I’ve always thought this was a boring album, and I still find it very boring.

29 is still 20 Somethings, right? I still belt every lyric when I play this album, it’s Solana’s best work by far. Lord knows how many times I’ve played “Love Galore” and “The Weekend” on repeat

Never been much of an Elvis guy beyond “Mystery Train” and a couple other classics. Although it’s cool to see where so many people draw influence from (I definitely heard a little bit of Tyler Childers in “I’d rather listen to Chuck Berry.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3YvIWQbOrEEAxCE1lktLpC?si=C_SadP1_R1ac1l_YyISl5Q Great follow up listen.

There are some absolute rippers on here (“You Took the Words…” and “All Revved Up…” are classics) and there is some absolute dogshit. I had fun listening to it

Crazy good guitar riffs all over the place, but this as a whole didn’t hold my attention. Too many sprawling songs and no direction, I need something a little more direct.

One of my favorites from 2019 (top 5 of the year), and one that I return to a lot. It kept me lots of company during COVID lockdown, mostly because it was one of the last records I bought before March 2020. Kiwanuka is British, but he carries his political and musical influences on his sleeve, simultaneously channeling Nina Simone and John Lewis, and "Hero" is easily one of most important and powerful political songs of the century because of these factors. It's a song that feels like its melody and chorus could go on forever and ever, like the cycle of racial violence in the US. But it comes crashing to a halt, making way for the instrumental grief (with the most beautiful choral "oooohs" I've ever heard) of the intro on "Hard to Say Goodbye." The first half of the album is great, but I think the second half elevates the final product to an incredible album deserving of any best of the 21st century list. "Final Days" into "Solid Ground" into "Light" and its haunting ending is god tier album structuring. It's a beautiful self-portrait of an amazing artist.

I listened to a lot of Metallica when I was younger and full of teenage rage, so this felt like a less-than-pleasant trip down memory lane. Metal isn't my cup of tea anymore, I find it repetitive and I need some more performance from my vocalists. That being said, I see the importance of this album and I appreciate its technical strengths (especially the guitar and drums). The title track is a lot of fun and I still dig "Leper Messiah." I also didn't realize how big of fans of Bowie these guys are/were.

I've never listened to a full Iron Maiden album before, and this is not the Iron Maiden I'm familiar with, so this was an interesting listen. It wasn't a life-changing experience for me, but like the Elvis album, it was cool seeing where so many artists have pulled influence from. "Phantom of the Opera" and "Transylvania" was a great 1-2 punch. I doubt I'll ever revisit this one.

I feel a bit befuddled as to why this one is on the list... I enjoyed and still enjoy 'Only By the Night' when it first came out, and I consider that to be an album a billion times better than this one. I don't really see why critics like this album so much. It is fine. It is a good rock album. It is nothing revolutionary. I think KOL are a band that are actually served by overproduction on finished products, which seems to be the main difference between this and 'Only By the Night.' I give it a "meh."

This fucking rips. A near perfect album. So many rich and diverse soundscapes throughout it never gets boring. Mason was fucking jamming to it, too.

Vocals kind of ruined this one for me, but I enjoyed the music. I see the appeal, though.

It seems like every album after this one was Coldplay doing an imitation of themselves in an attempt to get another pop hit like "Yellow" (maybe not Rush of Blood, although that one had "Clocks"). I find this to be their most genuine album where they wear their influences on their sleeve. Great from beginning to end!

I enjoyed this well enough, although the production on some songs left a lot to be desired -- "Redondo Beach" sounds like some of the kid's music I play for Mason. I really loved the first track, but was left wanting more over the album. I plan on relistening since there is such an emphasis on the lyrics and it deserves more attention. I'm always fascinated by the intersection of music and literature and have thought a lot about poetry in a musical space. I always think of Gilbert Scott-Heron, but Smith brings something unique to that conversation.

Trip-hop has all the elements I should like but I can never get all the way into it. Portishead is cool, but this sounds like the music playing in every bad club scene ever from any movie in the mid 90s featuring a club scene. Hell, I’m pretty sure there’s a scene in Batman Forever where Massive Attack is playing… while they’re in a club.

Oops, I was gonna complain about the lack of hip hop so far and then we get hit with this classic. We’ve all heard ‘Under Construction,’ but Missy feels a lot freer on this one. She and Timbaland are just so good together, but these songs don’t feel as timeless as anything on ‘Under Construction.’ I do think it’s weird that Busta is the first voice we hear on her debut album, but overall a great feature list. Da Brat is underrated. Lil Kim, Ginuwine, and Aaliyah all on the same album is nuts! Great stuff.

When I was younger I listened to the Pretenders all the time, but never their albums. I think this might be the first time I listened to this all the way through. I love Chrissie Hynde’s voice and the sound of the band as a whole. I don’t think they’re a great album band, though. Their hits are their hits for a reason. “Brass in Pocket” still bangs.

When I was young, my dad played me this album and presented it as one of the greatest compositions ever. I was pretty amazed at first listen, mostly because I think it was my first conscious understanding of the link between storytelling and music. It’s a great concept album, although I find it quite pretentious music nowadays. I still love the bluesy jam on “Money,” the keys on “Any Colour You Like,” and the backing vocals on most of the tracks. ‘Wish You Were Here’ is a much better album, though. If you’ve never played this album while watching the Wizard of Oz, you’re robbing yourself of a fun trip.

Ride is the first name on this list I was unfamiliar with, but it turned out to be a great listen. I really enjoyed hearing some of the influences on contemporary bands I like. Shoegaze is a genre I love deeply but never spend enough time on. Dunno how often I'll return to them, but I'm very interested to hear what else they've created.

It's pretty great that you can hear how Scottish these guys are during each track. I'm also a sucker for album art that is made by comic book artists -- Kaare Andrews is a legend. Never heard these guys before (to my knowledge), but I mostly dig their sound. It didn't hold my attention throughout, unfortunately. Certainly an album that came out in 2004.

Another album that was presented to me when I was young as the pinnacle of music. Except this one holds up! The harmonies are the most attractive feature of any CSN or CSNY project, they just do it like no other. But as far as opening tracks go, “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” is up there with the best. Looking forward to our inevitable ‘Deja Vu’ review.

Growing up, my brother and I would watch the 'Rust Never Sleeps' concert film all the time, and it's probably why I enjoy live albums so much. It also made me appreciate Neil Young as much as I do. Not my favorite Neil Young album, but one that has some of my favorite Neil Young songs. I could listen to "Cinnamon Girl" and "Down By the River" on repeat and probably never get tired. It feels like a very long album for just 7 songs, but nonetheless a very complete collection.

I’ve always thought this was a boring album, and I still find it very boring.

Re: statement from a couple weeks ago of me not being a metal guy My exposure to Pantera is limited to Sandy Cheeks’s workout routines and the couple songs my dad uploaded to my iPod when I was 12. This was an aggressively fine choice. Good but nothing great.

Dave Matthews and his acoustic cover of "Angel From Montgomery" is actually responsible for introducing me to John Prine (he has a wonderful cover of "Down By the River," too). I was absolutely astonished by the songwriting, and then listening to the album in full showed me Prine's pen is unmatched. It also taught me not all country music is bad. Prine's topics are timeless -- "Sam Stone" is one of the most important songs of the 70s, in my opinion. "Paradise" is, to my knowledge, one of the only songs that commits Western Kentucky's huge coal mining industry to history (fun fact: it was and still is bigger than coal in EKY). I think Prine's voice can wear on the listener, but that's not the focal point of the album, and it's a collection that grows on me every time I replay it.

This shit was fun, maybe not life changing, though. Jazz rock isn’t something I listen to enough but some great songs here. I kinda expected a blue shell to hit me out of nowhere, though — “Birdland” sounds like a song playing during a Mario Kart race.

And if ya don't knoooow, now ya know Fuck, I love this album. Biggie has never been my favorite 90s rapper, especially out of the East Coast, but, damn, every track is great. I think saying this album too long is a cop-out; there is not a single track that you could leave off because they're all 10s that a larger story about his life. Major hits aside, you've got "Things Done Changed," "The What," and "Everyday Struggle" on this one, all songs that really speak to Biggie's promise and lyrical talents as an artist. We've got a lot of topical range throughout, too, that gives the album a lot of replay value. A lot of great diversity on the production side, too. Yes, D*ddy, is there, but more importantly DJ Premier and Lord Finesse(!). I find it to be the only Biggie album that doesn't feel over-produced because of the small list of producers involved. Maybe it's got some of the flash that made Diddy popular in the 90s, but there's still that East Coast grime on the shiny suits. Plus, the fucking samples are insane. Production used to be such an art, piecing songs together through the inclusion of this snare hit from this song here, and this bass line from this song here, and so on. "Warning" samples three of the best funk/soul artists to create one of the best rap songs of the era, which is only the result of pure genius and a master craftsman. Highly recommend looking through the sample list and exploring some of those sounds. What I love about 90s hip-hop albums outside of Wu-Tang Clan is how few featured artists there were. After 'The Infamous' by Mobb Deep, we start to see that change a bit, and the late 90s there are a lot of features on albums. But this whole album is just Biggie rapping his ass off with one dope feature from Meth, who was arguably just as big (no pun intended) as Biggie at the time. If you don't know much about Biggie, his life, or his music, I would highly recommend watching a documentary/docuseries on him. The one by Netflix is good (I Got A Story to Tell), but they're all about the same. I've always found hearing his mom talk about his life to be really special.

This was fun. "Alright" was the only song I had previously heard from this album, shoutout How I Met Your Mother. It's crazy how much this influenced the early Arctic Monkeys, whom I love. The jam on "Sofa (Of My Lethargy)" was pretty crazy, defintely a standout for me. I'll be back to this one.

‘Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness’ and ‘Siamese Dream’ are two albums I consider life changing and worthy of a list like this. Every song is a fucking kicker on this one. No skips, as the youth might say. Minus one star for Billy Corgan.

I've gone back and forth about this one, but I think I overall liked it. I'm a huge fan of the blues, so I might be a little biased. I am having to alter my perceptions of heavy metal a bit and do some learning, thanks to this list. I would in no way classify this or Zeppelin as heavy metal -- it's just blues rock, in my opinion. Maybe it's just that no one understands what genre is or means (*insert Simpsons "No it's the children who are wrong" meme here) I think the disconnected aspects of the songs are a bit hard for the listener to fully appreciate the final product. The mixing is pretty terrible but I think that also contributes to what they were trying to accomplish with this sound. "Doctor Please" was my favorite track. The midpoint of the song kicks and I went back to the song as a whole a couple of times just because of the jam.

I wish I had not wasted part of my morning listening to this. The only reason I know about Spacemen 3 is thanks to Vinyl Me, Please’s (RIP) record of the month version of a Spiritualized album. That release featured some liner notes bragging about how the frontman of Spiritualized was in a group called Spacemen three, then spent the majority of those liner notes talking about Spacemen 3 instead of the boring album I had just bought and was listening to. I remember thinking “maybe Spacemen 3 is better than Spiritualized,” and the answer is “no, it’s equally boring.” I’m already upset because I’m sure that will be on this list, too. I honestly couldn’t tell music was playing at some points, this album was just such a quiet, unimportant drone in the background. My review ends here, because enough of my day was wasted thinking about this album. I want me time back, Mr 1001 Albums To Listen To Before You Die Man.

So many great songs on this album outside of “Killing Me Softly” and “Ready or Not.” Even without those two, “Zealots,” “Fu-Gee-La,” and “The Score” would make this a 5/5. Unpopular opinion, but I really dislike the cover of “No Woman No Cry,” but the fact that the Fugees have funded a soup kitchen in Kingstown, Jamaica by crediting the owner as the original writer is awesome. And then “Manifest” comes in to save the album. Beautiful stuff.

I'm admittedly a Damon Albarn hater, and it's nice to know that the Oasis bros share my opinion of him. That being said, I like Blur regardless of Damon's involvement. I discovered them backwards when they reunited for 'The Magic Whip' in 2015. I think I heard 'Leisure' next, then 'Parklife,' my least favorite of the three. I appreciate the concept behind the album and enjoy some songs, but there are also some complete misses for me. The title track sounds like a song that plays at the end of a Bob's Burgers episode. "End of a Century" absolutely rips.

This album was very sleepy and lost my interest pretty quickly. The lead singer uses that strained, breathy delivery that he tries to make sound effortless, but it feels unnatural and nasally. The songs are very repetitive and it feels like they’re trying to imitate US acts that they love without the cultural capital to actually do so. I don’t think I’ll be back to this one.

Overall, this is not for me, although I did enjoy the instrumentation. It sounds like what 'This Is Spinal Tap' was making fun of with "Listen to the Flower People."

Jealous of those hearing this for the first time. It’s hard for me to separate my love for Sinnead the person and Sinnead the artist without sounding sycophantic. Maybe not perfect but an amazing album.

Wow, I can’t believe Don Henley and co. would blatantly plagiarize Frank Ocean’s “American Wedding.” 0.5/5, thievery will not be tolerated, but the guitar solo on the title track adds on half a star.

God, Keith Moon was such a legend. The drums on each song are just undeniably incredible. RIP. Overall, this is a fun album but ultimately forgettable besides the title track and "The Kids Are Alright." I think the length makes it a bit harder to fully appreciate.

I fell for the old "judge a book by its cover" trap and expected something really astounding based off of the album art. Thoroughly disappointed. I would've enjoyed this much more had it been the soundtrack to a video game I was playing.

I’m a sucker for British rap, I think that British rappers have some of the coolest deliveries. Grime is a dope subgenre, and their spin on the drill sound is really unique, too. I also love how it feels like a parallel universe to the US rap scene, with their own beef and their own "king of Brit rap" conversations. This isn’t my favorite Skepta album, (I love ‘Ignorance is Bliss,’ it's sadly too recent for this list), but there are some great tracks on this one. I always get a little bit of lead foot when "Crime Riddim" comes on in my car. Production across the board is fantastic stuff and also undeniably 2016-sounding. Rap was simpler back then (for better and worse). One gripe I have with Skepta (and sometimes Brit rap in general) is all the Drake influence -- the way the chorus is sung on "Ladies Hit Squad" sounds almost identical to the melody on "Hotling Bling." Drake is on the intro and outro of "Shutdown" on this album. It cheapens British rap for me to know they're cannibalizing a style that has cannibalized US rap/hip-hop. I always appreciate the more authentic sounds of artists like Dave and Stormzy who carve their own lanes, and I think it stops me from completely appreciating Skepta. If you're a fan of this one, check out Jme's 'Integrity>' or Giggs's 'Wamp 2 Dem.' Not the same caliber of rapper as Skepta, but still a lot of fun.