105
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2.1
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10%
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1960
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Soul
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Popular Reviews
War · 1 likes
3/5
Smooth soul with funk elements. I liked the vocal harmonies, though the singing was a little too subdued. No complaints about the instrumentals.
There were no great tracks but no skips either. Overall a solid album.
Coldplay · 1 likes
2/5
Very bland soft indie rock. Not a single memorable vocal performance or instrumental melody.
John Martyn · 1 likes
2/5
Jazzy blues guitar. Listenable but boring.
Pixies · 1 likes
2/5
Instrumentals are pretty good, but the vocals suck. They're like a worse version of Alice in Chains.
4-Star Albums (2)
1-Star Albums (16)
All Ratings
Brian Eno
2/5
Bad electronic music that is either experimental noise or at best too repetitive. Vocals are random audio clips. The Middle Eastern motifs were strange and did not work well. Album cover sucks.
Queen
2/5
Brighton Rock is horrible. The chorus gimmick is overdone. The rock parts range from mid to decent. The soft vocal sections are lame.
Muddy Waters
2/5
I'm not impressed by the vocals nor the instrumental. The tracks have a similar sound to them that gets tiring halfway through the album.
Janis Joplin
2/5
The only times I liked Joplin's singing were in the tracks Move Over and Mercedes Benz. Her vocals tend to have a raspy, rough edge to them that is unpleasant to listen to, though it works well in Mercedes Benz. The slow ballads are bad. The way Joplin sometimes stretches syllables is annoying. In one of the songs she doesn't even sing.
The Doors
2/5
Mid album. At least the songs were varied.
The Doors
2/5
The instrumentals are nice at times, but the vocals are bad. The WASP is an awful track.
The Beach Boys
2/5
Brian Wilson sucks ass on this album. His falsetto always makes the songs worse. Any track where he's involved as a writer or lead vocalist is bad. A lot of the tracks remind me of the Beatles but not as good, and I'm already not a fan of the Beatles. Long Promised Road and Lookin at Tomorrow are the only decent tracks. The musical compositions on this album are interesting, but overall it's a bad album. The album cover is sick though.
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
I've always wondered how someone with a singing voice as unpleasant and unintelligible as Bruce Springsteen's could become so popular, but after listening to this album I have to admit that my opinion of him has improved a bit. Specifically, on the tracks "Adam Raised a Cain" and "Streets of Fire", the way he fully leans into the rawness of his voice works surprisingly well, something I didn't think was possible. These tracks also fix the issue of Springsteen's unintelligible singing style by making half the lyrics just the song title.
While this album did surpass my expectations, I don't think it's good. The ballads are still awful, and it's almost comical how bad Springsteen sounds on them.
Dusty Springfield
3/5
This is an overall pleasant album to listen to. There aren't any great songs, but no truly bad ones either. Most of the good songs are towards the beginning of the album. In addition to original album, I also listened to the added tracks from the deluxe edition which are a little better.
There's no song that really stands out on the original album, but if I was forced to choose, it'd probably be "So Much Love". Though "The Windmills of Your Mind" was interesting because it reminds me of the song "The Movie in My Mind" from Miss Saigon. If the deluxe tracks are included, "Goodbye" is the clear winner for me.
I rate the original album 3 stars and the deluxe 3.5 stars.
Eels
1/5
This shit is bad. The vocals barely count as singing. The instrumentals are boring. The only thing I liked about the album was the piano melody in "Susan's House", and it turns out the band didn't even create it. They sampled the melody from another song called "Love Finds Its Own Way". The album cover is gross too.
Patti Smith
1/5
Wtf is this shit? Why would she sing like that? This album is irredeemably bad, and "Birdland" has gotta be one of the worst "songs" I've ever heard.
The Blue Nile
1/5
The complete silence at the beginning of the album is annoying. The instrumentals are weird and don't fit the vocals. I don't like the singing. The song "Easter Parade" sounds like bad Billy Joel. There are no good songs.
Paul Simon
2/5
This is not a good album. At least the songs have an energy to them that makes the album easier to get through. I liked the accordion in the track "The Boy in the Bubble".
Louis Prima
1/5
Old timey swing. Not my type of music.
Stevie Wonder
2/5
The songs are smooth and easy to listen to, but nothing really appealed to me. There are no songs that I would want to relisten to.
The Go-Betweens
2/5
Boring vocals and boring instrumentals. I could barely remember anything about the album the next day.
Guided By Voices
1/5
The vocals are unpleasant to listen to. The instrumentals are boring. On a technical level, the audio sounds like shit (and saying that it's on purpose doesn't make it any better).
There are so many tracks on this album that sound so unpolished, it's like I'm listening to someone ramble incoherently over random noise. 28 tracks on this album and they're all awful.
Arcade Fire
2/5
I find this type of sound very boring.
John Grant
2/5
Lots of okay songs and some decent ones, but none I want to relisten to. It would've been nice if the songs were more energetic.
I don't usually care that much about lyrics but on the track "Marz", it's hard to ignore how he's just listing random things. The track "Silver Platter Club" reminds me of "Hey There Delilah".
American Music Club
1/5
Boring.
Black Sabbath
3/5
Decent but a little lacking compared to their more iconic albums. The guitar riffs aren't quite as good, Ozzy's vocals are hit or miss depending on the track, and they tend to get overpowered by the instrumentals.
The audio mixing is noticably better in the remastered version, and the vocals are clearer.
"FX" is not a real song and while "Laguna Surprise" isn't necessarily bad, it's not what I'm looking for from Black Sabbath.
Final score is based on the remastered version.
Germs
1/5
This album is just gross awful noise. And to make it even worse, all the songs sound the same. If you're going to sound bad, at least have some creativity.
Every song on here is one of the worst songs I've ever listened to.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Classic Stevie Wonder.
Various Artists
1/5
I hate holiday music.
Also, this has no effect on my rating, but does the creator know how funny it is that his Christmas "gift" to us is making us listen to an album produced by a psychopathic murderer?
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2/5
I'm not really into the alt and synth pop sound. It's the more rock oriented tracks that save the album for me.
Karen O's vocals are fine, but they have this wispy ethereal quality to them that I don't enjoy.
Randy Newman
1/5
I don't like Randy Newman's vocals, and the instrumentals weren't interesting.
The track "Rednecks" did require some research to realize it wasn't as deplorable as it initially seemed.
1/5
The instrumentals are bland, and the vocals even more so. Exene has the worse singing voice of the two singers. In general, the vocals are too quiet.
Funkadelic
3/5
The instrumentals are nice. I don't like how some of the songs have people talking as background noise (especially on the track "The Doo Doo Chasers").
I'm including the bonus EP tracks in my final rating, one of which is a live performance of Maggot Brain, one of the best guitar solos.
Tina Turner
1/5
Tina Turner's voice is too raspy for my taste. The 80s pop beats are so boring.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
1/5
Vocals suck and are hard to hear. The instrumentals are just noise.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
2/5
It's fine. Pretty much what I expected from a Salsa album. It's not my type of music.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
While I usually do like this type of rock, this is a boring album.
The track "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" is not as good as the Marvin Gaye version and way longer for some reason.
Lambchop
1/5
Lame alt music. 😴
"Thick of It" reference on the track "Distance From Her to There".
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
Most of the tracks feature Springsteen singing soft vocals over acoustic instrumentals. Definitely not his strong suit.
Fela Kuti
3/5
The instrumentals are good and are especially great on the title track "Zombie". My only complaint about them is the weird electric keyboard (organ?) on the track "Mistake".
The vocals aren't bad, but they're definitely the weakest part of the album.
The two bonus tracks "Observation is No Crime" and "Mistake" are not as good as the original. They're still decent though.
Cheap Trick
2/5
While I generally don't like live albums, the energy of the crowd helped to make the bad songs more palatable.
A lot of the tracks sound like they're Disney channel songs with worse singing.
Talking Heads
2/5
Brian Eno's influence on this album is obvious, and I wish it wasn't. Still not as bad as an actual Brian Eno album though.
Supposedly the instrumentals were influenced by Fela Kuti, but they're certainly not as good.
Arcade Fire
1/5
The instrumentals on this album are mainly used to fill in the sound instead of driving the songs forward. This combined with the weak vocals make the album an absolute slog to get through.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
An album bloated with stinkers.
A Tribe Called Quest
2/5
The tracks sound similar to each other. The flows are basic and sometimes annoying. Nothing really impressed me about this album.
LCD Soundsystem
2/5
The instrumentals are weird, and the vocals are lame.
The White Stripes
3/5
This is quintessential White Stripes.
Despite being an indie rock album, the instrumentals are energetic and distinct (except for the acoustic tracks which are generally weaker).
I didn't really like the singing styles on this album, but for whatever reason Jack White's voice sounds nice to me, so it's fine.
The tracks range from bad to good with the only great track being "Little Room".
Dr. John
2/5
A weird experience.
Madonna
2/5
Pretty standard electronica pop. Not bad for what it is, but I find this genre boring.
The Specials
1/5
Some of the tracks sound too dated to be from 1979. I don't like punk, and the addition of ska and reggae elements doesn't help.
David Bowie
3/5
The vocals are reminiscent of Springsteen. I usually don't like David Bowie, but I do like blue eyed soul. Not bad.
Jurassic 5
3/5
Good flows and instrumentals. The tracks are interesting and fun to listen to.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
2/5
Kinda boring. Only track I really liked was Take Five.
Portishead
2/5
Moody beats and electronic music with soft vocals. Not as bad as I would've expected. Still not good.
Adam & The Ants
2/5
First song was promising, but Adam's vocals soon get annoying.
The Fall
2/5
Basic rock instrumentals with punk vocals i.e. bad.
Neil Young
3/5
Chill folk rock. Sometimes a little boring, but generally pleasant.
At times, Neil Young's singing reminds me of Bob Dylan, but I think Young has a better sounding voice.
I prefer more traditional sounding folk, so my favorite track would be "For the Turnstiles".
A solid album.
Blondie
2/5
Instrumentals aren't very exciting. The vocals aren't good. Nothing notable about this album.
The Black Crowes
3/5
Nothing special. Some boring Southern rock. Most of the tracks sound similar to each other. 2.5 stars. And it only gets that rating because I like the genre.
Dusty Springfield
2/5
Not as strong as "Dusty in Memphis".
Dusty's got a great sounding voice, but it's better suited for singing soul pop than just pure pop.
The album itself felt unpolished. I usually don't care about lyrics, but the ones on "Do Re Mi" are noticeably low effort. The two different vocals on "Mockingbird" don't mesh together at all. In general, the vocals seem to be lacking emotional and dynamic range. The powerful verses felt lacking, and the smooth verses felt rushed.
The additional tracks included in the expanded edition of the album were a little better than the original.
All the tracks on the original album were mid. There were some decent ones on the expanded edition, but nothing great. The only track that stood out to me was "Every Day I Have To Cry". I thought the trumpets were fun, and Dusty's vocals were more energetic.
2 stars for the original, and 2.5 stars for the expanded edition.
Elvis Presley
2/5
After hearing some many parodies of his voice, it's strange listening to Elvis sing. After I got over it, I realized this was an incredibly mid album.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
Vocals aren't good. The skits (?) interspersed throughout the album really make the tracks drag on. Instrumentals are forgettable.
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
Pretty cool beats. Not something I would actively listen to, but works well as immersive background music.
My main complaint is that some of the tracks go too far into this experimental industrial sound, and it goes from sounding cool to weird and unpleasant.
David Bowie
3/5
What stands out about this album is how it showcases several different styles of rock while still maintaining a cohesive sound. The influences on each track are evident, but they still sound unique to Bowie.
I'm still not a fan of Bowie's voice, but this is an impressively made album. My favorite tracks were "Oh! You Pretty Things" and "Andy Warhol".
The Stooges
2/5
More boring and bad sounding punk.
k.d. lang
2/5
Dreary alt country 😴
I have yet to see a good artist that doesn't capitalize their name.
Goldfrapp
2/5
Soft dreamy vocals on top of boring electronic music.
Beastie Boys
2/5
The Beastie Boys have a unique sound, but halfway through the album I got tired of it and wished they would switch things up. The beats are a little empty as well.
Jeru The Damaja
2/5
This is basically what most hip hop sounded like during this era.
Nas
3/5
Nothing that really wowed me, but still a very listenable rap album that carries itself well. 2.5 stars.
Slipknot
2/5
Vocals are noisy, abrasive, and a little goofy. Instrumentals are not that interesting and are too drum focused. They also lack clarity during heavier sections.
Bob Dylan
2/5
Bob Dylan just has a horrible singing voice. Nothing special about the instrumentals. Harmonica is overused.
The Killers
2/5
Synth, post punk, and new wave. I don't think I need to say anything more to justify the rating.
Alice Cooper
2/5
Pretty basic rock. Nothing special about the vocals. Instrumentals were weak in the first half, but there were some good tunes in the second half.
Dr. Dre
2/5
First of all, I did not like the fillers on this album. This includes the skits, but also all the sections where they just talk over a beat instead of actually rapping verses.
Musically, "The Chronic" has more creative beats and production than the other rap albums that came out in this era. Even so, the album still sounds dated, and I'd rather be listening to something more modern instead. None of the rappers stood out to me.
Also: "n****ettes"? Nah, Snoop was crazy for that one. How come that never caught on though? 🤔
3/5
Smooth soul with funk elements. I liked the vocal harmonies, though the singing was a little too subdued. No complaints about the instrumentals.
There were no great tracks but no skips either. Overall a solid album.
Amy Winehouse
2/5
Soul with strong female vocals. This should be my type of music, but I'm not really feeling it. I don't like Winehouse's voice, and the instrumentals aren't that interesting to me (perhaps because of the pop and r&b influence).
PJ Harvey
2/5
Indie rock with some grunge in the instrumentals. I didn't really hear the punk which I consider a positive. Unfortunately it's still the next worst thing, indie.
The vocals are quiet and weak. The instrumentals sound discordant and empty.
Also I find the album cover unsettling.
Coldplay
2/5
Very bland soft indie rock. Not a single memorable vocal performance or instrumental melody.
John Lee Hooker
2/5
This sounds like a more boring version of "Texas Flood" by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Maybe this is just what blues sounded like during this decade.
Regardless, "Texas Flood" at least had some energy in its riffs and vocals, which is severely lacking in this album.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Nick Cave displays a variety of singing styles throughout the album in which his vocals range from not great to unpleasant. Generally I preferred the more standard singing styles and disliked the experimental stuff.
The instrumentals were better. There were still a lot of snoozers, but also several interesting compositions sprinkled throughout the tracks. I preferred the more experimental instrumentals.
Talking Heads
2/5
Vocals are weak and annoying. Instrumentals are basic.
Morrissey
2/5
The softer tracks are very boring. The rest are okay but not good. The instrumentals are sometimes grating. I don't like the singer's voice.
I have yet to listen to a good piece of music with the word "Viva" in its title.
Brian Eno
2/5
Experimental/art/avant pop and glam rock. Most of the tracks are really annoying. Several of them start out as just slightly annoying glam rock tracks, but then in the middle of the song, Brian Eno decides to throw in some weird ass instrumentals that make you wonder what you're listening to.
The only track I thought was decent was "Baby's on Fire".
1.5 stars.
George Harrison
3/5
I listened to the 50th anniversary edition for this.
Harrison's voice is on the verge of being annoying for me but not quite.
The instrumentals are generally pleasant, but not good enough to carry a track by themselves i.e. Disc 3 which was almost all instrumentals was the weakest part of the album.
I liked the track "Hear Me Lord".
Miles Davis
2/5
Very moody and strange jazz. Not pleasant to listen to.
John Prine
2/5
John Prine's kinda like the Bob Dylan of folk country music. Though I would say that Prine's more listenable (but not necessarily better).
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
I listened to the deluxe version for this review.
This is an album I wish I liked more than I actually do. There's some great guitar work on this album, but also a lot of mid tracks; not bad, but not interesting. I liked the additional bonus tracks better than most of the original tracks.
The production quality isn't very good either. I'm not a huge stickler about audio quality, but it's noticeably bad on this album.
Tracy Chapman
4/5
Good tracks throughout. Chapman has a good singing voice, and her storytelling is effective. Instrumentals are pleasant and work well.
The standout tracks for me are "Fast Car" and "Mountains O' Things". My only skip is "Baby Can I Hold You", and it's still a very listenable track.
3.5 stars
Air
2/5
Moody ambient background music. Unsurprisingly, the soundtrack of a movie that's not even music related does not make for a good album.
I don't see why I would need to listen to this before I die.
The Divine Comedy
2/5
The singer sort of sings like he's in a stage musical, but not in the style that I like.
1.5 stars
Roni Size
2/5
This shit is too long. There's little variance within the individual tracks. Most of the tracks could be cut in half and still sound the same structurally.
There's also little variance between tracks. They all blur together and could've worked as just one really long track.
Several times I got baited by the opening of a track, and I thought that they were actually going to switch up the beat, but a couple minutes later without fail the track will have somehow devolved into the same type of beat as every other track on this album.
The Doors
2/5
Standard and boring rock. Vocals are a little annoying.
Simply Red
3/5
Pretty decent and listenable soul. I was not a fan of the brit pop elements, but they weren't bad.
Aphex Twin
2/5
Ambient techno. This is the shit you put on when you're in the middle of doing something and you want to put on some music to fill the silence, but it has to be generic enough to not break your concentration.
The Smiths
2/5
Boring post-punk and indie rock.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
Annoying vocals and does not sound like soul. Including a poem when the album is only 39 minutes long is a bold decision.
John Martyn
2/5
Jazzy blues guitar. Listenable but boring.
Foo Fighters
2/5
Sounds like early 2000s rock, so I guess they were ahead of their time, but it's very mid 2000s rock.
Wikipedia says this is punk rock and grunge, but it doesn't feel like punk at all and the grunge elements are diluted.
Pixies
2/5
Instrumentals are pretty good, but the vocals suck. They're like a worse version of Alice in Chains.
The Offspring
3/5
Finally a punk rock album that I don't hate.
The instrumentals are energetic, and most importantly the vocals aren't bad.
I guess this is the era when punk rock starts moving away from that annoying 70s singing style, and we start getting some decent vocal performances.
Leaving in the minutes of silence in the track "Smash" is silly though.
Steve Earle
2/5
You already know this is going to be mid based on the title.
Typical old country rock. The ballads are okay, the rest of the tracks sound kinda corny.
Wu-Tang Clan
3/5
This is a review for the expanded version because I couldn't find an uncensored version of the original.
Pretty fun hip hop album. This feels like a step above most of the other rap albums from this era.
Lauryn Hill
4/5
A very solid album. Both the singing and rapping are good. Several of the tracks are beautifully sung, and they're all clearly very personal to Lauryn Hill.
I still don't like skits, but at least these ones are cohesive and have a clear purpose which is how I would describe the album overall.
I've listened to this album before, but it's the first time I've listened to it in full after learning about Hill's personal life. Knowing now how rocky her love life was, I'm more appreciative of how much she still loves love.
3.5 stars
Girls Against Boys
2/5
I already knew I wouldn't like this album based on the title.
However, it is better than most indie rock I've listened to. This album has a surprisingly raw sound.
The Human League
2/5
Synth instrumentals are annoying. Vocals aren't bad, but the effects make it sound like he needs a better mic.
Elvis Presley
1/5
Elvis is corny and ass.
Buffalo Springfield
3/5
Pretty good folk rock. Sounds more rock than folk. I could hear similarities to Bob Dylan and the Beatles on several of the tracks.
The best instrumental performance is on the track "Bluebird". Both the acoustic and electric guitar are great. Vocals are good as well.
My favorite vocal performance is on the track "Everyday" which is surprisingly a live recording.
I didn't know that Neil Young was in this band until I finished listening to the album, and it makes a lot of sense in hindsight. The singing on "Everyday" sounds very similar to "On the Turnstiles", my favorite track from Young's "On the Beach".
Laibach
2/5
Gothic rock. Instrumentals are fine. Vocals are weird.
Hugh Masekela
3/5
Some good melodies on here. This feels more structured than the other jazz albums I've listened to which I appreciate. The weakest sections were the ones with heavy improvisation.