Reviews by conorr90

This is one I've listened to many, many times. An almost perfect album, and a fitting swan song for Kurt Cobain. Normally I give out about live albums on this list, but I think this is an exception, since they had so few studio albums. There's also some truly iconic covers on here, particularly the Meat Puppets ones. The cello adds a lot here too, and many of the songs on here are better than their studio versions.

Do I really have to listen to a whole HOUR of this? I'm not even halfway through the first song and I'm cringing hard. "WOMEN - mEn CAnT LiVe wITouT eM!" Good God.

I actually have to switch to headphones, because I'm worried my neighbours will hear me listening to this utter shite.

Rocket sounds like exactly the same song as the first, but over SIX minutes long. Do I sense a formula here?

Animal isn't actually a bad song, if you ignore how gross and creepy the lyrics are. Is there some sort of deeper meaning here, or are Def Leppard advocating for a return to wanton barbarity? Maybe we'll never know.

'Love Bites' is about 5 mins and 47 seconds too long. That's all I've got for this one.

'Pour Some Sugar on Me' sounds like some sort of horrific love-child of Kiss and AC/DC attempting to record a cover of Led Zeppelin's Black Dog, purely based on a memory of someone describing it to them several years previously.

Almost at the halfway point here, and oh God, the next song is a pun involving sex and the end of the world somehow...I think I'm going to have to pack it in. I think this will only be the second album I wasn't able to finish, the first being the Christina Aguilera one.

This is the type of album where I feel like I have to listen to something incredible right afterwards, because, what if I died suddenly and THAT was the last album I listened to? In this case I thought for a few mins about what might be the antithesis of Hysteria by Def Leppard. I'm still not sure, but I've settled on Sufjan Stevens' "Javelin" for now.

Wow, this was not for me at all. I was really expecting better! It's hard to put my finger on what exactly I hated about this, maybe it's too commercial sounding, a bit souless? The best song on the album is undoubtedly Mr. Blue Sky, but it has become ubiquitous through its use in every advert imaginable - most recently the ads for the Irish National Lottery that make me want to throw the radio out the window.

It's very well performed, but either there's just not enough humanity in there, or what is there is too clean cut. If I contrast it with the two Todd Rundgren albums I got earlier in this challenge (and loved), I think the difference is that Todd seems to take himself less seriously, and wasn't afraid to experiment. Whereas ELO seem to be taking the ultimate safe bet in trying to plot out a course based on the Beatles' abandoned trajectory.

Now this is the one Prince album that I really can appreciate fully. Consise, consistent and several truly incredible songs. When Doves Cry in particular is top tier. I still think the production is way too light on the bass and dates the album, but I can see past that in this case. 9/10

This one filled my "bad hip-hop" bingo card pretty quickly; cringe braggidoccio, mysogeny, annoying skits, 20 mins too long and dated production. Don't see this one as essential at all. How did this make the list, but no MF Doom?

This was just fine, nice background music for a sunny day, but nothing particularly memorable apart from the title track.

Don't think I've ever listened to an Aretha album in full before, just a greatest hits compilation. Glad I have now, this is a great one. Her voice is incredible and the songs are very well written, although a lot of them are covers I think. The production quality is a bit disappointing, makes it sound a bit tinny. But it does give the album a nice vintage sound! 9/10

Hadn't listened to this before, but really enjoyed it. Seems to have laid the groundwork for a lot of hard rock, industrial, and metal that came after it.

Similar to my feelings on the Sex Pistols, I think this is one where you had to be there at the time to appreciate it fully. It's fine as punk goes, probably a bit more interesting than the Sex Pistols even, bit overall a bit too repetitive for me. I can definitely see it's importance though.

Yeah, I'm not really sure what I'm missing here. I like a lot of electronic music, but this just faded into the background for me. I can't remember a thing about it, and have no interest in listening to it again. Oh well

I listened to the first 4 or 5 songs off this on my way home after a couple of pints, and it was even worse than I expected. If the first half was that bad then, no way am I listening to the second half sober!

Contrary to the title, this album is quite good! Pretty much on par with Thriller, it has several real standout tracks and a couple of lacluster ballads too. Glad I finally listened to this one the whole way through. Did we ever find out if Annie was ok? It sounds pretty serious.

Now this is a proper Iron Maiden album, don't know why they bothered including the debut on the list. Fantastic guitar playing, and the rest of the band is on point. Bruce Dickinson's singing is like nothing I've ever heard, but the lyrics are a bit cringe in a lot of places (I'm looking at you, Acacia Avenue). There are a couple of songs I wouldn't miss if they were dropped. But it's definitely a very important album, and the second side is almost perfect. Hallowed Be Thy Name is incredible.

Based on the two singles I already know from this group (Passin' Me By and Runnin'), I expected to like this a lot more than I did. But the production really lets it down. I'm not sure exactly what the issue is - poor mixing maybe? There are a few great songs on here, but (as always), the skits are unnecessary. I'm glad those have fallen out of fashion for the most part. Soul Flower, Ya Mama (which I found much funnier than I expected), and Passin' Me By are the only songs that really stood out for me. Overall, worth a listen, but hasn't aged that well. Good to hear some alternative hip hop from the west coast in the early 90s though - glad it wasn't all gangsta.

Thought this one was just ok. I only know these guys for "Wake Up, Boo!", which is a bit cheesy, but not too bad. There were some interesting sounds on here, but I found it faded into the background after a while. It also runs a bit too long. I did like the opener, "Rodney King", and " If You Want it Take it", but apart from those, nothing stood out much. Some nice fusion of shoegaze and indie pop, but not the best example of this I've heard. Stereolab for instance (who I got last week), did that much better around the same time.

The two big hits off here are great for what they are: songs for tearing down a highway on a hot day. ZZ Top bring the riffs and the beards, but not much else. All style and no substance to me, and I was pretty bored by the halfway mark. They kinda strike me as the band that Van Halen would have been, had they been Truckers.

I kind of wanted to hate this, given how overrepresented these guys are in this book, but after two listens, it's undeniably great. The only criticisms I have is that it doesn't really have a cohesive feel to it, and some of the songs are a little cold (or too perfect) sounding. The former makes total sense, given there were 4 brilliant songwriters competing for space, and apparently not getting on very well with eachother. I do prefer this album over their first though - the addition of Neil Young is a significant one. There's some lovely guitar playing on here, and a few truly great songs, especially Helpless, Woodstock, and Our House. I actually had no idea that the latter was CSNY, so that was a nice surprise. Really enjoyed 4+20 and Country Girl too. I don't think their version of Woodstock is better than the original, but really enjoyed their take on it. Don't like the last song at all, and found Teach Your Children a bit bland. Overall, this album feels like CSNY trying to put a cap on the hippie era and move on in 4 different directions. 8/10

Not the best Pixies album by any means, but still a great listen. There are a couple of lesser quality tracks towards the end, but they don't ruin it. When I first heard this album years ago, I remember reading a review that dubbed it "the best album to listen to while driving across a desert", and I always wanted to test that theory. I finally got the chance a couple of years ago, driving from Las Vegas to Flagstaff along Route 66 in a rented Ford Mustang. Have to say, it was pretty fantastic!

I really love this album. When I first came across Stereolab (on the High Fidelity soundtrack I think), I really hadn't heard anything like them before. They somehow managed to make weird, experimental, and noisy music that also sounds beautiful. After several years of owning this album, I still feel like I'm getting to know it. But it's very transporting, and I keep coming back to it.

This is an all time classic for me. I was introduced to trip hop by a school friend when I was 16 or 17, but don't think Portishead really blocked with me until a few years later. I was too distracted by Massive Attack. But this album holds up just as well as Mezzanine, and is definitely one of the best of the 90s. I still marvel at how deep the bass sounds on here. One to listen to late at night, in a melancholy or meditative state.