Pleasant to listen to but not necessarily setting me on fire on first listen. Feels like I'm missing something.
A fun vibe but overall a bit long and repetitive for me. Could work as background lofi
The instrumentals are often a fun vibe, but his voice is atrocious. It works for some tracks but not all, and is a bit much for an entire album. 'Walk on the Wild Side', 'Satellite of Love', 'Wagon Wheel', and 'I’m So Free' are the standouts.
2.5 stars
This album is a vibe for me and some tracks stand out (Green Light, The Louvre, Supercut), but the fry and rasp in her voice is distracting at points and sometimes works against the music. A lot of it is quite same-y same-y. Really, I think I wish Lorde's music wasn't sung by Lorde.
Rating: 3
A chill album. Good for background music, but not really anything here that lit me on fire. Voice was a bit irritating in a way that didn't serve the music.
Rating: 2.5
Most of the time, when I don’t like a piece of music, I can see what other people do—it’s just that it isn’t effective on me personally. This album is one of those rare albums where I don’t understand at all, and simply assume that people who like it must be smarter than me to see something that I don’t.
Boring, odd without being compelling, overstays its welcome.
Rating: 1.5
For me, rap needs to have an interesting beat and/or interesting lyrics, and this album for me had neither. I am very fond of British rappers' voices though. It adds a lovely texture to an otherwise boring album.
Rating: 1.5
A genre that can be very hit or miss for me. For me, this is a miss. Grating and repetitive and annoying without ever being interesting. Maybe if I was drunk in the club, the album would be fun to listen to? Since I don't go the club, I will simply never know.
Rating: .5
Shoutout to 1950s rock and roll for saying that music should be fun with its whole chest. The A-side is particularly joyful, and I love his voice and piano-playing. The B-side is a bit more hit and miss for me, but overall I really enjoyed this.
Rating: 3.5
Irish trad and rock are always going to be a winning combo for me, and I’m fond of the Pogues. This record is stronger than the sum of its parts for me—a lot of the individual tracks didn’t hit for me, but the cumulative effect was delightful.
Standout tracks: Sally MacLennane, A Pistol for Paddy Garcia, Dirty Old Town, The Gentleman Solider
Rating: 3.5
I don't even know how to evaluate this. I'm not sure how other people know this is Good™; to me, this is ambient music at its worst, where it's such a nothingburger that I barely even noticed it's on.
This might be good music to fall asleep to? Maybe if I did drugs, I would appreciate this more, but alas, I do not and I am bored.
Rating: 1.5
Parts of this are fun and parts of this are insufferable, and the fact that those parts sometimes occur at the exact same time makes for a very confusing listening experience. I just wish the sound was less grating? And why is there a track where it's just someone smashing bottles? I was willing to hate this album less until that point.
Rating: 1.5
I personally think that if songs are going to be long, they should be interesting. I like Roundabout, but a lot of the rest of this feels like sitting in the room during an aimless albeit delightful jam session. The cover is great though.
Rating: 2.5
Sometimes his voice creates a great atmosphere (telling stories at the campfire) and other times it distracts—some of his songs seem to want a more melodic voice. Would happily listen to again but wouldn’t go out of my way for. Some tracks overstay their welcome and not a lot stands out, but So Long, Marianne was delightful.
Rating: 3
Great vibes and very fun. No particular track stands out to me, but I would happily listen to it again. Good background music (honorific).
Rating: 3
An excellent vibe and a fun album. Some tracks drag (Sex Machine in particular), which makes the album a bit uneven overall, but still a great listen.
Not my vibe. A lot of random sounds that create a strong sense of atmosphere, but nothing something I’d listen to again. The opening is the closest to an enjoyable track.
Rating: 1.5
This double album could have been a single album and actually the single album could have been an email with just Hey Ya attached.
Rating: 1.5
A couple bangers (God! Show Me Magic and Something 4 the Weekend) but the album is uneven and it's not a total album experience I would want to have again.
Rating: 2
I'm a fan of alt rock and I was happy to vibe to some of this, but it was a bit one-note for me personally. I appreciate that it spawned a lot of alt rock and is seminal in the genre, and while I thank it for its service, I prefer its descendants. "Here Comes Your Man" is the standout for me.
Rating: 2.5
Wall-to-wall bangers and non-stop fun.
Rating: 4.5
This album is a vibe! Not a vibe I'll often be in the mood for, and the tracks do blur a bit, but I'll happy spend time here again.
Rating: 2.5
I like the mix of rock and hip hop in theory, but in practice (especially because of the vocals) this album is sonically quite irritating to me.
No Sleep Till Brooklyn and Fight for Your Right are the standout tracks for me.
Rating: 1.5
I assume that the discordant vocals and lack of hooks is part of the point, but for me that makes this album a bit of a soup of sameness, and a grating soup at that. Grunge can sometimes reach the point of self-indulgently dour, and this album sits squarely in that category for me, not helped by the vocals.
Standout Tracks: Elevate Me Later, Cut Your Hair
Rating: 1.5
This album is a vibe and I’d happily listen to it again. The tracks don’t really stick out to me, aside from Sledgehammer and In Your Eyes (and Don’t Give Up, though that isn’t really hitting for me for some reason). I feel like this album could be a grower for me.
Rating: 3.5
I didn’t know what to expect from a Billy Joel album and ended up quite enjoying this! Not many tracks stood out to me, even after a second listen, but I quite like Movin’ Out, Vienna (which I already knew), and Get It Right the First Time.
Rating: 3.5
By rights, as a former theatre kid, I should be a big Queen fan, but for some reason they've left me cold more often than not. I think the maximalism of their music distracts me from the core of the songs. The tracks on this didn't particularly stand out to me, though it was a fun vibe. Might need to revisit when I'm in a better mood.
Rating: 3
Nice to listen to but nothing particularly stuck out to me.
Rating: 3
... no. This, to me, is noise rather than music. There are brief moments of interesting bits of music, but then it returns to noise.
Rating: 1
Absolutely beautiful sound but a lot of the tracks blur together. I appreciate the intent of the project more than the actual music of it. But the title track remains iconic for good reason.
Rating: 3
This is just too experimental and sonically random for my taste. There are flecks of interesting songs in here, but buried for me in a lot of needless chaos and unstructured rambling. No stand out tracks.
Rating: 1
I feel mixed on this. The instrumentals are lovely and interesting in parts, but then other parts are irritatingly experimental and random. Overall it's not soothing enough to be background music, but is too soothing to be anything but.
Standout tracks: Penguin Cafe Single, Chartered Flight
Rating: 2
Enjoyable! Would happily have this on again, though I can't say I understand what makes it exceptional enough to warrant being on this list.
Standout tracks: Feelin' Alright?, Medicated Goo
Rating: 3
A nice listen! I'll probably revisit this one again, but for now not a lot stood out.
Standout Tracks: Time Has Told Me, Three Hours, Man in a Shed
Rating: 3.5
I need a term for albums like these. It’s like the cake from Matilda, where I’d love a single piece, but an entire album becomes too much. If I’d seen the film, it might resonate more as a standalone album.
Standout track: Theme
Rating: 2.5
I'm delighted that this album resonates with people. I am not one of those people, and I hope this never crosses my ears again.
Rating: 1
I knew going in that this was one of my least favorite LZ albums, but hadn’t revisited it recently enough to double check that. This listen has confirmed it. To me, this sounds less like an album and more like hanging out during an LZ jam session. A lot of the songs are too long and too directionless to hit.
Standout Tracks: Good Times Bad Times, Communication Breakdown
Rating: 2.5
Absolutely loved this! Lyrics are delightfully odd and the music is a compelling mix of musical threads and genres that I enjoy but can find overwhelming on their own. Really grateful to this project for introducing this album to me!
Standout Tracks: I Wanna Destroy You, Kingdom of Love, Positive Vibrations, Insanely Jealous of You
Rating: 4.5 (half point knocked off for I Got the Hots)
I appreciate that the vocals and instrumentals being out of tune is some kind of deliberate artistic choice, but I simply hate it and the meandering cacophony of this album and don't want it near my ears.
Standout Track: Heaps of Sheeps
Rating: 1
This was fine to me. Nothing really stuck out but nothing really grated.
Standout Track: Quiet Life
Rating: 2.5
This album is a vibe, but for me the tracks themselves aren't all that distinct, so it all blurs into a soup. I think this is another Matilda chocolate cake album for me, where to appreciate it properly, I'll likely have to revisit it a track at a time to give them each their due. As is, this has left me cold for reasons I can't articulate.
Standout Track: Purple Haze
Rating: 3
I was expecting to not vibe with this at all, but I was pleasantly surprised! This album is a vibe—not one I can see myself really returning to—but it was fun to have on.
Standout Track: Tornado of Souls
Rating: 2.5
I don't need this near my ear holes again. The looped laughter in the outro has taken years off my life.
Standout Track: The chorus of Rollin'. That's all.
Rating: 1
This album feels like being edged by a better album where every track circles being interesting but never actually gets there.
No standout tracks to me.
Rating: 2
The album was really atmospheric in a compelling way and there was a lot of stuff that was interesting, but ultimately a bit too repetitive to remain interesting. Nothing really stuck out to me, even Nothing Compares 2 U.
Rating: 3
I love the joy and musicianship in this album, which can sometimes be lacking in punk for me. I did wish everything was just a bit more hook-y, but I think this album is one I need to revisit again over time.
Standout Tracks: Love Song, I Just Can't Be Happy Today, Liar
Rating: 3
I wish I liked this kind of music, but I found listening to this genuinely painful. The rambling, unpredictable, improvised vibe stresses me out. I find it too discordant to be able to have on in the background, but not interesting enough to have on in the foreground. Every track was so much longer than it needed to be. No standout tracks, only relief that it ended.
Rating: 1
This album is a vibe, but it's left me cold for some reason. The tracks are also a bit long and repetitive for me.
Rating: 3
The album is a vibe, though not something I see myself revisiting.
Standout Tracks: Prowler, Remember Tomorrow
Rating: 3
It's pleasant and a nice vibe, just not quite sure how it made this list?
Standout Tracks: Find Somebody, Groovin', You Better Run
Rating: 3
Another album for me that sits in the unfortunate overlap between "album not interesting enough for me to have in the foreground" and "album not chill enough for me to have in the background." Some parts were smooth and fun, and others were sonically irritating.
Rating: 2
The first three tracks are absolute bangers and some of my favorite Beatles' songs, but everything after is less interesting to me. Maybe if I did drugs this album would hit more.
Rating: 3
God, I love Al Green's voice (why oh why must the man himself be such a consummate piece of shit). While a lot of the songs didn't stick out on a first listen, I was immediately compelled to relisten three more times, and as often happens when I do that, songs stick out more.
Standout Tracks: Let's Stay Together, La-La For You, I've Never Found a Girl, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, It Ain't No Fun to Me
Rating: 4.5
Nothing really stuck out, but wasn’t a chore to listen to.
Standout tracks: Gotta Get Up, Coconut
Rating: 2.5
This album was sometimes a vibe, but other times distractingly similar to Pet Sounds and the Beatles.
Standout Track: Care of Cell 44
Rating: 3
Left me cold and I’m not sure why. Track length doesn’t help with that. I appreciate how much it does what it’s doing with its full chest.
Standout Track: All Revved Up With No Place to Go
Rating: 2.5
I enjoyed this more than I expected! Didn’t light me on fire on the first listen, but one I want to revisit.
Standout Track: The Mercy Beat
Rating: 3.5
Absolutely gorgeous album. Perfect music to sit at the window on a rainy day and feel melancholy to. There are a lot of standout tracks here for me, but my favorites at the moment are Things Behind the Sun, Know, and From the Morning.
Rating: 4
This album is fine? Nothing stands out, nothing grates.
Rating: 2.5
Beautiful.
Standout Tracks: Everything but 7 O’Clock News/Silent Night
Rating: 4
This felt more like a bunch of concepts of songs rather than an album of completed tracks, which got more frustrating to listen to the longer the album went on.
Standout Tracks: None
Rating: 1.5
Dull and overlong and grating. I listened to the UK version, which is the version in the book, and it lacks "Paint It, Black", which would otherwise be the standout track from this album for me.
Rating: 2
A vibe! But some tracks are too long and meandering for my taste, making the album seem longer than it is. Half of the album is excellent tracks and half is weak ones, which makes it very uneven and hard to rate.
Standout Tracks: Born on the Bayou, Good Golly Miss Molly, Proud Mary
Rating: 2.5
This album cover is iconic.
That's the only nice thing I have to say about this album. A lot of the songs grated (particularly the title track) and the mixing was weird in places (looking at you, Watch That Man).
This is the first Bowie album I've ever listened to it and it's left me nervous about how much Bowie is on this list.
Rating: 1.5
A lot of bangers hanging out together having a party.
Standout Tracks: Title track, I’m on Fire, No Surrender, Glory Days, Dancing in the Dark
Rating: 4
*old woman yells at cloud* Why must there be so much screaming?
Closest thing to a standout track was New Math, but I'd like to never hear this album again.
Rating: 1
