Reviews by mattrickpow

Overall: 4/10

I'll never forgive whoever decided that Rod Stewart should sing for a living, I can't stand that gravelly voice. The songs on here would probably be pretty decent with a competent vocalist.

Fav Song: Gasoline Alley

Overall: 7/10

This album is kind of wild, and I could see how it might have been a big influence on industrial music. It can be pretty heavy and abrasive at times, but there's enough melody to keep it accessible and enjoyable.

Fav Song: Passing Complexion

Overall: 9/10

This album just gets better the older I get.

I believe I was 19 years old the first time I heard this album. I was just getting into rap music, enjoying stuff like Outkast and Wu-Tang Clan and A Tribe Called Quest. I just didn't get the appeal of this album at the time.

Fast forward a few years, and I really started to understand why it was such a celebrated album, even if I still wasn't a huge fan of it. I grew to appreciate the political aspect of the album.

Now, I think this is a borderline masterpiece. Not only is it great lyrically, but the actual songs are fun to listen to and make me think. If I have one problem with the album, it's that it's waaaaaaaay too long. I would have cut some stuff out, but for the most part, I think this is some seriously important music that everyone should try to enjoy at least once.

Fav Song: These Walls

Overall: 8/10

Man, sometimes you just want to listen to a good rock album with great tunes, fun guitar work and killer vocals. These guys never really brought anything new to the game, but they made some great songs and they knew exactly what their strengths were as a band. Hard to Handle and She Talks to Angels are two of the best rock songs of the entire 90's.

Fav Song: Hard to Handle

Overall: 5/10

This might have felt fresh and exciting when it came out, but nowadays it just reminds me of so many other bands and I found it kind of boring. There have been a lot of punk bands that sound exactly like this, and there's not much that makes them stand out in my opinion. I also found the vocals to be incredibly boring, there's no life to them. I still got some enjoyment out of it and I tend to rate generously so I'll still give it some props, but this hasn't been a very worthwhile listen for me.

Fav Song: S.O.F.T.

Overall: 7/10

This album is basically The Beatles if Rubber Soul was just covers of Bob Dylan songs. I like The Beatles, and I like Bob Dylan, so this was pretty fun for me to listen to. The one thing they have over both is the interesting harmonies. They sound different than a lot of groups at the time and they're so beautiful.

Fav Song: Mr. Tambourine Man

Overall: 9/10

Classic. John Fogerty is the MVP here, his voice is just incredible and it always shocks me that it comes out of that man. The songs are all so good and there's no real skips (although a couple songs are a bit lengthier than they need to be).

Fav Song: Lookin' Out My Back Door

Overall: 6/10

While this album has a bunch of corniness that hasn't aged well, it also shows off the immensely beautiful voice of George Michael, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I enjoyed Faith. I can see why so many people love this album, and while I don't consider it worthy of this list, I still think it's a good idea to check it out anyways.

Fav Song: Freedom '90

Overall: 8/10

This is a great jazz fusion album with political substance and it's so interesting to listen to. I'm glad I looked up the context before diving into it, I feel that it gave me a greater appreciation for the music itself.

Fav Song: Zombie

Overall: 3/10

Sorry. Not bad, but I didn't really get any enjoyment out of this. Not for me at all.

Fav Song: Luna y Sol

Overall: 7/10

On the one hand, there's not really anything that special about this album. It's kind of your run-of-the-mill 80's glam album. On the other hand, I caught myself being kind of hypnotized by the music at several points during the duration, and I enjoyed that. I might come back to this and not love it as much, but for now I think this was better than I expected.

Fav Song: Mental Beat

Overall: 9/10

Another album that I have nothing new to add to the conversation, but it's an absolute banger and probably my favourite Dylan album.

Fav Song: Like a Rolling Stone

Overall: 3/10

The singing was nice, but I'm pretty anti-religious and these songs all sounded the same to me.

Fav Song: couldn't even choose

Overall: 6/10

A nice, chill album to start my morning. Nothing blew me away and I don't think it's something that I'll come back to often, but I had a pleasant time with it.

Fav Song: A Minha Menina

Overall: 4/10

So much potential wasted by not actually finishing writing any of the songs. This is a demo album disguised as a studio album and it's frustrating because there's so much to love about these short snippets. I just can't fully enjoy an album that's not complete.

Fav Song: My Valuable Hunting Knife

Overall: 5/10

There's some great guitar work going on here, and I do enjoy the bluesy sound, but I found that Clapton's style got really old really quickly. Combine that with the fact that he's a garbage butt man and you have a recipe for an okay album thag could have been better.

Fav Song: I Shot the Sheriff

Overall: 9/10

Honestly kind of shocked how much I liked this one. I knew all of the hits, but the deeper cuts are also so much fun and show off how great every member of the band was as musicians. Eddie is obviously the MVP here, but his brother Alex is an awesome drummer, David had so much charisma and Michael had the bass chops to keep it all together. Glad I listened to this and I have a few new Van Halen songs to enjoy now.

Fav Song: Jamie's Cryin'

Overall: 6/10

This is a decent little pop album that doesn't do much to amaze you until the absolute all time banger of Don't You Want Me. I'm glad the rest of the album isn't that bad, but it all pales in comparison to that masterpiece. This might have actually gotten a higher rating if that song didn't exist cause now I know what these guys were capable of and nothing else they did comes anywhere close.

Fav Song: Don't You Want Me

Overall: 6/10

I'm surprised I didn't like this one as much as I could have. It seems all over the place with it's style in a way that I found a bit offputting. It's almost like a collection of B-sides rather than a fully realized album. There's lots to like here of course, but I don't really think it's all that special compared to other Blur albums.

Fav Song: Strange News from Another Star

Overall: 9/10

One of the most important rock albums to ever exist. Led Zeppelin is so insanely influential for so many reasons. There's a couple songs on here I don't love, but it's overall a great album that I'll never get sick of.

Fav Song: Dazed and Confused