1001 Albums Summary

Listened as background music, so I didn't fully absorb/appreciate the lyrics. The beats & production are good.

Decent, but felt like generic 70's pop/rock

Knew some of the songs on this album beforehand. Good, but missing a little in replay-ability for me.

The vocals really grate on me. Instrumental parts are serviceable but not very interesting. It has a solid base not reflected in the score; it wouldn't take many tweaks to bring this up to a 4. So far I haven't rated anything below a 3. However, this was making my rating scale really inconsistent. I'd go "X is better than Y, and I gave Y a 3, so I guess I need to give X a 4". But then I also had given Z a 3 earlier, and Z was at least as good as X! So 3-4 didn't really mean anything. To fix this, I'm re-calibrating my rating scale, rating "meh"/average stuff at 2 instead of 3, which is where this album ends up. That doesn't make it worse than other stuff I've listened to so far.

I want to like it a lot more than I do. It's just kind of boring, I've struggled to make it all the way through while actively listening, and made several attempts.

Not for me.

I know this type of album (jazz, without much of a "hook" in its songs) takes time to grow on you. I've listened to this twice, plan to listen to it more, and very much suspect it will grow on me. That said, for consistency with the other albums, I need to rate it based on my initial impressions alone; this is just the limitation of this 1001-albums format. From that perspective, while the songs are all pleasant, very few sparked my interest. Jazz is great, but I prefer a little more upbeat. I'd prefer anything by Ed Palermo or Gil Scott-Heron over this. Not as bad as Nico's Chelsea Girl (my reference point for a 2), so I'll go 3.

Normally this would be too laid back for my taste, but it caught me at a good time.

It is so hard to find a good recording of this album. The drums in the 2010 and 2020 remasters have been destroyed with compression, and vinyl rips floating around are often crackly and/or clip at the high points. Like many reviews here, I'm torn between 3 and 4. Going up this time because I think I'll likely listen to this occasionally. If I can find a good recording. Standout track: How Do You Sleep?

This gets a 4 instead of a 5 because some tracks are just a little bit too harsh for my ears. It's great art, but I also prefer my music to be enjoyable to listen to. Mixing is fantastic though. Syncopated drums in the latter half of Piggy are a standout.

I like concept/themed albums, and this is a 5/5 on that front. The beats are also solid, with impressive production. That said, the choice of "instruments" makes it a bit… ¿noisy?, in a way that make it hard for me to pay attention to the background sounds individually, but also makes it hard to pay attention to the lyrics. It's a little bit strident for background listening, but also hard for me to actively listen to for the reasons I just mentioned. My heart wants to give this a 4, but my head has to give it a 3 based on my previous rating scale. So far that's been: 3. I liked this but probably won't listen to again 4: I liked this and will likely check out to see if I want to add it to my regular rotation And unfortunately, due to the "I don't know when I would listen to this" issue I doubt the second part will happen.

It probably only deserves a 3 (based on my rating scale of 3=I liked it; 4=I liked it and will listen to it again), but the sheer quantity of hits on this record and the fact that it's still stuck in my head the day afterward is making me generous.

I put it on in the background while doing work. A few minutes later, I noticed Black Coffee was playing (in a good way). Then, to my surprise, the music stopped. Apparently I'd reached the last song. So I restarted from the top, surely intending to listen this time, and the same thing happened! Three more times I repeated this strange sequence of events. Then I came here to write a review. Hard to know what to make of this. At the least, it's so utterly inoffensive that apparently I can listen to it all day without getting bored. The times when I gave it my attention were quite pleasant; her voice is great. But it also wasn't really able to hold my attention even when I was intending to sit and listen for a little, so I can't in good conscience give it 5 stars. Torn between 3 and 4 stars. I think I'm going with 3 but this is going to shift my rating scale going forward, because if this is a 3 then Nico's Chelsea Girl needs to be downgraded 3 -> 2 at least.

"You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" is overwhelmingly, heartwarmingly sweet and sincere. "Stay", "A Banda Parade", and "Não Bate O Coroção" were other standout tracks. A few (imo) fillers (Misty Roses, The Face I Love), but they're short so don't detract much. Not quite 5 stars but it's enjoyable and I'll likely listen again, so solid 4/5.

It's good. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Weird thing is, I also don't see myself coming back to listen to it again. Having a hard time deciding between 3 and 4.

Maybe I'd give it a 4 if I hadn't heard many of these songs played to death on the radio?

There are some standout songs, like the title track and Eulogy to Lenny Bruce, but overall I was underwhelmed. The flute + strings are nice in some songs but cut in and overshadow the vocals in places on other tracks in a jarring way. I'm torn between giving this a 2 or a 3. Currently feeling closer to 2 but it also feels like the kind of album that would grow on me, so I'll be generous and go with 3.

I'm rating albums here with the understanding that this is a first impression. So a 5 isn't perfect, just "very good". Torn Curtain was the standout track for me.

Standout track: Peaches

Starts of strong with Sky Saw, Over Fire Island, and St Elmo's Fire. Interesting instrumentation. Funky and Jazzy riffs. It has all the ingredients to make a 5 star album. But somehow even on those songs, the whole is much less than the sum of its parts, and struggles to hold my attention. It gets worse as the album goes on. Even on my dedicated listening session, I got distracted and reached for my phone around the time of Sombre Reptiles. Conclusion: I like Eno more as a producer than a composer. Would make a good movie soundtrack, I think. I would give the first 3 songs a 4, but they are significantly dragged down by the rest. Struggling whether to leave 2 or 3 stars.

I appreciated hearing a piece of history, and I'm sure this was unique at the time, but it didn't do it for me.

I'm a sucker for a concept album. Unfortunately, this isn't one. The tracks are individually good, but the album is sadly less than the sum of its parts.

I have found it extremely difficult to rate these albums, for two reasons: - My rating scale is very subjective and varies album-to-album, making the numbers useless for comparison. - Often my first impression does not line up with how I feel after a few more listens. I'm trying to be more consistent by using the following scale: 1 = Boring or unpleasant enough that I couldn't finish (or had to force myself to finish) 2 = Finished but didn't particularly enjoy 3 = Liked it this time but not interested in listening again 4 = Planning to listen to it again (for enjoyment; listening again because I haven't formed an opinion doesn't count) 5 = Likely to listen frequently (basically the same as 4, but with a

Better than I expected. Still over-processed. But well-produced.

Interesting sounds, but also good background music. Would probably be a 5 if I liked this genre more.

3 = Liked it this time 4 = Listened to it again at least once because I wanted to (not just to decide if I liked it) 5 = Likely to listen frequently

Enjoyed, but several songs were a bit too samey. Likely won't listen much in the future. Maybe here and there.

Standout track: Broken

Struggled whether to rate this 4 or 5.

Reminds me of early Imogen Heap

Really liked this on first listen. But I need to downgrade because very little has stuck with me. Maybe I'll come back and relisten again. 3 = enjoyed but won't listen again 4 = listened again at least once because I wanted to hear it again So this is a 3.5, which breaks my scale. I haven't given many 1's though, so I guess I'll round down and recalibrate future ratings lower.

Pleasant enough, no desire to re-listen.

Slim Shady meets blues. It's good, but I have the feeling it gets more notability for the subject matter than it deserves for the music. 'Stagger Lee' has a great groove.

Blackstar is good, carried by the syncopated drum beat & production. The rest seem kinda forgettable. I'm trying for an objective rating scale, 1 = Couldn't make it all the way through. 2 = Finished the album, but didn't enjoy it 3 = Finished the album, enjoyed it 4 = Also listened a second time for pleasure 5 = Added to my library So it should get a 4. But I can't in good conscience give it that with only one standout track, so I'm going to downgrade in this case.

5+ listens, still can't decide if interesting or boring. Fine as background music at least.

Rating scale: 3 = Liked, won't listen again 4 = Liked, listened again for pleasure 5 = Liked, downloaded Might be benefiting from being good background music while working.

Started strong, lost some luster on repeated listens.

I've listened 3x in the background and I'm not sick of it yet… but it has also not caught my interest once.

Falls off a little in the second half, but the first half is strong enough to carry it to five stars (meaning good enough to download for regular listening, not perfect).

Easy

Crushingly boring. Only gets 2 stars because I made it through the whole thing as background music. I can accept it being on the list as an important historical album, but released in any other year I would be aghast.

Boring

It's fine, it's catchy, a few good songs, but I don't feel the need to listen again. Maybe I'm underrating this because I've heard Tainted Love 1001 times on the radio, hard to tell.

This record gets rating whiplash award. For context, my scale is: 1. Was not able to force myself to listen all the way through. 2. Listened through, but did not enjoy 3. Enjoyed, but feel no need to revisit 4. Listened again for pleasure. (Sometimes I also listen again if I'm not sure how to rate or just had it on as background music). 5. Downloaded for future listening. Doesn't mean it's a masterpiece, because that's hard to know on first impression; there's a lot of variation within this category. In the morning, I listened to this for the first time. Thought it would be a 2. Just nothing that caught my attention, and not even great as background music. In the afternoon, exhausted, I gave it a second try. Instantly: wow that's the vibe. Highly recommend listening at the end of a long day, and only then.

I liked it quite a bit, listened like 6 times before deciding that I don't really care about having this in my regular rotation. It's just missing some spark, hard to describe.

That's a lot of the same song. It's OK to start, but I'm so done by the end.

I can't rate this fairly, because these songs have been deservedly played to death on the radio. Normally I give an album a 5 if I want to download it and listen to it regularly (even if it's not my favorite). I think this would reach that bar, if not for the radio. If I were to stick to my scale dogmatically, this would get a 3: I enjoyed the listen but am not going back to do it again.

Worthy of list. Except 'Split Myself In Two', which is painful to listen to. I just can't do distortion that sounds like noise.

Parton's voice is great but besides that the songs are just kinda run of the mill?

Starts and ends strong ('Barbarism begins at home' is an awesome jam). But the rest is a bit samey, struggled to pay attention during or remember afterwards. Sometimes these type of songs grow on me, like Dear Science, which I gave a 3 and would now consider a 5. So this might be a 5 ("good enough to download for my library"), but for now I can only give it a 4 ("played again at least once for pleasure").

I think there's something interesting here, but am not willing to listen loud enough to find it.

Walk on by = 5 Rest = 3

This is a personal favorite, so I knew what it would be before listening. Listened first anyway, though :)

Milquetoast medly of many genres I like. No Expectations isn't bluesy enough. Jigsaw Puzzle would be better if it went full Billy Joel. Salt of the Earth finally lands on its rock-n-rolling feet, and drags the album up to 2 stars.

Pleasant background music. Not really special thougthough. Except for title track, but you didn't need ththe 1001 albums list to hear that.

Really good background music. On the boring (though well produced) side when actively listening.

It's like Portishead minus Radiohead.

"800 Albums and 500 Singles You Must Hear Before You Die" would be a better book.