1001 Albums Summary

Pretty over-rated and self-indulgent 'cut and paste' rock

'Singapore' as the opening track sets this album off on the right foot straight away. Classic Tom Waits genius of eclectic musings set to a soundtrack that sends your mind into a world of basement jazz bars and lonely streets.

Fantastic album with Jim Morrison at, arguably, his best

One of the first albums I remember hearing as a child and it never gets old. Fantastic 'pop' music, although the album spans a number of genres without missing a beat. The title track has been on pretty much every playlist I've made!

Quite simply, this is not to my taste! Whilst it's not bad pop rock there is nothing on this album that isn't overly forgettable. As harsh as it may sound, I feel this is for people who don't really have an understanding, or real care, for music and are happy for the odd repeatable lyric they can sing along to in a drunken stupor.

I feel like this album was where I started losing interest in what Radiohead were producing. I remember at the time really not understanding what the reasoning was behind their change in direction, whilst my musical tastes were becoming a lot more varied this kind of experimental noise rock/electronica was not as appealing. Definitely not a bad album, having just re listened to it for the first time in years I can see the appeal and respect the bands choices to move forward rather that stay stagnant, but the album just feels disconnected as a whole.

I didn't really get how everyone lost their minds when this was released, and still don't really get the appeal! It's easy listening, floaty pop that gets lost in the plethora of similarly themed bands. Could definitely see this being played in an elevator in some office building somewhere 😂

I got into Donovan 'late' so to speak, that is to say I almost didn't hear of his music whilst searching for new bands in my youth. It took a couple of listens to get fully into the album, the standout track for me being 'season of the witch', but overall the album is a great listen if you immerse yourself in it

Wholly unforgettable album with more droning 'soundtrack to my photo memories' songs that have no discernible difference. Not for me 😂

Having never really been a fan of U2 when I was younger, and then witnessing them becoming stadium fillers with pretty generic dad rock songs (ironically partly due to the success of this album), I didn't really delve into their library until later in my life. I remember coming across this album and being blown away by the power of each song, not what I was expecting from the aforementioned band. Each song seems to grab from a different genre while still maintaining a pretty uniform sound throughout. There are the classics that everyone know but I think every song holds its own and could have been released as a single in its own right, with 'bullet the blue sky' being my personal favourite.

I don't know what it is about the Beatles that I've never liked. I understand how and why they got popular, and musically they're pretty good, but I just can't get into them enough to delve into their library. This was a new one for me, but again, there isn't anything on here that stands out in my opinion. Pretty generic and dated, there are so many artists from the same time period that are infinitely better in so many ways that I would rather give my time to.

Whilst the album itself is not wholly bad, I simply cannot get over the fact of how big an idiot lead singer Huey Morgan is in real life, which is hilariously evident on re-listening to this album. I was shocked that the band released a bunch of albums after this because they are very much of a certain time, maybe I'm missing something? 🤷‍♂️

Beautifully arranged album, Suzanne Vega has a gorgeous, wistful, voice which lends itself perfectly to her fantastic guitar playing. You can definitely hear the influence artists like Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen have on her work.

Easily one of my favourite albums ever! While being one of The Cure's darkest albums each song fits perfectly into an overall theme of despair, a feeling Robert Smith was famously experiencing at the time, with an intensity unparalleled by many artists. The title track is my personal favourite, with its consistent tempo it leads you further and further down the rabbit hole commanded by Smith's powerful lyrics, while songs like Lovesong and Lullaby marry the elation of love with an underlying feeling of dread through the fear of losing that love.

Not for me, sounds like Michael Bublé mixed with Jarvis Cocker. Easy listening for the 2000's

Classic punk at it's best, while not a massive fan of punk, it's bands like these that make me wonder why they weren't anywhere near as famous as the Sex Pistols, whilst being way more talented. Raw energy and fast riffs for 15 minutes straight, what more do you want?!

You can hear the origins of where punk and rock merged to form the early sub-genres of metal music. Whilst lyrically this album explores the classic metal tropes of satanism and 'dark' things, musically I would consider this as early thrash with massive punk influences.

Jurassic 5 have never really appealed to me, I think it's the back and forth between multiple rappers that just makes my head spin. They've definitely made some excellent songs but overall this album just all sounds the same to me

Not really my thing musically unfortunately, I can appreciate the songwriting but the album as a whole didn't really speak to me

What can I say that hasn't already been said a million times before, there's a multitude of reasons why this album is considered legendary. Not a bad song on there in my opinion, David Gilmour's guitar playing is out of this world.

The album as a whole felt quite same to me. No track in particular stood out as something fresh and different, mostly just a similar song with a different tempo. Overall pretty disappointing sadly

One of my favourite Dylan records, notable for having electric guitars on there, Bob Dylan proved his talent can transcend genres and still hold relevance through the lyrics as well as the music.

Ethereal pop music at its finest

Q-Tip is just a boss! Excellent sampling and production from one of the best, no thug nonsense here, just mellow beats and rhymes to keep your body moving.

What happened to Green Day? I'm all for bands/artists reinventing themselves or choosing different musical paths to explore, but I feel they've almost become a parody of themselves! There's no real substance throughout and every song sounds the same to me, but that's just my opinion

While sounding a bit more 'radio friendly' than the 2 albums before this it still maintains a punk rock aesthetic akin to Courtney Love's songwriting style. I wouldn't say it's a show stopper, but paradoxically every song on here sounds great and fits within the over 'Hole' feeling.

While not personally a fan of Patti Smiths vocals I can understand this albums place in history as a revered album. On paper this album should be right up my street but there just wasn't much, in my opinion, that grabbed my attention and held it for longer than a few seconds. Patti Smith is undeniably a great lyricist but sonically this album didn't really do it for me and overall felt like it dragged on a bit and teased you with a potential musical break but never really delivered sadly.