1001 Albums Summary

Mellow and soulful. She has a lovely voice and the songs are all well crafted. Any song from here I would happily enjoy in isolation if it appeared on a playlist or the radio but I found the album as a whole just washed over me, leaving little impression and feeling like background music.

A fantastic performance and great songs. It brings home why he's regarded as such a legend. Still, for me, it was lacking anything to really hook me in. Just 10 minutes after listening for the 2nd time I've already forgotten about most of it, and I'm feeling no urge to listen to it again.

On first listen - music to be heard in elevators and whilst on hold. After listening again I am beginning to see the appeal. Still, it's too smooth and overproduced for me.

What a blast from the past - an album I absolutely loved when I was a kid. Frenetic, tight, and well-produced pop-punk. It has some great songs but it's also a bit one-dimensional. Maybe also I've just heard it too many times. I wish I could love it as much as I did 25 years ago.

A beautiful, amazing album. The musicianship is excellent, particularly Denny's voice, and the songs are varied and interesting, even if there is still an overreliance on Dylan covers.

Some amazing music and production. Every song is beautifully crafted and just drags you in. I do wish that some of the songs took a few more risks and had more room to breathe - not every songs needs to be a 4 minute single. What spoils it for me is that it feels like the soundtrack to a high school drama. Which it probably has been used for multiple times. Lyrically it really paints a picture, but a picture of a shallow self absorbed person going through a breakup with no shred of intropection beyond 'I like bad boys lol'

Another album that I loved as a kid. Thankfully I think it has held up quite well and I could still really enjoy it. If you wanted to stick a pin on indie brit rock/pop, then would be the album. Great variety on the songs, some thoughtful, maturre lyrics and virtually no filler

A great, ambitious album. The guitar work is intricate, the songs are beautiful and diverse and full of pathos (don't ask me to explain). I can't give it 5 stars due to Still Life being fairly dull.

What a boring album. If you had asked me about Willie Nelson, all I knew would have been about his persona as a chilled, weed-smoking grandpa. So I was hoping for maybe some interesting psychedelic country, but this is just smaltzy overproduced cover version. This kind if shit is why people say they hate country

What a voice! Some classic songs performed with gusto.

Only 29 minutes long, so might as well be an EP. Still it felt like there was too much filler. The first half is a concept 'suite' and is mostly twee folksy numbers. The second half is a collection of short folk pop, ending with Mrs. Robinson, A Hazy Shade of Winter and At the Zoo, all of which are amazing. Good enough to bring my rating up to 3 star, just.

Another great album, raucous, energetic and rich, with full steam song like The tile track and Fiesta mixed with really moments over beauty and the classic ballad fo Fairytale of New york.

Ripping opener title track, then downhill from there. Often mediocre and dreary. I remember quite liking 'Live through this', their debut, but in this they see, to have swapped energy and personality for production values. The lyrics are still pointed and bitter but a lot of the music, especially in the middle parts, is just bland.

Not the kind of thing I usually listen to, and I had never heard anything by them before. Indie alt stuff. On the one hand I did really enjoy it and find it interesting, but on the other, I can't really recall any songs. Definitely one I will come back to though.

I've only done 2 weeks into this 1001 album list and I've had 2 Hole albums. That's definitely 1 more Hole album than should be on a 'Best albums ever' type list and make me lose some respect for the author... Thankfully, this is their one really good album, mixing bitter emotions and lyric with some great songwriting and production that manages to walk the line between raw energy and polish.

Pretty art pop/rock. A bit meandering and it often feels like random harmonies and notes for the sake of it.

Overlong, self indulgent and often just very boring. Has some nice dreamy melodic moments but I struggle to force myself to listen to it all the way through.

Very cool and chilled. Great lyrics, great beats. That said, like a lot of hip hop I find it's in one ear, out the other, but that's just me. I don' think I really pay enough attention to it.

'Abba are a huge band with loads of great songs, I have to put one of their albums on this list. And it can't just be a greatest hits' So you get this, which I'm guessing is the least mediocre Abba album, and it's pretty meh, feeling more like the soundtrack to a bad musical than an album.

If you'd have asked me even 10 years ago I would have given this an enthusiastic 5 and gushed about it being an enormously influential classic of the genre, which is still is. I'm not in the same place, so I don't enjoy them as much now, but it's still a great album

Such a great album, running the full range from swagger to introspection.

I loved this when I was a teenager. It's still fun but definitely less interesting. Jangly indie punk with some nice songs writing and shouty singing.

The best thing about grunge was that it put the final nail into the coffin of hair metal shit like this. A few good tracks - mostly the singles but lots of filler and the lyrics are cringing - even when they try to be deep like in Janies got a gun.

Beautiful, melancholic songs. Very nice but too completely lacking in energy for me.

Boring dance music. You probably have to be on drugs to get it.

Boring background music. The tracks seem to just meander along with no energy.

Great voice, well produced but I just found myself bored and willing it to be over.

An amazing album. I just love the way he moves from his expected (great) pop songs into instrument soundscapes.

Fucking metal. Great rhythms and riff. It's just powers through, every track with driving energy. My only complaint (and why I'm not giving it 5 stars) is that it does lack variety.

Beautifully performed standards. I can appreciate them, even if they sound a bit old and tired to my ears. The kind of thing I would put on if my parents were coming round and I wanted background music.

An album that passed me by when it was first released, apart from the oversaturation of the singles, but I really enjoyed it. the singles are very good and I also appreciate the blissed-out instrumentals towards the end, whilst my younger self would have certainly disregarded them.

Yeah I can really get into their early stuff. Some nice tracks - Paint it Black is a classic. But so much of it just sounds really twee - it makes me think of the Spinal Tap 60s spoof stuff.

Is it over yet? Twee going nowhere folk music. The kind of thing people who don't like folk imagine what folk is. Worse than every Fairport Convention album, even the ones before they were folk or after Denny and Thompson left.

I just find this really boring. His voice is smooth but so monotone and emotionless.

Great attitude and some great tracks. I don't like the production though - it's just a bit weak for me.

Cool, some nice grooves, not the kind of thing I would listen to a lot.

The longest 32 minute album I've ever heard. Mediocre punk/indie pop lacking in tunes or interesting songs. I like the dueting of the two singers and that's what saves it from 1 star.

Lovely voice and interesting songs. I much prefer the non-English tracks in the first half but also I can't see myself listening to it again. Probably good for a name check to boost my multi-cultural credentials.

Another of the great late 60s/ early 70s Stones albums. Maybe not as great as Sticky Fingers or Exiles but still amazing, with one of the best opener/closer combos ever.

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Smooth synth-pop but with enough edge to keep it interesting.

African style jazzy world music. Quite enjoyable but I doubt I will listen to it again. Another great artist for name checking.

An exciting, energetic album. I would kind of describe it as guitar disco rock. Some amazing standout tracks, that almost make the rest of the album feel like filler, even though most of the other songs are ok in their own right.

I guess it's ok. Psychedelic country. Very of it's time.

The definition of 'Meat and 2 Potatoes' rock. Very competent, some good songs, nothing particularly interesting.

Melodic indie. Some nice tunes and stand out singles, but most of it sounds the same.

Raw and edgy goth post-punk. I much prefer her voice on later albums - she does a monotone drone a bit much but it's still really cool and interesting.

Some nice songs but very generic indie. Nothing particularly interesting.

Ok lounge BG music with some nice jazzy songs.

Richly textured beautifully crafted songs making for a complete, cohesive album.

4 decent world music jazz jams and a 16 minute long drum solo. 1 star just for that self-indulgent mush.

Beautiful, lush orchestral indie with a good variety of songs and sounds.

One of those albums I feel like I'm supposed to appreciate, but I just can't get into it. Most of it just feels so 80s pop. When Doves Cry is an amazing track though, as is the title track.

God this sounds so dated. It's weird, the lyrics are actually quite clever pointed, but music is so dull it just stops me from being interested.

A collection of great songs, with only a few places where it sags.

Very listenable, some nice songs, instantly forgettable.

Smooth but fairly bland.

A few great songs and I like their sound, but in the end not enough variety - by the end the songs just sound the same.

Fairly generic punk by numbers. Nothing too interesting.

If someone made a Spinal Tap/Mighty Wind 60s band album this is exactly what it would sound like.

Some great classic rock tracks, but that said, it sounds a bit dated now and the production is a little weak.

Yeah, a classic rock album. Great riffs and songs, amazing musicians, lyrics that have not aged well.

Nice, if uninteresting twiddling indie acoustic. The kind of music made to appear in car and mobile phones commercials.

Great classic rock with a country flavour. The non-famous tracks held up really well to the classics.

Acoustic voice and guitar folk. It's fairly well done with some amazing guitar playing. Sadly I just find his voice quite dull and there's nothing to really grab me.

An album of songs that sounds like Cars, but are mostly not as good. Each song I can take in isolation, but I just can't take a whole album of this.

Easy listening jazz noodling. I'm sure if you like that kind of thing it's very good, but it just reminds me of being on hold.

Great 80s pop. Some songs I absolutely love, but also quite a few that do nothing for me.

Well crafted easy listening country. Unmemorable.

Lyrically, it feels so real and full of insights and intelligence, like I'm getting a peek inside Kendrick's life and head. Musically it's just so dense and rich, throwing samples, beats, and riffs at you. Idea after idea. It's not the kind of album I could listen to again and again as I find it too overwhelming, but I do feel I could find something new in it every time.

Thrown to me immeidately after To Pimp a Butterfly, and it just feels weak in comparison. Some great grooves and track but overall lacks intensity and personality in comparison. Feels almost like he's trying to hard to be avant grade and quirky.

Lovely country. Very nice, if a little cliche.

Nu metal? Or just Rap with rock backdrop? Eitehr way, a few fun tracks, but it got tired pretty quickly. And Only God Knows Why is awful auto tuned drivel

Atmospheric, intense and minimalistic indie. I like the duet songs the most, but I also wish there was a bit more intensity on display.

Agreeable, well producer singer songwriter pop with hints of the beach boys.

Just a great album. Not particularly prog, lots of tight, accessible rock songs.

Fantastic funk with psychedelic prog rock leanings.

Do I really need to write a review on how amazing this album is?

Meh, I guess it's ok at neutral music to work by, but not very interesting for me.

Jangly melodic indie punk. I used to love this album, but I haven't listened to it in years and I was just disappointed and a bit bored this time round. It still has quite a few amazing tracks, but so many just sound the same.

Ok, drum&bass isn't my thing. It's ok and fine as background music. Actually surprised me that there are some good, interesting tracks in there. But TWO HOURS LONG. Seriously.

Smooth, soulful, but honest I found I actually enjoyed the instrumental tracks the most.

Great voice, good songs I guess my problem is that they all sound like standards, and like I've heard them 100 times before, even when I haven't.

Really interesting combination of 70s classic rock and more world music latin vibe. Great guitarwork and drumming throughout.

So interesting low country/psychedlic rock but I just found it too meandering.

Before listening: - Name one Don McLean song that isn't American Pie. - ... After listening: - Vincent! - Now name two. - ... But seriously, it's not bad but just a bit bland apart from the title track.

An albums that's too famous to look at objectively. I really wonder how I would feel about it coming in cold instead of it being one of the most famous and highly rated albums ever. That said, it's ok. It has a fair few really good songs, but also a lot of songs that to me anyway just feel like filler.

Fun and interesting, but I just don't have the concentration span for it.

Title track is great, a jazzy prog epic. By comparison the other tracks feel like b-sides

Very atmospheric and interesting. Just nowhere near as good as some of their later albums, or indeed the Banshees stuff he was apeing.

Has some energy but pretty much every song sounds the same.

Really enjoyable electric rock, spanning multiple styles from folk to blues with a hint of psychedelic in there. The weakest track is probably the title one, as I don't think they nail folk properly, but the rest more than makes up for it.

Nearly a 5 star. A combination of fantastic pop/brit rock with dashing of psychedelics and some fantastic songwriting. My only issue is that it does seems to drift a bit at times, losing focus. Would have been better 3-4 songs shorter.

Decent 80s metal.

Another good 80s hair metal album. Lot's of great songs, but also a lot of songs that sound the same, and it does sound quite dated. Honestly, it could have been 20 minutes shorter and much better for it.

A few good songs (Roadrunner, Modern World) but mostly fairly boring. Apparently hugely influential and I can hear the roots of styles other bands used to make better music.

Mostly fantastic grooves and beat. The rapping is fun and interesting, if a little sneering.

Really nice and interesting for the most part. It just sounds too much like background music for an old cartoon show or and advert.

So much better than I remember. Lots of killer pop/rock songs that I didn't appreciate as a metal/goth kids in the 90s. My only issue is that it seems to bounce around the place and for me doesn't feel tied together, but still hugely enjoyable.

An amazing, crushingly intense album. I can't quite give it 5 stars as in quite a few songs it doesn't work, with the orchestra not really adding anything, and sometimes detracting from the songs. But where it works it really works.

Meh, I guess it's ok as background music, but it just sounds so generics and boring. Maybe this was interesting when computer-assisted music was less ubiquitous?

Nice mix of energetic punk indie and regular indie songs. Love Heads will Roll.

I started off thinking it was the bg music for an old cartoon, but I did get into it. Yes, it's beautiful and interesting, but I probably won't listen to it much and I've already forgotten most of it.

Another great 70s Bowie album.

Is it uncool to say that this is my favourite Michael Jackson album? It's just so funky, with even ballads like The Way You Make Me Feel sitting on massive grooves. I guess songs like Liberian Girl is pretty generic, but it has perhaps one of the strongest ending of an album I can think off, with all the tracks from Main in the Mirror to Leave me Alone hitting like freight trains.

Smooth and sophisticated, but also flacid and lacking energy.

Super exciting, great songs delivered with energy. Not as good as London Calling and the production is weak, but still a bonafide punk classic, with lyrics sounding as fresh and relevant today as they would have 40 years ago.

Great songs, great performance.

Fun, interesting, occasionally twee, but not something I will listen to again.

Rather beautiful, earnest and naive.

Full-blooded rock n roll boogie. Not much variety, but what it does, it does well.

Atmospheric world music, in places etherial or upbeat. An album I very much enjoyed but I doubt I would listen to again.

It's ok I guess. A little bland. I usually quite like this kind of music but it just struck me like someone heard a couple of Yo La Tengo's dreamier numbers and tried to stretch them out over an album.

I have to be in the right mood, but this is just so deliciously smooth. Just lie back and let it wash over you.

Some ok songs, but most of the music just seems incredibly bland and generic.

A sprawling, expansive grunge/stoner masterpiece. So much variety and depth with amazing song and riffs coming one after the other. Great singing and musicianship. Like a lot of long albums I can't help but feel it would have been better if it were shorter, I'm just not sure what I would cut.

A twee, but endearing album. The full on pop songs are great and they're lots of invention going on, but just a few too many song that could be themes to a kids TV show.

Boring BG music.

Energtic, sloppy fuzz punk. Would be 4/5 star if it were just the EP, but the deluxe edition has a load of extra songs, which just don't do anything for me, and I guess this is 1001 albums, not EPs.

Some cool songs, and I sued to love this album. On listening to it now I just wasn't interested, and it does seem quite one dimensional and samey.

What to say? One of the few 'best' + 'classic' albums that totally stands up to it's rep.

Fantastic dark synth. A little samey after a while though.

I didn't really enjoy most of it. Weedy songs with little in terms of tunes that seem to lean on the worst psychedelic tropes. Terrible production doesn't help with tracks like Interstellar overdrive sadly lacking in energy and weight.

It's ok. There are just much better synth/doom albums. Some good songs but overall not enough variety for me.

It's ok, I guess. You probably needed to be around when it was released to really appreciate it. Sure, he created the cliches, but they're still cliches.

Actually very good. The songwriting isn't amazing and sounds a bit dated to my ear, but more than made up for by the musicianship.

Beautiful and haunting. The music is up there with anything he's done, but lyrics really hit me. So sad and bitter. The man really needed a hug.

An album I just love, from the funky shorter songs like 'Been caught stealing' to the soaring 'Three days'. Everything feels well thought out, inventive and cohesive.

Zzzzzzzz Songs to play around an open fire in the 1950s. Boring stories and repetitive boring music. If this was the soundtrack for a a Spinal Tap/Mighty Wind style mockumentary it would fit perfectly.

Beautiful, dreamy, meandering. The whole album feels incredibly cohesive and warm.

A collection of well crafted classic songs. Just not for me.

I know nothing about indian music, but I enjoyed this and it's great music to work to.

On this album they have one trick. They do it very well but it's not enough for me, and I much prefer Toxicity, which feels more mature and varied.

Raw, proto-punk rock with huge energy.

This is not a perfect album. Jon Anderson's emotionless singing, the self-indulgent nothing tracks mar it. But still, it has enough amazing things about it for me to give it 5 stars. The musicianship is amazing, particularly the bass and drumming. The actual songs are all great and it holds together wonderfully.

Always hard hitting and sincere. There are some lovely songs but also some which are too sparse to be genuinely enjoyable.

Mostly good songs that just roll through. When they work they're great. When they don't it just a bit indie meh

If I don't listen too hard to the lyrics this is great. Great grooves, samples and beats. But I'm too square but all the talk about bitches and money and crime just seems sad and juvenile to me.

Smooth bland MOR.

Great guitar work, but the actually songs seem quite bland to me, especially compared to The Queen is Dead.

Some really beautiful songs, but also some meandering, bland ones. Not what I was expecting, when thinking of the Bee Gees.

Enjoyable country. But it's still country.

Hugely influential epic doom. Not their best album but still awesome and crushing.

The best Christmas album ever? Great Mo-town versions of Christmas standards. I can see myself putting this on again next Christmas, but certainly not until then.

Sure she has a nice voice, but it's like she made a decision to cover all the most hackneyed, schmaltzy songs she could find. I'm sure my grandma would have liked this.

Great band, but every song sounds like something else. Still enjoyable though

Very nice and pretty, but not the kind of thing I would listen to

On the one hand, I can see what so many people absolutely love Prince. On the other, it's just not for me. I can get into the most intense/best songs like the title track and Lady Cab Diver, but so many track just have nothing to hook me in.

I'd forgotten how amazing this album is. The hypnotic, driving bass with the guitar work pulling it along. If I'm nitpicking, I'm not totally sold on the singing but does convey masses of character and attitude, and the title track is so amazing and titanic that it overshadows the songs coming after it.

Largely brilliant, veering from deranged gospel to sensitive ballads, all dripping with personality and menace. When it works it's amazing, just as with most double albums, no matter how good they are they tend to drag on and overstay their welcome. I'm left thinking it could have been one of the great single albums, but I'm not quite sure what should have been left out.

Witty, knowing lyrics, some energetic music. It doesn't come together quite right for me but I can see why it's popular.

It's ok I guess, rough and energetic, shouty punk-grunge. But seriously, Superfuzz Bigmuff is on the list too and you don't need to hear 2 Mudhoney albums before you die.

Original sparse synthwave. Maybe a little sparse but still hold up well against modern followers.

The hard rock end of prog. Briliant.

Smooth, competent pop. The second half of the album is much better than the first.

Smooth, very listenable, unmemorable.

Great chilled rock n roll!

Interesting proto-punk. But again, you don't really need 2 Stooges albums on the list and it gave me Fun House 2 weeks ago which I much preferred.

Glimmering, uber produced jazz pop. Starts off very strongly, with Aja and Deacon Blue both being amazing, but I found myself losing interest as the album played out.

Ok, song nice songs but nothing that stands out too much.

Eclectic and inconsistent very 60s psychedelic pop. The good songs are great, but there's a lot of twee filler. Also, when you have Grace Slick in your band, what isn't she singing every song?

A collection of mostly ranging from good to excellent short songs. Some genuinely inspired stuff, but also a couple of duds. My issue is just that it doesn't feel consistent or cohesive. When every some is 2-3 minutes the best ones are gone in a zip without a chance to breath, then you move on to something else.

Dated (to my ear) 90s hip/hop. It just doesn't mean anything to me.

Great performance but the songs all sound the same.

A collection of fun, eclectic and well-composed songs, with a smattering of classics, all impeccably recorded.

Interesting art pop, some cool beats, low on melody, zero intensity.

More dated ballads. I'm sure I got another Scott Walker album (Scott 2 I think) about a month ago which honestly was pretty much interchangeable with this one. Nice voice, very inoffensive. Dull.

Crushing stoner rock. More refined and polished and less sprawling than Kyuss and probably better for it.

Cool, effortlessly inventive alt-rock.

Smooth, listenable and chilled hip hop. Works for me as BG music but I can't remember any tracks after a couple of listens

Great voice, great song. But really only one great song, played with a little variation 10 times.

Did absolutely nothing for me.

The score to a looney tunes cartoon when nothing is happening.

Lovely melancholic singer/songwriter stuff. Sounds exactly like here other albums.

Fun, chilled hip hop.

So more great songs, some competent rock n roll. If it were 20 minutes shorter I would have enjoyed it far more.

Some nice tracks, if generally a bit low key and nowhere near as good as some of his other albums on this list.

Now my favourite album from him. I'm not 100% sold on the songs in the first half of the album, though they're, but the 2nd half was lovely - dreamy minimalistic the lead towards his later more experimental work but still has uncools things like structure and tunes.

More lovely acoustic singer-songwriter ish stuff. A big gap between the great songs and the good ones though.

2 stars for nostalgia as I used to like them when I was younger, but after 15 years I found it a really difficult listen. The percussion and aggression is what the album is all about and it just didn't make up for the lack of variety or anything approaching a melody.

A full-on album with great performances, production and songs.

Slick, soulful rnb. I can appreciate how every element is polished and well done, but still not really my thing.

Seminal lo-fi punk album. Has some genius moments but over 21 mostly 2 minutes songs it just feels too disjointed for me to really enjoy.

Great voice and songs. I also loved the 80s synth-pop ascetics.

Slick, soulful RnB. Every song sounds the same.

Ok psychedelic pop/rock. If I heard it in a vacuum I would not have seen anything to suggest how good their later album were.

What more needs to be said? One of the greatest debut albums ever. I think the songwriting is better in later releases but the performances are impeccable.

Low key bland indie.

3 hours, really? Usually, when I listen to these long self-indulgent multi albums I find myself thinking that they would make great single albums if they could cut the filler. But I don't think you could make this better than 'good'. Sure, there are some nice songs, but no genius or stand out moments, so it just washed over me like a blanket of mediocre unmemorable mostly indie twiddlings. By the end, I was just glad it was over and I couldn't think of any moments I might want to go back and relisten to.

Lovely tunes, I think his singing and voice work well.

Loved the music and beats. The actual rapping seemed a bit basic.

Actually pretty great. Driving, mesmeric rhythms and great attitude. Maybe a little monotonous, but that's probably the point.

Some nice moments, but mostly just dull 60s psychedelics by numbers

Great 70s rock album with some cool southern folk styling.

Nice, if often cheesy psychedelic pop folk.

Not as good as forever changes. Some nice pop psychedelic stuff and the 20 minutes song on the second half was fun, but lacking in great song writing.

I listened to it. I thought 'this is passable new wave pop. Nice texture, the occasional good song. I can't recall a single thing about it now.

Some beautiful moments, but also a lot of atonal monotony. I really wanted to like the album but I just can't get into it.

Chilled well crafted songs. Nothing mind-blowing but I enjoyed most of them.

I could throw so many adjectives at this album: lush, intricate, melodic, ambitious, funky, brilliant. They are of course amazing musicians, and this is them at their best, with songs that do justice to their ability. My favourite prog album.

Chilled, melodic and beautiful, just lacking intensity and variety.

Slick rapping, smooth beats. Great BGM for me but nothing more.

Some great agression and rhythm, but not enough hooks for me.

Nice, well crafted pop. I'm probably like a lot of other people, in that I'd only heard Abba singles and their greatest hits songs. Arrivals has a decent chunk of their best singles, but the non singles songs stand up well too, though they suffer from feeling like they are just not as good versions of the bigger songs. The good songs carry the album though.

A beautiful, melancholic album full of clever observations and melodies.

Anthems for incels. Knowing, relatable lyrics and fantastic music. Morrisey is still twat.

Doesn't have the hooks or the moments of brilliance of My Aim is True or Armed Forces, but makes up for it in sheer consistency. No filler, just consistently good songs.

Nice, chilled but a bit monotonous

Fairly bland indie.

Ok as far as background music goes. Not my thing.

A beautiful, soulful psychedelic pop album. Some really lovely songs, with my main issue being how it doesn't have much range.

If you don't like this album you don't like rock.

Great samples and production, but still felt rather soulless.

Some great songs, most of which you've already heard a thousand times. Some filler, some stuff that doesn't work. All in all it's decent. Could have been a killer single album.

One-hit wonders and their one hit isn't even on this album. Seriously why are there 2 Undertone albums on this list? You don't even need 2 songs. A few good songs but in general mediocre, uninspired indie punk.

A super-smooth soul album. Incredible production and I could see myself putting it on when I'm in the mood, though it does wash over me a bit without any memorable or stand out moments.

Intense and authentic reggae.

Frequently beautiful, but just too bleak and anaemic for me.

Decent 60s pop. Their original songs are better than the covers, but tbh I can't see myself listening to this again - historical value only.

Melodic and chilled, if a bit aimless. I enjoyed it but I can't remember anything from it 5 minutes later.

Nice folk with some beautiful moment, but ultimately too downbeat and monotonous for me.

Smooth voice but everything about it is so dated and the sounds mean nothing to me.

Listening to this kind of thing is like reading a classic book. I can hear the craft, I can see why people would enjoy it, but it's just not for me and I find it boring.

A beautiful, warm, lush album full of melancholy, wonderfully constructed songs and dreamy soundscapes. This is an album I know well and I've listened to many, many times going back years and it just resonates with me. The attitude and outlook are spot on and the music is consistently strong.

Lovely voice and I can appreciate the songs, but just too slow and boring for me.

A bit too scattershot for my taste. Lots of cool moments, but also lots of what felt like weird and kooky for the sake of being weird and kooky. Interesting at least.

I mean it's nice and all, but it just makes me think of background music in some gift shop.

Nice, but just nice.

Nice folk. A bit twee and nothing really jumped out at me.

Nice, interesting and out of my comfort zone, but not something I can see myself listening to again.

Enjoyable random jazz squawkings. Some really cool stuff, and you can see where a lot of prog bands were ripping stuff off.

Some great moments, but really not my thing.

Lovely folk pop prog.

Mediocre garage pop.

Does what he does - stadium rock that still manages to sound humble and rooted. It's a little samey and one paced, but the great songs make up for it.

Smooth lounge jazz. Amazing background music, but not the kind of thing I would just listen to. Kind of remind me of being on hold.

Some nice sounds, overall I'm just not too fond of the sound and tone.

Some good indie/post punk/whatever. But it just seems to have no real stand out tracks or moments that jump out. More consistent than Fried, but not as enjoyable.

Truly beautiful. But also nothing that really digs into my memory, like () has.

Decent Indie pop rock but nothing more.

Smooth and inventive, just not engaging enough. Like really good music to be on hold to.

Ok synth pop. Mostly fairly bland and unmemorable music. I guess I should give them credit for the time period they were in, but as someone who listens to a lot of synth wave, this just sounds weak.

Disjointed jangling with no traces of actual songs or melodies.

Hugely fun, british soul. I love a good horn section, and they use it well.

Some great songs, some (for me) filler. I prefer his earlier albums.

Some great stuff, but a little too all of the place for me - just no coherence.

Attitude, great songs, killer bass runs. I love this album. I can see why a lot of people will be turned off by the singing, but it works perfectly for me.

Often beautiful, haunting ambient music, but really not enough that actually engaged me.

Fun, listenable Brazilian Samba? Rock? I'm not sure about the genre. Not enough hooks to draw me in though and that in combination with Lyrics I can't understand made it feel almost like jazz and a bit too abstract.

I like the blissed out power pop Teenage Fanclub, but this isn't my favourite albums from them. It might be the most consistent but it lacks the hooks of some of their later albums.

A few nice moments but overall did nothing for me.

A bit too all over the place for me. Some cool songs and great musicianship but completely lacks cohesion.

Smooth, beautiful, well crafted, but souless. I do like Lena Del Rey, I didn't really find enough in this album to keep me interested - I far prefer Born to Die or NFR. Also, I do think for an album this recent to be in this list it needs to be undisputedly special, which I don't think this is. Maybe time will tell and I'll like it more in 5 years time, but put it in then, once we've had time to prodcess it, not now.

80s cheesy. A few good songs, and of course her voice is great, but that's about it.

Very dry, some good songs but some that sounded forced. Didn't really enjoy overall.

Intense, interesting, lots of attitude and character.

Dreary, meandering and dull.

I'm not a huge fan of their shout rapping, but the samples and the flow of the songs is fantastic and in the end I can just treat the rapping as percussion.

Sure, Take On Me is a great song, but there is nothing else on the album that comes close and as a whole it just washed over me as a mass of bland synth pop.

Just a great album from start to finish with no weak tracks.

This is what I signed up to this site for. An album and a band I had never heard of that blew me away. Mesmeric beats and samples building up to a shimmering flow that drags me in. Sure, I couldn't tell you want the lyrics are about, or even remember them, but every song have ideas and their own hooks. No filler.

It's nice, it's cheerful, it's endearing and it's historically significant, but is it good? I'm not sure. The production is terrible, the performances are spotty and it often feel like I'm listening to a commercial for something. but still there are some genuinely good songs and it's short enough to let go how samey it feels.

Great performances and songs.

I like a lot of it, but it does also sound very samey.

Another lovely jazz album that I can happily stick on as background music but that I will completely forget the minutes it's over, no matter how much I listen to it.

I don't really listen to rap and as much as I can appreciate how cool this is I'm probably not going to listen to it any time soon. Great beats and attitude, just not for me.

The great songs are great, cheesy crowd pleasers. a few filler songs of course.

I'm not a huge fan of the Jam, and didn't know his solo work so I was expecting not to like this, but I really enjoyed it. No stand out tracks - I felt like all the songs had purpose and art to them. Maybe a bit one tempo, but it's definitely something I will listen t more.

Beautifully crafted, some songs that feel forced. Not as good as their later work.

Lots of great bluesy songs, a bit long and low key to hold me interest the whole way through.

It's ok, bit low key and even if I can like a lot of it, it feels a bit off to me.

Great, aggressive sample and beats. I can't really relate to any of the lyrics though. I guess that's on me.

Great great rock, but also some cool more jazzy art stuff too.

I can appreciate the craft. Every song is beautifully sung and they are well chosen and arranged. It's just a bit meh for me. I could only see myself putting it on as background or mood music, and tbh if I was doing that I'd probably go for some Ella instead.

I had never heard of John Grant or this album, but I love it. Warm, melodic and fun music, ranging from folk to more poppy stuff, and fantastic lyrics.

Good, if unmemorable blues/bluegrass rock. The instrumentals are great, the singer is utterly mediocre, and stuck back in the mix.

Aggressive, technical thrash. I used to love this album, and it still has some amazing moments but I did finding it dragging on a bit. Probably my least favourite of their 80s albums.

Very mediocre with nothing standing out. Just fairly bland, like The Cure but without any melodic sensibility.

Just sounds like toneless self indulgence to me.

Chilled instrumental prog. A bit silly at points but also hugely atmospheric.

Eclectic and cool rnb. Lots of great songs and moments. It just lacked cohesion a bit to me.

Chilled jazz, counter culture political lyrics. Very cool, but not enough hooks to get me coming back.

Didn't really do much for me. Lots of experimental and arty bouncing around but not much in the way of tunes or melody and it just sounded to sparse to draw me in.

It's fun an a silly 70s kind of way.

Some cool samples but too many plodding songs and their rap shouting doesn't work for me on it's own.

I love the first 2 albums but I just can't get into this one. It's just has too many twee and lo-fi tracks for me.

A lovely, dreamy and beautiful album, but I really can't recall any songs and they feel a bit samey, even after listening to it several times.

Nice, chilled latin music. I can enjoy it, without taking it in, and I can't help feeling I'm probably a bit of a tourist.

Some great pop rock songs, but a bit too bland for me.

I like most of the album but I can't stand the first 2 tracks, meaning I found it hard to get into the album. But overall I enjoyed it.

I can see that if I was into this kind of music I would probably like it, but I don't and I just found it too repetitious.

Great beats and samples. It's a lush, rich album just ruined by Jay Z being such a complete dick. If only it were in another language, then I could probably enjoy it.

Quite lovely for the most part, just a little wet and meandering.

Not totally sold on the singing, but it's still a great album filled with varied, interesting and well crafted songs.

I want to give it 5 stars. It's mostly a hugely enjoyable album, filled with genuinely great tracks. I can't quite give it 5 stars just due to how long it is, plus the awful track reordering in the remastered versions.

I love Nirvana, but this album just doesn't do it for me. It's just missing the energy of their studio albums ,let alone one of their conventional live albums. I don't think it really improves any of the songs, and to me it feels like it's a greatest hits album for people who don't really like grunge or Nirvana. If you want a great unplugged from a grunge band go listen to Alice n Chains Unplugged.

Funky and enjoyable, and not just the singles.

A really good collection of songs, with a lot of variety and some genuine gems. Kind of like a more poppy version of Springsteen. Could be a few songs shorter. Lots of people in the other reviews raging at him being a nasty piece of work, but honestly we need to be able to separate the man from the art. Saying 'this is a decent album' is not endorsing his behaviour. I wonder if these people are giving 1s to Bowie/The Stones/Zeppelin/Beatles/etc too?

Broadly enjoyable, but just a little bland.

Ok, yeah. It's brilliant, I can even forgive Maxwell's Silver Hammer, the rest of it is so good.

In general, a good album that serves as a bridge between the 80s Smiths still indie and 90s brit rock/pop. The guitar work is fantastic and the songs where this comes to the fore are all brilliant, but the ballads are a bit more hit and miss. In particular the last 2 songs are fairly bland.

I feel like I should like this more than I do. On the face it checks a lot of boxes that matches at lot of my favourite music. Heavy epic guitars, lots of texture, melodic soaring choruses. Sadly it just feels too one dimensional and paced. Too teenage angsty with the songs blending into each other. 'MOM, KNOCK BEFORE YOU COME INTO MY ROOM! They don't understand me...'

Mostly bland shoe gaze with good guitar work. History is a lovely ballad and you can see where they were heading.

It's not musically perfect, the lyrics are terrible and it's not for everyone but it's still an amazing album. The energy, performances and general song writing more than make up for any blemishes. For me it's the pinnacle of old school, melodic heavy metal. Great solos, epic riffs screams and howls and Hammer horror imagery.

A smattering a excellent songs amid an album of decent, world music inspired tracks that I can appreciate if not love.

Lovely atmospheric folk music that doesn't overstay it's welcome. If only more musicians had the balls to just say 'that's it, I'm not padding this out and adding filler'.

It's nice, but if I'm honest it just feels like background music, or the theme tune to an old looney tunes cartoon.

A few interesting songs, but mostly it just sounds like background music to me.

Amazing bombastic Rock and Rock. When it works it really works, just a couple of tracks that don't quite succeed.

Fun grunge punk ska stuff. Holds a place in my heart from when I was a kid.

Intense, dark but also varied and melodic. This is another album that I listened to a lot when I was a kids but haven't in a while, and I'm happy to say that it still holds up for me.

Amazing psych/prog/funk. I've heard people say you can find out a lot about someone and their music taste by who they prefer - Beatles or Stones, Lennon or McCartney. I think you can add another one, being Sly and the Family Stone or Funkadelic. I'm firmly in the Funkadelic corner. More out there and adventurous, and crucially alongside the epic guitar freak outs and social commentary there is also a self awareness and sense of humour.

Ok. Nice. A bit bland.

Has some great songs and the performance is good but let down by the recording and some bland songs. If you like power pop/rock you may enjoy this.

A few interesting songs, but most seems just bland pop R&B.

It's good album. Smooth and atmospheric. My main issue is that is really blows it's load immediately with the genuinely great first 3 tracks, then the rest ranges from decent to good but never reaches those heights again.

I love this album. A great mix of noise aggression and melody - lots of crazy experimentation but also very accessible and some lovely dreamscape tracks.

Inoffensive. Some nice songs I guess.

Just too monotonous.

Sometimes a little disjointed but always interesting and jarring. Mostly great music and creepy without being pastiche.

Some lovely songs performed extremely well. A little dull though and tbh I think you could mix this up with the soundtrack to Mighty Wind and most people wouldn't notice.

Hard hitting synth. Mostly great, just a little monotonous and low energy.

Better than I expected - 60s throwback shoegaze indie pop. But still felt too long and a bit samey.

Smooth

Nice songs, well performed. Still felt quite dated and had a few bland songs.

Boring songs sung by a technically good but boring singer, with boring arrangements.

I can see how if I liked this kind of music it's probably very good, but for me it just sounds bland and every track the same. Ok for background music but not much else.

Great voice and mostly great songs.

Indie Britrock mediocrity.

Lovely country folk. Beautifully performed and some amazing standout tracks but overall I find it a little lacking. I think the problem is that it's just not as good as The Band, their next album. That would be a 5 so this is gonna be a 4.

Great riffs and aggression and I loved it when I was younger but it's not enough for me now. Too many of the songs sound the same and blur into each other.

Such an amazing album, running the full gamut between the stripped back synth and lush piano, all with angry, acerbic, self defeating lyric.

Often beautiful but I found it a little too meandering and low energy.

Jangling and nice but a bit bland for me.