I feel like I've heard this album hundreds of times, although it's the first time I've ever sat and listened to the whole thing. A few times I broke into singing songs that were influenced by this.
Gets repetitive, and most of the songs are long. Easy to let the songs fade into the background as there isn't much depth to the lyrics.
Historically important, but not a terribly compelling listen. Would probably be a good album to use when I'm out walking.
I love Prince. I admit though, that I'm a fan of his later (90's era) stuff maybe more than this.
Interesting to compare to Planet Rock, which was my album yesterday. Very funky, very synth heavy, a lot of long jams, but 1999 is so much more interesting to listen to.
Hard to say a whole lot about a perfect album.
When I'm not in the mood for the 25 minutes of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" I still have 3 of my top 5 Pink Floyd songs here. That being said, that 25 minutes is nearly perfect.
Great early 70's R&B/funk/soul record. Surprised by the number and quality of the cover songs on here. Most I preferred to the original.
Only negative, the last 2 songs, a cover of "Summer Breeze" (a song I've never liked), and "The Highways of My Life" were slow, and kind of disrupted the vibe the rest of the album had built. Loved it to that point though.
I have tried many times, but I cannot do jazz. I appreciate the talent on display, but I did not enjoy this album.
Extremely fun pop album. Heard some shades of Tori Amos in there... another listen or two, and this may become a 5 star album for me. *Edit* I've listened to it more, it's a 5.
Amazing how fresh this still sounds.
I can hear so much influence on the electronic music styles I've listened to for decades now.
Weirdly enough, the title track is the only one that didn't do much for me. A little too repetitive without much variation. Otherwise, great album.
Not my thing. Messy mix of punk and reggae influences. Just a bit too esoteric for my tastes. I can certainly see how it influenced so many acts to come later.
Kind of mixed on this one.
Quite a few songs I enjoyed more than I ever did while listening to the songs driving around in the back seat as a kid.
Some of the tracks like "Marrakesh Express", "Guinnevere", and "Lady of the Island" just faded into background noise...did not care for them at all.
Amazing harmonies.
This whole album would be a 3-page long Facebook post or a 10-minute long TikTok with no context that would somehow get 10 million views anyway.
You know, maybe making an album about your divorce made WHILE GOING THROUGH SAID DIVORCE isn't the best idea.
If Marvin Gaye wasn't so talented, I think this album would be borderline unlistenable, I don't find it a classic by any stretch, but it's not that bad. I think the second half of the album is weaker than the first half.
The first time I've ever heard singing during an instrumental track...
Two Marvin Gaye albums in a row. This one is a fair bit better than "Here, My Dear" that I listened to yesterday.
That being said, a couple tracks really fell flat for me ("Save the Children" and "Wholly Holy"), and "What's Happening Brother?" felt so much like just a variation of "What's Going On?" that I thought I had accidentally hit the replay button...so it still *only* ranks as a 4/5 for me.
It seems blasphemous to say anything critical about one of the best regarded albums ever, and I don't have much bad to say.
The 2nd album starts with my least favorite Stevie Wonder song (Isn't She Lovely") even worse is that I've never heard the 6 minute version with the kid squealing noises halfway through...which made it worse.
If it were me in the producing booth, I might have pushed for a couple fewer songs, or maybe a shorter edit here or there... but for the most part, this was truly an excellent album.
Chaotic mess of an album. Tons of punk vibes, and then the saxophone shows up and the album gets weird. I think it starts to lose its way, and the last track "L.A. Blues" is just noise. Iggy Pop is a force of nature on this album. He brings the whole experience up a star.
Absolutely outstanding. Had me captivated the entire time. When it was over, and the album restarted, I didn't want to turn it off.
After all these years of hearing about this album's reputation, I finally sat down and listened to it, and... it's ok?
The big hits are all great, but the other tracks didn't do much for me. This is the perfect album for where the whole star rating system doesn't work. I think it's a 3.5... I'll give it a 4 because Stevie Nicks.
As a white 18-year old in rural Ohio, this was a foundational text for my early adulthood years.
Profane, funny, and funkier than I remembered. Doggystyle holds up quite well.
Never heard of this before. Surprised because this would have been right in my wheelhouse in the 80's.
I don't love it as much as I probably could have. Too many songs feel "samey". A few standouts. Probably one I would put on for background music..
It's fine. A couple memorable tracks, and a lot of pleasant background music.
A debut greatest hits album? 12 songs, none over 3 minutes… foundational for r&b, rock, and punk??
#Swiftie
Taylor's 1st COVID-era release is her best album, and it's not even close. One of my favorite albums ever. Listened to it twice while out walking today.
I struggle with jazz. I keep giving it a chance... maybe someday I'll get something I'll vibe with.
I'd never heard of Weather Report before. When "Birdland" started, the reference kind of flew over my head, and I thought I might be in for a funk record. Yeah, I know...
I did feel these songs were more structured than other jazz albums I've heard, and that did help me find my way through the songs. In the end though, it just didn't stick for me.
I appreciate the immense talent on display, but it's just not for me.
An album I've always heard I should listen to, but never have. I did not expect it to be so punk rock coded (I think I expected more Bob Dylan-esque singer songwriter).
Nitpick: I did find her voice get a little nasal/whiny for my tastes a couple times.
I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that I enjoyed this album, I mean, it's on this list for a reason. It was just different than I expected in a good way.
Solid 4 for me.
I don't get it. I just don't get it.
I see the word "cacophony" used a lot in reviews, both positive and negative. That's exactly what much of this felt like to me, but very much in a negative way.
This did nothing but confound me. This has been my least favorite album of this project so far. I greatly respect the talent of the musicians, but I just did not enjoy this one.
Fun early Britpop album. Surprised I never heard it back in the day, because I was all about this stuff.
Beautiful album. Not something I would have ever willingly chosen to listen to. I don't know what mood I would have to be in to want to listen to this again.
Listening to this when it was cold, dark, and wintertime was the right choice.
A couple great songs, but most of it didn't really land for me. Plus I really hate "Coconut".
Not quite a 5-star album for me, but I enjoyed every song.
Great voice, strong message, not enough variety in the music. Just an hour of mid-tempo R&B that just faded into the background. The interludes were interesting, and brought more context to the themes of the album, but don't help raise it above a middling album for me.
Undeniable talent on these songs, but I despise Christmas Music.
Very Bob Dylan / Bruce Springsteen coded. Really enjoyed my time with this album,although a couple songs did kind of wander around and overstay their welcome.
When it's at full speed though, it's unstoppable.
An excessive amount of excessiveness. I feel like I would have enjoyed this album more if they dialed everything back just a bit. But maybe it wouldn't be on this list if they had?
Can't deny that they were having fun making this. I just couldn't find my way into having as much fun listening to it.
And then there's the pirate song...
Much more fun that I would have expected. A few songs did sound a bit samey, but overall I surprisingly enjoyed this!
Grace Slick's songs 5/5. The rest was pretty underwhelming, but I've never been much of a psychedelic rock fan.
Forgettable. I didn't find the music bad for the most part, but it just didn't do much to engage me. Not a single song I would add to a playlist, or listen to again on purpose.
The version of American Pie, a song I don't care for much anyway, is criminal.
I seriously question how this album made it onto this list.
Surprisingly gentle album from someone whose more rocking music I've always appreciated. Some very nice harmonies that echo the kind of stuff he was making with CSN&Y. Liked it more than I expected, but not quite 5 stars.
Only knew them from that joke in the movie High Fidelity. I had some preconceptions about what this would sound like, and when the album started, I kind of groaned because it was EXACTLY what I was expecting.
Then, the tempos picked up, and I started getting more into the music. I did find the singer's voice a little samey and thin for some of the songs, but I enjoyed this far more than I expected.
Just a guy and his guitar. Felt like an album full of ideas and demos. Not a lot of dynamics or surprises. It was fine, but I wasn't terribly moved by it one way or another.
Normally don't like extended jams in the middle of songs. Crazy Horse is the notable exception to this rule, and this album has two incredible long jams on it ("Down By the River" and "Cowgirl In the Sand").
Plus it has "Cinnamon Girl".
A couple of the other songs don't quite rise to the levels of those three songs *cough* "The Losing End *cough*, but it's still a high 4 star album for me.
An album I actually own! This originally came out when I was 7 years old, and I didn't really get it. It sounded too sophisticated compared to the other pop music I listened to at the time. Now I just realize that it was the British accent and string section.
If I only use the track list of actual album version, I really loved this album. The Spotify version had "The Theme From Mantrap" as an 11th track - which is a slowed down, lounged up version of "Poison Arrow". That version was painful to sit through. I think I'll stick to my vinyl copy with just 10 tracks.
"All of My Heart" was the stand out song. By far my favorite track, and definitely one I will add to my work playlist.
I really love the first 5 tracks on this album.
The problem is that tracks 6-14 fell flat, sometimes cribbing lines from their other songs, and didn't keep up any of the energy from the first 5 songs.
If I hadn't been bored to numbness, "These Days" might have stirred up my emotions, and been an amazing final track. Maybe someday, I'll just listen to those 6 songs in a loop, and see if it hits they way I think it should.
Rather disappointing, because I generally like The Black Keys.
Enjoyed this more than expected. Still not a big fan of "Express Yourself", but it's not terrible.
Did not expect as much input by Prince! That was a welcome surprise to say the least.
Without knowing anything about this album before I started listening, I thought "Wow, this has a really strong David Bowie vibe". Then I read the Wikipedia page... and yeah, it all made sense.
I liked it, didn't love it. (I have the same reaction to much of Bowie's catalog as well).
Solsbury Hill is a pop classic. There are a few other songs on here I quite enjoyed ("Modern Love", "Down the Dolce Vita") but then there are "Excuse Me" and "Waiting for the Big One" which were just terrible.
Some really great stuff, only hindered by a couple of needlessly long tracks that just didn't hold my attention, and the one song not sung by Hendrix that sounded like a bad 60's pop song.
The good stuff is REALLY GOOD, and buoys my score up.
Has more prog influences than I expected for whatever reason.
"Invaders" and "Gangland" don't do much for me, but I still like them well enough that they don't drag the album down.
I could listen to this album every day. So much good stuff.
I think it's ironic that I'm a big fan of abstract visual art, but find the gold standard for abstract musical art absolutely unlistenable.
There were a couple of the..."songs"?? on here that I almost found a beat I could grasp onto, but I had to dig through so many layers of discordant nonsense to find them.
I have a new least favorite album on this list.
A funk classic. The only thing keeping this from being a 5-star album was the final track. "Night of the Thumpasorus People", while being an incredible title, was the one song that kind of droned on (though it was nowhere near the longest track) and lost my interest.
I have no idea how to rate this album.
On one hand, I absolutely adore every single song on this album. There isn't a single song (Yes, even "F*#&ing in Heaven") that I don't love...
On the other hand, also in every song on this album, Fatboy Slim finds an annoying noise that he insists on repeating until he's absolutely obliterated the vibe of the track. The thing is, it's such a predictable move, that it makes the songs so much less interesting because you just know that no matter how much you might be enjoying it now... Fatboy Slim is going to come in and ruin your good time.
"The Rockafeller Skank" is one of my favorite songs of all time, except that stupid freaking alarm sound that goes on for... it may be 10 seconds, but feels like 10 minutes... and then the plodding ping-pong build up that goes on for an eternity... just ruins it.
I honestly prefer the radio edits of most of the songs for the simple fact that those breaks get shortened, and therefore don't completely ruin the songs.
I love so much of this album, but I also never really want to listen to these versions of these songs again.
So... 3 stars? I dunno. Yeah, 3 is fair.
I generally enjoy progressive rock, but I will admit that most of what I like comes from the mid 1970's and later. And I have never, ever, gotten into Yes. Save for the one song that everyone says is the black sheep of the discography "Owner of a Lonely Heart".
So here we have The Yes Album from 1971. Immediately, 1st song, 1st note songs like some 1960's psychedelic nonsense, and then the organ comes in and I feel like I'm in for 40 minutes of pain.
It gets better when the rest of the band kicks in, but it was a bad first impression. Then the vocals come in and there is good harmony, but why are they trying to fit in three times the words than actually fit with the music?? It's distracting. Also, just generally not a fan of the lead singer's voice.
Anyway, that's kind of my experience with everything on the album (except for the nice acoustic song with the terrible title: "The Clap"). A few decent instrumental parts, harmonies that fight with the music, and generally just not an album I had a good time listening to.
In the running for the most iconic opening notes to an album ever. Don't have much to say this time except that I very much enjoyed this album.
Not quite a 5, but definitely an album I will come back to.
Missing a lot without the visuals. Everyone sounds great. Most of the songs are short or are part of a medley. There's one 10-minute epic in the middle, and before you know it, it's over.
There's a reason the man laid in state on the stage of The Apollo when he passed away. I felt glimpses of that, but that's just it...glimpses. It went by so quickly, that I didn't feel like there was much to latch on to.
The best song is "Tuesday's Gone" and it's not even close. The tracks sandwiched between "Simple Man" and "Free Bird" don't quite live up to the rest of the album.
Better than I anticipated.
Well, there was one song I sort of liked...
the rest of it? Terrible. Not the absolute worst album I've heard on here, but it's close.
I don't know... it just didn't grab me as much as other albums of his have heard. I didn't mind listening to it, but I wasn't as wowed as I was with "Songs in the Key of Life".
This is a droning borefest. When the trumpet hit during the last song, it actually startled me a bit. I had checked out that much.
Kid A felt like they discovered Aphex Twin, and took parts of his music to create something interesting, if not revolutionary in the rock genre. Amnesiac feels like they listened to a Sigur Ros album, and missed the point completely.
Really disappointed with this album.
It was fine. I don't mind reggae, and this was perfectly bouncy and enjoyable to listen to, but it didn't really move me past the "it's fine" line.
"Ketchy Shuby" was a bop, though.
Only one song over 3 minutes (listened to original album without bonus tracks). So it went down very easy.
Is it weird to not like 60's psychedelia, but enjoy 70's progressive rock? Because that's how I am with this one. The 60's psych stuff grates on me, the country influences are an interesting mix that's not totally unsuccessful, and the early hints of 70's progressive rock make me wish this album was made maybe 5 years later.
A lot of the songs feel more like demos / ideas than fully fleshed out songs...
overall, ok, but nothing I would come back to.
Wildly mixed bag here. The four-song run from Synchronicity II through Wrapped Around Your Finger is up there in the list of "Best 4 song streaks on an album".
Then there's "Mother" ... I'll never understand how that saw the light of day.
The rest of the album is fine, if a bit underwhelming. It's another edge case album. I'd probably give it 3.5 stars if that were an option. As it is, based purely on the four hits, and Synchronicity I, I'll give it the .5 star bump to a 4.
I might have squealed a bit when I saw this album come up.
I've owned it since the day it was released, and it still holds up remarkably well. Some absolute classic bangers on here.
Hard to be objective about one of my favorite albums of all time. May be the easiest 5 stars I've given yet.
Where have I been? I was even into the alternative rock scene pretty deep at the time this came out, and I never listened to it.
It's a perfect rock album. Not a single dud track, or even an "Eh, it's ok", 100% great album.
Two completely different projects in one package.
Big Boi's half (Speakerboxxx) has both feet in the Outkast formula: strong beats, tongue twisting rhymes, and impeccable grooves.
Andre 3000's half (The Love Below) is... wow. It's all over the place. Jazz, rap, pop, R&B, it is the Lost Prince album.
Very few songs outwardly feature both Outkast members on the same track (if I recall, rumors of an impending split were pretty rampant just before release).
I remember not really caring for Andre's album back in the day, while loving Big Boi's. That still mostly holds. I think Speakerboxxx is a masterpiece. The Love Below is more interesting sonically, but not as good... though it does have the two biggest hits (Hey Ya and Roses). I mean, it does have some great moments, but the lows are pretty rough. I was looking to see how many tracks were left at times... never a great sign.
As it is honestly two albums by two artists, it's a bit unfair to give a single star rating. I give Speakerboxxx a 5... I give The Love Below a 3. So... 4?
