422
Albums Rated
4.17
Average Rating
39%
Complete
667 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
2010s
Favorite Decade
Electronica
Favorite Genre
other
Top Origin
Enthusiast
Rater Style ?
180
5-Star Albums
0
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
They Were Wrong, So We Drowned
Liars
|
5 | 2.11 | +2.89 |
|
L'Eau Rouge
The Young Gods
|
5 | 2.32 | +2.68 |
|
Sincere
Mj Cole
|
5 | 2.38 | +2.62 |
|
New Forms
Roni Size
|
5 | 2.53 | +2.47 |
|
OK
Talvin Singh
|
5 | 2.56 | +2.44 |
|
Pictures At An Exhibition
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
|
5 | 2.64 | +2.36 |
|
Live At The Witch Trials
The Fall
|
5 | 2.64 | +2.36 |
|
Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby
Girls Against Boys
|
5 | 2.66 | +2.34 |
|
A Grand Don't Come For Free
The Streets
|
5 | 2.67 | +2.33 |
|
Sex Packets
Digital Underground
|
5 | 2.67 | +2.33 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Different Class
Pulp
|
2 | 3.42 | -1.42 |
|
Lost In The Dream
The War On Drugs
|
2 | 3.39 | -1.39 |
|
The Band
The Band
|
2 | 3.36 | -1.36 |
|
Private Dancer
Tina Turner
|
2 | 3.3 | -1.3 |
|
In The Wee Small Hours
Frank Sinatra
|
2 | 3.28 | -1.28 |
|
Lady In Satin
Billie Holiday
|
2 | 3.23 | -1.23 |
|
Selling England By The Pound
Genesis
|
2 | 3.18 | -1.18 |
|
Too Rye Ay
Dexys Midnight Runners
|
2 | 3.12 | -1.12 |
|
White Ladder
David Gray
|
2 | 3.07 | -1.07 |
|
Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
Lucinda Williams
|
2 | 3 | -1 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Radiohead | 3 | 5 |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4.5 |
| Oasis | 2 | 5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 2 | 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 2 | 5 |
| Black Sabbath | 2 | 5 |
| Todd Rundgren | 2 | 5 |
| Deep Purple | 2 | 5 |
| Björk | 2 | 5 |
| Metallica | 2 | 5 |
| Pixies | 2 | 5 |
| Queen | 2 | 5 |
| Bob Marley & The Wailers | 2 | 5 |
| Fairport Convention | 2 | 5 |
| Fleetwood Mac | 2 | 5 |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival | 2 | 5 |
| The Stooges | 2 | 5 |
| Def Leppard | 2 | 5 |
| Iggy Pop | 2 | 5 |
| David Bowie | 5 | 4.2 |
| Beatles | 4 | 4.25 |
| Bob Dylan | 3 | 4.33 |
| Blur | 3 | 4.33 |
| Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | 3 | 4.33 |
| Arcade Fire | 3 | 4.33 |
5-Star Albums (180)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
The Damned
5/5
This is certainly one for my mental list of "Bands I've heard of but never really listened to before now, and now I regret only now listening to them for the first time."
Holy cow what a good album this was. A much needed proto-hardcore punk rush that made my whole day. Rowdy, raw, unrelenting, with a nice mix of weirdness and psychedelia. I liked this one a lot, and I wish I'd given The Damned a proper listen sooner.
Favourite: Love Song
14 likes
Jungle Brothers
5/5
This was a good album from that golden age of hip-hop before gangsta rap dominated the scene. Groovy, funky and very danceable. The lyricism is great, and it's refreshing to hear some hip-hop that takes a more light-hearted stance. Some of the songs sound a little cheesy now, but maybe it's just where everybody got so jaded by the gangsta rap juggernaut. Wonder what would be different in the world today if this was the hip-hop subgenre that persisted?
Favourite: Tribe Vibes
12 likes
White Denim
5/5
A 37-minute journey into some American indie garage rock psychedelia. Was folky at some points and quite tropical at others. A nice varied album that was just a lot of fun throughout. I'd never heard of this band before now but I must say I'm certainly a fan.
Favourite: River to Consider
11 likes
Dagmar Krause
3/5
This is a truly bizarre one. It's probably the first album so far on my generated list to have no presence on Spotify. It's not even unavailable, it's just missing entirely by the looks of it. I found the full album on YouTube, or at least most of the album I think? The disk it was recorded from had bad popping noises throughout and it ended abruptly, though the video seemed to be about the length of the album. Gonna be weird having a permanent missing song from my curated list, but I'm sure there will be more.
This made for a good background album I suppose. Didn't particularly enjoy any of it, but it wasn't bad as such, just not for me. It's certainly got a dramatic and theatrical aspect to it.
Who is this for? In fact, I'm fascinated about why it's on the list; I'd be interested in reading the entry this has in the 1001 albums book. That's not from a place of distaste, I'm honestly curious about what landed it in the 1001. There's not much information about it on Wikipedia. I can't shake the feeling that I've heard Lied Von Der Belebenden Wirkung Des Geldes somewhere. Absolutely no clue where though...
Favourite: Lied Von Der Belebenden Wirkung Des Geldes
Favourite:
10 likes
The Young Gods
5/5
Creepy, atmospheric, macabre, and definitely pretty unhinged at times. Really matched a piss-poor mental state at the very beginning of the year, on a horrible gloomy January day. I've gotta say I quite liked this. Feels like a French-language Rammstein in parts. Honestly I wish Halloween was coming up soon because this would be a perfect soundtrack for it, and I feel like this would be an experience to see live.
Favourite: La fille de la mort
8 likes
4-Star Albums (156)
All Ratings
Joy Division
3/5
I didn't really feel this album. Perhaps I wasn't in the right mood for the songs to hit, but it just seemed a bit too slow and moody for me in most cases. I certainly didn't hate this though, and I may revisit it someday.
Favourite: She's Lost Control
The Lemonheads
4/5
I thought this album was pretty good, though maybe a little repetitive as far as albums go, and maybe saying something that my favourite song was a cover.
Favourite: Mrs. Robinson
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Stevie Wonder is an artist I've heard about many times, but until now never really listened. However, his reputation as a pop music pioneer is well-deserved, and the things he was doing on this 1976 album with elements such as synthesisers is really impressive. I can totally see the influence that his work must have had on the music of today, and this album was just a treat to listen to.
Favourite: Sir Duke
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Coincidentally this is the second Stevie Wonder album in a row that has been given to me by the generator. I thought this was an amazing album for sure, but I must say that I certainly preferred Songs in the Key of Life to this one, although Superstition was still an absolute classic.
Favourite: Superstition
5/5
Being a British kid born in the late 90s to young parents, I certainly knew quite well of Oasis, and recognised most of the songs on this album. However there were a few songs on here that I didn't know so well. There may be some nostalgia speaking for me here, but I loved this album and every song, even the more overplayed (and potentially overrated) tracks like Wonderwall. Additionally, I personally believe that Champagne Supernova is one of the most beautiful rock songs ever made.
Favourite: Champagne Supernova
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
This was a great album, a wonderful blend of rock and electronic, funky and emotional. Some really great tracks here and just a great journey throughout!
Favourite: All My Friends
David Bowie
3/5
I can't say that this is my favourite Bowie album unfortunately, and to me it all seemed a bit forgettable, which is something I absolutely hate to say about the legend that is Bowie, but yeah, I didn't find myself enjoying this one all that much. The ambient tracks near the end were strange but certainly interesting.
Favourite: The Secret Life of Arabia
Jacques Brel
4/5
This is certainly not the kind of thing I'd usually listen to, but I found myself quite enjoying this! I honestly wish I had a better understanding of French, but the lyrical prowess of Brel is very evident even without really understanding the lyrics. If anything it's a motivation for me to learn the language, because Chanson seems quite interesting!
Favourite: "Les Toros"
Leonard Cohen
5/5
While this isn't the kind of thing I'd usually reach for, I was very amazed and moved by this album, and after a stressful and mentally iffy day, this brought out quite a bit of emotion which honestly surprised me. I'm very glad that I sat down and just listened to this album with no distractions, so I could appreciate just how lyrically amazing this book of musical stories was.
Favourite: Teachers
The Fall
4/5
There were a few songs here I quite liked, but some of it just had far too much going on for me to understand or want to listen to. Definitely can see the British post-punk oozing from this whole album though.
Favourite: Spoilt Victorian Child
John Lee Hooker
4/5
I thought this was a pretty good album calling back to classic Blues music. I quite enjoyed this, though I admit some of the songs seemed a little repetitive.
Favourite: Cuttin' Out
Ice Cube
4/5
I don't follow much hip-hop, but this album slaps. Practically every song was brilliant, but in some ways it's a bit of a shame that many of the socio-political issues brought up in this album are still entirely relevant 20 years later. Completely timeless.
Favourite: Say Hi To The Bad Guy
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
5/5
This was absolutely bizarre, but I couldn't help but love it. It was just a lot of fun from beginning to end, and I found myself dancing along to some of the more energetic songs. It's absolutely amazing what ELP were doing with synthesizers over 50 years ago! I think this is a timeless album that I'll surely come back to at some point. I have to say though, that Promenade motif is going to bug me. Where the hell have I heard it before?
Favourite: The Old Castle
Billy Joel
3/5
It was fine... Lyrically I can see that there's a lot of skill there, but unfortunately I found some of the songs to be a bit boring so I often zoned out of listening to the lyrics anyway. Maybe I'm just not American enough to really "get" the hype around Billy Joel.
Favourite: Get It Right the First Time
Ananda Shankar
2/5
The first couple of songs were quite interesting, but I must say that I lost interest quite quickly, and that sitar really got quite dragging on my Western untrained ears. It was a weird experience that worked quite well on some songs because it matched quite well with the fact I was travelling on a train while listening to it, though I don't think this is the usual kind of trip that people listen to this sort of thing on.
Favourite: Jumpin' Jack Flash
Nirvana
4/5
A good live album with some great covers. Cobaine was taken too soon from us, and I would have loved to see what Nirvana could have become.
Prince
3/5
I don't think I was really in the right frame of mind for this one unfortunately. There were a few really good and funky tracks but it felt like a few songs just dragged on a bit. Might revisit eventually though.
Favourite: Housequake
Aimee Mann
3/5
It was fine. First songs were a bit forgettable in my opinion, but I think it got better into the second half of the album, though the last song just sounded silly and confusing. I thought Jacob Marley's Chain was really beautiful, and I kinda wish the album had some more folk-esque songs like it.
Favourite: Jacob Marley's Chain
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5/5
Very wonderful and sophisticated. Turns out to be a great album to cook dinner to also. The weird time signatures and the occasional general disregard for norms and rules of music was fun to listen to, if a bit confusing for my musically untrained self. Additionally, Take Five is one of those absolute classics that just always sounds so fresh and cool.
Favourite: Take Five
Ice Cube
3/5
The Predator came up only about a week before this one, and I have to say I prefer The Predator, personally. This seemed a bit less varied and generally less interesting to me, and I just don't think it really aged well, in terms of both the beats and the subject matter. I suppose it was a product of its time though. I think Yo-Yo may have been the star of the show to be honest, because what a debut she made on It's A Man's World.
Favourite: It's A Man's World
Marianne Faithfull
4/5
I quite liked this. Very good country-punk-synthpop stuff, and I really liked the darker and angrier songs.
Favourite: Working Class Hero
Elvis Presley
4/5
So groovy and makes me just want to boogie. Wasn't so interested in the slower songs I suppose, but there's definitely a reason why they call him the King of Rock and Roll!
Favourite: Blue Suede Shoes
The Jam
4/5
Just some all round great punk-rock. A British classic!
Favourite: Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
4/5
I quite enjoyed this one. Pretty raw and unpolished in a lot of places but I think that really adds to the appeal. I love the psychedelic and chaotic nature of quite a few of these songs, and I think I'll come back to this album.
Favourite: Grey/Afro
Pretenders
5/5
This was great! Only heard one of these song before but I loved every song on this album. A really great mix of British and American rock.
Favourite: The Wait
Bob Dylan
5/5
A really great album with lyrics that made me both laugh and nearly cry. Some really powerful and moving storytelling, as well as some real emotion.
Favourite: Masters of War
Mekons
3/5
Kinda strange country-folky rock album. Sadly I couldn't particularly get into this one very much, though some of the songs had interesting lyrics.
Favourite: Abernant 1984/5
The Birthday Party
2/5
The cover made me hope I was going into some 80s metal album, but instead it was some insane post-punk with just a lot of incoherent rambling and yelling. Sadly didn't enjoy this much, though some of the riffs are cool.
Favourite: Dead Joe
Astrud Gilberto
4/5
Really nice, peaceful and relaxing. Made for good cooking music! I don't know if I could see myself listening to this normally in many other scenarios, but it was certainly a nice one. I also thought Astrud's duet with her son Marcello in "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice" was really cute.
Favourite: "It's A Lovely Day Today"
Michael Jackson
3/5
Not too bad, though a few too many slow and sappy songs for me to enjoy the whole thing. Bad and Smooth Criminal are both groovy classics though.
Favourite: Bad
Aretha Franklin
4/5
This was a wonderful album with plenty of wonderful soulful tunes. I wouldn't usually go seeking out soul music like this, but I found myself enjoying it a lot!
Favourite: Chain of Fools
Some decent Rock and Country on this album, but nothing that sounded particularly interesting to me. I might revisit this some time, but I wouldn't count on it.
Favourite: Too Bad
The War On Drugs
2/5
Some of the songs were okay but it did drag on a bit, in my opinion. Couldn't really keep my interest.
Favourite: An Ocean In Between The Waves
The Icarus Line
4/5
This was something a bit more up my alley! I quite liked this mix of alternative and garage rock with some noise mixed in, though some of the noisier tracks were a bit difficult to listen to at parts.
Favourite: Kiss Like Lizards
Jimmy Smith
4/5
Nice jazzy blues-y album. Definitely not driving music in my humble opinion, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I was cooking, or chilling on the sofa with a nice glass of something strong. Will probably come back to it when I need a good lounge ambience.
Don McLean
3/5
I don't really understand why American Pie was the first track on this album. Really felt like that was the highest point of the album and the rest of it was just quite boring. The only other song I quite liked was The Grave near the end of the album, I thought that was a pretty moving song, how it starts slow, swells up, then ends pretty much how it started. But other than that one, nothing else really interested me besides American Pie, which is the only song I knew and still remains the best in my opinion.
Favourite: American Pie
Genesis
2/5
This was just a weird one, and not necessarily in a good way. There's definite musical skill and talent here, but I didn't find myself enjoying it that much. For something that should have been so interesting I just got a bit bored by it all. Firth Of Fifth slaps hard in like the final 1/3 of the song though.
Favourite: Firth Of Fifth
Terence Trent D'Arby
4/5
I thought this was a really good one. Though I have to say my favourite song was probably the first one, and the others on the album weren't quite as good to me, but overall this was still a great album with some 80s pop.
Favourite: If You All Get to Heaven
Living Colour
5/5
This was a really good one with some absolute hard rock bangers! Enjoyed pretty much every song on the album, there were some amazing solos, and the cover of Should I Stay Or Should I Go on the expanded edition is really good too.
Favourite: Cult Of Personality
Bad Company
4/5
Good selection of rock tunes. I did lose interest on some of the slower tracks though.
Favourite: Bad Company
Big Brother & The Holding Company
3/5
This was a nice rocky album, though only a couple of the songs reached out to me. I have to say that some of the raspy vocals were quite grating on my ears, but maybe it's just the recording technology of the 60s.
Favourite: Roadblock
Happy Mondays
4/5
While the only song I knew from this was Step On, and it still probably remains my favourite, this was a decent album, though a few songs were a bit forgettable.
Favourite: Step On
Marvin Gaye
4/5
Wasn't particularly my style, but a few good songs in here. Proved to be another good album for background music while cooking!
Favourite: Is That Enough
Sonic Youth
4/5
Completely unhinged at times but a pretty good one! Will probably be coming back to this.
Favourite: Titanium Expose
Baaba Maal
3/5
Quite funky and just really fun, also pretty ethereal at times too, and it made for an interesting commute into and around the city while I was listening to it. Unfortunately some of those MIDI-esque synths really threw me off, though they probably sounded way better in '92.
Tito Puente
5/5
Though it's not something I'd usually seek out, I found myself enjoying this one. It's just so fun and groovy.
JAY Z
4/5
While rap isn't really my favourite genre in most cases, this wasn't too bad. I found myself paying more attention to the backing track more than JAY-Z himself though, but there were some good tracks here.
Favourite: Izzo (H.O.V.A)
Peter Gabriel
5/5
This was a good album. I found a couple of the songs a bit strange but it certainly had a few good ones.
Favourite: Solsbury Hill
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
4/5
This was a decent album with subject matter just as important now as it was at the album's release, but at the same time I don't know if 13 songs of nothing but raw social commentary is the way to go about it. Good beat throughout though.
Buck Owens
3/5
Didn't really like this, but generally I'm not that into country music. This especially feels like a parody of country for some reason, and I wonder if it's just because it's that ridiculously, offensively country. Sadly got old after the first few songs.
Favourite: I've Got a Tiger By the Tail
Joy Division
4/5
It might be sacrilegious to say this, but I think I personally preferred this to Unknown Pleasures. Darker and heavier, but in some ways I found it more listenable than its predecessor. It's sad to hear the backstory surrounding this album though, and the theory that this album is a suicide note of sorts really checks out.
Favourite: Twenty Four Hours
PJ Harvey
5/5
Really liked this. Raw and full of emotion while being amazingly catchy. An interesting thing I read on PJ Harvey's Wikipedia page was about how Dry was Kurt Cobain's 16th favourite album of all time, I can totally hear some parallels between this and Nirvana. Definitely will revisit this album.
Roni Size
5/5
Yeah, I'm definitely biased for this one. I'm a British guy who loves a lot of electronic music and was introduced to Drum and Bass at a young age. I can only imagine the effect it had at release, winning the 1997 Mercury Prize and likely being one of the seminal albums that brought DnB to a mainstream audience. It's impossible for me not to love this album. I just wish more DnB songs utilised a double bass.
Favourite: Brown Paper Bag
Led Zeppelin
5/5
A great album with some absolute bangers. Never really given Led Zeppelin much of a proper listen before but I think I will have to now.
Favourite: Whole Lotta Love
Booker T. & The MG's
4/5
It was pretty nice and enjoyable. Some nice covers in there too. Always interesting to find out the name of a song I've heard so much but not known the name of until now.
Favourite: Green Onions
Pink Floyd
5/5
Pink Floyd is yet another massive band that I never really listened to outside of the most popular songs. However, I really enjoyed listening to this and pretty much every song was amazing. I can see why this is such an iconic album.
Dead Kennedys
5/5
Really great punk album that sounds extremely British, so it's a bit of a surprise to know they're an American band. Super energetic and never a dull moment. I love this album honestly.
Parliament
5/5
Ridiculous levels of funk, potentially the funkiest album in existence. Don't know if I'll really come back to it any time soon since it's not entirely my thing, but it was still an all-round fun album. I was also surprised about P-Funk, due to its eventual interpolation in Ice Cube's "Say Hi To The Bad Guy", which is another song I previously discovered from the 1001.
Favourite: Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)
New York Dolls
5/5
A wonderfully punky glam-rock album that slaps hard! Really enjoyed this and will be coming back to it.
Favourite: Trash
Oasis
5/5
Heard a few songs from this, but there's a few I've not heard before, and I'd say I'm a bit more familiar with (What's The Story) Morning Glory?. It's a great album though. I can't help but feel that Liam's voice grates on me just a little bit, the more Oasis I hear, but it's still just an excellent British album. Absolutely love the riffs especially.
Favourite: Supersonic
David Gray
2/5
Some strange folk-ish music with a slight electronic beat. Despite being kind of "unique" it just seemed awfully generic really... Nothing about this really stood out to me, and I can't say I enjoyed this album very much.
Favourite: Sail Away
Ray Charles
5/5
This was really good! I don't think I would have been able to tell that these were covers of country songs if it wasn't right there in the title, and while they may sound a bit dated for 1960s standards, I have a massive soft spot for a good big band.
Favourite: Don't Tell Me Your Troubles
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
I thought it was okay. Don't know if I'd go rushing back to this one as the ska-esque horn sections got a bit old over time, but there were some good songs in there for sure.
Favourite: Thankfully Not Living in Yorkshire It Doesn't Apply
The Boo Radleys
4/5
Pretty good album with a lot of variety! I didn't get into and follow every song but I thought it was still pretty good and unique.
Favourite: Barney (...and Me)
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
I thought it was good, not particularly memorable though, in my opinion.
Favourite: Fall
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
Soulful, funky and fun! Enjoyed this a lot, and might have to watch the movie if it has this soundtrack behind it.
The Fall
5/5
Unhinged, weird, but I kinda loved it in all honesty. I think I prefer this one to another The Fall album the generator gave me a month or so ago, This Nation's Saving Grace.
Favourite: Mother-Sister!
"-Uh, what's this song about?"
"-Uh, nothin'."
Tracy Chapman
3/5
I thought it was okay, there's no question about the emotion and storytelling in Chapman's lyrics. However, I just couldn't really pay attention. Maybe I was in the wrong mood to truly appreciate it, but I just found it very boring, and that's coming from someone who usually loves folk music. There were a couple of songs that caught my attention, and Fast Car is a classic, but I also come from the generation that probably knows the Jonas Blue cover better, so maybe that's half the reason this didn't properly click with me.
Favourite: Mountains O' Things
Al Green
4/5
Funky and soulful and undoubtedly deserving of a spot on this list. However it was a little slow and not particularly something I could vibe with.
Favourite: It Ain't No Fun to Me
The Hives
5/5
I gotta say I was surprised by this one! I like the usual ones from The Hives like Hate To Say I Told You So and Tick Tick Boom, but I'd not really listened to them outside of the popular songs. Didn't realise how punk they got, and I am so much for it! Definitely saving a few of these tracks to other playlists.
Favourite: Untutored Youth
Black Sabbath
5/5
Another one of those albums that can only be a 5/5. Honestly though I'd not heard this album in its entirety, just the usual suspects like Paranoid and Iron Man. Amazing from beginning to end though, and a rightful metal classic.
Favourite: Paranoid
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
Just wonderfully dreamy and ethereal, almost feels like something you'd hear in a dream. It's kinda background music-y but I think that's somewhat the point. It seems like it could have been released yesterday as some noisy vaporwave kind of thing, so all the more impressive that this is a 31 year old album.
Favourite: soon
Prefab Sprout
4/5
Quite good, aggressively 80s. I didn't feel this when listening for the first time so I gave it another listen just before rating it and getting my next album. Second time around, sitting down on a gloomy Sunday and listening with proper headphones instead of a bad car stereo, I really appreciated this a lot more. Well written and instrumented for sure. Still not massively my thing but I appreciate it.
Favourite: Faron Young
The Undertones
4/5
Just a really good early pop-punk album. There's not much else to say, it's just 35 minutes of fun.
Favourite: Teenage Kicks
Miles Davis
4/5
Smooth and sophisticated. I could see myself really appreciating this on a gloomy day, wrapped up warm with a hot drink, listening to this either through some far better headphones than I currently have, or listening to it on vinyl. I certainly have to be in a particular mood or scenario to really appreciate this, but it's just some lovely and timeless jazz.
Alanis Morissette
4/5
It's exceedingly 1995, no doubt about that. It's also another one of those albums that's a real outpouring of emotions and might come across as angsty, but it's still full of bangers in my opinion, and it's one of those albums that kind of defines the 90s. Some of the songs were misses to me, but it was mostly excellent with some impressive lyricism.
Favourite: Ironic
The Streets
5/5
Well, this is one of those albums that will undoubtedly be lost on anyone who's not from the UK. I think it has a setting and subject matter that just plainly won't make too much sense to people elsewhere in the world, and I suspect that's why the global rating on this one is quite low.
While I really like The Streets, I hadn't listened to this in its entirety before, though I'd certainly heard almost every song, just out of order. I'm generally a little more familiar with Original Pirate Material, and Has It Come To This? remains my favourite song of Skinner's.
I was just a child when this was released, so I was far too young to understand or appreciate anything of this album, and that's why I was honestly totally caught by surprise to discover that this was a rap-opera concept album. It was clear that every song I'd heard before had a story to tell, but I never realised that they all went together to form an entire tale.
Mike Skinner just has a way with words, lyricism and music production that makes the whole thing just excellent, both as a compelling story to follow and an album of absolute bangers. It's not just a good rap album with some bangers though, I feel it really did push the bar in some cases, with elements of early dubstep in Blinded by the Lights.
I promise I'll eventually stop rambling, but I felt that I needed to give Empty Cans an honourable mention. While it's not really my favourite *song* on the album, it's definitely my favourite parts of the wider story. I really liked how it essentially had a bad ending and a good ending in the form of basically two tracks that start exactly the same and branch off in two directions, leaving the true ending up to the listener.
Overall it's an amazing album and I definitely want to seek out more concept albums now. It's worth noting that I am EXTREMELY biased, due to being just about as British as this album.
Favourite: Blinded By The Lights
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Smooth and psychedelic. I liked this quite a lot but some of the songs were a little forgettable. Still a good one though.
Favourite - Spanish Castle Magic
Prince
4/5
Some decent funky pop. I didn't care too much about some of the first songs, it seems to get better and better towards the end of the album though. The last four songs are great in my opinion. Despite being one of Prince's biggest songs, I'd never given the title track a proper listen in full, but it proved to be an amazing power ballad that was just a great journey for nearly nine minutes.
Favourite: Purple Rain
Dire Straits
4/5
Good album that starts strong, drops off a little in the middle in my opinion, but ends strong with the title track. Money for Nothing and Walk of Life are absolute classics, the latter being just a feel good track that makes me wish for a warmer month to be listening to this album in.
Public Image Ltd.
3/5
I'm not quite sure how an album can be so bizarre and yet so boring. Maybe I'm getting a bit jaded by several post punk albums coming up in close succession? Dunno. That slow beat and riff are pretty cool on Theme, but I think it could have been 5 minutes shorter; it really overstayed its welcome. The utterance of "Terminal boredom" at the end was quite appropriate. Some of the songs were pretty good but often just suffered the same fate by the end.
Favourite: Annalisa
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Great funky soul album. What's not to like, it's Stevie Wonder! That being said - This is the third Stevie Wonder album I've got in the generator so far, the first two being Songs In The Key Of Life and Talking Book. Personally I think this sits ahead of Talking Book, but SITKOL still remains my favourite of the three. It does have some great songs though - Boogie On Reggae Woman is very fun and groovy, They Won't Go When I Go is dark and chilling, and You Haven't Done Nothin' is super funky and sounds like a continuation of Superstition.
Favourite - They Won't Go When I Go
ZZ Top
5/5
Really good album, lots of great rock classics.
Favourite: Sharp Dressed Man
Coldplay
4/5
I've always liked Coldplay but it's never really been my favourite, so I've not listened to the album entirely before. There were some really good songs in here but I didn't really discover any songs I liked that much that I hadn't heard before.
Favourite: God Put a Smile upon Your Face
Minutemen
4/5
I'll admit I was definitely worried going into this one, considering the sheer amount of songs. However it turned out to be a nice assortment of short punk rock tunes. Funky and jazzy, and honestly a bit of a pleasure to listen to. Also, I guess this is where the Jackass theme came from.
Favourite: Corona
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
Indie, folky pop. I quite liked it honestly! Something nice to relax or take a stroll to. Would be nice to go out for a walk to listen to this again but it's too damn cold outside today. I think this is one I'll come back to though!
Favourite: She's Losing It
Billy Bragg
3/5
Quite good, very politically charged in a way that still resonates today in British politics. (As I write this a lot of the country is shut down due to industrial action, and let it be known that no, I do not blame the unions.) The voice took a bit of getting used to - it honestly feels like a football chant. However the songs are great. The one thing that will stop me from going back to it too quickly is the fact that I just wish for a break from all the politics in the world right now, even if not afraid to do my part to change the world for the better.
Favourite: Help Save the Youth of America
Todd Rundgren
5/5
This strikes me as an album that has a bit of everything. At first I didn't pay much attention with the first few pop and soul songs, but it started to pick up a bit a few songs in, and the spoken word to the listener and the little game explained in Intro got my attention. After that I was pretty sold. Additionally I'm always a sucker for hearing some behind-the-scenes chatter and banter from the band, like what was in some of the later songs. (Shame Todd didn't name the album "Throw Money" in the end!)
Some of the songs were weaker and weirder than others, but overall I liked this one a lot. Varied enough to never get old, despite the 88 minute runtime. Good one!
Favourite: Breathless
Paul McCartney and Wings
5/5
Naturally, being an album from a former Beatle, my expectations were high, and this certainly did not disappoint. It's another case of an album I've not listened to before, but recognised a couple of songs from. Band On The Run and Jet are my two favourites, and two I've heard before, but the whole album is just really good.
Favourite: Jet
Duran Duran
4/5
A good 80s New Wave album. Really enjoyed practically every song on here, knowing of Rio and Hungry Like The Wolf before listening. I also really enjoyed The Chauffeur, which I heard for the first time.
Favourite: Hungry Like The Wolf
Deep Purple
5/5
Undisputed classic of an album with an undisputed classic of a certain song. Surely "Smoke On The Water" must have one of the most recognizable riffs in guitar history. Pretty neat that this album is also 50 years old now. Just some excellent 70s hard rock.
Favourite: Smoke On The Water
Lambchop
2/5
Sadly I couldn't really enjoy this one at all. It was just very boring and forgettable. It's one of those albums where I just "heard" it and proceeded to not listen to any of it really. Like a background track. If I wanted that I could have just listened to the fan noise of my PC for 45 minutes. Technically it was fine, seemed well-produced enough. Just really wasn't for me.
Favourite: Up With People
Beatles
4/5
It's quite strange, very unique (Doubly so back at the time of its release) and certainly not boring. Of course it has a place on this list, no doubt about that. I think I will eventually go back to it to listen through again, because it's certainly a great album, though I don't know if it'll be my favourite Beatles album.
Favourite: Back In The U.S.S.R
Pavement
4/5
A bit crazy, a bit unhinged at times, but not to the point of being unlistenable by any means, at least in my opinion. Very raw and kinda punk-ish, and honestly I like it. Nothing too memorable to me but yeah, just a good album.
Favourite: Here
Morrissey
3/5
It was okay, a little boring to me though, but maybe just wasn't that in the mood for it on the day it came up. First song is really good though.
Favourite: Alsatian Cousin
Deep Purple
5/5
Deep Purple is a rock band I had never paid much attention to outside of the ever-memorable Smoke On The Water. However, after getting both Machine Head and Deep Purple In Rock from the generator in quick succession, I have to say that I am sold. Not sure if I prefer this over Machine Head or not, but both are just some excellent 1970's hard rock and I am all for it.
Favourite: Speed King
4/5
Wasn't sure I'd enjoy this when it came up. The album cover and description sounded very boring. However, it turned out to be pretty good in my opinion. Fast enough to keep my attention, and quite disco-y at times. I do think some of the songs blended in to each other and became a bit forgettable after a while, but it was still alright.
Favourite: Poison Arrow
Derek & The Dominos
4/5
Pretty good 70's rock album that's fairly well-known in my family due to a family member being named Layla, after the song. That track is an undisputed banger, and there were a couple of other good songs here, but all the slow blues tracks kind of melded into one forgettable mess, to me.
Favourite: Layla
Les Rythmes Digitales
4/5
Good to see some Electronic coming up in the list every now and then. This was a really decent album with one or two songs I've previously heard (Namely the club mix of "Jacques Your Body"). Some of these tracks are bangers, others fall a bit flat to me. Overall though I really liked this.
Favourite: Soft Machine
Erykah Badu
3/5
Groovy, funky, soulful, and still pretty unique from other albums I've heard so far on the list that I'd describe in the same way. Generally I'm not really that into R&B but this still okay, though I kind of lost interest by the end of the album.
Favourite: Penitentiary Philosophy
Nitin Sawhney
5/5
I really enjoyed this. Totally unlike anything I've heard so far on the list. It was a chilled out electronic world music journey, while also having a very important and terrifying subject matter at its core. A few of these songs are definitely going into my library.
Favourite: Nadia
Various Artists
5/5
An iconic Christmas album for sure, a lot of tracks which are very recognisable and a few that aren't. The only real issue is the fact that this album only has relevance for one month of the year, but that's okay because it's Christmas. Merry Christmas ya filthy animals.
Favourite: Sleigh Ride
The Killers
4/5
I always thought The Killers was alright. Never really been my favourite and at worst I think they're kinda overrated sometimes (Just can't do Mr. Brightside any more, just too overplayed.)
There were a few on the second half of the album that I've not heard before, but I don't think I have any new favourites. Overall though it's a decent early 2000s rock album, and there's plenty of bangers here.
Favourite: Somebody Told Me
Billie Holiday
2/5
It was nice for sure, but it's just so far from anything I'd ever listen to, that it's difficult to really say anything good about it. I'm certainly not cultured enough to understand the significance, but I'm sure it deserves the spot on this list.
Favourite: You Don't Know What Love Is
Beatles
5/5
Very good album, enjoyable all the way through. 105 albums in, it's my second Beatles album on the list - The Beatles (White Album) was my first, but I have to say I prefer Rubber Soul so far. I'm not very clued up on Beatles albums, honestly, so I'll see how it fares against the oters when they come up. It's The Beatles, I'd be surprised if there's an album of theirs that isn't on the list. But overall I liked it and will come back to it!
Favourite: Norwegian Wood
Dinosaur Jr.
5/5
Loud, noisy, crazy, but absolutely excellent. It's raw and unclean and perfectly unashamed about this fact. To me the first half of the album is the strongest, but it was still excellent all the way through. I really liked this a lot and will come back to it.
Favourite: Sludgefeast
Sex Pistols
5/5
Classic and iconic British punk music! Energetic and unrelenting, and still sounds absolutely amazing 45 years later.
Favourite: Anarchy In The UK
Patti Smith
5/5
This was pretty great! A great punk rock journey with some amazing songs, long but never boring.
Favourite: Birdland
Stephen Stills
5/5
Honestly I quite enjoyed this, more than I was expecting. I think this was an example of an album suiting my day perfectly, having spent an afternoon driving along an old country road into Warwickshire to run an errand. Worked nicely with seeing the sun setting over the horizon on a winter day at the very beginning of the year. I really liked the Latin vibes at the end of Both of Us (Bound to Lose), and the whimsical country vibes of Fallen Eagle and Don't Look at My Shadow was fun. However, Bound to Fall came on at just the right time, just at the last glimpses of the sun before it set, to make it a real special moment. I just wish that song was longer.
Yes I'm certainly not in the American South, but whatever. This album had a bit of everything to do with Southern Rock, Country, Blues and Folk, and while it probably wouldn't appeal to me on a normal day, it worked exceedingly well today. This is going into my driving playlist.
Favourite: Bound to Fall
The Doors
4/5
A fun one that made for a great driving soundtrack. However, Riders on the Storm was the only track on here that I knew, and it remains the best in my opinion.
Favourite: Riders on the Storm
Björk
5/5
What even can I say about this album? I feel unqualified to really put a proper review to it. Highly experimental, sometimes haunting, chaotic at times and borderline unlistenable at others. It includes some things you don't hear much in recorded popular music - throat singing, beatboxing - overall it relies a lot on human sounds, and that brings out a raw and mysterious property. It really felt like some found album of a fantasy or alien civilisation. Honestly I think it's kind of beautiful in its total uniqueness. Surely there are few albums quite as unique as this one. A willingness to be this experimental realy makes me see why Björk is such a revered artist.
Ella Fitzgerald
4/5
The 1001 albums generator linked me to The Very Best Of The Gershwin Songbook, so that is the album that I listened to. I may at some point give a listen to the full three-hour album but I don't have the time to sit down with that in its entirety currently, and I'm sure The Very Best Of provides a good enough highlights compilation. This was very smooth, warm and soothing, and provided a great cooking soundtrack on a cold and gloomy winter evening. Really felt like all my worries washed away for a while. Not sure I'd listen to it day-to-day, but it really was quite beautiful.
Favourite: Fascinating Rhythm
Shack
4/5
Don't know how I've not heard of this britpop band before, being British and all. I was kind of hoping for sea shanties, considering the name and album art. Instead it was some indie britpop tunes. They were alright, seemed very well written. I found myself switching off during some of the songs, but overall it was quite good I thought.
Favourite: Daniella
Bill Evans Trio
5/5
Absolutely beautiful background music for a gloomy winter day. The rain is coming down hard outside, but in here it's warm, and the music helps to warm the soul. I couldn't ever listen to jazz pieces like this on a day to day basis, but when the situation is right it's just perfect. Like a rich dessert.
I don't know how I could pick a favourite out of an album that flows so well from one song to the next, but as per my self-enforced rules, I'll have to pick.
Favourite: Alice in Wonderland, Take 2
Pink Floyd
5/5
Wow! Just... Wow. I've heard this album a couple of times now, but it just blows me away. It's a wonderful progrock experience that somehow never gets even remotely boring. I'm at a loss of what exactly to say about this, but it's certainly on my list of albums I absolutely need to buy on vinyl.
Favourite: Wish You Were Here
Kate Bush
4/5
Very 80s, very Kate Bush. Pretty good though, with a kinda mysterious air about it. Nothing really stood out to me on the first play, but I sense that this is an album I'll like more with a deeper dive and a more focused listen.
Favourite: Deeper Understanding
Public Enemy
4/5
Angry, aggressive, an amazing beat throughout and still all painfully relevant. It's like Ice Cube's "The Predator" with its social commentary cranked up to 11. (And the song featuring Ice Cube was indeed great.) Not my thing all that much, but still brilliant.
Favourite: Welcome To The Terrordome
The Young Gods
5/5
Creepy, atmospheric, macabre, and definitely pretty unhinged at times. Really matched a piss-poor mental state at the very beginning of the year, on a horrible gloomy January day. I've gotta say I quite liked this. Feels like a French-language Rammstein in parts. Honestly I wish Halloween was coming up soon because this would be a perfect soundtrack for it, and I feel like this would be an experience to see live.
Favourite: La fille de la mort
Faith No More
4/5
It was alright in my opinion but not my favourite rock/metal album on here. It was cool to see that this is an early rap metal album, but it still doesn't change the fact I don't really like much rap metal in the first place. Beyond that, there were some excellent riffs, the songs that weren't rap metal were alright, and their War Pigs cover was superb.
Favourite: War Pigs
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
4/5
A pretty cool prog rock album in my opinion, and the Tarkus suites were very good. However, before I had this one on the list, I had Pictures At an Exhibition (That was one of the first albums I was given on the list) and I think I prefer it. I honestly feel that I'll probably prefer some of the later albums in general if/when they come up on the list. I might come back to this, but it certainly feels like an album I'd need to give my undivided attention to next time, and I've not had the time to do that this time around.
Favourite: Tarkus (All parts)
Frank Sinatra
2/5
It was alright, I guess. At least for a while. Got really old quickly though. Just all felt like the same song for 50 minutes, all just slow songs about heartbreak. Frank Sinatra was undoubtedly an amazing singer, but this album was just boring and exhausting to me. Maybe it sounded better in its day - it is a nearly 70 year old album after all. Or maybe this album just came onto my list on the wrong day. Regardless this certainly isn't my favourite Sinatra album.
Favourite: Mood Indigo
Electric Light Orchestra
5/5
This is certainly an album I adopted rather than grew up with - My mum wasn't even born when this album came out, let alone myself. I already knew of Mr. Blue Sky of course, but quite recently I found this beautiful gatefold double-LP in a charity shop for £10 and decided to give the whole album a listen. Oh my god I love this album. It's just a wholly fun intergalactic pop and rock journey that blends rock instruments with an orchestra and throws in a generous serving of vocoder for good measure. Mr. Blue Sky still remains my favourite - It's dopamine in audio form, and I can't help but feel happy and warm when it comes on, no matter how my mood was before. But it's all amazing and I don't think there's really a bad song on here. This album is just comfort and motivation to me, and I appreciate it entirely for that.
Favourite: Mr. Blue Sky
Sonic Youth
3/5
It was okay, some noisy rock. A bit crazy, a bit unhinged, and I've definitely used those adjectives for a few albums now. This was borderline unlistenable on my car stereo, though that's more of a complaint about my shitty speakers than the songs. To be honest nothing really stood out to me that much, but there were some good riffs. It certainly sounds newer than 1987 and I have to commend it for that.
Favourite: Pacific Coast Highway
Lauryn Hill
5/5
Absolute fire. A really good album with plenty of Hip-Hop, R&B and Soul, and while I wouldn't usually be that much of a fan of that sort of thing, I thought this was excellent. Lauryn Hill is a great singer and rapper, and some of the songs absolutely slap.
Favourite: Lost Ones
Little Simz
5/5
I was surprised to see such a new album in the list. When I saw that it was Little Simz however, I was no longer that surprised. I first heard Simz on Gorillaz' 2017 track "Garage Palace" but she has only gone from strength to strength and is now a pretty mainstream name in the UK. This album does not disappoint in the slightest - Simz has absolutely amazing flow, and the instrumentation and production is superb. There's a couple of chill tracks, and some tracks full of fire and venom, and while I'm not too sure about some of the lyrics (I thought we were past the point of rhyming the n-word with the n-word...) the absolutely unreal flow and rhythm of Simz' rapping makes up for it. Great album, and I'm glad to see Simz made the list.
Favourite: Selfish
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Pretty good. At first this didn't stand out to me all that much as it kinda seemed similar to a few post-punk albums I've heard in the list. I originally sort of dismissed this as another post-punk album from the late 80s or early 90s, but then looked again and noticed this was an album from 1978, and that makes it really impressive to see what they were doing, and the influence this must have had on later bands. While I'm not sure if this is something I'll listen to again and again, as post punk has never really been my sort of thing, I greatly appreciate this.
Favourite: Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)
Aerosmith
4/5
I've heard a couple of Aerosmith songs before, certainly, but never listened to an Aerosmith album in its entirety. I can't say I recognise any of the songs here either, but this was a pretty good 70s rock album with a few excellent tracks. However it didn't really stand out that much next to some of the other 70s rock bands, in my opinion. Still a great one though, some good songs for my driving playlist.
Favourite: Back In the Saddle
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
Really good! Some of the songs just kind of passed me by, but there were some excellent indie bangers. I have to say I prefer the A-Trak remix of Heads Will Roll to the original, but it's still great. The acoustic tracks were pretty too. Dull Life and Runaway stood out especially to me. This is a fun album and I found a few songs I'll absolutely come back to.
Favourite: Dull Life
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
Yeah it was impossible for me to not like this, I do enjoy some Chili Peppers. This was a great album, but to me the issue was that it often felt a bit same-y after a while. The songs themselves are great but this feels like one that's just better to be split apart, IMO. No matter though, there's some classics here and a few more new to me that I enjoyed greatly.
Favourite: Give It Away
The Sonics
5/5
I enjoyed this! Wish this could potentially be remastered, some of those screams are pretty grating but I cannot fault the band for that. It's a short listen, but I still listened through it twice. Just some excellent protopunk, brimming with energy and fun. Unfortunately Have Love Will Travel is sort of ruined for me as it just makes me think of car insurance.
Favourite: Good Golly Miss Molly
Cream
4/5
Neat album, pretty psychedelic and bluesy. Some really good tracks in here, a few that just felt like nothing more than filler, and one or two just bizarre tracks. I think it could have been a five but that very odd final track just kind of ruined it. Still a very good album though, right up my alley.
Favourite: Sunshine of Your Love
Cypress Hill
4/5
Funky early 90's West Coast stoner rap. Can't say it's entirely my thing, but the beats are catchy and danceable, the sampling is excellent, the Latin flavours are neat and the subjects of police brutality and corruption are sadly still very relevant over thirty years later. Decent catchy album though.
Favourite: Hand On the Pump
Metallica
5/5
I absolutely love 80s heavy metal and thrash metal in particular, so this is an easy 5 for me. Metallica has never been my absolute favourite band cause I'm not all that keen on Hetfield's voice. But I can look past that for the aggressive, energetic, chaotic powerhouse of an album this is.
Favourite: One
Marty Robbins
4/5
Really quite good! While I'm not the biggest fan of country and western usually, I found myself following the stories as much as I was listening to the songs, and even then I quite enjoyed the music itself. Maybe it caught me on a good day or this list is getting me used to country music a bit more now. Fun album.
Favourite: Big Iron
Pixies
5/5
Very interesting album! A bit crazy and noisy at times, but some amazingly catchy indie bangers in here. Never really listened to Pixies before but it seems they had massive influence on some huge bands that came after them. And I will say it doesn't sound like an 80s album at all. There is that real 90s alternative sound to the album that got reflected in a lot of later bands. I can always appreciate a trailblazer. Regardless though, really decent album, and while not every song on here appealed to me completely, it was still brilliant.
Favourite: Monkey Gone to Heaven
Silver Jews
4/5
With the first couple of songs I was expecting to dislike this album, but I found myself enjoying it more and more as it progressed. Maybe another situation-based enjoyment? Right now I'm on a bus to the city and watching the bleak wintery countryside going past proved to be a nice match for this early 00s American indie country rock record. Gave me time to reflect. I think on a normal day, either at home or in the car, I would have found this album extremely boring, but it just worked today so it turned out to be an album I honestly enjoyed.
Favourite: Transylvania Blues
Queen
5/5
Really good album, it's Queen so I don't think it ever could have been bad. Freddie Mercury sounds amazing and the instrumentation is wonderful. I've honestly not heard much Queen outside of the most popular songs, but I am excited to hear more of their discography, as I'm certain that there's going to be far more on this list.
Favourite: Stone Cold Crazy
ABBA
3/5
I thought it was okay. I can't really say I've ever liked ABBA that much unfortunately, and that didn't really change with this one. I just find them a bit samey and boring in most cases. Somehow there wasn't a single song on here that I've heard of before, but I still just zoned out of actually listening to it a lot of the time. There was some good instrumentation and lyrics, but it's just thoroughly not for me. Maybe I'll revisit it some time in the hopes of appreciating it more.
Favourite: The Visitors
Dr. Octagon
4/5
What is this? What is he even rapping about? What's with those weird and creepy interval tracks throughout the album? I'm not really sure but it's kind of hilarious, and the Wikipedia biography for Dr. Octagon raised more questions than it answered. It's so ridiculously bizarre, but I have to say I kind of enjoy it for just how bizarre it is. The flow is amazing and the sheer insanity and non sequitur of the lyrics is a skill in itself. The backing beats are usually pretty good, and there's some amazing turntablism in this that gives me an Avalanches vibe. However I think it overstayed its welcome a little bit, in my opinion. There's only so much total chaos that I can tolerate, and the 66 minute run time felt tedious after a while. Thanks Kool Keith, for what ever the hell this is. I might subject myself to the psychological torture of this album again sometime.
Favourite: Blue Flower
Suzanne Vega
4/5
I think I would have found this boring on a usual day but a day of a poor mental state made this a nice thing to sit and listen to. The vocals and instrumentation are wonderful, and the songwriting is amazing. I can hear the Leonard Cohen influences in this album, but I think Songs of Leonard Cohen got my attention more. Even in my apathy of today, I still did blank out a bit on some of the songs here. Still a very good album though.
Favourite: Small Blue Thing
MC Solaar
5/5
Absolutely amazing. I didn't understand a word of it, but I didn't need to understand French to know that this is something absolutely dripping with skill and talent. There's such a jazzy and funky vibe to the album, and the flow and lyricism seems to be amazing, even if I don't exactly know what he's saying. Makes me want to learn French and listen to this again sometime, but even if I don't learn the language, this'll still be a vibe to come back to.
Favourite: Quartier Nord
Franz Ferdinand
5/5
Oh what an album. I'm totally biased as there's childhood nostalgia tied to this one, but I just love it so much, and although I knew a few of these songs there were some I'd not heard before too. Always a bop and never boring - it's diverse but never too all over the place. God I love this album.
Rahul Dev Burman
4/5
Fun and interesting and still a pretty chilled thing to have on in the background. I can't say it was particularly my thing but there were a couple of songs I did quite like. Not sure if I'll come back to it any time soon but I'm certainly intrigued about the movie.
Favourite: One Two Cha Cha Cha
The Notorious B.I.G.
4/5
A good classic rap album. Some amazing beats and lyricism in this one. Some strange songs and interludes sprinkled in though. There's a rare glimpse at a rapper's vulnerabilities in "Suicidal Thoughts" and I thought that was a pretty powerful piece. Some good flow and storytelling for sure, and I can really see why Biggie's assassination shook the world of hip hop so hard. Honestly there's not all that much here that I'd personally come back to, besides the classics like Juicy and Big Poppa, but there's no doubt that this belongs on the list.
Favourite: Juicy
Van Morrison
3/5
I thought this was okay... At first the tone of Morrison's vocals was quite grating on me but I quickly got used to it. Sadly I think this was just a bit boring, and most of the best stuff seemed to be on the first half. There's a few decent songs though.
Favourite: Moondance
Radiohead
5/5
Despite being a very local band, I'd not really listened to much Radiohead until quite recently, and I had been sort of unsure about what I thought of them. There were definitely some songs I enjoyed and others I was initially unsure about. This is the first Radiohead album I've listened to in its entirety and I have to say that I loved it. The riffs are great, and I loved how somber and calm beginnings often swelled into driven electronic climaxes. It was a pleasant surprise to see how electronic-focused this album was. Judging by what others have been saying, I don't know if this'll be my favourite Radiohead album by the end of the list, but I must say that I really enjoyed this.
Favourite: Go To Sleep
The Divine Comedy
2/5
Didn't vibe with this one whatsoever. It was just mind-numbingly boring and I ended up tuning most of it out as background noise. It was a late 90s album trying to sound "retro", I guess? It calls back to mid-century easy listening albums, and I think it still kind of fails at that. It's like if a PT Cruiser was an album. The orchestral aspects of this were pretty neat for a bit, but it didn't save it for me. At least this was true to its name: it was indeed short.
Favourite: In Pursuit of Happiness
Animal Collective
5/5
Weird, psychedelic, noisy, and yet very listenable and groovy. Sort of has an indie electronica thing going on. I don't think I had ever heard of Animal Collective before, and I certainly don't recognise any of the songs. However I must say that I enjoyed this a lot. The weird psychedelic indie synth-pop vibe of this album is very down my alley, and it's just a shame that I had no previous knowledge of the album. Definitely one I'll come back to.
Favourite: Brother Sport
4/5
Yeah, it's another Britpop album and I know the sheer amount of them garners a lot of hate from long-time 1001 reviewers. Probably rightly so - I'm less than 200 in and have already lost count. However I don't really care because I'm still into Britpop. I liked this album, it soundtracked a long walk on a grey Saturday afternoon very well. It was the kind of album that I just sort of zoned out too, where all the songs blended into one. But sometimes I'd be pulled back into reality to find that this was *still* on. This is a very long album, probably one of the longest I've had so far. Although there were excellent songs sprinkled throughout, so I never truly got bored or thought I was wasting my time, it still verged on feeling like a chore occasionally. Still, it was very good, there were some classics I recognised in there, and also some amazing songs that were new to me. (I especially liked the Daisy Bell cover) However, it's not an album I'm likely to listen to fully and uninterrupted again any time soon. Definitely one that's better to sprinkle through a playlist in my opinion.
Favourite: For Tomorrow (Visit to primrose Hill Extended)
Hawkwind
5/5
Long, trippy, highly weird and disturbing at times. Whether I would have enjoyed it even more had I been under the influence of something is up for debate, but to me there's something about psychedelic rock that meshes really well with long bus and train rides, and I happened to listen to most of this on the bus. While the psychedelic rock albums on the list have been a little hit and miss to me, I thought this one was a banger with some amazing songs and excellent riffs. I must say that some of the songs (And perhaps the album itself) overstayed their welcome a little bit, but I don't think I ever got totally bored by it. The little interlude pieces were quite strange, but it certainly suits the whole "Space Ritual" aesthetic. Excellent early 70s rock for sure.
Favourite: Brainstorm
The Undertones
4/5
Some decent early pop-punk. Nothing really stuck with me that much on the first listen, but listening to this straight after a phychedelic rock album that was previously given to me by the list, kind of made this feel a bit overshadowed to me. I thought the riffs were great, and the vocals were fine. Lyrics weren't the best, but ehh, not expecting anything too edgy or advanced for some light-hearted teenage pop-punk. Might listen again eventually.
Favourite: Hypnotised
Otis Redding
4/5
Funk, soul, blues, I've heard quite a few albums befitting of those three things on this list so far and I'm not even at 200 yet. However I think they all deserve to be here and all of them are great. They're not something I'd usually seek out to listen to, but I always find them pleasant and enjoyable every time they're on. This was no exception - it made for nice music to unwind to after a thoroughly stressful day. These were all some nice covers, and while it's not something I'd usually listen to, it was nice.
Favourite: Respect
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
4/5
I'm finding that the more 80s music I'm listening to, the more I'm beginning to enjoy it. With that being said, this turned out to be a pretty great album. It's certainly very 80s, quite cheesy but not overly so. Not every song was really a hit for me, and it had its fair share of weirdness. The title track was much longer than it ought to be but I still think that was okay. Relax is still a bop, and Two Tribes was a surprisingly good one I'd not heard before. Overall this is okay for an 80s pop album!
Favourite: Relax
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
This was an interesting one. Every song blended in to each other, and usually that's a sign that it's a boring album to me. However I don't think that was the case with this one. It's a long winter and it's taking its toll on me mentally, and I think this long droning album was a way to just dissociate for a while. I never felt like I was trying to ignore the music though, it was just a nice background music for a not-so-great mental state. Felt insanely ahead of its time too - you could have told me it came out last week and I would have believed you. I don't think it would have resonated with me so well if I was feeling okay though.
Favourite: Lose My Breath
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
I thought it was okay, it was a real mix of neat psychedelic classic rock tracks, and some country drivel I couldn't care less about. Very hit and miss album, and nothing was particularly memorable to me. Additionally this album isn't available on Spotify in the UK so it messes up my favourites playlist, and that pisses me off.
Favourite: Down by the River
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
A nice album full of solemn folk ballads. It's a gloomy day of self-reflection and I think the tone of this album worked well for that. I did get a bit bored at times, but it was still a rather nice album to listen to, and the rock-and-roll feel of Open All Night was a nice short break from the monotony. I think this'll be a nice one to listen to when it's finally nice enough to get back out in nature again.
Favourite: Open All Night
Alice In Chains
4/5
Not bad, I'll always enjoy some metal. I do think, however, that this is another album best sprinkled through a playlist. It all feels a bit samey after a while. None of it was really bad in my opinion, just didn't seem to me like there was much variation. However, it was alright though, and I'm sure I'll save some of these tracks into other playlists.
Favourite: Would?
Joni Mitchell
4/5
I thought this was pretty good! There was a fairly interesting mix of elements and inspiration to this folk-driven album, from some jazzy notes, to some more bossa nova-esque rhythms. A few of these songs got a bit boring and got tuned out, and I don't think this'd be one for my regular listening sessions by any means. But it suited the mood quite well for a Sunday evening.
Favourite: In France They Kiss On Main Street
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
I have to say, I loved this, quite a bit more than I was expecting. I always thought Reggae was alright, but was never that into it, but I thought this was wonderful. It was a beautiful, chilled, spiritual record and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey it took me on.
Favourite: Jamming
Pulp
2/5
I've never really got on with Pulp. While I think most Britpop is alright, this just isn't enjoyable to me. That weird seductive whispery voice that Cocker does gives me chills, and not in a good way. It really doesn't strike me as a 90s album either - the cheesy sex-driven lyrics seem 10 years older than they actually are. The music and the instrumentation itself was good, but the vocals were just creepy. No wonder Britpop gets such a bad name outside of the UK.
Favourite: Common People
Todd Rundgren
5/5
A few months ago, I was introduced to Todd Rundgren by Something/Anything? coming up on my list, and I thought it was a pretty good album. This is like all the weird and standout songs of Something/Anything? blown up into a full album. Like the aforementioned album that came before it, A Wizard, A True Star is quite eclectic and all over the place, but I definitely feel like the focus of this album was clearer than the previous album. That focus was definitely psychedelia. It's definitely the kind of music that'd be enhanced with psychedelics, but it was the 70s. Saying that, this rarely felt like a 70s album - the electronic elements throughout made it seem more recent than that at times. Being a psychedelic pop album, it of course had its token unhinged and unsettling songs, but overall I still liked this quite a lot. I'm eager to listen to more of Rundgren's work.
Favourite: Zen Archer
Count Basie & His Orchestra
5/5
For some reason I have a real soft spot for big band and swing music. Therefore this was very much up my alley. From 1958, it's a late album of its genre, probably one of the last hurrahs of swing, and right slap-bang in the middle of the Atomic Age. When I first saw the album cover I for a second expected a punk album, before noticing it was a Basie album. An interesting cover choice for sure, but I'm sure there had to be a weird public fascination about nuclear weapons at that stage of the Cold War. Pure speculation though, this came out 40 years before I did. Either way the songs were wonderful and it was a nice warm treat on a Thursday evening. Some of the songs were a little too slow for me, but it was still just lovely.
Favourite: Flight of the Foo Birds
Eagles
4/5
Pretty good album! I think it fell a little bit short of some of the other 70s rock albums I've had so far, and considering its titular track, I think I'm probably going to enjoy Hotel California some more if/when that comes around. Some really good songs and a few that I didn't much care for. But yeah, still a pretty good one for scratching my weird Dad Rock itch.
Favourite: Witchy Woman
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3/5
Some decent 70s rock for sure, but honestly it didn't really have enough going for it to keep me engaged throughout. It felt like Rockin' Around (With You) was almost the peak, right at the beginning of the album, and nothing else really grabbed me quite as much. That song wasn't nearly long enough either! American Girl is a classic though, so yeah, to me it was a bit of a nothing sandwich? I don't know, that seems harsh, but I'm sure I'll take one or two of these songs into my playlist.
Favourite: Rockin' Around (With You)
Donald Fagen
3/5
Jazzy, poppy, pleasant enough, and honestly a bit boring. It was like a jazz album with a dull and cheesy 80's pop beat underneath it, and I think that kinda ruined the whole thing a bit. If it had stuck to its roots and just tried to be a jazz album I might have enjoyed it a bit more. And yet in this form it manages to be overproduced and still quite dull. It's not exactly bad though, just didn't blow me away.
Favourite: The Nightfly
New Order
4/5
Pretty good one. Very 80's electronic sound which occasionally departs into some more acoustic new wave tracks. It wasn't all my thing because I find a lot of this 80's stuff quite corny but I did certainly enjoy those house-y tracks. It's not got Blue Monday though, so I suspect this won't be my favourite New Order album.
Favourite: Vanishing Point
The Damned
5/5
This is certainly one for my mental list of "Bands I've heard of but never really listened to before now, and now I regret only now listening to them for the first time."
Holy cow what a good album this was. A much needed proto-hardcore punk rush that made my whole day. Rowdy, raw, unrelenting, with a nice mix of weirdness and psychedelia. I liked this one a lot, and I wish I'd given The Damned a proper listen sooner.
Favourite: Love Song
Saint Etienne
4/5
I thought this was quite a good album! A lot of interesting and quirky ambient electronic music, and some really interesting use of samples. I don't feel like it was all my thing, but I may come back to listen to it again sometime in the future.
Favourite: Stoned to Say the Least
Jeru The Damaja
5/5
This may well be my favourite hip hop album I've heard on the list so far. I'd never even heard of Jeru The Damaja before this, but I can see why he played a big part in the revival of the East Coast Hip Hop scene. The lyricism is excellent, there's a real poetic quality to his rapping. The misogyny is obviously there but I don't think it's as bad as a lot of the other rappers around this time. The beats were amazing too, and they never felt overshadowed by the vocals. Instead the beats and rapping always seemed to compliment each other. This was just a great classic hip hop album, the best hip hop I've heard on the list thusfar, and potentially my new all-time favourite hip hop album.
CHIC
4/5
This is one of those albums that is just nice and pleasant, with a song practically everyone is bound to know. It's a groovy and fun album full of disco with a couple of slower songs added in. I feel like Good Times is absolutely the best thing on here though, but I never realised how long it actually was. This made it a bit repetitive to be honest, and I feel like My Forbidden Lover, while much shorter, also just repeated itself after about about halfway. I suppose it wouldn't have mattered so much grooving to this in a club. Either way though, still a pretty good album, but definitely most known for just a single song.
Favourite: Good Times
Elvis Costello
3/5
It was okay... Felt like a cheap imitation of pop and rock and roll from a decade or two before. And yet it didn't feel that special? All a bit cookie-cutter. It got a bit boring too, but I thought the guitar solos in I'm Not Angry made up for some of it.
Favourite: I'm Not Angry
Mudhoney
5/5
Ooh, this was a very good grunge and punk album, which I'd never heard before. All these tracks were amazing in my opinion, and I have to admit I was kinda into the harmonica in one or two of these tracks.
Favourite: Move Out
Cyndi Lauper
4/5
I found myself enjoying this much more than I had initially expected. Girls Just Want to Have Fun is an absolute classic and a bit of a guilty pleasure song to me, Time After Time is also wonderful, and yeah this was just an all-around pleasant 80s synthpop record. The last couple of songs were a bit odd though, but generally this was great.
Favourite: Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Blur
5/5
An excellent indie britpop classic. There's some heavy bias towards one song in particular for me, but generally this was just great. It felt like both a mixed-bag jam session and a cohesive album. I think this is one of those albums I certainly need to seek out on physical media as it's just a classic.
Favourite: Song 2
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Funky, soulful and generally a fun album. It's not entirely my thing really but I still very much enjoyed it.
Favourite: Sex Machine
System Of A Down
5/5
Surely there aren't many metal bands out there that are as creative and unique as System Of A Down. Hilarious, sad, terrifying, this album had it all it seemed. A real psychotic trip that was great fun from start to finish.
Favourite: Sugar
The Pogues
5/5
So, my only real experience with The Pogues up to this point has been Fairytale of New York, which I think is one of the greatest Christmas songs. However, seeing that on here I wasn't sure if the rest of the album would be like that too, and I could have seen myself getting a bit bored with a whole album of that sort of thing. I was pleasantly mistaken! This proved to be a wonderful Celtic punk album with plenty of that Irish folk flair but also with a bit of Turkish and Spanish influence in a few songs. It was rocky enough to keep me hooked, but that wonderful Celtic folk instrumentation paired with Shane McGowan's gruff voice makes me want to find a cozy village pub with a warm fire, have a couple of drinks and simply celebrate my place in this big scary world. This was a really pleasant album that I liked a lot more than I was initially expecting.
Favourite: Bottle of Smoke
Miles Davis
5/5
This was really nice background music for basically anything. I was initially worried about the length of what was essentially a two track album, but I was pleasantly surprised by the evolving and changing nature of the songs. Both songs were over 15 minutes long but they never got boring to me. A wonderful foray into early jazz-rock.
Favourite: In A Silent Way
Talk Talk
4/5
I thought this was some pretty good 80's new wave. The more I listen to in the list, the more I'm opening up to 80's pop I think. Some of these songs did end up being tuned out a bit, but there were also some real bangers in here, and one or two I swear I've heard before but not entirely sure. I think I'll approach this again some time.
Favourite: Life's What You Make It
The The
4/5
I initially wasn't sure what I'd think of this album - it initially seemed like any other 80s New Wave album, of which I've heard a few of in close succession on this list. However it sort of changed throughout the course of the album, and throughout individual songs also, into this interesting post-punk sort of thing. A bit strange, a bit unsettling at times, but really interesting and quite unique. I'm unsure about why I've never heard of The The before!
Favourite: Giant
Elis Regina
5/5
Some bossa nova, some samba, some elements of funk, jazz, even disco. I'd not heard of Elis Regina before and wasn't sure what to expect, but this turned out to be wonderful. It was a tuneful party of an album that made me wish for warmer months. Makes me wish I knew Portuguese though, so I could really follow along, and it's a shame Elis Regina was lost so young. This is one of those more left-field albums I think I'll seek out on vinyl honestly.
Favourite: O Medo De Amar É O Medo De Ser Livre
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Holy shit what an album! A wonderful mix of metal, blues and folk. I was invested in this one for pretty much the entire album. Only song off here I really knew was Immigrant Song but I think I just found a new favourite song of this album. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp just has a wonderful energy and went straight into one of my playlists on first listen. Great album through and through.
Favourite: Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Steve Earle
2/5
The more male-sung American country music I listen to, the more I just think it's not for me. I really can't get on very well with that twang of his accent. Somehow, despite saying all that, Hillbilly Highway happened to be my favourite. Unfortunately, to me that bar wasn't very high. I also got this on a day where I just really couldn't appreciate music like this, sorry.
Favourite: Hillbilly Highway
The Mars Volta
5/5
Wow, where's this album been all my life? Visceral, nonsensical, trippy, unhinged but still with a solid structure. The perfect companion to a stressful and anxiety-laden couple of days.
Favourite: Inertiatic Esp
Joni Mitchell
5/5
A beautiful and timeless masterpiece of an album. While this may not have usually been something I'd actively seek out, I enjoyed it and followed it very closely throughout. It's amazing how this was entirely written and produced by Mitchell also.
Favourite: This Flight Tonight
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
Heavy, haunting, heartbreaking. It's one thing just to listen to it but even more heartbreaking to understand the background around this record. It's a very beautiful and unique album, but I don't know if I wish to listen to it again for a while.
Favourite: Hollywood
The Strokes
5/5
An excellent album through and through. It's not something I listened to when it first came out, since I would have only been three years old, but I've grown to love this over the last couple of years now I've really started to vibe with this kind of Indie music. To be honest, for a long time I thought this was older than it actually was, testament to the garage-rock and post-punk revival movement that this album just oozes.
This is just a real mood-booster of an album, and I wouldn't be surprised if, with a few more listens, this gets up there as one of my favourite rock albums.
Favourite: Someday
N.W.A.
4/5
This album has a lot of messages which didn't age well - Homophobia, misogyny and such. Some messages aged unfortunately well - The police vs the black community especially. There's no doubt that this was the album that sparked the golden age of gangsta rap, and really defined the sound of rap for years to come. Gangsta rap is by no means my favourite genre, but I can really appreciate this for its history.
Favourite: Express Yourself
Brian Eno
5/5
This is a very interesting and pretty unique record, especially for 1975. It certainly sounds more recent than a nearly 50 year old album, that's for sure. All quite ambient and tranquil, occasionally getting a bit weird but never too much so. I'm really starting to love a lot of these old synth-laden pop and rock albums.
Favourite: St. Elmo's Fire
Bon Jovi
5/5
Damn, when did I start unironically enjoying cheesy 80s hair metal? I thought this was a banger of an album to be honest, with quite a few songs I already knew well, a couple of great songs that were new to me and one or two I didn't much care for, but overall I can't fault this at all. I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting.
Favourite: I'd Die For You
The Specials
4/5
A cool and fun early 2 tone ska album blending reggae and rock. Not really my favourite genre in the world, and this album was a little bit hit-and-miss for me, but it was still just fun and pleasant throughout.
Favourite: A Message to You, Rudy
Snoop Dogg
5/5
Didn't realise this album was so old, I thought this was from closer to 2000 honestly. Really sounds like it too. I can't really get on with gangsta rap all that much, but there's usually some great beats behind the rapping. This was no exception, I think the backing beats slapped on this. And I feel like Snoop Dogg's rapping is smoother and less in-your-face that other artists in that era such as Ice Cube, so this was all-round a more listenable album, and without a doubt an influential album for hip-hop as a whole.
Favourite: Who Am I (What's My Name?)
Bebel Gilberto
5/5
Well, this was a first for me in that there's a song on this album I couldn't find on Spotify nor YouTube. So for now I'll just have to skip it. That song is Alguem. There were a couple of covers on YouTube but I refuse to listen to those as I feel it takes away from what listening to this album should be. However, I can safely say I'll be seeking this out in physical form.
This was a beautiful album. A beautiful mix of Bossa Nova, Future Jazz and Downtempo. Even felt a bit of DnB energy from Lonely. Fun, mostly upbeat and tuneful. I wish for a warmer day to review this, quite honestly.
Favourite: Lonely
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
Wow! I can't say I knew too much about Wu-Tang Clan, but I think I might have to change that after listening to this. If their later albums are even half as good as this, Wu-Tang Clan might be the group that gets me into Hip Hop. Great variety of voices kept it interesting, that gritty Hardcore Hip Hop sound gave it so much energy - It was impossible not to feel badass listening to this on my commute. This was amazing throughout, and I don't think there's a song I can really fault here.
Favourite: C.R.E.A.M (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)
Dizzee Rascal
4/5
There's some nostalgia tied to Dizzee Rascal, though I didn't know this album all that well - I know Dizzee Rascal for his later, more pop-oriented music. That was the real big thing around the time I was in secondary. But I thought this was quite great. An early album in the UK's massively popular grime theme, and a name that practically any millennial Brit is going to know, with the addition of being one of the first British rappers to see international recognition. There were a lot of great electronic elements and heavy basslines through the album, and Dizzee Rascal's rapping was quite impressive. Not every song was a hit to me, some of them were a bit strange, others were kinda repetitive, but there were some bangers here too.
Favourite: Fix Up, Look Sharp
Taylor Swift
4/5
Huh. When this came up I wasn't really looking forward to it - this is an album that released when I was still a teenager, at a time when this couldn't have really been further from the kind of thing I was listening to. It was that kind of young and dumb age where I could dismiss something like this for being "girl's music", which is a concept that I find absurd now that I've grown up and thrown away my insecurities. It also didn't help that this was overplayed to shit when this first came out. But despite all that, I thought this was pretty good! Dedicating the time to listen to this whole album, in a much higher quality format than over the radio, I saw just how well-produced this was, and I think enough time has gone by to not have any resentment for any of the more overplayed songs back in the mid-to-late 10s. Don't get me wrong, not every song here was that interesting to me, but damn this has some catchy synthpop bangers.
Favourite: Shake It Off
Sepultura
4/5
Ooh this was quite good. Metal with screamed vocals has never been my favourite - I've always been more into the less screamy-growly older metal genres like speed and thrash. However this was still very good. The riffs were amazing and it was just so creative - I loved the Brazilian flair of this album, and all the traditional indigenous elements were just excellent and kept it compelling. I'll probably come back to this when I need my fix of anger and aggression.
Favourite: Ratamahatta
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
5/5
Wow this was a fun listen! I can't say I've really given salsa much of a listen before this, and I don't know Spanish but I really wish I did now. The horns and instrumentation are excellent, and the lyrics seem great, even if I don't exactly know what's being said. It's the kind of album that just makes me want to dance, and it makes me wish for a warmer day than this one.
Favourite: Plástico
The Cure
4/5
Spooky, gothic and moody. Sounds a bit newer than it actually is. I had to listen to this one twice as it didn't sound right during the day, but sounded much better once the sun went down. I might come back to some of the songs on this.
Favourite: A Forest
Beatles
4/5
I thought this was pretty good. Probably not my favourite of the ones I've heard on the list so far, but it was catchy and well written, and made for a good companion on a sunny evening drive home.
Favourite: A Hard Day's Night
Elvis Presley
3/5
This was okay, a little too slow for me at times. However there were a couple of quicker and more rocky songs that were just a bop to listen to.
Favourite: Dirty, Dirty Feeling
Fairport Convention
5/5
This came up on a strange day where I went on a 40ish-mile round trip after work to pick up a record player. It was a beautiful sunny evening at the very beginning of Spring, and the long country drive helped clear my head. This folk-rock record was absolutely the perfect companion for all that. Leige And Lief is a beautiful blend of rock music with adaptations of classic British and Celtic folk ballads, with a few original compositions added in also. Sandy Denny's beautiful voice ties everything together and creates a chill, moving album that never gets boring. Very good album with a few songs I will certainly come back to.
Favourite: Matty Groves
Jungle Brothers
5/5
This was a good album from that golden age of hip-hop before gangsta rap dominated the scene. Groovy, funky and very danceable. The lyricism is great, and it's refreshing to hear some hip-hop that takes a more light-hearted stance. Some of the songs sound a little cheesy now, but maybe it's just where everybody got so jaded by the gangsta rap juggernaut. Wonder what would be different in the world today if this was the hip-hop subgenre that persisted?
Favourite: Tribe Vibes
Merle Haggard
2/5
Mehhh. More American male-singer country music. I continue to maintain that I'm not American enough to understand this stuff. I dunno, some of it was okay to me but there was a lot that was just way too slow and boring. His voice isn't quite as Hillbilly and full of southern drawl as some of the others though, so I at least thought this was one of the more listenable American country albums I've heard so far. It also became a bit more enjoyable with some of the faster songs, and I can't really fault the lyricism here. Just not an album I could really vibe with.
Favourite: Mixed Up Mess Of A Heart
Calexico
5/5
Wow what an interesting album this was. Had a bit of everything! Felt like an indie rock band with a lot of mariachi flavour mixed in. Wikipedia has it listed under the genre "Tex-mex" and yeah, couldn't put it better myself. A bit of folk and country, a bit of mariachi, a bit of jazz - A highly interesting album. Some of the songs here were a little too slow for me to really get into, but I liked this album a lot regardless.
Favourite: Quattro - World Drifts In
Afrika Bambaataa
5/5
Last year I bought a cheap Sanyo music centre, and unexpectedly it came with a few recorded cassettes. One of the cassettes was a recording of a radio show from 1984. It was an interesting blast from the past, especially some of the news reports throughout the radio show. One of the things I thought interesting was a claim from some scientist about how breakdancing could contribute to hair loss. Yeah honestly, if this was the sort of thing that people were breakdancing to back in the mid 80s, I can see it.
I thought this was a really fun album, and judging by when it came out I can imagine this had an influence on both hip hop and house music going into the late 80s and 90s, while interpolating and drawing influence from Kraftwerk. It's undeniably aged, but I don't care. This was just a really fun and groovy album.
Favourite: Planet Rock
Tim Buckley
2/5
"Some American sings about sex for 40 mins."
Nope. Just couldn't get on with this. I never really understood the appeal of overtly horny music like this. Was this endearing in 1972? Either way I feel repulsed. The songs themselves were okay and his range was impressive for sure. Despite this, I do not wish to listen to this again.
Favourite: Hong Kong Bar
Radiohead
5/5
I'd still consider myself relatively new to Radiohead, previously only really knowing the most mainstream tracks and a couple others I found through my own random listening. I've been letting this list introduce me because I figured that a majority of their albums would come up. This is the second Radiohead album the generator has given me so far, the first being Hail to the Thief. I know that they're considered to vary a lot between albums, yet I have to say, any doubts about whether I like Radiohead in general or not are now gone.
This was an excellent album which I thoroughly enjoyed all the way through. Quite experimental while being so well produced. Some of the songs slow down a bit but nothing here feels like filler. I'm struggling to put into words everything I like about this album but I think I need more time to write this review, and believe me, I feel like I could write a whole dissertation about this. Simply a beautiful album, and while being generally considered to be one of the more approachable Radiohead albums, I really don't think there's anything out there that's quite like it. I NEED to get this on LP.
Favourite: 15 Step
The Who
4/5
A very good classic rock album. Some of the songs in the middle felt a little filler-ish, but they had some great riffs and the like. Can't say this is my favourite rock album, but it was still a good listen.
Favourite: Baba O'Riley
John Grant
5/5
This is probably one of the most varied, strange and mysterious albums I've had on the list so far. I'd never heard of John Grant before this, and on the first few songs I wasn't sure if I was much going to like the album. However, as the album progressed, I started to listen more, pay more attention to the lyrics. Some of it was haunting, some of it was oddly humorous, some of it was just so painfully real, but the lyricism was undeniably amazing throughout. It goes from folk to rock to synth-pop to straight up bizarre and back again. Full of experimentation and expression while channelling artists like Bowie and Pink Floyd, this album really surprised me by the end of it. It went from something I initially expected to dislike, into something I found really beautiful. A great record.
Favourite: Sigourney Weaver
Meat Puppets
3/5
A bizarre mix of punk and country, though despite being an oddball kind of album it didn't really stand out to me that much. Might go and listen again eventually just in case it gets better on the second listen.
Favourite: Magic Toy Missing
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
An absolute classic of a record with some instantly recognisable tracks and a couple I didn't really know. While it's mostly a bit softer and more pop-infused than the kind of rock music I usually most like, this is just an undisputed classic. Amazing vocals, harmonies, riffs, just a brilliant timeless classic of an album. And of course, for me The Chain will always be associated with Formula 1 - It may be impossible not to step on the gas when the outro kicks in.
Favourite: The Chain
The Mamas & The Papas
3/5
Not too bad. A couple of good songs, but just a little too boring and melancholic to keep my attention throughout. The vocals are nice though. Additionally, this may be the first album so far in the list that I can say I have a bit of an issue with in terms of stereo mixing. I appreciate records that make creative use of stereo, but this was far too wide. Maybe I'll seek out a mono version of this if I decide to listen again someday.
Favourite: California Dreamin'
Thelonious Monk
4/5
I've heard a few jazz albums in the list by now. I still don't feel smart enough to critique this or even necessarily explain why I liked it, but like it I certainly did. This was a pleasant jazz record that was like a warming whisky in a dimly lit bar. A very nice accompaniment to my evening.
Favourite: Pannonica
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
This was a good album, but for better or worse this came up only 3 days after Rumours came up on my list. Tusk is nearly twice as long, but not as good in my opinion. There were some very good tracks in here, but a few tracks that seemed a little filler-ish and just got tuned out. However the good tracks were dotted throughout the album, so they ended up drawing my attention back to it. Definitely a very good record, but Rumours still takes the cake, and I'm eager to see how the other albums shape up in comparison, cause I'm sure there are still a few more Fleetwood Mac albums yet to come before my list is done.
Favourite: Sisters of the Moon
Spiritualized
5/5
Another mysterious album I'd not heard of, from a band I'd somehow not heard of, full of songs I've never even heard in passing. I often get worried when an album like that comes up on my list, but I was very pleasantly surprised! This was an excellent album. A transcendental blend of 60s/70s psychedelia and 90s britpop. I think this would have been a life-changing experience under the influence of psychedelics - I'll certainly keep this album in mind if I ever get the opportunity.
On researching this after listening, I discovered the amazing presentation of the limited edition CD of this - A mock prescription medicine box, complete with an informational leaflet outlining how to administer this "medicine", and a huge blister pack containing the CD. Possibly the coolest limited edition album I've ever seen.
Favourite: Electricity
The Electric Prunes
4/5
I found myself enjoying this quite a bit. Real channeling of some of the big rock bands of the 60s, Beatles, Stones etc. It's fairly psychedelic and a bit dark at times, and I was pleasantly surprised by how the speed picked up from time to time. It got a bit goofy and just plain weird at times though, and some of the songs were a bit boring. Very good album though!
Favourite: Sold to the Highest Bidder
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
Some great early 70s American rock. I've heard of CCR but never really looked into them too much, and only heard one or two of their tracks - unlike a lot of these reviews I have no nostalgia towards them. Regardless this was a very good record with some surprisingly energetic rock. There were a couple of songs that lost my attention but I don't think I've found any 70s albums that have kept my attention all the way through.
Favourite: Ramble Tamble
The Stooges
5/5
Wow! It's hard to believe this came out in 1969! I can imagine this kind of sound must have been terrifyingly new back then. This is a real proto-punk classic with plenty of psychedelia mixed in for good measure. Contrary to a lot of reviews I liked the dark psychedelic droning dirge of We Will Fall a lot, but I think it could have done with being at the end of the album for the best effect. 1969 is an absolute banger though, although the whole album is just great. Possibly my favourite album from the 60s that I've heard on the list so far.
Favourite: 1969
CHVRCHES
5/5
This is an album I knew a lot of songs from already, thanks to the copious airtime this received when it came out. I think at the time I got a bit bored of just how much it was played, but it's been nearly 10 years now so I can appreciate this again, as well as acquire a palate that really enjoys indie electronica. With all that being said, I loved this album. Sitting down and hearing this properly, I thought it was excellent. The lyricism was wonderful and Mayberry has such an energy and charisma to her vocals. Overall it's absolutely dripping with 80s Synth-Pop flair, but it still manages to stay varied enough to not grow stale by the end of the 67-minute long record. Really tempted to get this on vinyl...
I took early 2010s pop and electronica for granted - this is so much better than any of the endless TikTok crap that Radio 1 plays these days...
Favourite: Recover
Bad Brains
5/5
I can't say I'd heard of Bad Brains before, so I wasn't sure what exactly to expect. This turned out to be a pleasant surprise - an absolute rush of punk rock with some funk and reggae elements. This was an interesting and energetic album throughout, and I've gotta say I really enjoyed this one.
Favourite: I Against I
Deerhunter
4/5
Never heard of the band, the album or any song from it. It was a dark, moving, psychedelic journey, and I was certainly reminded of other bands like Radiohead and The Beatles at times, but this still felt quite unique. I'm not feeling good at all today, and this made a worthy companion for the dissociations that my down days bring. Some of the songs got a little too boring, and the pacing seemed a little weird sometimes, but it was still a very good album.
Favourite: Coronado
Little Richard
4/5
Very fun and energetic! I'm not really any kind of aficionado to the very old rock and roll like this, but it was a real bop, and I can imagine the influence it had on rock music in general. It felt a little same-y towards the end, but it never exactly got boring. Just a real playful, fun, original record.
Favourite: Rip It Up
2Pac
5/5
I have to say, I thought this was pretty good. The lyricism, the emotion, the catchy bangers. Really one of the better 90s rap albums I've heard so far, with some real funk, soul and R&B moments. I don't really think my opinion on Hip-Hop has flipped yet, I still don't care that much for it in general, especially not the state of it nowadays, but this classic 90s Hip-Hop album is great.
Favourite: Me Against The World
White Denim
5/5
A 37-minute journey into some American indie garage rock psychedelia. Was folky at some points and quite tropical at others. A nice varied album that was just a lot of fun throughout. I'd never heard of this band before now but I must say I'm certainly a fan.
Favourite: River to Consider
The Pharcyde
5/5
A fun and light-hearted album that doesn't take itself too seriously, coming from an era and location where gangsta rap was the dominant Hip-Hop genre. I liked this quite a lot, and thought it was very fun, if a bit juvenile in its humour. The jazz elements of it were great along with all the other instrumentation, the rapping was great, and the songs were groovy and bouncy. The skits were pretty funny, and it seemed that everyone involved just bantered and bounced humour and ideas off of each other in a great way. Probably the most fun 90s rap album I've heard so far.
Favourite: Soul Flower - Remix
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
Definitely up there as one of the longest albums I've had on the list so far. Despite all that I thought it was an excellent album that was overall varied enough to never get old. This was a real journey from soft to hard to soft again and it slapped the whole time, but it maybe messed with the pace a little too much - sometimes it left me with some whiplash. I hadn't been sure about my opinion on Billy Corgan's vocals going into this but I got used to them and it stopped being so jarring after some time. Still a really good album though, and I think I'll come back to this.
Favourite: Bullet With Butterfly Wings
Simple Minds
4/5
An outrageously 80s New-Wave Synth-Pop album. I can totally see how this was probably quite an inspiration for the 80s revival and synthwave scene we're seeing right now, a scene and aesthetic I really love, and probably the thing that got me into 80s Synth-Pop in the first place. I think there was a little too much of the same thing to keep me fully invested for the entire album, but it was still really good.
Favourite: Promised You A Miracle
Q-Tip
5/5
This my first time listening to any standalone Q-Tip tracks, my only knowledge of him being from his collabs with The Chemical Brothers on "Galvanize" and "Go". Wasn't really sure to what to expect from a full Hip-Hop album of his, but I ended up really enjoying it. Really smooth and quite chill but never boring. Amazing lyricism and flow throughout. Pure vibes.
Favourite: Move
Elvis Presley
3/5
Another Elvis album, album #230 and maybe the 3rd Elvis so far. Starting to wonder if I just don't care that much or I haven't got to the truly good Elvis albums yet. This was fine, I can't really fault it that much. It was just a bit boring a lot of the time and I couldn't really keep my focus on it.
Favourite: I'm Movin' On
Lucinda Williams
2/5
Maybe if I lived anywhere in North America I'd have some understanding about the appeal of this, but it was just so mindnumbingly boring for most of the album. If this album is painting a picture of life in the rural USA it just makes me glad I don't live there. Really wasn't in the frame of mind to have any appreciation for this today either way.
Favourite: Can't Let Go
King Crimson
3/5
Very intriguing and strange, but sometimes to the point of pure absurdity. At times it felt like a real assault on the ears. I can appreciate something experimental for sure though, and there were some great moments here. However, as far as prog rock records go this isn't my favourite.
Favourite: Exiles
Queen
5/5
Why have I left it so long to take this deep dive into Queen?! I'd never spent the time to listen to full albums, only the most well-known singles. This was a wholly excellent album. The only other album the generator has given me so far has been Sheer Heart Attack, and while that was amazing, this has definitely beaten it in my opinion. It's silly and weird without being totally random and directionless, and it just rocks, even verging into heavy metal territory in a couple of songs. This album is an easy 5, and I really wonder if this will end up being my favourite Queen album.
Favourite: Bohemian Rhapsody
Tina Turner
2/5
This was an okay album. Very 80s, very pop, quite middling in my opinion. There were a couple of more exciting songs but a lot of it was just slow and boring. I'm sure it belongs on the list but I can't say I cared that much.
Favourite: I Wrote A Letter
Crowded House
3/5
It was all just a bit boring honestly. I thought it was okay for the most part though, and I might come back to it if I'm in the mood for a slow and melancholy album.
Favourite: Weather With You
Carole King
3/5
It was just okay. Probably caught me on the wrong day but I thought it was a bit boring. It was certainly quite soulful though, so I'll give it that.
Favourite: I Feel The Earth Move
Jamiroquai
5/5
Very good, funky, jazzy, soulful album brimming with energy. I'm eager to hear some more of Jamiroquai's albums though - I'm sure Travelling Without Moving will come up eventually. Honestly pretty much everything on Emergency On Planet Earth was totally new to me. But what a debut album this is! Despite the version I listened to being the 2 hour long 20th anniversary reissue, it was still thoroughly enjoyable throughout.
Favourite: Too Young to Die
Slipknot
3/5
Felt appropriate on a drive home on a really dark and gloomy day. Kinda felt like the world was ending. But then I got home and sort of lost interest. This was okay, I don't mind metal, and some of these songs really were great, but it all got a bit grating after a while. Maybe even boring in a weird sort of way? I don't know, there's not much modern metal I seem to enjoy. Gematria (The Killing Name) was excellent though. Real thrash metal vibes.
Favourite: Gematria (The Killing Name)
Solomon Burke
3/5
Nice, pleasant, soulful, but purely in a background music kind of way. It left me a little bored by the end. A nice accompaniment in an old-timey diner or something though.
Favourite: Won't You Give Him (One More Chance)
Ramones
4/5
A quick and energetic rush of an album. Blitzkrieg Bop is as excellent now as the first time I heard it. However, for as energetic it is, the album never seems all that varied. Dare I say it all gets a bit repetitive? But it's a short album and doesn't overstay its welcome. All the songs were good though, just an album that's best scattered through a playlist.
Favourite: Blitzkrieg Bop
Scott Walker
2/5
This was just a really weird album. The vocals and lyricism were pretty good, but the whole thing just came across as overly theatrical and pretentious. I could never take it seriously. To add to it, I just thought it was quite boring. I cannot fault his talent, but this is absolutely not my thing.
Also I thought there was a Jacques Brel feel to this whole thing - Funny to see that a few of these are Brel interpretations. I thought Olympia 64 was good but maybe I would have found him pretentious too if I was from a French-speaking nation.
Favourite: Jackie
Arctic Monkeys
5/5
Yes, what an album! Quite possibly one of the greatest debut albums of the 00s, and in my opinion one of the greatest acts of the 00s Post-Britpop movement. There's not a bad song on this album - This is one of only a few albums so far on this list where, throughout, I just couldn't get the thought out my head of "This album is just amazing." Really, really good. I just wish Arctic Monkeys still made this kind of music.
Favourite: I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
Public Enemy
5/5
A really good album, a worthy sequel to Fear Of A Black Planet in my opinion. I thought this was equally as good, and maybe even a bit better. For me the ending track being a thrash metal version of Bring Tha Noise, featuring Anthrax, no less, was very unexpected, but absolutely amazing. However I think By The Time I Get To Arizona was my overall favourite here - Extremely funky, and that gospel choir near the end brings it up to a whole other level. This was an aggressive and catchy Hardcore Hip-Hop record that just slaps.
Favourite: By The Time I Get To Arizona
Stevie Wonder
5/5
(Don't read this until you've heard Living For The City for the first time. Trust me on this one.)
A funky, soulful, groovy album with some excellent tracks that just slap. Living For The City blew me away though - How it opened about someone growing up in Mississippi, born to a poor family who did everything they could to raise and support him, but making the decision to move to the big city due to the discrimination he faced in Mississippi. It was just a really groovy song, and that synthesizer sounds amazing today, let alone nearly fifty years ago! It was the kind of thing that made me want to dance...
At about four minutes in, I thought the song was playing its outro, implying the protagonist's next big step into his new life in the big city, ending on an open-ended note with him hailing the bus for New York City. That's not at all what happened. The song trailed off, with just the synths playing, the spoken dialogue and background noise telling the story about how he got framed for something, arrested, sentenced and incarcerated, his life ruined by racism and injustice. He's left as a homeless man roaming the streets of the city, and the song ends on a message, a moral, to make the world a better place. It's a real gut-punch and a reality check, and I think the worst part is the knowledge that there are still people experiencing this today. Progress has certainly been made, but these injustices and inequalities still exist. It's a wake up call, and a reminder that life isn't fair to everyone. "This place is cruel, nowhere could be much colder. If we don't change, the world will soon be over." How can a song be so groovy and danceable, yet so dark and powerful?
The rest of the album is very good too, that groovy, funky sound that's just undeniably Stevie Wonder. It's a great album throughout, but Living For The City certainly takes the cake. To me this album is on par with Songs In The Key Of Life. I'm kicking myself to only now experiencing the legend that is Stevie Wonder, but what a journey it is getting to experience these things for the first time.
Favourite: Living For The City
Doves
5/5
This was a very good album. I'm really fond of this early-to-mid noughties post-britpop kind of thing, so I knew I'd enjoy this. I'd heard one or two of these tracks before, though I couldn't say I was familiar with Doves as a band. This was a generally chill record, pretty upbeat, though it slows, darkens, takes weird turns, and never really gets boring. It felt quite psychedelic and spaced out at times, and I'm all for that kind of thing. Definite Radiohead vibes, but maybe a little more generic in the lyrics. Still a very good album though!
Favourite: The Goes The Fear
David Bowie
4/5
This is the kind of Bowie I don't hear much on the radio, maybe with the exception of Sound and Vision, which I've heard a couple of times. Got very atmospheric and kind of spooky into the second half. This was a very interesting and varied album, and while it's not my favourite thing Bowie made, I thought it was pretty good.
Favourite: Subterraneans
Depeche Mode
4/5
Very 80s, quite electronic and dark. Drags on a bit at times but was still pretty cool. The "Aggro Mix" of Never Let Me Down Again was cool, with that badass synth that definitely had some influence on modern Synthwave. But that also gets kind of boring after a while, so the normal version wins out. I dunno, it was good, just nothing stood out hugely to me.
Favourite: Never Let Me Down Again
Devendra Banhart
5/5
Chilled and relaxing album that caught me on another mentally tender day. These sorts of simple acoustic folk albums always make me want to go venture into the nearest forest and go and immerse myself in nature, maybe befriend some wildlife, become a wendigo or something. I dunno. Either way this was a really pleasant album, and I think the beauty comes from the raw, somewhat unrefined nature of the album. This was just a nice and comfy folk album, and I appreciated it a lot.
Favourite: Insect Eyes
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
Can't say I really cared for this album. There wasn't much here that I enjoyed, and the only song I knew on it was Come On Eileen. Very 80s in a way I don't particularly enjoy.
Favourite: Come On Eileen
Radiohead
5/5
This is the third Radiohead album on my list so far. Once again it's a definite five stars. I don't know if I prefer this one over In Rainbows yet but I think I need to listen to both together, with headphones and no distractions, to figure that one out. This was a big turning point for Radiohead, a big push to progress and innovate from their earlier prog-rock work, learning and experimenting, blending their sound with electronic music and drawing influence from acts like Aphex Twin to produce something unlike anything ever heard before. It came close to breaking up the band on more than one occasion, but the work absolutely paid off. I can absolutely see the influence this must have had on their later albums like Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows, and I can imagine this must have been a real turning point for Radiohead. What a great album.
Favourite: Everything in Its Right Place
Kraftwerk
5/5
I've been meaning to sit down and listen to some Kraftwerk for a while but not got around to that until now. This is an amazing record - I simply cannot imagine how it must have felt hearing this upon its release in 1978. Maybe like alien robots landed in West Germany and delivered this upon the Earth? I can't say, this album released the year my mum was born.
I think it's impressive to hear this some 45 years later, with the knowledge that so much modern music was influenced by the work of this band. And yet, this still sounds modern and futuristic today. Some of the synths are arguably a bit dated by today's standards of course, but it blows my mind that this sound was even achievable in 1978! Very listenable, very danceable, and absolutely timeless.
I've been looking for some Kraftwerk to add to my vinyl collection for a while now, and I think I'm just going to try harder to find it now.
Favourite: Robots
Supergrass
5/5
Here's another big local band I've never really given much of a listen to. In fact the only song I knew from this album was "Alright", a song I've heard so much but always thought was just "okay". I guess I had kind of accepted the band for their biggest songs. This album slapped throughout though - there were a lot of faster paced punk tracks that I absolutely wasn't expecting. It slowed down a bit at times but I still think this is a five star record.
Additionally I think I listened to it the way it was intended to be listened to - driving with the windows down on a sunny Oxfordshire Thursday; it made for the perfect driving companion.
How were Supergrass so underrated in the 90s britpop scene?
Favourite: I'd Like To Know
Ash
4/5
Pretty good album with some real bangers. It slows down a bit from time to time, and I don't know if this really stands out in comparison to the other bands of this period, but it was still a good album.
Favourite: Girl From Mars
Jerry Lee Lewis
4/5
Damn, it's interesting to hear a rock and roll album from the early to mid 60s that rocks quite as hard as this. But I don't know if I can give it full marks considering the comments. That dude really was a piece of shit, huh.
Favourite: Long, Tall Sally
CHIC
4/5
Groovy and danceable. Not a huge amount I can say about this one, it was just a fun companion to my weekend activities.
Favourite: Le Freak
Black Sabbath
5/5
It's a really great thing when the first album of a particular genre still sounds absolutely amazing over 50 years later. This album absolutely rocks, and it must have been mental to hear this way back in 1970.
Favourite: The Wizard
The Cars
4/5
A very good album. I felt like I'd heard practically every song on this album before at some point or another, but I don't know if that was just false memories. It was really good throughout, though maybe a bit middle of the road in my opinion (pun intended). Pleasant and enjoyable, but not particularly memorable.
Favourite: Just What I Needed
Slint
4/5
A pretty cool album. Complex, dark and heavy, and quite unsettling at times, with how it wasn't afraid to go completely quiet for a while and then ramp up again. Sometimes it got too quiet, and almost sent me to sleep though. This was good regardless, and I might have to come back to listen to it again soon.
Favourite: Washer
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
3/5
I found this one a little boring. I think I may have been a bit too distracted and in the wrong mood to really appreciate this one today, but I think it was okay. Will probably return to it sometime when I need a moody and melancholic folk record.
Favourite: Madeleine-Mary
Johnny Cash
5/5
A beautiful and haunting album that caught me on a really dark day. It definitely brought me to tears at points. As much as I say I generally dislike American male-vocal country music, Johnny Cash is one such exception to that, from my limited knowledge of his work. A true swan song.
Favourite: I Hung My Head
R.E.M.
4/5
A solid album! Not everything here was really that interesting to me, but there was some great rock here.
Favourite: It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Super Furry Animals
3/5
This was just mostly a bit boring, though there were a couple of slightly more interesting songs, mostly near the beginning. No Sympathy had a crazy IDM ending for no reason, and it's general bizarreness makes it my favourite.
Favourite: No Sympathy
Muddy Waters
5/5
This album reminds me why I'm listening to this list. As much as I love listening to the music, I understand that a lot of albums here have influenced artists and genres, and generally played a part in music history. I went in not knowing who Muddy Waters is, but after researching the Wikipedia page and other reviews, I understand that this record played an important part in introducing the blues to a younger, whiter, more international audience, influencing the scenes that would lead to the British Invasion, and generally being a catalyst for rock music in general. This album's influence cannot be overstated, and in addition, it was just enjoyable to listen to. That Chicago Blues sound is just wonderful, and I really loved the faster boogies also. A very good live album that absolutely deserves to be on this list.
Favourite: I've Got My Mojo Working
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
An adrenaline shot of punk energy. This was an enjoyable and fun album, though it felt a little bit same-y by the end. I think I prefered It's Blitz! Over this, although this was a banger, and it surprised me a bit about how gritty and aggro Yeah Yeah Yeahs' early stuff was.
Favourite: Date with the Night
k.d. lang
3/5
This album was pleasant, if not the most interesting to me. Kind of a mix of jazz and country with a general easy-listening feel. It was a bit cheesy-sounding at times, and the songs themselves were a little bit boring to me. However she undoubtedly has a great voice, and that made the otherwise slow album worthwhile.
Favourite: Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes
Gorillaz
5/5
Yes! I was waiting for some Gorillaz to appear here. Though to be honest, their self-titled debut is one I don't really know all that much about. I only really knew the "mainstream" songs here I guess. It meant there were a few songs I didn't really know, and a few others that are absolutely dripping with nostalgia for my early 00s upbringing here in the UK.
Here was this band, really quite different and subversive to anything else getting airtime, this blending of Hip-Hop and Rock but not in a Limp Bizkit sort of way. Then seeing a Gorillaz video on VH1 or MTV or whatever it was playing on the old Sky Digibox and seeing it was all a cartoon band? There was also the memories of finding the Geep Simulator game on AddictingGames and playing the hell out of that, partly for the cool 3D Flash gameplay and also to listen to 19-2000. I don't remember if I ever went to the OG Gorillaz website or not but I think I would have enjoyed it a lot. Then of course, there was the Ed Case and Sweetie Irie refix of Clint Eastwood, an absolute 2-step juggernaut that seemingly took the UK dancefloors by storm in the early 2000s. Though I don't know for sure, I was just a kid, but the amount of airtime that thing got on Radio 1 back in the day makes me believe it.
This is like a time capsule of scattered and slightly hazy memories of my early childhood, and I certainly have a new appreciation for it nowadays. However I didn't really feel like I was missing out with the songs on here I didn't recognise, I still have my favourites. Generally I also think it's not my favourite Gorillaz album, I think Demon Days is just way too good, and I even enjoy a lot of their more recent stuff. With all that being said, I realised there's a lot of Gorillaz' back catalogue that I've not really listened to yet, as well as their whole fictional universe that I need to attempt to wrap my head around. I think I know what I'm going to do when I get a few days free!
Either way, this was a very strong debut album of the revolutionary, rebellious and ridiculously creative project from Albarn and Hewlett that went on to become the most successful virtual band ever, gaining a much wider universal following than Blur ever managed. Gorillaz pushed the boundaries of what a band was, and its influence on music going into the new millenium cannot be understated.
Or maybe that's just the nostalgia talking, but that's how I see it anyway.
Favourite: Clint Eastwood
Beastie Boys
3/5
This was pretty good in my opinion. Honestly I've always been quite a fan of the aggressive, shouted rapping style the Beastie Boys had going on. However, this album is upwards of 50 minutes and that shouty rapping does grow old after a while. It's another one of those albums that's best suited for a mixtape. As well as that, I think it pales in comparison to some of the other albums in their catalogue. It's good but not their best.
Favourite: Shake Your Rump
The Who
4/5
What a debut this was! Basically 60 years old and still absolutely rocks. I can totally see how much of an effect they must have had during the British Invasion. Not everything here was a total hit for me though, some of it was a little bit tuned out, but it was still great.
Favourite: My Generation
Tom Tom Club
4/5
A bizarre, funky, funny, catchy album filled with a French-style disco-esque charm. Really groovy! Also it's cool to see the origin of a sample, with Genius Of Love. Such a summery, catchy beat.
Wordy Rappinghood, Genius Of Love and L'Elephant are the standout tracks for me here, and the others aren't quite as good or interesting to me, but this is still a very cool and groovy album that I think I'll look out for, to add to my record collection.
Favourite: Wordy Rappinghood
Grateful Dead
3/5
This was an interesting album to sit down and experience. Dark Star might possibly be the longest song (of one single part) I've heard so far on the list. The transcendental, "tune-out to it" feel of this one felt very much like the same feeling I get from some jazz music. Honestly it seemed like jazz on an electric guitar. "Jazz-rock", I guess. It was an interesting live album for sure, I'm not if I'll come back to it again any time soon though - Dark Star was cool but I wasn't so invested in the other tracks here.
Favourite: Dark Star
Arcade Fire
4/5
A pretty chill and pleasant indie album with some real emotion. The instrumentation was wonderful too. However it did kinda catch me on a day where I was looking for more energy (even though Month Of May did switch it up in that department), but I may go back and give it another listen sometime.
Favourite: Month Of May
Maxwell
2/5
Yeeeeah no. This was just one hour of sex music. Kudos to those with that kind of stamina I suppose. But yeah, either way it wasn't really something I cared about. Everything seemed quite same-y. Definitely felt like this was just a mood-setter rather than a sit-down-and-listen kind of album. I don't think I'll come back to this.
Favourite: Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)
Gang Of Four
5/5
This might be my favourite post-punk album so far. I actually had to look up the definition of "angular" in this context because other reviews mentioned it a lot, and yeah that describes this well. It's energetic, it's aggressive, it's unsettling, it's angsty, it's anti-establishment. It's everything post-punk usually is, but it differs from that by being funky, rhythmic and danceable. I wasn't very familiar with the term "dance-punk", but looking it up I realised I've heard a lot of it already, or at least some of the more contemporary stuff from its revival in the 00s and 10s. I totally understand and get how this fits in to that, and frankly if this album dropped today it'd fit right into the current punk scene. This was a great album and I'm sure I'll revisit it.
Favourite: Damaged Goods
George Jones
3/5
Hmm. This was one of the more enjoyable American country albums I've heard so far. Not sure what this has that some of the other ones I liked less didn't have, maybe it caught me on the right day? It certainly made for decent driving music on a sunny evening. It did drag on a little bit though, it was mostly too slow, but there were a couple of songs that picked it up a little. Dunno if I'll really come back to this any time soon but it was okay.
Favourite: Our Private Life
Beatles
4/5
Holy stereo, Batman. If I ever look for this on vinyl I'll be sure to get the mono version. This seemed hastily mixed that way, with the vocals all the way to the right and instruments all the way to the left. However I could eventually all but forget about it because at the end of the day it was still a Beatles album, and a good one for sure, but I don't think it's the best. A pleasant listen regardless.
Favourite: All My Loving
Neneh Cherry
4/5
Definitely a real bridge of 80s and 90s styles. It was all quite cool and catchy, though a few songs were weaker. Buffalo Stance is a classic though.
Favourite: Buffalo Stance
David Bowie
4/5
Huh, nothing on here that I've heard before, but it was all pretty good. A very good late Bowie album with some good rock and jazzy elements. The energy does often take a bit of a nosedive at random points though... Will it be my favourite Bowie? I kinda doubt it, but this is a good one for sure.
Favourite: Dirty Boys
Steely Dan
5/5
A pretty nice and fun rock album with plenty of jazz elements. I've heard of Steely Dan, but not heard any of these songs before. It was a pleasant listen, and the harmonies in the vocals and generally tight production moved this from just another 70s rock album, into a great 70s rock album.
Favourite: Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Culture Club
2/5
Yeahhh this is precisely the kind of 80s pop I do not like at all. Goofy and cheesy and upbeat in a way I don't enjoy. There's one song I only really remember from childhood birthday parties and school discos... It's that one song that they'd always play without fail, despite the fact this was in the 00s, not the 80s. So it was Karma Chameleon, Cheeky Girls, Mambo No. 5, the Macarena, every single time. I don't know, maybe Karma Chameleon will be my favourite by way of nostalgia alone, in the sense of, I remember it, I don't have any particularly good or bad memories tied to it. Everything else just seemed quite filler-ish. Kinda cool how Boy George was confidentally embracing androgynous fashion all the way back in 1983 though, so that's a plus.
Favourite: Karma Chameleon
Magazine
5/5
I was completely unfamiliar with Magazine, so I went into this one blind. This is weird, cool, highly catchy and an absolute post punk weapon. The speed and aggression of Recoil, the spooky circus motifs of The Great Beautician In The Sky, the general implementation of synthesizers throughout, it sure had enough variety to keep me listening the whole way through. Definitely among my favourite post-punk records I've heard so far.
Favourite: Recoil
Nightmares On Wax
5/5
Some chill downtempo electronica. Nothing fast-paced or frantic, just an hour and fourteen minutes of smooth-as-butter trip-hop perfection. Beautiful music to just chill to on this hot summer's day. It's background music for sure but I'm totally okay with that. Maybe there would be some days where I wouldn't be so into something so slow and mellowed out, but this just works too perfectly today.
Favourite: Dreddoverboard
Bob Dylan
4/5
This is a nice album with some great songwriting and storytelling. Not sure if it's my favourite Bob Dylan album but think I was in the wrong situation to appreciate this folk album to its fullest. Still very good though and I might come back to it when I need some emotional folk music.
Favourite: Meet Me in the Morning
The Offspring
5/5
Damn, what an absolute pure punk rush this album is. Definitely the sort of flat out energy I can really appreciate. I can say I've heard of The Offspring, but I've not heard much of their stuff, and this was all new to me. But this absolutely rocked. It's fast and aggressive, while being super catchy and harmonic. Made for great driving music but the gas pedal seemed much heavier with this playing. Excellent album.
Favourite: Nitro (Youth Energy)
TLC
5/5
As the name says, certainly sexy and cool. It's not 100% my thing but it's certainly one of the best R&B albums I've heard, and Waterfalls is a chill classic.
Favourite: Waterfalls
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
A cool and interesting double album of blues rock and gospel ballads. I wish I was at home to sit down and just listen to this with no distractions, as it lost me a few times, but I think I'd really love this if I just got to sit and appreciate it.
Favourite: Supernaturally
Marilyn Manson
3/5
I’ll attempt to separate the art from the artist on this one, as I usually do for this list. Just because an artist was eventually found out to be a POS, it doesn’t mean their work never had influence. Take that with a grain of salt though, just my take on it.
This is an interesting and heavy industrial metal rock opera with some excellent riffs, though I’m not that into screamed vocals generally. Trent Reznor produced some songs here, and I think generally from what I’ve heard by NIN, I’ll enjoy them more.
Favourite: The Beautiful People
De La Soul
5/5
Yes, this is the sort of Hip-Hop I love! This came out amid the explosion of gangsta rap in the late 80s, and it is such a massive contrast to the violent and confrontational direction that the genre was seemingly moving towards. The beats are great, the production is tight, the sampling is top-tier. It's just a fun, playful and totally listenable record, and it just seems like they all had a lot of fun putting this together.
Favourite: The Magic Number
Queen Latifah
5/5
Ha, nice. This came up immediately after De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising on my list. Just like that one, I thought that this was an excellent product of the hip-hop golden age. This had a bit of everything - reggae, dub, house, jazz, soul. Overall it was just a fun, energetic album with excellent flow, a lot of great collabs, and several genres being channeled brilliantly.
Favourite: Come into My House
Prince
3/5
It was okay - Funky, kinda experimental at times, and very 80s. However I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected. It's very horny, long and repetitive. Is this just meant to be a sex album? It started off great but just sort of tuned itself out into the realm of background music. Not my favourite Prince album.
Favourite: 1999
Paul McCartney
5/5
This was an interesting album - lo-fi, homemade, pretty much just a jam session of an album from the early days of lo-fi music. It's an intimate peer into McCartney's musical life, fully produced by just him, and performed by just him with the addition of some harmony vocals from his wife, overdubbed onto four-track tape. Originally viewed very negatively and vilified for seemingly killing The Beatles, this record was eventually credited for its influence on DIY and Lo-Fi music. The story of this one is just as interesting as the album itself, and honestly I thought the album was great too. It's a nice and pleasant rock jam - It may seem rough and unfinished, like a collection of demos, but a lot of charm comes from that. It doesn't try to be anything more - at this point he didn't need to prove anything to anyone, besides proving to himself that he would survive in his post-Beatles future, and I think that's beautiful.
Favourite: That Would Be Something
Neil Young
4/5
This was a pleasant folk, country and rock album. While I don't think this was really my favourite of any of those genres, it was a nice album to spend half an hour of the evening enjoying. It was also kept interesting by breaking up the country and folk tracks with some more energetic rock. Overall a good album.
Favourite: When You Dance I Can Really Love
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Huh, this is an interesting one. So, the main difference between the UK release and the US release is only the addition of one the Stones' greatest and most popular tracks. That would have been my immediate favourite of the album, and through the power of streaming I could have chosen the US release to play. However I'm from the UK so I decided to listen to the UK release (Plus that is the earlier of the two releases, and they are a British band.)
This was a nice adventure of rock, folk and blues from an instrumentation and riffs standpoint. Pleasant to listen to with a bit of everything.
However, lyrics-wise, holy misogyny, Batman. I understand it's a 60s album but surely it wasn't all like this? I guess it helped affirm the Stones' "bad-boy" image in contrast to The Beatles.
I thought the folk-rock style of Mother's Little Helper was great, providing a commentary about the popularity of prescribed tranquilisers to housewives, and the dangers of addiction and overdose that could come from it. Some nice thoughtful lyrics that were unfortunately completely overshadowed by most of the subject matter afterwards. That Eastern-flavoured 12-string electric guitar riff is so memorable though. An excellent song on a pretty great album.
Favourite: Mother's Little Helper
Digital Underground
5/5
I must say I love the amount of Golden Age Hip-Hop coming up lately on my project. It went from a genre I was sort of unsure about, to a genre I'm really starting to enjoy. It just has a fun quality that later gangsta rap sort of lacked. This has things I'd generally dislike - it's another "horny" album, this one goes a step further by being a concept album with a very sexual storyline, but it gets a pass because it doesn't take itself seriously at all. In fact it's consistently funny. It's a product of its time, sure. I don't think an album joking about sex for 65 minutes would go down so much today. But what makes it stand the test of time is how listenable it is. The beats are great and the flows are smooth. I do think the first half was better than the second, but it was still great. A real bouncy party of an album.
Favourite: The Humpty Dance
Leftfield
5/5
Damn, where the hell has this been all my life? I was semi-aware of the name Leftfield but I'd never really looked into their work or realised just how much of an influence on electronic they had. I love all things that ooze that mid-90s rave culture, honestly. Unfortunately I was born too late to experience that era first-hand, but the revival of 90s and 00s video game nostalgia as of late (such as those classic/retro "PS1" Jungle playlists suddenly all over YouTube) warms my heart in a great way. Sure enough, a Leftfield B-Side made it into the Wipeout soundtrack, and that happens to be one of my favourite racing game franchises. This is just an amazing journey into a soundscape of electronica, house, dub, trance and all the rest. This is probably wildly enhanced by the 90s British rave trend of being absolutely off your face, but to me it very much holds up without that. I know what I'll soon be seeking out on vinyl, CD or cassette.
Favourite: Storm 3000
Janelle Monáe
5/5
A ridiculously cool 2010 pop and soul album that I've somehow never heard before. In fact I've only recently found out who Janelle Monáe is, from her recent single "Lipstick Lover" getting a lot of love on BBC Radio 6. Back to ArchAndroid though - It's amazing how creative and vibrant this album is, giving off a real opera and musical kind of energy. It's just a great concept album that's varied enough to never go stale, and the instrumentation and production was simply excellent. Mix up generous measures of pop, soul, jazz, classical and electronic, sprinkle with some Broadway musical flair, and you have this amazing album.
Favourite: Faster
Norah Jones
3/5
Some nice folky jazzy soulful pop. It's pleasant for sure, and Norah Jones has a wonderful singing voice. I'm sure this deserves to be here, but I wasn't that into it. Wasn't really in the mood for something so calm and mellow and so I just kind of ended up being a bit bored. Maybe I'll come back for this when I feel more in the mood for it, probably a rainy Winter's day or something.
Favourite: I've Got To See You Again
The Auteurs
4/5
Quite a nice early britpop album. Can't say I've heard of The Auteurs before, but I like this - Pretty acoustic and inoffensive, if a bit slow-paced for my usual tastes.
Favourite: Early Years
Talvin Singh
5/5
I'm happy I decided to start this journey of reviewing an album every day for 1001 days. Even if it feels tedious sometimes, knowing that every day I must listen to an album, even when the album isn't a good fit for my mood that day, or I just do not have the mental energy to gather an opinion or write anything, it all pays off when it recommends something amazing and very much up my alley that I wouldn't have found otherwise.
This is one such album. It has more of that Indian and generally Asian flavour that I fell in love with when I was introduced to Nitin Sawhney's "Beyond Skin" earlier in the list. This is a crazy, trippy, dramatic journey that blends orchestra, Indian classical music, electronica, drum and bass, IDM, dub, and so many other genres. It's chaotic but never loses its direction. And yet, it's all pretty chill but never boring. Just a pure journey of sound with influences from across the globe.
Favourite: Butterfly
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Huh... I remember hearing Cecilia somewhere. I don't remember if it was a cover or a Live Lounge or something? But this version doesn't sound entirely familiar. Didn't know it was a Simon & Garfunkel song originally. Goes to show how little I know about Simon & Garfunkel really.
This is a nice and pleasant album. It does get a bit too slow and boring for me at times, though it had a few songs with a bit more fun and energy, and I especially love the punchiness and general drive that Cecilia has, it just has a motivational feel to it. Overall, this isn't really the best album in my opinion but it's definitely a good one.
Favourite: Cecilia
Donovan
3/5
Welp, album number 300. Honestly I was hoping for something a little more exciting. It was just an okay folk-rock album with a couple of faster and more exciting tracks, but it was mostly a bit too slow and boring so didn't draw my attention, and sometimes grew whimsical to the point of just being a bit unappealing on my ears. Not the worst album, by no means the best to me.
Favourite: Sunshine Superman
Underworld
5/5
Yes! Absolutely loving all the British electronica that is coming up on the list lately. Trippy and psychedelic, exciting and ravey but also oddly chilled? Made for great programming music unsurprisingly. This is definitely a record that I want to seek out.
Favourite: Pearl's Girl
Eels
4/5
Didn't really vibe with this one too much today, but I think it might be something I will enjoy when in the mood for it. God I hate that album art though.
Favourite: Mental
Nick Drake
4/5
Comforting and pretty, sad and mournful. It feels much newer than it actually is, but I think this kind of acoustic guitar-driven folk music is just simply timeless. This is an album that would go down a treat on a long walk on a cold winter's day, just giving myself time to reflect and reminisce. It didn't really work for me today on this summer day but I will come back to it.
Favourite: Place To Be
Eric Clapton
3/5
Absolutely mental that a massive bigot's biggest song is a cover of a Bob Marley song, which ironically helped reggae find a mass market. It happens to be the best song on this very middle-of-the-road album too. I also kind of liked the swelling ending of Let it Grow, but the meat of the song itself wasn't very interesting. Overall it was just an okay album that didn't grab my attention much.
Favourite: I Shot the Sherriff
Yes
5/5
Yes? Yes! This was an excellent early 70's prog rock album that was just catchy and fun to listen to throughout. Roundabout is an undisputed banger (For the record I heard it in GTAV before I heard it in JoJo!) and I thought Heart of the Sunrise was excellent too. Just an all-around brilliant album.
Favourite: Roundabout
5/5
I hadn't heard of War before, and thus I wasn't sure what I was expecting going into this totally blind. "War" sounded like a metal band, "The World is a Ghetto" sounded like a gangsta rap album. I was completely wrong on all accounts and very pleasantly surprised.
This is 44 minutes of just some really funky, jazzy psychedelic soul with some Caribbean flair. It's generally melancholy and usually quite chill, but it gains energy at the right moments and is just a general pleasure to listen to. I especially liked the general feel of Beetles In The Bog and City, Country, City. Thank you Generator, this was a great album to be introduced to.
Favourite: Beetles In The Bog
Justice
5/5
There's a select few albums that fill me with excitement when I see them come up on the list, and this is definitely one of them.
What the hell is it with so much amazing electronic music coming out of France in the 90's and 00's? This is like Daft Punk's edgy goth younger brother. It's got a lot of funky disco flair, with bright strings that permeate through the music, and yet, It's awash with distortion, it's full of glitches and artefacts. While there's the obvious and possibly undeserved parallels between Justice and Daft Punk, it's clear that Justice were doing a lot of their own things and really venturing into new territory with this.
Cross bridges the funky and danceable with the heavy and badass in a way I don't think a lot of electronic albums have done, and I imagine that this must have had a ton of influence on electronic genres going into the 10's: Dubstep, Glitch Hop, House and EDM as a whole, and more recent trends like Synthwave and Cyberpunk music. This sounds futuristic as hell today - I can only imagine how this felt in 2007. It's an excellent album that I definitely need a physical copy of.
Favourite: Genesis
Lupe Fiasco
5/5
Wasn't too sure what I'd think about this one going into it. However, I found myself enjoying this quite a lot, and I ended up recognising a couple of songs. It had some great instrumentation and impeccable flow, and everything came together to make a record that was a funky, groovy vibe. There's some really good storytelling and social commentary here too! Mm, just a really good 00's rap album.
Favourite: Kick, Push
Coldplay
3/5
I thought this was quite pleasant. I already know it's not my favourite Coldplay album though, and I have yet to listen to much of their discography outside of their most popular songs. It's quite chill and melancholy, but honestly I'm not sure I was quite in the mood for that. It teetered on the verge of becoming boring and definitely faded into the background at times, especially going into the second half of the album. Might be a good accompaniment for a bleak and depressed winter's day though.
Favourite: Shiver
David Bowie
5/5
It's early on a Saturday morning and I'm travelling to London on buses. Plenty of time to sit down with this!
Honestly I love this one. Out of all the Bowie albums that the generator has given me so far, this is probably the least experimental in how it sounds. It's just pure rock, groove and funk. It was a really enjoyable listen that could have done with being a bit longer, in my opinion! I definitely think this'll be one of my favourite Bowie records.
Favourite: Stay
Billy Bragg
4/5
Upon hearing the first track I wasn't sure what I'd think about this record. However, I soon found myself quite enjoying this. It suited my day quite well, on a morning bus to London to spend a weekend as a transient. The songs suited the travels quite well, and I was happy to relax and watch the world go by to this. I don't know if all of this album would fit so well on other, more normal days, but it worked today. Moving and soulful.
Favourite: Way over Yonder in the Minor Key
Hot Chip
4/5
I thought this was an excellent synth-pop album with some wonderfully groovy and funky tracks. It's just a good indie electronica listen. I wouldn't say this is my favourite electronic album by any means; while there were no bad tracks it didn't always draw me in like some albums have, but I think I will come back to this, and I feel it may grow on me with subsequent listens.
Favourite: Flutes
T. Rex
3/5
This was quite good. There were a few songs here that I'd heard but never known who they were by. This was a bit soft for me to fully appreciate today though, it didn't keep my attention and even kind of got repetitive at times. Still good though.
Favourite: Get It On
Van Halen
5/5
Wow, when did I start enjoying glam metal so much? I enjoyed this one a lot. Some stone-cold classics here, from the uplifting and motivational energy of Jump to the fast and aggressive heavy metal of Hot for Teacher. Plus at 33 minutes it doesn't overstay its welcome, and frankly I wouldn't have minded a longer album. Very very good.
Favourite: Jump
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
A decent album for sure. Dark and sorrowful, with a sort of spooky and eerie quality. I think there would be times I could quite fall for this album, though it didn't really draw my full attention today. I may well come back to it when I expect it to hit better though.
Favourite: Crocodiles
Raekwon
4/5
A pretty good rap album! Not really my favourite - I think Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) is better than this solo record, but this was still very good. Slaps with that hardcore hip-hop flavour that Wu-Tang Clan are known for, with hard, heavy beats and aggressive lyrics, though beat-wise maybe a little more chilled than Enter the Wu-Tang. Either way it was a fun listen.
Favourite: Wu-Gambinos
OutKast
4/5
Nice long drive today, the perfect time to listen to a 2 hour and 15 minute album. Unlike some other albums of that sort of length, this never really got old for me! Enough different sounds throughout (Plus the fact it's actually comprised of two solo albums from both members of OutKast. I don't think it's quite a 5* album for me, as there were only a few songs I think I'll come back to, but yeah, this was a really fun listen with some absolute classics. Never realised how good André 3000's rapping was, and I wish there was more of it!
Favourite: Hey Ya!
The Cult
5/5
Ooh this went down a treat! Really suited a long and surprisingly smooth motorway drive, up to Yorkshire funnily enough. Seems a lot of people don't like this one, but I thought it was just a good, fun, heavy, glam metal rush.
Favourite: Bad Fun
The Libertines
5/5
A really decent album from the garage-rock revival era. I knew of The Libertines but only really knew of their most well-known tracks, but I enjoyed this a lot - they were a lot more varied than I expected. Their favourite track of mine isn't here, it was only ever a single (No points for guessing which...) but I thought this was great!
Favourite: Can't Stand Me Now
The Last Shadow Puppets
4/5
Quite good, Arctic Monkeys with a 60s rock feel, and a generous helping of spaghetti western vibes. Really quite good, but felt a bit samey? I'd heard the title track before, and a few songs here felt a lot like a slight variation of it. It was good for sure though, still a pretty badass album.
Favourite: The Age Of The Understatement
Depeche Mode
5/5
A dark, edgy, gothic, Synth-Pop masterpiece. The only songs I knew from this were Personal Jesus and Enjoy The Silence, but this album was a joy to listen to. Extremely well-produced and polished, like an obelisk of smooth black obsidian. Very very good.
Favourite: Personal Jesus
Bobby Womack
4/5
Smooth, funky, groovy, soulful. What an amazing voice, matched by some amazing instrumentation throughout. My interest waned a bit on some of the slower songs, but this was still excellent.
Favourite: Stand Up
Steely Dan
4/5
Some pretty great 70s rock. However I thought it was a bit too slow and soft to really hook me throughout. The best songs to me were kind of dotted throughout the album, so at least it could get my attention back. Probably not my favourite Steely Dan album that I've heard so far, but a good album nonetheless.
Favourite: King Of The World
Girls Against Boys
5/5
Ooh, guess I'm only the third person to review this!
A nice and much-needed heavier rock album to grab my attention for a bit. It absolutely slaps! Definitely sounds newer than 1993, too. This is one that's totally new for me, but I found myself liking it a lot.
Favourite: Let Me Come Back
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
Damn, I think I'm getting quite into CCR. I couldn't be any less American, but I find myself vibing with this a lot on a rather pleasant summer evening, kind of surprising considering the horrible British summer we've been having this year. Really an excellent record, probably beats out Cosmo's Factory for me.
Favourite: Bad Moon Rising
Janet Jackson
4/5
Oh hey it's that song that kills hard drives, or something like that. /s
A really cool and funky pop and R&B album from the very end of the 80s. Sounds very 80s indeed with that huge, potentially OTT production. Some of the songs and beats feel a little samey after a while, there's a weird whiplash between songs commenting on social issues, and songs about romance and sex, and there's so many interludes for some reason. At least most of them are short so don't overstay their welcome. But god damnit it was funky and danceable and just pretty fun. A bit of a crazy and overproduced mess, but still very good.
Favourite: Rhythm Nation
Jorge Ben Jor
5/5
So I'd never heard of Jorge Ben Jor before today, but I'm glad the list has introduced me to his work. This is an amazing blend of samba and funk. The instrumentation is amazing and the vocals are wonderful even if I can't understand Portuguese. It's a fun and motivating album that just makes a pleasant summer's day even brighter. I really liked this.
Also today I learned what a cuíca is! I've heard it numerous times before but always thought that noise was some kind of wind instrument.
Favourite: Cavaleiro Do Cavolo Imaculado
The Police
3/5
Hmm, I thought this was good, but maybe not so much my thing? Nothing here really grabbed me, even if the lyricism and instrumentation was great. I just found myself not caring too much for this one.
Favourite: Synchronicity I
Buzzcocks
5/5
Ooo, an excellent 70's punk album! I'd heard of Buzzcocks but not really listened to much of their work, but I absolutely love this. It has that real loud, anti-establishment and anarchistic feel that punk is known for, but it feels so joyful at the same time, and you can tell that they had fun with this. An amazing record.
Favourite: No Reply
David Bowie
5/5
Another great Bowie album. I'm not sure it beats "Station to Station" to being my (current) favourite but it was a great record with some real classics and a few tracks new to me that I enjoyed a lot. An amazing voice and brilliant instrumentation, making for just a wonderful experience.
It was cool hearing the origin of that riff that I know from Master of Puppets, which happened to be an homage made by Burton and Hammett to Bowie, so that's nice.
(Kooks. Such a silly word!)
Favourite: Life on Mars?
Arcade Fire
5/5
I'd heard of Arcade Fire but couldn't name you a song to save my life. I was absolutely missing out, but I don't know if I would have got on with this if I had heard it back at release, or even more than a couple of years back. But my tastes have definitely moved towards adoring this sort of thing.
It's an indie rock album with the power of an orchestra behind it. It just sounds huge - Often the songs build up into these swelling crescendos, and it just feels absolutely amazing. Despite this, it still has somewhat of an acoustic simplicity to its feel, and at times it does know when to strip back the orchestra and take on that simplicity, but everything feels like it has its purpose. It never feels too overproduced or crowded, and contrary to some of the more critical reviews I didn't ever find it too pretentious either. This was just a wonderful album that kept me intrigued and inspired throughout, and it's fair to say that I really enjoyed it.
Favourite: No Cars Go
Malcolm McLaren
4/5
It's kinda cool, kinda odd and very mixed. It's the musical equivalent of a charcuterie board of exotic and unusual meats. I don't think there's much here I'll take away from this but it was an interesting listen, and it's interesting to see that this helped introduce hip-hop to the UK. Additionally it's interesting to hear the origin of an Eminem lyric. But either way, this is a weird, fun and catchy album, but it still failed to fully hook me.
Favourite: Legba
KISS
4/5
A good early heavy metal album. Not really my absolute favourite though. It's fun and energetic, but I personally wish it could have kept the energy of Detroit Rock City throughout. There were some other good tracks here but I definitely liked the first one the most.
Favourite: Detroit Rock City
Bob Dylan
4/5
Bob Dylan continues to be one of the few male country/folk artists out of the USA with a voice that's palatable to me. This album was another great one of his, with amazing instrumentation and storytelling. It makes me want to go on a long country drive or a walk through the forest - Then I think this would sound perfect. I of course wish this kept a similar energy to Tombstone Blues throughout - It was really cool hearing such an electric-guitar heavy song on a '65 Dylan record. However, those harmonicas do sound a bit grating through these earphones I'm wearing. I think I need to revisit this with my 70s Wharfedales next time, but I digress. The later songs lost me a bit, and some were just too long in my opinion, without enough variation to keep it intriguing. Overall it was still a very good album that I think I'll return to when I'm in a situation I know it'll work in.
Favourite: Tombstone Blues
Isaac Hayes
5/5
I liked this a great deal more than I expected to. I think the album name describes this perfectly. It's outrageously soulful, warm and smooth as butter. So enjoyable on this week that's finally seeing a bit of sun, it just makes me wish I was lounging by a pool instead of sitting at a desk. Hayes' vocals are great and the production is absolutely amazing. I will say that the length of these tracks are excessive in my opinion - They couldn't hold my focus throughout, but I don't mind as these are perfect songs to sit somewhat in the background. A wonderful record.
Favourite: Walk On By
Blur
4/5
Ha, I just realised while writing this that when I listened to Modern Life Is Rubbish, I'd unknowingly put on the special edition, and was surprised by how long the album seemed to be. Can't believe I only just realised.
This was a pretty good album. I'm not sure how it stands against the other Blur albums I've heard thusfar - Maybe a big ol' one-man listening party is in order soon. But I digress. It's a mixed bag, sometimes it's coherent and timeless, other times it's just kind of weird and hasn't aged so well. Sometimes it's just a bit forgettable, too.
It's definitely a good album though, and has the most Blur tracks that I already know. I think the kinda dance-y nature of Girls & Boys just about beats Parklife for me though.
Favourite: Girls & Boys
Roxy Music
4/5
I'd kind of heard of Roxy Music, maybe heard Virginia Plain once or twice, but that's about it. Wasn't sure what to expect, but the result was very weird and unique. Never weird enough to become unhinged and unlistenable noise though. I can totally see how Brian Eno was part of the band.
I don't quite know what songs I'd specifically save to my playlist from this album. It all feels pretty coherent despite its weird psychedelia, and I feel this album is greater than the sum of its parts. It's one I'd totally seek out on vinyl.
Favourite: Virginia Plain
Sister Sledge
5/5
So funky and groovy! This album is a bop. There's a few tracks I knew in their original form, and a few I know from other tracks sampling them.
Sometimes I get a bit surprised while listening to albums on the list and I hear a song that I only knew from other songs sampling it. This happened with One More Time - I knew it from KAYTRANADA's "Twin Flame", possibly my favourite song of 2022. Never knew it sampled Sister Sledge, but now I know!
Either way, this was an excellent album, with some absolute disco classics. Enjoyable throughout.
Favourite: We Are Family
Ms. Dynamite
4/5
Pretty good! A few songs here I knew, and a few more I discovered and enjoyed. Some of the songs were a bit forgettable, and generally this album feels dated - it could only be early 00s. I like the beats and flows of a lot of these tracks though, it's definitely one of the better 00s R&B albums I've heard. Couldn't help but vibe to this.
Favourite: Dy-Na-Mi-Tee
Lou Reed
3/5
This was a pretty good rock album, but not by any means my favourite. I don't know why, but something didn't quite click with me. The lyrics were well-written and funny, though sometimes they felt a little childish in their nature. I think I'll come back to this at some point though - I think I'm missing something, and maybe it'll jell with me better on a different day. Walk On the Wild Side is great though.
Favourite: Walk On the Wild Side
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Nice, the day after the almighty Generator gave me my first Lou Reed album, it gives me my first The Velvet Underground album. I liked this a lot! It's got that distorted and psychedelic feel that I'm really beginning to fall for. Not every song was a real hit for me but it was still very good, and it's amazing seeing what effect this album had - Featuring a lot of controversial subject matters and lyrics, and generally being very progressive and ahead of its time. I can absolutely see how The Velvet Underground was a real inspiration for many bands that came after them. I learned a lot about Andy Warhol from my research into this album too. This is a very interesting album for sure, as well as being a very good listen.
Favouite: I'm Waiting For The Man
Def Leppard
5/5
Yeah it's official, I've totally fallen for glam metal.
I've sort of known of Def Leppard for as long as I remember - they're one of my dad's favourite bands and he's always going on about the time he saw them in concert. Wasn't really my thing as a kid but now I've grown up and really got into rock music so I totally get it. This album was a hard rock rush and I couldn't help but feel like a bit of a badass listening to this. Overall this is just ridiculous, fun and thoroughly enjoyable.
Favourite: Rocket
The Thrills
4/5
A pleasant and inoffensive indie folk rock record from the early noughties. Maybe this will be something I'll sort of vibe with going into autumn, with shorter and cooler days coming back around, a nice time to get out and go for country walks, when the British weather allows for it... I didn't find much of this to be of much interest though, but there were a few good tracks here, and nothing I outright disliked.
Favourite: Say It Ain't So
Fever Ray
5/5
A spooky and ethereal electronic record. I really loved the dark and brooding vibe this had. Obviously some Björk parallels to be drawn here, for better or for worse, but personally I loved this.
Reading some of the other reviews, I see that "If I Had a Heart" was featured as the opening theme to Vikings, and even though I've not watched it, I can see it. One of my musical obsessions lately has been experimental folk with a Nordic vibe, like Heilung's work. That's probably why I like this so much.
Overall this is a very good album I'd never heard before. Thanks for the introduction, generator!
Favourite: If I Had a Heart
The Band
2/5
I'm not nearly American enough to understand the appeal of "The Band" and I don't particularly care. I just thought this was mostly a bit boring. Might have caught me on the wrong day but I think it's that flavour of American country rock that I just can't really enjoy. There were a couple of songs I kind of liked, but yeah, just not for me.
Favourite: Jemima Surrender
Dagmar Krause
3/5
This is a truly bizarre one. It's probably the first album so far on my generated list to have no presence on Spotify. It's not even unavailable, it's just missing entirely by the looks of it. I found the full album on YouTube, or at least most of the album I think? The disk it was recorded from had bad popping noises throughout and it ended abruptly, though the video seemed to be about the length of the album. Gonna be weird having a permanent missing song from my curated list, but I'm sure there will be more.
This made for a good background album I suppose. Didn't particularly enjoy any of it, but it wasn't bad as such, just not for me. It's certainly got a dramatic and theatrical aspect to it.
Who is this for? In fact, I'm fascinated about why it's on the list; I'd be interested in reading the entry this has in the 1001 albums book. That's not from a place of distaste, I'm honestly curious about what landed it in the 1001. There's not much information about it on Wikipedia. I can't shake the feeling that I've heard Lied Von Der Belebenden Wirkung Des Geldes somewhere. Absolutely no clue where though...
Favourite: Lied Von Der Belebenden Wirkung Des Geldes
Favourite:
Dire Straits
4/5
Some great late 70s blues-rock. I love that smooth and bluesy voice that pairs so well with the guitar. Sultans Of Swing is just an absolute classic. I think it's the only track here I knew already, but there were a few great tracks here. Some were a little boring and forgetful, and overall I think I liked Brothers In Arms a little more, even though that was a totally different direction so maybe not the fairest comparison.
Favourite: Sultans Of Swing
The Darkness
4/5
I used to kind of dislike The Darkness, but looking at it now and listening to this whole album, I get the appeal. This was just another fun and ridiculous glam metal band, but the difference is this is from 2003 and not the eighties. It must have really seemed crazy hearing this amongst the angst and edge of early 2000s rock and metal. But hey, they decided that they were going to make something that went against the grain of anything being done at the time and revive glam metal for a while. You can tell they had a lot of fun doing it too - It really shines clear in the album and I can totally appreciate that.
While seeing a glam metal album, from an era when nu metal still ruled the rock world, is really cool, compared against other glam bands it's still not my favourite. Justin Hawkins' range is impressive for sure but the falsettos do get old. I think some of the songs were a bit forgettable, and generally the album is one for scattering across a playlist/mixtape rather than listening in one go. Either way though, this proved to be way better than I originally expected.
Favourite: I Believe In A Thing Called Love
David Ackles
2/5
Oh god this was a long listen. I mean, maybe not physically, it's only 44 minutes long. But it felt like a few hours. I'd usually tune out the boring albums completely but for some reason this one kept pulling my attention back in, against my will. It's not really bad in my opinion, just terribly boring. Definitely seems like the kind of unwanted 70s easy listening fodder that plagues every second hand store's record section. At least Blues for Billy Whitecloud switched it up by going a bit jazzy, I guess.
Favourite: Blues for Billy Whitecloud
Iggy Pop
5/5
This was a really enjoyable album. I only really knew of Lust For Life and The Passenger, but this was a fun and energetic punk rush through and through. Not particularly surprised to find out that Bowie worked on this!
Favourite: Lust For Life
The Prodigy
5/5
Fuck yes, what an album! Heavy, aggressive and loud, a killer combo of electronic and rock, and as a massive fan of both this was always going to be an easy sell for me.
It has a good few of the classics here - Breathe, Firestarter, the excellent-yet-controversial Smack My Bitch Up. This album never misses though. Everything has a similar format but never gets even close to feeling stale.
Admittedly I'd not listened to The Fat of the Land in its entirety until now. Shame on me for missing out on some more absolute bangers. Diesel Power is one I have heard a couple of times before but really slept on until now!
I wish I was around to see the British rave culture of the 90s, and see the impact and influence of this album first-hand. Alas, this came out around a year before I was born, but I'm sort of glad to see that a 90s revival seems to be hitting the UK EDM mainstream again lately, even though all the new stuff is just a shitty imitation in comparison to the OGs.
RIP Keith
Jethro Tull
5/5
A really cool folky prog-rock album. The flute-heavy instrumentation doesn't grate on me as much as I was expecting, either. Most of the tracks that were boring for me were short interlude pieces, and they were definitely outweighed by the tracks that absolutely slap. Some great 70s rock here.
Favourite: Locomotive Breath
Nico
3/5
I thought this was okay, but doubt I'll really seek the whole album out again. Nico's vocals are fairly haunting and go quite well with the baroque or medieval feel of the album. The whole thing is weird and unclean, overall it feels a bit unfinished, but that's something I sometimes enjoy. I think it suffers a bit from pretentiousness but manages to be unique enough to not bother me too badly. But the whole novelty quickly wears off, I get bored and stop caring. There's nothing here to keep me invested besides the odd jarring noise like a feedback loop or something, an unwelcome pull back into paying attention.
I keep feeling like I should make a playlist for the weird and spooky songs I sometimes like to listen to when in certain reflective moods. I think this might have a song or two for that, but the rest is just fodder to me. Despite its avant-garde feel, it's a rather "meh" album to me in the end.
Favourite: Winter Song
Guns N' Roses
5/5
Yeah, now we're talking! Obviously this was going to be here. It's hair metal at its finest - It's heavy, it's energetic, it's oh so much fun.
Being British I'm lucky to not have been utterly bombarded by these songs at every hour on every radio station, so nothing here sounds too overplayed for me.
I'll really show my age here and make people feel old. One of the first exposures I had to this album was in the form of Paradise City being the theme song to Burnout Paradise on the PlayStation 3. I got it for my 10th birthday alongside a DualShock 3. Good times. I think that probably set me on the path to really being into this album. I'll give Criterion credit for that, it's amazing driving music - Luckily I'm a better driver IRL than in the game where crashing into things and causing damage was a core game mechanic. But I digress.
This is just an amazing album. Some of the lesser-played songs from this may not be so memorable to me, but they never miss. It's a total hair metal rush for the full 54 minutes.
Favourite: You're Crazy
Van Morrison
3/5
This is a jazzy, funky and soulful album. Not particularly exciting, and I got kinda bored of the whole thing by the end. Sometimes the songs really last too long and just seem to waffle on a bit. But it's a live album, so probably a case of "You had to be there". It also fell on a day when I could have done with a more energetic album, to be honest. But I could quite happily relax with this album in the background.
Favourite: Ain't Nothin' You Can Do
Talking Heads
5/5
Can't say I know much of Talking Heads or their work but I know they're pretty revered. After this one I can certainly see why. I think this is one of the few albums here that masterfully walks the tightrope between weird and catchy. It's unhinged, it's anxiety-inducing, but it's danceable! Few albums manage to nail that balance. Some really cool new wave.
Favourite: Life During Wartime
Abdullah Ibrahim
4/5
Some very pleasant jazz. Smooth as butter. I could see this being a wonderful record to sit down with in a warm room on a cold winter evening, chilling with a warm drink. I don't think it gets that cold in Cape Town, so maybe that wasn't the intended mood this was meant to evoke. Either way it didn't really suit my hot day of hard work when I listened to this, but it's nice! Can't fault this.
Favourite: Mandela
Janis Joplin
4/5
Some great soul and blues. What an amazing raw and unique voice too. Some of the slower songs passed me by a bit, unfortunately, but this was still very good. It's very sad that she joined the 27 club, I would have loved to know how her career would have went if she was still around. Heroin sucks.
Favourite: Move Over
Ali Farka Touré
5/5
This might be one of my first exposures to Desert Blues music in any real depth. I know after hearing this though, I will absolutely seek out a physical release of this album and explore this genre.
It's evocative, it's hypnotic, it's enchanting, it's very beautiful. It brought an amazing and immediately intriguing style of North and West African music to my attention, bringing forth a general feeling comparable to Western Soul and Blues, but with Malian flair.
It kept me hooked for the entire time, seeming to be good music for driving, working, or just having in the background to vibe with. It's fair to say that I'm hooked on this album upon the first listen. Thanks for introducing a whole genre to me, Generator!
Favourite: Yer Bounda Fara
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
3/5
A 60's album primarily featuring covers of blues standards by a British band. This was pretty good, but I did find myself kinda tuning out and getting a bit bored throughout. I didn't even notice how I had effectively listened to the album twice, since the album on Spotify has both mono and stereo versions, and some instrumental versions sprinkled in. Was probably groundbreaking in '66, but unremarkable for me today.
Favourite: Parchman Farm
Foo Fighters
5/5
Never really followed Foo Fighters that closely, all my knowledge of them is based on what I've heard on the radio. I don't think I've heard any of the songs here before, and considering how much Foo Fighters you hear on the radio this surprises me. I enjoyed this though! It's just some high-energy 90s alternative. However, the backstory is what makes this one worthy of a spot on this list.
I don't necessarily know if musically it's that innovative compared to other rock acts at the time, but it's ridiculously impressive due to the fact that Foo Fighters was a one-man band on it's debut. With the exception of an additional guitarist on X-Static, this whole album was written and recorded by only Grohl. His status as an masterful multi-instrumentalist is without question.
Overall, it's an excellent grunge album that gets even better once you know the story behind it.
Favourite: Wattershed
Big Star
2/5
Didn't really care about this one. It's listenable but just a bit boring and unmemorable. The first couple of songs had me expecting something good out of the album, but they turned out to be the high point of the album and it just kind of descended into a slow and boring drivel. I think I dozed off at times... Not for me.
Favourite: Kizza Me
Flamin' Groovies
4/5
Never heard of Flamin' Groovies before, but I have to say I liked this one! It's just some fun, groovy and bluesy 70's rock-and-roll. Not everything here was that interesting to me, but this was just a fun album that I'd happily listen to again.
Favourite: High Flyin' Baby
Klaxons
5/5
Good shit, man.
Klaxons is one I certainly knew of but not particularly well. I remember Golden Skans and It's Not Over Yet being radio staples in 2007-2010; they were definitely a British indie staple amongst the likes of Arctic Monkeys, The Wombats, etc.
Either way, this is an album that still slaps today. It has that element of distortion and danceability that keeps my attention throughout. Even the big one of this album, Golden Skans, is a total bop again now, even if it got a ridiculous amount of airtime back when it was released.
Also, massive nostalgia for those Yamaha PSR "DJ" samples - Surely that keyboard voice was the bane of any music teacher in the 90's and 00's. I'd not really heard Atlantis to Interzone before but it slaps. Didn't realise how hard this album could get.
Additionally, is it bad that it was only fairly recently that I found out It's Not Over Yet is a cover?
Favourite: Golden Skans
Beach House
5/5
One year of albums! This is a pleasant one to mark day 365, but it's certainly not an artist I'm familiar with.
I liked this one. It's maybe not something I'd usually seek out, but it's really dreamy and quite psychedelic. Just a wonderful vibe of an album. It's funny because I know I would have HATED this back in 2010 and probably up until a couple of years ago. Then I got an apartment, a car, a full time job and all the responsibilities of adulthood. Then I learned to appreciate the times when I could just slow down and turn off. This seems like the sort of album I'd listen to when going on a long walk - it'd be the perfect remedy to clear my thoughts for a bit.
Favourite: Norway
5/5
Huh.
I was worried that this one would be a total torturous chore when I saw that it was noise rock. Got even more worried when I saw the average rating of 2.22 stars. But in the end I actually kind of enjoyed it.
Yeah it's unhinged, avant-garde, noisy and haunting. It even feels quite tribal and definitely gives the atmosphere of a ritual sacrifice. The dance-punk element is there though, in enough measure to make this whole thing somewhat danceable.
No doubt that it verges on aurally torturous at times, but maybe I'm just turning into a masochist? All I'm saying is if I'm in a situation where I'm about to be sacrificed, I'd ask for the murderous cult to put this on.
It's approaching halloween so maybe I'm just in the mood for some spooky shit. Either way I enjoyed this and I think I could vibe with this again.
Favourite: There's Always Room on the Broom
Randy Newman
3/5
I'd never really looked into Randy Newman's work, but I'm sure most people my age have certainly heard him before. Of course I know of "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story but I had no idea he scored so many Disney-Pixar soundtracks!
That of course made it really jarring to hear this biting, satirical record, opening with the hard-R heavy "Rednecks". Damn, not sure you could get away with that now, even if it is scathing satire against bigotry and institutional racism, both back then and still today unfortunately.
It's a really complex album for sure - I know I can't really give much commentary about it as there's a lot of concepts I'm neither old nor American enough to understand. Adding to that, it's country music so naturally I don't care that much. Usually I have some aversion of Southern-accented male-vocalist country music, but in Newman's case I can't fully get on with it or take it seriously as he's just typecast as "That Toy Story Guy" in my mind!
I'm conflicted. This album definitely deserves to be among the 1001, no doubt. It's important, and worth the thinking, conversations and debates, both about the subject matter of the songs and the general meta of this album's satire. Personally I didn't care that much for this musically, and I don't know if I'll really come back to it, but I'm glad to have heard it.
Favourite: Back on My Feet Again
Cocteau Twins
5/5
Dreamy and atmospheric vibes. I've never heard this before, never heard of Cocteau Twins in general. But if someone were to play Cherry-coloured Funk without me hearing it before, I'd think it was from the last decade, not 33 years ago. That might potentially be more a case of modern music being a throwback rather than this being ahead of its time, though. But I wouldn't doubt the latter either.
Everything fits together so well - The instrumentation is wonderful, the vocals are otherworldly, everything is layered but it doesn't ever feel like a mess.
This is very good. Some beautifully ethereal Dream Pop that's just a great album to chill with. Press play and lose yourself in aural psychedelia.
Favourite: Iceblink Luck
Boston
5/5
Boston by Boston from Boston. Shame there's not a song on here that's also called Boston.
Some cheesy, fun 70s hard rock that just slaps and never misses a beat. A great classic rock album.
Favourite: More Than a Feeling
Peter Frampton
4/5
I can't help it, I'm a sucker for a talk box, so Show Me The Way and Do You Feel Like We Do stand out a lot to me. Overall this is a good rock album that also knows how to get acoustic and funky. I think some of the songs here passed me by a little, but generally this was great.
Favourite: Do You Feel Like We Do
Nine Inch Nails
4/5
Pretty much every negative emotion comes together to paint one picture of a protagonist's downward spiral. It's unashamedly loud and unsettling, but it manages to weave in enough rock and electronic elements to be quite danceable. Crazy this is from 1994! Sound like this must have been pretty groundbreaking for the time and it certainly is still impressive today.
March Of The Pigs is pretty cool. What a weird meter! And that bassline at the beginning reminds of that one song from Half-Life 2, randomly enough. The dumb PC gamer tangent will continue because, NIN sure had an influence on gaming didn't they? Considering they went on to compose the Quake soundtrack. Listening to this at work I can't say I vibed with it too much, so I listened to it again while playing Noita, and it made for a REALLY fun album to listen to then. The sheer chaos of that game made for a perfect vibe.
Overall, I don't know if I'll really come back for much here any time soon, but I think I'll like a lot of NIN's discography when I come around to listening to it properly. Then I might revisit this and really understand it.
Also, Cash's version of Hurt is better in my opinion, but I feel validated in that opinion by the fact Reznor agrees with me.
Favourite: March Of The Pigs
Hugh Masekela
5/5
Wow what a whiplash to get this after NIN. Never change, generator.
I think I'm falling for jazz. I don't know if I'm smart or sophisticated enough to exactly *appreciate* jazz to its fullest, but I certainly like the way most of it sounds. It's just fun to chill with. Some jazz blends into the background for me, and this one is no exception, but it definitely pulls me back suddenly with some of the faster and more complex arrangements. This never got boring to me - It's unafraid to suddenly switch up the rhythm and beat, and even threw in some African influenced sounds too. Maseru is especially great! I love its fast and almost chaotic atmosphere. Overall this is a funky, bluesy, jazzy and simply wonderful record.
Favourite: Maseru
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
This made for a weird and fun listen while driving one of my favourite country routes. This worked pretty well for that! I don't know how much of this I'll come back to, though. Some of the songs passed me by a bit. Where the Wild Roses Grow really moved me though. A beautiful-yet-macabre tale of a lady murdered by her lover, and an overall amazing duet between Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue. Almost impossible for me to pick my favourite between this and the next song on the album, The Curse of Millhaven. I think that one might win out just because of how ridiculous it is. A tale of a psychotic young girl on a murderous rampage, complete with a tuneful and almost circus-esque folk backing. Definitely the highlight of the album.
This was generally a weird, fun and disturbing record. Not my favourite, but certainly different!
Favourite: The Curse Of Millhaven
Pixies
5/5
This is great! Just a short alt/grunge bop with some excellent songs, some fun interludes and studio banter and a lot of experimentation - This must have really been pushing musical boundaries in 1988. Much like Doolittle, this must have had a lot of influence on the rock scene going into the 90s. I think this beats Doolittle for me. It has the immediately recognisable "Where Is My Mind?" but this ended up being way more than that. Pretty much every song here was amazing. It's often funny, often insane, but it gives off the vibe of just being a total jam session. Really sounds like they all had a lot of fun with this. Overall it's an excellent album.
Favourite: Where Is My Mind?
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Sympathy For The Devil was the only track I knew here. I heard that as the opening track and I was thinking "Okay, here we go, this should be good..." but then Sympathy For The Devil finishes and nothing as fun or compelling follows. There were a couple of alright songs but most of them were a bit boring. Quite a shame really.
Favourite: Sympathy For The Devil
Def Leppard
5/5
Another great Def Leppard album, although I think Hysteria slightly beats this one. An excellent glam metal sugar rush though!
Favourite: Foolin'
Pere Ubu
3/5
Oh god what the hell was that feedback noise at the beginning of Non-Alignment Pact!? That was especially horrible over my car speakers. Might not have sounded so bad in 1978. This ended up being okay, some neat early post-punk. Will I listen again? Probably not. Generally this wasn't my thing. It was just too unhinged with no real substance or direction to justify it. Seems very creative for 1978 though.
Favourite: Modern Dance
Santana
5/5
Whoa... 70s psych rock with Latin flair. Groovy, funky, pretty chill but never boring. Made for a practically spiritual car journey just as the sun was beginning to go down on a Saturday evening. Just a brilliant album that I'm absolutely going to hunt down on vinyl (Once I fix my record player...)
Favourite: Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
After a couple of hellish and stressful weeks, I'm finally ready to pick the list back up again.
It's crazy that for a really long time I thought I wasn't into hip hop at all, but it's just because I wasn't hearing the right stuff. I realised there was more hip hop than just nothing but gloating about money, sex, drugs and violence.
This jazzy East Coast hip hop is just so good. The lyricism is excellent, the music is a total vibe. I can't help but bop my head to it - It's chill but not boring or tiring. It bridges the gap between jazz and hip hop so well. Love this so much.
Favourite: Jazz (We've Got)
The White Stripes
4/5
It's a good album, generally a fun listen, but it's quite unfortunate that the two best songs have a combined duration of only four minutes. Some of the other songs passed me by a bit - Nothing on here was bad, some of it was just a little boring. Would have loved to hear more songs with the energy of Fell In Love With a Girl. Either way, I'm sure Elephant is on the list somewhere so I'll be interested to hear that one.
Favourite: Fell In Love With a Girl
Aerosmith
4/5
Second Aerosmith album of my list, first one was Rocks.
It's good, but as far as 70s rock bands go I don't think they'll ever be my favourite. I'd need to listen to Rocks again to compare this to it, and I wager there will be a couple more Aerosmith records to come before the 1001 is done. But yeah, it seems a bit middle-of-the-road and I think there were other bands doing better than this back in '75. This wasn't really bad and I might listen again - Walk This Way is a classic, after all. It feels like the energy of the album jumps around too much. One song gets my full attention and the next song totally loses it. Just decent in my opinion, but not a stand-out record.
Favourite - Walk This Way
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
Unsettling, unhinged and repetitive. I feel that some records can do any of those three things, or even all at once, in a way that works. However this just didn't do it for me. Maybe not in the mood for this today, but this is the second PiL album so far on my list, and neither have been up my alley.
It's a long and repetitive sonic recreation of crippling anxiety. Musically there wasn't that much going for it and lyrically none of it made sense. Its claim to fame is just how weird and nonconformist it was for 1979, and John Lyndon being the frontman certainly helped PiL get famous. Jah Wobble redeems this to an extent, but a bassist can only carry the rest of the band so far.
It just seems to be weird and unnerving for no reason. There's no direction to any of it, and as a result it's an hour of (terminal) boredom. Not interested in coming back to this any time soon.
One positive thing I will say - Swan Lake is quite cool, and I feel like it has the most substance out of anything on the record. It has a disco groove to it, and the leitmotifs to the eponymous ballet score are neat. The story behind it (or its original form, "Death Disco") is devastating though. Fuck cancer.
Favourite - Swan Lake
Mj Cole
5/5
I've always been a fan of UKG, and MJ Cole's work is especially great. His classical training really shows up from time to time here, and it all makes for an undeniably electronic and highly danceable album that still makes for something smooth and easy to relax and focus with. It's a great album for driving and doing IT work, and I'd love to get this on vinyl.
I was a bit young when this first released, but I would have loved to see the UK electronic scene first-hand back in the 90s and 00s. I totally recommend listening to some of MJ Cole's more recent work too. Some of it is very chill and even quite orchestral.
Favourite: Sincere
5/5
Muse has always been a strange one to me. It's a band I've grown up with, always hearing a lot of it on the radio, Black Holes and Revalations in particular, but I've never considered myself that much of a fan of the band as a whole. I've not really disliked anything I've heard, I just never really got into them. However, this was a good listen. It's my first time listening to the album cover-to-cover, and it's just fun. It's like a space-age rock opera. It feels a bit ridiculous and artificial, and I think I almost have a "guilty pleasure" sort of attraction to this. But either way I enjoyed this. It's rocky enough, and has a nice amount of electronic elements to appeal to my basshead brain. It's the musical equivalent of a dumb and cheesy sci-fi TV series that you just can't get enough of. It might not be my favourite album by any means but I think I'll come back to it.
Favourite: Knights of Cydonia
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
Another great Bob Marley record. I'm not sure if I prefer this to the other Bob Marley album I've got through the list so far, Exodus, but it was overall a wonderful listen. It's just so fun to relax and work to. I don't feel qualified enough to truly judge or even understand reggae entirely, but I know that I loved this.
Favourite: Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)
Air
5/5
Beautiful album to relax and chill to. The synths, pads and other instrumentation just all weave together so well to create an ethereal and transcendental piece of art that manages to be extremely soothing and relaxing, but still does enough to never become old or stale. It's one of the highlights of the Downtempo genre for sure. While it's certainly not one for driving or working to, this is absolutely the kind of thing I can just chill with. I think this'd make for a good one to get on vinyl.
Favourite: All I Need
Country Joe & The Fish
4/5
I've never heard anything from this album, never even heard of Country Joe & The Fish. I was certainly worried that this would end up being a country album but I was pleasantly surprised. This is just some fun 60s psych rock. It's groovy and bluesy and just fun to sit back and chill with. Considering it's 60s psych rock I imagine it was made to be enjoyed on acid, but I can confirm it's a pleasant listen while sober too. Some of the American politics in the lyricism is lost on me though. Generally it feels like a darker and more melancholy take on the genre but it's pretty great.
Favourite: Death Sound
Fiona Apple
3/5
A nice listen, but not particularly my thing today. It all feels a bit dreary and generally drags on too long, so generally it just got complutely tuned out. I think I could appreciate this chamber pop kind of thing when I'm in the right mood for it. I think it's one I'll keep around because I bet it'd soundtrack a self-reflective winter countryside walk nicely. But right now? Meh.
Favourite: Sullen Girl
The Beach Boys
4/5
I've only ever really known The Beach Boys for their happy, surfing, summer of love vibe. So I saw the title of this album "Surf's Up" but was also met with the cover. "Is that a painting of the drowned bodies of a horse and its rider?" I think to myself. "Not very uplifting."
It quickly became clear that this wasn't the fun and cheerful surf-rock I was expecting, and actually turned out to be a quite bleak, political and ecological record.
The opening track for example is the surf song format they were so well known for, totally turned on its head. They're no longer singing about how fun it is to surf, they're singing about how it's not safe to surf because of the pollution in the water. It's all a bit more somber than I had expected from The Beach Boys, and I think that's why they're held in such high regard. Their most popular songs may have been the happy, cheerful, carefree, but they were certainly not one-trick ponies.
For me, not everything here really hits, some of it is a bit boring and forgettable, but this was a good album that's opened my eyes to the fact that there is more to The Beach Boys than "Good Vibrations", "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and the other upbeat and popular tracks. That alone has me interesting in listening to more of their work.
Favourite: Feel Flows
John Lennon
3/5
Meh, didn't really care for this that much. It's just a bit boring and uninspiring, and I don't think Lennon really held up musically without the rest of The Beatles, it seems. It was just okay, but the best and most popular song was at the beginning and nothing else really hooked me. Maybe I'll enjoy some of his other solo works more if/when they pop up, but I can't say I'll actively seek them out before then.
Favourite: Imagine
Metallica
5/5
Wow, I had no idea this came directly after ...And Justice For All. It's so drastically different from the thrash metal of their previous albums, so I always figured there was more of a transition period into the sound of The Black Album.
I don't know if I'll rank this one above the previous album, since I'm a sucker for thrash, but either way, this is a good album! It certainly feels like a more radio-friendly rock sound, and as a result, it's not as heavy and it certainly feels a bit cheesier than their previous works, but I don't mind that at all. It still rocks either way, and its popularity and acclaim makes it one of the most important albums in heavy metal.
Favourite: Enter Sandman
Fugees
5/5
This is a very good 90's hip hop and soul album. It's well-produced, the beats are great, and the rapping and lyricism is amazing. Lauryn Hill's contribution makes this one of the most interesting hip-hop albums ever, in my opinion.
The skits unfortunately break the pace a bit - never really understood why pretty much every 90s hip hop album had to have them. I can look past it though, and they were kind of entertaining - I bet they had fun recording them.
Regardless, I loved this album. It's pure vibes and I will absolutely come back to it.
Favourite: Ready or Not
Björk
5/5
Whoa... It has the experimentation and weirdness that I've come to expect from a Björk album, but it's not quite as weird as Medúlla (The one other Björk record the generator has given me so far). There's a recognisable structure here for the most part. I loved this. It's a cinematic, emotional blend of orchestral and electronic elements, making one hell of a breakup album.
I'm such a sucker for good electronic sound design, and this proved itself to be absolutely amazing in the sound design department, especially going into the second half of the album. I'd imagine much of that is from Arca's involvement? I'm certainly going to have to look more into her work. Honestly, I think I'm really going to have to look more into Björk too. I'd imagine the generator will give me more of her work before it's done, but I'm really loving everything I've heard so far.
Favourite: Notget
The Who
3/5
The general idea of the concept for this album is an interesting one, but I feel like this might have made more sense back then. Personally I just thought this ended up as a slightly boring listen interspersed with weird fake adverts and jingles. The songs themselves were okay, but overall this is definitely not my favourite Who album.
Favourite: I Can See For Miles
The Bees
5/5
Fun, sunny and chill indie pop from 2002. I caught on to the accents quite quick but didn't initially expect this to be a British band - It has a very west-coast US feel to it in my opinion. Certainly doesn't suit the shitty weather the UK has once again blessed us with on this cold November morning but I needed something like this to raise my spirits. I loved this album a lot, it may not be the most exciting but I just appreciated getting to vibe with it. Another great introduction to something right up my alley!
Also I went and listened to the original Os Mutantes version of A Minha Menina after this. I can't decide which one I prefer more, but The Bees certainly did it justice in their cover. Either way, Jorge Ben wrote it so of course it was good.
Favourite: A Minha Menina
Portishead
5/5
Dreamy but haunting, chill but anxious. It's not a particularly energetic one but it's certainly interesting - It's like Björk meets Radiohead, with a really nice blend of electronic and acoustic going on throughout. Might seek this out on vinyl some time, it's certainly the kind of record I'd play on a gloomy and melancholic day like this.
Favourite: Small
Pearl Jam
5/5
I've never really seeked out Pearl Jam in any way, but I think I've heard nearly every song on here before. This is both an iconic 90's album and an iconic rock album, and it absolutely slaps with dark grungy energy. An all-around excellent listen.
Favourite: Even Flow
Frank Ocean
5/5
I remember the hype this album recieved when it first released. I didn't pay any mind to it then - I certainly wasn't into that kind of thing back then. Nowadays, I'd still say that R&B isn't really my favourite, but I found myself enjoying Channel Orange more than expected. It's just a good album with a bit of everything, and while not the most intense or exciting album, it managed to keep me invested throughout. I can't help but feel like nothing in R&B really lived up to this level since though, all you get now is samey Drake drivel. This is a very good album though, and I could see myself coming back to it someday.
Favourite: Super Rich Kids
Caetano Veloso
4/5
A fun blend of Psych Rock and Samba. I don't understand a word of Portuguese but it was still fun to listen to. Some of the songs passed me by a bit but there was a groovy tropical vibe to the whole thing. Maybe I'll come back to this eventually.
Honestly, I think it'd be good cooking music? I really need to make a playlist out of songs I find good to cook with.
Favourite: Tropicália
Khaled
4/5
This is definitely not something I hear every day: Algerian Raï with Western pop and electronic elements. I quite liked it though.
It's approachable and familiar enough to appeal to a Western audience - I liked the almost DnB-esque beat on Mele H'Bibti. However I feel it does suffer from some of the usual cheesiness of 90's pop music at points. Despite that it was a fun listen, even if it's another album I don't understand a word of.
Also I thought the Imagine cover was pretty nice. Fight me.
Favourite: Trigue Lycee
Earth, Wind & Fire
5/5
Fun, soulful and funky. I've not heard this side of EWF, I'm definitely more familiar with all the amazing disco songs they put out. This was a very good listen though, and it had a nice mix of slower ballads and more upbeat funk jams. Amazing instrumentation too - Verdine White is a bass god, and I love a good kalimba!
Favourite: Happy Feelin'
Fairport Convention
5/5
I might have hated this if it was generated in the middle of summer, but on a cold November day this is the perfect thing to sit down with. It's like the musical equivalent of a warm soup. It's just a really nice British folk rock album, and I kind of wish I was doing nothing at all today, because this seems like one to give my full attention to.
Where does this sit compared to Liege and Lief? Not sure, I'd need to listen to that one again. But regardless, the instrumentation is amazing and Sandy Denny's voice is beautiful. It's a shame she left this world while still so young.
Unhalfbricking is just a wonderful listen on a cold and self-reflective day like this, and I think I'll come back to it soon. It's a long winter ahead, and any comfort will be very welcome.
Favourite: A Sailor's Life
ABBA
4/5
Catchy, fun and iconic. Everyone knows of ABBA, surely? And I think it'd be a struggle to find anyone who's not heard at least one track on this album. Personally, I've never been quite sure on my feelings about ABBA. Their poppiness was certainly something I hated when I was younger, but now I find myself enjoying this quite a bit. Some absolute classics here, but a few lulls too in my opinion. I still wouldn't call any ABBA my favourite in any capacity, but this was a fun one to listen to.
Favourite: Dancing Queen
Dennis Wilson
3/5
This didn't mesh with me today. It was okay, somewhat groovy, a decent rock and pop album from '77, but nothing really got my attention. Don't think I was much in the mood for this kind of album today, but honestly don't know if I'll be in the mood for it any time soon.
Also the version on Spotify includes the Bambu sessions. I didn't fully get through that because I couldn't stay awake, it's just too drone-y and ambient for today.
Favourite: River Song
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
The revolution will not be televised. It will be funky as hell.
Rage's self-titled debut is a firm reminder that you can absolutely go at the throat of the world's injustices and still sound absolutely amazing while doing it. Every song slaps and every member nails the performance. Killing In the Name will always be my favourite though. I just love how the tempo fluctuates throughout the track, leading up to a crescendo and the ever-memorable chant of "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!" Just an absolute high octane rush of a track.
Sadly the subject it's protesting against, police brutality, is still a thing. All the political subjects being attacked are still very much a thing over 30 years later. I think it's high time for another band like this.
Regardless, Rage Against The Machine is energetic, funky, angry and so important. This absolutely deserves to be high up in the 1001.
Favourite: Killing In the Name
Joan Baez
5/5
Warm, soft, haunting. While listening to this record, I feel like I'm listening to someone telling old ghost stories around a campfire. There’s just a wonderful simplicity to it all. Just a guitar and vocals, and yet Baez and her guitar are able to tell some wonderful stories.
This is another one of those folk albums that absolutely would not have interested me a few years ago, and it probably wouldn’t mesh well with me at the height of summer either. But I’m well and truly an adult now, and it’s a cold and unpleasant winter. It’d be a perfect one for exploring the great outdoors, embracing nature and the elements even at this time of year, but it’d also be great for snuggling up under a blanket with a hot chocolate in the warm comforts of home.
This self-titled debut is a perfect winter companion, mostly comprising of arrangements of traditional folk songs. I’ve never heard Baez’s performances of these songs, and most of these I don’t think I’ve heard in any form, with the exception of House Of The Rising Sun (Which I forget was originally a traditional folk song) and Henry Martin (My first exposure to it was by self-proclaimed “Pirate Metal” band Alestorm!)
This was an excellent record. It’s one of those sorts of albums that makes me want to move far away from society and go and live in the forest. Who needs all these computers and cars and stuff? Just give me a cabin, a campfire, a guitar and some interesting friends who are good at telling stories.
I can dream.
Favourite: Henry Martin
LL Cool J
4/5
A decent late old-school hip hop record. The backing tracks slap and the lyricism is great. Some of it is quite cheesy but there were some funny moments - Milky Cereal was quite funny and impressively done in my opinion. It's probably not among my favourites, some of the songs were a bit forgettable, but it's nice to hear a 90s hip hop album that isn't all gangsta rap.
Favourite: Around The Way Girl
The Slits
3/5
Hearing this one I thought to myself "Hmm, very PiL-esque." but then I looked into it more. "Wait, The Slits were formed before PiL? Wait, John Lydon is the stepfather of a founding member?!" Research into this one proved more interesting than expected.
Either way, it's post-punk, which is proving to not really be my favourite genre in most cases, at least from what I've heard so far on this list. However this one was okay I guess? Made for a nice change hearing a post punk album by an all-female group, and the songs (and the album as a whole) tended to be on the shorter side which made this quite a bit more palatable than what I've heard of PiL. It has somewhat of a groove throughout, which helps too.
However, I feel it does sometimes suffer a bit from being a thing with no real direction, simply existing just to be a bit jarring and avant-garde. "How about I let a blood-curdling scream midway through this track? Just try and fucking stop me."
Once again, my favourite track on this post-punk album is the most disco-sounding one. The cover of I Heard It Through The Grapevine was really cool, funky and danceable. That bassline and drumming though! I can totally see how Disco morphed into House a little later, when I hear tracks like this.
Favourite: I Heard It Through The Grapevine
The Beach Boys
4/5
Yeah, now I can absolutely see how The Beach Boys are considered to be among the greatest pop bands of all time, after hearing this. The lyricism and instrumentation at play here is layered together in ways that must have been quite impressive for 1966. There are those vocal harmonies that they were known for, backed with the power of a whole orchestra. This album absolutely belongs on the top 1001 list.
Personally though, I thought it was a nice listen, but I wouldn't call it my favourite. Favourite Beach Boys album I've heard so far maybe, but this is only the second Beach Boys album I've heard in its entirety so far. Some of it was a bit forgettable to me, and I think those fade-out outros sound lazy and cheap, and ruin the whole orchestral vibe of the songs a bit.
Regardless, I think Pet Sounds is an album that is objectively impressive for the sheer complexity of its production and performance, and I may give it a full relisten again in the future.
Favourite: Sloop John B
Iggy Pop
5/5
This one was another one that proved totally new for me - Never heard anything from this before. But it was very evident just from hearing it that Bowie produced it. It's a really neat, electronic and experimental post-punk record, and really does great things to that genre of which I'm still not sure where my opinion stands. This is definitely among one of the great post-punk albums though.
There's enough variety in the tracks to keep them interesting, and plenty of interesting elements that prevent each track from going stale. It's awash with atmosphere, dissonance and distortion but it all feels like it adds more to the end product, something I think a lot of post-punk fails to achieve in my opinion. I think Iggy Pop described it perfectly when he described it as "a cross between James Brown and Kraftwerk". There's a funky and soulful element to it, but it's very cold, mechanical, robotic. I can totally see how this went on to inspire a lot of industrial and gothic acts.
I admit I had to listen more than once to 'get' it, but now I've had an opportunity to give it my full attention, I'm fully sold on it, and I feel it's only getting better with every listen. An amazing record.
Favourite: Funtime
The Psychedelic Furs
5/5
I liked this one quite a lot. It's infectiously catchy, with an energy that kept me invested throughout. There's some elements of post-punk and pop thrown into it, but its rock DNA shines through. There is some excellent sax-playing in there too. (RIP Mars Williams)
I can totally see how this might not be a popular one outside of the UK though; there's no hiding the accent, and to an American it probably produces the same kind of feeling I get from hearing American country singers with a real Southern twang to their accent.
Regardless, this was a really good album, and I bet it was somewhat of an inspiration for British indie and britpop acts that came later.
Favourite: Dumb Waiters
Madonna
5/5
Expecting just a simple pop album, I wasn't really looking forward to this one. But... Wow. I wasn't expecting this album to be quite as electronic as it turned out to be. I never knew there was a Madonna album like it, not that I really know much about Madonna's discography.
This is a wonderfully electronic album with some songs that would suit a lounge, and others that would fit in a rave. It's filled with downtempo, house, trance, drum and bass, basically everything my ADHD-ridden millenial British mind can almost automatically adore. To be honest I almost forgot that this is an album by an American singer - William Orbit really brings a lot of British and European flair to the album. There's also some really cool Middle Eastern elements to this - Shanti/Ashtangi makes for a really cool midway(ish) point of the album, and a nice comedown from the trance rush of Sky Fits Heaven before it.
From my impromptu research into this album I found out that she had underwent vocal training for her role in Evita, a couple of years before this album, and as a result she came to this album with a broader vocal range than ever. The full-bodiedness of her vocals pairs really well with the electronic direction of this album.
I was really surprised by how much I loved this album. It's a fun, ravey, mystical and spiritual record with a bit of everything that the 90s electronic scene had to offer. I wasn't expecting to be seeking out a Madonna album because of this list but it's fair to say that it's what I'll now be doing.
Favourite: Nothing Really Matters
Ute Lemper
3/5
Meh, not sure where I sit when it comes to this cabaret-style pop music. Ute Lemper has a strong, haunting voice, which really adds to the experience of listening to this. Generally it felt a bit OTT though, and just fell into tedium for much of the album. The first couple of songs were okay though. Not sure it was bad, just weird and not really meshing well with my day working in the office.
Favourite: The Case Continues
The Stooges
5/5
I guess 2023 was a good time to get this album on my list, since it had its 50th anniversary and got remastered this year, apparently clearing up a lot of the clipping issues! Flicking between the two mixes a bit, I settled on Iggy's mix of the album. That raw, muddy sound suits this aggro proto-punk in my opinion.
The name "Raw Power" suits this album so well. It has energy, it has aggression, it has grit, it has blues and it has swagger. It's a 34 minute tour de force that does slow a little for a breather from time to time, but then pounces right back into a primal frenzy. It's a rough and messy ride but I'm 100% here for it. Raw Power is an excellent album from beginning to end.
Favourite: Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell
The Jam
5/5
This is just a pleasant and fun listen. it has a few tracks I've heard before, as well as several I heard for the first time, and while some were better than others I don't think there was a bad song here.
The guitar and bass work on this is excellent, and the vocals are great - they make this a very British record. Sound Affects is a cocktail with a punk base and a generous mix of mod flair. Just an excellent record.
Also, interesting hearing the opening riff to Set The House Ablaze, thinking "Oh hey I've heard this one before!" Sure enough, Bloc Party's "Helicopter" adapted that riff. Neat.
Favourite: That's Entertainment
Tangerine Dream
5/5
Not particularly surprised by the low score on this one. Many people would just call this avant-garde noise and move on. Maybe not entirely incorrect, I guess... But as someone who adores electronic music and is trying to get into ambient music, this is a beautiful album. I love how the soundscapes morph and transform through the pieces, I love how the synthesizers paint an environment that is simultaneously futuristic and natural. I don't care that the title track is 18 minutes long, it changes form so much through the course of the song, and I think it could probably be likened to a classical piece in some respects, with how it has quiet parts that crescendo and fade away.
The remaining three songs are each shorter than the title track, the longest being nearly ten minutes and the shortest not much longer than two minutes. They are all just as sweeping, ambient and interesting as the title track, but I must say that I particularly loved Movements Of A Visionary for its arpegiated synth working with other synths and organs to paint one of the colder, darker pictures of the album, but it's cold and dark in very much the same way that space is. There's an especially weightless feeling to that track, and it makes it perhaps the most incredible ambient track I've ever heard.
In some ways I can see how the synthesizers and oscillators of the day were more their own bespoke instruments rather than the sleek, computer-controlled, DAW-driven electronic tracks that form much of the popular music scene now. It was interesting to read and hear how the music would change and detune through the performance of Phaedra due to equipment warming up. It's genuinely interesting to me, reading about these kinds of hurdles and imperfections that artists had to deal with as the pioneers and trailblazers of new genres, styles and techniques. It really paid off though, because even fifty years on, this sounds just as wonderful and space-age as it must have done upon release.
The more I read about Tangerine Dream, the more interesting it seems to get. While it's not particularly noteworthy that it's a band that has outlived its founder, it's interesting to see how many people have been part of the band since its inception in 1967. There's some "Ship of Theseus" discussions to be had about what makes a band a band, but it's great to see how it still exists, and I hope that Tangerine Dream can continue to live on in this way long into the future. They seem like the type of band to do that. Also it was interesting to see that Tangerine Dream helped compose the score for Grand Theft Auto V, but honestly it doesn't really surprise me. The OST was a masterpiece (Not even including the licensed tracks) and I firmly believe it is one of the greatest video game soundtracks of all time.
It's pretty interesting to see that this was recorded in a village barely 10 miles away from me. What happened, Oxfordshire? There used to be so many studios... It's an interesting link to a city I saw while I was still too young to understand and appreciate it. Someday I'll go back to Berlin to immerse myself properly into this scene.
Gorgeous, gorgeous album. I'll definitely be looking more into Tangerine Dream's impressive discography after this one.
Favourite: Movements Of A Visionary
The Beau Brummels
4/5
Following almost a year's hiatus after getting a bit overwhelmed with this list and everything that life was throwing at me at the time, I'm ready to once again start trying to get through this list at the rate of one album per day.
I don't really have much to say about this one but I didn't hate it! It blends rock, country and folk, and covers it in a generous amount of psychedelia.
It's a bit silly and cheesy, and I couldn't take all of the instrumental choices seriously, but considering the general silliness of the album I'm not sure taking anything seriously was the point.
I definitely agree with the other reviews (and the Wikipedia page!) that compare the vocals to Bob Dylan - It's Bob Dylan without the social commentary.
Nevertheless, this was fine. It had some fun tracks, even if there were a few low points to me, but the whole thing was short enough not to overstay its welcome. and I could possibly see myself coming back to it. Possibly. But amongst a thousand albums, it doesn't really stand out to me all that much.
King Crimson
5/5
Starting off by acknowledging the elephant in the room - I can't believe how recently I found out that 21st Century Schizoid Man was the origin for that sample in Power by Kanye West. I'm still young, okay!? Honest! And casting aside any opinions of West as a person for a moment, that one scene/mission from Saints' Row 3 was badass. IYKYK.
Going back to the original though - 21st Century Schizoid Man is an awesome opener. It's just has an aura of anger and swagger to it. Then it speeds up and descends into the jazzy chaos that is Mirrors, which I initially wasn't sure about but I have since grown to love. It's just a crazy and fun interlude, and I love how flawlessly it returns to the main riff of 21st Century Schizoid Man. Good shit.
Moonchild is fine, but not really amongst my favourites of the album, but one of the things that surprised me on first listen was that this was adapted by Doves and made into M62 Song. I'd say I prefer M62 Song but I'm not sure it's right to compare them, as Doves took the general melody and spun it into a whole other animal. The Dream and The Illusion were just total avant-garde noise with no real substance, but they were pleasant enough. And all is forgiven when The Court Of The Crimson King breaks through the near-silence.
The more of this album I get through, the more I recognise elements that became samples or inspiration. I can really see the influence that this had on bands that came after it. What I didn't notice at first was the fact that this album is from 1969! While this was being recorded, humans landed on the moon for the first time. I could never have guessed than an album like this was a product of the 60s.
Overall, this is an excellent album that I'll definitely come back to again. Certainly one I could see myself picking up on physical media.
Favourite: 21st Century Schizoid Man
John Cale
3/5
This album was okay. I didn't hate it, and I didn't love it either. I wasn't really that in the mood for this sort of thing, but I think I'm never really in the mood for this easy-listening stuff. It was all just a bit slow.
There were a few high-points on the album. I thought Andalucia was nice with it's dialled back and tender feel, and then Macbeth came out of nowhere and became the most energetic point of the album with an awesome rock and roll beat. I only wish that Macbeth was longer, and the album had more songs like it.
I thought the title track was fine, it grew on me a bit throughout its duration, but it was still absolutely forgettable following Macbeth.
The one song I totally disliked was Antarctica Starts Here. I detest whispered vocals in most situations; it never fails to creep me out.
Overall, the album was okay. It's not one I'm likely to remember at the end of this list, but maybe I'll find a time and a place for it one day.
Favourite: Macbeth
Herbie Hancock
5/5
This was a fantastic album, a brilliant blend of jazz and funk with some amazing synth playing.
Chameleon was an absolute bop - That bassline is infectiously good, and while some long songs have a tendency to overstay their welcome, I didn't feel this at all. In fact, it didn't feel like a 15 minute song at all, I guess just because of how fun it was to listen to. My one nitpick of the song is I wish it had an ending rather than a fade-out. Maybe they are still jamming out to this day...
Watermelon Man was cool, I thought the bottle-blowing was neat, and it goes into a super-cool funky beat.
I like the various changes in energy throughout Sly - It starts out quite chilled and funky and then explodes with this crazy jazzy energy, then returns to those chilled funk vibes at the end.
Vein Melter closed the record off very nicely with a nice and more laid-back chilled sound.
Overall, this whole album was jazzy, funky, groovy and just brilliant. I'll come back to this one.
Favourite: Chameleon
Blue Cheer
4/5
I enjoyed this! It's quite heavy and loud for the time it was released - it certainly doesn't strike me as a 60s record.
The mixing is strange - Summertime Blues is a strong start, but why were the vocals so much louder than the instruments? I'm also not a fan of the wide stereo seperation in some cases; I ended up changing my settings so it'd only play in mono. I'm wondering if Spotify has taken tracks from multiple sources, or certain tracks have been remastered. Out Of Focus sounds a lot better than many of the others, for example.
Additionally, while this was generally a great album, some of the tracks did end up "dragging on" a little bit, and not everything fully stood out. Some songs here just faded into the background noise a bit, but maybe it's my fault for listening to these while at work.
This was a very good album that did impressive things for 1968. I think I'll come back to this one, but I think I'd try and seek it out in mono. Or maybe the stereo version would sound better on bigger home speakers.
Favourite: Second Time Around
Arcade Fire
4/5
This was a pleasant album that was just a nice thing to sit down and relax with. I wouldn't say it really had me that hooked, but I think it's one that I could really enjoy, had I been fully in the mood for it. It strikes me as a "wandering on a trail on a cold day" type of album, and my average Tuesday work day didn't really fit that environment.
I will say that Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) was a standout for me though - it's a banger that absolutely cuts through the quieter tracks either end of it.
I may well come back to this record.
Favourite: Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)