Rated 8/10
After my initial disgust of a 2nd Blink album to hit the generator, I pressed play... and now I have a favourite Blink album. Sorry, Enema
If Robert Smith approves of this band, then they’re alright with me
August 30, 2025
Rated 10/10
August 29, 2025
HL: "ONE MORE TIME", "Digital Love", "Harder Better Faster Stronger", "Superheroes", "Veridis Quo", "Face to Face"
First listened to in 2023, so I don't have a long personal history with this. But it not being on the original list makes me SO MAD -_-
I implied when Alive 2007 came up that I've made peace with their debut Homework, as much as certain tracks annoy me. But here's an example of the duo building on their strengths and making an actual cohesive, beautiful listen from front to back, and the 1001 book puts fucken Les Rythmes Digitales instead of this one.
NOT first listen
One of my favourite pop albums in years. Do I think it's perfect? Well, no- there are a couple tracks I don't think are AS engaging, like "California" and "After Midnight". But when the highs are this high, I gotta give Roan props, considering I had only heard her name for the first time a year ago. "Pink Pony Club" is one of those songs I distinctly remember where I heard it the first time. Pretty sure it was August 16 2024, on the road to the beach. But god forbid I remember my cousin's names
HL: "Red Wine Supernova", "Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl", "Hot to Go!", "My Kink Is Karma", "Kaleidoscope", "Pink Pony Club", "Guilty Pleasure"
9/10
August 28, 2025
Rated 8/10
August 27, 2025
HL: "In the Dark", "THE STROKE", “You Know What I Like”, “Lonely is the Night”
Sometimes, boomer rock is all I need to be happy (EgoRatatouille.gif)
Rated 6/10
August 27, 2025
HL: "All This and More", "High Tension Wire", "Not Anymore"
Hell is just a neverending playlist of punk bands from 1977.
Okay, FINE, I liked it I guess. I'm just glad they're not from effing London or L.A. this time.
Rated 6/10
August 31, 2025
HL: "New Day", "All I Know", "Change", "Roquefort" (bonus track)
The didgeridoo really takes it to new places 🦘
The blurb I read compared them to Muse, a band I really enjoy, as well as Tool, a band I have struggled to enjoy. Turns out both takes are reasonably accurate- hence, it was a decent listen I probably won't be compelled to revisit anytime soon
Rated 8/10
once again, August 24, 2025
I'm a little sad that some of the strangest albums here aren't reviewed by the person that submitted them. Justify thy reasoning!
The way the buzzing insects cut in and out creates an interesting effect, kind of eerie (“Pop 1”, “Pop 2”)
Maybe got a little much by the end (“Pop 7”) , but overall this is a beautiful, curious slice of ambient. I don’t know what dropping acid in a forest feels like, so I’ll just assume it feels like this
Rated 8/10
August 25, 2025
HL: title track, “January Wedding”, “And It Spread”, “Ten Thousand Words”, “Tin Man”
At some point I’d like to hear the album promised by the spooky artwork, because this is not that. But the bright, shiny songs like “Slight Figure of Speech”, “Tin Man” and “Kick Drum Heart” are a joy to listen to, even as the greatest strength of I and Love and You is PROBABLY the slow songs like its title track.
We did not need more indie folk. But I did, thank you
Copied from Wikipedia:
Matt Price of The Australian said that "[t]he whole premise of [1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die] is humbug", arguing that it would take too long to listen through all the albums in the book whilst also following new releases.
He also criticized several of the book's choices on what albums to include and to not include, concluding that it was "BIASED, UN-AUSTRALIAN AND UNACCEPTABLE”.
… well at least the user list doesn’t have that problem, eh? Also, it's surprisingly manageable to do an album a day ;)
I have been recommended Courtney's music before, but I’m only hearing this for the first time today.
The first few tracks have a nice distribution of noisy and zen sounds.
The poppy, 60s-style organ was a nice touch in "Debbie Downer".
Barnett's deadpan singing style sounds more akin to today's pop rock than 2015's (see: Wet Leg, Olivia Rodrigo for possible but unproven influence)
HL: "Elevator Operator", "Small Poppies", "Depreston", "Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go to the Party", "Debbie Downer"
August 24, 2025
Rated 4/10
oh... okay. Iggy Pop #6, why not
My poor, basic ears can only take so much of the lo-fi recording, and I’m not sure that tracks like “Rich Bitch” and “Cock in My Pocket” showcase the best of the band’s abilities. (Or maybe they do, in which case refer to the point about the low-fidelity)
However, Iggy’s manic stage presence is something that you don’t fully hear in Fun House or even Raw Power, and the back-and-forth he engages in with the increasingly violent audience is probably the main reason for hearing this.
Didn’t really enjoy. Still an important historical recording.
August 22, 2025
Rated 8/10
August 21, 2025
HL: "Little Dipper", "Stars", "I'd Like Your Hair Long"
Kind of up there with 90s bands from the O.G. list I shouldn't care about but do now, like the La's, Grant Lee Buffalo and Ride.
"Suicide Machine" was my least favourite song, but otherwise this album deftly balances the melodic with the distorted.
4 zebras out of 5 🦓
Rated 6/10
August 19, 2025
HL: "Mouth Breather", "Nub", "Karpis", "Rodeo in Juliet"
Easy breezy 30 minutes
One of those picks that would have good company in the original list, alongside Slint, Big Black, the Birthday Party and PJ Harvey.
I didn't fully take to the sound of Goat, even after a second listen, but the dissonance comes with some real energy and headbanging opportunities. "Pop Song" is a great, tongue-in-cheek bonus track.
May grow on me with time
August 17, 2025
I feel like the progression of the Wall > The Final Cut > The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking is just diminishing returns on the same musical ideas; though considering how much I like the first, and how much the second has grown on me, this was still a decently enjoyable listen.
If the intent was to create a dreamlike state in the moments before dawn, then I feel Eric Clapton's bluesy licks were a strange choice for the album. I can think of another guitarist that could create a moody, dreamy atmosphere, what's his name... Gave Dilmore or something...
There is a Roger Waters solo album that I quite enjoy, and I don't mean The Final Cut--
Is This the Life We Really Want? (2017), produced by Nigel Godrich and featuring the talented vocalists from the band Lucius.
Rated 6/10
7 outta 10
HL: "Workin' Woman Blues", "Somebody to Love", "Shotgun", the title track
August 18, 2025
Rated 8/10
August 14, 2025
HL: "Can't Keep Johnny Down", "When Will You Die", "Spoiler Alert", "You Probably Already Know", "In Fact"
My first record by They Might Be Giants. From my brief research, Flood or Lincoln seem to get all the critical accolades, but if this is considered "lesser" Giants, then it's a pretty good start.
At its best it's infectious and uplifting;
maybe somebody who has better vocabulary in this field could better explain what I mean, but the production doesn't quite reach the level of zaniness the songwriting promises. That's not a major criticism, though. Just because the instrumentation sounded a bit thin didn't mean I didn't enjoy this.
Rated 2/10
August 13, 2025
HL: "Arrow of Love", "Neon"
It evokes "anime battle" music sometimes, but I quickly became disenchanted with the mindless EDM beats supporting these metalcore breakdowns that are simply not my thing. My favourite vocals are the guest ones from Conquer Divide ("Fuckboi"). I found the actual vocalists from Electric Callboy irritating, particularly the growly one.
In a way, the mishmash of genres is a noble experiment, but it just so happens to include so many tropes I hated the most about 2010s rock and pop. Like if Marianas Trench decided to be death metal.
1.5/5
Rated 6/10
August 12, 2025
I've been working through my own list of albums (with blackjack and hookers), and recently I have put on ones by Bryan Adams, Men Without Hats and Madonna. Hence I am pretty primed towards 80s pop at the moment.
Oh I must have heard "Only in My Dreams" before- great chorus
Great start, and if I bought this as a teen in the 80s it would have been worth it for the first couple tracks alone (that is, if I wasn’t beaten up for owning a Debbie Gibson record).
Wasn’t impressed as much by the second half, but it wouldn’t be the first pop album to be ‘top heavy’.
3.5
HL: title track, "Only in My Dreams", “Wake Up to Love”
July 30, 2025
HL: "The Raven", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Cask of Amontillado"
Kinda frustrating that you have to click through the "1987 remix" to get to the original album (on Apple Music anyway), though the spoken word bits in that are neat.
The first time I heard the "Usher" suite, I thought it was a let down compared to the agreeable, slightly cheesy A-side. Listening to it now, it's about as apt for Poe concept album as one could hope for, though the switch back to 70's rock with "To One in Paradise" is still jarring.
Rated 10/10
NOT 1st listen
I painted the CD gold. Because it's the gold standard!
As underrated as her self-titled is here, I always thought Lemonade was in a different league entirely.
HL: "Formation", "Freedom", "Don't Hurt Yourself", "Sorry", "Daddy Lessons", "All Night"
Rated 8/10
August 1, 2025
Joe Cocker is one of the bigger 1970s misses. Or maybe it just feels like it because he's popular in my family. Either way
Probably unintended, but it feels like a heartfelt farewell to 60's pop music. And it's that heart n' soul that keeps me from yelling "REDUNDANT" at the covers of the Beatles, the Stones and Cohen.
