This week's #5 album is just one of Neil Young's 55 studio albums. While I like some of his work, such as After the Gold Rush and Harvest, I am not a big enough fan of his to listen to all of his work. As far as I can recall, I have not heard any of the songs on this album prior to today.

Apparently this album was recorded with Pearl Jam. I didn't learn this fact until after I listened and I couldn't have guessed it. I guess it's kind of grungey, but only if you think to listen for it.

Doing this project I've noticed that albums like this, made by musicians past their prime, have very short periods near the top of the charts. My guess is that because they were so well known, a fixed set of fans will always buy a copy as soon as it comes out. However, because the fan base isn't growing, there's no long tail of purchases. Many albums in the top sales list have been in the charts for a year or more. In one month, Mirror Ball will drop to #48, and in two months to #96, almost out of the listing entirely.

As far as this album goes, it's decent. According to this ranking, it's his thirteenth best album, which makes it above average. That list puts After the Gold Rush and Harvest at #1 and #2, which, duh. I guess if you are really into Neil Young you could do worse than Mirror Ball.

By 1995 Michael Jackson's popular image had already been damaged following the 1993 child sexual abuse allegations. Nevertheless, he was still a huge star and HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I shot to #1 upon release. This is a double album: the first half is a greatest hits collection and the second half new material.

I'm pretty sure I have heard all the songs in the first half before. Jackson had thirteen songs hit #1 which alone is enough for a greatest hits album. As a greatest hits collection the first half of the album works well and is a good way to listen to some Michael Jackson, if you're in the mood.

Regarding the second half of the album, I can honestly say I don't think I've ever heard any of the songs except for You Are Not Alone (which was written and produced by R. Kelly, speaking of child sexual abuse allegations). This was Jackon's final #1 hit and if I recall correctly received decent radio airplay.

Personally, I think that Jackson's earlier work is far and away better than his later work. He because a big star for a reason, the earlier songs are excellent, and I think he got away from that. This album highlights that change from the first half to the second. My recommendation is to skip the second half of this album.

I have never seen the animated movie Pocahontas, therefore the #2 album this week is particularly meaningless to me. There are some movie soundtracks that have one or two hit songs that make big radio airplay. I do not recognize any of the songs off this album.

I'll make it short and easy: I don't care about this album, and I don't think you should or will, either.

I believe that Pulse by Pink Floyd is the first double album I've reviewed so far. Despite having the high price of $34.99 (~$76 in 2025), it debuted at #1.

Pulse is a live album which I often have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, they can have different energy than a studio album, but they can also go awry with bad mixing or extended and aimless modifications to songs. This album is kind of neither of those. I don't think the energy of the songs is improved compared to the studio versions, and there aren't that many changes to the live songs. Pink Floyd was a Progressive Rock band which are known for their extended solos in live performances. This album lacks those for the most part, which I'm grateful for, but lacking changes to the songs removes the point of a live album.

According to the internet's brain, early versions of the CD album included a battery-powered flashing LED. A pulsing LED, one would say.

I don't think that this album amounts to much. If you like Pink Floyd, you might as well check it out, but I wouldn't cancel any other plans you have to listen to it.

It's been over a month since the last album review, but finally the slow summer of music in 1995 has delivered some new albums in the top 10. This week debuting at #3 is Poverty's Paradise by Naughty by Nature.

Like anyone alive in 1991, my first exposure to Naughty by Nature was their huge hit O.P.P.. The only song I am sure I have heard before off of Poverty's Paradise is Feel Me Flow, which does have a good flow, so I'm happy to feel it.

I don't think about Naughty by Nature much, and my play history confirms that. Before I listened to this album I had only 15 plays since 2018. Listening to this album has reminded me that I like Naughty by Nature's kind of hip-hop, and I should listen to them more when I am in the mood for hip-hop. This is an unusual thing, and is the best outcome of listening to music from 30 years ago.

My recommendation is to check out this album and remind yourself why O.P.P. was such a big hit.

The late spring/early summer of 1995 must have been a slow period in the music biz because the top ten albums didn't change all that much. Looking through the Billboard top album sales, I won't have a new album to review until June 16th.

In the meantime, it's never the wrong time to listen to some albums that are great but I haven't reviewed. For example, The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails was released over a year ago at #2, but I didn't review it because it was eclipsed by Superunknown by Soundgarden at #1. The Downward Spiral quickly fell out of the top ten so I didn't formally review it. Briefly, it's a great album, go listen to it!

I'm not going to belabor this. This week's album at #2 is the soundtrack for the 1995 buddy comedy Friday. I have not seen the movie, but the consensus seems that it wasn't horrible. The soundtrack is nothing special. Apparently the track Keep Their Heads Ringin' was a hit although I don't remember it.

You can skip this album.

The only song I remember hearing off the #6 album this week is More Human Than Human. I don't think I've heard it in a long, long time. After listening to the entirety of Astro Creep: 2000 Songs Of Love, Destruction And Other Synthetic Delusions Of The Electric Head, I am not disappointed that my exposure to White Zombie has not been comprehensive. I did not like this album much and I can't recommend it.

When I saw the #6 album for this week, I said "I've never heard of John Michael Montgomery," but that's not true. Last year I reviewed All-4-One which included a cover of I Swear that was written and originally performed by John Michael Montgomery. I mentioned this in my review, but 10 months later his name did not remain embedded in my memory.

I Swear isn't on this eponymous album, but I Can Love You Like That is, which was also covered by All-4-One to great success. Playing this album I Can Love You Like That seemed familiar, but I'm not sure if it was the Country or R&B version I have heard before. All-4-One has many thanks to give John Michael Montgomery!

Outside of the All-4-One/John Michael Montgomery connection, I find nothing interesting about this album. It's not bad, but it's nothing special. The first line of the first song includes the words "I drive a pickup truck." This album was not trying to break new ground. If you're into this kind of Country music, I'm sure it delivers. I'm not, so it doesn't for me, and I can't recommend this album.

There were no new albums in the top ten last week, but this week another new hip-hop album debuts in the top ten, this time at #7. Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version by Ol' Dirty Bastard was his debut solo record. He was a member of Wu-Tang Clan from its founding until his death in 2004.

This review is basically a repeat of my last review. Like 2Pac, I was never into Ol' Dirty Bastard (nor Wu-Tang), and listening to this album hasn't changed my mind thirty years later. I acknowledge that Wu-Tang and Ol' Dirty Bastard are important to the history of hip-hop, and that alone means they're worth listening to at least once, but I'm just not into them.

There were no new albums in the top ten last week, but this week a new entrant rockets to #1. I was never that into 2Pac, and listening to this album this week hasn't changed my mind. I acknowledge that he was one of the best at his craft, and I like some of his contemporaries in hip-hop, but for whatever reason 2Pac just doesn't do it for me.

Considering his historical importance it's probably worth your time familiarizing yourself with 2Pac, but I personally don't endorse his music.

Last week there was no new album in the top ten, but this week a new arrival shot straight to the top. Released in 1995, this was the first "Greatest Hits" album by Bruce Springsteen. In the thirty years since quite a few more have been released.

Springsteen certainly wasn't at peak popularity in 1995, his most recent albums released in 1992 (Human Touch and Lucky Town) didn't match the success of his earlier work. His contribution of the song Streets of Philadelphia to the film of the same name in 1993 definitely helped keep him relevant. A decade removed from his best and most popular album was probably a good time to revisit his twenty years of music. Many critics dislike compilation/best of albums, but they are obviously very popular with consumers.

Springsteen is currently my #1 most listened to artist on last.fm. I am obviously biased in favor of his music. My favorite Springsteen compilation album is probably The Promise, but this first Greatest Hits album is a good collection of the best of his first two decades of songs.

Thinking back I wasn't into Springsteen in 1995 as much as I am now. When I was a teenager his kind of rock music wasn't in fashion and it took me until the wisdom of adulthood to discover it.

I don't necessarily recommend this exact compilation of Springsteen, but I do recommend listening to his library. A more recent Greatest Hits from 2024 is another good choice, especially in the 31 song digital version. You should check it out!

According to the chart, Throwing Copper by Live had been out for almost a year (43 weeks) before it cracked the top ten. The good news for Live was that their trajectory continued upwards all the way to the top. According to wikipedia the album took 52 weeks to reach #1 in May, 1995.

I seem to remember some rumblings when this album was popular that Live was secretly a Christian rock band that was crossing over to the mainstream, and that some of the songs like Lightning Crashes were anti-abortion songs. Reading the wikipedia page for Lightning Crashes, it seems that some of that confusion might have come from the music video. In truth the song was dedicated to a high school friend of the lead singer who was killed by a drunk driver.

My opinion of Live has perhaps been tainted by these rumblings and I never got into deeply their music. My listening count for Live is small and a few of their contemporaries have quite a bit more plays from me, like Collective Soul, Bush, and Counting Crows. Listening now I think the music is just a bit too corny and just a bit over the top for me.

My recommendation is that Throwing Copper is worth a stream, but it's not spectacular. It is very 90s, and it is fun to re-discover some of Live's music from thirty years ago.

In a three months (thirty years ago) Cracked Rear View by Hootie & the Blowfish will hit #1, but this week it is only at #7. Looking at the last.fm page for Hootie & the Blowfish the top comment says "Damn...their one album sold more copies than they have plays on Last.fm" which equally true and revealing. As of this writing, they have 7.6 million scrobbles on last.fm, while Cracked Rear View has sold over 20 million copies. Working the math, this means that if all of Hootie's scrobbles came from playing a copy of Cracked Rear View just once, only 3% of those albums sold have been played while last.fm has existed. Clearly, Hootie's popularity is not what it once was.

Of course, this is not how scrobbling works; last.fm didn't exist when the album was released and only a fraction of music listeners bother to scrobble their plays. Also, I don't want to emphasize scrobble counts too much: The Beatles have 842 million scrobbles and Taylor Swift has 2.86 billion. I would hope that even Taylor Swift would admit that The Beatles are far and away more important, consequential, and everlasting (and honestly better) than she is. The only real thing we can read from Hootie's scrobble count is that they have fallen out of the current musical zeitgeist.

Like most last.fm users, my listening history for Hootie is pretty thin. I had only 17 plays prior to listening to this album, which averages to less than one play per year. I remember being aware of Hootie when it came out and hearing the songs on the radio, but they were not what I purposely listened to. Thirty years later, I don't think my opinions have changed all that much. Hootie is fine, but doesn't move me nor does it grab my attention. This album gets a big "meh" from me, I recommend that you listen to it, or don't, whatever, I don't care.

This week we drop down to the #7 album Cocktails by Too $hort. Before listening to this album I had exactly zero Too $hort plays recorded on last.fm. I recall him being somewhat popular thirty-ish years ago, but clearly I haven't thought about him much since then.

Thirty years later, I can't say that his music has grown on me. It's quite misogynistic and explicit about how he treats women. Don't get me wrong, I don't subscribe to moral panics and music. I don't think that just because I don't like this music it should be banned, censored, or otherwise. A lot of music tells stories, which includes boasting, and there are different ways to do that in different musical genres. I just don't dig his way of telling stories, and his stories don't interest me.

My recommendation is to skip listening to this album. Instead, why don't you spin up Wildflowers by Tom Petty? It peaked at #8 in December 1994, and dropped down since then. I didn't review it because other un-reviewed albums were higher during the holidays, which was a shame. Wildflowers is a far, far better album than Cocktails, and it deserves your attention. Links to various streaming services are below 👇🏻.