Rated 10/10
5/5 - This music is in my blood. Everyone gets a few of these in their lives that hit them at the right age and the right moment that syncs up with their feelings and moves them to another place. This is unquestionably one of those records for me. An all-timer 5.
Rated 8/10
4/5 - This could easily be a 5 with a couple more listens. Tons of energy, good lyrics, engaging songs that aren't just entirely repetitive.
Rated 10/10
5/5 - Couldn’t ask for much more from a classic folk album. Aside from River, which is one of my all-time favorites, I like All I Want, California, Carey, Blue, A Case of You — yeah, most everything. Joni’s lyric writing is on another level.
Rated 8/10
4/5 - Moody and atmospheric in all the right ways. A Forest is really good. I wasn’t familiar with the full album, but I’d definitely listen again.
Rated 4/10
2/5 - I liked the first 5000 miles track. I lost the thread soon after, and didn’t care to pick it up. It was kind of exhausting to listen to, but I bet reading the lyrics would be worth a run through.
Rated 6/10
3/5 - I don’t mind the songs that made the radio, but I’ve never been a big enough Beck fan to care about a whole album. Some of this works, but it starts to grate after a while with the a lot sounding like the same beat and effects.
Rated 8/10
4/5 - Beautiful album. I only knew Help Me, but Joni usually grabs me with her voice and unusual melodies.
Rated 4/10
2/5 - Steve Winwood and flutes. That’s a big fuckin hole to dig out of.
Rated 6/10
3/5 - Season of the Witch is the really great. Sunshine Superman is an iconic 60s pop tune. I liked most of this, so I'll give it a 3.
Rated 4/10
2/5 - Tiny Dancer is as great as Indian Sunset is bad. The music itself is alright, but nothing new here to discover.
2.5/5 - Stay With Me and Debris are good songs. The rest of the album, while short, doesn't do much at all for me. Exile on Main Street was produced the same year and does all the same things here much better.
Rated 8/10
4/5 - A “dance” album by art nerds in 1977. It’s kind of a slight collection of tracks, but it all makes sense (npi) as their debut. You can hear their future with these quirky songs. If you don’t like Byrne’s voice, I get it. If you don’t like Weymouth’s bass lines, then I can’t help you.
5/5 - Is there a better Christmas album? No, there is not. I don’t want to hear this in July, but this is a perfect pick for the day.
Rated 4/10
2/5 - I thought this was forgettable at best. I didn’t get into this style of early 2000s band where everybody was “The” something with tons of hype. Maybe The Strokes sucked all the air out of the room. Didn’t need to hear it.
Rated 10/10
5/5 - On a scale of live albums, this is beyond a 5/5. It has a real purpose for being recorded live, engages with the audience on their terms, and gives a voice to the voiceless. 25 Minutes to Go is about the most unsettling song I've ever heard in any genre. Egg-sucking Dog and Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart are weak, but everything else is right on the mark. Outlaw country isn't my genre, but it's hard to argue this isn't a must listen album. Brass balls to pull it off.
Rated 10/10
5/5 - This is the best “new to me” album on this list yet, and it’s not close. This has so many intersections of things I love: bizarre lyrics, jangly guitars, punk, but angular rhythms, harmonies. I can hear what came before it and all the good stuff after (REM, Pixies, etc). How have I never heard I Wanna Destroy You before?
(For the original 10 track album. I’ll listen to the bonus tracks later.)
Rated 10/10
5/5 - This is a 5 all the way for me. Wore out my cassette in my car in high school. I never thought too hard about the personalities in this band; I just thought they always made fun music -- until they didn't later on. A great debut album.
Rated 6/10
3/5 - I admittedly didn't listen that hard to this, because all the 60s psychedelic starts to blur for me after awhile. I generally like the genre, but it rarely stands out.
Rated 4/10
2.5/5 - It's a pretty folk album that I wasn't entirely in the mood for. People seem to like Vincent, so i should spend more time with that one. American Pie is a classic song that I really liked when I was 8, but I probably need to hear it once a decade now. Achievement Unlocked.
4/5 - Wasn't familiar with these guys at all. Probably dozens of UK punk bands that I could say the same about, I suppose. Production here was better than expected. Overall, good stuff.
