Reviews by conorr90

Where to begin with this one? Another formative album for me, so hard to judge objectively. Probably one of the first electronic records I got into as a teenager. This album, Daft Punk and Justice opened up a whole new world of music for me, even though I missed out on it the first time around (I think I was 6 when this album was released). The way the songs flow into each other is beautiful, even when they get abrasive. I especially love the last two songs, in spite of the weird lawnmower like grinding towards the end of Where Do I Begin and the possibly-too-obvious Beatles influences on The Private Psychedelic Reel.

Truly a great album from start to finish. Fantastic production, bass and guitar - possibly the quintessential disco album. If this doesn't get your body movin', you might need to see a doctor...

I love the Talking Heads, but I've never been able to get into this album for some reason. I really like some of the songs and the overall sound, and I definitely recognize it's influence. But as an album, I don't think it holds up to More Songs..., Remain in Light, or Speaking in Tongues. Maybe one day it will click with me. I do love 'Don't Worry About The Gov" and 'Psycho Killer' though.

Listened to this a few times and nothing really stuck, just found it very middle if the road. Surprising, because I really like Dinosaur Jr and a lot of 90s slacker rock.

Delighted to see this pop up, I've been listening to it a lot this year. This is Metallica's only perfect album IMO. A big improvement on ...AJFA, and better than the self titled. I'm still not sure why so many Metallica albums are included, this one and The Black Album would be enough.

Didn't have time to listen to this one, probably didn't miss much, right?

Just kidding, obviously one of the best albums of all time.

This is another one I find hard to view objectively, because I was 17 when it came out, and listened to it obsessively that summer. That summer was incidentally one of the best of my life so far, and listening to this album through again took me back to those carefree days.

One thing that always sticks out was going to my first music festival with friends, and being very hyped to see MGMT. I wasn't the only one; they had been booked to a relatively small stage and the tent was overflowing with people like myself. About halfway through the set, during a slower song I looked up and saw a (presumably intoxicated) person climbing up one of the support towers of the tent, which I was standing quite close to. Maybe like 80-100 metres up. I found it funny at first, but the higher they got the more worried I was that they would fall, probably on top of me. Pretty soon half of the crowd had turned away from the stage and more people started climbing. The band had to stop playing and plead with people to get down, eventually leaving the stage. I think the crowd started to boo the climbers then, and they finally came down. MGMT then returned to the stage and played all the hits off the album in quick succession to get the crowd back onside.

Personal anecdotes aside, I do think this is a very important album generally. It is peak 2000s era electro-pop - check out the Justice remix of Electric Feel if you want more evidence of this - and led yo quite a few imitators. The weirder psych rock songs on here make a lot more sense now, having heard MGMT's later work. Overall, well worth a listen, as some of the deeper cuts on here hold up.

I know this is considered a classic, and majorly influential, etc. But to me, it really hasn't aged well. Several of the songs come off like bad jokes that run way too long (for ex Paul Revere) and many have cringe inducing immature lyrics. There are a couple of greats on here though, like Fight For Your Right, No Sleep til Brooklyn and Brass Monkey. I'm deducting a full star here for "Girls", for reasons which I hope are obvious.

I've listened to this a few times over the years, and have always found it very intriguing. I imagine it was very ahead of its time with the number of samples involved, and I think a lot of the experiments turned out well. However, it's not quite a 5 star for me, because I don't find myself returning to it that often. Definitely worth a few listens though.

I've been looking forward to getting this one, based on the reviews on the site. It really isn't as bad as people say! Obviously the lyrics are impossible to comprehend - even when reading along with them it's hard to hear individual words. But musically it is very well put together. I did prefer the first half though, the second half was a bit rougher and apparently performed by basically a different band. It was definitely groundbreaking and influential too.

Honestly, I'd say this was more interesting and engaging than about 10-15% of the 300+ albums I've gotten so far.

Was this book sponsored by Elvis Costello or something? I can understand including his first 2 or 3 albums, but the average music listener absolutely does not have to sit through his late career albums before they die.

Pretty much a perfect album, start to finish. Encapsulates the feeling of being young and wanting to escape your surroundings for where ever the grass seems greener. Great songwriting, great singer, great band. I admit though that I haven't listened to this the whole way through many times. Looking forward to getting more into it and absorbing the lyrics better.

This album is even better than I remembered. At first I was thinking of it as being Baba O'Reilly and Won't Get Fooled Again with a load of filler in the middle. But I forgot how great My Wife and The Song is Over are. The only negative I would have about it is that sometimes Pete Townsend's lyrics are a bit uninspiring. Especially on Getting in Tune and Behind Blue Eyes. I've salaams found the lyrics of the later pretty cringe, but musically it's a great song. Overall its a 9/10 for me.

Generally enjoyed this, Womack is a fantastic singer and the production is great too. Not many of the songs stand out for me though after a first listen. Some of the lyrics are a bit cheesy/old fashioned too.

This is my second Todd Rundgren album this month, having previously never listened to him. Seems like I've been missing out big time. On first listen, I found it a difficult one - particularly the more psychedelic snippets in the first half. I often find with psych rock that I have to be in the right mood for it, and the first time was a bit grating.

However, second listen was much better, and there are some real gems on the second half in particular. Although not as listener friendly
as Something/Anything, I think this will be a grower for me. Love the weirdness and fairly wild experimentation for the time. Even though not all of the experiments work out I respect the effort. That's kind of the point! Will definitely be revisiting this.

There were some really intriguing songs on here, and some very standard and boring blues rock. The good songs though seem to have been ahead of their time. Would listen again for sure!

Great album, obviously incredibly funky. Overall I thought this was a better album than Maggot Brain, although not as good as Parliament's Mothership Connection. Huge pact on popular music, particularly via hip hop sampling. I think some of the songs do run a bit long, but its still a solid 8/10 for me.

How many more Deep Purple albums must we endure?

This is my 3rd after just over 300 albums, so they make up around 1% of the list so far, which doesn't bode well. This one gets a marginally better rating due to the significance of Smoke on the Water, but overall its as cringe as Deep Purple in Rock.

There are a few great songs on here, and some incredible singing. The first half is pretty flawless IMO. But there are a couple of duds on the second half (Steel Claw and 1984), and the production overall is way too polished for my taste.

I never really got into this album much, although I love London Calling. This one isn't nearly as good as that, but it is great. Obviously a very important one too, in the evolution of punk, and much more interesting than the Sex Pistols album that came out in the same year.