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Featured Review
Darkdancer
Les Rythmes Digitales • 5/5
A rant on death, friendship, and the power of music A big motivator for starting this project with my you my friends was inspired by living through the illness and death of my best friend Keith. During the final days of Keith's life, we spent a lot of time laughing just like we always did. Big belly laughs that led to coughing fits. When he first learned of his cancer, he turned to me one late night in the dark fall of Connecticut and in such earnestness said the biggest thing to process is "when is the last. like when is the last time I'm going to hear Dancing Queen." I think he would have loved this project. As Keith's final days got darker and slower in all earnestness I said "if anyone can come back as a ghost, it's you. If anyone can cross the veil for me, it's you. Let's seriously talk about how I will know. I'm thinking a slight breeze on the lower lobe of my right ear. How's that sound?" We laughed. His response was simply, "you'll know." I was struggling this morning. I drove to the ocean before work. I wanted to swim in the Atlantic and do a bit of a mental cleanse. I put on Les Rythmes Digitales who I never heard of before. This was Keith music. Hard, fierce, funky. We so loved that repetitive beat on the dance floor. Music Makes You Lose Control came on and all I could think of was Keith. I didn't feel the breeze on my ear but boy oh boy did I feel his essence. I laughed, I cried, I walked into the ocean. I was thinking about the song, and I know some people don't like repetitive music but for Keith and I this vibe was hypnotic and thrilling and just joyful. I kept thinking "hypnotic" what a word...what a feeling when music can get a groove going for you. Then the song Hypnotic came on and it all felt a bit otherworldly and connected. I don't really believe the dead physically touch the living but if this intense mental experience spawned through dance music made me feel connected to my friend, I'll take it. It's the only way we have to connect now. Music (good music) always made us lose control. This album was indeed one I had to listen to before I died. I'll be spinning it a lot until that day comes.
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2020s
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1-Star Albums
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You Love More Than Most
Albums you rated higher than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darkdancer | 5 | 2.58 | +2.42 |
| Duck Rock | 5 | 2.66 | +2.34 |
| Cut | 5 | 2.71 | +2.29 |
| G. Love And Special Sauce | 5 | 2.74 | +2.26 |
| My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts | 5 | 2.78 | +2.22 |
| Arc Of A Diver | 5 | 2.88 | +2.12 |
| Leftism | 5 | 2.9 | +2.1 |
| Ingenue | 5 | 2.94 | +2.06 |
| Car Wheels On A Gravel Road | 5 | 2.99 | +2.01 |
| Nighthawks At The Diner | 5 | 3.01 | +1.99 |
You Love Less Than Most
Albums you rated lower than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| ...And Justice For All | 1 | 3.43 | -2.43 |
| My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy | 1 | 3.42 | -2.42 |
| Music From Big Pink | 1 | 3.36 | -2.36 |
| The Downward Spiral | 1 | 3.34 | -2.34 |
| Ace of Spades | 1 | 3.29 | -2.29 |
| Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables | 1 | 3.27 | -2.27 |
| Fishscale | 1 | 3.06 | -2.06 |
| No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith (Live) | 1 | 3.06 | -2.06 |
| Vulgar Display Of Power | 1 | 2.97 | -1.97 |
| Ten | 2 | 3.92 | -1.92 |
Artist Analysis
Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums and high weighted score
| Artist | Albums | Avg | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Dylan | 7 | 5 | 4.4 |
| Beatles | 6 | 5 | 4.33 |
| Radiohead | 5 | 4.6 | 4 |
| Talking Heads | 4 | 4.75 | 4 |
| The Rolling Stones | 4 | 4.75 | 4 |
| Joni Mitchell | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| David Bowie | 5 | 4.4 | 3.88 |
| Tom Waits | 5 | 4.4 | 3.88 |
| Led Zeppelin | 5 | 4.4 | 3.88 |
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 4.67 | 3.83 |
| Fleetwood Mac | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Prince | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Wilco | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Taylor Swift | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Leonard Cohen | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| The Flaming Lips | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Bruce Springsteen | 4 | 4.25 | 3.71 |
| PJ Harvey | 4 | 4.25 | 3.71 |
| The Smiths | 3 | 4.33 | 3.67 |
| The Cure | 3 | 4.33 | 3.67 |
| Peter Gabriel | 3 | 4.33 | 3.67 |
| Yes | 3 | 4.33 | 3.67 |
Least Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums and low weighted score
| Artist | Albums | Avg | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motörhead | 2 | 1 | 2.2 |
| Metallica | 4 | 1.75 | 2.29 |
| My Bloody Valentine | 2 | 1.5 | 2.4 |
| Scott Walker | 2 | 1.5 | 2.4 |
| Kanye West | 2 | 1.5 | 2.4 |
| Arcade Fire | 3 | 2 | 2.5 |
5-Star Albums (102)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Les Rythmes Digitales
5/5
A rant on death, friendship, and the power of music
A big motivator for starting this project with my you my friends was inspired by living through the illness and death of my best friend Keith. During the final days of Keith's life, we spent a lot of time laughing just like we always did. Big belly laughs that led to coughing fits. When he first learned of his cancer, he turned to me one late night in the dark fall of Connecticut and in such earnestness said the biggest thing to process is "when is the last. like when is the last time I'm going to hear Dancing Queen."
I think he would have loved this project.
As Keith's final days got darker and slower in all earnestness I said "if anyone can come back as a ghost, it's you. If anyone can cross the veil for me, it's you. Let's seriously talk about how I will know. I'm thinking a slight breeze on the lower lobe of my right ear. How's that sound?" We laughed. His response was simply, "you'll know."
I was struggling this morning. I drove to the ocean before work. I wanted to swim in the Atlantic and do a bit of a mental cleanse. I put on Les Rythmes Digitales who I never heard of before. This was Keith music. Hard, fierce, funky. We so loved that repetitive beat on the dance floor. Music Makes You Lose Control came on and all I could think of was Keith. I didn't feel the breeze on my ear but boy oh boy did I feel his essence. I laughed, I cried, I walked into the ocean.
I was thinking about the song, and I know some people don't like repetitive music but for Keith and I this vibe was hypnotic and thrilling and just joyful. I kept thinking "hypnotic" what a word...what a feeling when music can get a groove going for you. Then the song Hypnotic came on and it all felt a bit otherworldly and connected.
I don't really believe the dead physically touch the living but if this intense mental experience spawned through dance music made me feel connected to my friend, I'll take it. It's the only way we have to connect now. Music (good music) always made us lose control.
This album was indeed one I had to listen to before I died. I'll be spinning it a lot until that day comes.
53 likes
5/5
It's so hard for me to be objective with Bob Dylan. If you know me, you know my deep reverence for the poet, the musician, and the cultural icon. I've drifted away from daily and repeated Dylan listening sessions but listening to Royal Albert Hall is like meeting up with an old friend where time and distance apart has zero impact.
So I thought I'd approach RAH with the lens of this 55-year-old woman who knows all the songs and try to not rotely listen to them this time. It's not hyperbole to say this man speaks to me more than any other musician (even The Beatles and Taylor Swift).
The definition of "musician": a composer, conductor, or performer—Dylan masters all three. Now weave in "poet": a maker of verses of great imaginative and expressive capabilities and special sensitivity to the medium:
"Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow."
How he punctuates with that harmonica! Has anyone else in the world played such poetic and musical harmonica? No.
I listened to the Bootleg Series Vol. 4 version of the concert and didn't hear the audience dissatisfaction that is so well known for on the second set. Maybe the hecklers were cut from this version? It's hard for me to understand why the electric Dylan was so unliked by his fans in the same way it's hard for me to understand why people simply don't love Dylan. I mean C'mon...electric Baby, Let Me Follow You Down...how does your head not shake and your toe not tap?!
Long-form songs are my jam and I'm certain that's due to Dylan (see ATW10MVTV). Listening to live Dylan and hearing where he changes the words is a little thrill and game for Dylan heads—what did he imply by transposing "finally sees" into "sees finally"? Why "negativity don't 'GET' you through" rather than "'PULL' you through" on Tom Thumb? These are questions for which many a historian has pondered (see Richard F Thomas, a classics professor at Harvard). I suspect when he transposes words or changes things it's simply a wee mistake (see Patti Smith performing A Hard Rain at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony at Stockholm) rather than a major statement.
Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat has what I consider to be the sexiest Dylan line: "Well, if you want to see the sun rise
Honey, I know where"
I know I'm all over the place with this review but that's because he stirs up so many thoughts and feelings. Isn't that the point?
This concert is Dylan at his best. The audience got the best of both worlds-folk & electronic. His voice is great...those long long notes that he holds and uses for the perfect accentuation: "IIIIIIII started out on Burgundy.." The band is great and perfect for Dylan at this stage. They are the foundation of his signature electric sound.
I wonder if the hecklers feel like assholes now? (they should have felt that way when he was singing "Ballad of a Thin Man.")
This is an 11 but 5 will have to do.
11 likes
3/5
I really only knew the name of this band and that they are from Chicago. "Intro" hit and I'm like "woah...am I a Limp Bizkit fan?" "Hot Dog" started to hit a little hard but then I found myself grooving and laughing. While this is not my preferred genre, I'm really surprised that I kind of enjoy nu-metal rap!
10 likes
My Bloody Valentine
1/5
Got this all cued up to listen on a drive and when it starts I’m like “oh dang my cord is shredded or it’s not connected right to the car stereo.”
Nope
I learned that My Bloody Valentine is basically an irritating background din with grinding guitars sometimes over lyrics I can’t really hear.
Nope
9 likes
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
I guess I’ve never listened to an Emerson, Lake, & Palmer album before. And while having a listen as I made salads in the kitchen wasn’t the worst, it also wasn’t my jam. Guess I thought E, L, P had a similar sound as C,S, Y.
And why no Oxford comma!!?
6 likes
4-Star Albums (263)
1-Star Albums (18)
All Ratings
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
I remember when this album came out. Loved "Today" even though it was overplayed on the radio. Listening now I'm finding Billy Corgan's voice monotonous and hard to understand his lyrics. I value this album for its indie influence and hold this band close in my heart but the album doesn't do it for me like it used to.
Rod Stewart
2/5
Who doesn't love the first song on this album? Well...2022 me, that's who. I was cool with it until the 7th and 8th line when he sang about "a woman stealing his bread." Given that this was written in the early 70s before the passage of Title IX in 1972 (which forbade sex discrimination in any educational program that received federal financial assistance), the suggestion of women on the prowl for men's "bread" just doesn't sit right. And then whoaaa Rod...the Asian slur was just too much. But yeah yeah I get these were different times. I did enjoy the mandolin mixed into some tunes and I was excited to hear Rod cover Bob but Rod's version of "Tomorrow is a Long Time" just didn't have the gentleness of Dylan. Maggie May still hits me right. That's a tune I've carried as a fav since I was a pre-teen. I'd say it saves the album for me but now 55-year-old me hears and recognizes the inappropriateness of the situation and I would love to know how old Maggie was to a young Rod. I did not know Rod could rock so hard on (I Know) I'm Losing You. By the time I got to (Find a Reason) to Believe, I was done with Rod's vocal fry.
Finally, I think the cover art could be so much better.
The Pogues
4/5
Nostalgia is a strong, sweet force. This album took me back on a glorious romp through my early 20s. Setting aside the nostalgia, I still love The Pogues! I completely forgot how much I love the bodhrán, banjo, and tin whistle especially when it's all jamming together with Shane MacGowan's lyrics that I can barely keep up with. I saw The Pogues May 1, 1988 at the Modernes nightclub in Bremen, West Germany...just a few months after this album came out.
Metallica
2/5
I am not a metal head. I can appreciate that many folks enjoy this fast, loud, head banging cacophony. Listening to Master of Puppets (the song) there are some elements I like---the drums, some of the guitar riffs, but when you put it all together I physically get knots in my stomach and my ears ring. The volume for today's album was the same as yesterday's and I had to turn this down to 4 rather than the previous day's 11.
I appreciate the political statements throughout the album, particularly on Disposable Heroes. The cover art is great and I always thought the Metallica logo did a good job at capturing the essence of the band/music genre.
Bottom line: metal makes me angry.
Röyksopp
4/5
This is my go-to vibe. I was not familiar with Röyksopp prior to this listen but I definitely got into this type of jam in the early 2000s with Groove Armada, Air, Different Gear.
Michael Jackson
2/5
Listening to this album and trying to put aside all we now know, my resounding thought is "kill your darlings." Out of 11 tracks, there are only 3 songs that I consider a bop: (in order of preference)The Way You Make Me Feel, Bad, Leave Me Alone. I might toss Man in the Mirror in the bop category but if I'm following my own kill-your-darling-thought---that song along with all the others does not make the list.
The Teardrop Explodes
3/5
Guess I'm a real 80s bitch. Totally enjoyed this album. Particularly liked "Poppies," "Books," "When I Dream." I noticed on Spotify, which is my method of listening, has tracked 9.1M plays on the song "Reward" and 85K plays on the album's namesake song "Kilimanjaro." On Spotify there were two bonus tracks that I liked
-Traison (C'Este Juste Une Histoire) - Liked them singing in French a lot!
- Sleeping Gas (Live at Club Zoo/1981) - Wish I were there!
Cover design: what the heck is the guy (second from the left) holding?!
Learned the definition of "blighter," which is a term used in "Went Crazy." Can't say I would spin this one on my own, particularly as I never heard of Teardrop Explodes. But would I get up and dance to this...hell, yeah.
Radiohead
4/5
3/5
I really only knew the name of this band and that they are from Chicago. "Intro" hit and I'm like "woah...am I a Limp Bizkit fan?" "Hot Dog" started to hit a little hard but then I found myself grooving and laughing. While this is not my preferred genre, I'm really surprised that I kind of enjoy nu-metal rap!
Wire
2/5
Another band I never heard of and from what I read, that's the story of Wire's life. While I'm not a punk fan, I didn't hate this. But by track 15, I didn't like it either.
Meat Loaf
4/5
I just love a good rock opera! Meatloaf's wailing vocals, the guitar riffs, the long journey of each song. And so many of the lyrics just reek of juicy adolescence, "You were licking your lips and your lipstick's shining, I was dying just to ask for a taste." You know he was jonesing for that Bonnie Bell bubblegum flavor... And c'mon, Paradise by the Dashboard Light comes on and I am 17 again. Oh to be doubly blessed! While I've heard Two Out of Three Ain't Bad so many times, this time I lol'd at the sentiment. I didn't realize Todd Rundgren produced this album. Every song rocks. Album art is classic.
k.d. lang
3/5
Love kd lang and her voice. Listened to Shadowland and then played Constant Craving right after. Such a better sound and overall quality. Shadowland is kd lang doing Patsy Cline. Ingénue is all kd lang as inspired by Patsy.
The Clash
4/5
This album is definitely a winner for me. When I switched to CDs, this was one of the first I added to my collection. I dig this album so much. However, this listen was my first time doing so with headphones. There is so much phonic texture in the background of the first track London Calling (particularly after the 2-min mark) that I never heard before! Maybe b/c I never heard the remastered versions? This album was the first to clue me in to that ska vibe, which I love. While reading a bit about this album, I was sickened to learn that Rudy Giuliani used "Rudie Can't Fail" in his 2008 campaign run.
I get excited hearing Mick Jones and thinking about his evolution to BAD (The Globe better be on this list!), who I always enjoyed even more than the Clash.
Lost in the Supermarket, The Clampdown, Death or Glory...oh, aw, aw, aw, ow, ow...London, I'm answering on the first ring!
Album cover: Long loved this "font" but it wasn't until today I learned that this is hand lettering! Now I love the cover even more.
Miles Davis
2/5
Morrissey
3/5
Oh I just LOVE Morrissey. While I'm more familiar with The Smiths' work rather than his solo stuff, as soon as those first notes leave his mouth I'm swooning. Hold Onto Your Friends hit me hard today. The More You Ignore Me could be a Smiths song, which makes you realize that The Smiths was so much Morrissey...even that guitar, though not played by Johnny Marr here, sounds like it could be him. (It's Alain Whyte on the guitar btw.) As a collection of songs, I enjoyed listening so much but as a cohesive Album I must hear before I die...well, I'll just go right down the middle: 3.
Depeche Mode
4/5
When the late 80s/90s electric music was hitting I had trouble keeping up with all the bands---Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys, Dead or Alive, Simple Minds, Depeche Mode, et al. As my aural skills have evolved with age, I definitely understand and appreciate the nuances across these bands and these sounds. I LOVE THIS MUSIC. I clearly remember dancing to some of these tunes at college parties (Personal Jesus!). Still, hippy early 90s Marianne thought all this electronic music lacked the true musicianship and poetry of the balladeers---Dylan, Joni, The Beatles. Silly girl. This stuff is brilliant. And for the girl who fell in love with a drummer, it's probably scandalous to say...but I do love me a good drum machine. I also appreciate that all these songs strung together took me on a journey to appreciate this as an album (vs great individual songs). The transition from Waiting for the Night into Enjoy the Silence are sonic trips that really hit home the art of the long-form album format.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
3/5
I dig! I know practically nothing about this genre. Never heard of this Willie Colón & Rubén Blades but this vibe is gonna be grooving a lot in the background when I cook.
OutKast
3/5
Back in the early 2000s I discovered (and endlessly listened to) Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. At the time, I went back to check out other Outkast music. I didn't appreciate this album as much at the time as I did Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. The rap - electronic mix was totally lost on me at the beginning of this decade. I really enjoyed the interludes even though they make me recognize how white and unhip (as in hip hop hip) I am.
Fela Kuti
2/5
If you had me choose between jazz and afro beats, I'd pick this vibe over jazz. I like the danceability. Fela is a complicated dude for me to really like because of his 27 wives. This is getting a lower rating because while I really like the vibe, it sounds like one long song.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
2/5
I first heard Red Hot Chili Peppers when Mother's Milk came out. Thought it was such a cool new sound and groove. Always considered myself a Red Hot Chili Peppers fan. Always found it curious that my musician husband didn't love them. But with this album...I really struggled to get through it.
Blah. Meh. I wish I gave Fela a 3 because this is most definitely a 2 of me.
Robert Wyatt
2/5
I'll start by saying I had no idea who Robert Wyatt or Soft Machine are. Both names sounded a wee bit familiar. I started reading the lyrics to the first song, Sea Song, before the music started. ugh.
As I progressed into the album I thought, I'm cool with avant garde, kitsch, and dada (not to brag but I did see John Cage 4'33" in DC freshman year of college) but ugh...this brings me neither aural joy, intellectual stimulation, nor entertainment.
Had I seen the album cover back in my youth, you can bet I'd have made the purchase. I love the artwork and how it makes me feel but can't say the same for the sounds produced on this record.
The Roots
3/5
The Roots are a band for which I thought, "I should know more about these folks and I should know some of their songs." I only know that the guy from one of the late shows (don't even know which one) came from the Roots. I think there is a Philly connection and that also made me think I should really check out these guys and learn more.
My ignorance about the Roots felt like a lot to overcome.
I don't feel so bad now about not overcoming this lack of music knowledge.
I'm going down the middle
Marvin Gaye
3/5
I enjoyed the smooth calm of Marvin's voice. A short and sweet album that's hits right down the middle for me.
2/5
I always thought this band was overrated and the media frenzy around the Beatles comparison was tiring. Some British musicians really bug me with that exaggerated accent when singing.
Sure I think Wonderwall is an OK song and I enjoy it. I do dig Champagne Supernova (mostly because my friend Craig and I liked to sing "where were you when we were getting high"). However, all of these songs strong together don't delight me in any real way. Blah.
David Bowie
4/5
Damn! Those opening notes are just so damn iconic. I assumed that I've heard this album in its entirety but yet all the songs in between Young Americans and Fame were unfamiliar. How in the world have I reached this age and not known Bowie did a cover of Across the Universe!? And Luther Vandross on this album! Also no idea.
Hearing Bowie's Beatles' cover was a real joy for me. Bowie's interpretation and intonations reminded me again why I love that song so much.
Everything in between Young Americans and Fame is just OK. Hard to say if it's just OK because those two songs are just so damn great.
I can't rate this a 3 because it's Bowie and because of the bookend songs. I'd probably give it a 3.8.
k.d. lang
5/5
THIS is the kd lang album that 100% belongs on the list. An album with iconic bookend songs and such beauty in between.
kd's voice is so strong, healthy, and lovely. She is no ingénue here. This album reflects real work and dedication to her craft.
Interesting that this album was recorded in Vancouver. Something about the cool, high-style of the songs is reminiscent of that shiny Vancouver vibe.
Ending with Constant Craving is brilliant. I love every breath on this album.
Harry Nilsson
3/5
I'm not at all familiar with Harry Nilsson. Or so I thought for the first four songs and then Without You hit, followed by Coconut and of course I've heard Harry Nilsson. As the album progressed I realized it was only the first few songs I didn't know. This is more of a statement about early 1970s radio rather than me being a Harry Nilsson fan. He's good and there are some things that aurally pleased me like that bass line on Jump Into the Fire. I'm always a bit thrilled when I dig a bass line because I have a hard time actually hearing the bass. Fun little drum solo too in that song that went on way longer than a typical drum solo, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
All in all a number of nostalgic songs from my childhood but artistically I felt the album in its entirety was kind of like Harry's bathrobe on the album cover. I mean it's fine, but it doesn't wow me.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Peace
Love
Understanding
Fishbone
3/5
Another band I always thought I should know. I can tell this is good musicianship and a couple songs caught my attention. However, I actually listened to this album 2X and it kept fading into the background. Just did not move me.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
I was 55 years old when I realized that this album I've listened to hundreds of times has a penis on it! WTF? I guess you can chalk that up to CD vs LP? Or maybe because I was so mesmerized by Joni's beauty that my eyes never left those cheekbones except to glance down at how she holds her cigarette with her pinky in such a delicate position.
I listened to this album on CD (as opposed to Spotify) and as my husband suggested, my good headphones with a CD was the complete aural experience. What fun to hear Joni's whispers on Furry Sings the Blues!
I'm a lyrics bitch over the music and this time round some hit harder:
"I do accept the changes
at least better than I used to do."
"I looked at my haggard face in the bathroom light"
"I met a friend of spirit"
"I well up with affection
Thinking back down the roads to then"
It feels so trite to attempt a review of any Joni Mitchell album (as well as Jacko's contributions). So I won't.
This one is most definitely an 11.
Blur
3/5
Started today's listen thinking "Blur" who the heck are Blur? Soon as the first note hits on Girls & Boys, I was reminded.
I'm surprised Girls & Boys is not a TikTok classic for today's gender fluid kids.
Reading the Wikipedia entry for this album, I see that there were a lot of comparisons between Blur and Oasis. I enjoyed Blur way more than Oasis and think they are simply a better band lyrically and musically.
I enjoyed the ride and flow of this album. I'm going to explore more Blur!
The Smiths
4/5
Brilliant
Bob Dylan
5/5
Highway 61
Pure perfection
This was my soundtrack through high school, college, early 20s into my 30s. The perfect blend of lyrics, story telling, piano, keyboard, harmonica!, rock, and fucking roll!
I always wanted to throw a dinner party and have people come as a Dylan character from Highway 61. The album is just so rich with personalities and I want to meet and hear everything them. How can I help you Queen Jane? I would love to hold the diplomat's (Andy Warhol) siamese cat! I'm obviously Miss Lonely.
Dylan architects the perfect flow of songs and each song's opening notes simply stir my soul with comfort and peace. He taught me a great life lesson with this album and one I try to follow---"negativity don't pull you through."
It's actually an 11 but 5 will have to do.
Foo Fighters
4/5
I've really grown to respect and like the Foo Fighters over the years but I'm not really familiar with their music. After Cobain's death, I didn't really get caught up with what Dave Grohl was doing. Yes I loved Big Me when it was played on the radio and was surprised to see Grohl out from behind the drums.
Over the years I've come to really respect Dave Grohl and I think the success of Foo Fighters is such a testament to simply working and playing music. I looked up a quote from him worth remembering:
"Musicians should go to a yard sale and buy an old f****** drum set and get in their garage and just suck. And get their friends to come in and they'll suck, too. And then they'll f******* start playing and they'll have the best time they've ever had in their lives and then all of a sudden they'll become Nirvana. Because that's exactly what happened with Nirvana. Just a bunch of guys that had some s***** old instruments and they got together and started playing some noisy-a** s***, and they became the biggest band in the world. That can happen again! You don't need a f****** computer or the Internet or The Voice or American Idol ."
Well, there is some luck involved too. But the sentiment about just getting out and playing is what I took to heart.
Back to this album...this is the type of rock I really like. Hard but not too hard. Throbbing drums. Good lyrics. Loud but not noise. And Jesus! He did all of this by himself over 5 days as a way to process his grief over Kurt.
I ended up listening to this album two times yesterday---inspired and moved by Grohl's positive manifestation of mourning.
Marty Robbins
2/5
The album title turned me off. I could envision listening to one or two of these songs in a film. Listening to this entire album was totally unenjoyable.
Spiritualized
4/5
I was not familiar with Spiritualized. Surprising because they align with the late 90s chill vibes I adore---Air, Zero 7, Groove Armada, etc.
I loved the psychedelic cacophony background in I Think I'm In Love. Electricity brought the rock to the spacey roll. Cool Waves went on a bit long but I admire the use of the London Community Gospel choir.
I can't parse out all the instruments used in this kind of music---horns, keyboards, and definitely some magic trips, but I totally dig.
AWESOME album cover and that blue would win Pantone of the year if I had a say. SIDENOTE: I was mesmerized by the blue. If you listen on Spotify the header art is great and the blue is actually a very subtle gradient (I pulled it into Illustrator to confirm this), which makes it just glow and float (like in space). Beautiful, wild.
I'll explore a lot more of Spiritualized.
Gorillaz
4/5
Love these tunes. Didn’t know much about these guys and now I want more more more.
The Who
3/5
I was not familiar with this album but knew some of the individual songs. Mary Anne With the Shaky Hands and I Can See For Miles are 4 but the entire album is a 2 or a 3.
David Crosby
4/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
I never heard reggae until Freshman year of college. Bob Marley and Peter Tosh touched a groove.
While one might listen to this album and hear overplayed reggae hits, they are the hits because these songs are just so good.
I listened to this album walking around Washington DC so I couldn’t take notes. But I can say it’s a most awesome album to turn on and vibe around town on a sunny day.
Tim Buckley
2/5
Cis. White. Male.
This particular 70s flavor of music by men just ain’t a good jam.
Would he even get a record deal today?
Jeff Beck
4/5
Long-time fan of this album.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
I'm well familiar with this album as it was my boyfriend's favorite and I always think of driving around in his green Talon in the late 90s/early 00s as he stuck this in the CD player. Of course Rumors was seared in my mind and I knew a few Tusk songs but was far from familiar with the album back then.
I LOVE that the first song is a Christine McVie.
This album really shows off the beauty of Fleetwood Mac and I mean that from a musical and equitable social view. How many bands from this era shared the spotlight equally among the women and men members? I love that they waited till track 5 to hear Stevie's magic 'cause when she kicks in it hits hard.
Odd to me that this album was not well received. I guess after Rumors anything they put out would suffer a poor reception. Combined with the stories around the cost of this album, I can understand. However, I hope time has done its job and pushed this one up into one of the greats. It is on this list so I guess time is working!
I wish someone could explain the album cover to me. I did a search and read that Tusk is a euphemism for penis. That pissed off Stevie and she threatened to leave but Mick was adamant. ok...whatevs but what the heck is the dog all about? If you google original album art for Tusk it looked much cooler than this.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Still LOVE this album. Still HATE the title font.
Can't believe it was today when I figured out the Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine was cannabis.
First time I heard The 59th Street Bridge Song - rainy morning in Vechta, West Germany. I had my yellow Sony Walkman/radio and was walking down a cobblestone street alone. Mind blown!
The Dangling Conversation is a nod to Art's reading obsession/love (see https://www.artgarfunkel.com/library.html)
The whole album just reeks of 1966. Lots of lovely jingly-jangly (see Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall).
********
Post-listening note: I discovered that Art's son, Art Jr., has an album in German called "Wie Du: Hommage an Meinen Vater" in which he sings the classics auf Deutsch. Art Jr's grandparents were German and played a big role in his life. My delight = Andre's annoyance. I think any German speaker will enjoy it immensely. Geil!
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Classic album with all the hits of Stevie. I get why it's the most referenced Stevie Wonder album.
However, it was just too long for me. I think he could have killed some of his darlings.
Google Ray Kurzweil and Stevie Wonder if you don't know their story. Kurzweil, like Stevie, is an American gem.
Radiohead
5/5
Can anyone listen to High and Dry and not start singing?
I didn't cop on to this album in 1995 but once I did, I just couldn't get enough. I still can't. Please come back to us, boys!
This is a 10.
Doves
3/5
I never heard of Doves prior to this. I liked them but I did not give a deep listen.
I had this album on in the kitchen on a rainy Sunday while making bread and it was a perfect vibe.
Massive Attack
4/5
Now I understand why I always confuse Massive Attack with Everything But the Girl and Mazzy Star---the timeline, the vibe, the cool esthetic, and of course b/c Tracey Thorn sings the first tune on this fantastic album.
Gil Scott-Heron
3/5
This album was not available on Spotify and I almost did not check out. But Jen sent me a YouTube link and I'm so glad to have a listen!
I don't know if Gil is classified as smooth jazz but I think he's smooth and jazzy and cool.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
His name as well as the band's plus the fact that Kylie Minogue loves him make me think I should too.
I don't.
I did like the didgeridoo in the background of Cannibal's Hymn.
Messiah Ward was a good groove but I think his vocal chops could be better. I know he's got a voice but it was a bit too talky (and not in a Tom Waits intriguing kind of way).
There She Goes, My Beautiful World - I liked the lyrics but Nick's singing turned this too showoffy
This album was too long and I ran out of steam even trying to review the rest of the album.
meh.
But I decided to give it another shot bc Andre thinks it’s right up my alley and this morning I walked into the kitchen and heard There She Goes and I liked it.
A fickle review indeed
TV On The Radio
3/5
I wasn't able to get through the whole album but what I heard I enjoyed. This album could have been trimmed. Was a bit too long.
Solid sound.
Motörhead
1/5
First thought....ugh. I simply HATE that umlaut usage. Then the Spotify canvas video was completely distracting on the first song with so much flickering and blinking I had to switch to the desktop app for fear of migraine trigger.
While this speed metal flavor of the heavy metal genre is something I absolutely hate, I will say I can appreciate the tightness of the drums with the guitars. But that's all I can say about this.
A friend reminded me that this project is called 1001 Albums to Listen to Before you DIE. I'd have been OK not experiencing this....thus 1
The Killers
2/5
The Killers is another band I was intimidated by because I thought I should know them. There are a slurry of bands that came out in the early to mid 2000s that leave me feeling this way: The Killers, Vampire Weekend, The Strokes, et al.
Thinking about this now I recognize it's because I had my first child during these years and new bands were not a top priority.
While this album was just fine, I can't say it's something I'll reach for again. And I'm glad I focussed on my baby who was 1 week old when this album debuted.
Le Tigre
4/5
I appreciate this sound more than I did when I was younger. I definitely liked the music coming from women bands around this time. This album feels like something Jen and I would put on for a long hang or drive (Friendship Station!).
Yes some songs are monotonous and the lyrics screamy (Let's Run).
I appreciate their keen observation pre 9/11 ... "Oh fuck Giuliani, he's such a fucking jerk."
Maybe I like these women simply because they were women in the late 90s doing this and simply because of that, I'm going to give this album a 4 in terms of a must listen before you die.
Method Man
2/5
In the spirit of really keeping an open mind, I decided to really really try with this rap album.
I had to toughen up my conviction by the time I hit track 4 (All I Need).
By track 6 (Meth vs. Chef) I realize rap is a culture I can't relate to.
Track 8 (Release Yo'Delf) I'm just breathing through the situation and trying to get to the end of this album.
Track 12 (Stimulation) Wait...didn't Method Man do that "Get High" song. I liked that one.
Track 13 (Method Man) Maybe if I were high I would like this more?
I'm ok leaving this world without listening to anymore Method Man.
Postscript: It's Afroman who does the song Because I Got High. That's a good one.
Radiohead
5/5
ZZ Top
2/5
I couldn't get over all the "hits" that are on this album. It's like I was listening to the Best of ZZ Top. While I was familiar with nearly all the songs, I realized I don't know much about this band, including why these songs were so popular. I found myself singing along but I think it was simply the familiarity. The conditioned response of having heard one of these tunes every single day in high school or having watched one of their videos on solid repeat on MTV after school.
Are they good musicians? I don't know. I'll wait and see what Scott & Andre have to say. I feel it's more likely that they were the right band at the right time --- the dawn of the MTV video with a specific look that does very little to intrigue me.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
Let me preface by saying I listened to the "clean" version on Spotify. It was not intentional but once started I just let it go. It wasn't until later that I wondered if I might be missing an angle of Amy listening to the clean version.
anyway...
This listen was comparable to kd lang's Shadowland. Clearly Back to Black is the better Amy Winehouse album when compared to Frank. And just like kd, I think Amy was working hard to find her voice and sing in a way that inspired her love of music. While each song had a distinct Amy Winehouse sound and feel I could also hear experimentation in style and in some songs, felt I am literally hearing her try to find her voice.
I like Amy's brand of R&B or Neo soul or whatever you call it. I love Amy's smooth grittiness (F*** Me Pumps). (There is) No Greater Love is the vibe I love to hear in the background of a dark bar enjoying a libation with any one of you. And...are those crickets I hear?!
Hard to believe she only had two studio albums.
R.E.M.
4/5
I liked it then and I like it now.
R.E.M. is one of those bands that I always hear people say, "I like early R.E.M." and I'm always like "what are you talking about?!"
Let's focus on Automatic for a moment...I just love that this album opens with Drive. It's a somber sound with phrases that make me feel nostalgic but I don't quite understand that nostalgia until The Sidewinder hits in and Michael references Dr Seuss. Side note: I just love the sub sub substantial stutter.
Listening now with the perspective of time I find that R.E.M. does a really good job at encapsulating a 90s sound but with some nostalgic jingly jangly reminiscent of the 60s.
I'm sure if you lived through the 90s that Everybody Hurts likely bugs you. It was overplayed and it's melodramatic. And for me...that's a winner! I found myself driving and listening to that song and all the past and present pain started flowing and then dissipated.
I was always fond of Monty Got a Raw Deal and Nightswimming. Ending with Find the River feels like a shoutout to John Denver. Does anyone else hear that?
After listening to this album, I went back to Murmur, Fables of the Reconstruction (maybe my favorite), Life's Rich Pageant, Green for a few songs. C'mon...R.E.M. has an R.E.M. sound and I think late and early albums are all equally good. In fact, in some ways I prefer later albums because I can understand what Michael is actually singing.
As an album to listen to before you die...I'm just doing it > 4!
The Afghan Whigs
2/5
Something about that wailing rock guitar in Be Sweet literally hurts my ears. In fact there were a number of times on this album I had to check my volume because my head hurt. While the volume wasn't loud, the tonal frequency of this album was a serious problem. I thought I was acting a little fragile about this until I found an article from Science magazine about how certain frequencies can indeed hurt (and damage) your ears.
Combine the aural pressure with an album about a breakup and -- from me -- you get a 2.
Violent Femmes
4/5
Yes! This is most definitely an album to listen to before you die. Preferably in your late teens with friends at the party when you are ready to dance. Just don’t jump on the bed…it will break.
The Beach Boys
3/5
The first half (side 1) of these songs were so enjoyable and wholesome by the second half around Please Let Me Wonder I was done.
R.E.M.
4/5
1987 R.E.M.
Classic
Lana Del Rey
4/5
While there are many reasons I miss my friend Keith, today I want to talk about this album with him. I didn’t get her in 2019. Keith loved Lana Del Rey and I can literally see his eyes shining speaking about her.
She’s lovely and I just loved listening to this album.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
2/5
First song, fist thought: hmmm, I do like hip hop! Yet I quickly became bored and realized again, this ain’t my jam.
I’m certain I shall give hip hop another chance but unlikely that The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy will get one.
Miles Davis
4/5
I listened to the album while falling asleep and it was dreamy.
The Who
2/5
The classics on this are great but the first few songs kept making me think “who are you?”
Bon Jovi
2/5
I find this band boring.
I've got such a bad association with New Jersey and this band, this album, this year all congeals in trite lyrics and stereotypical riffs.
I know it's an important 80s album to people who like this sort of thing. I do think the album title is funny and clever.
Solange
4/5
I was turned on to this album right after it came out. She played at BAM where my Beyonce-loving buddy worked and he dared utter the words, "I think she's better than Beyonce." Now I'm not going to challenge or agree with that statement. But I'll say that this album immediately enticed me; whereas when another good friend (Michaela!) said she couldn't stop playing Lemonade (which came out the same year as this album), I simply couldn't even get it started.
Not the case with Solange's A Seat at the Table. Cranes in the Sky hooked me in real quick.
The interludes are great vignettes of African-American culture.
The cover--she's Gorgeous!
Funkadelic
3/5
Not the Funkadelic vibe I expected but I enjoyed nonetheless.
Had I played this album outside of this experiment, it’s likely I would have abandoned the album on the first song simply because it lacks the hard funk I expect from Funkadelic. Like most, I put on George Clinton and I want to get funked up.
But sticking with it I got to You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks and deemed it my favorite track on the album.
This album came out on my 4th birthday. I wonder if I caught it on any airwaves back then?
Bobby Womack
3/5
Before listening I wanted to give a 5 just for those glasses and the suit.
Spotify blocked the first 3 songs on the album so I jumped into this on track 4, Just My Imagination.
I can appreciate this R&B vibe and would enjoy it as party background music. But truth be told, I appreciate his look more than his music. Still going straight down the middle with Bobby
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
I’m a CCR fan!
Fatboy Slim
3/5
When I first heard Praise You, it was a vibe I never heard before and I fell in love. Like literally in love because it was the time in my life when I also met my future husband. I still dig that song (and my husband) but some of the tunes got too repetitive even for me.
Still it’s a worthy album for this list
The Who
4/5
A high school favorite album here. I appreciate the effort of this rock opera more than the actualization. Always though Quadrophenia was a better album and story.
But when those trumpets hit on the first song and lead into It’s a boy, I’m reminded how important this album was to me and how much I still love this album , story, and these songs
Don McLean
3/5
Like most, I never listened to the entire album. I probably won't ever listen to it again. But I'm glad I did before I die.
I still enjoy hearing American Pie (the song)...a lot. The whole album blasted me with a nostalgia for sweet folksongs and an afternoon watching Magic Garden.
Public Enemy
4/5
I found my taste for rap and it seems the main ingredient is Public Enemy! That Flavo Flav chap really brings the tasty goods to my ears. I love that 90s scratch sound combined with the repetitive grooves.
Weather Report
2/5
Sounds like background music that would be in a Tom Hanks Meg Ryan movie from the 1980s.
SAULT
3/5
I enjoyed this but not a lot stuck out in my mind. Speaking with Jen about this 1001 endeavor, it’s like the timing of the listen combined with current state of mind mixed with some kind of random aural simpatico all contribute to the rating for albums I’m not familiar with.
Nine Inch Nails
1/5
People really like industrial rock?
Closer always made me feel weird. I guess that's the point if this whole album is about the downward spiral to suicide. Recording in the location of the Manson murders makes me dislike this album even more.
I don't ever need to listen to this album again.
Prince
5/5
Amazing how your life can change in just 43 min and 59 sec. This album changed a lot of things in high school. Me and my friends loved it but everyone did in my terribly trashy and racist school. When Let's Go Crazy hit at a basketball game or dance, we ALL got down. Peace through superior groove all thanks to the first rock star who stirred many a pulsing drive in my body that I hadn't felt before. (a'hem...well we can't talk Purple Rain without a nod to his sex factor!)
Woah...I just learned today that the gibberish at the end of Darling Nikki was backwards!
Those guitar notes at the beginning of When Doves Cry! I think this song, track 6, is my favorite on the album and all-time Prince fav.
I got to see him on this tour at the Spectrum in Philadelphia November 1984. Sidenote: you can look up concert tours in Wikipedia and it provides revenue numbers. 3 days in Philly = $848,075, which is about $2,433,975 today.
Ending the album with Purple Rain...those violins, the drums, him singing in my ear. This listen brought me to tears.
Friends - I left the group chat yesterday because I was too deep in my listening groove. I still love you (even if Scott mistakenly rates this wrong).
James Brown
2/5
The audience sounds like fun and I bet the energy was great at the Apollo on this night. But this just came across as flat for me.
Might be that I'm returning to life post bout with COVID and my sense of taste is off but I'm not feeling the greatness that is James Brown on this one.
Alice Cooper
2/5
When we were kids, nothing brought my brother and I more joy than playing this song at the end of the school year. We'd start about a week before the last day but it definitely hit hardest when we'd get home on the first day of summer break and toss this LP on in his room and rock the fuck out!
I would leave the room after this song. I had things to do...it was summer.
Listening now I don't feel like I missed anything great. Except maybe discovering that Alice Cooper is not as subversive as I thought way back then.
I
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
I dig the groove and the repetition.
Love
3/5
I can dig it.
Elastica
3/5
"She's got her keys, money, and fags"
Can't say I know Elastica though the songs sound a bit familiar. Until embarking on this 1001 endeavor, I didn't realize how much I enjoy mid-90s new wavish style tunes.
What musical conventions did they tap into to make "Indian song" have a gentle Indian vibe behind the driving rock? I didn't hear any sitar but I certainly felt the south asian influence. Tablas?
I will definitely explore more Elastica. And I'm happy I listened to this album before I died.
Willie Nelson
4/5
Can't say I've ever listened to a full Willie Nelson album. I've certainly treasured him over the years for his songs and most certainly for his commitment to Farm Aid. (Farm Aid has raised more than $64 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture!) I've also been grateful for his commitment to destigmatize cannabis use.
Holy moly...this was his 18th album in 1975! What a national treasure.
Black Sabbath
4/5
This album cover haunted me as a kid. All my brother had to do was flash this album cover (or Toys in the Attic) and I would run screaming.
Surprisingly, I enjoyed this listen more than I thought. I wish I had the musical vocabulary to describe that distinct sound I hear over and over in Black Sabbath---dun dun dun du du... It's the beginning of Iron Man but I hear in nearly all of their songs. Is this part of their kitsch?
I thought Black Sabbath was all Ozzy's brainchild. Having read the Wikipedia entry it's really Tony Iommi and the accident he had in a sheet metal factory at 17 that is the driving force and sound:
"an accident at a sheet metal factory where he was working at the age of 17 in which the tips of the middle fingers of his fretting hand were severed. Iommi created a pair of false fingertips using plastic from a dish detergent bottle and detuned the strings on his guitar to make it easier for him to bend the strings, creating a massive, heavy sound."
Now THAT is metal!
However, I would classify Black Sabbath as rock. Good rock with a groove I can dig. They are nowhere near as scary nor hard as I thought as a kid.
SIDENOTE:
I saw Ozzy and family at the Roxy one wild NY night. Kelly was singing "Papa Don't Preach" at the club and we nearly got kicked out because Keith kept saying "hi" and trying to shake his hand.
Bert Jansch
2/5
Bert gets a
B for effort
C for creativity
D for delightful
meh
Pink Floyd
5/5
Wow.
This album hit the hardest it's ever hit.
My best friend died this year. The last words my friend Keith said to Adler when they said goodbye, "I'll see you on the dark side of the moon."
oh...the same old fears, wish you were here.
4/5
I know that Scotty has shared a lot of his knowledge about The Kinks with me over the years. But I never really dove deep into the band. This album is inspiring me to do so.
I loved this listen and this listen really encapsulates why this experiment is important and fun in my life.
I also REALLY loved to learn the backstory. I often find the backstory more interesting than the final product. This was a concept album for a tv show: "The rough plot revolved around Arthur Morgan, a carpet-layer, who was based on Ray and guitarist Dave Davies' brother-in-law Arthur Anning."
In this age of streaming and a gazillion channels, why hasn't someone revisited the idea?! Here's hoping that within the millions of 1001 explorers, one of us is a producer.
Keith Jarrett
4/5
This album is another great example of why I love this experiment. When you hit an album at the right time it's just so lovely. Would I ever put on this album to listen...unlikely. But now that I know Keith Jarrett is an amazing chill improv musician, the next time I have to focus at work...I'll know who to spin.
Culture Club
4/5
Confessions of an MTV junkie:
I remember when MTV launched with "Video Killed the Radio Star." I was hooked. Every single day after school MTV was a big part of my routine. I wasn't a huge Culture Club fan when Colour By Numbers came out but the repeated play on MTV combined with my fascination with Boy George got these ear worms deeply embedded in my mind. As I matured and realized it's OK to love pop, I listened to a lot more Culture Club.
What a joy to listen start to finish because I forgot that so many of the hits came from this album.
I'm a big Sam Smith fan and watched him perform at the White House celebration of same-sex marriage law yesterday and it hit what a huge cultural influence Boy George has been to gender non-conforming/trans/queer people in the music industry. Duh! Department of obvious.
Wilco
5/5
Being There where "There" is the halcyon days of the late mid 90s with my girl Jen and this soundtrack and long debates over Uncle Tupelo v Sonvolt v Wilco.
What a great double album and what a journey through all kinds of sonic landscapes---
- the hard distortion that leads into Misunderstood and those sweet piano notes with sweet tasting cigarettes
- jingle jangly soft harmonica in Far, Far Away
- those banjo notes throughout What's the World Got in Store (who else uses the banjo like this with solid rock?!)
- Outtasite (Outta Mind) & Outta Mind (Outta Sight) and long conversations with Jen pre Internet about the differences and how I keep the songs straight
Every song is a winner on this album and it never feels too long.
This album started my love for Wilco and it's just reignited it too.
Pixies
4/5
I tend to think the Pixies are too hard for my liking. However, Is She Weird, Ana, changed my mind. I realized I never really gave a good listen. Further into the album and All Over the World I started to see why folks go gaga over this band and I liked the juxtaposition of minimal and maximum sonic sounds.
I like!
Various Artists
3/5
Nice tunes for Christmas baking
Billy Bragg
4/5
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
Solid
Soundgarden
3/5
I’d never think of putting this album on for a listen but I’m glad I did.
Genesis
2/5
Prog rock is too much adolescent boy energy for me. The only interesting thought I had about this album is how much Peter Gabriel evolved as a musician.
I prefer him being a sledgehammer.
Tom Waits
4/5
I wouldn’t say this is my favorite Tom Waits album. But man when he sings a story the journey is always one I want to take.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
I love everything about this album except for Candy's body dysmorphia. I'm a huge VU fan and feel intimidated trying to comment something new on this masterpiece.
I don't know if Lou Reed intended it but I often string these songs together as a larger story...maybe it's a story about Candy or Andy? Does anyone else hear this?
Candy talks about her problems and then Reed responds in What Goes On with "you know it'll be alright." Because "no kinds of love are better than others" as we hear in Some Kinda Love. Conflict arises but still those Pale Blue Eyes carry something special...soft, kind, complicated (oh boy do I love that gentle guitar). But Jesus...help me find my proper place. Oh here I go, I'm Beginning to See the Light and guess what I'm Set Free---That's the Story of My Life. But life is complex and cacophonous it's "lurid and lovely" and "lovely and filthy." And then After Hours, a youthful androgynous kid lets us know that someday someone will look into your eyes and say "You're my very special one."
The Cardigans
3/5
For years I thought this band was British. Those Swedes sure know how to export pop. But this ain’t no ABBA situation.
They left me feeling a little underwhelmed. Happy Meal II and Never Recover got me rocking more than Lovefool.
The The
3/5
I was not familiar with The The thought I definitely heard of them and they seemed like a band I should like. But how could we explore music in the 80s and early 90s without spending money that was slated for completing my Dylan collection? Hence I missed some good music.
I dig this band. Spotify shuffle kicked into gear after this album and I was introduced to more The The, which I liked even more (Whisper).
It’s not a full 4 but also more than a 3. We need half stars!
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
I can listen to this sort of rap and enjoy it! But perhaps this is actually hip hop?
No wise observations, I just really liked. But not enough for 4. It’s a 3.8
The La's
5/5
Every single song is a winner. I love love love this album so much and remember a time pre-Internet when I kept looking for more The La's.
I realized I've been rating albums against Sgt. Pepper. Like I rarely give a 5 b/c how can anything come close to Pepper. But I'm seeing that as a mistake and trying to be pure to the question, "is this an album to listen to before you die."
The La's is indeed such an album. Simply perfect.
By the time I got to Memphis, Rod's vocal fry grated my nerves to the point I had to skip this song and the following two.
Marianne Faithfull
2/5
I've tried before with Marianne Faithfull. Many times.
The closest I got to really liking her music was 1987's Strange Weather.
But in the spirit of 1001, I opened my mind and turned on the tunes. I love the album cover and the song titles got me all psyched---witches, John Lennon cover! Let's go!
Nope. Snoockered again (did I use that properly, Nicole?!). On top of her voice, which has always sounded wrecked, I just find her music arrangements nondescript. Banal.
Jeru The Damaja
2/5
I tend to like this era of hip hop more than modern rap. So I thought this might fit the sweet spot for me. It did not.
Beastie Boys
3/5
I love the Beastie Boys; however this album isn’t my favorite. For Sabatoge alone this album deserves to be on the list. I’d say is a 3.8
In case our group doesn’t know…the Beastie Boys opened up for Madonna’s The Virgin Tour…her first tour to promote Like a Virgin and Madonna. The crowd didn’t take too kindly to the Boys and it’s fun to hear them tell some stories from this time.
Joy Division
4/5
Brooding. British.
I just love it.
Joy Division’s Closer is certainly one to have listened to in your mental library
Talking Heads
5/5
When I first discovered Talking Heads it felt like a gift. Something so new I didn’t even know that I needed.
This album still sounds groundbreaking and I still love it.
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
I knew I liked LCD Soundsystem prior to listening but now I know I LOVE LCD Soundsystem. James Murphy is like a Brooklyn version of Morrissey without the complicated political views.
The band takes the best of other bands and genres that I love—Talking Heads, electronica, Bowie, dance, Madonna, ambient chill—and blends them into their own sound.
I really like the album cover.
5/5
It's so hard for me to be objective with Bob Dylan. If you know me, you know my deep reverence for the poet, the musician, and the cultural icon. I've drifted away from daily and repeated Dylan listening sessions but listening to Royal Albert Hall is like meeting up with an old friend where time and distance apart has zero impact.
So I thought I'd approach RAH with the lens of this 55-year-old woman who knows all the songs and try to not rotely listen to them this time. It's not hyperbole to say this man speaks to me more than any other musician (even The Beatles and Taylor Swift).
The definition of "musician": a composer, conductor, or performer—Dylan masters all three. Now weave in "poet": a maker of verses of great imaginative and expressive capabilities and special sensitivity to the medium:
"Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow."
How he punctuates with that harmonica! Has anyone else in the world played such poetic and musical harmonica? No.
I listened to the Bootleg Series Vol. 4 version of the concert and didn't hear the audience dissatisfaction that is so well known for on the second set. Maybe the hecklers were cut from this version? It's hard for me to understand why the electric Dylan was so unliked by his fans in the same way it's hard for me to understand why people simply don't love Dylan. I mean C'mon...electric Baby, Let Me Follow You Down...how does your head not shake and your toe not tap?!
Long-form songs are my jam and I'm certain that's due to Dylan (see ATW10MVTV). Listening to live Dylan and hearing where he changes the words is a little thrill and game for Dylan heads—what did he imply by transposing "finally sees" into "sees finally"? Why "negativity don't 'GET' you through" rather than "'PULL' you through" on Tom Thumb? These are questions for which many a historian has pondered (see Richard F Thomas, a classics professor at Harvard). I suspect when he transposes words or changes things it's simply a wee mistake (see Patti Smith performing A Hard Rain at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony at Stockholm) rather than a major statement.
Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat has what I consider to be the sexiest Dylan line: "Well, if you want to see the sun rise
Honey, I know where"
I know I'm all over the place with this review but that's because he stirs up so many thoughts and feelings. Isn't that the point?
This concert is Dylan at his best. The audience got the best of both worlds-folk & electronic. His voice is great...those long long notes that he holds and uses for the perfect accentuation: "IIIIIIII started out on Burgundy.." The band is great and perfect for Dylan at this stage. They are the foundation of his signature electric sound.
I wonder if the hecklers feel like assholes now? (they should have felt that way when he was singing "Ballad of a Thin Man.")
This is an 11 but 5 will have to do.
The B-52's
4/5
While Wikipedia likes to use the term “kitsch,” I prefer “High Fidelity Class.”
3/5
I like but I can't say I love.
The album took a turn around Blue Jeans and by Resigned…I think I fell.
Not quite a 4 for me but more than a 3.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
Can't listen to this because I have Spotify and Neil Young does not! It's likely I'd give Neil a 4 for his music and a 2 for his curmudgeonly views on audio quality.
Nina Simone
3/5
I enjoyed.
Hole
3/5
This was such a pivotal album for women in their 20s during the 90s. We didn't have much (any?) female led grunge/rock/punk music on the radio. So when you're hanging late night with your girlfriend and Doll Parts comes on and you both want the most cake, you really feel seen. And the music hits hard...in a very good way.
I know some people have issues with Courtney Love and I won't pretend to know much about her. But being a widow and a mother and a rocker at 29 still produces a lot of feelings and feelings are what I want out of my music.
I really do love this album but it's not a 4. (Sometimes I hate the rankings in this project. I know I'm not consistent.)
The Beach Boys
3/5
I just wasn’t made for these tunes.
I mean Wouldn’t it Be Nice and God Only Knows are really good songs. A number of other good songs on the album too.
But I’ve never understood the reverence people (Scott et al) have for this. I remember it carrying some mythical weight when folks would talk about “Pet Sounds”. This is the before Internet times … and when I finally saw the album cover and heard it , I thought it was a joke. Like I really thought oh it must be some Sgt Pepper type of musical experience.
Some nice songs with some guys playing with goats on the cover.
Taylor Swift
5/5
I will forever walk in any offshoot of Taylor’s Folklorian woods and listen to all the stories forevermore
Quicksilver Messenger Service
2/5
Not my jam
Peter Tosh
4/5
It's interesting to me that I can listen to a reggae jam and not get bored (unlike yesterday's Quicksilver album). I never heard reggae until I got to college and Bob Marley flowed out of so many windows on campus. Once I discovered Peter Tosh I tended to dig him over Marley.
When I first listened to Legalize It (the song) I was blown away that someone openly professed their love for the ganja! I wish he were alive today to see the cannabis reform that's going on around the world. Maybe it's due to the song and his open admiration for the herb but I just love him and I love this album (but I like the album Mama Africa even more).
Upon this listen (and I listened two times by myself and also caught some of Andre's listen) I finally looked up "umara composis." It's menstrual pain (and yes, tamjee can help).
Mylo
3/5
I was not familiar with Mylo. I really like this kind of dance/techno/electronica. I put this kind of music on when I'm cooking alone in the kitchen and pretend I'm in the club with Keith.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
Def Leppard
3/5
I understand why this album is on the list. I approached it with trepidation and already decided on my rating prior to listening. Somedays this project is work and adding a listening task to my daily to-dos overwhelms me.
So what do I say about Pyromania? I get why metal folks dig this. Can't deny that Rock of Ages had my toe a tapping. I really admire the band's commitment to playing together after the accident. I liked hearing Andre share some of the production minutia and commitment to details the band brings to their art. "Gunter gleiben glauchen globen" helped up this Deutschophile's cool factor even though it's not German and I readily shared that with the hot guys who would sing it when I brought up my love of German.
But at the end of the day...I simply do not enjoy metal. It's an effort. But I'll pump up another star from my bad attitude going into this.
Bad Brains
2/5
Nope
Well…with the exception of Stereo 77
The Verve
3/5
I like this band but I would almost never think of putting on one of their albums. I love that semi-psychedelic sound in A Northern Soul (the song).
Upon this listen I feel like I heard influence on bands that came after
Brainstorm Interlude - Radiohead?
Drive you Home - Jeff Tweedy?
Travis
2/5
I sort of recall hearing this band in the 90s.
Then Why Does it Always Rain on Me came on and I was like, yeah, I've heard this but I always thought it was Rufus Wainwright.
I found this band much like their album cover---nothing really memorable.
The xx
4/5
Really loved this album
Found a new-to-me band that I’ll be listening to a lot
VHS was a standout!
Eels
4/5
I really enjoyed this album!
I don't recall much about Eels and I didn't do my usual reading about them prior to listening.
Kate Bush
3/5
There's definitely something special about Kate Bush. She's one of those artists that is simply striking upon first exposure. Like WHO, WHAT IS she? Avant garde. Aesthetically innovative indeed!
Not my favorite Kate Bush so I’m going right down the middle. I suspect we will meet here again with Kate.
Ian Dury
2/5
His voice didn’t match the music.
Fleet Foxes
4/5
I had heard of this band before but never invested the time to explore. I really enjoyed and though I didn't take any notes or have any great observations, I will say that this album is a great demonstration of why I do enjoy our 1001 project.
U2
4/5
Forgot how much I LOVE this album and U2. Always loved Bono's vox and The Edge is just the coolest with his wild reverbs and chiming timbres. This listen took me right back to starting life on my own in Philadelphia. Achtung Baby was the soundtrack to that time and place.
Elliott Smith
4/5
Love him
Les Rythmes Digitales
5/5
A rant on death, friendship, and the power of music
A big motivator for starting this project with my you my friends was inspired by living through the illness and death of my best friend Keith. During the final days of Keith's life, we spent a lot of time laughing just like we always did. Big belly laughs that led to coughing fits. When he first learned of his cancer, he turned to me one late night in the dark fall of Connecticut and in such earnestness said the biggest thing to process is "when is the last. like when is the last time I'm going to hear Dancing Queen."
I think he would have loved this project.
As Keith's final days got darker and slower in all earnestness I said "if anyone can come back as a ghost, it's you. If anyone can cross the veil for me, it's you. Let's seriously talk about how I will know. I'm thinking a slight breeze on the lower lobe of my right ear. How's that sound?" We laughed. His response was simply, "you'll know."
I was struggling this morning. I drove to the ocean before work. I wanted to swim in the Atlantic and do a bit of a mental cleanse. I put on Les Rythmes Digitales who I never heard of before. This was Keith music. Hard, fierce, funky. We so loved that repetitive beat on the dance floor. Music Makes You Lose Control came on and all I could think of was Keith. I didn't feel the breeze on my ear but boy oh boy did I feel his essence. I laughed, I cried, I walked into the ocean.
I was thinking about the song, and I know some people don't like repetitive music but for Keith and I this vibe was hypnotic and thrilling and just joyful. I kept thinking "hypnotic" what a word...what a feeling when music can get a groove going for you. Then the song Hypnotic came on and it all felt a bit otherworldly and connected.
I don't really believe the dead physically touch the living but if this intense mental experience spawned through dance music made me feel connected to my friend, I'll take it. It's the only way we have to connect now. Music (good music) always made us lose control.
This album was indeed one I had to listen to before I died. I'll be spinning it a lot until that day comes.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
I mean, c'mon. Classic Americana. Groovy. While all the Beatles and hippies were definitely doing some real thangs, these two...all Class. Also this cover with their handsome eyes and black turtleneck jumpers. C'mon!
If I had some form of time synesthesia, "Faking It" would be spring 1968 in New York with these two.
The Verve
3/5
Straight down the middle
Prince
5/5
Perfection
Talking Heads
5/5
Believe, I believe in mystery
Love, love, love, love is simple as 1-2-3
My favorite Talking Heads album
Moby Grape
2/5
Had I arrived at the keg party in the woods in high school and heard this, I would have been psyched for a good night.
Now…meh.
Dead Kennedys
1/5
Nope, didn’t need to hear this before I die.
Sylvia thought they sound like a South Park parody band.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Can't remember if it was my brother's or my cousin's copy of this album but one of them had the version in which there was a real zipper. I must have been in 7th or 8th grade and wowsa...this album cover. I loved them before I heard the first note! At the time I compared everything to The Beatles and Dylan so this was my first foray into “hard rock.” The Beatles and Dylan satisfied my intellect but the Stones tapped into something visceral. Some of my hardest dancing (alone in my room or at a college party) happened with The Rolling Stones. I heard Andre sing Wild Horses the very first time I saw him perform, which was the second time I met him. I was a complete goner. So the Stones have so many deeply personal memories...I suppose for all of us.
Every song is a banger
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
I resisted Bruce Springsteen for so long that I still feel like I'm learning these songs even though they were so much the soundtrack to the high school parties, the South Jersey ethos I grew up in, and the massive icon that he is.
But it seems I always find a new appreciation for Springsteen these days even though I've heard it all before.
Highlights on this album for me:
Badlands (duh...who can't say that?!!)
Adam Raised a Cain
Candy's Room
The Beach Boys
2/5
Not my bag
Depeche Mode
3/5
I've grown to love Depeche Mode way more than I did in the 80s. I'm sure there's some nostalgia that's driving the love.
Tim Buckley
2/5
I don’t know if I missed the last Tim Buckley album we reviewed here or if I blacked it out.
My predominant thought while listening…”well if this ain’t an example of the patriarchy in action in 1969, I don’t know what is.”
How did he even get a record deal?
Napalm Death
1/5
Who the fuck likes this!?
Pink Floyd
5/5
It's hard to know what to write about such a seminal album. The entire concept and all the related media that came from this are just perfect—the movie, the album cover, the artwork. I can't even pick out select tracks that really rock because every single song slams and just fits like a perfect puzzle with the whole.
I thought of voting down one start because of Roger Waters' complicated political views but I'm gonna keep it focussed on the goal of this endeaver: albums you must hear before you die.
Supertramp
3/5
A couple great bangers but otherwise I was a bit bored
Miles Davis
3/5
I want to love Miles Davis because he just oozes coolness. But truth be told I put this on and then it seeped into the background. Maybe it was the timing. I never get blown away by him like other people do.
Slade
4/5
Slay me! Maybe it’s because they teeter in that space between Spinal Tap and Led Zeppelin or maybe it’s because my husband loves them or maybe it’s because we’re all crazy now. But I dig Slade for all these reasons. They rock!
Sly & The Family Stone
3/5
One of the greatest names for a band.
Arcade Fire
2/5
Bland indie band that sounded like nothing but also like mid 2000s bland indie bands. Sylvia and I gave this a go in a car ride while our conversation was engaging so maybe my focus was lacking? But we would come back to the music and chat about it during the listen and he looked forward to spinning Beyoncé after we powered through.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
The timing of this album title with today’s mass shooting..
Curtis Mayfield’s whole vibe always hits hard and smoothe.
Massive Attack
4/5
I just played this and listened without doing my normal reading about the artist and without taking note of the song titles. I tend to confuse Massive Attack with Mazzy Star and it's likely I'll continue to do this.
But this listen was the perfect sound for me to catch up on work and escape into a calming sonic vibe. I loved it.
Jerry Lee Lewis
2/5
I tried to put myself in the shoes of those young kids in Hamburg in the early mid 60s. Thought of how The Beatles loved him. But the truth is this did little for me. I couldn’t hear anything but the thought of him marrying his 14 year old cousin.
Incubus
2/5
I don't have an ear for this genre.
Bill Evans Trio
3/5
Great listen during a Sunday cooking session with Sylvia
Beatles
5/5
Finally! Some Beatles.
Let's start with this dreamy album cover. Those piercing handsome looks just grab you. And if I'm recalling correctly, the LP was high-gloss. I held that album so close to my face to adore those gazes, I feel like I can still smell it. Magical Mystery Tour was my indoctrination to The Beatles and then I worked back. When I got to early Beatles music I was so goddamned hooked. A real junkie for ANYTHING Beatles related, which was hard to come by in the early 80s in rural South Jersey. The dichotomy between late and early Beatles thrilled teenage me. More to explore, more to learn, more to listen, and so much more to love.
When I hear folks say they don't dig early Beatles, it simply does not compute. How does John's voice on All I've Got to Do not move you? All My Loving is a window into Paul's personality, especially that gorgeous 20-year-old version of himself. Longing. I felt my first iteration of "longing" from this song. Longing for what? I didn't know. With age I started to hear beyond the voices and learned to understand things like "oh that super cool jangly guitar"..that's George. That distinctive Rickenbacker...that's John. Those perfect beats...Ringo! On first listen I thought I could skip Till There Was You but no way. How can you bypass that sincere voice? And the bongos (?) congas (?)...I don't know what magic Ringo was making on this song. I adore how they backup each other. When Ringo takes the lead on I Wanna Be Your Man, John and Paul are just perfect in how they take turns backing him up.
Every Beatles album should be heard before you die. I'm excited to get all the others served up!
Johnny Cash
3/5
I wish I were friends with Johnny and June. Or at least had the opportunity to see him perform live. One cool cat.
Metallica
2/5
White guys wanking their guitars. Ew.
Franz Ferdinand
3/5
I vaguely knew this band before today. Definitely recall they got big around the time Adler was born. Great band name and excellent album cover design. Their drum game is strong.
I enjoyed this listen but I don't think I'd reach for FF on my own.
Louis Prima
4/5
Fun
Suzanne Vega
4/5
The Stooges
4/5
Mercury Rev
4/5
Pulp
4/5
A Lesson on the Impact of Time and Place on One's Daily Album
It's been a week and it's only Tuesday. I was driving home from another day sitting in the hospital all day with my ailing, elderly mother who needs to learn how to walk again. I hit play on Pulp and felt transported back to those halcyon mid 90s days that I didn't realize were a real dream at the time. I love his sultry, English voice. Common People was a funny journey and I let myself fantasize about seeing this band in the mid 90s in Philly with Jen at the Trocadero. Afterwards we would head to Bar Italia.
I really loved this album. I know nothing about Pulp except I'm going to explore more.
Grateful Dead
1/5
At one point I self classified as a Dead Head. This listening experience brought on an epiphany—what if it’s not the music I liked but the soft cotton skirts and the hippy boys? Indeed. If I’m being honest with myself there was always something unsettling with the devout Dead Heads. Yeah I love the songs Box of Rain and Terapin Station but those jams…ugh…meet me in the parking lot where I’m buying a flowy skirt and some mushrooms. Andre and I were recently at a bar with Dead Head friends and a Dead cover band was playing. It all came back when our friend got up to do that Dead dance… that uncomfortable feeling—-CRINGE. I looked around at the zombie dance groove these folks all partook in and ugh…Super cringe. And that’s how I felt listening to this live album…vocals are off, those “jams” make me feel like I’m drowning, flowy skirts and hippy boys ain’t my jam.
Gang Of Four
3/5
Today’s listening hit the right way at the right time. Enjoyed but have nothing more to say.
4/5
I really love this time and music aesthetic. Didn’t know the band by name but certainly recognized the well known bangers
Bob Dylan
5/5
I won't draft the tome I did for my previous Dylan review. Y'all now by now what I'm going to rate most of Dylan's art. I approached this listen with amazement that this is his SECOND album. Blowin' in the Wind, A Hard Rain, AND Masters of War all on one album. My lord this man was on fire. Some random thoughts:
When my first baby was born, I was so happy when I saw his blue eyes so that I could sing, "Oh where you have you been my blue-eyed son." NOTE: I went into labor on Bobby's bday and I worked REALLY REALLY hard but Adler's bday is May 25th (1 day later).
Google Patti Smith singing A Hard Rain at the Nobel Award Ceremony in Stockholm.
Masters of War - wish there was required listening for political careers.
Bob Dylan's Blues - Classic Dylan song in which he takes us some sweet journeys. Such short vignettes that I just carry throughout my life. "I can walk anytime I want around the block" was my response to EVERYONE who asked why I wasn't getting my drivers license when I was a teen.
"I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours."
Bob Dylan's Dream still makes me cry. Always did. Always will.
"I wish I wish I wish in vain
that we could sit simply in that room again
Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat
I'd give it all gladly if our lives could be like that"
Jane Weaver
4/5
whoa and wow...who is this ethereal beauty, appearing like perfect sunshine dappled through the lovely pines? I love everything about this album and this sound. I'm going out to explore more.
Country Joe & The Fish
2/5
This album made me feel weird.
The sound and the vibe was everything to me when I first started to get serious about spreading my music wings beyond The Beatles and Dylan. I was enamored with the 60s and Country Joe & The Fish just reek hippiedom. Yesterday's listen didn't do much for me except make me wonder if I really "hear" music at all or just get lost in a vibe. Maybe from a historical perspective this album is one to listen to before you die?
Mostly I'm just meh about this.
Jane's Addiction
3/5
I love Been Caught Stealing. All the other songs kinda blend into nothing I really remember
Def Leppard
2/5
Ugh.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
Thin Lizzy
3/5
While not exactly my style of music, there is something raucous and fun about Thin Lizzy.
Jazmine Sullivan
4/5
Really enjoyed this new find. Philly gal who also released an album called "Fearless" in 2008. What's not to like?
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
I guess I’ve never listened to an Emerson, Lake, & Palmer album before. And while having a listen as I made salads in the kitchen wasn’t the worst, it also wasn’t my jam. Guess I thought E, L, P had a similar sound as C,S, Y.
And why no Oxford comma!!?
Black Sabbath
3/5
Definitely the best Black Sabbath album.
The Strokes
3/5
I don't know why The Strokes don't thrill me like I think they should. They have a lot of characteristics I like but something about them just lands flat with me. Sometimes I give 3s and I really like an album. Sometimes I give 3s because the album is just meh. This is straight down the middle...neither like nor dislike.
Paul McCartney and Wings
5/5
It took some time for me to really love Paul's solo career. I was more of a John solo stuff than the other Beatles. But a lot of musicians in my life always raved about Paul McCartney (with and without Wings). It's only been the last 10 years or so that I've come to hear the genius that is Paul.
Band on the Run (the song) is just a perfect tune too. Jet is about a pony he and Linda had, which just goes to show the brilliance of his craft. They were living in the English countryside and Paul would go for a walk in the hills, write a song, return home. Beautiful. Just like Paul and Linda and Wings and this album.
Elis Regina
4/5
I couldn't find this album on Spotify but I found the song Vento De Maio. There were other Elis Regina albums and I listened to her "popular" songs as classified by Spotify.
I really enjoy the bossa nova vibe. Elis sounds clean and classy and cool. I'll explore more of her work and I'm sure to have this as background music in the kitchen.
It's a little unfair to rate if I didn't officially listen to the album but I'm going for it.
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
I wish I had the musical vocabulary to describe the sounds that I like so much on this. I forgot about this album but back in those great late 90s WXPN days, this was on heavy rotation.
John Lennon
4/5
I listened to this LP so much as a kid after I exhausted The Beatles library. Imagine will never become trite to me.
I always got a little thrill reading the last four songs as a little story.
Japan
3/5
Another unknown-to-me band that I really dug. More than a 3 not quite a 4.
Fiona Apple
4/5
Small Faces
3/5
This hit right as I walked through a new city.
King Crimson
3/5
This album wasn't as difficult to listen to as I initially feared. In fact, there were moments of pleasure and I found the sounds and words rather British in a lovely way. All you have to do is say "jester" and "court" in a British accent and I'm usually hooked.
An old friend (Glenn) LOVED King Crimson and decades ago I suspect it was over lunch and a few bongs that he spun this LP. He convinced me to go with him to a King Crimson concert at The Tower in Upper Darby. So there we were 2nd row, Robert Fripp came out center stage and SAT down on a chair and "jammed" the rest of the night. It was intense hard prog rock the whole night and the sitting down guitar playing really made me feel weird. I looked around and no lie...I could not see another woman in the audience. I suffered through the concert and never again listed to King Crimson until yesterday.
They are historically relevant and I like when people have extreme fans so I get why they are on this list.
Beach House
3/5
The beginning of my listening session this wasn't grabbing my attention and I kept zoning out to the point I restarted some songs. Went for a walk and cleared my head while listening and I found my opinion changing. I'm not in a good mental space these days so I can't say anything substantive about this album. I liked it.
Sonic Youth
2/5
Sonic Youth just seemed like a band I should like. But in the 90s it was really hard to dabble into music you didn't know. I really liked Kim Gordon but I couldn't justify spending $12 on a Sonic Youth CD when I still had to complete my Joni & Dylan collection. In the late 90s they opened up for Wilco and Jen and I got there early to see them. I think a song and a half in we said let's go wait in the beer line. So much noise.
I'll admit I enjoyed Goo more than the last Sonic Youth album we heard in this endeavor. I'll also admit I made a good decision not buying any of their CDs in the 90s.
Not my jam.
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
I like ELO. I really like Jeff Lynne. So many stand-out songs but listening to the album, I hear a lot of repetition. This album got me thinking about this notion of repetition vs a band/artists' sound. Such a fine line. At one point I thought Spotify jumped to Traveling Wilburys.
But for Mr. Blue Sky alone this album is awesome and I feel generous because that song puts me in a nice mood.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Sigur Rós
4/5
I can't remember how Sigur Rós came into my life but when they did it was on repeat. Clearly the ethereal, fairy-like quality grabbed a lot of folks. While I love these sounds, music, and language I don't understand in the background at anytime, I can say it's not a great gig to see live. Jen and I saw a documentary that was basically just a live performance and as much as we love Sigur Rós, the one place they don't excel is live.
My Bloody Valentine
1/5
Got this all cued up to listen on a drive and when it starts I’m like “oh dang my cord is shredded or it’s not connected right to the car stereo.”
Nope
I learned that My Bloody Valentine is basically an irritating background din with grinding guitars sometimes over lyrics I can’t really hear.
Nope
David Bowie
5/5
The song "Heroes" is one of those stop-me-in-my-tracks songs. I stop and I really listen. God I love that fucking song so much. When I heard the German version of the song for the first time I couldn't believe that something so perfectly suited for me existed in the world.
So for Heroes alone this album is a must listen.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Hot damn 41 minutes and 25 seconds of pure delight.
Public Enemy
3/5
Pink Floyd
4/5
Such a British album–pipers, barley, a gnome named Grimble Crumble, gates at dawn. I certainly enjoyed this and think I had a listen all those years ago when Pink Floyd ruled my high school years. While this is no Dark Side of the Moon, I do believe it's an important one to listen to hear the evolution of such a pivotal band.
Drive-By Truckers
4/5
I approached this with trepidation. The band name sounded vaguely familiar but when I started the album, I quickly realized I was not familiar with them. I dismissed the first couple songs and wondered how I'd get through this double-album commitment. Then...Three Great Alabama Icons hit and I was enthralled. Wallace followed and I was fully on board. I spent the rest of the album by the river with my dog, which felt like a perfect place to spin this record. By the time I got to Let There Be Rock, I realized I had heard of this band, or at least this song, before. A lot of the songs and indeed the album would benefit from the kill-your-darlings approach but I'm happy to have listened to this and think I'll spin Great Alabama Icons again right now.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
So many pivotal classics that I actively opposed when this came out because I didn’t sit down with the album and really listen.
It’s definitely one for the list.
David Bowie
4/5
Perfect Bowie album
Queen Latifah
4/5
I found rap I enjoy! All hail!
Frank Sinatra
3/5
The idea of Frank Sinatra is cooler than his music. I listened to this as I cooked in the kitchen and thought about my mom who just died. She was of this era though I recall her liking Elvis and Roger Whittaker more than Frank. But she used to dress in fabulous 50s dresses and I let myself try to feel close to the good parts of her as I listened. It was all going fine until Frank hit one of those loud, long notes and I thought...nope this isn't working for me. People rail on Dylan for that kind of business.
So it's the nostalgia of Frank and bygone eras that I can dig. Can't we all?
Pulp
4/5
I really dug this
Linkin Park
2/5
Noise.
But listening on a road trip with Jen made it worth the effort and her enthusiasm and love for the album made it jump a star for me.
I did not hate In the End
Television
4/5
This album represents what is my sweet spot for sound. I discovered Television around the same time I was hitting Patti Smith hard. And that makes sense because they both come from a similar sound and life (NJ) where poetry is important.
Man that guitar riff (deedledeedledeedle deedledeedledeedle deedledeedledeedle) on Marquee Moon just does something to me. This song is such a great example of how Television combines poetry and sound. That guitar riff makes me think of the rain dripping down and the sage advice “don’t be so sad.”
Brian Eno
2/5
There is a place for these sounds but it wasn’t my head yesterday.
The Smiths
5/5
You know, The Smiths were the soundtrack to some significant times in my life. This album particularly. Today is my birthday and it's a sullen one. I was delighted to see this as today's album and I decided to listen in different venues (my walk & at my desk).
what a difference from listening top volume sharing headphones on an old Sony Walkman walking through a German cemetery with a great friend. Though in hindsight...apropos?
Damn, Mr. Morrisey. I was so smitten with the music and my listening sessions in cool German locations that I failed to focus on the lyrics.
Yet still a top album of all time in my book. I thought for sure How Soon is Now was on this album.
The Specials
4/5
I am loving the 80s albums we are being fed recently. Living through that decade I lamented not being around for the music being produced two decades prior. This 1001 endeavor has revealed I was right there in the middle of some great music.
Ska was a genre that intimidated me. Felt so British and like something I wasn't cool enough to get into. (Damn you stupid adolescent internal voices!)
I enjoyed this album a lot and recognized so many of the songs. Adolescent voice be damned...now I am cool enough for ska!
Muddy Waters
3/5
The Blues is another genre I liked a whole lot more when I was younger. Or did I? There are some songs that simply do not have a threshold on which I OD but Mannish Boy is not one of them. That riff on the song makes me a little crazy and set me off that I wouldn't like this album. And it's that riff that is basically the foundation of the Blues.
But then I feel like an ass because you know, this is Muddy Waters. I guess I just have so much space for the Blues in my heart and it got filled up in my early 20s.
Parliament
5/5
Yes! You should get on the Mothership Connection before you die! I always want my funk to be the PFunk.
Suede
4/5
Vaguely recall this band’s name but was not familiar with their music. I really enjoyed and will explore more.
Tom Tom Club
4/5
While Under the Boardwalk could have been eliminated from this album, I loved every other song. I'm loving 80s music way more now than then.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
I really had a good listen to this one even though it’s so familiar and like muscle memory.
While I’ll always have mad respect for Bob Marley & The Wailers, this listen I heard basic everything—basic lyrics (though Stir it Up I still find to be sexy sweet) and basic grooves.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
This man, this album just oozes cool. I love the universal and timeless lyrics yet elements of the music and backup singers clearly places this album in the 80s.
Jen introduced me to a documentary of his last tour, which he had to do because of financial troubles. If I recall, it was a few years before his death. He was old. He was oh so damn good. Classic.
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
There is something about these boys.
Like just seeing their name and evoking the memory of their songs is balm for my soul.
This 1001 project has opened my eyes to how much 80s music touches me. It's beyond nostalgia (I think?) ... I feel a visceral calm and I'm dancing on an 80s dance floor with colored lights, beer in one hand, and fag in another. OK, yeah there is nostalgia going on.
But when I hear the Pet Shop Boys my heart starts missing a beat....every time.
Derek & The Dominos
2/5
I'm drawn to this album cover as a piece of art. The music, however, meh.
Beatles
5/5
I'm as familiar with this album as I am the aroma of coffee. But aren't we all? There's so much to say and yet it all seems trite.
I listened to this album with Sylvia and asked his thoughts---first thing he said "I've been listening to this album my whole life." And I said, "yeah, me too. Please have another listen when you're 56."
It's a universal 5...always has been.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
Didn’t hate this but also didn’t love it. Hole came on auto play right after this album and I thought I’d these bands are the same genre, I’ll stick with Hole.
Glad I had a listen because this was one of those bands I’d heard so much about but yet didn’t know anything
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
So long.
I couldn't do this in one or even two sittings b/c of my day so it feels like I can't make an accurate rating. The hits are worth having a listen and songs I didn't know were also enjoyable.
Eric Clapton
2/5
Yesterday was 1 month since my mom died and I've been allowing myself to do and feel whatever this first month but yesterday I had a talk with myself and said I had to get back to "work." I put this album on as I drove around doing errands and the first two songs, Motherless Children & Give Me Strength, pulled me in to really listen. Then Hand Jive hit and I lost interest. I liked this version of I Shot the Sheriff ok enough. I really liked Let It Grow, which could be the song that best evokes mid 70s vibe. I did have fun marveling that this album is nearly 50 years old (July 1 1974 release) but nothing of musical insight really got me with this.
Os Mutantes
4/5
Darn near perfect album to play loud throughout the house when you're all alone for the first time in a very long time. I loved the variety of songs and the fact I couldn't understand a word.
BONUS: after this album my Spotify psychic shuffle played Secos & Molhados (Amor) and I recommend you check that out.
Wilco
5/5
Every song grooves.
I know Jeff Tweedy wrote Heavy Metal Drummer about Pam Anderson but even back then, I played with the idea that he knew me. How could he not because this album hits every single fucking chord in the things-i-love category.
LOVE the cover too--great font, beautiful cream, amazing architecture. (Jen and I just cruised past these towers in Chicago! Such cool buildings.)
Van Halen
3/5
I can dig why people love this album. I didn’t realize all the hits are on this. I appreciate Eddie’s guitar chops.
But it ain’t my bag.
Daft Punk
2/5
Time. Place.
Well driving to the local health food store with this album playing didn't hit right. Neither did listening while cooking (my normal MO) or doing my puzzle. In the background while I do some mindless work---nope.
Late night/early morning with a headful of XXX in my 30s---hell yeah!
Maybe I am maturing after all.
(NOTE: first time I heard this was early morning in Keith's Brooklyn kitchen, he had it playing on a loop, low, all day and all night. It was the kitchen soundtrack)
M.I.A.
4/5
I don't know much about Sri Lanka except for its location and the fact they had a civil war that lasted 25 years. AND I learned these two facts because when I first heard M.I.A. she was singing 9 months pregnant (on her due date no less!) at the Grammys. She performed Paper Planes. That swagger alone made me fall in love and want to learn more about this dynamite artist.
I was not familiar with this one but really enjoyed the album. The mix of genres combined with her own cultural mix just delights me and makes me realize this world is so damn big and it's immigrants like M.I.A. who shine a lens back on our own culture so we can learn more.
(Fun fact: two of the Beastie Boys are in her Paper Planes video at the very end)
Traffic
3/5
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4/5
Boy oh boy did this one surprise me! I loved this way more than I thought and couldn't believe how the lyrics to Gimme Three Steps are mostly all right there in my brain.
There's a reason Free Bird is a classic. I was able to let go of the triteness and really enjoy this tune.
The Jam
3/5
Always wanted to like this band more than I actually do. Paul Weller would go on to capture this longing with the Style Council.
While this has a definite British vibe it's one that underwhelms me. But it's laying the groundwork for My Everchanging Moods, so good work, lads.
Finley Quaye
3/5
Cyndi Lauper
5/5
While all the beloved classics still sound excellent, Money Changes Everything was always my favorite Cyndi Lauper song. I forgot it opened up this album.
She changed so much for us 80s girls that didn't fit the classic American high school vibe.
Today she demonstrates to all us heteronormative folk how to be a real ally to the LGBTQ+ community. This album definitely deserves a number of listens before you die.
Van Halen
2/5
Listened to most of this with the kids. So I'm going to share a (paraphrased) family review:
Adler: It's just so basic. American rock drumming has got to be some of the most standard and boring drumming out there.
Sylvia: I've heard some of these songs. Nothing I would want to listen to.
Marianne: It's a caricature of 80s rock bands. I guess I can see how guitarists like Eddie Van Halen. But David Lee Roth was always a hard stop for me.
I'd rather go back to 1983 with Cyndi.
Deep Purple
2/5
Spotify only had two songs available for me to hear. Neither one made me feel this album should be on the list. However, I always liked the band name so....
Blur
3/5
I enjoyed this. Can't recall what I rated other Blur albums we've listened to but this one sparked nice memories of catching a song like Song 2 on the radio or at a party and how good that felt.
Country Sad Ballad Man, M.O.R., Moving' On .... all just brought me back to a simpler time when the biggest question of the day was where am I meeting Jen after work.
Blue Cheer
1/5
Nope. Mediocre, basic, and screamy.
I already decided this was a 1 and then it was confirmed by "All I did was shoot my wife."
Mudhoney
2/5
Well I got through this multi-hour Mudhoney deluxe edition only because I was cooking late-night lasagna. By hour 2, I was like “do I like Mudhoney?”
No. I don’t like their music. I do like the band name and appreciate grunge more than heavy metal.
These are my only observations.
Throbbing Gristle
1/5
I got through one song and said to myself I don’t HAVE to listen to this before I die.
Arcade Fire
2/5
Every time I played this the music just kept getting lost. Like it just drifted away in the background of my kitchen. Underwhelming
David Bowie
4/5
New Order
4/5
Of the many reasons I like this project, helping me clarify and distinguish the great 80s electronic bands is definitely a main one.
George Michael
4/5
The first three songs just kill it, which I always thought was unfair to the other songs on the album. But those crooning songs that come later (Kissing a Fool, A Last Request) certainly show off George Michael's smooth vocals.
While George Michael is no Prince he DID write, produce, and play nearly all of the instruments on this album. If you haven't watched the Wham! documentary, do yourself a favor. While it's a great story about the band and GM's musical evolution, it's an even greater story about friendship, love, and acceptance.
My love for George Michael grows the older I get.
The Jam
3/5
Ride
3/5
I liked!
Hot Chip
4/5
I fucking LOVED this!
Never heard of Hot Chip nor did I too much reading about them. I'll be doing more listening and learning in the days to come.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
5/5
I learned on Thursday night that an old friend died. When this album was served up it really hit hard because Glenn just loved CSN, CSNY, Crosby, Young, Nash, Stills. We spent much of our 20s as deep friends (and coworkers), the kind of friendship that's hard to develop in your 50s with life, work, and kids.
It was a time before the Internet when you put on a record/disc and listened to it together. For me and Glenn this album was most definitely a binger and beer album. We always thought Suite: Judy Blue Eyes was the best opening track of any album. That hits and the whole ride is awesome.
This album spoke to me all through high school and college and post college it was just a part of me, like my old friendships that today I mourn so deeply.
Bye, bye baby (Bye, bye baby)
Write if you think of it maybe
Know I love you (Know I love you)
David Bowie
5/5
Such an excellent Bowie album...ever single song. Reading some background on this album and Bowie's intense cocaine addiction during the recording and production surprised me. I knew Bowie had a coke problem but I didn't realize it was at its height during Station to Station. Bowie said in an interview at one point he was 80 lbs and consumed only green & red peppers and cocaine (diet tip?!).
But hot damn is Golden Years a great song. And TVC15 blew me away on yesterday's listen...Bowie warned us of how tv/media/devices/Internet would suck our souls.
Sam Cooke
3/5
I would have dug being at this show in this venue
Arcade Fire
2/5
Have we already listened to an Arcade Fire album in this project? I can't really recall. They sound like if you asked ChatGPT to create a sound for an indie rock/pop/alternative/sensitive-type band.
ho-hum.
PJ Harvey
4/5
What really struck me while listening to Dry is how artists' first albums can really hit the right notes while others serve as a foreshadow of even greater things to come.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this listen but I could also hear how she is on the path to smooth out some of the hard edges while still retaining her force.
Sheela-Na-Gig was definitely a repeat listen last night.
It's hard to give this album a 3 because it's so clearly a necessary path to get to Stories From the City, Let England Shake, White Chalk...
Kraftwerk
3/5
While listening I couldn't help think that Kraftwerk inspired Mike Myers' Sprockets skit.
Sometimes real German Kultur und Musik come off as such parody and I love it even more. This is the case for Kraftwerk. It's more than a 3 but 4 feels like I'm totally being swayed b/c I'm a Deutschophile.
Metallica
2/5
I appreciate Stranger Things use of Enter Sandman even more now that I made it halfway through this album.
Maybe there is real musicianship in this band but I won't ever truly know b/c I hit play and start thinking about Beavis & Butthead and how much adolescent boys stink and I don't understand any lyrics and the din just makes me f'in crazy.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
I was not familiar with this album but navigating to it on Spotify I was really hit by how prolific Elvis Costello is. While this album doesn't have some of the bangers we know from Elvis it was just so damn solid and enjoyable. There's no vibrato I like more than his.
Ghostface Killah
1/5
Nope. I made it 3 songs in and said to myself “I really don’t have to do this.”
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
Norah Jones
4/5
I appreciated and welcomed this vibe on a rainy Sunday. She's a real musician and I love when someone can command such feeling with soft gentleness.
Coldplay
3/5
I always liked The Scientist and Clocks (and Yellow … another album) but otherwise I don’t have much to say about this band.
The Doors
5/5
Such a perfect album! John Dennsmore’s drumming really shined for me upon this listen. I wonder if Ray Manzarek had any idea his sound would so clearly define both a decade AND a specific year—1967? Soul Kitchen always slammed for me but all the lesser known (are they really?!) songs reminded me just how good this album is—I Looked at You, End of the Night
I thought 20th Century Fox might not have held up but nope it’s still a rocking ode.
Scissor Sisters
5/5
Boy oh boy oh boy do I love me some Jake Shears and Scissor Sisters. I always thought they should be bigger and more well known outside of the gay-club culture.
There I was in spring of 2004 alone at home with my newborn. One particularly rough day I was literally on the couch feeding Adler nonstop. Exhausted, sore, and depressed I was so worried about this new chapter of life. I didn't feel alive; I felt like a machine. Despondently watching Ellen (pretty sure it was that) on daytime TV, the Scissor Sisters came on and sang "Take Your Momma." It was the postpartum antidote I needed. My baby and I started dancing that day and I felt like I could get through all the hard stuff and recover from birth. I immediately ordered the CD. Music is some powerfully healing stuff.
I love that they took the slow Comfortably Numb and put it on the NY dance floor. Highpoint of our wedding was when Filthy/Gorgeous came on our playlist and the patio turned into a disco.
This album is just the whole package...great cover, band is totally grooving, excellent vocals, and it's got a beat you can dance to.
Sly & The Family Stone
5/5
Awesome family!
Dolly Parton
5/5
Sweet as honey pie and so goddamn wholesome. If Coat of Many Colors doesn't make you wipe a tear from your face, then I don't think I want to be around your cold-hearted soul.
I don't like looking back to my childhood and recalling all the bad jokes she was the brunt of. Even my dad who ADORED her and was not a vulgar man would make comments about her boobs and hair.
So glad time's up on that shit.
I've not listened to this entire album before and oh boy did it just make me feel nice. Happy that a kind person like Dolly is an American icon.
Loved the choir on Here I Am.
A Better Place to Live - Wonder why we didn't hear this during an Up With People performance?
I hope we see her again on this journey.
Boston
5/5
Just a perfect album.
Tom Waits
5/5
What a ride! Love Tom Waits (and his wife who is the George Martin to his career).
Duke Ellington
3/5
I enjoyed this while working on a project and having Duke fill my kitchen with sounds. But nothing of note stayed with me.
Earth, Wind & Fire
2/5
I thought I really loved Earth, Wind & Fire but it turns out I only like a few select hits and the band name. Also lose a half a point b/c of their position on the Oxford comma.
Alice In Chains
2/5
5/5
Thoughts on Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band – October 19, 2023
I went to sleep last night knowing my morning walk would include this listen. I had trouble falling asleep, so I walked through the album in my memory and felt like I remembered all the details and treats. This brisk morning I stepped outside in time with those opening guitar notes and goddamn, this album continues to hit my heart, my mind, and every single neuron in my body. I never remember how profound and visceral the aural impact is from the very first note to that silence that follows the looooong last note in A Day in the Life.
If you know me, you likely know this is my favorite album. I truly believe it should be every single person’s favorite album because it’s a gift that gives you new insight at every stage in your life. The songs change meaning as you age. With the blessing of growing old you are gifted new insight into the songs. I decided upon this listen that I’ll make sure to spin the album at least once a year so I can continue to receive this guiding light.
The album is so dense with sound and it’s taken a lifetime of listening to pick up on all the things. As I age I hear Paul’s bass line so much more than when I was a teenager. Maybe it’s the remastered version or my headphones? Are those congas buried deep in the mix at the end of Getting Better?
Within You Without You continues to be my favorite. This morning I stopped in my tracks as the tears just wouldn’t stop flowing---a moment of grief and profound loss for my mother while seeing a stunning sun rise higher in the morning sky against a backdrop of goats grazing on a farm:
"When you've seen beyond yourself then you may find
Peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come when you see we're all one
And life flows on within you and without you"
Someday I want to meet a good sitar player and get their thoughts on George’s sitar because I think it’s the most beautiful sitar I’ve ever heard.
She’s Leaving Home didn’t hit as hard upon this listen. My daughter’s transition to becoming my son already brought that reality home but I know now I had no reason to be sad about inevitable changes and departures. And anyway, Sylvia leaving home will only mean many return visits. I understand this now.
I chuckled during Lovely Rita because my favorite cover of all time might be Joan Osborne signing this in Vegas with Cheap Trick.
I dusted off a 2011 review of this album because I thought it was worth sharing a decade plus later…
Thoughts on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Apr 29, 2011
I was hanging out with Scott and Andre, watching the DVD, “Sgt Pepper Live” by Cheap Trick (go watch it pronto!). In 2010 the show had a 36-night run in Vegas and Scotty said he couldn’t imagine performing Sgt. Pepper that often. Andre and I questioned that, “what? Are you crazy?!”
If that’s all I had to do, get up and perform the greatest album of all time, once a day….yowsa…I won the lottery. It got me thinking, would I get bored of Sgt. Pepper if I listened every day for 30 days? As a hardcore Beatle fan since I was 10 years old (that’s 33 years and counting btw!), might I lose love and OD on this masterpiece? I have a full-time job, 2 kids, and I cook. Could I fit Sgt. Pepper into my life every day without fail?
Yes
Some thoughts and highlights I captured along the way: Masterpiece.
While listening with the kids one day, I told Adler and Sylvia that this is in fact the greatest album of all time. Adler’s 6-year-old-boy response, “Uh, yeah. I would say.
”Within You and Without You. My favorite. I never tire of the lyrics or the music. George recorded this by himself. The cut on the album was made from take 2. Stephen Stills has the lyrics carved on a stone monument in his yard. If anyone is looking for birthday ideas for me….
My second favorite song on the album? Surprise, When I’m Sixty Four. As a child I thought it was quirky and silly and for people oh so old. Today, I adore it. “Doing the garden, digging the weeds, who could ask for more?” My shout-out to my husband and an inscription for my urn. At the 2:22 mark of When I’m Sixty Four, I hear Paul smile. It’s infectious.
One day I was cooking with Sylvia and Adler’s friend Ewan was over. Third song hits and all the kids started singing with the chorus, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds….” There is nothing better than cooking in the kitchen with a bunch of kids and singing Lucy in the Sky. That moment made my top 10 list of moments.
This album, more than other meaningful and favorite albums, reminds me of very significant moments and people. I think the people will know who they are (except Greg who isn’t reading this. Margie can share with him).This time round, I finally hear Paul’s bass lines. She’s Leaving Home – This surprisingly became the one struggle for me around day 3. It’s like the balancing portion of a yoga class. Power through and you make it. I wondered why this song challenged me. My Sylvia will journey on her own one day. I just hope she leaves with a celebratory “see-ya-soon” and not an early morning slip away.
The Beatles originally had a different line up pegged for Side 1 of the LP:
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
With a Little Help From My Friend
sBeing for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Fixing a Hole
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Getting Better
She’s Leaving Home
I listened to this line up a number of times and really like to hear Lucy in the Sky > Getting Better. Brilliant. I saved a playlist in this order…try for yourself.
There is a hidden track that only dogs can hear between the last note of A Day in the Life and the gibberish that loops ad infinitum.4 tracks people. FOUR TRACKS!!! Profuckingfound.
Andre has been subject to repeated listening by proxy and he’s been a dream about it. Interesting observation of his was that “Being of the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” is quite psychedelic. As Adler says, “uh, yeah. I would say.”
A Day in the Life. I still can’t believe that fucker murdered John Lennon. Upon some listening sessions, tears just started rolling. Oh boy…George Martin, of course, is equally as masterful as the four lads. The ending note is all George Martin.
It’s the little things from which beauty and brilliance blossoms. The album came to be because Paul was flying home from America and over a meal with his road manager, Mal Evan, they were talking about salt and pepper. Paul overheard “Sgt. Pepper” and our world changed forever.
Love IS all you need.
The War On Drugs
4/5
Dreamy. I dig these dudes. I’m familiar with this album but not their other albums. Definitely inspired to explore more.
Adam Granduciel graduated from Dickinson College (my alma mater)…fine arts major.
Neil Young
4/5
The strumming on the guitar at the beginning of Harvest Moon will always melt my heart.
The good songs push this up a half a point. Might have been an easier decision had I a song list to reference while listening.
Talking Heads
4/5
Always a joy to revisit Talking Heads' brilliance.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
Excellent example of why I love this project.
Emmylou Harris is certainly a name I know and a musician who paved the way for so many female artists. I learned that Graham Parsons "discovered" her. Interesting!
I loved this so much. Her covers really shined and Queen of the Silver Dollar (lyrics by Shel Silverstein!) took me back to childhood riding in my dad's gold VW Beetle.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
It's the avant garde nature of The Velvet Underground that wows me every single time. John Cale's voice and influence provides the edginess that's missing from the VU albums that come after this (though I love those too!). I heard about the song The Gift long before I actually heard the song because in my day, you had to actually buy music to hear music. When I finally heard The Gift, it did NOT disappoint. I'm a sucker for a long offbeat story and when you toss in a Welsh accent---swoon.
Somehow the distortion and din on this album hit all the right notes with me whereas when other bands distort my ears bleed.
Viva The VU!
TLC
3/5
While I still love the song Waterfalls so much, the whole album was a bit bland.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Can you imagine if we had more than 4 years of Jimi Hendrix? Hot damn.
I love everything about the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Always dug the aural play with the panning sounds. So many bangers on this album Wait Until Tomorrow, If 6 Was 9, Bold as Love. But nothing tops Castles Made of Sand, which I think might be my favorite song of the band. Though that might change when we meet him next on this journey.
Little Richard
4/5
I was able to listen to this with fresh ears and wow what a timeless soul. I knew The Beatles always referenced him as influential but I did not know that they opened for him in 1962. Jimi Hendrix was also in Little Richard's original band, The Upsetters. All this hit home today just how influential this man was. That saxophone blending with his vocals screams American classic.
Don't know that I would have ever played an entire Little Richard album but now I'm interested to explore more.
Fugazi
2/5
I don't even know what to say about this album. Amongst the guitar drone that hurt my ears, I could probably peg this as the 90s.
4/5
I found this album charming and sweet and I love me a good country song title. (Side note: my friend Craig came up with a country song title called "There Ain't Enough Bars in Heaven (To Keep Me From Thinking 'Bout My Baby in Hell." Andre made it into a most excellent song on his solo album)
But back to Loretta Lynn. I loved this.
Syd Barrett
3/5
Started off my listening session really psyched about this. Unfamiliar with any solo Syd and I thought he went straight to the institution after Pink Floyd. Seeing the date of this album sent me down the Reddit rabbit hole about what really happened. And hence I learned about Mandrax.
Anyway. The music.
It's got the elements that really captured me from early Pink Floyd--spacey guitar, sweet English voice, psychedelic sound. Then the album started to drift into a mix of Monty Python and Spinal Tap. Shine on you Crazy Diamond, I still dig it...just not a whole lot.
Nick Drake
4/5
Another great example of why I'm digging this 1001 project. I first heard Nick Drake from that Volkswagen commercial and always meant to hear more from him and never got around to checking him out. Now I'm committed to listen to his catalog. I played this a couple times this weekend and each time it was the perfect soundtrack to what I was doing. Easy, spacey, and just so nice. I'm a fan!
Big Brother & The Holding Company
2/5
This did not age well for me.
Grateful Dead
4/5
This album is why I was a Deadhead in college. But the more intense Deadheads led me to live tapes and I never got why that was better than American Beauty (or Terrapin Station).
Box of Rain has taken on new meaning in my life upon learning its origin story (Phil wrote en route to see his dad who was dying in a nursing home).
The best of the Dead is on this album and the cover is as classic as the band.
The Young Rascals
3/5
I listened. I grooved.
Duran Duran
4/5
Classic and I loved every second
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Every song still slaps! This is my kind of rock and roll and Stairway to Heaven (like Sgt. Pepper) just never gets old or trite. The mix of rock with Tolkien vibes is the kind of place I'd love to live...or maybe I do. Almost 20 years ago, Andre and I got married and then walked off stage to Misty Mountain Hop
SZA
3/5
Nothing makes me feel so old and white as listening to modern pussy rap. A couple spots where I think to myself that I like the groove but it never lasts an entire song. I think there is something worthwhile here with SZA...Sylvia loves her and Obama had one of her songs on his annual list. I do keep finding her come up on my psychic shuffle so I'll keep trying her on here and there.
Lorde
3/5
In the trajectory that is Lorde so far, I think Melodrama is a dip in the road. You can hear she's trying to do something different but most of the songs have a similar sound with a few exceptions. Like Supercut. I love Supercut.
There is something spot on between the album cover and the songs.
I hope see Solar Power on this list b/c I'd say that is most certainly an album to hear before you die. Melodrama .. not so much
The Thrills
3/5
Was completely unfamiliar with this band but the sound is so familiar. I'm hearing Wilco for sure but also something else I can't quite capture. Maybe Wayne Coyneish?
The sounds were pleasant enough but I can't say it struck me hard enough to revisit.
Green Day
3/5
I couldn't NOT hear Green Day back in their prime but I never went out of my way to buy the album. Whatever that affectation Billie Joe Armstrong does kinda irritated me.
But boy oh boy did I enjoy this listen! They had me at the top with American Idiot and I jammed until September ended. (I think I listened to an extended version or something b/c the tracks did not align with the listing on Wikipedia)
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
I resisted Siouxsie and the Banshees all through their prime and my college years because my sophomore year roommate put up a poster of Siouxsie that had a shuriken on it and she put that poster right next to my poster of John Lennon. I told her I found her choice offensive. She basically told me to fuck off and played Sioxsie's version of Dear Prudence.
Now I recognize what an asshole I was and how I missed out on some really good music.
Ravi Shankar
3/5
I dig all these instruments, sounds, and vibe. A friend of George is a friend of mine.
The Beta Band
4/5
Loved so much
Jurassic 5
3/5
My kind of hip hop!
Garbage
3/5
Not bad not great.
The Boo Radleys
3/5
I listened to this without reading the song list or being familiar with the band. Some songs blew me away and other songs were like huh? I'll likely revisit this with more attention paid to what I was hearing.
Steely Dan
4/5
Oh boy did I enjoy this listen. I was a huge Steely Dan fan back in high school. Every single song is a banger. Always thought this cover was captivating.
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
Wow! I did not know I'm a Dinosaur Jr. fan. On the surface, it seems like the band might be too loud and din-fueled for my taste. But oh no...time & place: as I walked my dog at dusk on a brisk night listening to this album I felt like it was the perfect soundtrack to the movie that's my life.
It hit hard and right on!
Elton John
3/5
The highs are really high on this one, which makes the songs I’m not familiar with fall a bit flat.
Pearl Jam
2/5
Every single song sounds like it could be an SNL skit.
I have a real problem with mumblers and by the time I got to Jeremy I was downright angry. Why was this song everywhere?!
Blech.
I hear Eddie Vedder is a cool guy but how does anyone know that if they can't understand what he's saying?!!
Kelela
3/5
The Who
4/5
I love The Who but at first listen this sounded like a band of school boys still getting their shit together. A number of songs just didn't sound tight like they couldn't hear each other. I had a listen again this morning to a couple key songs and reconsidered my initial observations.
Plus when the My Generation medley turns into the chorus from See Me/Feel Me, it ups everything there is about this band and reminds me why I'm such a fan.
It's such a classic live album, Keith Moon is something else and Roger Daltrey is peak handsome.
I spent a bit of time in Leeds during college. One of the first trips I visited this auditorium. It's so small compared to how big this album looms in The Who's history. I wonder if the sound system simply wasn't as big as the band and they had to work with what they had?
N.E.R.D
3/5
Really dug this
It’s a 3.8
Radiohead
4/5
We had a family listening session and Adler is a huge Radiohead fan. He and Andre were critical about this album.
All I could think is it’s Radiohead and their sonic universe is damn near perfect all the time.
Beck
4/5
I love this album so very much that I can overlook Beck's Scientology background. But good news---I don't even have to overlook anything because in 2019 Beck claimed, "I'm not a Scientologist, I don't have any connection or affiliation with it." That's where it's at!
Ute Lemper
2/5
Wish I had a better musical vocabulary to describe why I don't think this is worth being on the list. Sub-par show tune-style production and songs.
By the time I got to the last couple of songs even my dog looked up at me with eyes that said "make it stop."
Just to see if she was better in German, I listened to two cabaret songs auf Deutsch. Nein. Nein. Nein.
Cornershop
4/5
I love this album and return to it often. Jen turned me on.
This is a perfect album in that the title is captivating as is the US album cover (though I also like the one used here) and every song is a banger. I only listen to this album in its entirety. Each song just needs to be bookended by its neighboring songs because of the flow and journey it takes me on.
And holy hell..that Norwegian Wood cover has got to be the best cover of a Beatles tune I've ever heard.
LL Cool J
3/5
Yes the ladies love Cool James and I am one of them. Y'all know rap ain't my scene but this 90s hip-hop vibe is something I can get down to.
I remember the summer Mama Said Knock You Out came out and man I couldn't stop singing that song. I don't know how to speak about rap or whatever this hip-hop flavor is but I prefer this sound over post-modern rap b/c it's got a beat I can bop to. It doesn't sound as nasty either.
Willie Nelson
4/5
classic
Beck
3/5
Not sure if it's because we just listened to Beck's best album recently or if I just had bad timing with Guero. I wasn't moved but it is Beck and I like his vibe.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
2/5
Thankfully this had Not Your Stepping Stone on it otherwise I’d have nothing to say.
Sisters Of Mercy
3/5
The Sisters of Mercy have a heaviness I don't experience with other similar bands of the time (The Cure, Joy Division, Bauhaus) and I guess that's why I can't get my groove on with them.
While the album was a bit of a chore to get through it did remind me why I like this project. It helped me clarify the new wave bands I do like and helped me differentiate between them. Before this project I put Joy Division, Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie And The Banshees, et al all in the same bucket. Not anymore!
2 is too low/3 too high. but it's Christmas so there.
I will say I thought they had a great band name!
Gillian Welch
5/5
An American icon. A gift for all. A blessing personified.
How fortunate I am to live during a time that I got to see Gillian Welch's career unfold. Someone gave me Revival right when it was released and I was hooked.
Revisiting this well loved album after many years I was moved to tears by Everything is Free. I went back and played this song a second time and was simply gutted:
And I'm gonna do it anyway
Even if doesn't pay
A woman of substance. Wholesome as fuck.
Andre and I saw Gillian and Dave perform on South Street years ago. We even bumped into them getting out of their car as they headed into the venue. Our friend ran up and shook her hand. I stood on the side, mouth agape, kind of shaky from being so close to this angel's presence. The concert was hours of pure bliss: two guitars and harmonies, pure perfection.
New Order
4/5
Mood, matched!
Songhoy Blues
3/5
Very enjoyable post Christmas during puzzling time. I mean that literally…I worked on my Christmas puzzle and jammed to this foreign vibe.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
I wasn’t a Springsteen fan during my south Jersey youth. But now I always enjoy listening to him sing about his city and Mary and his all-American pride.
Manic Street Preachers
3/5
Meh
Was more interested in the story about the guitar player’s disappearance than the music.
Spiritualized
4/5
Love me some space rock.
Sway!
Herbie Hancock
3/5
A pleasant ride
Rush
5/5
Rush was a lot of the soundtrack I heard pouring through my brother’s walls as a kid. I dug it and would get lost in their album covers when I’d sneak in his room and look at his albums. This one most certainly moved me.
Later I’d come to Rush on my own. Probably through this album with Tom Sawyer playing endlessly on the radio.
Andre really introduced me to their brilliance as musicians and songwriters and …. readers. We watched a documentary of the band that now allows me to hear more of their brilliance---like Neil's drums.
Limelight demonstrates the substance of the band. I'll get lost any day in a Rush album...
Air
4/5
Absolutely love this album. I've loved for a long time...since the days of Napster when I first downloaded some of these songs.
While the same chill vibe throughout, each of the songs are pleasantly different that it's such a lovely journey to traverse with Air.
Buzzcocks
2/5
I’ve heard the name but was otherwise completely unfamiliar with the band.
It all hit like the same song that made me feel very much on edge.
I’d like to say I’m too old for punk but truth is even in my youth the closest I got to enjoying this genre was The Violent Femmes and I don’t think the hardcore punkers would approve
Badly Drawn Boy
3/5
This artist is brand new to me yet somehow familiar. There is a bit of Elliot Smith flair.
But he stands on his own and I really enjoyed. This album inspired me to start making a playlist of 1001 artists to explore more.
If you did not listen to this album with headphones, do go back and give This Song a listen with them.
Rush
4/5
Geek Rock!
I don't know if that's a real term and I am avoiding googling it until after I do this review. I'm going with it's a new term I made up inspired by 2112 Overture and the rest of this album.
Wow wow wow. So smart so rocking. I find it hard to put into words how I feel about this album because the real Rush fans are so well versed in this album and I'm still learning.
I'll admit I always misheard "Priests" as "Freaks" in the Overture but I still think it works.
Some of my takeaways
- 3 guys blast out this musical magical landscape that's so full and lush. Wow.
- those drums that never seem to end. It's like Neil Peart is banging through Middle Earth with the exact beat I want at every step.
- I'm loving Geddy's voice the older I get
Coldplay
3/5
This is the only Coldplay album I'm truly familiar with.
I think it's a fine album with good songs. I'm a bit puzzled how a band like Coldplay (76.9 M monthly listeners) became mega while a band like Badly Drawn Boy (317 K monthly listeners) did not. You could insert any decent early aughts band here. My point is the difference is vast and I simply don't hear über brilliance from this band.
Don't get me wrong, I like the mix of pop and chill and I think Chris Martin's voice is sweet. I always loved the song Yellow and adore how it's an unusual love song to his girl Gwyneth.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Immigrant song!
Nico
2/5
I tried to listen to this in the historical context of Warhol darling It girl and German experimental Kunst post summer of love.
It was still tough.
Though something about her German enunciation/accent made I'll Keep it With Mine kinda lovely.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
3/5
I enjoyed hearing my office mate laughing while listening to this album more than the album itself.
I liked SAHB ok and reading up about them I suspect at that time they hit in Glasgow I might have liked them even more.
Frank Zappa
2/5
I like the idea of Frank Zappa more than I like his music.
Creative, intellectual, freaky, guitar playing, dark & good looking---he checks all the boxes. But every time I've explored a Zappa album I'm left confused and a bit empty. I should like this but truth be told, I just can't ever seem to connect. (Though I always liked Valley Girl)
I liked that this album had funky stuff, jazzy stuff going on. But then at times I was thought where am I on this album? It's an endless jam and did I end up at a Phish show?
I'm confused and empty.
Al Green
4/5
Smooth. Cool.
Paul Simon
2/5
I'm a fan of Paul Simon but completely unfamiliar with this album. The album felt like an effort to churn out the Paul Simon product without heart and soul. Today I might say it was like using a LLM to generate a Paul Simon album.
Maybe he needed to produce this so he could get to Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints.
Cars are Cars got me downright mad!
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Rock and roll!
3/5
I tried to listen on YouTube b/c this wasn't available on Spotify. The ads disrupted the few mediocre songs I got to actually hear. Probably not fair to rate this but here we are.
4/5
Supergrass
5/5
Man I loved this so much! Never heard of this band before and I’ll be spinning this a lot.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Gimme Shelter ... perhaps one of the most powerful openers of a rock and roll band. Yowsa!
Hard to be certain but Let it Bleed may be my 2nd favorite Stones' album. Slide guitar on You Got the Silver with Keith's vocals (for the first time ever!) is an A-side in my book.
And as cool as Gimme Shelter is as an opener, closing with You Can't Always Get What You Want sends the album into the stratosphere.
Jorge Ben Jor
4/5
This was a real treat to hear. What I loved is how this made me feel small and insignificant---in a good way. The world is so large and full of cultures and music and sounds and languages I've never explored. Jorge et al put my own troubles aside for 40 minutes and I was thrilled to hear all that big sound come together. Taj Mahal was a nice standout but I really loved every single song and suspect this will be on the background playlist if I ever throw a big party!
Bob Dylan
5/5
Picking your favorite Dylan for a Dylan head is a Sophie's choice conundrum. But I can definitively say that this was my favorite Dylan in college circa 1987 to 1989---Rainy Day Women, Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat, Visions of Johanna, I Want You, Obviously Five Believers.
Each song on this album deserves and academic paper (and likely there are some out there) to explore its depth both in terms of sound and lyrics.
Let's dig in...
Rainy Day Women
While obviously an homage to verdant Elizabeth I also remember an interview with Dylan in which he said something like, "no man, it's the business man, corporations." So I started to hear it as an anti-capitalistic rallying song at some point. Fuck you Coca Cola and McDonalds and Monsanto..."They'll stone you and then they'll say good luck."
Pledging My Time
Good god play that harmonica like it's your last time, Bobby. I love that it's on top of the mix and rises above the other instruments.
Visions of Johanna
"We sit here stranded though we're all doing our best to deny it" And the story begins. Like other classic Dylan he paints a picture of characters navigating universal struggles that feel so personal, specific, and unique. Let's consider the guitar and electric piano...perfect punctuation that helps you understand this story of longing juxtaposed with reality! Ask me what line perfectly encapsulates Dylan's poetic prowess and I'll answer "Inside the museums infinity goes up on trial."
I Want You
I don't know this to be true but I've always heard these lyrics as something that just poured out of Dylan in one setting. Perhaps that's the one question I'll ask in my fantasy conversation should I ever have the honor.
Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat
This is my kind of love song. I've said it on another Dylan review but I think the line, "If you wanna see the sunrise, Honey, I know where. We'll go out and see it sometime, we'll both just sit there and stare" is just so damn sexy. Those little guitar interjections throughout add another layer of lyricism and brilliance to this song.
Obviously Five Believers
Upon this listen I had a real "duh" moment. This album is chockfull of love songs and yearning. And in this one our protagonist struggles with his depression (black dog barking) and longing. The tempo tries to be upbeat and demonstrate his commitment, he's a true believer but man oh man it's just tough.
Sad-Eye Lady of the Lowlands
You should wait, Bob!
-----------------
The album cover
I always loved the blurred portrait. I assumed it was intentional and from what I read it kind of is....The photographer was taking shots of Bob in the West Village and it was cold that day and he (photographer Jerry Schatzberg was shivering) . There were other photos taken in which he was in focus but Bob liked this one.
-----------------
My fantasy Dylan dinner party in which people come as their favorite character. I started playing with our group and assigning each of us a character. I had so much fun with this album (as I always do!)
Andre: Narrator from Sad-Eyed Lady (warehouse eyes & Arabian drums)
Nicole: The woman in the leopard-skin pillbox hat (fashionable Londoner)
Jen: Ruthie from Stuck Inside of Mobile in her honky-tonk lagoon who knows what you need
Andy: The Ragman drawing circles up and down the block
Scott: protagonist Fourth Time Around who would give you his very last stick of gum
Marianne: Johanna in her ethereal dress
The Yardbirds
3/5
Over, Under, Sideways, Down is a song I completely forgot that I loved so much.
When this album veers toward psychedelia and away from blues I like it a whole lot more.
Alanis Morissette
3/5
I don't mind admitting that the overplayed hits still rock. But the lesser known ones are problematic. Indeed by the time Perfect played, Andre's critique over coffee on Saturday morning was ringing in my ears. So for me it's 6 bangers and 6 flops, which equals straight up the middle 3.
AC/DC
4/5
Woo hoo RockNRoll I can get behind.
Screaming Trees
3/5
Nothing really screamed great to me with this album. It was fine. Just fine. Interestingly enough, the song with the least amount of plays was the one I enjoyed most---Dime Western.
Living Colour
3/5
I like the idea of Living Colour and this album more than the actual music. The cover is a time capsule for 1988 that did not age great.
Raekwon
2/5
I did not understand this on any level
David Gray
4/5
Pleasant and sweet
I so enjoyed this in a long drive after some intense days
Fun Lovin' Criminals
4/5
Fun! I love this gang.
The Shamen
4/5
Loved!
Beth Orton
5/5
This has been a special album to me since my first listen. The haunting sounds simply captivate me on all levels. A true classic.
Lucinda Williams
5/5
Nothing supports time travel quite like an amazing album. I was at Rehobeth Beach, summer 1998 with my girlfriends all morning while listening to this. This album was on repeat on WXPN back in the day and the CD traveled with me everywhere that year. Jen and I went to see Lucinda on South Street too.
I love this albums so deeply.
The Prodigy
2/5
This veers too industrial for my EDM liking. There's a darkness here that makes me uncomfortable. Way too much good EDM to waste time trying to groove to this.
808 State
2/5
Totally fine if it were 4:00 am and Keith and I stepped out for a fag in the warehouse parking lot but otherwise it's a lot to listen to in one setting even for this EDM fan.
Talking Heads
5/5
I just love this album. But truth be told, I love all the Talking Heads' albums. This one solidified that the band is the whole deal--musicians, lyricists, and avant garde Artists.
Stand-out songs on this for me are I Zimbra, Paper, Cities, Air, Heaven.
Scott Walker
1/5
Goooong!
Supergrass
4/5
Another hit album by the band I thought I did not know until I heard the song Alright and realized "of course I know this band!"
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
This is another band that gave me so much angst when I got to college. So many good bands that people were talking about and I had no clue! How to explain to kids today the anxiety of not knowing the music all the cool kids were listening to?! Thank god for college radio.
I dig it but can’t quite get to a 4.
The Monkees
3/5
I always thought this band got a bad rap. As a kid I was totally smitten with the TV show. Even now on this rainy day as I sit at my desk just thinking about getting home from school and settling into a Monkees episode provides a warm gemütlichkeit in my soul.
That same feeling comes with songs like I'll Spend My Life With You--nostalgia, jingle jangle tambourine, and harmonies.
Davey Jones has the sweetest voice and boy oh boy call me Marcia b/c I'm smitten when I hear him sing.
For Pete's Sake - Dayum...take me back to these halcyon hippy days!
I really had fun listening to this and sure nostalgia wants to push this to a 4 but my pragmatism will keep at 3(.5)
Portishead
3/5
I do like this band’s sound and vibe but a little goes a long way. Time & place particularly important with Portishead.
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
I continue to want to like Rufus Wainwright more than I actually do. Maybe if he enunciated just a bit more? (And people complain about Dylan…yesh) I watched him perform at an obscure concert for Beirut and he absolutely captivated me so I keep trying with him. Even 3 stars feels forced just like my appreciation of his artistry.
Nitin Sawhney
3/5
The Offspring
2/5
Kept wondering if I were a 17 year old boy in the 90s would I like this? But I’m not and I didn’t.
CHIC
4/5
I had this album on 8 track. Obviously bought it for track 2. Brought me right back to that corner desk I sat at. I had to listen to this on the down low bc I was becoming a Beatlemaniac and my brother started wearing those “Disco Sucks” pins that were the rage in bumfuck NJ.
Such joy to blast this whole album loud and proud today. Disco fucking rocks!
Bee Gees
3/5
Man oh man am I glad they discovered disco. The sweet harmonic vocals are nice for sure but the melodrama...
Kudos to the graphic designer for the font selection on this album. That blew me away way more than the music. Extra point for kerning!
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
2/5
I enjoyed reading about the artist rather than actually listening to the artist. Not my bag.
Gram Parsons
2/5
Well I'm glad I got through this because I always thought I liked Gram Parsons but now I can't say I do NOT care for his this country rock sound.
Ash
2/5
I listened to this but am left with little to say about it. Even while I was playing it, I just wasn't moved in any direction. All this is to say that I don't think it's worthy of the list.
Pretenders
5/5
I equate this album with one of those group memory things like how everyone remembers where they were when the planes hit.
Where were you when you first heard of The Pretenders?
I clearly remember the first time I heard The Pretenders and by that I mean Chrissie Hynde's voice because let's be honest...it's her vibratto that absolutely stops you in your tracks. I was in 9th grade in my room; my brother just got the album. But then Baader-Meinhof---The Pretenders were everywhere---Brass in Pocket video on rotation, radio, parties, school dances. I remember burning my lower eyelid trying to get that Chrissie raccoon eye look. I was never brave enough to go for a red leather jacket (added to the regrets list).
I thought the whole UK - US blend was the bomb.
Every song a goddamn banger. Not a dud on this album. Even Space Invaders.
I was so happy to revisit this one today. In fact I revisited it 2+ times.
Closing with Mystery Achievement is fucking brilliant.
The Cult
2/5
Lots of fancy drums and fiddly-faddely guitar. They sound like every heavy rock band I've heard and never cared for. This genre of rock is a complete caricature to me. And what with the album's font selection, animal skin hat, and attempting-to-look-sultry into the camera gazes...they could have been in a band competition with Spinal Tap.
Pere Ubu
2/5
I would have been fine not listening to this in this lifetime.
Carole King
4/5
You read her bio and realize what a successful, talented, and real powerhouse of a woman she is. How might her stellar career be different had she been born in say 1989?
I found this LP in 7th grade and it was on constant rotation until I graduated college. These songs are so familiar that they've nearly crossed over to trite. But active listening has me hearing her brilliance.
Motörhead
1/5
Well the only thing of note from this listen is that I answered the never-before-asked question of where one might not fall asleep first --- Hammersmith or Brooklyn.
I felt angry, uptight, and confused listening to this. Literally could not tell where one song ended and another began. I so dislike this band and this sound even more than I dislike their misuse of the umlaut.
I most certainly do not need to listen to this music before I die.
The Specials
3/5
Great album example of why I love this project. An important band I kinda got exposed to but didn’t truly know.
I liked it. Won’t say I’d ever spin ska just for the heck of it.
Malcolm McLaren
5/5
Wow! What a gem to discover this album. Pure aural delight. I listened to this two times and I see many more spins in my future.
Jive my Baby is gonna be today’s ear worm
Grant Lee Buffalo
2/5
White bread
Nanci Griffith
3/5
I found this album to be pleasant enough but I can't say I'll likely reach to spin it again. I appreciate Nanci's role in music. She was a darling of WXPN so while I'm not fluent in her work, there is definitely a familiarity.
I confuse a lot of the mid-to-late-80s country/folk/female genre. By that I mean Alison Kraus, Nanci Griffith, Kate & Anna McGarrigle.
The album cover caught my eye...I loved eating at the Woolworth's lunch counter in college (circa 1986). Also that's Lyle Lovett on the right. He sang some backups on the album.
Joanna Newsom
2/5
There is something about this whimsical, fairy, harpy storytelling sound that grates on my nerves. Her affected accent is too contrived for me to actually hear anything but my teeth grinding and shoulders getting tight.
This ain't Björk.
Cowboy Junkies
4/5
CDs were just becoming a thing when The Trinity Sessions came out and it was one of the first I purchased. It's hard to listen to this album without the nostalgia. Such an unusual and new sound from other stuff I was into and yet so comforting with her soft vocals and pedal steel guitar.
Reading about the production and how the brother convinced his sister to sing was as enjoyable as revisiting this old friend.
CHVRCHES
3/5
Didn't love. Didn't hate.
The synth stuff sounded elementary and lacked the sophistication I hear from Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, etc.
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
I can see the allure of Zappa and The Mothers for others but it's simply not for me.
Stan Getz
4/5
For me, samba in my jazz is like the lime in the coconut.
Sex Pistols
4/5
Never mind the fact that I would say punk does not agree with me. The Sex Pistols are different. There was a musicality aspect rather than fast loud noise. I loved every song and realized I'm fairly familiar with this album even though I don't recall listening to the entire LP.
Billy Bragg
2/5
Back when he was everyone's darling, he wasn't mine. Then my good friend slipped Mermaid Avenue in my CD player and I changed my tune. Now after a 2-disc listen...I'm changing back.
I can only take so much of that Essex accent in singing. (Nik - am I right that it's an Essex accent?)
Minutemen
2/5
I listen to this and sit amazed that bands I loved never made it bigger---Lowjack, Hijack, Bunnyplasm. Maybe Adler will be a rock-n-roller after all?
It all sounded flat. Can't stand the singers voice. I don't understand what makes this "hardcore" but it doesn't matter enough for me to try and answer that.
Blah.
Christina Aguilera
3/5
The hits really slam but this is a long album with a lot of that belting out, which is best for me in smaller doses.
The Avalanches
2/5
A lot … even for me
Mekons
4/5
Absolutely loved this! Country meets Velvet Underground in northern England.
The Louvin Brothers
3/5
I liked.
Primal Scream
4/5
Did not know I was such a big fan!
The Cure
4/5
This is a winner if only for the guitar and drums on The Hanging Gardens. But I like the whole package.
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
While I still find this band challenging, this album was a little so. But still..
George Harrison
5/5
George's magnum opus.
What a statement to drop this as his first LP after The Beatles. The Quiet Beatle said so much with this TRIPLE album and so much of it always spoke to me. All the Dylan influence and collaboration is exciting but with George's guitar and voice--so so beautiful.
I never understood the "plagiarism" issue with My Sweet Lord. I still think that's such bullshit. Though Thanks for the Pepperoni seems to borrow a lot from Johnny B Goode.
All Things Must Pass was my mantra as I geared up for unmedicated childbirth and it was running through my mind as I watched my best friend take his last breath.
Talvin Singh
3/5
This would be OK background music for me while making a curry. But as a solid straight listen I found it too much of the same. He didn't take me on the same journey that Ravi Shankar does.
Aimee Mann
4/5
Every Aimee Mann album speaks to me. This might not be her absolute best but I dig it
The Style Council
4/5
A classic album that was in heavy rotation for me back in the day. Paul Weller and Mick Talbot ooze cool. I just love the vibe of this album---pop blended with approachable jazz.
Laibach
2/5
I can appreciate their intellectual approach and I can dig their aesthetic ... but only for about two songs and then it's simply too much. I was listening to the lyrics and had to double check I wasn't streaming some neo-nazi hasse Muzik. They walk a fine line particularly for an international audience. But at the end of the day, it did not have a beat and I couldn't dance to it.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Nick Cave has long confused me. I just can't pinpoint how I feel about his music. I guess I'm mostly ambivalent. I listened to this in two parts across two days. I'll admit today's listen was enjoyable. But he is not someone I would veer to on my own.
Giant Sand
3/5
I thought this was pleasant albeit too long.
Skepta
2/5
I liked the Fireman Sam reference. That's about it.
Roxy Music
3/5
I very much enjoy a lot of Roxy Music but I don't think Country Life merits being on this list.
Todd Rundgren
3/5
Not the Rundgren I’m used to. Clearly it was the LSD talking. His sound still shines through here and there but I like my Todd more straightforward
Erykah Badu
4/5
Really enjoyed this and I'll revisit to give it some more attention.
Sylvia heard me listening and said he's very familiar with Erykah and this album. Cool that she still is relevant to the kids these days.
Tim Buckley
4/5
Fascinating how some sounds are so timestamped. I think I would have guessed 1967 if you played this without any introduction.
I dig this. Love the heavy congas and the psychedelic soundscape he created in this album.
What the heck is over his eye? At first I thought it was a giant tab of LSD in a bottle cap. Quick internet search seems to indicate it's a Pepsi bottle cap.
Standout for me was I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain. Knight-Errant might have made me cringe if heard on its own but it works in the context of the entire album and the fact that this listening session hit at the right time.
Unsure if I'll turn to this album again but I am glad to have had a listen.
John Coltrane
4/5
I understand this is a brilliant album but I don’t have the vocabulary to explain why.
Brian Eno
3/5
I’m not familiar with Brian Eno’s work prior to the 80s. While I don’t think Another Green World has the same draw for me as his later work, it’s something I plan to explore. I liked this
PJ Harvey
5/5
There's not an album of hers I don't love.
A few years back I read a New Yorker article about her work on The Hope Six Demolition Project. What I recall is how she's inspired by and takes a few different historical/political themes and weaves them into her work after deep research and thought. I knew Let England Shake must have had similar inspiration and this morning Andre confirmed---WWI, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars. The purpose and meaning she puts into her work is in part some of the reason why every single album Polly Jean puts out is a banger. Plus she fucking rocks.
Jen introduced me to PJ back in the 90s (Down by the Water) and Andre helped me explore her canon of work.
Just opening this album with Let England Shake merits 5+ stars but every single song is immense in lyrics, sound, and meaning.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Nick Cave is a real darling to so many.
Not me.
Mid.
Iron Maiden
2/5
My predominant thought while listening was, "goddamn, Spinal Tap is such a fucking brilliant film." They really nailed it.
Every heavy metal band clamors with cliche...like every single aspect—the wah wah waaaaaah guitar solo, the trite lyrics so absent of poetic flow, the drums highlighting an ending to a song.
Ugh.
I will give them kudos and an additional star for taking the piss out of the conservatives satanic panic MO.
5/5
PJ with added Thom Yorke bonus?!!
YES indeed!
Jethro Tull
4/5
I haven't listened to Jethro Tull in years. I loved this. Locomotive Breath remains my favorite on the album. I listened to the special edition version on Spotify and there's a 13-minute interview with Ian Anderson that's really interesting so check it out.
The Isley Brothers
4/5
Loved the funk and the groove.
Lou Reed
2/5
Not his best and I don't think it deserves to be on the list.
Björk
3/5
I like Björk but this album was hard to absorb. The mix of classical and far out just didn't please my ears. But I am glad to explore her music and get to know her beyond Human Behavior.
I do LOVE her dandelion headdress.
Public Enemy
4/5
I guess I discovered the flavor of rap I dig. I was really grooving to this.
ZZ Top
3/5
I tend to mix up ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd and will probably continue to do so. Both groups make me think of being a teenager in rural South Jersey and how much joy a good guitar riff brought me.
I enjoyed Tres Hombres a lot and found myself frolicking to Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers. Will I ever search "ZZ Top" to play again? No. But I'm glad this one had a spin before I die.
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
They really brought the Hammond organ into the mainstream and damn that opening track just makes you bop.
Guided By Voices
3/5
Until starting this 1001 project I did not realize the 90s had such a distinct sound and vibe. This band strikes me as peak 90s indie scene. I would have been over the moon to catch them at Khyber Pass with my new boyfriend and his musician friends.
OutKast
5/5
Cooler and better than I remember
Tom Waits
4/5
I discovered Tom Waits and Raymond Carver at the same time in college. They pair well together and I love an evocative short story. For Frank's Wild Years alone this is an essential listen.
Calexico
4/5
A real treat I did not know I wanted.
Skunk Anansie
2/5
Pixies
4/5
Other than Where is My Mind, I'm not really familiar with the Pixies (or is it just "Pixies"). I can see what all the fuss is about. Thoroughly enjoyed.
Kate Bush
4/5
Such a lush blend of lyrics, vocals, and instruments ---uilleann pipes, bouzouki, fiddles. Every song conjured an image of her longingly looking across the heath.
Peter Gabriel
5/5
I know this album as "Ein Deutsches Album" and was given the cassette tape to listen to in 1984 by my German host sister. I played it endlessly the summer of 84 and had no idea it was also in English. Though "Spiel Ohne Grenzen" / "Games Without Frontiers" did sound familiar. Amazingly all the lyrics came back to me in German and upon this listen some of the German lyrics in my head didn't click with Gabriel's English. I got lost on Peter Gabriel's website reading about his thoughts on performing English in countries where English is not the native language. He really worked to ensure the musicality of a language came through even if the words had to change meaning a bit. Go read for yourself: https://petergabriel.com/release/ein-deutsches-album/
I already loved Peter Gabriel and this album but now knowing his approach to music and language and art---it's 5+!
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
You really couldn't attend college in the 80s without hearing The Psychedelic Furs drifting from a window. But I never listened to a whole album. I like this. Dig that droning buzz and combination of punk/indie rock with a side of pop. The nostalgia is strong with Pretty in Pink. Not quite a 4 but more than a 3.
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
I just love these boys and find such comfort in their vibe. Their combined voices are balm for what ails me. I'm glad they are still making and performing music for young and old.
James Taylor
4/5
An American treasure (even if I over listened to this album as a teen).
The Only Ones
3/5
The Wikipedia classified them a punk but I would not. I listened to this on a long drive with Adler in which we talked the whole time about music and returning to how we would classify this album. I think we ended up with postpunk psychedelic shoe gazer somethingorother.
I enjoyed this but really need to go back and have a listen without all the chit chat.
Rage Against The Machine
4/5
Turns out I like politically charged hard rock activists.
The Band
1/5
Boring. Trite.
Always thought The Band was overhyped. Even with Dylan involved, I find it so difficult to listen to this.
Andre can tell you about the low-key rage I hit when a cover band goes into The Weight.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
fucking prog rock
The Byrds
3/5
The beginning of the album sounded more bluegrass but by the time I got to the end of the album it was solid country. I prefer Byrds w a psychedelic twist.
Sinead O'Connor
5/5
While deeply familiar with this album, I was able to listen with fresh ears and perspective. I still tapped in to the empowerment this album provided me in my youth but I was also deeply moved by the sorrow she tapped in to craft this (she spent 18 months in a Magdalene Laundry at 14 years old--puts that ripped photo of the pope in perspective).
The use of strings both in the Irish fiddle manner and more orchestral came through on my back-to-back listens. Every single song is just so goddamn powerful I get why she just blew up when this album came out. So much angst and heartbreak in one album that when I revisit with the lens of history I dare say it hits harder than TTPD
Three Babies - her lullaby to heal herself after the loss of three pregnancies
Black Boys on Mopeds - powerful protest of racial brutalities in 80s England
Nothing Compares 2 U - The best cover of any Prince song
Last Day of Our Acquaintance - ouch
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got - what a closer!
And the ultimate banger of all time---The Emperor's New Clothes. This album is a 5 but memories of singing this top volume with Jen certainly turn it into an 11.
Ministry
1/5
Got 23 seconds into the first song and had to skip.
42 seconds into second song before my stomach hurt.
47 seconds on third song...can feel my chest tightening.
49 seconds on Hero the 4th song.
OK I'm committing to Jesus Built my Hotrod it's a funny title and has 23M streams.
Gave the remaining 3 songs about 3 seconds and shut this the fuck down.
Nope
Frank Sinatra
3/5
I like the collab but I have to admit....I've never understood Sinatra's superstardom.
Tom Waits
4/5
The Tom Waits soundscape endlessly thrills and delights. Opening with Earth Died Screaming feels like an aural rollercoaster that at 50 mins is still too short but simply perfect.
Beastie Boys
4/5
I had the good fortune of a long solo drive to focus on this album. As familiar as I am with these tunes, it felt like I was hearing it fresh for the first time but with the comfort that nostalgia brings.
Kick it!
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
Just like track 2, "This is What She's Like"...I have nothing meaningful to say about this album.
Boring.
Arrested Development
4/5
When this came out some of the songs were too overplayed and annoyed me (Mr. Wendal, Give a Man a Fish, Tennessee). But upon this listen I was overjoyed. Along the rap spectrum, hip-hop seems to be the level I like. Progressive hip-hop addressing social issues adds a cherry on top.
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
I thought this album was mostly sweet.
Roxy Music
4/5
And indeed it was my pleasure.
This album reflects what initially attracted me to this band --- Bryan Ferry's smooth voice, glam style, artsy sound.
T. Rex
4/5
Clearly I need a LOT more T.Rex in my life.
Ice Cube
2/5
Ugh the tempo combined with the background sounds just get me so uptight. I feel my shoulders hunch and I start to fear a migraine building. I really wanted to dig Ice Cube but I simply can't abide.
Sepultura
2/5
Elton John
4/5
Is it heretical to say he should have cut some songs from this album? The songs that hit are just so good and the songs that are lesser known well I can't even remember them now.
King Crimson
3/5
Not your typical King Crimson. Melodic moments. Perhaps my old friend made me listen to this album before insisting I join him at a Kings Crimson concert and I obliged (I was literally the only woman as far as I could see).
The Pogues
3/5
Doves
4/5
Dig!
Destiny's Child
3/5
Just beautiful but probably about 4 songs too long.
Stereolab
4/5
I dig the journey on which Stereolab takes me. Soothing.
Killing Joke
3/5
I appreciate the approach and execution of this album. By the time I got to S.O.36 the album was really growing on me.
Otis Redding
5/5
Just perfect
Steely Dan
3/5
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Other than the magnificent Solsbury Hill, this album landed flat for me. I listened to it and then immediately nothing stuck. I guess one needs to listen to this album b/c it has Solsbury Hill?
Fairport Convention
3/5
Such a sound capsule! I dig the blend of rock and old Brit folk. While familiar with some of the old ballads (Matty Groves), I am not familiar with Fairport Convention. However, we've all heard Sandy Denny because she's the other voice in Battle of Evermore.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
Many a time I've read an album review and was so moved I went and ordered the CD (eg, Noisettes) or streamed (eg, CharliXCX). I was pumped by the written intro for Fuzzy Logic---glam rock, psychedelic rock by a Welsh band. Sign me up!
Nothing really captured me and I felt a bit ho-hum. This is not brat.
The Temptations
4/5
What a treat to listen to this with fresh ears and put aside the triteness that "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and other Tempations' songs have become.
LTJ Bukem
3/5
Not sure if I listened to the right album. It was a compilation by various artists "presented by LTJKukem" and it was 3.5 hours long. Admittedly I did not listen to the last song, which was listed as being over 1 hour long.
You know me, I like dance and EDM.
I found this nice to have in the background while I worked but there was nothing that really captivated me to think this merited inclusion on the list.
Portishead
4/5
Portishead always delivers a vibe. I listened while walking my dog on a beautiful mountain trail with waterfalls. We were alone and the woods were a bit dark.
Until this listen I did not know Portishead was responsible for this entire genre---trip hop. I just knew I loved Beth Gibbons voice and the dreamy journey.
XTC
3/5
Hard to find an opinion on this one. Wavered between indifference to annoyance (that kid voice on Dear God). Something gimmicky about this band that I can’t quite parse out.
But then I thought I sound curmudgeonly for no good reason. Straight down the middle but veering more toward 2.5
Traffic
3/5
Standout track "Feeling Alright"—arguably the best rendition of the song. But the album doesn't age well for me. This certain flavor of 60s sexism does remind me that we've made great social progress.
Kings of Leon
2/5
This was hard to listen to. Like physically hard because I couldn't understand the speak singing/aka mumbling. Sylvia and I listened together to this one and both of us were not pleased.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
To hear Aretha Franklin with fresh ears reminds me life is sweet.
4/5
Man oh man, this is the kind of prog rock I can get behind.
I wouldn’t call this prog rock but since others do…
Was surprised how many songs I recalled.
Goldie
3/5
Totally dug this spending a couple hours cooking in the kitchen. Would I add this to the list? No. Did I bookmark for work background music? Yes.
Brian Eno
5/5
This is a long beloved album in my history. Before I ever heard EDM, I played this a lot. (I was surprised that I could still recite the preacher's sermon verbatim.) This album is such a masterful blend of David Byrne sounds and rhythm with Brian Eno's avant garde.
The Zutons
3/5
Enjoyable album. At times I was catching a Wilco vibe. I can't stretch it to 4 b/c nothing exactly stayed with me from the listen. It's a solid 3.5
Missy Elliott
5/5
One thing I've learned from this project is the hip-hop interstitial bit. I don't know the proper name for this. Missy's got the best interstitials. And it's safe to say I can now answer the question, "who is your favorite hip-hop artist."
Fuck yeah! I loved this. I didn't catch the Missy wave in the early 2000s but I caught it now and will be working my way through her library.
"We can all stand for going under a little construction"
The Notorious B.I.G.
2/5
Well this started and immediately made me totally uptight and uncomfortable. (so much sweeter hearing Missy Elliott sing about her chocha than this aggressive crap)
The canvas clips on Spotify started to give me a headache too.
By the time I got to Me and My Bitch I was done.
It's still sad that he died promoting this so I'll bump a star.
Spacemen 3
4/5
This album had a calming effect on my brain. I really enjoy the heavy guitar sounds in this techno space. And I love me a good soothing, spacey jam.
I know this whole project is heavily influenced by time and space and it's hard to work and listen sometimes. Other times, the vibe compliments work and you feel like it's fueling through the email slog.
Highlights
How Does it Feel
I Believe It (use of the organ to create that hymnal feel)
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
3/5
I'm sure this is not a popular thing to say but...jazz bores me. I'm sure it's because I don't understand music composition and rhythm and beats and all the other things that the musicians understand, which provides insight and appreciation.
Sure Take Five is cool and I'm down with jazz in the background of a smoky bar. I loved Ortliebs Jazz House back in the day. But I'm just never gonna seek out these sounds.
Queen
5/5
I mean...Queen. C'mon! Who can't vibe to this.
I tend to think of myself as this pop/folk/Swift-Dylan head but then I hear this and am reminded how much I just love good old rock, Brian May's guitar chops, and everything about Freddy.
I was completely unfamiliar with this album and even without any of the well-known bangers it strikes me as an album everyone needs to hear.
Fiona Apple
2/5
Disappointed with this.
Miriam Makeba
4/5
Loved this
That tiny flea was some ASMR shit for me.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
3/5
Classic
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
The Libertines
3/5
The United States Of America
3/5
Whoah...this band completely escaped my radar in my hard 60s era.
I dig.
My cat seemed entranced by Cloud Song - he jumped on my desk and was doing a strange open-mouthed purr.
We dig!
The The
4/5
I resisted this band back in the 80s simply because I disliked the band name. Happy to hear this today.
I still get The The, Echo & They Bunnymen, and Psychedelic Furs mixed up.
3/5
Orange Juice
3/5
I'm a sucker for this 80s British sound in all its nasal glory.
Roni Size
2/5
I went back and forth on this but ultimately recognized that I was trying too hard to enjoy.
The Replacements
3/5
Manu Chao
4/5
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
It’s hard to listen fresh when an album is so iconic and seared in your brain.
I started out really disliking Bruce Springsteen. Raised in podunk South Jersey where everyone loved Bruce, I took any action to rage against the status quo. When I hit college that changed. When I heard Andre sing Bruce I was able to appreciate the brilliance again.
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
How Kendrik Lamar and my kids expanded my worldview
I've heard so many good things from the young kids about Kendrick Lamar. I started this album and was like, "it's gotta be me. I'm not hearing 'it.'" Adler heard me listening to this album and was like, "no way. that's my favorite album." Then Sylvia walked in the kitchen and said something about how To Pimp a Butterfly is one of the greatest of all times. So..tell me why. And off they went. I was so enthralled with what they were saying and the intelligence and thought behind it I started to lose focus. Adler spoke about Kendrick Lamar's quadruple entendres, Sylvia spoke to systemic racism in American culture and encourage me to think about history from outside my white woman perspective.(Like mom, don't be so freaked out by the N word. there is so much more going on) They both said to pull up the lyrics and really spend some time with the album.
I went back and restarted the album and followed their suggestions. The layers of sound and meaning started coming through. There is so so much going on here. I need to spend more time with Kendrick. I really enjoyed this lesson, the beats, the story behind Kenrick's fame and his successful transformation. It's dense and complex and I want to know this story more.
The Black Crowes
4/5
American rock! And I like it!
Merle Haggard
3/5
Music is amazing if you think about it—similar instruments and basically the same language construct (notes, scales, tone) yet the vast differences that come from the human mind to make sounds are endless.
This is where my mind went while listening to Merle Haggard.
Black Flag
2/5
noise
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
Well well well...look who is liking rap these days.
Christine and the Queens
4/5
My kind of vibe!
Some pop comes across as shallow. And I'm ok with that.
But Christine and the Queens has depth in his pop sound. Maybe I'm a sucker for the euro vibe and the gender fluidity but I love the electronic sounds and the heavy accent.
Johnny Cash
3/5
Started out pumped about this but as it went on I was less enthralled.
Yes
5/5
The nostalgia is certainly strong on this one. Big soundtrack to my high school days. It's because of this album I never would call Yes a prog rock band. And it's because of this album I'll always love this band.
Cocteau Twins
4/5
Aside from being terribly embarrassed that I was waiting for "Hold Me Now" to play and thought "boy, that song just does NOT fit this vibe," I really enjoyed—both the music and the lesson in how to distinguish twins.
Van Morrison
4/5
It's overplayed and a classic for a reason and it continues to stone me.
Paul Simon
2/5
Other than Me and Julio I find this album bo-ring
The Stooges
3/5
I enjoyed this more than I anticipated. Iggy sure does have a mastery of charisma.
Bad Company
3/5
Learning that Bad Company is a British band AND a supergroup was a surprise for me. While I'm not a huge fan of the band, they were undeniably ubiquitous for people in my demographic.
The Zombies
4/5
Sucker for this flavor of 60s soft psychedelia sound
Megadeth
2/5
you know...I liked the drums
Dr. John
3/5
I wanted a little more voodoo NOLA vibes. Kinda bland.
Guns N' Roses
3/5
The hits are good but the other sounds were mid.
Blondie
4/5
Muddy Waters
3/5
Janet Jackson
2/5
Meh
Tina Turner
3/5
Better Be Good to Me was the standout song on this album for me. All the others sounded trite. I guess it's one to listen to b/c it's Tina's big comeback?
Paul Weller
3/5
I prefer my Paul Weller in the flavor of the Style Council. This sounded generic. Hard to give a 2 b/c it's not that it's bad it's just not captivating.
The Cramps
2/5
Blondie lite
The Incredible String Band
3/5
If you are familiar with Amy Sedaris' character, "The Lady Who Lives in the Woods"...this is the kind of music she would be listening to. In fact, I reckon Amy listened to THBD for inspo.
Hard to get beyond the kitsch on this listen.
But hey, I like kitsch and hippies so I'll go straight down the middle here.
The Dictators
3/5
I enjoyed this way more than anticipated.
fIREHOSE
2/5
Vacillated between liking this and then finding it bland. Was forcing myself to enjoy and came to the conclusion, this doesn't merit list inclusion.
Ozomatli
4/5
Loved this. Thought the album got stronger as we progressed through it.
Pantera
1/5
What the hell?
I guess I live in a hole with regular people. I've certainly got no mouth for war and find this sound fucking hostile and hollow. It is simply no good.
Soft Machine
2/5
Facelift - oh for fuck's sake.
Slightly All The Time - dudes wanking with their instruments.
Moon in June - heh, that was English they were singing?!
Out-Boody-Rageous - MAYBE...I'd explore this on an insomnia night.
all in all, this is NOT how I would have ever spent New Year's Day 1970.
Korn
2/5
All this heavy metal...I don't have any more words to express my dislike.
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
happy joyful sounds
2/5
I enjoyed reading about this album and the band far more than I enjoyed listening to them. One additional star for creativity.
Khaled
3/5
I enjoyed the Arabic tunes more than the French...not that I can understand either one but when you compare Aalach Tloumouni to C'est la nuit...I wanna be at the hookah lounge where Aalach is jaming in the background.
It's hard for me to hear anyone cover Imagine. It's just so cringey...even with a slight North African vibe.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
ABBA
5/5
Dancing Queen is the reason I decided to explore this project. It was October 26, 2018 ... a gorgeous fall evening in Connecticut just hours after Keith and Carlyle got married in their backyard. Keith, recently diagnosed with the rare cancer that would kill him just 3.5 years later, said the hardest thing to reconcile is "when will be the last." He said, "Like when is the last time I'll hear Dancing Queen." He loved that song like no other.
His joy from Abba made me so giddy with delight. Nothing more fun than our drunken deep dives into Abba videos and recreating the Knowing Me, Knowing You video. It always surprised me that he wanted to play the role of Anni rather than Agnetha.
Abba has become more than a great nostalgic band for me since Keith's death. It's my touchstone to him now. Nothing makes me feel closer. I refrained from listening to Abba for a long time after his death and then when they popped up on a playlist, I realized it was all going to be OK.
So this album carries a lot for me. And for me, that's the point of music...to stir the emotions with groove and comfort.
I can look pass When I Kissed the Teacher and My Love, My Life because the great songs are just so transcendent.
I listened closely to the sleepers---Tiger, Arrival---and really enjoyed those tunes as well. Something about the keys on this album envelopes me in that 70s nostalgia when we could all come together and dance and sing no matter our culture or age.
Though I never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend
Yes, if I had to do the same again
I would, my friend
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
Best served when rolling on the dance floor.
But not terribly bad at my desk trying to pound through some work...not as much fun though.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
4/5
I dug this! A couple songs sounded vaguely familiar and I only heard of Captain Beefheart bc if his Zappa connection.
1967…what a year!
Beyoncé
3/5
Do I like Beyoncé’s music or Beyoncé’s persona? Hmm
I do like Drunk in Love
Joan Armatrading
5/5
Wow! What a start to the US Bicentennial Year. This album is like looking at the ground and finding a diamond.
Down to Zero is my fav
Pere Ubu
3/5
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
I like this band more the older I get. But this album falls a little flat. I guess they were still finding their voice and their production mojo.
Queen
4/5
Duh
GZA
3/5
The Sugarcubes
4/5
Really enjoyed this. Forgot how much I love Birthday.
U2
4/5
I still love this album. Love the raw youth and love The Edge's guitar.
Bee Gees
3/5
Todd Rundgren
4/5
Brilliant
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Jimi has and always will rock me.
I love how this album shows so off much of what he loved and how he put his signature twist on those things---the blues (Voodoo Chile), Bob Dylan
All Along the Watchtower by Jimi is cataloged as the best cover of all time in my book. SIDENOTE: I will also always see the scene in Whitnail and I when the lads are leaving London for the weekend and this is playing in the background. Worth every licensing pound paid!
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
3/5
Big Dylan influencer here with Ramblin' Jack. I enjoy the simplicity and the folksy charm.
The Cure
5/5
Van Morrison
4/5
The album that made me love Van even though I hear he’s a real curmudgeon. But he wrote Sweet Thing and that’s pure perfection.
Taylor Swift
5/5
This is the album that officially made me a Swiftie. I bought it on CD for Sylvia on a whim as I was leaving town for a work event. I ended up spinning it in the car and was captivated. All the things I love about pop but with a lyricism so lush I continue to find new meanings and rapture with each spin.
For folks not in the know she's super clever and playful:
Wildest Dreams - that background thump thump is actually her heartbeat that she recorded for this song.
Clean - Tay Tay went over to Imogen's house in London to craft a song. They made tea and crafted one of my favorite tracks on the album. Imogen still keeps a copy of the polaroid they took on this day. Taylor included a bunch of polaroids in the album packaging as part of her branding extras.
Is it Over Now? - last song from the vault tracks on TV..Taylor often writes songs she views as sisters. Is it Over Now is sisters with Out of the Woods and I Wish You Would
Say Don't Go - When Taylor sings "you say nothin' back" and there is a pregnant pause of complete silence, she's creating an empty (blank?!) space that we actually feel the rejection..the..."man, you just don't fucking get me."
Blank Space - Jen and Keith asked me if showed 8-year-old Sylvia the video for this song and I said "no" because I thought it was too rough for young Sylvia. By the time I showed Sylvia, he told me already saw it. I regret that statement to Jen & Keith.
I Know Places - When Sylvia and I went to the 1989 tour and I saw two girls dressed up as foxes, I realized that his Swifterhood was something smart, special, and fun. (They are the hunters we are the foxes)
On this listen, particularly with vault tracks like Suburban Legends, You Are in Love, and New Romantics, she masterfully hints at the lyrical brilliance that will later shine even brighter—leaving us in awe when The Tortured Poets Department inevitably finds its place in future iterations of this list.
Lauryn Hill
4/5
Now I get it.
I loved this
Moby
5/5
I love this album (at the risk of my husband’s sneering and judging). First intro to electronic music. South Side still makes me wanna jump in Jen’s car for a roadtrip.
Kanye West
2/5
The Byrds
4/5
Psychedelia that’s sweet and harmonic. Always adored this album
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3/5
Having never listened to this album, I did not realize how similar the hits sound: Relax, War, Two Tribes all sound like one giant song.
Antony and the Johnsons
2/5
I tried real hard to like this but was unsuccessful.
Mike Oldfield
4/5
I always liked this even though it’s become so horror iconic. super impressive that he was 19 when he created it.
Meat Puppets
4/5
Another band I was interested in but couldn't really access back in 1984. I really enjoyed this. Did they inspire Jeff Tweedy?
MGMT
4/5
What a fantastic opening track!
I missed this band in action when they first hit but many of the songs are familiar.
I just loved this.
Dizzee Rascal
2/5
I just couldn't get Inyo this
Goldfrapp
3/5
This fell a little flat for me, which I thought was unusual because this genre is right up my alley.
Jean-Michel Jarre
4/5
This is the kind of music I would have listened to with my computer nerd male friends, sitting in the basement flipping through their copies of Omni magazine.
Maybe I did and that's why it all has a familiar glow?
Time and place---spinning this while driving through town on a moody misty night hit just right.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Double album Led Zeppelin...what's not to love?!
Bill Callahan
2/5
Not for me.
Every song seemed to follow the same formula.
By Too Many Birds I was done with this.
A Tribe Called Quest
3/5
Smooth jazzy hip hop with a repetitive rhythm I find more accessible than contemporary rap. Unlikely I would reach for this to play but I enjoyed the spin.
Fairport Convention
4/5
I know we've seen Fairport Convention before on this list and I was hesitant about this one. Sandy Denny's singing style makes me cringe. But damn as I traveled through this album it really grew on me. The trifecta at the end of the album brought me to tears. I adored what they did with the Dylan songs and I longed for wholesome folky tunes and times.
Randy Newman
2/5
Bo-ring.
Baaba Maal
4/5
I really enjoyed this. Really drives home the power of music to communicate across languages and culture.
DJ Shadow
2/5
Boy I was conflicted with this one. At times I liked the chill hip hop vibe but when the orchestration was in there and the long drum beats…I lost interest
MC Solaar
4/5
I hit play on this without reading a thing about MC Solar or the album. Man oh man....what a joy this was. Loved every bit.
Adele
4/5
Still gorgeous
The Doors
4/5
Oh boy did teenage me spin this one a lot. I still love it. Peace Frog and The Spy remain my favorites
White Denim
4/5
Man this is a party I loved attending!
TV On The Radio
4/5
Loved this!
The Darkness
4/5
This album lived up the name of this project. I loved it.
The Undertones
4/5
Totally dig this. Another band I had zero familiarity with but not heading into the new year!
David Ackles
2/5
It got better after the first song but that’s not saying much
Scott Walker
2/5
Man I listen to this and my biggest thought is what a genius Bob Dylan is. It's probably not fair to compare the two but when "Hero of the War" came on all I could think is Dylan's "Master of War" (6 years earlier than Scott) and "John Brown" (7 years earlier) was way more profound lyrically and musically.
But why compare? (B/C I can't stop thinking about A Complete Unknown)
I just can't relate to this sound.
Terence Trent D'Arby
4/5
Ooooh the nostalgia is strong on this one. Somehow I completely missed his name change. Kinda cool that both names are really beautiful and melodic...just like this album.
The sounds really scream late 80s and I love that.
Suede
3/5
Certainly enjoyed but little stood out or struck me or stuck.
Shuggie Otis
4/5
Dig it!
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
While familiar with the name of this band, I would not have been able to recall a song or their sound.
I loved this!
Dusty Springfield
3/5
The Cars
4/5
While this album, this band was deeply entwined in my formative years, I don't know that I've listened to the complete album since the summer of 1981.
My cousin Denise loved The Cars and would spin this on her record player. We would use a lighter to heat up our eyeliner and run in it along the inner portion of our lower eyelids before we let the good times roll! Back then, it was just what I needed.
The Cure
4/5
I'll spend my lifetime loving these guys.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
4/5
Loved this! Found my new vibe for listening while working
Aerosmith
3/5
Right after this album finished, psychic shuffle on Spotify played Sweet Emotion. Honestly I think that’s the only Aerosmith song I like.
Clearly there’s a lot to be said for this album because it’s such a staple in the rock genre but I don’t have any words for it. I didn’t hate this. It’s a cool album cover and I always liked the band name.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Holy hell, this listen made me recognize I need to reevaluate my top 10 list of Dylan albums. Highway 61 and Blood on the Tracks always battled for my top spot but upon this listen, I've got some soul searching to do.
To think that this album came after a trifecta of ugh (Under the Red Sky, Good as I Been to You, World Gone Wrong), which was preceded by the brilliant Oh Mercy, Dylan makes his case that he is absolutely our Poet Laureate.
This album hit a very specific point in my life that made me feel like that homeless kid who arrives at Lennon's door in 1971 (google it if you are unfamiliar)..."but you wrote this for me?!"
To hear how Dylan's aged vocals really bring it all home and wrench your gut just zero in on "My feet are so tired, my brain is so wired...and the clouds are weepin." This is the song that the strange Soy Bomb dude danced to at the Grammy's, proving more than anything that Dylan is one cool cat.
Dirt Road Blues takes me back to All Along the Cove, which really got me thinking of the connections he builds via lyrics and music across his massive discography.
You gotta give it to Daniel Lanois on this album too. That dreamy soundscape in the background reeks of Lanois.
And on this dark day in American history, its Dylan's words that echo in my mind:
Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain
It's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there
a-ha
3/5
What an opening track that I can't hear without thinking about its groundbreaking music video.
Everything after faded into a nostalgic sound that, while satisfying, didn't blow me away.
Incredible Bongo Band
4/5
I loved this. Got a real kick when I realized what was actually going on. Fun and bobby. Great music for cooking dinner on a cold winter night.
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
Loved this. Particularly Daydreaming w Jill Scott
Big Star
2/5
Underworld
4/5
Loved this
The Blue Nile
4/5
Classic and nostalgic album for me. I love every moment.
Stephen Stills
3/5
I mean it is Stephen Stills and the opening track is a killer. However, as I traveled into the album it started to feel trite. Then I felt guilty for that feeling because it's Stephen Stills.
Missy Elliott
4/5
Favorite rapper? Missy Misdemeanor Elliott!
Anita Baker
3/5
Short and sweet but not really my vibe.
The Saints
3/5
Due to the whiplash from current events, I'm struggling with just about everything except looking at my dog. Music included.
The song Minor Aversion helped a little.
Barry Adamson
4/5
I came in cold. Didn't read the short blurb or even look up the year.
Took me a minute or so but by the end of this I was so into it. Psychic shuffle went on to play more Barry Adamson and this is one I'll continue to explore.
Cee Lo Green
3/5
Enjoyed more as it went along.
The National
4/5
Loved this
Sugar
3/5
Did not give a great listen…via my phone in a hotel bathroom.
Just felt meh
Beatles
5/5
Frühlingsgefühlenachdemlangewinterzeit
(literally--that feeling of spring after a long winter)
I was trying to come up with a word for the coziness that this album brought to my life for 30 minutes. German is a beautiful language in that you can put words together so effortlessly to come up with something that smacks a feeling right in the face with precision.
Those opening notes! Ahhh...I didn't realize how comforting and so familiar that opening chord is. Boom..I was taken right back to my pre-adolescent bedroom and my LP. Young girls didn't have Taylor Swift in the late 70s to put all those feelings to a beat...we had The Beatles. And a Hard Day's Night effortlessly captures yearning, love, youth in 30 tight minutes that stay with you a lifetime.
And then they go and write another killer song that completely captures Frühlingsgefühlenachdemlangewinterzeit just 5 years after this!
_________
I read something recently that if The Beatles coming to America in February 1964 were at the start of COVID, they would have released Abbey Road this year. That view of time and what The Beatles accomplished in their short time span just blows my mind.
Dolly Parton
3/5
I loved this in theory but liked it in practical application.
Pavement
3/5
A musical journey in the wayback machine to the early 90s! I feared this was gonna be heavier than what I heard.
I enjoyed this.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
We had few goddesses to worship growing up thus our monotheistic devotion to beautiful, beautiful Joni.
Every listen she imparts more meaning and more beauty not only into these songs but also my life.
In the mid 80s I spent a summer in Germany and could only take a handful of cassettes. I vividly remember unpacking Court & Spark and Hissing of Summer Lawns. I don't recall the other music I brought but I played these to the point I worried the tape would break.
Yet, upon today's listen Don't Interrupt the Sorrow left me in a puddle of gratitude for all the ways Joni’s music has shaped my understanding of artistry, emotion, and storytelling. Hissing of Summer Lawns radiates feminine power—intuitive, unyielding, deeply perceptive. And this listen—after so so many listens—revealed layers I hadn’t noticed before.
That summer in Germany, these songs became my companions, their poetry and jazz-infused melodies etched into my memory. And today, hearing Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow, I’m reminded why I’ve carried this album with me for so long. The richness of Joni’s voice, the hypnotic rhythm, the defiant lyrics—it’s as though she’s still teaching me something, still offering new truths wrapped in her singular genius.
Few albums age like this, growing more profound with each listen. Few artists possess Joni’s alchemy of intellect and soul. This isn't just an album, it's an eternal conversation—one I’m grateful to return to, again and again.
Animus rising.
PS...Just notices that Charlie's Brat album is a a feminine wink, an acknowledgement of power to this album.
Frank Ocean
4/5
I loved this.
Sylvia has played this for me in the past because it’s one of his favorite albums. I knew the album title reflected his synesthesia.
I was enraptured with the storytelling across all the songs and I’ll be spinning this one again.
Jefferson Airplane
3/5
I went into this album thinking for sure it would be a 5 or 4. I listened to this LP a LOT growing up and was very fond of the lesser known songs--She Has Funny Cars, Today, Plastic Fantastic Lover.
It just didn't hold up to my memory of it.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
Simple Minds
3/5
Did this really merit a spot on the list? I don't think so. Yet I can't give it a 2.
Gene Clark
3/5
I enjoyed this. Timestamp 1974!
Tears For Fears
3/5
Pentangle
3/5
Sade
4/5
Sade has long been balm for my soul.
Drive Like Jehu
1/5
nope
Boards of Canada
2/5
Jane's Addiction
2/5
What's truly shocking is that this came out in 1988. I thought for sure it was early or mid 90s. Yikes.
Found myself mostly bored listening to this. Yet Jane Says always perks me up and I tried to discern if it's just nostalgia that drives my fondness for the song.
Also hard to listen to this and not think about Perry Farrell freaking out on stage.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
If I were sitting poolside in the sun with Jen and a summer cocktail I would enjoy this more.
However, trying to take it in today with work and the news of the world, I can't get it into it.
It's me not you, Ali
3/5
I did try to kick out the MC5 jams but just couldn't make it happen.
I can appreciate them from a historical context...ahead-of-their-time psychedelic punk noise.
David Holmes
3/5
I enjoyed this.
Circle Jerks
2/5
Time and place
This might be great at this point in life if I needed to power clean my house.
But listening while driving home from my book club that takes place in an historic and magical sylvan forest, is neither the proper time nor place for group sex.
Nas
3/5
One thing I like about this project is that it's really informed me on rap. I dare say I'm starting to get a deeper understanding of some constructs and can discern standard from exceptional (aka Kendrik).
Maybe this was groundbreaking in 1994? Maybe Lil Nas X was inspired by Nas.
But I found this pretty formulaic and kinda boring. But I didn't immediately discount it and that demonstrates I've come a long way in my rap education.
So middle-of-the-road rap means I'll go straight down the middle of the stars.
Fever Ray
4/5
I dig
Neu!
4/5
This is indeed neu to me!
I thought Kraurock was heavy a la Ramstein.
Really enjoyed this and looking forward to discovering more from Neu.
Van Morrison
2/5
I don’t think this one is worthy of the list. I don’t find the live versions that compelling and we’ve already heard Van’s bangers.
Iggy Pop
2/5
Dire Straits
4/5
Forgot how much I love Dire Straits!
Big Star
3/5
Elbow
4/5
Beautiful
The Icarus Line
3/5
Mostly not super interesting.
Sheryl Crow
3/5
Not sure I ever listened to this entire album. Sure the hits are still fire but I think in terms of GREAT album...her follow-up self-titled LP is better.
I remember being so enthralled with her when she hit the scene b/c we didn't have many women at the time with this kind of sound and style. Case in point - there were 16 women on the main stage at Lilith Fair in 1997. Jen and I were there but can't remember if we saw Sheryl Crow, which is ridiculous!
Crowded House
3/5
This sure was fun.
Iggy Pop
4/5
The Iggy we all know and love.
The Stooges
4/5
Holy mama did this album hit the right time and right place button yesterday. It matched my frenetic energy perfectly and I think I needed the chaos in my mind to put me in the right state to really hear how fun this album is.
That guitar solo in Dirt!...yowsa.
T. Rex
5/5
Definitely need to explore more T. Rex. I loved this. The hits are familiar but I know so little about the band. I'll start to change that by spinning this one again.
Deep Purple
4/5
Another album that hit hard at the right time. I enjoyed way more than I anticipated. I'm not usually one for a rockin' guitar solo but boy did I dig the wailing on this album. Excellent opener with Highway Star and by the time Smoke on the Water hit I was already a big fan. I do think Space Truckin' and When a Blind Man Cries could have been edited out to make this darn near perfect.
All this said, I'm wavering between 3 and 4. Oh what the heck, we need more kindness in the world right now! Rock the fuck on!
Beck
4/5
I loved this
Justin Timberlake
3/5
It’s a very good pop album.
George Jones
4/5
I really enjoyed this way more than I intended to! I guess country camp is my preferred genre. (And were CSNY inspired by George?)
Buck Owens
3/5
Seems I’m on a kitschy country kick and I like it.
The Fall
3/5
Beatles
5/5
Revolver wow'd me from the first spin and it will never stop impressing me. Pure perfection.
Neneh Cherry
4/5
The things you learn from this endeavor!
Like Neneh Cherry is Swedish. It's not surprising she was influenced by Prince, I kept catching glimpses of this album cover and thought it was Prince from Parade era. Initially thought that was Prince on My Bitch.
All this is to say I mostly knew Neneh Cherry from the Red, Hot, and Blue album but I'm so glad I had this listen.
Randy Newman
2/5
Randy Newman just doesn't speak to me.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
His 17th album! This man is prolific and consistently good. I was only familiar with Boogie on Reggae Woman so this whole album was brand new to me.
I enjoyed it immensely but what else I noticed and enjoyed (and y'all can think I'm crazy for this but know that it's true) was that my dog really liked it too! I've seen her react to live piano practices and wondered if she was zeroing in on that. But no lie...she was cozyed up on the couch post bath and had that look of pure contentment and I know Stevie had something to do with that.
Boogie on!
PS--If you don't know the story look up Ray Kurzweil and Stevie Wonder.
Billy Joel
5/5
Every song is like opening a perfect gift from someone who really gets you.
I had this on 8 track and my brother and I would sing Movin' Out, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant. Thanks to Billy I realized at 10 that yeah, the sinners are definitely more my vibe. Vienna consistently brings me to tears. I forgot about the closing song and how perfectly it zips up this great joy ride that is The Stranger.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
3/5
Started strong but I quickly lost interest.
The Sabres Of Paradise
2/5
Coming from someone who loves repetition and electronica...too much repetition and electronica
Tangerine Dream
4/5
Never heard this of this prolific band and thrilled to discover. I really vibe to this background sound and bonus that they are Deutsch!
Einstürzende Neubauten
2/5
I tried.
But honestly, I only kept listening to hear German words, thinking that would provide enjoyment.
By the time i got to Hirnsäge (brain saw) I was done, angry, and annoyed.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
Nothing more beautiful than Blue.
(Little Green always makes me sad. But Carey always delights!)
John Lee Hooker
3/5
Really dig his guitar action.
Arctic Monkeys
3/5
Donald Fagen
4/5
This album really brings home that Donald Fagan was the driving sound behind Steely Dan.
Slipknot
1/5
why?
Elvis Presley
3/5
I was jazzed to listen to this. I absolutely love the idea of Elvis. I was a huge fan of his beach movies when I was a kid. Though I wonder if I'd still feel the same today.
Starts off great with Blue Suede Shoes but I was totally bored until Blue Moon. So I guess the takeaway here is the nostalgic idea of Elvis along with his dreamy 1950s looks are what I like. And that adds up to 3.
Rocket From The Crypt
2/5
Not for me.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
What more can be said about one of the greatest albums of all time?!
Every time I take it for a spin, I'm in awe of everything--Songbird, Lindsey's distinct guitar picking, Stevie's witchiness casting spells all over me, Mick's bus-driving chops, the McVies understated cool factor.
I was particularly wow'd on this listen by the song order. Not a surprise and I've been in awe of that before but I was just gobsmacked by the brilliance of opening with Second Hand News and closing with Gold Dust Woman and every nugget perfectly placed in between.
Beatles
5/5
An album that grows with you.
What a wild experience it is to grow old with The Beatles. I feel sorry for people that go through life not having these lads through all their eras.
Now that I learned Martha My Dear is about Paul's English Sheepdog, my beloved Tophee has a new tune that follows her around on our walks. I remember so vividly walking down worn stone steps near the Bremen cathedral in West Germany as Blackbird played on my Sony Walkman. A more profound listen smacked me hard when my kids were babies and I nursed them to sleep with Blackbird playing in my head and whispering out my lips as I inhaled their heads. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill was a goofy tune I didn't pay much attention to in my youth but in adulthood remember Michaela telling me how Soen was obsessed with the song. Tragically, the sexiness of Happiness is a Warm Gun quickly turned unfathomable to imagine after John's murder. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da was a college singalong once upon a time but now I laugh so hard remembering Adler as a toddler having a complete freakout in the car repeating over and over again his request for the tune. Revolution 1 still gives me the same goosebumps and amazingly I remember all the lyrics and sounds to Revolution 9 (so happy I listened to that on my headphones this morning). Brilliant move to open with Back in the USSR and close with Good Night.
Every song tells so many stories that change over time and perspective. Brilliant.
Thank you, lads. Indeed the gift has served me well.
Christina Aguilera
3/5
Honestly this just bored me. It’s not a 2 but 3 seems generous.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
5/5
Oh man do I love Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers but I wouldn't say this is the best selection to represent an album of theirs to listen to before you die. That would be Damn The Torpedoes.
But when American Girl hits you definitely want more than the 30 minutes they gave us. A great foreshadow of what's to come. And this is Tom Petty and indeed I want to hear his work over and over before I die. Hence, 5+
(I'm still so sad about how he died. Andre wrote a great piece about Petty's death: https://blog.discmakers.com/2017/04/musicians-who-died-in-2017/)
Primal Scream
4/5
Wow, I nearly missed out on this because I judged this book by its cover. The words "Primal Scream" had me convinced this was gonna go too hard for me.
No way. I loved it.
PJ Harvey
3/5
Love me some Polly Jean but this ain't my favorite. I can start to hear her voice and style but it's still rough and raw. The best cover of Highway 61 I've ever heard!
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
3/5
I enjoyed immensely.
3.75!
The White Stripes
3/5
This band is always hit then miss for me. I start a song or an album thinking they sound awesome and after just a bit it all sounds the same.
2Pac
2/5
The Charlatans
3/5
Good late 90s nostalgia for listening with the windows down in the car
Death In Vegas
4/5
Loved this!
Wild Beasts
4/5
Enjoyable!
Cat Stevens
4/5
Cat / Yusuf always sounds just right. And tonight…this album was perfect.
Gary Numan
4/5
Nu Cool
Fugees
5/5
The daily practice of 1001 has taught me a few things that I've come to recognize this year. The Score brought to light that when I tried to understand this album back in 1996, I was just too ignorant and immature where hip hop was concerned. I did not understand that fusing different genres is not ripping off but rather an evolution of those blended sounds. I recognize now that with The Score the Fugees expanded on their reggae, R&B roots to craft such an expressive masterpiece.
I mean, this is common sense to me now but I didn't hear nor understand it back then.
I just loved this. I get this!
Emmylou Harris
3/5
I was up and down with this album. At times she struck my sweet spot for country/folk and at other times, I was simply bored. But the ending with Boy from Tupelo brought me back and I landed right north of middle. 3.75
Faith No More
3/5
I'll say I am fond of this album but not because of the sound of this music. It's a level of rock that is harder than my ears can tolerate and it is super masculine music, which I struggle to connect with. Yet there was something familiar (beyond the one song I actually knew--Epic), something that felt comforting, something je ne sais quoi and gemütlich. It sounded like my husband. I could, would, and have listened to and appreciated this style of music having shared life for the past 27 years. So if only for the nostalgia of having a sound personify the man I love, I dig it (but not quite to 4!).
Can
4/5
Jawohl!
Absolutely loved this.
Talk Talk
2/5
By all accounts I should have loved this. Peak mid 80s sound. But I found myself not paying attention and a bit bored. Meh.
(I question if there is some bias based on my dislike of the British spelling of "colour." Gimme British anything---a grey sky, a stay in hospital, an "s" vs a "z"---but I have a strange repulsion to seeing "color" with a u.)
The Birthday Party
2/5
Noise
The Pharcyde
4/5
Call me a fan, I just loved this.
Kanye West
1/5
It's a big aside but putting his MAGA, racist, misogynist, crazy, anti-Taylor actions aside I still don't get what it is that people like about his "music." Now that I'm schooled in Kendrick Lamar, The Fugees, and The Pharcycle I know what good rap should sound like.
I would feel bad because he's so clearly struggling with mental health issues but I don't because he is fundamentally dark and twisted. He even told us that 15 years ago.
The Soft Boys
4/5
Loved this. What a find!
Brian Wilson
3/5
I mean I always liked the Beach Boys. But to be honest, I never understood when people (whose music taste I mostly agree with...looking at you, Scotty) speak about the brilliance of Pet Sounds and the musical mastermind of Brian Wilson.
Thought this album was fine but I hear his voice and all I'm doing is waiting for him to start singing God Only Knows.
RIP though. I appreciate his contribution to the American musical canon....god only knows where we'd be without you.
R.E.M.
4/5
Even though the album might make more sense to be named, "Mumble," I just love REM. All of their eras in fact. But what a wild journey it was to hear something so fresh. And boy did they come out strong.
Miles Davis
3/5
I don’t speak this language. I can listen and kind of appreciate it. I know this album is a definitive jazz great but I simply don’t understand.
The Undertones
3/5
Fun!
The Lemonheads
3/5
Meh
2.5 but punching it up to 3 because there’s enough negativity in the world right now
Gene Clark
2/5
Boring.
Joan Baez
2/5
I just can’t handle her voice in large doses. Thankful for her influence on American culture.
Peter Gabriel
5/5
What an album. What a guy!
The Flaming Lips
5/5
LOVE
The Fall
3/5
Manic Street Preachers
2/5
I don't know...bands like this just sound like nothing to me.
Billie Holiday
4/5
Does Billie Holiday have a good voice?
That's what I kept asking myself.
But she hits just right if you're sitting in a smoky cabaret or hanging home alone on a rainy afternoon.
The Slits
5/5
What a surprising treat. I LOVED this.
I knew nothing about The Slits...I'm punk illiterate.
So when I saw the album, I sighed. Ugh..punk women group from the 70s. Surely this will not sit well with me.
Well good thing I'm a flaming liberal and can open my mind and allow reason to update pre-conceived notions!
I FUCKING LOVED THIS!
I can't wait to hear it again.
And is that THE BEST cover of Heard it Through the Grapevine?! Yes, yes it is!
At one point in the song I thought I heard her say "I heard it in the bass line" and I had just been thinking, the bass on this album slaps (this is not a thought I usually have---I struggle to hear the bass on a lot of things).
The fact that this band formed because one of them saw Patti Smith adds to the connections that makes this band one that I'll have in rotation a lot.
The Temptations
4/5
G. Love & Special Sauce
5/5
Still love this!
3/5
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
4/5
Soft Cell
4/5
While not a perfect album, the sound is so new-wave 80s that indeed I think you have to listen to this one before you die.
Tainted Love is a perfect song.
Public Image Ltd.
3/5
I didn't hate this.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
3/5
The Sonics
2/5
This didn't do much of anything for me. The murky production really distracted me. Mostly made me think about George Martin.
Shivkumar Sharma
3/5
I like these sounds in the background. Worked well while working. But I'm not equipped to understand this music and be influenced like George Harrison et al.
When I lived in Northern Libs in Philly in the mid 90s, I lived above Lenny Seidman, a pretty well known Philly tabla player. CONSTANT tabla came up through the floorboards. I generally like the sounds in this record but I'm still a little triggered back to the battles we would occasionally have (I was not the easiest person to live with back then and he had a constant Indian music soundtrack seeping up a flight of stairs).
Milton Nascimento
3/5
This started to grow on me as I settled into the language. Some (but not all) of the tunes would be a nice groove for a summer afternoon party.
The Dandy Warhols
5/5
When Andre turned me on to the Dandy Warhols, I was all in. Still am and so are our kids.
This is just a perfect album.
Every song just oozes cool.
The Police
4/5
This hit that deep nostalgia chord for me. I was surprised how all the lyrics came flowing right out of my mouth. When The Police hit I thought the sound was so unusual and it was a nice change from my non-stop Beatles and Dylan rotation.
As I was singing On Any Other Day that one line came out so naturally while my mind was saying "what the fuck?!"
Maybe it's the nostalgia speaking but I still like this album.
The Monks
3/5
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
I dig!
Particularly fond of Ham 'N' Eggs.
Cheap Trick
5/5
In the old days, I found pop culture wherever I could. Doodles on paper bag book covers and school notebooks. Best pop culture was when my brother’s girlfriends came over and I could glimpse their style, their book cover art. I still remember Cheryl Kirstein letting me sit with them while she doodled on her notebook:
Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick
What did it mean?! It was all so mysterious and so alluring. It wasn't like I could just play Cheap Trick back then. All my albums were Beatles and Dylan and Greg's were Kiss and Rush.
When I FINALLY heard Cheap Trick, I'm sure I didn't know it was them. I just knew the song Surrender and thought "that's cool." As I aged they were more in my periphery but I just tossed them into the rock bucket of sounds I probably would not like.
And then I met Andre.
While his enthusiasm was as sexy as watching Cheryl doodle Cheap Trick on her notebooks, I still didn't quite get the greatness. But one day, Andre had me watch Cheap Trick perform Sgt Pepper in Vegas. It all crystallized.
I don't know all the history around this---why Japan? The audience sounds so into it. And of course...it's all their great hits and Surrender's live debut. What a time for rock and roll. Viva Cheap Trick!
Black Sabbath
4/5
Honestly, I’ve always liked Ozzy’s voice. Is he known for his vocal chops?
Hard not to be sentimental with this one…today.
Black Sabbath rocks.
The Smiths
4/5
I just love love love this album. It harkens back to discos in West Germany and Leeds and youth. I thought he was just the coolest: "love, peace, and harmony...very nice but maybe in the next world." My opinion on Morrrisey has changed but I still love this album.
Tom Waits
5/5
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
4/5
Lots of nostalgia with this one.
Great stories punctuated by a soothing voice.
Nirvana
5/5
This was a classic the moment it dropped.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
The White Stripes
4/5
Absolutely loved this album. It had sound diversity and totally rocked my time in the kitchen yesterday.
Coldcut
2/5
meh
Slint
2/5
Banal.
Boring.
Boys.
Chicago
2/5
Whereas the Moody Blues hit right with rockish instrumentals, this doesn’t.
Teenage Fanclub
3/5
I wanted to like this more than I actually did. Just sounded bland.
Prefab Sprout
4/5
I love this album. It was one of my first CDs.
Elegant 1980s pop that's smooth and smart.
The album cover pairs so well with the sounds. I can feel that English misty, cool, which is how I might describe these songs.
The Adverts
2/5
Neil Young
4/5
A real treat to discover a Neil Young album I did not know existed. A perfect songwriter.
Leftfield
5/5
Blown away and excited to find a new band that hits my groove.
I just loved this.
Eagles
2/5
You know how dog people start resembling their pets in looks and personalities? That happens with spouses in some cases in terms of musical taste.
While I was never completely averse to the Eagles even though "Hotel California" is the same trite level as "The Weight" in my book. But after so many years with Andre, I gotta admit I stand with him and The Dude. It's not HATE but it sure ain't love or respect.
bland.
Morrissey
4/5
Ella Fitzgerald
3/5
Dr. Dre
2/5
nah...didn't really do anything for me.
I was trying to like it.
Do I need to find a new nickname for my husband?
Goldfrapp
3/5
I enjoyed this so much.
Felt a similar excitement as I did during those Joshua Tree days.
The Magnetic Fields
2/5
69 trite songs is just way too many for me.
The Kinks
4/5
Reminder to self: "Listen to more of The Kinks. You will be delighted."
Bob Dylan
5/5
This one is IT. My favorite Dylan album.
Jakob Dylan said this album is his parents talking to each other and I hear that.
He just jumps right into it with Tangled Up in Blue. This is 1975 Dylan but that jingle-jangly guitar reminds us it's still the maestro, the poet, the troubadour.
The hair on my arms stand straight up as he crafts such a story in just 13 lines:
She lit a burner on the stove
And offered me a pipe
"I thought you'd never say hello," she said
"You look like the silent type"
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burning coal
Pouring off of every page
Like it was written in my soul
From me to you
Idiot Wind: "I can't even touch the books you read." Ugh---gut punch that encapsulates heartbreak in a real visceral way...like when you learn that he's not really where it's at.
The transition from You're a Big Girl Now into Idiot Wind always made me think they are two parts of one song/one story.
"You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" just gutted me as I've been crying everyday thinking of Sylvia going off to college. I understand the song is not about the love of a parent or...like all Dylan, can the meaning change with age? I watched him reading a book on the deck outside my office window as this played..."I'll see you in the sky above In the tall grass in the ones I love..."
Yes, Dylan's meaning evolves as I age.
10 songs and each one pure perfection.
His words just come
Pourin’ off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
The Waterboys
5/5
This album is as joyful as a pint of Guinness in a pub in Doolin when the crack kicks in.
I love this album. I love the Waterboys' new take on traditional Irish music while still feeling very much like an album from the 1980s.
Best version of Yeats’ classic!
Public Image Ltd.
3/5
I was digging this more than the last PIL album we had...that is until Chant.
All in all, I can't say I'll spin this again but I was glad to have a good listen.
Deee-Lite
4/5
I really like this sound and I know it’s connected to late nights at The Bank in the early 90s. I don’t think it’s a negative to rate an album based on nostalgia. Evoking strong emotions is a core objective of music !
The groove is in my heart!
Nick Drake
4/5
Perfectly sweet and soothing.
By the time I got to the 11th song, the songs did really sound the same. But so what.
Can
2/5
Whenever I see "German Krautrock," my first thought is...that's redundant. And then my second thought is "ach, nein!"
But the last Krautrock album we had I enjoyed so I thought. Gut, let's take it for a spin.
I deeply appreciate the experimental effort and disregard for what is considered "music" in the traditional sense, but I don't have to like hearing it.
Dire Straits
3/5
I was excited when I saw this one pop up. I love Dire Straits, I loved Brothers In Arms back in the day.
What a letdown.
It's still Mark Knopfler so I guess I can't be too harsh.
Carpenters
4/5
I am a total sucker for 1970s wholesomeness (The Magic Garden, ZOOM, Free to Be You and Me). The Carpenters play right into my love of this genre. And the fact that SHE was the drummer AND they are brother and sister who get along and make music.
Be still my fucking heart.
I was drawn to these two in my youth but as I got older, I started to hear what bangers they actually made---We've Only Just Begun, Superstar, Close to You, etc.
I'm more than OK with the changes made to Help. Really love the organ.
This album made me realize that Karen’s in my top 10 vocalist list.
4.5!
Fela Kuti
3/5
Metallica
1/5
I was unable to get too deep into this and risk migraine onset. It's not for me.
Genesis
5/5
What a massive album! Chockfull of images, sounds, and so many memories.
Love me a good concept album.
This was such a stoner album for me. And it turns out...it still is. But I appreciate so much more now.
Eminem
3/5
I just couldn't stomach this right now.
I made it to Slim Shady.
Janis Joplin
5/5
unbelievable that this is her second and final album! I like to daydream about what would have been had we more Janis Joplin to enjoy.
This was just perfect.
The KLF
3/5
Unsure if I listened to the proper album. I found something on YouTube but it did not list tracks.
Started off more than ok but ended up losing interest. somedays it's hard to tell if it's me or the music that leaves me feeling mid.
KISS
4/5
More enjoyable than I anticipated and more substance that I remembered. Was reminded that Shout it out Loud and Do You Love Me are true bangers.
An absolute killer album cover.
My Girl Scout music badge involved me on piano playing Beth (not the intro and only 2 verses) while my pal, Judi Finger, sang.
I'm bumping this up half a point for the nostalgia and truly, this is one to listen to before you die.
Elvis Costello
5/5
Surprised me that this came out in 1977. I thought it was more in the mid 80s.
What a first album! I love this.
No one hits a vibrato that makes the hair on my arms stand straight up quite like Elvis.
Beastie Boys
4/5
Sparks
4/5
I enjoyed this so much.
Before the start of each song I was excited to hear what would be unwrapped.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
I mean everything The Flaming Lips do is exceptional to me. They consistently turn it on and all the way up to 11.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
I’m having a hard time thinking of an album with as much of a brilliant opening as this one.
The whole thing is classic
I listened twice and probably will take another spin today
Dion
2/5
Too melodramatic for my ears
Sleater-Kinney
3/5
As I progressed through the album this grew on me.
The White Stripes
4/5
Girls Against Boys
2/5
I had a few moments of ok...I can dig. But those lasted about 2.5 seconds and it was too loud, too fast for these ears.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
Pixies
3/5
Eurythmics
4/5
Femi Kuti
3/5
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
This really grew on me as I mad my way through the album. Great Beatles cover!
Kraftwerk
4/5
Geil!
Kings of Leon
3/5
Green Day
3/5
I like Longview but ultimately his voice bugs me before I get too far in any song.
The Go-Go's
4/5
I think I like this album more because of the documentary on them rather than the tunes. I have to bump them a Star because it’s The Go-Go’s!
Fred Neil
2/5
I liked the last song.
X-Ray Spex
2/5
Burning Spear
3/5
Lightning Bolt
2/5
Bauhaus
3/5
Ice Cube
3/5
I liked this more than I anticipated.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
4/5
I just love me some old time mountain music.
Steve Winwood
5/5
Damn...a perfect album.
Queens of the Stone Age
4/5
Does this band just ooze cool or what?!
I was totally shocked to see that this came out in 1998 (I thought they were a 2010s band).
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
3/5
History lessons via rap that I can dig.
Hole
3/5
I had higher hopes for this.
John Grant
2/5
meh
mid
Yes
4/5
Ahhh those glorious teen years listening to this album.
But really it was only Roundabout and Long Distance that knocked my socks off. And for those two songs, I bump a star! Because listening to those two songs before you die is a real joy.
The Hives
3/5
FKA twigs
4/5
I dig FKA twigs
Ryan Adams
3/5
I really enjoyed this. I think there's something questionable about Ryan Adams' character but since I don't know what that is, I kept enjoying the album.
The Vines
3/5
The Rolling Stones
4/5
I had a disjointed listen to this album over the weekend but I loved it even more this way. The Rolling Stones became my soundtrack throughout the weekend and it just felt so great, I felt so cool with my windows down and my hair blowing...rocks off!
Even though this is not my favorite Stones album, it's The Classic Stones album in my book.
Had I been asked in a Quizzo to name a Stones song with the word "turd" in it, I would have lost. Not anymore!
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Wild that this is their 5th and final album. It's such a mix of hits and misses.
The Everly Brothers
3/5
I kept resorting back to this listen as a history exercise. We couldn't have gotten to The Beatles-Simon & Garfunkel-The Stones-Linda Ronstadt-Beach Boys-etc had we no Everly Brothers.
From this historical and foundational perspective, I can appreciate the music. Would I myself have a date with these brothers? No.
The Go-Betweens
2/5
This album has me more fascinated than ever about the metrics and ranking associated with this project. I thought the album was OK.
Reminiscent of that late 80s sound and reminded me of a diluted version of Prefab Sprout. Sure some nostalgia was felt with track 6 (Streets of Your Town) but everything else about this was very unremarkable.
A two star feels like it says I did not like the music, which is too strong a statement. But a three star feels like I think this album is merited for the list, which is too strong a statement. It's a 2.5, which means for me this was unremarkable and meh.
Stephen Stills
3/5
Now I know that the CSNY sound might better be called SCNY.
I liked it but have to admit I can't hear his distinct voice without missing those Crosby and Nash harmonies.
Ananda Shankar
4/5
Absolutely loved this!
Kraftwerk
4/5
Well I loved this. A great early dance sound and a perfect capture of German culture. Particularly the first song. (I suspect this was an inspiration for “Sprockets.”)
Eagles
2/5
Andre's disdain for the Eagles has definitely rubbed off on me. But putting that aside for a moment, it's just so bland.
Patti Smith
5/5
I've long connected with Patti Smith's words, sounds, ethos, and nature. Even before I started reading her books and learned the shared similarities of growing up in a small New Jersey town.
Is this her best album? Not in my mind (that might be Gone Again or Banga). But Horses is a perfect introduction to her style of rock-n-roll feminist poetry with a nod to punk and avant garde artists who helped her bloom.
I'm extremely grateful to live at the same time as Patti Smith and I urge you to read any of the books she's published. Her words...thoughtful and real.
Nirvana
4/5
Radiohead
5/5
Words can't adequately convey the feelings I have when listening to Radiohead.
Ethereal beauty.
Django Django
3/5
Completely unfamiliar with this band and I really enjoyed. At times a little reminiscent of the Dandy Warhols.
The Residents
2/5
I prefer my dada in poetry format