Reviews by linkyboy

This is one of the biggest surprises for me of the whole list. I was not expecting much, and after the first couple tracks, I thought it would be a 3 or maybe 4, but nothing remarkable. Yet as it progressed, as I became more invested in the lyrics, as the harmonies and melodies started feeling meaningful rather than mundane, I ultimately found this album quite wonderful. This one will stick with me for a while, and one of my favorite discoveries from this list so far.

A pleasant, and ultimately uninspired work of traditional folk music. Well played, well recorded, but neither experimental enough to feel exciting, nor catchy enough to be memorable.

I like this a lot. B-Real’s nasal delivery is instantly iconic, and the beats DJ Muggs spins are catchy, if not sometimes a bit repetitive.

Bob Marley is an icon, practically synonymous with Reggae. And his vocal delivery and political lyrics are excellent, proudly rooting this album in Jamaican and Rastafarian culture such that it’s impossible to overlook.

But while Bob Marley gets a ton of credit for his work, I think the biggest star of this album is Aston Barrett, the bass guitarist. I remember my dad playing The Wailers when I was a kid, and falling in love with the thumping, syncopated, melodic bass lines. Every song is improved harmonically and rhythmically by Family Man’s bass.

It’s fun and grimy and bluesy, and sounds precisely like the kind of music someone named Captain Beefheart would write. I’m not sure what it is that I love about this, but I do love it. It was an era where people were writing goofy shit, and it was cool.

It’s far from a perfect album, but it far exceeded my expectations.

I always like Rod Stewart’s strange, endlessly raspy voice, and as a solo artist, he had such a particular sound. This album doesn’t capture me the same way “Every Picture Tells A Story” does, but it’s still a good listen.

The Pixies are cool—they’re always more than I’m expecting them to be. I feel like I wasn’t giving this album my undivided attention, so I’ll need to spend some more time with it. I appreciate the rapidity of ideas.

Stephen Stills has long been my favorite member of CSNY. Having said that, I think this album is just fine. “Love The One You’re With” (which features Crosby and Nash on backing vocals) is the standout track, but none of the other songs quite approach the greatness of CSNY.

Why is this album on the list? It doesn’t seem particularly groundbreaking, and it doesn’t seem like this was very influential. So like, why is it here? Did the editors feel like there wasn’t enough 70s Blues Rock?

I’m a huge fan of Super Furry Animals. This album was the first I heard of theirs, and while it’s not my favorite from them, it is perhaps the most immediate. “God! Show Me Magic” is a hell of an opener. “Hometown Unicorn” pairs their humor with their love for a good hook. And “Something 4 The Weekend” is one of the best songs they ever put out. I love how they combine a power pop sound with punk. Each song is brimming with energy, fearlessly weaving ugliness with catchy melodies.

If I were making this list, I’d have probably put Radiator in Fuzzy Logic’s place, but I’m just glad SFA rightfully have their place on the list. This is a 4.5/5 for me, but I’m rounding up to counteract the people who didn’t listen complaining that this is “shitty Britpop.”

The Sex Pistols are not my favorite punk band, but man, are they PUNK. Bringing us iconic and notorious characters like Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious, and filled with a sense of disaffection and destruction, there’s no denying the cultural behemoth they were.

These album is all of these things—it’s loud, it’s angry, it hates everything and thinks you should hate everything too. And yet, that’s precisely what keeps me from loving it. Where The Clash has real beliefs, The Sex Pistols mostly seem to be contrarians. It’s anger for the sake of anger, counterculture for the sake of counterculture. I think Johnny Rotten’s later support for Brexit and Trump is a good indication of this.

It’s a good album, and one of the most important albums. It certainly deserves to be on this list, though it never approaches the greatness of London Calling or Singles Going Steady.

There is a special class of album—albums that are legendary for not existing. The Who’s “Lifehouse” and Green Day’s “Cigarettes and Valentines” come to mind. Perhaps the most legendary is “SMiLE” by The Beach Boys. “Good Vibrations” was a great indication of what SMiLE was supposed to be, but SMiLE never came to fruition, due in part to Brian Wilson’s deteriorating mental state.

It’s widely believed that “SMiLE” would have been the greatest thing to come from The Beach Boys. It would have changed pop music forever. “Pet Sounds” would always be second-fiddle to this masterpiece of avant-garde pop.

But how can we be so sure?

In 2004, nearly 40 years after the SMiLE sessions began, Brian Wilson created the album he’d always intended to release—“Brian Wilson Presents Smile.” It was immediately universally praised, proclaimed one of the greatest albums of all time! Indeed, the music is beautiful—the vocals are lush, the harmonies surprising, the album flows effortlessly from one state to another. But something doesn’t click the way “Pet Sounds” does. “Pet Sounds” feels remarkable because it’s unlike anything that came before it. “BWPSmile” doesn’t have this quality, despite being technically excellent.

This isn’t the album Brian Wilson would have released in the 1960s—just listening to its version of “Good Vibrations” proves that. We aren’t getting that album. We’re getting something else. And it raises the question: when does an artist go from innovation to self-imitation?

It’s a good album, maybe even a great one. But critics have mistaken Brian Wilson’s personal triumph for a triumph of music itself.

One of the best things about this project is that it gets me listening to artists I SHOULD listen to, but that I’m not inclined to seek out. This album is a perfect example of that. I’ve been aware of Willie Nelson for most of my life, but I’ve never bothered to give him a listen.

This album is excellent. The storytelling, the sparseness, the simple beauty. Willie Nelson has a beautiful voice! Classic country is such a different genre than modern country —this album has more in common with Woody Guthrie than most stuff I hear coming out today.

I love this album—the hits and the deeper cuts, the ridiculous and iconic bass lines, the synths, Simon Le Bon’s distinctive delivery. “Hungry Like The Wolf” and “Rio” are standouts of course, but I’ve always been partial to “Save A Prayer.”

My heart says it’s a 5, but realistically, it’s more like a 4 in reality. But I love it!

This is a band I’ve been meaning to get into for a while, given their place in “Cool Cymru,” a movement I’ve become fascinated in. This album did not disappoint as an intro to the band.

This definitely seems like something I’ll come back to. More accessible but less immediate than Super Furry Animals. The lead vocalist reminds me of Jellyfish at times.

As a side note, I find it irritating how often people on this site seem to get an album from the 1990s UK and say “More Britpop garbage.” It’s so reductive! Why bother doing this if you’re just going to judge an album based on its metadata?

This is adjacent to music I like, but I didn’t like this. In some ways, it reminded me of the Magnetic Fields, who I love—but there’s so much wit and playfulness in MF records. This didn’t have that. I was surprised to learn that David Berman was meticulous with his lyric writing because I thought these lyrics were pretty uninspired…

The arrangements were decent, and I generally liked what the band was playing, but this alt country sound with pitchy vocals just didn’t do it for me.

PART I of “Who the Hell is Nick Cave, and Why Does He Have So Many Albums on this List?”

I already listened to the “Prologue” of this saga, which was The Birthday Party. Which I hated. But I’m hopeful that I like this one more.

“Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry”: So much energy! A darkness undergirding the song, and I can hear that this is the same singer as with The Birthday Party, but in a more melodic context. This song is actually written, you know?

“I Had A Dream, Joe”: Similar vibes. I like the vocals in the refrain.

“Straight to You”: A ballad! Feels different than the others. I like it. I’m just realizing this album might be a concept album. I’ll have to read more about it, listen to the lyrics closer.

“When I First Came To Town”: Okay, so maybe it’s NOT a concept album? But there’s a cohesive feeling across these songs. This song feels theatrical, dramatic—all the songs have, but this one in particular. I think it’s a combo of the strings and Nick Cave’s impassioned performance. The vague harmonies in the chorus are interesting.

“John Finn’s Wife”: Another narrative, some really evocative imagery in the lyrics. The coda of this song was the highlight. If not a concept album, it’s like a book of interconnected short stories, a la “Winesburg, Ohio.” Interesting to learn the band isn’t crazy about this album.

“Look of the Land”: Another ballad, I like the melody on “head upon my shoulder” and the “aah aah aah” in the post-chorus section. The lyrics are poetic, without being consciously so (the sweet spot).

“Jack the Ripper”: This is a blues song, at its core. Perhaps some misogyny, but also, seems clear these songs are character pieces.

Okay, I like this! I’m glad, because I’ve got like 7 more albums by these guys. I don’t know if any of it felt groundbreaking or anything, but it’s good. I’ll probably listen to it again, and in any case. I’m glad to have heard it, which is why I’m doing this project in the first place.

I love this kind of stuff—moody 80s synth pop. Depeche Mode were pretty unapologetically electronic in a way I appreciate, and while the music sounds dated, it’s also GOOD.

Damn, that clarinet solo on Festival Junction was awesome! And then that trumpet solo at the end! What the fuck? Amazing.

I’ve never been crazy about jazz, but this is something else. I had some Miles Davis records the other day, and they didn’t really capture me. So I wasn’t really champing at the bit to listen to a live jazz album over an hour long.

But this is as vibrant as anything I’ve heard on this list! The fact it’s live adds to it all, you can hear the audience’s excitement and how the band is feeding off their energy.

I like this. When I first looked at it, I thought it might be more esoteric 70s prog, and I wasn’t exactly champing at the bit for it. But this didn’t come across as pretentious to me. Experimental, certainly, but not pretentious. I’m not certain why it was chosen for this list, but I’m not complaining.

I liked when she was liked ~MiLk~.