I’d only heard ‘Black Magic Woman’ and ‘Oye Como Va’ before, and having now heard the full album I still think they’re probably the best tracks. The fusion of Latin jazz with psychedelic blues rock is well-executed, though I wasn’t completely sold on some of the instrumental tracks, and overall I was slightly underwhelmed, despite the undeniable fact that Carlos Santana is a great guitarist. Sure enough, he dominates the album instrumentally, but Gregg Rolie deserves particular praise too; his organ playing and vocals are great and the two tracks he wrote are the best original songs on the album.
A mixed bag. I really enjoyed five of the six first songs, especially ‘Human Behaviour’ and ‘Big Time Sensuality’. The exception was the harp-based cover of ‘Like Someone in Love’, which seemed really out of place, and I didn’t think her vocals were that great on it either, which is a shame as on most of the other tracks she sounded great. The second half wasn’t as strong; I don’t think any track was as good as any from the first half, and I actively disliked ‘Aeroplane’ and the album closer. Still, there’s easily enough quality here for 3 stars.
Tough to rate as I much preferred side two. Side one started off with two songs which were all right but didn’t blow me away, before concluding with the instrumental ‘City, Country, City’. This was probably my least favourite track, which is unfortunate given that it was 13 minutes long and essentially consisted of one decent groove/idea extended far beyond its welcome. Side two was much better, with ‘Four Cornered Room’ and the title track both having brooding, moody atmospheres I rather enjoyed, plus a great closing track. Overall, a decent funk/soul album. Enough there for 3 stars.
A foundational and incalculably influential record in the history of popular music, with a bit of historical imagination this album makes it easy to understand why rock and roll was seen as so exciting, even dangerous, when it first emerged. Today, nearly 70 years on, I'm still impressed by the power, feeling and conviction in Little Richard’s vocals (which are front and centre, dominating the mix), and it's this that allows an album of twelve more or less identical songs to nonetheless hold my attention right to the end. One star off for lack of stylistic variety, but wow!
I did like this album overall, and can see how in 1991 it might have been pretty groundbreaking, but it did wash over me somewhat after a while (several tracks seemed unnecessarily dragged out). There were some exceptions: ‘Safe from Harm’ was a great opener, ‘Be Thankful For What You’ve Got’ I liked a lot, and ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ is clearly the stand-out track. Funnily enough, the title track was probably my least favourite, along with ‘Five Man Army’ and ‘Daydreaming’. Basically, I didn’t enjoy Tricky’s rapping, and much preferred the Shara Nelson tracks. A textbook 3 star album for me.
Given the path Kanye has taken it’s difficult to assess this album in and of itself, but I’ll try... On the positive side, the instrumentals and ‘opulent’, ‘maximalist’ production (including the choices of samples) are excellent throughout. Some tracks in the second half are dragged out, however; the Chris Rock skit on ‘Blame Game’ is a particularly egregious example of this bloating. More problematic was that, common to lots of hip-hop, I also found many lyrics to be pretty off-putting. It’s so good musically, however, that I can’t give less than 3 stars. Won’t be listening to it again though.
An incredibly dense album musically and lyrically, I respect this more than I actually enjoy listening to it. I found it somewhat lacking in hooks/earworms, with some exceptions (e.g. ‘King Kunta’, ‘These Walls’, ‘The Blacker the Berry’, ‘I’). Like my previous album, Kanye’s MBDTF, musically it’s very strong, with influences from soul, funk and jazz, but vocally and lyrically it grates after a while and feels overlong; by the halfway point I was pretty fatigued. Given that it’s almost universally regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever made, perhaps this genre largely just isn’t for me.
This is at its core a really solid R&B/garage rock album, albeit with some pretty wacky lyrics and avant-garde influences, most notably on ‘Electricity’ and ‘Autumn’s Child’. However, most of its twelve songs are short, punchy, high-energy and riff-driven (and catchy!), especially the opening three tracks, ‘Yellow Brick Road’, and ‘Plastic Factory’. The notable exception, ‘I’m Glad’, is a genuinely beautiful, soulful ballad, and probably my pick of the bunch. Captain Beefheart’s voice was remarkable, and his gritty, bluesy vocals sound great throughout. I like this more with each listen. FYI, go for the mono mix over stereo.
Given Morrisey’s political views it’s fitting that he chose this title for his debut solo album. The music (composed by producer-bassist Stephen Street) is pretty good, and when this album succeeds it does so largely because of him rather than Morrissey. More often, however, I was simply bored. ‘Bengali in Platforms’ is excruciating. To end on a positive note, ‘Everyday Is Like Sunday’, ‘Suedehead’ and ‘I Don’t Mind If You Forget Me’ are all good songs. Overall though, this album has done nothing to disabuse me of my opinion that Johnny Marr was the main reason for the Smiths’ success.
Despite the 3 star rating, I did rather enjoy this. It’s just that rapping as a vocal style isn’t really my cup of tea. That said, the heavily soul-influenced production (by Common’s fellow Chicagoan Kanye West no less) is great, especially on the title track/intro, which is probably the highlight of the album musically. I enjoyed the album lyrically for the most part as well; it has a generally positive vibe despite not shying away from discussing real social problems/issues and different aspects of the black American experience. My rating could quite possibly go up with further listens.
This initially left me somewhat cold, but it won me over more after a second listen. Perhaps I was comparing it too much to ‘Songs in the Key of Life’, and honestly I do think it's quite a bit weaker. One reason for that is that this album is pretty ballad-heavy, and I’m generally more a fan of Stevie’s funkier numbers. The ballads and softer tracks weren’t bad though, just not as much to my taste. ‘Smile Please’, ‘Boogie On Reggae Woman’, ‘You Haven't Done Nothin’’ and ‘Please Don't Go’ were my highlights. Close to 4 stars but not quite.
I'm a fan of the early-70s heavy rock sound, so I enjoyed this well enough musically. That said, with the exception of ‘No More Mr Nice Guy’ which I liked a lot, the songs are mostly just decent (no particular outliers either positive or negative). The title track, ‘Unfinished Sweet’ and ‘Generation Landslide’ were probably the best of the rest. The band’s tongue-in-cheek, horror-styled shock-rock lyrics might have been transgressive at the time, but today they seem very tame, even a bit quaint. Certainly they're schlocky and gimmicky, which does limit their appeal. Still, there’s enough to merit 3 stars.
Well, it’s certainly different. Just not in a good way. Why do people so often think that ‘experimental’ necessarily means grating and unlistenable? It is possible to be both ‘avant-garde’ and musical/melodic, and they should try it some time. Even so, I might have forgiven the group somewhat for inflicting this on my ears if they were at least making an interesting artistic statement, but unfortunately I don’t think they were saying anything. I confess, at one or two moments I almost found a ‘song’ catchy, but there were nowhere near enough of these to counter the general awfulness.
Having never heard of Keith Jarrett, this was a really pleasant surprise, though the fact I had the Residents yesterday probably also helps, after which almost anything would seem transcendently beautiful… Joking aside, much of this album genuinely was beautiful, and I was amazed by Jarrett’s ability to improvise so brilliantly. Despite being classed as jazz, to my (albeit untrained) ear this seems overly simple; I hear lots of classical influences. This might also be an example of how knowing an album’s backstory can enhance my enjoyment of it (the Wikipedia article is a fun read). Definitely one I’ll revisit.
I appreciate this group’s attempt to make a ‘positive’ hip-hop album, but unfortunately the concept is much better than the execution. Lyrically it feels clunky, and their attempts to contrast themselves with gangsta rap come across as rather sanctimonious. More importantly, I was underwhelmed by both the rapping and most of the beats, which were quite repetitive. Much of the production has also dated poorly and is pretty cheesy. It’s not terrible (some tracks were decent), just largely uninteresting. It made almost zero lasting impression on me. I’m not surprised it took them a while to get a record deal.
Another musician in the ‘depressing life story folk/acoustic singer-songwriter’ category, like Nick Drake or Jackson C. Frank, only weirder. Some strange albums successfully balance on the knife-edge between genius and garbage, but unfortunately for the most part this wasn’t one of them. There were small glimpses of quality at points; some tracks were decent, and I even found the odd song quite moving, for example. There just weren’t anywhere near enough such glimpses. Spence supposedly recorded these tracks as demos, and they sound like it, especially the vocals. There’s some potential in these songs, but sadly it’s mostly unrealised.
What can I say? This is quite simply one of the greatest albums ever made. It's astonishing that he could maintain such quality not only across a sprawling main double album, but also a bonus EP for good measure. The twenty-one tracks cover a whole range of styles and subjects, and in all cases the songs are some of the best he ever wrote. Its power to move me remains undiminished after countless listens. This is truly Stevie Wonder at the absolute pinnacle of his powers, and to think that he almost quit the music business prior to recording it!
I like this album, but it’s certainly not perfect. On the positive side, the band sound fantastic (the drums, bass and guitars are killer), and there are lots of great tracks here: funky rap-rock bangers like ‘Give It Away’ and the title track, plus a few more distinctive songs like ‘Breaking the Girl’ and ‘Under the Bridge’. However, it’s too long given that many tracks sound very similar. Additionally, the lyrics on some songs are highly cringe-inducing (dishonourable mention ‘Sir Psycho Sexy’) and the vocals are merely okay. 3 feels harsh, and 4 feels generous, but I’ll be nice today.
I had Funkadelic's ‘One Nation Under a Groove’ a few weeks ago, and it’s hard not to compare the two albums given the bands’ massively overlapping memberships. Overall, I do prefer ‘One Nation’, but this is still a classic piece of mid-70s funk. Also like that album, it’s pretty funny as well as funky; it's largely a concept album about extraterrestrial funk, and I enjoy that immensely. The three tracks on side one were my standouts, but it's all good. Would rate 3.5 if I could, but I'll round up to 4, for the album cover if nothing else.
This album sounds like the result of crossing 2000s British indie with an Ennio Morricone or James Bond film score. It's an intriguing proposition, but unfortunately the album didn't meet its full potential for me. None of the songs were bad, but none of them stood out as particularly great either, just decent. ‘Standing Next to Me’, ‘Separate and Ever Deadly’ and ‘My Mistakes Were Made for You’ were some of the better tracks, but even these were only good rather than great. Overall, this album washed over me quite a bit, though it did start and end relatively strongly.
In which Steely Dan brilliantly marry their jazz-rock stylings to really catchy short songs with a great pop sensibility. I’d give this 4.5 if I could; it’s seriously good, but because I’m not as familiar with it as some definite 5 star albums I’d feel slightly uncomfortable giving it the maximum score. My other shortcoming is that there are some relatively weaker tracks (although still really good) in the back half, and the album ends rather abruptly, which was slightly jarring. Still, this is about as close to 5 without getting it as any album is likely to be.
AKA Zappa Begins. Sadly, I can’t give this album more than 3 stars, despite the fact I listen to much of it fairly often. Indeed, excepting ‘Who Are the Brain Police?’, I really like every song from sides one and two, plus ‘Trouble Every Day’. However, we then get into the long-form experimental/avant-garde stuff, and that’s where the album loses me. In fact, I’m not sure I’d ever heard the very end before. Had they taken the first twelve tracks and re-sequenced them to a single disc they’d have a really strong 4-star album. Crazy it’s from 1966 though!
I imagine this album might’ve been more impactful when it was first released, especially played live. Listening now, however, I hear pretty generic 70s British punk, with little to mark it out from myriad other (better?) bands of the era. There was also little to distinguish the songs from each other, which meant they did largely blur into one for me, and the best song, ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’, wasn’t even on the original release. This sameness wasn’t helped by the washed-out, reverb-heavy production either. My overall impression is of a decent album that hasn’t really stood the test of time.
No surprise this started off as Steve Winwood’s first solo album; his powerful vocals and keyboard/organ-playing dominate the album, and he played all the guitars too. There’s also a healthy dose of jazzy flute (à la Jethro Tull). This is a textbook 3-star album for me; every track was perfectly pleasant/listenable, but none were really mind-blowing. Side two was certainly the stronger half: ‘Stranger to Himself’ was a fun country/folk-inflected track, the title track was a good bit of straight-up British folk-rock, and the closer was a pretty decent rocker. Overall, a reasonably good early prog-rock album.
Isaac Hayes seems to have thought the way to make a great song even better is simply to make it longer. ‘Walk On By’ and ‘By the Time I Get to Phoenix’ are both fantastic songs… in their original sub-three minute forms. I don’t think dragging them out to interminable lengths added anything, and I can definitely live without eight minute-long spoken intros. Unsurprisingly, the shortest song here, ‘One Woman’, was easily the best of the album for me. I can’t say Hayes’s vocals particularly impressed me either; the album’s saving grace was that the band and production were fantastic.
This kind of repetitive electronic music is one of those genres that I just don’t get. I can appreciate its significance as an early and therefore influential album, but sound-wise I simply can’t tell what distinguishes this as a great electronic album compared to anything else. I listened pretty attentively from start to finish, but only a few hours later I already can’t recall a single moment from it. It gets 2 stars because I’m assured of its significance, and because it was perfectly pleasant as background music, but I can’t see myself ever putting it on out of choice.
Having gone for an essentially even split of acoustic and electric on his previous album, Dylan here almost totally embraces the raucous rock sound, with the epic closer ‘Desolation Row’ the sole exception. Some of his best work is here (‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’ being my two favourites) and the arrangements are brilliantly ragged and ramshackle. Dylan’s voice divides opinion, but for me he sounds fantastic delivering his cryptic and poetic lyrics. This isn’t my favourite Bob Dylan album, but I give it 5 stars without hesitation. It's an all-time classic for good reason.
This is a really strong pop-punk album. Apart from the final ‘hidden track’ I don’t think there are any real duds, and some songs are very good indeed. The performances and production are also great; the band has a really punchy sound. I have two reservations, though: it does get a little samey by the end, and I also have a personal dislike of ‘pop-punk voice’, although Billie Joe Armstrong is by no means the worst offender for that. I find this style/genre a bit of an acquired taste, but can absolutely see myself growing to really love this album.
A very difficult album to rate. On paper I should like it a lot; the songwriting is really strong and I mostly enjoy the elaborate instrumentation too. However, for some reason it leaves me a bit cold. In summary, it’s incredibly well-constructed but somewhat lacks emotional impact. Many tracks are excellent (‘Man Out of Time’ probably my favourite), but sometimes I find the arrangements are so lush/dense they almost smother the underlying song. This strikes me as one of those albums that might win me over in time, but right now I can (reluctantly) only give it 3 stars.
How do you follow up an album like ‘Murder Ballads’? Why, with a set of twelve exceptionally downbeat, introspective and spiritual (and romantic) tracks, of course! Talk about tonal whiplash… This is Nick Cave’s most poignant and moving collection of songs (at least prior to ‘Skeleton Tree’ and ‘Ghosteen’) and there are some definite career highlights here, such as ‘Into My Arms’, ‘People Ain’t No Good’ and ‘(Are You) the One That I’ve Been Waiting For?’. The sound is almost minimalistic, with Cave’s vocals and piano the main focus. Not my favourite Bad Seeds album, but a very good one.
I was curious to hear this, as the brilliant ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ was the only Sinéad O’Connor song I already knew. Unfortunately, I found it slightly frustrating; I felt this album had lots of potential it didn’t quite meet. I really liked the sound (the more symphonic tracks, as well as the folky and rocky numbers), and her voice was great, but a lot of songs seemed to stay on one idea for their duration. I kept expecting some variation to come in (e.g. a key change, B section, etc.), but it usually didn’t. A reluctant 3 stars.
I won’t go into all the trivia and the backstory/lore (Syd Barrett’s studio visit, etc.), but simply put this is probably my favourite Pink Floyd album. I’ve listened to it countless times, but ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ still gives me goosebumps. The build-up is incredible. It’s probably the single greatest thing they ever released, and they made the right call splitting it in two as well. ‘Welcome to the Machine’ gives me chills too, ‘Have a Cigar’ is a great rocker/guitar track, and ‘Wish You Were Here’ is just an all-time classic. Five perfect tracks, 5 stars.
Why is this on the list? It obviously invites comparison with Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, etc., but doesn't do anything new or interesting that those bands didn’t do earlier, and better. They’re just reheating 70s heavy/bluesy rock, and do a perfectly decent job of it, but I’m not sure what the point is, when I could just listen to the original, superior bands within that genre. Worse, the lyrics are mostly cliche-ridden and frankly embarrassing. Still, I was going to be (very) generous and give 3 stars, but then I heard that diabolical cover of ‘Born to Be Wild’.
Another baffling inclusion on this list, being neither influential, innovative, interesting nor even particularly good. It’s perfectly fine lo-fi chill indie pop music as you might hear playing at any overpriced coffee shop or whilst on hold to a utility company. This makes sense as it’s serviceable as background/elevator music, but that’s all. It gets 2 stars because it wasn’t actually offensive to my ears, but Jesus was it boring. I listened to it twice today to write this review, and even so I still can’t remember a single moment from it. The cover really annoys me as well.
Nice little instrumental R&B/soul album, dominated by Booker T. Jones’s Hammond organ, with Steve Cropper’s guitar in a very fine supporting role (wouldn’t have minded a bit more of it in fact). The standout track is obviously ‘Green Onions’ itself, but I also enjoyed their renditions of ‘I Got a Woman’, ‘Twist and Shout’ and ‘One Who Really Loves You’, among others. It did feel rather samey by the end, however; the sound is pretty much identical across all twelve tracks, and I had definitely had my maximum daily quota of Hammond organ. Lower end of 3 stars.
Some of these songs are pretty good as compositions, especially ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ and the title track, but the arrangements/performances (in particular the vocals) are so syrupy, saccharine and cloyingly sentimental. It’s music with any hint of edge totally smoothed out. I'd certainly take the original/more famous versions over any of their covers. I don’t hate it, though; it’s so inoffensive I can’t imagine having any strong feelings about it either way (the epitome of ‘easy listening’). But would I ever listen to it of my own volition? No, and for that reason it gets 2 stars.
This was such a chore to get through, mostly because I found Walker’s singing extremely grating; he clearly had a good voice, but the vibrato on EVERY held note was so irritating. The album wasn’t totally without redeeming features (I quite liked his cover of ‘Black Sheep Boy’, for example), but I strongly disliked the more cinematic/dramatic songs like the Jacques Brel covers and Walker’s own originals, despite all their lyrical intrigue. It’s clearly not on the same level of awfulness as some other albums from the list, but it’s totally not for me, so 1 star it is.
This is a fairly decent country- and indie-influenced pop album rather reminiscent of Taylor Swift. Most songs were a nice enough listen, but none really stood out as exceptional to me. ‘High Horse' was probably the best track, being a bit more melodically interesting than the rest, but even that was just good rather than great. Other relative highlights included ‘Slow Burn’, ‘Love Is a Wild Thing’ and ‘Happy & Sad’. Overall, I thought it was a perfectly okay pop album that never quite took off; reasonably enjoyable in the moment but with little that will stick long in the memory.
This is an album where the phrase ‘ahead of its time’ is very much applicable; it sounds incredibly modern for something recorded in 1979, and you can hear its influence in so much subsequent indie/alternative rock, even up to the present day. I don’t think there was anything else quite like it at that time. Despite some of the band’s misgivings, for me the cold, sparse and echoey production, and the unusual effects, work perfectly with the material. A brilliant debut, and they would get even better with their second (and sadly final) album. A very strong 4 stars.
A middling sort of electronic-influenced rock album. The opening track is too long and doesn’t do much for me, and while it does improve after that (if for no other reason than the rest of the songs are shorter), even then it’s all just okay rather than notably good. Another one for the ‘decent background music but not one I’d ever think to put on’ category. Actively listening to it, I found it pretty unengaging. A real standout track or two might just have tipped it into 3-star territory, but without that I can’t give it any more than 2.
Usually when a double album is described as ‘sprawling’, this refers to a long tracklist covering many different styles/genres. In this album’s case, however, the adjective could equally be applied to the individual tracks, which often meander all over the place through multiple sections, only sometimes seemingly connected to each other. When it’s good, it’s often really good, but when it’s bad (ahem, ‘Free Form Guitar’, ahem), it can be really bad, so it balances out to about 3 stars overall. I enjoy the brass-heavy jazzy/prog-rock sound, but it definitely would have benefited from some tidying/tightening up.
This is a very strong blues album, and definitely one where the live crowd (and King’s interactions with them) enhances its energy and atmosphere, which are immense. The vocals and guitar naturally have the starring roles, but the whole band sounds great, especially the drummer and the horn section. Some might say it gets a bit samey, but as I’m biased by my love for the blues, I disagree. Even beyond that there’s a lot of variation of rhythm, tempo, dynamics, etc. between the tracks. The side one run from ‘Sweet Little Angel’ to ‘Please Love Me’ is particularly brilliant.
I’d love to be able to say that my taste is too cool and sophisticated to enjoy this incredibly cheesy generic 80s arena rock, but unfortunately that’s not true. What is true, though, is that the trio of monster hits on side one (‘You Give Love a Bad Name’, ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’, ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’) are easily the best songs on the album, and most of the rest are several notches down in quality. The lyrics are almost uniformly awful, the production dated, but it’s so catchy and infectious it’s hard to resist. Switch off brain and enjoy.
Appropriately enough, this is a really solid album, deftly combining folk, blues and jazzy elements, especially on the title track. It’s a very moody and atmospheric album much of the time, but with some moments of levity as well. As a fan of late-60s/early-70s British folkies (some of whom play on this album), this is a personal favourite of mine, and I rate every song here highly (‘May You Never’ is a gem), but it’s just lacking that something extra to tip it into 5-star territory. But for me this is at the very upper end of 4 stars.
NB: I’m reviewing the original 1970 release. I’ve always felt the Who’s 60s albums were poorly served by the production and have a thin, underpowered sound. This album certainly doesn’t suffer from that; it’s a brilliant testament to their famous power and energy as a live band. I get why they omitted ‘Tommy’ material, given that album was released only a year before, but the track listing is still slightly strange. The covers are incredible, but some great originals were dropped (e.g. ‘I Can’t Explain’ and ‘Tattoo’), and we get 15 minutes of ‘My Generation’ medley. Still great, though.
Gets off to an incredible start with ‘Respect’, which has to be a 5-star track and strong contender for the title of ‘best cover ever recorded’. Nothing else on the album quite matches up to that song, but Aretha Franklin was such a spectacular singer that she was able to make almost any material sound utterly compelling. The title track and ‘Dr Feelgood’ are among the best of the rest. While it’s not all great (the Sam Cooke covers certainly don’t improve on the originals), it is all at the very least good. On that basis it gets 4 stars.
I’ve listened to this album a fair few times now and at this point I’m happy to say it just doesn’t click with me the same way it seems to for most people, judging by its average rating (at the time of writing, only 10% of reviewers have given fewer than 3 stars). There is clearly some quality here, but it’s buried underneath an overbearing, abrasive and pretty unmelodic ‘wall of guitar overdubs’. More significantly, however, I just can’t get on with Billy Corgan’s voice, which by the end of the (in my opinion, too long) album is rather grating.
A hauntingly beautiful and melancholy debut album, with some of Nick Drake’s strongest compositions, arranged with great elegance and taste. ‘River Man’ is the clear standout for me, with ‘Time Has Told Me’, ‘Day Is Done’ and ‘Cello Song’ the other highlights. It’s all great, though. The only slight mistake was including ‘Man in a Shed’ over ‘Made to Love Magic’ and/or ‘Time of No Reply’, which are both far superior songs. Nonetheless, this is a brilliant album; it’s incredible to think he was only twenty when it was recorded and had barely been playing guitar for four years.
NB: I’m reviewing the original 1956 release. This was a fantastic new discovery for me, and it was incredible to hear one of the founding fathers of jazz at work. Okay, so it’s only partly a ‘real’ live album, but I also listened to the complete version and that was just as good. And after all, what bands don’t polish up their live albums in the studio a bit? Regardless, all five tracks are really strong, especially ‘Festival Junction’ and ‘Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue’. A very strong 4 stars, quite possibly rising to 5 in future with greater familiarity.
I was interested to hear this, as the only Bauhaus song I was already familiar with was ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’, which I do like to an extent. My summary of this album: a worse version of Joy Division. It isn’t an awful album overall, but it’s definitely not for me. ‘Of Lilies and Remains’ really IS awful, though, and ‘In Fear of Fear’ and ‘Hollow Hills’ aren’t much better. Conversely, ‘Kick in the Eye’ with its almost funk/disco groove is probably the best track (it reminds me quite of Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’). Generally fine, but not really very memorable.
A fun slice of slightly quirky but still quintessentially 80s pop. ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ and ‘Time After Time’ are both all-time classics, of course, but the other two tracks on side one are really good as well, especially ‘Money Changes Everything’. Had the whole record been at that level it would have been a solidly 4-star album, but unfortunately nothing on side two reaches the heights of the earlier tracks (‘She Bop’ probably comes the closest). Cyndi Lauper’s distinctive voice might put some people off, but I think she sounds great. A strong 3 stars overall.
The NWOBHM is one of those things that I occasionally enjoy, but usually in smaller doses than a full album. Having not heard any pre-Bruce Dickinson Iron Maiden before, this album made me realise how key he is to their classic sound. But anyway… These guys can clearly play, but a lot of the tracks seem really structurally messy and incohesive to me; loads of disparate sections with little tying them together. ‘Phantom of the Opera’ is a prime example of this. Also, some tracks are lyrically cringeworthy, especially ‘Charlotte the Harlot’ which is frankly embarrassing. Overall not bad though.
Musically, I mostly dig it. ‘Tom Sawyer’, ‘Red Barchetta’ and ‘Limelight’ are great riff-driven rockers, and ‘YYZ’ is a fun, groovy instrumental. As is so often the case, however, side two is considerably weaker than side one. ‘The Camera Eye’ is definitely too long, and ‘Witch Hunt’ and ‘Vital Signs’ are decent but not mindblowing. As a collection of tracks, maybe a low 4 stars? However, there are a couple, more general negative points that knock off another star: first, I really don’t like Geddy Lee’s voice, which detracts significantly from my enjoyment; second, the lyrics are often pretty bad.
This is one of my absolute favourite albums, so naturally it gets 5 stars. I love everything about it: Brian Wilson’s intricate, gorgeous instrumentals and vocal harmonies unsurprisingly draw the most attention, but Tony Asher’s lyrics are fantastic too. The songs are introspective, addressing many coming of age themes: young love/relationships, personal failings and insecurities, feelings of alienation, searching for meaning and direction. It strikes a chord with me personally far more than most albums I’ve heard, and that married to some of the most beautiful pop music ever written results in what is, for me, a genuine masterpiece.
A very mysterious inclusion, which doesn’t even feature in the discography listed on Regina’s Wikipedia article. It turns out that this is actually a reordered version of her 1980 album ‘Elis’, with some added bonus tracks, and released under this title in 1997. Sadly, being outside the Lusophone world, I have no idea what any of these songs are about, but in terms of pure sound it’s a rather enjoyable collection of Brazilian pop/bossa nova tracks, with great vocals. It did lose my interest a bit in the middle, but I’m very glad this type of music is represented.
As a confirmed fan of sad boys mumbling over acoustic guitars, of course I think this is a really strong lo-fi/indie/folk album. Some tracks (‘Alameda’, ‘Ballad of Big Nothing’, ‘Between the Bars’, ‘Angeles’, ‘Say Yes’) are genuine greats, and most of the rest are pretty good too. Elliott Smith’s strengths were his lyrics and melodies, with the latter providing some counterweight to the former, turning what might have been an emotionally oppressive album into one that while still melancholy and bittersweet, isn’t overwhelmingly depressive. Not quite 5 stars for me, but certainly at the upper end of 4.
Maybe it’s cheating, but I’m discounting ‘Apple Jam’ in this rating. George Harrison himself didn’t see it as part of the album proper, and the first two discs are definitely in the running for the title of best solo album by a Beatle. It’s absolutely mad that several tracks were rejected by the others for inclusion on a Beatles album, not least ‘Wah-Wah’, ‘Isn’t It a Pity’ and ‘All Things Must Pass’ itself, which are among the album’s many, many highlights. Yes, the production is sometimes overly dense, but come on, this is without doubt a 5-star collection of songs.
I’m partial to a bit of late-60s British folky stuff, so I did largely enjoy this album, though I do have to be in the right mood for this more medieval (albeit with added sitar) end of the genre. ‘Light Flight’, ‘Once I Had a Sweetheart’, ‘Sally Go ‘Round the Roses’, and ‘House Carpenter’ were my highlights. Conversely, ‘Lyke-Wake Dirge’ rather lived up to its name, being the only real dud track on the album. Overall, I didn’t think this album was up to the standards of the likes of Fairport Convention, though there was some excellent guitar work throughout.
Elliott Smith’s untimely death is tragic not least because one gets the sense that he had barely started. This album definitely represents a sonic progression from his earlier work, though that’s not to say it’s necessarily better than his previous albums (I remain agnostic on that question). The sound is fuller, the arrangements more intricate/lush, with a palpable Beatles influence. Many tracks (‘Son of Sam’, ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’, ‘L.A.’, etc.) are brilliant, and several more are only slightly below that standard. Even the more ‘filler’ type tracks are pretty good. A very strong 4 stars.
Really enjoyable and also pretty funny lyrically. Highlights are the title track, 'Who Says a Funk Band Can't Play Rock?!' (which features some outstanding guitar work), and 'Cholly', but the whole album was great. Some tracks are maybe a little bit too long, however, especially ‘Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad’, which definitely didn't need a reprise either (great title though). Of course with a funk album the Rotofunkie Drum and Percussionatin' Thumpdans and Bass Thumpasaurians have starring roles, but I was really impressed with the Throbbasonic Funkgeetarists and Funkadelic Blamgusta Vocaloids too. Really strong 4 stars. Fried ice cream is a reality.
I must confess I was expecting this album to compare poorly to ‘It Takes a Nation of Millions…’ but I actually enjoyed it a lot. It’s another great, politically-charged Public Enemy album. Highlights included ‘Can’t Truss It’, ‘By the Time I Get to Arizona’ and ‘Shut Em Down’, plus several more, but while the second half was maybe a bit less consistent quality-wise, there wasn’t really a dud track on it. I was genuinely surprised by how well the Anthrax version of ‘Bring Tha Noize’ worked, a nice way to end the album! A pretty decent 4 stars. Yeah, boyeeeeee!
A decent debut solo effort from Mr Pop, and a very different sound to his Stooges years, due largely to David Bowie’s enormous influence (he wrote the music and also produced it). Given this it’s unsurprising that it sounds a lot like Bowie’s mid-70s output, especially ‘Station to Station’ and ‘Low’, only not as good. That’s not to say it’s bad; it’s a textbook 3-star album, without any particularly low lows, or high highs. ‘Nightclubbing’ and ‘China Girl’ are probably the best songs, while the two longer tracks on side two drag on a bit too long for my liking.
A frustrating mix of the absolutely brilliant and the merely decent. The highlights (‘Bad’, ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’, ‘Man in the Mirror’, ‘Smooth Criminal’) are possibly some of the best pop tracks ever recorded, with ‘I Just Can’t Stop Loving You’ and ‘Leave Me Alone’ only a notch below, but several more are fine-to-good but not exceptional: ‘Speed Demon’, ‘Just Good Friends’ (despite featuring Stevie Wonder), ‘Another Part of Me’ and ‘Dirty Diana’. Worse is the cringe-inducing ‘Liberian Girl’. As an album, it’s easily strong enough for 4 stars overall, but it’s a definite step down from ‘Thriller’.
This is a fun collection of short, catchy garage-rock/R&B tracks, featuring some nice vocal harmonies and just an occasional hint of psychedelia. Though the songs are of mixed quality, it certainly doesn’t outstay its welcome; the eleven tracks add up to barely 29 minutes in total. ‘Kicks’ and ‘Steppin’ Stone’ are the best songs, and I doubt it’s a coincidence that these are the only tracks not written by the band. ‘Ballad of a Useless Man’, ‘There She Goes’, ‘Get It On’ and ‘Take a Look at Yourself’ are the best of the rest. A decent 3 stars.
What an incredible back-story this album has! The music on it isn’t quite as remarkable, but it’s still pretty decent. It’s essentially American-style blues-rock with a Malian twist, in a similar mould to Tinariwen and Ali Farka Touré, who I’m very slightly more familiar with. My inability to understand the lyrics does mean I’m unfortunately unable to appreciate all aspects of the music; no fault of the band, of course, but it does factor into my personal rating. There is a good level of energy throughout, and enough variety to keep my interest to the end. Enough for 3 stars.
This wasn’t a terrible album by any means, but I did find it pretty bland, which wasn’t helped by the fact that most of the tracks are very downtempo and lacking in energy. The production sounds quite dated nowadays as well (much of it sounds like the presets on a cheap school keyboard, lots of synthy orchestra hits and the like). I also find Neil Tennant’s voice quite grating after a while. Nonetheless, it was generally fine enough to have on as background music; I just doubt I’ll ever choose to listen to it again. Upper end of 2 stars.
This is a good early-to-mid 2000s British indie rock album, with some very catchy, danceable songs, but there’s not quite enough quality there to lift it into 4-star territory for me. Like so many albums, most of the best tracks are stacked towards the start (‘Jacqueline’, ‘Take Me Out’, ‘The Dark of the Matinée’), so it does run out of steam a bit by the end, though there are some later highlights too (‘This Fire’ and ‘Michael’). On the plus side even the weaker material has a great groove; it’s very hard not to tap your feet listening to this!
As a fan of late-60s bluesy, folky rock stuff I enjoyed the sound of this album well enough, but overall it’s another of those albums that gets 3 stars for being generally okay, with no particular highs or lows to speak of. It’s the kind of thing that makes you appreciate more how good some other groups working in a similar idiom were. ‘Feelin’ Alright?’ is probably the best song, although even there I probably prefer Joe Cocker’s version. This one didn’t make much impact on me and I began to lose interest the longer it went on. Very mid.
That this collection of eight new tracks recorded when Robert Plant’s voice was absolutely shredded, and seven outtakes rejected from previous albums is, for me, Led Zeppelin’s best album (and their last truly great one), just goes to show how incredible they were. The old stuff is great, particularly ‘The Rover’ and ‘Houses of the Holy’, but the new material provides the real highlights: ‘In My Time of Dying’, ‘Trampled Under Foot’, ‘Kashmir’, ‘In the Light’, ‘Ten Years Gone’... all of these tracks are among the band’s greatest work, and the stylistic variety is one of the album’s best qualities.
I can see why this is a jazz/bossa nova classic: it has a lovely sunny vibe from start to finish and is definitely a mood-lifter. However, while I wouldn’t go so far as to describe it as ‘elevator music’ (it deserves better than that), it is a bit too ‘easy listening’ and repetitive for me to really love it. I do also agree with some other reviewers that the tenor sax is often too loud. At the risk of being a philistine, I can’t in all honesty give it more than 3 stars in terms of my personal enjoyment.
This is a fantastic, soulful, bluesy album, though of course a desperately sad one too, with a haunting sense of incompleteness. Janis Joplin had an utterly remarkable and incredibly powerful voice, though I do wonder how long she’d have been able to sustain it given her ragged vocal style. She’s undoubtedly (and deservedly) the star, but I’d also like to shout-out the Full Tilt Boogie Band, whose playing is fantastic throughout. Highlights are ‘Move Over’, ‘Cry Baby’, ‘A Woman Left Lonely’, and ‘Me and Bobby McGee’. I like this more and more with each listen. A possible future 5 stars.
A tale of two sides. Side one is a pretty decent slice of late-60s British psychedelia, with some good tracks (particularly the title track, ‘Afterglow’, ‘Rene’ and ‘Lazy Sunday’). Side two takes a turn for the increasingly strange as we delve into the bizarre tale of ‘Happiness Stan’, featuring extensive narration. I found this pretty charming, though I can see why it would put some people off, and it’s certainly weaker musically. The whole album is very whimsical and silly, and I’m glad it exists, even if I doubt I’ll listen to side two very often. Enough for 3 stars.
I was torn, but eventually went for the full 5 stars. This is a fantastic early hardcore punk album, with great, political but also pretty funny lyrics. There are lots of standout tracks: ‘Kill the Poor’, ‘Let’s Lynch the Landlord’, ‘Chemical Warfare’, ‘California Über Alles’, ‘Holiday in Cambodia’ and the deranged, lyrically-altered cover of ‘Viva Las Vegas’ being my favourites. But I don’t think there’s really a weak track on it (‘Ill in the Head’ might be the closest thing to one). Jello Biafra’s vocals seem to be quite divisive, but I think the whole band sound great, including him.
Unfortunately, I am prejudiced against Muse from past associations. No fault of the band, of course, but it does colour my response to them. Sonically it’s pretty decent overall, although I do find Matt Bellamy’s vocals to be overwrought and histrionic a lot of the time, and they don’t fully escape the ‘poor man’s Radiohead’ label. That said, the opening trio of ‘Take a Bow’, ‘Starlight’ and ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ is very good indeed. The album does lose a bit of steam as it goes on, but finishes strongly with ‘Knights of Cydonia’. Not quite enough for 4 stars though.
In which the Stones abandon their brief flirtation with psychedelic to embrace their classic bluesy/country-inflected rock sound as the self-proclaimed ‘greatest rock and roll band in the world’. Two of their best and most famous songs are here (‘Sympathy for the Devil’ and ‘Street Fighting Man’), and lots of the other tracks are really great too, especially ‘No Expectations’, ‘Salt of the Earth’ and ‘Stray Cat Blues’, despite the VERY uncomfortable lyrics (definitely not one for karaoke night). I think they have better albums overall, though. This is the beginning of the Stones’ golden age, but not its zenith.
Probably my favourite Oasis album. It has so many absolutely brilliant bangers, from ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ through to ‘Slide Away’, with ‘Live Forever’, ‘Up in the Sky’, ‘Supersonic’, ‘Bring It On Down’ and ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’ the pick of the rest, but really ‘Shakermaker’ is the closest it gets to a dud track. It has an almost punky aspect to it at times, and hints of psychedelia at others. You can tell this is a band who are hungry for success and really believe they’ll get it too. The energy, attitude and sense of conviction and self-belief are truly immense.
A strong final outing from the Smiths, though I definitely still prefer ‘The Queen Is Dead’ overall. The production/arrangements are lusher and more varied than on their previous albums, with keyboards, synths and strings making frequent appearances. ‘A Rush and a Push…’ is a solid opener, but ‘I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish’ and ‘Stop Me…’ are the clear standouts for me, along with ‘Last Night…’ and ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’. As this suggests, the first half is quite a bit stronger than the second, but there’s still enough quality over the course of the album for 4 stars.
Mike Ladd for the most part does a just about passable job with this album’s electronic-infused hip hop sound and space-themed concept. It (mostly) wasn’t horrible, but I enjoyed it only sporadically. It was also much longer than necessary and rather tedious. ‘To the Moon’s Contractor’ certainly did not need to be over 10 minutes long, but other tracks were much worse, featuring a variety of irritating, awful falsetto vocals and electronic noises. ‘Bladerunners’ was probably the best track, thanks to Company Flow’s feature more than Mike Ladd, whose rapping is bang average. Just barely enough to escape 1-star ignominy.
One of Macca’s strongest post-Beatles albums for both songwriting and performances. The title track and ‘Jet’ is a great one-two punch to open the album, ‘Mrs Vandebilt’ is good fun and ‘Let Me Roll It’ is a solid slow rocker with Paul giving his best John Lennon impression. On side two, ‘No Words’ is a nice little rock ballad, ‘Picasso’s Last Words’ is also good but maybe a little too long, and finally ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five’ is a fantastic closer. The two tracks I haven’t yet mentioned, ‘Bluebird’ and ‘Mamunia’, I don’t like as much but they’re still decent.
A decent album overall. The title track is really strong, with a slightly sombre, ominous atmosphere quite different from the familiar ABBA sound. The same is true of ‘Soldiers’, my other favourite track. Other songs sound a bit more typical, but this isn’t necessarily a criticism. I really liked the tango-inflected ‘Head Over Heels’, for example, and ‘One of Us’. However, ‘I Let the Music Speak’ and ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’ weren’t as much to my taste, sounding too much like songs from a musical for my liking. The remaining tracks were all fine, but nothing exceptional. Textbook 3 stars.
Even ten years later it’s difficult to not see this rather jazzy art-rock album as Bowie’s ‘auto-epitaph’, and a great job he did of it too. The three longer tracks (‘Blackstar’ itself, ‘Lazarus’ and ‘I Can’t Give Everything Away’) are the core of the album, and the best songs too, along with ‘‘Tis a Pity She Was a Whore’ and ‘Dollar Days’. There is a slight lull with ‘Sue’ and ‘Girl Loves Me’; they're still good songs but they do bring the overall quality down just short of 5 stars for me. Nonetheless, this is a brilliant final artistic statement.
This is an exceptionally well-crafted album with some really good songs, but for whatever reason it leaves me slightly cold emotionally. I really like it, but I don’t love it, and that’s why it doesn’t get the full 5 stars. Like a lot of Prince’s stuff, it’s difficult to genre-type, combining elements of 80s pop, rock, funk and R&B. ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ is a great opener (what an intro that song has too), and ‘When Doves Cry’ and ‘Purple Rain’ are obviously all-time classics, but most of the rest falls into the ‘very good but not quite great’ category.
After my first listen, I really wasn’t keen. After a second listen, I like it slightly more, but it’s still very much not for me. I can respect this album for being highly influential, but even the better tracks like ‘Teen Age Riot’ I thought were just okay. Though there are some more melodic tracks, overall it’s too noisy/abrasive for my taste (I found Kim Gordon’s vocals particularly annoying), and too long, especially given lots of the tracks are pretty samey. Noisier tracks can be effective in small doses, but over 70 minutes I just found it rather grating.
Probably (and unjustly) the least-appreciated of the first six Zeppelin records, this is an absolutely fantastic album that showcases the band broadening their sound. It’s Zeppelin’s most folky album, and most of this more acoustic material is brilliant, especially side two’s four-track run of ‘Gallows Pole’, ‘Tangerine’ and ‘That’s the Way’ (two of their most beautiful tracks), and ‘Bron-Y-Aur Stomp’. But there are still great rockers too, most famously the opening ‘Immigrant Song’, plus probably their greatest slow blues effort, ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’, which features some of the best performances (especially vocals and guitar) on any Zeppelin song.
I found this a difficult album to rate as I probably admire it more than I enjoy it. It’s certainly not as accessible as some of Coltrane’s work I’m more familiar with, such as ‘Blue Train’, ‘My Favo[u]rite Things’, ‘Giant Steps’ and the like. It’s more avant-garde, more influenced by free jazz than those earlier albums. That said, there are still strong hooks, especially on side one, and the playing is fantastic. However, while this album is almost universally regarded as a masterpiece, right now I can’t quite give it the maximum score. Perhaps in time I will do so.
Because I generally really like this sort of 60s folky/country/psychedelic music I did enjoy this album. That said, it’s mostly perfectly pleasant but pretty lightweight stuff. The positives: ‘Darkness, Darkness’ was a cool, bluesy opener and probably the best track, ‘Beautiful’ was a refreshing change of pace for being a bit more lively, ‘Rain Song’ was a nice jazzy track (with slide whistle), and ‘Sham’ had some cool guitar work. However, ‘On Sir Francis Drake’ and ‘Ride the Wind’ weren’t interesting enough to justify their long durations, and ‘Trillium’ similarly felt a bit superfluous. Enough for 3 stars.
This was generally fine but unremarkable and lacking in any real standout tracks, except for the wrong reasons. First, even overlooking the objectionable subject-matter, ‘Ted, Just Admit It…’ does little for me and is too long (as was ‘Summertime Rolls’). Second, ‘Jane Says’ might be the most popular song, but it was one of my least favourite as the vocals were especially irritating. Indeed, the vocals were my biggest problem with the whole album. For the positives, there was some nice guitar work/solos throughout, and a fair bit of stylistic variety. JUST good enough for a generous 3 stars.
I wavered for a bit, but eventually realised: this is surely one of the best British albums of the 90s. It’s great keyboard-powered pop-rock music with clever, insightful and often quite funny lyrics, which are one of the album’s strongest points. The songs examine social class/status, myriad aspects of sex and relationships, and the emptiness of drug-fuelled rave culture. ‘Common People’ and ‘Disco 2000’ are deservedly the best-known tracks, but ‘Mis-Shapes’, ‘I Spy’, ‘Live Bed Show’, ‘Something Changed’, ‘Feeling Called Love’ and ‘Underwear’ are also highlights. That said, there are really no dud tracks here. A really excellent record.
A lovely indie folk/rock album with orchestral/baroque touches. Comparisons to the likes of Nick Drake and Elliott Smith are apt, but it’s distinctive enough to have its own character. There are some really strong songs here, ‘The Shining’, ‘Another Pearl’ and ‘Once Around the Block’ being my biggest highlights. The quality is a bit inconsistent, however; the brief instrumental interludes felt superfluous, as did the odd track like ‘Fall in a River’, ‘Cause a Landslide’ and, ironically, ‘Bewilderbeast’ itself. The second half was definitely weaker than the first but it’s still just about good enough for 4 stars.
Not bad, and definitely better than ‘The Soft Parade’, but also not their strongest album either. Some of the bluesy and rockier tracks are really solid, particularly ‘Roadhouse Blues’, ‘You Make Me Real’, ‘Maggie M’Gill’ and ‘Peace Frog’, though the more psychedelic ‘Waiting for the Sun’ is a highlight too. As these picks suggest, I found side one to be quite a bit stronger than side two. I’ve also never really liked ‘Morrison-as-crooner’, so ‘Blue Sunday’ left me especially cold, and several other tracks (mostly on side two) are perfectly fine but nothing special. Just shy of 4 stars overall.
A rare album that improved as it went on. The opener was bloody awful, and while the following few were better, there was far too much talking for my liking. ‘Hard to Be Human Again’ was probably the best of tracks 1-5, having a bit more energy, and for the same reason tracks 6-10 were much stronger. It was a frustrating album; the songs at their core were fairly decent and the punk-country sound/concept was interesting, but the vocals and production were often dreadful. Despite finishing strongly, the first half ensures it’s not quite good enough for 3 stars.
