That's the Way of the World by Earth, Wind, & Fire. 1975. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was a great pull for Day #1! You can't be unhappy with this band playing, or I can't anyway. Highlights for me: Larry Dunn's beautiful, subtle work on piano and keyboards (there's nothing showy, leaving lots of space, popping up just when needed), Phillip Bailey's vocals on "Reasons," great horns, beautiful layered background vocals. I added three songs to my music library: "Shining Star," "That's the Way of the World," and "Reasons."
Day 2! Off the Wall by Michael Jackson, 1979. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ His first solo record, I think? I knew most of these songs already and liked them. The album does drag for me toward the end, the last two tracks could be anyone doing music with Quincy Jones at the time. But when the album works, boy does it work for me. Great production obviously. The cover of Wings' "Girlfriend" is horrible, though. I added five songs from this album to my music library: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," "Rock with You," "Workin' Day and Night," "Off the Wall," and "She's Out of My Life."
Day Three - Rock 'N Soul by Solomon Burke, 1964. ⭐️⭐️ It's hard when you listen to something and you know it's important and formative, but it just doesn't hit for you. Part of it is the arrangement used for these songs, which is a little generic and a disappointing background for his very powerful voice. I knew a couple of the songs from this album, notably "Cry to Me" and "If You Need Me," but at the end of the day, for this kind of gospel-tinged soul I would prefer a female singer. I did not add any songs from this album to my library. Side note: the covers of Woody Guthrie's "Hard, Ain't It Hard" and "He'll Have to Go" popularized by Jim Reeves are so out of place here for me and lowered my review from 3 to 2. :/
Day Four - Ellington at Newport by Duke Ellington. ⭐️⭐️ I respect jazz a lot, and the musicianship here is insanely good. But I have to rate it two stars because this is not music I want to listen to on a daily basis. I feel horrible doing that! But I've decided my ratings here will be based on what I want to listen to. I didn't add any of these songs to my library.
A mixed bag here for me, one song I already knew, a couple that were new to me that I liked, and some real stinkers. “Since I’ve Been Loving You” in particular just makes me want to listen to “Ball and Chain,” the superior version of this song. The song also features perhaps the worst rock drumming I’ve ever heard. I added “Immigrant Song,” “Friends,” and “Tangerine” to my library. ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
I enjoyed this more than I thought i would - a real throwback to the period when albums were king after the 50s/60s when everything was singles and albums would just be compilations of singles (just like today mostly). They're all by reputation coked out of their gourds here but there's some obvious thought on how the songs would flow together. I added three songs to my library ("Changes," "Snowblind," and "St. Vitus Dance") and gave it a 4/5, but I may listen to it again and add the whole album and give it 5/5. Who knows? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I was 18 when this album came out, and loved the lead single, "Cult of Personality." You couldn't avoid it. But I didn't listen to a lot of what I would have called "guitar rock" in 1988, so I didn't buy the album. I should have. It's very of its time, and since I'm not 18 anymore, it feels like less of a surprise to me than "Cult of Personality" was when I first heard it. I can tell it's building on some things that came out right before it (Public Enemy, Bad Brains, RHCP) in that period of waning hair metal and ascending alternative. Anyway, I like this kind of big, stupid guitar/bass heavy funky rock, and I really like the vocals. I didn't add the whole album to my library though, there were some tracks I enjoyed less than others. I added "Cult of Personality," "Middle Man," "Glamour Boys," and "Which Way to America" to my library. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I am only familiar with David Bowie's hits but aware of his reputational willingness to experiment and change over the years. This short album sounds to me like what it is, music made by an older Englishman who didn't stay stuck in his original time period. Which I for one am a sucker for. I have some favorite albums in my library that I always listen to in their entirety and not individual songs, because they flow together. (I'm thinking quite specifically here of "Music Has the Right to Children" by Boards of Canada, The Good, the Bad, and the Queen's eponymous album, and "Endtroducing" by DJ Shadow.) This album fits into that category for me, or I think it might eventually. So, even though I am only adding one song (the title track) to my library, I'm giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and reserving the right to come back to it.
This album is a great example of everything I didn’t like in 1994, and my opinion has not changed. Self-indulgent and lazy vocals over repetitive (but skillfully played) music that never leaves the same temperature setting. I didn’t make it all the way through. ⭐️
I can appreciate the musicianship, I can appreciate the innovative things he's doing here with new instruments brought into the jazz sphere, but it's just still not for me, I'm afraid. Improvisational jazz is never going to be something I want to sit and listen to. Does this album deserve more than 2 stars? You bet. But is it more than 2 stars for me? No. I will never sit and listen to it. ⭐️⭐️
Now see, this is where I get really hypocritical with this project. Are there individual songs I would add to my library and therefore influence my rating? Well, no. Because this album is already in my library. Is Morrissey a huge asshole? No doubt. But this album and a few others from the same time period had a huge effect on my musical tastes that stay on to this day. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go sit somewhere and look moody. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Khaled is apparently a very well-known Algerian artist in the Rai genre of music. I didn't know of him prior to this, but I did mostly enjoy this album. There is a cover of "Imagine" on here, which is never a good idea for anyone to do, and the album is a little padded out - I feel like he could have taken five tracks out and it would still be comfortably sized. He has a very nice voice and the songs make me want to move when they're not too poppy. I added "Aalach Tloumouni," "Trigue Lycee," and "Derviche Tourneur" to my playlist. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Well! This is why I decided to do this project in the first place, to listen to things I probably wouldn't have picked up and didn't at the time for whatever reason. After the last song was over, I immediately put the whole album in my library and started listening to it again, no questions asked. Very emotional, very raw, very female, sign me up. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I did not make it entirely through this album, which is too long and aggressively, *deeply*, mediocre in a way that I cannot articulate. Nothing is bad here but nothing grabbed me. ⭐️
Now we're talking! A definitely well-planned album. We don't get too much "sameness" in songs in a row is what I mean. It leads off with "Invaders," which wasn't my favorite but was okay, and the transition between it and "Children of the Damned" made me sit up and think "okay, that's really well done." Which you don't often get in albums. Anyway, very solid. The songs I liked I liked a lot, and the others were okay but I didn't like them enough to add the whole album. I added "Children of the Damned," "The Prisoner," "The Number of the Beast," and "Run to the Hills" to my music library. An extremely solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Reggae is not a genre of music that holds much appeal for me and tends to get too "samey" for my taste. Don't hate it, it's just not for me. ⭐️⭐️
I really enjoyed this in a way I didn't anticipate, and immediately texted my father to ask if he knew this album. He didn't but I hope he listens to it because the music on this album firmly fits into where the circles of my musical tastes and his intersect on a venn diagram. Standouts to me were "The Calvary Cross" (beautiful guitar reverb) and "The Great Valerio." I added the album to my library - it has two songs that are weaker to me but if I were listening to it I wouldn't skip them. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Okay, I can't be too impartial here, I've heard all these songs too many times. I'd never in a million years describe myself as someone who likes prog rock, but I like what is on here and that makes sense because everyone calls this their most accessible album. The first side of this album is far, far stronger for me than the second side and in fact that's what I added to my music library: "Tom Sawyer," "Red Barchetta," "YYZ," and "Limelight." ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Again, I can't be impartial here. This album was already in my music library, I love the New Romantics. Is it cheesy? Yes. Do I care? No. Did my friends and I make our own music video to the song "Poison Arrow?" Also yes. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Rascals are fixtures of 60s nostalgia radio, and I didn't really realize how much until listening to this album. I kept running into songs I recognized but didn't actually know by whom they were actually performed, which was funny.
The Young Rascals (right after this they'd just call themselves The Rascals) are one of many many bands that sprung up after The Beatles hit big. When you look at music from the 60s you get a lot of "after I heard Elvis" or "after I heard The Beatles," of course. The Rascals fit into a slot of kind of poppy blue-eyed soul and after doing a lot of covers, started writing their own songs to mostly success especially on this album, their third. Fun fact: The Rascals were the first white band signed to Atlantic (which makes a lot of sense when you listen to this album.) The two lead singers swap duties back and forth and they're both very strong vocalists.
I added three songs to my library: "How Can I Be Sure" (a song I've loved all my life), "A Girl Like You" (ditto), and "Groovin'" (a song you may think you don't know but has been in movies and TV all your life). I would rate this album a very solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️.
(Sidenote: I didn't realize "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar was a cover! The original is here.)
Absolutely not. If you asked me to come up with songs that the Beach Boys would be doing in 1971, I wouldn't have the comedy chops to come up with a song that makes fun of student protestors getting shot, a song about taking care of your feet, a sickly sweet nostalgic song about Disney girls, and a song from the perspective of a tree. All with sugary sweet falsettos and harmonies. I did not add any of these songs to my library. ⭐️
Look. I never claimed to not be basic. But I already had this album in my music library, and it's a well-produced, tight example of 70s arena rock that clocks in at 37 minutes, perfect for driving or getting psyched up to do basic bitch stuff. Five stars for the organ parts alone, or for the transition between Foreplay/Long Time. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Just pure pop nostalgia for me - there's really nothing to say about ABBA that everyone doesn't already know. I added four songs to my music library: "Dancing Queen," "Knowing Me, Knowing You," "Money, Money, Money," and "Fernando." As an album though, it's kind of weak. Even though I like those songs, the other ones hold no nostalgia for me and no new appreciation either, so even with four songs added, it's a ⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me.
I've mostly avoided Bjork, her appeal was lost on me at the time. However, I may have to amend that opinion. This is a really lovely album of songs that I would describe as "the sound of a woman falling in love." Extremely feminine and strong. I didn't add any songs to my library because to me these aren't songs I would listen to on an individual basis if that makes sense? A very strong ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and I may revisit the album later.
Ah, the meme song. I was already familiar with several of these songs from many years of "classic rock" radio stations being on in the background. It's (from what I understand) a genre-defining prog rock album and to me illustrates both what I like and what I don't like about the prog rock I've heard. The last song is 11 minutes long for pete's sake! But I do like it just fine, just middle of the road fine I guess. I added "Roundabout," "Long Distance Runaround" (a long time favorite of mine), and "Mood for a Day" to my music library. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I listened to this album when it came out, and so I'm not doing it now. I already know which two songs I liked and they're in my library: "Starlings" and "The Bones of You." By the way, if you hate "stomp clap hey" music, you can probably directly blame "Grounds for Divorce" on this album for the trend. Elbow to me always provokes mixed emotions because they fit very neatly into some of my musical tastes but then nope! You lost me guys. Anyway, you get ⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me - I like two songs and could accept the rest playing in the background.
This was already in my music library, I know it well, you'll clutch these five stars out of my cold dead hands. The very best of slightly sleazy synth-pop. Vocals are a little weak, I never found him the best singer, but the bass and synths more than make up for it. I wish they'd done more songs like "The Chauffeur" and I also wish someone else had sung it, he's at his weakest there. But again, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, I listen to it all the time.
Well, I keep running into no-brainers. This album meant a lot to me when it came out, I listened to it with no skips like the day before yesterday. It came out at a time in my life when I needed to listen to something that sounded like it was being sung in my ears just for me, and it made such an impression that I've never really been able to listen to any of their other albums. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I'm going to be due soon for a run of albums I've never known and don't like after listening to, but here we still are with albums that I can't badly rate because they were so important to me when they came out. I really hate Morrissey as a person, but his singing here is so good that for years everyone else tried to imitate it and never came close. The rest of the band is on top form. Highlight for me is "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me." ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For the fourth day in a row, I already have this album in my music library, I listen to it, it's ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. There will be a crash soon, I fear.
One of the two-star reviews on this site sums this album up as: "The music isn’t bad but the vocalist’s “seductive vampire” thing he does just about ruins it for me." Cocker is alternately sarcastic, vindictive, has a chip on his shoulder, a little too concerned and worried about sex, but then a song like "Something Changed" comes in and you go "oh! ohhhh this is all a defensive pose." So for me, the "seductive vampire" act works. It's tongue in cheek, super blasé about everything until he forgets to do that and sounds heartbroken instead.
okay. i had a real problem with this album. it's so heavily upfront-loaded with hit singles that the start of this album is great - the first three songs are "independent women pt 1," "survivor," and "bootylicious." fantastic! i added all three to my playlist. but then the next song is "nasty girl," which is addressed to a woman who is apparently skanky and classless, not like our singers. "you should be ashamed/hard for women like me/who try to have some integrity." gross. i guess women only get to be noble and survivors after they do something classy like fire half the band. everything else on the album is just kind of boring? and then there's "the story of beauty," a way too upbeat song about a girl getting molested by her stepfather which starts out as if it's going to be a dance anthem by the girls chanting "destiny's child." what in the world. i don't know much about beyonce's solo career but i hope she got her father uninvolved, i'm going to blame him for most of this nonsense without verification. 2/5 for pretending to be pro-woman without backing that up
i can't fully explain how i feel about this album. it feels as if it were created in a lab to appeal to me, there are a lot of pieces and parts that i like in other forms and places from other artists, but i have a visceral reaction of dislike for this album and have for years. i don't feel that a singer has to have a conventional voice, but this voice grates on me. i would be listening to a track and suddenly the drums would be super abrasive, or the vocals would get tortured with a choir behind them, or like in "crown of love" at the end it shifts into almost a disco mode? i have a headache now. i am not adding any of these songs to my library. 2/5
now something like this is why i wanted to do this in the first place! zombie has two tracks and is about 25 minutes long and i enjoyed every minute of it. i was not familiar with afrobeat as a genre but of course i've been hearing things influenced by it for years obviously. i see on wikipedia that the late tony allen was the drummer and musical director of afrika 70 and i know him from the good, the bad, and the queen. this was just great to listen to, such a solid groove and great horns. i can't add it to my music library because it's not on apple music, but this is a solid 5/5 for me.
these three women had been trying to record something for at least ten years, but since they were all on different labels, it took a while for it to happen, but it finally did and it's a very beautiful album that i've loved for a long time. each singer gets their own spotlight on various songs (although i'd argue that the spotlight is a little brighter on parton), but what's really special is the way the three women's voices blend together. there's only one song on here that is original to this album ("wildflowers," written by parton) - everything else is a cover: "to know him is to love him" by phil spector (early pop) , "i've had enough" by kate mcgarrigle, and "telling me lies" by linda thompson (folk), a traditional song ("rosewood casket," "farther along," and "my dear companion") or a country standard (everything else). my only complaint is that the arrangements can be very 1987 in their style. you've got some of the top country music session artists here and while their instrumentality comes through, there's a 80s sheen over everything. especially "telling me lies"
highlights for me: "those memories of you," "wildflowers," and "rosewood casket." I already had this album and have enjoyed it over the years - i'm often guilty of preferring male country vocalists but these three together are very nice. i'd give it a 4.5 if i could do that (the aforementioned 80s production) but since i can't, it's a 5/5 for me
this album sounds like it was made in 1979 by the most cynical record producer ever. an almost constant energy level with zero contrast until the *sixth track*, which then sounds like 70s bruce springsteen and billy joel did a project together (this is not complimentary). in my opinion, if you're going to go for this kind of guitar-heavy music that wants to sound nostalgic and somehow current also, you must have an interesting lead singer. this album does *not* have that, and in fact i think they know it, because the singer is almost always buried deep in the mix. i have never heard of this band, who was american but apparently had some success in the uk and europe? is this one of those things where they seem super-american and cool if you aren't american? yawn, 2/5
to me, this album is one track. i don't feel as though i can separate the songs from each other and that's a real accomplishment as far as i'm concerned. even though i can take or leave most pink floyd stuff apart from a song here and there, this is a great example of what can be done with the album format. it was already in my music library and that's all there is to it, 5/5
i've said in a previous review that an album seemed as though it was made in a lab to appeal to me, and it just fell flat and didn't at all. today i have had the exact opposite experience. i have up until now avoided some of the byrds' stuff and anything that the flying burrito brothers did because i assumed that when people talked about them making great country music, it was akin to when people call the eagles (*spit*) country rock. but no. all this time i could have been listening to gram parsons and chris hillman making updated (at the time) versions of a kind of country music i like a lot (the bakersfield sound) in the most respectful way possible, including some of the best steel guitar work i've heard outside of buck owens' band. a steel guitar that is tuned lower than most and sometimes put through a fuzzbox from what i can tell. beautiful harmonies and not a tongue in any cheek to be found, these guys genuinely love this music even though they probably didn't grow up with it. i can probably live without "hippie boy," the last track. it's a little hokey in the way stuff from 1969 can be. nevertheless, this is a 5/5 for me and went into my music library and now i have to go listen to a bunch of other stuff
unfortunately, this gets a 2/5 from me in a similar way that the jazz albums i've gotten before did. i appreciate what they're doing, there's an undeniable energy going on, and i can see its influences on bands i like, but it's just not for me
do you like jimi hendrix? so do i, and i'd rather listen to him and his band directly than second-hand through cream. i did add the mournful "we're going wrong" to my music library, that was a pleasant surprise of a track. jack bruce on bass and ginger baker on drums are some of the best around in this style. but yeah, i can't get over the personalities involved here to give it anything higher than a 2/5
this album is a bit of a trap, beware! the original version has 6 tracks, but there are two reissues that balloon first to 14 (1995) and then a two-disc set of 33. i’m ambivalent here; i like the who a little, and they’re a fantastic live band, but the two covers (summertime blues and shakin’ all over) are not welcome and this version of magic bus is creepy. a middling of the road 3/5 from me
jazz continues to not be for me. this jazz fusion album is impeccably produced, impeccably performed, but it's just not for me. i feel like i am on hold with my insurance company. 2/5
i like parts of this album, i really do and i'm not sure how i couldn't - you can hear the influence the specials had on bands i like all over this album especially a lot of blur stuff from the great escape era, some massive attack stuff, things like that. but this just sounds like a band who want to expand and get away from their previous stuff but aren't sure quite how to do that. some songs end up being just enthusiastic and simplistic ("enjoy yourself" is especially egregious in this way), and some a little silly ("pearl's cafe"). i added one song to my library, "man at c&a," but even though i only added one song, i will gladly give this a 3/5 because it's a building block in some stuff i really really like
i have a soft spot for tom petty - he is the flip side of the 70s southern rock sound, more bar band than honkey tonk. you know exactly what you'll get with the heartbreakers, both on this album and future ones; you'll get a soaring guitar every once in a while, you'll get a hammond organ, you'll get tom petty's inexplicably acceptable mush mouth vocals. most of the time it works for me. i'd sit and listen to this album again, it's only 30 minutes long, but i don't think i'll add it to my music library. i did add "breakdown" and "american girl" to my library in a predictable fashion, and went and added other songs from other albums to my playlist because i see he never shows up again in the list. 4/5 from me
given my previous reviews of jazz albums, i suppose i shouldn't like this experimental post-rock type of stuff, but i do. maybe because it uses a different vocabulary musically speaking than jazz? not sure. i added the album to my library, 5/5 will enjoy in the future in a non-lyrical setting
