Sincere

This sounds heartless.

Listened in the car and at home. I couldn't find the proper version on YouTube Music and the YouTube video playlist is wonky. Does this list have a clear British bias? Sure. Is that the only reason this album make the list? Maybe. Is it good? Sure it is! It's pleasant, has nice harmonies and the vocal features are great. A bit repetitive but that comes with the territory. Enjoyed it.

This book really missed the mark with the year 2000. It's like these reviewers were trying to be profound and pick out the timeless albums that would impact the future, but this to my ears is a totally derivative of a UK house album from the 90s. A good moment or two but really not worth it in a 70 min album. 1.7/5 -> 2/5

Was dreading listening to this but found myself liking it. It's nothing spectacular, barely even special tbh, but it's a solid collection of DJ tracks. It's not really an "album" album but the function of it is to spin around in a player while you're dancing and high. It's good for that and I thought it was a fine listen on its own.

I would rather eat an entire raw fish on my grandfathers grave while on fire then listen to one more second of this absolute trash

"Everyone's gonna love this!" -MJ Cole, probably

why is it so long? otherwise p inoffensive.

this wasn't good

I think a lot of this would be nice in the right context but sitting down and listening to over an hour of this is not particularly exciting. That said it's not unenjoyable Fav tracks: Crazy Love, Free My Mind

Great movie soundtrack music. Not great everyday listening.

(12/100)

way too long!!!

Computer music. No life, no soul whatsoever. Man, I haven’t heard anything good in a while.

Crazyyyy looove What a nostalgic trip this album is!

90's rhythm club beats, go give it another listen

So. so. bad.

Nice

Everything about this album screams amateurish which is not necessarily a bad thing we all have to start from somewhere, but as an edition to a best of list this feels like someone has something on someone - pictures they don't want released kind of deal. Not Kid Rock levels bad, but close enough.

70

I feel like there had to be better albums than this in the same genre come out before 2000. Insanely boring, inoffensive background music. I just kept waiting for something interesting to happen, no dice. Generic. Could not finish

Pretty long, but alright.

UK DJs all love to make their songs 8 min long and feature 26 remixes. Which is wild because a lot of them aren't very good.

Sounds like music that would be playing in a clothing store where you walk in, realize a t-shirt is $89, feel weirdly judged by a sales associate chewing gum behind the desk, and walk out feeling kind of depressed Fave tracks: - Tired Games - Strung Out

Its an electronic album with a lot of other stiff going on which made it unique and made it a very interesting listen. Loved the more repetitive house type songs but overall the album was quite nice. 7/10, Favorite Song: You're Mine

I would like this album a lot more if it weren't 2 hours long.

The song Sanctuary on the album is currently asking if I feel the vibes. No, I do not feel the vibes. This album is absolute crap. I don’t tap out of an album often but fuck this shit.

One and done.

most tracks have a very similar feeling. the vocals obviously change with each singer but overall not a lot of variety considering the length of the album

Album 1078 of 1089 Sincere - MJ Cole (2000) Rating : 2 / 5 This one falls into that electronic soul / UK garage style that leans heavily on rhythm, beats, and atmosphere. The production is clean and polished, and you can tell a lot of care went into the way the sounds and vocals are layered together. For me, it was a reasonably pleasant listen, though it did start to feel a little repetitive as the album went along. A lot of the tracks settle into a similar groove and stay there, which works well for the style but doesn’t always give a lot of variation from song to song. That said, I can easily imagine this kind of music working really well in the environment it was probably made for. The beats are steady, the vibe is smooth, and it feels like the kind of thing that could keep a dance floor moving for a while. I’m sure plenty of people had a good time with this when it was making the rounds in clubs.

Like the artwork suggests, this is the kind of music which I would want to soundtrack a luxury shopping experience that descends into a trash fire. Two hours of audio art is a lot to ask of the observer. On approaching the first hour's end, I've sort of lost track of time. I think I may just not finish it. The sound hasn't really aged well, but now a quarter century later it's certifiably retro, in the way my high school class thought about J. Geils, Billy Joel, or Donna Summer, but not with nearly as much musical depth or historical value as those, I think.

Nice enough and it didn’t bother me, but UK garage is not my cup of tea. I only have room for so much boots and cats in my heart. I’ll be generous with my rating because I did enjoy it more than I expected I would. (If I listened to all two hours of the deluxe edition this would probably be a different story.)

01) Introduction - 6,5 02) Tired Games - 7,0 03) Attitude - 6,5 04) Bandelero Desperado - 6,0 05) MJ FM Interlude - 5,0 06) Crazy Love - 8,5 07) Sanctuary - 5,5 08) I See - 5,5 09) Sincere (Re-Cue'd) - 7,0 10) Strung Out - 6,5 11) Rough Out Here - 6,0 12) Slum King - 5,5 13) Radio Interlude - 1,0 14) Hold on to Me - 7,0 15) Free My Mind - 7,0 TOTAL: 6,03 (60/100) Current ranking: 663/850

Not my style

I tried, I gave it a good shake but couldn’t make it to side 2. It’s incredibly long and repetitive with not much development, if you’re going to make a 2hr album it has to be ground breaking with minimal misses but this isn’t that, it’s repetitive edm.

Dislike.

Dimery and team should be issuing sincere apologies for including this one.

Why? So much cheese! I guess I didn’t mind it as some background noise while working but can’t say I’ll ever go back to this. 1.75

Not my style to begin with and also sounded quite dated... Decent background beats for work. 2.25/5

This felt like another endurance task at first. There were moments I didn’t entirely hate but overall I’m baffled by his prestige. This is nothing music to me. Muzak even!!! I like house music!! I did not like this. In fact there was one song I recognised from a house music playlist I listen to semi-regularly and I recognised it because I hate it and always skip it!

Wonderfully eccentric and eclectic, but always full of dancefloor energy. Moody, vibey while effortlessly moving between garage and 2 step, gospel harmonies and classical movements, dry synth sounds and acoustic instrumentation, sparse/stripped-down beats and lush arrangements. Sounds fresh and relevant though being almost a quarter of a century old.

Nothing about this is interesting or unique, it's just late 90's pop, bland pop at best.

didn't finish, not for me

Didnt love it. The songs were fine just a lil too long and repetitive.

i really dislike this type of electronic music (2-step and other percussion heavy stuff) but i thought since this is on the big 1001 list, it might surprise me in a good way. i was wrong. the songs are just too repetitive. the whole album just blends into one long and painful track. it's all the same speed, same beat. some songs start out quite promising and interesting but after a bit every single one of them ends up sounding the same as the last one. it might be iconic or influential, might be a good definition of its genre. but it is a dull album with very little of essence.

Mostly just fine. I think that these songs live and die based on who's featured on them, and so when it works it works, but sometimes it gets pretty abysmal. I actually found the songs that are instrumental to be my favorites on here.

I don't know anything about UK garage, but I was a little hesitant about this, given earlier in the week I was subjected to another UK electronica album that was also quite long, and it was completely mind numbing. Thankfully, this was a little bit better than that. I did enjoy the inclusion of non electronic instruments as part of this, as it helped make it a bit more interesting, but all the guest vocalists did nothing for me. I wasn't blown away. Just a nice record.

Bleeding ears

Boring techno trip hop. Nothing memorable

not great

I typically like the electronic records, but for some reason I just felt like I was waiting for this one to end. Maybe it should get a 3 because I don't think I would mind if it was playing in the background, but really it just felt lacking.

British dance music, didn't make much impression on me

I remember hearing this album when it came out. The 2 step garage style was notably different for the time. But even then, I found myself getting a bit bored after a while. I'm not sure what it is but maybe it just feels too sparse, too soulless, too repetitive. There's something novel and good about it but it just kind of feels like an incomplete thought. Like it desperately needs some extra element to hold it altogether. A synth, some layered vocals, something. It gets closer with "Bandelero Desperado" which contrasts 2 step beats with an interesting rap style. But a lot of the album is unfortunately kind of underdeveloped and forgettable.

UK Garage is not my thing, felt like i was in a mid noughts lounge

Highlights: Tired Games, MJ FM Interlude, Crazy Love, You're Mine, Sincere, Strung Out, Rough Out Here, Slum King, Hold On To Me, Free My Mind Decent house record (apparently correctly labeled as UK garage). Wasn't all that surprised by how it sounded in general, but I liked it nonetheless. What was interesting was that it had a song like Rough Out Here - it's kinda out of place but at the same time right at home. I guess that is so because it's a cover. Slum King beat began exactly like something off of Dizzie Rascal's debut, and just like something from Jet Set Radio. I liked the closing half a fair bit more than the opening one.

Electronic. Borderline boring. Good for reading

Enjoyed it more than I expected while working.

gek maar leuk!!

utter GARBAGE

Smooth listening

Aggressively mediocre

Well, that’s decent dance music. I enjoyed running with those beats in my ears. However, I don’t take this kind of music seriously and can’t imagine listening to it in any other occasion rather than gym.

Too long and repetitive. Maybe not as repetitive as other electronica albums on here though. So that saves it from 1 and even 2 stars.

Not finishing this. I don’t like what I’ve heard so far and Spotify’s track listing has a lot of extra songs compared to what Wikipedia has listed. I don’t know what really belongs on this album, but based on what I’ve heard, it doesn’t belong on this list. 1/5

Just not my thing, starts to sound all the same.

Enjoyed the smoothness.

Very Y2K, almost Frutiger Aero. Chill listen, but a bit dated and repetitive. Faves: MJ FM Interlude, I See, Sincere - Re-Cue'D,

⭐︎2.5 正直、集中して聞くのが辛かった。 イントロとタイトル曲はやや印象に残るが、それ以外はストーリー性を感じない、かっこいいでしょ！という押し付けの楽曲。好みではない。

This was good background music to work with. It's not my go-to genre but I don't mind this kind of electronica every now & then.

The album itself is pretty okay with some good songs; ofc Crazy Love is a classic hit for garage/the early 2000s dance scene. While this album is a little slow and sort of boring (to be honest) I can hear a lot of the early sounds being used the the underground uk music scene. Elisabeth Troys vocals are worth the listen tbh. I think artists like Sophie, Shygirl, Rose Gray and Lynks are great examples of the influence of these earlier experimentations. Sophie specifically hits that industrial garage feel, while Lynks is a harder sound. Shygirl has an RnB flair, and Rose Grey is the closest to the sound of this album if it was more mature.

Absolutely snoozefest. I dont really have much else to comment other than this album feels like its meant to be live mixed at a club 20 years ago, or used as a blueprint for remixes.

First Time Listen I think there are some genres and scenes that are hard to bring into modern, streaming-centric times without feeling like you're losing something. I think a lot of this 2-step house albums from the 2000s suffer from this. I don't think a full length album, listened at home on my computer on a Wednesday afternoon while completely sober, is the ideal way to experience any of this music. There's some catchy tracks here, a few I'd probably put into a house playlist or would enjoy hearing on a club mix. But listened back-to-back, with all the fluff and corny R&B lyrics in my face for an hour, I just kinda feel like I'm trapped in a Planet Fitness without my earbuds. Favorite Tracks: You're Mine, Sincere Re-Cue'd Least Favorites: MJ FM Interlude, I See 2-2.5/5

If I was ranking these songs individually, most would get a 3 out of 5. They're fine. Some are better than others, but none are incredible. Listening to all of them as an album bored me though. It's getting a 3, but it's a low one.

Tedious and lame.

I loved EDM and Techno and in the words of Jason Isbell This Ain't It Baby.

This album was too long but I’m glad I listened to it! This is one of those albums that makes me like doing this challenge.

just boring dj music

House music isn't really my bag, but this was decent. I especially liked the songs featuring soul singers. Favorite song: Free My Mind (featuring Guy S'Mone)

This is the kind of thing I was excited for this site to throw up. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a garage record in full, despite it being a huge part of British music culture. This album has some hard hitting tunes, feels like I jumped back in time to the 90s. Garage does fall into the trap that a lot of dance music suffers from which is very repetitive building blocks for each track.

Not “bad,” but generic, boring, and far too long. It’s shopping mall background music - serviceable, and not something you’ll get too annoyed by in that context, but must-listen? Nope. Started at a 3, which dropped lower and lower as it went on… 2.5

OK tunes. OK album.

Dacht dat ik de man kende, blijkbaar is dat J. Cole. Goeie muziek, beetje repetitief na 2u. Favouriet: crazy love

229/1001 MJ Cole - Sincere Heard before? ❎ Revisit? ❎ Add pretty much the exact same dull, repetitive backing beat to every track. Get some friend to add some vocals. Repeat ad nauseam.

I didn't pay too much attention, I was working, but it played in the background and it was fine. Listen, these can't always be informative.

Generic turn of the millennium dance music, didn’t notice it at the time, I can hear why.

Was an interesting album to rebuild a koi pond to all morning. Not sure if it would fit with another scenario in my life as well?

Background music

Chillout electronic for being comatose the right way. Three sources gave me three different track listings, positively tubular, so I just listened to what seemed right Not groundbreaking, just comfortable, got a little more engaging through the second half

Though I appreciated an interesting mix of R&B, jazz, and techno backbeats, I forgot this album was playing more than once. Of the modern techno this did have a good variety of diversity. But this is great martini bar music, or putting something on where you can zone out and just get some stuff done. It was well recorded, well produced, probably won’t be coming back.

Random thoughts: * I was surprised I'd never heard of this artist before. It does seem he is more British than American though. * It was kind of frenetic sounding and busy but in a good and interesting way. * It sounded like late 80s R&B over house music. * I definitely wouldn't particularly choose this music but if it was playing somewhere where I was having drinks on a warm deck, this would feel appropriate.

Mais um álbum irrelevante

More coffee shop background music.

This is what happens when you give that special little guy a Fisher Price My first turntable.

Let’s be sincere, shall we? Sincere is hot shit garbage. The kind of album that makes you wonder if the drum machine was found at the bottom of a bargain bin labeled “Absolutely Not.” It’s an endless loop of the same stale, copy-paste beats—like someone discovered a “Demo Mode” button and decided that was good enough for a full release. You can practically picture MJ Cole dusting off a prehistoric desktop PC, sliding in that mythical CD-ROM masterpiece from Best Buy—“Mixman DJ Megamix”—and whispering to himself, “Today… I become the DJ.” Because nothing screams artistic evolution like clicking “Add Loop” over and over until the timeline looks like a brick wall of bad decisions. Layer after layer after layer of sporadically random shit, all confidently assembled under the bold assumption that repetition equals genius. And just when you think it’s over—surprise! Deluxe Edition. Because what this bloated mess really needed was more. More edits. More extended versions. More opportunities to sit there questioning every life choice that led you to pressing play in the first place. Two hours of this is less an album and more an endurance test. But hey, clearly the world was crying out for the “Recloose Vocal Mix” of Wondering Why. Why? Great question. Too many whys? Absolutely. That’s the point. By the time you finish this record, you’ll be wondering why you didn’t just sit in silence instead. What a terrible way to close out the week by dropping this on a Friday.

British folk really enjoy the weirdest shit musically. This one isn't weird by any stretch, but it's just 90's-like bland techno with some singing. Nothing worth a mention on the list

Really vibey and cool to put on in the background. And a good introduction to the UK Garage sound

Felt like I was going insane from repetitiveness by the end.

Guess it represents the U.K. garage- house genre/scene, I wouldn’t know. It was ok on in the background, some nice sounds, found it a bit all over the place probably due to the multiple guest vocalists, but never really focused on it too much which kind of helped. 2 hr albums, 1st listen unless your favourite act are always a daunting task at the start, so Spotify only having the deluxe edition didn’t help. Not terrible as background music, never going to focus listen, don’t see myself ever listening again, a generous from my point of view 2.5 Star.

Great introduction

Clearly I’m not aware of any significant pioneering it it’s there - and I hope there is something I’m missing because otherwise I don’t get it. Repetitive, nothing that really stands out, just nothing on the surface that makes it stand out. I tried listening to some of them more well played songs a second time but just not connecting.

El album empezo muyyy bienn, esperaba que el disco fuera justamente como sono la introducción. No miento cuando digo que el escucharlo se te vuelve un poquito tedioso escucharlo por lo predecible que puede ser pero aun asi me gusto demasiado y realmente le preste atención

Not special. Generic. Okay for background music, especially at over 2 hours. 0 songs added to playlist.

Way too long, disc 2 could have been an email. Did enjoy some of disc 1 though, felt like a fairly meat and potatoes approach to Garage, would be interested to hear more of the genre if it comes up

Never heard of this artist before. From the opener I clocked a 00’s British garage DJ/producer. Surprised Craig David didn’t drop a feature. Bland, forgettable. MJ wishes he was Artful Dodger. Why is this an album I had to hear before I died? 2/5

It's ok. Feels like I'm on LUX's first floor and I'm going outside for a smoke. Electronic music is not my usual go-to, but it's a good album.

Album 44 Top 3 "favorites" off the album: Strung Out (Edit), I would enjoy this at the club with the right group of people for maybe an hour if this is all they were playing. If they were mixing it up, it would be longer. I snorted so hard it hurt when You're Mine started. Every song was about 2-3 minutes too long. Everything has the same drums. It's all the same track with another vocalist or two. I can't do it, bestie. I can't. "Do you feel the vibes?" Yes! If the vibes are meant to be staring at a fucking wall for over an hour listening to the same song over and over again! I feel something! I hated "I See." I did. After that point, I was grinding my damn teeth, because why was the album still going? Fuck's sake. Please. This is what they play in hell, mixed in with Bob Dylan to really keep you guessing. I'm incapable of being kind today, this album got on my fucking nerves. And then Strung Out (Edit) hit, and I wept tears of joy because I love cello, and I wept tears of anguish because nothing would compare to it after it ended. There was no coming back after that one. If I hadn't already been done for, that is the point at which I would've been done for. Screw literally every other song on this accursed album. It's funny; the more I hate an album, the more I have to say. Sometimes I have more to say than I do about albums I love.

Sounds a bit dated but I hear the genius in there

Better than Coldplay

BEAST!

Has a real drum and bass feel, though wikipedia classifies it as UK garage or house. Anyway, like garage, it's heavy on the R&B vocals. Overall it's decent background music but I'm not sure I'd go back to this. There are some solid tracks I'd mine for playlists though. Slum King is a good one. 3/5

Not a fan

This could've been right up my alley, but instead it all sounds like something you'd hear in a hotel lift.

If this album had 80 minutes shaved off, I'd give it 4 stars... Not bad, but waaay too long.

Of it's time but fun to listen to.

Too much garage

Be sincere

Early EDM at its finest. And by "finest", I mean that it still runs into the same major issue as every single release in the genre: that of repetitiveness. Live DJs make an improvement on this by fading different textures in and out, but pre-recorded records tend to be huge misses because there's no audience to cater to during recording/production. Attitude is the first of many offenders on the record: five minutes of solid, unchanging, bland, artificial noise. Bandelero Desperado is much the same, only this time the lead shouter (Danny Vicious?) adds his ridiculously drab one-note vocal delivery. You'd think by 2000 that this trend would've died out. His enunciation isn't particularly good either, so it's not like the quality is all relegated to the lyrics. No – Danny is trying to sound all cool, nonchalant, gangsta (however you want to spin it), and it's not working. Most of the songs follow this pattern, including MJ FM Interlude and Slum King. Safe to say MJ Cole's singing is much, *much* better than whatever's coming out of Danny's mouth. Guy S'Mone in the album closer (Free My Mind) also has a great delivery – kind of a Karvin Gaye sounding track. The album could so easily be cut down to a reasonable length containing only the passable tracks with decent singing like this one. The piano line in Introduction honestly rips. I'd love to see more development of that theme, but as it stands, a ton of atmosphere is brought into the opening couple of minutes. (It also reminded me of the main menu theme of Marble Blast Platinum, which prompted me to redownload it for the nostalgia. Tired Games throws a wrench into my preconceived notion of how the album would shape out. Great soulful singing and backing vocals, great acoustic guitar line with subtle hard-cut edits, great brass. Really the only weak part is the percussion, which is so repetitive you almost forget it's there. (No, that's not a good thing. There's no human element to mindless electronic drums.) Crazy Love runs much the same way; it's easy to see how it became MJ Cole's biggest (Spotify) hit. Strung Out - Edit is a great little instrumental, easily surpassing most of the tracks with vocals by having some simple, effective musical ideas that vary a bit. And surely that isn't too much to ask for. 2/5 Key tracks: Tired Games, Crazy Love, Strung Out - Edit

This was ok. It had some good grooves at times but electronic and house music is usually not my go to. This made good background music to do my work to.

Fine. Didn't do much for me.

1/10 I'm a big fan of electronica/dance music, especially from the late 90s/early 2000s, but let's be real - dance albums never really work, at least not at this time. This is just not a very interesting album - and not particularly good dance music. It's overly long, repetitive, and wasn't all that relevant at the time, let alone now. Why is this on the list?

Ya gotta get nasty! How? Put your hands in yours hips! Oh and you have to get an attitude, for five fucking minutes. If I had only known I could've been nasty a long time ago. If you divide the 1001 albums by the 60 years it covers, it comes out at about 13 albums per year. In the year of it's release, 2000, albums were released by Radiohead, Outcast, The Avalanches, Coldplay as horrid as it is, PJ Harvey, Elliott Smith, Modest Mouse, Quasimoto, Britney Spears, Common, and Eminem. That's 13. As you can see there's no room for this dreck.

Not my thing, didn't help I wasn't in the mood to try something like this either

2 hours is too long, but it would be okay as background music.

That 3 stars on Allmusic is a fucking death sentence. If you don’t have someone fighting for you in there you might as well not have bothered. This is an affront to all the other electronic music on here because at least I can sorta get most of those. This has no real reason for being on here

Dull

29/01/2026 The more this dragged on, the more bored of it I became. Spotify listeners: 797k

Fishnchip

Good background music, although “it was easy to forget” isn’t necessarily the best review, I did enjoy some of the songs though, 2+ stars.

Must have saved a lot of money on production costs using the same sad drum and bass loops for every song. Another shitty album this week. This project is the gift that keeps on giving....sigh.

This was ok, as I listened I was mostly indifferent but there were a few songs that caught my ear (mostly as catchy -- some as bad).

This was surprisingly good. Not usually an electronic music fan but this tickled me. Was upbeat and some lovely vocals throughout

I'm not sure what this offers that a million other garage records and soulful dance grooves out there do. I'm not sure it was necessarily groundbreaking enough in the scheme of music as a whole let alone the UK music scene. That said, I didn't hate it, it just didn't push anything new and the hype man rapper was poor.

Not a fan.

It is a very bland album. I have not found any retrieving qualities. The first review mentions Massive Attack, and 'Mezzanine' would be a much more worthwhile inclusion. 5/10 [DROP]

It keeps ALMOST doing something interesting and then drops it and goes back for the preset drumbeats

Banging garage album

A problem with the list is its attempt to cover many different genres without using compilations. Uk garage, represented in the list solely by this album, is not a genre that has produced many albums and fewer good ones. It’s a singles genre and there are an abundance of great compilations out there that would be a better fit than Sincere. Anyway, I like this. It takes me back to my school days.

made for a different time, a different audience

I have to be in the mood for this kind of drum track. On this occasion I caught a VIBE.

Beats for a rave

I wouldn't listen to this willingly but I was digital painting so it matched the vibe and I felt kinda cool.

Debut album. UK Garage. Some catchy beats and couldn't help bopping along. Is this a ground breaking album worthy of deep takes and discussion. No, but it doesn't want to be. It's a bit of fun, well produced and an uplifting tempo.

mid dance music nothing i particularly want to listen to

I mean... interesting. I think if I took the time to go through it again I would enjoy it more and it may grow, but generally didn't sound a lot different from other similar music. 2

Not really my thing. Not bad, just meeh

Thoughts before listening: I have no idea what this is but I bet it's probably not something I need to hear. Review: This is really long, and not doing anything for me. Feels like non-descript 00s era dance music. Pretty inoffensive I guess, but I am giving this 1-star in the context of this project.

Sounded good, I like this style of music generally. But I have to confess: I may not have listened to the entire thing. I got the gist. Gist is fine when the music is this consistent. 3.5

i found this to be a real slog. pretty boring.

A struggle for me personally to get through, but at least sonically unusual compared to the rest of this list as opposed to the many prog rock albums I've struggled to get through. I think the pacing was always not quite enough but also too much to be just full chill.

Overall great album with good mix of genre house, jazz Songs I like: Crazy Love, you’re mine, hold on to me re hub.

Was gonna give it a 2 but I think Slum King brought that down for me. Albums like this make me really want to buy the book so that I can read a little more about why it was included. Because why was this included?

Against my will, this list has made me a veritable connoisseur of British electronic/club music from the 90s. This is a middling example.

Not a fan.

How do I escape from these vocal loops?

didn't listen, heard the preview on spitify and said hell nah

I didn’t give this the fairest try but I did listen to it. I can tell it’s not for me and not gonna grow on me. There are a couple of interesting things but it’s not happening. And without being terrible I don’t see why it’s there.

Not my thing but a couple bangers on there

Langweilige Anti-Musik.

Kann super im Hintergrund laufen. Gefühlt ist es fast immer der gleiche Beat, die Tracks sind meist zu lang. Gefällt mir aber grundsätzlich.

It’s ok but I don’t know what it’s doing on this list

It was ok i dont know how i feel about electronic

Was never a lover of UK Garage but enjoyed this

Music is subjective right. If this was my list everyone would be listening to all three Harvey Danger albums as well as the b sides compilation. But like, thinking about a list I’m saying is the list for everyone to listen to before they die I think I would recognize that those albums maybe don’t belong. This album and many others are that for the author. You like this album but can we think for two seconds if it’s really an album everyone should listen to before they die? Seems obvious it’s not and it’s just mid.

what the heck is this. one star jesus christ

Listened to the first 4 songs. Same thing over and over again. I don't think I was in the right environment for how this is supposed to be consumed though. :) 1/5

Really not good. So many songs have the same generic house beat, and the songwriting and vocals are weak. If you told me this was A.I. music I would believe it

Actually 0.5 stars.what the hell is this shit??

Having some background with EDM, I expected to like this more than the rating would lead me to believe. What do you know, I hate it even more than I expected. I won't say there is zero reason why it was included in the list; the track Sincere being arguably the first 2-Step hit and expanding the genre significantly. The album on the other hand is about as repetitive as it gets, and the vocal features are even worse. Pretty much every track has the same grating fake-Soul vocal that struggles to be interesting even over the course of four minutes, let alone a 67-minute album. There are so many better representatives for 2-Step, why this album would be chosen over Is This Real is beyond me. I really don't have much else to say about this album other than how gratingly repetitive every aspect of it is. It may not be the worst EDM I've ever heard, but for it to be considered noteworthy enough to make this list is ridiculous.

5.5/10

Meh!

Ugh. I got free cds with the purchase of beer that were 100 times better than this.

Zuhause, Gerstetten, Deutschland. Zeitverschwendung! Müll! Ich kotze!

R and b is so lame

There's been a lot of talk in recent years about the resurgence of garage with many acts taking inspiration from the genre (PinkPantheress, NewJeans, Fred again just to name a few). To be honest, I've never really understood the hype, and now having listened to this, a garage album proper, I can say with confidence I *really* don't get the hype. This wasn't totally without merit - Elizabeth Troy delivers some stunning vocals, and I actually did kinda like I See, which is nestled in the middle of the tracklist, but good god as a while this was TIRESOME, even as background music. Just repetitive and flat.

1 - utter nonsense

Never heard of MJ Cole, so wasn’t sure what I was getting into with this one. Veeeeeeeeery long, repetitive album. Considering my low tolerance for repetitive music, I was surprised that I was able to listen to as much of this as I did. I suppose it made me feel like I was at a club or cocktail lounge, which probably allowed it to slip into the background of my consciousness and wasn’t as grating as it could have been. Some good beats, but not the kind not music I would ordinarily listen to other than to have as background music to focus on work. Surprised this made the list though as it doesn’t feel like anything special. (3)

++: Tired Games, You're Mine, Slum King +: Attitude, Bandelero Desperado, Sincere (Re-Cue'd), Free My Mind +-: MJ FM Interlude, Crazy Love, Sanctuary, I See, Strung Out, Rough Out Here, Radio Interlude, Hold on to Me -: Introduction 4,2/10

Evocative of its time

Dancey as hell. I liked this one. Electro dance beats with varied vocals.

It was fine, nothing too noteable. Introduction ★★★☆☆ Tired Games ★★★☆☆ Attitude ★★★☆☆ Bandelero Desperado ★★★☆☆ MJ FM Interlude ★★★☆☆ Crazy Love ★★★☆☆ You're Mine ★★★☆☆ Sanctuary ★★★☆☆ I See ★★★☆☆ Strung Out ★★★☆☆ Rough Out Here ★★★☆☆ Slum King ★★★☆☆ Radio Interlude ★☆☆☆☆ Hold on to Me ★★★☆☆ Average Album Rating 2.5/5.0

I hate electronica and no album is going to change my mind on that.

Maybe it’s just an off day for me, but I enjoyed the music lines a lot more than the vocals on this album. The beats were grooving and the occasional jazzy interlude mixed well with the upbeat drums. By the end of the album, it had gotten quite repetitive and, as we’ve seen in the past, there was really nothing special about this selection.

Music for drag queens to unwind to after a long night in their heels.👠 This might be the longest feeling album in the history of the compact disc.

I was fully expecting to hate this, just as I've hated the rest of the electronic music albums, but I didn't hate it. In fact, I kinda liked it. This has a nice cocktail lounge vibe, chill but interesting. For the genre, this gets my top rating. A very strong 2 stars.

Good rhythms

I hated this. Everything about it. We can’t have Quadrophenia in the 1001 but this makes the cut cause it was a favourite for the Mercury Prize years ago. Bloody ridiculous lol. Seriously though it’s just not my kind of music. Even with only listening to the original track listing it still seemed to go on forever. I definitely won’t be doing another listen later.

Better than most of the electronic dance music we've heard, but I still wouldn't want to listen to it. Ok, in the background at as party but that's it.

Hopefully this is the last of these but at least it had some fun vocals. My favorite track was “Rough Out Here”. It would be fun to dance to.

Feels like I'm in the lobby of a 2000s racing game. Honestly some good vibes here.

Hmm, I didn’t get this one. Maybe just not my genre so I can’t appreciate? Sounded like a W Hotel lobby.

Why is it so long, but I feel like nothing was said?

I was not familiar with this artist, the name sounded kind of familiar, but I would’ve never guessed this was the type of music. I had a vibe. I liked it.

This is an album where I have to see the book entry to have any clue why it's included. There is nothing spectacular about this. A 71 on metacritic, and released in 2000 so not exactly the leading edge of EDM. Incredibly long, and not all that interesting.

Ok I can see how this was probably really influential but I did not have a good time. Really did not enjoy the vocals especially.

This music sounds like The Streets and Roni Size. Good stuff. I've never heard of this artist. I like the same sample as 311 used for All Mixed Up on Bandelero Desperado. This had great music. May be too many songs, though. I'll give this a 3.

Kannte ich gar nicht!

boring and repetitive, most of these songs go nowhere and are mostly forgettable. the vocal performances are uninspired, and honestly hurt some otherwise pretty decent songs. that isn’t to say that there aren’t some moments of genius here, as songs like “bandelero desperado” and “sanctuary” definitely grabbed my attention. however, i can’t help but feel that this album is a bit flat, and is missing a certain edge to it. just an awkward, clunky, and mostly forgettable “dance” album.

It's way too long. But I s2g some people want every album to be Bob Dylan. This was fine! It was fun! Everyone is complaining that it's repetitive as if the second disc isn't all remixes? Like, duh!

I kinda like this type of dated dance music. This would be a 4 star review if the album were about half the length.

That was long. And tecno. But easy.

Det började helt ok med mer garage/lounge house. Sen gick det över till mer generisk housemusik för det mesta tyvärr. Men det går väl att lyssna på

Shrug. High 2? Not my thing and a long album. Not necessarily bad but not really enjoyable to me

This is like the 10th album (in 200) like this where I can’t help but feel I’m in the lobby of the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach. I guess this project is teaching me the meaning of ‘house music’. Fine for the nightclub restroom - deeply out of joint in my regular, daily life. Too bad too because it actually sounds really good in car. What is interesting in short bursts becomes boring repetitive and grating over its 2-hour run. 2/5

It’s just not my style, I had a hard time listening to this

#190 Sincere ~ MJ Cole I'm quite tolerant to many forms of music, but I accidentally fell asleep whilst listening to this album and I couldn't recall a single thing even whilst I'm awake. This can't be a good sign at all.

Honestly didn’t hate the music but 2 hours is too long.

Quite the contrary

Fuck me dude. What is with this list and these shitty, monotonous UK electronic albums? I get having some of the mainstays on here, even the ones that I don't personally care for like Fatboy Slim, but this is just ridiculous. MJ Cole's Sincere is one of the most mind-numbing nothing-burgers I've ever had the displeasure of listening to. In fact, this may genuinely be the most monotonous album I've ever listened to. EVERY SONG SOUNDS EXACTLY THE FUCKING SAME. These songs are indistinguishable from each other! This album is just "boots and cats and boots and cats" over and over again for 70 minutes and I hate it. The vocals are more present here than most albums of its kind and they're not all bad, but they don't do anything to feel special. But does this one song that all of the songs sound like sound good? Not really! It's the most basic-ass EDM beat you can think of. Nothing stood out to me at all. I said that the vocals weren't all bad, but some really hammered home the Britishness of it all. This is another one of those albums that only could've been added because the list was compiled by a bunch of like-minded British music journalists who like this stuff for some reason. I'm fucking tired of it. I still can't call this the worst EDM album I've heard. Haunted Dancehall is STILL the bottom of the barrel in that regard, but this isn't that far behind. I genuinely don't think that there's any reason for me to have listened to this. It's not the best album of 2000. It's not the best UK Garage album. It's just boring and annoying. This album is worthless. 1/5. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go listen to some Ween so I can get a taste of variety that I sorely lacked from the waste of time that was this album.

Construction of the music is interesting. Lyrics are lacking overall.

Not for me…2 hours of 💩 Be better 1001 admins!!!🤮

I mean, it didn’t suck, had some good grooves

Do you like smooth garage music? Great! I've never really liked garage but at least smooth garage is more boring than annoying. Most of this was just... Background music with electric beats. Mostly boring. Only occasionally annoying. The only vaguely interesting melody was on I See.

god i just cannot do house

The beats sound so clean, but therefore to my ears they do get boring. I really disliked the MC work. I find with this sort of music if I manage to get into the right level of ignoring it some of the drum patterns make my foot tap, but then I realise I'm doing it and stop ignoring it and realise that I don't like it. There is some house music which has really catchy vocals and some nice synths, but the vocals here weren't memorable and the synths were meh. I looked up on Wikipedia why this was an important album and it didn't seem to know, therefore I'm not really convinced it is.

Not awful but 2 hours of house/electronic is not my vibe.

J’aimais bien au début le mix R&B/Drum and Bass, mais je m’en suis lassé bien assez vite

At first glance I thought that the cover for this album was a pop up ad, or maybe a tribute to Sheffield’s much missed Cole Brothers department store (as name checked on Richard Hawley’s Cole’s Corner elsewhere on this list). Anyhoo, it turns out to be an interesting mix of danceable drum and bass beats and smooth vocals, with jazzy interludes from classically trained artist MJ Cole. I particularly enjoyed the tracks with vocals from Elizabeth Troy, but the whole album flows nicely and is a good accompaniment to a rainy Monday morning.

Boring UK 90's disco

Respectfully, this album can use an improvement.

this was a vibeeeeee

Blind album and artist. Crappy DJ music that I don't ever want to listen to again.

Garageband.

Better than expected but still didn’t love it

Music for an obnoxiously hip/trendy clothing store that you can't afford.

Music was ok, the vocals were killing me… Night at the Roxbury vibes

Electronic dance music. It bad, mostly not for me for some reason. I think it’s a little more dance-pop than I like. Notable tracks include Bandelero Desperado, Crazy Love, You’re Mine, Slum King.

I'm pleased to discover this and to see some UK garage on the list. There are some great garage tracks on here, with irresistible 2-step beats, upbeat energy, and a clean sound. "Bandelero Desperado" and "Slum King" both feature Danny Vicious, aka Fallacy, and are basically worth the cost of admission (anyone who likes these tracks should check out Part 2, Live from the Breadline, which also has Fallacy on two tracks). Unfortunately, the crispy garage joints are way too few and far between. I don't really like the soulful house-leaning tracks much. Then there are tracks like "Rough Out Here" that go all the way into soul/R&B. The album ends up sounding a bit miscellaneous and unfocused, with not enough of the UK garage bits. 3*

Yeah not all that. As much a fan of electronic music as I may be this falls quite flat as very dated and unimaginative. Just sounds like the equivalent of retail music for the genre. The trance elements are there but it does nothing further to excite me or the rest of us here.

Definitely hit or miss. An interesting blend of trip-hop, hip-hop, downtempo and soul. On the surface, that sounds like I would love it but I only liked about half the songs.

Just not very enjoyable for me. I lose interest quickly with this style of music.

This album walked, and at some points, crawled, so that other albums that I truly love could run. Listening to this I hear a lot of inspiration for producers like Kaytranada, Louis Futon, and other artists who would use this ethereal club sound. I know this one isn't going to be for everyone, but I can really appreciate hearing a predecessor to one of my favorite genres today.

Once again the generator wiped out my review. I think it was along the lines of innocuous aural wallpaper.

I'm pretty sure that this was a typographical error and we were supposed to get J. Cole's "2014 Forest Hills Drive." It's the only logical explanation I can think of. Instead, we got 2 whole hours of "Millennial Hipster Nightclub Music, Part XXVII."

Got through the intro and said “nope”

1,6/5

Sincere is a great song. Rest ok 3/5

Would like to understand better why this is on here. Sounded total nondescript to me and after a while the people I was sharing a room with kept turning it down lower and lower.

Hm. Although there's nothing really wrong with this album, it just didn't work for me. Maybe it's just that I'm not a "UK Garage" fan (although I'm not really sure I understand what that term even means), or it's just the somewhat antiseptic sound (the same problem I have with lots of drum-n-bass music, although I do give credit to MJ Cole for playing a number of actual/live instruments on some tracks), but whatever the reason this felt like an instantly forgettable album with no real personality, although I do enjoy Elisabeth Troy's vocals. The only tracks that stood out for me were "Bandelero desperado", "Rough out here", and "Slum king", and even those weren't all that spectacular. Sorry Matt Coleman!

lively electronica--not quite interesting enough on its, sort of energetic background music

I feel like this guy needs to invest in a more versatile beat machine 🥴. Started off alright, but then lost me at some point. 3

Two minutes in and I already hate this. Repetitive noises grind my gears, so consider me ground.

Very sincerely: why.

The kind of gayish electronic music I've never enjoyed but must respect.

Nah

This was ok. I don’t know much about this type of music at all. Turned into background music quite quickly. Did nothing to really capture my imagination. Not sure why it would be deemed necessary to hear.

Great loops, great beats, I enjoyed it most when I had it in the background doing something else.

Fue como escuchar un álbum de tonos de llamada de Nokia.

Nice light late 90s sample house, nothing controversial. It's annoying that there's no non-deluxe on spotify bc I'm curious what a not 2-hour long version looks like.

booo this man

I enjoyed listening to this album and personally for me it’s probably not something I would listen again however I did think of my boyfriend constantly during this album and thought this was very his vibe. Edit: I have saved one song so far and another one but I may delete it

Ik heb hier zo kk weinig zin in

Skip 1/10

It sounds too generic for my taste, but maybe that's because it was the baseline to different types of electronic music?

I guess this is (mostly) listenable but nothing special and not sure why it's on this list other than the writer liked it. The tracks with Elisabeth Cole were the best part to me, but overall too repetitive.

Albums this long and this bad seriously make me question why I’m bothering with this list

If I were ranking this list of Coles, MJ would be below Ashley, Andy and Carlton but would just be in front of Joe. Which is similar to his album, not the worst, but nowhere near the elite level

I wasn’t opposed to this.

Good grooves, drum and bass but not so frenetic, cool vocals

I didn't need to listen to this before I die. Background music for a corporate bar. Fine within the genre it belongs but all very similar to my ear.

Definitely a stretch to include this album on the 1001 list. There is nothing about "Sincere" that strikes me as unique or interesting - it's just boring Electronica.

Good for some time… later repetitive

I described a previous album on this list as music to shop too, and the cover art for this album makes it even more blatant. Obviously there’s a need and a crowd for this genre, and its creation is not without talent, but there’s a missing aspect of it that makes it impossible for me. Maybe it’s the years of talent I know it takes to master an instrument, or the physical effort that it takes. I think of someone like Lemmy being physically broken at the end but still wanting to play, versus whoever made this album, sipping a latte behind an iPad. It’s not the same to me.

Well more generic EDM and I know it's probably not technically EDM but you know what I mean and no I don't need an explanation on why it's not. I did like that it mostly went by without me noticing it.

Not my thing. Beats were kind of repetitive and monotonous. OK album

The amount of dull English House music on this list is staggering.

Don't quite understand why this album gets so much shit in the reviews. It's not great. But I don't think it's terrible either. I will say it gets pretty repetitive however. But I'll give it 3 still

Ambiguo. 2.5

Correcto

Launche drum and base, men men med fin vokal ind i mellem.

Shit det er det mest årtusindsskifte-agtige lort ever.

Ok wow!! Hooked from the first track. What an album!!

I found this easy to listen to while working. It was propulsive without being repulsive, so it kept me going through the workday.

Day 84 Not one I’ll return to, was ok as background music 3/10 Highlights Crazy Love Sincere

Yes!! Welcome change of pace from Anthrax yesterday. As much as I enjoyed the aggressive thrash, this garage throwback is more like it and just awesome.

Virkelig godt album. Tog UK-garage scenen og lavede et sammenhængende album i modsætning til at scenen bestod af en masse "singler" og tracks seperat indtil da. Det har lidt forskelligt, det er både lidt jazzet og lidt soulet nogle gange og andre gange bliver der rappet indover (som jeg forbinder med UK garage/jungle), så det var befriende at høre man kan gøre det på mange måder. Det har sådan en lidt introspektiv følelse til sig men er også festligt nogle gange. Synes det var en super lytteoplevelse og helt sikkert over 4 så jeg tror jeg giver det 5. Det er ikke 10/10, men jeg synes det er rigtig godt og værd at vende tilbage til.

J'ai l'impression d'avoir lancé un jeu console des années 2000 et d'être resté sur le menu du jeu Musique d'ambiance sympa, mais un peu trop répétitif pour moi

Très très cool à mettre en fond j'ai bien aimé.

Bonne découverte j'aime bien

Bah jsp c'est super l'électro

Not for me, but it's quite good, some of it is catchy

Not a bad album. Had it in the background while playing Garry's Mod with friends, and I think that's the setting it performs in. Mindless backdrop noise to whatever you're doing that most of your brain is occupied with. The music isn't bad, but it's just so generic and bland and lacking in memorability. Like there's no real reason why your co-worker's bandcamp project should be on this list. But in all fairness, it really isn't that bad. It just kinda carries on the same "meh sure" vibe throughout.

Sounds like what you might hear in the late 90's or early 2000's at a coffee shop where trip hop is just too new and edgy. Generic and monotonous.

First of all, this is more UK garage or House than Electronica. Second, the link to Apple Music is to the Deluxe version with an additional 2nd disc, so the originally released album is much shorter. That said, it's well produced but gets a bit repetitive after some time as the rhythm patterns are mostly the same. However, repetition is a kind of trademark for garage music, so that's not a big surprise here.

I’ve never heard of MJ Cole before, but I’m guessing he’s not associated with J. Cole. I’ll be honest, I’m not digging the vibe of this album cover. I’m not sure if it’s a criticism of high-end lifestyles or an endorsement of it. I see that this yet another electronic/house album, and I haven’t been wowed by many albums from that genre so far. I’ll give this album a… sincere chance though. I don’t know if my brain has been ruined by other electronic artists or what, but Sincere was another clunker of album to me. When I think of electronic music, I think of Daft Punk, Tycho, or Justice. Or I think of artists in electronic adjacent genres, like Chvrches, The XX, or Depeche Mode. All of those artists really excel at using electronic elements to create lush and memorable melodies, and melodies like that are what I’ve grown to associate with electronic music. But albums like Sincere just haven’t delivered on that notion. When I listen to Tycho’s Epoch, I know those arrangements like the back of my had, even if I haven’t listened to it in a year or so. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that this album, and others like it, just don’t deliver what I enjoy, and my preconceived notions of what these albums should be like might be making my experience even worse. I guess I’m just miffed that I haven’t enjoyed albums like this. But back to what I actually heard on Sincere. I didn’t hate this album initially. “Introduction” was a pretty good song. I liked that looped piano melody, and the song really developed as more elements were added. The vocals felt cheesy and dated to me, but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment. But as the album went on, I felt like there wasn’t much depth to these songs. They were all sleek and stylish, but I felt like there was nothing of substance to them. These songs didn’t create any atmosphere, and the arrangements weren’t particularly catchy or memorable. I just felt nothing listening to this album. Even though this album was a dud, “Crazy Love” and “Strung Out” were okay. “Crazy Love” felt really dated, but in a fun and nostalgic way. I enjoyed the silky vocals and the string arrangements. “Strung Out” had laid-back vibe that I enjoyed, and it had a good beat and awesome strings too. Other than that though, I… sincerely didn’t enjoy this album. I’ll see myself out.

are you having a laugh? are you taking the piss? this and other britishisms to explain my incredulity at why this album was selected for this list. It's not even like terrible, but this is very generic. It reminds me a lot of listening to our local radio station in 1999 when they would have the house DJ remix a couple of the contemporary hits at the time by adding air horns, shout outs to the radio station, and little noises here and there.

Fine - but I’m glad Daft Punk saved House music

The audacity to make an album this terrible and make it 73 minutes long needs to be studied.

There were a couple alright tracks but quite forgettable Rating: 1.7

Bottom 20 of all time? We're haters here, I see! I really liked this. It's a strong 7. Gut says give it 3 stars, but I want to boost its global standing more (and it is quite good). 3.5/5

I made it three songs and got physically angry at the repetition of “you gotta get an attitude attitude attitude attitude attitude attitude attitude attitude attitude attitude attitude attitude…” I have one now!!

I don’t understand who could listen to 2 hours of this, I did because I was driving on the teconic and need BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL and FULL CONCENTRATION and I did not enjoy it. Unfortunately this came on for the last 2 hours of my drive so it will forevermore feel like traffic on the FDR having to pee

This banged and I will be listening again

This is just boring .. sorry!

Agradável e competente. Os instrumentais de garage são sempre envolventes, e eu gostei da sequência do disco, só ignorar os remixes. Não causou uma impressão imensa em mim nem nada, mas foi um bom álbum e eu salvei algumas de suas faixas. Já em outras, os vocais não foram totalmente do meu agrado, diria até que eu preferiria se algumas canções específicas fossem instrumentais. Mas ao todo, nada mal. Passa batido. A capa feia causa uma péssima impressão. Acho que foi a pior capa que peguei no projeto até então. 3/5

Another EDM album!

Started out strong with a cool piano riff but only went downhill from there.

Nice of MJ Cole to name "Rough Out Here" after the experience of trying to listen to this album in one sitting.

It was very generic early 2000s British summer music. Something quite nostalgic about it for me personally. A bit cringe too but decent beats! 3 ⭐️

Not my cup of tea.

Meh.

Peak turn of the Millenium energy here. This is hitting all the right vibes and notes for me. This one harks back to my formative years in the late 90s and early 2000s when this sound was all the rage. Soulful UK garage and 2-step on the R&B tip. Goldie’s ‘Timeless’, Roni Size’s ‘New Forms’, these were all mind-blowing sounds to my teenage and young adult brain, and ‘Sincere’ by MJ Cole is no exception. That this sits in the bottom 20 rated albums of this list is criminal. ‘Sincere’ is a wonderful album. It blends skippy garage rhythms with lush orchestration, jazzy chords, and live instrumentation, giving it a timeless quality. A perfect late-night record, (but also equally at home pouring out of my speakers on this sunny Melbourne November Spring morning), sophisticated yet still deeply rooted in club culture. Takes me back to a simpler and happier, more joyful time in my life full of promise and hope.