first two songs were awful, the rest got weird but not in a bad way - title track was my fav. still overall an unpleasant listening experience why is a band from glasgow making country rock
very enjoyable! incredibly strong start & i enjoyed the departures from form on songs like good times which was more rock n roll and dont let me lose this dream which had the bossa nova vibe instrumental. i do think the music does get a bit nondescript at times & i'd like a bit more variety / standouts but the album being cohesive makes it a nice easy listen-through. begging her to leave that man though (apparently she did shortly after recording the album thank god)
enjoyable listen! i think i'm just not the biggest fan of jazz. i liked the fourth movement the most it was a bit softer & more wistful
this one triggered strong emotions in me both negative and positive lmao. i've always loved the song stan and liked finding out that his worry about the impact he has on fans is a major through line in the album - that said as soon as he becomes even marginally sympathetic on that kind of topic he starts with the family annihilator shit again which i know is on purpose / the point but it doesnt make it any easier to get through. genuinely felt like i was trudging through mud to finish the album at points especially on kim and that horrible dick sucking asmr interlude. dr dre's production is for the most part very good so that was a highlight
a fun listen but i enjoyed reading abt the album more than playing it. it was interesting to read abt how ppl found it 'strange' at the time / didnt think it sounded like jazz / spotted the influences of impressionists like ravel, bc nowadays that slower 'cool' jazz is so ubiquitous it deffo doesnt come across as strange and unique. but it does come across pleasant
i mean. i had fun! i'm just not sure why this album is on the list in the first place. im guessing sheer popularity put it here bc it doesnt seem revolutionary or influential even in the realm of glam-rock. very shiny and phony - i suppose maybe it was influential in how shiny / polished / poppy it was? if anything theres probably other slimy phony arena pop-rockers who r very indebted to this album. the 3/4 measure before the keychange in living on a prayer remains one of the most hype moments in music history though that couple seconds is truly brilliant
this one's being added to my library immediately. i've always vaguely planned to listen to some pj harvey at some point & never got to it so i'm so glad it got assigned i rly rly like this album!! have been listening to it the entire day. thom yorke jumpscare (positive)
pleasant! clearly trying to appeal to their newly gained american fans with all the motown / american covers. & they did keep two of the best songs from those recording sessions off this album (she loves you and especially i wanna hold your hand). i still find all my loving to be the best track on the album but that's just my paul girlie sensibilities... iconic cover to be fair, i just know theres other beatles eras i like better
lovely album. her voice is so gorgeous & distinctive & i rly liked that it's very much at the forefront the entire album, esp the acapella behind the wall (which my god that song is gonna haunt me for a while). the only damper on the entire thing was that even though for the most part the production is acoustic and stripped back, it still carries artefacts of that late 80s adult contemporary (gloop) type of production i really really loathe. i think part of the reason fast car has remained so evergreen is bc it's basically all just guitar and percussion & therefore can sound timeless in the way other tracks on the album can't (i think baby can i hold you is probably the biggest offender)
i really really tried to be open minded about this album, however. geriatric johnny cash cover album was a real struggle to get through. i also think the more i loved the original songs the more painful it was to listen to the covers - i cant think of any songs improved by his version. im gonna go listen to the eagles now
interesting album. really bitter and hateful in parts in a way that didn't make me feel any pity for the image he was presenting. in fact i felt like the self hating kind of invites the audience to dislike him as well. i liked the lyrics but actually had to look them up to register them - his very drawn out style of singing made it very difficult to follow along with what he was saying which i feel like is kind of a failure of genre for such a lyric-focused album. i also liked the very specific guitar strumming style on some of the songs which apparently is a signature of his - avalanche was my fav song partly for that reason and partly for the allegorical lyrics. his voice was grating to the point of becoming unpleasant in songs like diamonds in the mine and sing another song boys. i did not enjoy this album but it did do Something to me
unfortunately my feelings abt this album are very influenced by the question of why it was included on this list in the first place. i did not need to hear this album before i died. did the compilers get to like number 950 and run out of albums? nothing original or pioneering or interesting abt this record - by the late 80s this style of music was already trite and overcommercial, and unlike the bon jovi album (which is also trite and overcommercial and on this list) electric does not have any staying power or relevance. im just listening as a goth band actively sells out and is manhandled by rick rubin into becoming poundland ac/dc
it was a tolerable listen but with nothing remarkable & barely anything to distinguish the songs from each other. awful born to be wild cover. album gets a lot more entertaining when u realise 1. it was recorded in a gorgeous 1700s manor in oxfordshire 2. the vocalist's yea-yuhs throughout the record sound distinctly lil-jon-esque
starting to learn that very upbeat / chaotic jazz makes me anxious - bc of this i had a hard time with parts of this record, especially on track A which was a bit overwhelming for me. but there were parts of this album i really liked! some gorgeous piano & guitar playing and track B as a whole was incredible, i could rly hear the classical influences. i also especially liked the first part of track C & the variations on that up-down-up arpeggio hook, the piano-heavy parts of that track were so so good
these guys cured my arthritis rheumatism and migraines. very fun way to start my day & fun way to continue it by getting sucked into the p-funk lore rabbithole. bootsy collins space bass goes fucking insane throughout
i liked this one a lot & honestly the length didn't bother me at all like i was expecting it would. it did get slightly grating when it veered too much into yeehaw territory but otherwise rly liked everything they were going for. specifically rly enjoyed the bit at the end of misunderstood where all the band members switch instruments and play rly badly on purpose
women in male dominated fields (boring american folk cover albums). the one thing i enjoyed abt this album was her singing songs written from male povs which made them sound lesbian
finally this list converges with my own to-listen list - i had this album saved in my library for over a year in the hopes i'd get to listen to it at some point & unsurprisingly i was very right to think i'd like it. this album is the perfect combination of definitely deserving its place on this list & also being just a great piece of music
i was under the impression this was more of a hiphop album so i was surprised by it being straight r&b for the most part. i immediately thought her vocal style was reminiscent of mary j blige, so i found it funny to hear her be featured on i used to love him (i also enjoyed the d'angelo and santana features). her voice is lovely throughout, from her beautiful lower register to that long held whistle note at the end of to zion. i loved the theme of learning & the 'classroom' soundbites. the production is very late 90s but in a way that imo has aged for the most part exceptionally well (maybe also because people keep sampling this album so the original sounds evergreen).
i can finally watch the fd signifier video about lauryn hill now so i'm also excited for that lmao
nice little piece of britpop! complete with the cheesy strings and everything, i'm very much britpop enjoyer so this was right up my alley, even though it did feel on the safe / poppy side of the genre in parts. i also liked the nerdy literary / artistic references. had a weird time googling the album afterwards though it was weird to go from 'nice treat of an album' to 'first album released following the WHAT'
fuck it man baroque organ bossa nova drums let's make one of the best rock albums of all time idk
kind of a feat to make prog rock sound ESPECIALLY nerdy. i'm a sucker for switching up time signatures & the drumming in general on this album was very good. i did get a massive headache halfway through listening that had nothing to do w the album & derailed the rest of my day so that mightve biased me from being more gracious. sounds a bit like video game music i think bc it comes across vaguely artificial despite being high energy
based on the song i already knew from the album i was expecting to like this more, but i found the energy lulled in places, especially on at last i am free
not sure why the decision to use the deluxe instead of the normal album was made, but i assumed it was a mistake so i didnt listen to the live songs sorry. this was a fun listen for the most part, some songs more memorable than others (suite-pee rly sticks in ur head). i think i'd appreciate the lyrics a bit more if i managed to make them out at all. i've got a headache so i'm rly not receptive to nu metal rn sorry mightve bumped up the score on a diff day
started rly good but honestly felt a bit bloated by the end, idk how necessary the second disc was. i'm also maybe being hypocritical bc ive historically disliked music of this type from americans but im embracing british bias i almost gave this a 4
beautiful album. as always with nina simone the first thing i notice is the incredible piano - not only the performance but also the choices she makes harmonically / in terms if composition. she has such good intuition & its clearly shaped by the amount of classical piano she studied - the chords on lilac wine & the end of wild is the wind sounded particularly rachmaninovian. obvs also love her beautiful distinctive voice & rly liked hearing the way she went theatrical & made vocal distinctions between the four characters in 'four women'
