Reviews by rainbowsquids

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? Yes, a couple of songs

Thoughts:
- The first thing I thought when I refreshed and saw this was 'really?! They put Cee-lo in the book? How?'
- Still giving it a chance but about halfway in I'm still kind of baffled... His voice is just unpleasant to me, no matter if he's trying to sing or rap.
- Yeah, definitely one of the worst albums I've gotten yet, congrats Cee-lo 😬

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? Yes

Thoughts:
- I don't know a lot of Blur, but I've listened to the album Parklife, and I liked that a bit more than the self titled here. This is still a good album though. Song 2 is definitely the standout, but I didn't dislike anything.
- I do like the variety here; especially like the slightly darker vibe of "Death of a Party" and "I'm Just a Killer for Your Love."

Favorite track(s): Song 2, Death of a Party

Least favorite: Theme From Retro

Not really bothering with a full review for this one - other than the title track it didn't do anything for me. And Clapton sucks.

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? Yes, only the hits

Thoughts:
This was such a weird album listening experience for me. . . I only knew a few Prince songs, but I like those, so I expected a fun dance album I'd probably end up giving a 4. That was mostly the case up to maybe halfway through "Let's Pretend We're Married" when I realized it was still the same song.

I don't dislike long songs in general, but most of the ones here either got boring to me, or honestly just unpleasant to listen to the longer they went on. Somewhere around 6 minutes in to "Automatic" a voice says it's going to torture you now, and that's what it felt like getting through the rest of the song.

- I think I would really like this album if every song was a good 3 minutes shorter. As it is I'm just kind of glad to be done with it 😕

Favorite track(s): 1999, Little Red Corvette

Least favorite: Most of the others but especially Automatic

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? Yes, but unfortunately more for Law and Order than for the music 🙃

Thoughts:
- I was a bit worried after the first track, but by the time I got into the 'meat' of the album I was having a great time. Surprisingly funny, too.
- Rap is still largely new to me, but between this, the Beastie Boys album a couple of weeks ago, and what I know from A Tribe Called Quest, I think the 90s will be my favorite time for it.

Favorite track(s): Mind Over Matter, Body Count

Least favorite: I could do without the skits and the acknowledgement section as a song (M.V.P.s)

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? Yes, but I think I know more Simon and Garfunkel than solo stuff.

Thoughts:
- This is a weird one for me; it might have been a mistake to read the full Wikipedia article before listening. I'm definitely not educated enough on South Africa to discuss whether the album should have been made, but I think I did end up going into it with a bit of a negative bias.
- Musically there are a lot of cool things going on, and I do like the singles, but I don't see myself coming back to most of it.
- I think this one will go into the "I get why it's on the list but it's not for me" category.

Favorite track(s): You Can Call Me Al

Least favorite: Under African Skies is pretty (sorry to use the word but,) cringe . . .

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? Yes - this is the third Zeppelin album I've had in 49 days of the project so far. (And they came in reverse chronological order, but interestingly.)

Thoughts:
- Whole Lotta Love is a good song but it does begin a theme of this album being lyrically not for me... I'm finding most of the songs either too horny (lol), or just not that interesting.
- Ramble On is definitely my favorite here; I'm probably in the minority but I like almost-folky, Tolkein-referencing Led Zeppelin more than anything else they do. 😄 (LZ III was a 5-star for me).

Favorite track(s): Ramble On

Least favorite: The Lemon Song, Moby Dick

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? Yes

Thoughts:
- My first album of the project was Talking Heads '77, and I easily rated it a 5. Even though it's only been a month and a half I took the opportunity to go back and relisten in comparison to this album. I definitely stand by the 5 there - glad to see I wasn't just way too generous starting out 😅
- This album isn't quite up to the level of that first one, but I still had a great time. I think I said before that Talking Heads is exactly my kind of weird :)

Favorite track(s): Mind; Life During Wartime

Listened before? Yes, but it's been a long time

Thoughts:
- Man, I forgot that the first half of this album is just hit after hit!
- Around 2007 or 2008 when the game Rock Band was popular, I played it a ton, but I always just did the vocals because I sucked at Guitar Hero. 😅 For that reason, In Bloom is the only Nirvana song I know all the lyrics to.
- What else do I even say? Of course it's going to be 5 stars.

Favorite track(s): In Bloom, Lithium

Least favorite: I could do without Endless, Nameless, tbh. (But it's the last track so I can just stop after Something In The Way)

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? Yes, I know a couple of the songs here already.

Thoughts:
- I know the first 3 tracks just from the radio, which was a nice way to get my interest up for the rest of the album, lol.

- I already love "Just What I Needed," but every time I hear it I can't tell if it's that or Stacy's Mom 😅 (the intro sounds identical I swear).

- This is a good time! There's not really a song here I don't like. If I had a bit more time with it, it might go up to a 5, but a solid 4 for now.

Favorite track(s): Just What I Needed, Good Times Roll

(I appreciate the non-random selections for today - RIP Dolly ❤️ )

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? Yes, all 3; haven't listened to any full albums though.

Thoughts: I'm so glad this is my first country album of the project! It reminds me that I don't actually dislike country music, just the current mainstream stuff. . .
I don't think it's likely I'll listen to this again, but it had great performances all around. I saw there's a "sequel" album as well, which I might listen to out of curiosity.

Favorite track(s): Making Plans

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? I know of him but I don't think I could name a song 😅

Thoughts: On first listen it's... Ok, I guess? The second time a few songs stood out that I'd like to hear again, but the rest is a bit boring.

Favorite track(s): Man Out of Time, ... And In Every Home

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? Yes, this is my second Dylan album of the project.

Thoughts:
- I should have known I'd be a Bob Dylan fan before I started this project. It's been a musical blind spot that I'm glad to finally fix. 🙂
- I love a good, long story song, lol. I'm sure there are people who hate "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts," but I was enthralled 😅
- I know I'll need a few more listens to fully take in this one, but I can't see my rating changing.

Favorite track(s): "Tangled Up in Blue", "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts"

Least favorite: Wasn't really into "Meet Me in the Morning," but I don't hate it.

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? Yes, I know the hits on here.

Thoughts:
- Actually know more of these songs than I thought! I recognized "Bargain" as well.
- I laughed out loud at the first verse of "Getting in Tune" and added it to my library; I'm really too easy to please 😅
- Other than "My Wife" this is an excellent album! I was expecting to give a 4 but I have to go 5.

Favorite track(s): Baba O'Riley, Getting in Tune

Least favorite: My Wife

Familiar with the artist? Yes, I heard a lot of Neil Young growing up, though not this album.

Thoughts: I will admit that nostalgia will have an effect on my Neil Young ratings. He's my dad's favorite so I have good memories of Harvest playing throughout the house most weekends.
A lot of people can't deal with his voice, which I get, but I don't mind it.
On this album specifically though - the bookend tracks are excellent, and the only part of the album I was really familiar with.
Enjoyed most of the rest as well, though I do have a couple I'd skip.

Favorite track(s): My My, Hey Hey / Hey Hey, My My

Least favorite: "Pocahontas" probably seemed progressive at the time, but ...😅

Listened before? No

Familiar with the artist? Yes, only what I've heard on the radio, but I like everything I've heard.

Thoughts: Don't have a lot to say honestly; this is the definition of a "solid" album to me, but not really that exciting. Knowing some of his hits, I think I'd enjoy some later Tom Petty albums more.

Favorite track(s): American Girl

Listened before? Not the full album

Familiar with the artist? Yes, have heard the hits a million times on the radio

Thoughts: Ehh... Musically I get why it's here, but it doesn't do anything for me, especially lyrically. Other than adding the big singles to an 80s playlist I doubt I'll ever listen again.

Favorite track(s): Sweet Child of Mine

Least favorite: honestly everything beyond the 3 big hits just kind of blends together.

Listened before? No
Familiar with the artist? Yes (I at least know "Red Right Hand" and a couple other songs)

Thoughts: This is definitely an album that I would need more time with to fully appreciate, but on these first couple of listens it's beautiful, and a less difficult listen than I thought it might be given the subject matter.

Favorite track(s): Bright Horses, Galleon Ship

Least favorite: I don't dislike it but I'd have a difficult time listening to "Hollywood" again.

Trying a different way of doing this...

Listened before?
Yes, many times

Thoughts:
I haven't followed Coldplay much in the past decade or so, but I've always liked their first few albums. This one is maybe not my favorite, but it's an excellent debut album. I had forgotten how much I liked some of these songs, actually; especially Sparks and Everything's Not Lost.

Favorite track(s): Sparks, Yellow, Everything's Not Lost

Least favorite: Spies (don't hate it, but it could be skipped and I wouldn't notice)

I'm not very far in to this project yet, but I already know Jazz is not my thing, unfortunately. This was fine to listen to in the background; just doesn't do anything for me...