Fantastic & memorable title. Repetitive and uninspiring music.
Nice cover. Full on Radiohead-ish. Lifts from Queen & Keane, Hives & Coldplay. Even the Tornados 'Telstar' and more Queen on Knights of Cydonia. Mix is boosted by 10+dB to give that showroom impact but more distortion than necessary. Good music but sounds like a cover band.
Gonsalves solo is the highlight. Complete (pictured) is vastly expanded over the 1956 vinyl release. Rating is for the original release.
Singles group. Decent album but it's about their hits and videos.
Marr guitar, the star. Morrisey for the mopey mob. Decent, but not special.
Jangly atmosphere. Shades of Big Country guitar tone. Well produced. Better second half of the album.
Early 70's hip message of freedom, rights, love & integration. Music is solid but the message is the star.
Bringing the blues back to the mainstream hinged on this album. A real sparkler that crossed over to grab a share of the non-traditional blues listener. Play loud and feel the spirit.
Great guitar tone and production. A few too many filler tunes but some great songs as well.
Founders of the North American Jangle. Album starts with a bang with Radio Free Europe. Then....the rest of the album feels like they forgot what they were trying to say. Not sure what happened there. The rest of the album is flat as a pancake.
Solid groove. Set the prototype for Prince. Funky guitar tones. Great use of stereo to highlight performers. Everyday people is timeless.
Sweet n crispy guitar licks. Buck is mournful & happy all at once.
McCartney-ish vocals and pop sensibilities mixed with art/prog interludes.
Laura's got the look, the brooding coolness, but you & I could sing it as well/poorly. Neil Young & Bob Dylan are endearing. Laura is painful.
If this came out today, it would be ignored by those with ears and revered by contrarians looking for outsider art.
To be fair, it's a great songwriter demo tape. A stable of tunes that proper vocalists could/did turn into gems. Listen to Marilyn McCoo sing 'Sweet Blindness' and 'Stoned Soul Picnic' then listen to Laura's versions. Great songs that sound 'good' whoever sings them but aye caramba. Marilyn for the win.
"Poverty Train' and 'Lonely Women' are worthy performances.
This is an album in a series of "singer/songwriters that should stick with the pen".
The Italian Louis Armstrong. Humorous, gravelly voice, more than capable musician.
Solid record. Hunting Bears the highlight.
Starts out with a bang, bang. First 2 songs are great. Then settles in to mediocre.
Unique and fresh for 1966. Nice album.
The album that showed North Americans what the fuss was all about. A killer record.
Solid funk groove.
Solid concept album. A bit overrated. Who's other records are better.
Weird for the sake of weird. Feels like a Kate Bush tribute. Decent concept but not my cup of tea.
It's hard to believe this was released in 1978. Very adventurous and abstract music to get an album release in the era of disco. That said, 1978 was a year where several groundbreaking albums hit the market, seemingly out of the blue. Van Halen. The Cars. Dire Straits. Perhaps record executives proclaimed "it's time to release anything that's opposite of disco". Glad they did. This album is not similar to the other 1978 blockbusters, and major labels didn't pick it up right away, but it is a breath of fresh air for innovation. Fans of industrial likely turn to this album as a genesis of the genre. Weeping & Hamburger Lady are highlights for me.
Why is this on the list? Dion has some great music in his catalog. This album is not special in any way. Hurts the list.
Solid southern rock.
Sounds like the soundtrack to a hip 70s New York City crime show. Solid musicians.
The last of the great Dylan albums of the 1960s. He had some great music after that, but the albums as a whole were not as strong. Hardcore Dylan fans may not agree but for the average music traveler, 1962-1965 was incredible.
This is an album that is extremely hard to review if you were around when it was released. It is a record that has been so over-played in the last few decades that it's hard to be objective. Several of the songs are worn out to many listeners. Many people will rank it on memories of what they were doing in 1977 when the hits were played on the radio, regardless of the album's merits as a whole. Some will rate based on how much the love Stevie Nicks. I was around when this came out and have several of these perspectives. I consider this record to be very important to pop culture. A soundtrack of sorts to millions of lives. That said, it is a very good album. Not a great one, based on musicality and innovation.
XTC has done better albums. No idea why this one is on the list, but hey: let's review. The version without 'Dear God' is pedestrian. The version with 'Dear God' is pedestrian-ish. The end.
Talking Heads are revered by many. After multiple listens at various times I don't get what the buzz is about. Decent music but doesn't really move the needle for me.
Fresh when it came out. Solid, mature songs and guitar playing by Knopfler.
Muddy's on his best behavior for the Newport mucky mucks, so it's not one of his killer records, but darn it all, it's Muddy Freakin' Waters.
McCartney was the key driver for the Beatles. This album is decidedly not Beatles-like. Feels like a cobbled together set of tunes that weren't worthy of passing by John. Lennon, like Paul struggled without his partner but came out of the gate with a little more to say. Paul picked up his game with Wings but this album is sleepy.
Interesting tunes. Calvary is the highlight..
New school, old school & bombastic. Landmark hip hop record.
As usual for Fatboy, cool cover & title, repetitive music.
Solid thrash. Not exceptional.
Sweet & crunchy guitar work. Opens strong. Fades a bit after that. Lots of promise but a little short. Still a very good record.
This is the record that enabled Snoop to live a life of smokin' pot and hanging around everyone that's popular. A great record.
Great singer. Solid record.
The very definition of defiant, charismatic, energetic badass. If I was a teenager in 1957, this would be my jam.
Cool image. Music does not excite me.
Not worthy of the list. Bor-ing.
Solid singer-songwriter entry.
I'm a fan of Elvis. Started listening when he started recording. I've always felt his strength is with singles. Re-listening to this album confirms that for me. Solid record with a couple of highlight singles.