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.