Having never listened to them before despite hearing the name over the years, once the album starts I'm immediately struck by the influence on Weezer this must have had.

And Your Bird Can Sing is a beautiful song. Always liked Eleanor Rigby.

Nothing prepared me for how schmaltzy this gets. Terrible lyrics, jarring and dissonant passages that come out of nowhere. Their harmonies never really did anything for me but I wasn't expecting to loathe this as much as I did.

Cross-Eyed Mary and Hymn 43 are bangers. Locomotive Breath is pretty good too. I can do without the forest sprite ballyhoo.

Nothing is really sticking to me but I don't exactly hate it. Just sort of washed off of me. 2.5/5

Side A is perfect. Side B has its moments but it's noticeably weaker. Still a great record. I get goofy to this.

The hits still hit. The rest not so much, although Exit was a cool little surprise. Driving, propulsive, claustrophobic. Trip Through Your Wires sounds like The Frames (who I love) took some influence from them. A 2.5/5.

sure why not Killer bass tone. They've got some good ideas here and interesting parts even if I'm not completely sold. Knew none of these songs prior to this listen (there's gotta be at least one other R.E.M. album on this list, I imagine.)

Would this be the first Sinatra album I reach for when I'm in the mood to hear him? No, but it's enjoyable enough.

A two-hour, three-LP album sounds like a daunting task but this is such a rambunctious and at-times heart-tugging body of work that the length just doesn't matter to me. Sure, just start a bunch of songs chatting or plotting out what you're about to record. Take your time! Their interpretations of these Hank Williams tunes and various other traditionals feature incredible finger-picking and fiddling. The songs with Roy Acuff are real standouts. I make it a point to listen to these albums the way they were initially released (no additional songs added on later reissues) but got some faulty information and wound up listening to a few songs more that were not on the original. Oh well. I had a blast. Highlights: The Precious Jewel, Wreck on the Highway, I Saw the Light, My Walkin' Shoes, Foggy Mountain Breakdown (later reissue)

What can be said? The king.

Get. Your. Groove. On.

Was wondering why so many people were complaining about the UK bias of this list when encountering truly outstanding works. Well, I get it now. This is aggressively fine. Sounds more akin to American country music than folk music from a Scot, to be very honest. I'm being charitable with the 3.

Almost becomes tolerable when he stops rapping...ALMOST.

Hey man we need you to soundtrack this 90s teen comedy/hacker movie from the late 90s/early 2000s. You got anything for us?

I've seen this described as Elvis going more of a "sophisticated pop" route but it's uneven. Recorded and released after his return from the army, it's clear that they just wanted to pump as much material out of this guy as quickly as possible. His record label even kept releasing old unreleased tracks during his military service. Side A is so sleepy outside of Dirty, Dirty Feeling which is a scrapped King Creole track but it's a nice jolt. Such a Night is a great vocal performance and arrangement. The three bluesy songs out of the last four tracks are serviceable. All told, if you're not sold on Elvis, I don't think this will sway you, but it's got some juice.

This was a nice surprise. Really solid folk with an absolute heater tucked away in the middle, Cajun Woman, that sticks out like a sore thumb but is a rollicking good time, sporting some cool lap steel (I think?) 3.5/5

I've heard the hits so many times. Too many times, one could say. But the album tracks are really excellent. There's really no reason to give this less than a 5. The overplaying of radio hits, in this case, doesn't diminish how great those hits are. Prince lets out a piercing scream towards the end of 3 songs in a row (The Beautiful Ones, Computer Blue, and Darling Nikki), there's ripping solos, and then some killer double-bass happening on Darling Nikki that I've never noticed.

Recording in a church under false pretenses is the coolest thing you can do in a church, but with a vocalist who sounds like she can be the moody member of your choir, the officials shouldn't sweat it too much. This basically stays in one gear the entire time and could use a bit more variety. But the playing is cool, the sound they got out of the environment works, and Margo Timmins's voice is aces. No mixes, edits, or overdubs. Your fave WISHES.

Talk Talk ditches the synths. May not be as immediately catchy as their earlier stuff but it's really well-produced and grooves nonetheless. I could do without the children singing on Happiness is Easy. 3.5/5

Tears for Fears have written two of the greatest pop songs of all the time- Everybody Wants to Rule the World and Head Over Heels- and two others on here really grabbed my attention but unfortunately that's all. Mothers Talk and Broken really bring the goods. I wish Broken was longer but I can see it being used as a transitional piece in a live setting. 3.5/5

My only exposure to Portishead was being 12-years-old and seeing them on SNL. It was most definitely not in my wheelhouse at the time as I was firmly lodged in my Korn/Limp Bizkit/The Offspring fandom. Looks like I have been missing out on something amazing. Beth Gibbons' voice is so entrancing. Their samples are otherworldly and produce such a haunting effect. Not a weak track in the bunch. Highlights: It Could Be Sweet, Numb

My brother and I shared a room for the first 18 years of my life and he's a major Beasties head. I was absolutely tortured with their music for many of those years. Hearing this today, it isn't too bad. I dig the two hardcore songs. It could definitely be trimmed down a tad.

A case where I can respect the obvious talent on display but I have my limitations. Lots of wanking. I appreciate when they can cut through all of that with a hard-charger like Stone Cold Crazy. There's a playfulness I can't hate too much. Bring Back That Leroy Brown sounds like ragtime and wouldn't be out of place in a Broadway musical.

I really can only deal with Joplin in small doses and this is already a short album (not counting the reissue) but still too much. I like it even less when the guy is on lead vocals.

Pretty inoffensive, well-produced. Cool guitar on Sham. Type of music I'd have on in the background.

This is one of my "nope, no can do" artists. Satellite of Love just makes me fondly recall Ron & Fez (particularly Fez's final broadcast.)

Occupies a weird space in the zeitgeist. They were obviously at the peak of their success at the time but it's hard to trace their handprints beyond this era. Bullet With Butterfly Wings is the only single that demonstrates their penchant for aggression but the album's actually got a surprising heaviness to it. The ballads are interwoven fairly nicely with the harder-rocking tracks. I'm not even dinging the record it for its length, but I don't find much interesting beyond what I list below. Porcelina of the Vast Oceans doesn't have enough going on to justify the 9-minute length, however. Tales of a Scorched Earth wouldn't be out of place on a Deftones record (their debut came out the same year as this.) Highlights: Bodies, An Ode to No One, Muzzle (some cool drumming by Chamberlin at the end), all the singles

Nothing sticks. It's not horrendous but you can see the influence on those crappy grunge-lite bands that came after.

Lots of noodling and jamming and Ian Gillan wailing. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. It certainly rocks but doesn't feel like a cohesive album.

The epitome of Starbucks music. I never patronize that place nor have I worked there but I have a feeling you'd get sick of hearing this if you had the displeasure of working there circa 2002. Turn Me On sounds a lot like Please Come for Christmas. There's some nice melodies, but I can't imagine throwing this on as anything more than background music.

If this doesn't get you moving, you have no pulse. Propulsive rhythm, catchy guitar, drummer is sick. First non-English album on this list after 32 days. Hope there's way more. Highlights: Meus Filhos, Meus Tesouro, Taj Mahal, Xica da Silva, Cavaleiro Do Cavalo Imaculado

You can't deny the toe-tap. I can be hating a piece of music, staring blankly ahead, zoning out. But if a song comes on and I start a-tappin', I can't in good conscience write it off completely. Well that happened by the time I reached the fourth song, Dum Dum Diddle. And the rest of the album is pretty good too. Just need to get around the cloying creepiness of When I Kissed the Teacher, the omnipresent dentist drill of Dancing Queen, and the Catholic Mass-sounding My Love, My Life. The rest of the songs are pretty catchy but I can't see wanting to throw this on again.

Rare instance where the back half of an album goes harder than the first half. Great cover of Ain't That a Shame. The end of Need Your Love really rocks. Have heard I Want You to Want Me a million times but it still rocks. Clock Strikes Ten is an excellent closer. 3.5/5

Elvis is our foremost culture vulture and his debut album features the kinda scattershot output you'd expect from someone grown in country music but with a foot in rhythm & blues. He's my first repeat artist on this after a mere month but I found this lacking. This was released firmly in the era when everything actually rhymed so I don't know how the laziness of Just Because passed muster. There's some great piano on One-Sided Love Affair. There is never a scenario where I will reach for these versions of I Got a Woman and Tutti Frutti over Ray Charles and Little Richard.

Know this one forwards and backwards. Masterpiece. The breakdown in Can't You Hear Me Knocking >>>>>>

Once I realized I was in for a Zappa album I steeled myself for grating wackiness. I'm struck by how accessible this is. For something that is satirizing popular music genres, it executes those genres very well and I can imagine if people heard some of these songs in isolation, they could have earnestly enjoyed them without realizing he was taking the piss. Random thoughts: Go Cry On Someone Else's Shoulder sounds like the beginning of that Crystals song Any Way the Wind Blows is cool. Who Are the Brain Police? creates an interesting atmosphere They lift the melody from Sherry Baby for the end of Wowie Zowie Help, I'm a Rock is hypnotic It's too kooky for me by the last two tracks, It Can't Happen Here and The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet but it's solid up til then. This is a hard-and-fast 3.5 out of 5 for me. Quite solid. I don't want to undersell it, because I do enjoy it, but I hit a wall with this stuff.

Merecedez Benz is a cute, little song. I much prefer the instrumental of Buried Alive in the Blues over the actual Joplin tracks. Her voice just doesn't do it for me.

Despite my regular indifference to Leonard Cohen's music, it would be rather insulting for me to indulge my instincts and knock this, considering the circumstances. This album is still quite an admirable achievement. There are some nice arrangements; very spare. Dana Glover's backing vocals on On the Level really elevate that song. I barely registered her and Allison Krauss on Steer Your Way. String Reprise/Treaty is quite the devastating closer. You could do worse.