#470 L. L. Cool J - Radio #469 Fugees - The Score

L.L. Cool J- Radio


Sigh. Me no likely hip hop, rap, same beat every song music.

Grade D+

#472 George Michael - Faith #471 Richard and Linda Thompson - I wanna see the bright lights tonight

George Michael - Faith

Despite the hundreds of times I have listened to this album, I listened to it again. It doesn't get old. 1987! I was on my own finally - cranked this one in my own house and sang at the top of my lungs haha. I listened to his new album just out called Symphonica- Great!!! Some new, some covers, some oldies. He still has an incredible voice.

Grade: A+

Richard and Linda Thompson - I wanna see the bright lights tonight





I think they saw too many lights too many drugs. I hate folk music for the most part. I heard notes of Fleetwood Mac though and I still didn't like it. It was tolerable this morning to paint to though.

Grade C-

#474 Manu Chao - Proxima Estacion Esperanze #473 The Smiths - The Smiths

Manu Chao - Proxima Estacion Esperanze

The Smiths - The Smiths

I don't know why I expected to like this one. The very first song Reel around the Fountain was offensive. I had to look up some history on this one. In my opinion the song is about child molestation and that was it for me. The volume went lower on this one.

Grade D

#476 The Notorius B.I.G. - Life after Death #475 Elivs Costello - Armed Forces

The Notorius B.I.G. - Life after death

I thought this was was going to be awful, but no. I recognized hits that I didn't know he sang haha. And I think I listen to a lot of artists as it is and don't recognize it. So I put them on my favorites playlist. With that said though, the majority of lyrics were about sex and guns. I'll leave it. I could do without the 2 hits I knew if I never heard them again. Sorry Biggie

Grade C

Elvis Costello - Armed Forces

I expected half way decent. And some songs were, but that distinct tone in his voice song after song didn't sit well with me. But the occasional Elvis Costello will be showing up on my Favorite list.

Grade B-

#478 Loretta Lynn All time Greatest #477 Merle Haggard Down every road

Loretta Lynn All Time Greatest Hits

I like it! Not as honkey tonk as I expected.

Grade C+

Merle Haggard Down Every Road

I'm sorry but who put a box set in this list of all time greatest albums. 4 discs. Simple songs. Most of the time I wanted to fall asleep with the lyrics.Not to mention it took me a week to get through these 80 songs.

Grade: C-

#480 Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx #479 Funkadelic Maggot Brain

 Raekwon - Only built 4 Cuban Linx

Don't waste your precious time on 1 minute of this guys music. UGH!

Grade: F 

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain

One look at her face says it all

Grade: F

#482 Steve Earle- Guiatar Town/ #481 D'Angelo-Voodoo

Steve Earle - Guitar town

Not much to say. I had never heard the name (which I find it hard that the top 500 has people I've never heard of.) Anyways, it wasn't bad. He's a little Bruce Springsteenish, a little Tom Pettyish and maybe a little early Tim McGrawish. I'd listen to it again.

Grade: B-

D'Angelo - Voodoo

13 songs I was cringing. Neosoul. But hey I kinda liked it. Maybe because he sounds a lot like Prince's style. But to copy off an artist like that makes me think less of the actual music. Lyically....a grade of D. Half the time I had no clue what he was saying. He doesn't finish his words. LOL. Liked Devil's Pie and How Does it Feel. Hated Chicken Grease. Who names a song Chicken Grease?

Grade: C+

#484 Mott the Hoople-All the Young Dudes #483 Gang of Four -Entertainment

Matt the Hoople - All the Young Dudes

Eh. English band - glam rock . Sounds like early 70's to me. Title song was written by Bowie. Bowie loved them so much he offered them Suffragette City and they turned it down. I wasn't impressed though. Never heard of them, though hubby says he has.

Grade: C

Gang of Four - Entertainment

Entertainment? I think not. Painful. Post punk/Rock/ Alternative - India.

Some of the most horrific things my ears have heard. 16 songs. Sounds like Devo if you ask me. Hated this one.

Grade: D-

#486 Earth, Wind & Fire - Thats the Way of the World # 485 Pearl Jam - Vitalogy

Earth Wind & Fire - That's the Way of the World

I am a fan of EWF! This release was from 1975 and the soundtrack to the movie of the same name. It was #1 on the R&B charts for 1975. Biggest hit: Shining Star - it's on my Fav's Playlist.

Grade A

Pearl Jam - Vitalogy

Love this genre!!!! Love Pearl Jam! Released in 1994. Let's say though that I could do without the song Bugs and Stupidmop. Creepy! Not surprising is that it was #1 on the charts. Top Hits: Better Man #1, Corduroy #16. Listen to NothingMan.
 My son Nick in response to me telling him that Gunge/Alternative was my #1 Genre, "That's cool, who can say that their moms favorite genre is Grunge/Alternative and not rock!"

Grade A

#488 HuskerDu New Day Rising #487 Cyndi Lauper She's So Unusual

Hucker Du - New Day Rising

What? No. While punk is probably my 2nd favorite genre of music I didn't like this. I get they were early on, but the songs sounded so like the previous one. They were all fast with basically the same drum beat. Spin also rated this in their Top 100 greatest albums from 1985-2005. It was a painfully long 15 songs.

Grade: C-

Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual

I owned this. Release in 1983 it was one of the best selling albums of the 80's. It peaked at #4 and was on the charts for 65 weeks. A novice on early music might find it surprising that this album was higher on the charts then Kiss - Destroyer. It sold double what Destroyer did!  4 Great hits came off this album. Cool fact: When you Were Mine was written by Prince. Annie Leibovitz took the cover photo. Listen to: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, When You Were Mine, Time after Time, She Bop, and All through the Night.

Grade: A

#490 ZZ Top- Tres Hombres #489 Kiss Destroyer

ZZ Top - Tres Hombres

Eh it's ZZ Top. It's a 1973 release. If you grew up as a teenager in the 80's, who didn't love ZZ Top?  La Grange hit #41 on the charts but overall the album hit a high of #8. Not much to say it's typical.

Grade: B

Kiss - Destroyer

I was excited to see this listed, disappointed it's so low on the charts though. This is their 4th release from 1976, right when I was discovering music, although I don't believe I heard or realized Kiss until high school, sad I know. The album ranked #11 on the Billboards. It struggled actually until the stations started playing the B side of Detroit Rock City which was Beth. Interesting enough, they tried some different things with this album, like a childrens choir and interpretation of a Beethoven piece, the NY Philharmonic Symphomy Ochestra and reversed drums (on God of Thunder - which was not one of my fav's) 4 good hits of this one - I suggest listening to Beth of course, Shout it Out Loud and Detroit Rock City if you don't know them.

Grade: B+

#492 Eurythmics -Touch #491 Albert King - Born Under a Bad Sign

Eurythmics: Touch
Please keep in mind I'm just an average Joe rating these according to my taste. No formal training and I taught myself to play the keyboards, and not very well at that. This album reached #7 on US charts and had 2 hits come off it. I wouldn't listen to it again, but I do like the 2 hits.

Grade: C

Albert King: Born Under a Bad Sign
I liked this album and will probably listen to more of his music. It's the Blues - electric Blues! This album came out in 1967, The hit Kansas City you will recognize - listen to that one and a few others I liked were Very Thought of You and Crosscut Saw. I'm interested in listening to his Blues for Elvis album.

Grade: B+

#493 Wilco "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"

Wow I thought this was going to be as painful as MGMT, and was I wrong. I LIKE WILCO! Now from what I can remember, I heard one Wilco song and I thought it was a screamo type song which I can't stand. It immediately turned me off. I was dreading these 2 albums in  a row. Quirkly lyrics. Some quirky sounds they could do without but its what makes them them I guess! I even favorited "Pot Kettle Black" to my favorite play list!

Overall Grade: B

#494 MGMT "Oracular Spectacular"

Did these guys just start up their lap top and looks for sounds? Sounds something like my grandson could put together and he's almost 3 years old. I don't even know what to say. There was only one salvageable song, "Pieces of What." The rest is, well Pieces of What I don't know. I can't answer that.

Grade: D-

#495 Bonnie Rait "Give it up"

Started last night finished before work this morning!
Overall, not to shabby. She has a great voice and I loved the music for the  most part. It's another 70's album, so you have to take that into account when listening. Since I like the blues, there were some of her songs that were very blues. And then, they had to throw in the hokey stuff. Who is rating these albums? I'm not a fan of the harmonica when it pertains to folk music. If it's a solo with the harmonic, like Steven Tyler, I'm cool with that. I love horns and this has plenty of them. It's something some of the great bands of the 70's have like Chicago and Earth Wind and Fire. Mind you I'm not comparing her music to those bands, just sayin'.

Overall: B-

#496 Boz Scaggs

I have mixed feelings on this self titled album. While I like Lido Shuffle and his #3 Hit Lowdown, I was shocked as to all the different styles I heard on this album. He sounds like a mix between Steely Dan and Van Morrison, 2 of my fav's. One song in particular has musical styles of Aaron Neville, not the voice, but the tunes. "Now your gone" and " Look what I got" where to painful for my ears to endure the entire song. I dislike country 70's honkey tonk and thats what they sounded like. The 2 songs I did like were "Long Gone" and "Another Day."

Grade: C+

#497 White Stripes

White Stripes: White Blood Cells!

That one gets an exclamation mark because this one is an A+. I learned that this album was recorded in less than a week. They wanted to rush it and they wanted it to sound "not to good." It works. The lyrics and the music. It's a different sound with a noticeable voice. I love a good band defined by the singers sound like Jack's, Mic Jaggers, Scott Stapps, Cindy Lauper, Aaron Neville, Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan (ew I'm not a fan). There were 3 hits off this one that were regularly played on air. I will definitely listen to this one again.

Grade: A+

B.B. King #499 - Stone Roses #498

B.B. King. Live in Cook County Jail.
I could listen to that album again. I should listen to more of that kind of music! That was an easy listen.

Grade: A

Stone Roses - Stone Roses

Grade: C

How was this album out in 1989? The guitar and heavy tambourine made me think late 60's early 70's. Elizabeth my Dear, made me think I was listening to Scarborough Fair. I feel like they are a bit Simon & Garfunkel and a bit The Byrds. I did some researching and apparently this was their big hit, this album. Their 2nd a flop, but they were supposed to be big. In 1989? Maybe in the UK. Probably why I have never heard of them. A lot of the songs sound the same here too.

Bucket Listing the 500 Greatest Albums of all Time #500 Outkast

     Well I've never had a bucket list because "What's the point?" On mine would be things like a trip to Italy, buy a brand new car, give $1000 to 100 needy people and none of that would ever happen and I'd be pretty disappointed. 

      So I live day to day. No expectations, no disappointments. Retail management taught me this lesson. It's not about money either. I'm not sure I've even ridden in a brand spankin' new car. It's about an experience - something unattainable. Dreams. I have those. But BucketLists? I'd want to do more good than I can afford. 

     Last week I decided to do something silly. I want to Yarn Bomb something. I saw pictures and I thought, "How fun!" Now that's what started my Bucket List! Yesterday I came across a Rolling Stones article on the top 500 albums of all time.  Bucket List item #2. My 3 kids can say, "My mom listened to the top 500 albums of all time!" They probably don't care! Something weird and crazy and corny and I love music!

Now unfortunately Outkast - Aquamini was #500. I listened to all 16 songs tonight and really only liked 2 of them. They all sound the same. Lots of "sounds" and percussion. The lyrics ? Eh ok. Mind you I am 51 years old. Lyrics to me aren't offensive ever because they are poetry, feelings and thoughts. On a good note, I know what Aquamini means! I have to get through 2 albums a day I think!

Grade: C-