like how fast it starts, you jump right into it
very disco on sweet talking woman, and yet very ELO
love the horns on Across the border
slows down by Starlight
the album is kinda hopecore ngl
second half of Summer and Lightning sounds like The Joker by Steve Miller Band
Mr Blue Sky is just hopecore
holy shit nikad nisam slusao kraj od MBS, kad krene DUNDUNDUNDUN
the whale sort of sounds like what the 90's thought the internet would sound like, very futuristic in that regard
from retrofuturism to classic rock honkytonk on Birmingham Blues
love the vocal only part on Wild West Hero, before coming back to a sick guitar solo
album kinda ends abruptly-ish, but overall it went by so quickly, in a good way
uh what was that Anne Frank attic bar
nice bassline on ms jackson
why does this album have so many interludes
ok spaghetti junction is fire
S.J. so good it requires an interlude before AND after
b4 I cum is making me realize I can't relate to this album and therefore my experience is lessened
i figure this album requires more attention than I'm honestly willing to give
yeah honestly I felt nothing and the album barely entertained me the whole way through
finally a 40 minute album after two double LPs
I can't get over the vocals, I get they're genre defining and iconic, but it's not for me
Like the melody on What She Said
Second half looks much more promising with The Joke Isn't Funny Anymore and Nowhere Fast being tracks I like
Well I wonder continuing the track, but the rain sound at the end is making me wanna go pee
Again me with the bassline on Barbarism
Title track kinda makes the ending unceremonious, overall hit or miss album imo
i am only vaguely familiar with this record, excited for this one due to that vague familiarity
also the album cover matches my aura
15 seconds in ok I can tell ima like this one
curse my weakness towards blonde haired rocker chicks with an attitude
just fast paced enough
this album is just so quality, I didn't get bored of a single track
ooo movie soundtrack
I get a feeling this is one of those I heard before without hearing before and that's just part of the influence
i feel like pusherman overstays but that might just be my genZ cooked attention span
the instrumental is giving buddy cop movie chase scene energy, probably because it's called Junkie Chase
Is this album the reason chase scenes in those old movies have that sound?
Think Instrumental is amazing
ok I KNOW I heard the title track before
very entertaining, I feel cultured for having listened to it
oh hell yeah this appeals to my 60's careless non-drafted american nomad fantasy which will never happen
not crazy about these slower paced tracks but it might be just me right now
wth are they doing on Down by the River, I was expecting the track from baldurs gate not this absolute shredding
why does running dry sound so much older than the rest
I was expecting a much higher tempo album from the opening track, overall I might just not be in the mood for it right now yet I must rate it
from one album where I only know the main single to another
the first track becomes funky outta nowhere
what is that saxophone jezus
EWTRTW still sounds futuristic and yet so very eighties 40 years later
Ironically I don't really want to listen to Listen
the last album should have been a 3, this is a solid 4
Thoroughly impressed by the whole album. I always was told Jimi Hendrix was important but now I hear it. He feels like he just goes out and channels all the gods of music into his performance. Hats off.
first album from this that I have no idea who the band or the album is or any of the songs on it
2 tracks in this album sounds like my dream wife would be deliberating whether this was her favorite album or something from oasis
or like, something from blur, britpop in general
getting a bit of (midwest?) emo from this too ngl
uh is there gonna be music in this outro? - oh there is
and the hidden outro is the best part of the record
Immediately after this I went into The Invisible Band and that one just impressed me more, sorry but this is meh
now this is something totally different
barely started and I already feel woefully underqualified to rate this
feels neoclassical in a way, like a modern building with Corinthian pillars
i could do without the random man-noises starting around the 7 minute mark, but such is the nature of the live album
as if I didn't want to get a piano before this :c
i might not be musically literate enough but what part of this is jazz apart from the improvisation? goes to show how against preset genres in music I am
kinda lost me in part 2, and I feel this needs to be enjoyed live/on vinyl/focused (neither of which I did), but overall you can still sense the virtuosity given the context that this was entirely improv and the troubles they had recording it
I've been writing notes but honestly I've fallen so in love with this record I'll write an actual review. I get the Bob Dylan hype, this is hopeful, it's depressing, it's rock n roll, it's blues, it's country, it has plenty of harmonica. It's the first record from this app that actually gave me inspiration to make some music of my own.
tho this is the 2nd record from the 60's i've rated 5/5 so far, so I might be a hidden boomer despite being roughly a third of the age of this record
generator please give me something newer despite me loving the past few 60s and 70s records
ok this gets heavier after the start
why is cheap day return so short :c
getting more than slightly whimsical in a medieval bard way on Mother Goose
my God what is happening in My God
Ends on a high note and there are bangers, I guess I was just expecting something harder from the album cover and from an album that existed after King Crimson, The Rolling Stones, and Hendrix
ngl I thought this was a single not an entire album
the title track rocks as hard as it ever did (I know it's a protest song)
Cover Me also goes hard
Darlington County almost sounds mythical in an American way but I don't know how sarcastic it's being
you can hear the 50's nostalgia they had in the 80's through Highway and I'm not sure how much I like that
i have no idea how I'm On Fire is as popular as it apparently is
album gets a bit repetitive by the end
Dancing in the Dark still sounds very eighties, which I mean, it came out in the eighties
my hometown sounds pretty meh, just padding out the runtime
overall hit or miss album, starts off pretty strong then comes back and goes away in waves
yay, another 60's album...
It may be the fact that I'm really tired of the 60s sound at this point, but this album just bored me the whole way through. Not saying it's bad, but being unentertaining is worse than bad. I spotted nothing I could take from this record.
I literally had Born in the USA 2 days ago, what is this
Badlands not making an impression, vocals truly bad on that track
The album gets better, already prefer this to BitUSA
Wait Silvio from the Sopranos is involved with Springsteen?
Definitely more enjoyable for me than USA, I liked Adam Raised a Cain and the Promised Land. The tonal whiplash between the sorrowful ballads and rock n roll tracks is not as bad as on USA. I don't know which of the two records is more "Springsteen", but I'd definitely recommend this over that one.
The list/book gets a lot of criticism for overrepresenting old 60s and 70s records, and I'd like to join in. Really wish future editions give more representation to significant records from the 21st century such as this one. As far as guitar centric music goes, my suggestions would be Weezer's Blue Album (90's, but cmon), The Black Parade, Enema of the State, Bleed American, and A Fever You Can't Sweat Out (yes really if you think about it)
As for the album itself, it's fun and you can hear its influence if you keep in touch with modern rock. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this record years before knowing about this website and I still do.
I listened to it while assembling furniture, so I was partially distracted but I feel as if that's kind of the best way to listen to the album. I'm not familiar with the tracks because of it, and most of the vocals went through me, but the instrumentation was good and the vibes were immaculate.
It's fine I guess. The tracks are better listened to as part of a playlist rather than as an album - it gets kind of repetitive. You won't really find any thought provoking, groundbreaking metal here either. Just straightforward power riffs and headbanging.
I wish I had more time with this album - I'll probably be revisiting it. Overall I liked the somewhat theatrical cabaret vibes, and the slight spice of Disney villain theme song. Not gonna be for everyone I assume, but I enjoyed my time with it more than I didn't.
It started off so strong but gets so drawn out by the title track onward. I suspect they wanted to do less but needed to pad out runtime due to a vinyl release. I'll definitely be listening to 3-4 tracks from this album again, but I don't suspect I'll be playing it back to front again.
The production is immediately striking. It sounds like what people in the 80s thought the future would sound like.
I think I get why this is our dads' favorite band
Very good, almost otherworldly. It left me speechless and I'll definitely be revisiting it.
It's one of those "I can't take your music opinions seriously unless you've listened to this album" albums. I don't care if you're not into rock and metal, it's a piece of art that transcends that. Still as good as it ever was more than half a century later.
Started off sort of simple, but won me over in the end. Missing some of the personality and "unprofessionalism" I typically enjoy in a live album. Probably won't be revisiting this and I'll just listen to the studio versions of Cheap Trick if I'm in the mood. Might be on the lookout for a second hand vinyl of this record - I'm a sucker for live albums on vinyl.
Goes much harder than I expected - I was expecting something Beatlesesque like most of what you get from this list. The guitar work is masterful and I get the sense that a lot of music I enjoy today stemmed from this. That being said, the production kind of comes off same-ish across the entire album leading to a bit of weariness at about the mid point of the album. Unexpectedly We Will Fall was a great listen and nice reprieve after I Wanna Be Your Dog. 4/5 since because the middle of the album didn't quite stand out to me.
I was really into hip-hop close to 10 years ago. I remember listening to this album then, but I couldn't remember a thing apart from NY State of Mind. Now, my tastes and preferences have changed - and the first (and to this record last) hip-hop album the generator gave me when I started this is Stankonia, which I did and still do consider to be a bit meh. There was something there, but it wasn't for me. It gave me a bit of anxiety in the sense that "did I outgrow rap entirely"?
No, I didn't. I still enjoy rap. This is a seminal album worth the hype. The lyricism and storytelling on display is phenomenal, and the production is beautiful and yet still grounded in a way that ties the atmosphere together. The only reason I was debating giving this a max grade is that this would be my third 5/5 this week, but who cares. The generator gives what the generator gives. I'm sure I'll be served many more weeks of mediocre 90's Britpop and 60's psychedelic rock, but for now I'm taking leave to be generous with my ratings.
I never really got the hype with Eminem. He was fine for a few singles to sing along to at a party or in the car, but musically I didn't get what the hype was about; let alone from where and why he comes off boasting he's Gods gift to music and his fans constantly perpetuating that. He came off as only a bit more restrained in that regard than Kanye West but at least Ye makes good music. This is the mindset I had going into this album. But when I started with this website I decided everything gets a fair shot, we're grading on a scale of 1-5 but realistically all these albums should be in the top 5% of at least all western music, right?
I wish. I barely got through the album. Angsty teenager rap appealing to the lowest common denominator that goes on for way too long. The best parts of the album had nothing to do with Eminem and more to do with actual compelling artists involved with the project, such as Dr. Dre. I was hoping for something more grounded, introspective and mature from the album cover and considering this is his 3rd album, and considering the talent that was involved with making it. All in all the ethos of the album is just Eminem's singles stretched over 72 minutes- if you like that it's fine, but I'm just gonna keep assuming you're only 14 years old in either a physical, mental or spiritual way.
This all being said; deserves a place on this list similar to Chocolate Starfish and Hot Dog Flavored Water. This (along with Tarantino, South Park and others which I do actually love) perpetuated the early 2000's edginess and shock value going on in pop culture at the time. One star for the content of the album, 5 stars for importance.
Listening notes:
First off; which one am I supposed to listen to? Spotify has like 4 Marshall Mather LPs with a different tracklist
Funny how Eminem personified and mocked his fanbase on Stan and his fanbase still stans the guy- I assume since most Em fans I met are children in one way or another
Honestly, the more you listen to Eminem the more you notice that his way of getting out of a lyrical corner is mostly just throw an edgy obscenity and hope enough people are shocked enough to not notice he's doing that
Funny how he disses Fred Durst like he didn't get popular making almost the exact same music
Kim verges on being snuff music- and not in a good, compelling way either
And it ends on Eminem kind of pointlessly LARPing as a bank robber, ugh.
TL;DR - This album is as tasteful and well crafted as British cuisine.
I was reading the Wikipedia article for this album: "The Guardian said that the album "raises the stakes to such an extent that it sounds literally unprecedented: there isn't really any other album like this", and PopMatters stated that Skinner "is now in a class all his own; nobody else is making music like this." Trouser Press said that "Skinner seems both edgier and more contemplative""
I agree that there isn't another album like this- I just think it's for the better. It sounds like some old mates recorded him at a pub while he was talking about some story (he probably made up) and he decided to put some background noise underneath it. The reviews at the time are still baffling me: "the best album of 2004 so far, and by some distance" when even sticking to the same genre, The College Dropout, Madvillainy, and MM...Food came out the same year?
Skip this one if you can help having an unfinished streak. You'll be saving 50 minutes. Actively aggravated me. I couldn't even have it in the background while doing something, it was that distractingly awful.
Notes:
The first track has awful production, it's almost like he's someone's recording him from a landline
The second track improves but only barely
Is this just Soundcloud rap, but like, before Soundcloud?
You know just doing some kind of melody while speaking a sentence doesn't make it good music right
Fit but You Know It stands out for being listenable
Am I listening to the correct album? What is this Critical Reception section on Wikipedia? At least people on this website are listening to the same album
The last track has no merits being 8 minutes long considering I was ready for this to be over 5 tracks ago, in the words of my ex girlfriend - just finish already
Inoffensive to the point of being a bit bland. I only had a few notes to write so I didn't bother including them. Don't get me wrong, it was refreshing after 2 albums I found borderline unlistenable so at least this has that going for it, but not likely to be one I'll be revisiting.
Has a few places where some fat could be trimmed, but overall I enjoyed my time with it. Very fun listen. Safesurfer is an amazing track that's both dark and psychedelic and takes you on a journey all by itself. Head stood out for making me imagine stereotypical little green aliens playing the song on futuristic sci-fi instruments. Las Vegas Basement was great to end off the album. The Spotify description for Julian Cope being a "musician, writer, historian, and cosmic shaman" made me giggle. Not sure why the reviews for this album on this website are leaning negative (apart from people listening to the longer deluxe version - always check the track listings on Wikipedia people!) - I didn't find anything egregious enough to warrant it.
Not bad by any means, just not my cup of tea and I get the distinct feeling there's better Isley Brothers music than this just knowing how much they were sampled. Some guitar parts were parts where borderline virtuosic though, with Summer Breeze being a personal highlight, so I'll definitely be revisiting that at the very least.
Honestly, just a bland record carried enormously by Adele's singing. Definitely a product of its time; at some point I had to check if I still had ads disabled, that's how some of these songs sound to me. The best parts of the album for me was where there was minimal instrumentation and she was allowed to showcase how she's capable of carrying a song alone, like in Million Years or All I Ask.
Regardless of my opinion though 25 deserves a place on the list. I was in the dead center of its targeted age demographic (if not social demographic) when this album came out, and even describing this album and Adele at the time as inescapable feels disingenuous - she was downright pestilent. Millennials can have this album on this list for that reason, but I'm gonna go with my gut, be a bit cheeky and give 25 a 2/5.
Listening notes:
Well just going by Spotify listeners this is by FAR the most popular album I'm supposed to listen to so far
2 tracks in, this would and did kill at millennial parties
Damn, Adele can sing but I'm not gonna pretend that was a mystery to anyone including me
Water Under the Bridge made me do a double take to check if I still had ads disabled
I like Million Years Ago, but it feels iterative, like I already heard the same song before from someone else
All I ask is another one I like simply due to the vocal power
I had a great time; pulls you into it, especially in the first half. Second half is a bit all over the place for my liking and definitely feels more experimental than the first (which for this record is saying a LOT), but I was more than able and willing to get through it. The story of how this album was made is also enviable and aspiring, and I'm not usually one for that kind of sentiment. I'm docking a point from a perfect score since this would be a really hard sell for anyone that isn't a total music nerd and due to those aforementioned experimental parts (which don't always really grasp you, despite the whole arrangement of the album by some miracle or plain talent and vision working the whole way through).
Listening notes:
Talk about an instantly recognizable first 10 seconds, holy shit
Love part I around the 12 min mark
Okay part I is done and I freakin' loved it, especially at the end as he's naming the instruments as they come on, I found the whole arrangement very cool
I like how halfway through Part II we get the predecessor to Korn out of nowhere in a song that was up to that point more-or-less ambient music
Very much starts rocking again
Closes up too soon after rocking out, there was more space left :(
I was not expecting this whimsy jingle at the end, but it feels familiar, like I heard it before
One of the albums of all time. Can't even tell you what I liked and what I didn't and under normal circumstances would be a 2/5 under my precedents. That being said, I have a soft spot for 90's alt rock so some tracks did get saved, and that bumped it up a point.
A "Balearic beat acid house electronic dance rock album recorded on the island of Ibiza" seemed so antithetical to the kinds of music I prefer, that I was dreading sitting down to listen to it. Someway and somehow, I found it great - especially the more dancey-electronicky parts of the record. For the most part, I preferred them to the more rock sound New Order and especially Joy Division are known for. I'm just flabbergasted to be here looking up what records are more dancey in New Orders and others discography, and just avoiding the post punk altogether. It's not a 5/5 since I don't consider it a perfect "album experience" (would need more cohesion track by track to me for that), but nevertheless a great listen as a collection of songs.
Completely acceptable prog-ish rock. I liked some bass and guitar parts, but the constant harmonizing of the voices got old pretty quick. I admit I did a little peek ahead and saw that Yes has 3 albums in the book. Will they deserve the 3 album placements? Who knows. Going middle of the road for now, this album is subject to either stay the same or go down in rating in the future depending on how the other Yes material sounds.
I don't know, I was expecting to hate it - turned out to be an unexpected bop. I was dancing and smiling like the lad on the cover the whole way through. Kind of lost me in the last third but not enough to detract from the first two. It's just a fun and carefree album that doesn't require much concentration or even inebriation, which isn't a given considering the genre this album resides in.
Listening notes:
well this is a long one
it's long cause the songs have to be long, this is a DJ album after all
F-ing in Heaven sounds straight out of an old Guy Ritchie movie
it just sounds like everyone involved had a lot of fun making the album and I appreciate that
Kalifornia does something to me, not sure what, I'll get back to you
Soul surfing and Brighton are kind of whatever at this point, let's see if it comes back to me
It does, Praise You has a much more traditional melodic structure to get you back to familiarity on top of a magnificently funky bassline
Can we also take a second to appreciate that album cover? I know nothing about it but I want to be as happy and as carefree as that lad
Last couple of tracks probably require more "chemical pick-me-up" than I'm willing to have on this moody Monday at work, but the album overall made it less moody than it needed to be
I can tell what's the appeal, I can tell what they influenced and how that includes some of my favorite artists and bands, I can tell how groundbreaking this kind of sound was at the time, but I just can't bring myself to rate this any higher. Entirely and completely competent, but not all that captivating for me personally. That being said, it piqued my curiosity for the rest of The Cure's catalog on this list, whenever that comes.
A bit of preamble before I've even listened to this album - this is my second Eminem record even though I'm only 40 or so albums into this project. The first one was The Marshall Mathers LP - A record I found dull, childish, and lacking any real meaning or artistry at least from Eminem himself. To me when you get through the shock value of his lyricism, it was just Eminem using angsty teenage obscenities not to spice up the substance of the album, but to replace them entirely. Like, they're fine to use, but only if you put them onto something I can chew on in the first place.
The Wikipedia summary for The Slim Shady LP states the following: "The Slim Shady LP contains cartoonish depictions of violence and heavy use of profanity, which Eminem described as horror film-esque, in that it is solely for entertainment value." which honestly, sounds like more of what I hated on MMLP. That being said, I'll keep in mind this is a satire album and see if that makes it any more excusable compared to MMLP, a record that by all accounts was Eminem treating himself as seriously as he could at the time. Looking at the tracklist, the length and the song titles of this LP and my previous experiences with Eminems other album on this list, it is safe to say that I'm not leaning optimistic.
Now for the actual review: You can see from my listening notes later that I did actually enjoy some parts of this album, as opposed to the MMLP. It feels like there were some parts where Eminem had actual ideas to write songs about and ran out of his daily allotted uses of curse words, and managed to turn out some decent songs. Another high point as always is the production, courtesy of Dr. Dre of course. That being said, the parts I hated I REALLY hated. It also aggravates me that this came before the Marshall Mathers LP in the sense that- we could have been in the timeline where Eminem expanded on the ideas that were actually compelling here, instead of appealing to teenagers who listen to him only as a protest against their parents, which is what the Marshall Mathers LP felt like. At least I'm done with Eminem for the next 1000 or so albums I'll be listening to but he hasn't made a fan out of me and his enduring popularity will forever be a mystery.
Listening notes:
I'm so done with skits in hip hop albums
The best part of "My Name Is" after you go through puberty is introducing you to "I Got The" by Labi Siffre
Alright so I have to admit; I relate to Guilty Conscience. I've had a few experiences where I've had the devil and angel on my shoulders. That being said, it ends with the good guy agreeing with the bad guy? It lost me there since that isn't how it works - people always have an internal struggle to the very end of and even after making any kind of moral or ethical decision. I'll be curious to see if this resolves by the end of the album, even though I get a pretty distinct feeling this "plot" will be dropped right about now at the start of the next song...
We get it Eminem, you got brain damage, I didn't want to say anything myself
I can relate to If I Had too, I'm also tired of this music
Bonnie and Clyde are not people a father and daughter should relate to in ANY way
By the way this album feels like Eminem is saying “this is chaotic and shocking… but take it seriously… but also don’t… but also do...”
I can see why parents didn't want their kids listening to this but it wasn't the obscenities. The consequences are apparent today - there are people that think this is good music
My Fault is the first song I can stand since it does feel like just a guy telling a dark story funnily, but it could have ended just on the punchline instead of the snuff audio at the end
Rock Bottom is also good, it's almost as if adding a point to a song adds up to a good song
Just Don't Give a Fuck too, this is a nice roll
and the roll is over, As The World Turns returns to the painful Eminem status quo style
Did he just say "by the way I have herpes and do drugs" just to say it?
Eminem, I get that you don't give a fuck that I don't like you, I just want you to know it's not because I'm offended, you're just not as deep as you think you are. Seriously, two "Don't Give a Fuck" songs on one album? Enjoy your money and fame and whatever you want if it comes at the cost of making the musical equivalent of cold McDonalds fries.
I don't know, I feel I have to love it and respect(!) it more than I actually do. It's nice as a sort of proto pop record, but there's not a lot of bite or pizzazz, and there isn't any riveting musicality apart from Franklin's singing (which I find to be good-sometimes-great and a bit overrated as controversial as it sounds). I'm also not too keen on a record full of covers. That might be a strength though - I don't expect anyone being very much upset with listening to this record. I'll also say the mix could've been done differently and perhaps better. I hate using decimal points in reviews but just to contextualize this is like a 2.51/5 album for me, so I'm only just marginally leaning more towards a higher than a lower grade, hence the 3.
You can hear the genre-melding and you can hear why it's a critical darling. While I enjoyed the same parts as most critics did, it is to a lesser extent- personally I find the album a bit too avant-garde. Nevertheless the musicality here is excellent from everyone involved, and you can hear the influences on later works. Not for me, but I can absolutely see how some might regard this higher than me.
I can't really place my thoughts with this record. Would it be fair to say that it feels a bit too much like a "we're popular now so we can do no wrong" kind of album - y'know, self induglent? This is my first Radiohead album even though I know they're borderline mythical, and on a technical level the album is brilliant - I just don't care for it. That being said, made me very interested in their other work, I'm looking forward to discovering the myth.
Y'know when you kind of recognize an album, but not really? This is one of those. Anyway, holy shit how strong it starts! With the boogieing and the musicality and the experimentation in the first two thirds of the album I thought I was listening to an easy 5/5 if it could be kept up. That being said, it devolves into a bit fine but generic blues by the end. Still, I imagine will definitely be replaying the first seven or eight tracks from the album.
Well, the album that broke my streak. I had a headache the entire day I was supposed to listen to this album and from the first track I knew I was really not in the mood for near enough 58 minutes of bling era gangsta rap; especially knowing this was influenced by Eminems first few albums which I already listened to as part of this project and really didn't like. Anyway, giving it a shot now it's infinitely more tolerable than those. 50 Cent is much more charismatic and his voice is much more palatable and while the album is a bit dated, it still holds up in a nostalgic way. It loses some of its intended edge cause realistically even when this came out it was department store music- I don't imagine this really existing in a world that didn't allow for commercial gangsta rap, the kind that scrubs bad words from the lyrics to allow for radio play. This isn't really a knock against the music as much as it is the environment that encompassed it, but it still bears to say. Worth a listen and a spot on the 1001 albums list just due to how persistent it is all these years later, but best enjoyed one or two songs at a time once in a while.