For me, the very worst excesses of rock and live albums combined into one - pointless noodling, extended drum solos, and aimless virtuosity. This was a slog.

I was looking forward to this as I had never heard of it before. I very quickly realised it was not for me. It sounded like the birth of musical theatre - wordy, too thick a texture, and melodies that wandered all over the place. I was glad when it got to the last track, less glad when I found that track to be 10 minutes long.

Kind of drifted by… Good musicianship but lacked either riffs or melodies strong enough to make it stand out.

A bizarre mixture of styles, not particularly coherent but with enough strong singles (well spaced out through the album) to keep up its momentum. As a side note, Shout was being played on French radio when we went into the local shop for the first time this summer - it was followed by Just Like Heaven. A good start to the holiday.

The production elevates some of the weaker songs, but a couple of songs would benefit from some editing - great three minute songs that are dragged out to 5 minutes or more and lose impact as a result. I do find his voice quite grating at times, there are particular inflections that sound like Eric Cartman singing.

A bit of an odd one as a lot of it just sounded like the soundtrack to a standard 70s Hollywood film. I was expected a more distinctive (possibly stereotypically Indian) sound.

Not sure it is something that has to be listened to and doesn’t really do anything new beyond what they did before, which was hardly revolutionary. However, No Cars Go is my favourite track of theirs so I am giving a bonus mark for that.

Melodies and arrangements are strong and I can see the appeal but the sound is a little bit safe for me.

Found the nine track version after the link had sent me in the direction of the 3-disc, 3.5 hour version. I don’t think their sound has aged quite as well as some of their peers, but there were some pleasant surprises here.

I only really knew of his later stuff from programs like OGWT. This was a nice surprise - chaotic and percussive. Definitely an influence on later Tom Waits.

I disliked this immensely. Poor in concept and execution - long, pretentious and lacking any memorable songs to hang the concept around.

Some lovely guitar work. Fortunately the sun was out when I listened to it as I don’t think it would have had the same impact in the rain…

I am not averse to a bit of country music but this was a bit too confederate for my liking.

I like him as a performer (his sweat drenched performances on OGWT are amazing) and I like some of these songs in isolation but as an album it is a bit much.

It is an album clearly built around the title track. It passed by pleasantly enough in the background but the sound is generic, radio-friendly rock, which doesn’t do much for me.

I just don’t think I like this genre very much. This might be an excellent example of it but, while technically proficient, I find it very shallow both lyrically and musically.

Nice guitar work and a smooth voice with the blues numbers providing a bit of a break from the gentle ballads. Overall, a nice album but I am not sure I will remember any of it by tomorrow.

A really good album with strong melodies and evocative lyrics. It has standout tracks but these are framed by the songs around them to give them more impact. The maturity and confidence of the album is remarkable given their age at the time.

Enjoyed this more than expected. Functions really well as an album; no real standout tracks but coheres nicely, with enough variety within the sound to keep it interesting.

Thought I didn’t know the band but realised I knew ‘another girl, another planet’ as one of John Peel’s favourite tracks. I was pleasantly surprised by the other tracks and could see why they were considered influential.

I love his voice and arrangements but some of the songwriting does not match the quality of the tools available, which is what stops this being a great album. A song such as River Man shows the potential for making a great album but sadly he did not have the opportunity to realise this.

I had not listened to this before and found it did lack the immediacy of some of his later work, but still has the strong lyrical imagery and ‘preacher screaming at the end of the world’ vibe that I enjoy. I think this is an album that will improve with repeated listening (as with a lot of his work) - my mark is more how I think I will view it rather than its immediate impact.

Enjoyed it a lot more than expected as I was worried it would be a psychedelic mess… Some nice melodies and gets extra credit for Golden Hair which Slowdive turned into one of the best live tracks I have seen…

I liked the segue from the prog into money for nothing but the rest of it was pretty boring. You can hear the influence of a band like The War on Drugs but their songs have a bit more to them than what I heard here.

Pretty standard jangly guitar stuff until the end where you can see why they made impact. However, I feel their subsequent albums do the jangly stuff and the experimental stuff better.

Genuinely horrific. I was concerned when it showed that some of the tracks appeared on the playlist ‘yacht rock essentials’ but what followed exceeded this concern. It was like the Pina Colada song stretched out for an album. When it said 1001 albums to listen to before you die, I don’t think the intention was for the list to push you towards your demise but the inclusion of this album is making me question that. At least it was mercifully short.

I did enjoy parts of this but found it went on a bit long. I admire the production and execution but didn’t find too many of songs grabbed me.

It is less an album more an audio documentary. The songs being punctuated by messages for the inmates, their responses to certain guards names - all these things give a sense of the setting and give added power to the performance. Granted, there is a lack of variety in the songs but the performance is incredible.

For me, the very worst excesses of rock and live albums combined into one - pointless noodling, extended drum solos, and aimless virtuosity. This was a slog.

A perfectly pleasant album but it seems like a regression given the Beatles’ exploration of experimental approaches.

A tricky one as it is of a style that I find is not very immediate and therefore it didn’t make much of an impression on me after one listen. I think it is one from the list that I will try and listen to again as I think I might enjoy it more.

I expect this will be divisive amongst a lot of listeners. I have already listened to this before on a few occasions, which helps given the length of the album. Z xx I personally really like it and John Wayne Gacy Jr is one of my favourite songs about serial killers. I think it suffers from having too many ideas at times and would have been a great album with a bit of careful pruning and focus.

Actually enjoyed this more than I expected as I had a particular dislike of their music when growing up… It is still not something that I would listen to out of choice but I didn’t hate it. The last track was the standout, mainly due to the participation of Andre 3000, which provided a nice contrast to the rest of the album.

Both progressive and regressive in equal measure… Highly influential on the blues rock boom of the early 2000s while borrowing heavily from the 70s. I did enjoy the odd moments of experimentation (use of electronic beats, etc.) and found it has aged well.

This is hugely influential on modern hip-hop and has some real highlights. Some elements do not age so well (the scratching, wearing a massive clock) but I did enjoy revisiting it.

Some good pop songs that have been somewhat ruined by overplaying and ubiquity.

Lots of character and some good tunes. I suspect that my favourite SFA album (Mwng) will not make the list so I have to mark this highly!

Not my first time listening to this but it was a good one to revisit. There is a nice variety of texture and instrumentation with some strong melodies.

There are some really nice songs, good changes of pace, and I have always loved his guitar playing. The album lacks the vitality of their live performances of these songs - I found that songs that were thrilling live were just a bit too clinical when committed to record.

My general dislike of this genre of music means it has to be exceptional to make an impact on me. This was not. There is clearly one standout track but the others were either forgettable or shallow.

I knew the name but had never listened to this but I was amazed at how influential this was on so many wildly different artists. I really enjoyed this and can see why it was such an influence.

Probably don’t love this as much as I used to. However, I still really like it and can see its influence. Rhythmically interesting with interesting structures and strong melodies.

Fast Car is one of my least favourite songs of all time. Genuinely hate it. The rest of the album was boring (if Boyzone is covering it, it is pretty bland) but I could appreciate some of the lyrical intentions.

Agree about the need for active listening as I listened to it in the background at work and could see that was not the right setting for something such as this. I could appreciate all the aspects of it but will need to listen in a dark room with no distractions to fully appreciate this.

Fantasy by Earth, Wind and Fire is one of my guilty pleasures. There was nothing here which reaches that level. They are a great singles band but the singles from this are not up to the standard of their later work.

I love Harrison’s guitar playing and there is some excellent songwriting. There was a nice amount of variety but it also went on too long and my attention was starting to drift by the end.

There a couple of obvious singles and I can see why it might have made an impression at the time, but her voice is like nails scraping down a blackboard and the lyrics are truly awful.

It is a really confident album that has excellent songwriting and a sound that has aged really well.

I enjoyed this but it lacked any real standout tracks from a first listen and I’m not sure I enjoyed it enough to warrant a second listen.