This album was about the same as the first Stevie Wonder album I listened to. It was decent, but didn't blow me away. Musically it was good. Lyrically it had it's moments, but was a bit weak. Vocally it was great. Stevie definitely has a great voice.
Soundgarden, and this album specifically, was my first real exposure to the Seattle Grunge scene. Even though Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten both were released in 1991, I didn't really like them all that much. So when this album came out in 1994 I was blown away. I haven't listened to it for a long time and I have forgot how great it is. Every song is amazing. Chris Cornell is a great song writer and after this album I ended up listening to, and liking a number of other grunge bands like Alice in Chains, Mad Season, Screaming trees and Temple of the Dog to name a few.
It's been awhile since an electronic album and I was hoping that it would be better than others or maybe that I would enjoy it more just because I hadn't listened to one for awhile. Nope. It was about the same as the others that I have listened to.
I didn't really think much of this album. Nothing about it was super exciting or captivating. Stylistically it was kind of a cross between rock and folk. I will say this though. For a first album by an artist who formed the band while in college, it is better than what most would do.
So, Kid A. Not one of my favorite Radiohead albums. Recorded as a follow up to "OK Computer" musically it radically changes direction for the band. After heavy promotion and touring for OK Computer the band was burnt out and lead singer Thom Yorke had a mental breakdown. When the band finally reconvened for recording, the band felt like they were locked in a sound and that too many other bands out there trying to imitate them, thus the change in sound. During recording the band recorded 20 songs which would become this album and the following years "Amnesia".
For all of the 60's - 70's classic rock bands on the list I've pretty much decided that Led Zeppelin is the best of them all. This album was so good from start to finish. Jimmy Page is a great guitar player and Robert Plant is just so good and the combination of the two makes one fine album.
Only one hit song on this David Bowie album that I had heard before, and once again it was the best song on the album. The rest of the album was was decent but nothing amazing.
When I started listening to these albums I didn't care much for The Beatles. With the albums I've heard so far I have gained more of an appreciation, and an open mind, for their music. This is the band's second album and first to be released in North America, and I was kind of let down by it. The album was about 50/50 original songs and cover versions and it just felt kind of blah. With three more of their albums to go on the list I'm sure that there is better to come.
Whether you like punk or don't this is a great album. Better than Combat Rock, in my opinion, even though Combat Rock was more commercial and garnered the band more recognition and success. Maybe that is why this album is better, because it was more raw than Combat Rock. The Album had two big hits for the band including my favorite song of their's "Train in Vain"
I haven't listened to The War on Drugs until now, but I have heard of them, and know that they are immensely popular. Their first album was released in 2008 and only four albums in to their career the band won a Grammy for Best Rock Album for their latest release.
Right from the start U2 has been a band involved with politics and events going on around the world. An activist band. Many of their songs, a lot of their songs deal with these themes. With their fame and popularity they have been able to use it to bring focus to causes that they believe in. Bono has been instrumental in raising a lot of money to help those causes. Over the years the band has continued to release albums but they have also become a greatest hits band. By that I mean when a band has been around as long as U2 has and have as many hit songs as they do, people want to hear the hits. At some point releasing new music, while fulfilling to the band, becomes irrelevant to the fans.
I have been interested in Sufjan Stevens for awhile now. I read about him awhile back and the albums that he has recorded. What intrigued me was that he records some of his albums as themes and they vary in styles. His first album is a folk album and the songs explore folk music styles from around the world. His second album is electronic and each of the songs are inspired by the animals of the Chinese zodiac. For his third album, Michigan, Sufjan announced his "Fifty States Project" in which he planed to record an album of songs for each of the states. For album number four he went back to folk-rock and recorded songs that tell stories from the bible. Album six is electronic/hip-hop beats and focuses on personal themes. Album seven was recorded as a way for Sufjan to grieve and come to terms with the death of his mother, who had schizophrenia and drug abuse problems and abandoned Sufjan when he was one. Sufjan has also recorded 10 EP's of Christmas songs, an album of songs based on the Brooklyn-Queens expressway and an album called "Planetarium" with each song inspired by something in the Solar System.
I had never heard of Sam Cooke before but was surprised to find that he wrote the songs on the album which include two very famous songs, Chain Gang and Twisting the Night Away. The album was good but once again would have been better if it wasn't a live album. The sound quality is really poor.
An alt-rock band from England, musically this album was fantastic. These guys are really very talented and know how to write some great music. The guitar work in a lot of the songs us really great. Vocal and lyrically it was much weaker, that's not to say it was terrible but it was just average in that area.
Nothing that I could say about this album could make it sound any different that the other Joni Mitchell albums I have heard so far. It wasn't bad it was just more of the exact same folk music.
It took me awhile to get into Arcade Fire, but now that I am I think that they are a really good indie rock band. It started for me only recently with their album "Reflektor" in 2013. Since then I have gone back and listened to their older albums, including this one, and have really grow to love them. The have a very unique sound and the way they use a male and female singer to do both lead and backing vocals really add another level to their songs.
I wasn't really felling this album. I don't love country, that's no secret, and while I have enjoyed a couple of the country albums so far, what were more traditional, this one is not that. Pass on this one.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood was a 80's pop band who really only had this one hit album. But boy was it big. Not only did it do well on the charts and sell a ton of albums, but it also spawned a fashion trend of wearing over-sized plain white t-shirts with bold large black lettering:
So Donald Fagen is the lead singer of the band Steely Dan, of which I have already listened to a couple of albums. The style of the album is much different that what I have heard of Steely Dan so far. Way more mellow and easy listening than the Jazz of Steely Dan, the songs, for me, were way easier, and more enjoyable to listen to.
For a 60's album I actually thought it was pretty good, mostly because it wasn't super weird. It was just some simple 60's rock that didn't try and be more than that.
Joan Baez is another folk singer along the same vein as Joni Mitchell. Very similar music, lyrics and vocals. I'm not sure if I can say which I prefer, or if I do prefer one over the other. Mostly because I don't really like the style of music and don't have an opinion.
I'll admit I was surprised that Duran Duran had an album on the list. It's not that don't think they make good music, they do, it's more because I never though of them as a band that people took seriously.
This was an odd album, but was also oddly good. Released in 1978 in what the band calls "avant-garage" it was a combination of sounds and music, and while none of the songs were particularly memorable it was good enough to keep my interest while it played.
No clean version of the album available
Ever since The White Stripes released their album "Elephant" I have been a fan of Jack White. Lets be honest, even though his ex-wife was the drummer for The White Stripes, the reality was it was really all about Jack White. Since the band broke up he has done some other projects, like The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, he has also released a couple solo albums. What ever the project, He exudes talent. Musically, in my opinion, he is one of the best song writers and guitar players out there. With his music you just know that he is going to give you something new and innovation with each album, and on top of all that it's going to rock.
I have no idea who Ray Price is, but boy this album was good. I know it is country and I don't like country but it was hard not to like this album. Super simple songs, great music and man his voice is golden. There have been a lot of albums on here that I had heard previously and feel like other people should definitely listen to them, and there have been other albums that have been new to me that I have really liked, but this is one that if you are gonna listen to any of them, make it this album. It's just so good.
I have listen to a couple Elvis Costello albums now, and while the others had a couple songs I had heard previously, and this one had none, I liked this one more than the others. I'm not really sure why. It really was just more of the same as the others, but it was just better. It wasn't that it was good, I wouldn't listen to it again, but it was just less terrible I guess.
The National are a relatively new-ish alt-rock band. The have been releasing music since 2001, but haven't been mainstream until recently. Not knowing much about the band, or not having been exposed to them I haven't listened to any of their music until now. I do now that the band has a pretty strong following and have released some albums that critics have really loved. I thought the album was really pretty good. The songs were well crafted and fit the alt-rock genre well. It was definitely worth the listen, and I would listen to it again.
This is one of the best albums I've listened to from the 60's era. Everyone knows the song "Respect", and it is a great song, but the others on the album are equally as good if not better. What makes them so good it they are simple musically and lyrically but the reality is they are so good because of her voice. There is a reason Aretha is called the "Queen of Soul"
I don't really have much of an opinion of this album. The was a clean version of it so I was able to listen to it, and it was decent, I guess, but nothing really stood out.
The Go-Go's formed in 1978 and for a few years they were a power-house new wave band in the U.S. Their debut album, this one, did really well for the band reaching number one on the charts and has their two biggest singles. The album is definitely catchy and fun to listen to, even if it is a bit cheesy at times.
For the most part I really enjoyed this album. It is totally the mid-80's new wave sound that I like. The band also included a lot of string arrangements and other instrumental sounds that made the songs different and interesting to listen to. Lyrically some of the songs were a bit weak, but still worth a listen.
Once again, for a country album, it was the style of country that I can kind of stand to listen to. It is more of the classic style, with the twang and fiddle etc. It was good in comparison to other albums that I have listened to of similar style.
A psychedelic rock band from the 60's is definitely not my style of music and I didn't like listening to this one any more than any of the others from the same genre, but then I didn't really like it any less either :)
A Tribe Called Quest is an alternative Hip-Hop or Jazz Rap band formed in the mid-80's. I really liked this album. Mostly because I do enjoy rap when it isn't in your face, abrasive, curse-filled, misogynistic rap. I enjoy the beat and music style of most rap and think that rappers have a lot of talent when it comes to their lyrics and creating the flow of the song. For this album it was a lot of what I would look for in a rap album, mellow, laid-back beats with smooth rap and nothing offensive.
An album of Salsa music, I'm not really sure what to say about it. The music was really good. It was really upbeat and fun to listen to. All of the singing is in Spanish, so while it was good, not understanding what the songs are about detracts from it for me.
I never listened to the full album when it came out, cause it just wasn't my style, but you couldn't help but have heard the hits from the album. They were huge and played on the radio all the time. Listening to the album now, it still really isn't my style but I can definitely appreciate why the songs were so popular. In fact if you listen to "Born in the U.S.A" its actually not that good of a song. The music is kind of simple, Bruce kind of screams the lyrics through the whole thing and the chorus is just Born in the USA over and over, but it is a classic stadium anthem. Play that song for 20,000+ people at a concert and it's going to get them going.
Originally a member of Pink Floyd, he recorded this album after leaving the band. I didn't really care for it and it was made worse by being 20 songs long.
I remember listening to "Gasoline Alley" awhile back and thinking it was just o.k. but enjoyable to listen to because of Rod's voice. I also remember listening to a Face's album, with Rod as the singer and also really enjoying it due to his voice. It is definitely the best part of his albums. It is so unique sounding that it sets his music apart from other singers. Once again the album itself wasn't amazing, although it did feature probably his most famous song, Maggie May.
I'll admit I know nothing about this band. I have never heard of them or heard any of their music. After listening to the album I don't feel like I was missing much. It was kinda slow and plodding and just boring.
Elvis Costello's debut album it was recorded in 24 hours. I have listened to one other album so far and wasn't all that impressed but from what I can remember of it this one was slightly better. It was kind of raw, and unpolished and the lyrics were kinda bad, but at least I had heard one of these songs before and it wasn't bad enough that I wanted to turn it off.
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