The Cure - Head on the Door: 8 (A-)

Boz Scaggs - The Essential Boz Scaggs: 7.5 (high B+)

# [best of] [4 listens]

Art Blakey - Ken Burns Jazz: X (X)

I have this, but would not presume to be able to grade it.

List of lists I've been through [started tracking in 2024]

Brooklyn Vegan - Classic Goth's 13 Greatest Hits (Albums)

PopMatters - 50 Best Post-Punk Albums Ever

Uncut - 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2024)

Rolling Stone - 74 Best Albums of 1974

Rolling Stone - 75 Best Albums of 1975

Rock Critics’ Choice - Top 200 Albums

NPR - 150 Greatest Albums Made by Women [2018]

Complex - 50 Best Albums of the 21st Century

Telegraph - 50 Greatest Albums of All Time

Billboard - 100 Greatest Rap Albums of All Time

Consequence - 50 Best Hip-Hop Albums of All Time

Pitchfork - 100 Best Rap Albums of All Time (readers and staff lists)

Pitchfork - 50 Best Britpop Albums

Ringer - 20 Best Southern Rap Albums Ever

Rolling Stone - 200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time

The Source - 100 Best Albums [1998]

Treble - Top 100 Post-Punk Albums

Treble - Top 150 Albums of the ’70s

Treble - Best [100] Albums of the 70s

Fact - 100 Best Albums of the 1970s

Kerrang! - The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time

Hit Parader - The Top 100 Metal Albums of All Time

Swans - Swans [EP] [aka Speak E.P. #1]: 7.5 (high B+)

I have this with Filth on the 1991 CD reissue. Normally this would be # [noise; experimental] but I have a weakness for EPs, and this one is supposed to be seminal in its genre.

The Slits - Cut: 8 (A-)

Have this on vinyl from back in the day.

Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free: 8 (A-)

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound: 8 (A-)

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Weathervanes: 8.5 (high A-)

EPMD - Business Never Personal: 7.5 (high B+)

They really need to stop using the f-word.

The Allman Brothers Band - One Way Out: Live at the Beacon Theatre: 7.5 (high B+)

I owned this once and sold it off, so I’ve given it at least four or five listens, probably more. Streaming it again now, I think I made the right decision. And I note that while Haynes/Trucks may have “chops,” as Christgau calls it, Duane had soul and heart, if those aren’t the same thing. To rate this 8 (A-) and Fillmore East at B- is ludicrous in my opinion. #live/blues/southernrock

Burning Spear - Living Dub, Vol. 2: liked

:-)

Basic Channel - BCD: 7.5 (high B+)

# [techno]

Various - Music from Saharan Cellphones: 8 (A-)

Digital/vinyl-only

The Clean - Live Dead Clean [EP] [honorable mention]

:-)

Black Uhuru - Reggae Greats: 9 (A)

Not at all sure why I got this, since I have almost everything, if not everything, that this band put out during the period covered by the compilation. I'm pretty certain there was a reason, but I just can't remember it right now. Anyway, what a great band.

Don Carlos - Time is the Master: liked

Compilation of two 1983 albums: Spread Out and Pure Gold. The former is aka Pass Me the Lazer Beam, Laser Beam, and Groove with Me, so I guess I've listened to that six times now. I think the track "Spread Out" is also sometimes called "Laser Beam."

Don Carlos - Pass Me the Lazer Beam: liked

aka Spread Out, Laser Beam, and Groove with Me

EPMD - Out of Business: 7.5 (high B+)

This has the second disc of Greatest Hits, which I would actually give the same grade.

Massive Attack/Mad Professor: No Protection: 8 (A-)

Don Carlos - Prophecy [aka Suffering]: 9 (A)

When entitled Suffering, it has this cover:

All versions apparently have discomixes following each of the six songs, which I usually don't like, but I am making an exception for this one because the dubs just burn. Some of the best versions I have ever heard. I got the issue put out on Don Carlos' own imprint. The more I play this, the more I realize it's a lost reggae classic. I know a fair amount of reggae, but other than Horsemouth on drums and Junior Murvin, all of the other session players on this are barely known to me, if at all. Just a really strange and beautiful moment in reggae history. [1981]

Steel Pulse - The Best of Steel Pulse: 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: 7.5 (high B+)

I tend to really like these Millennium Collection comps. But with this one, the songs at the end are jarring. #bestof

The Golden Palominos - The Golden Palominos: 8 (A-)

Various - Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968: 8.5 (high A-)

I have the 40th Anniversary Edition (2012), with the gatefold sleeve. Beautiful item. Bought used, and it came with the booklet and CD for this -- Various - Psychedelia At Abbey Road (1965 To 1969) -- stuffed into it, for some reason, which I wish I had the time to listen to but will probably just put in the sell pile:

I also have the 4-CD box set, which I bought for some stupid reason decades ago when I must have been feeling flush (even though I generally am not into this era/genre), and have maybe only gotten around to listening to once. The first disc of that is the original 27-track classic album, so I had that as my edition of Nuggets, but realized I'd rather have the 40th Anniversary Edition than that whole box set, so put that in the sell pile and got this.

Steel Pulse - Ultimate Collection: 8.5 (high A-)

Tom Hull seems to like Rastanthology one notch better than this. This has 16 tracks vs the latter's 18. And they have seriously different track listings. But, other than the albums any fan of the band would already have, there are only five other songs on that one:

from Vex

"Islands Unite"

"Back to My Roots"

"Bootstraps"

from Victims

"Taxi Driver"

from Rage and Fury

"When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman"

The last song is only on some versions of Rage and Fury, and not the version on Spotify, so I can't hear it. Strangely, it's also not on YouTube. But the other four songs are definitely not worth worrying about.