1001 Albums Summary

4 out of 5, great Punk Album. Standouts for me are Garageland, Janie Jones, & I’m so Bored with the U.S.A. Overall, my favorite track leans toward Police & Thieves, love the vibe and placement within the track list of that one. Excellent!

Starting with the trippy-laden drumming and short-bluesy guitar licks of Strange Brew; it’s a perfect toast to start this psychedelic album. Work of Pain sounds like a backdrop of a steady rain that is ultimately comforting within its melancholic theme. Tales of Brave Ulysses, SWLABR, and We’re Going Wrong we’re deep cut standouts to me among my listening experience. Oh, and HA! Mother’s Lament is fantastic. Overall, though, I personally rank it as a 3 out of 5 stars album. It’s certainly enjoyable, I think I prefer other bands like Big Brother, Grateful Dead, CSN&Y, and Jimi of similar style when listening to Cream.

Ill Communication!!! I love the album, 5 out of 5 stars. Mix of flavors throughout, live instrumentation, excellent rhyming - appreciating the music enough to let it breathe, what’s not to like? Sure Shot is a great opener that leads effortlessly to the punk sound of Tough Guy. B-Boys Makin’ with the Freak Freak, Bono On the Corner, & Root Down center their sounds toward their vinyl hiss of underground rap mixes with their usual high-energy flow keeping the momentum going before we get the production shift of the next great anthem of Beastie Boys top songs, Sabotage; nothing else really needs to be said. First feature allows Q-Tip the space to flex; Get It Together is a nice subdued beat without losing any energy to the overall vibe. Continuing to groove, we get an almost Santana Boys-esque instrumental in the name of Sabrosa; very enjoyable “interlude”. Hearing The Update kick-off, I am struck by how wonderfully it picks up from the previous instrumental while evolving the beat to its own thing, further exemplifying their masterclass architecture and production choices as they developed this album. Futterman’s Rule is another instrumental that picks up the pace and showcases a bass solo with the same hazy vein bravado of a Cliff Burton solo, followed by a slick drum breakdown, before rounding out the loop, completing the song. It’s a ride, Man! Alright Hear This heavily emphasized record scratching; naturally, it’s one of my favorites. Eugene’s Lament throws us a middle eastern vibe instrumental with a bluegrass-diddy added to the mix, I love it! Flute Loop and it’s Fatboy Slim vibe kicks ass! Do It is a goofy song, straight up fun. Ricky’s Theme is likely to be my only skip on the record, just don’t care for that one; it’s got a really cool reverb thing going on at the end of the track that elevates the composition of the song as a whole toward the end, which means it totally redeems itself! Heart Attack Man, the second punk song that moves toward a metal/doom groove middle of the way, then ending on the up-tick of the punk influence again, it kicks! The Scoop has a great bass line elevating the breakbeats, excellent. I really can’t emphasize the bass line enough…beautiful work. Shambala om chants a groove to life that soon lightens the mood considerably once the funky drumming hits its stride before om-ing the transition into Bodhisattva Vow, eclipsing a wonderful instrumental fleshing out the groove of a full-fledged rap song, pretty impressive considering all elements fusing together. As if omitted; just wonderful production throughout, and there is no exception nearing the end of the album. The last song, Transitions, gives us what feels a bit reflective in the theme of the instrumentals. They’ve let the album breathe throughout, “now chill to the out-beat!” Epic.

I sure loved this album as a teenager, and I am very fond of it since it’s one of the albums my wife and I listened to early on in our relationship. Standouts to me are Rock Steady, Ready for Love, Bad Company, The Way I Choose, and my favorite Segull. 4 out of 5 album, still crazy it was the first album released on Zeppelin’s Swan Song Records!

I listened the Shake Your Money Maker a lot when I was a kid. My Dad loved it and I had plenty of nostalgic moments listening to it again, it was many years ago. Overall, I enjoyed the hits, but the other songs don’t stand out that much to me. 3 out of 5 stars.

I really liked it. A bit too busy to review it properly, since I’m going on vacation. But it was very good and I’m happy to have heard it. Especially loved the demos, something about them that just make ‘em better! 4 out of 5, easy.