I enjoy one offs listens, but the album back to back grates on me with their off key singing and low quality sound design.
It's raw in a way that I can appreciate. It has the feel of good isntrumentalists still finding their way. Experimenting and having a good time with a cohesive end result. It's fun and 40 years later I listened to this in high school the way I might have a newly released album.
This, in its hay day, would have been incredible. It really started so much of the satanic panic that it was probably the main reason I couldn't play Pokemon as a kid. (I mean, I did, but parents didn't like it).
Songs like Hotel Yorba, We are Going to be Friends, and I Can Learn really carry this album for me - But for each of those there's an Aluminum that make me have to find the next button. Noisy garage rock is just not my genre. Hence, a mixed review.
This album is full of bangers and has to be one of the best albums in this genre. Morissettes vocals really are excellent and she's able to control the edge in her voice in a way I can really appreciate. As someone who is completely outside the target audience for this other than age, I still love it.
Such classic americana. It's really typical music but I do think Springsteen captures something of the rural american spirit from this era in an honest way.
I've never heard of Nico until now but this album holds up very well. I wish there were a little more to it, the arrangements do fall a little flat, but I'll be giving this another listen
This was fun. Heavy disco feel was more entertaining than I expected.
"If it's in you" is the laziest thing I've heard in a long time. As far as originality: the good tracks feel like they could have been done by the Beatles.
Someone somewhere clearly appreciates this "hidden gem" of an artist but for me, this album can stay buried.
Top tracks are "octopus" and "no good trying", but the bar here is low.
This is really lovely. River, A Case of You, California are top tracks for me. It's albums like this that make me wish I was better at listening to lyrics. I wasn't familiar with the name Joni Mitchell but this album was great. The sound is classic and could be something make a year ago and I'd hardly question it.
Much of this album feels like noise. Chant, Albatross, Bad Baby had to resist getting skipped or ignored. They are rough to get through.
I do appreciate what they tried with Poptones, parts of Swan Lake, and Socialist but I'm not sure that this isn't just by comparison. Not my least favorite of albums but this is overall a no from me.
Wow this was fun. Sarah Vaughan's voice is incredible. Powerful and soft and the musicians did a great job. The album itself is so fun too. Opening with telling the audience the recording is happening and the banter of the club. I really enjoyed this.
This was great. I really enjoyed Green, Soul Soldier, and Call Me a lot. Kristin Hersh's voice is great and they have a variety of styles on the album while still keeping it sounding like a whole piece. I really enjoyed it!
This keeps reminding me of Neil Young but has reminded me: I like old country. This is good! James has a really smooth sweet voice. Oh, Susannah is great. The guitar work is excellent, just playing in along with the casual vocals. Great.
Some of the others feel a little more bland. Suite for 20 G, Oh Baby..., and others fall flat but nothing that's unpleasant.
There were some good tracks on here but overall, it hasn't held up to the more recent albums. I'm more mixed on this one.
The first album that I remember listening to shortly after it came out. White Winter Hymnal and Blue Ridge Mountains have been favorited by me for a while and they hold up so well. The vocals, lyrics, and whole vibe of this album are right up my alley. It can certainly feel a little "samey" at times, but hey, I can't say I don't like it.
I enjoyed this album much more than I have previously. I think a combination of listening to other albums from this time period and other albums in general is really giving me an appreciation for what The Wall is trying to do. So many albums I could listen to on shuffle and it wouldn't lose that much. Whereas The Wall is probably one of the earlier albums that feels like a really holistic piece. Where turning it on shuffle would completely destroy it. There are musical themes that you really get in brick on the wall songs and others that echo throughout the piece in excellent ways. This combined with the clear message and direction of the album, it really is something of a masterpiece.
The guitar licks in Mojo Pin are really good. They're subtle but moving. The guitar work on this was great. Hallelujah is beloved but there was a lot on this album to enjoy.
Being a 90s kid my vision of Michael Jackson is so different than those that grew up with him in his prime. I never listened to his music until I was an adult but man this album is a ton of fun. It's not my favorite genre and the songs use a lot of sounds that feel very antiquated at this point but it really is a blast to listen to.
Standout tracks are almost too many to name. Beat It, Billy Jean, and PYT are tops for me.
I like the vibe on this. Human was easily the standout track for me.
I liked this but it blended together a little more than I'd prefer. Keep Chooglin, CCR
This was good. Run Charlie Run is a great song I'll never be able to sing, whoops. Cool take on the genre and I like anti establishment themes over the ages.
I remember really liking this in college. Ready to Start and Sprawl hold up really well but the middle of the album does drone on quite a bit with a bunch of midrange background songs. I'm going to keep my favorites but I think I just "like" this album overall now.
Great background stuff for working.
I thought I liked the Byrds but overall this album didn't land for me on this listen.
The energy is high on this album. A lot of fun was had with it. More than a Feelin holds up but is far from the only gem on this.
One Daft Punk song? Good. Maybe a little repetitive. An album? ...no thanks.
Your New Cuckoo and Step on Me were good and the whole album was enjoyable. It was weird having Lovefool in the middle of this album of songs I didn't recognize at all. The band had an older sound on some of their songs. It's not as strong as some of my other preferred albums but I think I would give this another listen.
This album is in such a weird spot for me. It's hard to separate from when it first came out. I was in middle school and liking rap was counter to liking rock. My friends and I liked rock and loved to hate on rap music.
Now I enjoy a lot of this album, but it's still far far more crass than I would willingly listen to. I'm also not the target audience. It does it's thing really well, it's a wild album. It's really chill with a great beat and vibe. It exudes Snoop Dogg. Probably deserves 5 stars but I'm not the person to give it.
Really medium album. Unfortunately for this list, medium has become not quite good enough.
The Seventh Seal, what an opener. A short epic with choral and brass backing. Great way to start it off. The songs are grand, the sound is grand. Scott Walker takes you on a journey with a loose but resounding way of singing. He has persistent vibrato that still sounds more honest than that of many other singers.
Not your average southern rock. Simple Man, Tuesday's Gone, and of course the deservedly epic Freebird are standout tracks on this album. Southern twang oozes throughout this album but it is somehow not relegated to that genre. This is rock, pure and simple. It's honest, easy, and keeps moving after so many years.
Thrashing, crazy, big sound. But, as the Spongebob marching band has taught us all: louder is not always better.
Heck yeah let's go, Elvis. I've never listened to an Elvis album. Why would I? Elvis is more of a caricature than an artist in my mind.
There's passion and good messaging in this. In the Ghetto? Good on you Elvis. I don't know much about your personal life but I respect this more than I expected to. A pleasant surprise.
Not my cup of tea, but I can't deny that Beastie Boys do their thing. It's interesting and all over the place but still has a coherent identity with interesting themes and ideas and I have a lot of respect for that.
This was enjoyable but as a whole fell flat. I listened to the whole thing and finally a song stuck out. Atomic Numbers (Neko Case, kd lang, Laura Veirs)! Only to find out that song is the first song Spotify suggested after the album finished. I may give this another listen to sometime, the genre is in my wheelhouse but didn't resonate.
This album is really excellent. I wish I had the chance to know it before the Stranger Things hype hit but I really liked coming to it now. There are some pieces of the album I don't resonate with, especially the more chaotic vocal layering that goes on in some songs, but overlal this is fun, innovative, and exciting.
The droning vocals, muddy instrumentals, and sound that really can't be picked out from one another? What's !not to like?
Bittersweet Symphony is so catchy but... is it good? I'd argue not really. It always strikes me as a medium hit from Coldplay. Spotify calls this band a revolutionary band and I really don't hear it. It's not a bad album but it's just so mid to me.
This is in the genre of chill instrumentals with some vocal riffs that is cluttered and does little for me. Maybe its original innovation should be counted for more but today, this feels like another bland 80s synth album
So many great tracks on this. It can feel a little too steady overall but tracks like Cecelia and The Boxer bring the energy up just enough that I keep interested. Really, Simon and Garfunkel have such wonderful harmonies with rich lyrics that even though things may feel bland at times, there is a calm beauty that this album really nails.
This has a great sounds that holds up 40 years after release. Great job Pixies. Where is My Mind is a classic, but Bone Machine and Gigantic are also great. Some tracks feel very samey and sloppy and bring the album down (Looking at you, Broken Face) and really puts this between a 4 and 5 for me, but I'll give it to the Pixies for holding up so well.
Sorry reggae... it's not you, it's me.
While Radiohead has some great stuff and I appreciate the experimental nature of the album, the music did not click for me. The lead vocals are just too whiny and end up making the album feel immature.
This album was great. Although not my ideal genre, Winehouse's vocals are undeniably splendid and powerful. It may well deserve a full 5 but falls short in originality in this listener's opinion.
This is such a spread of genre, very impressive range on one album
Surprisingly fun a lot of really cool Jazz instrumental sections with compositions that ban a pretty long time per song but I didn't find myself getting bored by it I really enjoyed it overall.
So, One Way or Another is not my favorite song and that's so much of what I thought of when I thought of Blondie (in the rare occurrence when I remembered who sang it). The other tracks on this album balance it out so well. I Know but I Don't Know is much more chill and reasonable and isn't even one of the strong tracks. But the instruments are much more highlighted in tracks like these.
This is quintessential 80s rock but it drones on to me. I don't notice a wide distinction between songs. It categorizes a genre but without much setting itself apart.
This album is a ton of fun. Jump Jive and Wail, Basin Street Blues, Buona Sera are all excellent. Loaded with good jazz/big band tunes.
Overall good. Wonderful instrumentals. The sax solo in Deacon Blues, what a way to win my heart. Aja is also really enjoyable, I think it might be my favorite track and Peg is a fun energetic tune. My preference is lowered somewhat by the tone of the instrumentals. The bebopping keyboard sounds as mild as any, the vocals are muted and washed out. With different mixing and sound preferences, I might really enjoy this but it brings it down a step for me.
I'm starting to enjoy Peter Gabriel more as I listen to him more. I'm able to appreciate what he does and his choices of lyrics. Unfortunately this album Still doesn't capture my interest. It goes a lot of directions and has some strong points but overall is not the one that I would come back to.
