1001 Albums Summary

There are some great bass lines, and hooks, in a few of the songs. (Excursions, Butter, Everything Is Fair). I can get into tracks like these in small doses.

Some of these tracks are what I called "rainy day" jazz...which I really like. But even the tracks that aren't my cup of tea are brilliantly played and arranged.

This didn't do anything at all for me.

The covers they did of other artists didn't do much for me. You can hear some elements of funk creeping in some of the tracks....very indicative of what many bands were sounding like in the 70s. The vocals are top notch, but I prefer their earlier stuff.

This is a really fun listen. There are some really good hooks on some of the songs (Kinky Afro, Loose Fit). There are many moments of "that sort of sounds like ________", and use of familiar samples from other artists' songs. This is an album that I would listen to 2-3 tracks at a time, but not listen to all the way through.

I'm not a big country fan. However, I do like what I consider to be REAL country: not the countrified-rock crap that is put out today. Emmylou's voice is amazing, and this album was a gem from start to finish.

It's Aretha. Enough said.

Some of the tracks I enjoyed to background music. But the vocal style just isn't my thing.

A nice, easy listen. A little swing, a little soul, and other things that I can't quite name. If Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin had ever collaborated, I think that the result would have been something like this.

I liked the slower, more laid-back, stuff more than when they try to "rock". I can see listening this on a lazy afternoon, although none of the songs had a hook that really spoke to me.

Hints of The Police, Joe Jackson, and The Clash. This sound has a little bit for everyone. If you're hardcore punk, new wave, alternative, or mainstream, then this album won't do much for you. If you are, like me, somewhere in between, then you give it three stars for who they were influenced by and for who they influenced.

Some of the music tracks were okay. Rap just doesn't do it for me, and this entire album was monochromatic.

A mixture of early U2, the Smiths, and some New Order thrown in just to round things out. I liked the songs well enough.....2 or 3 at a time. Anything beyond that and all the songs started to sound the same.

I like the funky parts, but those parts didn't outshine, or even complement, the rapping.

A masterpiece.

Prog-rock on steroids. It meandered too much to keep my attention.

Absolutely raw and powerful. Punk at its best.

A little soul, and R&B, with a nice '70s vibe. But there wasn't really anything about the song writing, or the singing that put this over the edge for me.

*Rock snob alert*. Not my favorite VH album. Not even close to their bast album with DLR. Panama and Hot For Teacher are rockers. I'll Wait is a great song, and one of the few VH songs where DLR actually sings. The rest of the album is "take it or leave it for me". My rating is for the three aforementioned songs, and for, musically and vocally, them being at the top of their game.

Such a beautiful, soulful voice.

I'm not sure what the hell that was, but it certainly was not static, or boring. Noise of Carpet- I enjoyed this one a lot. Freestyle Dumpling was a trip. If I ever had dropped acid, I would have loved this album.

Ground-breaking. This album was a classic the moment is came out. It sounds as fresh today as it did when it came out in the 80's.

Low volume, as background noise, and I'd fall asleep to this.

A lot of soul, but it didn't do much for me.

I liked Epoca to some extent. The rest wasn't that great.

I love that this band doesn't sound the same in every song.....but they always sound like themselves.

I like her voice. Smooth Operator brings back good memories. This could have been a good R&B album if not for being over-produced; as was typical in the mid '80s. It was a great album at the time, but hasn't aged very well.

Echoes of The Clash, The Stranglers, Devo, and early Joe Jackson. A nice hard edge to some of the songs. Punk meets new wave meets alternative.

I didn't really care for him when Wishing Well was all over the airwaves, and I don't care for him much now. He's got a soulful voice that got ruined by '80s production. Most of what I heard here sounds like what would later go on to be the Dave Matthews Band. Do with that what you will.

The fourth star is purely for nostalgia. A pretty damn good album that has aged pretty well.

Pretty monotonous. Trying too hard to be the Stooges, so I'll just listen to the Stooges.

I'm sure that in the right setting, that this album would work: just not sure what that setting would be. This was like if Enigma and Mannheim Steamroller were dropped into a garbage disposal.

Definitely not one to just put in an listen to. Great stuff in the right context....and if you know how to dance.

A good attempt, but it fell a little flat for me. Still, it's worth a listen.

A fun listen. If not for these guys, there's no MGMT, Kasabian....

A good album. I like the stripped down, raw sound.

Great music......in the correct context.

Kudos to Bowie for never standing pat, and for going out, musically, on his own terms. But this whole thing was too "out there" for my tastes. This album sounded like it should have been the soundtrack for True Crime. (See Trance Figure by School of The Seven Bells).

Not bad, but never really gets off the ground. I love his voice, but these tracks all sounded the same.....flat.

Non very imaginative song writing, but a fun little listen 1-2 songs at a time. I almost didn't even listen to this because of "There She Goes": one of the most annoying songs I've heard. Knock Me Down and Son of a Gun were standouts on this album. I'm glad that I gave it a chance.

I really enjoyed Crucify, Precious Things, and Leather. Tori has a great voice. This album was a nice surprise and a pleasant listen.

Exodus, Natural Mystic, Jammin', One Love.... a great, mellow album.

You want their "hits"? You want their radio-friendly songs? Then go buy their "Best of..." albums. This album is them showing their blues roots, and paying homage to all the blues greats, without whom there would be no Rolling Stones. If you don't recognize what makes this a watershed album for this band, then you don't deserve to understand this album. How's that for a bit of rock snobbery?

This album has a little bit of everything. I find myself returning to this album more than any other Zep album. I'm not saying it's their best. I'm just saying what I'm saying. "That's the Way" and "Tangerine" always get played to the end.

The opening song, Supervixen, is a good one to start the album off. The problem is that every other song sounds just like the first one. Too formulaic for my tastes. Too bad because the talent is there.

Without Muddy Waters, there is no British Invasion....or any rock music that's worth listening to.

This was a nice discovery. A nice set of songs to just relax and let play in the background.

It's Creedence. Enough said.

I appreciate Randy Newman for what he is: the world's most successful singer in a piano bar. I like him well enough......one song at a time. Two songs or more, and it all just sounds the same. Two stars, instead of One, because of the song "I Love L.A.", which isn't even on this album.

This just didn't do it for me.

Bring the Pain has a nice musical hook to it: musical, no lyrical. That's all I've got...

I love his music. This is a really easy listen and gives a glimpse of how good is songwriting was, and would become. Good stuff.

Some rock-a-billy, some punk. It's listenable, in a good way. They get 4 stars because they are playing what they want to play rather than trying to conform to what punk "should" be.

The main theme is a classic. The rest of it is as 70s as it gets. But without context, most soundtrack music doesn't really work as listening material. A soundtrack that consists of actual songs (Almost Famous, Saturday Night Fever) would have been a better suggestion from this site.

Great voice. Great music.

I like the "Lay Lady Lay", "Tangled Up In Blue", "Nettie Moore" Dylan. But when his singing style is like is on this album....it just doesn't do much for me beyond one or two songs.

"Heroine" is the only song that I'll remember from this album. Everything else just sounded like variations of the same song.

This one grew on me. The more I listened, the more I liked it.

Next....

Country Sad Ballad Man and Song 2 are great. I like Blur....just not all the time.

Fooled Again was a nice surprise. Other than Breakdown, and American Girl, the rest of this album is pretty meh. However, you can definitely hear a lot of what was to come from this band. The songs that they included the keyboards more prominently were definitely better than the others.

This album is a classic, and was the soundtrack for the entire early-to-mid 80s. Most younger people only remember the Michael Jackson who was a complete nut. But when this album came out, EVERYBODY listened to this album.

Jazz, for me, is more dependent more on the setting in which I hear it, than the music itself. Could I sit and just listen to this? No. Would this be great to create a certain atmosphere or mood. Yes. Would it be great to listen to live. Definitely.

Musically, his stuff is very interesting. Lyrically, he just sounds like Moby's pissed off alter ego.

Not bad. I liked Hero, Final Days, and Solid Ground. The rest of it sounded like it should be the soundtrack to Jackie Brown.

I just never got into Elvis. He's the Don Corleone of rock music: he's the original, but his biggest fans have ended up making it so that Elvis became a parody of himself.

Incredibly unimaginative.

This album tries so hard to sound like so many of the other great bands of the time. You then wonder why you are wasting time listening to this when you could just listen those other bands who know their own identity. This album was like a three-course meal of nothing but dry white toast.

For reference: if I dropped silverware into my garbage disposal at the same time my dog started barking, I would give that 5 stars compared with these jokers. But on the bright side...they didn't have to actually write lyrics, and props to the vocalist for not bursting out laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Don't Cry is a good tune. Chameleon by Blanc sounds like a infrigement lawsuit waiting to happen. Most of this album was a pretty easy listen.

10 Stars.

A 3-star album that gets a fourth star for the trip back to my senior year in high school. Just like the album, that year was hit or miss, but overall pretty damn good.

Maybe I just wasn't feeling this genre today. But I do enjoy this type of music.

Weird stuff. It sounds like it should be the soundtrack to the show Carnivale or a really cheesy Disney ride. I didn't really care for the songs, but they're going to be stuck in my head for the next week. Props to TW for being original.

I love Iggy. I love Bowie. I don't care for Iggy simply sounding like Bowie.

Hell yeah!

Early 90s cookie-cutter music. Not bad, but instantly forgettable.

The problem with Zappa is that tried to be so avant garde that he became a cliche' of himself. He wanted you to: like him so that he could smirk and bash you for being so bourgeoisie and "beneath" his brilliance. -or- hate him so that he could smirk and bash you for being so bourgeoisie and "beneath" his brilliance. Whichever camp you were in, it doesn't matter because you just don't get why the joke is on you.

4 for originality. Nice use of distortion to give them an early punk sound. You can definitely hear their embracing of the early 60's songwriting, but very forward-thinking production, and attitude, that would spawn The Stooges and The Hives.

I've just never understood the hype surrounding Joni's playing, or her singing. To me, she just comes off as a coffee house singer who is just trying too hard.

"Right Here, Right Now", and "Praise You" I actually really liked. The rest would be great in a club, but not really anywhere else.

Not unpleasant. But I don't see the point in listening to something that only makes me think of being on a moving walkway getting me from one set of airport gates to another.

I LOVE the Beatles. But these songs all sounded the same to me. But what gives them a pass here is that you can listen to their later stuff and see how they used this stage of their career as the foundation for what would come later. THAT'S greatness.

It's like putting spoons in a blender and hitting the "Puree" button.

Enough already.

Pretty good prog-rock. Early flashes of Marillion with a touch of ELP thrown in. I still say that the best thing that happened for Peter Gabriel and the three who remained as Genesis was their split from each other.

Not too bad.....for one or two songs. After that they all sound exactly the same.

I've seen other bands release their "Greatest Hits" that didn't have the number of hits that this album, which isn't a "Greatest Hits", has.

The great songs on this album are enough to buoy up the other stuff.

Dylan is hit or miss with me, but this was a very easy listen.

Pretty progressive for a band from 1971. Nevertheless, it didn't do a damn thing for me.

Pleasant, but immediately forgettable.

King's X, Faith No More, RHCP, and ska. Definitely intriguing. I can take it or leave it.

Wasn't sure what to expect from a band named Primal Scream, but was very pleasantly surprised. Most of the tracks were very listenable. Slip Inside This House was reminiscent of The Only One I Know, by the Charlatains UK, that I've had it on a loop all afternoon.

Like everything else Springsteen, this is hit or miss. This is more a nostalgia album for me than something that I would actively listen to.

Not bad, but too twangy for my tastes. And if you've heard one song from this album, then you've heard them all.

I love her cover of Neil Young. And some of the ambient tracks were okay....some weren't.

Station To Station, and Golden Years, are enough to earn 3 stars. The other tracks were meh.

Pretty good stuff. For some reason this reminded me of the soundtracks from all the mob movies by Martin Scorsese.

I can hear their influences in a lot of the later New Wave bands. The songs are easy enough to listen to, but nothing that will stay me.

Only Shallow was a great tune. The rest was a bunch of pretentious noise.

These guys have a couple of songs that are....okay. Other than that, however...

"Music" for poc, who want to feel justified in blaming everybody else for problems of their own making, and for white people who want to feel "edgy". Rap is KKKrap.

Bubble gum punk at best. A few tracks that are listenable. Don't compare this album to all the pretentious "we still think we're punk" crap that came after this album. And they lose points for trying to make everyone think that they are British.

No thanks

An nice, easy listen. However, the tracks really all sound the same.

57821 is a really good song. The rest is very creative, but doesn't do much for me. The two overtures were and unexpected turn.

Meh. When the best that you can say is "This sounds just like....", and then can't even remember who they sound like, that's not much of an impression.

So whose idea do you think it was to use the same vocal track on every single song? Seriously, how much effort can one woman put into not singing, and doing it on every track? Pretentious crap. One star for convincing somebody to actually record her.

Musically, I really liked this. But then they had to open their mouths and ruin it all. Using the N word just to sound edgy just makes you a poser.

This was very nice music to have on in the background.

Stupid from start to finish. ZERO stars if it were possible.

Kick ass maximum R&B.

The Animist was pretty good track. The rest of it was interesting. I would never set this as playlist material, but if it were on, I don't think I'd mind too much.

Not bad, but not really memorable either.

This reminded me a lot of Joni Mitchell and Carole King: neither of whom I like at all. There was only one song where Laura wasn't forcing her singing to a level of intensity that didn't match the music. A meandering mess.

A damn good album. Courtney Love has a pretty damn good voice. I never wanted to listen to these guys because she's such a dumpster fire of a person, but I'm glad that this showed up on my list. But this album should have been titled "Thank Heaven That Our Singer Is Married To That Guy From Nirvana".

This may be due to the fact that I recently returned from a trip to Mexico.... I found this album to be a very pleasant listen. This is pretty good background music: even if it is more likely to be overheard in some cheesy restaurant.

This album did nothing for me. No hooks, nothing catchy. They are the grunge version of Almost Famous. But at least they can look down on the successful Seattle bands under the guise of not having "sold out".

This wasn't bad....for a couple of songs. After that, her voice just grated on me and the music seemed to meander.

Say what you will about his singing, but Bob Dylan knows how to write songs. This is a very good listen.

"The Seed" had a nice musical hook to it: the only thing that will get me to listen to crap like this.

Great for the time when it was recorded. But its saxophone/keyboard sound has become cliche' because of every damn soundtrack from the 80's. Three stars because the title track is awesome.

"Find Somebody" is awesome. You can hear the many different sounds that influenced, and were influenced by, this band. The Beatles, Smokey Robinson, Otis Redding, Jefferson Airplane. This really is a crossover album for a lot of 60's music. And a shout out to Pat Benatar for taking "You Better Run" and turning it up to 11.

Amazing music for a rainy day.

That was 40 minutes of a band with a major identity crisis. They sounded so much like so many different bands that I found myself wondering why I was listening to these guys at all.

I either really like a Kinks' song.....or I don't care for it at all. 4 stars for always being true to themselves and being one of the most influential bands ever.

I do like some of these songs....somewhat. I just can't ever get over the fact that these guys started as "punk", became mainstream (no judgment here), and then became an "edgy" boy band (Tiger Beat magazine awaits!). That's cringe for me.

Well... that sucked.

A nice bluesy album with a little country/folk twang thrown in for good measure. However, listening to this album straight through has it all sounding like the same song.

"Madeleine-Mary" and "Song For the New Breed" were good tracks. Other than that.....meh.

More "Radio Disney" music that will be forgotten within a year and have absolutely no lasting impact on music. Lorde may keep the public's attention for being an "influencer" or some other thing, but her music is instantly forgettable.

A classic. Their first five albums rank up there with any of the other great bands. They should have stopped recording after Draw The Line. Everything after that fifth album was either passable or recorded just so they could cash the checks.

She has a great voice. If she would work with a real producer and some decent songwriters, she could have a real impact on music, not just on record sales. This is a perfect example of having a template for a song and being forced to copy it for an entire album.

I'm not a huge fan of thrash metal. But this is a damn good album for what it is. Great production values, their playing is TIGHT. They would be great to see live.

A classic. Their, arguably, best song "Eleanor Rigby" is accompanied only by a string quartet. That's some feat to pull off.

Not bad, but also not much in the way of variety. The lack of variation in their songs, and the fact that they sounded a lot like the free-form style of the GD, just had people deciding to just listen to the GD.

Every song sounded like a watered-down version of The Clash or X. I found myself wondering why I wasn't just listening to one of the other "real" bands.

The best "flat pitch" singing in the business. I love this band. This isn't my favorite album by them, but it contains their two best songs: That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore, and How Soon Is Now.

The Avalanches.... Shit Tsunami is more like it. This is like if Moby had no talent for arrangement, or ear for music.

Bland, formulaic, cookie-cutter sound. This is what happened when the band no longer had Courtney's hubby as a safety net for their writing. They get an extra star for having the guts to keep going anyway.

Bowie never sounds the same, but he always sounds like Bowie. I don't like everything on this album, but I love that he was never willing to stand pat with his music.

"Music Make You Lose Control" has a nice bass line. If I were at a club, high, and looking to hook up, then this is probably really good stuff. But I'm not at a club, high, or looking to hook up.

If rap did anything for me at all, it would be this kind of rap. Musically, this album has a lot to offer. But the vocal style indicative of rap just doesn't do it for me.

How incredibly bland of instantly forgettable.

Not bad. Very avant garde for its time. And I can certainly see how it's loose, dgaf style was so influential on the New York CBGB types. Overall, it wasn't a bad listen. Some good tracks all produced by people who can't really sing.

This Is A Call is a good song. For All The Cows is the best thing that I've heard them do.....even if it is just a ripoff of Nirvana's "Polly": certainly just a coincidence. I just have never seen anything about these guys to get excited about. Every song is either Dave Grohl shouting while they play the same power chord, or Dave is actually trying to sing and you realize that he doesn't have a great voice and has very little range. Take Dave out of the equation and these guys are just another Nickelback.

This site needs an option for zero, or negative stars. So somebody recorded my middle school band, while we were warming up, and decided to release it as an avant grade album of jazz fusion's version of speed metal. This crap is the musical equivalent of a root canal being performed without any anesthetic.

I'm so used to their greatest hits, that it was a bit startling to realize that some of their stuff.....sucked. And so it goes. These guys still created some of my favorite music. Soundtrack of my childhood....yada yada yada..

I'm hit or miss with Bob, but this was a nice, bluesy listen.

Just go listen to The Stranglers if you want to hear what these guys wanted to sound like.

A nice, albeit bland, listen. This Year's Love is the standout song.

I actually really enjoyed this. It's like Amon Tobin, but with tolerable bits of techno music thrown in.

A great 80's sound that didn't sound too "techno" or "alternative". Great singing and songwriting. This album has aged really well. "Love Is A Stranger" and "I Could Give You" are the standouts.

Not bad. "Connection" and "Car Song" are pretty unique compared to the rest that all sound very much the same.

This was a good listen. "Who Discovered America" was a really good track. A little Latin, a little hip hop. Reminded me of Santana.

How sad that the original version of "Hallelujah" is probably my least favorite that I've heard. This didn't do anything for me at all. Two stars for "almost".

I really like the song "Red Eyes". The problem with these guys is that every song used the same template, chords, production values....everything. If you've heard one song, you've heard them all.

A classic. What a way to debut your music.

If the Clash doing Irish jigs is your thing, then you are going to love these guys. If you are expecting anything that sounds like "Lorca's Novena", then you are feeling like I do right now.

Not their best stuff. Pretty typical 80's fair, though.

No explanation needed.

This is what I call "listenable punk", although it really doesn't have that hard of an edge. This is punk by guys who can actually play their instruments and write music. I think that the Clash were/are the British equivalent of Bruce Springsteen: they spoke to a population that was blue collar and felt disenfranchised. But as much as I love the Clash, I have to question any group that is beloved by Rolling Stone magazine. Just saying....

Too much twang for my taste. The songs are pleasant enough, but also too monotonous to need to listen to more than 2 before you've effectively listened to the entire album.

Great songwriting magnified by understated performance. I'm not saying that his playing, singing, etc., isn't in top form. But there's nothing about this album that feels forced. This is Clapton being Clapton.

What a great playing style. If Jeff could sing at all, he'd have been as big as Clapton. But when Rod Stewart is doing all your vocals, and Rod isn't available to go on tour with you, then.....

The kind of stuff that you hear in coffee shops and boutique stores. For me, this music is good in those contexts, but not much else.

Awesome stuff. It loses one star because the blaring horns really started grating on me.

That was better than I thought it would be, and longer than it should have been. 6-minute songs mean that these guys couldn't edit.

I'd never heard of these guys. This was a nice surprise. They reminded me, somewhat, of Burning Brides. "G Song", "Cheapskate", and "How Little Reign" were the standouts. "Sometimes I Make You Sad" is an earworm song.

Pretty good punk. Punk isn't always my thing, but these guys fit the bill pretty well.

"International Star", among a few others, had a nice hook. But this is the kind of "f" it album that an artist puts out when they're pissed off at the record company.

Zero stars. And to think that I thought that he sounded like garbage when he wasn't trying to be musical.

Nothing fancy, but an easy listen. "When Will We Be Married" and the title track were the standouts.

Amazing, soulful, music. Those keyboards are awesome.

Question: What do you get when the singer for the Violent Femmes tries to sound like Beck but instead ends up doing a piss-poor job of sounding like Lou Reed instead? Answer: This crap.

A pretty nice listen. However, it seemed like he was singing the same tune every song, but with different music in the background.

Nothing really jumped out at me on this album. I like Aimee's music, and this was an easy listen.

I love the title track because why not. The rest isn't bad, but loses points for have the exact same mix on every song.

Nothing special. They were a pretty good concert, however. There were a couple of songs that had a hook to them, but that's about it.

For as much soul as this music has, it's a very slow burn. There's some serious story telling and reflects a darker side of life.

Pretty easy to listen to. But if you like this type of music, then go listen to Moby, whom they mimicked, and get your money's worth.

I don't always love his singing, but I love his song writing.

4 stars just for her amazing voice. However, she loses one star for singing too many covers. Her voice is so controlled even when she's belting out the song.

This was my first real introduction to DM. I love this album.

I understand why this album was so influential, but it didn't do a damn thing for me.

I don't really care for rap, but I do like LL Cool J. And I love the hook of the title track.

I like these guys. A couple of these songs were gems, a couple weren't. The rest was a good listen.

Did the folksy side of this band kick off the psychedelic era of rock music? Yes. But if I wanted to listen to a Moody Blues album, I'd just go listen to a Moody Blues album.

I like Rod Stewart. This is really good songwriting and a very soulful performance.

This gets 5 stars because of so many great memories associated with when this album came out. They released 7(!) singles: all of which got a ton of radio airplay. But I do have to say that the layered harmonies, and the heavy production, haven't aged very well.

I love his voice. This isn't really my style preference, but there's no doubt the influence that he had on blues-style rockers that came after him.

Unintersting music by disinterested musicians. I pictured them all recording this while looking non-stop at their phones while pretending that none of the other musicians were actually there. EVERY track sounded the same except for the first song, which was an obvious rip-off of David Bowie's "Heroes".

Pretty good stuff, but I can see why Rod branched off on his own. This band was holding him back.

Anybody who complains about the flute knows what they can do with said instrument. This is a classic from start to finish.

I'd have loved to have been there to see this live. But simply listening to it falls pretty flat.

This would have been pretty good if the producer had had the balls to tell this guy that he shouldn't be anywhere near a microphone.

I'm glad that I already liked Neil before I heard this. I like that he is willing to experiment with his sound, but that doesn't mean that I am willing to automatically buy into his b.s. like to wonks at RS are prone to do.

The same drum, and keyboard, sound on every track? Check. The same vocals, and melody, on every track? Check. Typical 80's over-production? Check. The "Jackson" coattails to give this album the overhype that it received at the time. Check. But give credit where credit is due: this was an original sound when it came out. Unfortunately, it is largely responsible for a whole lot of crap that has been trying to ride this album's wave for the last few decades.

I love the Byrds harmonies and guitar sound.....just not for more than 2 songs at a time. After 2 songs they just all sound exactly the same.

It's difficult for me to give a f*** about a bunch of guys who go out of their way to not give a f***, but are trying too hard to accomplish not giving a f*** because they actually give a f*** about not giving a f***. 1 star for the ironic effort.

They have a couple of songs, on other albums, that I absolutely love. Because of that I was very excited to listen to this. However, this album just plain sucked.

Listenable punk....not that that's a bad thing at all. The first time I ever heard these guys was when I saw them playing Bogarts in Cincinnati. This is a good album that sounds even better live.

One of the great American albums.....by an Irish band. Everything about this album is amazing. And the songs evoke images, and the hopes, of the frontier of the western U.S.: both modern and historical.

Somebody to Love is Grace at her best and has one of my favorite guitar solos/outros. White Rabbit is the psychedelic anthem of anthems. Today & Coming Back to Me are Marty Balin at his best. Helluva band and a great album from start to finish.

If you weren't around when JA put out their albums, then you may not be aware about how ground-breaking and genre-defying this band was. This album was as powerful as Nothing Shocking, but JA didn't just copy themselves to please a fanbase.

Their songs are "okay", but lacking something that would make them memorable. Also, their sound/style is such that each song is indistinguishable from the others.

If you don't like Deep Purple, then you should be deaf.

A little funk, a little soul, and way too much 80's canned-overproduction. An extra star for what could have been.

As a whole, the 80s really sucked.

If Joni Mitchell had three brothers who could produce nothing but dry, white toast.

I was pleasantly surprised by this. The music and rhythms were an easy listen, and even the vocal style was okay. Would I put this on my playlist? No. Did I enjoy the listen? Yes.

Now THAT's a live album. Even if you don't like his music, that's a concert that you would feel like you got your money's worth. Tons of energy, tight playing, and did I mention the energy? Way to blow the roof off the joint, Jerry.

If this does it for you, then have at it.

I wasn't looking forward to this listen simply because I have never like the song "We Are Family": it sucks. But the rest of the album was pretty damn good. It was funk/r&b with the lasting touched of disco, but it is what it is. It has Nile Rodgers stamp ALL over it. As a matter of fact, if I didn't know it was Sister Sledge, I would have guessed that it was Chic that I was listening to.

All-around it's pretty good. The problem is that I just can't figure out what they were aiming for. I'm glad that guitar hero gave them their 15 minutes because otherwise I think they wouldn't have been on anybody's radar at all.

"Feel Flows" is one of my favorites by these guys. This was a very different album than I was expecting. I'm not sure if they were maturing with their music at this point, if they were just tired, or if they were trying to re-imagine themselves and keep up with changing musical tastes of the time. I'm glad that this wasn't a "Surfing Safari" type of album. As was the tag line for this album when it was released: It's safe to listen to the Beach Boys again.

This isn't bad considering that this genre isn't really my thing. He gets an extra star for trying to look like a serial killer on the album cover. :-)

I love Bowie, but this did nothing for me.

Free-form-Latin-stoner music. Good stuff even if you're stone cold sober.

"All Hope is Gone" Yeah, no shit. There are bands that are hardcore/badass. Then there are bands, such as Slipknot, that could have more moments (Child of Burning Time, Vermillion, Pt. 2) if only they weren't so busy trying so hard to be badass. I can't believe it takes nine people to produce this crap.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this album. It was very listenable, and very even-keeled for this genre of music. "I Am Somebody", and "What's Golden" were the standouts. I will listen to "What's Golden" often.

There is a fine line between sounding like you are trying too hard, and sounding like you just don't give a shit. I honestly don't know where the hell these guys landed with this one.

I like this band. I like their sound. This was a good listen, but there wasn't anything that jumped out at me.

Typical 80's overproduction. The songs were good, but too polished for Hooker's style of blues. Thank heaven for the last 5 tracks, from "Sally Mae" to the end. THAT was John Lee blues.

They never made the movie to go with this soundtrack just in case the movie sucked as badly as this garbage.

Nice and raw.

Not bad, but just not quite.....

It's Stevie. Living For the City and Higher Ground are enough to earn the five stars.

A very fresh, innovative sound for 1979. They were never afraid to try different sounds: all while sounding like the Talking Heads. (Franz Ferdinand is cut from the same cloth). This was a nice listen.

I'm not a huge fan of this genre, but this was a nice surprise. The music was good and the vocal style was...tolerable.

Bluesy and not overproduced. This was a great listen. I love Beck's guitar sound.

Zero Stars. Fear of a Crap Planet.

I can see why this sounded fresh at the time, so I'll give it an extra star for that. But this album was a nothing-burger-with-cheese.

I really like "Bongo Bong" and "La Vie à 2". This genre of music, for me, depends largely on context. In a cantina eating Mexican food? Yes. Cleaning out the garage? Not so much. But I enjoyed listening to this album.

If reggae is on in the background, then....fine. But that's about as much as I can say for the genre. An easy listen, but nothing to get excited about.

Without the context of the story, this album doesn't make much sense. And some of the songs haven't aged that well. But this is a very important album for me. I heard it and the music, certainly not the story, really resonated with me. "Amazing Journey" and "Acid Queen" are two of my favorite deep cuts.

The songs that I will listen to a lot are "With Our Love", "Warning Sign", "Found a Job". I really like the Talking Heads: always have, always will. And this was a good album. However, their repeated song structure wears a little thin when you are listening to them an entire album at a time.

This is the answer to the question, "What would Stevie Wonder sound like if he had no talent for singing or song writing?"

This was a pretty good listen. The biggest knock against it is that nothing really stood out for me or was anything that I would give another listen to. It was really pleasant background noise and not much else.

I love Beck. I don't always love what Beck produces, but I love that he always sounds like himself even when every track is so different and genre-distorting.

I've always been "take it or leave it" with Bruce. I love his song writing, and the passion in his singing (even if his voice isn't worth shite). It turns out that most of the songs by Bruce that I enjoy the most are the ones that don't get radio play. And if it wasn't for the piano player, these songs would fall apart. However, this album kept my interest more than I thought that it would.

It isn't just that this music is bluesy. It's that most of their songs have a really hook that is unique and keeps you wanting to listen to the song repeatedly. The only thing that grates on me is the distortion value of the vocals on EVERY song.

I love Zep, but this is not my favorite album. It's basically a cover album of their favorite blues songs. But the raw energy they bring to every track was a hell of a signal as to what was to come.

The album where every song sounds exactly the same and only one of them, "Everybody Knows", is even listenable. Subtract one star for the cover photo where he's eating a damn banana.

What this lacks in funk it more than makes up for in soul. Would I put this on repeat? No. Would I listen to it again. Definitely. "Poet" and "You Caught Me Smilin'" are the standouts.

The album was my first real immersion into The Smiths. In terms of the soundtrack of my life, this is an extremely important album for me. I love every track even though it reminds me of one of the most difficult periods of my life. But, hey, sometimes you have to take your demons out and exercise them from time to time, don't you?

If salsa music does it for you, then I imagine that this album will really do it for you. For me? If you listen to any 5-second segment of any of the tracks, then you've basically heard the entire album.

I love Peter Gabriel. I love post-Gabriel Genesis. I like prog-rock. This album, to me, just sounded like outtakes and what would be the inspiration for early Spinal Tap. Thank heaven that Peter Gabriel split from Banks, Rutherford, and Collins, and they all stopped getting in each other's way.

This was very innovative for 1977. And I can certainly see how this would have influenced many different genres going into the 80's. But innovative and influential doesn't mean, in and of itself, that it's any good.

I once heard this album referred to as proof of John's misogyny. I wonder if the context of some of these songs would have allowed John to survive today's cancel culture in the wake of the #metoo movement. I don't know, but it could make for an interesting conversation. Lots of great songs here to showcase the transition from their earlier work to what would come next. 5 stars because even their meh songs are better than most bands' best efforts.

Great band, great album. A little folk, a little touch of southern "rock". A nice, easy listen.

"How Do You Think It Feels" was my favorite, but "Berlin" was good as well. Lou Reed, like Springsteen, is hit-or-miss with me. I recognize the great songwriting, but the delivery doesn't always hit the mark for me. Regardless of my personal opinions on him, I think that most people who say they like Lou Reed do so because they think it makes them appear "deep". Just a thought...

This is one of those albums/bands that fell in the cracks between other blues/rock bands of the time. They would have made more of an impact if they had been able to write some songs that sounded a little different from each other. They also shouldn't have relied solely on distorted guitars and screaming vocals.

"Shortcomings" is the only track that was remotely memorable. I didn't dislike this album, but there wasn't really anything unique about it.

This is classic Bowie. I love that he never just stands pat on his song writing.

I once visited an art museum with a group from a class that I was taking. We stopped in front of this 10'x10' canvas that was painted black: no texture, no variants in shading.....just black. Our guide, as well as many in the group, waxed poetic about this important piece of art and blah blah blah. The truth is that they saw it for what it was but didn't have the guts to say so because they didn't want to appear to others as "not getting it". Anybody who gives this album more than zero stars is just like the group of sheep who don't want to call out a black square as being nothing more than a black square. This album was 45 minutes of hipster wet dream.

I kept wondering what method they used to come up with names for each of these tracks. There is music of his that does it for me. This album missed the mark by a wide swath of bitches.

The underwhelming Undertones. They fell into the gap between soft punk and new wave. This isn't a bad album, but it's just very.....forgettable. And whoever came up with the idea for the video for "There Goes Norman" should be flogged.

It's weird. It's original. It's sometimes catchy and sometimes it's just dizzy. I liked it musically, and the vocals weren't so annoying that it grated on me. They get the third star for keeping my interest for an entire album.

Middle of the road reggae. I'm pretty ambivalent about them as a whole. "Madam Medusa" had a nice bass line to it. That's as exciting as it got for me.

"Brighton Rock"......THAT'S how you start off an album. God save Queen.

I love blues music. However, I do have to admit that most blues songs, from any blues musician, all use the same three chords, key, and chord progression. It does tend to make it all blend together into one long song.

This was a great, mellow, listen. I was a bit surprised that this came out before Moby came along (unless there's a connection between the two). This album is going to get listened to a lot.

I love Beck. Of all of his albums, this one probably doesn't have as wide a range of musical styles. The songwriting was amazing. I didn't pay attention to the lyrics, but my guess is that this is Beck's version of a break up album.

I like the Pretenders. And this is a great album. But I blame their brand of "punk" for the Green Days of the world.

A very 80's-defining album. I've always liked "Hungry Like the Wolf", but the rest of the album is better than the 80's version of me remembers. Le Bon tends to whine too much in his singing, but I digress.

And now I know who Lord Huron's favorite band is. "White Winter Hymnal" is one that I've heard before and quite like. When I first heard that this was a folk album, I was a bit skeptical, but his album was a home run.

"Banstyle" was listenable enough. That's all.

It's not bad. It's not great. It just is.

Listening to The Kinks is like taking a really pleasant Sunday drive. It doesn't really matter where you are going, or even if you "arrive" at any destination. The road just meanders and you enjoy the ride.

Mumbling hipsters producing the musical equivalent of a plate of saltine crackers. This album was a boring, monotonous waste of an hour.

I really enjoyed "The Mess We're In". This album was a very nice surprise due to the first PJ Harvey album suggested by this site....sucked rocks. The songwriting, and delivery was great throughout. The last 6 songs were the strongest parts of this album. I'm glad that I gave it a chance instead of skipping it.

A little pre-grunge-wannabe-punk. It wasn't a bad listen, but nothing that I'll remember or revisit.

"The Yo Yo Man" had a nice hook. But the best that can be said for the rest of the album is that it is doesn't suck.

Catchy, upbeat songs that are pretty well written. This album came out at the perfect time for an all-women group to fill a niche that didn't really exist since The Runaways (Heart, Pat Benetar, and Tina Turner notwithstanding). However, it should be noted that the primary reason these songs worked at all is because of outstanding bass lines and strong playing by the bassist.

Not too bad. However, I'd like to slap whoever the idiot was that decided that forcing the distortion on everything would make them sound "harder" and "edgy". Overall, I'm not impressed.

Other than a few moments here and there, I wouldn't have figured this for country music. This was a nice listen. Hints of Allison Kraus and Mindy Smith (not that I'm hugely familiar with them).

Musically? Yes. Lyrically? No thanks. I think that most people rated this so low because they just don't like him or his persona. I think that he's just trying too hard. It all sounds forced.

This is great music for people who readily relate to emperors who love new clothes that only they can see. This was what my high school jazz band sounded like when they were warming up to play actual music. Save yourself 40 minutes by listening to the first 10 seconds and then shutting it off.

I like her voice and her sound. But this was not anything memorable. And once you've listened to 2-3 songs in a row, you realize that she's a one-trick pony. This was a nice listen, but very middle of the road.

I do like the big band sound. And I do love Ray. This is what I consider a "context" album: the setting that you hear it determines whether you think it's a great album or, as is my case today, it's just okay.

I was expecting a pretty decent smooth jazz album. Nothing really jumped out at me that would warrant a second listen, but this was a nice album.

When they're good, they are very very good. This album was a harbinger of what was to come during the 80's. It had little hints of punk, some new wave, the synth sound of progressive music. Anybody hearing this album for the first time may think, "meh", but in 1978 this was a bridge between 70's album rock and synth-heavy 80's music. At the time nobody knew that it was anything more than just a different sound.

The guy certainly had a very distinctive sound and style. This is a pretty good album on it's own merit. But you can certainly hear how much he had matured, and taken more creative control, when you listen to Thriller. Too bad the guy ended up being such a colossal loon.

This was a really good album to have playing in the background this morning. Not having heard this guy before, I had no expectations. Very nice voice and good music.

There's nothing flashy about this album. This is the recording of a guy who sat down and played songs that he wanted to play and wasn't worried about topping the charts or pressure from the record company. A nice listen, but nothing really stood out to me.

A really good listen. This isn't an album that you put on to just listen to. You put it on and let the music enhance the mood of the room.....if that makes sense.

Anybody who relies solely on auto-tune for their vocals shouldn't be allowed to record, much less be on a "must listen" list. This should be on a website "1001 Albums You'll Wish That You Had Died Before Hearing".

I like the blues. I like blues-based rock. I like Eric Clapton. But this album was the same progression of blues chords on, and throughout, every track. This bored me very quickly.

These guys found 69 pretentious, self-indulgent ways to suck. This guy sounded like a moody Ian Curtis (THAT'S saying something, isn't it?), who occasionally let's his girlfriend, whom the rest of the band hates, sing.

Tina is great. The issue I have is that this album was a couple of good songs that were buried in a pile of way overproduced 80's sound. The production values just haven't aged well and I, personally, just can't get over that.

I like Yes a lot. I don't mind weird time signatures or key changes. But the parts where it didn't even sound like they were playing a song, or the same song, just didn't do it for me. The saving grace is that when this album in good, it's very very good.

I'm certain that the makeup and stage presence may have been very off-putting for a lot of people. That's the only reason I can think of for why they weren't as commercially successful as other bands of the time. Pretty good mix of punk and "rock" music. This is take it or leave it music for me, but I do recognize how fresh this must have sounded when it was released.

"Overground", "Metal Postcard", and "Suburban Relapse" were the standouts on this very good album. Very cutting edge music from a band that doesn't get the credit that it deserves for all the 80's new wave/punk bands that it influenced. This sounds like a perfect mix of The Smiths and X.

I love these guys. The only minus is that if you've heard the first 20 seconds of the song, then you've heard the entire song. However, these songs were written to be performed live more than to be listened to on a stereo.

"I'll Call..." and "So Fresh, So Clean" are really good tracks. I like Andre's vocal sound even if I don't care much for this genre's vocal style. But if there is a good musical hook to a track, then I'm good.

For this genre not really being my thing I have to give them props for being ahead of the pack in terms of their overall sound. They get an extra star for that.

c.r.A.A.p city

Not a bad listen. The first track was pretty interesting, but nothing else really stood out as memorable.

This is an important part of the soundtrack of my childhood.

Reggae is always a pretty easy listen; and this was no exception. But, for me, reggae has been like sushi: I never crave it, but will, occasionally, try some if it's there. This gets an extra star for being really good for what it is.

Music written for the stage (theatric, not concert) really only works for me if there is a context for it; like an actual stage production. Other than that, it doesn't do much for me.

What happens when you are too late to the grunge party, but decide to go for it, but throw in a little punk so that you don't get accused of being posers who missed the grunge party boat? One star: that's what.

Pearl Jam are really hit-or-miss with me, with very little in-between. The irony is that the songs of theirs that I really like never get any airplay (I'm not sure if that makes me the hipster d-bag among their hipster d-bag fan base or not). I will, however give them their props for being original, never being formulaic, and for using the same into/outro to open, and close, the album.

I don't know about arrested, but I could get behind "cease and desist". The best part of this album was imagining somebody being able to record this with a straight face. This should be on the list "1001 Albums That You'd Rather Die Than Listen To Again". Zero stars. That's all I've got energy for today, folks.

"A Means to an End" and "Heart and Soul" were okay. The rest of this album just didn't do anything for me.

I absolutely love Priest and this album was what started it for me. When the first song you ever hear from a band is "Living After Midnight".....yeah....game OVER. I can't believe that "United" never became an anthem played at sports stadiums everywhere.

A really interesting, eclectic, listen. I like that Bryan Ferry isn't formulaic in the songwriting. This is an album that I could probably listen to many times and hear something different every single time.

Very interesting, very diverse, and very pointless. And for an album recorded in the mid-90s, somebody should have told Barry that the "sax" sound of the 80s sounded dated even when it was popular in the 80s.

I really like Coldplay. But I don't think I could listen to them for this many songs in a row again. I like what's-his-face's voice until four songs in and realize that without the music, just his vocals, I wouldn't know what song he was singing.

Anyone who gives less than 5 stars deserves to be deaf. Anyone who gives less than 5 stars because Animals, or WYWH, is their favorite PF album, should be slapped. Judge it on its own merits or gtfo. That's my rock snobbery for the day. Happy holidays, everyone.

A couple of these songs sound like watered-down versions of Stereolab. That's not a bad thing, but just an observation. "Been It" was the track that stuck out to me the most. "Lovefool" I have heard without knowing who sang it. It was meh. This was like IKEA meatballs: pretty good, but nothing that I'm every going to crave.

This one just didn't do anything at all for me. It's not bad, in any regard.

I guess that swan was wrapped too tightly around her neck. I'm sure that she was trying for ethereal in these songs, but it ended up just sounding monotonous and like a drunken voicemail from an ex.

Hats off for George successfully completely revamping his image with this album. This album didn't do much for me at the time, but it has aged pretty well. The songs are well written and performed.

A nice, easy, middle-of-the-road listen. It's good, but nothing of note to remember.

Shite. Zero stars. Damn the idiot who put this on the list.

I know that Costello has always been a hipster's wet dream, but I find him to be tolerable at best. Two stars for not exactly sucking, but, come on, there's nothing to this album.

Not bad for background noise. Nothing of note, musically.

I prefer Andre 3000's The Love Below, by far, to Big Boi's contribution. But 40 damn songs? Come on guys, learn to edit, ffs.

I love the Doors. I don't harbor illusions about Jim Morrison being the great poet that he obviously thought that he was, but I do like his singing style and voice. "Maggie M'Gill" sounds so much like "Back Door Man" that I would bet that Maggie was quite a lady.

Innovative and ahead of their time. They weren't afraid to just be themselves, and it shows. At the time nobody knew what the hell to make of them. Now, it's pretty obvious the impact that they had on a vast majority of 80s new wave and alternative music.

I do like Kate's voice.....in 1-2 song increments. But the songs themselves were not that good. It's almost like they just slapped together some music and figured that nobody would notice because of her voice. Honestly, except for "This Woman's Work", it sounded like she was singing the same tune just with different backing tracks.

This was a pretty easy listen. Other than the ethereal aspects of the production, there really isn't anything that stuck out enough for me to want to listen to again.

I love that Blur is willing to go with whatever sound they feel like performing. This album just didn't do it for me.

Nothing was going to live up to Rumours. And I think that a double-album is just begging to be seen as mediocre. It lacks the tension and angst of Rumours, but is still a damn good album. The Ledge is a fun stomp. Tusk is a great drum beat. Sara is a home run. This is an album by a band that had grown quite a bit from the coke-fueled middle school drama of previous albums.

She has a great, soulful, voice with a little southern vibe to it. The songs, while not incredibly original, are well written. This was a nice listen.

Crude, rude, and brash. These guys definitely did not just talk the talk. Their sound and attitude has been the benchmark for every punk/hard rock/metal band that has come since. Some bands have come close, but never duplicated all of this. Oh yeah, the music is pretty damn good too.

The weird thing is that I like these guys, then I realize that they always sound like Search & Destroy by The Stooges. Maybe if they had a little more variety to their songs.

I'm a very casual Metallica fan. They're a fun concert, I like their sound, and their playing is tight. Overall, I like this album even though I'm not a speed metal fan and, after a few songs, I can't distinguish this album's songs from one another.

Another album that has interesting music tracks being overshadowed by gibberish pretending to be edgy and/or poetic.

Home run.

I like Lenny. His music will, as a whole, always 3-stars music.

Formulaic and unoriginal. It doesn't even come off as being a "retro" sound. Savage Garden called from 1993. They want their album back.

An extra star because of Cars. But every song is exactly the same: and that's not a good thing.

Pretty strong effort for a debut album. Not a bad listen at all.

"The Perfect Kiss" was the best song. The rest was pretty formulaic new wave stuff. Nothing spectacular, but it didn't grate on me.

Musically, this is amazing. But I just get into a vocal style that is just yelling with no choral intonation whatsoever. They lose an extra star for that.

"Make My Mind" was easily the best song on what was a pretty boring album. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything memorable either. This band seems to be one of those that the verse is better than the chorus, and that's not saying much.

"In Your House" and "M" are great songs, as is "A Forest". I'm not a huge Cure fan, but this was a really good album.