Rated 10/10
Yes, it is a VERY long album, but the truly amazing part is how the time flies while listening to this record. There are so many incredible songs on this double LP that the few (possible) missteps can be easily forgiven. Not just an album you must hear before you die - this is an album you must own before you die.
5.0/5.0: Iconic
Rated 6/10
Significantly better than the whiny American folk rock (a mostly crap genre to be fair) he pushed earlier in his career. The bombastic eighties instrumentals and production actually fit his voice quite well, and the songwriting is inventive and unpredictable, even if it does drag at times (predictably during the folky sections).
3.0/5.0: Good
Rated 6/10
I don't particularly care for his voice, the album cover is pretty bad, and the instrumentals feel a little cut-and-paste, but the songwriting is good and the record isn't too long.
3.0/5.0: Good
Rated 10/10
Finally! An album with RIFFS. A highly influential album with top quality performances and an outstanding album cover.
5.0/5.0: Iconic
Rated 6/10
Great album dragged down by an enormous run-time caused by an excess of filler tracks and completely unnecessary skits. Still gets 3 stars because some of the music is fantastic.
3.0/5.0: Good
Rated 4/10
This is much, much worse than the other Gene Clark album ("No Other") on this list. The main culprit? A despicably grinding harmonica sound that very well might be the most hateful sound I've ever heard. It's a shame, because his voice and songwriting are actually pretty good.
1.5/5.0: Bad
Rated 10/10
5 stars on attitude and politics alone, but the influence, variety, and performance clinches it.
5.0/5.0: Iconic
Rated 10/10
Just about perfect pop music. Incredible melodies (like almost anything that comes out of Sweden except Meshuggah), tons of variety, exceptional songwriting, and strong performances. Only knock is the sometimes fuzzy 70s production.
5.0/5.0: Iconic
The bluegrass tracks are really good, but the old-time-baptist-church-music, while well-executed, is just not my taste (PTSD). Combine that with a gargantuan runtime and copious studio chatter, and unfortunately this gets a mixed review. Still, this is an eternity and a half better than the utter swill spewed forth from the auto-tuned maw of Morgan Wallen.
2.5/5.0: Mixed
Rated 6/10
The music is OK on this one, definitely better as a whole than Achtung Baby. However it suffers from the same problems. Each song stops developing musically after the first minute, yet the band insists on playing for another 4 minutes. Additionally, most of the tracks are very safe early eighties rock. Finally, Bono's vocals are average at best, and the production fails to lend any edge to the music.
2.5/5.0: Mixed
Rated 10/10
How did country music go from the great melodies, performances, and story-telling of Marty Robbins to the utter travesty to music that is Morgan Wallen? If nothing else, this album demonstrates just how terrible modern country music is, and that's a shame.
5.0/5.0: Iconic
Rated 10/10
It's very rare for an album to have such great musicianship, performances, and melodies all packaged together with perfect production values.
5.0/5.0: Iconic
Rated 8/10
Really fun album with strange instrumentation and weird artistic choices. The kind of pleasant surprise that should be on this list.
4.0/5.0: Great
Rated 2/10
For the first five songs, the vibrato vocals are uproariously bad, the songs are meandering or downright absurd, and the lyrics are painfully cringey. Combine all this with a colossal runtime and you would have a candidate for worst album on the list if it wasn’t for some fairly interesting instrumentals on 2 or 3 of the songs.
However, the band turns it around on tracks 6-8, before returning to the interminable garbage they started with.
1.0/5.0: Embarrassing
Rated 8/10
Like most Queen albums, there are a few incredible songs, some good ones, and some straight filler. The amazing (as always) performances keep this at a 4.0/5.0.
4.0/5.0: Great
Rated 8/10
Very well done although a little boring at times.
4.0/5.0: Great
Rated 8/10
Fun, clever, creative, and politically aware, but undeniably sounds like an Ali G. skit at times.
4.0/5.0: Great
Great instrumental performance, but the song structures are kind of meandering and his vocals are annoying.
2.5/5.0: Mixed
Rated 10/10
1971 reveals a much more mature version of The Beach Boys then the silly surf rock they had made in the previous decade. The production is slick, the variety is immense, the songwriting is clever, and the themes are overtly ecological and political. Combine all this with a succinct runtime and striking cover art and this is a fantastic album.
5.0/5.0: Iconic
Rated 6/10
3.0/5.0: Good
