Knew this one well, fun to revisit! High highs but the filler is very filler-y. Nostalgic and classic, but of a time and rightly overshadowed by where they went afterward.
I was a little unfamiliar with some of the deepest tracks, which are much weirder than one would think from the record's hits. Put this in a category with Bob Marley's Exodus, a weirder/vibier Side 1 and a parade of classics on Side 2. A mature and daring swan-song. Really really good!
Love! Incredible classic. Know it like the back of my hand! But still prefer De La Soul Is Dead.
Had this on CD, but didn't listen to it too many times. Really enjoyed this listen. Cool guest appearances and fun to remember when Kanye was just an innovative producer. His verse is great on They Say.
More groovy and less song-oriented, but this is cool, looking forward to giving it some more spins. Less enamored with Side 2 (especially the 11 minute song about doodoo) than Side 1. I can hear the influence on Fishbone, including the approach to song titles.
Didn't know this one as well as Funeral or The Suburbs, but much like with Funeral, I mostly prefer the singles to the deep tracks. The Suburbs is an absolute masterpiece and for my money their crowning achievement.
Seeing Elliott live at NYU and then wearing out XO were formative experiences for me, thus I've always been more into the lush arrangements of the major label output, so diving into the album right before that was fun. Great songs!
Like if Neil Diamond wrote Broadway songs with no hooks. Well-executed musicianship, I suppose, but I don’t get it.
Have always meant to dive a little deeper into their stuff, in general a fan of melodic 80s thrash. This was pretty fun at the gym. Really liked the title track, but mostly had hoped for a few more hooks.
Undoubtedly a big influence on some bands I really like, I've never made much of an effort with the Fall in the past, but I could see this growing on me with multiple listens. Gut of the Quantifier & the concurrent single Cruiser's Creek stood out and Paint Work is fascinating!
The sweet spot between punk band and arena behemoth. I'm old enough to find the former much more formative and interesting, but there's no denying the cultural impact of this record or the way it single-handedly solidified the band's iconic status. Hardly a wasted moment in this nearly hour-long collection of vitriol, vulnerability, and effortless pop hooks.
Have had this on vinyl since I started collecting back in college! A classic debut! Love love love!
Know it well, love it! Their best and one of the great examples of going bigger without losing idiosyncrasy.
Like Neon Bible, there are high highs, but I don't think it’s the masterpiece some make it out to be. That would be The Suburbs.
Mostly unfamiliar with Bragg’s work outside of the Mermaid Avenue collabs with Wilco, but saw him live once and he was great. A fun listen! This is the record with “There Is Power…” classic! Some tunes have a surprising chamber pop vibe.
Know it well! Half of it is classic stuff and such growth from the first record, but the filler is still pretty filler-y.
Like a lot of hip hop albums of the era, too long and full of skits and filler and a lot of the shock stuff is much harder to be entertained by now. Conservatives hated this at the time, liberals would hate it if it came out now! But there's no denying the skill, the innovation, the impact. The classic high points still slap. "Stan" hasn't lost an ounce of its power. As the deep cuts go, I really like "Drug Ballad."
One of my favorite bands and albums of all time! Fun to pay attention to one aspect, like the bass parts, or another that I haven't particularly before. Much more of a production than the captured sound of a raucous proto-punk band. Always love hearing Pete sing as much as he does here. Starts and finishes with all-timers!
I love this period of Miles and had never listened to the one that kicked it off. Beautiful and compelling, gonna be listening to this more and digging deeper into this era for sure!
Never heard this before, other than the couple of singles. I'm not sure I really like this band, even though I know I'm "supposed" to. Get It On is... fine and that's the best song here. Mostly boring, sometimes even annoying. I can see this possibly growing on me a little with more effort, but didn't grab me at the moment. Maybe all of the iconography sets expectations too high.
Love Cash, love these records! Curious that this is the one in the book, as I prefer the volumes that came before it. His last album, some powerful stuff on here.
The groundbreaking template. What turned out to be a brief era in terms of both the venue and this lineup of the band was thankfully captured for posterity. I just prefer the tighter songcraft of the following years.
Not at all unpleasant, but didn't grab me as hard as Steely Dan does on first listen.
I’ve never thought this kind of thing was for me and I’ve confirmed that I was correct.
Hadn't listened to this in probably 20 years and not a lot when it came out, even though I bought it. An hour of Rufus is usually a little much for me at one time, but a lot of great highs here, it was really fun to revisit. "Go or Go Ahead" is epic! Maybe some more revisiting of his catalog is in order.
Dynamite! Watching some of the pre-album live material and listening to the demo included in the 20th anniversary package, I'm struck by what a keen sense they had out of the gate of who they were and the cliches they wanted to avoid, which ended up making this album the timeless classic that it is and the band so peerless in their lane.
I was completely unaware of this, fascinating backstory, interesting and pleasant listen.
I never spent much time paying attention to this band and this record didn’t do much for me now. I wouldn’t completely rule out the possibility of it growing on me a little in the future, but on first listen I found it bashy & frenetic and the songs didn’t hook me at all.
Excited for the opportunity to dive into this. An artist I’ve always respected more than I’ve been intimately familiar with the records. Love it! The grooves are subtle but infectious!
I may just still be traumatized by that initial SNL performance, but I really dislike this. Like Taylor Swift fell asleep and kept making music.
Love Sly, but my general sense is that a greatest hits comp will do the trick. That said, loved how the weirdness and longer jams are starting to materialize on this one!
I love Outkast and have very fond memories of this classic album! I have to say, though, sacrilege as it may be, that like most hip-hop albums I've ever heard, it's too long and really dips in the second half. Lots of high highs in the first half. B.O.B is probably my favorite Outkast song!
This is around the time jazz gets interesting to me. Always happy to hear a record I haven't before!
Come on... one of the greatest! Though on this listen, I noticed I was a little bored by a couple of the tunes. I think Let It Bleed might be taking the lead for me for best Stones album.
Not at all my usual kind of thing, but rather enjoyed getting into this. Some dated sounds, just like you would expect from a rock album of this era, but the grooves were hypnotic, interesting song structures and hooks.
Dusty is probably my favorite female singer of all time and I would listen to her sing anything. That said, if I’m rating this as an album experience, I have to acknowledge that it’s about half filler.
You have to appreciate the leap from the previous album, and how comparatively weird it is, but a lot of this one just doesn't grab me as hard as other TH stuff.
As I felt at the time, pretty boring apart from the several obvious high highs, particularly compared to the album(s) before it!
Classic and formative! Not as enamored as I think I used to be with some of the longer tracks, but lots of bangers.
Remember listening to this in the Virgin Megastore in the basement of the Louvre. Couldn’t wait to get home and buy it. What a great debut, the second album even better!
Mamunia and (especially) Picasso’s Last Words are weak points for me, but otherwise a great great record!
This didn’t blow me away, but I could see it being cool for a certain mood. First single Sunday Shining pretty good.
I remember being aware of this band when I worked at Tower in the early '00s and would listen to anything from the UK, but I certainly didn't know this album at all. Vocals sound like Peter Gabriel, dig it, but starts to get a little boring as it goes on. The British Grizzly Bear?
A lot of sophomore slump happening on this one, but a few high highs!
Groovy and pleasant and lots of talent involved, but kind of background. Dig Kenny Burrell’s guitar playing on a couple of the tunes. Familiar with title track because of the Phish cover.
I feel like a Funkadelic album shouldn't start with 10 drumless minutes of 6/8 slow blues. Dig the rest of it though, some of it more of a Sly & the Family Stone vibe than their later stuff.
I knew some of these songs from teaching them, but it was really enjoyable to listen to the whole thing! Beautiful production mostly by Aaron Dessner. Gonna go back and listen to Folklore and compare & contrast.
Remarkably had never gotten around to listening to this album! Really respect the adventurousness and experimentation after the huge success of Rumours and really digging the vibe. I remember an interview with Buckingham where he discussed that there was no way they were going to repeat the success of Rumours, even if they made Rumours 2, so why bother? So much good stuff to digest here.
I don’t understand the take that this is better or even anywhere near as good as What’s the Story Morning Glory.
Killer killer early hard rock record! Fun to revisit this for the first time since I was a kid.
I tend to prefer the more melodic tendencies of the B-52's than the weirder (read more Kate Pierson than Fred Schneider), but it's a classic yin/yang and they made the leap to the mainstream while retaining their idiosyncrasies as gracefully as any act. Nonetheless, this remains an auspicious and infectious debut. (I remember buying this on vinyl and listening with Matt Johnson and being struck by how amateur the drumming is on the closing sort-of cover of "Downtown.")
If Brian Eno’s name wasn’t on this, would we see it as anything more than generic spa music?
I prefer his later funk stuff, but an objectively classic snapshot of a legendary performer!
Always love hearing jazz records I haven’t before. This bassist, Scott LaFaro, sadly was killed in a car accident 11 days later. He crushes here.
Always loved this album. Like a greatest hits album unto itself, one of the all-timer debuts.
Some stuff here that slaps, but other stuff that leans a little too far in the direction of nineties R&B for my taste. The year after D’Angelo’s debut, which is in another league.
Honestly this is a party I was pretty late to, but I discovered how amazing these classic Marley albums were only a couple of years ago. Great vibes and musicianship, even on lesser songs. This original studio version of No Woman is interesting!
Got this on vinyl by accident way back when from Vinyl Me Please. Never spent much time with it, but really good! 2010s indie version of Fleetwood Mac 70s pop meets Off The Wall/Thriller MJ. Even the Japanese bonus tracks are really good!
A legendary band and I think they're cool, but their songwriting has never quite hit for me across the board.
Fun to listen to this pre-Eileen Dexys album; really enjoyed it. Quirky & "horn"y, blue-eyed soul meets The Specials, but with a snotty British vocal thing. Never thought about this before, but I have to imagine the Pietasters being really into this as an influence.
Don't care about Moby the way I once did, but I remember this being a huge deal when it came out. Almost the entire first half of this hour-plus album is songs that were absolutely unavoidable for several years. Adventurous and creative and so evocative of a formative time in my life and of the period when electronica got more song-oriented. But also overlong and gets much less remarkable in its back half.
Had this on CD in college. Among the earliest recordings of Davis as bandleader after cutting his teeth with Charlie Parker. Comparatively traditional to what he became known for later, it's nonetheless a very seminal and enjoyable collection of recordings.
Duh! But... I have to dock a star to leave room for Being There and A Ghost Is Born to be 5-star albums and for the fact that I prefer the live versions of every one of these tracks.
This has got to be far and away my most enjoyed record that was new to me of the whole project so far...though I realized I knew the song "Default," just didn't know the artist, but can't remember where from!
I liked this a little better than I thought I would. "Carcass," the only song on the record on which Siouxsie has a music writing credit, is a standout. Steve Lillywhite's production gives Boy vibes, especially some of the drum sounds!
Love this first album and was so fun to revisit! Great memories of seeing this tour at 9:30.
Joni's always been an artist I respect and admire more than connect with personally. But this was beautiful to listen to start to finish with a cup of coffee. Love "River," of course, as well as the fuller band stuff, featuring James Taylor, Russ Kunkel & Stills!
A little RiRi, a little Lauryn Hill, I really dug this and there are some real highlights! But like so many of these kinds of records from this time period, it gets overlong and same-y after a while, so I've got a take a star off of my rating of it as an album.
Looooved the second Fatboy Slim record back in the day, so it was fun to listen to this first one which I'd never spent time with. Very enjoyable with some classic singles, but still don't think it measures up to the follow-up.
Always been aware of this record, but never really listened before. I acknowledge and appreciate its classic status, but it's not totally my thing. Frontman of Rocket From the Crypt (which IS totally my thing) on guitar, clearly an influence on At The Drive-In and lots of emo-y DC stuff I'm familiar with. "Luau" was a standout!
I was like a month old when this came out. Bon’s last album; Mutt’s first with the band as producer and you can hear it! 🤘
I don't like Dreams (or really Oh Daddy for that matter), and Silver Springs absolutely should have been on the album proper, but it seems awfully fussy to take off a star when the thing is essentially as perfectly crafted and consistent as we all know it is.
I love 60s Bee Gees and the later disco stuff, but a lot of this record just sounds like syrupy easy listening to my ears. Ended up digging a few of the tunes, though, especially those written and sung by Maurice. I also enjoyed Barry's raspy Lennon-esque singing on "Don't Wanna Live Inside Myself," but Robin's voice grates on me here.
I appreciate familiarizing myself with things that are completely off my normal radar and there's clearly great talent involved with this. It just didn't really grab me on first listen beyond being pleasant background music.
I had been aware of this and seen it in used record stars as long as I can remember, but had never listened. It was fun to recognize the sample for Public Enemy's "Nighttrain" on the ooookay "Spinning Wheel," but I pretty much completely agree with the Rolling Stone review by Jon Landau: "The listener responds to the illusion that he is hearing something new when in fact he is hearing mediocre rock, OK jazz, etc., thrown together in a contrived and purposeless way."
My favorite Nirvana album and a classic example of a band intentionally making something less commercial in the face of huge corporate expectations. Also a harrowing listen in light of what happened next. An absolutely stunning piece of work.
Duh! One of the greatest debuts of all time and one of the most formative "forbidden" albums from my childhood.
