Listening to this album, I realized I've actually listened to this whole album before! "More Than a Feeling" is unchallenged peak, "Peace of Mind" and "Foreplay/Long Time" were solid, "Smokin'" was just awful and I almost skipped it after a few minutes, everything else was fine.
Best: "More Than a Feeling"
Worst: "Smokin'"
I loved this album, I can definitely see myself turning it on just to vibe to! I was familiar with a lot of more of the songs than I thought, I just didn't know them by title. I miss moody 90s alt/grunge...
Best: "A Stroke of Luck"
Worst: "Vow"
My music archive informs me I listened to every then-existent Bowie album back in 2009 and the only songs from this album that made it onto my infinite playlist were "Life on Mars?", "Song for Dylan," and "Queen Bitch" and I stand by those choices—"Changes" is overrated, fight me! Flashes of the greatness still to come, but overall too disjointed and derivative with an occasional stopover in annoyingly twee.
Best: "Life on Mars?"
Worst: "Kooks"
This was an absolute slog to get through, that's hitting skip partway through a few tracks. Gotta respect the rock opera concept album thing as a... concept, but nothing about the listening experience was enjoyable. Going in, I would have told you I liked "Pinball Wizard," but now I feel like I never want to hear it again—it's just going to make me relive the rest of this album and I'd rather not.
Best: "Pinball Wizard"
Worst: "Fiddle About"
It's impossible to extricate the nostalgia from the listening experience, but, man, I love this album! Propulsive, irreverent, just plain fun—garage band pop punk at its finest!
Best: "Basket Case" (though "Longview" is more likely to get stuck in my head)
Worst: "All by Myself" (and that's just cheating)
This one was a little all over the place for me, the low start of "Brighton Rock" into the amazing "Killer Queen" then floating along alright until plunging into the the awful depths of "In the Lap of the Gods" into the immediate turnaround of "Stone Cold Crazy" goodness and then finishing out with more gentle ups and downs. A lot of the songs I didn't necessarily love but even most of those were buoyed by those incredible Freddie vocals. While I liked the whole of it overall, ultimately I just can't imagine turning this on over a Queen's greatest hits, which reduced the start rating a little more than I was initially considering.
Best: "Killer Queen"
Worst: "In the Lap of the Gods"
This was an enjoyable listen! I knew the hits (and of course I love "Everybody Wants to Rule the World") and "Broken" into "Head Over Heels" with the reprise were the surprise standouts, but "Shout" has never worked for me and "Listen" was a weird nothing of an album closer.
Best: "Head Over Heels"
Worst: "Listen"
A languid, dissociative journey through electronica soundscapes that perfectly evokes the feeling of listening to a soundcloud of low-fi chill-hop beats to study/relax to remixed into a indie horror game soundtrack while the family in the apartment next to you watches PBS loudly--not always the vibe, but perfect when you want that vibe.
Best: "Roygbiv"
Worst: "The Color of the Fire" (misophonia triggered!)
I'm not sure this is for me, and I also feel like recording is not the best way to experience this genre—I think it would be a completely different experience live. I enjoyed the instrumentation, but the vocals were often grating and I was off-put by the somewhat-improvisational tone of the call-and-response.
Best: "Rhapsodia del Maravilloso"
Worst: "Simba"
Quintessential Irish folk punk—if you love it, you love it, and I love it! Big sound, incorporation of a melange of musical styles, lyrics ranging from melancholic and reflective to political and philosophical to whatever's happening on "Fiesta," and I'm here for all of it.
Best: "Turkish Song of the Damned"
Worst: "Metropolis"
I had to remind myself periodically that part of this experience is trying to appreciate music outside of my normal preferences, but this was one was rough for me. I don't get much out of the long electric guitar riffs, unstructured vocalizing, and noodly jam-banding which every song seemed to become as it went on, and half the album is covers of songs I know the originals of better and prefer. This must have been fresh at the time, but it all sounds like parody of 70s music to me.
Best: "You Walk Your Way"
Worst: "That Lady"
From the first track, I was rapidly losing patience with this album, and I was completely over it by "Pocahontas," so after that I gave maybe a minute or two to each song in hope of something better before skipping to the next, so my highlight/lowlight callouts will verge on meaningless; it was all bad to me. On songs like "Powderfinger" where I was in danger of enjoying the music, it was never long before Neil Young's reedy, whining voice was back to torment me with some cringe and insipid lyrics.
Best: "Powderfinger" (for the guitar)
Worst: "Pocahontas" (the last full song I listened to)
I liked a lot of the music, but I don't think a single vocal sample worked for me, each pulling me out of the song instead of working with it—the worst offender being the dumb bike monologue in "Sunworshipper"—and a lot of the tracks quickly got repetitive, especially the ones with the jarring stop-start stuff like "In My Arms" and "Rikki," which evoked nothing so much as a CD Walkman skipping on a bumpy ride. The title track was funny, but never reached the hilarity a more contemporary stupid statement dance mix might.
Best: "Otto's Journey"
Worst: "Sunworshipper"
This was a fun experience! I really appreciated the introduction teaching me how to listen to the music before diving in, it definitely increased my appreciation. While I don't I see myself listening to much more music like this in the future, I was glad to get to hear this album!
Best: "Sindhi-Bhairavi"
Worst: "Máru-Bihág"
I love the heavy synth and moody dance beats here and the slick production, but Karen O's breathy, emotive vocals always grab my attention over everything else, delightfully! All the tracks feel unified without being samey; I only knew a few Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs going in and will definitely be seeking out more after this!
Best: "Zero"
Worst: "Hysteric"
I liked the more melodic tracks like "Breaking the Girl" and "Under the Bridge," but those felt unfortunately few and far between; maybe I haven't done enough drugs in my life, but the droning, monotonous, bored-sounding rap over funky bass lines did nothing for me. This album did manage to have some of the most blisteringly unsexy songs about sex, so I guess that's some kind of achievement.
Best: "Under the Bridge"
Worst: "Sir Psycho Sexy"
This was a nice listen, with plenty of familiar songs (covered) and some new to me! Dusty Springfield has a fantastic voice and the doo-wop/pop style is pleasantly nostalgic—many of these tracks would not feel out of place on a Fallout soundtrack, in a good way!
Best: "Will You Love Me Tomorrow"
Worst: "My Colouring Book"
I found this pretty boring—repetitive house music with lyrics brought to you by a children's rhyming dictionary. I lost count of how many times I'd think I must be close enough to the end of song that I could safely skip to the next, only to find I was less than 2 minutes into a 4+ minute track.
Best: "Vanishing Point"
Worst: "Fine Time"
This album was raw proto-punk poetry; I spiraled through attraction and revulsion but could not turn away. Some of this was too avant-garde (to put it nicely) to enjoy—looking at you, "Birdland"—but there's still something compelling about music that can be this fucking weird. Patti Smith's voice, both sonically and lyrically, is strong and strange, taking me to places I didn't expect, and while I don't think this album is an every day listen, after this, I do want to seek out more of her work!
Best: "Kimberly"
Worst: "Birdland"
Lots of familiar songs here but I can't say that I love any of them, sadly. Guitar and vocals are strong throughout, or course, with the occasional dip into harsh experimental noises, especially noticeable to me on "Purple Haze" which I'd been enjoying until those last 50 or so seconds.
Best: "The Wind Cries Mary"
Worst: "I Don't Live Today"
Quintessential 80s New Wave synth-pop—nothing all that unexpected or interesting but perfectly serviceable (if samey) bops! "Hungry Like the Wolf" is a playlist staple, but hot take: "Rio" is only good because of the chorus and the rest of the song is meh.
Best: "The Chauffeur"
Worst: "Hold Back the Rain"
Best: "Under the Boardwalk"
Worst: "Lorelei"
Best: "Wildwood Flower"
Worst: "Mary Hamilton"
Best: "Smash It Up"
Worst: "These Hands"
Best: "My Doorbell"
Worst: "The Nurse"
Best: "Valentine's Day"
Worst: "Dirty Boys"
Best: "The End"
Worst: "Oh! Darling"
Best: "Ballad of Big Nothing"
Worst: "Cupid's Trick"
Best: "Music Makes You Lose Control"
Worst: "Jacques Your Body Make Me Sweat"
Best: "Visions"
Worst: "Jesus Children of America"
Best: "Big Iron"
Worst: "Billy the Kid"
Best: "Behind the Wheel"
Worst: "I Want You Now"
Best: "Enter Sandman"
Worst: "The Struggle Within"
