111
Albums Rated
3.32
Average Rating
10%
Complete
978 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1960
Favorite Decade
Metal
Favorite Genre
other
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
16
5-Star Albums
5
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
Top Styles
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Walking Wounded
Everything But The Girl
|
5 | 2.97 | +2.03 |
|
The Soft Bulletin
The Flaming Lips
|
5 | 3.28 | +1.72 |
|
Zombie
Fela Kuti
|
5 | 3.46 | +1.54 |
|
Moving Pictures
Rush
|
5 | 3.56 | +1.44 |
|
Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Wu-Tang Clan
|
5 | 3.6 | +1.4 |
|
The Velvet Underground & Nico
The Velvet Underground
|
5 | 3.61 | +1.39 |
|
Snivilisation
Orbital
|
4 | 2.7 | +1.3 |
|
Palo Congo
Sabu
|
4 | 2.7 | +1.3 |
|
Konnichiwa
Skepta
|
4 | 2.73 | +1.27 |
|
Elephant
The White Stripes
|
5 | 3.84 | +1.16 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Private Dancer
Tina Turner
|
1 | 3.29 | -2.29 |
|
Good Old Boys
Randy Newman
|
1 | 2.85 | -1.85 |
|
The Grand Tour
George Jones
|
1 | 2.79 | -1.79 |
|
The White Room
The KLF
|
1 | 2.78 | -1.78 |
|
Peggy Suicide
Julian Cope
|
1 | 2.77 | -1.77 |
|
Dire Straits
Dire Straits
|
2 | 3.72 | -1.72 |
|
Out Of The Blue
Electric Light Orchestra
|
2 | 3.63 | -1.63 |
|
James Brown Live At The Apollo
James Brown
|
2 | 3.44 | -1.44 |
|
Aqualung
Jethro Tull
|
2 | 3.43 | -1.43 |
|
Garbage
Garbage
|
2 | 3.39 | -1.39 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Beatles | 4 | 4.25 |
5-Star Albums (16)
View Album Wall
1-Star Albums (5)
All Ratings
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Absolute classic, many needle drops from film and tv, love the beggining and end
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Fun from start to finish. Timeless sound, learned about it from the SNL 30
Iggy Pop
3/5
Theatrical, like a punky version of Lou Reed.
The classics outweigh the deep cuts.
To my surprise the end is better than the beggining.
Talking Heads
4/5
One of my all time favorite bands, very similar style and vibe as their debut, prelude to their most creative leap.
Favorites are Found a Job, Artists Only and of course, Al Green's Take Me to the River.
Yes
2/5
I've only enjoyed certain classic prog-rock artists, but not all.
This isn't quite my cup of tea, even though the first is an all time classic, incredible musicianship and performance.
Wish i was into it more.
Beatles
5/5
Second best Beatles album imo, great from start to finish.
Love how the chaotic dynamic of their relationship led to many songs that otherwise won't have been released and all are memorable, quotable and almost all hits.
Willie Nelson
2/5
The recording sounds great, great covers, just not consistant enough to be a classic for me or rated higher
Christine and the Queens
3/5
Good contemporary pop album, some great deep cuts, love DamFunks contributions.
Not memorable enough, but fun all the way through
Talking Heads
4/5
Love almost every song.
Lifts you with happiness and creativity.
Sounds so ordinary and original at the same time.
Amazing songs sounding so young and inexperienced yet years beyond what they had lived until then.
Can you tell Talking Heads are one of my favorites?
George Jones
1/5
Everything But The Girl
5/5
I forget how good this album is from start to finish.
No skips, sounds like a greatest hits album.
Two of my favorite songs of all time.
James Brown
2/5
Big fan of James Brown and understand the historical relevance of the album.
Huge detractors to rate it higher is the length and song selection for the album version; it’s just a sampler of the impact of his live show.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Flawless classic, debatable if it’s the best or my favorite led zep album.
No deep cuts to be found, 8 huge songs.
Hard to find albums of this caliber
Pearl Jam
4/5
I've never been a fan of theirs, but half of this album is ingrained in my brain of how many times of heard them.
Absolute classices from my childhood, i remember my favorite changing every couple of years.
I never got into any of their other albums, but this is a 90s legend.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
3/5
Amy Winehouse
3/5
Even though i was around for the rise and fall of Amy, i never listened to the album fully.
I really like Ronson's production and the singles are amazing, and Amy's personality shines through even on the deep cuts.
I've never cared much for Rehab, but You know i'm no good is an all timer.
If the non-singles were better i'd rate this higher.
The Doors
4/5
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Incredible Bongo Band
2/5
Greatly influential for sample based music, i see why it was used to cut so many tracks.
Overall it gets pretty repetitive, fun, but definetly made to be listened to once, take the best tracks and move on from it.
Scott Walker
3/5
Orbital
4/5
I was vaguely familiar with Orbital and never heard this album at all before.
Loved it and will be going back to it soon. It's actually awakening a taste to listen to oldschool british electronic music.
Neil Young
4/5
The Stranglers
3/5
I was completely unfamiliar with the Stranglers other than Golden Brown.
I was pleasently surprised by this album, i'm a sucker for post-punk and this album was energetic and catchy, I don't know how they're not much bigger.
The album was on and off throughout, ill stick with some select tracks like Hanging Around, Peaches and Get a Grip on Yourself.
The Only Ones
2/5
Nick Drake
3/5
Great songs but too few to make up for the lesser deep cuts, the lesser of his awesome catalogue
Arcade Fire
4/5
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
Never been a fan regardless of their hits.
The lyrics are great and both singles are huge and memorable, specially It's a Sin, and i see the revolutionary style they introduced on using samplers to create music, i just don't like what the they sampled and how the vocals are produced.
Overall good but not for me
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
Folk-rock isn't really my cup of tea, but i gotta admit that many songs and harmonies on this album are making a strong case to revisit all the greats.
Helplessly Hoping is an amazing song, feel like i've heard it all my life but coulnd't place it on who mame it.
Love the psychrock elements of the opener.
Might be my entry to this genre.
Michael Jackson
3/5
The hits are incredible, the deep cuts are forgetable and the song sequencing is unfortunate. rearranging the song order might do it good, but it's not as strong as the previous two.
XTC
2/5
Decent mix of new wave and pop, but not really sure why this is on the list.
Obviously familiar with Dear God, but the rest is pretty radio friendly, mid.
One of those "had to be there" albums really, but nothing stood out to me to listen to again.
Not bad though, just not memorable.
Neil Young
2/5
I'm barely getting familiar to Neil Youngs discography thanks to this experience, but this album doesn't speak to me at all.
Always seen the cover as a reference, but now that i've heard it, nothing stood out to me.
Hopefull to find other more exciting albums than this.
Beatles
3/5
A couple of my favorites are in this album, but most are pretty good and memorable songs, but it gets very repetitive very quick.
Barely beginning their carreer, still haven't experimented much and sticking to some good and famous covers to fill out the track list.
Never gets better than It Won't Be Long at the start.
Al Green
3/5
The Doors
3/5
Love this version of the bluesy style they were famous for.
Roadhouse Blues and Peace Frog have always been on my top 5 Doors songs, and the album never really faulters.
Starts great, ends great, great deep cuts like Indian Summer and Waiting for the Sun (shouldn't that come on Waiting For the Sun album?)
If only some of the middle songs were better it'd be a strong 4 songs, but it's a good 3 for now.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
I’m only familiar with very early and mid oughts Costello music, this 80s era is not that interesting to be honest.
The piano parts remind me of glam rock, Elton John style of songs, but most of the album sounds pretty mid and unmemorable.
Beatles
5/5
It’s radical, it’s experimental, it’s romantic, it’s commercial, it’s too long, it’s too good, it’s whimsical, it’s crazy and centered and incomprehensible and kinda excessive but an overall artistic vision well excecuted within the chaos they created for themselves to share with the world
Duke Ellington
3/5
Couldn't find the original tracklist, only the CD version which is probably close to the full show.
Great big band album, not sure why it's listed unless there's some historical context.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
Fun pop record I never listened to before. Obviously very well know Come On Eileen, altough we should all admit that the Save Farris is much better.
The combo of new wave and their particular celtic influences make a unique sound. Sadly i'm not quite interested in listening to it again.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
For all intents and purposes, this is a perfect album, specially if you dispense with the extra tracks that almost work as a "deluxe version".
If you concentrate and stick with the album from start to end it will take you so many places musically and spiritually that you had no idea an album could take you.
As has always been one of my favorite songs of all time across all genres.
Isn't she lovely, Sir Duke and I Wish are classic unskipable radio tunes.
Everybody recognizes Pastime Paradise for the Coolio song.
Knocks me off my feet, Talk with God and Ordinary Pain are incredible deep cuts, love hearing Minnie Riperton on that last one.
The begining track is not as strong as the finishing one, but that last one is so bombasticly funky and danceble, it makes up for any weakness the album could've had.
Few albums in history reach the heights this one takes you.
Beatles
4/5
my favorite early beatles album.
Almost every song could've been a single, actually the singles are the ones i like the least.
Just like people have favorite beatle eras, i've had favorite song eras.
One of the first was Things We Said Today, later Happy to dance with you, If I fell, I'll be back.
Never seen the movie, but i always remember the animated series with several of these songs.
Great, fun, memorable album
Sex Pistols
3/5
Pretty much the big bang for millions of people, thousands of bands, hundreds of genres.
THe world would be a very different place if this album didn't exist.
Every sensor and controversy hyped these songs beyond what they carry by themselves. Reminds me of The Velvet Underground and Nico, but i love that album and this one is just as impactful, but not as memorable for me at least.
Crazy that all the influence they carried was from only one album (and two bassist to be honest).
I wish I liked all the songs more than I just liked their lyrics.
Elton John
4/5
Never been quite familiar with Sir Elton's discography apart of several singles and a handfull of deep cuts.
I was not aware of the proggy experience this album was going to give me, I thought it would be more of a Your Song kinda experience. I'm quite surprised.
Starts with classic singles, but the expansive journey the middle takes you on is quite impressive.
The orchestration doesn't swallow Elton's personality on the piano as he keeps going towards Al the Nasties, which very well could've been a fantastic closer, only to give you the hearbreaking Goodbye to end on a sour note, but not for the album.
This was a fantastic experience listening for the first time, another artist i'll be looking forward to learning more of their discography thanks to this experience.
The Beach Boys
3/5
Even though songs from this album have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, I was never really into this album.
And comparing it to the back and forth they had with The Beatles that inspired Revolver and Rubber Soul, this album seems lacking held up to both of those.
Don't get me wrong, the historical context and recording achievement is top 5 or 3 all time, but i'm focusing specifically on the enjoyabilaty and replayability of the album, and it's pretty low for me.
Only the singles resonated with me and I will cherish forever.
I've already cried to God Only Knows thinking of my father and daughter for separate reasons.
Wish I knew less about it to enjoy it more for what it is by itself.
Kraftwerk
4/5
I can't imagine what it could've been like to live in the 70s and get the news that there's a new Kraftwerk album. It must have been extremely exciting to listen to the future everytime.
As experimental as it may seem, feels like their first real pop album.
Europe Enless might be my favorite on the album, even on top of TEE, which is a classic amongst classics because of it's impact in proppeling rapping onto the world.
It cover's all the basics of how they develope albums, the soundtrack music, the effects song, the trips, the singles, at least the first time it's really cohesive.
Randy Newman
1/5
Imposible to not think of Toy Story listening to this man.
Those soundtracks are surely better than this and are hopefully in the list.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
Didn't realize that Doug Yule is already part of the VUs in this album, the transition from Cale to Yule sounds pretty seamless. Confused less chaotic for maturity.
Even though WL/WH is my favorite VU album, pound for pound this album is better and only comparable to their debut.
There's no weak points, the Murder Mistery might be their most listenable epic, Candy Says and Beggining to see the light are some of my all time favorites of theirs, Pale Blue Eyes is an all timer, great closer with After Hours.
I'm tempted to give it five stars, but then i'd have to give 6 stars to the previous 2 albums, so i'll stick to 4.
The Byrds
3/5
LIstening to this album makes me feel like it's oldies radio all over again even though I probably onl heard Turn Turn Turn and maybe the title song.
Probably the influcence the band had on the landscape, or may have been similar to the grunge era or as Granpa Simpson said "which was the style at the time".
Really nice and listenable, but repetitive.
Cypress Hill
3/5
I'm not familiar with much of the Hill's discography, but this was surprisingly good.
Respect to DJ Muggs, his production is really clean, he uses a lot of classic sampled music, but blends well with the west coast latino vibe they display on the whole album.
I wish the lyrics and flow were sharper which they focused it more on the next album, but this one shines because of the production.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
I've been a fan of MBV for decades at this point, mostly through Loveless. Only went back to this album until their reunion.
I like the album more for talking a peak into the lab where they're doing early experiments more than the finish work they presented.
Strange enough, the singles and EPs they released around this I liked better than the album as a whole.
Still, absolutely love Soft as Snow and Feed Me with your Kiss.
Radiohead
4/5
Radiohead is one of my all time favorite bands.
I remember when this album came out. I hated it. It was pretty quick after Kid A which to this day is my favorite album of theirs and possibly top 3, at least top 10 album released in my lifetime (born in late 83).
It was hard to deal with Amnesiac after the roll they were in with since OK Computer, but with time I felt it matured very well and I found liking almost every single song by themselves.
Packt Like Sardines, Pyramid Song and Dollars & Cents are my favorites, specially Packt, one of my favorites from them in general.
Remember Knives Out and I might be wrong from listening to the radio back in the day.
You can cover many genres with each song, melow, electronic, jazzy, instrumental, rock, indie/jangle.
I love it, not perfect, but could have been.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
4/5
Wait... this isn't a live album???
I became familiar with Big Brother before i listened to Pearl, and i can't believe how far back does Janis' influence stretch to contemporary artists.
The covers are amazing, I was obsessed with this version of Summertime when I first heard it decades ago.
What each band members lives could have been like to get this quality of blues music is a mystery to me for now, but i'll look into it.
Green Day
4/5
Van Halen
3/5
Surprisingly good and consistent.
Great open and close to the album, no bad songs, fairly original sound of hard rock, never been the a fan of theirs and there is a lot of LedZep worship, but they’re welcome to it.
Ain’t Talking About Love is the best one after the opener.
Not something I’d pass to my children, but really good
Kings of Leon
3/5
I was around when they came up, I think they were part of the garage wave of the early 00's but carved out a space for themselves doing the whole southern blues rock niche they were in before going commercial even though they always were pretty big since the start.
It's slightly repetitive, but very fun. Saw them live by this time and I remember not being able to tell their songs apart from the singles Red Morning Light and Molly's Chambers. My favorites have always been Wasted Time and Spiral Staircase.
Tortoise
3/5
This was such a fun listening experience. Most of the time I checked the player and said to myself "its still the same song?!".
That's a good and bad thing, but mostly good. I enjoy Post-Rock from time to time.
Djed is obviously the standout track, so many movements, it's a full symphony within a song.
It's a shame that the shorter songs feel half baked Ideas instead of finished work, mostly sound as if they were demos.
The Tout and the Tame was my favorite, reminded me of Stereolab.
Curious to listen to TNT and other Tortoise albums, hopefully i'll find something that I like more than the second half of this album
ZZ Top
2/5
Is TV Diners a parody of Weird Al Yankovich doing a parody of ZZ Top?
I was looking forward to this album until I got to legs and then there was a sharp drop in IQ and the rest is laughable.
I’d give it a 1 if the singles weren’t so good.
Electric Light Orchestra
2/5
Haven't been familiar with ELO except for 2-3 popular songs.
The combination of orchestral and 70s rock is unique but it gets really repetitive really fast.
They sound as if they were bittter they couldn't score Flash (the movie) and made a career out of it.
I know they were a thing long before Flash.
It's not all lost, but the ones i liked i couldn't pick out.
Sorry ELOers, not for me.
Tina Turner
1/5
This mid eighties production and recording style is very jarring to my taste.
The album has a lot of mid covers, mid production, some hits, but really don't understand why this album is essential in any way to experience.
Tina is a legend and i'm not familiar with her full discography, but i'm looking forward to listening to something much better than this.
Ghostface Killah
4/5
Ghostface is my favorite WuTang member individual discography. GZA might have the best album in Liquid Swords, but GFK is all over Wutang's and everyone elses best tracks.
This might be my 2nd favorite of his, after Supreme Clientele of course.
The production is pretty consistent even though there's so many contributers, I recognized Dilla and DOOM, and great to know Pete Rock hands in a couple.
The skits as usual are pretty distracting, but the highs are pretty high.
If it were a little more concise it would be perfect.
My favorite tracks are 9 Milli Bros, Ragu, Jellyfish and Three Bricks.
Honorable mention the Biggie, Ice Cube and Ne-Yo features.
R.E.M.
4/5
As much as i've tried throughout my life, I just can't get into REM.
Don't get me wrong, they're legends and I love many of their songs, but none of their albums have kept my interest enough to listen back, except this one.
Maybe it's their youthful demeanor since it's their debut, or it may just be my preferance for post-punk which they mostly resemble on their early stuff.
I'll be generous and give them a higher rating because i like this much better than their next more famous albums.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Concrete jungle Jungle JUNGLE
I love this album. I've never studied Bob Marley's life enough to understand how was he able to pivot to such a cohesive style that defined his carrer down the path that this album took him on.
Kinky Reggae, the opener and No More Trouble are some of my top top Marley songs.
It's the only album IMO that compares in quality with Exodus, this is a 4.49 stars.
Julian Cope
1/5
The grungy postpunky aspects of this album weren't appealing enough for me.
There's some interesting aspects, but i'm rather turned away by most of the production and recording of the album.
Sounds very standard 90s alternative alternative, not enough to repeat.
Hole
4/5
I grew up during the grunge-postgrunge era and wasnt familiar with Hole until Celebrity Skin, which was a hit, but got overplayed very quickly.
Only heard the singles from this album over the years and listened to it for the first time now.
This much better than I expected. It reminds me more of the Pixies than other grungy counter parts.
Jennifer's Body is great, Doll Parts is a classic, Credit in the Staright World is fun, starts hard, ends hard.
Might have to revisit other Hole albums to find anything i missed throughout the years.
Emmylou Harris
3/5
Is this proto-indie-folk?
I can listen to so many current artists that surely drew inspiration from Emmylou and probably many other artists I don't know of.
The production is great, every song sounds live warm and full of energy.
Iron Maiden
4/5
Never been a metal head. I'm the normiest of normies. Basically just like Metallica and Tool.
Having said that, I can see why they were on the heights of the greats of the 80s.
Great and catchy thrash songs, great heavy slow songs, a little bit of everything, and loved the closer.
Curious to listen to more of the Maiden.
Parliament
4/5
One of the most forward thinking albums ever.
George, Bernie, Bootsy, Maceo = Geniuses
Give up the funk is one of my favorite songs ever, flanked by an albums worth of exploration and curiosity in the soul and funk outer space.
If the album was slightly longer with an additional banger it would be a perfect album, maybe the closer.
Metallica
3/5
One was the song that got me introduced to Metallica through MTV in the mid 90s.
I didn't like them at first, but they grew on me with Load and Reload.
Then I realized the error of my ways when I listened to their 80s discography, those are the only truly great albums.
The thrash songs in Justice aren't as catchy or memorable as KTA or Puppets, i preffer the straight metal ones.
The first half is great and from the second I only really like Harvester of Sorrow. The rest not at all.
If it ended stronger i'd rate higher.
Lorde
2/5
I wish I liked this more but it's quite overrated in my eyes.
Her lyrics are good, the production is really good, keeps you on your toes and expecting different sounds as the album goes on, but it wore on me eventually, at least felt repetative enough that i through in the towel regarless of Lorde's emotional connection.
It's all in the album title I guess.
CHVRCHES
2/5
I can see the popularity, and I see the use and market for it, but it’s just not my thing.
Decent standard synth pop is not something I gravitate towards right now.
Nina Simone
4/5
Nina is one of my favorite artists ever.
Her voice and creativity was only bound by her personal limitations, but you can always peak into her power with every song she recorded.
I like how this album reflects the middle of her peak artistic form.
I was familiar with the Bowie and Buckley versions of Lilac Wine and Wild is the Wind, but the originals are so much better.
There will never be another artist like her.
The KLF
1/5
Couldn't find the original version of the album, and i'm all for house and electronic music, but this selection has quite annoying instrumentation, most songs were skips for me.
Nirvana
5/5
When I was 10 my family took me to a house party quinceañera and I was bored and one of the only kids. I found and stayed watching tv and as I channel surfed, there was this channel called MTV that played this unplugged for hours.
Kurt Cobain died that week.
Never been a fan even though I blasted Nevermind in my late teens, but I do love this album.
Timeless, perfect, nostalgic, melancholic, strangely humorous.
I know all the songs by heart and look forward to listen to this with my daughter as she grows up.
Sabu
4/5
Wasn't familiar with this album or artist.
Amazing that Blue Note had this in their early ranks.
Some conga solo songs, some other classic cuban rumba.
Sabú's leadership shines on all the album, never a dull moment even though most of the run time is conga driven.
The sessions sound like the players were having a lot of fun recording it.
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
I was 10 years old when this came out, listened to CREAM and Protect Ya Neck at 11. Marked my life forever.
RZA’s sampling, each members personality shines through.
It’s crazy to see how an album like this sounds so revolutionary and dangerous when it came out and now it’s proven to be harmless and absolutely timeless.
There’s no weak links on the tracklist on the mic or on the devs.
I’d say that it starts and ends great but the middle is amazing too, only comparable to Illmatic.
MOVEMENT ON YOUR LEFT, AHH
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
2/5
What a curious music project, I was only familiar with the album cover.
I really like the instrumentation, but i couldn't get into the songs. Cool experimental chamber background music.
Jethro Tull
2/5
Always aware of this album throughout my life but never actually heard it.
Maybe if I listened to it at the time I was barely getting into classic basic prog or glam rock this might have been more of interest to me, but for now i'm not.
Don't get me wrong, its a fantasticly recorded executed album, the flow is great, but speaking of the style, it just escapes me why this is big other than the weirdness of adding flutes to the mix.
Borederline meh.
Morrissey
2/5
Growing up I was (and still am) a huge fan of the Smiths discography, pretty close to impacable.
I've felt that Morrissey doesn't have a strong discography and even further diluted with mid tier albums he's done since unretireing/lost the plot.
Smiths and him have been old school strong singles artists that don't appear on any album.
I've been familiar and a fan of many of his songs, but not his albums.
This is another example, Everyday and Suedehead are huge, but i couldn't really find anything else that compares or compliments the heights those songs reach.
Sorry to rate this low Moz, i'm sure i'll hear about it at your next concert if you ever decide to stop skipping them.
Just retire and live your life dude, seriously.
The Doors
4/5
When I first started life under P2P and mp3 downloads, it was hard to find full albums organized in good quiality; eventually I found someone who had some Hendrix, Bowie and Floyd. The top 3 I listened to was Hendrix debut, DSOTM and this album.
So many catchy songs, hilarious that this was such a contraversial and baned album back in the day.
Almost perfect, a 4.4 for sure. I like LA Woman better
Michael Jackson
5/5
My lifelong obsesion with music began with this album.
I was born in 1983 and i remember spending hours reading the lyrics, looking at the album art and listening to every detail from the title track as soon as i was old enough to play the record on my own.
It may not be a perfect album, but it's perfect for me.
Every song is memorable (for better or worse, and i'm looking at you Sir Paul), every song was or could have been a single.
Every song has been my favorite in different phases of my life, the last one was Baby Be Mine.
Rod Temperton must be swiming in money with his contributions to MJ's discography. Every single one of his best songs (except Remember the Time) was written by him, his output with Heatwave was great too, but nowhere near as good as these tracks.
Quicey Jones' genius shining through in everysong.
I mean, why would you expect a record with a legendary producer, legendary song writter and legendary performer not be legendary?
I sometimes say that Off the Wall was better, but then I listen to Wanna Be Starting Something and Lady in my Life and remember how incredible the alpha and omega's are here and clearly Thriller was his best album.
Fela Kuti
5/5
This album makes me wish I would've become a drummer in the vain of Joey Waronker or Tom Skinner thanks to Tony Allen's drumming.
I love how on Fela's albums the length of the songs gives you no choice but to listen to the album in full.
I assume that most of the record is a live recording, what an amazing experience must have been to be present during the sessions.
I'm sure that Fela's leadership in the band expanded and guided all the places the music went on during each song's journey.
Can't pick a favorite out of the 4, they're all amazing.
The dancey Zombie, winding Observation is No Crime, classic afrobeat of Mister Follow, and the live version of Mistake.
Scott Walker
2/5
There's aspects of Scott Walker that sound so timeless and even modern, I can't believe it was recorded in the 60s.
In other ways, it sounds like any run of the mill international chamber pop artist.
I can see why it's worth listening, but i've never quite understood why it's so impactful. Is it just the combination of traditional song structures with left field lyrics and bravado?
Not my cup of tea to be honest.
Pavement
4/5
I've always been more of a Slanted and Enchanted kinda listener. I like how mature and experimental their brand of punky indie rock was, more expected from a more mature band.
Crooked Rain has always been more of a critics choice and I see why.
The experimental elements are toned down, even more mature song writing, they sound like they were writing in their 40s when they were still in their early 20s.
There's no deep cuts that stand out as much as in Slanted, where the whole album is individualy memorable, but it's a more cohesive listening experience from start to finish.
Starts great, ends great, almost perfect.
The Who
3/5
As much a fan I am of Tommy and Who's next, I never listened to this album in full.
What a curious combination of blues, vocal harmonies and crazy druming; probably sums up the Who in general.
Their musicianship makes them standout over the rest of the field, but their song structure is pretty much the same.
I wasn't expecting James Brown covers, great adition.
Good starting point, but really don't compare to their later output.
The Thrills
2/5
Did Phantom Planet rip them off or the other way around?
I can think of at least 50 albums that won’t me on this list that are 4-5 star worthy that could easily take the place of this album.
Wonderful music, don’t get me wrong, very poppy, listenable, easy to enjoy, but I can’t stand the voice and none of the songs are memorable at all.
Never heard of it contemporaneously, don’t feel I missed out at all.
Eric Clapton
3/5
Eric's voice always reminds me of the Cream days. I'd listen to anything from that era.
Not so much from his solo carreer.
Theres a couple of really good blues songs here, the classic Bob Marley cover
It's... ok, i get it, i heard it, not coming back to it.
Congrats mr Clapton, you made a decent album.
The White Stripes
5/5
Where should I start?
It was quite a privilege to be almost 20 and in full control of my listening habits when the whole garage revivial was on.
Mostly radio friendly content like Vines, Hives and Strokes. But never in my wildest dreams could I imagine that the White Stripes would follow up White Blood Cells with album that would start with a song that would be a stadium anthem at the height of Queen songs.
There’s really no one else that can sound so powerful with only 2 people playing.
Meg’s drumming fills so much space and Jack’s riffs are as memorable and catchy as his lyrics.
No weak links, hard to even make out influences other than broad genres.
Love this album, can’t even pick a favorite from it.
Some days it’s Black Math, others Ball and Biscuit, others Cold Cold Night.
I’ll stick with Hardest Button to Button, in an alternate reality that would be the stadium anthem, it’s that good.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
This album is fantastic.
I’ve seen a documentary about it, the story is so interesting on how they came up with the song lyrics, their experimental phase that led them to develop such a catchy batch of songs engulfed in lofi-ish chaos.
You completely ignore Wayne’s shortcomings as a singer by listening to his lyrics and the harmonies provided by the rest of the band.
This is easily the definition of an album you have to listen to in your lifetime.
It could’ve easily ended on Feeling Yourseld Desintegrate but it goes into Sleeping on the roof, perfect closer.
Funny enough, it ends up feeling like a great movie that end and then you get a reprise of the main theme with the credits.
I love this album, I plan on listening to this with my children at diferentes ages so they enjoying in all its forms with the passing of time, focusing on the silly side and later the much more serious aspect of it.
Dire Straits
2/5
Are Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits a "had to be there" thing to get why they're always mentioned in best ofs"
I really don't understand it; it's a fine blues album, congrats.
Don't care for his voice, don't see the hype of his guitar work, mid songs, should I search genius.com for a breakdown of the lyrics to get the point?
Truely bizzar to me why this is big.
CHIC
3/5
I absolutely love Chic, seeing them live recently was a dream come true.
They've got so many hits and great colaborations that's hard to narrow down to a short list of favorites.
Unfortunately I'm slightly dissapointed by their album content. It's always half great, half not so much.
Chic Cheer and Le Freak are obvious classics, that i'll listen to forever, and I Wan Your Love is my favorite song of theirs and one of my favorites of all time.
I wish their slower songs were better, and they do have good slow songs, but not on this album.
Gang Starr
4/5
I'm so happy to find a Gang Starr album in the ranks.
In my eyes, DJ Premier is a top 3 all time hip-hop producer. The quality and frequency of his output is second to none, he may only lack the impact of Dr. Dre, RZA or commercial appeal of Kanye and Pharrell, but he's just as good, equally recongnizable because of his scratching technique and always stands out whomever has the mic.
RIP Guru, another top top rapper, always reminds me of Rakim but grittier.
Strange that his was the album that was included in the list, but it's hard to pick which one would be the one to choose for a must listen, I'd say it's at least 2: Hard to Earn and Moment of Truth. But this album is just as good and shocking that they start their carrers with these high level songs.
Execution of a Chump is one of my all time hip-hop favorite.
Black Sabbath
5/5
Legendary, classic, fantastic, overplayed, kinda underated, kinda funny in hindsight (at least compared to the debut).
Side A is surely one of the best, most consistant, popular, well ordered, memorable sides of any album in history.
Side B is completely overshadowed by A, but the case needs to be made for Electric Funeral, almost as good as the famous tracks; Hand of Doom is slightly repetitive, but fun; Rat Salad is in the pantheon of great drum solo songs like Toad and Moby Dick; and lastly Fairies Wear Boots is sort of an extention of Iron Man to bookend the whole album that disolves into darkness.
Mercury Rev
2/5
I'm surprised I wasn't familiar with this album, and not at the same time.
When you listen to it, you do feel the Flaming Lips' Soft Bulletin vibe since they were both produced at the same time by the same guy, very similar album structure, similar vocals, completely different instrumentation and arrangements.
But for some reason, i'm just not clicking with this, apparently it was a hit, not sure where, doesn't sound like something that would sound in a store or radio other than indie stations for a while.
Kinda reminds me of Sparklehorse too, but this is more like an annoying musical than an indie show.
Not bad, just not for me.
Skepta
4/5
I consider myself to be a hip-hop head but not really familiar with Grime in general.
Pleasently surprised by this album, lyrics are great, album flow is great, production is fantastic, didn't know he was his own main producer.
There's so many memorable beats and hooks:
It Ain't Safe, Corn on the Curb, Numbers (surprise Pharrell feature), That's Not Me, Detox.
Slightly repetitive though, a little more rhythm variance would've helped the pase of the album.
Really enjoyed this, looking forward to learning more of UK Grime.
Janis Joplin
4/5
There's so much to say about this album.
Legendary album, but was most familiar with her earlier work, specially her previous album.
I'm kinda shocked by how modern this album sounds compared to the rest.
Strange that it's mostly covers, but her soulfull voice carries the weight of the legend.
Tragically short, which was the norm at that time, but it' sounds almost as a greatest hits. There's not throwaways, most of them are pretty memorable but within the album experience, not by themselves.
Starts great, ends great, great middle tracks, if it was longer it would be perfect.
David Bowie
3/5
I remember this album passed me by completely since I was so disinterested in Bowie's later discog. I realized there was new Bowie music catching a music video on a Carl's Jr screen. Strange times.
Only went back learning of James Murphy's minor envolvment, at the time LCD Soundsystem was my favorite band, and may well still be.
This might be the first time I listen to it fully, and while not his best crop, it's slightly better than most 90s onwards output.
Still hear his interet in sharing his views of the world, now more melancholic than before, Where Are We Now, You Feel So Lonely and Heat sound like he's looking back and realizing there's not much time left to talk about new things, reflecting on what past, slightly affraid of not knowing what comes beyond this point.
Still some classic Bowie era on the title track and Dancing Out In Space, some 90s breakbeat on If You Can See Me.
This is a pretty good album, but falls within the context of his work.
Screaming Trees
3/5
I was always a fan of Mark Lanegan's voice, and the Trees' sound was as distinct as any of the big grunge bands of the era, never understood why they couldn't maintain more relevance other than their one hit wonder status of Nearly Lost You.
Having grown up in that era, this sounds very much like what it felt to listen to rock radio in the 90s.
I don't recall any of the song in this album, not sure why this is the one to listen to instead of Sweet Obvlivion.
Good variety of songs, not memorble enough to garner repeat listens, maybe if I was familiar with it back in the day it would be more impactful.
Arcade Fire
4/5
Another album I experienced in my lifetime.
The hype around the band was gigantic after having released the fantastic Funeral, which I absolutely loved, so it was going to be kind of imposible to follow this album up with something similar.
When Black Mirror came out, it strangely felt much darker than an album about the death of your parents and grandparents, and that was just the introduction.
But when listening to the full album, the experience was much nuanced, half dark, half light, all memorable and entertaining.
My favorites were Antichrist Tv Blues, Ocean of Noise and the fantastic No Cars Go, that remains as the torchbearer for the Arcade Fire sound.
Rush
5/5
Fantastic album, the combination of catchy songs, prog crazyness and memorable moments is hard to match, even casual listeners can enjoy half of the album, no just prog heads.
George Harrison
4/5
What a long album. It's quite an artistic expression to fit so much music in a single release.
The quality of the 2nd album is so much higher than the first.
And the instrumental album is fun, until it isn't.
I can see the revolutionary aspect of it coming out in 1970.
If it were split into 2 releases, it could be 1 perfect album and another really good, but not great album, this stays in the middle.
Metallica
4/5
Can't decide if this or Ride the Lighting is my favorite album of theirs.
I always found funny the outrage that came from the furning commercial with the Black Album because of the tempo of the songs.
They were already laying the ground work for that transition since back here. The real outrage was Load and Reload, that's when I got into them, those are super run of the mill rock songs.
Sad that this is Cliffs last album, his influence in the thick thrashy sound they made so pupular is forever missed.
The titletrack has always been one of my top 3 Metallica songs, Battery is amazing, Orion is my favorite instrumental of theirs.
Big Star
4/5
Is it me, or is this album cover more famous than the album?
Funny that i'm well familiar with the cover versions rather than the originals, but this is a great album.
Solid songs, good flow, harmonies, timeless feel.
Joy Division
4/5
This is a seminal album in my music learning experience.
Post-punk is my favorite rock subgenre by far and it all starts here.
In my mind, there's no bigger music "what if" than Joy Division. If this is how they started and continued to Closer, I can't imagine where they would go, I definetly dont' think they would transition as easily toward the synth dance rock that Bernard and Peter helmed after Ian's passing, maybe they would've continued a similar path as NIN or Gary Numan, embracing the dark by uplifting others around them.
Disorder, She's Lost Control and Shadowplay are easily some of the songs i've heard the most in my life, although the rest are mostly contained within the album listening experience, and for that i'll have to deduct a star. Shame that Dead Souls, Transmission and Digital are separate releases, those would've made it a sure 5.
Taylor Swift
2/5
This is the first album i've ever heard of Taytay's, and I have to admit......... I couldn't get through it, I really tried.
The experience is very similar to a Drake album, where the worst part of a Drake album is Drake, if you take him away, it's pretty good.
The instrumentation and production is clearly top notch, the Dressners and Antonoff are in the top of their game, specially for the vibe this is going for, I'm just completely unintrested in her storytelling and her sound.
Just listened to an Emmylou Harris album, that was wonderful, this isn't.
Garbage
2/5
I grew up listening to Garbage on indie rock radio (no pun intended), fantastic singles, lead my to buy Version 2.0, which was clearly a better album than this one.
Happy when it Rains and Stupid Girl might top their fame and discography, but this album is really a debut, looking forward to what they'll do in the future kinda experience for me.
The sound is impecable of course thanks to the collective experience of their producer bandmates, but the songcraft needed a little more polishing.
I would've placed their next album in this list.
Bob Dylan
4/5
I've never been fond of Dylan, regardless of his great songs which are good and impactull obviously. But learning about his discography has been an interesting experience.
This is the second album I listen to in full and I like it much better than Blonde on Blonde.
The early folkier sound is much more interesting.
Half of the songs are universal classics, most of the rest is pretty consistent, I loved the WWIII song, but the best is for me A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall.
Curious to learn how his discog evolves throuout the years.
U2
4/5
I think the perception of U2 depends entirely on what age were you when you paid attention to their music and what stage of their careers was the band at that time.
In my case it was between the Batman Forever song and the Sweetest Thing era.
At that point I swam into their earlier discography and quickly became a big fan of theirs enjoying their straighforward and borderline simple instrumentation creating songs that can only becontained in stadiums with great social lyrics being well versed on the injustices of the world. There was always something new to learn on each of their albums.
War was the album I listened to the most easily, as much as Joshua Tree.
The singles were inescapable, Seconds, Two Hearts and 40 were great discoveries, the whole album experience was very rewarding from start to finish.
I never considered this a concept album, but it very well could be seen this way.
I'll rate this objectively regardless of their future as a band (and rich tax avoiding human beings).
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
This is a fantastic album.
As cliche as songs like Jammin and Three Little Birds have become, the fit perfectly with the overall intent of the album, life as an exhile that you turn into your land.
You've got love songs like Turn Your Lights Down Low and Waiting In Vain (which might be my favorite on the album).
The energy from The Heathen to Exodus is incredible transitioning to Jammin, one of the best middle of an album in history IMO.
Don't get me started with Natural Mystic, the perfect begginig to a perfect album, mood setter and starting point for anything you do in life.
Protest songs like So Much Things to Say and Guiltiness.
This is a basic starting point in any musical journey and an easy one to get lost in for a long time.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Growing up I was obsessed with the lore surrounding the creation of this album.
The perfect example of artists having the freedom to breath the life they want their art to embody, lighting it on fire, and blowing the fire away for others to catch it.
Musically sounds pretty dated because of it's classic jangle pop aesthetics and the old timey production techniques they clearly used to make it sound more raw.
The but story telling, the uneasy urban vibe each song brings that invites you and horrifies you to explore more corners of the city where you find characters that you come across once and others that leave a mark in your life.
I play Sunday Morning to my daughter all of the time, the flow from song to song is nonsensical but works perectly.
Now let's get into the Nico part of the album; she's the Fergie of this album, made them more noticible, but not an essencial part of the band in the long run. Classic Warhol Muse. Yet her pressence is not just another one of those characters in the story, Moe couldn't have sung her songs if she wasn't there, Femme, Venus, Parties and Mirror are absolutely essential to the album experience.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
What a fantastic soul album, this is clearly where she took the throne and became the queen.
This is much more than the album where Respect is on. It sounds like a blueprint that was followed by the biggest soul artist in the coming decades. I can hear a lof of Al Green and Minnie Ripperton in the sound of this album.
I wish it was slightly longer, I guess that the psychodelic soul sound gets developed a little later and it would gone a long way here.
Aerosmith
2/5
I went through a bit of a Aerosmith singles phase in my musical discovery path and the more I delved in the more I noticed it wasn't my thing.
Maybe blues rock isn't my thing.
Back in the Saddle is a fun song and that's about it.
All the macho bravado that was the main attraction of this style of hard rock is very repetitive to my ear, not much creativity going on throughout the album.
It's a solid listen if this is what you are looking for, but maybe I'll find an album more to my likeing later on.