The first half of this album was terrible. The second half was also terrible.

So I must be on enough drugs to actually like it, the Lou Reed songs in particular. I had never heard anything by them going into this, so had no expectations. They reminded me of some other bands of the time that I enjoy, but they definitely made some interesting choices with the arrangements. A couple of the songs were unlistenable - looking at you Venus in Furs - but there were 4 or 5 tracks I thought were great. I’d give it a 3.5 if I could, but going with the 3.

This is an easy 5 for me. I’ve loved this album since it first came out and have listened to it countless times. It’s the rare album that I enjoy every single song on. It’s fun, it’s interesting, and was a unique departure from Simon and Garfunkel music, which I also love. I recently listened to Malcom Gladwell’s audio book, “Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon”, and they had a great segment where Paul talked about the inspiration and making of Graceland, the controversy at the time of him breaking the boycott of South Africa to make the album, and why he did it. Good listen.

At 37 minutes, this album is short and sweet and full of hits. As a teenager in the 80’s this album was still popular in my high school and always a backdrop to driving around town, keg parties, and sitting by my friend’s pool enjoying a summer day. Fun music and a bit of nostalgia makes it a 4 for me.

I’ll admit I was half distracted listening to this yesterday, but I don’t think that mattered. It was probably better as background noise. I didn’t mind some of the songs but as others have already said, it’s more high school level playing. I’ll give it a 2 purely for the fact that it inspired the birth of grunge.

For me, U2 is one of those bands that I liked a few of the hits you heard on the radio, but never enough to want to listen to more from them, so this is the first time I’ve listened to a U2 album. My original thought holds. The hits are good, my favorite is Two Hearts, but the rest was just ok.

I love live albums, prefer them in a lot of cases. They’re more authentic, more engaging, and I love to hear the audience interactions. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a Peter Frampton song that wasn’t from this album so don’t know how it compares to his studio work, but I enjoyed this overall. Maybe not enough to give it a 4, but still a good listen.

It’s a no from me, dawg.

I can see that I’m going to be the one to skew our group rating here. Lol. Call me crazy, but I really enjoyed this album. They took old timey ballads and Irish jigs and made them into 60’s style folk. I loved the fiddle, a lot of times on the upbeat songs it sounded almost like bagpipes, which I love. The singers voice was beautiful, she’s what I wish Joan Baez sounded like - I appreciate Joan’s music but could never get past her voice enough to listen to it. The last song should have been dropped, that was the one song I didn’t enjoy. Otherwise, I would, and will, listen to this again. Anyway, it really did sound like I was at a renaissance fair, but being there on a beautiful fall day, swigging a beer..how is that a bad thing?

I’ve always had an irrational hatred for Steely Dan; it’s bad lounge rock. This album did nothing to change my mind. There aren’t enough Harvey Wallbangers in the world to make me like this.

Christina Aguilera has an amazing voice. You don’t need to be a fan of her music to appreciate that and it’s the reason I’m giving it two stars. Not my style and it was WAY too long to boot.

This was so bad, even the artist herself didn’t like the album. The flute didn’t help, but the real problem was her voice. Just awful. Nico was dissatisfied with the album. In 1981, she said she could not listen to it. According to Nico, her requests for drums and more guitar were refused, and she disliked the orchestrations: "I didn't like [the strings], but I could live with them. But the flute! The first time I heard the album, I cried and it was all because of the flute."

I was excited when I saw this album come up. I never knew anything past Bitter Sweet Symphony, which I always thought was a cool song, so I was looking forward to what else they had. Sorry to say I was disappointed overall. Everything was just kind of meh and sounded the same to me. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great. And it was too long - don’t need 1 hr 15 minutes of the same thing over and over. There were a couple songs I enjoyed, but didn’t have the time to go back again and figure out which ones they were. Overall giving it a 3 because it was fine. PS - Was that the sound of cats dying on that hidden track? That was rough.

I’m not a fan of country music at all. She has a beautiful voice but it’s not for me.

What a great album! I really enjoyed this one, thank god. I was on a losing streak with the recent recommendations. I’ll admit I know almost nothing about Elvis Costello. I know who he is but I don’t think I could have named a single song. I went in with zero preconceived notions and was pleasantly surprised! It’s easy to listen to this on the surface as a bunch of catchy pop tunes but then you realize it’s full of angst ridden lyrics. The upbeat pop rock melodies don’t match the message. I thought it was clever and fun. I read in the Wiki article that Bowie was an influence on him and I could definitely hear that in some of the songs. I would check out some of his other stuff based on this album.

Loved the bongos and horns. Big bright sounds and driving rhythms. Felt very big band swing meets Latin or Caribbean jazz. It was a fun listen, reminded me of a soundtrack to a 70’s spy movie. I enjoyed this way more than I expected.

2 Elvis Costello’s in one week. This one a year earlier than the last. Similar sounds but a little more punk and a little less pop. I really liked this one, too, and actually recognized the Pump It Up song. Another 4 stars for me, but I vote we move on the Counting Crows. 😉

I was only half listening to this, and glad it was over speakers and not headphones. I didn’t mind some the songs, minus all the distortion, but even then it was just ok. I can think of several people in high school who would have dug this, but I wasn’t even in the same realm of music as this in 1985.

I can see why young (and not so young) women lost their shit when this came out in 1956. Prior to Elvis, most pop/rock stars were polite, buttoned up gentleman. And then here comes Elvis the Pelvis, looking hot and shaking his hips at you. Or crooning lovingly into your eyes. He was pretty dreamy after all. The music on the other hand, not so dreamy. Starting with Blue Suede Shoes was a tease. Fun rock and roll song, upbeat, makes you want to move. I would have enjoyed an album with more of this, but it went downhill after that. Then there’s the whole issue of him culturally appropriating black music. A complicated subject, too much for a 1001 albums review. As a Ray Charles fan, I’ll say that I Got a Woman wasn’t even close to Charles’ version. Overall you cannot deny the influence of Elvis and he absolutely should be on this list. It’s just not for me.

What a fantastic album. The musicians were masters on their own but also came together perfectly as a band. The harmonica was insane and the piano player was killing it (two of my favorite instruments). Most of all, it sounded like they were having a great time, like they were playing a live performance at the best dive bar in town. One of the best albums we’ve heard so far.

The first half of this album was terrible. The second half was also terrible.

My poor Spotify algorithm. Based on recent albums I’m now getting recommendations for “Dive Bar Anthems” and “Indie Sleaze” playlists. I want my hippie music back. I don’t understand angry, jarring music with singers who scream more than sing. I’m a peace and love kind of girl. Plus, I’m old and it hurts my ears. But it was better than yesterday’s….so that’s something.

So I said I wanted my hippie music back, but I probably should have been more specific. This wasn’t quite it. There were a few good songs on here (edibles do help) but it doesn’t surprise me there was very little interest in this when it came out, from either the public or critics. There isn’t anything that makes them stand out. And I don’t know why this popped into my head, but the singer’s voice reminded me of the prince in Monty Python’s Holy Grail who was marrying the princess with the HUGE….tracts of land. So that was something! I mentioned the edibles, right?

Hated it

This was the never ending album of banality. It was hard to tell one song from another on this one. At one point I was wondering why there was a weird pause in the middle of the song and then realized it had gone on to a new track. There was a lot of skipping the ends of songs and just wishing it were over in general.

It’s rare that I hear much of Bob Marley past the hits, which this album has quite a few of. It was great to listen to a full album where all the songs are just as good. Bob Marley has such a great voice, warm and soothing, and combined with the steady hypnotic rhythm and beats, it makes you feel like all is okay with the world even though he’s singing about some pretty heavy stuff. He sounds hopeful and uplifting and wants you to feel the same.

I was probably a little later than most to the grunge scene. June of 1992, I had just graduated college. I’m in a car with my boyfriend at the time, his sister, and a good friend of ours, heading up to Buffalo to see a Dead show at Rich Stadium. She asks if we’ve ever listened to Nirvana, said the music was great, etc. We hadn’t so she pulled out her cassette and pops it in. Mind you, we’re on our way to a Dead show, which is the type of music we were listening to at that time. Made it halfway through Smells like Teen Spirit and were like, yeah, that’s not really for us. Fast forward a year or two, I break out of my hippie cocoon and go check out grunge and love it, Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots in particular. Even with the loud guitars and sometimes screaming singing it hits different than punk for me (although Endless, Nameless is still too much). Overall, it’s a more melodic, catchier sounding. And the disillusionment and “whatever” attitude of Nirvana is quintessential Gen X. A perfect match for the times and for our generation. I didn’t even need to listen to this to know everything I was going to say about this, but I did because why wouldn’t I? It’s a fantastic album.

The music was harsh, the singing was harsh, and the whole album sounded cold and mechanical, like the soundtrack for a robot uprising.

Never heard of these guys so had no clue what I was in for. Didn’t have high hopes going in, but I actually liked it overall. I listened to it twice, with the exception of the remix songs at the end which weren’t great, to get a better feel for the music. It’s hard to put your finger on the genre; Wikipedia labels it predominantly “Madchester”, defined as a blend of indie rock with elements of acid house, psychedelia, and 1960s pop. But it also has an 80’s synth vibe on some of the songs and a little funk on some tracks as well. I would check out some other stuff by them based on this album. Favorites: Kinky Afro, Gods cop, Loose fit, Dennis and Lois, and Step On (the non-remix versions).