Reviews by mkaddour2001

My does this list love its '60s hippie, psychedelic albums. This is just another one in the mix for me - some interesting moments here and there, but ultimately too one-note and not very memorable. 'Sweet Martha Lorraine' I liked quite a bit because it reminded me a lot of the Doors' debut album...almost too much. The albums were only released a few months apart, but I'll leave it at that. The guitar playing is at its peak on the shorter 'Porpose Mouth', just a bunch of interesting tones and lines hanging in the background of this one, giving it this almost mystical feel - maybe the best track here. I was also really rocking with the jammy instrumental 'Section 43' until that harmonica came i,n which did not fit into the mix AT ALL. And while it was the most unpopular song on the album, 'Sad And Lonely Times' was pretty good, but I'm usually a sucker for these sort of gloomy '60s pop songs anyways. 'The Masked Marauder' had another great instrumental, some really cool, bright, and sinister tones and melodies on the guitar and keys on this one.

So yeah, it's alright, I guess, definitely leans into the trippiness factor more than other albums in its lane, which is probably why it's considered more of an "Acid Rock" album.

Did not expect this album to be so damn depressing, but here we are. Not super familiar with British Folk, say for maybe Fairport Convention, whom I like a lot. These two fall in a similar area musically as FC, standard folk-rock music fused with psychadelic and Celtic sounds. But it's really the lyrical content of this album that drew me in; it's super bleak, lonely, and almost hopeless. I'd say that comes to a head in the devastating 'The End Of The Rainbow', but earlier songs that yearn for escape, like 'When I Get To The Border' or the title track, also evoke a familiar sense of dread I haven't felt in a long time. And something about the song 'Has He Got A Friend For Me' made me so damn sad, just something about the way Linda puts together this piece about loneliness and longing for a significant other was so potent.

So yeah kinda ruined my evening and all, but at least the music was damn good. Doesn't help that it's a Sunday evening right now.

Really neat, been meaning to check out M.I.A for a very long time now. My initial thought listening to this was "Wow this is so ahead of its time!" but honestly I wasn't even sure how, at least not right away. What about this was ahead of its time? I want to say it's primarily the production which is very grainy, disjointed, jarring, and uncanny that draws a lot from the world of contemporary EDM. The type of production that many experimental post-industrial hip hop and electronic artists in the 2010s would ride. The percussive work specifically stands out, it's all so subtly overdriven and chaotic like with 'Bucky Done Gun' or 'Fire Fire'. The song 'Bingo' was maybe the noisiest banger here, and my favorite song.

The rapping well, it's certainly something. M.I.A is certainly unique and an acquired taste. It sort of sounds like all her verses are hooks. So her ACTUAL hooks are hard to distinguish in the mix, and the whole thing ends up feeling like this endless stream of bars, no structure in sight. That is unless she's getting melodic on the chorus like on 'Sunshowers'. This song and 'M.I.A' had maybe the most directly political messages on the album because, lyrically, M.I.A clearly favors getting her points across with the repetition of sticky lines. M.I.A, being a refugee herself, clearly holds that specific topic close, and opts to name drop it, and her home of Sri Lanka, in many of the raps here.

After the first few songs, and especially in the second half, I found the album really clicked for me - there are some real head bangers here and MIA's style just starts to make sense for some reason. My brain just sort of melted into the nonsensical nature of it all. Good stuff, and again, really predictive and ahead of its time.

Man, entries like this on this list crack me up - largely unknown, not very well received (and in the case of this website, terribly received), sort of avant-garde, and obviously just a niche favorite of the list-designer's. I enjoyed this about as much as I enjoyed another dark cabaret album on this list, the one by Ute Lemper, except this one was less directly pleasant and more over-the-top, theatric, and kind of ridiculous in almost every way. So even though I felt like I was over this the second it started (it's just not my thing), I tried my absolute best to enjoy it. There's some charm here, and some of the instrumental ideas and general sonic direction are pretty neat, but it suffers primarily from the songs being way too short, like I just don't understand the choice behind that at all. There is zero breathing room for some of the better ideas here. 'Chanson Allemande' especially pissed me off with how short it was; it was a great ballad-type song that reminded me a lot of 'Alice' era Tom Waits in a lot of ways, and then it just ends like nothing.

A pretty down-in-the-dumps record even by Neil Young's standards. It just feels like a rundown gas station filled with unfulfillment and lost dreams, but with this tiny glimmer of hope in this aimless search for love. After the very depressing opening title track, a track about Neil's friend who'd tragically overdosed on heroin, you get songs like 'Mellow My Mind' and 'Speakin' Out' which capture those feelings of eternal yearning for some sort of release, while a song like 'Roll Another Number' sees Neil looking at the past, mourning a changing scene. 'Third Eyes' goes in this spoken-word direction and is maybe my favorite song here, about a drug deal gone wrong in this almost cautionary tale, as he mourns and humanizes, more than anything, the victims of addiction-fueled violence. "I mean, was he a heavy doper or was he just a loser? He was a friend of yours" is such a brilliantly sad line...left it a pit in my stomach.

It's not all depressing, though: 'Come on Baby Let's Go Downtown' was a banger and a nice change of pace that goes in this almost hard-rock direction. Aside from that, though, most of this album sticks to the very standard country-rock that Young was doing in the '70s, and I enjoyed it more than usual here - it felt more varied and ambitious, with my favorite being the instrumental on the song 'Albuquerque', which really sounds like soaring above a large canyon at sunset.

More great music from this guy. Not much needs to be said.

Very much a Talking Heads-style new-wave band, with this big emphasis on groove and a tight rhythm section. It's also just super cute and feel-good, which is the impression I got from this album cover before even listening. So many little uplifting funky musical interludes and horn sections, with my favorites being 'Lemon Firebrigade' and that intro to 'Kingsize' is just perfect. Lyrically too, just listen to 'Fantastic Day'. And the bass on this album is to die for, so melodic and stated, the one on 'Milk Film' especially is infectious in its simplicity and playfulness. Maybe the only thing that I wasn't huge on here was the lead vocals; they're fine, but I enjoyed this album much more whenever they were pulled back for a nice saxophone solo or horn section. They're nothing special, but they get the job done - standard British new-wave and post-punk stuff, I guess. I like the Beach Boys thing in the vocals going on in 'Snow Girl'. The whole album is also just super cleanly produced, like absolute studio glitz and shine, and while I'm not usually super into that, I'd say it suits the album's aesthetic more than well.

Like a field of sunflowers, super colourful, fun, and happy. I can't NOT like this thing. Apparently, they're releasing an album next year after like 40 years, which is neat.

I'd group Method Man's debut solo album with ODB's debut solo album. In fact, I'd say both emcees are quite alike and have the same challenge for me: How can two emcees whose style is incredible in small bursts handle a full-length solo album? And while I do think ODB's debut solo album excels in showcasing everything that made him so incredible, Method Man (and the RZA) also manage to mostly play to his strengths on this album as well. The whole thing is intoxicating, bassy, fat, submerged. I attribute that to the sparse beats and the really low-end-oriented mix of the songs here. It's an acquired taste, and it creates a pretty surreal atmosphere, especially when unorthodoxly paired with some of the more cuthroat moments here, like with 'Meth Vs. Chef'.

But you'll also just get some incredible classic Wu-Tang songs here, some of the very best. Starting with the obvious banger 'Bring The Pain', which in all its boom bap '90s rapisms, still manages to sound relentlessly Wu-tang in its production and in Method Man's lyrical style. 'What The Blood Clot' sounds clearer than anything else here, for some reason, and 'Release Yo' Delf' was pretty forward-thinking for the Wu-Tang Clan in the mid-'90s in general, given the cleaner production. The absolute best song for me has always been 'Mr. Sandman's though - not only because I just can't get enough of RZA's disjointed rapping style from around this time, but the whole thing is just so hilariously over-the-top and again captures everything I love about this group. Clearly, a bit of RZA's Gravediggaz sounds slip into this one as well. And shoutout to Street Life, he's one of these mostly unknown Wu affiliates, but he absolutely kills his verse on this song.

It might be hard to believe, but this really is one of my LEAST favorite Wu golden-age solo albums, yet it's still so great.

It's alright, definitely enjoyed it whenever they were doing their Beach Boys harmony thing because, y'know, how could I not, but even with that, the whole thing felt fatiguingly derivative and one-note. The run from 'No Trophy' to 'A Minha Menina' was maybe the most I enjoyed this group's brand of Gorillaz-esque Neo-Psychadelic the most. But I find when it comes to this sort of sound, for me at least, if you're not constantly evolving it and varying the moods and emotions being put on display, you run the risk of drying out the well really quickly. Which is what this album did for me.

I mean, it's no 'Mezzanine', but Massive Attack does their specific flavor of trip-hop far too well for me to even bother drawing the unnecessary comparison. Mostly listened to this during a long drive home today, and it really chilled me the fuck out during that frustrating experience, something that I was already expecting before throwing this on. 'Five Man Army' was an early highlight. I really loved the back and forth between the two emcees here; it also made me realize that I've never really appreciated UK rap from the early '90s before. The bass sound on the song is paramount, but I'd almost say that's the case for most of the other songs here. All my comments about this song could just as easily apply to 'Daydreaming', which sounds like some lost UK-ATCQ track. 'Unfinished Sympathy' is maybe the grandest-sounding thing here, with the sweeping string section elevating these already emotive vocals to even greater heights. My ultimate favorite track had to be 'Hymn Of The Big Wheel' though, just an all-around motivational high-point on the album, and an immaculate closer. I wasn't familiar with Horace Andy, but the way his vocals hover over this droning instrumental on the verses before it all brightens up on the chorus nearly brought me to tears.

As expected with these guys, it's a bit all-over-the-place, but I'd say that's pretty ahead of its time for '91 specifically. It really feels like the shape of hip-hop to come with all its interesting fusions.

More interesting than enjoyable, to hear this very influential band's debut album from all the way back in 1964. And with that, I can also say that it's just as rudimentary and drenched in the influences of its contemporaries as I'd anticipated. Just the ferocity of Rock N' Roll on some songs, and the chill laid back Blue Rock on some others, without really stepping into anything too interesting or out of the ordinary. The sort of tribal rhythms and fuzzy guitars driving the song 'Mona' were maybe the most instrumentally interesting here. The song 'Tell Me' had the sort of ominous demeanor I'd expect out of the band's later works; it was probably my favorite song here, really loved those messy harmonies. I didn't get much out of the rest of this thing, but hey, gotta start somewhere, I guess.

My first time listening to this pretty acclaimed and beloved band. And I don't know if I just need to sit with it for longer, but I really didn't get this album on first listen. It does the usual hard-rock and grunge thing, and there are some mean guitar passages here, especially with the entire song 'Why Go' or that second half of 'Porch'. And even though he's not my cup of tea, Mr. Vedder is a pretty charming lead vocalist, especially on the softer 'Black' where he's absolutely pouring his broken heart out, lyrically and vocally. Despite it being such a departure from the noisier sounds of the rest of the album, 'Black' really was the best song here. Because while I did enjoy most of the album, the songs tend to blend in with one another way too much. By the time this was done, I wasn't really able to pick out a unique switch-up, or a driving, memorable riff, or a sticky melody in the vocals. In a lot of ways, I'd say it's consistent to a fault - and to the point where I was already exhausted by the time I hit 'Jeremy', despite it also being one of the better songs here.

So, I will say, I didn't love this on first listen. But I know myself and my relationship with these types of samey, consistent albums - I'm sure that it'll grow on me, at least a little bit, after just a few more listens, because it is just a really well-done rock record and much better than a lot of what was coming out around this time in mainstream rock and grunge. Something about it feels really down-to-earth and sincere. So I'll leave it at that.

Some interesting new-wave, reminds me a lot of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, especially the song 'Uncertain Smile' which had this incredible piano-solo outro. The whole thing has this very optimistic vibe, like it's trying hard to pull you out of a rut and re-ignite a feeling of happiness that was always there. But it's also a pretty difficult read, in some ways, the songs are telling you exactly how to feel, and in another way, the meanings are completely left up to interpretation...is it optimistic or pessimistic? It can work both ways. I really liked 'This is the Day', which is a really upbeat track with some incredible, deep, smoky' 80s-style vocals, and it's a great demonstration of what this album does. It's obviously optimistic at the forefront, especially given the very gleeful melodies in the background, but I don't know, man, something about it feels almost cynical or sarcastic (Like an Outkast 'Hey Yeah' type song). I think it's the former, at least from an artistic intention POV, they literally sell a mug saying "This Is The Day" on their merch store, so I'm sure they intended it to have at least some sort of motivational effect. You also get songs like the title track here that seem to suffer with the listener, in a very pitiful way. This track also has this incredible but short breakdown with these gorgeous synth arpeggios.

So I did find the concept neat, certainly unique, and it's nothing if not consistent. But the songs themselves, for the most part, just didn't land for me. The synth work was really cool, especially in those final two cuts (literally doing some cool predictive EDM stuff with the drums and synths, especially with that extended outro on 'Giant'), but I don't see myself revisiting the songs here as songs anytime soon. Still decent though, and I might return to it someday to see if I'd be more open to accepting it for what it is.

While I've never been huge on Britpop, this felt less like the traditional, repetitive, fuzz-rock styled music I'd expect out of that genre tag and more like just some cool alternative rock made by British people. It's genuinely quite varied, and the melodies don't make me want to turn it off immediately. It clearly takes more from the sounds of British punk and alternative, which is what made this more bearable than usual. Songs like 'Richard III', 'G-Song', and especially 'You Can See Me' had these genuinely great progressions and layering.

Not my favorite song ever or anything, but I got through it feeling relatively good!

I mean, it's Michael Jackson's 'Bad', it's practically a greatest hits record during one of this legend's many fine hours. It's no 'Thriller', but I'd rank it on the same level, if not slightly above 'Off The Wall,' for nostalgia reasons alone. I remember having to sing 'Man in the Mirror' in primary school and how obsessed I was with that one song. And honestly, it's a pretty good song all things considered, a little heavy-handed, but the good intentions are clear as day. Some underrated gems here aside from the obvious bangers - 'Speed Demon' for one is relentlessly funky and I love those layers of synths that hang in the background in that second half. 'Another Part of Me', I feel similarly about. I love the way the vocal builds into the chorus and those iconic '80s horn blasts. And 'Dirty Diana' sounds like the 'Beat It' sentimental cousin production-wise, at least. The whole thing with MJ fighting off this temptress, while it does get a chuckle out of me sometimes, was clearly something MJ felt strongly about.

But yeah, I'm sorry, the best song here has always been 'Smooth Criminal' for me, I don't care how overplayed and memed it is, the song remains absolutely iconic, one of the greatest in pop history. There's really something about the nature of the writing, it's so ominous, mysterious, but in a way, the music doesn't match that at all...if anything, the whole thing sounds kinda sexy. It always gave off this alluring effect despite the ugly story being told.

The king of pop, the-king-of-popping, once more. No one can do music like this guy.

Didn't hate this as much as I was expecting to - it was ultimately just 40 minutes of Morrissey doing his Morrissey thing, for better or worse. That is: the melodic and earwormy angelic singing propped up against this very smug delivery with lyrics that try way too hard to be relatable and production that's very much akin to the colourful and lush playing of the Smiths and, thankfully, less tacky than the production on his later solo albums (particularly 'You Are the Quarry'). The acoustic ballads here were genuinely gorgeous, especially 'We'll Let You Know' and 'Seasick, yet Still Docked', where the very light and repetitive acoustic strumming gives off heavy 'Never Had No One Ever' vibes. The song 'We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful' is that classic witty passive-aggressive Morrissey song, and I enjoyed it for what it is. Can't say the same for 'You're the One for Me, Fatty', which reminded me why I hated this entitled prick so much.

I think I ended up loving this because it felt more like classic Smiths than it does POS old-man uber-British Nationalist Morrissey (though that part seeps through a bit on 'Glamorous Glue', but in a seemingly well-intentioned manner). This album walks that fine line still - on the cusp of being insufferable. But I enjoyed it, and I hate that.

I guess it was some pleasant cabaret music, and Ute's voice is very nice on the ears, but the whole thing felt hollow to me, like it was structureless and missing a sort of identity I want out of these kinds of albums. I think a good chunk of the songs on this thing are covers, which might explain it, but as grand as the production here yearned to be, it all felt like too much and not enough at the same time.

One of the peaks of this, generally, oversaturated style of psychadelic folk rock of the '60s. It's immersive, moody, jarring, disorienting, and slick. It doesn't exactly stand out sonically, but the secret sauce is all in the execution here - the hypnotic acoustic arpeggios or the way the flat toms and snares give the whole thing this very tribal feel. The bass here is brain-melting, and the vocals remain hushed but undoubtedly melodic, especially when harmonies are introduced. I'm sort of on the fence about the hard panning in the stereo mix I listened to, but it sure as hell made every instrument pop out and sound super clear, especially with that bassline on 'The Daily Planet' or that brooding, woody cello on 'Old Man'. The songs themselves are great - I don't think anything tops the opener 'Alone Again Or', but the songs 'Old Man' and especially the fiery 'Maybe The People Would...' get pretty darn close. And the closer, 'You Set the Scene', was surprisingly positive, inspirational, and the most ambitious song on here, structurally speaking.

But I do think it's the album experience that wins me over; it feels like winding corridors in your dreams, a raw stream of consciousness just flowing out like a river in a beautiful forest at night. I think it'll only continue to grow on me on subsequent listens.

While I do think Rush is a pretty good band (proven by this album and 'Moving Pictures' especially), I don't think they're a particularly great 'prog' band, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. I was pretty excited when I saw the 20-minute titular opener, but was left very unsatisfied by the end of it, given its lack of an engaging progression and its more medley style, which felt like a bunch of unfinished ideas glued together. There are certainly some good ideas on that opener, especially the final very hard-rock driven part of the medley, but it all felt very unsatisfying as a single track. Luckily, Rush are better at writing these tighter 3-4 minute tracks, as proven by songs like 'Limelight' on their other album, and 'A Passage to Bangkok' and 'The Twilight Zone' off this album. The band's obviously immensely talented, Geddy Lee especially is an incredibly evocative songwriter, as seen on 'Tears', and an even more expressive bassist - just listen to that bouncy line on 'Lessons'.

So yeah, certainly a talented band, but god I wish that opener didn't sour the rest of the thing FOR ME. But it is what it is.

A chill-as-all-hell album, like genuinely this is some of the most inoffensive, mind-resting, wind-down jazz music I've ever heard. At no point was I really amazed at what was going on, but I'm kind of thankful that was the case. The album keeps itself huddled in this very small, warm, and feel-good space - never trying to leave it. The opening title track is one of those songs that I can just play for hours, and I wouldn't even notice, just super catchy and smooth in how it continues to loop in on itself. I guess maybe this whole album feels that way, like sitting in a hotel lobby at night, sipping a cup of coffee, and people-watching as you see different travelers walking in and out of the building.

Feel-good music, if I've heard it, and just the type of thing I needed tonight. Brain music.

An album I've been meaning to check out for a very long time, an early hip-hop staple that's considered to be revolutionary for the genre - and I'm not really sure how I feel about that sentiment. I do think golden-era hip-hop has a very unique and charming sound that wasn't translated at all into the '90s when the sounds of the genre shifted drastically, and this album partially encapsulates that. The beats here feel more deliberately programmed, clearly drawing from the sounds of rudimentary house and techno music that were growing alongside hip-hop at this time - especially on a song like 'Jam-Master Jay'. But the biggest thing is just the sheer lack of samples flying in and out on this thing, something that's usually an '80s hip hop staple that contrasts the more repetitive nature of '90s hip-hop production (which I love also, still). Run DMC deviates from groups like Public Enemy, De La Soul, and The Beastie Boys when it comes to sample selection. There's a satisfying level of simplicity behind the music here, and I'd say that Jam-Master Jay's production style falls more in line with the sounds of the earliest DJs and founding fathers of hip-hop like Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa. Some cool production moments here include the live-recorded electric guitar on 'Rock Box', the detuned, blaring synths and 808 of '30 Days', or those bright synth hits on 'It's Like That' - a super catchy tune. You'll still get samples and record scratching here, of course, most evidently on the closer 'Jay's Game', but it's certainly not the focal point here, with it taking a backseat to the keyboards and drum machines usually.

The rapping is pretty basic, which is to be expected of this time, with the anthemic, bar-conscious, back-and-forth style that guys like the Beastie Boys loved. I enjoyed it for the most part, especially on the song 'Rock Box' which felt like a more slick and progressive take on that style. 'Sucker M.C's' was a nice break from the constant call-and-responses of the album, with the whole track spotlighting both MCs just going off on this simple drum-machine beat - it's an effective demonstration of how stripped-back this genre can get. Lyrically, it's pretty standard battle-rap type stuff, say for maybe the togetherness-anthem that is 'Wake Up' that I found only slightly annoying on the production front.

So did I actually enjoy this? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did, the album just flew by, for one, and for two, I do think this album sticks out in the golden age hip-hop era and really highlights a time where hip-hop wasn't afraid to heavily draw from many adjacent American subcultures. I'd say this album and 'Licensed to Ill' show two different sides of that same coin, and that's always super cool to listen to.