Reviews by linkyboy

Rod Stewart has one of the most enigmatic and compelling voices in rock and roll. At its best moments, this record thumps away with tremendous energy. The bass guitar work is exceptional.

Frankly, I wasn’t planning to like this as much as I did. At times, it’s a bit corny, but I don’t know if there’s any other album that has made the mandolin sound cooler (maybe Led Zeppelin IV).

It’s a good album, it certainly deserves its place on the list. Honestly, Duane Allman’s contributions are way under-appreciated compared to Clapton’s.

“Layla” is iconic, overindulgent, awesome, and overlong. All these things are true. My favorite track is “Bell Bottom Blues,” and the final acoustic track, “Thorn Tree In the Garden,” was a pleasant surprise. But I think their cover of Hendrix’s brilliant song “Little Wing” best exemplifies why this is a mid-tier album: well played, reinterpreted consistently, but losing the magic of the original.

Side-note while thinking about “Little Wing:” it would be interesting to see the songs that appear on more than one release on this list.

My favorite album by one of my favorite artists. Themes of growing older—“how terribly strange to be seventy”—that feel meaningful when you are young, and continue to resonate as you grown older.

Some of their best songs are on this album: “Mrs Robinson,” “Punky’s Dilemma,” “Overs.” My favorite is “America,” which features one of the greatest lyrics ever written:

“‘Kathy, I’m lost,’’ / I said, though I knew she was sleeping, / I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why… / Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, / they’ve all come to look for America.”

There is a time in my life, when this would’ve gotten an easy five stars. It is still a great album, certainly notable and influential, great album cover, challenging and memorable. But I think I have become somewhat disillusioned by the sheen of progressive rock, and some of the things that I once loved about this album— like the extended instrumental noodling on “Moonchild,”—feel too self indulgent now.

But the journey of this album is tremendous. “21st Century Schizoid Man” is so heavy. I love the use of Mellotron on this album (I’m a sucker for that sound). I think what’s keeping me from giving it a full 5/5 is how self-serious and humorless it is. I also feel like if we’re talking about early prog albums, this list egregiously omits “Days of Future Past” by The Moody Blues, so I’m pouring one star out for that album.

This is one of a handful of albums that takes on extra significance when you consider the circumstances surrounding it—Janis Joplin died just three months before its release. And so, through the joy, the rocking, and the humor, the album is underpinned by the knowledge that Janis was no longer with us by the time we got to hear it.

“Cry Baby, “Me and Bobby McGee,” and “Mercedes Benz” are all classics, but it’s her resounding absence on the track “Buried Alive in the Blues” that makes you realize two things: what a wonderful group the Full Tilt Boogie Band was, and what a loss Joplin’s death was to the world of music.

I’ve had phases of my life when my favorite Led Zeppelin album was III, IV, Physical Graffiti, and (most recently) Houses of the Holy. But after relistening to Led Zeppelin II today, I think I might have a new favorite in town.

“Whole Lotta Love,” “What Is And What Should Never Be,” and “Ramble On” are worth the price of admission alone, but this albums has some other great cuts: “Thank You,” “The Lemon Song,” “Moby Dick.” Really, it has no weak point. And JPJ absolutely kills it on this record. Damn, this is such a great album.

I admire Sly & The Family Stone so much. From fact that they were one of the first racially integrated and mixed gender groups, to their indelible influence on funk, pop, and hip hop. Not to mention their awesome band name.

They are at their best on this album when you can really hear “The Family.” Songs like “I Want to Take You Higher,” “Sing a Simple Song,” and my favorite, “Everyday People” al feature the band’s myriad of singers and instrumentalists creating something special.

I’m not crazy about 14-minute blues jams (“Sex Machine”), so that knocks the album a bit. But overall, a solid album from a deeply important band.

What a fun discovery this one is! Reminds me at times of Sufjan Stevens, Cloud Cult, Eels. Interesting to read the comparisons to Nick Drake and Elliott Smith—I suppose I can hear it, and those other artists I mentioned came after Badly Drawn Boy, but I think this is clearly distinct.

Imaginative, interesting arrangements, memorable melodies. “Once Around the Block” is a highlight, but I actually liked everything on this album! So excited to explore Badly Drawn Boy further!

I really like the Native Tongues—their clever beats, their proud African-ness, and overall the joy present throughout their music. This album is so solid throughout, and the second half in particular is excellent. I like the jazz-hiphop fusion going on in this record and the Busta Rhymes feature is amazing. Though some of the song structure seems simplistic by modern standards, I have nothing to complain about. And having read about the influence this album had on countless artists later on, I feel inclined to bump it up from 4 stars to 5.

One of the more unique records I’ve gotten on this project—very cool to get this Afrobeat album, the fusion of African styles, jazz, and rock really works. Quite cool to have Ginger Baker on as a guest as well. The energy is electric, and Fela was a one of a kind performer.

I always find myself struggling to rate albums that are more about vibe than songwriting. But I liked this album, even if it faded into background music for me more often than not.

I think you need to take into account the precedent this albums was setting for artists who came later: Daft Punk, Air, and Holy Fuck all feel like they exist as direct responses to the stylings of this album.

Bob Dylan has 7 albums on this list. Do we really need his 1997 blues-inspired comeback album to appreciate his legacy? When artists like Harry Belafonte, The Cranberries, Weezer, Vampire Weekend, and Bon Iver are so glaringly left off the list? I posit that no, we do not. If any other artist put out this album, it would not have been loved or remembered. It’s on the list because it was Bob Dylan’s first decent album in nearly 2 decades.

It brings nothing new to the blues, nothing emblematic of the 90s, and no worthy entries to the Bob Dylan songbook.

Part of the appeal of The White Stripes is Meg’s rudimentary yet powerful drumming and Jack’s sloppy but memorable guitar riffs. On this album, they seem to have taken that ethos and applied it to piano, but I’m not sure it pays off in the same way. There are a couple excellent tracks on this record (“Blue Orchid,” “My Doorbell”), but a lot of it just doesn’t quite work.

Still, I like listening to it. My heart says it’s a 4, but my brain says 3… I think my brain wins.

I really like this album—Bowie was definitely going for an R&B/Soul sound for it, and succeeds in doing so while still remaining indisputably Bowie. He has one of the most distinctive voices as a songwriter.

I also find the John Lennon connection interesting: quoting “A Day in the Life” during the title track, covering “Across the Universe,” and then fully having him featured on “Fame”—which, by the way, is such an amazing track. It feels like everyone in the band had a stank face on while playing.

We do need to talk about how overrepresented Bowie is on this list. I love him and think he’s amazing, but should he really make up nearly 1% of all the albums when so many other incredible artists are completely omitted?

You know, I don’t generally expect myself to enjoy country music, especially modern country. But I really liked this. It felt more like pop with a country twang. Lots of solid songwriting and interesting musical ideas.

I imagine a lot of people will give this a low rating simply because they’ve decided that they hate country. I’ll say, I would consider country to be one of my least favorite genres, but my summary on this site does not reflect that. I think this list probably has higher quality country selections than some other genres (for example, I love punk music, but there’s a lot of punk on here that I don’t particularly like, so my rating for it is relatively low). In any case, I think it’s a shame if people don’t give this album the time of day simply due to its genre.

While I love Queen, I was not very familiar with this album. Seems like a kind of strange deep cut when “A Day At The Races” was omitted from this list. Nonetheless, it was fun to listen to an album of early and unfamiliar tracks.

It feels like Queen knew they were going to go on to do great things, but hadn’t quite figured out their sound or identity yet. Sure, the operatic harmonies and overdubbed guitar parts remained, but this feels more like a prototype for “Sheer Heart Attack” which came out later that same year.

Still, without knowing what Queen was to become, I probably would have given this album 4.5 or 5 stars. So though I don’t think it’s necessarily an album of theirs that I would include on the list, it’s only because they would go on to become even better. And so, I’m giving it 4 stars.

I love this album, Nick Drake’s swan song. It’s an album that I believe stands on its own despite its tragic backstory—I loved his music without the context, and with the context, it doesn’t make the music better, per se, but certainly colors it differently.

I love the barebones nature of this album (as compared to Bryter Layter, for example), and the intimacy of Nick Drake’s voice and guitar is enveloping. There’s no hiding of the little imperfections in his playing or singing—both of which are beautiful as is.

My favorite moment on this album is the piano part on the title track. So simple, so beautiful. Love this album.

It’s not that this is a bad album. But so often I wondered, “What’s the point of this?” There were inspired moments, but everything dragged on for too long and it was so far from the best prog rock I’ve ever heard that I feel it hasn't earned higher than 2 stars on this list. Perhaps if I read that it was incredibly influential or groundbreaking, but it doesn’t really seem like it was.

Honestly, I listened to it twice and felt similarly both times… it’s fine, but kind of boring, unmemorable, and uninventive. The Cure has better stuff. I liked a few of the songs, but overall I was unimpressed… I prefer their poppier stuff.

“Back in Black” is such an amazing album—not only because it contains their most iconic song (the title track). And not just because it has my favorite AC/DC song, “You Shook Me All Night Long.” But because I don’t know of any other band replacing their lead singer with such success, at least not like they did. Everyone who loves the Bon Scott era loves the Brian Johnson era too (Van Halen wishes…). To go from the tragic loss of their lead singer to their most successful album is nothing short of incredible!

“But the all their songs are the same!” Yes, and that one song is awesome!