Reviews by brndnnll

My initial thought would be that I would hate this within the first couple minutes, but I didn't! This was a cool concept album and I appreciate the approach and the detail that went in to it. A cool cultural exploration. I dig it.

Great record to hit on after a pretty pedestrian and monotonous stretch. Very enjoyable jazz listen to help set the day for a hopefully quiet Friday.

So yeah, Taylor Swift. I hadn't considered that this list would have Taylor Swift albums on it, but I guess it makes sense. Taylor Swift is interesting to me because she is so culturally ubiquitous that rivals maybe only Michael Jackson in my lifetime, yet I really don't have any idea what her music sounds like. I am familiar with the song "Shake It Off" only because Screaming Females did a ripping cover of it that I really like.

Anyway, I guess this was a surprise Covid release and from what I read embraces much more cozy/acoustic lived in moods than some of her other poppier/dancier stuff. I am here to say that it's fine... I guess. Clearly it's well produced and it's catchy and it has a nice list of featured guests, but it is just so flat and uninteresting to me. I guess I can say now that I know what she sounds like, and I'm assuming there will likely be at least another one of her albums on this list. I don't have high expectations.

Well I liked and enjoyed that more than I thought I would. Look we have all heard Led Zeppelin thousands of times forever. I'm not saying I never need to hear them again, but I'm not not saying that either. I know they rock. Clearly they rock. I just get so tired of them. But for whatever reason this hit right today and I really enjoyed it.

I am pretty meh on trip-hop. It's not for me, but I understand the appeal. I get why people would like this so much. It was more than fine.

Just always way too much Stones on this list. Given that, for some reason I enjoyed this album more than the others I received, but man did I just forget it immediately and will not listen to it. Just bluesy bar band rock music. Not for me and certainly way too over represented on this list. I guess it is what it is.

This album is so good and this band is so good. One of the best debut albums from one of the most important bands ever. I can hear so much music that has come since just sitting there in plain sight on this record.

This album offends me to my core when it's propped up as something someone must hear. We do not need more bluesy rock like this. Less Clapton please. I'd give it a 0 out of 5 if I could.

I get that Jeff Buckley has this air of mystique and intrigue and tragedy around him, and I also understand that this is supposedly an excellent album. Which I guess it is, but it is just not for me. I can't see myself ever really getting in to this or listening to it again, but yeah it's clearly good.

I haven't listened to this album in so long and I kind of forgot and took for granted how good it is. It is definitely the album that broke the mold for me pigeonholing Dylan as just one type of artist, which is why I likely enjoy so much of his later stuff and think he is an excellent performer still to this day. A classic as far as I'm concerned.

Pretty meh on this. It's fine, it's not amazing and it's not horrible. Perfectly fine as some background fodder. Nothing stood out to me though and I will not listen to it again.

PE rules. The beats are so heavy and it's impossible not to just feel it through the whole album. Listening to this on a loud stereo was great.

This is one of the great albums of our time, and truly timeless. I am happy to listen to this at any time and place. I've seen it performed live front to back with 4 of the 5 living band members 50 years after the fact and it was incredible. I love this album.

Good album from a good songwriter. A perfectly enjoyable listen on this lazy Sunday morning.

Sonic Youth is one of those bands that I truly missed the boat on. Hyper aware of them and their imprint on music forever but not really all that familiar with their music. Consequently I don't feel a ton when I listen to it. This album is fine, it's like all other Sonic Youth albums, just kind of whatever for me. Maybe some day I'll do a true deep dive in to Sonic Youth, but I figure if I was ever going to do that I would have done it by now.

This album absolutely rules and is a blast.

This album was not what I was expecting at all. I guess given it's title, I had always assumed it was an earlier Beach Boys record. It's sparse and thin but man it has some great songs with beautiful melodies. It feels more like a collection of songs rather than a conceptual album, and I'm sure that's because of Brian Wilson kind of taking a back seat in the production process, but this is a great album. It's so weird to hear the song Surf's Up not within the context of Smile and hear it just end an album.

This album is certainly all over the place. It kind of feels like a fever dream to me. It's great and I really enjoyed, maybe a tad overly long.

This album is honestly incredible, both in the context of when it came out and now still today. I remember it being so intriguing, so blurring of genres and cultures and so good when it came out, and it still feels that fresh and unbelievable today. It's surprising that it didn't reach more people. M.I.A. is probably too political for mainstream success, but her lyrics and beats are up there with the best. Excellent album.

The best Michael Jackson album with some of the best Michael Jackson songs.