Sincere

Choose Your Own Adventure! Just slot in "You Must Hear Before You Die" where applicable: 1001 Drum Presets 1001 Unlabeled Extended Dance Mixes 1001 Cut Big Fish Theory Beats 1001 Dreamcast Era Racing Game Menu Themes 1001 Guest Vocalists Maybe Too Willing to Lend a Hand 1001 Sped-Up Massive Attack Songs 1001 Miami Bass Tracks for Timid Whites 1001 British Albums That Charted Somewhere 1001 Alternate Takes from That One Röyksopp GEICO Caveman Commercial 1001 is a Way Bigger Number Than We Thought Key Tracks: I dunno, listen to one of the ones with the dude singing, one of the ones with the lady singing, and one of the ones with the patois guy and you'll have heard the whole album.

Dimery should be fucking arrested for including this. 1/5

Boring, repetitive, and super long. Possesses about as much cultural importance as a cologne ad, which makes the album cover convenient. Best track: Radio Interlude

Almost offensively generic. It baffles me that anyone would invest time in making it listening to music this bland.

1.7 - I feel like I got locked up in a JC Penney fitting room, caught shoplifting, and I’m stuck listening to this music over the speakers, awaiting interrogation.

Ok, it's possible to do the worst album ever and still be part of the 1001 list. You convinced me.

Boots and cats

2 hours is a long time when you're not really into something.

You know it’s bad when I can make it all the way through trout mask replica but not this. By the fourth song I was out this shit sucked major ass.

Remember how magazines used to have those inserts with perfume and/or cologne samples inside them? They had that little fold out where the scent of the fragrance was and if you opened it you could get a good sniff of it or, if you were thrifty, use it as your scent for a special occasion. If you had a large magazine there’d usually be a couple different fragrances inside and when you stood within a few feet of that magazine the whole thing had this strange amalgamated aroma of all the different eaus de toilette. The coalesced scents didn’t really have specific odor, just a generic smell of perfumed liquid, and you never really asked for it, you just wanted the magazine because there was an article or two you wanted to read, but you were stuck with this smelly magazine in your house until you decided to toss it in the recycling. This record is kind of the audio equivalent of that.

Very average sounding EDM. British bias of the list showing here. If this had come out in say 1990 vs 2000 it would be a little more impressive but I still don't think I'd feel it either way.

I hate this. Zero vibes.

GUY-“What are you doing?” GUY 2-“I'm making a list of the 1001 greatest albums of all time” GUY-“How’s it going?” GUY 2-“OK. The only genre I don’t have represented is garage rock/house music.” GUY-“Well my cousin is making an album in his basement…”

*British phone ringing sound* “Toodle-oo, RobDi here” “Robbo, it’s Nigie. Just wanted to make sure you’re submitting the manuscript for the 1001 album book to the publisher by the end of the day” “Nige darling, you’re talking to Robert “Never Misses a Deadline” Dimery. I’m just dotting a few i’s and crossing some t’s. I’ll have it to them by 5 and meet you for a pint at the local by 5:30.” “You’re the best Roberto! See you then.” Shit! Shit! SHIT!! Why do I always do this?! What is wrong with me?! I forgot I had agreed to do this stupid fucking book. What even is this? “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”? What the hell? Bit morbid, that. Okay, fuck, I can do this. Let’s see, Google “best album lists”. “Rolling Stone’s 500 Best Albums”. Ha! Great. Halfway there. Alright, next link is “100 Best 60’s Psychedlic Albums”. Okay, a bit odd, but that works. Next is “200 Best British New Wave Albums”. Perfect. Then we have “250 Brit Pop Albums You May Remember” Jolly good. Alright, we’re at 1200. Eliminate doubles, and Shit! Back to 800. Oh fuck, it’s 4:50pm. Fuck! Okay, desperate times and all that. Let’s search “British album charts: 1980 to present”. Bugger, the ones in the top ten are probably already on here. Okay, I’ll just copy and paste the 14th biggest album from 201 random weeks, wow I have never heard of any of this shit, oh well, it’ll just seem like I did a deep dive into obscure hidden gems of albums, and . . . Robert, lad, you’ve done it again! Send. Whew. That was bad even for me. Hopefully nobody ever pays too much attention to this book. Also, I hope that I didn’t pick some completely generic techno album with nothing unique or interesting about it whatsoever. Ah, I’m sure it’s fine!

Why? Why so much electronic music? Some of the electronic music has been tolerable. This didn't even have any good parts. Entirely way too long. Completely unnoteworthy. When the Wikipedia page mentions that the album was included in this list in the first paragraph, the album should not have been included in the list. I am going to round down.

Fine shower music.

Booooring...I considered turning it off half way through the first song.

ENTER With the 2 step crew flibbi dibbi dibbi you know what to do not nigel on the 1 2s i should well be a garage MC. i was hoping for a guilty pleasure album but it was just a bit meh. however it was surprisingly easy to listen to.

When the only meaningful item in the Wikipedia page for the album reads that it was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, it makes you question why it was chosen. None of the songs are bad, they are just sort of there. It might be fine to listen to while you're at a hotel bar, but the album was way too long. I kept getting bored and switched to other music. Ended up not finishing.

blech

I could not get into this album. It was very repetitive early 2000s electronic with frustrating vocal performances. Not my thing.

I really don't enjoy electronic music and this was no exception. To make matters worse spotify onky has deluxe version of this album which is weird. Normally deluxe albums give you the album itself and then extra songs after those original ones but here they were mixed which made listening to it very annoying.

Reading around this suggests that it's on the list as a good example of a genre. OK, I get that. I can live with the idea of that. But, well, it's just all just a bit boring I'm afraid. I quite like electronic music it seems, but this isn't my cup of tea - just seems a bit mindless and without a hook or some style to get me into it. The persistency of the drum line doesn't help possibly. I wouldn't choose to listen to this again, but if it were background music for cooking to, for example, that wouldn't be the end of the world. It can have a sympathy 3, but it's probably a 2.5 in reality.

Any time I see an album with the genre tag 'electronica' with a length of over an hour I brace myself for the dullest stuff I've ever heard in my life. Very rarely leads me wrong.

Even though I'm a sucker for electronic music, this album does not help. Repetitive and way too long. The beats are cool and liked the jazz elements, but the vocals completely ruins it for me. Some songs are either hit or miss. Even the duration of the songs can make anyone frustrate. This album is only good for playing in background while doing some work. 2.5/5

This type of music became popular in the late nineties, and stayed popular till the early naughties. As far as "this" type of music is concerned, Sincere is far from representing any substantial musical achievements or much in the field of originality. Also: extremely overlong. So: Meh, what's this album doing here?

This reminds me of every "hip" coffee house from the mid 2000s. Perfect music to listen to when trying out this new thing called "smashed avocado".

How is this on here? I could’ve gone forever without listening to any of this

Fit for a club, not for my living room.

I feel confused by this and not in a good fun way

Whoever produced this list mistook variety for making room for all kind of (pseudo)musical attempts despite its quality

Not my cup of tea. The beats can be interesting but just not anything I would listen to

This is not a 5-star album. Probably not even 4. A strong 3. But this gets an extra star from me for all of the unmerited hate that electronic music gets in these ratings.

WHAT This was crazy good I had no clue this existed

Hella good. Nice beats with pretty good vocals all the way through. Super danceable which is always a plus. Overall, a pretty cool old-school UK garage album! 8/10

I’m more inclined to electronic music than I was when I was younger. That said, I’ve got more experience listening to music. In 2000, this would have been zero point zero from me. I know this. Now, I find this sort of simplistic and repetitive. I have a hard time fitting it into a spot in my thinking where it was ground breaking or innovative. It’s very much like asking ChatGPT to make me some banging electronic tracks. It is inoffensive, so I might have it on in the background when I’m working because I like to play music that’s not going to distract me.

Godawful.

Did not finish. Its not early hurting but what's going on here? How is this unique or list worthy? I like that some obscure shit is on the list but what is this. Would this be better on drugs? Probably but would still be kinda bored

Wow, I pretty much hated this from the very start. After listening to the entire first song I had to check to see the running time for this album and it was over an hour! There's no way I was going to put myself through that! To be more than fair going forward I would listen to at least 1-1/2 minutes of each song or longer if I liked it. Without fail I found myself looking forward to moving on to the next song even BEFORE the 1-1/2 minutes expired. That sonically empty electronic drum was grating with that electronic snare beat boring into my brain like a Chinese water torture. This album held zero appeal for me and I couldn't wait for it to be over.

A garage classic, ive listened to this album many times and it never seems to get old

Needs a very specific time and place but once you find the right mood it completely takes you over.

first time actually getting an album i've not heard or heard of

I know precisely zero about this prior to listening to it. Wow. Thinking "OK, this is some light and relatively unchallenging jazz" it turns out to actually be some UK garage. This is going to be a fun ride... OK, so this album is long. I managed to get through Oxygene by having it land on a day that I had a three hour drive. But I didn't have two hours to spare for this. Got about an hour through the first volume and there's some good stuff in here. I'd come back to it out of a sense of completeness, but I doubt it'll enter my regular play. What I can say about UK Garage is that at the time, it seemed world-changing. The direction was new, refreshing and exciting. With the eyes of time looking back at it, though, it seems tame. From UK garage's world-changing start we've seen the birth of dubstep and grime. As important and exciting as it was... It has been eclipsed by its progeny. I feel the same way about what I heard of Sincere as I do about The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. It's a good album, and one that exemplifies a sea-change in music. But they are, perhaps, the giants that other people are standing on the shoulders of.

I didn't expect to like this. My first reaction was thinking it was incredible boring and tedious, but now I can stand it way more. However, I keep thinking that the album can get a bit mind-numbing. Some of the longest cuts would benefit from a shorter duration, specially the ones that continue on repeating the same melodies without adding anything, like 'You're Mine'. What I did like about the record are some of the eerie atmosphere aspects. Songs like 'Attitude' and 'Bandelero Desperado' have this very particular and creepy sense that has me feeling like I'm in some sort of abandoned civilization. I did also appreciate the nice singing and some of the electronic melodies. Nevertheless, this album stills suffers a lot from being very lengthy and repetitive.

When it's good it's great. But those are a lot of fillers and not the dancefloor kind.

I like electronic music. I did not like this. Boring, repetitive drum beats. Dull vocals. Basically the same song again and again. Only made it halfway through the first side. Baffling inclusion on this list.

As much as I usually appreciate a break from rock stuff with a little 'lectro, this one didn't do too much for me. So many of the beats are -of-the-era, high BPM techno tracks that just don't have a place in heart or my ears. "Bandelero Desperado" made a big splash, I was certain I'd heard that before, but it was because Azealia Banks sampled it heavily on her song "Desperado." Still, that one was great. Can't say the same for the album unfortunately, it was mostly forgettable. Side note: "MJ Cole" is a really weird name to me, obviously the existence of several famous MJ's plus the more recent J Cole just makes this seem made up. I mean I guess everything is made up, but yeah. I just can't help but imagine J Cole with the Michael Jordan crying meme face on his head. Favorite tracks: Bandelero Desperado, Slum King. Album art: I do really like this cover, a burning bag from the MJ Cole store, on a nice infinite blue plane and backdrop. Stylistically, it just looks really nice. Well done. 2.5/5

Not a fan, just shitty club mixes

2025 albums can only go improve from here! Repetitive, too long, unimaginative and not a great example of the genre - particularly given this was released in 2000 I would really expect a better choice in place of this album! I got about halfway through - life’s too short to listen to Mj Coleslaw

Every song has the exact same beat bro Doesn't quite feel like a finished product, but a bunch of demos

Not for me.

A really interesting combo of DnB, RnB and poppy vocals

Really awesome. Great beats great vocals

Those 2-step vibes bring back all my amazing teenage years. Too nostalgic, can't rate it less than 5of5

I like this. Great music to play when you're doing stuff and don't want to invest too much attention to your tunes. Very easy listening. Five stars and an addition to my Tidal library.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that. Phenomenal from start to finish. Took me right back to being a child and sitting down to play TOCA2 on PC.

amazing

I loved this. Very melodic and Lo-Fi chill. Elisabeth Troy's vocals are beautiful. Really good listen.

Fantastic. Sparse without being boring. Repetivie without being monotonous. Less vocals the better in general here.

I've always been a fan of UKG, and MJ Cole's work is especially great. His classical training really shows up from time to time here, and it all makes for an undeniably electronic and highly danceable album that still makes for something smooth and easy to relax and focus with. It's a great album for driving and doing IT work, and I'd love to get this on vinyl. I was a bit young when this first released, but I would have loved to see the UK electronic scene first-hand back in the 90s and 00s. I totally recommend listening to some of MJ Cole's more recent work too. Some of it is very chill and even quite orchestral. Favourite: Sincere

Good album, worth the time.

I love this entire album, and I would like to own it on vinyl.

Was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this. I didn’t think much of it at first since I just expected UK House and Dance, but Elizabeth Troy’s vocals won me over. Made me invested in the deluxe version of the album.

Been waiting for this one for a long time now. An album that gets a ton of hate on this list for being something very far from rock. This probably went crazy in the UK clubs in the 2000’s. Wobbly basslines and two-step drum patterns abound. I do think the synth preset soundfonts are a bit of an acquired taste for headphone listening, but that all goes out the window when it gets played on a dance floor. “Introduction” was a lovely first impression. A self-serious piano melody floats over a bunch of classic UKG production. This is what you’re strapped in for. I was looking for some of those synthetic string plucks, and I finally heard a distorted form of them on “Attitude”. Such a classic UKG touch. Elizabeth Troy fills that garage vocalist roll, being somewhat soulsful, somewhat airy. Danny Vicious fills the garage MC role just as well. The end of “Sanctuary” into the beginning of “I See” we’re a great tempo change right when it was needed. I’d say “Crazy Love” and “Sincere” are my favorites here. “Free My Mind” was a perfect lounge-house outro. A very clean sound. I gotta stand up for this album 4/5

This was a long ride and I enjoyed most of it. A couple pit stops I would cut but for the most part, my kind of vibe!

This album definitely takes me back to the early 2000s because I was a huge fan of UK 2-step garage. MJ Cole had a more sophisticated, smoother, and jazzier edge to his style, along with soulful vocals and lush string arrangements. This album features intricate 2-step rhythms with syncopated snares and swung hi hats, which were classic traits of garage at the time. And you can’t forget those deep, rounded basslines that never overwhelm, but instead blend smoothly with the rest of the music and vocals. This will always stand out as a landmark album from the UK garage movement, and one that brings back so many memories for me.

A really surprising find. While technically a house/dnb album, I find that the songwriting verges the gap between Massive Attack and Aphex Twin, injection so much soul into the electronic music experience. A true perfection of production - every drum beat is clean, bass is punchy and melodic, the harmonies are rich and complex, and the instrumentation is insanely creative and worthwhile. Best Tracks: - I See - Sincere - Rough Out Here - Slum King Worst Tracks: N/A Rating: 9/10

Jaime 4, Nuria 3.

Interesting. Not something that I would have picked myself but very enjoyable.

I had concerns about how long the album was but the time just flew by listening to it

4/5

4.5 stars suuuuch good bops on this one. such a pleasant listen and im better for it!

Truthfully, really awesome. Banging production after crazy love.

Some great tracks

It’s a grime album. Not my go to scene. It’s good. But I’m not schooled in this genre at all.

Garage really isn't thing and listening to it while marking maths books probably isn't the correct setting, however, actually surprised how much I didn't mind it.

why the hate? most of the lowly rated albums on this list are experimental or offensive. not this one though. it's just dance music? suppose it shouldn't be surprising when the term "electronica" is still being thrown around in the 2020s. nobody in the reviews section has any idea what to make of this. kinda shocking since the appeal is so simple. ignore the vocals and move yr body! rateyourmusic doesn't understand dance music? 1001albumsgenerator.com makes it look like a bunch of seasoned ravegoers. but i digress. this ain't that special. but it's not bad. the title track reminds me of Flat Beat by Mr Oizo which is pretty awesome (Lambs Anger should be on this list tbh). does kinda suffer the dance music album pitfall of being way too long and unfocused. but the actual music is generally pretty nice, if a little bit too tastefully clean, uk garage. and i like uk garage! deserves to be one of the 1001? Sweet Female Attitude and Sunship are both probably? (guessing as an American) more notable than MJ Cole, if you wanna include a 2-step album. which i think is a decent choice even if it does show some uk bias. i wouldn't pick this one though. not notable outside of its tiny niche deserves to be one of the bottom 20? mmmm. no.

Ok background music. Nothing offensive. Nothing spectacular. All blends together.

sounds like the feeling of walking into a sharper image store circa 2007

Elisabeth Troy's voice on most tracks is really nice. a whole album of UK Garage is definitely a challenge. but surprisingly, this is an album that i will definitely come back to. chill dance music. perfect music to play at a start of a party. made me like and understand UK Garage, maybe ? i wonder what fans of the genre think of this record. "Slum King" masterclass

It wasn't bad... but then it just got long. There's a basic formula here: some sort of rhythm (percusson) track, a bass track, and then various DJ effects like voice interjections and other sounds. It was well done, but repetitive. I'm not super into this genre, so I assume this is a fairly good representation of it overall, and I'm fine with it, in its context.

Not bad...just not my thing.

I just don't know what to say about this one. I didn't hate it but I can't see myself sitting down and listening to it for pleasure. I put it on this morning and made and drank coffee, made and ate breakfast and tottered around the house with it in the background. It's a long one. Maybe it would have been suitable for a DJ to play in clubs in 2000.

OK wasn’t able to hear much of it as not available on link.

I can’t believe it, but I actually made it through the full 2 hours of this. It’s not unlistenable by any means. I even caught myself grooving at a couple points. It’s just veeerrry dated and waaaaayy too long.

Correcto

Perfect background music. Incredibly helpful for focusing.

Hey this was too long. But good for electronic rock or whatever you call it. Upbeat dancey British maybe? Would be great during the credits of a movie

The 1001 not only has good albums, but albums that define a genre. Even though the genre sucks, this does define it

Some Ibiza-type club music after a lot of rock and blues. There was some variation in the songs but overall it felt a bit long.

No. 233/1001 Introduction 2/5 Tired Games 3/5 Attitude 2/5 Bandelero Desperado 2/5 MJ FM Interlude 2/5 Crazy Love 4/5 You're Mine 4/5 Sanctuary 4/5 I See 3/5 Sincere - Re-Cue'D 3/5 Strung Out - Edit 3/5 Rough Out Here 4/5 Slum King 2/5 Radio Interlude NR Hold On To Me - Re-Rub 4/5 Free My Mind 4/5 Average: 3,07 Way better than I expected. Easily approachable electronica music.

Actually quite liked it

I'll take your Dubstep, I'll take your Grime but UK Garage is generally just a bit too polished, a little too bling for me. I mean look at that album cover. So this wouldn't have been my choice to go out gurning to in the Noughties but on this run through I did quite enjoy it as background music while I worked.

I enjoyed this far more than I thought I would. I expected an album of Sincere re-mixes and, let’s be honest, a lot of tracks sound like they could be just that - but there’s a nice mood throughout with some beautiful singing. This definitely taps into a nostalgia for a jungle sound which was briefly all you heard from car stereos and such in London. There are better jungle albums out there, though; and there are definitely 1,001 better albums than this. But it’s a nice enough listen for when you are feeling in the mood.

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

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

this might be awesome an listen for 2 hours for some people . im not some people

This is pretty generic early 2000s dance music but not that exciting, overall. It's fine.

Initial impression was this is harshly rated. Couple of good singles, and whilst the style hasn't aged that well, it's a good example of it. Then it goes on. And on. And on some more. There's a decent 48 minute album in there, but it's about 25 minutes too long, which dilutes the highlights and makes it too repetitive.

Surprised I recognized at least one track here. Listening to this album is like being a very G-rated club from a simpler time.