Reviews by mkw

I have absolutely no idea what was going on, but what an album!

Another album that I listened to non-stop when it was released, but that maybe hasn't aged that well. The first half of the album is incredibly strong, but it runs out of steam.

It's not the Smiths, but it's good enough.
Morrissey is such an unpleasant man, with horrible politics and beliefs, but he is so good at being relatable on records.

I don't know about this. Like everyone else I've been preached to about this album for years, but I just don't get it. Some of the tracks are great, some are filler, and some feature Niko prominently, and should be ignored.

My 2nd. Arcade Fire album on this list. I still don't get the hype.
There's not really anything wrong with the music, but it's just not all that interesting either. Fine as background music.

If this album did not have The BEATLES on the cover, it would never, ever have been even considered for a list like this. There's a couple of good tracks, but the rest is just grab-bag of whatever the dudes felt like throwing at the wall. We get everything from embarrassingly bad fake American accents to eight minutes of a random dude saying "number nine" - what artists!

On the plus side there's one less The Beatles album left to suffer through on the road to 1001 albums.

So much talent. So incredibly safe and boring.
Yes, "Hello" is a great track. "Water Under the Bridge" is more interesting than the rest of the album, but that's about it. Take a chance, do something less safe.

I didn't enjoy this on my first (and focused) listen.

For various reason the pretty short album kept repeating for the next hour and a half while I worked, and this really turned the experience around. The energy alone gives a few stars, and by the third time round I caught myself thinking "that's neat" at a few points.

I'll never be a big fan of punk, but this album turned out to be fairly enjoyable.

I loved this album in the 90s. It was such an interesting new feel to have an album constructed from only samples.
I'm not sure it has aged all that well. I love most tracks, but that's most likely because I loved them long, long before listening this time. I think there's a fairly clear line from this album to his later productions, but this isn't DJ Shadow firing on all cylinders, and many tracks feel a bit longer than they had to be.

I absolutely hate the overly sweet half whispered vocals. The rest of the band could have been absolute magic, and I would still hate the album.
As it is, the first few tracks are so incredibly annoying that I more or less checked out. Lovefool is catchy, but that has to be the worst Iron Man ever.

The crowd on the cover cannot possibly be reaching to anything made by this band?

So incredibly stripped down and personal. There really are no layers to go through in the music. It's just this one man and his songs.

I love it. So different from what I usually listen to, but so much energy.

Well that was certainly something.

Not a fan of the concept itself, but this is the type of album I would expect to find on this list. I'm not gonna listen to this regularly, but going through it once was an interesting experience. The backing music is catchy, even if the vocals don't do much for me.

I remembered this album as being stronger.

Like a prayer, and express yourself are absolute classics. The rest of the album is somewhat irrelevant.

This is not for me.

Albums like these are really the reason I'm going through the list in the first place, but I absolutely cannot stand the vocals. Unfortunately there's very little going on besides the vocals.

Somehow the shortest album I've heard in a long time seemed to go on forever.

Oh god no.
How did this make the list? Not only a live album, but a compilation (I trule hope this is not considered a greatest hits) album on top? Just no.

It's not that I hate Metallica, I just find them bland and uninteresting. I tend to like most classical music, but the combination of the two just ruins any interest or enjoyment. And why is this nonsense album so incredibly long?

I want my two hours back.

My 2nd. Goldfrapp on the list, and I think I'll just have to accept that this band is not for me. The good tracks, are really good, but the bad tracks are downright annoying.
Other bands do the same thing better.

The heaviest of heavy metal.

What an album. Supernaut is the standout. I think my first time hearing the track was the "1000 homo DJ's" version, but the original was so far ahead of it's time. Nothing will ever beat that riff.

I'm not sure how anyone is supposed to rate or review this album. It's one classic after another, and it's immediately obvious how influential this album (well really this man) was.
Can only be 5/5.

It's just so smooth.
Joel's lyrics are always great. The production is outstanding, and the musical ability is more than enough to carry the tracks. Everything is catchy, and I found myself just enjoying the album from start to finish.