Reviews by jaileer5

Initial thought: wtf is this?

This sounds like someone set out to make the most cookie cutter, fluffy haired, clean cut, white boy 80s pop template and succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

I hate 80s pop.

Also, it’s over an hour. Very few albums should be over an hour long and this is not one of them.

Initial thought: Hell yeah. I was a big club kid for about 15 minutes in my late teens/early 20s, and the Chemical brothers were *the* electronic band. I'm not entirely sure I've heard this album, but I played the shit out of Dig Your Own Hole. I have a feeling this is going to be fun.

Yeah, that was great. Lots of layered sounds, complex beats, and it just sounds great! I didn't stop tapping my feet the entire album. 5 stars.

Initial thought: Meh. It's an interesting selection that I'm not upset about. I know she's supposed to be great, so I'll be interested to hear it, but also, I don't generally connect with really old music, so we'll see.

OK, so I'm listening to this, and it's fine, even pretty good for what it is. I'm at work, so I've been doing stuff while listening, and I've stopped a few times to talk to people, etc. But it finally dawns on me - it feels like I've been listening to this for a *really* long time. So I open Apple Music, scroll down and - holy shit - it's over THREE hours! No thanks. I looked it up and apparently it's a box set and it's like 6 albums and that is too many albums. I've already listened to the better part of two of them, and that's enough.

So 3 stars. It was smooth, she's got a great voice, it's proper lounge bar music, but it's too long for this project. Honestly, it's too long for anything. I'm glad I cut it off before getting annoyed with it. I'm sure some fans will say I missed some good stuff, but there's no goddamned way I'm listening to 3 hours of boomer youth music.

Not looking forward to this. I don't really like early punk.

Well, shit. That was great. Like, I think I like Iggy Pop/The Stooges. There were a couple things in there that I could nitpick, but why? Overall, it sounds VERY much before its time. At no point did I think, musically, that I was listening to an album that was most likely recorded in the 1960s. There's an energy, and a violence, and a heaviness that I don't think is found very often in music from that era - especially not in a band that became fairly big.

It's kind of a difficult rating for me. an easy 3.5, but is it a 4? I'm not sure I'm ever going to seek it out to listen to on purpose, but I cannot deny that it's pretty awesome. And compared to some of the other trek from the late 60s/early 70s I've listened to? Revolutionary doesn't even begin to describe it.

It’s fine. I know he’s beloved in certain circles, but I thought it was just ok.

Man, it’s just not my thing. I’ll give it two stars because I feel guilty, but it sounds like an episode of Charlie Brown.

Never heard of this band. Based on the artwork and the year, I am really not looking forward to this.

Don’t love it. Sounds like an episode of The Brady Bunch.

Initial thought: I LOVE Bjork! the day after OK Computer - I'm in heaven!

So, I love Bjork. I know she's not everyone's cup of tea, and I understand why. But there's such delicacy in her sound that never seems to get overshadowed in her powerful moments, or the times where she's most creative or experimental, which allows for such beauty in her sound that it can get overwhelming. This album leans hard into that delicacy and beauty, as it sounds like a girl in love - the gauzy, exhilarating first moments of love where every sense is heightened, every moment is forever, and all the pieces seem to fit.

I love this album. 5 stars.

Initial thoughts: Fuck yeah! Instant 5 stars, absolute masterpiece, top ten album ever made.

I came to Radiohead a little late. I had heard Creep, of course, as everyone my age had, but it was whatever. At the time, I was very into hard rock and here come Radiohead, this little frou frou band - or so I thought. I was in the gym one day and was talking to this guy - an absolute jacked specimen of a man, and asked him what was in his headphones. "Radiohead." It blew me away. We chatted a bit more, he encouraged me to give them a listen, and the rest is history. Radiohead is my favorite band, and though choosing a favorite album is like choosing a favorite child (which is to say - you ABSOLUTELY have a favorite but you'd never say it in public), many would choose OK Computer as their magnum opus.

As mentioned in my initial thought, this is a certifiable all-time banger. Not a weak song on the album, not an ounce of fat, no notes: perfection.

Curtis Mayfield is a pimp, there's no other way to say it. This is just really good, really smooth 70s soul music - what's not to love?

Well, actually, there is one thing: It gets a bit preachy/churchy/Jesus-y at points. YMMV but that annoys me. Enough to knock it down a star? Probably not. I would maybe give it 3.5 stars if I could but in this format, I think it deserves 4 stars because you kind of know what you're going to get going in, and it does that thing extremely well.

Never heard of this. The release year doesn’t give me high hopes.

Not great. Kind of 70s rock pop, with a dash of 60s flower child hippie pop thrown in.

Take Morrissey, add a dash of Arcade Fire, stir in just a pinch of Bruce Springsteen and you have this album.

Despite that, I actually didn’t hate it. I’m in kind of a morose mood because Arsenal drew Fulham, so it fits.

Not disappointed to see this pop up. I know I rail on about being tired of this genre of music from this era...but this is Jimi, man!

Starting out with Purple Haze is FIRE. Does it get worse after that? IT DOES NOT! The next two songs are Manic Depression and Hey Joe! Although it doesn't seem to get the same love as the other two, Manic Depression might be the best song on the album, for my money.

But SURELY it falls off after that, right? Well, dear reader, do YOU consider songs like Love or Confusion, Fire, or Foxey Lady "falling off?" How about Are You Experienced or Highway Chile? This album spawns hit after hit after hit. If I were going to be nitpicky, I'd say the album doesn't *have* to be an hour and a quarter with 18 songs. So sure, there are a couple here that don't quite live up to the all-time greatness of the rest, but does that drop the totality of the album out of the 5 star stratosphere? Dear reader, it does not.

I don't know anything about Billy Bragg. I'm not encouraged by the fact that it's an 80s album, but I've discovered some decent stuff from an otherwise awful decade during this project, so we'll see.

Yeah, this sucks. I love a thick Bri'ish accent as much as the next American, but this just sounds like a guy down the pub wailing at an open mike with a few too many pints in him. If I had to guess (and I can't be bothered to actually look it up), I'd say this is probably catagorized as new wave/punk? The vocals are definitely punk-like, by which I mean the guy can barely hold a tune. The backing music, however, is more like singer/songwriter territory. It's like if Hootie & the Blowfish had a baby with Billy Idol.

It's not for me, is what I'm saying.

Initial thoughts: SIGH, another 70s rock album. counterpoint - Led Zeppelin kinda slaps. This is also one of my wife's favorites, so there's that. I'm not disappointed to see this pop up, to be honest.

Dude. What can you say? Banger after banger after banger. There's honestly not a weak song on the album, it's actually astounding. Look, I don't adore this era of rock, but if I have to listen to it, *THIS* is the album to listen to! 4th album, 8 songs, 43 minutes, 5 stars.

I kind of missed the 80s because I was in a cult, so I don't really have the connection to that decade that most people my age seem to. That said, I *did* attend public school, and there were certain things that were so big thatchy were able to pierce that protective bubble of anti-secularism that I was encased in, and this is one of those things. I don't think I've ever heard the entire album, but even under my rock, You Give Love a Bad Name, Wanted Dead or Alive, and Livin' On a Prayer were ubiquitous. Now, I don't really like 80s pop, so this one will be interesting.

OK. The aforementioned hits were nice little walks down memory lane, for sure. but oh my god, it is cheesy as fuck. The production is dreadful - I now understand why so many older albums are remastered - this one could definitely use some love. If this is your cup of tea, it's probably quite good, but it's not mine. I think 2.5 stars. I'll bump it up to 3 stars because I do recognize how massive it was, and how influential Bon Jovi was for a minute.

Here's a fun/weird tidbit: you know how when you listen to an album, and it ends, your streaming service will keep playing song it thinks you'll like based on whatever algorithmic formula is in play? I started typing this during the last song of the album and the next song was Def Leppard. Makes sense, yeah? the song after that was...One Step Closer by Linkin Park. ohhhhkaaaay...

I don't like Springsteen - I am not looking forward to this.

Halfway through, it's very Springsteen. Like, paint by numbers, exactly what you'd think. It's pretty boring, but it does tend to get the toes tapping on occasion.

Don’t like it. Springsteen sucks.

Extremely Talking Heads.

Fuck this.

"What I really need in this project is ANOTHER David Bowie album" said literally no one. There are too many goddamned Bowie albums. One caveat, however, is that this seems to be a 2016 album, which is a long time from his heyday, so I admit to being somewhat intrigued, in spite of myself.

Well, damn. It's fantastic. A little weird, a little out there, definitely different than any of the Bowie I've heard so far, but really good. I'm sure there are loads of Bowie "purists" that hate this album, but I this is definitely an album where Bowie was branching out, trying new sounds. Definitely not resting on his laurels.

I doubt that this album will be as timeless as some of his others have been. For one thing, where his earlier records sounded uniquely, singularly Bowie, this album sounds like I've heard parts of it before, but this is Bowie doing it, if that makes sense. Ultimately, however, I liked it.