My 1001 Albums Journey

Albums Rated

3.99

Average Rating

Complete

1008 albums remaining

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1960s

Favorite Decade

Singer-songwriter

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Cheerleader

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5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Beyond Skin Nitin Sawhney	5	2.77	+2.23
Rain Dogs Tom Waits	5	3.2	+1.8
Closer Joy Division	5	3.21	+1.79
Dry PJ Harvey	5	3.24	+1.76
Mama's Gun Erykah Badu	5	3.25	+1.75
Entertainment Gang Of Four	5	3.25	+1.75
Nebraska Bruce Springsteen	5	3.32	+1.68
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Kanye West	5	3.41	+1.59
Sound of Silver LCD Soundsystem	5	3.42	+1.58
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols Sex Pistols	5	3.46	+1.54

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff

Artists

Favorites

Artist	Albums	Average
Bruce Springsteen	3	4.67
Miles Davis	2	5

5-Star Albums (19)

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Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols

Popular Reviews

At Folsom Prison

Johnny Cash

5/5

One of the few live albums I've heard where the audience is just as much a part of the performance. The songs are great, Johnny's performance is charmingly flawed, but it's all about the atmosphere created by the little details: the inmate's reactions, Johnny's asides, and the warden's announcements.

51 likes

Dry

PJ Harvey

5/5

Angular, raucous, righteous, feminist, and fully-formed straight out of the gate. A great first listen, and one of many to come I think.

19 likes

Born To Run

Bruce Springsteen

5/5

More expansive and cinematic than I was expecting, and I'm pretty familiar with the singles off this album. The saxophone is arguably the lead instrument here, and there are some jazzy moments where it and the keyboardist can really shine. Bruce's lyrics are excellent and invoke a "working class" urgency: inspirational-via-the-gallows, a bleak sort of joy.

17 likes

Grace

Jeff Buckley

5/5

Unbelievably skill underscored by the tragic end of the artist that's hard to ignore when listening to it. I wish he lived longer because he really could have had his own niche--soulful but raw, virtuosic but not academic, pretty but not vapid.

15 likes

Pink Moon

Nick Drake

5/5

Beautiful music we all get to hear, seemingly made whether anyone was listening or not--and that's an uncommon thing. A late-career masterpiece with the intuitive confidence of a stellar debut. It's just a pity he didn't stick around to see how much everybody loved it.

13 likes

All Ratings

Home Is Where The Music Is

Hugh Masekela

4/5

Alternates between: Funky, violent, groovy, mournful, cinematic, and bluesy. Like late-era Coltrane + Funk with 70’s instrumentation.

Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear

3/5

Busy, ornate, and well-produced. Ear-candy indie stuff. Personally, somewhat bloodless and empty in my opinion...it just doesn't stick with me.

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols

5/5

Pure energy and vitriol unchanged by time.

Solid Air

John Martyn

4/5

Wide-ranging and really interesting listen throughout. Reminiscent of Nick Drake, but more ambitious and harder hitting.

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)

The Kinks

4/5

Ambitious for any year, and it's frankly embarrassing I've never heard of it until now.

Songs For Swingin' Lovers!

Frank Sinatra

5/5

Peak Sinatra and as smooth as silk from start to finish. It's easy to see how this music and Frank himself became something of a lifestyle brand for a few decades--idealized romance and class.

Africa Brasil

Jorge Ben Jor

4/5

Fun music with great melodies and groove to spare.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John

4/5

Epic and indulgent, ya know--Elton.

Tuesday Night Music Club

Sheryl Crow

4/5

I'll admit it--I snoozed on this album the day this system presented it to me. Listening now, a day later, and I have to say it's great. Classic singer-songwriter music, but with surprisingly wide-ranging influences and overall a really fun listen.

Dry

PJ Harvey

5/5

Angular, raucous, righteous, feminist, and fully-formed straight out of the gate. A great first listen, and one of many to come I think.

Liege And Lief

Fairport Convention

4/5

Parklife

Blur

4/5

Weird and wonderful. Very Beatles-esce .

Roger the Engineer

The Yardbirds

3/5

Bluesy psych that mostly reminds me of “Rubber Soul”.

Rattlesnakes

Lloyd Cole And The Commotions

4/5

When I Was Born For The 7th Time

Cornershop

3/5

I've tried getting into this album a couple of times, and I've come to the conclusion that, for me, this is a more interesting album anthropologically than musically--or at least it is (as an America) out of the context of where and when it was made, and by whom.

First Band On The Moon

The Cardigans

4/5

Rain Dogs

Tom Waits

5/5

Deep and wide and scary and charming.

Closer

Joy Division

5/5

Arrival

ABBA

3/5

Not a great album in terms of structure or when taken as a single work, but a really good collection of songs.

Jagged Little Pill

Alanis Morissette

3/5

OK Computer

Radiohead

5/5

Greatest of all time, if music was a contest. Prescient and sharp almost 30 years later.

The Pleasure Principle

Gary Numan

3/5

Obviously influential, but feels cheap and plastic compared to some of its progenitors.

I Against I

Bad Brains

4/5

Like living in a kick drum. Pure energy.

Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul

Otis Redding

4/5

Pure skill: Otis, the backing band, the Stax production--all of it.

Buffalo Springfield Again

Buffalo Springfield

4/5

Buffalo Springfield rips--I don't know why I've slept on them for so long. Maybe because everything the members went on to do--besides Young--tends to be pretty "sleepy"? CSN/CSNY is technically excellent, to be sure, but I'm not often in the mood for that "Saturday morning with a cup of coffee" sort of music. This album is great though! The closing track "Broken Arrow" doesn't quite hit for me, but it's ambitious in a Beatles-esqe way I find charming. Like an America "A Day In The Life". Less Albert Hall, more Nashville Skyline.

The Dark Side Of The Moon

Pink Floyd

4/5

What can you say about this album? Obviously influential, but not in its actual form except for a few exceptions in the mainstream. The most selling psych-rock album probably ever, but something of a dead-end in American music despite decades of enthusiasm about it.

At Folsom Prison

Johnny Cash

5/5

Stankonia

OutKast

4/5

Funky fresh, ya'll.

Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis

5/5

Instant atmosphere.

Heartattack And Vine

Tom Waits

4/5

Maybe the most "album" Tom Waits album I've listened to so far, and there's some really great tunes on here too.

Songs From The Big Chair

Tears For Fears

4/5

Great songs, great production.

Forever Changes

Love

4/5

Hippy disillusion in a folky stew.

The Last Broadcast

Doves

4/5

I need to listen a couple more times to review the lyrics, etc... but it definitely sounds like something I would have been into in 2002. Still nice now, though!

Beyond Skin

Nitin Sawhney

5/5

Wow. I was really blown away by this one. A diverse album from an artist with seemingly endless talents. The apocalyptic "beyond skin" themes add a lot of gravity.

World Clique

Deee-Lite

4/5

Bubbly, funky, joyous--instantly mood-altering stuff.

Straight Outta Compton

N.W.A.

4/5

Gangster rap gone mainstream, and much of it still lands despite being something of a bridge between heritage acts of the late 70’s and Biggie, Tupac, etc... of the 90’s. I could do without the misogyny.

I Should Coco

Supergrass

4/5

Bright and energetic britpop with a lot of songwriting chops on display.

Mama's Gun

Erykah Badu

5/5

Execution, vision, and funk--what's not to love?

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West

5/5

In hindsight, probably Kanye's peak despite how good Yeezus and Life of Pablo were in parts.

The Low End Theory

A Tribe Called Quest

5/5

Rhythm and jazz and hip-hop with such distinct world-view and atmosphere--really, really, really good.

Here, My Dear

Marvin Gaye

3/5

Brutally honest lyrics and packaging that leaves little confusion about *exactly* what this album is about. I have no doubt repeated listens would draw out more details, but a double-album worth of mid-tempo R&B started to overstay its welcome for me.

Nebraska

Bruce Springsteen

5/5

Springsteen would be a legend just for this album, I swear. Can't-miss songwriting with its soul in the blues.

Low-Life

New Order

4/5

80's synth pop with an undercurrent of darkness and academic post-punk--ya know, New Order's whole thing.

Germs

4/5

In 1979?!? Nonstop action like a grindhouse film of music.

Bandwagonesque

Teenage Fanclub

4/5

Big Star, but not. Excellent musicianship, good tunes, and immediately catchy at first listen. Power pop at its best.

New Forms

Roni Size

2/5

I love electronic music in general, and Aphex Twin, Squarpusher, and Autechre in particular. That said, I found this album to be boring.

American Beauty

Grateful Dead

4/5

Pleasant, pleasant, pleasant.

Darkness on the Edge of Town

Bruce Springsteen

4/5

Excellent tunes as always, and some of his best as well. "Adam Raised a Cain" still kicks.

Born To Run

Bruce Springsteen

5/5

Make Yourself

Incubus

3/5

Definitely emblematic of where rock music was in '99, but maybe not what I'd pick from that era in such a tight list. More specifically, why "Make Yourself" and not "Hybrid Theory"? Similar nu-metal and hip-hop influences, but the latter is probably more indicative of music to come and overall more influential.

Nowhere

Ride

4/5

Like MBV and The Stone Roses had a baby. Really great, though.

Behaviour

Pet Shop Boys

3/5

The most I've ever liked the Pet Shop Boys, truthfully.

Cafe Bleu

The Style Council

3/5

Cool as a cucumber, but maybe a bit bloodless for soul.

Remedy

Basement Jaxx

4/5

Great stuff for any year, let alone '99. The last three tracks in particular look forward to some of the more aggressive EDM to come.

Grace

Jeff Buckley

5/5

Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs

Derek & The Dominos

3/5

Ok sure. Not my cup of tea, but the guitar work is great (of course). The eponymous "Layla" is really the only thing that jumped out at me.

Dig Me Out

Sleater-Kinney

4/5

Raw power.

Searching For The Young Soul Rebels

Dexys Midnight Runners

3/5

Wow, I totally underestimated this band. It's exactly what it is, and it's not like much else. Like a sophiti-pop album made by a folker with an unorthodox croon.

One World

John Martyn

4/5

Really interesting, as ever for John. Worth the price of admission for the final track "Small Hours" alone.

Exile In Guyville

Liz Phair

4/5

Swagger and confidence.

The Stooges

3/5

"I Wanna Be Your Dog" and most of side B are great, but it's an uneven listen with some misses.

Pink Moon

Nick Drake

5/5

Sound of Silver

LCD Soundsystem

5/5

Sharp and funky and emotional and cool all at the same time.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme

Simon & Garfunkel

4/5

Pastoral and academic, but not inaccessible.

Let's Get Killed

David Holmes

3/5

The interviews sprinkled into the mix add a sense of time and place. The music itself can be a bit forgettable at times, though.

Playing With Fire

Spacemen 3

4/5

Noise and madness with beauty mixed in.

Fear Of Music

Talking Heads

4/5

Art punk made with professionalism but balanced with campy subject matters and surrealist lyrics. Too dumb to take it seriously, but that's how you get to make weird/great stuff.

My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Brian Eno

4/5

About what you'd expect when these two get together, but that's not a bad thing. Firmly avant-garde.

Rattus Norvegicus

The Stranglers

3/5

Goth rock "back in the day". That organ, though.

The Coral

3/5

Throw-back, but still fresh.

Live At The Harlem Square Club

Sam Cooke

4/5

One of those live albums where not only is the "room" present, but a huge part of the captured experience. Great performance, and infectious to listen to.

Murmur

R.E.M.

4/5

Jingle jangle city, but it all goes down smooth.

Entertainment

Gang Of Four

5/5

Excellent, and it's amazing just how fresh it still sounds 52 years later. Then again, I'm a big fan of Squid and Shame who've raised the banner for this kind of music in the past year. Love it. Highly recommended.

Oar

Alexander 'Skip' Spence

4/5

Very interesting listen and one of my new favorites from this list so far. The sound of an accomplished songwriter...losing his mind.

Drunk

Thundercat

4/5

Genre-agnostic music that can pull off soft-rock and progressive funk, often at the same time.

Country Life

Roxy Music

4/5

Virtuosic performances and good songs that stuck with me after just one listen--what's not to like? Maybe Brian's voice, but I like it.

Dog Man Star

Suede

4/5

Melodramatic and very ambitious.

In A Silent Way

Miles Davis

5/5

A hypnotic album that sits at the end of one era and the beginning of the next, while remaining its own thing.

At Mister Kelly's

Sarah Vaughan

3/5

Lovely, lively listen.

808 State

3/5

Nice polyrythms, and a good listening experience overall. Aged well! Highlight: Pacific 202.

Heaven Or Las Vegas

Cocteau Twins

4/5

Highly atmospheric. Reminds me of a combination of MBV and The Cranberries, in a very good way.