Tamara's Album Recommendations
Many of us spend too many minutes or hours of our day just listening to music. This can be at home, it can be on a long bus journey, and sometimes music is just a soft background noise in our ears. It can be heard from anywhere imaginable and of any possible genre out there, and yet, we all feel some form of connection with the melodies accompanying us in our darkest or most precious moments.
Soft melodies or the wild rhythm of some bass and drums can evoke the way we think and the way we feel. Music is a language. We don't need to understand the spoken words, the singing we hear doesn't have to be in a language we were raised to speak. It doesn't matter because somehow we understand what the artist/musician wanted us to feel even if the speech itself is one we haven't studied.
It's an art. It reaches places within us that we often don't recognize.
I'm here to share and review a few albums that I believe are a true masterpiece that has made me feel a certain type of way. The genres are mixed so I'm sure there is something that will make you wonder. Be open minded. Music is for all audiences.
Making this was actually very challenging because these days I tend to create my own Spotify playlists which are combinations of hundreds of songs by various artists. It's been a while since I've sat down and remembered just a few of the truly brilliant albums out there.
None of this is in particular order.
Prepare for your mind to be blown.
Read, then listen.
1. Rumours- Fleetwood Mac.
Over 300 million copies have been sold world wide?
The album was created with a wide mixture of acoustic and electronic instruments, allowing it to not only soothe you into a calm-like state, but boost your spirits when you feel yourself drowning in your thoughts. The lyrics are meaningful and beautiful, almost haunting in the way that it keeps you hanging and focused on every word coating you in it's veil of warmth and care. It's uplifting and often makes you want to dance.
With eleven songs, it does something magnificent to the heart and ears of the listener. My personal favorite song in Rumors is none other than 'The Chain'.
The album is still considered legendary, with excellent reviews from all major music journalists and the like.
It's truly beautiful.
Personal rating: 4.5/5 STARS.
2. II - Led Zeppelin.
Released on the 22nd of October, 1969 this album follows more than one genre of music that keeps you on the edge of your seat. It skips between hard rock, blues rock, folk rock, general rock music and even touches upon heavy metal. An odd combination that many bands even in this era could struggle to compose (since usually albums these days consist of one genre or theme alone) and make a success, but they played their cards well and created something fans of many genres could appreciate nearly 50 years later.
Each of Led Zeppelin's 9 albums made it into the Billboard top 10 and the band were described to be as influential in the 70's as The Beatles were in the 60's by the museum's biography in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The album contains 9 songs, which means you can sit back and listen to it in one go without worrying too much about it taking too long to finish.
This is another album still considered to be influential, and personally, I put this high on my list of the best music I've listened to.
It seriously takes you on a journey and leaves you satisfied and full by the end.
Personal Rating: 5 STARS.
Maybe I'm too generous. But when I as much as think about this album it makes me feel relaxed and chilled. That's impressive in itself.
Maybe I'm too generous. But when I as much as think about this album it makes me feel relaxed and chilled. That's impressive in itself.
3. NEW KIDS REPACKAGE : THE NEW KIDS- iKON
I found it surprisingly difficult on deciding which album by iKON I wanted to include on this list. But after some deliberation I decided on their album which was revamped up to include a mixture of new and old songs (released on the 7th of January, 2019) that worked well together to create this phenomenon.
iKON is a 7 member South-Korean boy-group who were introduced in the reality survival program 'WIN: Who is Next' as 'Team B'.
Their talent is very impressive especially considering the leader Hanbin, produces their own music for the group which is pretty rare in the K-pop industry. He won Songwriter of the Year at the Melon Music Awards in 2018.
They mix sounds of hip-hop, rap in this compilation album and also included their songs with meaningful lyrics and sad melodies to slow it down and bring attention to the rest of their sound and capabilities.
Each song has a slightly different vibe that makes me subconsciously sway or bob my head. It immediately puts me in a good mood since there's so much going on that's put together to give fans what they want plus more.
99% of Google users liked this album.
Personal Rating: 4/5 STARS.
Awesome music however, the album is long and includes 23 songs since there's such a wide mix of some of their previous records so you may not have the time to listen to it all at once.
4. Foreplay- Mild Orange
The 4 member group from New Zealand independently produced and published their first album 'Foreplay' in April, 2018.
It consists of 7 songs with an indie vibe combined with a little soft rock, and described as dream pop, that touches the soul and makes me feel incredibly nostalgic. It pushes me back into my imagination as I listen to the tunes string together to create something that's almost like magic. Everything fits together so perfectly, the instrumentals and the slightly raspy singing echoes in my ear to make me feel like I've entered a montage in a movie.
It feels so honest and raw. Like I'm listening to something deeply personal. They've clearly put their heart and soul into each and every song. It's so passionate that I can practically imagine them recording the music, giving it their all. If I was to describe the album to a stranger I would call it 'groovy' or maybe even 'funky' but it feels like words fall short. Nothing can quite explain the greatness of this album.
I'm truly amazed.
They really brought me back into the Indie genre by doing something that feels new and fresh.
Personal Rating: 5/5 STARS.
Truly magnificent.
5. Screaming Bloody Murder - Sum41
This one goes out to the fans of the more punk rock, hard rock scene.
For a while Sum41 were my favourite band and I was particularly fond of their album 'Chuck' but over the years I overplayed it and began to appreciate the sounds on their slightly more recent music consisting of heavier, louder, somewhat angrier instrumentals of guitar and symbol hitting on the drums. Although they did manage to include melodic sad singing and often created a big beat drop were things became more serious and albeit dramatic (referred to as the 'melodic hardcore' genre). The sort of beats you could happily head bang too and have a great time.
'Screaming Bloody Murder' was released on the 29th of March, 2011 and is their fifth studio album. I do find that interesting since lots of these punk bands who formed in the early 2000s seemed in my opinion to go downhill in later years after experimenting with too many modern genres. But Sum41 maintained their good music while verging onto the darker side of lyric writing. They did not fall into the trends these other bands did of turning cheesy once becoming possibly more drained and less creative.
However, there has been mixed reviews on this album. Personally, I think it turned out well despite the apparent criticism of it being compared to works of Green Day and My Chemical Romance.
It comes down to everyone's own opinions but I included it on my recommendations for a reason. It's catchy, meaningful and can be related to. If you like rock and the alternative sides of things then this is for you.
Personal Rating: 4/5 STARS.
This is a great album to listen to if you want to let your stress or bad mood out and fancy rocking out to yourself in your bedroom. But if you want to relax or you aren't particularly interested in listening to 40-odd minutes of frantic guitars then some of the songs might be a bit too hardcore for that.
However, it's got some super catchy songs like 'Baby You Don't Wanna Know'.
Let me know if you decide to give any of my album recommendations a listen. It would be great to get a second opinion.
What are some of your favourite albums and do you agree with my reviews and the ratings followed?
All the recommended albums are available on Spotify.
No copyright intended, all album covers are not of my creation, credit is to the creators.
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