This was the first album that came up for me in the album generator, and I almost skipped it, thinking “Oh, I’ve heard that one before.” My 14/15 year old self had nearly worn out the double CD disks, playing them both over and over when it first came out. Listening to it again in my mid 40’s, after not listening for 20+ years (other than the hits!), I was pleasantly surprised at how much of it came back to me. And how heavy much of it is! Since the “hits” are mostly ballads, I had forgotten how many loud, angry songs peppered the album. And how well they blended and contrasted with the soft, quiet moments. It was an amazing experience revisiting this old favorite. An absolute masterpiece, start to finish. A true classic.
Great album. Feels like something from the 70’s, but still modern. Great guitar parts, and Red Eyes especially is a great song.
Good listen, great background noise for the work commute.
The only thing I had previously heard from War was “Low Rider.” This album was excellent-great mix of funk/soul/jazz/rock/R&B. Very cool and unique.
One of the greatest rap albums of all time. Captures the end of the Obama era, where hope was fading into malaise, and Kendrick seems to almost predict what was coming next by reminding us of our history. Brilliant.
As much music as I’ve consumed in my life, I have never listened to a Bowie album. Life on Mars? is the obvious standout, but each song is great. I was most surprised by the sense of humor he showed in several songs. Great album.
There are some very good songs here, including some tracks like “And I Love Her” and “Things We Said Today” that are early signs of the brave musical experimentation we would later hear on Rubber Soul and Revolver. I can’t help but think that in an alternate universe where the Beatles never changed their sound and just continued writing pop hits, we would probably look back at this album as a nice collection of catchy songs instead of an “important album by the greatest band in the world.” Take away the Beatles name, and this is a solid album with some solid tunes.
Easy 5 star review for me. I’m a big Dylan fan, and this is my favorite Dylan album.
The 9th album generated for me, and the first where I was genuinely puzzled as to why it’s even on this list. I was 14 when this came out, and remember “Scooby Snacks” being played incessantly on alternative radio for a few weeks. Otherwise I have no recollection of anyone calling this a “must listen” at the time, and had forgotten about it until now. I went in thinking “there must be some reason, I’ll give it a shot.” And the first few songs weren’t terrible-the rapping definitely was, but the music had a few different styles and seemed like a decent vibe. Then the album just kept repeating variations of that “vibe” over and over, with god awful rapping/lyrics. Not good.
I had never heard of Jane Weaver prior to this. Very solid album, made me interested in the rest of her discography. I especially liked the songs “Slow Motion” and “The Architect.”
Not the biggest Stones fan, but always appreciated that they bought a little grime to their lyrics vs. the relatively safe lyrics of the Beatles. And this is a great album. “Wild Horses” is one of my favorite songs of all time (The Sundays version is arguably better, but I like Mick’s heartfelt vocal performance here). Good mix of harder rock songs and solid ballads, a couple of which have a country feel.
I didn’t think I liked jazz, but maybe I’ve only heard bad jazz music. I’ve heard of Miles Davis obviously, but never listened assuming it wasn’t my thing. But I really liked this, cool indeed.
I really enjoyed this, it was so much fun to hear early Björk. At times I could have done without the male singer; his parts were either humorous or incredibly annoying with no in between. The music was very fun and unique.
