| !!! Louden Up Now | 2.0 |
| A Tribe Called Quest The Love Movement | 3.0 |
| A Tribe Called Quest Beats, Rhymes And Life | 2.5 |
| A Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders | 5.0 |
| A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory | 4.5 |
| Air Moon Safari | 3.5 |
| Air 10,000 Hz Legends | 4.5 |
| Air Talkie Walkie | 4.0 |
| Air Pocket Symphony | 3.5 |
| Basement Jaxx Kish Kash | 4.5 |
| Basement Jaxx Crazy Itch Radio | 3.5 |
| Beastie Boys To the 5 Boroughs | 3.5 |
| Beastie Boys Hello Nasty | 3.0 |
| Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill | 2.5 |
| Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique | 4.5 |
| Bjork Debut | 3.5 |
| Bjork Post | 4.0 |
| Bjork Homogenic | 4.5 |
| Bjork Vespertine | 4.0 |
| Bjork Medulla | 3.0 |
| Bjork Volta | 4.0 |
| Blues Traveler Straight On Till Morning | 4.0 |
| Blues Traveler Four | 2.5 |
| Blur Think Tank | 4.5 |
| Charles Mingus Mingus Ah Um | 4.0 |
| Chicago Chicago Transit Authority | 4.5 |
| Chicago Chicago II | 5.0 |
| Christina Aguilera Back to Basics | 1.5 |
There is quite a fine line between using vocal ability to one's advantage or disadvantage. Throughout almost the entire double album, Christina is way overdoing the whole "I have great singing skill, so I'm gonna belt out as many syllables and exclamatory sounds as possible" that had made Mariah Carey unlistenable as Christina has now become.
The production on this album is almost as overblown as the singing, and the "new direction" by doing what was done far better by every single previous jazz/lounge/big band singer is a real slap in the face.
If this is truly Christina's idea of getting back to basics, then count me in on looking to the future.
Only saving grace from a 1 is Oh Mother, which is shockingly a really good song. |
| CocoRosie La Maison De Mon Reve | 2.5 |
The easiest way to describe this album would be to take a handful of folk, add an equal part of strange noise and eccentricity, and a pinch of psychedelic substance, put it in a blender, and set it on frappe.
All of this leads to a very intriguing and entertaining listening experience. Although there are only handful of truly good songs, and there are almost an equal amount that are completely abominable, the journey into these twin sisters' house of dreams ("The House of My Dreams" is the album title in English) makes for a compelling and interesting debut, despite its flaws. |
| CocoRosie Noah's Ark | 1.5 |
The charm and wit that permeated the debut is no longer in evidence here, and over three quarters of this follow up is absolute garbage.
The only saving grace from relegating the awful rating is a standout (check that THE ONLY standout) moment of the disc is Antony's performance on Beautiful Boyz. |
| Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head | 3.5 |
| Coldplay X&Y | 1.5 |
| Collective Soul Collective Soul | 4.5 |
| Collective Soul Disciplined Breakdown | 3.0 |
| Collective Soul Dosage | 4.0 |
| Collective Soul Youth | 2.0 |
| Collective Soul Blender | 3.5 |
| Common Be | 3.0 |
| Common Electric Circus | 4.0 |
| Counting Crows August And Everything After | 4.0 |
| Counting Crows Recovering The Satellites | 4.5 |
| Counting Crows Hard Candy | 3.5 |
| Creed My Own Prison | 3.5 |
| Creed Human Clay | 2.0 |
| Creed Weathered | 1.5 |
| Daft Punk Discovery | 4.5 |
| Danko Jones Sleep is the Enemy | 3.5 |
| Dave Matthews Band Under The Table And Dreaming | 2.5 |
| Dave Matthews Band Crash | 2.5 |
| Dave Matthews Band Before These Crowded Streets | 4.0 |
| Dave Matthews Band Everyday | 1.5 |
| Dave Matthews Band Busted Stuff | 1.5 |
| De La Soul The Grind Date | 4.0 |
| De La Soul 3 Feet High and Rising | 3.5 |
| Deftones White Pony | 4.0 |
| Deftones Deftones | 2.5 |
| Depeche Mode Playing The Angel | 4.0 |
| DJ Shadow The Outsider | 2.0 |
| Fergie The Dutchess | 1.5 |
| Fiona Apple Tidal | 3.0 |
| Fiona Apple When the Pawn... | 4.0 |
| Fiona Apple Extraordinary Machine | 3.5 |
| Funkadelic Maggot Brain | 4.5 |
| Garbage Beautiful Garbage | 3.0 |
| Garbage Bleed Like Me | 3.5 |
| Garbage Garbage | 4.5 |
| Garbage Version 2.0 | 4.0 |
| Goldfrapp Supernature | 3.0 |
| Goo Goo Dolls Let Love In | 2.5 |
| Goo Goo Dolls Gutterflower | 2.0 |
| Goo Goo Dolls Hold Me Up | 4.5 |
| Goo Goo Dolls Superstar Car Wash | 4.0 |
| Goo Goo Dolls A Boy Named Goo | 3.0 |
| Goo Goo Dolls Dizzy Up The Girl | 3.5 |
| Gorillaz Gorillaz | 3.5 |
| Gorillaz G-Sides | 1.5 |
| Gorillaz Demon Days | 4.0 |
| Gwen Stefani Love. Angel. Music. Baby. | 1.0 |
| Herbie Hancock Sextant | 4.0 |
| Herbie Hancock Head Hunters | 3.5 |
| Herbie Hancock Thrust | 4.0 |
| Immortal Technique Revolutionary Volume 1 | 3.0 |
| Immortal Technique Revolutionary Volume 2 | 4.5 |
| Imogen Heap Speak For Yourself | 4.0 |
| Jamiroquai Emergency on Planet Earth | 3.5 |
| Jamiroquai The Return of the Space Cowboy | 5.0 |
| Jamiroquai Travelling Without Moving | 3.0 |
| Jamiroquai Synkronized | 4.0 |
| Jamiroquai A Funk Odyssey | 2.5 |
| Jamiroquai Dynamite | 4.5 |
| John Coltrane Africa/Brass | 3.5 |
| John Coltrane Interstellar Space | 4.0 |
| John Coltrane Ascension | 5.0 |
| John Coltrane A Love Supreme | 4.0 |
| Jurassic 5 Quality Control | 4.5 |
| Jurassic 5 Power in Numbers | 3.5 |
| Jurassic 5 Feedback | 3.5 |
| Kaiser Chiefs Yours Truly, Angry Mob | 2.5 |
| Kanye West The College Dropout | 2.0 |
| Kanye West Late Registration | 2.5 |
| Kylie Minogue Body Language | 3.5 |
| Kylie Minogue Fever | 2.5 |
| Kylie Minogue Light Years | 3.0 |
| LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver | 2.0 |
I really wanted to like this. I tried my best to listen to it as many times as possible before passing judgement on it, but the fact of the matter is that with the exception of Time to Get Away, this album is a tedious and monotonous bore.
Although I do think there are the possibilites of catching grooves and dancing rhythms, just when it seems that they will jump out, nothing happens.
The only thing keeping the album from being rated even lower is that I find the lyrics to North American Scum relatively clever, and the build up for Get Innocuous! is interesting, but I won't find myself giving this album a lot of playing time. |
| Lemon Jelly '64-'95 | 2.5 |
| Lenny Kravitz Let Love Rule | 2.5 |
| Lenny Kravitz Mama Said | 4.0 |
| Lenny Kravitz Are You Gonna Go My Way | 3.5 |
| Lenny Kravitz Circus | 2.5 |
| Lenny Kravitz 5 | 3.0 |
| Lenny Kravitz Lenny | 4.0 |
| Lenny Kravitz Baptism | 1.5 |
| Lily Allen Alright, Still | 3.0 |
| Madonna American Life | 1.0 |
| Madonna Confessions on a Dancefloor | 3.0 |
| Madonna Music | 2.5 |
| Madonna Ray of Light | 4.5 |
| Madonna Bedtime Stories | 3.5 |
| Madonna Erotica | 4.0 |
| Marilyn Manson Mechanical Animals | 4.0 |
| Marilyn Manson Holy Wood | 4.0 |
| Marilyn Manson Lest We Forget | 2.5 |
| Marilyn Manson The Golden Age of Grotesque | 2.0 |
| Marilyn Manson Smells Like Children | 1.5 |
| Marilyn Manson Antichrist Superstar | 3.0 |
| Marilyn Manson Portrait of an American Family | 1.0 |
| Maroon 5 Songs About Jane | 1.5 |
| Massive Attack Mezzanine | 4.0 |
| Massive Attack 100th Window | 4.0 |
| Massive Attack Protection | 4.5 |
| Massive Attack Blue Lines | 4.0 |
| Matthew Good Avalanche | 4.5 |
| Matthew Good White Light Rock & Roll Review | 3.0 |
| Matthew Good Band Last Of The Ghetto Astronauts | 2.5 |
| Matthew Good Band Underdogs | 3.5 |
| Matthew Good Band Beautiful Midnight | 3.0 |
| Matthew Good Band The Audio of Being | 4.0 |
| Medeski, Martin and Wood Out Louder (w/ John Scofield) | 3.5 |
| Medeski, Martin and Wood End of the World Party (Just in Case) | 3.0 |
| Metallica St. Anger | 1.5 |
| Metallica Reload | 2.0 |
| Metallica Load | 1.5 |
| Metallica Metallica | 3.0 |
| Metallica ...And Justice for All | 4.5 |
| Metallica Master of Puppets | 4.0 |
| Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells | 5.0 |
| Mike Oldfield Light + Shade | 3.5 |
| Miles Davis Jack Johnson | 5.0 |
| Miles Davis Miles Smiles | 5.0 |
| Miles Davis Workin' With Miles Davis and the Quintet | 4.0 |
| Miles Davis In a Silent Way | 4.5 |
| Miles Davis Nefertiti | 4.0 |
| Miles Davis Bitches Brew | 2.5 |
| Miles Davis Filles de Kilimanjaro | 3.0 |
I've had this album for quite a while, and honestly, I feel it's overrated. I started listening to Miles pretty much when I started listening to jazz. I was directed of course to buy Kind of Blue (absolutely superb) and Bitches Brew (extremely overrated).
I feel that because this is a transitional album, where the new band hadn't completely gotten their groove yet, and the second great quintet is on its last gasps, that even though I find this to be just a hint above average, it is still an intriguing and complex album, and should definitely be heard.
This ablum should be complemented with "Miles in the Sky", (performed almost exclusively by the quintet, with George Benson guesting on one song) which is the more focused, and I believe better, of the two transitional era albums. |
| Miles Davis Kind of Blue | 4.5 |
| Miles Davis Sketches of Spain | 3.0 |
| Miles Davis Birth of the Cool | 4.0 |
| Mos Def Black on Both Sides | 4.5 |
| Mos Def The New Danger | 4.0 |
| Mos Def True Magic | 2.0 |
| Murs Murs 3:16: the 9th Edition | 3.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails Year Zero | 4.5 |
| Nine Inch Nails The Fragile | 5.0 |
| OutKast Idlewild | 3.0 |
| OutKast Speakerboxxx/The Love Below | 3.5 |
| OutKast Stankonia | 3.5 |
| OutKast Aquemini | 4.0 |
| OutKast ATLiens | 4.5 |
| OutKast Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik | 3.0 |
| Pearl Jam No Code | 4.5 |
| Pearl Jam Vitalogy | 4.0 |
| Pearl Jam Pearl Jam | 3.5 |
| Prince 1999 | 4.0 |
| Prince Purple Rain | 3.0 |
| Prince Around the World in a Day | 4.5 |
| Prince Sign o' the Times | 5.0 |
| Prince Love Symbol Album | 3.5 |
| Prince Chaos and Disorder | 2.5 |
| Prince Crystal Ball | 3.0 |
| Prince Musicology | 2.0 |
| Prince N.E.W.S | 4.0 |
| Prince 3121 | 2.5 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Songs for the Deaf | 3.5 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Lullabies to Paralyze | 4.0 |
| R.E.M. Around the Sun | 2.0 |
| R.E.M. Reveal | 3.0 |
| R.E.M. New Adventures in Hi-Fi | 4.0 |
| R.E.M. Monster | 3.5 |
| R.E.M. Automatic for the People | 4.5 |
| Radiohead Pablo Honey | 1.5 |
| Radiohead The Bends | 2.5 |
| Radiohead OK Computer | 5.0 |
| Radiohead Kid A | 4.0 |
| Radiohead Amnesiac | 2.0 |
| Radiohead Hail to the Thief | 2.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium | 4.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers By the Way | 5.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication | 2.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers One Hot Minute | 3.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik | 4.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Mother's Milk | 4.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers The Uplift Mofo Party Plan | 2.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Freaky Styley | 3.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers The Red Hot Chili Peppers | 2.0 |
| Regina Spektor Begin To Hope | 3.0 |
| RJD2 Since We Last Spoke | 2.5 |
| Robert Randolph and the Family Band Unclassified | 4.5 |
| Robert Randolph and the Family Band Colorblind | 4.5 |
| Santana Caravanserai | 4.5 |
| Santana Welcome | 3.5 |
| Santana Supernatural | 2.0 |
| Santana Shaman | 1.0 |
| Santana All That I Am | 1.0 |
| Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters | 3.5 |
| Scissor Sisters Ta-Dah | 4.0 |
| Silver Apples Silver Apples | 3.0 |
| Silverchair Diorama | 4.5 |
| Sly and The Family Stone Stand! | 4.5 |
| Sly and The Family Stone There's A Riot Goin' On | 5.0 |
| Sly and The Family Stone Fresh | 4.0 |
| Stevie Wonder A Time To Love | 3.0 |
| Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life | 4.0 |
| Stevie Wonder Innervisions | 5.0 |
| Stevie Wonder Music of My Mind | 3.5 |
| Stevie Wonder Talking Book | 4.5 |
| Stevie Wonder Fulfillingness' First Finale | 4.5 |
| Stone Temple Pilots Core | 3.0 |
| Stone Temple Pilots Shangri-La-Dee-Da | 1.5 |
| Stone Temple Pilots No. 4 | 3.0 |
| Stone Temple Pilots Tiny Music... Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop | 4.5 |
| Stone Temple Pilots Purple | 4.0 |
| Talib Kweli The Beautiful Struggle | 2.0 |
| Talib Kweli Quality | 4.0 |
| The Bad Plus Give | 3.5 |
| The Bad Plus These Are the Vistas | 3.0 |
| The Black Eyed Peas Elephunk | 1.5 |
| The Black Eyed Peas Monkey Business | 2.0 |
| The Black Eyed Peas Behind the Front | 4.0 |
It really and truly is a big shame that one of the most promising new hip hop groups at the turn of the century, and the sense that a new second wave of Native Tongues members were about to explode and move commercial rap back to the Golden Age, had to sell out and fail their roots.
If you are a lover of real hip hop though, This album, and their second album, Bridging the Gap (which is a bit more experimental, but still essentially not a sellout) are a must for anyone who was or still is a fan of groups like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and the Jungle Brothers. |
| The Black Eyed Peas Bridging the Gap | 3.5 |
| The Cardigans Long Gone Before Daylight | 4.5 |
| The Chemical Brothers Come with Us | 3.5 |
| The Crystal Method Vegas | 2.5 |
| The Crystal Method Tweekend | 3.5 |
| The Crystal Method Legion Of Boom | 2.0 |
| The Cure Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me | 3.0 |
| The Cure The Top | 4.0 |
| The Cure The Head on the Door | 4.5 |
| The Cure Wild Mood Swings | 1.5 |
| The Cure The Cure | 2.0 |
| The Flaming Lips Zaireeka | 2.0 |
By now, anyone who's a fan of The Flaming Lips knows about this album. There's nothing as spectacular as there is on The Soft Bulletin or Yoshimi, but there are a few songs that hold their own quite well.
The flaw to this particular album, is the same reason why it's so loved and still commonly discussed - an album meant to be played on four separate CD players, simultaneously.
The sheer ridiculousness of having to plan a listening party, and having the right amount of players is a very trying experience, yet at the same time is the only way to truly hear this album.
3.5 for the actual songs, 1 for the concept |
| The Killers Hot Fuss | 2.5 |
| The Music Welcome To The North | 2.5 |
| The Prodigy The Fat of the Land | 2.5 |
| The Prodigy Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned | 4.0 |
What happens when you take the hard and in you face attitude of The Fat of the Land and the sample crazy, dance anthems of Experience?
That's pretty much the easiest way to describe Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, which undoubtedly is the second best album by The Prodigy, only behind Music for the Jilted Generation.
Sure a few songs bomb out (Get Up Get Off, Shoot Down first come to mind) but are far easily outweighed by the sheer brilliance of the Thriller-sampling The Way It Is, the modern updates of both Up, Up and Away and Love Buzz (Hotride and Phoenix, respectively) and far and away the best on the album, Medusa's Path. |
| The Roots Game Theory | 4.5 |
Far and away the best hip hop album of 2006, and definitely the most consistent album The Roots have ever made. The album circles and ranges through different sounds and emotions, and Black Thought has come through sounding like he's a young buck still hungry and not ready to throw the towel in.
Only reason why it doesn't get a 5 is Atonment should have been the last track... Can't Stop This, while an okay tribute to J Dilla, goes on way too long, and doesn't fit with the rest of the album. |
| Tool 10,000 Days | 2.0 |
| Tori Amos American Doll Posse | 4.0 |
The idea of five different "dolls" making up the "posse" that perform the 23 songs on this album may make a lot of people skittish, and is definitely contrieved and unnecessary to the ultimate enjoyment of the album, it doesn't come across as a mere gimmick either.
Not everything here completely clicks, and there are a few questionable songs (but when you fill 79 minutes of a disc, and have a total of 23 songs, is it possible to be completely flawless?) But everything considered, this may be the rockingest and most immediately satisfying listen in her entire catalog.
|
| Tori Amos Strange Little Girls | 2.5 |
| Travis The Man Who | 3.0 |
| Travis The Invisible Band | 3.5 |
| U2 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb | 1.5 |
| Vanilla Ice To the Extreme | 1.0 |
| Velvet Revolver Contraband | 3.0 |
| Weezer Make Believe | 4.0 |
| Weezer Maladroit | 3.0 |
| Weezer The Green Album | 2.0 |
| Weezer Weezer | 3.0 |
| Weezer Pinkerton | 4.5 |
