1001 Albums Summary

Yeah, this is pretty great. What a great band. Probably a lot of people think Rod Stewart is kind of cheesy from his 80s power-ballad output. This shows he is one of the great rock vocalists. Also from a time when records meant you had 8 great songs and no room for filler. (If I was able to type something for Siamese Dream, that was my only complaint). Classic!

I actually have this in my collection. This is one of those that I really like, if I am in the right mood. It's definitely a little long and not a lot of variety. But a lot of fun and Fairytale of New York is still great.

From the services available, I could only get one song and not the whole album. Metallica seems like a band I should like, but they have never connected with me. I feel like listening to the one song available I have basically heard every Metallica song. In summary, meh.

This is a weird album to include on this list. I love Radiohead but this is in the bottom grouping rating their albums. I remember at the time thinking this was more of a return to straight songs after the Kid A/Amnesiac experimental albums, but listening to it again it seems like an extension of those records. It's hard not to feel like all these tracks are just meandering experiments not really going anywhere. I remember listening to this a bit when it came out and then never really going back to it. Now I remember why.

I have already heard this a million times. Anyone who has never heard this before will probably rate it a 1, but back in 1986 this sounded like nothing I had ever heard before. My friends as I were obsessed with this album. Some hard bands were noisy, but this was just noise as music. But under the noise, there are genuine pop songs and hooks buried in there. This is the record all the showgazing bands of the 90s cited as an influence. In short, a masterpiece.

Here I am again, cherry-picking what albums to rate - either an album I know really well or one I have always wanted to get to know better. So here goes. If you listened to a version that had more than 6 tracks, you didn't hear the version everyone fell in love with decades ago. The original is a tight 38 minutes of the magic of The Who live. As a Who fan, the reissues are fun to hear the whole concert with them talking between songs. But the original 6 songs (three of which are covers that the band has been playing live since the early days) with no breaks between is just amazing. This is the record that made we want to be a guitarists AND a drummer AND a bass player. Still don't understand how everyone is playing lead on most songs and it works. Highly regarded as the best live album of all time and I agree.

Another frustrating addition to this list. I have had this album in my collection since it came out. This is definitely their sophomore slump album. If you like the raw energy on this but were underwhelmed by the songs, definitely check out their first record Youth & Young Manhood. They got more polished and produced after this (hard to believe it's the same band on singles like "Sex on Fire"). Agree with the low ratings on this but don't write them off completely.

This has been in my collection for many years. I'm sure this is one of those genres that you either love or hate. I am definitely a Chemical Brothers fan. This album or the first one are probably tied for my favorite. The first record has more variety with some slower, ambienty songs thrown in. This one is pretty relentless with hard beats and multiple layers of chaos until the end, but it's pretty great. The songs with vocals (guests Noel Gallagher and Beth Orton) break up the record a little bit. And the Spike Jonze music video for Electrobank is a f*ckin masterpiece.

I've had this in my collection for a long time but only listened through all the way once or twice. It's a weird transitional record. The first 2 Talk Talk albums were 80s pop with hits like "Talk Talk" and "It's My Life". This one has the minor hit "Life's What You Make It". It never reaches the same heights as the earlier ones. The two final records after this one they went fully into experimental, almost ambient territory. They always seemed like a band of jazz musicians trying to make it as a pop band. So, I prefer the earlier hooks or the weird later albums. This one feels like the link between the two. The production is spot on. They are obviously good musicians. But somehow nothing stands out.