1001 Albums Summary

We were surprised how many great songs were on this album.

We enjoyed it well enough. A good album for a sunny May evening.

We didn’t care for this album. It sounded like the artist was still figuring out their voice, and frequently defaulted to emulating their musical heroes. Occasionally his point of view shone through, and those moments were better.

We appreciated how important this album is, but we likely won’t listen to it again. It sounds like the intro to every 80’s sitcom.

This seems a lot more experimental. It’s also very precise. Sometimes it feels like they want to be making other types music, but they’re stuck making Beach Boys albums.

This is one of the best albums we have ever heard. Impossibly cool.

Loved it.

Always a consistent point of view, but never felt one note or stuck in a box. A lot of songs we like sound like this- you can really hear how massively influential The Band is.

Half cabaret and half pop. We disagreed on the rating- e adored it, j felt neutral.

10/10. Taught me a lot about science.

If you had to give one best example of 20th century American song writing, this would probably be it.

There aren’t words.

Sometimes a little funky, sometimes a little jazzy. You can hear the birth of a genre here, and it’s really exciting because it’s free form and fun.

A shot of raging hormones.

Like listening to a long, excellent jam session.

Great punk album.

This sounded like so many different artists. As each song came on, we looked at each other and said, “oh, this reminds me of a different song by a better band that I really like.” It might be more listenable with less whiney vocals. But unfortunately, those vocal choices were made and be taken back. We agreed that if it came onto the alt rock radio station, we would change the channel. Occasionally, we mistook it for the ads on YouTube.

This was incredible! How have I never heard this before?! It’s funny, creative, an absolute joy to listen to.

Glad we listened to it, wouldn’t listen to it again. What was here was great, just very repetitive and about twenty minutes too long.

An interesting snapshot of what was and wasn’t offensive at the turn of the century. Technically brilliant, but the schtick starts to run thin rather quickly.

Well that was a god damned delight.

Truly lovely, and not our thing.

This was a really cool idea for an album, but we could have gotten the concept in one song. The individual tracks were sort of repetitive for the most part and did not stand up on their own with one or two exceptions.

What a great album! We had never heard of her before. Very innovative, and reminiscent of Bjork.

This sounds like a generic 90s band. I couldn't sing you a single song off of it - nothing really memorable.

Masturbatory schlock. This album takes lovely jazz standards and turns them into uninspired warbly lounge music.

Lovely, textured atmospheric album. It's fun how the tracks journey through multiple genres, all while maintaining the Badly Drawn Boy sound.

This album has a ton of great tracks, ranging from synthy to metal to party anthems. Not every track was a winner, but in general the album is extremely fun.

Gorgeous, beautiful, emotional musicianship. Why have I never heard of this?

Frank Zappa is a musical genius, though somehow some of the social commentary seems at odds with the stable middle-class upbringing he had.

My wife and I had very different experiences with this album. I was never really a Dylan fan and had a hell of a time trying to decipher what he was saying, and for this reason didn't get as much out of this album (a problem exacerbated by the live recording). My wife, on the other hand, is a Dylan superfan and loved hearing the rawness and unpolished versions of yhe dongs that she knows all the lyrics to (which I understand is most of Dylan's allure). We split the difference in our rating.

This album sounds like it must have been innovative at the time, and clearly Gang Starr is extremely talented. But it was not really our thing.

Because of their reputation, I had written off Metallica and was surprised by how sophisticated and interesting it was.

This feels really dated and sort of overly intense and like it is taking itself too seriously. I'm not hearing what critics rave about in this album - it felt boring, and I was glad when it was over.

Very pretty. It does what it says on the tin.

What do you even say? Mind-blowing, devastating, uplifting. This album is incredible.

It sounds like one song on repeat. It was very monotone. There are many many way better punk albums - why is this even on the list?

It was all right.

Excellent blues

We were pleasantly surprised by how lively and fun this ridiculously named band was. It's fantastic.

Didn’t have the magic of some other Led Zeppelin albums, but still a solid listen.

We can see how this was probably incredibly influential, but it wasn't our thing

Really innovative and fun. It's repetitive, but there are variations throughout. My five year old developed a dance to Trans Europe Express while wearing sunglasses. 5/5.

Beautiful, complex, and apparently a band I've heard a lot of before despite not recognizing the name.

Wow - so many styles all expertly mixed together and excellent flow for the rap.

Perfect 90s album. It has a distinctive sound and feels like an addict experiencing the ecstacy and devestation of addiction.

Transformative.

As my black candles burn in my otherwise pitch black room, illuminating the slow-motion rose petals falling from flowers, leaving only thorns, I purse my lips without smearing my dark purple lipstick, and I almost feel a tear well up on the corner of my heavily shadowed eyes, but I hold back, as I don't want to smear the ankh I drew with eye shadow under it. This captures 80s teen angst perfectly.

Not really our thing, but we can see how this could be mind-blowing if it hit you during the right angsty teenage part of your life. Kind of a downer!

Very expertly crafted, hypnotic, yet not too repetitive, excellent for setting a mood. The solos are sexy but not overly showy, and the texture is thick with cool.

🤘🎸

Like somebody took The Cure and made it more soggy

Some really nice moments and slick transitions. A lot of tolerable repetition between those.

I had never heard of this band and was delighted by their sonic landscapes and playful textures. Every moment was enjoyable.

Eh, it was alright. We feel like we've heard this kind of bluesy rock a lot, and maybe we're too young to really get what makes this album interesting.

This album is so good that we feel bad we rate other albums five stars

We had not heard of this band. Some really neat moments, very Beatles inspired, but some parts were a bit uninspired - they could have added more variation and countermelodies instead of more theremin.

Surprisingly delightful. I had mentally filed Duran Duran as "that ur-80s band" and never sat down to really listen to them. This album is excellent - it's fun, and sentimental, and has some real bops.

I don't think people would care about Foo Fighters were it not for David Grohl being a Nirvana alumnus.

Good background music for a party. It's pretty good but not particularly memorable.

Beautiful - it doesn't sound like she's copying an older band but still is remaining true to country roots while sounding modern and fresh.

The interesting thing about Rod Stewart is that it sounds like he has a sore throat.

It was okay, but not really memorable

Finally, my LAN is set up, day-glo Ethernet cables connecting the humming servers everyone had brought over, and everyone has found the patch to Starcraft allowing for local play. Thump thump thump thump diggy thump thump thump thump diggy goes Second Toughest in the Infants, as we enter a Mountain Dew-powered trance state...

Kind of boring. It can sound like the Foo Fighters or the Beatles, but overall if feels pretty dull.

The following is a review by my teenagers who had never heard this before: "The style changes lot but you can tell it is the same genre. It makes you feel like a brick in the wall who wants to fix the world."

This album was a blast

Excellent - every song a banger

This is listenable but pretty borning.

Sort of Grateful-Deadish, smooth tunes.

Lovely

It slaps

Decent, kind of boring. For the most part this feels like it could be a Hank Williams Sr cover album. Black Coffee is amazing.

We recognize that this was a pivotal album in the popularity of neo-soul, but it felt a lot like background music to a dentist's office or something

Some songs were really good, like the rocking chair one, but otherwise it was kind of dull

The only album we wanted to play again right after we finished it of the 80 so far.

Lovely, soft, and hypnotic with a very bittersweet melancholy.

Badass

Inoffemsive

I feel like I understand music history better from having listened to this. It feels like the bridge between psychedelic rock and punk.

A lovely bluegrass album, but not particularly gripping

Very pleasant. Some interesting harmonic structures and chord progressions.

It sounds very much like the 1960s but has a uniquely calm and innovative charm. I was surprised that they had so much more range than I thought

Holy crap, I had heard many of these songs before and had no idea they were all by one person, let alone on the same album. Incredible.

It was okay, nothing particularly distinguishing about it. There were a lot of more innovative groups around the same time.

Meh. I've heard better punk albums.

Punk af

I had never heard of this guy, but wow, this was fun as hell.

Iconic

Self indulgent and boring. An hour of listening to someone navel gaze that we will not get back.

That was incredibly boring.

Really interested and tight. The Beach Boys is an excellent group.

It was pretty fun, very much of its time.

Had not heard of this guy. This was a cool, soulful album, and ai really enjoyed it.

Cool

Awesome

Not bad, but there wasn't anything really super memorable

Pretty great

Pretty fun

We were blown away by this album. Rod Stewart used to be _cool_?

Kind of boring - it's like the vanilla pudding of 90s music

Funk yeah

Pretty good

Off-brand Elton John?

Pleasant

It was innocuous enough, but I wouldn't seek it out. Probably would not have listened through to the end if I weren't doing something else at the same time

I understand my father-in-law so much better now

Classic

Perfection

Lo-fi The Cure

Badass music to clean the kids' room to.

Good beat and flow, many lyrics aged poorly

It was okay, but nothing particularly special

It's tricky because while we hadn't heard of the band, at first it seemed derivative. It sounded like a lot of other 90s alt rock bands, but it turns out that this band was one of the influences for that band and not derivative at all.

Always amazing

Not as amazing as the last Elvis album on the list, but still solid

Man, I was not familiar with ABBA's post-disco sound. This was fun!

This album sounds like my adolescence. Funny, because I think it marks the end of the bands adolescence.

Some great tracks but also a lot of what sounds like playing around with the synth

I didn't like it, but my wife liked it mainly for nostalgia.

Innovative and dreamy

I can't believe I hadn't heard of this band.

Intensely textural

They are way more eclectic than I gave them credit for, but there was plenty to sleep by.

So freaking average I can't bother to give this muzak anything other than three stars. Boring af

Peak 90s

Great

This was tough, as we previously had a PJ Harvey album we really liked (Let England Shake), and this one was sort of a letdown where no song was really bad, but it also doesn't have any songs that really stand out.

Excellent album with beautiful tracks. Not sure it would have been on thid list were it not Bob Dylan, but it's Dylan.

Hell Yes

Fun, a lot less transgressive today than in the earlier eighties

Eh it's what I expected

Heck yeah

Great technical playing and really funny

That song is so good, though the rest is forgettable.

My wife is leaving me for Dolly Parton now.

Not the best Pronce album but still solid

Hell yeah

I can tell this is really great, and I enjoyed it. It's not my thing, but I can tell it's full of excellent musicianship, and with a harder edge than I thought.

One of the best cover albums

Gen X/Boomer Muzak. Please don't make me listen to this again.

Great background music

It's like a greatest hits album, and they are all great.

I always knew I liked Jefferson Airplane, but I didn't realize I was weird about them until listening through this album.

Wow, Alice Cooper is way more innovative than I thought!

Fuck yeah

We can recognize that it's really good, but it's just not our thing.

It's got one song on it that you get to listen to a dozen times, but it's a good song

I mean, I see why people like it, but it feels like background music

Not as good as Rumors, but still good. There are several filler songs between the gems.

Singer-songwriter is not our favorite genre, hut among the ones we listened to so far, this is the best. It still sounds pretty same-y though.

There are some great grooves and moments that are unfortunately interrupted by the godawful vocals

Incredible

Every somg is a bop

Jaunty

I can tell why this is beloved, but really I could only sing you back one or two songs. A lot of them are effervescent and fun but not memorable.

It's pleasant, with sparkling moments, but I had to remind myself to keep listening and not tune it out. It's great Sunday morning. It's good music, and I can totally see why people like it so much, but in 50 years, no one will remember it.

I see why it's important due to the context of the anti-apartheid movement, but it's kinda boring as far as jazz albums go?

Love it