These songs contain powerfully articulated messages about everything from mental health to apartheid. Peter Gabriel is also enough of a musician to wrap these songs in music that serves the message. Dark and easy to listen to.

great poet, music is disposable.

Like kids in a toy store filled with musical instruments. And a record button.

Just a perfect storm. It's only unfortunate that it was apparently painful to make, and that due to Joe Rogan's douchebaggery, facilitated by spotify, four songs are still missing from that service.

I love the way this album felt. The musicianship was simultaneously technical and organic. The themes are something I can't feel the way the musicians did. It's a very cohesive album, like an opera with suites.

I appreciate this as a musician. it seems like a master class in tone and instrumentation. I hear stories in the notes.

This is disposable, even by punk standards. There are a host of better punk bands more appropriately suited to this list, including Mike Watt's own Minutemen, who are probably the only reason this band got any attention. The extra star is for Mike.

Just my personal opinion, not a slight of the band or it's multitude of loyal fans. Punk is a difficult beast, at it's best it's emotionally cathartic. Sometimes, it feels a little bit disposable. This will not stay with me, but 3 stars out of respect.

I didn't want to listen to this album, then I did. Wow. The richness of the music with multiple layers interweaving seamlessly is hypnotic. The raps and ryhmes (I'm white, I don't know nothin', but I'm pretty sure there's a few different rap and rhyme styles being used interchangeably, and brilliantly) are like a mental massage. This was a fast and mood-alicious two plus hours, and I am gonna be listening again. Docked one point for releasing two solo albums as a band album. But better done than Kiss (1.5 out of 4 vs. 2/2 for Outkast)

First thing first. These guys are not grunge. This is the best kind of metal, borderline progressive, except that sturm and drang are favored over speed and flash. And the feel is real, the experiences written about here are being lived, viscerally, and felt at the deepest level by all four members. This is a historical record of a dying man, and the art does the story justice.

Classic album, even purported haters don't change the channel when this comes on (with maybe the exception of Let Me Take You Home Tonight). Some pioneering recording techniques and devices. Docking one point because Scholz could have achieved all this without being a monumental douchebag. But he did not kill Brad Delpy.

Great classic album.

This is completely subjective. Just not my thing. I found her voice insanely aggravating.

I had only hear the hits on this album, so interesting to give it a listen. Mostly very country-rock-typical-what-you-expect-from-the-Eagles, pleasant but a bit banal after a while. A couple of nice surprises though, in Chug All Night and Take the Devil, which had some nice grit. Would love to hear Joe Walsh cover those.

Disappointed. Was aware of the legend. Felt like more noise than innovation, insight or emotion. Very little dynamics. 3 stars for influencing countless, better others.

Fun. Goofy. Iconic. Good music for when you're depressed. Don't know if it's a classic.

Very pleasant surprise. A lot of styles under one umbrella, a new kind of progressive music. The spirit of the best prog rock, but with modern and non-rock musical elements. And what a great voice.

A few bright, inspired moments, but maudlin overall.

I don't know if it's punk. (and I'm not a punk "fan," so I don't have to make it a hobby of arguing about it) But it's visceral AND musical. Plus, Ian Mackaye.

This just FELT good. I love the layers and tones of guitars and other classical instruments peppered throughout the album. Ashcroft has a distinct, emotive voice. Another pleasant surprise as I had only heard the singles.

Amazing moodscapes. Haunting. Grabs you by the soul and yanks.

Love Bonnie Raitt. This album was a little too adult contemporary for me, not my favorite overall, but it had some of her best moments, and I am thrilled she finally got the mainstream recognition she richly deserved.

I'm not a fan. When she's good, it's bone-chilling. Sometimes, her voice just scares me.

Great Prince album. Not yet his nadir.

So totally not my thing. I feel like I could have slapped this together.

Maudlin. Not in a good way. And a bit one-dimensional.

Another pleasant surprise. A little weird, a little out there, a little trippy, a little left field, but never boring. And some tight grooves locked in. Lemmy sounds like a kid.

Too pleasant. Very well orchestrated and well-articulated themes, thought provoking. But I didn't FEEL anything.

Really just not my thing. Didn't find it particularly musical on any level.

I knew they were good, but this is great. The covers were an especially pleasant surprise

I'll be honest. Though I actually think they're overrated, I'm dropping an extra start because Wyn Butler turns out to be a massive, misogynist douchebag. And he's about as Canadian as July 4th.

Powerful messaging, beautiful voice. The music didn't quite do this justice, she could have used a little help there.

Portrait of an artist well on his way to insanity. Critics got this wrong. This would have rightly gotten zero attention without his tenure in Floyd. I am giving the extra star myself for this reason.

I love this. Layers upon layers provided by four excellent craftsmen, while remaining true to the storytelling roots of rock'n'roll. Classis Rock Poetry.

These songs contain powerfully articulated messages about everything from mental health to apartheid. Peter Gabriel is also enough of a musician to wrap these songs in music that serves the message. Dark and easy to listen to.

Mot my area of expertise, but really enjoyed listening to this. Smooth.

Pleasant surprise. A little more three dimensional than CSN, a little more 'rawk.'

Art is subjective. I just do not get Joy Division. It must be genetic, like that person who doesn't like pizza.

Goes without saying. This is like, the Frampton Comes Alive of my generation.

I've heard this to death all my life. Have never understood the idolatry for Morrison. The musicians have some skill, and would be enjoyable without his bloated egotistical excess.

I haven't lived these experiences, so giving the extra star seems disingenuous, if paradoxical.

Of its time.

I'm giving it a five in spite of the Ginger Baker distraction. Kuti is even better without it.

The balance of technical prowess and listenability is a fine one.

A no-brainer. That voice gives me goosebumps. I feel every word she's singing.

I'm a metalhead. 9/10 metalheads will cite this album as a favorite of the genre. The tenth has brain damage from the bleach.

I respect it, the message was probably stronger then, and the music is a bit two-dimensional.

A dozen songwriters is exactly as scattered as it sounds.

This is really solid. Perfect mix of punk attitude and musicianship, the latter which helps get the message across IMHO. Stop wasting your time on the Sex Pistols. I like the US version better though.

This is a brilliant album, which makes it all the more tragic that he has become an ogre. Why is an Englishman raising money for a U.S. presidential candidate, one who has to look to the left to see Donald Trump?

They wer ahead of their time, if not their time signature.

I don't know how Malkmus got essentially a new band to see his vision, but it speaks to his songwriting that they understood how to execute. The perfect blend of art and chaos. Meticulously produced madness.

I dock one point for the heavy use of tech (samples) when time and money was likely available to pay a few more great session musicians, maybe some that the ladies she is paying tribute to have used, but four stars for the message: "I've waited for some time To get inside the minds Of every legend I've ever wanted to stand beside So here I stand today In tribute I do pay To those before me who laid it down and paved the way" Niiiice.

I love the Bee Gees, but this got a bit repetitive. A little one-dimensional, not a lot of dynamics.

This is downtemp/trip hop before it became a thing even. Innovative for its, and standing the test of, time.

Really didn't like this. Then I kinda did.

Every note by every musician in this session is not just played, it's lived.

The problem with music that is message oriented is that if I can't pay absolute attention, I'm missing most of it.

Like one really good 48 minute long song.

I heard about all the controversy about this, many calling it a failure of vision. I enjoyed this, it is a perfect marriage of theater and rock'n'roll. Just a lot of layers musically, very rich, deep and satisfying.

Jam bands are great. For the band. It's self-indulgent and your audience will all be musicians. I am one, which is why this didn't get two stars.

Amazing what he did. Proof that talent wins over technology.

Once you realize that it all sounds familiar because SHE created this sound.

Computer programming, not music.

Not what I was expecting. Legend is a strange thing. Was expecting 35 minutes of Anarchy, but there are a lot of flavors here. Some funky groove, and the aggression is measured.

Better than I thought, but extremely repetitive. And 1:18 is too long. I wonder how much of this would be created or listened to in the absence of ecstasy.

Feel good. Funky!

Solid, not stellar. Original blend of style for the time.

This guy makes "folk" (not sure he'd buy into the label) sound original and visceral. And simultaneously fun and deep.

Being a member of the commonwealth apparently doesn't help bring this past average, or invoke a deeper understanding of the mania. Maybe Damon Albarn can explain it to me.

Transcendental. Real lives expressed in the most visceral way. And in the words of the immortal Gord Downie, "Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy!"

Duran Duran did it better.

Sexy. Hypnotic. Where's my lava lamp?

The perfect marriage of complexity and appeal.

Important thing about 1001ABYD: It's a personal opinion. None of this album appeals to me in any way.

Pleasant surprise. Heard the name before, recognized a couple songs.

They got more people listening to punk that the sex pistols.

To quote Christgau, "a devastating wordslinger." But docking a point for something he can't control, his gift being more innate than learned.

How you keep something this long this engaging is a work of passion and art.

IMHO, his very best album, front to back, and a perfect exit.

This shouldn't work, but it does. How something so ethereal and fractured can sound melodic, thematic and centered is a work of art.

Solid.

Meh.

One of a kind.

I have to split the fifth star evenly between the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, in that order, without whom none of this is possible. It's good company, and the reverence is articulate and brilliantly executed.

I mean, Joni and Jaco. Perfect.

I do not like electronica, and this is everything I hate about it. Formless, shapeless, chronically repetitive. Like someone dropped a paperweight on a computer.

Refuse to listen.

Pleasant surprise. Very good album all around.

Lost a point for self-indulgence. The fan is always right.

This was cool and innovative, and surprisingly melodic. The samples were used as for inspiration, not dericvation.

Music needed this, the same way it needed Black Flag and Fugazi. It's not user friendly, but it's worth the effort. And to the haters: the music you and the critics fawn over wouldn't look so good if it wasn't for these guys.

I don't get it.

Never liked the Smiths. I liked this album.

All due respect to Christgau, comparing them to the Ramones is disingenuous, there is as little melody here as there is self-deprecating humour.

I'm all for the dark stuff, but this makes Nine Inch Nails Look like Abba. Very one-dimensional.

I'm docking a point for limiting Clarence Clemons to three tracks.

Of it's time. Don't think it has aged particularly well.

Given that he is known for his powerful storytelling, I wish I could understand more of what he's saying.

Disgusting piece of shit.

I found it very one-dimensional.

I never understood Hendrix. I get the skill level, but songwriting? Mostly a wankfest. Dull and repetitive.

Computers have been replacing humans for a long time.