Journey Complete!
Finisher #269 to complete the list
1089
Albums Rated
3.3
Average Rating
100%
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2010s
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Top Origin
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66
5-Star Albums
41
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Konnichiwa | 5 | 2.74 | +2.26 |
| LP1 | 5 | 2.8 | +2.2 |
| Broken English | 5 | 2.88 | +2.12 |
| Destroy Rock & Roll | 5 | 2.89 | +2.11 |
| White Ladder | 5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
| Dig Your Own Hole | 5 | 3.11 | +1.89 |
| Solid Air | 5 | 3.16 | +1.84 |
| Rain Dogs | 5 | 3.2 | +1.8 |
| Chicago Transit Authority | 5 | 3.2 | +1.8 |
| Let It Be | 5 | 3.25 | +1.75 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rubber Soul | 1 | 4.12 | -3.12 |
| All Things Must Pass | 1 | 3.81 | -2.81 |
| Appetite For Destruction | 1 | 3.74 | -2.74 |
| Highway to Hell | 1 | 3.66 | -2.66 |
| With The Beatles | 1 | 3.66 | -2.66 |
| Play | 1 | 3.47 | -2.47 |
| Parachutes | 1 | 3.46 | -2.46 |
| It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back | 1 | 3.37 | -2.37 |
| Pornography | 1 | 3.31 | -2.31 |
| Achtung Baby | 1 | 3.3 | -2.3 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Radiohead | 6 | 4.67 |
| Arcade Fire | 3 | 5 |
| Metallica | 4 | 4.5 |
| Prince | 3 | 4.67 |
| Nirvana | 3 | 4.67 |
| Kendrick Lamar | 2 | 5 |
| Adele | 2 | 5 |
| Tom Waits | 5 | 4.2 |
| Pink Floyd | 4 | 4.25 |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4.25 |
| David Bowie | 9 | 3.89 |
| Beck | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Doors | 3 | 4.33 |
| Queen | 3 | 4.33 |
| The White Stripes | 3 | 4.33 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 3 | 4.33 |
| Johnny Cash | 3 | 4.33 |
| Michael Jackson | 3 | 4.33 |
| Bruce Springsteen | 5 | 4 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| The Fall | 3 | 1.67 |
| Emerson, Lake & Palmer | 2 | 1.5 |
| AC/DC | 2 | 1.5 |
| Randy Newman | 2 | 1.5 |
| Public Image Ltd. | 2 | 1.5 |
| Def Leppard | 2 | 1.5 |
| Beatles | 7 | 2.29 |
| The Byrds | 5 | 2.2 |
| Aerosmith | 3 | 2 |
| Kings of Leon | 3 | 2 |
| Elvis Costello & The Attractions | 4 | 2.25 |
| R.E.M. | 4 | 2.25 |
| Morrissey | 4 | 2.25 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Kanye West | 5, 1, 4 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers | 5, 2 |
| Public Enemy | 1, 4, 4 |
| Dexys Midnight Runners | 4, 4, 1 |
| Pink Floyd | 5, 2, 5, 5 |
5-Star Albums (66)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Metallica
5/5
An easy 5. I don't like all of Metallica's work but this album's hard to argue with. Excellent music.
23 likes
Arcade Fire
5/5
I like Arcade Fire, don't love them. Intervention is my favorite song on this album, and I like that the whole album sounds like it should be played in concert in a church or cathedral. They did a great job capturing a certain ambience. Probably a 4.5 but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt here.
14 likes
Kraftwerk
1/5
Solidly boring. I see that it was made in 1977 so this may have been foundational to the music that I DO like but... I do not want to listen to this ever again haha.
10 likes
Patti Smith
4/5
Had to do some reading to understand the context behind this album. An interesting story, and pretty bold music for its time, I think. My first was a little bit of shock about how odd / raw this album is, which it turns out was a major aim of hers.
10 likes
Keith Jarrett
4/5
I've heard of this concert before, pretty sure I read about it in a book, but I can't remember exactly where! Really fascinating story though, that such an engaging concert was performed under such difficult and ridiculous circumstances.
Could have done without the moaning throughout, but maybe that's part of his style? Plus when you're improvising and suffering from back pain I won't fault somebody for making odd noises
9 likes
4-Star Albums (465)
1-Star Albums (41)
All Ratings
Buena Vista Social Club
3/5
Big Brother & The Holding Company
4/5
Not my usual style but I actually liked it. Recognized some classic songs, and I learned a bit about Janis Joplin reading about this album. Lots of emotion in her voice which was I think why this album worked for me.
Coldplay
1/5
There are some coldplay songs / albums that I like but this is not one of them. They're really not to my taste, overall.
Lauryn Hill
4/5
Really good! New music for me, some of the songs felt a little long but I liked all of the classroom discussions appended after the songs.
Public Enemy
1/5
Would not recommend. Naaaaah boiiiiiii
The Kinks
2/5
Tears For Fears
4/5
Sounded great, singer had an interesting voice, recognized some classic songs too! Now I can place some faces to the name 'Tears for Fears'
Arctic Monkeys
3/5
This is a different style than the Arctic Monkeys songs that I know. Not my favorite album tbh, felt pretty same-y throughout. Interesting to see how their music has changed in the past ~10 years though!
Patti Smith
4/5
Had to do some reading to understand the context behind this album. An interesting story, and pretty bold music for its time, I think. My first was a little bit of shock about how odd / raw this album is, which it turns out was a major aim of hers.
Iggy Pop
4/5
Iggy pop, such an interesting artist. Some songs felt similar to David Bowie songs to me while others were completely different. Overall: was good! I need to listen to more full albums of his.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
5/5
An instant 5 for me. Not my favorite RHCP album overall but it has some absolute classics and the whole album is solid.
Simon & Garfunkel
2/5
The Triffids
3/5
Some of these songs sounded like, 40% familiar but I'm pretty sure I haven't heard them before.
Van Morrison
4/5
Brian Eno
3/5
Had moments but I did not like what was done with the vocals, might have been something in the harmonies that was throwing me off. Also did not listen to this album in the best mood so I skipped the back half of a couple songs once they had lost me.
M.I.A.
3/5
Great beats to their songs. I knew nothing about M.I.A, main artist is from Sri Lanka and has pulled in influences from all over the place to create this album. Kind of a multitude of messy layers but I came out liking it
Travis
3/5
Alice In Chains
4/5
I could write lots about Alice in Chains. Been listening to them since I was... 11? Listening to this album in full, as an adult... Holy crap, the content is a new level of heavy. Some seriously strong music here, classic Alice in Chains, amazing vocal harmonies, hugely influential album.. Okay I'll stop. A 4 but not 5 as I don't think this is their strongest album, but it is a classic.
David Bowie
4/5
Todd Rundgren
3/5
As Stu said, definitely not boring. Felt very experimental, I liked some parts, did not like others (the entire onionhead song, for example).
Justice
3/5
Felt similar to Daft Punk, but a little less melodic and noisy. Probably the increased distortion and no vocals. I'm a fan of EDM generally but I think this was on the weaker side, compared to modern artists.
Elvis Costello
2/5
Hope this rating doesn't offend anyone! This album didn't really do it for me, especially the artist's voice. Maybe not his best work.
Marilyn Manson
3/5
Pretty neutral on this album. Listening to this was actually a blast from the past though, so that was interesting!
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Short and sweet. A couple classics on here. I do like CCR, although the last song "Keep on Chooglin' " had a long harmonica solo in the right channel only, and I wonder about why they chose to use stereo sound in such a way.
Sade
4/5
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
An easy 5, one of my favorite albums of all time.
Neneh Cherry
3/5
'Chocolates, bananas, doughnuts and salami
Ain't gonna fit cause you're full of bologna'
Extremely tame lyrics on this album. Fun enough to listen to but man, the lyrics / style haven't aged particularly well haha
Saint Etienne
3/5
Was a fan. Pretty chill music, great to listen to during work. Thought the shoutout to Countdown was pretty funny (start of 'Stoned to say the least').
Van Halen
3/5
Boards of Canada
4/5
Definitely turned the sound up on this album to dig deeper into the layered tracks. Really liked the album, very nice background music but had some great hooks to keep me interested. Could do without the scratch tracks though.
The 13th Floor Elevators
2/5
You can hear the influence of albums like this in all kinds of media when they're trying to communicate someone is on a drug trip. The sound is very big and messy, largely because of the heavy reverb. Also, there's a backing track throughout the album that I really don't like the sound of, it's a synth maybe? Hopping back and forth between notes like somebody messing with their zipper. Irked me.
Frank Ocean
2/5
I wanted to like this album but the themes really didn't work for me
Ian Dury
1/5
Liked some parts of most songs but they all outstayed their welcome. Lyric themes were pretty crude.
Eric Clapton
2/5
Motherless children cover rubbed me the wrong way.
The Smiths
3/5
Not bad, apparently a start to the indie rock genre. I'll take their word for it but I wonder why this album was chosen when the review started with 'while not as good as these other two Smiths albums...'
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
2/5
Sunshine of your love reference was my favorite part. Didn't really know what to make of this album. It was long, and quiet, a little boring but the singer's voice was interesting and the fact that this was called 'a soundtrack to schizophrenia' by reviewers... makes me wonder how to learn from it.
Iron Maiden
4/5
Really good, but left me wanting to listen to the albums featuring Bryce Dickinson after! Still a good listen though, I had never listened to this album, just Prowler.
ZZ Top
4/5
You've got to love "Gimme all your lovin'", it's such a classic. Really enjoyed this whole album although I didn't expect to.
The Chemical Brothers
4/5
Bob Dylan
4/5
Isaac Hayes
4/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
Liked it. A little noisy and overstimulating at times, hence the 3 instead of 4, but I liked it!
The Undertones
2/5
Not really for me, although it did grow on me. The lyrics / motifs were short but pretty repetitive, and I'm usually not fond of the fast-drums fast-riffs style of punk rock. Would go to a live show with friends though.
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
Really liked this! 4.5 if I could. Sound of Silver, Someone Great were my favorite tracks
Venom
3/5
Alright music, I think vocals were the weakest part. Gotta give it credit though, there's an entire genre of music named after this album.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
Girl in the 4th row was hella creepy... Maybe I'm missing some context there.
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
More forgettable than I would have liked
KISS
3/5
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
1/5
After this album, I'm pretty disappointed that something like this made it in while my favorite prog artists aren't on this list of 1001 albums. Avant garde to my taste, seemed mostly like someone wandering around on a keyboard paired with obtuse lyrics.
Elvis Presley
3/5
Alright overall, not sure how I feel about Elvis tbh
The Offspring
3/5
Huge nostalgia throughout this album. Pretty sure we had this album on tape. Offspring were big when I was pretty young.
Scott Walker
3/5
The Monks
1/5
Nothing for me here
John Prine
3/5
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
Pretty noisy. I liked the noise except the vocals are so low that I found myself straining to hear them.
Simple Minds
3/5
Is this Tears for Fears again? What? It's not? I generally like 80s pop although I could do without the vocals that sound like they're echoing out of a well!
Aerosmith
3/5
A couple good songs with some long gaps between, for me
Led Zeppelin
3/5
3.5 if I could
Boston
4/5
Strong start to the album, back half a little weaker. 3.5 if i could
Frank Zappa
3/5
Not bad, a little intrusive at parts but enjoyable in others
The Temptations
3/5
Rocket From The Crypt
4/5
Really liked On a Rope. A very repetitive song but not long enough for it to be a problem haha.
Otis Redding
4/5
Great soulful singing. Did not know this was the first recording of Respect! Great covers of Satisfaction and My Girl too.
Beck
4/5
I love Beck, although this is his slowest and most somber album. As a standalone I'm not sure it works, although it does have some songs I like. But, as part of the Beck discography it fits in and is critical, in a way.
Sigur Rós
4/5
Very chill, but I liked it!
Kraftwerk
1/5
Solidly boring. I see that it was made in 1977 so this may have been foundational to the music that I DO like but... I do not want to listen to this ever again haha.
Fats Domino
4/5
Had to reconstruct this album because it's not listed on Spotify. Pretty good though! Fats Domino sounds much different than I expected tbh (based on his name alone). As a man of no culture I tend to not like music from the 60s or earlier but I genuinely liked this work!
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
Sister Sledge
4/5
Nine Inch Nails
3/5
You know, I do like Nine Inch Nails but listening to this album again for the first time in like 10 years, it's not 100% my music anymore. I will say though, it's too bad Closer is the most popular song on the album, there are better tracks on there!
Bad Company
4/5
Slint
4/5
Motörhead
3/5
That drummer gets a serious workout, two hours of fast-paced beats like this?!
Miles Davis
2/5
I'll be honest, this didn't sound like much to me. I know Miles Davis is one of the greats but I couldn't find much to be impressed by here. I want to like jazz but it's hit or miss for me! If someone knows what to listen for, please explain
The United States Of America
1/5
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
Brian Eno
3/5
Definitely better than the last album we listened to by Brian Eno. Still not really my favorite music but not bad
Daft Punk
4/5
Every time I'm in a Daft Punk mood I listen to Human After all, so it's been a while since I heard Homework! Great album, I really like Around The World, although I don't fault those who find it too repetitive. Daft Punk's songs are tailor made to blend between each other in a set.
Billy Joel
3/5
Some classic songs! She's Always a Woman was weird. I already knew I wasn't much of a Billy Joel fan but I wouldn't deny those who see the appeal.
Animal Collective
2/5
Liked the sounds and instruments: heard some digeridoo-style noises, liked the bass lines. The vocals or lyric design let me down. And I'm sincerely doubting the digeridoo was anything other than a synth. I dunno. I think I'm learning that 'experimental' usually isn't my genre.
The Cardigans
4/5
B.B. King
4/5
Fred Neil
3/5
Richard Hawley
3/5
The Waterboys
3/5
Elton John
3/5
Tonnes of classic songs but I've never been a huge fan of Elton John. An undeniably great album, but not something I'd listen to often personally
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Definitely a strong album, although 2 hours is quite a bit of music to listen to. I don't think I can take stars away for that though!
Ramones
3/5
Thought #1: I cannot get over these hair styles.
Korn
2/5
Not a hot take, edgy does not mean good. Well, actually, edgy kind of just holds me back from enjoying something to the fullest. The music had its charm but hoo boy the vibes were off. I'll stick to my own taste in metal.
Talking Heads
4/5
Really good! Loved the music
Billy Bragg
3/5
Buzzcocks
2/5
Same-y punk, lyrics I wasn't that interested in. A couple songs I liked, but the rest of the album wasn't memorable for me.
Steve Winwood
3/5
Voice sounds like a mix of Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins. Or maybe I'm just going insane?
Pretty good album, kind of middle of the pack for me, but nothing i dislike about it
Sisters Of Mercy
4/5
The Roots
4/5
The Boo Radleys
3/5
Pulp
2/5
Did there really need to be a ~10 minute outro? Haha. Overall, eh for me
Kate Bush
2/5
Not much for me here. Breathy vocals and an ethereal sound, but the stories being told were not very interesting for me. Deeper Understanding stands out as particularly odd, apparently to make a phone call you have to 'press execute' hahaha
Alice Cooper
4/5
Overall good, I'm not really a stadium rock fan but it's a good album! I could have done without the loud hissing at the end of My Stars, and the sexual undertones of Gutter Cat vs. The Jets, both minor things though.
Eels
4/5
Pretty good album! After I finished listening, Spotify started shuffling other Eels songs, almost all of them I liked more than this album. Overall, glad to get to know Eels better than I did previously.
Gary Numan
4/5
Roxy Music
4/5
Love
4/5
Thelonious Monk
3/5
Background music for me, liked Bemshwa Swing at the end, pulled it up from a 2 to a 3
CHIC
4/5
Immediately recognized Good Times but did not know the band that made that great song. Now I do!
Bill Evans Trio
3/5
Seems alright, interesting that it was recorded live, had some parts I liked and a lot of gentle noise in between.
Love
2/5
Meat Loaf
3/5
Suede
4/5
Crosby, Stills & Nash
4/5
Wow did I expect to not like this album and was quickly proven wrong. Big fan, especially of Helplessly Hoping.
Jorge Ben Jor
3/5
TV On The Radio
4/5
Metallica
4/5
Brian Eno
2/5
Y'know, I've read enough times that Brian Eno is very influential but the music just isn't for me. It's not melodic enough, it's understated, it's repetitive...
I feel weird every time I rate these albums low, like I'm missing the things I'm supposed to appreciate!
ZZ Top
4/5
Orbital
4/5
As a fan of Steve Reich (thanks Miles) I liked the phased intro and outro songs. Generally a great album and a step on the way to "Chill Lo-Fi Beats to Study and Relax To" playlists so I'm a fan. Glad to hear this album.
The Specials
3/5
The Human League
4/5
Don't you want me baby! Don't you want me oooooohhh!
Great album, think I'm learning that I generally like 80s pop?
The Temptations
3/5
Sonic Youth
3/5
Decent, with some (but rare) noisy sections I wasn't feeling. probably a 3.5
Blur
2/5
Not too offensive but not my type of alternative rock (i.e. there's lots of alt rock that I think is better than this).
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Great music from a place of hardship. Easy to empathize with.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Loved it, so grateful to have heard this album
Arrested Development
4/5
Very upbeat and catchy, enjoyed most of it! Skipped some repetitive parts.
Neil Young
2/5
Not really the best of Neil Young on display here imo
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Not 100% my kind of music but I have no criticism to make. This is a great album.
Finley Quaye
4/5
Liked it! A little groovy, liked his voice. Sunday Shining was my favorite song.
Le Tigre
2/5
Charles Mingus
4/5
Pretty good, definitely in my area of jazz that I can enjoy. Solid background music with some intense portions.
Kind of hilarious that the review on the blog highlights "don't expect to get anything else done while listening, this is as far from background music as it gets." Guess I completely missed that part.
The Who
5/5
Great album! I don't know The Who very well so happy to listen through a full album of theirs
Underworld
4/5
I liked it, but it was too long for what it offered. That said, my favorite songs were the first two, 16 and 15 minutes each. I think I was feeling the music for the first half hour but by 70 minutes got tired of the minimal variety.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
You're gonna lose points for 'Stupid Girl'. Preeetty douche-y song.
Generally got the same vibe from a bunch of the album. Subpar work.
Jeff Buckley
3/5
Could be a 4. Had some strong moments mixed with a few covers and many forgettable songs. Really liked Forget Her, Dream Brother, and Grace.
If there's one song that nobody needs to cover again though, it's Hallelujah. Hot take?
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Exactly what it said it would be.
The Kinks
3/5
Pretty forgettable album for me, but better than the first one I listened to on this list.
The Go-Go's
4/5
Enjoyed it!
Jurassic 5
4/5
Billy Bragg
4/5
Hey, pretty good! First half I liked more than the back half though for sure. I'll give it a 4 for being surprisingly likeable
MGMT
4/5
Steely Dan
3/5
Expected to like it more than I did
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
4/5
Okay, generally liked this whole jazz album. It was more clearly defined and melodic, very chill. I really like Take Five (although I didn't know the song's name or artist until now)
Simon & Garfunkel
2/5
The more I hear of Simon & Garfunkel the less that I like them. I won't deny they have some classics (Mrs. Robinson on here) that I like but the rest of their music is not for me
The Cure
4/5
I'd rather a 3.5, but 4 will do
Prince
4/5
Carpenters
3/5
WHY DO BIRDS?! Glad to hear where this song came from.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Really liked this one. Funny enough the songs weren't my favorites but the general atmosphere of slow, melancholic story telling really strikes a chord for me.
Elis Regina
4/5
David Bowie
5/5
Big fan of David Bowie over here. Life on Mars is just so good! Hadn't heard much of this album otherwise, I'm glad to have had a listen through!
The Flying Burrito Brothers
1/5
I think I'm missing a lot of context on this band, and the album cover does not help. This one was a flop for me.
Lenny Kravitz
4/5
Really liked the first half but the back half fell off for me.
Magazine
3/5
Liked the intro to the album most. Didn't love the singer's performance / lyrics. Decent album. The review of the album hurt my impression of the music interestingly. The writer touted it as a near-genius level album and I just cannot give it the same credit. It's alright.
The Replacements
5/5
Actually liked this one a lot!
Deep Purple
4/5
Quality stuff if you ask me!
The Clash
4/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Decent album, I am a fan of can't always get what you want, I think I'm not much of a Rolling Stones fan in general though, it turns out
The xx
4/5
I liked this, but I wish it was a bit more directive. The music was pretty chill and I wanted a stronger beat or melody to punch the songs up a bit. Generally this is in my wheelhouse, it's somewhere between a 3 and 4 for me. Liked the vocals of these two!
Fiona Apple
4/5
First 4 songs were all awesome
Iron Maiden
5/5
What an album. Hallowed by thy name is such a legendary song.
Cat Stevens
4/5
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Catchy tunes!
The Charlatans
4/5
Liked the bass line (piano / keyboard) of One to Another a lot. Liked 'Get On It' quite a bit too, great buildup. Didn't love the vocals
Elliott Smith
4/5
A little sleepy for me. I was fading as the album continued but Cupids Trick was a nice switch-up. Wish more of the album was like that!
Ended up learning more about Elliott Smith and re-listening to some of his more popular songs, they had a larger impact after I learned a bit more about him
Green Day
4/5
Yup, good, short and catchy songs. Dookie is one of my least favorite words but that's the only criticism I have. Also the last song was weak.
The Blue Nile
3/5
A solid 3. Great bass lines in the first few songs, this is a trend that I seem to really like
Pink Floyd
5/5
This is in the running for my top 10 albums of all time. Love it so much.
Simply Red
3/5
Good music, although the most repetitive sections really stood out for me (No Direction) and put me off. 80% of it I liked but 20% of it was working against me.
The Doors
4/5
Grew up listening to the doors!
OutKast
3/5
Liked Speakerboxx, didn't really like The Love Below. I know the point is to be raunchy about love and relationships but it just wasn't my vibe at all.
Burning Spear
4/5
The Stranglers
2/5
Decent album, minus a star for some shitty lyrics.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
Stereolab
3/5
Great name, music didn't do so much for me
Sam Cooke
4/5
Public Enemy
4/5
Still not my favorite rap but I heard plenty of references to rap classics, some social commentary, and there were way less yaa boiiiis in this album so in all, a big improvement
Rage Against The Machine
4/5
God I love a good bassline. Settle for Nothing stands out for that reason
Guns N' Roses
1/5
Unpopular opinion but this is really just not for me in any way.
Radiohead
4/5
Television
3/5
Mostly forgettable for me, but not a bad listen
FKA twigs
5/5
Yup, big fan of this album. Sometimes breathy / surreal music doesn't have enough substance for me but this album delivered!
John Lee Hooker
4/5
Great blues album!
Sonic Youth
3/5
I think I liked Goo better, not a fan of this one, it felt pretty monochrome to me and I wasn't listening to the lyrics too close
Grateful Dead
1/5
Too sleepy for me
The Byrds
2/5
Listening to this album was hard for me. I was wondering throughout why I didn't like it so much. The album left me with some insights, but I didn't change my mind. Ironically, songs 12-14 that weren't on the original album were my favorite bit. Slow, rocking chair twangy ballads aren't my jam, I guess.
Tim Buckley
4/5
The Louvin Brothers
2/5
It's music from a different era. It reminds me of my grandparents, who I love, so it gets 2 stars even though I wouldn't choose this music for myself
Miles Davis
4/5
Felt like there wasn't much to 'chew on' during the album, but I recognized and liked several recurring phrases, and generally enjoyed the listen!
Queen
5/5
Easiest 5 star album of my life. I'd never heard many of the songs on this album, so it was an awesome listen. The Prophet's Song is really impressive and creative!
John Martyn
5/5
Really good!
Metallica
5/5
An easy 5. I don't like all of Metallica's work but this album's hard to argue with. Excellent music.
Nick Drake
2/5
Too sleepy for me, sorry Nick
New Order
4/5
LIked it! Will listen again.
Solange
4/5
Rush
3/5
Not my favorite work by Rush (who I generally really like). I can understand why it was influential and bought them a lot of creative freedom but I wasn't really interested in the songs.
Honestly I do like concept albums and long-form songs but I've always thought the actual topics of Rush's material here is pretty boring. Heresy?
Elliott Smith
4/5
Liked this album a lot!
James Brown
4/5
Great live show, almost too short!
Deerhunter
3/5
Wasn't my favorite, but it sounded close to something I would like. Pretty neutral overall.
The The
4/5
Pretty good! Weird band name.
Kate Bush
2/5
Better than the last Kate Bush album, but not really for me. Loved how weird the last song was.
Kate Bush seems to be telling stories in her songs that I'm just not really interested in. Don't particularly like her singing style either
2/5
The Clash
3/5
Bauhaus
2/5
Didn't grab me at all. I haven't read why this album is in the list yet so I may miss its historical significance
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
3.5
Eminem
3/5
Generally a fan of eminem and listening to his albums is like looking back in time interestingly (even though I didn't really know his music growing up), but this album of his isn't my favorite. It's alright but not the one I'd choose to listen to.
The Fall
2/5
Well, I really don't like this guy's voice.
Lambchop
2/5
2.5
Massive Attack
4/5
Perfect ambient work music. I ended up listening to the 'recommended songs' playlist afterwards for hours.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Tom Waits
4/5
I don't listen to Tom Waits often but I always enjoy how different his style and songs are
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Big fan! Especially love Cherub Rock
Keith Jarrett
4/5
I've heard of this concert before, pretty sure I read about it in a book, but I can't remember exactly where! Really fascinating story though, that such an engaging concert was performed under such difficult and ridiculous circumstances.
Could have done without the moaning throughout, but maybe that's part of his style? Plus when you're improvising and suffering from back pain I won't fault somebody for making odd noises
X-Ray Spex
1/5
Ended up really not liking this album. It was a struggle to get through every song. The singing was too much like yelling, the music had that classic same-y punk feel for me. Presence of the saxophone / other unique bits did not save this album for me.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Not the biggest fan of Simon & Garfunkel. 4 stars for Cecilia, my favorite song of theirs.
Dirty Projectors
4/5
Didn't like temecula sunrise, but the rest of the album turned it around for me.
The Zombies
3/5
Pavement
2/5
Pretty forgettable for me
Black Sabbath
4/5
I'll give it high marks for War Pigs and Paranoid, but I've never really liked Black Sabbath's music. Also I really don't like Iron Man.
T. Rex
4/5
Some well known jams, generally good music. Didn't like the vocals as much, felt like they were mixed too low, and didn't stand out much.
The Adverts
2/5
I feel like there's just too much of this type of stuff on this list.
The Undertones
2/5
Get me out of these punk albums.
Beastie Boys
5/5
Garbage
4/5
Pretty good!
Rod Stewart
3/5
Inoffensive
The Saints
4/5
I liked it! I'm honestly shocked by all the punk rock on this list but this was a little bit of a change from the norm. It might have just been the Australian accents that changed it for me but I think it was more than that.
Teenage Fanclub
4/5
A good album that I had never even come close to hearing of before!
The Birthday Party
2/5
Generally unpleasant
PJ Harvey
4/5
Was afraid this was going to be another british punk album. It probably got an extra star just because it wasn't
Al Green
4/5
Harry Nilsson
3/5
Love the album name, Coconut is delightfully weird and the rest of the album was decent.
2Pac
4/5
4.5, really good I thought
Liz Phair
4/5
Liked it!
Beatles
4/5
As another review said, an objectively good album but not in my taste
Minor Threat
2/5
Only 20 minutes long and I still had to take a break. Not a fan of the vocals or the wall of noise, myself.
Green Day
4/5
Might be partially rose-colored glasses but this album's great. I like the sound and enjoyed the music. The themes aren't that useful for me, but some classic songs are on display here. Interesting that all of the non-famous tracks are much longer.
Beyoncé
4/5
It's not music I would seek out, honestly I don't know much about Beyonce's career at all and I'm fine that way. But the album was quite good, I liked it! Good variety of song styles too, and also sooo horny haha!
Sarah Vaughan
2/5
I was let down by the couple times she said she didn't know the words and then filled the space with scatting or talk-singing. Plus I didn't like how her lower range sounded.
Orange Juice
3/5
Liked Rip It Up a lot actually, the rest of the album just slid by though
Soul II Soul
4/5
Back to life and Jazzie's groove were my favorite tracks
Gang Starr
4/5
Strong album, I'd listen again!
Ryan Adams
2/5
American country, but not like Nashville pop country at least. Still, doesn't do it for me
MC Solaar
4/5
Sounds was really good, although my French is still at high-school level competence so I only caught the odd word or phrase
Doves
4/5
Depeche Mode
3/5
Elvis Costello
2/5
Sounds like it's from a different time, and it is (44 years old this year). Had a few toe-tapping moments but I'm not a fan
Germs
1/5
Just not a vibe I'm into right now
Funkadelic
2/5
A solid 2.5
LL Cool J
4/5
Solid 3.5 for me
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
Big commitment to listen to the full double album, I wasn't inspired by the songs I hadn't heard before to be honest, but still this is a solid 4. In general I like the Smashing Pumpkins (3.5/5), this is one of their better works
The Stooges
1/5
Hugh Masekela
4/5
Mylo
5/5
Really really liked this! This is the kind of flavorful lo-fi music that I am frequently looking to listen to (usually during work)
The Young Gods
4/5
Solidly enjoyable album, caught maybe 33% of the french words haha
The The
4/5
Oasis
2/5
Heard the iconic 'I said maaaybayy' in one of the songs. Kind of boring mustic for me though. Slide away wore on me at the end, it was soooo repetitive
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Decent talk-y folk music. Last song was the worst, bad one to end on
Culture Club
4/5
Whole album was pretty good! Karma chameleon is great.
Public Enemy
4/5
Brian Eno
4/5
Wow. I didn't know it was possible! A Brian Eno album I liked! Obviously very chill and sleepy, not particularly attention grabbing, but great mellow music for the background.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
Pretty groovy album, interesting to hear the themed topic of divorce layered on top of the classically romantic music
The Kinks
4/5
Toe-tapping, no song overstayed its welcome
Little Richard
4/5
Queen Latifah
4/5
This album was actually excellent. A little dated but still strong. Inside Out was my favorite song
David Gray
5/5
Not my usual, but solidly good. I would listen again, give me more!
Nirvana
5/5
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Decent, no stand out songs for me. I'd say a 3.5
Faith No More
4/5
Not the greatest sign that my favorite song was a cover of War Pigs, but this was alright!
AC/DC
1/5
AC/DC is an exemplary 80s rock band, it's just that I really, REALLY dislike 80s rock bands.
The Sugarcubes
2/5
Fairly forgettable for me, easy listening
The Byrds
2/5
Tracy Chapman
5/5
The Mamas & The Papas
2/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Slow, seemed okay, had some moments I liked
Mudhoney
2/5
2.5 for me
The Byrds
2/5
Sebadoh
4/5
The Velvet Underground
3/5
Started out strong, it's long jams frustrated me
AC/DC
2/5
Better album than highway to hell but still, man this is just not for me.
Beastie Boys
4/5
4 for sabotage, rest was okay
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3/5
Forgettable but not bad
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
Bob Dylan
4/5
Liked Cold Irons Bound the most
Pantera
4/5
A little more 'classic' metal style than I usually listen to, but I liked it!
The Incredible String Band
2/5
Liked much of the instrumentation, heavily put off by the vocals. Songs meandered and stretched on and on at times
Hole
4/5
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Not my favorite of Stevie Wonder's albums but still great!
Taylor Swift
4/5
Pretty good music, I don't really like Taylor Swift as a concept / person but that can be separated from this album
Leftfield
4/5
Yep, give me more!
Bob Dylan
2/5
I don't quite get the mystique surrounding Bob Dylan
Queens of the Stone Age
4/5
Love Mexicola especially
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
I concluded several albums ago that Costello's success is lost on me. This follows the trend
Eurythmics
4/5
Big step forward from Kraftwerk!
3/5
I guess I have respect, but not major love, for Yes' music.
Happy Mondays
3/5
3.5 I'd say, not bad. A bit noisy at times. Didn't inspire me too much (as you can probably tell).
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
4/5
Beautiful harmonies!
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
Had not listened to Wu-Tang Clan before, really liked it! Could have done without the coughs at the end of Method Man. I now appreciate who Method Man plays in The Wire even more
Barry Adamson
4/5
Pretty good, easy background music. The radio static at the start of the album reminded me of 'Songs for the Deaf', maybe Queens of the Stone Age took some inspiration there, maybe not
2/5
Just sounds and feels juvenile to me
Jane Weaver
4/5
Decent, maybe a little too ephemeral for me at times. Like it was very close to a music style I love, but not quite there.
The Auteurs
4/5
Pretty decent. Probably a 3.5, as I liked listening to it but I'm sure I will forget this album. Getting tired of reading reviews of brit-pop albums though.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
1/5
Mumble rock. Really it's just that the vocals are way back in the mix and the tracks sound like they're being played in an empty elementary school gym.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
3/5
Quite neutral on this one
The Chemical Brothers
5/5
Glad to hear more of the chemical brothers!
Bee Gees
4/5
Glad to hear this, I had only heard the disco hits of the bee gees before. This is a wildly different side!
Ride
4/5
Pretty good! I like more prominent vocals but generally a fan of this music style. Psychedelic rock, maybe? Reminds me a little of Tool, Pink Floyd in some parts, Steven Wilson for sure.
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
I'll give it a 4.5, really liked it but not one of favorite albums of all time. Hit songs were dope, filler songs were okay
George Michael
3/5
Hadn't listened to George Michael before (aside from his huge hits), this albums helps explain some Arrested Development jokes. I feel like I got a good feel for the guy, seems like he likes sex.
Next I need to listen to a Michael Bolton album to understand Office Space
The White Stripes
5/5
Probably a 4.5 for me but on the higher side. I have lots of love for the White Stripes
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
4/5
Nice and chill. I don't know much about Neil Young's history so it was fun to think 'hey, that's neil young!' when he first sang on this album
The War On Drugs
5/5
Hey, isn't this song on that show about the horse from Horsin' Around?
'Under the pressure' started off the album strong for me. Overall pretty much my favorite kind of music to listen to while working.
Robert Wyatt
3/5
S'alright
Talk Talk
3/5
None of these songs stood out for me. Decent overall. Liked the last 2 minutes of the finale song with the recorders coming in, that was unexpected
Aerosmith
2/5
This continues the trend of hard rock being... not really my vibe at all. I still like Steve Vai if that means anything
Lou Reed
3/5
Damn this is some sad subject material
Jane's Addiction
4/5
Pretty good, I like this singer's voice. I didn't know Dave Navarro was a part of Jane's Addiction, that's cool! A 3.5 for me
Mike Oldfield
4/5
Liked it! Very much an album of ambient music for me
Digital Underground
4/5
Duran Duran
4/5
Bonnie Raitt
3/5
Stevie Wonder
5/5
An easy 5. Thought that this album would end up getting tired by the end but... loved it all. All day sucker, second last song, was one of my favorites! Loved the bass line
Leonard Cohen
5/5
Excellent, loved the gravelly voice, You Want it Darker was my favorite song
New Order
4/5
Good! Reminds me of tears for fears.
The Black Keys
4/5
Like the black keys a lot! One of the newer bands that feels pretty innovative to me, plus one of the members wrote the bojack theme song
Megadeth
4/5
Easy listening!
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Less inspiring to me than You Want it Darker
Parliament
5/5
Love the bass lines
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Much better than Aftermath or Let It Bleed, but 3 is about my ceiling for the rolling stones. 2.5 if I could
4/5
I hadn't heard of PJ Harvey before, ended up really liking this album. This Mess We're In (with Thom Yorke) was great, but my favorite song was We Float, last one!
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
A pile of noise, sometimes pleasant and organized.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Solid album!
Mj Cole
4/5
4.5 if I could, like it a lot!
Common
4/5
Hadn't listened to Common before. Liked it, not my favorite rap but told some interesting stories in some songs.
The Band
3/5
Buffalo Springfield
3/5
Tim Buckley
3/5
Cee Lo Green
4/5
Pretty good! I kind of don't like CeeLo's singing voice but I liked the big-band style hip hop sound overall
DJ Shadow
4/5
Strong! Catchy beats, nothing too intrusive but it was good to listen to at work.
Beatles
3/5
The most toe-tapping Beatles album for me so far. Yellow Submarine remains my poster child for why I don't like the Beatles
Willie Nelson
4/5
Haven't listened to Willie Nelson before, and I've never heard an album with so many different covers kind of exploring someone's musical influences and history! Liked the music and the idea.
2/5
Clash? Yes. Kinks? Nah.
Nirvana
5/5
Simply a 5 for me, still quite good music but strongly elevated by my nostalgia for hearing this music growing up and having Nirvana inform my taste for grunge.
R.E.M.
2/5
Toe tapping music, but pretty forgettable for me. Felt like I was forgetting the songs as I was listening to them.
Kanye West
5/5
I'm no fan of Kanye West's public personality, but this album was great!
Funkadelic
4/5
Hookworms
4/5
Good, reminded me a little bit of arcade fire
Genesis
3/5
Method Man
4/5
James Taylor
3/5
Liked fire and rain
Nick Drake
3/5
3.5 if I could. A little too sleepy for me in normal circumstances
The Crusaders
4/5
First song was my favorite. 3.5 I'd say
4/5
I said maaaybaaaaay!
Frank Sinatra
3/5
Ella Fitzgerald
4/5
Great singer, recognized some of the songs. I don't totally get the hype around Gershwin but that's okay!
k.d. lang
4/5
Excellent, excellent! Really enjoyed this album! Don't know anything about k.d. lang but reading up I'm glad we got this album rather than an earlier one that leaned into the country genre
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Little Wing is great, as expected
Prince
5/5
Didn't grow up with Prince really, glad to listen to a full album to get a broader sense of his music past the hit singles
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
I liked this less than a typical Neil Young album. Live albums just... don't sound as good. Intro and outro versions of hey hey my my were my favourite bits. It was interesting to hear electric guitar featured heavily across a Neil Young album, makes me think of the blowback when Bob Dylan did the same
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
An easy 5, the story told in this album has really stuck with me
Goldie
2/5
Good, but songs were a little long. I felt I got the vibe for a few songs at the 2 out of 7 or 8 minute mark, and not much else was added in the remainder of the song.
Astor Piazzolla
2/5
Wasn't particularly taken with this one
Flamin' Groovies
2/5
Alanis Morissette
4/5
Blast from the past. Didn't like her ballads very much, but the upbeat songs were all strong. Unique voice and a very memorable style.
Talking Heads
3/5
Not the style of music I seek out usually, but a pretty good listen
Tom Waits
4/5
What a unique musician. Loved Jersey Girl.
Dire Straits
4/5
3.5 if I could
Cypress Hill
3/5
Pentangle
2/5
Was alright, not for me though I think
Ravi Shankar
3/5
Primal Scream
4/5
3.5 I'd say
Roni Size
4/5
Pretty good! Hadn't heard of this artist at all before
UB40
4/5
Really liked this album! I don't listen to enough reggae so I'm glad to know of this band
Dolly Parton
3/5
Felt like a pretty sleepy Dolly Parton album
Radiohead
5/5
Damn I love Radiohead. Haven't listened to Kid A for a while, tried to focus on the musical design and style of the songs to think about the album in a different way than usual. Still really liked it, very experimental, it felt like a piece of abstract art in a way.
2/5
Can't deny his influence, but I'm not a huge fan of his voice. It works in some of his biggest hits, for me, but listening to 90 minutes of this concert I got pretty tiredl
Johnny Cash
4/5
Quite good! Fun to hear Johnny Cash acting pretty casual while recording the music.
To this day I still don't know exactly why I like Johnny Cash, he seems to me like a sub-par singer but I like his voice enough that somehow it works? An odd phenom.
Deep Purple
4/5
Lucinda Williams
3/5
Wanted to give it a 2 because I usually don't like country music, but it's good music, feels pretty genuine which I liked
Joan Baez
2/5
Sleepy, doesn't feel like there's much variety to the songs, and especially the vocals. This can be explained as the album is from 1960.
Supertramp
4/5
Decent. It's interesting that I will listen to long, exploratory / progressive songs from some bands and love them (Pink Floyd, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater sometimes) but it's not universal, I didn't have much patience for the drawn out musical movements on this album, or other bands like Yes. Huh.
Dizzee Rascal
2/5
A noisy ride. Had some moments I liked but overall not my vibe
Kacey Musgraves
4/5
Similar feel to mainstream country, but I liked the album quite a bit! A surprising 4 for me. Maybe felt a little more personal / folksy than your country pop with the more pronounced twang and accent.
Can
2/5
No big stand-out moments from this album for me. A 1.5.
Super Furry Animals
4/5
Liked it! Some catchy recognizable songs on here
Tangerine Dream
3/5
Two of the songs weren't available on Spotify but I liked the rest
Black Sabbath
2/5
I've never really been interested in Black Sabbath's music. I can recognize that it's foundational and there are some songs that I like... but overall this album didn't impress.
Tom Waits
5/5
Y'know I actually really like Tom Waits. I used to not get his style. I still don't, too. But I like it!
Eagles
4/5
I have a playlist of my favorite songs of all time. Only one song allowed per band. Hotel California is the first song I put on that list, and I think it still belongs on there. The rest of the album is in the 3-4 range for me. Maybe a few too many ballads, I like them but as a spice rather than the full meal.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
3/5
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Vocal progressions felt pretty similar across all the songs. I feel like I heard echoes of Hallelujah everywhere throughout this album.
The Modern Lovers
2/5
Didn't inspire anything in me, except a couple big eye-rolls for the Pablo Picasso song. Hannah Gadsby has ruined Pablo Picasso for me, and for good reason!
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Liked it! Don't listen to much reggae beyond Bob Marley and Burning Spear but what I've heard I like
David Holmes
4/5
The first recommended song after this album let me know this is the guy who did the Ocean's Eleven soundtrack! Interesting. I enjoyed the album, it was maybe a touch further in the background than I wanted, but still good music and it had some interesting ambient sound / conversation that helped to tell a story through the album.
Screaming Trees
3/5
Badly Drawn Boy
2/5
Chill. Too chill.
Aerosmith
1/5
Hair metal is one of my least favorite genres and this album continues to confirm that trend
Nina Simone
4/5
A strong voice and a great singer!
Jane's Addiction
4/5
Coming Down the Mountain and Jane Says are classics for me. Jane's addiction feel a little one note to me, but it's a good thing they've got going. Probably a 3.5 for me.
Madonna
4/5
Liked it!
The Hives
2/5
Forgettable album, definitely not my new favorite band as the album claims!
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
An easy 5.
Japan
4/5
Mercury Rev
4/5
Portishead
2/5
You know, this sounds like something I would like, but they lost me by about 6 songs in. I had several issues with the creative choices taken here, ended up just not enjoying the trip
Pretenders
4/5
Better than expected, a 3.5
Manic Street Preachers
3/5
Fishbone
4/5
System Of A Down
2/5
Probably a 2.5. Influential, but not a style of metal I tend to love
R.E.M.
2/5
Lana Del Rey
4/5
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
Steely Dan
4/5
Slipknot
4/5
Never listened to Slipknot, really liked this album overall
Baaba Maal
2/5
Jungle Brothers
4/5
The Monkees
2/5
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Cheap Trick
2/5
Cheap Trick has catchy songs that I don't like, maybe because they're too repetitive or simple usually
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
I like Bruce Springsteen from Born in the USA (album) alone, but this album wasn't much for me. His slower ballad stuff doesn't hold much interest for me, or at least this album didn't. It was alright.
Elvis Presley
2/5
I haven't found a place to stand on Elvis really. I have some good and bad feelings about the guy. Music on this album didn't stand out. Blue Suede Shoes is a bop but I don't like it really, and I do like Tutti Frutti as a song but there are many better performances of the song. Otherwise, no other songs left much of an impression.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
1/5
Noisy, didn't enjoy much of this.
Deep Purple
2/5
2.5
Beatles
1/5
Toe-tapping beats and forgettable songs for me. 'You Won't See Me' is the epitome of what I don't like about the Beatles. Super repetitive and includes a bunch of 'ooh' and 'la la la's.
Ghostface Killah
3/5
Some good, some meh, none bad
Bob Dylan
3/5
Santana
4/5
The Cure
2/5
Forgettable for me
TLC
3/5
This album was horny, and I liked it! Lol
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Great album all around
Beatles
3/5
Gotta love a short album. I did not know this was a movie soundtrack, that was interesting to learn about, and to learn about the Beatles' inflection point from rock n roll and covers to more pop-based music here. Still not my favorite music, but I'll give it a begrudging 3.
Can
2/5
Hmm, eh. I want to like experimental music but this album just didn't catch my attention much at all. Vocals were much in the background, music felt very disorganized which I get was their aim, but I didn't find many interesting phrases throughout
Blondie
3/5
The Allman Brothers Band
2/5
Got kind of tired of the music by the end
Miriam Makeba
4/5
Peter Frampton
4/5
I wouldn't regret going to the concert. 3.5
Missy Elliott
4/5
The Strokes
3/5
Short and sweet. Little repetitive and mopey
Skunk Anansie
4/5
Randy Newman
2/5
My review of this album: yeah, sure. It's music, it's certainly not bad, but the overall style isn't for me. Feels kind of slow, simple, and plodding, with repetitive chords and slow bass-lines. Again, it's really not bad, but it didn't hold my interest.
Arcade Fire
5/5
I like Arcade Fire, don't love them. Intervention is my favorite song on this album, and I like that the whole album sounds like it should be played in concert in a church or cathedral. They did a great job capturing a certain ambience. Probably a 4.5 but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt here.
Wilco
4/5
I started out a little bored but warmed up to the music by the end of the album
Malcolm McLaren
4/5
I really liked this album, the concept worked really well, and the transition between american radio DJ conversations and music from many different genres was cool. This album reminded me of 'Songs for the Deaf', probably just because of the radio chatter between songs.
Last song was a weird one (Duck for the Oyster), a weird squaredancing jaunt. The weirdest thing though was the constant reference to callers into the show as 'female', lol there are so many better words to use!
Cornershop
4/5
I liked the mix of genres and song styles!
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Grateful to have heard this album and learned the story behind it. Last album before Jimi's band broke up, I didn't know the song was called 'Voodo Chile', nor that the part I knew was a separate song called 'Slight Revisit' from the 15 minute jam session of the actual song. All Along the Watchtower is another true classic.
Dire Straits
3/5
A 3.5 probably. Money for Nothing is a weird song, catchy but not my favorite. Walk of Life I like. Rest of the album was pretty forgettable.
John Grant
4/5
Ended up really liking the album! Great voice, I guess I was in the mood for slow, melancholic music today.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
2/5
Sweet, but not for me.
Paul McCartney and Wings
3/5
Decent? Let Me Roll It exemplifies my issues with the frequently repetitive style of the Beatles, even when they're doing solo stuff.
Dusty Springfield
2/5
George Michael
3/5
Freedom! Great song, although I've heard some remixes of it that I like even more than the original. Rest of the album was alright, nothing outstanding for me.
Michael Jackson
5/5
Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean. What a 3-song combo! Thriller is a killer album.
Gene Clark
3/5
Frank Black
2/5
Ash
3/5
Liked the guitar sound on this album
Taylor Swift
2/5
i like chill and acoustic music. this album did not stand out for me at all.
Nanci Griffith
3/5
Wire
2/5
Brit punk noise. Guess I'm just not interested in it, nothing wrong with the music really.
The Black Crowes
3/5
Sounds like the classic rock I heard a lot growing up. This genre has largely worn out its welcome for me.
Tito Puente
4/5
Fun to listen to!
Ananda Shankar
4/5
Sufjan Stevens
4/5
I found this was a genuinely interesting concept album. Loved the phasic final track of the album, it must have been inspired by Steve Reich. Illinois seems like a weird topic to make an album out of, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. It felt like this was the soundtrack to a musical.
The Yardbirds
3/5
Kind of liked it, kind of forgot about it as I was listening.
Scott Walker
2/5
Background music, not my favorite voice either. Not actively bad but easily forgettable for me.
Lorde
4/5
Missy Elliott
4/5
The Smiths
2/5
I liked Meat is Murder more. Not interested in anything on this album if I'm honest.
Radiohead
5/5
Easy 5. The least popular song on the album (according to Spotify play counts) is Bones, which I still love. Every song on this album is familiar and fun to listen to, for me. Highlights from this listen through: High and Dry, Black Star, Planet Telex
Cream
2/5
Famous song on an eh album, and I don't particularly like the famous song anyway. Also, wtf is with the last song...
I didn't get actively frustrated with this album so it gets a 2
The Rolling Stones
2/5
Love the melancholic vibe of Wild Horses, would have left the rest of the songs on the cutting room floor (yes even Brown Sugar). Why does the Rolling Stones music always sound so perv-y.
Bob Dylan
3/5
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Muddy Waters
3/5
I don't listen to much blues music, so I was happy to take the time to listen to this album. The songs didn't resonate with me very strongly, but the music was good.
The Cars
3/5
Van Morrison
1/5
I assumed I would like this album, but I really didn't. It felt like there was a heavy focus on the vocals, but they wandered all over the map and the timber of Van Morrison's voice just wasn't doing it for me. His held notes grated on me at times.
Morrissey
3/5
T. Rex
2/5
4/5
Paul Simon
3/5
Gorillaz
4/5
From reading about this album I learned that the composer of one of my favorite movie soundtracks (Ravenous) was a member of Gorillaz! Cool! This album is very close to a 5 for me.
The Beach Boys
4/5
Soundgarden
5/5
Loved it, already knew the biggest hits from the album but hadn't heard many of these songs like Fell on Dark Days!
Morrissey
2/5
Disliked. Can't put my finger on why exactly, but it was consistent across the album. Not my style in any way, I guess.
Chicago
5/5
I'd give this a 4.5, it wouldn't sit in my all-time favorite albums but it's a great album with quite a few recognizable hits over 50 years later.
George Harrison
1/5
I'll admit my foot was tapping to the beat for most of the album, but I was also eye-rolling and waiting for most songs to end well before they were over. Sorry Beatles fans, I've let you down once again.
This album is just so tame, domestic, slow, and self-indulgent. Ol' George's vocals are often lost in the mix of the track as well. It has almost none of the things that I like in music.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
Foo Fighters
5/5
Love this band, their attitudes and their music.
Fleet Foxes
4/5
A pleasant album! Reminded me of Of Monsters and Men at times. Loved the acoustic style and echoes added. Similar to Intervention, this album sounds like it would be perfect in a cathedral, but like a half-ruined cathedral in the forest in this case.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
Yeah, was alright!
Shivkumar Sharma
3/5
Brian Wilson
4/5
Really interesting album. At times inane (for me), but I listened a little more closely as I read about Brian Wilson (didn't know a lick about him before) and Mrs. O'Leary's Cow was really unexpected. Ended up liking the album and learning from it. Not sure I'd listen to it again.
Yes
4/5
Genesis
2/5
None of this grabbed my attention, pretty forgettable for me
Pulp
3/5
I felt this album had weird sensual energy. Maybe it would work for me on a different day, but it was an odd listen in the middle of my work day that's for sure.
The Magnetic Fields
2/5
Listened to the most popular songs, did not listen to all 69. Would give this a 3, maybe even 4, for its quirky humor and genuine feel, if it wasn't so bloody long.
The Fall
1/5
Not worth being on this list
Metallica
5/5
Probably a 4.5. Listened to Metallica growing up, still like their music.
The La's
2/5
Milquetoast.
Big Black
3/5
A decent listen, full of noise and vitriol. Not great music, if you ask me, but I can't argue with their social criticisms. I guess I'd just channel that energy in a different way.
Elton John
4/5
Frank Sinatra
4/5
Actually really liked this album. Really good for background music, might help that I listened to this in December and it sounds a lot like what I'm used to in the background of holiday gatherings.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
I swear I've heard this whole album before at some point. I like it, I think Country Home is my favourite track. Maybe some of the instrumental mess-arounds should be shorter, if you ask me. Solid overall, I continue to enjoy listening to Neil Young.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
Blur
4/5
Damon Albarn! Creator of the Ravenous Soundtrack. This album was pretty good. It was really interesting to see this album had such a different style to the Ravenous music, which I am deeply attached to.
Roxy Music
3/5
Had some interesting sound samples and synth-y sounds throughout. Unfortunately the songs were pretty forgettable for me.
Terence Trent D'Arby
4/5
Liked it! He has a great voice
Ice T
4/5
Booolshit! I am once again grateful this exercise is getting me to listen to some foundational hip hop albums. A bit long but I liked it and learned more about Ice T.
Little Simz
4/5
Liked it! Favorite song was Venom, Wounds a close second
Big Star
3/5
Decent
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
I really like the vibes and attitude of A Tribe Called Quest. Also really like their voices and the musical styles on this album.
Janis Joplin
2/5
Echo And The Bunnymen
2/5
Thorn of Crowns made me uncomfortable. Music was alright.
Joy Division
3/5
My oldest brother loves Joy Division, so I have an inherent bias towards wanting to like them as well. But, I find their music quite same-y, and I've always found it odd that the singer's vocals are so understated. To me, Love Will Tear Us Apart is THE Joy Division song, all the songs on this album were just worse versions of that song.
Pink Floyd
2/5
Love Pink Floyd, this was not their best work for me
The Youngbloods
2/5
New York Dolls
2/5
William Orbit
4/5
Hell yeah, there's not enough of this type of music on this list (at least not that I've seen yet!)
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
Liked this album a decent amount! Pretty simple, guess I liked the singer's voice and melodies the most. Could be a 3.5
Red Hot Chili Peppers
2/5
Quite same-y throughout. Under the Bridge is a fantastic song, the rest of this album is pretty forgettable. Not a strong RHCP album.
Joy Division
4/5
This feels like a more solid version of Unknown Pleasures. Again Joy Division music is not very diverse, but most songs felt high quality and had a unique bit or two to them. Isolation and Heart and Soul were the highlights for me, they're also the songs that I've heard the most times.
Shuggie Otis
3/5
Glad I listened to the extra songs! Ice Cold Daydream was great.
The Doors
4/5
4.5 for me. Grew up listening to the Doors with my brothers, so I'm attached to the band
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
I enjoyed listening to the falsetto vocals. The songs were great to listen through but won't stick with me. I liked Pusherman but it was pretty repetitive, maybe it could have been a minute shorter. Superfly was a close second in terms of favourite track.
Steely Dan
4/5
Great album, Do It Again, Dirty Work, Reelin' In The Years have all stood the test of time if you ask me. I like Steely Dan. I like their brand of rock, I think they showcase a variety of songs, they're talented musicians, and none of their songs just repeat the same stuff without any variation in phrasing or melody. A 4.5
Arcade Fire
5/5
Sometimes I'm hit and miss on Arcade Fire. This album was a big ol' hit.
The Young Rascals
3/5
I didn't find much inspiring about this music
Richard Thompson
1/5
Very dour tone, which of course was their goal. They achieved it. Unfortunately they achieved using slow, plodding drum lines and repetitive melody work. Can you tell I wasn't a fan? Some of my favourite bands focus on dark or evil themes, this album did not strike the same chords. Also what's with the song about the Beggar Girl?
Marty Robbins
4/5
Reminds me of my grandpa. Liked the whole album. Big Iron is my favourite track.
Jeff Beck
3/5
Pretty good. I didn't know anything about Rod Stewart aside from his solo career, so that was interesting to learn about. But, I've never been a big fan of Rod Stewart's voice. Is that sacrilege?
Death In Vegas
4/5
Liked it! I might not have enjoyed it without reading a little about the group and the approach to this album. Surprise appearance by Iggy Pop!
Throwing Muses
3/5
The book had a rave review for this album. I might have liked it on a different day, or maybe 10 years ago, but right now it's not having a major impact for me. Good on these two young artists though, there's a lot of variety and emotion on display here.
R.E.M.
3/5
Yeah, was alright
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
David Bowie
2/5
I wondered why the back half of this album became a meandering electronic soundscape, then I learned that Brian Eno was involved in this album. I love David Bowie, but found this album to be pretty plain. The story behind it is interesting enough to explain the music.
U2
1/5
Interesting story behind this album, but the music fell flaaaat for me. I've never taken to U2, so I'm coming in with a bias. But like, the author told a story about the band's struggles and how they wrote 'One' and it's the song that saved the band. That's the song that saved the band?! I nearly fell asleep during it.
- Sincerely, a confused heathen.
Janet Jackson
3/5
This felt like a serious throwback to the 90s pop style. Not bad
Aretha Franklin
4/5
Great voice! Some big hits, some songs I liked, a few songs I didn't
Syd Barrett
4/5
I think part of rating this a 3 over 4 is because I don't know much about Syd Barrett and it was interesting to learn a little more about the artist
Willie Nelson
4/5
Great atmosphere. A quick listen.
5/5
Listened to this album a lot through high school. Still a hit today for me! Starlight is my favorite song by a lot. Hearing Assassin again was a nice surprise, forgot about that song
Faust
1/5
Congratulations on the experimental soundscapes, I'd rather not listen to the weird, arrhythmic, grating electronica. (See 2 minutes into 'It's a Bit of a Pain' for an example)
Minutemen
2/5
45 1-2 minute long songs, gone as soon as they started, all quite similar and forgettable for me. Punk just isn't my genre, hey? Or at least not this side of the genre.
Johnny Cash
5/5
Love this album. I listened to enough Johnny Cash growing up to like his voice and his style, but this older version of Johnny Cash is my absolute favourite. There's so much weight to these recordings. His cover of Hurt is one of my top songs of all time.
Fairport Convention
3/5
Pleasant listening, but didn't grip me at all so I end up neutral on this album.
5/5
Great album! I like concept albums, this one is great music with incredible, iconic songs sprinkled throughout. Staaaarrmaaaaaaaan!
The Pharcyde
3/5
Passin' Me By had my toe tapping
The Band
2/5
Was alright. A little boring for me. Up On Cripple Creek was the standout song for me, despite the name
Blue Cheer
2/5
I'm glad it was short! I do sometimes love face-melting noise, but it has to the right kind of song, topic, style, and genre for that to be my thing. This wasn't it.
The Pogues
3/5
Happy that I got to listen to this album, I've never heard of the Pogues before. Sally MacLennane was my standout song from this album.
Janelle Monáe
4/5
That was awesome! Large variety in genres, artist has a great voice. Several songs stuck with me after they ended. Wondaland, BaBopByeYa, Tightrope especially.
The Icarus Line
2/5
Sounded like Velvet Underground to me in many spots.
Circle Jerks
3/5
100% I gave this album an extra star for how blessedly short it was.
Nightmares On Wax
3/5
Smooth background music in my style? Perfect for a work day! Might have gotten bored if I was focusing on the songs more intently.
Aphex Twin
4/5
It's odd how I really liked this album of slowly evolving background music, but I don't find the same enjoyment out of quiet, unassuming albums of noise in other genres, sometimes. Guess I like electronica more, that's not too surprising
Stephen Stills
3/5
This was a long album full of songs I kind of liked
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
3/5
Pleasant music except for the intentionally discordant portions, that kind of annoyed me (as intended I'm sure). Interesting to listen to, wouldn't put it on as music to enjoy, but it gave me something to think about.
Radiohead
5/5
Karma Police, Lucky, Subterranean Homesick Alien, Paranoid Android... NO SURPRISES?! Some of my favourite Radiohead material
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Bad Moon Rising is a banger that I am emotionally attached too. I'm not honestly a big fan of this band's vocal styles though. They're hit and miss, for me personally
The Flaming Lips
4/5
CHIC
4/5
Now I understand what and why they're saying "c'est chic" after "freak out"!
Tricky
3/5
Pretty neutral. It had an off-kilter, funky vibe, which at times I like, but I also like my music to be more engaging than this.
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
4/5
Really liked Lloyd's voice. Also, I've been to the University of Glasgow (where the singer was when the band formed I think) and it's a lovely place!
Jazmine Sullivan
4/5
Liked this album! The Other Side was my favorite track, added it to a couple playlists
Madness
3/5
I did not expect to hear Our House from this album, that came as a happy surprise! Decent overall, although as someone who is totally unfamiliar with Madness the music seemed only fine. Outside of Our House, that song is catchy and upbeat and great. A 3.5 overall as the rest of the album was good but forgettable for me.
Beastie Boys
3/5
I liked Shake Your Rump, and the cowbell in Hey Ladies is just a classic. Not the biggest Beastie Boys fan, I've never quite got what the appeal is but I might be out of the loop.
Sleater-Kinney
2/5
Sepultura
3/5
I'm a fan of metal, although I probably don't qualify as a metalhead. This album felt pretty same-y, although it did have some moments that felt more iconic or recognizable (start of Meaningless Movements, some phrases in Arise) that helped some of the songs stand out. It's in the right genre for my taste, but didn't inspire much feeling.
Neil Young
5/5
Old Man and Heart of Gold are easily my favourite Neil Young songs. This album is a good listen throughout. Words and The Needle and the Damage Done are songs I liked but hadn't given much thought to before. A Man Needs a Maid sounds like its from a bygone era to my ear.
Gram Parsons
3/5
Reading the story of this artist passing away weeks after the album was finished definitely put a new kind of weight on this album. In a vacuum, I'd probably score this a 2.
The Byrds
2/5
I've had enough of the Byrds.
The Mars Volta
4/5
What can I say, I like prog. In a very crude description: it sounds like music to me. There's melodies, there are repeated themes, there are stories in the lyrics (not necessary but it helps), there's variation in rhythms and styles, there's sometimes interesting sounds within... Prog is great.
Talking Heads
2/5
I Zimbra stood out to me, and made me reflect on things like cultural appropriation, musical inspirations, collaboration across genres, synthesis of something new from old parts... Other than prompting that interesting internal discussion, the rest of the music was pretty bland for me. Hopefully I Zimbra was made tastefully and not just taken wholesale.
The Sonics
2/5
The singer's 'whooaaaaooowww' screams are bringing this rating down. Honestly otherwise I liked the music!
PJ Harvey
3/5
Messy and destructive, but I liked it! Reading about the album from the 1001 albums blog helped me understand this album's context.
Arcade Fire
5/5
I've heard this album so many times. The songs are so familiar, and it's interesting listening to this album for the first time in at least 5 years... I still strongly identify with the music, but it's different now. My mindset has changed, and the songs have different meaning to me now. What an album!
David Bowie
4/5
Lovely listen!
Aimee Mann
3/5
Yeah, pretty good. First half of the album felt stronger to me.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Honestly I think getting the murder ballads album first soured me a lot on this band. I would usually say I like darker, melancholy music, but apparently not all of it! Problems for me include the slow pace of almost every song, the singer's voice, and the small variety in style between songs. The end of Supernaturally was my favorite part of this double album. That's another thing, if this was one album I would have rated it higher. As a double album, it was tooooough for me to finish.
Afrika Bambaataa
4/5
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Beatles
1/5
Just... I know this album is from the 60s. I get that. But there's no saving it for me. The song topics are so repetitive, and the songs THEMSELVES are incredibly repetitive too. I also don't like any of their singing voices which doesn't help. That's probably a huge reason that I deride their 'wooo wooo woo' 'yeah yeah yeah' and other wibbly wobbly time filling vocals the Beatles use so often.
The Slits
3/5
Pretty okay for me. I would have mixed the vocals differently.
Kraftwerk
3/5
Well you certainly know what you get, with Kraftwerk. Pleasant enough to listen to, extremely repetitive but it seems like that's their thing.
Dinosaur Jr.
2/5
Eh. Didn't like the singer's style much or the way the vocals were mixed into the wall of guitar sounds. Not offensive, not my jams. The album review felt like I was already supposed to worship these artists, so that didn't help.
Suede
2/5
Emmylou Harris
3/5
Adele
5/5
I'd say a 4.5, some really solid songs and this was only her second full album! I'll round up to a 5, I wouldn't listen to Adele very often personally but she deserves the credit
The Style Council
4/5
I liked that the piano was so prominent in this album! Solid overall
Thin Lizzy
3/5
I have a negative bias towards hard rock, but if I focus on the music on its own, it was alright.
De La Soul
2/5
*whispering* This album has dandruff
The Doors
5/5
Great album, mostly for the big hit songs but I've always liked Ship of Fools as well
Portishead
3/5
Chill, sleepy at times
Paul Weller
3/5
The B-52's
4/5
Pretty fun album. I've always liked Rock Lobster, aside from the implication that all undersea animals sound like dolphins.
The Jam
2/5
Didn't inspire much for me.
The Verve
2/5
Ooh look, an hour long album that's all slow rocky ballads! And what's more, most of the songs are over 5 minutes long!
The Flaming Lips
4/5
Interesting album, felt not quite experimental but exploratory. I've always liked Do You Realize as well
Johnny Cash
4/5
I didn't know Johnny Cash recorded more than one prison album! It's interesting to hear his commentary between songs especially.
Michael Jackson
4/5
Not my favorite, but pretty good album!
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Cocteau Twins
4/5
Did I need to hear this album before I died? No. But it was good music. I liked Cherry-coloured Funk the most, and I recognized Heaven or Lost Vegas.
Rush
5/5
What an album!
Britney Spears
3/5
What a flash of nostalgia this was! Definitely some items on this album that haven't aged very well. Born to Make you Happy felt the weirdest to me, with Soda Pop in close second. I also cracked up at E-Mail My Heart. What an incredibly out of date song hahaha
Hot Chip
4/5
Ray Charles
3/5
Bold name for an album... Whatever I consider musical genius, this isn't it. Still, it was pleasant to listen to.
ABBA
4/5
Great album!
Mekons
2/5
Interesting to read about this album's influence as a punk and country combination. I didn't really catch the country genre while I was listening, but I guess there's some fiddle/violin mixed in. The music itself was not to my taste.
Surprise Rod Stewart appearance! Interesting to learn about this band before they split up.
Red Snapper
3/5
Acceptable background funk
Ray Price
2/5
An old-style country album full of sad sad lyrics. Liked Ray's voice.
Nas
3/5
First Nas music I've listened to (to my knowledge). Quality music I thought! Not hitting the precise themes I like most, so it wasn't a standout album for me or anything.
Goldfrapp
3/5
This album was losing me until we got to the second last song, Utopia! That song saved the album for me. Overall, pretty good. Not quite my taste but worth a listen :)
Pixies
2/5
Pleasant enough musical base, but it didn't seem to go anywhere. Listening to this album felt like eating a tasty soup that was all broth. I kept looking for the mushrooms (etc) but all I got was more of the broth.
The Lemonheads
4/5
Probably a 3.5. Catchy enough music, and it was refreshing after I listened to a few albums I didn't really like today.
The Stone Roses
4/5
Liked this album! It kind of reminded me of the My Bloody Valentine musical style but cleaned up and more poppy
Ute Lemper
4/5
Lots of musical talent contributed to this album! Split was a great duet, I liked Purple Avenue as well.
The sound and style of the album wasn't really to my taste overall, but I won't knock the album for that.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
Great debut album! Moody's Mood For Love was really cool.
Miles Davis
4/5
Lately I have been getting a little more into jazz, so this came at a great time! I knew So What ahead of time, it's the standout song for me on this album.
Tori Amos
4/5
Overall pretty music! Piano and vocals, I liked Winter the best (most popular song on Spotify, go figure). I'd listed to this again, so 4 it is. Kind of too long for me overall.
Dion
1/5
It's a no from me. The music isn't even bad when I focus on one snippet at a time, but the full product is just the wrong fit for me. This feeling was consistent across the entire album.
Khaled
4/5
Pleasant music, didn't need 80 minutes of it
Alice Cooper
2/5
Eh, hair metal has never really been for me. It feels weirdly sanitized and crude at the same time, maybe that's just because times have changed though.
2/5
Pretty forgettable for me. I don't know Limp Bizkit really, I think of them as Green Day-ish, or Linkin Park-ish, but at least this album feels pretty vapid. Like it has the sound but not the emotion. Maybe it's just Durst's voice that lends a different feel. But anyway, for me this is a nothingburger.
David Bowie
4/5
Crazy to listen to this album looking back. It was released two days before his death. The album has a dark and at times desperate feel. It's very much my kind of music, but has a seriously elevated impact given how close this music was to him passing away. What an icon David Bowie was and is.
Cyndi Lauper
3/5
Fun album. Time after Time and Girls Just Want to Have Fun are bangers. All Through the Night and Money Changes Everything were interesting new songs I didn't know about. Many other songs felt like filler (Yeah Yeah, I'll Kiss You come to mind).
Grizzly Bear
4/5
Yep, very nice. My kind of music! Explorative, melodic, has kind of like a ghostly/ethereal quality to it, that might just be the choral feel of the singing, or the long, slow rhythms and sounds centred across the album. Not many songs that caught me enough to add them to my regular playlists, but this is an album I support!
Hole
3/5
Good music! Maybe a little slow and same-y across the whole album, but it's in a genre I like so I was happy to listen. Interesting to learn a little more about Courtney Love from this album. I do tend to like rock / punk bands with female leads.
Jefferson Airplane
4/5
Not really my style overall but there are clear, undeniable cultural touchstones (Somebody to Love, White Rabbit) here. I've heard those songs all over the place through my life. 60 years later and the music is still kicking, it's fascinating!
Beatles
2/5
This took me about a week to get through. The only song I would actively support is Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da. Track #10 says it best: I'm So Tired (of the Beatles). Also, Bungalow Bill specifically can get lost.
Fela Kuti
4/5
A breath of musical fresh air! The more I hear of Afrobeat the more I like the genre. Tragic to hear about the repercussions that this artist suffered for making his music... That's something to reflect on.
The Sabres Of Paradise
4/5
Liked it! Others in my group disparaged this album, for good reason, it wasn't their style. To me, this album was gradual, repetitive, and cumulative. The music was understated but I think I liked the sound overall, so I was happy to have this on in the background while I was thinking or focusing on other things.
808 State
3/5
Great ambient music for work, but not much going on to keep my interest in these tracts. Still, the music is to my taste.
Os Mutantes
2/5
Nice to see a non-UK, non-American album on this list, feels like the first one in a while. Unfortunately I didn't like the music too much, in particular many of the guitar sounds were pretty loud and sharp. Can be good, but I wasn't feeling it as I listened through.
Tortoise
4/5
Overall, I liked the low bassy grooves that lived in several of the songs. Djed was half of the album and kind of weak, but I really liked A Survey and The Taut and Tame, especially. I'd listen again.
John Lennon
3/5
I'll take Neil Young over John Lennon for my protest songs, thanks. Ignoring my bias, this album was fine. So it gets a 3.
Sepultura
4/5
Coming out of John Lennon's Imagine straight into this album was a huge breath of fresh air. I imagine many people would feel the same if the direction was reversed, haha. Roots Bloody Roots was my favorite song by a lot. The rest was still good, but it blended together. It was really cool to hear the tribal sounds on singers on some tracks, although the blog called them 'Indians' which is wrong on several levels.
Dusty Springfield
2/5
Skepta
5/5
This album was awesome. I didn't know about grime, grateful to have the chance to learn about it. Really catchy hip hop, with the songs focused largely on social commentary and internal reflections. That's spot on my taste for hip hop. 4.5 I'd say, rounded up this time.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
Good but not great for me overall. Had a couple stinkers (shout out to Excuse Me) but still had the Peter Gabriel sound that I like. Here Comes the Flood was my favorite track. A 3.5 rounded up.
Merle Haggard
3/5
Spotify listed this album as from 2001 which threw me at first. Pretty sad subject matter here, but I struggled to have sympathy for the character whereas I usually would. Mixed Up Mess Of A Heart was the best track on here for me.
4/5
This album felt like it had big 'Jim Carrey in the Mask' energy. Fun times, another point in the 'I liked it' column for Brian Eno, his track record is starting to level out for me.
Björk
3/5
Play Dead was one of my favorite songs on the album. Funny how the album review described this as a somewhat poorly-received avant garde album, yet the music and style fits right in to the musical landscape today. Influential indeed, then!
Shack
2/5
This album didn't evoke much for me, but I didn't actively hate it.
Massive Attack
4/5
Pretty chill music, not quite as captivating as I would have liked, but I liked all of the component sounds... if that makes any sense.
John Cale
3/5
Decent album, the review for it felt pretty biased and kind of pretentious to me. Maybe I would have felt some of the life-changing fervor the author had were I to be reading along to the lyrics, or listening to this album 30 years ago?
Living Colour
4/5
Cult of Personality is a great song. Overall this album matched my taste, I liked the bass lines especially. A couple songs I would have cut: Open Letter, What's Your Favourite Color, Glamour Boys.
Django Django
4/5
Really liked this one! Felt like a return to the indie genre, and therefore the high school era for me.
Weather Report
4/5
What a pleasant surprise! A largely instrumental jazz album? Great listen, I liked it.
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
I really liked the sound of this band!
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
Good album, pretty aggressive subject matter through and through. I feel like I liked Yes the most, but this was a long album. I liked the singing voice, I liked the guitar riffs, I liked the fast drumbeats, I liked how most of the songs sounded significantly different.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Decent music. I like Peter Gabriel's style, but none of these songs stood out for me in particular I'd say. Intruder was sufficiently creepy though, what a way to start an album.
Gillian Welch
3/5
Elvis Presley
2/5
Learned a little more about Elvis after reading about and listening to this album. The music was slower and more emotional than I'm used to from Elvis. Didn't really like the listen through. In the Ghetto was the lowlight, but I get this album is 50+ years old.
Crowded House
3/5
Nice to see an Australian band on the list. The album summary was interesting, the music itself didn't keep my interest. Vaguely shitty digs at American culture felt out of place, but hey maybe the artist had a bone to pick.
Miles Davis
4/5
Great listen overall!
Pere Ubu
2/5
Sounds like they were trying to explore and push the envelope. Seems like they achieved what they set out to do, but the album is better suited for music history enthusiasts. It's not particularly great music, at least to my taste.
Sugar
4/5
Catchy, feel like I heard these songs on the 90s radio all the time.
Roxy Music
3/5
Yet another album that had a huge write up about how great it was that left me with the personal impression of just: " *big shrug* it was fine"
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Liked it! Pleasant and catchy.
Kanye West
1/5
Man. I came into this album thinking I was going to listen to a magnum opus and begrudgingly admit Kanye's talent, but this album was not it for me. The samples and loops were often grating and unpleasant, the rap was alright in spots, and the autotune really has not aged well for me. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy had a much better showing in my opinion.
Rahul Dev Burman
3/5
Mott The Hoople
3/5
Pleasant music, didn't inspire much for me
Gotan Project
2/5
Wow a rare album from somewhere other than the US or UK on this list. That's a win, but the album review also describes the songs as filled with blase variations on the themes. I think that's apt, but then why choose this album for the list? Pleasant to listen to, but very much background music to me.
Adam & The Ants
2/5
Musical stylings: not for me. Album felt like they were trying to push the boundaries and be a little odd / avant garde, but if you ask me the music doesn't hold up. Rants about sex and ants don't do much for me, it turns out (don't be square (be there)). There's also the unapologetic appropriation of the "Burundi Beat". That's emblematic for the time, problematic at best in today's light.
The Who
2/5
Sounds to me like on The Who's debut album was an attempt to emulate the Beatles. I'm glad they found their own sound later.
CHVRCHES
4/5
I really do like CHVRCHES (despite how they spell their name), but I feel like their songs are mostly the same kind of style and pace. It's a style that I like, but I'd rather mix them into a playlist than go through a whole album, this felt same-y throughout.
The Verve
3/5
3.5, I'd say. Bitter Sweet Symphony stands out, rest of the album was just okay.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
3/5
Pretty pleasant listen. Who Do you Love - Pt 1 was my favorite track. Mona and Calvary both felt long and boring to me, cut those two tracks and the album goes up a solid star for me.
Metallica
4/5
Hella long album, great performance, and I think the symphony really added to these songs. I'd give it a 4.5, it should sit below Metallica's studio albums but still be given high praise.
Incredible Bongo Band
3/5
Pleasant drumbeats and covers. No crazy displays of vision or talent that I noticed, this felt like a solid jam session through a through.
Pixies
2/5
Yeah, an okay album overall. Where is My Mind came out of nowhere, nice surprise. Felt like I was listening to a band jam throughout.
King Crimson
4/5
Now I know a little more about Robert Fripp! This is the first 'progressive' anything album I have heard on this list for quite a while, what a breath of fresh air! Sounds a lot like some of my favourite bands, I can see where their inspiration came from now (in part).
2/5
Interesting, kind of rubbed me the wrong way I guess. Disappointing for me, as I liked some content but not some creative choices that they made. Hold Hands and it will Happen Anyway was my least favourite track.
The Notorious B.I.G.
4/5
This was B.I.G.'s debut album?! Create way to make an entrance if you ask me. Juicy is one of those hip hop songs I always come back to. Wearing headphones felt like a good idea until we got to the foley blowjob, that was a little too much for me.
Napalm Death
3/5
Not crazy about this album, but I liked the sound well enough. Felt pretty intentionally one-note, if that makes sense.
PJ Harvey
4/5
No iconic songs on here that I had heard before, but a solid album I thought. Pleasant to listen to.
Dwight Yoakam
2/5
Sounds like pretty classic country. Twangy voice, tuned-up guitar in the background with a slide, mostly melancholic lyrics about being lonely. I feel like this album could have been made in the 50s or 60s. Maybe it could have been updated a little, or maybe that was the intent.
Jean-Michel Jarre
4/5
Not much extra to note. I just liked the music. Fit well in the background of a work day.
Gil Scott-Heron
4/5
Fun listen! Watergate Blues was pretty funny
Pearl Jam
4/5
Another impressive debut album on this list, damn. Reading the blog was pretty fascinating to see how this band came together. The song material is pretty dark (I was not ready to read about the origins of Jeremy), and Pearl Jam's style never hits the nail on the head for me, but I've got to give it up this album is a high quality classic.
Turbonegro
3/5
Glam metal with a sense of humour, from the late 90s. No complaints listening through it but I won't be playing any of these songs again.
Electric Light Orchestra
3/5
Pretty fun music buuuut, not enough variety on display to justify the 70 minute runtime if you ask me. Felt like the same ideas were repeated several times each to get to 17 songs. I'd say 2.5.
Adele
5/5
Adele continues to display an inspiring talent for singing. This album did have a consistent theme and style that left me wanting a bit more variety, but that tends to be my preference, and it felt like variety wasn't the point of the album.
Fiona Apple
4/5
So interesting to read about interpretations of this album in light of it's release timing: the beginning of pandemic lockdowns. This album had chaotic energy, and I liked it.
Marianne Faithfull
5/5
Really liked Marianne Faithfull's voice. Sounds like she lived through a rough time in the 70s, which made me connect with her more and cheer her on for making it out of a heroin addiction. Great music, had never heard of her before. Might be a 4.5.
The White Stripes
4/5
The White Stripes are a bit hit and miss for me. I love their style and their hits are top tier, but a bunch of songs on this album felt like filler to some extent. Still a good listen and I think both musicians are incredibly skilled.
The Last Shadow Puppets
3/5
Pleasant enough, nothing special for me
The Beach Boys
4/5
Interesting! I had no idea The Beach Boys ventured into dour, protest-type music. I liked the album! Short and sweet, too.
Anita Baker
4/5
Beautiful vocals on display!
TV On The Radio
4/5
I love TV On the Radio! This is not my favourite album of theirs, but cool to learn it was their debut. Staring at the Sun is an awesome track.
Paul Simon
2/5
Not my vibe, simply put.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
4/5
I liked this album! Synth-pop is a good genre for me, I guess. Reminded me of Songs from the Big Chair / Tears for Fears. I liked Souvenir most. The songwriter shows a fascination with Joan of Arc, interesting.
Neu!
4/5
I really enjoyed this album of pleasant background music until we got to Hero. The vocals on that song were bad to my taste, and lucky me it was 7 minutes long!
Butthole Surfers
3/5
I did not like the music, but I did like the sense of humor in the songs? I'm glad it's over, but I'm also glad I listened to it once. That's... an odd experience. U.S.S.A was my favorite song. Very glad to be hearing more variety in this list.
Maxwell
4/5
Really nice, relaxing!
Herbie Hancock
4/5
Spacemen 3
3/5
Nice background ambiance. I found this album a little boring for some reason, whereas other 'ambient style' albums I've given more credit to. It just felt like not much was going on at any point? Maybe I wasn't interested in the sound.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
An album full of great songs I've heard before!
Drive-By Truckers
4/5
I liked the music and style, singers had good voices, the album told an interesting story / established a good atmosphere. I do think 90 minutes was excessive.
Goldfrapp
4/5
Really liked this album! Cologne Cerrone Houdini was my favourite song. This artist has a beautiful singing style, her vocals felt very... breathy and melodic.
Björk
4/5
Started out really hate-listening to this, but by the end I was glad it was on the list. Finally, something really different that I would never have heard otherwise! I haven't had an album like that in a while.
An album focusing only on vocals (and electronics), it wasn't my favourite but I like that someone tried it. Hearing beat boxers and throat singers on the album were both highlights for me. The problem is I don't like Bjork's voice or style. She's a warbler and I am not. Still giving this 4 stars for the worthwhile experience. Where is the Line is where I draw the line though. That song annoyed me a lot haha.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Post-punk, hey? Interesting. The sound reminded me of Joy Division a little bit, but it wasn't my favourite. Vocals felt like they were in the background, drum beats were pretty static, so were the melodies really.
The Stooges
3/5
More Iggy Pop! I gather the album is a major touchstone in the history of Rock music--and it sounds like a perfect reference for the classic rock sound--but the music didn't hit for me. Lots of shreddy guitar strumming and vocals that were simultaneously cool and felt kind of limp. Put a copy in the library but not in your personal collection if you ask me.
Ray Charles
4/5
Great album to listen to, my wife recognized several songs that others had covered over the years.
Paul Simon
4/5
Good album! Almost forty years after this album's release, I left wondering if the artist could have credited or highlighted the African musicians that were involved in the creation of this album, but I am lacking a lot of the backstory.
The Beau Brummels
4/5
A quick easy listen. My favourite part was the epic ending to Triangle! (the song, not the album)
Abdullah Ibrahim
4/5
Easy listening jazz!
The Thrills
2/5
Came away wondering why this album was on the list. The blog summary of the album did not explain it. Sounded like they were trying to impersonate Elliott Smith but with none of the emotion.
Einstürzende Neubauten
3/5
Interesting but not music I want to listen to very often. I grew up a fan of Nine Inch Nails, so it was interesting to read about the influence of this group on the creation of Reznor's style!
Pere Ubu
3/5
Had some real chaotic energy, was mostly fun to listen through. A 3.5
Joanna Newsom
3/5
Reviewer said this was the most innovative vocalist since Tom Waits and I got excited. I found the album was more like spoken poetry. The singer has a beautiful voice, and also this habit of squeaking at the start of her words that I didn't like, but happened all the time. Overall, I'm neutral on this album. Maybe a 2.5.
Hawkwind
2/5
A space ritual, indeed. Honestly I did not find this music very interesting, and then it's a double album which definitely wore on me. Lots of monologues instead of much singing, lots of rolling drums and strumming guitars without melodies that I found interesting. Basically just not to my taste.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
4/5
Something I would never have listened to without this albums list. Grateful for the chance to hear it!
Tina Turner
4/5
Great album overall! I watched a live Steel Claw performance which was really impressive, Tina Turner didn't stop frenetically dancing the whole time.
Fela Kuti
3/5
A fun jam album! The singer showed lots of charisma.
Q-Tip
4/5
Really liked this album! Smooth, catchy hip hop, singer was easy to understand, underlying music was groovy.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
3/5
Not a bad listen. First song, Sure 'Nuff 'n' Yes, I Do, I really liked, the back half of the album didn't hold up as well I thought. A 2.5 for me.
Donovan
1/5
The author's review listed their favourite song as Ferris Wheel, my personal lowlight of a song. I did not like Donovan as a singer, and for an album built upon slow, lilting spoken poetry, there was no chance I'd like the album as a result. Objectively, I think this music is alright, but for me personally it's nothing.
Paul McCartney
2/5
Predictably, I was not impressed. What was there to like on this album? Signed: a Philistine.
Carole King
4/5
Nice pop album by a singer with a rich voice. Some great choices of songs to cover, as well.
Koffi Olomide
4/5
Fun to listen to! Unfortunately, the album review spent most of the time here criticizing the choices of African music albums to include in the 1001 albums list rather than teaching me about the artist. However, it was a little vindicating to hear someone else criticize this list!
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Heyyy it's an Elvis Costello album I actually liked. What are the odds! I didn't know he wrote Pump It Up, although it makes a lot of sense in hindsight. The theme of the uncompromising beauty standards in our society and how transient the quality of 'attractiveness' can be made me unhappy. It seemed, when I caught that theme, that the band presented it as a matter of fact. You're this year's model, that's it. Personally I would have taken a more critical tone, but perhaps that simple statement of fact was intentional commentary rather than unexamined and harmful beliefs. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Tim Buckley
3/5
Not really my style, but I can't argue the music is good. It's slow, exploratory, calm, and flowing. Album review talked about this as Tim Buckley exploring his jazz roots, and I can certainly hear some of that on the album, especially in the song structure.
Milton Nascimento
3/5
This was a long album to listen to without understanding a word, but the review was interesting. Brazilian pop music produced at the height of a military dictatorship. Interesting to read about attempted censorship and reflect on how an album like this can change public opinion in some ways. Oh, also the music was good, kind of slow.
Steve Earle
3/5
Music I don't identify with, but solid country blues it felt like to me. Not too pop-country for me, that's one of my main problems with country. This felt legit.
Fairport Convention
3/5
Beautiful vocal harmonies were the highlight of this album for me!
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
S'alright, The One You Love was my favorite. Pity it was the second song on the album!
Common
5/5
Really good, liked every song on this album. Very smooth music overall!
Marvin Gaye
4/5
Short and sweet! Some highly played songs that I didn't really recognize which was interesting.
Sinead O'Connor
5/5
Great album from an inspirational artist. I knew of Sinead O'Connor from the SNL protest, but hadn't listened to much of her actual music. This album was a strong showing, I think amplified for me by my admiration for her courage and steadfast commitment to her values throughout her career.
Public Image Ltd.
1/5
Had my fill by track 8 (The Suit). Bass lines were fun to listen to, but I had to turn up the volume to hear them which unfortunately made the vocals much less bearable.
Credit to the album for being an influential step in post-punk, but the songs are not to my taste. Will not be revisiting this album.
Bert Jansch
3/5
Coldcut
4/5
Really good dance music, sounds ahead of its time for sure!
Queen
4/5
A whole album of Queen where I didn't recognize a single song! Definitely a cool find for me, and interesting to learn more about how Queen got their start. This had a strong rock opera feel.
Julian Cope
3/5
Lots of variety in musical styles on display. Not too gripping, and a long album overall.
Jacques Brel
3/5
Short and sweet
Iron Butterfly
3/5
Yeah, this was alright. Slow, melodic, meandering. I prefer music that goes somewhere or tells a story to some degree.
King Crimson
4/5
Nico
3/5
Not bad. Album review focused on the melancholy feel of the music. Melancholy is to my taste, this album felt like an undeveloped version of the media I like, though. It was slow, melodic, exploratory, maybe just a little too basic. And also heavily carried by Nico's voice which was okay, rather than outstanding, for me.
Prince
5/5
This is definitely the Prince album that I know best. Great music! Still holds up for me.
k.d. lang
3/5
Western or country music doesn't do much for me. I liked Ingenue better, but this album was still short and sweet. I still liked the singer's voice plenty.
Slayer
4/5
I never beat Raining Blood on expert back when I played Guitar hero. Aside from its opening riffs which are awesome, Raining Blood was not one of my favourites off this album which I thought was interesting. Angel of Death, Piece By Piece, Necrophobic were a great triplet to start the album.
Nick Drake
4/5
Pleasant listening. First song, Time Has Told Me, made it onto a chill playlist of mine. The rest of the album passed me by like a lazy river. Maybe a 3.5 since the album seems forgettable to me, but I liked it.
Sonic Youth
2/5
Eh, no thanks I guess! I find I don't connect strongly with the "wall of noise" style of 80s underground rock. I hope to appreciate what cultural phenomena led to these stylistic choices, but I prefer my frustration to be expressed musically in other ways, I suppose!
Pavement
3/5
Probably a 3.5. This album was pleasant to listen to, but it didn't offer much variety and wasn't too impressive (i.e. the sound was pretty slow and simple overall).
Fun Lovin' Criminals
4/5
I really liked this album! Surprised it was their debut, they came onto the scene with some strong songs and a nice variety of music that still tied together quite well in terms of tone.
Laibach
4/5
Pleasantly surprised! Powerful, catchy rhythms, cool sounding vocals, interesting melodies, variety. I liked this! The main messages I caught felt very pro-community and anti-war / establishment.
Bill Callahan
4/5
Good album! I skimmed through the last song (Faith/Void), it's super long and repetitive. Important to the album's story of processing through a hard breakup, but for me the album would have been improved by shortening or cutting that one.
Sonic Youth
2/5
Interesting to hear about how this album was received in the era of grunge and Nevermind.
Frankly, noisy teen garage rock has never done anything for me, and this album didn't move the needle there. There were also a few songs where the singer adopted an "I'm about to throw up" sound to her vocals, which didn't work for me.
Neil Young
4/5
A pleasant listen. No songs stood out as certified bangers but I thought the music was pretty good. Listening to Neil Young makes me feel like I am appreciating true folk music, I don't know if that's warranted or not but it makes me feel slightly more cultured and I think that's interesting. Why do I feel that way? Something to reflect on.
Robert Wyatt
3/5
I liked Heaps of Sheeps, the rest of the album did not impress for me, personally.
Holger Czukay
3/5
Super long songs, this felt like just a general jam album. Good to have in the background but I didn't need to pay much attention. "Oh Lord, Give Us More Money" was unhinged but entertaining.
Dr. Dre
4/5
Solid album, I can see why this is the benchmark for many artists. Music and themes felt a little outdated.
Jimmy Smith
4/5
Pleasant jazz. The album ended and I made it through the first two songs again (18 mins) before I noticed. Easy listening!
Hüsker Dü
3/5
Pretty good overall, songs didn't really stick with me. Singer sounded really familiar, reminded me of REM overall for some reason.
Gang Of Four
2/5
Genuinely: eh. Talk singing, buncha strumming, simple drumbeats, sounded like the Clash but without any of their catchy singles. It's not bad music, it's just there. A 2.5.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
Gang Bang and The Faith Healer both gave me some creepy vibes. Actually, most of the album did. Is that on me? Maybe. Giddy Up a Ding Dong (weird weird song title) had my foot tapping.
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
Really liked the sound overall, especially how the guitar sounds!
The Who
3/5
I like the concept album structure a lot, so it was interesting to hear one of the very first ones (alongside Sgt Pepper I guess)?
Personally, I wasn't that interested in the story of this album, and it felt like this album needed an editor to chop out a bunch of the filler. But all in all I'd call this a successful experiment! Also might as well throw in: I've never liked Pinball Wizard.
Grant Lee Buffalo
3/5
Good debut album! Pleasant to listen to, didn't get me too excited at any point.
The Cult
4/5
Love Removal Machine and Born to Be Wild was a solid 1-2 punch. Good album overall! Songs like Peace Dog & Outlaw felt a little repetitive.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
4/5
This album matched my mood perfectly. I liked it quite a bit, and I think I would like it on any given day. Melancholy, not too long, good singing voice, heavy subject matter handled in a delicate way. Those are many hallmarks of my taste. This album reminded me of You Want It Darker but it doesn't unseat that Leonard Cohen album in my list.
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
Frank Zappa and co rebutting Sergeant Pepper, hey? Interesting, had occasionally unpleasant mixes of sounds. Hot Poop was appropriately named. Glad I've heard it once, the mockery of 60s sensibilities was fine but didn't leave me with much to connect with.
American Music Club
2/5
A middling album that the blog author describes as "the sound of early onset impotence". Um. Okay. How does an album like this get a spot yet Gordon Lightfoot does not.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
The more I listen the more of a fan I am. This guy is a great musician! Highlights were Born to Run and Jungleland. I think this is the weakest of the 3 albums I've heard from Springsteen on this list, which is saying something. The bar is high!
Stephen Stills
4/5
Decent music, I mostly liked the folk/gospel direction. I never realized Love the One You're With had a message that I strongly disagree with, but hey now I do. What an unfortunate (to me) message for such a catchy song.
fIREHOSE
3/5
Whisperin' While Hollerin' stood out the most. Music was alright, nothing worth adding to a playlist for me.
John Lennon
1/5
1001 albums has given me an appreciation for the Beatles (signed: a previous Beatles hater), but I'm back to poo-pooing their music for this, John Lennon's debut solo album. I didn't like any of the songs. They were slow, unapologetically boring and classically repetitive, as the Beatles writing often was. It didn't have any of the na na's or the la la's at least. Well Well Well epitomizes what I don't like about this kind of music. So plodding and repetitive, although this time it had a bunch of screaming in it!
I lost my own mom early in my life, so I tend to seek out themes like this to understand myself better. This album was not one I could connect to.
The Prodigy
4/5
Great album to have on in the background. Music flowed together well, some themes and songs overstayed their welcome and got repetitive, but nothing egregious. Love the album cover as well. Definitely suited my taste in music overall.
Wilco
4/5
I really liked this album, actually. It felt slow and understated but its impact built for me over time. Kingpin was the standout song for me.
Everything But The Girl
3/5
Pleasant but very same-y throughout.
a-ha
4/5
Take on me remains an absolute banger. The rest of the album was okay, pretty same-y in terms of sound and style overall, without any other strongly catchy tunes. Hunting High and Low was an interesting listen, that's another of a-ha's most popular songs and it is wildly different from Take on Me.
Traffic
4/5
Lots of quality catchy tunes on this album. I think I accidentally listened to this one twice and enjoyed it both times. Outside my usual taste, glad this album was on the list!
Destiny's Child
4/5
Strong first half of the album, the soulful ballads in the second half kind of dragged on and didn't innovate very much (each sounded pretty repetitive). Funny to hear about 20-year-old Beyonce's beef with the previous members of Destiny's Child, resulting in this album.
Serge Gainsbourg
2/5
Songs were slow and groovy, I loved how the bass was featured in many of the songs. The concept behind the album felt weak, although the fact that I don't speak French probably didn't help.
Black Sabbath
3/5
This was interesting. I avoid Black Sabbath as I've never really connected with Ozzy Osborne, his voice, or Black Sabbath's music and aesthetic. I only knew their hits, and didn't expect to hear slower, lighter pieces like 'Changes' on this album. I came away not liking Black Sabbath any more, but understanding they're a little more nuanced than I assumed they were.
The Velvet Underground
1/5
I did not enjoy these noisy jams. Maybe if I had the context of 55 years ago I would have been more impressed by the experimentation given the context of the time.
1/5
Holy everloving shit. I am glad I read a few album reviews to understand what the intention of this album was. That was hard to listen to. I do recognize the experimental nature of the music, and there are some cool components to it, especially the fact that it's all improv I think, but that was extremely overwhelming with no breaks and not particularly fun.
Songhoy Blues
4/5
A breath of fresh air in this list! Really liked this music, the story behind the album is crazy.
Madonna
3/5
Didn't blow my mind but was a good album
The Fall
2/5
The blog described this album as "a pulsing, glittering mass of sound" which I found quite apt. It did feel like a glitzy automaton belching coal smoke and ambling down some old country street. Messy and cobbled together. It felt like every song was one half of an idea that was repeated and stretched out from the 5 seconds it could reasonably occupy into a 3-5 minute song.
Tom Tom Club
4/5
Catchy, funky, fun!
The National
4/5
Beautiful, felt pretty melancholic which is an emotion I strongly connect to. The songs were pretty similar but I liked the sound.
Morrissey
2/5
I was working away, kind of bored with the music, and then a catchy and interesting song came on, I got excited and thought 'oh hey finally the album is catching a groove!' but in reality the album had ended, and Spotify had shuffled to another artist. The most exciting part of this album for me really was when it was over.
Calexico
4/5
I really liked this album! Lots of variety, maybe a few too many instrumentals, but really catchy and clear music.
Robbie Williams
3/5
A good singer, but not really my style. Let Me Entertain You was the highlight, really the only song I liked on the album. The rest I felt neutral about.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
3.5
Small Faces
2/5
This album split the difference between psychedelic rock and audiobook, and I wasn't much interested in either. I'd leave the quaint and clever storytelling to Terry Pratchett. A 1.5.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
Pleasant music, I thought. Not much variety in style that I noticed. Probably 3.5
Country Joe & The Fish
2/5
Interesting to hear this album was one of the first to bring on the psychedelic rock genre. Unfortunately, this album didn't read to me as anything other than another psychedelic rock album, which I don't tend to like much.
The Pretty Things
3/5
Interesting to listen to another early concept album. I've generally been a fan of the format in my own musical tastes. For this one, eh, the music was alright.
Jerry Lee Lewis
4/5
Very intense performance over 20 minutes. Lots of energy and passion is coming across! One thing I was wondering while listening: I'm not sure how many of these songs are his vs covers.
Madonna
3/5
Ah the autotune era. Has this always been Madonna's thing? Interesting to hear more and feel/experience Madonna's branding of herself as an innocent, sexy girl. 'Music' is a great song, the rest of the album wasn't much for me.
Ozomatli
4/5
Dude this album was awesome! If I'm honest I love Chali 2na so his feature helped me get on board. I'm going to explore more of their music. That's only happened with a couple different groups on this whole list.
JAY Z
4/5
Great lyrics, pretty bland music. The themes / presentation felt pretty tired to me (girls girls girls, so much coke you could run a slalom, etc), granted this album was from 2001. Listening through this I was just thinking about Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. Who is presenting wealth and sex appeal to cover their trauma? Glad to have a chance to learn more about Jay Z and his prolific career.
Norah Jones
5/5
Easy 5 star review. I love Norah Jones!
Eagles
4/5
Take it easy! A solid classic rock album by my assessment.
Moby
1/5
Previously, my positive opinion of Moby was pretty much solely based on Spiders, Lift Me Up, Raining Again and Natural Blues. Another review called this aural wallpaper which is a perfect description. It's inoffensive, unobtrusive, and wildly repetitive.. Credit to Moby for helping to evolve the electronica genre, but this album is just a part of the fossil record now. I think Hotel is a better album for me.
Cowboy Junkies
4/5
Yeah, I liked this. It was slow, felt like watching the waves on a beach or something like that. But the singer had a pretty voice, and it felt very personal. The blog mentioned this was recorded with the full band around a single microphone, and I felt that. This sounded like I was attending a small, intimate concert, and I liked it.
Thundercat
3/5
Nice album, artist felt like they were being pretty genuine and exploring their own experience. I ended up getting kind of tired of the "falsetto with a slow jam" format by the end of the album. It's not like it was too long, the vocals just kind of lost my attention over time. Favorite songs: Rabbot Ho, Them Changes, maybe Drink Dat.
Doves
4/5
Give it a 3.5. Man Who Told Everything was my favourite song.
Antony and the Johnsons
4/5
I liked this album! Felt very emotional and vulnerable. Maybe a few misses for me (Bird Guhl) among them. I had not heard of this artist before, I liked her performance although maybe a little too much focus on vibrato for my taste. Hope There's Someone and Fistful of Love were favourite songs.
The Streets
4/5
Fun and entertaining songs. Storytelling across the album was entertaining. Most songs had a spoken-word component with the beat hitting behind it, sometimes it worked and other times it was a bit lame. It Was Supposed to Be so Easy and Blinded by the Lights were my favorite songs.
Waylon Jennings
3/5
Decent country music, my grandpa would love it. I enjoyed it.
Elastica
3/5
S'alright, yeah. Didn't do much for me but I have no criticisms.
Isaac Hayes
4/5
Great album that sounds like it influenced Barry White / Marvin Gaye. Pretty nice music, but I could have done without the 8 minute story at the start of By The Time I Get to Phoenix.
Beth Orton
4/5
I've listened to Pass in Time quite a few times since listening through this album! Quality album overall I thought. Slow, melodic, pretty, and a singer with a very pretty voice as well.
Joan Armatrading
4/5
Great vocalist! Water With the Wine and Love and Affection both seemed familiar. Last few songs on the album my interest kind of faded until the tempo picked up during Tall In The Saddle.
The Associates
4/5
Pleasant enough, felt very very 80s pop, and indeed it was.
The Dictators
2/5
Is this glam rock? Early punk? "Hard rock", whatever that means? Whatever it is, music like this just doesn't offer anything I like. It was interesting to hear some Beach Boys-esque backing vocals on Cars and Girls.
I'm not giving much credit to what influence this album may have had on the transition away from hippy and glam to 80s hair metal and Kiss, but that's because I don't like that stuff either.
2/5
Could have done with skipping this album, it's not my style or taste. Lots of treble, almost no bass or even mid-range tones throughout. Reminds me of my grandparents and their gramophone records though, so it gets an extra star.
Duke Ellington
4/5
Great big band Jazz album. How damn the live version is long (2h compared to 45 mins). Jeep's Blues was my favorite song. At times the trumpet squeals were too much for me. I'm guessing that is the musician showing off their skill with the trumpet, but I'm not experienced enough to know for sure.
OutKast
4/5
Ms. Jackson, So Fresh So Clean, couple other songs on this album are good to banger level. There's a _lot_ of chaff though, Outkast is 2 for 2 on this list of albums that are way longer than they needed to be. That said, I'm still a fan.
Various Artists
2/5
I've already heard this album 1001 times so I am indeed ready to die. The covers are good but it's still Christmas music, which means it feels forced and loud and toxically positive to a degree.
George Jones
2/5
Sad cowboy vibes.
Orbital
4/5
Heck yeah, give me more of this! Not the most interesting album if I was focusing just on it, but in the background as I'm doing some work it's great. A bit of variety, good grooves throughout
Dexys Midnight Runners
1/5
Pretty slow and boring for me, to be frank. I had high hopes coming off Too Rye Ay, but this follow-up album feels like a momentum killer. All these songs are way too long for what they are, as well.
SZA
4/5
Great singer, variety in the songs, big featured artists pop up throughout the album. The album felt pretty languid and focused on themes of sex and relationships, so kind of stock standard in that way. I think I would like these songs more mixed into a playlist rather than 50 minutes of this style in a row.
The Avalanches
3/5
Easy listening, not too exciting. I came away pretty neutral on this album. Hard to distinguish between the songs.
The Byrds
3/5
Not a single one of the 5 Byrds albums I've listened to so far has convinced me this band deserves the emphasis it gets on this list. +1 star for combining different styles into an album and coming in at a runtime less than 30 minutes.
Michael Kiwanuka
4/5
Really great album to listen to. I'd like to hear more! I've Been Dazed, Hero, Light were the highlights for me. You Ain't The Problem as well.
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
Strong album, really liked it. I liked Kick, Push a lot, Sunshine, Daydreamin' is a classic too.. My only criticism is they included a 12 minute credits song at the end of the album. That felt a little excessive.
G. Love & Special Sauce
2/5
Nothing to write home about. The review notes this album was inspired by Beck, but then goes on to say it doesn't really hold up aside from Baby's Got Sauce. First off, if it doesn't hold up _why is it on this list?_, and second off Baby's Got Sauce was repetitive and annoying haha
The Stooges
3/5
Repetitive, chaotic and languid at the same time. The music doesn't seem to go anywhere, its like the artists are just wallowing in the same repeated phrases.
I was ready to hate on this album until I read about the cultural influences manifest in this album and the state of the band itself, "taking acid and only writing about the bad trips" as the review notes. This saved it a bit. The album captures an unpleasant, desperate feel well. I don't expect I'll listen to it again.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
The Who
3/5
I think I'm coming down on appreciating the influence that the Who had on concept albums and progressive music, but not really liking most of their music. I do like I Can See For Miles, though.
Fever Ray
4/5
Great choice to put If I Had a Heart first. Best song on the album, it really got me in the mood to listen and vibe with the rest of the songs, that didn't stand out quite as much as the first one. Reminded me of If These Trees Could Talk, Sigur Ros, and some of the scandanavian progressive metal songs that I've heard before. Really atmospheric and cool to me.
Kate Bush
4/5
Each song has ~2-5 million plays but Running Up That Hill has 1.1 BILLION plays. The power of Stranger Things at work, hey? Pretty good album, I prefer vocals to be pretty clear and up-front in the mix, so the vocal styling choice here was good but wore out for me by the end.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
Decent, didn't get me too excited. The start of It's Not the End of the World stood out most for me, before it mellowed out again by 45 seconds or so.
Klaxons
3/5
Totem on the Timeline was my favorite song. Spotify didn't have the 19 minute final song, I'm happy to report. Fast-paced brit-rock. Not much else to it in my mind.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
4/5
The themes of this album feel as relevant today as they were 30 years ago. Music was good, I spent most of the time reflecting on how my opinions on these topics have changed. I was a lot less receptive to these ideas when I was younger. Socio-Genetic Experiment was too repetitive. A 3.5
Dolly Parton
3/5
Dolly Parton's America was all I needed to become a fan of her, and as a result I liked this album. The songs were alright, but at least they sounded like genuine country rather than the pop-country overproduced drawl that really bothers me about the genre. Wildflowers is a great song. The rest of the album told interesting stories but was better as background music for me.
Beck
5/5
I absolutely love Guero. I've been a fan of this album since high school, so nostalgia is definitely helping there. I used to love the upbeat songs most (E-Pro, Hell Yes, Rental Car, Black Tambourine), these days I love the slow, melancholic songs most (Missing, Earthquake Weather, Broken Drum, Go It Alone). My taste has changed yet this album still delivers.
Röyksopp
4/5
So happy to see a non-UK, and even non-American album on this list. Great music, pretty understated but nice and atmospheric. A good album to have on in the background, which is one of the ways I enjoy music best.
The Libertines
3/5
UK punk and UK rock feel so overrepresented on this list. The Libertines was one of the better albums in the genre I've listened to on this list. It's just a shame that I've listened to pretty much this same album about 40 times by now.
Yes
3/5
This album can hold its own, it's good quality music. None of the songs felt like true hits though, at least on this listen through. I also feel like I can enjoy Yes for about 20 minutes before I'm ready to hear something of a different style. But I'm glad for their influence on progressive music.
The Beta Band
4/5
I liked it!
Prefab Sprout
3/5
Solid... alt rock? 80s pop? I liked Bonny the most.
David Crosby
4/5
Really pretty album, I thought. Nice vocals especially. Last song reminded me quite a bit of Ben Salisbury's "Annihilation" soundtrack.
The Specials
4/5
Ska! I liked it, partially since I have some friends in a Ska band and don't know many of the foundational bands of the genre. The music was overall good though.
Donald Fagen
3/5
Pleasant, jazzy, nice vocal harmonies throughout. I read about the connection to Steely Dan but this feels like a fairly run-of-the-mill album to me. The blog does note there are some interesting tidbits of music theory applied here, I'll take their word for it.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
2/5
This album irked me. Sometimes it was the vocals, sometimes it was a repetitive musical phrase I wasn't enjoying. I'm glad I read the blog article noting that Jack Elliott was an inspiration to Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, etc. I'll leave this one in the past.
Caetano Veloso
3/5
Very interesting to read that this album was disruptive enough to lead to the arrest and "forced exile" for the artists 1 year later. Apparently an early album in the Tropicalia genre? I've never heard of that before. The music was fine, pretty upbeat and pleasant. Glad this album was on the list.
Christina Aguilera
3/5
Christina Aguilera is a pretty strong singer. I liked this album overall, it felt more like soul than like pop for the most part. However, this album did not need to be 77 minutes long. I feel like it would be easy to crop this album's 20 tracks down to 13-15 at least.
Joe Ely
3/5
Some solid honky tonky tunes. Pretty good voice, a mix of slower and upbeat catchy tracks. Quick listen, as well. I'd say a 3.5.
Fugazi
3/5
Seemed fine ye
The Go-Betweens
3/5
Streets of Your Town is worth a re-listen
Led Zeppelin
3/5
Props for Immigrant Song, an absolute cultural touchstone. I wasn't impressed by anything else on this album. It feels like I like Led Zeppelin less and less over time.
Dr. Octagon
3/5
This album set out to be weird and met its goal. I wasn't particularly impressed, but I do like that this album deviates from the typical rap attitude of the 90s (just to add some variety to what is possible in the genre). Halfsharkalligatorhalfman made it on to one of my playlists, it's funny.
Grateful Dead
3/5
Psychedelic jam rock not really my thing. I like the subculture of the Grateful Dead though, the idea that once the band plays the music, it belongs to the fans not the bands, and allowing fans to record their concerts and trade recordings with each other. All that grassroots stuff is really cool. Unfortunately I'm not that interested in the music, but that's just me!
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Eh, I didn't pay much attention but I also wasn't that interested.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
Pleasant and chill, reminded me a little bit of My Bloody Valentine but stripped down to a simpler form
Dagmar Krause
2/5
Fairly unique on this list, an album that reads like a play. A focus on storytelling throughout the songs. The singer has a nice and powerful voice in the alto range (I think) that suits the gravity of the subject matter well. Sadly, I found the songs very threadbare, simple background music supporting a talk-singing monologue. Pretty repetitive and not much in the lyrics' writing that caught my interest at all.
The Dandy Warhols
3/5
Decent as well, nothing too exciting for me. I liked the general musical style, found the songs (mostly the lyrics) to be fairly 1-dimensional and repetitive. The last 2 songs, Pete International Airport and The Creep Out, I would have left on the cutting room floor, a 15 minute long ambient vibe was all that was.
The Zutons
4/5
I liked this music, very interesting blend of styles. The quick upbeat drums and sax gave this album touches of ska which I liked. Pretty fun listen throughout!
Soft Machine
3/5
Electronica jazz, hey? That's a new one for me. The music was good to have in the background but periodically got stuck iterating within repetitive sections full of sounds I didn't like. That happened more often than I would have liked.
Baaba Maal
3/5
Pretty good album, much less popular than others on this list (go figure). Music was fun and sometimes funky, but I felt I was missing something not understanding the lyrics. It was a little hard to connect with these songs, but I liked listening to them. 3.5
Kings of Leon
2/5
Man, I do not like the lead singer's voice. Caleb Followill. I find he sounds whiney, and also like he's singing into a coffee mug. I heard about Kings of Leon in high school and assumed this was like, a young teenage upstart band that had just hit it big with a hit single. Only now am I learning the band's debut was nearly a decade earlier, and also the lead singer is a decade older than I am. I shouldn't hate too much, I guess this band does not make music that I like and that's that.
Mudhoney
3/5
Interesting to learn about grunge bands I haven't heard before. Music was decent but not particularly meaningful to me. I liked Into The Drink and Move Out, really didn't like Who You Drivin' Now, as exemplars. I don't think I'll be coming back to Mudhoney.
Tom Waits
4/5
Tom Waits the goat. I find him very hard to describe but I like his performance every time.
Slade
2/5
Glam rock is near the bottom of my music genre tier list. This album didn't do anything to change my mind on that front. My favorite song on the album was Move Over, which isn't written by this group. My least favorite song was Gudbuy T'Jane where they just kept repeating "she's so young". It always feels creepy when a band full of men does that, and I feel like it happens a lot in this era.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4/5
Great album, I really like Tuesday's Gone! You know I never thought about the range of this band, they play all kinds of styles. Somehow I didn't realize they did both Free Bird and Sweet Home Alabama!
The Psychedelic Furs
1/5
One of those albums I wish wasn't on this list. Incredibly same-y songs, very repetitive instrumental phrases backing up a monotonic and boring singer. I Wanna Sleep With You is a turn-off for me. I realize I'm listening to this album 40 years out of its context, and I read about the influence of the Psychedelic Furs during their 80s hey day, but in my mind an album on this list should hold up no matter what era you're listening to it in. I was bored by track #1.
Rufus Wainwright
4/5
I liked this album better than Want Two! Beautiful Child was one of my favourite songs. I admit the album wore on me by about halfway through. There's not enough variation in style to keep my attention for almost a full hour. I think a 40-minute runtime would have bumped this up to a 4, as is it's a 3.5 for me.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
Gracefully short. I didn't particularly like any track. Odd that "Now I've Got a Witness" comes before "Can I get a Witness" on the album. That's a missed opportunity.
David Bowie
4/5
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
Wall of noise wall of noise with vocals hidden way down in the mix. Still not a style I'm interested in much, but I'm glad others like it.
David Ackles
3/5
Pretty good, would have liked more variety or just a shorter album. A few less spoken-word-singing-storytelling songs would have been fine by me. I liked Family Band, Love's Enough, even Oh, California! Midnight Carousel stuck in my head but it was one of the songs I liked the least
David Bowie
4/5
The story behind this album was interesting to read, particularly the note that David Bowie has said he doesn't remember making this album. I hadn't heard any songs off this album, so grateful to listen to it. I liked Station to Station and Wild is the Wind best.
ABBA
4/5
I was impressed that despite having none of their biggest biggest hits, this was still a solid album throughout, and I've heard many of these songs before despite them being deeper in Abba's body of work.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Least favorite of the Springsteen albums I've heard on this list so far, but I continue to grow more respect for this artist. It seems like he does a great job of being a voice for the public, his music feels very down to Earth. The Rising stood out for me on this album.
The Gun Club
3/5
Indie/garage rock, no standouts to me.
Kings of Leon
2/5
A couple good songs on here, Notion especially. 17 felt fairly creepy, I Want You felt weird as well. I'm not trying to be anti-sex but when the songs are about an underage woman and make a point to identify in their lyrics they're talking specifically about a black guy with a big dick, I dunno... Not for me.
D'Angelo
3/5
Solidly okay by my standard. This singer has an excellent voice. The songs felt pretty similar and didn't showcase much variety from the artist. I feel like other artists (Prince, Marvin Gaye, + more) left big shoes to fill and D'Angelo doesn't quite live up to them.
Deee-Lite
3/5
Great album, a lot of it felt like background grooves rather than in your face awesomeness. Groove is in the Heart is a classic, I'd never heard anything else by Deee-Lite!
Youssou N'Dour
3/5
Peter Tosh
4/5
Great album! Put more reggae and ska on this list, seriously. Ketchy Shuby was my favorite song, I was happy to hear the album end with an instrumental reprise of the same song.
N.E.R.D
3/5
Haven't listened to much Pharrell really, despite seeing him in concert once. He has a great voice, but he did a lot of talk-singing that didn't really keep my attention. There was a lot of variety in musical styles on this album which is a definite pro for me. I'd give it a 3.5.
The Bees
4/5
900 albums in, I'm getting a little triggered by the UK flag next to an album on this list. But not this one, this was a pleasant surprise! Really mellow, catchy, and I felt like the songs had lots of variety. Punchbag and A Minha Menina were my favourite tracks.
Eminem
4/5
Huge songs on this album, even the tracks kept off the radio have great beats and memorable moments. Eminem is not my favorite rapper, but he has a place in the history of rap music, and his massive popularity teaches us a lot about the music industry and society in general. He's the best selling rap artist of all time, does he deserve that spot? Does it matter?
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
Man, A Tribe Called Quest was such an awesome influence on early hip hop. Great music, wholesome messages (Infamous _ _ comes to mind). I like the jazz samples within the beats on this album! I also didn't know this was where Scenario came from. I think a 4.5 for me.
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
I've never heard of Belle & Sebastian and really liked this album! That's the whole point of doing this exercise, so I'm adding this to the win column. The album art makes me uncomfortable, I think I have a fear of getting bitten by fish ^^;
Heaven 17
2/5
Nothing too exciting. Half the album was missing on Spotify and I didn't bother to hunt down the rest of it.
Ice Cube
2/5
I like Ice Cube, I found this album to be very long and kind of like listening to a conversation while I'm doing something else. Good beats but nothing that grabbed my attention throughout.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
I was unconvinced by the album review. Solidly meh, pretty melodies but I felt bored while the music bopped away. Vocals left a lot to be desired for me.
The Prodigy
2/5
Felt like pretty repetitive early techno to me.
Raekwon
3/5
Cool old school hip hop. Heaven & Hell stood out for me most, surprisingly. I liked Ice Cream too. Raekwon is a recognizable name for me, now. It wasn't before.
The Cure
1/5
Slow, understated and melancholy. Maybe a better book of poetry than an album. I'm happy for the people who like it, but for me: a snore. I love melancholy but not in this flavour I guess.
The Jam
3/5
Decent, I liked when the bass was featured most (e.g. right at the start of the album). Came and went pretty quick, no showstopper songs for me. A 3.5
The White Stripes
4/5
Loud, explosive, at times vulnerable. Lots of variety, I felt like rock and blues influences came through clearly. I've always loved Blue Orchid, stoked to see this album on the list.
Ministry
2/5
Not great or interesting to me
Lou Reed
3/5
Yeah, pretty okay. I didn't realize that Can I Kick It sampled Take A Walk On The Wild Side, it's been a while since I heard that song! Otherwise, kind of a talk-singing album backed up by pleasant but simple music.
Snoop Dogg
3/5
Decent album overall, a few great songs (Gin & Juice, Who Am I) stand out. Thank goodness we've moved away from skits on hip hop albums though
Billie Holiday
4/5
This album hooked me right away, from the first lyrics that I heard. Something about Billie Holiday's voice and the melancholy of the music really struck a chord right away for me. A little same-y throughout but beautiful enough for me that I enjoyed the whole thing.
Soft Cell
2/5
Tainted Love is great. The rest of the album is tooooo repetitive and simple to hold up. I can hear this album's spot in the evolution of synth-pop and other genres, but it feels like part of the fossil record rather than something I'd choose to listen to.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
3/5
Seemed okay. Felt quiet and respectful, like music you'd hear around a campfire if a full band was playing. History Song was my favourite track.
Devendra Banhart
3/5
3.5
Primal Scream
4/5
The name Primal Scream always seems in conflict with the music they produce, to me. Still, I like both the name and the music. It was hard for me to put my finger on what this album was, even whether I liked it or not. I think this might need a re-listen, but it caught my interest the first time through.
Violent Femmes
4/5
I liked it! Solid album, huge banger to start the album off, and catchy tunes sprinkled throughout. The two extra songs (Ugly, Gimme the Car) turned me way off haha, but the 10 songs on the original album were all good.
Wild Beasts
4/5
Pretty good album, sounded good to me and also sounded pretty different (at least from what I've been listening to lately). We Still Got... and Through The Iron Gate were among my favorites. The most-played song, All the King's Men, I didn't like that much.
Radiohead
5/5
Great, creative, and fairly accessible for a Radiohead album. A Wolf At the Door, There, There, 2+2=5, Sit Down. Stand Up, Where I End and You Begin, were all good songs. It was just a strong album overall. Not Radioheads biggest hits, but still captures a style I really like. A 4.5.
Todd Rundgren
3/5
I liked the music but this double album wore on me. I would have been much happier with 45 minutes than 90. Also had some songs I really didn't like such as Piss Aaron and Slut.
Bebel Gilberto
4/5
Melodic, jazzy, relaxing, smooth, pretty vocals, with enough upbeat energy sprinkled throughout to keep me from falling asleep. This album was a really nice surprise from an artist I had never heard of.
Jeru The Damaja
4/5
Never heard of Jeru before, and it was interesting to read about a counter-culture rap album. Most notable were the stripped down beats and focus on rap only. Content of the songs wasn't that interesting to me, but I'm glad I listened to this album. D. Original was my favorite track.
The Police
3/5
Came away not really liking this album much. I've never been the biggest Police fan but won't argue they're a bad band, they have produced hugely influential and timeless songs. I'll stick to their hits though, the songs in between on this album felt meh. Their music feels more like pop than rock to me, an odd cognitive dissonance that I think is part of the reason I don't get them. Shout out to 'Mother' for being straight trash.
Traffic
3/5
Short and sweet. Jazzy and okay music for me. The album felt very consistent, no high highs (songs I loved) or low lows. Empty Pages was probably my favorite song.
Stereo MC's
3/5
Sounded like friendly hip-hop, a la Tribe Called Quest compared to NWA. I had a good time listening through this but albums like this show me that I prefer modern rap.
I feel like a lot of complexity has been layered over the foundation of straight-forward beats and rhymes like the Stereo MC's are showcasing on this album, and that's a big reason I've been drawn to the genre.
Jamiroquai
3/5
I only really know Canned Heat, so it was interesting to listen to this debut album. Listening through I found it to be groovy and upbeat, without any catchy tunes I want to listen to again. I missed the revolutionary tone throughout the lyrics, only learned about that from the album review afterwards. On its own, the album was a decent listen. None of its songs are added into my playlists.
John Coltrane
4/5
Fun listen, I liked track 4 the best. I liked the sax, bass, piano, I thought the drums could have been more varied but they did serve their part of constantly keeping the background upbeat.
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
I mean, this album sounds like it was made to be discordant and upsetting, and indeed it was. Not a pleasant listen for me. John Lydon seems like an edgelord to me, but I'm >40 years out of context for this album. +1 star in benefit of the doubt for the value of the punk movement and this album's influence there.
Brian Eno
3/5
Near the end of this exercise, 5 Brian Eno albums (and more that he influenced / produced) in. I can see the breadth of his influence, and I appreciate his will to experiment and innovate. But his music is so often repetitive that I just can't become a fan. I REALLY liked the opening synth in Sky Saw, grew absolutely sick of it after 3 minutes.
I'll Come Running was my favourite track, at least until "I'll come running to tie your shoes" ad nauseum in the back half of the song.
Fugees
4/5
Nice to hear Lauryn Hill again on this album. I didn't know she was singing on this famous cover of Killing Me Softly With His Song. Also nice to hear Wyclef Jean! I liked this album, it had a few big standout songs in the mix. I liked Fu-Gee-La and Ready or Not the best, How Many Mics was cool too.
I'm off to finally watch the 'It's tough loving Lauryn Hill' vid I've have on my to-watch list for so long.
Nitin Sawhney
4/5
Interesting album with lots of variety and some themes that I mulled over a bit. Tides, Pilgrim, and Nostalgia stood out to me
Buck Owens
3/5
Old school classic country. I feel like my taste is pretty codified here, I'm not that interested in the genre but it does remind me of my grandpa. The vocal harmonies are definitely nice here.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
Really liked this. Dripping with funk, short and sweet!
White Denim
3/5
Good, felt a little different from the main ruts this list falls into. Street Joy was the most played song and also my favorite.
Black Flag
4/5
Noisy punk with moments of glory. Outstayed its welcome for me, but this isn't really my cup of tea in the first place. I like that Damaged II comes before Damaged I, this band does have a good sense of humour amidst the destructive angst.
Scissor Sisters
4/5
Very jazzy and groovy, with a mix of upbeat and downtempo songs. I was interested the whole time. Comfortably Numb cover was unexpected. Return To Oz, Tits On The Radio, The Skins, Take Your Mama, there wasn't a song I didn't like on this album, or those I did came and went quick enough that I wasn't bothered. Would listen again!
Randy Newman
1/5
First song has several repetitions of a white guy saying the N word. I stopped listening once I noticed, I'd rather not send any royalties Randy's way. I get that this album is the 70s, but I'm not.
Bob Dylan
3/5
I'm glad Bob Dylan exists and I see him as a creative and influential artist, however I don't like listening to his music much. It's a little too slow and ramblin' for me, no themes that I connect to usually, and I'm also not a fan of his voice especially when he raises it. No hard feelings Bob, congrats on your nobel prize.
The Everly Brothers
4/5
One of the albums of the 60s I've liked the most! Good vocals, chill atmosphere overall. Others from this era have come off as lonely, sad, or showing off cultural sensibilities no longer acceptable. I feel like this one aged well.
Don McLean
3/5
I think American Pie is kind of overrated. This album is alright overall. I like the singer's voice, none of these songs would make it onto a playlist of mine.
SAULT
4/5
Great to see this album on the list. Smooth and pretty chill tracks offering a different perspective and celebrating blackness in a sea of Western white-centred mainstream music that makes up the majority of this 1001 albums list. Also nice to hear the approach of more understated, calm and quiet introspective reflections to clearly counter the stereotype that minorities are 'aggressive' or 'in your face' with their cultural advocacy. My kind of music.
Throbbing Gristle
2/5
Throbbing Gristle is such a gross name. The music on this album felt very understated, too light and quiet for my taste.
Guided By Voices
3/5
Neil Young
3/5
Decent album. Southern Man is the song I like most off this one.
Dead Kennedys
4/5
Fast-paced, entertaining, left anti-establishment messaging... all the hallmarks of early punk and of good punk, at least to my taste. My peace was disturbed a few times while listening through (Chemical Warfare, Kill the Poor, Let's Lynch the Landlord), but that's the point so it's not like I can fault for that.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Overall pretty good! I like Joni Mitchell. I like that there were a variety of musical styles on display. Help Me and Car on a Hill I listened to twice. I felt like a lot of the vocals were talk-singing which sits in a weird space for me. Sometimes I'm interested and receptive, and other times I feel like I'm not listening to music. Nothing here came close to Big Yellow Taxi for me.
The Who
2/5
Are live concert albums always worse than studio albums? I'm not sure, but the 1001 albums have taught me that outside of Who's Next, I don't like much of what The Who have to offer. This live album exacerbated the issue, I was not impressed. The album also didn't feel mixed super well. The audience talk portions were hard for me to follow.
Elbow
5/5
Holy crap it happened, a band I've never heard of form this list whose music I immediately liked and added into my regular rotations. Hell yeah. That's what this whole exercise is about! I liked the opener Starlings, but a combo of "straight to my head like the first cigarette of the day" and the bass coming in on The Bones of You hooked me. Really liked the rest of the album.
The Bones of You, One Day Like This are the shining favourites for me.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
I can't find anything to connect with on these Nick Cave albums. I saw an art installation of his in a gallery and liked it a lot, more than any of his albums I've heard here. Glad I'm done with all 4 of them on this list. Into My Arms is a beautiful song, so this is the best of the 4 albums as it has Into My Arms. I've already forgotten the rest of the album.
The Divine Comedy
3/5
Fine by me. Felt like listening to a play that someone offered me free tickets to. I wasn't enamored but the performance was good and I'm glad to have had the experience. I think that's a pretty neutral review for me.
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
Liked it! Nothing too revolutionary but it's in a genre I always enjoy.
Depeche Mode
4/5
Great to listen to. Good music to have on in the background. Not too distracting but interesting and sounds good. I would listen through this album again, but I'd skip I Want You Now if I do. You can leave those odd heavy breathing noises for someone else
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
Frank Zappa is an odd duck. Do you thing man! A lot of this music passed me by like a parade of fun chaotic noise and sass. I connected with You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here, Trouble Every Day and It Can't Happen Here. I did not like Who Are the Brain Police and Wowie Zowie most. Odd that the first album almost lost me but the second album brought me back, that's a new one.
Dr. John
3/5
Felt like some understated psychedelic rock to me. I Walk on Guilded Splinters was my favourite song, Jump Sturdy was also kind of fun. Croker Courtbullion was very repetitive and kind of annoying, same with the back half of Danse Fambeaux if I remember correctly. However it was short and different from anything I've heard in a while, so I'm glad I listened to it.
Kanye West
4/5
Strong album I think. I feel like this album is way before the line where Kanye became more problematic, so I'm still willing to back the music. Jesus Walks was my favourite track.
Motörhead
4/5
First half of the album is sick, Ace of Spades is iconic. Jailbait lost me though, pretty creepy song... and the songs afterward about love and the chase all got coloured with that creepy vibe.
Tom Waits
4/5
I'm enjoying learning more about Tom Waits, as I don't know much about him to be fair. I like this gravelly voice. I was surprised to here he was 25 when he recorded this, I would have guessed 40 or something given the voice.
I thought the show was quite entertaining and told stories I was interested in. Tom Waits also had the crowd's attention and was quite funny! Big Joe and Phantom 309 stood out most to me.
The Police
3/5
Good album, I hadn't considered the Police as influenced by reggae but now that I've read that I can hear it as well. Interesting. Kind of middling on this album I guess.
Megadeth
4/5
Great album. I could use more knowledge on what delineates metal subgenres, but I've learned this is textbook thrash metal. Fair enough. I liked it! Nothing as strong as Symphony of Destruction on here for me, but Five Magics, Take No Prisoners, Tornado Of Souls were all solid.
Björk
4/5
Choir and strings on this album lend it a unique feel. I like how much variety has been shown across the Bjork albums on this list. I'd say I liked Vespertine more, but still I'd listen to this album again. Quicksand was my favourite track.
Les Rythmes Digitales
4/5
Catchy dance tunes! I like this genre, I liked this album. I liked Sometimes the most. I felt some of the covers / sampled songs didn't stand on their own very well (see What'S That Sound).
Suicide
3/5
Short. Dark. I skipped Frankie Teardrop after a minute or two. The slow, plodding description of a man's plan to kill his family was not something I was prepared to listen to in that moment. Not my kind of music I don't think, but I can't fault it for being in a genre outside my taste.
Drive Like Jehu
2/5
Fun to listen to for a while but wore out its welcome for me. If we can call this garage emo rock or punk, it doesn't hold much I'm interested in. I'll listen to a wall of noise from time to time, mostly in metal, but not this kind. Not interested in the screaming vocals, the grating feedback, the repetitive song design. Rome Plows was fun (had the benefit of being the first song). Luau and Super Unison were a 1-2 punch of 'okay I'm done with this album' for me. But I did listen through it.
Linkin Park
4/5
I missed the Linkin Park train growing up, was never really a fan, but the music brings me right back to my pre-adolescent angst years anyway. In The End will probably stay with me forever, it's so quotable.
Iggy Pop
4/5
Good album! Turn Blue was a bit too long for me, The Passenger and Success stood out to me best. Catchy, varied, and didn't outstay its welcome. Plus David Bowie was involved!
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Sympathy for the Devil is an all-time rock classic. For my taste, I'd grade it a B. I feel like I've settled in to not liking the Rolling Stones and this album did not cause me to reconsider.
R.E.M.
2/5
This album mostly put me to sleep, or at least by the end of it I was feeling that way. Turn You Inside-Out, Hairshirt, I Remember California, Untitled was a 1,2,3,4 punch at the end of the album of slow, repeating, talk-singing songs that didn't go somewhere I was interested in.
I like Stand because of Parks & Recreation, so that's a positive association. Orange Crush is a familiar song, probably heard plenty of times growing up without knowing what it was.
The Darkness
3/5
Why is this band named The Darkness with this upbeat cheery rock.
This kind of wild and loose falsetto singing is not what I like. It definitely works and I'm sure plenty of people love to sing or dance along, but I'm not the type to pull my broom out and play it like an air guitar while hopping around the house. I can accept and enjoy the style for about 4 minutes before wanting to move on, so I'll stick with I Believe in a Thing Called Love and leave the rest of the album for the fans.
The Velvet Underground
3/5
Supergrass
2/5
Not into it, not interested. Sounds like 50 other albums on this list. Singer sounds a bit like Billy Corgan to me, but I'd rather listen to Smashing Pumpkins personally.
3/5
Decent music, felt pretty forgettable to me overall though. It passed me by just like life is said to do.
Louis Prima
3/5
Fast-paced and fun swing music. The humour I spotted on the album feels a bit dated and misogynistic.
Kelela
4/5
I've been waiting to listen to this album! I see the album art lots on the review blog. It lived up to expectations! Great singer, entertaining songs without much substance I was interested in. Frontline and Waitin were my favourite songs. I would have cut a few songs from this album, ~10 minutes maybe. I liked the whole thing but I had my fill before the album was over.
Björk
4/5
Pretty good listen! I think I'm starting to get Bjork's style more so it's easier to connect with her music. I thought this album told some engaging stories and was some of the music of hers I have liked the most so far.
Killing Joke
4/5
Strong, pessimistic music. Not usually a mood I want to be in but the album achieves this well and I think they get their message across loud and clear. Pretty good overall, I like mixing synthesizers into the tracks and the solid beats for me to bop along with.
Incubus
4/5
I've listened to Drive so many times that I thought I knew who the band Incubus was. Their style surprised me, I feel like I was listening to Tool at some points. Interesting and sufficiently different from the bulk of this list, I'm glad I got to listen to the whole album!
Everything But The Girl
3/5
Some light dance music from the 90s. I liked it, Before Today was my favourite song. The low key music worked, but many of the songs felt pretty similar to me. Especially the beats, they could almost be using the same drum track for every song. A 3.5
David Bowie
3/5
Bowie's second album release of 1977, impressive! I'm so used to his rock and pop sound that the second half of this album, mostly ambient new wave music, was quite a surprise. Sense of Doubt was effective and off-putting. On its own this album had no highlights beyond Heroes, but I'm glad it was on the list so I could learn a little more about this artist and his range of work.
Jack White
4/5
I like Jack White's style! I like when he focuses on guitar riffs or strong beats, interspersed with quick or emphatic vocals. Take Me With You When You Go is a good example of this. Icky Thump another example from the White Stripes catalogue. I cruised through this album and enjoyed the ride, it was over too soon.
The Electric Prunes
3/5
Short and sweet. Sold to the Highest Bidder stood out most to me.
XTC
3/5
Pretty catchy! Not something I'd pick to listen to but I wouldn't skip it on the radio. Earn Enough For Us, Summer's Cauldron stood out. Really Super, Supergirl was one of the tracks I liked least.
Lightning Bolt
2/5
This album sucked. I feel like I simultaneously respect it for being noisy, different, and that much noise coming from just 2 musicians, but... I also was not entertained. I've been crushing 2-3 albums per day catching up lately and this album took me about 4 days to finally get through. +1 star for novelty.
Supergrass
3/5
Much better than In It For The Money. Singer still sounds like Billy Corgan. Alright was the best song as represented by play count on spotify, ~350 million compared to .5-1 million for the rest of the songs. The rest of the album was still pretty good. I would put this album on again.
The Soft Boys
2/5
Album review claims there are no dull moments on this album. Agree to disagree, I found the songs pretty repetitive and the lyrics quite mundane.
Stan Getz
4/5
Good listen through, it sat comfortably in the background, calmed me and stayed varied instead of monotonous. I feel like this would be best listened to live, but as a recording it held much of its charm.
Ms. Dynamite
3/5
Yep, fine by me. Didn't really stand out from the crowd.
50 Cent
3/5
Good, felt like good quality but pretty stereotypical early 2000s rap. P.I.M.P and 21 Questions stood out most to me. This feels like pretty cookie-cutter gangster rap and it's too long of an album for that to hold my interest the whole time, so it gets middle of the road ratings. Cool to learn this was on Eminem's label, that helps me understand the rappers that were big as I grew up a little better.
4/5
Well, despite this list creating a dislike of the majority of British music for me, this album holds up and was a fun listen. Reminded me of something David Bowie would make as I was listening through.
Jethro Tull
4/5
Hell yeah Aqualung! What an odd song. Now I finally know where the name Aqualung comes from. Also interesting that I've never recognized the long guitar solo in the middle of the song.
Rest of the album passed without much fanfare. It's good music and feels sufficiently different from the pack.
Sonic Youth
4/5
Best of the 5 Sonic Youth albums on this list for me. I would rather it have been 30 minutes shorter but I enjoyed the listen. Teen Age Riot stands tall as the best track for me. Kissability maybe among the worst on the album.
I felt like the wall-of-noise I was hearing on previous albums was clarified here with a bit more melody and variety. There was a spot on the album where the wall of noise parted and a heavy bass section came through. That was my favourite moment, although I don't know what song that was so I couldn't find it again.
Coldplay
3/5
Preeeetty sleepy. That's normal. I find it interesting that Coldplay is as successful as they are, I mean there is clearly a market for calm, melancholic, beautiful music, but there's not much to get excited about on this album. Seems like the purpose is just the opposite, calming and soothing.
I like Coldplay, personally, although this album was not my favourite iteration of their style.
The Divine Comedy
4/5
I liked this one a little better than Casanova. Probably a 3.5 but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. The songs were easy to catch the meaning of, the album was consistent but approached love from different directions in each song. If... felt dated and tacky, I'm All You Need was my favourite song.
Meat Puppets
3/5
Early grunge influences! I liked hearing this album. Indeed I am most familiar with these songs from Nirvana's MTV unplugged set, elsewhere on this list. Lake of Fire and Plateau I listened to twice, the rest of the album passed me by. A 3.5.
Bad Brains
2/5
Nothing here to impress me. A couple toe-tapping moments like the start of the I Against I track.
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
Great group of musicians putting out great soul music. I didn't recognize any of the songs on this album so I was happy to listen to it! See the Light stood out as my favourite, although I should probably listen to Shining Star again.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
4/5
Buena Vista Social Club was my very first album on this list, fitting to find something similar right near the end as well! I liked this album, it was cheery and fun. Upbeat and I didn't get tired of listening through the 40 minute runtime.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
The album review was very interesting. It talked about how this album came out at the tail end of the hippie movement, and the music reflects this in a stripped down, singer-songwriter format that is so common today. The themes are melancholy and personal, the album title Blue fits it well. Joni Mitchell is always going to be the Big Yellow Taxi artist to me, but she is more than that. Her voice and range is not my preferred taste, but I recognize her talent and her influence on folk music. I'm proud that she's a Canadian.
The Beta Band
4/5
I liked this album! Reminded me of TV on the Radio a little bit, probably just in how the vocals and harmonies played out. I was entertained and tapping my foot all the way to the end of Eclipse. Would listen again.
Fatboy Slim
2/5
I like techno, I like house, I like EDM, I like some trap music. Thank goodness these genres have evolved into something fully formed, unique, and full of talent. This album is from an era that I'm glad is in the past. I especially don't miss whatever you call this type of drumbeat that permeates every song. If you played this in a club today the crowd would evaporate.
The Cramps
3/5
Decent, interesting to hear a rock album with no bass. Lots of covers on this album which detracts a bit for me, but good musicians and the music wasn't grating. Like the singer's voice.
Pixies
4/5
Pretty good! I didn't recognize anything except Here Comes Your Man. Monkey Gone to Heaven stood out as not worth its time on the album.
Morrissey
2/5
Sleepy. Metacritic reports an average review score of 72/100 based on 31 critical reviews (stat from Wikipedia). That answers my question "oh, what warrants a fourth Morrissey album on this list?" No good reason found. The music was fine. Morrisey didn't have anything to say here that I was interested in.
Silver Jews
4/5
Nice album and fairly different from the 1001's standard fare. I liked that the music felt slow and deliberate. The singer strayed close to talk-singing but I think it worked in the context of the music, and I liked their mellow, bassy tone. It suited the music well. I liked Slow Education the best. I'd listen to this album again.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
1/5
Elvis Costello may be prolific but his talent does not warrant 6 albums on this list. I don't like his voice and I'm not warming up to it. I'll give him Pump It Up, I will, but he doesn't have any wins other than that in my books.
This album specifically had no songs I liked and had many songs that were very repetitive and pretty long. Battered Old Bird, Home is Anywhere You Hang Your Head, I Want You for three examples. Boo.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
This album had no chance for me, unfortunately. Cons: it's a live album, the song titles were hard to read, there was too much focus on kind of tacky-sounding keyboard for me, the songs were mostly just a bunch of noise jamming interspersed with low-volume vocals that were telling a story I couldn't quite hear and wasn't that interested in. Leave this one on the shelf for me. They seem like skilled musicians so +1 star for that.
Christine and the Queens
4/5
Something more modern, and not from the UK or US? Nice to see for variety.
I liked the singer's voice, I liked the bass-lines, I thought the songs had just enough variation to keep me interested. Doesn't Matter stuck with me longest. Make Some Sense was the only song that I wanted to skip, but it was short.
Barry Adamson
3/5
Favourite part is the album name, haha. I feel like this album bounced all over different styles, it felt experimental. I liked the first 3 songs and then It's Business As Usual came around and killed all vibes. WTF was that. I liked Set The Controls... and The Big Bamboozle best. An eclectic mix of tracks, 3.5
The xx
4/5
I thought this was good! Modern, catchy, over before I got bored of it. Good beats in the background and I liked the singer.
Def Leppard
1/5
Def Leppard is not my jam. I don't like any of their hits, their vibes, their singer's voice, the topics of their songs, the simplicity of their drums or guitars (simple can be good but not here), or the way they do their vocal harmonies.
M.I.A.
4/5
I'm 2 for 2 on liking full M.I.A albums. This one was fun. Catchy, bouncy songs that were entertaining, funny, or a mix of both. I really like how the singer speaks and sings, her accent and cadence is cool too. Good beats in the background, I liked Sunshowers, Amazon, Galang, M.I.A as tracks.
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
4/5
Nice fusion album with a focus on bass which I think is cool, it's not done often and it's done well even less often. Nice to hear Natasha Atlas on this album as a sign that the artist wasn't just appropriating styles wholesale but instead produced this music in collaboration. Also a bonus Sinead O'Connor sighting here!
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3/5
Seemed like a good 80s band, but lots of songs on this album felt like filler or not interesting to me. Born To Run (not sure why that needed a cover here), Krisco Kisses, Wish The Lands Were Here, The Ballad of 32, The Only Star In Heaven is my short list of songs that should have been cut. There were more I'm sure. Probably a 2.5.
Kings of Leon
2/5
Listening to a third Kings of Leon album has not changed my taste for this band. I'm just not interested on any level.
Air
3/5
Glum, dour, vaguely ominous. I liked listening through, didn't know it was a soundtrack to a movie until afterward. Suicide Underground was a sad story to end on, and totally changed the feel of the album for me. The story seemed a bit implausible, but got the feeling across. Perhaps the movie tells a fuller tale here. A 3.5 I think, as the music was quite suited for the background, was a good groove but that's most of it.
Laura Nyro
4/5
It was cool to learn about a slightly-off-the-beat female singer-songwriter putting out great music in the late 60s. This does remind me of Kate Bush, Patti Smith, others that aren't coming to mind right now. She has a great voice. I'd listen through this again!
U2
3/5
I don't like U2's music much. They are undoubtedly talented and have great hits, my favourite is probably Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. I find I lose interest in their slow, repetitive form with crooning vocals. I've never understood how they got so hugely popular but I'm glad their music brings joy to many.
U2 is defined for me by that time they assumed every single person with an iPhone wanted U2's new album pushed to their phone. Incredibly out of touch. Talk about loving the smell of your own farts hahahaha
Dennis Wilson
4/5
Really good! I liked Dennis Wilson's voice, I thought the album was somber and authentic, the songs had variety, and it was interesting to hear some pieces of the Beach Boys' style coming through here in a new way. Another win from this 1001 albums exercise, for me. 4.5.
Happy Mondays
3/5
Good, kind of monotonous background music. I felt the same way about this album as I do the My Bloody Valentine albums. Is that valid? Worth noting that I wasn't frustrated seeing this as yet another UK rock album on the list, so that's something.
Spiritualized
4/5
Very sleepy, ambient background music. I feel like this music works on a higher level if you analyze each nuance and draw out the meaning behind, like a poem. For me, I listen to this kind of music in the background at work as something I don't have to pay much attention to. Just pleasant background. I hear the influence of this music in bands I like such as If These Trees Could Talk and God is an Astronaut. A genre I like but usually not something I reach for. I want something that is more approachable and immediately powerful for me.
Slipknot
4/5
Hell yeah some variety and some metal once again. Finally! I found it interesting to notice that Slipknot uses record scratches, looped samples, and some quick snappy vocals almost like rapping at points. Loosely. I noticed some more unique factors in their sounds through this album. Afterward I had to seek out Before I Forget to listen to, that's my favorite song of theirs. Nothing on this album hit quite as hard.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
Good album, Sledgehammer had a tonne of listens but it didn't sound very familiar to me. Peter Gabriel really sounds like Phil Collins to me, looking into it it's because they're both from Genesis and frequently Phil was backing up Peter Gabriel. Go figure! That's probably obvious to anybody who is a little more familiar with Genesis than I am.
Derek & The Dominos
3/5
Not that interested until Layla came on. I like that song, although I think it would be improved if it was 5 instead of 7 minutes. Feels a little repetitive. We get it already, you're on your knees!
John Martyn
3/5
Felt like an understated album that I'm going to forget over time. Had lots of variety across the songs which is always a perk. Small Hours stuck with me longest on the listen through.
Gene Clark
4/5
Scritti Politti
4/5
I liked this! Felt fairly upbeat and playful. Had a pretty poppy sound but that's fine by me. Nice to have some variety on this list, and from a UK source to boot. Wood Beez was my favourite track.
Sex Pistols
3/5
The Sex Pistols hold a special place in my heart as a band I think lacks musical talent but had the vision to become very successful anyway. They're a little bit like Nickelback in that way. The Sex Pistols have their spot in history helping to create the punk genre and for that, I'll give them a salute and skip their songs when they turn up on shuffle.
10cc
3/5
Felt short but sweet. I'd listen again.
GZA
3/5
I recognized the style of a Wu Tang Clan member during the first song! That wouldn't have happened before I started this exercise, so that was cool. I feel like I should know the Wu Tang Clan better than I do, so I was happy to listen to this album. This felt like classic rap, solid music but nothing too impressive I thought. Liquid Swords was my favourite track, also a pretty sick name
The Residents
2/5
This certainly was an album. Not terrible but zero minutes that I actually liked, so -1 star.
Bon Jovi
4/5
Liked the banger songs, and there are 3 classics on here. I'm pretty tired of the innuendo throughout by now. Rest of the album didn't stand out.
Haircut 100
3/5
Fun, lightweight music. I liked the quick strumming guitar riffs and the funky influence I thought I heard throughout. If you ask me there's no need for this album to be on the list though. The music was fun but felt pretty boilerplate, and had pretty frivolous themes. What groundbreaking influence did these guys have? The album review did not convince me of any.
2/5
Seemed... fine. I found myself cringing at the lyrics pretty often. "Really high really high like a really high thing, say a sunflower"... "F U * * is that how you spell friend in your dictionary"... and the entirety of I Can't Own Her stand out as eye-roll worthy. How am I supposed to take this album seriously when that's what XTC is offering.
Album review focused on the avant garde approach to pop music. I take their point this isn't just cookie cutter radio pop, but it's nothing to write home about for me.
A thorough yawn. U2 is so successful and they are so against my musical taste that I'm almost mad about it, haha. But mostly confused. This band does not offer anything for me. Beautiful day is a good hit, +1 star.
Machito
4/5
Fun jazz album, smooth listening and it was over before I knew it. I let Spotify shuffle onto related music for a while, it's a great genre for background music at work.
Beck
4/5
Big fan of Beck over here. I find this album less approachable, it's one of his weaker ones for me personally. I take the point that this album shows a deviation in style and highlights the range of the artist, but I don't like the songs too much, with the exceptions of Lord Only Knows and Where It's At. Those are both on my hit list.
Learned today that's a dog on the album cover! I always read it as some sort of hay bail..
Astrud Gilberto
4/5
Different, belongs on this list! A good singer, good variety across the album. I feel like the singer was solid but did not show impressive range. I expect that she has the talent to do so, but this felt understated. Nice to hear lyrics in a different language, that feels rare on this list. A 3.5, not too exciting for me but grateful it's on the list.
Basement Jaxx
3/5
Decent house music. Not really a genre that gets me excited. Don't Give Up had a cool synth bass line in it, there were little highlights like that throughout.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
4/5
Great album, glad to listen to it. The Message was a nice surprise to end the album. I had heard the song plenty of times but had no idea what it was called, who the artist was, or anything about the musical group. Listening also helped me note another nod in Hamilton to foundational hip hop. It's A Shame was a depressing but realistic look at the problems in our world. Still as relevant today as it was 40 years ago...
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
2/5
Gave this album 20 minutes but I didn't finish it. It felt avant garde, but not in a good way (for me). I didn't feel like the artist had anything interesting to say so I lost interest pretty fast. Also, I couldn't get over the name Captain Beefheart, that combined with the album art just rubbed me the wrong way.
3/5
Sounded like a good album in a genre I'm not that interested in. The album was touted as their most radio-friendly songs but this still felt pretty experimental, I wouldn't be surprised if this album was influential in the development of psychedelic rock.
Fatboy Slim
3/5
Thought this was a Fats Domino album and got real confused initially. A good album but again electronica has come so far as a musical style. There's lots of playing with interesting beats on this album but the lyrics are nothing, the songs are extremely repetitive, and the style doesn't vary much across the hour. This album has a place in the evolutionary fossil record of electronica. I liked Praise You best.
Kid Rock
1/5
Kid Rock is not seminal, he's derivative. This album is filled with samples from famous tracks and name drops in the lyrics to make it seem like Kid Rock has something interesting to say. I did listen to the whole album to give this artist--that I already knew I disliked--a chance to have his voice. I wasn't impressed. I see the argument that Cowboy invented the country-rap genre. Like Elvis, Eminem, and Vanilla Ice before him, Kid Rock profited by appropriating the ideas of black artists at the time and showing them to a larger audience. Is that something to celebrate? I doubt he collaborated or raised up any rap artists with his work.
I don't like the persona, the values he represents, or the music he puts out.
Mike Ladd
3/5
No bangers. Felt like an interesting album, had a mix of styles from bouncy rap to spoken-word-poetry at times. I thought this artist did a good job of explaining their experience and worldview through music. But, the music itself didn't grip me.
Girls Against Boys
3/5
I'm neutral, sure it was good.
Bee Gees
3/5
Last Bee Gees album was ~700 albums ago and I am once again shocked this band is more than just the disco icons that they became. Really interesting, this double album was pretty good, but my interest was largely carried by the wide discrepancy between what I think of the Bee Gees and the music I was hearing. Odessa was my favourite song, which is a bad sign since it was the first one and there was an hour of music after that. Probably a 3.5.
4/5
My take: the only 3 good U2 songs are on this album. Obviously I'm not a U2 fan. The rest of the album didn't stir me.
I think I'd like their music more if they weren't so wildly successful, as I often like ambient or progressive rock similar to U2's style. But the fact that Bono heads this band and they have a proclivity towards pretentiousness is a huge turn off for me. I think this says more about me than about the band.
Ryan Adams
3/5
An alright album. Nothing to really get me excited or that I didn't like.
Queen
4/5
Fun album from earlier in Queen's history. I didn't recognize any song on here except Killer Queen, yet you can hear their style coming through in full.
Solomon Burke
4/5
Really good! Smooth vocals, lots of emotion, supreme easy listening. Several songs made it into my playlists. If You Need Me was my favourite song. You Can't Love 'Em All made me laugh (I can't love them all, I'm just one guy! Oh how tragic)
Hanoi Rocks
2/5
Seemed like pretty run-of-the-mill rock to me. Recording quality dipped from time to time as well which just had me wondering what makes this album so special. No answers found, for me.
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
Dated but foundational hip-hop. It's Tricky holds up great. Walk This Way was my least favourite track but that's just because of my distaste for 80s rock.
LTJ Bukem
3/5
I really like electronica as a genre, and my goodness I am glad we have moved past the 90s sensibilities of what can be done with synthesizers and loops. That rapid snare beat (doo dah, dah doo dah) is rampant during this time period. Songs with it feels like interesting pieces of the fossil record, but I'd rather listen to what the genre has evolved into.
Glad this album recruited a variety of artists, but a lot of work would be needed to keep me paying attention for its 140 minute runtime.
Van Halen
3/5
Not my music, but this is an album with a disproportionately high amount of time filled by banger songs. Panama, Jump, and Hot For Teacher are all massive hits, and that's 12/33 minutes of the album. This album is a testament to quality over quantity.
Christina Aguilera
4/5
Christina Aguilera is a very talented vocalist, I think. I enjoyed listening through the double album which was a surprise, usually double albums feel like a huge slog. Maybe teenage nostalgia carried me through some of it.
Ain't No Other Man was the track I liked best.
Sparks
4/5
Fun, campy, repetitive for some songs (Lost and Found left me with that impression). I liked Amateur Hour. I'd listen through this again, although the songs didn't appear to have much subtlety on first listen.
N.W.A.
3/5
Seminal gangsta rap album. Felt dated by now, but no denying it's foundational work I think. It's a 3 for me as none of these tracks made it in to any of my playlists.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
That's Marvin Gaye alright. This feels like his pinnacle classic most iconic album. It's interesting to listen through this album later on in the 1001 albums exercise, as by now I have listened to and learned about Here, My Dear where Gaye is airing his dirty laundry. I find this artist to be an interesting and very human figure.
The Only Ones
2/5
Oh boy! More mid-quality UK music on this list! :|
Femi Kuti
4/5
Different, catchy, varied, upbeat and fun. This is the kind of variety in music I want to be exposed to via this exercise!
Kraftwerk
3/5
A piece of the electronica genre's fossil record. Good on these artists for innovating in the 1970s. I'm glad to know who Kraftwerk are and have been exposed to their music. I'm not going to listen to this again.
Big Star
3/5
Never heard of Big Star, the blog notes them as a reference point for REM and Cheap Trick, and I can hear that. Also fun to hear the origin of the 70s Show theme song, I liked that show growing up. Good music overall, nothing that excites me too much but I have no criticisms.
Manu Chao
4/5
Easy listening, and again great to see variety on this list. Clandestino was my favourite track, it shuffled on after the album was over and I listened to it again.
Beach House
4/5
Teen Dream is an apt name, this reminded me of high school and variety nights. Good music, cosy and pleasant to listen to. I'm recovering from surgery and this music is helping me to get through the waves of pain. It's comforting.
Bobby Womack
4/5
Not many feelings about this one. I'm glad I listened to it, the music was smooth and full of passion. If You Think You're Lonely Now stuck with me.
The Shamen
3/5
Somehow I thought this would be an early house album when I saw the artist name, I was surprised to be right!
I liked this album, it's closer to the house music that I like than your usual 90s techno fare, although it did run long. The genre has come a long way from the early Kraftwerk days to this album, and still has so much farther to evolve, even to this day.
The Smiths
2/5
Eh. When I hear the Smiths I think what have they done that another band hasn't done better. That's a sign that I don't like the music, can't connect enough to understand the value underneath. The music is full of mid-tones and low on contrast, and covered in talk-singing. Honestly the album cover sums up my lukewarm feelings on the Smiths in general
Talking Heads
3/5
Decent album, I wasn't excited about any of the songs but they didn't irritate or overstay their welcome.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
3/5
As I've mentioned elsewhere on this journey, bluegrass and folk country makes me think of my grandpa. It's not a top genre for me, but I guess I've got a soft spot for it. However, I wouldn't sign up for a 2-hour-long experience of it. This came out as 3 LPs, originally? What an ambitious group. I liked the music, there was just too much of it! I liked Nashville Blues and Dark As a Dungeon. Good songs and they were early enough in the album that I can remember them.
The Isley Brothers
4/5
Great soul rock, with songs that have stood the test of time and I have heard them before. It's cool to learn that this group had several eras of style, including Motown before this, and covered That Lady in a new style to signal their change in genre. I always like seeing a band that isn't afraid to reinvent itself.
The Vines
4/5
Good music, I wish the blog description did more to explain why it's on the list. It's pretty modern, it's by an Australian artist, and I'm always happy to hear what I think are ska influences. Solid rock album.
Sabu
4/5
Afro-cuban jazz hey? Cool, I'm not sure I've heard anything like it. Lots of variety and focus on trumpets and hand drums. Some songs were very light on ideas and quite repetitive, others were upbeat and almost raucous. Cool to be exposed to something I wouldn't have been, otherwise!
Mariah Carey
3/5
A pretty good album with a very talented vocalist at the helm. However, I'm glad we've moved on from the style of "slow ballad with twinkly piano and a synthesizer in the background while a female vocalist wanders around their vocal range occasionally saying words" that you hear a lot of on this album and others of the same era. I would have liked to hear a little more flexing from Mariah Carey on this album. As is, I was most impressed by the Butterfly track.
Muddy Waters
4/5
A fundamental influence on blues music, if I understand the history correctly. While listening through I heard small snippets that echoed music I listened to growing up from The Tea Party and Big Sugar. I doubt the influence is direct, but just by listening to this album I could hear its echoes in my memories. That's pretty special.
Rod Stewart
2/5
Rod Stewart has an iconic voice that I don't like. It sounds scratchy and strained. I wasn't much interested in this album as I listened through. It passed me by until Rod started repeating "You're my girl" at the end of the album a bunch. That part annoyed me.
The KLF
3/5
Pretty good album overall. I thought the music had quality but did fall into the rut of early electronic music all using very similar drumbeats and relying on repetitive themes and kind of "aired out", echoey vocals if I can use those ill-defined terms. I'd listen again but no music made it into my playlists. A 3.5.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
4/5
I really enjoyed this album. It had a great mix of blues, jazz, and maybe pop? I liked the vocalist's voice as well. Spinning Wheel, And When I Die, and Blues Pt. 2 were the highlights for me. A 4.5, a high score earned in part for adding variety to this list.
Cocteau Twins
4/5
Different and enjoyable! This reminded me of Bjork's music. Kind of ethereal and otherworldly, but very melodic and pleasant. I would definitely listen again, was over before I knew it.
Justin Timberlake
4/5
Quite a strong debut album for a solo career, at least in my opinion. Probably a frustrating listen if you don't like pop as many modern tropes show in full force here. 4.5
Air
4/5
Cool, felt ethereal without being boring which I think is an achievement. It was over before I knew it, this was perfect background music to work
Aretha Franklin
4/5
Great album, maybe a bit short. I hadn't heard Chain of Fools before so the album was off to a great start right away. Aretha Franklin has a great voice and wields it well throughout this album.
The Beach Boys
4/5
Sounds like the classic Beach Boys I grew up with to me. None of their biggest hits on here though, it's good quality music but not super memorable for me. Maybe a 3.5.
Judas Priest
4/5
This was interesting. I know Judas Priest as the "Painkiller" band from Rock Band, pretty much exclusively. I didn't know Living After Midnight or Breaking The Law were their songs! I had assumed Judas Priest was closer to Slayer than anything else, so this album was a solid surprise. Pretty good music overall, although to be honest I do like the more hardcore sound of Painkiller compared to this album.
Suzanne Vega
4/5
I liked this, and had never heard of Suzanne Vega before! It sounded like an awesome blend between folk and spoken word poetry
4/5
Good funk album, kind of slow for my taste. The overall message that everyone has problems and you can be successful at any level if you live right is something I agree with, for the most part.
Erykah Badu
4/5
This felt like a pretty unique album on the list, and I liked it. It sounds to me like a 2000s approach to R&B with a skilled enough artist to explore a variety of styles and sounds. Green Eyes and Bag Lady stood out to me, and they both have pretty silly lyrics.
Stan Getz
4/5
Calm, relaxing, smooth jazz sounds. This was a pleasant listen in the background while working. Sounds quite a bit like elevator music or phone hold music, but I won't hold that against the music.
Michael Jackson
4/5
A solid album and this doesn't have any of Michael Jackson's biggest hits. I tend to separate the art from the artist with Michael Jackson and I'm not sure if that's acceptable or not. Life is complicated. At the end of the day, I like Michael Jackson's music.
Shout out to Teddy Perkins, if you haven't seen Atlanta check it out.
Ice Cube
4/5
Rap from 92 that has aged pretty well, I think. I like It Was A Good Day quite a bit, it has an air of gratitude that isn't often found in hip hop / rap. The album is kind of long and Ice Cube's style doesn't change much throughout the album, but I felt like I was just bouncing along with the songs. I didn't get bored or wish it was over early.
The Damned
2/5
This music is too bland to deserve a band name as cool as The Damned. I've discovered a distinct dislike for early UK punk from this exercise and I'm sticking to it. Despite my snark, the music was fine.
Moby Grape
3/5
Never heard of Moby Grape before, the blog review made it sound like this group was not around for long. The music was good, I think I liked Indifference the most. A cool blend between rock and blues, I think? Interesting to read that all members of the band were songwriters and vocalists.
The Coral
4/5
Whoa. A UK rock album that I actively liked, that's rare on this list. This album was all over the place and it was fun. The lyrics and feel of the songs was often silly and lighthearted, I thought. I would listen to this album again, I hope I don't forget that it exists.
Steely Dan
4/5
I like the music of Steely Dan. I like the singer's vocal timbre, I like the presence of vocal harmonies, I like the spotlight on the rhythm guitar, I like the simple background rhythms, I like the guitar sound they've chosen, and the mixing itself. Everything comes through pretty clearly.
Van Morrison
3/5
Better than your average live album. Sounds like it was a good performance. As an album on this list though, I thought it lacked. Lots of slow jamming and Van Morrison's performances didn't vary much across the songs so it just felt like a shitload of the same thing for 90 minutes.
Pink Floyd
5/5
An album I know and love. So good, so nuanced, tells a great story, established a strong and persistent atmosphere of psychosis, fear, and helplessness. When the judge comes on and the electric guitar kicks in at the Trial it's such a great turn.
It is a bit long for an every day listen, but I never regret coming back. My strongest con about The Wall is I wasn't alive for the tour. Hearing they built a big wall on the stage before Hey You and all the rest of the production sounds like it would have been an incredible, incredible show.
Radiohead
4/5
I'm not familiar with this album at all outside of Life in a Glasshouse. I was happy to listen through it because I like Radiohead already. The album is pretty slow, deliberate and exploratory. Themes felt pretty subtle throughout. It worked for me as background music while I worked but I could see others getting pretty bored by this. 3.5 for me.
Giant Sand
3/5
Slow, plodding, reasonably enchanting. This didn't grip me.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Great funk album!
Nirvana
4/5
Weaker album than Unplugged or Nevermind, but still pretty good as an album. Heart-Shaped Box is awesome, I don't love the other hits on here (Rape Me, Dumb, All Apologies). Probably a 3.5.
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
A punk / early grunge album. I liked Bug better. Music was fine by me throughout until we hit Poledo, that was a painful 5 minutes.
The Afghan Whigs
4/5
Pretty good, had a sufficiently unique sound to hold my attention.
1/5
Mmm no thanks. I want to like punk more than I do, but when I hear these bands that have the trifecta of: the same fast-tempo beat backing every song, super repetitive themes / melodies, and off-key talk singing... I just can't do it. I'm Coming Over was my least favourite track.
Talvin Singh
4/5
Cool fusion music. Blog review called this "tabla tronics" or asian fusion music? I could see it. I liked that this was unique and spotlighted the tabla which I'm not too familiar with. I feel like 15 minutes could have been cut from this album to get me to enjoy it even more, some songs dragged on.
Sheryl Crow
3/5
Similar style to Alanis Morissette whose music I like better. Some great songs on here especially for a debut, but lots of it felt less thought out to me. No One Said It Would Be Easy is an example of what I mean.
The Teardrop Explodes
2/5
Oh boy, more middling quality UK garage pop! One thing this list absolutely did not need. The album was fine, not something I needed to hear before I die. Favourite track was Reward and that's not even on the original track list. I liked it because it added horns.
Spiritualized
2/5
Long and meandering soundscape, I kind of liked their other album on this list better. This one had more 'wall of sound' type songs with lots going on and I didn't like the chaos.
Pink Floyd
5/5
This may be a perfect album. If not it's certainly near perfect. I regret rating some other albums 5 stars as now they share the same rating as this, but dark side of the moon stands head and shoulders above most.
Every song flows seamlessly into the next. The tone is melancholic but there is lots of variety between the tracks. Each song is iconic in it's own way, with hugely influential songs speckled throughout. And it all builds to brain damage and eclipse. I wanted almost every song to stick around longer, but that's the mark of a great song
Booker T. & The MG's
4/5
Not many instrumentals on this list! Green Onions was so familiar, that was a nice surprise. I had no idea who performed that track or what it was called. Some interesting covers amidst a cool, groovy jazzy soundscape.
The Killers
5/5
I'm a fan of the Killers, and this is my favourite album of theirs. I was happy to see it show up, it's always a pleasure to listen through. I think All These Things That I've Done is my favourite track.
The Pogues
4/5
One of the originators of Celtic Punk? I haven't heard of them before, but I love the genre. Grew up with Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys in my musical rotation. Glad to add another band to my arsenal! Good album overall, with a lot of variety to the songs, which sometimes celtic punk can lack.
Def Leppard
2/5
My mind is so made up on Def Leppard, they are not for me on any level. There are people out there that like this band, and I'm happy for them. Def Leppard seems like a caricature of a rock band to me, and none of their quirks work for me. Seriously, how does Def Leppard get more albums on this list than John Coltrane?
Anthrax
3/5
It's not really my genre, but this is a solid thrash metal album. I did like how clearly each instrument and the vocals came through, it was very easy to parse the music whereas sometimes thrash metal sounds like a messy car wreck with everything tangled together. No favourite track on this album for me, I didn't really connect with it much. And I'm glad to see more metal on this list in general, so no regrets listening through.