Reviews by k-dot-r

A pile of nonsense - boring story songs with boring music and boring lyrics, sung boringly. No redeeming features; I can only assume it was suggested as a prank on everyone who tackles the nominations, as there is no way it merits a place in the book - not even if it was 10,001 albums!

Some songs remind me of Roddy Woomble's solo albums, others the vocals sound a little like Third Eye Blind, at least one track is reminiscent of a Celtic version of a Johnny Cash song. These are all compliments, to be clear, and far from the only good things about the album.
I loved it, and have added their other stuff to my (ever-growing) 'after-the-list' list!

Solid rock, with a few cool wee tricks up its sleeve.

Fast and loud, with awesome drumming and chunky guitars. Would be a good inclusion in the book, if only to represent the more extreme end of things.
Not much light and shade, but I hardly think that was the aim!

Absolute pish, from a band who should be nowhere near headline festival slots (but somehow topped the bill a few times) or, ideally, the charts.
Terrible vocals, cliched lyrics, musically boring, and way, way, way too long.
There's far better records than this missing from the book; why not suggest one of them instead?!

Perfect studying music, happy to be in the background with with plenty of depth for proper listening. Icelandic as hell, which is a good thing! Takes the best parts of classical, electronic and acoustic influences, to create a magical blend of sounds and styles.
For a tiny country, Iceland really do produce an outsize number of absolute classics, and probably have the best "per capita" representation of any country on this list - and it's not all Björk!

A work of genius, by one of the best to ever do it. In any fair world, he would be one of the most successful artists ever, but not in this one.

Sample heavy, with lots of interludes, and lots of guest vocalists, and very very good. Other than being in Portuguese, it could be a "golden age" hip hop album!

I wouldn't have guessed they were Swedish, if I didn't already know, as they draw mostly on US and UK influences.
'Emmylou' is the stand out track for me, a really sweet love song with just enough of an edge that it avoids becoming too saccharine.
From around the high point of the folk revival (in the UK at least), and one of the key albums from the time.

Possibly the best album of all time - definitely one I might have nominated if it hadn't already been picked. One of my favourite bands, probably my favourite of their albums, and should absolutely be in the book - not finding a way to include it just shows the author as anti-metal and/or anti-Armenian.
Perfection

Es muy extraño, pero me gustó mucho. Es mejor que tener otra banda de punk inglesa en la formación. Me gusta escuchar música de todo el mundo, sobre todo cuando se canta en otros idiomas.

All the genres, but not cluttered. Could have been released any time between 1940 and 2040, other than the purity of production and recording, without sounding out of place. An artist who I will be looking out for from now on; thanks for the tip.

((Prog + prog) x prog) ^ prog = GY!BE
No 'proper' lyrics, meaning the words that are there (as samples) take on a deeper meaning. Manages to convey a tonne of emotion through music, and sounds like the soundtrack to a really weird movie.
Four tracks, almost 90 minutes, but never feels like it is dragging - a nice trick to pull off if you can manage it! Well worth a place in the book - we will definitely have to get it expanded.

Funny, flirty, honest, thought provoking, intelligent hip-hop, from an artist I had previously heard exactly one song by (and it's not on this album) - I will be rectifying that imminently however!
Covers a huge range of topics, and just an absolute joy. Thank you so much to whoever nominated this - I hope she makes it into the next edition of the book!

The most Hawaiian album I think I have ever heard. Sound like it was written on a surfboard (and some it of may have been) while also reminding me how much my kids loved Curious George (and how long ago that was!)
Possibly his best album, and a decent suggestion for the book.

Interesting to see a co-production (literally) between two good artists, who sound like they had a blast making the album. However, some of the tracks were probably more fun to write and record than to listen to, and a few others don't live long in the memory. A good nomination, which is maybe not quite as good as Illinois, and (in my opinion) not worthy of taking its spot in the book.

Ambient meets big band, but turns out better than it might have done. Flawless production work - even the crackle and hiss serves to show just how old (and age damaged) the original records are. The sonic degradation also acts as a proxy for the fallibility of the human memory, and as a surprisingly moving reminder that none of the vocals were recorded more recently than about 1940.
The jump between songs surprised me initially, but again can be thought of as an allegory for the way your mind jumps between thoughts and feelings - there isn't always a smooth transition there either.
I'm still not a huge ambient fan, but this nearly got me turned around.

Somehow sounds dated, less than 10 years since it came out. In this country (the UK) at least, it was released around the end of the indie-folk revival, which The Lumineers had been roped into with their first album. By 2016 however, everyone had kind of moved on, leaving 'acoustic guitar + strings + vocal harmonies' as a vestigial remnant of the summers before. Not their fault, and the music is okay(ish) I guess, but it certainly stands out as the work of a band whose time had (already) passed.

One of the first albums I (allegedly) torrented - but one I have not listened to in 20+ years. So weird, and such a fun listen, that I was glad to put that right.

insane french metal - in a good way!