Kicking off my journey with one I already own. I picked this one up back in... oh idk 2003-2007 sometime. I got it because I had liked Elephant. Impressive what you can do with just 3 (4 if you include vocals) instruments. The White Stripes manage to carry maximalist intensity minimalistically.
This one's a slightly different beast compared to Elephant (pun not intended but I'm also not sorry). It takes a little time to warm up to. It's (intentionally) jagged. It goes out of it's way to be the antithesis of what was popular at the time (super polished, hyper manufactured). I appreciate that about it but I understand why some people wouldn't like it. It's not something I would recommend to just anyone.
This is a very high 3.
I listened to this this album a decent amount in middle school - being at the mercy of whatever cassettes my parents had lying around. Thing is, I'm no longer prepubescent. I have my own money to buy music and ... well, I ain't reaching for this, thx.
Not to say it isn't a competently composed and well performed body of work. It's fine. Fun to sing along with but not much else. Other reviewers have called this album boring...and I can't refute that. If you have a mature pallet, "soft-rock" is bland as hell. It's not this album, it's the entire genre.
Not really sure why this one is on this list except that it's popular. It gets a solid "meh" from me.
So this is the album that kicked off glam rock, huh? Don't know much about glam rock, tbh. It's fine. Points for historical value - influenced such varied acts as Queen to X-Japan so I get why it's here.
The lyrics aren't anything to write home about. Just standard British pop-rock circa 1960-1970 ("ooo girl, I love you girl, ooo ooo"... zzz). Enjoyable instrumental work throughout (surprise appearance from Ian McDonald of K.C.). I can see a much younger me digging it.
Standout tracks: Monolith, Girl, Rip Off
Gangsta' rap is not a genre I have any interest in. Not a fan of the non-stop cursing (it should be seasoning, not the main dish), slurs, misogyny, glorifying of violence, braggadocious machismo ('affectation' is a word that comes to mind).
I appreciate a few of these tracks,"Everyday Struggle" and "Things Done Changed" for example, but not enough to listen to them for enjoyment. This just isn't for me and that's ok.
I have never heard a Steely Dan song that I enjoy. In that regard, this album did not disappoint. I do not understand working that hard to sound so bland.
Instantly recognizable. If you've never heard Green Onions, yes you have.
Fun music. The guitar work is delightful (especially notable on Twist and Shout). Loving the percussion on I Got a Woman.
So far, the most enjoyable album I've heard from this list that I didn't already own. The fact that it's all instrumental is really working in its favor.
Damn good coffee. Loving the intensity on The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore, Kamikaze (who is that ripping up the drum set? Kudos.) and This is Love.
I wasn't feeling totally inspired to go after the whole discography but looking at the album list it seems like I won't have a choice. Won't be mad when I roll the next album in the set.
Is this supposed to be "inspired" by 80s synth-pop? In what way? I don't hear the style, the risk or the attitude here. Let's be real - most 80s pop was neon nonsense. But it was unashamed of that. I'm not getting "unapologetically garish" from this album. I'm not getting art pop. I'm not getting glam. You can't just slap some synth on it and call yourself "New Romantic". Sorry, you're still giving 2010s pop. And I'm not into it.
Nicest thing I can say about Swift is that I appreciate her dedication to self-determination. She steers her own ship. Good for her. This is still a pass.
"There was a band playing in my head and I felt like getting high" - literally me.
I keep wanting to give this a 3 because I don't care for his voice, but that guitar playing on Southern Man is too enjoyable. I did not expect Neil Young to go so hard.
Put this one in the Dylan pile. Good stuff, but it needs a stronger vocalist. He's fine in harmony but kinda' weak solo. Seems like a running theme with singer songwriters. A lot of them are way better at the songwriting part.
Hmm, I might like Neil Young. Who'da guessed.
If it had just been the MC this would have been meh, but DJ Premier is delightful. I love the turntable work.
It's a bit preachy in places but at least it manages to not curse every other word. It's full of the exact same tropes ("I'm better than you", "all the women want me", etc) as "Ready to Die" but from a "good boy" angle. That's just the scaffolding of the genre, I guess.
All that said, it is pretty enjoyable. Another high 3.
Day 11 and I'm about to give my first 5 (to David Bowie of all people - did not see that coming).
I like Tangerine Dream - so the B side is right up my alley. It is worth it to go read up on the history of Bowie at this point in his life and the events that inspired some of these songs (like "Always Crashing in the Same Car").
This album is the sound of a man hitting rock bottom (thus the title) - disillusioned with his career, on the verge of losing his marriage, low in inspiration and strung out on too many drugs. And this is how he processed that. This is gorgeous. I mean I liked it the first time through but each time after I appreciate something new about it.
Very cool album. Neat to hear funk/soul experimentation with the emerging electronic/synth instruments of the day. The list of instruments Wonder plays on this album is really interesting: Hohner Clavinet (synthesizer that uses rubber band sounds), drums, Moog bass (foot-operated analog synthesizer ), harmonica, piano, harpsichord, T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer (quote Wikipedia: the largest, multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer in the world), Fender Rhodes (electric piano).
The percussion and backing vocal work on 'You Are the Sunshine Of My Life' saves it from being just another an overly saccharine love song. Fun texture. The clavinet on 'Maybe Your Baby' is very cool. Not sure that song justifies a 7 minute run time though. The last few minutes get repetitive - or maybe the vocals just need to be toned down a bit so the instrumentals can shine. I thought I was hearing a theremin on 'You and I' but that's the TONTO synthesizer. 'Superstition' is an absolute jam as everyone knows. 'Big Brother' kinda' goes hard for something that chill.
The more I listen to this the more it's clearly about experimenting with the instruments and vocal techniques. I'm down. Very cool. Not a big fan of love songs and this album has way too many but if that's Wonder's thing (or maybe it's just the genre) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Oh I'm going to have an attitude about this. I didn't sleep, I'm cranky and I've never liked 'Maggie May' - it's just so blechhhhh. Never liked '(Find A) Reason to Believe' either.
Normally I give albums multiple plays before I settle on a rating, and maybe it's just the massive attitude I woke up with today, but I don't wanna'. I don't like Rod Stewart and 1.5 plays of this album have not changed my mind. It's an interesting album and maybe I'd like it if I hadn't heard other artists do everything Stewart is doing but better. Also the casual racism and misogyny are ... not helping. I'd like to give him a fair shot but ... see: attitude.
Ah yes, weirdo music. Thank you.
Creative, fun, kinda' bonkers - I had a compilation CD with a lot of her stuff on it back in the day. Nothing about this is changing my life but I kinda' like it.
I did not realize that pop punk has been around this long. Shows what I know.
Very fun. Don't think I didn't notice being assigned an Irish band on St. Patrick's Day.
Sounds like Mike Patton cut his teeth on this on this record. I can most definitely see this being an acquired taste.
I particularly enjoyed "16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six", "Town With No Cheer", "Frank's Wild Years" (made me "lolwut?"), "Down, Down, Down", "Soldier's Things", "Trouble's Braids" and the instrumentals. Interesting album.
Brit-Rock Circa the 60s: 12 million variations of "ooo girl, I love you girl, ooo ooo ooo". I appreciate that this era had to happen for what follows but it's not my favorite flavor.
There's something clearly a little different happening on this one. The instrumental work is fantastic. Surprise harpsichord? Incoming mellotron! The bassist is very fun. The guitar on "David Watts" is borderline crunchy (that's a good thing). I'd like to dig it but I feel like I'm missing some important context that would take this from 'quirky' to 'brilliant'.
Bowling alley music! Just your basic raunchy, power rock (sex, drugs, rock'n'roll), but they do it so well. They're just here to have a good time; don't take it too seriously.
For anyone complaining that all AC/DC sounds the same: true, but nobody *else* sounds like AC/DC. They are instantly recognizable.
This was the perfect brain-dead rock album for a brain-dead Friday. I enjoyed it.
Lynchian af. What are we calling this style (aside from Lynchian)? Seedy surrealism? Post-modern, psycho-sexual, campy, horror noir? Whatever you call it, it tends to be hit and miss for me. It hits when it just grazes the canyon walls of the Uncanny Valley. It misses when it tries too hard to impress upon you how ~weird~ it is.
This album has a bit of both. I enjoyed the instrumental work. The vocal not so much. I can see why some of you love it. I can see why some of you hate it. It's ok. It's creative at least.
I got nothing smart to say about this. The lyrics and songcraft are meh but the musicianship is so damn good I kinda' don't care. I've never given Megadeth a listen before; I'm actually really impressed. I did not know they had this kind of technical skill. I like it.
-Edit: In the weeks that have passed this has become my go to "office too loud for ambient" focus music. Drowns out the lawyers in the next row who don't understand how to modulate their voice volume without requiring too much of my attention. +1
TOO MUCH FACE. BACK. UP. I haven't even hit play and I'm already intensely uncomfortable.
Top notch vocal performance but she really did herself a disservice with the title/theme on this one. It taints the interpretation of the whole thing: "Songs about how hard it is to be the ripe old age of 25. My life is practically over, boo hoo, what will I do? I'm all shriveled up and will never find true love. Remember being young? I miss it so." -_- uhh, ok
I would have liked a few of these songs ('River Lea' is actually pretty amazing) had I not been listening to them through the lens of some barely grown woman pining over 'lost youth'. Gurl, I'm 42 and my midlife crisis isn't this dramatic. Pass. Thanks.
Drag my naked loneliness across a floor littered with broken glass why don'tcha.
Mournful, hopeful, awed, frustrated. Damn dude, WTF did I just listen to?
Extra points for the little explosion sound at the end of "Babe, You Turn Me On".
Overall, not my tempo. It's somehow dull and overstimulating at the same time. Most confusing thing I've heard so far. I certainly feel certain ways about it but lord help me if I know what those are.
I'd rank it pretty high for creativity and the interesting juxtaposition between the lyrics and the music, but I enjoyed the relief of the silence that followed the last track a bit too much. I didn't even realize I was in pain. Ope.
Tangerine Dream with a sense of humor. Nice.
Started off really interesting, then turned into a bunch of love songs. -_-
At least some other albums on this list have done interesting things with instrumentation or vocal technique. Not this though. Nope. Just 35 minutes of "ooo baby, I love you but you don't love me, sob" (with the exception of "Cloud Nine" and "Runaway Child, Running Wild"). Of the three versions of "Heard it Through the Grapevine" I've heard - this is the weakest.
What a bummer. I hoped for better.
PS: I think I've realized the difference between the love songs I'm ok with and those that irritate me: authenticity. The love songs on Nick Cave's album are real: that dude is IN LOVE with his wife. The love songs on this album are marketing kitsch. They're put on to sell records. In a word: phony crap.
Remember when country wasn't just pop with a twang sung by some affectatious jerk in a cowboy hat? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Not bad for country, which isn't a genre I care too much for. Got a few bangers on here, a few crooners, one instance of surprise yodeling, some stuff I think is supposed to make me sad but I can't quite understand the story so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. The audience on the live track are *rowdy* XD.
Not mad at it. I'd like to highlight that it isn't all love songs - props. \m/
The lyrics are bad. The vocals are meh. Of 12 tracks (I'm including the 'hidden track'), 4 are just him bitching about people in his life - 3 of em' celebrities or something? I've never heard of this guy or the boy band he was in, but is he ever big mad about some stuff. Put this one in the "too English for me" pile. I don't get it.
The one cultural reference I did understand was Ab Fab. I highly recommend it: it's hilarious and does a way better job of satirizing the English 'celebrity/fashion class' than he's doing. Jennifer Saunders is peak. This guy is mid.
2: might'a been a 3 but I had to listen to him sing about some "golden showers" and use the word "inbreedy".
Not sure what this album cover is supposed to be. I was expecting prog but got folk. Seriously, it looks like a King Crimson album.
Anyway, it's nice. Very pretty. Very melancholy.
If it isn't Scottish, it's crap. Or so I've been told. Logically speaking, the statement is not bijective. Thus, being Scottish does not prevent it from being crap.
Why have an entire band, if the musicians aren't doing anything except creating a gentle curtain of sound to hide how weak the vocals are? I get that that was the style but still, *pokes bassist with a stick* do something! I mean, I love a good harmonica but this album does not have a good harmonica. Sounds like just another in a long list of bland, dime-a-dozen, radio rock albums. Sorry, it's just not my tempo.
Cheers to another completely mid Britpop album.
Do I need to write anything? Hendrix is a guitar god. This is well known. Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding are fantastic on this one too. I'm pleased with all of the performances. What a treat. Easiest ranking so far.
So if Static-X is evil disco, what is this? Mischievous disco? Whatever it is, I like it. I was not expecting to enjoy an album that topped (tee hee) the UK charts in the early 00s, given that I've hated the Britpop/post-Britpop that this list has handed to me so far (drab, formulaic, clichéd, why?). This has been a pleasant surprise.
Wasn't really ready for a disco cover of Comfortably Numb. I don't love it. I don't hate it either. As a disco song, it's fun. As a Floyd cover, it's not great. It misses the point and narrative of the song in favor of pizazz. But it *does* have pizazz. In spades.
Vocals are neat; Brothers Gibb one second, Elton John the next. Instrumentals are fun, energetic, some nice bass work in there. It's a bit cheeky, a bit irreverent, occasionally tender. Thumbs up. Not perfect, but pretty darn good.
If you're going to embrace postmodern kitsch, this is how you do it.
Too much face.
My general opinion of Van Morrison: the music is nice, his voice is a bit grating, the lyrics don't do much for me.
It's fine for what it is. I've never been super into Van Morrison. I've always liked "Moondance", it's very pretty. Otherwise, nothing on this album is really grabbing me.
It's very 70s. It just drippppppppss 70s (I see you Bee Gees song). I don't hate it. It's kinda' in the same class as Van Morrison: pretty, but not really doing much for me.
This album cover is promising a lot. XD
And, you know what? It kinda' delivers. It's so 80s it's nearly painful and I love it for that. Synth heavy, beat heavy, fun focused, a bit cheesy. Yep, them's the 80s.
I don't know much about the evolution of hip hop, but apparently this stuff is very important. I'm glad I had the chance to hear it. I've also never listened to 'electro' but if this is what it sounds like, I dig it. Points for historical significance & creativity.
I do agree with some of the other reviewers in that these songs are not strong enough for a 6-7 minute run times. From my understanding, all of these songs were made as singles so I get it. I think if they had sat down to create a full cohesive album they could do better but this is a pretty good start.
I have no idea what I'm listening to but I really like it. Is it new wave? What even is new wave? Is it punk? Is it post punk? What is post punk? Is it funk? What the funk is going on here? Why are the musicians so good? What the hell is this guy even singing about? Do I need to care? Second most confusing thing I've heard so far but this time I am down.
Looking forward to the next time they come up.
In theory I like The Smashing Pumpkins. In practice they're very hit and miss. Something about Corgan rubs me the wrong way. I'm not usually overly picky about vocals but sometimes I wish he would just shut up and let me listen to the music.
I've had this album in my mp3 collection for 20+ years (thanks Jenny) and this is the first time I'm listening to it in its entirety (sorry Jenny). It's fine. The hard rock bangers are good. The drummer is sick with it. The ballads are completely forgettable. The stuff in-between is somewhat in-between. The lyrics kinda' suck.
This won't be getting any full replays after today.
This album coming on the heels of 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' really highlights the contrast between childish angst and true pain. I think that's what rubs me the wrong way about Corgan; he parades his juvenile tantrums as somehow profound when they're anything but.
Grief is profound. If you don't already know that, you will. Grief is *the* ubiquitous experience. It gets us all. I can't imagine how excruciating it must be to lose a child. The fact that Cave can create beauty from that agony makes this album worth a 5 even if I did not enjoy a second of it. Art doesn't have to be enjoyable. It just has to speak to some truth of the human experience.
If you've not experienced deep grief, I can't imagine you'd get much out of this album. It's got not a single banger. The songs are unsingable. Some are dirge-like and plodding. Much of it is ambient. There's nothing to sink your teeth into or ground you. It just hangs in the air.
But, if you know it, the feeling of this album is completely recognizable. It's the sound of a grief that you've sat with for a few years. One that's taken up residence in your home and seeped into your memories. A grief still there long after the rage and guilt have passed. It doesn't stop hurting. You just learn to live with the pain. It means you loved someone dearly and that love is worth accepting the pain. That's the price of it.
"I am here, and you are where you are" - yup, I understand that feeling.
ooo, techno:
Dum-dum-dum-dum-digadigadigadigadigadigadigadiga
...no...wait, ambient techno:
~~**~-|~~*._~~~~**...''~~~~**~-|~~*._~~~~**...''~~**~
Not bad. Not really my jam either.
A few standouts: We Can Talk (pretty groovy), The Weight (I mean, yeah), Long Black Veil (well that's a hell of a story), Chest Fever (the keyboarding on that opener - did ELP notice?).
Not really my thing, but also, not bad. Best of the genre so far. Ol' Dirty Bastard is hilarious and I can't tell if that's intentional or not, so +1
