Reviews by syrinx

Really enjoyed this album! I love the whole Afrobeat genre in general and this was really great. I'll definitely throw this on and play it all the way through in the evening while enjoying a cocktail or making dinner. But I also really liked that you can pick it apart and listen to the actual musicians and what each one is doing. Sax is great, horns are great, fantastic bass, superb vocals. This is the kind of album that most people, especially in North America/Europe, which I would imagine is the majority of people going through this list, probably don't hear too much but absolutely should. Exactly what this list was made for. One of my favorite 'world' albums from this list so far. 5/5

I don't think I'd call this Dad Rock because it isn't really rock. Maybe it kind of is but I think you can see in this record that Steely Dan didn't really like the rock category in general.
I've never really liked Steely Dan and I am fairly certain I'd never heard any of this album before. It's a little better than what I know as their radio 'hits', I do enjoy the kind of jazzy aspects of this record. But it's not really turning me into a fan. It's certainly well orchestrated and well played, I'll give them that much. And I love the album cover, super cool. I'm giving this on 2.5/5, won't listen again but I didn't really struggle with it like I expected to.

Country music wouldn’t exactly be my choice, but at least this is better than the garbage pop country we have to live with now. And Dolly Parton is a damn treasure of humanity for sure, I'm just not someone who would ever listen to her music. But I listened to this. That's really about all I can say about it. I guess I'll rate it a 2.5/5 because I can see why people like it and it was short and sweet.

Leonard Cohen was a really brilliant songwriter and the writing on this album is still fantastic. Super personal but still very poignant and relatable lyrics. It's dark and sad but oddly comforting at the same time. Although I've never really been a fan of this kind of 'spoken word over background music' kind of stuff, I really did enjoy this. As a sort of farewell to the world, this album really stands out.
It's hard not to compare this record to David Bowie's Blackstar but maybe that's not fair. Or maybe it is - both being composed and recorded by brilliant men knowing they are about to die. Kind of morbid but interesting to see the different approach each album took. Blackstar is immensely better.
I think this one is a solid 3.5/5. I don't think I would listen to it again but I am very happy to have heard it once.

Ok. So yes, Ella Fitzgerald was amazing. This album has an amazing cover. 3+ hours of anyone singing Gershwin songs is decidedly less amazing. And also - it's cheating to have this album on the list anyway. Might as well include any number of 'best ofs' if we allow this one. And is this the longest album on the list? I decided when I started this project that I would listen to all the albums all the way through and at least give every song a chance before skipping them as a last resort. I never thought that the album that would try my patience the most (so far...) would be Ella Fitzgerald. It's not that I don't like it, it's just too long. And this kind of vocal jazz is just not that interesting to me. I think that unless Ella Fitzgerald is like your top favorite of all time, most people will probably be bored of this after the first 10 songs max. So I don't really know how to rate this one and am going to just give up and call it 2.5/5.

Loved this album. It's samba but also something more. Like if Portishead made a samba record and leaned really hard into the samba part. It's super interesting and I really enjoyed it. Now, was it good enough for the producer to run into a burning building and die of smoke inhalation to save the masters? No. But morbidly ironic then that it shows up on this list... 4/5

I like Scott Walker's voice. I don't really like this music. It's just sort of...lame. There’s a song of his here and there that I like, but none from this album. The singer/songwriter genre is not one I've ever really liked much. And this is especially cheesy. Nothing else to say, I won't be listening to this again. 2/5

I love this album. It might not be one of my favorite jazz records but it's hard to find anything to dislike about it. It's super mellow and great to have on in the background after a long day. One of those albums that probably everyone should have and listen to from time to time. I don't know if it's one I would really sit and intently listen to, more just throw on to have music in the background. Most people would probably be at least vaguely familiar with Take Five and I think that's probably the standout on this album. The rest might not be quite as good and there are other jazz albums I'd pick from this list over this one but you can't really go wrong throwing this on. 4/5

I feel like this is an album that your boomer mother/grandmother listened to endlessly in college. It's super dated and kind of lame. I've always liked I Feel the Earth Move but I'm not sure I can really say as much for the rest of the album. I can appreciate that she has a great voice and the album was recorded really well - the sound is fantastic. I just don't really like the music. Objectively, this album may be better than I'd rate it but for me, I struggle to give it any higher than a 2/5. I just can't really get on board with it.

I can file this away in the "once was enough" drawer. Am I glad I listened to this record? Yes. Does it belong on this list? Not really, although I can see how it was sort of the start of the industrial genre. Very surprised that this was recorded and released in 1978. I actually kind of liked some of this album, there were some really interesting things going on and the lyrics, for what they were, were actually pretty good for the most part. Even still I don't think I can really give this more than a 2/5.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in this one. After reading a handful of reviews on this site, I was hopeful that this would be one of the hitherto undiscovered (for me) amazing albums that I'd really love. Alas, not the case. It's pretty generic 60s/70s pop rock. A couple good songs here and there but nothing to really grab my attention. It is well played, well recorded, well produced, and fun to listen to but I can't see myself going back to it again. 2.5/5

Would this album be on this list if it didn't have Tiny Dancer on it? I don't think so. That's a brilliant song, one of Elton John's best, but the rest of this album is run of the mill. And what's up with Indian Summer? No way he could record that song anymore. I liked Levon and Madman Across the Water, the rest of it is nothing I would really ever listen to again. I don't know what else (if anything?) from Elton John is on this list, I would imagine the self titled album or Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (or both) probably are. It would be a really weird choice to pick this to be the only Elton John record. I'll give this one a 2.5/5, mostly for Tiny Dancer.

I was actually a little surprised to see this album pop up today. I had Exodus a few weeks ago and that seems like it would pretty much cover the necessary Bob Marley. This is a decent album but surely there's nothing on this record that Exodus doesn't do better. This is maybe a deeper dig and I feel like there could have been something else added to this list in its place.
The record is fine, nothing spectacular. If you like Bob Marley, you'll like it. If you're not a reggae fan, this won't change your mind. 3/5

Dad rock supreme. Springsteen seems like he'd be a cool dude to have a beer with. He's definitely an iconic rocker from back in the day. I just don't really like his music that much. I can appreciate that his band is fabulous, I actually do like his voice, I just don't connect with any of his music really at all.
I'd heard this album a few times before, but not in years. It's a fun album but not one that I would ever really put on to listen to. Great sax, seems a little ahead of the 'cheesy 80s sax' that was in everything for a while. Good bass too. Favorite song was Jungleland - it sort of played a bit like a song from a Broadway show. I think my favorite thing about this album is actually the Telecaster on the cover, would love to have that bad boy. But the album is fine, just not really to my taste. 3/5

I remember when this album came out, these guys were lauded as musical geniuses the likes of which we had never seen before. While that's definitely not true, the album isn't bad. It's kind of middle of the road mid-2000s pop alt. Kids is a good song although I kind of got sick of it from hearing it so much. Time to Pretend is solid as well. I feel like more than being musical geniuses, MGMT were better at knowing what kind of sound would sell at the time. The lyrics are pretty bad for the most part, but the songs are catchy in a 2007 kind of way. The second half of this album falls away and is completely forgettable.
I feel like MGMT kind of came and went as the sound that they capitalized on faded away. Apparently they came out with a new album about 5 months ago (Feb 2024) and it only has a few million plays on Spotify. I've not heard any of it so can't really comment but I would imagine that true musical geniuses would get more than a couple million plays in 5 months. For this album, 3/5 is generous I suppose.

Went into this one completely blind which is always a gamble. It's categorized here as Pop but that's definitely not it. I really enjoyed it. I could see playing this album in the summer while just hanging out in the afternoon or having people over for cocktails. Very interesting arrangements and, once you listen, it's actually a lot more intricate than it first seems. It makes sense that it was produced by Brian Eno. I'll probably keep this on regular rotation for a while and will totally buy it if I see it in the record store.
Also, is this the greatest album cover of all time? Perhaps... 4/5

So dance pop is totally not my thing. I hate the overproduction of this album. I hate the terrible autotune that's on most (all?) songs. There is more to making music than synthesized beats, phased shitty drum sounds, and autotuned vocals. That's like the worst kind of album I can imagine.
I do like some of the stuff that Madonna did in the 80s and maybe early 90s but this is pretty unbearable.
I was close to giving this album an extra star because I rather enjoyed Gone but then American Pie followed. WTF? I have always hated the original version of that song and this has to be some kind of joke. Like how many people heard this before the album was released and none of them thought to say "You know, Madonna, this really is not something to which you should subject the world"? 1/5

I wouldn't call this the best punk album of all time as many do here, but it's a great example nonetheless. Maybe a little less brash and...more well played than a lot of the other punk albums of the time. Does that make it better? I'm not sure. One thing I love about early punk is that so much of it was just angry teenagers or 20somethings who picked up instruments as an outlet. It was raw, edgy, loud, and not particularly refined. This album doesn't necessarily fit that description. Though it seems weird to dock points for the band members being too good at their instruments for the music they're playing.
As for the songs - a lot of them will be instantly recognizable for most people. I feel like this is an album that the majority of people have already heard at least once. It's perhaps not quite challenging enough for my taste, especially for a punk record. But the songs are built well, played well, well recorded.
This is kind of a must have for record collectors. I like it but I don't think I would ever find myself listening to it very often. I don't want to call it weak, that's not the right word for it at all, but I just feel like it's lacking something that I hope for when I go into a punk record. I'd give this one a 3.5/5 but will round up for a fantastic cover photo. But again, the album is a little more tame than the cover would suggest...

I love when albums come up on this list and I can actually go over to the record collection and listen to the vinyl. This is one of my favorite albums and I've listened to it countless times.
There's so much to love about this album - as with all Prince, the musicianship is outstanding. Prince was one of the best guitar players of all time and the thing that really impresses me about how he orchestrates his music is that he rarely takes a self-indulgent guitar solo. Everything he does serves the song and not all the songs need the most amazing guitar solo ever written. Unless you knew how great he was, the average listener wouldn't hear this album and think "wow that guy can really play".
This album has what I consider to be one of the most perfect album sides in music. Side 2 of this album is utterly brilliant - the songs are amazing, they flow from one to the next perfectly, starts off with an absolute banger, stays strong, ending on another banger that is definitely in contention for the best song ever written.
I see a lot of people on here saying that this album is good but Sign O' The Times is better, and while that album is another brilliant piece of music, Purple Rain is the better album to my ears. 5/5

The funny thing about this album is that if you told me it came out in 1967 I wouldn't have any reason not to believe it. It sounds a lot like any of the Brit pop from the 60s with maybe a little bit of new wave starting to creep in here and there.
I only listened to the original 10 songs, the 30 bonus tracks on Spotify seemed a little excessive (was there ever really a demand for those?). I was ready to move on after those first ten. This is one of the albums that isn't bad but I found myself thinking "surely there was another album that could have been included instead of this one?" 2.5/5 rounded up for the hilariously weird and bad album cover.