Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun (2000)

I'm not really surprised that the album pictured above opens with a reggae-inspired number. I am a bit surprised that I sorta like it. Aside from the vocal track having a sharp tone applied (I don't know the technical term) the instrumentation is deep and balanced, and the song winds up being more than just a long slow groove. It's a nice kick-off to an artist I've never heard of before.

Portishead - Dummy (1994)

The Kinks - Are The Village Green Preservation Society (1968)

Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation: 1814 (1989)

Leonard Cohen - Songs From A Room (1969)

The Prodigy - Music for the Jilted Generation (1994)

If I remember my The Prodigy correctly I'm about to hear 80 minutes of video game music. It's a shame such awesome cover art has to be wasted on this techno junk.

The Everly Brothers - A Date With The Everly Brothers (1960)

Black Sabbath - Vol. 4 (1972)

I haven't listened to a lot of Black Sabbath in my life. I suppose I should correct that. They are considered one of the progenitors of heavy metal along with Led Zeppelin, my favorite band. We'll see how they compare, and I'll try to be as objective as possible.

Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd - Jazz Samba (1962)

It's been a while since I've looked into jazz, and I don't think I've heard any samba yet. So this could be exciting. I'm also sadly looking forward to this being a relatively short album at just over 33 minutes. Should be a breeze, right?

Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express (1977)

I can't see that artist's name and not think about "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk". Please click that link, it will make you happy. If it doesn't... I will have never lost more faith in humanity. No amount of Fatboy Slim music could ever bring me as low and you hating on the Land of Chocolate could.

Metallica - Master Of Puppets (1986)

The next album on my list was supposed to be Metallica's S&M. When I read that album was actually a live album played with a full orchestral backing I decided to make a change. Heavy metal music can be completely altered with a large orchestra acting in support. The results are occasionally beautiful. I'm concerned that hearing Metallica's music reworked in such a way will taint my opinion of how they originally intended the songs to be heard in their studio album form. So I've pushed S&M back and will start with the oldest Metallica album on my list, their third album as a band, Master Of Puppets.

Vox's 7 Best Songs of February Reviewed By Me

In trying to keep up with the musical times I've decided to take a peak at the songs linked in a Vox.com article titled "The 7 best songs of February". I've only previously heard of two of these artists before, so most of this is entirely new to me. The fact that some of these artists already have as many as 6 albums and I've never heard of them is a bit shocking.