This is an album you can fall between the notes on and get lost. It's a true psychedelic experience: overly long, constantly morphing, with pockets of glossy fluff alongside glimpses of resonant, timeless themes and deep creative innovation.
There's no question that Electric Ladyland deserves its place in the pantheon of legendary 60's albums. It contains some all time classic anthems (Watchtower, Voodoo Child Slight Return), along with some hidden gems (Crosstown Traffic, Burning of the Midnight Lamp, 1983). It's also an album that could have benefitted from an editing pass on the track list. Songs like Little Miss Strange, Come On (Let the Good Times Roll), and Long Hot Summer Night, while not bad songs, divert away from the sound and motifs of the rest of the album; carefree dittys diluting a project that otherwise leans epic in scale.
One thing that struck me on this listen (I've heard this album many many times, funny that it's my first pull on the 1001 albums) is how masterfully emotive Jimi's vocals are. Obviously his guitar prowess is unchallenged, but I think his vocals have long been taken for granted. They're undeniably raw, powerfully expressive, and could never be mistaken for anyone else.
All said, this gets a 4 from me, it would be a 5 if not for the inconsistent tracks and meandering tendencies. It's really a 4.5, if we could do half steps.
This is a good album. It plays it straight down the middle and delivers a solid, consistently listenable experience. Petty has a distinctive voice and wrote some good songs, and while I don't think this is his best album, it has a couple classic tracks tucked away amongst the more standard album cuts. There's nothing groundbreaking here for the mid 1970's, but it's something you can safely put on for almost anyone without fear of offense, and get a taste of wholesome Americana rock. Probably best listened to while driving, smoking a Marlboro or two, and having a Bud. 3-3.5 for me.
Stone cold classic. By turns anthemic, twisty, gritty, and squonky, the tracks on this album combine to create a demanding experience that rewards close listening and suspension of disbelief.
Probably my favorite Zappa album alongside Apostrophe', though I haven't heard anywhere close to all of them. It checks a lot of boxes for me, and was formative in my music listening history. It's a solid 4.5 from me.
Superb album that sees Kendrick coming into his own as an artist. Like any good hip hop album, it's so densely layered with meaning and sounds that one listen hardly does it justice. I listened through twice today, and the second play definitely crystalized some things, as well as revealed an interesting feature of the album's narrative timeline (it's essentially an endless loop). As many of his projects do, this album sees Kendrick treading a careful balance of gritty gangsta bravado, cerebral introspection, and heady storytelling wrapped up in flawless production that blends live instrumentation and samples. The beats hit hard.
I missed this album when it first came out, but have been a fan of a number of his other projects and I'm glad I finally made the leap. 4.5/5.
My fifth album generated, and my first five star rating. One of those albums that's just an instant classic, with themes that reverberate loud and clear through the decades. Is his voice abrasive? Perhaps. Is the harmonica ear-piercing at times? Yeah, probably. Does this album contain some of the best American folk songs of all time? Absolutely. Undeniably prophetic songs that twist your ears and heart in unexpected ways, accomplished with super stripped down instrumentation, even for its time. Not even my favorite Dylan album, but still a 5/5 for sure.
This the first full Police album I've listened to, and I'd say it was about what I was expecting, given familiarity with their radio hits. The songs aren't bad, and the playing is good throughout, especially Stewart Copland's drumming, which has some interesting tempo changes and time signatures. For the most part, though, the album is a collection of glossy radio ballads with varying amounts of "world music" pastiche draped over top. I don't mean that as a bad thing necessarily, it's just not the most engaging listen to my ear.
There are a couple twists I wan't expecting, including "Mother" which feels like a fever dreaming Tom Waits doing some kind of proto-punk. I don't know anything about the band's history, but that track feels like a different band entirely, and I'm interested if there are more pockets of it on other Police albums.
Overall, it's a nice sounding record with ultimately forgettable songs. 3 from me.
I liked this album. I'm not familiar with a ton of punk beyond the Misfits and a couple more modern acts, so it's always good to expand my knowledge a bit. Nothing blew my socks off here, but I do enjoy when a punk band vocalist takes a kind of lounge singer approach.
My thing with punk is that it tends to be more of an expression of raw feeling, sometimes lacking in interesting musical ideas. There are some engaging moments here, but for the most part I wasn't swept away. 3/5 from me.
I almost bounced completely off this album based on the first couple of tracks, but I'm glad I stuck with it, because I ended up enjoying a lot of it. One of the only things that turns me off certain music is scream-y, unmusical vocals, and while this album has a fair amount of that, it's also got a lot of interesting stuff going on. Many of the tracks are on the long side, which allows them to open up into some really cool, hard, angular grooves that I was rocking out to.
Still not going to be one of my all timers, but overall I ended up liking it more than I thought I would. I can see why people love it. 3/5 from me.
Hard to write objectively about this album, because it's been part of the soundtrack to my life for the past 20 years. From the moment it kicks off, you know it's not a "regular" album. The choice to open the album with a 10 minute instrumental freak out (after letting the listener know that they knocked the Earth up) has got to be one of the wildest choices in modern music history.
It's a shapeshifter, moving from the aforementioned primal freak out, to the eminently catchy, soulful "Can You Get To That" and "Hit It And Quit It", to the loose and groovy "You and Your Folks...", to "Super Stupid" which is a hard driving, Hendrix-worthy jam, and then closing out with two more incredibly idiosyncratic, psychedelic-laced anthems in "Back in Our Minds" and "Wars of Armageddon."
It's a weird, provocative, subversive, and ultimately listenable album, if you give it space to breathe. It's a 5 from me, thanks for all the memories George and crew.
Classic. Raw, powerful, soulful. Janis was a force of nature and this album is a testament to her ability to rip your heart out with her voice, but also keep a playful edge. 4.5/5 for me.
This album surprised me. I am a huge Talking Heads fan, but had never made it around to listening to TTC beyond Genius of Love. I was prepared for a peak 80's cheese fest, and yes it kind of is, but it's also kind of a great hang. The songs flow into each other like a DJ set, and while some of the synth sounds do come off like the band just fucking around with settings and experimenting, there is a musical playfulness throughout the tracks that lends cohesion to the wackiness.
Overall, this isn't an album that I would be dying to revisit often, but I might start throwing it on at parties. Gonna be a 3/5 for me, influential for sure and more legit than I anticipated.
Classic grunge all the way through. It's hard to deny the sheer power of the sound, from the vocals, to the screaming guitars to the drums. Not my favorite album from that era, but definitely solid. Doesn't have enough songs that really stand out from one another, but nonetheless a great album. 3/5 from me.
One of Bowie's unsung masterpieces. Subtle and lush, with lots of downtempo instrumental sections. Not a hit to be found, but a really cohesive project that has earned a cult status in his discography. 4/5 from me.
Funk central. Fully immersive party simulation. Some tracks suffer from outdated synth sounds, and having been played to death over the past decades. Still iconic and groundbreaking piece of afrofuturist sound. Kind of weird listening to it walking around the USA in January 2026. 3.5/5 from me.
I have somehow, perhaps consciously, perhaps not, avoided listening to The Smiths my entire life. Not one song, to my knowledge, has vibrated my eardrums across my many years of music exploration. I think I read about how much of a prick Morrissey is at one point and just kind of avoided them. Well, that ended today.
I enjoyed the album, probably more than I was expecting to. I can see the influence they had on many of the artists I enjoy, like Belle and Sebastian, The Decemberists, and others. Twee, wordy indie rock with a splash of edge. It's not my favorite genre, but I can dig it for sure. I definitely found the instrumentals more compelling than the lyrics, which tend towards high school poetry notebook territory (Girlfriend in a coma? Unhappy birthday?). The songs themselves are really satisfying and there are plenty of interesting, unexpected passages that experiment with the sound and form.
I expect there are more Smiths albums to be had on this list, so I will see how this stacks up. It's gonna be a 4/5 from me
Immaculate vibes. Brazilian music is just the coolest in the world, and Jorge may be the coolest motherfucker on Earth.
The stylistic blending mixed with the depth and warmth of the recording itself, it makes any room just feel like a jungle hangout.
And any record that heavily features the cuica is a winner in my book. 4/5 from me
This was a rough one for me. There are elements I enjoyed- moments of lush atmospherics, unusual drum patterns, but the vocals and majority of the songwriting just didn't do it for me.
"Club Country" got some legitimate laughs out of me just with the sheer audacious shittiness of the vocals and lyrics. The whole experience read like a group poorly ripping off Bowie. Again, there were some interesting moments, but not enough to save it from being my first 2/5.
A classic Pixies album that doesn't quite reach the same heights of frenzy nor depths of insanity that Doolittle, or to a lesser extent Surfer Rosa does. It's a little more "safe" in it's compositions and performances, and with a few notable exceptions the songs don't distinguish themselves very effectively.
That said, there's a lot to love about this album. Velouria, Dig For Fire, Down The Well, and Hang Wire are all great tracks that sit amongst the pantheon of the Pixies output for me. Nothing is really "bad" per se, and perhaps in a vacuum, without knowledge of their previous work, I'd be judging this differently. It's a challenge for me because the entirety of Doolittle is burned into my soul, and was well established as one of my favorite albums of all time before I ever heard Bossanova. Hopefully Doolittle is on this list as well, as that's an easy 5 from me. This, however is going to sit at a 4
This one hits really close to home for me, as someone who's parents played this album constantly when it came out. I don't think I really appreciated it at the time, but it was certainly foundational when I was developing my musical tastes at age 10-11.
I don't think I'm really able to put into words why this album will be a 5 from me, other than the feeling is conveys is just so organic, airy, and smooth while also being emotive and a just a little rough around the edges. It's music that makes you feel at ease, like there is nothing in the world you need to be doing than sitting, listening, socializing, and soaking in a sunny day.
5/5
Amazing pull for February 2026 in America. I listened to most of this album walking around downtown, and it was a perfect urban walking experience. No one can blend gritty political lyrics with slinky, sexy, ice cold funk like Curtis Mayfield.
Previously I was only really familiar with his album Roots, which is phenomenal, and this one got close to the highs of that album, but didn't quite take it over the top for me. I think it's missing one big anthem and it would be an all-timer.
All love for Curtis, this is gonna be a 3.5/5 from me.
Milque, meet toast.
I had this album on CD in 9th grade. Somehow it made it into the collection along with Linkin Park and the Beastie Boys. The songs aren't really bad per se, they're just so, so boring. Like, they took the elements that would make a song stand out and turned them down, so that any glimpse of a unique idea is buried beneath a glacier of bland coffeehouse drivel.
There's not a single moment I can point to on the album, where I could picture anyone, not just me, saying "wow, that was cool." It's a 2.5/5 from me. Not aggressively bad, but determinedly mediocre.
This is an artist at the peak of her confidence, creating a totally singular project with world class collaborators. The music is crisp, languid, and twisty. Thoroughly contemporary, and in 1976 surely sounded like a version of the future.
You could write a whole book about the lyrics, but suffice to say that they're poetic vulnerability, slices of a life on the road, cryptic missives from the mind of a Canadian drifter.
I'll admit that I haven't given Joni a ton of time before, despite my wife being a super fan. This project grabbed me more than I was expecting, and I'm going to dole out a 4.5/ from me. Harmonics, texture, and contemplation.
Elvis Costello is another musical blind spot for me. Like The Smiths, I kind of wrote off a lot of 80s music for whatever reason, so I'm glad to be getting a chance to dig in.
I feel like this is a weird intro album to his music, being his 9th, and the last one with The Attractions. Overall I'd say I wasn't blown away. It feels like music that was a refreshing alternative to a lot of the synthy, glammy pop that was happening at the time, but for me it just wasn't super compelling. His voice was pretty grating, the lyrics were a bit contrived, and the songs were pretty straight ahead rock and roll, with a few edgy twists. It didn't do much for me, but it did have a few interesting moments. I'll throw it a 3/5.
I mean what can you say about an album like this? Marvin was a beacon of soul, an avatar of rhythm. The grooves are so deep on here you run the risk of falling out between the notes.
It's a wonderful album, but not totally consistent, at least to my ear. There are a couple tracks that kind of drag it down, and for it it'll get a 4/5 from me.
As iconic as this band is, they've always been a greatest hits act for me, and this album, while fun, didn't really change that.
Queen have a couple really great tricks up their sleeve. Tight, expressive, and at times baroque arrangements; Brian May's incredible guitar work, Freddie's timeless voice and personality. Occasionally those things combine to make magic, and they did many times throughout their career. This album shows off those parts of Queen, though a bit unevenly. Killer Queen is definitely the standout, the rest of the tracks kind of get lost in a generic 70s rock pastiche. It's definitely a solid album, but not one I'll revisit any time soon.
3/5 from me.
This is one of those albums that's just part of my DNA. When I was getting into jazz this was one of my gateways, and it's been one I revisit fairly regularly. This was a great listen today, and reminded me how much I love this set of songs.
Take Five is obviously an all time classic, but Blue Rondo is up there for me as well, what a perfect tune for the kind of optimistic daydreaming I used to do. An age gone.
It's gonna be a 5/5 from me. It's an album of relatively simple melodies with lots of time feel playing beneath the surface. Shapes emerging and rearranging, collapsing and reforming under a gorgeous mid century album cover.
This was a great surprise. I had vaguely heard of Django Django before but had never given them a listen. I love any music that takes chances on blending styles and influences, and this album certainly does that.
There's a dreaminess that runs throughout the project, interwoven with jangly surf rock, dancy drum and bass beats, middle eastern melodies, and quiet indie ballads.
It makes sense that one of the band members is related to someone in the Beta Band, you can definitely hear similarities, particularly in the vocals. This was a fun listen for me, and I'll give it a 4.5/5
This is some good old straight ahead, slice of life American pop rock. It sounds great, the lyrics are engaging and erudite without being pretentious, and the songs are catchy. This kind of stuff isn't typically my cup of tea, but I'll admit I enjoyed the listen. I think Aimee's lyrics and song structure elevate it above a more generic sound. And I love any project that features an organ.
3.5/5 for me. Solid, not transcendent.
Interesting that this album is called "All Directions" because it really feels like it's being pulled in a bunch of directions, but not necessarily in a good way. There's a lot going on here, but just at a surface level, it seems like the band was trying to evolve from their early, more by-the-book vocal group sound, and infuse a funkier, more experimental element into their arrangements. And they succeed in a limited way.
Papa Was A Rolling Stone is obviously a classic and for good reason, that bass line is undeniable, the beat is stone cold, and the lyrics tell a sad but compelling tale. It's also a long track, over three minutes before the vocals even kick in, which I love. They're taking chances. "Funky Music..." and "Run Charlie Run" coming in before give the first side of this album a distinct vibe, a loose and funky direction that almost completely falls away on side two.
The back half of the album, though not bad by any means, falls into some schmaltzy snoozers that really aren't my taste. After getting a taste of what they could do on the first side, I found the second half disappointing and undercooked, with some bright spots here and there. It's a 3.5/5 from me.
I can practically feel the sweat flying off this man as he walks into the mic. What a wild ride. Obviously Little Richard was a trailblazer, King of Rock and Roll, unimpeachable performer, and all around dynamo. The sound is frantic, raw, and makes you want to move.
This was a fun listen. My only critique is that many of the songs follow essentially the same pattern, and by the end his wailing was wearing a bit thin. It's gonna be a 4.5/5 from me, as a nod to the progenitor of the genre, I wish I could experience the energy in a 1950s dancehall.
IT'S BIG BEAT BRUV! I love this shit. Such a pure expression of funky 90s electronic exploration, created by one of the all time greats. I'll always love Fatboy and the Chemical Brothers, and this album is no exception.
Not a lot of time to write reviews this week, I'm at a 4/5 from me.
This album is at the bottom of Portishead's discography, and I was kind of surprised to see it on this list, to be honest.
There are some interesting ideas here, and they're exploring some different sonic territory, but it doesn't quite reach the highs of Dummy.
It'll be a 3/5 from me.
It's a swingin' good time! I'll always be a huge Sinatra fan, and this has so many classic tunes one after another. Hard to imagine a world where I don't give this a 5, so I'll go ahead and do it.
It's a good album. I'm not a huge VM fan in general, but you can't deny his songwriting chops on a project like this. The back half lags compared to the first. 3.5/5 from me.
In a display of the cosmic connective power of music, I had actually just re-listened to this album last week, after getting the Temptations album "All Directions" from the generator that contains the sample on "Zealots."
That small kismet aside, this is one of the best albums of all time. Certainly in the top five hip hop albums ever made. The production is sparse without being cold, the beats are futuristic while still retaining a lo-fi boom bap attitude. The lyrics are incredibly dense and referential, like all great hip hop projects you could peel the layers back on the lyrics for hundreds of listens and still catch new wordplay.
Lauryn Hill is a generational talent, paired with Wyclef who is the coolest motherfucker in the world, and also a musical genius, and Pras who has some great verses and energy throughout this project. One thing I picked up on this time is how politically radical this album is, up there with RATM in terms of messaging and speaking truth to power. Much respect to the Fugees, I wish they had had more of an output but sometimes things burn so brightly they can't be kept alight for long. East 5/5 from me.
This is my shit. I love mid nineties British eclectic-electronic stuff, and this really scratched the itch. I had only heard the Fatboy Slim remix of Brimful, and though the original is slower and less dancy, I enjoyed the laid back nature of it all.
It's a real groove you can hang out it. Feels very Mr. Scruff/ Ninja Tuna adjacent in the best way. I'm gonna go 4/5.
Bit of a rough go for me on this one, even as a big jazz enjoyer. Such a weird hodgepodge of an album, couldn't really find the through line of the project. Who was listening to this in 1984? Some OK instrumental tracks, but the rest delved deep into cheeseball territory. 2.5/5 from me.
What can you say about an album with so many absolutely perfect tracks? Not a note nor breath out of place, some say it's "too clean" or lacks soul, but I think the precision on display here is reason enough to embrace it's analog glossiness.
Her voice is staggeringly powerful here, supported by songs that bolster the emotional core of the lyrics. Stripped down instrumentation, this album was the antidote to the overprocessed pop machine of the 2010s.
I won't claim to be an Adele super fan, and in fact I hadn't heard this album all the way through before now, but the tubes are undeniable. People giving this album 1s and 2s are delusional. Yes, so many of these songs were radio hits, but they passed the test, I never got sick of hearing them. Singular talent for sure.
5/5 from me.
My first exposure to this album was exploring an older relative's vinyl collection when I was a kid, and I remember this one because there were pictures of Jawas from Star Wars on the back (apparently they had people dressed as Jawas on stage for the shows?)
I never actually listened to the album until much later, and it turns out the music has nothing to do with Star Wars! Obviously I'm familiar with a lot of Neil's output, and I'm a big fan of albums like Harvest and On The Beach. This live project captures the looser, more punk-inspired side of him with Crazy Horse, as well as some of his acoustic, Dylan-esque (sorry but it's true) tunes up front.
There's some weird themes running through these songs, kind of a postmodern yearning for primitive living? Lots of references to native peoples, wilderness travel, stories of the past, surreal narratives that defy time and space. It's interesting, but musically not the most compelling of his work. It's also kind of weird for a live album, I wish it had a little more room to breathe, you don't get a feel for the room at all.
I'll give it a 3.5/5.
Man, OG goths were pretty cool.
I was skeptical about this album from the jump simply based on the year and cover art. I would say it surpassed my assumptions. It's angsty, dripping with atmosphere, and sonically interesting.
Some of the instrumentation is undercooked, and many of the tracks kind of sound the same, but I did enjoy this for what it is. I'm not going to go out and buy black eyeliner or a spiky choker after this, but I will let out a single tear and crank New Corrosion every now and again.
3/5 from me.
This is a great album, that I'm kind of surprised I never discovered in my lengthy classic rock exploration phase(s). It's bluesy, funky, soulful, and has that classic CSN shine glossing up the seams.
I'm not going to write a long review here, but this is definitely getting added to my library, and I'll revisit for sure.
4/5 from me.
This album is... something else, man. I think it gave me some kind of mental illness just trying to piece together the array of sounds, words, and random covers sprinkled throughout. I was laughing out loud many times, but I still can't tell if it's all tongue in cheek, or if they really thought this was a serious project.
It's all subjective, of course, but this was a each for me. Obviously the iconic tracks stand out, but the rest felt like them trying to stretch an EP with of material into a double LP. Manic stuff.
2.5/5 from me.
It had been a long while since I last sat down with some NIN. I've always been a bit torn on them (him?), somewhat colored by having dated someone who was really into them for a while. On one hand, I like a lot of what they have going on sonically. Super creative sounds, innovative production techniques, off kilter time signatures, harsh effects. I can dig it.
On the other hand are the vocals and lyrics, which still strike me at times as edgy for the sake of being edgy, and just too full of twisty ego whining delivered in a whisper-scream cadence that just bounces off my ears.
I've seen them live, great show, I own Pretty Hate Machine on vinyl, which to be honest has been sitting on the shelf for years at this point.
Downward Spiral is a classic, I'll go 3.5/5. Not totally my thing, but I get it.
This album is another foundational tastemaker in my life. That said, it's been a while since I sat down and listened to it all the way through. The truth is that I tend to prefer live recordings of these tracks, like Stop Making Sense. Something about the production on this album leaves me a little cold, maybe it's the Eno influence with the bleep-bloop krautrock overlays. In live settings these tracks really come to life in a warmer, more organic way that I prefer.
I could probably write a lot more about this album, but as always I'm crunched for time so I'll leave it at 4.5/5 for me, which seems almost sacrilege, but the last two tracks really drag me down.
Here's the deal, I really like all the Crazy Horse stuff, but so many of the songs sound pretty much the same. Big gnarly riff, high harmonic vocals with some kind of hook, ripping, angular jangly breakdown, rinse and repeat. It's a great formula, but it means that these songs all kind of blend into one another after a while.
That said, I listened to much of this album while driving in the country, and it was perfect. This is probably my favorite Crazy Horse project I've heard so far. I'm gonna go 4/5.
You know, I'm a pretty open minded guy. I listen to things like Merzbow on occasion, so I get the concept of Noise as a genre, but this was particularly grating.
I thought this was going to be my first 1 star review, but after giving the album time to breathe I found a few pathways in and started to understand the point of view a little more. There's definitely some interesting ideas here, amidst the chaos and screams. One track reminded me a lot of the Velvet Underground.
The version I found on Tidal included several "dub" tracks at the end, which I actually really enjoyed, but those weren't part of the origin album release so I won't include them in my review.
I certainly wasn't prepared for this album,and it's not something I'm going to revisit (except maybe the dubs?) 2.5/5 from me.
Aw yeah, this is my shit. These grooves have pockets so deep you could lose your whole damn mind. This album was short but loooong, you know? You can feel the band really stretching out on some of these tracks, and it turns from regular music into more of an atmosphere, and I love it.
I'm gonna go 4, I could have used 2 or 3 more tracks that give me that feeling.
I was pretty young during the original Nirvana days, but I remember how cool they were, and how much of a big deal it was when Kurt died.
My hot take as I've gotten older is that while Nirvana certainly has some amazing music, I think Kurt's death and the subsequent memorializing has given Nirvana's legacy a bit more juice than it would have otherwise. Listening to this album, there are some standout tracks like Heart Shaped Box, Pennyroyal Tea, and All Apologies, but there are also a bunch of pretty forgettable punk/grunge cuts that don't really add up enough to make this a classic album, at least for me.
For my money, Nirvana had one really great album, which was Nevermind. Nothing else really approaches it. In Utero is a 3/5 from me. Some good tracks, but not enough to be blown away by.
Great album, one of the most iconic of the Neo Soul era. Lauryn is a master of her craft no doubt, and her strong soul and gospel routes shine through here, alongside her unparalleled MC chops.
Overall though, this album falls a little bit short of the sum of it's parts, at least for me. It's lacking some of the edge of her work with the Fugees, it's more comfortable looking back musically rather than to the future. It's also pretty long, they probably could have dropped a few tracks to tighten up the runtime and solidify the whole vision.
Still, it's great, and reminds me of how good we had it in the 90s when it came to fresh, inspired soul and hip hop. 4/5 from me.
Pioneering, inventive, twisty and sublime. This album was the birth of a whole new genre of electronic music, one that is less in your face, a little more introspective and refined than a lot of the early house and krautrock that was happening back then.
These tracks, despite being fully electronic, maintain a human warmth throughout, with melodies and rhythms that can fade into the background while still tugging your brain along in multiple directions.
Aphex is a master, this is a 5/5 from me.
This is a pretty middling British invasion/ blues rock album. A couple decent tracks, but there are so many stronger Who albums, it's strange that this made the cut.
2.5/5 from me.
It's just so predictable and clean. All the sounds sound like pre programmed drum machine kits from the factory, no effort to dirty them up. Bland song structures, no real hooks save for the title track.
I know Madonna has much stronger material. This is a 2 from me.
Seems like every classic rock album had to have at least one song about having sex with underage girls. This one is on the more egregious side.
Musically it's OK. The title track has been played to death by a million commercials, but there are some decent cuts to be found here. Nothing earth shattering, and I much prefer the Stooges. Honestly gonna give it a 2 because of that blatant pedophilia anthem.
As I make my way through these albums, certain things about my taste begin to crystallize for me. One of them so far has been that grunge is really not my thing. And this album in particular was really a slog. For a band with such a big sound, there's not a lot going on that grabs my ear.
When you compare them to some of their "alternative" peers of the early 90's, they don't have the vulnerability or edge of Nirvana, the swagger and playfulness of Jane's Addiction, the creativity and darkness of NIN, or the soulfulness of Blind Melon, just to name a few. Again, they have a big sound but it's just kind of stuck in this predictable, mid-tempo chug that quickly loses my interest.
I'm gonna put this at a 2/5
This is my kind of album. I actually am very familiar with the two Bees albums following this one, Free the Bees and Octopus, but somehow never knew about this one (the joys of the pre-streaming era). This album feels a little more experimental, a little more ambient in places, but with the same jazzy-funk-reggae-indie core sounds at its heart. This album is definitely coming back out on a lazy summer day, it's made for stoned daydreaming, colorful imagery, and open spaces.
4.5/5 from me.
Look, I love a lot of music that's considered goofy or corny. I listen to jam bands for god's sake. But this shit is CORNY, and even worse Elvis really takes himself and his music seriously, from what I understand. I realize i might be missing some key piece of cultural context that made his music groundbreaking or appealing in its time, but right now? In 2026? It's not for me.
His voice is like a drunken carnival barker, the song writing is tedious and overwrought, the instrumentation is muddled and underwhelming.
I'm gonna go 1.5/5 on this. I might be in a mood, but that's just what my heart is telling me. I'm dreading the rest of the EC albums on this list.
I've been on a big Sade kick this year, so getting this album was a nice treat. There's something about her music that makes me nostalgic for a life I never led; one full of mystery, high drama, and style. It's just so intriguing to me, everything she does just has a certain air about it that I find intoxicating.
That said, this album, while still extremely strong, doesn't quite hit the same sublime highs of Love Deluxe, which I think (and I suspect I'm not alone) is her finest project. Diamond Life is a little more grounded in jazz, lacking just a bit of the gloss and atmosphere of her later work. Still, amazingly strong album. 4.5/5 from me.
This album is so quintessentially 80's to me. I had obviously heard Money For Nothing and Walk of Life before, but I wasn't super familiar with the rest of it. My mom was a big Knopfler fan when I was growing up, I remember some of his solo albums fondly. I would say this album is great, if a bit unbalanced. It's one of those albums that has a couple of incredible, iconic tracks, in this case Money For Nothing and Walk of Life, and then a lot of tracks that sound nothing like the hits, and while enjoyable don't have the same energy.
Regarding the hits on this album, I much prefer Walk of Life. MFN has that amazing guitar lick, but overall I think WoL is just a better song. It's got heart and soul in a way that links to the rest of the album, making it more cohesive, while MFN is a big outlier in terms of sound and energy.
Mark Knopfler is funny to me, because here's a guy with huge, generational guitar talent, but is so restrained you would barely guess it based on the bulk of this album. It's like he blew his whole guitar load on MFN and kind of took a backseat for the rest of the album. One World stood out to me as a song format they could have explored a bit more. Blues-y, kind of psychedelic and a good platform for his guitar work without being too flashy.
Anyway, I'm giving this a 4.
Look, this album is a 5. From thew first time I heard it back in early high school, it unlocked a new appreciation of what music could be and how it could make me feel. Radiohead created an entire world with this album, and it's one I've spent significant time exploring in the 25 years since I first entered.
I could spend a lot of time writing about this album, but I don't have the time right now. Suffice to say that this album, with all its paranoia, bombast, lushness, and idiosyncrasies, is just a perfect expression of finding beauty in alienation. I truly don'y understand people whose main complaint about this album, and the band in general, is that it's "too much of a bummer." I've never seen it as a bummer, but as an artistic, beautiful, dare I say healthy expression of feelings that inhabit all of us. This album allowed me to be OK with being an outsider in 9th grade, it gave me solace knowing that other people felt some of the same things I was feeling. It was a cathartic, lush collection of songs that gave a voice to some of my teen angst and for that I will always hold it close to my heart.
It's a once in a generation album that continues to be relevant and futuristic today, no small feat.
Classic. Very clean sound that manages to blend a lot of genres that hadn't necessarily been done together before. You can hear the folky roots pressing up against the nascent psychedelia of the era, as well as hints of classic post war vocal groups.
All together it's a nice listen. Nothing mind blowing, but the vocals especially are really dialed in. I'm going 3.5/5 on this one.
Always nice when I get a totally unfamiliar artist and album. There are layers here, lots of interesting soundscapes emerging on this record, anchored by a mournful, sometime haggard voice. Kind of reminded me of JJ Cale at times, but with more atmospheric tendencies. I liked the funkier tracks, but the slower ones lost me a bit. Kind of bordering on easy listening, but with enough panache to keep it engaging.
I'm gonna go 3/5 here. Nothing groundbreaking for me, but a nice smooth listen.
Conflicted on this one. Obviously Kanye has become a total disaster in recent years, and has aligned himself with terrible people and ideas. That said, I'm going to set that aside for this review, because I was and still am a Kanye fan, especially of his early work.
I remember when this album came out, the hype was insane. MBDTF had been this huge turning point in modern rap, and everyone was waiting to see what he did next. This thing came out of left field, ditching many of his signature sounds for a colder, synthier, more future sound compared to his older souls flips and sample based projects.
I was not a huge fan of this album when it came out, and I'm still not really on board today. It's the lyrics and not the music that bother me, I think. I can dig some Daft Punk produced electro beats, but his lyrics on this album really pivoted away from his earlier stuff, which while still shot through with tastes of his ego, retained a playful, relaxed element. This album is nothing but bald faced ego, and horribly misogynistic throughout. It was pretty rough to listen to at the time as a young man, but now as a dad with a wife and daughter it's just shitty.
I'm going 2/5, I do appreciate the production here, I just can't get on board with the lyrical thesis of the project.
I saw another reviewer write something along the lines of "I really wanted to hate this, but I just can't" and I think I fall into that boat as well. Something about the whole idea and image of Van Halen has always rubbed me the wrong way, but I've never actually say down and listened to an album.
Is it completely over the top, cheesy, and hyper sexualized? Absolutely. Are the songs catchy, with undeniable hooks and skillful playing? Yup. It's just one of those 80s albums that worked its way into the zeitgeist for good reason. The chops are there. The synth leads are hooky, and the guitar is blazing. Makes me want to drink 10 cheap beers and get behind the wheel of a Camaro.
Still not my favorite music, but I won't deny it's got some juice. 3/5.
Thank you, Mr. Basie. Just the kind of refreshment I needed to hear. Hard to knock anything about it, but it could have been twice the length and I would have lapped it right up. 4.5/5 from me.
Well, I had listened to most of the album before I realized that I accidentally had it on shuffle. So I can't speak to the tracking, but I did enjoy this little post punk journey. Angular, slightly disarming, but with rhythm and hooks that keep you intrigued. I can hear influences in a lot of modern music from these guys and their contemporaries. Not a ton of time to review today, but I will go 3.5/5
This is a proper album. Haters just lack the proper sophistication, dig? Sure it's smooth, but it's got teeth. Yeah, the instruments sound really, really good. Last time I checked that's a good thing.
When I saw this pop up I knew this would be the Day of the Expanding Man. Nocturnal prowling, whiskey drenched and lachrymose. Seedy bars, rough characters and warm gin. The Dan paints pictures with their music, and when it really clicks there's nothing better.
Easy 5/5 from me.
Based on the title track opener I thought this was going to be some kind of dark vaudevillian historical concept album and got very excited. I was getting plainspoken Van Dyke Parks energy. But he quickly leaned away from this baroque opener and the whole middle of the album became kind of standard 70s balladeering.
There was a taste of the discordant again towards the end, but not enough to steer this into something phenomenal. I liked it OK, his voice is very distinct. 3/5 from me.
Solid album front to back. One of those bands that I always thought should have been bigger outside the UK. 4/5 from me.
How did I not know how cool Depeche Mode are? They always kind of got lumped into the "cheesy 80s band" category for me, but that whole group is up for reappraisal, I think.
Moody, layered, passionate, and quirky songs really give this album a whole atmosphere that I love. Gonna go 4.5/5 on this.
I gave 21 five stars, but this falls short of that. Nothing here leaves you completely blown away, despite her voice remaining top notch. Some of the instrumentation wanders into cheesy adult contemporary territory.
There aren't any terrible tracks, but also no true gems to bouy the project up. 3/5 from me.
This was a great surprise. Well crafted, lush songs that all blend into a dreamy yet groovy album. Her voice suits the music well, adding texture without being too overt.
I love this kind of stuff, we'll go 4.5/5 on this.
Okay, I've been a fool. For years now I've written off Springsteen as kind of boring normie rock, but this albums was phenomenal. Raw, powerful, and lyrically evocative. And who can deny the power of a well placed sax solo?
Looking forward to getting to know more of his discography, I really only know the radio hits. 4.5/5 for me.
Not my favorite Curtis album (shoutout Roots) but definitely influential and significant from a sonic perspective. Blending funk/soul and soundtrack in a seamless blend.
4/5 from me.
One of my top 10 albums of all time, certainly. A monument of melancholy; a wonderful, wistful, sublime, and strikingly composed collection of songs. This is Dylan's masterwork, in my opinion. The voice of the songs is mature and confident, but with the poetry and wordplay of his earlier work. The instrumentation is perfect, there's not a note out of place.
Easily 5/5 from me.
Buckle up friends, we're headed to the Horny Zone.
No seriously. Buckle up. Horny time.
Look, I've got nothing but respect for Prince. He was a singular artist with a strong vision and generational chops. The thing is, I've never really been able to connect with his music. It's fun, but not really my cup of tea. This album is no exception. The songs are super danceable and ear catching, but something about the 80's excess and over the top production of it all just throws me off. I was nodding my head, but also grimacing at certain moments. There's just not a lot of subtlety here, it's all waving right in your face. These shiny, wingdings-style songs.
I can get down to it, and some of the tracks made me listen a little closer (shout out to Something In The Water) but overall it's just a bit much for me. 3/5.
What the hell was going on in the early 80s, and why is this album on the list? Another cheesedick Bowie ripoff with cartoonish production and soap opera vocals.
Maybe that's harsh. It's not an awful album I suppose, I did get some good laughs out of some of the tracks, and some of it is passable as like dentist waiting room background fare I suppose.
The best thing this album has done was inspire the character Martin Sheffield Lickley on Comedy Bang Bang.
2/5 from me.
That was fun. I was vaguely aware of these guys but hadn't actually heard any of their music as far as I know. I think the Brits make some of the best eclectic, genre hopping music, and this was no exception.
Quirky punk extractions with shades of Britpop, indie rock, and healthy doses of cockney cheek. I'm gonna go 4/5 on this.
I mean, the title pretty much sums it up, doesn't it? The guy was a genius. Solidifying his place in the great American songbook, with some of the greatest songs of the 20th century backed by incredible vocals and piano playing.
Easy 5/5
Elvis. Always one of those artists for whom their legendary cultural status overshadowed their actual musical contribution. I thought this was a fine album. He does have a captivating vocal style at times, but at others it veered hard into schmaltzy lounge territory.
As the original American heartthrob Elvis has a huge legacy, but again I don't think a ton of it is actually his music. I'm going 3/5 on this album because it wasn't bad to listen to, but he really didn't bring anything new to the table.
Fun album. Hadn't heard most of it. Never knew if they were kind of a joke band, questions still remain. Good playing though. 4/5
This is not my cup of tea. I like some metal, but it's gotta have a touch of drama and camp, and more interesting musical elements.
I found this just so straight ahead and self-serious, it got boring pretty quickly. It tends to just fall back on this mid temp chug that puts me to sleep, and all of the more technical elements were pretty predictable. Much respect to them for building a lot of what the genre is known for today, but this just sounds hollow to my ears.
2/5
Look, this album came out when I was in 8th grade and it hit my school like a nuclear explosion. There was a certain kind of kid (boy) that became completely obsessed with this record, spawning all manner of jokes, references, and all around edginess. I'm glad to say I was not in that set, and kind of hated Eminem's whole thing right from the get go.
I was pretty into the Beastie Boys at the time, and Eminem just seemed to be not nearly as cool. He was missing any of the playfulness that the Beastie's had, substituting shock and edgy jokes in a way that made me (and still makes me) kind of queasy.
I can appreciate Em's lyrical talent, and the production on the album is alright, but overall this still doesn't really do anything for me. Brings me back to awkward times in middle school. 2/5.
This album really is as good as it's made out to be. There is so much that's been said about it, but what stands out to me on this listen (my first in a long time, in fact) is the playfulness and tongue in cheek of it all, contrasted with the incredible, decades-ahead-of-its-time songcraft and production. To me, it's the most psychedelic album ever made. A whole universe of experiences in 39:50, shifting modes, colors bursting out between the notes. George Martin deserves all the credit as the fifth Beatle here, it never would have worked without his arrangements and creativity with tape.
It's a perfect album to me, ingrained into my musical DNA since I was a teenager. And yet, it's not even my favorite Beatles album.
I'd count this as Jimi's best complete album. Just a blast from front to back. His voice is like a warm blanket draped over the swirling, adventuresome instrumentals. The whole thing is dripping with psychedelia, with whimsy tinged lyrics vacillating between the sublime and the absurd.
Easy 5
Real noisy, messy post punk. I dig it, but not something I want to listen to a lot. I had some friends once who were really in Liars, and also really into taking benzos. I get it.
Some of their later stuff is more accessible, this one is pretty sparse and angular. Gonna go 3/5.
Quietly colossal is how I would describe this album. Totally understated, straightforward instrumentation and structure, but at the same time summoning this grand moral narrative, complete with a reoccurring Theme.
It's literary, it's traditional yet also somehow mold-breaking. It's my favorite country album by a long shot (though I'm admittedly not the most well versed in the genre).
5/5 from me on this one.
This is a good prog album.
R.E.M. has always been a blind spot for me. Just kind of missed out on the height of their success, and never knew anyone who was really into them. Anyway, I really liked this album and see why they are so influential.
The music is interesting without being alien, and lyrics are erudite without being precious, the whole thing evokes dark Americana but in a new way, without blues chords or harmonicas.
4/5 from me.
In a decade absolutely bursting with perv rockers, Iggy might have been the king. You can practically taste his weird goop all over this record.
I get why this was a big deal at the time, but listening with a modern ear there's not really anything that makes this album stand out beyond Iggy's lecherous vocal fry. It's a 2.5 from me.
Yeah, this is not my jam. Much like Master of Puppets, I got bored fast here. Same old mid tempo chug, predictable drums, same guitar solo cut and pasted throughout. Oh, and sometimes it gets quiet and acoustic! Wow!
I just don't get the appeal. Enter Sandman is alright, the rest is utterly forgettable. 1/5
As someone who got killed by 10 million pounds of sludge from New York and New Jersey, I la la love this album.
I this this may actually be my most played album of all time, when it really comes down to it. It's always been my ultimate palette cleanser, as weird as that is to say about an album like this. I discovered this album in high school, and while much of the music I liked back then has faded in and out at various points of my ever shifting tastes, Doolittle has always been right there. It's a perfect album to me, because it's comprised of so many different sounds, styles, and moods, but they all coalesce in a strangely gestalt way.
It's hard to describe why I love this album so much, other than it's obvious genius and manic performances. Frank Black (or w/e he goes by these days) unleashes some of the most intense vocal performances of modern music history on this album. The songwriting is angular, agressive, and high-concept at times, but also accessible, funny, and straight ahead at others. The whole pot is stirred up to create a perfectly balanced collage of concepts that just hits me in the perfect way.
This is another album that's just part of my DNA, so a 5/5 is undeniable.
Such a cool album. I had heard some of The Fall before, but wasn't aware of quite how massive and storied their discography is. I was blown away to read that this was their fifteenth album out of thirty something. Crazy!
Anyway, James Murphy's whole thing makes a lot more sense after listening to this album. Very cool dane post punk vibes, with hints of post-nrw wave synths holding on for dear life.
I loved it. 4.5/5 from me.
I've never gotten the appeal of this band. Sure the single is kind of catchy, but the rest is all just super generic anglicized blues rock. The songs are all about sex, nothing to really write home about once the fog of adolescence has cleared.
It's not terrible, but they didn't push anything forward musically, it's all pretty safe and predictable. 2/5
This one was good, but didn't stand out in the same way Green did for me. The songs didn't have a ton of differentiation, and the vocals aren't quite as refined.
To be fair I was also a little distracted while listening, so I may need to revisit it at some point. 3/5 from me.
Trip hop masterpiece. I've always resonated more with this album than any others in the trip hop pantheon like mezzanine, I think something about Beth's voice paired with the slightly grimy, minimal beats just puts it over the top.
Easy 5
Oft had I heard whispers of the slept-on greatness of this album, but it never really made sense to me upon past listens. Sure, Bang and Gong was great, but I couldn't really parse the rest of it when I was younger, for whatever reason.
This time it landed for me big time. It's all about the contrast with this album. It's a fuzzy blues rock album, but also kind of baroque and cerebral. The lyrics dip into classic love song tropes, but also go much weirder places.
When I heard Cosmic Dancer at the two spot, I started really paying attention. This could be a Belle and Sebastian song! Sure there's a Bowie-ness to it, but something about the whole thing seems more contemporary to me somehow.
Anyway, I love this album. 5/5
The Nick Cave origin story. Interesting. Sounds kind of like raving lunatics who broke into a warehouse with instruments and just started wailing. In a good way!
I like a little unhinged noise rock every now and again, and this was a good listen. Nick Cave lends a truly staggering performance to the backdrop of clangs, bangs, and occasionally disjointed grooves. It's not a casual listen, but when someone is howling Hamlet lines over a tune that sounds like it's being ripped through a decommissioned stump grinder, you kinda gotta pay attention.
I can't claim to be a Nick Cave know it all, but I've enjoyed what I've heard in the past, and this adds some bedrock to his layers. 4/5.
