Reviews by smith__2112

Jazz works well as background music, but it really shines when you pay close attention to everything it’s doing. Close your eyes and listen to every note. How the instruments are playing with and against each other. It feels so simple yet there’s a lot going on and it feels so wonderfully complex

I’ve realized I’m much more likely to enjoy the weird avant garde experimental music on the list than the average listener. I find this stuff fascinating and at least interesting to listen to. I’m kind of baffled it made the list of lowest ranked albums from the whole list. I consider boring safe music to be much worse and more deserving of 1 or 2 stars

I’ve never really listened to salsa music beyond just hearing it in the background of places, but this was pretty fun. The cover with the babies is a little disturbing and unnecessary though

Kind of weird I got the two Lou Reed albums on the list back to back. I didn’t even think that was possible for how the generator works. I like Lou Reed a lot so I’m not complaining. As much as I like Transformer, I absolutely love Berlin and think it’s his best album. Sad and depressing but somehow still very listenable. One of the all time Feel Bad albums

There’s like 5 or 6 songs on Transformer that are as good as the best of the Velvet Underground’s work. The other half of the album is still very good but pales in comparison

I like jazz fusion, but there are much better examples of it than Heavy Weather. Like it’s fine, generally pleasing. Kind of interesting but a bit boring at times too. If you want to represent jazz fusion on the list, there are some much better albums to pick from. Some Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, or Mahavishnu Orchestra will get you a lot further than Weather Report

One of those bands I recognize the name but didn’t really know. Then I heard Been Caught Stealing and was like ohh ya I know this one song. The album’s fine otherwise though

I first got into the Pixies because I was listening to Nirvana a lot and looked up what stuff influenced Kurt Cobain. I still like Nirvana but as soon as I started listening to the Pixies it was like a complete switch. They’re one of my favorite bands now and Doolittle is one of my favorite albums. Surfer Rosa is great too but just a bit more disjointed and I don’t relisten to it quite as much. Where is My Mind is an all timer song though

Twinkotheé Chalamet could never

Coldplay is a band I never really got into. They had a reputation as being not cool. Of course that’s a dumb reason to avoid anything. This album is pretty good. And even before listening to this, I did know Yellow and always thought it was really good

Blur is pretty amazing and this is possibly their best album. Like half of these songs would be any other band’s best song

This is true revolutionary music. Fela Kuti and his family were targeted because of their politics. Fucked up but the music and the spirit lives on

Pretty solid punk. I’ve listened to a little bit of their album 13 Songs and enjoyed it, but I haven’t heard anything from this one. Definitely should check out some more

I first discovered Billy Bragg when I was in my leftist workers/union protest songs phase in middle and high school. He was a natural progression after listening to Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. This type of stuff heavily influenced who I am today and my beliefs. Here I was, a white middle class kid in the American midwest in the 21st century, caring deeply about British miners and their strike from the 80s. I hated scabs and Thatcher despite the fact they had no real material effect on my life at that point.

The actual music is of course pretty damn good, as long as you can enjoy his singing. I can understand why it’d be grating to a lot of people, but I learned to enjoy it. This album has plenty of songs that aren’t political too. Billy Bragg is a good songwriter and can make interesting stories about anything

It’s the Aretha album with Respect on it. The rest of the songs could be her just playing the kazoo and it would still get 5 stars

Somehow dumb and genius at the same time

Such a weird record. It’s the band putting something together that seems partly like they don’t even want to make it and partly like they’re lamenting where they are as a band. The fact that it wasn’t even really fully released until years later and only because the producer put it together only helps cement that fact. Big Star is such an interesting band and they should’ve been much bigger than they were

Possibly the best of the Beatles early albums. Pure pop/rock perfection. I understand why people prefer their later stuff, but if you can’t see the quality of these early albums then you’re just missing it all. Compare this to most other music of the time and you’ll see how far ahead the Beatles always were

Ray Charles has some absolutely fantastic music and Come Rain or Come Shine is a perfect example of just how good he can be. The rest of the album is solid but doesn’t really reach the same heights

I love Bowie but Aladdin Sane has always felt like mid tier for him. It’s good, but he’s just done so much better