Reviews by guggmo

I’m at a 4.5 that I'll bump up to a 5.

It did take me a bit to get into this though; my problem early on was focusing on this a bit too musically as opposed to simply feeling each track. Billie Holiday’s vocals here aren’t as crisp as one may expect, though they’re still very good. The orchestration is lovely, but a lack of solos / instrumental breaks early on doesn’t let them feel as dazzling as they should. Since it’s a cover album, I can’t exactly critique the lyrics much. Overall, for a bit there, I just wasn’t totally into it despite each track being really technically sound.

All I had to do was close my eyes. It really is that simple – just closing the eyes & filling in some of the atmospheric blanks my brain wasn’t concocting from just the music alone really gave each track some additional space that made it feel more lived in. Billie Holiday’s ‘less crisp’ vocals suddenly felt fragile in a way that elevated each track more. The orchestration got some more time to shine, and as a result, the flow & blend of her voice felt like it was working more hand-in-hand than earlier; less of a slight wall of sound & more of an active participant in each track. It’s hard to go track by track here, since a lot of these are straightforward love songs (and a few were previously covered by Frank Sinatra on “In The Wee Small Hours”), but since they’re so straightforward, it’s just a matter of finding that mental imagery that these songs are trying to attract. It took me a bit to find it, and once I did (& once some of the early kinks of the album cleared up), the whole experience opened up.

I do recognize that since the general structure of each track here feels kinda similar, it’s probably easy to bounce off of the album, or at the very least, it still might be hard to get into it as a full project. Those 44 minutes do feel a bit long at times, especially with the slower pacing on these tracks. For me, it would’ve taken more 'flaws' to consider bumping it down to a 4, but I also have more tolerance than some people. I do think it’s a 5, if only because the stretch from “You’ve Changed” to “Glad To Be Unhappy” felt undeniably strong (ESPECIALLY “But Beautiful”), and there’s not a single bad track here. I do wonder if there’s a ‘better’ Billie Holiday album out there, but this is a good pick regardless. I enjoyed it, and I’m glad it’s on the list.

I’m at a 5.

It took a bit for this album to start clicking with me; something about the vibe felt off, and in particular, the mixing of the first real track had me worried – all the reverb, wind, & the spatial sense of everything made the vocals feel muffled, in a way that kept me too distracted towards catching the energy of the rest of the instrumentation. It didn’t click with me on a first pass, if only because I was expecting a bit more clarity. After that point however, once the more hypnotic feel of “Down Through the Night” kind of worked its way into the ears, this album really started to find itself for me & the sci-fi monologue directly after gave me a sort of Star Trek vibe that I just kinda fucked with. After that point, the album settles into a phase of lyrics that loosely tell a story, but actively choosing to let the instrumentation sell the tracks, and once that hierarchy is established, this thing feels remarkable to listen to. A bit long, obviously; 90 minutes before the 11 minute instrumental encore on top, but if you can allow yourself to zone out to this thing, these tracks are great. The “mixing” issues I mentioned earlier become a massive strength of the album, as the space-y stuff blends in way more nicely once the intensity of the instrumentals go up. The muffling is still a factor, but it’s far less of one, since the vocals become less prevalent as well.

It’s frankly impossible to go track by track here; there’s a loose plot somewhere involved, and there’s elements of each track I liked, but for the most part, this is practically a 100 minute concert that one has to just feel out. If you’re already attuned towards science fiction technobabble or high-concept alien civilization stuff, then all the monologues here won’t feel as nonsensical as they might – even still, I think the delivery on them is authoritative / varied enough that they add some good campy flavor. Obviously, the instrumentation across the board does a great job, but in particular, Simon King on drums & Lemmy on bass guitar REALLY steer the direction of each track, & this album would feel a bit more lost without them. The guitars do a great job too, especially when they go full blast. If I have any minor complaints, it’s that a few instruments get more muffled in the mix (namely the flute/sax), though I do think some of that is intentional.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed it, though I fully recognize it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. In particular, if the mixing choices early on feel too stuffy & the science fiction aspects feel too cheesy, it will be very easy to bounce off of this album & disregard the rest as trite, over-indulgent nonsense that’s making noise just to make noise. That’s the harshest scenario, but it probably happened to at least one person who gave this a 1. To me, the grandeur of this album that reveals itself over time manages to win out, & the atmosphere behind it becomes just as much of an instrument as the band’s stuff. I think it is a little long for what it is, & since the crowd isn’t super audible throughout, it would have been possible to overdub a lot of this in the studio. That said, doing it live & as proficiently as they do it feels like a testament to all of their talents, and that would also undermine a lot of the stage show aspect of this that goes unseen. As an album experience, I think the clarity of the mix to capture all the intricacies of the bass / drums / everything else WHILST retaining the space-y wall of sound in a way that doesn’t feel overly intrusive, is kind of a miracle for 1973. I really enjoyed it, and I’m glad it’s on the list. I can’t say I’m surprised by the 2.69 on the site, but it does deserve to be higher.

I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4.

Scott Walker’s vocals are as good as they were on “Scott 2”, albeit with a little less of a Disney vibe in there. The production work shares much of the same; not as bombastic as the ‘Disney baroque’ of before, but the slightly emphatic folksy lean still has a good sense of gravitas behind it. This album doesn’t really have any bad tracks either; frankly, I liked most of them. What exactly is it that has me at a 3.5 bumped up to a 4?

It’s the lyrics. OK, well, it’s not JUST the lyrics, but for the most part, it’s the lyrics. I know lyricism doesn’t matter as much, but at least for me, I like gathering a sense of what each track is about, to better understand the emotional pull of it all. This album succeeds at finding emotion, but with the lyricism as flowery as it tends to be, it feels like the equivalent of a… well, a Disney movie that you’re just not as into, I guess. I hesitate to say ‘forced’, but I was never as sold on these tracks as much as I think Scott was intending here. It’s really prevalent by the last 2 tracks, which especially could use some additional clarity, but the vast majority of the album mildly suffers from a sort of expository curse in its writing – Scott describes these things with a sense of grandeur, and his delivery & the production matches that, but since it’s so hard to parse, it’s just never that effective.

Beyond that, even though this is a 32 minute album, I just have a pile of little nitpicks that comprise the ‘not JUST’ of it all – a few tracks are a little too bare instrumentally, some of them aren’t super compelling, & some feel slowly paced in a way that creates a sort of ‘first minute’-ish effect. It’s only 32 minutes, but it feels longer than that, and that’s not really a good sign, I think. Ultimately, it’s a remarkably technically sound album, and one that I did enjoy, but its shortcomings build up in ways that stop it from gelling together as a full project. That “emphatic folksy lean” does start to feel a little similar by the end of it, and Scott’s vocals don’t feel as shiny as they did at the start. Hence, a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4, if only because my enjoyment & the lack of a truly bad moment here feels like it keeps this thing afloat. I do wish I could leave it at a 3.5 though.

Once again, I'm at a 10.

I’ve been waiting for this album to come up; the other two Madonna albums we’ve gotten on the list are both good, but to my mind, the version of Madonna I’m most familiar with is based on her ‘80s stuff; “Lucky Star”, “Like a Virgin”, “Borderline”, “Papa Don’t Preach”, et cetera. “Vogue” is 1990, but throw it in there too, just for fun. Basically, if it’s in “The Immaculate Collection”, that’s the Madonna I’m most familiar with. Since this is from 1989, it always felt like this was the album I’d gravitate to the most whenever we got it. Besides, this album’s title track has stuck with me for a long time. However, since I heard it through Pandora years ago, I never really bothered to seek out the full album for whatever reason.

As has been proven multiple times throughout this list, the younger version of myself that was too lazy to seek out full albums was a total idiot – this is fucking fantastic from top to bottom. I’ve come to learn that I really love that phase of 1989/1990 production, when people had mastered the art of the drum machine, were starting to incorporate MIDI sounds in more polished ways, and were blending real instrumentation back into their albums. Much like “Behaviour” by the Pet Shop Boys, “Violator” by Depeche Mode, or “The Sensual World” by Kate Bush, this album feels like a natural sendoff to the ‘80s, and it may very well be the best album Madonna’s ever put out. The production work here is fantastic, & Madonna’s vocals just glide on a lot of these tracks. The songwriting feels perfectly introspective, setting up the stage for a more honest approach that artists like Christina Aguilera would later run with. It’s also surprisingly sweet at times, at least more so than I would expect from the image of Madonna I have in my head; tracks like “Express Yourself”, “Cherish” & “Dear Jessie” are poppy, upbeat anthems that stand out among the crowd here.

Really, if I have any minor nits to pick, it’s the repetition on the lyricism – these are very well written, but the lyrics do loop a bit without the vocal variance to keep them fresh. Granted, that’s covered up really, really well by the production work – Prince, in particular, manages to make “Love Song” feel hypnotic, with an approach reminiscent of “Sign O’ The Times” mixed with “1999”, and somehow, that hypnotism waves away a lot of the repeated lyrics as just flirting. The sense of repetition does permeate the album a bit, but the different styles & tempos this album goes with gives it a really dynamic push/pull that keeps it fresh. Take “Keep It Together” & “Spanish Eyes”, for example; the former is just New Jack Swing that could fit onto “Rhythm Nation 1814”, but the latter feels like a Peter Gabriel track with a slight samba lean, & Madonna’s frustrated vocals evoke Kate Bush in a great way. Same goes for “Dear Jessie” into “Oh Father”, with the former being a My Little Pony-esque wonderland of escapism, and the latter being a harsh reality check about the lack of emotional support after her mother’s death. That push & pull really sells the album, culminating in “Act of Contrition”, acting as a mirror to “Like a Prayer” in that her frustration with religion has totally fucking boiled over & she’s sick of it.

It’s a great closer because of it, and the structure to this album as a complete top to bottom piece of work feels extremely satisfying. Sure, you can write some of this off as Phil Collins-esque cheese if you really want to, but for my money’s worth, it feels like an album she poured her soul into. When you treat music with this much care, people will notice, and as a culminating piece to her run of ‘80s singles & hits, it feels like a great way to wrap up the decade. I think it’s a fantastic album, with 51 minutes that fly by & no skips involved – maybe “Act of Contrition” if you don’t like Madonna screaming about a computer at the end, but even still. I’m at a 10 with it, and I feel really glad this album lived up to the expectations I had for it. Remarkable to get this & "Thriller" back to back.

As a whole for Madonna’s 3 albums here, it’s a 4.5, a 3.5, and a 5, so I guess 13/15 ain’t bad at all. I do feel like at least one more ‘80s album could be here, but regardless, I admire her even more than I already did. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m running back “Like a Prayer” at least 5 more times. That song fucking rules.

It’s a 10. We all know it’s a 10. I’ve been intentionally starving myself from listening to anything from this album ever since starting this list 818 days ago, and while the wait was long, it was very worth it.

Around 13 years ago, I decided I wanted to listen to music. Not just hear it, but really listen to it. I had a Pandora account years ago where I was just letting the radio run, and it was my first real dive into music. At a certain point, I decided I wanted to listen to albums, and the first guy I wanted to dive into was Michael Jackson, who had died just 4 years earlier. I wanted to listen while lying down on the couch, but I didn’t have a phone or an iPod. Instead, I had a crummy little Wii U with its internet browser, a pair of headphones, and I was listening to music on the Gamepad while checking lyrics online. Surprisingly effective, I can’t lie. Obviously, I started with “Off the Wall”, just because that feels like the accurate place to start. It’s a fantastic album, and since we’ve gotten it again on the list, I’ve come to appreciate it more & more recently. After that was done, I got to “Thriller”.

“Thriller” made me fall in love with music. “Songs in the Key of Life” is the greatest album ever made, and I won’t dispute that. “Thriller”, however, is the most important album to my own musical development. It’s very weird to say that given that I first listened to it in full 31 years after it came out, but I need to rewind it just a little bit. June 25th, 2009 is when Michael Jackson passed away. I know the date vividly because my mom burst into tears when the headline popped up, and I’d never seen my mom cry over a celebrity death before. I very loosely knew who he was, but only as a figure & not for his music. That night, I hopped online and found the music video for Thriller. It was enthralling, to say the least, and a little bit spooky to see the full zombie makeup when it happened in the video. John Landis did an incredible job with that video, & it immediately made me realize the reverence people had for Michael was probably warranted, even though I was quite literally just 9 years old. I found the videos for Billie Jean & Beat It soon after, and a whole slew of other MJ songs. (The one for “Remember the Time” is awesome, by the way.) I didn’t listen to the full album, just because it was 2009 & I wasn’t smart enough to find out how to, but the music videos hooked me in, and they planted a music-loving seed that has now come to fully sprout many, many years later.

I don’t need to go track by track here – everything on this album is ubiquitous from start to finish, each with their own iconic moments that shaped the direction of pop music irrevocably for years to come. Whether it’s the chanting at the end of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”, the driving percussion of “Baby Be Mine”, the lovely orchestration behind “The Girl Is Mine”, the creaks & howls of “Thriller”, Eddie Van Halen’s immaculate guitar solo on “Beat It”, the bassline of “Billie Jean”, the TOTO-penned lyricism & lead synth of “Human Nature”, the pitched-up vocals of “P.Y.T.”, or the sensuality of “The Lady in My Life” that’s been causing Bruno Mars to chase a ghost for his entire adult life, every track feels like it’s pushing music itself forward. The influence this album has had on the entire industry is still felt to this day, & this is the best-selling album of all time for a reason.

That reason is on the cover of this album, with his signature written in gold, the most sleek white jacket you’ll ever see, and for whatever reason, he’s got a fucking tiger cub next to him. Michael Jackson’s vocals drive this album; he soars with such a dynamic range that it’s impossible to not admire them at least once while listening. If you can somehow get through “Human Nature” without doing so, then I don’t know what to say. Quincy Jones’ production works wonders here, feeling so far ahead of everyone else in the pop space for 1982 that it split the line; either you were chasing Quincy’s style, or you were doing your own thing. Prince, obviously, chose to do his own thing & it worked out great for him, as he ended up making classics that feel like the LeBron to MJ’s… well, MJ. The vast majority of pop artists tried to chase Quincy’s style for a bit, and a lot of them found success. They just didn’t find Michael’s success. He became the single most famous man in the known universe, after already becoming a superstar as big as the sun with his brothers. If you had ears, you’d have heard of Michael Jackson. Even now, if you have ears, you’ll have heard of him, even if it’s through a silly remix on TikTok, or your parents / grandparents begging you to put on Billie Jean instead of FE!N.

As I said when we got “Off the Wall”, to address the elephant in the room: Michael Jackson was weird as hell around children in terribly awkward, uncomfortable & insensitive ways at best & a genuine serial sexual predator at worst. For better or worse, his work as an artist is so monumentally crucial to both my own journey for truly enjoying music when I was younger & the entire landscape of the industry at large that I feel like I can separate the art from the artist in a historical sense. In this specific case, without this album, without the music videos that stemmed from it… hell, without Michael Jackson, I don’t know if I’d be as musically savvy as I am these days. This is the 818th album we’ve gotten in this list, and that’s probably more albums than most people will listen to in a lifetime. I certainly wouldn’t be 80% of the way into this without that seed being planted. I don’t know if it’s THE best album of the 1980s, as this list has introduced a number of contenders to me (namely “Purple Rain”) but it’s still certainly up there. It’s probably the most important one of the decade. For me, it’s still a total thrill to listen to, & an unbelievably easy 10.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5, despite a weaker second half.

Despite my shortcomings with “Crocodiles”, I had a feeling this album would be good. 3 years is enough time to hone in some musical talent, & the biggest issue with “Crocodiles” was just an inability to elevate each track to something more memorable, with a lot of tracks just settling into themselves. This album feels like it’s found that energy that was lacking, & while it’s not as ‘zen’ as “Ocean Rain” was, the arrangements here just feel great to listen to. If “Ocean Rain” is a bridge between R.E.M. & the Britpop to come, this album just feels like their R.E.M.-esque era, and they do a great job with it.

Lyrically, I don’t think it’s as tight as “Ocean Rain” was, though it’s certainly an improvement on “Crocodiles” – lots of flowery language & metaphor here that is a little confusing to parse at times, but with a lot of these tracks centered around relationship issues & the constant ‘thorniness’ of maintaining a sense of bliss (probably where “Porcupine” comes from as a title), there’s always a line or two to center the track in a way that gets across a good meaning. My favorite one is probably “Smiling equates with happy, but I know they're miles apart”, but there’s a lot of smaller gems here. Vocally, I do think the range in Ian McCulloch’s voice gets some emotional pull across better than “Ocean Rain” did at times, though it’s more consistently strong in the front half of the album than the back half. Instrumentally, I like these a lot – my only issue stems in a lack of perceived variety. These are all good unique compositions, but a lot of these tracks don’t really stray too far instrumentally outside of some Indian-influenced soundscapes at times, so there is a slight homogeneity that builds up over the course of the album.

As I’ve been saying, the back half is the weaker half, but only because I found more little nitpicks to me – a repetitive ending, a longer track, a track that could use some trimming, and a slight mismatch in vocal / instrumental energy that feels kinda noticeable, but those are all smaller issues that don’t really hurt the core of each track, which is still usually strong. “Heads Will Roll” has none of those issues, and it’s probably in my top 3 for the whole album. It’s just consistently more polished in the first half, at least to my ears. Overall, it’s not a big enough pile of issues to make me bump this down to a 4, as I did enjoy the whole runtime here. I think it’s a good album, and for our final encounter with Echo & The Bunnymen, it’s a strong one to go out on. It just makes me wonder why “Crocodiles” is here, really. I’ll bump this up to a 5 – I think it earns it, and if nothing else, I liked it a lot.

I’m slightly above a 5.

It’s a little weird to get Peter Gabriel’s debut last in terms of his solo stuff, but I’m almost kind of glad we did – the man’s ambition after leaving Genesis feels like it’s on full display here. It’s not as dazzling as “So”, nor is it as consistently thematic as “PG3”, but the variety on display here is a testament to the man’s ambition. A lot of the late PG-era Genesis DNA is still here, but supplemented with things that musically would’ve never really fit on either “Selling England by the Pound” or “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”. That’s especially true for stuff like “Excuse Me” or “Waiting for the Big One”, both of which are nice, but also feel like Peter Gabriel doing his best Randy Newman impression.

When this thing is rolling, it’s ROLLING. The first two tracks are both great, and “Solsbury Hill” in particular is a real standout. “Modern Love” is nice, though the lyrics could be a little more concise. “Humdrum” has a great groove behind it, “Slowburn” is space-y & lovely, & the two-track finale of “Down the Dolce Vita” & “Here Comes the Flood” is overproduced in the best way possible, sounding way more like the mid-80s than 1977. I really don’t think there’s a bad track here; some stick out as “better” more than others, but they all range from good to great to REALLY great, and for a solo debut, I don’t mind the lack of musical cohesion. Peter Gabriel’s job was to just explore the music he wanted to make by trying a bunch of shit out, and while it definitely leans towards rock, the amount of styles he touches on keeps this thing constantly unique.

I do want to very briefly point at this as a solo debut compared to “Face Value” by Phil Collins, if only because the comparison feels a bit warranted; I do think this is about even with Phil’s solo debut, but I do prefer “Face Value” just a touch more. It could just be because of “In The Air Tonight”, or my doo-wopy tastes aligning a little more with Phil’s stuff as opposed to Peter’s, but regardless, they’re both great solo debuts. As far as this album goes, it’s a great preview of what’s to come on both “PG3” & “So”, and the highest highs here are fucking awesome. I really, really enjoyed this, and I think it’s a bit higher than a 5. I need to listen to PG2 in my own time, I think.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4.

748 days since we got “Blue Lines”, and I’d say it was worth the wait. Obviously, I’ve heard a lot more trip-hop since then, so I’m more attuned to the genre, and this is some GOOD downbeat trip-hop. Right out of the gate, Tracey Thorn sets the tone with a great track in “Protection”, and almost immediately after, this album starts the shaky slope to slowly pull itself to a 4. It’s not that “Karmacoma” is bad at all; I actually like it, but it’s too long. “Three” is actively just kinda mediocre, as the progression stalls early. It’s not bad though. Honestly, this album’s shaky slope doesn’t necessarily come from any bad tracks (although we’ll get to that “Light My Fire” cover), but just mild production choices that stack up over the course of the album.

“Weather Storm” is a fantastic groovy noir track; no complaints about that one. “Spying Glass” is once again too long; either that, or it just needs a vocal reprise to help fill out the back half better. “Better Things” is lovely, and Tracey Thorn continues to make me wonder if Everything but the Girl has better albums that aren’t on this list. “Eurochild” is solid, & I like the beat, but Tricky’s lyricism lacks a cohesion to really glue the track together. He never goes “Maxinquaye” mode here, thankfully. Both “Sly” & “Heat Miser” are great, but the instrumental-ness of it all just kinda suspends the album into a specific mood, one that’s not paid off at all by the “Light My Fire” cover. It’s the biggest stain on the album, and much like how Tricky kinda butchered “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”, they just don’t do the original song justice at all. It’s a bad closer to what’s otherwise a really strong album.

The “Light My Fire” cover is kind of the nail in the coffin – I’d be willing to look past the little pile of production stuff on account of some very high highs here & what’s generally a really nice groove, but choosing to end on that just doesn’t feel satisfying at all. It is what’s bumping the album down to a 4, but regardless of that, I do think it’s a really strong set of tracks. I can come back to almost all of these (maybe not “Three”) & still vibe out, and maybe on another day, the really high highs here will still manage to override the little issues that built up for me. For now though, it’s a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4, but a good album regardless, & one that should be heard before one dies. I enjoyed it.

Well, I’m somewhere above a 5. My goodness.

I might be just a bit taken aback by how lovely “Ruby’s Arms” is as a closing track, but I just thought it was a fantastic closer to a really strong overall album. Tom Waits’ songwriting skills feel pretty damn vivid here, & even on this album’s more confusingly written tracks (i.e., ones that snapshot parts of urban life without a clear narrative throughline), those snapshots still feel very lived in, giving each track the kind of worldbuilding that feels like it could only come from a seasoned author. I’m just surprised at how seriously Tom Waits takes himself on this album; I’m used to him leaning into the absurd & prose-y at times, but this album is consistently grounded. I think it leads to the best songwriting we’ve gotten from a Tom Waits album – “Soldier’s Things” might still be a gold standard for me personally, but there’s some fantastic tracks here that evoke the same feelings; “Jersey Girl”, “On the Nickel”, & “Ruby’s Arms” among them. I think going track by track would be far less effective than actually listening to it, so I won’t even bother.

I think this has some great instrumentation behind it – a few lull spots & some annoyingly abrupt endings (with “‘Til the Money Runs Out” being the worst offender here), but for the most part, the strings, guitar & percussion just glide along with Tom in a way that hits a really nice harmony. Of course, Tom Waits’ vocals are still the X factor here, and it might be hard to accept him sounding like Bruce Springsteen doing a Louis Armstrong impression on some of these tracks. This is the 4th time our group has gotten him, so I’m used to it by now, and I honestly find his delivery charming on the vast majority of this album. There’s a few times where he goes just a LITTLE too deep in a way that muddles & slurs his voice a bit, but that’s what the instrumentals & lyrics are there for. If you just can’t really get past his vocals, then I don’t think this will quite hit the same way.

For my tastes, it’s very, very close to being a 10 – if “‘Til the Money Runs Out” had clicked a little more nicely for me, I’d definitely be there. No matter what, it’s certainly above a 5, and I think it’s the best Tom Waits album we’ve gotten so far. We’ve only got one more left after this, and it’s one quite literally recorded in a live jazz club. I’ve come to really enjoy the mental image of Tom Waits singing in a seedy little bar, so having that actually come to life will be fascinating. As far as this one goes, it’s a very, very easy 5, and someday, it will probably reach a 10. It’s worth listening to before you die, for sure.

I’m at a 5. Perhaps a touch higher.

I remember “Electric Warrior” as the first 5 I gave in 2025, following 2 middling albums to start the second year of this project off. I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed this one even more – this feels like an improvement to my ears, cleaning up all of the little issues I had with “Electric Warrior” (more consistent vocals, less fluff, better sense of progression, better harmony to everything) & just elevating itself higher because of it. It makes for a really good album.

Marc Bolan’s approach to this album is a little less varied than it was there, but he’s tightened it up in a more consistent way whilst adding a bit more pure rock to the mix – the biggest comparison here is obviously David Bowie, but to my surprise, this album came out only a month after “Ziggy Stardust”, so I doubt it had much influence here, despite what’s likely to be a pretty similar tone & soundscape. It seems like Bowie was inspired by Bolan & not the other way around anyway, so now I’m REALLY intrigued to get to “Ziggy Stardust” down the line. Beyond the Bowie comparisons, the more direct influences here are the Beatles & Led Zeppelin, with just a touch of Buddy Holly-esque ‘50s delivery on some tracks. You can really feel all of those influences on the stretch from “Baby Boomerang” to “Telegram Sam”.

Surprisingly, I can’t really tell you what any of these tracks are about. The lyricism here is stream-of-consciousness poetry, able to conjure up unique imagery in a way that sort of tells a story, but without the more direct substance that I tend to lean towards. For whatever reason, Marc Bolan’s vocal delivery & the sort of hypnotizing tone to the instrumentation sort of washed that aside – the lyricism feels like it doesn’t matter as much as a result, & while there are some great lines that help set a tone, you can largely go through this album & hook yourself onto the vocal rhythm as the driving piece that makes the album work. The only times on the album where the lyricism feels noticeable are on “Rabbit Fighter” (just a bit repetitive) & “Main Man” (just sort of confusing), and the only time where the delivery is lacking a little bit is on “Main Man” (I just think it should’ve been acapella instead of the weird filter).

Regardless, I think it’s a super catchy 45 minutes – if it had some extra ‘substance’ to it & just a little bit more of a structure to the whole project to give it some more connecting tissue, there’s a chance I’d be up to a 10 with this thing. Even as it stands, I still think it’s just a little bit higher than a 5. It’s a really, really good album, and for 1972, it feels well ahead of pace. Perhaps David Bowie will give me that extra kick whenever we get to his alter ego, but for now, Marc Bolan & friends have done one hell of a job here. It’s an easy 5. Consider me a T. Rex fan.

P.S.: Special props go to the production work as well; between this & his David Bowie collaborations, Tony Visconti just knows how to fucking do it, man.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4.

At first, I really wondered what this was doing on the list – I’ve never heard of Sebadoh, so at face value, this just seemed like another random indie rock pick for the ‘90s. As it turns out, one of the founding members of this band is Lou Barlow, the former bassist for Dinosaur Jr. who left after the release of “Bug”. That connection does reframe a few of these tracks on this album to my mind, especially so on “Cliche”, which feels like it might be about his choice to leave Dinosaur Jr, though that’s a slightly loose link.

Even without that connection though, which I didn’t realize until “Cliche”, I was definitely into the album. I enjoyed most of the first 6 tracks, save for “Telecosmic Alechemy”, the first of a couple of intentionally ‘drunk’ songs on the album, at least to my ears. It’s not a bad track, and it’s certainly interesting – the looser instrumental approach & the disjointed nature of the track piques the interest, though for my tastes, I think it’s just not a very appealing track from a musical standpoint. I think there are 4 ‘drunk’ tracks on the album; “Telecosmic Alechemy”, “Elixir is Zog”, “No Way Out”, & “Flood”. They all stick out as fitting within that looser style, and I do think being drunk is mentioned in all of their lyrics. Out of those 4, only the last one really clicked for me musically, and it’s just because it feels like a super open & free way to end what’s mostly a sadder album.

Of the other 13 tracks here, I enjoyed 11 of them – all of them seem to be centered around relationship issues (both for family & romance), chronically cheating, the perils of drug use, or the struggle to maintain a relationship in the healthiest possible way. Some of these tracks feel like they’re centered around the dopamine of getting ‘revenge’ after a breakup, which feels even more potent in a social media era where those moments are more commonplace. The only two tracks I didn’t really vibe with were “Emma Get Wild” (just super short) & “Bouquet For a Siren”, which just feels like it tackles the same subject matter as “Forced Love”, though much less care & morality behind it. Everything else ranges from good to great, with my biggest highlight here being “Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)”. The acoustic approach just really worked for me.

So, why bump it down to a 4? Well, 3 of the 4 ‘drunken’ tracks, for as much as they serve a narrative point towards the more spirally side of a messy breakup, just don’t feel as put together & as musically pleasing as the rest of the album. Past that, from the other 13 tracks, there are points where the lyricism seems to make no sense, some rather abrupt fadeouts, & for as much as I like the soundscape as a toned down continuation of Dinosaur Jr.’s more aggressive style, I can’t help but feel like it settles into instrumental breaks just a little too often. They serve to fill out the album, & they’re not a big deal, but you do start to feel them the longer the album goes. To put it another way, this album just doesn’t flow as cohesively as I’d like it to – I understand that the chaos & the ability to jump from calm to manic on a dime is part of the “bubble & scrape” of it all, but in actual execution, the album just feels a little too disjointed as a complete start to finish package.

Hence, a 4.5 bumped down to a 4, but one I’d still gladly recommend. It could definitely go up to a 5 on another day, especially if the ‘drunk’ tracks click a little more nicely & flow a bit better to my ears. I’m certainly glad it’s on the list, and I really disagree with the 2.65 this thing has on the site. It’s a quality album, even if it is a bit disjointed.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

When we got “Warehouse” by Husker Du a bit ago, I made it a very specific point to say that Bob Mould was the better of the two featured vocalists. Color me surprised to find out that this is Bob Mould’s follow-up band, following a series of lesser-received solo albums. Color me less surprised to find that what results is a pretty good album; one clearly riding the wave of grunge at the time (with a bit of shoegaze in there), & occasionally feeling sort of ‘performative’ because of it. Regardless of how ‘performative’ it might feel, I think it’s very easy to enjoy these tracks – Bob Mould’s writing is really smart (really smart, really smart!), & a lot of these tracks do seem to be capturing the tail ends of relationships (relationships, relationships!) in really potent ways. “The Act We Act” is a strong tonesetter for most of the album, and while the thematic connections do seem to fade away by “Man on the Moon” (no, not an R.E.M. cover), I just think the album is consistently strong in the writing department (department, department!).

If it isn’t obvious by now, part of the reason I’m at a 4.5 is Bob Mould’s insistence on repeating almost every fourth line in his delivery (delivery, delivery!). It’s not a huge deal, and occasionally, it helps keep the energy up during a track in a way that blends nicely with the instrumentation, but when you’re doing it as often as possible on “Changes” (Changes, Changes!), it does feel like the sort of quirk that might sink a less patient listener very early on. He does get better about it throughout the album, and by the end, it does feel a little more endearing. The other big reason I’m at a 4.5 comes in the audio mixing – this thing is just consistently loud, man. There’s no fade-ins to build up energy, so each track comes in red hot; wouldn’t be a bad thing if each track didn’t have the guitar so overly mixed that it punches itself in way too loudly. The guitar here is sort of like what we just got with “Sister” by Sonic Youth, but it doesn’t maintain the same control. It’s not as effective as a wall of sound because of it, but once it gets past the initial punchiness of each track, the ears do adjust & settle into it. This whole album could definitely use some tweaking though. Maybe a 35th anniversary remaster next year?

Ultimately, when this album is hitting, it’s really hitting – after some early jitters / adjustment periods through the first 3 tracks, I found myself fully in the vibe of “Helpless” as a sort of heavier R.E.M. (yes, Bob Mould is still a diet Michael Stipe here), and by “If I Can’t Change Your Mind”, I was pretty sold on the album. The weirdly angelic imagery of “Slick” followed by the mysteriously upbeat “Man on the Moon” is a good 1-2 punch to end the album on. I think its flaws are apparent, and occasionally bleed through in repetitive ways, but as an entire 45 minute package, I enjoyed this a lot. I think it’s definitely worth bumping up to a 5, and I’m glad it’s on the list. I feel vindicated for liking Bob Mould more.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

This is the 5th & final time we’ll get Sonic Youth, and out of all the albums we’ve gotten from them, this one feels like the most traditionally shoegaze-y of the bunch. It’s a natural step right between the eerie tones of “E.V.O.L.” & the slight heavy metal / grunge influence present on “Daydream Nation” – that applies to everything from the lyrics to the soundscape itself. I think the lyricism here doesn’t matter as much as it did on “E.V.O.L.”, but they still have enough purpose behind them to help really set a tone on each track, unlike “Daydream Nation” & its more sonically-driven approach. That’s not to say “Daydream Nation” doesn’t have good lyrics, but I don’t think they matter as much to the enjoyment of the album.

This album’s soundscape leans far more into the overdriven guitars as a backing ambience / wall of sound, sort of like a much softer version of what The Jesus & Mary Chain did with “Psychocandy”, without absolutely burying the rest of the mix underneath it. It also does the “Daydream Nation” thing where the soundscape drives a lot of the tracks, but in the traditional shoegaze-y way where the overwhelming nature of the wall is meant to open up the imagination. It’s still loud enough to feel, but not loud enough to distract, and that’s where this album succeeds in a way that “Psychocandy” didn’t.

“Psychocandy” also had pretty drab delivery in its vocals, and while Thurston Moore & Kim Gordon aren’t exactly lifting themselves up that much higher, they at least have a more natural charisma in their vocals where their dry delivery fits for the songs. They also know how to lift up in a way that plays around the chaos of each track (or come in directly after the chaos to provide a good contrast), so their vocals have a really defined presence in each track that helps tie the songs together. Honestly, I can’t say there’s a bad track here, at least for someone who’s listened to enough shoegaze-adjacent stuff now over the past 809 albums.

So, why a 4.5 & not a flat 5? There’s just a few moments where the structures of some tracks feel a little repetitive, a few times where the soundscape doesn’t feel as interesting as intended, a moment or two where the tension just never released in the right way, and at least for me, I think the last two tracks could’ve been flipped around. “Cotton Crown” just feels like it would be a way stronger track to end on. That said, I still think it’s worth bumping up to a 5. It’s a really tight 37 minutes, and honestly, if you want a quicker hit of Sonic Youth than “Daydream Nation” nearly doubling this album’s length, this might be the one to go to. I enjoyed it.

So, out of the 5 Sonic Youth albums, it’s a 3.5 (Dirty), a 4.5 (Goo), a 5 (Daydream Nation), a 4.5 (E.V.O.L.), and a 4.5 (Sister). Lots of rounding up, if you couldn’t tell. That averages out to a 4.4 per album, and honestly, that feels about right. They’re consistently strong, but only Daydream Nation managed to get a flat 5 out of me. Perhaps I owe “Dirty” another listen just to see if that’s first-time jitters or if that score still holds up. Regardless, I’m glad to have been introduced to them, I think they’re definitely worth checking out, and I hear all the acclaim.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4.

It’s an inoffensively groovy album, which is a strength & a curse. It’s a strength in that I don’t think there’s ever a bad track here, and if you allow yourself to get into that groove, these tracks will generally pass by without incident & hit you in a really nice way. It’s a curse in that if you can’t get into that groove, these tracks will feel far longer than they are, and their looping patterns & melodies will feel incessant. For me, I can’t say the curse ever hit me too badly, but there are moments where it pops in & just kinda leaves me more critical of the lack of progression at some points. It’s easy to say “all of these tracks are the same”, especially with the acoustic / percussion work, but that undermines the fact that each song has different melodies & rhythms, and that each is sung in one of four different languages – there’s variety here, even if it doesn’t really feel like it at times.

Ultimately, since it’s hard to go track by track here, my rating is entirely based on a vibe. I think there’s some really good tracks here, a few mediocre (yet nice) ones, and only one that really had the length of the track / monotony of the loop strike me in a less appealing way (“Amandrai”, the longest one here). As with the Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan album we got a few days ago, I can’t really say that it’s an album you need to hear before you die in terms of critical acclaim or a “mandatory” piece of work, but as I said when we got “Savane”, I think it’s a recommended listen, if only for the cultural trip of sorts. This album did do more for me than “Savane”, and honestly, on a good day, it might even bump itself up to a 5. I think it’s a really enjoyable project for background noise / vibing to, and while I’m bumping it down to a 4, it’s still got a vote of confidence from me. Good stuff.

I’m at a 10, though I do have one little gripe here.

I mean, look, Isaac Hayes is in remarkable form throughout this thing. Say what you will about a soundtrack album making the list & any frustrations that might stem from this being a mostly instrumental album, but… my goodness, these compositions are fucking awesome even without the context of the movie. I’ve never seen Shaft, but goddamn, do I want to now. The funk present here is in top form, especially for 1971, and Hayes’ ability to capture a mood on so many of these tracks, with almost nothing but the titles alone to go off of, is incredible. There’s not really a dull moment here – points where you can easily zone out, sure, but it’s never in a way that leads to boredom. It’s zoning out in a way where the groove naturally glides its way into your ears & you can just feel it, even if you’re not paying attention to the chord structure or some of the prettier background details. This whole album never takes away from that energy, and it succeeds as both an instrumental album & as a movie soundtrack. I’m not sure if there’s many other soundtrack albums in history that have been nominated for an Academy Award & the GRAMMY Album of the Year. Even after trying to Google it, I can only really find a handful of examples (surprisingly, “Star Wars” & “Beauty & The Beast” among them).

So, what’s the gripe? For as much as I really like “Do Your Thing”, I do feel like the 20 minutes stall at a certain point. That’s not to say I wasn’t captivated by it, but unlike a lot of the other tracks where the groove glides & you never feel the weight of the length bearing on the track, it definitely hit more on that one. Between that & the sort of ear-splitting outro with the guitar deciding it wanted to go as loud as possible, it didn’t leave me as satisfied as I wish it had. That said, for the vast majority of its runtime, it’s still a pretty damn good track, and it barely takes away from a stellar soundtrack otherwise. It is the sort of thing that makes this a slightly shakier 10, as it might hit me a little differently on another future re-listen, but regardless, I fucking loved this. Isaac Hayes must’ve felt on top of the world in the early ‘70s, man. I’m very glad this is on the list, and for me, it’s a 10.

You know what? I’m at a 10.

I’ll be the first person to tell you that this album’s length is its achilles heel – I think it would be a far more definitive 10 if it trimmed down just a few of the tracks & had a little more variety in the soundscape, but I simply enjoyed this far too much. It feels like the Pogues with more of a Springsteen-ish lean, allowing a lot more of the U.S. rock scene’s influence in the ‘80s to shape the album’s direction, while distinctly managing to keep a very Irish / Scottish feel to the whole thing.

Sure, it can get a little tiring when almost every track has such a confident & jig-worthy energy, but if you can maintain the stamina to not get tired of this soundscape, I think you’ll really fucking enjoy this. Is it a little top heavy? Oh, absolutely – “We Will Not Be Lovers” fucking blew me away, and you can argue the album quite literally peaked at track 2. Thankfully, the descent from that peak is minimal, with maybe only “Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?” standing out as the black sheep of the track list. It’s not bad, but Mike Scott just doesn’t really have a country twang in his voice like that. Besides that, I really liked everything here. I think the lyricism is usually great, the instrumentation is consistently strong (& occasionally really dazzling, especially with that damn violin), and even if Mike Scott doesn’t have a country twang, he’s got a great voice otherwise. His delivery really ties a lot of these tracks together.

My stamina after listening to this damn thing feels a bit shot, so in lieu of going track by track here, I’ll just cut to the chase – I think this is a REALLY great album, and I feel almost as blown away as I did after getting “If I Should Fall From Grace With God” back in October. I’ve never heard of The Waterboys before this, and apparently, their earlier stuff had way more of a “grandiose” rock lean behind it, which I kinda wanna check out for myself. It is a 10 for me, albeit one where I can see it possibly dropping down a little bit without that “first listen glow” behind it, but regardless, it’s somewhere above a 5, no matter what. This is a delightful discovery for me, and I’m very glad it’s on the list.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to listen to “We Will Not Be Lovers” about 10 more times.

Surprisingly, I’m at a 5.

Traditionally, religious music, at least from my experience, has been so drab & dull. Yeah, the words have meaning, and with the right voice, they might make you feel something loosely spiritual, but for the most part, whenever I was dragged to church, they just felt like an exercise in “praise” that didn’t mean all that much to me. With these songs though, in a faith I’m only very loosely familiar with in a language I don’t know & lyrics I didn’t even bother to translate, I kind of felt the communal spirit of religion exist in a really potent way. There’s just a gravitational pull around these tracks in a way I can’t really describe; the instrumental loops would feel more bland if it weren’t for an incredible vocal energy that constantly morphs & shifts around each track to give it a sense of progression that comes from thin air. Their vocalizations & harmonies evoke the scat singers of the ‘50s & ‘60s who could just do anything with their voice and it would sound kinda magical.

I’m really shocked this only has a 2.58 on the site, as it feels like it should be higher than that. I’ll be the first to tell you that if I were paying more “traditional” attention, I might’ve tossed this aside as an album that ‘goes nowhere’, ‘never evolves’, or ‘is just the same song for 45 minutes’ – that might be true to a point, but it undermines the shared experience that’s meant to come through these tracks. You’re meant to ride off of their energy & just feel it, whether or not you can understand it. I don’t think this is an album meant to be looked at with a super critical eye, but just an album to explore another culture with. Obviously, the music being great helps a lot, and I could easily see myself coming back to these & just vibing out, regardless of religious context. Is it an album you need to hear before you die? In terms of critical acclaim or a “mandatory” piece of work, then I dunno, probably not. However, I’m very glad I heard it; it made for a good 45 minutes where I got kinda hypnotized, in a very positive way. I’ve never really seeked out Pakistani music before this, and yet I find myself wanting to hear more. Hence, a surprisingly strong 5.

It’s obviously a 10.

It’s just beautiful. I’m not really sure what else to say. To put together a performance like that on a piano that’s different from what he originally wanted to play on, and to craft something so lovely out of a flaw, persevering forward to make something that might be universally described as art… man. It’s just a remarkable piano performance that will evoke anything in anyone, and the wide variety of pictures it can paint feels as endless as the sky itself.

Just go listen to it. It’s incredible. A masterpiece, even. It’s a 10.

I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll just barely bump up to a 4 due to the last 3 tracks clicking nicely. This did have some issues though.

For most of the first 7 tracks, I do feel like John Lee Hooker is just adding some color & taking a backseat to a lot of his collaborators. Part of that is in his delivery; he takes more of a spoken word approach, never lifting up his voice too much to add some additional power to sell some of the emotions of the track. Part of that is in his rhythm; this isn’t a Muddy Waters sort of thing where he’s consistently hitting on the beat, but he’s just sort of playing around it. It’s an approach that has some merit, but it does make it hard to get a real feel for the vibe of the track.

The biggest part of it, at least to my ears, is in the repetition of the instrumentation – the 1989 production standards that plagued part of Bonnie Raitt’s “Nick of Time” are here, mainly in that a lot of these first 7 tracks suffer from the “first minute” syndrome that stalls progression deeply. Between some unconventional delivery, a looser rhythm that doesn’t fully jive with the instrumentals, & some solid if stale instrumentals, it was hard for this album to really pull me. Out of the first 7 tracks, I only really enjoyed “The Healer”, “Think Twice Before You Go” & “That’s Alright”. There’s not really an outright bad track, but the other 4 just didn’t click for me.

Those final 3, though… they clicked really, really nicely. John’s spoken word delivery puts him up close, & it feels a lot more forceful due to the more intimate tones of each track, allowing his age & sense of wisdom to carry more of a mood that helps the tracks out a lot. The rhythm is a lot easier to follow as well, since the instrumentals don’t hit the same ‘stale’ point – maybe the percussion on “My Dream” is a little sterile, but besides that, John’s approach to just kinda whacking all over his guitar feels more raw & authentic, and more distinctly like the blues he’s more famous for. The lyricism is strong, the vibes are really nice, and since they’re just easier to follow along & vibe to in a way that doesn’t feel as incessant as the looping instrumentals did earlier, they’re more fulfilling.

Those final 3 tracks take this album from a competent, if flawed 3, to a competent, flawed, yet earnest 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4. I do think it’s worth a listen, and if those first 7 tracks click more consistently for others, I could understand a 5 here. If they hit even worse than they did for me, I could understand going as low as even a 2. For me, just a 4 – while I do wish one of his earlier albums were here, just for a comparison point, I am glad both he & this album are on the list.

I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4, practically on the strength of the final 4 tracks really hitting a great stride to end the album on.

I mean, I’ll be really blunt; this barely qualifies as a rap album. It’s not because Mike Ladd doesn’t have decent vocals or decent wordplay, but it’s because he’s doing slam poetry. If you’re coming into this expecting a rap album (and believe me, I was with one of the top reviews inciting MF DOOM comparisons), you will be turned off within the first 6 tracks, and nothing this album does afterward will save it, especially with the abstract instrumental choices that take some time to get used to. There’s no “riding the beat” here, and there’s no rap flow to slide on & appreciate, at least in the traditional sense. This feels like experimental trip-hop with a lo-fi lean, though that doesn’t really explain the style well at all. It’s got elements of electronica & D’n’B in there, but it’s just an amalgamation of ‘futuristic’ production choices meant to capture a vibe. It can feel a little pretentious at times, but once you get used to it, it’s honestly kinda strong. From a performance standpoint though, you have to meet this album where it is, and after the first 3 tracks, it can be very hard to give a damn.

I personally nearly gave up on this thing after “No. 1 St.”, which is just slurred to hell (speech-wise), and never really captures whatever vibe it thinks it’s going for. It made me think of the Dr. Octagon album we got a while back, and that was truly its lowest point. After that though, the vibes of “To the Moon’s Contractor” just clicked really well with me, even if it’s about 3 minutes too long. That track is the hand that leads to the second half of this album, which finally kinda hits a stride of sorts. “I Feel Like $100” is abstract as hell, but it just gives off an [adult swim] vibe that I liked. “The Animist” never really hooked me like that on account of the beat, but there’s something about his vocal delivery that I admire.

The final 4 tracks finally hit a consistently strong stride; “Red Eye to Jupiter” is so aggressive about space that it loops around to being fun (I mean, what other track has “outer space motherfucker” in its chorus), and the chaotic nature just worked for me. “Welcome to the Afterfuture” has a loose Kraftwerk vibe to it, at least with the intent of feeling like you’re on some kind of transportation, and I enjoyed that ride. “Wipe Out on the Wave of Armageddon” is just a really good instrumental track with a great vibe & great progression, and “Feb. 4 ‘99” does a great job of setting the stage with all these visions of beauty & peace in the world, contrasted by his rising anger & the swirl of the instrumental as it drops the precision strike of “Off duty demons in denim” to cap off the juxtaposition of the ugliness of police brutality. His delivery feels like listening to a civil rights leader in classic form, and his passion comes through in a way that’s undeniable.

It’s the track that caps off a run strong enough for me to bump this up to a 4. Granted, I totally understand the 2.57 on the site – the lyrics aren’t really online like that, the instrumentals are abstract, and coming in with the wrong impression can easily sink the album. It’s also a rather long 62 minutes, and one that isn’t very consistently satisfying. However, those first 3 / at least 6 of its final 7 tracks, along with a steady stream of at least interesting vibes (far more than I can say for something like the Dr. Octagon album we got a bit ago) just made it so this album never sunk for me. I don’t think it’ll ever get to a 5 for my tastes, but I feel very safe with bumping this up from a 3.5 to a 4. I am glad I heard it, though it does just kinda make me wish MF DOOM were actually on this list so people wouldn’t make such boldly wrong comparisons. Still though, even if it’s not DOOM, it’s a good vibe all the same, and I did like it.