1001 Albums Summary

Maybe a little too whimsical in places, but I enjoyed this overall.

Good to start with, but ultimately became a bit numbing and boring.

Funky jazz.

Actually pretty good, the songs sounded a bit samey though.

I'd never heard of this guy, but it's a good album. Interesting and inventive.

Actually already listened to this! And loved it :)

God I hate this warbling, indulgent, "soulful" stuff that is about as meaningful and pleasant as a dribble of dog piss down a lamppost. Sorry.

I think the first user-recommended album that definitely deserves a place in the book. All the weirdness of prog but with a distinctly Canadian-French twist.

My top-rated review on here is a one-star write-up of Sufjan Stevens' "Illinois," which made me wish I was deaf. But this is better! At least there's some variety and the other guy adds some-much needed depth.

Genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed this. It just flows so nicely as an album and does that gapless thing which is so cool.

Really liked this. I'm sure I've heard "Mary Jane" on vinyl at some obscure club night in Bristol, but the rest is great, good-humoured and groovy.

I found this totally grating to start with, but the humour grew on me. Not great music to work to though.

In 1999, I almost crashed my car when the loud bit of "Like Herod" kicked in. Such a major omission from the original list and still so startlingly brilliant.

Surprised at how well this works. Hi-fi folk.

This is silly

I honestly thought I was going to hate this. And I did.

Almost too funky.

Garbage were such a weird little band. Here in the UK they were lumped in with grrl-power Britpop bands like Elastica and Lush, but in the US they were part of the post-grunge rock scene. Version 2.0 suffers from this weird lack of identity, and it feels constrained and more on the pop side of pop-rock. But "Push It" is fucking amazing.

This whole thing sounds like "The Fairytale of New York" if it was produced by Hans Zimmer.

Does what it says on the cover, but I really enjoyed the chunky stoner-rock riffs.

Absolutely perfect timing because I saw 28 Years Later after listening to this album. Not sure why I didn't listen to this sooner, but it's a unique take on post-rock, bringing in jazz and classical influences.

Interminable

I always have time for rapping/singing in languages that I don't understand. I found the arrangements here just a little too pop for my liking, but it was diverting enough anyway.

Annoyed with myself for not listening to this sooner! Reminds me a lot of Kanye, but more soulful and less rueful.

This should have been the Bjork album included here. Like Radiohead, it's when she was on the cusp between really good and borderline unlistenable. "Bachelorette" is the theme song to the best Bond film that never existed, and "All is Full of Love" still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Reminds me a lot of Pulp's "This is Hardcore:" sleazy lounge music delivered with a northern twang. Not sure it quite reaches the lofty heights of Pulp's dirtiest album, but it's still interesting and diverting.

The vocals remind me of TV on the Radio, but there's something just a little bit too lackadaisical about this whole thing, which may be the point, but it's just not for me.

Reminds me of an album from 30 years ago in the most pleasing way possible.

Definitely not what I was expecting given the album artwork. This is definitely on the softer side of hard rock, sort of a malleable clay, but that's not a bad thing at all, and it reminds of The Cult's goth adventures, but it also goes off on some esoteric tangents and even predicates the more harmonious nature of nu-metal. Like the best scary rockers, Peter Steele also seems like he was a genuinely nice bloke and it sucks that he died so young.

90s psych really was quite something. The alternative tunings here feel very Sonic Youthy, but maybe with a harder punk edge. Angular and arachnoid and arch and other pretentious words that start with A. Also nice to remember that there were American 90s bands who weren't bloody Nirvana.

Great music for bumming around on my bike on a sunny day

Lizard, and Mary Chain, Jones, Christ; I always get confused by all these. But I think these are the American ones everyone loves, and I can hear why. Somewhere between grunge and post-rock.

I wanted to like this more, but couldn't find anything to latch onto.

Not a fan to start with, and I thought the highlight was the Kate Bush cover. But it gets a lot better and more interesting as it goes along, getting into fascinating almost shoegazey instrumentals. The soundtrack to the greatest 80s horror-fantasy movie that never existed.

Liked this a lot. Musically intricate and great songwriting. The Alanis Morrisette it's OK to like.

I love the way that as soon as this begins to get a bit stale, Louis starts singing and it's like sunlight pouring into your soul.

Increasingly convinced that "Music Has The Right to Children" was a one-off, a lightning-in-the-bottle moment that could never be repeated*. "Geogaddi" is OK, but it can't quite match the unconscious weirdness of "Music," and occasionally and unfortunately resembles a Moby record or that kind of hideous "chill" that BoC inspired. It's far too long as well. *I've actually realised this is a lie because their Peel Session is stupendous.

Why isn't this on the original list? It seems like such a major omission, and it just feels like because The Breeders weren't angry like Hole or Garbage they got a bit buried beneath an increasingly tedious pile of grunge and alt-rock. Which totally fucking sucks. Kim Deal's voice is heartbreaking, at once girlish and innocent but able to crank it up when required. She takes the Pixies' oblique but entertaining lyrics and earworm riffs into more mysterious, feminine territory. Also, caught them live last summer (my son's first ever proper gig!) and they were so ridiculously happy and entertaining.

Irritating as hell, but such a time capsule of that 8-bit electroclash sound, which it feels has been diluted into everything from dubstep to K-pop.

Occasional sparks of brilliance are let down by a rich vein of horrific 90s humour throughout, totally exemplified by the oh-so-edgy cover. Irritating and cloying.

Really good live, just a happy guy enjoying the moment. Not sure if it quite translates to an album though: it does get stuck in a rut.

I'm not a huge Blade Runner fan - it's a bad film with a good ending - but there's no denying that the soundtrack and visuals combine to create a coherent sense of where and when this film is set. This expanded version of the OST includes tracks that I don't remember from the film. It's occasionally a bit too cheesy and atonal, but I love those soaring, squelchy synths.

It's like they took Limp Bizkit's "Mission Impossible 2" theme song and made it into a whole album.

Good, but not exceptional.

If Noam Chomsky became a pirate and joined a metal band this is what it would sound like.

Like being kicked in the balls (complimentary).

I did not know I needed to start my Friday with a five-and-half-hour, loud psych freak-out, but it turns out I did. I also listened to this record.

They should change their name to "Can't Listen To This No More."

Such a sweet soundtrack for a sunny Sunday morning. Love the way that all the tracks have relatively normal titles apart from "Love Potion No. 9," which is clearly cursed.

Lovely.

Scandinavian music of this time was never less than interesting. This is quite post-Radiohead, pre-Coldplay, with complex melodies making up for the occasionally weak lyrics.

Is this a joke

Super enjoyable. Lo-fi, playful and funny, but also mature and hard-hitting when it needs to be.

Great title and cover, but, like Tom Waits, I can't understand why this grating, wonky racket is so popular.

This should have replaced one of the numerous Elvis Costello albums on the original list.

If there was a prize for most American-sounding British band these guys would win it hands-down.

Equally funny and grating.

Nik Kershaw is still way cooler than you or I will ever be.

Not hugely keen on this genre of indie pop, but I liked how this flowed as an album, building to a descent crescendo.

This would have been five stars when it came out, and it definitely should have been in the book. It's a great album that pushed things forwards, but its blemishes are more obvious now, those slower, less excitable tracks that sound like "Moon Safari" outtakes. Etienne de Crecy's "Super Discount 2" is the better album here; it's the same genre but it never lets up.

I've been listening to a bunch of Led Zep lately, but I'm wondering if Pink Floyd are actually the better band. I really enjoyed this.

Feels like such a voyage.

Just the epitome of the 90s: the CD-player production, the smooth jazz compositions, the cover, the utter vapidity of the whole damn thing, like every track is the theme song to some horrible unfunny sitcom, delivered without any cynicism or wit, just get your words out of my ears, Bruce.

Halfway between Slipknot and At The Drive-In. The screaming man got a bit tiring after a while, it's like having a toddler on your record.

This was so much fun! James Brown for the 21st century.

Actually already listened to this as part of The Quietus' top 100 albums of 2024. But I listened again and I liked it again.

I can see why this didn't take off outside of Scandinavia.

Kind of weird in an enjoyable way.

Missed out on this, but it really feels like it was so important. Reminds me of the Avalanches in its use of samples, or Todd Rundgren in its ADHD-like refusal to sit still and settle on anything for too long, or maybe more experimental EDM like Boards of Canada or Oneohtrixpointnever. But the lyricism here is what really holds it together and elevates it; sort of like Kanye’s evil twin (debatable). "AllCaps" is so good.

Newest album I've heard on here! And fucking great. Becomes a little numbing in places, but this combo of angelic vocals and extreme metal is like nothing else on earth.

Caught Bob in Bristol a few years ago, there's something really moving and heartfelt about him. Loved this album.

I'm not sure if these guys have been featured on "The Bear" soundtrack, but this is the most "The Bear" music ever. Like that series, it's all very raw and emotional but also totally by-the-numbers and superficial and ultimately doesn't say or do anything that hasn't been said or done a million times before.

A blueprint for lo-fi and experimental music, really unfair how maligned Yoko has been. Yes, some of this goes a bit too far into the experimental realm ("Fly" especially), but the more fun tracks more than make up for it.

Blissful

Pretty good!

This sounded A LOT like REM, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It hasn't dated as badly as other music of this era. RIP Gord.

Ahead of the curve, just not always that listenable.

fuck me this is unlistenable

Great background music.

Smelly music made by a smelly man for smelly people.

Never start a sentence with "I."

Funky and jazzy and oh god I just can't.

Avril Lavigne's moody older sister (and she was already a moody older sister).

Did we just forget how to pace albums? This starts great, with a kind of sly wit and intelligence that only seems to have emerged over the past decade, but it gradually loses its way. I think that this kind of acerbic songwriting outstays its welcome pretty quickly — Pulp, who are the progenitors of this genre, made it work by including more variables on "This is Hardcore." "Deep Down Happy" isn't bad, but it either needs to be shorter or have more variety.

Echo and the Bunnymen but without being extremely fucking annoying in places.

The kind of thing I would have loved at the time.

Probably their best? Just so layered and textured.

This was really nice.

Five stars for the mere fact that this is on here. It's still so polished and slick, and the electroclash production and her silky smooth voals shine even when the songwriting doesn't. "Some Girls" is the best song Girls Aloud never recorded.

I just want to listen to albums that don't give me a migraine on the first track is that so much to ask

I don’t know what I expected; I was deep into my German techno/Scandi-stoner-rock odyssey when this came out and I’d heard of them but never heard them. But I quite like it. It’s short (as albums like this should be) and it has that kind of distant, echoey production that makes it feel slightly disconnected and detached, in that bleak and wintry way that all Christmas songs should sound.

Nice to find gentle, tender Beyoncé among the shouty, angry Beyoncé.

I'm usually a sucker for this kind of stuff, but this just felt so empty and meaningless and weightless. Also, I thought user albums had to have a Wikipedia page attached to them? There are so many albums I love and would have submitted without Wikis.

Reminded me of XTC in that they're very good but somehow not essential.

Not hugely amazing.

Thought this might be too derivative, and it sounds like it might be to start with, but it actually goes to some interesting places within its very 70s template.

Radiohead for people who found Kid A too weird.

I really do think "Drinking in LA" is one of the best pop songs of the late-90s, but I always suspected Bran Van 3000 were one-hit wonders and this dreadful album just confirmed it.

Who gave Bruce Springsteen all the heroin.

I like what they do, I just don't like how they do it. Very much following Green Day's "American Idiot" template, and in some ways sharper, but I'm not sure it all works all that well and it's cloying and cheesy in places. I guess at least they gave a voice to a lot of disenfranchised kids.

Not sure why this wasn't on the original list, it's not amazing and those artificial synth sounds have dated horribly but Hutchence's presence and the innovative pop orchestration elevates it. It feels a lot like what New Order were trying to do in combining rock and electro, but it's more commercial and less clever.

I don't understand how this is so boring and predictable.

Liked the more prog elements of this. Didn't like the spoken word stuff.

This was spangly and interesting and kind of amazing. Not sure how they passed me by at the time, but I have a vague recollection of them. At times it feels like a double-album isn't enough to contain them.

I initially gave this one star and a pithy review ("clearly not"), but the more I listened the more I loved it. Reminds me of a lot of psych/trance of this time, but it just totally goes on a trip towards the end. The album art is classic too.

I could definitely get behind this. Folk without whimsy, interesting and intricate.

Liked this, despite the immature misogyny in places.

Good but kinda watery.

The kind of music that plays on a gramophone in a horror video game. I usually like this kind of stuff (I'm a huge Pye Corner Audio/The House in the Woods fan), but I was just waiting for it to do something, anything, and that moment never came.

Rough as hell, but just as nature intended. Gets extra points for "this is a song I wrote with my mother..." and Iggy getting eggy.

He's a very clever and talented singer-songwriter, but this soon got so fucking tiring and boring and I had to turn it off.

Interesting title given that this came out just before COVID hit. Interesting album too, found myself drifting off in places though.

Just right; folk that's not too distracting.

So cheesy I had it with crackers and grapes.

Loved the weirder and darker spoken-word elements of this, the punk songs were pretty good too.

Love these guys so much. 80s (90s) rock it's OK to like.

I really do love this guy.

Turns out Aquaman is a pretty good musician.

Not sure if this is here as a joke, but this was so predictable and boring.

I just don't get them. Maybe I would have if I listened to them when I was high in my early 20s, but now they're just so soporific and numb that I can't get on board with them.

TIL that bald actor fella from "Men" and the guy from Future Islands are different people.

Interesting but not entirely sure this works. I guess it does for some people.

This was just kinda nice. Bit of a shame I've turned to stone after looking at the album cover though.

This is great. Those bass riffs. It's a bit too long and a little irritating in places, but it's what the Red Hot Chili Peppers could never do.

I've never really got ska. It's like they're trying to fit too much music and lyrics into too little time.

Not sure why every track seems to have someone trying to do an impression of a duck on it. I think that, like their homophonic mates MBV, their sound becomes overwhelming and numbing, and when the album is 75 minutes long it just becomes kind of boring. I know that's the point, but it lacks the ebb and flow of, say, Pink Floyd. But the songs work well on their own.

These guys are from my city! I know people who know them. They're good fun and raucous, but also not afraid of having conversations about male mental health issues.

Nothing special.

This was really good. But bloody AI artwork

Thought they were a bit more emo. Surprisingly sweet, but didn't do a huge amount for me.

Red Hot Chili Lepers.

Not bad, but not brilliant either. It felt musically weak in places, even though I'm sure he's classically trained and completely brilliant.

Really liked this. She has such a sweet Londony voice that contrasts nicely with the pop-rock arrangements. Definitely a precursor to Saint Etienne. "Andy Warhol is Dead" sucks though!

Mostly good. A little annoying in places, but it rocked harder than I thought it might and reminded me of Led Zeppelin a little bit.

Good but a little too slight and nice.

This was ... nice. Not groundbreaking but I enjoyed it.

Great title. He was such a legend; I don't think his lyrics ever got above O-level poetry, but he had so much charm and humour and it really shows here.

I get that this won't be for everyone, but it's definitely for me. Massively underrated and overlooked, I think one of the first dark ambient albums, that takes in weird loops and echoey sounds and semblances of melody to create something unholy and ethereal and timeless. Absolutely adore some of the bands this inspired: AUN, The House in the Woods, Pye Corner Audio, even The Field to an extent.

Great fun! I think 53 Miles West of Venus is my favourite B-52's song.

They remind me so much of Mansun, particularly "Six," just the way that they're constantly changing and screwing with their sound, and that carnival-like atmosphere. Almost switched this off at the start, but I'm glad I didn't.

I found this a bit annoying to start with, and it felt wholly predictable, and then I didn't pay attention to the rest at all, but not in a bad way.

This is great, like Taylor Swift but with a vital shot in the arm, some kind of life that isn't robotic and packaged, even if this is probably robotic and packaged and designed to sound like it isn't. But anyway, I feel like modern pop owes as much to "Frozen" as it does to anything; sweeping, operatic vocals.

Just so damn charming and nice, what a superstar.

Like bands with "Jesus" in their names, I always get bands with "Mouse" in their names confused too: Modest, Dead, ... on Mars, Danger. These guys were good though! They felt like a precursor to The Strokes, that scratchy and very New Yorky sound (I actually have no idea where they're from, it's probably Dubrovnik or something), but also mixed with something heavier and more interesting.

Proper prog!

I literally thought this was an album by Burt Lancaster and I was surprised that he had a side gig as a Mexican (I think!) pop band. Quite disappointed to learn the truth.

"Go With The Flow" is one of my favourite songs of all time; it's just so dynamic and visceral, and I do like "No One Knows" a lot. But this album has not stood the test of time: the wacky GTA-radio like interstitials, the weaker songs: "Six Shooter," "Another Love Song;" they drifted away from Kyuss-like stoner rock and tried and failed to do different things. It's at once their highest point and the beginning of their end.

Found this on Bandcamp, like it to start with but it's a bit too long.

I definitely have a love/hate relationship with Slowdive. I used to really like this album, but I saw them live a few years ago and found them a bit too bland and watery, and I didn't like their recent output. I think I just don't like the way the guy sings. But revisiting this has reminded me how good they can be. It doesn't rock out as much as fellow shoegazers Ride, but it's more melancholic and swirling, lost among dreams and reverb pedals.

A Squier is a cheaper model of a Fender guitar that's still pretty good. Billy Squier is a cheaper version of Led Zeppelin that's still pretty good.

Slipknot for slightly smarter people.

Really hit the spot. Short, catchy songs with so much energy.

I cannot thank whoever put this on here enough. I heard "Werewolves of London" on the radio last week and it got stuck in my head, and I've been trying to get a track ID ever since. I thought it was a Roxy Music song because there is one that is remarkably similar. I sort of gave up looking for it, but here it is! And it's a wolf moon here in the UK at the moment. OK: so update. I wrote this yesterday while I was listening to the album, and then watched Pat Finnerty's video on the Kid Rock song that samples "Werewolves of London." Which I thought was even more weird, but then I realised that he plays the Kid Rock song on other episodes that I'd previously watched, which might explain why the song was so stuck in my head.

If you like Daft Punk songs with muddier bass and shittier drums and screaming this is the album for you!

Yeah, pretty good. I've heard of these guys for some reason?

At first I thought the cover was terrible AI! But obviously it's not. This is stupid, gleeful fun though, just what you want from this kind of metal: not taking itself too seriously, but absolutely ridiculously technically proficient.

I enjoyed this, I think I prefer post-rock to noise-rock, but it's still good.

Stuff from 10ish years ago is the most dated stuff ever. This is hipster cringe.

I'm beginning to wonder if I have a great taste in music, or if I'm just a bit of a dick who thinks music should sound like music I like. I really wanted to hate this, but it moved in some really interesting directions, and I started to wonder if I really should hate music of this genre/era.

I knew "Sugar Man" from a David Holmes compilation I had in the early 00s. The rest of this is great though, very post-Dylan, but it has a bigger, rockier sound.

Great musically, but I hate the way he sings. Like a primary school teacher.

This was fun! I don't really know what any of it means.

Actually enjoyed this, musically varied and rolling RRRs all over the place.

Reminded me of The Dandy Warhols in the way it takes a British sound and Americanises it, makes it bigger and more aggressive. Really liked it. Also reminded me of the Foo Fighters in places.

There's a song here called "Mayonnaise a gogo" and I think that's all you need to know.

I remember this whole thing happening, seeing those two enormous head sculptures perched on Earl's Court, and closely examining the blinking light on the CD in Our Price a year or so later. The whole thing just seemed so damn expensive, but I guess it was all worth it. And I really did want to hate this for its indulgence and its pretentiousness and the fact that it's just a live album, but the simple fact is that I've grown to love Floyd (mainly because of the 1,001 project), and hearing these songs in these new arrangements, dragged out and orchestrated for maximum impact and drama, is just so pleasing to the ear, and those 3D stereophonic effects add so much. I wish I was there.

This was great, some of Miles Davis' enthusiasm and intense clouds of emotion, but different and varied. So amazing how this collection of instruments can produce music that has such different shapes and forms, but I guess that's the point.

Reminds me of heroin. A pleasant warm and comfortable feeling, while quietly killing you because you've never solved the problems that are eating you from within, and destroying society by driving crime rates up around the world.

An English take on Slipknot-era metal; it sounds great but I always find music like this more funny than threatening. The band look like butter would't melt in their mouths, but here they are singing about death and annihilation. Bless 'em.

Like Air in places, very croony and cheesy in others.

Really liked this. Kept changing direction and never not interesting. Reminded me of Mansun just a little bit.

This is so playful and a reminder of how fun and innovative hip-hop was. There are moments here that are so stripped-back and simple that they could almost be modern tracks (I listened to Nourished by Time yesterday and it sounds kinda similar in places), but at other times it does become a bit boring and stale. Still a great record though.

The production is spot-on, but god there's not a whole lot going on here is there?

I do find it weird how some bands become huge in the US but never quite crack the UK. I'd never heard of these guys, and I wasn't really listening to new music when they were about, but they're good, a little goofy and tender.

Timeless and beautiful.

Do you like The Libertines? Well this band sounds exactly the same. (I don't like The Libertines)

Somehow this 2009 album teleported me from 2026 to 1987 and now I'm stuck here. Send help.

Reminded me of Muse in that they're very technically competent and relishing in post-Radiohead melancholia, but they also don't seem to have a damn thing to sing about.

This was a blast from the past! I love how it all ties in together, the music and the aesthetic of the game. Reminds me of a Cornelius album a lot.

Never not interesting.

I feel like Christian rock gets a pass among the music press because they're generally nice people, and that American reviewers are also probably Christian. But this way of being Christian rock without outwardly saying it, like they're embarrassed about it, it just feels so disingenuous, like a weird underhand tactic to sign young people up for what is basically mainstream cult. And it's all so shiny and nice that it glosses over the fact that they don't have a goddamn thing to say.

Love his soundtrack work, and this was great to start with, but it did get a bit samey after a while.

Honestly haven't been a huge fan of these guys so far, but this was actually just right. I'm facing huge deadline stress right now, and this helped calm my brain down just a little bit. Reminded me of Neil Young in places, too, which is never a bad thing.

Enjoyed this in a sub-Weezer way.

Why does this guy sing like a cartoon manatee.

The title is one of my dad's favourite sayings. Fuzzy guitar and incisive and funny lyrics. It has a kind of humility that only Australians can deliver. And it's really well-paced as an album.

Fun punk. Fun, punk.

Music can just be really nice sometimes, can't it?

Roger Waters is one of the few men who's become more attractive as he's aged. Unfortunately his music seems to have gotten worse.

Probably the first western album I've heard with a really definite K/J-pop influence. No bad thing at all.

This was great. I still have no idea where they're from though.

Smooth but also kind of chunky, like vomit (complimentary).

Really liked this, kind of equal parts The Cult and Echo and the Bunnymen, but also its own semi-goth-rock thing.

Hits the spot. Very post-Rage with a bit of At The Drive-In thrown in. A lot of fun.

I don't know, they clearly know how to structure a song and progress chords and stuff, but lyrically it feels a bit A-level, a bit Muse.

Those 80s synths still sound so good, but I think I prefer them when they started sounding evil.

Remarkable if only for the sheer number of singles this album generated.

I like her a lot, but I'm not sure if this really works? It feels like it's made by a 13-year-old girl who's just discovered Urban Dictionary. Unconvincing.

Short, sharp, and sweet.

All a bit too clever for its own good, until "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal," which I thought was a cover of a song by Wire or Magazine. And then it goes back to being a bit too clever for its own good.

Wishy-washy chill that admittedly did get a bit more interesting towards the end.

I didn't know Status Quo were good.

Just right.

Imagine if Oasis had something to sing about.

Loved pop music of this era, but I also really like music in languages that I don't understand, because I don't get distracted by the words. So this was a win/win. The production is immense as well.

Every track sounded like that fucking Jet2 Holiday song, fuck that shit.

From this cover, I guessed this was going to be complete shit, and Australian. I was right on one of those things.

Enjoyed the quieter parts more than the roaring.

I had a lot going on yesterday, so I didn't really take this in at all, but what I paid attention to sounded pretty good?

This guy needs help.

A total bridge between 80s and 90s metal, and stuff like Slipknot. Never heard an album that reminded me of so many things at once. Great fun.

I was always a bit of an indie kid, but this kind of music was so much better than the utter garbage of this time. It was like metal reflected post-millennial and 9/11 angst better than witless bands. And this is great.

Listened to this twice. Enjoyed the soaring orchestral moments and the crazy vocals, but that one loop did get a bit repetitive.

There's obviously a horrifically sad story attached to this record, but that doesn't mean it's not shit. As much as I find Daft Punk kind of annoying, at least they had a sense of humour and wit, but this is kind of just Crazy Frog over and over again with better production values, the worst kind of Eurodisco techno, meaningless "feel-good" lyrics and one-finger keyboard riffs. Yes, it's very shiny and exciting and technically well-produced, but so are nuclear weapons.

I really fucking hated this. Overwrought and needy. Music like this died in 2010 for a reason.

This is my addition! And seeing the three-to-zero star reviews pour in has made me question my choice; I wish I'd included Underworld's "Beaucoup Fish" or Etienne de Crecy's "Super Discount 2" or Corenlius' "Point" or Pharoah Overlord's "#1". But listening to it again, I think I made the right choice. I was 17 when this came out; I caught the band at Glastonbury, got second-hand high, and it was like a gateway into another world. It was like dance music but dirtier and nastier, more powerful than labelmates Fatboy Slim, epic sonic voyages that take their time to get going but really capture you. It's always hard to divorce yourself from something you love (as anyone who's been married will know), but I completely understand why people might not get this: the vocalist's sub-Mark E Smith's meanderings can be a bit grating, and the mix is, well, lo-fi (I'd love to hear a remaster of this). But it still stirs something deep within me, a reminder of a time when I suddenly understood that music could be so much more than a few bored blokes standing around with guitars. Also, the Spotify edition is missing "Battleflag," which adds a natural crescendo to the album and became big in the USA. You can listen here: https://open.spotify.com/track/5Q8TJJf4X18GRemriCEUs2?si=a14d676acb2b46db

Sorry, I don't remember a single thing about this.

50/50: good and genius/annoying and indulgent. The fact that it sounds like nothing else of this era nudges it up to three.

It's like Jive Bunny lying on his back, naked, and pissing all over the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. A crass, tasteless, but admittedly very impressive achievement.

O K

Maybe I was just getting warmed up or something, but I found the first disc so-so and the second disc borderline miraculous (especially "Dirty Boy").

Wait, this is the guy who did "Lady in Red?" The most godawful pop song of the 80s? That guy? Did an album that flits between dreamy prog and Dickensian tablature? The "Lady in Red" guy?

Nowhere near enough authentic reggae on the original list. This is fucking mint.

I had no idea what to expect from this, and to be honest having listened to it I still have no idea what, exactly, it is. But it's great! Taking dubstep (I think) and using it as a vehicle to explore a multitude of genres. Those choppy bass sounds have dated a bit (I'm old and I know something has dated, woohoo!) but it's so nice to hear something that's positive and doesn't make me want to slash my wrists.

Fun fact: I'm exactly the same age as Sum 41's bassist, which may explain why I always had a bit of a soft spot for them. Definitely prefer them to the other bands of this era/genre, they're fun and likeable but also really good songwriters who know how to do punk without it becoming offensive or stupid.

Not quite the Leonard Cohen tribute I was expecting, but unique and interesting nonetheless. Lyrics a bit trite and on the nose in places though.

He never lost his touch, did he? He must have been worth a fortune at this point, but it feels like he's still got an ear to the ground and he knows what's going on. I guess some of the attitude might seem a bit dated and offensive now, but he was laying the foundations of progress. Love the artwork as well! 1989 was the single best year for album art.

So fucking annoying. The "Billie Jean" cover was the final straw on this camel of fucking annoyingness.

2010: the year everyone lost the ability to sing in tune.

Kind of music I probably would have loved at the time. Takes a lot more from bands the other side of the pond at this time (Slint, Sonic Youth) than their Britpop brethren, while also sounding a bit like Mogwai or Arab Strap. Desolate and dispondent in the best possible ways.

In 1985, Arthur Russell was employed by GRANT guitar effects pedals to record a demo of their equipment. Unforunately, Russell spend all of his advance on LSD. While the recording (World of Echo) demonstrated the full potential of the pedals, it was so weird that it sunk GRANT and there is no evidence of their existence, not even on the internet.

Didn't really feel anything?

So small and perfectly formed, and a stepping stone between 80s indie and 90s shoegaze. Assumed they were from Austin or somewhere but they're actually from Bristol!

Do Summer of 69!

The story about the woman on the cover is more interesting than the album itself.

I needed to focus and this had too many words.

Enjoyed this more than I thought I might, self-reflexive country and western that's a great deal smarter than the slop this genre became in the 80s and 90s.

Okonkole y Trompa 😮

I'm old enough to remember the cool kids having 30 Something long-sleeve t-shirts in the 90s, and I'm also old enough to realise that these "cool" kids weren't actually that cool, it's just that I thought they were cool. A bit like Carter themselves, weird and gawky and not quite like any other band before or since (except Pulp, maybe), but somehow funny and cynical and smart at the same time. I feel like it's one of the few albums that's better than I remember it, if only because I understand it more now.

One of those bands I've heard a lot about, but never actually heard. I looved Imperial Drag and this is a bit like them, but also quite a lot like XTC. But also slightly disappointing if I'm honest.

Enjoyed it

Wanted to give this a low rating as I initially thought it was Kate Bush if Kate Bush wasn't weird, but it's definitely more than that, and Cornflake Girl is still such a remarkable song.

The metal bits of this are great, the techno bits not so much. And I usually like German techno! Actually, the metal bits aren't that good either. It's all awful.

This was marvellous. Listened twice, once on crappy wireless buds and once on decent headphones, to get the full experience. Rich and detailed and completely unique.

Love their style, but it did get a bit tedious after a while.

What even is this.

Better than I initially thought it would be

I liked this as an alternative to the sausage fest that was late-00s/early-10s music.

I think I had this when I was about 20, didn't really get it at the time. I understand it a bit more now though.

Ska that I actually liked, WTF.

Yikes. This was such a formative album for me, the first time I'd heard something genuinely weird and proggy, but operating within the boundaries of Britpop. But it's not quite like I remember it. It's soaring and beautiful in places, but so utterly childish and bratty in others. It doesn't help that Paul Draper has been acting like such a dick in recent years. I'd like to think "Six" is better, but I'm worried it'll have the same effect.

Just right, metal that's never unlistenable. I appreciated the way it calmed down a bit towards the end as well.

31 going on 72.

Appreciated the variety here.

I don't remember this at all! And I wasn't even drunk. Can't be that good.

Better than "Common People," I think, even if it is a dry run for that album. I think the music is better here, and there are fewer weak tracks. I never really realised how much they sound like New Order. Jarvis is at once sleazier and more fresh-faced, it's less bleak than "Common People," awkward and sexy in equal measure. "Babies" has always been my favourite Pulp song.

Somehow just really classy, proper RnB.

If Dylan was ... I don't actually know where this person is from.

This was a lot better than I thought it might be based on the cover (I'm sure there's a lesson there!), and I liked the way its sources were so esoteric and it didn't sit still. But it ran out of steam towards the end.

If you're going to make a comedy album, it helps if you're funny.

I think I prefer Danny Brown, but this was still decent and solid.

Never really rang true with me, didn't rock out enough.

Not quite Mogwai good, but still pretty good.

Good recommendation. I don't think I've ever heard such a coherent album outside of the 1970s; it never strays from the path but it also never becomes boring.

I've realised that I really don't like Queen at all, but that every album I listen to includes one track that I do really, really like. Unfortunately, I can't remember which track it was, and I'm not inclined to find out.

A pleasant surprise! I had "Patio Song" as a single but never heard the whole album. I really like them, they're a lot like their Welsh brethren Super Furry Animals, but they lean more into esoteric folk without ever becoming annoying.

Just so great to hear this kind of music with female vocals. Wished the album was a bit longer though!

What in the Photoshop is that artwork? Enjoyed this though, it dragged in places but always brought it back together.

Something new! And it's great. Made me laugh. I like that music can be funny.

Bjork, Goldfrapp, I kind of lost track of whatever came next in this sequence. But I think it's this! It softens Goldfrapp's electroclash hardness into something more folky and ethereal, but maintains electronic undercurrents. Loved it.

I really love "Steppin' Out," but that's not on this album, which I just found incredibly boring; it's like Elvis Costello but more boring, and it's not helped by the tinny mix. Why were these British white guys doing this? It's got to be the most cringe thing in popular music. And I hate his fucking shoes! Who would wear shoes like that? They look so stupid and impractical. The only thing I picked up on is that "Is She Really Going Out With Him's" bassline sounds just like "Scooby Snacks" by the Fun Lovin' Criminals.

This was a very unexpected and incredibly dramatic start to my Monday morning. And I actually liked it, it's got the trappings of opera but they're translated to compositions that work more like rock songs. Lloyd Webber was kind of the Sid Vicious of the theatre scene.

I think I still prefer Kyuss overall, but this was pretty amazing nonetheless.

Actually almost cried when this came on. I had "Untitled" on Adam Freeland's "Back to Mine" compilation, and hearing it took me straight back to summer 2005, when everything was bright and promising. It's a beautiful song, at once sad and uplifting. The rest of the album is great as well, even if it can't live up to that opener. But, Jesus, they should sue LCD Soundsystem for basically stealing their whole thing.

Not sure if this is from 1971 or 2010? In a good way?

I liked "Phantom of the Opera" being on here, but I'm less sure about this. I mean it's great, and obviously a really important and totally unexpected musical, combining the tropes of the form with hip-hop songwriting. But I've never seen it. Listening to the audio alone is kind of like reading the Wikipedia plot summary and getting all the spoilers. I guess if you've seen the musical this will mean a lot to you, but I'm not sure it belongs on here.

1) Cover is not indicative of the content 2) Guy really needs to get over himself

Are the band using this service? They're so absolutely mediocre and I'm not sure why they keep showing up here. It references The Bends but they're such a pale imitator of Radiohead that they might as well be a ghost. They remind me of someone like Feeder or Muse; competent musicians who don't have any decent ideas for songs.

Enjoyed how soft this was, but the lack of backbone really made it drag.

I remember when I learned swear words as well! I was 12. This guy sounds about 45. And he doesn't have a Wiki page, which I thought was one of the rules here?

I was kind of dreading this because it's marked as "emo" (and I shouldn't really have a problem with emo tbf), but it really helped me understand where emo came from as an extension of the lo-fi, downcast work of Pavement. I feel like the Alan Grant of music now.

Even if a one-trick pony's trick is interesting and cool, it's still just one trick, and that's the point of the analogy.

I remember listening to this with my housemates in 2003, we all carted our stereos into a room and synced them up and it was kind of fun. We probably should have had more weed. Not entirely sure it makes sense separately (and, on Amazon Music* at least, there's no mixdown of the those thing), but it's an interesting experiment nonetheless. *The worst thing about having a low income is that I have to use an Amazon Music trial now.

One of the first albums I ever owned, alongside Reef's "Replenish", which somehow sits nicely with this as albums that sound like they were made in LA by bands who aren't from LA. I remember liking this, then hating it because the NME gave them a shitty review. With the benefit of hindsight, I can see why people hated them (they're a goofy and silly take on grunge) and why people liked them (they're a goofy and silly take on grunge).

Verges into pastiche in places, it's extremely annoying at times, and I'm not sure some white guys from The Netherlands can quite nail a genre that's so rooted in Black America. But somehow it works, even though it really shouldn't.

I liked this, but it's just too indie.

They seem to be obsessed with finance.

I was expecting this to be cheesy as hell, but it's actually so damn good. Intelligent songwriting and it's refreshingly free of some of the nastiness you typically find in this genre.

This is like the music they'd play in a montage in a 90s movie where some teen newspaper reporters discover the truth about a conspiracy.

I remember people being more excited about the idea of Daft Punk scoring a "Tron" movie, and the soundtrack itself, than they were about the movie. But it sucks. It feels like it's taken Daft Punk far outside of their comfort zone and into dreary, sub-Hans Zimmer orchestration with tacked-on electronica flourishes. John Powell's "Bourne" soundtracks did this whole thing so much better.

I've accidentally listened to this twice now and the only thing that's really stood out has been the Christopher Walken quotes. The band are just kind of boring.

I really like them and what they're doing.

Enjoyed this, funky rock that's NOT the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

MOR

Chill

Sort of like Taylor Swift vomiting in the corner at a party.

My best mate was a huge fan of this when it came out, I always liked it a lot too and I caught them live (and never heard anything ever again). It's still great, especially the way that first chord kicks in. Reminds me a lot of MBV, but doomy and droney and very Japanese and Japanese doomy in a way that only Japanese people know how to do.

There is nothing more dated on planet earth than stuff from about 10 years ago. This is horrific music for gaming videos on YouTube and nothing more.

Another album that started promisingly, but descended into boring filler type stuff.

I want to take whatever drugs these guys were taking.

Good fun, but not quite as full bodied as other rock of this era. I'm not sure what I mean by that but it sounds clever.

Fucking love this. It hasn't dated as badly as its contemporaries and every track seems to do something unexpected or surprising.

They've never quite matched "Smoko," but this is still stupid and fun and silly, even if they are a bit of a novelty act.

I really, really enjoyed this, despite complaining about too much of The Boss on the original list. This live recording really captures his character and his energy, and I really wasn't expecting those extended jazz freakouts. Gains a point for what sounds like Janine from "Spinal Tap" shouting "turn the guitars up!"

Occasional flashes of brilliance, but mostly irritating as hell.

Enjoyed this a lot; it actually feels authentic and fun, and it's a lot better than those Fisherman's Fiends we have in this country.

Somehow this sounds less dated than most electronic music that was released in the 80s and 90s.

Interesting, if not entirely successful.

Not exactly radical, but still pretty good and the kind of thing I would have liked at the time.

I hate The Beautiful South.

Just so unbelievably good. Somewhere between Queen and Floyd, but maybe better than either of those. The production is mint, too.

Didn't listen to the whole thing, but I heard enough to get the jist. Reminded me of Swedish pop/rock bands of this era.

I don't remember much about this, other than they sounded young, loud and snotty, Oxford comma notwithstanding.

So good it made me melt.

The CD should come packaged in a bubble wrap of sadness.

I really love this combo of midi synths (I think!) and sax (I think!). Dreamy and Lynchian.

My flatmate was a huge fan of this band, I always found them a bit cheesy, but I admire the orchestration. I think the lead singer might have been one of the first rockstars to come out as neurodiverse, so there's that.

Not what I was expecting at all, reminded me of Avalanches or "Hello Nasty"-era Beasties, but doing its own chill thing.

Goodoo

I haven't listened to this for at least 25 years now. I always preferred the first Foos album as it was so raw and aggressive, it was like a break-up album. "The Colour and the Shape" sounds better than I remember it; it's a much more polished album than "Foo Fighters," with hi-fi production and poppier songwriting. When it's good ("Everlong," "Monkey Wrench") it's their best, but it's also got a certain midwestern corniness that brings it down a bit.

Got the jist of this and didn't really feel the need to listen to the whole thing.

They've changed a bit since "Common People."

I was expecting cheesy country rock, but this is amazing! So many big names on one album, and you can just feel all the passion through the music. Beautiful and very human.

I had no idea this was a thing, and what a thing it is! I can see why it didn't hit home, it's not as "nice" as the Talking Heads' or Tom Tom Club's work (they swear!), but the guest stars and heavy riffage bring something else to it. It's what the first Unkle album should have been, more cohesive and less compromised.

Are you Syrius

This was a bit tedious and over-indulged, but it gains a star for the fact that the Mountain King appears to be wearing flip-flops.

I remember her being a thing, kind of the first musician I was aware of targeting gamers and geeks. She's obviously smart, but also a bit smug and egotistical, and it does seem like she's a bit of a dick IRL.

Probably about as good as it gets within the confines of ska, and a pretty good precursor to the ska nu-metal genre they was a thing I think?

Not as violent as their name makes them sound. There was something I enjoyed here, but the fact that I can't remember what it was means that it can't have been that enjoyable.

This was great. It was swelteringly hot here and it was the perfect soundtrack.

Nyancat if it was an album.

Reminded me of At The Drive-In in places, no bad thing.

Sounded like Swans quite a lot, just not quite as good.

It belongs in the 80s!

Hey, look, new music I actually like!

I didn't realise that an album could be intensely irritating in a good way. Reminds me of Mansun and Prefab Sprout, but playful and a bit more 8-bit. Goes all over the place but is somehow gestalt. I love saying gestalt at the moment. I don't really know what it means.

New Order when they were actually new.

This was absolutely delightful. I'm currently working in a shed in the countryside and this suited the mood perfectly.

Polished and coherent, but it lacks the weird, punkish attitude her earlier work has and it's just too polished.

Did the job, a little 90s sitcom jazz in places, but overall really enjoyable.

What happened to these guys?

What's interesting here is how much this sounds like a Japanese videogame soundtrack, even though games were very much in their most primitive form at this stage. There's a cleaness to everything from the melodies to the production that just transferred so well to musical hardware.

The production on this is amazing, but it does get a bit insipid in places. Love "Rain" though! Good on her for outliving that cheesy dance anthem too.

Decline of My Attention Span by British Sea Power

Equally interesting and weird. Definitely where Daniel Lapotin/Oneohtrixpointnever got a lot of his ideas, I have no idea if I've spelt either of those correctly.

I'm sure this has been tried before a lot of times (Vanessa Mae, Mylene Klass?), but it never ever works. It just feels like someone playing a classical instrument over the most tedious and uninteresting electronica of the time, and the two end up sucking the life out of one another. This could have worked as a 30-minute album, but at an hour-plus it's completely unendurable.

I like him and I like this.

Now I know how people feel when they listen to my contribution to this list (How To Operate With A Blown Mind by Lo-Fidelity Allstars). This is pretty good, it has genuine urban character and it's great fun. But, as with Lo-Fis, its let down by a flatness in the mix. It feels like dance music underwent a seismic shift in the early-2000s (especially house and techno) into much more sonically dynamic and experimental form.

Had to double check that this wasn't on the original list. It should be! I was always a little hesitant about The Cranberries because I lumped them in with other female-led soft rock bands like Texas, but they're much more grungy and they have more edge. "Linger" really is one of my favourite songs of all time and I've spent most of today learning to play it on guitar (badly!). Next week: why Texas were one of the most overlooked bands of the 90s.

New Slang was a one-hit wonder and this is the proof.

I loved "78 Stone Wobble" when it came out, but jesus christ this has not dated well. They were kind of geeky and I always put them in the same category as Edgar Wright, for some reason, but the way that they seem to be pretending to be from the deep South when they're actually from Leeds or something, and that guy's screetchy voice, it's all just so cringe. They get a star for at least not being a Britpop band of this time.

This was fun and the more I read about them, the more it seems like they're the victims of the heavy metal industry acting like complete dicks.

This was very exciting only really writing this review so I can get to the next album don't actually remember a single thing about it. Five stars.

Like Elbow but not as good. More like a wrist or a minor foot bone. Astonishingly bad tbh, music of this time is so cringe now, with their stupid hats and short guitar straps.

Dealing with an absolutely toxic boss at work and this is exactly what I need. So soothing and calming.

Dealing with an absolutely toxic boss at work and this is exactly what I need. So soothing and calming.