in the middle of a bad hitrate right now. They're not, like, All bad, but been a lot of stinkers gumming up the list this stretch. Leaving some out for being forgettable.
The Temptations Cloud Nine (1969):
Ain't no Herbie Hancock, but pretty good for cooking or moving through the world
Madness The Rise & Fall (1982):
Our House in the Middle of the Street band. That song's the only thing you've heard from them for a reason, the rest is whatever
Small Faces Ogden's Nut Gone Flake (1968):
'es split 'is noggin in twain, 'e 'as, 'e 'as. Blimey
The Sonics Here Are The Sonics (1965):
good lord the number of shit early/mid 60s albums on this list that were just nothing but rock & roll staple covers. It's bad! same goes for Rolling Stones' debut album!
TLC Crazysexycool (1994):
Liked it less than Destiny's Child, but more interesting than most other 90s R&B acts that I know about (admittedly not many of them)
Neil Young Tonight's The Night (1975):
One of a handful of albums on here where the wikipedia production story entry is the main thing making the pitch for why it's included. I'm not enough of a lyrics man to get past how rough the production quality is on this one.
Madonna Music (2000):
First miss from a Madonna album on the list for me, and it’s a big miss. The other ones I heard from her were kind of taking the musical waters of their era and doing them really big and really well, but unfortunately this particular era was real real bad waters
Robbie Williams Life Thru A Lens (1997):
Case in point
Frank Zappa Hot Rats (1969):
Yesssss hell yea! really really loved it. Surprisingly accessible compared to the Mothers of Invention album that came up earlier
Brian Wilson Smile (2004):
Buddy, I’m frowning.
Ute Lemper Punishing Kiss (2000):
Divine Comedy aside, real stacked crew of collaborators on here that did not end up making an album that I liked whatsoever. Glad Tom Waits and Nick Cave had fun I guess.
The The Infected (1986):
Pretty interesting, post-punk in the 80s is kind of a cool experimental time in musicmaking
Bee Gees Trafalgar (1972):
I would not have asked them to contribute music to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack based on this, and that would have been a mistake on my part. Didn't care for this one, though.
Aimee Mann Whatever (1994):
Couldn’t have put it better myself hyuk hyuk
Kate Bush Hounds of Love (1985):
lol I loved The Dreaming, but it's not surprising that she had to be more normal for this one. Knocked it out of the park! Basically got her and Peter Gabriel holding down the fort of using 80s production soundfront toward artsy ends
Outkast Stankonia (2000):
A classic, though I’m kinda surprised by how much more I liked Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Brian Eno Ambient 1/Music For Airports (1978):
Did its job very well
Pearl Jam Ten (1991):
Probably the first non-Nirvana grunge that's clicked for me at all. Evenflow genuinely rips, and I was pretty alright with the rest of it
The Associates Sulk (1982):
classic of shitty new wave
Wild Beasts Two Dancers (2009):
mm, more like Mild Beats
Snoop Dogg Doggystyle (1993):
it’s fine, I like snoop more as a public figure than I like most of his output though
Richard Thompson I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (1974):
Sunday School music imo. Has its place, but not often
The B-52’s B-52’s (1979):
Oh hell yeah now we’re talking, a great time the whole time. Only cowards skip the coda section of “Rock Lobster”
Morrissey Viva Hate (1988):
Christ finally something halfway listenable from this guy. Now get out of my sight dude
N.E.R.D Fly or Die (2004):
Weird and interesting halfway point between hip hop and alt-rock sensibilities.
Jeru The Damaja The Sun Rises In The East (1994):
Stupid
G. Love & Special Sauce G. Love And Special Sauce (1994):
Pretty interesting, especially for 1994! Doing White Stripes stuff like a decade before the White Stripes is respectable business
Fleetwood Mac Tusk (1979):
Kind of the Majora’s Mask to the Ocarina of Time of Rumours, culturally. Came after a really tough act to follow, resulting in something weird that seems to be regarded better in hindsight than it was at the time, etc. For my own personal taste, though, I wasn't too into this one except for the muppet voices they used to sing the title song
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones (1964):
Covered (ha ha) this one above. It stinks! Plenty of examples of them writing good stuff that’s on the list, so why do we need the boring album fulla cover songs
Leonard Cohen I’m Your Man (1988):
Turns out putting Leonard Cohen into 80s production sensibilities results in something almost Nick Cave-like (it's better when Nick Cave does it, though)
LL Cool J Mama Said Knock You Out (1990):
Title song definitely carries the thing lol
Nas Illmatic (1994):
Better on the merits than LL Cool J, though not quite as earwormy
Klaxons Myths Of The Near Future (2007):
Feels really random to have on the list, but I really liked a lot of the stuff on here, very proggy, which has interesting connotations on an '07 album.
...I know Deloused is on this list, really jonesing for some Mars Volta after this one now.
