1001 Albums Summary

Admittedly, the version of this album I listened to today was the 2009 remaster, but this sounds so far ahead of its time. It’s hard to believe it was originally released in the 60’s. It’s very nicely composed piano rock, with definite tendencies to lean into the folk side too. For some reason, it gave me the sense of going sailing - although, that’s perhaps due to set expectations from the album title and cover. Overall, yeah I liked this.

I did enjoy this album, but I find it hard to fathom how it can be anybody’s favourite. It’s nice, and it’s maudlin (which is a value I tend to enjoy), but so many bands do this better. At least in my gammy little opinion. It’s far from bad, but it’s just not very memorable.

The album generator I use to listen to a new album every day generated this while I was sat wearing an Electric Callboy hockey jersey. Coincidence? Yeah. Anyway, as much as I do enjoy this album, I do still recognise that the gimmicky nature of it can put some people off. It is a fusion of metalcore and eurodance which, some would argue, should never be mixed. For me though, it just sounds so fun. It’s very much tongue in cheek, and is unlikely to be an album that goes down in history as a masterpiece, but it’s damn good at making me smile.

I expected to like this album, as the listed genres seem like they’d be up my alley. However, I found myself generally growing bored and annoyed. Don’t get me wrong - there were certainly some parts where I could appreciate the creativity of the compositions, but I just didn’t find it interesting enough to take much from it. Perhaps listening on a different day where I can commit some time to losing myself in this album would yield a different impression, but listening today didn’t really give me much worth remembering.

Sublime were one of the original third wave ska bands. If it wasn’t for Sublime, I’d wage that bands like Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, and others wouldn’t be around today as we know them. I actually got into Sublime a few years after hearing RBF and LTJ, so I maybe heard them in the wrong order. Anyway, this album is fantastic. I love how the happy sounding music contrasts with the often dark themes in the lyrics - something that has become fairly common in ska-punk as a whole. I love this album. Wrong Way is under-appreciated, in my gammy little opinion.

I didn’t quite expect to enjoy this as much as I did. When it opened on Apple Music and I saw the classical symbol, I knew it would be a roll of the dice for me, either being something great or something forgettable. Thankfully, this created such a nice soundtrack while I was working. It is quite sedate and minimalistic, reminding me, surprisingly, of bands like Boards Of Canada. But instead of chill beats, it is chill strings. Quite nice, all in all.

I remember hearing Cake as a teenager and loving the guitar sound. It is just so understated. It’s distorted, but not heavy - almost as I’ve coming through a radio or something. And yet it is so clean too. The bass playing together with the guitar makes something parallel to funk, but isn’t quite funky. It’s slacker rock, maybe, especially with the unenthusiastic vocals. I just really like Cake. Personally, I think Comfort Eagle was their best.

This will be a short review as I’m sat in a pub in York with my sister. I listened to this while we drove here. I didn’t mind this album, but it all kinda became part of the background rather than being something that captured my interest much. It’s ok, but a bit slow and (sorry) boring for me.

What a banger this album is! It opens very strong with the commentary of prison overcrowding, and stays strong until the end. These guys had a lot they wanted to say here, and they did it with oomph, and in their own System Of A Down way that hasn’t really been replicated by any other bands. It’s heavy, except when it’s not. It’s melodic, except when it’s not. This album is also full of nostalgia for me, as most of the System songs I knew as a teen were from this. I’ll say it again - it’s a banger.

I’m fairly sure that I’d heard of Frightened Rabbit before, but I don’t think I’d actually heard any of their songs until now. This album is undoubtedly a pop-rock album, but with just the right amount of strange embedded within it. The time signatures aren’t always predictable, nor are the vocals. Yet it never gets too wacky, with is a big pro. It’s a thin line between interesting and annoying, and this stays firmly in the former camp. I really quite enjoyed this.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how cool the singer’s voice is? There is a lot to enjoy on the album, but the vocals are the highlight for me. I was surprised to find that Love Rears Its Ugly Head seemed familiar, as prior to listening I’d have said I only knew Cult Of Personality by this band. I didn’t recognise any track titles before listening. Anyway, the guitar is groovy, but with enough distortion to get you rocking. The vocals are crisp. I like this. Banging album.

This wasn’t at all what I was expecting. I guess it shows to never judge a book by its cover, but based on the band name and album title, I was expecting something along the lines of the Gipsy Kings or some other flamenco. Definitely wasn’t expecting some alt punk! Great vocals, great guitars. Banger of an album.

I’ve always been a sucker for synth pop. Oftentimes, the genre is fairly shallow and cheesy, but this album is harder hitting. Despite being over 40 years old now, I challenge you to read the lyrics to Won’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me and ask yourself if it is still perfectly relevant today. It’s depressing that it is, but it most definitely is. All of this is overlayed onto extremely catchy pop hooks and vocal harmonies, culminating into something spectacular. My manager actually recommended this album a few months ago, and I’m glad he did.

I remember hearing this when it first came out and thinking it was refreshing to hear something different. It’s like a load of other bubblegum j-pop, except in filthy dropped tunings and the occasional growl. It’s definitely something fun, but equally very much a gimmick. I find it hard to take something considered to be “kawaii-metal” too seriously, but then again, I don’t think it is trying to be taken seriously. If you want a bit of dumb fun, this is good sounding. It’s also a bit funny, because it’s three young girls with crystal clear singing, over some real dirty metal guitars.

It will be a short review today. This album isn’t terrible by any means, but I did find myself getting a little bored after only a few tracks. I then paused the album, as I was listening while driving and finished my journey, and found it hard to motivate myself to listen to the rest. This in itself tells me that it simply isn’t one for me. Not awful, just not good either.

If you’re not sure whether you know any REM, listened to this album and I bet you’ll be surprised by how many tracks are familiar. Based on continued radio play alone, I think it wouldn’t be too controversial to suggest that this is the best album by the band. Losing My Religion and Shiny Happy People are absolute bangers, and the rest of the music here is in a very similar vein. Catchy jangle pop through and through.

This felt as middle of the road as hard-rock/metal gets. That’s not to say it was bad, but my overall lasting impression was, “huh, that was alright”. Admittedly, it didn’t exactly have my undivided attention, but it equally never really felt like it needed it either.

I expected a band with a name like Titus Andronicus to be some kind of heavy metal. I’m not sure why - it just seems like it should be for some reason. Anyway, this is actually folky punk music, sort of similar to bands like Flogging Molly, but with a bit less Celtic influence. At the same time though, I felt myself less enamoured with Titus than I did with the more Celtic bands. Perhaps this is just due to less familiarity. This album is pretty decent anyway.

Perhaps I’m being unnecessarily harsh here, but the lack of accessibility of this album started me off in a bad mood. If the only way to find it is through YouTube, and surrounded by ads, it’s far from an ideal listening experience. That being said, the music itself was really bad anyway. It’s experimental rock, and maybe I’m just not in the mood for that today. It’s a painful listen, and one that makes it hard to believe that the band were paid money to make this. It’s really not for me.

Well golly gee, that album title is a bit fruity isn’t it? Anyway, this album is really good. It does seem odd to have the Talking Heads with guest vocalists instead of that usual fella, and I think I do prefer that usual fella given the choice, but I still enjoyed this anyway. Shaun Ryder has such a distinctive voice, that I immediately had to check when I heard him. If you like the Talking heads, you’ll probably like this. But you’ll probably still prefer the Talking Heads.

I didn’t expect to like this album. The sad thing is that the reason for this is due to it being fairly recent. I’ve been listening to a lot of 70s music over recent weeks, so recency-bias actually had the opposite effect here. Anyway, I enjoyed this much more than I expected. Perhaps the elements of soul and funk tapped into my preferred recent decades, but either way it won my over. This album spans genres, but not so much much that it blows my mind - you won’t find smooth jazz followed by death metal here. It does keep the album feeling fresh though.

There is nothing objectively awful about this. My main gripe with it is that it sounds like it could be an Elvis Costello album and, after listening to far too many of those, I’m a bit burnt out from it all. It’s straight up pop rock with maybe a hint of jangle thrown in there, but there isn’t really anything to make my ears prick up. It’s unlikely to be an album I’ll give a second listen to.

My main issue with Enter Shikari is that they take themselves too seriously. It seems like an obvious thing to say, but mixing EDM with metal is pretty silly. Other bands lean into the silliness of this, which makes it more fun (Electric Callboy, Babymetal, etc.) but Enter Shikari have no tongue-in-cheek about them, which ends up making them feel a bit cringey. On this album, they’re at their best when the synths are less prevalent, but I’d also add that the screaming vocals are also a bit bad. So with less synth, and more melodic vocals, I’d say it would be decent. Otherwise, it’s a bit meh.

This was a pleasant little jaunt into my ear holes. I hadn’t heard of Amadou and Miriam before, but do really like Manu Chau so that was a nice bonus. I’m not sure how to even categorise this - funky French reggae, maybe? Not sure what else to say about this as I don’t speak French so don’t know what it’s about. It sounds nice though.

It’s strange that I hadn’t heard Alexisonfire until today. I remember them being in Kerrang a lot read I read the magazine as a teen, but I guess I just never got round to listening to them until today. This album is pretty decent. The vocals and the guitars are quite good. However, I think that (bar a few exceptions) I’m just over this whole scene. Maybe I’d have loved it a decade ago, but with today’s ears, I think that “pretty alright” is a reasonable take on this.

This is an odd one to review. I’m really glad I heard it as it’s quite different to anything I’ve heard before. That said, I can’t decide on if I actually like it or not. There are parts that I loved, and parts I found quite annoying. I do enjoy the video game feel of it all though. It feels almost dubstep in parts, and (crazy as it sounds) almost punk in others. They clearly do what they wanna do without trying to fit in with the mainstream, and that’s what punk is all about. All of that said, I’m undecided whether I’ll be likely to hear it again. I’m very glad to have heard it once though.

It would be interesting to have seen the impact this had on release (if any), but alas I was only 4 so Weezer weren’t really on my radar. It’s a very loved album by dorks these days, but I don’t actually know if it was an instant hit or not. I do still often listen to this album. It has just the right amount of a lazy feel, whilst somehow also being refined enough to show off the vocal harmonies. Basically, it’s straight up, really good power pop. And you’ve gotta love how awkward that album cover looks. What a classic.

I hadn’t heard of Wussy before today. The band name does make me chuckle, as it’s a term that’s often used in the UK to describe a coward. Not sure if that’s what they were going for here, but it’s the first thing that comes to my mind. The music here is pleasant enough. I made for a merry old jaunt while driving into Bury and back yesterday. It was far from music that enraptured my being, but it was still pretty good. Like maybe a more rocky Beautiful South at times.