Big sample-driven sound I can't always really get into hip-hop, I would not choose to listen to it, but I like it enough when it's on

Can an album be great but not very good? Maybe it suffers from familiarity? Great songs but so repetitive, you hear the singles, you got it all

stone cold classic

I have tried on this album a bunch of times and every time I hear it, it sounds like a Spinal Tap version of Sgt Peppers. There are some great songs.

Boy I dislike this far more than I expected it would. Just a self important realization of the toxic male rock god myth.

One of those albums that is so foundational, it's hard to appraise it critically. There's parts of it I love, parts of it that get on my nerves, but it's a towering piece of art. Up until this album, bands were busy creating rock and pop music; this album found all the potential in the fringes of the music, the way a drum can sound like it's coming from underwater or a "femme fatale" can sound as detached as a bored waitress.

To me Fela Kuta always sounds like nothing I've ever heard, even when I've heard his stuff before

Greatest live album of all time? Yes.

Joni Mitchell is underrated in just about every aspect--as a songwriter, as a singer, as a piano player. I think she's probably at a Dylan level of genius in her best moments--maybe that's too easy, maybe that's not fair to her. She is her own universe, and we're lucky to be able to enter it.

Huh. "The Killing Moon" is a great song and there were a few other highlights but a lot of this just slid off my brain. I think I could have used a lot more hooks?

Some deep grooves on this record. I've never quite put time into getting to know Dire Straits other than the big hits. It sounds like hanging out with an incredibly talented band of middle-aged white guys on the back porch of a pricey downtown condo during the waning days of summer.

oh man, this record is tops. Produced by Elvis Costello, who once described his production style as basically trying to get out of the way of a band and capture their sound before someone else came along to fuck it up. Perfect example.

holy shit This was definitely from an era when white rock musicians and sketch comedians were taking their turn at getting what they could out of proximity to legendary untouchable black musicians that had been toiling in near obscurity outside mainstream pop music for decades. See also: John Belushi BUT the music is legit as hell; this is Waters and his touring band just throwing their shit down in a studio, and producer Johnny Winters is smart enough to just get out of their fucking way. Pinetop Perkins on piano! Unreal

Fiona Apple is an artist I appreciate and respect more than I enjoy; it's one of those annoying "it's not for me, but I am glad others like it" kind of things. This isn't something I would listen to personally, but even though I don't like it, it's impossible to miss just what a big bold achievement it is. She is an incredible songwriter and piano player.