1001 Albums Summary

Best Song: All these things that I have done Worst Song: Mr Brightside (:/) Not my favourite album, I am not a huge fan of The Killers, ROUGH START

10/10 Amazing follow up to Dark Side, I loved the classic Floyd blend of psychedelic and progressive rock but also the bluesy feel. Sandwiching a few shorter songs between two (one technically??) epics felt like a great example of not sacrificing quality for quantity. I like that you can sit down for an hour and experience the album as a whole without distraction and how this allows you to feel the mood shift from dark to light. Vocals on wish you were here are amazing and you can really feel the deeply personal emotion while listening. Best song: Wish you were here Worst: None?? This is where PF peaked in my opinion everything, pace, structure, tone was beautifully crafted. This is the perfect album.

4/10 Best: Little Red Corvette Worst: Lady Cab Driver (Don’t think I managed to finish this one) Overall, I did not particularly enjoy the sound of this album and really struggled to finish it. Although the entire play through was only 1hr 10mins, it felt like the songs were way too long for me to enjoy and even the ones I liked initially, I found wore thin. I hated the constant repetition and the pace of the album felt way too slow, there was so much going on with the instruments and it hit my ears odiously. At first I thought the album was written to ironically mock the Y2K panic before realising it was released in 1982! This, bumps it up in my opinion, as lyrically it feels very avant-garde, in terms of sexuality and physicality. (See album cover for one example lol) I also really appreciate the fact that Prince wrote, arranged and produced the entire album, you do get the feeling that he’s just a guy having fun in the studio, which honestly I love. The message that this album conveys is really great and it’s probably just unfortunate that I didn’t particularly enjoy the music, the sounds clashed so much for me and it felt like there were so many random patches in odd places. Maybe if I had been around for the release I would have a greater appreciation of just how progressive it was.

7/10 Best: Snowblind / Laguna Sunrise Worst: Supernaut I think this album is fantastic! I was a bit unsure about how much I would like it but I actually ended up playing it through twice. Opening up so heavily and then to the poignant ballad, Changes, really shows the range of the band. I loved the chord progression on the tracks and the use of piano and synth, it’s hard to remember this came out in ‘72. I haven’t seen Snowblind mentioned in other critiques very much, but for me, it was the best song on the album, the lyrical depth and the transition from the main riff to the bridge is amazing. Controversially, I don’t particularly enjoy Supernaut, bar the opening, sorry. I think it works amazingly on this album, it’s just not for me personally. I don’t really understand the hate FX gets, it’s really not that deep, a cool interlude between some very heavy songs.

Best: Don’t Bother Me Worst: Little Child I feel like I should preface this by saying I love much of The Beatles work as a band and even later on as individual artists. “With the Beatles” felt like something that should be playing in the background while visiting my grandparents. It was an easy listen, there were no tracks that I felt particularly inclined to skip while at the same time it lacked much memorability. None of the tracks dragged out, which admittedly would be difficult when fitting 14 songs onto a 33 minute album. The vocals felt so flat to me on many of the tracks with weak attempts at harmonising, sticking out especially on covers like “Roll over Beethoven” which Berry sings with so much energy. Unfortunately, to me it felt like a choir boy attempt at blues/soul music and I didn’t feel the passion that we see in many of the later Beatles albums. Harrison gets a lot of hate for his song writing, however his “don’t bother me” is actually my favourite track of the album, it’s so moody compared to the rest of the album and outshines some of the John & Paul tracks like “Little Child” (I am a hater). The change in tone is refreshing compared with the surrounding, more shallow love songs and shows an early willingness to branch out from the more popular, light hearted lyrics that were loved in the 60s. Also this was George’s first song with the band, in which he essentially tells everyone to leave him alone, which I love. Although this wasn’t my favourite album I still think that it was an important foundation for the future of the Beatles, this was only their second album and they were still trying to solidify their reputation as a pop/rock group. I can see a lot of what I love about future Beatles albums starting to emerge here, experimenting with genre mixing, solid guitar, original songwriting.

2/10 This was the musical equivalent of milk. Everything about this album was so bland, album cover, the fully lowercase titles, the boring acoustic and piano. Not my cup of tea :)

5/10 Best: We’re gonna be friend Worst: This Protector I liked the sound of the vocals on this album, wasn’t my favourite but it had a very 2000’s feel to it, I actually prefer their 2003 album Elephant. The songs I like on this album I really like but overall it feels a bit disjointed and I the songs I dislike, I hate.

8/10 Best: Come as you are Worst: Endless, Nameless This is an incredibly cohesive album with the tracks flowing into each other perfectly without sounding too repetitive. The first half of the album is better than the second (in my opinion), with the opening 5 tracks being enough to cements the album’s reputation alone. The ability to switch from the more quiet tracks to the loud, explosive songs like Territorial Pissings while still maintaining this cohesion is impressive. Every aspect of this album is crafted with so much emotion, Cobains writing & guitar, Grohl on the drums you can feel the passion on each track. Cobains vocals are raw and layer on the heavy arrangements perfectly. I cannot relate to many of the critiques as the vast majority of them had the privilege of listening to Nevermind on its release and getting to see the cultural significance of it but it’s hard to deny the emotion and energy just listening to it makes you feel. Great Album.

I didn’t think the album was bad, however it definitely was not to my taste and the songs went on way too long

4/10 Best: Rapid Fire Worst: Living after midnight I don’t really enjoy nor listen to heavy metal music therefore I don’t have much to compare this album to but I still did not like it. I didn’t think there was anything inherently bad about this album the guitar riffs were good and the sound effects were cool, just not my thing. Reading all the amazing reviews on this album has made me doubt my music taste l, I feel quite guilty for not enjoying it.

10/10 Best: Worst: Be is a truly timeless work of art, the entire album is filled with so much soul and authenticity, the warmth I feel listening to it is quite cathartic. Top ten favourite albums of all time: rhythm, beat, lyrics, vocals - everything is perfect. IMO this is one of the BEST collaborations in HH, Commons lyrics with Kanyes production is immaculate. On top of all this, Be also has one of my favourite intro tracks ever, opening up with the bass that sets the tone for the entire album in such a simple way then blending in the piano and kit so perfectly is beautiful work.

4/10 Best: Wood Beez Worst: All these songs sounded the same to me This album is embodies how I imagine 80s music exactly. Loads of synth, gated drums, men singing in high pitched whispery voices I would never listen to this on my own initiative but I’m glad I did, it gave me loads of nostalgia of listening to the 80s Top of the Pops reruns on MTV with my dad when I was little. However in saying this, It’s not really my thing and I probably won’t listen to it again.

I had a giant review typed out for this and the page refreshed…. Best: Alameda Worst: Cupids Trick I really loved some of the songs on this but I’m not sure I was quite sad enough for it to really resonate with me, although between the bars did make me quite emotional, I think I will save this album and have another listen when I’m in a better suited mood. Smiths lyricism and vocals were great and I loved the grittiness, the chords on Alameda were beautiful and I found them quite hypnotic.

Best: Isi I went into this thinking it was fully instrumental and I would not enjoy it but this album surprised me. I didn’t even skip any tracks which is honestly impressive because I struggle to listen to songs that are 8+ minutes long, mostly because I find it’s the same thing on loop and it gets dull. I loved the dreaminess of the first half with the calm and monotonous guitar, overall I found the album quite minimalistic with soft vocals, which works so well in the context of the album.

Best: Season of the Witch Worst: Legend of a Girl Child Linda I really enjoyed parts of this album, Season of the Witch is one of my favourite songs, I have no idea why I hadn’t listened to the rest of the album before. I wouldn’t say this album is timeless, it’s very definitely 60’s hippy music but psychedelic rock is very much to my taste and I do appreciate that this was one of the first examples psychedelic rock albums to be created. Sunshine superman was a great track and the vocals across the album really surprised me (I’m not sure why). The lyrics on many of the songs didn’t really make much sense to me which I suppose fits the theme of the album. The more minstrel sounding fairytale music definitely was not to my taste and dragged the album out a bit for me. Overall, the songs I liked on the album I really liked but I found some of the tracks boring and nonsensical.

Best: Orange Crush I am a big R.E.M. fan and a couple of the songs from this album will definitely be getting added to my rotation. Stipes vocals are great as always and the production across the album is really good. However, as a whole it didn’t feel very coherent, (I did read somewhere that this was originally supposed to be a two sided album, half acoustic, half rock and tbh it shows) some of the tracks felt boring and I found myself losing interest, the album becoming background music.

I genuinely struggled my way through this. I loathe the vocals on this album so much, idk if it’s the cadence, the rap (/singing/shouting?!?!?), the fact it sounds exactly the same on every track, I just honestly hate it. Although this album includes some classics, many of the tracks include lyrics that have aged like milk and make the album totally vieux jeu. I didn’t even know about the controversy about this album before I listened, I just really hate the way they sing/rap and I can’t really get past it to appreciate the production.

Best: Oh baby Immediately I am pleasantly surprised with this album as I was briefly obsessed with the opening track “oh baby” but had never listened to the rest of the album. Ohmygod I was so wrong :( To me this album captured the generic sound of the 80s without capturing any of the soul or passion in the music, at points it sounded like copies of other songs with different lyrics. So many of the songs felt so repetitive and long, black screen in particular dragged so much for me. The lyrics across this album are pretty terrible and having listened to the entire thing I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I enjoy oh baby lol.

I liked “this is a low” and that is it. I really did not enjoy this album and it took me ages to complete. Not really sure why it is so critically acclaimed, the whole thing felt messy and incohesive, just because someone sings with an accent doesn’t make it good.

This album was an easy listen and there wasn’t a single track that I skip, I can see myself playing this on a Sunday morning. However it did not totally blow me away, for me personally, I think the vocals needed something more, instead of the sort of acapella style cheesy harmonies. The music so much more funky (and better imo) than their classic “my girl” music era, it felt psychedelic at points and the production across the album was amazing, I think this album would rate higher for me if there were a few more songs that really stood out to me on it.

This is a brilliant album, that was so ahead of its time. The vocals on this album are amazing as always with Bowie but I didn’t anticipate how heavily instrumental it would be, which I think made it all the more interesting and allowed for more experimental tracks. This feels very different to his earlier albums released, more raw and real, stepping away from his glam rock persona into more somber version of Bowie.

I LOVED this album. Not sure why I initially thought I wouldn’t enjoy this album but I ended up thinking it was amazing. Firstly, the production across the album was SO good, I loved how raw/gritty the music felt, it had great cohesion, you could totally zone out while listening to this album and still think it was great. It does feel a bit less experimental than other VU songs so maybe that’s why I enjoyed it more. Vocals were spot on and at points reminded me of early Beatles, every song was so unique in its own way but never out of place. Can’t really think of a better album to be self titled, they really nailed the tone/mood/vibe which has rarely been replicated.

I have mixed feelings about this album. I am not a huge fan of Joni Mitchell’s style of singing albeit very impressive, I always feel like she puts too many words into the melody lines and it sounds cluttered/rushed, too conversational. However, the lyrics on this album are raw and poetic and it’s hard to not resonate with them on a personal level, the vulnerability she shares is beautiful and conveys complex feelings/emotions insightfully. The production across the album is great, arrangements are rich and layered and genres are combined smoothly, the entire thing is such an easy listen and in my option is timeless.

There wasn’t anything particularly bad about this album, but for me it was a bit unremarkable. Way too long and a bit boring (monotonous?), I’m not even a fan of “can I kick it?” to be honest. Production was nice and obviously used a lot of cool samples.

Listening to this album has made me realise I thought I liked gorillaz more than I actually do.

I don’t have much to say about this album, a product of its time.

I did not expect to enjoy this album. A great example of bluesy rock, guitar and vocals were brilliant and heavy throughout, a very rough cut (in a good way) album. If I was a 50 year old dad I would probably give this a 5

I found this album so boring, although the individual elements seem okay, they come together quite unremarkably. The lyrics in the first half of the album are enough to make me hate it entirely. “Oh I’m jealous and I own you” Honestly, I don’t know how it is so critically acclaimed, it sounds modern but in a terrible way.

Another boring album, I thought this was a soundtrack for something (something terrible) at first but apparently not. It was so incredibly long winded and dull, it should be playing in a hipster coffee shop somewhere and not in my ears.

Way too long. This album didn’t hit my ears right at all, instruments were so discordant that it became unbearable to listen to at points. I got as far as “happily divided”, checked where I was and almost cried. I then stopped listening so if it happened to get way better after this point then I am sorry.

Liked this way more than I thought I would but maybe because I listened to it on a plane and had nothing else to do. I’m not sure why it gets so much hate, there are some great tracks on it, WTSHNN was my favourite and With or without you is such a classic. The lyrics were poetic and meaningful, the opening of the album was captivating and the production throughout was perfect. Bono has an undeniably great voice and the bluesy influence can be felt clearly. Parts of it does feel a bit like mum rock but I enjoy it in a nostalgic way. There is genuinely nothing negative about this album.

I hated this, I find Jack Whites voice so grating.

I genuinely did listen to this album but I cannot remember anything about it and I really don’t want to listen to it again.

Best: Derelict Worst: High 5 In my head Beck is an even less serious version of Weezer so really didn’t expect to like this album much, but it definitely had a few enjoyable tracks. The lyrics on the opening track especially were pretty interesting as was the use of samples. As much as I enjoy genre mixing but this gave me whiplash, some of the tracks felt totally alien to the rest of the album. Overall, this album felt pretty silly and muddled, sometimes the music felt more like scratchy whining in my ears, I did not like this.

I don’t love the singing in this as it initially reminds me of a better version of Jan from the office, and it is throwing me off. Other than this, the album is genuinely perfect. Some of the tracks sound really hymnal which works really well with the bluesy rock theme, the covers are beautiful, sweet Jane in particular and the originals are just as good. The use of the pedal steel guitar you can hear throughout, for example on I’m so lonesome, gives the album a real old school country feel without being boring. It is seriously impressive in that the entire album was recorded in one day and the final tracks weren’t mixed or edited at all afterwards, the way they’ve managed to make raw recordings sound so perfect and polished is amazing.

I hate Marilyn Manson and have no interest in listening to this :)

Not my favourite album but definitely found it interesting. There is nothing objectively bad about it, maybe just not my style. I didn’t particularly enjoy that the vocals sounded harsh at some points and after a while the whole thing just sounded like noise to me and I found myself constantly pausing for breaks. Maybe I’m just being harsh though, jazz isn’t really for me.

I didn’t particularly enjoy the sound of this album, however I can appreciate just how good how some of the lyrics are for example on Sleep to dream, even the vocal range on this track is seriously impressive. Also Fiona was only 18 when she wrote this entire album which again, is very impressive. The soft jazz works really well but it’s just not for me.

Every song on this sounded like it should be a backing track to a random scene in 90s British crime film:

This was so boring and I’m wondering how many more Elvis Costello albums I will have to review before the end of this. To me, this sounds so generic, nothing special about the vocals or music to make it memorable (or enjoyable).

Best: Black Star God I love this album. As usual Radiohead have hit the nail on the head with this one, for me there isn’t a single track I would skip. This album is so thematically cohesive in terms of lyrics and emotion, conveying such a strong sense of malaise beautifully. One of my favourite albums of all time, probably my favourite RH album and what to me, truly captures their sound. Yorkes vocals are emotional and gritty throughout but the vocals on Planet Telex are just so good, the breathiness and the hazy delivery have such an attractive draw. The production as a whole was great, instruments played beautifully adding texture to every track.

I am not really sure how to feel about this album. It’s not one I would ever put on as it is essentially an album of backing tracks; however, as a soundtrack (score), it works, especially in the context of the film. (I think? I have not watched it) It did capture that dreamy/hazy/melancholic 70s vibe well, although because (again) it is a score it pretty much sounds the same the whole way through and therefore to sit and listen to the whole thing gets tedious.

“Wild Horses” alone is almost enough for me to rate this 5/5. For me, opening up with brown sugar is good to get the most cringe song out of the way early. This album is incredible (except BS) so many great and underrated classics, the Mick Taylor era of Stones is my favourite and has the best run of albums. The genre and instrument blending on this is great and sounds so cohesive, but the core of the album is very American roots with gritty blues and country-rock, you can hear the pedal steel influence on tracks like dead flowers and Taylor’s impressive slide in “you gotta move”. I think that without the inclusion of Brown sugar this album would be perfect.

Best: Shangri-La I enjoy the Kinks but had never heard this album before, and I liked it so much! In my head, the Kinks are the godfathers of “Brit pop,” and you can really hear their influence when listening to bands such as Blur; however, I never find them as cringe or pseudo as some of the 90s Brit pop bands come across at times. This album was fun and such an easy listen. I love the psychedelic rock vibe on some of the tracks and the theatrical/orchestral sound to the overall production. The songs on this album work well on their own but come together to form a really poignant narrative with emotional depth.

Overall, I found it a bit boring and quite generic and the vocals just weren’t for me (I hated them), the lyrics were okay in the first half of the album but in the latter half (I’m not sure if I was just incredibly bored by then) it was like listening to the most inclusive/non-specific, inauthentic TS album. Maybe it was really revolutionary for its time and I’m missing something but it just wasn’t for me. Also this is silly but I hate the use of numbers in lieu of words so the title of “2 Kool 2 be 4-Gotten” irritates me, I don’t care if it’s irony.

Best: Standing Next to Me Much the same as my opinion on the AM I dislike Alex Turners accent in the vocals, it felt a bit out of place in tracks such as TAOTU which had a Wild West vibe to it. I think my distaste towards the Sheffield accent in songs comes from finding the AM cringeworthy at times but overall I actually enjoyed this album. It was short at only 35 mins which I liked as none of the tracks dragged on too long and feels somewhat cinematic, I liked how it felt very different from AM. The western vibe was very cool and production was amazing, giving the album a very old school feel to it, it had loads of energy which was a nice change in tempo from the slower albums I had been listening to previously.

Not a bday album, just not really my thing.

Best: Blue Sunday I liked many of the songs while I was listening to them but found this album fairly unmemorable as a whole, I kept having to go back and listen to tracks over again, more of a me issue than an actual reflection of the album, I think. Some of the other reviews suggest this album is boring/slow, but they are wrong. I do find the doors can be a bit eerie/hypnotic at times but I enjoy the ominous vibe. I liked how bluesy this was and loved hearing the electric organ across the tracks especially that tremolo effect on waiting for the sun.

I loved this album. I completely forgot “He’s the greatest dancer” existed, such a great song to open with. There wasn’t a single track on this that I didn’t enjoy and they’re pretty much all on my playlist now (except the triples at the end that elongate the album a bit). The production was so good, everything comes together to create the perfect disco/funk/groovy album, paired with the soulful vocals, I’m not sure how anyone could not enjoy this.

I did not enjoy this, I found it annoying and had to keep pausing it for breaks, why is it so long?! I really disliked the weird nursery rhyme type songs (melody fair for example) Not what I was expecting from a Bee Gees album.

I did not particularly enjoy this :(

Best: Danny Boy/ Give my love to Rose I went into this album with the mindset that a venerable JC, albeit very accomplished, just wasn’t for me. I was very wrong. I loved this album, to the point I listened to it through three times, annoyed for not having done it before. I obviously knew a few of the tracks already but assumed (bad, i know) that they were outliers in my general opinion. The grittiness/maturity/vulnerability(?) in Cash’s vocals made me so emotional, particularly on tracks such as Danny Boy, the blend between the sort of talking blues and singing made it sound more raw and intimate The covers are great and JC does them incredible justice, Hurt is one of my favourites on the album, for me, it feels like a completely different song from the original by NIN. My least favourite was probably Personal Jesus, simply because I love the original version of it so much and I thought the more sparse arrangement didn’t really work for me. Beautiful, perfect album.

This album had a strange effect on me and having listened straight through, I found it quite unsettling at times, it felt very personal, like I was listening to something not intended for release. The production was very stark/raw and at times felt very underwhelming and underdeveloped, at one point I skipped a track mid way through and the start of the next track just sounded the exact same. I did particularly enjoy the vocals throughout, Spence’s voice carries so much emotion and sincerity which contrasted, for me, the rather ambiguous lyrics. Knowing Spence played all the instruments himself is impressive to an extent but past that everything felt very erratic and disjointed, performances weren’t layered well, there were random sounds thrown in here and there, it felt very abstract which I suppose is in theme with the sort of psychedelic folk/ rock vibe of the album but not for me, it made it hard to concentrate on anything. I finished listening to this tired, it was quite bleak overall and hard to follow, this album feels unfinished with loads of potential that was never followed through.

Although the performative lad culture nostalgia in the afterlife of the Brit-Pop era makes me physically cringe, there is a lot to like about this album. The production is loud and maximalist, guitars are stacked and distortion is ramped to the point the instrumental textures blur together, although this can be jarring at times, it suits the album perfectly and as a debut album, leaves a clear impression of what Oasis are about. The vocals are not particularly special and at times can feel a bit satirical, however I feel like this works well in the context of the album. Lyrically this album conveys the usual Brit-Pop themes of working class life, however it was refreshing to hear an earnest optimistic view in definitely maybe. You can hear the influence from 60s rock in the guitar with easy progressions and memorable riffs but overall quite uncomplicated, making it perfect for singing along to which is probably why this album has held up so well over time.

Best: Ventilator Blues While Exile on Main Street has some great tracks, this album was less of a compact statement and more of a document steeped in excess, I found it hard to stay engaged for the runtime (I actually had to restart it a few times). For me, its reputation overshadowed actual listening experience, the apparently intentional inconsistency wasn’t to my taste and made the album feel unfocused. Genre wise EoMS is a blend of American roots styles with rock, country, gospel etc, chord progressions are very bluesy and many of the tracks share similar harmonic foundations. Obviously guitars are the dominating sound here but layering felt loose and negated tight riffs, this paired with the cluttered production where the instruments bleed into each other gave it a very dense, murky feel which matched the tired/cynical mood of the album. MJs vocals were cool as always, even when at times sounding sort of slurred, they worked well with the compositions, blending into the music and complimenting the moody lyrics. Although my review has felt largely negative I did admire the raw authenticity of this album.

Best: You know I’m no good. Overall, I think I am inclined to rate this album higher more because of nostalgia/familiarity than my actual enjoyment. The Neo-Soul/Jazz Pop style of Back to Black isn’t one that I would typically gravitate towards; however, I did feel like it was produced well. The variety of instruments was great, loads of horns & brass, piano, guitar, etc.; progressions were uncomplicated, which worked with the lighter sound of the album. Given the upbeat tone, I expected the tempo to be faster than it actually was; however, I do think this worked in AWs favour as it allowed her to really showcase her vocals, which were, in a word, incredible. She sings with such an amazing, smoky, soulful quality in her voice; the way she shapes every syllable on longer notes with so much control and so effortlessly is impressive. The lyrics are witty and sarcastic even while addressing topics like addiction and heartbreak; the contrast between the brutally candid lyrics and the upbeat tone of the music created a sense of dissonance to what could have easily been a much darker album. It feels unfair of me to rate the album low because objectively it is very good; however, I don’t think I would listen to it again, even though there are a few songs I could probably sing every lyric to.

I keep seeing the term “shoegaze” when looking up this album. I have no idea what it means, but I don’t think I like it. This is another album where I genuinely cannot fathom the praise it receives. As a listening experience, I found it was overly long (however, I think the linked Spotify version includes extra tracks), vocally weak, repetitive to the point that individual tracks blurred together, and frankly, a bit annoying. Production wise, Nowhere was heavy. Guitars are INCREDIBLY layered with so much reverb and distortion that it creates this big clashing sound and almost drowns out any drums/bass for over an hour, without any contrast. The progressions and tone didn’t vary much across tracks and instead relied on heavy effects to add texture/contrast, leaving them indistinct. However, the vocals are the worst part of the album for me. Not only were they emotionally quite flat, I found them to be generally bad. I’m not sure I even really listened to the lyrics very well because I hated the vocals so much. I’m sure there was a lot of technical skill involved in creating this album, with so many effects, feedback control, texture, etc., but for it to sound like this, honestly, what is the point?

Coming into Henry’s Dream after only knowing “O Children” set me up for a completely different listening experience. This album felt so abrasive and confrontational, listening to the vocals I had no idea whether this was a serious album or some sort of theatrical exaggeration. This is a very rough around the edges bluesy rock album, I did get a very live band feel from it which gave it a certain layer of authenticity but also made the instruments sound cluttered at times adding to the very gritty/ominous vibe throughout. Instrumentally Henry’s dream was good, it was interesting to hear piano being used percussively, guitars were heavy and overdriven. Layering seemed very stacked, creating intensity. Vocals & Lyrics were probably the biggest sticking point for me, Caves near shouting came across as entirely satirical in a way, the lyrics are very absurd & violent adding to this macabre humour. Overall, this felt like a very dramatic performance and I find it hard to imagine listening to this album casually.

Obviously, this is a bluesy rock album, but it manages this really modern/polished finish without losing any of the grit. It does feel very 80s with the synths and drum machines, but in a very stylish way. Production is great, really clean throughout, which does sound different than the traditional ZZ Top sound, but I think it works well. I didn’t miss the effect of live drums; however, I do have a soft spot for synthy 80s music, so this probably has an effect on my opinion. Progressions across tracks are pretty simple, but the electric guitar riffs are crunchy and work perfectly between vocals. Vocals, as usual for BG, are effortlessly cool; the gravelines and attitude in his voice match the tone of the album perfectly. The lyrics have a very tongue in cheek bravado to them but aren’t overly deep, which again works with the tone of the album in my opinion. Overall, this was a very cool album. ZZ Top are pretty much the epitome of cool dad garage rock music to me, so I find it hard to fault them.

This album has a really vintage country sound. It feels older than its 1988 release date, in a good way. Shadowland is a very clean, classic country album production wise, an easy listen. I liked how cohesive it sounded throughout; nothing sticks out awkwardly with arrangements being very balanced (somewhat conservative?). However, despite the polished finish, I wouldn’t say it has an obvious 80s gloss to it. The twangy sound of pedal steel is pretty much the cornerstone of C&W music for me, and I love hearing it across the tracks; using the brushed drums helped maintain the soft, somewhat unobtrusive tone. K.D. Lang’s vocals were so rich and controlled; the lower tone was really grounded and matched the music perfectly. The lyrics, albeit not very profound, felt very authentic and worked in favour of the album. Overall, I’d describe Shadowland as “nice” in the best sense of the word. It’s warm, well crafted, and has a lovely sense of sincerity about it. I didn’t love it, and by the last few tracks, it was feeling a bit samey, but I would probably listen to some of the tracks again.

Going into this album, I expected it to be somewhat emotionally heavy, BOTW feels very carefully crafted and cinematic but as with many S&G songs they’re almost too nice or polished for me to properly enjoy. Production wise BOTW is incredibly balanced, it uses a full orchestra with loads of layering which gives it a sort of gospel sound, everything sits very beautifully in the mix but to the point it loses any grit. Vocally S&G are technically stunning, harmonies are perfect, too perfect? I think how nice everything sounded throughout made me disengaged at times, there are tracks which I love for example the Boxer but an entire album of this was somewhat boring to me. BOTW is a very mature and well crafted album, but for me the same qualities that make it “great” also make it less interesting.

Listening to 21, I was surprised at how many of the tracks I recognised. I was quite young when this album came out, so I’d forgotten just how famous Adele was at the time. 21 feels like a modern soul album, which at times dips into pop. Production wise it is obviously very polished and uses classic soul progressions/structures with loads of piano ballads. I thought instruments were used pretty sparingly across tracks, with the piano carrying most of the harmonic weight, letting the vocals stand out. Adele has such an incredible emotional voice. She sings with so much control but also with a graininess which makes the music much more authentic. Lyrics, however, were at times generic and relied on broad emotional statements. The whole album had this woe is me trope where every song was about some sort of heartbreak/regret, which was not really for me. Although 21 wasn’t really to my personal taste, it was produced incredibly well. What struck me the most was how culturally huge it was at its time of release. I think this is the first album I have got that I actually was alive for/remember its release lol.

The album stretches out for far too long considering how few track are actually on it. For an instrumental jazzy blues album, I suppose it was technically good. I enjoyed the sound of the electric organ, the overall vibe was very cool/relaxed however there wasn’t much variation in tempo or harmonics throughout the tracks and made them feel samey, I think I would have enjoyed it much more with some sharper contrasts. Taken individually the tracks work well and listening to and one song randomly is enjoyable.

Genuinely could not make it through more than 3 songs of this because I hate Antony’s wiggly voice so much, sorry