Rated 8/10
The most petty nitpickiest thing I could say about this album is there are some great songs that derive no benefit from being 7 or 8 minutes long. They could have been cut in half and been better. Addition by subtraction.
Other than that, fucking fantastic
4+
3.25
Rated 6/10
3.75
Rated 8/10
I was forming my musical tastes for myself when this album came out, and in Hindi, I absolutely slept on Biggie. I liked the West Coast style with the smooth flows and seemingly higher production value. Up until today, I probably would have told you I didn't much care for Biggie's flow. I don't know what I was thinking, honestly.
This guy has skills, and I regret not having LISTENED to this album sooner. Of course, I heard it, but mostly the singles. The deeper cuts on this album are fantastic.
Juicy: hey, Puff, shut the fuck up. You contribute nothing to this
Rated 6/10
This album has a great Wikipedia article, so instead of me saying " this is just a Beatles rip-off," I know this came before the Beatles added sitars into their music. I also learned Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin fame) played guitar for Donovan, and that this album contains basically the first music in the psychedelic genre. I wish more albums on this list were so well-documented.
3.5
Rated 6/10
3.5
Rated 6/10
This kind of reminds me of Basement Jazz, and had I heard this contemporaneously with that band, this album would probably have a nice warm fuzzy of nostalgia from me. I probably would have played the shit out of this in the early oughts.
That said, I'm into this, but I'm not sold on its inclusion in a list of 1001 albums to hear before you die.
3
Rated 6/10
I have an issue with albums like this. I liked it, but its significance isn't immediately apparent to me, so I read the Wikipedia article. When albums have basically no information in the article like this one, I still don't know why it's on the list. So the only place left to look is the book, and the book never says either...
Anyway, this was OK. We'll call it a 3
Rated 6/10
3.5?
I need to listen to this again
Rated 8/10
This was quite good. Hadn't heard of the band before, have added them to my library, and will definitely be listening again
4
Rated 4/10
It's nearly impossible for me to believe there ANOTHER Slipknot album on this list. I fucking hope there isn't a 3rd.
1. Annoying
2. Made it ¾ of the way through and skipped
3. No
4. I quite like the chorus, but the rest of the vocals I just can't deal with. I did listen to the whole song though
5. Skipped when the hoarse screaming started
6. This sounds like if Linkin Park sucked and then played a 311 cover at 4x speed
7. Nope. Skipped
8. Better, but still no. Skipped
9. Nope. Skipped
10. Listened all the way through. Not great, but at I could get through the whole thing
11. I got all the way through this one too. It wasn't for me
12. I think this was the track I liked most on this album so far. It seems like the back half of this has musical stylings that are closer to my tastes (still very much not my taste)
13. Also not bad. I'm not sure if the back half of this album is different, or it's sort of growing on me
14. Skipped when the vocals got all screamy. Had potential though
15. I listened all the way through, but wasn't enthusiastic about it
I love Corey Taylor when he's doing his solo thing and with Stone Sour, but I just can't like this. I just do not like this kind of music. Admittedly, the drums are fucking CRAZY GOOD. Crazy good! All in all, I would have rather been listening to downtown traffic instead of this.
2
Rated 10/10
I was waffling between 4 and 5 stars for this until Lazy came on and sealed the deal.
Fuck, this was good!!! I love how well-integrated hard and crunchy guitars seamlessly meet the organ/synth piano. Sometimes, in a solo, it's easy to understand just how hard the musician is working in their solo, at the bleeding edge of their skills. Deep Purple make every solo sound like they're barely working at all; they're so natural and easy sounding, which is I think the biggest compliment i could give them. They're such skilled musicians that all these passages and phrases that helped give birth to a genre seem to just fall out them. Amazing
It's so easy to hear some of the initial stirrings of heavy metal in every song on the album.
5
Rated 6/10
4th Dimensional Transition was a little anxiety-inducing for me, so I couldn't listen all the way through
Pieces of What was the second song I didn't much care for
Pretty good otherwise!
3.5
The Flying Burrito Brothers?!? The Gilded Palace of Sin?!?
Based on the name of the band and album alone, I'm going to start this off giving them 5 stars and deduct as I listen, if necessary. Amazing names
No specific point reduction notes, but still pretty good.
3.75
Rated 4/10
1. Sounds like a training montage song from an 80s B movie
2. Sounds like another 80s B movie scene with someone walking down a dark street trying to recover from a breakup. Super annoying vocals. Couldn't listen all the way through
3. This is shaping up to be a shit album. Skipped 2 minutes in
4. This would have been a decent instrumental track. This guy's weird vocals are unbearable to me. Skipped 3 minutes in
5. Nope. Skipped 2 minutes in
6. Least bad so far. Still bad
7. A new way for this guy to deliver bad vocals! How fun! Skipped 2 minutes in
8. This whole album was like the (rightly) rejected score from Neverending Story. The bridge on this song is actually pretty good (the guy wasn't singing)
9. I was tapping my foot until the singing. Skipped two minutes in
10. No singing at all, so not bad
I'm absolutely not going to listen to the 4000 bonus tracks on this album. If they were substandard for the original release (which sucks), there's no point in continuing for me.
2 stars
Rated 4/10
All the tracks seemed a little samey-same to me. This was enjoyable enough to listen to, but its presence on the list is somewhat confusing to me
2.75
Rated 4/10
First impression: WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT
This isn't great so far. I had to skip to the next track ⅔ of the way through the first song.
Track 5 seemed substantially better to me, but still was just OK
This would probably be alright if they were just an instrumental band
Rated 4/10
1. Very unpleasant distortion effect on the drums. Hard to listen to. Also, going in with some bias; I don't like this band
2. This guy's sings like he's mocking another singer that he hates.
3. This song actually sounds pretty cool, but the vocals ruin it for me. This guy just doesn't have the chops to pull off his imitation of Neil Young
4. I cannot wait to not be listening to this anymore
5-8. Unremarkable
9. "Putting all the vegetables away...". Yeah, fucking rock-'n'-roll, man!!!! Ugh
10. Intro sounds like the score for an epic western movie reminiscent of Ennio Marconi, which is cool. I'm digging the choir too. Of course, the main vocalist ruined it 2½ minutes in
Yeah, I think I'd like all of this if the dude just didn't sing
⭐ ⭐
Pretty enjoyable. Not really sure what kind of mood I'd need to be in to go back and listen to this though.
Ray is one of the greats, and I appreciated his take and arrangements
3.75
Rated 4/10
I had time to listen to all but the last two songs, and I won't be going back for the last ones.
Like, this wasn't objectionable or anything, but why should I hear this "nothing special" album before I die? The only thing the Wikipedia article had to say about this album is it's on this list. That's not much notoriety...
2.5?
