It's been a while since I reviewed an album by any artist(s) I actually like, therefore reviewing a Red Hot Chili Peppers album is a big relief. As of this writing they are #8 in my rankings of listens by artist.

One Hot Minute (the #4 album this week) was released four years after RHCP's best album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, which was always going to be a tough act to follow. One Hot Minute has never been my favorite RCHP album. It isn't bad at all, but compared to Blood Sugar Sex Magik it was always going to pale. Interestingly, the internet ranks One Hot Minute all over the place, from worst, to fourth, and spots in between. I'm not knowledgeable enough about the RHCP corpus of work to say where One Hot Minute fits.

There were a few decent hits off of the album, including Warped, My Friends, and Aeroplane, all of which I remember hearing contemporaneously on the radio, and sometimes still do on "classic rock" stations (a thought that makes me feel old!).

This album is probably worth your time, as are all RHCP albums.

I think there is only one song off of this week's #9 album by Silverchair that I've heard before. Tomorrow off of Frogstomp got a decent amount of airplay when it came out. The rest of the album seemed new to me, and my last.fm history pretty much confirms it.

Silverchair definitely rode the tails of the Grunge wave, and they did a good enough job of it to sell a couple million copies of Frogstomp. I don't think that I will increase my Silverchair consumption a great deal, but perhaps I'll think it more often when I'm in the mood for some Grunge. You might consider the same!

Rising steadily in the charts, the #3 album this week will hit #1 in a few weeks. I'm not sure I have ever listened to the entirety of Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette; certainly not since I started tracking plays on last.fm. I have, of course, heard all the big hits off the album, of which there are many. Jagged Little Pill was huge when it came out and You Oughta Know was everywhere on the radio in 1995 and 1996. The non-ironies in Ironic have been pointed out for decades. The album might have contributed to the English language. It's possible that the term "Friends with Benefits" originated in Head over Feet.

It's hard to form any new opinions about this album because the singles were so ubiquitous. They were earworms then, and they are earworms now. There's no harm in listening to the album, short of a Friends marathon, it's one of the best ways to transport yourself back to (or get a small taste of if you're too young) the mid-90s.

I'm dismayed to discover that as of this writing there is no harmonica emoji. This feels like a huge omission and should be rectified with great haste. If there was a harmonica emoji, I could visually represent what it's like to listen to Blues Traveler by inserting it in this text. Instead, I'll have to make do with the musical instrument emoji we do have, and you'll have to imagine it's a harmonica.

Released in September 1994, four by Blues Traveler 🎸 is at #9 this week, one spot lower than 🪗 it will eventually peak at #8. If you were alive in 🥁 the mid-90s you will remember that 🪈 the two big singles off this album, Run-Around and Hook, were everywhere on the 🎹 radio to the point that I got a bit tired of them.

Thirty years later I am 🎻 not as bothered by the songs. I think 🎷 Blues Traveler is fine; their music 🎺 feels very much of the era in the mid-90s, along with Dave Matthews Band and Hootie & 🪕 the Blowfish. Blues Traveler wasn't my 🪘 favorite band at the time, and that 🪉 hasn't changed. I don't dislike their 🪇 music, and sometimes I'm in 🪕 the mood for it, but 🎸 not often. In summary, if 🪇 you're in the mood for 🪉 to Blues Traveler, this is 🪗 the album to listen to.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Debuting at #1, Balance by Van Halen displaced the un-reviewed Garth Brooks album from the top spot (fret not Garth fans, it returns to #1 next week).

I like much of Van Halen, but this album isn't as good as their earlier work. Albums like Van Halen, 1984, and 5150 all have what made Van Halen great, and this album lacks. Van Halen was about big, energetic songs, and Balance doesn't have those. Eddie's guitar playing is, of course, excellent, but the songs don't grab you like, say, Runnin' with the Devil does.

My recommendation is to listen to the album, but don't expect what you would get out of their earlier albums.

Rising to #6 this week, No Need to Argue by The Cranberries was the band's second album after Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? and is their top selling album. It features the international hit song Zombie that according to the Wikipedia page, "wasn't grunge, but the timing was good," but definitely has grunge elements in my opinion. I think the only other single off the album I remember hearing on the radio was Ode to My Family.

The lead singer Dolores O'Riordan had a highly distinctive voice that's instantly recognizable. They surely would not have achieved success without her.

The Cranberries have long-lasting appeal. My 12 year old daughter loves Zombie. This album is definitely worth checking out.

It's been two weeks since my last album review because there were no un-reviewed albums in the top 10 last week. This week Big Ones by Aerosmith hit #8 on the charts. Big Ones is compilation/greatest hits album covering their prior three studio albums.

I remember when this album came out; a friend had a copy and I borrowed it for a short time. Aerosmith was experiencing a resurgence of popularity and the songs on this album seemed really cool. I didn't have MTV at home, but I was aware that their music videos featured attractive young women, something I was, ahem, interested in. Hilariously, the video for Amazing reminds me of Celery Man.

Ultimately, I can't say I've been the biggest Aerosmith fan. I don't dislike them, but they're not often the thing I go to. Looking through their music library I think I should spend some time (re)visiting it. There are albums I know I like, e.g. Toys in the Attic, so there are probably more. I would therefore say that this edition of 30 Years On is a win. It reminded me of an album I enjoyed, and to also explore the Aerosmith library more fully than I have done. It's too early for me to suggest Big Ones over the three albums the songs are drawn from, but it's not a bad compilation album and it's likely you'd enjoy it.

The top-selling un-reviewed album this week is not Live at the BBC by The Beatles, it's The Hits by Garth Brooks. The reason I am not reviewing Garth Brooks is that he has chosen to prevent his entire catalog from being on any music streaming service except Amazon Music, and I don't have access to Amazon Music.

According to that article linked above, his stance seems mostly reasonable: most/all streaming services probably underpay artists for the music they serve to customers. The whole world of music for $15-20 a month is an incredible deal and as a consumer it's amazing. What's not reasonable is his choice of Amazon. Amazon is a notoriously bad company to work for as an employee (every word is a link to a different article about unsavory Amazon business practices). The article says that Brooks chose Amazon because they're also a retailer. I guess that as long as a consumer can choose to buy a physical album from a retailer it's okay if the same retailer streams his music? But that physical album would be shipped by underpaid, overworked, and exploited employees largely for the benefit of one of the richest people on earth. Are underpaid warehouse and delivery drivers better than underpaid artists? Brooks' choice of Amazon seems to ignore all the bad things about Amazon and suggests that it really is only about money: the money Amazon gives to Brooks.

My household used to pay for Amazon Prime, but we cancelled it and don't miss it. I admit to occasionally still buying things from Amazon, but only when I absolutely cannot find it anywhere else. I try to buy things online from specific retailers: bicycle stuff from bicycle retailers, electronics from electronics retailers, etc. I do see my own hypocrisy: I listen to music at very low cost (that pays low royalties) but also am trying to not support very low cost shopping (that pays low wages). I think the bottom line is I have basically zero market power; my choices are imperceptible to these affected groups. I don't matter. However, a big star like Garth Brooks has power, and he's chosen to use his power in what appears to be a mostly self-serving way with morals at least as flexible as mine.

I could pirate the album, but I don't care enough about Garth Brooks to do that. It's not available at my local library, either. Instead I'll drop down to #7 and listen to some Beatles, an outcome I don't dislike.

This album is mostly covers performed by the Beatles for various BBC radio programs. On the one hand, I generally disfavor covers unless they do something the original didn't. In this case, what's been added is that these covers are performed by the freakin' Beatles. The Beatles got their start (including going back to The Quarrymen days) playing covers in clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany. By the time of these BBC recordings they were surely more polished than those early days, but I'd like to think that these songs have some of the quality and energy of the Beatles before they got world famous.

You should definitely check out this album. The only asterisk is that it's over two hours long with 56 songs and a few spoken tracks. Perhaps take smaller bites of the album with breaks so you may listen without becoming overwhelmed.

For the third time in four weeks, an album debuts at #1. Hell Freezes Over by the Eagles marked their return to recording and performing together after a fourteen-year break up/hiatus. The album is in two parts. The first four songs are new material recorded in a studio. The remaining eleven songs are all live versions of older songs. This is the second Eagles album I've reviewed; I did Eagles Live almost 14 years ago.

Unlike The Dude, I do not hate the f-in Eagles, man (*). According to last.fm, I have listened to the Eagles over 1800 times. I haven't listened to Hell Freezes Over very much, around 40 times as of this writing. I think that's because there's only four new songs and the rest are live versions, and in general I prefer studio versions of songs. The new songs are pretty good, both Get Over It and Love Will Keep Us Alive charted well on the radio. The live versions are interesting, with different instrumentation and arrangements than the studio versions.

Overall my recommendation is to listen to the Eagles, and listen often. Hell Freezes Over isn't bad, and perhaps worth a listen, but their other albums are much better.

(*) I made a Big Lebowski reference in my previous Eagles review, too!