Really good, can't believe I'd never listened to this one before. My knowledge of rap in general, and this period of rap specifically, is very spotty; this album seems to me to represent an important point in the transition from the Sugarhill Gang and Run-DMC era of hip-hop towards the time of Biggie and Tupac. The older style of flow is largely still there, but the lyrical content is becoming more aggressive, explicit, and straightforwardly political. The beats are excellent; the MCs can all hang with each other lyrically (apparently Ice Cube wrote "almost half" of the lyrics on this album?); the tracks cover a wide variety of subject matter. The back half is certainly weaker than the front but most tracks still hold up.
Very good if you like approachable pop punk. Some very memorable tracks, including a few I had forgotten about, and Green Day's sound is distinctive enough for them to be easily differentiated from other pop punk bands.
Restrained, elegant, loping, somewhat spare soul music with low-key but irrepressibly funky beats. Very crisp production, but not featuring the most memorable of Mayfield's melodies. Comparable in some ways to the contemporaneous work of Isaac Hayes, but Mayfield has a very different voice, no string section, and generally less bombast. Christgau gave this a D+! What the hell!
A punchy 34 minutes of blues; King has the audience in the palm of his hand, which lends the performance a frenetic energy. King is introduced as "the world's greatest blues singer," which sounds odd only because I think of him in his later years first and foremost as a guitar player. The first and last tracks are rhythmically unusual and make the whole thing feel a little off-kilter. I may need to relisten to this one a few times before I come around to the idea of enshrining it as one of the greatest blues albums of all time.
By coincidence I just listened to this all the way through for the first time like a week ago. Pretty enjoyable, bursting with that characteristic RHCP scraggly funkiness, with some tracks that suffer from being overplayed. Back half certainly weaker than the front. Not bad!
I was expecting this to be a couple of unassailable classics and ten tracks or so of garbage. The highs (Dancing Queen) are high, the lows (Dum Dum Diddle) are certainly low, and... I must begrudgingly admit that there are a few more pretty good pop songs on here than I expected. I still think ABBA is a singles band and not an album band, but this exceeded my expectations.
A musician with an incredibly distinctive voice, style, and mood whose works I haven't dug into nearly as much as I should have by this point. The majority of tracks on here have a particular kind of slow, roiling, uneasy quality that seems like her preferred mode; I think it's the kind of thing where I have to be in the right mood to fully meet her where she's at. Autumnal music.
Quite a good band with whom I had little familiarity. They have a nice kind of sharp, jangly lo-fi pop sensibility that lies sort of halfway between the sound of The Kinks (a cover of whose "Waterloo Sunset" is on the deluxe edition of this album, alongside a cover of "And Your Bird Can Sing") and that of, I don't know, Public Image Ltd. or something. Curious to dig into some more by them.
Three musicians at the top of their game giving a balanced, masterful performance that manages to sound consummately relaxed. LaFaro and Motian provide distinctive but restrained support for Evans' shimmering, tasteful piano work. I'm honestly never not in the mood to listen to this one.
Further outside (complimentary) than I would have expected given my previous exposure to Masekela, which is mostly from listening to the soundtrack to Amandla: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony. Tremendous sense of rhythm here, even on the slower tracks; elegant music produced by an extremely tight band.
Fascinating, hypnotic electronic music, totally unbothered by any notion of pop song structure. Not something I'd reach for all the time, but an important precursor to later developments and just the thing if you're in the right mood.
Maybe the weakest of the three studio albums Hendrix released during his lifetime, maybe a slightly lower rate of memorable hits than the other two, but still a masterpiece. The songwriting is endlessly creative and surprising, and the album is brimming with untouchable performances from all three musicians. I'd listen to this anytime.
Not fully convinced by this particular form of pastiche, and not sure I'll spin it all that often. I don't really listen to film scores, much less scores for nonexistent films, and most of the more ambient tracks on here failed to grab me. Some of the tracks with more of a beat are quite good, but I don't know that I'd ever rather listen to this than something by The Avalanches or Boards of Canada, or, for that matter, Henry Mancini.
Awesome album, been meaning to listen to this for a while and shouldn't have put it off so long. Blissed-out, spaced-out paisley pop with a tremendous command of melody, harmony, instrumentation, and arrangement. Somewhere in the tumbling, colorful zone between The Mamas & The Papas and Todd Rundgren.
Good stuff. On this album the Byrds are starting to leaven their brand of light folk rock and close harmony with sitar-influenced guitar work and more complex song structures, making them sound a bit more distinctive and pushing towards what will become psychedelic rock. Some really good tracks on here and some that are a bit rougher around the edges.
Instrumental hip-hop is not something I listen to all that much, so I don't have a lot to say about this one other than that it was full of good beats and I liked it. By comparison with other albums that other people tend to refer to as "well-produced," I think this one has a claim to the same descriptor, but I don't fully understand what that means. I didn't recognize any of the samples except for the Twin Peaks one at the very end. I would probably benefit from a back-to-back comparison between this and, I don't know, Donuts and Luv(sic) Hexalogy.
By this point, the velvet seats of the 1956 Buick Special of Elvis's career had begun to acquire a somewhat roughened texture. Haven't heard much from this era aside from "Suspicious Minds" - today I learned that the same guy who wrote that also wrote "Hooked on a Feeling"! This album is honestly pretty good but I sometimes can't shake the feeling that I could be listening to a better version of the same song (e.g. Hank Snow's original version of "I'm Movin' On") or the song from which Elvis seems to cribbing (e.g. Aretha Franklin's "I Never Loved a Man" in lieu of "Power of Your Love").
There are at a minimum 5 or so stone cold, unimpeachable, all-time classic tracks on this album, and even on the slightly weaker tracks you're still getting to hear one of the 20th century's greatest singers at the height of her powers. Easy 5 stars.
Never heard of this band but Alex Turner's voice is immediately recognizable. Their sound is certainly comparable to Artic Monkeys, but with less punch and more... swoop, deriving from their 60s mod flair and lush instrumentation. Pretty good!
This probably went crazy if you were 12 in 1973. "No More Mr. Nice Guy" is a classic, and a couple tracks are surprisingly pleasant, like "Unfinished Sweet"; I was also surprised to hear "Elected," a clear ancestor of "I Wanna Be Sedated." Other than that there's not much to recommend here. Even setting aside the necrophiliac lyrics and Cooper making sex sounds for the whole second half of the song, "I Love the Dead" is a particular low point in the history of music.
Very solid, with some tracks that are undeniable classics – but classics to which I don't have the same level of attachment that some other people do, since I didn't really grow up with them. Still a hell of a good time.
I might have just been in the wrong mood for this one but I found it to be mostly pretty dull. There are a few radio-ready tracks like "Catch the Sun," but they feel like the exception that proves the rule: the majority of the time this album seems more concerned with spindly agglomerations of woozy major 7th guitar chords, wafting snatches of illegible vocals, and a drummer who seems have forgotten one of his sticks. Boring!
Just learned that these reviews are public, if not individually identifiable, so I might take a bit more care with them lol.
Never actually listened to this one all the way through before, nor have I seen the movie yet. The musicianship and arrangements are immaculate, notably the seamless transitions between tracks; the songwriting is very good; I have some trouble with the extremely 80s production, which I realize is a skill issue on my part. Everything kind of sounds like it was tracked on a cheap synth or recorded inside a tin can, or both, as was the fashion at the time, and I can't quite get over that. It all just sounds a little thin somehow, despite its tremendous punch and tightness. I wonder if some kind of different listening setup (vinyl? FLACs?) would help. 4 stars for now.
I've listened to Doolittle and Surfer Rosa a number of times, but I've only heard a couple of tracks off of this one before. Not to be too glib but my review of this one is along the lines of: Yep, more Pixies, and that's a good thing. It doesn't quite have the same intensity of... emotional chiaroscuro?... as, say, Doolittle, and I think the songwriting is not quite as strong, but it's still Pixies and it's still very good.
If I were someone who made tiktoks where I recommended albums with an "immaculate dark academia vibe" or whatever to young people, this album would probably come up at some point. It's a whole vibe! Most of the songs are a bit samey from beginning to end, and many are a bit samey in comparison with one another, but the vibes cannot be denied.
Quite solid, with some excellent tracks that were new to me (the title track and "Lively Up Yourself", for example) and a few weaker ones. Probably not as consistent overall as Exodus, but still very good.
I listened to this album for the first time a year or so ago and liked it pretty well; listening again, my esteem has only increased. While his brother Brian is capable of hitting higher highs of melodic perfection, I think Dennis's melodies are overall more consistent. The complexity of the arrangements here feels like it is in service of the album's overall warm and inviting sensibility, whereas Brian's arrangements sometimes leave me a bit cold. Am I talking myself into saying that I like this more than any version of Smile that I've heard? Maybe so.
Is it fair to spend so much time comparing Dennis and Brian? Not really, but it's hard to avoid when their solo work sounds so much like the sound of the Beach Boys developed in two different, complementary directions. The tight vocal harmonies that define many Beach Boys tracks are still present here, but subsumed into a more supportive and textural role. This is definitely one to revisit.
Your overall attitude towards your parents' favorite music often goes one of two ways: hostility, because you see it as stodgy and out of date, or nostalgic, because it brings you back to the road trips of your childhood. Let's not psychoanalyze too much, but Talking Heads are one of my parents' favorite bands, and also one of mine.
This is probably my fourth or fifth favorite Talking Heads album; accounting for nostalgia, attempting to be semi-objective, that probably translates to 4 stars.
I guess this is "groove metal," but at different points it cycles between what I would describe as thrash metal, nu-metal, and even death metal and I guess folk metal, given the indigenous Brazilian percussion and chants that are brought in on some tracks. There's a lot to like here, though I tend to prefer the fastest and heaviest tracks in the middle section of the album. Gonna call this a 3.5 rounded up to 4.
Some of the best popular music produced by robots from the future, though as a millennial I am obligated to prefer their direct descendants, Daft Punk, overall. This is the 30th album I have listened to for this project and I believe it is the first duplicate artist; I prefer this to the other Kraftwerk album I've heard, Trans Europe Express.
The crystalline synths, motorik or or motorik-esque drums, occasional vocals that inevitably feel like backup to the synth lines, and generally classical sensibility lead to an album that feels carefully considered and spotlessly clean. Looking back with all the context of how crazy electronic music would eventually get, it can feel a touch bloodless, but it is a great listen and not just something to throw on dutifully in light of its tremendous influence.
A lovely, unusual album that exudes a kind of gentle melancholy through what might superficially seem to be a contradiction: its laidback rhythms and smoothly soaring vocals on the one hand, and its minor tonalities and politically conscious lyrics on the other. Gaye's consistent commitment to this juxtaposition throughout the entire album demonstrates that there is no contradiction at all, that the product of this juxtaposition is much more substantive than a mere case of "a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down," and that at this point in his career he has total mastery over the kind of music he wants to be making.
All that being said: Is it a masterpiece and one of the greatest albums ever? Smarter people than I have said so, and you should probably listen to them instead of me. At the moderate level of attention I typically provide when listening to an album, this album is very elegant and very pleasant, complicated by its veil of darkness, but overall I find it to be a little too ethereal to linger long in my memory (outside of the title track), and for me that is more or less a requirement before I can declare something a masterpiece. Maybe next time I listen to this album I'll think that this August 2026 version of myself was crazy, but for now, a very strong 4 stars.
What a voice! I haven't listened to this one as much as Back to Black, but it's very good. Compared to the record I know better, the songwriting isn't quite as locked in, and the production and arrangements are maybe not quite as interesting - or maybe that's just nostalgia speaking. This is still an album I'd always be happy to throw on.
Dolly Parton died today. I finished relistening to this album about 20 minutes before loading my next album on this app and, lo and behold, it's this one. Great choice.
The song selection is excellent, the backing musicians play with great taste and restraint, and the vocals are simply angelic three-part harmony from three of the best to ever do it. The only mark against this album is that I think the second one might be even better.
(Guy who has listened to "Hay Fever" by the Kinks, an album cut from an album that came out 7 years after this one, about a million times voice) I'm getting a lot of "Hay Fever" vibes from "Bang a Gong (Get it On)"
Ok but seriously, T. Rex show themselves here to be capable of quite a wide range of sounds on this album, actually, only one of which is sounding kind of like the Kinks; on other tracks they dip into crunchy blues rock or a lighter kind of Big Star thing. This album is allegedly an important one in the history of glam rock, but I am not convinced that that genre has any kind of distinctive sound other than "sounding kind of like David Bowie." Whatever it is... it's good!
Also shoutout to "Lady, I'm crazy about your breasts," one of the most out of pocket lyrics in any song ever.
Compared to I Never Loved A Man, this one has a slightly lower rate of megahits, with probably just "Chain of Fools" and "Natural Woman" meeting that criterion. Wow, only 2 of the greatest tracks ever recorded, what a letdown. But a big part of the reason to listen to an album like this is because of the gold that lies just outside the excavation site of the greatest hits compilation; this is very far from being a mere case of the "one hit and 9 tracks of filler" approach that plagued the album era. "People Get Ready," "Ain't No Way," the long version of "Chain of Fools," and several other cuts are just mind-obliteratingly good even if they break the 2 minute and 45 second formula and are only 90% as radio-ready as the megahits. What even is there to say about the music itself? The band is tight as hell and Aretha is Aretha. Very easy 5 stars.
As of this writing (August 2026), this is the lowest-rated of all 1,089 albums on this site, and it's not hard to see why - it's difficult, obscure, essentially antagonistic electronic music that is definitely not for everyone, with elements of noise, collage, and (I guess most prominently) industrial. If I had to summarize the primary sonic effect it seems to be aiming for in a single word, it would be "ominous."
For my own part, despite some reservations, I can see how this is way ahead of its time for 1978, and I can appreciate some aspects of it, particularly the marginally more tuneful tracks. The myriad proliferating subgenres of electronic music are not really my bag, but if I were working on a syllabus for myself to understand electronic music better, it would be fascinating to compare this album with, e.g., Kraftwerk's The Man-Machine and YMO's self-titled debut, all from the same year, to get a sense of some of the directions it would take after disco's sharp decline.
This album is all right: the title track is quite good and of course there's "Tiny Dancer," but then again several tracks just sound like failed attempts to sound like "Tiny Dancer," and I'm also unfortunately a hater of "Levon" and "Indian Sunset." Despite the fact that Rick Wakeman is on it, I highly doubt anyone who would describe this album as prog rock has ever listened to, like, "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)" or whatever. No disrespect, but this album is just 70s piano-centric pop rock. Sure, it includes one of the greatest songs ever in that particular genre--but it's not much beyond that.
In comparison with other albums I like much more that I've given 3 stars, I think this has to come in at a slightly apologetic 2.
As with Straight Outta Compton, an album I'd never fully listened to until starting to use this website, this one feels transitional to me, which is probably just a consequence of my lack of familiarity with this era of hip-hop. This one is very good, though I think to fully appreciate it as an alleged masterpiece I would need to have a bit more knowledge of the context and also listen a bit more attentively to the lyrics. (Honestly I should get into the habit of doing that with every single first listen to a hip-hop album.) But the excellent beats and general demeanor definitely feel like they're laying the groundwork for where hip-hop would go later in the 90s. Crazy to think that this came out the same year as the Humpty Dance.
It's hard to get into the headspace of "never having heard psychedelic rock before," but making the effort to do so gives you a taste of how crazy this album must have sounded relative to everything else in 1966. Perhaps most remarkable is the fact that, other than the electrified jug, all the instrumentation is pretty standard, though perhaps with some unusual techniques and pedals and production, all arranged into a distinctive and lightly ominous final result. The songwriting is overall not quite as strong as that of some later psych exemplars, perhaps, but Roky Erickson's howling vocals are awesome. Music for doing rituals to enter the Paisley Zone to.
One of the best albums of guitar rock ever, an unsurpassed work of genius, and, astonishingly, a debut album. What even is there to say? Even the "minor" cuts on here are fantastic.
Never heard of this band before. The singer is awesome, the songwriting is solid, but the instrumentals and arrangements sometimes veer towards being a bit too nu-metal or 90s MTV-core alt rock for my taste. Despite that, I like enough of these tracks well enough to give this a 3.5 rounded up to 4.
The output of Fela's that I've heard has all been incredibly consistent: his band was one of the tightest anywhere, he knew exactly the kind of music he wanted to make, and he made it. I always have a good time when I put on a Fela record, but I'm not so sure that this one or that one really stands out from the pack. To me that translates to 4 stars.
A new favorite from a band I'd never heard of; I'd heard "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" before but gun to my head couldn't have told you the name of the band. Tremendous energy, strong songwriting, and a far better command of their instruments than you might typically expect from 70s punk. 5 stars might be a bit aggressive but I really really enjoyed this.
I'm not terribly familiar with this band, but I found this album to be elegant, polished, and often quite catchy; some tracks sound like Belle & Sebastian remixed for a 90s club. Not especially fond of "Go West"; my patience for Pachelbel's Canon and works riffing on it was exhausted 10-15 years ago. Perhaps I would feel differently if I was more familiar with the original.
