Reviews by suspiciousnumber

I have such a weird relationship to Tom Waits. I feel like I should like his music, and lots of people with great taste in music like his stuff, but it always leaves me wanting to listen to something else. I did really enjoy Nighthawks at the Diner, which I got on this list a few hundred albums ago. And the music that I make keeps getting compared to Tom Waits (generously, of course, I'm nowhere near his level of talent and skill).

Individually, I like some of these songs, and I find most of the others interesting. As a whole, they start to grate on me when put into the context of an album, since it feels like a lot of them are similar in weird ways. Or maybe I just don't like his voice, idk. Regardless, I continue to feel about Tom Waits the way that I've always felt about him, which is that I feel like I should like him, but there's just so much stuff that I actively enjoy listening to more than this

3/5 I can see the merit in it, so I don't think it deserves a sub-50% grade, but I also can't justify anything higher, since I'm feeling pretty glad right now that the album is over

I'm just going to assume that this album was playing the first time the author of this list had sex, and that's why its on here. It's fine jazz, but absolutely not significant or groundbreaking in any way. I'd be insulted on behalf of all the great jazz musicians that were snubbed from this, but frankly I'm just happy that my man had sex

2/5

This is kind of a weird album because people are highly split on what the definitive version of the album is. It's a real testament to the genius of this album that it could be so influential and fully deserving of its place on this list despite the fact that it...doesn't sound very good. I listened to the 1997 Iggy remix of this album, since the original version of the album sounds too thin for me. The Iggy version also has its problems, but I feel like it's closer to what they were going for than the original. It's also a great reminder of why you probably shouldn't put a spiraling heroine addict in charge of recording your album.

Regardless, this is a titanic album in the history of rock. The Stooges represent this incredibly clear bridge between 70s rock and punk rock as well as having an influence on heavy metal. I prefer the two earlier Stooges albums to this one, but this album had an incalculable influence on so many pioneering rock musicians from the 70s, 80s, and 90s that it needed to be on this list. The podcast No Dogs in Space has a 5 part series on The Stooges that I would highly recommend if you find this album interesting

4/5

This is a pretty strange album, in that I found listening to a lot of it to be pretty dull, but it seems really obviously significant in terms of the shape of R&B and hip-hop during the early 90s. When I listen to this, I hear a lot of little elements that would show up in the club music of the 90s. Also Back II Life is a fucking jam

3/5

ZZ top always seems to put together a competent album, even if their style of rock doesn't particularly appeal to me. They do blues rock, but they have their own spin on it, which keeps it interesting

3/5

This album really does not sound like it was made in 1990. I don't know quite how to describe it, but it's cool. Having electronic producers on to make loops and effects for the songs fits really well with the bands style

4/5

The Pogues are a fun band, even if I never independently have the thought "I could really go for some fucking sea shanties right now." I thought it was interesting that this album is produced by Elvis Costello, since I didn't know that he did production work, but it sounds great. The album gets a bit repetitive after a while, but to be fair I'm also a land lubber

3/5

I'm not a big folk guy, but this album is really cool, both in terms of its content and in terms of its story. The production on the album also works really well with the music. The sound quality dips at certain points in the album, but it still always sounds good. Very intimate folk album that has some surprising elements to it

3/5

This is one of those cases where I wish the Wikipedia entry had more information about the significance of this album. Jack Elliot, and particularly this album seems to have been highly influential on a number of genres during the decades after its release. The recording quality is pretty poor, but the songs are good. It's not particularly my genre of music, but it's easy to see why people like it

3/5

I don't have a lot to say about this one, but I thought it was pretty interesting to listen to

4/5

I'm usually pretty hit or miss on early ska albums. I like this one a lot better than the last album I got on this list, which was their debut album. The production is much better on this album, and I think it benefits a lot from the diverse set of rock influences that helped inspire its creation.

4/5

I gotta say that the late 80s is really not my era for soul. I like this album well enough. He has a great voice, and the songwriting is always competent, but the music just leaves me feeling uninspired. I'm not sure exactly what it is, though I find the tone on the bass to be really grating. Wishing Well is my fucking jam, though, as is Sign Your Name. The highs are high with this album, but the lows taste like coconut, and I really don't care for the taste of coconut

3/5

I really enjoyed this album at first, but it didn't hold my interest all that well. I generally like early synth pop, but this felt like it got a bit samey for me after a while. I'm not sure if that's because I've heard several early synth pop albums now, or because this album is repetitive. I still think it's worth a listen. but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would

3/5

I thought this was a really cool album. It's not as intense as some classical Indian music that I've listened to, it's a very relaxing album. The music is great all the way through. Really beautiful introduction to Indian music for anyone who is unfamiliar

4/5

This is one of those bands that sounds really cool and interesting on their own, but starts to become really significant when you think about all the other bands that employed a similar sound after them. You can hear so many other songs on this album, and yet I can't think of many examples of hearing similar sounds that came before this album. It's a truly iconic album that doesn't often get the respect that it deserves

5/5

I'm always hit or miss with Rolling Stones albums, but I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Lots of blues rock, but they manage to do some interesting things with it

4/5

Say what you will about Nas's career after this album, this album is an absolute landmark in hip-hop history. The samples, the lyrics, the features, everything about this album works together beautifully. The album is introspective and runs very deep

5/5

I don't have a lot to say about this album, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I feel like it does get a bit samey after a while, but the style of music on the album and her vocal performances are a breath of fresh air

4/5

I wasn't a huge fan of the last Pet Shop Boys album that I got, so I thought this would be more of the same. However, I quite enjoyed this album. I like that they put a big focus on analogue synths in the production of the album. It's not an album that I'm likely to come back to, but I think the songs are well crafted overall, and the production is excellent

3/5

I figured going in that this would be an album that I like, but ultimately don't find that interesting. However, I found this album really engrossing. It was clearly influential on a lot of the jam bands that I was really into when I was younger, and yet this didn't feel generic. It also had a clearer jazz influence than I was expecting. Each song is distinct and well-conceived

4/5