Average Rating: 3.56 Rating Variance: 0.97 Objectivity Score: 80% (Well Balanced)
Sort by: Rating | Release Date | Rating Date | Name5.0 classicArcade Fire FuneralIt's really rare when a band creates their best work on their debut, but that's exactly what's happened to Arcade Fire. Reeling from the loss of many loved ones, they wrote an album that has probably as much heart and passion as anything ever written. The incredible "Neighborhood" sequence shows off just how well Win and Regine can write, while "Wake Up" reveals some incredibly dramatic flair. There is a mournful tone across the entire album that is incredibly evident in the slightly shaky vocals on nearly every track, and that tone makes it a very poignant listen all the way through. Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon IverCitizens and Saints A Mirror DimlyColdplay A Rush of Blood to the HeadDavid Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From MarsDavid Bowie Station to StationDavid Bowie LowDavid Bowie Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)David Crowder Band A Collision Or (3 + 4 = 7)David Crowder Band's first definitive album is a semi-concept album with a wide sonic palette ranging from easier electronically-influenced rock to full-on experimental pieces and bluegrass. What's not to like? A Collision's theme, unique structure, and experimental sound warrant it a spot in my hall of fame due to its overall influence on Christian music. Many albums since it have become more experimental, and many of these are quite highly regarded by fans of Christian music. However, it never sacrifices lyrical depth and resonance to attain its unique sound, exemplifying how best to balance that incredibly fine line. Ennio Morricone The Hateful EightIf you've seen The Hateful Eight, you realize why this score is so good. It stands on its own fairly well, though in the course of the film it rises from just a great score to something that should get an Academy Award. The main theme is incredibly enticing, even if it is repeated liberally throughout. Morricone makes things interesting by never giving us the exact same representation of that main theme, always throwing in some kind of variation to keep us interested. It's one of those scores that is best appreciated in the film, though, so keep that in mind while listening. Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted FantasyKanye West YeezusKendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d cityKendrick Lamar To Pimp a ButterflyKings Kaleidoscope Becoming Who We AreThis is a perfect album. Perfect. If you've ever had a conversation with me about worship music, I'll bring up Kings Kaleidoscope and this album. It perfectly melds artistic music with poetic lyrics and redefines for me what worship music can be. From beginning to end, Becoming Who We Are flows beautifully, with some of its most artistic and musically intricate moments coming on its sub-60 second tracks. From the vertical "Glorious" to the incredibly moving "Zion" and the beautiful rearrangements of "All Creatures" and "How Deep," it's all here and incredibly beautiful. Kings Kaleidoscope Beyond ControlKings Kaleidoscope The Beauty BetweenKings Kaleidoscope ZealIs it a little incoherent and erratic? Maybe, but it feels right. Zeal is a wonderful treatise on deconstruction of one's faith, and it is the most varied Kings Kaleidoscope has been in their career to date. "Aimless Knight" to the end is some of the best music I've heard from the band yet. Kings Kaleidoscope The RushLed Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IILin-Manuel Miranda Hamilton - Original Broadway CastIf I was told that someone came up with the idea of making a rap musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton, I would have laughed them out of the room. If someone would have told me that this musical ended up being one of the most acclaimed Broadway productions of all time, I would have been rolling on the floor. If someone would have told me that I would put this musical's soundtrack in my top 5 albums of all time, I would have laughed so hard I cried. And yet here we are. Miles Davis Kind of BlueLet me just put it to you this way: if you're looking for the best jazz album ever recorded, stop. You've found it. Search your feelings; you know it to be true. The engineering makes Davis's legendary and forward-thinking compositions sound as perfect as anything I've ever heard. I don't think I've ever heard a better-recorded piece of music, and this is from 1959. Absolutely flawless in every way. Oasis (What's the Story) Morning Glory?Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the MoonRadiohead OK ComputerOK Computer is a work of art, with Thom Yorke's lyricism being quite well-inspired by the technological revolution of the time and Jonny Greenwood's guitar parts being incredibly supportive to the rest of the music. "Exit Music (for a Film)" and "Karma Police" are landmark tracks for these alternative rockers, and the way Radiohead uses a lot of different styles shows why transitional albums are sometimes best. Radiohead Kid ARadiohead In RainbowsSufjan Stevens IllinoisLooking at the album's cover and tragic misspelling of the titular state's name, you might think that it's meant to be a joke. I know I did. However, when I actually sat down and listened to Illinois, I found an incredibly moving tribute to my home state that is more than a little quirky and funny, but in an incredibly heartwarming way. The more orchestral compositions from Stevens make this his best work, and its deliberately lo-fi qualities make it strangely addictive to listen to. It's an incredible work of music that makes me laugh and cry and smile all in a single listen. Sufjan Stevens Songs For ChristmasIt may just be my massive bias towards Sufjan and my other massive bias towards Christmas music coming together, but this album is one of the best I've ever listened to. It pretty much takes the style of Illinois and puts it to Christmas music. Considering that Illinois is one of my favorite albums of all time, that's just fine in my book. The only slight knock I have against it is its absurd length, as listening in one sitting is quite impractical. However, it is still stellar enough to warrant a perfect score from me. Sufjan Stevens Seven SwansI will put the disclaimer here that I am a devout Christian, so I really appreciated the religious slant to Seven Swans. The lyrics mean a ton to me personally, so if you don't share my religious views you won't be able to appreciate this album nearly as much. However, musically this is just plain stellar. I'm a huge fan of Stevens's other work around this time, but even though it is still folksy and rootsy, Seven Swans has this much more intimate feel to it that draws me in. I love Illinois and Songs for Christmas so much because of their more symphonic and orchestral nature. The fact that Seven Swans eschews these elements makes it a very personal experience, which makes it just as good as the former two. The Beatles RevolverThis album made me fall in love with the Fab Four in high school. Revolver was a transitional period for the band as they moved from their poppy origins towards a more psychedelic sound, but the fact that they didn't make incredibly trippy music here actually makes the album better to my ears. Songs like "Eleanor Rigby" and "Got to Get You into My Life" are some of the best songs The Beatles ever put onto recording, and the way the album flows from one track to another is stellar.The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandThe Beatles The BeatlesThe Beatles Abbey RoadThe final album The Beatles recorded is not only their best, but probably the best of all time. It has the best song from the Fab Four's career, "Something," while also having several more of their immortal hits like "Here Comes the Sun" and "Come Together." The second half of the album is literally one seamless stream of musical consciousness and is an absolute masterwork of genius, even in its drug-influenced quirkiness. It is also The Beatles' best-recorded work, which makes it age far better than the rest of their catalog. Abbey Road is a classic, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong.The Rolling Stones Between the ButtonsI know that if I say that this is the Stones' Sgt. Pepper's I'll get tons of hate, but just hear me out: Between the Buttons is The Rolling Stones going psychedelic in a big way and succeeding, much like the Beatles did with Sgt. Pepper's. Granted, there's a lot of sonic differences between the two, as each band still definitely sounds like themselves (and the Stones don't go as full psychedelia as the Fab Four), but conceptually they're quite similar in what they wanted to accomplish musically. The Beatles still did it better, but it's a lot closer than you might think. It's a very obvious stab at the genre, but it also works very well for what it is. To me, this is the Stones' best album up to this point in their catalog. The Rolling Stones Let It BleedThe Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground & NicoIf the Beatles made the '60s what they were, this singular album made the next twenty or even thirty years of indie music. The Velvet Underground & Nico was so far ahead of its time, and yet it is so rooted in the culture and lifestyle of the '60s. It might not sound like anything else ever made, but that's exactly why it's so good. It's raw, unpolished, and poorly recorded; yet all that makes the record work the way it does. The Who Who's NextThe Who are a band with a knack for the epic, having two rock operas to their name in Tommy and Quadrophenia. However, their two most dynamic songs bookend this album, their best record and one of the best rock albums of all time. Between "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again," however, are some fantastically written tunes from Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend that are overshadowed by The Who's two most famous songs. This is an incredibly complete album that is a musical journey from start to finish.The Who QuadropheniaU2 The Joshua TreeWhere to even begin? The sonic space of Brian Eno's production mixed with the more American roots influences that the band took and Bono's incredibly spiritual and earnest lyrics to create U2's best work. The track sequencing is impeccable and creates a perfect arc from beginning to end. U2's best songs from the 1980s are also here, from the absolutely epic "Where the Streets Have No Name" to the incredible balladry of "With or Without You" and the subdued politically-charged closer "Mothers of the Disappeared." It's all here, and in rare form.U2 ZooropaWhere most people would call Achtung Baby the best 90s U2 album, I say it's Zooropa. Never has U2 been darker or more experimental than this underrated project. It contains my personal favorite 90s U2 song in "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" while also expanding upon the industrial rock and EDM roots found in Achtung Baby. The Edge pretty much turns the album into a personal playground, experimenting wildly with how he can make his guitar sound like anything but a guitar. The album's second half contains some of the band's finest work, with darker cuts like "Dirty Day" and "The First Time" nicely juxtaposed with the slightly brighter but still twisted "Some Days Are Better than Others" and the most non-U2 track the band ever made, "The Wanderer." This is the best showcase of U2 being anything but their former selves, trading the bombastic stadium anthems of The Joshua Tree for the electronic textures and manipulations of the European dance scene of the early 90s. For that reason, it is one of U2's best albums, second only to The Joshua Tree in my mind. Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the CityVince Guaraldi Trio A Charlie Brown Christmas4.5 superbAlabama Shakes Sound & ColorAll Sons & Daughters Brokenness AsideAll Sons & Daughters LiveArcade Fire The SuburbsBeautiful Eulogy WorthyBeautiful Eulogy Instruments of MercyBing Crosby Merry ChristmasBon Iver 22, A MillionColdplay ParachutesColdplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His FriendsColony House When I Was YoungerDavid Bowie Hunky DoryDavid Bowie "Heroes"David Crowder Band Church MusicDc Talk Jesus FreakDuke Ellington Masterpieces By EllingtonGungor Ghosts Upon the EarthGuns N' Roses Appetite for DestructionHillsong United EmpiresInterpol Turn on the Bright LightsJohn Mark McMillan BorderlandJohn Mark McMillan Live at the KnightJohn Mark McMillan EconomyJohn Mark McMillan Mercury and LightningJosh Garrels HomeJoy Division Unknown PleasuresKanye West The College DropoutKanye West Late RegistrationKendrick Lamar untitled unmastered.Kings Kaleidoscope Asaph's ArrowsKings Kaleidoscope Live In ColorKings Kaleidoscope Joy Has DawnedKings Kaleidoscope Live in FocusLecrae GravityLed Zeppelin Led ZeppelinLorde MelodramaLoud Harp Loud HarpLoud Harp Hope Where There Was NoneM83 Hurry Up, We're DreamingMichael Jackson ThrillerNeedtobreathe Rivers In The WastelandThis might not be Needtobreathe's best album, but it's by far my favorite to listen to. It's far simpler than The Reckoning and way tamer, but both of these attributes allow some rediscovered heart and soul to come through. Knowing the backstory of how this record came to be and the struggles Bear and Bo transforms this record into something really good to nearly perfect. Musically, this is much more friendly than the intense southern rock that NTB has previously used, being much more Americana- and folk-based than before. A really, really, really good listen. Needtobreathe The ReckoningThis is exactly what the doctor ordered: dark, substantive lyrics with some really dirty southern folk rock. This is Needtobreathe in full swing, not holding any artistic or lyrical talent back for fear of being panned by their fans. There's less faith present in The Reckoning than any of their previous albums, but that helps it have more of a real-world weight. This is exactly what they needed to do to evolve, and they did so nearly perfectly. Nirvana NevermindOasis Definitely MaybeRadiohead A Moon Shaped PoolSwitchfoot Nothing is SoundIn trying to follow up the massive hit that is The Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot goes darker and slightly heavier to make an even better album in Nothing Is Sound. Jon Foreman's lyrics are more poetic and more blunt all at the same time, and the band's sound evolves ever-so-slightly to make for less mid-tempo pop-rock and more straight up post-grunge. It really suits the band well, as some of their best tracks like "Stars" and "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine" show how they can go to darker places lyrically and musically yet still keep the inspirational slant that made The Beautiful Letdown great. The album flows perfectly, with "Golden" being the only track feeling out of place because of its in-the-box sound. This is the best Switchfoot has ever been, and I don't know if they'll be able to top it. Taylor Swift FolkloreThe Beatles Help!The Beatles Rubber SoulThe Brilliance BrotherThe Brilliance All Is Not LostThe City Harmonic HeartThe City Harmonic Introducing The City HarmonicThe Ember Days ValitusThe Modern Post Grace AloneThe Modern Post Lowborn KingThe Police SynchronicityThe Police's last album is also their best. The tracks from "Synchronicity II" to the end are all stellar, with "Every Breath You Take" and "King of Pain" being the two best. The band seems to be at their best-produced and cleanest here, which to me is a plus even if the attitude from their previous releases is slightly diminished. Sting's lyrics and vocals are both top-notch, and the rest of the band is at their creative best too. The only thing that holds Synchronicity back is a little choppiness through the first few tracks, as they don't flow terribly well together. However, this is still a stellar album and one of my personal favorites. The Rolling Stones AftermathThe Rolling Stones Beggars BanquetThe Rolling Stones Sticky FingersThe Strokes Is This ItIndie post-punk revival at its finest. Is This It popularized an iconic sound that took some inspiration from the past while also looking forward in some cool ways. The Strokes's "vintage modified" sound also has a lot of instant charm and catchiness that works well over the course of the album. It's got some roughness around the edges, but the fact that this record isn't perfectly produced and recorded also makes it more relatable and gives it some life. It's modern indie party rock at its best. The Who My GenerationThe Who TommyU2 Achtung BabyU2 WarVolcano Choir RepaveWeezer Weezer4.0 excellentAll Sons & Daughters The LongingAndy Mineo Never LandArcade Fire ReflektorArcade Fire Neon BibleArctic Monkeys AMArctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm NotArctic Monkeys Favourite Worst NightmareBrooke Fraser FlagsBrooke Fraser AlbertineBruno Mars 24K MagicCHVRCHES The Bones of What You BelieveCitizens and Saints CitizensColony House Only the LonelyCrowder Neon SteepleDavid Bowie Diamond DogsDavid Bowie The Man Who Sold the WorldDavid Bowie Aladdin SaneDavid Bowie LodgerDavid Crowder Band Oh for JoyDavid Crowder Band IlluminateDeep Sea Diver Always WaitingDustin Kensrue The Water and the BloodEagles DesperadoFoo Fighters The Colour and the ShapeFoo Fighters Wasting LightFrank Ocean channel ORANGEFrank Sinatra A Jolly Christmas From Frank SinatraFuture of Forestry Advent ChristmasFuture of Forestry Advent Christmas, Vol. 2Gungor Beautiful ThingsGungor I Am MountainGungor One Wild Life: SpiritGungor One Wild Life: BodyHillsong United ZionHouse Of Heroes ColorsHouse Of Heroes Hark! the House of Heroes SingIvan and Alyosha The Verse, the ChorusJames and the Wild Spirit Hearts + KnivesJars Of Clay Jars Of ClayJars Of Clay The Long Fall Back to EarthJars Of Clay InlandJohn Mark McMillan The Song inside the Sounds of Breaking Down (John Mark McMillan You Are the Avalanche (feat. Sarah McMillan)John Mark McMillan MedicineKanye West GraduationKings Kaleidoscope SinKings Kaleidoscope Live in SeasonLecrae AnomalyLecrae Church ClothesLecrae Church Clothes 2Lorde Pure HeroineLoud Harp AsaphMetronomy Love LettersMichael Jackson Off the WallMiles Davis Sketches of SpainNeedtobreathe Keep Your Eyes OpenThere's some worthy B-sides on this EP, as well as a killer acoustic version of the title track. It's easy to see why these songs were cut, as they don't really have a place in The Reckoning, but they make a strangely complete listen on their own. Not just for the Needtobreathe completist. Needtobreathe The HeatThis sophomore effort is a huge effort to correct what was wrong with Needtobreathe's debut. There's way more substance here and also a lot more thought with the running order. The music of The Heat is also a little more roots-based, which definitely improves the overall feel of the record. It's a solid and fun record, even if it isn't perfect, with some nice depth upon repeat listens. Needtobreathe The OutsidersIf you thought The Heat was too grungy, you'll be happy with The Outsiders and its increased southern/folk/Americana/roots influences. However, there's a subtle lack of lyrical depth peppered throughout the entire record that makes it a less enjoyable listen than it should be. Musically, it's an improvement of sorts; but lyrically it can feel a little stale at times. Nirvana BleachOasis Don't Believe the TruthPage CXVI Hymns IPhoenix (FRA) Wolfgang Amadeus PhoenixPink Floyd The Piper at the Gates of DawnPurity Ring Another EternityRadiohead The BendsRadiohead AmnesiacRadiohead Hail to the ThiefRelient K MmhmmRemedy Drive CommoditySaint Motel ForPlaySoundtrack (Film) Mary Poppins (Original Soundtrack)Switchfoot The Beautiful LetdownLadies and gentlemen, meet the real Switchfoot. After three albums of garage grunge rock, Switchfoot finally moves on from trying to be the next Nirvana and gives us a full, complete, proper album. The Beautiful Letdown has a near perfect pace, and it's balladry works far, far better than anything the band has done before. In addition, there are several incredibly memorable tracks including "Meant to Live," "This Is Your Life," "Redemption," "Twenty-Four," and the absolutely perfect re-recording of "Dare You to Move." There are a couple missteps that sound too stock for the album to be perfect, but it is the first complete picture of what Switchfoot can be when they're firing on all cylinders. Talking Heads Talking Heads: 77Talking Heads More Songs About Buildings and FoodTaylor Swift 1989Well, it's official: Taylor Swift and country are never ever getting back together...like, ever. 1989 showcases the superstar eschewing her roots and completely reinventing her sound--a marked improvement over her previous album Red, which felt schizophrenic enough to be in an institution. What surprises me most about 1989, however, is how good Swift sounds with her new sound and how good her new sound is. It sounds like this is the kind of music she should have been doing all along: good, catchy, and unconventional synthpop (for the most part). Of course, there a couple small missteps here and there, but on the whole this is a very encouraging album for pop music and Taylor Swift's future. The 1975 I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of ItThe Autumn Film The Autumn Film Covers ColdplayThe Beatles A Hard Day's NightThe Beatles Magical Mystery TourThe Beatles Let It BeThe Black Keys El CaminoThe City Harmonic I Have a Dream (It Feels Like Home)The Killers Hot FussThe Lumineers The LumineersThe Police Outlandos d'AmourThe Reign of Kindo The Reign Of KindoThe Rolling Stones 12 x 5The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones, Now!The Rolling Stones Out of Our HeadsThe Rolling Stones Their Satanic Majesties RequestThe Sing Team Christmas!The Sing Team Oh! Great Is Our God!The Strokes Room on FireEverybody, meet Is This It, Part Deux. Room on Fire doesn't sound exactly like The Strokes's monumental debut, but it's also too familiar to be anywhere as good. There's some really catchy tracks that also happen to be really solid once the shine wears off ("Reptilia" definitely comes to mind here), but sometimes there doesn't end up being much beneath the surface. Some innovative guitar from Nick Valensi keeps things more interesting as well (especially in "12:51"), but the fact that Room on Fire is so similar to Is This It brings it down a notch. The Who The Who Sell OutThelonious Monk Thelonious Monk Plays Duke EllingtonTwenty One Pilots BlurryfaceU2 BoyU2 Under A Blood Red SkyU2 Songs of ExperienceWalk the Moon Walk the MoonYoung the Giant Young the Giant3.5 greatAll Sons & Daughters Reason to SingAndy Mineo Heroes For SaleArcade Fire The Arcade FireAriana Grande Thank U, NextBethel Music You Make Me BraveBethel Music TidesBlood, Sweat and Tears Blood, Sweat & TearsBombay Bicycle Club The Boy I Used To BeBombay Bicycle Club How We AreCHVRCHES Every Open EyeCitizens and Saints Already/Not YetColdplay Ghost StoriesColdplay Mylo XylotoColdplay Every Teardrop Is a WaterfallWhile the title track is good if unspectacular, the other two tracks are on point. "Major Minus" is the best track off of MX, and "Moving to Mars" is exactly what Coldplay is best known for. It might be the best Coldplay song I've heard that wasn't released as part of a main album (and Prospekt's March is a main album to me). It's not a great EP, but it's good enough to merit a listen. Coldplay A Sky Full of StarsEven if you hate the title track, this is still solid bonus material. "All Your Friends" is solid, while "Ghost Story" is one of the best tracks from this era of Coldplay. Coldplay Prospekt's MarchColony House Colony House EPColony House The YoungerI wish that they didn't have two remixes of "Silhouettes," even though it's one of Colony House's best tracks. That being said, this is still an interesting perspective on the band's sound and a surprisingly entertaining listen, especially for a remix EP. Crowder American ProdigalDavid Bowie Young AmericansDavid Bowie Space OddityDavid Crowder Band RemedyEagles EaglesFoo Fighters Sonic Highwaysfor KING and COUNTRY Into the Silent Nightfor KING and COUNTRY Cravefor KING and COUNTRY Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong.Future of Forestry Future of Forestry EPGreen Day KerplunkGungor One Wild Life: SoulHailee Steinfeld HAIZNot a bad little debut EP. Steinfeld proves that she can make some decent pop tunes in the vein of T-Swift's 1989 and Ariana Grande. It's a little sugary, but that's what draws me to it. I'm looking forward to a more personal full-length debut, but what's here is really solid. She's got a lot of potential. House Of Heroes House of Heroes Meets the BeatlesIan Yates Awaken to LoveIvan and Alyosha Fathers Be KindJars Of Clay Much AfraidJars Of Clay The Eleventh HourJars Of Clay Good MonstersJars Of Clay The ShelterKanye West 808s and HeartbreakKings Kaleidoscope Kings Kaleidoscope LiveLecrae RebelLecrae RehabLecrae Church Clothes 3Maroon 5 Songs About JaneMaroon 5 It Won't Be Soon Before LongThere's some things about It Won't Be Soon Before Long that makes me like it better than Songs About Jane. Maroon 5 channels their inner Police and Michael Jackson several times, in particular "Won't Go Home without You" and "Kiwi" for their respective styles. This second effort also feels far more polished than the first, which for their pop/rock style is a good thing. Levine seems to have calmed down as a lyricist a lot from his somewhat angry and resentful tone in Songs About Jane and is a little more reflective now. It generally works; however, there are times where Maroon 5 slips into traditional ballad territory, and all of their attempts in that sonic space fail. They're not bad, but they don't suit Levine's voice or the rest of the album well. These tracks bring down the quality of the entire album to slightly below Songs About Jane. Metric Old World Underground, Where Are You NowMetric Live It OutMGMT Oracular SpectacularMumford and Sons Sigh No MoreNeedtobreathe H A R D L O V ENick Jonas Nick JonasPage CXVI Hymns IIPanic! at the Disco Death of a BachelorPassion Worship Salvation's Tide Is RisingSaint Motel saintmotelevisionSaint Motel My TypeShe and Him A Very She & Him ChristmasSkillet CollideSwitchfoot Hello HurricaneIn continuing some of the more experimental textures from Oh! Gravity., Switchfoot finds a nice balance between them and their previous rock-focused efforts on Hello Hurricane, an album that shows the essence of Switchfoot better than any of their other efforts, even if it is a bit weaker than their best. There's some really solid tracks including "Enough to Let Me Go," the almost two-parter of "Sing It Out" and "Red Eyes," and the eerie yet hopeful title track. Where Switchfoot struggles once again is the ballads. The mid-tempo "Your Love Is a Song" feels incredibly stock even if I feel Jon Foreman's sentiment, while "Yet" is another classic example of the band not going soft enough for the lyrical themes present. They do however nail the other prominent ballad "Always" because of its dynamic nature and Foreman's falsetto delivery early on in the track, as it actually feels like the band was willing to go incredibly soft. Overall, Hello Hurricane is Switchfoot with their heart on their sleeve and a hand on their chest, passionate as ever, if a little formulaic here and there. Switchfoot Vice VersesI'm going to be blunt: the first half of Vice Verses is a misfire. After the decent one-two punch of "Afterlife" and "The Original," the album starts to experiment too much with the sound it established early on and goes a little off the rails. Experiments like "The War Inside" and "Selling the News" show that Switchfoot wants to go to even newer places but doesn't know quite how to do so yet. The second half, however, is nearly perfect, with nearly every track from "Thrive" on being a highlight. It's a very coherent set of songs that shows some positive musical evolution with some restrained and polished artistry as well. Vice Verses is definitely one of the good Switchfoot releases. Just make sure you keep listening past track 6. Switchfoot Where the Light Shines ThroughTaylor Swift MidnightsJack Antonoff gets tiring, but damn if the first half doesn't slap. The 1975 FacedownThe 1975 SexThe Beatles Please Please MeThe City Harmonic We AreThe Killers Day & AgeThe Killers Sam's TownThe Lumineers CleopatraThe Police Ghost in the MachineThe Rolling Stones The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones December's Children (And Everybody's)The Rolling Stones FlowersThe Shouting Matches MouthoilThe Who A Quick OneTwo Door Cinema Club Tourist HistoryVampire Weekend Vampire WeekendVampire Weekend ContraWhile it tends more towards pop sounds than their debut, Vampire Weekend lets the music be more consistent and the lyrics more understandable this time around, resulting in a better listening experience overall. Volcano Choir UnmapWalk the Moon Talking is Hard3.0 goodAriana Grande Yours TrulyChance the Rapper Coloring BookDavid Bowie Black Tie White NoiseDavid Bowie Let's DanceEagles On The BorderGreen Day iTRE!Green Day 39/SmoothGreen Day SlappyGreen Day 1,000 HoursGreen Day 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy HoursHillsong United All of the AboveHillsong United Of Dirt and Grace (Live from the Land)Hillsong United WonderHillsong Worship Let There Be LightHillsong Worship OPEN HEAVEN / River WildHillsong Young & Free This Is LivingIan Yates DNAJars Of Clay Redemption SongsKari Jobe Where I Find YouKB Weight & GloryKB Who Is KB?Lecrae Real TalkLecrae After the Music StopsLecrae Rehab The OverdoseNeedtobreathe DaylightIt's an underwhelming debut from a band that is one of the best of its kind now, mostly because it's missing the southern rock sound of their later work. At this point, they were basically a Foo Fighters soundalike that lacked originality and depth, although this is a decently interesting and fun listen. Oasis Standing on the Shoulder of GiantsOwl City Mobile OrchestraPassion Worship AwakeningFor me, this is about as well as live worship albums can be done. Passion crafts a nice flow throughout the album, which has all but disappeared as slower worship songs have become longer and more common as of late. The music, while a little standard, translates quite well to a live recording and enhances the listening experience slightly. There are some weaker tracks lyrically and compositionally, but for the most part this is standard yet solid live worship from Passion. Radiohead The King of LimbsRemedy Drive Daylight Is ComingRend Collective Good NewsSkillet ComatoseSwitchfoot Legend of ChinSwitchfoot's debut shows more of their grunge/post-grunge roots than most of their later releases. There's a definite lack of polish that actually makes most of The Legend of Chin more enjoyable; however, that also comes with a downside. The album has some major pacing problems that make it a slightly lengthy-feeling listen, and the ballads present feel a little too cliched to be terribly effective. All in all, it definitely leaves room for improvement, but The Legend of Chin is fun in its own right. Switchfoot Learning To BreatheLearning to Breathe fixes some of the problems seen in Switchfoot's earlier work, particularly the pacing. Instead of the back-and-forth of New Way to Be Human, the ballads and up-tempo tracks are nicely balanced and don't conform to a singular form. There's also some nice dynamic tracks including a raw version of "Dare You to Move" that, while good, doesn't hold up compared to the later recording of the track. There's some evolution towards a better sound here, but Switchfoot doesn't quite hit their stride yet. Switchfoot Oh! Gravity.In Oh! Gravity., Switchfoot attempts to change things up at times and usually succeeds. "Dirty Second Hands" and the 5/4 "Circles" show a great amount of ingenuity that hasn't been present in the band's discography to this point. However, it doesn't blend with the pop-rock tracks on the album that well because they lack much of that same experimentation, and therefore the album feels a bit incohesive. To make matters worse, most of the attempts at balladry don't work squarely because the band is a rock band through and through and can't get quiet enough to nail the softer side of things. Overall, Switchfoot deserves some applause for trying to go outside of their creative box. Too bad it didn't work out as well as it could have. The 1975 Music For CarsThe 1975 A Brief Inquiry into Online RelationshipsThe Beatles With the BeatlesThe Killers Wonderful WonderfulThe Riverside HomesteadTin Machine Tin MachineU2 No Line on the HorizonU2 Songs of InnocenceU2 All That You Can't Leave Behind2.5 averageAndy Mineo Formerly KnownBruno Mars Unorthodox JukeboxBuilding 429 Listen to the SoundBuilding 429 UnashamedCasting Crowns LifesongBelieve it or not, this is actually an improvement on Casting Crowns's self-titled debut. There's a couple of decent tracks inspired by stories from the Gospels that are musically interesting enough to not make the lyrics sound boring. That's the biggest problem with this album: the music can be so monotonous that the mostly decent lyricism can be overshadowed by boredom. There's more inventiveness here than anywhere else in the band's catalog, though, so it's not as much of a problem on Lifesong, making it a much better listen. Chris Tomlin Burning LightsTalk about frontloading an album. Tomlin for the first half of Burning Lights actually seems like he wants to make good music for the first time in his career and branches out mildly from his usual formulaic approach. The lyrical approach is also oddly fresh and strong in these first tracks as well. However, immediately after "White Flag," the entire album begins to feel way too familiar. It's almost like Tomlin wrote half of the album and then got the rest from his recycling bin. The first six songs I would love to play live in a worship service. The last six...not so much. I'd rather pull from his older catalog to fill those gaps. Chris Tomlin And If Our God Is for Us...Coldplay X&YWhat I find really funny about X&Y is that I still give it a 2.5. I really don't like this album compared to most of Coldplay's other work. It reminds me a lot of U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Both were their respective bands taking their respective sounds and making them incredibly formulaic. I like U2's approach slightly better; however, Coldplay had better highlights. "Fix You" and "Til Kingdom Come" are two of the best songs in the band's career. However, besides these two songs, Coldplay feigns evolution by eschewing the prominent piano that made them famous, which does much more harm than good. Thankfully, the band saw that they had made a generic album and gave us Viva la Vida next, but that doesn't excuse X&Y's mediocrity. Coldplay A Head Full of DreamsColdplay KaleidoscopeEd Sheeran +Hillsong United Across the Earth: Tear Down the WallsHillsong Worship We Have a SaviorHillsong Worship No Other NameHillsong Young & Free Youth RevivalHillsong Young & Free We Are Young & FreeIan Yates The Hope and the GloryIan Yates Good NewsJars Of Clay If I Left The ZooJars Of Clay Who We Are InsteadKaty Perry PrismKB 100Michael Buble ChristmasNewsboys Take Me To Your LeaderNewsboys Step up to the MicrophoneOasis Be Here NowOasis Heathen ChemistryOwl City The Midsummer StationPassion Worship Take It AllPassion Worship Worthy of Your NameRadiohead Pablo HoneyRemedy Drive ResuscitateSkillet UnleashedSwitchfoot Fading WestTaylor Swift The Taylor Swift Holiday CollectionThe Beatles Yellow SubmarineTin Machine Tin Machine IItobyMac Eye On ItU2 OctoberU2 PopU2 How to Dismantle an Atomic BombVance Joy Dream Your Life AwayWeezer The Teal Album2.0 poorArcade Fire Everything NowAriana Grande My EverythingBruno Mars Doo-Wops & HooligansBuilding 429 We Won't Be ShakenCasting Crowns Casting CrownsThere's not much to be said good for Casting Crowns's career in general, including their debut album. Multiple tracks indicate how monotonous this group would get later on, and their lyrics are pretty mediocre as well. There's a handful of decent tracks, but outside of "Voice of Truth" and "Who Am I" it's nothing too spectacular. Chris Tomlin The Noise We MakeTo give the young Chris Tomlin some credit, he writes well within the constraints of early 2000s worship music. There's not a ton of stuff here worth looking at today because of the way the genre has changed, but it's interesting to see where one of the household names in worship music got his solo career started. With some firsts in Tomlin's career like reworked hymns ("The Wonderful Cross") and the ever-enduring "Forever," it might be worth a listen once or twice for fans of his. There's also a really poignant live recording of "We Fall Down" in Botswana that, while rough around the edges, is quite a cool moment to hear captured recorded. The rest of us, however, can stay current and be rewarded for it. Chris Tomlin Not to UsIt's not that Not to Us is bad; it's just bland. Tomlin adds a lot more polish for his second LP, and it definitely shows on the lyrical side of things across the board. However, even with its shorter running time, Not to Us feels longer because it begins to get monotonous in its second half. There's a few decent tracks here, including "Everything," "Famous One," and the title track; but on the whole this is bland worship music. Chris Tomlin ArrivingChris Tomlin Hello LoveChris Tomlin Holy RoarElevation Worship Only King ForeverElevation Worship For the HonorHillsong United United We StandHillsong Worship CornerstoneHillsong Worship Glorious RuinsHillsong Worship A Beautiful ExchangeHillsong Worship There Is MoreImagine Dragons Night VisionsKaty Perry Teenage DreamLeeland InvisibleNewsboys Love RiotPassion Worship Live Worship from the 268 GenerationPassion Worship White FlagSwitchfoot New Way to Be HumanChalk it up to a sophomore slump. "Only Hope," "Company Car," and "Incomplete" are actually pretty decent tracks. The rest are varying degrees of boring, mostly because they all fit into one of two boxes: the emotional ballad or the post-grunge rocker. New Way to Be Human doesn't evolve Switchfoot much at all from their debut, which is why it fails as an album. Jon's lyrics are at least decent and seemingly authentic, and the lo-fi vibe gives the record some place in its time. I just wish it aged better. Taylor Swift ReputationTenth Avenue North The Things We've Been Afraid To SayThe Killers Battle Born1.5 very poorAmerican Authors Oh, What a LifeCasting Crowns Come to the WellChris Tomlin Love Ran RedChris Tomlin See the MorningChris Tomlin Never Lose SightDavid Bowie TonightGreen Day iDOS!Hillsong United EverydayThere are some really cool 90s alt feels on a few of the tracks on Everyday that I really like. Unfortunately, it's only a few of the tracks there...Skillet AwakeThe Chainsmokers Collage1.0 awful5 Seconds of Summer She Looks So PerfectCasting Crowns The Altar and the DoorThis album is what's wrong with mainstream contemporary Christian music. Despite a couple genuinely good lyrical moments on "Slow Fade" and "East to West," there's no musical content that goes anywhere close to being outside of Casting Crowns's relatively small musical realm. It's a retread of what's been done before, which on its own merits a poor rating. However, the fact that the band felt the need to place a couple of covers towards the back end of the album shows how unnecessary this album is as a whole and drags the quality down a lot, as they feel completely devoid of effort. Casting Crowns Until the Whole World HearsHow can something be so inoffensive on paper yet be absolutely repulsive while listening to it? Answer: this album. Every song (save for three) have the exact same formula, and the ones that don't either only half hit the mark or completely miss it. Casting Crowns proves once again that their formula can sell singles but cannot make a complete album. I feel like a broken record after saying this for almost every single one of their albums, but there's no variance in their sound at all. That, to me, is more offensive than a band trying to experiment and not quite pulling it off. Casting Crowns ThriveCasting Crowns The Very Next ThingDavid Bowie Never Let Me DownImagine Dragons Smoke + MirrorsImagine Dragons ƎVOLVEKaty Perry Witnesstrash: noun 1. discarded matter; refuse 2. this albumMaroon 5 OverexposedWhat the hell happened to Maroon 5? They had so much promise on Songs about Jane and followed it up with slightly worse but still decent records that kept their funk rock style intact. On Overexposed, all we get is tons of sugary pop garbage that was the exact opposite of what we loved about Maroon 5. Maybe Adam Levine should have marketed this as a solo album. Maybe they should have stuck to the funkier side of pop rock. I don't know. What I do know is that this is an incredibly pitiful album from a band with promise. Maroon 5 VIt's official: Maroon 5 is Adam Levine's solo project now. This is almost as bad as Overexposed. This is pathetic. There's no way this is the same band that released Songs About Jane and It Won't Be Soon Before Long. Skillet Rise
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