Reviews by apollo

Fred Neil is really just one of those albums that doesn't really add anything new to it's genre. The main issue with it is that every song sounds basically the same with hardly any differentiation to them to the point where i am having difficulty thinking of my least favorite song from this album since everything in them is just so similar to the point where i just can't even remember what they sound like. I also heard this guy is apparently a folk pioneer but i don't see that since many musicians before him did what he did but actually added some differentiation to them. This album isn't the worst thing ever but it is just an album that i don't see why it was included here.
Best Song: Cynicrustpetefredjohn Raga
Worst Song: Faretheewell (Fred's Tune)

The Contino Sessions was quite an enjoyable album. When i first saw this album's cover with the art, band name and album name, i thought that this was going to be a country album. While this album most definitely has elements of that genre, this mainly is an electronic album with some hints of rock as well. A lot of the songs could remind me of Underworld with the way they kept adding onto themselves as the songs progressed which i think is really cool. There were some points where this album could get pretty repetitive but this is an electronic album and that should be expected by this point. This album was definitely an interesting addition to this list and a good one at that.
Best Song: Aisha
Worst Song: Broken Little Sister

Born To Be With You is an album that is pretty good and got better the more i listened to it. I didn't really have any expectations as to how this would sound considering that this album is a pop album and that genre can have albums that sound very different from each other but it mainly does seem to go for a doo-wop sound. The songs themselves did sound pretty good and all had a nice vibe to them which i would always enjoy. This album wasn't all too long either so it never really felt like it was dragging on. It is a good album but i still feel that it's formula would go on to be improved by other bands like Primal Scream.
Best Song: Make The Woman Love Me
Worst Song: Born To Be With You

Sweet Baby James is definitely a pretty decent album. I'd say that every single track was written, performed and produced well as none of them have anything i really dislike about them. However, my main issue with this album is just the fact its not all that special. Outside of both Steamroller Blues and Suite for 20 G, there isn't really any standout tracks on offer. They are all still good songs but i think they are ones i will forget in a not very long amount of time. I definitely do not think that this is a bad album at all but this is a case where i am really running out of things to say about it. It is good, just not very memorable.
Best Song: Suite for 20 G
Worst Song: Oh Baby, Don't You Loose Your Lip on Me

That's The Way Of The World is just an okay album in my eyes. When it comes to Earth, Wind & Fire, i typically know them more for their heavy disco tracks so it is a bit of a surprise to see them do something with more of an R&B twinge to it. This was also the soundtrack to a movie of the same name which makes it the fourth film soundtrack i have done. The songs themselves are alright, they get the job done and don't do anything that terribly but there isn't really anything all that memorable. I guess it is good that it is a pretty short album but other than that, i don't think i have much else to really say about this album.
Best Song: That's The Way of The World
Worst Song: Africano

I thought i was going to hate Orbital 2 but it was a surprisingly very good album. I guess since the last electronica album (Timeless by Goldie for those of you who are wondering) left a bad taste in my mouth, I thought that this album was going to be an overly repetitive slog but i was pleasantly surprised. A lot of the songs here were incredibly catchy and didn't get too repetitive despite their long lengths. There were also some cool ideas on display like Walk Now sampling an Australian pedestrian crossing light. It also felt like this album went by quite a lot quicker than their other album on this project (mainly because it was shorter). The first and last songs are definitely something that really should have been cut down but despite that, This was a great album.
Best Song: Monday
Worst Song: Input Out

Mermaid Avenue was a shockingly solid album. Apparently this album contains lyrics written by an old folk singer named Woody Guthrie but repurposed into actual songs by Billy Bragg and Wilco and i must say, they did a pretty good job here when it came to replicating that folkish feel that Guthrie appeared to be going for. Even without all that cool history, it's still a solid album. Most of the songs had a very relaxing feel to them which are perfect for just lounging around. Furthermore, the production was pretty great with the album sounding quite expensive. Even as a guy who isn't the biggest fan of folk or country music, i still found a fair bit to like here.
Best Song: Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key
Worst Song: California Stars

Phrenology is an absolute beast of an album. I always was aware that The Roots are a very talented band with them doing some pretty great stuff in The Tonight Show but this album did show just how outstanding they really are. This is probably my favorite Hip hop album on this project so far because it goes beyond being a simple hip hop album and takes inspirations from many genres other than hip hop including rock, punk, folk, jazz, blues, R&B, electronica among many others. Every single element on this album is handled incredibly well from the flows to the beats to all the other elements. This is one amazing album and definitely one of the best hip hop albums ever.
Best Song: Sacrifice
Worst Song: Phrentrow

Bummed was actually a pretty solid album. Considering this album's average is on the lower side, i thought that it would not be very good due to that fact but it was shockingly good. This album is of course, incredibly cheesy with all the little new-wavey sounds that are found in quite a lot of the songs to the point where you can easily tell that this is an album from the 80s. I also feel that this album really only started to get going by the time Mad Cyril came in because the first two songs were the weirdest and were not my absolute favorites. Other than that, it is a pretty good album that is most definitely a product of it's time but still a good listen.
Best Song: Wrote For Luck
Worst Song: Country Song

I don't think i have ever gotten so tired after listening to an album but i think Timeless managed to do just that. I only ever knew of this guy because of his connection with Bjork so i had no expectations going in but man, this album really got tiring. This album was just so unbelievably long and repetitive that even while having some good beats and decent ambiance, My enjoyment of this album did feel incredibly hindered by it's long and repetitive nature. I can't in good conscience give this album a 1 due to it having the beats and ambiance that i liked but i still don't think this album is very good. This isn't a bad but i don't think its timeless either.
Best Song: Sea Of Tears
Worst Song: Adrift

Fromohio is just another late 80s alt rock album to add to the ever growing stockpile. If i were to compare this one to another album on this project, it would probably California by the American Music Club since they share a lot of the same ideas and have a generally similar sound. I do think this one is a bit better than that one since i do enjoy some of the melodies of this one a bit more than that one. There are also 2 songs where they are just drum solos which I'm not a huge fan of since single-instrument songs aren't really my thing but they were pretty short at least. Honestly, i really don't know what else to say about this album, it's more or less something that existed.
Best Song: What Gets Heard
Worst Song: Let The Drummer Have Some

Doggystyle is definitely one of those hip hop albums which has some really good instrumentals and production but some not so good lyrics. I guess the only song i was familiar with before listening to this album was Gin And Juice but it wasn't really the song that i recognized but more so the title since there is an actual drink with that name (with Snoop's name and all) that is sold at the grocery store i work at. I do enjoy all the different instruments and samples in all the beats which is easily what i enjoyed most about this album but a lot of the lyrics did feel overly juvenile and kinda annoying. I did enjoy this album a solid bit but the lyrics did hold it back for me.
Best Song: Gz and Hustlas
Worst Song: Lodi Dodi

Doggystyle is definitely one of those hip hop albums which has some really good instrumentals and production but some not so good lyrics. I guess the only song i was familiar with before listening to this album was Gin And Juice but it wasn't really the song that i recognized but more so the title since there is an actual drink with that name (with Snoop's name and all) that is sold at the grocery store i work at. I do enjoy all the different instruments and samples in all the beats which is easily what i enjoyed most about this album but a lot of the lyrics did feel overly juvenile and kinda annoying. I did enjoy this album a solid bit but the lyrics did hold it back for me.
Best Song: Gz and Hustlas
Worst Song: Lodi Dodi

Done By The Forces Of Nature is a pretty solid hip-hop album. I was pretty surprised to see that many other hip-hop artists from this era worked on this album including Queen Latifah, De La Soul and Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. The album itself does it's job fairly well with some of the instrumentals being pretty cool and catchy but some were a bit too minimalist. The rapping and lyrics themselves are kinda typical for an album from this time period so nothing that really makes it better or worse than all of it's contemporaries. This is a pretty good album but i wouldn't say that i have a special reason to recommend it.
Best Song: J.Beez Comin' Through
Worst Song: Sunshine

Slayed? was definitely one heck of an enjoyable album. It was always good but it did take until the third track to really get going but when it got going, it really did get going. The main thing i like about this album is the fact that many songs had very different melodies that gave off very different vibes from a Beatles vibe with Look At Last Nite to a more bluesy vibe with Mama Weer All Crazee Now. And of course, every song managed to be a good listen and just as whacky as their names. I don't think it's a perfect album but it is still a really good listen. So, It's pretty safe to say that these guys most definitely slayed with this one (pun very much intended).
Best Song: Look At Last Nite
Worst Song: How D'You Ride

At Budokan doesn't really do anything all that special or unique but it does what it does pretty well. I'm pretty sure that i have never heard any of this band's studio songs (If the version of I Want You to Want Me that plays on my local classic rock station is this version) but i still think that these guys definitely sound really good when they are performing live. The songs themselves are also enjoyable listens with them mostly being your typical late 70s sounding hard rock songs. There wasn't too much of a difference between any of the songs but i still thought that this album didn't drag. This album isn't perfect but it is still a very good listen.
Best Song: Surrender
Worst Song: Hello There

Pet Sounds was a pretty enjoyable album. It is your fairly typical psych rock outing from the 60s with the vocals and the general melodies without any real things to make it different from those. But while it lacks in originality, it more than makes up for by just being a solid album. The vocals were still solid as were the lyrics and the music was also done pretty well and was able to shift to various different moods quite well. This album is still kinda samey throughout but i still think i found it quite a bit more memorable than the last Beach Boys album i listened to. This album isn't incredible or anything but it's still a pretty solid work.
Best Song: Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
Worst Song: Let's Go Away For Awhile
Side Note: Also, obligatory rest in peace to Brian Wilson who as of this review being written, passed away yesterday.
R.I.P. Brian Wilson
June 20, 1942 - June 11, 2025

Homework is an album i really do like. I am fairly aware of some of the songs from this album mainly Da Funk primarily due to it's inclusion in Just Dance 3 but i never really knew that it would be this good. I genuinely think that this album has some seriously amazing sounding electronic elements from the regular bleeps and bloops that were nigh on everywhere to that more rough sounding electronic sound that could give the album a more rocking vibe. The vocals could be pretty hit or miss but the main issue that most people have to get around is the repetition. Despite that, this is still a really fun album and definitely one i enjoyed all the way through.
Best Song: Da Funk
Worst Song: Teachers

This Is Fats Domino was only an okay album at best. I did like some of the stuff it tried with a lot of it sounding like an early version of Sam Cooke's Live At The Harlem Square Club but this one unfortunately lacks in one area where the former excelled in, that being liveliness. This album just has the issue of sounding very empty at points especially during the last couple of songs. I get that this album is from the 50s so you would probably expect the production to not be the greatest but that emptiness still kinda irks me. Thankfully, this album is really short because if it were longer, it would be very repetitive. This one gets a very soft 3.
Best Song: So Long
Worst Song: Poor, Poor Me

Germfree Adolescents was a pretty fun album. I always am in the mood for a good fun punk album and this album seemed to scratch that itch pretty well. The main stars of the show on this album were the guitars and the saxophones which were what made the album as enjoyable as it is. There was also that classic 70s cheese in the vocals, lyrics and even some of the general melodies and i did enjoy all of that and i never found it too annoying. This album is a short one but thankfully, it's not a case as to where the album felt like it was going far too fast. I had a good time with this one and found it to be a worthy entry to this list.
Best Song: I Am a Poseur
Worst Song: I Can't Do Anything