While I tried to listen with the context of where synthpop was as a genre at the time (very young) I still just found the music flat and mostly sonically empty. The synth lines are certainly iconic, but with nothing else going on, they feel cheesy and over exposed. I can respect its place in history, but didn't actually enjoy it much.
In many ways, Stankonia is the most OutKast of all OutKast albums and OutKast is great! There are some very high highs on this album and some all time classic songs. But I couldn't go all the way to five stars because while the album is surprisingly coherent, it is too long, the skits are mostly unnecessary, and the production comes off as a little self-indulgent in places. So much great stuff, and incredibly influential, worth a listen just for Bombs Over Bagdad alone! While the album is 4 stars, the cover is 2 stars for me, just not great composition and not very memorable.
This is probably the most passionate 3 stars I will ever give! This is an album by a group of people that do not give a f*ck! They hate each other now and they cannot be bothered to work on any of the songs until they're good, this is what you get! Some are too long, some are too short, some don't seem to have their beginnings or ends figured out, Morrissey tries a bunch of weird shit on vocals, much of it doesn't work, but who cares! These are certainly talented musicians, but this album is a mess! I did laugh out loud at a couple songs which endeared them to me because I love me anything sufficiently stupid. Cover is also blah, it's threes all around for this one!
Deceptively simple, earnest, and lovely, this is Cat Stevens at a point where he's just polished enough to sounds confident but still keep that folky vulnerability. The lyrics can be cheesy and awkward but I'm willing to give them a pass because this album occupied such a special place in my memory; I pulled it from my mother's vinyl collection and listening to it because I liked the cover. Both are 5 stars from me, but it's a pretty personal rating.
It's an iconic album. It's one of the most creative pieces of modern, popular music and it blew me away the first time I heard it. It still slaps, would listen to Shadow all day. Cover is also good, appropriately DIY and relevant, it gets a solid 4, but the album is a 5.
This was a total surprise! I have never even heard of Nick Drake and was not expecting this bluesy, moody, and surprisingly modern album. This album could have easily been recorded in 2009 as opposed to 1969, the delicate instrumentation is varied and explorative while Drake's voice is soulful and lovely. 21st century emo wishes it sounded like this, wow! The cover is a 2/5 for me, the pic seems like an afterthought and I am not sure what the cropped border is trying to achieve.
It was good, it didn't blow me away but the vocalist has a great voice and I appreciate how the music could have felt really transgressive at the time. Unfortunately it mostly made me think of better music in the genre. Obviously the band is iconic, maybe this isn't their best work? Cover is interesting but a bit flat for me, a 2/5.
I found it surprisingly upbeat and energetic considering where the genre this pioneered ended up. Some solid tracks here but the album as a whole didn't really grab me, more of a curiosity than something I would come back to. The cover however, is top tier, a 5/5, no notes!
It just didn't do anything for me. I guess I found her delivery a bit, I don't know, self conscious? Or forced? Just nothing seemed to come together into much substance. Cover is nice, a solid 4/5, good composition very intimate.
I sort of lump Aerosmith in with just generic rock that isn't too special but listening to this album in it's entirely, I was pleasantly surprised. The rock is bluesy and confident with some nice production. The lyrics are one party nonsense one party juvenile sleaze, but most the songs are a fun time. It's not quite a 4/5 for me personally but a strong 3. The cover is very good and had a nice amount of detail, it is a 4/5 for sure.
A soulful, loungy album with amazing vocals, passionate lyrics, and moody arrangements. It loses steam in the back half but an incredible debut album. Too bad the industry ran her off and we didn't get to see her mature. Cover is also a 4/5, basic but well matched to the album itself.
While it has a lot of eccentricities, most of the album didn't make much of a memorable impression on me. Life on Mars is a certified banger, and the back half of the album is better than the first, but most of it passed over me as a pastiche of British, psychedelic rock. It's well made and there are some nice surprises here and there, but certainly not my favorite of Bowie's. The cover however, is a strong 4/5, just iconic Bowie stuff and very stylish.
It is an album made up almost entirely of perfectly fine movie soundtrack pieces. The phrase "workman like" occurred to me many times while listening. They are clearly skilled musicians, I'm not sure why they felt they had to make this album but it does seem to have happened under some form of duress. The cover also feels contrived, 2/5.
I liked this one better than the previous album we listened to by Siouxsie and The Banshees, but it still feels a little overly performative, like the musical theatre version of punk. The cover is fun and visually interesting, that is a 4/5 for me.
I... Didn't like it. And I almost fell guilty because it's not like I never enjoy free form jazz, this just never seemed to find any kind of groove I could enjoy. I often feel like free form isn't well served by listening to it pre-recorded, so maybe this works live but this is what I've got. The cover is cool though, 3/5.
It's a groovy, bluesy album, much grittier than the super polished production style I associate with their later work. I liked the guitar work and Knopfler has rich vocal style. The back half drags a bit as the band runs out of new things to say but it's a solid listen all the way through. Probably more like a 3.5. the cover is nice but a bit disconnected for the album for me, that gets a 2/5.
It's some good funk! Papa Was a Rolling Stone is over 11 minutes long and just breezes by. This album is so listenable and just gritty enough to keep me interested. It's the kind of music you can put on any night of the week, or at a party, and enjoy it. The cover is pretty cheesy, that's a 2/5 for me.
I love me some Tito Puente! It's super iconic music that basically defined Latin dance. Unfortunately it's really hard to listen to this record as it was released. It seems like the only version available on streaming services is one with hours more music than was originally released, basically a full catalog of all the standards Puente and his band were playing through the '60s. It's fun music but hard to imagine what it would have been like to buy this record and throw it on the turntable. Still, so many great tracks, and Puente is on a regular rotation for me anyway! The cover is a perfect representation of what this music wants to be: fun, sexy, exciting - a 4/5.
This was a hard one to track down! Underground drum and base from the '90s isn't really streaming licensing friendly. Once I did find at least most of it, it was pretty much what I expected: iconic D&B that probably felt pretty revolutionary at the time. Today, I am spoiled with 30 years of progress in the genre and while the music is still solid and super listenable, it didn't really stand out to me either. Cover is good, just right for the vibe and the times, a 4/5.
It's The Cure! This album is fine, it has some strong tracks and a lot of tracks that sort of slid off my brain. Not gonna be sorry if any of these show up in a Cure shuffle, but wouldn't seek them out either. The cover is also a bit forgettable but well composed, it's a 3/5 as well.
Hearing The Doors for the first time when I was young, I remember them blowing me away. Returning to them now I get it, the music is varied and not afraid to take risk, and Morrison is a force, but the album is uneven and really more potential than execution. It's still impressive, I'm rounding up a bit because the base lines are so groovy. I kind of hate the cover though, that's a 1/5 for me.
This album really surprised me! I have a generally favorable opinion on Willie Nelson (he wrote one of my favorite songs ever) but can't say that I've ever sat down and listened to an album of his. I was expecting some standard, mid-century country that would be good but not varied or particularly interesting. What I got was a fascinating concept album full of beautiful, stripped down instrumentation and a strong vocal style. It certainly stands out and represents an approach to country music that I personally love. There are a few misses, but the album mostly works. The cover is also good, exactly what the album needs, it's a 4/5.
A solid album, Missy has a ton of charisma and the production is fantastic. There are a couple really excellent tracks and lots of great guests but many of the album's ideas are over used and Missy never totally warms up on any of her raps. It's still a fun listen and the cover is great, that's a 4/5.
It's energetic and the guitar work is skilled but as someone only passingly familiar with Cheap Trick who was born after this concert took place, there isn't much to recommend this album. The music is classic power pop, some of it bordering on self parody, and the crowd is appropriately worked up but, I don't know, I wasn't there so it just sort of feels like I'm trying to listen to a baseball game on the radio without the announcers. The album has a really cool story, but just listening to it, eh. The cover is a candid shot that you would tell your friend to delete, it's a 1/5.
This album seems to be from an alternate dimension. It is clearly from the East Coast '90s scene that birthed so many rappers I love but I've never even heard of him. The raps are angry, passionate, and often introspective, it's kind of like what if WuTang rapped about things other than guns and drugs? I liked it a lot, will definitely listen again. The cover is awful, like I don't even know where to begin, a 1/5.
I think of myself as someone who doesn't really care for The Rolling Stones. I don't actively dislike them, I've just never found them very compelling. After listening closely to this album, I think it's just Mike Jagger that I don't like. When Jagger isn't singing, I really dig the bluesy, country rock. The guitar is great! There's a surprising amount of sax! But Jagger's voice feels tedious to me and I found myself mostly hoping he would just shut up already. The cringy misogyny and unexamined racism doesn't help. So, I feel mixed, many of the songs are catchy, pop sugar but while this listen made me think a little harder about why I feel the way I do about The Rolling Stones, it didn't really change the conclusion. The cover is great though, very appropriate, that's a 4/5.
I loved this! No surprise here, this is very much my jam and I did jam out. Will listen again. The cover is a bit of a puzzle, just not sure what's going on and it suffers from less than stellar quality, it's a 2/5.
I did not expect to have such a negative reaction to this album. I didn't really have much of an opinion on Springsteen before but wow, I didn't like this at all! There's something about the way the music is mixed, his vocal style, and the percussion tempo that makes every song feel like a cheesey rock n roll musical number. It's like pop folk on cocaine driven by the most insufferable boomer you can imagine. The cover however is great, well composed and charming, that's a 4/5.
I liked this more than I thought I would! It's moody and ethereal, not usually a vocal style I prefer, but the whole package is very cohesive and I always find I enjoy listening to a vocalist in a language I don't speak, it really lets the quality of the vocals stand out. It's easy to see how foundational this was and I was surprised by how closely modern shoe-gaze sticks to this early stuff. I personally won't come back to it, but solid stuff! I love the cover, it's gothic but also so '80s, it's a 4/5.
This album. I have struggled with the rating on this one more than any other. On the one hand: this album made me reevaluate my negative opinion of grunge and alt rock. The music is interesting and varied, things I generally criticize alt rock for lacking, it had me thinking, maybe I just don't like the watered-down, radio filler I was exposed to in the genre, maybe the deeper cuts have something more to them! On the other hand: I hated listening to this album. Dulli's lyrics are awful; banal, on the nose musing about how much he hates women that repeat themselves endlessly. He says everything he's going to say, and with zero subtilty, in the first track and then beats those sentiments into the ground. The vocal styling also often feels at odds with the music and there are more than one just straight up off note. It's a shame, this prompted me to look into some of their other work and it's interesting! They do some really good covers of motown songs! As for the albums cover... whoa, I mean, I get it, but my first impression was mild repulsion. It's certainly provocative and it does fit the album's theme of people with the emotional intelligence of 7 year olds playing at romance, I'm giving it a 4/5 even though I'm still a little queasy about it.
It's still a great album, but listening to it is hard considering who Kanye has become. Here he's a relatable, if messy, 20 something angry at the system and trying to find his way into adulthood. His talent is undeniable and he is both confident and totally clueless. I wish I could just enjoy this as the great, influential, tone setting album is was in the early '00s. The cover is also great, a 4/5.
I was really disappointed in this album. I heard it when I was younger and remember having a generally positive opinion, but relistening now, it's droning and far too slick for its own good. It's certainly easy to listen to, and I get why people like it, but a close listen really turned me off. Everything about it is too "good", too polished, too calculated. And it's odd to hear rock music with zero blues influence, it feels soulless. I get that I am well in the minority here, and it's considered one of the best albums ever, but it's not for me. The cover is good, not great, but nicely composed and certainly thoughtful, it's a 3/5 for me.
This is a band doing a lot of things I really like, they're just not doing them super well. The music is varied, groovy, and playful. They've got some punk, some psychedelic rock, some jam band swing, they remind me of Cake, they try a lot of stuff! Unfortunately, I agree with the band themselves that they really shouldn't have produced this album themselves, it's... not great. And all the ambition and experimentation never jells for more than half a song at most. They're let down by the vocals and sometimes the music just wanders off. They're getting a lot of leeway from me because I love to see so much musical variety, but ultimately, it's mid, I'm rounding up a 2.5 here. The cover is cute and well done, that's a 4/5.
ZZ Top is a fun time! This is the best version of a road band playing in a dive bar. There's not a lot of substance, but there is a lot of rhythm guitar and the songs are breezy and toe tapping. Now, a full album of ZZ Top is a lot, maybe too much, but I didn't mind listening to it for sure! The cover is great! Love the style and the graphic design on the logo and titles, it's a 4/5.
I don't really have anything to say about this. It was hard to find and very clearly the work of people very early in those musical careers. It's punk, I can dig the vib but most of the music is bad. There is no official cover for this one.
Rush is Rush, you know? Like, there is a lot going on here, but it's as bit of a mess. It feels like psychedelic rock fan-fic from a writer that has talent but is just so extra. There is clearly an A-side for this album, and the B-side is mostly just some random stuff which is all pretty forgettable. Prog rock is real hit or miss for me and Rush almost never lands, so yeah, it's okay. The cover is cool in concept but the execution is a bit of a mess, kind of like the album! Both are a 2/5 for me.
It's kind of peak Elton John, but I have trouble caring about Elton John. The music is good and everything is generally very competent, but it all slides right off me like a smooth goop. Bennie and the Jets is fun, but Candle in the Wind is just straight up bad (cringy, awkwardly paced, hard to listen to) most of the rest, even the hits, aren't really worth mentioning. The cover however, is great! It's also cheesy, but it's so extra I am willing to go with it, and the style is unique and appropriate, it's a 4/5.
I liked this! It's not perfect (the opening track is one of the weakest) but I dig the harmonies, I dig the bluegrass country influence, and there is something surprisingly modern in the arrangements. I wasn't familiar with this band other than reputation before, and this made me want to listen to more of their work! The cover is slick, nice and simple but attractive, it's a 4/5 too.
I didn't like it. I mean, the music is good, sometimes great, but I just can't with his breathy, "seductive" spoken word. I don't speak French, so I just listened to it without much understanding but certainly go the gist that this guy is a major creep and there is a very young girl in the mix. I wouldn't listen to it again. The cover is also not great, it looks like a semi-professional magazine cover, like the photographer knows how to manage lighting but isn't yet very good at it. It is cleverly thematic and eye catching though, that gets it a 2/5.
I love this stuff! This is what I think of when I think of punk; loud, angry, crass. This group throws themselves at the music and while it doesn't always result in something melodic or catchy, I love the emotion. Cover is great too! Both are a 4.5/5 for me.
I'm an unapologetic lover of the Beatles in all their incarnations. Here they're pop-y, catchy, and a little cheeky. It's not their best record, you can hear them rushing to get it done, but even so, a couple of all timers are in there, and you can hear their more folksy, bluesy sound starting to creep in. I also absolutely love the movie, it's delightful slapstick that is better than it should be. I'm into the cover too! 4/5.
It's a mid album from an competent, but not super engaged Radiohead. This album is notable for the way it was released, but musically it plays it pretty safe. There's a nice amount of variation and the kind of moody, electronic tinged, art rock you expect from Radiohead at this point, but it's not super memorable and, hey, I think that might be intentional! I would describe the musical themes on this album as hazy, dreamlike contemplation as navigated through honey. Personally, I prefer Radiohead when the hypnotic sound gets juxtaposed with some heat. Love the cover, that's a 4/5.
Surprising no one, I really like this album! It's loungy, jazzy, crooning with a lot of saxophone, what's not to like? Is it cheesy as hell? You bet! But the band just sounds like they're having a great time and Morrison's voice is lovely. This album is the sonic personification of a mid-town jazz club in the 70s, I'd go to that club! I'm not crazy about the cover, it's fine but seems like an afterthought, that's a 2/5
I listened to at least some of this album. I don't really like live albums and this one often sounded rough. The music seems fine, not really remarkable. I love the cover though! That's a 5/5.
There are some nice melodies, some nice blues, and some nice harmonies but it just never seems to settle into a strong identity. I appreciate the variety but I found it mostly forgettable. Cover is some kitschy fun though, that's a 4/5.
I really didn't like this, much more than I expected. The hits are okay, but some of the lesser known stuff on this album was hard to get through. The sounds is mostly pretty flat and the vocals always sound like they're coming from down the hall. Just not for me. I kind of hate the cover too, both are 1/5.
I really liked this album! I actually like this better than Harvest Moon, but I am pretty amenable to Neil Young. This one is folksy and bluesy with some fun musical variation. It's a time and place for sure, but I enjoyed listening to it. I love the cover, it's well composed and very satisfying, it's a 5/5.
I like it! From the perspective of 2025, it feels light pretty light metal but that does make it easy to listen to. There's great guitar and great bass and the vocals are only sometimes terrible. It's foundational for sure, not for a genre I love, but I can certainly respect it. The cover is iconic and grotesque, it's great for what it is, 4/5.
So mid. I hate to be so reductionist but they really are a discount Beatles with less lyrical skill. I've got no nostalgia for this so it does not land. I love the cover though! That's a 5/5.
I really liked this! Soulful, loungy, modern folk with nice vocals. I liked the musical variation and the beats. I also like the cover but it's nothing special, that's a 3/5.
I really tried to like this! It has so many influences that I do like and I know a lot of people love Arcade Fire, but I couldn't get into it. This is the epitome of soundtrack music, consistent, droning, not too interesting to pull attention away from the visuals. There is some nice piano and violins but they're hard to appreciate because everything is mixed at exactly the same level creating a flat, monotonous drone. It's a mix of styles I like but they've all been mixed into a grey goo. Disappointing. The cover is really nice though! The composition is interesting and pleasant, it gets a 4/5.
I liked it more than I expected to. It's hard not to just constantly compare it to Joy Division and find it wanting, but on it's own merits it's a surprisingly upbeat, synth-y, post-punk jam. The lyrics can bleed into self-parody, but there's some real emotion there and it's interesting to hear them try and move past the moody downbeats into something more varied. It still feels more like a transition piece, it's not going to make it into my rotation, but solid stuff of an era. The cover is... boring, just not much of interest, I can respect the simplicity, it's a 2/5.
I have never really sat down and listened to Linkin Park, and while many of the songs on this album are familiar to me, it wasn't a period in my life where I was engaging much with top 20 stuff so, while I certainly know who they are, I can't say I had much of an opinion on Linkin Park so was excited to listen to this. It is a lot more pop than I was expecting, I think I lump them into the nu-metal group with Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock, and while they share some stylistic elements, Linkin Park is far more polished and pop forward than either of those acts. I enjoyed the music generally, and like the electronica elements a lot, but the level of sugar-y pop production and song structure just feels so incongruous with the lyrical content (which is sometimes cringy levels of juvenile) like a depressed teenager has been forced to attend a very upbeat dance party. So, yeah, it was much more musically interesting than I expected, but still probably not really for me. Love the cover though, it's a 4/5.
It's a product of it's time, but it's still wonderful to listen to Stevie Wonder do his thing. The songs are all well crafted and this here we see Wonder pushing out into more political themes which allows for a more varied set of songs than his earlier R&B love songs. It's still funky and soulful with a good groove. Solid stuff, but so of a time it's hard to find it super relevant. Would still put on while making dinner. I love the cover! It's also of a time but it's interesting and understated and I dig it, the cover is a 5/5.
This album is a lot more down and dirty than Led Zeppelin's later work. This brings some compelling energy to the album but also leads to something that is unfocused and often feels unfinished. The vibe of a band just hanging out and jamming out together makes some of these songs very cool, but others just meander and never get to the point. I like Led Zeppelin but this is not their best work. I see the spark and get why people were excited about them, but I'd rather listen to later records. The cover is great, iconic, well composed, thematic, it's a 5/5.
Hard to know what to say about this album. Some songs I thought where great, some made me want to tear my hair out. Much of the music is really good, and there is some nice variety to the structures on the tracks, but then we get some ideas that the band just seems to get stuck on and repeats to the point of frustration. I can understand appreciating this conceptually, and even how it might have seemed like a clever idea in theory, but it's mostly just annoying and unpleasant. 2 feels too low for an album that has some songs that I genuinely really loved, but taken as whole... I really like the cover, it's got good composition, good color, and it's appropriate for the content of the record, it's a 4/5 for me.
It's not the best Hendrix but it's still pretty great! I enjoy him just getting weird with it! There is some active work to not hear this and think of it as cliche, because this is actually where all those cliches come from. I can't really imagine what it would have been like to hear this at the time, but now, it's nice to go back to some of this work and just enjoy it. The cover is also great! Iconic, love the colors and the style, it's a 4/5.
