Excellent album. Superb energy throughout as exemplified by the bristling opening track ‘Search and Destroy.’ Also liked the few slower tracks such as the brooding ‘Gimme Danger.’ Love that it was produced by Bowie.
I can understand why it wasn’t more of an immediately massive commercial hit, given when it was released, and also why it became such a template for the punk movement a few years down the line.
Only knew Tom Petty from his 80s hits and the Travelling Wilbury’s, so this was great. Really catchy, well written songs. Particularly liked Anything that’s Rock N Roll and American Girl.
Pleasant enough in a Jazz Club ‘Nice!’ way, but not my cup of tea. Take Five is the only track I knew (and it’s good). Also liked ‘Strange Meadow Lark’ as it’s quite pretty.
Laid back, funky and interesting in places. Title track is ok, but nothing really engaged me past a first listen.
Excellent album. Soundtrack to my last year in Uni. Great tracks throughout, especially Welcome to the Jungle, Mr Brownstone, Paradise City and Sweet Child of Mine.
Didn’t like it when it came out because of the same paced songs and her style of vocal. Listening to it now, I still struggle with those two things, but Baby Can I Hold You Tonight is a good song.
Quite enjoyed this. Very upbeat and catchy. ‘Christmas (Please Come Home) is a standout track.
I’ll never get that hour plus back. Tried, but just not my style of music.
Very biased with this particular album as it was a revelation when I heard it for the first time back in 1982. I’d never heard a female singer sing like Kate or be as stunningly inventive and original. Extremely experimental in parts, superb melodies and storytelling. Hooked me immediately and still sounds amazing 43 years later. Not her best or most accessible album (Listen to The Kick Inside, Hounds of Love and The Sensual World, but still superb.
Ok. A decent album. Striving to be epic rock, but nothing truly stood out for me. Much preferred the follow up Urban Hymns.
Much preferred this to the later albums. It has some good tracks such as ‘Do it Again’ and ‘Reelin’ in the Years.’
Great playing, but songs which are too smooth and a bit lacklustre for me to fully appreciate.
Peculiar, but not in a good way. Lost interest after a while. Persevered, but no improvement.
Really struggled with his voice and the songs were so insipid. Very little life and frankly depressing. More like I Am a Turd Now.
Enjoyed listening to this. Great energy in places and I’ve always liked Too Much Too Young and a Message to you Rudy.
Love this album. Strong throughout with excellent singles.
Not a massive fan of prog rock. Sea Song was ok, but nothing else interested me.
Some nice guitar riffs, singles are ok, but not awe inspiring and the remainder are a bit meh.
Pleasant, middle of the road songs. They wash over you without too much of a lasting impact. However, ‘Constant Craving’ is an excellent song and her voice is wonderful. I also quite liked Miss Chatelaine.
Good album. Standouts being Scarborough Fair, Homeward Bound 59th Bridge St. Song and For Emily.
Other tracks such as The Big Bright Green Machine and Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall are worth a listen too.
7 O’Clock News/Silent Night isn’t.
A brilliant album. Loved it when it came out and still do today. Really enjoyed listening to it again. Rio, Hungry Like the Wolf, My Own Way and Save a Prayer are obvious highlights, but Hold Back the Rain and The Chauffeur are equally engaging. Incredible bass playing and huge hooks. It took Duran Duran 29 years to come close to the consistent level of brilliance on here with the album All You Need is Now. That gap included some great albums too. Absolutely recommended.
Grim. Don’t listen to this if you’re depressed.
Not necessarily a fan of dance music, and this does tend to drag a bit in places for me, but they were brilliant when I saw them live at Milton Keynes as a support act and I do like Rendez-Vu and especially Red Alert, which is excellent.
Where to start? It’s so over the top, melodramatic and heavily arranged that it’s difficult to fully know what I think.
Love his voice though-really soulful-and the songs (all four of them) are all powerful. I especially loved One Woman. Really good overall.
Ok. Not really the kind of music I generally like, but to be fair there are some decent tunes.
That was just really peculiar. Feel like I’ve been at a strange propaganda rally, where the vocalists/speakers all have sore throats. Pounding drums, cheesy 80s synths and 59 minutes of weirdness. Won’t be going back to this.
Pretty, melodic and a bit dull. Doesn’t really go anywhere. I liked Caravan Girl, but otherwise it’s just a bit too mellow and bland to be engaging.
Very strong album. Best from U2. Loved it at the time. One is the absolute standout, but so many others are great. Superb energy, fantastic musicianship and wonderfully creative.
Good album by a great group. Wistful, nostalgic and endearing. The title track, and Picture Book are excellent. Only wished they’d included Days on it too.
Camp, cheesy and a fair amount of fun in places. Great guitar work and several highlights such as Breaking the Law and Living after Midnight. Not bad overall, but not brilliant.
Love a bit of Brit Pop. Especially when it has this amount of attitude. Good songs, particularly Stupid Girl, Queer and Supervixen.
Quite interesting in parts. A real mixture of styles. Some decent songs, but didn’t really make a big impression.
A difficult one as I love Blur, but have never really enjoyed Damon Albarn’s side projects that much. This very downbeat. A few tracks such as Herculean and the Northern
Whale raises a pulse, but otherwise nothing sticks in your head.
I know it has cult status and the storytelling is good, but nothing really thrilled me. Title track and Cocaine Blues have a bit of zip.
Too long, too uninspired, too much.
Very dark. A bit limited compositionally, but I liked the energy of Carcass and Hong Kong Garden is a standout.
A little overblown and too long in places, but varied stylistically with some very strong tracks too, such as Kashmir, Houses of the Holy and Trampled Under Foot. Worth listening to again.
Not a massive fan of prog rock to be honest and this is too experimental and weird to really have gained a higher score from me.
Quite enjoyed this. Great energy and superb guitar playing, but the constant talking/shouting irritated me a bit!
Is this really an album to listen to before you die???! No.
Loved the singles way back and still do, but the remainder of the album is a bit too lightweight and poppy for me. Look out for Nick Heyward’s later solo albums. They’re much, much better.
Really strong album. Slightly dodgy lyrics in places, but the music is excellent.
Inoffensive, largely dull, elevator music. Remotely pleasant in a few places but just Muzak really.
Dull, largely uninspiring set of songs from an early 90s fallow period in British music. Connected and Step it Up narrowly rise above the level of mediocrity, but it’s all largely forgettable. Too ‘cool’ for its own good and lacking any passion.
To be fair, I’m not a fan of Hip Hop or Rap, so this isn’t an album I can really rate impartially. Doesn’t do anything for me.
See previous review. After listening to this, it’s the same response, but much more so. Repetitive and lyrically revolting too.
Reasonable. A little repetitive in places, but a great voice.
A bit perplexing. Great horn section and good production, but 42 minutes of Salsa is a bit much for me.
A pleasant folk album, with lovely harmonies, but nothing much to write home about in all truthfulness. First two tracks and Wooden Ships are possibly the best.
Very good blues album. Excellent performances and really like his voice.
Like a Brazilian Donovan, but not as original. Maria Bethania is OKish, but otherwise…
Really enjoyable album. A real return to melodic, powerful songwriting. Numerous highlights: the title track, I’d Rather Be High, Valentine’s Day, The Stars are Out Tonight, Dancing Out in Space. Best album since Let’s Dance. .
Although if push came to shove I would say I was more of a Blur fan in the nineties, this album is superb. One of the best Brit Pop era efforts, one of the best debut albums by any band and possibly one of the best ever opening tracks.
Tough one to score. Funkier and more bluesy than most of the Beachboys output in the mid to late seventies. River Song is excellent and I also like Time and Only With You. Would I listen to it as a whole album again? Probably not. Beautiful in parts, but not consistent enough to demand repeat plays.
Didn’t listen to the Bambu sessions.
Not a genre I particularly enjoy. It went on for a really long time…
Pleasant enough. Uninspiring, but gentle and ideal background music.
Competent album. Nothing outstanding, but decent guitar songs. You Will You Won’t was probably the standout. The follow up album was better, with the excellent original version of Valerie’s.
Just about managed to get through to the end, but the songs meant nothing to me and I didn’t find anything redeeming to note.
An excellent album. The XTC ‘comeback’ after many years of contract related absence from the music scene was well worth the wait. Beautiful orchestrations and some standout songs. Not every one fully makes the grade, but I adore Greenman, Your Dictionary and Frivolous Tonight, whilst Easter Theatre is majestic.
Although I narrowly prefer the guitar heavy follow up ‘Wasp Star’ this is a classic.
It’s ok, but not something I’d listen to for a second time. Some passable tracks, but only just.
Oh dear. Cheerful bunch aren’t they?
Turgid.
Blimey. What was that? Just a cacophony of noise. Didn’t he write ‘Downtown Train?’ What went wrong??!
Not a massive fan of prog rock, but Starship Troopers and Yours is No Disgrace have some decent parts. OK overall, but wouldn’t listen to it again.
A bit frustrating as there is potential for some really good music here, but its eclecticism and some song’s lack of structure works against it. In places, it sounds a bit of a mess. When they get past that, in tracks like Juxtaposed with U and Its Not the End of the World, the results are good.
Some very good songs-When Doves Cry, Take Me With U, Let‘s Go Crazy and Purple Rain- and a bunch of fairly dated, cheesy 80s tracks outside of these. Not a masterpiece, as many say, but worth a listen for the singles.
Trippy, gentle and atmospheric or bland, boring and sleep inducing? I won’t be revisiting it.
Always liked their singles, but sadly a bit underwhelmed by this album. Some good tracks, such as Life During Wartime and Heaven, but it didn’t engage me as much as I hoped it would. It is rhythmically interesting and has great bass playing.
Good background music…if you live in a country and western themed geriatric home. It’s inoffensive, but is quite repetitive and doesn’t set your pulses racing.
Not necessarily a genre I completely embrace, but some massive riffs and excellent playing. Probably wouldn’t revisit, except for Enter Sandman, but don’t hate it either.
It took me two days to get through it. It wasn’t awful, but nothing stood out as particularly memorable. Plastic Flowers in the Highway possibly came closest, but probably wouldn’t listen to that again. The whole record was just too long.
The level of angst is not something I relate to (fortunately) but it is generally a pretty good album. The first five tracks particularly impress. Especially the excellent Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come As You Are.
It’s ok. She’s a good singer and the songs are reasonable, but nothing outstanding.
Always quite liked Praise You back in the nineties, but a whole album of this style of music was just a bit too long and repetitive for me.
Some nice guitar work and quite like her voice too, but nothing is particularly memorable.
Like a lot of albums on this list, it’s inoffensive, but largely bland. There Goes the Fear and Pounding are probably the best tracks.
Really enjoyed large parts of this. Basically the faster tracks, plus Money Honey. The slower ballads tend to drag a little, but overall a very good debut.
Nice voice and musically chilled, but likely to send into a coma if you listen to it more than once.
Boss’s Nova baby yeah!
Background music. Not a lot more.
I like a lot of the Foo Fighters’ singles (and it’s no exception here) but a whole album becomes harder to get through, with a rock sound that can be a bit generic and by the numbers in places.
Not a fan of jazz, but given the genre this firmly sits in I actually enjoyed some parts of it. Not enough to revisit, but ok.
Oh dear. That was a complete waste of time. What was the point to any of it and how did he get to make so many other albums??!!
