Song 2, On Your Own), some classics (Killer For Your Love, MOR, Death of a Party), some good freakouts, some out and out weird ones (Theme From Retro, Essex Dogs) and a Coxon solo effort seemingly dropped in from a different record entirely.
Not listened to it end to end in a long while. I enjoyed it. Except the pointless "hidden track" obviously.
Decent enough background music.
No idea if I listened to the right album to be honest, but I got the idea.
Nice.
Very mellow protest album
Title track great. Dunsford's Fancy is nice. The rest is either like The Pogues but boring or worse (Sweet Thing, and especially The Stolen Child).
Didn't enjoy it once the first track was over.
Underneath all the electronics, the key to this album is purely great tunes. Only the title track is a bit too form over content.
It's astonishing how something that could be austere and impersonal becomes beautiful.
This aside from making synthesisers sound like this in the 70s.
This is a great album.
Track A - mega cool
Track B - sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher is telling him off
Track C - I'm in New York and it's night time. It's raining and the roads are bright with reflected light. Down these mean streets we must go.
Track D - wtf? Who invited the flamenco dancer? I'm getting Police Squad vibes.
A curate's egg.
Knopfler is a really good guitarist and the guitar tone is sweet. But he doesn't seem to have any confidence in his singing voice here, and other than Sultans of Swing it just passes by without leaving an impression.
I have never heard of Turbonegro, and when it started I thought it must be a spinal tap style comedy record, but weird to be on here.
Then it became more like if Wyld Stallyns were real. Or more generously, if Generation Terrorists era Manics were really stupid.
I guess it's glam punk metal.
It's an album that makes me wonder whether to continue with this list at all.
Charitably, maybe if you were a 15 year old boy when this came out and it was your first exposure to rock music, you'd have some affection for the way it made you feel.
Too much Robert Plant.
Great riffs, great grooves.
Too much everything.
Then too much Robert Plant again.
Too many filler tracks.
Kashmir is awesome, be better if he shut up even more. He's like a demanding puppy squealing because he can't bear anyone else getting any attention.
Ah it's ok.
Makes sense it was only fleetingly in the book.
Loved this when I was 12.
Side one holds up pretty well, side two bit less interesting.
Feels like I should be in a planetarium.
Amazed to discover I didn't completely hate this. It's fast drums like they've just discovered how to do the double kick bass and are going to use it all the time, man shouting and then a slightly incongruous twiddly guitar solo.
Every time something interesting happens like in Angel of Death or Epidemic, it goes back to formula. Man shouting about mutilation, lots of fast drums and then twiddly guitar solo.
Sometimes hilarious when he tries to fit too many words in for the speed of the music, special mention for Reborn here.
The deliberately unpleasant lyrics just wash over you after a while.
I didn't know them before today, but the two big songs are definitely a cut above the rest. Angel of Death especially - the lyrics are genuinely unpleasant and the music actually rocks.
Heavy on the flange pedal, goo stuff.
Bit samey but a decent noise
Pub blues, and when Lane is singing, there's nothing interesting at all.
Rod has a bit of something about him, and makes Stay With Me into a banger.
All in all a bit nothing much, then an egregious version of Memphis, Tennersee shows up.
Boring 80s rock by numbers.
Why not a proper Cult album?
Not really listened to any of his stuff before other than those you can't ignore. Some of the beats here are nice.
The lyrics move between glorifying and being self pitying about his lifestyle, sometimes in the same track. Not much other than that, the American obsession with guns is in full effect.
Drags on if you get bored with that shit.
This feels more like an interesting experiment than a fully fledged album.
It's not unpleasant, but nothing really goes anywhere.
I really prefer music to soundscapes.
It's alright. Production seems a bit flat - I think I remember at the time maybe only hearing the songs I know on Under A Blood Red Sky where they sound MUCH better. That sounds like an exciting band, whereas this doesn't much to me. I prefer Sunday Bloody Sunday without a violin.
It's not changed my general ambivalence towards U2.
The songs I knew, I didn't like.
I dislike the Sesame St energy of Wordy Rappinghood, and the "James Brown" cringe of Genius of Love.
But pretty much everything else about this is great (until Booming and Zooming which is bad).
It's got such a great vibe all the way through, just love it. Very surprised by how good it got.
A step up from landfill indie, at its best wants to be Brianstorm but isn't.
I don't understand it, but I don't dislike it.
Unfair, but this isn't a patch on the Pixies albums that preceded it. Lots of tracks, mostly absolutely fine but I think the dub ones should probably have been left in the studio as an experiment gone wrong. I can't really remember any of them except Headache.
I know nothing of Stephen Stills except he is in the Neil Young musical universe, so have not explored further.
This is alright. Meat and potatoes 70s dad music but done well, especially side 1. When there's a bit of gospel or Booker T on the organ in there, it's better, where he just plays blues it's a bit dull. It's not a great album though.
Eric Clapton on a song called "Go Back Home" though... Do we think he didn't see the lyrics and just assumed it was his kind of thing?
One that I really should have listened to before, but never have.
Great tracks: Station to Station, Golden Years, Stay
Less enamoured of the others, but that gives it a solid 4 stars
Impossible to stay still listening to this.
Great vibe all the way from start to finish.
Initial reaction. Tedious Led Zep style rock... More than ever they sound like they just happen to have been formed in Seattle. Positive - Cornell is way better than Robert Plant.
Then Head Down comes along which is something a bit different, Black Hole Sun (I admit is better than the Moog Cookbook version) is great, then back to the grind. Am I really only halfway through this? Double check this isn't some extended reissue version... no, it really is 70 minutes long. Kickstand is like a tea break, then back to work for another 20 minutes.
Is this what you had when we were were listening to Britpop?
All I knew of New York Dolls is that Morrissey was a huge fan.
It sounds like Iggy, Bowie, Pistols, Reed, Ramones, Bolan, Faces all at once.
All the people influencing and influenced by it are in there, but I can't say it's particularly great.
I bet they were amazing live.
Had never heard any of the songs on this - and it's really good.
Boogie On Reggae Woman is a blast, You Haven't Done Nothin' is amazing, They Won't Go When I Go is deranged but in a good way.
Sun is shining here today, and this is the right album.
I mean, the vibe and the playing on this is impeccable, and yet ... I find it hard to say whether I enjoyed it. There's stretches where it sounds like he's left the band to play while he goes off for a cig - the band is incredible though. And the song where it's so hard for him because he's forced to cheat on his woman made me laugh.
The length of time it takes for him to say "I'm about to sing a song" before By The Time I get To Phoenix is insane. A truly heroic amount of filler.
And yet... A lot of the time I'm thinking it's really good, especially side 1.
This is my bag. It never settles down into one groove but is packed with great tunes.
Novocane -> Jack Ass -> Where It's At is an incredible run of songs.
Like an Elvis impersonator. Then sings about chaining his girl to a wall.
Last song is good.
I like everything about it except his voice. It's not that it's bad or objectionable, just devoid of any flourishes or almost any personality, which may be the aim. I kept imagining how it would be if it was being sung by John Cale.
This could be why I much preferred this to what little Nick Drake I've heard before, there's much more going on. I liked it. I need to listen to it a bit more.
Another that I'm glad to have listened to, but not disappointed when it eventually finished.
I got Odelay the other day, and occasionally this is like that but without the songs.
I didn't hate it, but I didn't much enjoy it.
Listened to the Bjork song it sampled afterwards, that was good.
At its best, it's like a Gary Numan vibe. Never been a massive fan, but I listened twice which is an indication of something.
It was alright but loses a point for having the same name as his other albums. What a wanker.
Opening three songs are undeniable bangers. Just incredible, I'm wanting it to carry on surprising me, but it doesn't.
On those songs, and In God's Country, Bono's voice matches the general feel of the song, on the others it just grates on me.
Still those three songs are amazing, the rest I can overlook. Had definitely had enough by the end.
Counterpoint: unfortunately it isn't the beats and lyrics that they fear.
This is Red Hot Chilli Peppers if they rocked and were filled with the impotent rage of youth at an unfair world. It's not their fault that every band who copied them sucked.
And it really rocks.
I remember listening to BBC Radio 5 at breakfast time in 2009 and they had invited RATM on to perform live because someone decided Killing In The Name should be number one as a protest against Simon Cowell 🤷♂️. I still remember Sheila Fogerty shouting "get rid of it" as at 9 in the morning, they not unexpectedly didn't do what they'd been told and sang the full lyrics. Almost spilt my tea.
I was a Suede guy, loved (and bought) the singles from the first album and before when they came out, but never quite got this album. I went straight to Bernard Butler's solo album which is brilliant.
Listening now, I thought I still didn't get it... Until the second half - from New Generation onwards I loved it. It all just clicked, the pretension, the voice, Butler's incredible guitar work. The whole thing wears its influences very heavy, but there's nothing wrong with that.
If thou likest thy folk music, thou shall like this.
Best consumed in small batches.
No build up, straight in with Bridge Over Troubled Water. There's at least your first four stars already. It's an insanely good song.
Then some pleasant silly songs, at least a couple more stone cold classics, and one weird one.
I think it was the only good album my parents owned. It's a 5 from me.
Really good. They're such a tight unit, Foxton's bass is great and Weller is very angry.
You can hear echoes of The Beatles and The Who, and then The Place I Love is Blur, In The Crowd could almost be Lemonheads but with a Tomorrow Never Knows guitar solo. English Rose comes out of nowhere and is lovely.
I'm not feeling all of his suburban rage against the wage slaves, but it's still got a lot of great songs on it. Down In The Tube Station At Midnight is terrific.
Never listened to this whole album before.
Listened to the UK track listing. It's fabulous. Can't imagine what this would have sounded like to 1967 ears. Amazing rock music that's the best of its time and then 3rd Stone from the sun sounds like it's got a controlled version of European Son or Sister Ray thrown in. Loved it.
Listened to the US version. Better.
If you want something that goes on for ages and then you hear Layla, watch Goodfellas.
I don't know why, but I was not expecting something this rich, mellow and accessible.
It's like one of those orchestral soul albums of the 70s but with a bit of edge and a modern feel.
It's great. A real album as well, it works as a whole.
Another band I've never listened to before. Their manager apparently said “Look, record two more records like this, and you’ll be big stars.”
Hmmm....
I like the guy's screeching, and the drone and feedback bits obviously Velvet inspired like Blow Daddy-O, but the interesting bits don't quite make up for the anti-music tracks like Thriller!.
Still, much rather this that a double album of Clapton.
Wasn't looking forward to this, but when it started off a bit like Trout Mask, I thought "hello, have I misjudged it?" But then it went to the endless twiddly nonsense shit I was expecting. And then a church organ came along.
I like Rick Wakeman because he knows how preposterous this stuff was, but that doesn't make it a pleasure to listen to. Overblown nonsense can be good when done with humour, this ain't doing it for me.
More 70s pub rock.
I guess we wouldn't have Spinal Tap without it.
I do enjoy Smoke On The Water, especially the lyrics just being a step by step factual account of how they ended up using the Rolling Stones mobile studio at a substandard hotel. Respect to funky Claude.
Never heard of this band.
Perfectly acceptable 00s indie music, with that drum sound. And then he starts singing. Oh my god.
I really can't take to it. When the other guy sings it's fine but not massively interesting, but the falsetto wailing just makes me laugh.
There's something not very savoury about a lot of the lyrics too, maybe it's a character being played but it's not good enough to get away with it.
This is wild.
You cannot listen to this while doing anything else.
You cannot have this on in the background.
You might hate it.
Side 1: pretty damn good. Don't Bother Me is a highlight. (And obviously All My Loving.)
Side 2: hmm, some of the covers don't quite work, but finishes with Money which is perfect.
From this to Happiness Is A Warm Gun in 5 years is still mind-blowing.
Love Damon but a whole album of this gets a bit much.
The singles are great, and the bonus track Soulchild remix of 19-2000 is amazing.
Another Johnny Cash prison album on the list? Ok
This one's better. Song selection is insane.
Again, didn't hate it, didn't love it.
The yanks really love their guns, eh?
It's good but starts to get tiresome - at about Heat. I did persevere and made it to hear him rhyme Yonkers with bonkers, and the line "I love you like a fat kid loves cake".
Bleak, nihilistic, repetitive.
Never heard of this guy.
Like a lugubrious Nilsson and They Might Be Giants mixed together. The voice suits the songs and the production is nicely lush.
I like it.
I like Julian Cope, and I like good pop songs.
The inspiration for Wyld Stallyns make their debut.
It's a weird thing - a bit like the Slayer album, the guitar solo stuff is often just plonked on top of whatever the rest of the song is doing. He's undoubtedly doing difficult things, but you don't need it slathered all over everything.
Eruption is particularly egregious. It's just that annoying bit on stage at the end of a song when the guitarist wants to show off - but they put it on the album as a real song.
Janie's Cryin' has him scale it back a bit, and it's better for it. But then there's nothing very interesting going on. I'll see what I think when I get the album where he discovered the synth.
I did not enjoy this.
Good blues, good energy, he makes the guitar sing. Can't tell the songs apart but who cares?
Perfect for falling asleep on a plane to.
I won't go back to the ones I slept through.
Singles are bangers, rest is boring
When side 2 has Freddie, weirdness and rock... Why have I just listened to Roger Taylor and Brian May singing boring songs on side 1???
If you liked Gravelsnd but not Paul Simon, this would be perfect.
Absolutely straight up AC/DC. No nuance, no nothing.
All rawk. I enjoyed it.
Nuggets like garage rock. Too many covers, but pleasant enough.
He can write a mean lyric. Can't sing them though.
This is great, all interesting and the singles are absolutely gold.
I liked the bits when he wasn't singing.
An upbeat Motherless Children is an odd choice.
Otherwise dull.
It's a good vibe, quite enjoyed it
Interludes are always annoying though, and it goes on for ever.
It's just there.
Someone wants to be Lennon.
Didn't expect the steel drums.
Good start, good end, won't revisit the middle.
Hated Happy Day.
Track 1: Great - he's found the synthesiser! This is going to be fun.
Track 2: Jump - driven by the synth. Awesome. The guitar solo actually fits the music even.
Track 3 - 6: Where's the synth gone? Did they hide it from him and force him to play those stupid solos with too many notes?
Track 7: It's baack. I'll Wait. This is a good tune.
Tracks 8-9. Boooo.
Is a good album gone bad.
Wild to think there was a time when someone decided " Let Me Entertain You" should be the 8th track, not the opener it obviously should be.
Angels is up there with Mr Brightside as one of the songs that literally everyone in Britain will sing along to. Difficult to judge something like that.
But it's a typical pop album, a few absolute bangers, and a lot of lesser songs.
The highs are high though.
I wasn't expecting to enjoy this much, but I wasn't expecting to dislike it quite this much. I remember their cover of I Don't Wanna Talk About It which was fine but dull
I had to go and look at what the drum machine he used cost back in 1988, and it was £999. It sounds so bad and cheap now. It's all over everything and just turns boring background music into something much worse. Just use drums. It sounds like a bad double act in an old folks home that no-one is listening to.
Final track, Apron Strings ditches the drum machine and it's such a relief. Doesn't get it an extra star though. I hated this.
Very nice. No idea if it's good
Well it's only a single album, so that's a good start.
Whole Lotta Love - the Top of the Pops version was better. It was all riff, no singing, no stupid cymbal solo in the middle, no Robert Plant sounding like he's about to sneeze. I thought that was going to be the good song.
Then ooh baby baby, Robert Plant does his thing. I no like. Some of the music is good, but that godawful wailing over the top makes it unlistenable. Baby.
Moby Dick started well, no singing, but it's then a drum solo? WTF? There's a version on the deluxe album that misses the drum solo and the singing, 99 seconds long that's great.
This is worse than the other led zep album I've had on here.
A real mixed bag - starts off funky as hell, Runaway Child, Running Wild is ten minutes long and great. Then half of it is 3 minute pop songs, Motown smooth, which are also mighty fine.
More than I expected and a nice listen.
