Reviews by ron_penis

this is the only album of the new batch that really deserves to have been included imo. regardless of whether you think that it or Charli are good, if 20 years from now you want to trace the history of popular music and the waves of trends etc, this will be unavoidable. we're still feeling the effects of its influence and probably will for at least another year or two, even if it's not the most revolutionary or innovative album of all time or whatever. plus i think it fuckin rocks

i love Charli and i do quite enjoy this album but I don't think i can quite cosign its inclusion in the book. I'm already pretty against artist repeats except in specific circumstances, where they had a significant style shift or their greatest album isn't their most influential, etc but I don't think there's much justification for adding two Charli albums, especially in a batch of just 13. am i still going to give it a 5? well yeah obviously Dying for You is fucking banger and the decision to bring John Cale into the silly pop movie soundtrack album is so cool and the end result is really arresting, i just think in a perfect world this spot would have gone to someone else (plus Music, Fashion, Film is better if we really need a 2026 Charli album but i accept that the book came out before that album (although you gotta give it up for her putting out both of these great albums within 6 months of each other))

naturally, Robert Dimery would never miss an opportunity to subject his readers to a SEVENTH rolling stones album. even ignoring the practically unjustifiable insistence on hogging up yet another slot with this one stupid band, there's too much of this shit in the book from other bands; there's too much of this shit in the world, period. beyond that, we've all heard versions of this sort of thing that are just flat out better anyway, and i can't even imagine what the reasoning behind its inclusion is: that it was the first 'good' stones album in a while? who gives a fuck? i could rattle off like 10 rock albums that beat this in quality and/or influence from the last 5 years, but Mick gets another album in just because they stopped completely eating shit in the studio and managed to turn in an album that's corny, trite and boring rather than simply awful?

highlights include some nice contributions from musicians that aren't in the band, lowlights include Mick Jagger's awful performance as some kind of sexy rock 'n' roll baby on Mess It Up, and Sweet Sounds of Heaven, which i think I'm supposed to read as an epic, grandiose, sprawling conclusion but is just a tortured, never-ending, meandering slog complete with a Lady Gaga vocal performance that feels like she's making fun of the band. thank god Fetch the Bolt Cutters got cut for this

another album that i can see from my last.fm that i listened to on release and promptly forgot about! it made a little more of an impression on me this time around but it's pretty easy for me to see why i had that experience originally; it comes out of the gate pretty hot but it's pretty one-note for the duration, and that one note is not enough to my tastes to keep me engaged. pretty good, but there aren't enough change ups and surprises to keep me coming back long term

it's not bad but when i start thinking an album seems kind of familiar, and check my last.fm to see that I have in fact already listened to it and completely jettisoned it from my brain afterwards, well, it's not usually a good sign,

this is alvvays's best album, and i remember being very pleasantly surprised at their evolution when it came out, but i can't really see calling it essential enough for a list like this, especially when we're still lacking some of the artists that influenced it, i.e. yo la tengo

"the 2026 edition of the book adds a third Chemical Brothers album from 2023" is a joke i would make while complaining about what an english clown Robert Dimery is

this is pretty good but its inclusion here seems pretty inexplicable. in my opinion, there are better and/or more notable recent albums in similar styles and genres (phoebe bridgers, lucy dacus (which is only comically underscored by their involvement in the album itself) big thief) from trans people or about the trans experience (underscores, backxwash) or both (Ezra furman, ethel cain, adult mom). I try to stay pretty plugged in to current music and especially queer music, and i had never heard of this album; it doesn't even have a wikipedia article. of course, it's not like that's the sole qualification you need, and if i had been totally floored by the album i wouldn't have cared how "notable" it is, but it's not exactly stunning or amazingly innovative either. sorry Jasmine!

totally fine with a couple of real bangers, let's all meet back here in 5 years and see how we all agree that it's one of the 1001 best/most important albums ever

this is a very enjoyable, moving and relevant album that i listened to back at the beginning of the year when it came out, but i simply haven't had the urge to revisit it all that much since then, so it'd be disingenuous for me to give it a 5, although it's considerably more daring and powerful than most of the other new additions

i don't think i could possibly get an album with a more relevant title for my final generation (fuck you Robert Dimery (the kinks rule))

i wish i liked this more, baaba maal rules but a lot of the music here feels super flat and it sort of feels like he's spinning his wheels for a lot of it. i still like it and it certainly has its moments, but it's definitely nowhere near peak baaba maal

actually a very pleasant surprise! no shocker that with my third to last album, there had to be one final (i hope) British new wave album, but it is surprising that it's actually pretty good! kind of like watered down New Order, nothing I'll ever want to revisit but i at least didn't begrudge the time spent listening to it

in a book of insulting, laughable inclusions, this has gotta be somewhere in the top 10. a SECOND Jane's addiction album? one that sounds like a collection of demos? that has been so thoroughly forgotten that today was the first time i was ever aware of it? get this shit out of my face

i could not possibly care less about frank sinatra. I'm not the biggest fan of vocal jazz in general but I'm specifically very sick of frankie. I've heard it said about Louis armstrong that he proved that singing doesn't have to be pretty to be expressive, and sinatra is like the antithesis of that. this is my big problem with most "good" male vocalists, that they're either so focused on being technically proficient or have enough natural talent to have never considered what, if anything, their voices are actually expressing. from this you either get completely flat, emotionless singing, or affected emotion that's way too over the top and/or reads as phony, and sinatra is solidly in the final category. i simply don't buy any of it. he's affecting these emotions and feelings because it's what's marketable and identifiable with his "brand" and what's expected of a "good" male singer, but none of it reads as real, i do not ever feel or perceive anything genuine from his vocal performances. of course, he did employ and collaborate with many talented musicians, but I'd much rather listen to them play without his listless crooning over the top. this does deserve its spot on the list for its history in the development of the album as an art form in and of itself but i certainly don't want to actually listen to it ever again

earns 5 stars from Gigantic alone, i absolutely love Kim Deal (side note, it was only at this point that i realized there are no breeders albums on the list, which is a fucking crime, all my homies hate robert Dimery) as always I don't love Frank's vocals but everything else is beyond solid enough to make up for it

it's always interesting thinking about early days of wu tang when everybody expected method man to be the big breakout star, and listening to the 36 chambers and this it's extremely easy to see why, even if things didn't really shake out that way. this is just top to bottom bangers, that dark early RZA production is sooo good on my ears, and there's a really interesting juxtaposition between that and the actual content and just how pleasant meth's voice is to listen to and how smooth his flow is. it's dark brooding and shadowy but still irresistibly enjoyable and fun

Sunrise most underrated New Order song??? Sunrise amazing??? listen to Sunrise again???

boring prog bullshit, terrible vocals, just listen to Yes or Emerson Lake and Palmer

there are 5 albums by the byrds on the list, and the inclusion of this one in particular is pretty unjustifiable. worse songwriting than the others (bye gene clark, wish you were here gram parsons) the performances are lackluster in comparison, it just doesn't offer anything you can't get better elsewhere