My 1001 Albums Journey

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Black Monk Time The Monks	5	2.94	+2.06
At Budokan Cheap Trick	5	3.1	+1.9
Country Life Roxy Music	5	3.11	+1.89
Another Green World Brian Eno	5	3.12	+1.88
The La's The La's	5	3.15	+1.85
Solid Air John Martyn	5	3.16	+1.84
Miriam Makeba Miriam Makeba	5	3.19	+1.81
Ocean Rain Echo And The Bunnymen	5	3.22	+1.78
Phrenology The Roots	5	3.25	+1.75
S&M Metallica	5	3.26	+1.74

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Kanye West	1	3.42	-2.42

Artists

Favorites

Artist	Albums	Average
Bob Marley & The Wailers	2	5
Elvis Presley	2	5

5-Star Albums (43)

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Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Popular Reviews

Blue Lines

Massive Attack

5/5

The original trip hop album. Still sounds just as good now as it did 30 years ago.

25 likes

Ten

Pearl Jam

5/5

First CD I ever owned. Got it for Christmas 1991 - which was the same date that I got my first CD player / stereo. I was 13 years and this played in my room more or less constantly for well over a year. A seminal album in rock n' roll - along with Nirvana's Nevermind, probably THE defining album of the Seattle scene / grunge movement. And, amazingly, it has aged extremely well.

19 likes

Solid Air

John Martyn

5/5

I had heard his name - mainly in association with other folkies from his era (Bert Jansch, Roy Harper, Nick Drake, etc), but I don’t think I’d ever heard his music. This is an absolutely unique, strange, and fascinating listen. A crazy mix of straightforward, earnest folk music and MUCH more experimental stuff. Acoustic backslap guitar, pronounced jazz-like bass, saxophone, off-kilter beats/drums, odd instrumentation (did I hear a dijereedoo in there?) and borderline stream of consciousness slippery/mumbled lyrics that play along with the music. I could listen to this all day long. I’m going to dig into the rest of his catalog.

17 likes

Closer

Joy Division

3/5

I can objectively appreciate what it is, but this is decidedly not for me.

14 likes

Buena Vista Social Club

5/5

I love this album. Haven’t listened to it in a long time. It’s the spirit of Cuba - and by extension - the Caribbean. The songs have a folk-tune, comforting quality to them that transfers to the listener, even if you can’t understand all the lyrics.

13 likes

1-Star Albums (1)

All Ratings

Ill Communication

Beastie Boys

5/5

Very familiar. One of the best hip hop albums of all time - followed up Check Your Head in the BB’s progression into more mature / thoughtful themes (religion, domestic violence, music history, social issues, etc) while also remaining funky as hell and super funny/fun.

Buena Vista Social Club

5/5

Toys In The Attic

Aerosmith

3/5

The two songs that became famous - “sweet emotion” and “walk this way” - were the right ones. Especially “sweet emotion.” They’re legitimately great rock songs and sound totally different than everything else on the album. The rest of the album is kinda pedestrian guitar rock, with the exception of “big ten inch record,” which is just freaking awful and filled with bad sexual double entendres, to boot. “You See Me Crying” is foreshadowing of the absolute garbage that Aerosmith would put out in the 90’s.

Tea for the Tillerman

Cat Stevens

5/5

In my opinion, Tea for the Tillerman (and his followup Teaser and the Firecat) are the two best folk albums of the 1970’s. Just great from start to finish. “Wild World” is an obvious standout and gives the album it’s needed pop hit, but “Father and Son” is one of the best songs - in any genre - ever written.

Blue

Joni Mitchell

3/5

I can appreciate her talent, but she’s not my cup of tea.

Copper Blue

Sugar

4/5

I knew Husker Du and Mould’s solo stuff, but somehow totally missed out on Sugar. Great album.

Casanova

The Divine Comedy

2/5

I had never heard this (or heard OF this). And I’m not a fan. I’m not sure if it’s just a dated sound or what, but the production sort of sounds like this album was made as a joke. Like a mocking of David Bowie. Maybe it was? Some of this is just straight up cringeworthy.

Rocks

Aerosmith

3/5

Similar feelings to my thoughts about the Aerosmith album that I had to listen to the other day. Mostly meh guitar rock with a few standouts.

Solid Air

John Martyn

5/5

New Wave

The Auteurs

4/5

Gotta be honest. I had never heard of this album or this band. This is a great album. It sounds like if Oasis had the creative sensibilities of Stephen Malkmus. Gritty, somewhat dark 90’s alt/brit rock. Good stuff.

The Slim Shady LP

Eminem

3/5

I can appreciate Eminem’s abilities and his place in the ‘pantheon of rap,’ but I honestly can’t listen to this album. It’s like he just picked a bunch of topics to be edgy or contrarian about and then rapped about them. I felt similarly about it when it came out in 1999 (when I was 21) and my opinion hasn’t changed in the years since.

Ten

Pearl Jam

5/5

Face to Face

The Kinks

4/5

Garbage

3/5

It’s fine. Paved the way for some other female-fronted alternative/rock bands in a scene that was decidedly male-dominated. In terms of the actual music, I was never that big a fan.

Another Green World

Brian Eno

5/5

Super weird and uniquely Eno - at his transitional stage between rock and minimalism/ambient. Great album.

Live Through This

Hole

4/5

Legitimately good album, even though I personally can’t stand Courtney Love any anything she stands for culturally, historically, or otherwise.

Black Sabbath

4/5

Yep, that’s Black Sabbath.

Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd

5/5

One of my favorite albums - if not my favorite - of all time. The title song is the first song I learned to play on guitar and is still my go-to “noodling” song when I pick up the instrument. I love everything about the album and all of its weird little idiosyncrasies.

Rubber Soul

Beatles

5/5

One of the best albums ever recorded. Full stop.

Frampton Comes Alive

Peter Frampton

4/5

Great live album. Although - to be honest - I found it somewhat underwhelming overall this time around.

Natty Dread

Bob Marley & The Wailers

5/5

I had listened to a lot of Bob Marley but had somehow never heard this album. In retrospect, I don’t know how that is possible. Great album and really interesting versions of well known songs.

Live!

Fela Kuti

5/5

I love anything Fela Kuti did. This album is awesome.

Woodface

Crowded House

4/5

I don’t know much about Crowded House. I’m digging this album. Easy to listen to, hook-heavy 90’s pop. Kind of reminds me of Toad the Wet Sprocket a bit.

All Directions

The Temptations

5/5

Super funky and socially conscious. I can dig it.

Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea

PJ Harvey

3/5

meh

My Aim Is True

Elvis Costello

5/5

Great record. Throwback to 50s/60s rock and r&b but with 70s punk vibe/influences. Also somewhat of a landmark for alt/indie rock.

Gris Gris

Dr. John

3/5

I like his later stuff better. This was maybe a little too weird for me.

Faith

George Michael

3/5

pffft

Disraeli Gears

Cream

4/5

Good album. A few standouts and a bunch of kind of “generic” psych-rock songs (that were probably no generic at all at the time).

Suede

3/5

Not bad, but also not that good. I can fully understand why the other BritPop bands passed them by.

S&M

Metallica

5/5

I like Metallica. Not an uber fan by any stretch, but I like their stuff. This is great. And even better if you watch the live concert on Youtube.

Country Life

Roxy Music

5/5

Great album. Roxy Music is kind of a blind spot for me.

From Elvis In Memphis

Elvis Presley

5/5

Awesome.

Triangle

The Beau Brummels

4/5

I had literally zero knowledge of this band. This is actually a really interesting psych/folk listen.

Bad Company

3/5

Who's Next

The Who

5/5

one of the best albums ever made. period.

Play

Moby

5/5

Miriam Makeba

5/5

She’s awesome.

Live At The Harlem Square Club

Sam Cooke

5/5

Oh hell yes. Best soul singer of all time.

Blue Lines

Massive Attack

5/5

The original trip hop album. Still sounds just as good now as it did 30 years ago.

Ocean Rain

Echo And The Bunnymen

5/5

Genuinely didn’t know what I expected from this album. I hadn’t heard overly good things about Echo & the Bunnymen - I was pleasantly surprised. This sounds quite a bit like some of the more obscure alt/indie rock from the mid 2000s. I dig it. “The Killing Moon” is a straight-up great song.

At San Quentin

Johnny Cash

5/5

One of the best live albums ever made. Period.

Parklife

Blur

4/5

huzzah.

Something/Anything?

Todd Rundgren

4/5

Black Monk Time

The Monks

5/5

This record is fucking bananas and I kind of love it. Also, I can’t believe it came out in 1966 - in Germany. Holy shit.

Brothers

The Black Keys

5/5

Imperial Bedroom

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

4/5

great album “Shabby Doll” suck, though.

Hot Buttered Soul

Isaac Hayes

5/5

Just flat-out awesome.

Songs For Swingin' Lovers!

Frank Sinatra

5/5

Closer

Joy Division

3/5

I can objectively appreciate what it is, but this is decidedly not for me.

The La's

5/5

This is fucking awesome.

Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches

Happy Mondays

4/5

Really like this. Doesn’t feel overly “groundbreaking” but it may have been for the time. Good stuff.

New York Dolls

4/5

A Walk Across The Rooftops

The Blue Nile

3/5

Ok. Not bad, but not my favorite. Bass is pretty badass.

At Budokan

Cheap Trick

5/5

I’ve never given cheap trick the time of day. This album is legitimately great.

The Rising

Bruce Springsteen

4/5

Solid album, although not great (in my opinion) due to it being somewhat inconsistent and a bit repetitive at times. A few REALLY amazing songs on there though.

Californication

Red Hot Chili Peppers

4/5

Ok. Not bad, but not my favorite. Bass is pretty badass.

Phrenology

The Roots

5/5

yes

Elvis Presley

5/5

It’s Elvis. I mean, c’mon. 5 stars.

Hms Fable

Shack

4/5

I had never heard of this, which is somewhat surprising given that this type of music was right up my alley during this timeframe (college). Pretty great stuff.

At Mister Kelly's

Sarah Vaughan

5/5

This is unbelievably good.

Odelay

Beck

5/5

One of my favorite albums. Unique and weird and quirky and funny and funky. It was awesome then and it’s awesome now.

Pet Sounds

The Beach Boys

5/5

Technically, this might be the best pop record ever made. An absolute masterpiece that is completely enjoyable on multiple levels.

Back In Black

AC/DC

5/5

One of the best pure guitar driven hard rock albums ever.

Bryter Layter

Nick Drake

5/5

In terms of pure folk beauty, the high points on this album are about as good as it gets. Overall, it’s a little inconsistent - but when it hits its peaks - damn.

Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

3/5

Meh.

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

Sinead O'Connor

4/5

This album hasn’t aged well, but her voice is absolutely something to behold when it’s used correctly. Her version of Nothing Compares 2 U is one of the best vocal performances of all time in any genre.

Transformer

Lou Reed

3/5

He looks like Frankenstein’s monster on the cover. Besides “Perfect Day” and “Walk On The Wild Side” (which are both fantastic) and to a lesser extent “Satellite of Love” and maybe “Goodnight Ladies” (for its weirdness), this album kind of sucks. Like quickly scrawled high school lyrics mangled and shoehorned to fit over basic power chord guitar music.

Disintegration

The Cure

3/5

Not my thing.

Manassas

Stephen Stills

4/5

Musically fantastic. I think I’d like it better if someone else was singing the songs, however.

Mothership Connection

Parliament

5/5

Yes. All of this. All the time.