Reviews by jf01

Going in, I already know this is between a 4 and a 5. The difficulty in rating this album is that about half of the songs are absolute classics, and the other half are okay or worse than okay.

Upon listening, I enjoyed enough of the “bad” half that I feel comfortable elevating this to a 5.

“Juicy,” “Warning,” and “Things Done Changed” deserve all their hype, but to this day I’ve never heard a song like “Suicidal Thoughts.” It’s so dark but at the end of an album filled with such bravado, it’s striking and intense. Tough to say I “love” it, exactly, but I love the creativity and vulnerability.

This was a great “listen while working” album today, and I suspect it would be a lovely “easing into Sunday morning” album too. But I can’t imagine any other times I would put it on.

It’s fine. I think in 1973 I would have loved it. But in 2025, I just want to listen to the Clash, Ramones, or Strokes, or whoever else obviously grew out of this.

The medley of covers almost saved this (by which I mean a 3). But I think the rest of it was bad enough.

Another one of the albums that got me to move from top 40 to indie/alternative stuff in middle school. And probably still the classic rock album I put on the most. Just an absolute classic from top to bottom.

As I think more about this, I remember that sixth grade was incredibly difficult for me. A new school, roughly 3x the size of my elementary school, with new cliques to navigate. A lot of my friends seemed to adjust quickly, and I didn’t. School was harder and I didn’t coast to the best grades anymore. I was in the middle of puberty. I felt like everything was changing too rapidly to keep pace and that made me terribly sad. And at the end of the school year my dad announced we were moving. Against that backdrop, this album came into my life. There has rarely been a sixth grade American child so primed to 100% *feel* “The sun is the same in a relative way, but you’re older / Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death.”

“Time” and “Money,” especially, got their hooks into me. (I have tried to make a career of “do goody good bullshit.” “Money” may legitimately have been my introduction to class consciousness.) You can have alarm clocks on a pop record? You can use a cash register as a drum machine? You can have a “Breathe” verse at the end of “Time”? I was awed at a record with instrumental tracks. I didn’t understand having a guest vocalist (say, on “the great gig in the sky”) and that just fed into the mythos of this album: you can do that? I heard this before Abbey Road so the two-part “medley” of songs at the end also blew my mind. This album changed how I thought about albums and music in general, and it has been a steady companion since. There will not be an easier 5 in this project, because I think no album better meets the criteria.

The title track is great, but he’s always hit or miss for me.

This album is beloved by millions, so I want to be clear that I’m the one who’s wrong. But it just sounds like a decent pop album to me.

One of my initial thoughts listening today was that the production sounds dated and thin. Top review on the album page for this project mentions how great the production is.

I think, man, her voice is not for me. Top review is about how well she uses it.

I think, lyrics are fine but nothing to write home about. Top review: these are “highly evocative” lyrics. Evoking what? Maybe top review just doesn’t know what words mean. Carole King: “winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you have to do is call…” That reviewer: “wow that is all the seasons! I felt them!”

I do 100% agree with the second review that women are underrepresented on the list. And I don’t have any issue with this being on the list, given its immense popularity. Still, between a 3 and a 4 for me. I really like “it’s too late” but that’s about it. Oh I do kinda like “you make me feel like a natural woman,” but I greatly prefer Aretha’s version.

Great: Whole Lotta Love, Heartbreaker, Ramble On (not a lot of bands could pull off this many sexual innuendoes and a gollum reference on one album)

Good: The Lemon Song, Moby Dick (an all-time “oh yeah, *this* riff” song), Thank You, Bring it on Home (another one of those riff songs)

Meh: What is…, LLM

Liked this more than I expected to. Didn’t expect all the guitar, which was a pleasant surprise. If it were shorter, I would have listened twice. This may go on a playlist for when Maggie is out of town.

“Kid B” is a little less accessible or fun or, let’s say, good than some of their other entries. But I still like it.

Rapid fire “last song on Radiohead album” power rankings:

Street Spirit
Life in a Glasshouse
Motion Picture Soundtrack
Videotape
True Love Waits
The Tourist
—-big gap——
A wolf at the door
Separator
Blow out

Ah yeah, another two. We’re on a roll.

The past couple weeks have had me feeling like a big softie, ratings-wise. Luckily this shitshow came along to remind me what it is to hate.

Mostly “2” songs + “sweet dreams” = potential 3, then minus 1 point for “this city never sleeps” = back at 2

Five minutes in: this is the Runaround Sue guy?

This is my jam. I like runaround Sue and its frivolous ilk, but this feels so stately. I’m into it. My least favorite song is the last one, “good lovin’ man,” which feels more like what I expected from Dion.

Those three songs (I don’t need to name them, but just in case: time to pretend, electric feel, and kids) were inescapable in 2007-08. I think I even saw these guys at Lollapalooza around then.

And, as I remembered, the rest of the album is just okay. Between a 3 and a 4 on the strength of those three songs and some scattered nice moments, but I think ultimately a 3 reflects the whole of the album more accurately.

I cannot recall ever listening to this album, yet I knew virtually every song. When I was a small, small kid, I definitely listened to a ton of Eagles, especially Greatest Hits vol 2 (which explains knowing four of these), The Long Run, and Hell Freezes Over (which explains another three of these). Ah, there we go, only “try and love again” hasn’t been permanently etched into my brain. I knew I’d know the first 3 big singles, but it was a pleasant surprise getting hit with nostalgia on every other song, too. “Hotel California” was one of the first songs to make me realize lyrics can have deeper meanings, too. (Before that, I was not probing Kriss Kross for meaning. They’ll make you jump. Full stop.)

Also, in the “life is funny” category: distinctly remember listening to “the long run” on cassette tape while I played video games, age 10 or so. Today, how’d I listen to this album? On my phone while playing video games.

Hard not to give that a 5: I’ve loved all these songs for a long time. Maybe not “life in the fast lane,” which sounds the most dated, but some of the others hold up. I may have to hand in my hipster card.

I will also say, apart from any nostalgia: these guys can write a great final minute of a song. I’m not confident the songs in whole would stand on their own if I was just hearing them for the first time, but the last minutes of Hotel California, New Kid in Town, and Try and Love Again introduce musical ideas that are the best parts of the songs (the entire solo of HC is its best part), the final minute of Wasted Time complicates its lyrics interestingly, and the final minutes of Victim of Love and Life in the Fast Lane just thump you over the head with their respective best parts, which is never a bad songwriting idea. The final minute of The Last Resort is a fitting coda to the song and album. I award no bonus points to the final minute of pretty maids. You really blew it, pretty maids.

I really liked this! And it sounded more contemporary than I expected

Liked this more than I expected to

Easy five. A beloved childhood favorite.

America is great, Mrs. Robinson is great, and I thought the rest was meh. “At the zoo” maybe meh-plus. I had to restrain myself from throwing my phone across the room while Paul Simon was singing about being a boysenberry jam fan. He’s just the worst.

Wikipedia mentions a review calling this the “worst version of born to be wild.” I think, well, I have to listen to that right now. I made it 35 seconds. It was indeed terrible. Now I have to listen to this whole album with that first impression.

Earlier in this project I wrote that I was giving an album 1 star because it was in the bottom 20% of albums in this project. I feel some embarrassment over that comment because a standard bell curve wouldn’t produce an even 20% in each ratting 1-5. (The album did suck and I stand by my 1.) I just noticed yesterday that I’m awarding 5s at a rate of about 1/10. Analogizing from that, I should be awarding 1s at approximately the same pace and I’m not. This was a borderline 1/2 for me, but armed with this new confidence to award more 1s, I’m giving it a 1.

Also, “love removal machine” sent me scurrying to my guitar tabs app to see how close that riff was to “start me up.” Pretty close! Different enough for copyright purposes, I’d say, to be fair. And then the singer’s way he sings “baby baby baby baby” in that song is awfully similar to Robert Plant in “babe I’m gonna leave you.” So that song, at least, reminded me of two much better songs, which was pleasant.

Getting to “born to be wild” this second time is so strange. I swear he’s singing worse (on purpose?) on this song than on the other songs. If I could confidently say this was a parody, I might like it more. But I don’t think it is.

“Outlaw” was perhaps the worst song on the album, and I gave up on it. And I was offended that they called a song “Memphis hip shake,” which implies fun, musicality, and coolness, all of which this album lacks.