My 1001 Albums Journey

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1990s

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Post-punk

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators The 13th Floor Elevators	5	2.96	+2.04
1999 Prince	5	3.6	+1.4
(What's The Story) Morning Glory Oasis	5	3.84	+1.16

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Trans Europe Express Kraftwerk	1	3.15	-2.15
Country Life Roxy Music	1	3.11	-2.11
Coles Corner Richard Hawley	1	3.03	-2.03
Sticky Fingers The Rolling Stones	2	3.87	-1.87
Green River Creedence Clearwater Revival	2	3.78	-1.78
Superunknown Soundgarden	2	3.66	-1.66
Live At The Witch Trials The Fall	1	2.64	-1.64
Heroes David Bowie	2	3.61	-1.61
Gorillaz Gorillaz	2	3.53	-1.53
Queen II Queen	2	3.49	-1.49

5-Star Albums (3)

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The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

Popular Reviews

Kollaps

Einstürzende Neubauten

1/5

My god what will this do to my Spotify recommendations???

112 likes

Country Life

Roxy Music

1/5

I tried to like it. Even listened to it twice. But it just sounded like a near retirement school disco band badly covering other songs.

3 likes

Coles Corner

Richard Hawley

1/5

Astonishing this made it onto a list of must listen to albums

2 likes

The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators

5/5

Any album with an electric jug is at minimum a 4.4 and then they make the rest up with fantastic songwriting. There’s only 1 mediocre song on the whole album (Monkey Island) everything else are classics. I just wished they hadn’t called it psychedelic cause it’s not really. The album has more in common with stoner/ garage/ punk rock than it does psychedelic music. Although it was released in 1966, the same year Tomorrow Never Knows came out, so was there at the very start of the psychedelic movement. I’d forgotten about the sound-quality which is a shame. It sounds cheaply produced with the sounds muffled and distant. But I LOVE this album. All the songs sound different and exciting, the songwriting is excellent and there was nothing like this in 1966. Maybe my favourite album cover of all time too. 5 stars.

2 likes

(What's The Story) Morning Glory

Oasis

5/5

A masterpiece. Oasis are at the funny point that most overplayed and extremely popular bands find themselves in: they seem a bit naff. But when you judge the album on a song by song basis there’s no doubt they can write catchy era defining music. It’s not perfect: She’s Electric has some of the best/worst lyrics of all time and the opening track is weak. But pound for pound this has to be one of the greatest albums of all time.

1 likes

1-Star Albums (6)

Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman

All Ratings

Sticky Fingers

The Rolling Stones

2/5

I saw a Stones tribute recently a

To Pimp A Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar

4/5

Loved the blend of hip-hop and acid jazz. I think I'll like it even more the second time round.

Siamese Dream

The Smashing Pumpkins

3/5

Mediocre Rock album. Well done Smashing Pumpkins. You smashed it!!!

Hotel California

Eagles

3/5

Enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Hotel California (obvs) and Wasted Time were my stand outs. But too many other bands do this genre better to give this any more than 3.

Street Life

The Crusaders

2/5

Street Life was a great song, everything else was meh.

The Queen Is Dead

The Smiths

4/5

Not enough Marr for me. Morrissey was on top form as singer and lyricist but was very uninteresting musically. Saying that some absolute cracking songs on this album.

Fleet Foxes

2/5

The perfect accompaniment to watching paint dry

Country Life

Roxy Music

1/5

I tried to like it. Even listened to it twice. But it just sounded like a near retirement school disco band badly covering other songs.

1999

Prince

5/5

Easily the album I’ve enjoyed the most in this project. It was nearly all killer and even the bits I thought were filler on the 1st listen might grow on me on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th listen. Having never listened to Prince before, consider me a fan.

Underwater Moonlight

The Soft Boys

4/5

The melody of the Byrds meets the sound of 3rd Floor Elevators meets the mood of Pulp.

Superunknown

Soundgarden

2/5

I found myself craving melody and any sound other than loud guitars. Black Hole Sun is a classic and Head Down was a surprise find. The band said they wanted to be a bit more Ringo on this album (the drumming was awesome) but think they should have tried to be a bit more Paul.

Brothers

The Black Keys

4/5

The answer to the question: what if Jack White fronted T-Rex? The whole album has a distinct glam-rock blues vibe relying on a thumping guitar warble to drive almost every song. There’s a lot of filler - the album has no right to be an hour. Sinister Kid and The Go Getter should have been scrapped as should the last 3 songs. But there are so many fantastic songs on this album: Everlasting Light, Howlin’ for you and Ten Cent Pistol are 3 nostalgic favourites. And Tighten Up and Never Gonna Give You Up are 2 songs I’d forgotten about that made the album worth revisiting.

Trans Europe Express

Kraftwerk

1/5

If I wanted to listen to someone robotically deliver the same thing over and over again I’d watch the government in session

LP1

FKA twigs

2/5

Too much going on for me. Felt like I was having a conversation with 20 people at once.

Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk

3/5

I'm not really a jazz person but I did enjoy this. Felt like I was transported to another time - to think this was recorded in the late 50s is remarkable.

Out Of The Blue

Electric Light Orchestra

3/5

I thought I loved this album but it turns out I loved 3 songs from this album: Mr Blue Sky, Sweet Talkin' Woman and Turn to Stone. The rest of album felt a bit unsure of itself - not knowing what it wanted to be and excessively schmaltzy.

Pink Flag

Wire

4/5

Fun punk album with lots of short ideas for songs that somehow add up to a great album.

Coles Corner

Richard Hawley

1/5

Astonishing this made it onto a list of must listen to albums

Kollaps

Einstürzende Neubauten

1/5

My god what will this do to my Spotify recommendations???

Live At The Witch Trials

The Fall

1/5

Didn’t enjoy this one either - a 3rd 1 star in a row I’m afraid. It just lacked any interesting ideas and ended up up being a dull listen. I like punk but what was this rebelling against? Melody?

(What's The Story) Morning Glory

Oasis

5/5

KIWANUKA

Michael Kiwanuka

4/5

Some great songs that marry Indie and Soul influences nicely. Struggles sometimes from the ‘soft’ influences of Billie Eilish where you just want a bit more bite.

The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators

5/5

Private Dancer

Tina Turner

2/5

Giving it a generous 2 because I liked the synth I Can’t Stand the Rain cover, but the original’s better. Help and Let’s Stay Together sound like cheap knock offs. Wasn’t a fan of any of the original music.

Close To The Edge

Yes

3/5

I only knew Yes’ Sweetness (which I like) before listening to this album. This is a lot more chaotic and dissonant in a stereotypical prog-rock way. Some good bits, some painful bits. But enjoyable enough to give it 3 stars.

If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears

The Mamas & The Papas

2/5

Monday, Monday was a promising opening track and California Dreamin remains as epic as ever. No other songs particularly stood out. Considering 1966 also saw the release of Revolver and Pet Sounds, the album probably sounded dated even back then.

Gorillaz

2/5

Felt a bit like the mamas and papas album: one mega hit and everything else was meh.

Everything Must Go

Manic Street Preachers

4/5

Surprised by the hate. This is a great melodic, moody and varied album. I get it sounds a little generic - fair enough. It suffers slightly from the 'wall of sound' production that I think came back into fashion in the 90s. But there's not one bad song on the album. And the album got better as it went along: Enola/Alone, Removables, Further Away are all brilliant indie songs. And then the best song on the album is the last song 'No Surface All Feeling'.

Vivid

Living Colour

2/5

It sounded like Footloose with guitar solos. Funny Vibe was the only stand out song for me (that didn't sound like Footloose or the Ghostbusters theme...)

Fun House

The Stooges

2/5

Struggling to find the words for why I didn't like it... maybe cause I listened to it 3 times and nothing stuck with me at all.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

4/5

Absolute classic that still holds up. Not much else to say.

Melodrama

Lorde

3/5

I thought it sounded a bit generic, which is to say it’s not really my thing. But when the pop gimmicks were stripped back the songs were amazing. ‘Liability’ is easily the stand out song on the album and an immediate favourite of recent years. The Bush-esque (Kate not George) ‘Writer In The Dark’ is the only other song I enjoyed.

Led Zeppelin

4/5

Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman

John Zorn

1/5

Sounded like if a saxophone played the drill instructor in Full Metal Jacket

Killing Joke

2/5

‘Bloodsport’ was a great song, didn’t particularly like anything else.

Green River

Creedence Clearwater Revival

2/5

The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

The Incredible String Band

3/5

I feel very uncool saying this but.... I quite liked it. My favourite genre/era is probably psychedelic/60s so this isn't that far removed from stuff I listen to. And the other qualifier is I put almost no weight into lyrics so the stream-of-consciousness babble doesn't really bother me. It reminded me a bit of listening to Donovan, another Scottish psychedelic folk singer, but if you reconstructed his work by putting it into a blender. It's a bit all over the place but that's obviously the point. Some bits are really good and other parts are really testing. Favourite bit: a music-hall song about a Minotaur who 'can't dream well because of his horns'. Brilliant.

Heroes

David Bowie

2/5

Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust are two of my favourite albums of all time. Always assumed I’d love this album too but it was just so dull. Heroes is obviously a classic but nothing else came remotely close to the title track.

Colour By Numbers

Culture Club

3/5

It was fine, like spending an hour listening to Magic FM.

Time Out

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

4/5

Not the best album to try and work to but a great album for the morning while you’re eating cereal and attempting a crossword. Even better if the cereal is jazz-appropriate e.g bran flakes or muesli. Probably doesn’t pair well with coco pops.

Nilsson Schmilsson

Harry Nilsson

3/5

Superfly

Curtis Mayfield

4/5

This has to be one of the best movie soundtracks of all time

Dummy

Portishead

4/5

Merriweather Post Pavilion

Animal Collective