Never really listened to drill before, but this is pretty good. Definitely some awesome beats and it’s amazing to listen to an album from someone I’ve never heard of that has 15 million monthly listeners.
Very jammy in an Oasis covers Zeppelin kind of way. Song 2 is a classic riff and it's neat to see what else was around at the time. I think a lot of it is kind of meandering, none of the lyrics super jumped out to me but I think I'm listening to music differently now that I play it so much. I think Damon Albarn is sort of a syllable/melody first writer (evidenced by Gorillaz IMO) and I have never really listened to Blur but I can see where other music of his comes from. All the songs have a vibe that gets the message across.
Top tier bass playing of course. Really melodic and very cool considering it had only been an instrument for like 25 years. I really like the extended jams on Groovallegiance and the subversion of the pledge is classic. I am hearing a lot of what I think has inspired other jam bands. Tim from DMB plays a lot like this. Farther in I am hearing where a lot of Kendrick, Childish Gambino, etc are getting some musical ideas. Maybe this is just what 70's funk sounds like? This is definitely not radio-friendly but it's very jammy and vibey and I could see having it on at a party with more musical friends. It sounds very good if not super hi-fi due to the mix and everything having a nice tape-y saturation to it. Maggot Brain and Pink Floyd have a lot in common (with a much better bassline). This is wild! The cocked wah solo thing was everywhere I guess. Overall very cool and I dig it. Probably 4 stars. Not sure what my criteria for a 5 is but I'll find it I'm sure.
A total classic. I remember listening to this for the first time on CD with my mom in our living room in middle school. Let's see how it holds up! Bad Habit just rules. Also I just remembered playing a bootleg copy of Road Rash on my bedroom PC as a kid and The Offspring being on the soundtrack. Genocide playing while chain whipping on a motorcycle. The voiceovers are goofy and so 90's. Really nice crispy bass playing which I guess is a punk thing. Straight into the amp, very roundwound wompy pick tone. Green Day similar. Guitars are just shredding with gain and much looser than metal chugs. Lyrically very punk and it's crusty as hell and very real. More aggressive than the skater vibes of Green Day or later pop punk. I bet these shows were just loud as hell. I will say it is a bit fatiguing to make it through the entire album. I'm not a huge punk fan, this is more a nostalgia album for me. I think it will edge into the 4's based on how classic of a record it is and my familiarity. Smash is a great ending track.
Much more familiar with Brothers in Arms, so I'm excited! Haven't dug deep into Dire Straits or Mark Knopfler beyond the hits. Wow, this *sounds* superb. The mixing and production is next level. The lead guitar on Down To The Waterline is panned hard left and you can really hear the little nuances in his playing and the fingers on the strings. Everything feels very open and transparent - just sitting in the mix perfectly. This is just a great, great band jamming. Setting Me Up is basically a country song and there's a lot of Telecaster clack on this album. Six Blade Knife has the classic 70's heartbeat bassline. I am definitely seeing the lyrical coolness of Mark Knopfler on display here. Again, bass player here so I tend to really listen for it. Some of these songs are going for an almost upright-type sound, very plunky but always warm and just the perfect accompaniment. Lowkey and groovy. In The Gallery is a real hidden gem to me, it's very bluesy but not the searing lead tone like SRV, Kingfish, Marcus King. Much more laid back and all about really hearing the nuance of the guitar. He's a pretty percussive player and some of these slaps and fingerstyle are right at home in modern djent. Overall, really great sounding and I'm glad I got to dig into Dire Straits more!
Never really listened to Outkast, even though they have been a household name my whole life. So Fresh, So Clean, has been sampled and quoted a million times. Ms. Jackson is a classic! Now Killer Mike has showed up in the beginning of his career. BOB is a famous song I had never heard before. Big Boi and Andre 3000 being a duo really works on this song. Also some really early guitar work in rapping which I feel like I've heard a bunch on later Kanye and Kendrick albums, neat to see that up here early. The refrains in BOB remind me of the Funkadelic album I had a few days ago. There are some really fun beats on this album - I can hear a real person playing a keyboard and sampling it. It definitely sounds like a real record, it wasn't all made in Logic with plugins by one person. Sounds like real drums in a lot of places too which is cool. Xplosion is a straight up Gorillaz song. Also a big fan of the nostalgia of bragging about subs and amps in detail for their cars - super early 00's Pimp My Ride vibes. I am the 2,641st play of the Good Hair interlude on Spotify! I like the interludes. They are fun and are from before the era of the voicemails from Grandma trope of when I was in high school/college. True little skits that go with the songs. I really like story songs so Toilet Tisha was sad but I'm always so impressed by artists that can tell a story like this.
I have never sat down and listened to Hendrix before, just heard the hits here and there or a famous lick or two. Super psychedelic. Side one is very jammy and kind of all over the place as far as recorded music goes. I can see why the shorter version of Voodoo Chile is the popular one. The 60s were all about experimentation and it seems like Jimmy Page basically took a page straight from the Hendrix book when they starting playing 45 minute versions of Dazed and Confused. As a musician, knowing this is a 3-piece with basically no pedals is pretty crazy. The fuzzy tape sounds of the 60s really work here and this music would sound weird if it was like 70s hi-fi. Neat detail as it turns out that the Hammond organ on Voodoo Chile is none other than Steve Winwood. Little Miss Strange sounds like "Hendrix plays The Beatles". I am hearing so much of where the famous blues players I've heard get their licks, tone, phrasing, all of it. Page, SRV, John Mayer, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Kingfish, Marcus King, Hendrix really was the beginning of a lot of it. I am liking Side 3/4 a lot better. I think the songwriting is better and 1983/Merman reminds me of the playing on Bold As Love. Of course the last two are the hits and easily give this album its rating.
I know Them Changes and that's about it - I loved Thundercat's playing on Mac Miller's Tiny Desk Concert so I'm excited to hear him in action on an album. Off to a ripping start with Captain Stupido. Lots of bass chords and funky textures. Uh Uh very jazzy. I don't know how he is playing like this. It's like Funkadelic on speed. This record is kind of jazz-funk meets yacht rock so far. Lots of wah on the bass and envelope filters for that synthy feel. A Fan's Mail - my friend said "it's verging into 'need to be high for this' territory". It may in fact be that kind of album. I feel like Thundercat has been all over other artist's stuff to the point I have trouble separating it a bit. The shorter songs are reminding me of extended Kendrick interludes or something. He really has a great voice for hooks and I think the fuzzy headed feeling of the album works with the Drunk title. Drums are superb and there are a bunch of neat keys parts too. I really like Show You The Way, the yacht rock comes full circle with the guest vocals. Now Kendrick is here and it sounds very natural. Anddd we're back to jazz! Friend Zone is a bop for sure. Just classic Thundercat weirdness with super slick music. "...cause I got enough friends" goes hard. Them Changes is a modern bass classic. 10/10 for sure. Drink Dat is cool too. The 2nd half in general is much better to me. Overall I gotta say there is just a little too much jazzy bullshit (to me) to get the 5 star. Solid 4-4.5 with how good of a musician he is but without the features there are really only a few songs I truly enjoyed.
On Spotify, the "deluxe" version has the original songs as tracks 1-4 on Disc 1. So, that is what I will listen to. I associate sequencers with the 80's, not 70's. So this is pretty out there for 1974. This is the same year as Bennie & The Jets and Hooked On a Feeling. The title track sounds very space-like and like the soundtrack to Alien or 2001: A Space Odyssey or something. It really is quite expansive and it is amazing to think this was done so early in the technology. Oddly enough the record deal for this album was given by none other than Richard Branson. What a character! The windy sounds being created by the synths as well are so cool. I also really love how much stereo was a novelty back then - as layers of the music come in and out they may appear on the left or right and move around in space as well. Definitely an album to listen to with headphones in a quiet place where you can focus on the experience. I really enjoyed this album. It is ambient, avant-garde and put together like a classical piece. It is amazing that the background for the album was improvising with the Moog and seeing what came out. The organ parts in "Movements of A Visionary" are amazing. Easy 5 stars!
Opening with Gloria, apparently this is a Van Morrison cover. I guess we are in the really early stages of punk, the piano caught me off guard. Birdland is really out there, this is a bonkers track 3 for your debut album. I’ve never really heard anything like this before. It’s kind of stream of consciousness lyrically. I’m not sure this is for me. I can see how it was sort of pre-punk but I personally don’t really vibe with it that much. I think probably 2.5/5 maybe. For me 3 is neutral and this was a novelty but a bit of a struggle.
Never listened to this before - this is a vibe. Their voices come in and out seamlessly and every song is like a cipher. Really neat production with crispy drums and great samples. I can tell Lin-Manuel Miranda is a huge fan of A Tribe Called Quest. Embarrassing, but my biggest through-line to this is Hamilton! It's really cool how the outro of one song leads right into the next one, it's a true mixtape. All in all this just a great album, fun to listen to and not a dull minute on it.
I am really enjoying this album. The opener is just a joyful and classic folk tune. These songs remind me of learning to play classical guitar. The string arrangements and orchestral elements are super 60's in the best way. I may have to do a deeper dive into Simon & Garfunkel, I have heard the hits but not the real folk-y acoustic songwriting they seem to excel at. Also - Carol Kaye plays bass on some songs! Hal Blaine on the drums. The Wrecking Crew is all over this album as was the fashion at the time. Very neat. "A Simple Desultory Philippic" blasts straight into Dylan-esque fuzzy rock. I think this is maybe a diss track? It's very on the nose and also sort of comes across as a proto-"We Didn't Start the Fire". In any case, it really jumps out of the album with the harmonica and distorted guitar. I think this is going to be an easy 5, I really enjoyed it. Just beautiful melodies and songwriting. I feel that in a lot of ways this type of music isn't ever going to be exciting enough to be mainstream again and I can't imagine a new artist "making it" playing songs like this. This makes me a little sad as I feel there is a real magic to these "simple" and beautiful songs - they are short, to the point and contain multitudes in their lyrics like the best poetry.
This is cool. Not what I think of as "EDM" or "house music" since I was raised in the era of dubstep, Deadmau5, Avicii, Porter Robinson, Odesza, Zedd, etc. This feels very 90's/00's in the best way. These samples and basslines are crazy, I guess this was also the era before there were "feat. So and So" on every single track as a bunch of these songs have "uncredited" guest vocals that make each track really fresh and you don't know what to expect as the record goes on. They did a great job with transitions too, everything just flows together. I feel like you could just hit play on this at a party and let it ride for an hour. Highlights: Yo Yo, Same Old Show, Bingo Bango, Stop 4 Love, Don't Give Up. Really enjoyed!
I love this album. Easy 5 stars. It is a masterpiece of songwriting, performing and recording. I saw another review call it "Don Henley as performed by The Killers" and they may be on to something...but if it is a guilty pleasure, I'm not complaining! I just connect with the music and have ever since I saw their Tiny Desk Concert during the pandemic. My wife and friends have a joke with me - whenever a song by this band comes on, they go "hey it's that one War on Drugs song!" (because a lot of them do sound quite similar). I think the hits tend to have that common anthemic Springsteen 80's thing but there is a lot more depth to their records and this is a great example of it. The production here is just amazing and to me this is really an album you can sit inside of and hang out for a while.
It is a very thin mix but it still sounds great. I am a bass player, I've heard "...And Justice for Jason", but this album is still early days of thrash metal and it is a time capsule of ripsaw guitars and snappy drums. That's fine! The opening is a great build-up to what you know is coming: Metallica. Their riff style and solos are so distinctive. Honestly this has some of the better "live" drum sounds I've heard from 80's metal (but I am no expert - just an off the cuff observation). Toms move around in space and there are some great double-kick moments and breakdowns. "Blackened" and "One" are definitely the highlights of the album. "To Live Is To Die" is kind of a hidden gem. The lead sound really comes out of the mix because the rhythm guitar is so high-gain and compressed it almost sounds like a sound effect. Hetfield will always be the riff master, it's crazy. All in all, I definitely enjoyed it and had never listened to the whole record before.
I mean, come on. One of the most iconic albums of all time. It's the debut record and of the 11 tracks, there are 5 that anyone over the age of 35 will recognize in the first few seconds. I will forever be a David Lee Roth defender as far as Van Halen. He *is* rock-n-roll. Ain't Talkin Bout Love is one of the best riffs ever! Classic 80s and the songwriting is really top notch too. Honestly the B-side of this album is still really tight. I have never really listened to this album with great speakers or headphones before and I have to say the bass is really present in the mix and sounds fantastic. Michael Anthony is killing it front to back on this record, and since VH is really a 3-piece with vocals he has a lot of space to fill and does a great job of it.
You Can Call Me Al is a real classic and a yacht-rock staple, but this album just doesn't do it for me. I appreciate the experimentation and I can see how this was probably pretty groundbreaking for the time, but it just doesn't resonate with me. Most of the songs just kind of sound like less catchy versions of You Can Call Me Al. There is fantastic fretless bass all over the place and I enjoy the horns and African rhythms, it just doesn't combine into something that really grabs my ear or my attention. I don't see myself playing this album in full again, but I really can't give it a 2 ("did not enjoy" in my rating system). A mostly-neutral 3 it is.
This is raucous and very fun. Much more punk-y than I expected! The basslines and riffs are awesome all over this album. It kind of sounds like a mixture between Blur and Fall Out Boy. This is a loud, live band in this era and it comes across on the record. Just groovy and catchy and very pub-y vibes. I really like Wet Leg and they are definitely very inspired by early Arctic Monkeys. Really enjoyed!
This is sooooo 80s. I like that a drum machine was credited as "Doktor Avalanche" on the liner notes. It's very goth but also has a lot of new wave kind of feel to it. There is a "saxophone" solo halfway through the first track that is a great example of how much better synthesizers had gotten compared to the early 70s with Tangerine Daydream and Kraftwerk. For a drum machine it really sounds huge. The reverb and gating is really amazing and this whole album is like a pre-Kavinsky darkwave Castlevania record. "Lucretia My Reflection" has a driving, chorus-y bassline that you just can't ignore. The lyrics and phrasing are super dramatic and remind me of Rammstein. In comparision to the early 2000's "emo" I grew up with this is much more influenced by electronic music and has a darker, almost classical feel. I love Ghost and I can't help but hear the influences there too. I know Tobias Forge is a huge death metal guy, but Sisters of Mercy combines gothic feel with pop songwriting in a really cool way and I feel Ghost does that but with metal/hard rock and pop. The song "1959" reminds me of "The Future is a Foreign Land". Also the choir intro to "This Corrosion"! Overall, really enjoyed.
It's funky, it's 70s, it definitely sounds like them. I see how this was maybe the more radio-friendly foil to Parliament back then. Shining Star is definitely the "hit" and probably the best song too. Overall I feel it just wasn't as good as some of their other albums, but I did enjoy it.
Insane that "the song" is track 1! What a strong opener. I have never heard the full album, this is very cool. I love the double bass on "Mother Stands for Comfort" - it's so haunting, I've never heard anything like this. This entire album is gorgeous, lush, haunting and honestly sounds amazing. "Waking the Witch" comes out of nowhere! "Jig of Life" is a great track. There are eclectic influences everywhere on this record and I can't believe I had never heard it before in its entirety. Not the most bombastic pop experience of the 80s but incredibly deep and inspired. Kate Bush made *exactly* what she wanted to make and what she felt - in today's era of streaming numbers and engagement coming over artistry I am so impressed by these past albums.
Oh boy! Rubber Soul is one of my favorite Beatles albums. Paul McCartney is tearing it up on these tracks - apparently he switched to a Rickenbacker in the studio from his usual Hofner and it sounds much punchier and forward as a result. Spotify just dropped Lossless streaming and with good headphones hearing the layers of vocal harmonies and the quality of the mixing is fantastic. The bass is panned hard left on Drive My Car with piano and lead guitar panned hard right. Classic Ringo with the cowbell that just sits in the pocket - nobody else would have added cowbell to this track. You Won't See Me is almost Beach Boys-esque with the vocal harmonies. Sounds great! Nowhere Man is a classic. Lots of great harmonies and a ton of neat little guitar licks on top of the basic acoustic strumming in the rhythm part. The bassline is busy as hell and walking all over so the acoustic guitar helps keep the tempo. The Word flips the bass to the right track. It's funny listening to early stereo albums, the panning was out of control by modern standards! That riff before the bridge is straight arena rock played on clicky 60's guitars. They really were ahead of the curve musically. What Goes On is a country song, more genre-bending which is neat. In My Life is one of my favorite songs. Reminds me of family, memories and reflection. It's simple, beautiful, and so sincere. Overall, definitely a 5. I really enjoyed listening to Rubber Soul again and was reminded how solid the music was.
My only knowledge of PJ Harvey is passing references on Gilmour Girls and Halsey's track "Dog Years" from The Great Impersonator, which was supposedly inspired by her. I gotta say this is different than I expected but I suppose indie folk/rock sort of hits the mark. I think this is sort of a "death of an empire" record. I am not British but given the current state of things in the US I can sympathize. I understand the idea of making modern folk as antiwar music and acknowledging the conquests that gave us the modern version of England or the US. To me this is really a poetry project with musical accompaniment. I can tell a lot of research went into the lyrics and subject matter. It is definitely well-crafted but ultimately I don't really listen to much like this for pleasure and I feel that in 2025 using WWI as the primary inspiration really dates it. I understand the parallels to more modern wars but to me, there is a huge component of the modern injustice of conflict that is missing. The world wars did come with massive civilian tolls but there is something altogether different about a modern superpower invading a developing nation that cannot be mirrored by WWI in my opinion. The nobility of old have been replaced by oligarchs today but there's no draft, no matching of equal forces, etc. Especially in 2025, we have the war in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen that are all essentially functions of the aggressor toeing the line of war crimes on the unfortunate civilians of the area with such a power discrepancy that it boggles the mind. Johnny is not marching off to war with his buddy and his rifle, Johnny is shooting missiles at children from an office building 8000 miles away. She does do a great job of capturing the bleakness and absurdity of war - "death hung in the smoke/and clung to 400 acres of useless beach front" - but for me personally it just doesn't hit that hard. I think in places the accompaniment is so blasé that it washes out the subject matter - "Hanging In The Wire" is one of those songs.
Okay, early DEVO. First track is very punk, second track is a pretty odd cover of The Rolling Stone's "Satisfaction" in a very DEVO way. New wave is definitely here already, I'm much more familiar with The B-52's and I'm hearing a lot of similar vibes combining eleclectic instrumentals with goofy (but sincere) lyrics and punk riffs. It's like punk mixed with surf rock sung by a comedy band. This is late 70's so not a ton of the overly synth-y New Wave aesthetic of the 80's I'm used to. "Gut Feeling" is maybe the most punk-y and probably my favorite on the album. "Shrivel-Up" is almost Halloween-y? These guys are weird as hell but they're definitely true to themselves. I don't think it's really for me but I appreciate the record. Pretty neutral, 3/5.
Never listened to Brian Eno before as a musician, only as a producer (U2, Coldplay, Bowie, etc). I am going in with an open mind. On track 3 and it certainly sounds pretty futuristic for 1977 but also sort of like random pieces of music crammed together. King's Lead Hat sounds like a Talking Heads song for sure and is pretty good. Side 2 slows down massively. Sort of film soundtrack vibes? Noir, melancholy, lots of synths. Definitely pretty forward-sounding for the 70s and kind of ambient. I actually enjoyed "Through Hollow Lands" quite a bit though it would be incredibly jarring to ever have this album on shuffle. Honestly, meh. Maybe just not for me.
My first Dylan album, if you can believe it. I think I do get the mystique that he's known for. There is an interesting mix of vulnerability and "what the hell is he talking about?" on top of some really sublime folk-rock instrumentals. I don't know if I would necessarily come back to this album too much (maybe on a rainy day with some whiskey) but I can certainly appreciate what it's about.
The first track "Precious" has that huge flanger thing going on, reminds me of the new Turnstile record, so that is super cool. I have only heard the hits so I'm interested to see what The Pretenders are really like. "Tattooed Love Boys" is pretty dark but has a neat structure and hearing 7/8 is definitely not a common thing back then. Lots of great punky riffs and killswitch tricks which is cool and they are definitely a lot better sounding than a lot of punk bands in my opinion. "Space Invader" is a cool instrumental jam. "Kid" is a real bright spot! "Private Life" is a neat reggae-inspired song that's just slinky and cool. "Brass in Pocket" is of course far and away the best song on the album, but it really is a good record. I definitely enjoyed and would be curious to listen to more of The Pretenders!
This guy might be the British version of Wesley Willis. The instrumentals are actually very good. I think Ian Dury might be a sort of dirtbag 70s version of Flight of the Conchords? Lyrics are pretty funny but definitely out there and crude for the time, I'm sure. "My Old Man" is a good storytelling song and his voice definitely works with it. It is really heartfelt and has its own vibe for sure. "Billericay Dickie" and we are in proto-Weird Al territory. “If I Was with a Woman” is a real jam. Boz Scaggs as sung by the cast of Peaky Blinders. Not sure what to think of this album but I can't fault the smooth musicality combined with some really bizarre Cockney lyrics. But I did enjoy it to be honest. I'll give it a high 3!
I have never heard of this band. Two tracks in and I am really really enjoying it. I agree with other reviewers that maybe the list is not really definitive and is based more on white British people's music taste who were born in the late 60's/early 70's. That all being said, this is a great record. Sounds fantastic and very modern still with the current resurgence of 80's sounds and textures in pop music. "Appetite" is really a great track. Slinky and sexy and has a great bassline too. These are great songs. I love Talking Heads, Donny Benet, nightwave, Ghost, Tears for Fears, and this is right in there. This music is at once nostalgic and modernly beautiful. "Hallelujah" is a nice jazzy yacht-rock sort of tune. Wow, this is a great album. "Horsin' Around" is honest, heartbreaking and at the same time so catchy and groovy. The ending especially really conveys the feeling. I really enjoyed this! This is what I hoping for from this list, music I had never come across but fell in love with in a single album.
Love Stevie Wonder, never listened to Innervisions before. The few two tracks are much moodier than most of the pop Stevie Wonder I'm familiar with. I am seeing where Thundercat gets some of his mojo from. "Living For The City" is a very conscious song and this is a much more serious Stevie Wonder than "Songs in the Key of Life". "Higher Ground" is of course a total classic. 10/10 song. For 1973 he's doing a ton with different influences that are pretty ahead of their time - "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" is very eclectic for the funk/R&B of the time. Overall, I definitely enjoyed the album. I don't personally think it's as dynamic or impressive as some of his other work but it is certainly Stevie Wonder and a great record. Easy 4/5.
Always crazy to hear live albums from the 1960s. Everything was so primitive but it still sounds so good. There are points on the album where you can hear a rumble in the background that might be wind blowing across the microphones or a distant train or something. At the same time it's just cacophonous when they really get cooking ("I've Got My Mojo Working"). You can hear the crowd clapping and cheering and screaming and the musicians stomping - the drums sound amazing! I love blues in general and this is my first time hearing this concert of Muddy Waters'. He has such a great voice. The "big band" sound with horns, harmonica, piano, backing vocals sounds great with this style of blues. This is just a great record from a titan of blues.
It is pretty funny because this is basically an album made by crazy druggies trying to sound like The Beatles. And in a lot of ways they succeeded! It is 100% punk and the mixing is really cool. I’d never listened to this before - but honestly I actually like it. This early punk is more “musical” and to me more accessible than later Misfits-type music and then of course hardcore and other sub genres that spun off. This is where it all began!