Reviews by guggmo

I’m at a 5.

Just pure energy distilled into 28 of the most manic minutes ever put to tape. Rage incarnate, perhaps. The tempo of this thing almost loops back around to comical – this is a prime example of an album where “every song sounds the same” is used to an advantage, ala AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell”. Once this album’s momentum gets going off of that first guitar riff (oddly similar to PJ Harvey yesterday), it just doesn’t fucking stop. Pausing this thing at any point after the literal first note is probably tantamount to a crime.

Lyrically, just a monstrously brutal album, in a good way. I complained about “torture porn” on the Dr. Octagon album, and honestly, if we had gotten this first, I might’ve been a bit more receptive to that album’s more surgical, Hannibal Lecter-esque approach to brutality as an interesting dichotomy. However, I’m way, way more inclined to hear about decapitation, mutilation, blood raining down within purgatory & the entire bridge of “Necrophobic” coming from a raspy, raspy voice in Tom Araya, while guitar wails & percussion rolls. The surgical approach that Dr. Octagon takes isn’t terrible, but the rap instrumentals on that album aren’t really compatible with it to my ears. Here, though? The pure rage distilled into these instrumentals becomes infectious, and the lyrical intensity enhances them. Sure, the mixing doesn’t really give each instrument the clarity that I wish it had, but that’s not the point; this thing is meant to be played loud, full blast, so that you can just fucking feel it. I definitely felt it.

The only real reason I’m not at a 10 is simply because I think this album went just a little bit too fast at times – I know that might be criminal to say, but as someone who likes to soak in all aspects of a track & not just the pure energy emanating off of it, I think the album could’ve benefitted from just a few more brief moments of letting the listener breathe. It’s a pure nitpick though; if anything, I’m probably just salty that I could barely pick up the lyrics to “Necrophobic” because it was going 100 miles an hour. Regardless, it’s an easy fucking 5.

P.S.: Yes, “Angel of Death” sort of deifies the torturous aspects of the Holocaust, and that’s a bit tonedeaf. On the other hand though, is that not kind of insane, and proving just how batshit evil & monstrous the Nazis were? If Slayer is taking all of this shit from real, heinous crimes that were done by Josef Mengele, in a way where it fully fits into the other over-the-top absurd violence & gore of the album… does that not say something obvious? I can see why people got mad at the track (and no shame to those who still hate it), and a line or two specifically condemning shit would’ve been nice, but it’s pretty strongly implied that the Nazis were pure fucking evil. I don’t know that I would’ve opened the whole album with it, but it has a place somewhere in here.

I’m at a 5.

Not too much to say, really. Once this album’s momentum gets rolling (either from the literal first guitar hit on “Oh My Lover” or the cool, abrupt ending / transition from “O Stella” into “Dress”), it just refuses to stop. This is a grunge album to my ears, and it’s a pretty damn good one at that. Incredibly feminist, with some *great* lyrics across the board that exude confidence whilst showing some vulnerability & honesty. PJ Harvey’s voice matches the mood on these lyrics on pretty much every track, and the instrumentation rocks the fuck out alongside her.

All of these tracks bring something to the table, whether it’s the desperate tone of “Oh My Lover” (enhanced by the production choice to have her farther from the mic), the anti-Cinderella tone of “Dress” (desperate to impress a man & failing), the essence of love poured into “Victory” (“Angel at my table, God in my car” is a *great* line), the absurd disses of “Sheela-Na-Gig” (“Put money in your idle hole” is a CRAZY line), or the biblical parallels of the last 5 tracks combined with the harder rock instrumentation, the whole album just flows. The only real minor nitpicks I have are that “O Stella” feels a little broad & “Fountain” feels a little off as a closing track, but they’re minor.

It’s an album where the music speaks for itself, and more specifically, where PJ Harvey gets to let loose. I wish she had kept this style more for “Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea” (or that we had gotten this first), but I might need to go relisten to that one to see if my original thoughts hold up. Regardless, for a debut album, I fuck with this heavy – it’s much more aligned to something like “Exile in Guyville” by Liz Phair or “Horses” by Patti Smith, while integrating some Pearl Jam-esque grunge to really hit the mark. I liked it a lot, and I think it’s a pretty damn good (and pretty recommended) 5.

I’m at a 2.5 that I will bump down to a 2, even though I genuinely liked about 7 of the tracks here.

I don’t know, man. That’s just aggressively mediocre to my ears. Kool Keith had a good feature on Jurassic 5’s “Power in Numbers”, but he sheds that general style here for the eccentricities of Dr. Octopus, the “homicidal, extraterrestrial, time-traveling gynecologist and surgeon”. I am not a big fan of Dr. Octopus. This isn’t a Slim Shady situation where the over-the-top nonsense loops back around to genuinely witty wordplay with a party flow & an enjoyable vibe. Dr. Octopus, as a character, is crass, a rapist, and an all-around generally terrible alien with not a single redeeming quality to him. It’s not enjoyable to hear about his escapades, and there’s never really a comeuppance for it. It’s kind of just torture porn, in a way.

Of course, I’m prone to give some degree of leeway since it is still so over-the-top that you can’t imagine Kool Keith advocating for any of this, but it’s aged really poorly into 2025, and even for 1996, this just feels like shock-jock perverted humor to some degree. I just don’t fuck with the lyrics that much. On top of the lyricism being an issue, what really drags this fucking album down is the beats, vocals, & flows. It’s just the most dry energy I’ve heard from a mid-90s rap album yet. Kool Keith does not have a rap voice like a Biggie, a Jay-Z, or a Tupac, and it desperately shows. He’s relatively monotone throughout the whole thing. It wouldn’t be a major issue if he just had a normal flow, but of course, Dr. Octopus being the alien scumbag that he is, simply refuses to glide on the vast majority of these already dry fucking beats. It’s a very “stream of consciousness” style of rap, but it just doesn’t work, especially with the verbosity on so many of the early tracks diluting the theming of the album.

Ultimately, I just didn’t like it that much. It’s not the worst album ever, but… fuck me, it’s just boring. The shock jock value doesn’t draw any humor (and that’s like, half the songs), and it’s an hour long, which just means it drags the fuck on. If it were shorter & tighter, I might be more inclined to barely bump it up to a 3, but… nope. It’s just not a good album experience. I don’t know if this should be on the list, really. If I’m ever thinking that, then something just isn’t clicking. Hence, a 2.5 bumped down to a 2. If it clicks for you, then good on you; I hear the appeal, but it's just not there for me. It's a shame, because I do think Kool Keith is GOOD at rapping, based on what I've heard. I just don't really like Dr. Octopus, which makes me kinda disappointed.

I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump down to a 3.

Not deserving of a 2.1 average and a top 10 lowest rating on the site at all – honestly, this is a totally fine album. Abrasive? Sure, a little bit, but even in terms of “noise rock”, I have literally heard more ear-piercing & screechy, manic albums on the list than this. This doesn’t even hit the same level of pure noise as the final 2 minutes “Seasick” did off of “Penance Soiree”, which is still arguably the worst 2 minute stretch I’ve had in the 579 albums we’ve gotten so far.

I really can’t figure out why this has a 2.1 on the site other than being scared of the lack of an acoustic guitar or a “traditional” melody, but like… this is a pretty competently produced album. A lot of the musical sensibilities are there, with the instrumentation just swapped out for slightly harsher & more avantgarde stuff. Guitar melodies are more overdriven or synthy, percussion takes on a more breathy & monster-y tone, et cetera. I *DO* think this album slacks on providing good “dressing” for each track (i.e., complimenting the lead melodies with enough instrumentation to fill out the soundscape), and it does leave some of the tracks a little more try than they need to be. That said, I didn’t mind listening to any of this at all, and it’s a solid enough 40 minutes if you’re not as sensitive to the eccentricities of it.

So… why am I at a 3.5 bumped down to a 3, then? It’s just not the most compelling album, really. Competent, yes, but in terms of maintaining interest & keeping me engaged, I don’t think that many tracks truly got there. I enjoyed about 7 of the 10 tracks here, but in terms of actually being fully engaged with them all the way through as opposed to just admiring the soundscape, I would say… I dunno, maybe 2 or 3 tracks, at most? This album also has some clear flaws in my brain; not egregious by themselves, but when stacked up, just kill the flow a bit: too much repetition, too many tracks that go just a little too long, & barely any payoffs to the some of the bigger buildups that happen in each track. You can sit there through a long segment that feels like it’s leading to a crescendo that just never shows up, and it kind of deflates the track a bit.

If this album were a little tighter, a little shorter, and a little more musically inclined to give those payoffs, I’d definitely be inclined to bump this up to a 4. However, this album just never gets THAT compelling, and all the things it does to try and offset that never really worked for me, no matter how much I mostly enjoyed the sound design & “weird” witchy tone of the album. It’s like sitting through a decent production of a play; nothing’s ever wrong or bad, it’s just not as good as it could be, and it just doesn’t feel as satisfying. It’s certainly not a 2.1 nor is it a top 10 worst album on the site. I’d love to leave it at a 3.5 for my tastes, but I’ve got to bump it down to a 3.

Yeah, I’m at a 10.

That was 45 minutes of near-perfect instrumental energy. When you are fully in sync with a band, and truly feeling music as it enters your ears, you’ve hit upon the deepest type of connection you can make with the art form. Every time that happens for me, I know an album is an instant classic to my ears, and there’s no exception here. The only thing I can’t believe is that this is from Frank Zappa, of all people.

Color me deeply surprised; I would’ve never expected it to be Frank Zappa that ended up making such an eclectic jazz fusion album. I’ve admired the guy’s musicianship for sure; neither “We’re Only In It For The Money” nor “Freak Out!” were bad at a technical level. Even the worst rating I gave him was a 3, and it’s only because the former felt like an album I couldn’t really put a number to. To pull out THIS though? For 1969, this feels far, far ahead of schedule, in a way that I can’t really describe, but I can only vaguely guess at.

I wish I could write more, but much like “Hot Buttered Soul”, the music can say far more than I could. If you hit that point of being in sync, you’ll know exactly why. If it doesn’t click by the absolutely electric *violin* solo during “The Gumbo Variations”, then it never will, & it probably was never going to. If it doesn’t, then you probably won’t enjoy this like I did. For my tastes, though? Easy 10.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4, though I’d love to leave it there.

The top review on this site calls this album “unoriginal, uninspired, gutter trash”, and I have no idea how that could possibly be the takeaway after listening to this. It’s “un” a lot of things – it’s unpolished, it’s unusual, and it’s undeniably a little awkward… but I think those are all strengths for the album. Jonathan Richman’s vocal performance here can be summed up by two words in my mind: “weird earnestness”. He has hesitations, he doesn’t sound super confident, and it feels like he’s one mumble or stutter away from making a track fall apart. Is it intentional? I’m not entirely sure, but whether it is or not, it does add a charming sense of earnestness to the whole album.

For my brain, I can imagine a guy standing on a stage, performing live for the first time in front of his peers & friends, and being *absolutely scared shitless*… but still getting through it. The band around him kills it; not a single bad instrumental on this thing, and for being recorded in 1971, this does act as a pretty good preview of the punk scene to come in the years afterward. There are really high highs on this album – “Pablo Picasso” & “Hospital” are standouts for me in particular, and as an entire 35 minute package, I can’t really say there’s a bad track here.

So, why the bump down to a 4 then? There’s 3 tracks in my mind where the “weird earnestness” just didn’t fully click for my tastes – “Old World”, “Girlfriend”, & the closer, “Modern World”. It’s not because the vocals or instrumental don’t work, but it’s because the lyricism just feels a little too ambiguous in terms of intent, compared to the rest of the album. This album’s strength is his earnestness, and it works mostly because these are well-written tracks that make themselves incredibly clear in meaning, intent & tone. When you add a little bit of ambiguity, then his vocal hesitations, while still good, act as more of a lack of commitment to his beliefs, and that muddies the waters a little bit. They’re still good tracks to listen to, and they don’t shake the album that badly, but having 3 of them is enough for me to bump this down from a 4.5 to a 4.

Make no mistake though; this is anything but “unoriginal, uninspired, gutter trash” – for 1971 & 1972, this is pretty original, decently inspired, and far from being trash. It’s an album I highly recommend, and I’d be at an easy 5 if the writing on those 3 tracks were cleaned up just a little bit. Hell, I’ll probably be at a 5 in the future anyway if even one of those tracks clicks nicer on a future listen. It’s a really enjoyable album, and I really did like it. It’s no less than a 4 to my ears, and it deserves to be on the list. Pretty good stuff.

I’m at a 4.

Solid stuff overall here – feels a bit more like a Weird Al-ish album, with a healthy respect & admiration for the garage/punk/rockabilly style it’s going for, but with more of a comedic / less serious lean. It’s all played totally straight, which is the key to making the album work. When it works, it really works; the best stuff on this album is enjoyable as hell, especially given that most of these are shorter tracks. They don’t overstay their welcome, and even if they do, it’s still good enough to survive off of the instrumental vibes alone for the most part. All in all, this feels like a natural step forward from the slightly unpolished tones of a band like The Sonics (who are covered here!), while blending them with the production tricks and clarity that would emerge throughout the 70s. It’s a good mixture, and one that makes for a fun album.

So, why the 4, and not a 5? It’s just because the musicality isn’t as consistent as I’d like it to be, I dunno. The first two tracks don’t set the tone right – they’re reverb-heavy, the lyrics / vocals feel a bit dissonant, and while it’s all technically sound, it’s got that intangible feeling of something being “off”. After those first two tracks though, this album mostly glides; only two other tracks didn’t quite click for me, and that’s “Mystery Plane” & “I’m Cramped”, the former for the repetition in the instrumental biting at me too much, and the latter for having big secret track energy as part of the main album. I also think that “Fever” just doesn’t quite work as an ending track – I would’ve closed on “The Mad Daddy” or “Tear It Up”.

Am I nitpicking? Yeah, probably, but those are all enough to keep this at a 4 for me. Make no mistake though; it is a *fun* album. If you can look past some of the quirks I didn’t vibe with, you might be at a 5, and I wouldn’t blame that at all. If they’re THAT big of a deal, then maybe this won’t play well for you. Regardless, I enjoyed it. It’s a solid 4, and maybe if we were listening to this in October, I might be inclined to let the spookier / fall vibes carry me to a 5. For a July listen, it’ll sit at a 4.

I’m at a 10.

Sometimes, I write that “words fail me” and then somehow manage to write 500+ words complimenting an album to high heaven and back. In this case, they are failing me, fully & totally. I can’t properly think straight after feeling “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” at a visceral level, and therefore I can’t truly write anything further. All I can say is, off of a first listen alone, this is indeed the “landmark recording in soul music” that Wikipedia cites it to be. It feels as tall as the Eiffel Tower & as masterfully crafted as the Great Pyramids – “landmark” is not hyperbole here, and I can only recommend listening to it, with headphones in & with full, undivided attention.

A top to bottom hot buttered stunner, simple as that. 10. I need to listen to more Isaac Hayes.

I’m at a 5.

Not much to say; just a fucking vibe, really. I came in without expectations and I have emerged from it a much groovier man. Femi Kuti has proven himself as good as his dad to my ears; just some great big band energy, with some keyboard & sax thrown in for good measure to create 73 minutes of pure, unadulterated Afrobeat funk. Pretty good vocals, some politically active lyrics, and perfect instrumentation. In terms of the overall vibes, no complaints from me.

In terms of the actual pacing, structure & track order… very few complaints, but they’re there. 73 minutes *is* a bit long, and there are some musically stagnant moments on a handful of tracks that could’ve been trimmed down to keep the album a bit more concise. Structurally, I think some of these tracks are a little too similar to each other, in terms of the tempo & instrumental progression, but it’s never actively an issue while you’re in the moment, so it doesn’t matter that much. In terms of the track order, I just would’ve flipped the last two; I think “Live For Today” would’ve been a nicer ending.

Those are all nitpicks, though – this album is one where words cannot explain the energy or the vibes, and I highly encourage just listening to it, headphones in or not. It’s really fucking good; a little long, sure, but it doesn’t matter when you’re just grooving along. A super fun 5 for me, a well-needed energy boost, and an album that’s definitely worth being on the list. Great stuff.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5 on the strength of “Small Hours” as a closing track.

Second (and last!) time we’ve gotten John Martyn, second time he’ll get a 5 from me. Not too much to say about this one, weirdly enough. I think the music speaks for itself here – it’s a natural step forward from the “more upbeat version of Nick Drake” vibes of “Plain Air”. This is leaning ever so slightly into the synthier tones that would become new wave/post-punk, but by holding back, it manages to create something more akin to soft, jazzy trip-hop, blended with John Mayer’s or Jack Johnson’s guitar-driven musical sensibilities. When it works, it works really nicely – 6 of the 8 tracks here clicked for me, with only two of them falling short: “Smiling Stranger” & “Big Muff”. “Smiling Stranger” is nice, but it’s just missing an extra kick of energy that would really bring the song together for me. “Big Muff” is also good, but the total lack of instrumental progression (or even a small sense of it) pulls the track down hard for me. That first minute syndrome struck hard there, but neither of them are actively bad tracks. They just didn’t click for *me*.

I was fully prepared to bump this down to a 4 because of that – 5 out of 7 tracks hitting well would probably warrant that, but then “Small Hours” happened, and it just felt *that* damn good. Full vibes track, and it’s a natural conclusion to the happier back half of the album, with the beach sounds & the synth work meshing wonderfully for an 8-minute wonderland in my mind. It’s a good enough album closer that I feel zero shame in bumping this up to a 5. The two tracks I wasn't vibing with are still good to listen to, and my taste is subjective anyway; they’ll probably click for someone else.

Overall, just a good album – not quite as good top to bottom as “Solid Air” was, but it’s still pretty good all the same. Is it one that felt important enough that I had to listen to it before I died? I’m not sure, but you could convince me there’s not 1,001 albums out there better than it. If nothing else, it’s given me a blissful track in “Small Hours”. I enjoyed it, and I think it’s worth the bump up from a 4.5 to a 5. Good stuff once again, Mr. Martyn.

P.S.: “One World” is *begging* to be sampled, especially around the 2:10 mark. Someone get on that.

I’m at a 5. I am so glad this is on the list.

I suppose it’s only just now hitting me how much of this list so far has been mostly cisgender men. It’s just not something I’ve actively thought about, but… damn, this one really proves that point, huh? This is a beautiful album documenting the transition of our lead singer, ANOHNI. Her voice is great, regardless of the vibrato that sort of sours the earliest tracks on this album, when the instrumentation isn’t as potent. When the instrumentation does get going, this album truly begins to soar in a harmonic way. The quality of the music itself matches up with the messaging of the lyricism & how brilliantly her pain & frustration is expressed, meeting the moment in a way that’s evocative of the soul singers of the 1950s & 60s that this is so obviously inspired by. It’s a perfectly structured album, and I think “Bird Gerhl” is a gorgeous closing track. The entire 35 minutes, no matter how slowly they may start from a purely musical standpoint, all flow together in a harmony. It’s a beautiful album, and one where words currently fail me. What a piece of art. It’s a 5, and I am fully & utterly stunned.

I’m also pissed off that public opinion towards the right for transgender people to simply exist has flipped as harshly as it has throughout the 20 years since this album came out, and the ongoing nightmare that has been the second Trump administration. It is incredibly easy to demonize that which you have never truly met or known, and I feel as blessed as I have to have met so many people that have transitioned or are actively transitioning. This album is a reminder that it truly is gender *affirming* care. It is an affirmation of identity, of happiness, and of one’s true self. To demonize that affirmation speaks more to the sad, sad insecurities of those who will never be able to find happiness in the same way. I can only hope that whenever the pendulum of public opinion inevitably swings back the other way, this album can be re-recognized as a rich piece of art. It so deeply deserves it.

I’m at a 3.5 that I think I’ll bump up to a 4, though I’d prefer to leave it right at a 3.5.

Brian Eno-esque ambience, Rolling Stones-esque indie rock, a little bit of George Michael’s production style & early ‘90s house instrumentation, all thrown into a blender with a bunch of other genres & just seeing what comes out. It’s a weird formula, but for some reason, I think it worked. This is not an album you sit down with headphones in and close your eyes and actively engage with, given the amount of tracks that spin their wheels for a while; it’s one where you throw it on in the background and just do stuff to. With that said, it’s produced like an album that you’re meant to pay attention to, with some solid lyrics, vocals and some decently layered (if repetitive & slightly long) instrumentation throughout. Your ears will perk up at all the soundscapes, and how effectively the blending seems to work, even with the length & repetition of this thing. In a way, I did enjoy this one a lot. It’s a great album to listen to, but it’s such a paradoxical album to me. Why am I enjoying something that’s so technically proficient, yet designed to play as nothing more than ultra deluxe room tone?

For once, I just don’t really have an answer. I can look back throughout my little notes I had on this thing, but they’re all just complimentary of the vibe, even through the repetition. A lot of these tracks evoke sort of a “Freedom! ‘90” vibe to me, including the blatantly shameless ripoff that is “Loaded” – just listen to that chord progression & then sing the chorus in your head. It is a 6 minute enigma comprised mostly of that chord progression and some random synths throughout, yet because I enjoy “Freedom! ‘90” so much, I just didn’t mind it at all. Seriously, what the hell gives about this album?

It’s not like I enjoyed the whole album either – there are definitely ones that bounced off of me like “Don't Fight It, Feel It” & “Shine Like Stars”. Yet, for the most part… I dunno, I guess it really is just all in the vibes. That’s the least satisfying conclusion I’ve ever come to about an album, because I’m normally really good at pinpointing why something works for my tastes, but this album has sort of broken my brain. I’m glad it has, don’t get me wrong; it’s a nice album. It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m sure a subsequent relisten will have other tracks that totally bounce off of me. It’s just gonna bother me that the answer really is just “the vibes”.

So, uh… yeah, I dunno. I guess it’s a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4. There’s no bad tracks, nor bad vibes, and everything is just hypnotizing enough to feel smooth & groovy in the moment, even if it does sort of mentally fall apart after the fact. I guess this album is sort of like having a bunch of vanilla ice cream with different toppings on every track. It’s good ice cream, it’s good toppings, and it’s enjoyable. It’s just hard to believe vanilla ice cream could be that consistently enjoyable. In this case, I guess it was for me. I’m satisfied with that analogy.

I’m at a 5. Arguably a 10, but I think that might be the events of the day skewing me just a little bit. Eh, fuck it, I’m at a 10. Ozzy deserves it.

I’ve been sitting here for like… 5 minutes in silence, just letting that album soak in. Stellar stuff, across the board. No words I could type can do the music justice; if you somehow haven’t heard it, just go listen. It’s a perfect blend of what would become heavy metal throughout the decade with little tinges of jazz & piano throughout, including a beautiful instrumental in “Laguna Sunrise”. Quick shoutout to “Changes” for giving me a “this is THAT song” moment. It’s not the same thing as their self-titled was, but it’s just as good. If nothing else, when this fucking rips on the guitar & drums, I felt just as in sync as I did listening to that debut. That’s a feeling that’s unmatched at its very best. In all, it’s 45 minutes of some of the tightest 70s rock / metal I’ve ever heard, with great lyrics & vocals to boot. If “Paranoid” is even better (and I’m pretty sure it’s got a shot, given that tracklist), then I can’t fucking wait to get there.

I will say, I knew the randomizer would give us something related to Ozzy, similar to how we got “Pet Sounds” after Brian Wilson’s death. Going into this, I wasn’t really thinking “Why THIS album in particular?”, but after listening to it, I think I can answer that, even if it didn’t pop into my mind beforehand. This is an album where Ozzy Osbourne quite literally admits he’d rather live life in a way where he can reach his highest creative potentials than give up the sources of that creativity, no matter how much it might be killing him. That’s the entire point of “Snowblind”. Most of this album revolves around that general central idea of living life in that way, and I can think of no better painted picture of Ozzy Osbourne. It’s not glamorous, not by any means, but I’ll be damned if it’s not inspiring, in its own weird way. By all accounts, the man should’ve been dead long before July 22nd, 2025, but… he lived. He lived one of the most full lives you could possibly imagine. He believed in himself. He didn’t have to pretend. He didn’t let the empty people try and interfere with his mind. He lived his life. And now, he’s left us all behind.

It’s a 10. Let the Prince of Darkness rest in whatever paradise he ended up in.

I’m at a 5.

Second (& last) time we’ve gotten Alice Cooper, second time they’ll get a 5, and I think this one is pretty deserved. This was just a fun listen, what can I say? While the lyricism isn’t as tight as it was on “Billion Dollar Babies”, it’s still clever enough to have a presence, and Alice Cooper’s relatively gritty & blues-infused vocals do a great job of blending them into the soundscape. The instrumentation here is truly what makes the album shine. The guitar is rolling throughout this thing, the brass sections glide off of the percussion, and it’s anchored really well by some twangy basslines. Yes, it’s just great blues rock, but the production involved is incredibly slick, making everything pop just a little more. The “West Side Story” references throughout “Gutter Cat vs. The Jets” & the subsequent sound design of “Street Fight”, the breathy start to “Blue Turk”, the vocal filter & rain on “Alma Mater” & the layered orchestration on “Grande Finale” – all of them enhance their tracks further, giving the album a gravitas that feels needed.

I don’t think I need to go super deep here, as the music mostly speaks for itself. It’s a breezy 36 minutes, with a lot more variety than I was expecting (some blues, some Beatles, some prog, etc), and overall, it’s just a catchy album. “Grande Finale” is a great cap on the whole thing, and a bit of a show-stopper, befitting for an album very loosely based on West Side Story. I liked it a lot, and I think it’s worth a 5.

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

I’m a sucker for 80s glam metal / rock stuff, and this is no exception, but I think my general unfamiliarity with Def Leppard led to a bit of a curve here. I thought the album loaded itself really nicely through the pacing of the first 3 tracks, and then had a slow descent downward from Track 4 onward, with the overall energy of each track just doing less and less for me the more it went on. There’s no bad tracks here, but let’s just say I felt totally burnt out by “Action! Not Words” – a fun track to listen to, sure, but one that just totally bounced off of me for no reason other than “man, this just feels plain to me now”. Thankfully, “Billy’s Got a Gun” is a captivating enough closer that I feel safe bumping this up to a 5, though it was probably always going to get the bump regardless.

I don’t really have that much to say about the intricacies of this thing – the instrumentation is good, though I do wish the drums had a little more to do throughout this thing. The vocals are great, save for a few songs where Joe Elliott feels a bit monotone even in his screamier moments (once again, looking at “Action! Not Words”). Lyrically, it’s exactly what you’d expect; this never gets to the same level as some of the stuff on an album like “Slippery When Wet”, though it doesn’t matter that much. “Photograph” is the highlight here, as well as the moody tones of “Billy’s Got a Gun”, but they’re all written well enough that they pass the “nothing egregiously bad” test of lyricism.

Overall, one’s enjoyment of this album will be entirely based on how much you like ‘80s soft glam rock with a pop lean, and it’s a style I’m generally a sucker for. This is not quite as good as its contemporaries in terms of a full album experience, but it still stands up decently well, with my only real complaint being “it just kind of sounds the same after too long”. We’ve had other albums in this space that kept the energy all up the way through, at a blazing breakneck pace, and this one just didn’t keep it there for as long as it could have. Regardless, I like it enough to bump it up to a 5, though I do hope they figured out their pacing issues for “Hysteria”, whenever we get that one.

I think I’m at a 10.

Perhaps it’s the slight tear welling up in my eye after finishing out on “Unison” talking, but I adored that. Oddly, I have a comparison that might not fit at first glance, but I think it works here: “The Downward Spiral” by Nine Inch Nails. That album is about the carnal feelings of depression & the inner pain that slowly builds up to a breaking point of suicide. It uses sound design brilliantly to portray that pain, and it all comes to a head with screechingly violent guitar tones, an utterly shattered vocal performance, and a beautiful kind of honesty that succeeds at making you *feel* it, once the album is all said and done.

This album is about the carnal feelings of love & the inner happiness that slowly builds up to a blossoming point of marriage. It uses sound design brilliantly to portray that happiness, and it all comes to a head with beautifully gliding orchestration, an optimistically strong vocal performance, and a beautiful kind of honesty that succeeds at making you *feel* it, once the album is all said and done.

I’ve quite literally spelled it out, but to my ears, this album is to love exactly what “The Downward Spiral” is to that sense of pain. Bjork portrays it with some of the most sensational lyricism I can remember – obviously, a lot of it is about sex & lust, but the language she uses brings out something deeper. It’s not like she’s hiding what any of these songs are about, but she still manages to “disguise” it while still being absolutely implicit about it, and portraying a sort of primal beauty to it. It feels like poetry. I could also just be really easily impressed by flowery language being used in this sense, but regardless, I adored this album’s writing.

The lyricism wouldn’t mean a damn thing if Bjork couldn’t sing them well enough, and her vocals truly shine here – if you’ve heard the album, then you know. Whether she’s belting or going softer, her vocals match the mood the instrumentation brings every time. I especially love the moments that sound like errors, as clearly intentional as they are – things like the vocal hesitations on “It’s Not Up to You” & “Undo” are perfectly done, and give the album an air of authenticity.

For as much as those vocals shine though… it’s all in the instrumentation & sound design here. We are so far ahead of schedule for 2001 that it’s honestly ridiculous. Even now, for 2025, this album still feels like it’s doing stuff that nobody wants to touch in a modern musical landscape. The orchestration is beautiful throughout this whole thing. I wish I had deeper notes on it, but when you’re in the moment, the last thing you want to do is ruin the serenity of those moments washing over you. When this album isn’t giving off world peace-inducing orchestration, it’s going for a softer, more intimate form of electronica, marked by rather small but present beats. It’s extremely effective, and anchors every track in a way that melts downward, back into her vocals, and back into the lyricism, all working together in harmony. Overall, the production is remarkable here, full of nuances that I’m sure will reveal themselves further to me on any subsequent listens, and layered beyond belief for something that came out 24 years ago.

As a whole, I wish I had enough of the words to dive deeper into the whole thing, but much like “The Downward Spiral”, I’m blown away. It is as good as advertised, and for the last Bjork album we’ll be getting on the list, it’s a wonderful way to go out. Bjork has proven her versatility is a superpower, and the order in which we got her albums is probably perfect. Consider me a fan. As far as this goes, to borrow from what I wrote about “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”, it’s a seminal album for 2001, and probably the whole decade. It’s a 10.

I’m at a 5.

Eric Clapton before Cream, John McVie before Fleetwood Mac, & then two people I’ve never heard of in Hughie Flint & John Mayall. RIP to John Mayall, by the way. Great drums & vocals though; they shine really well here. Take those 4, do a bunch of blues covers & a couple of originals, and you get a groovy fucking album that showcases their talent really nicely. Yes, I hesitate to give Eric Clapton credit, but his guitar playing more than earns the right to get the co-starring role on the album art. Apparently, it’s kind of revolutionary in terms of the production circumstances, so that’s a big plus.

No misses here, save for “Another Man” being kind of unpolished to my ears, but overall, I enjoyed all of this. All the covers seemingly do justice rather well – even the slightly baffling drum solo thrown into “What’d I Say” is fine. I do, however, wish it had a bit more of the original track incorporated into it. The original tracks are all good, *especially* “Key to Love”. If I have any complaints, it’s that I wish the mono mix gave just a little more room to some of the buried instrumentation, but that’s a really minor nitpick, partially brought on by the technology of the era. There’s moments where you can barely hear an organ or harmonica in the back, and other instruments that I wish had more clarity to them.

All in all, it’s some damn good blues, especially with the way the electric guitar is incorporated. This is the only album recorded by this version of the band’s lineup, and that’s a bit of a shame, but I think it ultimately ended up pretty well for most of these guys. Hell, if you follow the throughline of the Bluesbreakers as a whole, Fleetwood Mac emerges out of it pretty damn quickly. I can see exactly why this is on the list, and I can see why Rolling Stone had it in their top 500 for a while. Pretty fast 38 minutes, and a very enjoyable album. A recommended 5.

I’m at a 2, possibly against my better judgement.

I’m normally very gracious to techno / electronica stuff on the list, usually because it tends to evoke video game music, and I like video game music a lot. This was not that. This was a cacophony of synths & drums, with a myriad of aurally annoying effects thrown onto them, without any true sense of proper musical composition whatsoever. The repetition is bothersome, the zen state is basically impossible to get into, and worst of all, this isn’t even something you can move to at the club – maybe for like, 1 minute per song, at most. It is, by far, the least satisfying electronica album the list has given us so far. I take almost no joy in this album, though I honestly did kind of like 5 of the tracks here.

The only reason it is getting a 2 is because it wasn’t so utterly incompetent as to deserve a 1, and there were a number of moments, however fleeting they were throughout the album, where my ears were grooving and my head was swaying. It’s also not as painfully boring as something like “Haute de gamme” was. It’s at least intriguing sometimes, even if that intrigue generally results in disdain and annoyance. This is not a horrible album, it’s just a bad one that could’ve been made much better by choosing more traditional techno instrumentation & shortening these tracks down by quite a bit. I kept taking notes throughout this thing as opposed to totally giving up, so that counts for something, right?

In short, I feel like if I took enough lessons, I could probably make tracks that feel more satisfying and competently put together than this in FL Studio, of which I have very, very limited experience. If I ever feel that way about an album on the list, then you have not done a good job. This is not an album I needed to hear before I die, it did not deserve a spot on the list at all, and it barely saves itself from falling all the way down to a 1. Someone else can give it a 1 if they want, and I won’t blame them at all. Just disappointing for me. Anything above a 3 for this may require psychiatric evaluation (or at least a question about genuinely paying some level of attention to the album as opposed to just hearing it).

I’m at a 4 – closer to a 3.5 bumped up to a 4, but a 4 regardless.

I always think it’s a little hard to write about an electronica album, since it really does usually just boil down to enjoyment of the beats, and in this case, I generally enjoyed them. This sounds exactly like what 1996 techno / electronica should be, and I don’t think there’s ever a bad track here. There’s certainly ones that didn’t click for me, like “Confusion the Waitress”, “Air Towel” & “Blueski”, but they’re not bad, just actively a little more stagnant & boring than the rest of the album.

So, why only a 4 then? Well, it’s long as hell, for one. A lot of these could’ve been trimmed a bit – it’s not necessarily an issue in the moment while you’re just grooving & moving around, so much like a Nintendo game, the flaws aren’t really there until you hold it up to a microscope and take a deep, deep analysis. There’s sections of each track that just sit in a general soundscape just a little too long, and those slowly build up over the course of the album, even in a subconscious space. Like I said though, it’s not that noticeable.

The big thing, at least for my ears, is that this album just gives a little too much space to the vocals, as opposed to letting the instrumentation shine at its brightest. A lot of these tracks don’t have super compelling lyrics, so giving the vocals as much space as they do, where they sort of trim around the instrumentals & the entrancing effect of the beats, makes it feel like the album can’t decide quite what niche it wants to fill. Don’t get me wrong, the balance between the vocals / instrumentals is still pretty correctly skewed towards the instrumentals, but when it’s noticeable that the vocals have center stage, it’s really noticeable, and drags down the album for me, since they just don’t blend as well on a number of tracks.

When this album is rolling, though? This is damn good electronica. It’s much more into the trance / techno side of things, as opposed to the more dance-y / plunderphonics stuff we’ve generally been getting, but I’m not complaining about that one bit. Even for the first 32 minutes of this album, over the course of 2 rather long tracks, I thought that the layering and progression throughout both of them was incredibly satisfying. The plunk on a lot of the percussion / bass / synths here is super effective, especially with headphones in. When this album gets into a zen state, it’s very easy to feel, and those moments are where this whole thing shines. Big shoutout to “Rowla”, by the way.

I want to really harp on the last track, “Stagger”, because I have a very strange comparison I wrote down, and yet it’s one that I think works – “This feels like if R.E.M. made an album like Kid-A, but chose to base it off of Kraftwerk’s electronica style.” The vocals throughout this album, even when they’re not really blending into the soundscape, do feel just a little bit like Michael Stipe. “Stagger”, with the way the synth melodies go, really feels like a sort of modern take (for 1996) on Kraftwerk’s general 70s style. It’s a bit washed away by choosing to end the album on some remarkably annoying drums, but regardless, I think it’s a super cool closer, and I’d kind of love to hear an entire album in that style, albeit with more polish. Hopefully, something like that is on the list.

Overall, then, I did enjoy this. It’s certainly long at 73 minutes, but it’s never ever sonically boring & it’s always competently passable at its worst. For me, there’s moments that are more stale than others, but it all boils down to taste. I don’t quite hear some of the bigger acclaim this album seems to have gotten, but I can understand why it did, especially for 1996. I don’t think it’ll ever hit a 5 for me, but I like it enough where I think a 4 is pretty deserved.

I’m at a 5.

Just a sad album, huh? I feel a bit emotionally spent after that. We’ve already gotten “Gold” from Ryan Adams in the past, and that album feels like an attempt to be a diet Bruce Springsteen by comparison. A nice 70 minutes to listen to, yes, but it doesn’t quite have the same emotional pull this album does. This is a wonderfully written album by comparison to “Gold”, with really only two tracks biting at me: “Amy”, which just feels too personal given that it’s the real name of his ex who inspired this album, and “Why Do They Leave?”, because it’s just too heavy on the “woe is me” side of things. A couple of nitpicks are on other tracks, but nothing that’s ever too bad. Overall, I genuinely thought this entire album did a great job of evoking the imagery it’s going for. It’s all enhanced further by the production, which usually knows when to let Ryan shine in his most intimate moments, and when to let the instrumentation guide the mood, especially so on the showstealer that is “In My Time of Need”. That's a beautiful track.

I will forever be a sucker for “old” country, and while this straddles the line just a little bit, for the most part, it feels like an updated version of that general sound & style, ala Emmylou Harris’s “Red Dirt Girl”. It’s no surprise then that she’s on this album as a backing vocalist, and one of the members of her band produced this entire thing. I adore the instrumentals on this album, though I do have one complaint: that damn harmonica pops up when it just doesn’t need to. I normally love a good harmonica segment, and it’s used well at times, but there are moments where just wallowing in the silence a little bit would be more emotionally effective, and really let the song soak in. Other than that harmonica, I cannot think of a single complaint. Praise all abound for the instrumentals.

Vocally, while Ryan Adams doesn’t do anything *too* differently from “Gold”, his slightly shaken sense of confidence, coming off of the break-up that inspired this album… you can feel it on the more personal tracks here. Outside of “Amy”, which felt a little uncomfortable, I love the intimacy & softer tone he approaches these tracks with. A lot of them feel mostly acapella, save for some slight guitar, so he’s baring his soul, in a sense. When it’s at its very best, it’s emotionally gripping in a way that feels far too captivating to ignore. When he needs to belt though, he belts pretty well – still a little bit of that “diet Springsteen” vibe, but he generally tends to evoke the country stars of the past, especially Johnny Cash on “Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains)”.

All in all, I’d say the music speaks for itself really well here, and I think feeling the emotions this drags out are more effective than reading about it. If you’re predisposed to country music, you’ll enjoy this a lot. If not, then… I dunno, at least give this a try. If you somehow haven’t heard it, go listen to it with headphones in, and let Ryan's vocals & this excellent production wash over you. It is a great country album, and to my ears, a much tighter & more fulfilling album than “Gold” was. For my tastes, a very easy 5.

P.S.: I’m now aware of the allegations made against Ryan Adams. It sucks, and if they’re true, he sucks even more. I’m partially more willing to separate art from artist here, just because I never had a deeper connection to the guy before listening to him via the list, so just know that an endorsement of a 5 for this album is anything but an endorsement of the man himself, no matter how good his damn writing seems to be here. It’s worth a listen, but it’s not worth giving him a dime.