2025 in 2025: Day 185

What's Going On - Marvin Gaye

The man with the silky-smooth voice preaching about peace and god and drugs. This album could not be more relevant today. The transitions between songs are almost as seamless as Marvin Gaye's voice.

Highlights: What's Going On, Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler), God Is Love, What's Happening Brother

9/10

What's Going On (Deluxe Edition 50th Anniversary) - Marvin Gaye

Mostly live songs from a particular concert, but with the singles and an outtake tacked on the end. Bah gawd this man just sang like a dream,

Highlights: What's Going On (Original Singles Version), God Is Love (Original Singles Version), Head Title AKA Distant Lover

7.5/10

What's Going On: The Detroit Mix - Marvin Gaye

No, I am not sick of this album - I could listen to it all day long! This was like a pre-release mix, so uses alternate vocal tracks and the percussion is a little different in parts. A little more dreamy sounding. And the transitions are even better!

Highlights: What's Going On, Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler), God Is Love, What's Happening Brother

9/10

(What's The Story) Morning Glory? - Oasis

Liam's voice on Roll With It is actually awesome. Noel's guitar tone is generally terrible and the electric guitars for the most part just sound messy. And the album is still the peak of Britpop and completely awesome.

Highlights: Cast No Shadow, Some Might Say, Champagne Supernova, Don't Look Back in Anger

9/10

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys

A whole lot of indie rocks about being young and going to the clubs? And it just rules the schools? Inject this straight into my veins!

Highlights: Fake Tales of San Francisco, From The Ritz to the Rubble, A Certain Romance, Still Take You Home

8/10

Wheatus - Wheatus

This is only Teenage Dirtbag. This is the only good Wheatus song. Because it is the only Wheatus song I know. Man, that chorus had no business being so good.

9/10

When I Was Born for the 7th Time - Cornershop

This is only Brimful of Asha. It is the only Cornershop song I know... and I do not like it all that much. It is about 4 minutes too long. I could have listened to three Arctic Monkeys songs again!

3/10

When the pawn hits the conflicts he thinks like a king

What he knows throws the blows when he goes to the fight

And he'll win the whole thing 'fore he enters the ring

There's no body to batter when your mind is your might

So when you go solo, you hold your own hand

And remember that depth is the greatest of heights

And if you know where you stand, then you know where to land

And if you fall it won't matter, cuz you'll know that you're right - Fiona Apple

Yeah, I am going with the full title today. Fuck you and your problems. And that is kind of the vibe of this album - I love the angst in her voice on the opening track and on a few of the following tracks. And this may well the best lyrical display of the last 30 years. 

Highlights: Paper Bag, On The Bound, Get Gone, Limp

8.5/10

Whenever You Need Somebody - Rick Astley

This is purely Never Gonna Give You Up. One of the most iconic songs of the 80s. The man had a voice that did not match the face.

9/10

Wherever We Want - The Tomboys

More indie rock from Kobe's favourite daughters. Well, my favourite daughters of Kobe? Lots of fun. Lots of bad guitar solos and backing vocals. Just the way it should be.

Highlights: RING ME, フルーツキャンディー, 月ミセ屋, DONUT!

7.5/10

White Blood Cells - The White Stripes

Is this fun indie rock day or something? The difference here is I just find Jack White awfully pretentious about his indie-ness.

Highlights: Fell In Love With a Girl, Hotel Yorba, We're Going to Be Friends

6.5/10

White Pony - Deftones

Nu-metal goes art rock? Deftones are not really nu-metal, but I think they are kind of adjacent? Anyways, this is heavy and groovy and this is my kind of heavy duty stuff.

Highlights: Digital Bath, Korea, Feiticeira, Elite

8/10

Who You Are - Jessie J

This lady is the textbook definition of "over-singing". And while she can technically do it, she does not sound good doing it at all.

Highlights: Price Tag, Who You Are, I Need This

6/10

Whoa, Nelly! - Nelly Furtado

It is like party folk music - socially-conscious acoustic music, layered in fun happy beats and various DJ noises you would find in pop radio back in 2000.

Highlights: Shit on the Radio (Remember the Days), Hey Man!, I'm Like a Bird

6/10

WIDE - INKYMAP

Summer is here to kick your ass! Incredible follow-up to a great album - non-stop awesome punk rock, with a growing impact as the album continues. So like a snowball? I think I am confusing my seasons and metaphors...

Highlights: カクメイノヒ, Serchlight, Teardrop, Goodnight and Goodbye

10/10

Wide Awake in Dreamland - Pat Benatar

I only have All Fired Up and the guitar solo is trash, like I am listening to The Tomboys again. But bah gawd if ever there was a song to get you pumped up, this would be it.

9/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 1845

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2025 in 2025: Day 176

Three Imaginary Boys - The Cure

The Cure are one of my favourite bands of all time. Easily in my top 10. They have some incredibly epic albums full of emotion, but also effortlessly switch between pop rock fun and nihilistic despair. This album is nothing of the sort.

Highlights: Grinding Halt, Another Day, 10:15 Saturday Night, Three Imaginary Boys

6/10

Thriller - Michael Jackson

Hot take: this is not MJ's best album. However, Beat It and Billie Jean are just such phenomenal songs that it meant this album sold a bajillion copies. Dangerous and Bad do not feature awful collaborations with Paul McCartney, so they are infinitely better. The worst part is that other song he did with McCartney is actually a good song!

Highlights: Beat It, Billie Jean, Human Nature, Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

8/10

Throwing Copper - Live

Every song is either Quiet LOUD Quiet, or Quiet Quiet LOUD. Except for Waitress - which is LOUD Quiet LOUD, for some weird reason. It is all fine and dandy, but nothing overly exceptional that has made me go out of my way to listen to this in the last 30 years.

Highlights: Top, Pillar of Davidson, White Discussion, Iris

7/10

Tidal - Fiona Apple

Fiona Apple is the lyricist Swifties think their cult leader is. I may appreciate her angst and subsequent vocal performance on When the Pawn... more, but boy howdy this album has some pretty deep emotions. 

Highlights: Criminal, Sullen Girl, Never is a Promise, Pale September

8/10

Tiffany - Tiffany

Sadly, I do not have the full album - just I Think We're Alone Now. I am not sure why I do not have at least the other singles. Because I am lame, that is why!

8/10

Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper

This is only The Goonies 'R' Good Enough - for obvious reasons! I should watch that movie again one day.

8/10

Timeless: New Recordings Honoring The Music Of Hank Williams - Various Artists

This is just Ryan Adams' cover of Lovesick Blues. He puts on his most irritating fake country voice for this one...

5/10

Tiny Music...Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop - Stone Temple Pilots

I love Weiland's voice on this album - he has gone for a bit more of a raspy glam rock kind of vibe and it really suits the way everything comes together, because musically it has bit of a glam rock vibe as well. Like, total peak art school Led Zeppelin tribute act vibes. And I mean that in the most complimentary of ways.

Highlights: Lady Picture Show, Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart, Seven Caged Tigers, Tumble in the Rough

8/10

To the 5 Boroughs - Beastie Boys

Oh snap the boys are back! Just straight-up NYC hip-hop. War is bad. George W. Bush is a clown. Racism and bigotry are bad. Sampling Sonic Reducer is the greatest idea ever and I will forgive them for using it to tell me how great New York is.

Highlights: An Open Letter to NYC, Right Right Now Now, Rhyme the Rhyme Well, Time to Build

8.5/10

TO THE DREAM - The Tomboys

As indie as ever, but even more catchy. And fun. 

Highlights: Tell Me Why, I GOTTA GO, SATURDAY NIGHT

7/10

The The Extreme - Vanilla Ice

V.I.P. in the house! I unironically love still enjoy the enjoy the bejeebus out of this album; sure, the rhymes are corny, but there are plenty of James Brown samples, fun old school grooves, and Vanilla's silly rapping is part of the charm. I still need to find that third version of Play That Funky Music...

Highlights: Ice Ice Baby, Ice is Workin' It, Dancin', Go Ill

8/10

To Whom It May Concern - Lisa Marie Presley

Lisa Marie's debut album, featuring some pretty standard pop country rock stylings - kind of like a modern take on where her Dad left off, I guess? Some surprisingly decent songs to be found. I need to remember to give this a closer listen again some time...

Highlights: Lights Out, S.O.B., Nobody Noticed It, So Lovely

7/10

Today - George Harrison

Another George Harrison bootleg of randomness. Mostly collaborations and whatnot. And I have most of them on other albums? And I am not 100% convinced he actually performs on some of them. 

Highlights: Power to the People, Your True Love (Live - Carl Perkins' Memorial Service), Horse to the Water

6.5/10

Today (Legacy Edition) - Elvis Presley

One of The King's final albums and highly underrated; still not too dissimilar to the rest of his 70s output, but it is mostly fun and Elvis feels like he put a bit of effort it. The opening track is such an old school rock'n roll kind of groove, I cannot help but love it. The undubbed versions are not too different - except you can hear Elvis getting the giggles during Susan When She Tried.

Highlights: T-R-O-U-B-L-E, Pieces of My Life, Fairytale, Shake a Hand

7.5/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 1714

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2025 in 2025: Day 101

In It For The Money - Supergrass

The album that actually got me interested in Supergrass. It kind of trails off towards the end, but it is otherwise some strong rocking numbers. I appreciate the way these guys can just play really tasty stuff and then completely let loose and unleash mayhem.

Highlights: Going Out, In It For the Money, Tonight, Sun Hits the Sky

7/10

In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 - Jay-Z

How can Diddy sing so off the actual key and just keep this in the track? Early Hove is fine and all, just a bit gross for me at times. 

Highlights: The City is Mine, Streets is Watching, Friend or Foe '98, You Must Love Me

7/10

in my mind - The Tomboys

The usual low-budget punk rock'n roll from Kobe's favourite daughters. This one feels especially budget, thanks to the terrible guitar solos and awful singing on だいだい. Good times!

Highlights: GO MERRY GO!, 幸せであふれるように, シャララ

6.5/10

The In Sound From Way Out - Beastie Boys

This is basically a compilation of their instrumental jams on Check Your Head and Ill Communication, but with a couple of new tracks.

Highlights: Son of Neckbone, In 3's, Bobo on the Corner, Lighten Up

8/10

In the Garden - Eurythmics

So very unlike where Eurythmics headed after this; much more in the new-romantic post-punk vein, but less interesting. Not terrible, but there is nothing that holds any real emotional weight or grabs the listener the way their later releases do. This is another group's discography where I need to separate the bonus tracks to their own album and keep the original albums as they were.

Highlights: Belinda, Your Time Will Come, Le Sinestre

6.5/10

In the Name of Love [EP] - CL

CL is a goddess amongst us mere mortals. If this were an album, I would have given it album of the year honours for 2019. 

Highlights: +DONE161201+, +ONE AND ONLY180228+, +I QUIT180327+, +PARADOX171115+

9/10

In The Zone - Britney Spears

There is something about Britney trying to be all sexy that I just find absolutely hilarious. Also, her singing is all sorts of terrible it makes me laugh when her fans online start all sorts of nonsense about she can sing like Christina Aguilera or whatnot. Anyways, the production on this album is a bit dated and the songs do not hold up well.

Highlights: Toxic, (I Got That) Boom Boom, The Hook Up, Everytime

6/10

Incesticide - Nirvana

I do not know if I have listened to this album since I was 16. I used to get confused by the tracklisting on side two all the time. Or maybe that was Bleach - that was missing a song that was listed. Fun fact: the first song I ever performed like in any capacity was from this album! I loved Nirvana. Kids are stupid.

Highlights: Aneurysm, Dive, Been a Son, Big Long Now

7/10

Indigo Nights - Prince

Live CD that came with the book. I think it was cobbled together from all his after-show performances. Because Prince was a madman. I, personally, find this to be super funky and an all-round great time. I read a lot of Prince fans online were super unhappy with this release, but Shizzzz I ain't afraid of you mofos! On the one!

Highlights: Alphabet St, Indigo Nights, Baby Love, 3121

8/10

Infinity - Journey

When Journey rock, they can really rock. Possibly the most enjoyable radio-rock band of the 70s and 80s that I did not listen to in the 70s or 80s.

Highlights: Wheel in the Sky, Lights, Feeling That Way, Anytime

7/10

Infinity on High - Fall Out Boy

Jay-Z with the most random and pointless cameo - he doesn't even rap, just does the musical equivalent of waving hello. I actually thought the censored version of This Ain't a Scene, It's An Arms Race was more interesting, thanks to the way it was censored.

Highlights: The Take Over The Break's Over, Don't You Know Who I Think I Am?, The (After) Life of the Party, G.I.N.A.S.F.S.

7.5/10

The Information - Beck

BECK: Congratulations, friend.

BENDER: Why, 'cause I can make annoying noises?

BECK: Exactly. I use those all the time in my music.

Highlights: Think I'm in Love, Nausea, Inside Out

6/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 850

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2025 in 2025: Day 39

The College Dropout - Kanye West

I haven't listened to this in forever and I forgot how much Kanye thought he was some sort of prophet or something; this album is all about his love for Jesus and how he is here to preach to us all about Jesus. But also preach to us about how awesome he is, so that should have been a warning right there. I also forgot that Kanye was always a dirty dude. Song-wise, I think this might be his most accessible album? Most consistent? Feels like there are skits between every song, though. The dude stumbling over his lines in the School Spirit skit is hilarious. And what is up with the censoring on this album? One minute a word is fine, but in the next song, that same word is not allowed? I have no hesitation saying Two Words is the best song Kanye has ever done. I seem to have a lot of songs where Freeway appears and kicks some butt.

Highlights: Never Let Me Down, Two Words, School Spirit

8/10

Collision Course - Jay-Z & Linkin Park

Is this the greatest mash-up album of all time? Mike Shinoda genuinely seems like the coolest dude and the fact he put this together is proof. The Jigga What/Faint transition is totally smooth. The funniest part of the making of to me was Jay-Z telling Chester Bennington to just be himself, and then during the live performance Chester is trying to act all hip-hop and it just comes across as incredibly cringe and try-hard. Dude should have listened Jay-Z and maybe he wouldn't have killed himself. 

Highlights: Dirt Off Your Shoulder/Lying from You, Numb/Encore

9/10

COLORFUL POP - E-Girls

I picked this up for as cheap as I could find, purely for the song A S A P; it is used as the ending song for possibly the funniest movie I have ever seen, and it is so fun there I needed it in my collection. The rest of the album is just... somewhat disposable? There is a Bananarama cover, so that's something...

Highlights: A S A P, I'm sure I liked this album more when I first got it?

5.5/10

colors - mol-74

This is some super chill indie pop rock. Very lo-fi, very easy to listen to. Not really much else going on?

Highlights: yellow, fears

7/10

Colours - Ayumi Hamasaki

Ayu spells words correctly! I genuinely love this album; it's just about as dancey and poppy as Ayu could possibly be. No interludes. Just 10 tracks of great music. The extreme EDM parts make me think this is what she really wanted for Party Queen, but I don't know. But I do know that Pray is one of her greatest ballads. 

Highlights: Pray, NOW & 4EVA, XOXO, Terminal

8/10

Combat Rock - The Clash

This album is so far removed from where The Clash started, I can't even begin to explain it properly. One of the most interesting aspects to them as a band, to me, is how much they deviated from the normal 'punk rock' style once they got big; they could have easily kept doing the same sort of music, but instead they veered off and just soaked up inspiration from everywhere. All while still expressing the same anti-authority left-wing punk ideologies in their lyrics. Musically, this album doesn't do a lot for me, but I respect what they were doing.

Highlights: Should I Stay or Should I Go?, Rock The Casbah, Overpowered By Funk

6/10

Come And See - Manbreak

Late 90s UK white dudes thinking they are hard rap-rock gangsters. Something like that, anyways. You would think with a comment like that I think this is lame, but no - I actually dig this album, it is just fun to make fun of that whole Britpop scene. In fact, it might be the weather or the fact I just had a nice strong cacao + matcha drink, but this album is exponentially better than I remembered. Clearly I should listen to this a lot more.

Highlights: Morning, News of the World, Round and Round, Cut Ups

7/10

COME BACK TO 19 - The Tomboys

Huh, I just found that The Tomboys split about 6 months ago. That's a shame, but they had been together for like 11 years, so it happens. This is probably their catchiest collection of tunes. It's the shortest, that is certain. 

Highlights: Please Remember Me, Dream Box, Theme of THE TOMBOYS

7/10

Come Pick Me Up (alternate take) - Ryan Adams

I think this was some RSD release, that then got released on iTunes. It is two songs in vastly inferior versions - including the cliched punk ending to Come Pick Me Up. I'm fairly sick of that song, anyways, so this does nothing for me. I would prefer more Tomboys fun...

Highlights: it was short

4/10

Come With Us - The Chemical Brothers

Now these are songs I could never get sick of! I actually used the name Star Guitar for any electronic music I made - which was mostly remixes of my own music. I know nothing about making good electronic music. Luckily, The Chemical Brothers know all about making good electronic music. And this album is 10 tracks of the finest electronic music possible. There are some hard-hitting house style beats and some glorious chillout jams and it is all so sooo good. I know it is a DJ thing, but I have always loved the way these dudes transition so seamlessly to each new track. Shout out to Richard Ashcroft for keeping the Britpop connection alive and delivering the coolest vocals.

Highlights: Galaxy Bounce, The Test, My Elastic Eye, Star Guitar

9/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 330