Reviews by jaileer5

OK, so, I don't really like it. That said, it's one of those albums that I *absolutely* understand why it made the list. Do I ever want to listen to it again? I do not. Usually, that's a 2 star review. However, I can see the strangeness of this album, and how it pushed creativity away from the 70s sound into the synth-pop driven 80s. Bonus points that it seemed to be HEAVILY influential to hip hop, considering all the artists who have sampled music from this album.

I'm giving it an extra star out of respect.

This is the second album of M.I.A.'s that I have gotten. The first album, Kala, was one of the biggest surprises of the project for me, and I rewarded it with a 4.5/5 star rating. This album doesn't quite reach the same high standards as Kala to my ears, but that is not to say that it is not an excellent album. I feel like Kala was a bit more experimental, and really kept me on my toes not knowing what to expect from song to song. The first half of this album sees the artist very heavily leaning into a strong dancehall sound. It's quite good, and kept my toes tapping, but it wasn't particularly compelling, if that makes sense.

The second half of the album, however, was magical. Bingo has production that sounds like it could be by Trent Reznor, and Amazon is as good as any song on either album. The creativity and unpredictability of Kala is in full effect.

I'm certain this album is going to have a much, much lower rating than it deserves, as was the case for Kala, but anything under 4 stars would be criminal, and I am not a criminal.

It's whatever. Early 90s alt rock, shades of Pavement, or Dinosaur Jr., or Weezer. Which is to say kind of boring, but not the worst. It's fine.

I think I knew I wasn’t going to like it. I kind of wanted to like it, but there was really no way that I was going to like it. I’m just not a fan of this sort of schlocky 80s pop. I will admit, karma chameleon kind of slaps, but this type of music just isn’t for me.

Which Jesus do I need to pray to in order to not get any more Johnny Cash albums? I like baby Jesus the best, of course, but I'll pray to pre-teen Jesus if I need to, or obnoxious mid-20s Jesus, even. Just, please. No more Johnny Cash.

This sucks. A lot. I can't stand The Beach Boys, but I tried to go into this with an open mind, because solo music doesn't always sound exactly like the band the artist was in.

Except this shit absolutely does. And it sucks.

How did this album come out in 2004? It just sounds like some shitty 50s Beach Boys outtakes. I don't get it, there even appear to be Beach Boys covers? I don't know, and I can't be bothered to look it up.

If you like this album, congratulations on having made it to your 80th birthday, I guess.

Yet another fairly difficult album to score. I try to start at a baseline of 3, and if an album annoys me it starts to drop, and if it impresses me, it starts to raise. The first several songs of this album looked to be trending towards a really poor score. It seemed like a boring, recycled R&B/soul album with a strong - graphic - focus on sex from a woman's perspective.

Then I hit song 8 with Anderson .Paak, whom I quite enjoy, and something seemed to click. Then I hit the song Lost Ones, which is one of the simplest, most effective, heartbreaking breakup songs I've ever heard, and I was all in.

The album's structure took me a few songs to properly grasp, but once I got it, the genius of it really resonated with me. A real story by a real person, followed by a song that explores the preceding tale. I'll be honest - some of the tales annoyed me, but the writing of the songs, and the storytelling overall is incredible.

I think this is another example of why this project needs half stars, but the writing on this album alone means it deserves more than the standard "it's fine" rating of 3 stars.

Ok. A bit tedious

Surprisingly good.

This is a good time. Not as good, in my opinion, as some of his later work, and it leans a bit to heavily on religiosity and hippie aesthetic, but Lenny is so cool he just about makes it work. 3.5 album if we had half stars, but I'll bump it to 4 stars because I'm a Lenny Kravitz fan, even if this isn't my favorite album.

3.5. There were some straight bangers, and there was some cringey mess. Overall, I actually think Paul’s Boutique was a better album. I never realized just how much classic rock was used for samples in Beastie Boys early work. I think I’ll give it a 4, but it’s just barely.

It’s kind annoying. I didn’t hate it, and musically it was pretty decent, but the singers voice simultaneously shrill yet bland. 2.5 stars if I could.

Strange, but enjoyable.

I have to be honest - I'm not feeling it. Wikipedia says "Winter in America has been recognized by music writers as one of the prominent examples of early rap" and I'm sorry, what? This just sounds like smooth jazz - where the fuck are people getting "early rap" Music writers love to group black artists together, even if they're completely different genres.

Anyway, I don't love it. I feel bad giving it two stars, but I never want to listen to it again, and that's kind of my litmus test.

It's interesting, but the entire album sounds like a remix album. Like some house DJ made a bunch of songs, and then remixed them with Madonna's vocals. It's not off-putting, but it doesn't sound natural, if that makes sense.

I don't really like Madonna, but I do tend to like - or at least appreciate - things that are weird or unique - and this album is certainly weird/unique. I also tend to like dance music, so I don't hate this.

Ultimately, I think this was a fun one time listen, and I think I understand why it's included. I'm going to give it 3 stars because it's definitely fine, and I wouldn't be mad if I heard the occasional song in the background, but I'd never actually search it out for another listen.

Absolute BANGER of an album opener. Not only one of the best opening songs of all time, Cult of Personality is one of the best songs ever made.

Open Letter (to a Landlord), Memories Can’t Wait, Glamour Boys, and What’s Your Favorite Color and timeless and awesome. I love this album, and I think Living Colour is possibly the most criminally underrated rock band of all time. I also think that there are parts of this album that start to show its age.

I’m really torn between four star and five star. On one hand, I don’t think it’s as good as most of the other albums that I have in the five star group. On the other hand, I’m very cognizant of the influence that it had on music, Culture, and me personally. And in those areas, it’s an easy five star.

I’m an American, and Robbie Williams really didn’t hit over here. I couldn’t find out how high the album charted in the US, but I did learn that his highest ranking single only reached 53 before I got bored of looking.

I’m nearly 600 albums in at this point, and I feel like this project has a slightly British bias in some of the album choices, but this may be the most egregious. It was MASSIVE, apparently, in the UK, but didn’t really hit in many other countries.

Anyway, I used to think I didn’t like 80s music, but what this project has shown me is that there are some incredible 80s albums, it’s really just 80s pop music that I don’t like.

I’m a 90s kid. It brings warm feelings, even if it’s music I didn’t really connect to at the time, like the Alanis Morrisette album.

But what this album has showed me is that I just don’t like pop music for ANY decade, because this is pretty shit.

Quite good, actually. Very Tracy Chapman vibes - although this is well before Tracy Chapman.

It’s OK. Not exceptional, but not bad. Too long. Three stars.

I cannot abide country music. I know Johnny Cash has become this larger than life, beloved by all, Americana-type figure, but I've never understood why. What I will say is that this doesn't really sound like country music. It's not weird and twangy. This may be because most (all?) of the songs are covers from better artists. That said, though it's too long and Cash's voice is very much the same through every song, it's not terrible. 2.5 stars, probably, but I'll give it an extra half star because Hurt is an awesome video, even though the original song is better.