My 1001 Albums Journey

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1980s

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Singer-songwriter

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Brilliant Corners Thelonious Monk	5	3.33	+1.67
Endtroducing..... DJ Shadow	5	3.35	+1.65
Lost In The Dream The War On Drugs	5	3.39	+1.61
The Queen Is Dead The Smiths	5	3.66	+1.34
Born In The U.S.A. Bruce Springsteen	5	3.7	+1.3
Grace Jeff Buckley	5	3.72	+1.28
Out of Step Minor Threat	4	2.93	+1.07
AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted Ice Cube	4	2.93	+1.07
Fire Of Love The Gun Club	4	2.99	+1.01

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
When I Was Born For The 7th Time Cornershop	1	2.92	-1.92
The Atomic Mr Basie Count Basie & His Orchestra	2	3.5	-1.5
Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes	2	3.44	-1.44
Crime Of The Century Supertramp	2	3.41	-1.41
Pretenders Pretenders	2	3.35	-1.35
The College Dropout Kanye West	2	3.31	-1.31
Mama's Gun Erykah Badu	2	3.25	-1.25
Like A Prayer Madonna	2	3.23	-1.23
Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 George Michael	2	3.17	-1.17
Dear Science TV On The Radio	2	3.16	-1.16

5-Star Albums (6)

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Popular Reviews

Close To The Edge

Yes

4/5

WOW. Was not expecting this at all. I knew they were prog, but I thought it'd be along the lines of Rush. This is a melodic Beefheart or Zappa at double tempo, and clearly influenced bands like Mars Volta and Black midi. Unreal for 1972! Though I will say the vocals are not really to my taste.

1 likes

The Man Who

Travis

2/5

After listening to this I can confirm that Travis are pretty much the beige, mid-tempo, pop rock band I thought they were. However, what they lack in fun and excitement they make up for with craft - these songs contain really solid melodies and progressions, the format is just a little bit dull for 2022.

1 likes

1-Star Albums (1)

All Ratings

Lost In The Dream

The War On Drugs

5/5

A nostalgic ode to 80s rock that's as inspired and well executed as the artists that came before it.

Me Against The World

2Pac

4/5

Well produced and softer than it's follow-up, this is very listenable album that showcases what was best about Tupac; his lyrics and handling of melody.

Roger the Engineer

The Yardbirds

2/5

Bluesy rock n' roll from musicians who clearly had chops and a knack for song writing. Didn't realise how much evidence of the rockabilly of the 50s would be in it. Interesting from a historical point of view but wouldn't listen again.

Tusk

Fleetwood Mac

3/5

Where's Stevie? Buckingham and McVie are of course great songwriters, but i'm three songs in and all I've heard from the lead vocalist of the band is a quiet backing vocal. Feels like the power struggle within the band can really be felt at this point. Ok so the Stevie songs have hit and wow, head and shoulders above B and M's songs. Her songs are so moody and powerful, probably even better than her Rumours work. That being said, B and M's songs pale in comparison with their near-perfect pop contributions to Rumours. The production is more experimental in parts (The ledge), more traditional in others (Save me a place) and not particularly cohesive or polished.

Mama's Gun

Erykah Badu

2/5

Some great sounds and musicianship from the musicians - in particular the drummer and bassist. This is quite far out of my comfort zone and I definitely haven't been turned onto funk as a result but can appreciate the craft.

Here Are the Sonics

The Sonics

3/5

This is a fun album and is surprisingly edgy sounding. First thing I thought was how I could see how this might've inspired people like Iggy and Patti Smith (on looking this up it turns out my gut feeling was accurate). The motown covers are fairly uninspired though I know it was a right of passage for most bands of this era. Super aggressive sounding production but very tight nonetheless; they were clearly a band with some serious gigging under their belts.

Like A Prayer

Madonna

2/5

Incredible opening song, masterpiece. The rest of it is vapid and tedious. Some light funk and latin from the session guys, and guest spots from Prince, does little to excite the bland pop.

Lust For Life

Iggy Pop

4/5

Fun album showcasing Iggy's songwriting prowess as he matured away from his sound with the Stooges and was aided instead by Bowie. Includes two bonafide classics and the rest are far from average. Great album.

Orbital 2

Orbital

2/5

Was NOT looking forward to this one - in my head it's dull old techno. But that's what this project is for, to try and expand my horizons. Generally I was pretty unimpressed, but I concede there are some pretty listenable moments in Lush 3-1 and Halcyon. Heard some possible inspiration for artists that would come along 20 years later: Mount Kimbie, Four tet, Gold panda.

Rum Sodomy & The Lash

The Pogues

3/5

Great songwriting, though I find it difficult to get past the traditional instruments.

Fire Of Love

The Gun Club

4/5

Mad fusion of post-punk and blues. Tight musicianship and an endearing vocalist. I get a bit bored during the blues breakdowns. Kind of reminds me of a proto-white stripes. All in all a great album and a band I was completely unaware of before.

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Arctic Monkeys

4/5

Classic album!

Broken English

Marianne Faithfull

2/5

Fairly uninteresting music. Repetitive and unfocused.

Led Zeppelin

4/5

Really top tier album. Started off thinking this was 100% worthy of the praise it received: Immersive, poetic, virtuosic and most importantly; entertaining. However as the album progresses it loses some of this magic and becomes a bit self-indulgent.

When I Was Born For The 7th Time

Cornershop

1/5

Total 90s time capsule album. Faux-eastern spiritualism, sampled hip hop beats and half-hearted blokey pop melodies sung over the top. Not one i'd recommend.

Endtroducing.....

DJ Shadow

5/5

Blown away with this. Inventive use of samples and an experimental treatment of them - this must be a very early example of using glitches, preceded only by Aphex twin i'd imagine. He creates an incredible mood and the tunes are really original (for the time at least).

Close To The Edge

Yes

4/5

Parklife

Blur

4/5

Fun and creative album. Really outstanding bass, guitar and vocal melodies.

Station To Station

David Bowie

3/5

Lively and free, Bowie's voice sounds powerful and the tracks are musically dense though it occasionally borders on self-indulgent with the track lengths and repetition. Not sure on the cultural context, ie where this fits amongst his personas, but undoubtedly a fun album with one or two of his classics.

Scott 4

Scott Walker

2/5

Properly old fashioned music this. Can appreciate it as background music for a tarantino scene but this nostalgia only takes it so far. Also noteworthy is the atrocious lyricism.

Odessey And Oracle

The Zombies

4/5

Anticipated Beatles-lite but instead found this more Simon & Garfunkel inspired. Sounds great - All killer no filler.

Welcome to the Afterfuture

Mike Ladd

2/5

Decent rapper but the mix is so busy it's pretty irritating to actually listen to.

The Man Who

Travis

2/5

Grace

Jeff Buckley

5/5

Already very familiar with this album. First heard it in my early teens and sounds just as powerful now. Masterful guitar and vocal work over an idiosyncratic mix of soulful blues and 90s tinged rock. A masterpiece.

Rage Against The Machine

4/5

Absolute classic. Always admired artists that so tastefully bring together multiple genres and this is no exception; an exciting splicing of funk, rock and hip hop.

Beautiful Freak

Eels

3/5

Eels have something distinctive that puts them in another level as their many 90s alt indie counterparts. This album isn't all memorable but when they're good they're really good.

The College Dropout

Kanye West

2/5

The lyricism and flow is so superior to his later material, but the production is so dull and actually sounds pretty dated at this point. I think i'd take the more scattered vocals with the wild production of his later albums than this safer, more consistent, Kanye.

Welcome To The Pleasuredome

Frankie Goes To Hollywood

2/5

Probably iconic considering the calibre of hits on the album but just not my bag. Very repetitive and dated with seemingly meaningless lyrics. Feels like the dumb mainstream cousin of New Order.

Pretenders

2/5

Much more a classic punk sound than anticipated having only heard a few singles before from them. Decent songwriting and vocals but fairly forgettable instrumentation. I'm not blown away.

Document

R.E.M.

3/5

Great lead single, decent rest of album.

OK Computer

Radiohead

4/5

Obviously a great album, but I think I've overplayed it. Beginning to sound a bit dull in comparison with the wilder Radiohead records we got post millenium. On fresh ears this probably still slaps.

Out of Step

Minor Threat

4/5

Top tier hardcore punk. Though compared with their early demos and eps this has lost some of the frenetic energy in service of more complex production and song structure - See the intro on Look back and laugh; a proper guitar intro? Feels weird in a minor threat song.

Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk

5/5

Unreal! The best guitarless jazz i've ever heard (as a guitarist nothing can top Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass for me).

Chemtrails Over The Country Club

Lana Del Rey

4/5

Has the patented Lana Del Rey sleazy hollywood magic along with some seriously strong melody and song writing. A real high point for Lana, though I really enjoyed her earlier albums. The whole album is consistently good but the first five tracks are notably strong.

Born In The U.S.A.

Bruce Springsteen

5/5

Great album!

MTV Unplugged In New York

Nirvana

4/5

Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1

George Michael

2/5

Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear

3/5

Two weeks is a great song but I was otherwise unswayed by the rest of the album, though it does possess some Jeff Buckley feel which I was unaware of before this listen. Talented band just not particularly my cup of tea.

Damaged

Black Flag

3/5

Great album, no holds barred fun and the antithesis to the cause-driven hardcore that dominates the genre. That being said, the production is pretty ropey, with the drums sounding particularly naff. Ginn's guitar does sound feral, the bass is nice and raspy and Rollin's vocal delivery flawless - though the levels and compression makes for a difficult listen. This does feature some of my favourite songs, namely: Police story, depression and rise above.

Fleet Foxes

2/5

The constantly harmonised and reverb-soaked vocals do my head in. In addition the music is bland without any real personality.

Crime Of The Century

Supertramp

2/5

Never liked Supertramp but this has some charm to it. It sounds very of its time - all the 70s prog hallmarks but also has some great vocal melodies.

808 State

3/5

This is interesting, very densely packed with synths, drum machines and vocals. Dance music from this era pretty much always sounds extremely dated, due to the fast nature of change in the genre and this is no exception. Second track Ancodia is prophetic of the way the genre would shift once mainstream in the 90s. Laid back rhythms with sexy pads and squelchy bass. Notable is the complete lack of detuned, circuit bending, glitchy stuff that would appear in the genre 10 years later.

Beyond Skin

Nitin Sawhney

2/5

While this is pretty interesting it's thoroughly not my cup of tea. Very 90s sounding and a really eclectic mishmash of genres: trip hop, hip hop, breakbeats, bhangra and jazz are heard in the first 5 tunes alone.

Dear Science

TV On The Radio

2/5

Good band but this isn't their best.

The Queen Is Dead

The Smiths

5/5

Poetic and moving - the feather in the cap of England's best band.

The Atomic Mr Basie

Count Basie & His Orchestra

2/5

Scum

Napalm Death

2/5

Already aware of this album and while i'd love to enjoy such a seminal and heavy british album, the mix is just too ropey. The engineering sounds fine but the choice to mix everything in a cloud of chorus and reverb, and to have the guitar level so low, just makes it a struggle.

Histoire De Melody Nelson

Serge Gainsbourg

3/5

Breathy and plodding french folk music. Idiosyncratic and with an interesting production style but not very gripping due to it's self-indulgence. Still, this is an album with undeniable artistic merit.

Country Life

Roxy Music

2/5

good kid, m.A.A.d city

Kendrick Lamar

4/5

First Band On The Moon

The Cardigans

3/5

AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted

Ice Cube

4/5