I remember when "Riot!" came out and what a mass success it was. I've only heard songs here and there from them since "Riot!", including a couple of this album's big hits, "The Only Exception" and "All I Wanted". But as far as entire albums post-"Riot!", I have been fairly ignorant to their work, so I was looking forward to diving into this.
And really, it lived up to "Riot!". This a solid alt-rock/emo-adjacent listen. In a sea full of this type of music during the late 2000s/early 2010s, Paramore did a great job standing out, and this album demonstrates that.
As a pretty casual listener of The Who, I didn't realize until I did this project just what an affinity they had for rock operas. This album also, for some reason, really pointed out to me how much of a distinctive sound The Who had. Many moments across these songs sounded to me like they could have come from other Who songs.
This was a well done album, but I couldn't help but compare it to Tommy, and for me it just wasn't quite as strong as Tommy. Tommy is ultimately more memorable in terms of story moments and music. Granted, I feel like such a comment is splitting hairs, but it is what it is.
I do think there was plenty of The Who on the original list, but I agree with many others that this album maybe should have been included nonetheless. The Who is just one of those bands that had strong impact, and maybe that wasn't as heavily reflected in the original list as it was for other artists.
This was a really fun mix of disco and electronic and confirms what we already knew to be true: disco makes everything better. There was a fair bit of early era electronic music on 1001, and I often found it to be a slog. But with the addition of disco, this sound is a lot more enjoyable to me. The traces of Eastern world music also add an interesting layer.
All in all, a good listen -- there was nothing quite like this on 1001, so props to the submitter for including something that expands those horizons!
This was definitely folk rock bordering on yacht rock, and I enjoyed that. I was not familiar with Bruce Cockburn, but I was taken in by his songwriting; all 8 tracks are written by him. His guitar work is very nice, too and demonstrates great skill. Overall, many moments of this album reminded me of Nick Drake, who was also a new discovery for me in the original 1001 -- hippie folk vibes, strong songwriting, skilled and yet somehow peaceful guitar playing.
I was not familiar with The Beautiful South prior to listening to this album, and I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but this ultimately was not it. I do find the album generally difficult to categorize. For having come out in the 80s, it isn't overly 80s sounding. At times, it's jazzy, poppy, indie-y, and even kind of ska-y. The lyricism stood out as rather interesting on this album; too. Lots of clever word-smithing. And the closing track, "I Love You (But You're Boring)"? Honestly, mood.
All said and done, a unique and intriguing listen that is pretty hard to pin into a box -- and I'm not mad about that.
2000s country was heavily informed by country pop sounds that emerged in the late 1990s. It was around this time (2010) that I recall an intersection between indie, folk, rock, bluegrass, and country emerging and shifting mainstream country music a bit. One could argue that this movement was responsible for shifting country back towards its traditional roots, but with a modern twist. In any case, Turnpike Troubadours were at the heart of this movement.
Turnpike Troubadours strike a difficult balance here: they're twangy, they're honky-tonky, but while maintaining a rooted folkiness about them. The instrumentation maintains a similar rooted-twang sound.
This was an enjoyable, approachable country album that really demonstrates the neo-traditional country sound.
As a part of the LGBTQ+ community, I can definitely pick up on Beyoncé's countless references and homage to the community that are contained within this album. Not only does this sonically lend itself directly to the club culture pop music that queer people are often drawn to, but the lyrics of the songs actively celebrate queer culture. And further, SO MUCH of the album makes queer Black/Latinx ballroom culture references and uses balroom emcee-style voicing. Considering that members of the black community were historically ignored pioneers, to say the very least, of the dance music typically enjoyed by the queer communities, it is only right that Beyoncé specifically honor these racial groups. Many queer black people are featured in various places on this album, too.
In general, the album has a sexy and joyful vibe, again fairly consistent with queer music. And while I specifically called out dance music above, Beyoncé is never one to be pigeon-holed; she celebrates other Black genres such as funk, R&B, soul, and house through the lens of queer-coded dance music on this album.
It's too bad that this album is not well-rated on here, but I respectfully disagree with those assessments. For reasons mentioned in this review and more, RENAISSANCE has a well-earned spot on this project, even if it is user-submitted.
This album accomplishes it's goal of honoring Black queer history, celebrating queer joy, and just encouraging happy, dancing vibes.
I remember thinking this when this album came out, and I still think it now: nobody does electronica quite like Imogen Heap does, and her take on "Speak for Yourself" is Imogen at her best.
The album has a strong cohesiveness to it. Against the electronic music, the instrumentals create a very dreamy soundscape. Even with the dreamy quality, I have always found this album's opening, "Headlock" to be such a banger; the slow build followed by the eruption of instruments is irresistible. It sets a solid stage for what to expect from this album. And speaking of slow build-ups, I have always found the delicate yet palpably passionate balance of "Hide & Seek" to be satisfying; this song is easily another crown jewel of the album. Even still, as this album progresses, Imogen Heap starts playing in a more alternative rock type space. It truly keeps the listener guessing.
On a matter of personnel, it's impressive that Imogen Heap wrote and produced the entirety of this album and then released it without the backing of a major label. I always enjoy noting such work in my reviews, because doing all of that by one's self is quite impressive.
This album has really held up in terms of sound and my personal enjoyment of it!
I didn't really dig this album. It reminded me of other new wave/rockabilly adjacent stuff I heard on this project that just simply was not to my liking. I felt like the album production was pretty poor, too.
I'm really not big on Jazz, let alone Jazz Fusion. Noodling is also not something I enjoy a lot of, and that's present here, too.
All that said, I will say, this group makes excellent use of the funk elements, and the synth adds an interesting layer of texture that is not often heard in this type of music. So despite this not particularly being my cup of tea, I couldn't help but be impressed.
This album didn't really do much for me, unfortunately. I found it to be interesting, but ultimately not memorable. I really liked the vocal layers and the overall vibe of "Paper Trails"; I wish more of the album had been in this style. And as I have alluded to in other reviews, I love a good song title, and "Freak, Go Home" sounds like it came directly out of my vocabulary.
This album is definitely reflective of that early 2000s alternative, borderline-emo sound. The music sounds like Deathcab, and the vocals sound like Switchfoot. The influence of grunge also persists, as this sound is also still very grunge-adjacent.
I didn't personally find anything incredibly special or noteworthy about this album, but I enjoy this type of music, so I baseline vibed with this.
This was an odd one. It was trip-hop in nature, but very avant garde. Much of the music was discordant and heavily electronic; it almost felt like trip-hop from the perspective of a machine, if that makes sense. This was an intriguing listen, but I wouldn't really say it was one I heavily enjoyed.
I'd never heard of (British) Sea Power, and yet they've created quite the discography since this debut in 2003. I guess they never really made it across to the US.
This album started off very noise rock heavy...definitely too noisy for my typical enjoyment. It mellowed out a bit as it went, but still definitely maintained a noise rock edge to it.
The album cover amused me quite a bit if for no other reason than it seemed to aim at portraying this as a piece of classic literature. Also, speaking on their decline in the album title on their debut album is a funny, tongue-in-cheek choice.
Ultimately, not bad, but didn't really wow me or catch me much. I'd probably put this at 2.5. It lacked anything that really grabbed me, so I'm rounding down.
Vampire Weekend has always been such a fun, quirky listen for me. Not to mention, I have always loved the band's name. They are a bit off kilter, but it never feels like it's too high brow; the music has a quality that can be enjoyed without being avant-garde or super artsy. To that point, while they are indie, especially by late 2000s/early 2010s standards, I have always found their music to be incredibly approachable. They have a fairly unique sound, too, that is consistent across their work: a unique blend of low-key synth pop, chamber pop, and a touch of worldbeat. "Contra" definitely represents the era where Vampire Weekend was at the peak of this sound, and so it's rather impressive that "Contra" maintains this specific vibe all throughout while keeping each song sounding unique.
No albums from Vampire Weekend on the original 1001 but three albums submitted by users really shows the gap in the original book when it comes to what the people appreciate and find influential and "required listening". I would agree that Vampire Weekend has a unique, enjoyable niche in music that makes them a worthy listen.
The sound does remind me of the specific time period, but I feel like it holds up really well 16 (!!!) years later. I probably like this even more now than I did when I first heard it.
"Squeezing Out Sparks" definitely straddles a couple of lines. First, it is new wave-ish, but doesn't quite go all the way there. And second, I agree with the many review assessments that this sounds very Elvis Costello meets Tom Petty. I didn't really care for all the Costello albums on the original list, so I was worried about this album.
Overall, it wasn't the worst, but it wasn't really something I loved, either. The Petty-isms were fine, it was the Costello-isms that grated on me, per usual.
Probably about a 2.5 for me, but not something I'd round up.