1001 Albums Summary

The first track reminded me of how unfortunate the late 70s were. So self indulgent. There are redeeming cuts later in the album, but overall this was the aural equivalent of a cocaine binge in a toilet stall.

A lovely album that I didn't expect to enjoy. I wouldn't have listened to it without the generator.

What a lazy and cynical exercise in a valueless genre with a stupid name. “Maybe if we take our lack of musicality and 1 octave-range breathy vocals, and throw in a few turntable scratches, people will think we are avant-garde”

Somewhere between hair metal and butt rock, and can’t make up its mind. Hiring Mutt Lange is a deal with the devil - he will get you some hits, but you’ll have to sacrifice your edge for commerciality.

A fine example of "butt rock". RIP Bon Scott.

When I was 8, I would have given it 5 stars. Of course back then, I also enjoyed eating a spoonful of Tang out of the jar. When I was 15, I would have given it 7 stars. With hindsight, it's clear that this is the peak of 70s excesses. Each song is 50% to 100% longer than it should be. It's bloated, overwrought ... and still fun. His name is Robert Paulson.

I'm stunned that the average review isn't higher. Maybe it's a recency bias. This album is exactly why the "1001 albums" project exists. This is a groundbreaking and culturally significant album, that also happens to be pretty darn good. Is it my favorite Ray Charles album? No. Did it have more impact on the course of American and World music than any other Ray Charles album ... and really most any album? Absolutely.

For poseurs only. Much better music can be found in this genre.

Probably the best of "prog rock" Genesis.

At the time, fans liked it for all the wrong reasons. I disliked it for the same wrong reasons. Well played, Beasties.

It's interesting how people cannot hold two conflicting ideas in their minds. It's possible for BOTH "The Smiths are good" and "Morrrissey is a prat" to be true. One has nothing to do with the other in the context of a review. Review bombing is the hallmark of sad, simple minds. If you don't like Morrissey, boycott his work. But no, that's not enough. You have to use what puny bit of power that you have to try to influence others to not listen to him. Pathetic. Anyway, this album is average. Three stars. And Morrissey is a prat. Still three stars.

This album is very soothing. To the point where it makes me sleepasdf;kjna;sdlkfnlksndf;kdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

There's an enjoyable song on this album. The problem is that they play it 10 times with different names.

I'm not going to clutch my pearls like some reviewers. All N.W.A. said on this album reflects what a subculture wanted to hear at a certain point in history. Many of those views remain, so take it up with them. That said, this album took hip hop in a pretty nasty direction at a time when casual listeners were starting to pick up on it. There was a battle for the soul of the genre and BDP, Tribe and assorted street philosophers and skilled rappers got pushed to the periphery.

That was terrific. Thanks to Alex for creating a tool that brings unexpected music to my computer each day!

Pitchfork-bait.

Stevie Wonder if he were in a jam band. And couldn't play instruments. And couldn't write bangers.

I thought that Germany was out of the "crimes against humanity" business... + 1 star for sheer audacity, and the final few tracks which veered toward being tolerable.

I had an idiot roommate in the dorms play this at 2am every night. I might be biased. Metallica, take your 2 stars and let's move on with our lives.

Nice. Discovering new bands like this are why we use this generator.

I don't understand review bombing. If you don't like someone, or their politics or if you think they are a pedo - then don't listen. Why do you feel like you need to give it a bad review/score? Do you feel like you need to somehow keep other people from listening? Slag off. Thriller is a masterwork of pop music. It's not my preferred style, but it is demonstrably excellent.

My rating got lower the more I listened to it. I settled on 2 stars, because there's worse Lou Reed out there.

What have I done to deserve two Joni Mitchell albums in three days? Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.

Not just a good album. An important album.

A problem with an album-centric methodology is that the popular music of the early R&B/rock eras was dominated by singles. Albums were the realm of jazz, classical, and Frank Sinatra. Exposing generations to Fats Domino is a noble endeavor. However, this album is a flawed approach. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and say, "You know, when the album coverage is thin, lets just go with a Greatest Hits". If you want to stroll with the Fat Man, just pull him up as an artist on Spotify and let 'er rip.

This was such a hard album to rate. At one moment, I'm listening to great 70s rock that compares favorably with early glam rock, Queen, and other parallel influences. The next moment I want to punch a song in the face for its pretentious wankery. I split the difference at 3 stars.

If you don't like this album, you don't like music.

The first song is hot garbage, but the 420 crowd is going to see it as a 5-star anthem. What followed? A surprisingly good reggae album. I guess that's why we keep listening.

Makeba's songs are better than the ones written by other folks. I want to punch The Naughty Little Flea in the face. Not the flea, just the song. There are other songs that are equally cloying. House of the Rising Sun and Mbube are important bits of cultural DNA, but Iya Guduza is the real banger.

A worthy debut from Digital Underground. If you didn't quite like this one, the true essential entry from them is Sons of the P. RIP Shock G

I like it better than I did in 1982, but that is damning it with faint praise

No explanation necessary.

I've never liked The Mamas & The Papas. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt; but then I heard what they did to "Do You Wanna Dance". In some circles it's considered to be a war crime.

Unquestionable brilliance ... with a lot of what we can charitably call "filler" thrown in to stretch it to album length.

S&G are great, but this album is chock full of "I'm the next great poet" vibes. Leading to several songs that are era-appropriate wankery.

Just painful. It's sad that this is the point where Skip Spence is teetering into the abyss, but we don't need to listen to it.

Is anyone else tempted to find people who give 1-star reviews for classic albums (for brilliant reasons like "nope", "live album", or "he was a jerk") and revoke their music privileges? I'm sorry you can't handle a live album. Music is supposed to be listened to live. The sterile, overproduced, autotuned recording is a relatively recent development in human history and was primarily developed to make money for record companies. I can't listen to Sam Cooke live because he's mortality-challenged. So I'm going to treasure this live album. If your response to a soul album is "nope", you don't have one. You've abdicated your humanity privileges. If you are trying to retrospectively cancel an artist because they did ________ in the year ______, just chuck your entire music catalog. To quote Captain Malcom Reynolds, "It's my estimation that every man ever got a statue made of him was one kind of sumbitch or another". I look forward to the good people of 2083 finding every aspect of YOUR existence wanting. That said, I'm now inspired to invent a time machine, if only because I can use it to go back to January 12, 1963 to go see this show.

I imagine that folks who prefer other genres will still like this album. It's amazing how so few can do so much.

C+ philosophy and politics meets A+ rock.

A pleasant surprise.

When an album causes the Beatles to rethink their creative decisions and come up with Sgt. Pepper's, you've done something right.

I liked it better back then. With a few decades of hindsight, it's clear that Pet Shop Boys represents the worst of the 80s. Performance vs. Music, Style vs. Substance. It's auditory cynicism. It turns out that there's not a lot of "there" there.

Stunningly bad. This sentient mullet is an affront to humanity, music, and even the concept of sound.

Has a first album ever been a more effective mission statement, or a first song ever been a better opening thesis?

The worst thing I can say about an album is, "I think I could have done that".

Is it still cultural appropriation if you suck at it?

This was new to me, and I loved it. So many different styles were skillfully blended. Proof that jazz is more than just an American artform.

This is the first album I ever bought on cassette, so it's going to get 5 from me. Man, it's a good thing the notes didn't include lyrics ... Probably the tightest ZZ Top album.

Less is more with Siouxsie_Sioux. After the first wo tracks, I was thinking, "Hey, they're a lot better than I remember". Four songs later and I realized, "No, they aren't."

Interesting time capsule of early Who, and a first-rate mission statement.

We had a vigorous debate about this album. Some thought it was "hot garbage". I disagreed - I thought it was "steaming garbage".

An unexpected gem.

Despite the wildly inaccurate title - both the song and album are far longer than 17 seconds - it was quite enjoyable. I think I prefer when the Cure are merely glum, and not fully depressed.

Talented singer whose music I thoroughly hate.

A remarkable album. Possibly the best ever?

I was unaware of this terrific album. In my defense, we had two kids under three at the time.

I'm not crying. YOU'RE crying!

The Rolling Stones always struck me as an elaborate practical joke on the Western world. Hey, look Boomers! Blues music repackaged by some limey honkeys! Oh, how edgy - they're singing about sex and Satan! That'll stick it to your parents who won the war, built the economy, and gave you jerks a head start not experienced by any generation prior or since! But Charlie Watts is pretty tight.

My first though was, "Oh, boy! Here comes an hour of sitar solos!". But it was actually lovely. If anything, it was TOO ambient.

Store brand Rush.

Better than I expected, but let's not get carried away.

Mediocre

Not his best, but Waylon could sing product jingles and (even more) TV show theme songs, and it would be 4 stars.

Proto butt-rock. *throws up horns*

From 2017 but is Talking Heads meets Depeche Mode meets Tangerine Dream meets Bowie steals Bono

That was terrific. I always avoided her music, because I thought it was going to be as much of a train wreck as her personal life, but I was wrong. She really was promising.

I didn't know you could grow a mullet in 76 minutes, but here we are.

A peak of the art form. No notes.

Most bands and artists have influences. This album is 120% influences. If I wanted to listen to crappy U2, I'd go looking for Pop.

Well, that S(io)ux

If Prince only sang on this album it would be a 5-star effort. In his spare time he wrote everything, played every instrument, and produced it. As a 23-year-old.

Rock & Roll can destroy itself just fine, thank you. It doesn't need help from middlebrow house music. Still, the album is not without merit.

Let's just say she grew a lot by Back to Black.

CCR could have decided to release one amazing album in 1969. Instead, they chose to release 3 OK albums. Mo' money, I suppose. But it's going to cost them a couple of stars. I hope they can live with this while sleeping on their solid gold pillows.

Hardly an essential album. If we must include one of her albums in a "must hear" list, it would be Solitude Standing.

Lovely album. Too bad he's being a prat about Spotify.

It's not my preferred genre, but it is an exemplary example of it.

So edgy! I'm mad about stuff! Down with stuff! Posers

This is not an essential album.

This album definitely belongs on this list, and it is culturally significant, but I suspect there are limits to how much you can enjoy it if you aren't high.

So much whinging. That's what y'all call it, right? Track 1 had the least inspired use of the Amen Break that I've ever heard.

A bold direction from Elvis that has both hits and misses. A worthy effort. That said, any album containing "In the Ghetto" must be docked one star. This is non-negotiable.

Ice T goes hard. Track for track I like Power better, but Ice and Islam get tighter and realer, while somehow keeping an undercurrent of irony.

I like the ZZ Top song (Money for Nothing) and the Springsteen song (Walk of Life). Go get paid, boys! But I LOVE the 2nd half of any Dire Straits album. It's like slipping into a warm bath.

This Marley album is much better than the ones that have been wafting (along with smoke) out of college dorm rooms for the last 50 years.

Excretable

Awful. Just awful. No extra credit for having a self-inflicted injury.

The idea of Living Colour is much better than the reality.

If you are pressed for time, just listen to Disc 2. It shifts gears from "typically good" to "sublime".

No

A letdown after 21. I was going to go 4 stars, but then Spotify gave me Amy Winehouse - Valerie after the album ended and I realized how much more personality her voice had.

You can see that Petty is heading somewhere, but he's not fully developed yet.

A perfect album for its time and place.

Loaded with a variety of bangers. Even songs that start innocuously have something up their sleeves.

Must hear? Not really. It was basic and bland

8 unforgettable, and barely audible dirges. One halfway decent song. One limp cover of a Prince B-side.

This app should deactivate the account of anyone who rates Sgt. Pepper's anything below four stars. For their own benefit.

One of the weaker links in the Clan.

Takes a few singing lessons to expand her range to an entire octave. Gets (a quasi) religion. Has a kid. Becomes extremely boring.

Why ....?

It's not a good sign when the Spotify algorithm follows an album with a song that a) trying to do accomplish the same things as the "1001 Albums" artist, b) as a relative unknown, and c) much better. Sorry Fiona. The Magnetic Fields are now occupying your corner.

I see what all the hype is about.

Great Value Depeche Mode

This was a nice discovery. Thanks again, Alex, for the generator!

My rating kept dropping as the album progressed. Only the sheer audacity kept my floor at 2-stars.

This should be the soundtrack for The Great British Baking Show. Just lovely.

Reasonable people can disagree whether they 'like' or 'love' this album. But if you find yourself in the 'hate' camp, that is where we part company, my former friend.

Timeless

Yeah, I gave 5 stars to a Butt Rock album. It's an exemplary one.

If you know, you know.

Time did, indeed, become a loop

Evidence that Robert Christgau lost his dang mind in the mid-2000s. Best album of the decade? Performative poseur nonsense.

Kanye is a jackass, but this hits so hard.

Sucked then. Sucks now.

In the long-standing "Beatles or Stones?" debate, the correct answer remains "The Who". End to end a brilliant album. Listen to it 4 times. You know the songwriting, guitar, and vocals. But take a listen for just the drums or just the bass lines, and you'll hear just how advanced this band was. Any of those instruments could be considered the "lead".

King Louie!

I tried. Really, I tried.

"East Coast" West Coast becomes neither. It didn't help that the more meticulous treatment was stolen, and this revision was rushed. Bring Tha Noize was an ill-conceived collaboration with Anthrax, but I guess everyone had to do the Rap/Metal thing back then. Better than Aerosmith + Run DMC. Falls short of the Beastie Boys or Body Count. On the other hand, it's still P.E.

"Look at my butt. It's a perfect circle. Scientists use my butt to calibrate their instruments!"

There's a reason that they aren't Two Hit Wonders

Terrible, but with integrity.

Temu Jim Morrison

Made me want to listen to other, better, artists who did all the heavy lifting.

A little Randy Newman goes a long way.

I thought with so many hit songs, this would rate a 5. But each song has just a bit of cheese from overproduction.

Surely there are more essential Pet Shop Boys albums.

This was a struggle to listen to - by design. The album picks up momentum going from "Man, how can I get through this first song" to "Hey, I'm enjoying myself". I think the worst rating I could give this, from Captain Beefhart's perspective, is 3 stars. He wants 1s and 5s. So that's what I'm going to give it. I think the Captain would appreciate a good trolling.

This is music that is OK to date, but you'd never want to marry.

This album was much different from what I expected from a Frank Zappa album. Then Side 4 hit, and it was exactly what you would expect from a Frank Zappa album.

Fookin' brilliant.

Emo Metal

Bjarf

This was terrific, and previously unknown to me. Thanks!

Why?

I like “Boom!”. I like “Bap!” I really like “Boom Bap!” But the mix on this album is awful.

Suuuuuuuuuuuucks

OK, Haunted Dancehall. Until Rakim decides to drop some sick bars on top of you, I don’t want to hear from you again.

If you ever need to explain 1973 to someone, play this.

Why appropriate just one piece of Black culture (blues) poorly, when you can add a second (hip hop)?

As the kids say - this slaps.

Aerosmith are a pop band masquerading as a hard rock band. And not a very good one.

By all rational thinking, I shouldn't like this.

Goes downhill fast ...