668
Albums Rated
3.03
Average Rating
61%
Complete
421 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1970s
Favorite Decade
Grunge
Favorite Genre
other
Top Origin
Perfectionist
Rater Style ?
21
5-Star Albums
7
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Dub Housing
Pere Ubu
|
4 | 2.35 | +1.65 |
|
Blue
Joni Mitchell
|
5 | 3.49 | +1.51 |
|
Moss Side Story
Barry Adamson
|
4 | 2.53 | +1.47 |
|
Welcome to the Afterfuture
Mike Ladd
|
4 | 2.56 | +1.44 |
|
A Grand Don't Come For Free
The Streets
|
4 | 2.67 | +1.33 |
|
Deja Vu
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
|
5 | 3.7 | +1.3 |
|
Movies
Holger Czukay
|
4 | 2.71 | +1.29 |
|
Pearl
Janis Joplin
|
5 | 3.72 | +1.28 |
|
Scream, Dracula, Scream
Rocket From The Crypt
|
4 | 2.77 | +1.23 |
|
Dookie
Green Day
|
5 | 3.79 | +1.21 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Appetite For Destruction
Guns N' Roses
|
1 | 3.74 | -2.74 |
|
Lost In The Dream
The War On Drugs
|
1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
|
The Predator
Ice Cube
|
1 | 3.26 | -2.26 |
|
Bad
Michael Jackson
|
2 | 3.81 | -1.81 |
|
Brothers In Arms
Dire Straits
|
2 | 3.74 | -1.74 |
|
Boston
Boston
|
2 | 3.71 | -1.71 |
|
Getz/Gilberto
Stan Getz
|
2 | 3.64 | -1.64 |
|
Van Halen
Van Halen
|
2 | 3.63 | -1.63 |
|
Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Wu-Tang Clan
|
2 | 3.61 | -1.61 |
|
Hotel California
Eagles
|
2 | 3.6 | -1.6 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Beatles | 6 | 4.33 |
| Nirvana | 2 | 5 |
| Johnny Cash | 2 | 5 |
| David Bowie | 6 | 4.17 |
| The White Stripes | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Who | 3 | 4.33 |
| Led Zeppelin | 5 | 4 |
5-Star Albums (21)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Girls Against Boys
2/5
It's post-hardcore, so every song sounds heavy, and the vocals are scratchy and mono-tone. It all sounds a bit dated. If the vocals were better, the songs might have held up.
13 likes
Coldplay
3/5
I'm often conflicted when it comes to Coldplay's music. The songs are trite and sappy. They are pseudo-serious and irritating. That said, they are also undeniably catchy. Every song has a good hook. Many on this list love to hate Coldplay. And I can understand the aversion to music that is, at times, saccharine. I just can't seem to figure out if I, too, truly despise the band; or maybe I have allowed peer pressure to stop my feet as they unconsciously tap along to the songs. Dave Grohl once said that "the whole guilty pleasure thing is" ... well ... to paraphrase ... BS. Maybe he's right.
5 likes
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
It's good music. But I'm just not convinced I needed to hear this before I die.
5 likes
The Mothers Of Invention
2/5
I get that this album is supposed to be modern satire, but honestly it sounds like a couple of kids from the 60s recording fart noises into an old tape machine.
2 likes
Pink Floyd
5/5
It has been a long time since I last listened to this album. Still good.
2 likes
1-Star Albums (7)
All Ratings
AC/DC
4/5
Straight-ahead rock and roll ... no frills, just rock, again and again with each track. Sometimes that's the problem, though ... every song on this album sounds like the others. There is no real variance from one song to another, except for the last song, Rock N Roll Ain't Noise Pollution. But that's okay - it's AC/DC, and we love them for that.
Nirvana
5/5
My second favorite Nirvana recording, behind Live at Reading 1992, and the best of the Unplugged series. The cover of Lead Belly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" gets me every time.
4/5
My second favorite U2 album, after Achtung Baby. Joshua Tree is about America
Garbage
4/5
My first reaction to seeing this album pop up on the 1001 site was to try and lower my expectations. I haven't listened much to Garbage in the past, and most of my friends just plain don't like them. It turns out this is a pretty good album ... three or four songs are definitely made for radio, but some of the others -- Supervixen, Queer, As Heaven is Wide -- are worth replaying.
The Black Crowes
3/5
I remember the Black Crowes from the early 90's ... basically a 70's imitation blues band. Today the music seems somewhat dated to me ... the songs are kinda old-hat, predictable. A good album, but I'm just not in the same place I was back then.
Grizzly Bear
2/5
I really tried to like Veckatimest ... I carefully listened to every song, repeating one or two, giving each of them the attention I thought they deserved. But to be honest, it bored me.
The Flaming Lips
3/5
Up 'til now, I have not heard a word of The Flaming Lips. The music is psych-rock -- atmospheric with heavy synthesizer and special effects, mostly acoustic guitars, good bass lines. No distortion ... every thing is sounds clean. The lyrics are introspective and mature.
Michael Jackson
2/5
I've heard most of the songs on this album before, so I just went with those tracks that did not air on mainstream radio. Of those, the only one I liked was "Another Part of Me" ... otherwise I'd call the rest skip tracks. I still don't like "Dirty Diana" -- the chorus kinda pounds away at the senses. The best song here is "Smooth Criminal" ... by far the best music, best bass line, best lyrics, best singing.
Meat Loaf
4/5
Love Meatloaf. Nothing quite like this album before or since (except other Meatloaf records, of course).
The Crusaders
4/5
Good instrumental jazz. I would have been more receptive if I hadn't listened to Meatloaf's "Bat Out of Hell" right before this.
Aerosmith
3/5
I get that this is a classic album, but I'm just not an Aerosmith fan.
Deep Purple
4/5
And heavy metal is born.
Johnny Cash
5/5
Pause. Long slow bow of my head. Pause again. Thank you so much.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
4/5
It's good. But is it really jazz?
ABBA
2/5
Ok ... it's Abba. Too disco-y for me. Besides "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", the songs were skip-tracks.
Hole
3/5
It's okay. Not as bad as I expected.
The The
2/5
Soul Mining epitomizes UK post-punk art pop from the 80s. Heavy synth bass, drums from a machine, echoing asymmetrical vocals: it feels old. Those who like it for these reasons will call it old-school-new-school.
The best track, and the one with absolutely no synth, is Uncertain Smile, with Jools Holland contributing a remarkably good piano solo. There's a live version available on YouTube, with Holland again on piano -- on his own show, Later with Jools Holland -- and with real guitars, real drums, real everything. Sooooo much better than the 80s synth stuff.
Neil Young
4/5
Brilliant. I've always had the impression he's a bit self-serious.
Tina Turner
4/5
It's more like soft jazz than I thought it would be. I'll say flat-out: Tina can sing. The musicians on this album are really good ... some excellent solos.
The White Stripes
5/5
It's Garage Rock, and the best of its era. You'll enjoy every song. There isn't a skip-track on it.
Tom Waits
4/5
It's really about his voice and singing style. I happen to like it.
The Temptations
4/5
This album surprised me.
I didn't expect the socio-political songs -- Papa Was A Rollin' Stone and Run Charlie Run. That's a nice change a pace for the Temptations.
Other songs are better than I would have expected. Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On ... a great live track with a groove! Do Your Thing is good soul music.
The rest of the tracks are more typical of the group, and so not as interesting to me.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
What a voice! And what great songs!
Bob Dylan
3/5
I love the track, Shelter from the Storm. Tangled Up in Blue is good as well.
The 13th Floor Elevators
3/5
It sounds a bit like the Monkeys, but the songs have a harder edge. You're Gonna Miss Me is good. Fire Engine is kinda cool. You Don't Know works for me as well. There are shades of punk rock in this, before there was really any punk rock.
Dr. Dre
3/5
I have a feeling most listeners will like this. The tracks on the album are actually quite varied in sound ... that surprised me. But the beat is always the same, which I found monotonous. Let Me Ride is good.
New Order
2/5
New Order are a bit too much like The Cure ... or maybe The Cure are a bit too much like New Order. (You could swap Pet Shop Boys or The Church for The Cure.) There is absolutely nothing unique or surprising about this album.
Tracy Chapman
4/5
It's nice to be reminded of what great songwriting sounds like.
Sisters Of Mercy
2/5
I like how the vocals are done: lots of dark tones. Some of the bass tracks are good. But the drums are from a machine. And I'm not a fan of 80s synth. It's a bit like Depeche Mode and the rest.
"1959" is a good track. Nice piano. The vocal style works well, and no annoying synthetic drum beat. "Lucretia My Reflection" is the most radio-friendly track: good bass line, quality vocal arrangement, and it has a groove.
I could have skipped the other songs - nothing original about any of these. Sisters of Mercy suffer the same problem as other groups in the same category: each song, album, and band sound just like the others.
Elton John
4/5
An incredible album! Easily Elton John's best.
Bob Dylan
4/5
"Bringing It All Back Home" is Bob Dylan's best album. Released in 1965, it is "early Dylan", about a decade before his performances and recordings seemed more like a commodification of the artist than the genuine article. Three tracks - "Subterranean Homesick Blues", "Maggie's Farm", and "Mr. Tambourine Man" - count among Dylan's best-known songs. A fourth track, "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)", should be on that list.
Al Green
3/5
Preach to me, Reverend.
Barry Adamson
4/5
Ingenious. The Swinging Detective is fantastic.
Rocket From The Crypt
4/5
Rocket from the Crypt are a punk band I've not heard of until this record appeared as the daily selection on 1001 Albums. There is more emphasis on melody in these tracks than what you get from your typical punk band. The songs are much too bright to be called "grunge" - I'm guessing lots of 80s rock band influences. "Young Livers", "Used", "Ball Lightning", and "Misbeaten" are like 90s punk versions of The Clash and Elvis Costello tunes. The lead singer even sounds a bit like EC.
The Kinks
4/5
There is something good to be said about sunny British pop music from the 60s. It's quirky and fun. Loved it.
The War On Drugs
1/5
It's watered-down milk.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
5/5
It's loaded with CSNY classics. Probably their best album.
David Bowie
4/5
It's Bowie ... so it's art, not just pop music.
Robert Wyatt
1/5
In prog rock, as in many things in life, you experience hits and misses. This is a definite miss.
Ryan Adams
4/5
A really good album. "When the Stars Go Blue" is probably the best song on it.
U2
3/5
With songs like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day", "War" might be U2's most overtly political album, but not the band's best. That honor goes to "Joshua Tree" or "Achtung Baby".
Funkadelic
3/5
Get-a-down, get-a-funnkeeeeee!
Ice Cube
1/5
I get the point of the album. But the misogyny, the violence, the language: it's all waaay too much. And I just don't like the macho persona.
As far as the music is concerned, it's boring and repetitious.
Fishbone
2/5
An interesting mix of ska and metal ... but there just wasn't a song on the album that I could latch on to.
The B-52's
4/5
Lovely kitschy punk-rock fun.
Beatles
5/5
If you pair "Rubber Soul" with its immediate successor, "Revolver", you basically get a double-album. The two sound so much alike. And both are incredibly good.
Beatles
5/5
Best album, ever. Best band, ever.
Laibach
1/5
Just not my thing.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
I'm not a big ELP fan ... I like classical music, just not as prog rock. But the songs are lively, and the crowd's response is good to hear.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
It's just different than a tradition pop/rock album. Cohen just talks/sings through the whole album. Some of the musicians are good (nice piano solo on Jazz Police), but other than that, this album is just not my kind of music.
T. Rex
3/5
Good album. All the songs are good, although two of them (Bang A Gong and The Motivator) are a bit alike in the verse.
A Tribe Called Quest
3/5
I'm not much of a fan of rap, but I did like the more jazz-leaning sound of A Tribe Called Quest.
Stan Getz
2/5
Stan and Joao's covers are a little slow for me - a little too subdued and sleepy. The album is mostly known for "The Girl from Ipanema" - the shorter, all-English version that sold in the US as a single (vocals by Astrud Gilberto, Joao's wife at the time) has a bit more pep to it.
Lucinda Williams
4/5
Lucinda Williams sings with real emotion. The music is folksy-blues, with a Cajun bite.
Beck
3/5
The tracks on this album seem fragmented ... some not fitting in with others at all. Not Beck's best effort.
4/5
I found this album both fascinating and fun. I would have never come across it if not for 1001. This is a Kinks' concept album, a score to a movie that never saw a projector's light. Likely because of that, these songs didn't get much radio play.
The tracks are quite varied, with nice changes in melody, key, and rhythm, helping to maintain a lighthearted, playful quality. The Kinks introduce new instruments and sounds throughout the album, sometimes in the middle of songs. "Arthur" shows the Kinks at their quirkiest and most charming.
Steely Dan
4/5
I like Steely Dan for their jazz-rock sound - it's what makes them stand out from other 70's bands. And the musicianship is first-rate.
Holger Czukay
4/5
I was prepared to shoot this album down. But as I listened to each track, I found "Movies" to be light and inventive. You can write the whole thing off as an experimental prog-rock cut-and-paste job, I suppose; instead, try to get in a playful mood and have fun with it.
Ride
3/5
This is my first listen to "shoegaze" music. Nice vocal-harmonies throughout. "Vapour Trail" was my favorite track. Two of the CD bonus tracks - "Taste" and "Here and Now" - are good.
Killing Joke
3/5
Some really good melodies. But the singing can be improved.
Radiohead
3/5
Thoughtful, but a bit self-serious.
The Verve
3/5
Bitter Sweet Symphony and Lucky Man are the best songs. The others don't stand out. Not a bad album.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
3/5
You can see why songwriters such as George Harrison and Jimmy Page were attracted to Near Eastern and Far Eastern music - a wealth of material from which to create music of their own.
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
This is the first time I've listened to a full Jimmy Hendrix Experience album.
Ah ... love the psychedelic 60s. "Little Wing" has been covered so many times, I forgot that it was a Hendrix song.
N.E.R.D
3/5
Some good tracks ... surprisingly musical for a rap band. Good keyboards and pretty good singing.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
4/5
I would have completely missed this album if it wasn't for the 1001 site. Good blues-rock featuring Janis Joplin, simply a great singer.
N.W.A.
2/5
It's the misogyny that turns me off, along with the marketing of criminality. That said, there are some bright spots: Dr. Dre's rap on Express Yourself is fun, and Parental Discretion Iz Advised is a good track.
The Sabres Of Paradise
2/5
Sounds like one long movie score, with different songs representing different scenes and character emotions. Some tracks are cool and inventive, others tedious.
Gary Numan
2/5
It's all highly experimental and very serious. The experimentation I liked; the self-seriousness I found a bit off-putting.
The Boo Radleys
3/5
It's very late-80s, early-90s indie. Not bad: I like some of the songs, but no one track really stands-out.
Foo Fighters
4/5
This album seems like a confidence-building project for Grohl - with each track you can hear him learning to trust in his own abilities as a song-writer, guitarist, lead singer (still needs work there), and leader of a band. To listen to this album is to witness the emergence of a major figure in Rock, and of perhaps the only true Rock-star left.
Alice In Chains
4/5
I liked this album. Some really good songs on it. The only complaint is that, unlike some of the other grunge bands from that era, Alice and Chains' music sounds dated.
Nightmares On Wax
2/5
Not all bad. Some interesting special effects. "Bless My Soul" is cool; same goes for "Rise" and "Dreddoverboard".
Megadeth
3/5
It's cool, because it's Megadeth and it's metal.
M.I.A.
2/5
Some of the vocals are auto-tuned - that's pretty bad for a rap artist. I get it if you want the special effect that auto-tune can provide - a sort of digital, computerized sound; however, auto-tune is used so consistently throughout the album that it makes you wonder why she just didn't go ahead and take singing/rapping lessons. It's too bad - I like "Paper Planes" and I appreciate the "world music" influence.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
I've not listened to much Velvet Underground before now. From what I've been told, this album is more reflective and mellow compared to the band's previous recordings. I liked it - the songs are simple, the lyrics are good, and I was entertained.
Janelle Monáe
4/5
"The ArchAndroid" has some well-crafted songs. "Tightrope" and "Dance or Die" are good tracks. "Come Alive" sounds a bit like the B-52s. The best entries are the "overtures" and "interludes" - "Suite II", "Suite III", and "Neon Gumbo" - as they add an element of surprise and experimentation to the album. The whole thing is a superb mix of R&B, funk, and rap, and the musicianship is excellent throughout. Even though the musical genre is not really my thing, I enjoyed listening to "The ArchAndroid".
Marvin Gaye
3/5
I like Marvin Gaye's music, but this is not his best stuff.
Black Sabbath
4/5
It's a good album. The lyrics are dumb as hell (except possibly for "Warning"), but so what? This is Ozzy and the beginnings of doom metal, and the music rocks.
Neneh Cherry
2/5
It's really all about the first song - nice number. The second song has a nice chord progression. Other than that, the tracks are kind of ordinary.
5/5
An amazing album. As I've said before about Bowie's music, it's art as much as it is pop, and that's the reason why it continues to be relevant.
3/5
One of my favorite album covers. If you get a chance, read up on Howard Miller. I don't think the album works as well today as it once did - some of the songs are a bit long, and seem repetitious. The whole thing mellow - maybe too mellow.
Meat Puppets
4/5
You have to admire the musical diversity of Meat Puppets. Each song has something different to offer, something surprising.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
2/5
The opening song is good - it was used in the movie, "Lost In Translation". But overall, the band uses WAAAAAY too much distortion. I get the idea of doing this for one or two songs, but not an entire album.
4/5
Listen to Bebel Gilberto's "Tanto Tempo" as a companion album to "Sao Paulo Confessions" - Suba recorded/produced both at about the same time. And both are a cool mix of electronic music with Brazilian bossa nova.
Santana
3/5
The album is good old classic rock. It all feels a bit dated, sure; but I can appreciate the music and admire the musicianship. The songs on "Abraxas" are still good, and Carlos Santana is a great guitarist.
Elvis Presley
2/5
The music here is better than what you get in his movies. But I didn't find this album particularly strong. Unfortunately for Elvis, his cover of "Gentle on My Mind" pales in comparison to the Glen Campbell version, released a year earlier. "Suspicious Minds" was included in the album's re-release in 1998, but that's the "Vegas Elvis" with which I continue to struggle.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
The melodies might be good, but the drum machine and synthesizer effects detract from the songs, making them seem tedious.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
I enjoyed the album, despite the fact that it contains a song over 17 minutes long. It turns out I like The Velvet Underground - never would have guessed it.
Yes
4/5
Every once in a while you should open your mind and ears, and listen to some prog-rock. This album is among the best the genre has to offer.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
Joni Mitchell is clearly among the best singer/songwriters of her generation. The songs on "Blue" still hold up - I enjoyed each one of them.
Wilco
2/5
Having read the Wikipedia blurb, I was expecting more than I got.
The Flying Burrito Brothers
3/5
It's too bad that The Flying Burrito Bros lasted only a short while and enjoyed only marginal success. Alt-country might have become a bigger deal than is it today.
3/5
I listened to the album twice. I liked "Nature's Way" and "Animal Zoo", generally. But I couldn't find a song that stands out, or has a memorable hook.
The Temptations
3/5
It's a good album ... a little old-school for my tastes.
Frank Ocean
3/5
It's a mixed bag. The lyrical and musical content of some of the tracks offer something deeper than average hip-hop; however, other tracks seem to fall back on the same old tropes.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
She could really sing. I was surprised to learn that the album contains four Goffin/King songs, as well as two songs by Randy Newman.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
There are some classic rock songs on this album - "Paint It, Black", "Under My Thumb", "Mother's Little Helper".
Louis Prima
4/5
The laughing Louis Prima on the cover about sums it up. A good album - I had fun listening to it.
Wu-Tang Clan
2/5
This album is puffery at its worst. I liked C.R.E.A.M., but it's one of the few songs where Wu-Tang Clan aren't referring to themselves in the third person. "Tearz" is about the sad reality of children living in a world where gun violence prevails ("Your little brother got shot!"). But the tracks that follow are again all about Wu-Tang Clan, as the rappers fall back on the same tired cliches and overt misogyny I have come to expect, having listened to the whole album.
The Doors
3/5
"Roadhouse Blues" is a great song. The other songs are okay, but not as good.
Fats Domino
4/5
It took a while to find this album on YouTube, but eventually I tracked it down. What amazing music! It was a pleasure to listen to one of Rock n' Roll's original artists.
Don McLean
2/5
The highlight of the album is just the one song, "American Pie". The other tracks are more or less traditional folk songs, and, yeah, they are a little boring.
Everything But The Girl
2/5
The album cover, where the band look washed-out and dull, says it all.
Cypress Hill
2/5
The album is the same old repetitious, misogynistic puffery that rap is known for.
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
Good album. To me it's mostly punk-rock, which is my favorite genre.
Queen
3/5
I liked the album. I see Sheer Heart Attack as a step on the path to greatness. The music that would characterize the band in later albums can be heard to emerge here.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
I have not listened to an entire Bob Marley album before "Natty Dread" appeared on the 1001 albums generator. The songs are great, but a bit similar. Al Anderson's lead guitar on some songs is fantastic.
Supergrass
3/5
I usually don't like Brit Pop, but this band has a punk feel. Most will recognize "Alright" from Clueless, but there are other songs worth listening to.
Girls Against Boys
2/5
It's post-hardcore, so every song sounds heavy, and the vocals are scratchy and mono-tone. It all sounds a bit dated. If the vocals were better, the songs might have held up.
Coldplay
3/5
I'm often conflicted when it comes to Coldplay's music. The songs are trite and sappy. They are pseudo-serious and irritating. That said, they are also undeniably catchy. Every song has a good hook. Many on this list love to hate Coldplay. And I can understand the aversion to music that is, at times, saccharine. I just can't seem to figure out if I, too, truly despise the band; or maybe I have allowed peer pressure to stop my feet as they unconsciously tap along to the songs. Dave Grohl once said that "the whole guilty pleasure thing is" ... well ... to paraphrase ... BS. Maybe he's right.
Supertramp
3/5
It felt nice to go back and listen to Supertramp. Granted, it's a bit dated, a bit like a pop version of Pink Floyd, and a bit self-serious. But the piano on this album is fantastic, and I still like it, if only for nostalgia.
Donovan
2/5
A couple of good tunes, but some were the kind of sappy, folksy love songs that I find boring.
Slipknot
3/5
I liked the songs that had strong melodies: "Snuff", "Psychosocial", "Dead Memories", "Vermilion, Pt. 2", "'Til We Die", and "Gehenna". As for the other songs, their melodies were more difficult to make out, and so those tracks didn't appeal to me as much.
Van Morrison
3/5
More introspective than what I've come to expect from Van Morrison.
The Prodigy
4/5
Each track has a groove. Turns out I like electro-punk.
The Band
4/5
This is the first time I have listened to an album by The Band. Maybe today we would call it "Alt Country", or "Folk Rock". Whatever you want to call it, it's good.
Primal Scream
3/5
The album is Alternative Dance or Neo-Psychedelia. Trainspotting, Long Life and Kowalski are good tracks. Most of the others have a groove.
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
Definitely post-punk. "Pretty In Pink", "Into You Like a Train", "Dumb Waiters": they are all good, if a bit alike.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Loved it. I had forgotten how political Stevie Wonder's songs could be.
The Police
4/5
The Police are simply great musicians. If you play guitar, and want to take a crack at something hard, try playing along to Andy Summers - way more difficult than you would think.
Dolly Parton
3/5
A good album. Country is not my favorite, but Dolly can sing.
ABBA
2/5
"The Visitors" is a good track, and so is "Like An Angel". But I couldn't get into the other songs.
Sonic Youth
4/5
This is the first time I have listened to Sonic Youth. I like the edgier, experimental songs on this album.
Mudhoney
4/5
Quirky grunge.
CHIC
2/5
I feel like I really tried. Some of the more-or-less instrumental tracks featured great guitar and a solid rhythm section. Otherwise, I'm not much of a fan of disco. Funk and soul I like - just not disco.
Earth, Wind & Fire
3/5
A good funk/pop album. Some classic tracks you will recognize; some tracks are hidden gems you may want to give a listen.
Deerhunter
3/5
Each song sounds ethereal and dreamy. Having heard this album, I long for distortion.
Doves
3/5
It's good Brit Indie rock, but that's about it.
Queen
4/5
Obviously a classic album. I forgot that the songs shared a kind of quirky appeal.
Kanye West
2/5
The track with Lauryn Hill is good. There's even a spiritual in there somewhere. But the rest is Kayne being full of himself.
Green Day
4/5
A punk-rock concept album. Why? Why not?
Steely Dan
3/5
It's not their best album, but I still like Steely Dan.
Frank Zappa
4/5
This is my first listen to Frank Zappa. The style of music surprised me. In the end, I came to appreciate how eclectic the songs are - part jazz, part blues, part prog-rock.
Bonnie Raitt
2/5
It's a little too nice, a little too soft. Very much like 80s "contemporary" music.
Fela Kuti
4/5
If there is such a thing as pan-African funk ... well ... here it is. Great groove throughout.
Radiohead
3/5
It all sounds a bit sad.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
It's good music. But I'm just not convinced I needed to hear this before I die.
Guns N' Roses
1/5
Someone please tell me that the world will never again have to experience the true awfulness that is an 80's hair band.
4/5
It was nice to revisit this album. The music is still light and airy. It kind of flutters along whichever way the wind carries it.
R.E.M.
4/5
It would be fun to track the evolution of Michael Stipe's vocals ... from the early albums, through Document and Green in the middle, to R.E.M.'s albums from the 90s. Maybe 1001 will give me that opportunity.
Lauryn Hill
3/5
The singing is beautiful. That rapping is honest and bears not a trace of self-aggrandizement.
Neu!
3/5
I've not listened to Neu before (nor have I ever even heard of krautrock). I enjoyed the album ... most of the songs are instrumentals, and where there are lyrics they are pretty spare. I typically don't go for that, but Neu's music was, for the 70's, fresh. I'm just unsure of its relevance today.
Hot Chip
2/5
Hot Chip offer nice, polite electronic pop music. Maybe too nice. The music sounds dated - reminiscent of 80's synth-pop - and harmless. Not one song sticks out from the rest; each merges with the others to form one continuous stream of excessive synthetic pleasantness.
Blur
4/5
This album has a quirkiness that I appreciate. It's not overly serious, but light and friendly, as if band had fun recording it.
Duke Ellington
3/5
"Ellington at Newport" is a prime example of old-fashioned big-band jazz. The album features fantastic musicianship and has that big-band sonic feel.
For some, this style of jazz might seem boring and outdated. If that's what you're thinking, try this: close your eyes, tune out the digital world, let your guard down and your mind wander, and give it a listen.
John Coltrane
3/5
Good jazz.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
I like how Isaac Hayes took a classic Burt Bacharach song and made it his own. You have to admit, he had style.
Fairport Convention
3/5
Sandy Denny carries the album. You might recognize her voice from Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore", from Led Zeppelin IV. Fairport Convention is ok ... if you like British folk-rock.
Nick Drake
4/5
Every once in a while, the 1001 site will surprise me with an artist who is unknown to me, but whose music is captivating. Nick Drake is one such artist. What an amazing guitarist and singer/songwriter he was.
Little Simz
2/5
GREY Area is my first experience with London rap. The raps are good, and some of the background music is interesting and jazzy (checkout "Sherbet Sunset"). The problem is repetitiousness: over the course of the album, the raps, each one delivered at the same pace, begin to merge with the others. A producer might have stepped in and suggested that Little Simz change things up a bit, track-by-track.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
A lot of classic songs. Enjoy.
George Michael
2/5
George Michael could really sing - an amazing voice. But "Listen Without Prejudice" sounds like an 80s pop star trying too hard to be relevant in an era that saw the rise of Grunge and Rap.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
I was hoping for something better than what this album is. It's not Elvis Costello's best effort.
Anita Baker
2/5
Yep ... it's dated. I suspect that this album, with all its hilarious little synth effects, was already old when it was released in 1986.
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
Friends tell me that Springsteen's music is very "Jersey shore." Since I've never been to the "Jersey shore," I guess I'll have to take their word for it. I just never understood the whole Springsteen idolization.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
It's like blues rock meets Lord of the Rings.
Little Richard
3/5
Some great songs. They do sound a lot alike ... but it's Little Richard.
Supergrass
3/5
Not bad, but not as good as the first album.
De La Soul
3/5
Finally! A decent hip-hop album that isn't loaded with the same cringeworthy sexism and tiresome self-promotion common to this genre. Most of the raps on "3 Feet High and Rising" are good, except for one track, "De La Orgee", which may unwittingly speak to De La Soul's lack of stamina ... the song lasts for just over a minute. ;-)
Beatles
5/5
What a great album!
Boston
2/5
I'll start with the positive: this album is an amazing technical achievement. Even with today's more sophisticated digital recording equipment, a producer would find it a challenge to match the quality and precision that Tom Schulz captured in his basement studio.
That said, the music here is too smoothed out, too polished, and every song is in a happy major key. It's Lite Rock, and, after listening to "Boston", I long for the rough edges, the distorted guitars and screaming vocals, that I associate with Rock music.
Einstürzende Neubauten
1/5
A friend of mine noticed that Einstürzende Neubauten has released 12 studio albums over the last 40 years - surprising longevity for a band whose music sounds like a trash compactor mixed with a chainsaw. So I went to YouTube and listened to Einstürzende Neubauten's more recent work. Though some of their tracks dating from just a few years ago have a greater sense of melody than anything on "Kollaps", I still found the music grating.
Pere Ubu
3/5
It's avant-garde punk rock, and pretty good for a first album. Some of the songs work, some don't. The band would improve over the years.
a-ha
2/5
Beyond the one song, "Take on Me", there is not much else to the album. The video for "Take on Me" is arguably the best video from the 80s and is worth checking out.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
A nice album with classic songs.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
"You Haven't Done Nothin'" is a classic Stevie track, and by far the best one on this album.
Genesis
4/5
70s prog-rock at its finest. If you get the chance, listen to Yes' "Close to the Edge" and compare.
Adam & The Ants
2/5
This album has not aged well.
Sufjan Stevens
4/5
This album surprised me. The melodies were good, the lyrics meaningful, and the musicianship solid. I enjoyed this.
Blondie
3/5
Blondie is one of the few New Wave bands I like. Many of the songs on this album still hold up.
Fleet Foxes
2/5
The first song, "Sun It Rises", is good, but the rest are a little depressing.
Queen Latifah
3/5
I was completely surprised by this. Feminist hip-hop ... we need more of it.
Rush
4/5
Better than I remembered.
The Damned
4/5
Thanks to the 1001 site for this daily offering: The Damned. The music is more kitschy than I expected.
4/5
The album is about as good as Brit Pop gets (or got). I found myself wanting to skip through only a couple of tracks, but found gems like "She's Electric" and "Morning Glory" and those songs kept me going.
Various Artists
2/5
The 1001 site had the nice idea of making this album a Christmas day selection (I suspect for many of us). The problem is that these aren't particularly good holiday songs, even if you account for Spector's famous "Wall of Sound".
Roni Size
3/5
This is album is reminiscent of the work Morcheeba put out around the same time. I liked a couple of the tracks: "Heroes" and "Watching Windows". Other tracks got a little tiresome.
Lorde
3/5
Some really good chord progressions and vocals on this album. "Liability" is particularly nice.
Maybe you should give this album a second chance before you toss it in the electro-pop trash bin.
Brian Eno
3/5
It's an interesting album, in a world music kind of way. I wouldn't have included it in this list, though. It may have been influential as far as sampling goes, but it has the feel of a pet project more than a serious contribution to music. As far as musical influences go, you'll get more milage out of listening to Talking Heads.
The Who
4/5
It's a rock opera, so you would think it would sound dated. But for me, these tracks are still fresh.
Radiohead
3/5
I have had two Radiohead albums from this list already, and my reaction to this one is the same: good musicianship, but a little dreary and depressing.
Eminem
2/5
I could barely get through it. Sometimes the music was good, but the lyrics/rap let me down.
Morrissey
2/5
Around the third song, I got bored with this album. The songs are too much alike, and, after listening to the whole thing, I felt the need for something positive and affirming. All I got was repetitious dreariness.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
I'm not really into the Stones, but I liked this album. It's true that, besides the two classic Stones tunes, the other tracks on "Let It Bleed" are derivative of American country and blues rock.
Gorillaz
4/5
Van Halen
2/5
The music has not aged well. I know the guitar is still "amazing", but I no longer like any of the songs. It seems that grunge bands from the 90s - with their socially-conscious lyrics - have pretty much done away with Van Halen-style rock.
Boards of Canada
3/5
Sometimes I liked it; sometimes it sounded like cheesy background music to a pornographic film.
Sex Pistols
4/5
First time I've listened to the entire album. Loved it. Too bad the band didn't last but three months after its release.
Big Star
2/5
Some of the songs I liked: "Kangaroo," "Stroke It Noel", and "Till the End of the Day". But the production quality in general seems raw and sloppy. It would have been interesting to hear what the band might have sounded like if they knew their way around a recording studio.
Elbow
3/5
Songs like "Mirrorball" and "The Bones of You" were good, but other songs were a little boring for me.
Radiohead
2/5
According to the Wikipedia page on 1001 Albums, there are four Radiohead albums on this list. I've managed to listen to all four unscathed.
k.d. lang
3/5
lang's voice is superb, but her music here consists mostly of ballads and love-songs done in a style that doesn't quite square with other entries in this list. It's hard to go from 70s Punk, 80s Wave, 90s Brit Pop, 2000s Electronica, and so forth, to cabaret-style Canadian pop and feel that you are giving the album its due. But I chose to listen to an album a day in order to broaden my musical horizons. And with this album, I feel I have.
Underworld
3/5
Reminds me of Tangerine Dream. Basically, Electronica for movie sound tracks.
Wilco
3/5
Alt-Country: If you like Whiskeytown, you'll like Wilco. You can tell that the primary songwriter/lead singer started out in Rockabilly.
Muddy Waters
4/5
Great live album. I had forgotten what a good singer Muddy Waters was.
Black Sabbath
4/5
Great album. I love how Tony Iommi plays guitar. Still not real fond of Ozzy's lyrics and singing style, though.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4/5
Most of the songs are fun and well-played. A number of classic songs, most of which still hold up.
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
I enjoyed the jazz and soul influences in the music. And it was a brilliant idea to sample opening bars from famous pop songs by the Beatles and Stevie Wonder. "Luck of Lucien", "After Hours", "Footprints", "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo" are good tracks.
Jack White
4/5
I was surprised it was as good as it was. Some really great tracks.
Elliott Smith
4/5
Elliott Smith fits perfectly into a list that skews toward singer/songwriters. He sings well and writes good melodies. I was surprised only be the fact that I had not heard of him before. But that's why I chose the 1001 site.
Fiona Apple
3/5
I've not listened to a full Fiona Apple album before. There are four or five good songs on this one, some of which are 90s classics. She deserves to be on this list.
Erykah Badu
3/5
I liked the mix of jazz and soul and funk. The songs were good, but too much alike for me.
Portishead
2/5
Portishea's songs are moody and emotional, reminiscent of Kate Bush and Bjork. The first three songs on "Third" are rough and ... well ... boring. Some songs are well-constructed: listen to "The Rip" for when you feel that you have reached bottom, and "We Carry On" is another good choice. The rest are like the first three.
Eagles
2/5
It's hard for me to approach this album objectively. The problem I have with it is that these songs have been played to death. I'm sick of hearing them; sick of talking about how the Eagles sound "pretty". Its ethos is soooo 70s. By the time the 90s came along, I had completely moved on.
Johnny Cash
5/5
Although I love these songs and how Cash sings them, it's the prisoners that make this live album special.
Miles Davis
4/5
You can call it "fusion jazz" if you like. You can label it controversial because it is "electric" and "experimental". None of that matters. The fact is, this is a great album with melodies that are rich and sensuous.
Tom Waits
2/5
I'm surprised to see "Bone Machine" on this list. The album is far from Tom Waits' best. I get that the authors of the 1001 book wanted to emphasize singer-songwriters -- and Waits certainly fits into that category -- but that doesn't make EVERY Waits album something I need to hear before I die.
Flamin' Groovies
2/5
Good ... but it seems old hat. The songs don't exactly push the boundaries of rock. Think "The Cramps" without the kitsch, or the fun.
Soft Cell
2/5
I honestly tried. Listened to every song. Just not my cup of tea. "Tainted Love" is about it. "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" made for a nice cover by David Gray.
Deep Purple
3/5
A good live album. I love the audience reactions to each song - very polite.
Van Morrison
3/5
I've decided to put aside my repulsion for Van Morrison's politics - none of it has anything to do with the music he published in 1970. This album features several classic songs that still hold up.
The Associates
2/5
Very 80's New Wave. I just couldn't get into any track. Some of the instrumental work turned out okay, but the vocals really needed upgrading.
Metallica
3/5
In general, I like metal; but it seems that, on this album at least, Metallica often sacrificed melody for fealty to the genre. A few of the songs on this album started out well - with interesting riffs and chord progressions that I would like to have seen explored - but they quickly morphed into stereotypical metal. Virtuoso guitars aside, I prefer it when the melody comes first.
Jeff Buckley
4/5
I've heard of Jeff Buckley before this entry showed up on my list. I've listened to his cover of "Hallelujah". But until now I had not listened to the whole album. I'm glad I got around to it.
The White Stripes
4/5
A good album from generational talents. Get Behind Me Satan is quirkier than Elephant, but no less interesting.
Billy Joel
4/5
It was nice to revisit this album.
Scott Walker
2/5
I can see why Bowie liked Scott Walker - it's his baritone voice and his delivery. "Hero of the War" and "The Old Man's Back Again" are the best tracks on this album, but the others drag it down.
Missy Elliott
2/5
After a while the songs began to blur into each other, and the raps got less interesting. I really liked the R&B background music, even though it sounds manufactured.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
The lyrics are way too "woo woo" for me. With each song, Nick Cave's alternative spirituality and mysticism went from bizarre ... to comical ... to annoying.
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
I liked the Hammond organ ... it fits the songs. Typically, I don't go for purely instrumental pop bands, but Booker T. & the M.G.s are more on the early soul and funk side of things, and so I didn't mind it.
Nas
3/5
I get the importance of Illmatic on NY rap in the 90s. It's not my genre, and the references to violence were a bit overwhelming. But it's better than most rap from that era.
Stereo MC's
2/5
Seems really dated. One hit song (in the early 90s) is no reason to add this album to the 1001 list.
The Who
5/5
What an amazing album.
Ananda Shankar
2/5
The moment the sitar entered in "Jumpin' Jack Flash", I laughed.
Van Halen
4/5
I prefer Eddie's rhythm guitar to his asymmetrical solos. But this is a good album, and overall the guitar is amazing.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
A classic album with a couple of classic songs.
Elvis Presley
2/5
I'm not sure why the 1001 book included this album - this list is supposed to favor singer-songwriters, while "Elvis Is Back!" is just a collection of covers of songs that were already popular before Elvis recorded them. He didn't even write any of them. And as covers go, these tracks are kind of ... well ... blah.
R.E.M.
4/5
It's nice to back to a time when alternative rock was known as college radio.
Joy Division
3/5
It was an okay album, but the songs could get monotonous.
Pink Floyd
5/5
It has been a long time since I last listened to this album. Still good.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
Until now, I have not listened to a full RHCP album. I am surprised at how good it was.
Solange
2/5
An R&B album with a nice message about race and seeking respect. I liked a couple of songs, but I kept waiting for one that would break the mold and transcend the others.
Taylor Swift
2/5
Bubble gum for teenage girls.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
After I listened to this album, one word came to mind: thoughtful.
Beach House
3/5
This time around I looked at previous reviews before submitting my own. I noticed that the most commonly used word to describe Beach House is "nice" -- appearing nearly 100 times as of this date. And I agree. The music is nice ... maybe too nice.
Metallica
3/5
I'm told this is a classic metal album. To me it was somewhat repetitious.
"Harvester of Sorrow", "The Frayed Ends of Sanity" and "To Live Is to Die" are my favorite tracks.
Gene Clark
3/5
It's kinda sleepy.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Delightful.
The Mothers Of Invention
2/5
I get that this album is supposed to be modern satire, but honestly it sounds like a couple of kids from the 60s recording fart noises into an old tape machine.
The Black Keys
3/5
I get why The Black Keys are on this list - a good 2-piece band with some good tunes, and maybe a little "bluesier" than The White Stripes. Garage rock needs more representation on the 1001 site, more than just "black and white".
Metallica
4/5
Of the three Metallica albums I've had so far, this is by far the best. A few of the songs here are screamers, to be sure, but most of them have really good melodies and catchy hooks. If you have heard Metallica's music strictly over the radio, you will still recognize most of these songs, as they are the band's most popular.
The Beta Band
3/5
Not as bad as I expected, considering the album cover. This album contains some nicely made songs.
David Bowie
4/5
This is what I imagined an album could be like. It's not just a random collection of pop hits, but a carefully crafted work of art.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
There are some beautiful moments scattered throughout this album. The problem is that there aren't enough of them to make it worth my time.
Beatles
3/5
No, it is not their best album. A Hard Day's Night features some Beatles classics, but there are some throwaway songs as well. I decided to watch the movie as well ... it's a bit silly.
Bob Dylan
3/5
This album represents everything I like and don't like about Dylan: the songs are passionate and heartfelt, but they tend to ramble on. Like a lot of folk/pop, the music here is often verbose. I guess I never bought into the idea that true profundity required quite so many words.
That said, the musicianship is fantastic.
The Human League
2/5
Typical 80s synth pop ... none of it has aged well.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
Echo And The Bunnymen fit squarely into the post-punk genre, alongside Joy Division and early Talking Heads. I like post-punk for its grittiness, or maybe it's just because post-punk bands feature real drummers (thank God!) and eschewed the corny sound of drum machines popular with new wave bands of the same era. Post-punk, like punk rock, has a dark urgency about it. I found that urgency in Porcupine.
The Notorious B.I.G.
2/5
To be honest, this album let me down. Based on the description 1001 provided, I was hoping for something that was above the norm for rap. But what I got instead was the same misogyny and narcissism that I've heard from mid-90s rap albums before.
Public Enemy
2/5
I found that I prefer Chuck D's raps to Flavor Flav's. Somehow Chuck D seemed to be the more serious of the two.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
I get that this is a classic album adored by Springsteen fans. But for me the songs had a tendency to ramble on.
Paul Weller
3/5
Not all bad, but maybe a bit dated for its time.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Although this album does boast several pop hits, and I found my feet unconsciously tapping along to the beat as I was listening, I still prefer Springsteen's later stuff, and not necessarily his music made for radio.
Terence Trent D'Arby
2/5
It's all about the one song, and just didn't connect with the rest.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Great album. Court And Spark is not as put together as Blue, but it is still worth listening to.
Miles Davis
3/5
It's a good album. But when you consider what Miles Davis would ultimately achieve in jazz music, you could say with "Birth of the Cool" he hasn't come into his own yet. In short, it sounds like ordinary jazz, nothing special. Compare it to Kind of Blue (1959) and you'll see what I mean.
Leftfield
2/5
I never understood what "house" music was before I listened to this album. Now I know.
Black Flag
4/5
It's a classic punk-rock album ... my favorite genre. Sometimes the songs can be a little monotonous, though.
4/5
What amazing energy! I would love to have been there.
Pink Floyd
3/5
It's good, but not as good as Dark Side Of The Moon. There's something about The Wall that takes introspection over the top, to the point where it might be just a musical form of self-pity.
Prince
4/5
It's kinda cool to look back on this album after all these years. I never liked Prince's personal style much, but his abilities as a songwriter and musician cannot be denied.
Prefab Sprout
2/5
Having listened to the entire album, I'm beginning to think that 80s "sophisti-pop" lacks force and emotion. The musicianship here is good, but the songs don't have any real bite. I'm okay with jazzy, but not if it's bland.
Robbie Williams
2/5
Harmless, bland bubblegum pop posing as sophisticated alt-rock.
Ramones
4/5
I guess there really is such a thing as classic punk.
Talking Heads
3/5
"More Songs About Buildings And Food" contains a couple of classic Talking Heads tunes ("Thank You for Sending Me an Angel" and "Take Me to the River"). Altogether, the album isn't bad; it's just not their best effort.
Iggy Pop
4/5
Good ol' punk rock. A couple of classics, along with some stuff I found interesting.
The Saints
4/5
I was surprised by this one. A really good punk album, with some blues mixed in and a horn section.
Sigur Rós
4/5
Bands like Sigur Rós - I've never heard of them before today - are exactly the reason why I like the 1001 site. It provides me the opportunity to expand my horizons and listen to something new and different. Two tracks, "Olsen olsen" and "Ágætis byrjun", are truly beautiful.
Nick Drake
4/5
This is the second Nick Drake album I've listened to from this list. It's every bit as amazing as his first album. What an amazing talent he was.
Ray Charles
3/5
What a nice, soulful big-band sound. Sometimes I just wanted it to be Ray Charles hammering away on the piano. And I was hoping for a rocker tune.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
A good album with some highly recognizable songs. Overall, I like Creedence.
Dennis Wilson
2/5
I really tried ... paid attention to each song, listened for the melodies and the chord progressions, tried to get the gist of the lyrics. But in the end, I ended up feeling the way the guy on the album cover (Dennis) looks - somber and seemingly dissatisfied with the whole thing.
Steve Winwood
2/5
It was too "yacht-rock" for me.
Randy Newman
2/5
I'll say this ... his albums from the 70s sound just like any movie soundtrack he ever did in the 80s, 90s and 2000s.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Listening to this album was like visiting a trusted friend not seen in some time.
Jerry Lee Lewis
2/5
I'm surprised to see Jerry Lee Lewis on a list that emphasizes singer-songwriters. I suppose that in Jerry Lee's mind, he wrote everything he played, even though he can legitimately claim authorship to maybe a song and a half over his entire career. The covers are good, the piano is solid, but really hard to get past his personal issues.
The Young Rascals
2/5
Silly, schlocky 60s pop ... except for maybe "You Better Run" (if you get a chance, check out the Pat Benatar cover with the Neil Giraldo guitar solo).
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
A good debut album, with some memorable songs and some not so memorable songs.
Manic Street Preachers
2/5
It's not that Manic Street Preachers' songs are bad; they are just ordinary. I couldn't find a hook that I liked on this album ... the songs seemed like less interesting versions of the Brit pop that dominated the airwaves in the mid 90s.
The Kinks
3/5
As with the other Kinks albums I've listened to on this list, the songs here are out of the ordinary and sometimes a little strange. I can see why many reviewers don't like it ... you keep waiting for a rocker like "You Really Got Me", and you end up with a song about a flying cat. But to me the Kinks live up to their name ... the songs take a few simple, but unexpected twists and turns. I find it all both charming and fun.
The Stone Roses
3/5
It's one of those albums that's a precursor to about a dozen sub-genres, while belonging to none of them.
Femi Kuti
3/5
Part Afro-beat, part funk, part jazz. A good album, but a bit repetitious for me.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
This album is a typical Leonard Cohen experience for me: love the lyrics and the melodies, but not a fan of the presentation.
The Icarus Line
3/5
From "Spike Island" forward, it's a good album. Maybe the label showed a lack of interest because they listened to only the first four songs.
Beastie Boys
3/5
Unlike a lot of rappers from that era, the Beasties don't come across as entirely full of themselves; that is, they don't exhibit the puffery and self-absorption common to many of their fellow contemporary artists. That said, the songs are often puerile and misogynistic. If I were nostalgic for the 80's, I would just call it harmless teenage-boy fun and leave it at that. But I am not nostalgic for the 80's.
The Band
4/5
I've often heard over the radio one or two songs by The Band, but until now I have not listened to a whole album of theirs. I'm thankful to this list for giving me the opportunity to fill in the blanks.
The Beau Brummels
2/5
This music has not aged well. Spinal Tap's "listen to the flower people" is better than anything on this album.
Le Tigre
4/5
Le Tigre sound like early B-52's, which is why I enjoyed the album.
The Jam
3/5
The Jam's roots are post-punk, but you can hear the emergence (along with the annoying upbeat silliness) of new wave music in this album. Altogether, the band are more like Joy Division than New Order, which is a good thing.
Keith Jarrett
4/5
When this album came up on the list, I decided that I would put on my headphone, block out the world for an hour and simply listen. I think that's the reason why I liked it so much.
Daft Punk
2/5
I'm just not a fan of electronica/house music. "Around the World" is ok, but the rest of the tracks are monotonous.
Minutemen
4/5
This album was crazy and fun. I love punk rock!
Bob Dylan
3/5
It seems that Dylan's early work was not nearly as verbose as his later stuff.
Silver Jews
3/5
The style of music falls somewhere between Whiskeytown and Tom Waits. It's not bad, but sometime a little depressing.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
A few songs are "easy listening", but that's not a fair assessment. The album is more of a total sonic experience in soul and R&B.
Stan Getz
3/5
You can hear the cool vibe of the early 60's.
Pearl Jam
3/5
I should probably like Pearl Jam more than I do. There is just something about the lyrics that seem impersonal to me, and something about the guitar sound that is more like typical rock music than grunge/punk.
4/5
I was pleasantly surprised by this album. I had heard of PJ Harvey, but I hadn't listened to a single note of her music, until now. Singer/songwriters like her are the reason why I joined the 1001 albums generator.
Giant Sand
3/5
I didn't think it was possible, but Giant Sand, for an alt-country band, may actually be too mellow.
The Doors
4/5
A good album with some classic songs. I appreciate the Doors more than before after having listened to this album.
ZZ Top
3/5
I'm conflicted when it comes to ZZ Top. Some of their songs are bangers, others are in the class of an 80's beer commercial.
Paul Simon
2/5
This album has one or two good songs, but the rest of the tracks are too mellow, and a bit boring.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
It's always good to hear Stevie Wonder.
Nirvana
5/5
I love Kurt Cobain's opening line to Serve the Servants (from In Utero), after the enormous success of Smells Like Teen Spirit (from Nevermind):
Teenage angst has paid off well
Now I'm bored and old
Self-appointed judges judge
More than they have sold
And then he's done with it.
I don't spend a lot of my time comparing In Utero to Nevermind; to me, the two are quite a bit different. But if I had to pick, I'd say In Utero reflects the true spirit of Nirvana.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
2/5
Not as good as I had hoped ... I hear one or two good songs, but other tracks seemed ordinary.
Depeche Mode
2/5
I don't really like 80's synth-pop, but I listened to the whole album, anyway. I found it dull ... not a single song that I could get into.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
This is my introduction to Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and I enjoyed it. It's lo-fi garage rock, yes, but it reminds me of Le Tigre more than anything else.
Common
2/5
Like some reviewers below, I liked the soul/funk groove, but the raps are misogynistic and homophobic. It's the reason why I just don't like rap from this era.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
2/5
I had a difficult time getting through this album. I'm not a fan of synth-pop from the 80's, and Frankie Goes To Hollywood has done nothing to change that.
Muddy Waters
4/5
It's good to hear the blues again. This album is not at the level of his live album, but still worth a listen.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Overall, a good album with some classic songs. Very Americana.
Talking Heads
3/5
Not as good as I had hoped. Two songs on this album are familiar to most of us, and those songs are good. But the remaining songs just don't hold up.
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
Compared to the gangsta-rap from the 90's, this album is tame. No references to criminal activities, no swearing, no over-indulgence or undo self-promotion: I could listen to the whole thing without wincing.
Tim Buckley
2/5
The first two songs were okay, but the last four were painful and schlocky.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
"Under the Bridge" is still good, and I suppose so is "Breaking the Girl", but some of the other songs haven't stood the test of time nearly as well.
Cyndi Lauper
2/5
Two songs on this album - "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "Time After Time" - are still good, and it was nice to revisit them. But the remaining songs are typical 80's New Wave - drum machines and synthetic keyboards.
Van Morrison
2/5
This wasn't my favorite album of his. I tried to get into it, but there seemed to be a lack of energy, particularly for a live album.
Korn
2/5
The songs began to blur together after about the fifth track.
New York Dolls
3/5
Cool album. You can see how both punk rock and hard rock picked up where the Dolls left off.
Buena Vista Social Club
3/5
I enjoyed this album ... the tracks featuring piano were especially good.
Paul Simon
4/5
It's his best album. And the songs haven't aged poorly.
Nanci Griffith
3/5
I was surprised by this album ... much better than I expected. I'm not that big a fan of country-folk, but I could still get into a few songs. As always with country music, the musicianship is first rate.
Sheryl Crow
3/5
Very 90's pop, but I still like some of the songs.
Moby
3/5
Wait .... didn't I hear that song in a commercial once?
Iron Maiden
3/5
Today the songs on The Number Of The Beast sound like "kiddie metal" compared to the metal music that would follow. On the one hand, it's schlocky and dumb. On the other hand, it's total fun.
The Clash
4/5
I enjoyed this so much I listened to both the UK and US versions.
Dizzee Rascal
2/5
It appears to me that Dizzee Rascal hasn't much to say. The raps seem juvenile and undeveloped.
The Smiths
2/5
Pretty much the same dreary Smiths as always, except for the last song, which actually ends on a happy note.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
2/5
Groovy. But more like a copy of British Invasion bands.
Bon Jovi
2/5
Cheeseball hair-band music. I'm so glad the era of metal pop has passed.
Dire Straits
2/5
You take out the first three tracks (all of them pop hits), and you have what amounts to a typical (and somewhat dull) Dire Straits album.
Sebadoh
2/5
You can tell that this band suffered from the fate of having three songwriters working separately. Their styles clashed. And some songs seem half-baked, more like vague ideas than fully articulated pieces. That said, some of these songs are worth a listen: "Soul And Fire", "Two Years Two Days", and "Think".
Radiohead
4/5
Finally. A Radiohead album I liked.
Pere Ubu
4/5
I listened to this album as the brunt of a tropical storm was passing over my house. So maybe it helped to be listening to 70's post punk while, outside my home office, rain poured down in buckets and the wind bent the trees nearly sideways.
Pixies
3/5
A good album that obviously had a outsized influence on Grunge. But I wanted to hear Kim Deal sing lead on more songs.
The Beach Boys
4/5
Seen one way, the songs here fit the Beach Boys stereotype - friendly, harmonious, likable. Seen another, the songs here are amazingly well-crafted, with profound and sometimes clever lyrics, changes in tempo, and beautifully layered vocals. There were only two songs I recognized on this album, but what great songs!
Kanye West
2/5
It took me a bit to figure out that the reason why so many songwriters are listed in the credits - for one song I counted 13 names - is that Kayne was forced to acknowledge the artists he sampled. The album is exceptionally well-produced. I like everything but Kayne's rap.
Barry Adamson
3/5
Can't wait for the movie to come out ...
GZA
3/5
Less misogynistic and braggadocious than most rap. But it's verbose - I like it when rap conveys meaning without quite so many words. Simple beats throughout, except for the last track, BIBLE, which is by far the best one.
Jurassic 5
3/5
I've not heard of Jurassic 5 until now. It's a good hip hop album altogether.
“Thin Line”, featuring Nelly Furtado, is the best track.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
In a word: Iconic.
Kate Bush
4/5
The album features artistic, alternative pop songs that run counter to anything released today. "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" is a beautifully constructed song. I wish that new music was this good.
The Specials
3/5
I kinda like Ska. The Specials aren't as good as some Ska bands, but I enjoyed the album.
George Jones
3/5
You cannot deny his abilities as a singer. And the musicianship on this album, as in most country music albums, is first-rate. I'm just not a big country music fan.
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
I get the point: the character in this concept album evolves/changes over each track. But Kendrick Lamar didn't quite manage to pull that off. I didn't see/hear enough change in the central character. "Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst" is great track, though.
Arcade Fire
3/5
Your basic Indie-band album.
John Lennon
3/5
This album was better than I expected. There are three or four really good songs on it, including "Imagine".
Derek & The Dominos
3/5
Duane Allman's guitar work makes this album worth a listen. Some of the covers are good, and Clapton still plays them in concert. I didn't much like the cover of "Little Wing", though.
Traffic
3/5
This is the first time I've listened to an album by Traffic. I've knew of the band, mostly because I remember Steve Winwood. The songs on this album are a little dull. "Feelin' Alright?" would go on to become a classic, thanks to Joe Cocker. But the other songs are kind of lackluster.
MGMT
4/5
MGMT seems to skim the surface of several genres: little synth-pop, a little prog rock, a little Prince. Not a bad album overall, with two or three good (and very popular) tracks.
Charles Mingus
3/5
Avant-garde jazz: some love it, some hate it, and some spend a lifetime trying to appreciate it (but do not love it). I belong to that last group.
The The
2/5
Some of Matt Johnson's melodies are good here, but I think he takes himself too seriously.
Alice Cooper
3/5
I had forgotten that Alice Cooper were once a band and not just a rock 'n' roll personality. The album is a bit campy for my tastes; nonetheless, I enjoyed most of the songs.
Thin Lizzy
4/5
Cool live album. I hadn't realized that Thin Lizzy had more than just the one song: "The Boys Are Back In Town".
Neil Young
3/5
I didn't recognize a single song from this album, but somehow that's okay. The thing about Neil Young is that he's thoughtful. I find myself just quietly listening to what he has to say. Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes not.
Herbie Hancock
3/5
Restores my faith in funk.
3/5
Not all bad. I try not to think of Blur in comparison to Oasis ... let Blur be Blur.
Funkadelic
3/5
"Out to lunch with lunch meat" -- couldn't have said it better myself.
Brian Wilson
3/5
If you like Pet Sounds, you'll like BWPS. Great version of "Good Vibrations".
B.B. King
3/5
Cool Chicago blues.
Green Day
5/5
Dookie is probably the second-best album from the 90's, after Nevermind, and about as impactful. It's likely that bands such as Blink 182 and No Doubt would never have made it without this Green Day album.
Elvis Costello
3/5
It's not bad; it's just Elvis Costello. So altogether it's kinda average.
Manic Street Preachers
2/5
There wasn't a hook or a melody that I could get into.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
Typically, I like Neil Young. His falsetto voice can be annoying sometimes, but his songs are good. This album, on the other hand, seems old and bloated. It sounds like a group of older men drinking beer and experiencing a sort of collective mid-life crisis.
Cee Lo Green
2/5
A line from one of the songs: "Sometimes I don't think people know I'm as good as I really am". My response: "Nah. You just think you are better than you really are".
The last few tracks are actually pretty good, but the first 12 tracks make me wonder why this album is on this list.
Alanis Morissette
4/5
I've always liked how Alanis Morissette phrases when she sings - one or two elongated words followed by a burst of small words rapidly strung together. It makes her songs interesting to listen to.
Okay ... the music might be a little out of date. But if you aren't into current pop trends that feature the likes of Taylor Swift and Harry Styles (and I am most decidedly not) then listening to Alanis sing is refreshing.
Ella Fitzgerald
2/5
Had the album been simply "The Best of George and Ira Gershwin" --containing itself to, say, 16 songs -- it might have fared better. Not every Gershwin song is a classic, nor is every arrangement here worthy of the material. The producer needed to separate the wheat from the chaff.
The bright spot in "The Gershwin Songbook" is Ella Fitzgerald's amazing voice and style. She was truly one of the greats.
The Strokes
4/5
A good debut album for any band. I enjoyed most of the songs, as was surprised to have recognized some of them.
Badly Drawn Boy
4/5
This album was a surprise for me. I liked songs, generally, and I liked how the album was conceptualized, track by track.
Germs
3/5
Brash punk rock. Love it. The guitar work on this album is solid. But the singing is not so good.
R.E.M.
3/5
To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed, though I have always liked the opening song, "Radio Free Europe". The other tracks are actually too Indie for me.
The White Stripes
4/5
For me, Elephant is the best White Stripes album, but this is a close second.
The Roots
2/5
I liked a couple of tracks: "The Seed (2.0)" and "Water". But every time a song featured rap, I was turned off.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
2/5
Safe As Milk is not as bad as Trout Mask Replica, but it's close.
Tom Waits
4/5
When it comes down to it, you have to admire Waits for his sheer bravado, even if you don't like his gravelly voice. He's willing to take bold risks. Too many artists on this list play it safe and end up peddling the same old bubblegum schlock. I wish they were more like him.
Fatboy Slim
2/5
I feel as if my intelligence is being insulted and my tastes in music are mocked. Basically, Fat Boy Slim was to the 2000"s what Herbie Hancock was to the 80"s. That's not a compliment.
Sade
2/5
Besides "Smooth Operator" the songs just didn't appeal to me. Most of the tracks seemed dated.
Jefferson Airplane
3/5
A good album with a couple of classic songs, and some songs I had never heard of.
The Modern Lovers
3/5
A good proto-punk album. Shame the band lost a few members (to The Cars and Talking Heads) and could never quite match this effort again.
Miles Davis
3/5
Really good progressive jazz.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Stones albums from the early 70's always seem somehow "smaller" than what I expect. I prepare myself for music that is straight-ahead rock (and perhaps overly sexual and way too flashy for me). Instead, I find a collection of little blues numbers loosely put together.
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
An amazing singer. I would love to have been there.
Manu Chao
3/5
There are a couple of good tracks on this album, but the remaining songs seem canned.
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
3/5
While I don't typically like "Sophisti-pop", there were a couple of songs here, particularly the opening track, that appealed to me. Maybe it's because the band avoided most of the musical cliches common to the New Wave era.
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
There is a richness and complexity to Lamar's music that I just don't hear from other artists of the same genre. To Pimp A Butterfly fuses social consciousness with funk and jazz. Some of the tracks have misogynistic overtones ... too bad, otherwise it's one of the best hip-hop albums, ever.
Air
4/5
I'm not into electronica, generally. But for some reason - maybe it's the interesting melodies, or the solid production quality - I enjoyed this album.
Solomon Burke
3/5
I finally find out who sings "Cry to Me". Not all bad. Sort of a lighter version of Al Green.
The Birthday Party
1/5
I prefer songs with melodies.
Primal Scream
4/5
I enjoyed Primal Scream's mixing of genres. A couple songs were quite good.
Dolly Parton
4/5
I’m not a big country music fan, but the singing is fantastic
Rage Against The Machine
3/5
Love the guitar work, but I didn't find the scratchy vocals as appealing.
David Bowie
4/5
Absent any hit songs, Low would seem to align more with Bowie's last few albums than with, say, Ziggy Stardust. What I mean is that there were occasions in his career when Bowie was willing to shuffle off the Pop Icon garb and explore some interesting musical directions. True artists need to push themselves in new ways, and not do the same ol' thing that everyone expects.
David Crosby
2/5
I wouldn't have added this album to the 1001 list. It's not bad; it's just that there is nothing that distinguishes this album from anything CSNY ever did.
Dead Kennedys
4/5
Good ole Punk Rock, how I've missed you.
Jane's Addiction
3/5
Impressive guitar, but a bit like 80's rock. The vocals ... not so good.
U2
4/5
It could be said that U2 had long ago overstayed their welcome. Over-hyped, over-exposed, over-done ... over. Listening to U2 today, and their more recent albums in particular, I would have to agree with the criticism - I'm just plain tired of them.
But Achtung Baby came out at a time when U2 were still relevant, even vital. It was done at a time when Bono was ... well ... not so "Bono". And it's probably their best album.
Snoop Dogg
3/5
I'm still not wild about hip-hop, but I realize that this album is better than most from that genre..
Joni Mitchell
3/5
It's not her best work, but I liked the jazz-folk fusion. And let's face it, the woman can sing.
DJ Shadow
4/5
Haunting and thoughtful.
Led Zeppelin
3/5
It has been a long, long time since I last listened to this album all the way through -- more than likely it was on vinyl. In that spirit, "Side 2" is fantastic. The church-organ intro to "Your Time Is Gonna Come" still impresses me. "Communication Breakdown" is a rocker. The solo on "How Many More Times" is one of the all-time greats.
It's not Led Zeppelin's best work - Robert Plant's lyrics and vocals would improve over time, Page would be less interested in replicating blues riffs and craft an original guitar sound, and the band would become much tighter. So the album is more or less Zeppelin's origin story.
Hole
4/5
When I drew this album on the 1001 site, I was worried that I might harbor biases against Courtney Love ... as said so many times in these comments, she is a polarizing figure. So I listened to the album twice on separate days as a way to re-evaluate what was my first impression.
I liked the songs ... the lyrics were interesting, the melodies were well constructed, and the musicianship was fine for the genre. I'm not a total fan of how Courtney sings, but the songs are punk rock, so I give singers some latitude.
Can
3/5
I'm more than a little surprised that this is the product of a German prog-rock band. Each track is beautifully textured. If only the singing and the lyrics were more interesting.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
Shoegaze always starts off interesting and different ... but by the third song, you want to actually hear the lyrics over the distortion.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
"Cinnamon Girl" and "Cowgirl in the Sand" were my favorites, but some of the other songs dragged on.
The xx
2/5
Too bland for me ... the singers sounded shy and timid, the songs didn't have any spark.
Klaxons
2/5
This album won the Mercury Prize? Seriously? At its best, it sounds a bit like Peter Gabriel's music from the 80's. "Gravity's Rainbow" is good, but I didn't much care for the other songs.
KISS
2/5
Bubblegum metal.
Death In Vegas
3/5
This album is not as bad as some of the other reviewers see it. There are times when the songs are kinda dreary, but there are lighter tracks as well. Basically, Death In Vegas belong to Electronica, but their songs are edgier than songs by other bands in this genre.
Scissor Sisters
3/5
Sometimes Scissor Sisters sound like those cheesy pop bands from the 70s. And the band should have dropped the cover of "Comfortably Numb". But some tracks I enjoyed.
The Who
4/5
I appreciate the opportunity to look back on a bygone era.
Pulp
2/5
I had trouble taking this album seriously. The songs needed more edge. "Sorted For E's & Wizz" is good, but "F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E" just didn't work for me. And pay attention to the lyrics - the singer seems to have a high opinion of himself.
Justin Timberlake
2/5
It seems that with pop music from the 2000s the idea was to shun distinctiveness. The songs here are ordinary ... the same plain pop stuff that I've heard hundreds of times from other acts. Nothing sticks out.
Lambchop
2/5
The vocals: way too whispery. While listening to this album, I got the feeling I was intruding on someone else's private conversation. A bit like Leonard Cohen, except much too soft.
The music: I liked "You Masculine You". The horns were a nice touch.
3/5
The Pop Rocks of post-punk. Nice to revisit.
Ryan Adams
3/5
Put aside Ryan Adams the person, and you have one of the best songwriters of his generation.
Throbbing Gristle
2/5
Well ... at least it's not Kid Rock.
Arcade Fire
3/5
Sounds like just about every indie record from around 2010.
3/5
It's not bad. The musicianship is fine. But there is something about music from, say, 2005-2015 that seems to conflate whining with emotional depth.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
The cover of "All Along the Watchtower" is just plain awesome.
The Streets
4/5
A great idea. Sometimes the over-emphasis on exact rhymes made me chuckle, but I have to respect the fact that there isn't anything like this out there.
Rahul Dev Burman
2/5
Instrumental tracks are interesting -- kinda like a spy film. Definitely Western influences. But the songs with singing were corny.
Beatles
5/5
This album has some classic Beatles songs: "Dear Prudence", "Back in the U.S.S.R.", "Ob la di, Ob la da", "Revolution". The rest of the tracks are far lesser known, and kind of quirky and fun. That's the thing: listening to The Beatles makes music fun again.
Electric Light Orchestra
3/5
There are some classic ELO tunes on this album. I've always liked "Mr. Blue Sky".
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
3/5
Surprisingly decent.
The Offspring
4/5
Good ol' 90s punk rock. How I've missed you.
Waylon Jennings
3/5
Outlaw country is not all bad. You can hear the rock-n-roll influences.
Pixies
2/5
It wasn't as good as I was expecting. And I still don't like the vocals.
Madonna
3/5
She has never been much of a singer, and it's not her best album. But it's not as bad as I thought it might be. "Dear Jessie" is nice, and I like the melody in "Cherish".
Aerosmith
3/5
I've always liked "What It Takes", but I could do without the rest of the songs. I'm not a real fan of how Steven Tyler sings, and some of those songs are just plain juvenile.
Madness
2/5
"Our House" is the only song that works. The other songs are just not that interesting.
The Byrds
3/5
A nice album from the 60s.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
One of my favorite albums from the 70s.
Beth Orton
4/5
Until now I've never heard of Beth Orton. I enjoyed her songs - they are thoughtfully constructed.
The Byrds
2/5
Four bars in, I can hear the pedal steel guitar, and I can already tell this stinks.
John Lee Hooker
3/5
John Lee Hooker and a bunch of all-star bands. Right artist ... wrong album.
The Blue Nile
2/5
Given that this is "sophisti-pop", it's interesting to listen to what passed for sophisticated in the mid-80s. The songs amount to a "lite" version of Peter Gabriel's music - the lead singer's style is basically an imitation of Gabriel. As such the album lacks any originality.
D'Angelo
2/5
Kinda sleepy and not up to D'Angelo's usual standard.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
The album sounds like something My Bloody Valentine might have produced in the early 90s.
Old-timey rock. As much as I don't like Rod Stewart (rock-n-roll's peacock), I didn't hate this album. The guitar solo on "That's All You Need" is awesome.
Sepultura
2/5
Thing about some types of metal is ... the songs sound so much alike, I can hardly tell when one ends and the other begins.
Kings of Leon
2/5
Not one song stood out. And maybe the producer and technical engineer could have done a better job when recording the vocals.
Bobby Womack
2/5
I'm curious why the creators of "1001 Albums" added this one to their list. The singing is good, and the musicianship is fine, but Bobby Womack was a stronger artist in the 70s, and there are better examples of soul and funk music out there, especially from Womack. Right artist, wrong album.
PJ Harvey
4/5
This is the second PJ Harvey album off this list for me, and the second time I've enjoyed it.
Koffi Olomide
2/5
It's conventional World Beat. There's nothing particularly original here -- you've heard one song, you've heard them all.
OutKast
3/5
There are some nice moments in this album, especially when OutKast mix genres and sounds. But there are way too many interludes, which ends up making this album ordinary. It would have been better if there was an over-arching storyline connecting all these tracks.
Faith No More
3/5
You could call Faith No More metal-adjacent or grunge-adjacent. I like to think of them as Pop Metal. I like the tracks wherein the singer raps, but after the first couple of songs the vocals began to grate.
Suzanne Vega
4/5
Having watched Beavis and Butt-Head, I will forever think of Suzanne Vega as "The Luka Chick".
Magazine
4/5
This album a really nice blend of New Wave and Punk. Honestly, I wish that Wave bands from the early 80s sounded more like Magazine.
XTC
3/5
In its own way, Skylarking represents a musical throwback: an 80s version of 60s music. "Umbrellas" is interesting, and "Season Cycle" works for me. I agree with the decision to add "Dear God" - best track on the album. But that was about it. The other songs seemed kind of silly and not particularly well done.
Sabu
3/5
Better than World Beat from the 80s, this album was a nice change of pace for me.
Neil Young
2/5
Just because Rolling Stone magazine says so doesn't make every Neil Young album one that I "must hear before I die". Some of these tracks are well done - "Borrowed Tune", for example - but overall the album is just average "seedy bar rock", and I tire of Neil Young's unsteady falsetto voice.
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
I like the band, but I prefer the less "grungy" songs on this album.
Hawkwind
2/5
There are some really good rock-n-roll passages scattered throughout the album. But the "space rock" stuff got in the way.
Sam Cooke
4/5
I enjoyed this album. It's nice to listen to some old-fashioned soul.
Spiritualized
3/5
This is the second "space rock" album I've had in three days. I've read that space rock is a variant of shoegaze, but the album sounds like something Morcheeba might have put out. Overall, the songs on "Ladies And Gentlemen ..." are coherent and interesting.
Joan Baez
3/5
Joan Baez has a lovely voice, and she is a great guitarist. But I wish she hadn't limited herself to doing arrangements of traditional folk songs, and actually wrote a few songs of her own.
The Killers
3/5
The album is very much of its era: 2000s rock. I'm not a fan of the synthesizer.
Todd Rundgren
2/5
Most of the songs on this album have not aged well. "I Went to the Mirror" and "Couldn't I Just Tell You" are okay, but if I were to hear "I Saw The Light" or "Hello It's Me" on some 70s pop-music station, I would immediately change the channel -- way too saccharine for my tastes.
Travis
2/5
Wispy Britpop.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
The surprising thing is that it's an Elvis Costello and I didn't hate it.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
I enjoyed this. This list has afforded me the opportunity to listen to an entire Stones album, something I had not done before.
Fugazi
4/5
Solid album. I could tell how Fugazi influenced 90s grunge bands.
Kings of Leon
3/5
I just couldn't get into it. A couple of songs toward the end were okay, but that's about it.
System Of A Down
3/5
I liked it, but after awhile the songs seemed repetitious. And I've never been partial to the rapid-fire guitars of some metal. But some really nice moments here.
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
Solid debut. Each song stands apart from the others just enough to hold my interest for the entire album. Not your average Britpop band.
Bebel Gilberto
4/5
A fresh take on bossa nova. The production was well done.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
The best song on this album: "What Have I Done To Deserve This?". As for every other song . . . I kept asking myself the same question.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
It's great to hear The Rolling Stones do covers of famous blues songs; but this album should not have been on this list.
The Cardigans
3/5
The songs improved toward the end of the album. But the more pop-oriented songs were of no interest to me.
The Beach Boys
2/5
I can see how this album foreshadows "Pet Sounds", but that doesn't make it worthy of this list.
Elis Regina
3/5
I wasn't nearly as impressed as I had hoped. Typically, I like Brazilian-styles of music: samba, bossa nova. But the arrangements on a few of the songs on this album seem dated, even for 1978.
Dagmar Krause
2/5
You can tell Dagmar Krause put some serious effort into this. It just didn't pan out.
I recently came across an interview Francis Ford Coppola gave while filming "Apocalypse Now". To paraphrase: art that tries for something terrific and doesn't pull it off is ... well ... "scum". The greatest horror for an artist is to be pretentious. Often enough, even when they know that they have gone much too far, some artists refuse to rein it in and adopt the attitude of "I'm doing it my way and I'm doing it for me". That explains Tank Battles.
FKA twigs
2/5
Some tracks, like "Video Girl", are highly experimental. And I give FKA twigs credit for that. But other tracks are repetitious and ordinary, and they dragged on. The last four songs are better than their predecessors.
Parliament
4/5
I feel funkaliciouslyfunktastic just for having listened to it.
Steely Dan
3/5
A good album, but not nearly as good as Aja.
Spacemen 3
3/5
The album wasn't bad, but most of the songs were slow and sleepy.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Love the frenzied punk energy.
Iron Maiden
3/5
It's cornball early-80s metal, but it's my cornball early-80s metal.
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
"Hometown", "Crumb by Crumb" are good. They are also the most upbeat songs. But other songs - "This love affair", for example - are mopey, which invites comparisons to Radiohead.
M.I.A.
2/5
Interesting that "U.R.A.Q.T." samples the theme song from "Sanford and Son". This might be an innovative choice; or perhaps this means that hip-hop artists have long since run out of riffs to rip off.
LCD Soundsystem
2/5
"call the police" and "emotional haircut" are good songs, but the rest are kind of ordinary.
Beyoncé
2/5
This album seems more like a product placement for Beyonce the image than it is a serious work of art offering trenchant political and social commentary (as is billed).
Massive Attack
3/5
The right kind of moody.
Rod Stewart
3/5
Surprisingly good album. I wasn't a fan of the covers, but the original, new material hooked me from the start.
Traffic
3/5
I like the opening song, "Glad", and "John Barleycorn (Must Die)" is okay, but the remaining tracks were far less interesting.
Stephen Stills
3/5
Some songs were okay and my foot tapped along to the beat. But about halfway through, my interest flagged. A double-album is almost never a good idea. It's between a 2 and a 3, but I'll give it a three since the musicianship is first-rate.
The Bees
4/5
This album surprised me. I had never heard of The Bees until now, nor did I recognize any of the songs on this album. I liked melodies, and I thought the addition of a horn section worked.
Jane's Addiction
3/5
Good guitar, as was the case with the last Jane's Addiction album I had. But I still don't like the vocals.
LL Cool J
2/5
The songs/raps are repetitious - after about the third song, you have pretty much heard the rest. "Mama Said Knock You Out" is catchy, and by far the best track here. It has a good groove.
Tom Waits
4/5
Cool.
The Auteurs
2/5
Okay, fine -- it's a template for Britpop. But I got tired of the plaintive and wispy vocals. "Idiot Brother" and "Early Years" I liked (nice guitar riff in "Idiot Brother"), but most of the songs seemed lackluster to me.
Emmylou Harris
3/5
What a lovely voice. And some excellent covers. But I wish she had written more songs.
The Allman Brothers Band
3/5
As far as blues-rock from the early 70s goes, this album is among the best. But by the time I finished listening to the songs lasting over 20 minutes, I was a little tired of blues rock.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
I think they could have left out the three songs featuring Nico; but the remaining songs have a sense of urgency about them that I liked.
Living Colour
2/5
I was hoping for an album that would be a forerunner to 90s rock; instead, "Vivid" is more like end-of-the-80s rock. The album features really great guitar throughout and a couple of solid tracks ("Cult Of Personality" and "Glamour Boys").
Otis Redding
3/5
The vocals are fantastic. And the musicianship is first rate. I didn't like all of the covers, but overall this is good stuff.
Goldfrapp
4/5
I enjoyed the album. Some of the songs are a bit too much alike, but overall the album kept my interest with each track.
Cocteau Twins
3/5
So this is "Dream Pop". Not all bad. It's clearly a forerunner to Shoegaze.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
3/5
The editors of the 1001 site classify this album as simply "Pop", but that designation falls short. I would have gone with something like "avant-garde Indie classical-leaning folk music". And compared to some of the other more unusual and "avant-garde" entries on this list, "Music From The Penguin Cafe" doesn't take musical experimentation too far. Plus it's a welcome respite from all the Shoegaze and Britpop bands this site keeps sending my way.
One track might hold the record for longest song title: "The Sound Of Someone You Love Who's Going Away And It Doesn't Matter".
Minor Threat
4/5
Pretty darn good.
The Stooges
4/5
Loved it.
What makes this album "punk" is Iggy Pop's singing, which fits the genre perfectly. The combination of solid rock guitar and raw, aggressive vocals works for me.
Prince
3/5
The album wasn't as good as I had hoped, but I appreciate Prince's talent.
The Go-Betweens
2/5
Very friendly and very nice, but that's what makes it kinda dull.
Mariah Carey
2/5
Her voice has great tone, but after awhile I grew tired of all the (unnecessary) vocal inflections.
Crowded House
3/5
There's nothing particularly bad about this album; but there's nothing particularly good about it either.
Bill Callahan
3/5
You have to get used to the slow pace of the songs. It's not rock or pop, or even folk music. It's more like an updated version of Leonard Cohen. Once I adjusted to the rhythms of each track, I found it worthwhile.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
I was surprised to learn that many of the songs on this album still have relevance.
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
Not all bad. A bit like the soundtrack to a Guy Ritchie film.
Bob Dylan
4/5
A good album with some classic songs, along with songs I've not heard of before. "Desolation Row" is too long, though, and Dylan has a tendency to "name-drop" while his lyrics, at times, tend to ramble on.
Bill Evans Trio
4/5
Great live jazz.
The Triffids
2/5
Sounds like a cheap knockoff of Simple Minds ... and I don't like Simple Minds.
David Bowie
4/5
As always with Bowie ... pop-art in musical form.
Adele
3/5
Three or four songs on this album have been sooooo over-played that I'm still bored with them now 14 years after their release. So I focussed on the tracks that did not make radio. "Lovesong" is a nice cover.
Fugees
3/5
I'm not much into hip-hop, but I love how Lauryn Hill sings.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
2/5
I get the idea. Surrealistic. Polyrhythmic. Polytonal. Fractured. Chaotic. In Captain Beefheart's words, "fast and bulbous". I'm sure the album has had a major impact on rock, punk, and especially 80s new wave, with its bent toward surrealism. I just didn't think it necessary for Captain Beefheart and company to record over 78 minutes of sonic disruption and verbal incongruity. With its point already clear by the time the fifth track rolled around, the album dragged on and all the avant-garde pretensions became gratuitous.
John Prine
3/5
Nicely done songs.
Buffalo Springfield
3/5
Somehow I expected more hits from the likes of Stephen Stills. But overall, the album was good, despite Neil Young's singing.
Björk
3/5
Not Bjork's best work. The orchestration is fantastic. I'm not certain what key the songs are in, but it sounds modal, which is unique these days. The problem is that she seems to sing the same four notes for about an hour; that is, there wasn't enough variance between songs.
The La's
3/5
The La's music is reminiscent of bands from the first British Invasion. When I first heard "There She Goes", I thought it was Herman's Hermits or The Dave Clark Five.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
3/5
It's an okay album, but some of the raps have not aged well.
The Isley Brothers
4/5
Cool funk album with a few covers mixed in with some original songs.
Cheap Trick
3/5
A middling band makes good in Japan.
The Stooges
4/5
Great album. You can really hear Bowie's influence in the production and mix.
David Ackles
3/5
It took 5 or 6 tracks, but I ended up sort of liking "American Gothic". Ackles is not much of a singer, but after a while I got into some of the melodies and the orchestration. The music is not a cross of any two or three particular genres ... which is a way of saying it's original.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Good, but Bridge Over Troubled Water is better.
Paul McCartney
3/5
For some odd reason "Maybe I'm Amazed" seems out of place here, despite being the only song that was given any significant radio play.
Morrissey
2/5
I'm tired of this guy.
JAY Z
2/5
I liked "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" and "Heart Of The City (Ain't No Love)". But the rest of the songs just didn't work for me. I can't put my finger on it, but there is something inauthentic about the lyrics.
Tito Puente
3/5
Ok. So people in the 50s could party. Wish I could say the same for today.
Baaba Maal
3/5
I enjoyed this album. I'm not much for world music, but I liked the melodies and the singing was well done.
Beastie Boys
4/5
It's the only rap album on this list that I liked.
Weather Report
2/5
Much of "Heavy Weather" follows the lead of the opening track: catchy, happy jazz. Maybe some tracks are a little too happy. Maybe others are a little too jazzy. There is no doubting the quality and talent of the players ... but sometimes the album sounded like something "Duke Silver" (from Parks and Recreation) might have put out.
Raekwon
2/5
Juvenile rap.
Gang Starr
3/5
I'm not much of a fan of rap, but there was something about this album I liked. Maybe, for rap, this album represents the basics.
David Bowie
4/5
One of his better albums.
The Beach Boys
3/5
Not my favorite Beach Boys album, but not my least favorite either
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
After the first three songs, I was prepared to skip through the rest of the album as fast as I could. Then came the next eight tracks, which I found to be fun and worthy of the good reputation this album has garnered over the years. But the closing numbers were a disappointment.
I suspect that the songs I like on this album share Zappa's influence, and the songs I did not like belong more or less to Captain Beefheart.
Cocteau Twins
3/5
Imagine proto-Shoegaze (without that particular genre's bent toward excess distortion) mixed with Kate Bush.
Dusty Springfield
3/5
Dusty was a great singer. My quibble is that this list is supposed to favor singer-songwriters, and Dusty didn't write songs.
James Taylor
3/5
A few songs are a bit too sentimental for my tastes, but overall the album is a good fit for this list - Taylor is, after all, a singer/songwriter.
Afrika Bambaataa
2/5
It's Funk-influenced rap. "Dated" describes it well.
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
Loved "North American Scum". The sound of LCD Soundsystem is definitely adjacent to Talking Heads.
Mike Oldfield
2/5
It may seem unfair to use an album released in 1973 as a metaphor for living in the AI era, except that somehow the comparison seems apt. After all, it's one guy playing all the instruments (for us). There is a certain randomness and lack of cohesion to the two songs (which are actually named "I" and "II"). Neither track offers any sense of completion. The whole thing feels automated. It's the music is the product of ChatGPT.
Ray Price
2/5
Great voice. But it is still just basic country music, and maybe a little boring.
Janet Jackson
3/5
Basically, it's 80s dance music. I'm not really much of a fan. But you have to hand it to Janet for hitting the mark in terms of genre and decade.
R.E.M.
5/5
This is REM's most mature album. The music and lyrics are emotional, complex, and beautifully performed.
Black Sabbath
4/5
Pretty darn good.
3/5
She has a beautiful, strong voice, but the songs on this album are ordinary.
Tim Buckley
2/5
The album amounts to songs for the Renaissance Faire. It's the kind of folk music that went out of fashion years ago. "I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain" is a good track, but the rest of them are too mournful and weepy for me.
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
"Dinner At Eight" is a nice track, but otherwise the album is a little too close to Radiohead for me.
Björk
3/5
I appreciate Björk more than I actually enjoy listening to her music.
John Cale
2/5
Some songs are overly serious and dreary. The album picks up with "Macbeth". and "Paris 1919". But other tracks are just a waste of time: "Half Past France", for example, rambles on.
Orbital
2/5
It's that lousy electronic dance music from the 90s made for people who didn't actually like music.
Joan Armatrading
3/5
Beautiful voice. I'm surprised I have not heard of her before.
Nitin Sawhney
3/5
It wasn't all bad. Some nice instrumental tracks.
PJ Harvey
4/5
Great debut album. PJ Harvey's raw energy reminds me of The Stooges.
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
I liked the more traditional punk tracks. But on certain songs Lydon's lyrics are just plain wordy and, at times, inarticulate.
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
Somewhere between grunge and alternative indie lies Dinosaur Jr. Overall, I enjoyed the album. The album is not really a precursor to anything. It just is.
Billie Holiday
2/5
It's clear that, by 1958, Billie had definitely lost much of her vocal range. Which makes me wonder, "Why put 'Lady in Satin' on this list?" There has to be a Billie Holiday album from the 50s that could easily top this one.
Gene Clark
4/5
One of the reasons why I like the 1001 Albums Generator site is that, occasionally, I come across hidden gems like this.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
3/5
The album was a nice break from Shoegaze, Britpop, and Metal.
Can
3/5
Not nearly as bad as I expected. For some reason, the longer tracks didn't bother me. And a few of the more-or-less normal-length tracks were pretty good.
The United States Of America
3/5
Psychedelic, experimental, and creative ... but the lyrics are sometimes too hyper-focused on the issues of that era. As a result, it feels that the band spends more time trying to make political statements than they do creating and exploring an interesting melody.
Thundercat
3/5
I was surprised by this album. I liked shortened melodies and the reliance on jazz tropes.
Iron Butterfly
3/5
Classic final song, but the other seem derivative.
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
Well ... it's a 90s rap album. I didn't hate it, but it didn't do anything to alter my opinion about the genre.
Milton Nascimento
3/5
I enjoyed this album. For me, it was unique.
Kelela
2/5
Uninspiring and unoriginal - same old insipid pop-schlock. After just a few songs in, I began to look forward to the "Super-Sod" and "Liberty Mutual" ads.
Jane Weaver
3/5
It's okay ... some good songs by a seasoned pro.
Aimee Mann
4/5
Aimee Mann is a clever lyricist with a good voice. This album confirms my appreciation for her music.
The Slits
3/5
It's Ska-punk. Basically, Ska-influenced music with punk-rock lyrics.
PJ Harvey
3/5
Not my favorite PJ Harvey album. It seems that she wanted to talk about politics, which doesn't really suit her.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
2/5
Confirms my dislike of New Wave.
Pixies
4/5
It's probably their best album. I'm still not a complete fan of the lead singer, but some of the songs are just plain catchy.
3/5
The music is friendly and nice -- maybe a little too nice for my tastes. And there are times when the lyrics are too whimsical or just plain stupid.
The Waterboys
3/5
The Waterboys make a great pub-band. The opening track is terrific, while the remaining songs are not at the same level, but good nonetheless.
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
The background music has a definite 70s influence -- much in the same way Usher and Bruno Mars have adopted a 70s aesthetic, except that Fiasco is a rapper.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
Great debut album. She's not quite up to the level she was when she recorded Back to Black, but it's still good.
Burning Spear
3/5
The good and bad of reggae: the "sameness" of each song is both relaxing and tedious.
The Pharcyde
3/5
It's rap, but it feels like kid-stuff.
Suede
2/5
It's like New Wave meets Britpop. The result: the production value is good, but the songs are dull.
Britney Spears
2/5
It turns out that many of the songwriters/producers on this album are Swedish. And there are tracks that definitely qualify as Euro-pop. ... it's basically a late-90s (and way sexier) version of ABBA.
The Cure
2/5
"Pornography" is a foundational goth album, yes; but it's just too depressing.
The Soft Boys
4/5
Never heard of The Soft Boys before, but I wish I had. Great album.
Curtis Mayfield
3/5
Groovy. No hit songs, but groovy.
Julian Cope
3/5
Toward the second half of the album I found myself tapping my foot along to the beat. I don't know if that means much, but there it is.
Screaming Trees
2/5
Why include this album in the list? It's not the band's best effort.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Nope ... still don't like how Nick Cave sings.
Eels
3/5
A good album, but sometimes a little sad for my tastes.
Marilyn Manson
2/5
I have always thought of Marilyn Manson as a publicity stunt - the shock value diverting my attention from the quality of the music. And as a rule, I don't like metal rock operas - they are typically overly serious and dark. But there were a few tracks here that appealed to me - essentially, the album wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.
Lenny Kravitz
3/5
Not a bad debut album, but not nearly his best effort.
Fever Ray
2/5
It's way too close to Björk without actually being Björk. Some tracks are good -- "Coconut", for example -- but they are too much like the others.
Fela Kuti
3/5
Nice, soulful, Afro-beat jazz.
Culture Club
3/5
Blue-eyed soul ... think Dusty Springfield.
The Young Gods
2/5
The singer drones on and on. He sounds like a car that won't start.
fIREHOSE
2/5
There was nothing technically wrong with the album. The musicianship was fine. The singing was okay. But I found the songs to be boring. I kept waiting to hear a great hook or riff, but nothing happened.
Ash
3/5
Not much here of interest. Most of the tracks sound like generic mid-90s alt-rock.
Spiritualized
3/5
I must have been in the mood to listen to Shoegaze, because I didn't hate it.
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
The best word I can think to describe this album: fun.
Cat Stevens
4/5
Calm, beautiful folk rock ... a nice collection of songs.
Beatles
3/5
One or two gems, but clearly not their best album.
Songhoy Blues
3/5
A nice mix of the African sound and the blues.
Stephen Stills
3/5
I've always liked "Love the One You're With" ... I had not noticed the congas before. Some of the songs are a bit on the "Lite Rock" side. But I like the lean toward spirituals.
Pantera
2/5
Not my favorite metal album. There isn't much in the way of melody here. And the screaming vocals got old by the second track. "Hollow" is a little different from the others, but it just starts out as 80s "schlock metal" before returning to the same cacophony that characterizes the other songs.
Christina Aguilera
2/5
Great voice. The thing is, she knows only one way to sing: loud and with a lot of embellishment. Every syllable becomes a five-note phrase. (The term is "melisma", but it sounds less like a musical term and more like something you don't want to catch.) It's a style that would presage the emergence of American Idol. And I find it tiresome.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
Charming. The songs are well-crafted and the musicianship is good.
Air
3/5
I guess the makers of the list included this album because Air is a good band. While some of the tracks work as an album on their own, others don't.
Emmylou Harris
3/5
Such a nice voice. I liked all the songs except the duet near the end.
The Flaming Lips
3/5
This is not your typical Indie fare. The songs are thoughtful, elaborate, and well-crafted. The only thing about the Flaming Lips: the wispy vocals. If you can get past the singing, you'll enjoy the album.
Coldplay
3/5
I figured that Coldplay's music would be, from the very beginning, trite and sappy. It is. What I didn't count on were tracks like "We Never Change" and "Everything's Not Lost", both of which are nicely constructed songs that don't go over the top.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
Fabulous opening number. But after that, the album gets less and less interesting.
Blur
3/5
There are a couple of good tracks on this album, Song 2 being by far the best.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Great album. I just wish they had given Willie Dixon and Howlin' Wolf credit on the original 1969 release.
The Shamen
2/5
I've never liked "rave" dance music ... still don't.
Public Enemy
3/5
I still prefer Chuck D's raps to Flavor Flav's.
X-Ray Spex
4/5
Really enjoyed this one. The saxophone is an unusual choice for a punk-rock band, but it added a cool twist to the straight-ahead punk guitars and drums. If it hadn't been for the saxophone, I would have thought the band came from the 90s Riot Grrrl scene.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
This might be my favorite Zeppelin album.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
A typical Elvis Costello album: simple rock/pop songs, older feel (for its time), bratty-sounding vocals. "Party Girl" is good, and "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" is a solid cover.
TV On The Radio
3/5
Nice mixture of funk and soul and Indie-pop. It's not life-changing or anything. But few albums are.
Public Enemy
3/5
Still prefer Chuck D.'s lyrics/raps to Flavor Flav's. Of the three PE albums I've had so far, this is the best.
Merle Haggard
3/5
Classic outlaw country ... and probably its best singer.
Beck
4/5
A great album. Three or four strong numbers.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
With this album, Yeah Yeah Yeahs went for a pop feel. "Zero", "Heads Will Roll", and "Skeletons" are solid tracks, but some songs are a little too smoothed out for me. I would rather have listened to the "punk-ness" that marks other Yeah Yeah Yeahs offerings.
Shack
2/5
This album should have been left off this list. Not a single song aspires to be anything but average. Each track is cloyingly friendly and ordinary -- in a word, mild. And there is way too much orchestration going on in the background. Is there such a thing as Brit-pop Lite?
The Lemonheads
3/5
I enjoyed the second half of the album more than the first half. "Ceiling Fan in My Spoon", "Kitchen", "Alison's Starting to Happen" are good tracks. I like the fact that the songs are short -- the only one over three minutes is the cover of "Mrs. Robinson". I've not consulted the 1001 book, but I suspect that "It's A Shame About Ray" is The Lemonheads sole entry in this list.
Hüsker Dü
3/5
It runs way too long, but some of the songs are quite good.
Mike Ladd
4/5
Turns out the album is much better than I thought it was going to be. Creative, unique, powerful in places.
Sinead O'Connor
3/5
She could really sing ... the emotion, the range, the tone. Some songs are weaker than others, though.
Kraftwerk
3/5
You can hear in this album the sounds of what would become 80s New Wave and Electronica -- "Abzug" illustrates my point. The synthesizers, the manipulated vocals, etc. Flock of Seagulls seem to have picked up where Kraftwerk left off. Bands like Tangerine Dream might owe a debt of gratitude to Kraftwerk for tracks like "Franz Schubert". 80s New Wave and Electronica are not my thing; but I can appreciate trend-setting artists.
Devendra Banhart
2/5
I just didn't find a song that I liked.
Serge Gainsbourg
2/5
I found 1 or 2 good melodies in this album, but I couldn't get past the creepy storyline.
Janis Joplin
5/5
What an amazing voice!
Röyksopp
3/5
I liked some of the melodies here. Not overly pretentious, but still innovative in some ways.
Abdullah Ibrahim
2/5
For Jazz music, this album seems a bit dated, and maybe a beat slow.
Grateful Dead
2/5
It's a good idea to include a live album by the Grateful Dead -- when most people think "The Dead", they think endless concerts across an almost constant touring schedule. That said, the players are solid, but they might have gone with simple instrumentals, without the bad singing. And the band should have left off "Feedback" ... annoying as hell.
Incredible Bongo Band
2/5
I like bongos, but not this much.
Orange Juice
2/5
Too "Rick Astley" for my tastes.
Bert Jansch
4/5
An amazing guitarist, and I enjoyed the songs.
Venom
2/5
This is silly.
Sugar
3/5
Not all bad, but not particularly original.
Haircut 100
2/5
The white pullover sweaters say it all. We need a new category for bands that fall between 80s New Wave and easy listening. Lite Wave?
The Style Council
3/5
It's sophisti-pop, but without synthesizers. The Style Council lean more toward jazz than other artists in the same sub-genre. The problem I have with this album is its forced eclecticism. There are just too many styles converging in every song. At the very least, they should have left out the rap number.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Ok ... I'll give credit where credit is do - great concept for an rock album. For once I didn't mind Nick Cave's singing; it seems to suit the macabre.
The Clash
5/5
Two hit songs bookend this album. In the middle I found some really interesting melodies and great performances.
2/5
Just not my preferred style of music. There's too much New Wave and Sophisti-Pop on this list.
Talking Heads
3/5
A good album ... and "Psycho Killer" is still awesome after all these years.
Mj Cole
2/5
Definitely a stretch to include this album on the 1001 list. There is nothing about "Sincere" that strikes me as unique or interesting - it's just boring Electronica.
Willie Nelson
3/5
Willie Nelson's ability to tell a story with his voice and his guitar are unmatched.
Bee Gees
2/5
The Bee Gees must have switched genres on a whim, or they simply followed whatever musical direction the money took them.
Norah Jones
4/5
Great voice and style.
Ray Charles
3/5
I like Ray Charles, but I find myself conflicted when it comes to this album. If you look at it from an historical perspective, weighing its impact on pop music, then, sure, "Modern Sounds" is worth a listen; but if you consider the quality of the songs and their production, then the album falls way short of the best that Ray Charles has to offer. It might be the case of right artist, wrong album.
2Pac
2/5
I'm starting to lose patience with 90s rap.
Slade
3/5
It's just straight-ahead early 70s Rock. Nothing special. It kind of makes me feel nostalgic, actually.
Roxy Music
3/5
Not as bad as I expected, but I'm wondering why this particular Roxy Music album was chosen over the band's other releases.
Tori Amos
3/5
I generally like the album, but sometimes Amos' songs have too much drama and pathos. I would prefer them to be a touch happier, and far less confessional.
King Crimson
3/5
I know that I've heard tracks from "In The Court Of The Crimson King" before today, but I cannot put my finger on exactly when. Early prog-rock ... it's nice to listen to every once in a while.
Suede
3/5
Some tracks are way overdone -- "Still Life", for example. But other tracks ("New Generation") still seem to hold up, mostly because of the guitar work.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Raw. Straight-ahead. Post-Punk. You can hear the beginnings of what would eventually become the Riot Grrl movement of the 90s.
What took me by surprise (considering that Siouxsie And The Banshees emerged from of the 70s punk scene in the UK) is how each song is so carefully, thoughtfully constructed.
Finley Quaye
2/5
First off: Scottish Reggae with a fake Jamaican accent? What was Robert Dimery thinking?
Second: It's a bad mixture of music genres. Reggae, Trip-hop, Funk, and Rap: those styles can go together ... just not on this album. I noticed that by the time we get to "I Need a Lover" Finley's fake Jamaican accent had faded, only to return on the final track. (This is a nice way of saying he's a rip-off artist.)
Third: As a result of the above, I had trouble taking this seriously.
Tom Waits
4/5
My favorite Tom Waits album of the bunch.
Patti Smith
3/5
A good album. Very raw. Very Patti Smith. But not her best work.
Basement Jaxx
2/5
Most songs follow a predictable pattern common to electronic dance music. But there are one or two standouts -- "Red Alert", for example.
New Order
2/5
Monotonous and trivial.
Mekons
3/5
I didn't like it at the start, but the album grew on me. The music reminded me of The Waterboys.
SAULT
3/5
Loved the closing number. But the rest of it was too sedate for me.
Tricky
2/5
A darker, sluttier version of Morcheeba.
Method Man
2/5
It seemed like ordinary rap music to me. Nothing in particular stands out from the rest.