The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Bob DylanDon't Think Twice, It's All Right remains a favorite for me
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right remains a favorite for me
Read the wiki - this album was made in lieu of a new studio album. Some of the album has been overdubbed with studio recording as well, which was a little controversial among critics, but overall it's still high on many lists of best live albums. I wanted to appreciate it more, but I honestly didn't love it. They sounded great, technically, but I didn't enjoy it on a personal level. I won't stop giving all different genres of metal a try, though.
Ahhh I still love the Who. I've spent too long not listening to them. Quadrophenia remains one of my all time faves, but this was the first live album I've actually listened to. I don't know a lot about mixing/mastering, but my opinion was that it was well done on this album. I felt like I could picture exactly where they all were on the stage and appreciate each voice / instrument individually in a way that isn't usual for live recordings. I read the wiki after listening, and I guess there was no mic pointed toward the audience at all. That explains why they sounded so far away.
I hate myself for never listening to this album before today. I've always appreciated Prince's greatest hits with the intention of listening to full albums at some point. This was his breakthrough album, and the first one with his band the Revolution, and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get into his music. (Fun fact, "and the revolution" is written backwards in the eye of the I in Prince in the album artwork.) Anyway, what have I been doing with my life before this. This album is SUCH a vibe.
I really enjoy Neil Young, but this was my first listen of this album. I'm so glad it got to be one of the first 10 albums assigned to me in this project. I'd like to listen again, but Google each track as I go to see what inspired it. Apparently Vampire Blues is about the oil industry. I'd also like to listen to it again with some honey slides - apparently that's what they called the sauteed marijuana and honey goop they concocted and consumed throughout the making of the album. Another bit of interesting history is that this album was not widely available until 2003. The title was deleted from vinyl in the early 80s, according to Wikipedia. In 2000, fans signed a petition to have it released on CD, and finally in 2003, it was.
I can't say I loved this album but I'm glad I listened to it. I'll come back to a couple of songs, but I don't know how often I'll revisit it in its entirety. I appreciate Queen Latifah so much more after listening to this, though.
I went down a Wiki rabbit hole about the Village Vanguard - it's the oldest jazz club in NYC that's still in operation, and so many big careers were launched. This album was so soothing to listen to. I love the ambiance of everyone dining too. If I ever make it to NYC to visit, I'll make a point of going there to visit the Village Vanguard. Super interesting trio - they made a point to give all three of them equal melodic responsibility, which I think I'm paraphrasing from the Spotify bio. But it was interesting to listen with that in mind.
I think the only Supertramp song I've ever heard is Give a Little Bit. And I like that song, just never listened to them beyond that. This album was playful and engaging - I like the prog-pop-rock thing it's got going. I'm too high to come up with anything better than that. But I dig it, would listen again.
The father of Jeff Buckley. I read that he only met his father Tim once. I usually enjoy psychedelic folk, but this album didn't really hit for me. I liked so many of the ideas, lyrical and musical, but I was left wanting more follow through on some of those ideas. I might need to give this one another try, but first listen didn't stick with me.
SO GOOD. My standout track was The Bottle, and honestly all of side 2 especially . I wish this was on Spotify. For my own note keeping, a blurb I copied from Wikipedia below: Winter in America juxtaposes themes of nostalgic hope to the social problems of the early 1970s, particularly in the African-American community and inner cities.[29][30] Also a prominent theme in Scott-Heron's lyrics is people's faith in their culture in a bleak, impoverished environment.
I thought the only songs I knew from this album were Tuesday's Gone and Free Bird, but I quickly realized I've heard this one many times. A kid I used to work with at the local pizza place had this on repeat every night we closed together. It was nostalgic to hear it again. I still love those two songs the most, but they're all pretty good.
This album is an experience. I listened to the first few songs cold, no previous knowledge of the band or album. I couldn't get into it. So I gave it a day before trying again, but this time I researched a bit beforehand. I also read along with the lyrics as I listened to each song. Both of these things helped me appreciate the ambitious project that is SRO. From a songwriting perspective, there are so many interesting characters and great imagery, and overall I found it to be lyrically thought provoking. Though I get the stylistic choices here (I think), my personal preference would be for a more rhythmic as well as melodic approach to delivering those lyrics. For me, this is less of a casual listening album and more of one that I'll sit and give my full time and attention to from start to finish, like watching a movie. I like any album that can provide that kind of experience. Here's a snippet from a Stereogum article (for my own notes): "Throughout the album, Hood returns repeatedly to a concept he terms “the duality of the Southern thing,” his way of attempting to balance pride in his home with the worst parts of the region’s troubled history. By his own admission, Hood wasn’t always successful in this, which is part of the reason the band now rarely plays Opera track “The Southern Thing” in concert."
I listened to the album before reading about it, just to mix things up (usually I read about it before listening). I enjoyed it musically - I've always been drawn to Afrobeat/ music of Africa. I obviously didn't know what each song was about specifically, but the passion and energy was undeniable throughout. I learned that this is a political album - it's criticism of the Nigerian government likely resulted in Fela's commune being attacked by Nigerian soldiers. His mother was killed in that attack, and Fela was severely beaten. Also, he formed the commune which declared itself independent of the Nigerian government. He played multiple instruments, had multiple wives at once, and is widely regarded as the pioneer of the Afrobeat style.
I was a casual Sonic Youth fan before listening to this. Like, loved pretty much everything I've heard and always intended to dive in deeper, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. This album assignment was the push I needed to finally do that. Now. In my defense, I was very stoned before i hit the play button. But I immediately purchased a Dirty vinyl after one listen. Anyway, to sum up my thoughts, I'm an alt-rock girl at heart (maybe tied with pop at this point for my favorite genre), and listening to this was like letting my angsty soul have a nice long rest at home. Oh, also, as an avid crocheter, I will definitely be creating my own little orange alien to sit on the shelf next to the album.
WHAT okay I pressed play and immediately recognized the title track, Green Onions - and so do you if you've seen/heard even a handful of American movie trailers. Booker T. wrote that riff when he was 17 and later improvised heavily for the recorded version that became a huge hit and shaped the sound of groovy Southern soul. But did you know there's 'Mo where that came from? That's right, 'Mo Onions is track 4! Besides the onion songs, Behave Yourself is the only other original on this instrumental album. The rest are covers of songs you probably already recognize - I was surprised to find out I knew most of them. Also, fun fact, this band and the Beatles had mutual appreciation of one another, and John Lennon affectionately referred to them as "Book a Table and the Maitre D's". This warmed the cockles of my Beatles-loving heart. Anyway. Great album, and glad to have filled in this particular gap in my musical history knowledge.
Oh man. I loved Coldplay in high school. I still do, but I did back then, too. I probably haven't listened to this album since then, so it was nice to revisit it. Though not my favorite Coldplay album (Viva Viva La Vida), it's still good and has some great songs. I read on Wikipedia that It's one of the highest selling records of all time in the UK (45th of all time). The Wiki page also said this: "In fact, a few critics have suggested that the album's commercial success was due in part to a portion of Radiohead's audience being alienated by the band's experimental and more electronic-influenced Kid A album." Eek. Again, I like Parachutes. But I hope everyone gave Kid A another chance, because it's definitely the better album of the two.
SO GOOD. I am ashamed to have never heard this album before, but that's why I'm doing this project. I knew Work It, of course, but the other tracks were all new to my ears. Dedicated to Aaliyah, produced by Timbaland, this Missy Elliot album sounds amazing. Like, if it had come out today instead of nearly 20 years ago (which...how has it been that long??) - it would still be fresh and sound great.
I was familiar with T. Rex in name only prior to this. Well, and I knew the song Bang a Gong (Get It On), but I wouldn't have been able to put a name/artist to the song before. I loved this album! Glam rock perfection. I've already revisited songs, and I'm sure I'll listen to more from them. Marc Bolan WAS T.Rex, and was so influential on many of the artists I grew up listening to (the Smith's being a major one). I listened to the Expanded and Remastered version on Spotify, but did skip about halfway through the interview track. The Wiki page was interesting- almost all the band members died from reasons other than natural causes - Bolan in a car accident (girlfriend driving, she survived) right before he turned 30. Another member died of asphyxiation from a cocktail cherry, another in a car accident. Lots of times, that one song you know from a band is the only good one. But if you're like me and only know Bang a Gong, T. Rex has a lot more to offer. They're worth the listen.
This is one of those live albums where you forget it's live until there's talking between songs, and you're like "oh, right!". That's one of the indicators of a great live recording, for me. I was surprised to get another Fela Kuti album after just listening last week, but I'm not mad about it. This was a good listen. Maybe not one I'll play over and over, but it would be good to vibe to while cleaning/cooking.
I liked this album. In the context of the British Invasion, I'd much rather listen to The Beatles or the Who or others, and as a result I just haven't spent as much time with the Stones' discography as some of those others. Sympathy for the Devil is awesome, as always (and - in these covid world music streaming days, I realized it's actually been a long time since I heard it). I had on pretty good headphones, and realized how much I love the piano work in that song. I was drawn to the following track, No Expectations, for the same reason. In my usual Wiki page browsing, I learned that Nicky Hopkins (frequent Stones collaborator/ pianist / organist) did the piano for both of those songs (and he's also one of few musicians to be featured on a Beatles track - Revolution). He also did piano on Nilsson Schmilsson, an album I first listened to this year as well (but independently from this project- no idea of that one is on this 1001 list or not).
Aww. This album was sunshine on this gray, snowy day. My favorite track was Medley: It’s All Right / For Sentimental Reasons. When the audience started singing along at the end, my heart melted. SO, my fun fact about this album is that even though it was recorded in 1963, the record label thought it would be damaging to Cooke's pop image because it was too "gritty and raw", so they archived the recordings. It wasn't actually released until 1985, when an exec found the tapes and made sure they be released asap. And now it's widely regarded as one of the best live albums of all time.
This was the first big miss for me. I honestly did not enjoy any aspect of it. I'm sorry to anyone who has positive feelings about this album, but it just did nothing for me. I listened to it all the way through with good headphones, but it took a lot of willpower to make it to the end.