1001 Albums Summary

Excellent! Satisfying funky parts. Overdriven rhythm guitar against cleaner funk guitar sounds good together. Saxes, wind and piano make it all jazzy and joyful, but there are still plenty of sombre and ominous moments. British vocalist sounds great, and backing chorus jumping is fun when it happens. Makes good use of effects and synths. Remastered percussion sounds surprisingly high quality for a recording done in the 80s recording. "Hide in Your Shell" is memorable with it's sax melody in the chorus. "Asylum" has a really desparate but cathartic chorus from the singer. "Dreamer" is very jovial and energetic, with plenty of instruments involved. "Rudy" is more rock than jazz, without the brass, but then ends on an ominous note with violins. A great album, and plenty of variety in mood, tone and texture. But overall, quite uplifting.

My views are quite generous for this album, as I've never heard anything like it. And I'm getting surprised by the fidelity of remasters. Overall, this album sounds great; it has a mix that I've never heard before in rock, where the bass is the most prominent element throughout most of the songs. You've got very melodic bass lines (with that vintage 80s distortion that makes the song feel thick even when there's pretty much just drums and bass) that overshadows the electric guitar/s. And you've got a vocalist who jumps in and out but has very little "lead" in the song, as he's lower in the mix. He's a good singer but never pushes himself in these tracks (sticking to a condensed vocal register? Maybe some more long high notes or something would improve it), and he shows off the least out of all members. I'd give this one a 4.5 and will round it up to a 5. I want to leave headroom for something with a bit more variety and that matches my tastes more, but admittedly "YYZ" has some of the best technical rock bass I've ever heard, and I like every song on this album. Not to mention that moment in "Tom Sawyer" where they reference Space Invaders and then switch to a 7/4 synthy Atari melody, and subsequently hearing the bassist nail that melody afterwards really hits my tastes, and encapsulates the combo of sounds that I like about this band. Shout out to "Vital Signs", my second favourite song on here.

Very tough for me to mark this one as a 2 but I think I have to as it's not got any memorable or catchy jams and I care about that. I'd put this under indie-folk (indie rock + folk rock), as it generally matches that, however, this is an incredibly varied album. I managed to find tracks that covered the following genres (in this order): Western Classical (shout out to muted trumpets), Grunge/Rock?, Indie, Folk, Hip Hop, Blues (this guy fucking plays banjo), Alt Rock (crazy pedal effects), Pop Rock (sounded like The Beatles or something), Piano Balad (shout out to the harp), American Country, Disco (excuse me what!?) and Big Band Swing. This solo multi-instrumentalist makes an impressively competent and cohesive album with small interludes and mostly gapless tracks that flow well between each other (except that wild disco one). He manages to link them together with his folky style, and manages to get his electric guitar sounding completely different on every track, in order to match the style. Incredibly impressive and very peaceful music, but I've never really listened to folk rock before so am unattuned to it (unless you count Mundford and Sons lol).

Great album! 4.5 stars! Rounded to a 5. Wikipedia says Soft Rock but I would've said R&B. Carole King's voice is incredibly solid, and she does really push herself and show it off. Mostly quite energetic groovy songs, with some slow and intimate ballads that go well with her voice. A couple of these songs have stood the test of time. "You've Got a Friend" is like a complete emotional blanket. "Way Over Yonder" in 6/8 is really decent (+sexy sax solo) but my favourite may be "I Feel The Earth Move" as the rhythm section (gtar, bass, piano, drums) all get to play great melodies and solos.

Two listens is not enough for this one, and being sober isn't suitable either! Overall, I like the inspirational stuff like Movin' On Up, Come Together, Loaded and I'm Coming Down. They make great use of samples, and I like when they mess around with all kinds of varied percussion instruments. I'm not such a fan of the drawn out repetitive parts, but it's definitely growing on me so will revisit this some day.

An upbeat, fun and energetic album. Catchy, good natured rock n roll. I don't like hearing the fans on the front stage literally losing their minds, but otherwise I liked pretty much all of it. Really liked "(I'll Give You) Money" and "Baby I Love Your Way".

The 12-bar blues chord progressions get incredibly samey and predictable, but gives Jerry a chance to smash the shit out of his piano and put loads of energy in, which sounds great. My foot was tappin' and my ass was boppin' through the whole album, but probably won't listen again. Gotta give it credit coz I can tell how hot this fire was back in '64.

I reckon these guys have better and more adventurous albums than this. Sometimes there were moments when they diverted from the normal blues formula, but this was rare and fleeting. After some research...apparently these guys were the pioneers of edgy, social-outcast, counterculture (which I'm all about). But I think it's partly coz people fancied Jim Morrison and loved that he sang low and about ominous and dark subjects. "Peace Frog" and "Indian Summer" were good, but they're no "Riders on the Storm". They deserve credit but this album in particular is probably not the one for me.

Only had time for one listen. Quite good, fun-sounding rock music.

This album is real good. I think it's "Soul music" according to wiki (but I'm not in familiar territory here). Terence's voice is incredible and always turned up to 11; he's just constantly putting in energy and effort. The songs are varied and moving but sometimes have fun melodies like in "Wishing Well" and "Dance Little Sister". My favourite one is probably "Seven More Days", coz he really pushes his voice in that one. I like every song to be honest. Sometimes the repetition is a bit frustrating (like in "Let's Go Forward") but I think that's a trait that's pulled from gospel music so I'll accept that as a stylistic choice on his part. Besides, he has a beautiful five and a half minute acapella track ("As Yet Untitled") with zero repetition so I suppose he's really covered that basis of variety. And he ends the album on a really cathartic 6/8 song that makes me wanna slow dance ("Who's Loving You"), which I really dig. There's nothing that musically interesting about it, but it's an awesome ending and Terence's voice sort of explodes into each line.

I think this is objectively excellent but not to my tastes so it's gotta be a four star rating for me. It's soothing, and it's like Marvin is making love to my ears, but I think what I prefer is music that is more energetic or bouncy. Marvin's voice is great and relaxing, but it feels more like it's background music, and he's a fly-on-the-wall singing over it. Although it has loads of complexity to it (and the bass lines are bouncy to be fair) it still manages to feel a little samey to me across the album so not sure I can listen to it properly a second time without losing interest. Shout out to "A Funky Space Reincarnation", real cool.

I like all the songs on this album so gotta be a 5 from me. Plenty of low-end stuff like the melodic bass, moody vocals and low tuned drums appeal to me. I can embrace the gloomy atmosphere they create because I feel they manage to add enough variety in there with samples, synths and effects coming in and out like in "Candidate". I can feel the sloppy guitar-work, lazy singing and repetition balances well against the melodic hooks, varied effects (plus loads of that distinctive reverb to fill out the high end) and occasional synths creating something that sounds kinda melancholic. Overall, it's trying a lot harder than classic punk rock (so I think that's why "post-punk" makes sense as a genre label here). Although apparently this also comes under the sub-genre of "gothic rock". Despite their production value and polish, if you can stomach it, listening to the live tracks on the Collector's Edition is quite an experience. They play with much fewer effects (less delay/reverb/chorus pedals but plenty of distortion). Hearing so many bum notes, volume failures, amp feedback, clipped audio and distorted shouting, muddy harmony, flat drums and drunk people shouting really makes you feel like you're there watching the best worst gig ever. There's nothing more punk than that and I love it. Considering they weren't working with a whole lot of gear in 1979, I think they did a great job of creating different sounds and vibes throughout this album. My favourite track is definitely "Disorder", which The 1975 totally ripped off, although maybe it was a respectful homage, which is apt considering this band is supposedly very influential, and the singer committed suicide, really adding some contextual weight to this downbeat album.

Only had time for one listen. It was pretty good, I think this is one of those 90s Britpop contenders like Blur and Oasis. I think it's a little less radio-friendly than Oasis, but I think I like it slightly more coz the singer is quite good, if not trying to sing in a kind of American pronunciation. Bittersweet Symphony is okay, although I reckon it should be a final album track not an opening album track coz it's has that sort of winding-down vibe. Will have to give it a second listen.

Listened three times but couldn't quite get my attention grabbed on it. Did feel like one long jazzy sesh so it defies what I'm used to. However, that's a good thing about it, because it's kind of chill and I can focus on work while listening. Solid trumpet playing leads the melodies, and I can't say no to smooth double bass. Great stuff but there's not too much there in it for me.

Didn't realise Elton John was so rock n roll (and so his appearance on Fall Out Boy's "Save Rock and Roll" feels apt). Looked it up, not only did he change his actual name but he changed his actual middle name to Hercules - what a mad lad. Every song is really good, plenty of good choices, good songwriting, incredible vocals. Won't go into further detail coz it's all great. Only criticism is that the verses can drag slightly, compared to choruses, outros etc.

Had three listens. I do really like it, but... BAD THINGS: I never pay any attention to actual lyrics (besides the enunciation of individual phrases) and that's the main appeal of rap music, so I'm unlikely to ever score hip-hop a high mark because my brain just ignores all the best features of this music. Hopefully I can get out of that trap over time. GOOD THINGS: Great style, love the brass and guitar samples making it all jazzy, and all the basslines are incredibly groovy. I like that the lyrical content isn't so vulgar like in some hip-hop, but the lyrics are delivered in a very assertive manner which comes across well. FAVOURITE TRACKS: "Take A Rear", "Who's Gonna Take The Weight", and "Step in the Arena".

Had a struggle picking a score for this. I'm going for a five but I was very close to going for a four. I love all these songs, head banging all the way through. The deciding factor was the fact that the songs "2:1" and "Never Here" were a real change of pace and vibe, and I think that was the final bit of variety this album needed to not be too dry and samey. I've heard bands like this before and their sound isn't always as well executed (sounding too muddy). Best thing these guys are doing is having two guitars and the bass sometimes playing three totally different parts throughout - normally I expect punk rock to just have one main riff plodding along. Shout out to the song "Connection" as the theme song to Trigger Happy TV, I used to watch that all the time. Favourite song on here is probably "S.O.F.T.".

Basically if you take Nickelback, then dip them in a vat of crack and meth you get Nirvana. While I think the guitar riffs are really cool, I don't like how they fit with Kurt's voice; as soon as his voice comes in I'm like ah shit stop singing. I love counterculture music and Nirvana do have some better songs on other albums, but just never been able to appreciate this band in particular. Knew a few of these songs but I always prefer non-singles, which weren't decent enough to save this album for me.

Only gave it one listen. Thought it was alright, but the singing was a bit flat and dull, the choruses weren't very punchy, and I don't think that the synth-heavy sound aged so well. But yeah when it first came out I reckon it sounded proper edgy and unique, so maybe I'd have liked it back in the day. It could grow on me with more listens but it would take a long time.

Liked all the songs, and it was just varied enough to keep my attention. Much better songwriting than The Human League. Good stuff!

I feel mostly good things about this album. I like all the songs and it has a really cool energetic rocky vibe. The singer is pretty over the top with how he expresses himself, and sometimes his lyrics seem a bit weird and problematic. Will take more time to appreciate this, but overall I really dig these jams.

A totally unusual and unique mindfuck. I think it was absolute genius but I think you gotta be out of it to appreciate it's finer details.

Sometimes the lyrics are a little problematic but overall I really like the album. High energy, I like the backup vocals being quite present, good performance, no lazy band members, singer is decent. Quantity over quality is a little issue, with most of the music being pretty simplistic, but does a great job as punk rock music. Does have a bit of variety but they mostly stick to fast-paced jams. Want to see their later stuff as apparently they change their style up.

Pretty decent, liked all the songs. Super ravey and varied and interesting, and not like anything I've heard before. If I gave it a little more time to appreciate it I could probably upgrade it to a 5.

I think this band had something to say but I didn't get it. A 9 minute song which is mostly a recording of ocean waves and the occasional lyric doesn't really do it for me. Defying conventions, but alienating listeners. Had great promise, but not really for me. Maybe will try their other albums.

Very good, enjoyed it a lot more than most hip-hop.

I liked all of it. Quite solemn, but the production is very bright and clear. Nice!

Good music, liked it all but nothing stood out as excellent. Will maybe listen to their 2019 album as I want to see where they took their sound.

I'm crap at reviewing hip hop, so I'll just say this is especially good. Covered some good topics lyrically and it all feels very genuine and moving.

Sounds quite good considering it's '73. Similar classic rock and roll sound to Peter Frampton but a few years older. I preferred Peter Frampton but this album was generally solid, but not much to say about it.

Beautiful music, definitely a very talented guy. Album is a little bit samey, but still really good.

Very cool immersive psychedelic rock, not sure if it's my headphones but would prefer a remastered one as the production could do with more clarity. Importantly, something about the way this music is written feels quite intimate, like it's in a bar. I think it's just quite an exposed style of music, that doesn't throw too much at you at once. Favourite was Tales of Brave Ulysses.

Good things: Loved that they had a "Hello" opener song and a closer "Goodbye" song. Good crowd interaction having people clap on "I Want You To Want Me", which is a really good song. Rocking out to Big Ben is a sick encore. Good rock n roll sound like Peter Frampton but a bit less sappy and a little more edgy. Still quite radio-friendly music to be honest, but it all sounds balanced. Bad things: "Lookout" and "Need Your Love" are quite forgettable songs (ignoring the savage guitar solos). Very close to giving it a 5.

Kinda mixed feelings. Sounds like, post-punk but with a but of a blues influence. Thought it was good but couldn't really decide how much I liked it.

I rated all the songs individually (out of five) and got 3.8 so let's round that up to 4. Issues are that I think the singer doesn't have a good enough voice to make the long drawn out parts enjoyable enough. But some songs on this album slap hard.

I love this album but two deluxe albums combined together is waaaaaay too long for me to actually appreciate it properly. I've listened three times and I'm like what. But. It's rock n roll, it's jazzy, it's moving, it's pretty excellent.

A day in the studio for these guys is like: "Okay I've just written this sick guitar solo...how can we make a song out of it!?". Admittedly, this music is really good, and the guitars sound really good. They've got some really nice rock sound out of their guitars, similar to Guns N Roses and Queen. They write excellent guitar riffs, and some catchy hooks too, but I do lose interest when it's just fast guitar shredding and not much else going on in the album (like the last two songs). Tough one to rate. Not that bothered about listening again so will go for 4.4 stars rounded to 4

Didn't dig too deep into this one. Similar style to Carole King, but Joni just doesn't quite have as strong a voice, but she mostly makes up for that with some more interesting melodies and rhythms. She has faster stuff like "Raised on Robbery" which work well with her voice, but there's not enough of it. Would be a four but I'm just not that bothered about her.

Lots to say. Only listened to the original tracklist and skipped the bonus stuff. Great things: Variety of style (this album moves through rock, pop and blues) and variety of vibe (every song has a different feel), strong performance (Nilsson's voice is extraordinary), wide instrumentation (accordion, harmonica, brass, piano, normal rock rhythm section), just really excellent songs overall. Love that "Jump into the Fire" is one big rock jam song, but it messes with the signal volumes so you get this OTT bass solo and so the whole thing doesn't really drag, maybe my favourite song on here. Things that make this album stand out: The vocal is strong in the mix, but the lyrics are enigmatic, compact and weird, the subject matter is normally quite simple (getting up, driving to work, being sleepy, the moon, being down, being in love whatever) but hard to work out what individual lines mean coz he says unusual things, he wears a dressing gown on the album cover, and the album name is just taking the piss out of himself. Also, this guy writes a beautiful song like "Without You" but follows it up with some cautionary tale about limes and coconuts. That shit is whiplash-level jarring and I love it, and I can't stay mad at him coz his voice is just excellent and the whole thing makes me laugh. Every song has grown on me after multiple listens. I really wanna listen to more of this so gotta be five stars.

Gave it a few listens but couldn't really focus on it coz was working. Folk-style stuff tends not to grab my attention, but hopefully I'll get more into it over time.

A solid album, with variety, good writing and every song is decent. Difficult to rate as I feel that this album doesn't have much exciting or catchy stuff, and I know that Queen can do that, and Freddie isn't exactly belting his voice to its potential here. It's a four star rating coz I know they have much more up their sleeve.

Mixed feelings but that's what I expected. I think The Offspring are good at what they do, plenty of great guitar riffs, high energy and attitude, lots of good moments with backed up vocals that I like. But they fall into that quantity over quality trap where they make lots of high energy songs, but don't have enough variety in style and dynamics (the singer is pretty much shouting for the whole album). I think these guys and NOFX triggered a real 90s punk movement, which spawned many bands I like more, but I can't listen to too much of this fast-paced double-time drum stuff coz it slowly turns into a wall of sound and is a little too samey. I like this band a lot but this album in particular, not so much.

Had four listens, it's a bit of a long one and still need to listen more grasp it all. Importantly, every song is great, I prefer the songs with rapping ("Lost Ones", "Doo Wop", "Final Hour") because they flow incredibly well, but the more emotional RnB stuff is really good too. When Lauryn is not rapping she's pushing her voice to its full most of the time, with some very smooth backing. It doesn't just jump between two genres though, because you feel influences from afro-carribean vocals (lost ones, forgive them father) Latin flamenco guitar (to zion), pyschadelic guitar solo (ex-factor), soul/gospel organ keys (ex-factor and every ghetto every city), 90s rap record scratches/skips (throughout) and just excellent bass lines (throughout). There's so much variety, and the skits actually have music in them which really makes them feel more listenable, not to mention that the subject matter is pretty wholesome (LOVE). Shout out to that familiar piano sample in "Doo Wop", Hammond will have to tell me where that comes from.

Been sat deciding on this one for a while. It's some quite interesting folky music with a bit of country (bluegrass maybe?). I like Magic Hollow, The Wolf of Velvet Fortune and Triangle. There's so many instruments in this album (drum kit, string quartet, acoustic guitars and effects, accordion, shakers, bass, horn section, chimes, harp maybe). The way they use the instruments is really good and add loads of variety, probably the best thing about the album. The singer has a great voice and loves his vibrato. The music can be quite atmospheric, and doesn't feel too Square Dancey, it's something you can actually sit down and listen to. Sometimes stuff with too much variety will go in directions I don't like, but it's the most exciting and intriguing folk album I've ever heard. But, I'm still not fully sold on folk.

I enjoy listening to this but I'm not that crazy about it. It's got lots of really nice parts and is fun in places. On one hand it's got variety but on the other hand it's a bit inconsistent so difficult to review, but it's mostly jazzy and bluesy numbers. Favourites are "The Paris Match" and "You're The Best Thing".

This one's just not for me really. Hard to explain why. There were some really catchy bits, and it's nice music, and is like, modern, well produced rock. I think it's something about the individual instrument parts not standing out much, and just sounds like a wall of gentle pop rock that's there to give movement and energy to the singer but not trying to do anything else. I'd compare this to the album by Travis, but the guitar parts and everything stand out more in Travis. The singer of Coldplay is pretty good to be fair, but just not that excited by what he does with his voice, mostly good but the vocals can be quite dreary.

I've got nostalgia bias, but I love these guys. They're sort of one big satirical pisstake of hip-hop and rap-rock, but their energy and dedication is infectious, and they're always making me laugh. The way they enunciate their words really clearly makes it easy for me to get the jokes, and I can still appreciate their juvenile sense of humour since it's wrapped up in a sort of flowing rap group energy that doesn't really stop, it just jumps from one rapper to the next. These guys probably wrote most of these songs drunk, they rhyme the stupidest things and write very dumb lines, and they pad out lyrical space with lots of callbacks to other lines. However, they've got variety of rap and rock, and they've managed to keep this juvenile conceptual-callback sarcastic "my posse is the best" rap group style through their whole career, and I must say, it's grown on me. Only thing I'd mark them down for is that their beats aren't that well developed on this album, however, it was 1986 so I expect they were pioneers somewhat with their hip hop loops.

Their bassist is mad good; singer isn't so good but it works and the British accents give them points from me lol. I reckon I could get into The Who coz this album is pretty decent, it's some cool rock/punk rock stuff, and some good guitar work in there. Some issues: their songs are quite fun but I'm like meh, only kinda catchy. Also, I was laughing hearing the hecklers but then they started being racist and I was like ah fuck no.

I reviewed each song but had to be done. Fine Time: On hearing this I was like oh no another synthpop nightmare like The Human League (I didn't like them). As the song went on, I realised this song was incredibly varied and interesting - they had immense control over their synthesisers, and explored so many ideas in one song. And then they threw a sheep sound effect in there and I was sold. There was also a cool guitar riff at the end and I realised this song is just a unique and intriguing introduction to a very good album. All The Way - Really good! I find New Order's music really moving, while simultaneously keeping constant energy with the melodic bassline. Sounds good with the strings and various synth effects. I couldn't decide if this was "new wave" coz it was all dancey emo synthpop, but those melodic basslines reminded me of Joy Division's "post-punk" basslines. According to Wiki it's synthpop, dance, post-punk and new wave so whatever. Wiki also says this band is the reformed Joy Division after the death of Ian Curtis. WOW! Love Less - Also found this really moving. Acoustic guitar in synthy-pop is a really interesting choice, I'm into it. You've got multiple melodies here at once so that's real cool, with the guitars bass and vocals all in counterpoint at times. More realistic sounding cymbals than I normally expect from this genre but I like it. Round and Round - This one is ominous, and has constants parts playing at all times giving it a lot of energy. But here's where the vocals start to hold things back a little, coz the vocals don't match harmonically that well. It's hard to tell if it's intentional or whether the new singer just isn't that good, but his voice still sounds quite pleasant to be honest so I dunno. He's probably just in the wrong register for his voice but I'm not so knowledgeable on that. Guilty Partner - Melodic parts are a little more restrained and in the background here, so this song is a slight change of pace, and the vocals are kind of moving freely and not matching the music much. Run - This song stands out for me, it's pretty beutiful and moving. My favourite on here. I like how New Orders songs are actually a little longer than most pop songs, going past four minutes on most songs. Takes you on a bit more of a journey. Mr Disco - I kind of hate the vocals on this one, but luckily they're lower in the mix so it's okay. Everything else is good though. Vanishing Point - more ominous stuff, quite like this one. Run out of stuff to say, but I like all the synth bell stuff which breaks up the pace, and then comes back in with snare roll. Dream Attack - back with the acoustic guitar, sounds great! Backup vocals save the vocals here. In conclusion, some excellent stuff that I'm quite in to, and am curious to listen to more, as apparently their other albums were very commercially successful. Nearly 5 star but gotta be 4 star coz some of the vocals hold it back, and needs more change of pace, the energy here is very high and doesn't come down for very long at a time.

It was quite good but it's mostly instrumental so couldn't really focus on it. Can't really rate it highly since I can't be bothered to listen again, but it was quite beautiful music, with lots of variety and cool baselines.

It's not bad, some pretty energetic cool rock and blues. The singer has a good voice, but the overly expressive way he sings is a quite jarring, and sometimes sounds bad but almost on purpose. I do kind of like him singing like that coz it gives this music more of an edge compared to The Doors. Good bits but not especially memorable.

Gave it one listen. Didn't stand out much, and didn't sound like 2007. Sounded. More 80s. Kinda cool though.

Not go much to say but enjoyed this one. Similar style to Elastica, sort of punk rock stuff but I preferred Elastica. Enjoyed "How Much More", "Tonite" and "Automatic".

Loved this, really into it. My favourite of the new wave / Post punk stuff coz the singer of this band can sing pretty well. Plenty of sick bass lines too. Going for 4 stars not five because I checked out a subsequent album and I think it was better and more varied.