1001 Albums Summary

Not particularly bad, but this is in no way an essential album. Nice Scott Walker impression though.

"Come Away With Me" is just not what I desire when I seek out music. Everything is pleasant and agreeable, and it's the competent performances that carry the disc rather than any clever tricks or notable new songs/arrangements from Norah Jones & her team (although Jones' own contributions, as few as they are, were marginally above batting average compared to the rest of the tracklist's assortment of tried-and-true standards and quasi-modern traditional cuts). This album's wide success is certainly some sort of cultural barometer of its time of release, but I can't fully speak as to why it attained the reach and absurd sales numbers that it had. I'm trying real hard not to call this a Starbucks promoted CD of amiable light clap-alongs for enjoyment while waiting in line for your coffee, but I'm fairly confident there is some significant vis-a-vis going on between Norah Jones and this particular manner of minimal commitment music consumption. If you find there's nothing wrong with "just average" or have a stronger appetite for garden variety Vocal Jazz, then you may get more from this than I did. I just prefer when something consciously made to be middle-of-the-road has more bumps and snaking patterns than this ultimately does.

The machine's creators have fell victim to the grinding, crushing gears of what they had once designed. 1990's "Bossanova" is the sound of a now exhausted and highly irritable band watering their sound down so they can chase trends that they were once lightyears ahead of. Pixies would have one last minor -and boy, do I mean minor- hurrah with "Trompe Le Monde" before breaking up, allegedly via Fax message from bandleader/megalomaniac Black Francis (showing that even when the band attempts to 'phone it in' that they are much too interesting to do straight), but "Bossanova" stands as testament to when legitimate innovators lose their spark and aim for something far far less.

A quintessential hammock-lounging album. Even though it kicked off the Glam Rock scene, it still has a sound unlike anything else and questions what road Glam could have went down if everyone mellowed out instead of hamming it up.

Aliens, sacrilege, stolen money, apocalypse in a major key, drowning sisters, a jet plane, I IV V chord progressions galore, and horses, horses, horses, horses. A masterpiece full stop. This SHOULD have been a late genre Post-Punk great, except for the fact that it predates even the Ramones' first album by half a year, leaving this artistic fever dream of Rock n' Roll ephemera as a crucial cornerstone of all Punk and anything Alt to follow.

I've heard about this album for a long time without ever actually listening to it, since a lot of the older vanguard of Punk crits really love to hold this album up as a high watermark for the genre's early days. This kind of praise coming from this source can be both a good and bad thing: it immediately put it on my radar as some kind of "important" album but also set unwanted anticipations of it being like any other example of similarly pre-formed music made before a genre got out of hand (i.e. better). First off, I was worried this would be a virtual clone of the New York Dolls, and it's pretty close if I'm being honest. Bright major keyed songs about light debauchery and a permanent reverence for 1950's greasers informs all of "Go Girl Crazy!", and it's a style I could mostly leave behind, truth be told. The band gets rather conceptual with their lyrics and no two tracks sound like complete retreads of each other. Still, I can't help but think of this as a relic that points to a direction that would soon leave The Dictators far far behind. How'd that dictate?

The 1001 Albums series often gets (warranted) flack for its lackluster selection of 'World Music' in it's catalog, but they certainly know to include the absolute essentials when push comes to shove. "África Brasil" is a masterclass in rhythm and performance, with secretive but long-lasting influence that can still be felt today. Even for any listeners wary of any language barrier with music, Jorge Ben Jor makes music that anybody can immediately understand and groove along with.

The antidote for Springsteen haters. If you loathe Bruce Springsteen, you will probably love "Nebraska".

Not quite perfection from the Beatles, but still pretty dang close. Possibly their weakest album but still a 4/5.

Unabashed classic, sounds lightyears ahead of its time. Even if "Ambient" isn't really the genre to describe this music anymore since it's so exciting and filled with changes.

Master of the jazz organ bass pedals.

Alcoholic Jim Morrison >>>> Druggie burnout Jim Morrison

Van Halen smartly strikes the perfect balance of previously unknown guitar virtuosity with a murderer's row of incessant party jams all deeply indebted to Southern Boogie. Before EVH throws himself off the deep end into Shred City, he is always reeled in by the band's more sensible aspects, like plenty of swing rhythms, hearty riff-alongs in Eb tuning (à la KISS), and one of the most excitable frontmen in Rock's history. A truly game changing album, an album and band that would still be a total blast even if it never innovated a thing. Lucky for us, it did.

Bongo FURY.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space.

Genuinely one of my least favorite trend-setters in Modern R&B. Props to SZA for getting to this sound first and pioneering it, but this is Soul derived music at it's most soulless, a grey flurry of non-starters all addled in pot smoke and too-cool-to-even-try vibes.

“We have Guided By Voices at home”

God damn I hate Rod Stewart but Faces can really play their instruments.

Randy Newman has like FIVE albums on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list and every single one makes me want to claw my ears off. Each one is barely 25 minutes long and each one is slapdash, smug and irritating. This album’s only minor salvo is that “Rednecks” makes me laugh a tiny bit, although that comes more from outside the song than anything within. Sail Away has its moments though, (he begrudgingly said). This music makes me want to yawn and barf at the same time, hard pass.

Jonathan Richman is the Nathan Fielder of rock music

Funk Soul Brotha check it out now

Jeezey kableezy, Mr. Yeezy

Best Bowie album, don't @ me

So. You would NOT believe what day I got this album recommended to me.....

Justice for Kevin Gilbert

Who cares.

Murderers with pretty singing voices should be allowed to get away with it

I genuinely think I’ve listened to “Fell In Love With a Girl” more times in my life than any other song in existence. The rest of the album is just as up to snuff, a genuine rock masterpiece.

Electric jug. Freak it.

Clapton is only good when someone else writes his songs. Consider this his all-time masterpiece.

Impressive, but Sly Stone and co. would go on to create better works than this.

It’s pronounced garbáge

Radiohead reaches a new zenith, this time with lovey-dovey goo goo eyes. In Rainbows is the best starting point for any newcomer to the band, it's an album that's an exact crossroads of everything that's made Radiohead loved (and sometimes detested) and all applied with surgical precision and overflowing passion. An unabashed 5 star album.

This isn’t where it all started, but rather, this is where it all exploded and got out of control.

Top 5 album ever made for me

Genuinely brilliant and right up my alley. One of my best new finds from this 1001 Albums list.

Kind of a big nothing

Nice.

She’s obviously a good singer but I was still bored the whole time.

This is legitimately a 5 star album but I'm too much of a coward to display it on my account's HIGHEST RATED ALBUMS page.

At least he has a good band playing behind him

Would be the best album ever made it Kid A by Radiohead didn’t exist. 11/10

He sings these songs like gay Joy Division

RIP Mark Lanegan

Did I listen to the same album as everyone else? This sounds completely fine to me.

An unabashed 10/10, certainly worth listening to before you die. “Orange!”

Remembering the cringe of when I set my flip-phone’s ringtone to “FUCKING HOSTILE” in Middle School.

Imagine making whole big series of statements that you're going to retire and put your band on ice forever ......and then you come back with this weaksauce shit. LCD Soundsystem will always be more fun as a trend than it ever will be as music.

A transitionary album for Talking Heads and just barely my least favorite of their first 5.

Regrettably, this completely and utterly rules. It’s even a bit more tasteful (musically speaking) than I’d have imagined.

I’m a pleb, this is by far my favorite Pavement LP

Mr Burns: “So, What do you think of today’s popular music scene?” Lisa: “I think it distracts people from more important social issues” Mr Burns: “My god, are you ALWAYS on?”

Pete Thomas is one of the greatest drummers I have ever heard

With this album, Eagles have ruined Country-Rock forever. Nothing makes me feel like raging and punching holes in my furniture more than hearing “Peaceful Easy Feeling”.

I’m usually much more forgiving of this style of music than most on this site, but virtually none of these songs ever came together for me in any worthwhile way. It was difficult for me to piece out even the barest fragments of ideas and it just sounded like someone making music just to do it, without any discernable motivation or end-goal.

Come on, Black Sabbath in E Standard tuning is like Thanksgiving without the cranberry sauce. Gimme that sludgy C# riffage. Paranoid is easily their most iconic album and stands as a relatively safe entry point to Heavy Metal, but they'd go on to make even better work than this.

It’s like music that’s daring itself to not exist. Wither and waste music, I have zero idea as to why anybody would choose to make or listen to music in the Twee genre, it seems antithetical to everything I go to music for.

The boy-bandification of Punk.

Doesn’t rise above being another pre-fame curio. Hardly essential, marginally listenable.

Just a smidge less good than The Stripes’ previous “White Blood Cells”, but will always be a 10/10 must listen from me.

🎶Listenin to Radiohead Oh no We don’t have any real friends No no no🎶

Basically as good as everyone says it is.

Jazz on fire

Britpop’s premiere band before they went all cuckoo-bananas on their next (even better) album that nobody seemed to like at the time.

A delightful surprise by a band I’d admittedly previously written off. This could stand to be a real contender for the patio albums hall of fame.

I love Hüsker Dü, but this is easily the least essential album in their entire discography.

Yeah, I support women's suffrage.

I don't care about the haters, this is still singlehandedly one of the best Punk albums ever made. I honestly even prefer it to anything by The Clash or Ramones.

Contrary to popular belief, this is not THE greatest Jazz album ever made. But it is still a straight-up masterpiece that everyone should listen to at least once.

Twice warmed over leftovers that weren’t great at all to begin with….

Desolation Row is the best set of lyrics ever written, change my mind.

I’m suspecting that this dude might be depressed or summn 🤷‍♂️

The Stones are some of the biggest shysters in rock's history.

“Country” music for people who think they’re too sophisticated for actual Country music.

Hip-Hop's answer to The Wall by Pink Floyd. One of the easiest 5/5's I've ever given on this site.

Dear Britsbongs: Please stop chomping on pills like they’re tarts, it doesn’t make you as interesting as you think it does.

IN THE NAAAAAAAMMMMEEEE OF SUCK! WHAT MORE IN THE NAME OF SUUUUUUCCCKKK

Hearing this album for the first time completely rewired my DNA, and I wasn't even a teenager at the time. This is the goalpost to meet (and fail to meet because no-one else does it like this album).

This is exactly why I’m doing this list. So happy to discover this kickass record.

Music for a dentist’s office.

A time when Country-Rock was great before The Eagles ruined it forever.

It hurts my ears!!!!! It's so good!!!!!

Hate this kind of music. Just listen to The Knife instead to hear this music with actual backbone.