I only knew Madonna the way you know her by growing up during the 90s, ie occasionally listening to her songs on radio. I never made an effort to seek out and listen to full albums of hers, however. So I have to say that this came as quite a surprise, because it‘s *nothing * like I expected. „Music“ is strangely experimental, continuously trying out new things. Not all of them work well (the notorious last track for example), but I really enjoyed the many facets of this album and that it wasn’t ashamed to leave the beaten path. Also: Am I going crazy or was there a Daft Punk influence in there? Anyway, not the best album ever but a surprising and enjoyable one nonetheless. I would give 3.5 stars if I could, so let’s round up.

Well, this is a hard one to rate without any bias - because (like many others here, I suspect), this album has a special place in my heart. When I first listened to it at 16 I thought that this must be the best music ever! Well, relistening to it I can say: it might not be the best music ever, but it's still really good. Every track is a banger in its own right, and I love how it really is a conceptual album telling a story, the individual tracks coming together to form a greater whole. As a German I obviously can't fully relate to the experience of growing up in the American suburbs under the Bush administration, but I think I understand enough. The politics of Green Day might be "undercomplex" or "facile", even but seriously, who cares. This isn't supposed to be a doctoral dissertation about American foreign policy in the early 21st century, but a young person's outcry against the violence and injustice inherent in the world in general and the Bush administration and the Iraq War in particular. As such, it is still current in a way, since the legacy of those days continues to haunt the world over two decades later. And even beyond that, it's still damn good music that makes me feel like I'm 16 again. 5/5

An interesting album, in which Lorde works through the failure of a relationship and the party-laden time as a single afterwards. I'm not super familiar with the rest of the work, but to me this album was solid pop. None of the tracks were really the kind of danceable bangers that might get tons of air time, but they formed a coherent whole together that went on to tell the story Lorde wanted to tell to great effect.

An interesting album. I wasn’t super familiar with Prince‘s work beforehand, so I could approach this with a fresh ear. I liked the sound and the very eightiness of it, although some of the basslines immediately made me think of old sitcoms - obviously not the music’s fault but due to when and how I grew up. I don’t think I’ll specifically seek it out to listen to it again, and I also skipped the dozens of „rediscovered“ songs added to the remaster, but it still was a really nice one to hear. Would give 3.5 if I could.

Relentless fun, and it’s wild to me that it was only published over two decades afterwards. Maybe the best and most energetic live album I’ve ever listened to. Don’t look up what happened to Sam Cooke afterwards if you want to keep a good mood though - what a clusterf*ck