(1)
Journey In Satchidananda (1971) by Alice Coltrane
This is generally a pleasant listen. I was expecting something a bit wilder from Avant-Garde Jazz. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised. I'm not really into jazz, but my two favorite jazz albums are both of that subgenre (The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady and Karma, fyi). In any case, this album has a chill, relaxing, otherworldly quality to it that's nice, but doesn't transport me as much as I feel like it ought to. Most likely that's a problem on my end, because plenty of other people seem to love it. The eponymous first track is the best. On the last four, the different elements don't come together as well for me as they do on track one. Particularly track four, Something About John Coltrane. But I think that might mostly be because I find jazz bass solos to be kinda impotent and wimpy and unfitting.
57/100
(2)
Do Melody A.M. by Röyksopp. It's been forever since I listened to that album, but I think I liked it alright.
(3)
My ten are split between two lists:
BEA top unrated albums
1: 286. The New Abnormal by The Strokes (2020)
2: 406. Highway To Hell by AC/DC (1979)
3: 423. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by Little Simz (2021)
4: 438. Ocean Rain by Echo & The Bunnymen (1984)
5: 442. The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me by Brand New (2006)
RYM top unrated albums
1: 140. Flood by Boris (2000)
2: 153. Silent Hill 2 by 山岡晃 [Akira Yamaoka] (2001)
3: 155. Jenny Death by Death Grips (2015)
4: 159. You Will Never Know Why by Sweet Trip (2009)
5: 162. Boris at Last -Feedbacker- by Boris (2003)
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
Really crisp and precise production throughout this record, and while remaining within the realm of downtempo throughout, there's a surprising degree of sonic variety. I definitely prefer the tracks that are instrumentals or have sampled vocals - the occasional original vocals aren't as special. Overall, Melody A.M. is a beautiful album with a relaxing vibe, perfect for cooling down in this heat wave. On some tracks, the drums get crunchy in a really satisfying way. I look forward to repeat listens in the future, and I'm starting this at a light 4/5, or 75/100 on BEA.
3. Top Albums on Top-Rated BEA Overall Charts Updated in the Last Year
Repo [8/18/25]: 4. Fire Of Love - The Gun Club
KitchenSink [12/24/25]: 2. Chapter 139 - 2-2 Liters - DJ Screw
Antonio-Pedro [8/27/25]: 16. Bad Timing - Jim O’Rourke
CharlieBarley [6/5/26]: 1. Gimme Shelter - Merry Clayton
Larcx13 [7/16/25]: 10. Can’t Buy A Thrill - Steely Dan
HoldenM [7/2/26]: 6. Boys And Girls In America - The Hold Steady
Mercury [5/23/26]: 4. Through Silver In Blood - Neurosis
pjerske [6/5/26]: 2. The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick - John Fahey
Lowkey [11/24/25]: 1. Peripheral Vision - Turnover
seb7 [8/17/25]: 1. Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk - Jeff Buckley _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
Rhynersoft silly music is meaningful magicalProfile Utah
(1)
You Will Never Know Why (2009) by Sweet Trip
Indie pop/dream pop/indie rock. Male and female vocals. Melodic, bittersweet, nostalgic, romantic, dreamy, pop-ey but also kinda rock-ey. This should be right up my alley. In generally I really dig this kind of music. But I don't understand the acclaim (on RYM) of this album. It's fine, but far from a shining star of the genre. For this kind of music, the instrumental stuff seems kinda generic, and the vocals are also mostly nothing special. It feels like most of the time, this band is just doing their best impression of Stereolab, another artist in this genre-space that I don't connect with as much as others seem to. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to listen to this album. (In fact, I think it's probably a bit better than most of Stereolab's stuff.) There are some good songs here (e.g. Forever, Darkness, Pretending, Your World Is Eternally Complete) But overall it doesn't really move me, at least not nearly as much as would warrant its overwhelmingly positive reception over on RYM. BEA's ranking at around 2,000 overall is more appropriate, in my opinion. It's very listenable, not bad by any means, and it's firmly of a genre that I'm very inclined to like, but as a member of that genre it's not particularly special.
61/100
(2)
Join Johnnyo in analyzing Steely Dan's Can't Buy a Thrill. I'm sure he'd welcome any of your thoughts on it over in his thread devoted to the album.
(3)
My ten are split between two lists:
BEA top unrated albums
1: 280. The New Abnormal by The Strokes (2020)
2: 408. Highway To Hell by AC/DC (1979)
3: 422. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by Little Simz (2021)
4: 436. The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me by Brand New (2006)
5: 443. Ocean Rain by Echo & The Bunnymen (1984)
RYM top unrated albums
1: 138. Flood by Boris (2000)
2: 154. Jenny Death by Death Grips (2015)
3: 157. Silent Hill 2 by Akira Yamaoka (2001)
4: 160. Fôrça bruta by Jorge Ben (1970)
5: 161. Boris at Last -Feedbacker- by Boris (2003)
(1)
(2)
Join Johnnyo in analyzing Steely Dan's Can't Buy a Thrill. I'm sure he'd welcome any of your thoughts on it over in his thread devoted to the album.
I started a graduate program this summer, which is taking up most of my spare time out of work... sorry to be posting more sparsely here and not to jump in track-by-track on this one.
This is the second Steely Dan album I've heard after Aja. On their debut, there's not quite as much jazzy sophistication, but they make up for that with a heavy dose of catchiness. Not a single track is filler, and there are memorable pop hooks everywhere. Do It Again and Reelin' In The Years are the only songs I knew going in, but Dirty Work is the one currently stuck in my head. Overall, Can't Buy A Thrill is tightly written, played, and produced; very slick, very West Coast, and very smooth. Combined with the acidic lyricism, it's easy to see why the band are classic/yacht rock legends with a large cult following. The band's attitude and vibe don't really match mine, so I don't think I'm destined to join the cult. But with every song I hear, the more respect I gain for their craft. I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of their discography in time, but (to pull from another influential band from the West Coast) my approach to their catalog will be Walk - Don't Run. Starting at a high 3.5/5, or 70/100 on BEA.
317. Aqualung - Jethro Tull
409. Highway To Hell - AC/DC
482. At Fillmore East - The Allman Brothers Band
488. Deep Purple In Rock - Deep Purple
491. For Your Pleasure - Roxy Music
500. The Fat Of The Land - The Prodigy
502. Pretty Hate Machine - Nine Inch Nails
505. The Who Sell Out - The Who
514. Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield
532. Out Of The Blue - Electric Light Orchestra _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
Rhynersoft silly music is meaningful magicalProfile Utah
(1)
Força Bruta (1970) by Jorge Ben
Yet another MPB album I think is just fine but nothing special, yet for some reason people just adore. I don't get it. There's always the chance it's the language barrier. I didn't bother looking up a translation of the lyrics, because that pretty much never makes me like music in a language I don't understand any more than if I continue not understanding it. The cuíca gets kinda annoying after a while. It's fine in small doses, but after a while enough is enough.
So, overall, it's perfectly listenable (mostly), but I don't connect with it much at all.
54/100
(2)
Highway to Hell. It's on my list too, so maybe we can both listen to it if you want to pick it for me.
(3)
My ten are split between two lists:
BEA top unrated albums
1: 280. The New Abnormal by The Strokes (2020)
2: 408. Highway To Hell by AC/DC (1979)
3: 417. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by Little Simz (2021)
4: 441. Ocean Rain by Echo & The Bunnymen (1984)
5: 444. Lemonade by Beyoncé (2016)
RYM top unrated albums
1: 138. Flood by Boris (2000)
2: 153. Jenny Death by Death Grips (2015)
3: 154. Silent Hill 2 by Akira Yamaoka (2001)
4: 161. Boris at Last -Feedbacker- by Boris (2003)
5: 174. LP! by JPEGMAFIA (2021)
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
Okay, now that I've heard a top-ranked AC/DC album from each lead singer, I think I can safely say that this band is not for me. The most basic, straightforward instrumentals, lyrics, and vocals from start to finish, but somehow the simplicity doesn't equate to earworms. Instead, Highway To Hell is mindnumbingly repetitive. It's all stock hard rock about getting laid, with no artfulness to be found. The title track is the closest it comes to being good, but still nothing to write home about. On the plus side, it is a very listenable and consistent album, but it's also very empty: a perfect example of how uninspiring this style of "cock rock" can be. Giving it a 2.5/5 and 45/100 on BEA.
~~~~~
2. I can't recommend Highway To Hell, so let's go with this. It's a nice return to form:
3. Top Albums on Top-Rated BEA Overall Charts Updated in the Last Year
KitchenSink [12/24/25]: 2. Chapter 139 - 2-2 Liters - DJ Screw
CharlieBarley [9/1/26]: 1. The Bargain Store - Dolly Parton
HoldenM [8/29/26]: 6. Boys And Girls In America - The Hold Steady
Mercury [5/23/26]: 4. Through Silver In Blood - Neurosis
Lowkey [11/24/25]: 1. Peripheral Vision - Turnover
pjerske [7/29/26]: 2. The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick - John Fahey
Santiago [9/19/25]: 2. Buscando América - Ruben Blades Y Seis Del Solar
LittleM1971 [7/25/26]: 20. Last Splash - The Breeders
Keatownrodriguez [8/21/26]: 1. I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It - The 1975
ssteve [3/19/26]: 22. Panopticon - Isis _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
1.
I have yet to join the rotation, so in lieu of having an album picked for me here, I will start with by reviewing an album I had chosen for me to listen to thanks to a local album listening club I'm a part of right now.
These guys feel like they were plucked straight out of the late 2000s/early 2010s pop rock charts. I kept thinking early on that you could have told me this came out 13 years ago instead of 3 and I would have totally believed you. The first 5 tracks are straight bangers.
I think that once I adjusted to the nostalgia of the sound that the album cooled off for me a bit. Many of the later tracks pull back on the energy as well and I think the fact that they revisit a few of the song subjects while not delving too much deeper than the starting run of the album bring dragged it down a bit compared to what this could have been. I was still enjoying myself to be sure, but I was hoping to get a bit more out of them after the first couple songs. It became more of a vibe-y album than something I was latching onto. If they went a little more personal/mixed up the subject matter more I think I could have connected with some of the chiller musical songs a bit more.
The two shorter cuts (Tennessee Sunset and At Least I Tried) both were interesting to me. The first one felt like a partial song idea and while I didn't feel that with At Least I Tried, I still wanted both to be a bit longer.
Calm Down and Trippin were the definite highlights for me, but there were a good handful of great songs like Jaded, Moon, and Heat of the Summer that stood out.
Overall I think this is a great, poppy Indie Rock album that I'm glad to have listened to, but probably won't revisit too much outside of a couple of songs and situational playlists.
3.
I've been rating so much music from this decade in the past year, so I will go in the complete opposite direction and make my list of 10 the Top 10 album scores from BEA's Best of the 50s, 60s, and 70s lists that I am completely unfamiliar with the track lists of. I ask that you withhold judgement as I am mostly uncultured as far as music of this era is concerned outside of radio hits and greatest hits albums. I am aware of almost all of these albums at this point, but I haven't listened to many at all. For example, I loved the Beatles growing up, but it was because of the red 1 album that we played on road trips constantly. I have only listened two or three studio albums of the Beatles the whole way through. Same goes for an artist like Queen, but even more extreme a case. They are my dad's favorite band, but I don't think I've ever listened to a studio album of theirs. I couldn't even tell you which album Bohemian Rhapsody is off of without looking it up. I have a couple of random pockets of albums that I do know/have experience with, but I still have mountains to climb in all of these classic decades.
1. Wish You Here by Pink Floyd (41,900 - #2 in the 70's)
2. In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson (26,540 - #7 in the 60s)
3. Rubber Soul by The Beatles (25,086 - #10 in the 60s)
4. Animals by Pink Floyd (21,254 - #8 in the 70's)
5. Kind of Blue by Miles Daves (20,868 - #1 in the 50s)
6. Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division (20,514 - #9 in the 70s)
7. Marquee Moon by Television (18,697 - #12 in the 70s)
8. Hunky Dory by David Bowie (18,460 - #13 in the 70s)
9. Exile on Mainstreet by The Rolling Stones (18,290 - #15 in the 70s)
10. Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (16,593 - #14 in the 60s) _________________ My overall top 100 is far from fleshed out at this point, so here are some charts I am actually proud of:
Top 100 Albums of 2025
Rhynersoft silly music is meaningful magicalProfile Utah
(1)
The New Abnormal (2020) by The Strokes
I've never been a huge Strokes fan, though I do enjoy their first few albums. And honestly, this feels like a slightly lesser version of that stuff, so... It's fine, but I don't get the hype. It strikes me as kinda insubstantial. For some reason, I like the lowest rated song the best (Eternal Summer). Although sometimes the "ey, yeah, ah" can get old. I don't know what to say. This doesn't move me. It's...fine.
(I could certainly do without the studio chatter stuff.)
56/100
(2)
That's a lot of classic albums. I don't know where I'd start, so how about you start at the top: Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd.
(3)
My ten are split between two lists:
BEA top unrated albums
1: 408. Highway To Hell by AC/DC (1979)
2: 415. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by Little Simz (2021)
3: 434. Ocean Rain by Echo & The Bunnymen (1984)
4: 441. Lemonade by Beyoncé (2016)
5: 449. The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me by Brand New (2006)
RYM top unrated albums
1: 138. Flood by Boris (2000)
2: 151. Jenny Death by Death Grips (2015)
3: 153. Silent Hill 2 by Akira Yamaoka (2001)
4: 159. Boris at Last -Feedbacker- by Boris (2003)
5: 174. LP! by JPEGMAFIA (2021)
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
I'd only ever heard the title track, which is a great song, but I wasn't expecting a lot from an album that flies so far under the radar in her vast discography. It turns out to be remarkably consistent and underrated. Parton's songwriting really shines and carries this, with 8 well-written songs about love. Her regular duet parter Porter Wagoner produced the album and contributed another song (a Merle Haggard cover rounds it out). While the musicianship is nothing revelatory, it's classic 70s country that perfectly fits the subject matter and her beautiful voice. In particular, I'm pleased to hear some good steel guitar. Most of the songs here are well worth returning to, and the compact 26-minute runtime leaves me wanting more. As an album listening experience, it stands up well to her more famous LPs like Jolene and Coat Of Many Colors. I definitely recommend to any Dolly fans, and I'm starting it at a 4/5 and 75/100 on BEA. RIP.
~~~~~
2. Let's go with the most acclaimed entry in Beyoncé's discography, her response album to her husband's infidelity.
3. Top Albums on Top-Rated BEA Overall Charts Updated in the Last Year
KitchenSink [12/24/25]: 2. Chapter 139 - 2-2 Liters - DJ Screw
CharlieBarley [9/1/26]: 2. Gimme Shelter - Merry Clayton
HoldenM [9/9/26]: 6. Boys And Girls In America - The Hold Steady
Mercury [5/23/26]: 4. Through Silver In Blood - Neurosis
Lowkey [11/24/25]: 1. Peripheral Vision - Turnover
pjerske [7/29/26]: 2. The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick - John Fahey
Santiago [9/19/25]: 2. Buscando América - Ruben Blades Y Seis Del Solar
LittleM1971 [7/25/26]: 20. Last Splash - The Breeders
Keatownrodriguez [8/21/26]: 1. I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It - The 1975
ssteve [3/19/26]: 22. Panopticon - Isis _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
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