Outstanding. No bad tracks on the album. 26 year old Aretha sounds amazing. Chains of fools kicks off the album perfectly, Aretha is powerful yet restrained, almost too easy for her. Love this song. People get ready, grooving, and natural woman other standout.
Christina Aguilera is a treasure. I'm a fan. Sure, it's pop but it's good pop. Ya'll can judge all you want, I'm comfortable with who I am.
Outstanding. No bad tracks on the album. 26 year old Aretha sounds amazing. Chains of fools kicks off the album perfectly, Aretha is powerful yet restrained, almost too easy for her. Love this song. People get ready, grooving, and natural woman other standout.
Great energy. One of my favorite albums, 90s punk with a 70s punk feel.
Not for me. Cool background mood music for a movie, but nothing I would listen to on purpose again.
Really good. Went in blind, but recognized a couple songs. Surprised how much I liked this, not at all what I expected.
Kept waiting for the Fonz to make a cameo. Fun nostalgic listen.
Nothing like DLR era Van Halen, big fan. That said this is my least favorite DLR VH album, so it gets a 3.8, which rounds up to a 4. Not a strong 4 but I can't in conscience give this record anything less.
Incredible album. The album opens with rehab which is a bit bitter sweet, great song but also a reminder of how we lost such a talent far too soon. Amy shares her soul with us, her heart ache and wanting are prevalent throughout this album. Back to black and tears dry on their own my two favorites. Me and Mr jones, you know I'm no good, and Love is a losing game are other highlights. Nothing but brilliance on this record start to finish. Amy takes old classic sounds of soul, blues and jazz, adds a modern tone and creates an amazing sound that instantly grabs you. One of my very favorite albums, an absolutely beautiful piece of work.
Not my go to genre, have to admit this was the first time I listened to the entire album. The singles off this album have always been favorites, of course C.R.E.A.M. and Method Man. Entire album has a great vibe, really draws you in. Again, not my favorite genre. Their influence on music is clear, for me even moreso after listening to this album. Really liked the album, but not something I'll listen to again. Wu-Tang forever....but for me, it's a 3. My apologies to the hip hop universe.
Iconic album cover, was excited to actually listen to the record and glad I did. I enjoyed the Lou Reed songs, old school gritty New York City vibe. Very cool, enjoyed it. The other songs were a bit rough for me. Felt like they listened to hippie era Beatles and decided to give it a go after taking way too many drugs. Pretty terrible. Iconic Warhol cover and Lou Reed carry the record and bring this to a 3.
Classic album, always liked the African influence and vibe. The highllights on the is album are amazing Call Me Al, Graceland, Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes are the three must listen to songs. Rest of the album solid. I still throw this album on every now and again, always a great listen. Full transparency i didnt listen yesterday, but I know this album well.
Perfect soundtrack for cruising in your camero with the T tops off...glorious mullet flowing in the wind. We all know the songs, we all sing along to the chorus. Perfect example of 70s classic rock.
This one brought me back to my highschool days when we would go to the battle of the bands and rocked out! Great times! Lots of Metallica, Guns n Roses, and Iron Maiden covers. The rare Rush song the brave kids who had crazy chops would give a go, i remember my friend doing Tom Sawyer, he rocked it! Well, maybe not rocked it, but Neil Peart would have approved of the effort for sure, looking back I'm still crazy impressed ...anyway... of course there were also the original songs, teenage angst expressed through poorly conceived riffs and even worse lyrics. Some weren't terrible, none were very good, but back in they day each was freaking rad as hell to 15 year old me. Mudhoney brought me back to those good old days, and as bad as my buddies were, Mudhoney is worse. They may have influenced the birth of one of my favorite genres, and I thank them for that, but there is nothing good on this album. The writing is barely on par with the average high-school kid and in that spirit I give this album a gold star! A single, yet very special, gold star they can display on their refrigerator along with the cover art for this record.
Like most, Sunday Bloody Sunday was my introduction to U2. The marching rhythm of the snare drum, heavy bass line, Bono shouting his message on stage waving that huge white flag in the video. 10 year old me was too young to understand any of this, but damn it he had my attention. I was in from the first tap of that snare. This is the type of song you feel, U2 was delivering their message and demanded your attention. You feel a little bit of a punk soul on this track. I really like the beginning of the album Seconds keeps the heart of Sunday Bloody Sunday and introduces a bit of rhythm, then New Year's day gives us a beautiful soaring chorus, Like a song returns us back to Bonos angsty vocals but this time kick drum takes the lead. Really nicely composed set of songs. Rest of the album is really good as well, I was happy to be reminded how great a song Two Hearts is. Is Bono a pretentious douchebag? Yes, he is. Is U2 insufferable, yes, they are. I'm not a U2 fan for the most part, I like them fine. But they can write a hell of a song, and in this case they wrote a great album.
I like this album. Few cool songs, great live recording, and best of all that funky mouth organ thing. 70s technology at its finest. This is pop rock, nothing deep. Have a couple of edibles, sit back, and enjoy the show.
The Electric Prunes, love the band name, but it's crappy 60s psychedelic rock. It's awful. Soooooo.....Ya.....that's pretty much it on this one.
I learned it pays to read the wiki, the original album is only 8 songs, the rest of the songs on spotify were bonus tracks on the cd reissue. Why does this matter.....I couldn't do it anymore... I needed to stop but didn't want to quit. It was like the 25th mile of a marathon, and I was out of gas. What a relief to learn I was actually 3 songs past the finish line and could turn it off. Phew! Cheesy Renaissance Fair music. Not for me.
I like Steely Dan. Smooth jazz mixed with prog rock, very enjoyable. They are the kind of band I never really liked well enough to delve into the catolouge, but always enjoyed on the radio. For that reason I was happy to give this album a listen. Strong start Rikki Don't Lose That Number, great song, and the only song on the album I'd heard before. Night by Night, I liked alot, feels like I'm in for a banger of an album. Then it drops off into the realm of "meh". Very talented players, but feels like they are trying too hard to be hip and cool. Part of that is their white guy groove, they try so hard to sneak a funky groove into their songs, but they are so damn white. It's fine, doesn't ruin the songs, but gives them a musak feel. Only other songs on the album worth note are the title track Pretzel Logic, which is very good, and East St Louis Toodle which is awful. Sounds like something they had fun with in the studio and decided to share with the world, should have stayed on the cutting room floor. Overall the album was dissappointing but not bad. This is a very strong 2.
Christina Aguilera is a treasure. I'm a fan. Sure, it's pop but it's good pop. Ya'll can judge all you want, I'm comfortable with who I am.
This record kept me entitely entertained as it reminded me of two great movies. Is it me, or does Nico spound like a lot like Lili Van Shtupp? I couldn't help but picture her on stage in a campy burlesque outfit with thirsty cowboys howling at her. Hysterical. When I tried to take the album seriously I listened to it as a historical point in time piece. Pop art 60"s Warhol parties, this is what I picture they listened to. Which brought me to Men in Black 3, where Bill Hader plays Andy Warhol who is actually an undercover MIB agent making up a bunch of nonsense and passing it off as art. Can you imagine those people at a Warhol party going deep into the meanings of these songs. I nearly drove off the road, this album had me belly laughing. I knew I was in trouble going in, Nico was the part i hated about the Velvet Undergroud album. No surprises here.
Bittersweet Symphony is a classic, banger to kick off the album. Regrettably thats the only highlight. Tough to put my finger on this one, nothing stood out I think because they have too many songs on the album and many sound similar to eachother. I'm conflicted on this one. Didnt hate it, but didnt like it. I'm not mad at the album, I'm dissappointed in it. Would I recommend it? No. So it gets a 2, but could have snuck into a 3 if I were in a different mood.
I expected to hate this, old time county music is not high on my list of things to listen to. Immideiately started preparing snarky comments about pick up trucks, whisky, and abusive partners. But right from the start my outlook brightened, Emmylous voice is beautiful. I listened with an open mind and actually enjoyed most of this album quite a bit. Sure some songs are what I expected, didn't much care for those. But there are a few really good songs on this album. I enjoyed Bluebird song, For no one, and Boulder to Birmingham most. Hell i even liked The Bottle let me down, slide guitar and all. Pleasant surprise, this was a very enjoyable album.
I've always liked Elvis Costello. A knew a few songs on the album going in, the rest lived up to expectations.
Sounds like big band music visited the Caribbean and found some flare. Decent upbeat background music i suppose. It's fine. Not a genre I'm inspired to explore further, but nice to have been exposed to it.
I'm definately not mad we got another Elvis Costello. I liked this album MUCH better than Armed Forces, and I liked Armes Forces alot. This album is bit edgier and Elvis's voice feels like it's got bit extra punch and snark. Radio Radio of course is the highlight of the album, great song and iconic SNL moment. Love the vibe of this album, I'll be digging through the racks for a copy.
All the gripes about two banging Elvis Costelo albums has brought the wrath of the 1001 album gods upon us. I feel like the one guy in Sodom that was reading a book in the corner when the fire and brimstone started raining down. Not a fan of depressing, err I mean introspective, goth. Some of the more palatable songs sounded like the Romones on Prozac with guitar feedback, which I think they added just to jar people awake. Don't like the album, but respect the impact they had on the genre.
Not a fan of Elvis, came in with very low expectations but was pleasantly surprised with the energy in Blue Suede Shoes. I enjoyed it and was ready to listen with an open mind. But that is the one and only track on this album I liked. The rest of the album was terrible. Lowest of the low was tutti frutti, shockingly bad. I don't get the Elvis thing, with few exceptions he produced mostly bad songs and worse movies.
Funny how the Blues can provide so much joy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this album. Muddy's soaring vocals and soulful guitar of course lead the way, but the band behind him absolutely shreds and rounds out the sound. I listened to this album 3 times today, a new favorite.
Totally dig this sound. Interesting band. I read, meet me in the bathroom, not too long ago and the yeah yeah yeah were a big part of the book. I gave them a listen then so i was a bit familiar going in. They were part of the same early 2000s New York City scene as the Strokes then later Kings of Leon ,The Killers, and White Stripes. They are one of the OGs in the garage rock resurgence of that era. This checks all the boxes for me. Powerful vocals, booming drums, driving guitar. Enough Punk attitude to frighten off the "normal" folks. They get a bit too experimental in spots, but fits the fearless nature of their music and makes it uniquely theirs. This is straight up in your face no apologies rock and I'm a fan.
Listening to this album feels like being a fly on the wall as the Stooges piece together Punk Rock. Heavy metal had been introduced to the world by bands like iron butterfly and black sabbath, the Stooges brought us punk rock. Decent album, can definitely see how they influenced future bands, but this was just okay for me.
I really liked this album. LIght and fun, very enjoyable listen. Feels like this was the bubble gum pop of the hippie era.
What did i just listen to? Honestly, what the hell was that?! I heard the songs they released as singles and those are fine, a bit longer than they need to be, but not bad. The rest of the songs, just no. Absolute nonsense.
Listening to this album is like listening to my mother telling a story. Goes on and on and on and on and on. Doesn't really say anything, just talks. Eventually your eyes glaze over and it all turns into background noise. Every now and then there is a pause, and you get excited...phew it's over...but nope they pick right back up and continue to ramble on until mercifuly it's over. Initially I thought this album was a weak 3/strong 2. It was generic rock, pretty mundane but not bad, but after 30 minutes it actually got annoying. I asked myself, is there not one person in this band that realizes every song sounds exactly the same?!?! Rating moved to a 2...leaning towards a weak 2. After 45 minutes I started getting upset. It felt like being at the golden coral. They know the food is bad, you know the food is bad but you go because its all you can eat and cheap. Music is terrible, but you bought the album so you're getting value. Rating is weak 2, moving towards a strong 1 After an hour I was legit mad, convinced I'm being punked. The album is a test to see how many times they can feed you the same damn song until you turn it off. Rating is a low 1, and a long winded review that doesn't really say anything about the music other than it's terrible.
Music can truly lift your soul. After a long exhausting weekend this is exactly what I needed. I couldn't have chosed a better album to enjoy this evening.
I remember seeing the video for smells like teen spirit for the first time and was simultaneously blown away and confused. Blown away by the power and energy. A great mix of metal and punk which was rare. Metal covers of punk songs just sounded metal in the past. For example Megadeths cover of Anarchy in the UK is great, but it lost all the punk in the translation, so this was very different and had my full attention. I was also confused, Nirvana didnt look like metal, or punk, or pop metal (aka hair metal). Who the hell are these guys?!? I had to know and raced to buy nevermind. I feel very fortunate to have listened to Nevermind knowing only smells like teen spirit and next to nothing about the band. I went in with no expectations. They were just a new band whose song i liked, I had no idea what i was in for and what I found is absolute treasure. This is one of my favorite albums, yet oddly enough isn't even my favorite Nirvana album. This is a point in time for me, and the world. Music changed, style changed, sensibilities changed. Gen X ushered in a whole new outlook and Nirvana was the band playing on the radio. Others bands followed, some were actually better, but Nevermind is special. Nevermind got our attention, it challenged us and welcomed us to a new world. Nirvana didn't change the world, but they were there at exactly the right time to inspire us to look at everything around us through a different lens.
My first job was at foodmart, this was one of my go to cassettes when collecting shopping carts in the parking lot. And I'll tell you what, been a bit since I've listened to this one, but holds up nicely. Title track is even more relevant today. I know, where's the bass? Yes, it sucks that they buried it, and it sucks even more how dirty they did Jason Newstead. But thats a different conversation. Justice gives us peak Metallica, they mastered the genre. Plenty of great thrash metal bands, but Metallica had soul and melody, I know...eyes are rolling, but when you look back at the genre it was all very riff heavy, 4:4, fast tempo , band your head throw up the devil horns stuff. Metallica gave all that but they gave us so much more to consider in their music. They weren't guys playing really fast, they were great musicians playing great music fast and heavy Justice will get nothing but love from me. Many great memories and truly a killer album. Some, myself included, consider this their swan song. Metallica evolved after this album, reached amazing heights, and good on them, but this is the last true Metallica album.
Never heard of these guys. I liked it quite a bit, great grooves. Great energy throughout the album, feel like they would be loads of fun to see live. I will say I don't much care for the vocals. Not a bad voice, just doesnt fit the music for me. But good album.
This didn't work. It has the feel for what it appearently was, two drug addicts embarking on a project in an effort to get clean. I really disliked this, I think mostly because I wanted so much more from these two.
I went in optimistic based on the wiki summary, late 1970s NYC punk is right up my alley. I was initially not disappointed, but it fell off quite a bit as I listened. Half is very good, a mix of punk and new wave, essentially punk with melody. See no Evil, Friction, Prove It, and Marquee Moon are the standouts here, each different and interesting. The rest of the album isn't for me. It feels like an uninspired jam band with players not quite skilled enough to be in a jam band in the first place. Which is a bummer, I enjoyed the good songs. Bit of a downer to have long boring songs drag down the experience. I wish they allowed half stars, this would be a 2.5, but the good songs weren't good enough to carry the album so need to go with 2.
The opening track legit felt like I was getting "the talk" from dad, interesting start to the album. The entire album felt like a Leave it to Beaver episode. This isn't nostalgic for me, this is so old you can hear the inspiration for the bands that inspired the bands that I listened to. Not for me, antiquated and uninteresting.
Not what I expected from the Kinks. I understand how this was their first commercial miss, songs are all over the place in sound and theme. With context it's clever, without it's a mess. Thankfully the wiki page includes a short write up on each song that helped better understand the album and made the listen quite interesting. That said, an album shouldn't need each song explained...l usually listen to music to avoid reading! ....but I'll give a pass on this one since I did end up enjoying it. In short the album is the kinks poking fun at various things while pining for a quiet life on the countyside.
Bluesy indy garage rock, done very well by two players, which is pretty impressive. Album has a minimalist feel that doesnt require much from the listener. Not much to overthink here. Sit back, let the drums lead the way as the riffs entertain you.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr David Allen! Absolutely ripping bass bringing this album to another level. Sadly I just learned he passed away in April. Just as sadly I just learned who he was 10 minutes ago. Really enjoyed this. Entertainment! Is my introduction to gang of four, this was my first listen but it felt very familiar. You can feel and hear future bands like fugazi and the offspring. Mostly i heard a lot of early Chili Peppers (pre-Mothers Milk). The Brits really do this genre well, very happy to have discovered this.
Generic pop. It was fine, it didnt offend my senses or get me all riled up about the state of the music industry or anything like that. I don't mind how they take a few good looking kids and put them in a boy band, then when they get a bit older they pick the most attractive and least offensive one and give them a solo career singing banal songs with no soul. Nothing off putting about that at all. One of my favorite new albums, ground breaking and awe-inspiring talent this Robbie Williams guy is. Easy 5 star rating, unless I fat thumb it (accidently of course). Ooops
Beautiful album. First time listening to the entire album, but I've had heard most of the songs before. Happy to experience start to finish. Tori"s voice beautiful. Her songs have a subdued confidence to them, she's not flaunting her talent she is simply using it to create beautifully composed work.