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.

Honestly a bit of a let-down; I had only really known their big single from this record and was a bit more familiar with the next record of theirs. There's a muscle and energy here that is undeniable but the songwriting is very same-same, it feels like one long forty-minute song.

It's the kind of cultural moment in 2025 where it's possible that a song like "Rednecks" might be unironically embraced by Southern Trumpers convinced that they've finally found an anthem worthy of their true unvarnished feelings. This level of cultural and social critique, which stabs deep and true into the heart of institutional racism and poverty, almost feels like it's a relic at this point. It's also a goddamned catchy musical album with great melodies and Newman's sneaky piano holding the whole thing down.

Paul McCartney is fond of saying that the Beatles "invented heavy metal" with "Helter Skelter," but come the FUCK on; this is the root of an entire genre of music, a sound and attitude, a lifestyle, and billions of records sold by thousands of bands.

Uneven, weird, sad, frustrating, beautiful

Is this prog? Honestly I only know Tull because "Locomotive Breath" was in heavy rotation on WCKG, Chicago's All-Classic Rock, during my high school days. This really loses me with the wandering self-indulgence of the songs, which need more form for me to really dial in. Or maybe I just need to be totally fucking baked.

This type of jazz is not to my personal taste but it is a pretty extraordinary album nonetheless.

Morrissey and the Smiths are a gigantic gap in my pop music knowledge; I never went through a "phase" in high school although this record would have dropped squarely in the middle of my high school career. Mick Ronson is undefeated. Such a big and unexpected sound. I do remember hearing "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" on Q101 back in the day. This manages to sound exactly like Morrissey and Mick Ronson should sound, just spot-on perfection.

another MASSIVE gap in my pop music knowledge. I've never listened beyond the Replacements' big songs and singles. I don't know that I would have the nuts to say this in the company of other music fans but I think it stands out more within its moment in history than it does as an all-time great album. It is a great album, but it's more of an evolutionary step than a standout creation? That said, Paul Westerburg is one of those songwriters where if I had written even just one of the all time brilliant classics he dropped a couple at a time on some of these albums, I'd retire and weep every morning with satisfaction. "Unsatisfied" is absolutely perfect.

I don't know if I'm honestly qualified to understand how great this album is, but even as someone with no knowledge of salsa or latin music, it's easy to hear the beauty of the songwriting and arrangements on this album.

Aretha Franklin is like a bottomless well of talent; her piano playing would make her a legend, if only for her eternal voice. This is her first record with Jerry Wexler and Atlantic Records, and as I've read, she came to the table with most of these songs written and even arranged. Her take on "Respect" is literally hers; she brought it with her when she showed up.

This is not to my tastes. I'm unfamiliar with the context of it except to say that the music sometimes does sound like more popular songs by Lisa Stansfield, but then she actually sings on a few of those songs...did this group produce "All Around the World"? There's moments where the sound and the music come together and it really hits; then there's stretches of early digital wankery that sound like a guy on too many mushrooms pushing buttons on an old drum machine.