Reviews by florida-metalhead810

You know, I'm not a huge fan of the Beach Boys. I understand how important they are in music history, but I just don't care for their signature sound. And exactly as I expected, this is a pop album heavily reliant on vocal harmonies. While said harmonies are pleasing to the ear, they are the only thing making these otherwise mediocre songs worth listening to. The songs are two-minute pop ditties with generic lyrics about girls and mediocre hooks. Much of the sound of this album sounds incredibly dated in a way that only pop albums(including ones mixing pop with rap or rock) really do, and therefore hinders the album from truly being great. While some songs are catchy, this is an album mostly reliant on harmonics to provide the listener with something to latch onto. This album has done absolutely nothing to change my opinion of the Beach Boys.

This album is ranked #8 of 12 albums for 1965. Other 1965 albums rated by me:
Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul(2/12)-5
Highway 61 Revisited(3/12)-4
A Love Supreme(5/12)-5

I am running out of things to say about all these random British albums that lack much of any musical relevance. Not that I ever had many to begin with, but it's seriously been overplayed at this point. Anyway, this is yet another pop/new wave album that thinks it's more clever than it actually is. Most of the song titles suggest an air of pretentiousness, but it's mostly just standard pop with new wave-sounding vocals and mediocre lyrics. I also feel like the drums are over mixed, as the snare is weirdly loud in most of the songs. Even the band hate the production, so I have no problem critiquing it. This probably isn't the most egregious example of British mediocrity on the list(so far, the Teardrop Explodes, Ash, and the Auteurs are my picks). However, it's still a mediocre British pop album. I could have happily left this earth without hearing this album, despite some catchy songs.

This album is ranked #9 of 23 albums for 1986. Other 1986 albums rated by me:
Graceland(1/23)-3
Licensed to Ill(4/23)-4
Raising Hell(6/23)-5
EVOL(20/23)-4
Guitar Town(21/23)-2

Well this one sounds interesting. It's a jazz concept album showcasing the composition of one of jazz's great band leaders... And one of its most violent. He had a notorious temper that resulted in him punching a trombonist in the face once(according to Wikipedia). As for the actual album, it's amazingly dynamic free jazz. While most jazz just settles for being pleasant background music, this album is an absolute rollercoaster of a listen. It has intricate parts followed by loud blasts of sax noise and even a part that sounded like distorted speech coming from the saxophone. This is properly great jazz, forgoing cocktail-bar pleasantry for legitimate artistic passion and playing with so much fire it makes some metal bands look like wimpy indie folk bands. Here, the Angry Man of Jazz records a stunningly uncompromising free jazz record that is one of the best things I've heard in a while.

This album is ranked #6 of 8 albums for 1963. Other 1963 albums rated by me:
Live at the Harlem Square Club(1/8)-5
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan(3/8)-4
James Brown Live at the Apollo(4/8)-4
A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector(7/8)-2

A French electronic music album. Hopefully it's better than that filthy Serge Gainsbourg guy. It is better than both Gainsbourg and all of the shitty British electronic music artists that this list seems to love. Electronic music is at its best when it evokes moods, and that's what this does. It evokes a variety of moods dependent on the track, and some are even fairly good as pop songs. While talent in electronic music can be difficult to discern to the musically uninitiated, I would consider Air to be talented musicians working in this sphere. Listen up, everybody: electronic music is a genre with as much merit as rock, rap, pop, jazz, or soul. It may not always be the best listening experience, but it has multitudes of quality just like the others.

This album is ranked #2 of 19 albums for 1998. Other 1998 albums rated by me:
Celebrity Skin(4/19)-3

My last experience with vocal electronic music was, ahem, not great. So I don't exactly have high hopes for this one. It turned out to literally just be mind-numbingly boring background music. Nothing particularly interesting is going on here. Lyrics aren't really of much interest to me, like the rest of the album. I do think the length is excessive, especially for an album that is mediocrity in sonic form. I will occasionally vibe to electronic music, but this doesn't feel like a particularly good example of the genre. It would get a 2, but it's way too long, so it's a 1.

This album is the lowest ranked album of 1990 globally. Other 1990 albums rated by me:
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm(2/22)-5
Heaven or Las Vegas(3/22)-4
Bossanova(4/22)-5
Fear of a Black Planet(5/22)-5
Shake Your Money Maker(6/22)-2
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got(7/22)-4
The La's(12/22)-3

Soul albums like this are usually a safe bet for good music. So, yeah, this will hopefully be good. And it was good. Not exactly great, but good. The first track was a little on the meh side, despite a resonant political message. However, after this(and the good but somewhat uncomfortable second track), the album kicks into a soulful groove with a bunch of solid songs. It is consistently good and enjoyable up until the 14-minute instrumental "Sex Machine"(what the hell is that title?). After that overlong and repetitive filler piece ends, we get a fun, funky piece in "You Can Make It If You Try" that has some of the best harmonies on the album. Essentially, this album is a funky, sometimes political, sometimes psychedelic take on soul music. It effectively ushered in a new era of soul music that brought the development of the genre to a head. However, others would soon upstage this album with better songs of their own.

This album is ranked #16 of 38 albums for 1969. Other 1969 albums rated by me:
Abbey Road(1/38)-5
Led Zeppelin(3/38)-4
At San Quentin(5/38)-5
Bayou Country(7/38)-4
In the Court of the Crimson King(9/38)-5
The Velvet Underground(10/38)-4
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere(11/38)-4
Cloud Nine(17/38)-4
Arthur(18/37)-3
Hot Rats(19/38)-3
From Elvis In Memphis(21/38)-2
Tommy(22/38)-4
Songs From A Room(25/38)-5
Unhalfbricking(26/38)-4
Kick Out The Jams(29/38)-3
The Gilded Palace of Sin(30/38)-3
Odessa(36/38)-2

I didn't really vibe with To Pimp A Butterfly as much as most hip hop heads seem to, so this probably won't be my jam. That said, it is interesting to see how Kendrick polarizes the site's user base like few others do. Many seem to either love him or hate him, yet I felt neither about TPAB. And I don't feel either about this, but simply see a passable rap album. Sometimes it has great storytelling, sometimes it leans into gangster cliches, sometimes it's interesting, sometimes it's boring. I just don't click with Kendrick like many people do, but I don't think it's bad music like many others do. His music, on both this and TPAB, just falls into that space of utter mediocrity for some reason. He's a good lyricist with occasionally good sample choices, but his music just doesn't inspire any feeling in me. I want to like him, but I just can't get into his stuff.

This album is the top ranked album of 2012 globally. Other 2012 albums rated by me:
Blunderbuss(2/5)-4
Django Django(4/5)-3

Oh, God. British "punk" bands (probably new wave) trying to mix their sound with Celtic folk isn't exactly the best thing for a leisurely Sunday listen. It was a generic and often horrible new wave album that tried too hard to be weird but didn't get weird enough. There is no decent songwriting here to speak of, with songs not being weird enough to be interesting in an avant-garde way but not hooky enough to work as pop songs. Therefore, it settles in the no-man's-land between those extremes, aided by a poor vocal performance that sounds like every whiny British guy ever. Yup, sounds about right for this list. Shitty British new wave that has the occasional fiddle to make it sound more folky. Why must the list continually throw these albums at us poor listeners?

This album is ranked #15 of 16 1985 albums. Other 1985 albums rated by me:
Brothers in Arms(2/16)-5
Hounds of Love(3/16)-4
Low-Life(5/16)-3
Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash(6/16)-3
Hunting High and Low(8/16)-3
Steve McQueen(10/16)-3
Picture Book(13/16)-2

A South African jazz album is an interesting choice of album for a Saturday evening. Expectedly, it's nice and relaxed, with excellent rhythm section and trumpet(?) playing. At first, it just sounds like regular old American jazz, but then "Maseru" comes in with its fast grooving and excellent playing. Well, the whole album is excellent on a technical level, but that track in particular sticks out compared to what came before it. After "Maseru", the album calms back down again and starts doing more interesting things than it did in the first half. There's a nice funk track and a drum solo before a regular old jazz number on "Nomali". The last track then reveals an ethnic African flavor that hasn't been seen throughout the entire rest of the album. While this wasn't quite the album I hoped it would be, it was still a very good jazz album. It's definitely got soul and has very technical playing that is excellent in the way you'd expect from jazz. It's not the best jazz album ever, but it's also not anywhere near the worst.

This album is ranked #14 of 31 albums released in 1972. Other 1972 albums rated by me:
Ziggy Stardust(abbreviated title)(1/31)-4
Vol. 4(4/31)-5
Can't Buy A Thrill(5/31)-4
Talking Book(6/31)-4
Superfly(7/31)-4
Machine Head(11/31)-5
Paul Simon(12/31)-4
All Directions(13/31)-4
The World Is A Ghetto(15/31)-4
Eagles(16/31)-4
#1 Record(20/31)-5
Manassas(25/31)-2
Something/Anything?(26/31)-3
American Gothic(31/31)-2

This is a gangster rap album. As such, I am predisposed to hating it... And I didn't like it much. The backing music is good, the flows were good, and it was catchy. BUT...and this is a big but...the lyrics are awful. Rap is a genre reliant on lyrics, and the lyrics here are not up to snuff. Writing songs about sex, weed, and crime does not make for properly good rap. It makes for commercialized rap meant to sell a vision of a tough street lifestyle to audiences across the US and the world. It's maybe essential if you're into this type of commercialized rap, but otherwise not. It's mostly just a relic of the 90s gangster rap scene.

This album is ranked #5 of 23 albums for 1993. Other 1993 albums rated by me:
Tuesday Night Music Club(11/23)-3
Very(14/23)-1
New Wave(15/23)-1
Giant Steps(16/23)-2

This is my last P-Funk album of the project. For some reason, it is not on Spotify, so I had to find it on YouTube. Anyway, this is a good 70s R&B/funk record with a rock edge. It also has some of the best song titles I've ever seen(try topping "Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad(The Doo Doo Chasers)" as a song title). Thankfully, the actual songs hold up to snuff, with some legitimately great grooves and excellent playing, not to mention some lyrics that are great in their absurdity and simplicity. "Think! Think! It Ain't Illegal Yet" hits especially hard in today's era of growing authoritarianism and rightwing nationalism within the United States and elsewhere. So, who says a funk band can't play rock? Not anyone who's ever listened to Funkadelic, that's for sure. Though the songs are a bit in the long side, they are still excellent funk-rock tunes for grooving to-and then doing air guitar to some of the solos and riffs.

This album is ranked #7 of 33 albums for 1978 by global rating. Other 1978 albums rated by me:
Van Halen(4/33)-4
Darkness on the Edge of Town(6/33)-5
Stardust(8/33)-4
C'est Chic(9/33)-4
Live and Dangerous(10/33)-4
This Year's Model(13/33)-3
All Mod Cons(14/33)-4
Germfree Adolescents(19/33)-4
Duck Stab/Buster & Glen(32/33)-3

Great, another indie rock album. After yesterday's creepy, disgusting nightmare of an album, I needed something that wasn't weird and disgusting. This is not weird and not disgusting(except for the lizard thing on the cover, which is both to a mild degree). However, it's also not very interesting. While the band had some decently entertaining songs, they lack the ability to produce true bangers of songs. The vocals are uninteresting, and the lyrics are not that good either. They have some hooks, but they don't do enough to make their songs interesting. This isn't really an essential album for anyone, but at least it isn't gross pedo music(looking at you, Serge Gainsbourg, you vile piece of shit).

This album is ranked #4 of 5 albums for 2012. Other 2012 albums rated by me:
Blunderbuss(2/5)-4

This album is a concept album about a presumably older, affluent guy getting intimate with a teenager(Americans will know this story pretty well because of the current president). I will still listen, because I once wrote in a Michael Jackson review that an artist's personal transgressions are not important to judging the quality of the music. However, here the transgression seems to be the music itself. The instrumentals are okay ish, especially on the opener, but the vocals are really fucking creepy. Of course, this is because the dude decided to write an album about, ahem, getting intimate with a teenager. And why is the sixth track a bunch of random laughing? The whole thing is an ick, and I don't give a shit how "high-art" or funny or "shock value" or whatever this is supposed to be. I'M FIFTEEN for Christ's sake! An album about abusing and permanently traumatizing people the same age as me is not something I want in my life. This album needs to join its creator in hell. The one star I will give it is entirely for the first track's backing music.

This album is ranked #35 of 37 albums for 1971. Other 1971 albums rated by me:
Led Zeppelin IV(1/37)-5
Who's Next(5/37)-5
Sticky Fingers(6/37)-4
Pearl(7/37)-5
L. A. Woman(8/37)-3
Maggot Brain(9/37)-4
Imagine(14/37)-4
Fela Kuti Live!(15/37)-4
Nilsson Schmilsson(16/37)-4
Coat of Many Colors(18/37)-5
At Fillmore East(19/37)-4
Surf's Up(22/37)-4
Every Picture Tells A Story(25/37)-4
Songs of Love and Hate(29/38)-5
Tago Mago(33/37)-4

I had the other Chic album at album #52. It's been so long since then that I only really remember one song from it. This album is a fun, funky disco album with a lot of groovy bass lines. It's extremely danceable and pleasurable to listen to, with "Le Freak" and "Happy Man" being particularly great songs. However, the lyrics are lacking. They're on the dumb end and lack any sort of real theme. But for what this is, it's undeniably a great album. This is one I'd keep when the mood strikes me to dance(alongside the legendary "Good Times" from their other list album).

This album is ranked #9 of 33 albums for 1978 by global rating. Other 1978 albums rated by me:
Van Halen(4/33)-4
Darkness on the Edge of Town(6/33)-5
Stardust(8/33)-4
Live and Dangerous(11/33)-4
This Year's Model(13/33)-3
All Mod Cons(14/33)-4
Germfree Adolescents(19/33)-4
Duck Stab/Buster & Glen(32/33)-3

Random British albums I haven't heard of don't really have a good track record...and this one's over an hour long. It's a Britpop album with a bit of noise-rock thrown in for good measure. The noise elements can be jarring, but the songs overall are alright. Nothing here is a great song per se, but it's good enough to hold my interest a little- until the album's midsection, where the songs get worse and never really recover. Nothing about this album is anything special; it's generic pop-rock with no particularly memorable aspects except for the random noises in the middle. I don't think it needed to be an hour long at all, nor was it good enough to hold me for the hour it ran. Utterly mediocre.

This album is ranked #16 of 23 albums for 1993. Other 1993 albums rated by me:
Tuesday Night Music Club(11/23)-3
Very(14/23)-1
New Wave(15/23)-1

I've had the Stooges before in this project and found them to be good, but not necessarily great. This is definitely better mixed than Raw Power was(I listened to Iggy's mix, Bowie's might be better), which usually makes for a more enjoyable album assuming the songs are up to par. They are, indeed, up to par. When you play this style of raw, garage rock, you don't need good lyrics or a ton of musical ability to make great songs. You just need enough musical ability to make a few catchy riffs on guitar and play them loud. That's exactly what this album is; loud, raw, and uncompromising yet with clear songwriting talent. This kind of pure, unfiltered aggression is one of my favorite things about rock and metal as genres, and this album captures that so well. It's musically and lyrically crude, but it's my kind of crude. This is the best Iggy Pop project on the list yet.

This album is ranked #17 of 29 albums for 1970. Other 1970 albums rated by me:
Bridge Over Troubled Water(2/29)-5
Led Zeppelin III(3/29)-4
Cosmo's Factory(4/29)-5
All Things Must Pass(6/29)-3
Tea for the Tillerman(10/29)-4
After The Gold Rush(11/29)-5
Deep Purple In Rock(14/29)-5
Ananda Shankar(27/29)-4

One of the most popular bands of the 2000s... Deservedly? The 2000s were admittedly not a great time for music in general. Many of the list's 2000s albums are lacking in quality. This album is no exception; I just found it to be utterly terrible. Even though the album spawned a lot of hits, I found those hits to be mediocre at best, annoying at worst I really don't care for the vocalist's voice, and the band's sound is not very interesting at all. I see this as boring 2000s arena pop tripe, which is weird as I like arena rock from 30 years earlier. Either way, I find the Killers' songs boring and sometimes annoying, and I don't get how they were anywhere near as popular as they were. I was going to give it a 2, but the closer being an ode to landfill indie made it a 1. I'm sorry, millennials.

This album is ranked #2 of 24 albums for 2004. Other 2004 albums rated by me:
Smile(9/24)-2
Heroes to Zeros(13/24)-1
Rejoicing in the Hands(19/24)-2

Ah, Van Halen. A band whose guitarist is hailed as the greatest guitar player since Hendrix. However, one great player does not a great band make. This is mostly a standard 70s AOR album with numerous legitimately good songs. However, Van Halen have never really been a favorite of mine. I don't particularly care for David Lee Roth's voice, and their songwriting usually isn't as catchy as other cock rock bands like AC/DC(my favorites from the genre). However, compared to a good chunk of the stuff on the list, this is an excellent album, not to mention refreshing. It's a good bit of fun and shredding, and that's all it needs to be. "Runnin' With the Devil" is overrated, though.

This album is ranked #4 of 33 albums for 1978 by global rating. Other 1978 albums rated by me:
Darkness on the Edge of Town(6/33)-5
Stardust(8/33)-4
Live and Dangerous(11/33)-4
This Year's Model(13/33)-3
All Mod Cons(14/33)-4
Germfree Adolescents(19/33)-4
Duck Stab/Buster & Glen(32/33)-3

This album is going to be an interesting listen. It's the last gasps of a legendary musician who was staring into the grim reaper's eyes and facing down his inevitable end. Can a teenager such as me really, truly appreciate what this record means when he has so much life ahead of him? What I can appreciate is the songcraft. The songs on this record are of the somber and spacey variety, with lyrics confronting the reality of death and looking back on a life well lived. It's exactly the kind of album a man confronting his own mortality can be expected to make. This album is probably one of the most difficult listens in Bowie's catalog simply because of its thematic heaviness, not to mention the circumstances surrounding its creation. With this album, one of rock's most restless artists bids farewell to this world. I, a young kid with decades ahead of him, am now contemplating what my own death will be like as I listen to this. But alas, only time will tell.

This album is the highest ranked album of 2016 globally. Other 2016 albums rated by me:
Konnichiwa(4/4)-3

As far as I know, this album is considered possibly the best dream pop album ever made. Certainly, it's one of the most acclaimed albums by one of the most influential bands in the scene. I can see this album's appeal. "Dream pop" is an apt description for what this album sounds like; it's hooky pop-rock with a distant, almost psychedelic tinge to it. The vocals sound good, but the lyrics are utterly incomprehensible gibberish. I don't quite know what to make of this for that reason. It's a good album that could have easily been very popular with decipherable lyrics, but many of this band's fans point to the gibberish as a thing of sonic beauty. In a way, it is, but it's one that confuses me because I generally haven't seen indecipherable vocals outside of extreme metal, and yet this comparatively tame pop album has them. Fascinating.

This album is ranked #3 of 22 albums for 1990. Other 1990 albums rated by me:
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm(2/22)-5
Bossanova(4/22)-5
Fear of a Black Planet(5/22)-5
Shake Your Money Maker(6/22)-2
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got(7/22)-4
The La's(12/22)-3