1001 Albums Summary

Easygoing all the way through, with a very simple draw: incredible guitar mixed with an uncharacteristically melancholic roots rock sound and very easy to listen to vocals; unquestionably one of the best standalone albums I have ever heard. 9.7/10.

Final thoughts: a very well-made, well-produced, well-played album that is waaaaay too long and it all kinda blends together in a way that isn’t the most enjoyable at the end of the day. Incredible for the most part, it’s just that albums like this are a complete slog. A good double album is a sprawling manifesto, and should serve a purpose. This is… quite good, but does not do that. There are many great songs on here (let me drown, mailman, superunknown, black hole sun, spoonman, limo wreck, the day I tried to live, etc.), but it never amounts to an experience that isn’t at best a lil bit tiring. Great but with a heavy asterisk. 8.5/10

I’ve already heard this one! I like it a lot. Some of the best PPR passages of that movement, standout songs (most notably I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor and A Certain Romance, in which the latter is one of the better closers of all time), and a very cohesive style that makes it a great experience all around. Great album. 8.9/10

When this was generated for me to listen to, I decided to go through Neil’s entire discography up to this point, and while I won’t go into too much detail about my opinions on his larger discography, in case another one of them gets generated for me later down the line, what I will say is that this was by far the best one and is a certifiably tremendous musical accomplishment. Every song is beautiful, awesome, and adds something great to the greater experience of the album. Literally every song is a favorite of mine, though the best song must be Ambulance Blues, at least for me. Currently my favorite album that this site has recommended me. 10/10.

Linkin Park’s debut is kind of like the better parts of RHCP’s catelogue and the worse parts of Cage’s catelogue if you smashed them together. Songs like In The End, Points of Authority, Papercut, et cetera are all great examples of this album’s greatness, and its high points. Additionally, the very apparent Eminem influence (at least it sounds like Em’s brand of rapping, I’d have to check whether he was a direct influence though) combine with the very consistent production provides this album’s greatest strength: its consistency. The entire experience feels very cohesive, and even when it’s not great it still feels like it adds to the larger album experience. I really did not expect to like this very much but I honestly really quite like it!!! I will definitely return to this. 8.2/10.

Pretty great but suffers from a serious lack of personality. See, I thought this was pretty great, especially the first side. However, as it went on, I just started to realize that this album really isn’t… great. See, every good album has something good about it, and that’s what this album really is, good! But every great album has something interesting about it, and this album lacks anything truly interesting that sets it apart from any other glam stuff from around that time. Some of the best glam had already come out by the time that this came out, just look at New York Dolls. Every great album has something interesting about it, and every interesting quality comes from personality. This just does not have that. 7.4/10

Finally something other than white guy rock!!! And it’s incredible too!! I think I’m just doomed to give way too many jazz records really high scores, but… like. Just listen to that piano solo on the title track - my jaw dropped. Or the glockenspiel on track 3, which I initially wasn’t too crazy about, really grew on me by the time the song ended, because of how dynamic the song itself became. I love the piano solo of I Surrender, Dear, just because of how much it highlights the absolute beauty of the piano as an instrument, with those incredible tone clusters, and dynamic melodies… it’s one of my favorite songs on the album. And that absolute triumphant, bombastic closer! Perfection!!! All in all, this is some of the most incredible, innovative hard bop that I’ve heard ever. The use of the different instruments is masterful, and the album is both a masterpiece and a masterclass in jazz. What an absolute delight of an album. So so sooo good. 9.8/10

I was already highly familiar with the biggest song off of this album, Two Weeks, an indie masterpiece in every right, and while it is definitely the best song here no question, the rest of the album is pretty awesome too! A really great collection of really beautiful, psych-tinged indie songs, with some really awesome highs!! It’s certainly not a masterpiece by any extent of the word, and is actually a great example of how an album with 10/10 level track ratings can end up an 8, as it’s a bit too long, not the best sequenced, kinda samey at the end of the day, and doesn’t really add up to anything greater as an experience, but it’s still an awesome album that has highlight on top of highlight. Lovely album! 8.0/10

And here we get to a classic example of an album I already know intimately getting generated for me on the 1001 albums generator. I love this album dearly already, to the point in which I own it on CD and have listened to it many times both on CD and on Spotify. All this to say, it is an incredible album. From the opener all the way to the closer, this album is a beautiful, masterful suburban art piece of longing, love, loneliness, and growing up. Not a bad song on here, and not even a single song that isn’t incredible. The opening 5 songs are the perfect introduction to the album, going through flavors of art rock, PPR, and indie pop all while maintaining the indie rock center, anchored by Win Butler’s incredible, emotional lead vocals (fuck that guy but he’s a great frontman). After that is an assortment of different songs, each nothing short of breathtaking, ending on one of the most beautiful and emotional songs of the 00s, that being “In The Backseat.” This album is spectacular in every single aspect. 10/10

Oh wow!! The Beck breakup album!! Haha, I did NOT expect to get this one. Or to ever even listen to this one actually. But now that I am and I have… this is a real doozy. Because it’s obviously very breakup-ey but… none of the emotions are actually that big. Much of the album’s merit comes from its attitude of crushing resignation. Beck doesn’t sound devastated, or distraught, he just sounds broken. There’s no passion behind his emotion, it’s all replaced with a bitter surrender. Just listen to the lyrics: “I don’t even try” “it’s only you I’m losing, guess I’m doing fine” “I’m done fighting for a lost cause” “there’s no other ending,” I could go on. Furthermore, listen to the chord progressions, they’re all formulaic… to a weird amount. “Golden Age,” the clear stand out, is a simple 1-2-4, and the rest of the album follows suit. Even Round the Bend, a song noted to sound much like Nick Drake’s River Man, one of his most famously complex songs, reads as a pale imitation in its much hollower, less dynamic chords and arrangements, but that’s sort of what makes it work. He doesn’t even try. He shoehorns the occasional psychedelic touch here and there, but it only ever serves to push the listener into more of an inattentive stupor, as they become the music, and feel nothing but the reluctant acceptance of a bleak personal status quo. Even when the music crescendos, in songs like Sunday Sun, or Lonesome Tears, it never feels like the crescendo of Beck’s emotion, but the weight of the situation itself bearing down on him. Even on the cover, it feels like he’s just looking into the distance, baffled by his own circumstance, a sentiment that feels like it lingers on the closer, where Beck just sounds bewildered at everything in his life. It occurs after the 5 stages of grief, as a mumbling, exhausted acceptance period, in which Beck accepts that his life is fundamentally worse following his breakup. It’s an incredibly original, beautiful, and masterfully made work that I will definitely return to frequently. 9.6/10

Really disappointing. I wasn't expecting an incredible masterpiece, but really?? This is barely even acceptable. If not for the superb closing 6-track run (superb other than the last song which is kinda annoying) this would be like a 5.8. Even with that being said, please don't let anyone tell you this is anything other than a very inconsistent, kinda taxing, vaguely enjoyable album. It still gets a passing grade, don't get me wrong, but LAWD. First of all, Seven Nation Army is kind of a shit song. It's not powerful, it's not cool, it's annoying, it's only really good for 9-year-olds to scream and spit into microphones at School of Rock. It also gets immediately overtaken by Black Math, which is a much more frenzied and insane song that I like a lot better. That being said, the entire first half of the album is pretty bad. No Home is boring, Cold Cold Night is kind of fun if not unimpressive, Mother's Heart is just awful other than that awesome guitar solo, and Pocket is just kind of embarrassing. I ain't gonna hold you though, I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself... is incredible. Love it. After that, opening up the second half, we have a song that I just cannot stand, and also that I kind of like, that being Ball and Biscuit. It's so annoyingly devoid of any genuine effort that I hate it, but it also has some pretty cool moments, so I like it. It did happen to be the song that made me start disliking the album. Too bad it's just the longest one here. Thankfully we get a 5-track run of incredible songs after that, just banger on banger. I love every song after Ball, except for the last song, which is kind of annoying. This album is a very irritating experience that just happens to have a few really great songs that keep it from totally sucking. It is a major deficit, however, to my ultimate opinion of The White Stripes as a band. Maybe I should listen to White Blood Cells instead, I have that in a logic somewhere. 6.6/10

Imagine listening to an a-ha song other than Take On Me. Like I know people also like the sun always shines on TV but actually shut up. Who cares about this album?? Well... It's obviously not worthless. The synth tones are really quite incredible across the whole project, and Morton Harket is an exemplary performer. Take On Me is also the first song, so I'll talk a little bit more about it. Take On Me is a perfect song. We all know it. It has infinite value and worth as a song and piece of art, as well as a Pop culture moment, and even has a simply legendary music video to its name as well. It's one of the best songs anyone will ever hear. And then the other songs on side 1 are pretty great too!! This brand of synthpop will never truly be my thing, I actually happen to really despise the 80s aesthetic as a whole, unless the songs are actually really great, but this is respectable for sure. Train of Thought has an incredible Harket performance, the title track feels like the lite version of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time," which really isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Blue Sky isn't too bad either, and I adore the synths and vocals on Living A Boy's Adventure Tale, even if the falsetto at the end is a little bit grating at times. Side 2 starts with another pretty awesome song, that being The Sun Always Shines on TV, which, well, it’s no Take On Me, but it’s still an absolutely breathtaking song. A driving instrumental, some of the best vocals on the album (and that’s REALLY saying something for this album) and just a great song all around. And that quality (despite the comparatively dismal track ratings on rateyourmusic.com) keeps up across the second side too. The only real objection I have is I Dream Myself Alive, which has some drum tones that are a little bit more disagreeable than on the rest of the album, but it's not necessarily bad or anything. This is a pretty fun album, and even though I definitely wouldn't buy it, I would recommend it! I got a good deal out of this, even if it's not my preferred style of music. 8.0/10

I mean is anyone actually surprised that I loved this album? I was halfway raised on like Ani Difranco and Sufjan Stevens, two artists who obviously found this album very impactful. Either way though Joni absolutely came through with some beautiful music here. There's not a bad song, and every single one individual feels like the basis for someone to start their own musical career. The songwriting is probably the platonic ideal for 1970s singer-songwriter material, like this and like on the beach really do come the closest from most anything from that decade to transcending the time period they were created in. Overall, I really really enjoyed every single song, especially All I Want, My Old Man, Carey, California, This Flight Tonight, River, and The Last Time I Saw Richard (though every song here is a clear favorite off of the album). I love the folk pop touch Mitchell adds across this whole project, it really gives it both a sense of heightened variety, but also a lot of sustained consistency. Mitchell's voice is also outright beautiful, and while that's not necessarily something that always matters (just look at the 10/10 rating I gave to Elizabeth Cotten's "Freight Train and Other Folksongs," which for all of its endless merit and influence, doesn't necessarily have the most beautiful vocals), it absolutely contributes to the atmosphere here, in the same way that something like some of Joan Baez's early works might lend to. The difference between a classic Baez recording and this is that this has better lyrics, more dynamic playing, and is just significantly more interesting than, say, the original "Joan Baez" from 1960, due to the variety in the musicality, lyrics, and instruments used. Overall this album does a pretty awesome job in proving that it is worth listening to!! It's a near-perfect album and I definitely will be listening again. 9.5/10

Well, I honesty don’t know how to feel about getting this recommended to me; I have this one on vinyl, and adore it to pieces, and I’ll get to that in a second, but I would hope to get more new albums in a second. Like wouldn’t it be so cool to get like a kinks album recommended? The typa stuff I wouldn’t normally listen to. This… I’ve already heard. Whatever though. I got like more than 900 albums still to go. Something like 986 I wanna say? One day at a time. But anyway this album is flawless. Shhh/peaceful is one of the most masterful pieces of jazz I’ve ever heard in my life, what with the way the guitars and organ interact in the track pan… I fell in love with music production because of that. And in a silent way is one of the most beautiful pieces of ambient-jazz type music I’ve ever, and probably single-handedly invented nu jazz. And it’s about that time… I mean have you heard that trumpet riff at around 13 minutes in?? It takes a titan to do something like that. And that’s what Miles Davis was, a titan. Uhh I don’t really got much more to say. This is like maybe the best jazz album ever though so it’s got that going for it 10/10

Now THIS is the typa shit I wanna get recommended!! I tried to listen to this album before, so to know now that I HAVE to, it’s nice. But enough talking about stuff that don’t matter. This album is pretty great. Tom Verlaine is a very interesting frontman, and that’s not all necessarily good interesting, but he really gets the job done, and he also plays some great passages as a musician. See No Evil is a wonderful little song, the title track is absolutely astonishing, and the b-side is just some great old art rock. I’m not necessarily interested in returning to this one, but I would be remiss if I didn’t say it was one of the better albums I’ve ever heard. 8.7/10

Blur!!! Always hated them because of how they treated nardwuar (same reason as to why I never ended up listening to sonic youth all that much), but I always knew deep inside of me… they’re pretty great. And in this case, “pretty great” means Oasis if they were lo-fi. I mean that is literally what this is. Pavement but Oasis. Oasis but with slacker/post-hardcore influences rather than shoegaze influences. It’s weird and not necessarily bad, but even… even that “pretty great” that I talked about earlier has an asterisk already, that being that I really will only return to Beetlebum, or maybe you’re so great (song 2 is great but like it’s not entirely my thing lmao) much of this album is, while intriguing, much less capable than it wants you to think, especially in songs such as theme from Retro, or Country Sad Ballad Man, which even as I enjoy that song, I must admit a lack of genuine merit all the way through. Not to mention the closer is a dubious host for any easily detectable reasons to like this album. Basically what I’m saying is you CAN like it and I’d agree with you, but… you can also dislike it and… I’d agree with you. 7.0/10

Eh. It mostly feels like African-tinged commercial music. Which like sure. Some of the songs are pretty good. It just doesn’t really reach me. None of the songs really stick out, even the pretty great second song is just a little too bland to love. Like, believe me, I don’t speak this language, but that is NOT the problem. If this was good the language barrier wouldn’t matter. Eve when they kinda lock in toward the end, it’s just too bland and unimpressive to give a passing score. 5.3/10

Incredible album. Just the album cover alone is cause for you to really take in everything about this album, and it has the songs to back it up. Billy Jack, Jesus, Hard Times, and my personal favorite, Blue Monday People, are all incredible examples of the type of political, soulful mastery across this album. 9.3/10

Soooooooooo it’s a metal album. I don’t really do metal in general, but I’m not against it. I’m just more of a punk gal than a metal gal, ya know? So when I hear “666 hahahahahaha!!!!” I’m like “WEAK!!! YOU SOUND LIKE PROTO-RITES OF SPRING BITCH!!!” Which they are and they do. But it’s more than that. There are some great songs and performances here, especially the closer, but to be honest the closer is the only one that really rises above “very cool but not interesting enough to be my thing.” Because the closer is incredible!! It’s one of the most impressive musical experiences I’ve ever heard, and it’s honestly probably the only song from here I’ll readily return to. Seven minutes of pure insanity. But it’s not the only really great one here!! 22 acacia avenue is pretty awesome, run to the hills is great, invaders is very good too. I like this album a whole lot. 9.0/10

My goodness, this site is a joke. Not RYM, which I'll be posting this review to on Saturday the 7th, but the 1001albumsgenerator site. I love the function, but the fact that this is rated at a 3.66 over Brilliant Corners, Blue, Sea Change, Funeral... IN A SILENT WAY FOR FUCK'S SAKE??? I mean, okay. It's not bad at all. It's just really... like we've all heard little child, right?? We've all heard roll over beethoven, right??? These are bad songs! And even the album's more undeniably spectacular cuts (All My Loving, Hold Me Tight, You Really Got A Hold On Me) are still obviously indebted to their influences. There's a lot of energy here, and SO much personality, but nowhere near enough actual quality to back any of that up! Like there is NO justification for little child and we all know it. Roll over beethoven is one of the dullest, most nothing tracks ever. Everything else is pretty passable but when I say that, keep in mind that sooooo much of this is ripped straight from better (almost always Black) artists. Y'all it's alright but please. 7.3/10

I wish I’d gotten wildflower. I still actually have to listen to that but you wreck me is one of the best songs ever. Also it’s such a beautifully dreary day out and this website gives me some random sunny rock album???? Guys!!! Why!!! That being said this is a pretty good album. I love breakdown obviously, and American girl is excellent. There are some other noteworthy cuts too, like the pretty fun opener, the very nice hometown blues, wild one forever, which has a great performance from Tom… honestly most of these songs are really great. There’s no real problem, it does exactly what it’s going for, it just happens to be incredibly derivative and not very influential. It’s just your good ol’ run of the mill -very great album- ya know? It’s very very good, very very great even, even though it doesn’t technically reach the peak of an album that should be remembered reaches. 8.9/10

YES, BABY!!! I’ve wanted to listen to this one for a LONG time, and in fact started to last year, but never ended up making it very far for some reason. Anyway super glad I got this one because we all know it’s absolutely awesome. The first three tracks are some of the better tracks of all time, and fast car is nothing short of perfect. Some other highlights present are the striking a capella break track behind the wall, why?, for my lover, if not now…, and for you. Chapman brings a very existential, somber air to the whole album, and I absolutely adore it. 9.3/10

I’m not finishing this, I’ve decided. This is so boring and annoying. This bitch is not a poet. He is not a singer. He is not even a competent personality. It is preposterous that I should have to listen to drivel like this during international women’s day. I’ma go listen to Lily Allen. 3.1/10

You know what I hate? Gentrification. Colonization. Cultural appropriation. Every negative thing that people ever say about this album. But you know what I love? Graceland by Paul Simon. I mean I’m Jewish and Paul Simon’s Jewish so that might be it? The big thing though is just that Paul Simon the singer-songwriter is probably the most appealing singer-songwriter I know of, at least for me. Abstract, but cohesive and flowery, and very enjoyable. This is pretty cool outside of that too though, just as a fusion of the elements it tries to fuse, though even saying that it's more like a doorway to all the bad fusions of these genres, which I don't appreciate as much. There's not a bad song here though, so that's saying something. Something else? This is some of Paul's best writing. I mean have you heard the lyrics in the title track? How immersive and reflective they are? Or the absolute abundance of one-liners on this thing? "Don't cry, baby, don't cry." "Who'm I to blow against the wind?" "I can call you Eddy, and you can call me Al!" And the production and playing is a whole other thing. How sweeping and momentous the title track's instrumental is? The overpowering horns on "Call Me Al"? That jangly guitar near the beginning of "Diamonds on..."? There's so so much to like about this album, and I'm so glad to have heard it today! It was just what I needed on a day like this. 10/10

Do I care about this album? Like really? No. No, I don't. But I'll listen to it! The beats are pretty cool and I'm very open-minded to the idea of listening to an album like this for this list. Especially since most of this site just seems to be awful about it, when it's pretty great! As I already said I like the beats a lot, and the flow's fun. The lyrics in general are pretty mediocre, but it's still an enjoyable experience. Some noteworthy songs: Lyrics has a very fun chorus, and I enjoy Skepta's contributions. The feature is pretty alright, it's like passable. Crime Riddim is great, I absolutely love the beat. The skit's a bit too long but what can ya do. I don't feel no way about any of it. I really loved Man, a really good beat, infectious chorus, and that bar about the wife… I had to do a double take. Everything about that song is actually so awesome. Shutdown immediately after is also incredible, one of the best beats here, and really good verses. Immediately after that, we have That’s Not Me, one of the best songs here. I mean… I could talk about it but you should just listen to it honestly. It’s really great. Detox is also great, and its focus on addiction and vices is approached really well, and the beat’s real dope too. Text me back is a really great way to end the album, even if it’s kinda basic to have the “introspective sentimental closer.” Some songs I didn't love: I really despise a lot of aspects of numbers. Weak ass beat, bad flow, annoying chorus. Not a fan. Some songs I thought were like in the middle: the opening track is a bit disappointing as far as opening tracks go but it's not too bad. I don't love the feature on Corn on the Curb either. I also really hate songs that are like "HAHAHAHA WE HARDCORE GANGSTAAAAAAAAS" when you're friends with Aubrey Graham and that's kind of exactly what It Ain't Safe does. It's like well rapped and I like the beat though so it gets the passing score. Ladies Hit Squad is absolutely hilarious, but the chorus is actually awesome and Skepta's verse is legitimately awesome and I don't care what anyone says. Overall this album really picked up on the second half, and I really enjoyed it as a whole! This site’s buggin so hard with that score. 7.7/10

Like bro I guess… I hate the takes that the 1001 albums site has most of the time, especially their negative opinions, but they lowkey gotta point with this one. If there is anything noteworthy, or interesting, or particularly incredible about this album I struggle to find it. Boooooring. 5.4/10

Here’s my review from RYM: a lot of super nice cuts off of here! The first three songs are probably the best, though the last three are also great. The only song I really go back to at this point is The State I Am In, which might still be their best song to me. Expectations is a pretty nice song that does what pretty much only their songs do for me, which is tell a story that definitely describes something in my life, but a little bit more left-of-center than others (same thing with Like Dylan In The Movies). She's Losing It has some really well-written moments, and is a pretty fun song at its best. Other noteworthy moments are electronic renaissance, My Wandering Days Are Over, I Don't Love Anyone, and Mary Jo. Best song is still State though, and frankly the only one that should really matter to someone who cares less. 9.4/10

Oh nice. I like The Beach Boys. Love ‘em actually. Pet sounds, forever, heroes and villains… all phenomenal experiences. So I was glad to get this one! And I enjoyed it plenty. Even when the political stuff kinda gets in the way of the overall enjoyment, because, it sucks, specifically that annoying student demonstration song, but the lush air of the whole thing is still very enjoyable, especially the fantastic b-side, culminating in one of the best tracks of the Boys’ careers. Overall it’s pretty alright. It left AN impression on me. I like it! It’s pretty great! 8.6/10

Imagine giving me a Fiona Apple album. Imagine giving ME. A Fiona Apple album. I have listened. To every single Fiona Apple album. She is my fourth favorite solo artist of all time. She does not have an album below a 9. This album is especially good though, so let’s talk about it. First of all, the entire first side is straight-up spotless. The first five songs are five of the best songs ever made, and that’s said confidently. Sleep to dream, sullen girl, shadowboxer, criminal, and slow like honey are all like insane highlights. It’s like weird and kinda unfair that all five of those songs are on the same side of the same album. The second side is definitely worse, however, it’s still great! The first taste was a song that initially I was kinda lukewarm on, but L-rdy it’s so well produced. Those guitars… what. Never is a promise was always a favorite, though my enjoyment of it has waned since I first heard it. Idk, just sounds more dull now. It’s the same with the following two songs on the album. However the closer is great, even if I prefer the switchup to the rest of the song. Anyway this is a fantastic debut and Fiona Apple is so awesome. 9.5/10

Acid house, huh? Like that one LCD Soundsystem song? One touch? That’s a dope track. Let’s see what this jawn’s all about. Well, the first obvious problem is how samey it is all the way through. That’s kinda it for the problems though. It’s very well-produced and it flows well, and… how do I say this? It sounds like the cover of an Alvvays album. Or perhaps it sounds like it exists in the same universe as Alvvays. Alvvays is like the Twee pop version of this, and this is like the lighter, funner, acid house version of this heat’s self-titled. Don’t @ me bout that either. Anyway the obvious standout here is pacific 202, but there are other good songs. My favorite part about this album as a whole is its use of contrasting textures, like those vocal lines and the synths in donkey doctor, or the saxophone in pacific 202. It’s just a really really pleasant experience all around. 8.0/10

Isabelle’s gonna be psyched as fuck for this lmao. Anyway I’ve decided to make this a diary type thing as well as a review. So what did I do today? I had lunch at Potbelly, the second best restaurant I have easy access to. I had a pretty good day all things considered. The quality of this diary will one day increase once I know what to say. For now let's talk about this album I listened to today. All you really need to know is it's a 10. That's for sure. I don't know the best song, or anything like that, just that it's a 10/10. There isn't a single moment in this album that isn't a fiery scream of absolute devastated rage (ha) at everything awful in the world. Every song feels like a separate doctrine against every billionaire, landlord, and oppressor ever. If you haven't listened to it please do, it's one of the best albums I have ever heard. 10/10

What is this and why am I getting it. I am not interested in this. This album has a song on it called “krazy krush.” What the fuck. I’m going to London today in other news. Uhh I’m not finishing this. This is insanely boring. Just like I cannot even stand how boring this project is. I’m not finishing this, no. Disappointed in this site. 3.4/10

I’m in London and am in the middle of a pretty strong yet latent mental breakdown!! This album’s pretty cool though. Idk. Synthpop’s obviously not really my thing, especially when it relies so heavily on this mechanical darkness that in this album’s case most of the time ends up more of a detriment than anything else. Numan sounds like Tom Verlaine but David Bowie, and omg I’m in some random fucking Airbnb I didn’t ask for this get me out of here oh my fucking actual G-d. Sorry about that this is getting to me. 5 more days. 5. More. Days. Anyway uhh the vocals are incredibly unimpressive and when they’re actually good it just makes the bad ones stand out even more. None of the songs are necessarily bad they’re all just so robotic that they’re just kinda standing there. Obviously a lot of them stand out to an extent, and the monotonous style of the album does actually give it a lot of consistency, even though it’s fairly unimpressive most of the time. Additionally, certain songs, such as the absolutely spectacular “Conversation” (which stands out for all the right reasons, being the longest and also the most personally resonant song on this album) help this still stand above the line of mediocrity, even if just barely. AKA it’s pretty alright now I’m gonna go listen to the Lex Walton jawn like Isabelle’s been telling me to do. 7.0/10

44 minute garage punk jawn? I didn’t think those existed. Whatever let’s see how this is. Well, I’ve listened to it now, and let me tell you, it’s exactly what you’d expect. It’s… too long, too samey, not crazy enough at times, and kind of just like if white stripes were way punkier. Which that’s not bad at all, it’s just not really my thing, especially if you’re going to make it more than like 25 minutes long. This is 20 minutes more than 25 minutes, and that is its problem. Anyway I had a nice time in London today, it was pretty cool. I saw “my neighbour totoro” in theatre. This album is alright. 6.5/10

HA! WELL WELL WELL! I’ve been meaning to listen to this for a second now so I’m glad to get it! Obviously I first had to listen to the new underscores album, which if you were wondering, is a 10/10, and also I was out on the town today, looking at some historical London things, which was actually quite boring, but this is pretty good too, even in comparison to the current aoty. Obviously the first 3 songs are just some of the best ever, some of just the most exceptional jazz playing I’ve ever heard, and even more so, incredibly soothing and atmospheric too! Like, chicagoans especially know what I’m talking about when I say this album sounds like being inside the Adler planetarium, or the art institute. Or like, look up the video for “de-dah” by Tigran Hamasyan, that’s a good example of what the best kinds of these albums sound like. It’s simply one of the best albums I’ve ever heard, and in many ways it is nearly perfect. 9.8/10

The fact that this is at a 2.86/5 is atrocious. No it’s not some sort of incredible masterpiece, but it deserves some level of recognition for what it did for the music landscape as a whole. Y’all ever pull your heads out of your asses long enough to notice that shit doesn’t get released on a Tuesday anymore like it did back in your prime (RYM I love you, these insults are directed at the pricks who log on to 1001 and give this pretty alright album a 2/5)? Anyway this is pretty good yeah. Pretty hurts is a wonderful song, and there are a couple other great songs too, such as Blue and Heaven. I’d actually already heard this one but it still brings good memories. 7.6/10

This! This is the good stuff. A good metal song imo is one of the peaks of music, and almost every song here is GREAT. Just absolutely fantastic. From the window to the wall just absolutely insane performances. Feels like a precursor to a lot of the stuff rites of spring would go on to do, and every song just fucking rips. Every. Single. One. Not much more I can say. Just listen to it. 10/10

HOT DAMN!! Woulda preferred perhaps a different Fleetwood Mac album but I can’t be too picky. It’s still iconic and great. And great it really is. Some of the most impressive vocal performances from the band members, ESPECIALLY Stevie. Even though its intense eclecticism leads to a few straight duds (most notably the incredibly annoying “what makes you think…”), there’s a surprising amount of what I assume are new sounds to the band that actually work insanely well, even in the context of a soft rock album, including two cowpunk songs that are actually incredibly good, and a new wave song that I WILL defend fiercely. Very little filler too, even with its impressive 74 minutes of runtime. The only real filler I’d say exists here is the song “you’ll never make me cry,” and even that is pretty half-decent. The peaks of this album though (“Sara,” “Angel,” “Brown Eyes,” “I Know I’m Not Wrong,” “Tusk,” “Never Forget,” etc.) are too many and too incredible to not look at this album for what it really is: an exceptional soft rock album with some true experimental and forward-thinking tendencies. 9.2/10

ABBA really deserves the flowers they get nowadays as a truly incredible force of music at their best. Dancing Queen, Money Money Money, Gimme Gimme Gimme, all absolute classic bangers. Now obviously this album only has two of those absolute classics, but it is still a very quality album. Especially when you have one of the best songs of all time, Dancing Queen, in the second slot. Obviously there are SOME duds, but there’s still some really great standouts, and by the end of the A-side it’s a really great if slightly flawed (it would be very flawed if I didn’t think dum diddle was the funniest thing ever) album! By the end of the B-side, it’s a similar story, even though it mostly rides on the afterglow of Dancing Queen. Even so it’s a great album with a couple of fantastic songs. 8.4/10

Well!! My second dire straits album. And wow they’re way less cool now! I mean the concept isn’t necessarily bad, so far away alone should justify the switch to this softer, poppier rock landscape, but the second I saw the genre tags I knew this wasn’t going to surpass their debut (which, fun fact, was the first album I ever got on this site, which I awarded a 9.7/10, or on this site’s more restrictive rating scale, a 5/5). Money for nothing is cool but then mark says the f-slur so it’s less cool. He also tries to have this swagger that he just cannot pull off realistically. Actually his voice is pretty annoying throughout this whole thing, like really annoying. Also why is every song like a billion years long? This thing is fifty-five whole minutes. It should not be that long. I don’t even know the point of this. In fact I don’t even think this is a good album. There’s one actually good song and everything else is worthless. 5.2/10

Well, twist my arm! I’ll listen to dollar store TPAB any day. So this album, “Untitled (Black Is),” is a celebration of Black identity, that much is clear. It’s from 2020 so obviously it’s VERY politically conscious, and it’s got some nice vibes! The problem? Nothing stands out. I’ve listened to many a musical celebration of Black identity, from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (the best soul album of all time, as well as the best hip-hop album of all time, argue with a wall) to To Pimp A Butterfly itself (you know it. If you don’t, you’ve been living under a rock and it’s time to accept that) to Black Messiah, and honestly D’Angelo’s entire career. I don’t intend to pit different celebrations of Black culture against each other, especially as someone who IS NOT BLACK, but when you draw the comparisons between those albums and “Untitled,” the quality of the latter is evidently lower. The big problem is that a lot of the time the album just repeats mantras, which certainly creates a vibe, and I can surmise the intent behind all of the songs without passing it off as merely pleasant background noise, but I can’t quite justify it as the transcendent piece of art that it obviously wants to be. Certainly it’s beautiful, and rousing at times (especially on the album’s best interlude, “Us”). At the end of the day it’s pretty good, even if too inoffensive for how political it’s trying to be. 7.9/20

Hot damn this white girl has a blaccent. Like a legitimately insane blaccent. It's not that big of a deal, I mean it's a 1960s pop soul album, of course she has a blaccent. It's just very noticeable, y'know? Anyway "Mama Said" is a pretty great song, and the rest of the album follows suit. The only problem is the “suit” is pretty okay covers of songs of varying quality. She has a pretty cool voice but not much further, and as the songs’ qualities begin to decline as the album progresses, it begins to get pretty old. The highlights (mama said, nothing, pretty much any of the straight-up rhythm and blues cuts) are enough to give this a tentative passing score but it’s certainly not anything special. 6.6/10

OHHHH FUCK YOU. Ehh it’s not that tragic that I got this album. I just don’t love this album like I do his other work. Love and Hate is to this day one of the best albums ever made in my opinion, and his debut is pretty incredible too. Both are leagues ahead of this. Bird on the Wire: not only overrated, but Johnny Cash did it better anyway. The real highs of this album lie in “Story of Isaac,” “The Partisan,” “Seems So Long…,” and “The Butcher,” but even then it’s too unremarkable to stick like it wants to. 7.4/10

AYYYYY!!! I’ve wanted to listen to this for a second but not enough to, y’know, actually listen to it. It’s great though. Not entirely sure why the Spotify track listing was wacked to fuck, but nothing a bit of queueing up won’t fix. Anyway this album is awesome! Just a bunch of really nice tracks, with some really good standouts, most notably the beautiful “El Paso,” and a few other great ones. Robbins’ voice, though easily likened to better artists such as Cash or Campbell, is still a sturdy and well-used voice, and across the album the performances are great. 9.0/10

WOOOOOO!!!!! Obviously I’ve heard this before. I own this on vinyl. All this to say I'm glad to get an album of such obvious quality today. So the album itself! Starting off with one of the best a-sides ever, including such classics as "Moonage Daydream," "Five Years," and most obviously, "Starman," and finishing with maybe the best closer ever in "Rock n Roll Suicide." Ridiculously consistent and well-produced as well, I mean... y'all have seen the score. One thing I did want to really understand for myself though is the story that the album goes through, so that I could truly understand the entire work. So, what seems to happen is, Ziggy Stardust comes to Earth as a messenger, after people find out that Earth is "really dying." So Ziggy becomes accustomed to Earth, and Earth responds with adoration and fame. The first disc ends with "It Ain't Easy," which as a cover, demonstrates the comfort Ziggy has attained on Earth, and in his newfound fame. Side B opens with proof of Ziggy's fame, and then goes on to demonstrate the way that fame is now increasingly important to him, and the Spiders urge Ziggy to, uhh, y'know, "hang onto himself." In response, Ziggy pretty much fires all of them and lashes out against them. This represents Ziggy's fall, and as the final song comes in, both Ziggy and the world are completely doomed: Ziggy's ego was too much to genuinely help him or those around him, and then I'm pretty sure the world ends. Which yeah that's what I'm talking about!! This album is incredible. I didn't realize how incredible it really was until today, but it deserves all the praise it gets. 10/10

what is this. I'm not displeased but why did it have to be 58 minutes? Whatever. Very pleasant but very background. Some standouts, I like all the songs enough, just very indistinct. It was very vibey though! There was a house song somewhere in there that I really loved. I think it was called " Tríptico." The album had some very interesting textures too, especially on that particular song. The more I listened to it, in fact, the more I started to fall into the textures of the album, and I began to really enjoy myself! Sadly I couldn't love it, just because of how long it is. I like it a lot though! 7.2/10

Weird artsy glam pop rock? Sure. I've seen this album around, can't say I'm not excited. Having now listened to it, I must say that I was incredibly spot-on. "Weird Artsy Glam Pop Rock." The only way that I could possibly make it more accurate is if I added "Prog" in front of "Pop." "Weird Artsy Glam Prog Pop Rock." Yeah. The falsettos are nice, even if they're not my thing personally, and the songs are VERY good. Very colorful, glammy, layered, and not infrequently revelatory, especially in the case of the opener. My personal problems are just that maybe... it's TOO consistent? Nothing especially stands out, it all sounds the same. Also, I'm just not the biggest fan of this specific strain of music, even if I'll still champion the merit I find in it. Some general standouts are as follows: "This Town Isn't Big Enough..." is a masterful song, as is "Talent Is an Asset" (weird-ass capitalization on that song, by the way). Even when it gets to the end and I can't quite tell every song apart from each other, I still come out of this listen liking it a lot! 8.9/10

Awwwwwww, WHAT? Symphonic prog???? Ewwwwww!!!! I jest of course. I don’t like prog in general very much but this is only 38 minutes so maybe it’ll be alright! Let’s see. Well, I wasn't incorrect about how much I would like it, that's for sure. Thank fuck this is only 38 minutes, it would be downright torturous were it any longer. Well maybe not torturous, because the big sin here is that it's really fucking boring. The entire first side is really just not anything very good at all. Nothing awful, but just so boring and detestable. Obviously I really don't love this type of music, and easily the best thing that this album ever did for the world was supply the excellent sample for "Katz" off of Lice, which to this day is probably my favorite EP of all time (Solace by Dar Qness is close behind though). The sample play for 10 seconds from 50 seconds into "The Curse of Baba Yaga" to the 1 minute-mark. That REALLY threw me for a loop though, wow. I like froze for a whole 5 seconds and then paused the song and then went to whosampled and realized. Anyway so most of this album is more or less worthless until it gets to the Baba Yaga part in which it's kinda interesting for like 3 songs... I'd like it a lot more if the guy didn't sing, but whatever. I don't dislike "The Great Gates of Kiev," in fact it's pretty good! I like the places where it goes, and it's... y'know it's an acceptable prog rock song! I honestly also like the outro with the super feedback-ey guitars and stuff. And then the transition back to the actual song... my man can't sing, but it's fine because the song's still dope. Then it goes into some bullshit about “death is life” though and then it goes into a prog version of… nutcracker… I… the only good this album ever did for the world of music was that Katz sample and that’s it. Sorry, not my thing. 4.5/10

YEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I put this off because I knew I’d get it on here eventually and now I got it!! And I’m just like sooooo excited omg. Well, I’ve now finished it and I can confidently say that it’s one of the best albums I’ve ever heard. Every single moment is just absolutely incredible, Courtney Love is one of the best vocalists for this genre, and just… it’s all so insane and raw. The vocals especially, and the way that they break, and the way that Love obviously does not care, adds a surprising amount to the album’s quality.The guitars are incredible, the lyrics are spectacular… everything about this album blows me away. I’ll be listening to this one a lot. 10/10

What!? Hm. Well, I guess this is somewhat fitting, I just had an Arabic presentation. It was on how to make shakshuka. It was incredible and I did very well (for like one of the first times ever I actually understood what I was reading, which was really nice). But this is 78 minutes so why should I listen to it??? Well I do this every day. I’ll listen to some of it. Well I listened to a couple of songs and it’s really boring. I love this style of singing, but I much prefer it when it’s chanted, say, in the Qur’an or something similar. Not bad but not really my thing. However there are some good songs! “C’est la nuit” is quite nice, and there’s a lovely cover of Lennon’s “Imagine,” but like really at the end of the day it’s a 78-minute album with not much structure or complex artistic intent. It’s just not very interesting. 6.1/10

Well, it’s garagey and it’s 27 minutes… sure! I should’ve guessed that this was an American band… seeing that they’re called “Paul revere…” but they sound so British! And that is absolutely to a fault! They seem to be some sort of Herman’s hermits types, super huge in their time, but no one remembers them now because what is there to remember? I mean, “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone” is pretty awesome, and “There She Goes” is very pleasant, but for every stroke of interest there’s a song that just feels… eh. This album also really doesn’t do that much novel stuff anyway, to the point where it makes one wonder why it’s seen as something seminal. However, even though I don’t intend to return to this much, the garage elements end up cutting through some of the more elementary parts of the music and lyrics to the point where I can say it’s at least not bad. 6.9/10

Hahahaha. Okay. Nice. So, I know way too many people who just outright hate Steely Dan, but this album's actually so awesome! I tend to really hate progressive rock (as you may know if you read my recent review of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's "Pictures at an Exhibition"), but the touches of the genre displayed here are some of the best examples of it that I've ever heard! The best way I can describe it is that it feels like looking at "decalcomania" by Magritte. It's so weird and abstract, but it still conjures up ideas and concepts in your head that make sense to you, so you don't quite notice how surreal it is. There's a quote that I found doing some research on this album that says "they wrote complex, mysterious songs disguised as catchy pop tunes," and that's exactly what happens here. It feels like you're listening to Fleetwood Mac, but when you listen closer, the aesthetic is closer to that of This Heat's self-titled, or Alvvays's. It sounds like... this is going to be a stretch but look up "Otto: a palindrama." That's what this sounds like. Weird, tropical, completely nonsensical at times, and perhaps even childlike in a way, but incredibly beautiful and weirdly potent. "Deacon Blues" especially is a good example of this trend, with its jazzy chords and long sax breaks, and that beautifully written last verse ("I cried when I wrote this song... sue me if I play too long!") and the perfection of its arrangement... the biggest ask when someone creates a super long song, which this album has two of, is this: "what meaning shall we assign to this abnormal use of your time?" And that's what this entire album is, really: it's a bunch of vaguely sentimental, surreal nonsense that's so beautiful that it demands you to assign genuine meaning to it. I assign a lot of meaning to it, and I adore it. 10/10

Jazz!!! Yes!!!! I’m fine with anything jazzy so this is a huge win. And this… this is just bursting with life. Obviously you can always count on jazz to be full of life in just the way you want, but this really is sooooo good. The tones on the horns... the mixing on the drums... and even though there's no long songs, each song leaves some kind of lasting impression, with the impressive use of dynamics, arrangements, and the big band style. The afro-cubano style adds a really wonderful extra aspect to the album, and the album's frequent use of intense volume is really beautiful. Only real complaints is the fact that it gets old kinda quickly, and some of the tones CAN get a LITTLE BIT rough on the ears. 8.9/10

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Wooooooooo!!! Okay. Mothers of invention. Dope shit. So, I think this band's awesome. I also think it's thoroughly hilarious that the same people who threw "Rumours" (great album but that's besides the point) at the top album of all time spot have to listen to this. Sheesh, it really is a beautiful world. Almost 5,000 1-star ratings on this. It really makes you smile. It also has merit though!! Really great satire, and some genuinely good tunes too (see: "Who Needs The Peace Corps," "Absolutely Free," "Lonely Little Girl," "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance," "Mother People"). The concept of satirizing everything popular and stupid at the time is pretty solid too, especially in the cases of songs like "Flower Punk," or, again, "Who Needs The Peace Corps." Overall quite the masterpiece of satire, would listen again! 9.2/10

You have no idea how ready I was for this to be an awful gospel album. LOL It turned out instead to be a pretty awesome industrial rock album! Is it super incredible by any means? Not really, but in any case it's certainly good. "N.W.O." Is a great opener, "Just One Fix" follows it up very nicely, and even though "TV II" kinda sucks, it sure doesn't kill the momentum. "Hero" isn't as good as it wants to be, but it has some nice moments and gimmicks here and there that make it maintain as a very cool song. And then to close off the A-side we get the satirical, heavy, rockabilly-type "Jesus Built My Hot Rod," which is awesome and absolutely hilarious. Opening up the B-side we have the 8-minute epic "Scarecrow," which just hammers down on you for 8 straight minutes in a really good way. And then the title track's actually super lame. But it's fine because it's also really groovy and jammy. And then "Corrosion" comes in and it's easily the best song on the album! And then we get the outro which is kinda whatever. This album's good, but it's really really fucking lame sometimes, which is a huge problem because it makes it a lot harder to take seriously, which is a hugely bad thing, because this album REALLY takes itself seriously. In the immortal words of The Roots, "Y'all ain't sayin' nothin' new!!" And they really really think they are. Thankfully though the vocals are mixed low enough to the point where you can't really tell what they're saying and the grooves are fucking awesome. So whatever man. 8.0/10

Of course the best Frank Zappa album is the one where you see as little of him as possible. Or like most notable, or most well-known Zappa album? Something like that. What I'm trying to say is this album is awesome, but I didn't expect it from the guy who made "WHO ARE THE BRAIN POLICE???" and that kinda makes it more awesome. So just to start off, "Peaches en Regalia" is a fucking revelation. Not even 4 minutes but so much energy and life packed in. It's so uncharacteristically lush for Zappa, and so so SOOO beautiful. I saw somewhere that it's supposed to be a "movie for your ears" and damn if it doesn't sound like it. Every like 15 seconds something completely new turns up and it's astounding to hear. The saxophones, the flutes, the strings, it's all so pretty! "Willie the Pimp," while a much different song, is quite similar in its excellence: it just keeps changing slightly as it goes on and on and on.... the fiddle is also a really great touch. It gets so crazy near the end to the point where it begins to become almost like a really drunken, bluesy krautrock song. "Son of Mr. Green Genes," while great, is much less of an outright revelation than the first two songs, and more of a regular, everyday 8-minute jazz fusion track. Same with "Little Umbrellas," though that's only 3 minutes. "The Gumbo Variations," though... another insane song! I still can't believe how long this song goes on and still manages to be interesting. It's so incredibly layered! 13 minutes and not a dull fucking second! And then the last song functions sort of the same way that "Sunday" from Nick Drakes Bryter Layter functions, a nice little instrumental outro. So basically how this album functions for me is that it has 3 songs that blow everything else of the water, with the slightest bit of dead space, and a lovely little outro. Very beautiful! 9.6/10

I’ve been waiting a LOOOOOOOONG time to get this album. In fact I’m really glad I got it because I could’ve gotten it 3 years from now, but instead I get it today. I think I specifically mentioned this album in a past review too. I never loved joy division, I thought unknown pleasures was a polite 8.5/10, but I thought the instrumentation was immaculate throughout. This though… just from the first song it’s something else. I’m sorry but I really don’t get the “tortured soul of Ian Curtis” vibes on unknown pleasures. He’s not the best vocalist on that album and that’s not even crazy to say. But HERE… “Atrocity Exhibition” is such a perfectly depressive, self-destructive opener. It literally sounds like the song is destroying itself. And then “Isolation” is surprisingly really really awesome! Like an off-kilter, darkwave synthpop song, and I really love it! The next song, “Passover,” is much more normal of a song compared to the previous, but it’s still incredible, with those incredible guitars and drums. The song after that, “Colony,” is great too, with a great performance from Curtis, and a great outro. “A Means To An End” is also beautiful, with a great introductory moment with these weird sound effects… one of the best parts about this album is that it really embodies a feeling that I more and more realize is timeless: standing in a dark incredibly cold man-made room. The coldness of this album isn’t natural, not like that of, say, The Glow Pt. II or Paysage D’Hiver. It’s not wintry. It’s a small, dark, 50-year-old basement that feels like it’s 30° fahrenheit. Or something like that, I don’t know. Anyway, the looming vocals of “Heart and Soul” combined with the occasional guitar strums make it a really great song. “The Eternal” is great as well with its slow, building instrumental. Great stuff. And “Decades,” the closer, has more of that synthy stuff from track 2!! Really great. This album is so cold, and dark, and sad. As a whole it’s astounding, it’s really something else. R.I.P. Ian Curtis yo. 10/10

I know you’re supposed to like get a super legendary album every day on this site, but this is actually the first time I’ve gotten 3 absolutely insane albums in a row. So that’s fun! And this album’s awesome. Just some really great psych rock with some occasional insanity, most notably the closing track which DOES blow everything else out of the water. “Light my fire,” while a little overrated, does indeed astound, as does “Break On Through (To The Other Side).” The rest of the album is really awesome, very easygoing psych rock, which I enjoy and appreciate greatly. Overall an enjoyable affair, and an appreciated one for today’s listening experience. 9.1/10

I swear to glorious HaShem, why are all of these tracklists wacked the fuck out on spotify?? Again nothing a little queueing won't fix, but it's so weird. Like the tracklist is right there, ON THE COVER, how's you gonna mess that up???? Whatever. This album definitely isn't "rock 'n soul," but it's pretty good. Mr. Burke's voice is lovely, and it has a good range between of a buttery, soulful, middle ground, a wild, howling higher register, and a deep, romantic lower register. It's a good vessel for these songs. The entire album itself, in terms of instrumentation and musicality, is quite pleasant too; its best moments are just straight-forward southern soul, such as "If You Need Me," or "Can't Nobody Love You." Many of the songs end up sounding much more pop-soaked, such as "Cry To Me," or "Hard Ain't It Hard." It's a very consistent and easygoing listening experience. The background singers, though they get old somewhat quickly, are still pretty pleasant all around. What ends up really holding it back, frankly, is that none of it is really, truly, GREAT. Even if there are some really cool songs here, I can't really say that I'll come back to any of these songs, genuinely, even if it's enjoyable. 7.2/10

OH SHIT! BIG DAWG *JUST DIED!!* And left behind a very complicated legacy of sexually assaulting several individuals (I won't get into that though because I don't feel obligated to, and I don't particularly want to either), in between all that "z-z-z"-ing. But anyway this jawn's pretty dope. Very high energy, earlier-era hip-hop that I like a lot, and obviously INCREDIBLY influential. Like, you can hear callbacks to Bambaataa in a lotta places, such as the outro on one of the songs on Things Fall Apart by The Roots, or the intro to one of the songs on Labor Days by Aesop Rock, both making use of the iconic "z-z-z-z-z" ad-lib on Planet Rock. And even with the quality of some of the songs, that is the real draw here. All these songs have a hand in creating the foundation of so many parts of hip-hop. You can hear Beastie Boys in here, you can hear NWA in here, you can hear OutKast in here, pretty much any high-energy hip hop song can be traced back in some way to this album. And the songs are solid too. Obviously "Planet Rock" is a classic, but "Searching For The Perfect Beat" ain't too bad and "Frantic Situation" is a banger too. Overall it's not anything special without context, but I added an extra 0.5 for how much history and influence it has (I almost added one whole point! But that would be excessive). Pretty cool album. 8.3/10

Don't have too much to say about this one. It's boring. Kinda annoying. Nothing sticks and I don't want to listen to it anymore. Wouldn't recommend. Sorry yawl. 4.0/10

Beautiful. Positively so. This is what I want from an album on this website. It’s colorful, lush, sensitive, kind, and very aware. Arthur Lee is a spectacular vocalist, and kind of a genius, especially on songs such as “A House Is Not A Motel,” which has some of the best lyrics of the sixties. And though his accent doesn’t shine through much, when it does on songs like “Old Man” it elevates the experience. The lyrics really bring a conscious, nuanced perspective on the world that you don’t see super often in this time period. I rarely relate to albums from before the 70s, but this is an easy exception, just because of how well written it is. And the instrumentation… the strings, and the guitar, and the exceptional drum work too. Overall this is damn near perfect, and might go up to a 10 after future listens. It’s just so good. 9.7/10

Punk!! Actual punk!! I don’t talk about this much on the account where I REVIEW music, but I’m a punk artist! Sort of. I’m like mostly folk but I’m in the punk scene in my city so it’s hard not to err on the side of folk punk. Whatever I don’t like talking about it on my review account but yeah. Anyway this album's really interesting, especially in the context of how hateable every member of this band is, as far as I can recall. I haven't looked into it so don't quote me on that but you know what I mean. Johnny Rotten is a trumper. That I know for sure. He also sucks at singing, though you can hear the beginnings of a Jello Biafra there, and he actually does get something going on songs like "Holidays in the Sun," or "Liar," or a couple of the other big songs on here. The music is good, and it reaches true greatness at its uncontested height of "Anarchy in the UK." The biggest problem is... it just gets super repetitive very quickly, and you can really tell that everyone in the band's really only kinda into it. Like, Johnny's vocals are kind of annoying after a while, and outside of the explicitly political numbers there's not a lot of interest there for me. It's good. But I won't go back to much, and I certainly won't go back for the experience of the album as a whole. 7.7/10

I guess I can’t be too mad at what I get when this is the kinda gold I’m getting. So as far as I can tell this is like proto-britpop, which does put it in perspective in a way I really appreciate. This album has a lot of awesome things going for it, really psychedelic and dynamic, with tons of great songs. Songs like “Bad Bad Man,” “Made of Stone,” “I Am The Resurrection,” or my personal favorite, “Sugar Spun Sister,” all blow me away. Great vocals too, and awesome sequencing!! The sad thing about this whole ordeal is shortly after writing this I stopped caring about it, because really, it doesn’t have enough real memorability. Like all the shit I said is still true but it’s just not conspicuous enough to me anymore. I’m sorry dawg, it fell off in my head a bit. Lol. I mean it doesn’t have too much personality now does it? And like… there’s some duds on here. And also like why do half the songs not really have a point? I feel like I’m looking at all this shit and only some of it makes actual sense. Whatever man. 7.4/10

One thing that you’ll learn in this life, is that there’s two kinds of psychedelic soul. There’s the kind that happened before Neo-soul, and there’s the kind that happened after it. The former is sly and the family stone, and the latter is thundercat. Ya dig? Now let’s get into this album, which is obviously the former. I wasn't too confident in this one after hearing the pretty disappointing "Heard It Though The Grapevine" cover, but then was promptly proved wrong with the next song, "Runaway Child Running Wild" and can I just say that I was not aware of the ball that these brothers had. A funky, frantic exploration of a child's journey through running away from home... holy shit it's incredible. More than incredible, it's one of the most perfect songs I've ever heard. Every part of it moves perfectly together, in such an interesting way! It rivals the great funk and soul songs of the 60s and 70s perfectly. It's SO good. And the rest of the project just rides that afterglow, with some pleasant shorter songs. The big problem the entire time is... I'm sorry. Mr. Eddie Kendricks, your falsetto is not at all your strong suit. And you sing falsetto on most of these songs. However "Hey Girl" is positively beautiful, and "Why Did She Have To..." is a beautiful number as well, with some genuinely crushing lyrics for the time. The entire B-side is just really consistent soul numbers, and honestly that combined with “Runaway Child” makes this album a standout in the journey. Hell, without the falsetto in a couple of these songs, this is an easy 10. 9.5/10

Ooooookay. OOOOOkay then. It’s a bittersweet fucking symphony and that’s just fucking life I fucking guess. That's no way to start a review but whatever. Let's get into it. So like 10, 11 years ago, I heard “Bitter Sweet Symphony” for the first time, and I thought it was tight. I still do. Great little song. I distinctly remember my dad telling me about the story behind it too, how the verve won an award for it and everything, and then legally got told it wasn’t their song, and then had to turn down an award or speech or something… and it was like a cautionary tale. Crushing stuff. Again, the song’s tight though, and that’s what matters. “Sonnet” is better than I remember it being too. Just a good old fashioned dope rock jam. Though “The Rolling People” is kinda a dud, it’s redeemed by the greatness of “The Drugs Don’t Work,” which is kinda of the best kind of sad sentimental britpop ballad. Kinda like preceding Coldplay’s best material by just a little bit, and that’s really how I interpret this whole album. It’s like if Oasis and Coldplay had a middleman. Or actually, it’s more that this is the middleman between Oasis and Coldplay. Much much more psychedelic than anything Coldplay ever made, which definitely lines up more with Oasis, but its best moments are its sensitive moments, which are much more reminiscent of Coldplay, and much more common than anything on an Oasis record. That being said, we all know the more outright psychedelic stuff here isn’t great, right? Like that’s not just me? This album is at its best when the psychedelia is a more marginal, background part of the song, because the sensitive sides of these songs really find some good stuff, as I previously mentioned. And can I just say, the length isn't as much of a problem as I thought it was going to be. As I began to go through the last leg of the album, I really began to realize that, uhh, none of these songs really needed to be taken out. It's a really interesting moment to realize that, hey, this is actually really great music all the way through! And that's really how this album feels. Even at over an hour it's great, and has a lot of really good songs to hear all throughout. Great album. 8.9/10

Oh hey! My mom likes this band! And I see why she likes them now that I'm listening to this album for myself. While much alt-rock of this time was much more, for lack of a better term, basic-sounding, this really does something interesting with its sound and influences it takes from. A lot of obvious dance-ey moments that I really appreciate, really noisy and lo-fi too, and really well-rounded. Obviously "Only Happy When It Rains" is a classic, but songs like "Supervixen," "As Heaven Is Wide," "Not My Idea," "Stupid Girl," and a few others all stand out as really great songs off of this album. Overall this album really stands out among the albums I've heard on here as a great example of great 90's music that uses its influences in ways that I really love and appreciate! 8.3/10

Well, I do love me some muddy waters. And this shit… it’s real good. Now obviously I know muddy waters. I’m a Chicagoan. I know mannish boy. I know the legend. It would be wholly remiss if I did not. But I’d never listened to a whole album of his material. And it’s a great time!! The guy is simply an incredible performer, absolutely electric. You can just feel the rawness of the recordings through the speakers. It transports you, it’s beautiful. It’s also incredibly well-produced. Everything about it overwhelms you, from the insane guitars to the striking harmonica, to Mr. Morganfield’s incredible vocals somehow cutting through all of it. I mean, what’s not to absolutely adore? 9.2/10

What the fuck?? Wait, no… I think this actually supposed to be good. Lemme check the genres. Oh shit, 15 minute hardcore album. Good shit. Again, I’m a punk artist sort of, so this is kinda my wheelhouse. I mean hip-hop’s more my wheelhouse if anything, but… okay I’ll shut up now. Anyway, the big problem with listening to this album today is that I have to listen to an album called "GROUP SEX." By the band "CIRCLE JERKS." At SCHOOL. It's fine though. Some general standouts though: The first song is awesome. I like how they open it with 3 seconds of complete silence, on a 15 minute album. The transitions between songs are really cool too. It makes it feel like one long song that just happens to switch hooks every minute or so. Back against the wall is crazy good. One of the best performances here hands down. The transition between "Don't Care" and "Live Fast Die Young" is astounding. speaking of "Live Fast Die Young," that song's insane. "What's Your Problem" is great too. As a whole this album's ethos seems to be what you'd more or less expect: it's kinda like the sex pistols but weirder and more believable. More obviously affected by the influence of capitalism as a whole (especially on "Red Tape," but you can see the disdain in every song). All this to be said, it's really fucking good. 9.0/10

… Oh… … Well, this is my third time writing this for some reason. Anyway this is the Stones’ first album that a lot of people really pay attention to, due to the fact that it has “Mommy’s Little Helper” on it (which I love, as does my dad) as well as featuring the classic “Paint It, Black” on the American version, which also removes the tedious 11-minute “Going Home.” This album’s also interesting because it has some sort of concept, I suppose in the same way that an album like Aesop Rock’s “Labor Days” has a concept, though that’s one of the best albums of all time and this… I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s basically just endless pessimism as a concept I’m pretty sure. And that’s all well and good, but that basically makes them the evil version of early Beatles, because they take just as much from much better and more capable Black artists as the Beatles used to, but it’s so much less competent (which in most cases is saying something because some of that shit wasn’t good at all). As I mentioned, “Mother’s Little Helper” is superb, but it falls off fast from there, and there’s not much else interesting on the album. It’s just a slog of Mick Jagger trying to be interesting and instead being boring if not grating. I don’t know. It gets to you after a while, how nothing this album is without its highs. Still not bad though. 6.9/10

Gorgeous album. Armatrading’s vocals are incredible, and it’s very well produced. Additionally, there’s some absolutely breathtaking songs, most notably “Down To Zero,” which grows to be one of the best folk/rock songs I’ve ever heard. Additionally, “Help Yourself” ends up sounding like a folkier version of a Florence and the Machine song, which I like a lot. I think one of my favorite parts of this album is the way it blends funk rock sensibilities with folk rock, something that many others who’ve listened to this have pointed out. Songs like “Join The Boys” (ESPECIALLY that one, the conviction in her voice is so strong and beautiful), and “People” (back to back INSANE solos) bring such a wonderful vibe to the whole thing. The guitar sounds super super great on “Like Fire,” and “Tall In The Saddle” really closes the album out well. Very very good. 9.2/10

perhaps the best hip-hop album ever made. It’s either this or Miseducation and you can quote me on that. Every single song is perfect and you can quote me on that too. 9 emcees and every single one is at peak performance. Some of the best beats ever made, most iconic moments in all of hip hop. Honestly like every single part of modern hip hop culture can be traced in some way to this album. I mean what do I fuckin say? It’s a top 10 album of all time. It’s enter the fuckin Wu-tang. 10/10

Yay!!!! I love this album!! My parents’ first dance at their wedding was to “O Grande Amor” and to this day this album’s a personal favorite. It HAS been a second since I listened to it though so I’m glad I got it! And this music... the best way I can personally describe it is music to walk through Garfield Park Conservatory to. "Girl From Ipanema" is a positively essential song of all time. If you were assembling, say, 1001 SONGS that you should listen to until you die, that would be HIGH on the list, at least for me. Simply one of the most incredible songs of all time, due to the 4 distinct moments (João's first verse, Astrud's second verse, Stan's incredible saxophone solo, and Antonio's piano), all of which being undeniably essential moments in the jazz canon. After it ends, there is little time to reflect on what you've just heard before being thrust into "Doralice," which is pretty much "Girl From Ipanema"-lite, though let's be real, that's what this entire album is. Other high points include "Para machucar meu coração," "Só danço samba," and, of course, "O grande amor." Breathtaking. 9.7/10

Islamic spirituals??? Interesting. Whatever. Actually. Really awesome. “Allah Hoo” has the same melody as one of my favorite Jewish spirituals, that being “hallelu.” Though a bit repetitive it’s incredibly beautiful, and I have a definite soft spot for songs of divine devotion, especially when they’re as passionate as this. This guy’s voice… it’s beautiful, and powerful, and resounding. The song structures across the album are really nice and interesting as well, and keep me looking forward to the next song. It’s actually a really dynamic album, which I didn’t at all expect. Each song is beautiful, and I really enjoy it as a whole, as well as song to song. 8.5/10

It’s so… polite. His voice is great but the songs aren’t really there and it’s not interesting whatsoever. I only listened to the first installment because believe me, I’m not fixin to spin 74 straight minutes of the most nothing music ever. Also, is this even country? I really want to know. I don’t hear any country sounds here, other than the occasional choir that sounds vaguely country-ish. It’s also like the same song over and over again. I like some of them but it’s all so samey that I can’t really pick out any songs without knowing deep down that they’re all the exact FUCKING same. 5.7/10

I really expected this to be some twee type album. Then I looked it up and found out it was... new wave art pop somehow connected to talking heads? I thought it was interesting as a concept I guess. The first minute or so sounds like proto-LCD Soundsystem, without any of the commentary on party culture or anything. It's so interesting. In fact "interesting" is one of the most said words about this album when you go to "reviews." Words.... hmm. Anyway that first track left a big impression on me, and then “Genius of Love” left a similar impression on me. I was dancing in the hallway! I guess the better word for it would be groovin, but same difference. The entire album has this vibe where you can just groove peacefully to it. Just very peaceful, wholesome, repetitive grooviness. Favorites in general include "Wordy Rappinghood," "Genius of Love," "L'Elephant," and "On, on, on, on." Very kooky. Very fun. Very entertaining. 8.3/10

the Justin Bieber interpolation song album! You know... he had that one song... you knowww... Anyway this album is cool. Starting with "Your New Cuckoo," a song with great vocals, great production, and a really awesome riff, and then moving to "Been It," which I like a lot (the chorus is wonderful). "Heartbreaker" and "Happy Meal II" are both cute, but "Never Recover" is fucking insane. Sounds like an Alvvays song, but it happens to also be really well-written (which Alvvays songs are, but like the writing stands out here). "Step On Me" is really good too, and then "Lovefool" is obviously a huge fucking home run. From there we have "Losers" which is a pretty alright song. "Iron Man" as a song is pretty tight too, and I'm told it's a cover of Black Sabbath's seminal metal song of the same name. It's pretty cool. My only real problem with any of this is that the lulls are sooooooooo apparent, and they kind of become drawbacks for me. It's all pretty good, but the experience it adds up to can tend to be taken away from by the inconsistency of the song quality sometimes. It's still pretty awesome though. 7.9/10

Probably the most shockingly appropriate album I’ll ever get on this list. As of right now I have more than 1000 different albums to get, and yet I get this one, the day after I watch “No Direction Home.” And by the way, that was a HUGE part of my day. I was sick so I stayed home from school, and spent most of the afternoon watching that movie, and it’s now one of the longest movies I’ve ever watched. Additionally I just listened to Desire, one of the only well-known Bob albums I hadn’t listened to yet (great album btw). All this to say it’s insane that I got this album when I did. And now on to whether it’s good. Well, “Love Sick” certainly sets the tone. Meandering, 5 minutes and change, but shockingly direct. It feels as if Bob is looking you in the face as he unsteadily growls the lyrics. “Dirt Road Blues” picks up the pace in terms of tempo, but Bob’s gravelly vocals ground it in the maintaining dark atmosphere. This continues throughout the A-side. Then on the B-side it continues, though the general quality drops a bit (not personally the biggest fan of "'Til I Fell In Love With You"). Now's also a good time to talk about how the whole thing is seemingly about his 1992 divorce from Carolyn Dennis, and uhh, you can tell it's a breakup album. It's kinda crazy how down he seems about this. Anyway "Not Dark Yet" closes out the first disc as easily the best song of the B-side. Just real simple, easy, depressive Americana. Good stuff. And then "Cold Irons Bound" comes in and it's just as depressive, and it's long and bluesy and real good. After that there's a couple of songs that are just okay frankly. But then we have "Highlands," and... what. the. fuck. 16 minutes. I had to scroll down 3 times just to get to the bottom of the song's lyrics. It's crazy. Anyway the song's great too. I won't get into it but it's awesome. I'm too tired to really get into this album as a whole but it's super good. 9.5/10

oooooh. oooooooooooooooooooh. I was excited for this. And I was right to be. This is insanely good. I mean- oh my fuck. I’ve never been a gigantic metal fan, but this is easily the best evidence that I should be one. This is just so incredible. The imagery, the riffs… it immerses you deeply into this incredibly hellish world, in a way that’s genuinely affecting and foreboding. It might get old if it were longer but it just isn’t! It’s just- it’s perfect. It is PERFECT. 10/10

Finally I actually get around to listening to nirvana. I'll say, it's interesting to listen to the swan song first. The album opens with one of the best lines I've ever heard, that being "teenage angst has paid off well, now I'm bored and old," off of the song "Serve The Servants." It's an excellent, bombastic opener that moves into the angry, screamy "Scentless Apprentice." Very well produced so far (of course it fucking is, it's Albini). It also really beats you over the head with how dark it is; the drums work with the guitar to make something insanely noisy and weirdly macabre for such a "classic 90s rock band" y'know? "Heart-Shaped Box" is obviously superb, no notes. "Rape Me" frankly is kinda wack. Like I get it, but I can't really follow the "plot" of the song, and it just does't really do much for me. I don't fuck with it too much. "Frances Farmer..." is incredible, however, so it's all good. "Dumb" is actually incredible as well, maybe my favorite song so far. "Very Ape," though short, is really awesome. "Milk It" is pretty cool too. Pretty much all the songs from then on are great. “All Apologies” is definitely my favorite. I will say though, this album really doesn’t live up to its legend. Like, it’s one thing for an album to have a legend of being a certain way, like how (depending on how much of an ass you are) you might say that either “The Moon and Antarctica” or “Good News For People Who Love Bad News” would be the point in which Modest Mouse sold out (they never sold out in fact, but that’s beside the point). But when an album has built up some mythology of being one of the best albums of all time, such as this one has, and it turns out to be… pretty cool at best, I can’t help but rate it worse based on the fact that I feel underwhelmed. None of these songs changed my life, or even really defined my day interestingly. I really like a lot of these songs. I think Kurt Cobain is a really awesome and super interesting dude. But… perfect? Among the best of all time? Worth buying on a CD? Well, that last one, maybe. But my point is… this is pretty awesome and not much more. 8.5/10

REAL MAN SHIT!!!! YEAHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I personally gave up on being a real man when I realized I was actually a girl, but you know what, I can still listen to some HARD SOUTHERN ROCK without any qualms. Especially when “Sharp-Dressed Man” is in the conversation. Well, I for one very much like the production here, and the attitude of it all. Very much this dancey, southern, glammy hedonism vibe. It’s kind of also the album’s downfall, though, because it’s just a bunch of really really awesome, bitchin’ songs that really just don’t have a lot of conflict. “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Legs…” all 10/10 songs. But they never really go anywhere other than “FUCK YEAHHHHH!!!” And I think that’s the only real problem. As for the positives, I LOVE the guitar tones here. Same with the drum machines, which are surprisingly well-used here. Vocals are a little weak, or maybe just a little bit low in the mix, but they get the job done. I also feel like the album, while it could’ve been shorter (maybe try cutting “TV Dinners?”), is a pretty good length. Pretty cool closer, pretty cool album. 7.8/10

Well, if there’s one thing I do know it’s that this guy was just awful. Incestual murderer rapist pedophile racist… I mean this guy’s worse than Phil Spector! And that’s hard to achieve! I hate this guy and I don’t even know him! But can he perform? Well… welllll…. Yes he can. This album is incredible. Obviously from his performance I don’t doubt that he’s just the worst guy ever, but it’s certainly just something else. He has a gravitas that feels so awful, but that entire attitude is kind of what makes it feel so authentic. Like he’s just an awful guy, singing like an awful guy would, and it’s really fucking good because that’s just how it goes sometimes. Because just listen to those keys! Listen to the way he’s singing! I hate him! There’s nothing about this man I like! Except for every single song on this live album! And that’s just how it goes sometimes. 9.1/10

Well, I’ll take something interesting any day. I'm not the biggest Can fan, but I liked their first two albums enough. Very well sequenced and nice to listen to. This is good too. "Cool in the Pool" is a nice little song. A good opener, and way better than you'd expect it to be based on what it is. Very like mentally stimulating. And then of course I'm a sucker for a 13-minute krautrock song so I love "Oh Lord, Give Us More Money." I mean it's so nice to listen to. Weird obviously but very nice as a little bit of background stuff, and when he starts raving about "GIVE US MOOOOORRRREEEE MONEYYYYYY!!!! HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!" I really vibed with it. I also really like the throughline of weird samples across this whole album, it gives the entire thing a nice little air of extra weirdness which really helps to transport you somewhere, which I appreciate in an album. "Persian Love" is... kinda wack honestly. I appreciate what it goes for but it's just kinda not there. The last song is fine. I think the big problem is there's just not much personal expression here. The music's awesome, but there's so little behind it. Y'know? That being said I do love parts of it. 7.2/10

Ooh! Yusuf! I’ll take it! I had AP US History exams today so I didn’t get to this for a second, but I like this album enough. Yusuf’s voice is alright, and the songs are invariably well-recorded. The songs are pretty boring at times though. “Hard Headed Woman” isn’t really all that great, and “Sad Liza” isn’t well-written enough to justify how boring of an arrangement it is. That’s kind of the album’s problem. It’s pleasant, but it’s not really like something that is that nice to listen to. It’s too boring. Obviously the highs are incredible, but I can’t believe how invariable inoffensive it all is! It doesn’t feel personal in any way, and that really pisses me off. It doesn’t feel as if our dear singer is a real person, as much as he is just some vessel for these more often than not unimpressive folksongs. Thankfully, on songs like “Longer Boats” and “Into White,” this problem is less existent. Actually the B-side is waaaaaay better than the A-side. I don’t know though. The songs don’t really go anywhere. I can’t say I really love it. 6.7/10

Been waiting for this one. You pricks. Also, can I just say right now, I’ve been waiting just to listen to this album! As for the songs. Well, title track is incredible. So is The Wizard. NIB is kinda corny but I like it! And everything else is just there. Sadly not much really pops out. I mean like this is supposedly the 98th best album of all time. It doesn’t feel like it. That doesn’t mean it’s bad though. It’s just kinda rough around the edges. Not everything here does that much for me. 7.2/10

College-rock/rap. Happy Mother’s Day yawl. Anyway this album is pretty wack. I wish it wasn’t. It’s just that it’s this like really blasé, low effort bluesy alt-rock, and the vocalist is sooooooo uninteresting. Just this dubiously Ebonic white guy spitting nothing bars about nothing. Flow’s awful. Not much stands out. Sounds like Jack Johnson. Or Jason Mraz. Which is exactly what you don’t want to sound like, mid-aughts adult alternative. But hey, even though it kinda sucks, at least it’s not super long, right? RIIIIGHT? I can’t with this project man. I’m sorry. 4.7/10

Well, we’ve already been through this once. I was wholly unimpressed by Elephant, the other White Stripes album here. Does that mean I’ll be wholly unimpressed by this one? Maybe. Yes. Definitely. There are maybe 3 good songs on this whole album. Everything else is kind of worthless. "Blue Orchid." Awesome. Great. Love it. "The Nurse." Interesting. Not great, but interesting. Then you're exposed to 5 whole songs of the most annoying, uninteresting, absolutely nothing music that you'll ever hear. It is just so wack."Instinct Blues" thankfully is incredible, and the songs following it are actually pretty bearable. Sadly the damage is already done, especially since the last two songs are trash. I don't know man. This album is really bad. I don't enjoy this much at all. There's no point, and even the good songs are pretty unimpressive. I wish it was good, but I genuinely don't know what I expected. Even the good is too formulaic to love. Even the great is too unimpressive to respect. Probably my least favorite album so far, other than MAYBE wild wood. 2.8/10

I’m vaguely aware of this album! Also I’m learning about orbitals right now in chemistry. Which are pretty cool! This album is pretty cool too. "Planet of the Shapes" is good, though slightly disappointing, but is thankfully followed up by the very pleasant "Lush 3-1," which I initially wasn't incredibly impressed by, but the persistent melody it employs is really pretty and nice. "Lush 3-2" is also really nice, with some great drums, and an awesome building melody. Though "Impact (The Earth is Burning)" does NOT sound like the Earth burning, it does sound very pleasant. So does "Remind," which adds a nice bit of dissonance and texture, which I like a lot. "Walk Now..." and "Monday" kinda blend into each other, but "Monday" is definitely the superior, and one of this album's standouts. Finally we get to "Halcyon + On + On," which is handily the best song on this album, a progressive, polyphonic techno masterpiece. Though I prefer house music over techno music (their similarities beg the comparison; I much prefer house because it's often more political, as well as originating from Black queer Chicagoans, who I am frequently aligned with), I still enjoy this greatly, appreciate its challenging moments, and I think it's pretty cool overall. 8.4/10

This gon’ be fire, just wait. It's gon be... it's... okay so it's just okay. The first two songs start us off REAL strong with some bangers that really give you some relaxation, but also some dancey vibes. And then this guy Jazzie starts talking... and rapping... and he just has no flow. No flow and no charisma. He's just TALKING! That is NOT what you want in an album that's flowing well! I don't dislike much of it but Caron's vocals are frankly subpar, the beats get repetitive, and most importantly, it's not really designed to be scored or evaluated critically. These are "CLUB CLASSICS." You're not supposed to really listen in. It's mid for sure, but only as a focused album experience. It's great as a collection of dance songs. 6.3/10

Oh…. Well… You know, when the lead singer’s voice is the worst thing you’ve ever heard in your whole life, it suddenly becomes a lot easier to remember the fact that it isn’t original or interesting. Which this isn’t, by the way. This is bad. This is really bad. The riffs that are just okay can’t save the songs that are poorly written, awfully sung, and structured with about as much thought as a $2 Lego ripoff. The only great song here, the excellent title track, doesn’t do enough to even differentiate itself from the rest of the songs, so when you get to it, you’re just blown away by how unabashedly incredible it is, using a pretty similar formula to the rest of the songs, before being thrust into 4 more songs exactly like the rest, all of which that suck. Each song individually isn’t enough to hate, since the crimes are mostly blandness and annoyance, but when it stacks up… holy fuck. Please tell me this is the worst album I will listen to on this site, because I’m scared now. 1.6/10 (I swear to heaven above if people think I'm pretentious for this rating...)

First of all, let me just say, I'm sorry about yesterday. I gave "Back in Black" by AC/DC a 1/10 and even though it deserved it I'm sorry I did that. I feel bad. Anyway this album fucks. Literally. "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" are two songs that any person who's listened to the radio enough will know by heart, and I'm one of those people. At least the choruses. Classic songs, both of them, ESPECIALLY "1999," which is simply one of the best songs of all time. To compare Prince and MJ for a second, "1999" is kind of like Prince's version of "You Wanna Be Starting Something," basically a 6-minute long deep funk song disguised as a dancey synth-funk song. This entire album actually lines up with thriller a bit, what with its resounding classics (Purple Rain more aligns with it there but this album serves something similar imo), the synthy funk, the smooth, soulful comedown closer track... enough comparing these two guys though, this album deserves an individual evaluation. The first disc is one of the best sequences of music ever, opening with two of the best songs of Prince's career, and riding out the B-side with two back-to-back dance-sex-funk jams, those being "Let's Pretend We're Married" (one of the only songs that can say stuff like "I sincerely wanna fuck the taste out your mouth... can you relate?" and get a pass for it.) and "D.M.S.R.," a monolithic 8-minute banger. The second disc takes an obvious dip in quality, but it's still not bad; though "Free" is fretful at best compared to every song that's come before it, it's still a pretty good song on its own. "Something In The Water" is awesome, though much overstated by those who think it's some sort of artsy experimental ahead-of-the-curve masterpiece ("All The Critics Love U In New York" is way more artsy, experimental, and ahead of the curve in my opinion). It's pretty cool and that's it. "Lady Cab Driver" is a fabulous affair, synthy, energetic, and the spoken word section is insane, and almost intimidating. As I mentioned already, "All The Critics Love U In New York" is this album's actual experimental masterpiece, a strange, new wave, noisy track that's easily a highlight on here. And then we have the closer, this album's "The Lady In My Life," if you will. It works. It's nothing super special, and I'm more of a fan of Prince's lower register than his falsetto, but it's still a good closer. Overall this album is incredible, and I'm glad I got it today! 9.1/10

One of those ones I always knew I was gonna get in the back of my mind. Did NOT expect it to be so early though. The big problem with this album is that it’s easy listening. When “Doopee Time” by Doopees did easy listening it was awesome because it had depth. It had influences that made it apparent that it wasn’t marketable and wasn’t meant to be listened to in an easy listening context. This is incredibly well written frankly, but it is completely straightforward in its genre, and that is a problem to me. Take “Misty Roses,” which is very pretty, but the instrumentation is annoying, plainly so. Or “Parade,” which uses marching band aesthetics to make a song, and I just don’t like it. Or the song she does with her kid, which just simply does not work in my opinion. There’s some bad, some good, but not enough stands out sadly. 6.4/10

I really do love Johnny cash. This is the live joint he put out after Folsom Prison, which obviously is a classic in every sense of the word. This is shorter, and less storied, but still incredibly enjoyable. Classics such as “I Walk The Line,” “Wreck of the Old 97” “A Boy Named Sue,” and obviously “Folsom Prison Blues” are littered throughout the album, and it kind of has a similar vibe to “At Folsom Prison,” but like… less. Still has a June duet, still has a song about the prison, still has all the charm. I don’t love the fact that he plays “San Quentin” twice, but I think that it’s an incredible song, that really gets at a lot of problems with the prison system, even if it’s a bit inadvertent. The big problem is also that the rendition of Folsom prison blues, at least on this version, is like 2 seconds long. Which is very annoying. Also there’s only so much fake outlaw stuff you can take. I dunno. Still very great, but the B-side could be much better. 8.2/10

One that I have already listened to, but am admittedly less familiar with that I would prefer. I’ve always been a bigger fan of her debut, which has simply one of the best rock/soul songs I’ve ever heard, that being “Kozmic Blues,” in which she hits one of the most impressive A5s I’ve ever heard. But this album is what she’s arguably known more for, for better or for worse. And it has some insane songs. “Me and Bobby McGee” is a complete classic, and songs like “Move Over,” “Cry Baby,” and “Get It While You Can” are also beautiful. In general the best parts about this are Joplin’s passionate, soulful vocals, the great production on the guitars and drums and pianos, and the general flow of the album. Very playful and lighthearted, very good, and very enjoyable. 8.6/10