Penny Lane - 100

Great chord progression - progresses very nicely, great bassline, great chorus, nice instrumentation, nice vocal harmonies, great lyrics, great last chorus

Strawberry Fields Forever - 100

Great instrumentation, very psychedelic, great melody, nice disillusionment in the lyrics, the ending with ‘Cranberry Sauce’ is a nice extra touch, some of Ringo’s best ... read more

This is probably my favourite album.

It’s the genre-defining album of Shoegaze - the Pet Sounds of Shoegaze if you will - it’s ingenuity in that genre cannot be disputed.

This album takes you on a journey - something a lot of albums forget to do.

Not only is this album loud and bashing, it’s also got great melodies which any observant listener will appreciate. The sounds and textures of this album are out of this world but they are accompanied by extremely strong melodies ... read more

71, 3 Feb > 85, 16 Feb > 92, 24 Feb

Ok so I’ve listened to this album three times and it has most certainly grown on me as denoted by the change in rating over the three listens.

I think this album showcases Nick Cave’s great songwriting and poetic, often surreal, lyricism delivered by his dark timbre vocals.

‘Do You Love Me’ is a brilliant, gothic-style song with a pretty epical piano solo within it.

‘Nobody’s Baby Now’ is a brilliant song ... read more

I wouldn’t recommend this album.

If I was to mathematically calculate the mean average of all my track ratings it would amount to 83.1 as a general rating - so why didn’t I henceforth give it that.

Well because I think the enjoyment of music isn’t fully mathematical and I think when you’re rating
tracks it’s different to when you’re rating a whole album - yes technically the mean average accounts for the culmination of those tracks’ ratings but ... read more

Cool album - very melodic and the cover art is sick.

Reminds me a lot of Radiohead and Gorillaz.

Also, the whole context of how this album rose from complete obscurity to having a decent platform online is pretty fascinating and completely tuff as well.

Sigma.

Praise: This album had some really good, beautiful songs on it that kind of saved the album ranking

Criticism: Quite a few of the songs felt pretty outdated to just the whole alternative grunge era except they weren’t really the highlights of it but rather just soulless reminiscing of the whole Nirvana type sound - it’s a similar problem to Pablo Honey, also I felt like some of the tracks were quite hard to listen to (even when I gave them a good rating) perhaps because despite ... read more

This is just a very solid album.

It’s kind of a perfect culmination of the rawness of their debut and the kind of whirlwind production of the sophomore album - except here the production is much better and consistent, there’s no disparity in volume across different tracks and the production remains the same throughout (bare in mind when I talk about the production I am talking about the Iggy Mix since that is the one I listened to and reviewed, not the David Bowie ... read more

Great sophomore album.

A lot more furnished production than its predecessor.

I think the first two songs of this album are killer and really entice you in and you already have the mindset of ‘oh this is gonna be a great album’.

And it is good! But I feel like the production has some disparity over the course of the album - like the first two tracks have a very furnished yet piercing sound but then it just drops off at ‘TV Eye,’ and I’m not sure for what reason, ... read more

This album has the capacity to break your eardrums amongst other things - such as your soul.

This fusion of heavy psych and proto-punk is not for the weak.

The rawness of the record compounded with the shimmering scathing sound and production of it really embody you in the record, making you feel the you’re connected to it.

It’s not the best, most proficient piece of work - but it doesn’t need to be. It’s charm lies in its uniqueness and it’s a monument of ... read more

Urmm……….

This record is very raw but sometimes that rawness is scathing and that may be a stupid criticism of a literal ‘garage album’ but I feel like wanting to achieve that really ‘raw’ sound doesn’t preclude you from channeling it further with masterful production (like Iggy did with Raw Power for example).

As much as I want to say this is a cool album, I really just feel like the production and songwriting is rather perfunctory - not much ... read more

The fact that this is a great show doesn’t necessarily mean that independent of that fact this soundtrack is not just perfect.

There’s so much to dig into here and every track is perfectly eccentric and unique in its own way. There’s not really any skips on this album but notable songs like ‘Tank’ definitely shine through as especially good.

I’d recommend to watch the show (obviously) but I feel like even without the context of the show, this is a very ... read more

Ingenious ambience on this record. Somehow the ambience is so substantive yet the production is completely stripped back allowing the rawness of the sound to prevail. This album has the ambience of albums like Loveless by My Bloody Valentine and Deathconsciousness by Have A Nice Life but the rawness and industrial power of albums like The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails. It is simply an incredible counterbalance.

‘The Sound’ is a masterpiece of a track and perhaps one of my ... read more

It’s quite amazing the diversity in sound that Hendrix achieved over a three-album discography eclipsing in Electric Ladyland before his untimely death.

I think this album is definitely enhanced by the context that this was his last album before he died.

This album has a good flow to it and there’s not really any defects with it; I suppose it just doesn’t jump out at you, at least in my opinion and I feel like some songs on this album are unnecessarily long like ‘1983 ... read more

I think this is a perfect record.

The ‘worst songs’ on this would be stand-out tracks on any other album.

This album has got everything - diverse songs, great instrumentation, themes of love and social awareness.

Stevie Wonder simply shows his genius on all levels in this masterpiece of an album.

This is the perfect pop record - people who like pop will love this and so will people who like more complex music because this album perfectly balances both. Stevie Wonder leans ... read more

Praise: very impressive for a debut album, consists of some of Hendrix’s best songs: Foxey Lady, Manic Depression, Fire, Hey Joe, Purple Haze, The Wind Cries Mary, Highway Chile - pretty mind blowing amount of brilliant songs for a debut.

Criticisms: some of the songs on the album are merely paperweight, largely mediocre, unforgettable blues tracks that are somewhat saved by the aforementioned ‘brilliant songs’, the length of this album can be quite tedious especially when ... read more

A work of genuine genius that ought to be celebrated.

Very good production for the time. The instrumentation of every song is brilliant and very deliberate, not just thrown about.

You’ve got the sweet, simple rock n roll of Come Together, along with the brilliant melody of Something contrasted with the raunchy, dirty, proto-doom-metal blues jam of I Want You (She’s So Heavy) which is a personal favourite of mine, on side A.

Then Side B is spearheaded with one of the best ... read more

Very good cohesion of tracks all at a decent quality - although, flyin’ high, in my opinion, is quite filler

Quite timeless ideas delivered very succinctly with just the right amount of emphasis for the message to be put across but not be overstating itself

One of the best debut albums of all time

Very decent crop of tracks, always satisfying.

Very formidable and consistent performances on this album despite its length. Very impressive.

Kashmir is especially an epic track.