Reviews by florida-metalhead810

This is better than the other Temptations album on this list. Where that felt at times grating and weird, this is mostly smooth soul mixed with funk. Both types of song are done very well, with excellent singing throughout. As with the other Temptations album, there was an overlong song(11 min!), but it wasn't as bad as the one on the other album. While that album felt like a work in progress, this feels like the finished, smooth product of a tight, talented performing unit.

This is an instrumental jazz album with a mellow feel to it. The instrumentation is impeccable and evocative, as you would expect from a classic jazz album. It is more focused on a groove than some solo-filled albums such as Head Hunters. I didn't think it was the best jazz the list has given me(it's hard to top A Love Supreme) but it's still good nonetheless.

This is a pretty average new wave album. I see that it's widely considered Costello's best album; which doesn't bode well for his five(!) other albums on the list. It has some very good pop songs, but it is by no means great. The singing isn't great, and neither are the lyrics; it's distinctly average all around. It's the kind of album that doesn't really leave a mark on listeners.

This is a very raw, punky album. For everything it lacks in polish, it has in spirit and energy. Nothing here is too technical, but it's enjoyable enough. I can see how this influenced punk and all it's related genres with its primal snarl. It has the tunes and hooks to support its loud sloppiness, resulting in an excellent and genre-defining album.

This album has a very distinct feel. It features deep, gravelly vocals and instrumentals that create a dark, grimy atmosphere. The vocal style can be a bit grating at times, but it fits the lyrics and music very well. He may not be the best singer, but it's amazing how well this works. I found "Downtown" and "Jersey Girl" in particular to be excellent tracks that fit the album very well. I will argue that Waits is a better singer than many give him credit for; what he lacks in technical prowess is made up for in emotion and soul, something many otherwise excellent singers lack. An excellent and unique album that I genuinely enjoy.

This isn't the best Zeppelin album(that's IV all the way), but it's still an early Zeppelin album. And early Zeppelin albums are always full of excellent hard rock songs. The musicianship is undeniably excellent, and it sounds pretty much exactly like you'd expect from Zeppelin, with gargantuan guitar riffs, thunderous drumming, and high-pitched rockstar vocals. Unfortunately, this loses points for plagiarism. It's still an excellent album, despite having some flaws.

This is definitely a gangster rap record. Though I enjoy this era of rap, the album's lyrical content(especially "I ain't the 1", assuming that wasn't seen as offensively sexist even when it came out)aged poorly. It's full of violent, sometimes sexist raps, albeit placed over excellent beats. NWA stands for N****z with Attitude, and they live up to their name on this record with attitude in spades. I can't deny that it's influential and well made, though; that would be an exercise in futility. The album also runs on a little too long; it could stand to lose a couple tracks.

This album is primarily a soft, sparsely arranged pop album. It features some more upbeat tracks with noticeable drum beats and some soft tracks that serve primarily as vocal showcases. The singing is excellent, and the backing tracks are tasteful and well placed. However, some production is fairly dated. The lyrics are well written, but not quite excellent. While the lyricism and vocals are high points, the album's true strength is in its spare, down-to-earth nature. It prefers introspective statements to the brash bombast common in pop, allowing the songs to shine for their high quality writing.

I'd say I'm pretty good at math. Sure, I don't have a PhD, but I'm a sophomore in high school taking- and having an A in- Precalculus. With that out of the way, this album is a pretty solid example of 2000s hip hop. The beats are good, and the flow is solid if not the best. The songs are well made and fairly enjoyable. Lyrics are excellent in that they don't rely overly on hedonistic and boastful tropes common in some rap from the period. Unfortunately, I found the album's sound a little repetitive and unengaging toward the end. It's far from terrible, however- even for this typical "intelligent kid" who nearly always has the answer and does consistently well on tests.

This album is essentially a forerunner to grunge. It pretty much sounds exactly like many of the bands that got popular in the 1990s. You can hear the alternating loud-quiet-loud dynamics here in every song. The vocalist isn't very good, and the lyrics aren't the best(they're still alright), but it's still a good sounding album. It's far from horrible, but it's just a bit too off-putting to be a truly perfect album. I think I could still give this five stars, though.

I hadn't really liked the stuff I'd previously heard from Springsteen, so this album was a pleasant surprise for me. I found it to contain well-written lyrics about love, loss, and American life. Springsteen's vocals aren't as grating as I remembered(the main reason I disliked him), and the E Street Band is very solid musically. The saxophone is mostly gone from the album(another thing I disliked about Springsteen), which is always a boon. The songwriting here is excellent, with great lyrics and musical quality.

This is far more experimental than Iggy's other album on this list. While that was mostly tight, hooky 70s rock, this features heavy use of synthesizers and is less accessible.
Unfortunately for this album, the lack of catchy hooks make it less enjoyable than the other album. It tries too hard to be different and ends up not really doing much for me.

This is one of the most popular albums of the 1990s. While the instrumentals are good, the lyrics are dumb and make absolutely no sense. The vocalist is bad at rapping and only marginally better at singing. He somehow manages to be even worse at being a person, too. Those instrumentals are strong, though; they save this album from a 1 star rating. Only the singles really have good writing; the album drops significantly in quality towards the back half with stinkers like "I Like Dirt" and "Emit Remmus" that manage to be even dumber than the rest of the album. This is very much a front-loaded album, and even the front side's songs are just good(not great). RHCP are perhaps my first "singles band"; their big hits are good, the deep cuts are not.

This is just a dumb, fun 80s hard rock album. It's chock-full of catchy riffs and great solos, but the lyrics are standard fare for the era's glam rock/metal. The singer lacks anything remotely approaching range, and the album is kind of built around his limited vocal abilities as much as Eddie's solos. It's the epitome of "cock rock", and I am all here for it. Those riffs really do wonders for my hard rock-loving ears.

This is a good but fairly generic 90s rock album. The songwriting is a step above the numerous crappy one-hit wonders of the era, but not as good as Alice in Chains or Soundgarden. They sound like a female-led Foo Fighters on this album. I am partial to this genre, but this album just lacks the "X factor" that makes a truly great band.

This album is mostly inoffensive 60s crooner pop at first glance. However, a closer listen reveals some unusual lyrics that most crooners of the era wouldn't touch. However, this doesn't set the album apart sonically. It's not terrible, but it doesn't really do anything for me. I wouldn't call this essential listening especially when it's mostly covers.

If I had a nickel for every experimental pop album by a woman I received in the last week, I'd have two nickels. That isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. That said, the above-mentioned coincidence isn't as weird as this album. The vocal histrionics on display are a bit off-putting, but it isn't horrible. It's definitely not boring(thank God!) but I'd rather listen to the Bjork album I had 2 days prior. I do like the sound of the percussion and piano, but the vocals don't do much for me. Perhaps her other albums rely less on vocal histrionics and experimentation and more on somewhat more mainstream pop tunes, which will likely be more palatable to me anyway. As it stands, this is pretty mediocre.

This is a good 90s rap album. The beats are all on point, and the lyrics are excellent for the time period. They paint a portrait of New York street life without resorting to the sexist and overly gratuitous tropes many 90s rap albums fall into. The flows and rhyming are extremely strong and, combined with the excellent beats, make for an essential hip hop record.

This is nowhere as experimental and odd as I expected. It just sounds like orchestral pop with electronic music beats in the background. It's a breakup record, and the lyrics are very straightforward to understand within that context. "Black Lake" works far better than a 10-minute orchestral pop/electronic song has any right to. The second side feels more energetic than the slow first side without abandoning the atmospheric qualities present here. It's also where the weirder songs are ("Atom Dance" is especially weird compared to the rest of the album). Overall, this was a pretty good album. It has more range than I would think while also being a fairly easy listen.

Suffice it to say, I was not looking forward to this listen. Apparently, the title track was highly controversial on release, which is weird because it's pretty standard fare lyrically and musically. It's catchy, but standard fare nonetheless. The rest of this album follows the blueprint set by that track(brainless yet catchy 80s pop). The more upbeat tracks work far better than the ballads in this album. Overall, it is nowhere near as bad as I expected it to be.