I love the penguins!! I thought this was such a lovely album - the switch up at In a Sydney Motel really got me. I loved the general discordance across the record. Think it would make a great meditation piece. 4 stars!
Is this one of the all-time great album openers? I came to Dylan late in life so I certainly don’t have the depth of knowledge to know where this sits in the Bob Dylan canon, but prior to listening to this album in full, “Like a Rolling Stone” was always up there for me (I love baying “diiiiiiiin’t youuuuuu when the occasion calls for it) and I’ve always appreciated the haunting of “Ballad of a Thin Man”.
Having now listened to this front to back like 5 times in the last 24 hours, it’s “Desolation Row” that really sticks with me.
I haven’t worked out what a 5-star album means for me just yet, so this is getting a 4!
Big Day Out mentioned!!
My rap/hip-hop education really started in 2015 when I was tasked with putting together a History-of-Hip-Hop event for the USSC. Julian lovingly pulled together a playlist for the event (which never got used because DJ TJA was on the decks all night) and I still listen to that playlist almost weekly to this day. “What’s Golden” is like a top 5 song off that playlist for me, so I was stoked to see this album pop up yesterday. It’s by far the best track on the album and while I enjoyed listening to it in situ, “Concrete Jungle” being the first autoplay track after the album finished cemented for me that I didn’t really love it on the whole.
This was really in one ear, out the other for me. Can appreciate it for what it is but it’s really not my jam.
I love accents in music!! I loved how cheeky this album was, it was a good laff (Nina, in the Cortina, couldn’t be more obscener??? That’s some writing for the ages). I definitely gravitated towards the first half over the second - Ian kinda lost me around “Blockheads”; the more yell-y stuff annoyed me, though am willing to admit I’m listening to this poolside and the yelling+layered sounds is just not the mood I’m in.
There were elements here that I love elsewhere - some Elton-style piano runs, our-house-in-the-middle-of-our-street vibes, and again accents!! Probably won’t return to this album anytime soon but I didn’t hate it!
The Isley Brothers suffered here for having covered two of my all-time fave songs (Summer Breeze and Listen to the Music). I just wanted to be listening to the versions I know and love.
There’s a lot to like here though, “Don’t let me be lonely tonight” gave me big Macy Gray vibes and “If you were there” will definitely be making it onto my Sunday morning playlist. Also, learning it’s pronouncing “Eyes-ley” and not “Izz-ley” has left me shook.
Can’t say that much of this album really stuck with me on the first few go-arounds. “Angels of Deception” was the song that cut through and I generally like the sound of the album. I think I would have more fun once I know the lyrics!
I’m re-listening as I write this and the outro to “Heartland” has really stood out but that might be the Venezuela of it all.
I think I’ll be revisiting this one in weeks to come!
This is my first exposure to The Byrds (forgive me) and this is not at all what I thought The Byrds’ sound was? I’m assuming Sweetheart of the Rodeo was somewhat of a departure for them (especially thanks to the bonus theatrical track of a woman insisting that this WAS indeed The Byrds).
On the whole, this album was a little too country for me. I did enjoy the liberal use of the banjo and the fiddle throughout (I’m not anti-country!!!). “You Don’t Miss Your Water” and “Blue Canadian Rockies” have broken through for me but not my fave album of this journey!
I really liked this! Much more my speed but also outside of my wheelhouse, insofar as I probably wouldn’t have found this album on my own.
The first track was the only one to download/save offline before I got on the plane to Saigon so I have a particular affinity to “You ain’t the problem” because I listened to it on repeat (and also because it’s a fun track!!).
KIWANUKA in its totality really felt like AN ALBUM to me. I love the highs and lows and the change of pace throughout, I felt like I went on a journey. “Hero” is the other highlight for me at this point, but I can certainly see this album making it into my rotation. 4 🌟!
Finally, an album I was already familiar with! I went through a brief phase last year where I mainlined “Stardust”, so it was nice to listen to the album in its entirety. Unsure if this is common knowledge but I was a diehard Michael Bublé fan as a teen (and still have quite a fondness for him to this day!) so that was my baseline for a lot of these songs.
I think this is such a beautiful album, excellently curated. Willie Nelson just so perfectly encapsulates the yearning and longing that often comes with being in love (requited or otherwise). “Georgia on my mind” is a forever fave and he knocks it out of the park.
This album well and truly had me in my feels and that’s how you know it’s a goodie.
I thought this was such a beautiful album and goes to show that you don’t need to understand what’s being said to be moved, and as someone whose primary experience with music tends to be through the lyrics it was a good reminder. I’m always moved by people who sing in their native language too, so I particularly enjoyed this album!
I was surprised/intrigued by how much the first 3ish tracks sounded like Balkan folk music to me and I think “Gidelam” was my fave! Had me grooving in the streets (I love percussion!!)
Divorced dad rock and not the good kind.
Praise be to my lord and saviour, Jack Antonoff.
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This is one hell of a sophomore album and I’d go out on a limb to say that it’s the best the Lorde has been. Melodrama has been in high-rotation for me since its release; Lorde has such a knack for capturing the very essence of youth in her writing and Antonoff’s layered synths over the piano melodies really bring to life the tumult that she was writing about here. Obviously I have a deep nostalgia for this time in my life but the likes of “Supercut” have taken on new meaning and still hit me deep in the chest as a spritely 31-year-old.
10/10 no notes (also the album artwork?? Incredible).
Oof, that was a rough opening track. None of this album stood out to me but it was a-okay background noise!
Despite growing up on Tumblr, I’m pretty sure this was my first time listening to Arcade Fire. This album was very 2010… mostly inoffensive to my sensibilities but not one I would return to anytime soon. I think I preferred the back half (“Month of May” onwards)
Hell yeah. This album was so much fun! I secretly love a live album (I feel like they are controversial? But I want to FEEL like I’m THERE). Excellent poolside listening and I was really surprised that the drum solo was my fave track.
I’m really enjoying this whole endeavour, vis-a-vis getting to listen to long-time favourite tracks in situ on the albums they live on. I grew up in a very 80s household so I am no stranger to Duran Duran, meaning that this album was just a good time! “Hungry Like The Wolf” is just such a banger.
I listened to this on a flight and it was great plane music. I also did fall asleep on said flight, but it was the kind of sleep where you’re still kind of conscious of your surroundings, which meant that this album was very present during my nap - that kind of cut-through deserves recognition. Listening again this morning, I think it’s definitely an album that will sneak into the rotation. I’m giving this 3 stars but know it’s really a 3.5 🤩
W-E-F-U-N-K !
“Give Up The Funk” is one of those earworms that can force itself from my lips at any given point and again, I really enjoyed hearing it as part of the broader album. I loved the alien-radio concept that carried through and am just so impressed by how clearly I can hear each individual instrument? Everything works in perfect harmony but everything also gets its moment to shine?
I love funk and I love THIS funk in particular. 5 stars!!
Ooooh that opening guitar really got me but it just wasn’t really enough for me to properly absorb it all (though admittedly I was probably too distracted on the whole). Relistening to bits and pieces this morning, it’s fine!
This album was such a lovely slice of a very specific 80s sound, and I enjoyed it thusly!
This album made me want to bust out the Guitar Hero. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to Iron Maiden but I was pleasantly surprised. I probably won’t reach for it but will be happy to listen again
What do you want me to say? CCR forever and this isn’t even their best album. “Tombstone Shadow” is the winner for me this time around, because it made me feel like I was alive again and not just a sad sack of bones ravaged by gastro. Thank you John Fogerty 🙏
It’s funny, I almost find it harder to provide meaningful insight to albums I already know and love, and I know and love A Girl Called Dusty!!
Just makes me want to rewatch Mad Men (again)
Unfortunately I think Living Colour are suffering here for the number of 80s/rock/80s rock we’ve had recently. I found that this album just kinda sounded like all the others and I was tuning out. I did enjoy the sprinkling of hip-hop in “Funny Vibe” and I definitely preferred the back half of the album - “Glamour Boys” was fun!
Don’t think I’ll be returning to this one :(
I enjoyed this Thompson + Thompson venture. I found the album to be haunting at times and felt that it captured the English dreariness quite well. I certainly preferred the Linda-heavy tracks and there are some all-time lyrics here (‘cause I love taking money off a snob like you).
Doubt this one will make it into the rotation but I’m very glad to have heard it.
I was surprised to learn this album came out in 1995 because in my mind it was very 2002? Anyway, Garbage is an excellent album and we need more angry girl rock; I was delighted to get to listen to this album in full.
I had a much kinder initial review but I just didn’t like this and I’m not going to pretend that I understood why this album is on the list.
I love Björk for all the weird and wonderful things that she is and for inspiring one of the greatest ever Snatch Game performances. This album isn’t something I’d ever reach for but I appreciate how it pushes my understanding of what music can be.
Great stuff. Even if the rest of the album sucked Baba O’Reilly is enough to pull it over the line.
What a lovely album to start the day with. I especially loved the harmonies on “How Long?”
¡Mucho gusto!
This album is such a great example of why this exercise is so fun - I never would have found Tito Puente on my own but I had such a good time listening to this album. It made me want to dance around and be somewhere tropical, in a big skirt, with a drink in hand. I definitely preferred the front half of the album but I would gladly return, especially as dinner party music.
I don’t know if this is common knowledge but I loooooove reggae. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that if I primarily listen to Bob Marley (and the Wailers! Of which Tosh is one!) but I do. This was great listening for the portion of the train ride between Sutherland and Thirroul where there is zero phone reception and I’m expecting that the Ketchy Shuby instrumental will be in high rotation as accompaniment to my reading habits.
What’s not to love here? I’ve always been a fan of The Offspring and I’m particularly partial to all the whoaaaaa yeahhhh yeahhhhh ohhhhhs, of which there are plenty on this album. The back end is home to a few of my fave tracks (Come Out and Play, Self Esteem). Long live the 90s!!
I’d never listened to Sigur Rós before; they simply existed as a pop culture reference in my brain. I really enjoyed the listening experience! There’s so much ambience and there’s a real richness to the sound. The swelling crescendos and the layering of instruments and vocals really scratched a certain part of my brain. Many of the tracks give me big Rock Eisteddfod vibes/mems (complimentary)
Stupid and I loved every second of it.
What I love about Radiohead is how the instrumentals so effectively reflect the mood of the lyrics and Yorke’s voice. It creates such a depth to the music that enables it to Really Take You There. This album is a great example of that and I enjoyed being in my feels for an hour. Pyramid Song/Life in a Glasshouse were highlights for me and I loved the switch up at Knives Out; it served to pull me back into the album when my brain started to wander.
A by-product of having young parents is that I came to know The Beatles really late in life. That meant that, before there was “The Beatles”, there was George Harrison, and what more could a girl want?
This album is unencumbered by the John-Paul-Ringo of it all and is just such a good time!! My Sweet Lord is an all-time great, one that lives deep in my heart, but even putting that aside there’s so much greatness here (I keep going back to What is Life, If Not for You, and the title track). Sure, 2 hours is an incredibly long run time, but as a Tortured Poets fiend, who am I to judge?
It’s hard to believe this isn’t a greatest hits album, when it’s home to so many Great Hits.
I’ll admit I’ve never listened to the album in full prior to this exercise and what a fool have I been! I’m almost lost for words for how beautiful this album is. Cracker of an opener and then Carole just hits you with sucker punch after sucker punch. There’s so much love and longing in the lyrics and the music matches perfectly. The Gilmore Girls theme song isn’t even the closest to being the best track and I still get the goosebumps every time I hear it!!
Long live the (Carole) King!
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I’m back again the next day and holy hell this album just gets better with every listen.
Surely I don’t need to justify my rating, but just in case, my reasons are as follows:
1. Bennie and The Jets
2. Candle in the Wind
3. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
4. Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)
Loverboy: Hits of 1975
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Definitional easy listening; completely inoffensive to the senses but too much sameness as the record went on. I really did love Lover Boy Supreme though and it’s probably the breakthrough track for me.
Woah-oh-oh-oh he’s a working class man
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Another all-time great album. A little hard to get past all the “little girl” references these days, but I’m willing to overlook this time around. Also can’t believe I’ve spent my whole life loving “Cover Me” and never once realising it was The Boss.
Yay! The Police! The hits really hit, and on the whole I liked how there was sonic cohesion throughout without getting caught in the samey-sameness. Other than that though, not a whole lot to write home about.
Breaking news: woman with American Studies degree loves Americana. In other news: water is wet.
I fear I’m going to be in enemy territory here but I really love this album, in no small part thanks to the opening three-track run that has deeply shaped me.
Look I get it, you either love or hate Hotel California but I think it does exactly what it needs to do, which is create a creepy atmosphere that really takes hold of 6-year-old Emily, trapped in the car in the wee hours of the morning, en route to Melbourne. It perfectly establishes the exploration of American excess and American decay that is the rest of the album.
New Kid in Town hits me right in the chest every single time I hear it. There’s just !something! about the timbre of “Johnny-come-lately / the new kid in town / will she still love you / when you’re not around?” that makes me want to cry.
And Life in the Fast Lane is maybe some of the most fun I’ve had with a song. It’s so sexy!!! Brutally handsome? Terminally pretty?? Good in bed!!! I could listen to it on repeat for hours and never get bored.
The opening run is enough for me to give this album five stars but I genuinely did enjoy the rest of it, even Wasted Time (Reprise), which really felt like a movie score just snuck in there for the hell of it.
Sonically, I liked this but not enough to go back to try and decipher the lyrics.
There’s something to be said about having a /style/ or a /sound/ but this all just sounded like a Toy Story soundtrack. Don’t get me wrong! Randy Newman is hugely important to music and film history and I value his place in the canon, but when it comes to an album the sameness is not what I want out of my listening experience.
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SO interesting that the autoplay at the end of this album was Richard and Linda Thomason’s The Border, a fave from earlier in this journey 😌
Gee, they really dragged my ass with A Rose for Emily, on Valentine’s Day no less. Apart from that, I really liked this album! Could’ve blown me over with a feather when I got to Time of the Season - a song I’ve looooved for a long time but just never knew who sang it. Turns out I’ve been a fan of The Zombies without even knowing it (as evidenced by She’s Not There coming on shortly thereafter).
I love the little bit of psychedelia that permeates this album and the swelling orchestrals/harmonies are very up my alley. I’ll be coming back to this one for sure.
As far as MJ albums go… this just felt a little nothing to write home about? Which feels CRAZY when almost half of the track list comprises MJ songs I couldn’t live without (Don’t Stop…, Rock with You, Off the Wall, She’s Out of My Life), and yet. I think I was a little bored!
Yeah, cool. Big fan. I found the back third, from Broken Heart onwards, to be quite affecting.
I’m surprised by how much I didn’t like this, and for reasons I’ve liked other albums! I couldn’t handle the immersive atmosphere of it all. The baby crying, the dinging in Hey You that made me think I’d set off my smoke alarm, the intro to Is There Anybody Out There?, all too much for me in this moment. Objectively, I can see how all of those (amongst others!) makes this a generational album; alas it just made me anxious and was not a pleasant listening experience!
Another Brick in The Wall Pt. 2 (and Comfortably Numb!) brings this up to a 3 ⭐️
Sorry to Kelela but this album just didn’t hold my attention. Maybe because it didn’t lean all the way into the slow jam of it all?
I CAAAAAAN’T LIIIIIIIVE IF LIVINGISWITHOUTYOUUUUUU!!!!
I really bloody love Harry Nilsson and I really needed this album today. 5 stars, no notes.
You don’t /really/ need me to explain this, do you?
The Bang a Gong cover was a nice treat 😌
Holy shit.
Stripping away the context of Bowie’s death in the immediate aftermath of Blackstar’s release (things have never been the same), this is still an incredibly heart-wrenching album filled with one man’s reckoning with his mortality and a life lived in the clutches of fame.
I was really taken by how much this album is distinctly Bowie, whilst also being perhaps his most experimental work. To be able to strike that balance so late into your career is a feat, and one perhaps only Bowie could achieve.
After all these years I still don’t know what a karma chameleon is.
Wow turns out I really internalised the “oh you’re wearing a Ramones t-shirt? Name five of their songs” discourse of the early 2010s because tell me why I thought I’d never listened to the Ramones, when I indeed know and love the Ramones??
Anyway, great album that had me banging my head on my otherwise bleak walk home. I’m flying against my fear that I’ve given too many 5 star ratings lately, but this is a 5 star album!
The more I listened to this the more I hated it. I couldn’t get behind the affect of the lead singer’s voice, every song sounded the same and not in a “sonically cohesive” way, and The Thrills somehow managed to make me hate the greatest instrument of all time (the tambourine). In theory this should’ve been right up my alley, if only for its wistful dreaming of the Californian coast but why you would choose to listen to this album over anything else is beyond me.
This is giving live albums a bad rap
Everything except for the title track just washed over me.
I often forget that this is Green Day’s SEVENTH studio album but god is it a good one. I’m partial to a concept album but a concept album done WELL is something else. I know this album is steeped in deep nostalgia for me but I’m pretty sure it’s not clouding my judgement here. This is a 5-star-er, if only because it taught me that I can be loud and defiant and angry. I really enjoyed returning to American Idiot and will be glad to do so again.
I’ve only ever known Frank Zappa as the aesthetic inspiration for Peggy’s boyfriend Abe in the later seasons of Mad Men, but man I loved this! It was groovy! It was funky! It made me feel like I was plonked into the middle of The Nice Guys (one of my all time fave movies!!). Gimme more!
Please don’t ask me to form a coherent opinion of this album, it was fine if I didn’t listen to the lyrics too closely?
Great background music. Unsure where or why the Jamaican accent from in Listen to the Lion.
On Harry Styles release weekend? I have better things to be listening to.
(I’m starting to think that live albums shouldn’t be included in this exercise 🤔)
They hit flow state with Da Mystery of Chessboxin’ and it kept climbing to Method Man. I couldn’t really stomach all the in between bits, but they’re not for me so 🤷♀️
This is getting 2 stars because it wasn’t enough to pull me away from Mr Styles (sorry not sorry maybe actually sorry)
Looovely. It’s not my fave Beatles album but there are some faves on here, and that’s good enough for me.
Darling, go home! Your husband is DEAD.
Yeah, cool, loved this album. It captures a particular 90s sound, one that I sometimes forget existed! Surprisingly atmospheric and definitely one that was made for the headphones. I’ll be coming back to Connected for sure!
While quintessential, it’s not my fave RHCP album, but I do have to say that “Under the Bridge” still goes OFF.
I’ve always known that Ravi is The Sitar Guy but my actual knowledge of his work started there and ended with him being Norah Jones’ dad. I really enjoyed this album, mostly because I felt I really learned something! It’s clear to me why Ravi is The Sitar Guy and this album found me at the right time to really appreciate it! 4 stars!
I’m a basic bitch whose favourite song on this album is Cecilia. I don’t think the sound mixing on this has been optimised for streaming/headphones because it was so soft even with my volume turned all the way up and it really got in the way of the listening experience for me. I’d hazard that my rating might be higher if I’d listened via another medium.
We all know by now that I love a concept album and my oh my has Adamson executed on his idea here. An excellent listen for my moody morning commute.
I own three copies of this album on vinyl.
I thought the guitars were sexy and I love Ozzy’s vocals.
4 x 10+ min songs? Hell yeah.
Equal parts fun and funky, smooth and sexy, and just a touch of silly. The first three were more my speed but I’ll be coming back to Hot Buttered Soul for sure.
It’s Ella doing the Songbook - what more could you want??
And yet - it’s not my fave Ella album but I’m giving it 5🌟 just in case it doesn’t come up!!
Fine, upscale cocktail bar music. Nothing here to hold my interest.
I love Pulp! I think I’m a Man was my fave.
I would like to state from the outset that I simply haven’t had enough to time to truly appreciate this album, but that I am looking forward to coming back again and again.
69 Love Songs really made me reconsider my definition of “love songs” because to me, this was like 56 (rough estimation) break-up songs, which are obviously full of love and yearning, but exist in a separate category for me.
It was also oodles of fun and full of whimsy, which we need more of, and I’m also glad to have listened to this album in a stable emotional state because I just /know/ some of these lyrics would have destroyed a different version of myself. I love how they experimented with genre and tone throughout the record. There was no sameness that has plagued some of the other long albums we’ve had and really felt like they were trying to challenge themselves with creating love songs across the musical spectrum.
Faves in no particular order (or, the order in which they appear on the album):
- A Chicken…
- Reno Dakota 🌟
- Luckiest Guy… 🌟 (also takes my fave lyric for “I’m the luckiest guy on the Lower East Side, ‘cause I’ve got wheels and you want to go for a ride”)
- I think I need a new heart
- (Crazy for you)…
- Promises of Eternity
- Papa was a rodeo
- Queen of Savages
- I love you I can’t…
- The Night you can’t…
- For we are the kings…
This is a narrow 4.5 rounded up and I’m looking forward to this album becoming a mainstay
Good stuff. 3.5 rounded up for the da-da, da-da, das in Howlin’ For You.
I think if I had listened to the lyrics more closely, this would have resonated more but alas, not to be this time around
