Bookended by the best tracks in my opinion. A remarkable vocal performance throughout, but not much in the way of musical variety. I didn’t expect a Bee Gees cover, so that was fun. Definitely a “mood” record.
Incredibly uneven, brilliant and groundbreaking at points, kitschy and silly at others. When Dylan hits he hits hard. Blowin’ in the Wind, Masters of War and Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right are incredible. What can I say though, he was 20 years old, I never wrote anything that good.
I speaking “Mexican restaurant” Spanish, which is to say I spent a decent amount of time working at a Mexican restaurant and learned food words and swear words, with a smattering of basic conversation. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this. I recognized Rubén Blades’ name as an actor and had no familiarity with him as a singer or musician. This record is a legitimate butt shaker. It’s infectious, great horns, grooves and melodies. Pleasant surprise.
Not my usual cup of tea, but three ladies with incredible voices. Extra love to Dolly Parton.
In my junior high days I was a West Coast rap guy. I knew the hits because they got played a ton. This was my first time listening to this album. It’s typical mid 90’s rap, songs of bravado and sexual prowess, of a life of crime, but what struck me was just how nihilistic it was…it’s called Ready to Die and I feel like he really truly was. I’ll rank it a 4 but I think it’s more of a 3.5 from me. He’s got good rhymes and great flow, the samples and beats are good, annunciation in what it is, worth a listen, but doesn’t strike me as essential.
I’ve never been a big Zep guy. I thought what they did had been done better before. That being said, this is a catchy record, the riffs are there, the grooves are there. I don’t care for how self indulgent Page gets particularly on Heartbreaker and the product sticks in my craw a few times. I understand it, but it’s just not for me.
It’s OK but again uneven, not uncommon for a debut album. Man there is some vitriol in these ratings though.
Quite good, but not great. Sultans of Swing is the obvious high bar on the album, they tightened up on future albums, that being said, I’m familiar with a more greatest hits aspect of Dire Straits. It’s a nice chill bluesy vibe record overall, it just didn’t knock my socks off.
I knew “Frontier Psychiatrist” from an ex of my who became infatuated with the song and video. I didn’t realize it came out in 2000. It’s a unique album for sure, reading about how many samples were used was awe inspiring. Not exactly something I’d listen to regularly, but given how a few years later I bought Fatboy Slim and Moby albums, I’m not sure what I’d have thought of this when it came out.
Not as good as I was expecting. A star for each good song essentially, because the good ones are THAT good. Aside from Imagine, Jealous Guy and Oh Yoko! it’s a pretty underwhelming collection.
I’d probably give it a 3.5 if possible. Well produced, fun world music stretches (though overall I don’t find it quite as compelling at the same year’s “So” from Peter Gabriel) highlights are the title track, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, You Can Call Me Al. Better than solid, definitely worth a listen, but not sure I’d give it regular listens end to end.
Interesting combination of sitar and early synths, not something I would have sought out, but neat to listen to.
Eclectic, odd, meandering. Wasn’t sure what to expect. I’d give it 3.5 honestly.
I didn’t NEED to listen to this one to know it’s a five star, I’ve heard this a ton, but I did it anyway. End to end there are no bum tracks. Some are better than others, but there isn’t a skip on here. Maybe not quite The Who at their abject musical heights (that might be Quadrophenia or even The Who by Numbers) but it’s pretty close. Daltry’s voice is impeccable, Townshend’s lyrics, guitar playing and vocals are spot on, and as always the powerhouse rhythm section of The Ox and The Loon, John Entwistle and Keith Moon are unmatched and untouchable. Entwistle even has a cheeky lead vocal on My Wife. If you don’t appreciate this album, there might be something wrong with your ears.
Nice grooves but not as many stand out songs as I had hoped. They play great live, by the way
I mean…there’s nothing wrong with it per se, but if I needed an archetype for generic late 60’s rock this album would be the benchmark. It’s not bad, but it’s dull and trite, when compared to the other music coming out around the same time (admittedly I’m holding this up against legendary bands) it seems utterly lackluster. Maybe if you were around at the time and these songs happened to speak to you there’s a value that I am missing.
Damn! This one comes hot out of the gate, “So Far Away”, “Money for Nothing” and “Walk of Life” sadly it kind of loses steam after that. The songs are good, some seem overly long, but they’re solid. I’d give it a four and a half it were an option.
Am I too stingy with five star ratings? This is a VERY good record, not quite the “all killer, no filler” goal, but I didn’t really find a song I’d skip. Pleasantly surprised by the prominent bass tone provided by Stephen Stills. Good on ya! Probably more of a four and a half.
Far from perfect, but I think I get what he was trying to do. After years of essentially living in a studio and striving for abject perfection, Paul was tired. Thus, this intentionally ramshackle collection self recorded at a home studio in Scotland, including his new wife Linda in the recordings, because…why not? Does it come across at times as a bit of a self-indulgent/vanity/demo project, yes, could some of the songs be improved with a bit more time and polish, absolutely, did Paul care, not at all. That being said, the undeniable high point of the album is “Maybe I’m Amazed” which he clearly took the recording and production of FAR MORE SERIOUSLY. Not great but solid for what it is. Maybe he gets a little more love for just being Paul, but I can live with that.
Spacey, ambient, eclectic and frankly…fucking cool. I knew “Sexy Boy” from MTV which was always kind of an oddity, but I dig this album. Not that it will be super regular, but I could see adding this to the random rotation.
Solid record, probably the shortest one I’ve come across on here. 9 tracks and 29 minutes some definite heavy hitters, “Green River”, “Bad Moon Rising”, and “Lodi” are all top tier.
Not my cup of tea, not bad, interesting, but again, didn’t tickle my fancy.
This was maybe the second or third CD I bought with my own money (earned by mowing my parents’ and grandmother’s lawns). I hadn’t listened to it in a full go in decades I’m sure. It’s good, it alternates between the more hip hop vibe the Beasties are known for and more stripped down punk rock aesthetics. It’s very eclectic, quite front loaded and has more to love than just “Sure Shot” and “Sabotage” if you aren’t familiar.
Musically I kinda liked what they were doing when they weren’t being dissonant for being dissonant’s sake, but they garbled vocals were a bridge too far, there were times I wasn’t convince English was the language being used. I almost felt like there was some commonality with Pixies, but yeesh, these are no Pixies
A strange charming hour. I can see this being a blueprint for weird kid suburban rap to come.
I knew The Bends quite well and loved it, I listened to Pablo Honey and found a lot to like, OK Computer was a game changer, a band on a whole different level. I was not as taken with Kid A and Amnesiac, but bought all new Radiohead albums at midnight sales at record shops when those things still happened. Hail to the Thief was the right balance to pull me back in, it had the weird electronic bits but still enough rock backbone to appeal to a 20 year old me. It’s weird, but within reason, the lyrics are fairly nihilistic, but that wasn’t unreasonable at the time and certainly not unreasonable now. It’s likely been more than a decade since I listened to this end to end, I won’t repeat that mistake.
I didn’t find any songs on here that I thought were indispensable Neil Young, but I enjoyed them all.
Full disclosure: I have NEVER liked rod stewart, so this album was going to have to fight one hell of a battle to change that opinion. It didn’t achieve that. The musicianship is fine, but outside of a few songs, they don’t seem particularly well constructed, rod’s lyrics and vocals have never been my cup of tea. “Maggie Mae” is well constructed, as is “Reason to Believe” but it’s not the version I was most familiar with, not better or worse, per se, but it didn’t sound quite right. Anyhoo, long story short it isn’t god awful, but it doesn’t seem good to me either. If you like it, cool, but it’s not for me.
When the first notes of this album rang out, I wasn’t quite sure what I was in for. Now, 14 songs and 35 minutes later, I’m still not sure. It’s certainly not for everyone, not sure it’s for me, but I don’t mind it, trying to typify this seems foolish, a southern Devo?…maybe a little bit, a proto Butthole Surfers?…possibly. It’s anything but boring à la Butthole Surfers, and the whole art/music mix thing seems Devo inspired, but with seemingly very little to none of the Akron crew’s pop sensibilities. I don’t love it, but it intrigues the hell out of me. Might look into more of their work.
Wow…this one takes me back to a specific time and place, not 1994 when it came out, though I heard the ubiquitous (rightfully so) “Sour Times” but in 2002 I met a lady, one I loved not wisely, but too well. She turned me on to Portishead, this music brings back vivid memories. That notwithstanding, this is an AMAZING album on its own merits, the chill vibe belies the lyrical depth. Cannot recommend this enough.
Wasn’t sure what to think of this from the title and track list alone. But dang! This was awesome, a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist. It’s atmospheric, moody, brassy and quite frankly, just fucking cool. Very pleased with this, if my life were WAY more interesting, I’d want this to be the score.
Very very solid. I knew Common People and it’s a great song. Overall a very good album, coming out around the same time as The Great Escape and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory. Jarvis Cocker is a damned hoot.
Maybe a four and a half. The great songs are great, the rest are pretty good. “Changes”, “Life on Mars”, “Oh! You Pretty Things”, “Kooks” and “Queen Bitch” it’s awfully close to a five, but not quite there for me.
An interesting soundscape, ambient, odd, intriguing.
The penultimate Elliott Smith album and his most cohesive in my opinion. I was intrigued the first time I remember hearing Elliott Smith via “Needle in the Hay” in “The Royal Tenenbaums” I surely had heard him earlier because I’d watched “Good Will Hunting” but it didn’t stick at the time. This though is Smith with the most studio freedom, the songwriting, musicianship, is impeccable. Not a bum track in the batch, well structured and paced. Sad, but if you know what you’re getting into that’s to be expected. Always worth a listen. Probably in my top ten personal favorites of all time.
Sophomoric, jocular, silly. To find out they predated and influenced AC/DC didn’t surprise me, but there’s something lacking in SAHB that AC/DC figured out. It’s not awful (most of the time…musically) but the lyrics are just so juvenile and attempting to be deliberately edgy. If I was in high school in Scotland at the time I’d have likely been briefly enamored, instead that phase of my life was “One Fierce Beer Coaster” by Bloodhound Gang. Different generations have different shames to bear.
I mean…it was OK…fine, not bad…but uninspired. It’s no Graceland.
Uneven, as most debut albums are. Brass in Pocket and Mystery Achievement were highlights for me. You can see the promise and the direction that they were heading towards
Three and a half from me. It’s rocking for sure, not my favorite style of vocals, but the band it pretty tight. I only knew “Bad Houses” and that’s because it was covered by an awesome band named Dianogah. It’s good, just not something I’d go out of my way to listen to.
It was fine…it all pretty much sounded the same to me.
Probably a more a a four and a half, but VERY close to five. I’d give Blonde on Blonde the edge.
I’m vaguely familiar with Willie Nelson, this was a nice primer with him performing standards, had a vibe similar to “A Little Touch of Schmillson in the Night” he has an earnest and pleasant voice, guitar playing was very good as well. Very nice.
It’s very close to the “all killer, no filler” standard. A ton of songs that would make a Steely Dan greatest hits album, everything is good, it doesn’t all sound the same, but it all sounds like Steely Dan.
It’s fine…nothing particularly memorable that struck my ear. Musicianship is there, but it seems like a dull batch of songs.
They’re in the right track, they’ve got great tracks, but it’s uneven. Definite peaks and valleys. But overall VERY good album.
Four and a half stars, sounds very Arctic Monkeys (which makes sense) but a different vibe. Definitely a fun listen.
It’s unique, not unpleasant to listen to, but not for me. Not sure who exactly it’s for, but not me.
I’m on the second song…more than twenty minutes in! This is one of the worst things I’ve voluntarily subjected my ears to. If you ever wondered what it would sound like if Björk were attacked by a gaggle of Canada geese while at a renaissance festival while both she and the geese were on frankly dangerous doses of psychedelic drugs, this seems like a reasonable approximation. I find NOTHING redeeming about this album. The singing, the lyrics, the music, it’s exasperating all the way around. There seem to be too many albums on this list that got the nod simply because: “it doesn’t sound like anything else!” Well, maybe there’s a reason for that. I try to find positive qualities in most things, I can’t do that here. Far be it from me to dissuade you from giving it a listen, but christ, find anything else to spend 56 minutes on. Upon further reading the fact that Van Dyke Parks, Steve Albini and Jim O’Rourke had a hand in this makes it all the more baffling. And she’s from Cali-fucking-fornia?!? What is that affected accent? I can deal with bad songs, but the length of them all is excruciating. The number of five star reviews honestly puzzles me. I’m on the last song and I’m not anticipating a saving grace. It’s fucking BAD, not because it’s odd, not because she’s a woman, just because it’s bad.
Very good live album, singing music all on point, I wasn’t familiar with the songs, but enjoyed them.
Solid, probably a 3.5 on my scale. I preferred the music to the singing, but that’s just my opinion. I thought it was good, a bit inconsistent, but good.
Very solid and groundbreaking.
Very of it’s time, but exceptionally catchy. Didn’t think much of them at the time, but that’s more to do with me than them.
Maybe a three and a half from me. It’s pleasant to listen to, but maybe it’s a consequence of being from Belleville, I hold alt country bands to the Uncle Tupelo standard. That being said, it’s a nice background record, but nothing really grabbed me.
Kinda have to give the nod and a five star here. It’s stuff that seems standard now, but was trailblazing at the time. Some legit bangers on here and some filler, but well-crafted filler. For trendsetting alone this gets five, but the quality is also there, given the limitations of recording at the time it’s honestly remarkable.
Look…this is a really good record, but it’s a double album and double albums always seem to fall into a self made trap of hubris. This as I said, is a really good double album, which could have been an immaculate single album. Nothing struck me as bad, but even high quality catchy filler, is still filler. Jeff Lynne is a genius and this showcases that expertly.
This is another one that takes me back to a specific time and place and it was pretty great, so I may not be entirely objective, but this album RULES! It may not hit the same apex highs of their previous album: “The Soft Bulletin” but it strikes me as a more cohesive, albeit nonsensical, theme, but with people forming parasocial relationships with AIs maybe it was just ahead of it’s time. “One more robot learns to feel, something more than a machine” end to end record, no skips needed. Cannot recommend this highly enough. The Lips haven’t hit this level again afterwards in my opinion, they’ve had some good songs, but not this many at this level of quality.
