Certified Banger. Everyone knows this album rips I am not going to waste time restating the obvious.
A pleasant surprise. I had always assumed Costello's music was boring critic bait, but his modern(for the time) interpretation of the 50's style is actually quite enjoyable. I was particularly impressed by the punchy and clever lyricism.
I wanted to hate this corny ass 80's hair metal album so badly, but I can't deny that parts of it scratched an itch in my lizard brain in a way that made me think less of myself. I still believe David Lee Roth should be chemically castrated as a public safety measure.
It is impossible to love or hate the Foo Fighters as they are the platonic ideal of mid. They are of room temperature water. They are spaghetti without sauce. They are envoys of the endless void of nothingness that awaits us all.
I don't know if this even a top 3 David Bowie album, so the fact that it is still a 4/5 is really a credit to him.
If Dusty (or anyone involved in the album) had actually written these songs, they would be impressive. However, in reality this is just a mediocre cover album.
Dadcore. I use to despise Steely Dan, now I kinda like them. I assume that when the baby arrives they will become my favorite band. It is life's natural progression.
Tres estrellas
I am not sure if this album is super innovative or if I am too white to realize it isn't.
Sort of sounds like a super 80's version of the Grateful Dead, or an AI generated talking heads album. On one hand, there were a few really cool moments. On the other, I was waiting for it to end after about 3 tracks. I can see my option on this album changing a lot (in either direction) upon multiple play throughs.
If every song on this album was cut in half it would still be too long.
Because Black Sabbath essentially invented heavy metal on this album, I feel extremely guilty for not giving it five stars, but the end of the day I think it is more important than it is good. This album will rightfully be remembered forever, but Sabbath's subsequent albums are far more refined and enjoyable.
I considered giving this a second star because I thought the instrumentals were actually quite good, but holy fuck did those vocals suck shit. I am pretty sure Scott Stapp would tell this dude to tone it down. To make matters worse, unlike other corny 90s vocal performances of this ilk, every dogshit lyric is delivered with excruciating clarity, subjecting the listener to verse after verse of try-hard garbage that I assume was specifically crafted with the intention of attracting underage girls.
I am giving this album the benefit of the doubt because I am way out of my element here and it had some cool moments, but this is dangerously close to jazz.
The first side of this album is good faith, if somewhat naive, attempt by the Drive by Truckers to reconcile their love of their home, with its horrific past (the duality of the southern thing). In contrast to the willful ignorance of bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, they acknowledged and explicitly grapple with the racist history of the south. They paint a picture of the average white southerner as a fundamentally decent person, and lay the blame for racist atrocities solely at the feet of opportunistic politicians such as George Wallace, while decrying northern judgement of southerners as a product of classism. While there is some truth to the later notion, their central argument is undone by the fact that the same so called "decent people" they earlier described voted Wallace into office. Still, by even attempting to grapple with this issues in a nuanced manner the Drive by Truckers prove more thoughtful than pretty much all of their southern rock contemporaries.
Lyrically the first half of the album is a bit of a roller coaster, fluctuating between moments genuine insight and sheer stupidity. Sonically it is fairy straight down the middle southern rock performed competently although not exceptionally.
The second half of the album didn’t need to exist. While the first half of the album often missed the mark, it was a genuine and passionate attempt at a creative endeavor. The second half felt like a repository of half baked ideas that weren’t good enough to make the a side.
"to the fucking rich man, all poor people look the same".
“When I was a young boy I sniffed a lot of glue”
A masterpiece of songwriting and musicianship featuring two of the greatest songs ever in "Tonight, Tonight" and "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", as well as several more excellent tracks that would be the crown jewel of any other album including "Zero" "Galapogos" and "1979". Furthermore, these standout moments are woven together by songs like the title track and "Jellybelly", that may not be earworm singles themselves, but are still well crafted songs that perfectly match the tenor of the album giving it the feel of a cohesive work. The guitarwork in this album is masterful and manages to stand out while still serving the song. The other instrumentals consistent enough in style to stay on theme, but creative enough to keep the listener engaged. I know that the biggest criticism of this album is that it is bloated, and while I think it could have been cut down a little, I rarely felt like I was listening to filler. With the exception of a one or two of the songs near the end of the album, each track is unique, but still feels like it belongs. Yes, Corgan is a pretentious weirdo now, but if I wrote the riff from "Zero" I would be the most insufferable asshole on planet earth. Yes, the lyrics are super corny, but they earn the corniness with the instrumentals. Nitpick all you want, it is still a 5/5.
A well made album that didn’t really move me.
More like astral years amiright? I have long thought that Van Morrison had a voice so beautiful that he could read a phone book and make it sound decent. On this album he decided to test that premise. Honestly, I think a theme of Van Morrison's career is his use of angelic vocals to hide uninspired songwriting.
This album is infinitely more enjoyable if you imagine it being played by a family of animatronic bears. The instrumentals are strangely satisfying, but I recommend not thinking too hard about the lyrics as they will hurt your brain.
What lovers don't want to swing every now and then? This album is a curious pick because I don't think it contains Sinatra's best material. However, his consistent style and vocal delivery give all Sinatra's albums a 3 star floor and a 4 star ceiling. Also, there is a song on here called "Makin Whoopee" which is objectively hilarious.
This is what I assume Essentially Simon sounds like. In an effort to maintain my sanity, I spent most of this album coming up with derogatory nicknames for British rappers. These are my favorites:
50 Pence
Lil Waynker
Kid Crumpet
Steal the Jewels
Tea Pain
Albums like this are why this list exists. I had never heard of this album or band before today, and I was completely blown away. It is a completely unique yet highly enjoyable listen which is the most difficult feat in music.
I have never cared for the police. I don't like their boring white boy reggae sound. I don't like their 80's douchebag aesthetic. I don't like that Sting's primary claim to fame is taking too long to fuck. That being said, even I can't deny the moments of musical brilliance on this album. Sure there were a few tracks that reaffirmed my pre-existing biases against the group ("Walking in Your Footsteps", "Tea in the Sahara", and "Mother"), but they were outnumbered by beautifully crafted songs like the "Synchronicity 1 &2", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", and "King of Pain". I hate to give props to a band who's most famous member is a bassist with a stupid nickname who refuses to wear a shirt, but they earned it. ACAB.
This album didn't really stand out. I liked it but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it again.
A genre defining masterpiece. Too bad Kanye West died in that tragic plane crash back in 2018. In all seriousness, rich musicians are usually terrible people. Jimmy Page diddled kids and there is still no way in hell Led Zeppelin IV getting less than 5 stars from me. The only reason this gets treated differently is that social media wasn't around when our 60's rock heroes were committing horrific sex crimes, while every second of Kanye's descent into madness is documented in vivid detail on the internet. At then end of the day it would be ahistorical to pretend this album doesn't exist, as its impact on the music is so far reaching that there is no way to contextualize other work without discussing it. It would also be irresponsible to continue to give this unhinged lunatic your money. Don't go to his shows, steal his albums (or listen on spotify, they don't pay their artists anyway), but don't lie to yourself by saying this album isn't great.
Certainly one of the two greatest live prison performances by Johnny Cash to make this list. Did we really need both? That feels a bit redundant. That being said, it is still Johnny Cash, so it still bangs. Shoutout to the only artist me and my 90 year old grandpa both like.
It's dad rock, but it's well executed dad rock. While listening to this album I experienced moments of unadulterated bliss, and minutes of unadulterated boredom.
Zesty. Perhaps a tad too zesty. This was a lot for a Wednesday morning. I am glad I listened, but would need to be in a very specific mood to listen again.
