275 - Eminem - The Slim Shady LP

I thought I had reviewed this album before. Thought this was a case of a previously lower-ranked album jumping ahead of my position in the list when the list was revamped a couple of months ago. But, I've looked through the last 100 reviews and this wasn't among those.

The yelling that really annoyed me with the other albums doesn't seem to be as dominant on The Slim Shady LP. That difference really helped in my having a better attitude about listening to this. The storytelling is more interesting to me on this album, but add me to the choir of critics that are annoyed with the likely-intentional blurring of what is supposed to be real and what is just fiction. The blurring helps with the some legal and artistic issues, but also cause additional artistic and credibility questions to me. If Eminem didn't have Dr. Dre covering his back, would the elements of fiction in these songs be seen as more white-boy posing that is not far from the ridiculous braggadocio of Vanilla Ice?

Songs I knew I liked: "My Name Is"

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Bad Meets Evil"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: I was indifferent to many songs and did start to skip some of the short interludes, but there wasn't a full-fledged song that I itched to skip.

274 - LaBelle - Nightbirds

Nightbirds sounds fine, but it just didn't do much for me. The songs shift from spacy funk to New Orleans soul to pop R&B. It is a good album that lacks songs that grabbed me upon repeated listens. However, I will state that there is a bit of "woman power" demonstrated in the lyrics and attitude in these songs that grew on me after a while.

Songs I knew I liked: None

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Nightbirds" - sounded like it could have been an R&B cover of a Joni Mitchell song.

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: "Lady Marmalade" is just burned out for me.