Rated 10/10
The reason I love Pink Floyd is that they didn’t do anything by halves.
Feeling jaded and like an industry pawn?
Write an entire concept album about it.
Want to include a tribute to your old band mate?
Make it 25 minutes long, bookend the album with it and make it the best goddamn song ever written.
Need album art to match the theme?
Set a dude on fire.
Brilliant.
Rated 8/10
At last… music for the masses to enjoy. Can’t wait to bang this on at the work Christmas do and see my colleagues’ smiling faces.
I bought NME religiously from 2002-2005. Every week another must-hear indie guitar band was on the cover… The Strokes, Libertines, The Hives, The Vines, White Stripes, Interpol, Muse, The Coral, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, King of Leon, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian, Bloc Party…
Arctic Monkeys were the top of the rollercoaster just before the decline towards landfill indie …Fratellis, Pigeon Detectives, Wombats, Scouting for Girls, The Kooks
Jesus Christ did it fall off quickly.
I wasn’t sure which side of the line this album would fall 20 years on since I first heard it. Glad to say it still holds up.
Rated 4/10
Track 1 - Super Furry Animals B-side
Track 2 - Toddler goes nuts on GarageBand
Track 3 - Don’t let a lack of melody, structure or timing get in the way of making songs. Why does this sound like Brian Eno??
Track 4 - Syd Barrat has a psychotic episode while a cat sits on a synth
Track 5 - Another Super Furry Animals B-side
Track 6 - Big Band Jazz ensemble do ketamine. Track should have been titled ‘Regretamine’
Track 7 - A wild Brian Eno appears...Again. (Edit: oh shit this was meant to be a joke but turns out it is actually Eno.)
Track 8 - Fell ashleep to this one.
Track 9 - Still shleeping
Track 10 - Woke up to a knees up cockney version of Bob Dylan. Very confused had to check I hadn’t accidentally pressed shuffle
Track 11 - Trumpets in a haunted crypt
Tl;dr - This was fucking weird.
Rated 6/10
I love Pixies. Not sure you could class this as ‘an album you must hear before you die’ when Surfer Rosa, Doolittle and Bossanova exist.
A couple of songs like Abstract Plain and Headache are Pixies standard songs but there’s definitely a fair bit of filler here.
With a bit of quality control this could have been a great 13-song album instead of a middling 22-song one
Rated 10/10
Also included in my upcoming book ‘1 album to hear before you die’
Rated 2/10
What in the smokemachinehairspraypowerstance-hell is this album doing on this list. Get in the bin.
Rated 6/10
I ignored Amy Winehouse in the 00s. I thought I was edgy and she was too ubiquitous to be cool. I’ve since come to really like Back to Black…the production, the hooks, the sadness in the lyrics, the vocal delivery, that 60s R&B aesthetic.
Frank doesn’t have any of the things I like in B2B but I still didn’t hate it
Why release one incredible album when you can release two.
Abattoir Blues - Intense
Lyre of Orpheus - Reflective & melodic.
I can’t even pick a favourite
Rated 6/10
A nice listen. More style over substance but I enjoyed it anyway
Rated 4/10
You know that song we did earlier… do it again but this time set the synth to the ‘trumpet’ setting,
Rated 8/10
Listened to this twice all the way through.
First was the original 1987 release. I honestly thought it was a set of good songs completely ruined by the overly compressed outdated production.
Second time was the 2020 remaster which thankfully fixes these issues and brings some dynamics and space to breathe.
Rated 4/10
The generator gave me this album on a very glum and rainy Monday morning in the UK. Put this on at 7am.
By 9am I was on a Teams call wearing a denim jacket and bandana, drinking a Budweiser and preaching to colleagues about the 2nd amendment.
Rated 6/10
Never even heard of The Saints. Fun little punk album. I liked it.
Rated 6/10
Ordered this Elliott Smith album from Temu. Decent quality for the money but will buy from a reputable record store next time
(I actually quite enjoyed this)
Rated 6/10
You know how every Beatles album has some stupid songs but you forgive them because there’s also a stack of genuine masterpieces there….
Take the White Album… 6 stupid tracks (Wild Honey Pie anyone?), 24 bangers.
Every Queen album does that too. The difference is that their ratio is 50:50. For every Bohemian Rhapsody you have ‘I’m in love with my car’
I’m going to average it out and give half marks.
Rated 10/10
Didn’t want to give instant 5 stars because it’s Bob.
Don’t think twice… it’s alright.
Rated 8/10
Pairing notes: beanbag, winter sweater, ability to zone out and do fuck all for an hour.
Enjoyed it but took a couple of listens to appreciate
Rated 8/10
28 minutes means you can listen to it twice. I did and enjoyed it both times.
Rated 8/10
One of the best bands in the world with a collection of some of their best songs (and a couple of less good ones)
Deducting one star just because it’s not quite the cohesive masterpiece of OK Computer, Kid A or In Rainbows.
Still incredible.
