Reviews by oldmancthc

Greatest hip-hop album ever recorded. No further elaboration needed.

The last great Metallica album and a masterclass in thrash. It's a shame Lars sucks and insisted the bass basically be removed from the mix. Fuck that guy. My favorite story about this recording (whether true or not) is the engineer having to literally cut and splice the tapes hundreds of times to make it seem like Lars could actually play One in time. Despite all this, I still love it.

Without trying to disrespect the recently dead, this is not my thing. Literally sounds like circus music to me. Even as a single album I'd dislike this. As a double it is infuriating, and I HATE it.

Ugh... At first I just found this to be pretty forgettable pop-rock. Not truly offensive, but very by-the-numbers and safe. Got to about the third track before I started to find it super irritating. A barrage of stolen pop-hooks with no substance. Completely insipid. This sucks.

Another Bob Marley album that might as well be a greatest hits collection. Solid roots reggae here.

'90s radio-rock with lots of whoa-oh-ohs. The soundtrack to so-cal bros becoming "punk". Musically, it could be a lot worse I suppose, but it's just so corny.

So, this doesn't suck as badly as the other Dan albums this list has strong-armed me into listening to. That doesn't say too much though. Sure it's more straight forward, missing some of the experimental bullshit they'll attempt later, but it's so god-awful milquetoast. Soft, safe, "rock"; why bother?

God damn this is a great album!

How in the actual fuck is this essential listening? The wikipedia article couldn't even find more than two sentences to say about it. This is music made for high school theater kids. They will outgrow it in under a year and be embarrassed they ever listened to it too. God damn this is absolute crap.

Hate Dylan's vocals. Never understood the appeal. This is a modicum better than some of his more acoustic folksy albums but still nothing I ever want to listen to again if I can avoid it.

A bunch of jazzy early numbers from the Genius. Solid tunes. Nothing really challenging for the era they were released, but inarguably great performances all.

I hate this but I'll give it a 2 because it's at least a slight improvement over the other trash of his I've heard from this list.

Love this shit. It's all over the place in sound but absolutely plays out like a movie score. Easy to dismiss as background music as it's mostly instrumental, but there is so much going on that it can steal your focus very quickly. This is the experimental music I've been missing.

Yo, '70s funk Temptations is THE SHIT! Run Charlie Run is as topical today as it was in '72. Papa Was a Rollin' Stone literally sends chills up my spine when I listen to it. Possibly one of the greatest songs ever performed for so many reasons. Wild to learn that it was the label that pushed the socially conscious vibe. The group was opposed to it, and hoped it would flop so they could get back to singing ballads. Regardless, this is such a strong album that truly deserves to be here.

Nothing offensive here, just not a lot that really got me going. Standout for me is Why Can't We Live Together, which has a great groove. Hell of a way to end an album.

One of the defining albums of my childhood. Jump has not aged well for me, I’d like to blame the synth but I’ll Wait still rocks, so who knows. Not my favorite VH album, but Hot For Teacher alone means this one’s a banger.

Exactly what you'd expect from the funk/rock fusion masters. I don't know it as well as the older stuff but it doesn't stray very far. These are exceptional musicians just getting weird with it. How can you not love it? "Fried ice cream IS a reality!"

Not as bad as Eminem, but this whole era of hip-hop does very little for me. Beats and production tries really hard to elevate itself above that from the 80s and 90s. I understand wanting to innovate, but it often falls flat. Simplicity is key. Rhymes are unrelatable being mostly tough-guy fantasies, glorifying violence and misogyny. I'd rather listen to Public Enemy or BDP for the millionth time over ever hearing this again.

My first thought hearing almost any 2000's indie is "People really listen to this by choice?" Total snooze fest. Shit vocals. This music for people who don't listen to music. God damn I hate this garbage.

Opens up with a banger! So immediately it's not at all what I expected from a band whose only song I know is Come On Eileen. This is solid post-punk with a soul influence. The horns give off a ska feel even without always following the off-beat. Not going to lie, I REALLY don't miss the banjo and fiddle I was expecting to have to endure. I don't know what happened to this band between here and there, but it's damn shame because this whole album rocks!