This is an album to put once the sun sets and let the rhythm take you on a ride. The first song and the album's most famous export, Let's Start, is groovy and effortless. The music beckons your spirit to sing along. Black Man's Cry is a jam session that simmers as Fela's voice soars. Ye Ye De Smell is the album's hidden highlight as a musical manifestation of a train marching at full speed. Egbe Mi O carries the swagger and confidence of a midnight stroll. The ending benefits of a live audience that somehow makes the album feel present, even decades after its recording. The finale is a decadent drum solo, or rather, a duel between two masters of their craft. If you haven't been dancing like possessed throughout the runtime of this album, you're not listening.
If Earth, Wind, and Fire had only released this album, it would have been enough to cement their status as Soul & Funk pioneers. It's difficult to overstate the impact Shining Star has had on music. The first opening bars are iconic and work as the album's thesis. That's The Way of the World might be one of the most moving songs ever composed. Happy Feelin' is as full of joy as the title suggests. All About Love has the most lush instrumentation of the album with a horn section that elevates the song. Yearnin' Learnin' is the exemplification of the band's signature sound. Reasons is another album highlight, that encapsulates what the sunrise must sound like. Africano and See the Light propel the album into the African rhythms that are foundational to the genre. This was Earth, Wind, and Fire six albums deep into their career, and they were just getting started.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is many things, except straightforward. I Am Trying To Break Your heart is disorienting but melodic. Kamera was likely interesting at the time but sounds as standard indie fare nowadays. Radio Cure ironically reminds the listener of something Radiohead would produce. Jesus Etc, the album's best known song, manages to be dreamy but earthy. Ashes of American Flags was surely poignant in the direct aftermath of 9/11. Heavy Metal Drummer is fine. I'm the Man Who Loves You might be the albums hidden gem, emotive but laidback. Pot Kettle Back might be the least memorable one. So boring that Poor Places and Reservations melted together. This is an album you can listen to in the background, but it doesn't stick.
Usually I write a review for each song but I played this album and didn't realize it was over until I was welcomed with silence. I like instrumental jazz but vocal jazz in particular suffers from monotony and sadly this album is no exception. I can certainly put this on for a cocktail party or a lazy evening. But I will not be seeking this out anytime soon.
This was a listenable album. See the Sky About To Rain, For the Turnstiles, and Motion Pictures were the most interesting songs for me. You can enjoy however every song on this album and not feel bored. Neil Young does have better albums, namely After The Gold Rush, which leaves an impression.
I've only listened to a couple of Muse songs before, but this album was eye opening. Take a Bow is a mission statement and works as this album's opener. Starlight catches you immediately, with the piano giving the song a sense of airiness that's hard to explain. If Starlight is romantic, then Supermassive Black Hole is lustful. Map of the Problematique is amazing. Soldier's Proem, echoing Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling In Love, almost gives the listener whiplash with the rolling guitars and lofty background vocals. Invincible builds from a slow march into a fantastic guitar solo. Assassin is an aggressive BANGER. Exo-Politics has a western vibe to it but pales in comparison to the rest of the tracks. City of Delusion has a dramatic Iberian flair. Hoodoo feels like the end is nigh. Knights of Cydonia is the album's dramatic climax replete with a horn section. Glorious is a beautiful closer. The whole album feels like a theatrical show, replete with emotional gravitas and instrumental virtuosity. Incredible stuff, really.
It is not difficult to see why this album entered the cultural zeitgeist in the 80s. Red Rain opens the album with the vigor of a raging storm. Sledgehammer needs no introduction: seductive, playful, and endlessly groovy. Kate Bush elevates Don't Give Up with her heartbreaking vocal performance. That Voice Again balances complexity with pop appeal. Mercy Street is pensive but rather boring. Big Time picks up the tempo again but doesn't reach the highs of Sledgehammer. We Do What We Are Told is an interesting interlude but doesn't work as a standalone song. This Is the Picture is exemplary of Gabriel's more avant garde work. In Your Eyes is nothing short of euphoric with Youssou N'Dour lending his voice like a ray of light piercing the sky. What a listen.
For only having the run time of 28 minutes, it feels like a drag. The vocal performance is good but uninspired and tired for the modern ear. For a better cover of Baby What Do You Want Me To Do, listen to Elvis Presley for some real vocal prowess that injects an animalistic appeal into the song that is simply missing in the Everly version. The songs in here tend to fade out, and this album will surely fade from my memory too.
A huge part of this band's appeal rests on the shoulders of the frontwoman Skin who is PHENOMENAL. Charlie Big Potato sets the stage but On My Hotel TV really kicks the ante up, with provocative yet pensive lyrics about the power the media has on creating public perception around race, gender, sexuality, etc. We Don't Need Who You Think You Are is heavy and Skin's vocal are fantastic in this one. Tracy's Flaw serves as an anthem for toxic relationships. Skank Heads is rather forgettable. Lately provides some softness in the album's runtime. Secretly manages to be operatic but alternative and might be the best song on this album. The rest of the songs are all good but this genre isn't for me. The first half goes hard though. Give this album a listen if you're into conscious alternative music.
Paul McCartney is the most artistic Beatle, and this album should be proof enough if his entire solo career can't convince you. Band on the Run might be the album's opus. Jet is heavy but not memorable. Bluebird might a well work as a more layered sequel to the minimalist Blackbird. Mrs Vanderbilt somehow predates the stump and ho of the 2010s indie era. Let Me Roll It is an unconventional love song à la art rock. Mamunia is a feel good track and while I don't know what it is saying, I am into it. No Words has a stunning intro but the rest of the song doesn't live up to its promise. Picasso's Last Words is cool, with the second portion recalling the earlier song Jet with a small chorus. The closer of the song also recalls the first song, making it seem as if this entire album is an ouroboros.
Stevie has a wonderful voice and I really enjoyed a handful of songs such as Sir Duke, Isn't She Lovely, and As. But this album simply didn't catch my attention for whatever reason. I can tell this is a great album, but it isn't for me.
This album isn't music as much as it is a vibe. Waitin' for the Bus is a modern re-imagining of the haunted rockabilly classic Mystery Train. Jesus Just Left Chicago is laidback and effortlessly cool. Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers has a rare but very welcome vocal contribution by the bassist. Master of Sparks and Hot, Blue, Righteous don't stand out by themselves but work perfectly fine within the context of the track list. Move Me on Down the Line injected some energy. Precious and Grace feels like a filler track. But La Grange is the crown jewel of this album and instantly recognizable. Sheik has got a nice rhythm but doesn't quite live up to La Grange. I kind of wish the bassist sang more, he sounded better than the lead singer. Otherwise, this is the type of album that ends up on a show like Sons of Anarchy.
I'd usually review each song but something tells me this is an album that finds you when you are ready. I wasn't, but I thoroughly enjoyed a handful of songs, such as In My Time of Dying and Ten Years Gone. Then, there's the towering achievement that is Kashmir. It's up there, with Mozart and Elvis, music so primordial that it touches upon something that lies beyond the reaches of grammar alone. The 8 minute track is part fantasy, part desert mirage. I will listen to this album again in a few years, and hopefully then, all will be revealed.
MGMT might as well have provided some of the essential tracks of my childhood: Kids, Time to Pretend, and Electric Feel. Now that I am older, I can appreciate the sardonic humor laced with psychedelia reinvented for the 21st century. The other tracks are good but the trifecta of tracks above make everything else pale in comparison. Future Reflections, the closing track of the album, was a welcome surprise. Overall, there's a playful sense of mutiny present in this album, toying with musical conventions and tropes just for the sake of doing something new. This is a landmark in the indie music landscape, for good reason.
There are albums that intrigue, there are albums that bore, and then there are albums that consume you whole. Pornography is the latter. The opening notes don’t just set a tone; they suffocate. It’s Paradise Lost rewritten as a post-punk requiem, a descent where the angels are gone and only hunger remains. At its core, this is music as both punishment and pleasure. It’s rough, it’s erotic in its violence, it’s the sound of needing more pain just to feel alive. There’s a narcotic quality to the repetition, the droning basslines and pounding percussion that feel claustrophobic, hypnotic, and perversely addictive. Even the cover art, blurred faces bleeding into one another, mirrors the sound within: amorphous, disorienting, a portrait of identities dissolving. Pornography is the sound of the fight lost, and the strange beauty of giving in. For anyone who has felt themselves breaking and stayed just to see where the pieces would land, this album is for you.
I've known this album cover for as long as I can remember. The Next Day, the opener and album's namesake, is a dizzy but triumphant return to form for Bowie who had not released anything in over a decade at that point. But being familiar with the rest of Bowie's catalogue doesn't help here, because Bowie isn't reinventing the wheel anywhere on this album. Arguably, the next and his last album, Blackstar offers a far more fascinating and perhaps melancholic entry into his career. The Next Day is perfectly fine, but it inadvertently foreshadows what was Bowie's next masterpiece.
It's honestly surprising how I considered myself a jazz enthusiast but I put this one on and could barely tell apart each track from this album. It's nice to put in a cafe or as background work music.
This is the first artist I didn't know from this list and I am glad I discovered it. The guitar work is impressive, not necessarily groundbreaking but it is singular. All the songs are short, under 2 minutes, perhaps a reflection of the singer's equally truncated life. Place to Be and Things Behind the Sun were my favorite. And although I wish the artist was part of a band that had more instruments and a better singer, I can still appreciate the minimalist approach of only using a guitar to carry you throughout the entirety of the album's runtime.
Another artist I have never heard of before and now I know why. I liked one song, Elvis Presley Blues, not because of the musicianship but because of the subject matter. I tried checking out her other stuff but I wasn't impressed. I'm glad I discovered this artist though. Should I ever hear them, I can now impress people by saying I know this random Americana artist.
Björk is one of those avant garde artists that manages to make strange music listenable. Stonemilker is a stunning opener but I wish the electronic elements weren't there although I can see why some would like it. For me, these songs work best when they are minimalist in their composition. Lionsong might be my favorite and you can hear Arca's, the producer, fingerprints. Notget is another highlight, disturbing and evocative of the bleakness present in Iceland's volcanic landscapes. I much prefer the orchestral release of this album.
This album was pleasant, especially as a more sanitized and family friendly version of Nick Cave's masterful Murder Ballads album that came out several decades later. The rhythm in Gunfighter Ballads can get quite repetitive but the songs are evocative and the singer's voice is easy on the ears. The tracks themselves don't stand out much but it's an album that can be put on without skipping the songs. The opening track, however, Big Iron is the best and contains truly beautiful choral performances as well as some really great songwriting. I'd give this a 3 if it wasn't so generic, but it is closer to a 3 than a 2.
No notes. Great, even if it was very long since it is a musical anthology of the Gershwin songbook. Not giving it a four because it didn't have stand out songs but very well made.
So this is where that Shrek song is from! I played this album twice, from start to finish, and fell asleep both times. Not sure if that means this is a 1/5 or 5/5. I already knew Nick Cave though and he has far better stuff in other albums so I'll have to go with 1. Great find though if I need to fall asleep.
This album marks the moment music slipped its leash, no longer the domain of the trained, the tidy, or the tuneful. The Velvet Underground is experimental for the sheer audacity of being so, an act of art-for-art’s-sake: pop art recast as sound, by the masses, for the masses. It follows no lineage but its own pulse, existing not from necessity but curiosity because someone, somewhere, might find truth in it. The best track, Heroin, aches like a confession whispered through static, while Femme Fatale shimmers in contrast. Nico’s voice is distant, glacial and turns detachment into beauty. The lo-fi grit of the production isn’t a flaw but a manifesto: art made from nothing, for everyone. By the final track, the album collapses into pure noise: an act of destruction that feels like creation, form melting into formlessness. It ends not with resolution, but with the revelation that art, like life, is truest when it refuses to behave.
I grew up to this album and remember it being quite good. It still holds up even after discovering in my adulthood that I'm not a fan of R&B. But this album is well made even when the lead singer has such a deep voice it can become distracting. The lead single "Sweet Love" is the album's zenith but everything else is solid. Overall, very strong album in a genre I don't typically enjoy. No skips.
I don't know much about early hip hop history but this was very enjoyable, especially since the MCs rap without flair and vocal acrobatics like modern rap. The samples are all classics, put on loop but never feel repetitive. There isn't a single weak track. I'd give this a 4 if there was a stand out track, but this really is a solid album by Gang Starr from the golden age of hip hop.
Man, and I thought this band was good. Suppose I liked Song 2 and Death of a Party because I've heard them before. The rest is a snooze fest. Actually couldn't get through most of the songs. Much prefer their album "The Magic Whip" from the 2010s.
I couldn't tell you what each individual song was like mostly because this might be the first recommendation that only works as an album. The whole thing is atmospheric and would be fitting for a Halloween party. Strong overall and had me checking out Black Sabbath's other stuff. For this being a debut album, it doesn't feel like it at all. This is a band that knew its signature sound from the get go and only perfected it over the years.
I know Marilyn Manson from his later stuff like the Pale Emperor but I enjoyed this album. The Beautiful People, Mister Superstar, and Angel with Scabbed Wings were all great. I wouldn't listen to any of these songs individually but they work together very well. I like the conceptual aspect of the work and the fact that it wasn't unlistenable.
This was a very surprising listen. Ive never heard of this band before and found the first half of this album highly enjoyable. Birdland is the band's most famous song, with its urgent percussion. A Remark You Made is another strong track but the albums highlight for me is Teen Town. Rumba Mama is straight up hilarious if you understand the lyrics, which are rare in this album. The best way to describe this is as soul and jazz fusion à la Bitches Brew. Great album and love the cover art too.
This album is pure delirium. It hums with heat and highway dust, with pretty girls and reckless boys chasing something half-divine, half-destructive. There’s madness here, but it’s a charismatic kind, the sort that grins while it burns. There’s no denying too many chemicals fueled this record. It’s almost too much to bear while sober. Yet amid the haze, three songs stand firm: Love Her Madly, L.A. Woman, and Riders on the Storm. These are the lucid moments in the trip. Jim Morrison wasn’t completely gone then, his voice still had that priest-of-the-void gravity, still enough breath to guide us toward the end. This is California music through and through: sun-drunk, strange, and sublime. What a listen.
Technique sounds like a party held in the ruins of something beautiful. Without Ian Curtis’s haunted gravity, the band trades darkness for gloss, grief for glitter. The album glitters, yes, but like sunlight on broken glass. It’s the sound of a band living again, even if the joy sometimes feels borrowed. Then there’s “Round & Round” which is the album’s quiet revelation and best song. Its euphoria doesn’t come from volume or grandeur, but from precision: every note placed just so, each rhythm pulsing with contained light. In those few minutes, New Order distills a song that is ostensibly about a toxic relationship but it dances at the edge of absence. Everything else on the album pales in comparison.
Maybe this is because I have modern ears but this feels like most 70s slop that sounds like a bunch of rejects from the Rumours album by Fleetwood Mac. I liked "Our House" from this album but I had already heard it before. Meh.
This album feels like the sound of Starbucks before the concept ever existed, the premonition of a genre yet to be named. Norah Jones’ voice drifts with a soft, nasal haze, as though she’s forever on the verge of clearing her throat and revealing something truer beneath the polish. The production, though, is immaculate. It has the kind of quiet perfection jazz so often hides behind, especially since Blue Note released it. But this album never stumbles, never strains. It would make perfect company for a dinner party: polite, unintrusive, and safe. And that, perhaps, is the most damning thing I can say. 'Come Away With Me' never dares to be more than pleasant.
Melody A.M. feels like morning captured in sound: soft light, quiet optimism, and the calm between dreaming and waking. It drifts between pure instrumentals, songs sung in half-light, and others suspended in a kind of wordless reverie; vocal cues that shimmer and dissolve before they can fully form. “So Easy” opens with a sleepy grin, jazz-tinged and weightless; “Sparks” glows like meditation; “In Space” dreams of tomorrow’s horizons. By the time “40 Years Back Home” closes, the sun has fully risen. Released in 2001 yet still sounding ahead of its time, Melody A.M. remains Röyksopp’s purest vision as an ode to the future, sung from the quiet heart of morning.
This is a fine Country album but not for me. Side note, Dolly Parton is an incredible singer.
Spiritualized feels like a more hazy, less focused, and yet somehow maximalist companion band to Radiohead. I can see what the band was trying to do but it grated my ears. I quite liked "I Want You" though. However, do check out their 1997 album 'Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating in space' with a similarly minimalist cover. That is a more realized version of what this album was trying to be.
This is a collection of proto-hip hop tracks. No lyrics, just vibes. If you're into free styling, this is a good record to have. It's a pleasant listen but 'Midnight In A Perfect World' really stands out. It's a trip hop type joint, with a melancholic tinge that only comes at night. The rest is fine but this one track is worth listening to, and maybe downloading on your streaming app.
When this dropped, TLC stood shoulder to shoulder with the era’s power girl groups, their sound unapologetically feminine, defiantly Black, and smooth as velvet. Listening now, though, the album feels less like a door being broken open and more like a room being polished to perfection. Maybe when it first dropped, it sounded like the future. There are glimmers of that vision still: “Creep” slinks with jazzy ease, effortless and irresistible. “Waterfalls,” meanwhile, remains anthemic. Yet, CrazySexyCool feels tethered to its decade. Compare it to Aaliyah’s final, posthumous album, also orange-hued, guided by Jermaine Dupri & Timbaland, and you sense the leap from polished present to prophetic future. Aaliyah sounded like tomorrow. TLC, like a perfectly tuned version of the now. And then there’s their cover of Prince’s “If I Was Your Girlfriend.” Stripped of its androgynous ache, it lands flat. Prince’s version shimmered with gender fluidity and daring. TLC’s take feels rinsed clean, safer somehow. CrazySexyCool may no longer sound revolutionary but it still sounds like a moment that mattered.
I'm a fan of some singer songwriter stuff but this is simply too bare bones (pun intended) for me. But it's not unlistenable.
I don't get the hype behind Joni Mitchell. The music is well produced, the songs have an interesting structure, and Joni has a wonderful voice with an emotive pen to go with it. But the music doesn't speak to me at all? It may be criminal to give this a 2 but oh well. It's not unlistenable like some of the other albums I have gotten.
I've heard so much about this band and didn't realize this was their most famous album. I listened to it and found it okay but nothing I would play again or consider iconic. A part of me suspects it's this bands aesthetic that really caught on. I couldn't tell you what each song had to offer but Hallowed Be Thy Name has some very interesting chord progressions and melodies at the beginning. The music is fine but I'm more interested in the artwork.
I can see how this is considered the first great album of Bowie's career, with songs like Changes and Life on Mara front-loading the track list. Everything else her works too, even if to a significantly less degree. It's a pleasant listen but certainly nothing that would come to characterize Bowie's groundbreaking career. But this is just the beginning.
Fine album, very bluesy and garage rock inspired. I don't find a single song here to standout but they are all very well written.
If Elvis Presley’s 1956 debut announced a revolution, this is its apotheosis and his magnum opus. After a decade lost to Hollywood gloss and commercial drift, Elvis returned to the booth in Memphis not as an icon, but as a pilgrim seeking the soul he’d traded away. What emerged was alchemy: the grit of the Mississippi fused with gospel’s ache and country’s naked storytelling. Here, he confronts the full weight of living and channels it into the most mature work of his career. “Only the Strong Survive” and “Mama Liked the Roses” are hymns for the woman who never got to see what her boy became. “Suspicious Minds” is a desperate anthem of love’s last stand, perhaps a plea to his partner of ten years, Priscilla. “In the Ghetto” resurrects the poor Tupelo boy he once was. "Don't Cry Daddy" is sung with the gravitas only a father could muster. “Power of My Love” burns with the urgency of flesh that still remembers its divinity. And “Kentucky Rain” turns a simple story into scripture. Even the cover, that crimson field with Elvis framed in silhouette, reads like iconography. The King poised between eras: the young revolutionary and the weary monarch, framed in a color that evokes passion, danger, and rebirth. Nothing that followed would match this. The Vegas years would gild and distort him, the machinery of fame and addiction grinding down what once was sacred. But here, in this record, Elvis stands at the summit. Rooted. Radiant. Mortal. And finally, home.
I couldn't tell for the first three songs that I actually was three separate songs. This is a well crafted album with lofty conceptual goals but I think the problem here is me. I'm just not into R&B as a genre.
Raw and emotionally gut wrenching. Grunge classic for a reason. Would? Might be one of my favorite songs of all time. That, and the Alice In Chains Unplugged performance of some of these songs (notably Down in a Hole) are some of the most poignant moments in rock history with the lead singer visibly succumbing to addiction as he performed live for one last time.
Raw and emotionally gut wrenching. Grunge classic for a reason. Would? Might be one of my favorite songs of all time. That, and the Alice In Chains Unplugged performance of some of these songs (notably Down in a Hole) are some of the most poignant moments in rock history with the lead singer visibly succumbing to addiction as he performed live for one last time.
Bob Dylan's voice makes my ears bleed. The music is nice though. But man, Bob Dylan screeches.
Relax is the best song on this album. Everything else feels rather bloated and more complex than it needed to be.
The first two songs are great, but the rest doesn't live up to it. I do like that the singer explores his LGBTQ identity. Nice instrumentation too.
Duran Duran’s sophomore album Rio stands as a defining moment in early-eighties New Wave, capturing the sense that pop music was shifting into a more synthetic, futuristic era. After years dominated by folk rock, disco, and soul, the album’s blend of sharp hooks, electronic textures, and theatrical vocals felt genuinely new. The big singles “Rio” and “Hungry Like the Wolf” are immediately catchy, but what gives them staying power is the subtle melancholy beneath their upbeat surfaces. That emotional depth becomes more explicit in the final tracks. “Save a Prayer” is a dreamlike ballad built on warm, drifting synthesizers, while “The Chauffeur” marks the band’s most experimental turn, mixing unusual samples and atmospheric arrangements into something both unsettling and compelling. Taken together, Rio refined Duran Duran’s sound and the New Romantic aesthetic, showing how pop could be both highly produced and emotionally resonant.
No idea what I just listened to but okay.
Not for me but not unlistenable
Giving it a three because of the influence and the Aerosmith song that slaps.
Nah. I like the Doors but this album simply isn't it. None of the songs caught my attention.
I am very glad that I listened to this. I wish I could give it a 4 but there aren't enough songs that I genuinely liked for me to give it that score. But I really appreciated the acoustic emphasis of the album and the rather interesting lyrics too. Drive and Man on the Moon were my favorites, but Everybody Hurts is the classic here.
I've never heard of this artist before and I am always excited when this happens. On paper, I should like this album. Acoustic and singer/songwriter tend to be right up my alley but I didn't find most songs interesting. However, I did like the song "Fall" and find the artist's work generally intriguing even if I wouldn't listen to it in my spare time. I discovered his other stuff, such as the album Mala, that I do find more enjoyable than this album.
Franz Ferdinand’s debut still startles with its brilliance and simplicity. I shouldn’t be surprised to see it on its list, as it quietly rewired post-punk and alternative rock for the 2000s, led by the sly, irresistible snap of “Take Me Out.” The whole album hums with humor and joie de vivre—“The Dark of the Matinée,” “Jacqueline”—even as it lets heartbreak seep through on “Auf Achse.” The melodies feel both remembered and newly invented, as if the band is dusting off a forgotten future. By the time “Michael” and “This Fire” arrive, everything burns a little hotter, their dada-tinged videos matching the music’s manic grin. “40’” closes the record with minimalist tension, with lead singer Alex Kapranos offering lyrics that refuse to explain themselves. You either fall into their rhythm or you’re left outside, listening. Even the stark cover seems to declare a new era: bold, stripped down, self-aware. And astonishingly, it was only the band’s first step, with their finest hour still ahead in 2013's Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action. Fantastic album if you're interested in indie, alternative, or post punk for the 21st century.
Another rather strong entry by Black Sabbath although I kind of wish this website would pick one album per band or artist. But this was a fun, more mature aspect of Black Sabbath that I didn't know. I personally liked Changes and Laguna Surprise which had hints of Les Zeppelin in them.
This is fine, favorite track is If I Was Your Girlfriend.
I don't know much about jazz after the 1960s or before the 2010s but I really enjoyed this album. The titular track contains a very strong vocal performance and incredible execution. The Hustler is another strong highlight with incredible drum work and a piano full of personality. The entire album is background music but it is good enough that you could vibe to these as well. Very pleasantly surprised.
This was okay, but nothing stood out per se.
I've heard so much fuss about this band and sadly, instead of hearing alternative genius, I heard noise.
Always happy to discover new Australian musicians.
Another legendary band that turned out to be disappointing just like Iron Maiden. Of all the songs, I quite enjoyed United.
Another legendary band that turned out to be disappointing just like Iron Maiden AND Judas Priest. Of all the songs, I quite enjoyed 1979 but I've known that song for ages. Everything else kind of grated my ears. Couldn't make it to disc 2. Yea, there are TWO discs.
This album feels like the grandfather of indie rock, alternative, and post punk all at once. The beats feels really special, modern, but still dated. The introductory song, Thank You for Sending Me an Angel, sets the tone for what could qualify as the forefathers of the stuff that Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse, Kasabian, and other such bands would carry for the new century. The highlight is a cover of a Sam Cooke song, Take Me To the River, that transforms the old song into a sensual, groovy rendition that Annie Lennox would come to perfect in her album Medusa. This album is influential and still holds up. I wish I could give it a 4, but sadly I did t enjoy it enough.
Honestly, some of these songs felt like stuff the Beatles were doing on the regular. But the best song is My Generation, which is the most distinct song in here that feels like it has the personality of the band rather than some homage to American blues music etc. Fun songs but nothing too crazy.
I was more familiar with Kate's previous album, Hounds of Love, but this really surprised me. The production is nothing short of incredible. Every note sounds crisp and her voice is magnetic. I couldn't tell you what the songs were about because I was too busy just vibing with them. This album is sensual, tender, delicate, fierce and nuanced. In other words, it is a Kate Bush album par excellence.
I am not a fan of folk music but this was a pleasant listen, even if somewhat dull. I think this would have benefited from having an actual band supporting the really excellent guitar playing. I am still glad I found this artist because I checked out their other stuff and really like the first song from the LA Turnaround album, FreshAs A Sweet Sunday Morning.
I was genuinely surprised by this album. I don’t like soul or R&B as a general rule but something about the instrumentation, vocal delivery, production, and just overall execution struck me. Nothing really stood out to me but it all flowed so well that might have to give those a reluctant 3 even though I saved a lot of the songs. I will probably never listen to any of the songs individually but maybe put this whole album when I am in the mood for something more mellow.
This album is why I signed up for this generator. It's a 3 but this is a true deep cut and a hidden gem of an album. I'd give it a higher rating if I had just absolutely LOVED one song, but alas, I just liked most of the album. Captain's Tale might be my favorite song but I really enjoyed Streets of Kenny. You can just hear the Liverpool-ness in the music, and it's quite charming, especially since the city's nautical roots inform the album cover and some of the lyricism. Very pleasantly surprised.
Prefer her work in 'Raven' that sounds more forward thinking and otherwordly. This feels like above average R&B slop. But she is very talented. Check out her other stuff, especially her latest jazz-inspired live album.
Primordial hip hop. Interesting from a historic perspective.
Goddamn it I can't get used to his screech.
I can see how many British and Irish bands were inspired after listening to this album. The opening track is easily the best: volcanic, tender, and yet, piercing. It's a strange song but a fantastic blend of noise and silence. That song alone gives this album an instant 2.
Definitely have heard of this band before and I can see why. The music is a joyous blend of rock and classical impulses, which they used to produce a series of both fun but nuanced songs. Great for a drive. Also, these songs are just so good you've heard them playing in all sorts of movies. That's how much personality is contained within this album.
Like a few songs by them. Not this album though.
I like blues. I don't like this album however, even if I can appreciate the influences.
Interesting artist. I enjoyed some of this but his voice is weird.
I am a huge Radiohead fan but this album might be too experimental even for me. I very much enjoyed some songs like Everything in its Right
Place and Idioteque that seem to subvert their respective genres. But I found everything else to be too much noise.
I like the cover and the beginning notes of the album's titular track, but I just can't get behind Joni Mitchell's whole workmanship. It doesn't touch me but I can tell there went a lot of effort into creating this album.
Typical British Oasis-adjacent pop-rock slop.
This albums excels when it stops focusing on crusty ass men.
Good for them for having a career.
Didn't really love the music but I like what this band stands for, whatever that is.
Didn't really love the music but I like what this band stands for, whatever that is.
I have to give this album a 5 just for having the sheer audacity to exist. This is a massive effort: in scope, in execution, in concept. Kamasi Washington imbues the instrumentation with a strange mix of futurism and homage to the past, while Kdot's penmanship reaches heights that are not seen in hip hop or any other genres for that matter.
I've heard Paper Planes by this artist but I am so glad I gave this album a listen. The music is erratic with youth, the lyrics are in a frenzy with indignation at the state of the world, and yet an effervescent joy seeps the album. It's playful, but thought provoking. Boyz was a particular highlight, conscious and catchy. Check out MIA's other stuff too.
There is nothing revolutionary about Rumours. It did not fracture convention or usher in a new genre. Instead, it performs a rarer feat: it distills an entire era of popular music into a near-perfect forty-minute experience. As the relationship between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks unraveled, its emotional fallout was transmuted into songwriting steeped in tension, longing, and quiet melancholy. Every track is instantly recognizable, immaculately polished, and disarmingly accessible. Rumours never asks much of the listener, nor does it strain for profundity, but that restraint is part of its power. The musicianship and songwriting are impeccable, reaching their apex in moments like “The Chain,” where the album finds its emotional and sonic center. There is the sunlit California drift of “Dreams,” the haunted wilderness of “Gold Dust Woman.” Rumours endures not because it challenged its audience, but because it trusted them, standing as the quintessential rock album of the 1970s: mass appeal without condescension, intimacy without excess.
Listened to the beginning of each song and very quickly concluded this is one of the weaker entries in Madonna’s catalogue, and man. Does she have some stinkers as she gets older and more tired. I can understand how this was something interesting back in the day but it just sounds to me like a more polished version of your run of the mill 80s pop slop. I much prefer the gravitas and unconventionality of her previous album entry, True Blue.
So you’re telling me this was all improv? Also, those weird grunts he makes sadly give this an automatic 1, I don’t want to hear one of that weird grunting shit,
It’s so easy to get a Christmas album wrong because they tend to be so cheesy but at least this album picks the best songs from the Christmas canon and gives them an interesting production. The singers all have lovely voices too unlike Michael fucking Buble.
Sounds like a temu version of Frank Ferdinand from 2004.
I like the popular songs: Heart-shaped Box, Rape Me, and All Apologies. I was surprised that I liked Dumb. But otherwise I found everything else to sound like depressive noise. It really doesn’t compare to the previous album, Nevermind. I won’t give it a 2 though because the songs that I do like are very good.
The best part about this album is Tarkus, the mechanic armadillo and the dystopian war-torn universe it inhabits. The title track is 20 minutes of insanity and surely drug-fueled songwriting. The rest of the tracks, albeit short and arguably more digestible, are nonetheless boring. Interesting concept album and I am glad I listened to it.
Really nice to hear something that isn't R&B Slop. I was more familiar with their other work from the 1960s so I was pleasantly surprised by this entry. A hidden highlight for me was "I Ain't Got Nothing" that took inspiration from 1950s groups.
Nobody told me this album is borderline experimental hip-hop. This album is blunt, unapologetic, and endlessly quotable. The first four tracks are impeccably placed and a highlight. The more famous tracks are good too but lesser known tracks like Respect shine through as well. This was a fantastic listen and a very, very welcome surprise.
Great album for people trying to get into punk but as a seasoned straight edge enjoyer, this was quaint.
Nothing in this album holds a candle to their performance of "Summertime" in the live recording at Woodstock. Not even the studio version of said song. But I enjoyed that song and Piece of my Heart. But also, summertime is an old Gershwin classic so not original either. I guess it's 2/5 for the two songs I liked.
Very much surprised I found a new Radiohead song to enjoy: nice dream. Otherwise, there are some real classics in here: High & Dry, Just, Street Spirit. Solid entry even if there are some duds here and there.
This might be the first classic vocal jazz album that I thoroughly enjoyed from this list. The first track, I’m a Fool to Want You, is delightful and it’s still as striking as the first time I heard it in a Chanel perfume ad. I don’t think this is her best song but it’s definitely her best album. The orchestral arrangements are phenomenal.
Rarely has a band articulated its whole worldview so completely into a single, volatile statement And yet, for all its force, the album resists a thesis. Nothing here is sacred. Government, society, love, authority, the future, even the band: everything is placed under suspicion.
The album opens with “Holidays in the Sun,” whose first lines are as incisive as punk ever got. When the Pistols mock the Queen, they do it not just for shock, but because they could and because the act of doing so exposed the fragility of the symbols themselves. The resulting bans and the now-iconic defaced royal imagery only cemented the point.
Lead singer Johnny Rotten sounds perpetually nauseated by authority, by their audience, by himself. His disillusionment knows no bounds, and that contempt is crucial. This is nihilism with teeth, laughing at the edge of collapse. “Never Mind the Bollocks” is the most consequential punk record ever made, and it grins at nuclear annihilation, turning apocalypse into punchline without ever draining it of terror. What’s most unsettling is how serious it is even as it reduces everything to a joke, staring straight into an absurd universe and daring it to blink first.
It’s a good album, especially the title track Respect. But it says a lot that the best song in here isn’t even hers to begin with.
More than surprised by this album. In fact, Aerosmith is consistently interesting as a band. Love in an Elevator is catchy as hell but the real show stopper is Water Song/Janie Got a Gun. It’s strange, it’s poignant, and iconic. This was a nice surprise and it prompted me to check out their other stuff. I would have given this a 4 but I found another Aerosmith album that I liked more. But this is really great.
I actually really like the vibe of this band, and actually found Expectations good. But otherwise, I found the rest of the tracks rather lacking. I liked another track but from a completely different album. I don't know, this was fine but I couldn't be bothered with the songs.
I'm was surprised. Genuinely, because I used to not like Tom Petty or at least what I had heard, but this album is rock solid. I don't think I like every single song but I think this might be a Wings situation, who I have a 3 but later thought I should have given it a 4, bought the vinyl because it's just a very good album. This was not one of my favorite of all time but I can see myself getting the album and listening to the entire thing without too many complaints. I like how brief this is, 30 minutes, but it's tight and unpretentious rock with fun lyrics, crips instrumentation, and a clear vision. Tom Petty can't sing all too well, but when he tries it sounds good enough and above all else, at least he doesn't sound like Bob Dylan because that would be a real tragedy.
I don’t know what I was expecting with this album but it certainly wasn’t a homage to music from 1950 and 1960. The framing of the album is rather strange like that but I t does have some incredible songs, like Candyman and Ain’t No Other Man. The best part of the album is Christina’s voice but despite the album's lofty goal of presenting itself as a back to basics music that strips the genre to its essentials, it already sounds dated just 20 years later.
One of the best music videos of all time was made for Firestarter. Breathe is another banger but the rest of the album feels severely dated. But it still stands that Firestarter was a leap in electronic music.
"I'm the bitch you hated."
Rubber Soul reveals itself as a quietly subversive record, one whose humor is inseparable from its craft. The album’s wit is not broad or careless; it emerges through carefully balanced arrangements and lyrics that glide between playfulness and menace. The buoyant “beep beep” harmonies of “Drive My Car” mask a sharp satire of ambition, while “Norwegian Wood” couches emotional ambiguity in such gentle textures that its closing act of arson lands almost casually, as if mischief were its natural conclusion. What distinguishes Rubber Soul is this tension between lightness and intent. Songs like “Girl” function as disguised experiments: its droning accompaniment and sighing vocals recall a medieval ballad, reframed through John Lennon’s ironic romanticism. Elsewhere, the album allows itself moments of genuine reflection. “In My Life” stands apart in its sincerity, its melodic restraint and baroque-tinged clavichord line lending the song a sense of temporal depth. Rubber Soul marks a decisive broadening of their creative vocabulary, integrating humor, introspection, and sonic experimentation into a coherent whole. For most bands, this level of invention would constitute a peak. For the Beatles, it was merely the threshold.
I thought I liked jazz but this website is changing my mind. Yikes.
Frankly, I couldn't tell you what I just listened to. I can't even say I line the band because I tried listening to their other stuff and found it dreadful.
Elvis may have been kind when he said he appreciated modern music like the Byrds. I guess it was an interesting listen, especially songs like I See You and What's Happening. But otherwise everything else felt rather janky and overall too psychedelic for my taste.
It's well recorded but it's missing the charm of their previous album on this list, Tres Hombres, that feels like more my speed.
I’ve known about this album forever and perhaps it’s my nihilism showing but the optimism in the music makes me recoil. Make no mistake however that this is a beautiful album, beautifully arranged and crafted. Wouldn’t It Be Nice has been overplayed to oblivion so it’s sunshiny attitude birders on sarcasm to the modern listener. But there is something about God Only Knows that remains deeply touching, especially the end with the melodies soaring. I wasn’t too keen on the rest of the songs but they are still very well made and I can see others liking them.
The first song set the expectations so high that everything else paled in comparison. Faron Young is the best song in here and it works to the album's detriment. A weird blend of 80s indie rock and country, it's really fascinating. Especially when you find out that the lead singer it is named after committed suicide.
There are moments when a record doesn’t just meet expectations. I came in expecting a handful of untouchable classics (Back in Black, Hells Bells) the kind of songs so embedded in cultural memory that they almost feel inevitable. What I didn’t expect was to be taken by every single track, nor to be reminded why rock and roll, at its best, is such a brutally effective art form. Everything here is stripped down to rock’s most primal elements: unforgettable guitar licks, thunderous rhythm, and a commanding vocal performance. What makes this album endure is its discipline. Rock music so often collapses under its own excess but these songs are badass without posturing, simple without being simplistic, tight without feeling constrained. The power lies in how elemental it all feels. This is rock and roll in its purest form. It doesn’t beg for attention with gimmicks or grand statements; it just works. Song after song, the album maintains a relentless focus, delivering exactly what it promises and nothing it doesn’t need. This album was a reminder that when rock is done right, it doesn’t need to evolve or inflate itself. It just needs to hit hard, stay honest, and leave a mark.
Fine album, can't stand her voice.
I'm frankly not sure what is going on here and it feels like I am listening to a sermon more than an album, but I can appreciate the vision. Whatever that may be.
The sounds are interesting but grating. I enjoyed Sunshowers but her better album on this list is Kala without a doubt.
Enjoyed the first track, especially when you get to hear Coltrane chant A Love Supreme.
Honestly, I didn't expect to like this too much but I genuinely enjoyed a handful of songs. Black Hole Sun is a certified classic but The Day I Tried To live took me by surprise by how melodic it was. Overall, this album I heavy but it is tinged with sound and the lyrics range with interesting themes about one's relationship to others, oneself, and loved ones.
Rolling in a Deep is one of those songs that would be a classic in any decade. Rumour Has It and Set Fire to the Rain are both good. The Cure's Lovesong works fine as a cover here. But everything else sounds rather bloated and dated.
I'm sure this was good country back in the day. The lyrics are funny at least.
I can appreciate the feminist empowerment and the socially conscious lyrics but it doesn't save this album from suffering from a severe lack of a competent vocalist.
I went into evermore expecting to confirm my long-held indifference toward Taylor Swift. Her music is intensely emotional in a way that feels narrow. Fixated on romantic turmoil, rendered in glossy pop slop that left little room for ambiguity. Popular, yes, but not compelling.
Evermore is an unusual entry in Swift’s discography. It is not overtly autobiographical, yet it is intimate. Most striking is the writing. It is the most thoughtful and disciplined lyricism of her career.
Tracks like “willow” and “gold rush” wouldn’t feel out of place as modern indie standards. Their incorporation of folk and chamber-pop textures gives the songs a depth and patience absent in her commercial work. The album’s centerpiece is “coney island,” a collaboration with The National and arguably Swift’s most mature song to date. The lyrics favor regret and restraint over melodrama, choosing subtlety where Swift often opts for excess.
For any musician, evermore would be a career-defining album. That it exists alongside and is eclipsed by albums that are inferior in quality and thematically shallow is baffling. The preference for those records feels like a collective failure of taste. Because in this album, I glimpsed an artist.
Infinitely better than the other stuff by her I've been subjected to. Still no.
It is difficult, from a modern vantage point, to fully grasp how radical In the Wee Small Hours must have sounded upon its release in 1955. At a time when LPs were largely little more than playlists, Sinatra presented something genuinely new: music conceived as a unified experience. Its innovation is structural: a sustained emotional logic carried across an entire LP. In doing so, he helped introduce the very idea of the ‘concept’ album.
This record is a consummate mood-setter. Where many jazz and vocal albums of the era feel like loosely assembled songbooks, In the Wee Small Hours unfolds with a clear and singular vision. Sinatra’s voice, then marked by maturity and experience, brings a gravitas that transforms familiar standards into intimate confessions. Several tracks feel so perfectly realized that they eclipse other versions entirely. These recordings feel definitive: “Mood Indigo” and “I Get Along Without You Very Well” are not merely performed, but inhabited.
Nelson Riddle’s orchestral arrangements are a study in emotional economy and central to the album’s precision. Rather than overwhelm, the orchestra reaches its expressive heights through restraint: a quivering oboe, the lament of a flute, the hush of strings that seem to breathe alongside the singer. There is always the danger that such material could tip into melodrama, but the album consistently pulls back from that edge.
Even the cover art reinforces the album’s cohesion. The blue-toned, film noir-inspired image of Sinatra alone beneath a streetlamp offers no invitation, only acknowledgement. There are no mood swings here, no up-tempo concessions. Instead, this is music for the hours when the self-deception finally wears thin.
In the Wee Small Hours doesn’t announce itself as important. It simply refuses to break character. In doing so, it established a template for the album as an emotional canvas, one that countless artists would follow, but rarely with such discipline, intimacy, or grace.
I didn't k la what to expect other than bongos and I am so happy all I got was bongos.
I don’t like this voice in this album but I know he can do better, especially after checking out his album Born in the USA. I quite didn’t like the songs here but I am guessing because I am not a guy from 1980s New Jersey who enjoys dive bars after a long day of working in the yard. This is working class music and it’s fine, just not for me.
I genuinely don't understand why this is here. I guess some of the melodies are nice but it feels like music I'd hear at a Greene King.
I like Beck. Don't like this album. But not unlistenable.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard this album. It seeped into my life early, either blaring from my older brother’s bedroom, echoing through high school speakers as lunch period wound down. What continues to surprise me, even now, is how playful the record feels despite the ferocity of Eminem’s delivery. The aggression is real, but it’s laced with mischief. The beats are inventive, the skits grotesque and confrontational, and Slim Shady delights in provocation, taking aim at anyone and everyone without discrimination.
The guest list is familiar and expected (Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, D12) figures who anchor Eminem within his established orbit. Yet The Marshall Mathers LP is not merely an exercise in shock or bravado. Running beneath the album’s outrageous humor is a persistent gravity. Eminem writes through the lens of childhood neglect, poverty, fractured faith, and the suffocating consequences of fame. These themes are the emotional engine of the record, giving weight to even its most cartoonish moments.
What ultimately emerges is a deeply tragic album masquerading as spectacle. The violence, satire, and outrage function less as ends in themselves than as coping mechanisms, ways of processing trauma in public, often at the listener’s expense. That tension between playfulness and pain is what gives the album its staying power. Decades later, it hasn’t dulled or calcified.
Fantastic listen, incredible vocals. Downloaded the album for when I need to cook, clean or just want something good playing in the background.
Honestly, the album flew by and I am sad to give it such a low score because I think it is ultimately a fun album with some real rage and anger imbued into the musicianship and lyricism. Strangely enough, I consider this rather avant garde? I'm giving it a 1 because of the absolutely kick ass cover and for the vision. That and the 5 second song 'You Suffer' are amazing.
Honestly surprised by how pleasant it was.
