1001 Albums Summary

Dire Straits has such an easily-dated sound, but captures some of the best of what came out of 80's pop music. I love Mark Knoppfler's voice and guitar playing. The hook for "Money for Nothing" is maybe the most iconic guitar riff from my entire childhood; that song will never be played out for me. "Walk of Life" has an organ riff and boogie-woogie guitar combo that is near impossible to not bop my head to. "Ride of the River" has almost an Oingo Boingo-like lead in with the various synths, percussion and horns. Some of the slower songs are instantly forgettable, but the album ends pretty strong with "Brother in Arms".

I've never been a fan of Dylan, and this performance does nothing to change that. Dylan's "style" of singing always rubs me the wrong way, and takes away from what might otherwise be pretty decent songs.

Overall not bad. Has some of my least (Bridge Over Troubled Water) and most (Baby Driver) favorite S&G tunes.

I love the variety of recorded sounds on this album. Everything sounds great, even though there's a ton of lo-fi quality types of recording technique. Highlights for me are the first half of the album; "Finding it Harder to be a Gentleman" has some great electric piano, "Fell in Love With a Girl" has a great guitar hook, and "Same Boy You've Always Known" has a really great classic rock sound. Songs like "Union Forever" are kind of clams in my mind; seems like pretentious psych-rock filler, but overall a pretty good album.

First time listening to this record. Norah Jones has a great voice, but most of the songs in the top half of the album just don't do much to grab my attention. "I've Got to See You Again" is pretty good with it's slow syncopated beat, and I started to like this album a little more starting here. "Painter Song" was interesting, and "Nightingale" had some great instrumental lines in it. So a few decent tracks in an otherwise very bland album.

Now we're talkin'! This is an album that takes me right back to high school when I would listen to it constantly. One of the bands that first drew me into listening to heavy music. I spent endless hours trying to learn all of these riffs on guitar, and "Mouth for War" was the first drum track I transposed into MIDI for my drum machine, so this album taught me tons as an amateur musician. Over the years, the tone of the guitars and drums on this album have taken on a "ridiculous" sound in my ears, in that it's an extremely polished and over the top but dated sound, one that I don't think I'd enjoy on anyone else's material, but I just love it on these songs.

This record got me into Pink Floyd, and is the first of the three albums that I consider the best of their discography; Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, and Animals. I love David Gilmour's style and tone. Lots of really great analog synth lines. The song writing is a good balance of Gilmour's and Waters' styles. An album I've listened to probably hundreds of times at this point, but still isn't played out in my mind.

Album starts off decent. Noodling on flute, acoustic guitar and bass on Astral Weeks is interesting, maybe a little disjointed. Love the vibrophone on Beside You. Cyprus Avenue is a mess; each performer is doing their own thing and the harpsichord is just plain distracting It sounds like Van Morrison recorded himself first then everything got overdubbed afterwards. I read the wiki article on the recording sessions after listening and it's close to what I guessed; Morrison recorded in a separate iso-booth while the rest of the session players recorded together in a room. The session players were all jazz musicians, which explains the constant noodling, and most tracks were done in a single take. Overall a super-meh album. None of the songs beyond the first three stood out to me at all other than the constant distraction of trying to figure out why everything sounds so off. Could potentially be better on further listens.

Another formative record from my teens, this is an album that has not been tarnished by time in my ears. Ministry is what I imagined all metal music sounded like to people who didn't listen to a lot of it; fast, cheesy, repetitive, and blasphemous. NWO, Just One Fix, and Hero are still monster tracks to me. Jesus Built My Hotrod is such a stupid, awesome song, and Gibby Haynes' gibberish vocals are always great. Wow; so in TV II, only now after 30 years have I realized Al is saying "connect the goddamn dots" and not "connect the goddamn darts"; lol, yeah, I dunno.

Never listened to this before, other than hearing the singles when they were popular. Pretty good overall. I like Missy Elliott's voice and production skills, but a lot of this album isn't as memorable as tracks she released later in her career. Some good guests like Busta and Aaliyah, but Timbaland is an immediate detractor from any track he appears on.

Album starts great; cool drum-machine sample, great piano hook with lots of spicy dissonance added at the end along with ambient effects. Such a cool track. Pedal steel guitar, vibrophone, and mellotron instrumentation is great on Shadowboxer. I've never noticed all the great counter-melody in Criminal, though I think I've only ever heard it on the radio or on PAs; this is the first time listening on good headphones. Rest of the album continues to be interesting and dynamic. All in all pretty good.

I've never really seen the appeal of Kanye. His public persona aside, his music has always just been kind of "meh" for me. Opening track, Dark Fantasy, does nothing to improve this; sounds like it was written and recorded by a 12 year old. There are some decent guest appearances, and a couple of good hooks, but overall I didn't really enjoy this.

This is a fun album; lots of classic Beastie songs, lots of lyrics about being a stupid kid. Some good grade school nostalgia from listening to this.

Beautiful composition and instrumentation. Didn't impress me a ton at first, but after reading some background and listening a second time, the vocal performances and lyrics are pretty devastating. It's not something I'd put on for myself, but a solid record otherwise.

Very so-so for me; not much remarkable, but I probably wouldn't skip it if it came up on a random play. I generally like bluesy-rock like this, but the way Blue Cheer puts it together is just not my favorite.

Tangled up in Blue is decent. So is Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts, though it kind of reminds me of the awkward studio recording scene from the movie Inside Llewyn Davis. The rest is just fine, so overall the album is a solid meh/5.

This album is rad. Lots of classic Hendrix hits. I know lots of modern players give Hendrix flack for not being the most precise guitar player, but I love his playing style on this record. There was a time when I was a bit burned out on most of these tracks, but listening now after having not listened in several years they don't seem played out and I really enjoyed the whole album.

This is a pretty good record. Cry To Me is a great classic tune. You Can't Love 'Em All is a little creepy in a Mambo Number 5 kind of way. Solomon has such a powerful voice and I like how subtly he goes from crooning to wailing. The album has a really great 60's R&B/Soul feel.

The opening track is one I've never really been a fan of, but many of these are just catchy as fuck. Reason to Believe has a great opening Rhodes riff and the rolling country feel after that is hard not to bop along to...until the violins at least. Their cover of Help makes me like this Beatles tune even less than I already did. I like the zaniness (jazz flute!) on the final track Another Song. All in all not too bad; not really my cup of tea, but I enjoyed much of the album.

Nina Simone has such a great characteristic voice for jazz. I'm only familiar with a few of her songs, so this entire album was new to me. Most of these songs were decent, though not many of them really stuck with me. This slow, vocal jazz style is something I enjoy putting on in the background but not always actively listening to.

Just okay. Some of the tracks were good, Rebellion for example I found pretty interesting with some of the key modulations, but overall there wasn't much on here that I really liked. Maybe more listens are necessary, but this kind of just made me want to put on the Pixies or Modest Mouse instead.

Never listened to Primal Scream before, although I recognize Movin' on Up? Slip Inside the House; this is a strange pivot, but I like it. Higher than the Sun is a bit of a relic; breaks between the lyrical verses is pretty dope though. Overall I liked this more than I would have expected; not my preferred style but great songs pretty much throughout.

This is a very ok late 60's rock album. Nothing bad about it, nothing really remarkable either. I've really never gotten the appeal of Jeff Beck; this album changes nothing.

This album is decent. Some interesting early synth sounds, but not much that really held my attention overall.

I really dug this. Not familiar with Elbow at all, but there was so much to listen to in these songs. Hard to pin just how many things I'm reminded of listening to this, but overall I really enjoyed it.

Life's Greatest Fool was a good song. I didn't like Silver Raven so much; Clark's voice isn't well suited to this style of singing. No Other is a great song; has enough cowbell to make Blue Oyster Cult jealous. Strength of Strings sounds a lot like Neil Young. From a Silver Phial sounds a lot like Pink Floyd. Album kind of lost my interest after this point until Lady of the North, which I kind of liked towards the end. 3 good songs, but then the rest I didn't particularly enjoy.

I like lots of Police songs, but this album is not my favorite. It seems like they're going for a kind of Residents vibe with some of these tunes. Some bands pull off that type of theatrical weirdness well, but I don't like how it's done on Synchronicity. The hit singles are decent: Synchronicity II is a banger, and Every Breath You Take has a great guitar hook, despite being the most famous stalker anthem of all time.

I was ready to hate this because I'm sick to death of their singles...but some of these songs I really enjoyed. So, pleasantly surprised.

TIHI

This had a nice mixture of kind of classic big band type jazz, but also some really great bebop and dixieland style. Some really sweet guitar and clarinet lines in places, and the piano playing of course is super rad. I like this quite a bit, works well as some upbeat background music, but also interesting stuff happening for active listening too.

The sound of this album captures this era of time so well for me. So many great obvious and subtle synth sounds. There's times when I can't tell if some of the backing tracks are stringed instruments with effects or synthesizers made to sound like stringed instruments.

Holy shit, this is really good. "Music makes you lose control", that bass hook is rad! Never heard of this before, but I kind of love it, makes you want to shake your ass.

There's a bar I sometimes end up at named Mulligan's which has the slogan "The OK-est bar on Hawthorne"...this album is like that but for music. Nothing in here I either hated or loved, it was all ok.

Blast from the past; I tried so hard to get into this album when I was in high school, being a huge fan of the first two. But Follow the Leader never really clicked for me and still doesn't. Most of the songs seem to be trying to recapture the sound that made them big, but with a few exceptions it comes off as kind of flat.

So bland. Something about the "huge" production of this record just saps it of all dynamics for me, so it loses my interest if I listen to more than a few songs in a row. Piecemeal it's alright, but the album as a whole is kind of tiresome to listen to.

Not exceptional, but still pretty good straight rock and roll.

Pretty decent guitar rock. Nothing super special about, but I enjoyed the play through.

Huh; this was very strange, but I kind of liked it. If Henry Mancini ever went through a post-punk phase it seems like it would sound like this.

Not bad, not great. I like a lot of the riffs, but there's also quite a few which just kind of sound like "insert generic thrash riff". That's kind of what you get with the big four, to be fair. Also not a fan of Mustaine's voice.

God. Damn. Hippies.

I love this album, though a lot of that is for nostalgic reasons. They really jumped on the nu-metal bandwagon with this album, but 16 year old me didn't care about that in 1997, I just loved playing this and Chaos AD over and over. In addition to being a gateway metal album from my formative years, Sepultura was also one of those bands that kind of opened my eyes to a wider world beyond the small conservative community I grew up in. To this day, I just love Max Cavalera's voice, and Igor Cavalera varies up his drumming so much that even songs with the simplest riffs end up being some of the most dynamic.

This has got some of the best Dire Straits songs on it. They don't all kick ass, but the ones that do have some of my favorite guitar playing of all time.

I liked this album and it seems like one that will get even better on repeated listens. It reminds me of Dirty Computer in that the themes of the songs are just as striking as the music, and the more I listen the more I pick out.

I never liked Depeche Mode growing up (always chuckled at KMFDM jokingly standing for Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode), but I actually enjoyed this album quite a bit.

I don't like everything Muse has done, but I really like this album. There's such a cool mix of fun theatric songs mixed with more "serious" rock songs, often going back and forth in the same track. Just about every song has many nuanced layers; it's a real listener's album as Gina Gleason likes to say.

This is such a solid album; Amy's voice is amazing and I love all of the old-school production and instrumentation/arrangement.

Eh, it's just ok. I like Willie Nelson as a cultural icon and for his activist endeavors, but his music is pretty meh for me, this album being a prime example.

I enjoyed the orchestra (more accordian and theremin, please!), but not much else. I can give Jacques credit for giving his all, his performance is clearly passionate, but I would not choose to listen to this again.

Pretty good, makes for some good upbeat background music while doing other things. Don't think I'd put it on for much else, but I enjoyed it enough for the first playthrough.

I really liked this. Never heard of this group before, but I hear so many other groups that I enjoy in this album.

This album really grew on me. I didn't like track 1 at all at first, but track 2 hooked me and the rest of the album clicked too. It always takes me awhile to get into some of these shoegaze bands (Medicine is still a group that I'm kind of bipolar on), but overall I liked this album a lot.

This album gives me some high-precision nostalgia; makes me want to Hack the Planet. I kind of hate what they done to my beloved L7 with their Fuel My Fire cover.

Wow, I didn't think I was familiar with Jeru other than recognizing the name, but I actually know some of these tracks from 311 skate videos I used to watch in high school. Pretty good album; has that 90's hip hop sound and that east coast style of using dissonant samples.

This is a decent early rock album. I like how much soul influence there is in many of these songs.

Lots of classic songs on here. Most are pretty played out from me; only FM rock station where I grew up played lots of Van Halen every day. I've grown to like most of these songs as I've gotten older. Hard not to appreciate Eddie as a guitar player. I still Like 4 Non Blondes version of I'm The One better, and 2 Minutes to Late Night mined this album hard for their Bedroom Covers series, so at the end of the day there are versions of most of these songs I'd rather listen to.

Wasn't familiar at all with Julian Cope before this. The first track didn't do much for me, but it took off after that. I love the sound of this album, and I dig the variety of styles. I read a little about Julian's background and there's definitely evidence of his post-punk roots, but there's so much cool exploration and weirdness. The song You... is fantastic. This is an album I would for sure spin again, way too much to hear in only one sitting.

Not much to say; Jeff Buckley is pretty damn good. The songwriting and singing are great, and considering he was a session guitar player before recording this album the songs are pretty balanced instrumentation wise, not entirely guitar-centric.

I appreciate the songwriting and arrangement of these songs, but the Flaming Lips are not a band I really ever enjoy. Everything on this album sounds great, but nothing that has me wanting to play it again.

This album surprised me a bit. I had low expectations but I think for the first time in a long time I really heard the appeal of Bob Dylan from many of these songs. I think a lot of it had to do with him staying in his vocal range more and keeping it real simple. I was able to appreciate the songs as a whole and not get distracted by his voice. Probably not something I'd spin again for myself, but would definitely consider it for a backyard gathering or group roadtrip.

I'm not a big fan of straight blues, so this record didn't do much for me. I enjoyed the songs well enough while it played, but nothing really stuck out to me and overall it is kind of forgettable.

I'm liking this a lot. Very mellow, but some great composition and instrumentation. Occasionally some very uniquely dirty sounding synths used along with some big classic 70's sounding arrangements with flute and horns; I love it. He used to be in the Jam; I can sort of hear it knowing that, though wouldn't have connected those two dots without a wiki. This list is my first exposure to both Weller and the Jam, and I'm quite happy for both.

I have a very well loved copy of this on CD; happy to dust it off and give it a spin today.

My dad played this record regularly all through my childhood. This type of jazz remains my favorite to this day (had to look it up, modal jazz; will seek out more); simple motifs stated and restated, with minor variations and improv that's not shy about hitting a phrase multiple times, whether it's harmonious or dissonant.

Not bad. Bluesy jam bands aren't really my thing, but there were some interesting riffs. Not much that held my intention more than intermittently. Might try again some other time.

Love me some Floyd, but I'm not the biggest fan of the really early stuff. Meddle is kind of the furthest back in their catalog that I've done most of my listening. This album was just ok for me. Nothing that turned me off, but it's not the record I would put on by choice; give me Animals any day, every day.

I love how raw and unpolished this recording sounds. Everything is kind of overly dynamic and noisy, but it fits the style of the music perfectly and sounds like you're listening to them live. S'good

I played the HELL out of side-A on this cassette on my Walkman as a kid. I still love this album so much. It honestly makes me wish I could renormalize the rest of my album scores because this 5/5 is so much more significant than some of my others. To this day I pretty much compare anything coined as "psychedelic" to Planet Claire; such a cool, weird and creepy track. The way Kate and Cindy sing together on 52 girls, oscillating between unison, harmony, and dissonance is one of my favorite things ever. The catty call-and-response on Dance This Mess Around. Rock Lobster is loved by everyone and for good reason; song is a fucking banger, and Fred Schneider's beach party is clearly an interspecies rager. B-side of the album loses a little steam. Lava is pretty good and laid back; I love that they included the line "Krakatoa, East of Java" after the '68 disaster movie which misses the tiny fact that Krakatoa is west of Java. The vocals on Hero Worship are great; very unironically loose-in-a-tight-way. Closing track Downtown seems like a great drunken karaoke version captured. 10/5

Ugh, not a fan. Contemplated not even completing a single playthrough several times, but sallied forth in the spirit of the 1001. I guess it's impressive how un-mixed all of the instruments feel at times; everything sounds very compartmentalized. I also would not have placed any of these songs as Bee Gees songs if I'd heard them randomly in the wild; I really only know them for their disco singles.

This is dope. Really great sax playing and I like the arrangements. Electric piano all over the place dates it, but not always negatively. Femi's voice is really great, and I like all afrobeat call and response.

Very strange. I like odd recordings like this, though I don't know this is one I would listen to often. I read that one of the band members went on to form Psychic TV, which makes a lot of sense. Knowing that, I really want to give a second listen in a much quieter environment; probably lots of hidden aural treats.

This is the only Moby album I'm familiar with, but I really like it. I love all of the sampled Lomax recordings and roots music. Some of these tracks are just down-right haunting.

Pretty good. Didn't realize just how much of The Chronic was taken directly from this album. I want to play SNES NBA Jam all of a sudden...

I wanted blood. I got it.

Not bad. Very garage band-y rock and roll. I liked most of it, though it started to get more blues-centric and generic towards the end of the album.

Pretty good. Very laid back, nice instrumentation, interesting chord changes. Something I would put on for mixed company, but probably not listen to a lot on my own.

Nice opening with saxophone and shimmering guitar...not a fan of this singer at first. As the album goes on, the rest of the band makes up for the singing, and I got accustomed to it. Overall not bad. Worth additional spins.

This album is pretty good. Folk rock is a style that's blended especially while by the Byrds. I love how jangly the guitar sounds on this record. Time Between has some great country finger pickin' guitar.

Pretty good. I was never a fan of Miss Misery when it got super popular, but this album surprised me. Looks like I need to chase down some more Elliott Smith.

First impression: wow, this first song has me hooked right from the start! This album is super tight; really jazzy and funky, polished production, and just tons of great little musical moments and riffs. I'm pretty blown away; first song was a 5/5, and the rest of the record backed it up. Last track is such a banger!

S'allright. Songs are pretty decent, definitely not as interesting as their later stuff.

Pretty good. I like bebop and modal stuff much more than this type of soul jazz, but there were still lots of great moments in here. Loved the back and forth with the sax and Hammond organ, and overall just liked the very mellow vibe, even during some of the more complicated solos.

This is pretty solid. Not my favorite Petty album; I think I like his second and third albums better, but still pretty good.

Another new one to me, I pretty much immediately liked it. Sleeping Gas devolved into such a chaotic mess of organ and horns. Did a little research; Julian Cope got his start here, that's cool. Yeah, this album was pretty rad. Will definitely listen again.

Never heard of this group before, but I really didn't enjoy this. It just seems to me like the worst of Neil Diamond and Bob Dylan combined.

The timing of today's album; lol. This was pretty great. I need to spend more time with The Smiths, and this album reminded me of that.

Pretty good. Doesn't really hold my attention, but great in the background. The singles I was familiar with and enjoy, but some of the other deep cuts were really good too. "I'll Be Waiting" is a stand out track, love the horns and multiple vocalists hitting the chorus.

Lol, this is incredible! The production is so noisy and raw. Steve Albini's band, so that makes sense. Sometimes gives me some Ministry vibes with the combination of drum machine and distorted vocals.

Not familiar with this record. Pretty strange hearing Maiden without Bruce Dickinson's voice, but the galloping rhythms and frantic bass are pretty unmistakable. Not bad overall; not my favorite Maiden record though.

First Pixies record I ever bought. Played the hell out of it, but as I started collecting the rest of their records this one became the least favorite of them all as a teenager. Listening to this now; I don't know why this ever fell to the bottom. The reverbed out guitar, the super clean vocal harmonies, Black Francis' range from velvety smooth to gnarly growls, experimenting with the spacey dissonant melodies that made Trompe Le Monde such a great album. Easily a 5/5 album.

How can you not love an opening track with flugelhorn? Overall just OK.

This album kind of snuck up on me. I was initially not impressed, but by halfway through started really paying attention and immediately played it through a second time. Really good overall. There are hints of gospel in lots of the songs, and I love how smoothly its integrated with the rest of the alternative rock sound of the late 90's that's pretty unmistakable.

It's pretty apparent from the sound of this album how it's a bridge from early hip hop to the golden age. Not my favorite from this era, but still pretty good overall.

Love that bass! Production on this album is crazy; so dense and massive. I don't know ABC, but I really like this record.

Great album from a great era in country music. Dolly has such an unmistakable voice, with some crazy vibrato on some of these songs, and her song and lyric writing are great too.

Stones, baby! There's some pretty great guitar sounds on this album. Richards is by no means the best player, but I do like many of his licks; it's really hard to beat Can't You Hear Me Knocking.

Pretty great! Such a great blend of prog rock, jazz and mellow funk.

This is decent, but not much really striking me or holding my attention. Pleasant to listen to but mostly forgettable for me. First and last tracks I found the most interesting and pretty good though; there's enough here in these two tracks that I might try the album as a whole again later.

Supergrass was one of those bands I was aware of but never listened to in the 90's. I'm now very much kicking myself for not having checked this out earlier. This album has so much great stuff in it; kind of seems like a precursor to proggy rock bands like Closure in Moscow. Instant fan.

Hmm; not super impressed. Wiki says this album was their most acclaimed and at the peak of their accessibility, but I found it all pretty bland, with one or two exceptions. Just ok overall.

Just ok, but likely won't ever listen again to be honest.

Love Take it Easy. Hate Witchy Woman. Rest of the album did nothing for me. Eagles remain high on my list of overrated 70's bands.

Took a tiny bit of warming up to, but this album was great overall. Captures some of what I love about Tribe's sound without sounding totally like them, and there are some monster hooks on this record.

Such a monster album. Not perfect, but pretty close.

So many hits! Start to finish this album is solid and has some of my favorite versions of the covers done on it.

Very cool. It usually into disco, but this album kind of ruled. Plus, the bass line and slapping ham-bone on My Feet Keep Dancing; hell yeah!

There were some songs that I really liked, but overall the album just kind of dragged on. Also, some of the noisier tracks were kind of grating and too wall-of-sound-y, so I found myself adjusting my listening volume constantly.

Super fun album; cover versions of Listen to the Music and Summer Breeze are pretty fantastic. Love the gnarly fuzz guitar tone!

I like Cream's hit songs, so I had higher hopes for this. But the majority of the album kind of just sounded like standard 60's Brit rock. So overall, just ok.

All around good album. I've always liked Neil Young and his elegant stripped down style. Crazy Horse makes a great backing band for him, so this whole record is just fun straight-forward rock and roll.

Love this record. The production is all super polished and Paul Simon's voice, as well as the other backup vocalists and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, just shine through the whole album.

I mostly liked this. Some of the songs devolved a little too much into kind of weird hippy horniness, especially the back half of the album, but overall not bad.

Billy Joel is an artist I always enjoy listening to and will never choose to listen to. Not sure why, his music is fine, but just never really tickles my fancy enough to want to come back I guess.

I liked this instantly. This recording sounds so great, so much space taken up by only three instruments. Bill Evans piano playing is simultaneously unpredictable, but at the same time phrases never seem surprising. Reminds me a bit of some of the Miles Davis records I like, no surprise they played together in the late 50's.

Love this album. I've always really dug just how up front in the mix the bass guitar is. And it's such a clean but also unpolished recording. If it weren't for the sound of the vocals, it's easy to think this was recorded in the 60's or 70's.

Yup, they're pretty good. I don't quite like this album as much as Fever to Tell. Blitz has a much cleaner and pop-ier production, which suits the songs on this album well.

I remember being super into this album as a teenager. I still like most of the songs, but the album as a whole runs way too long. 3.5/4

This album is so good. It has so much of what people like to parody Prince for, but done so god damn well. I challenge anyone to listen to Baby I'm a Star and not shake their ass. 4/5

Hmm, well that was certainly an album. Very little that I liked about this. Maybe an occasional hook, but overall just kind of a snooze fest.

I liked this album okay. Fun and playful, but not much really stuck with me.

Human League is a group I've always had on my "need to check them out more" list. This album has highs and lows for me. I love all of the synths being used, but there are some tunes where the use of portamento is kind of exhausting. But songs like Do or Die and Don't You Want Me are undeniable bangers. Overall good, I would give this a spin again. 3.5/5

I'm not familiar with this album other than the singles. It's just okay for me. The lyrics made me chuckle at times, and some tracks had a sound I liked, but overall the lyrics and production didn't do much for me.

Hmm, not bad for pop music I guess. Nothing that would make me want to choose to listen to it, but I didn't dislike it while it was playing. 2.5/5

Love me some PJ Harvey. I'm more familiar with To Bring You My Love, so I was only familiar with a handful of tracks off this album before today. This album is maybe a little more polished and less avant garde than TBYML, so I think I still prefer that album, but overall I enjoyed this whole record quite a bit.

Another group that I've always had on my "should listen to someday" list, until now. This record dipped a little in energy for me in the middle for a few tracks, but I really liked the rest. Voodoo Dolly was a nice dark kind of psychedelic spin out at the end. I can hear this group's influence in lots of things I'm into by more recent artists.

Helluva opening; this stereo, fuzzy wah guitar tone would make both Hendrix and Jerry Cantrell drool. The rest of the album was ok; fun to listen to, but didn't necessarily keep me engaged. Very nice as background music, just not a lot there for active listening.

Skipped Rolling Stone; I've heard it too many god damn times and I don't think it's a great song. Tombstone Blues surprised me initially, I liked it more than I thought I would, but then it just kept going on for almost 6 minutes with little change. The rest of the album was a chore; the harmonica in Queen Jane gave me a headache, even after I turned it down, and that fucking spin-whistle in HWY 61, what in the pretentious-folk-hero-hippy-square-scaring-mid-60's-edge-lord kind of fucking bullshit is that?!? Well, the album is almost over at least, this last song is only...11 minutes longWHATTHEFUCKBOB!!!!

This album has some really great jazz-feeling guitar lines, and I love the variety in instrumentation (I'm a sucker for a track with vibraphone). Not every song is a banger, but the bookends of the record alone make me want to listen again.

Lol, I can't take this band seriously, it just makes me think of Spinal Tap. This was just the first few songs; the album goes downhill after that for me. Very much not by bag, baby.

I dug this. Love all the frantic funky guitar and bass mixed with synth and drum machine. Some nice sax samples in there too. 3.5/4

Man, there's a lot to like in this record. I kept hearing things that reminded me of later groups like Oingo Boingo and Jesus and Mary Chain. I will for sure be playing this again.

Love it. I could listen to this all the time. Never was there a greater combination than Tom Wait's voice and the quirky folk music he sings over.

Very standard-issue-Waylon Jennings. Decent country music, if not my favorite, but also not super remarkable.

I like most alt country when I here it, even though it's not a style I often put on myself, but this album did very little for me.

I was prepared to not like this album, but in listening realized that the Spector Wall of Sound versions of these Christmas tunes are actually the ones I enjoy the most. So actually a pretty enjoyable listen.

I've only ever heard Queen Latifah's records from the 90's. This was pretty good, nice bridge between the 80's hip hop rap sound and the style that became popular in the 90's.

This was pretty good. It has that characteristic manic Lightning Bolt sound, although seems maybe a little more tame than some of their later stuff.

Love me a tight horn section, and I was surprised how often the keyboard playing and melodic percussion on this album stood out as well. The big funk/soul groups don't always do it for me, but I liked this entire album.

I'm imagining a record producer in the 90's, totally gakked on cocaine, screaming at the top of his longs in a studio control room "MAKE IT MOOOOORE BRI' 'IISSHHHHHH!!!!" Seriously, this is hilarious in how just how Brit-pop it is. He literally sings "jolly good" in the first damn song. Too pop-y and polished for my liking.

First time I've listened to this full album. I like all of the Black Sabbath nods; intro to Heartbreaker using the opening riff from Black Sabbath was a cool surprise. The album is super pop-y, but luckily it's not all as disco inspired as Lovefool. I like that song, but I really enjoyed the variety of styles across the album.

I've been listening to a lot of Louis Cole recently and I've heard Thundercat is a similar style. This definitely has a similar vibe, and it's great! Inferno was a top track for me. It's got a great combination of laid back but also very nuanced playing, so I'll be listening again for sure.

Took me awhile to get used to the singing style, but I really liked the variety of styles and instrumentation on this album. Some really great understated saxophone, electric piano and vibraphone runs on many of the songs. The more straight forward blues tracks were a bit forgettable, but overall a solid album.

I didn't like this at all. Very bland throughout, and Rotten's vocals seem all but phoned in.

I’ve loved the Cars ever since I was 8, so this is an album that gets played in our house pretty regularly already.

Just ok. Really not my preferred style of rock and roll.

Bob Marley has always been about as neutral in my music likes as anything. With the exception of listening for this project, I don't think I've ever chosen to listen to Bob Marley, but any time someone else plays it or I hear it happenstance I've enjoyed it. It was fun listening to the Jamaican versions versus the US releases back to back. It's pretty clear that the US releases were made to sound closer to the contemporary rock music of the time.

This record is kind of wild. I didn't really like it the first playthrough until about halfway through Mode D, then something just clicked. I started it from the beginning immediately after the first playthrough and actively listened and was blown away at how much I had missed the first time through. Solid 4/5.

I was hoping to like this album more, but it never really clicked for me other than a few nice moments.

This album is kind of gross. The number of songs about sexual relationships that include references to patriarchal archetypes has really not aged well. It makes the attempt at social commentary towards the end of the album feel a little phoned in. At least the production is decent; lots of really great classic Roland patch sounds, and some super tight horns on the sex song that just completely does away with all lyrical nuance.

What's Love Got to Do With It holds a firm place as beloved nostalgia for me and I had a huge childhood crush on Tina Turner, but I wasn't wowed by this album as a whole. I really wanted to like the cover of Al Green's Let's Stay Together, but it had too much 80's production on it for my liking. Steel Claw is pretty fun. Overall just an OK album for me.

This record was ok. Smith's song writing talent is unmistakable, but it's just a style that I am not super into, so I wouldn't likely listen to this again.

I like the moodiness to this, sometimes reminded me of Roy Orbison. Overall a very pretty record; love the sound of Richard's voice, I like the understated guitar playing, and I would likely come back to this record again for a more focused listen.

First time I've listened to this in its entirety since high school. I enjoyed it a lot back then, and it's still a pretty decent record to these 42 year old ears.

This was pretty hot and cold for me. I enjoyed the more raucous tunes, but any time things mellowed down and got more folky, Shane MacGowan's voice and/or delivery just didn't do much for me. On average it's a decent record.

Hard to put my finger on what is so good about this era of popular folk music, but the Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon records on this list have been so damn good! Maybe it's not this era necessarily, and more Joni Mitchell's strength as a song writer, but there's something about this record sonically that just makes it so easy to place in pop music chronology. Great record, will definitely listen again, and most likely seek out a physical copy at some point.

Can't ever go wrong with Minor Threat, in my opinion. Liked this record as a kid, still like it as I careen gleefully towards my old-fart years.

Good stuff. I got a bit into post-rock in my 20's, but this is a record I'd not heard of before today, and it's pretty great. The occasional, without being gimick-y, inclusion of non-western instruments almost sounds to me like it could be a precursor to Tuatara's Breaking the Ethers. Definitely worth additional listens.

Nobody does a mambo like Tito! I love the sound of this album; it's such a classic sound that not only instantly registers the Latin style, but also the time it came from. The tracks Hong Kong Mambo and Estoy Siempre Junto a Ti are great with their marimba and vibraphone tracks, respectively. Overall pretty fun record; maybe not for everyday listening, but there's definitely times when I like putting on some of these older Latin styles like mambo or psychedlic cumbria.

I've loved this record ever since it came out when I was still in junior high. I enjoy it no less today. I often go back and forth on whether I like Superunknown more or Badmotorfinger. Superunknown is definitely more tame, but some of the melodies are so much darker that it's a no-less entertaining album. Limo Wreck is still a song that gives me goosebumps every time; such a heavy verse, and Chris Cornell's vocals just absolutely soar in the chorus. Can't say enough good things.

Hmm, separating art from artist, this record is decent. The first half of the album is loaded with lots of the classic disco hits, and it's hard not to bop to them. The album kind of loses momentum for me after the first five tracks or so. By the end, I was kind of wishing that I was listening to one of the later artists clearly inspired by this album (say, Thundercat or Louis Cole, both of which I played immediately after), but it was pretty cool hearing this in comparison.

This is such a silly album. I remember my dad showing me this record growing up. I had just gotten way into Weird Al, and so we were going through all of this records that were either weird in art or concept, or just unique artists in general. There was The Who Sell Out, Frank Zappa, Jethro Tull, and Floyd's Ummagumma, to name a few. When my friends and I all turned 18 and wanted to get tattoos, "Tattoo" was the song we'd get cheesed and laugh with. Nostalgia aside, the album as a whole is just okay. I'm usually pretty hot or cold with The Who, and this album is no exception. I did appreciate the Boris the Spider nod at the end of the weird psychedelic take on Hall of the Mountain King. Overall, yeah, pretty standard issue Who, which is just "meh".

I'm glad I didn't listen to this driving home; I might have fallen asleep and killed somebody.

After a decade plus of not hearing the singles from this album played out multiple times a day on the radio, I went into this record hoping to enjoy it. But everything just kind of fell flat. It's a nu metal record that doesn't really feel like it's adding anything to the genre. When it tries to go hard, it doesn't have the blistering ferocity of Slipknot. When Chester Bennington sings during quieter melodic parts, it doesn't have the ethereal beaty of the Deftones. And when Mike Shinoda raps over guitar and synth tracks, it doesn't have the Fred Dursity of Limp Bizkit. So it kind of just doesn't really push the envelope in any direction, good or bad.

Whoa... I haven't listened to this in maybe 30 years, and I can honestly say that even then I never really paid much attention. This album slaps! Lots of groups sample Public Enemy, but the samples really don't do these songs justice. The composition and flow as a whole is really great.

I kind of always think of The Byrds as the band that made Bob Dylan songs actually sound good. I like their blend of folk rock and psychedelia, and this album has got great examples of that. Mr. Spaceman is a fantastic folk-rock song, and 8 Miles High has one of the most iconic guitar intro lines. The rest of the album was decent, though the two hits mentioned resonated the most with me.

Not a huge EDM listener, but the afro influence on this record made it much more interesting to me. Fun record to have on in the background. Will very likely listen again.

Heh, dope. Cypress Hill is dope, and Cypress Hill loves dope. Love the sound of both Sen's and B Real's voices, and even though the follow up to this album, Black Sunday, is the one I'll always prefer, I still really like this S/T as well.

Not bad overall. I'm such a sucker for a good Rhodes track, so the first song had me hooked right away. They weren't all winners though. I hate the sound of vocoder with only a few exceptions, and track 6 is not one of those exceptions. However, it did win me back with all the theramin and haunting vocals in the back half of the song.

This one takes me back. I love the production on this album. I don't think any of the other 90's gangster rap artists ever pulled off the musicality that Dre did. It was such a polished sound. I can't get behind a lot of the homophobia and misogynist lyrics, but I still enjoy the album as a whole.

Sounds an awful lot like Flaming Lips to me. Not sure which one came first, but I'm not a huge fan of either.

Whoa. This is really good! This is a band I've always heard reference to and just never listened to. Kicking myself for that now, this record had me immediately hooked. Will have to listen to again, but I have a feeling it will be repeated listens.

I remember when this came out and not getting why it was so popular. I still don't get it. In fact, I hate it. The whole Beach Boys sound is so strange, but it at least fits with other genres of the 60's. Listening to this now, it just seems like the musical version of boomer nostalgia. If the opening statement "back in my day..." could be captured in a long-play format, this would be it. It's nearly as hateworthy as the acapella scene from Trading Places where the four Wall Street frat bros sing barbershop quartet style about their shared sexual conquests. At least that scene is satire; Brian Wilson is just up his own ass. The only time this sound has ever been good in my opinion is when Mr. Bungle used it behind the lyrics "...rots your brain just like a catchy tune, yeah. You will hate life more than life hates you. Happiness is your illness in an air-conditioned nightmare". The sentiment of Mr. Bungle's Air Conditioned Nightmare matches my experience of Brian Wilson Presents Smile perfectly; kill me now.

I love Billie Holiday's voice. Nobody else can can hit and hover around notes like she can. I don't know enough of her work to draw comparisons between this record and others of hers, but I really enjoyed this one and will likely be playing it again to get more familiar.

Track 1: Unhinged version of \"What's up, pussycat\" by Tom Jones. Track 2: Sick flute, vocal verse is very odd Track 4: I kind of like this one; manic psyche punk rock? Overall, pretty interesting. It devolved a little too much into psychedelic rock in the second half of the album, so kind of started to lose my interest.

I found my copy of this CD only about a week before it popped up on this list. Even though it's not my favorite Radiohead album, it's still so, so good. It's got elements of the more experimental things they leaned into harder on OK Computer and Kid A, but still has quite a few more "straight forward" rock songs, which are still brilliant.

Another solid Nick Drake album. Similar to his others, this is an album that has a style I usually don't go for but it's done so well that I actually really enjoyed much of it.

I was prepared to not really like this, but it was more interesting than I expected. It being super early Jeff Beck, there wasn't any of the usual self-indulgent atonal wankery that turns me off of his later solo stuff. A decent classic rock and roll record.

Really good, I loved the instrumentation and style of this. Probably need more listens to truly appreciate, so I imagine it will get even better on subsequent listens.

Pure nostalgia. I played the hell out of this on my Walkman when I was like 7 or 8. Still a really great record.

I love this album. It has lots of Page's fun recording tricks on it and the strings and horns in Kashmir crush it.

Lol, wut? I've heard other groups from later eras messing with sounds and frequencies like this to try and enhance psychedelic experiences, but that fact that if you just removed the electric jug it would just be standard issue garage rock was very strange. Not bad per se, but I don't think I'd listen to this again, on drugs or not.

I've never listened to this full album before. For as much as I love Live Through This, Celebrity Skin is surprisingly disappointing. Seems like they leaned hard into what a lot of other post-Grunge era bands were doing, and it just doesn't suite them, IMO.

Not really into this. It's fine for background music, but not really something I'd choose to listen to again start to finish.

This is so over the top melodramatic, I kind of can't help but like it. I was surprised to hear what sounded like influences for Hedwig and the Angry Inch in this record. Apparently this is adapted from a rock-and-roll musical interpretation of Peter Pan; well now I'm going to have to go back and listen again and pay more attention to the lyrics.

Can't believe I've been missing out on Depeche Mode all these years.

Pretty good! It took me awhile to recognize Change is Gonna Come, and I really like this version that's kind of in between Sam Cooke and the Gits. Not much else to say; classic Aretha!

Another new album to me. Closest thing I listen to regularly that's similar is DJ Shadow. I liked all the spoken sound bytes, it gave the album overall a very "scenes from NY" kind of feel.

A++ This record was ferocious when it came out and it has continued to kick ass over the decades. In my opinion they never achieved this level of intensity again, but good lord is this album a fucking monster.

Really good; not familiar with Mylo at all, but another artist that sounds to me to be DJ Shadow adjacent. Loved the track with beats put over a religious coalition listing what I have to assume are "unwholesome" artists, and it's just a list of everyone...including Cyndi "Looper", lol.

I don't like all of the Doors albums, but this one I enjoyed most of the way through.

Not a fan of this at all. Seems like super self-indulgent pretentious 60's horny music. I feel like I really didn't need to listen to this before I died, but here we are.

I had a friend who played this non-stop in high school, so I think my enjoyment of this album comes at least as much from nostalgia as the music itself. The posturing of this album is pretty funny in light of how Snoop's image as a pop icon has changed in the intervening decades. But the production is super great, like everything that Dr. Dre was putting his hands on in this era, even if the lyrics are just absolutely dripping with misogyny.

Fuck yeah! I loved this record as a kid. I love this record as an adult. The combination of old-school punk, surf rock, and Jello Biafra's unhinged vocals is one of the most iconic sounds, and the occasional throw in of schizophrenic xylophone or Rhodes piano just puts the icing on the cake. Too bad the shit they were satirizing 43 years ago hasn't changed much...I'll just have to steal some mail to feel better about that I guess.

Another good Byrds album. Not much new to say; it's another example of folk-rock done right, in my ears at least.

Still listen to this album regularly to this day. My read on much of the lyrical content has changed over the decades, some for better, some for worse, but overall I still love this album and all the great audio tricks used in its production.

Catchy, poppy, and over the top. I actually kind of dug it! I wouldn't say no to a second spin of this further down the road.

Pretty decent old school country. I'm a sucker for a lap steel guitar, so that bumps it up for me too.

This was just ok for me. This era of rap isn’t one I listen to much except for the occasional nostalgic spin of The Chronic. It’s kind of novel listening to all these artists together before they started feuding later in their careers, but the music itself didn’t do much for me

I've never been a huge fan of Springsteen's style, but his songs undeniably have a ton of heart and he's a great song writer and band leader. I've listened to Born In The USA off and on since I was a kid, and it always kind of hits the same: I really like listening to it but I will rarely ever choose to listen to it.

Well, not my cup of tea really, but undeniably catchy. There were enough interesting things going on that I gave it a second spin even.

Hell yeah. Hard to beat old school thrashy Metallica.

Not my favorite of theirs, but it does seem to consolidate all of the S&G songs that I've kind of always found the least interesting.

I have a memory of k.d lang from when I was a kid and she first became popular. For some reason that memory did not include that fact that she's a country singer, and a crooner at that. So I was pleasantly surprised. The album is decent overall, and again, that lap steel guitar always gets me.

This was ok, but overall kind of forgettable to me. Might give it a try again later, but there just wasn't too much, aside from the occasional use of unique instruments or Oingo Boingo-like chord changes, to grab my attention.

This album was hot or cold for me. A lot of really great songs with some absolutely killer guitar and bass tones. Then just lots of songs I found very uninteresting. But the album was fun all around, so it registers as higher than average for that. Wouldn't be opposed to playing again and see how it grows on me.

Damn, I still really like most of this album. The duet with McCartney always seemed weird to me, but the rest of the record is great. I love how Thriller is basically a pop song with death metal lyrics, and I love the mix of live horn sections and synth horns; this album has a lot of potential cheese, but the production is so tight that it all works.

Lot of range on here. Our House has always been a forgettable track to me, but Deja Vu is a prog-folk banger. I need to listen to more of this (more Neil Young in general), but the first two listens were quite enjoyable.

I'm always surprised at how much I enjoy listening to The Cure, but I still will rarely ever choose to put it on. The song writing is so good, but there's just something about the vibe overall I don't seek out, but enjoy once I'm there.

This album rules. Super fun, very unique, lots to love about it. I sometimes like how subtle the electronic instrument use is, other times I feel like it could be a little more emphasized, but overall a solid record.

One of my all time favorite records. Alice in Chains was one of the gateway bands for me into much heavier music, but I learned so much about music in general, song structure, and guitar playing by listening to this album over and over as a teenager. I still love how it sounds to this day. I think this is their best LP, and tied with the Jar of Flies and SAP EPs in my mind for best AIC record.

This was just ok. I kind of lost interest in it a few times over the course of my listen. Sounds like lots of other stuff from that era. Probably wouldn't choose to listen to again.

CSN with no Y is not quite the same, but still pretty darn good. I love me some high harmony "doo doo"s. I'd jam this again for sure.

Man, what a silly record. But I liked it quite a bit. I was only familiar with "Sex and Drugs and Rock 'n Roll" before, so I liked hearing the rest of the horny songs and clever limericks Ian Dury had to offer.

Man, hard to say anything about Bowie that hasn't been said before, but this is such a great record. I haven't listened to it in it's entirety before I don't think, but I played this multiple times today and loved every second.

I liked this album. Ginger Baker's drumming blended in pretty seamlessly with the rest of the percussion, and Fela's voice is just great. I liked all of the energy this has from being a live album, but it's till super tight performance wise.

Hmm, kind of like Springsteen mashed up with U2. Not my favorite, but it was pleasant enough for a single playthrough. Will have to play again some time.

Never really been able to get into the Mamas & Papas. I know most of these songs already and they are ok individually I guess, but hearing them all together was mostly a chore. I wouldn't choose to listen to this again.

Pretty ok soul album. It never wanders far from Let's Get it On, and so it feels kind of samey throughout because of that. But there's some decent arrangements on some of the tunes and I wouldn't complain at listening again.

This was decent. I liked it even though it didn't really hold my attention. Probably the combination of my enjoyment of the playing but not being a huge fan of samba.

A lot of range on this album. I liked some of the bluegrass inspired tunes and songs that were a little more proggy, but there was some other stuff that kind of fell flat. Not bad overall.

Not bad. I liked how super chill this was, but also had lots of variety. A nice album to kick back to, for sure.

I'm surprised at how little singing there is on this record. I've always thought of Isaac Hayes as primarily a vocalist, but he composed all the tracks on this record. It's pretty obviously a soundtrack meant to sit back in a movie's audio mix, but I kind of liked it. Works great as background music for going about my day.

Another good Stooges album. Songs are a little more hit or miss on this one, but I love how raw it sounds, and I never realized some of these songs were from the late 60's; crazy!

This is such a great album. It's got such a good blend of sounds on it that it doesn't fit neatly into any genre, or really match anything that he's done in the past.

A little different for a Who album. Seems like some more experimentation and guest artists. It was all kind of middle of the road for me though.

This album is pretty great. Duran Duran kind of encapsulates a lot of the 80's in a lot of ways for me: musically, album art wise, and other aspects of their catalog aside from Rio. Super fun, super cheese, and this won't be the last time I listen to it.

Decent 90's era hip hop. Nothing stuck out much in my mind, other than I could imagine most of these tracks playing in a 411 skate video.

I don't think I've listened to this in full in about 25 years, but it's just as I remembered it. Solid song writing, and very much captures the polished SoCal Punk sound of the 90's.

I really wanted to like this, but it just did not hold my attention and was pretty forgettable. Maybe a future listen will change that, but for now it's a 2/5.

I thought this would be kind of meh, but I actually really liked it. It had a lot going on even though it's pretty straightforward, old school R&B. Would definitely listen again.

Not bad for this type of straight-forward rock, though it's just really not my style. Probably wouldn't ever choose to listen to it either.

I was expecting to like this more as it has a lot of the Beatles songs I grew up loving, but as a whole the album was just ok. Still love Eleanor Rigby.

I really liked most of this, and would love it if it weren't for the very dated and problematic lyrics in some of the songs. But overall it's a really fun album with lots of musical twists and turns.

Don't remember hearing about this group in the 90's, but I don't think I would have been into them then. Definitely not into it now. Just not much going on to hold my interest.