Tracks 1 -4: Damn David Bowie had the sauce
Track 5: 60s pop slop :(
Didn't like it, mostly get what its doing. Sorry folks 2.5/5
I can see how this evolved into really good music, but this... is not quite that. I can see it absolutely melting the minds (complimentary) of teenagers in the 70s though!
To me, today, this sounds like someone looped 15 seconds of a song for 38 minutes.
Overall, very solid album, lacking in its "arc". Many songs are somewhat same-y. When it hits it hits, and it rarely misses, never catastrophically.
(3.5/5)
Wow, I have no words. Mind blown... Incredible album
This album is... really good, I think if you don't like it you're probably just lame?
Stephen Stills' self titled album is... fine? There are tracks that are incredibly strong ("Love the One You're With," and "Black Queen"), and some that I found incredibly drab (I am not a fan of gospel music), the net result is that this averages out into an average album.
Stills is FAR from untalented, but his showing here has just furthered my belief that Neil Young is the strongest member of Crosby Stills Nash & Young
3/5
4.5/5 this album is incredible, near perfect
This is these songs at their best, but they’re still Christmas songs. I don’t really want to hear them, even on Christmas
Not personally wild about the "Big Band" swing but this has some good stuff
Amazing composition, but Lou Reed is not known for his vocals. Luckily, I am notorious for loving bad singers so in many ways this album was made for me.
First album I googled while listening because I needed to know if the production quality was supposed to be this bad (and whadayaknow, good 'ol phil himself produced it!). I love Dion and the Belmonts, this is not that.
Really didn’t think I was going to like this but it goes pretty hard lol 3.5/5
This album is so good. So close to 5/5, but many of the tracks have such a similar flow that they often blend together. I cant believe this made it onto a list as British (derogatory) as this one
4.5/5
When I saw today's album was RHCP I audibly groaned. I thought that I genuinely hated them, turns out I was only half right. Not to be that guy, but as a bass player, Flea is one of the greats, I truly think that I only rate this album as high as I do because of him. Anthony Kiedis' rock/rap vocal style is so grating and corny. It sounds like if the Beastie Boys took themselves too seriously. The worst part is that there is a good (more "traditional") 90's/00's alt rock band in here (led by their strong instrumentals, see the title track). Good news is there is enough of it that this album is re-listenable!
Electronic music is so hit or miss for me. Largely, this sounds like a boring score to a boring movie, you know, a movie you can't really bring yourself to pay attention to, and the music just sort of drones... Anyway, its not offensive just not great. "The Rough and the Quick" is hilarious, and (actually really listenable) though!
2/5
This is really good. Ellington is clearly one of the greats for a reason, and as a burgeoning jazz fan, I found this incredibly listenable and engaging. Its production quality is absolutely abysmal. Obviously, its a live recording from 1956, its not going to be good, so why not also record it in a studio? I don't think we benefit from the crowd noise and we lose so much in the poor audio quality. Really good, but falters in its production.
3.5/5
Its 7:30 AM, time for your british electro-slop!!!! - Robert Dimery
This album is so boring
Really solid funky album!
3.5/5
I don't know much about The White Stripes. This album feels a lot like (proto?) incel-rock. That being said, I have a soft spot for the low fidelity garage rock vibes. I really enjoy the more folk-rock tracks (e.g. Hotel Yorba, We Are Going to Be Friends), they were delightfully unexpected interstices in what is often a slightly boring album.
Pretty forgettable rock, some of it was fine, some of it was nearly Nickelback :(
Holy shit, something thats ~almost~ *country???* on this list???? LETS GOOO
Its good, not great but good.
3/5
I really like how the tracks in this *drive* forward, matching with Brel's sharp plosives and the natural sound of the french language. It fails in the way many (most?) live albums do, its production quality is poor, it was clearly not recorded in a studio and it doesn't do anything interesting by virtue of being recorded live. I also feel like this would hit way harder if I knew what he was saying. Overall, Im pleasantly surprised, when I saw it was french-pop this morning i audibly groaned. Happy to be mostly proven wrong (and a little pig-headed)!
Where has Nina Simone been all my life. This is incredible, beautiful composition backing Simone's gorgeous Vocals. With lyrical depth to boot! Im normally not a fan of compilations, I feel that albums need an "arc" that arises from an album being planned. This may be the one of the two exceptions to that rule of mine that I know of. This is really good stuff
5/5 (only my second one)!!!
STEVIE WONDER LETS GOOOOOO!!!! TWO HEATERS IN A ROW!!!!
He unequivocally has the sauce, there's really no denying it. After so, so, so much Br*tish *slop* these past two days have been a breath of fresh air.
I have very little exposure to Reggae, I didnt hate this but it sort of feels like someone took all of the parts of jazz that a lot of people dislike, and that (in my opinion) make jazz interesting). It is in many ways *super* palpable, But its also really boring. Proof that ideological agreement (I hate Margaret Thatcher too) != enjoyment
2/5
In my rating I fall victim to only listening to an album once. The production is obviously amazing, I would need some time to get used to Björk's vocals. Looking forward to her other work on this list, we'll see if exposure makes me rate her higher.
This should be right up my alley as a certified folk/folk-rock enjoyer. However, it is definitely from the 60s, every song sounds pretty much the same making the album overall less impactful, I can understand why people love this, I can understand why people hate this. I just want to grill
3.5/5
(acknowledging my biases) TWO STEVIE WONDER ALBUMS IN ONE WEEK????? LETS GOOOOOOOOO!!!?!?!?!?
Wonder is the one of the greatest to ever do it and this ablum is no exception. I think he strays slightly from his strengths here but nothing is bad. Not to be too glib but Superstition may have given this album a whole star.
4/5
Kind of boring, kind of derivative, its fine I guess? I can understand why someone would like this, its just that that someone is not me.
2.5/5
Some pretty fun stuff! Not overly unique but some elements that make it stand out in my opinion.
3/5
You cant trick me into liking a boring, repetitive, album just because it has one or two cool baselines (even though they somehow lack tone entirely lol?)...
Again, agreeing ideologically with an album != liking the music.
2/5
Note, after coming up with my own review I read some of y'alls, and damn, many of you hate this album because you're racist lmao.
Really??? I just had to listen to *this* before I die??? *THIS?*
1/5
Please stop with the british electro-slop, I beg of you...
Bob Dylan has always been an artist I knew I'd like if I listened and just hadn't done it yet, what do you know, I was right. This is fantastic. Its one major flaw is the same flaw that most 60's folk has, most every song sounds really similar. Nonetheless, Dylan is a master of his craft when it comes to writing, and his instrumentals aren't half bad to boot!
Everyone LOVES trashing Dylan's voice and I just don't get it, his voice is fine? If you have ever said something negative about autotune you don't deserve to trash Dylan, go listen to your artificially altered slop because this is what most real human beings sound like.
Really, really good 4.5/5
Yeah, a common refrain throughout my reviews is ideological agreement != enjoyment, the corollary does not hold, I cannot give West any credit for writing good music. Is he the only monster on this list, no, call it recency bias but I won't positively review a Kanye West album, regardless of how good it is.
1/5
Starts strong, loses me very quickly when it devolves into noises and grunts
2/5
Unfortunately this album is not available on my chosen streaming platform, so I had to listen to a low quality Youtube rip. I think I have an idea of what it is going for but if you're mad at this review, please dont be lol.
2.5/5
Am I being punk's right now? Is this a real album? This sounds like something an american would put in a TV show/movie to make fun of British music. Basically all of my 1 star reviews were because I was incredibly bored by an album or the album was truly unremarkable, this is the first one to make me genuinely angry.
Not only did I NOT need to listen to this before I died, I'd have rather died without having listened to it
0/5 if I could, 1/5 because I must.
Unsurprisingly, a solid album, it starts and finishes strongly, I feel they knew which songs were weaker and relegated them to the middle. All in all, I really can't complain about half-decent boomer rock.
3/5
There is a good album buried in here somewhere, maybe if it was released a decade later with all of the production and instrumentation standards that come with it, but as it currently stands this is sub-par. I cannot stand the electronic organ, if you like it then you're in for a wild ride here.
2/5
God, for someone who wrote (maybe) my favorite song of all time, Rod Stewart largely makes really, really, awful music. Boomer slop at its sloppiest...
1.5/5
Really solid album, some real heat here, but also some misses. Nice to be exposed to a broader depth of a group's music than their one hit!
3/5
Yeah, a common refrain throughout my reviews is ideological agreement != enjoyment, the corollary does not hold, I cannot give West any credit for writing good music. Is he the only monster on this list, no, call it recency bias but I won't positively review a Kanye West album, regardless of how good it is.
1/5
So, so dull. If you like it, great, every single song sounds the same, muddy and droning.
2.5/5
Like most 80's punk, I definitely see how this evolved into something cool, and how it would be mind blowing when you were a kid. But, oh my god, the same song over and over for 22 minutes is a drag. At least its short!
2/5
Some really solid rock music. I expected to like this and I did! All in all I am pleased with this. Its not my favorite album of all time, I may not even re-visit it any time soon, but I am happy having listened to it. Everyone (myself included) loves to glaze Cash's cover of hurt, and it is very good, but his cover completely changes the meaning (if not the tone), such that its almost an entirely different song from Reznor's original, so I must say, no, Hurt does not "belong to Cash" I have changed my mind on this matter.
3.5/5
I really enjoyed this, some super solid punk/riot-grrl stuff that doesn't fall into the many pitfalls that 70s british punk seems to. Definitely sufers from british voice but this is a new favorite. These are the exact 4/5 bangers that I started this project for!
4/5
I have a massive soft spot for rush, but I also have a general dislike for rock operas. Overall, I think they hit the mark here, but I honestly think that the B-side of this album leaves it feeling somewhat disjointed. I wish they'd continued with the more prog-style for the B-side, even if it was separate from the story they wanted to tell with the A-side. Still, a very solid album, it would probably be a 4/5 if it was just 2112.
3.5/5
This is really really good, right up my alley. Almost no skips, but not exactly no skips
4.5/5
I really enjoyed this! Again, these are the kind of albums I started this project to find.
4/5
Definitely does some interesting things (complimentary) musically, and some interesting things (derogatory) lyrically
2.5/5
Pre-Listening Notes: SGT PEPPER'S LLLLLLLLFFFFGGGGG!!!!! Fair warning/context for my review, this was my favorite album when I was in high school, and the first vinyl record I ever owned. I have little doubt it will still hold up!
Mid Listening Notes: This album is really just heater after heater after heater omfg.
Is "A Day In the Life" the greatest pop song ever written?
Post Listening Notes/Review: I mean... come on... its not only the Beatles, its sgt. Pepper's! I can understand why someone might not like this as much as me, but to give this album anything less than a 4/5 is contrarian B.S.
5/5; ABSOLUTELY must listen to before you die!
Pre Listening Notes: OMG another album I love, that I almost certainly will overrate. Its no Bridge Over Troubled Water, but I love me some S&G
Mid Listening Notes: Great tracks! Love their melodies
Simon and Garfunkel making fun of Bob Dylan is a little bit of stone throwing in a glass house dont you think.
Post Listening Notes/Review: Great album, takes itself a little too seriously, but overall, a banger
4.5/5
Boomer-slop, perfectly competent boomer-slop, but boomer-slop nonetheless. I imagine future generations will look at the music I love in the same way that I look at this album, and you know what, I am totally OK with that. You love your slop, I'll keep loving mine.
2.5/5
I love me some 90's hip-hop.
I did the thing again where I look at y'alls reviews and realize some of y'all are insanely racist lmfao
4/5
Fun 60's pop rock! Its not stellar, falling into the same pits as many of its contemporaries, where every song sounds the same. But at least they sound good! I hate to judge an historical album on its production quality, but wow, its really bad folks
3/5
This came out in 1977??? The same year as Rumors??? FOUR YEARS after The Dark Side of the Moon??? What was Elvis Costello doing between 1967 and 1977??? If you told me that this came out in 1957 I would believe you!!!!
Anyway, its fine I guess, apparently Costello is known for his songwriting which I unfortunately cannot assess very well from a single listen, I'll have to listen more in the future I guess. Not really for me but not criminal
2.5/5
Its not bad, I prefer the sampling approach to electronic music over the more "electronic" approach (you'll have to forgive my lack of music criticism vocabulary, I am new to this). In my opinion this album is a little too slow, resulting in it really dragging by the end.
2.5/5
This is so odd to me, they win me over one track just to immediately lose me. It does a few things well, then follows up by doing those things poorly. The net effect is... meh... Track 1 is fire though.
2.5/5
Tom Waits is a silly little guy. I mean some of these songs are not silly, but so many of them feel like haloween songs. This is not to say I dont like this album, really, the opposite. I most definitely overrate this silly little album.
4/5
The only compliment I can give is that it is better than Heroes to Zeros, at least Im done with the Beta Band for the rest of my life
2/5
I am not the biggest Arcade Fire fan, I find their music passable and forgettable. I dont have any major qualms with this album, and it ends strongly, but its just missing the Pizazz that it needs.
3/5
Pre Listening Notes: My_longest_yeah_boi_ever.mp4
Post Listening Notes: There are a set of albums on this list where I firmly believe anyone rating them <4 stars is a contrarian hack attempting to farm "cool boy points™". This is one of them, this album is basically perfect, if you disagree you are either stupid or disingenuous. Ill leave it up to you to decide which one you are!
5/5
This certainly is an album, it has songs, they have choruses and melodies. IDK its maybe the most forgettable thing Ive ever heard but that's not criminal. Not a great sign when the most positive thing I have to say is: I recognized some of those songs
2.5/5
Pre-Listening Notes: IhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJovi
Mid-Listening Notes:
Bon Jovi is so disgusting in the least camp way possible. There are albums that could get away with having pornographic noises as a pseudo-interlude, but here it just comes across as incredibly sincere in the most disgusting way.
Post-Listening Notes: I need to take a shower
1/5
Wow. Just. Wow... I had heard of Nick Drake before starting this project but (somehow) had never gotten around to listening to him. Oh my god what a mistake. His lyricism, vocals, and composition are perfect, this album is perfect. Melancholy and at the same time comforting? This is amazing.
5/5
Pretty solid! The composition was a little flat leaving the album feeling somewhat boring overall
3.5/5
This album art is SO incongruous with the albums content LMFAO. Its solid, pretty British, but there is good composition and production. Not super wild about the lead's voice. The definition of don't judge an album by its cover, I was expecting Bon Jovi sleaze.
3/5
Good listen, I appreciate am artist who does more with fewer tracks. That being said, when a track has an 8 minute spoken word section, it is no longer a long track, its a boring regular length track. Overall the album is solid but not life-changing.
3.5/5
TIL: Jeff Buckley had a much less talented father.
2.5/5
MELODRAMA IS ON THIS LIST?????????
I already know this album and know it is a 5-star for me. To paraphrase a popular review: "Sorry Boomers/Gen X, I was like [16] when this came out so it's one of the best things to ever happen to me. Sorry it's not King Crimson or whatever." (I actually love King Crimson... but I also love Lorde). I feel my love for this album needs little to no explanation. It is perfect contemporary pop, good hooks, great production, killer (in all senses of the word) lyricism. Its Lorde at her best, and she is always good. I will say this, you do not have to love this album (like I said, there are valid criticisms of it), but most of you who reviewed this negatively clearly did so because you are misogynists with a bias against contemporary pop music. You really need to internalize that and interrogate it, only then can your 2/5 star rating for Melodrama ACTUALLY hold any meaning.
5/5
I really don't understand what this album is doing. I thought FKA twigs was a more generic pop musician but this album is very avant-garde. I think its interesting, but its also not very listenable. I feel that it succeeds at everything it wants to except for being a good album? I feel bad docking it for my own skill issue, but I also didn't really enjoy it.
2.5/5
This is sick! I genuinely think the only reason I am not giving this 5/5 is that I am a jazz neonate and I don't fully understand how to appreciate it.
4.5/5
This is REALLY solid. I love the tracks that feature Callahan's remarkably flat vocals over an incredibly rich composition. The juxtaposition of the two makes for a really rewarding listen. I can imagine a less creative direction wherein a modern stadium country singer croons the same lyrics over the same instrumentals to a much less effective result. Far from a no skips album, but a solid one nonetheless.
4/5
Overly glib voice: "You're telling me that they could make good punk music in the 70's?"
Seriously, when I saw this was my sunday album I actually didn't listen because of my previous experience with punk from the 70's. I was wrong, *mea culpa*. The Clash absolutely has the sauce. Definitely struggles from the "every punk album is 1 hour of the same song on repeat" but not to the same degree as others, and that is starting to grow on me.
4/5
A strong showing to be sure, but despite some heat it gets a little boring and same-y. I love soul, would have loved to see more rock.
3/5
I can really see how people like or even love this. This was my first ever listen and I didn't find it particularly striking but it is certainly competent. Looking forward to hearing more R.E.M. on this list.
3.5/5
CRAZYSEXYCOOL IS ON THIS LIST???????? OMFG AN ALL TIMER LETS GOOOOOOOOOO I LOVE TLC I LOVE TLC I LOVE TLC CREEP WATERFALLS YES!
Robert I was unfamiliar with your game.
So, fair warning: CrazySexyCool is one of my favorite albums of all time, on some level it fundamentally changed the way that I listened to music. Dare I say it is the perfect hip-hop/R&B album? I don't know I am so far from a music critic I don't even know if I can explicate why this album is so perfect to me, it just is. Variety, beautiful vocals, great backing and composition. Its so, so good.
Let women be horny!!!(TLC_BonJovi_YoureSweet_HumanResources_meme.jpg)
5/5
Dwight, have you considered if so many women keep cheating on/leaving you, the common denominator is you?
As a country (and western) music enjoyer, but not superfan, I need someone to let me know, would it be fair to say Yoakam is responsible for the turn of country to modern "Stadium/Bubblegum" country? It sure seems like it. This record is indistinguishable from the garbage schlock put out by the majority of contemporary C&W artists. Bigoted, boring slop
1/5
HOLY SHIT AN AWFUL DWIGHT YOAKAM ALBUM FOLLOWED BY JOHNNY CASH? Am I being repayed by the country music gods?
Much ink (digital and physical) has been spilled regarding the deterioration of modern music. This is especially true on this site, full of the most annoying (boomer and gen-x) music listeners, who can't bare to acknowledge their nostalgia bias. It would be easy to look at an artist like Cash, then look at modern mainstream country music and conclude that Country music is dead, I certainly wanted to while listening to this album (especially after listening to Dwight Yoakam, whose artistry I despise), but I reject that notion. If you exam contemporary country music with any depth you'll find many artists doing the "Johnny Cash thing". And that is just it. Johnny Cash influenced everything that makes good contemporary country, good. Anyway, my ramblings about Cash aside, this album is so good. Dare I say it is Cash at his strongest. Even up to his death he was innovating while leaning on his strengths. This album has it all, its highly listenable, beautiful, and damn if it doesn't make me want to weep.
5/5
Uhhhh it’s interesting for sure, but like, music should be fun to listen to no? Part of me wants to give it 2 stars because I think some tracks are neat, but I feel that I cannot. Maybe I’ll do a deep dive into noise music one day and come back with a newfound appreciation.
1.5/5
Look, call it my problem if it makes you feel better, but I cannot appreciate most electronic music at all. It all sounds like laser-tag music. I cannot fathom sitting down to listen to this and enjoying it. You do you
1/5
Ive always known CCR's hits rip, its good to know that their deeper discography does as well. Some great stuff, a lot of it sounds the same but the album doesn't overstay its welcome so ill give it a pass.
4/5
Ok so much of this RIPS! It does dip into bulk-standard rock from time to time but so much of this hits that I have to appreciate it.
4/5
Aggressively mid and forgettable, which is not to say it is bad. I don't know if I could tell you one bad thing it does, but also I couldn't tell you one good thing it does. IDK maybe I just don't love U2.
2.5/5
"What if we did Steely Dan without anything that makes Steely Dan good" - Donald Fagen probably.
Fagen commits the cardinal sin of many bad albums on this list, he is incredibly boring. Getting through this album was a slog, which is extra surprising considering its 39 minute runtime.
2/5
Please do NOT beat me death to hammers, but I think "Its the End of the World as We Know It" may be one of the worst songs ever written, "We Didn't Start the Fire"-core "One Week"-core, absolutely corny in the least camp way possible. Broadly, this album is fine, I really cannot stand the lead singers voice but it is saved by some good backing. While it was certainly easier listening than Murmur (the only other R.E.M. album I have heard) I liked it less.
3/5
