Reviews by syrinx

Ugh, I'm done with hip hop. I've tried. I just can't do it. This is boring, monotonous garbage. There is absolutely nothing good about this record at all. It's literally the same tropes and ridiculous rhymes as any other hip hop album since the mid 90s and I feel like that's the problem with the whole genre. The last song is the only one with any semblance of good lyrics but the bar was set so low already it’s not exactly an accomplishment. Same exact beat in nearly every song, somewhere in the neighborhood of 80bpm I think. Terrible cover art too, it looks like something a high school kid did in art class while trying to look like a badass.

I don't really have much to say about this one. It's not bad. Not particularly great either though. I get that it was sort of an early pioneer of the shoegaze genre and I can definitely see how a lot of what came after followed suit. I like it, I wouldn't necessarily seek out anything else from them based on this record. It's simple enough to sort of fade into the backgroud if you're doing something else. But some great guitar sounds, solid musicianship, vocals are just kind of ok and tend to get lost in the mix. 3/5

Right off I could tell that the recording/production on this one was great. Fantastic acoustic guitar sound is the first thing you hear. Great voice as well. Kind of a low-key album that's sort of a downer in a lot of ways. I like it. Listen to this on a rainy day on good headphones or a good sound system, not on little computer speakers and not on a phone. I think a lot of the brilliance of this album is just in the way it is recorded and how all the parts work together so well.
I also never really realized what a great guitar player he was. Maybe I just never really paid attention before but his playing on this record at least was fantastic. I wonder why he never gets mentioned in the same breath as Paul Simon? It would be interesting to see what he would have done had he not died so young. The folk/folk-pop/folk-rock genre from this time was relatively short-lived and I feel like he may have gone on to more experimental things. All in all, this is a stellar album. Maybe not a 10/10 but good enough for a 5/5 because 4/5 is not enough.

Probably the album that most people think of when someone says Metallica. Lots of good stuff on here and I did enjoy going back and listening to this one all the way through again. Say what you will about Metallica, musically or otherwise, there are a lot of great songs on this record. I get that thrash metal isn't exactly for everyone, and there's a valid argument that this album isn't exactly thrash metal anyway, but it's undeniably solid. I think where this album is lacking most is in production. It's not bad but I think the balance between the low and high frequencies is off a bit. Maybe it's sort of scooped? I'm not sure. I listened to the original, not a remaster, so maybe that's something they fixed later on.
I've never been a huge Metallica fan but I really like this album. I probably wouldn't go out and try to find it at the record store but I would play it again for sure. And maybe pick it up if it happened to be at the record store and I didn't want anything else. 4/5

I've always really liked African Blues. Which is sort of an odd genre when you think about it. I can definitely see why Ali Farka Toure gets compared to John Lee Hooker, particularly the voice but he's not quite as gravelly. Excellent guitar playing on this record and his tone in particular fits perfectly for his style. Listening to this record makes me think that he was probably just a cool dude to hang out with, no idea if there is any truth to that. Overall this is a super relaxing album and it's great that it was included here. 4/5

It's been ages since I listened to this album. For all the accolades it gets, I was hoping for more when it came up today. That's not to say it's bad or that I disliked it, I guess I was just expecting to be blown away. The production is amazing, great sound and instrumentation all the way through. The songs are...fine. Wouldn't It Be Nice and God Only Knows of course are classics and probably on most people's top 100. Sloop John B is a song I totally forgot about but I always loved.
All that said, this is a super fun record and I would absolutely listen to it again. This is one of the albums that if I saw it in the record store I would pick it up for sure and play it a few times a year. So in that sense, it’s a good one to me. #2 album of all time as suggested by Rolling Stone (for what that's worth)? Definitely not. But enjoyable nonetheless. I'd give it a 3.75/5 but will round up to 4.

An interesting record for sure. Solid Brit post-punk/new wave that is decently experimental for the time. The vocals in particular stand out for me - some songs are almost like a Morrissey/Bono/Bowie/Robert Smith mashup, No and Love Hangover in particular. I like it. Listening to it now, some of the songs do sound like they're straight out of a terrible low-budget movie from 1983. Super cheesy but not specific enough to really be nostalgic. Some of the songs are like if you asked a band to write something by The Cure but with more synth.
On the whole, the album is pretty decent. Lots going on and lots to keep your attention. It's a little long, I feel like 23 songs and an hour and a half is just a little too much so it loses points for that. Solid 3.5/5 but not strong enough to round up to 4.

No more hip hop please. It's just not for me. I've tried with all the records people claim are 'the best' but I just can't stand it. The misogynic lyrics, abject violence, self aggrandizement, terrible tropes of 'look how dangerous I am' and 'look how much money I have'. It's all just laughable. This record is no exception. I wanted to like this album; part of the fun of this project is finding something that you didn't think you would like but end up enjoying. I was sort of hoping this record might make me enjoy hip hop a little more. Alas, no. It was the same thing I've heard over and over from hip hop artists for the last 30 years. Parts of this album were actually gross, which isn’t something you can say about a lot of music. Like who needs to hear him getting a blowjob? Especially one that he forced the girl to give after she repeatedly said no. No thanks, hard pass from me.

This is a solid record for sure. I don't get why it kind of gets a lot of hate for being 'white guy blues'. It's not like they're trying to be BB King or Muddy Waters. I think I like El Camino better but this is a super fun album - great sound, good songs, good riffs, good drums. I dig it. Would absolutely play this one again.

I don't know what to make of this album. It's kind of like a compilation of Broadway-style songs featuring different vocalists. I was sort of surprised to see this was from 2000 for some reason. I don't really know who the intended audience for this record would have been at that time. I mean there are some cool songs here but I guess I don't really get why it was made. It sort of seems like these songs were all cast offs from failed Broadway shows and they just lumped them all together. It was interesting to listen to, not offensive in any way, flowed well from one to the next, but I won't be listening to this album again. 2.5/5 rounding up to 3.

I don't get why this album is on this list. I mean it's not a bad album by any means, but I feel like a live album on this list would have to be included because it captured something spectacular. I wouldn't call this spectacular. Deep Purple is a band with unquestionably good musicians, but I don't know why this album would be special. It's good for sure, but I would imagine that Machine Head is on this list that would basically make the inclusion of this record sort of superfluous. 3/5 because it's a good album but probably not one that really needs to be included here.

Wonderful album. The thing that always strikes me about James Brown is how great his band is. This record is no exception. I wish they would record live albums like this still - no overdubs (probably), lots of audience noise, uneven in parts, electrical hum here and there, all the good and the bad. Anymore a live album might as well be a studio recording with applause between songs.
This album is as close as you can get to being at an early 60's James Brown show. Highly enjoyable and replayable. I'm curious as to why it was decided to only include half an hour of material. Seems like a double live would have been a good choice for this. Loses 1 star just because it's so short.

I hate hip hop. But remember when hip hop was sort of lighthearted and fun? That's what this is. If you like nostalgic rap this is for you. It's not for me. It's not as unlistenable as modern hip hop but I got tired of it after about ten minutes. Because of the way the genre has changed, would this be considered novelty rap now? 2 stars because at least it has nostalgic value I guess.

I've listened to this album a bunch of times. Aerosmith was my favorite band for a long time when I was a kid, until I got to high school probably. This album is an absolute banger. Top notch instrumentation, great vocals, decent production. Two all time classic songs - the guitar work on Walk This Way is undeniably brilliant but I think as I've grown up it's probably one of my least favorite songs on the album. I've always loved some of the less well known songs on this record - Uncle Salty, Adam's Apple, Round and Round, You See Me Crying.
Personal issues with various band members aside, it's hard not to love this. I'll always have a soft spot for this band, they were instrumental in building my love of music as a kid. So this album gets a 5/5 from me.

I get a little tired of the 60s/70s folk. Especially in the 70s when it started to lean really heavily into country. Thie record is simple and unremarkable. For a fairly short album it was kind of a slog. I might have skipped a song or two after a couple minutes. I don't know what else to say. 2/5

I much prefer instrumental jazz to vocal jazz but I do love a good live album. This one is particularly great because it makes you feel like you're sitting there at a table with a cocktail in front of you. It's a super chill album, put it on while you make dinner or throw it on after a long day at work. It doesn't really demand anything of you. I'm not sure I'd call it one of the top 1000 albums of all time but when you think about it 1000 albums is a lot of slots to fill. 3/5 for me but I'd definitely play this again.

Bruce Dickinson's first album with Iron Maiden. He's undoubtedly one of the best singers from the 80s metal bands. Not all of the songs on this album really showcase how great we was but he does shine through more often than not. The first half of the album is a little standard as far as early 80s metal goes and it does get a little repetitive, but all of side two is super strong, Gangland maybe less so than the others. Three songs that almost anyone would recognize is not bad for an album that's 40+ years old.
I'll give this one a solid 3.5, rounding up because of the iconic album art.

An interesting record for sure. All of the hate for her voice is unwarranted. Yes, tons of vibrato but it works. For the most part. Obviuosly a deeply personal album and it's sort of haunting and beautiful at the same time. It's short and sweet. Intrumentation is great but her voice doesn't quite live up to what it could have been in a lot of the songs. In the end, I think for such a personal record, it's hard for listeners to really connect with it because most of us have not had these same experiences. That's not to say it's bad by any means, just hard to find anything to really make me want to listen again.
One thing that really takes away from this album - it's uneven volume. Dynamics is one thing but I feel like I shouldn't have to adjust the volume level multiple times during an album, let alone during one song, to keep it from becoming too loud or too quiet. 3/5 stars, losing points for the uneven production.

I had heard of Baaba Maal but can't say that I had heard anything he had done outside of the Black Panther movies. I feel like he's the first one on this list for me that I actually knew about but had never listened to. So I sort of knew what to expect with this album.
It's very interesting to me to hear an artist from West Africa who was influenced by American blues, jazz, soul, and R&B which were all really based on African music in the first place. I enjoyed this album and would definitely listen to it again if I was in the right mood.

So I've always had a prejudice against U2, or maybe to be more fair against Bono. Sure, he's done good things, but he's one of those people that needs to give up his ego and self-importance and just be a decent person because it's the right thing to do rather than for personal gain. And I don't know how but his arrogance seems to carry through to his vocals.

Bono aside, this album has some good high points. One, of course, but I also really enjoy Until The End Of The World, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, and Acrobat. They build songs really well and I love The Edge as a guitar player, stupid name aside. Apart from their early albums which may be considered some kind of punk-lite, they layer instruments and arrange the music really well and always have a super full sound.
I guess I've always just kind of written most of U2 off because Bono is not my favorite person. They have written some songs that I really like, Joshua Tree is a fantastic album, maybe I should try to get over Bono and appreciate them for their music. Giving this one a solid 3.5 stars but rounding down because...Bono.