Reviews by conorr90

I'm a bit torn with this one. I really don't think live albums should have been included on this list at all, especially when the artist has studio albums included. Having said that, this is incredible well performed and recorded. However, it is way too long. I could have done without all the covers. Overall a 3 in normal terms, but shouldn't be in the book.

I really enjoy Ella Fitzgerald's voice, but no way am I going to listen to 3+ hours of this. I listed to a 45 min "Very Best Of..." compilation twice instead. It's great and sets a mood well enough, but as with a lot of 50s music, I don't have a lot of patience for it personally. It's very obviously from a different time, and us enjoyable under the right conditions.

This didn't do much for me at all; very bland country rock, almost unspeakably boring. The Byrds are very over represented on this list. Reading into the context a bit, it seems like this was one of the first country rock albums, so I guess I can see why it was included.

Really enjoyed this. Having only heard Black Magic Woman before I was expecting it to be a full album of blues rock (which usually bores me). However it's much more varied than I expected, very eclectic mix of genres and styles. Also, it almost goes without saying, incredible guitar playing by the man himself!

Apart from the first song, I wasn't into this at all. The first few tracks made for good background music on a train journey, but not great for much else. Just druggy nonsense, not essential listening in any way. Screamadelica is a fantastic album, but I really don't think Primal Scream deserve more than that one on this list.

"Nusrat, he's my Elvis!"

I first heard of this guy on a Jeff Buckley live album - apparently he was obsessed with the guy. Buckley even did a couple of live covers if I remember correctly, I'll have to dig that album out again. I listened to him a big at the time, but then kinda forgot about him.
This is a bit of a hard one to find, he has a ton of albums on Spotify and Tidal. I couldn't find this one initially, so started listening to a YouTube playlist of the songs. But that kept stopping, so I had another look and found the album "Love and Devotion", which seems to have the same songs and the same album artwork shown in the 1001 entry above. So, not completely sure I'm listening to the right album.
Regardless, what I'm listening to is surprisingly great! I don't speak the language, so have no real context for the lyrics, but they are apparently religious. Being an atheist, I suspect the translation might make me cringe, but they are delivered with such passion and musical talent that I can appreciate it. Some of the songs are very danceable as well. What more could you want? "Allah Hoo" indeed.

I'm a little ashamed to say that I only came around to this album about a year ago. I guess I (perhaps subconsciously) bought into the media narrative that Courtney Love is a terrible human and her music is just rip off Nirvana, etc. However, after hearing a few of the singles again I decided to give the album a try, and it is surprisingly brilliant. I've had it on heavy rotation since then.

Obviously, it's hard not to compare them to Nirvana, given the similarities in their singing voices and style. But I don't consider that to be unoriginal. When two people live together, they're obviously going to take on eachother's mannerisms and bounce off eachother artistically. I'm not going to pretend this is the best album of the 90s or anything (as seems to be the trend of late with some in the music press), but it is significantly better than say, Bleach, in my opinion. Courtney Love was an important part of 90s grunge/rock, but she was unfairly sidelined.

There is a great podcast called "You're Wrong About" that did a very interesting Courtney Love episode. I would really recommend it for any others who have a similar "block".

I see why this is on the list, given the context, but it's horrificly dated now, and waaay too long. The last few songs are pretty much just reworkings of Move Any Mountain (which is a good song), with different titles. After an hour or so it started to wear a bit thin. Some interesting tracks here and there, but overall just interesting as a footnote in the evolution of electronic and house music.

This was a nice coincidence, since I just saw this band live in Dublin a few nights ago. I was a big fan of their first 3 albums as a teenager, so this was quite a nostalgic listen for me. In their early phase, their records captured a very youthful and debaucherous energy, which I understandably identified with strongly at the time.

From their 4th album on, however they started writing very hook-driven songs with football chant style choruses. Sex On Fire was particularly offensive - it almost sounds like a different band from the one that recorded this album. Apart from an occasional song on the 4th and 5th album, I pretty much lost interest from then on. They still put on a surprisingly good live show though.

But this first album still really holds up, it's a fantastic debut. I guess it could be considered a bit derivative, since it is so rooted in 70s rock, but it was all new to me at the time! Some of the songwriting is a bit immature, which is to be expected, given the album title. But they improved on that massively on the 2nd album. I think people will be listening to the likes of Red Morning Light, California Waiting, Molly's Chambers and Holly Roller Novocaine for decades to come. Even if the only one they played live on Saturday was Molly's Chambers.

I don't remember listening to this one through before, so I was surprised to find that I recognized almost all of the songs. This is a neat perfect album, full of hits and fantastic melodies. The lyrics of "She's Always a Woman" haven't aged particularly well I guess, and the last 2 songs are slightly forgettable. Overall though, this is a solid 9/10

I get why this is on the list, due to its evolution into Grime and Dubstep, but it is honestly mostly a snooze fest. There are a few songs that stand out and break the mold: Crazy Love and Sincere (possibly because I already knew them), also Rough Out Here, Slum King, and Free My Mind. But apart from those this album is largely forgettable and weirdly empty sounding. Not in a good, liminal space kinda way. In a bad way, like a dentist's waiting room.

They can feck off with the deluxe edition, I'm not listening to volume 2!

I'm surprised this album was picked over their debut, given the significance of "For What It's Worth". But I haven't listened to either album in the past, so maybe this is the better of the two. I thought this was a good listen, but not particularly unique for the time. It is a signpost on the way to late 60s/early 70s folk rock though. The only really memorable part for me was the 4 track run from Everydays to Hung Upside Down. I could take or leave the rest. I think Deja Vu by CSNY was a big improvement on this.

I've often though that Jim Morrison was a great example of how far a person can go on good looks and an air of mystique, regardless of talent. His terrible singing aside, there are some undeniably great songs on here, and the album is a window to late 60s in the US. There are some pretty terrible songs on here as well though; Twentieth Century Fox, Alabama Song, I Looked at You, and Take it As it Comes. A bit of a mixed bag overall, but I'll round up to a 4 star, given the cultural impact.

Really enjoyed this, some of the best male singing I've heard in a good while. Kind of like Thom Yorke singing cabaret. Great melodies too! I've listened to his debut a couple of times, but nothing really stuck. This is much more consistent, so I'll definitely check out Want Two.

This is mostly terrible, but obviously notable for the ridiculous title track. Never want to listen to this again, but not angry that I did.

I've never been a huge Sinéad O'Connor fan, but always respected her as a person. She stood up for her opinions (which were ultimately found to be 100% correct) against the Catholic church to enormous backlash, and then really leaned into them. When she died, I watched the video of her being booed at the Bob Dylan tribute concert. It's hard to believe that THAT crowd, of all crowds, would have done that.

Anyway, I think this is the first time I've listened to this album in full. It's a bit dated, and Nothing Compares was really played to death when I was a child, but it is undeniably a brilliant album. Fantastic singing, great production, and very emotional. Three Babies, Emporers New Clothes, and Nothing Compares are all highlights, and there aren't any bad songs on here. Definitely one of the best pop albums of the 90s. 9/10

A couple of interesting tracks on here, but mostly forgettable. In fact, I listened to this over a week ago (before going on holiday) and the only song I remember is the horrific closing track. Never again. One of my main takeaways from this challenge is that I have surprisingly low tolerance for psychedelic music. I think you had to be there!

This is another band that I've heard of, but never listened to until now. It's easy to see why they were so influential, they have a sound that is both of the time, and years ahead of their time, if that makes sense. They sound like some sort of missing link between Patti Smith and Sleater Kinney, but also very like R.E.M.'s early albums. I can hear similarities to bands that came much later as well, like Sunny Day Real Estate, American Football, and even BCNR. I haven't gotten my head around the lyrics yet, but I'll definitely be listening to this again. Borderline 5 star for me, 8/10

I definitely gave this album a try at some point several years ago. If I'm being completely honest, the cover was probably what piqued my interest back then. But the music didn't click with me at that time. Listening to it again now, I can appreciate it much more, maybe because I'm familiar with a lot more of the music that came after which was heavily influenced by Roxy. There are some fantastic songs on here, and no real bad ones. I think Brian Ferry's voice is a bit of an acquired taste, so maybe that is what put me off before. He has some great melodies though. I think I prefer their earlier album For Your Pleasure (which I only got via this generator last week, interestingly enough), but this is pretty much on par with that. 9/10

I know of this artist for the song Pata Pata, but never listened to any of her other work. Overall this was an interesting listen with a few standout tracks, but I don't think I'll find myself returning to it. Glad to have listened to it though, it is definitely unique on this list.