Reviews by syrinx

Album #2 from Love for me. Apparently I had De Capo as one of my first albums from the list. All I remember is Seven and Seven is but rated it the album a 3 at the time.
This kind of softer 60s psychedelic rock is not really my thing although there are some good parts on this record. Some interesting guitar parts here and there. And super solid drumming. But I'm not really sure why this was an album we all need to hear. I mean it's a great example of the genre I suppose. Pretty typical for the era and the style which I guess is something. But I don't think I'd ever play this again. 2.75/5

I'm always happy to get a record like this where it's just 3 guys making music. Look at the Personnel section on Wikipedia for this and compare it to almost any album in the last 20 years. This is three guys playing instruments, a producer, engineer, and a handful of people who made the cover and sleeve. I wish we would go back to that.
The record is good too! Great instrumentation and well played. I love the bass tone on this record. There's something about how the bass sounds in these late 70s/early 80s punk/post punk/new wave records that can make or break the whole thing and this is a good one. I would definitely grab this record in the shop and play it when I needed something fun to listen to while I was cooking dinner. 4/5

I think a good update to this generator would be that when you make your account, you have one genre you can skip over and get a different group of albums swapped in. Call it the 'What Genre Do You Never Want To Hear Again' box. Hip hop would be mine for sure. And as of today this album has a 2.9 cumulative rating so I am 100% positive I am going to loathe this already without having even started it. I don't even need to listen, I can tell you exactly what this is going to be - homophobia, misogyny, violence, self aggrandizing set to programmed beats and samples from older music. The thing about all these hip hop records is that they're all pretty much exactly the same. I don't get why you would need more than one on the list anyway? I feel like that's the only genre where you can say that. I mean sure there are other genres I don't really care for but at least the music is different from one album to the next. Maybe I'm just grumpy today. Well, let's jump in, shall we?
Yep, I was right. Please no more. I hate this kind of music. 1/5

I'm kind of surprised to see this rated so low here. Not because I think it's particularly great, I'm not sure if I've even heard the whole thing, but because I always thought the Carpenters were kind of like Fleetwood Mac - they're just one of the bands that everyone is supposed to like. I don't really like Fleetwood Mac, we'll see about the Carpenters but from what I remember this is gonna be sweeter than a candy shop.
And yeah that's exactly right. I have a few cavities now for sure. The music isn't bad and there are a few legitimately great songs here, though they didn't write them. And I'm always happy to see a female drummer, I know she didn't play much on the album but she did live and was one of the first well known female drummers. We need more of those for sure. And drumming while singing is pretty awesome.
Rating this as a 3/5 because it's not really my thing but I do feel like it was done well and accomplished what they wanted. It is a good album but maybe not one I would listen to much.

#2 from The Band for me and I have to say I'm kind of disappointed today. I mean The Band is fine, but not anything I would pick myself. Maybe I'd be more excited if I was 30 years older....
Ok so who starts off your first album with such a slow dirge-y sounding song. Like, this is the first impression you're making on the world and you choose this as the leading song? What the hell man? The Weight is a decent song. I don't mind Chest Fever. The rest of this album is totally forgettable and I hate how prominent the organ is through this whole record. I feel like whatever made this relevant when it came out doesn't exist anymore. 2/5

I enjoyed this album a lot. I do really like Indian Classical music and this was close I suppose. But I feel like the covers were kind of out of place and didn't really serve the rest of the album at all. I would have been interested to hear what this had turned into had it been a collaboration with Hendrix like Shankar originally wanted. That seems like it would have been legendary. Not much else to say about this one, but it's another that's hard to rate for me. Without the weird and out of place covers it would be approaching 4 but I just don't know if I can rate it that high as is. Maybe. I think I'm calling it 3.5 but I'm gonna round down.

Have never heard of this one, that's always fun. Well sometimes it's not so fun once you get started. Based solely on the cover, I would expect this to be middle of the road 90s/00s lo fi indie.
Yeah I was pretty much right on. Maybe add a little bit of a country vibe to a lot of it. But what's with these kinds of bands from this era and the absolutely shitty vocals? Like I get that it kind of gives a different sort of laid back and melancholy quality to it but god damn. Indie for a reason I guess. I think there are probably some good lyrics in here somewhere if you can stand to listen to them.
I don't know, making music like this just seems kind of lazy. There's some good parts here and there but it's missing anything that would make you want to connect with it. Not for me. 2.5/5

I'm not really sure why this is an album I have to hear? There doesn't seem to be anything particularly notable about this album. Even the Wikipedia page is only about 5 sentences long. It is 100% nothing you have never heard before or won't hear again. Maybe I missed something? 2/5

Ok so I am completely unfamiliar with this but I have seen the cover like a million times. I am already turned off by the name and the cover. G Love and Special Sauce is up in the running for the worst band name of all time. Top 3 at least. And the cover is super contrived and stupid. Something a 13 year old would think makes him look cool.
Ok. So I appreciate the laid back sound on this album. But it's just not good. Baby's Got Sauce may now be the worst song I've ever heard. Like, what the hell man? Who thought that was a good one and decide to include it on the record? However, great bass throughout which oddly doesn't sound out of place. I was glad when this was over, 2.25/5

This album was not really what I was expecting. I figured 'Elvis Costello isn't one of my favorites but at least it'll be fun to listen to.' I was wrong about that. It was a chore. This is an odd choice for the list for sure. I mean most Elvis Costello is not fantastic but is at least tolerable. This is not that. Would not listen to this again, and it kind of put me off him a little. 2/5

Ah the OG metal album. What a shock people must have got when they played this for the first time in 1970. Unprepared to say the least.
This is still a great album. And it's still pretty heavy even at 56 years old. Tons of great riffs here. Ozzy sounds amazing. Drums and bass are both fantastic. I think I like Paranoid a little better but this is still up there with the best heavy albums of all time. 5/5

I am really happy to see this album pop up today. I think this is probably the best from Elliott Smith. I sort of found him randomly just in the last few years, long after he had died. What a sad story his is. I know that he gets compared to Nick Drake a lot now and for some reason that really insults the hardcore Elliott Smith fans. I totally get that comparison although I don't think any similarity is intentional. Nick Drake was fairly well unheard of (at least in the US) when Elliott Smith was doing his thing. He might have heard him a time or two but I can't see him as being a huge influence like a lot of people would hope.
I feel like this is one of the ultimate 'sad guy' albums. I'm not sure how else to explain it. Like you listen to this record and you just want to try to get the guy some help. Sometimes that makes a great record though. This albums is super short and sweet, the worst thing about it is that you aren't ready for it to be over when it ends. A great record and one that always makes me wish that he had been able to make more music. 5/5

I have to confess that up until now I have never listened to a whole Tina Turner album. I know the hits, of course, but I can't really think of any time in my life when I would have thought 'what I really need now is an entire Tina Turner record'. I would imagine this is going to be ultimate 80s soft rock/pop in every way which is not a great thing...
So yes, it is incredibly 80s in the most predictable way. Cheese oozing out of the speakers. It's also kind of boring. I mean she has a great voice, great passion in the songs. But they all just kind of fall flat for me. I mean I didn't expect to be changed into a Tina Turner superfan after one listen but I did expect a little more. Other than her voice, there isn't really anything that stands out on this album at all. It's all just kind of droning in the background. I suppose there are some good guitar parts here and there, albeit drenched in 80s cave reverb. Probably a one and done for me. Generous 3/5.

I vaguely know Gary Numan as an early synth pop guy but apparently have not ever saved anything of his on Spotify. Kicking off, this once again sounds like the soundtrack to a cheesy 80s sci-fi movie. Or maybe the soundtrack to an 80s-futuristic ride from the early days of EPCOT Center. I don't necessarily dislike it, in the right mindset I think this would be really fun to listen to. Like maybe the fourth or fifth album on a long car ride.
Ahh yes, everyone knows Cars. Classic song for sure. I knew all of this sounded more familiar than I was expecting.
I ended up really liked this album, oddly enough. It's not something I would normally be in to but I think it just hit right today for some reason. I can see how this was an important record in the development of synth pop and synth music in general, lots of budding 80s music in here. And I actually really like his voice which is kind of weird. This album surprised me a bit, not with content but with how much I liked it and I do think I would play this now and again. 4/5

#2 from Madonna for me, the other was that god awful dance pop album she released right after this one. That one is one of the worst albums I've ever heard. This one? It's better, I guess? It's not great. I would imagine that Like A Virgin or Like a Prayer (or both) have to be on this list, right? I don't know, I feel like once Madonna got out of the 80s or early 90s she kind of just started to blend in with everyone else rather than stand out. She does have a great voice, great presence, but this album is just so mediocre. I feel like her creativity just sort of plateaued after the early 90s and she didn't really know what to do anymore to stay relevant. I remember when this came out the title track was everywhere and I even thought it was pretty trash back then. I would totally feel let down if I had grown up hearing her name but had never heard a Madonna album before and then listened to this. 2.5/5 and rounding down.

Ok so here's the thing: I'm one of those Rush fans. If you know, you know. They have been my favorite band since I was in high school before Vapor Trails came out. I have seen them live more times than I care to admit; multiple shows on each tour since 2002. And I get that Geddy Lee's voice is not for everyone. Nor is complicated, heady, epic, prog rock with (sometimes) nerdy lyrics and odd time signatures. But you can't deny that these are three of the absolute best ever at their respective instruments.
I was first introduced to Rush by a teacher in middle school who knew that I loved music but was also struggling with growing up. She played The Pass for me, if you know that song you'll know what I mean - I was basically that kid in The Pass and she knew. But it worked, I found music to help me get along.
I've long thought of 2112 as my favorite of their albums for various reasons, but as far as the best of their albums Moving Pictures is certainly in the running. Obviously it's their most commercially successful and well known album but that doesn't translate to 'best'. This may be their best sounding album - production and recording were perfect here. How do you pick the 'best' album from your favorite band? They are all so different and all have so much to offer that is unique to that album.
At least this is an easy one to rate, instant 5/5. I've listened to this record countless times and will probably end up playing it on vinyl multiple times today.

I have a sort of a soft spot for Jethro Tull. Maybe it's just this album, this is the only album of theirs that I really like. I remember hearing this way back when I was a kid and it was the first time I realized that rock music didn't just have to be guitars, drums, and bass. Who would have thought a flute would be the perfect addition to a pretty heavy album? And I was always blown away with how great a drummer Clive Bunker was. He may not have been super flashy but everything he did was the right thing to do. And that still holds up listening to this album now.
This is still a good album and I feel like it has aged pretty well. It does sound a little dated maybe but not in a bad way. And it so so unique - there is no one else that sounds like this. Maybe thanks to Ian Anderson for that? I'm struggling to rate this one though because it is really on the line between 4 and 5 for me. I think it will have to be 5/5 because I'd feel bad for giving it less.

This seems like an odd choice for an album from one of the legends of blues. I can't imagine there is another from him on this list, and an album full of collaborations just seems like it wouldn't really be representative of him as an artist. Although I suppose the list is albums to hear before you die, not albums that best represent the work of said artist to hear before you die.
It's a good album, but I feel like it's one that a lot of people would get bored with. Traditional blues like this is, sort of by definition, pretty much all the same. I mean I get that there are different phrasings, chord progressions, turnarounds, etc. but because the overall structure of the music it is a lot more constricted than a lot of other genres it tends to all blend together after a while. Anyway, I feel like this album was good but if a John Lee Hooker album was going to make the list, this isn't what I would have picked. My favorites from this album were the songs without a guest artist. 3/5

I enjoyed this album well enough. It's electronic but there are other things going on and some pretty cool parts here and there. The songs are repetitive but they don't seem to drag on like a lot of electronic music does. There is some variance and some real instruments keeping things interesting throughout.
I don't think I'd listen to this again but I did appreciate what they did with this one and am glad to have heard it. 3/5

For an album that came out in 1974, this is remarkably ahead of its time. What we would call 'electronica' was just getting started and a lot of the technology was new. Listening to this now, it would not be surprising to have heard this same album come out any time from the 80s on. I wouldn't ever listen to this again but I can certainly see why it was important to include on the list. It's not my thing but it was fine to put on in the background this morning. 2.5/5