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This week we reviewed:

• Nirvana - Nevermind (1991) (Me)
• Coldplay - X & Y (2005) (Mum)
• Pendulum - Immersion (2010) (Brother)
• Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak (1976) (Dad)

There's a long answer and a short answer to the question: ‘why did I choose Nirvana?' The long answer I can't really remember, something to do with listening to their music at a party, making it more of a non-existent answer. But the short answer is that I thought any music reviewer worth their salt should probably have a rounded knowledge of all music. It was on that note that I dipped my toe into the pool of grunge music. Overall impression based off a listen was off good rocky (grungy?) music, passion, emotion, angry shouting oh and what a good voice Kurt Cobain had. Didn't always understand WHAT he was singing about - but I did practically the whole of Smells Like Teen Spirit which apparently makes me some sort of rarity. My dad can sum up our collective feelings on the album quite accurately: 50% brilliant 50% mediocre. Some truly excellent tracks (of which, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Come as You Are, Breed...) excellent guitar riffs, excellent vocals and of course my drummer brother loved the beats. As for the album as a whole and the grunge movement...the jury's still out for us.

X & Y is an album we could probably all rave about for ages. As an idea, my dad frequently uses it as his analogy for a group's magnum opus: "That's their X & Y..." This is completely subjective of course, I actually prefer Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends but I can't deny the awesome feat that is this album. Nominated simply because my mum fancied hearing some Coldplay, it's choking musically and lyrically with songs like Fix You that actually reduce people to tears. Funnily enough it's one of two albums I properly listened to in 2005 that matured my musical tastes (incidentally, the other was Gorillaz's Demon Days). And the well-known songs released as singles aren't even the best tracks from the album (I personally love A Message). Like Nevermind, the album has a very solid start but in contrast, it maintains it. My brother called it ‘blindingly excellent' and my other brother said it was ‘very moving'. If we rated albums it would be five stars.

Pendulum are another band I could rave about for a while. There seems to be a bit of division in their fan-base over what is better, their drum and bass era or their electronic rock-with singing era. I'm one of the fence sitters that loves both. My brother nominated this album based on the strength of the two singles (at the time) Watercolour and Witchcraft, that he loved. I didn't actally like the album that much on a first listen, but it grew on me a LOT over time. The only song I don't really like now is Self vs Self but even that's a grower I reckon. My mum thought it was too samey but really like the visual/auditory theme of water/sea that seemed to run through the album with the lyrics, song titles, even ambient noise of waves on the last track. However - disagreement alert! - my dad was struck by the variety of the album, the influences of dance, drum and bass, electronica, rock...it wasn't what he was expecting. A very good album but whether you enjoy it or not probably depends on what you expect from Pendulum as a band now.

Finally Thin Lizzy. Nominated because my dad was stuck at a station recently and listened to some of Thin Lizzy's greatest hits - realised they were a classic rock band (or remembered...) and so the story unfolds from there. When he listened to it he was amazed by the contrasts of the rocky ‘hard rock' tracks and the softer tracks. Also: Phil Lynott's voice = one of the best rock voices ever. Mum was unsure, she didn't know that much from the album but the classics were classic and Lynott's voice was familiar. For us kids, the defining moment of the album was discovering that it was Thin Lizzy that gave the world The Boys are Back in Town which is an iconic track (goes without saying really). Apart from that, it was a fun album, good to hum along too. My personal favourite was Romeo and the Lonely Girl, pretty and catchy. Whilst on favourite tracks, a special shout out should go to my dad's love of the track Emerald, which he calls one of the best rock tracks ever written, mainly for its guitar. So a classic 70s rock album.

Album of the week?: Guess what? We didn't even discuss it again. Boo us. Probably Coldplay though.

Fancy a listen?

• Nirvana - Come As You Are (with that oh-so-catchy riff and Cobain's memorable vocals.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vabnZ9-ex7o&ob=av2e
• Coldplay - Talk (one of the best singles, sadly not as well known as others.) http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmli1_coldplay-talk_music
• Pendulum - The Island (new single. Very good.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hszZmFRPqx8
• Thin Lizzy -The Boys are Back in Town (because it is very good and a classic.) http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7oph_thin-lizzy-the-boys-are-back-in-t...