An absolutely excellent (mostly) instrumental album. Zappa’s virtuosity is on full display throughout, and is by far my favorite album instrumental wise out of the little Zappa I’ve heard. A must listen for any fans of experimental, avant-garde, and or progressive rock.

Incredibly strong album, Stevie Wonder at his best. However, I really do think this album suffers from too long of a runtime. Nothing here sounds bad at all but my mind can’t help but drift off and want a different soundscape, 1 hour and 44 minutes is far too long for an album that sticks to the traditional RnB sound. Looking at Content alone, it’s a 5. However while the content is great, it’s too much of the same for too long to maintain that 5. Favorite songs off this album are Sir Duke and Black Man.

“Jesus died for somebody’s sins BUT NOT MINE!” What a bold way to start an album, and what an album this is. This album is dark, angry, and sensual all at the same time. If I had to boil it down, Patti takes everything that came before her in the Rock scene (namely Bob Dylan, the Doors, Hendrix, and to a lesser extent the Rolling Stones) and splices it with her unique experiences and poetic skills to create something psychedelic and absolutely RAW. Best Tracks: - Gloria: In Excelsis Deo - Birdland - Land: Horses/Thousand Dances/La Mer (^This track especially is fantastic, first time in a while a song has had me in a trance trying to understand it, it’s INTENSE!) Worst track: - Redondo Beach

To be quite honest this album didn’t click with me. The album has strong instrumentation for a folk album and excellent vocals (maybe even too good in a way) but the lyrics weren’t really resonating with me throughout this project. That isn’t to say they’re bad, they’re not corny or bland or anything like that. It’s just that in my current mindset, it’s not clicking. In the limited time I’ve had with this album I can only give it a 3, but I’m going to try and give it another listen when I’m in a different state of mind. The only real flaw I can give to this album, is that it’s too long considering it’s limited soundscape. Favorite tracks: Jacksonville Chicago Casimir Pulaski Day Worst track: Nothing is so bad on this album that it makes me think “Wow this is terrible what song is that.” The worst tracks are the one that were just so forgettable that I couldn’t bother to remember them.

I’ve always thought of the Stones as a “hit” band rather than a “album” band, and boy does this album prove that. While I’m sure at the time this came out it was great, it unfortunately just has not aged with grace at all. Beggars Banquet is largely by today’s standards, an album full of subpar blues rock. While not sonically offensive, it’s disappointing for a band such as this. The only track worth remembering on this album is the iconic “Sympathy for the Devil,” the rest you could throw away. The only reason I’m not giving this album a single star is because Sympathy for the Devil is on this, and because of the time it was made, which is hardly an excuse. The Beatles had dropped the White Album a month earlier, people like Hendrix were pushing the boundaries, and Rock as a whole was just evolving past the sound that the Stones were sticking to. Best track: Sympathy for the Devil Worst track: Factory Girl