Reviews by 1001mjanzai

An early example of Neil Young’s music and first album with Crazy Horse is a good one but maybe not easential.
There are some classic songs on here but I think that in these early incarnations they might lack some fire of later live recordings.
Most of the material here comes across a little tame and the recording sounds a little too dry but you can’t deny the distinct voice and guitar playing of Neil Young.
So definitely check this out and keep going through his great discography.

It’s been great to hear quite a few albums by Bob Dylan during this project as I’ve finally gotten around to liking his music but being confronted with this double album might be a bit much to take in for now.
Definitely some classics on here but a lot of these songs are going to need a few spins for me to fully understand.
One thing I’m beginning to understand is what a fantastic harmonica player he is!
Some of these phrases take a long breath to play not just on the inhale but also on the exhale so controlling that would take aome talent and the notes are quite well in tune.
Anyways I’m still enjoying his music but starting to question how many more albums we really need by him on this list.

Now this is great rap music!
They’re actually talking about things I can relate to.
The delivery of the words are done with great passion and with heaviness.
The backing tracks are dense and interesting.
I never totally got into their albums back in the day but listening to this now and having the comparison to other rap music that has come afterwards, it’s clear that these guys made some of the best rap albums.
There really isn’t much out there that can touch this and I’m pretty stoked that I get to listen to a couple more albums by them for this project.

This was an interesting listen.
It sort of had the usual tropes of crooner music but done in kind of an abstract way.
The strings and backing vocals sort of float through the pieces which are anchored by a solid band that has to navigate through some interesting chord changes.
The thing that really blew me away though was how well the music was recorded and mixed.
It sounds way beyond the quality of recordings for the year of 1969.
Every single song on this album is interesting however I do have a hard time remembering any of them after one listen as his singing style kind of seemed one dimensional by the end of the album but his voice sounds great and he sings well on every piece.
Definitely looking forward to digging into his discography.

Another fantastic listen of an album from a place other than North America or the UK.
Very groovy and funky, played with a lot of passion.
Once again it made me wonder how many great albums are out there not from primarily english speaking countries.
The inclusion of this album definitely puts a good portion of the english language albums on this list to shame.
Would love to get some more fascinating world albums to replace the other crap on this list.

Good to finally listen to a whole album by Cat Stevens.
This is classic singer songwriter material.
These songs are really well written and performed.
There’s a feeling of great sentimentality here.
Although I’ve heard his songs over the years and not thought much about them, it’s possible I’m connecting with it more now as I age.
Seems to be worth checking out all his other albums.

I don’t know anything about this artist so I went into this with a bit of trepadation because of all the terrible albums I had to endure on this list so far but this ended up being a great listen.
I’m always worried about the quality of music in this era as they are generally very derivative but this had some great experimental sounds in all the right places within the pop format.
I’m definitely going to check out the rest of the discography as I’m sure there will be some other interesting pop gems in there.

In the spirit of classic old recordings, here we have another great example of a great album being a live recording.
When it comes to blues music the live atmosphere really is the only way to do it justice.
The excitement of performing to an appreciative audience really does feed into the performances of the musicians involved.
And wow what a great guitar tone on display here.
It really does sing!
Maybe would have been great to hear B.B. King backed by some more fiery players but it is all about him after all!
There must be some other albums by him worth listening to so I’ll have to do some research.
I wonder if he ever made a great studio album?

This came out right around the time I was shifting away from pop music.
I recognize so many of these songs but was surprised to learn that none of the singles charted that high.
There certainly are some truly great songs on here as well as the usual somewhat experimental folkish filler.
It sure is great to listen to this band again and to hear the complete albums.
I’ve gained a new appreciation for this band and am looking forward to listening to some more recordings by this band.

I’ve heard select Bad Brains material over the years and I would say that I don’t think that this might be their best album.
There’s a sort of new wave type of sound that’s infused throughout these tracks that doesn’t quite work here.
It makes them sound restrained and the best stuff by them are when thay are wild and all over the place.
This album is also missing some of their later great dub experiments.
Hmm, yeah really not sure why this album was picked.
Certainly any of their other albums would have been a better choice.

I was around when the Pixies came out but they somehow got by me and I never realized how popular they were until just before they broke up.
Once again it was probably a case of them being more of a college rock band and never being able to hear them on mainstream radio.
By the time I got to them I had heard a multitude of other bands and ended up finding the Pixies to be a bit tame compared to where my tastes had gone by that point.
Listening to it now I do still find this a bit tame but now in my later years it seems that there’s some sort of a maturity to their sound and that it seems to be well formed from the beginning.
I do enjoy this but it doesn’t get me totally pumped however I have a feeling this might be one of those slow burn bands where things start clicking after many listens.
Definitely not offended by them and I don’t mind that I’ll be listening to a couple more albums by them coming up on this project.

What a wild listen!
Sometimes strange and mysterious sounding, other times nice and pleasant.
Lots of great guitar playing here on top of solid congas and percussion as well as on top of a steady but tricky off-beat string bass.
The interspersed vocals and harmonies are great coming in here and there.
This was a nice surprise of a listen and just shows how much great music is out there from other countries and from so many years ago!

A nicely varied album released during the rise of the alternative rock music era.
I’ve always enjoyed their music whenever it came on the radio back in the day but I never got around to buying any of their albums so it was finally great to sit down and listen to one.
I found the variety of moods here surprising.
Some songs are light and poppy, some are dark and brooding, and some have a tinge of folk to them.
Now I’m looking forward to their other albums on this list.

This was a good listen.
It has been great to finally dig into some Bob Dylan albums.
Not sure if we need so many albums by him on this list though.
This is my third one so far and it’s not hitting me as much as the first two.
A bit of fatigue setting in already.
But it was still cool to put this on and listen to.
At least I’ll be curious and willing to listen to the other albums when they come up.

I really liked their first two albums but this one is a bit much.
There’s lots of good songs on here but a two hour double album is a lot to ask of the listener.
An extreme example of how the age of CDs ruins a reasonable listening experience.
This album could possibly be made into a masterpiece though with some track editing.
Although the sound of this album is a bit strange.
It’s as if they were trying too hard to make it sound warm and we’re just left with a lower mid-range mess of a mix.
There are some great moments here though but it might be praised more for the scale of ambition rather than a set of good songs.
So let’s leave this one off the list and substitute it with their first album.

I had always heard of this group but have never heard their music.
Now that I have it’s safe to say that they are over-hyped.
I like minimalism but these songs are just boring.
The lyrics aren’t doing much either.
I would still like to give them another shot but am not sure I would want to put this on again.
I see there’s another album on this list and it came out ten years later so maybe they’ve improved over that time.
For now this album should be wiped off this list as it’s taking up too much valuable space.

I’ve always liked this band since I first got into listening to music in the ‘80s and they really have stood the test of time.
Not many albums back then though were great from beginning to end and this would be one as well.
However the real great songs stand out and showcase the great songwriting capabilities of these guys.
I also appreciate that they can make hit pop songs with a darker tone than what most bands were doing at that time.
I’m mostly familiar with their next two albums so it was great to give this one a spin and I’m looking forward to listening to some more earlier material as well as later stuff.

What a great listen this was!
Rock music that has a vibe both deep and fun.
Also nice to be back in the era of great sounding recordings.
They did a great job with the production of this album.
I’ve only ever heard Electric Warrior so it was great to listen to this one and I’m definitely gonna check out the rest of his discography!

I can’t believe this album made it on the list even after their first two albums were put on it.
Not that it’s a bad thing but after the first two this one is probably not essential.
It would be great to free up a bit of room for some other artists who aren’t on the list although I wouldn’t kick this one off the list before the other bunch of shitty albums that are inexplicably on this list.
Anyways, this is a great album and if putting three albums on this list by this band raises the chances of people getting exposed to their unique style of music then so be it!

This one is not as essential as Nevermind so probably doesn’t need to be on this list.
I’m a big fan of noise rock so I like that this album went more in that direction however I don’t think many of these songs really hold up that well.
I think these guys were burnt out at this point and probably needed a bit more time to work on the material.
Although they did have time but Kurt’s addiction probably got in the way of making good, productive use of that time.
It is kind of cool that this album is on this list but let’s trade this one in for an album by Jesus Lizard!