Reviews by kitch82

Today’s album: Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim by Frank Sinatra and Antônio Carlos Jobim. And honestly… I was not looking forward to this.

I’ve never really got Sinatra. I don’t find him smooth or cool, and the whole King of Croon thing has never worked for me at all.

Musically, this album is undeniably classy. The arrangements are beautiful and everything is impeccably played. But that’s also the problem. It’s all so similar, so polite, and ultimately very dull. Once you’ve heard a minute of it, you’ve pretty much heard the lot. Nothing here makes me want to come back for another listen.

Favourite track: The Girl from Ipanema is a genuinely good song and a strong way to open the album. Unfortunately, after that it all just blends into the same laid-back haze with no real variation or spark.

Least favourite tracks: Once I Loved and anything else that sounds exactly like it – pleasant, but painfully boring.

Album artwork: A classic cover, at least.

I’d never heard this album before today, and once I finally tracked it down I realised it’s a live, almost entirely keyboard-driven record which straight away wasn’t what I was expecting. The concept is also pretty bizarre: largely instrumental interpretations of a 150-year-old Russian classical piece. Fair play for the ambition, but it all feels very niche.

There are moments where it’s catchy and interesting, and I can appreciate what they’re trying to do, but overall this really wasn’t my thing. I enjoyed Blues Variation and Promenade (Part 2), but beyond that it’s a tough, often dull listen. Too much of it blurs into one long stretch of noise where you’re not quite sure what’s happening or when it’s going to end.

I get why people rate it as bold and different, but for me there are far better live albums that somehow haven’t made the 1001 list.

Favourite track: Blues Variation
Least favourite tracks: Most of the album. It all merges into one confusing sprawl
Album artwork: Cool album cover, easily one of the highlights

I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a My Bloody Valentine album before. Going in, I was half-expecting depressed-teenager / emo vibes, so I pressed play on mbv with an open mind.

This can be summed up very simply: listening to this album was a miserable experience. The vocals are buried to the point of being unintelligible, the sound is endlessly droney, and nothing ever really goes anywhere. It feels shapeless and joyless, like a wall of grey noise with no hook, no tune, and no payoff. I get that this is “the point” for some people, but for me it was truly dreadful.

Favourite tracks: I honestly couldn’t pick one. Every track blurs into the next, like indistinct mumbling background noise that offers absolutely nothing.

Least favourite tracks: She Found Now, Is This and Yes – some of the most boring, aimless tracks I’ve ever had the misfortune of sitting through.

Album artwork: Really cool cover. Easily the best thing about the album.

I was genuinely excited to see Here, My Dear pop up this morning, but it turned out to be a real let-down. The album is long, slow and, frankly, pretty boring. I get it — Marvin is heartbroken — but he really goes on about it, to the point where it becomes a slog rather than something you connect with.

This is nowhere near his best work. I normally don’t mind albums steeped in heartbreak and self-indulgence, The Boatman's Call is one of my all-time favourites but this just drags. Track after track blends into the next, circling the same emotions without ever really lifting. The one constant highlight is Marvin Gaye’s voice, which remains absolutely superb and is the album’s main saving grace.

Favourite track: Is That Enough is fine, if I had to pick one.
Least favourite tracks: Honestly, most of them. They all follow the same flow, story and mood, and it becomes very dull very quickly.
Album artwork: A fantastic cover, bold, busy and interesting. Ironically, it’s far more engaging than the music inside.

As you know with this challenge, I really struggle with music in another language. I connect most with lyrics and storytelling, and that’s something I just can’t fully access here. Because of that, this album never really grabbed me in the way I want music to.

I found it pleasant enough as background music, the sort of thing you can have on while not really paying attention. But beyond that, it didn’t leave much of an impression, and I have no desire to come back to it again.

Favourite track: Soy loco por ti, América is probably the standout if I had to choose one.
Least favourite tracks: Hard to pick. I didn’t hate anything, but I also never want to listen to any of it again. This is the very definition of background music.
Album artwork: Superb. Colourful, intense, and that stare is properly evil — easily the best thing about the album.

So by Peter Gabriel really does sound like the 80s — for better and for worse.

This was an OK listen overall, but it’s very samey and feels pretty dated now. There are moments where it absolutely works, but as a full album it sits firmly in the middle of the road. Slick, polished, and unmistakably of its time — sometimes that’s a strength, sometimes it really isn’t.

That said, when it hits, it hits. The big singles still stand up and remind you why this album is so well-regarded. Outside of those, a lot of the deeper cuts feel locked in the decade and haven’t aged especially well.

Favourite tracks: Sledgehammer and Don’t Give Up — easily the highlights and the reasons this album still gets played.
Least favourite tracks: This Is the Picture and We Do What We’re Told — very dated, very 80s, and best left there.
Album artwork: Standard album cover — fine, but nothing special.

A decent album with some great songs, but not one I feel the need to revisit much beyond the hits.

Café Bleu by The Style Council has been on my “I really should give this a proper go” list for a long time. I love Paul Weller, I love The Jam, and I want to love this album too.

I already knew the hits You’re the Best Thing is an absolute belter, and My Ever Changing Moods is rightly loved but sitting down with the whole record, Café Bleu is a strange one. It’s wildly eclectic: jazz, soul, folk, funk, pop, even a bit of rap thrown in for good measure. At times it’s genuinely brilliant and adventurous; at others it’s pretty hard work. A Gospel is a good example of where the experimentation tips over into something that just doesn’t land for me at all.

That said, even when it misses, it’s never boring. You can hear Weller deliberately tearing up the rulebook and refusing to stand still after The Jam, and for that alone the album deserves credit. It’s inconsistent, occasionally annoying, but also bold, stylish and very much its own thing.

Favourite tracks: You’re the Best Thing; My Ever Changing Moods
Least favourite track: A Gospel
Album artwork: Classic. Absolutely love the cover its effortlessly cool and very of its time.

At first I genuinely thought Scott 2 was some kind of parody album or a joke. It sounds like a cancelled, overly serious version of Mike Flowers, minus the humour or charm.

I honestly can’t believe this made the list. The music is miserable, the songs are sung badly, and the lyrics are dated and painful. It’s all melodrama with nothing underneath it. This was a real slog to get through and I can’t imagine any situation where I’d ever want to hear it again.

Favourite track: None. I couldn’t pick one — every track was awful.
Least favourite track: Every track.
Album artwork: Crap.

Let It Bleed by The Rolling Stones is one of my favourite albums, full stop. It’s one of the records that properly locked them in as one of my favourite bands, so I went into this listen knowing it was going to be a good one.

And it really is that good. Let It Bleed is an easy five-star album. Everything clicks: the mood, the songs, the sequencing. The cover is iconic, and Gimme Shelter and You Can’t Always Get What You Want alone would justify the album’s reputation. The whole thing sounds like the soundtrack to half of Martin Scorsese’s films — gritty, swaggering, dark, and brilliant.

Favourite track: There are too many to choose from. Gimme Shelter is one of the most iconic songs of all time. Midnight Rambler is phenomenal, and you’ve also got stone-cold classics like Let It Bleed and You Can’t Always Get What You Want. It’s ridiculous how strong this album is.

Least favourite track: Honestly, none. Every track earns its place — even the slightly cheesy Country Honk.

Album artwork: An all-time classic. Instantly recognisable and perfectly suited to the music.

This is the Stones at their absolute peak. An album I’ll never get bored of.

Greetings From L.A. by Tim Buckley is a good album from someone who must have been a flawed person judging by these lyrics. Lyrically this album is very dated.

That said this album is quick, catchy and has really funky beats. so lyrics aside this is a strong album.

Favourite tracks: I enjoyed make it right
Least favourite tracks: Everything on the album was worth a listen.
Album artwork: Cracking album cover. I love an ariel view of roads.

Autobahn is a tough listen. I can absolutely see why people call it important, groundbreaking and influential — but actually sitting down and listening to it is another matter entirely.

The title track takes up nearly half the album at 22 minutes, and for me it just doesn’t go anywhere. It drifts, hums and loops without ever really rewarding your patience. I know that’s kind of the point, but it feels less hypnotic and more like being stuck in slow traffic. Conceptually clever, musically very thin.

Overall, I’ve got no desire to come back to this one. I respect it far more than I enjoy it.

Favourite track: Kometenmelodie 2 – slightly more energetic, a bit perkier, and crucially much shorter than the rest.
Least favourite track: Autobahn – far too long and painfully dull. Nothing happens. It’s like spending two hours on the M40.
Album artwork: Brilliant. I love the cover — easily the best thing about the album.

CSN are good, but they’re so much better when Neil Young is involved. Déjà Vu is a strong album, even if it sticks fairly closely to their familiar formula and often feels like variations on what they’d already done.

That said, this record is packed with classic songs, stunning melodies and superb guitar playing, and it really captures a moment in time. The gentle, folky, peace-and-love sixties shine through on tracks like Déjà Vu and Our House — both superb pop songs — while they’re balanced by grittier, rougher rock moments elsewhere on the album. There’s real variety here.

It’s not a radical reinvention, but it’s confident, warm and full of songs that have rightly lasted.

Favourite track: Carry On – a brilliant track and one of the album’s real highlights.
Least favourite track: Everything here earns its place.
Album artwork: Nice dog, but a bit dull overall – not one you’d frame and hang on the wall.

The Healer by John Lee Hooker is a more modern take on Blues by a Blues legend.

I didnt enjoy this album, After the first track I felt I was on track to give me third 1/5 in a week. The album however did pick up and had some nice moments like Rockin chair and My dream.

The Healer is a good intro into the blues music genre before digging deep into the history of earlier artists and albums. As a blues Alum in its own right I feel the colaborations made this more mainstream than John Lee Hooker would have wanted it and made it a very soft album. They clearly wanted this record to do commercially well.

Favourite track: Rockin Chair is a more traditional blues number. I really enjoyed it.
Least favourite track:I found the Healer title track to be one of the most boring songs I have ever heard.
Album artwork: Strong album cover

This really isn’t my thing at all. At 20 tracks and well over an hour long, Rhythm Nation 1814 felt like it was always going to be a slog—and unfortunately, that’s exactly what it turned out to be.

My immediate reaction was just how dated it sounds now. It absolutely screams late-80s, and not in a charming or nostalgic way. The production feels stiff and overcooked, and none of the songs landed with me at all. I also realised I don’t really remember any of these tracks, which suggests it completely passed me by at the time—and listening now, I can see why.

The constant interludes don’t help either. They feel like unnecessary filler that only pad out an already overlong album, breaking any momentum it might have had.

Favourite tracks: I genuinely couldn’t pick one. I found this an awful listen.
Least favourite tracks: The interludes — pointless and distracting.
Album artwork: Fine, but fairly standard and nothing special.

Overall, this was a tough one to get through and not an album I’ll be revisiting.

This was my first proper listen to Live Through This by Hole, and I was genuinely looking forward to it.

I wasn’t expecting it to be this good. The album is raw, loud, and full of attitude, but it’s also packed with really strong, catchy songs. There’s a proper energy running through it from start to finish – it moves quickly, never hangs about, and feels exciting the whole way through. Punky, messy, and melodic in the best possible way. I loved it and I’ll definitely be coming back to this one.

Favourite tracks: Doll Parts, Rock Star, and Softer, Softest are all cracking songs and really stand out.
Least favourite tracks: There isn’t a bad track here – and even if there was, it would be over in two minutes and you’d be straight onto the next one.
Album artwork: Great album cover – iconic and suits the record perfectly.

Spy vs. Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman by John Zorn is one of those albums that’s oddly hard to track down — and once you finally do, you start to wonder why you bothered.

I’ll be blunt: this is awful. It feels like lazy, chaotic jazz played at you rather than for you. The constant, overbearing drumming never lets up, smothering whatever ideas might have been lurking underneath. Instead of sounding exciting or confrontational, it just becomes exhausting. It’s noisy without being interesting, intense without being engaging, and genuinely hard work to sit through.

I get that this is meant to be abrasive and experimental, but for me it comes across as self-indulgent and joyless. There’s no groove, no hook, no moment where it clicks — just relentless clatter from start to finish.

Favourite tracks: None. I honestly couldn’t pick a single one.
Least favourite tracks: Every track — they all blur into the same unpleasant experience.
Album artwork: Genuinely brilliant. Easily the best thing about the album.

I had never heard of Devendra Banhart before and went into Rejoicing in the Hands with no expectations at all. Unfortunately, that didn’t help.

In short, this is one of the most boring albums I’ve ever sat through. It feels like that bloke at a party who insists everyone listen to him, despite having absolutely nothing interesting to say. It’s all wispy, hippy nonsense, meandering acoustic guitar, and ideas that never really go anywhere. It drags on far longer than it should, and every track blends into the next in the most forgettable way possible.

I struggled to stay engaged and, honestly, getting to the end felt like a chore rather than a pleasure.

Favourite tracks: None. I didn’t connect with anything here and found it a very hard listen.
Least favourite tracks: All of it.
Album artwork: Cool album cover – easily the best thing about the album.

Blood On The Tracks has always been one of my favourite Dylan albums, and every time I come back to it I’m reminded why.

This is Dylan at his absolute best: great tunes, simple arrangements, and some of the most unbelievable storytelling he ever committed to tape. It feels raw, personal and honest without ever tipping into self-indulgent. Tangled Up in Blue has always been a standout for me – it’s one of those songs that changes slightly every time you hear it, depending on your mood and where you are in life.

There’s not much fat on this record. The songs are strong, the melodies stick, and the lyrics do the heavy lifting. It’s an album you can sit with, properly listen to, or just let play and absorb.

Favourite tracks: Tangled Up in Blue, Shelter from the Storm, If You See Her, Say Hello and Twist of Fate – all beautiful songs, each for different reasons.
Least favourite tracks: None. Everything on this album earns its place.
Album artwork: An iconic Dylan cover that perfectly matches the mood of the music.

This challenge finally introduced me properly to Talking Heads, and I’m honestly a bit annoyed it took this long because I am now a big fan. Remain in Light is an album I’ve been looking forward to listening to properly, and it really doesn’t disappoint.

There are some genuinely great songs on here. I really enjoyed Unison, and of course Once in a Lifetime is just fantastic. Musically, this album is brilliant. It’s full of loops, strange rhythms, and ideas that shouldn’t work but absolutely do. I love how creative it is.

There’s loads going on stylistically too — punk, funk, world music — all mashed together into something that still sounds tight and focused. It feels bold, confident, and completely its own thing. Even now, it still sounds fresh.

Favourite track: Once in a Lifetime — pure 80s brilliance. An iconic pop song for a reason.
Least favourite track: Fela’s Riff — not awful, just a bit dull. I’m not sure what it really adds.
Album artwork: Iconic Talking Heads cover. Instantly recognisable and suits the music perfectly.

Listening to Aja made me stop and think: what exactly are Steely Dan? I have never got them before today, This is easily the best Steely Dan album I’ve heard.

From the first moments, Aja feels well produced and crafted. “Black Cow” is a superb opener, while the title track alone justifies the album’s status. “Peg” and “Josie” are outstanding—effortlessly catchy and the kind of songs you love more with each listen.

The sound throughout is immaculate. The production is pristine, the musicianship faultless, and the drumming in particular is exceptional.

Favourite tracks: “Josie” and “Peg” – both are superb
Least favourite track: None – everything here earns its place
Album artwork: A cool, iconic cover that suits the album perfectly