1001 Albums Summary

Concerned that just listening to this album may have impregnated me

Eventually infectious beats and positivity

Absolute blast.

Concept gets in the way of some great songs unfortunately

The way this album project has turned me in to a Steely Dan Stan (Steely Stan?) ………… unprecedented

I mostly knew GSH as a spoken word artist and it was a delight to get to know him as a vocalist. What a beautiful voice. I'm glad the production was a little spare to showcase it. That being said, my favourite track was H2O Gate Blues.

After reading the reviews I’m really glad that I know zero Neil Young lore so I could just enjoy this one. Which I did!

High points: (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang, Soul Warfare. Reminds me of: Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the lighter side of New Order

Sometimes an artist’s best album is their greatest hits and that’s absolutely fine.

The first track put me into an incredible flow state and the second made me stop working altogether so I could just listen.

Found this repetitive, cold, and a little dated.

Made my cat freak out

Second half of this record in particular makes me feel like I could punch a hole in a wall

Probably would have liked this more if I hadn’t listened on a Sunday morning

A dad band is born. I actually quite like Foo Fighters but I find this record repetitive and underbaked - maybe would have been a better EP, particularly considering it’s a one-man-band feat.

Really married the freneticism of early Pixies with a kind of musical maturity. First time listening top to bottom - loved it.

Lilith Fair-core. I don’t say that disparagingly. I first encountered Beth Orton when she replaced Liz Phair as the support on Alanis Morrisette’s recent world tour which I found a huge disappointment. I now put that down to her not being an artist well suited to massive venues. This album is a masterpiece. Listened to it walking through Glasgow Green and noticing the trees were all finally coming back. Pure bliss.

This is going to age like a fine wine. Even the songs about fucking are subversive. Near perfect record.

Beth Orton’s vocals close this out so euphorically - a nice callback to having Central Reservation to listen to earlier in the week - and I made a delicious ciabatta while listening to this record. Great vibes, would background-listen again.

Really encapsulates the frustration of a Sunday.

Is it sacrilege to say this one takes a while to get going for me? Far preferred side 2.

Sometimes experiments don’t work out and that’s also a contribution to science.

I really enjoy this movie but listening to this music out of context made me feel like I was getting half an experience.

Speaking as a bassist this album is perfect. Sonically it was like a perfectly mixed live album in that it is completely immersive and even at its extensive running time leaves you wanting more. Loved this.

Funky times are indeed here again. So easy to get caught up in the bore of Cool Britannica and forget that Britpop did actually yield some cool sounds that today feel retro rather than dated. Got on great with this.

I got married to We’re Going to be Friends so this one is always going to have a soft spot for me. On balance I do think the album is uneven with phenomenal singles and okay-to-great album tracks but my god those singles are phenomenal. Anyone who says Meg White is a poor drummer is a sexist dingus who can’t count to four.

Genre wise I think this isn’t for me but it did make me laugh and it got me in a good work groove. I’d recommend it if someone was asking for rap albums.

Found this really boring, had no effect on me whatsoever and the next day i can’t remember it at all.

Dizzee has been comprehensively lapped in his own genre.

So nice to revisit this album that was so definitive in my youth. The hooks on this one are irresistible and by the time you hit Paper Planes you might as well be in a London park drinking a tropical fruit cider - though I think it has been surpassed in terms of political clarity. A good time all round.

Even more downtempo Flaming Lips albums are basically a good time. Folded laundry to this, almost enthusiastically.

Perfectly crafted, and not for me anyway. Found this terminally dull.

I had no idea that this album is considered a classic. I thought it was a vehicle for an earworm one hit wonder that’s derivative of the Kinks. Baffled by its inclusion.

Really pleasant listen - bonus Todd Terry remixes, as always, elevate this music to a euphoric plane

Sublime, storytelling led songwriting. Certainly my favourite Beatles album. In My Life and Norwegian Wood are career highlights imo.

I thought this was a blast - really easy and fun listen which has not been my perception of Ghostface Killah at all. Would definitely put this on whenever.

As near to perfect as it gets. More songwriters should be poets.

Hammond organ is an exceptionally grating sound to build an entire record around

My least favourite Beatles record. The first is explosively original; subsequents are more textured; this is just flat for me.

Considering this is a genre I’ve never listened to before from a culture i have relatively limited exposure to, I got a lot from this. Beautiful music if you sit with it. I think I would listen to this again!

This is one of the best live records I’ve ever heard. Crisp and joyful with a vocal powerhouse from a true vanguard and pacing and energy to spare. A joy to listen to.

Exactly the kind of album I hoped this project would bring me - I did not anticipate enjoying spacey jazz-fusion instrumentals this much but here we are. I loved this slice of weirdness.

At first I didn’t think I would get on with this at all but around a third of the way in I found it was becoming infectious. I don’t know if I’d re-listen but glad to have had my horizons broadened by this one.

Undeniable genius on wax. Pure joy. Loved this.

Absolutely nothing wrong with thrash metal you can dance to. Reminded me of being a teenager in mostly good ways. Fun nostalgic listen.

Sonically not my favourite but I appreciated the complexities of this record.

I thought this was fun to dance in the shower to, I can only imagine how fun it would have been at CBGBs.

I had never heard of these guys before but immediately heard their influence on the Pixies and REM, two bands I love, from the opening track. This was such a pleasant listen.

Classic for a reason, while still feeling like he might have had his best work ahead of him. Benefits from mythology, but good anyway.

A note to male artists: you can’t just say you’re not a misogynist and then go onto say virulently misogynistic things. I liked a lot of this musically but when I started REALLY enjoying it I looked at my phone and realised the album had ended and Spotify had shuffled similar songs. So.

Supremely perfect vibes. Painted my hallway to this which was a very relaxing experience

A grower that’s substantial enough to give you time to grow. The second half in particular is sublime. Loved revisiting this record of my childhood.

When poets become musicians it doesn’t always work out this well. Solitude Standing is more of a hitting-her-stride record but this is just lovely.

I like to listen to a Tom Waits song every now and then…. This was a lot. A difficult listen.

Love it when my AOTD is something I have a physical copy of - a treat to listen to this classic on vinyl. There are a couple of album tracks that drag it down but inspired singles and hidden gems like Fade Away and Radiate make this a pleasure to listen to.

First time listen for me - extremely my shit. Shades of Talking Heads, Aztec Camera. Will definitely be in future rotation.

This album fucks.

I really miss this band. Meticulous yet gritty, this is perfect rock and roll.

Virtuosic, but not for me.

She’s great and everything but I will never listen to this record again.

Transcendental music, connecting to a higher level of spirit. The veil is thin on this one. A truly special record.

One genius track does not an essential record make. A poor showing in my opinion.

Sounds like the start of something great. I only know Pretenders by their singles so was very rewarding to listen to in full.

Millennial nostalgia was strong with this one, and it’s always interesting to revisit a “masterpiece” without zeitgeist. The whiplash from Runaway (which is a masterpiece) to Hell of a Life (which is stupid) is significant. The Chris Rock skit is far too long. That said the high points of this album are raw and virtuosic. I miss the old Kanye!

Of all the artists I’ve kind of known but given a proper listen for the first time during this experiment, Stevie Wonder had been the one I’ve been most consistently moved by. The transition from Too Shy to Say to Boogie On Reggae Woman alone is worth the price of admission. Gorgeous, surprisingly spiritual slice of funk.

Never really gave this band a fair shake and while I did enjoy parts of this I found it a little one-note and drawn out.

An alt rock gem. I saw Smashing Pumpkins well after their prime, about a decade ago - listening to this today made me wish I had been around for the joy and charisma of their younger records.

Huge artistic feat and honestly impressive how consistently interesting the songs are.

I don’t think Saint Etienne hit their stride in this first album but it’s an enjoyably enough slice of dance music with retro inflection.

This album is not good enough to fake breaking up over, but my cat liked it.

Seeds of greatness in this one. Too many skits swells the runtime somewhat.

Gen X has too much of a chokehold on this list overall and the over representation of Moz is evidence. I like the Smiths but I don’t think this is an essential record in the slightest. Its high points simply aren’t that high.

I’m literally begging for no more Rush.

Jazzier than I thought from only Cut your Hair! A very easy, interesting listen.

I found myself thinking "This has a Costello-y edge to it" and have just read the wikipedia and discovered he produced it. A match made in heaven. This album captures lightning in a bottle - pure Irish storytelling with a new wave sensibility. I loved this.

Enjoyed this more as a bassist than as a pop music fan.

I had so little inclination to listen to this after living downstairs from a heroin addict who would play it on a loop on top volume in 2011. I hope he’s doing okay. I thought this album was fine.

I always struggle with live albums. I find them a little distracting. Did not enjoy this as much as the Fela Kuti studio record I heard earlier in the experience

No

As near to perfect as you can musically get while maintaining a sense of humour. When we talk about an imperial phase this is what we mean.

I really think this woman is the heir apparent to Prince

Gothlyf

I'd only listened to the singles from this and I did enjoy them - found this album kind of a joy overall, though bloated and with a thematic adventurousness that careens into being unfocused at times.

Can’t believe this project is covertly turning me into a blues n jazz gal.

This album is a joyful hit factory.

Enjoyably unpredictable

My husband and I used to make out to this album all the time when we were kids. On balance the album itself isn’t my favourite Arcade Fire record but this relisten made me horny so I stand by scoring it high.

I sincerely doubt I needed to hear TWO Verve albums before dying.

Being a millennial RULES please don’t look at the economy ahaha

Undeniable pop excellence. We used to have this on vinyl when I was a kid and when you unfolded the gate sleeve his legs popped out which I was obsessed with.

Perfunctorily atmospheric but not really essential

This album is so much fun, perfect example of a concert record.

Mellow, prescient, probably one of my favourite records in this genre

I found this dismal. Made me think regatta was very much not for de Blanc.

Ain’t no way I HAD to listen to this before dying

This albums project is a trip because you’ll be listening to a record you enjoyed in your youth and then BAM the most misogynistic lyrics you’ve ever heard in your life. Steve Harris is a GOAT bassist, most of this album is really fun musically and the lyrics are about half good.

This is his best album. It’s gorgeous.

Nah this rules. Pure musicality in action. Still exciting today.

Had a blast with this one

Quietly said “oh no…” to myself when this came up because i LOVED this record on its release and feared it would be yet another casualty of the indie bubble’s self inflated. But! This is still a lot of fun. More quirky than other examples of the genre. Listened with a smile on my face.

Really interesting marriage of joy and fury. Loved this.

Listened to this while painting an unventilated closet. Talk about psychedelic. Very groovy.

Mostly harmless.

Too short to be this sweet

I love pop music

Did not care about this in the slightest

This is my least favourite of her albums and it’s still an absolute barnstormer.

I never can decide whether Monster or Green is my favourite REM record. Today I’m leaning Green. This album is just so much fun.

If you can hear Cloudbusting without spontaneously tearing up with joy then congratulations for being less embarrassing on a train than I am I guess

Sonic Youth is better than the music you like

I really didn't hate this as much as I thought I was going to from the opening but I'm still ultimately just not a prog rock person

Loved the energy of this but felt it was too long.

I drank three espressos and got a months worth of work done while listening to this!!!!

I would not watch this movie.

Maybe you had to be there.

I’m seeing the Pumpkins this week so this was timely. A perennial favourite, my most beloved double album, it’s bloated sure but it’s also opulent.

Ya okay. Sometimes “unobjectionable” is exactly what you’re after.

The Elvis Costello track I’ve listened to the most overall is definitely the Kidney Now song from 30 Rock, so this was a fun change of pace from that.

NWA was so much more than the sum of its parts

I missed this one completely despite typically being the kind of person who pays attention to the Mercury. Must’ve been distracted by something in 2020. Anyway this was infectious from the first minute. The reliance on distortion got a bit wearing for me but I loved this regardless.

It's the sound of an artist maturing and in that way it's kind of transitional - but that's not to say it's boring. With Bowie the transformation is often the best part. I love this album.

Absolutely relentless and a great time

Sounds like the soundtrack to the annoying movie I’ve never seen

Cool and unexpected. What are they outting in the water down there in Cymru?

Nothing gets me into a work flow at my extremely dull desk job than listening to the Prodigy lol

Got laid while this was playing, hell yeah 😎

I was really primed to hate this but god damn it it got me. It seems it’s a real marmite album but I love marmite so you can all go kick rocks. Put me on an acid folk kick for the rest of the morning.

This is brilliant. I guess I don’t really “get” jazz but I got this. Maybe people overthink it - this was super easy to just enjoy and relax into.

This was more Interesting than Good.

Surprisingly innocent.

Not my favourite Cure sound but enjoyably lofi.

When this website sends me yet another Rush album it’s “they REALLY should limit how many times an artist can appear” but when it’s my favourite band, I’m delighted every time. What can I say? I’m a hypocrite. This is the Heads’ bluesiest output and I prefer to be able to dance but it’s still a treat.

I bought this CD second hand from the late great Avalanche Records in Glasgow in 2004 because I liked that the cover had cross dressers on it. It blew my 14 year old mind because it was so different from everything I’d ever heard before. Since then I’ve heard the bands who have lapped them - and their better contemporaries- but I really loved revisiting this glam, gross, gorgeous record.

Proof that the Mersey music phenomenon is often one of quantity rather than quality

Audacious and fun, but 20 years later I still don’t really understand why it’s a double album rather than two releases.

This is exactly the type of album I hope to get from this project because I would never pick it out myself but it was amazing

Fun!!

Quite unbelievably bland.

It’s barely music.

Being a fan of pop music is one of the greatest joys of my life.

Does anyone else really feel like they’re going through something when they hear Vienna? An all-time Sunday morning classic album.

Is this a bit?

A happy Monday? In this economy?

A new (to me) Joni and what a treat as ever. I enjoyed the music a little less than her other records by my god her words are always unimpeachable. Will DEFINITELY relisten.

I liked how maximalist and audacious this was. I just don’t want theatre kids getting too big for their britches.

A classic in the genre of “stuff I’d have never heard of or listened to if not for 1001 Albums” but I enjoyed it!

I'd never heard of Shuggie Otis before but as soon as Strawberry Letter 23 hit I got a wave of recognition. I listened to the deluxe version (hence hearing that track) and didn't think anything on the original album met the deluxe tracks in quality which is interesting, but I loved this. Great workflow music.

My husband’s favourite song is Behind Blue Eyes and I love my husband a lot :)

I listened to this on acid and it ruled

Having a track called "The Worst Band in the World" on this garbaggio album is ragebait in the extreme.

Ragging on Coldplay is really hacky. That being said, this could not be less For Me. There's a really boring guy in my office who has Coldplay album art postcards up in his cubicle and I kept getting worried he would somehow sense I was listening to this and start talking to me

Visibly cringed at “I’m the enchanted wizard of rhythm” and the album never really won me back round after that

So fun to listen to Fairytale of New York in its own context instead of overstimulated in the queue at John Lewis

It's a 'me' problem - the songwriting is undeniable, I just personally hate that sound. Sorry Oasis fans. I always was a Pulp girl.

Bravura masterpiece. Really bold and diverse. Loved it.

I really would rather have been watching a David Lynch movie.

The sound of your mum and dad cleaning the house on a Saturday morning - a day wrecked before it even begins. That said, not unpleasant.

I saw this album performed live last year and it RULED; today I appreciated how the record makes it sound small but bursting at the seams. It's so energetic and fun.

A little draggy outside of the singles which is fine - sometimes an artist’s best album is their greatest hits.

Haven't listened to this since it released. I still think it's visionary and haunting. Miss him so much!

Don't worry guys, other users have covered the Big Lebowski reference. This is a good album, sorry you're all irony poisioned. Get well soon! Really enjoyed being out on my bike in the sunshine listening to this.

So much more pleasant and recognisable than I’d first thought.

This is exactly why I'm doing this album challenge - I already know how I feel about Morrissey and Iggy Pop and Eminem and all the other extremely well represented artists. Give me something I've never even heard of! I loved this, I really appreciated its meandering pace and I thought her voice was beautiful.

Like all teenagers who have learned guitar since the 70s, I had a Pink Floyd phase, and since I was a teenager of a somewhat theatrical bent this was the album that resonated most strongly with me. I think I even played Goodbye Blue Sky for a recital once. Since then I’ve fallen away from Pink Floyd and haven’t listened to this record in probably fifteen years. It’s a completely different album to me now; as a teenager I approached it as a kind of allegory, and since teenagers are narcissistic I could hear my own life in it. I now hear it as someone whose pains have calcified into a wall of my own -different, but no less vulnerable - and I’m living through a time when I can see many people my age build their own walls during a descent into fascism, and it’s all the more sinister for it. This album absolutely fucking rips. That said, I really hate the film.

I hate rap skits so much. Like it becomes impossible for me to tell if the album is actually good or not. Overall I did think this was really thematically and musically repetitive.

What do they do on the other side of the LP though

Mostly great but punctuated by real downer moments of beatnik bullshit.

I lived in Derry for 5 years so I’ve heard my share of Undertones whether I wanted to or not. Is this a safe space to say I think they’re only okay?

Not memorable to me.

That full length instrumental intro for Papa Was a Rolling Stone is SO exciting.

Took me a while to find a groove with this but once I did I was so in. Long live lo-fi!

Really pleasant music. Sounded like the kind of thing the friends on Friends would have been really psyched to go see in concert. Like REM but not as cool. I think I mean all of this in a complimentary way.

Loved this on release. Like it a little less now. Words That Maketh Murder is my most re-listened PJ track but the rest of the album kind of sacrifices musicality for atmosphere.

Completely out-laps its corresponding album. Genius!

I have a really specific memory of a girl giving me this CD to listen to in first year maths because we were both 13 and having a friendly argument about how our respective favourite music (me: punk rock; her: hip hop) were the true genre to give voice to social commentary. It didn’t win me over then and it doesn’t now but my opinions on hip hop have obviously soften, as I’m sure have hers on punk rock. Anyway I was pretty sure she liked girls so I asked her if she wanted to go to the movies with me and she said “I’m not a fucking dyke”. I didn’t even have a crush on her, I just wanted to talk to other queer girls. Turns out she is fully a lesbian and now I’m married to a man. Life’s strange journey, eh? I’m not rating this because listening to Kanye during this period of his life is a huge buzzkill.

I would’ve been so annoying about this if I’d heard it at 14.

The nexus of “impressive” and “not for me”. I worked in HMV during the 2010s so I know all about this one anyway.

Just lovely.

So breezy and lush. If someone doesn’t like this record it’s a good indication that I don’t have to take their opinions so seriously.

Listened to this wrong (running errands) it definitely needed to be heard while smoking a leisurely cigarette and wearing sunglasses. Will listen again !!

Kismet - I met a woman at the gym today who had this album cover tattooed on her. It's an all timer and my favourite of PJ's albums. Pure Polly Jean-ius.

Really a gorgeous paean to being alive. Makes full use of all the collabs. Missy is one of the greatest to ever do it. Crazy how influential this album is 20 odd years on. The spoken interludes got a little grating. Threw a lot of ass to this in my house this morning.

Not my favourite Bowie. Not sonically or lyrically interesting to me. But even the worst Bowie is kind of good, no?