Reviews by pageantree

I actually preferred "Bringing It All Back Home" over this album. The music here felt too country and harmonica-infused (there were a couple parts where the harmonica screech hurt my ears). The pieces that had the strongest classic folk sound were the best. "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" was probably the best song, and almost perfect despite the length. Dylan comes across as a fantastic lyricist overall, and his stories were what captivated me when I listened to "Bringing It All Back Home".

I don't hate metal per say. I just don't have a desire to turn it off when I listen to it, but I'm not a metalhead by any means. I like, in this album, that the riffs are explosive and heavy with a good beat behind them. I'm not really into shouted lyrics, however, and metal can get repetitive to me after a while (in the sense that it can melt into the background and not stand out). This was pretty good to me, though. I especially liked "This Love".

The beats and the rapping flow so well in this album. Sure, the lyrics are vulgar, misogynistic, and violent, but Biggie weaves those lyrics into good stories (I can't say that about many of the rap/hip hop artists I've had to listen to). The skits are never my preference, though. I'd rather just listen to musical parts.

This has always been a 5 star album for me. I remember my parents had a copy and they'd put it on for long car rides, so the songs have always been in my head since childhood. I've listened to other music over the years, but I've always come back to this album and it is the foundation of my current musical interests (I've branched off a lot from Nirvana in the last 2.5 years).The music is incredibly catchy and melodic, and all of the instruments are perfect (hard hitting drums, busy bass lines, fuzzy guitars). I don't listen to this often, but if I don't know what to listen to, this is an amazing no skips listen (one of the few no skips albums I acknowledge). I've played it for my young children and they like it too, so I suppose they may feel the same way as I do about it when they grow up.

I can only describe this as a mishmash of randomness. A lot of it wasn't even music, just talking, sounds, and static as if you're flipping through stations on the radio. What music was present was kind of nice and melodious. It was sort of interesting, I guess.

I loved the guitar tones on this album. They're dark, sometimes eerie, and kind of grunge-y/punky. I can only describe it as the perfect 90s music. I don't think I've liked a new-to-me album this much since I was given the Pixies' album "Doolittle".

The beats and sounds in this hip hop/rap album are decent. It was long, as many other albums in this genre are (I think albums in the 40-50 minute range are perfect, personally. Longer and you risk repetition and boredom). Still not my favorite genre, but it wasn't awful.

I'd never heard of Tracy Chapman before this album, but I liked the music. The music is gentle, simple and folksy but the themes are heavy. It was a nice contrast.

This is my first introduction to Springsteen. These are rock tunes with country influences (gospel on the closing track, choir vocals on many others).The songs come across as very passionate and spirited. I mostly thought it was okay, it could get repetitive at times. The songs I enjoyed the most were ""Further On (Up The Road)" and "The Fuse".

I consider jazz a relaxing type of music, and the base layer of this (with the piano and drums keeping the beat) was. However, the trumpet and saxophone add an extra layer that makes this album a lot more interesting.

This is my third Arcade Fire album from this list, all given to me this summer (I don't know how many more there are). The music is indie rock with a grand sound helped along by organ and violin. I liked "No Cars Go" a lot. The rest of it I found better than the other two albums.

This modern r&b album lyrically goes over the current themes and issues revolving around racism. The beats were pretty good, and I like how, even though the album is newer, I can immediately see its place in this list because of its cultural significance.

According to the reviews, this is another controversial artist. I haven't seen reviews like this since Kanye West. Except these ones are all, "he's racist and awful, but the music is amazing". It's rolicking, piano-driven old style rock n' roll in the vein of Elvis Presley. Not awful, but Jerry Lee Lewis seemed to go on about himself a lot.

This is '80s pop music with lusty lyrics. It also has a gospel-type vibe. It was kind of catchy, but something I wasn't really into.

I've already heard the mainstream songs on here, and they are the best songs ("Stan", "The Real Slim Shady"). Yes, the lyrics are violent and offensive, but I expected that. The beats, for the most part, are addictively catchy and Eminem's rapping was so real and honest. As I've said before, it's not my preferred genre, but I liked this more than I thought I would.

Rap and hip hop are some of my least favorite genres but I try to be impartial on my reviews for these genres, and try to find the appeal in them. This album is a mix of r&b, hip hop, and rap. I noticed the simplicity of this album right away: Missy features heavily on her own album (not always the case with these kinds of albums) and it wasn't bogged down with skits. The beats are pretty decent (I already was familiar with "Work It" from my teenage radio-listening/music TV days). It was also interesting during the parts when there was no music and Missy was just talking to the audience. It felt more personal.

I would say you would have to have been living under a rock to not have heard this type of music before. It's classic, jazzy and bluesy rock and roll. It's catchy and danceable. No, it's not something I normally reach for to listen to on its own, but I have to appreciate that it's the foundation and influence for a lot of the music I listen to on a regular basis. Also, it's hard not to move along to this music.

I've heard "Reptiles" by The Strokes previously, and though it's a later song, the musicality is pretty much the same here. The catchy melodies, the energetic guitars and interesting basslines, Julian Casablancas's voice having some distortion to it. I do like the music for the most part (the fun guitars and it being hooky certainly helps), but there's not much variety.

This is a country folk album that came across as more country to me. There was some twanging and use of harmonica (which I'm mostly turned off by every time I hear it used somewhere). I like the introspective sound of folk, which I thought came across well in the songs "The Virgin" and "For A Spanish Guitar". Otherwise, this album was just so so.

This album has 80s pop/rock vibes, on top of socially conscious lyrics. The horns give it a kind of jazzy/showman quality. Not my preferred genre, but not awful.