This isn't the best Pink Floyd album, but that is kind of like saying a given pizza place isn't the best in NYC. It's still very good and has a couple of moments which one could consider essential. That said, it suffers from bloat in a way that isn't super uncommon for prog. A lot of the genius on other Pink Floyd albums is in avoiding that sort of thing, but this thing is 80 minutes long and feels like it.
There are some real high moments on here, but outside of that, it starts to run together a little quickly. I think this is one of those albums that's better as time capsule back to music at a particular time than it is as something you listen to cause it's just so good on it's own.
Bowie has sort of a funny voice. It isn't really pretty in a conventional sense, but that isn't to say he isn't a technically sound singer. Do half the stuff he does, singing the lines he sings, and making them sound good is an accomplishment. Bowie also just oozes charisma on this. It probably helps that huge portions of this are built out of recorded jam sessions. Bowie always had good taste in collaborators and this album sees him picking up a good portion of the major figures he could with for like a decade. It leaves on an absolute banger of a note with Fame, but the whole thing is strong.
Incredibly not for me. Jack White has good songs, but there's only like one on this album in my opinion.
Pretty meh. I guess if old rock n' roll is your bag then this is really good, but to me the songs run together for the most part.
This album is fine. The guitars sound cool and the guy can sing. A consistent thing that seems to be developing is the way that the makers of list seem to have different idea of essential than I do. The mode they seem to be operating in is that albums are essential if they were interesting or impactful when they released. Put simply, if they are the sort of the receive anniversary editions down the line. I think that essential albums are those that are influential on everything that came afterwards, or whose quality is simply so high they have to be expierenced to marvel at the fact that they exist.
This album sort of profoundly highlights that divide. This albums doesn't have monumental influence becuase, to be blunt, it sounds too much like its influences. It's album by a bunch of guy who grew listening to the Rolling Stones and decided to write their own Rollings Stones Songs. That said, it came out near the height of hair metal and right before grunge and punk broke more into the mainstream. The meanest thing I can say about it is probably that this is the sort of thing that the guy from the chorus of In Bloom would have loved.
The Hard to Handle cover is really good though. I can't hate on that at all.
This is weird nonsense.
Naturally i loved it
Not the best police album, but a good listen.
I've checked out Depeche Mode beyond their biggest hits. After listening to this that's still basically true, because this album has a couple of their absolute biggest songs on it. Those are both good, Policy of Truth is also an absolute banger. The slower songs don't hit for me though and almost all the songs out stay their welcome for me. That's probably more of a personal thing, I like short songs and really long songs. A five or six minute usually just feels like a three minute song with an extra verse or two to me. I also kind of hate the guys voice, so songs that are more about putting him front and center don't hit for me. This is like a 2.5, but I'll round up.
Trip Hop isn't really my thing. I like how Radiohead plays with it, but they pull in other elements that make it a bit more dynamic to my ears. Here, things sort of run together. I imagine this hits much harder if you have seen the movie.
The Brits are at it again. It's kind of profound that the first "hip-hop" album on this list is a white British guy doing "world music" The music isn't bad, but it makes me feel gross that this is hear instead of the music it's largely inspired by. On principle this is 1.
A perfect encapsulation of this album is that this is the Metallica album my dad likes. That's not bad per sei, but it is indicative of direction Metallica took on this. There's plenty of good songs, but there's not the same raw energy that basically every album they made before this had. I do kind of hate that this a huge part of why terrible bands like disturbed could ultimately exist down the line. But that isn't really the bands fault. It's a fine listen. probably a little overrated by being the one Metallica album a lot of people will actually listen to.
Also, the guy who said this is the Flavortown soundtrack is dead wrong. Flavortown would clearly be soundtracked by Reel Big Fish. Look up a picture of them, you'll know I'm right.
This is good, but it's also kind of bizarre inclusion. This album sounds like it was released like 10 years before it was. This came out the same year as the Eminem show and the blueprint part 2. It came out three years after Dr Dre's 2001, another album where production is one of the main draws released by someone based in LA. I find it hard to think of something as essential when it so thoroughly sounds older than it is. That doesn't make it a bad listen, it's just not and album you have to hear by any means.
I've heard a lot about Exile in Guyville over the years. Apparently Phair wrote it in response to Exile on Mainstreet, an album I was not super fond of. This hear starts a little slow, threatening to be over an hour of samey sounding indie rock, however, right about the point when you're ready to give up on it, the tunes coalese and become much more attention grabbing.
I don't know about all the gender politics stuff that other people highlight. Perhaps it was edgier or stood out more at the time, but in a world where most female artists engage in discussion of sexual politics at some point, nothing here strikes me as particularly out of the box. But that's probably not a fair frame to judge it against.
The Brits are at it again. I could convince myself this was a three despite the fact that soft rock is generally sand paper to my soul. However the weird review here where a guy here keeps comparing glam rock to women’s lingerie has left a bad taste in my mouth, so I’m bumping it down for that.
