Reviews by amanda

I coulda sworn we had this already. I guess that was just Led Zeppelin II, III, and IV (scowl). But of course they're gonna have the debut on here; every band has their debut on here.

I went in expecting to hate it, and my expectations were... met. This felt a little more mellow than their other albums, though maybe I just had the volume lower. So it was a little bit boring, a little bit bad. Not even any Gandalf references to amuse me. Bring on Led Zeppelin V!

Yay! I Have This Album (#8). And I stand by it, too. 1999 was my favorite year for albums. An iconic cover and many great tracks. To be fair, also many crap tracks. Very frontloaded. That's why it's a 4 and not a 5. I like that they have a unique style and although the lyrics aren't that great (imo), they are full of fragments, which is a unique thing also. The vocals are way louder than the music, which is crucial. Slur count = 2.

Fun fact, I literally always thought the lyric in 'Around the World' was "step aside Mike Johnson" and was wondering why no one but me was referencing that constantly in These Times, but I just found out he's saying "Mark Johnson". Oops. Other lines I quote far too often, for their compelling prosody: "I don't want to be your little research monkey boy", "road trippin' with my two favorite [æ'laɪz]".

Highlights: 'Parallel Universe' (space rock :D?), 'Scar Tissue', 'Otherside', 'Californication' (the journos are correct to call this their best song)

Would be Highlights if not for the ding dongs: 'Around the World'

Lowlights: 'Porcelain' (zzz), 'This Velvet Glove' (zzz), 'Savior' (zzz), 'Right on Time'

Things that are no longer fun facts: 'Emit Remmus' is Summer Time backwards!!! yes, we know!!! everyone in my generation has read Harry Potter 1 and therefore checks if odd phrases spell anything backwards!!! (but if you don't know, now you know...)

Wow, our first Aerosmith album! I like several of their singles that came out in my lifetime, but wouldn't you know, their 70s album doesn't do it for me. It wasn't nearly as offensive as some other guitar-and-screamin' bands, but it also did not entertain or interest me. I guess that's a 2.

Wiki says: 'The title is a play on the European fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast".' No kidding. Well, I guess maybe pre-Disney movie it wasn't as obvious. I like the little I.R.S. logo. I never really thought too much about the Go-Gos, other than when I heard 'Vacation' in a Rugrats episode and observed that it was a bop. But I did generally like this. It's Hi-NRG after all. (according to me, not according to wiki genres, which continue to vex me)

Highlights: 'Our Lips Are Sealed', 'How Much More'

More good fonts. "Actually" is an adverb, so, I like that. I remember being moderately disappointed by their previous album, but I thought this one was pretty good/what I was expecting, even though I didn't know any of the songs. Apparently, this is the genre "hi-NRG", which is a ridiculous name. But I do like songs to be.....hi-NRG......

behold, my current top three genres: 1) chamber pop 2) space rock 3) hi-NRG

& bottom: 1) prog 2) shoegaze 3) blues rock

Now that's a fine album cover. Very early 2000s web graphics. This is one of my friends' favorite albums, so I like it too. Also very nostalgic. Much more enjoyable for me than Nebraska, sorry to say.

Highlights: 'Thunder Road', 'Born to Run'

Yahoo! More like known pleasures. What a familiar album cover. What a familiar band. These are those thick-like-a-blanket guitars I don't mind. (Perhaps it is simply... bass. Listen, I'm not a musicologist.) Joy Division are sort of like a David Bowie/A Perfect Circle fusion. Of all the tragic early deaths on this list (and there are many), Ian Curtis has always been one of the most personally upsetting to me. That said, I do prefer New Order (lol).

Suzanne Vega did 'Tom's Diner', so I want to give her a chance, but this album is missing one important thing: Tom's Diner. :(

I do not like that the tracks are listed in two different fonts.

Anyway, this is kind of like a proto-Jewel or Sarah McLachlan. More poetry than bop. Maybe she even inspired SNL's Jane Wickline.

Nostalgia intensifies! 'Hate to Say I Told You So' was on the mtv2 rock countdown for a long time. A sub-30min album with 12 songs on it is something to treasure. And I like the lyrics. But their sound is too "shouty guitar" for me. I never woulda guessed they're Swedish.

Highlight: 'The Hives Are Law, You Are Crime'

What's all this then? Never heard of this guy, but it seems like my kind of thing. Good clear voice, nice background music, but ultimately a little too sleepy ("easy listening") for me to really love.

Uck. I'm still not surprised to get this, since 3 Rolling Stoneses seems about right given how much they're talked about in Society, but we juuuust had one of theirs. And it's ANOTHER double album!!! I dunno, it's not that bad, maybe a 2.5, but it has no real redeeming features. So, to me, they're frustratingly overrated! Also, slur count = 1.

So many Beatleses! I thought I liked George, but a triple album is making me rethink things. All things must pass, including listening to this entire album. I do not like to behold the album cover, although I do like George(?)'s hat. After this my Beatles solo album ranking is like, John > Paul > George, which in retrospect might just be a length ranking. Ah well. It was still fine. I do hope Ringo has one too. I bet it'd be a crisp 35 min.

Highlight: 'Awaiting on You All'

Good album cover. I support self-identified idiots. I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about this album, but it seemed mostly Fine.

Hmm. Nice album cover and font. I guess Todd Rundgren, a guy I literally have never heard of until my mom randomly said she liked him recently, is probably aware that "some" and "any" have the same semantics (existential quantification), it's just that "any" is the variant you get in downward entailing environments like negation. That's why you don't get "Anyone? Someone?", just like you don't get "Never occasionally" (but you might get the opposite). Anyway, this a double album, which means it's two albums too long. Sounded OK, but by that I mean "like a slightly more compelling Steely Dan".

Highlights: 'Intro' (I like a game), 'Breathless' (I like La Bamba)

Ho ho!! I Have This Album (#7). It is the second full album I ever got. ("Full" because in the 90s-00s I got a bunch of "CD samplers" from clothing companies, YA book orders, school stuff, etc. In fact, 'Sometimes' is on one of those samplers (from Jive, which it turns out stopped existing in 2011), not that I needed a sample because these songs were everywhere!)
Usually I think the bias towards debut albums on here is annoying, but in this case, I do think it is Britney's best album. Her vowels are so distinctive! Is it a good album? I don't know about that, but I don't think it's a *bad* album. I don't relisten to it that often nowadays, but I never skip the songs when they do come up. I think the singles are bops and the rest are nostalgia-good but otherwise just OK.

Highlights: '...Baby One More Time', 'Crazy', 'Sometimes', 'Soda Pop' (had no idea Agamemnon was name dropped in this; very B*Witched-esque), 'Born to Make You Happy' (very M2M-esque), 'Thinkin' About You', 'E-mail My Heart' (I'm sure people are having a lol at this title, but please know that my people (xanga users) have been laughing about it since 1999)

Speaking of Beatleses! Interestingly, I think the John Lennon album sounded a lot more Beatlesy than this one does, which is contra my expectation. This is still poppy but the songs are a little more self-indulgent, or at least longer. Also a little more (electric) guitar focused. It's OK, but 'Bluebird' is no 'Blackbird'. Very funny and British to think Lagos is an ~exotic~ location to record an album. I like the random sax solos.

Rolling Stones #2. No surprise there, we're definitely due given the 50 Beatleses we started with. The cover is nice, crisp and unique. Shoutout to them for actually having a "the" in their name.

Somehow I missed that Puddle of Mudd covered 'Gimme Shelter'! That song sure is in a lot of media. 'Country Honk' would be a good name for a duck.

Highlights: 'You Got the Silver', 'You Can't Always Get What You Want'

Marcus Garvey? Isn't that the new Timothée Chalamet flick?

I guess it's good to hear a little non-Marley reggae. But I still don't have much to say about it. It's reggae! Sounds upbeat even though the lyrics are kind of a downer.

Space rock? :D?

I know this is a famous band, but I've only ever heard 'Goodbye Stranger' before (not on this album). They're OK. Kind of a Pink Floyd/Queen/Don McLean hybrid. A little bit guitar-heavy for my preference.

Highlight: 'Hide in Your Shell' (nice horns)

Eewww. I'm so sick of these repeat artists! Give me someone new! I'd rather listen to Yellowcard, and I hated Yellowcard!!

Anyway, an address is a fine album title. But I must be missing something with Eric Clapton. This isn't loud or painful or anything, but it's sooo boring. Like Steely Dan level. Zzz.