forgot how strong this record's opener is, but also how tonally different it is from some of the later tracks. really great instrumentation, as sparse as it is compared to SZA's contemporaries. good shit all around; I really don't think there are any skips here. not a huge fan of Travis Scott but whatever, SZA is obviously the star of the show. I guess he's allowed to say a few words. I will never get tired of broken clocks no matter how often it's played. if you hate that song you're an idiot. it's so good. I feel like that meme of spongebob floating in the air with wired headphones when I listen to the beginning of pretty little bird. that reverb is great and with a pair of great headphones, that song is extra good. probably not a perfect album, but for pretty damn close.

i'm admittedly not the biggest Elvis fan, but i'll say that all of my favorites come from this album. I think on this record you get a really clear picture of his blues/gospel influences before they become dolled up in performance and provocation, and tracks like "Blue Suede Shoes" do a great job of paying homage to theoretical influences instead of simply regurgitating old ideas, which I feel happen in Elvis's later work. as a fan of his slower stuff, I would always listen to tracks like "I Love You Because", "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')", and of course, "Blue Moon". Getting this album was kind of fun because I don't know when I would have ever chosen to revisit Elvis, but it's a nice reminder of why he's so beloved and where he started (especially compared to where he'd end up, which I don't love as much as other Elvis fans).

I’m sorry to every twenty or thirty-something out there, this album is not better than In Rainbows. It’s still pretty good, though. And it gave us Exit Music (For a Film) and Karma Police, so I won’t be too mad at the Website Gods for giving us this album today

fuck you steven morrissey. not even "The Headmaster Ritual" can save this one. most of this bullshit sounds the same and you sound like a whiny fucking prick, which incidentally, you are. okay fine, "Well I Wonder" has great instrumentation, but that's not your doing. also, what the fuck why would anyone want to listen to you bark at them in "Barbarism Begins at Home" and then 2-3 minutes at the end of "OOOOOOHAAAAAHHHOOHOAOHOAOHAAAOOOHOHOHOO" fuck you morrissey racist incel loser lmfao

Honestly, it’s a great title track. The rest is fine; better than fine if you like operatic rock ballads (I do not). I still can’t imagine being a teenager in 1977 and seeing or hearing the three layers of crazy juxtaposition: the cover that says “this is metal you fuckers”, the artist name that says “wait what the fuck”, and the music that says “wait what is actually going on here?” It isn’t a bad album, it just isn’t for me. And as someone who is open about how little ballad rock he listens to, I can’t compare this to much. I mean it’s better than 90% of Bon Jovi’s catalogue, but that bar is low. I feel bad giving this a 2, but there are albums I’d rank at 3 that I like so much more. I also will never get beyond Meat Loaf’s appearance in Fight Club. “Bob’s new sweating tits that hang enormous, the way you think of God’s as big.”

People that say jazz is just “playing wrong notes but it sounds good” obviously don’t understand jazz but they also obviously haven’t listened to this album. THIS album is just a bunch of wrong notes that bills itself as “art rock” and I’m not sure where I stand on that principally, but I do know that it’s not for me

hadn’t heard of this guy at all, and finally got excited about the premise of this activity: I’d been hoping for something I didn’t know! And here it is! Smooth and a little funky, this is a great record for people (read: me) who are new-ish to soul. “Hero” is definitely the standout track for me, although I didn’t find myself wanting to skip any of them. Thematically, it’s great. It’s unapologetically self-indulgent and praises humanity in all the right ways. It’s complex and simple all at once. There’s something special on show here for anyone looking for a musical pick-me-up; give “Solid Ground” or “Light” a shot. A lot to love here. Admittedly, I’m looking at this maybe a little more scientifically than I ought to. There are a handful of tracks I’d seek out again on my own, but I don’t know how often I’d put the full record on. Hard to say on a first listen. If I were to revisit this in a week, it may score higher. If I could give it a 3.5, I’m sure I would.

I can’t imagine being 14 or 15 in 1986 and hearing “Battery” into “Master of Puppets” for the first time (which is only relevant because I was around that age when I discovered metal). This isn’t a genre I listen to a lot anymore, but that certainly doesn’t affect the rating. This album is pretty nearly perfect, and I would do anything to live out the cultural zeitgeist surrounding this release in the 80s. I can’t think of a modern equivalent, honestly. At least not one of comparable quality.

I mean it’s fine! Some tracks are pretty good, even. Real Billy Hargrove shit. Put me in a fast car and play these tunes. But I don’t know how much staying power it has for me. Musically there’s some cool stuff happening; I love the guitar work. But the rest kinda falls flat, I guess. Thematically, our last metal album was much stronger and, context taken into account, much more relevant.

this shit’s boring

Man, I hate having to do this review. Joy Division is just one of the bands you’re *supposed* to like. But I don’t. Like the album from KOL the other day, the vocalist (too lazy to google him) is uhhh not great! The the guitarist (too lazy to google him too) sounds like he learned to play a week before they recorded the album. What is that riff on Shadowplay? Really? Anyway. It’s not offensive, but it doesn’t have much staying power for me. So sorry everyone, and a special apology to all the 90s kids who wore Joy Division t-shirts in high school who I thought had some real street cred for doing so.

This is the album that makes me wish I’d been a skater

might be a little blinded by nostalgia here, but I honestly don’t think I am. Phenomenal breakout album, and it has proved hard to top. No skips.

Patti Smith is legendary, and not without reason, but I think this album is a classic example of “appreciate the impact but don’t love the music” that sometimes happens with these mainstay records. Heretically, I feel the same way about Sgt. Pepper’s from The Beatles (I’m a white album kinda boy). There are some songs here that I like, but nothing here that I love. To be fair, there’s nothing I actively dislike either, but still, I find myself somewhat unmoved by what some call music’s first punk statement. Also, she said some weird shit about Mick Jagger and wrote a crazy song using the n word a lot, which feels bizarre as fuck. Her book, Just Kids, is pretty good though

I wish I had more to say. It's fine, but it's not as good as Mezzanine, and even Mezzanine is like... okay. I think I just have to recognize that this isn't my genre.

Missy Elliott's influence is completely undeniable and demands attention. This is a good album. But I am beginning to wonder about the selection process here: are they just picking culturally significant artists' first records because without them, we don't get the others? So far we've had Elvis, Coldplay, Missy Elliott, maybe one or two others I'm blanking on. This definitely isn't Missy Elliott's best; it's great, no doubt about it, but if we're meant to interpret this list as the "greatest" (or at least the most culturally transformative) albums ever, I don't know why this was picked over something that was to come down the road from her. Oh well. Still a good listen, and when it was over, I was sad to see it go. Guess that counts for something. We better get some fucking MF DOOM from this thing if it's gonna give us this one.

My biggest problem with this album is that to get the full experience, you need to listen in order and be totally tuned in. I think that's a fair ask; it's a great album with a lot of sonic character and what few tracks could stand alone (Money, in particular) are phenomenal. I'm not a boomer music meatrider and I don't think this album is as perfect as all the snobs think it is, but I can recognize how and why it's great while maintaining some very clear distance from "perfect" or even from "one of the greatest albums of all time." It's good, but it's not *that* good.

I mean it’s fine. Some tracks are good. The back end feels like Walmart brand shoegaze; I dunno, I’m hyper critical of anything that isn’t MBV or Slowdive if we’re in this genre. Part of that is because I’m admittedly underexposed.

By 2004 the enlarged and overly-scoped umbrella category of “alt rock” or hell even just alternative was so saturated with better, more interesting talent that I am struggling to understand why this album made the cut. Granted, I hadn’t even heard of this band before, so maybe it makes the list as a way of showcasing who was doing what in various decades that time or more notable names may have overshadowed; that being the case, that’s fine. But I literally almost fell asleep listening to this album. I just can’t find anything to really like that other groups in this same window did better, sorry to say.

Oh FUCK yes I got so excited when this one got picked. Barring some of my favorite jazz and string trios-- and I don't think I'm being hyperbolic when I say this-- this might be the most significant musician trio to have ever existed. this album is emblematic of everything happening in the late 60s and into the early 70s: there is some fascinating genre interplay, some unique sounds that don't really get replicated by later artists, and obviously significant homage paid to country, blues, and folk roots in an album that also employs elements of rock and jazz. this album is fucking *stacked* with five-star songs. What gets me about this album is that CS&N could have been wed to a single sound; the Paul Simon-esque "Lady of the Island", the smooth ballad work of "Guinevere", but damn if they don't pull out all the stops and remind me about the danger of musical expectations. just when you think you know the album, they hit you with something interesting. i find that it's almost impossible to be bored listening to this record. it's probably my favorite of 1969 (and that's a stacked year, with Abbey Road, ITCOTCK, Zeppelin's II, etc.) If I had to rank my ten favorite albums of all time, I don't *think* this would place, but that's only because there's so much good music out there. On a good day where I'm feeling my roots, I'd maybe stick this one in the #10 spot. It's just so good.

Not a whole lot to say here— I’m in the minority (I think?) of people who believe Neil Young is the weakest of Thursday’s supergroup. Not bad, just not nearly as interesting. Sure, Down By the River is great, but I don’t like the other tracks as much as The PeopleTM seem to (especially Cinnamon Girl; for some reason that song just irritates me lmao I am so sorry)

okay look, i'm not a bush apologist, all i'm saying is that this is a lot of edginess and anger towards a conservative president who did not wreak nearly as much havoc on the country or the globe as our current, and this band's most recent album, a product of similarly vitriolic times, sucks in comparison. well maybe it just sucks in general. but this album is not that album. this one is mostly good, but sometimes hard to listen to bc i'm like you people need to chill. coming to LA for your first american recording does not make you equal on the playing field of american civic engagement as the people who've been fighting the good fight for decades. but at least you gave us "sail to the moon" which is a beautiful track. between this and the number of good mario games that released during the bush presidency, i think the universe is trying to tell us something about this retired president-turned-grandpa artist who is just dootin' along in texas right now. sure, sure, the Liberal Artists hated him, but think about it. we got good mario. we got good pokemon. we got this album. actually we also got In Rainbows during the bush era, so radiohead might just need another bush to start making good music again. #ImWithBush

You know I was gonna rate this a little lower and give some dumbass justification about how even though some of my most listened to albums from middle and high school owe their lives to Pantera, that y’know it just isn’t for me anymore But fuck that noise. This shit fuckin rips. It’s loud, aggressive, and hard. It’s not a perfect album but I don’t think pantera gives a shit about perfect albums. You can’t listen to this and NOT headbang and find something to be angry about

when john prine said "hotdog bun, my sister's a nun" i really felt that. a few years ago, i got really big into sierra ferrell, which meant i wasn't far from discovering prine. in truth, i had no idea who he was until i began my foray into a genre i thought i hated; pretty quickly, i understood what all the fuss was about. when it comes to folk, i of course knew bob dylan and joan baez, and maybe a few more if someone had mentioned a name aloud. i can't believe i had been missing out on john prine! it's folk, blues, country-- everything all together. so nice. what i love about john prine's approach is that it's extremely accessible poetry. nothing about the instrumentation is technically impressive or difficult, and it doesn't need to be. it sounds as reasonable as anything else from its era. it's just easy. but his lyrics are punchy and raw, telling important and politically charged stories that were indeed braver than many of his contemporaries. tonally, it's obvious he wasn't concerned with any blowback, and i love that about him. his complete affability in his songs makes me laugh. can you imagine all the red-faced conservatives angry about antiwar lyrics from their singer-songwriters during america's conquest against the atheistic communism? come on now. learn your roots, fellas. while there's certainly a quality of similitude between most of these songs, it didn't make the album less of a joy to listen to. also, i hate to let my rating be influenced *too* much by legacy, but seriously, prine is the reason artists like sierra ferrell (and others) get to be as well-beloved as they are in 2025. plus, people are still covering "Paradise" and probably will be forever. love that.

really hoping that this means jazz albums will show up on the list. fusion is fine (it's maybe not my preferred way to listen to tracks like birdland, although as brandon said it is essential to give credit where it is due), but it's not my favorite. gotta say though, tracks like Palladium make me think that maybe it could be. that shit's fuckin groovy.

Hard to deny Biggie’s influence on the game, but fuck this is a hard listen. Especially given its proximity to biggie’s assassination, which I maintain was a gov’t job. Hell, maybe Tupac was too, I don’t fuckin know. Sorry biggie. Your songs are sad as fuck but they’re extremely good. Sorry you wanted to kill yourself. You would’ve loved MF DOOM bro

Okay I know it's a three, but it's a very high 3! Really wish they'd let us do half stars on this, but I get it. Too many divisions makes the rating system somewhat pointless, blah blah blah. There are some great tracks on here (Damn, "Caught by the Fuzz" is a banger, "She's so Loose" is real Pinegrove-y before Pinegrove could be Pinegrove-y) and just a few complete misses (what's happening with the album closer?), so I guess overall I really like but do not love this one. Points for surprising me with "Alright"; I figure we all know this song, but I could never have told you who wrote it *or* that it was a product of 1995. I know the phrase "ahead of their time" is such a meaningless cliche, but I do think it applies here for the most part.

So my introduction to this album is super bizarre because I actually heard a cover of "Disarm" by The Civil Wars (may they RIP; unless you're going to lie to the world and tell it that your band partner is your sister and not actually your wife, don't be in a band with your S/O) and I thought that *they* (The Civil Wars) had written it; obviously you can understand my surprise when I realized the song was much older. I was certainly old enough to have known better, but somehow it just missed me. all the kids trying to impress me with their musical knowledge in 2012 would have laughed openly at me. this album is fuuuuull of great tracks. Man, I'm envious of that early 90s fuzzy guitar sound. Erik and I actually started a cover of "Today" a few years ago and need to revisit it! That song is great, "Cherub Rock" is great, "Disarm" is great, and "Silverfuck" is in the running for one of the best track names of the 90s and maybe ever? Unsure. this album works on so many levels. what i love most about it, though, is its refusal to adhere to a single sound: it mimics some other groups we've had in this rotation in that way. "Disarm" doesn't sound like "Soma" which doesn't sound like "Geek U.S.A" which doesn't sound like "Hummer", and that's *the* way to keep the listener engaged: be good at all the sounds you try, and your album will always earn a spot in someone's rotation. this bit is only related because of my review from the last album we did by Supergrass: this is how you close an album. Slow it down, sure, but at least keep it interesting. this bit is completely unrelated: the apple music summary of this album claims that the smashing pumpkins are a "gen-x icon", and I'd like to state for the record I've seen *far* more teenagers in "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" t-shirts than I've ever seen gen-xers. for this reason I posit that even if these teenagers i've seen have never even listened to the album, TSP have more cultural staying power because of teens chasing clout than because of gen-xers who may have listened to this group in their mid-twenties and saw them one (1) time in Seattle or Chicago before moving onto the next thing

this band or this album-- haven't decided which-- is illustrative of what i perceive to be one of the biggest problems facing music today: there is a fucking label for literally every *sample* of sound. look, i had to google these guys. i won't pretend i've heard of them. here's their "genre" according to wikipedia's compiled list (I am too lazy to actually cite each individual source for each genre assignment, but i promise they exist and they're all more or less bullshit): hard rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock, acid rock, heavy metal, proto-punk, stoner rock, experimental rock. are you fuckin serious? one time the band Blue October wrote a song that reflects my feelings about this: "Or call it rock, or pop, or Bach, or fuck / Goddamn! Where did we go wrong? / Now there's a category for every song" (this is from Inner Glow, for those curious). yeah yeah, i get that Blue Cheer is trying a bunch of different things here, but honestly what this tells me more is that they couldn't find solid enough ground to establish a unique sonic character. instead, these songs feel, at least to me, like a half-baked attempt at being a little bit of everything popular on the cusp of some really monumental movements (for example, some people apparently call "Summertime Blues" the first metal song ever [what the fuck], and Black Sabbath's debut was around the corner in 1970). i wonder if the comparison to Jack White is unavoidable (several reviews housed on this website make such a comparison). i don't buy it. not all garage rock is created equally, and this lacks the soul, punch, and guitarwork of the early white stripes stuff. anyway, this shit's boring. 2/5 on a good day, which i guess today is.

when i was ten i got my first digital keyboard in my bedroom and played with a lot of the presaved sounds. i'm fairly certain i recorded "How Does It Feel" on my tape recorder in 2005. like several of the albums we've gotten, this one is not horrible but suffers from a lack of impression. it's almost completely forgettable. aside from a wacky album cover (purity/ love/ suicide/ accuracy/ revolution, wtf) that is at least fun to look at, there's nothing meaningful here. i'm a big big fan of the hymn "Will the Circle be Unbroken?" from 1907, so it's a shame that their "May the Circle be Unbroken" sucks so goddamn much. maybe if i was on acid i'd appreciate this more, but i kind of doubt it.