701 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die...Plus 300 Assorted British Albums

The dancehall is haunted by the ghosts of those who died of boredom listening to this.

The electric jug is an awful, horrible, terrible, evil "instrument".

The cover of Little Wing is unlistenable, especially the grating refrain they added. I never want to hear this album again.

128th album and this is the first one I bailed on halfway through. I can't take the shitty lyrics and how songs feel like they'd be at home in a non-denominational suburban Christian mega church. Barf.

Wow, I used to *really* like this one but upon relistening for the first time in a decade+, it's just okay. I still dig Hotel Yorba and Fell in Love with a Girl.

Love his voice but doubt I will listen to this again.

meh

Holy crap this is repetitive and every song is too long. So many of the sounds are annoying AF.

Whoa, ick. Did not enjoy this at all. And somehow it got a combo of Epic and Tom Sawyer stuck in my head and that's just awful as you'd think.

not really a fan of the vocals but I like the rest alright

the left/right separation of instruments made this an uncomfortable headphone listen

California Dreamin' is great but all of the covers are pretty bad, especially 'I Call Your Name'.

Not my thing but I can see some people loving this one. I liked '4 Ever 2 Gether'.

Well that was a wild flashback to a cassette I got for my 11th birthday. Haven't listened much since then, but this is solid '80s rock.

Terribly boring.

Mildly annoying shout-singing stop-start songs that all sound the same.

57 minutes and all kinda the same. It was okay.

This is one of my favorite albums of all time. I get a lot of the same feelings from this that I had as a child at our evangelical Christian church (I'm an atheist now). I thought those feelings of joy, excitement, and wonder came from God and Jesus but it was really the music and stories. What a wild story Tommy is and the music is fucking great---love those instrumental tracks.

I was a big Beatles fan as a teen but wouldn't have bought this album for $2 at Half-price Books back then. I'm really wondering if trying to listen to all 1,078 albums here is largely a waste of my time because this is yet another 2 (I use the Goodreads scale: 1=didn't like it, 2=it was OK, 3=liked it, 4=really liked it, 5=it was amazing.) How can something so pedestrian be a 'must hear' album?

So very good. I love the story of when Wire resumed touring in '87 after many years off. The opening band covered Pink Flag in its entirety so Wire didn't have to revisit their old sound. https://gojohnnygojohnny.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/the-ex-lion-tamers-wire-the-amazing-story-via-cassette/

Liked this more than I thought I would. Starts out bleh but gets better. I can hear a lot of similarities to slacker stuff I listened to in college so I wonder why I never bothered with this group. Probably won't listen again, so no real loss I guess, ha.

70 minutes of boredom. The beats and background samples are numbingly repetitive and snooze inducing.

Did it help that I listened to this on a wet, overcast day? Probably.

Easier to take if you pretend you are Tina Belcher but I did not like this. Laughably bad lyrics; "I hope I live to see the day the Pope gets high" made me snort.

Feels so familiar even though I'm sure I've only listened to the whole album a few times---probably heard the singles a million times on the radio in the '80s. Love those synthesizers. Fuck Reagan.

A very pleasant listen.

meh

This feels like a dentist office in 1983. Steely Dan is so weird to me---like, this was nominated for album of the year? Really? /shrug

Oh boy, another 2. (2 = It was okay)

Synthesizers, yeahhhh. Maybe a Gen X thing, but the video-gamey sounds in 'Love is a Stranger' and 'I Could Give You' are THE BEST. The subway noises in 'This City Never Sleeps' are very pleasing. I always loved the single Sweet Dreams and I'm glad it fits into the rest of the album well. Love Lennox's voice, especially when she does her own backing vocal.

This may be #19 on Rolling Stones' 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, but I haaaaaate it. Van's voice is all over the place and the instruments sound equally haphazard; every musician seems to be in their own little world. The harpsichord on 'Cyprus Avenue' is insufferable, partly because the song is 67 minutes long. Oh, holy shit, 'Madame George' is even longer. Really not looking forward to when his other two albums pop up after this miserable mess.

Okay. Worst part is easily the vocals but I seldom like metal vocals.

I like to think that this band is actually an extremely elaborate joke.

Been a while since I listened to a studio album but it sure seems like they're better live. That was fun.

WOW---was expecting this to be a 2 based on the radio hits I remember from middle school. Prince always made me feel weird and icky back then but I think that was the damn evangelical hometown distain of Prince. Favorite track: Lady Cab Driver.

Not terrible, but not terribly interesting. 65% riffing on 'Who Do You Love' and 35% noodling guitar.

Another album with annoyingly extreme left/right separation of instruments.

Her voice is way too high for me to enjoy this. It's uncomfortable to listen to.

Loved H2Ogate Blues.

Exhaustively boring. I don't know if it's the mixing or compression or what but I felt like I was like listening to this on a rotary phone. Blech.

Meh, I prefer his dad. I hated "Old Whore's Diet" but it sounds like he's saying Old *Horse* Diet so that's kinda funny.

This is okay. 'In A Space Outta Sound' should be on this list instead.

Much better than Blood and Chocolate.

Listened for the first time earlier this year and it was a 3. With that added familiarity, this time was a 4.

Listened to this one twice---mono first then stereo and really liked it both times. I think I like the mono mix better but the stereo version is better quality sound. I previously avoided The Kinks b/c of only having access to deluxe/super deluxe/expanded versions; makes for annoying last.fm scrobbles and I don't like having to look up what the original album included and then have save a playlist to avoid the extra, unneeded tracks later. Anyway, I really liked People Take Pictures of Each Other and Big Sky, which has been in my head all weekend. I think I like this as much as my previous favorite Kinks, Muswell Hillbillies.

Sometimes the jaw harp is super annoying but damn this is good.

Dusty's Karaoke Album. Seriously, these are all covers and they're not particularly good ones. What makes this a must hear? Her voice is not as great as people seem to think and the string additions are awful.

I was moderately obsessed with The Doors and JM for a while in high school. I wrote "I am the lizard king I can do anything" in sharpie on my track spikes for inspiration. It feels weird that Morrison still seems older than me even though I'm now almost twice the age he was at death.

Songs are often too long and many repetitive beats and sounds grate. If you're gonna put a Daft Punk album on a list like this, it should be Discovery.

I've listened to this like 3 times now after never getting around to it in high school and I still don't like it. I hated his voice less than previous listens but this album just makes me feel shitty. It's like the House of Cards of albums---interesting at times but ultimately gross and not worth it.

If You Know Someone in Crisis Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or text the Crisis Text Line (text HELLO to 741741). Both services are free and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All calls are confidential. RIP Chris

Superb

...second best-selling album in music history? I think I've been surprised by that before. Kinda simplistic but fun and I've heard these all a million times but man, those drum beats are boring AF.

Wow, was not expecting to enjoy that. *sugar*

Bought this LP after I was denied getting into a bar to see Yo La Tengo. Loved it. Was later denied getting into a bar to see Pavement. Effing Puritanical laws denied me many good shows as a teen. 5-4 = Unity is super fab.

I like the chorus to Tiny Dancer and that's about it.

Unexpectedly good (after not liking Moon Safari as much as I remembered). Might have to see this movie now.

Gross

I know few of The Fall's albums but this is fantastic. Looking forward to wading through their other 31 albums for anything approaching TNSG. I love the sequence of 'My New House', 'Paintwork', 'Damo Suzuki', and 'To Nk'.

Good grief they picked the most boring Beck album. Almost nothing musically interesting and almost all the songs sound the same. This is far inferior to my favorite Beck: One Foot in the Grave (the deluxe version has the better version of It's All in Your Mind).

Wow, I forgot how much I hate this. I really liked Gish and Siamese Dream when they came out but this album ruined the band for me. A few songs in I thought if they'd done this as thrash/black metal with distorted vocals it could totally work. Somewhere in disc 2 I had to start hitting 'next' after half a song and even that was tough to get through.

Annoying, repetitive riffs and vocals. His voice is not fun to listen to. Bleh.

Was not looking forward to this but liked it a lot more than I remembered.

128th album and this is the first one I bailed on halfway through. I can't take the shitty lyrics and how songs feel like they'd be at home in a non-denominational suburban Christian mega church. Barf.

"Got more game than Coleco"....well, they went bankrupt so that's not saying a lot.

Sometimes thought it was okay, sometimes hated it.

'Dirty, Dirty Feeling' oof

This was okay but Nico is right: the flute ruins it.

Has some good bits but songs are too long and ultimately pretty boring.

Absolutely love this album.

I don't understand why this is/was so popular.

Grateful Dead were an acquired taste for me, but I love this album so much now.

Good background music for working. Reminded me a bit of Acetone and Luna.

Yet another album that is *not* one you must hear. Seagull is a fucking terrible song.

Awful.

Sounds alright until you know what it's about and then it's creepy and gross.

She's a wonderful human being but I do not like her voice.

Bleh.

Good, but I really prefer Damn the Torpedoes.

This is pretty tame---people thought they were wild satanists?

Didn't completely hate it! Vocal effects are a little ick.

Very surprised I've never listened to this before. Reminds me of the Undertones, Buzzcocks, a little Television. Never knew The Whole of the Law was not a Yo La Tengo original (and I like the YLT version better).

Some really annoying bits in here like the high pitched whine towards the middle of Rockafeller Skank and the repetitive lyrics of In Heaven but the rest is so good.

I knew the US & UK versions had different covers but was surprised to learn they had some different tracks and track ordering. Never occurred to me in 30 years of listening to AYE despite knowing Beatles albums did this. So, today I listened to the original North America track order and afterwards the original UK order. Unsurprisingly I prefer the NA order. Purple Haze and The Wind Cries Mary in the NA version are vastly superior to Can You See Me and Remember in the UK version. North American version is a 5 and one of my favorites of all time; UK version is a 4.5 and rounds to a 5. Third Stone From The Sun is possibly my favorite song of all time.

I always thought Money for Nothing was the coolest song---that guitar tone is so great. I don't think I'd ever heard the full version with the 'faggot' verse. The keyboards in Walk of Life are great but once the album hits the unrestrained saxophone in Your Latest Trick it really drops off.

Always meant to get around this this one and was surprised to not hate it or find it that much of a challenge---must have heard enough music inspired by it over the years that it doesn't seem that crazy. I really like Double Nickels on the Dime by Minutemen and today realized that Trout Mask Replica was likely a huge influence.

Icky vocals.

Boring country pop with lazy lyrics.

meh

Every song sounds the same and I don't like Morrissey's voice or manner of singing. 3rd Smiths album I got and there's also 3 Morrissey albums on this list? Ugh. Might be time to switch to Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

bleh

Interesting to finally listen to this ubiquitous LP from my used record buying days. I was sometimes tempted to pick it up b/c it was always cheap and I thought the talkbox was cool (I think Baby I Love Your Way persuaded me not to?). Not great but not completely terrible.

5 albums on the list? Sheesh.

was a 4 until I got to No Sympathy (hated the lyrics) and Juxtapozed with U (hated the autotune). Cut off the last 5 tracks and it's a good EP.

Used to really like this but now it seems overly repetitive and too long.

No surprise this got dropped from the RS 500.

Somewhere between The Stooges and Ramones. Not the most amazing punk album ever but apparently one of the earliest? I listened twice and saved it to my collection.

meh

The electric jug is an awful, horrible, terrible, evil "instrument".

My favorite PJ Harvey album. I heard a lot of PJH in Patti Smith's Horses when it came up in the generator earlier this week.

One of my all-time favorites. Kathleen Hanna is a national treasure.

Early Pink Floyd seems to have a similar sense of humor to early Kinks, which I like, but this isn't an album I'll listen to often. I like that there's a song about Barrett's cat (Lucifer Sam) and I'm saving that one.

Boring, samey, and forgettable (thank goodness).

If the whole album was like track 1, this would be a 5.

I love The Clash but realized that 60% of my scrobbles are from London Calling. This one never stuck with me as much. At some point the UK version became the default used by streaming services and that kinda threw me; I liked Clash City Rockers, I Fought the Law, and (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais more than the songs they replaced.

I like 'Just Like Honey' a lot, but this album is too echoey.

Not bad but drums are mostly boring. Recording seems like it could use a clean up.

Terrible name for a band.

I didn't really care for the other Baaba Maal album; maybe Mansour Seck was key to this one. Tracks 10-12 didn't seem to fit or be as good but I may have only thought that b/c I knew they weren't on the original album.

Absolute snoozer.

One of the best albums of all time and the best cassette I ever stole from my brother. This album never fails to make me feel good. Oh the days of blasting it from the stereo of my '79 VW beetle with the top down...

Wow, this was pretty great. I'm putting it on my 'albums to do puzzles to' list. Since I listened on 14 December, this will probably always feel like a Christmas album.

Did not enjoy.

Not sure which I like less, the banging piano notes or the shrill sax.

Gonna come back to this one, seems like a grower (maybe becomes a 4 after another listen or two). I like the Iggy Bowie sound and 'Fall In Love With Me' has some Lou Reed vibes.

Movin' Out and Only the Good Die Young are good but Just the Way You Are is oof.

Listened to Bowie mix, Iggy mix, Rough Power, then Bowie again. Rough Power sounds better to me than the released Iggy mix and ultimately I think I prefer the Bowie mix---basically went through what Ron Asheton said about the original Bowie mix, ha! (see Wikipedia).

All I Wanna Do sounded better on the radio in the 90s than it did this time around.

Great but fuck the homophobic bullshit track One of Them.

Started out decent but I was bored by the 30 minute mark. Glad the label clipped the last 5 songs b/c this is already too long.

Getting pretty bored wit all dis Britpop

This was a nice surprise. I listened twice b/c it's short and will have to revisit the deluxe+Bambu version later. Appreciated the Steely Dan-ish dad rock vibe after having hit a bunch of their albums on this list already. I'm not one who pays attention to lyrics and I think that helps this album out.

One of the greats. I love it but it feels slow once you're used to their blistering fast live pace (see It's Alive and Loco Live).

loathsome

Unremarkable

Zeppelin sounds better to me on vinyl, so I use this while streaming albums: https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/dustyScratchedVinylNoiseGenerator.php

The cover of Little Wing is unlistenable, especially the grating refrain they added. I never want to hear this album again.

This is going in my 'albums for working' stack.

Always a joy and always a bit sad. My favorite listen was when Wilco played it front to back as an encore at Solid Sound in 2017.

I'll take this Let It Be over that other Let It Be.

I really dig the Black Sabbath + flute tracks (some great riffs there) but don't care for the others. If you dig JT's riffs, check out JEFF the Brotherhood. I especially like the JtB album 'Hypnotic Nights'; one track from 'Wasted on the Dream' features JT's Ian Anderson on flute ('Black Cherry Pie').

Unremarkable

701 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die...Plus 300 Assorted British Albums

I didn't hate it as much as the last time I listened. The cover is an approximation of the face I'd make when someone suggests I listen again. Annoying flute, sax, and guitar noodling; nightmarish.

Surprisingly good.

Hearing Prince in this. Dig it.

Muddy britpop, not pleasant on headphones.

Unexpectedly boring.

Enter Sandman is great but after that it's slow-paced metal with super boring drums.

Instrumental tracks > tracks with vocals.

Much better than the black album.

Never really got around to this group but I like it. I assume the band Crocodiles is named after this album; if you like this you might like Crocodiles' album Sleep Forever.

Ill-advised U2/Radiohead collaboration.

Will definitely listen next time at an airport.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wow, that was pretty fun---I listened twice and will revisit in the future. Yours is No Disgrace grabbed me pretty quick though the vocals take some getting used to.

"I cannot take this anymore." You and me both, buddy. Something about the guitar and vocal tones of this is physically exhausting.

Title track(s) are cool but I don't like the rest. Waaaay better than In the Court of the Crimson King though.

Skipped much of this homophobic trash and will skip the other album too.

Had heard this once before but liked it much more this time. Non-abrasive hardcore; reminds me of Minutemen. Listened to the original release, then remaster and remaster bonus disc. Next up is their other album Tweez.

Accidentally listened to the wrong Pantera album first---Cowboys From Hell is better than this (2 stars for Cowboys). A lot of tough-guy asshole posers I knew in high school loved this album. It's not the worst album on the list but there's not much here to like; removing the vocals might get it another star.

Before this list I didn't mind Costello but now I can't stand him.

I like it but many songs feel unfinished, especially Tomorrow Never Knows with its abrupt cut ending.

Listened twice and might revisit. Probably going to check out the rest of their stuff at some point; this list doesn't have a great track record of picking out a band's best album imho (but maybe that's not the point?).

The older I get, the more I like Neil. I thought this was a 3 or 4 on the first spin but the second time around I absolutely loved it.

The Day of the Triffids is also boring.

The generator made me listen the first time, the second time I done it on my own.

Interesting at times but 65 minutes of harshness is too much.

I don't really care if I "get" the story or if it makes sense because the music, sound textures/samples, and hooks are so great.

Would've been a 3 had it been one of the first albums of his generated. So tired of EC.

Neil Young and Grateful Dead vibes. I was not optimistic when I saw he was in the Byrds but enjoyed this.

Streaming services only having the stereo version sucks because that mix is shit. I listened again in mono but honestly the album ain't that good.

This band has always bugged me. The vocals on this album are annoyingly louder than the instruments, forcing their importance and it's boring and tedious. All the songs sound the same.

I thought I liked Tom Waits. Fake night club, fake audience, fake drunk singing. Tiresome. Bass player kicks though.

"frequently compared to Nirvana" ... well that was disappointing.

Could've used some trimming of songs and song length. Houses of the Holy and Presence are better than this!

Once again, the stereo version available on streaming is an awful headphone listen. Mono is a must for Beatles albums before Sgt Pepper.

This resembles so many other early 2000s "indie rock" albums that I am amazed I ever found interesting.

Rod Stewart is unremarkable and I don't care for his sore throat vocals.

Album #467 and this is the first one I'm completely skipping. The Marshall Mathers LP was trash.

starts off a 5 but dips a bit later

Mostly enjoyable (too long, too many butt jokes) but glad it brought back to my attention Dan the Automater of Handsome Boy Modeling School---man does that guy love Chris Elliott.

Didn't care for the beginning or ending but quite liked the more electroclashy middle section of Lovers in the Backseat, Tits on the Radio, and Filthy/Gorgeous.

Always found the guitar in this to have way too much treble.

Many tracks made by Gene Belcher. About Funk would fit on Katamari Damacy.

I like this album but I grow tired of the fake-drunk carnival singer.

I enjoyed the organ in the Hendrix-backed song Old Times Good Times, the giraffe on the cover, and the fact that I never before noticed the steel drums in Love the One You're with.

This has been in my personal top ten favorite albums for 30+ years. 6 stars.

I do not like Sinatra's voice. After this one I think maybe it's his constant vibrato, which is especially grating when it's subtle.

Listened to the first half of each song on LP 1 and thought, "is it too late to stop now? No, it is not."

I think the middle section of Thriller, Beat It, and Billie Jean is great but that's probably middle school nostalgia talking. (but oh man, I totally forgot about Eddie's solo!) The rest is as bad as the other MJ albums on this list.

Really drags at times and To Live is to Die seems proof that they are better without vocals. Could use a better drummer.

I really hate it when reissues add another albums or 2 worth of tracks and give the album the same damn title. Streaming services need a 'play only the original tracks' option (which, yeah, I would turn off for some deluxe versions, ha). Anyway, gonna have to listen to this again as I've always dug I Wanna Destroy You.

Seemed okay to start but only because my last album was Sex Packets... Gotta remember the title of the book says 'albums you must HEAR', not 'albums you must listen to in their entirety'.

Listened to an uncompressed stream of this on $300 monitor headphones and it still sounds like it's coming out of $10 earbuds. Atrocious mix.

Boring in a way that I kind of liked but man I'm never listening to this again.

Bit of chore to listen to, the reissue even more so since it's a revisionist version with "bonus" tracks sprinkled in instead being tacked on at the end---it was already too long, dudes.

I love Buzzcocks Singles Going Steady and am a huge fan of Wire, but this one didn't really click until the third listen (previous listens were years ago). I only remember liking Definitive Gaze before but really enjoyed the whole thing this time, even the bonus tracks.

The high praise for this feels like a lifetime achievement award---he has much better stuff.

Music is good, lyrics are not.

Lots of satisfying clicks, pops, and interesting sound textures on this. The first track had me thinking there'd be loads more, so a little bit of a let down but still highly enjoyable.

Not as boring as A Rush of Blood, but still pretty boring.

On the list b/c it's Bruce's 9/11 album. It's terrible. As someone else said it should be on the list as an example of what 9/11 did to music.

There are so many odd things here that I've loved for almost 30 years. TIL that Two Reelers is about The Three Stooges. What an odd dude.

The Divine Comedy *and* Costello? This is going to be awful. ... Yep. Awful.

Too much Morrissey on this list.

This was pretty great. Looking forward to the Can albums after this one and will def check out more Czukay solo albums.

This won the Mercury Prize over OK Computer? I could barely finish disc 1.

Her voice is unpleasant to my ears.

all you haters are lucky they didn't put triple LP Europe 72 on the list instead :P

Drink your milk!

I don't love this quite as much as Bee Thousand. Auditorium and Motor Away back to back makes a great standard length song.

Good, but not as good as Campfire Headphase.

Moderately annoyed most streaming services don't list the artist as The Crickets---Tidal just says Buddy Holly. 🙄

meh

The dancehall is haunted by the ghosts of those who died of boredom listening to this.

Emblematic of the 'don't really need to hear before you die'-ness of this list.

extra boring U2

Hahaha I never noticed the riffing on God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen around 11:20 of the title track.

I like Bjork. I do not like Bjorkappella.

Disappointed this was not Madonna's country album like the cover suggests. Mercifully the North American version leaves out the laughably bad version of American Pie---I played the single and it made me lol.

another listen will probably make this a 4

liked it but not gonna relisten

Made me of think of the Robot Wars promo that said: and why is this on PBS?! ... IT'S BRITISH!

Jesus, Stephen, did you really have to wake me up at 4 a.m. and make me listen to this?

Best experienced in mono, which can be found on disc/volume 4 of the Super Deluxe Edition aka 50th Anniversary Edition.

Would've been a 3 if it wasn't a double album---was fun for a while but becomes tiresome and samey.

I grow tired of the shtick. Outside of this list I will not listen to this muppet.

That was amazing. Makes slogging through all these 1's and 2's worth it.