It’s fine I guess. Not really my thing. Lot of punk influence in how they eschew “normal” sounds for vocals, both in melody and harmony. No songs that really stood out as good, with the possible exception of “I heard it through the Grapevine”, that one was decent. Probably a 4/10 for me.
Update two minutes later: checked the artist profile on Spotify and “Grapevine” has 3x the plays of the song in second place.
Rather liked this one. Not all amazing but all solid. Favorites were So Far Away, Why Worry? (added to vibes playlist immediately), The Man’s Too Strong (had heard before but didn’t really know), and Brothers in Arms. Only one I knew going into this was Money for Nothing which was definitely good but didn’t stand out as much in the context of the album. 7/10, 4 stars.
Impossible to not be familiar with most of this album, but never just listened to it straight through. Pretty good, though not as amazing as I hoped. Favorites were When the Levee Breaks and Stairway to Heaven. 8/10, 4 stars.
Favorites: harvester of sorrow, frayed edges of sanity.
Overall, goes hard. Pretty solid sound, though I was a little surprised how similar it sounded to Death Magnetic given that the albums released like twenty years apart. Still good. 8/10, 4 stars.
Insanely good. No real notes. Favorites: Hallowed be thy Name, Children of the Damned, and Run to the Hills. 10/10, 5 stars.
Not my favorite of theirs but a good album nonetheless, favorites were The Robots and The Man Machine
Indie folk overdose. Definitely a sound i can appreciate but this wasn’t my favorite. Still good but not an album I’ll go out of my way to listen to again. Ragged Wood and Your Protector were my favorites but not going on my main playlist soon. 5/10, 3 stars.
Way more fun and jazz than i expected from a rock album, which is awesome. Favorites: Your Gold Teeth and My Old School. 8/10, 4 stars
Liked it way more than i expected to. Reminds me of Shellac’s 1000 Hurts. Felt like something that needs to be played *loud* to properly appreciate. 7/10, 4 stars, really liked “Luau”.
Very good, though no songs in particular jumped out at me as a standout favorite. I need to learn a lot more about jazz.
Fine to good. I like Willie and this era of country music, but this album just didn’t speak to me. I did like Down Yonder and Can I Sleep in Your Arms. 5/10, 3 stars.
It was fine. Not really my thing, but I see why people like it. Bad Religion, Pink Matter, and Super Rich Kids were all pretty good, nothing else really jumped out at me. 5/10, going 3 stars instead of 2 just because it wasn't, like, bad, just kinda not for me.
Had no idea what to expect, was super funky and fun. Really enjoyed Change, Bonin’ in the Boneyard, One Day, and …Freddie’s Dead. 8/10, 4 stars.
Pretty great. Clearly an important stepping stone in the history of rap. Really liked 4 Better or 4 Worse and Soul Flower. 7/10, 4 stars.
It’s good. Could definitely hear some of the influences this had on the evolution of rock. Felt like it ran a bit long to me, there weren’t any bad tracks but a lot just kinda blended together. A few standouts, including In The Cage, Carpet Crawlers, and Silent Sorrows in Empty Boats. 6/10, 3 stars.
Probably my favorite album of all time. It’s perfect. Every note, every line, every variation of every theme. 10/10, 5 stars. All favorites, but both parts of Shine on You Crazy Diamond + Wish You Were Here top the list. Rest in peace Syd.
You know what, this was a lot better than I expected. All I really knew of Elvis is that my late gen-x band director loved him and he built his career on imitating black artists while playing to white audiences. I figured this was gonna be pretty lame but honestly it’s really good. Pretty decent range and quite a few that I saved to my playlist. Favorites were Long Black Limousine, Power of my Love, True Love Travels on a Gravel Road, and Kentucky Rain. 7/10, 4 stars.
This was already my favorite Kraftwerk album, love it. Songs that stood out on this listen were Trans-Europe Express (as usual) and Franz Schubert. Hard to overstate how important this album was for the evolution of electronic music, and I’m so thankful I got to see parts of it performed live a while back. 9/10, 4 stars
Neat sound, but not the kinda thing I want to listen to everyday. Unapologetically putting basically the entire album on my “vibes” playlist, but only Silence, Plastic, and We Carry On will go anywhere near my main playlist. 6/10, 3 stars.
Somewhere between fine and good. I like southern gothic sounds but aside from “John Finn’s Wife” and “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry” this one was kinda forgettable, though I might like it more if I were in a different mood. 5/10, 3 stars.
Oh hey that’s the album that one song is from. Somehow never intentionally listened to Cream before but this was good. Sunshine of Your Love, Strange Brew, and Take it Back were both great. The rest was also good, though jumped out at me less. 7/10, 4 stars.
I mean, it’s Ray Charles. Genius is a pretty appropriate label. Two Years of Torture, Come Rain or Come Shine, and Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying were the standouts. 7/10, 4 stars.
Really liked this whole thing. Definitely my kind of sound, though not perfect. Favorites were Definitive Gaze, Shot by Both Sides, Burst, and Parade. 9/10, 4 stars.
I really liked this. Fascinating mix of genres, moods, styles, instruments, techniques... they were all over the place, and while I can see how that might get old for some people it just happened to work for me. Favorite tracks: Wish I Was Skinny, Rodney King (Song for Lenny Bruce), and Lazarus. 7/10, 4 stars
Solid. Not really a huge fan of acappella music, but this was just nice and calm and kinda meditative. Everything kinda blended together, but two that stood out were How Long and Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain. Probably won't revisit this one much but I'm glad I checked it out and might throw it on again for the vibes sometime. 6/10, 3 stars.
It's good. I wasn't expecting to particularly care for this album, figuring it was just gonna be some commercial radio hits from back in the day that my mom liked, but it's honestly quite well done. I don't think it hit me as hard as a lot of other people, most of the songs in here are solid but don't really resonate with me too much. That said, The Stranger and Only The Good Die Young were both really good. 7/10, 3 stars.
Solid. I don't think it was as good as some of his work with the White Stripes, but well made and enjoyable throughout, if not mind-blowing. Favorite tracks were Blunderbuss, Weep Themselves to Sleep, and Love is Blindness (Bonus Track). 7/10, 3 stars.
I liked this quite a bit. I have little to no knowledge of R&B so I was going into this without any prior context and had a great time. Favorite tracks were Sorry Ain't Enough, Eternal Life, and Don't Shoot Guns Down. Don't Shoot Guns Down in particular stood out as just kinda weird but shockingly catchy. The whole album was very well made, and I think I'll be revisiting this one at some point.
The more I listen to Steely Dan the more I just get it. This stuff just rules. It's such a great vibe, the perfect blend of funky rock and jazzy blues. Favorite tracks were East St. Louis Toodle-Oo, Any Major Dude Will Tell You, and Charlie Freak. 8/10, 4 stars.
Certainly not bad, but really didn't grip me the way I was expecting it to - after a pretty strong opener it just kind of blended together and I didn't really care for it. That said, the tracks Conduit for Sale! and Here bumped it up a bit. 6/10, 3 stars.
Fine, I guess? Honestly pretty forgettable, thought not outright offensive to listen to. Aside from the icon piano intro to Clocks, not a lot that really stood out, though I did enjoy the track "A Rush Of Blood To The Head". Otherwise, it was just background noise. Not bad background noise, but the more I think about it the more I'm annoyed that it didn't even make the effort to at least offend me so I would feel *something*. 4/10, 2 stars.
Really liked that. Definitely going to be listening to this one again, sounded like a cool halfway point between Vashti Bunyan and Led Zeppelin. Is that a crazy way to put it? Whatever, that's what I was thinking as I listened to it. 7/10, four stars.
A very enjoyable listen. Somehow, I've never gone out of my way to listen to Elton John before, his stuff has always just been in the ether and I'd picked up bits and pieces but never just put on his work to intentionally check it out. This was really well made and it's obvious why it's on the 1001 Albums list. Favorite tracks were Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I've Seen That Movie Too, Social Disease, and Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting). I think I've Seen That Movie Too was my number one favorite on the album. I was going to include Benny And The Jets because it started strong but then idk it just kind of lost me. Anyway, good stuff. 8/10, 4 stars.
This was *insanely* good. How have I never listened to Janis Joplin before? Embarrassingly, my only real exposure to her to date has been... what, I think she comes up in School of Rock, and there's that 30 Rock arc, but that's about it. This album is super good, listened to it straight through and then immediately started listening to it again. Genuinely difficult to pull out a couple favorites but the two that immediately ended up saved were Move Over and Me And Bobby McGee. I'm honestly leaning towards a 9 or 10 out of 10, five stars.
Pretty clear why this album is so hugely influential. Really good stuff. Not exactly my sound but still really enjoyable. Favorite tracks were Starman and Suffragette City. 8/10, 4 stars.
