1001 Albums Summary

I like the idea of this album. I like Fiona Apple. I love her lyrics. I'm fascinated by the story of this album and how it came together. I just struggle with the music itself; I find it really boring and a lot of the songs don't feel like they "go anywhere,” especially on the back half. "Criminal" still makes me feel like I need to go take a shower after I hear it though so I guess that’s good?

So back in like 2008-20010 I had a lot of crushes on indie girls with bangs who worshiped Steve Jobs. This is basically the soundtrack to that period of my life and I don't love it.

For me this is a perfect example of a "for the time album." It's easy to look at this now compared to what was happening around 1969 and call it a classic album. And to its credit, there are some great things going on here. But we've had over 50 years for artists to innovate on this sound, and as a result it feels dated and even a bit a boring. But does being a product of the 60s make this album less of a classic? Who knows. Can we divorce pop culture from its era and give it an honest judgement half a century later? Again, who knows. Either way, it's hard for me to feel particularly excited about this.

Oh my God can we please stop with the navel gazing and please have an album worth listening to please thank you amen 🙏