Enjoyed the hit tracks but album tracks just okay. Not sure about Mother. Sounds a bit like Sting compromising and letting someone else “have a go”! Not really for me.
Easy one for me! Loved this album right from the first listen and still remember “Where Are We Now?” being débuted on very early morning radio in 2013. What a great surprise to wake up to! 4.5 stars.
I guess it’s an important release in the revival of ska in its time but didn’t float my boat then and still doesn’t really. Curiously, it actually feels much slower than I remember it being at the time.
Quite a pleasant listen. Not something I would normally listen to. Some very soulful tracks with influences from other genres. 3.5 *
A decent set of mostly tight pop songs but probably not their best output. Lyrically a bit light but 3.5 for me.
As their debut album it’s listenable and has a few good songs but it all becomes a bit like wallpaper anthems in the end and sounds very samey. Staggering that they have > 93 million monthly listeners on Spotify!! Guess there’s no accounting for taste 😝
Hard to argue with the classic status of this album. Feels like a bit transitional with some older elements from Electric Warrior but also looking forward to the soul influences on Tanx and Zinc Alloy. Marc in full pomp! 4.5 *
Somehow managed to never hear this before! Great album in a similar vein to Fotheringay, Fairport Convention and other folk rock bands of the time. Really pleasant to listen to. Love Danny Thompson’s bass! Solid 4 *
Better than anticipated with some quite musical moments. A bit schizophrenic but that’s fine. Probably not one I’ll listen to much.
What to say about this? Probably listened to it more than 100 times over the years and it never gets tired. Miles and the ‘59 crew in great form changing the sound of jazz again. Fabulous! 5* and then some.
Quite disappointed to see this appear today! Still, let’s give it a go. Rolling in the Deep is quite a good opener. So far so good. Ho hum, then Set Fire to the Rain quite good. I’ll be Waiting has a bit of a 60’s soul vibe. Clearly has a strong and quite soulful voice. Overall not bad but not going in my collection! 3.5
Unexpectedly, really enjoyed this album. Some great tracks on here. Happy to add this to my collection. 4*
Excellent power pop. Quite raw but with very catchy melodies. Like this a lot. A good few songs on here which I’ve never heard before. Of these, “Bye bye love” and “All Mixed Up” standout. Solid 4
Excellent and unexpected album from the Beasties. Starts off well and continues from there. Started listing my favourite tracks but in the end there were too many. Good stuff! 4 *
Technically brilliant and way ahead of anything in its time. Very doomy in feel but with excellent production. A bit too noodly for me though. Favourite tracks are “Court of….” and “Schizoid”. 3.5 *
What a lead off track! Hello heavy rock! A great reinterpretation of the blues in a British stylee. As heavy as this gets there’s still room for some great sensitive playing on things like “Thank You” and Ramble On“. All wrapped up nicely with Bring it on Home. A rightful classic. Good to hear you again, old friend 🙂
Quite relaxing to listen to overall. Can’t say I’ve ever come across these guys before. Feels a bit like being in a fancy coffee shop with some pleasant ambient background music but there are better choices to listen to if I want something like this. Technically competent but a bit uninspiring. 3.5*
Not bad overall. Highly polished and the embodiment of 80’s glitter. They definitely cherry picked all the best songs for singles. 3
More 80’s! Great lead off track and single. Upbeat jangly indie pop. Hard not to like this. Not sure it’s one for the collection but very enjoyable. 4
Like this quite a bit. Some great samples. Can see why it was influential in its time. “Left my wallet…” is hilarious! Would defo listen again. 4
Hard to review this objectively after years of listening previously but a great album with some excellent songs. Grapevine cover is excellent and Who’ll Stop the Rain is an all time classic. Time in a bottle! 4
Pretty sure I’m not the target audience for this. At least I’ll never have to listen to it again. 2.5 * rounded down for overuse of MF. Next
A bit schizophrenic with 70’s punk, thrash metal, hard rock and 80’s pop! Didn’t hate it but probably wouldn’t revisit. 3
Absolute Christmas banger. Can’t be beaten, in my opinion.
Feels a bit like FM’s White Album. Coming from all directions at once. Some good tracks. Particularly like Tusk itself. Generally though, not enough to push it up another notch. 3.5
100% solid gold Soul classic! If the lyrical content was studied on every national curriculum we might have a better world some day. Probably the best ’concept’ album ever recorded.
Interesting album. Definitely has an 80’s gloss but doesn’t sound like anything else from the time. Tinseltown is the obvious standout. Great track. I can see why it would have a strong following. 4
Oh, more hip hop! Not my bag but favourite track was “Good Thang”. Glad it’s over. 3
Ground Zero of Punk. Sounds as good now as the day it was released. Blows by so quickly it’s over too soon. Fabulous melodies and some great harmonising makes this much more musical than you might expect given the lyrical content. 4.5* but pushed to the full 5 for its massive influence.
Must have been quite good as it’s the first time I’ve listened to a Smiths album and wanted to hear it again.
Interesting album that I’ve never got around to listening to before. Great vibes but it feels a bit like it’s neither fish nor fowl and ends up sounding like big band swing for much of the time. Pleasant listen and has the sound of the time but a bit below expectation given the praise it receives from critics.
Very brief but fun album to listen to, full of the charm of the mid-late 60’s. Highlights for me are I See You and 8 Miles High. 3.5
I recall the band being popular around the late 90’s but never really cared much for them. Can’t say much has changed in the meantime. All a bit too thrashy for me. Tolerated it but didn’t really enjoy it. 2
Fairly enjoyable, if brief, slice of Countrypolitan. Great singing voice and some catchy songs. Particularly like Night Life. 3.5
Great album with tons of variety. Beck uses hip hop and electronica in an interesting way that doesn’t detract from the actual musicality of what he’s doing. Like this album a lot. 4
The return of The King!! Fabulous follow up album to the comeback tour. Top notch backing band and singers and some real blue eyed soul belters. Great Muscle Shoals production - Suspicious Minds and In The Ghetto never get old. 5*
Enjoyed the opening and closing tracks and Blown a Wish. Quite dreamy and hypnotic backing but wish I could hear the vocals more. Songs with no verse chorus format get a bit tedious when you can’t really hear what else is going on. Had to skip half way through some songs as it felt like 30 seconds was enough. 3
Quite an interesting album. Worth exploring a bit more, I think. A shame that Mr Albarn sounds like he deliberately couldn’t care less. 4
Great to have this pristine document of a historic concert. Well paced and builds nicely throughout the set. 4
Sam singing all the hits and sounding like he has the audience eating from his hands. Gives a good overall impression of what it may have been like to be present. But, some clumsy editing and less than sparkling quality makes me think it could have sounded better. 3.5 rounded down.
A very worthy album for the list. Hard to listen to without moving your body! Great mix of upbeat dance tunes and some slower numbers. 4
Nice to hear an album from the 80’s that don’t sound like it was made in the 80’s.
Great sounding slice of world music. No idea what they’re singing about but it still sounds great. Like stepping back in time. 4
Excellent album from a band I must have missed at the time. Also need to check out their debut album Los Angeles. 4
Whining nonsense lyrics over guitars so distorted it becomes a mush of sound does not a classic album make. Possibly the most overrated band of all time, and that includes Coldplay!!! 2
Excellent album, improved only by the reissue including a ton of extra tracks. Love Johnny’s prison albums. Probably slightly prefer Folsom overall but this is great. 4.5
A good mix of uptempo electronic dance tunes and some dreamy ambient quieter mood pieces. Like this a lot. 4
Right up my alley, this one! Lovely slice of 60’s psychedelia. Only heard Mass in F Minor previously. This is a much more upbeat poppy affair. 4
Total late 60’s psychedelic pop mod! Some really great music to be found. Definitely of it’s time but really inventive and great fun to listen to. 4
Guess I’m old, so this is definitely not my bag. 1
Wow! What a contrast from the Kanye 💩 on the last outing! Night and day. A true classic. Barring the wacky Rainy Day Women, which has some charm, the rest of the album is total class. Musically and lyrically hard to beat. 4.5
From a period when Rod was turning out great stuff. Some really good tracks on here. Cut Across Shorty is fantastic. 4
A real mixture of great classic songs and weirdness of the time. 3.5
A strong outing for Bruce. Probably a double album in old money but doesn’t feel overly long. 4
Excellent album. Not a bad track on it. 5
Couple of big hits and some very funky tunes. 3.5
Similar at times to System Of A Down but musically quite a bit more interesting. Favourite tracks were probably My Way and The One. 3
Stevie has A LOT to say on this album! Having said that it’s a great listen. 4
Loving this album! Great mix of exotica and funk! Would make a great party album. 4
Excellent set full of atmosphere. Crowd obviously loving the whole thing. A nose ahead of San Quentin for me. 5
A well crafted album which has more variety than earlier Adele efforts. Not my thing though. 3
Great set of familiar songs in unfamiliar arrangements. Fantastic album that has managed to avoid my radar until now. Glad that’s been rectified! 4
Very good spangly indie pop. Similar to 10,000 Maniacs and the Sundays of the same period. Will listen again. 4
Only know the band from their hits, one or two of which are on here. Really like the very British flavour of this album. Kinks meets Buzzcocks via Bowie/Bolan and the Stones. Good stuff. 4
Preferred Ill Communication despite this album having the “big” hits. 3
One of the best debut albums of all time. Great writing and delivery with just the right amount of grunge. One of the best albums of the 90’s without a shadow of a doubt.
I’d rather be strapped to a table in a room and played Rashied Ali drum solos all day than listen to this again. How can this list turn up Pearl Jam’s Ten yesterday and this today?! Saving Grace is Walk This Way but mainly because it’s got Aerosmith on it. 2
Not as terrible as expected but lyrically a too doom laden for my liking. Feel like there’s a bit too much death. 2
The very definition of prog. Technically really impressive work but doesn’t really do much for me emotionally. Probably would have appreciated this more when I was younger but not so much now. 3
A good mix of fun, soul and rock.
Some absolute classic tracks on here but some of the other tracks feel a bit dated now. Lead off track would definitely not be acceptable on a release today! Love it or hate it but these guys knew how to create a great pop tune. 3.5
Very long but quite rewarding album. I think it needs several listens to get into and makes more sense as time goes by. Worth making the effort though. 4
Excellent collection of British psychedelic blues rock. 4.5
