470.  R.E.M. Document - This record starts out pretty mellow, pretty subdued… I can understand from the start why this band never had a number one hit but I don’t mean that as an insult.  They’ve got a really distinct sound above and beyond Michael Stipe’s voice.  You can tell from the music alone what band you are listening to and that’s awesome.  But there aren’t really many ‘stand out’ songs on this record.  There are some really special songs though, “It’s the end of the world as we know it” (of course) and “Finest Worksong” are great tunes.  And of course there are some real stinkers, “Fireplace” in particular, what’s up with that gross sax? Get that outta there.  I think this album is just average amongst the R.E.M. catalog, but maybe average R.E.M. is better than most, who knows.

469. Public Image Ltd:  Metal Box - I didn’t know who PIL was when I started this record, I had no idea what to expect from them.  Upon hearing the opening number, “Albatross”, my heart sinks and my thoughts drift to, ‘oh no I’ve got to listen to an hour of this whining, droning, boring crap’. And when he sings about, “sowing the seeds of discontent” I think to myself, “Damn right you are”.  It doesn’t help that the opening song is over 10 minutes long. After hearing the next track, “Memories” I find myself oddly longing for the Albatross song I just spent 10 minutes with in a kind of Stockholm Syndrome way.  Lets be honest, despite the awesome space-age sounds in ‘Careering’ I don’t like the sound of this band.  I find myself on the 4th track, “Poptones” and it seems to be going on forever and I look only to find that this track is 7:45 long, I can’t help but think the universe hates me this morning, it’s one thing to sit through a record you don’t like but when the songs are crazy long it’s a whole different type of torture.  I will give them this though, when you are forced to listen to droning repetitive instruments in way-too-long of songs you do become used to it and almost miss it when they’re gone despite yourself.  This does not, however, mean the music was good.

468.  Elton John:  Elton John - Elton John, please make up for this last album, I need to believe that good music exists in the world and I while I never thought I’d come running to you for help I firmly believe that you can deliver.  And I start the record and ‘Your Song’ comes on and all is good in the world again.  That said, there are some super cheesy tracks on this album, one I’d never heard before, “I need you to turn to”, “First Episode at Hienton”, gag.  I think this album has about an equal number of hits vs. misses.  Elton John is unusual to in that he can kill a ballad but he’s even better when he rocks out - I find this to be rare for example James Taylor can kill a ballad but they guy cannot rock out for the life of him.  “Take me to the pilot” is a great rocking song, so is “Border Song” and “Grey Seal”. I’m not going to say this record is amazing, there are some straight up bad songs on it.  But there also some wonderful ones.

467.  Bob Dylan:  Love and Theft - This record opens with a kind of bluesy sound that I don’t particularly like from Dylan, I like his folk music, and then what do you know the next track, “Mississippi” is more folky and I really prefer it though it doesn’t have the oomph of the folk songs of Dylan’s youth.  There’s an interesting rockabilly tune on this record named, “Summer Days” which I’ve never heard before but I’d love to dance to!  The music feels kinda all-over-the-place, old-timey, blues, folk, rockabilly.  To me this isn’t a composed record.  And none of these songs have the power that old Dylan songs possessed.  Frankly, I don’t think this record belongs on this list.

465.  Hole:  Live Through This - I remember liking this album growing up I haven’t heard it in years and about 30 seconds in any worries I may have had about this record not aging well have vanished because it’s opener, “Violet” kicks ass.  It’s catchy and hard and angry and you just want to kick back your office chair and scream out, “Go on, take everything take everything I dare you to!” And it just gets better with the big hit, “Miss World”.  The middle of the album ebbs and flows with some blah songs intermixed with some kick ass songs such as, “Jennifer’s Body”, “Doll Parts”, “She walks on me”, “Rock Star” (my favorite when I was in highschool)… you know what?  This is a great record, it should probably be higher on this list.