Just listened to this and now gladly doing it again on the 50th anniversary remix. One of the first albums I truly loved when getting into music in junior high. Only low point to me is Welcome to the Machine which is a bit too drudgy. But easy five stars for this prog rock masterpiece.
Not my favorite Rolling Stones record but one I was familiar with. Under my Thumb always sounds so unnerving. Love that one. The album does have a nice vibe of garage rock which is nice
This seemed like a fun era of music but I was a skosh too young
Not many bands can stay they kicked off their debut album with a song as great a Radio Free Europe
Some obvious classics which elevate the entire album.
Not much to say about this. It's a classic for a reason.
Not a jazz guy at all but I can appreciate this and always have
Finger snapping, toe tapping, knee slapping music. Perfectly tolerable but not too memorable.
No major complaints but not my favorite T. rex either.
When people say dad rock this is what I think of. And I'm 41.
I wish frequently I was as cool as Karen O.
Righteous anger that's still relevant 34 years later.
When I listen to Fatboy Slim I think its great for the first fifteen minutes
By all accounts I should like this but it just seems so pretentious. And I love the arcade fire so that's a lot coming from me
An absolute gem and one of the greatest soul records of all time.
Would absolutely go 4.5 stars or even five if it didn't drop off ever so slightly in the the of side b. Slide State of Love and Trust in there and it's a different story
My third favorite velvet underground record. A bit more esoteric in my opinion but still pretty great
Sounded like a derivative sound of something else I don't like
Wasn't familiar with it but immediately put don't worry about it on my personal playlist
Can we get Talking Heads, mom?
We have Talking heads at home.
But seriously a fine fine album. Crazy the amount of influence genius of love has had for the last 40-odd years.
In some ways Sade was a direct influence on Red hot chili peppers (horniness)
Maybe with retrospective it's a bit juvenile but these samples and rhymes are still all-timers. Any album that kicks off with the drums from When the Levee Breaks immediately catches my attention.
The greatest American band of all time.RIP Bobby
Not my favorite neil young album by far (and I can't wait for them to presumably come). Still the ditch records are pretty good
The great songs are great and the not great songs are pretty good too. I could listen to Lauryn Hill sing the phone book
From the first time I heard this in 2010 I was in love. And every time after that I've listened to it, The Suburbs still holds up. Maaaaybe it's a little long but this could easily go 5 stars on a different day (and may be edited up in the long run).
Would be closer to 3.5 stars on a more detailed rating and on the right day in the right mood 4. I still remember catching an odd future show at fader fort at sxsw I'm maybe 2011 and being amazed.
This was honestly headed to 1 star because back in the day I couldn't stand brimful of asha and everything sounded the same to me. But then side b happened and the album got slightly better. So I guess 2 stars since it got weirder.
Peel away all of the substance abuse and mental health issues. Peel away all of the hospitalizations and legal troubles. They're all part of a larger tragedy about how we lose great great artists way too soon. Remove all of that and you still have this amazing phenomenal voice that is still mesmerizing.
Joni Mitchell had a string of good to great albums in the 70s and this is certainly one of them.
A bit singsongy if that makes sense. I wasn't familiar with Ian Dury and thought it would be more proto-punk / new-wave and was headed towards two stars. Then blockheads and blackmail man saved it up to three.
All my life I've had people telling me how steely dan is the best ever and I've never ever gotten that feeling. Giving this three stars due to its influence on 90s hip hop
Not something I'd probably listen to again but I have no real complaints
This was headed to one star because I hated the English parts. The Spanish parts that didn't try to do a rap/rock hybrid was pretty good. Probably won't ever listen to this again but it's not without it's merits.
Radio pop from the early 90s with an absolute banger in Constant Craving. Still, not much else to differentiate it from whatever else my mom was listening to back then.
An enjoyable bit of soul.
First foray into Isaac Hayes get the shaft soundtrack and no complaints
I didn't even realize this was streaming again. There is a sonic wall of sound that runs through De La Soul's albums that is very pleasurable
I've never been a huge U2 fan but this is fine. I can't ignore the fact that One is a pretty good song but Mysterious Ways makes me want to shut down.
It's satirical sure but I'm not sure that means it's worthy of all the accolades.
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Locomotive Breath notwithstanding, this to me sounds like Ren Faire music. Which is great if that's what you're into but it's not classic prog rock to me like it's advertised to be
The original four album run by The Pixies from Surfer Rosa to Dolittle to Bossanova to Trompe le Monde is pretty unmatched in music. In some ways Bossanova is a different sound altogether. Little bit more spacey and a little bit less jagged with still a whole lot of abstraction.
I love this album but knowing that two of the aforementioned albums are on this list that I love more will put this at four stars. I was planning on only giving one five star review to a pixies album but that problem is for another day
Not sure I've listened to the Police before that weren't now the "classic rock" hits. But this side a is pretty good bordering on really great. But side b does drop it down some since the hits are overplayed
How many five star albums can I give to Led Zeppelin? I think that's the real question. Listened to this probably hundreds of times in my life so far, listening to it today, and will listen to it hundreds of more times.
Thinking through it, and the albums I'm assuming are coming from LZ, I think this still makes five stars. There are no skips on this album and even Black Mountain Side is pretty awesome and if that's the "low point" on your debut album then something has gone terribly right.
And to have the audacity to close with How Many More Times? Get out of here.
I prefer my folk with a little bit more bite but Ms. Baez has a tremendous voice.
Britpop is just ok in my book. It's pretty boring for an entire album. This seems like good britpop so that's better than the lot.
Probably never gonna listen to this again.
I don't know if I was in the right mood for this and it didn't match my vibe. But. I know there would be times that it would match my vibe. Pretty fun.
This is my wife's favorite band and they and this album have greatly grown on me over the past 15 years.
Reader, I listened to Bob Dylan. I loved Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan was a friend of mine. Time Out of Mind, you're not (good) Bob Dylan.
Greatly prefer modern times for late era Dylan but all of this pales so so so much to his peak.
When this album came out it was everywhere in Austin. Side B, Paper Planes excluded, unfortunately drops off a bit
This is great. It's so good it boggles the mind as to how none of these songs ended up on Beatles records. Then you remember how phenomenal they are and become even more amazed
Took a bunch of Canadians (and Levon Helm of course) to make a fundamental Americana album. America is truly a melting pot. I like Levon's singing voice a lot more than I like his warble.
Turns out I like my South African a capella music in small doses like on Graceland and less for 40 minutes straight. It's very beautiful but not in my q zone
I dont often listen to pop from this era but I always find myself enjoying it
Enjoyable and easy. Some big hits, some covers, and great singing throughout.
I like early Elvis Costello a lot and look forward to hearing those albums. Conversely, I do not look forward to hearing his more recent work. It's fine.
When I first listened to Maggot Brain years ago it was distinctly not what I expected. And was pleasantly surprised!Such fun and joyous music (and one of the best extended solos ever by the late and underappreciated Eddie Hazel).
Now when I listen to Maggot Brain it's exactly what I expect and somehow it's even better.
Very solid debut album by The Who. I generally like their more rocking and less power poppy songs but it's pretty enjoyable if not a bit jarring when they do blues covers like I'm a Man. My Generation, the song, may get its flowers but The Kids Are Alright is the best part of the album.
Still you can see the initial seeds of a band that will soon be one of the biggest in the world.
This is my first real surprise with 60 albums reviewed in regards to being unexpectedly blown away. Phenomenal album in a genre of music that I usually don't choose to listen to.
Never really figured out why I don't love The Kinks. I should. And I like some of their songs. But mostly it s just sounds like "60s" to me and there's better music from the 60s
Definitely wore this one out in college. Very atypical from previous harder albums (at least in terms of the hits), Get Behind Me Satan is eclectic in the best ways. And catchy as fuck.
Wish I could rate this 3.5 stars as I enjoyed it more than a lot of 3 star albums so far. I knew Yo La Tengo's cover of Needle of Death and never heard the original and it's beautiful. Heroin is awful.
Not a huge Van Halen fan or Glam Metal in general but I can't deny that this rips
Did I know anything about Throwing Muses when i saw this album come up? No. Did I listen to the wrong album on spotify until I finally dug up a working link on YouTube (https://youtu.be/E1Xd2jY3zWQ?si=qRGWAvb1b2HpUJ6r)? Yes.
Did I like this? It was good. Maybe a bit repetitive but you can hear why they meshed so well with The Pixies on 4AD.
I wasn't a huge fan of this. Like Broadway show tunes (which I can enjoy) but without a plot.
I can understand people not liking Tom Waits and the way he sings. But here's the thing. I had Ute Lemper's Punishing Kiss yesterday. And it was clear that Ms. Lemper had a tremendous voice. But that didn't move me. It was, to me, one note and boring which is really the worst thing an album can be.
Tom Waits on the other hand is very very interesting. And that's what makes it better to me.
A parting gift from the Gods.
A phenomenal album. I never listen to full Stevie at a time and now I have to wonder why that is and what's wrong with me . Living for the city is still one of my all time favorite songs
It was fine. Not what I'm looking for though. Another lovely voice but mostly the songs just seem to be there.
One of the quintessential punk rock albums and incredibly influential. It may be a bit one-note but that note is very very good (and very fast).
As Willow says in episode 20, "Villains", of Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
"Bored Now"
I'm sorry about his breakup but he really just made a much worse version of Blood on the Tracks
I listened to the twice and reading through the Wikipedia and other reviews it feels like it should be in my wheelhouse but it didn't really stick with me. I'm not familiar with Bad Brains at all but I think all the shred is a turn off.
I'm sure it's cliche but man The Killing Moon is a great song.
There's really no bad songs here but the tentpoles of Thunder Road, Jungleland, and, to a slightly lower extent, Tenth Avenue Freesze-out and Born to Run are incredibly high.
Only going 4 stars because it's not one of my absolute favorites but man it's close. Maybe later it will be
I don't believe there should be any 1 or 5 star reviews because this is the definition of average. And like most 70s soft rock had a hefty dash of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webster influence
Stay With Me was obviously the hit bit the rest of this seemed pretty average. Not a huge fan of Stewart's Voice.
Pretty good overall but definitively not my favorite OutKast album. And it's very long (because it's two discrete albums). Still, being the third or fourth best OutKast album is better than most other rap groups entire discography. Looking backwards you might think The Love Below is better based on Andre's higher popularity and prowess but musically and lyrically Speakerboxxx is more appreciated by me.
Feels like a 90s action movie montage
I listen to this and I oscillate continuously between reverence, sadness, loneliness, catharsis, joy, longing, and contentedness.
What a perfect recording. Love the covers. Love the originals. And love my favorite Nirvana song in particular, About a Girl
This is a timeless piece of art that sounds nothing like what was coming out of 1984. A great hybrid of independent, punk, and college rock with catchy riffs that stick with you.
Unsatisfied remains on my short list of all time songs.
The most popular Metallica album by the masses that most old school Metallica fans. Losing the thrash and the shred and way upping production results in a heavier but more sterile output.
It's not actively bad by any stretch to me and MTV loved to scare me with the Unforgiven video back in the day. But it's decidedly not my favorite.
Love. Love. Love.
Hot take that NIN Hurt still eclipses this version but obviously still very good. People talk about the covers obviously but the originals stand up as well and The Man Comes Around is clearly biblically epic.
And to be brazen enough to have the last song released during your life to be Vera Lynn's We'll Meet Again is incredible.
Realized I didn't review this the day of. It was given to me on 3/22/26 and it is now 4/8. I couldn't have this blank on my page. I have no memory of it at all.
I can understand some people not liking this but you can't deny that it's an inflection point for music that occurred.
Me, I think it's wonderful.
Not in a great mood today and this absolutely didn't help. I can't see really why this is differentiated from any of the other 100's of albums that came out in 2012.
I like to listen to these albums and then peruse the Wikipedia page to get additional info. Good lord this sold a ton of copies! I never would have guessed. But then again it's soft pop that has a taste the masses enjoy.
It wasn't my favorite but I don't think it's actively bad
I used to work in a movie store similar to Blockbuster called movie gallery and every release day there are some people who came in and rented all of the horror movies that came out that week. The big budget ones that released in theaters and all of the B and C movies that were much much worse than those ones. As someone who work there, I never really understood this. I always thought that people would not want to watch those movies made on a shoestring budget with bad acting and no plot but I saw the frequency that people were renting them and figured that there was an audience for everything out there.
And similarly, I feel the same way about metal. This music is not for me. I do not care for it and there are a lot of people who do and I'm happy for them. And this is very technically proficient and I'm sure a lot of people's favorite. But not mine.
Just depressing sounding. This is my 92nd album in this foray and the first repeat artist I believe. I liked violator much more and even then I think I gave that 3 stars. At least that was interesting.
These songs are definitely from a room somewhere. I can understand people not dogging Leonard Cohen but this is pleasurable to me
I had lots of friends who loved Elliot Smith and were devastated when he passed while I was on college. But he unfortunately never resonated with me. This is fine but I struggle to see what makes it excel.
Not sure how much respect I had for the Mercury Prize when this endeavor started but it's not getting larger. This was long and boopy. The only thing elevating it from one star is that at least parts of it are interesting and it's clear that there's a vision being implemented (although it's not for me).
Don't do heroin kids.
But if you're going to have thousands of pounds of heroin moving through your villa in Nellcote, France while recording an album maybe you'll get lucky and make something artistically perfect.
But probably not.
I took on this challenge not so much to find new things I've never heard but to reconnect with some classic albums I had known but fell off my radar. I've listened to a bunch of pitchfork top lists, rolling Stones top 500 albums and similar styled lists.
So usually when something comes up I've never heard of or totally forgot it's brand new and pretty outside the standard lists . And honestly I think those can be pretty rough. But this. Was. Great.
Socially and politically conscious dance music? Sign me up
Just one fantastic song after another.
Perfectly cromulent. Nice to see an album with hits toward the back.
I anticipated a lot of metal but this is really just some good old fashioned rock and roll. I appreciate that much more.
Kanye needs help. And I don't really listen to his stuff anymore with all the antisemitism and everything else. Taking this all away (to the extent that we can) is kind of important at times though because unfortunately these stories are everywhere and from everyone.
So this album? Great. Power>All of the Lights> Monster is huge.
I felt like this is as kinda boring? It had the frenetic early talking heads energy but couldn't match the wit
Liked this one less than Bone Machine but still super interesting over all. Mr. Waits has got some stories to tell and some instruments to play. Special call out to Sixteen Shells From a Thirty-Ought-Six. That song was awesome.
Can totally get why this may be up someone's alley but it's pretty dang good. It is long so if you weren't appreciating it it's definitely a slog. I do think the highs are pretty high but with this many songs it makes it hard to elevate.
Love Misunderstood though, especially live. That's the good stuff
Look forward to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at some point in the next 900 days or so.
Side A is pretty great but side B is pretty standard. They average out in my book.
Got that warble going on. Not a fan
40 years later and still tricking Republicans. You gotta hand it to Bruce. Playing the long game.
This was pretty enjoyable. Probably a bit oversung but that seemed like his style. If the tragic events surrounding Jeff didn't occur I have to wonder on it's legacy. As it stands it's a tremendous debut album that unfortunately was the only album released in his lifetime. So does that elevate it more due to the mythos? I don't know
I couldn't tell you why. Maybe my elementary school music teacher played this album in class? But I always associate this album with children music. Not bad by any stretch but it's a weird dichotomy in my head.
Love the music and the guitar and the blues. Not a fan of Rod Stewart's voice. Also, it is the humble view of this reviewer that, this version of Morning Dew is an abomination. But shapes of things, your shook me and the instrumentals are all good
I love this album. In 2010 my girlfriend at the time and I were going through a long distance breakup and for whatever reason this album was what helped me get through it. Belting out Next Girl, or Howling For You, or Everlasting Light just helped. It's what I gravitated to. So yeah for me this one's personal.
Liked this more than I thought I would but then again I'm a sucker for guitar. Every aspiring guitar player thinks their blues scales sound like those on Jesus Left Chicago.
Whole album may be one trick but it's a very good trick. Green Onions the song is an all timer but listening to the whole album it all starts to sound the same
It's not that I don't like world music. I do. It's just that I like music with harmony or rhythm or that has flow
Breathy and full of life. She's got one of those ethereal voices that lingers
Mercury Prize strikes again!
As a Radiohead fan I think this probably sounds like Radiohead to those people who don't like Radiohead. Only thing saving this from one star was I liked The Bones of You some.
Atmospheric and a couple of good songs one of which deeply reminded me of Dear Prudence. I've never seen the Virgin Suicides so I didn't have that strong connection but this was fine.
Blister in the Sun obviously everyone knows but beyond that songs of this album are constantly pushed by my spotify recommendations and I used to always slip them because "eh, I probably only like blister in the sun". The lesson is, as always, I'm and idiot.
Not my top Beatles album is really the only criticism I can offer. Easy five stars. Even the "lower" songs are better than some bands entire output. And surprisingly my favorite moment upon relistening (as I've livestened to this hundreds of time before) is Sgt. Peppers Reprise. Blistering. Also, highly recommended to have a good pair of headphones at the end of A Day In The Life.
Reading about this album I thought it didn't sound good but it was ok on listening. Pretty harmless and was good background music for folding and putting away laundry
If I didn't know any better I would think this Jay-Z fella didn't like this other fella named Nas.
This is fine if not overplayed at the time. This came out my senior year of high school and it. was. everywhere.
I still remember going to parties at my friend's house and all of the Jay-Z and other early 00 hip hop would be playing but when my buddy wanted everyone to leave and be hanging out with his closest friends we'd put on Yessongs and somehow that would clear the room.
It was a simpler time.
Enjoyable and solid. Not as good as Tres Hombres as its devolved into more guitar cock-rock and less blues but the guitars are good. Thankfully this wraps the two ZZ Top albums on the list because I was worried we were going to get some off-the-wall cuts
This will sound like damning with faint praise but this album had an inherent listenablity that I really enjoyed. I didn't know any of the words that Khaled was singing but I enjoyed how they were sung. I probably won't revisit too often but I appreciated it. Could have been trimmed down though some. At 80 minutes it's a bit long.
I didn't have a bad time. Plus love most songs and versions about Rudy.
At the Zoo is a metaphor for something but I don't know what
Somehow CCR released three albums in 1969 and they were all good.
I'm glad this wasn't my first album on this list and instead is in the 100s. Unclear why this is on here at this time
This was something different
If you cut out an album's worth of material, you would have possibly the best Beatles album. As it is, you get a lot of songs from all different genres and perspectives.
Still very very good overall but not at Sgt Peppers, Revolver, or Rubber Soul though.
This is ethereal, haunting, and tragic music. I probably won't listen again to this too much but I definitely feel like I could occasionally.
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This is a bit repetitive to be sure but three stars alone for the fallout vibes.
I've loved this album for a long time and it allowed my entrance into post-punk as a genre. I still think I like proto-punk more but the jaggedness here is really fun.
Sure it's not rocking out but the songs are *good*. But then again I've always had a soft spot for Don't Panic, Shiver, Everything's Not Lost and others because they were everywhere when I was in high school.
Later Coldplay got more boring/bland but this was good
I can't explain it but if this came out in 2026 it would be awful but since it came out in 1986 I like it.
Second dylan on the list and first of his classic albums. Y'all can hate on his voice and anything else you like but it doesn't matter at the end of the day. This is an easy five stars. If I wanted to be very very nitpicky, the version of Desolation Row on No Direction Home is better than this version. But that's not going to drop any points
