1001 Albums Summary

My friend Dave got me into The Doors when I was about 17. My dad always hated them, so by proxy, I hated them too. Jim Morrison’s psychedelic poetry I still find annoying. Like he is just trying too hard to be weird, but it was 1970, so no one was really weird yet. Ray Manzarek is awesome. Morrison Hotel is my least favorite of the Doors albums, but none of them are really that wonderful to my ear. Strange Days maybe. When I was a kid, I really liked American Prayer, but I listen to it now and it just sounds like a Jim Morrison ego / acid trip. There are a few catchy tracks on Morrison Hotel, Peace Frog as an example. But it is less about the lyrics and more about the music behind it, which on this track is particularly good. Roadhouse Blues is a great track. Everything else feels like a Doors answer to Pet Sounds. I’m not really sure what they were going for on this one. In fairness, this was the height of Jim Morrisons drug / alcohol abuse. He would die a year later.

I was a child when this record came out, but I loved the cover. It was one of those records your parents would never let you buy. It wasn't the first heavy metal record that I loved. I actually don't love this record all that much compared to "Shout at the Devil", "Blizzard of Ozz", or "British Steel". While one might argue that Venom is a totally different genre, I put it in the same bucket as those other records. Maybe that is unfair of me. That being said, it is hard to argue the influence that Venom had on massively successful metal bands including Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth. They seem to have invented that cookie monster vocal style with that dark lyrical content. For that, Black Metal has to be recognized as one of the top albums of all time. 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

I suppose if you're going to go out, go out on a high note. What a great final album by this duo. Growing up, The Boxer, was one of my fathers favorite songs. We'd have this whole record on quite a bit and while I was more partial to Cecelia, as I got older, The Boxer resonates more as an homage to inner city resilience. If you've ever lived in a large city, you're at least once asked yourself what you were doing.

I don't like this record, which is a shame because I really like Dirty Computer, but this does nothing for me. Her voice is amazing, but the backing tracks just sound over processed and too mechanical. I feel like this would be a good soundtrack to an 80's movie.

While I readily recognize the talent that Ravi Shankar has in playing the sitar and also recognize the influence that he had on the Beatles, this does absolutely nothing for me. I just rewatched some of his Woodstock set and he does jam on it, but to me, it just sounds like a dead cat wail.