Album Reviews

Favorite Track: Chest Fever Least Favorite Track: In A Station

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Good but outdated

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It's a pretty rootsy reggae album that still introduced some rock and funky elements in places, which kept it decently fun and interesting. The production was pretty interesting, too, as it incorporated techniques from more mainstream music like more creative panning, as well as use of special effects like reverb, delay and flange to create a more psychedelic soundscape. I however, didn't like how the bass in some of the tracks was causing the rest of the mix to distort, but it got noticeably better in other places, which also meant the mix was a litle inconsistant. The players on this album are locked in, playing consistantly and tightly on tempo and rhythm the entire way through all the songs. Concrete Jungle is probably the best example of a song on the album that has all the musicians playing well together, but also incorporates more rock and funk elements that i mentioned earlier. I have to add that this is a very political album, and it is not a hidden message or anything metaphorical at all, just an upfront longing for love and peace, the best example being lyrics in the songs Stop That Train and No More Trouble. Baby We've Got a Date was the first skip on the album, having no real substance aside from being a sex song and the same rhythm as the song before, same goes for Kinky Reggae, which is my least favourite song from this album. As for my favourites, Stop That Train and Stir It Up are probably among the better and more interesting songs, for having a more unique feel and rhythm, as well as harmonic elements. A super nice solo makes its way into Stir It Up, which was a great surprise. More improvisation and jamming would have been very welcome on this album. Overall, Catch a Fire is a simple, relaxing and fun album, and is the roots of modern reggae music. Although i did ultimately get bored around halfway through every song, with the exception of a few, it was an enjoyable listen. Track scores: Concrete Jungle 3/5 Slave Driver 3/5 400 Years 3/5 Stop That Train 4/5 Baby We've Got A Date (Rock It Baby) 2/5 Stir it Up 4/5 Kinky Reggae 1/5 No More Trouble 3/5 Midnight Ravers 4/5

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1. Hotel California 6 2. New Kid in Town 6 3. Life in the Fast Lane 7.2 4. Wasted Time 7.6 5. Wasted Time (Reprise) 5 6. Victim of Love 5.5 7, Pretty Maids All in a Row 5 8. Try and Love Again 6.8 9. The Last Resort 5

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Overall rating: 7.3/10 (3.65/5 stars) Favorite song: "I Love Your Lovin' Ways" Least favorite song: "Either Way I Lose" a. I Love Your Lovin' Ways - 9.5/10; I like the beginning a lot. I like how different it is from the rest of the album. It has a very different feel to it, and I love that. I think this is a very good first track for an album like this. b. Four Women - 6/10; I like the flute parts but I thought the ending was alright. c. What More Can I Say? - 9/10; I love the variety of instruments in this song and all of the harmonies. The vocals are amazing in this song and I did really like the crescendos. d. Lilac Wine - 5.8/10; I thought it had the same kind of vibe as "Four Women." It was alright overall with no very major standouts in this song. e. That's All I Ask - 7.6/10; I liked the vibe of this song mostly. I liked how the instruments sounded as well. f. Break Down And Let It All Out - 7/10; I loved the saxophone!!! I didn't really like how much the song title was repeated. I don't typically like repetition like that. g. Why Keep On Breaking My Heart? - 8/10; Really the same comments as "Lilac Wine." I liked the vibe and there wasn't many major standouts, but still a good song. h. Wild Is The Wind - 9/10; I love the piano in this song the most. I also love how the vocals match the piano perfectly. I wasn't a huge fan of the riff a little after the middle of the song, but it did match the song. I think the vocals are very pretty in this song regardless. i. Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair - 7.8/10; At this point in the album, I feel like most of the songs are having the same sound to it. Which is expected, it being that they're all in the same album. And it's a good sound. But I don't like repetition, and I think I was getting bored. There's not many major standouts in this song, but the song sounded pretty. j. If I Should Lose You - 8.8/10; I like the piano at the start. I also like the vocals a lot. I mostly like when the vocals get lower a little in this song. I like the piano a lot later in the song as well. Nothing I really hated in this song. k. Either Way I Lose - 4.5/10; The vocals in the back get very distracting, especially since they carry throughout the whole song. I do like the instruments in this song too. When the vocals in the back fade out a little at the end, the song gets very enjoyable because all the instruments are playing together and I think it sounds very beautiful.

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Es la primera vez, que escucho un álbum de entero de Johny Cash, y verdaderamente me voy con una sensación satisfactoria. Este álbum es una carta de despedida de Johny al mundo, dejando como legado no solo sus canciones sino también sus experiencias, dejando en claro que, después de un día oscuro llega la luz, la redención. Los covers que llevo a cabo en este álbum, me resultaron muy satisfactorios, dejando su estilo, su toque en cada verso.

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My cats hate this. I trust their judgement.

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Bernie Rhodes' little bitches, a sanctimonious nepo-baby boy-band.

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Everyone should listen to Typical Girls before they get hit by a bus

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First off, this album kicks major ass. If I had a time machine I would go back to the late 60's in San Francisco. For me, the psychedelic rock scene of that period produced some of the greatest music of all time and you could go see some killer live music every day of the week. Secondly, a bit of a rant. This album starts with a 25 minute version of a Bo Diddley song, but the entirety of this book is devoid of a Bo fucking Diddley album. The most egregious omissions of this book is it's lack of real blues music. By my estimation there are only 5 actual blues records on the list. No Howlin' Wolf, no Buddy Guy, no Big Mama Thornton, no Butterfield Blues Band, no Fred McDowell, no Mississippi John Hurt, no Magic Sam, no Freddie King, No Albert King, no Otis Spann, no James Cotton, and on and on and on. I don't have many soap boxes but this is one of them. But anyway, highly enjoyable listen for me. The recordings of these gigs at the Fillmore West in '68 had the Grateful Dead on the bill also, it must have been jam band heaven.

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Being a middle age guy and standing in the kitchen and having coffee this morning with my wife of 20 years while Sex on Fire is playing is the height of irony. I was barely competent in the sack when I was in my prime, now the only thing on fire is my lower back pain. I'd be laughing right now if it wasn't so damn depressing. Like my last Kings of Leon album, it's much better later in the day. This cats vocals pre coffee are a no go for me, but it's all good this evening. Jared Followill is a badass bass player. Very tasty bass lines and the highlight of this album in my opinion.

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Coincidently, i just listened to this album yesterday, and i was more than happy to listen again today. Rush is a Mt Rushmore band for me. Like every other band nerd on their high school drum line I idolized Neil Peart and listed to more Rush than I likely should have. I wore out side one of my 2112 cassette learning Overture and Temples of Syrinx, and I will still rock out hard to Temples on my steering wheel. Worth the sore hands and the multiple close calls running off the road. Rush is just three Canadian guys, each an amazing player. They created new music for nearly 40 years, and toured even longer. They never dialed it in, they didn't milk a decades old catalogue, they created to the end. Side one is a dystopian story about the beauty and power of music told in 7 movements. Neil was an avid reader and had been into Ayn Rand for a bit, he was also the author of all the Rush lyrics so that explains side one, aka the first song on the album. Side two is includes some Rush classics, passage to bangkok, something for nothing, tears....why name favorites....side two is as amazing as side one. No bad songs on this album, a classic. Rush is not a band for everyone, and that's more than fine. I'm a fan boy.

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Duck Rock? Uh, ok..? the British (UK) slant on this list is on full display here, it seems, after reading the reviews before going in. I've never heard of it or him (even in passing) and I consider myself pretty knowledgeable in music. I've been a good sport, so far, but I hold little hope. I do vaguely recognize "Buffalo Gals", but it's been eons since I've heard it. What the actual f*ck is this? Is this what cocaine does? I've never had the privilege. This clinches it -- I officially know what the soundtrack to cocaine sounds like. What a hyperactive mess. I chuckled at the absurdity of it. It's definitely something, but it's not anything I care for. "Jive My Baby" and "Duck For The Oyster" actually had me rolling around laughing they were so absurd. Not sure that was the intent. (1.5/5) because I laughed (unintentionally), but rounding down because there is nothing redeeming here. It actually felt more like an assault.

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Well what a whole lot of nothing this is. It's like an auditory boiled rice and tofu sandwich. Music you'd hear while you're waiting to have your root canal done. Fuck this shit, I'm putting the new Neurosis album on again

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When to listen: Bopping around and feeling like a girl's girl. I've had their version of I Heard it Through the Grapevine in my Spotify saves for a long time. What a treat to hear the whole album. The sound is an unusual mix of lots of influences and the lead singer's voice is definitely unique, but that's what I loved about it!

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Poundland Funkadelic

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I'll admit, I came into this album with some preconceived notions of Elvis Costello and thought I knew what I was getting into, but from the first track I was thrown for a loop. Not so great at first, but by "Tokyo Storm Warning" I'd acquired enough of a taste to settle in. That's when I started to hear so many of the 90s bands that must have been directly influenced by his 33 studio albums. Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Wallflowers, Spoon, Weezer, Wilco, whoever the hell did the Friends theme... Hell, Soul Asylum directly incorporated the skeleton of "Blue Chair" into "Runaway Train," and their singer probably owes him royalties for his stellar impression. There are even hints of Sublime in here, which I'd never have expected to hear. Like most albums, some of it worked better than others, but even when it wasn't great, it was interesting, and I definitely preferred his voice in the calm stuff to the almost punky screaming he'd tear into every so often. But all respect to The Attractions, who pretty well lived up to their names. All in all, it was better than I expected, and while I'm more likely to check out some of his other material than I was before, I'm more inclined to reach for some of those influenced artists I mentioned earlier and show my appreciation that way. It's a solid 3.5/5 that I'll round up in thanks for the legacy.

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This album gets 5 stars for Moving in Stereo being the song playing during the Phoebe Cates swimming pool scene. As the kids say, IYKYK. This is one of the best debut albums of all time. 6 of the 9 songs are straight up classics.

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It's practically impossible to evaluate the title track of this album on its own terms. "Imagine" has been re-performed and re-contextualized endlessly and it's either the "greatest song ever written" (if you're a Boomer) or absolutely cringe naive nonsense if you're younger than 35. For what it's worth, and for better or worse, it's an elegy for the New Left -- by 1971, the 60s were "over" but the US and the UK were still embroiled in Cold War imperial adventures and Nixon was building his political kingship off hippie bashing. The Summer of Love ideals the Beatles represented were no longer popular, but the social/political problems these ideals were meant to address were alive and well (and, more importantly, the backlash against these ideals was gaining strength). Throughout the 1968 protests across Europe, one of the most popular slogans was "Die Phantasie an die Macht," or "All Power to the Imagination!" Lennon (who previously shrugged off the '68 rebellions) was now free to make political claims in his own name so he rushed to plant his flag with the New Left by paling around with the Panthers and throwing money at a bunch of radical underground publications. But it was probably too little too late, so "Imagine" fails to project "what could be" because it's so hung up in "what could have been." This nostalgia (for a time only a few years prior!) is partly why the Boomers are obsessed with its message -- it makes them feel like "we almost had a revolution" (which may or may not actually be true, depending on what they mean). And like so many New Left icons, its message was completely diluted and appropriated by libertarians and gets dragged back into the limelight every few years by the ruling class as an anti-activist "can't we all just get along" sleeping pill (exhibit A is Gal Gadot). To Lennon's credit, "He'S rIcH aNd He'S tElLiNg Us To ImAgInE nO pOsSeSsIoNs!" is an incredibly shallow critique. Yeah dawg, that's why the song is called "Imagine" and not "I'm a perfect role model and you should live exactly like me." In fact, that's the absolute *strength* of this album -- Lennon is brimming with both ego and humility, hypocrisy and sincerity, condemnation and self-effacement, imperfections and redemption. The 2 songs immediately following "Imagine" directly address Lennon's grossest qualities: his history of violence against women, and his nasty tendency to mock people with disabilities. The former is something he's had to account for endlessly (especially after his death), the latter is something he's rarely criticized for but he nevertheless felt the need to apologize for. Elsewhere on the album, he continues to poke holes in the soft utopianism of "Imagine" by addressing his own feelings of hopelessness, uncertainty, depression, anger, pettiness, mania, neediness, etc. He would probably be the first person to acknowledge the worrisome self-righteousness of "Imagine" because the rest of the album is one long apologia for that ego trip. It's almost a shame how strong of a shadow this song casts -- there are so many other killer tracks here: "Jealous Guy," "Gimme Some Truth," and "How" are among the best he ever wrote, and there's no filler anywhere else on the album. If he left off track 1 and gave it a new name it would be, undoubtedly, celebrated (even by younger generations) as one of the best albums of the 1970s. Nevertheless, despite, or because of, its flaws, I think it is.

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Hard pass. Tried the first four tracks and this is officially the first album in this sequence I abandoned. I saw someone write that it sounds like a soundtrack. I agree, and not in a good way. Nope. (1/5). Just nope.

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The Good: Just some good old boys… The Bad: Got it confused with The Dukes of Hazzard! The Ugly: The above mentioned tv series getting the same kind of crap as the album we are about to rate… Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Today, we live in a society where too many idiots scream out of outrage about the usage of a word, or the imagery of a symbol… scream scream scream. The opening track, the first time I remember hearing it, I almost choked on my drink when I got to the end of the song… I doubt many people get that far today, because they hear a word that only certain people are allowed to use. To those idiots, I say, get off your high horse, sit down, listen to the song again, and use your f-ing brain—that is if you have one. I do have to be honest here and admit the fact that, frequently, I can’t be bothered to pay attention to the lyrics on many of the albums that I’ve had the displeasure to listen to. So, I too should get off my high horse… But not before rating this album with a 5*, not because it is that special, but because, out of oh so much shit I’ve had to listen to these past couple of weeks, it shows that sometimes something that seems mediocre is actually worth it’s weight in gold.

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I can’t believe the top review for this record (as of Dec 2023) is from someone trying to use their PhD in Mathematics as justification for not liking hip-hop. Weak.

Oh fuck yeah, now we're talking. Wait no, I swear I'm not being pretentious. This is the lowest rated album on this site because I guess mostly people aren't very fond of German people smashing metal plates together - who would have guessed. But halle-fucking-lujah, this is something this list needs more of. Albums that make you go "well, that was an experience and now I'm a changed man". Nobody is lying on their deathbed wishing they heard more crappy 80s post-punk or late 60s psychedelic rock. THIS is what we all deserve to be listening to as we embrace eternal oblivion. I'm giving this a high rating not only because I genuinely really love it, but also to help Kid Rock move to his rightful place as the actual worst album on this list. Together we can make a difference. Save the turtles.

Brings back vivid memories of when me and my mate Ray went on a trip to Dresden. We met this rotund goth in a bar, head to toe with tattoos and piercings, real filth and after a while took her into the disabled bogs for a spit roast. We were both pumping away in her with Napalm Death on in the background and her wailing "MEIN GOTT" at the top of her lungs. I remember spaffing all over her back just as Siege of Power kicked in. As i shoot over her, she takes Ray's cock out of her gob and says "do you want fries with that?" in a faux American accent. Anyway, we go outside and there's this gammy little geezer in a wheelchair sitting there furious, giving me daggers, because he's had to wait so long, so I lean into him and I go "I hope you have as much fun in there as we just did you little cunt".

Shit like this on the list is both refreshing and infuriating. Refreshing because it is good, fun, interesting, and also not something I would regularly be exposed to! It's why I started this project and keeps me coming back. It's infuriating because the fact that it is included here means that Robert Dimery, the original author of the 1001 albums list is aware that music like this exists. He's clearly aware that there is an entire world of music out there. SO WHY HAVE I LISTENED TO 200 80s BRITISH NEW WAVE ALBUMS AND 200 SCOTTISH ROCK ALBUMS FROM THE 90S??!!?

Back when I was in college, there was this dude who would come into the bar I worked at on a Friday night and play fucking 10 Neil Young songs in a row. He would also hit on girls by doing magic tricks. I remember how angry I got every time he made me listen to an hour of Neil Young because I was just trying to have a good time, and he fucking made me listen to this sad, soppy fuck who writes nothing but songs that sound indistinguishable from each other and never seemed to enjoy a happy moment in his entire like. Fuck that guy, and fuck Neil Young. 2/5

Back when I was in college I used to go to a bar and listen to Neil tunes and do magic tricks for women. There was a bartender there, he was the best. I loved that guy. Some of the best years of my life.

I really don't get rap, and I am completely aware of why. I'm a STEM guy, specifically a Ph.D. student in mathematics. Although my verbal intelligence is quite high, it's still about a standard deviation below my quantitative intelligence. Therefore, it should not be too surprising that I prefer melodies to lyricism, and that a genre based on the latter doesn't wow me. I know I'm pretty far out of step with public opinion on this one, but that can easily be attributed to the fact that hipsters with humanities degrees (i.e. extremely verbal-dominant people) are considered the ultimate arbiters of taste for some reason. (Side note: this also explains why prog rock is seen as being for losers.) Best song: Be (Intro), which had a decent instrumental part at the beginning. Everything else just sort of ran together.

Rap isn't my preferred genre of music. But I'm a shitty mathematician so I enjoyed this.

Sorry Boomers/Gen X, I was like 20 when this came out so it's one of the best things to ever happen to me. Sorry it's not King Crimson or whatever.

Rage In Favor Of The Machine.

Music for incels to wank furiously by

i ain’t listening to all that i’m happy for u tho or sorry that happened

this album is everything that punk pretends to be.

The only enjoyment I got from this was reading the review about the brothers in Dresden and their lovely and talented tattooed friend.

I am definitely not the target demographic for this album, but I still thought it was very good. There's a lot of skill and artistry put into these tracks, so much so that it is almost invisible. 4 stars for me, plus an extra star just to spite the mathematics PHD guy.