This album is all over the place in an effective way. It starts with an epic orchestral ballad, then dances between slower songs with acoustic guitar and piano and upbeat songs with typical late 80s/early 90s beats. I just didn't really like O'Connor's vocals at certain points, though.
Favorite Track: Nothing Compares 2 U
This is an iconic and beautiful love song, even if this is a cover. I can tell it got more popular than the original for a reason.
Rated 6/10
Some decent stuff, but most of it is a bit too slow for my taste. Persson's lead vocals are very nice but it gets a bit repetitive with the constant singsongy-ness of it. "Lovefool" is an obvious standout among all this, such a catchy tune.
Favorite Track: Lovefool
Rated 8/10
This double album held pretty well against its lengthy 2 hour runtime. Most of it wasn't repetitive so it wasn't super tedious, except near the end of The Love Below. Two back-to-back 5+ minute songs with questionable quality is a bit harsh. Speakerboxxx was definitely the better album of the two, but The Love Below was still great.
Favorite Song: Bowtie
Rated 6/10
Decent beats paired with lyrics that don't really have much to say. Misogyny is unsurprisingly present due to the era this was made in. The featured rappers are pretty great, with Snoop being an obvious repeat standout. "The $20 Sack Pyramid" is easily one of the funniest skits I've ever heard on an album.
Favorite Track: Let Me Ride
Rated 10/10
80s pop just goes so hard. Lauper's voice is perfect and the production on this is excellent in all its synthy glory. Every song on this is electric and so fun, in no small part due to how much personality Lauper is able to convey with just her voice and a few ad libs. Having two absolute classics on one album like this is no small feat, with all of the less popular ones being just as good. That transition from He's So Unusual to Yeah Yeah jumpscared the shit out of me, but holy shit it's so good.
Favorite Track: She Bop
Rated 8/10
Roundabout is an outstanding opener. the rest of the album is a bit worse in comparison, but still great. I feel that the long songs on this warrant their length through tempo changes and the like mid-song.
Favorite Track: Roundabout
Rated 4/10
I'm sorry but I just cannot stand bob dylan's voice. And I had to listen to it for over an hour. The rest of the music was fine, I guess.
Favorite Track: Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
Rated 6/10
Probably by favorite experimental album on here yet just because half of it isn't very experimental, and I like that. The other half was kinda just noise as experimental usually is. I did like some of the more abstract songs, but only really a couple.
Favorite Track: Sissyneck
Rated 8/10
All of the songs on this sound beautiful, in no small part due to the amazing South African musicians that Simon collaborated with. Homeless' a capella singing is enchanting and the bass throughout this album is as well, especially with that solo near the end of You Can Call Me Al. From a political angle I think this album was overall a positive thing, at least from my white American perspective. Also, listen to Mr. Jambo by Kyle Gordon. It's a perfect and equally catchy parody of this album and the niche genre of "white guy goes to Africa."
Favorite Track: Homeless
Lynn's voice carries this entire album. It is just beautiful, Trump supporting be damned. The instrumentation is an absolutely stellar accompaniment, too. Also it's nice to listen to an old country album that isn't just a bunch of misogyny. This would be a bit better if it wasn't so repetitive, though.
Favorite Track: I Really Don't Want To Know
Rated 8/10
This was a very emotional album. I know this not because I listened to the lyrics, which were too incomprehensible despite Corgan's oddly amazing voice, but because I read the wikipedia page (fun read). Aside from that, the instrumentation was amazing as well and I didn't mind the album's length.
Favorite Track: Silverfuck
Rated 2/10
When I started listening to this, I was just glancing at the track titles and saw "Feedback". I thought, "That couldn't possibly mean they just play a bunch of feedback, right? It's just a title?" They did play a bunch of feedback with some instruments, it was not just a title. This album is another in the "play a bunch of bullshit and call it psychedelic rock" genre. I was gonna give this a 2 cause it sounded okay but since this album was 72 minutes of this same-sounding shlock it's actually a 1.
Favorite Track: Turn On Your Love Light - This one sounded the most like a normal rock song.
Rated 4/10
First off, Blitzkrieg Bop, great song. However, I did not want to hear it 13 more times in 2 minutes intervals. Almost everything song on this sounds exactly the fucking same. It wasn't bad at all, but it's still the exact same shit for half an hour. Also, why did they pronounce massacre like massa-kree??
Favorite Track: Blitzkrieg Bop
Rated 8/10
Fun dancey sound with synths and such with some bleak lyrics, at least from the few that i caught. Lead singer Matt Johnson has a great voice but his words are quite illegible to my American ears.
Favorite Track: Angels of Deception
Rated 6/10
Not bad, I guess, for my 100th album. It sounds pretty good and the political stuff is great as well, but it kinda gets undermined by the constant misogyny.
Favorite Track: Endangered Species (Tales From The Darkside)
Rated 8/10
This album just rips, man. The guitar is just outstanding and the vocals are perfectly pained. Grunge is so good. The repetitiveness holds this back from 5 stars, though. Hopefully my 100th album tomorrow doesn't break the hot streak of great albums this week.
Favorite Track: Rooster
Rated 8/10
About half of this album sounds like the soundtrack for a grungy sci-fi film and it's absolutely stupendous. As Heaven Is Wide & A Stroke of Luck fit this vibe the most. The other half is also really really great, but its a bit more of the same you would expect from a 90s rock band.
Favorite Track: As Heaven Is Wide
Rated 8/10
There's some great variation here in the beats, rapping was decent, and lyricism was good. I actually laughed out loud a few times, namely with the School Spirit skits and the MJ bar on Slow Jamz. Last Call was a bit annoying since it's just 10 minutes of him talking about his record deal complications, but the saxophone and the whole beat in the background made it not entirely tedious to listen to.
Favorite Track: The New Workout Plan - This is a great song that quite effectively criticizes the way that many men only value women for their bodies, but in a comedic and upbeat tone. Genuinely funny song.
Rated 10/10
Every single rapper in this group has top-tier flow and their voices sound amazing, especially Charli 2na, whose really deep voice I loved. The DJs also cooked hard and made this whole album such a vibe with the main menu screen-sounding beats and the fun samples and scratching.
Favorite Track: Remember His Name - I liked the story of this one and the way it switches between these calls and how they talk like actual people on the phone, but in an elevated way with the great flow and rhymes.
Rated 8/10
Not entirely sure why live albums are on this list, but I think this one warrants its spot. I'll have to see if future albums deserve it over other studio albums with original songs. Anyways, loved the instrumentation on this, didn't understand a single word but it's fine.
Favorite Track: My Generation (Live / Medley) - I love really long rock songs if they warrant their length by switching it up a bit every few minutes, and this one does.
