Rated 8/10
Slightly cheesy, but juuuuuust stays on the "classic rock" side of the line. A few absolute staples, which I can't remember not knowing, and a few more that sound basically the same but don't get the airplay. Solid and catchy, with good solos and vocals, but falls ever so slightly short of the five for me - just a bit lacking in emotion and magic.
Rated 10/10
Flawless, probably the greatest of the new generation in terms of storytelling and building a narrative over a whole album. Lyrically dense, with catchy beats and atmospheric production, and pretty much perfect.
Anyone who hasn't seen it (or who has!) should definitely seek out his wonderful Glastonbury headline set!
Rated 10/10
Ethereal and beautiful, plus a Scottish bonus point - makes a surprising (to me) five stars!
Rated 8/10
Cool, but not immediately attention-grabbing. Any one of these songs would fit in well on pretty much any of my playlists, but I don't think anyone would feel the need to search out who the artist was. Very good, but not great. I will listen to their other stuff when I get a chance though.
Rated 2/10
Pish. Absolutely pish. Too much saxophone by about 100%, all jangle and no soul, even the songs I had heard before sound so much worse in the smug-yuppie-wanker context of the full album. Offensively bad, to the point where I wasn't sure I'd manage to listen to it all. I did, but I'm not sure how! Probably the worst album (not involving nico or morisey) I have endured.
0 🌟
Rated 4/10
Very 80s jangle-pop, which is not even nearly my kind of thing. A bit more interesting than some of their peers, with a slight gothic edge to the sound, but still fairly forgettable. The most memorable track is "The Killing Moon" - which is rightly more famous than all the other songs put together!
Rated 10/10
Perfection, and a new way of connecting with fans (when it was first released, anyway) means it could never be less than 5 - even if they weren't one of my all-time favourite artists.
Some of their best songs on this record, but which have not had quite the same exposure as the bigger hits. "Nude" is a particular highlight
Rated 4/10
Forgettable and repetitive french edm - no thanks.
Rated 6/10
Fairly forgettable, but pleasant enough as it goes. Perhaps an early (and American) forerunner of the British landfill indie movement of a few years later, with much more country influence.
Only giving three feels too harsh, but it wasn't good enough for four stars - so 3 is what it has to get!
Rated 10/10
Widely considered the best album of all time, and still under-rated! Easily the best album of my lifetime, very little else even comes close.
Perfection
Rated 2/10
Shite.
Shite singer, shite songs, shite production, shite lyrics.
The guy sings like he has been kicked in the plums, but I don't think we are that lucky. Would give it zero, or even less than that if I could.
Absolutely pish.
He can't sing, and is a Nazi, and isn't a good lyricist, and is a Nazi, and writes terrible music, and is a Nazi, and really puts the "pretentious" in "pretentious wanker", and also, and I can't stress this enough, is a Nazi.
0 🌟
Rated 6/10
Nonsense, but enjoyable nonsense. Pretty samey, with one massive hit that stands out probably only because it is so well known. Good, but not great, but shows signs of something worth doing, and a chance of a good career (which they managed).
I think I'd probably prefer their greatest hits, which isn't usually the case for most bands.
Rated 10/10
Perfect. Probably the greatest album of all time
Rated 10/10
Hits all three targets!
I'd say 25% crazy, 35% sexy and 100% cool, showing that it is 160% as good as most albums. Two massive hits, up there with any 90s r&b pop, and a bunch of tracks way better than mere "filler". I'm still not a huge fan of skits and interludes, but they work well here.
Also, so many very cool guests - which I didn't really know before. A great album.
Rated 10/10
Perfection from the first to the last, one of my favourite albums, and one of my favourite bands. Listening again was well worth it too - just to be reminded of the force of Zack's anger and how heavy the music gets.
Also, look out for a lovely bluesy solo thrown in at one point, just because Tom Morello likes to surprise!
Rated 10/10
A few songs I knew, a bunch I didn't but am glad I do now. Not quite sure why they made it sound like a live album (even the ones that aren't) but it kind of works.
Best asset is Janis, and her voice, but the whole thing is solid and flawless.
Rated 10/10
Brilliant proto-britpop, which I would have adored at the time if I had been a year or two older. Not quite sure why they didn't kick on from there, as this is better than anything Blur or Oasis were doing at the same time. But they didn't build on it, and by the time I was buying music papers each week, Luke had become a bit of a lost hero and/or a bit of a punchline whenever someone was getting (over-)excited about a new band.
Tl;Dr - a great (lost?) album from the start of a genre that means a lot to me. Sounds like Suede, Nirvana and Blur fell in a melting pot - in a good way.
Nonsense electro-prog, with way too many bonus tracks. Even the core album is poor, only one or two songs that evoke any emotion (other than "is it done yet?"). Not my kind of thing at all, really not sure this deserves to be on the list.
Rated 8/10
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Wierd as hell, like 4 bands playing 10 different songs at the same time. As close to experimental jazz as a rock album can get (probably) - but moments of clarity. Not on Spotify for some reason, maybe just too strange.
