Review #394: Diana, Diana Ross Diana & the Supremes appeared on the Temptations’ Anthology. This album was released ten years after she left the girl group, and her career was already a major success — her debut had the hit “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Plus, she was a film…

#393: 1989, Taylor Swift It’s been nearly two years since I reviewed Red. Since then, Swift released Midnights and went on an Internet-breaking, legislation-making tour. (My sister is seeing her in July — I’m too busy reviewing albums, I guess.) She’s even got herself a little controversy. But let’s go…

#392: Proud Mary: The Best of Ike and Tina Turner, Ike & Tina Turner This is the second album I’ve reviewed shortly after the artist’s death. I kind of feel weird about it. Anna Mae Bullock started her career by asking if she could join Ike Turner’s band, where he…

#391: Kaleidoscope, Kelis I didn’t recognize Kelis until I realized that she had arguably the biggest sleeper hit of 2003, “Milkshake.” You know, My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard! A cultural icon? I think so. But according to Kelis, she didn’t earn a penny from the sales…

#390: Surfer Rosa, Pixies The Pixies studio debut was produced by Steve Albini, former frontman of Big Black and one of the most influential producers of the Nineties. Albini worked on a plethora of records I love — PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me, Nirvana’s In Utero, and (perhaps his best…

#389: The Emancipation of Mimi, Mariah Carey I love that we get a one-two punch of Aretha-Mariah. Give me women that can blow over buildings with their vocal chords. This 2005 album was kind of Mariah’s comeback, her first hit record after the release of her 2001 movie Glitter. (Which…

#388: Young, Gifted and Black, Aretha Franklin It’s a little bit sad to encounter some “last” albums on the RS 500 list — we’ve hit our last Radiohead album, our last Lil Wayne album, and now our last Aretha Franklin album. In some ways it’s exciting, because we’re coming up…

#387: In Rainbows, Radiohead What a Radiohead album to end on. All of their records that we’ve reviewed so far came before In Rainbows. Then, in 2004, their contract with EMI expired, and they were under no obligation to release any other records. So for a while they just didn’t…

#386: Donuts, J Dilla J Dilla’s production CV is kind of legit. He helped produce songs for De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Raekwon, MF DOOM, Janet Jackson, Erykah Badu, and Ghostface Killah. …