Had no idea that this album was almost straight up blues music. Plant and Page are as stirring as advertised. A little too much griping about women for my taste.
Disc 1: As a Minnesotan I feel guilty that this cocktail on disc 1 just doesn’t work for me. Most of the tracks remind me of Saturday morning cartoon themes, but if cocaine was in the breakfast cereal (not derogatory). 30 seconds of every song are heavenly, and I can see how the “what the fuck is going on” vibe could be fun at a concert. At worst some of the tracks remind me of the “RZA unironically cooks up a trash beat” (derogatory).
Disc 2: Melodies slap harder on this disk. Much more intelligible and focused on this side. ‘It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night’ is fucking awesome. I might need to dig for the best Prince live album to find what I’m looking for from him.
Disc 1 is a 2, disc 2 is a 4, so 3 overall.
Tough for me to evaluate objectively because I hope to never need another breakup album in my life, and it makes me sad to even try and put myself in that headspace! It’s astounding how far away 1971 sounds on this album — this is a sound for a different generation that I can’t quite connect with since I can’t connect with Joni Mitchell the person during this time. I hate to say that some of her vocal runs feel pretty self-indulgent and don’t carry emotion for me, it’s more like a songbird doing math rock. I was able to connect with some of the more straightforward songs with simple, beautiful stories (Little Green, River, A Case of You)
Absolute heaven-sent music.
Not my cup of tea. Between this and the Led Zepp album I listened to the other day, a picture has been painted of what white guys in 1970 were complaining about and I don’t find it very flattering or self-reflective. I’d probably like this better as an instrumental album bc the singing guitars are obviously impressive. But even the guitars grew a bit grating for me by the second side of the album.
Maybe I’m just too much of a yankee to get it, but albums like these age worse for me with each passing year. I remember some of my friends playing these tracks in college and finding them charming, but now, not so much. Not something I’m interested in listening to again.
I just love this guy’s voice, man. Feels as summertime fresh as the first time I heard it my sophomore year of college. Stevie Wonder through a fishbowl. In love with the earl sweatshirt feature — the king of assonance. Felt like it overstayed its welcome in the back half after Pyramids, but still a great record I’ll always come back to. And ends strong with Forrest Gump, such a sweet sweet song.
The type of surprise I crave from this project — never heard of this record and I love it! Does NOT sound like it was recorded in 1973, so inventive while remaining straightforwardly beautiful at the same time, and I really enjoy both of their voices. Has me staring out the window wistfully when I meant to do some work. Going to keep my eye out for this at record stores.
I acknowledge the cultural significance of this record and can hear its influence on other artists I love. I didn’t find it offensive to listen to, but I just wasn’t incredibly moved by the experience outside of a live setting. I’m glad that the deluxe album I was listening to had Singles versions of the tracks because I found those mixes a lot punchier.
Never listened to them before! Makes me instinctively want to turn it up to 11 in a good way. I’m not overly enamored with Staley’s voice or many of the choruses, though I love it when the guitar absolutely rips into the bridges or interstitials. The lead guitar is amazing. At first I feared each song would feel too samey, but it sometimes surprised me. The sludge is truly deep but when I’m (rarely) in the mood for that this record will be one I turn to now.
Wow what a vibe!! Feels like a record that influenced a lot of music I listened to as a teenager in the 00s without me knowing it, both pop music and tv show music. Let alone stuff I’m into now like 100 Gecs. Feels like riding a fucking wave! Didn’t realize I had heard Praise Me before until I got to it near the end of the album. Definitely need to be in a specific mood to enjoy the repetition but I do not believe that repetition in music is a bad thing.
This album had the fascinating quality for me of deflecting my sustained attention — I kept getting lost in thought. It certainly captures the sound of this era of big band in perfect clarity, and I can’t imagine many people could complain about hearing it given that it is just so straight down the middle. Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue in itself took this to a 4 for me, that shit was insane. And then I thought the slower songs near the end of the set were really beautiful with complex chords composed of all the different instruments. The drum solo on Skin Deep is a reminder of how deeply connected jazz and 80s/90s hip hop DJs are.
I….don’t think I get this album. It feels impossible to understand this art outside of being deeply immersed in its full cultural context. A couple of bangers though, it gets a 2 just for I Can See For Miles. Still don’t think I can ever not associate The Who with my high school English teachers being gaga for them.
Definitely never heard of this band. It’s much more exuberant than I expected given the grunge label. I will say it didn’t really take me on a journey anywhere, personally — it feels so in-the-garage it kind of feels like you’re just sitting in a chair listening to them in said garage. Clearly an influence on the 2005-2015 indie rock I grew up on, some of which I’m not sure has aged tremendously well. I don’t really love his voice. The album art is very cute.
Fav tracks: Thorn, Broken Hands, Shoot the Moon
Some gorgeous harmonies here! I’d heard of The Byrds before but never listened to them. The newly electric guitars have a really pretty sound as they experiment with the technology. The basic song structures eventually lost my attention, but if I want to spin some true oldies I could see myself turning back this way. I have a feeling I would have been really into them if I was a teenager in 1965
I was ready to throw this music under the bus (while acknowledging how much it means to the people who listened to it beyond the notes and chords, with the fashion and the camp and such), but a lot of the songs sang by Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson were actually kinda sick. When it started with Planet Claire I was like okay this is all gonna be Rock Lobster bs, but then 52 Girls into Dance This Mess Around I was like oh this is actually kinda menacing and fun. I’ll even go so far as to say Rock Lobster is more enjoyable in the context of the entire album. I can’t truly say I enjoy Fred Schneider’s shtick but the ladies really carry this thing even with their background vocals. The way they swap between unison and crunchy harmonies is chef’s kiss.
I don’t expect I’ll seek this record out front-to-back again, but I’m leaving with a more open mind about this group and what they were doing.
Easily one of the prettiest male voices I’ll hear in my god-damned life. The energy and tension of this recording sounds like there are lit firecrackers all over the room waiting to go off. Boy Named Sue is kind of a weird listen nowadays, but his prison songs cut as deep now as they did in 69.
The looseness and humility of the delivery feels like one of the record’s strengths, but also holds it back from being timeless because it can sound immature if you listen to it with a certain angle. It sounds like “young man’s music” (I say at the ripe age of 34). This record is good and it is for someone, but it’s not for me. Hard to appreciate not coming out of a car’s tape deck. I think you had to be there.
Drive still holds up as a pop gem, but it’s not like the rest of the record.
If I could give this six stars I would.
I’ve never heard of this woman — this music is fucking incredible! Super similar to the Persona 5 soundtrack tbh which is my fav VGM soundtrack ever. This will firmly enter the rotation. Type of music that will meaningfully improve any day by listening to it while you cook. Seems to be one of those talents that worked hard but also had a divine gift, as I read that many of her recordings were put down on the first take. This compilation is wall-to-wall bangers. O Trem Azul is my absolute favorite.
FYI for Apple Music, you can get most of the tracks from the comp album this links to. The tracks Vento de Maio and O Que Foi.. can be found elsewhere on the streaming catalog, and Saudade Eterna appears to just be on YT which is too bad bc it’s super groovy.
I wanted to like this but the pretentiousness of the lyrics made me uncomfortable. And the keyboard playing is just banging me over the head. It feels like he’s holding your hand and running down the sidewalk with you, pulling you behind him and you keep running face first into lamppoles but he keeps running anyways and you can’t let go.
I really don’t know what to think about this one on my first approach! He is clearly some sort of genius and hears in color, very unusual chords and melodies that somehow maintain a pop edge. Every time I think I might be getting tired of his voice the song drives into a beautiful new clearing. It’s an album that feels like it’ll bury deeper into my soul the more I listen, and I want to keep coming back.
An amazing person with a beautiful voice who makes music that generally isn’t for me.
It might feel unfair, but the older I get, the less I enjoy blues music. Even the tedeschi trucks band I used to dig doesn’t hit the spot anymore.
Oh nice it’s only seven tracks, I’m sure I won’t have to listen to noodling for too long….it’s 80 minutes 💀
First time I’ve read the descriptions of a band and album and felt kind of scared to listen to it! I kind of assumed they were like The Clash but this reportedly holds up as much more transgressive, and I had no idea the band was so short-lived and explosive.
The timbre of his voice and the traditional structure of the songs make the record feel slightly cornier than I expected. Bodies is truly scary though. It’s hard for me to transport myself to this time but they come across as wankers more than I hoped.
Huh. Never heard of this one. The keyboard playing kind of sounds like retro video game music in it being kinda pixelated and off tone, then with the droning organ in the back like the doors. I don’t really like the lead singer’s voice. They sound fun to headbob and smile at in a live setting but I don’t know that it belongs on this list. But I guess it’s cool to hear the theater kid goth throughlines from this to the cure to MCR. But I prefer the later iterations when the singers have pipes instead of the shouty pub vibes on this. Whether satirical or not, the lyrics eventually got to me (derogatory).
I still cannot believe this album was popular, not because it’s bad but because it’s so aggressively unwelcoming! Closer and Eraser were the first time I’ve loved a song on here and been scared to add it to my playlist because it’s so inappropriate to any situation but headphones. So then maybe I’m starting to understand the appeal — this is like, forbidden music.
*Apple Music note — had to piece this together track-by-track from compilations*
Fun to read about his influence on rock music. I had him lumped in as a jazz artist in my head but this is rock, unquestionably. I enjoy his humble and laid-back vibes as a singer. 70 years later, the sound does just sort of wash over me instead of sticking in my head since most rock I’ve heard grabs this structure and adds to it. Even if it’s not a record I want to spin again, a 3 for good clean fun and legacy — it holds up just fine. And a good reminder that songs don’t always need to be longer than 2 minutes just for the sake of it.
Fav songs: What’s the Reason I’m Not Pleasing You, So Long, Reeling and Rocking
As someone who hasn’t listened to either band, I was totally unaware of the relation between Joy Division and New Order. Digging into this record, it feels like more of a modern art museum piece than music to “enjoy.” I’m aware of the context of what Ian Curtis was going through but I just can’t really latch onto the vocal performance, similar to with the B-52s it bumps me off focusing on the other instruments, even in a song as good as Twenty Four Hours. He kinda sounds like Will Forte singing parody songs.
I fear I may just not be much of a punk person, which apparently extends to Joy Division. Curious if I’ll like their debut album more when that pops up. As it stands, if I was listening to this and a friend walked in the room I think they’d say “wtf is this.” The backing band hit the pocket on the last three songs and that was nice.
Wow, I fear I don’t have the bandwidth today to fully explain my thoughts on this album. It mocks the entire prospect of giving a numerical score to an album. It retains the warmth and musicality of Robert Glasper (a fav of mine in college) and squeezes it into something even more direct and straightforward. It delivers a message on first listen while remaining endlessly listenable. Beautifully mutable music that can mean different things to different people at different times.
This lives up to the title of something every music lover should hear before they die. Reading about the mysterious nature of the collective and their obvious dedication to the project was inspiring. Wildfires is probably the best song I’ve heard on here in weeks.
A sound that I found extremely easy to appreciate, a sound that I’ve aged into in the past five years as the world grows more unpredictable and I sometimes seek catharsis in music rather than escape. I’ve learned that I prefer post-hardcore melodic singing more than what Hetfield is doing, but it’s really the band that carries this for me. As a teenager whose parents completely eschewed metal, it all sounded like loud nothing to me on 2000s classic rock radio, but as I listen 20 years later I hear how precise and deeply musical Metallica is. I listened to this on the couch at 10pm during a summer heatwave and that felt like the perfect setting. The songs that portray tortured individuals are a little too disturbing for me, but most of these lyrics about the manipulation of political power and wealth still absolutely rip almost 40 years after they were put to paper.
How do I balance my love of the pure head-bobbing goodness of the music with my disdain for this style of vocals? How do I rate the release of an album that seems to have existed for eternity? How can I understand what it was like to experience these as new songs rather than the bones of every summer fair cover band I’ve heard for three decades? Is it possible for me to rate this just as an album, divorced of the joyful memories I have playing rock band and watching school of rock? I was able to pull my head out of my ass long enough to admit these songs are just too fun to fully bury even if they’ve been covered in such a heavy layer of cheese by 2026. But I’d sadly be lying to say I want to willfully listen to this album again, especially given some of the sleazy lyrics. Bumped from 3 to 2 due to Let Me Put My Love Into You — yeesh.
Seven Nation Army has become such a meme for me between basketball games and college pregaming that I was unsure how the rest of this album would hold up. It’s still awesome!! Their sound is so raw, analog and youthful. Such a warm, refreshing, face-melting blast of air after getting AC/DC the other day — simple rock but with someone who sings like a normal person. And Meg’s drumming kicks ass. Jack sings so earnestly that it makes me a little sheepish to blast this whole album on speakers, but overall this gets a firm stamp of approval from me.
They definitely do not make them like this anymore! I’m an absolute mark for beach boys and Beatles style vocal harmonies so I knew I’d like this given I was already very familiar with Mr Blue Sky from college acappella. I just love the earnestness and ambition of so many of these songs, even when sometimes the cup gets overfilled and spills over into something so saccharine even I can’t rock with it. This is handcrafted music designed to put smiles on people’s faces and inspire family living room dance parties and that is a beautiful thing.
Evidently very complex and groovy! The first song was actually my least favorite so I wasn’t sure about the record but Pitche Me and Taaw were both so in-the-pocket I could listen to them forever. I like those 10min jam songs more than the faster-paced tracks with a more pop structure. Obviously serves an important role on this list — the only thing I could compare it to that I’ve heard in the past two months is Papa Was a Rolling Stone by the temptations. I have a hard time connecting with the vocals but the group seemingly functions as a jam band so it was overall a really rad listening experience.
I remember being ga-ga for belle and Sebastian in college, a fav of my gf at the time. The songs are still tight and the guitars sound really lush on 2026 headphones compared to the tinny things I was using back then. However, I find that I’m no longer as much of a fan of Murdoch’s voice — it lacks a punch and I crave music that goes beyond cozy these days.
