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.