I really enjoyed the drum and bass combo that drives the groove of the album. Very clean tones, very satisfying to bop to. The focal element of the album is the rapping and word play. I have a hard time focusing on lyrics in music, but the bits and pieces I picked up swayed back and forth between clever word play and discussion of sex, drugs, and money. I noticed I started to get bored the deeper into the album I got. I attribute that my personal difficulty focusing as time went on, and the drum and bass groove, while nice, eventually lost its novelty and got repetitive. All in all, solid album! I think I'd enjoy it more broken up and sprinkled throughout a playlist than listening to the album front to back.
Very bright, joyful sounding album! I was surprised to hear that the piano and guitar were panned hard left and hard right respectively, yet the frequency curve of the album was still flat and cohesive.
I didn't enjoy this album. I didn't like how the vocals were processed and balanced, I didn't like their delivery, I thought the guitars were too loud in the mix, I didn't like the guitar writing or performances (it sounded like squealing rather than something musically cohesive.) The single thing I did like was the drum production.
Good album, just really long
This album is what happens when legendary musicians are given the freedom to hit record and just go where the spirit of the music takes them. I wanna go back through this album and try to better understand everything going on throughout it because I'm certain musicians of this caliber are doing so much more than meets the eye (or... ear). Fantastic album; I want to buy a physical copy.
I wasn't a fan. The experimental timbres of this album made me feel a little uneasy more than anything. The vocal delivery also wasn't my cup of tea. It's a fine album, just not for me.
Great album! Super clean, very fun live recording.
This album sounds intimately gentle, and I love that.
Took me a few songs to get into, but settled very happily into the vibe in time.
Paints a very vivid picture / creates an atmosphere like a desert mirage. Leans into ambience, sound designed, and instrument and vocal styles less common in western music. Not my cup of tea, but a very well made album.
BANGER!!!!!
The drums are tight and punchy, the electronics and DJ rig are captivating, the guitar is satisfying, the rapping is brilliant, and Chester Bennington's performance is iconic!!
RIP Chester Bennington 🕊
I enjoyed the hip hop and jazz fusion in the earlier tracks on the album, but gradually lost interest as the fusion shifted more to a reggae feel. I don't speak any French, so I don't have an informed opinion on any of the lyrics. Was a fun listen for a while.
I didn't finish this album. I listened through the first nine tracks, made it about 30 seconds into the tenth before skipping because I was so repulsed, and then gave up shortly into track eleven. Dear god this album felt like they were trying to break a record for how much dirty talk, cursing, and N words they could cram into an album. Sprinkle in some guns and Snoop Dogg stroking his ego as much as his dick, and that's this whole album in a nutshell. I was genuinely disgusted and angry by the time I shut it off.
The positive thing I'll say about this album is that the production is very good, so much so that I could look past the absurdly vulgar nature of the album for a few songs. It wasn't enough to save it, but I appreciated it. 2/5
Great album! Very cozy, very classy, very wholesome romance that doesn't feel heteronormative or cheesy, I have no complaints! This is an album I'd have playing on a record for a quiet evening in. 5/5
This was the band's debut album. They used classic rock elements as a vehicle for their quirky vocals and lyrics. Think like a comical depiction of aliens in television, and that's how their music sounds. It was fun for a little while, but I admittedly got bored of it pretty quickly. The guitar hook in "Rock Lobster" is iconic, and it was cool to hear where that hook comes from.
Pretty good album! There's a good amount of variety in this album, which is my usual gripe with rap music. There were some raunchy lyrics I didn't care for, especially in "Blame Game," but for the most part, I was more interested in how the words flowed. I was pessimistic going into this album because Kanye West's a shitty person, but this was a solid listen.
Solid record. Reggae isn't really my thing; it doesn't excite me, and I think it's pretty monotonous. But there were two tracks on this album that hooked me by being more rock-y and more chill: Concrete Jungle and Stop That Train respectively. I didn't really like the song Kinky Reggae mainly because of the lyrics. Not my cup of tea, but a totally fine piece of music.
This is the soundtrack for a serial killer, and I did not enjoy anything about this album.
I was surprised to get a movie soundtrack on this list. I accidentally let it loop back around to the second song while listening, and I'm considering that a good sign. My one critique is less about the artistry and more the production: It's really saturated. This is somewhat explained by the era this was made (mid 70's), but I've heard other music around this time period that sounds cleaner. I think some of the saturation is thematically appropriate, but this has too much for my ear. I think I'd have to see the movie this was the soundtrack for to get the best understanding of it, but as its own independent listen, not bad at all.
You know what, I think I'm starting to get the appeal of rap music. The delivery of the lyrics and the bits of ear candy started to fill in those blanks for me. There's not a whole lot of processing on the vocals, so for them to be exciting on their own is a testament to the artist's ability. Honestly, I had a good time listening, except for one section where two guys were going back and forth talking about extreme acts of violence. Other than that, great album!
I've never heard anything quite like this, so I don't have much to go off in terms of how to rate it or compare it to other works in its genre. The sound design alternated between being an atmospheric touch and a main musical element, and I personally preferred when it was atmospheric. Nothing was bad per say, but nothing grabbed my attention in an emotional way.
Pretty chill rock, good background noise. A lot of the album is about love, particularly for New York City. Nice theme, it's just love songs haven't been my thing for a long time. The songs featuring Thom Yorke were probably my favorite along with the final track "We Float."
Fun listen, felt like it flew by! I've heard a lot of weird music in this giant albums collection, and this one sometimes falls under the category of "silly" weird if that makes sense. I'd be curious to go through this another few times and pick apart what's going on from track to track; it's difficult to pin that down in a first listen. This was a pleasant experience!
This album was incredible. It did so many things that made it stand out from other rap albums I've heard including, but not limited to: vocal effects that are unconventional for the genre, having a wide range of instrumentalists across the record, censoring expletives, and dipping its toes into jazz and hip hop. It was so refreshing to hear rap music with deep, meaningful lyrics as opposed to mostly talk about sex, drugs, and guns. I FELT something good in my soul listening to this! The final track on the album, "Pops Rap III... All My Childen" was fucking beautiful. I was playing a game while listening to this album, and I shut it off to play better attention to what they were saying. Fucking amazing album; a piece of gold I'm so glad this collection introduced me to.
Good listen! It was really cool hearing iconic songs like Eleanor Rigby and Yellow Submarine in their original contexts for the first time. Everything was musically good, but there were some songs I wasn't really excited by.
This was a fantastic listen! Good ol' fashioned rock n roll with some awesome vocal talent! One of the genres listed on the Wikipedia page is "swamp rock," and this album makes me want to explore more of that genre.
I objectively liked everything about this album, but for reasons I can't find words for, I just couldn't get into it. I'd be curious to hear a mix with drums brought up just a hair more and see what difference that makes, cause my best guess is the groove was just barely not forward enough. Not a bad thing at all, and I'll be revisiting this album later.
Fun, early heavy metal music! I can very easily imagine some of these songs being used in a soundtrack for Thor Ragnorak and Love and Thunder, and I'm counting that as a good thing. I recognize the "Smoke on the Water" from Guitar Hero lol.
This album is fucking awesome! The first track, "The Kid From Red Bank," absolutely slaps, and then the rest of the album is swingy big band jazz. It rules! It's also the oldest album I've listened to so far, and I had a blast with it.
This was a really fun listen! Celtic Folk-Punk was a welcome treat, and there was unexpectedly some mariachi elements throughout the record in the form a brass section. One song was literally called "Fiesta." My two complaints are that I didn't enjoy the song "Worms," and the song "Fairytale of New York" used the f-slur. Maybe a band member was allowed to say it? I don't know. Anyway, good album!
Classic dad rock, really nice to hear classics like "Born in the U.S.A." and "Glory Days" in their original context. I don't have any complicated feelings on the music, but I had fun listening, recognize the significance its had on music and my career, and felt nostalgic for working with The Destination (Glory Days is on their set list).
I was really surprised by this album! I wasn't really vibing with the earlier songs because I didn't like the vocal timbre / delivery, I thought the instrumentation wasn't anything special, and I had an especially hard time making out the lyrics. However, the last four songs were really soft and emotionally-charged. The album didn't have much of a grip on me until those last few songs really tugged on my heartstrings. The vocal delivery also got better throughout the album; it sounded pretty nasally while the singer was in a higher register, but that mellowed out as they descended in register. Not sure I'd listen to the whole album again, but I saved the ones that got me a little emotional.
While I admire the technical proficiency of the musicians and the unorthodox time signatures, I found this album difficult to get into. The production and chordal color of this album was also a little darker than I'm used to with jazz. Not my cup of tea, but a very respectable album.
What a strange album this is. Credit where it's due: there are few albums, if any, that made me feel like I was taken on a journey more than this one. It also had some interesting production choices: like having all the drums panned hard left on some tracks. Unless it was an artistic choice, I wish they were panned more conventional cause having them all on the left made the music feel lopsided.
I'd say my listen of this album was fine. Not bad, not great, just fine. I'm sure there are plenty of details throughout the story to be picked out and analyzed. In both the contexts of this album and this entire best-albums-of-all-time list, I'm getting bored of English rock bands.
This is very energetic, dancy, club-scene music. I found myself getting bored about halfway through because the lyrics get pretty repetitive and the energy gets kinda stagnant, so this is album I'd sprinkle into a playlist or listen to one or two out of the context of the album. Also, there's a musical element (not quite sure what the original instrument is) in the start of the first song that just sounds like farting. It didn't overstay its welcome, but that was weird to hear at the top of the album.
This was a weird one. No two songs felt like they had quite the same vibe. I remember thinking one sounded kinda big band-y, another sounded a little more goth-symphonic, things didn't really feel cohesive throughout this album. That goes for the production as well; every instrument felt a little too close to the forefront, which I found a little overstimulating at times. It reminds me of my friend Clover's band in that regard. I enjoyed a lot of the instrumentation, especially the guitars throughout this record. I just wish things were blended a bit more.
This album does what it's meant to do very well! It's thrashy, boasts some great guitar playing a drumming, and delivers on the heaviness the genre is known for. My main gripe is that the album was pretty monotonous. It was all energy all the time, which got stagnant for me. It's clear why this album is respected the way it is amongst heavy metal fans, and I agree with their sentiment even if it wasn't my own cup of tea.
This album isn't bad, but it isn't anything remarkable either. It gave me the impression of a British teenage boy who just discovered GarageBand for the first time. It's a very dry record, which is fine, just not my cup of tea. The drums and bass sound fine, but I didn't really like the guitar sound. It's stringy enough to be annoying but not enough to feel that rhythmic. I think The Cure isn't for me.
This album sounds like an indie singer-songwriter performing over a 90's hip hop beat. The drum and bass seemed more atmospheric than groovy, and that atmosphere was like a jazz club in a dark alleyway.
This was a really cool album! The Wikipedia article said the band made this album purely for them, and it shows! There were some songs where I felt like I was gonna ascend (The Funny Bird, and some songs that had really bizarre choices (The Happy End (The Drunk Room)). I don't think I'd go back to this whole album, but this has some winners on it!
This album is delicious! The guitar tones have a magnificent color of vintage gear that pairs brilliantly with shredding virtuosity. The drums are deep and punchy, the energy is cranked up, I had an absolute blast listening to this album! I think one of the vocalists sounds a little like SpongeBob lol. This records getting saved and listened to again and again.
I can acknowledge that Johhny Cash is a great performer and a hugely influential musician. However, why is this album on this list? Most of the songs aren't from this record, I guarantee the studio recordings sound better than this live album, about 30% of the album is just Cash talking and dealing with hecklers, and one of the tracks is just a song from the set list played a second time. Maybe it being recorded at a prison is a bigger deal than I'm making it out to be, but I don't understand what makes this album so significant. I'm admittedly not a huge Johnny Cash fan to begin with; it's just too plain for my liking. Still though, I feel like this album is just taking up space on this list.
I only made it about 35% through the album before I turned it off. The first song "Wake Up and Make Love With Me" left such a bad taste in my mouth that I couldn't stand much more of the album. To be blunt, I think this dude has one of the worst singing voices I've ever heard. I can't stand it. Paired with what felt like very uninspired lyrics, I felt so uncomfortable listening to it. There are few things I'd rather listen to than a British man talking about sex in such a PG way. Take my 1 out of 5 stars with a grain of salt because I didn't listen to the whole thing, but the portion I made it through made me feel more gross than anything.
The music itself is totally fine, but I'm so burnt out of this genre from so many other albums in this collection sounding like this one.
This is a phenomenal album! I was scared at first seeing an 80 minute duration, but this album didn't lose me for a second. The performances were all brilliant, and the non-musical elements (dialogue, applause, room tones, etc) really weaved this album together. The heart and attention to detail put into this story absolutely shine through, and I'm eager to listen again and understand more of this saga.
The first half of this album is so gentle and smoothly strung together, and the second half feels more like singles reminiscent of the era it was written and recorded in. I wish the whole album flowed like a river the way the first half did. There were one or two tracks where the used everyday occurrences (like a conversation in the living room) as part of the song, and those tracks made very good use of stereo. It made it feel more authentic like the listener themselves were sitting in the room as it was happening. Nothing really blew me away from this album, but I can understand and respect its reputation.
