It surprised me how much religious imagery was included. I’m not sure if this is a biased view as a person who has turned away from organized religion. Reminded me of The Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd.
Makes me nostalgic for a breakup I never went through. Highlights somebody I used to know, everything reminds me of her, in the lost and found, better be quiet now. I found the album too long and was bored at times.
Not an album I was previously familiar with, I found myself bopping along to a few of the upbeat funk-heavy tracks. I also really appreciated a lot of the instrumental interludes which transitioned from one song to another, making the album a full piece. Some of the hooks made me stop working and look at the lyrics - specifically the song about sleeping inside. There was again, a lot of religious imagery.
I was not hopeful about a foreign language album, and the only thing I remember from 3 years of high school French is “Allons-y! Let’s go!” I was quite pleasantly surprised by the jazzy French rap, which scratched some itch in my brain I didn’t even know I had. Bouge de la part 2 especially just got to my core. I was least impressed by the one track featuring English, funky dreamer, and I wasn’t really feeling the ragga jam, but that could have been because I didn’t feel it fit the spirit of the rest of the album.
I tried to put aside my highly personal distaste for Joy Division, but my review is still incredibly biased. It was boring as hell. “She’d Lost Control” wasn’t the worst.
I really enjoyed the blues-rock blend on this album, and while the lyrics were very simple, his emotions poured out, and I could feel the sting of heartbreak seven decades gone. Cry to Me was my personal favorite, I also especially loved If You Need Me and Beautiful Brown Eyes.
I think I need to do the entire 1001 album experiment at least three times, because it seems unfair to Simon & Garfunkel to have me judge this album on a beautiful and hot July Friday when I have an exciting weekend to look forward to. I might rate this album higher on a different day, in an altogether different mood.
I cannot deny the poetry of the songwriting, especially on the iconic Scarborough Fair, Dangling Conversation, and Flowers Never Bend. Green Pleasure Machine was just stupid fun that made me smile. For Emily was my least favorite track on the album, and I felt emotional in the closing Of the album with 7 o’clock news, and I was thinking how we could probably create an entire new version annually or less.
Classic album that makes me yearn for a time that I never knew. “Man Needs Maid” feels intimate, like I could feel the exchange of emotions. “Old Man” is iconic poetry that hits my heart. I loved the big anticipation energy in “There’s a World”. “Needle and Damage” was powerful and sad, and had me thinking about our more recent drug epidemic of accidental overdoses.
This was a really fun listen. I have to admit I wasn’t immediately familiar with Louis Prima’s name, but I definitely recognized his voice and a lot of the songs. Jump Jive N Wail brought me back to that 18 month period in 7th/8th grade when everyone was briefly obsessed with swing dancing. I liked how many songs had jokes, like banana split for my baby. I also kept expecting to hear “Pennies from heaven” and I couldn’t figure out why. I looked it up after and that is another one of his songs.
I’m sorry but I was just bored for most of the album 😭 I’ve listened to other songs by PJ Harvey that were more enjoyable to my taste. Big exit was too distorted for me to understand half the words. I did like one line and this mess.
I feel like a traitor to my sex because I’ve hated on every female album, but for the most part I was bored. White dress - I did not believe this person ever listened to the white stripes or rocked to kings of Leon. Two decent songs were Wild at Heart and the title track - I enjoyed the piano especially on the latter, but I thought it was funny both feature songs about being wild, sung in a drowsy monotone. Breaking up Slowly actually touched me in a way none of the other album seemed to break through. Dance Till We Die had enough of a beat to wake me up, but didn’t feel fun or different enough to capture my attention.
I I really enjoyed this album, especially the 70’s guitar sounds in a lot of songs which I think for 1990 was unusual. Hard to Handle is of course a classic, other favorites were Jealous Again, Twice as Hard, Stare it Cold. I remember I used to like She Talks to Angels but I just wasn’t feeling it Friday. Struttin Blues was incomprehensible for me.
I know he make a career by stealing from black artists, and I won’t go into the grooming, but damn, he was able to translate emotion through songs really well. Long Black Limousine, After Lovin You, and Suspicious Minds were my favorites from the album. Kinda found it disturbing he had created a fantasy in which his wife was newly dead and his kids just wanted to help him find a new mommy (Don’t Cry Daddy) and a serial cheater demanding obedience from his woman (Wearin That Loved On Look) left a bad taste in my mouth.
I had not previously been familiar with this artist but I did enjoy it in the way sometimes instead of experiencing music via emotions, you just allow the sounds to wash over you. Or am I just high?
I thought abbaon fat had questionable lyrics, pumpkin was least favorite track. Favorites were black steel, hell is round, aftermath.
I’m not a huge fan of live albums in general, he is of course very talented. My favorite was show me the way and it would have been so you feel (like we do) if it wasn’t fourteen minutes long- maybe 8 minutes would have been enough.
Finally an album I was actually familiar with, although I hadn’t listened to it as a unit since I was a young teenager, sinking into the backseat of somebody’s grandmother’s Oldsmobile. Still really holds up, but I did get hit with a huge wave of nostalgia.
Hand on the pump is my favorite from the entire album, also amazing pigs, how I could just kill a man, light another, tres squid, stoned is the way of the walk. Not a fan of psycobeta and funky cypress hill shit which get a little repetitive in a bad way.
I have to admit, when I saw this pop up, I was happy to have a happy little throwback album to listen to for the day. Baby One More Time and You Drive Me Crazy are both bops, Sometimes was sort of blah, but Soda Pop is the song that broke me. I had tried skipping to the next song, but it didn’t erase Soda Pop from my brain. I had to abandon the experiment partway through when I saw there was still 12 tracks ahead of me.
I have to admit, I was totally thrown for a loop by listening to this album. Growing up, I associated Iggy Pop / The Stooges with a more hardcore punk sound, but I couldn’t name a specific song if my life depended on it. I think it’s because he was infamous for his stage antics, but I was not expecting this Doors cover band soundalike. I really liked I wanna be your dog, not right, no fun. I wasn’t feeling the monk chanting if we will fall, which made up almost a third of the album’s length.
I thought it was fun to listen to the birth of a million samples! The greatest dancer and we are family are bops, forever and always. I really liked easier time love, and somebody loves me was so painfully sad.
I started this album on my lunch break, and was lucky enough to listen while driving straight into a wicked storm descending on the previously gorgeous day. Honestly, 10/10 ambiance. Would recommend. Black magic woman is of course incredible. When Oye Como Va came on, I thought of the pool party scene from Boogie Nights for some reason but I looked it up afterwards, it wasn’t in that movie but they used it in the Big Lebowski. Either way, another great song along with hope you’re feeling better. I also really enjoyed the instrumental tracks singing winds, incident, se a cabo, I’m always looking for instrumental tracks to listen to when concentrating at work.
I preferred the first half of the album with the full band to the string-only back half, with one exception being Come Rain or Come Shine, which might be my favorite track from the entire album.
Although I knew a couple of songs, I had not before listened to the entire album. After watching music documentaries, I can definitely appreciate it for its time, but some of the songs still just sound to me like a few kids were playing around in the studio, making different sounds with the toys. It’s Nasty was fun, but it reminded me of this truly terrible-amazing rap from Teen Witch called Take That. I really liked it’s a shame and found the message more prevalent many decades later. I thought Dreamin was so weird, I’m sorry. The Message is of course fantastic, I think shows the power that something simple can have. There were a lot of outdated terms in the album that made me a little uncomfortable (undercover f*g being one), but overall fun.
I was not previously aware of this artist but I did enjoy the album, especially the sax accompaniment. Save Me had serious Joni Mitchell vibes, Like Fire reminded me of Tom Waitts, People had very relatable lyrics, and I think my favorite was Join the Boys which had a great funk feel.
While I was familiar with the Isley brothers, I had not previously listened to this album. I didn’t know they covered the doobie brothers, I enjoyed that (listen to the music), along with that lady 💕, lonely tonight, and summer breeze.
I found the Audio quality lacking, specifically the layers of static in the first few tracks of the album. I liked family affair, time, smilin’, and the instrumental tracks at the end. I was surprised listening to “thank you Africa” to learn they sampled their own song for another.
I used to be cooler, apparently. I liked bodies, god save the queen and anarchy in the UK, but everything just started to sound the same after a while.
Due to my deadhead hot hippie mom, and my favorite high school math teacher, I already had a love / appreciation for the eagles, including some of this album. Favorites are: take it easy, witchy woman, train leaves here this morning, peaceful easy feeling, and tryin’. Nightingale/ Early bird both gave me headaches.
I just couldn’t stop thinking about the fictionalized version of Beck that toured with Bender in Futurama. I can appreciate the work, but a lot of it was too experimental for me. Lord Only Knows was pretty sweet, where it’s at is catchy.
I was so happy to listen to this album while I was having a work from home day so Mike could enjoy it with me, too. Such an amazing submission, particularly in the opening and closing tracks. I don’t know what more can be said 😅
This was kind of fun, but nothing that stuck with me later other than the breakup /funeral song that was “we’ll meet again.”
Most of the album was forgettable, my favorite was the “bummer in the summer” but I probably wouldn’t relisten to this.
For the most part this was a good album to listen to at work, although not all tracks were instrumental, but enough were that it helped with focus. The only song I had to skip was green calx - not sure what it was but the sounds just sounded like a wet mouth and it freaked me out. I feel like the more we go through this process, the more I say “I’m not the target audience for this but….”
I wanted to like this album but when it opened with the ten minute funeral processional title track, I did not have high hopes. A lot of the lyrics just seemed like the nonsensical things clickbait bots write, especially in Tis A Pity and Sue. Dollar days wasn’t that bad.
While intimately familiar with Outkast and many of these songs, I had never listened to the 2hr+ double album before. I could have done without a lot of the interludes, but there is just so much gold on the album.
I liked Live Forever and Cigarettes & Alcohol, but to me a lot of the album got repetitive and just sort of background music.
Not my usual pick but I really enjoyed this! Sorry I don’t have my full notes 📝
I have to admit sometimes I question my participation in this experiment. I consume and enjoy music, a lot of songs are heavily tied to specific memories and emotions, but I am pretty sure I’m tone deaf, I can’t stay on beat and I can’t hear the difference between a concertina and an accordion.
A lot of this album just felt like proto-Disco Biscuits where someone with a music degree and a deeper appreciation could tell you how they build this transcends time or whatever, but it just sounds like noise to me. I was very pleasantly surprised to hear the Springsteen cover in the middle of the sex moans and toe stub cries.
Eh, I guess I’m not their target audience.
Like our experiment's dear leader, I also found the timing of this album highly suspicious given the recent passing of the female monarch. Listening to The Smiths when I am not wallowing in depression is tricky because it can pull me down into a depressed state or annoy me quite easily. From the opening track, the ending lyrics "life is very long if you are lonely" resonated with me. Musically, my favorite song was bigmouth strikes again.
Definitely not something I would choose to listen to, but I found the first 65% of the album good ambient noise to work to. It did get a little distracting towards the end but I did enjoy how many of the songs built.
Metal is not my favorite genre, but I much prefer this Judas Priest type of metal to the modern screamo. Breaking the Law is of course iconic, for very good reason. I also loved Living After Midnight.
I enjoy jazz when accompanied by great food, or good conversations with wonderful friends. I also use it sometimes at work but not typically as my focal point of attention. I enjoyed this album, my least favorite being in part I when they keep vocalizing “a love supreme” and I was hoping this wasn’t a trend to continue. Luckily it wasn’t, I loved part II but I think part III was my favorite with how it started with the drums and had all these sections building.
Sure Shot and Sabotage are the forever standouts from this album, but I also surprisingly enjoyed Flute Loop and The Scoop. I did not enjoy the Gregorian chanting of Eugene’s lament and shambala, nor the musical stylings of heart attack man or tough guy. I was shocked to find the instrumental bobo on the corner, as I didn’t know beastie boys had ever experimented like that.
This album reminded me of watching pop up video in the mornings before school, but it was my first time spending significant time listening to George Michael. I found some of the lyrics clever but most just had me rolling my eyes. Faith is probably the only song I would seek out to revisit, but of course being a 2002 graduate, I prefer the Limp Bizkit cover.
Another album that brought me back to the pop-up video mornings. If I ignore the eyeroll-inducing lyrics on a lot of these songs, the music is quite fun. Jump and Hot for Teacher are classics, and Drop Dead Legs was cool.
I had never listened to the entire album before, previously a fan of Sweet Emotion (which can still bring my arms chills on 80 degree days) and Walk This Way (when I kept waiting for Run-DMC to jump in), but I found myself laughing at Big Ten Inch Record, I liked Adam's Apple and You See Me Crying.
The first album that was already part of my listening library - one that I listen to in full occasionally because it is an *experience.* I'm not sure how true it is but I heard this year that Adele wrote Hello to her younger self and ever since, I listen to it differently. She transmits an extraordinary amount of emotion through song, and seven years later, I still get chills listening. I adore Hello, Send My Love, I Miss You, Remedy, Water Under the Bridge, River Lea, Million Years Ago.
I have to admit I have heard people discuss the band Massive Attack before, but I never imagined their sound to be so... soft, free from attacks? Not my cup of tea exactly but Karmacoma was pretty cool.
While not my normally preferred genre, I was pleasantly surprised by much of this album. I'm not sure how much of it was sampled from other artists but I did recognize a few. I kind of felt like it was a nice little group of tracks that could all be used as TV opening songs. Once "Machete" started with the heavy on electronica, I was over it.
The opening track, Headmaster Ritual was so British and sad, and was probably my least favorite from the entire album. Rusholme Ruffians had such an upbeat fun feel, so unlike The Smiths that I am more familiar with, that the rest of the album held.
This was not an artist that I was previously familiar with, but I did enjoy the soft, easy, melodic stylings, especially Used to Be, Better Times, and Take Care.
I was thrilled to see this album pop up - it was the first CD I bought myself, and it was the only album I could play straight through without skipping any tracks. It’s still incredible, and just looking at the cover art made me remember hours of studying the liner notes and scrubbed out lyrics included in the CD.
An album essential to my emotional growth as an adolescent girl. It still packs a punch, but it does start to all sound the same after a while. My favorite songs are the essential You Oughta Know, Hand in my Pocket, and Ironic, as well as You Learn and Head Over Feet.
Here we go again with my he-man woman-haters club, but bleghhhhh. The words that maketh murder was interesting, nothing else captivated my attention.
Jazz isn't normally something I seek out, but I do enjoy it as background music while attending to other tasks, and I found this album, instrumental save for the last track, really good for that purpose.
Nothing I was familiar with beforehand, parts of it reminded me of David Byrne, Tom Waits, but nothing really stuck with me or made a lasting impression.
I enjoyed the "outlaw country" vibes on this album, but nothing stood out as something I'd purposefully seek out again.
I think this is an album that has a higher overall score due to a handful of excellent songs. Eleanor Rigby could be the basis for a 400-level college class. She Said, Good Day Sunshine, and Got to Get You are also fantastic tracks.
Not really to my taste, I have to admit it was hard not to bail out early.
Listening to this album reminded me of making out with boys who were too old for me and pretending to understand poetry. I actually really like Here Comes Your Man, There Goes My Gun, and Hey.
This album brought back more memories than I thought could be hiding in back of my jnco jeans. I was surprised how much I still enjoyed it, and I also remember Limp Bizkit seeming so angry to me, and they really do not come across that way to me as a 38 year old.
Not really to my taste in music, even in the songs where I would find connections with specific lyrics, it was always wrapped in discordant rock. I had to skip through a bunch of songs in 10-second increments because I found the inharmonious noise quite awful, sensory wise. I liked the guitar on Chapel Hill.
Young Americans and Fame are absolute bangers still - I kind of dug the Beatles cover, but a lot of the other tracks were so so for me.
Rap isn't my number one genre and I'm definitely not a connoisseur by any means, but Mike and Katie listen to enough Kendrick that I was familiar with a lot of this album. My favorite tracks were Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe and Backseat Freestyle.
I was not previously familiar with this artist but I ended up really enjoying this album. It's just f-ing sexy, there's no two bones about it.
I had already listened to this album, but it was fun to revisit, especially right after the Kelela album. Erykah Badu is a master of emoting through her voice, and so much of the album is just magic. My favorite tracks are Didn't Cha Know, Cleva, Orange Moon, and In Love With You.
Karma Chameleon is ridiculously fun, and reminds me of mornings before school watching pop up video. The album had a steep dropoff in quality after the opening track, I was looking to bail (probably from the experiment, possibly from this earthly plane) after That's The Way's depressing notes but then Church of the Poison Mind popped up and suddenly all was right with the world once again. The disparity between the energetic pop and sorrowful ballads is so interesting to me.
ABBA is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, probably due to watching Mama Mia with my sisters. There are a handful on this album I like. Dancing Queen, Money (x3), Fernando. The rest just passes like a summer afternoon.
I guess I was more familiar with Rod Stewart than I gave my brain credit for, and I did find myself enjoying it, especially Every Picture Tells a Story, Maggie May, and (Find a) Reason to Believe. I was surprised by the Amazing Grace included in the second half of the track That's All Right.
Not a band I ever spent time listening to, but I surprisingly enjoyed this album now that I'm old enough to understand the anger/existential dread. "Only Happy When it Rains" and "Stupid Girl" were my favorite tracks.
I had never heard of this band, and it was pleasant enough, but nothing that will stick with me long term.
I was not previously familiar with this group, and the music wasn't offensively bad but just didn't stick with me.
Another band I really didn't know, but I found myself really wrapped up in this album. It was very emotional and reminded me of my post adolescent years in New Jersey.
When I think of Black Sabbath, images of Ozzy Osbourne biting the head off a bat come to mind, and "crazy train" is the standard song I think of. This album took me by surprise with how soft and gentle most of it was. I didn't recognize the band until "St. Vitus Dance" at the end of the album.
