Perfect album front to back.
A departure from what I expected.
80's-defining rap. The godfathers.
My God. To think this & Blue dropped the same year is insane.
Never been a fan. Hard to ignore their impact on 80's & 90's metal/rock and roll.
Is this metal? Bardic metal? Psychedelic bardic metal? Progressive psychedelic bardic metal? Prog-psych-bardcore? Fun listen, not my particular cup of tea.
You can hear them figuring out their sound. A strong early effort.
Oh, I just realized I really like T. Rex.
A more mainstream DJ Shadow? Great album regardless.
Pioneers of lofi/trip hop. Features by TRICKY, Shara Nelson, Horace Andy, et al. fill out this album beautifully. Inspired to do a 90's trip hop deep dive.
Seminal rock. Solid listen front to back.
Peak 90's instrumental hip-hop. You can hear NoW in current 21st century lofi .
Absolute music royalty. He manipulates and bends genres to his will. Classic listen.
What is there to say that hasn't already been said thousands of times. Hit after hit after hit. They're almost inhuman.
This band has always confused me. They're fine.
So glad I'm finally exploring her catalog. I was aware of Tori Amos since my adolescence - I just assumed she didn't write music for me, so I never sought her out. Now that I am a (slightly) wiser man, I can absolutely respect and enjoy her music. Lilting vocals, expressive pianos, and brooding lyrics define Amos's sound, and it's omnipresent on this album.
How do they keep writing perfect albums?
Pixies walked so Weezer could run. It is apparent on this record. The drums, the clean-dirty-clean guitars, the emotionally vulnerable lyrics...while no Surfer Rosa or Doolittle, Bossanova is an important step in The Pixies' sonic journey.
Such a powerful voice. A tragic loss.
A very okay record.
Proto-punk? I shamefully admit to not listening to MC5 before now. This, in spite of their names and influence all over my favorite hardcore and punk bands. Their energy is off the charts - I can only imagine what it would have been like to witness in person.
Hendrix flexes his ability to pair groovy licks with psychedelic lyrics. Another classic.
A punch in the mouth of an album. You can feel the rage from Love through her lyrics and vocals.
Classic 90's/00's NYC rap. Conscious, alert, aware.
A peculiar little record. More synth heavy than I was expecting.
For opening the album with one of the all-time great pop songs, the rest of the album left me underwhelmed. I could hear the impact I know it had upon release; a lot of it doesn't stand the test of time, in my opinion.
Really fun and raucous album. Clash meets Stiff Little Fingers with a fuck-you attitude.
Just a delightful instrumental album.
One of the great Americana albums of all-time. The Boxer still stands as one of the greatest songs ever written (IMO), and no lulls to speak of throughout the rest of the record.
A fun listen. Classic Frank Black chaotic rock and roll.
Wow. For a hip-hop fan, I let this album slip by me way too long. Flash bends genres to his will throughout this record - disco, funk, R&B - so much inspiration beget so much more for decades. Fantastic album.
Holy. The rhythm section of Alphonse Mouzon (drums) and Jaco Pastorius (bass) is one of the better two-headed monsters I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. A seminal jazz fusion record.
A pleasant surprise from a band I'd never really sought out.
Signature Prince. Playfully bending R&B, funk, rock, and gospel to his will.
It's hard to listen to this album without separating the appropriation of black music. You can't have this album without it; you really can't have a lot of 60's/70's rock & roll without it. So while it was an enjoyable listen, the co-opting of black culture and music leaves it with a sour taste in my mouth.
Nick Drake + Harry Nilsson + T. Rex. A whimsical pioneer that pushes the boundaries of 70's rock and roll. A really fun listen.
Lauper walked so Courtney Love could run. I couldn't help but hear the influence throughout this album. I honestly liked it more than I expected.
Damn. Another classic rock group I slept on. Listen to this with the top down driving the PCH.
Never been a big fan of Neil Young, but this album was a pleasant surprise.
The fact this was NOT a yacht rock album is disappointing on its surface. A layer deeper, I found this album to be milquetoast. It dabbled in genres without fully committing to any, and that ultimately left me somewhat underwhelmed. Wilson's lyrics and vocals are interesting, however.
I'm not crying, you're crying. The soft guitars, the angelic harmonies...a fitting way to honor Dolly by being assigned this album.
I had literally never heard of this band before yesterday. A fun psych-rock album at the height of the British invasion. Too bad they got lost in the shuffle, it would seem.
The vocals take some getting used to, but the music is classic 80's synth-pop. Fun listen.
What a pleasant surprise. In a time of synth and bubblegum pop, the Stone Roses ushered in the 90's with a unique Brit-pop/alternative album full of influences. You can hear the Beatles' sway on the band through their catchy harmonies and chord progressions.
Wow. In a time of big hair, pageantry, and pop, Minutemen said no thank you and ground out a pedal-to-the-floor double album of 80's punk. With no song clocking in longer than 3 minutes (2 minutes, 57 seconds, to be exact), DNOTD hits you in the face from track 1 and doesn't stop until the album does.
I am biased, as I was raised on a cassette of Al Green's greatest hits, but there is zero room to deny Green as one of the great vocalists in American music history. Every note is sung with the emotional weight each lyric carries. Whether he is gushing over how in love he is or lamenting a heartbreak, Green adds layers of pathos over the smooth, gospel-inspired R&B composition of his studio band. I defy anyone to pick a lull on this album.
Another album I had heard in pieces over the years, but never in one sitting. I can understand the adoration of this band and album, and again, it's hard to listen to without the obvious inspiration/appropriation of black music. Jones's drumming shines, Plant's lyrics and vocals are on point, Page's licks are smooth, and Bonham's bass fills out the Zeppelin sound in a defining way.
