1001 Albums Summary

Blonde on Blonde integrates traditional blues material with modernist literary techniques to form a cache of songs which tread a fine line between surrealist and literal, earnest and flippant, delicate and course, and manage to teeter on the brink of lucidity, offering plenty of questions, but, unlike Dylan the Folkie, Dylan the Modernist gives no answer. By utilizing repetitive, craggily abstract compositions, blending blues, rock, country, and folk, driven by cutting guitars, honeyed organ, and crisp piano riffs, the music matches the inventiveness of the songs. A rich, careening, dense album of unending revelation driven by witty wordplay, a fusion of the literary and the conversational, at once vague and precise, filled with bizarre imagery and excellent music. Standout Tracks: Visions of Johanna, One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later), Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again, Just Like a Woman, Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine), Absolutely Sweet Marie, Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

The heaviest rock album P-Funk ever produced is loud, intense, and bursting with psychedelic funk. The first track, an incredibly moving guitar solo performed by Eddie Hazel, lulls the listener into an almost hypnotic state, before giving way to a series of explosive, soul-soaked rockers, culminating in a burning, fiery finale. Standout Tracks: Maggot Brain, Can You Get to That, You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks, Super Stupid

Yes packs more punch than most progressive groups, certainly more than Emerson, Lake & Palmer. If you’re a fan of progressive rock, you’ll love this record, and even if you tend to be wary of its eccentricities, like me, you’ll find plenty to like about it. Standout Tracks: Close to the Edge, Siberian Khatru

Tom Verlaine’s lyricism on Marquee Moon, influenced by French and Bohemian poetry, filled to the brim with puns, double entendres, and other clever witticisms, could’ve been enough to establish the record as a classic in itself, but then, the interweaving, lyrical guitar playing of Verlaine and Richard Lloyd could’ve done the same. There are very few records I love as much as this one. It has had an immeasurable impact on the way I think about guitar playing, lyricism, even music itself. High praise, I know, but it’s entirely deserved. Standout Tracks: See No Evil, Venus, Marquee Moon, Prove It, Torn Curtain