Here's a few random thoughts on why I chose this album: It was such a part of popular culture that I do think everyone should hear it. It's a part of 1960s culture that wasn't represented much--not everyone was listening to blues-inspired rock or folk. This music was still around and a huge part of my 70's childhood, especially on TV. The cover is iconic! I remember when there were a lot more instrumental songs on the radio and in the charts (did that end with Kenny G?) and I wanted to be reminded of that, and remember the great ones. I love the changing of styles of the popular songs--uptempo "Taste of Honey," striptease "Love Potion No. 9," a very Latin "Lemon Tree," and so on--I love when musicians play with songs like that. My 17-year-old son requested this album on our last road trip--I love that he loves this album. The musicians are awesome and that brass kicks ass. It's fun and joyful--those are important emotions, too!

This was a great big grab bag of fun!

This is a 3.5 but I'm going to round up because I learned the difference between Dub and Reggae, and I liked it.

This was one of the albums I thought might be in this project, so I was very glad to see it here! I think it's the best francophone album of at least the last 20 years. Love it lots!

This was new to me, so it wasn't quite what the name "The Burning Hell" suggested to me. (Of course, the same happened with "Barenaked Ladies" back in the day, so there must be something to these lovely, quirky, smart Canadian indie bands.) Turns out I LOOOOOOOVED it. Every time I missed some lyrics I had to go back and check again, and it would always be delightful. And all the wonderful instruments appearing here and there to accompany them. I'm a fan, thank you!

Glad to have listened. Interesting and creative.

Very happy to hear this album I'd not heard of before. Loved the folky indy intimate and interesting instrumental sound!

This was a little morose and monotonous for me. I mean, it was supposed to be, so there you go.

My take on this album is very much the same as their debut album, which is that I love it. In fact, I shall repeat that review as it fits here too: "This is Garbage!" is what anyone would exclaim upon hearing the shortest snippet of this instantly recognizable band. I don't even know how to describe their music except to say that they sound like they'd make a great James Bond theme, which of course, they did. When this album came out, it sounded very edgy and very new, while still being something you could dance to. It still sounds great, and now I want to listen to more Garbage.

Very nice! I was glad to be introduced to this!

I was mystified and fascinated by this one. Do I like this? I don't know. I don't understand. It was certainly never unpleasant. Is it amazing? Is this the 21st century equivalent of prog rock? The feeling I had listening to this was like when my middle school students show me their favorite YouTube Shorts (famous example being Skibidi Toilet). As they seem like a completely random series of images and sounds to me, I have no idea why they like it or what it means, and I feel super old. Or in the words of Grandpa Simpson: "I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me." Today I really felt that for the first time in this project. It's not anything I reject or hate, but I just don't get it. It's something really Gen Alpha. And it's time for us to move forward in music! Bravo! Oh whole new world!

An enjoyable listen!

Wow! There were times when I was quite reminded of "The Most Unwanted Song" by Komar & Melamid and Dave Soldier. Let's see, opera singer, check! accordion, check! constantly changing genres, check! Other times I thought of Stefon on SNL: "This albums got everything! klesmer, harpsichord, death metal drums, Satie-esque piano, classical guitar, electronia, Inception buttons, screaming maniacs... Sort of like that old weather joke, "Don't like the music playing here? Just wait 15 seconds!" This was the antidote to all those monotonous 90-minute albums in the project. I don't know what the hell is was, but by end I shouted "again!"

This felt a little like hanging with some bros in the '90s. Maybe not my first choice, but I had fun listening to it today!

I noticed the lack of albums from Japan (or even East Asia as a whole) in the 1001 albums project, so I was happy to have this J-pop album to listen to. That said, this one is absolutely easy to listen to, but I can't say it's super memorable for me.

I haven't heard a good epic concept album in a long time (historically speaking). My Chemical Romance did it! Glad to have been introduced!

It's pretty dang cool overall

This doesn't feel like an untrodden path in this project, but it is one I enjoyed listening to more than some that were in the list. Quite enjoyable.

This was new to me, so it wasn't quite what the name "The Burning Hell" suggested to me. (Of course, the same happened with "Barenaked Ladies" back in the day, so there must be something to these lovely, quirky, smart Canadian indie bands.) Turns out I LOOOOOOOVED it. Every time I missed some lyrics I had to go back and check again, and it would always be delightful. And all the wonderful instruments appearing here and there to accompany them. I'm a fan, thank you!

This is great! What a journey through styles! I think this definitely brings some sadly neglected music to the project!

Lovely and sad, a very welcome addition to the wonderful Illinois album.

Sweden? Hell yeah, Sweden! Beautiful songs, beautiful harmonies, beautiful instrumental arrangements. I would be happy to just keep listening to this one all week.

Norway? Hell yeah, Norway! At first I just thought this was very lovely, but maybe not super distinctive, and then it proved me wrong by going to some very interesting places. Moog?! I love this lots!

I really liked the idea of this, but really didn't love listening to it.

There were some moments where I really got in the groove of this, but mostly I didn't.

This was one of the albums I thought might be in this project, so I was very glad to see it here! I think it's the best francophone album of at least the last 20 years. Love it lots!

This was beautiful and something well worth listening to. I would have been happy to give up a couple of Neil Young albums to hear more contemporary classical music in the project. This really caused me to feel some emotions while listening (although I couldn't exactly tell you what they were).

Here's a few random thoughts on why I chose this album: It was such a part of popular culture that I do think everyone should hear it. It's a part of 1960s culture that wasn't represented much--not everyone was listening to blues-inspired rock or folk. This music was still around and a huge part of my 70's childhood, especially on TV. The cover is iconic! I remember when there were a lot more instrumental songs on the radio and in the charts (did that end with Kenny G?) and I wanted to be reminded of that, and remember the great ones. I love the changing of styles of the popular songs--uptempo "Taste of Honey," striptease "Love Potion No. 9," a very Latin "Lemon Tree," and so on--I love when musicians play with songs like that. My 17-year-old son requested this album on our last road trip--I love that he loves this album. The musicians are awesome and that brass kicks ass. It's fun and joyful--those are important emotions, too!

Oh man, why wasn't this in the project? This defined the late '80s, I think! Why haven't I heard these songs in so long? And all together on one magical album! I wish I'd bought this back then. Horn section! I was so happy to listen to this today!

I first encountered this album in my college roommate's music collection circa 1987. I was not impressed with the band name or the music. Strange how I found it kind of catchy this time.

Love this!

Driving along my morning commute, enjoying Green's smooth voice and sweet Wurlitzer piano, I nearly had a few accidents as my attention was continually drawn away from potential road hazards to the lyrics. "What did he just sing? Where the hell did that come from? Am I not following the narrative? Oh my God, they closed the road for construction!" As soon as I could, I had to listen again (yay for so much goodness packed in a half hour!) and follow along to try and see if my attention was at fault or if the lyrics were, indeed, absolutely bonkers. Bonkers and brilliant! That said, even without the lyrics I would absolutely love this dreamy-sounding album.

I love this! Thank you!

I must admit that when I saw this album I thought sarcastically, "Well, here's an era and genre that wasn't well enough represented in the project!" And then I really enjoyed it and got annoyed that it wasn't there in the project when so many other lesser albums were. This is an album I'd play for someone if I wanted to represent the best of 1968. A really fun variety of good things here!

All the electronic sounds would have kept me from thinking this was really "indie folk," but then again it's part of such an interesting blend of genres. While I sometimes wondered if I liked it, I was always captivated by it and thought it had quite beautiful moments.

Personally, the '90s to me makes me think of the Dave Matthews Band right away, so I was a little surprised that they didn't slip any albums into the 1001 list. This isn't the album of theirs that I know best, but it's one I've really been impressed with, enjoyed, and so glad to have heard today. Good stuff!

What a crazy story! This means, even if I wouldn't put this on regular play, I loved it as the epic rock opera it is.

It's not often I've said this in this project, but I think I would have enjoyed this a bit more in my youth when it came out. I was familiar with Robyn Hitchcock's earlier album and found it quite fun and different back in the day. I maybe had just a little less patience for this as it seemed to go on a long time and the quirkyness felt a bit forced to my old jaded self. That said, I did like it a lot!

This is a 3.5 but I'm going to round up because I learned the difference between Dub and Reggae, and I liked it.

Super fun! Loved it.

Well, there was some breakin', some rappin', some breakin', some graffiti, some breakin', and then some Cylons! It has some very 80s throwback feels to it, and sometimes I really loved it!

This is some badass folk music! Listening to it, I felt like I was ready to start some epic shit as I pulled up to work. Love it!

I loved being introduced to this. They do like to play it all. So much fun! Five stars for five neat guys!

I recognized the name of Ani DeFranco and wondered, "Wasn't she a 70s disco singer?" As I started listening I realized how wrong I was, but also that I didn't really recognize the music. Only then did it come to me that she is frequently featured in the New York Times Crossword. Where was I in the 90s? Under some rock I guess. That said, I thought this was pretty great, and would have been well placed in the 1001 list.

This wasn't the best for driving to work on a groggy, dark morning. That might have skewed my take on it.

Really beautiful

This was a fun, catchy time. I always liked "Weird Science," but I am really glad to have enjoyed this whole great album.

It really rocked sometimes, but overall I got tired of it.

Lots of fun, and bonus points for a song about the movie Xanadu.

This hit the spot today. I again enjoyed The War on Drugs.

I enjoyed the Sparks album in the 1001 list, Kimono My House, but this is somewhat different with its disco Moroder beat. I love it, too! Bonus points for hearing some sorely missing disco from this project. Thank you!

I was very glad to hear more of The Lumineers today, only having really known "Ho Hey" previously—that being a favorite song. This was great, I loved it lots and I was not only just permitted to play the whole thing with my more musically picky spouse in the room, she loved it too. Thanks for a nice afternoon listening together!

I thought I was really going to like this at first but the longer it went on the less I enjoyed.

This made me think of the AM radio music in the background of late '70s summer memories. Enjoyable but not distinctly memorable to me.

It was lovely.

I was so happy to hear some catchy, dancy synth pop today! It feels like it's been forever since I've gotten to hear the like. This was new to me, as I'm not sure it made it to the US back in the day, and I really had a good time listening. Yay! Thanks!

I was unable to really connect with this today.

Once in a while, I really love a good metalcore song. (It doesn't really matter which one, since they all tend to sound the same.) I pump my fists and rock along. However, a whole album of metalcore just gets both grating and monotonous to me. I just think about how much the singer probably needs a cough drop.

I just love getting an album I've never heard of that blows me away with its amazingness. This puts together so many wonderful things in its own distinctive blend. Yay Valerie June!

Here's another album and group I'd never heard of, much less heard. The cover and year of release made me a little nervous about what I would be in for. Turns out it was silly to have any doubts about this recommendation. It evokes the best of power pop from a half-century ago, while at the same time feeling much more modern than 1993. Each song is a distinctive, grand theatrical creation and the whole thing is just goddamn fun. Thank you for sharing this! xx

I really liked the first two tracks and then got a little bored as it went on. I’m rounding up for that first part!

It was fun to hear my wife singing along with this one. Turns out she'd bought it when it came out. Really good!

Manu Chao's wonderful hand is evident in this splendid album. It's catchy and delightful. I love it!

For the second time in a week, I got to sing along with my wife to a project album. It was another of her favorites from the 90s that she had in her CD collection. (Often I can't play project albums around her.) I really love this one, and think it was a shame it was missing from the 1001 list. Mary-Chapin Carpenter writes a wonderful variety of poignant, funny, catchy, and beautiful songs and uses her voice so well to convey each style. This made our pre-Thanksgiving kitchen drudgery much more enjoyable today.

A very nice listen. I enjoyed it a lot.

I feel 18 years old when I listen to this (although maybe not the actual 18-year-old I was). Fun!

I and love and this!

A very nice groove to this!

This sort of thing might not always be my cup of tea, but it rocks and right now it feels spot on.

Well, I'm sure glad this was the remastered album! I did really enjoy most of these songs. I just wondered if the recording on a boom box was out of necessity or a deliberate choice. That would affect my rating (as a choice I don't love it). I got a little tired of the tinny sound by the end.

I'm always a sucker for raucous music with a horn section.

Besides "The Middle," this was new to me, and a very enjoyable visit today! Thank you!

I've always enjoyed a good The Weeknd single since "I Can't Feel my Face." However I've not listened to a whole album before. I found most of it a little too much auto-tuned falsetto slow songs for my taste. I still love "Blinding Lights," though! And "Save Your Tears."

I always appreciate something interesting in the mix. This was pretty interesting. But it was also something that I didn't enjoy at all today.

Wonderful! I loved this very much and am so happy to become more familiar with Chet Baker's music.

I was a bit confused when I thought the first track never ended, but it had a great sound and made for an interesting experience. The sound was both real now and retro. I enjoyed it.

Good 'n' funky. I enjoyed it!

I might not have ever said I'm a big Bob Seger fan, but this is a pretty incredible album! Respect!

Nice!

Pop is valid. I enjoyed this nostalgic visit to the 80s and the likes of some music I haven't heard in a long time. I love that Debbie Gibson wrote all the songs. A great change of pace!

I couldn't have told you earlier today that it wasn't Nik Kershaw's "Wouldn't it be Good" on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack, which I listened to hundreds of times in the later 80s. But I went back and listened, and that's definitely not Nik Kershaw. Weird. (I probably would have sung it "wouldn't it be nice" as it were. It's been a while.) I digress. It was a favorite song despite all that. I think I would have really enjoyed this album back then, too.

Really enjoyed this today!

a fun and funky five!

Wonderful! I'm very interested in seeing this show now...

Dreamy!

Breathy! Gloomy yet very soothing.

Awesome disco-y goodness! Groovin' through a boogie wonderland!

I liked the title and cover! Didn't really get into the music so much.

This just felt a little nostalgic for a kind of thing I never missed.

I wasn't hating he bland retro 80s style so much, but this definitely lost a point for some of the lyrics. Ew.

I was very excited to listen to this album after reading about it, and it is indeed unique and interesting...but I just didn't like listening to it so much. But hooray for the cello being used like I've never heard it before!

I have always loved the B-52s!

Hooray for sampling "Sweet Love" (but it just made me wish it would play "Sweet Love"). All the sampled quotes were fun (Logan's Run, Muppets...) but got a little much by the end. That said, it was distinctive from much of the rest of this project's hip hop, and I like the theme of the album and the persona of MF Doom.

If I were to note a missing Pink Floyd album from the list so far, it would have been this one. My older brother had this one (as well as Dark Side of the Moon), and I was fascinated by the cover. I assumed for a long time that it was a painting of an imaginary place. My jaw dropped the first time I saw a picture of the real thing in London. Despite that, I wasn't so in to the music of it at the time, as I was 9, and nothing here is as catchy as "Money." Still, there is a lot I really like about this album these days, and it was so good to fill in this gap.

This album came out after I started the 1001 albums project, meaning I've wanted to listen but never had time. Hooray for including it! I love it!

I loved revisiting this! It's been a long time.

It was cool and different. Very futuristic in a 70s kind of way.

It's definitely interesting and a creative blend, but I really didn't like listening to it.

A fresh sound that I liked a lot!

I think this would have been a great choice for the original list. It's a great and classic rock album.

I was introduced to John Martyn through his two albums in the 1001 list. Although I appreciated them at the time, I wasn't so much in the mood for another one today.

This hit just right today.

There are a number of my favorite bands from the early '80s who started as prog rock bands in the 70s. I did not love all of those earlier incarnations, especially at the time. This is one album I'd never heard, so it was a fresh, if skeptical, listen. I've got to say, I quite enjoyed this strange journey, including the detour through Deubussy. I'd still put on Eye in the Sky before this one for pure enjoyment, but the fact that I'd like to listen to this all the way through again is something after so so so so so many albums.

Can we all just agree that Weezer is the best band of all time?

Quite a production!

I wasn't sure how I was going to do with this album, but I found it very compelling. It managed to keep me involved the whole, long way through. Wow.

This almost got pushed up a point just for featuring a remake of "Crush" by Jennifer Paige. Bravo!

I had hoped for Flood to make an appearance in the 1001 list, but then I realized I haven't heard much from They Might Be Giants in a long time, other than their science album which I use in my teaching ("Meet the Elements" is a favorite of mine). So I was very happy to be introduced to some "new" music from TMBG. Yay!

This was my favorite project album to listen to in the last month! Yay, Eels!

I bought Room for Squares when it came out, and it was a favorite album of the time. I really enjoyed listening to this one!

I liked this sound.

This was a great big grab bag of fun!

I do enjoy The National! And I enjoyed this album, too.

I did like their sound at the time, but never listened to this album. I enjoyed!

I enjoyed watching Charli XCX on Saturday Night Live this year. I didn't quite love this album that much.

This took me back to gloomy cinder-block dorm rooms at my college in the 80s, where friends in gloomy moods in gloomy clothes would be listening to gloomy music and just couldn't even. I was so jealous, since I could never convey my own gloom as exquisitely, and the likes of Stacy Q's "Two of Hearts" was what I chose when depressed. An extra point for a nostalgic sound, although the gloomy monotone made me skip frequently.

I was intrigued to listen to what was described as "avant-garde folk music" but it ended up being just very annoying to me. Survey says?...2!

I enjoyed listening to this today, but it's not something I'd probably go back to.

As often as I've heard the classic Jimmy Buffett hits over and over, I've never listened to an album of his before. I really enjoyed it!

Kind of an amazing revisit to someone I haven't heard from in 35 years. It was very nice, feeling very much like The Cure for those of us who are over 50.

Smooth and lovely, but also so very very long...

Catchy, edgy, and smartly zany! A great combo.

This came out when I was in college, and I wish I'd known of it at the time. There are some tunes I think would have really rocked a few parties then. Well, at least it rocked me in the Subaru on the way to work today and made me laugh more than once!

For the historical value, this is definitely a 5! I loved hearing this early music of Louis Armstrong.

I had hoped to hear this album in the project! So, I was glad to hear it here, but had to agree that the others chosen for the 1001 book were all a bit more interesting for one reason or another. However, it and Björk are still magnificent!

This was nice, I enjoyed listening to it. It is one of many of its genre in the lists.

So, I couldn't make it through this one. Sorry.

Decent 90s alternative dude rock

I was glad to hear some Joe Jackson here. This isn't something I would have liked back when (I think my college roommate had this album) but I like it now.

This should absolutely have been on the 1001 list. I was so glad to listen to some Tori Amos here. Awesome stuff.

Very cool!