Reviews by guggmo

I’m at a 3.5 and… fine, alright, I’ll bump it up.

Shockingly, for a 36 minute album, I think this kinda goes a bit long; 13 tracks is a little much, and some of them circle around the same soundscape a few times in a way that makes listening to the full album sort of a chore by the end. It comes out of the gates pretty hot though, but I only really dug one or two of the final 5 tracks. Sometimes less is more, you know?

Instrumentation is super fun, lots of energy, and the horn section that comes up a few times is really fun. Vocals are a bit jarring at times, but I don’t think they’re ever outright bad, just unbefitting a few times. There are some seriously good lyrics on Private Affair that don’t fully get their credit because he goes all spoken word on them instead of belting them out with the energy they deserve. This happens a few times on the album, and while I don’t think it ever ruins the vibe of the song, it just makes me wish for a little more.

Ultimately, though, I don’t think there’s a bad track on the album, and that’s the key difference between bumping it down to a 3 and bumping it up to a 4 – I had a lot of fun listening to this album, and I think with a little more time and a little more polish, a lot of my little nitpicks could’ve been cleaned up. This was a good album, and I’ll be nice to it because of that hot start to go with a 4. It’s like a 7/10, though.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’m pretty damn tempted to round up to a 5.

I just had a lot of fun with this album; I thought the instrumentals here were super cool in an avantgarde sort of way for 1978; the synth work was fun, I thought the percussion had a really great tone to it, I thought the guitars were on fire for most of the album, and even when the horns come in, they sort of blend in naturally instead of taking a spotlight. Just on the instrumentals alone, I’d probably give this album a 3, I thought they were really fun. Lyrically, I think this is weird in a good way, because it directly makes the vocal delivery of them super fun – Ric Ocasek sounds like if someone had reigned in David Byrne just a little bit, and to my ears, it pays off super well.

There are a few lulls here and there scattered on this album, but I really don’t know if any track was a miss for me; some of them felt a little too boxed in to more of a traditional sound, but they were still good listens, even if they didn’t captivate me as much. I just really liked this, you know? I’m gonna bump it up to a 5, I think it deserves it. Just a really cool album.

I mean, that’s like a 10, probably.

I’m really just stunned that I’ve never heard this album before; Billy Joel has always been one of those artists that’s stayed just out of reach of my musical knowledge, outside of the really big stuff, like Piano Man, The Longest Time, Uptown Girl, and (for better or for worse) We Didn’t Start The Fire. I knew the names of some of the songs on this album, but I don’t think I had ever really heard any of them, save for maybe a little bit of Movin’ Out.

I thought this was absolutely fantastic; very rarely can you tell an artist has hit their magnum opus on the first full album you’ve ever listened of them, but right around the point where Scenes from an Italian Restaurant crescendoed into the big tale about Brenda and Eddie is the point where I realized that like… yeah, this is probably Billy Joel’s best work, and it’s my first proper Billy Joel album.

I genuinely thought every single track was great, not a single lull here. Instrumentation was off the fucking charts, and every instrument that slowly got brought into each song just added more without ever taking away from the essence of the songs. Lyrically, I thought it was just full of imagery, and written in a way that allowed his vocals to really shine through.

I could keep going, but I’m seriously just stunned. It’s a 10 for me. Fabulous, fabulous album. It’s a shame that whatever Billy Joel album comes up next simply won’t be as good, unless he proves me wrong.

I’m at a 3.

Ultimately, it’s just fine. There’s some super cool soundscapes here, and the sort of minimalist production being explored here wouldn’t really hit the mainstream for another 5 or 6 years at the least, so that part of the album was fun and felt a bit inventive for 2009.

Really, the biggest thing this album has going against it are the vocals, which only really fit around half the time, and the time itself, where some songs just kinda overstay their welcome, or take a little too long to get to the strongest part. There’s not really a bad song here, just mediocre moments within them, which is fine in moderation, but it’s just a little too often to justify anything higher than a 3. Definitely an album I could sleep to though, and I mean that in a super positive way.

Yeah, that’s a 5.

I’ve never heard Rush before today, but I’ve heard people cover Rush. I’ve never heard 2112 before today, but that has a case to be one of the greatest “long” songs ever right off the bat for me. Just a swirling song that really makes use of its 20 minutes; I don’t think there’s a single spot wasted in there, from start to finish. That shit was absolutely fantastic. Easy 5.

Oh, yeah, there’s 5 other songs too. I really liked 4 of them. The only one that never really grabbed me was Lessons. Lessons IS still good though! It just felt too loose compared to the relative structure present in most of the other songs, and it just never really perked up instrumentally for me (unless I'm just deaf or I wasn't paying attention, that is). I say that, knowing that “Tears” is on here, but like… I really liked that one, sue me. Cheesy as hell, probably, but I’m just a big sucker for cheesy stuff when it’s done totally right. So, yeah, the back half of the album gets a 4 from me.

Balance that out, and you get a 4.5, which… come on, I’d be stupid to not round it up. Just an absolute treat of an album to listen to; great lyrics, super good vocals, and incredible instrumentation. That was… man. Easy 5.

I’m at a 5.

I just thought that was great. I don’t even really have that many words – I got completely encapsulated by the soundscape for most of the runtime. Those first 3 tracks are spectacular. Hell, even the long instrumental break during Moonchild kept me captivated for most of it, until I got tired of it by the end. The Court of The Crimson King shot me right back up though.

For 1969, this is utterly ridiculous, in a good way; the layered soundscapes here, the beat drops on the title drops… it just feels really ahead of schedule, man. I’m sure this album has eventually been outdone within its space, and I get the feeling it might even come later in one of these 1,001 albums, but as someone listening to this for the first time, I’m just kinda blown away by how well they absolutely fucking nailed it. For a debut record, no less. Easy 5.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’m gonna begrudgingly bump up to a 5, because I think it’s not a 4, but it just doesn’t feel like a 5.

Make no mistake; I think this album’s fucking great. This is incredibly cool to me – I only knew Use Somebody, which I still think is an all-timer of a track, but I’ve never really heard any of the other songs surrounding it, and up until Track 6, everything was blazing hot, all cylinders firing, all engines go, felt like one of the easiest 5s I might give. And yet, of those final 5 tracks, I was only really digging the last 2; something about Tracks 7 through 9 sounded really good, but they never really put the full package together in the same way that the first 6 tracks did.

Who knows? I might just be overreacting to an underwhelming finish; those first 6 tracks hit like crack, man. Absolute bliss for me. Even those last 5 tracks are still good listens; the soundscape never lets up a single time during this album, and you can’t say that Caleb Followill can’t sing his ass off, because he was belting like a motherfucker on this. I’m sure someone will get more enjoyment out of Notion or I Want You than I did (17 is an actively mediocre track), and they don’t take away from the rest of the album at all. It’s a great listen, and it deserves to be on the list; kind of conflicted about bumping it up to a 5, but I really do think it's just too good to only give it a 4.

I’m right on a 3.

When this album hits, it hits pretty good – there are some genuinely energetic songs here that come together in complete harmony between the vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation, and I’d say that comprises about half the album. The other half tends to hit on just one or two of the three, but never quite hits that perfect balance on all 3; sometimes, it’ll reach it briefly during one of the other 7 songs, but it never sustains it for long enough to really click like the other 7 do.

I’ll say this – it never falters on the instrumentation. I especially love the usage of the horns here, giving everything a sort of Ska vibe that I think is kinda underrated. The mixing is… a bit suspect at times, with the guitar especially overwhelming almost every other instrument here on most of the songs, but I never thought it was that big of a deal.

I mean, ultimately, it’s a fine album, but it’s just kind of underwhelming for an album to really peak around Track 6 or 7 and then kinda just walk its way to the finish line, you know? I felt less engaged by the halfway mark, and it just sort of wore me down by the end. There’s solid stuff here, and I’d imagine someone will stay engaged the whole way through, but it just doesn’t feel like I needed to listen to this before I die. It’s a solid 3, and that’s really about it.

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

Let me just be clear: no chance in hell I was gonna listen to the whole thing; I listened to a “best of” version that was only 45 minutes, and I get the distinct feeling that if I had listened to the whole thing, then… I dunno, who knows, maybe I’d somehow get to a 5.

From what I heard, this is super nice though. The orchestra does a great job of bringing these pieces to life, and I’m sure Ira Gershwin had a big say in the way all of these were recorded. Ella Fitzgerald… I’ve never heard her voice before today, for whatever reason. My goodness, what a voice. I don’t know how many more albums she has in these 1,001, but I hope it’s enough to hear more of her, and more of her doing contemporary music instead of more 1920s and 1930s standards.

Seriously, she kind of carries this album, but she shares it pretty equally with the instrumentation as well – I’m such a sucker for this sort of era because it really does feel long gone, even if these compositions have a timeless feel. Yes, there are cheesy lyrics on this album, and yes, some of these songs have lulls here and there, but I just really enjoyed listening to… you know, 45 minutes of what’s a roughly 3 hour album, but I digress. It’s pretty damn good; it’s nowhere near a 5 for me, but it’s enough of a spectacle and a window into the past that I can’t help but appreciate it. I’m good with a 4, and I think it’s worth being on the list.

I’m at a 4.

It’s a really good album, don’t get me wrong, and maybe on another day, it could totally be a 5, but much like Beck’s relationship seemed to wear him down into making this album, I think Beck kinda wore me down over the course of it.

It’s just a little too long, and I think it touches on some of its themes a bit too often; I’m not opposed to the fact that this is 12 tracks and 52 minutes or whatever, but as an album experience, it just feels a bit cramped around the middle with some songs that he wasn’t willing to cut (for likely good reasons, mind you), but they don’t translate as conducively to the album experience for a listener. Instrumentation and lyrics here are fantastic, and in terms of the imagery and the feelings this album is meant to evoke, they do their jobs brilliantly – the swirling instrumental pieces that end a lot of these tracks are beautifully crafted.

I just think the album’s biggest problem is being a little too bloated, and to be quite frank, a lack of true levity. There’s not really a point where anything truly brightens up here, and that lack of a release of tension just sort of hangs a cloud on the album that feels unresolved. I’m sure it more closely resembles reality, and it’s probably consistent with how Beck felt at the time, but I just think it wore me down to not get at least one happy-go-lucky song.

I’m still rather pleased with the album though. I might just be nitpicking at it – it’s a really good album, it’s a strong listen, and it probably hits harder in the light of an actual breakup. I feel good with a 4, and I do think it deserves to be on the list.

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

I just thought this album felt really encapsulating to me – it had some lulls early on, but I never really felt bored, I just felt like I was always waiting for the instrumentation to take another step up. They kinda broke down that expectation over time, and I think after getting a bit of energy with Back Home and The Bottle, the rest of the album was gliding for me in terms of the soundscape, the vocals, and ultimately, the comforting feel of the album.

I really think the last 5 tracks (not counting the reprise of Peace go with You, Brother at the end) are just that damn good – Song for Bobby Smith and Your Daddy Loves You, in particular, gave me the same feeling as say, watching Mr. Rogers or Bob Ross. They just felt reassuring in an authentic way that isn’t often recorded in music, in part because there’s no swirling bombastic instrumental behind them, which helped a lot. H2Ogate Blues is a great critique of the politics of the era, and it’s wild how well I think it’s aged into 2024, especially with the damn Reagan diss about a decade early.

I’m just kinda grumpy that this isn’t on streaming, because I’d add every song here if I could. Regardless, it’s a really nice 44 minutes, and I kinda just found a bit of bliss in it. I enjoyed the hell out of it, and I feel good with a 5. It definitely feels like it should be on this list.

Yeah, that’s like a 10.

I’ve really got no words – that was just 73 minutes of pure perfection, as far as I’m concerned. Yes, it does go a bit long, and yes, it does eventually start to wear on you with the guitar riffs and the percussion and the soundscape, and everything in between, but like… I could fucking care less. I loved every single track here (well, OK, “Still Raining, Still Dreaming” could’ve probably been cut), and I genuinely cannot believe I’ve never heard this album in full before today.

I pretty much only knew Voodoo Child (Slight Return), and I knew about the existence of the All Along the Watchtower cover, but I’d never heard it, or the original song for that matter. I’m ignorant enough for not listening to the latter, but the other tracks on here are fucking incredible. I’ve really and truly got no other words; it’s a 10, it’s worth the listen, it’s so deeply recommended, and it’s so easily deserving to be on this list.

I'm gonna put a 5, for the sake of the website, but realistically, I’m surprisingly only at a 4, because I just can’t bump it up from a 4.5.

Don’t get me wrong, I really want to bump this up to a 5, and maybe on a better day, I can, but like… I dunno, this album kinda falls off after Track 8 for me. I really do think those first 8 tracks cover a great variety of soundscapes, great lyricism, and if it had climaxed on Express Yourself as a totally honest closing track, it’d totally be a 5. I think it just overstays its welcome afterwards, mainly because the last 5 songs are really long, taking up over a third of the album’s runtime by mostly retreading old ground, circling the subject matter a few too many times, or being outright horrendously misogynistic like on Dopeman (Remix). The last 2 tracks are fun though, so like… I dunno, 10 out of 13 isn’t bad?

It’s just an album that goes a little too long – based on like, pure vibes, this album would totally get a 5; it’s just an incredible snapshot of its time, and Ice Cube, Eazy-E, MC Ren, and Dr. Dre (who really doesn’t even do THAT much on this album in terms of actually rapping) are all on top of their game here.

I just think the entire album experience ends up at a 4 because of the run of Compton’s N The House, I Ain’t Tha 1, and Dopeman (Remix) just kinda killing the vibes. Cut those 3 tracks, I’m easily at a 5. With those 3 tracks, I’m stuck on a 4. Regardless, it’s an all-time classic album and it easily deserves to be on this list.

I’m somehow at a 3.

I pretty much wrote my opinion of this album around Track 3, and even though Tracks 5 and 6 kind of picked up for me, this album is just aggressively OK. To copy and paste what I wrote after listening to “Someone”:

I’m at a weird point with this album so far; it’s technically sound, the production is good, and his vocals are fine, but nothing is blowing me away. Every song is nice to listen to so far, but when you really dig into it, it’s all just homages to the past. This song in particular felt like a cheap version of a 60s Frank Sinatra trying to do a 90s Bond theme, which is fine on paper, and in terms of the execution here, was done pretty well. It just didn’t really have the charisma or a unique personality to really make this song work. Objectively, the horn section in this song was bombastic, it was glowing, it represented the sort of heartache and loneliness the song was going for really well… but I just didn’t believe in the song.

Really, I just don’t believe in the album. It’s not that these are bad songs; they’re all fine, they’re decent to listen to, and the instrumentation gives a great energy to each track. The problem is that nothing truly stands out on its own; everything feels taken from another artist. In terms of the album’s structure, everything just blends together. If you do the big bombastic instrumental part in every song where the strings swell and the vocals hit a fever pitch… then no song feels special. When nothing feels special, you just can’t believe in the album. There is a skeleton of a great album in here, but this just never really sheds its skin to become something that actually stands out. It’s aggressively OK, and no higher than a 3. It definitely doesn’t feel like it belongs on this list.

Somehow, I think I’m at a 5.

I can’t really explain why – I just enjoyed the hell out of this. At the first track, I was trying so hard to place what the vocals reminded me of, and it took until I Love The Dead to realize that Alice Cooper sounds like Weird Al for parts of this album; maybe that’s just a subconscious thing that added to my enjoyment of this album.

Even without that connection, I think the album just sounds fantastic. It’s got such a good variance of styles, from the sort of rock arena anthem that is Hello Hooray, to the James Bond vibes of Unfinished Sweet, to the sort of jovial and Elton John-esque No More Mr. Nice Guy, and to the blatantly obvious Bob Dylan homage that is Generation Landslide. There’s just a lot of fun to be had on this album.

It does sort of falter by the last 3 tracks, where it tries to take a sort of moodier approach (but they're still fine), but I think the strength of those first 7 tracks and the fun I had with them just gets me to a 5. I enjoyed it that much; great instrumentation, fun vocals, good vibes, awesome album. Definitely deserves to be on the list.

I’m going for a 5.

I’ve never heard of Nick Drake before this – I now know who he is, and I feel rather sad. This album, much like the Leonard Cohen album we got a while ago, feels like the weight of a life bearing on me in musical form. Unlike Leonard Cohen, it’s not a life long lived; Nick Drake died at the age of 26. I don’t quite have the words to really describe how I feel, but I do think this album struck a little closer to home than the Leonard Cohen album did, though they both made me feel the same way.

The youth in his voice, and the familiarity of his voice, with a sort of Jack Johnson or John Mayer-esque tone, enhanced even more by the choice to go fully acoustic, is what really made this hit harder for me. To put it in a more succinct way, this is a true tortured poet’s department, and every line here deserves to be studied with a bit more of a critical eye. Just a beautifully haunting album, and well deserved to be on this list. Very deserving of a 5.

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

It’s just really fucking good soul music, man. Even if a lot of it is covers, his voice just glides on them and takes control like they were always his to begin with (save for Respect, but… you know). There are little lulls on this album, and I do think songs fade out a little too often instead of hitting a definitive finish, but those are nitpicks: what’s here is really good, and even when those lulls come in, they’re interrupted by his voice booming out with power and you immediately forget they ever happened.

The instrumentation is pretty nice here too; I don’t think many liberties were taken, save for the horn section in the Satisfaction cover, but everything feels pretty true to its original versions otherwise.

I just liked it a lot; it’s a fun listen with some occasionally stunning vocals, and I’m totally fine with giving it a 5. Certainly no less than a 4.

I’m at a 3.

Really, the biggest thing I can knock this album for are the vocals; the monotone feel works on about half the tracks, but on the other half, they either just don’t fit, or he’s trying way too hard to make them fit. I Remember Nothing, in particular, has a really captivating and haunting moody soundscape that just gets dragged down so hard by his vocals that it almost killed the song for me.

Regardless, it’s a solid album. There’s good tracks, there’s not really any bad tracks (ok, I fucking hated Candidate though), but there’s not that many captivating and memorable tracks. A lot of it blended together for me, and part of it is from some of the songs just having slightly dull and repetitive soundscapes. The drums are super hit and miss on this album to me; when they’re hot, they are red hot and add a great energy. When they’re missing, it’s basically just because it’s a remarkably basic pattern that sort of drains the energy from the guitar. The guitar usually doesn’t miss though.

I dunno, that’s a lot of words to say “it’s fine, it could have been better, the instrumentation was bland at times, and the vocals are the weakest part”. It’s a solid 3, and I’m sure other people will “get it” more deeply than I did.

I mean, that’s probably a 10, right?

Fucking hell, I think I finally get the hype. I definitely listened to this a decade ago or something when I was trying to really get into music to see what I missed, but I probably just dismissed a lot of it outside of the first 3 tracks, because they had the most recognizable name value. Those tracks are awesome, and all-timers, don’t get me wrong, but like… god, the other 10 tracks on here are such an all-encapsulating gem of a record.

Just a perfect encapsulation of the sound of a post-Reagan America pissed off at both him and George H.W. Bush on its heavier songs… but also, just a fucking awesome album in general. Dave Grohl deserves even more acclaim than he already gets – his drum work on this album is absolutely fucking impeccable. Kurt’s guitar riffs are off the charts, and the basslines are really underrated, I think, as the glue holding the percussion from collapsing in on itself on a few of these tracks.

I’m kinda just stunned still, both at my younger self for not getting it, and at this album as a whole. I don’t know why I never really went back to it like this, but I’m very glad I got an excuse to do it now. Just an incredible album.

Well, that’s a 5.

I’ve only ever heard Respect off this album, and other than (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, I’m just not that deeply familiar with Aretha Franklin's work. I’m a moron for not being deeply familiar with her work – this album epitomizes soul, and it’s very easy to see why she was dubbed the Queen of it within her lifetime.

Her vocals on this record are absolutely stunning, and the main highlight of an album that would not be anywhere as good without them. Even without the absolute monster of a track that is Respect, this album would absolutely stand up on its own, from the immediate power of her voice on Drown In My Own Tears all the way to the passion shown on A Change Is Gonna Come.

Just a fabulous album; it’s a very well-deserved 5. A 10/10, even.