My 1001 Albums Journey

170

Albums Rated

3.42

Average Rating

16%

Complete

919 albums remaining

Rating Distribution

Rating Timeline

Taste Profile

1970s

Favorite Decade

Jazz

Favorite Genre

Top Origin

Curator

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5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

Breakdown

By Genre

By Decade

By Origin

Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Histoire De Melody Nelson Serge Gainsbourg	5	2.75	+2.25
Call of the Valley Shivkumar Sharma	5	2.95	+2.05
Will The Circle Be Unbroken Nitty Gritty Dirt Band	5	2.98	+2.02
The Nightfly Donald Fagen	5	3.01	+1.99
Ritual De Lo Habitual Jane's Addiction	5	3.19	+1.81
Lady In Satin Billie Holiday	5	3.23	+1.77
Sweet Baby James James Taylor	5	3.24	+1.76
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim Frank Sinatra	5	3.26	+1.74
B-52's The B-52's	5	3.29	+1.71
Achtung Baby U2	5	3.31	+1.69

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not Arctic Monkeys	1	3.73	-2.73
Parachutes Coldplay	1	3.46	-2.46
Surf's Up The Beach Boys	1	3.31	-2.31
Roger the Engineer The Yardbirds	1	3.11	-2.11
Fire Of Love The Gun Club	1	2.99	-1.99
Talking With the Taxman About Poetry Billy Bragg	1	2.97	-1.97
Vauxhall And I Morrissey	1	2.96	-1.96
The Gilded Palace Of Sin The Flying Burrito Brothers	1	2.93	-1.93
The Only Ones The Only Ones	1	2.92	-1.92
Among The Living Anthrax	1	2.85	-1.85

Artists

Favorites

Artist	Albums	Average
Talking Heads	3	4.67
Nirvana	2	5
Bruce Springsteen	2	5

Controversial

Artist	Ratings
U2	5, 2

5-Star Albums (34)

View Album Wall

Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim

Popular Reviews

All That You Can't Leave Behind

2/5

Tired. Flaccid. A ghost of their former selves. Imagine combining “Joshua Tree” and “Achtung Baby” and watering down the product.

19 likes

Lady In Satin

Billie Holiday

5/5

Phenomenal. Precursor to Ronstadt's "What's New", beautiful reserved arrangements/accompaniment, the focus always on her voice and the song.

4 likes

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John

5/5

What's not to love? Great span of tunes, tempos and moods. Phenomenal instrumental performances. This and Madman... are all the 70s Elton you need.

4 likes

Sea Change

Beck

5/5

Know it all too well. Can’t listen to it right now.

3 likes

Colour By Numbers

Culture Club

4/5

Old friend. Flaws and all. Still fun and evocative.

2 likes

1-Star Albums (18)

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

All Ratings

Blue

Joni Mitchell

4/5

Sophisticated music, gorgeous recordings, but very few melodies to sing along to.

Pacific Ocean Blue

Dennis Wilson

3/5

3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of...

Arrested Development

3/5

Automatic For The People

R.E.M.

4/5

Drive, Everybody Hurts, Man in the Moon, of course. I was prepared for this to be just another boring REM album but am pleasantly surprised. Great feel, great performances. Some same-old guitar licks from Buck, but overall still sounds fresh.

Make Yourself

Incubus

2/5

Decent funkish (at times) numetal. Very dated sound. Alan Morissette

Elephant Mountain

The Youngbloods

4/5

Very trippy, jazzy, cool! Started with kind of a dark hippy Darkness Darkness (later covered by Robert Plant), got into loose jazzy improv-feeling Francis Drake…Beautiful is 60s bluesy Janis Joplin-esque (or JC superstar)

Sea Change

Beck

5/5

Know it all too well. Can’t listen to it right now.

Roger the Engineer

The Yardbirds

1/5

Must have been cool at the time, but just awful today. Ragged, meandering, amateurish.

The Gilded Palace Of Sin

The Flying Burrito Brothers

1/5

Nope. Not for me. Boring country. Yes it was influential (Eagles, alt-country) but I don’t have to like it.

Like Water For Chocolate

Common

4/5

Jazzy, a la Guru, vocal flow I can’t diagram. Really good instrumentals. J Dilla on production for most tracks.

Different Class

Pulp

4/5

Fun, energetic. OK, I can see how someone who grew up with this would be absolutely in love with it.

Here Are the Sonics

The Sonics

4/5

Fun energetic garage rock. Way early 60s. White covers of 50s R&B. Raw sound. A level up in recording from Louie Louie but just barely. Tacoma meets the first Beatles LP, without the ballads.

Street Life

The Crusaders

4/5

Late 70s jazz-funk, mostly sad-forward instrumentals except the title track. Source of many samples. A time piece, production-wise. Reminds me of George Benson Greatest Hits in places. Very nice, a bit smooth.

Illinois

Sufjan Stevens

3/5

Better than I expected. Didn’t pay attention to lyrics, and his voice bores me, but the songs, arrangements. Etc, are quite enjoyable, varied, complex. Is prog-indie-hipster a thing?

John Prine

2/5

Not a fan of the boring generic country accompaniment but the lyrics are really something. “Sam Stone” sounds like a direct antecedent to Pink Floyd’s “xxx” from the Final Cut.

OK Computer

Radiohead

5/5

No need to listen, though I will. A treasure.

Dummy

Portishead

4/5

Five Leaves Left

Nick Drake

5/5

Absolutely gorgeous but sometimes too aching for me to be able to listen.

Let It Bleed

The Rolling Stones

5/5

Love everything about this.

Miriam Makeba

3/5

Same sonic environment as Harry Belafonte at Carnegie Hall.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John

5/5

What's not to love? Great span of tunes, tempos and moods. Phenomenal instrumental performances. This and Madman... are all the 70s Elton you need.

Truth And Soul

Fishbone

2/5

Very dated sound, high energy but weak vocals, scattered approach.

Fire Of Love

The Gun Club

1/5

VU vocals without the poetry Television vocals without the virtuosity Violent Femmes without the humor Blind Justice without the warmth Blasters without the melody or soul

Snivilisation

Orbital

4/5

It's Orbital, and if you're in the mood for Orbital, you'll like this album. It's a time period for me: Orb, Orbital, other electronica/acid house music

Closer

Joy Division

2/5

Grating.

Ritual De Lo Habitual

Jane's Addiction

5/5

Holds up. Amazing performances, energy.

Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk

3/5

If I enjoyed hard bop I’d rate it higher.

Crooked Rain Crooked Rain

Pavement

2/5

Generic early 90s rock

Fuzzy Logic

Super Furry Animals

3/5

Very enjoyable 90s Britpop (Welsh)

Colour By Numbers

Culture Club

4/5

Old friend. Flaws and all. Still fun and evocative.

Here Come The Warm Jets

Brian Eno

2/5

Eno vocals are the worst.

Brutal Youth

Elvis Costello

3/5

EC vibrato fatigue.

Live At The Witch Trials

The Fall

1/5

Unlistenable. Terrible rhythm section sabotages attempt to be PiL.

Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby

Terence Trent D'Arby

3/5

Very dated 80s R&B production but solid songs and performances.

Modern Life Is Rubbish

Blur

3/5

Fuzzy

Grant Lee Buffalo

4/5

Best way to describe it is Robyn Hitchcock meets Neil Young and Mazzy Star

Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea

PJ Harvey

3/5

Very 90s despite 2000 release. First track: mismatched vocal with accompaniment. Second track Patti Smith clone. Gets better. Needs to be accompanied by something other that generic 90s alt guitar.

Made In Japan

Deep Purple

4/5

Darklands

The Jesus And Mary Chain

4/5

Very much a product of its time: second half of 80s drenched in reverb and gated snares. Good melodies, languid vocals.

Private Dancer

Tina Turner

3/5

Dated production, but strong songs, and always good to listen to her voice. One of those albums where I can picture a particular location for a listening session. (Annie Paynter's house). Horrific covers of Help! and Bowie's 1984 at the end.

Songs Of Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

3/5

Can't tell when one song ends and the next starts. It's lovely, but it's repetitive.

Channel Orange

Frank Ocean

3/5

The Real Thing

Faith No More

2/5

Document

R.E.M.

4/5

Peak REM. Crisp arrangements, clear vocals, strong melodies.

The Pleasure Principle

Gary Numan

4/5

Rock 'N Soul

Solomon Burke

4/5

Bubble And Scrape

Sebadoh

2/5

Lofi 90s guitar, sloppy vocals. I could see being into this as a young teen when it was new. Doesn't offer anything now.

Suzanne Vega

3/5

Pleasant, lovely guitar playing.

Live At Leeds

The Who

4/5

Proto-metal, in your face Who.

Deja Vu

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

4/5

Can’t complain. Classic.

Connected

Stereo MC's

3/5

Fear Of Music

Talking Heads

5/5

Paul Simon

4/5

(What's The Story) Morning Glory

Oasis

2/5

Poor mix undermines good melodies. In hindsight, just generic guitar rock.

Lady In Satin

Billie Holiday

5/5

Phenomenal. Precursor to Ronstadt's "What's New", beautiful reserved arrangements/accompaniment, the focus always on her voice and the song.

Space Ritual

Hawkwind

1/5

Ugh.

Lust For Life

Iggy Pop

4/5

Wow how have I missed this. Not just the hits, but the Bowie collaboration which led to Bowie’s “Tonight” album, and the last track with Hunt and Tony Sales which leads right to Tin Machine!

Protection

Massive Attack

4/5

Nevermind

Nirvana

5/5

Call of the Valley

Shivkumar Sharma

5/5

Talking With the Taxman About Poetry

Billy Bragg

1/5

Thriller

Michael Jackson

5/5

That's The Way Of The World

Earth, Wind & Fire

5/5

So good

Butterfly

Mariah Carey

1/5

Not my thing at all. Death by melisma.

C'est Chic

CHIC

4/5

New Forms

Roni Size

1/5

No drum n bass for me.

Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1

George Michael

4/5

Reminds me of Songs in the Key of Life in the switch between styles and the particular selection of styles.

The Sensual World

Kate Bush

3/5

Central Reservation

Beth Orton

4/5

Old friend.

Elastica

4/5

Still fun to listen to.

Pieces Of The Sky

Emmylou Harris

4/5

If you’re gonna listen to country this is a good choice.

Darkness on the Edge of Town

Bruce Springsteen

5/5

Not my favorite of his, but seminal

Take Me Apart

Kelela

2/5

Warp-style electronica plus R&B vocals. Meh.

Abraxas

Santana

3/5

Of course the famous tracks but the rest meanders like a muddy river. Notable for Latin+Rock but my favorites of his come much later.

James Brown Live At The Apollo

James Brown

3/5

A preview of his later glory, but doesn’t stand alone as something I’d play again and again.

Talking Heads 77

Talking Heads

4/5

So different, so fresh in the day. I’m firmly in the Remain in Light camp, but if that didn’t exist this would still be a fun record.

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Arctic Monkeys

1/5

Feels like a waitress in a diner saying “we’re out of Dr Pepper, is Mr Pibb ok?” Except it’s Green Day and Arctic Monkeys. Disposable guitar pop/rock. Probably incredible to a 15 yr old English kid.

Tubular Bells

Mike Oldfield

4/5

Old friend. Weird but compelling.

Histoire De Melody Nelson

Serge Gainsbourg

5/5

There are flaws, to be sure, but I adore this.

Illmatic

Nas

3/5

Fun music, boring lyrics, even if the rhyme schemes are complex.

Hunky Dory

David Bowie

3/5

The hits are great early DB. The filler is just that.

Something Else By The Kinks

The Kinks

3/5

Part of the Very English catalog of the Kinks

Violator

Depeche Mode

4/5

I didn’t like them back in the day but this album is definitely better than I expected.

Achtung Baby

5/5

They got everything right with this post-Joshua Tree reinvention. It may have gotten dull with subsequent releases, but this one is great. Probably the last U2 album I care about.

Woodface

Crowded House

3/5

Some great groove-driven tunes to open the album, but then it devolves into a whole lot of sameness. If you're not a CH fan, this may intrigue you, but maybe not enough to stick around. Existing CH fans doubtless loved it.

Elvis Presley

4/5

Blood And Chocolate

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

3/5

Being There

Wilco

4/5

Time Out

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

5/5

B-52's

The B-52's

5/5

A classic in every respect

Rumours

Fleetwood Mac

5/5

A classic for a reason.

It's Blitz!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

4/5

Very good. Same impact on me as hearing LCD Soundsystem for the first time. Two sides of the same coin.

Led Zeppelin II

Led Zeppelin

3/5

Some solid songs but overall not my favorite of theirs.

All That You Can't Leave Behind

2/5

Tired. Flaccid. A ghost of their former selves. Imagine combining “Joshua Tree” and “Achtung Baby” and watering down the product.

Ray Of Light

Madonna

4/5

Fun when it came out. Dated now but broken new ground for her at the time.

The Bends

Radiohead

4/5

Like A Prayer

Madonna

2/5

Among The Living

Anthrax

1/5

Nah.

The Blueprint

JAY Z

2/5

I mean I get its importance, it just doesn't speak to me. I'm not a fan of his flow, even if the lyrics tell good stories. The samples are clumsy and unsophisticated, even if it's Kanye.

Deep Purple In Rock

Deep Purple

2/5

Not my thing. The vocals are nails on a chalkboard, the organ noodles pointlessly. Good rhythm sections saves it.

Court And Spark

Joni Mitchell

3/5

Pink Flag

Wire

4/5

Punk classic, so influential, and doesn't diminish with time.

The Doors

4/5

Very fresh for its time. Some of the tracks still have a feel that’s never been imitated well others, like the Kurt Weill standard , must have give Bowie inspiration if not cover to try it himself. I’m still not a Doors fan, but this one LP holds up.

Playing With Fire

Spacemen 3

1/5

Grating psychedelica. Very dated (90s)

Disintegration

The Cure

4/5

Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

Soft Cell

3/5

If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears

The Mamas & The Papas

3/5

Gorgeous Wrecking Crew pop tinted/tainted by what an awful person was John Philips. Worth a listen for the arrangements and harmonies, but not going into frequent rotation.

Synchronicity

The Police

5/5

The non-Sting tracks are the weak ones, of course, but this is a classic.

Jazz Samba

Stan Getz

5/5

The White Album

Beatles

5/5

All Mod Cons

The Jam

3/5

American Pie

Don McLean

3/5

The Nightfly

Donald Fagen

5/5

Garbage

4/5

3 + 3

The Isley Brothers

4/5

Heaux Tales

Jazmine Sullivan

4/5

Reminiscent of Lauryn Hill. Complex mix of R&B ballads, twitchy hip-hop, feminist lyrics.

Led Zeppelin

5/5

The Notorious Byrd Brothers

The Byrds

2/5

Nick Of Time

Bonnie Raitt

3/5

Goodbye And Hello

Tim Buckley

1/5

Horrid. The typical post 60s folkie drops acid and makes unlistenable experimental stuff with random studio instruments, forgetting how to write songs.

Tapestry

Carole King

4/5

Fever Ray

4/5

Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim

Frank Sinatra

5/5

Harvest

Neil Young

4/5

Some absolute classics weakened by some poor choices in arrangements/accompaniments (A Man Needs a Maid, etc). Mainly a few 5s packed with filler.

White Light / White Heat

The Velvet Underground

4/5

Important, influential, experimental. All of these things, but it's not enjoyable. Interesting to note that Peter Gabriel might have been influenced by the "short story" narration on "The Gift." Sister Ray is a trip, but you don't need to hear it often.

Stardust

Willie Nelson

4/5

Lovely treatments of standards.

Countdown To Ecstasy

Steely Dan

4/5

5: Bodhisattva, My Old School, 4: Razor Boy, Your Gold Teeth, Show Biz Kids, 3: Boston Rag, Pearl of the Quarter, King of the World

Exit Planet Dust

The Chemical Brothers

2/5

Just not my scene, man.

Hounds Of Love

Kate Bush

4/5

Dear Science

TV On The Radio

4/5

Chicago Transit Authority

Chicago

3/5

Inventive, very much a product of its times (boogie bass), good horns, soulful vocals. A little tedious after a while.

Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

5/5

Raising Hell

Run-D.M.C.

4/5

Seminal. Incredibly strong A side!

Band On The Run

Paul McCartney and Wings

4/5

1. "Band on the Run" ***** 2. "Jet" *** good tune, annoying lyrics 3. "Bluebird" - pretty but dull ballad 4. "Mrs. Vandebilt" - Granny song with bouncy 4/4 bass *** 5. "Let Me Roll It" ***** 6. "Mamunia" Lovely fingerpicked guitar, faux-Afirca influence (recorded in Lagos? - wiki says written in Marraskesh) **** 7. "No Words" Quality ballad, nice guitar work **** 8. "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" Picasso as Rocky Raccoon? **** 9. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" Cool keyboard-driven buildup, as if written for a movie **** 10. "Helen Wheels" Guitar-based glam/boogie blues, slightly annoying backing vocals (Linda?)

The Healer

John Lee Hooker

4/5

Old friend from the Oakland days

Ten

Pearl Jam

5/5

I haven't liked another of theirs as much since then.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Wilco

4/5

Billion Dollar Babies

Alice Cooper

2/5

The production is interesting, and shows why Pink Floyd hired Bob Ezrin to produce The Wall. But the songs are lame.

Sweet Baby James

James Taylor

5/5

Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Eurythmics

4/5

L'Eau Rouge

The Young Gods

2/5

Roots

Sepultura

1/5

There's A Riot Goin' On

Sly & The Family Stone

4/5

I’m a Lonesome Fugitive

Merle Haggard

1/5

Vauxhall And I

Morrissey

1/5

Eccch

The Cars

5/5

A gem.

Bitches Brew

Miles Davis

3/5

Strangeways, Here We Come

The Smiths

2/5

Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

Spiritualized

4/5

Emergency On Planet Earth

Jamiroquai

3/5

MTV Unplugged In New York

Nirvana

5/5

1999

Prince

5/5

Mothership Connection

Parliament

5/5

Surf's Up

The Beach Boys

1/5

Weak. Flaccid. Just terrible. When the best song gets covered and improved on by Captain and Tennille, you’ve not got much to work with. Brian’s absence is keenly felt here.

Led Zeppelin III

Led Zeppelin

3/5

Not my favorite of theirs and overall not terribly cohesive, but it’s got some great tracks “Since I’ve been Loving You,” Gallows Pole.

Graceland

Paul Simon

5/5

What’s not to love?

Public Image: First Issue

Public Image Ltd.

4/5

Nebraska

Bruce Springsteen

5/5

Stark. Distilled Bruce. Shows his development as a storyteller. A polar opposite from the busy E Street arrangements on the first two albums.

Here, My Dear

Marvin Gaye

4/5

An overlooked classic. Emotional songs, beautifully arranged.

Jagged Little Pill

Alanis Morissette

4/5

On repeat the year it came out. Some songs still hold up, others rather dated.

Imperial Bedroom

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

4/5

Not my favorite of his, but high marks. Near-peak early career EC.

Haunted Dancehall

The Sabres Of Paradise

2/5

Utterly disposable rave soundtrack.

Peter Gabriel

3/5

A couple of all time favorites (Solsbury, Flood) but too much filler.

Parachutes

Coldplay

1/5

The most boring rhythm section of all time.

Murmur

R.E.M.

4/5

Old friend music, even with the impenetrable lyrics. Just treat Stipe’s voice as another instrument, enjoy Buck’s guitars, and the rhythm section (before they got old and dull).

Clandestino

Manu Chao

3/5

Remain In Light

Talking Heads

5/5

Peerless.

In A Silent Way

Miles Davis

3/5

Not my favorite period of his.

Mr. Tambourine Man

The Byrds

3/5

The Only Ones

1/5

Meh. Capable players, clean production, but lack of melodies combined with Johnny Rotten vocals doesn’t draw continued interest. Graham Parker and the Rumour without the songwriting ability.