It's good pop music with a couple of bangers. However as an album, not overly special. Brilliant cover art.
The three track run is legendary, the rest is fine... Never been a huge MJ fan. Boring cover art.
A new one to me but very enjoyable. Seriously funky, seriously influential. Really enjoyed reading about and exploring this band.
Struggled to rate this one. A couple of incredible songs, and contextually very important. Just a little bit of fill takes it down to a 4, as well as the strange switch from song cycle to a standard album. It's very good, but not quite perfect imo
Found this very tough to review since this style of music is something I would never listen to and I therefore have very little to benchmark this against.
A 2 seems harsh, but I'd only be giving it higher based on other people's reviews. For me, it wasn't rubbish, it was entertaining, but due to my own ignorance of the genre, I can't rate it particularly highly.
Also the cover art is weird.
I love The Weight. I liked a couple of the other songs. But overall it just wasn't for me. I appreciate the significance of the album but I didn't love listening to it. Also, Richard Manuel's strained voice just annoys me.
Straightforward five for me. Musically beautiful, lyrically great. Life on Mars is one of my favourite songs of all time.
This is on the list purely because of what came to be of The Rolling Stones. It's an album to listen to before you die in that you will listen to it and go "hmm that's interesting to hear how they sounded early in their career" but never ever listen again because it's totally unremarkable.
It gains a point because it's technically and musically quite good, but cover albums don't really have a place on this list imo.
Proper heavy metal with a lot of Sabbath songs I didn't know but enjoyed. Defo one I'd listen through again. Think the first 4 BS albums can be played through entirely in one run, they're all soo good. Minus a point for some weakened flow, while Changes is a great song, I think it spoils the flow. Same story with Laguna Sunrise, would work better as an outro.
Pleasantly surprised. I'm generally not a fan of Solsbury Hill so wasn't looking forward to this album but actually enjoyed listening through. Lot's of interesting styles and variety. Album flow is kinda non existent due to this though... Not an album I'd rush back to, but still quite enjoyable.
6 stars. This is probably my favourite album of all time, so it's almost a shame to have it so early.
You could argue that there is a touch of filler in On the Run and Any Colour You Like, but it doesn't bother me. If anything, it aids the flow. An other worldly album. £30 well spent on Clarie Torry! Time is the greatest song of all time.
I think I thought I liked Bob Dylan more than I actually do, perhaps I love his music but only when he isn't singing it.
Some beautifully written songs on here, but after 50 minutes of blaring harmonica and Bob's nasally tones I was wishing for the album's conclusion.
For me it's one to listen to a select few songs off but as a whole album it's not something I'd return to in a hurry.
Love listening to Queen outside of a greatest hits context. It can't be a 5 due to a weak song or two, "She Makes Me" which is dreadful, but the rock heavy opening is really strong. Definitely one I'd revisit. Keen to hear more Queen albums.
I quite enjoyed this musically, but the lyrics and the male vocals didn't work for me at all. The female vocals were better, but they're still ultimately singing about nothing at all, which whilst being the entire point, does little for me, especially across an entire album.
Not a big Prince fan. 1999 is decent. The album isn't inherently terrible, it just goes on and on and on. Automatic is just the same annoying sound for 9 and a half minutes. D.M.S.R was fun, but also too long. Skipped the last few songs, got bored.
Love the kinks. Love this album. Pure brilliance.
Victoria is a brilliant opener and the brilliance continues in the next two tracks. Songwriting is incredible throughout and appreciation only increases through further listens as the story becomes increasingly clear. Splendid.
I find Sting's reggae-esque voice quite irritating but didn't find this too terrible. Nothing particularly remarkable and an absolute clanger in "mother" which absolutely kills the album. I'm probably at a 2.5 but will round up to 3 as I suppose I would listen to this again at some point.
As I was totally unfamiliar with this work, I read some reviews before listening (something I try not to do). Seeing they were overwhelmingly negative, I went into the listen with an incredibly open mind, after all this isn't just a list of 70s and 80s rock and pop albums as some reviews seem to wish for.
The large positive is the backing music from the Diving Comedy, who provide some excellent orchestration throughout, particularly in the darker, more powerful numbers. Ute's voice is also strong in these darker, Bond theme like songs.
Lyrically however, I struggled with this album. As many have said, it is like listening to a musical to which you don't know the story. Lots of that talking/singing type of thing with forced rhymes and crammed in lyrics which don't flow particularly well.
It's a 2 because I didn't totally despise it and there's definitely talent in there. However, not one I'd return to, and certainly not an album I'd suggest people to listen to before they die.
Very easy listening. Neil's falsetto vocals always kinda grate on me but I didn't mind too much. 4 is probably a tad generous but 3 seems a bit harsh since it's an album I would return to.
Just joyful listening. Not overly polished or life changing, but incredibly fun. A variety of styles mean it isn't the greatest album but that didn't detract too much from my listening, just don't take it too seriously.
I listened to this whilst operating noisy machinery, which I must say helped enormously. Silly lyrics only saved somewhat by a bit of nice guitar playing. Might revise to a 1 eventually.
This started as a 5 with holes but got slightly weaker throughout. Definitely one of return to as I was totally unfamiliar to begin with.
This album was like a terrible handjob.
Track 1 - Intro promised interest, arousal, perhaps even brilliance.
What followed was 35 minutes of musical edging, slow strokes of melodramatic, yet simultaneously entirely emotionless dirge. It's going nowhere, you want it to stop, but out of respect for the other party you stay quiet, allowing your mind to wander to anything but the matter at hand.
After 25 minutes the quest for climax intensifies, but the wolf is far from the door. It is only as the final track - Stars comes to a blissful end that anything close to a climax is reached.
It's over. Sweet, orgasmic silence.
Not really for me. Female vocals grated on me. I'd listen to one or two songs again, but definitely not an album I'd return to.
It's objectively fine. Not special in anyway, deeply surprised it's on a list of albums to hear before you die.
I kinda enjoyed the opening with Perfect Skin but as the album slows towards the end, Cole's yearning vocals become rather grating.
Overall, unremarkable yet inoffensive, not one I'd listen to again.
Agree with other reviews that the songs never quite reach the crescendo you hope for. It's okay. Bit bored by the end, lots of very similar sounds.
I'm on a real run of "it's okay" reviews. There's a time and a place for early Beatles stuff and that time is probably the 60s. A bit like the Rolling Stones debut album I've already had, it was interesting to hear how the band sounded in their early days, but didn't really have any songs I'd return to.
Utter rubbish. 72 minutes of misogyny, homophobia, violence. It's rap music for 13 year olds that find these things edgy and cool. To anybody with a developed frontal lobe it's just offensive for the sake of being offensive. First 1 I've given and I didn't even think twice.
To give it its dues, Stan is the only bearable song with great sampling from Dido and a relatively interesting story.
I'm going to be really harsh and give this a 4 as albums by The Kinks for me are generally instant 5's. But... I find this marginally less enjoyable than Arthur or Lola, with a slightly less interesting story.
However, it's still incredible. Love all the different styles towards the back end of the album. Maybe I'm being overly harsh and after another listen through I'll take this up to a 5.
Really enjoyable. Relatively familiar with Sulfjan Stevens but mainly from his CMBYN work. This is much more fun, with an array of musical styles which demonstrate his excellent talent. Fun songs, serious songs, it's really got it all.
At a 4 because it's just quite long and could probably lose a couple of songs. Equally, it's one I might revise up to a 5 after further listens.
Pretty rubbish. Absolutely agree that it feels like the demo tape for what could be a good album. It feels like throw enough shit at the wall and hope some of it sticks.
Perfectly inoffensive. Relatively enjoyable. Slightly boring.
I'd happily listen again but similarly wouldn't hurry back.
Similar to Siembra which I had earlier in that it's an international album with lyrics and style I'm unfamiliar with. However, I really enjoyed this, much more than Siembra. Also interesting to read about.
Another easy 5/5 for Pink Floyd. Has to be two of the best back to back albums of all time. Shine on is a beautiful ode to Syd Barrett, taken together I think it's some of the greatest rock music of all time. Wish You Were Here is 5 and a half minutes of pure beauty.
Listen to this album, read about Syd Barrett, and drift away. Perfection.
Had a couple of these late noughties indie albums now and they tend to provoke the same reaction from me and reading reviews from others.
These albums work if you first heard them when you were a teenager, parked in a dimly lit place in your first car. In the passenger seat is a girl, perhaps your childhood sweetheart. Sweat beads on your brow, a product of your nerves and the late summer heat, streams of milky perspiration from the exorbitant amount of wax in your hair. The windows, rolled all the way up are opaque with steam. Conversation has subsided, you panic, it's awkward, the steam from the windows suffocates you. The radio is a lifeline. You hit play. It's The Suburbs by Arcade Fire.
Fifteen years later you press play once more. You're not in that stuffy car anymore. You're at home with two children tearing around. Perhaps that childhood sweetheart is now your wife, or perhaps she's just a memory. Sweat doesn't drip from your nervous brow, and you no longer coat your hair with a slick of wax. Maybe there isn't even any hair left. But for 75 minutes you're back to being 16, blissfully carefree.
However, I am not this person. So, I find this album, like many of this style, to be just fine. It's all quite samey, and it's very long. It's harmless, and even I experience a degree of nostalgia from it. But stripping back any imaginary emotions and focusing purely on the music, it's okay. I'd listen again, but not in a hurry.
Really good stuff. Comparison is the thief of joy and all that, but comparing this to the Marshall Mathers LP is just night and day. Where Eminem seemed to just be shouting slurs, this is musically excellent, with interest in every song. Completely unfamiliar group to me, but definitely one I'd return to.
Enjoyable. Much like Power In Numbers yesterday, it's refreshing to have hip hop that isn't overly violent and explicit like the gangster rap that was to come later. However, the happy clappy lyrics do tire after a while. It's good, but I wouldn't rush back.
Hmm Abba. A 4 feels very generous, but ultimately I love the music. I've probably given technically better albums a lower score, but by my metrics, where a 4 is an album I would rush back to, this has to be one.
A little bit too much of the slow, melodic yearning songs. Superstition is a banger because it isn't this.
Sorry I hardly even listened to this it's crap
For me, Radiohead are either incredible or incredibly dull and very difficult to listen to. Sadly, this album falls into the latter. A 2 seems a little harsh but I simply wouldn't relisten.
Everything this list is about.
Artist I've never heard of with an incredible album. If you don't like funk you'll hate it but I do and I loved it.
