Reviews by k-dot-r

An album that was *everywhere* when it was out - every song was played in the pubs and clubs of Glasgow (not just the singles). Mostly very silly, but with a few more poignant moments.
Reminds me of being a student in the big city, and gets an extra star for that!

Absolute genius. One of the best to ever do it, and also one of the first. Anyone who claims to love hip-hop, but doesn't know of the founders, is missing out massively.
This album in particular makes me want to set up a class teaching the youngsters about the early days and the golden age!

Not quite sure what I expected, but I certainly hoped for better. As a Scot, an album of songs about England is not top of my wishlist - even if it's not complimentary!
Singing is great, but words and music less so. Maybe I'd like it more after a few more times through, but there's no time for that - on to the next!

Boring and samey. Mostly well sung, just not interesting. The version of "We'll Meet Again" is perhaps the oddest single song on a pop album

Absolutely brilliant, from a band I had not really heard of. If it was out now, I'd say it sounds like Biffy and Razorlight, with hints of Pearl Jam and Incubus. However, this was before all of those bands!
Always good to hear a wee drum solo too.
Couldn't be less than 5 🌟

Not an album I knew much about, but I found my new favourite New Order track on it - Elegia is an absolute masterpiece, which is far more moving than an instrumental has any right to be. The other songs are all pretty good too, but not as magical as Elegia. Overall, better than a 3, not quite good enough for a 5.

I'm not 100% sure it needed to be two hours long, but I'm glad it is. A classic of the "post-grunge" era, with loads of light and shade and musical variety.
I played in a Pumpkins cover band when I was a teenager, and love the songs as much now as I did then.

A band I was only vaguely aware of, given how much more successful Steve Albini was as a producer. Glad to have listened to it now though, even if my favourite song was the one I knew best before - "Bazooka Joe".
A very good album, but not quite 5 🌟 for me.

Very 60s sounding, not always in a good way. Almost a cliché / parody of the other songs around at the time. Even the bigger songs sound weirdly tame and muted - maybe because of the muscular live versions that have become part of the backstory of rock music.

Great voice, great songs, a brilliant album all-round.

Very important, and not quite what I expected. Good, but not great, but with a clear place on this list for its importance and for being such an influential work.

Weird and bad; not really music

Hell yeah!

Brilliant, even the songs I didn't know before were awesome and still, sadly, so relevant. Themes of the album include racism in Britain, unemployment and hopelessness in teenagers, and corruption in politics - none of which have got any better!
Much rockier than I might have expected, which is obviously a good thing

Like a terrible compilation album of bands who think EDM is the new rock n roll. It's not, and never will be.
A diverse array of styles, all of them rubbish.
I was not surprised to find this was music made by an industry veteran - it sounds so calculated it could have been written by a focus group, like a lot of acts who have former managers, producers, or label bosses involved in writing the music.

Very loud, fast, and great

Perfection. So many classics, but I want to give a special mention to Red House - one of my favourite songs of all time!

Meh, pretty dull and partly responsible for the explosion of terrible jangle-pop nonsense yha followed.
Not for me

Very odd, doesn't have any recognisable links to Ireland - much more a New York album. Mostly instrumental dance music, with spoken samples, which means it feels more like background music.
Very odd remix/reworking of the James Bond theme just dropped in the middle, for no real reason.

1 of my most disliked artists, even before I listened to this 1. There's, at most, 1 half decent song. Hard to believe they were 1 of the biggest bands in the world at this time - they are pish!
Another 0 🌟 for me - even if the scoring doesn't allow it!