Reviews by abitfishy

I think this one is a miss from me. Some of the positives are that it sounds a lot more modern than it actually is, the production is done very well. It has a nice mix of moods, to some straight rockers to more slower atmospheric songs. But I think overall this just sounds a bit bland, but I think this is a well done pysch album, but it isn't for me, but I can see why people might like it. Like I said at the start, I wouldn't recommend this one.

Highlight Song/s: "Animal Zoo" and "Why Can't I Be Free"

First Zappa (kind of) album for me. This album is crazy diverse, the styles change so much within one song, it can't fully commit to anything! This album just takes the piss at every possible moment. It seems to be with the album cover on some releases a parody of mainly hippies and other things psychedelia. On some songs - especially on the A-side - it literally feels like an imitation of a John Lennon-led Beatles psychedelic-era song. Some of my favourite elements from this were the bard-like storytelling delivery in "Absolutely Free" or just the abhorrent but interesting straight noise in "Nasal Retentive Caliope Music."

Only major thing I didn't like from this is there are burping sounds at some moments in some songs, which make my skin completely crawl, but that's the only major thing that ticks me off.

This is for sure an album that would suck so much to listen to on a bad day, like could easily 1 star tier, yet when listened with at least an open mind, I think 4 stars is actually reasonable. It does hell of a good job at it's, well, job. I can definitely see why this album was put on the list.

Highlight Song/s: "Concentration Moon", "Bow Tie Daddy", "Absolutely Free", "Nasal Retentive Caliope Music" and "Lonely Little Girl"

This has a nice dance-able rhythm to it. Africa rhythm's are like no other, no wonder some Europeans like Ginger Baker, in the late 60s and early 70s were fascinated with the sound. It's a bit jazzy here and there, mainly in the luscious horns . My favourite song on the album "Pitche Mi" takes you on a journey and a half, the song has a good structure to it.

This one wasn't too bad, not sure if I'd re-vist, but it was a fun one.

Highlight Song/s: "Pitche Mi"

Pretty good album, this was better than I was expecting. I never really listened to any of Eminem albums before, just songs here and there. This one has that early sound - of course - of just most filthy lyrics up until that point in time in music. He does all the don't's and zero of the do's. It's borderline hilarious after a certain point with all the horrendous stuff, you start seeing more humour in it than bigotry, for me I reached this point when "Marshall Mathers" came on. I like - not alone obviously - "Stan" for it's introspectiveness, sounds so down-to-earth, the topic of course, not what is actually done.

I think this is a good album, especially once the shocking lyrics wear off, it started to have a real charm to it. I would have this album as a must-hear album on a list if I ever created one. I wonder if I liked this one that The Slim Shady LP would be good, better or worse. Hmmmm.

Highlight Song/s: "Stan", "Who Knew", "Marshall Mathers" and "Bitch Please II"

This is a wonderful collection of different sounds. A fair amount of it is like ambient music with a distinguishable beat with sampled vocals, like from a old TV show. It feels very nostalgic, peaceful and gives me imagery of nature. It also makes me feel that something isn't what meets the eye, has a bit of mystery to it. It has a pretty good atmosphere to it. I'll definitely have to check out their newest album they released this year (2026.) If I had to choose a favourite element of one song, it'd probably be either the spoken word in "The Colour of the Fire" or the bass part in "Aquarius."

All in all, I think this was a good refreshing album that brings something new to my table.

Highlight Song/s: "An Eagle in Your Mind", "The Colour of the Fire", "Turquoise Hexagon Sun", "Roygbiv" and "Aquarius"

I think Beastie Boys did a great job with this album, straight up. They definitely did well at catching all the provocativeness and rebelliousness and snotty attitudes. I think it's still really well done even though it was just a product of it's time.

This is a good example of the mid-school hip-hop music, it has thumping beats that just completely you rock you. Also around this time sampling was getting quite popular in hip-hop. Like a quick usage of the Clash's "I Fought the Law" in "Rhymin & Stealin." That song's main sample is the drums from Led Zeppelin's "When The Levee Breaks" which is why itbeat sounded so familiar when I was listening to their fourth album. I also heard quite a few things in "Hold It Now, Hit It" that N.W.A. sampled on Straight Outta Compton, like M.C.A.'s line "Beer drinkin', breath stinkin', sniffin' glue" (okay actually Eazy-E's solo stuff, not N.W.A. - close enough.)

Though I do understand why the Beastie Boys had a dislike for the album eventually and if they did play any songs off it live, they'd usually play with altered lyrics. It is fairly misogynistic, and the original album title was within character of the albums themes albeit very homophobic.

This is my second listening to this. I think Beastie Boy's albums are very rewarding with re-listens they just have so many great lines littered throughout. Even though the lines they're cheesy as all hell, but that's part of the reason of why it's so good, because it's on the nose. I enjoyed this a lot more than my first listen, I definitely have to re-listen to Paul's Boutique (which is an album I got near the start of my listening journey.) I definitely recommend this. To like this album I think one has to embrace that It's cheesy, only then can a person be free to like the album and to not whatsoever take it seriously.

p.s. "Paul Revere" is up there with being one of my favourite hip-hop songs.

Highlight "Rhymin & Stealin", "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" and "Paul Revere"

This got better as it went on. I think the sombreness expressed on this album is simply fantastic. You can really hear the sincerity in her voice, you know this stuff is for real, not fake. The instrumentation is very lush, it's so beautiful. It does a great job at supporting and creating the impeccable mood the album has. One big wish I have with this one, is that the song "What Can I Do?" had another minute and half to it, that song is literally to die for. An extended version of having it build up over a slightly long time would be an amazing thing to have.

I think is pretty good, I also believe it has a earned place in the 1001 list.

Highlight Song/s: "What Can I Do?" and "Fistful of Love"

By electronic dance music album standards this one ranks pretty high up there, there's actually a fair bit of variation! There's a nice mix of moods, some are pretty thumping techno stuff, while others are more like ambient-adjacent, The John Lydon track is also pretty sweet and of course the trip-hop track of "Original" is the best song on here. This one of course if another one of 'those' that I've been meaning to listen to, though at the end of the day it didn't meet my expectations. That's alright though.

Highlight Song/s: "Original"

Near the start of my 1000 journey I got my first Aretha Franklin album (Lady Soul,) now I've got my second from her around 430 albums deep. I wonder if she has any more... well Aretha has a very powerful voice, you can hear the defiance, the anguish, the sincerity all clear as day. The instrumentation is very obviously soulful and is very luscious and just very well done. Like her first album of hers I got, it's a bit difficult, even though I've gotten pushed out my comfort zone massively. Maybe I'm shocked by the strong presence by Aretha. Who knows, but I really like the instrumentation and I kinda like the vocals, and most importantly the albums are very brief. So, I'm willing to give the albums a couple more listens each, as I really do see why it's included on the 1001 generator. I do see myself returning.

Highlight Song/s: "Don't let Me lose This Dream" and "Baby, Baby, Baby"

This is a Common album I've been putting off listening to it because of the length. Another case of 1001 album generator giving me a push to finally listen to those 'Maybe one day' albums. I feel in love with Be (my first album of his) at first sight, I now consider it one of my favourite hip-hop albums and has a place in my top 50 albums of all time.

This album it's very psychedelic to my ears, which is different. It has some very cool sample usage (especially early on) and, the drum sounds sound pretty cool. It definitely isn't a love at first sight album, the production is still pretty good, but maybe not as good as Kanye's production. It has a bit of nuance, there's more hardcore-adjacent stuff, some straight soul songs, with not much hip-hop elements, some of the optimistic stuff that is heavily showcased in Be, and some cliche misogynistic hip-hop elements; which I can't fully tell if he is being sincere or poking fun.

It's just a bit upsetting to hear the straight positivity of Be and then hear straight homophobia in "Dooinit" and Nag Champa." It just seems a bit antithetical to me. Preaching one thing in one song and in the next one he just seems to disregard what he was preaching. Perhaps I'm just looking into too much, but it seems a bit weird.

One let down of this is "The 6th Sense" not the amazing optimistic song part, but the skit at the end that I really wish was a separate track, because that seriously ruins the song. Easily the best song here if skit is cut out. I can't stand listening to a minute of a skit, just a bit too long.

Unlike Be, I will have to let this one sit and possibly maybe come back. Near the end it starts to get a bit dull, which makes me hesitant to return, and 70-nearly-80 minute long albums are just in general very difficult to digest. Be was a lot easier to process at it's 40 minute runtime. Maybe, maybe, I'll return. It was an alright album.

Highlight Song/s: "Dooinit", "The Questions", "The 6th Sense" and "A Song For Assata"

A solid thrash-y album. Not the hugest metalhead let alone thrash fan, but one thing I noticed straight away something I liked from this was the louder bass guitar sound. I find the Metallica's thrash era has reduced bass sound for some reason. But thrash with bass guitar adds a hell lot of more punch to the overall sound. The production is pretty solid, thank god it's not like And Justice For All's production. The lyrics seem to be pretty typically for the genre, anti-authoritarian, war, anti-corruption sort of stuff. The vocals weren't the strongest point, though I think for thrash that isn't really the focus. His voice seemed a bit like Bruce Dickinson in the first song, but once I sat and listened I started to hear my nuances.

Might return to this one if I'm in a metal (especially thrash) sort of mood and want to rediscover or discover some classics of the genre.

Highlight Song/s: "Among The Living" and "Indians"

This is a nice collection of whimsical noise pop love songs. I had heard about these guys and seen the album cover a few times before, I thought for some reason these guys were really abrasive and snotty with bad intentions in mind. What I thought couldn't literally be further from the truth. These guys instead sound so cute and innocent, they're like softer in the heart than even The Beatles! This was a nice change of pace of an album, definitely some sweet noise pop gems are to be found here. I think this a strong 3-but-not-quite-4 star album.

Highlight Song/s: "December", "Metal Baby" and "Is This Music"

Never could mesh with GNR and this album confirms it. I'm not sure what about it with them in particular, maybe the screeching vocals that sometimes come out of nowhere? Or perhaps the flirting with glam metal and the related atrocious lyrics? Maybe the generic (even though some of the riffs sound sick) hard rock sound? It has to be something, or some of it.

I just can't get with it. I mean some of the lyrics are ludicrous, how did the lyrics ever get past the testing stage? The lines in "It's So Easy" are so funny: "I see you standin' there / You think you're so cool Why don't you just / Fuck off." Even though the lyrics aren't 'great,' the delivery makes up for the quality of the line. As well the snotty instrumental, reminiscent of "Brand New Cadillac" by the Clash.

Slash's lead playing and Duff's bass playing make up for some of the downsides it has. Slash I believe is one of those guitarist that probably made a deal with devil in the middle of nowhere during the middle of the night. Axl Rose brings down the album heavily; I don't like the vocals at all. Maybe that's apart of the appeal of GNR, the sloppy vocals that match the debauchery themes.

I wouldn't recommend this one, but I can't help but feel I'm missing something as some people absolutely adore this album. I wonder wonder why.

Highlight Song/s: "It's So Easy", "Paradise City" and "Sweet Child O' Mine"

This one wasn't the best. It sounded unique for sure, but as the case with me and electronic dance music, it was very monotonous. I'm honestly not sure what they should've added to reduce that feeling. It was un-exciting. There also seemed to be remixes of other songs on here which was a bit weird for me; never really heard that on a album before. One semi-positive thing I suppose is that the artwork is very video game-y and the songs might be it's hypothetical soundtrack. But that's all my thoughts, wouldn't recommend it. It's just meh at most.

Highlight Song/s: "Dreamin"

I can't mesh too well with this one. It just sounds too basic for me. It's just the classic albums of the 90s being more than not way too long, especially hip-hop is quite a egregious in this regard. Obviously if you like the album, more is good, but if you don't it's so grating. It just feels to me that there's a lot of filler, "Milky Cereal" being the one that speaks to me the most in regards to filler. First third was fairly fine, middle third not great, last third bad.

Favourite line: "I'm Uncle L, but you can call me Todd"

I doubt I will be returning to this.

Highlight Song/s: "Around the Way Girl" and "Mama Said Knock You Out"

Still not sold on Slipknot or nu metal yet. Unlike their self-titled this one has a lot of this weird melodic metal chart crossover sort of songs. Kind of Killswitch Engage-like songs; melodic clean sections juxtaposed by heavy harsh sections. However I don't think it as well done as Killswitch, maybe it's my inherent dislike of Slipknot or because of some other factor. Some songs I actually 'got' which was a surprise, like "Wherein Lies Continue" - which I quite liked the sluggish pace, and the lyrics weren't TOO bad.

Though I would like to think Slipknot after writing a bunch of introspective songs about what's exactly gone wrong, they'd become happier and get rid of those issues but no, I guess that's inherent with them. Just like with devil-mentioning lyrics with Slayer I suppose.

Old habits, die hard. This is a miss from me

Highlight Song/s: "Gematria (The Killing Name) and "Wherein Lies Continue"

I quite enjoyed this one. The atmosphere is incredible and is very well done. Most of the songs give me vibes reminiscent of the softer songs on Radiohead's The Bends and OK Computer. Just so peaceful, soothing and angelic. I thought because 'Coldplay' is the artist, I thought it was - just like A Rush of Blood to the Head - going to be just pop slop, but both albums are pretty meticulous. Out of the two Coldplay albums I've heard now, I overwhelming prefer and see myself returning to this one.

Highlight Song/s: "Spies"

This album is everything wrong with psychedelic albums. It literally does all of it wrong, not much goodness to be found like other psych albums have here and there. The vocals being bad probably made this 35 minute album last a long time. The last song lasted an eternity, and is of course accompanied by the worst vocals ever. All of the songs lyrics are meaningless and seem very inauthentic. I strongly don't recommend this album.

I absolutely the luscious horns in this. I have been looking for jazz or jazz-leaning music that has horns kind of like The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady and this scratch a itch. I'm not too familiar with latin genre names, so I don't know what to really look for if I want to find similar albums. Anyways, I also find the vocals are top-notch, they totally match the instrumentation. Just an overall good album, I definitely see myself returning to this one in the future.

Highlight Song/s: "El Cayuco" and "Cuando Te Vea (Guaguanco)

Never really experienced Offspring before. The instrumentation is pretty typical of the 90s punk sound, especially of the pop-punk/melodic hardcore variety. I've heard quite about The Offspring, and I thought they were strictly a pop-punk band. I would call this album at least melodic hardcore, as it still has quite an edge to it. There are melodic choruses galore, some get pretty grating because of Dexter's vocals. Just some of his wails get too much. And of course this album has a hidden track, just because it was the 90s I suppose. The minutes of silence were awful.

It was fine, but I don't I will be returning to this one. I just don't really get it. Solid 3 star album.

Highlight Song/s "Come Out and Play" and "So Alone"