Reviews by dburke

I don't think I recognize this artist, so I'm mostly going into this blind.

There's just something about this that I don't like. I definitely don't like the vocal style. It's both whiny and pretentious. And the music just feels overblown and melodramatic.

The track "The Wild Ones" just came on and I think I've nailed it: it's like budget Morrissey. And I hate Morrissey.

I'm somewhat familiar with Mudhoney, and know a few of their songs, but I'm not sure I recognize any of these tracks by title. It's worth noting that I'm listening to the deluxe edition which is over 2 hours long.

I appreciate the fact that this all feels like it's just about to fall apart. There's something special about these kinds of recordings. And obviously the way that this set the foundation for grunge makes it an important record. So maybe it's not the most consistent or pleasant listen, but there's definitely some magic in it, and it's culturally significant. It's hard to rate this, but I tend to reserve 3 stars for things that are just that middle-ground of not bad and not good. So although I'm giving it 4 stars, even I think that's a little high, but having only 5 stars to work with here limits my rating options.

I'm a big fan of My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" but have never listened to this album before.

This is interesting but not as good as "Loveless." Also, the production seems so much more muddy than "Loveless." I would have expected that more than 20 years between releases would have meant _better_ production. I feel like I might enjoy these songs more if the production matched that of "Loveless" more closely.

I don't think I recognize this artist, and am going into this blind.

Nope, no thanks. This is just bizarre and not particularly enjoyable. I feel like she needs to try harder to make some more "normal" music. And all of these songs are so difficult to follow and overstay their welcome.

The Doors are one of the most overrated bands of all time. Jim Morrison is actually a bad poet, and was famous more for being handsome than for being either a great musician or lyricist. The rest of the band? Thoroughly meh. I recognize a few of these tracks by title, and I'm not really looking forward to listening to this.

Yup, boring and meh. This does not earn its place on a list of albums you _must hear_ before you die.

I don't think I recognize any of these tracks by title, but then again, I'm not very familiar with New Order in general. I believe this is my first time listening to a New Order album start-to-finish.

This is what I expected. I'm just not a fan of New Order, and this isn't bad, but pretty meh. It all seems like it's more style than substance.

I recognize a few of these tracks by title, but have never listened to this album start-to-finish. The tracks I do recognize aren't my favorite songs by The Who, and what I do know about this album doesn't give me high hopes.

The only track really worth listening to here is "I Can See For Miles" and it's not even that good. If the title of this list was "1001 Albums Should Know About Before You Die," sure, this album belongs on that list. But this troll album is nowhere near a "must listen."

I don't believe I recognize any of these tracks by title, and I've never listened to this album before. I know enough about Marianne Faithfull to anticipate that this may not be a particularly pleasant listen.

I stand corrected, I recognize "Working Class Hero" but not this version of it. That being said, this was better than I anticipated, but still strongly meh.

I recognize the hits on this album, but otherwise have never listened to this start-to-finish.

This is pretty thoroughly meh.

I only know one song by Minutemen, and have never checked them out otherwise. I'm looking forward to sitting down with this album today.

I quite enjoyed this, and am disappointed in myself that I never checked this out before. I'll be adding this to my list of albums to listen to again.

YES

I've got this in my library, but I don't listen to it often enough. Thanks for making me listen to it again today.

UGH. The last time this site made me listen to an album by The Smiths or Morrissey, my take was that there's only one upshot to that: it's one fewer album that this site will force me to listen to. Really dreading this. Also, the last time I had to listen to a Morrissey/The Smiths album, I noted that my only solace was in giving a thumbs up to every 1 star album. I'm planning on doing the same here.

Yup, this was awful. I expect to hate all the other Morrissey/The Smiths albums that this site makes me listen to, and I'll continue giving thumbs ups to each 1 star review.

This site _definitely_ knows what's going on in the news. Dolly Parton just passed away yesterday. I've never listened to this album before, but I'm really looking forward to this.

This is just great. These three voices fit together so nice. I'll be adding this to my list of albums to listen to again.

I don't think I recognize this artist or any of these tracks by title. So I'm going into this blind.

This is quite interesting and hard to define. I think I really like this, so I'll be adding this to my list of albums to listen to again.

One of the things they seem to get really right on this album is that the songs do not overstay their welcome. It would be all-too-easy for these jams to just drag out, but they find a way to contain them and keep them consumable.

I don't think I recognize this artist or any of these tracks by title. I believe I'm going into this totally blind.

One question: Why? It seems to be absolutely nothing special in any way. I want to chalk this up to another case of "in order to appreciate the truly great albums, you also have to sit through utter pointlessness." Although this album is relatively short, it still also felt longer than it was. For all of those reasons, I can only give this 1 star. If they wanted more, they should have tried harder.

I don't think I recognize any of the tracks on this album by title. I'm aware of The Prodigy's hits, so I suppose I have _some_ idea of what I'm getting into here. But I'm not really looking forward to this.

Yeah, this is mostly as I anticipated. I'm not into this. Sweet Jesus, this is repetitive. And it's to such an extent that if you had told me this was a parody of how boring and repetitive this music can be, I would have thought this was hilarious.

I know this artist by name, but don't recognize any of these tracks. I'm mostly going into this blind though.

I feel like I just don't get this. And I have a degree in music. There's large swaths of my music library which I would categorize as "an acquired taste." Why _do_ people like this?

As for the track "Sentimental Journey": I can't remember the last time I listened to a track where I felt like I needed eye protection.

I recognize a bunch of these tracks by title, but I've never sat down to listen to this album start-to-finish.

Before embarking on this 1001 albums project, I hadn't listened to any David Bowie albums start-to-finish. This is now my 5th album, and I think I like this one the more than the other ones, which were no slouches either. And the fact that there are still 4 more Bowie albums to go on the list has me looking forward to them. Maybe this whole thing is turning me into a David Bowie fan? I think I'll be adding this to my list of albums to listen to again.

I don't think I recognize this artist, but it's entirely possible I just don't realize that I know some of these tracks. So I'm going into this mostly blind, but I do know what to expect from the Krautrock genre.

This was interesting to listen to, but I don't think I need to hear it again. Also worth noting that it wasn't exactly what I was expecting from Krautrock either.

I've recognize a few of these tracks by title, but have otherwise never listened to this album start-to-finish. I'm quite looking forward to this one.

This is a good album. It's a real 1989 time capsule. (If you want to understand the history of hip hop, this is a great example of the era and Queen Latifah was groundbreaking for female rappers.) And it absolutely belongs on a list of albums you should hear before you die.