Reviews by mattrickpow

Overall: 6/10

A good enough album that I won't think about much more in the future. The singles are bangers and everything else is nice. This is her best album for sure but Adele is really an artist that just kind of exists to me. Huge respect for covering The Cure though.

Fav Song: Rolling in the Deep

Overall: 6/10

Sheryl is a great singles artist. I actually love more of her songs than I thought I did, and there's a few on this one that I didn't even realize were her songs. The non singles don't hit as hard for me, but there wasn't really anything on here that I would call bad. It's a fun pop rock album that you can have fun with if you don't take it too seriously.

Fav Song: All I Wanna Do

Overall: 8/10

I'm a huge Peter Gabriel era Genesis fan, and if this was Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot or Selling England by the Pound then it would be getting a big ol' 5 star review from me. Sadly, this is The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. An overbloated, frustrating album that's full of all of these incredible moments that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up, but also has moments that make me ask "why, oh why, would you guys do this?". I can see why this album would have caused so much friction within the band. Obviously, I still really love it as a Genesis fan, and I would recommend it to anyone who is already a fan of the band and NOT just getting in to them for the first time.

Fav Song: In the Cage

Overall: 6/10

I don't understand why this is so hated. It's not a masterpiece by any means, but she has a nice voice and it's a good change of pace from the usual stuff we get from this list. I had a nice time with it.

Fav Song: The Ballad of the Sackslingers

Overall: 6/10

Not a bad way to spend half an hour. I've always though Willie has a nice voice for specific types of country, and it's definitely the slower stuff here that I enjoy the most. I also like the repeating motifs of this album, they really make it feel like a cohesive piece of work. I did find myself getting a bit tired of his style near the end, and if this was any longer I probably would be giving it a lower rating, but it's a solid album in a genre I still don't have a ton of love for.

Fav Song: Red Headed Stranger

Overall: 7/10

Man, this album used to so important to teenage me learning how to play bass. This might be a case of me overplaying it in my youth because I don't seem to love these songs as much as I used to, and the filler is more noticable the older I get. I still think Flea is an incredible bassist. Chad Smith is so endlessly underrated as a drummer. Fruiscante is a guitar god. Keidis can suck a fat one as a singer and especially as a human being. This is still worth listening to, especially as a gateway into other funky rock bands.

Fav Song: Around the World

Overall: 8/10

This was a lot jazzier than I expected! Sometimes I get bands named after U.S. cities confused so I expected this to sound similar to Boston or Kansas. Not at all. There were times that the musicians seemed to just be showing off and I wasn't a huge fan of that, but at least it wasn't constant. Will definitely be checking this out again!

Fav Song: I'm a Man

Overall: 6/10

Coldplay but not insufferable. Had moments I loved and moments I couldn't stand. Feels like it would be great music to fall asleep to.

Fav Song: One Day Like This

Overall: 5/10

This album has a few highlights, but it's pretty forgettable. Not only is it way too long, but it's the biggest R.E.M. ripoff I've heard in my life. It made me wish I was listening to Document instead. After doing some reading, it seems like critics and fans of the band consider this a terrible introduction to the band and one of their weaker albums so.....thanks for making me listen to this I guess?

Fav Song: Ice Cold Ice

Overall: 9/10

For a long time, I couldn't get into this album. For some reason, nothing really stood out and I just saw it as the Zeppelin album that has Immigration Song. Then, one day, I was listening to some songs on shuffle and a few songs from III popped up and I actually really liked them. I ended up putting the full album on and everything clicked.

I just love the atmosphere of this album. There's something about it that just feels magical compared to the other Zeppelin albums. It was obviously a stylistic change from the first two albums due to the more acoustic nature of the songs, but it works really well.

It's still probably my 5th favourite Zeppelin album, but I'm glad that I finally got to a point that I could enjoy it. I usually need to be in a specific III mood, but when I'm in that mood nothing else can scratch the itch.

Fav Song: Out On the Tiles

Overall: 9/10

Oh my Canadian queen, I love you so much.

The songs on this album are so incredible that I barely care that the production is so incredibly dated. I can't imagine it would sound even remotely similar if it was made a decade earlier or later. I blame the drums mostly.

But oh my god, those songs! The lyrics! I love me some vulnerability in my lyrics and you don't get more vulnerable than telling the world you blew Dave Coulier in a movie theater.

How ironic it is that the song ironic gets irony wrong so often. One hand in my pocket, and the other one [redacted]. You la-hooooooz yaler. God, I love this album. Almost perfect.

Too bad she never made another good album.

Fav Song: You Oughta Know

Overall: 7/10

Here's my thought process while listening to this:

"Hey, this is pretty good!"

"Oh, it's over..."

"Hey, that was pretty good!"

Fav Song: Back Against the Wall

Overall: 7/10

While I prefered Loveless, this was also a pretty great album. I was able to get lost in all the noise and vibe out. I found it surprisingly relaxing in a way that I didn't expect. I would've liked to be able to understand the vocals a bit more, and I found the mix was overshadowed by all the staticness of the overly distorted guitars. Overall, I'd recommend it if you've already heard MBV, but otherwise you should just check out Loveless.

I'm gonna take this opportunity to point out that the choices for this list post-2010 are very strange to me and don't really seem to represent the decade very well beyond a few obvious choices. I wouldn't have included this album personally and I don't think most people would. 2013 was a great year for music and it's a shame that we have this, The Next Day and Beyoncé in favour of Random Access Memories, ...Like Clockwork or even Pure Heroine.

Fav Song: New You

Overall: 8/10

This was such a cool album. A lot of the beats reminded me of the stuff RZA does with Wu-Tang. Keith's flow and lyrical prowess reminded me a lot of Andre 3000. Basically, he's reminiscent of a bunch of stuff I enjoy, and that rocks. This is also such a strange concept for an album and I have to applaud him for being so out there with it. There were times that I kind of lost the plot but then he's bring me right back in with some crazy rhyming scheme. Great stuff.

Fav Song: Blue Flowers

Overall: 10/10

Hey, so I'm so glad I got over my Radiohead hate a couple years ago. I never checked them out fully until after I started this project, but something clicked a while ago and I decided that they're alright. Now I'm fully on the hype train.

I love the guitar work on this album, it's pretty stellar. I also, surprisingly, think Thom sounds incredible here. He's usually my least favourite element of any Radiohead song, so it's great that he doesn't ruin these songs in any way for me. This is my favourite of their albums so far, and I can't wait to hear even more.

Fav Songs: Just OR Fake Plastic Trees, I can't decide

Overall: 9/10

There was something in the water in 1969. I've already had so many 5 star albums pop up from that year and it blows me away.

I'm so glad these 3 found each other. The harmonies on this album are so beautiful and I love the folksier sides of these songs as well. These dudes all had their own problems but they made incredible music together.

Fav Song: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes

Overall: 2/10

Oh god. Enough of this type of music, please. If it's not Daft Punk or The Prodigy then I tend not to enjoy these repetitive electronic dance albums. It's just not my thing at all. This one actually upset me a lot for some reason lol

Fav Song: Drop the Pressure

Overall: 8/10

Truly the dreamiest music you'll ever hear in your life. The obnoxiously distorted guitars and whispery vocals feel very ethereal and claustrophobic (that's a good thing for this type of music).

I've always loved the song Only Shallow but all of my attempts to listen to this album in the past left me feeling melancholic so I avoided it for a very long time. I still feel the melancholy when I listen to it, but I think that's kind of the point. I'm not going to have this one on constant repeat but I appreciate it for what it is and I can see why others agree that it's special.

Fav Song: Only Shallow

Overall: 7/10

This one just kept getting better the more I listened to it. Since I had the time, I ended up listening to it twice! I like that it reminds me of so many bands that I listened to in my formative years. It's the kind of stuff that is perfect for getting into rock music because it's catchy and simple, yet it rocks hard and has splashes of some real creativity. I loved the use of the slide guitar in Let It Slide (lol) and the harmonica in Pokin' Around. That song specifically, by the way, is SO Dinosaur Jr. that I thought the album ended and Spotify kept playing similar songs. I'm glad I finally got to hear these guys after so many years of hearing about them and the idea that they invented grunge.

Fav Song: Broken Hands

Overall: 8/10

Man, this is funky as hell. Sly had a lot to say about the world and I'm so glad he used music to say it. His band had a lot of talented musicians and he had a good ear for funky pop music. I can't wait to explore this one further.

Fav Song: Everyday People