Rated 10/10
I'm not a fan of glam metal. Hard Rock does the glam sound better, and heavy metal does the metal side better. However, Van Halen are kind of the best (or at least one of the originators) of glam metal, so they get a pass. The performances are obviously top-notch, and even though some of the numbers are tired, this is a great album. What pushes it over the top is the production, which is exceptional.
4.5/5.0: Excellent
Rated 6/10
This is a little dull and I'm not a fan of the production, but points for OK melodies and trying something different. Also, nice album cover.
2.5/5.0: Mixed
Rated 10/10
Lots of variety, hitting everything from folk to blues to jazz, with great melodies and musicianship. His voice is not great and he has no enunciation, but overall this is a quick and enjoyable listen while maintaining unpredictability.
4.5/5.0: Excellent
Rated 10/10
Really fascinating album. She's really doing something different here and I like it. So many strange things going on in the music, and I think it works. I need to revisit Vespertine after this.
4.5/5.0: Excellent
Rated 6/10
This whole album feels really derivative and the country numbers are terrible, but this does have its moments.
2.5/5.0: Mixed
Rated 8/10
It's a little long, but the songwriting and melodies are really good.
3.5/5.0: Very Good
Rated 8/10
Fun album with good beats and melodies.
3.5/5.0: Very Good
Rated 8/10
Fun album that never flags, with appropriate use of saxophone in rock (rare).
4.0/5.0: Great
Rated 2/10
Over-produced annoying 80s pop.
1.0/5.0: Embarrassing
Rated 2/10
A two hour album featuring uncredited whales and seagulls and random appearances by what I must assume is a moonlighting Chewbacca? Sign me up.
1.0/5.0: Embarrassing
Rated 4/10
This album suffers mightily from pacing. Like a lot of 90s albums, this album is both too long as a whole and each song individually. This last point is where this album really fails. Each songs stops developing after 2 minutes, but then we're subjected to 5 minutes of a repeating chorus to end the song. But even if the band had managed to write with better pacing, the vocal melodies are predictable and there's nothing special about the music either.
2.0/5.0: Disappointing
Rated 2/10
This album feels like an exercise in how to make the most annoying music possible.
0.5/5.0: Unlistenable
Rated 6/10
This is far and away the best Dylan album of the five I've had on the list so far. It still suffers from a few slow-moving folk song stinkers and Dylan's usual vocal swill, and the album is too long. However, the music on this album is actually good (big shock, believe me), and there's - wait for it - VARIETY on this album. It's almost like after 7 or 8 tries Dylan realized you actually have to put effort into an album for it to be good. Finally, the harmonica is actually well-done on this album instead of the usual straight forward blind honking he usually employs.
3.0/5.0: Good
Rated 4/10
Some of this is hilariously bad, and the musicality is almost nonexistent. At times it sounds like the instruments are playing in different times and different keys, and the guitar sounds out of tune on a few tracks. Also, Dylan's voice is atrocious, and the harmonica is ear-bleed inducing. That said, some of the tracks are significantly better than the others and almost enjoyable.
1.5/5.0: Bad
I can understand why this is on the list. It has an oddball quality to it that must've been so bizarre in 1968. That said, I don't think I'd ever come back to this.
2.5/5.0: Mixed
This is easily the best of the three Public Enemy albums I've had on this list so far (or maybe I'm just warming to them?). In any case, worth it for Anthrax and "Bring Tha Noize" alone.
3.0/5.0: Good
Rated 8/10
Really fun album with a lot of variety. Really dig the punkier songs. The album is very long, but all of the songs are short.
3.5/5.0: Very Good
Rated 4/10
The music is pretty good, but again it's just endless loops (I know that's how the genre works - I don't care for it). As for the rapping, it's about as goofy as you can get.
2.0/5.0: Disappointing
Rated 8/10
Morrisey might be a crap person, but this album is pretty good, despite the cringe-inducing cover. Lots of variety, great melodies, and it's a good length.
3.5/5.0: Very Good
I love getting exposure to different kinds of music, and this is my first experience of Qawwali, but this collection of songs doesn't really work as an album. First, this is a very difficult album to find (even the name of the album seems to be different from what is on the list), so I had to dig around to find all the songs. Second each song is much too long for what it offers. Third, the album itself is 90 minutes, which is absurdly too long. Overall, I understand why this album is on the list, but it's disappointing.
2.0/5.0: Disappointing
