Overall did not interest me. I Have always enjoyed single tracks by Nick Drake, but felt very bored after a few in a row. Rounding up to 3 stars because the production and guitar tone was lovely.
Fav - which will, place to be, free ride
least fav - know, from the morning
My first ablum was Nick Drake, and I was a little disapointed to see this come in at number 2, as I was hoping for more of a shift in tone. However, this is a fantastic sounding album that grabbed me a lot harder than Pink Moon.
I forget how much I like Cat Stevens. All good songs. It's sitting right at 4.5 stars for me. Father & Son made me cry at work, which seems like a 5, but it's also just the 2nd album of the list for me. Feels too soon to be giving out marginal 5's... I guess it's 4, tough though, really good album.
Favorites - Wild World, Sad Lisa, Where do the Children Go, Father and Son
Less favorites (still good)- Longer Boats, Into White
2/1001+
Can't deny the incredible production and indelible impact. I thought that I would be giving this a 5 star without a second thought.
The problem is that I'd rather read about how important this album is than listen to it.
Love - Pet Sounds (kind of wish the whole album was instrumentals), Sloop John B
Like - God Only Knows
Take or leave the rest
5 star for influence and place on list, 2 star listen for me. I'll call it 4
3/1001+
I hate Christmas music, especially this kind of Christmas music. Painful.
I assume that if I liked classic cars I would love this. However, I am at best indifferent to cars of all types, much like this music.
Just as good as Nevermind. Love the production by Albini. It loses 1/2 a star for my because I find the transitions a bit rough, maybe because of the non-Albini reworks on a few songs.
Amazing song writing. Cobain's pain can be hard to listen to, but makes moving music.
Absolutely love this album.
Coming to this after The Bends and OK Computer I wasn't sure about it the first time I heard it, but it has grown on me every time I've listened. Idoteque and The National Anthem are favorites, but all are good and make up a coherent album that flows beautifully. The drumming and bass playing are so tight and perfect. Singing is subdued for Yorke, fits perfectly.
Album number 6, and my first 5 star
New to me. Album #9 on my list. First album on here I wasn't very familiar with which was fun.
I enjoy house/techno, but have never really paid much attention to individual artists or albums in the genre. This is pretty good, interesting layered sounds. Definitely goes beyond just a beat for dancing. In fact I don't think much of this is that great for dancing to, too many little hitches and variations.
Probably not something I'll come back to, but I had a good time.
Too long, started to drag
3.5 stars, round down to 3 because 4 implies either something that I want to own and have in regular rotation or something that feels particularly important or influential. While I enjoyed this, it doesn't meet those criteria.
favs - don't give up, Same old show
Positives - great metal drumming, super tight. Good bass too.
Too clean for me. I prefer more distortion and emotion in metal, or rock music generally. There are features here that certainly influenced music that I like a lot more.
I appreciated the lyrics for the most part, but did not enjoy the singing.
Songs felt repetitive. I can't remember any that I preferred over others.
Maybe I'm grumpy, but 2/5
I'm really not a fan of crooning music, Sinatra, Bing Crosy, ect. There are parts here that give me that cringe, but there are also moments with depth and beauty I don't hear in the Vegas crooners.
When the country or jazz or soul comes through a little stronger there are moments that I love. Ultimately I would rather listen to a full on country or jazz album and leave this as an interesting album that I don't revisit in full.
This was an unexpected experience. I loved this when it came out, and now I can't really remember why. It has not aged well.
It is still pleasant to have on. It has a lot of nice instrumentation. Whatever emotions it spoke to at the time aren't connecting anymore. It also doesn't hit me with the nostalgia high that some music from the era does. Maybe I'm just dead inside, but this is the most 3/5 stars I've heard so far.
I did enjoy this as a kid in the 90's, but now find the music rather dull and the vocals vaguely unpleasant.
Some of the reviews mention that they find it derivative and just like a dozen other bands of the era. I'm inclined to give some credit for being a few years ahead of the curve. In my experience at least, '94 was on the early end of this brand of blended stoner-rock/hip-hop/whatever it is. That being said, it is post Beck and Beastie Boys, and not nearly as good as either. Inessential and doesn't need to be on the list, I'd put 90% of the user albums above this.
2 stars
Top Covid lockdown album? Love this one, love the bass lines, love the arrangements.
Just the right amount of weird to be engrossing and interesting.
Very surprising 5 stars, really happy to be reminded of this one.
Not bad, not my favorite music.
I know that Springsteen's messages are nuanced and he seems to be a good person, but I find it difficult to separate this music from conflicted feelings about patriotism and US imperialism at the beginning of 2026. Just not what I want playing in my head these days. I'd rather have someone screaming at me or hitting me with some atonal nonsense. Wish it was Tom Waits.
Curious to see how Springsteen's older stuff hits if it comes up soon.
Probably a 4-star album that I'm giving 3 because of feelings
Really like this. A few all time classics. I used to listen to this all the time.
Every song is drawn out. In my opinion cutting just a couple of them to be tighter would make the long drawn out songs feel more emotionally powerful and would make the while album better. Maybe I just got too drained by the end, maybe I'm just too jaded to handle so much Cure.
Love - Pictures of You (one of my 100 desert island songs), Lullaby
Strong 4 stars
Easy 5 stars, classic. Perfect voice and so much feeling. Sometimes great singers leave me feeling a bit cold, not Aretha. Love it
Favs - People Get Ready, Good to me as I am to You!!!, kind of all of them.
Second album that I haven't heard before. Not a super exciting discovery
The dated synthy sound isn't working for me here. I don't hate the beat and groove of it, but it's pretty boring.
It has a kind of lo-fi quality that I love in rock music, but I generally want my electronic music more polished.
A few songs give a hint of early Nine Inch Nails, but don't get there in quality or emotion. They don't sound as good and this is 10 years after NIN's first album. [Just noticed that this came out in 1999, I would have guessed '89, deliberate? Part of the late 90's Euro aesthetic?]
Lot of Daft Punk too, just way worse.
Disco II Disco is a strange song, makes me feel like I'm losing an arcade game over and over again.
The more songs I listen to the less I like this.
Won't be coming back to it. Wouldn't have included on the list.
I Kind of liked the last song, drags it up to barely 2 Stars
Top Review - "Mumble Sad bastard music"... My favorite!
Right up my alley. I feel like this would stand up well to multiple listens to go deeper into the lyrics.
Not quite my favorite Silver Jews album, probably "American Water", but still really good.
4.5 stars, probably rounded down to 4 because even though I love this I would consider it a minor album, not essential listening.
Obviously this is pretty weird. I don't hate it.
I'm super impressed by the production. For 1968 the sound is really crisp. All the little studio sounds really pop. You can tell before turning it on that it's going to be riffing on Sgt. Pepper's and I think that it does the studio stuff just as well. Listening on decent headphones I was struck by how good the stereo effect is. All-in-all feels ahead of it's time and a great illustration of Zappa's genius.
First phone call skit that somehow became ubiquitous in 90's hip-hop?? I guess maybe Bob Newhart's comedy album.
Two problems:
1. The satire has not aged all that well, as it often doesn't. No connection to the lyrics or stories being told.
2. It's cool, but it's barely music. Not something that I would just put on and listen to.
Glad it's on the list but don't think I can go above 3 stars
Starts off incredibly strong, stays really good. I love the opening 4 songs, raw but beautiful. Her singing is incredible and hard to believe given her age at the time. The piano and instrumentation is also great.
I was surprised to get this just a week after "Fetch the Bolt Cutters". Very interesting to compare the two. Both are really good, but I prefer the later work by a hair. I appreciate the confidence to be experimental gained over time. I'm a bit younger than her, so possibly her more mature songs speak to me at this point in my life. I was also a little too young to appreciate this when it came out, unlike "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" which hit me immediately and hard.
If I got served this a year from now with more space from FtBC I'll bet I would give it 5 stars, but I'm unable to avoid a direct comparison and end up at a very strong 4 stars for "Tidal". Still an album that I will listen to many times and always love.
Fav - Sleep to Dream, Sullen Girl, Shadowboxer, The First Taste
Very difficult to separate from the circumstances of it's release. Deeply melancholic.
From Lazarus to the end is excellent and right up there with the best he ever did. The first 2 songs are not my favorites.
I did not like this at all.
"Tainted Love" was the only song I was familiar with, and that was okay. It's a 2.5 minute song and that was about how much time I wanted to spend here.
I used to say that I hated 80's music, that was silly, but this vibe is exactly why I said it.
Really good album. Consistently good songs all the way through. The radio hits were severely overplayed, so I actually enjoyed the non-singles more.
Favorites are "Oracular spectacular" and "Of Moons, Birds, & Monsters".
Not quite an all time classic, but no skips which earns a solid 4 stars from me.
Completely unfamiliar with this which is exciting!
It's pretty good, most songs have a nice groove to them. Strikes me as finding a home somewhere between the Rolling Stones and Pavement. I like the singers voice for a few songs, but find that I'm tiring of it as the album goes on.
The Replacements' cover of "Another Girl, Another Planet" is a favorite song. I like the version here too, although not quite as much.
Overall, I'm glad this came up. I was thinking 3 stars, but then I saw that the album is 33 minutes long and for some reason I really appreciated that, rounded up to 4 stars!
This is... fine I guess. Probably pretty cool when it came out, borderline comical now, enormous Spinal Tap vibes. The falsetto yells on "Bloodsucker" caused involuntary eye rolling.
I am enjoying some of the organ playing though, little bit of funk to it. I'll take this over The Doors any day. At least these guys sound like they're having a good time while being ridiculous.
"Child in Time" has a nice sound (favorite on the album), but why oh why is it over 10 minutes long? The song has a perfect ending point at 6:15! They were not into restraint.
"Flight of the Rat" is pretty good too, cool guitar.
Downhill after that, pretty over it by the end.
There are 2 more Deep Purple albums on the list, really? I think I get the idea, not excited about that.
Overall well done but not for me, 3 stars.
Right off the bat, this is cool as hell. I'm not familiar with the album although I've heard bits of it here and there. Sits nicely in the junction of jazz and soul.
H20 Gate Blues is amazing. Not much changes I guess, but if anyone is making a song like this now I would like to hear it.
Not something that I would listen to very often, but when I'm feeling right for it this would hit hard. I wish I'd gotten it in the summer time, feels like a summer time album despite the name.
Had this down as 4 stars, but after H20 Gate Blues I'm calling it 5 stars. Moved by this album and will be checking out some of his other work.
Well this is a big one. Certainly an album to listen to before you die, but did I need to listen to it again before I die. I'm not so sure.
Some music gets more personal and powerful the more you listen to it. This is not in that category for me. Admittedly I'm not particularly interested in 70's classic rock, but I've heard all of these songs so many times that they bore me.
This is a tough one to rate. Yes, it's technically excellent, yes it's a big freakin deal, but I don't like it that much. Sounds like 3 stars and get out of here without upsetting anyone too much.
I do kind of like "When the Levee Breaks", killer bass line.
I've never heard this before, and I won't be coming back. It's mostly dull. Somehow sleepier Nick Drake. I gave "Pink Moon" 2 stars and I think I liked it a fair bit more than this.
The only song that I didn't dislike was "Dreams By the Sea" which had a tolerable jazzy tune. Then it went into a song that would feel right at home performed for an open mic night at a decent coffee shop near a medium sized midwestern college. My clapping would be half hearted.
I can't see a single reason to include this album on the list. I actually listened to most of it twice to see if I was missing something, still don't see it.
First thing, I love the album art! Really cool
Second thing, I love Janis Joplin, one of my favorite singers.
This album doesn't quite hit the highs of her solo work. It doesn't feel like she's going quite as full into it, but is rather working with the band. That makes sense, but it downplays the part that I like. I care a lot less about the run of the mill late 60's psychedelic rock than I do about hearing Janis Joplin take it all the way to the limit.
I know they were trying to recreate a live sound in the studio, but the production is not my favorite. A bit muffled.
about 3.5 stars that I'm rounding up to 4 because of the R. Crumb art.
This is right in my zone. The list nailed my general mood today.
Super cool sound. Love the guitar tone throughout. You can hear some of the qualities that Albini would contribute to other artists' work as an engineer, but they've still got a unique and interesting thing going on.
Favorite song was probably "Kerosene", no skips though.
This is probably a 3 or 4 star album that I'm giving 5 stars because I loved listening to it today and I want to be reminded to turn it on when the mood strikes in the future.
I like this, don't love it.
David Byrne is an icon and seems genuinely cool. I like their aesthetic and the undeniable fact that they do their own thing. You can't mistake them for anything else. Still, I rarely go for the Talking heads, something just doesn't feel right, maybe you had to be there.
I like this album more than their others that I've listened to in their entirety. It has a hint more of their punk roots coming through.
4 stars, seems essential but just misses for me
Not sure how to rate this one. She has a beautiful voice, no surprise there. She is rightfully revered. Really pretty songs, but I tried listening twice and very literally fell asleep both times. Send me the best 35 minutes of this and we can talk about a 5 star classic.
I feel like 3 stars for an "album" that I couldn't get through isn't bad.
32 albums in and my second Nick Drake album, not thrilled
I am glad that there are at least some other sounds and instruments on this one, but it sounds like a collection of theme songs to 70's sitcoms.
If Bob Dylan rhymed "Jane" with "again" I would probably think it was great, but for some reason it annoyed the hell out of me here.
I do enjoy the piano on "One of These Things First". It would make top notch music to be placed on hold with your doctor's office. Actually maybe that's what all this music sounds like.
"Fly" has my favorite singing on the album, but it sounds like Ren fair music, not a compliment.
I haven't listened to Rage Against the Machine in years, but I felt irresistibly compelled to turn it on after this, odd reaction.
I wanted to like it more than Pink Moon, and there are little touches here and there that I liked, but nope, still 2 stars.
Right in my wheelhouse.
I love the drumming in particular. Early version of what I think of as "90's drumming"
It's hard not to compare to Nirvana, and the lyrics and singing don't hold up to Kurt Kobain. The influence is strong though, and The guitar, drums, and bass are right there.
Minor quibble, songs are a bit repetitive, none jump out as real classics, just all pretty good. no skips though, solid album. Happy to see it here.
Okay, I would call this very inessential. Not sure what it's doing on the list. Not very interesting and I am not blown away by the sound.
I was only vaguely aware of them before, and don't expect to revisit.
This rocks! Opening Track is great.
Amazing rock drumming, Ozzy's voice was one of a kind.
They are certainly one of the most influential heavy rock/ metal bands of all time, but listening to it now, it just feels like solid rock. Really holds up, I'll listen to this over most other guitar music coming out of the 70's
Not my favorite Sabbath Album, but still a solid 4 stars. Almost 5 stars, I think I'm secretly wanting to leave room for Paranoid. This one has a few more filler songs than Paranoid.
Aside, I'm a little surprised that there are no solo Ozzy albums on the list. Feels like Blizzard of Ozz could have squeezed on.
They get a catch a lot of hate for the bands that follow after. I don't think that's particularly fair or relevant.
1. That's not their fault. Just because they were a little ahead of the zeitgeist doesn't mean they should be blamed for all the bad songs that put mediocre rapping over guitars.
2. Yes there is a bunch of terrible nu-metal, but there is a lot of terrible music of all kinds. I don't blame De La Soul for Vanilla Ice.
Still, I don't like it. The singers voice is not pleasant. The rapped parts are not catchy or clever. The music is Guns and Roses coded, but without Slash, so a bit disappointing. A few decent bits here and there, but not one I'll circle back to.
2 Stars
Love this album. For some reason I'm always surprised by how hard it is. I have listened to it many times, yet in my mind it's always kind of dour and shoegazey. Then what I get is shoegaze singing and lyrics with hardcore music.
Favs - Sludgefeast, In a Jar, Soledo
Probably not a 5 star album objectively, but it's 5 stars in my heart.
I've heard of this, but never listened to it before. Really good.
Very much enjoy the steel guitar and general punk/country/blues vibes.
Favorite - "Preaching the Blues" never heard it, loved it.
This came up the day after Dinasaur Jr.'s "You're Living All Over Me" from 1987 and it is great listen to 2 albums that more or less bookend the 80's with such cool rock music. Goes against my preconceived idea that the 80's had decent but not "cool" music. The Replacements tomorrow??
Not my favorite singer, and it did drag a little towards the end after a great start.
Solid 4 stars
