1001 Albums Summary

Pre listen: I didn't know the Ramones were a 70's band, I always thought they were 90's. Knowing they are 70's now is very interesting, their punk-sound was very ahead of their time. I always thought The Clash inspired The Ramones, but now I think it may be the other way around. Notable tracks: Blitzkrieg Bop - Absolute classic, used at least once in every sporting event in a stadium ever. Chain Saw - The loud chainsaw sound at the start hurt my ears :( I had my volume too high. Also points off for pronouncing Massacre "Mass-ah-cree" Now I wanna Sniff Some Glue - Me too kid. 53rd & 3rd - Probably my favorite track on the album. Good lyricism, varying tempo, vocal distortions, and good vocal harmonies make me like it. Post Listen: Overall I'd give it a 2/5. I think too many of the songs sound similar, to the point there was a few instances I didn't realize one track went on to the next. The tempo they play at is the same for like 80% of the songs on here, and the backing guitars/drum rhythms sound way too similar between songs as well. The lyrics are really good in many of the songs, but there were a few I couldn't understand what they were saying due to their THICK Impoverished Islander Accent. I would describe the album as Punk-Rock boiled down to it's most essential components, but just like boiled water, it needs some flavor. Remarkable album for being foundational for Punk music though, and again, very impressed it came out as early as it did.

Pre Listen: I have no idea who this band is. The only Franz Ferdinand I know was assassinated in 1914, so I have no expectations for this album going in. Notable Tracks: Take Me Out - Hey I know this one. This is the one that made them popular I think. Classic. The Dark of the Matinée - Rather catchy, I like the melody a lot. My favorite track on the album. Cheating on You - Kind of repetitive, my least favorite song on the album. It has a fairly ugly melody as well, but I guess the ugliness fits the message? This Fire - I know this one too, another hit. It's pretty good. Post Listen: I did know more of their songs than I realized, and even the songs I didn't recognize were catchy and overall well made. I enjoyed the swings in tempo that a lot of the songs have and how quickly their lyrics and melodies will change along with it to fit the mood. I give the album a 4/5, I don't think I'll add any songs to my playlist as I'm not much a punk enjoyer, but I appreciate the music for the quality it has.

Pre Listen: Despite knowing how influential Bob Dylan is, and despite my affinity for music out of the 60's and 70's, I've never really given any of Bob's album work a good thorough listen. I'm looking forward to giving it a try, resultingly my expectations are higher than usual. Notable Tracks: Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again - Just like the title, this song goes on for wayyyyy too long. Easily my least favorite on song on the album. It's repetitive in a bad way. Fourth Time Around - Reminded me of the Beatles' Norwegian Wood. Would be a great track and playlist worthy if it didn't go on for too long. Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands - My favorite track on the album, good enough that I'm adding it to my playlist. The piano is a nice touch. It's repetitive in a good way. Post Listen: What an interesting album. I had a lot of comments for a lot of tracks I felt were notable, but they all essentially boiled down to a few key feelings I had about the album; Bob Dylan's lengthy drawn-our pronunciation of words, intentionally slurred lyrics, random harmonica breaks, and jumbled verses works in small doses, but becomes grating after back-to-back tracks. The actual content of the lyrics, especially in his songs relating to women or relationships, make him come off as a creep. Whether that's intentional or not I'm uncertain, but it's unpleasant regardless. That being said I did enjoy a few of the songs, but I won't be listening to this album in it's entirety again. It's too long and Bob got on my nerves after the 4th or so song. I give it a 2/5.

Pre Listen: Talking Heads my beloved :D Notable Tracks: I Zimbra - What a jubilant way to start an album. Absolutely love it. Life During Wartime - My favorite track, already on my playlist before this listen. Heaven - The 'Nothing Ever Happens' theme song. Huge for those who subscribe to the nothing ever happens line of modern philosophy. Animals - My least favorite track. Even though it's my least favorite I still enjoy it. Drugs - Adding to my playlist. The lyrics are not my favorite, but the actual music behind it is so ethereal and smooth. I've overlooked this song too many times. Post Listen: I've already listened to this album on multiple occasions, and have been a Talking Heads fan for maybe a decade at this point, so I'm absolutely biased. I love David Byrne's goofy nonsensical lyrics that occasionally have something poetic hidden in the noise. The band has such a unique sound, with lopsided guitar and bass melodies pulled along by grooving synth, and kept in check by sleek drum-play. I love this band. All that said, I'm giving the album a 4/5. The Talking Heads have stronger albums in my opinion, and while this one is great, they've demonstrated better. I think my bias also plays a roll in how much I enjoy this album, if you're brand new to the Talking Heads, 80% of the songs on here probably sound like doo-doo to you.

Pre Listen: Who? I like green onions in my food, and I like the album cover, and I like the release year, all telling me I'll likely enjoy this album. Notable Tracks: Green Onions - Ohhhh shit it's these guys. I couldn't tell you how many pieces of media I've heard this bit in. Very cool, also my favorite track. Mo' Onions - A reprisal to the song they clearly recognized is a banger? Brave. I applaud it. Twist and Shout - Love me Beatles. Love a good Beatles cover. Simple 'as. Post Listen: Call me Shrek but I'm digging these Onions man. Classic 60's rock, it's smooth, it's inoffensive, it's foundational. Got me tapping my foot and and humming along. The songs have a decent variety in sound too, I'll be adding a few to my playlist perhaps. A unique thing about this album is that there really wasn't a 'Least Favorite' track I encountered, it's all quite good. Giving the album a 4/5. Took my expectations and ran with it to higher places. While the whole album is solid, I wouldn't say there's anything exceptionally special however, which is why it isn't a 5/5.

Pre Listen: I listened to this album once a long time ago. I remember Money for Nothing, and I remember somewhat disliking the album. I haven't listened to much Dire Straits since, so I'm going in to this with minimal expectations. Notable Tracks: Money for Nothing - Yup, certified classic, banger. Adding it to my playli- wait hang on. He can't say that word. MFW Dire "Straights" or something. Walk of Life - Completely forgot this was one of their songs. Another certified classic, a real foot tapper. Why Worry - Snoozefest, least favorite song on the album. One World - Honestly sort of a hidden gem. Very funky, my favorite on the album. Post Listen: I enjoyed this album a lot more than I remembered, a lot of the lead guitar and keyboard work remind me of Pink Floyd. While it was better than I remembered, the album frustrates me somewhat. I think this band is at it's strongest with faster paced groove and vibe sort of songs, songs you can bop to. The fact this album then is mostly slower songs hurts. It feels like the musical equivalent of going up to a dog, hyping it up by jumping around and acting manic, then immediately leaving it alone in a room. I'm the dog, and I'm left confused and wanting more of that hype. I give it a 3/5.

Pre Listen: I get this band confused with Journey sometimes. I've heard this album before on many occasions, Boston's songs have unfortunately been included in every single classic-rock radio station or default rock playlist since their debut. Due this this, I feel their songs have been overplayed to the point where any merit they held individually has sort of worn out their welcome. Despite that I'll do my best to scrub my brain of every time I've heard their songs in a public space or on a long car ride, and keep an open mind. Notable Tracks: More Than a Feeling - Yup, that's More Than a Feeling alright. Despite my best efforts it's just a song I've heard 100s of times. It has merit as a real classic, but man I wish it wasn't included on everything. Peace of Mind - Yup, that's Peace of Mind alright. Yup. Foreplay/Long Time - Would be my favorite track, if it cut off right around the 2:30 minute mark. Certainly the most unique sounding track on the album in my opinion, until the aforementioned point, where it loses it's identity, and picks up the same sound as most other songs on this album. The acoustic bits in this track are great as well, I wish they let them shine more. Post Listen: In the time between listening to this album and uploading this review, a time period of ~18 hours, I went and got some groceries and got a haircut. While getting a haircut, "More Than a Feeling" came on over the ceiling speakers. I can't make this shit up. This album is solid. The instrument work is solid, the vocals are solid, the mixing is solid, it's a very clean album. The problem may be that it's too solid..? There's nothing in it that really sticks out to me, neither inherently amazing, nor abhorrent. It's the musical equivalent to that one B+ kid you knew in high school, who was really nice, decently smart, but painfully average. You wish them all the best, but ultimately don't keep up with them after you graduate. 3/5

Pre Listen: YES Notable Tracks: Yours Is No Disgrace - Putting your anti-war song front and center, right at the height of the Vietnam War, is incredibly respectable. I'm happy this band was part of that movement. Song is a banger too. Starship Trooper - Tied with the song mentioned below as my favorite track. The lyric "Loneliness is a power that we possess to give or take away forever" lives in my head rent free, and I try to keep it in mind on a daily basis. The ending "Würm" of this song is such an amazing piece of psyche-rock. I've Seen All Good People - Tied with the song mentioned above as my favorite track. A song about Chess making me feel things about the greater world and myself as a whole? The lyric "Don't surround yourself with yourself" is another one I try to keep in mind as much as I can. Amazing. Catchy too. A Venture & Perpetual Change - Listening to this album again reminded me these songs aren't on my playlist. I will be downloading them post-haste. Post Listen: This is one of my top albums of all time. It's the sort of album you can listen to over and over again, and it stays fresh. It has the sort of lyricism that leaves varying interpretations upon each person, have generally positive messages behind it, and just overall leave me feeling good. The changes in tempo, mood, instrumentation, and overall direction throughout the album makes it feel almost cinematic to me. The only critic I have is that the band struggles to stick the landing on a few songs, resulting in some awkward endings to a few tracks. I relate completely. Yes' sound is unbelievably unique, I can't say I've found another band that even comes close really. I would kill to have Steve Howe's skill on a guitar, electric or otherwise. I want to gush more about this album, but I'm trying to keep all my reviews around a similar length. 5/5. Perfect Album.

Pre Listen: I've not listened to Rush at all really. If I've heard one of their songs at some point, it's been entirely incidental. I'm excited to listen to their work, the last album reviewed on here was by Yes, and quite a few reviews with a negative opinion of them said how they favored Rush as a Prog Rock band active around similar times. So we shall see. Notable Tracks: YYZ - My favorite track on the album. Has some weaker points, especially the intro, but overall is some good ol' rockin. The Camera Eye - My least favorite track. Sort of a nothing-burger song. Goes on for much too long and is much too repetitive. Post Listen: It's an album, it's prog-rock. I don't know man, it's just sort of...music? I'm rather ambivalent to this album, more so than others I've listened to up to this point. There wasn't really anything unique I noticed about the sound. Some songs bordered on boring even. I bet it would be awesome to hear this album live at the very least? I think this is the most "Dad Rock" album I've heard in a long time. The bass player has more talent than anyone else on the band methinks. This is the first album covered on here where I didn't recognize a single song from. Understandably so. I don't really have much else to say outside of that. 2/5.

Pre Listen: Haven't heard of these guys before, but this will be the first rap/hip-hop album reviewed on here. For that reason, I'm looking forward to listening to it. Notable Tracks: Bring The Noise - Incredibly solid start to the album. I dig it. It's funky, the sample mixing is solid. BRING THE NOISE. Caught, Can I Get a Witness? - My favorite track. I love the beat, I love the samples, and most of all I love the lyrics. Good shit. Night of the Living Baseheads - Weakest song on the album. Solid lyrical work, good beat, but whatever sounds like a broken clown horn in the backing track got to go. Slightly headache inducing. Post Listen: YEEAAAA BOOOIIII. I absolutely loved this album. It was a fun listen, the sample work is incredible. The lyrics got several laughs out of me, and has some decent political commentary too sprinkled about. Nothing crazy deep, but I always appreciate a good call to action. Terminator X is a clown, one I can appreciate. This is classic Hip Hop, and I can recognize their influence in several more modern artists I like, that I never knew was there. I'll definitely be revisiting this album, and will likely add some tracks from it to my playlist. I may revisit this review and bump the score after a couple more listens. I believe the hype, 4/5.

Pre Listen: Another group I haven't heard of, not even in passing. I can't tell what genre this might even be based on the album cover. Going in completely blind. Notable Tracks: N/A - I'm putting N/A as the whole album is a live recording of what's essentially a jam/jazz session. Songs mesh and flow from one to the next, with only 5 breaks or so. If I had to choose a "favorite" part, Egbe Mi O (Carry Me) was pretty nice. I like the melody he had everyone singing. It was nice. "Black Man's Cry" was my least favorite, it felt a bit tacky...? I don't really know how to describe it. Post Listen: Certainly the most free-form album I've been given to on here to date. I feel somewhat conflicted about how to even go about rating it. It's music, but it's unlike anything I've heard on here yet, seeing as how it was a live recording of free-form Afro-Jazz and rhythm. It's like judging free-form expressionist dance at an olympic sporting event, where does one even start? The beats, guitar, keyboard, occasional brass were all well played, consistently. I felt like the vocals fit well sometimes, but felt as though they were out of place othertimes. I appreciate the artists and feel more cultured after listening to this, but I don't see myself coming back, nor adding anything to my playlist. 3/5.

Pre Listen: I've got a few Steely Dan songs on my playlist, so I have some familiarity with them. Growing up I never heard them, as my mother considers them her #1 pick for the worst band on earth. I didn't inherit that opinion, but we'll see. Notable Tracks: Rikki Don't Lose That Number - Absolute classic, catchy start to the album. East St. Louis Toodle-Oo - A classic blues styled song? On a 1974 album? And it sounds immaculate? Easy favorite track on this album. A cool little jive. May add to my playlist. Charlie Freak - Least favorite track on the album. While I respect trying out unique instruments in songs, Jingle Bells do not belong on anything other than Christmas music. I looked at the comments under this song and people were calling it a Christmas song, which comes off as a massive cope to me, considering nothing on the lyrics or theme is remotely holiday related. Post Listen: The A-Side of this album was much better than the B-side in my opinion. So much so I would rate the A and B side seperately, if I could. The instrumentation, lyrics, and flow work together for some real bangers through the first 5 tracks, but drop off steeply over the last 6. The vocals specifically become more slurred and intrusive over the last few tracks, to the point I wish some were instrumental instead. Perhaps it was a mixing issue, but some songs felt as though every instrument was working against each other to have the spotlight, fighting against the vocals which consistently held that spot. It wasn't an offensive album by any means, most tracks would service completely fine as good background music for any day-to-day moment. I would have given this album a 4/5, but the latter half bumped it down to a 3/5. Got me feeling *steely*.

Pre Listen: Yet another band, album, and artist I have no knowledge of off the top of my head. No expectations going in on this one, absolutely blind. Notable Tracks: Viscous - The best song I heard on this album. I say best, but I wasn't really a fan of anything on here, it's just this was the only song that wasn't absolutely terrible. Satellite of Love - I quit listening to the album on this track. Trash. Post Listen: So I guess this an early example of Emo Rock? Half the time Lou Reed's vocals make him sound like he's about to fall asleep. He looks positively bored in the album cover. The music they've produced left me bored as well. They sound like a Walmart-brand amalgamation of The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and a hint of the Kinks, but without any of the fun, creativity, or raw talent. Songs about sex, drugs, and other adult themes without any talent in the actual sound of the music or lyrics might've been unique in the 60's and earlier, but by the 70's it's so played out. I guess they could be applauded for some positive themes about queerness in a time when that kind of thing could get you exiled from your community, but their music sounds so terrible, it may have contributed to LGBTQ hatred unironically. This will be my first album I couldn't finish because of how grating it sounded. 1/5 Stars.

Pre Listen: Never heard of em! But I quite like the album art, goes hard, would have as a poster in my room. Notable Tracks: F.I.A.T. - Sounds like a track from a 90's boomer shooter or cyber-themed arcade shooter cabinet. I dig it, favorite song on the album. There's a sound like a creaking rocking chair in the background that's a bit goofy though. Trans-National - Very torn on this track between loving it and hating it. The sample works range from pretty cool to genuinely unhinged. The beat and guitar are solid, the vocals are solid. It sounds like something from Venture Bros. Left me feeling disoriented, leaning towards disliking it. Herze-Felde/Laibach (Skin) - My least favorite songs on the album. They're just too experimental, just kind of noise. The Revolution #9 of this album. Post Listen: First Non-English album I've reviewed on here, and the definitely the heaviest to date. I can feel the veins popping on the vocalist holy moly. I enjoyed the addition of non-traditional rock instruments, violins, brass, expanded percussion, etc. The experimental compositions with wild sampling were pretty cool too. The vocals are fun, the synth work is cool. The album feels very cinematic, or like it could be used in an early 2000's medieval RTS game involving demons, knights, and time travel. These songs go hard. Head nodding, steel gaze, clenched jaw kind of hard. That being said, it's not exactly my style, and I probably won't listen to this again. If I do it'll be with other people, so we can experience the madness together, and we'll probably be drunk off ale or mead. The second half of the album also becomes a bit too experimental. Despite that, they've got a very unique sound, and I enjoyed that a lot. I'll keep an eye out for the album cover to get as a poster, just so I can remember the experience of listening to this album. 3/5.

Pre Listen: Ah, Ella Fitzgerald. Back when I was first really getting into exploring my musical tastes, the first genres I found I adored were Big Band, Swing, and Jazz. Resulting I became well acquainted with Ella's work pretty early into my life, and while I don't believe I have any songs from this collection on my playlist, I'm sure I'll enjoy this music. Disclaimer, due to the length of the full collection, I decided to only listen to Volumes 1 and 2. Notable Tracks: They All Laughed | They Can't Take That Away From Me - Both songs are tied for 2nd place as my favorite songs. Energetic rhythms that I can hum along to. Would be fun to sing along to as well, if I took the time to learn the lyrics. Clap Yo' Hands - My least favorite track in the first half of the collection. It sounds fine, but it's really missing a lot of the poetic lyricism in much of Ella's work. Fun song, just feels out of place amongst the rest. For You, For Me, For Evermore - My favorite song on the collection. This song just strums the right heart strings for me. Maybe it's the soft guitar at the start, leading into a more dreamy swing with the rest of the band. It gives me that rosy feeling of nostalgia more than any other track on here. Post Listen: Ella Fitzgerald has been celebrated to the moon and back from her incredibly expansive works. Her voice is absolutely Golden, and the Big Bands she often worked with compliment her talent incredibly well. They all elicit images of a romantic past from a bygone time, where things were a bit classier, and life was brighter. Of course such a time is only fantasy, and looking in to the true stories from Ella's career shatter those nostalgia goggles. It's nice to pretend things were perfect once upon a time though, and this album transports you to such a fantasy with ease. Love ya Ella. 4/5

Pre Listen: Haven't heard of these guys before, but the band's name goes kind of hard. "Scritti Politti" just kind of roles off the tongue. I think they were ahead of their time with a name like that, especially the "Scritti" part. Inspiring. Notable Tracks: Small Talk - Favorite track on the album. It's fairly catchy, the bass is thumping, the electric guitar sounds great. I'd argue this song is where all musicians playing synergize the most, creating the best harmonies and melody. A Little Knowledge - Least favorite song on the album by a wide margin. Almost skipped it. Why is he whispering in my ear, why is his voice poorly layered with a female singer, why are both of their voices vaguely distorted? This song is one pitch-shift down or slight distortion away from feeling demonic. Perfect Way - I could've sworn I've heard this song before. Maybe it sounds really similar to Michael Jackson, or maybe it's the keyboard part that sounds like a Mario song, idk. Feels very familiar. Post Listen: Overall it was alright. The highlight through all the tracks was the electric bass for me, absolutely groovy. The synth work was fairly solid, but had some random shifts in quality, both good and bad. The sound effect additions in several songs were more distracting than complimentary. The lowest point was the vocalist, his breathy-singing and high-pitched voice just made him feel like a Michael Jackson cover singer to me. This album overall feels like foundational 80's Girl Pop. Regrettably I'm not a girl, nor was I growing up in the 80's, so I don't think I was the target audience here. It's decent enough quality I can see some women in their 60's grooving to this in the modern day. Scritti Musik, 3/5.

Pre Listen: I've listened to the odd Alice in Chains song now and then, mostly in playlists others have made where it's been included. I've never really gone out of my way to listen to them, but I've been assured by trusted sources that they're a goated band. Notable Tracks: Sickman - Least favorite song on the album, opinion solidified after about 1 minute. Annoying refrain, pacing is all over the place, the instrumentals range in quality wildly. Almost skipped this one. Rooster - Oh shit I actually know this one. I didn't know they made this song. Easy favorite track on the album. The slow start, the catchy refrain, the overall sound. Very enjoyable, absolute banger, may add to my playlist. Dirt - Surprisingly solid track that really stood out to me, for similar reasons as Rooster. If Rooster wasn't on this album, this would be my favorite song. Untitled - I like this one. No further notes. Post Listen: Listening to this album really makes me *feel* like I'm off the Dizzle. Good album overall, the lead guitarist deserves a gold medal for some of his solos, and overall consistency. I'm not a huge fan of the vocalist. I don't think the lyrics really resonated with me at any point, and his vocal range sort of boils down to "soft singing" into "LOUD SINGING" and then back again. That being said, when it works, it works, and there were some real bangers on this track I've listened back to several times at this point. The issue I really felt about the album was the banger songs were the only good parts. Every other song was either kind of mid to downright bad, and all sounded a bit too similar. The bulk of the songs don't all sound the same, just similar. Very HIGH highs, but rather mediocre lows. I'd give this album a 3.4/5, but out of respect to my trusted sources, I'll round that up to a 4.

Pre Listen: Based on the name of both the band and album, I assume in order to fully experience this album, I need to put my waders on and get fishing. Will do. No idea who these guys are. Notable Tracks: This Land Is Your Land | Dunford's Fancy - Tied for my favorite tracks on the album. I'm a massive fan for this style of folk music. The sort you hear live in a local pub by chance that cements itself in your head as a cherished memory. Jimmy Hickey's Waltz - Another highlight, not quite my favorite due to the slower tempo, but great nonetheless. The Stolen Child - Not a big fan of what I'd call "Story Rock" typically, and this one falls into that. Not a big fan of the refrain, the whole song just feels like a wet napkin. Least favorite track. Fiddle work is solid tho. Sweet Thing - Beatles referenced oh my goodness gracious oh my good heavens. Post Listen: Definitely wasn't what I was expecting. I have a massive soft spot for Scottish/Irish Folk Music, as I live in the Appalachian region of the U.S., where immigrants from those countries played a huge role in shaping our folk music. When the first song played, I got quite excited and went to look where this band was from, and understood everything when I found out. That said, the album isn't entirely traditional folk. I enjoyed it the most during the more folkish songs, and the least when it was closer to traditional rock. The fiddler is great, the acoustic guitar is pretty good, the vocalist harmonizes well sometimes. I'm incredibly torn on giving this album a 4 or 3. I think I'll give it a 4 for now, but I might come back to it once I've listened to more albums, and I've had time to sit on it. EDIT - Sat on it, giving it a 3 ultimately. The more folkish songs were all I remembered after a while, the rest just really isn't as great.

Pre Listen: What the fuck is going on in the album cover. Looks like something I'd see on a wall in the greasiest pizza/burger restaurant in town, before eating the worst food ever. Slightly low expectations from the album cover alone. Notable Tracks: Blast Off - Heart sank progressively deeper every second the track played. Low expectations weren't low enough apparently. This is the kind of music a teenager plays to intentionally piss off their parents, and look back on with embarrassment. She's Hit - Skipped halfway through. This might be it. Dead Joe - Stopped listening to this about 20 seconds in. I've heard enough. The Dim Locater - Came back and listened to this one after taking a break. Quit listening about halfway through. Post Listen: Fastest 1 out of 5 to date. Might be the fastest for this whole project. This shit sounds like elementary schoolers got access to a recording studio. I know the band is doing it intentionally, because the lead singer keeps doing shitty voices and making shitty noises. The audio mixing is shit, the guitar work intentionally dirty and unpolished. It's an intentionally shit album, you'd be hard pressed to convince me otherwise, it's literally called "Junkyard". That's what this sort of punk-rock is, stylistically. Some people enjoy that kind of thing. I call them masochists. Not a great introduction to the esteemed Nick Cave. At least the album cover gives an accurate impression to the shitfest that is this album. 1/5.

Pre Listen: First album on here that's actually been on my radar as something I want to listen to, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I got a few of Marvin's songs on my playlist already, and if he's consistent, I'm sure I'll enjoy this. Expectations higher than usual. Notable Tracks: What's Going On - Instantly pulled me in to the album, I love the beat, love the crowded sound, everything harmonizes incredibly well. Super sweet message too with the lyrics. What's Happening Brother - Favorite track on the album. The lyrics resonated with me the most out of any track. Wholy Holy - Least favorite track on the album. Still musically very solid, I just dislike the lyrics. They're rather lazy, simply making short statements about your religion's most surface level messages to a slow jive isn't very compelling. Felt out of place too, considering his "God Is Love" felt much more fitting with the overall album, and had essentially the same message. Inner City Blues - Incredibly close to being my favorite track on the album. The last minute of the "Mother" part took it away, it should've been a separate track methinks. Post Listen: What a cozy little album, I enjoyed it a lot, and struggled to find a favorite song due to the high quality each track held. The violins were my favorite instrumental group throughout, the flute very close behind. The percussion too, with the chimes and various drum types were much appreciated. Marvin's vocals were incredibly consistent, had good range. The lyrical work especially deserves praise I think, they mostly had messages I can get behind, and felt relevant. Considering this album's from 1971, and the lyrics still feel relevant, I'd call them timeless. I love when albums create a flow from one track to the next with minimal breakage, it makes me want to get it on Vinyl. The majority of songs on here will likely make it to my playlist, they all had so much soul behind them. This will be the first 5 I'm giving on here to an album I haven't heard before. Glad I found out exactly What's Going On, 5/5

Pre Listen: Another band I've not heard of in the slightest, to my knowledge. I like the album cover, it's pretty. No expectations. Notable Tracks: Gloomy Sunday - First song that's popped out to me. The instrumental work specifically stood out as pretty cool, but the vocals suck. Nude Spoons - Can you stop shouting and wailing? In my ear? Thanks. Ulcragyceptimol - Least favorite track. So bad it made me want to clobber the vocalist with a baseball bat or shove him into a locker or something like that. Post Listen: Even though I said I had no expectations, this really wasn't what I was expecting. I guess I thought it was going to be typical 80's British Radio Pop. Unexpectedly, I got something a lot...darker, and Scottish? I probably could've seen that coming with the title "Sulk". It wasn't awful, at their best they sound almost like a blend of The Talking Heads and New Order. At their worst though, it's damn near unlistenable. I couldn't pinpoint a favorite song, as all of them have genuinely awful moments. I didn't appreciate the vocals 9/10 times, all the other instruments varied in how much I enjoyed them across the board each song. The album goes on for longer than I'd like. There was absolutely potential for a banger album here, like having 5-star ingredients for the world's coolest cake, but then they baked the cake out of order, then dropped it all on the floor. 2/5

Pre Listen: Led Zeppelin? Based as fuck. I haven't listened to this album in full in quite a long time. I know I took songs from it and added them to my playlist back when I did, but my memory's fuzzy on the songs I left behind. I'll soon either remember why, or will likely be adding a few more. Notable Tracks: Good Times Bad Times - Iconic way to start the album. Absolute hall-of-famer right here. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - First song that I didn't add to my playlist from way back when. Not making that mistake twice, COMPLETE banger. Dazed and Confused - Least favorite track on the album then, least favorite now. The moanin and groanin part of the song just isn't pleasant. Communication Breakdown - Another classic, though I don't like this one as much as Good Times Bad Times. Post Listen: I remember now why I don't really have as many songs from this album as I thought I might; it's a fairly short album, and the songs that are great I already have. Everything else is pretty good, but the stand-out songs almost make them pale in comparison. Robert Plant's vocals are iconic, but they range from feeling heart-felt to just kind of grating. To me the biggest stars of the band are the lead guitarist, Jimmy Page, and the drummer, John Bonham. Their work is the main course throughout the whole experience. This is classic, foundational Rock. Despite that I gotta give it a 4/5, Led Zeppelin made better albums as they matured together further along.

Pre Listen: Never heard of this fella. I read the Wikipedia article as I couldn't gleam anything at all from the guy's name or the album cover, sounds like an interesting concept album. I dislike the cover art though, so slightly lower expectations than usual going in to this one. Notable Tracks: Tides - My favorite song by a pretty large margin. I'm a sucker for piano jazz, and this song was both smooth and soothing as hell. Felt like I was in a Jacuzzi. Nostalgia - Least favorite song, but by a thin margin against "Pilgrim". Pilgrim just got annoyingly repetitive (yes I know what a mantra is), but Nostalgia's vocal work was horrible. I have a deep personal distaste for breathy, whispery vocalists, and this woman wouldn't cut that shit out. Beyond Skin - This sounds like it was taken straight out of Metal Gear Solid 4 or something. Nitin should play that series if he hasn't yet, I bet he'd enjoy it. Post Listen: This thing was somehow exactly what I expected and not what I expected at the same time. Should've been called something like "Beyond Genre" instead, because each song was kind of it's own thing, tied together by a somewhat shared theme? I liked the start of each song being something about nukes. I didn't understand half of the lyrics for obvious reasons, but I think I got their vibes. I honestly preferred the non-english songs, as every song with english vocals fell flat for me. As a more political album than anything I've seen on here yet, it was cool. The vocals were solid, the instrumentation was solid, everything about this album from a musical structure perspective was solid overall. I can appreciate it for what it is, it's just not my style? I won't be coming back to anything other than Tides, and I wouldn't say anything outside of that song is especially amazing. It's a bit more political art than music I feel, which is fine, but left me feeling sort of 3/5.

Pre Listen: Another band I've heard nothing of in my life. Cool album cover art, poster worthy. No expectations. Notable Tracks: Voodoo Dolly - Least favorite song on the album. Goes on for way too long, is way too repetitive, and becomes just noise after about 2 minutes. Skipped around the 6 minute mark. Post Listen: This was like....maybe the most nothing-burger album I've heard on here since the Ramones. The tracks all blended together for me, nothing really shined, hence not 1 favorite track. This project is teaching me that I really dislike punk music. It's just noise man. The electric guitar is guitaring. The vocalist is vocaling. The drums are drumming. It's rock alright. It's about as interesting as a rock too. If you're into Geology maybe you'd like this album. Boring, 2/5.

Pre Listen: Anthrax? I sure hope not! Another band I've never heard of. I'm begging for it to not be punk or even punk-adjacent, I don't know how many more of those I can take. Notable Tracks: Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.) | A Skeleton In The Closet - Tied for my favorite songs on the album. Both tell neat little stories with the lyrics, have shredding guitar work, and stellar drum work. Medley: A.D.I. / Horror Of It All - I like the intro, I was actually hoping for a more acoustic song around track 4 because of how much I was enjoying the lead guitar. The fade in from acoustic to electric did not disappoint. Post Listen: Thankfully I did not contract Anthrax listening to this album. I actually quite liked it. Nodded along to most songs, head banged a bit even to my listed favorites. They remind me a lot of Metallica, but without the painfully slow and boring parts that I don't like. I already enjoy Metallica a good bit, so seeing as how they're like Metallica but better, I thoroughly enjoyed this album. Everything from a musical standpoints gets high marks from me. The vocals are complimentary to the music, the bass keeps tempo well. The highlights (rightfully so for the genre) are the guitar riffs and drums. They absolutely shred, amazingly electric. As much as I love the lyrics for some fun rhymes and interesting subject matters, they sometimes give off school-shooter vibes, kinda cringe. Another critic I have is that some of the songs do blend together. This resulted in not one least-favorite song, as most songs not listed kind meshed together a wee bit. This wasn't as damning an issue as it is on other albums, because the overall sound from all tracks left a positive impression on me. Overall, this album's a robust piece of rock. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. 4/5. EDIT - Damn, I *really* enjoyed this thing more than I thought I would. I've listened to this album front to back several more times since I reviewed it, and it hasn't gotten old or stale, and I've grown fonder of other songs on it. Bumped to a 5/5, will be adding more songs to my playlist.

Pre Listen: Please not another punk album. I'm so tired of punk albums. The guy in the middle of the album cover looks like he needs to be shoved in a locker. Incredibly low expectations going in. Notable Tracks: Rich - Oh, that's not a guy on the album cover. The locker-shovening is still happening regardless. Exactly what I expected ( ´_ゝ`). Date With The Night - I'm tired, boss. Tired of these punk albums. I don't know if I can finish this album. Man - My thoughts exactly. Man. This sucks. Not subjecting myself to anything further. Post Listen: Yet another album that further leads me to believe that punk-rock fans have brain damage. Maybe the damage was caused by all the alcohol their mothers drank when they were still fetuses. Maybe it's from all the shit they smoked as teenagers. Or maybe it's from prolonged exposure to god-awful music over the years. "The messy and distorted instruments are intentional!" Oh, so it's shit on purpose? "The ferral vocals are part of the style!" Oh, so it's shit on purpose? "It breaks societal norms and conventions of music, it's unique, that's what makes it cool!" Every punk album sounds the exact same, it is one of the least unique genres of music out there, it's about as cool as the singers probably smell. Look if you'd rather eat Waffle House or McDonalds over a home-made meal, by all means. Go eat shit, if that's what you prefer. I'll stick to things with substance however, thanks. 1/5.

Pre Listen: Ah, another album I listened to in full ages ago. I remember adding Starman to my playlist, but that's about it. I got a good number of other Bowie songs on my playlist, so I'm glad to give it another listen. Notable Tracks: Starman - My favorite on the album, how can it not be? The flow of the song is so perfect, starting with simple acoustics, and having more instruments join as the song progresses. I adore the violins most of all. Lady Stardust - I didn't remember this one, but man do I love it. That piano is great, adding to my playlist. Star - My least favorite on the album. I didn't really enjoy the stop-go-stop-go melody they had going on. I get how it fits the lyrical message about being a super-star, but I couldn't get in to it. Rock And Roll Suicide - Another banger I didn't remember. Debating on adding it to my playlist, I'll have to sit on it. Post Listen: This album was a lot better than I remembered. The songs overall ranged from a bit boring at worst, to certified classics at best. I got this album after dealing with what felt like a deluge of Punk albums where everything sounded the same, so having more than 3-4 instruments over the course of the album was like getting a much needed breath of fresh air. Bowie's voice is so unique, but his lyrical wordplay also ranges from a bit bland, to absolutely poetic. I have complicated feelings with Bowie's works, I've always loved a handful of his songs, but generally but feel ambivalent about the rest. This results in feeling as though I really cherish Bowie as an artist, but I don't cherish any of his albums. Because I enjoyed it a lot more than the last time I listened to it, and for Starman alone, gotta give this piece of work a 4.

Pre Listen: Never heard of these fellas, but that album cover would look really cool if someone didn't doodle all over it. Lower than usual expectations going in. Notable Tracks: Here - The best track on the album methinks. I don't really love it, but I think it has the best sound compared to the rest, especially from the vocalist. Conduit For Sale | Chesley's Little Wrists - Tied for my least favorite tracks on the album. Messy punk-babble. The vocalist keeps saying "I'm Trying!", but I'M trying to see how. Post Listen: About what I expected. This album really tiptoes the line of Alt Rock, Punk, and Emo Rock. I occasionally enjoy 2 out of those 3 genres, so I have somewhat mixed feelings about the album as a whole. The instrumentation is pretty good overall, serviceable on average, pretty cool at best. The songs are all about the right length for what they're going for, and the melodies are ok. The sound mixing was wack on some songs, but my big gripe with this album comes from the vocalist. The vocalist sounds incredibly similar to Lou Reed in my opinion, specifically from Lou's 'Transformer' album. I gave that album a 1/5, mostly due to Lou's vocals sounding bored, apathetic, or even drunk at times. I feel the same way about this band's vocalist. What's perhaps worse is I *know* the guy can sing, from songs like "Here". Unlike Lou's album, I did like the instrumental works here. The vocals drag it all down, to the point I'd be embarrassed if some of the songs on here played on my playlist. Many such cases, 2/5.

Pre Listen: I think I've seen this album cover and heard this guys name somewhere before. Maybe he's just got one of those names and one of those faces. Based on the album cover and release date, guessing this is gonna be some old-fashioned Americana. Notable Tracks: Cocaine - My favorite track on the album. The guitar melody sounds so sweet an innocent, while the lyrics are anything but. Mule Skinner Blues - Least favorite track, not a fan of yodeling. Walmart Yodel Kid was more than enough to last a lifetime for me. Post Listen: Oh yeah, them's was some cowboy music. For old South-Western American styled folk music, it was alright. Kinda thing you'd hear at a sleepy bar in the middle of nowhere that wraps up your day in a nice little bow. Jack's voice sounds scarily similar to a guy I know, gonna send him this album and see what he thinks. His guitar work ain't half bad either, pretty solid throughout the album. I don't really have any major gripes with the album. It's a good length too, I guess it's just missing anything particularly good or even great? It's a bit formulaic for American Folk music of the region and time. You could compare this to other artists from the same genre, time, and place, and I wouldn't be able to pick it apart. I feel very comfortable giving it a 3/5.

Pre Listen: The album cover intimidates me. I feel like I shouldn't be here. Never heard of this group, no expectations, etc. Notable Tracks: Our Lips Are Sealed - Ohhhh shit I do know this group. This is a classic. Excited to hear what's in store from here. Lust to Love - My favorite track, I like the lyrics a lot. Catchy too. We Got The Beat - Another classic. Got stuck in my head for a while even after I finished the album. Automatic - Maybe the weakest song on the album? It's very different from the rest, but still I enjoyed it. Post Listen: I enjoyed this album more than I could've anticipated. It's classic bubble-gum Pop, mixed with a bit of what I think is Surf-Rock. I really love the lead singer, her voice is a great blend of joyful peppiness and softer harmonies with the other vocalists. The guitar is incredibly clean, and the bass compliments every song very nicely. The drums too are very solid, keeping the beat. I'll be adding a few songs to my playlist, really blew my expectations away. I have no criticisms, really just a phenomenally well put-together album. They absolutely got the beat. 5/5 EDIT - Came back after re-listening to the album. I think my initial score could be described as a "Sugar High" with just how bubble-gum their sound is. On subsequent listens, it wasn't quite as sweet as I remembered it. I still love it, I just don't think it's perfect-score worthy. Changed to 4/5.

Pre Listen: I only know of The Band from Jojo's, they got a Stand named after em in Part 4. That's it. Notable Tracks: N/A Post Listen: I listened to this album while driving through the countryside, and it's the strangest thing. I think the album was intended to be listened as such, and yet I can't recall a single song standing out to me. It wasn't bad per say, but it was painfully boring. I'd peg this sort of music as Biker Rock. Towards the last 3 or 4 songs I was more than ready for it to be over. Nothing offensive, but nothing good. I had no favorite track, no least favorite track, nothing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxK_nA2iVXw The band's music is about as generic as it's name. 2/5.

Pre Listen: Merle Haggard and The Strangers are complete strangers to me. The album cover doesn't give me the vibes of something I'd likely enjoy, but I'm keeping an open mind. Notable Tracks: Life In Prison - A stand-out song to me as one I enjoyed more than the rest. Not my favorite, but for the overall country sound that most of the album has, this one does it best. If You Want To Be My Woman - My favorite track on the album. It stood out to me from the rest as being closer to classic rock than country. Reminds me of Elvis. Good sound. My Rough And Rowdy Ways - Least favorite track on the album. One of the few that felt like it realllyy dragged. Boring lyrics about being useless. Post Listen: It was pretty much what I expected with little exception. I do prefer this sort of classic-country to modern day pop-country. The lyrical work of this album compared to today's country songs which without fail talk exclusively about either guns, girls, god, beer, or trucks, is great. The lead singer's voice is consistently good, and he strikes great harmonies with the other vocalists. The sliding electric guitar throughout the album is another highlight, I love that nostalgic feeling it carries. Sadly this is another such case where the songs start to really blend. No least favorite track, nothing terribly offensive, just nothing amazing again. The album felt like it was dragging towards the end. I can absolutely see how anyone could enjoy the sleepy melodies, it is quality music, it's just too sleepy for me. Sounds like something I'd hear in Fallout New Vegas. 3/5

Pre Listen: I have a...complicated relationship, with Frank Zappa. He's like that one friend who has so much potential, and you really love hanging with him for like 30 minutes. Then suddenly he does something so despicably cringe, it makes that Pickle Rick kid look like a comedic genius. The album cover being a parody of Sgt. Peppers doesn't fill me with hope. The Beatles are one of my top bands. You come at the king, you better not miss. I had a music professor my freshman year of college who's favorite artist was Frank Zappa. I respected her a lot as a teacher, but I can't fathom why she likes Frank so much. Every new album I encounter from him, I try and put myself in her shoes. My expectations for this are the lowest to date, but I'm trying to put myself in that professor's headspace. Notable Tracks: Who Needs The Peace Corps? - Song raised my expectations for the album somewhat. Funny little critique of hippie culture. Doesn't sound horrible. What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body - My favorite track on the album, it parodies the Beatles the best I think. The harmony they hit is so fucking spot on. The "All your children-" verses made me laugh pretty hard. **NOT** including the Reprise. Nasal Retentive Calliope Music | The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny - Tied for the worst tracks on the album by a fucking landslide, holy shit. This is exactly what I was talking about in my Pre Listen. If this is music, then dogshit is food. Post Listen: It's an early shitpost in audio form. If this album was supposed to be a statement of some sort, it's about as deep as a 9gag meme. The Zappa experience here is identical to every other encounter I've had with him. A lot of songs have really, *really* great instrumentation on occasion, only to be interrupted by the worst shit you've heard in your life. The lyrics are funny or briliantly satirical, only to be quite literally interrupted by burps and audio cuts. Zappa takes something nice, and ruins it before your very ears. He's like those Turkish ice-cream guys, but he never gives you the ice cream. Instead he flashes you and gets away with it. I told a friend I'd not give this album a 1/5 before I finished it, since he is a big Zappa fan. I can't do it. I just can't. I never want to hear any of this again, 1/5.

Pre Listen: Sam Cooke is unknown to me, but I'll let him cook. I see the saxophone on the album cover, and I know I love jazz, so I have slightly higher expectations than usual. Notable Tracks: Chain Gang - Oh, I know this one. I've heard better iterations of it, specifically from the studio versions. Classic song on every oldies radio station thought. Bring It on Home to Me - Not a big fan of this one, least favorite song on the album. I've never really liked sing-talking type songs, and this one goes on for too long. Post Listen: Ehhh, wasn't quite what I was expecting. This album has sort of solidified how I feel about "Live" albums. They aren't great. Live music is excellent to hear when you're actually there. You can record it on your phone, and listen back to it, but it'll never sound right. Recording devices just don't capture the atmosphere, the energy, the acoustics of the room, the visual spectacle, any of it. The audience's hoots and hollers are just annoying. Plus live-recording devices are almost always inferior to the level of sound quality a studio recording gives you. After listening I visited some of Sam Cooke's studio work, and man his voice is so different in this recording from his prior stuff. It sounds a lot worse, strained and drained. I'm not a fan of his little quips between lyrics. That being said, I enjoy the overall sound for most of the songs, there's nothing bad about his actual singing and his bands instrumentals. Just a very forgettable album, that would've been a lot better if it wasn't live. 3/5

Pre Listen: I don't have the greatest history with Brazil as a nation. https://youtu.be/1WpbhrzZJrQ?si=3LXOXcIHTTbzsO2_ The album cover would be beautiful, if that doofus got his face out the way. Lower expectations than usual. Notable Tracks: Tropicália - Very weak start to this album. After finishing it, this was my least favorite. Lowered my expectations even further. Onde Andaras - My favorite track on the album by a wide margin. If every song sounded like this, I may have given this thing a 5. Has a very nostalgic feeling to it. Anunciação - Another low point, has my least favorite vocals on the album. All the instruments feel like they are fighting each other to play different songs. Superbacana - Another highlight, has my favorite vocals on the album. The brass plays well here too. Post Listen: Wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I did enjoy it more than anticipated. Every song felt distinct, some were good, some were bad, depended on how well everything harmonized together. Generally I liked the addition of the violins, but disliked the addition of the occasional flutes. The keyboard sounds varied in quality, both from a melodic and actual recording quality point of view. Caetano's vocals were inconsistent too, sometimes his voice elevated a song, other times it dragged it down. I think his voice worked best in the more classic psyche-ish rock-ish sounding songs, but fell flat in Bossa Nova sounding songs. Just a quirky, odd little album that was all over the place. Disappointed there wasn't more of a Samba sound to it, that's like my favorite sound out of Brazil. 3/5

Pre Listen: Haven't heard of these gents, but based on the "H.M.S." in the title, I reckon it's a UK band of some sort. No expectations. Notable Tracks: Daniella - My favorite track. The simple acoustic guitar contrasts the overdone nothing burger songs that fill this album. I really like the distortion effect at the end of the song, very unique. Lend's Some Dough - Least favorite track. Embarrassing. I would say this is AI Generated, if it wasn't for this album being from '99. Post Listen: UK Band of some sort indeed. It sounded rather generic to me. Like a watered down R.E.M. mixed with something else. I already dislike R.E.M. so I was pretty bored by this album. I don't have anything particularly negative to say about any one element, it just sounded meh to me. I couldn't understand the vocals from time to time. I normally enjoy albums with wide instrumentation, interesting vocal effects, harmonies, etc. This one though, it all felt almost corporate in a way? Hard to explain. This is background music you'd hear in a restaurant you'll never return to, not because it was bad, but because you were only passing through. Even still, if you were to pass through again, you probably wouldn't go here. 2/5

Pre Listen: Title sounds like an album Bender from Futurama would listen to. I've never heard of them, but the cover art is pretty. No expectations. Notable Tracks: Split Myself in Two - Fastest intro song to date that's instantly made me feel as though I'll either absolutely hate this album, or really love it. The distortion effects are bodacious. Aurora Borealis - At this time of year! At this time of day! In this part of the country! Localized entirely within your album?! I like it. Teenager (s) - Least favorite track on the album. My eyes almost rolled clean out of my head. "Guys, being a teenager is so hormonal and depressing!" someone sure got bullied growing up, I just know it. Skipped after 1m 40s. Post Listen: The vocalist cannot fucking sing holy shit. Frustrating as fuck. I think I would've given this album higher, but the vocalist is so amazingly awful, it bumps it down to almost a 1. I've heard some bad, some meh, and some intentionally bad vocals on this project, but this might be the first one where I think he's actually trying and sucks this bad. I've heard children crying on airplanes that sound better. To be fair the instrumentation is also inconsistent. Some songs I really did like, others sounded generic or boring. The psyche rock leaning songs were best, the folk leaning songs were never quite bad, but not good either. Despite that, a purely instrumental song was so, so much better than *anything* including the vocalist. For both issues with this album, many, many such cases, and more to come I'm sure. If it weren't for the fact that this album was composed by more than just the vocalist, and leaving a 1 because of him alone would leave a bad taste in my mouth, I have to leave a 2/5.

Pre Listen: I dislike Green Day. My parents used to be obsessed with them for a period while I was growing up, and even as a child I thought they sounded like piss. The title of the album isn't abating those feelings. Low expectations. Notable Tracks: Burnout | Basket Case | When I Come Around - All tracks I was non-consensually subjected to throughout my youth and into the present. I've heard these probably at least a hundred times. Trash. Chump - My favorite track on the album by far. I appreciate the heavier sound it has. I appreciate the break from the vocals. I appreciate it a lot. All By Myself - Joke of a song. Least favorite track on the album, normally an acoustic break from everything is a staple of Punk albums, and normally they suck. This one is making fun of the trope, so it sucks extra hard. Post Listen: Yeah, I hated this as much as I remembered, if not more. This IS dookie. Their drummer is the best member of the band, the vocalist needs to blow his nose. I contemplated writing a big long review about how lame and boring Green Day is. Something along the lines of "Green Day is one of the most NPC bands out there and every song sounds the same" Instead I think I'll just say every Green Day song sounds like the intro to Johnny Test. I liked Johnny Test and its intro, because the intro is 1 minute long, and the show is funny. Johnny Test is also a children's show, and most people grow out of it. Green Day fans never grew up. https://youtu.be/P1zHcompfNI - 1/5. EDIT - After some introspection, I'm bumping my rating up to a 2/5. I think 1's should be reserved to truly unlistenable pieces of work. I don't like this album, but I didn't mind some songs, and shouldn't let my personal bias skew the review to a solid 1.

Pre Listen: Never heard of the guy. Based on the title, artist name, and album cover, guessing it'll be rap? No expectations, outside of that. Notable Tracks: Building Steam With a Grain of Salt - Definitely not the genre I was expecting, but I'm ok with that! I hope it stays like this. Number Song - Recognized the "Louder, Louder!" sample used, that was also used in a previous album I enjoyed, by Public Enemy. Nice. Stem/Long Stem - My favorite track on the album. It's just sort of a nice sampler from everything else here. Midnight In A Perfect World - I didn't hate this song by any means, but it was my least favorite on the album. The vocal samples just weren't it for me. Transmission 1, 2, 3 - I liked these little segments. I've heard similar things to this in more modern albums I enjoy, so it was surprising to hear stuff like this here. Post Listen: I had to listen to this album front-to-back like 3 times to really solidify my opinion on it. I kept bouncing between a 3, 4, 5, it was all so different and unexpected. This album had some of the smoothest, cleanest, thumping rhythms and beats I've heard on here yet. The sample work was overall pretty damn good, it did have some goofy shit here and there, akin to something you might find in a YouTube Poop. I really enjoyed all the songs for the most part, though they did start to blend together. I had to keep going back to find the titles of the songs I liked most, it was hard to tell them apart. The album goes on for longer than I'd like, but each track individually feels right, generally. Really I just couldn't believe this album came out in 1996. The style of the sound feels so much more modern, I swear I've heard some of the songs here have influence in tons of modern tracks I adore. After much deliberation, 4/5.

Pre Listen: Hrggggg, the album cover and release date make my heart sink. Please don't be uninspired loud noises, please. I haven't heard of them, but from the title and art, low expectations going in to this. Notable Tracks: Block Rockin' Beats - Pleasantly surprised! Wasn't punk rock, awesome. Elektrobank - POV you are playing on a Gmod RP server and a random is desperately trying to communicate with you via a 2004 Mic. It Doesn't Matter - Least favorite track. It "Doesn't Matter" that I skipped it 2 minutes in, I hope. The Private Psychedelic Reel - Probably my favorite track on the album. Feels like a good sampler of everything good about this band, while minimizing everythinf bad. Post Listen: I think it's somewhat unlucky that I got this album when I did, as I got it right after DJ Shadow's "Endtroducing..." album. Both are "Beats and Samples" type albums, but DJ Shadow did it so, so much better. This one did have more of an electro, clubish sound to it, so it was distinct. Overall though, the listening experience was mixed. Repitition is a clear, intentional theme throughout the album, and sometimes it works. The Chemical Brothers find a sound loop, copy-paste it six to eight times, then move on to the next loop. Great if the sound loop *sounds* good, but incredibly annoying if it doesn't. The vocals were pretty good too, all around. Teetered around the 2 to 3 range, but the album finished strong. 3/5.

Pre Listen: Hey, I know and like these guys! Everyone and their Grandma ought to know California Dreamin' , I've listened to some of their work outside that, and I'm excited to hear some more. Notable Tracks: Do You Wanna Dance - I love this song, feels so nostalgic. Would be my favorite, if it weren't for ---> California Dreamin' - Certified gold-standard classic. If you hate this song for any reason other than "I've heard it too many times", what makes you human is called into question methinks. Go Where You Wanna Go - It's alright, but it is my least favorite track on the album. Can't really articulate why, I just ain't feeling it. Post Listen: Some more good ol' classic rock. Decent variety across the songs, with the sounds ranging from rock, to pop, to folk, to a bit of ballad. Nothing is too long, nothing is too short, it's just good ol' classic rock. I particularly love the harmonies between all of them. All four vocalists have that spice that makes it such a charming album. Everything else, the instrumental overdubs, the percussion, the guitar, it's all very solid. This album's a staple of classic rock. Enough said. 4/5

Pre Listen: Slayer's a band I've heard of, I've intended to give a listen to, but never got around to it. If I've heard any of their work before, it hasn't been to my knowledge. The cover art builds sufficient expectations on what to expect I think. Notable Tracks: Angel of Death - 10 seconds in and this is exactly what I was both expecting and hoping for. This'll be a fun one. Epidemic - Favorite track of the album. Does their style best. Criminally Insane - Least favorite track on the album. Other songs are edgy and bordering goofy, this one just comes off as too goofy. Post Listen: You know, I was hoping for a bit more after the first song. It's thrasher metal, which I generally appreciate, but it fell flatter and flatter after each song. It all started blending together faster than I thought it would. Edgy lyrics, thrashing guitar and drums, strained lyrics, over and over. Minimal changes in chord progressions, tempo changes, lyrical subject matter, and overall sound. All that to say I enjoyed it overall, but I'm thankful this is a shorter album, it lasts exactly as long as it needs to. Fun music, just got boring. 3/5

Pre Listen: Eh, not feeling the album cover on this one. Looks kinda lame. Expecting mid-tier rap, but I have been wrong before, so who knows. Notable Tracks: Eat 'Em Up L Chill - Least favorite song on the album. The refrain is lame as shit, the lyrics boringly self-congratulatory, beat is bland. Cheesy Rat Blues - My favorite song on the album. Weirdly funky, and funny lyrics. I know people like Cheesy Rat in real life! Farmers' Blvd - If the concept of this song is legit, I really dig that. Going back to the old neighborhood to give you pals a shot in the light is respectable as fuck. Milky Cereal - An entire song with cereal allegories? Very creative, very bold, very nice. Post Listen: I was wrong. That rap was pretty aight. The B-Side of this album was strong as hell, carried this thing from a 2 or 3 right up to a 4. Huge shoutout to the DJ they got making these beats, they were clean as fuck. The sample work was good too, never got tiring or annoying across the board, showed restraint in most songs. The lyrics ranged from a little boring to pretty damn creative. Enjoyed this a lot more than anticipated. Putting them right next to Public Enemy, 4/5.

Pre Listen: The most modern album I've gotten so far I think. I have mixed expectations with the tracks from this list that cover the time I've been alive. On one hand cool, guess I missed this growing up. On the other hand, maybe I never heard it at any point in the past for a reason. Notable Tracks: Bloodbuzz Ohio - What does this have to do with Ohio? You could replace Ohio with anywhere else and the song wouldn't change at all. Ohio? Really? Post Listen: It's just...so boring? It feels so corporate. It feels like a band your pal at the office would recommend you, which finally convinces you they might just be an NPC. I don't know how to describe it. Maybe it's how nothing the lyrics are? Maybe it's how clean the guitar, drums, everything is? It's too clean, like going through a for-sale house under an open house, it's not lived-in. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, it was just...nothing? This is background music at a millennial café, or a car dealership, or something like that. I struggled through this album not because I hated it, but because of just how boring it was. Almost fell asleep! 2/5

Pre Listen: Aqua Lung was a pretty cool concept game, then it was made into a movie. I don't think this has anything to do with that, but the album cover is neat. No expectations. Notable Tracks: Aqualung - Instantly hooked. This is playlist worthy for the sound alone. Please, PLEASE maintain this quality through the rest of the album. I especially love the guitar riffs at the start and end. Mother Goose - I normally dislike Renaissance-y sounding songs for being somewhat cheesy, but this shit goes so hard. Perfect blend of flute, acoustic guitar, and electric. Slipstream - Another highlight. Wish it was longer. Wind Up - Probably my least favorite track, if I had to choose one. It ain't bad, it's just the most boring out of everything here. It feels out of place. Post Listen: Felt like a lovely union of Black Sabbath, Yes, and English Folk. Such a well crafted assortment of instruments. The drums, the flutes, the guitars, the bass, the piano, damn near all of it was so well done and well balanced. The vocalist compliments everything too, solid lyrical work. I do think the A side was a lot stronger than the B side, but it was all fairly good regardless. I knew this would be high up there for me after I started humming along on the first track and beyond, having never heard any of this in my life. Some things just scratch your brain the right way, and you jump on that wavelength effortlessly. Almost a 5 if the B side just had like 1 more great song, painfully, 4.5/5. Maybe I'll come back and bump it up at some point. EDIT - Came back, bumping it to a 5. The album may not have finished as strong as I would've liked, but it was still strong. Downloaded my favorite songs, and they're so good. If an album contains multiple songs that make me feel things in a strong way, and I don't give it a 5, idk what a 5 is.

Pre Listen: Another album I'm not really feeling the album art for, and artist I've never heard of. Could be good! Could be not good! Who knows, no expectations. Notable Tracks: Walk - Opinion on the album started to really form here. Kind of boring. Musical equivalent of walking! Fucking Hostile - Fuck me it's only been one song since Walk? This isn't good. Live in a Hole - Probably my favorite on the album. Feels like it has the most variety. The guitarist really gets to shine here. Post Listen: Out of all the heavier stuff I've heard on here so far, this one's probably the lamest. Scratchy voice semi-screamo vocals and a heavy guitar with minimal changes in tempo, rhythm, chords, etc. The drum is there to keep a beat, nothing more. The bass just copies the main guitarist, but with less flair. To be completely fair, the guitarist was the strongest member of the band, with some good solos. I mentally categorize this type of music as "Biker Rock". It's the kind of thing losers who smell like cigarettes and wear black leather listen to, and think it makes them tough. Maybe one day decades ago it did, but now it's so played out. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/5cb58755-7534-48f6-9cc4-09335ac9ed8a/scale-to-width/755 I think I heard a song or two from this album in an older Guitar Hero game, idk. 2/5.

Pre Listen: Never heard of them, the album title and cover doesn't really pop, good or bad. No expectations. Notable Tracks: Wake Up And Make Love With Me - :/ :L :( Blockheads - That synth part sounds like fart. Fart from a butt. I don't know if that's intentional or not. I think it was intentional. Post Listen: That was a painful listen. It wasn't completely unlistenable, but it was damn close to it. The musical components were alright for the most part. Like the guitar, drums, bass, additional instruments etc. were all well done enough. The horrid part (as with many such cases) was the vocals and lyrics. Edgy for edgy sake. Like a 6th grader trying to be as graphic and offensive as possible just to piss of anyone who dares engage with them. Overall reminded me of Frank Zappa and his many bands, if Zappa was a Brexit geezer who idolized punk. I didn't really enjoy a single song, even a little bit. Bounced between a 1 and 2 as I listened, and originally was going to give a 2, out of respect for the folks on the instruments. After re-listening to a few songs I thought I enjoyed a bit closer, the lyrics are so distractingly stupid, I gotta give it a 1/5. Sometimes in group projects, a single contributor bombs so hard it genuinely fucks over everyone else, despite their best efforts.

Pre Listen: Coldplay. I think this is arguably the most "mainstream" album I've gotten yet. Coldplay's music has been a staple of every alt-rock, indie-rock, hell any modern rock adjacent playlist and radio station since at least 2005. That being said, I could only really name a handful of their songs off the top of my head. Measured expectations going in. Notable Tracks: The Scientist - First song I recognized on this album. It's alright. Clocks - First song I INSTANTLY recognized on here. I actually like this song. Cool. Daylight - Probably my favorite song on the album. The melody between vocals is just so...nice. Green Eyes - Probably my least favorite song on the album. It's just kind of boring. Many acoustic songs work well to contrast more complicated songs on the rest of the album. This one's just boring, same chords throughout, bored-sounding vocals. Post Listen: It was good. I'm classifying this, and perhaps future albums under "Millennial Rock". Sometimes it's really boring, sometimes it's pretty neat, it's never really bad per say. It's characterized by smoother, low tempo beats, lots of ooo-ing and aaa-ing, and the occasional piano or other classic-adjacent instrument. Lots of talk of feelings and other abstract concepts through metaphors or storytelling. This album feels foundational for a lot of Millennial Rock. The key components are done well. 4/5.

Pre Listen: Based on the album cover, the mention of Orchestra, and the release date, I think I know what this album will be all about. Fallout music time. Notable Tracks: Whirly Bird - I really appreciate the brass and drums on this one. They're doing a bangin job. My favorite on the album. Li'l Darlin' - Another highlight. The best of the slow songs, it's so nostalgic. I think it's the soft guitar playing that does it for me. Post Listen: Oh yeah, that was some fallout music. This was a nice change of pace from the various genres of Rock that makes up most of this project. A long time ago this album would've been a perfect 5 for me. Jazz and its various genres made up the foundation of my musical tastes growing up. I hadn't yet narrowed down what parts of Jazz I really loved, so I just listened to it all. Since then though I think my tastes have gotten a bit more filtered. I appreciate this album a lot, and it's all very well made. I think the majority of the songs were a bit too low-tempo and smooth to be amazing. Slow swing isn't bad by any means, it just isn't 5/5 worthy. 4/5

Pre Listen: Another bunch I've not heard anything from. I can't name a single album from '99 I even like now that I think about it. The artist name, album name and album cover don't fill me with confidence. Unfavorable expectations. Notable Tracks: Charlie Big Potato - Gave me whiplash. Went from what I imagine The Beatles sounds like to Non-Beatles Fans, into Ultrakill, into Heavy Metal, then into Evanescence. Opinion wheel is spinning faster than a pulsar. After finishing the album, I think this one was my favorite. Lately - Fuck I know this song. I don't know where, how, or when I came to know it, but I recognize it. Must've been a long time ago, the memory feels I'm Not Afraid - Least favorite song. This band isn't at it's best with slow songs. This sounds like weak emo country music. It's not awful though, not even bad, just meh. Post Listen: Ah, it's British. I'm starting to understand why people in a lot of reviews call the albums on this project British Propaganda. This album wasn't horrible, but I am starting to struggle grappling with the exclusion of certain universal all-star albums in favor of....this. The vocalist was really great, she has a solid voice. The lyrics on the other hand were mostly pretty silly, but didn't matter very much if you listened for just the sound. The guitar got boring midway through, every other instrument was pretty solid though throughout. First album where my favorite song was the 1st, least favorite song the last, and everything in-between was just alright. 3/5

Pre Listen: Haven't heard of Solomon Burke. Album cover is definitely dated, would be something I'd overlook in a records store for sure. No expectations, outside of this will probably be decent, but boring. Notable Tracks: Cry To Me - I know he's saying "Don't you feel like cry-cra-cry-cra crying to me" but it sounds like he's saying "Don't you feel like a cracka cracka cracka". Just saying. You Can't Love Them All - My favorite song. I think it got the best song, the soft instrumental ensemble plays together so well. I especially like the acoustic guitar and piano. Post Listen: About what I was expecting. Old soul, nostalgic feeling, one stand out song and the rest wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything incredibly special. A very. *very* inoffensive album. I would almost describe it as cute. Everything is done ok, and again, no bad songs or anything like that. I'm struggling to come up with anything to say deeper than that. Another album I would've really loved a decade ago or so when this was the sum of my music tastes. 3/5.

Pre Listen: The only White Stripes song I know off the top of my head is "Seven Nation Army". That song defined a genre for a while, and also somehow got associated with "gamers" if I recall right. I think it's a decent enough song, a bit overplayed, but fine. Taking those expectations going in. Notable Tracks: The Nurse - What were they even trying to cook here? What a mess, horrible all around. Least favorite song on the album, skipped 3/4ths through. Little Ghost - My favorite on the album. Wasn't expecting a folk sounding song on here, and it felt like coming up for a breath of air while drowning in cringe. White Moon - Another low point. Skipped at 3/4th through as well, just wanted to tell the vocalist to shut up already. Post Listen: This album sucks. Overall the instruments, vocals, lyrics, pacing, theme, style, all of it sucks. It sounds amateurish at best, shitty theatre-kid melodramatic on average, and intentionally piss-poor amateurish at worst. They employ random experimental music techniques here and there like audio chopping, stereo manipulation, and distortions, but none of it works, it's just at random. Credit where credit is due, the variety in styles between songs is noteworthy. The inclusion of a marimba on some songs is unique, even if they didn't pull it off. The sound mixing is very well done. Those three reasons, and how this album isn't entirely unlistenable, saves it from being a 1. I can see emotionally stunted young adults and teenagers adoring this album because they struggle to comprehend feelings of sadness, and believe they're irreparably depressed after breaking up with a partner they've had for less than a month. I'm not looking forward to the 2 other albums from these dweebs on this project. Low 2/5.

Pre Listen: I like the fonts on the album cover, they goofy. Haven't heard of them before, no expectations. Notable Tracks: Whiskey Woman - My favorite track. I love how the song progresses and changes as it goes. Good sound. City Lights | Teenage Head - Two highlights I quite enjoyed. Gritty sound, sounds very similar to the Rolling Stones in a good way. Evil Hearted Ada - My least favorite song. Sounds like discount Elvis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXp6a66KRjw Post Listen: What a difficult album to put a score to. I really liked a lot of this album. I was lightly bored by a good portion of it too, but it wasn't suffocatingly so. The instrumentation, especially the guitar, was great. It reminded me of The Rolling Stones, whom I love. The occasional piano was very complimentary, and I liked the honky-tonk sound on quite a few songs. That said, I just don't think this album is very memorable. It didn't feel memorable as I listened, but I can't really discern why. Teetering difficultly around a 3 or a 4, may come back and edit the review after thinking on it, and possibly re-listening though. 3/5.

Pre Listen: I've heard of Fat Boy Slim, but I don't know if I've listened to any of his stuff. I don't even really know how or why I know of him, I just do. No expectations. Notable Tracks: Give The Po' Man A Break - Least favorite track. Very grating. Just feels like disorganized noise strung together with a beat. 10th and Crenshaw - Starting to feel as though the albums really starting to fall apart. The unique sound is beginning to wear thin, and this is all starting to sound like the work of a schizophrenic DJ. The Sound Of Milwaukee - My favorite song if I had to choose. Sounds like something I'd hear in an old Flash game off Newgrounds or something. Post Listen: My god Fatboy must be so fat from all the fucking drum break samples he hordes in his fat slim belly. Share some with the rest of the class, goddamn. This is the 3rd "Beat and Sample" album I've encountered on here, and it's by far the weakest. At best, the music is serviceable as background Club tracks. At worst, it's headache inducing, and makes me feel like I'm listening to a Mad Scientist's playlist. Several songs are just the noises that printers make when they jam, or videogames when they crash. Some of the audio manipulations sound like something out of a YouTube Poop. I probably would've liked this album when I was 10 years old or younger, because it has this forced futuristic electro sound to it that I would've ate up. The first song had me ready for a unique experience. A unique experience is certainly what I got. This album being unique is really the only good thing I can say about it. 2/5.

Pre Listen: Not only have I never heard of these fellas, I wouldn't even know how to pronounce their name. The Po-gu-ess? Poo-jays? The Pugs? I may never know, no expectations. Notable Tracks Turkish Song of Demand - Well this is unique. I...I don't know how to feel about it. It's cool I guess? Fairytale Of New York - Oh this is awful. Miserable. Sounds like Drunken Karaoke of a rejected Disney song. Metropolis - My favorite song on here. I love the energy it has, I love the instrumental variation. Fun little ditty. Fiesta - Another unique song. White boys goin Corona style. Worms - What the fuck is happening. Grinch type song. Post Listen: This album was all over the place. I have no idea what genre to even file this under, other than Irish for sure. I never did learn how to say their name. The quality too was all over the place. I thought some songs were really interesting, some boring, some bad, and some good. This album felt a bit more like a fun singular experience, rather than something I'd listen to over and over again. Once the surprise and goofiness has been experienced, it probably wouldn't be the same on a 2nd or 3rd listen. Stronger instrumental performances, weaker lyrical craft, but a whole lot of Creativity! Most varied work I've experienced on here to date. 3/5, maybe I'll come back to it, maybe not. EDIT - Came back, bumping to a 4/5. This album was more memorable than I gave it credit. It was so unique, and several of the songs have remained in my head since in a good way.

Pre Listen: First album from the Who, joy. I used to really enjoy The Who, but since then, I don't know how to explain it, I've gotten really tired of their sound. This will be their first album I've listened to in full in probably a decade. Lowish expectations, especially since I normally dislike Live recordings, but hoping to find maybe I don't dislike them as much as I remember. Listening to the original 1970 release. Notable Tracks: Young Man Blues - Ridiculously ironic song considering their generation grew up to hoard wealth and give even less to the young people of today, by almost every conceivable metric of capital. Fuck boomers lol. Shaking All Over - One from my playlist back in the day. Nostalgic. My Generation - Another certified classic, and one from my playlist that I've since removed. I think the reason I grew so tired of this song is the aforementioned irony on how *their* generation grew into one of the most problematic, disagreeable ones of all time. Post Listen: For a Live recording, it sure had better sound quality than most of it's contemporaries. A very well behaved live audience, or everyone's really far from the stage. I didn't hate it, it is still music from a band I used to adore at the end of the day. They're just too worn out for me to really get invested in. Like an old pair of sneakers that you don't want to wear anymore, I'm tired of the Who. 3/5

Pre Listen: The album title is making me feel coerced. I never agreed to date even one of the Everly Brothers, much less two. I don't wanna get tag teamed by these guys oml. No expectations. Notable Tracks: Love Hurts - Favorite song on the album. Has the best harmonies on here, which is already this things strongest aspect. I may have heard this one before too? Post Listen: Album wasn't really anything good or bad. Didn't even have a least favorite song. Just some run-of-the-mill late 50's early 60's romance pop, with a bit of blues sprinkled in. I wouldn't have liked this album even back when I craved this kind of thing, it's so generic and boring. Literally nothing special here. It's not bad, their harmonies are actually pretty damn good, even if their individual voices are a bit...sour? I don't know, I just don't vibe with their sounds. Everything else is just so bland. I couldn't finish the last song of the album from how boring it was, even though it was relatively short. Felt like eating somewhat dried out white bread, slice after slice, with nothing else. Would be a lot better in moderation, used as parts of a sandwich with other songs of the time period. 2/5.

Pre Listen: Never heard of them, but I like the album cover. No expectations. Notable Tracks: Haiti - My favorite track, I love the intro. I wish this female vocalist was featured on every track, I would've liked the album a lot more if that had been the case. In the Backseat - Another highlight. Again, the woman singing is leaps and bounds better than the male vocalist. Post Listen: Another album I'm filing under Millennial Rock, and one where the lead vocalist really drags the whole experience down 90% of the time. I defined Millennial Rock under a different review of mine as "really boring, but never really bad per say. It's characterized by smoother, low tempo beats, lots of ooo-ing and aaa-ing, and the occasional piano or other classic-adjacent instrument." I'm gonna use that describe every one of these types of albums, as I feel the exact same way. What's noteworthy on this one is how much I hated the regular male vocalist. Bro needs to either let out the tears, or go to therapy, sick of this wishy-washy inbetween whining. Unimpressive, sleepy sounding corporate schlock. 2/5.

Pre Listen: Finally some good fucking music. I love Miles Davis, and I'm fairly sure I've listened to this album before. Looking forward to all of it! Notable Tracks: N/A Post Listen: Well uh. Huh. This is awkward, I uh, didn't really like that. I must've had this Davis album confused with another, it was a little too freeform and experimental, especially the lengthier tracks. I love Jazz, and there is some exceptionally great Free Form out there, I think it's just gotta be a lot more lowkey than this one was trying to be. It felt too scattered, doing too much at most moments. The instruments felt as though they were fighting for a lead position. I was really hoping for more, or just something else I guess. 2/5.

Pre Listen: Looks like cowboy music to me, based on the album cover and title? The year is off for something like that, but we'll see I reckon. No expectations. Notable Tracks: Who/When/Where/How/Which Do You Love - What a neat little jam session. Had some highs and some lows, with the highest being the Who parts 1 and 2 for me, and the low being the Where part. It got too experimental for me. Overall though that was a cool little psychedelic experience though. Calvary - SO IT WAS COWBOY MUSIC ALL ALONG. My favorite song, love the mash of a psychedelic rock band's sound with more western-ish sounds. Post Listen: I think that was a Live album? It had some audio effects that made it feel like it was a studio album made to sound live? If it was Live, that was an exceptionally good Live album! If not, that was still a pretty good album. Cool jams all around. Every instrument was very solid, they reminded me of The Doors a little bit. Would've never guessed it was gonna be this type of genre from the album cover and title in a million years. I especially liked all the guitar work they did, and how every song flowed into the next with ease. Will probably listen to this album again *off the goop* at some point. 4/5

Pre Listen: The album cover certainly gives early 2000's vibes. I feel like I'm staring at something I'd find on the early internet. French music is either the worst shit I've ever heard, or amongst the best, so I got mixed feelings going in to this one. Notable Tracks: Playground Love - Alright, I'm invested, this is quite good. That saxophone felt great. Dirty Trip - A low point in the album, the scratched piano strings don't really do it for me. Highschool Lover - Favorite track on here. That grand piano sound is great, carries a lot of soul in it. Suicide Underground - I know what they were going for here. I get it's for a movie. this particular tract is just more art than music? I don't know. Least favorite song, but I'd probably feel someway else about it if I watched the movie, of which I have no plans to do. Post Listen: This album succeeded in giving me that early 2000's internet nostalgia. I feel like these songs were meant to be heard at a lower bitrate. I appreciate the restraint shown with a lot of the songs. When I hear 'Electronic album' I think of endless synthesized sounds layered upon each other, looped into oblivion with the odd sample thrown in here and there. This album really didn't have that, and I appreciate that a lot. The motiffs carried in a few of the songs was neat, and there was a general variety in the sound I enjoyed as well. Cool album, strong vibes, will likely come back to it later. 4/5

Pre Listen: Prince! Here's an artist I've been meaning to listen to more, and haven't gotten around to. I don't typically listen to the genres of music he's known for, but I'm open to it. Higher expectations than usual going in. Notable Tracks: 1999 - He's saying he won't hurt me, but I think he might. Groovy sound, classic song right here. I didn't know this was Prince. Little Red Corvette - I know this one too, and again, I had no idea this was Prince lol. Another classic. Automatic - Least favorite song in the album. I'd really like it if Prince stopped talking nasty to me in my ear, amongst other oddities and weird shit in this one. Post Listen: I did not expect to enjoy that album nearly as much as I did, especially with the raised expectations. It was so groovy and funky, Prince lived up to their title....at least on the A side. The B side absolutely bombed for me. Price kept whispering in my ear, left me feeling icked out. Too many odd choices on the B side, from the women crying in one song, to the consistent nasty talk. I skipped through a good portion of each song on the B side as a result. I'm left very conflicted on how to rate this. The A side was a 5 for me, then the B side was a 1. It can't be a 3-star album, as it definetely wasn't just mid/boring nonsense. For now I'll give it a 4/5, but that may change.

Pre Listen: I've heard of Bjork, but I don't really think I've heard any of her stuff knowingly. Based off what I do know about her, I don't think I'll enjoy this album, simply by genre. Still, going in with pretty much no expectations. Notable Tracks: Pagan Poetry - Oh hey this is that song that's used in various TikToks, Reels, and YouTube Shorts. I recognize this one, only by its intro. Frosti - How unique. I actually like this. A mix of a Music Box with other sounds is something I haven't heard done before for a whole song. I like the transition from this into Aurora as well. Favorite song on here. Sun In My Mouth - A high point of the album, but it solidified how much I dislike Bjork's vocals. The instrumental behind the singing is incredible, the musical equivalent of a movie. Bjork's voice though sounds terrible, like hearing your Mom singing in the shower. Post Listen: I liked that more than I anticipated, but it still wasn't my cup of tea. All the instrumental contributions were quite solid. A variety of strings, percussion, synth, and after effects, were all superbly done. This album sadly falls under the category of "I really wish the vocalist stopped vocaling!" Her breathy singing, slanted lyrics, and jumps in volume were terrible. Despite how unique every song sounds, her vocals sound the exact same from song to song. You could isolate her vocals from one track, layer it over the other, and I wouldn't know it. I now understand that one Family Guy bit. https://youtu.be/6Bc75EImLh4 I can see why this album is on here compared to a lot of the others, but as said, I'm just not that in to it. Quality was high, but it was a tough listen for me. I will try and find an instrumental version of the album, cause without her voice this may have been a 5 for me. There wasn't a single song I really disliked, I just disliked her vocals. 3/5

Pre Listen: The name sounds familiar, but I don't recall ever listening to anything by her. expecting Rap based on the the album title, cover, release date, etc. I've continued to be surprised on how much I've enjoyed the rap albums given on this project so far, so no expectations going in. Notable Tracks: Sock It 2 Me - I watched the music video for this one, and the costume Missy Elliot is wearing makes her look like a mascot for Gmail. The song and music video sucks, but I thought that was funny. Post Listen: That was pretty painful. Disappointing. Missy Elliot is at her best when she's actually singing lyrics, but the second she pivots to rap it's like nails on a chalkboard to me. She has a great voice, but her lyricism is more boring than drywall. As a result, when she actually sings it's easy to overlook the drab, self-congratulatory lyrics, but when she raps in a monotone voice, focusing on flow rather than tune, it's miserable. The beat/sample work was just sort of average overall, and got boring after about 1-2 minutes per track. The other low thing about this album was all the guest singers/rappers. They were all almost entirely terrible. Combine these issues with this album being 17 songs long, and most songs clocking in around 4 to 5 minutes each, created a truly painful listening experience for me. Each song made 1 minute feel like 15. It also gave me a headache. 1/5

Pre Listen: Neat album cover, I'd listen to something like this offhandedly if it was recommended to me based on the cover alone. Never heard of them before though, no expectations. Notable Tracks: Second Time Around - Least favorite song on the album, especially that last part good god. Very thankful that this was it. Post Listen: Wasn't as great as I was hoping. Blended together quickly, glad it was a shorter album. This album felt like proto-punk with a blues angle to it. It had a heavy garage-rock sound, which I guess for 1968 is neat? Problem is I think Punk and Garage Rock are perhaps the worst genres of music to ever claw its way into the human psyche. Just free-jam meaningless noise spanning 2 minutes or so, interluded by repeating the same couple lyrics again and again. There were parts in most songs where it wasn't really bad, but I can't honestly say I enjoyed a single song as a whole. It wasn't unlistenable or anything though, and again, for 1968 this kind of sound is somewhat impressive I guess. Won't be returning to these lads, will probably forget every song I heard here by tomorrow. 2/5

Pre Listen: The Kinks :) I have a good number of their songs on my playlist already, mostly from their Lola VS. album. I'm certain I'll recognize some songs from this, and I will enjoy this album overall. Notable Tracks: Victoria - Oh yeah, I know this one. Most excellent. May be playlist worthy, excited for the rest of this album. Yes Sir, No Sir - Another one I know. This one *will* be going on the playlist. Drivin' - Another one I know, and yet isn't part of my playlist. Will be adding this one too. Shangri-La - I don't recognize this one, but I absolutely love it. Probably my favorite on here. Another one added to the playlist! Post Listen: I stopped putting notable tracks on because I loved basically every song on here. Easy 5! Some have described the Kinks as Beatles-adjacent, and I get that. They have such a great variety of instruments, sounds, lyrics, etc. Every instrument is well played, every lyric sung in-tune and well done. So great overall, I hummed along to nearly every track. I needed this. 5/5

Pre Listen: Not really looking forward to this one based on Title, Album Cover, and release date. Hoping it won't sound astro-turfed, corporate or preachy. Low expectations. Notable Tracks: Out The Lies | Black Is | Black | Us - I have a simple smell test I apply to many political works of art this decade to determine if the message is actually progressive or regressive: If you replace a demographic in a lyric/verse with a different one, and it completely changes the tone of the message, it's probably regressive. Don't Shoot Guns Out - Holy fucking christ could you make the message behind the song anymore in your face and unpoetic? This is the musical equivalent of video game yellow paint. Sorry Ain't Enough - The best song on this album, both from a lyrical perspective and musical one. It's actual music. It's perhaps the only alright song on this album. Black - What the fuck is this. Worst song on the album musically by a landslide. DJ Toenail ass beat. Might be the worst song I've heard on here to date. Post Listen: This shit was so fucking banal. Exactly what I was expecting. Before beginning this complete rant of a review I want to clarify I'm quite left-leaning in my politics, to a degree that I think your average left-leaning American politician is just a Conservative Lite. I hold ideals of equality, freedom, and justice for all in exceptionally high regard, and believe that modern U.S. society is in desperate need of sweeping reforms. That being said, this album was such a nothing-burger in terms of messaging, musical substance, and politics. The beats and sounds were beyond simple, the occasional audio editing with distortions or sampling could've been done in Garage Band in 15 minutes. On the subject of politics especially, this album felt like the most tip-of-the-iceberg messaging I've ever had the displeasure of listening to. I could boil down the lyrical message behind most tracks to "Black people good. Being black is hard. American society bad". Even back in 2020 this sort of political messaging was quickly becoming so worn out. This is the kind of shit right-wing pundits would point to on their podcasts, talking about how asinine the left-wing movement is for promoting this, and if this is your only exposure to political music, you'd agree, because it just sounds so awful. This music is the kind of shit only performative liberals listen to. This is the kind of music people who did the social media "black out" back in 2020 listened to, while continuing to support corporations who perpetuate their oppression, vote for candidates who act against their best interests, and forget about it all within a month. The comments under almost every video was just the most narcissistic circle-jerk of self-congratulatory back-patters, going "We're so proud of you for being here" or "If you're here you get it." Almost made my eyes roll out of my head. Many of the 4 to 5 reviews on here read similarly. Despite all my issues here, the album had some alright Synth work, the B side was better than the A side by a sizeable margin, and they gave all proceeds from this album to charity apparently. This being a non-profit is all that's keeping it from being a one. 2/5

Pre Listen: Never heard of them, but the album cover is giving King Crimson vibes. No expectations. Notable Tracks: Alright - Oh I do know this song. I think I've either heard it in a dozen commercials, or one commercial I've heard dozens of times. Either way, it's sounds corporate to me now because of the association. Also haha they said the British slang for 'Cigarette'. We're Not Supposed to Go - What were they cooking here? Least favorite song. Sofa (Of My Lethargy) - My favorite song on the album. Just has good vibes, I like the psychedelic part in the 2nd part of the song. Post Listen: There were some real catchy songs on here, and I did like the album, but I wouldn't call it super memorable. I think this is another one of those albums I feel a little conflicted on. They had a very 90's sound to them, their instrumentation was pretty good, their lyrical work was alright, and the vocalist was pretty good too. It had a good variety of songs, none lasted longer than they needed to, it was quite solid overall. As said though, I just don't think the album was super memorable? I listened to this album in parts throughout the day, and none except Sofa and Alright stuck with me afterwards. I think I'll give this album a 4/5 for the same reasons I gave Franz Ferdinand a 4; it may not have stuck or impacted me much, but I can feel the talent coming in through the music, and appreciate it. 4/5

Pre Listen: QUICKEST 5 TO DATE. This will also be the most biased review to date. I've been waiting for them to show up. The undeniable #1 band of all time, by metric of holding the record for the most #1 hits world wide, and total record sales in history. This album isn't my favorite of theirs, but it's leaps and bounds better than most band's peaks. Notable Tracks: Nowhere Man - I feel this. In My Life - My favorite song on here. One of the few songs that has brought me to tears not just once, but a handful of times. Love it. Norwegian Wood - Another highlight, love George's sitar work here. The first instance of India's influence on his work, of many more to come. Run For Your Life - My least favorite track on here by far. It's just weird man, and doesn't really sound that great either. Post Listen: I shall never tire of them. Knowing the lore behind them enhances each and every song so much more. Thank you, John, George, Paul and Ringo. What is there to say that hasn't already been said about the Beatles? John and Paul's harmonies flow so naturally it's almost hypnotic. George's guitar conveys so much emotion in some songs, and absolutely rocks in others. Ringo's on the beat perfectly, and shows great restraint allowing the others to lead. The lyrics are chefs kiss. I struggled to pick a favorite on here, and if you were to ask me a week from now, it would probably be a different track. Masterpiece. This was my #1 album of all time for a while. It's especially poignant after going through a turbulent patches of love, with partners, friends, or family. I adore this album so much, it's one of the few that really draws emotions out from me. 5/5

Pre Listen: The name sounds insanely familiar, but I can't quite remember if I know James Brown for sure. Based on the album cover saying "#1 R&B Star of 1962" it's made me realize I don't think I've heard any R&B pre 1980's. Going in to this with my interest piqued. Notable Tracks: Think - My favorite track, it's got a nice groove and awesome energy. The saxophone player really shines here. Lost Somone - Least favorite track, the "Someone" James lost here was me. Just drags on, the audience is annoying as hell, and James starts making noises similar to the ones my elderly cat makes near the end. Post Listen: Yet another album that likely would've been higher if it wasn't a shitty live recording. This definitely wasn't the R&B I've grown accustomed to, and it made me curious how what we consider R&B as a genre has evolved and changed over time. I'd consider this more Club Jazz than anything else, and it was ok for the most part. Instrumentation was well done, varied enough in sound from song to song. The issue I have with it is the same as almost every other live album: the sound quality is worse because of it, and the audience noises actively subtract from the experience. This audience in particular was incredibly annoying, with individuals screaming seemingly at random at various points. I said it before and I'll say it again with live recordings, I'm sure the vibes were immaculate when it was happening, but they don't translate well at all upon playback. I don't know where this project's obession with Live Albums comes from. 3/5

Pre Listen: Based on the year and album cover, this looks like it'll be more millennial rock slop. I haven't heard of them. Low expectations. Notable Tracks: Temecula Sunrise - Good guitar work, very pretty. Not a fan of this vocalist thus far however. The Bride - The vocalist is doing his best to sound like he just got kicked in the balls as he sings. I started really disliking him here. Two Doves - Another highlight on the album. Very pretty sound, just like Temecula. Post Listen: Ack, another album I have conflicting feelings on! I really loved the female vocalists, they have great voices, but they're just oo-ing and aa-ing for most of the songs that feature them sadly. The male vocalist on the other hand sucks! Grating and annoying 9/10 times. For both however, the lyrics are pretty meh. The instrumentation overall was a little varying as well, it was good for the most part, but had some weird or drab moments. Good variety in them though, and I always appreciate that. I just couldn't connect with the vibes of the album overall. I didn't have a least favorite song, nor a favorite, it was just sort of ups and downs throughout. As a result, I'll stick with a middle of the road score. 3/5

Pre Listen: The album cover looks like something I'd find at a scholastic book fair, and the title fits. Never heard of them, but I am ready. No expectations. Notable Tracks: N/A Post Listen: This is most certainly Trucker music. I can almost hear the 18 wheeler's noises in spirit. I'm a bit low energy as of recent, and this album's tracks really blended for me, so rather than giving specific reasons on why this album was a 3, I'm just gonna rate it a 3 and leave it at that. I am not a Trucker. 3/5

Pre Listen: Stevie Wonder, here's a lad I recognize. I got a couple of his hits on my playlist, "Superstitious" "I Wish" etc. I've liked most all the songs I've heard from him, so I reckon this album won't be any different. Highish expectations as a result. Notable Tracks: You Are the Sunshine of my Life - Great start to this album, sincerely. Bop. Superstitious - Oh shit this ones actually on here. Certified Gold Classic. Love it! Post Listen: That was really nice. I liked every song, the album wasn't too long, incredibly solid album right here. I may add Sunshine to my playlist, but outside of that, every other song was alright. I love Stevie's voice, and that twangy soundin bass and guitar above all. Funky beats to vibe to. No negative notes, didn't have a least favorite song either. Giving this a 4/5, but I may come back to it. I can't place my finger on why it feels like a 4 to me, and not a 5. It's a great album, and I like it a lot, I just don't love it. 4/5.

Pre Listen: Second Steely Dan album featured on here I've encountered. Unlike the 1st one I got (Pretzel Logic) I actually know this one, and have two songs from it on my playlist already. Looking forward to listening to it again :) Notable Tracks: Do It Again - Now this one's been on my playlist for ages, probably amongst the first 50 songs when I first started building it over a decade ago. Classic :) Kings - I don't remember this one, but man is it good. Adding it to my playlist! Reelin' In The Years - Another certified classic, and the 2nd song I've had on my playlist for ages now. Fire In The Hole - Another song I really dig and forgot about completely? Shit I really didn't recall how much I enjoyed this album. Post Listen: Man I enjoyed this album a lot more than I remembered. For a debut album from a band that remained relevant for quite a while, I think it's impressive that this is probably their best work. Donald's lyrical poetry is superb, being clever, digestible, and full of substance. While I do love his lyrics, his vocal performance itself can get a little old upon repeat listens back to back, but overall it's pretty good. The instrumentation is wonderful as well, one of the few albums that I think does a sort of Jazz-rock fusion really well. The piano and guitar work especially stick out as something special to me. On a thematic level the album's great as well, exploring all sorts of concepts around vice and the consequences that follow, and attempting to turn things around. This album doesn't have any sort of pitfalls or major issues I can think of, no least favorite song either. I think this album is truly Steely Dan at their absolute best, which is a shame since again it was their debut studio album. Regardless, it doesn't get Steelier than this. 5/5