Some albums just have that instantly recognisable sound of the artist, and you can tell this a T.Rex album. The heavy electric instruments made to sound soft and rhythmic is just what makes them unique. Maybe the only critique you can have is there’s a fair few fillers that don’t offer anything that new, but it’s a good listen. A very good one.

It’s like a posh 16 year old boy who wants to break free listens to Radiohead on his way home from school and to the despair of his parents slicks his hair back with gel and picks up a guitar. Unfortunately to all our dismay, we have had to listen to the end result. It’s such a wannabe progressiveness to heavy rock that just does not work at all, and kind of makes them seem worse when you look at the examples that Radiohead left behind considering that this Muse record sounds more outdated. They’re clearly good musicians, but the output is so self-indulgent. To their credit, I actually hate how much I like supermassive black hole, so well done for that one Matt 👏 however the rest of it sounds like progressive space slop made by a teen with an electric guitar.

Lots of fillers with a couple of hits in between, very samey guitar riffs throughout, lyrically not fantastic

Having never listened to this before it’s easy to assume that it’ll be filled with the typical 60’s jingles that someone born in the 2000’s would associate with this era. However, it’s very evident to see the levels of influence in many genres that this record has had. Will this be something I add to my own playlists? Probably not, but it’s easy to recognise your own favourite artists within the riffs and structure of the music, and above all I enjoyed listening to it.

When I think of Elliott Smith (god forbid I do on a random wednesday) I will always think of either/or first, and how you’re immediately thrust into the aura of the record within the first track - a hallmark of any good album in my opinion. To me this is more of a 36 minute piece of music rather than a collection of hits, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing, rather highlighting the ease of flow when listening. It’s a simultaneously easy and tough listen at the same time, with the emotion of the lyrics meeting more upbeat melodies throughout the album. Almost feels quite Smiths inspired in that way, although to blindly throw it into that genre would be lazy given it’s a heavily stripped back, more raw, deeper cut embodiment of that idea. Do I feel I know or understand the meanings behind all the songs? No, I don’t to be honest, and I also don't feel you have to to gauge the feeling of it. It’s more just a guy writing about the day to day struggles going on within their story rather than being something that everyone can resonate with. The relatability comes in sense of feeling that the tone of the songs give you. I think that along with the quality of music is what makes this a record that is re-listenable all the way through, and for me that means it deserves the place it has within music. for me.

This, is a smooth ride. 16 tracks is a lot, and something that can be off putting when going to play the whole record, and I must say it’s hard to have enough time to be able to play it the whole way through in one. However, it’s worth the commitment. As much as I want to praise this I can’t give it any lyrical points. A vulgar profanity version of my dad is bigger than your dad, I’m going to put my balls in your mouth just can’t get any marks from me as much as it pains to say that. Maybe ‘Lyrical Gangbang’ was in fact the right way to describe it. However, I don’t think that it’s really supposed to what’s good about this album, rather the beats and hooks and melodies are what grip you to listen and save the tracks to your playlists. It has what you would describe as a typical Californian hip hop/rap sound, although I suppose albums like this are where that sound originated from. Has such an interesting way of making you feel so relaxed, so at ease, as if you can just take a deep breath and take in everything else around you. I think that’s the feeling that makes this album so unique and special in its own right. So much so that throughout listening I found myself wanting to dish out my first 5*, but that’s unjustified. A 4 is fair for what it offers, a 4.5 even would be fairer but such is. Thoroughly enjoyed, a lot more than I thought I would, and would listen again.

So I’d never listened to this the whole way through before, or if I had it was a while ago and I didn’t remember it that well. You’re always told that this album is in the top 10 of all time, some have it in their top 5, others claim it’s the greatest ever. Do I think it makes the top 10 ever in my opinion? I don’t think I do. This is obviously a fantastic piece of music, and I’m sure that when it was released it was something like nothing most people had heard before. I think that’s where the fandom comes from in regards to this album, and the claims for greatness that it so often receives. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that it’s not a good listen, I really like the progressiveness of the tempo, the relaxed feel, and the fact that you can relate the music to that of losing gravity in a sense. There’ll be many more people who will centre around the concept of the album perhaps, but again I just don’t think I’m convinced by it. And to be honest, I’m not sure that there really even is a concept within the album. It feels like a huge stretch to me to claim that there’s a surrounding theme within the tunes, lyrically wise at least. There’s no doubt in the quality of music, and this is a good album, but I just have too many doubts about being comfortable giving it a perfect score, or even claim that I believe it stands the test of time as being one of the greats. The reality is that I am not sure I’ll be listening to it again in a hurry, and so I just can’t agree with the nature of ranking this as highly as everyone else does, and I think sometimes it’s okay to go against the grain. At least here, that’s what I seem to think.

Look I’ve always had a soft spot for pop music, and that’s something I’ve had to defend / admit to myself quietly so I’m not going to be a genre snob here. However, this just wasn’t a fun listen. Madonna has a catalogue of great tracks, ones which you don’t have to be a pop fan to enjoy/admit how well crafted they are. But lots of these felt like they could have been crafted on audacity by someone of my capabilities, and ‘I deserve it’ epitomised that lyrically and musically throughout. Sunday is a notoriously fantastic day to listen to an album, but this wasn’t one of them. Am sorry.

I like disco music, I liked this album. I think it was just one of those albums you put on without realising huge distinctions between the songs, and then before you know it it’s over. A pleasant listen, though I can’t claim to say it was anything too special that made me think anything fantastic of it. A good relaxing listen.

Can someone please explain to me what the obsession with progressive rock concepts where the concepts make no real sense. Just because you’re writing songs that are ten minutes plus with lots of tempo changes and a vague lyrical concept that doesn’t really make much sense, does not mean that your music is interesting or progressive actually. It just makes it a weird listen, even if your actual instrumental music isn’t that bad. Like ‘the battle of Epping forest’ just takes the piss if we’re being honest. It’s not clever or funny, it just makes you annoyed that you’ve listened to 11 minutes of nonsense with no real consistent melody or meaning to anything about it. It just feels like a bunch of guys jamming in the recording studio and trying to be different, but they’ve gone too far over the line that a lot of it just sounds like a mess with no real framework to it. Again I’m sure there are guys who were listening to this at the time of its release and had heard nothing like it before, but that memory has to be the only thing that some out there are using to justify giving this a re-listen. Maybe Valerie was right about Peter Gabriel all along… Sorry Toni, I think he deserves plenty of criticism for being involved in this record, even if he did single handedly create womad.

I think this is just a good rock album to be honest. There’s great guitar, some interesting variation between songs, softer and heavier riffs. But it doesn’t blow me away as thinking wow this is fantastic. A good, but not great listen overall me thinks

Was very pleasantly surprised by this album. As I say, all the good albums to me have are intro’d and outro’d well with the correct tempo for what you sort of expect to hear throughout, and what better way to start than take on me. The ending song was a great way to sum up what we’d heard throughout too. So to me this was just a really good example of an 80’s pop album that sums up the tempo of the era. Not mind blowing, but a pleasantly surprisingly good listen.

It’s just a great rock album. More bluesy and soft than anything to be honest, but fantastic song craft throughout. A great entry and exit song in this album too. Said it before and I’ll say it again, but it’s one of the things that makes a great album. Maybe I’m biased but this album is just a great listen. Doesn’t have enough hits to justify a perfect score, but a great listen nonetheless

I mean the reality is that I don’t listen to Jazz music at all. I do respect it as a genre, and thought track 3 onwards was a nice listen, but I was a little disappointed by this. It felt like the first two tracks had no synchronisation with their melody between the brass and the drums. As if they were playing different rhythms at different tempos with no real cohesion, and cohesion is something I would have expected a Jazz record to have in abundance.

I think this was an interesting listen. Won’t go into too much detail as I can’t say I have too much to say about it, but I think it probably deserves its spot within the creation of new wave, and you can see the inspiration it had on others to come

Again was apprehensive, but you know what this was a good listen again. My soul did feel hot and buttered in the end. Only thing I would say is the last track had too much of what I would call a live jazz set entrance to it, and I didn’t think it translated very well to an album. But overall very smooth

I actually think that if you found yourself in a hippie tribe esque retreat, wearing garments made of cloth and barefoot on the outdoors, then you’d be having the time of your life dancing and drumming away with everyone else. However, walking through the streets of London does not give you that same satisfaction and restricts you from tapping away to your hearts desire. There’s something undeniably liberating about the music and obviously this has its place within the world, but perhaps this time we have civilised society to blame for me not being able to get as into it as it perhaps deserves and I can’t say I’ll be listening again, even if I did enjoy the 40 minutes.

This to me was a great eye opener in terms of the history of funk rock and how that has filtered through time to inspire those who came after. As I always say the intro and outro songs are very important, and this intro song was fantastic in terms of preparing you for what the record has to offer. A really intriguing listen, however I don’t think it’ll be one that I’ll be having on repeat. A good listen nonetheless

Obviously this is a fans favourite within my family, and I think that it has fantastic songs and mark knopfler is a brilliant guitarist in so many different ways. You know it’s a dire straits song by the sound, it’s just so distinct in a way that nobody else can match. What I would say about this record, is that through the middle it does tail off slightly, turning a little too slow and boring for what they clearly have to offer. My ex girlfriend’s dad called them ‘naff’ once when I played them in the car, and I thought he was crazy for doing so at the time. Now, I still think he’s wrong, but I can see where a percentage of the audience begin to switch off when you listen through. It just seems to tail off energy wise for me, and I think that’s why I’m not going to give it a perfect score this time.

Funnily enough I don’t actually have too much to say on this one. I think Killer Queen is potentially my favourite ever Queen song, but apart from that I found there to be little in terms of standout tracks, and I didn’t find myself feeling too entertained with the remainder of the album either. Felt quite middle of the road for me to be honest.

This becomes a difficult listen purely because of how raw it is I think. Like it becomes a little outdated just because of the recordings even. But I think it has a couple good tracks on it that could still survive the test of time now, and I’m sure this went on to follow sex pistols in inspiring punk artists. I also quite like the rawness of their tracks just being to the point in terms of what they’re trying to say about society. Good for what it was.

I just think that this isn’t meant for album listening really. It’s meant to be played in a set at a venue where everyone is off their rocker anyways so don’t mind that it’s not much more than a simple beat. But that meant that it wasn’t exactly a fun listen for me.

I don’t really have much to say on this except I thought I’d like it more to be honest. I thought it sounded very outdated and just couldn’t really get into the flow of the record. Potentially my fault for listening to it in the background rather than maybe giving it the attention it deserved, but I can’t say I have many positives unfortunately

Something that has its place within music but just isn’t for me

Some of it very bad, some of it surprisingly good. But just painfully average overall as I’ve come to expect with this lot now.

I don’t have too much to say on this, other than I thought it was good. I think sometimes you can get lost in an albums sound and then you come out the end of it having not discovered any tracks you particularly liked, yet relatively enjoyed the whole thing. So I think the lack of standout takeaway tracks is what makes this not a 4 for me

Was better than I thought it was going to be. Everytime I’ve heard a public enemy song, I’ve felt that it was the kind of hip hop that translates well to the mainstream audiences, although it’s clear you cannot say that about the majority of tracks within this album. But there are a few within. There’s also a few I never want to hear again. Seen people mention the social commentary within, but it’s quite hard to gauge when it’s wrapped up in swearing and words the majority of the population cannot say themselves. Middle of the road for me

I thought this would be very boring tbh, and one of those albums where you can recognise that it was important for the time within music, but doesn’t necessarily equate to a good listen in the modern era. Have to say it was very enjoyable actually, very good tempo and catchiness throughout and best of all didn’t bore me.

Was interesting enough, a couple recognisable ones throughout. Like a talking heads-y version of the beach boys surf genre of music I felt best describes a lot of it. Middle of the road is fair.

Some albums just have that instantly recognisable sound of the artist, and you can tell this a T.Rex album. The heavy electric instruments made to sound soft and rhythmic is just what makes them unique. Maybe the only critique you can have is there’s a fair few fillers that don’t offer anything that new, but it’s a good listen. A very good one.

It’s like a posh 16 year old boy who wants to break free listens to Radiohead on his way home from school and to the despair of his parents slicks his hair back with gel and picks up a guitar. Unfortunately to all our dismay, we have had to listen to the end result. It’s such a wannabe progressiveness to heavy rock that just does not work at all, and kind of makes them seem worse when you look at the examples that Radiohead left behind considering that this Muse record sounds more outdated. They’re clearly good musicians, but the output is so self-indulgent. To their credit, I actually hate how much I like supermassive black hole, so well done for that one Matt 👏 however the rest of it sounds like progressive space slop made by a teen with an electric guitar.

The sound is very distinct Bowie I think, even with how experimental it is. But I just think that the record all together sounds like a pantomime or musical where you can’t really follow the story or know what’s going on. It’s just crossed that line for me. Maybe because I wasn’t around at the time to know that Ziggy was going to America, but I just think that maybe the experimentalness of the jazz and the rock have gone a little overboard to the point where I find myself confused about the plot. Still littered with good songs, but I do think the theme is lost on me a little

A cool story behind how this album came to pass, but when you start to get into the music it’s clear that it’s a pretty nothing album, and that’s all I really have to say on it

In the modern era I think this has become pretty easy to jump on and criticise purely because of Morrissey, but if we’re being honest this album deserves its place as the goat of sad boy music. It’s the cliche indie boy record for a reason, and it’s because it’s that good. I like the themes of criticising the industry, feelings of loneliness and breakups or that you don’t fit in, and I think that those become so relatable that it justifies their popularity. I also like the sarcasm within the lyrics and the ability to poke fun at certain topics. Obviously Marr is brilliant throughout, and I think the best thing about them is how they can convey themes that don’t necessarily have to match the tempo of the melody, but still all fit together. I haven’t dished out a 5* rating yet, but if we’re being honest this is a record that is deserving of such.

It’s good and you can see why people like it. However I do feel it’s a tiny bit for bald guys who wear checkered shirts and play Nintendo 64 games and fix PC’s. Nothing wrong with that genre of man, but I feel I can’t relate

I enjoyed it more as it went on, but I just think that it was quite repetitive and some of the song lengths were as inflated as a hot air balloon.

I am really sorry to say this but I just didn’t enjoy it too much and found myself wanting it to be over. There are some cool tracks and I really like ‘pinball wizard’, but stuff like ‘fiddle about’ and ‘there’s a doctor’ just help to fill out the rest of the album with fodder. There is literally zero need to have 24 tracks on one album.

I preferred bridge over trouble water I think. Still a nice listen, but realistically I’m just not going to be putting this back on in a hurry, if ever.