Reviews by 1001mjanzai

This is a great album!
It really stood out when it came out.
I remember highly anticipating this after the masterful Broken EP and definitely not being disappointed.
I probably haven’t put this on in decades and it still sounds great however the mix might be a bit thin in spots.
There’s a lot of great experimental sounds on this album and maybe is a bit too thick in spots which may have contributed to a somewhat flat sounding mix.
Also this is in the age of CDs so at over 65 minutes it’s probably a bit too long and could use a trim here and there.
Overall though I still got excited hearing these songs again and it still was a good listen from beginning to end.

Another UK-centric album for this UK-centric list.
One of the many albums from the ‘80s that had one or two good songs on it and the rest of the album is quite weak.
I thought the one good song on here would be “Holding Back The Years” but listening to it years later I found that song didn’t really go anywhere.
I remember liking it when it came out but also being slightly annoyed at how over-played it was on the radio back then.
Turns out there isn’t enough to that song to be truly essential listening.
The best song actually might be “Money’s Too Tight To Mention” but I just learned that it’s a cover so…
Since this list is for essential albums this one should be left off.

This was the first time I heard Björk and wow what a voice!
Hearing that voice on top of such fun sounding music makes for a good listen.
The music is just quirky enough to keep things rolling in an interesting way.
Not sure if this would ultimately be essential listening but it is great to hear where Björk came from so it should be heard by anyone interested in her voice.

This was not too bad.
Once again I was a bit skeptical about a UK band from this era but this came across as a fun listen.
Nothing really stood out as incredible but it wasn’t terrible.
Probably need a few more listens to understand why this is on this list.
Not sure if I’ll ever feel like listening to this at home again but if I happen to hear this out in the world, I’ll probably not be offended and it might stand out enough for me to Shazam it.

Right off the bat I was a bit skeptical because of the amount of awful UK albums on this list but this was not too bad of a listen.
It sounds like an early ‘90s alternative album but released in the late ‘90s so it’s the sound of a band arriving slightly late to the party.
It started off a bit derivative and I wasn’t sure if this album would be essential listening but as it went on it became more experimental which made it a more interesting listen in the end.
I’m now looking forward to checking out their other albums.

It’s great to have documents like this so we can hear how pure and vital live music used to be.
It really is too bad that we don’t get music performers doing this kind of thing anymore with a large ensemble.
It’s so unfortunate that the art of rehearsing, arranging and performing live with a large ensemble does not happen because of the financial constraints.
All the rich people of the world should invest in making art like this possible again instead of blowing all their money on their useless and bullshit lifestyle.
This album is the truth.
Real music made by real people.

Other than his personal life story I don’t really hear anything fantastic here.
The beats are ok but too repetitive, which I get is the point for laying some dope rhymes over, but I couldn’t find anything to care about in the subject matter so some musical variation would have been nice.
I live so far away from his reality that I can only fantasize about these stories so I’m gonna need some better backing tracks than this if I’m gonna care about this as some kind of great musical statement.
But hey like with anything, with enough listens maybe there will be some sections that I can get stuck in my head and want to groove to.
However ANYBODY who uses the “N” word on their albums, depending on how many times it’s used, will always make it harder for me to want to listen to it again therefore lessening the chances of learning this album properly.
So if saying the “N” word is not a good thing to do anymore can we all please finally refrain from using it in music?
But I’m totally for free speech so I guess if sections of music using the “N” word get stuck in my head I suppose it can just stay there in my head.

Another band I know and heard but never listened to a whole album.
This was a great listen!
Very interesting songs written with some jazz influences.
Makes for a very harmonically rich listen.
Each piece is well written in a concise fashion.
Leaves me wanting to hear the album again at the end and I did put this on twice.
Definitely want to hear their other albums as well.

What a great voice!
A voice like that deserves to be put up against a real band though.
But this is her debut album so I can see there being some financial limits for her first recording.
I think the album after this is much better so this one probably doesn’t need to be on this list.
It’s still great to hear her sing though.

As an early fan of thrash metal I remember when Sepultura broke through with Beneath The Remains and we were all eagerly waiting for the follow up Arise to come out.
Unfortunately I was not able to get deep with this album back then.
I think the problem was the production as everything sounds so compressed and flat.
Since the production didn’t breathe, all these great songs just went over my head in a big mid-range wash.
The songs here are great.
It’s pretty much the pinnacle of Sepultura’s thrash metal era.
I would say that there’s a progressive element here in just the sheer amount of riffs displayed here.
I also forgot about some of the industrial touches in some of the intros which were well placed.
This is probably one of, if not, the last great thrash metal album that was made in that era.
It’s great to see this album on this list and also to see that they included Roots which is a different sounding but no less important album.
It really is too bad that there aren’t albums by other great thrash metal bands on this list as there are many awesome recordings out there.
If Sepultura gets to have the two then Slayer and Anthrax also deserve to have at least one more each.
Then there’s all the other great albums by Death, Carcass, Testament, Exodus, Flotsam and Jetsam, Death Angel, Kreator, Coroner, etc…

Another great album by Stevie Wonder.
I can’t believe this is his 16th album!
Always a surprise to hear how well he plays every instrument.
Kind of paved the way for Prince.
This album also sounds nice and warm because it is the ‘70s after all!
There’s just so much to learn about this amazing musician.
I hope I can get through more of his discography at some point in my life!

I really dig her distinct singing voice!
I feel like she should have a few more albums on this list but looks like the list is playing popularity favorites again.
The sound of the music here is solid.
It’s a nice sounding take on the country roots style.
Definitely way better than that pop-country crap that is unfathomably popular.
I haven’t heard this in a while but on this listen I do hear the Bob Dylan influence clearly now.
The recording is maybe a little too clean but I’m probably conditioned now from hearing so many great sounding albums from the ‘70s on this list.
She’s had an amazingly great output of material post-stroke so I’m pretty sure there’s a few more albums that should be on this list along with this one.

I’ve heard only a few things by these guys so don’t know much about them and this was a good listen.
The songs are progressive and go to interesting places.
The writing and arranging are great and of course this being the ‘70s the recording sounds nice and warm.
The songs go to so many places it’s as if they’re some sort of progressive Beatles or something like that.
Sometimes this sounds like it’s paving the way for New Wave type of music which won’t be popular for a few more years yet so these guys are kind of ahead of their time.
I’m curious to hear all their other albums now.

I’m not too familiar with the Grateful Dead’s catalogue but I have heard and enjoyed a few things here and there.
I think their somewhat soft sound in the roots/folk/blues vain kind of made yhe somgs go over my head but upon listening to this, for maybe my second time ever, the songs on this album presented me with some very interesting choices in the way they wrote and arranged the songs.
They seem to be riding a certain feel on each song and letting the verses go for however long they need to depending on how they want to sing the lyrics.
It may not be so arbitrary though and may actually be the product of constantly refining by feel.
This makes me think that they are actually kind of a progressive roots rock band.
These songs do have such a nice sound to them and it did help to relax me after a stressful day.
I’m now looking forward to checking out the rest of their album discography.
Yes I know how their live shows go, which is a whole world on its own, and I’m guessing that diving into that world would be more rewarding with some knowledge of their album songs.
Looks like I’m finally on my way to becoming a Deadhead!

Oh thank goodness we’re back to the ‘70s in the land of good music and recordings.
This album kind of just went over my head a bit with its steady vamps all album long but there’s a lot of great arrangement and production touches here and there.
The vocals are soulful as hell though maybe a bit too yearning at times but I can feel the genuine emotion so it’s all good.
Although this album kind of floated by without much to hold onto on the first listen, it’s still a pretty interesting take on soul music and I’m just so relieved to be back in this era after enduring another crappy album from the ‘90s yesterday.

I’ve never heard of these guys before and I wish I never had.
This is not good.
Please remove from this list immediately!
Must make way for more deserving albums!

This started out great with that first track but then the rest just mostly went over my head.
So much of this music by this point in time sounds like a parody or a joke.
It’s interesting to think that at one time back in the day that maybe this was one of the great albums ever released.
Perhaps a few more listens will help get me closer to appreciating this more but for now I’m not sure that I would ever play this whole album ever again.
What an evolution the art of music has taken that these possible masterpieces from the past now sounds so unimpressive.
But what a voice though so I do want to hear more from him and I see that there’s a couple more albums coming up.
By the way what’s the deal with Elvis Costello getting 6 albums and Elvis Presley getting 3?!

What a great pick for a Friday!
One of the greatest rock bands of all time displaying how their quick evolution has matured into creating some more settled pieces of music.
With explorations of equal parts acoustic and electric sounds, this album clearly shows the bridge between the youthful bombast of their first two albums and the masterful pinnacle of the next two albums.
Definitely does not make any sense that Houses Of The Holy is not on this list but that just means I’ll just have to go listen to it on my own!

Another band I’ve heard of but never heard.
Knowing that they were British and that this was from the ‘90s didn’t make me look forward to this but I am pleasantly surprised by this listen.
I like the variety of songs here and they are all well performed and recorded.
There’s a good amount of experimentation in the arrangements and in the mix.
This whole album kind of has a Bowie vibe but does seem to retain some originality.
Jarvis Cocker does seem to be a bit pompous in his delivery but I suppose that is what makes these songs work.
There’s one more album by them on this list so I’ll be looking forward to that one!

Holy hell this is incredible!
I’ve heard this before but it’s been a long while so it’s really hitting great now especially during this project to help cut through all the crap on this list.
You can really feel the energy of the show on this recording and you can hear everything well so props to the engineer who recorded this.
This recording does back up the theory you always hear about this and Blue Cheer being the beginning of heavy metal.
We are so lucky that this moment in time was captured.
Wish I was alive and at that show!
So damn powerful and heavy!