1001 Albums Summary

I went into Head Hunters fully expecting to feel confused and under qualified, since this was my first real time listening to Herbie Hancock and neither jazz or fusion is my usual thing, but this album totally caught me off guard. Chameleon starts with a groove that immediately pulls you in, but after a while it begins to lose its appeal, like Herbie dared you to stop nodding your head. Probably my least favorite in the album, but still a vibe. Watermelon Man was an instant favorite, funky, weird, playful, and just straight-up fun. It takes you out of the repetitive circle that is Chameleon and gives you something new. Sly feels like the band just locked in and said “yeah, let’s see where this goes,” and somehow it works, even when it’s a little all over the place. Vein Melter then comes in sounding like the lights just got dimmed and everyone stopped talking, and it’s lowkey feels like you’re floating in space. Overall, for someone who doesn’t normally reach for jazz or fusion, Head Hunters surprised me by being way more groovy and enjoyable than I ever expected. Definitely a solid 7/10. Would get funked again

2112 avoids the worst excesses of prog rock and keeps all the good bits, earning its place in the dad rock canon (or mom rock, I don’t discriminate).The first side is pretentious and indulgent, of course, but that's why you're here, and it's just half a record. That said, a 20-minute track is a hard pill to swallow. Especially as it contains a section around the 7-minute mark that's just guitar tuning. For the rest of the runtime, we get songs, each distinct but tied together with instrumental chops and, most of all, Lee's vocals. There's nothing mind-blowing here, and calling out those who say there is is fair play. But that doesn't make the music any worse. Overall a solid 9/10.

more like david lowie am i right Here we see a tastefully confusing piece of art that's surprisingly grounded for someone recovering from a crippling drug addiction. The synths and especially the drums are most notable, instrumentally, on this album. The drumming has a very loud, distorted sound that probably isn't to everyone's taste, but I think it sounds pretty neat. And it's front and centre in every track on side 1. The tracks themselves on the record's first side are short, catchy, thoughtful, and... I can't really explain how, but they're so darn artistic. Speed of Life, the opening track, is the opening to a new electronic era of rock music. Immediately following that, we get an electric, bass-driven interludey number with Breaking Glass. What In the World is a wobbly, synth-filled, two chord ball of energy. Sound and Vision, with its simple chord progression, manages to be one of the most satisfying standalone tracks in Bowie's discography. Always Crashing In the Same Car and Be My Wife are a one two punch of moody tracks driven primarily by synths (and both are great). Finally, we close side a with a return to simplicity in the fresh, upbeat instrumental track A New Career In a New Town. Then we get to side 2, arguably what the album is most known for. It's pretty good, again incorporating several layers of synths that flow rhythmically in and out of the mix. The four tracks on this side are all quite distinct from one another, and yet share that indescribable Bowie sound. Warszawa in particular creates a cool, yet very grim, atmosphere. Overall, it’s probably a 4.5, but I’ll round up :)

It took me over 24 hours to write this review because I quite literally didn't know what to write. I think when I was younger I would have automatically given this an instant rating of 5. I mean, it's Rubber Soul, right? By the Beatles!?! But honestly, it's just kinda underwhelming. They just weren't there yet. Revolver was a big step forward, and by Sgt. Peppers they had completely changed their sound. Rubber Soul, to me, still has too many problems of the early Beatles, and some of them sure haven't aged well. The music is pretty crisp. Catchy, pop-rocky, with a clean and punchy sound. The mono mix sounds good and the production is overall solid, but the lyrics go "baby you can drive my car beep beep yeah", "run for your life if I catch you with another man, little girl". What is going on? The endless harmonizing becomes grating after a while, however it does have a few standouts, most notable Norwegian Wood, In My Life, and I’m Looking Through You. The funny part is, even though I have so many issues with the album, it’s still one I would gladly come back to because it is just that good and I have a lot of nostalgia for it. This may be a "it's not you, it's me" scenario, but the I’d probably give it a 3.5/5.

The lack of the Oxford comma is pretty whack, but overall really good album. I’d previously listened to some Stephen Stills and CSN&Y but I’ve never listened to any of CS&N’s stuff but really enjoyed this. Not much to say, great harmonies on this (honestly it’s probably the highlight of the album). I like the song that goes, "Do do do do do, do do do do do do” and who doesn’t love Stills on guitar? Also I just found out that with the exception of drums (by Dallas Taylor) and a couple of additional rhythm guitars, Stills plays everything (acoustic and electric guitars, bass, organ, percussion) and is superb on all of them. I now have a greater appreciation for him, that’s for sure. In the end, you gotta love the California mellow hippie vibe. 5/5

Admittedly I was nervous for more jazz fusion after Headhunters, but I’m genuinely shocked by how much I like this album. This is an album that I didn't think much of just from the cover, but there is some funky, groovy, soulful, buttery goodness within this track list. All fantastically recorded and produced, the 13 tracks on this album have an incredible flow to them with just enough oomph to make each track shine. There's this great wavy sort of vibe to the album that gives it this really mellow and psychedelic tone. I really enjoy how the middle tracks of this album like Rainy Day and Pling offer an instrumental break from the rest of the sung tracks. The first 4 tracks of the album kick it off by showing off everything that is going to make this album shine for the next 30 minutes after. The last leg of the album wraps things up nicely, going from the great hit Strawberry Letter 23 to the mostly instrumental Sweet Thang, and then finally to the funky Ice Cold Daydream. The final track is a 13 minute that has this really hard to listen to bass in the mix on this song that just sounds really crackly and bad. It doesn't ruin the track as its only around for about a minute, but yeah that is probably the worst part of the album. Overall, I like a ton of tracks of this album and I think as a whole work, it offers a lot both in terms of hits as well as instrumental experimentation. It's a great vibe all the way down and there's a ton for music fans to chew on. A solid 8/10.

After listening to the first song, I was discomforted by the thought this was Faust 4, implying there were at least three more. Subsequently, giving a fair listen to the other songs, I appreciated the atmosphere but I can't ever imagine me saying this is what I want to listen to today Although I like a lot of stuff similar to it, krautrock is something I couldn’t fully get into. I don’t mind repetitive music as long as it goes somewhere, but the problem with krautrock for me is that it usually doesn’t build up to anything while also not layering or progressing the repetitions as much as I like. Look at something like Herbie Hancock. His songs have a lot of repetition, but the reason why they feel so good for me is because there is a lot of subtle detail and progressions that keep them exciting. Their repetitions also either build up to something big or slowly grow in intensity on their own. I feel that post rock is a logical evolution of krautrock and it feels a lot more exciting because of that. I just think it’s a genre that I should like, and I’m kind of annoyed I don’t enjoy it that much. I did like this album, though. It is repetitive but not really monotonous, and it had a lot of cool experimental stuff. Not something particularly exciting for me, because it’s krautrock, but still enjoyable. I might change this rating as I’m a little sleep deprived writing this, but overall a 2/5.

I honestly had no idea Suspicious Minds was made in the late 60’s. Figured that it was made in the 50’s, but I guess I assume all of Elvis’ hits were made in the 50’s. No skips, consistent quality with a few belters. Not a whole lot to say about Elvis that many people much smarter than me haven’t already said. However, I've always has something against Elvis. I think it has something to do with my dislike for Bob Dylan. I just kind of lump them together for some reason? Maybe because they both have strange vocals about them that make me generally dislike their music. That said, this is really solid. I think the soul influences are a really great touch, it adds a ton of depths to the vocals, especially in the early songs. I don't know that I love this, but I can't even point to something actually negative about the album. 4/5

This album isn’t bad or terrible, but it falls squarely into the category of basic, simple, and middle of the road The album itself covers a lot of genres which gave it some good variety with the indie, country, and alternative. All of it was pretty standard to me. It’s the kind of music that’s perfect for background noise while taking a nap or washing the dishes. It serves its purpose, but it doesn’t stand out or demand attention. Now that I’m thinking about it, maybe it was because I was at work when listening to this. hm In the end the songs are well written, well performed, and well produced but they just did not hit me at all. I can see why people love it, but it just isn't for me. 3/5

For all intents and purposes this should be a 5 star, songs are all great. I just don't think I ever would go out of my way to listen to it. Sure if it comes up on the radio, I will tap my toe and maybe even sing along, but I just don't think I would put it on. But that's more on me than on the album I mean there’s a reasons that as of today, rumours by fleetwood mac is the highest rated album on the 1001 albums tracker website. With a near perfect production, this is an essential soft rock album. Every song is a hit. I also particularly love the between acoustic and electronic instruments throughout the album. And who doesn’t love Stevie Nicks’s voice

Originally I wrote a long winded rant about punk rock in 1977 and the differences in the US versus UK versions of this album, but I forgot to save it. So instead of writing the whole thing again I’ll just say it’s a really good album and a definite 4/5.

Meh. I find much of this whole Brit Pop thing to be so limited to a time...and not in a good way. Sounds like early Coldplay and a late Oasis. And I've got Blur and Radiohead...don't really need anything else. Though I'll admit that Bittersweet Symphony is an amazing song no matter how overplayed. The Hidden Track concept is a fun CD memory. But besides that, not much jumps out at me here. These songs are too long. The whole album is too long. And "The Verve" and "Urban Hymns" along with track titles like "Neon Wilderness," "Space and Time," and "Velvet Morning" feel like titles and names put together by ad people. There's a bit of classic rock psychedelia here that is a nice twist and squeeze on the old Brit Pop formula. But it's a far cry from the grit and kaleidoscopic brilliance of some of the other albums on this list. It all feels very safe here. Very classic rock. In a way that both millennial sons and boomer fathers can nod along too. And that sentiment is nice. It's just also a little boring. I honestly don’t want to put this on the same tier as Faust IV but I’m gonna have to go with a 2/5

It's the height of the Motown era. She's trying to position herself within that. I was expecting it to be a watered down R&B. I was pleasantly surprised by how raw and unpolished it all was (especially Don't You Know). The sound is really good for the genre and the time, if you exclude the tracks added to the re-issue (like I Only Want to Be With You and the following ones). It's mixed like a film soundtrack, trying to make the songs sound like they're playing in the background. In short, it's easy to listen to, no real complaints about it, and I had a good time. It's not exactly groundbreaking, though.

I remember liking the name Badly Drawn Boy when I first heard it, but I had not listened to the music and I am glad I now have. Really good album here. Excellent songwriting and all performed so very well. I can hear various influences in his work but they don't totally take over and dominate the sound. He makes it his own. I'll have to check out his other albums too. Very cool.

For the Beach Boys to make album after album exclusively about surfboards, bikinis, and travelling to different places to go surfing with women in bikinis, and then just casually pump out this masterpiece is actually nutty. Also what is up with the album cover??? In all seriousness, here's one of the big hallmark classics I've been waiting on. This had a lot of influence across the music scene, including on the Beach Boys' British rivals, the Beatles. I may be American, but I'd personally take the Beatles over the Beach Boys for their variety, but the Beatles could never touch the California beach tracks that these guys do so well. In all honesty, Pet Sounds is an album I've tried to love over the years, but it's never fully clicked for me. While I respect its legendary reputation and understand its impact, I don't feel the same connection to it that so many others do. I mean, there’s no denying the album's technical brilliance. The harmonies are gorgeous, and the production is a testament to Brian Wilson's genius. And for an album nearly six decades old, the mix holds up surprisingly well, even if the percussion can occasionally sound a little thin. Anyways, my point is, this album is goated with that sauce 5/5

Never listened to Brian Eno before as a musician, only as a producer (U2, Coldplay, Bowie, etc). I am going in with an open mind. Track 3 certainly sounds pretty futuristic for 1977 but also sort of like random pieces of music crammed together lowkey getting Faust IV flashbacks. King's Lead Hat sounds like a Talking Heads song for sure and is pretty good. Side 2 slows down massively. Sort of film soundtrack vibes? Noir, melancholy, lots of synths. Definitely pretty forward sounding for the 70s and kind of ambient. I actually enjoyed "Through Hollow Lands" quite a bit though it would be incredibly strange to ever have this album on shuffle. Honestly, meh. Maybe just not for me 2/5

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I've never heard of this artist prior to this but I am glad this record was so fun. The lyrics are fun though at points they can be corny. I really enjoyed just how different the record was. I expected a very safe pop record but instead it was so much more. There is a fair bit of experimentation going on and it feels like something that might have inspired newer pop sounds. The instrumentals are beautiful and as said prior the lyrics were fun, a lot of lyrics made me go back to read them again. It does feel like the record has two halves with the second half being a lot more melancholy. Overall, I really enjoyed this , definitely would listen to again 4/5

I did it again… Man, I need to start saving my reviews. I write an essays worth of things to talk about only to come back and have it nothing. Anyways, this is one of those albums I’ve heard a lot about, but just never got the chance to actually give it a listen and I get that this was probably ahead of its time in the '60s (it's certainly strange compared to whatever the Beatles were cooking up at the time) But my personal ratings don't give any points for influence or historical significance. Purely based on my own taste, this was so-so, with some tracks veering towards actively bad while a few were strangely good, especially Sunday Morning and Heroin. The album is like an open mic night in a beatnik neighborhood. Most tracks are just Lou Reed talking at you with music playing in the background more than any real singing happening. Not my cup of tea for sure. It was worth a listen, but I probably won’t listen to it again 2/5.

I am, more than anything, confused about this album. Why is it here? Like, on this list but also in the world in general. Why did the band that made she sells sanctuary suddenly sell out and become ac/dc lite in the late 80s? Are any of these songs actually popular or do they just feel familiar to me because they lift riffs from other, better songs? Why did they feel a need to cover steppenwolf? Overall, none of these songs were particularly special in any way, but I did like what I heard 3/5.

It's funny, while listening to this album, all I could think about was how familiar it felt. It was only until the next day that I remembered that I had to give a presentation on this era of jazz and had listened to this album like three years ago. The unfortunate part, is when listening to some of these albums, all I can think of is that music appreciation class. While jazz has grown on me during this project, I still have a hard time listening to music without words. It’s like watching a black and white movie to me like it’s just missing something and in this case that is the instrument and poetry of the voice. Is this good? Absolutely. This is mixed really well, with lots of instrument variety and different song segments and improvisation that show off different musicians who played on this record. In terms of jazz this is as good as it gets. However, me personally, I'm not gonna jump to put this on in the car ride to work or to dance to or anything. It’s a little shocking how fast the tracks go by considering how long they are. I don’t ever feel the album dragging. Its a genuinely good album but jazz is still not my genre of choice 3/5. Did I need to hear this before I die? Nah, but I’m sure some did

I have to be completely honest I have never listened to any form of Brazilian music before, so I feel like I have nothing to compare it too. And, of course, the lyrics are completely lost on me. So all I really had to go on was the beat, the melody, the rhythms, and the general vibes, of which there are plenty. As something of an introduction to this genre, this album is incredible. While I though the first half to be amazing, the second seemed to be trying the same ideas but to a lesser effect. Camisa 10 Da Gavea has a great counter melody on flute, but just doesn't have the same intensity as some of the earlier tracks. The last two songs redeem things a bit, with Cavaleriro de Vacalo Imaculado returning to the high energy and the finale closing it off with a chorus of layered vocals. I had a great time listening to this album and now I want to listen to more of his music, especially considering this is his 14th studio album, and other similar artists. Did I need to hear this before I die? Definitely

I had no idea what to expect on this one. I suppose the best way of describing it is a fun inoffensive mixture of styles. Actually I quite enjoyed it, but can’t say I’d ever listen to it again. I just felt that The Cars took us on a ride here and while it wasn’t a fast ride, it was scenic with windy roads and I had a interesting time. Synth pop done well with some crunchy guitar riffs tossed in. The guitar work is what surprised me, thought it was especially good on You’re all I’ve Got Tonight. Moving in Stereo was an impressive track that caught me off guard as well. Did I need to listen to this before I die? Probably not, but I’m glad I did.

I can see why some listeners could relate a couple of those tracks to the way Talking Heads used some funk or afrobeat influences on their own records around the same time, but I don't think Orange Juice hit the mark the way the other bands did. It's not bad, instrumentation wise. But maybe the songs, hooks and choruses are still a little too lackluster to make interesting. And, consequently, the end result comes off as sorta corny, instead of arty. Besides, you need a lead singer with charisma and good vocal technique to make it work. And whoever this lead singer is just doesn’t have it. Did I need to hear this before I die? Nah

This might just be the worst album I have ever heard. Every song is completely incoherent, it feels like each instrument was recorded for a different song, and they just took a random one of each and just overlayed them onto a song. And that synthesiser in the back ground, constantly just there playing an annoying riff and never going away. Also this guy cannot sing. I really don't like his voice, it's so unsettling in a way that I can't quite describe. I get that this is experimental, but there is a fine line between being innovative, and being insufferable and annoying. There is not even a moment on this album that I have anything positive to say about. Did I need to hear this before I die? I don’t even think this qualifies as “music”.

I was ready to give this a higher score after listening to it yesterday morning, but then in the evening it took me a good few minutes to remember what the days album was. So it obviously didn’t make much of an impression on me. This album takes a lot of different ideas and puts them all into one big melting pot. There is a lot on offer here. We've got Ska music, and some new wave, and some pop rock/punk. All genres that are adjacent to each other in some way. And he does his best to blend those elements together on this album. I found that this album also balances two different time periods in music. I thought that his vocals would feel right at home on a 2000's pop punk record. But the instrumentation, especially the keyboards and synths sound straight out of the late 70's and early 80's. This record is just full of interesting combinations of ideas. Did I need to hear this before I die? Eh, maybe

Halfway through this album I was ready to give it one star, and leave it at that. That is until I started actually reading on the of this album, and man... it's downright depressing. I try not to let the context of the album influence my ranking, but in this case without the story the album just doesn't hit the mark. In this album Caves seems to be channeling his inner Leonard Cohen, and not really in an effective or appealing way to me. I thought the stronger songs of the first part were "Night raid", parts of "Sun forest", and "Leviathan", but this is more than offset by how the album feels so much longer than its already too long 68 minute runtime, and how the second part endlessly floats away. Even after reading that songs like "Hollywood" are much shorter than the original recordings, I kept wishing that most of the album had been left off of the studio album. There's a definite disappointment here, and it certainly doesn't make me want to seek out the earlier albums in this trilogy, though I actually did like "Skeleton Tree" when I listened to it a few years back. I feel guilty giving only two stars to this album, especially given how much of it revolves around the untimely death of his son years earlier, and how this dramatically affected the way he approached his music, but this album just didn't do it for me. Did I need to listen to this before I die? No, but I do think this album is a profound statement o loss and grief and others would.

Admittedly, when I first saw the album I was... worried to say the least. I wasn't particularly a fan of Ghosteen, but this album took me completely by surprise. Also what are the chances that we got two Nick Caves and the Bad Seeds back to back? Crazy Like Ghosteen, this album takes time to grow on me. I wasn't crazy bout any of the songs, but the production and songwriting stuck out to me, and the gospel backing vocals are used well. I feel that it compliments the inspiration from blues rock and gothic rock. And while people praise Nick Caves writing, and as poetic as it may be, I think he tries a little too hard on his songwriting to make it took impressive by directing attention to the same analogies, and it can come off as pretentious. As for the second disc, the mood definitely softens, which makes it slightly more accessible, but is also more forgettable. Did I need to hear this before I die? No, but it is very interesting to see how Nick Caves and the Bad Seeds changed overtime.

Some of the songs are absolute masterpieces like “Changes” and “Life on Mars”, some are really strong, like "Eight Line Poem" and "Kooks", but there are some that are definite b-sides, like "Fill Your Heart," which I felt was supposed to be more tongue in cheek than anything else. "Song For Bob Dylan" has a guitar feel more like Queen, but still it's pretty good. "Belway Brothers" has a bit of a cartoony end, which is... odd... And then it's over. And you're kind of hoping for a better ending, but no luck. I'm glad that Bowie shifted to more of a piano based album, it really shows how much he expands in his ideas. "Kooks" is one of the songs he resurrects from his very very FIRST album. It still works, too. But ultimately, I can't give this a 5. A 5 is an album I would come back to again and again and listen to it start to finish. "Belway Brothers" and "Fill Your Heart" are just.... not as good as the other songs. And putting "Belway Brothers" at the end like that puts a sour taste in your mouth, like a bad aftertaste on a desert to an exquisite meal. It's a really good album and has some of my favorite tracks, but it's just not great. Did I need to hear this before I die? Absolutely

I’m not sure how often I’ll find myself reaching for this to listen to but i did enjoy it! Listened while at work, which seemed kind of fitting. For me Neil Young’s albums always consist of two or three banging tracks but the rest a bit meh. This is no exception. Down By The River and Cinnamon Girl are the standout tracks but the rest don’t really do anything for me. There’s a lot of music Neil Young has produced which is exceptional either on his own or with CSN&Y. He has a greatest hits album that I love but made up from multiple decades and albums. So as a singular entity not so good but as part of a collection, fantastic. Did I need to hear this before I die? I’d probably agree

don't speak Portuguese. My knowledge of Brazilian music is restricted to the Brazilian albums I've heard on this list. You can definitely find more insightful people discussing this album than me. But any hesitancy I have over it may be due to my ignorance. From what I have gathered, Clube da Esquina is one of the standout works of música popular brasileira, a mid-60s amalgam of standard Brazilian genres with the recently imported jazz and rock. This album embodies the eclecticism of MPB, an eclecticism which accounts for this being a double album. They had so much to include. This makes the listener worry that Clube Da Esquina may have the basic double album faults of becoming sluggish, but I would say it largely avoids such failings, proving itself a dense yet soulful piece of music. I can't guarantee that every song will appeal, but for new listeners it’s a near perfect introduction. I pause over giving it five stars, solely because of the language barrier. This may deserve a firm five, but right now I am not the one to gauge that accurately. Did I need to hear this before I die? 100%

This was a challenging album for me. Some of it was simply uncomfortable to listen to. And I realize that his album wasn't made for me, but lines like "this dick ain't free" just made me embarrassed. Needless to say I'm not playing this album where anyone else can hear ever again... While I'm not really a fan of Lamar's voice I do think that the musical styling, especially in the beginning are phenomenal. Wesley's Theory was unique and then followed up by a slam poetry interlude For Free?. King Kunta is one of my favorites on this album, it has great beats and less grating vocals, plus real clever lyrics. Institutionalized and These Walls also have unique stylings with the latter having an almost 70s funk feel. u and i is where I think the lyrics really shine and is overall just a solid song. Still, I found the album dragged, especially from Alright to Complexion. There's some decent lyrics in there but the vocals are too stilted and the beats are underwhelming. The Blacker the Berry is pretty good, but I wanted more of that. This project has made me realize how much I dislike double albums. I think if you are a die hard fan of a certain artist they're great, but as a new listener it's just hard to get into. Die I need to hear this before I die? Yeah, I'd say so.

There's a lot that could be said about this album, and the impact that it has on music as a whole. I mean she basically invented punk rock, new wave, and probably poetry as well... Smith’s debut album Horses is placed in the genre of punk rock, but somehow I feel that punk is kind of inaccurate. She certainly doesn’t sound like what punk became. It may be that ‘punk’ is simply a term used for music by artists who are determined to renounce conventional notions of ordered beauty. Adopting a minimalist, bratty, antiestablishment mindset. I don’t know, but to put Patti Smith in the same genre as the Sex Pistols and the Stooges feels criminal. Admittedly, I spent a good chunk of my listening time with this album deciding if I liked or not. I was a bit mixed on Patti’s voice and couldn’t tell if it was annoying or not. It did eventually grow on me. Lyrically, the songs were hit or miss. While I enjoyed something like Kimberly, Birdland was a little underwhelming. Honestly, most of the album felt like it was for a specific group of people. But most of the songs were enjoyable, despite not fully understanding the songs. Did I need to listen to this before I die? The impact of this album alone, makes it a definitely.

Man I love this album. This is one of those albums, that I’ve heard countless times before and am very much biased on. And admittedly, I am not a Led Zeppelin fan by any means. I find it hard to separate the art from the artist when it comes to the stolen music and other controversies, but for whatever reason this is the only album that get’s the slide. It’s A looser and more experimental album than the other two albums that precede it, Led Zeppelin III is more eccentric than other albums of theirs and has more folk and country influenced tracks on it, particularly in the second half. Blues was always at the core of their style but previously they’d played it in the style of hard psychedelic rock and heavy metal (for the time at least). Here, they play with acoustic guitars more. Weirdly the obvious outlier is the opener, Immigrant Song, which sounds like no other hard rock song ever recorded. Just an insane rhythm with that wild scream as a hook. Since I've Been Loving You is a stunner too. Amazing slow burn with some terrific vocal riffing from Robert Plant near the end. Also anyone who knows me, probably knows that Bron-y-aur Stomp is one of my favorite songs of all time. Which might be the reason the album is bumped from a 4 to a 5. Did I need to hear this before I die? For sure

Another first for me, I've never heard of David Gray before this listen. I have to say though, this may be one of the most uneventful listens so far. There were some decent songs here and I was pretty excited after the initial folk and electronic fusion in the beginning. Unfortunately, the rest of the album isn't anywhere near as interesting as that opener, instrumentally at least. With that said, I still enjoyed this album, I just don't think it did anything special for me. I did enjoy the song Nightblindness a lot, it has one of the better choruses here. The song The Year's Love is a great piano ballad. I'm not sure why, but the vocal performance on this song sounds very much ahead of its time, it feels like something that's been replicated by many poppier singers in the 2010s and 2020s. Maybe it's the raspy vocal performance or the nature of the melody itself. Still really loved it though. My favorite song on this album has to be Sail Away. David's vocal performance sells this one for me. It's a very strong performance with a great lead melody. Not much to say for this one, was pretty easy listening. David Gray's a solid writer and a really good singer, but I think a lot of the songs, especially near the middle, left a lot to be desired. With that said, I'll admit that this album may grow on me in the future, maybe I'll grow to appreciate and understand its more. I do think there are some incredible songs here. Did I need to listen to this before I die? Why not?

This was a tough one. Mostly because George Harrison is a certifiable songwriting genius, and it should have been a slam dunk 5 stars. Should have been. Three classic songs (My Sweet Lord, What Is Life and Isn't It A Pity) make the album essential. Unfortunately, they don't disguise the fact that it's mostly filler and maybe even overrated. An argument can be made that sequencing the ten best songs here condensed down to one single album would stand as the finest solo album of any Beatle. In the end, it really is an amazing album that blends folk rock with interesting instrumentals. But that run time is just ridiculous. Did I need to listen to this before I die? Yeah, but I will probably never hear the full thing again.

It's stuff like this that affirms my belief that there are no objectively bad genres, at least as far as broad genres are concerned. I've never been a fan of country music. However, the country music I've been exposed to living in the midwest, is primarily what I would call modern bro country. You know, stuff like Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, and Luke Bryan. I hate that music. It's so bad. I can't stand it. However, country as a genre is not objectively bad, and I know that because of Dolly Parton. Well, okay, there's other important artist like Johnny Cash that also affirm that belief. Dolly Parton is truly an American legend, and for good reason. She’s an amazing musician. This album is quite good. The opening title track is just a great song, but the rest of them aren't bad either. Dolly's vocals are impressive and a joy to listen to. The writing is also solid. The sound is pleasant to listen too. Overall, while country isn't really my thing, there's no doubt that this is a solid album that has a lot going for it. Did I need to hear this before I die? Absolutely

Honestly, the only reason I'm giving this album 2 stars instead of 1 is because it is very non offensive and is fine to just play in the background. I am really unsure of how I feel about this album. When I first started listening to it I found that it was quite boring and monotonous. But after some time I could imagine listening to it on a long drive, It's athmospheric and more about the vibes I think. Definitley not like the usual stuff I listen to. Intro was probably the best one, I also liked Infinity. The instrumentals on the album really shine throughout. Maybe I'll enjoy it more after listening to it a couple of times. However, I feel it is extremely lifeless and has no edge or anything interesting to capture my attention. Did I need to hear this before I die? Probably not

Now if every 80s - 90s BritPop album on this list was as joyful to listen to as this, I wouldn't complain so much about 80s - 90s BritPop. In all honesty I’m a little concerned by how much I like this album. This is a real odd one to rate. Aside from the obvious hit, I didnt know a thing about this band. A real weird mix of 60s britpop and psychedelic, some 70s American rock but also some strange avant garde alternative, and probably some more obscure references that would require at least a few more listens. Still struggling over whether it is essentially just genre mash up or actual invention. This is a solid album. The songs are short and enjoyable. The production is clean. I agree with some of the reviews I read, that the musical style is somewhat hard the pinpoint. I heard jangle, shoegaze, folk, blues and even country. I also did hear shades of what would influence Britpop. Anyway, "There She Goes" is one of the best songs from that late 80's/early 90's time frame and this an album is worth a listen from all. Did I need to hear this before I die? Without a doubt

I'm not too familiar with any of Joni Mitchell's music, so I only had a vague idea of what to expect with this album. I thought this album was truly amazing, and I really enjoyed listening to it. And it reminds me how many fantastic artists came out of the Laurel Canyon scene. Joni Mitchell's voice and lyrics are fantastic, and she created some really great piano and guitar arrangements to create a great overall sound. I do think that the second half of the album was stronger than the first, and Raised on Robbery was by far my favorite track on the album. I loved that it was a little bit different that other songs, but it still relied on the elements that made the album as a whole successful. The saxophone playing was what really elevated the song for me, and I thought it complimented the other elements in the song really well. Also Down To You was a close second, I really loved the opening piano melody, and woodwind arrangements. Did I need to hear this before I die? For sure

It's crazy that he was 73 when this came out, especially considering it was the most successful release of his career. I wasn’t too impressed with it at first when things kicked off with the title track, as it felt like an 80s modernization of his sound, but as things shifted to a more old school blues style I began to enjoy it a lot more. Hooker sounds great by his own, especially his vocals, but the guest musicians really help make this album stand out. Though I didn’t care for the backing music on The Healer, the guitar work is a highlight, and the slide guitar on Sally Mae is absolutely excellent. Ultimately, I want to like this more. It's got lots of soul. Everything is recorded and mixed well. It sounds like it was a really fun record to make. Unfortunately, the blues just aren't my thing. I know it's not an album trying to break barriers, it's a style that's been done a million times before, but only occasionally has it been done this well. Though, I can appreciate how good it is even if it's not my thing. Did I need to hear this before I die? No, but I'm sure some did.

Did you know that there are only two salsa albums on this entire list? And on top of that, I think they're the only genre that gets only two albums. So, according to the list, the entirety of salsa music you need to hear is one Tito Puente record and this. Though they're not bad picks, if you had to pick only two. Sure, I assume there's more to salsa than just these two albums, but, I mean, from what I've read, this is apparently the greatest salsa album of all time. Yeah, sure. To me, salsa seems like a very groove based genre. As long as the music has a great one and you can lock right into it, you're bound to have a good time. It's a nonstop, consistent party groove, and it's a great time. That sort of groove is present on this album, too, but it's less party focused. With some R&B flavoring thrown in on top for good measure. And it's just a fun listen it's really not anymore complicated than that. Some songs may drag on a bit long, If you like salsa . . . well, this is apparently the best there's ever been, so I can't see any reason why you wouldn't enjoy it. In the end nothing on here exactly gets me bounding out of my seat, but I had a real good time, and that's all I could reasonably ask for. Did I need to hear this before I die? Sure

When I saw the cover of the album I was given today, I had no idea what I was in for and admittedly, I was a little nervous. The cover art looks like something thrown together by a 4 year old, and the band name wasn't ringing any bells. This is a concept album in that it follows some dude named S.F. Sorrow right through life, with the album starting with his birth, moving into his adolescence, he gets drafted into the war, a bunch of his friends die in the war, he makes it home as a shell of a man, slowly slips into madness, falls in love, and on and on, ending with his death. As the record proceeds, it ends with Sorrow's slip into madness with the track Well of Destiny. The way they record and play their instruments during this song really hits that fact home. Overall, this is a phenomenal album! It is one that you really have sit down with the liner notes and just listen to. All of the metaphors that the singer uses makes this album into a truly beautiful masterpiece. It is every bit as good as Tommy or The Wall, just perhaps a little bit less refined. I will 100% listen again. This is a weird album in the best way possible. Did I need to hear this before I die? Absolutely

Why does every Eagles song sound exactly the same? Why is every song by the Eagles a love or heartbreak song? I mean, it can’t be a coincidence that their best selling album is their greatest hits. And for every memorable track, you have at least two that doesn’t move me in any way That said, it was good, but not great. And it was definitely a hit or miss type of record, with some songs right up my alley and others just so dreadfully boring. They have such a recognisable sound. The Eagles put you into a very sombre mood, shame the sombre mood is always the same thing. Did I need to hear this before I die? No, but I can see why it was put on the list.

I don't think this was the best Pixies could have done. not that there was anything wrong with their technique, but I feel like they could do better. A lot of these songs just sounded uncoordinated or clumsy in composition, as if they were still practicing their songwriting. Especially the first two songs and a couple of the later songs where they had some lackluster verses, simple strum patterns on basic chords, and then would just screamed the title of the song over and over again. They were still screaming Tame by the time we got to the track Hey. Gouge Away felt like the best performance while still maintaining the harsh sound they were going for on the rest of the album. I also enjoyed Monkey Gone to Heaven and the times they focused on lyrics such as in I Bleed. My favorite track was Here Comes Your Man for just being more musical. Did I need to hear this before I die? I wouldn’t say so

Admittedly, this is an album I’ve never heard by a group I had only heard of from word of mouth. And In case you didn't notice the very young photo of Beyoncé on the cover, this was her musical group before she went solo and really made a name for herself. I get that this project may be a big deal as it is one of Beyoncé and company's best work in Destiny's Child, but can we be a bit honest with ourselves and realize just how mediocre this album really is? There are some solid singles here, but other than that this is a pretty fine to decent Contemporary R&B that doesn't do a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. This album walks a very fine line of being just fine to being decent and I think I am just barely leaning on the decent side of things. It runs out of ideas and really tries throwing anything at the wall, including the main theme of this album back at tracks just so it can feel more cohesive and it just doesn't work. There are solid tracks here but not an album by any means. Did I need to hear this before I die? It’s not really my bag

I'll start the review by saying I'm not the biggest fan of Hip Hop so you'll have to take everything with a grain of salt. A few positive things I could find on this album include the lyrics. They can be funny at times although I felt like it lacked actual themes because most of the album's themes can be summarized with "I'm better than you and I'm gonna hurt you", which I totally get it can be someone's vibe, just not mine. Now I'll go with what I didn't like. The skits. The beats. I don't get how people are saying they are beautifully produced and all of that when it's always the generic 4/4 drum beat accompanied by a bass line and a minimalistic piano. In every song. Like, who are we kidding? It's not even a "it was good for its time" thing. As I already said, I'm not much into hip hop, there's nothing else really I'd be able to say. Perhaps I'm just too white to fully get this. Either way, this is just my opinion. So try not to pay too much attention to it. Did I need to hear this before I die? No

Once again, Public Enemy demonstrates that sounding rebellious does not mean it sounds good. Sometimes musical molds are good to break away from. Other times, when the melody is ignored in favour of complaining about how much your life sucks while swimming in cash from your previous album releases, I think you should stick to convention. This kind of 90s hip-hop sound is very dated and I'm convinced the 5-star ratings are primarily nostalgia based rather than how good the music sounds. Apocalypse 91 is even worse than It Takes a Nation of Millions and Fear of a Black Planet, because there's a lack of radio friendly tracks. Instead, the listener experiences 51 minutes of noise and near identical beats with a few moments of fresh air to remind the listener that this group is capable of making good music. They just don't want to. I wish Public Enemy would experiment more with a rock sound, maybe add some interesting melodies to replace the agonising loops. Because, despite their obvious influence in the 90s, they've got very little going for them. Public Enemy just does nothing for me. Did I need to hear this before I die? No, but apparently some did.

Apparently Goldfrapp made some killer electropop bangers earlier in the decade. And by the time that sound started gaining mainstream attraction, she took this record in a much mellower direction based on folktronica. More ambient with strong melodies, ambiguous lyrics, and a somewhat melancholic voice. We've still got some upbeat bangers in here, most notably Happiness, but the majority forms a cohesive collection of slow, thoughtful, emotional tracks. I do think there's a lot of missed potential here. A&E is a great lead single, but still feels like it's missing something and leaves a bit to be desired. Cologne Cerrone Houdini shows what the other tracks could have been. They all have their quirks, and the only truly forgettable one is Some People, but it could be that I just wasn't paying attention. It is my type of music though, but I won't let my bias bump up the score.

I haven’t listened to lots of Miles before other than the early bebop stuff. I guess miles was sick of bebop and was slowing things down compared to the bebop standard of playing 1000 mph over super fast chord changes and he wanted to make it less of a jam and more like a composition. Really interesting and a good listen. Shows how much he was experimenting and changing the sound in jazz even before he dropped Kind of Blue later on which was a real shift. Hard not to give it a 10/10 on the historical importance basis but assuming we’re going off of personal enjoyment I’ll say like a 7/10. Enjoyable but I think I just enjoy the whackier side of miles’ discography more than earlier more traditional jazz stuff. Did I need to hear this before I die? Yeah

This is nice. Lukewarm. It's "fine." It's just sort of... there. I feel like I would be super dismissive of this album for stuff like In the Court of the Crimson King, Abbey Road, Zeppelin, CCR, and Zappa. Really like the drummer and how much you can hear him. Heavy production, very large garage band sound. Not sure if I would revisit. I’m enjoying the themes in the second half of the album more than the first half. Overall, I like the album, it doesn’t scratch my itch. It’s a very consistent sound throughout and not off putting per say, it’s dynamic and I appreciated all of the different instruments and their usage. Also It's a concept album, and I LOVE myself a good concept album. But in 1969 there were a good number of better concept albums by King Crimson or The Who or Genesis, and I'd have been too obsessed over those to give this a real chance. I have the hindsight of historical value, so I'm gonna bump it up to a lukewarm 3. Did I need to hear this before I die? Probably

This album is a strange experience. On paper I love what De La Soul are doing. But I look through the track listing after listening and I think do I really like many of these songs? Usually the moments that capture me are the fairly on the nose samples of my favourite songs like Peg in Eye Know, Hall & Oates in Say No Go, the very famous Me Myself and I Funkadelic sample. After hearing those samples I want to go and listen to the originals rather than appreciating what De La have done with it. Maybe Me Myself and I is an exception there. In the end I enjoyed this album a lot more than I thought I would. Though admittedly, I wasn’t expecting much. The gameshow skit is funny and does add a nice bridge in between a few of the songs. I think this album is a great example of one of those albums that if you got into it when it came out and it was part of your life for years, you might be inclined to call it a classic. For a new listener though I can't say the same. Maybe if I come back to it more often I might end up giving it a 4 or more. Did I ned to hear this before I die? I’d say so

I think this is a solid example of the principal eighties sound. That being said, this is probably not something I'd revisit again, mostly just because I find other records to fill the same niche for me in a better way than this one does. The opening track, Never Let Me Down Again is by far my favorite and it had me excited for the remainder of the record, but I felt sort of let down as it went on. Is this a bad album? Absolutely not, but I struggle to understand what makes this record better than some of the work by other bands around the same time. Tears for Fears comes to mind, ironic because this album had the same producer as Songs From the Big Chair. Anyway, this was fine, not something I'd seek out, but not a bad time by any means. Did I need to hear this before I die? It's definitely a quintessential 80s album.

When this album came up, I was excited. I mean it's Led Zeppelin... I love Zeppelin... I know this album... I like this album... right? I've now listened to it three times and I feel pretty neutral about it. I don't hate it. But maybe I've outgrown it? Younger me really did enjoy this album. Maybe not as much as Led Zeppelin 3, but I do remember liking this one. And now I feel a general shrug. The guitar work is impressive, the riffs are iconic. There's a good amount of variety in the tracklist, it's rarely boring. The drum work is amazing (obviously). I find the less I think about the lyrics on this album, the better. I don't really have many bad things to say about this album/ And I have said some good things, but I'm just not to interested. Maybe I've just been overexposed to Zeppelin over the years. Especially living with dad. To be fair all of these songs have been on the radio my entire life and movies and media. The only exception is the ending part of both Lemon Song and Ramble On, those two parts are perfect. Also as a bonus, I was sitting in class writing this review and doing my crossword when one of the questions asked "Led Zeppelin's 'Whole ___ Love'". It's just a coincidence, but it's still kinda funny. Did I need to hear this before I die? For historical context alone

Man, I don't know what to make of this album. It's just really, meh. I like other Kings of Leon songs and thought they were decent overall but this album does not have It. First of all, the lead singer has THE most incomprehensible voice singing some absolutely baffling lyrics. I had to pull up the lyrics to confirm that he was, in fact, saying the girl would lend him her toothbrush. In the end, I think they might have a really good energy if I saw them live but this was all a bit samey for me. They’re distinctive but not something I’d think of ever putting on by choice. I may tap my toes and dance when their singles come on, but I’m not on it for the long haul. Did I need to hear this before I die? Nah

It’s surprising how many musicians I’m finding that I know the names of, but know nothing about. I couldn't even say before listening to this what genre Ray Charles comes under. So listening to this is a completely new experience. Though the album title is a bit misleading. This album is neither modern, country, or western. Anyways, I'll start with my biggest complaint, one that has been repeated for various older albums at this point. It's kind of repetitive. Most songs feel the same, which is kind of to be expected. However, when the album is fairly short and the quality of the songs is as high as it is, it isn't as big of a deal as it is with other album. The sound is great. While it doesn't really feel like country, which may be good or bad depending on who you ask, you can still feel the emotions that come with the best, most honest country music. Ray Charles, of course, was a great singer. The instrumentation elevates his singing to create a very high quality album. The main reason why this album deserves to be on this list is more so about the cultural significance rather than the actual album itself. This thing, as stated earlier, was groundbreaking. So, with every thing in mind, I think this album deserves a light 4/5. Did I need to hear this before I die? Yes

I kept thinking that the name Spirit sounded really familiar, and then it hit me. These are the guys that sued Led Zeppelin for allegedly ripping them off with Stairway to Heaven. Anyway, that was all I really knew about these guys going in. Even with a Wikipedia browsing, the only worthwhile information I picked up on the group is that their singer apparently would go on to write the theme song for the American version of The Office. Iconic theme song, but as for this album…it’s fine. It’s a pretty standard piece of the era without anything to dislike about it in particular, but there also wasn’t anything I found all that great either. The songs also felt disconnected from each other, so the album really lacked a sense of flow as a whole. Nothin’ to Hide, Animal Zoo, Mr. Skin, and Morning Will Come were probably my favorites of the bunch, but to say that I’m likely to seek them out again feels like a lie. So yeah, just kind of decent. I feel like I can get what I want out of this album from other artists, so I'm not sure I see a reason to revisit this one. Did I need to hear thus befoe I die? Probably not Edit: Ignore everything in this review, I just listened to it again and it is goated.

Initially, I could not figure out why this album was in the book. A quick visit to Wikipedia revealed to me the reason. They are an English group. This book leans hard towards English groups and this is not exception. There is some "sameness" to these songs, though "Narayen" has a pretty neat synth riff that differentiates itself from the other songs prior. I won't ever listen to this album again, unless I am being held hostage and my captors are blaring The Prodigy in an effort to cause me sleep deprivation in the hopes I will confess what they want me to know. Unfortunately, my only conclusion would probably still be that I don't think this is excellent music. Not my thing, but also not quite as offensive as some of the other music here I didn't like, I’m looking at you Rock Bottom. Did I need to hear this before I die? Nope

So, I guess this album was picked for being a technical breakthrough, the first album made entirely from samples, according to Guinness, though I’m sure there were many albums that were 90%+ created from samples. The reliance on samples leaves the drum machine as the only instrument available to do solos, which is a bit annoying at times. I don't know if I just didn't understand the concept for this album, but it honestly just sounded like noise to me. There are a few too many prominent sounds playing repetitively in this album amongst music that actually doesn't sound too bad. In fact, the music was really pleasant and interesting at times. That makes these sounds so jarring, and it really ruins the vibe that I just find myself getting into. The good news about this album, is it did get better as it went along and wasn't bad background music for my tasks. Would I listen to it just because? No. Did I need to hear this before I die? No, but the story behind it is neat

I do think I need to be in a certain mood to listen to 90s hip hop so perhaps I’m not in the right mindset to review this. Left no impact on me, I really do not think this genre warrants an hour and ten minute runtime especially with so little change to the beats. It seems to me the biggest thing to gripe about is the skits, which for the most part fit the theme of the album. Usually when I don't like skits are when they’re needless sections between song. Most of them fit the theme of hyper violence and street life. But I’m glad I didn’t listen to this in a public space. Anyways, I’ll say a 2 just because on a different day I might enjoy a lot more. Did I need to hear this before I die? No

My first listen to this was on a car ride with my mom, and it sounded pretty bad. I was prepared to give it a 2, or even a 1, but the glowing reviews on here convinced me I should give it a relisten with better sound quality. It's definitely better that way, though Raw Power still isn't as wonderful as many people claim it is. Very cool sound, guitar heavy, incorporating elements of proto-punk, metal, and a heavy dose of 60s blues pop. The Stooges' sound reminds me of the Rolling Stones' sound around the same time. It also anticipates a lot of late-70s and 80s stadium guitar rock. All of the tracks were better upon a relisten, but some were still poor. The vocals in the songs Penetration and Raw Power are poor: vocal breaking, microphone clipping, little to no discernible melody, the works. In fact, the vocals in general are quite lacking in a melody and unrefined, but it's most noticeable in the title track because of a lack of good instrumental riffs to distract the listener. Penetration has a great bell(?) riff and driving rhythm section, but the vocals are a horrendous half-whispered sexual frenzy that's not fun to listen to at all. The closing track, Death Trip, is essentially a longer cut off the title track, and doesn't add anything new to the table. The two opening tracks "Search and Destroy" and "Gimme Danger" are the strongest. Did I need to hear this before I die? No, but I'm sure some did.

I can't justifiably give this 1/5, because it at least had some substance and exciting moments. I found myself wondering how exactly this could be a soundtrack to a nonexistent movie. How did Adamson know where to build crescendos? How did he know where the moments of tension should be? This at least gave me something to ponder over, and combined with the music not being actively bad it was actually a fairly interesting listen. Reminiscent of Revolution 9 from the Beatles' White Album, particularly in the opening track, On the Wrong Side of Relaxation. Other than that, though, there's very little personality in the music. The mixing is also very dull and blurry, and considering it came out in 2012, there's no excuse for this. Albums that had been released more than 10 years prior to Moss Side Story sound significantly better. Did I need to hear this before I die? Probably not.

Huh. Well that was something. I've never heard of Ian Dury before so I had no idea what to expect going in. Having actually listening to it I'm still not sure what to expect. I kind of liked it and hated it in equal measure and often for the exact same reasons. This really isn't even that bad, honestly. I feel like maybe the worst thing I can say about it is that Ian Dury's vocals are a little more mellow than I'd like. A little too sleepy, maybe, even. It's not like it doesn't work at all atop a lot of these disco and music hall instrumentals, thanks in large to his accent, though I don't feel like I was really into the album until the last three songs. That's where it gets incredibly punk and pub rock At the very least, this album's musically good enough that I wouldn't give it lower than a 3. The only thing that holds it back from a 4 in my book is that the vocals could've stood to have been more interesting. Did I need to hear this before I die? Eh

My only exposure to Dinosaur Jr. was their cover of The Cure's Just Like Heave. So I knew it was going to be a little weird, but I wasn't prepared for how weird. This album started out okay and got progressively stranger and noisier. It started out sounding sort of like a mix between a punkier Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. The first few songs were pretty fun, then the middle of the album sort of blended together with several songs that sounded similar. I'm also not sure if they intentionally played with meter on The Lung, or if the drummer is just that bad at keeping time. Regarding the cover, I'm kind of conflicted about it. When I first heard it I hated it, but I have to admit that it's growing on me. I know it's Robert Smith's favorite cover, and I'll give it a 3 because it started out decent and the cover is kind of fun. But the singer and the back half ruin it. Did I need to hear this before I die? Maybe

I had one of those days today. Woke up at 5 AM for work, it was pouring rain, someone hit my car and ran, I had to file a police report, and somewhere in the middle of all that I got sick. Not exactly the ideal listening conditions. And I honestly didn’t even feel like writing a review for this. But despite all that, this album was an absolute joy to listen to and ultimately made my day. Country isn’t usually my thing, but this album was amazing. This 1001 albums project has changed my view on the genre entirely. The whole record just feels warm and relaxed, like it’s not trying too hard to impress you. Willie’s voice has that rough, lived in quality that somehow makes every song feel more genuine. I also really loved the arrangements, there’s a lot of subtle jazz and pop standard influence in there, which probably explains why it clicked with me even though I don’t normally reach for country. The instrumentation is super smooth, the pacing is laid back, and it’s just one of those albums that’s easy to sink into. Even on a day that was objectively terrible, this record managed to feel comforting. Honestly, if an album can make a day like that better, it’s doing something right. Did I need to hear this before I die? Absolutely

I have to say, I feel like Tim's unusual singing style and voice, which had worked so well and felt completely natural on his previous albums, don’t carry over into this funky style all that well. Although at times I actually thought the vocals were really great and, I found all the moaning a little tedious to listen to at times. I think Robert Plant did the sort of thing Tim was going for here a lot better. That said, I was really impressed by how smoothly and effortlessly he made the switch to this more funk influenced sound here. The instrumentation is generally excellent from start to finish, with the funky songs grooving pretty hard and some nice orchestrations and some folky stuff providing a bit of stylistic diversity. But looking at the credits and seeing names such as Chuck Rainey and Ed Greene here, it's no surprise that the playing here is high quality. What even are some of these lyrics though? The sexual theme feels a bit over the top and forced throughout the whole album. Some tracks, especially "Devil Eyes” made me cringe with how obvious and frankly nasty the lyrics were with all the toe licking going on. So in the end I had to knock the rating down a bit because I wasn't really a fan of the lyrics and the vocals were just okay, but if you focus on the actual music and great musicianship, you are in for a pretty good listen. Did I need to head this before I die? Maybe

As much as I love prog's first wave in the 70's, I’ve always struggled with the genre once the influence of metal crept in, it just sounds like noise. Deloused in the Comatorium is a prog album through and through with an indecipherable concept, fantasy narrative, and instrumental wizardry. The problem? For me, it has all of prog's inherent snobbery without any tongue in cheek humor. A glance at the album’s lyrics shows the problem "Last night I heard lepers flinch like birth defects, its musk was fecal in origin as the words dribbled off of its chin." If it weren’t for the band’s explanations or Wikipedia, there’s absolutely no hope of understanding story. To the album’s credit, there's absolutely no possible argument against the solid musicianship here. The guitar playing alternates between lead parts or soundscapes in "Eriatarka". The drumming throughout, and particularly in "Drunkship of Lanterns", is fantastic. The singer has an impressive vocal range, with a solid belt. The problem is that it's all style and little substance. The most melodic we get is in the standout tracks "Eritarka" and "Elevators".The album just feels like dissolving into ambient nothingness. The ending, "Ambuletz", feels insulting to anyone who has sat through this for one hour with genuine excitement, it doesn't provide satisfying closure. It’s a real effort to make it through the whole album, and I’m not sure I’ll be doing it again any time soon. Did I need to hear this before I die? Probably not

This album was okay. I didn't love it. But I also didn't hate it. This is one of those albums where it feels like the artist was having a few music sessions and just rolled with that for the release. Which can really go either way. It's either going to be a pretty fun listen, or it's not going to click overall with a wide audience. Maybe I'm in the minority seeing as 'Moondance' was a commercial success. That, or Van Morrison does just happen to have a huge hardcore fanbase. Once you have listened to the opener 'And It Stoned Me' - You can rest assured that this is pretty much the entire tracklist. If you like that 70's rhythm and blues sound, sprinkled with some jazzy rock 'n' roll, this will probably be right up your alley. Theoretically, this should be up my alley. But there's just not enough of a punch or variety to bring it up a level a level for me. Lyrically everything is fine. For me, personally, I just can't find much to relate with. It's a decent album, and I think even if you're not a fan you can find something to appreciate here. Would I consider it a "must listen", though? Not really. But I also wouldn't tell you to ignore it completely. Did I need to hear this before I die? Eh

I don’t really consider myself a huge fan of Eric Clapton, but it’s hard to deny that he’s had a major role in making a ton of really good music. From the Yardbirds to Derek and the Dominoes and everything in between. This album is definitely no exception. He shares vocas with Jack Bruce, and they both do an excellent job of matching vocal styles to the groovy basslines, the psychedelic style of Clapton, and the funky drumming of Ginger Baker. The classic hit single on the album “Sunshine of your Love” stands out for good reason, the main guitar riff alone is iconic, but it’s far from the only great tune on the record. “We’re Going Wrong” is one that particularly stood out to me, huge drums, and a solid tempo dropping bridge. “Outside Woman Blues” is another track that I really enjoyed. If I had to pick one negative on the album, it would be the song “Mother’s Lament” a weird little jingle that I don’t particularly care for. I’m not confident in calling this a perfect album by any means, but as far as the bluesy psychedelic rock genre goes, it’s pretty good. Did I need to hear this before I die? For sure

I wanted to like this album. I really did. And while I can acknowledge its immense creativity and interesting musical choices, I honestly didn’t really enjoy it. I get its experimental. But I feel like sometimes “experimental” is code for “hipster experimental music the artists think is really clever and makes them look smart.” The song titles don’t help with that. “Cannibal Resource”? “Useful Chamber”? “Fluorescent Half Dome”? What do these mean? And that’s what this felt like to me. I hate to reduce an album to that. But I just couldn’t really jive with this album. There’s things to like, but I just didn’t get it overall. I don’t really know what else more I can say. It felt like Vampire Weekend’s first album if that album took like, a step further and discarded some of the common conventions of song structure and rhythm. I will not be relistening and I will not seek more of them out. Not bad by any means, but not worth the listen . 3 stars. Did I need to hear this before I die? I could live without it.

Two things immediately came to mind when I started this album. First, it was nothing like the Stooges, which was a surprise. Second, I was getting some serious David Bowie vibes from the vocals. I checked out Wiki, and it turns out there's a good reason for that. This is almost as much a Bowie album as it is an Iggy album. (Bowie even covered (can you cover a song you helped write?) "China Girl" a handful of years later (and did it better). And, a Bowie album wasn't what I was hoping for. I read that Bowie actually wrote most of the songs and Iggy did lyrics and singing, which happened to be the parts I really didn't In the end, this is more of a Bowie album than an Iggy Pop one, and to be fair, I don't know enough about Iggy's songwriting or singing to truly have that judgment but that's how it felt. I feel like if Bowie had done this all himself with minimal help from Iggy on vocals or lyrics, it would be a 4 or 5 star album, but as it stands it's just mid to me though I did enjoy it overall. Did I need to hear it before I die? Maybe

This album’s fine. Bowie’s attempt at R&B and soul was daring and was pulled off well, at least through the instrumentation. Where the album fall short for me is in the songwriting, which in my opinion gets tedious with several tracks on here. Don’t get me wrong, there are some sure standouts, a couple of which are some of my favorite tracks Bowie ever made, specifically the final track “Fame.” However, the cover of Across the Universe it… something. I don't know how to explain my reaction to hearing this. It starts off a bad, but acceptable cover of what is an amazing song, probably one of my favorite Beatle songs. The whole way through it manages to get worse. It's so bad it's funny. I was literally laughing out loud for the last two minutes. It's made worse by the fact that Lennon actually sings backing vocals on it, harming not only my memory of one of my favourite songs but also one of my favourite artists. I was actually tempted to downgrade my score to 2 based solely on this one track it's that bad but Fame just about saves it. Did I need to hear it before I die? For historical context only

Man I love E-Pro. I remember playing it basically on loop in Rockband 2 and my siblings getting increasingly annoyed with me and the song. Besides that this I just anotber case of this artist has made better releases”. My biggest problem with this album really is that I’d just rather listen to the other two. Guero sounds like an attempt to recapture the lightning in a bottle that made Odelay, which never goes well. Guero is like a calculated, formulaic recreation of Odelay. It’s attempts to recreate odelay are mostly the weakest parts of the album, and make up its bulk. Odelay was interesting because of all the genres it mashed together. It really was the creation of a fan of several genres that had the ability to blend them together and make something new, and something like that can't be recreated perfectly on purpose. Ultimately this is a good, listenable album. The songs where he tries something new and upbeat are very good and clearly he still had some tricks up his sleeve. I just don't think it's Beck's best, and I can't listen to it without thinking of his best. Did I need to hear this before I die? I could live without it.

I'm playing catch up and have to review a few albums I missed, so I was really hoping that I wouldn't have to play a record that would require pondering on lyrics. Fortunately, this album had barely any singing. But in spite of that this is still a solid album. I like The Cure, generally speaking, but I'd never even heard of this record. It's not a sophomore slump following a poppier Three Imaginary Boys. And while there weren't many tracks that stood out, the consistent tone of the album shows a band that was mature enough to take a sound that was less commercial and make the best of it. Three Imaginary Boys has great tracks, it’s definitely punkier with songs like Object and So What. But these tracks with the electric drum kit and the bass that drives the melody like on Play for Today are phenomenal. Did I need to hear this before I die? It’s an easy album to turn on and just vibe with.

I was always kind of neutral on CCR. I would hear them on the radio years ago and think 'well this is a cool song' and just never really dove any deeper than that into their music. Clearly, it must have stayed in my subconscious as that kind of thing still draws my attention today. I think this album just made me more of a CCR fan. There are so many strong songs. I enjoyed the sound of the recording too and the way John Fogarty's voice was treated with the reverb. I thought this album really jammed. I think 'Who'll Stop the Rain' 'Up Around the Bend' and 'Run Through the Jungle' were my favorites. The groove on 'Run Through the Jungle' was pretty sick. CCR on this album managed to find a solid combination of Blues, Funk, Rock and Country music. The way Fogarty sings is unique and raw and at first wasn't appealing, but grew on me after a while. This album definitely made me a bigger fan and more willing to check out other CCR albums Did I need to hear this before I die? Absolutely

This isn’t a bad album at all, but it says something that of the 9 tracks here, the ones I enjoyed the most were 5 of the covers. It’s only his second studio album, so I’ll cut him a bit of slack. However, I can’t really cut him much slack for his compositional skills. For some reason when he’s doing covers of other people’s songs, he sounds confident and the band behind him is rocking. On his own original material, the structure of each track just feels off, and falls deeply into the “first minute is the whole song” trap. I enjoyed the covers on here a lot, but they’re a great showcase of other people’s songwriting abilities, which just makes the gap between those covers and the original material here stand out a lot. His original material on this album isn’t bad, but it’s just painfully boring, like he’s trying to mimic what makes the people he’s covering so effective, but without really nailing the secret sauce that makes it work. Did I need to hear this before I die? I guess… maybe?

This album is not for me... I have never really cared for R&B, it is just too slow and lacks anything that makes me excited about music. This album came with a ton of hype from critics, but I think it was more praised for the idea of what it was supposed to be and the fact that it was released on Warp Records than for the actual music. I get the cool concept and the appeal of being on Warp, but when you strip all that away, the album is mostly just boring. I was completely zoned out and ready for this to end around track 7. Some of the production had its moments, but it wasn’t as innovative or futuristic as it aimed to be. Plus, her vocals didn’t do it for me. There is some strange effect on her voice that I don't particularly care for. The tracks with strong production would have been better without her, and honestly, the whole album might’ve been better without her vocals altogether. Not a bad album, and I understand why someone would like this, but this did nothing for me. Did I need to hear this before I die? No, but I'm sure some people might

At first it feels poorly recorded, poorly mixed, and overtly loud. But in reality, It’s not poorly recorded or poorly mixed. It’s recorded exactly how they want it to sound, because this is their style. It’s so deeply rooted in what would come become punk rock roughly a decade later with harsher metal tones. Honestly, as much as I hated the loudness at the start of the album, in some kind of oddly charming way, it just grew on me. There are points where the screaming becomes too often and a bit obnoxious, but once this album settles in, what feels like ear bleeding harshness tends to normalize itself and become kinda cool. Does that mean it knocks it out of the park on every track? No, not really. There’s definitely a number of these tracks where the effects are still really overdone, and just makes me wish they had toned it down a little bit for a better listening experience. However, I think it gets it right on most tracks. There’s not really a bad track here. I can see how people might give it a 1 or 2, but for my tastes, I admire them for trying something so bold. It’s probably closer to a 3, but I’m gonna go up to a 4. It’s worth listening to. Did I need to hear this before I die? Shockingly, yeah

This album from The Police is solid, especially considering it's just three dudes making a consistent wall of sound on several tracks. Stewart Copeland's drumming is tight, and the whole rhythm section really ties everything together. But let's be real. The album's got its issues. A bunch of tracks feel like they're not quite done cooking and give the impression they threw in some demos to fill space. On the album's length, it kills the momentum created by the most solid tracks. "Message in a Bottle", for instance, is a great song which passes the test of time. That intro riff? Still catchy as ever, even after all these years. Only issue? It opens the album and from there on you have this feeling of sliding down with no song catching up to the level of this intro. Did I need to hear this before I die? Yeah

Yep, this is an 80s R&B album for sure. I feel like he’s trying to channel a little bit of every icon from this era, like Prince, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, etc. But pairing it with some of the most generic 80s production I’ve ever heard. Is it unappealing to the ears? By no means. But is it the kind of thing that sticks with you? Or that you’ll even retain an hour after listening? No, no it’s not. Obviously your mileage may vary, but each song felt pretty non-distinct to me. You can get much better flavors of this elsewhere. The only thing that stood out to me was As Yet Untitled, which I’m pretty sure is intended to be some sort of emotional climax to the album, but it’s singlehandedly the most uncomfortable five minutes I’ve experienced in a while. If I ever listen to this thing again, that track is getting skipped. Not much else to say on this one. Shoutout to this dude for calling it the most important album since Sgt. Pepper’s though! You gotta admire the confidence. Did I need to hear this before I die? It's pretty inoffensive, so I guess

I’m starting to realize I really don’t like long, drawn out albums. You’ll be listening to a song and feel like it’s starting to end but nope, there’s still 7 minutes left. Not to say there can’t be good, long albums. There are some amazing records over an hour long that deserve a 5, but not this one. Not at all. These songs are pointlessly long with nothing but repetitive, boring, sleepy melodies. I like the voice and that’s about it. Even that gets monotonous about halfway though the album. But the bare bone instrumentals, the sappy lyrics, and lack of anything truly intriguing give this record an easy 2. It was not enjoyable to say the least.

I continue to be unable to fully appreciate jazz, and today I realized it's at least in part due to how I listen to the albums on this list: while working, usually. This is usually a detriment for albums where the lyrics are a big part of the draw, but I think it's also a problem for jazz despite the lack of lyrics. Jazz can be fine as background music, but it can probably only be appreciated at a 4 or 5 star level if you're really paying attention to it. A few times during this album, I'd devote attention to it and think "oh, that was a nice little bit in the middle of this 8 minute track" but then the rest of it would just be pure background noise. I didn't dislike any of this, but I also don't think I'd like it enough to just sit and listen to it.

Yeah, you know I used to mix up GZA, RZA, and SZA. I've got SZA down now. And hopefully this will finally help figure out the other two. Hip hop has a serious problem with boring, same lyrics and tone. I understand there's technical skill to phrasing, rhyming, sampling, etc., but the genre is restrained by its limits. You hardly get any variety across artists, let alone an album. I mean four decades later rappers are still saying the exact same things the same way. And there's almost nothing thought-provoking or emotionally engaging in it. GZA's Swords doesn't seem interesting to me just because he rhymes about chess and being wise like Abraham.

I genuinely don't know if I've heard of this guy before. I feel like I've heard the name James Taylor before, but the name is so generic that I may have either made the name up on my own, thought of a different person, or misremembered a combination of other names. It is possible though that I have heard of this guy because he seems to have a decent cultural impact, with this album selling over 3 million copies in the US. So, is this album good? Yeah. I liked it. The singing is good. It works for the style of music he wants to make. The sound is also quite nice. The guitar work is solid and the rest of the sound is also pleasant. There is a decent variety in the songs. The writing is thoughtful and there isn't really a bad song on here. Some songs blend together a bit, but others stand out. Overall, this is a pretty good album. I would be surprised to see that it didn't win the Grammy for album of the year, but it all makes sense when you see that it lost to Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Locust Abortion Technician is a disaster pretending to be avant-garde brilliance. The Butthole Surfers throw everything at the wall here: noise, distortion, pitch shifted gibberish, and somehow nothing sticks. It’s not weird in a cool or challenging way, it’s weird in a please turn this off before my brain leaks out kind of way. There’s no structure, no coherence, and certainly no reward for sitting through this mess. Every track sounds like it was recorded during a psychotic breakdown in a garage full of malfunctioning equipment. The vocals are buried under layers of nonsense, the production is intentionally awful, and any moment that might resemble a song is quickly sabotaged by sheer obnoxiousness. It's not bold, it's not experimental. This isn’t art. It’s a migraine.

Maybe I was expecting too much out of this album, but I was hoping for a little bit more oomph. It's perfectly fine '80s psychadelic music most of the time. And I think that's partially the problem, I'm sort of fatigued when it comes to this sound, so even songs that are largely pleasant like 'Waterfall' or 'Super Spun Sister', just end up sounding nothing more than run of the mill psychedelic. I Am the Resurrection was an ambitious closer, I was genuinely engaged for all 8+ minutes of it, something I can't say for many of these other songs here, where I felt mentally checked out. And again, some of the better and more expressive vocals on the record. I feel like I just wasn't in the right mindset to understand this album on this first listen, but I will see if it clicks on more listens. It was honestly pretty and pleasant in almost every way.

Listen, I don't mind a jam session. I'm not huge into the Grateful Dead, but I can appreciate them. There's elements of noise rock and psychedelic here, but man, they find one chord progression and beat it to death, don't they? Yes, the lyrics were extremely progressive for their time, but there's got to be more than that, especially when the vocals are buried beneath everything else. Throughout listening I was steady on a two, maybe a three, but then "Sister Ray" started to drag on and I realized, with growing horror, that it was going to go on forever. This is just my purgatory, I guess.

Admittedly, I always get skeptical when it's an album I've never heard of. But, I decided there's plenty of great albums I've never heard of so I wasn't going to let that affect my review. Then, I saw it was a double album. Two whole hours of my time?! But I decided I was going to stick it through just like I had every other album before it. Finally I was ready to hit play. It was a little unexpected that this was electronic music, but I'm not opposed to that. Surely this is some sort of masterpiece of EDM . But here's the thing: the album is fine. I read a lot of reviews straight up bashing it, but it's not bad music. There's nothing offensive or off-putting about it, in fact, it's quite enjoyable. But that's the thing, it's good music for an elevator. This is the kind of stuff I'd put on to get some work done. There's nothing remarkable about this album. No stand out tracks, no innovation, no creativity. And that's fine, but it's not something I'd put on this list

First Eric Clapton album on here, and we know he's a real gem of a person. I try to not let awful people influence my ratings, but I also found this album to be pretty mediocre. It's very bluesy, lots of guitar solos (and he can play the guitar well of course). Every song is unnecessarily long though, and the double album (76 minutes) just kind of drags on in a bit of an uninteresting way. It feels like a knockoff Rolling Stones album or something, with less variety than they usually give. It's not terrible or anything, and I know it's pretty highly reviewed generally (and "Layla" is a classic of course). This just isn't something that I feel like I need to listen to in full again, and very few tracks really stood out to me. Fine album, bad person, meh overall. I definitely think I'm losing a bit of my early steam on '70s soft rockers at this point in the list. It was all new to me for awhile, but not so much anymore.

Probably the least annoying British punk rock album I've had to listen to. It falls short of bring an officially great album because just about every song sounds the same, and there's not a whole lot of substance, but they're decent musicians. They can actually play instruments really well and create musical harmony, which I realize sounds like a bare minimum for music, but most punk rockers don't even get this far. The average punk band is too concerned with rebellion that they don't even bother to make something that resembles music, but the Adverts are able to balance their rebellious spirit with actual music. It's fun to listen to, and it's not something I have to force myself to find positives with.

I really struggled with what to give this album. I think I'm going with a 4. After the first song I was like wow this is getting a 1 but then the second song hit and the one after and I was like wow this guy can actually sing he just chose not to on the first song. This cycle kinda repeated a couple times. On the tracks where John mumble, slurs his way through the lyrics it's not great, kinda painful. On the ones where he actually sings it's quite lovely. The instruments sound really nice and I absolutely loved that aspect of this album. That's kinda the only reason this album is getting a 4 is because of that.

The length of both an album and its individual songs is something I’ve always made out to be really important when it comes to how cohesive and enjoyable an album is… When an album has too many songs, it can start to feel repetitive or drawn out and when a song is too long, it feels the same way. Sometimes a song can justify itself being long, but there’s also a point where it can just be too long. There’s no exact length that’s used as a benchmark, as sometimes a 5 minute song can become boring while a 7 minute song keeps you hooked, but the longer the song is, the more you have to do to keep the listener interested All that being said, this album really pushed the limit for me Okay, rant over… Fisherman’s Blues is one of the most unique albums I’ve heard so far and I had a good time listening to some of its songs, but by the time I got through And a Bang on the Ear,I felt like I had enough I had a decent enough experience to where I don’t think it deserves one star but anything more than two feels like too much

Was pretty worried that there would be a significant drop in quality after the hit single but was pleased instead with a really good Proto-Indie Rock album that served to inspire quite a lot of important bands. It is really strange to seen an album this early be such a hit with the mainstream, especially since the record is loaded with bizarre musical styles, pretty explicit song topics, and a really awkward and anxious spirit to the whole thing, but it manages to be entertaining track after track even if not every one is a “Blister in the Sun”.

I know this is one of those albums people treat like sacred text, but honestly, it just didn’t land for me. I get that the production is supposed to be classic, and sure, there’s some solid beat work going on here, but it all started to blur together for me pretty fast. It’s very of its time, and maybe if I’d heard it back in the 90s I’d feel differently, but as a first-time listener now, it just felt more like a historical document than something that actually moved me. I think the main thing is that I came into this expecting something mindblowing and instead found something that felt like background music with an occasional moment of brilliance. I can respect its place in music history, but for me, Illmatic is more admired than enjoyed. It’s not bad, it’s just not one I’m ever going to reach for again.

Alright, buckle up, cause this is gonna be a long one. I imagine it's very easy for a lot of people to think of Queen as only being a singles band (I’m looking at you dad). After all, I'm pretty sure their best selling album is their first greatest hits record, and I can't say I entirely blame them. I mean everyone knows Queen, right? We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, Killer Queen, Another One Bites The Dust, Bohemian Rhapsody, Bicycle Race, Under Pressure, etc, an unbelievably strong stadium rock/pop catalog. People know Queen, even if they think they don’t. I don't think I'd blame anyone for not knowing that, way back in the day, Queen was honestly a really good album band. And no album better emphasizes that then their only one without hits (unless you live in Japan, they were strangely huge in Japan early on) Queen II. This, to me, is one of those albums where while it may not be their greatest album, it sure is in the lead for being their most important. I mean, you take a look back at their debut, and it's... good. Pretty good, all things considered. But it's incredibly low quality. It's Queen back when they weren't much more than a hard rock with some hints of prog and fantasy. You could honestly discuss them with bands such as Led Zeppelin or even The Who. It's kind of like early Rush, now that I’m thinking about it. If they'd kept on this route, they might've been remembered for a hit or two, but I don't think anyone would've been rushing to come back to their full albums. But with album 2, they introduced the secret sauce that caused Queen become their own thing. If you were to ask me what makes Queen who they are, it would be, 100%, the theatrics. Queen is a very theatrical band, even at their most hard rock or arena rock pop. Between Freddie's vocals and Brian May's near symphonic multi guitar arrangements... This album is where they first lean into it, and would only dive deeper until hitting a peak on their masterwork, A Night At The Opera. It truly needs to be appreciated for that. Even beyond any kind of historical significance, though... it's just a good album. My go to stretch of Queen studio albums starts here (and goes all the way to, honestly, A Day At The Races maybe even to Jazz). It's just one incredible song after another, from the live set favorite Father To Son, to the White Queen, to Ogre Battle, and all the way to the album's magnum opus, The March Of The Black Queen. Bar none, this is the best song on the album. It's practically a prototype Bohemian Rhapsody. It's an epic all unto itself, and apparently it was a hit in Japan? So says the 'Greatest Hits In Japan' compilation, anyway. (That comp also has a version of the song without the transition into "Funny How Love Is", if you ever wanna appreciate it on its own. though seriously, this album is such a strong listen, it's really better if you hear it and every other track in context.) And I'd be remiss to go this whole review without mentioning John Deacon and Roger Taylor, the backbone of the band. And arguably one of, if not the tightest rhythm section of all time. Deacon's really is something on the bass, and Taylor can pound his set when he wants to and his vocals aren't bad either. (When you have an incredibly unique voice and a nearly 5 octave range that rivals some of the best singers today, but you’re the drummer behind Freddie Mercury). Anyways, I could go on, but this review is already becoming way too long. I'm even surprised I managed to write this much, you know? Like, I knew I had a lot to say, but not this much… To wrap it up, if you're someone who only knows Queen as a singles band, I really recommend you give this album a listen. And of course the other two that're included on this list, but this one in particular is special. It’s not a cult favorite, you know? you can really appreciate just a little more what made Queen as incredible a band as they were and as they will later become.

An interesting listen, I feel like Beck tried a lot here and I gotta respect the effort and vision, that being said I don't feel like he quite stuck the landing. The mashups between styles often felt a little awkward, which was even further highlighted by the quite poor vocals. Some instrumental parts were actually pretty good, but did not have enough going on to carry an entire song often. All in all I can't say it was bad, but neither can I say I loved it. Maybe I would after a couple of listens but that doesn't really sound attractive to me

Had you asked me yesterday if I knew who Pulp was, I would have said, "I don't really listened to their music, but of course I know them." Apparently, that would have been untrue. Embarrassingly, I think I may have actually been confusing them with Blur. Anyways, I really enjoyed this album after a couple listens. Common People is great and I've definitely heard it somewhere before. There were a lot of interesting influences throughout the album from disco to 70s pop to 80s new wave. There was also a pretty clear Bowie influence throughout the album that I enjoyed up to a certain point, but it did get to a point where it seemed like he might be trying too hard to be Bowie. And when he wasn't trying to be Bowie, he was trying so hard to be sexy, but his whisper singing just comes off as creepy. The awful lyrics in Pencil Skirt didn't help. I've seen it pointed out that he's playing a character and being sarcastic, but it doesn't change the fact that his singing at times makes me uncomfortable.

Maybe it's odd, but I had never listened to an album of Muse. Clearly I was missing out because this is an amazing album from top to bottom. I think this is one of the albums that has fallen off the list over the years, which is shocking to me because it's fantastic and is one of the ones that seems most obvious as to why it should be on the list. Yes, it's very like the early albums of Radiohead, especially because of Matt Bellamy's voice that resembles Thom Yorke's voice extremely. On this album electronics are introduced as an element in the music, but they add something in stead of destroy everything like a lot of bands unfortunately end up doing.

We seem to get hip hop albums in waves. This one isn't as bad as some of the others. Coming from the super early days of the genre, it's not so much glorification of drugs, misogyny, guns, sexual assault, violence, hating women, using women, that the genre has turned into. It is pretty monotonous still but in sort of a different way than hip hop is now. The lyrics are still questionable in quality but not as bad as more recent hip hop I guess. It's actually kind of funny to see how tame this genre was in its infancy compared to what it's grown into. All in all, I'd give this album like a 1.5, I'll round up because it's only about 40 minutes long.

My enjoyment of this album shifted a lot during my listen with some very high highs and very meh lows. Reed's voice leans monotone in quite a few tracks, which made them a bit boring, but that's not always the case. Sometimes, in songs like Wagon Wheel, it's far more exciting and dynamic. Plus, the most well-known song on the album, Walk On the Wild Side, is one of the worst offenders of the monotone sound and manages to not be all that bad because of the lyrics and guitar. I wouldn't describe this as my favorite kind of album to listen to, but I did feel it was properly balanced and was moderately enjoyable.

When I downloaded this album and saw that it was nearly an hour and ten minutes long, I started having negative feelings toward it immediately. I acknowledge this kind of pre-judgement is unfair, but my prior experience has been that most albums over an hour long feel tedious by the time you finish them. Then I had a quick look at the Wikipedia page and saw that the genre was post-hardcore and noise rock, and I only became more skeptical. One thing I've learned about myself from this project is that noise rock and adjacent styles are very much not my cup of tea. Different genres of music emphasize or value different aspects of music rhythm, melody, harmony, simplicity, virtuosity, energy and restraint. Most punk I've heard is heavy on rhythm and energy/aggression, and light on melody and tenderness. This just isn't to my taste most of the time. All this is to say that I was fully prepared to hate this album, but instead I merely disliked it. I feel like I've had a little breakthrough in realizing that if you don't think of the harsh sounding vocals as a human voice, but instead let it wash over you as just another instrument, then it fits in well with the heavy, distorted guitars and adds to the overall vibe instead of just seeming like tuneless screaming.

Wow, another David Bowie album.....wait this isn't Bowie? But seriously, this album sounds like something Bowie would make, so that means its pretty good, even if it is somewhat derivative of all the art rock staples, and is strangely reminiscent of Velvet Underground and similar artists. I like the non linear song progressions and the strange vocal performances are pretty captivating, but I wish there was more melodic meat to the tunes. The experimental songs with longer run times were my not my favorite because there were some very ultimately unsatisfying build ups and break downs. This album felt a lot longer than it was, because there's something very dense about these songs, it makes a 4 minute song seem like 10 minutes, and a 10 minute song feel like 30 minutes. Overall, it was solid but I was left wanting something a little bit more in terms of the melodies, nothing really hooked me but it still held my attention because it was interesting conceptually.

I've said before that I think the Ramones are overrated. Listening to this album doesn't change my thinking on this. I mean, I enjoyed this, and I'm giving it a four because punk. Also because short. That last point is important. If you're going to have as many one note songs as the Ramones put on this album, fortunately they're short. To rant for a moment, I think I only have two problems with the Ramones. First, I don't much like Joey Ramone's crooning. It's fine when he's up there whining, yelling, sneering, shouting, coughing, whatever. Just don't croon. Second, I don't like the guitars as much as other punk bands. I'm cool with ripping away at one or two chords. It's the lack of pedal work or something (and I say that as a nonguitar player). An excellent example of this issue is Havana Affair. Up until the 49th second, the guitar is basic electric flailing, then at 00:49 the guitar tone shifts. I want more songs like that. Bands have written whole songs (maybe whole albums) with that sound. The Ramones? Once a year. Okay rant over. In the end I think punk needs multiple listens until those riffs and lyrics start playing in your head unsolicited. That's when the music starts making more and more sense especially when it comes to those early punk bands like the Ramones, the Damned, Sex Pistols etc.

It's a hip hop album. And a pretty long one at that. Overall, I'm not a fan. It may not be quite as laden with misogyny, violence, and homophobia as some of the others, but it's still the same thing over and over. I mean, of course those elements are there if you want them, just not front and center like most of the hip hop albums on this list. For the most part. But the lyrics are dumb and simple. The music is unoriginal and repetitive. The whole genre is just monotonous and irritating and this album is the same as all the rest. Though there were points where I was digging the grooves. I particularly liked the tracks where elements of funk/jazz were incorporated. But again, I was mostly not inspired by anything here. It may not be quite as bad as others but still, not for me.

What I like the most here is all the various styles these songs go for. They're all still easily categorized as pre-80's New Wave punk, but they're clearly trying to create their own sound. I know that sounds pretty "no duh," but I'm thinking back to other UK punk albums I've heard, particularly the debuts of the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and neither of them change up their styles as much as this one does. That's even acknowledging The Clash's dive into reggae and knowing what they'd go on to do with their future albums. I can absolutely see why this album has been compared to Revolver. And I wanna point out, too: the bass is fantastic. I don't typically notice bass as often as I should, but man, it was so good here. All in all... Man, I don’t know. I'm feelin' a good 4 on this thing. And, like, I can't put my finger on why I'm holding this thing back from a complete 5... It just feels right, you know? And believe me, it's a very high 4. It's just... Yeah, I'll say it again, it's good stuff. No more, no less. And I don't know what else to say besides that, so... Yeah! Good jams from The Jams.

If you had told me a week ago that I would be giving a disco album a 4... I don't know what I'd do, but man this one's a banger. Side A or the Pavement Side starts with the first single Fascist Groove Thang which was a song banned by the BBC for its commentary on the political Right particularly Ronald Reagan. A poppy song with a very quick beat and mechanical sounding which goes funky towards the end. A synth jam opens their second single, the title track Penthouse and Pavement. This is kind of groovy. A very busy song with all that's going on. Female backing vocals. A cool guitar/synth ending. "Geisha Boys and Temple Girls" open Side B or the Penthouse Side. It sounds like "Close Encouters with keyboards and laser sounds. Well, we're in that era. I think about forget trying for boys and girls to get along. Their last single and far and away my favorite song on the album is "The Height of the Fighting." A dance groove, mechanical. A deep male voice saying two words and the singer responding. Great, great vocal chorus repeating the title. Very similar to Depeche Mode. Overall really solid, even though I was skeptical of disco.

It is yet another embarrassing thing to admit but I have never heard a Rolling Stones album in full until this very point. I have heard many of their songs before and would consider myself a fan of some extent but once again I didn't know what to expect when going through 40+ minutes of their music. Thankfully I feel Let It Bleed was probably the best place I could have started when it came to their music. Let It Bleed is a feel good album. It may not be this big loud Rock album a lot of people would expect from the stones, but it is a more calm and laid back Blues Rock album that shows some of the finer details of the band's chemistry as well as their writing skills in a much brighter way than usual. Overall, it’s a really solid album, the only thing holding it back is my spite for dad.

I really wanted to love this album. I really did. But, it didn't speak to me in the way I hoped it would. I was left feeling underwhelmed and wanting. I asked myself why? Was it the songwriting? No, it was excellent. The singing? No, it was solid. Was there too much harmonica? Maybe, but I'm just not big on harmonica. So why didn't I love it? I have no idea. Maybe it’s because you've got it all, half baked blues, half baked raga rock, half baked, plain ol' folk rock, all of which I would never be able to pick out of a line up. It's inoffensive in a sense, all in one ear and out the other, but it is a waste of time in its truest form, so it is a pain to sit through all forty minutes of. I think some plain folk music would've worked better, and maybe that's what Fred Neil was doing before this album, but this is just rough, a bore.

This is one of those albums that would only be on the list in 2005. My guess is that in 2005, someone working on this book (probably from the UK) was looking for a more modern jazz-adjacent artist to put on this list. There, that person found this album, which saw modest success, and put it on the list. Of course, Amy Winehouse would become a much more iconic artist as a result of the success of her 2006 album Back to Black. Because of that, this album was apparently removed from the list and replaced with Back to Black, a decision that I totally understand. I kind of went into this album totally blind. As for how I feel about it? It's good. It's not my favorite, but it's still good. Amy Winehouse's singing is phenomenal. There's no going around it. It's easily the best part of this album. The sound is also quite pleasant. The writing is certainly interesting. I feel that it's maybe a bit lyrically repetitive, but it's more of a style choice than lack of creativity. The writing is quite personal and honest though, and I like that. Overall, this is a solid album with no glaring issues, and compared to the success of Back in Black, it almost feels like a hidden gem.

Let me start off by saying Bridge Over Troubled Water is easily the greatest folk album of all time. Personally, I would put it in my top 10 albums ever created. That being said, despite my love for it, I've never listened to Simon and Garfunkel's other albums. I've obviously heard the hits like America and Mrs. Robinson, but I'm going in blind for everything else. And I know I shouldn't go in with high expectations, but it's hard not to. Anyways, it's half a concept album, half a collection of killer singles, a similar dynamic to The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" record. Funny enough, just like on that one, there is barely any filler on here. Paul Simon's songwriting is magnificent, songs like "Old Friends" have some of the best lyrics I've heard in a while. I'll say that this, to today's standards at least, is far from a grand concept album, but I really like how the first side depicts coming of age with each song dealing on topics relevant to an older age than the previous one. Cute record, I really like it. And honestly, the only thing holding it back is the fact that I know their best is yet to come.

What a poet, a true wordsmith of our era. Regaling us with tales of shooting people, hostility towards law enforcement, peppered with some naughty words, even samples of children doing it. Edgy. But he can do romance too, the everlasting dilemma of getting a young lady pregnant and then debating whether to kick her in the stomach or reaching for a 'hanger'. The only thing saving it from a one is that it has some musical validity. I’m starting to get sick of the rap on this list. It's better than Nas because it's better than some we’ve gotten and seems less serious in its approach. Plenty of samples from films. But yeah, not my bag at all.

I think The Offspring have fallen out of favor within the music community a bit in recent years, and given some of their more recent releases, I can see why, but it’s kind of a shame people don’t look back on their early work quite as fondly as they do many other 90s bands. A part of that may be the role this album had in the creation of pop punk, a genre many would point to as a corny, immature offshoot of a superior genre, and for me it’s supposed to be corny, that's the charm of it, that’s what makes it fun. And this is a fun album. It’s no Green Day or Op Ivy, but there’s certainly no shortage of bangers to be found. Nitro (Youth Energy) is an amazing introduction to the album (not counting Time to Relax), with Bad Habit, Gotta Get Away, and It’ll Be a Long Time all being personal favorites from there. However, this particular listening reminded me of just how great even the stuff inbetween I had forgotten about is, like Genocide, Something to Believe In, Not the One, and the closing track Smash (though I had to Google the lyrics to that last one to confirm he wasn’t saying what I initially thought he was saying in the chorus). Anyway, I really enjoyed my return to this album with this list. While I don’t think it’ll ever be my favorite punk album, it holds a special place in my heart because it was my gateway into the genre as a whole.

Man, I know Miles Davis is a master of his craft. I know Bitches Brew is some sort of landmark achievement in the jazz world. I know that "not really getting it" makes me some sort of idiot in the music community. I don't care about any of that, because listening to this record is a chore. I'm sure the musicians were having fun, but this what my problem is with experimental jazz: It's like they're speaking in short pieces of nonsense. Instead of having letters that form words, that eventually make sentences. It's just nonsense, and it ends up feeling like a lack of musicality. Even though I know there are some jazz greats on here. it's fine that the musicians are experiencing joy in what they're doing, but it doesn't really translate for me. Their joy is unfortunately not contagious rather, it feels like it actually sucks my joy from me for as long as I'm willing to listen. I find it a more joyful affair for me to just quit listening to, but unfortunately I'm no quitter.

Springsteen is yet another in the long list of artists I’ve never really listened to. I didn't miss him entirely, though, so I'm somewhat familiar with some of these tracks (probably because of dad). I had never listened to this album all the way through before, not by a long shot, and I really like it. It's a bit more raw and gritty rock sounding than I expected. I like the lyrics a lot. I have noted before in my mind that I've liked the lyrics on the handful of Springsteen songs with which I'm familiar. He's an excellent writer. I had worried his voice might annoy me, and sometimes when he's screaming it comes close, but it fits so well with what's going on in the song that it's not too much. And, dang, this whole band plays fantastically well. I never saw them perform live in concert and I have a feeling I would've really enjoyed the shows they did in support of this album.

When I saw another Lou Reed album yesterday, admittedly I was skeptical. I wasn't a huge fan of Transformer, and Velvet Underground has consistently only gotten 1 or 2 stars from me. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by this album. It's definitely a darker tone and theme than his previous albums. There is absolutely nothing that evokes any joy, and I suppose that's a part of the appeal. Again, like always, Lou Reed's voice really does nothing for me. To me it just too monotone and feels like he's just speaking melodically. Anyways, the instrumentation on this album is really solid, it's very bare bones, primarily relying on nothing but piano and vocals. Which ultimately makes the album feel more gritter and dark which I personally adore.

Nah. The first track had its mysterious atmosphere and was filled with neat layered synths. But when she started singing on the second track…it started to go down hill. I love a great female vocalist, but her voice is just grating. Maybe it’s the style or genre, maybe it’s where she’s from, but I just couldn’t do it. I’m happy to say that the instrumentation and musical ideas expressed here are innovative and… interesting. I can definitely give it that. But I just couldn’t get into this past that. Not just because of her voice, either, but because I just couldn’t relate. This one wasn’t for me.

Another artist I’ve heard of but never got to hear. This is sample based dance music which can be ok but this album makes me wish that it had more adventurous content or that I was at least listening to some real musicians playing. There are some moments here and there of harmonic movement which keep it interesting however presented over an unchanging electronic beat does make it sound a little flat. It was neat that we got two electronica albums from two different decades, but I just don’t think the genre is my bag. However, I am curious though to listen to at least a couple more albums by Moby to see if anything grabs me. In the meantime unless I can muster up any desire to listen to this one again to see if it clicks, I’m afraid that this will be filed under non-essential listening for now.

The great part about this experience is that I am listening to artists I have never gotten around to listening to before. In this case, I had always heard about Sonic Youth and their influence in music but this is the first time I have ever listened to an album of theirs. The downside of this is that I may not be starting in with a good album to fully appreciate what a band has to offer. Which brings us to this album. I know this is not “the” Sonic Youth album but I also do not know if it is a good place to start in their discography it being a double album and all. It falls into the problem with most double albums in that few bands can acutally make an enjoyable double album that doesn't have too much filler. There are some songs that I like and others that should not be in this track list (such as the multiple songs where the vocalist sounds like they are literally throwing up in the microphone). I look forward to getting more Sonic Youth to get a complete picture of what a band hah to offer. With this one though I am giving it a 2/5 as the misses greatly outweigh the hits.