Hipster humanities graduate here. I’d say this is a good hip-hop album for people who don’t usually like hip-hop (like me). It’s quite a soulful album, sonically and in the emotion behind the album. The storytelling and character building is also great on songs like ‘Testify’. Never going to be my favourite album as it’s not my genre, but it’s a good listen.
Having really enjoyed Songs in the Key of Life I had quite high expectations for this, but it didn’t really meet them. It’s a good enough listen, but didn’t hold my attention in the same way that album did.
Not an album I found especially interesting. There was the odd song like ‘Elected’ that was more compelling, but most songs just seemed to meander to nowhere in particular. Maybe this seemed more subversive in the early ‘70s, it sounded like trying too hard in 2026.
A truly terrible album. It’s little wonder that the members of this collective remain anonymous, because nobody would want to be associated with this garbage. Too many bizarre ‘experimental’ aspects to name, but I think many of the vocals sounding like the Gingerbread Man on the Shrek films might just take the biscuit. Hard luck if you got this album today!
This was clearly a very well performed piece of music showcasing an impressive improviser, but it’s not really my thing. The backstory of this concert is fun and makes the performance even more remarkable, but this kind of long form piano music was never going to much for me. Nice as background music.
Not a great album. It sets out to make a more ‘positive’ hip-hop album, but sounds like the kind of rap you’d have brought into a secondary school assembly. It all just feels too safe, and that sound is very similar across the whole album. The group clearly had a bee in their bonnet about how long it took them to get a record deal, but with music this mediocre I’m not sure it was a great injustice.
This album started off with some promise, but the more psychedelic it became the more the quality dropped off. You can definitely tell that the album is based on demos, it needed more refinement to be a great album.
One of the great albums- has so many classics like Sir Duke, Isn’t She Lovely, Pastime Paradise that are complemented by a great range of other songs that give a flavour of 1976 as a musical and historical moment. It’s *long* but well worth your time.
Quite an enjoyable album. At its best the combo of rock, funk, and rap works really well, with Give It Away the iconic example. There are some slower tracks too that give it some variety. There are tracks where it doesn’t blend quite as well though (especially early on) and it’s much too long. Truely a 3.5 or 7/10 if I could give it that.
This was a decent listen. It’s a nice representation of the quality of funk in this period, with a very listenable sound and a fun concept. Some songs definitely do drag on and become a bit repetitive though (there are 6 songs in 38 minutes, to give an idea). Worth a listen, but probably not a spaceship I’ll seek another journey on.
As a big Arctic Monkeys fan I was very happy to get this album today. It’s one I’ve listened to before (and some singles more), but had slightly different if still very positive impressions listening now. I’d previously thought this was quite a departure from AM, a key example of Alex Turner’s famous (or infamous depending on your view) love of mid-century Italian film scores. Listening now I can hear much more similarities to Favourite Worst Nightmare and Humbug, the AM albums that sandwich the project. On songs like the title track, Standing Next to Me, and My Mistakes Were Made for You, the blend of strings and indie comes off really well. My only criticisms would be, for the album, that there are some weaker songs in the latter half, and for the list, why this ahead of another AM album?
A good album, with a nice blend of jazz and rock that comes together in a catchy sound throughout. The only major criticism would be that that sound becomes fairly repetitive- there are little quirks on each song that keep it interesting, but broadly the album is one style done very well.
A good listen for the most part, with a nice 60s rock sound that is a good example of that countercultural moment, and is genuinely funny in places. However, the band discover acid around Track 13, and the rest of the album becomes unlistenable.
This is a solid example of late 1970s British punk, but not much more. It’s a decent listen, but it doesn’t stand out compared to similar bands of the period. As with a lot of albums on this list that seemed subversive at the time of release, they just don’t impact in the same way today.
A fine album, but nothing too special for me. The second half is a bit livelier, but the first half didn’t go anywhere for me, with a lot of long instrumental sections. Solid, but not one to stay long in the memory.
Perhaps the most extreme example of song length inflation in this period. With 4 tracks in over 40 minutes, it’s fair to say the tracks are dragged out! The sound is grand and well composed (you understand why Hayes worked on a film, Shaft, after this), but even classics like Walk on By seem so strung out.
Just did very little for me. Nothing offensively bad about it, but nothing more than background music to my mind. I’d have a hard time remembering any distinctive songs from this album.
Whenever I listen to this album, and Like a Rolling Stone especially, I can’t help but find it funny that some people’s primary reaction in 1965 was ‘I am so angry’.*
A fantastic album that has such power to it from the off, keeping your attention throughout. Like a Rolling Stone and Highway 61 Revisited are probably the iconic tracks, but Tombstone Blues and Ballad of a Thin Man are other great highlights.
* I get that there were historical and political reasons for that emotion, yada yada
This is a decent album, that shows a band now able to construct some catchy songs while maintaining a punk-influenced sounds. Ultimately though I think it does suffer from some of the common pitfalls of pop-punk: the sound becoming quite repetitive, the vocals having an annoying style (though less true for Armstrong than others in the genre), and themes that come across as a bit whiny, at least for me. Probably best enjoyed at about age 17!
It’s just fine. Having only heard Elvis Costello’s most famous songs I was expecting something with a bit more ‘pep’. Certainly not a bad listen, but didn’t grab me either.
A good album, though one you probably need to be in the right mood for. ‘Into My Arms’ is probably one of Cave’s best, and the start of the album is especially strong. Not all of the songs are downcast, but they are all piano ballads, to give you an idea of the tone. If that’s what you’re after it does a great job, if not it might not impact in the same way.
I had fairly high expectations for this one having listened to some of O’Connor’s most famous songs. This album didn’t quite meet them but is still worth a listen. The middle of the album is probably strongest, featuring the iconic ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, but also the strong tracks ‘Black Boys on Mopeds’ and ‘Jump in the River’. There’s less variation on other tracks, but still has a great emotional depth to it. Probably a 3.5, but I’ll lean to a 4 this time.
Pink Floyd are just one of those bands that I don’t ‘get’ at all. I just find this album so slow that it never captures my attention- for the most part listening to this I was simply bored. The title track is good, but nothing else here that stood out to me.
What an uninteresting album. The hard rock sound is fine, but it is basically a variation on a theme the whole way through. It sounds like something you’d hear on in the background of a Hard Rock Cafe and not really think about twice.
