Reviews by guggmo

I’m feeling a 4.

I don’t really understand the criticisms this album has been getting on the site – yes, it’s very radio-friendly safe pop, but what’s wrong with that? Not everything has to be this absolutely blowout balls at the wall album. Sometimes, when pop is good, and it clicks, it just… clicks. This album clicked for me; I thought the instrumentation was pretty good, I really like the tone of his voice, and I thought the tempo and the vibes were pretty varied and entertaining throughout. Lyrically, I caught a few things that were dumb as hell, but overall, I’d say this is good, and worth giving a 4 to.

Let me put it this way: I’ve heard worse on some of the previous 121 albums we’ve done before this. To me, this is pretty fun. It’s not blow-me-away incredible, and it breaks the streak of 5’s I’ve been giving (4 albums in a row and 5 out of the last 6 is pretty good), but I definitely enjoyed it, and I’d recommend it. I’d say that makes it worthy of being on the list.

That’s a 5.

I don’t even think I want to expound on that. It’s a fucking 5. Just… ugh. Insanely good. I’ve never heard Iron Maiden before this; I might be fucking stupid. What an incredible album, genuinely. I don’t have the words; I’m writing this right after I listened to it, and I’m stunned, and all I know is that everyone should listen to this. Just beautifully visceral. This shit feels like hearing Thriller for the first time. To me, it feels like the cornerstone piece of a genre. That’s all I can say. Easy 5.

It’s a 4.5 that I’m gonna pretty easily round up to a 5. First Bowie album to get a 5 out of me during this experience.

I can’t exactly explain how I feel after listening to this, mainly because it’s unlike any Bowie album we’ve gotten yet, or anything Bowie that I’ve ever listened to, really. I don’t know what crack Brian Eno put into these collaborations with Bowie, but something just clicked perfectly for me with this album; the synth work, the instrumentation, Bowie’s vocals in the first half, the moodiness of the second half, and really, just the sort of strange mix of melancholy and brightness that I had wavering throughout this album.

It’s very hard to describe it, but I know that I’m glad I listened to this album, and I know that I’d recommend it as an experience. It is not a traditional David Bowie affair, and I’d argue it’s more of a Brian Eno album that happens to have David Bowie on it for a strong chunk of the album, but regardless, I feel pretty good about bumping this up to a 5.

Surprisingly, a 5.

Well, OK, maybe not that surprising, but for the earliest album we’ve gotten so far to get this out of me is a little surprising to me. It’s just a really fun listen. Louis Prima’s voice and tone has this great energy that gets matched by the band, and on the two tracks that have Keely Smith as the female vocalist, his voice blends really well with hers.

Ultimately, what makes this album is Louis Prima’s vocal energy; yes, the lyrics are there, and they’re pretty solid, but you don’t need them to enjoy this. This is just really fun swing music; it’s a good time, it’s a great listen, and I think the amount of infectious energy it gives out makes it very worthy of a 5. Certainly no less than a 4, at least to me.

It is, thankfully, a 5.

This album has received so much critical acclaim, and yet I only really knew it for Rehab and Back to Black, both of which are fabulous tracks. I think there are a few tracks on here that touched me really deeply, namely Love is a Losing Game & Wake Up Alone. Absolutely fabulous songs, and Amy Winehouse’s voice is spectacular on them, and the entire album. The production is off the charts too; Mark Ronson does a great job evoking the 50s and 60s with modern production for someone who feels ripped straight out of the era of R&B and soul music of that time.

To put it bluntly, I’m glad it’s a 5 because I feel like I would have been underwhelmed if it were anything else. The legend of Amy Winehouse has grown in the years since her death, and the fact that a movie is coming out about her soon is the craziest part. Great timing to get this album, and I’m glad I finally had the excuse to sit down and listen to it in full. I’m so glad that it’s this good, and I’m also so dumb for not listening to the whole thing before today. Fantastic 5. Easily one of the best albums we’ve gotten so far.

It’s a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4.

It’s pretty good; I think the first half of the album is a bit generic at times, but I really enjoyed the back half of the album. I thought it had way more energy to it. However, when this album kinda hits those generic lulls, it’s just not that sonically pleasing; the guitar can overwhelm the vocals, or the percussion can overwhelm the guitar, or some other rock/paper/scissors type of connection with those 3 elements. When this album clicks and those 3 are in harmony, it’s really nice. Even when it’s not clicking in full, it’s usually hitting on 2 of those 3, and it makes for a fine enough listen.

It didn’t really do enough to ever feel like it was close to a 5, but it’s pretty good regardless, and I think a 4 feels about right.

I knew I was giving it a 5, I just… ugh. Wow. It’s so good. I haven’t heard it in full in a bit, but it’s so goddamn good.

There are some songs where the repetition becomes too noticeable to ignore at times, but when this album clicks, it clicks deeply. Her lyricism is great, her vocals are spectacular, and the instrumentals are really fun throughout, especially when they lean into live instrumentation. The biggest knock I have on this album is its length (it’s a little long), but it just doesn’t matter that much to me. It’s not a perfect album, but I love it regardless, and I really wish Lauryn Hill had tried to top herself, but if she never does, she left an absolutely stellar project here, and it’s so highly recommended. Easy 5.

It’s a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4.

I think there are a few points of lulls on this album; not necessarily in the instrumental lacking an energy, or vocal repetition, but just points where the soundscape kinda loses a luster really quickly if the vocals aren’t flowing, and vice-versa. Most of the tracks here have a good energy, and a great soundscape, but there were some songs that were just harder for me to stay fully invested in on account of those little lulls.

I do think this album sounds well ahead of its time for 2005; not like, 2020s level of ahead, but certainly a bit more of an early 2010’s flair. I don’t think there are that many standout individual tracks, but the album as an entire package is just a fun listen, and a recommended one at that. It’s not gonna be everyone’s cup of tea; I do think there are some harsher instrumental choices here and there, and sometimes her vocals do feel a bit… aggressive. However, a lot of this just clicked for me as a listener – there were times when I wasn’t feeling a song, kinda zoned out, and enjoyed it more for some reason. Schrödinger’s beat, I guess. Happy with the 4.

It’s a pretty strong 4.

I don’t know quite how to describe the way I felt during this album, but the energy grew throughout until it basically hit a peak at Not What You Want, before sort of curving back down. I felt a little nitpicky at first, with her vocals not quite meshing with the guitar and the dissonance not really clicking well for me sonically, to eventually just really getting pulled into the musical feel more than anything else.

It’s a testament to the strength of the album that I actually wish the last track had gone longer instead of feeling a little more abrupt – this is just a super fun listen, and if the inner punk/grunge-self in you doesn’t feel the energy off this album at least once, then something’s just wrong. Super fun 4 that has peaks that feel like a 5.

The definition of a 3, really.

I wouldn’t say it’s bad at all, but it never really makes the jump past “good” – Pretty in Pink is pretty fun, as are 2 or 3 other tracks, but this album feels like it’s missing a specific type of signature song. That doesn’t even mean a super commercial hit or anything, it just needs something that really defines their style and stands out, and I just never found that here. It is 1981 rock, which occasionally dips backwards into the late 70s and occasionally dips forward into some mid-80s R.E.M. type of soundscapes, but it never really settles into a spot where I found myself super deeply engaged with any one song, hence the 3.

It’s a 4 that I’m gonna bump up to a 5.

I’m kinda just stunned, really, and I’m not really sure if I have the proper words to describe my mood right now. This is the first time I’ve properly heard Fiona Apple, ever; her voice is incredibly unique to me, and her slightly deeper tone just clicked super well for me as the primary instrument on this album. The piano, while it did eventually lose its luster near the end of the album, is a really strong choice for her to play off of, as there were times when she was just gliding with the damn thing. For 1996, this feels like it wouldn’t miss a damn beat if it had come out in 2024.

I also really liked the lyrics here; just evocative enough for imagery to sort of let the brain drift away and get lost, but not in a way where you lose all focus on the soundscape and her vocals. There were a few tracks where the lyrics sort of lost me, and when they lost me, the instrumental and her vocals couldn’t really pull me back in.

However, for the vast majority of this album, something just captivated me, and that’s why even though it’s nearer to a 4 for me, given the runtime, the occasional extended instrumental outros, and the occasional moments of lyrical confusion, I enjoyed this so damn much that I have to bump it up to a 5.

It’s a 3.5 that I think I’m going to round down to a 3.

I really don’t think there’s a bad track here, save for two examples: the egregiously cheesy and quintessentially 80s “A Gospel,” and “Strength of Your Nature,” which is fine but did not need to be 4 minutes long.

Every other track, besides My Ever Changing Moods & Headstart for Happiness, ended up as a good listen, but not a very memorable one. Those two were the standouts for me. Individually, I think there’s some good soundscapes, some good vocal performances, and even the instrumental tracks have a nice energy to them.

The problem is that other than those 2 tracks, nothing really stuck to my brain on this album, but I’d honestly say I enjoyed most of it while I was listening to it. There are songs here I’d be happy to hear come up in a shuffle, but I don’t think I’d actively seek them out. I do think it’s higher than a 3, but it’s not quite at the level of a 4, so I’ll stick it at a 3. It might jump up to a 4 later though.

It’s a pretty decent 4.

James Brown has incredible crowd control on this album, which works well live, but occasionally hits some lull points when you’re dealing with nothing but the music – I thought Lost Someone really started to drag by the end, but the medley afterward started red hot. That’s the sort of thing where I imagine it was way cooler live than how it feels on this album. I also think Night Train was… sort of the “wrong” closer for this set? It seems like it was either recorded separately or recorded in a way where the crowd’s energy was drained.

Speaking of the crowd, they’re basically their own instrument on this album with the way James Brown and his excellent band basically hit every transition in a way to let them realize what’s up next without much of a pause (again, except for the extended dragout section on Lost Someone). Those little lulls are what get this a 4; honestly, it’s probably closer to a 3.5 than it is a 4, but I know it deserves higher than a 3. It’s just a really strong listen that didn’t quite click with me the way some of the other live albums we’ve gotten have, but it's enjoyable regardless.

I’m just a sucker for pop, man. It’s a 4.5 that I’m gonna round up to a 5.

It’s just a really fucking catchy album; there’s a lot to be said about Jack Antonoff’s influence (for better or worse) on so much of modern pop, but when he clicks perfectly with an artist, it’s easy to ignore those production quirks and just get a great feel for the music. Lorde’s vocals and lyrics on this album do a great job of distracting from those quirks in a way that makes her really shine on this album.

I do think she gives a more authentic view of herself on Pure Heroine compared to this album, but they’re intentionally tonally different. Even though I think I still prefer aspects of Pure Heroine more, this album is just full of bops, and it’s got an extremely infectious energy. Oddly, my standout on this album is Liability, which is the least boppy of them all, but it’s just an utterly beautiful piano-driven song that brought me to the verge of tears.

I can feel how this album did influence the direction this style of pop music would take; you don’t get to a Billie Eilish or an Olivia Rodrigo without this sort of album, in terms of its soundscape, its lyrics, and to some degree, its marketability. This style is starting to feel a bit overplayed now, but Lorde really makes it work for herself here, and I’m glad I listened to it. I feel pretty good going for a 5. Certainly no less than a 4.

That’s a really intriguing 3.

There are lulls around the middle where the sound sorta loses its luster, but all 4 of the core styles here make for good listening. I enjoyed the first and last styles (Dádrá & Sindhi-Bhairavi) the most because they just sort of had a more natural and free-flowing vibe to them; you can feel these guys feeling the music come to them. It felt to me like that was a bit more deliberate in the Máru-Bihág and Bhimpalási styles, and that’s why I didn’t enjoy them as much, but they’re all good listens.

The only knock I might have on these tracks are the runtimes? I feel like it could’ve been possible to trim this down a little bit, but that’s a knock against the sort of flow I was talking about earlier and I’d be kind of a hypocrite. I don’t think I can go up to a 4 or a 5 because it is kind of just the same throughout, but it’s a very enjoyable listen regardless, and I feel good with a 3.

It’s a 2.5 that I cannot possibly bring myself to round up to a 3… but it’s not that terrible. It’s just boring.

There’s genuinely some good soundscapes here, and I’d say the vocal performance only ever dips to a real low by “Vagabond Holes,” but this album just feels like the equivalent of just getting a vanilla ice cream when there’s so many other flavors and toppings available. Most of the songs are fine to listen to, but when you look at the lyrics, the concepts of each song sort of fall apart with lyrics that are either too contrived or too outdated and “safe” for 1987, let alone 2024.

Instrumentally, I think the mixing on this album is all over the place, and in terms of production, these are trying so desperately hard to sound important and bombastic with this rich variety of instruments, and it just falls flat because as a listener, it’s incredibly easy to tell where they’re just trying too hard. The problem, of course, is that they’ve tried just enough to exist within the limbo of “good enough to listen to, not good enough to care,” and that is the cardinal sin any album can fall into. If I were going by a 10… I dunno, a 5.5, maybe? Decent listen, but instantly forgettable, hence the 2.

It’s a pretty good 3, but it’s just sort of… safe.

It’s hard for me to find the specific words I want to say, because I do think this album has some pretty energetic tracks throughout, but none of them are necessarily that memorable. It’s not an Apocalypse Dudes situation where I felt like every song just sort of blended together, but it is a point where the quantity of the album creates diminishing returns on the quality of the album – at some point, the soundscape loses its luster, and even with the 16 tracks here all being relatively short, some of them do feel unnecessary, even with some decent variety within.

It’s a good listen, and I’m sure it’ll resonate better and perhaps more deeply with someone else, but for my money’s worth, this is an album that you take all the songs in, throw on a playlist, and then just go “oh, this sounds cool” when it comes up on shuffle, and never think about it again afterward. Hence, the 3, but it could go up to a 4 later. The guitar work was absolutely stellar though.

Once again, I have an annoyingly deep connection to this album. Once again, I do find it to be a timeless classic. I still think that THIS version of Kanye West, before every single disgraceful and disgusting thing he's done and said in the 13.5 years since this album has dropped, is still pretty damn good; not as good as his College Trilogy work, and honestly for me, probably still not as good as 808s, but regardless... ugh, this album is another fucking 5.

Yes, this Kanye certainly resembles a little more of the asshole he's become, but he was driven by that stupidity and that ego to create this piece of art instead of spreading hate. In that sense, I miss this asshole who tried to "redeem" himself by just making incredible music and not being a Nazi sympathizer for the fun of it.

Still though; just classics on classics on classics on this one; Dark Fantasy is a stellar opener, and the 3-track stretch of POWER, All of the Lights, and Monster is such a ridiculous flex. Devil In A New Dress is stellar, Runaway will stick with me forever, and the 1-2 punch of Lost in The World / Who Will Survive in America is a great way to close out the album.

Once again, I didn't listen to this album before giving it this 5, if only because I know it well enough to never have to give Kanye another dime ever again. It is once again, obnoxiously a 5, even if the man has dipped further into the negatives.

So, uhh... this time, I chose to listen to Sean Kingston's self-titled debut album. I mean, honestly? Not bad. Pretty fun album; a lot of 2000s-era production quirks in there, some slang I wish we would bring back in the lyrics, and ultimately, some pretty solid vocal performances by Sean Kingston. It’s got some weird sampling choices, sure, but I feel like I’ve heard worse. A solid 7/10 album.

I mean, in terms of doing exactly what it’s supposed to do, I’d say it gets a 5 as an ambient album. In terms of the music itself… it’s like a 3.5, maybe, but the point of the album is almost certainly not to critique the actual composition – sure, there are layers to the music, intentional production decisions, and a general melody loop each track follows, but that’s not the stuff to focus on. It’s just about getting lost in the soundscape and going for it.

Obviously, it would be dumb to go, “oh, it’s a 5, that means it’s as good as Illmatic or something” because it’s obviously not, but like… what else am I supposed to rate it, you know? The only knock I have is that 2/1 was probably the most “distracting” of the tracks, but it’s like complaining that a bird is chirping while it’s sunny outside. It happens.

Seriously, I think I’m gonna go with a 5 in terms of keeping me focused, steady, and relaxed for its entire 48 minute runtime. If I had to go out of 10, it’s almost certainly like a 7/10 or something, but that’s just because it’s clearly not at the highest of high levels or anything. What a strange album to include in the 1,001 set, but like… I’m glad it came up, because now I have new focus/study music to add to my collection. Pretty good.

It’s a very nice 3 that I'll round up to a 4.

I really enjoyed this, honestly; I think what’s here makes for a great listen, there’s about 6 tracks that properly caught my ear in a captivating way, but the other 5 or so just sort of exist in a way that were only made for casual listening, at least to me. I thought the last track being fully instrumental was a bit baffling. Regardless though, this album evokes so much of that 50s/60s country sound that I tend to have a bias towards, and I thought it really faithfully captured a lot of its production quirks in a way that made the whole album feel authentically done and with a lot of respect towards that era. Hence, the round-up.