1001 Albums Summary

First half of the album was good, tapered off in the back half

Solid classic rock throughout

Interesting experiment but not something I would listen to regularly

Pleasant enough I guess but way too long

A little too experimental and long for my tastes

Can’t deny the quality of work that went into it and the influence it has had. But on a listening level I found the beginning of the album a little unenjoyable. I found the back half sounded better to my ear

Really good punk!

A nice chill listen, but while I love Sinatra I’m not sure he was suited to this style of music. It’s still good, but it’s no Getz/Gilberto

I’m sure this is a seminal album in the genre and pioneered new techniques, but if you don’t enjoy soundscapes you won’t enjoy this.

Classic Chili Peppers. I like the harder funk style of BSSM better, but this is a close second

It just doesn’t get more 80s!

I can see why it was exciting at the time, but it sounds pretty generic now.

Aww yeah pour that BritPop on me!

A true classic

It doesn’t get more classic soul than this.

Love these songs and this band in general, but they do NOT know how to end a song

True classic hip hop in the vein of Earth, Wind, and Fire or Grandmaster Flash

I’ve struggled with this album in the past, but I’m glad I gave it another try. It paints a consistent picture of Compton and has strong lyrics. Musically I don’t enjoy it as much as some other hip hop.

Not to my taste

Just some old-fashioned rock and roll. Love it

Nope

A fusion of a few genres, mostly hardcore punk and metal. Not bad

REM is obviously iconic. This album was really good, and interestingly it felt more understated and consistent than their other ones. There were no standout tracks like their big singles later on, but that kind of made the album as a whole more listenable.

I appreciate her place in music, but I just don’t like divas

Not the best of the 90s, but it’s still 90s so you can’t go too wrong.

So much more here than just Bohemian Rhapsody! What a great album.

Love those chill vibes

It’s not the incredible masterpiece that is Getz/Gilberto, but it’s still a great album

Not as incredible as Songs for the Deaf, but you can hear where they are headed on this one

Not very interested in instrumental music

I mean you can’t go wrong with Judas Priest, but why not listen to Screaming for Vengeance instead? It’s better pretty much throughout

Hardcore punk classic and fun to rage out with

Some weird shit

It’s fine. I enjoyed the first half more than I expected, but it began to drag after that. Would rather listen to 1984

It was fine

This deserves all the praise it gets

Really good album

Classic reggae. The back half of the album is where all the famous tracks are.

The melancholy, the rock sound infused with the tiniest bit of country, Young’s distinctive voice. It’s a solid album, but the guitar solos feel a bit indulgent.

It’s fine I guess. Was new at the time, now sounds a little generic.

Love that jangly guitar. These guys are right up there with th Beatles, the Hollies, the Zombies, etc. Love it!

I was initially excited for some jazzy pop, but unfortunately it’s not the good jazzy. It’s the bad 80s smooth jazzy. Pass

She made an instant classic with those soul sounds and sultry voice.

How did an album with this many bangers get made?!

Makes sense that this would be hugely influential, but I don’t know that I’d put it on to listen regularly.

Unusual to hear a concept R&B album. It was pretty good, but probably not something I’ll come back to.

I’ve just never been able to get into Morrissey’s smarmy voice and slow burn songs.

Can’t go wrong with Janis Joplin. I like her work with Big Brother and the Holding Company better, but this is solid

It’s not bad, but overall kind of meh

Way too long for some unremarkable 70s stoner rock

I’m just not interested in metal

I love that this probably made no sense when it was released. Got those distinctive 80s vocals with shoegaze-style distortion sounds. Pretty good, but I do kind of like the listenability of Darklands better.

A true classic

Bowie is one of those where I see the influence he has but just don’t particularly enjoy him

Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me

It’s okay, but not really what I’m looking for

This is one of the reasons I come to this site! An amazing band I’ve never heard of, becoming something I want to listen to repeatedly

This album was such a revelation

Chill vibes, pretty fun. But did it need to be a double album?

Chillhop before it was cool

Seemed just kind of generic in this day and age

I’ve never liked U2 and this album didn’t really change that situation

I can see how this influenced a lot of music, but it just wasn’t listenable enough for me to come back to in the future

This kind of early metal is the only good metal

This album is a lot of fun

Forgettable 80s pop

It’s pretty good but I feel like the intense popularity of this album has more to do with when it came out than it’s quality.

The least listenable Kanye album. It shows genius, but I won’t be listening to it again

An immense, powerful classic!

They don’t love you like I love you

Not bad, an eclectic mix that handles itself well but isn’t mind blowing

Meh

A classic. Trails off a little there at the end, but still a good album

Ah back when being young and angry was all you needed to have a band

Reggae is always pretty listenable, but it never really grabs me

Well that was awful

Just kind of annoying

Fun, but I see why they were one hit wonders in the States

Started strong with the title track, but they lost me in the back half with the 80s sax

Not bad!

It was ok I guess, not really my thing

Gorgeous Nina Simone-esque voice and it’s really cool to see how Africa pop was introduced to the US. I probably won’t listen if it regularly, but it was very interesting

Solid old school psychedelic and blues rock

The really well known songs do a lot of the heavy lifting on this album. It rates well overall, but mostly because of them

Verra pleasant

Boring af

Kind of weird, didn’t wow me

Since it’s their first album I get that it was groundbreaking, but this is far from the best Pink Floyd

Pretty solid Smiths album. Great if you like the Smiths, not if you don’t.

There’s a definite groove here, but it’s better background than it is sit and listen music

Not bad

Too experimental for me

Just a load of uninteresting blips and bloops

Some fun disco, I’m just not in the mood for disco often

You oughtta know

Really solid album

So good

Great!

Still just can’t get past lukewarm on Bowie.

A valuable, but pretty uneven listening experience

Very much in the tradition of Simon and Garfunkel or Bob Dylan. But unfortunately there isn’t a lot of variety in his sound on this album, so I like it less than those other artists

Enjoyed this more than I expected

I’ve tried with Elvis Costello a few times now but I just can’t get into his music. His melodies are just too jumpy and disjointed for me

They almost made some really good music

Not really a fan, feels like this style got played out in the 90s

I was close to loving this album but there’s something just not quite right about it

A little smarmy but ok

God damn that was dull

Solid indie rock album with some interesting use of unusual sounds

A classic, but not all of it holds up. The singles still carry the whole thing though

RHCP out- Fishbone’d Fishbone, but they’re still fun to listen to occasionally

Just straight boring

The epitome of 70s hard rock, so you already know if you love it or not

Metal 🤷

Beautiful voice and creative music, but it suffers from the same problem all concept albums have. You have to buy into the concept in order to reconcile the sometimes wild shifts in style and feel. I had to take a couple points off for that

An absolute classic that will always rock

A classic but not my favorite type of hip hop

Metal 🤷

Pretty decent space rock. Album starts off strong but gets a bit unremarkable about halfway through

There’s a reason these guys got as big as they did

First half is great, real funky. Second half doesn’t have quite the same charm

A new one to me. Nothing really grabbed me, but it was good overall

Solid ballads

Crazy good album, just unreal

Standard old school hip hop

A little experimental in the middle but less so than some other Radiohead albums. I’d rate it second best of their stuff.

Late 80s sound in the early 90s

This is the female singer-songwriter album. If you like that you’ll love this

An incredible classic start to finish

First half was great jazz, second half was old school hip hop and new wave 80s pop. Both good, but the transition is very abrupt.

This was great

I’m sure it’s great if you like electronic music

Old school hip hop, gets pretty goofy at times

Fine enough I suppose

Surprised to see this album of theirs - maybe Who’s Next is in the list too. Anyway, at this point they were mostly straightforward blues rock. My Generation is where you can see flashes of the brilliance they would get to. Still a strong album though.

The Velvet Underground but not nearly so experimental. Some really nice ballads and classics on here

It’s so intensely 80s and the singles are so well known it’s hard to hear them as anything but your own preconceptions.

While Wildflowers is definitely the better album, this one really showed what you could do with sampled music and set the stage for the future. And it’s still very listenable

So classic, so good

Lacks the genius singles of some of his other albums, but is overall a decent Van Morrison listening experience

Not into this late stage jazz. Give me bebop or nothing at all

Too overwrought for my tastes

Absolutely classic, if you haven’t heard this you’ve been missing out

The Talking Heads as they started to get their trademark sound down. In general it’s a fine album but lacks standout tracks

I just consistently can’t stand metal

Heavily blues based, which is great. I could have done without some of the country touches, but I know most love that. Solid album all the way around

Solid R&B

What a great album! The organ gives it an extra R&B layer that works really well

Did not expect to like this as much as I did

An R&B classic

Better than I expected it to be. Maybe a little too experimental at times, but nothing ever really turned me off

Electronic garbage

More of an inspiration for better music than something I enjoyed for itself

Unbelievable

A lot of fun. Got a little out there on one track, but otherwise a solid retro vibe from a modern band. Love it

Excellent UK blues

Started out ok, got real tedious real fast

Can’t go wrong with classic 90s alt rock

Blast some punk!

Green Onions is an unstoppable banger. The rest of the album is less inspired and a little too same-y, but still fun to listen to. I’d say the next best song is the surf-rock-esque You Can’t Sit Down

A bonafide classic

Pretty mediocre

It’s fine, just not a fan of electronica

Oh yeah PUNK me up! That said, this album maybe didn’t need to be as long as it is

I tried all of their first three albums and while I agree this one is probably the most intense and artistic, I like their first album best

It’s still good because Lennon, but in parts it just sounds like less good Beatles

I had listened to some Nina Simone before and loved it, but a couple of the tracks on here were new to me. Particularly the opening blues number. She’s so amazing

The good kind of metal!

The best rock rap I’ve ever heard

Just incredible

I’m not going to sit down and listen through it, but I kind of dig it

Don’t much like the country influences or the singer’s voice. Lyrics are good though

Really nice album. Pink Moon stands out above the rest of the tracks, which do start to sound a little same-y

A classic of hair metal, fun but nothing something I’ll be coming back to a lot

Oh god it’s so good

Good sound, very British, a little too vulgar

Gimme that old time rock n roll

It’s interesting - the music is pretty good, nothing really bothered me. But at the same time, it doesn’t jump out with anything special. I can see why they were signed but I can also see why they weren’t huge

The only Metallica album I can stomach but still not very enjoyable

Better than I expected, still a bit weird

A great survey of their work, but I think I like the studio albums better

I guess shitty electronics cliches have to come from somewhere

I like this album a lot, but it does start to drag toward the end. Great jazzy pop sound though!

Alternative music flirting with country makes me uncomfortable

Love the singles, rest of the album is fine

This site has taught me that I just don’t like electronic music 🤷‍♂️

I was excited to see this album pop up because I’ve always considered Sweet Dreams to be a top tier song. But the rest of the album was a little disappointed. That one song basically carries the whole thing

Easy five star, doesn’t get more classic than this

Classic rock at its most classic

Big standard reggae. It’s not bad, it just doesn’t stand out

I love the stuff MBV influenced, but find them a little hard to get into

Honestly, they’re just kind of a mediocre Tears for Fears

Pretty solid classic rock!

I don’t really see the appeal

Interesting. I don’t think I’ll come back to listen to it again, but I’m not mad at what I heard

Party hard for now guys

I can see why Tainted Love was their only big song

Easy 5 star, this thing is a masterpiece

I think I’m just not avant-garde enough

Really liked this one!

Solid bluesy rock

Solid CCR. Cosmo’s Factory is better, but this is a good second place

Music that captures the UK working class. Pretty good!

Is this the ur-rock opera? If someone asked me what a rock opera is, I would tell them to listen to this. Best one I’ve ever heard too!

I had heard Simply Red before but never this album. It’s ok, but never really reaches greatness

Classic old school hip hop. It’s amazing how many other rappers have borrowed ideas from this album

The godfathers of punk, gotta love it

Surprised to see this instead of Parachutes, but it’s still a great album

While not as bad as most electronica, it still wasn’t that enjoyable

Same opinion I have of the other reggae albums in this list: it’s fine, but only the really famous tracks stand out

Stone cold classic

I went into this one expecting to hate it. But actually, the lyrics are compelling and incisive, and the music isn’t grating like most country. A welcome surprise! I think a lot of people need to hear that their flag decal won’t get them into heaven anymore

It’s Lorde, you’ve already heard what she has to offer. Nothing on this album reaches the peaks of her big singles though

Some seriously great grooves on this. I don’t know if it will be in my regular rotation, but I’m glad I listened to it!

It’s like if The Doors’ cover of Gloria were an album long. Fun, but not incredibly deep

It’s a strong album and hit SO big when it came out

It’s incredible this is from the 70s and I can see how it influenced a lot of great music. Too bad it isn’t actually good music itself

Love that angry chick rock

Really enjoyable

Great collection, better than the albums it came from

I mean you already know what it is

This actually wouldn’t be my first choice of a must listen Byrds album, but it was still great

Gentle but powerful, this was an excellent listen

There are definitely worse Christmas albums. True nostalgia for our parents here

Not bad at all

Worth it just for the big hits on the album, but the rest just don’t stand up to Somebody to Love and White Rabbit

I don’t generally enjoy folk music, even when mixed with rock. But this had a compelling aspect to it

While not my favorite Pink Floyd album, it’s a strong one

Country rap? Nahhh

Way too long

Extremely classic blues

You know what you’re going to get with Björk and it’s always at least interesting

A rockin good time

God damn this was terrible

Really liked the first half, but it felt weird listening to all the extra takes at the end

Alt-rock from before that was a thing

Very Morrissey

I see why this was included since this music had such a huge influence on popular bands in the 60s/70s, but it just couldn’t hold my interest

Good album, but I’ve never understood the intense praise Springsteen gets

Solid!

Glam rock isn’t generally my thing, but this was a pretty fun listen

Uh, this was amazing

Chill and definitely gets you thinking

Pleasant, but I don’t think I’ll come back to it

Yet another reggae album that is a fine example of the genre but nothing new

Just not getting this one

Just incredibly mediocre

Nothing Compares 2 U is absolutely the standout track, rest of it just kind of meanders along

Good album!

Just incredible, obviously

This was interesting. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t great and in fact really just reminded me of other songs that are great

Really excellent

Solid, and I definitely see the influence on other artists. Probably won’t listen regularly though

Excellent!

I’ll be honest, I just can’t get in to Stevie Wonder

Before this I had really only heard the singles. Whole album is pretty good, though those were the best songs

Great live album. Got a little indulgent at parts, but the kickass parts made it more than worth it

A legendary album

I just can’t get into 2Pac

Psychobilly is fun, but it’s not an every day listen

Good but a little slow and too long

I enjoyed this one

Very torn on this album. Parts are incredibly cool, and parts are just annoying and too long

I know these guys are hugely influential, but I’ve never really liked their stuff

This was great!

Really liked the first 3/4th or so, then it got a little out there

What a fantastic album

Tough intro, some good stuff in the middle though

Effortlessly cool, but maybe a bit too long

I continue to dislike electronica. I will say I liked this more than Mezzanine even though everybody says that’s somehow a perfect album

Fantastic album

Great album

Great album, a little long

Solid little post punk album

Fantastic album

A classic, but I’ve never been a Talking Heads fan

Not bad, but a bit repetitive

Like a less catchy The Cure

Such a good album, easy 5 star

Started out pretty good, but way too long with little of interest

Even better than I remembered

Surprisingly good!

Really nice! 80s but not too 80s, a little bit of a psychedelic feel in places, just overall fun

I really wanted to like this because I love Goo, but the abstract noises just weren’t doing it for me

Not bad, but suffers from the pacing and confusion issues all rock operas have

Hard no.

Man what a fantastic album. If you’ve only heard their cover of Mrs. Robinson you should really listen to the rest of the album

I liked this a lot, but it did go on a little long

Solid classic rock

PJ just knocks it out of the park every time

One of my very favorites, a set of incredible tracks

If you like prog rock you should be listening to this album

I feel like I missed something. It just seemed like easy listening soft rock crap

I really liked this!

The songs are well crafted and he is hugely influential, but I don’t see myself ever listening to this

Solid, and the contrast between Cohen and the 80s cliche instrumentation is kind of interesting, but ultimately it didn’t grab me

First Elvis Costello album I’ve really liked

Solid

Oh good another boring electronica album. Why does this list have so much electronica in it?

Fantastic funky soul

I enjoyed this more than I expected to!

A classic, but more chaotic than a lot of their later stuff so it loses a point. Also it’s hard to separate the music from what we’ve since learned about the band

I don’t see the appeal of Elton John

A classic album and hugely important, but not one I really enjoy listening to often

I’d never heard of this, but I really liked it!

This was excellent, I am fast becoming an Elliott Smith fan

A classic

I always thought of Belle and Sebastian as just light, fluffy, twee pop. And most of this album is that, but I was surprised to find a little more experimental sound in some of the middle tracks. Overall enjoyable and a little surprising, but I probably won’t be listening to this one often

What a weird, overwrought album. You can tell she does a lot of musicals

This album shouldn’t work as well as it does. I feel like if you asked anyone if they want to listen to a half hour rendition of Who Do You Love they would say no. But if you just put this album on without any context they’d think it kicks ass

Solid garage rock from back in the day

The best electronica on this list so far. That’s not saying much

Truly classic

School’s Out is definitely the best track, but I did not expect as much variety as I got from the rest of the album. Show tunes? Jazz? What?

Defining album for funk

I don’t usually like 70s jazz, but this was a good album

Tremendous

I don’t understand why people call this a perfect album. The music is slow and overwrought

Cool to get something so different. I probably won’t revisit it, but it was a pleasant listen

Decent but somewhat forgettable

Eh

Well that was freaking weird

Amazing album

Decent album, but I see why Once In A Lifetime is the only one that stuck around

It’s fine, but he’s done better stuff

Great album, on a level with Reasonable Doubt if you ask me

Started a little disco-y, but settled down into some excellent Latin music

Quality prog rock

Fun!

The Kinks are always fun but this lacked some of the attention-grabbing of Village Gree Preservation Society

What a weird album. Punk before there was punk, garage rock before there was garage rock. It’s rough around the edges but you can see how they’d be influential

I get it, but it’s not really something I’m going to come back and listen to again

That’s a lot of arena rock. Inoffensive, but it also didn’t grab me

The Beach Boys are great, but a lot of the lyrics describe unhealthy relationships

Liked this more than I expected, a lot of interesting influences

Man I have tried with this album so many times. And I love a ton of other shoegaze stuff. But this one, I just can’t get into it

They’re trying to recapture the magic of Missing but just don’t have it in them

First song or two were awesome, very funky. After that it became clear this was less about the music and more about the movie so it wasn’t as fun a listen

Just awesome all the way through

You’d expect me to enjoy the Grateful Dead, but it’s just a little blah to me

Oh Elvis Costello I always want to like you

That sure was a Springsteen

My ears hurt

On the one hand it’s nice to hear Springsteen get a little weirder. On the other hand I still didn’t like it

I dig the sound, but maybe just a little too long on the jams. Still great though!

Pretty fun, I had only ever heard Get It On before this. I like the album but it’s a little long

Short and sweet

This is the kind of metal I can get into, though the tracks did feel a little same-y toward the end of the album

Reminded me a lot of Leonard Cohen, who I don’t particularly like. And that last song, woof

Just sounded like more Bjork, seems the same as her other albums

Woof

Great album, but not one I listen to often

More Springsteen, really?

An enjoyable enough listen but nothing jumped out at me as amazing