Enjoyed the hit tracks but album tracks just okay. Not sure about Mother. Sounds a bit like Sting compromising and letting someone else “have a go”! Not really for me.
Easy one for me! Loved this album right from the first listen and still remember “Where Are We Now?” being débuted on very early morning radio in 2013. What a great surprise to wake up to! 4.5 stars.
I guess it’s an important release in the revival of ska in its time but didn’t float my boat then and still doesn’t really. Curiously, it actually feels much slower than I remember it being at the time.
Quite a pleasant listen. Not something I would normally listen to. Some very soulful tracks with influences from other genres. 3.5 *
A decent set of mostly tight pop songs but probably not their best output. Lyrically a bit light but 3.5 for me.
As their debut album it’s listenable and has a few good songs but it all becomes a bit like wallpaper anthems in the end and sounds very samey. Staggering that they have > 93 million monthly listeners on Spotify!! Guess there’s no accounting for taste 😝
Hard to argue with the classic status of this album. Feels like a bit transitional with some older elements from Electric Warrior but also looking forward to the soul influences on Tanx and Zinc Alloy. Marc in full pomp! 4.5 *
Somehow managed to never hear this before! Great album in a similar vein to Fotheringay, Fairport Convention and other folk rock bands of the time. Really pleasant to listen to. Love Danny Thompson’s bass! Solid 4 *
Better than anticipated with some quite musical moments. A bit schizophrenic but that’s fine. Probably not one I’ll listen to much.
What to say about this? Probably listened to it more than 100 times over the years and it never gets tired. Miles and the ‘59 crew in great form changing the sound of jazz again. Fabulous! 5* and then some.
Quite disappointed to see this appear today! Still, let’s give it a go. Rolling in the Deep is quite a good opener. So far so good. Ho hum, then Set Fire to the Rain quite good. I’ll be Waiting has a bit of a 60’s soul vibe. Clearly has a strong and quite soulful voice. Overall not bad but not going in my collection! 3.5
Unexpectedly, really enjoyed this album. Some great tracks on here. Happy to add this to my collection. 4*
Excellent power pop. Quite raw but with very catchy melodies. Like this a lot. A good few songs on here which I’ve never heard before. Of these, “Bye bye love” and “All Mixed Up” standout. Solid 4
Excellent and unexpected album from the Beasties. Starts off well and continues from there. Started listing my favourite tracks but in the end there were too many. Good stuff! 4 *
Technically brilliant and way ahead of anything in its time. Very doomy in feel but with excellent production. A bit too noodly for me though. Favourite tracks are “Court of….” and “Schizoid”. 3.5 *
What a lead off track! Hello heavy rock! A great reinterpretation of the blues in a British stylee. As heavy as this gets there’s still room for some great sensitive playing on things like “Thank You” and Ramble On“. All wrapped up nicely with Bring it on Home. A rightful classic. Good to hear you again, old friend 🙂
Quite relaxing to listen to overall. Can’t say I’ve ever come across these guys before. Feels a bit like being in a fancy coffee shop with some pleasant ambient background music but there are better choices to listen to if I want something like this. Technically competent but a bit uninspiring. 3.5*
Not bad overall. Highly polished and the embodiment of 80’s glitter. They definitely cherry picked all the best songs for singles. 3
More 80’s! Great lead off track and single. Upbeat jangly indie pop. Hard not to like this. Not sure it’s one for the collection but very enjoyable. 4
Like this quite a bit. Some great samples. Can see why it was influential in its time. “Left my wallet…” is hilarious! Would defo listen again. 4
Hard to review this objectively after years of listening previously but a great album with some excellent songs. Grapevine cover is excellent and Who’ll Stop the Rain is an all time classic. Time in a bottle! 4
Pretty sure I’m not the target audience for this. At least I’ll never have to listen to it again. 2.5 * rounded down for overuse of MF. Next
A bit schizophrenic with 70’s punk, thrash metal, hard rock and 80’s pop! Didn’t hate it but probably wouldn’t revisit. 3
Absolute Christmas banger. Can’t be beaten, in my opinion.
Feels a bit like FM’s White Album. Coming from all directions at once. Some good tracks. Particularly like Tusk itself. Generally though, not enough to push it up another notch. 3.5
100% solid gold Soul classic! If the lyrical content was studied on every national curriculum we might have a better world some day. Probably the best ’concept’ album ever recorded.
Interesting album. Definitely has an 80’s gloss but doesn’t sound like anything else from the time. Tinseltown is the obvious standout. Great track. I can see why it would have a strong following. 4
Oh, more hip hop! Not my bag but favourite track was “Good Thang”. Glad it’s over. 3
Ground Zero of Punk. Sounds as good now as the day it was released. Blows by so quickly it’s over too soon. Fabulous melodies and some great harmonising makes this much more musical than you might expect given the lyrical content. 4.5* but pushed to the full 5 for its massive influence.
Must have been quite good as it’s the first time I’ve listened to a Smiths album and wanted to hear it again.
Interesting album that I’ve never got around to listening to before. Great vibes but it feels a bit like it’s neither fish nor fowl and ends up sounding like big band swing for much of the time. Pleasant listen and has the sound of the time but a bit below expectation given the praise it receives from critics.
Very brief but fun album to listen to, full of the charm of the mid-late 60’s. Highlights for me are I See You and 8 Miles High. 3.5
I recall the band being popular around the late 90’s but never really cared much for them. Can’t say much has changed in the meantime. All a bit too thrashy for me. Tolerated it but didn’t really enjoy it. 2
Fairly enjoyable, if brief, slice of Countrypolitan. Great singing voice and some catchy songs. Particularly like Night Life. 3.5
Great album with tons of variety. Beck uses hip hop and electronica in an interesting way that doesn’t detract from the actual musicality of what he’s doing. Like this album a lot. 4
The return of The King!! Fabulous follow up album to the comeback tour. Top notch backing band and singers and some real blue eyed soul belters. Great Muscle Shoals production - Suspicious Minds and In The Ghetto never get old. 5*
Enjoyed the opening and closing tracks and Blown a Wish. Quite dreamy and hypnotic backing but wish I could hear the vocals more. Songs with no verse chorus format get a bit tedious when you can’t really hear what else is going on. Had to skip half way through some songs as it felt like 30 seconds was enough. 3
Quite an interesting album. Worth exploring a bit more, I think. A shame that Mr Albarn sounds like he deliberately couldn’t care less. 4
Great to have this pristine document of a historic concert. Well paced and builds nicely throughout the set. 4
Sam singing all the hits and sounding like he has the audience eating from his hands. Gives a good overall impression of what it may have been like to be present. But, some clumsy editing and less than sparkling quality makes me think it could have sounded better. 3.5 rounded down.
A very worthy album for the list. Hard to listen to without moving your body! Great mix of upbeat dance tunes and some slower numbers. 4
Nice to hear an album from the 80’s that don’t sound like it was made in the 80’s.
Great sounding slice of world music. No idea what they’re singing about but it still sounds great. Like stepping back in time. 4
Excellent album from a band I must have missed at the time. Also need to check out their debut album Los Angeles. 4
Whining nonsense lyrics over guitars so distorted it becomes a mush of sound does not a classic album make. Possibly the most overrated band of all time, and that includes Coldplay!!! 2
Excellent album, improved only by the reissue including a ton of extra tracks. Love Johnny’s prison albums. Probably slightly prefer Folsom overall but this is great. 4.5
A good mix of uptempo electronic dance tunes and some dreamy ambient quieter mood pieces. Like this a lot. 4
Right up my alley, this one! Lovely slice of 60’s psychedelia. Only heard Mass in F Minor previously. This is a much more upbeat poppy affair. 4
Total late 60’s psychedelic pop mod! Some really great music to be found. Definitely of it’s time but really inventive and great fun to listen to. 4
Guess I’m old, so this is definitely not my bag. 1
Wow! What a contrast from the Kanye 💩 on the last outing! Night and day. A true classic. Barring the wacky Rainy Day Women, which has some charm, the rest of the album is total class. Musically and lyrically hard to beat. 4.5
From a period when Rod was turning out great stuff. Some really good tracks on here. Cut Across Shorty is fantastic. 4
A real mixture of great classic songs and weirdness of the time. 3.5
A strong outing for Bruce. Probably a double album in old money but doesn’t feel overly long. 4
Excellent album. Not a bad track on it. 5
Couple of big hits and some very funky tunes. 3.5
Similar at times to System Of A Down but musically quite a bit more interesting. Favourite tracks were probably My Way and The One. 3
Stevie has A LOT to say on this album! Having said that it’s a great listen. 4
Loving this album! Great mix of exotica and funk! Would make a great party album. 4
Excellent set full of atmosphere. Crowd obviously loving the whole thing. A nose ahead of San Quentin for me. 5
A well crafted album which has more variety than earlier Adele efforts. Not my thing though. 3
Great set of familiar songs in unfamiliar arrangements. Fantastic album that has managed to avoid my radar until now. Glad that’s been rectified! 4
Very good spangly indie pop. Similar to 10,000 Maniacs and the Sundays of the same period. Will listen again. 4
Only know the band from their hits, one or two of which are on here. Really like the very British flavour of this album. Kinks meets Buzzcocks via Bowie/Bolan and the Stones. Good stuff. 4
Preferred Ill Communication despite this album having the “big” hits. 3
One of the best debut albums of all time. Great writing and delivery with just the right amount of grunge. One of the best albums of the 90’s without a shadow of a doubt.
I’d rather be strapped to a table in a room and played Rashied Ali drum solos all day than listen to this again. How can this list turn up Pearl Jam’s Ten yesterday and this today?! Saving Grace is Walk This Way but mainly because it’s got Aerosmith on it. 2
Not as terrible as expected but lyrically a too doom laden for my liking. Feel like there’s a bit too much death. 2
The very definition of prog. Technically really impressive work but doesn’t really do much for me emotionally. Probably would have appreciated this more when I was younger but not so much now. 3
A good mix of fun, soul and rock.
Some absolute classic tracks on here but some of the other tracks feel a bit dated now. Lead off track would definitely not be acceptable on a release today! Love it or hate it but these guys knew how to create a great pop tune. 3.5
Very long but quite rewarding album. I think it needs several listens to get into and makes more sense as time goes by. Worth making the effort though. 4
Excellent collection of British psychedelic blues rock. 4.5
Possibly the first time I’ve listened to this album end to end but a great example of early British heavy metal. John Lord’s Hammond B3 stabs and probes keep this moving on at a fine pace and Richie Blackmore’s guitar solos provide some very nice lead lines. Gets the blood moving in a morning. 4
Not awful but not for me. 3
An incredible talent gone too soon. Such a shame to lose Janis so early in her career but what she left was absolutely classic. The band are pretty tight behind and provide some heavy power blues. Excellent album. 4
A Love Supreme and Kind of Blue, the undisputed twin summits of Jazz. ‘Trane pours his heart and soul into this. The whole band produced something really special the day this was put down. Deeply moving. Love, love, love it!! 5+❤️
Quite an enjoyable listen from an artist I’ve never come across before. Can’t help but feel it’s very similar to Björk’s later work but that’s okay. Laid back for an evening chill. 4
Only heard Up The Bracket previously so this was brand new to me. Overall feels like it's a more balanced album than UTB. Enjoyed this a lot. Brightened up my morning walk. 4
It’s hard to listen to this objectively having heard it so many times over the years. Having said that, you can’t diminish the quality of this work. Beautiful songwriting, great melodies and the harmonies are what CSN(&Y) were so famous for. Superb album. 4.5
Overall a decent effort. Musically interesting but I Believe is a bit of a dirge in the middle of the album and brings the mood down. Still there’s something about the timbre of the vocal that grates with me and doesn’t quite sit right, although I’m sure others would disagree. 3
There’s quite a lot to like about this album. I’d never heard any of the tracks before, even those that charted. It’s an interesting and creative mish-mash of early British mod/pop with leanings towards a Kinks sound. For a young band it’s impressive and musically very ambitious. 4
Outstanding album. It’s unbelievable the number of superb riffs Tony Iommi comes up with and then uses two or three on the same song! The band had a great way of shaping dynamics too, so that songs never get boring. The most killer riff has to be on Supernaut. Try keeping still while that’s playing! 5
Proper Outlaw Country from a proper Country Outlaw. Simple, direct lyrics delivered in Waymore’s whiskey soaked voice. Perfect! There were some great albums released by Waylon in the 70’s and this is one of the best in whole canon, if not the whole of Country music of the era. 4.5
Solid debut album by TPHB but there was better to come. A great mix of jangly Byrds inspired folk rock and Rock and Roll, with a touch of the blues. American Girl is a classic! 4
I was quite enjoying the first track but it all became a bit too noodly and self indulgent for me later on. The pseudo classical seemed unnecessary showing off really. Very much of its time. 3
Neal Hefti wrote some great arrangements and the opening Kid From Redbank nearly achieves lift off! Hard swinging album from the Count. Great stuff! 4
Not terribly offensive but not particularly interesting either. 3
Cracking album! Never heard any of these songs before but not a bad track on the album and worthy of a place on the list, for me. 4
Interesting listen. Sits well alongside early Flaming Lips, understandably with the production of Dave Fridmann. Passed me by on original release but glad I got to hear this. A revelation. 4
Despite being an avid jazz listener and knowing the reputation of this piece I’d always avoided listening to it as I’m wary of solo piano albums. They can get a bit monotonous and go on a bit. But I have to admit I can see why it’s lauded so much. It’s a beautiful album with a floating quality and huge amounts of space. Not exactly jazz but not classical either. Excellent stuff. 4.5
Entertaining bunch of catchy punk/pop songs. Probably won’t get much repeated playing from me, nor does it make me want to explore their back catalog any deeper but glad I’m aware of it and it’s filled a gap in my musical education. 4
Really enjoying listening to this. Never came across Liz before but really liking the homespun feel. Sounds like it was recorded on a 4 track in someone’s kitchen, but the sparse production puts the interesting vocals to the fore. Comes across as being lyrically honest and the non/half rhyming adds charm. 4
Enjoyed listening to this sound collage of objet trouvé. All the more impressive knowing the analog technology they were working with at the time. Some things work better than others but overall an interesting listen. 4
Apart from The National Anthem, which I really enjoyed, the whole thing felt like it just drifted by without leaving too much of an impression.
No other rock band sounded like Santana back in the late 60’s, with their latin polyrhythms and blues solos. Wonderful sophomore album. 4
Another excellent album from NCATBS. Quite dark in places but a great listen. 4
Quite a unique sound, I think. Like the punk attitude combined with softer sounding instruments. Vocally it definitely leans toward Lou Reed, but that's no bad thing. Favourite track is Gone Daddy Gone - great to hear a vibe solo in this context. Excellent little album. 4
I was unexpectedly enjoying this for the first half of the album but then it outstayed it's welcome by around another 30 minutes. I could definitely create a 4 star favourites playlist from the good tracks and make a decent regular album. Alas, this was released in the days when every last byte of a CD had to be filled. Still, a solid debut but can't ignore the filler bring it down to a 3.
Very typical led zeppelin but using a lighter sound. Ten years Gone is such a beautiful song and Kashmir is an all time classic. 4
It has its audience but that doesn’t include me. Horrible! 1
Quite a fun listen. Favourite tracks: Ceiling Fan in my Spoon & Mrs. Robinson, which I think may have been a hit at the time of release and actually owes more to Paul Simon than them, but good fun anyway. 3
Very evocative of it's time and fits right in with the explosion of African and Latin rhythms of the late 50's. Easy to imagine some of these on film soundtracks of the period. 3.5
Not exactly a debut, having fronted The Sugarcubes and her own Gling-Glo, but probably the first time the mass public got to hear her amazing voice. At the time it was totally unique in the pop charts and still sounds fresh today. Better came later with Post, Homogenic and Vespertine, but a great opener for a truly unique artistic talent. 4
Excellent album from the Stones, just hitting their stride. A career highlight and definitely a desert island disc for me. 5
No. I really didn’t need to hear this, and probably never will again.
An excellent slab of Soul from Mr. Hayes. 4
Not as relentlessly horrible as expected, just mostly. Some songs are quite listenable, but overall really not for me. 2
Great set of power blues. Never actually heard the album start to finish before but really enjoyed this more than expected. Layla is a great song but hearing it for the zillionth time gets a bit old. On the other hand, love Bell Bottom Blues. But this doesn't mean I forgive you, Eric! Duane rocks! 4
What a way to start the weekend! Fabulous album. Not a bad song to be had here. A definite desert island disc for me. 5
Based on a single listen it went as interesting as I expected it to be. Maybe a drier listen would reveal more but I’ve heard better from Taking Heads, sadly. 3
Quote hypnotic and meditative. Technically very clever for its time but it won’t replace Force Majeure as my favourite Tangerine Dream album. 3
Not as obnoxious as modern rap. Appreciate there's some attempt at music going on and it's quite listenable, but still not for me. 3
An album that would definitely kill the mood at a party but beautiful at the same time. Typical Cave themes and lyrics but without all the vim and vigour. Could imagine listening to this on a comfy reclining chair with a large glass of red. 4
Quite a fun record. Infectious melodies and hard driving tunes keep it moving at a good pace. There’s a youthful naïveté comes through that’s easy to like. 4
Excellent blue eyed soul from a 60’s icon. For me, Dusty in Memphis has the edge but this is a great effort. 4
I thought this was a joke but apparently it’s not! Felt like it was about 32 minutes longer than it needed to be. Like a bad horror movie, just when you thought it was over it kept coming back. 1
Quite enjoy a bit of ambient music. Would make great background music for a fancy coffee shop or cocktail bar but otherwise probably wouldn’t find much use for it myself. 3
Very much a return to form for the elder statesman.
Good set of Afro-beat but could do without the drum solo, personally. 3
Good album. Love the blues inspired rootsy rock feel. Already have a few BK albums but hadn’t heard this one. Like it. 4
Fantastic opening to the album. Like a greatest hits but tails of a bit towards the back end. 4
Fun album, and Waterloo Sunset is an all time classic. 4
Decent album but not entirely sure why it’s made this list. Fairly average indie pop. 3
Enjoyed this album quite a lot. Love the kitchen-sink lyrics; very Kinks influenced and a definite nod to Bowie with the vocal style. Overall, pretty good. 4
Love the dreamy feel of this album. Some great arrangements but feels like it could use a change of pace at some point. 4
Not bad but not really my thing. 3
Quirky indie pop. Some of it better than others. Never heard anything by the band before but they seem to have a flavour of Velvet Underground and They Might Be Giants. Quite a pleasant listen. 3
Nice bit of pop electronica. 4
Classic songs in classic arrangements and what a voice! Fabulous. 5
An excellent chunk of Afro-funk. 5
Great album with Tom's unique vocal style getting stronger. Lyrically interesting (there ain't no Devil, there's just God when he's drunk!) and some great arrangements. 4
Not at all what I expected but enjoying this all the same. Hypnotic electronic rhythms and the subdued lyrics low in the mix give this a mysterious quality. Like it. 4
Interesting mélange of east/west pop. 3
Excellent album with some great arrangements. Definitely a Beatles and Beach Boys feel in the production on some of the . Sad that he was so troubled and was taken at such a young age. 4
One of my favourite Neil Young albums, and generally underrated. Out of print for a good few years for some reason. Maybe the time wasn’t right. 4
Would have probably sounded better in 1987 when it was released. 3
Sounds very much like soundtrack music. Fun to make up scenes to go along with the tracks. 3
