It‘s an album that's close to my heart. Side 3 is stunning.
I never was a big Dylan fan, but as I get older, I can appreciate his songs, his craftsmanship and his huge influence on the pop culture more. I'm more familiar with his later albums, but this one is awesome, especially the rockier first half. "Maggie's Farm", "Outlaw Blues", and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" are all huge favorites. Great album!
("Tambourine Man" is overrated though …)
This is one of Neil Young's best work. I love the sparseness of the title track, the heartfelt apocalypse painted in "Don't Let It Bring You Down", and the folky "Only Love Can Break Your Heart". Amazing album!
This is one of the best albums of the 80s, full of genius melodies and masterful arrangements. "Head Over Heels" is a song that transcends time and emotions, such as grand song. "Shout" and "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" are genius singles. But also the deep cuts are fascinating, like the Robert Wyatt pastiche "I Believe" or the powerful rage of "Broken". This is one of my all-time favorite records, and nothing less than a masterpiece.
I had heard the album once or twice before, but never paid much attention to it. Now, having played it again, I think it's rightly regarded as a groundbreaking album of the neo-RnB movement. Especially the multi-layered "Pyramid" and the irresistible "Lost" are amazingly produced, very special soul pop songs by an amazing songwriter and singer. Right now, I'm rating it four stars, but this has the potential to become even better for me.
Not a big fan of the pop punk songs which all sound kind of samey. They certainly knew how to fuse Ramones-like angriness with a touch of early Beatles melodies, but nothing much stood out for me in terms of composition or sound. "Teenage Kicks" is a genius song, though.
It‘s hard to argue against the big hits of the album. "Riders On The Storm" is a soothing, hypnotic song, the title track is wonderfully ecstatic, and "The Changeling" is a personal favourite. But overall, the blues nature of the deep cuts fade into the realms of forgetfulness pretty fast. You can hear Jim Morrison drifting off into madness, which is fascinating, but not an overall pleasant listen.
While hip hop is not my favorite genre, I can appreciate its high points - the goofiness of De La Soul, the emotional depth of Kendrick Llamar, the soul-shattering lyricism of Public Enemy, heck, I even like Outkast. Jeru was someone I was not familiar with, and I was a bit puzzled as to why this album is regarded as one of the best of the genre. Maybe it's because of the production, because DJ Premier is on fire here. The dissonant blocks of piano in "D. Original" are as experimental as something by Dälek, the beat in "My Mind Spray" is amazing. But I was not too keen on Jeru's verses, especially in "Da Bichez", which has not aged well. So, this is a mixed bag for me, but ultimately, I didn't find it too interesting or engaging. Just a typical 90s hip hop record, apart from said highlights when it got a little more experimental.
This is certainly a great album, marking Bowie's transition from glam superstar into a pop enigma. The slick arrangements radiate with a glacier-like quality, with Bowie crooning over it like a romanticized version of Scott Walker. "TVC-15" and especially "Stay" are highlights on the album, rhythm-driven alien pop funk. The multi-sectioned title track is one of Bowie's most interesting experiments, though I feel overall, the album suffers from its singles, the doo-wop of "Golden Years" does not live up to the rest of the material, in my opinion. But it's definitely in my top 5 of Bowie albums (with other favorites being "Blackstar", "Outside" and "Lodger").
Gosh, even now, almost 45 years later, this album sounds like pure freedom. It's in the tapping, wildly over-the-top guitar solos of "The Prisoner", in the the shifting rhythms of "22 Acacia Avenue" (a Black Sabbath homage if I ever heard one), it's in the genius heavy cinematic grandiosity of "Hallowed Be The Name". With the title track, you're transported into a different realm - Steve Harris' genius bass catapulting you down into hell. It's fun there - warm, sweaty, and you can head bang all day long. I'm all for it.
I get the love and fascination for this album, I really do. Given the space of a double album, Hendrix explores the psychedelic sixties in all its glory. First and foremost, there's his version of "All Along The Watchtower", probably the definitive interpretation of a song that's always been an enigma to me. I can't relate to the lyrics or see the genius behind it. To me, it's just okay at best. But the album is much better than its biggest and most famous song. Take the light-hearted sweetness of "Little Miss Strange" and "Burning of the Midnight Lamp", the hard-hitting blues of "Crosstown Traffic", and "Voodoo Chile", probably the most accurate sonic depiction of a night club in the sixties. Would this album be better if it was a single album? Probably. Would it still be this fascinating and consuming if it wasn't for the lengthy explorations? Probably not.
I once had a friend who dragged me along to a show by The Divine Comedy, at Gloria, one of the most beautiful venues in Cologne. I hadn't heard anything by them, but was enthralled. Especially the song "Lady Of A Certain Age" is so vividly in my mind, how Neil Hannon sighed '... no, you couldn't be', brushing off a lady's answer to how old she actually is. I got the album with said track ("Victory for the Comic Muse"), and years later, someone recommended "Regeneration", which I played a lot during the pandemic, a Radiohead-ish fever dream of an album, that feels torn between two worlds of indie stardom and Hannon's kitsch-heavy pop of his usual songwriting. That said, I'd never heard "Casanova", and while I could see how this album got The Divine Comedy through the roof, as it certainly was quite unique for the time, I didn't really enjoy it as the other two records I know of them. While I loved the weird, timeless aura around it - it's a record that could've only been made during the height of Britpop, yet it breathes the lushness of a sixties Scott Walker solo record - and love songs like "Something For The Weekend" and the hilarious, yet heartbreakingly sad "Frog Princess", I found a few things that I usually cannot stand in other types of music. There's the greasy spoken word in "Middle Class Heroes" and the self-referential "Theme from Casanova". So, I guess, this won't ever become my favorite Divine Comedy record. But one I still really enjoy.
Incredible voice, incredibly underused.
A quirky, yet abrasive and dark slice of manufactured mid-90s grunge. Whatever Butch Vig might have had in mind when founding the band, Shirley Manson certainly threw everything overboard, with her rage and at times brilliant lyrics dealing with mental health and equality shining through all of the songs. "Stupid Girl" is a stand-out for me, a song which was very present during my teenage years of watching MTV. But there are some deep cuts here that I really enjoyed as well - "My Lover's Box" for instance, a shockingly open song about desire. But ultimately, I think it didn't really grab my attention for more than several songs. Despite the great musicianship, most of the material sounds quite similar - usually a problem for me with grunge per se. So, it's a mixed bag, but one I might return to in the future.
To be honest, I never truly understood the appeal of early Strokes. Everything sounds the same to me, and this to me is one of the overhyped, overrated albums of all time. I'd rather be listening to the Arctic Monkeys.
Wow, this is absolutely stunning! I never really paid much attention to the Minutemen - a huge mistake, as it turns out. This double album is filled with uncompromising snapshots of punk, post-punk, funk, art-rock and even musique concrete. Never for one second I got bored, even though the 40+ songs are a lot to take in. A genius record that is my first *real* surprise in this challenge.
I've never heard of Sabres Of Paradise before, even though they're right up my alley: dark, hypnotic electronica that's heavily infused with the Warp Records vocabulary. Although "Haunted Dancehall" definitely *was* a hypnotic listen, I wasn't too keen on the dub influences on here. Some sounds sound indeed a bit dated, unlike other contemporary artists (Aphex Twin's early work, for example ...) It's certainly not a pleasant listen, especially not during broad daylight, as I listened to it in the morning, but I can feel myself vibing to it more with the lights dimmed down.
Even though this is not their best work - this would be the incredible gut punch of 2023's "My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross" - this is still music that radiates with beauty. Anohni's voice is not too far from Klaus Nomi's unique high-pitched vibrato, though it does have a more mellow quality, almost like David Sylvian. I'm quite fond of this, musically, and have a huge respect for Anohni, both musically and as a human.
Boring, forgettable blues rock, played by white men who think they can sound like their heroes. This is an album I wouldn't recommend anyone listening to at all.
Groundbreaking album - love the artsy, punky angst that's radiating from the compositions. "Strange" for example is incredible, and so ahead of its time, like the rest of the album.
Miiid-Lite ...
No, honestly, I didn't mind it, and even liked some of the more quirky production styles throughout. The samples in "E.S.P." are hilarious. But overall, this is too much of a superficial sound to fully catch my interest.
This is not my favorite Floyd album by any means. I much more prefer "Animals", which I think is their best, "WYWH" and "Meddle". Though I can certainly see the appeal of this overblown, yet franticly cold concept album. Waters is slowly and quite literally drifting off into a fascist mindset, as is evident in "In The Flesh", "Run Like Hell", and "Waiting For The Worms" - something he's certainly showing even more nowadays. I don't particularly care for all his interludes and Ezrin's cold production style (looking at you, "Vera", "Bring The Boys ..." and "Stop"), and "The Trial" is just utter nonsense ...
But when the album hits, it hits. I had forgotten how strong side 2 is, with "One Of My Turns" almost becoming a highlight for me. "Comfortably Numb" is an all-time classic, as is "Another Brick In The Wall", and I love the more mellow pieces like "Goodbye Blue Sky" and "Nobody Home" (the latter probably being one of Waters' last really exceptionally great songs).
But yeah, I'd much rather listen to a different Floyd album than this one.
Even fifty years later, this sounds like alien pop music, with its wobbling synths, surreal lyrics and futuristic sounds. Amazing album!
I never really appreciated reggae fully in my life and I doubt I'll ever will, but it's hard to deny that "Natty Dread" is a great album. The horn section on the irresistible opener "Lively Up Yourself" is unbelievably tight, "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)" reeks with dread and despair, and "Talkin' Blues" masterfully fuses blues with the syncopated Jamaican rhythms. The repetitive nature of the music and its vibe that's just so associated with joints and drug culture makes it hard for me to fully connect with it emotionally, but still, "Natty Dread" is a huge achievement, especially when you think of where Bob Marley was in his career at the time, just having cut all strings from two of his closest collaborators.
("No Woman No Cry" is infinitely better in the live version though, the studio version lacks its power, though it's a lovely, soft arrangement.)
One of the bleakest, darkest and yet comforting indie albums of all time. Genius record!
We're all just living in Kraftwerk's future. Groundbreaking album!
Abrasive, noisy, beautiful - I love it!
Melodically rich, great production - so far, this is the most enjoyable hip hop album on this list.
Dark and brooding, amazing album!
This one is a tough one to review. There have been moments where "Come On Eileen" moved me to tears. I still think it's a brilliant song, just as "Jackie Wilson Said" - two gloriously uplifting, yet deeply melancholic songs that are very dear to me.
Then, a couple of years back, I got to interview Kevin Rowland for "The Feminine Divine" (make of that record what you will), and he was just an angry old man, constantly questioning my way of how I phrased my questions, asking me if I had even heard the music, etc.
I had the pleasure of talking to a lot of great musicians - Graham Nash, Tears for Fears, Mike Rutherford of Genesis, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Mike Patton, just to name a few. And *none* of them were so full of themselves as Rowland. I can't listen to "Too-Ray-Ay" without thinking of this talk.
That being said, this is not a bad album. What it lacks in variety, it makes up with high quality, quirky production (especially on the re-jiggered version from 2022, or so), and a stunning vocal performance. But yeah, overall this is not a lot more than just "good". Art that's exploiting a sense of nostalgia. Meh ...
I didn't expect to like this one, as I was only familiar with the singles from this album - the aggressively happy and dancy electropop of "Heads Will Roll" first and foremost. But side two, especially the drenched out, almost shoegazy "Little Shadow" and the hymnal "Hysteric", caught me by surprise. I really loved the mellower moments here - and that it culminated in the unashamedly upbeat "Faces".
3.5-4 stars.
Makes me want to listen to 'Silly Love Songs' immediately ...
This is absolutely not my kind of music, yet it's pleasant enough that it doesn't outstay its welcome. "Red Tape" has amazing drumming though ...
I'm by no means an expert on hip hop / rap music. I enjoy my occasional Dälek, I've known Eminem and loved the Beastie Boys music videos on MTV when I grew up. As a rock kid, most rap was too bland for me - too much talking, too much rhythm, not enough tunes.
Now I know how wrong I was. The Gorillaz helped my introduce me to De La Soul, who I love. DJ Shadow, Nas and the likes I just re-discovered, as I did Mac Miller, Lil Yachty and many more over the years. That being said, hip hop will never become my favorite genre.
Here's the big BUT: I may not actively *like* the kind of music, but I can recognize a classic album when I hear one. "Straight Outta Compton" definitely *is* a classic album, with lots of bangers. I was blown away by Ice Cube's verses on the title track, and I really appreciated Dre's production, as in "Something 2 Dance 2", for example.
This is not something I'll revisit a whole lot. But when I do, I know I'll enjoy it for what it is. One of the best albums of its genre.
When I was a teenager, this was the first album by DM that I *really* got into, thanks to a friend of mine who was a massive fan of theirs. He used to push me to check them out, and having mainly known the radio singles, I was intrigued by this record which I had never heard one song from. To this day, it's still close to my heart and probably in my top 3 DM releases (with "Ultra" and "Violator").
"Never Let Me Down Again" is a fantastic song -- I'm sure there'll be theories written about it still in fifty years. "The Things You Said" is wonderfully Kraftwerk, "I Want You Now" still sounds like nothing else almost forty years later. "Strangelove" and "Behind The Wheel" are brilliant dance pop songs, and the twisted "Pimpf" was a huge inspiration for my first band -- we were trying to merge these apocalyptic soundscapes with prog and post-rock influences. Great times ...
"Keep The Streets Empty For Me" is gorgeous!
It's dissonant and abrasive, I love it! This is more punk than the Ramones and the Sex Pistols combined. "Chant" is pure genius, and Keith Levene one of the most underrated guitar players of all time.
An impressivly groove hip-hop venture into family and tradition. I think I prefered the other Common album "Be" by a landslide though, because it's more melodic.
Worth it for the final song, "Rainbow", which is an awesome piano ballad. The rest didn't stick with me at all, it's generic alt-country with lackluster songwriting and just okay-ish vocals. Not my cup of tea ...
The 1001 Albums book put it perfectly: They were still crappy enough to make fun of themselves, yet already brilliant enough to deliver songs brimming with genius.
Is this a perfect album? No. But yet, it's so quirky and unique, I really, really love it dearly.
It's like The Doors fused with Joy Division, but they missed out on really captivating songs.
Oh, cool, it‘s the second album by poor man's AC/DC on this list – but now they‘re quoting Neil Young …
Horrible music.
Can bad people actually create good art? Or, rather: Can you enjoy the art created by people whose mindset you despise? In the case of M.I.A., the answer, to me, is yes -- although I think she took a turn for the worse somewhere after "MAYA", I think her first three albums are amazing. Maybe the didn't revolutionize hip hop, but they certainly revived the genre, adding pop sensibilities, the heaviness of rock (see her feature with Suicide on "MAYA") and experimental world music.
"Arular" probably is my least favorite of the three, yet it still contains amazing tracks. "10 Dollar" is ridiculously catchy, "U.R.A.Q.T." still sounds as powerful today as it did in 2005, and "Bucky Done Gun" hints at "Paper Planes". Not a perfect record -- but nonetheless a record that I enjoyed revisiting.
I've never been the biggest fan of Hendrix' work, but this album is stunning, I really enjoyed it. 'Castles Made Of Glass' and 'Little Wing' are stunning!
This is exactly the kind of release that I want to discover with this project. I've been aware of Ali Farka Touré for a while, but never really dug deeper into his music -- a bit like with Tinariwen, who I always found wildly fascinating, but only after seeing them live at a festival in Denmark, really made me fall for their driving desert rock sound.
'Savane' though is less rock and more jazz -- or 'blues', as the cover suggests. There's a few great highlights here, like 'Machengoidi', 'Beto' and the title track. It's groovy, yet reeks with a heaviness, a mixture that's not easily done in western music.
I suppose this is music for people who don't really like music ...
I'm on the fence with this one. On the one hand, I totally appreciate Springsteen's urge to not follow 'Born To Run' with more of the same. This is less cinematic in scope, it feels more like an indie flick with darkness crawling out of the corners of the screen. I also think the E-Street Band had found their sound, with Roy Bittan, Danny Federici (the keys players) and drummer Max Weinberg especially shining bright here. They manage to ground the music in heavy emotions, yet they infuse it with an uplifting quality.
On the other hand, there's Bruce's voice, which I'm not that fond of in certain songs. If by the title track (amazing!) he had grown up, 'Streets Of Fire' and 'Adam Raised A Cain' is the puberty, with lots of yelling and screaming -- and I'm not fond of it. It reminded me of Van Morrison with a wasting disease ... I don't think every song is as strong as it could be, but it's very hard to argue with a track as intimate and heartfelt as 'Racing In The Street', or as stomping and pounding as 'Badlands', a track that makes you both question and embrace your home town.
I prefer Springsteen's 80s work by far -- and with this, I also choose to go with the stunning 'The Promise', a collection of outtakes and unreleased songs from that period, where he was mainly trying to find the right sound for 'Darkness ...'. Also, do yourself a favor and watch the documentary on the making of the album, which is one of the best music flicks I've ever seen.
So, yeah, this is a record about growing up, the capturing of adolescence. Too bad I didn't listen to this during my teenage years and only discovered it much later. That way, it feels emotionally a little distant. But it made me feel something really powerful, something I had long forgotten about.
I'm weird when it comes to Bowie -- and music in general, too, but that's another topic. While I appreciate (and love) early Bowie, I think he flew highest during his "later" period. 'Lodger', 'Outside', 'Blackstar' are my favorite albums of his.
That being said, 'Hunky Dory' is the first time Bowie really found his feet, sound wise. I prefer this to the Ziggy Stardust-era, especially loving the lyrical quality of all the songs here. 'Oh! You Pretty Things', 'Changes' and 'Life On Mars?' are all highlights of Bowie's career, 'Andy Warhol' is a genius song, 'Quicksand' and 'Fill Your Heart' are amazing tunes. But there's something lacking here -- maybe it's the sense of adventure that's underlying all the other albums of his that I mentioned above.
It's a great pop record -- but nothing more.
This is my ... fourth (however that could've happened!?) Elvis Costello on this list, and this makes even less sense than the previous one. There's literally so many other albums that could have been part of this list apart from this mid collection of nicely composed, yet utterly irritating rock'n'roll songs. I'm not sure ... this music seems so anachronistic that it's ridiculous -- but then again, Costello seems to take himself and his music very serious. That's a contrast I don't really enjoy a lot ...
'Ah, kids, remember the time when the soundtracks were better than the actual films?'
Even though I knew k.d. lang before, I only really got into her through the radio program of Elton John (how else?), and while I admired what I heard, it never really emotionally clicked. So I was excited to get into this album. Yet when I played it, Tidal automatically shuffled some other tracks by "similar" artists once the album was finished, Melissa Etheridge and Natalie Merchant. I enjoyed both their songs more than the actual record ...
Don't get me wrong, this was pleasant enough to not wanting to turn it off, but nothing really grabbed my attention.
I love how everything about Dirty Projectors reeks with ambition. From the ambiguous cover art to the nonsensical title. Being a little familiar with Dirty Projectors, but not a whole lot, I kind of knew what to expect, yet I was bemused by how close I was with the 'pretentious ambition' cliché. There are spindly guitars, the tempos shift, and everything sounds unsteady, as if it was deliberately artsy.
Usually, I would enjoy this more. I'm vibing with Everything Everything, an equally ambitious indie band -- and I'd actually argue that they would need to be on this list more so than 'Bitte Orca'. Because they have tunes -- and Dirty Projectors do not. Well, not always, at least ...
Nina is SO incredibly good! Powerful. Beautiful. ❤️
This is a decent album. 'The Scientist' is a song that's probably everlasting.
It's an even better album when you're in the mood of Radiohead light, which I rarely am. I much prefer listening to Radiohead in the first place.
I don't know if I'll ever come to terms with early Stones material. It all seems bland to me, a whirl of lackluster songwriting and underage grooming. "Paint It, Black" points towards a certain amount of future greatness, "Out Of Time" creates a nostalgic gravitas that I appreciate -- though I prefer the version by Chris Farlowe. Listening to "Under My Thumb" is an uncomfortable task, though, and the closing track on the US version, "Goin' Home", drags on forever without any common sense.
I'd rather be listening to Yoko - my skin's not famous enough for this.
This is a bollocks album – and I absolutely love it!
While R.E.M. never really made a bad record (even though their are some stinkers in the later discography like 'Around The Sun' and 'Accelerate'), I don't think 'Green' is one of their best albums. Personally, I prefer the tongue-in-cheekiness of 'Lifes Rich Pageant' and the omnipresent 'Out Of Time' – both have a more cohesive and overall more enjoyable atmosphere. Though I can appreciate how they started to break into the mainstream with this record and perfecting the broader instrumentation they started to bring in on 'Document', it comes down to the songs that are indecisive. Not quite pop yet, but also not underground anymore.
It's a mix that has its charm though. 'Orange Crush' is a blistering track, an obvious highlight. 'You Are The Everything' hints at future greatness, though Peter Buck hadn't perfected the mandolin yet. And 'Pop Song '89' is a fun, quirky opener that tackles the exact conflict I described above. But ultimately, this is the sound of a bands' arrival – and musically, I'm much more invested in the journey.
Beck has never been an artist I've been particularly interested in. Sure, everyone talks about 'Loser', how seamlessly it fused gnarly hip hop with dirty rock, and while I can appreciate its uniqueness, it's not a sound I'm naturally drawn to. I just don't get that 'white boy swag'.
That being said, 'Mutations' entered my consciousness because of Nigel Godrich's production work, which I've obviously known from Radiohead, and the indie hymn 'Nobody's Fault But My Own'. With the much less sample-driven, more band-orientated sound I enjoyed Beck's motionless crooning a little more, so I dived into his discography a little more.
'Sea Change', I think, is one of his better albums, and certainly one that's gaining from its dense atmosphere. This is a break-up album, so everything reeks with tearjerking melancholy, juxtaposed with Beck's vocals – an indifferent voice, almost as if he's given up on even trying to put any effort into it all. This is the sound of a man that's been overtaken by the unpredictability of life: love and heartbreak.
Usually, that's right up my alley, but something keeps me from really being emotionally attached to this. From the American avant-indie, I much prefer The Flaming Lips or the Eels' eccentricities. But this is still a solid album, with lovely pearly melodies and great songwriting.
If pop music got very depressed in the eighties, wore eyeliner and started dating gothic rock, this would be the sound. (And I'm wondering why not all pop music can be drenched in the same gloomy, depressive atmosphere as this.)
'Disintegration' is a masterpiece.
This is the type of gnarly indie like The Libertines or The Strokes that I've always found dreadful. This is only saved by some decent enough songwriting, quite liked 'Waiting For The Heartaches' for example.
As if Frank Zappa produced the most obnoxious rap music ever made …
