I do love some R.E.M., but I have fonder memories of playing Green on repeat in my car. "It's the End of the World As We Know It" hits harder now than before. Mike Mills' harmonies are still essential. There were a couple of songs I no longer remembered. Still, the album as a whole is classic.
"Alright" is a great song, but I could not have come up with the band's name. I like the energy of the album, especially "Sitting Up Straight."
I didn't hear The Killers immediately when this came out — I heard a cover of "Mr. Brightside" first — but once I did discover them, I've enjoyed them. "Mr. Brightside" and "Somebody Told Me" are definitely classics of the era. As catchy as they can be, the lyrics are sometimes cringe. "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier"?
I don't think I've ever listened to Tusk in its entirety before — I didn't remember it as a double album. Not that long ago, someone asked me what my favorite non-Rumours Fleetwood Mac song was, and I came up with "Tusk." (Their best song of all is obviously "The Chain.") After listening to that song today, I wonder if what I like so much about those two is that they don't sound a lot like the standard Fleetwood Mac stuff to me. Marching band? Come on! But that makes it great.
No disrespect intended to their other songs — a good upbeat Christine McVie track is always welcome, and Stevie Nicks solo or with the group is her own special brand of mystic. Most of the songs on this are fine, but just fine.
The combination can be very strange — "Something" followed by "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" followed by "Oh! Darling"? I had forgotten how much I like "Golden Slumbers." That second side medley has always been interesting; the songs mostly shouldn't really fit together, but they do. Is that just something I've become used to?
I had never heard this before, although I had heard _of_ it. I like "Vampire Blues." Overall, though, it doesn't grab me enough to want to listen to it again right away. Maybe it just doesn't fit my mental state today. The album cover does exactly match the vibe of the music, though.
While this is not my usual thing, I did enjoy it for driving today, especially "Jesus Built My Hotrod" and "Scare Crow."
Absolutely classic. The opening notes of "Chain of Fools" set the stage for a great album. I didn't know it before, but "Ain't No Way" wails in a good way.
I probably haven't listened to this all the way through since the 1990s. I think my favorite song on it is still "Don't Look Back in Anger," and I remember wondering back then why it wasn't higher-charting than "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova" in the U. S. I'm also really liking "She's Electric" today.
I've never heard the whole album before, just the singles on the radio (and they were certainly not new then). I own a couple of Jefferson Starship/Starship albums, and Grace Slick's voice is always a highlight. However, this album is just okay for me.
Less than 22 minutes! From "Look Back & Laugh":
"What can we do, what can we do?"
I like it. It reminds me of 90s indie a bit. Since it's from 1988, I wonder if this influenced any of the sound I'm thinking of. If I listened to it multiple times, I think some of the songs might stick. It's too soon to say if I'll come back to it.
I first heard "Common People" in the Shatner version, and it rivals the original; they are both great in their own way. I like the album, but it doesn't seem like something I'm going to keep coming back to.
I haven't listened to this all the way through since maybe 1990. It's nice to hear it again. It's funny that I _loved_ "Bullet the Blue Sky" on Rattle and Hum, but had almost no memory of it from The Joshua Tree. I'm really drawn to "Trip Through Your Wires" today, and I'm sure I have not heard that in this century.
A classic from the early 80s. Lauper's voice is so, well, unusual that you know her within the first couple of notes of any vocal. Her boldness was remarkable at the time — she was a bit like Madonna but without needing to be overtly sexually provocative in order to get the listener's attention. I love this. Until "Time After Time" started, I had forgotten how much The Hooters contributed here.
The way this shows up on Amazon Music these days uses his current name, Sananda Maitreya, which was surprising — not that the artist name has updated, but that the title of the album and the cover image use the newer name.
I had only heard the singles before this, although I was certainly aware of the album. Really enjoying "Rain." And "As Yet Untitled" is beautiful.
I don't think I had ever heard of the band or album. I like the drums. "Blast Off" is very space-age! There's some very silly mid-sixties stuff here, entertaining.
It's fine. It's funny to me that as a kid I heard that — outside of "School's Out" — Alice Cooper was a really dark and scary band. The topics are surely intense sometimes, but I guess what's seen as normal has extended over the years.
Classic. I've always loved "Train in Vain," even though for a long time I couldn't remember the name of the track!
Some of the lyrics on this album still stick in my head, especially "London is drowning and I, I live by the river." That cover image is great, too.
For some of these albums, I wish I could go back in time to when they were first released and hear them as the brand new creations they once were.
I've heard _of_ Solomon Burke more than I've heard his music. He definitely has a great voice. The songs are fine, but that's all.
It's very interesting to hear Iggy's original version of "China Girl." I do like his voice, but I'm not particularly grabbed by much of this. Maybe the issue is that I've heard the derivative/influenced things, so it's not new anymore. "Tiny Girls" is unexpectedly jazzy, though.
It was surprisingly hard to stream this. Good album, though.
Remember when you couldn't understand half of Michael Stipe's lyrics? This is that. So reminiscent of my college years. After listening to this today, I can't get "Radio Free Europe" out of my head. That's definitely the first R.E.M. song I was ever aware of.
Seems pretty 90s, which make sense. I actually found myself paying attention to the song where a woman took lead vocals ("My Curse") on both play-throughs.
There are some absolutely classic songs here, and to me it has always sounded kind of timeless even though it is also very much a product of its time. The versions of "Oye Cómo Va" and "Black Magic Woman" have become, to me, the definitive ones even as they were covers of established artists.
I can't remember if it was this album or the next one that I had on cassette when it got caught in the tape player in my car. I did find a shop to open up the player and remove it, but what a pain! I did enjoy this band back then, though. It still kind of bops.
"Papa Was a Rolling Stone" is so good — amazing that a track this long made it on an album. Even the single version was close to seven minutes.
Evokes classic English country towns to me, in a good way.
I purchased both King of America (released earlier this same year) and Spike (the next studio album after this one) when they came out, but somehow missed this release entirely. To be fair, King of America was the first Elvis Costello album I ever bought, so I was not yet on the lookout. If I'd had to guess the order, I would have put this one before KoA, which is interesting. I did enjoy it, although I don't know if I would call it one of his most important releases.
I like it. "Night of the Swallow," "The Dreaming," "All the Love" — which I just realized start side 2, although not in quite that order — are all things I've now listened to more than once.
Actually, the more I listen, the more I appreciate the entire album.
It's fine, but it doesn't really strike me as essential.
This was a huge album in the late '90s. I recall it being eagerly awaited by their fans. I like the singles, but I don't think I ever heard the whole thing through before. It's good, and it very much evokes a particular time for me. "Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage!"
"Fairytale of New York" is my all-time favorite secular Christmas song, and it has been since before I knew that the track just appears in the middle of a non-holiday album. Shane MacGowan was a treasure in his own way. The cover photo makes them look quite respectable.
When I listen to full Stones albums, I am often surprised again by the frequent appearance of unabashedly country tracks ("Dead Flowers" and "Wild Horses" here). I didn't care for "Wild Horses" when I was a kid, but now it just seems weirdly comforting. (I think "Dead Flowers" is the better song, though.) I really enjoy "Can You Hear Me Knockin'" and "Sister Morphine," too.
How is this 40 years old?! So juvenile — I was a contemporary of those guys, but at the time, they sounded younger to me, no doubt because of "Fight for Your Right," a high school song if ever there was one. I recall picking up the album in a record store and shaking my head at the cover art; I didn't buy it. I really liked some of their later work better ("Sabotage," for example), but this is a great kickoff to their recording career, and "Brass Monkey" is a highlight for me.
“These Hands” was unexpected. The Wikipedia article’s description of this as proto-hardcore seems on point for much of the album.
I remember how different Sigur Rós seemed from everything else I had been listening to when I first heard them. It is still pretty wonderful that a band from Iceland managed to get heard where I live. I have since heard Jónsi by himself and as a collaborator, and he is an interesting musician.
When I think of the sound of Radiohead, this is probably the album that comes to mind. I've always loved the song "No Surprises," and I still turn it up and sing along whenever it comes up on the radio.
The Doors — and Jim Morrison in particular — have always been one of the bands for which I just didn't get the hype. I don't hate them, I just don't see why they get so much love.
I like "Roadhouse Blues," and it occurs to me on repeated listening that what grabs me is the _piano_, which of course is not Ray Manzarek's usual instrument.
"I don't think you're ready for this jelly." I wish that “Independent Women Part 1,” which is generally a banger, weren’t entirely about Charlie’s Angels. When I hear that song, I don’t think Destiny’s Child, I think Charlie’s Angels. I wish they had done with that song what Survivor did with “Eye of the Tiger.” When I hear that sample at the beginning of “Survivor,” what I think of is the band that made it, not the Rocky movie that featured it.
I love the way this album starts. I suspect it helps to be in the right mood to hear it. Dark, moody, intense. I think I'll be coming back to it in the future.
I really like the sound of "He's the Greatest Dancer," and I could not have said it was Sister Sledge. Of course, the title track is classic disco.
I find that I cannot listen too closely to Elliott Smith today. His story just makes me sad.
I really enjoy this. I hear lots of different things happening in every song. I had heard of The Mars Volta (and At the Drive-In) and had even listened to a little before, but not paying quite as much attention as I did this time.
I like "Santa Cruz" a lot; I don't recall ever hearing that before. I am finding this to be a good soundtrack to do focused work to. I'm sure that's not how he intended it!
Nice to see something relatively recent. "Call the Police" is appealing right now — "we all know this is nothing, this is nowhere." It seems more recently that they reformed; it's hard to believe it's been close to ten years. Time goes fast.
Entertaining. I had forgotten that The Who had covered "Summertime Blues." It's a strong live album. It would have been cool to see this band in its prime, but there was still a lot of good work to come.
The album certainly rocks.
This album is unbelievably eclectic. That these musicians could produce something as all-over-the-place as the White Album and get it listened to at all in the first place is indicative of their enormous influence in the industry at the time. It's clear that there are many things here that have influenced myriad artists since.
So many of these have been covered in beautiful ways. For example, Alison Krauss has an incredible take on "I Will." But how are that and "Blackbird" on the same release as "Revolution 9," "Rocky Raccoon," and "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey"?
I had a hard time paying attention to it at first, but I eventually got into the groove around halfway through with . "Ballet Dance" is interesting, and I am drawn to “Change My Life” and “Share the Fall.”
My first thought was that it reminded me of early Beck. I really like the vibe. It's not profound in any way — "Cold Beverage" just seems like a good song for a summer afternoon.
Nice to get some jazz on this list. The mask he's wearing on the cover seems like a precursor to later electronic musicians and DJs, but the sidemen are so classically 70s in their clothing! I think listening to this benefits from a darkened room and maybe a view of the night sky.
"Self Esteem" and especially "Come Out and Play" strike me as classics of this pop punk genre. It's hard not to get a neck workout nodding along to the rhythm. There's a place or two in here where Dexter Holland's vocals remind me a bit of Kurt Cobain, and I don't recall ever noticing that before.
I've never been drawn to this band, although "Epic" is, unironically, pretty epic. The album is fine. It does combine a lot of different styles into something of its own. It's probably significant that one of the songs I like best, though, is "War Pigs," which is a Sabbath cover.
I've never been a fan of The Doors, although "Riders on the Storm" has always been the one song of theirs I generally liked. I'm trying to listen to this without those prejudices, and also to decide what it is that pushes me away. I think it's Jim Morrison's voice that doesn't fit for me. I like the blues, and the idea of Los Angeles as a woman to sing about is appealing in the title track. I very much dislike the whole "Mr. Mojo Risin'" thing that Morrison does to make it all about him.
I picture all the screaming girls at their early U. S. shows when I hear this era of the Beatles. It's interesting to me that half of these are covers — including some of the best tracks. I had wondered how they came to cover "Till There Was You" from The Music Man, and when looking it up discovered that they're really covering Peggy Lee's earlier release.
