652
Albums Rated
3.45
Average Rating
60%
Complete
437 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1980s
Favorite Decade
Grunge
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
113
5-Star Albums
19
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Penthouse And Pavement
Heaven 17
|
5 | 2.61 | +2.39 |
|
Pictures At An Exhibition
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
|
5 | 2.65 | +2.35 |
|
All Hope Is Gone
Slipknot
|
5 | 2.7 | +2.3 |
|
Beyond Skin
Nitin Sawhney
|
5 | 2.77 | +2.23 |
|
Southern Rock Opera
Drive-By Truckers
|
5 | 2.82 | +2.18 |
|
Whatever
Aimee Mann
|
5 | 2.82 | +2.18 |
|
Kilimanjaro
The Teardrop Explodes
|
5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
|
Street Signs
Ozomatli
|
5 | 2.87 | +2.13 |
|
Fuzzy Logic
Super Furry Animals
|
5 | 2.94 | +2.06 |
|
Sheet Music
10cc
|
5 | 2.96 | +2.04 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Marshall Mathers LP
Eminem
|
1 | 3.49 | -2.49 |
|
Get Behind Me Satan
The White Stripes
|
1 | 3.41 | -2.41 |
|
Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Derek & The Dominos
|
1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
|
The College Dropout
Kanye West
|
1 | 3.31 | -2.31 |
|
The Slim Shady LP
Eminem
|
1 | 3.29 | -2.29 |
|
Mama's Gun
Erykah Badu
|
1 | 3.25 | -2.25 |
|
It's Too Late to Stop Now
Van Morrison
|
1 | 3.25 | -2.25 |
|
Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
|
1 | 3.16 | -2.16 |
|
Murder Ballads
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
|
1 | 3.09 | -2.09 |
|
Back To Black
Amy Winehouse
|
2 | 4.02 | -2.02 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Radiohead | 5 | 4.8 |
| Nirvana | 3 | 5 |
| R.E.M. | 3 | 5 |
| Beatles | 5 | 4.4 |
| Alice In Chains | 2 | 5 |
| Steely Dan | 2 | 5 |
| Funkadelic | 2 | 5 |
| Arcade Fire | 2 | 5 |
| Iron Maiden | 2 | 5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins | 2 | 5 |
| Van Halen | 2 | 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 2 | 5 |
| The Pogues | 2 | 5 |
| The Beach Boys | 3 | 4.33 |
| Talking Heads | 3 | 4.33 |
| Black Sabbath | 3 | 4.33 |
| Pixies | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Cure | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Eminem | 2 | 1 |
| The Velvet Underground | 3 | 2 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Big Star | 5, 2 |
| Neil Young & Crazy Horse | 2, 5, 2 |
| Prince | 5, 2, 3 |
| The White Stripes | 4, 3, 1 |
5-Star Albums (113)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
i know this album is iconic or whatever but it didn't make a huge impact on me. the lyrics painted a sad story about a crumbling America that had failed its people, which like, i can definitely get on board with, but the actual music just didn't really hit me beyond the surface level. i think i liked born to run more.
favorites: born in the USA, cover me, dancing in the dark
11 likes
Elis Regina
5/5
ok i don't know what happened but something clicked in my brain and this is the best album i've heard in a hot minute. i've listened to this thing five times now in two days. the vibes are impeccable, elis regina's voice sounds great, i have no idea what she's singing about, and the band sounds awesome. the tracks are all interesting and varied, and the entire album works so well overall with that strong start and equally strong finish that it's so easy to just throw the whole thing on again.
i'm sad to discover that elis regina died young, but i hope she knew what a gift she gave to the people of brazil and the world.
also, is it cheating to give five stars to a compilation album? i'm not sure but there's no backing down now! boom! five stars!
favorites: on spotify tracks 1, 3, 6, 7, 11, and 13
3 likes
The Verve
3/5
not awful, but all the songs were super long and just sounded like generic britpop. the massive single, bittersweet symphony, absolutely carried this album as far as it could, but even it couldn't save us from another hour and change of the most incredibly average british music.
the other singles were fine i guess. the hidden track was super lame and not worth the annoyance of even skipping through the extended silence before it. i kinda liked the energy of the rolling people, but realized it felt more like a 7-minute supergrass song and that's probably why it was somewhat enjoyable.
favorites: bitter sweet symphony, the rolling people, the drugs don't work, lucky man
2 likes
Drive-By Truckers
5/5
ok this might sound crazy considering all the other reviews on this album but I thought this was excellent. it's going to take a lot to convince me to pay attention to a 93-minute double album, but I thought the rock opera/concept album approach worked very well here. listening to each song and reading through the background/explanation and lyrics via DBT's website and Genius annotations really helped to contextualize what I was hearing.
obviously, you'll need to have a penchant for southern rock, lynyrd skynyrd, or late 20th century US history to get the most out of this album. but even without those, it still evokes a mood and time period very well. it handles a wide variety of concepts and themes in a moving and respectful way, and definitely deserves your time and attention.
favorites: about half of these honestly. in disc/track order, ronnie and neil through the southern thing, zip city, let there be rock through plastic flowers on the highway, angels and fuselage
2 likes
Erykah Badu
1/5
eh, not the worst album on this list by a long shot, but pretty dull and uninspiring to me. the songs all smush together and don't really go anywhere. whenever i thought the music sounded ok, the vocals were there to bore me to death, and vice versa. lyrics were meh and had some secret "god is good" messaging which was an unpleasant discovery. the best compliment i can give it is it reminded me of Rouge's level music in Sonic Adventure 2.
also, surprised to see that no one's referenced any of the legal issues or controversies surrounding erykah "hitler was good actually" badu. she's not like, kid rock or marilyn manson level, but still, yikes
favorites: didn't cha know (i guess)
1 likes
1-Star Albums (19)
All Ratings
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
good songs, knew several already from rock band. favorites: purple haze, highway chile
Calexico
3/5
Alice In Chains
5/5
dirt is great. i've listened to it at least once all the way through prior to now, and the singles are phenomenal and powerful grunge tracks. favorite songs: rooster, would?, them bones
Dusty Springfield
2/5
listened to it twice since i didn't absorb much the first time while passively listening. nice, calming songs but not what i'd typically seek out or listen to frequently. favorite songs: the windmills of your mind, no easy way down
The Who
4/5
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
nice album to listen to, though the songs I had heard before seemed to be the only standouts on the album. favorite tracks: Cecilia, The Boxer
Big Brother & The Holding Company
3/5
discovering that janis joplin sounds like marge simpson with a bit of angus young at certain points was the highlight of my day. this was most noticeable to me on I need a man to love and summertime. beyond that, though, I'm not sure how many of these I'll come back and listen to. favorite tracks: summertime, piece of my heart
Frank Sinatra
3/5
some nice songs here but definitely a downer of an album through and through. frank has a great voice but this whole album isn't for me. favorite songs: in the wee small hours of the morning
Radiohead
5/5
great album, so many cool and interesting tracks that combine into a cohesive whole. favorite songs: airbag, no surprises
Aerosmith
3/5
decent dad rock but nothing spectacular for me. the best songs on the album IMO I already knew. favorites: walk this way, toys in the attic
Fatboy Slim
3/5
always cool to see electronic music in its early forms, and I dig the use of samples on this album. some of the songs either don't really work for me or tend to drag on. favorites: the rockefeller skank, praise you
The Mars Volta
5/5
this album slaps! i love the post-hardcore proggy sound, everything flows super well, and it's based on an interesting concept. favorite tracks: son et lumiere, inertiatic esp, roulette dares (the haunt of)
The Offspring
4/5
pretty good punk rock album but it's never been one of my favorites from the Offspring. the Wikipedia page also compares it to Green Day's Dookie, which in my opinion is a far better album in most respects. still solid for the most part with a few standout tracks. i also like the reggae influence on what happened to you. favorites: nitro (youth energy), something to believe in, come out and play
Little Simz
4/5
cool album! not what i'd normally listen to but I really liked the flow and lyrics. favorites: offence, venom, 101 fm
Stevie Wonder
4/5
i knew zero of these songs going in and despite listening to the album twice through, feel like I know zero of them still. that's the struggle with listening to music in the background while focusing on work, I guess. but I digress... this album was a great album for some feel-good Friday jams. good vibes only - thanks stevie! favorites: heaven is 10 zillion light years away, you haven't done nothin'
Meat Loaf
4/5
what a goofy, wacky album. i think another reviewer described this as "bruce springsteen for theatre kids" which feels pretty accurate. definitely thought this was going to be worse considering all the derision and groans meat loaf got in popular culture while i was growing up. favorites: you took the words right out of my mouth (hot summer night), paradise by the dashboard light
CHIC
2/5
not super impressed with this album. feels like a lot of funky filler. le freak is the only one I knew beforehand and liked. decent background music but all the songs are like two minutes too long. favorites: le freak
The Chemical Brothers
2/5
the album was fine but not very memorable to me. i knew block rockin' beats from mashups but nothing else jumped out at me. favorites: block rockin' beats, piku
Deep Purple
4/5
good album overall. i already know most of the big deep purple singles and enjoy the general wackiness plus technicality of 70s prog, so this album was a fun listen. speed king feels like highway star lite, and singing along to child in time is a great way to annoy everyone else in the vicinity. favorites: speed king, child in time, flight of the rat
MGMT
4/5
i liked the chill vibes of this album, though none of the other songs beyond the three singles I knew jumped out at me after two listens. favorites: electric feel, time to pretend, kids (though I feel like I've heard it enough to last the rest of my lifetime)
OutKast
3/5
this was an interesting listen. parts of it were really cool and flowed well, but there's going to be filler on a double album that lasts for the length of a blockbuster movie (2h15m!). i only knew the way you move, hey ya, and I think roses before going into this. also, I was shocked at how many guest appearances there were on this album that became huge names later on. favorites: hey ya, flip flop rock
The Young Gods
3/5
What the heck did I just listen to...? some thoughts my fiancee and I sent back and forth on Discord while listening:
"I'm in an evil french depression"
"churning, dissonant strings and a french man yelling angrily... finally some good fucking music"
"it's like french tom waits in an abandoned factory"
"sort of a rammstein-in-paris vibe"
all in all, it was super weird but I didn't completely hate it. individual songs would go from parts I loved to parts that sounded insane and back again, but I get it. it was the 80s, these things happen.
favorites: (parts of) la fille de la mort and longue route?
Arrested Development
4/5
i really liked this album! 90s hip-hop with an optimistic message. i had only heard Tennessee going into this and enjoyed most of the tracks on here, mr. wendal being a big standout. favorites: mr. wendal, people everyday, tennessee
The Byrds
3/5
a decent album, pleasant but forgettable overall. i don't think i knew anything by the byrds prior to this, though several of these songs are covers of traditional folk or popular 50s/60s songs, so i knew wild mountain thyme and hey joe. mr spaceman was good.
2-4-2 fox trot (the lear jet song) is one of the worst and most annoyingly grating songs I've ever heard. the instruments are hard-panned to the left channel, there's a bunch of like, scraping metal and mechanical aviation noises hard-panned to the right, and the center channel has the astoundingly repetitive vocals phrase. insane audio engineering choices here, even for the 60s.
the 17-minute song+interview at the end of the album on spotify ("John Riley - instrumental version 1") was wild. lots of weird/awkward pauses that seemed to be added in specifically for this track. highlights: around 9 mins in they start talking about aliens and around 10 mins in they're making plane noises. tbh i think this interview made me come around a bit on the rest of the album
favorites: wild mountain thyme, mr. spaceman
worst song of all time: 2-4-2 fox trot (the lear jet song)
Janelle Monáe
4/5
this album was super cool, I liked it! funky and fun. some of the tracks (especially Dance or Die) reminded me of Sonic Adventure 2 music that would play during Rouge's levels. Great stuff! Favorites: Cold War, Tightrope, Say You'll Go
Neil Young
2/5
meh. nothing here stuck out to me or made me want to listen again. the album was fine as background music but I don't think i'd ever listen to it again. shame because I really like some of neil young's other work, but yeah, this ain't it.
Marilyn Manson
1/5
I was waffling between 1 and 2 stars for this album, but even trying to separate the artist from the art, I don't think this album is anything special. the songs are repetitive and overstay their welcome, as they're all just different tweaks of the same shock rock and (proto-)nu-metal-esque filler tracks. Shocked that some critics at the time hailed this as the best album of the 1990s or the album that killed grunge. Frankly embarrassing. favorites: I guess the beautiful people and cryptorchid
Sheryl Crow
3/5
ah, another decent-but-not-memorable 1001-list album that doesn't hold any nostalgia for me so I may not fully appreciate all it has to offer. i knew All I Wanna Do going into this and that's definitely the highlight of the album. lot of snoozefest filler here in my opinion. favorites: all I wanna do, no one said it would be easy
Nirvana
5/5
while this isn't my favorite nirvana album, I think it's still excellent. the songs have an almost indescribable balance between being written, recorded, and produced well while still conveying a grungy, punky, DIY aesthetic. cobain's lyrics here are some of his best, and the singles from this album have very much stood the test of time. favorites: heart-shaped box, dumb, very ape, scentless apprentice
The Kinks
4/5
i enjoyed this album! i didn't know anything on it in advance, except picture book sounded a bit familiar. the main riff from it also reminded me of Green Day's "Warning," which was fun. i liked how the character portraits of each song worked together and how this was basically just an early concept album of sorts.
favorites: the village green preservation society, picture book, village green, all of my friends were there
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
good vibes but few songs really made an impact. the ones i liked the most i knew going into it. all along the watchtower, though a cover, is seriously one of the greatest songs from this era. favorites: all along the watchtower, crosstown traffic
Can
3/5
interesting album, and finally something i can listen to in the background without feeling like i'm doing it a major disservice! the experimental soundscapes with more consistent music over the top were interesting, and i can appreciate music that pushes boundaries. nothing here that i personally plan to listen to repeatedly but still decent. favorites: future days, bel air
Supergrass
4/5
pretty good britpop. nice vibes and i enjoyed the wikipedia article that included a note about how the band recorded their own grunting sounds for Sometimes I Make You Sad. favorites: sun hits the sky, in it for the money
Traffic
3/5
this was all right, though maybe i didn't listen closely enough to really enjoy any of the tracks. favorites: john barleycorn
Stevie Wonder
3/5
uhhh honestly i didn't care for this one as much as fulfillingness' first finale, despite knowing nothing on that album. superstition is the only standout on this album to me, and the rest didn't make any impression. sorry stevie. favorites: superstition
The Temptations
3/5
it was fine. i liked i heard it through the grapevine, though honestly not as much as marvin gaye or creedence's versions. album was nice but i'm not sure i'd seek it out again. favorites: i heard it through the grapevine, runaway child running wild
The Beach Boys
3/5
another album where i wish we had half-star ratings on this site! it was pretty solid and pleasant to listen to but the only real standout to me was do you wanna dance. i absolutely love the album cover though - listing out basically all the tracks and then relegating three to obscurity (though they could have just fit them all there) is an incredible move. but i'd expect nothing less from the genius behind like a dozen covers of shortnin' bread.
favorites: do you wanna dance, help me rhonda
Michael Kiwanuka
3/5
this was a pleasant album to listen to. i had it on in the background while working and nothing particularly jumped out at me, though i did go back and listen to a few tracks again. favorites: you ain't the problem, solid ground
Billy Bragg
3/5
another album that had a cool premise (two bands coming together to record songs that woody guthrie had written but never recorded) but i wish the album as a whole stood out more. even after multiple listens, nothing here gripped me beyond the general nice indie-folk-y vibes and some clever lyrics. favorites: walt whitman's niece, way over yonder in the minor key, ingrid bergman
The Who
4/5
pretty good album overall but not their best. my generation and the kids are alright make sense as the big hits to stand the test of time, but the other tracks were enjoyable enough. favorites: the kids are alright, la-la-la-lies, my generation
Jorge Ben Jor
3/5
pretty cool but i don't speak portuguese. i got the gist of a couple songs I read through the lyrics on, but I was honestly too distracted throughout by all the weird noises they were making in the background.
meus filhos, meu tesouro had a little yappy dog, a few of them had screeching monkeys, and taj mahal had someone pushing and pulling a plastic straw through a soda cup lid over and over. this has led me to realize that more albums should have weird, annoying sounds as the basis of their instrumentation.
favorites: meus filhos, meu tesouro, taj mahal
Eagles
4/5
well, i enjoyed this album (dads everywhere rejoice). solid tracks, though they were all about two minutes longer than they needed to be. still, would listen again. more albums should do instrumental reprises of the last track on side A to start side B.
favorites: hotel california, wasted time (reprise)
Robert Wyatt
4/5
i really liked this album! it was pretty "out there" and musically experimental compared to others on this list. the first three tracks were great, and the backstory of Robert Wyatt's life at the time adds another dimension to this work. this felt like a crossover between radiohead and the replacements (minus the super creepy/unnerving vibes).
favorites: sea song, a last straw, little red riding hood hit the road
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
this album was cool, though the songs started to run together for me after the first handful of tracks. definitely a good debut for any band though I don't really have any nostalgia for it personally.
also, I never really looked closely at the album cover until now. obviously I knew this was not the case, but in my mind I just always assumed the guy smoking a cigarette on the cover was adam sandler. apparently I'm not alone in thinking this. do with that information what you will.
favorites: I bet you look good on the dancefloor, when the sun goes down
Michael Jackson
3/5
allegations aside, this album was fine. it's 70s/80s disco, which I'm somewhat lukewarm to overall, but I recognize the lasting contribution to American pop music that disco and MJ have had.
favorites: rock with you, burn this disco out
Prince
5/5
"this whole thing smacks of gender" -dril
what a great album! i had heard a handful of songs from this album previously, but the whole thing is a masterpiece. i listened to it three times and like half the songs are grade-A bangers. cool 80s vibes and exciting tracks all around
favorites: let's go crazy, darling nikki, when doves cry, i would die 4 u, purple rain
Kid Rock
1/5
kid rock is a terrible person and rightwing conspiracy lunatic who writes songs about having sex with underage girls. this music maybe would've been passable as instrumentals but my god these lyrics are just awful. welcome 2 the party (ode 2 the old school) might be the worst on this album in that regard. skip it, nothing redeeming here. how did this crack the top 1001 albums list...?
favorites: bawitdaba i guess
John Lennon
2/5
i don't think this album has aged particularly well 50+ years later (nor has john lennon's legacy). it really seems like he needed the rest of the beatles there to prevent him from putting questionable stuff into his lyrics that the FBI couldn't torture out of me in a million years. the actual music in the songs is pretty lackluster and boring in my onion.
imagine is a pretty boring, overplayed song at this point in time, but certainly felt profound the first hundred times I heard it. given the context, controversies, and contradictions of john lennon's personal life, I wonder if he would still believe any of it if he were around today.
also is jealous guy just about him beating his wife? john, dude, you can't just put that in a song... and the paul mccartney diss track? wot
favorites: imagine? i guess? maybe oh yoko! meh
4/5
i honestly didn't know any of the songs from this album (and I'm still unclear if I should've just listened to the first three or the full seven from the deluxe edition) but the prog was proggy and I'm here for it. imo this album was not nearly as catchy or fun as some of yes' other work, but definitely still enjoyable.
favorites: siberian khatru, close to the edge
Nick Drake
3/5
this album was fine and pleasant background music. nothing here that i'd really seek out or revisit, personally. i had never heard of this guy before now and I'll probably forget his name in a week :\
favorites: one of these things first, at the chime of a city clock
ZZ Top
4/5
i liked this one! i only knew sharp dressed man going into it but the album has a cool sound and some good tracks. nothing life-changing here for me but i'd listen to some of them again.
favorites: gimme all your lovin', got me under pressure, sharp dressed man, legs, tv dinners
Ramones
4/5
this is a classic punk album with simple, solid, short tracks that holds up pretty well half a century later. a lot of these songs have been covered to hell and back so in some cases I'm more familiar with those versions. as a result, some of the tracks here feel a bit stripped-down and basic all these years later, but that might just be from changing sensibilities in popular music. good album though.
favorites: havana affair, 53rd & 3rd, blitzkrieg bop, beat on the brat
Culture Club
2/5
woof. karma chameleon is a classic but the rest of this album is filler. terrible lyrics, boring music, strange but uninteresting instrumentation... just a big resounding meh across the board. come to think of it, karma chameleon isn't even that great of an 80s song either considering what it's up against...
favorites: karma chameleon
Metallica
4/5
i'm not a huge metallica fan but I really don't get the hate for this album. a lot of the songs work well with symphonic arrangements and they're more interesting to me than many of the original album versions. stay mad, "REAL" metalheads
favorites: the ecstasy of gold, the call of ktulu, master of puppets, the thing that should not be, fuel, hero of the day, for whom the bell tolls, one
Beatles
4/5
Good album, solid tracks, Beatles are a great band, what do you want from me? I don't know if they deserve all the hype but there are good and fun tracks here, some of which I've been listening to for decades.
Favorites: Eleanor Rigby, Yellow Submarine, Taxman, Here There and Everywhere
Sam Cooke
4/5
at first i was like uhhh a live album??? we sure about this? but it's actually good. can't believe this was sealed away in the disney vault for 20 years before being released, I guess because the audience was having too much fun? wild
favorites: soul twist/introduction, feel it (don't fight it), chain gang, it's all right/for sentimental reasons
Steely Dan
5/5
great album, some classics on here, good jazz/rock vibes, no notes. harmonix seriously needs to rewind bodhisattva for rock band 4.
favorites: bodhisattva, my old school, the boston rag
Queen
4/5
i've gotten more into queen over the past few years via Rock Band, so I enjoyed this album overall. after two listens, the songs I already knew remained my favorites, but I'll revisit this one from time to time.
favorites: killer queen, stone cold crazy, brighton rock
PJ Harvey
2/5
maybe i'm missing something but this album is... how do I put this... not good? at its best, it's just boring indie folk with bjork-esque vocals on top.
other tracks like the glorious land seem to go out of their way to be annoying with the weird-ass pikmin c-stick trumpet noises that don't fit with the key of the song at all. the ending of all and everyone showcases someone trying their best to blow a horn mournfully. the last track was my favorite because bjork let someone else take a turn singing and then it was over.
if England is shaking from this album, it's shivering with fear that another one like this is in the works.
favorites: written on the forehead? i guess...?
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2/5
ahh, yeah x3. very mixed feelings here. very high highs and astoundingly low lows. maps and date with the night were both in Rock Band, and maps is like, THE rock band 1 drum song for normies. it's an amazing song. unfortunately, that's about where my praise ends.
I think songs like maps with a straightforward vocal performance are best. the riot grrl shouting in the other tracks makes this feel like an unholy mashup between bikini kill vocals over black keys or kings of leon instrumentals, and that is simply not my vibe.
the last song, Yeah! New York, might be the worst song I've heard since yesterday's pikmin trumpet on PJ Harvey's album. not sure if this was a bonus track that was left off the original album release but after hearing it, it should've stayed left off. it's got all the makings of a classic:
- screaming and moaning
- lyrics that include phrases like "yeah! big apple!" and rhyming "pink eyes" with "pink thighs"
- white stripes-ass drum part
- terrible title
- repetitive one-note instrument parts
- lyrics that go nowhere and say nothing in the process
Soundgarden
3/5
i consider myself a fan of early/mid-90s grunge, but this album just never clicked for me. to me it just feels dark and inaccessible, like it's that weird loner in the corner of the party that just truly Does Not Want to Be There.
with that said, spoonman absolutely slaps. love that song. black hole sun is a classic too. but the rest? ehhh not for me
favorites: spoonman (slaps), black hole sun (classic)
Steely Dan
5/5
another really great album, and only a week after the last steely dan album it generated for us! what a treat! the jazz-rock fusion works so well for SD's 70s output... i have no notes, keep doing your thing guys.
favorites: rikki don't lose that number, any major dude will tell you, pretzel logic, charlie freak
Orbital
3/5
i liked this more than some of the other electronic music albums on the 1001 list, but it's still not my first pick. i assume the music is much better when played at an illegal 90s rave with a copious amount of party drugs, so the sober experience was middling. i appreciate this album's existence and what it sets out to do, but i wouldn't put it on my top 1001 albums list or anything like that.
favorites: halcyon and on and on
Def Leppard
4/5
pretty good overall. i wasn't born when def leppard were popular but I don't understand why they seem to get way more hate than other similar bands from the time. this album has a few classics and I didn't hate any of the tracks, so I guess that's notable for some of these 1001 albums. i'd definitely revisit this, which is why I'm giving it 4 stars (it's honestly a 3.5 like so many others to me)
favorites: foolin', rock of ages
Aretha Franklin
4/5
good album! aretha has an amazing voice and these songs are solid. i didn't really understand the "bonus selections" on the spotify album just being mono versions of the songs on the album that sounded the same to me, but I guess that's more spotify's fault than anything.
favorites: chain of fools, you make me feel like a natural woman
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
cool album. i loved the instrumentation, the pastiches of the last 50 years of musical genres, and the production. several of the guests brought a lot to their tracks. the lyrics were very hit and miss to me. kendrick will go from a poignant song about institutional racism to a braggadocious song about sex or just repeating nonsense. another 3.5 star album to me but I liked enough of it to rate 4 stars here.
favorites: wesley's theory, for free, king kunta, momma
Radiohead
5/5
kid a is phenomenal. i listened to it three times yesterday and it's beautiful from start to finish. i hadn't heard this album much before now, but I did know five or six songs from Rodeohead and friends playing them beforehand. everything here flows well and the Kid A Mnesia experience that I checked out a few weeks ago has some context now. I've already put this one in my rotation moving forward.
favorites: everything in its right place, the national anthem, how to disappear completely, treefingers, optimistic, idioteque, morning bell
Boston
5/5
what a great album! basically a greatest hits album for boston since all these tracks are solid (and they never really had any other huge hits except maybe amanda). this is another album i know primarily through Rock Band and it's baffling that we got only 7 of the 8 tracks in the game (sorry, let me take you home tonight, someone at harmonix has it out for you)
favorites: more than a feeling, peace of mind, foreplay/long time, smokin'
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
4/5
i had never heard of this band or album before now but this was a great listen. i think i played it through 4 or 5 times in the last 24 hours... it's good!! nice 80s indie/pop/rock/new wave style. adding this to the rotation.
favorites: perfect skin, rattlesnakes, charlotte street, are you ready to be heartbroken?
R.E.M.
5/5
R.E.M. has been one of my favorite bands for roughly 20 years so i was always going to like this album, but i confess i only knew the big songs off it. after listening through a few times, i think this album is a perfect encapsulation of R.E.M.'s sound in the 80s. jangly pop-rock guitars without the otherwise ubiquitous 80s synths, creative but obtuse lyrics that get muddled in the mix (so you really have to work to understand what michael stipe is saying), alternative rock drum beats, and driving basslines. all in all, a solid package of tracks that set the stage for their next several albums and some of their biggest songs yet to come.
favorites: radio free europe, laughing, talk about the passion, catapult, we walk
Joan Armatrading
3/5
the lyrics on this album are great, and the instrumentation is solid. however, the songs themselves just don't come together for me in a gripping and enduringly appealing way. i'm happy for everyone who loves this album but it's another 3.5 stars for me after about two listens.
favorites: down to zero, love and affection
Drive-By Truckers
5/5
ok this might sound crazy considering all the other reviews on this album but I thought this was excellent. it's going to take a lot to convince me to pay attention to a 93-minute double album, but I thought the rock opera/concept album approach worked very well here. listening to each song and reading through the background/explanation and lyrics via DBT's website and Genius annotations really helped to contextualize what I was hearing.
obviously, you'll need to have a penchant for southern rock, lynyrd skynyrd, or late 20th century US history to get the most out of this album. but even without those, it still evokes a mood and time period very well. it handles a wide variety of concepts and themes in a moving and respectful way, and definitely deserves your time and attention.
favorites: about half of these honestly. in disc/track order, ronnie and neil through the southern thing, zip city, let there be rock through plastic flowers on the highway, angels and fuselage
Elvis Costello
4/5
i think i listened to this album like three and a half times and it was pretty enjoyable. i only knew radio radio and pump it up before this, but this album apparently has basically all his solo hits. the new wave energy on this album is impeccable, but elvis veers off into punk, ska/reggae, power pop, and other genres effortlessly. I'll definitely listen to these tracks again.
favorites: welcome to the working week, alison, mystery dance, I'm not angry, watching the detectives
Judas Priest
5/5
another great album, and i feel like there's not a huge selection of metal/hard rock albums in this 1001 list (either that or the randomizer hates me). this might be my favorite priest album, but the only one I know more than a song or two from is screaming for vengeance.
the songs here are solid and there are definitely more hits than duds. it's not the best album ever but really lays the groundwork for future JP tracks and the metal genre at large. also, why oh why did Rock Band only get the crappy live version of this when the studio version is so much better?
favorites: metal gods, breaking the law, united, living after midnight, the rage, steeler
Led Zeppelin
3/5
i've never been a huge led zep fan, though I like a handful of their singles. this album was fine but didn't do much for me. the instrumentation seemed technically proficient but several songs in particular were like three minutes too long and didn't really go anywhere. the lyrics all being like "baby, baby, oooohhhh whoooooaaaa, baby be my woman tonight" were not exactly riveting.
favorites: good times bad times, babe I'm gonna leave you
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
i like CCR a decent amount and know a handful of songs from their other albums, but not this one. I've heard born on the bayou and proud mary, and of course good golly miss molly. those are really the only standouts, as much as I wanted to like a song called "keep on chooglin'". we really didn't need three out of seven songs to be over 5 minutes long on this album, and they didn't really go anywhere in that time. meh
favorites: born on the bayou, proud mary, good golly miss molly
The Flaming Lips
4/5
wow, i really liked this album! i knew yoshimi battles the pink robots pt 1 and do you realize??, and just somehow never thought to check out the rest of this album. it's solid all the way through and visits some interesting places musically. I'll definitely revisit this one in the future.
favorites: fight test, one more robot/sympathy 3000-21, yoshimi pt 1, in the morning of the magicians, ego tripping at the gates of hell, do you realize??, all we have is now
Joy Division
2/5
huh, the critics sure raved about this album 40 years ago but try as i might, i just cannot get into it, even after multiple listens. it sounds like the worst and most uncanny parts of early depeche mode and the residents combined, with a sad man half-singing, half-rambling over the top.
i wanted to like this and it's just not doing it for me, but i can respect what it means to the people who really enjoy it.
favorites: twenty four hours
Nine Inch Nails
4/5
good album! trent bangin out the tunes, 1994
favorites: heresy, march of the pigs, closer, hurt
Bob Dylan
4/5
pretty good, this one's got some classic bobby d tracks. dylan is definitely a great storyteller and a huge name in the american folk music scene, though not an artist i listen to that often. i'll revisit some of these highway 61 revisited tracks in the future for sure, though.
favorites: like a rolling stone, tombstone blues, ballad of a thin man, desolation row
Joni Mitchell
4/5
this was a very pleasant listen. i didn't know any of the songs going into it but after two plays all the way through, i have some newfound respect for joni mitchell and would definitely listen to this again.
favorites: my old man, carey, river, a case of you, the last time i saw richard
Willie Nelson
4/5
as a native austinite, i [am mandated by law to] love willie nelson. he's an iconic figure in texas' history and mythology. he also has a great voice (in a kindly old grandpa sort of way, at least nowadays) and knows how to make a song enticing.
I'm more familiar with his newer covers like Just Breathe, The Scientist, Have You Ever Seen the Rain (well, a new cover of an old song) so this album just felt like a regular ol' collection of songs to me, but given the willie treatment. very pleasant to listen to.
it almost feels like I'm sitting around the campfire looking up at the stars (which, at least at night, are big and bright (but only deep in the heart of texas)) while willie strums away on his guitar. very nice.
favorites: stardust, georgia on my mind, all of me
Morrissey
3/5
i could go on for days about this man's extremely strange politics and convictions, possibly some of the craziest of any public figure i know, but i'm gonna go ahead and go on record saying that this guy is an ass. you know how sometimes you're so passionate about animals that you accidentally do a racism? morrissey knows.
anyway, the album itself was fine. there are some decent songs, though it's hard to feel sorry for ol' sad sack narcissist morrissey here. i also liked how he said he doesn't have many friends in the first track, and several songs later is telling us to hold onto them and not feel ashamed to have them??? who is ashamed to have friends, what kind of serial killer would write this
anyway, favorite songs: spring-heeled jim, billy budd, the more you ignore me the closer i get (it's got a good instrumental part even if the lyrics aren't great)
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
this is probably my favorite CCR album, and like half the songs are solid singles, even if a few of them are covers. the two longer songs definitely feel like a slog to get through but otherwise the album basically alternates between good singles and deeper cuts.
favorites: travelin' band, lookin' out my back door, up around the bend, who'll stop the rain
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
i know neil young can write good songs but none of these grabbed me at all. this was an incredibly long and boring album that went nowhere for me. just a resounding meh.
favorites: cinnamon girl, i guess
Dire Straits
4/5
i listened to this twice while lying on the couch, exhausted from covid. it was kinda trippy, especially ride across the river's jazzy DK jungle beats. there's also a familiar sprinkling of synthesized 80s cheese over the top of the whole record, which was kind of comforting. the back half of the album definitely dragged on, but it was a good listen overall
favorites: money for nothing, walk of life
Stevie Wonder
4/5
this was an enjoyable listen, even for a double album! stevie knocks it out of the park again with some amazing tracks here and solid musicianship throughout. i definitely liked the first half more, but nothing felt like a bad inclusion here.
favorites: sir duke, i wish, pastime paradise, summer soft, isn't she lovely
Thelonious Monk
3/5
this music was nice enough as background noise but i didn't really enjoy listening to any of the tracks actively. i wanted to like the album but it just didn't do much for me personally.
favorites: pannonica, bemsha swing
Ian Dury
3/5
this was a baffling inclusion but admittedly i think I'm just not the target audience. a lot of the references and subtleties went way over my head, and i wish i could appreciate it more. still, as i see it, it's a weird album for weird people, and there's nothing wrong with that.
this guy is an unapologetically horny brit, and i applaud his genre explorations from track to track. the lyrics don't do much for me, particularly the overtly sexual ones, but whatever. still not sure how this makes the 1001 list but there are worse albums on the list than this one by far.
favorites: sweet gene vincent, sex & drugs & rock & roll
Paul McCartney and Wings
3/5
meh, there are some okay singles here but knowing that paul is capable of writing and performing much more exciting songs with the beatles, this just doesn't cut the mustard. still the best of any ex-beatle's solo work, but that's not really saying much, is it?
favorites: band on the run, bluebird
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
green onions is a great track, but the rest of the album began to wear thin on me. the hammond organ works great for a track or two, but 35 straight minutes of it was a bit much. after a while it felt like i was at a very confusing baseball game or wedding being held in a liminal space.
favorites: green onions, twist and shout
Elvis Presley
3/5
this was enjoyable but nothing special. i didn't know any of the songs beforehand and this album doesn't really have any of his big hits. ehhhh we can do better
favorites: fever, dirty dirty feeling, such a night
N.E.R.D
2/5
wow, i really wanted to like this album but it just... wasn't good. none of the songs ever really went anywhere. when i liked the instrumentation, the vocals sounded awful and vice versa. the lyrics weren't interesting for the songs i was reading along to. i listened to the album twice and change just to make sure.
the madden bros even made an appearance (it was 2004 so this is understandable) and just didn't add anything to that track. didn't even notice lenny kravitz and he was apparently on two tracks?? also i don't think you can call these hidden tracks if they're just... in the middle of the album??? what. just... baffling and mediocre all around
favorites: fly or die
James Taylor
4/5
i enjoyed this album and didn't really know any of it (beyond oh susannah, and not his version) beforehand. "sweet baby james" is kind of a ridiculous name for an album but i won't hold it against him. i also think he has a sort of matt mercer look/vibe on this album cover. good stuff.
favorites: sweet baby james, steamroller, oh susannah, fire and rain
David Bowie
4/5
good album with some absolute bangers in changes and life on mars. i didn't know the others but they were enjoyable to listen to at least. this really feels like bowie finding his niche, and I'm here for it.
favorites: changes, life on mars?, queen bitch
Patti Smith
3/5
interesting album. i've never really listened to patti smith beyond her covers and because the night (amazing song) so it was cool to hear her sort of proto-punk roots. with that said, i wish i had liked these songs more :D it was kinda like riot grrrl vocals over piano instrumentals... bikini kill-y joel. lyrics were great though
favorites: free money, my generation (live) (from the legacy edition of the album)
Otis Redding
4/5
i liked this one. otis redding has a great voice and does some solid covers. I'll be coming back to these for sure.
favorites: respect, my girl, wonderful world, i can't get no satisfaction
2/5
well, they tried something different and while it's not particularly good or enjoyable, it's still a way more interesting inclusion in the overall 1001 list than the ninth fuckin' Neil Young album or whatever. I liked how about 22 minutes in, the album got much more listenable. I could swear I heard bits of the hawaii five-o theme in there too... interesting.
favorites: I'm not currently looking at the track list but I think it was called like feet music or some shit? what the fuck haha
Thundercat
2/5
after listening to this like one and a half times, i honestly still don't know what to think of it. it defies classification. some of these songs were well-written jazzy jams with clever lyrics and the rest just sounded like the worst hold music of all time (with some really crappy lyrics on top). i found myself stopping a few times and audibly asking anyone within earshot "what the FUCK are we listening to"
favorites: blackkk, tokyo (one of the songs with terrible lyrics though), them changes, where i'm going
The Rolling Stones
4/5
i didn't grow up listening to the rolling stones but this album was pretty solid. starts off super strong with the classic brown sugar (which admittedly hasn't aged super well, unless that's part of it). sway, wild horses, and can't you hear me knocking are also great tracks. it gets a bit boring after that, particularly toward the end of the album, but i can see how these have stood the test of time.
favorites: brown sugar, sway, wild horses, can't you hear me knocking
Van Morrison
3/5
this album sure was fine. pleasant enough but all the songs kinda just blended together. also i guess van morrison is an antisemitic anti-vaxxer now SO THAT'S GREAT
favorites: moondance, into the mystic (i know it was the 70s but cool g-slur bro)
Fugazi
5/5
this album was great and i really enjoyed it. the post-hardcore/punk sound leads to a lot of high-energy songs that are musically varied and interesting, in my opinion. i don't mind the vocals at all and the more i learn about fugazi, the more i admire their perspectives, politics, and DIY attitude.
i hadn't heard more than a handful of their songs before now, but these'll go into my regular rotation. i almost gave this four stars but i just rated rolling stones as four and this was so much better. five stars, dammit!
favorites: turnover, repeater, blueprint, sieve-fisted find, two beats off
Sparks
4/5
wow, i have no memory of this but apparently i liked seven of these songs on spotify as i was listening to this album at work yesterday? welp.
cool album, basically sounded like queen plus david bowie plus jukebox the ghost (and my fiancee said early of Montreal as well). basically just the ultimate mashup of glam and new wave sounds. I'll add some of these to the rotation, good find!
favorites: this town ain't big enough for both of us, amateur hour, hasta manana monsieur, talent is an asset, in my family, equator, barbecutie
5/5
what is there to say about this album that hasn't already been said? it's basically the pinnacle of the 70s glam rock genre and bowie's best. the album flows well, has some genuinely great lyrics, and great sound. basically everything still holds up to this day and likely will for years to come. an absolute classic.
also, I'm a huge fan of ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, and Lady Stardust's opening sounds uncannily similar to The Summer of '91. I'm definitely onto something here.
favorites: five years, moonage daydream, starman, lady stardust, ziggy stardust, suffragette city
Radiohead
5/5
great album! i agree with the other commenters that this is a 5-star 1001-albums-album but like a 4.5/5 for radiohead themselves. it's no ok computer or kid a or in rainbows but it is pleasant and weird and enjoyable and complex like we've come to expect from thom and the boys.
favorites: 2+2=5, sit down stand up, sail to the moon, backdrifts, where i end and you begin, there there, myxomatosis, a wolf at the door
Herbie Hancock
3/5
this was a cool, funky jazz album. crazy that you can just put four songs on an album and call it a day, but herbie's just built different i guess (he's fully loaded). this was like 3.5 stars for me but i don't know how often I'll revisit it. gonna have to clear my schedule if i want to listen to all 16 minutes of chameleon. cool tracks though
favorites: chameleon, watermelon man
New York Dolls
3/5
this sure was fine. it sounded like the rolling stones and the ramones mashed up into one mediocre rock band. i guess there wasn't much music around in the 70s like this and that's why it influenced so many actually good musicians, but i don't think there's much here nowadays. not for me anyway. better than some albums on this list but mostly just average to me.
favorites: personality crisis, trash
Waylon Jennings
4/5
i didn't know any of these songs going in but i really liked this album and listened to it twice in a row, then a bunch of other outlaw country. the story behind the album is great and the lyrics and instrumentation are spot on. my favorite line is probably "if my feet could fit a railroad track, i guess i'd been a train"
favorites: honky tonk heroes, ain't no god in mexico, black rose, we had it all
The Sonics
2/5
i'm convinced the sonics were just the mediocre-er beach boys. how did this make the 1001 list...? there's just nothing interesting going on here, save for MULTIPLE SAXOPHONE SOLOS
favorites: money, strychnine
Al Green
2/5
well, i wanted to like this album but this guy has multiple allegations of domestic abuse against him so yikes. there's so much good music out there in the world that 1001 albums really shouldn't continue platforming people like this...
favorites: let's stay together, how can you mend a broken heart
Elliott Smith
4/5
pretty good overall, though a lot of the songs sound really similar. i ended up listening through the album four times just to try to differentiate between the songs and pick up on things i'd missed.
great lyrics, moody guitar, and hushed vocals come together to make a solid album. i can see how this would have a huge impact on people who discovered it at the right time in their lives. i didn't have any knowledge of or nostalgia for elliott smith prior to yesterday but still enjoyed it.
favorites: speed trials, Alameda, ballad of big nothing, between the bars, rose parade, angeles, say yes
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
this album was solid and i can see why it's considered a classic but it didn't make a huge impact on me. born to run (the song) is one i already knew well and really enjoyed, and I'm sure i'd heard thunder road and tenth avenue freeze-out at some point. after two listens though, this album just sounded like the best and worst of billy joel and meatloaf blended together. the sax is cool though
favorites: thunder road, born to run, jungleland
The Black Crowes
3/5
another fine album that didn't really do much for me, even after two listens. the songs are all pretty samey and unfortunately the one song they wrote wasn't one i really cared for. i can definitely see how people would like this sort of music but i just don't think it's anything special.
the songs i knew going into it are still my favorites, and hard to handle is definitely the best one here.
favorites: hard to handle, she talks to angels
Ministry
3/5
solid industrial album. not my favorite but certainly a unique sound compared with everything else in this list. production and mixing seemed really flat though... everything felt very compressed in terms of EQ and i think the album suffers as a result (even if this was a stylistic choice). songs are hit and miss but yeah, interesting stuff overall.
favorites: jesus built my hotrod, scare crow, psalm 69
Neil Young
2/5
meh, not interesting or engaging to me... like all the other neil young albums I've had generated so far. he has like three songs i like, i swear, i just haven't lucked into any of them yet D:
favorites: tell me why
AC/DC
3/5
eh, i used to hate AC/DC but have come around on them a bit in recent years. they've got like eight good songs but unfortunately only one of them is on this album. after the title track, this album doesn't really go anywhere or do anything exciting, it just all sounds the same. if you really like the one 40-minute AC/DC song they wrote, then you'll love this album, but it was just ok for me.
favorites: highway to hell, touch too much
R.E.M.
5/5
i love rem and don't care who knows it. this album might be their best work of the 80s (though i've listened to green more) and it's just fun and well-done all the way through. finest worksong is a great opener and it just stays high from there. i know probably 95% of the words to it's the end of the world as we know it (and i feel fine) so i may not be an unbiased judge of character here. anyway this album is great, five stars.
favorites: all of it but if i have to pick a few, finest worksong, welcome to the occupation, exhuming mccarthy, ...end of the world..., the one i love
Harry Nilsson
4/5
i liked this more than i expected to. he sounded like an american beatle so if you're into that then you're good to go. nice songs, interesting and varied music, and the song about the lime in the coconut - what more do you want?
favorites: gotta get up, without you, coconut, jump into the fire
Laibach
3/5
this was an interesting album. their whole shtick reminded me of the band Ghost, but like, the 80s german industrial version. i enjoyed the german queen covers. unfortunately, the novelty of the album wore off after a few tracks, leaving the last half of it a real slog to get through. also, the ironic fascism element probably hit different in 1987 than in 2023... :\
with all that said, i get why this is in the bottom 20 or so albums on this site, but I'll stand by my mantra. it's better to be weird and interesting and potentially off-putting than milquetoast. i'd rather listen to my ninth totally off-the-wall album than my ninth neil young album.
favorites: leben heisst leben, geburt einer nation, opus dei
Talking Heads
5/5
this album is one of my favorites. just the right amount of weird and interesting without sacrificing quality. once in a lifetime is one of my favorite songs ever, and the entire front half of this album is banger after banger.
favorites: born under punches (the heat goes on), cross-eyed and painless, the great curve, once in a lifetime
Nina Simone
3/5
this was a pleasant listen though honestly not something i'd really seek out myself or listen to often. nina's deep and soulful voice is a highlight of the album and really sets her apart from the pack.
favorites: four women, lilac wine, wild is the wind
Beck
3/5
i normally love all sorts of "weird" music and sampling but for some reason beck never really clicked for me (beyond "loser" anyway). something about the composition just feels so haphazard and either meaningless or like I'm too stupid to understand what he's trying to accomplish. either way, doesn't feel great.
i do like the way beck careens into different genres left and right, even on the same track. still, i came into this only really knowing the two big singles and left the same way. i'd give this 3.5 stars if i could just because i like a lot of what it's doing but realistically I'm not sure how often I'll be coming back to these deeper cuts.
favorites: devils haircut, where it's at
Einstürzende Neubauten
2/5
i truly don't think this deserves to be the lowest-rated album on the entire 1001 albums list. i mean i GET why people aren't going to like it on the surface level but it was definitely unique. some of it sounded like german nine inch nails, while other tracks sounded like someone falling down thirty flights of stairs with their entire drum kit falling after them. either way, it's better than the ninth neil young album on this list.
let's do our part to make sure kid rock and his sleazeball ilk fall to the bottom position on this list, yeah?
favorites: tanz debil, jet'm, kollaps
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
i know this album is iconic or whatever but it didn't make a huge impact on me. the lyrics painted a sad story about a crumbling America that had failed its people, which like, i can definitely get on board with, but the actual music just didn't really hit me beyond the surface level. i think i liked born to run more.
favorites: born in the USA, cover me, dancing in the dark
Funkadelic
5/5
this was a great album and i really enjoyed it. funky tunes and great lyrics - power to the pussy indeed. i was planning to only give it four stars but really the only complaint i have is that two of the tracks are 10 minutes long, which isn't really a "problem" per se. good stuff here, I'll definitely revisit it in the future.
favorites: maggot brain, can you get to that, hit it and quit it
Led Zeppelin
4/5
i never really got into led zep and always found them to be a tad overrated but I'll freely admit that this is a good album. it has its ups and downs but the singles are solid and there are some bonafide classics here. also misty mountain hop sounded like suffragette city + 20th century boy, so if you're into those then you might like this track.
favorites: black dog, stairway to heaven, misty mountain hop, when the levee breaks
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
i enjoyed this album, though i didn't know any of the songs on it beforehand. like most people (i presume), i'm mostly familiar with the greatest hits collection and a handful of other tracks.
this album was great music to have on in the background while at work and i liked the message of the lyrics i heard. also i kept thinking Baby We've Got a Date was like the reggae version of Ring of Fire. cool stuff, definitely need to listen more in the future.
favorites: Concrete Jungle, Baby We've Got a Date, Stir It Up
10cc
5/5
honestly, nuts to the haters. this album was great. it was wild and wacky and all over the place, but in a fun, tongue-in-cheek way.
the biggest knock against it was the unnecessary sprinkling of racism across a few of the tracks. hotel, baron samedi, and maybe oh effendi all felt a bit unsettling to listen to in those sections, like hearing an uncle you always thought was kinda cool spout some nonsense at a family reunion. the use of AAVE (or i guess whatever the British equivalent is) just looks bad, especially 50 years later.
otherwise, the songs were fun and interesting. some felt like 70s classics, others could've been written in 2009. hotel sounds like a flight of the concords or vampire weekend song. clockwork creep is like freddie mercury singing in a musical showstopper. old wild men seems to be poking fun at bands like led zeppelin, which I'm always here for.
in summary, this is like steely dan + queen + meatloaf + talking heads + elvis costello + novelty records from the 50s + L + ratio + first single failed to chart. this feels like a band that john flansburgh of they might be giants would love. also their band name is bad.
favorites: basically everything. old wild men and baron samedi are probably my least favorites of the bunch
Erykah Badu
1/5
eh, not the worst album on this list by a long shot, but pretty dull and uninspiring to me. the songs all smush together and don't really go anywhere. whenever i thought the music sounded ok, the vocals were there to bore me to death, and vice versa. lyrics were meh and had some secret "god is good" messaging which was an unpleasant discovery. the best compliment i can give it is it reminded me of Rouge's level music in Sonic Adventure 2.
also, surprised to see that no one's referenced any of the legal issues or controversies surrounding erykah "hitler was good actually" badu. she's not like, kid rock or marilyn manson level, but still, yikes
favorites: didn't cha know (i guess)
The Temptations
3/5
not sure how i feel about this album. the funky tracks were amazing but the slow, soft piano ballads didn't really hit home for me. i did have a minor heart attack when i saw that papa was a rollin' stone was nearly 12 minutes long and a third of the total album length, but man did they do it justice. that song slaps and i was wrong for prejudging it so. i don't really remember most of the later tracks but I'm sure they were pleasant enough. there's really nothing *bad* here.
favorites: papa was a rollin' stone, love woke me up this morning
The Clash
4/5
i've always liked the clash and their music a fair amount and while i didn't know the songs here super well, this album was no exception. solid early punk tunes with a clear message and fast, driving guitars and drums. i think they were still finding their footing here and some of the songs later in the album are a bit dull, but i really liked the first few. police & thieves is a decent cover too. overall, it's good, but it's no london calling.
favorites: janie jones, remote control, I'm so bored with the USA, white riot
Wild Beasts
2/5
boy, this one is hard to rate. on one hand, i really liked the music. 4-5 star instrumentals here, super cool late 00s indie vibes. however, the vocals were like a 1-2 and the lyrics were absolutely a 1. what the heck was happening with these lyrics...?
"disowned us daddies like the poopers of the party" really says it all. and that's from the same track talking about putting a boot up your asshole and a slipper in your bits. what
favorites: the fun powder plot, hooting & howling, all the king's men
Jungle Brothers
4/5
i liked this album! the "daisy age" of early 90s hip-hop was a fun time and i wish we could go back. the samples in this album are on point and i actually recognized a few of them without going to whosampled. good beats and good vibes, what more could you want?
favorites: beyond this world, feelin alright, what u waitin 4, good newz comin, doin our own dang
The Beta Band
4/5
this album was pretty cool and i enjoyed listening to it. I'm not sure how "iconic" it is or anything, but it definitely fits the early 2000s vibe of up-and-coming alt/indie rock music i remember. maybe there's a world where these dudes hit it big instead of the killers or lcd soundsystem or something. squares is a jam and the other tracks are fine to good imo. definitely some weird and trippy stuff on here though.
favorites: squares, al sharp, human being, gone, eclipse
Kraftwerk
4/5
very cool songs for/about/by german robots. this sound would have absolutely blown my mind if i were alive and had heard it in 1978. each song felt really unique and interesting, and i enjoyed what each of them brought to the table. will listen again.
favorites: basically everything. metropolis was the weakest track in my opinion
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
great album here, wonderful background music to have on while working. the songs are musically varied and interesting, and the lyrical themes were fun to work out with my intermediate spanish knowledge. I'll definitely listen to more of this in the future.
favorites: chan chan, de camino a la vereda, el cuarto de tula, dos gardenias
Cowboy Junkies
3/5
This music was pleasant enough to have on in the background but didn't really move me or hold my interest for long. the covers are pretty good but i don't know how much of this i'd relisten to. it has a cool origin story though.
favorites: mining for gold, blue moon revisited, I'm so lonesome i could cry, sweet jane
Cheap Trick
4/5
this album was fine and i'll concede it's notable/historic, especially for a live album. this version of i want you to want me is really the most iconic version in my opinion. i liked the songs i knew already, plus clock strikes ten had some interesting instrumentation going on. everything else felt like filler, and the live part didn't really add much to the experience for me. quality was also not stellar, but it's live and in the 70s so i get that.
favorites: hello there, i want you to want me, surrender, clock strikes ten
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
4/5
this was a cool album and i really enjoyed it. i like salsa as a genre well enough but i couldn't tell you a single song or artist name. it was cool to hear a lot of it all in one place and try to figure out the lyrics. cool west side story reference as well. the instrumentation and musicianship are just off the charts here.
favorites: plastico, buscando guayaba, pedro navaja
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
well that sure was an album. i didn't hate it but boy is there a lot of mediocre filler on here. the highs are very high (under the bridge) and the lows are oh so low (sir psycho sexy). i'm no prude but sir psycho sexy might be the worst and most generally disgusting/off-putting song i've listened to in 140 albums so far. it's just gross and feels super misogynistic. bleh.
before i listened to this album all the way through,, i really lamented that it got delisted from the rock band music store. now i'm pretty much at peace with it (though it'd be nice to have under the bridge back at least).
favorites: i could have lied, mellowship slinky in b major, give it away, under the bridge
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Arcade Fire
5/5
win butler sex pest controversies aside, this album was stellar. i never listened to it at the time but it absolutely evokes that late 00s indie rock vibe. everything has a bit of an ethereal quality to it, and some of these tracks are just hauntingly beautiful. the organ was a nice touch without feeling overdone (looking at you, green onions by booker t and the mgs). i really enjoyed this and will come back for more in the future!
favorites: keep the car running, black wave/bad vibrations, ocean of noise, (antichrist television blues), no cars go, my body is a cage
Deep Purple
4/5
while i enjoyed this album, i can absolutely see how it would not be appreciated unless you're already at least somewhat of a fan of deep purple's music. the 20 minute tracks, extended drum and guitar solos, and random high-pitched screams aren't going to be everyone's cup of tea. still, i thought this was an exceptionally well-made live album, especially for the 70s. after listening to cheap trick's at budokan last week, this blows it out of the water in every way - tight musicianship, incredible virtuosity, fresh improvisation, and high fidelity audio.
favorites: the ones i knew already (highway star, child in time, smoke on the water, and space truckin) plus the weird screams and bits on strange kind of woman and lazy.
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
as everyone else has said, this album is extremely strange. it felt like a cross between they might be giants and the residents, both of whom were probably inspired by this anyway. i basically liked every other track on here though. some of them were probably pretty good satire 60 years ago and parts of that are surely lost to time. the weird skits and random samples really made me feel like i was turning the radio dial to desperately tune into a station with a real song. i definitely understand the dislike for this album but i thought it was a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of boring stuff on this list.
favorites: who needs the peace corps, mom & dad, bow tie daddy, what's the ugliest part of your body, absolutely free, flower punk, let's make the water turn black, mother people
The Verve
3/5
meh. this was a pretty average mid-90s britpop/alternative affair and nothing really stuck out to me. certainly not as immediately recognizable or hooky as bitter sweet symphony or the other tracks from their 1997 album. i was going to give this 2 stars but i suppose it's not THAT bad, just a bit dull and uninspiring to me. or maybe I'm just not in the right mood to enjoy it. it was pleasant enough to have on in the background.
favorites: on your own, history
Iron Maiden
5/5
in a not-at-all shocking move surprising no one, i thought this album was excellent and one of the best on 1001 albums so far (like 150 albums in). i've loved maiden for decades despite some boomery comments on social media and the first few albums being a bit rough around the edges.
with that said, the music is great here. you can really see how this laid the groundwork for their later albums and really the entire NWOBHM genre as a whole. the guitar harmonies are something maiden do extremely well and will become a staple of their songwriting moving forward. drums hit hard and everyone sounds good, though this is pre-bruce dickinson so not quite the same impact on the vocals front.
prowler is an amazing kickoff to the album and really sets you up for what's to come. remember tomorrow is fine but a little boring imo. running free has that iconic pounding drum part and a great singalong chorus. phantom of the opera might be the best track here, and really the first instance of a maiden epic. interesting musical variation between sections, "higher brow" lyrics based on literature and theatre, and a longer runtime would become staples for iconic similar tracks in the future. transylvania just straight up slaps. strange world was another one that didn't really make an impact on me, but they bring it back with charlotte the harlot. along with prowler, this makes two songs about women of the night on this album? closing it out, we have iron maiden by iron maiden from their seminal album iron maiden. solid track here, great music, lyrics are kinda goofy, but it's another song that's hella fun to sing along to.
favorites: basically everything here. remember tomorrow and strange world are the low points for me. best is probably phantom
Songhoy Blues
4/5
this album was awesome. naturally i'd never heard of the band or had a clue what they were saying in the lyrics, but this is part of why i love 1001 albums. very cool to see a newer band from africa playing blues rock that is clearly crafted with deep meaning and emotion behind it.
favorites: soubour, al hassidi terei, sekou oumarou
Alice In Chains
5/5
dirt is still great. it's dark and brooding and heavy which isn't always what I'm looking for, but it's a grunge classic and stands the test of time. the lyrics are poignant and when combined with the music, really make you feel a connection with the horrors of drug abuse, war, and depression. incredible stuff.
favorite songs: top songs for me are rooster, would?, them bones. after a few listens, i also like rain when i die, down in a hole, sickman, and dirt
American Music Club
3/5
this album was pleasant but didn't seem particularly notable or groundbreaking, unless I'm missing something... the music sounded like a more subdued R.E.M., and the vocalist was kind of like a cross between Michael Stipe and Bruce Springsteen. certain songs like bad liquor were just annoying and since the album's not on streaming services, some of the tracks were terrible quality rips from youtube. now you're defeated was particularly bad, with noticeable artifacting on the cymbal hits.
favorites: somewhere, pale and skinny girl, jenny
Method Man
3/5
i wanted to like this album but it just didn't grip me. i don't have any nostalgia for wu-tang clan and don't know a ton about rap and hip-hop (so not off to a great start) but these lyrics and production felt solid. the more musical tracks were entertaining, and i especially liked the gloria gaynor interpolation in release yo delf.
favorites: tical, bring the pain, release yo delf
Fleet Foxes
4/5
this album was very pleasant and enjoyable! i listened to it twice through and had a great time. to be honest, none of the songs particularly stuck out to me or sounded terribly unique within the context of the rest of the album, but i liked their one song well enough :)
favorites: sun it rises, white winter hymnal, blue ridge mountains
The Black Keys
2/5
this album was almost offensively dull. the first few tracks were fine but the blues-rock-for-white-people vibe got pretty stale after that. i'd rather listen to a car alarm for an hour than this annoying fuzzy guitar tone and artificially heavy drum sounds while some soulful white guy sings nothing of importance at me. it's honestly impressive that they managed to write the exact same song 15 times and not realize it.
favorites: everlasting light, tighten up, howlin for you
Slipknot
5/5
i really liked this album, even more than i thought i would. i knew a handful of tracks from it beforehand but enjoyed most of what was going on here. tracks like psychosocial and snuff are some of slipknot's best, and this album strikes a good balance between really gritty, dark, heavy tracks and the nice but sad ballads.
with only one real exception, the songs were all in the neighborhood of 4-6 minutes long, which was a bit grueling for some of the less interesting tracks in the middle. in fact, i really enjoyed tracks 1-5 and 11-15, but the middle third of the album just didn't do much for me. still, that many good and varied tracks makes this an easy 5 star for this list.
favorites: tracks 2-5 and 11-15. especially sulfur, psychosocial, dead memories, snuff, and vermilion pt 2
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
wow, uh, how do i put this... this album was not good. i like other PIL songs and saw them live like a decade ago and enjoyed them, so I'm not sure what's happening here.
my fiancee described the opening song, theme, as "if Jesus of Suburbia was really bad and only had one section" which i think is spot on. tracks 2 and 3 were just a high school atheist's anti-religion rant a capella and then set to weird music. at 2:45 or so, someone abruptly decides to start strumming what sounds like the high strings inside a piano or an autoharp or something. public image is actually a good, solid song, and it's a miracle they even gave us that. final shoutout to fodderstompf which is the 8-minute album closer and sounds like all four members of strong bad's teen girl squad singing at once.
this album is weird (which i like), but it's not good (which i don't like). two stars because i won't lie awake thinking about it like a 1 star and i don't see myself ever coming back to it like a 3 star. it's just terribly forgettable.
favorites: public image, low life
Eagles
3/5
eh. it didn't make me angry to listen to but after the first two tracks it was just a real nothingburger. happy for the people who like this but it's just more dull dad rock to me. take it easy is a pretty good song though
favorites: take it easy, witchy woman
Iron Maiden
5/5
i love this album. it's got some absolutely iconic tracks on it like number of the beast and run to the hills, and almost all of the other tracks are legendary to fans like myself. in just two years from their debut, they've really nailed down what makes their band different from others at the time and sharpened their sound. hallowed be thy name has been my favorite maiden song for years and is just such a phenomenal album closer here.
favorites: children of the damned, the prisoner, 22 acacia avenue, the number of the beast, run to the hills, hallowed be thy name
Adele
2/5
adele has a great voice but good gravy are these songs dull. it's honestly impressive how boring this album manages to be in under an hour. i only really knew hello going into this and it looks like it's going to stay that way. none of the instrumentation was interesting and the lyrics could've been written by a middle schooler going through their first breakup. i can see why they dropped this from the 1001 list a few years back.
favorites: hello, send my love
George Michael
2/5
man, i did not care for this album. it felt too harsh to give it one star but there's just not anything interesting going on here. faith is a solid single but it all falls apart after that. the lyric writing is so clouded by utter horniness that it manages to say nothing at all. all the music sounds the same, that late 80s/early 90s peppy but a bit sleazy pop sound, and I'm just not into it.
favorites: faith
The Smiths
3/5
i listened to this album twice yesterday and while all the tracks kinda blended together into a sad boy slurry, it was pretty decent. on the other hand, fuck Morrissey. after listening to girlfriend in a coma, I'm starting to think he actually did murder that poor woman. also these song titles are like mid-2000s length fall out boy/panic at the disco length and similarly unnecessary.
favorites: a rush and a push..., stop me...
The Thrills
2/5
meh. it's been real feast or famine on these album choices lately. not sure if this one survived more than one edition of the book but it's not interesting. just more nice enough indie music that doesn't really say anything (unless it's about california) and these guys are irish?? the lead singer sounds like the guy from drive-by truckers. what on earth. no more of this please
favorites: santa cruz, big sur
The Who
3/5
fine i suppose. it's a 75-minute live album (yes i know it's iconic but still) with some decent hits and a bunch of random songs in between. it's a bit early in the who's career to have all the massive hits but there will be a few recognizable ones here. however, the live album format just doesn't really add anything. there's a bit of banter but that's about it. fine album but probably didn't need to be on this list.
favorites: heaven and hell, tattoo, summertime blues, shakin all over, magic bus
Various Artists
3/5
nice, an album full of classic christmas songs. yes, phil spector is the worst, but he only appears at the end of the album so it's easier to listen to these other songs as they are. some true classic versions of songs here, sleigh ride being my favorite. probably not going to listen to this year-round and again, there is the whole specter of spector lingering over this, so... three stars?
favorites: white christmas, santa claus is coming to town, sleigh ride, christmas baby please come home
The Band
2/5
it's fine. the weight is a classic but that's pretty much all you get here. not sure how this made the list... most of the songs sound the same and bro's yappin about the same thing with his weird voice in every song. not the worst album on here but ehh. i just like the songs that are DLC in rock band.
favorites: the weight, chest fever
Kate Bush
3/5
this was nice enough as pleasant background music. i probably didn't "get it" and it just made me think of bjork, but it was fine. none of the bigger hits i'm familiar with were on here but it was kind of nice to tune back into the songs whenever something interesting started happening, new instruments came in, etc.
favorites: the sensual world, the fog, rocket's tail, this woman's work
Sebadoh
3/5
weird album but i enjoyed it overall. pretty hit and miss in terms of individual songs, like it started out strong and then just went off the rails into experimental, less tonal nonsense after a few tracks. would listen to these again as i like some of the other lo-fi indie groups from this time but i have a feeling this will not bode well with the general listening public on 1001... can't wait to check the reviews after this!
favorites: soul and fire, two years two days, happily divided
George Harrison
2/5
geez louise george, give it a rest. this album goes on far too long and is far too boring on the whole. these are like beatles c-sides with only a few somewhat interesting tracks across the TRIPLE ALBUM on SIX SIDES that lasts OVER TWO HOURS. and has DUPLICATE TRACKS???? bro is yappin
though as george stated in 1971, "Music should be used for the perception of God, not jitterbugging." this music is about as dull as going to church so i'll give him that.
favorites: my sweet lord, what is life, awaiting on you all, art of dying
Kanye West
1/5
ugh. kanye is the absolute worst. this album was okay in spots and really dull in the rest, but it's gonna be hard to separate the mediocre art from the very outspoken artist on this one. i liked a few kanye songs before he went completely off the deep end, and none of them were from this album. also the 13-minute long track at the end was the most boring thing i'd heard since George Harrison's 12-minute long instrumental.
favorites: we don't care, school spirit, through the wire, two words, and family business were all fine
Tom Waits
3/5
this album was fine. i know tom waits' voice is a bit of an acquired taste but i don't have strong feelings about it one way or the other. the songs are like AU bruce springsteen and i do like the lyrics on several of them. the ballads are probably my favorite part of this album, though honestly all of the songs could be like two minutes shorter and i'd be fine with that.
favorites: heartattack and vine, downtown, jersey girl, on the nickel
Depeche Mode
4/5
pretty good for a 1001 album entry but not depeche mode's best. there are some good tracks here and a lot of darker 80s synth sounds that are kinda goofy in retrospect. definitely not "music for the masses" which I'm certain was their intent, but these other reviews may reflect that.
favorites: never let me down again, strangelove, little 15, behind the wheel
Elton John
4/5
i really enjoyed this album. on paper, opening with an 11-minute mostly-instrumental prog song was a bit... unorthodox, but on my second listen through i really enjoyed it. the following tracks are pretty much all huge bangers. then there's like 45 minutes of filler, then saturday night's alright for fighting, then 10 more minutes of filler. the filler is all fine, nothing terrible here (except maybe jamaica jerk-off lol) but the high points are SO good. i'll definitely come back to this in the future.
favorites: funeral for a friend/love lies bleeding, candle in the wind, bennie and the jets, goodbye yellow brick road, grey seal, saturday night's alright for fighting
Kanye West
3/5
pretty much a five-star album from a one-star man. just gonna split the difference here.
this album has some great production, samples, and guests, which results in an overall fun and enjoyable listen. some of the skits go on too long and kanye spends a lot of this talking about his sexual escapades, but otherwise it's solid. would listen again but kanye is such a terrible human now so ehhh
favorites: power, all of the lights, monster, runaway, blame game
The Clash
5/5
amazing album and one of my favorites! I've always liked tracks like London Calling, Lost in the Supermarket, and Koka Kola ever since I was a wee lad, but only fairly recently started listening to the others. The entire first half of this double album is pretty much just wall-to-wall bangers. They span basically every punk- or rock-adjacent genre, from rockabilly to ska to jazz to reggae. Everything's punchy and groovy and fun and just an incredible feat of lyricism and musicianship. I think the quality starts to dip around 75% through but ends on a high note with Train in Vain. Absolutely remarkable stuff though!
Favorites: London Calling, Jimmy Jazz through Spanish Bombs, Lost in the Supermarket through Koka Kola, Train in Vain.
Linkin Park
5/5
linkin park was one of my favorite bands growing up, so i was thrilled to see this on here. i think this album holds up pretty well and the production is slick, but at the same time it's definitely a product of its time. it flows well and has a bunch of amazing tracks, but there's definitely some filler here too.
one of my biggest gripes with linkin park now that I'm in my 30s is that their lyrics are just incredibly vague. maybe that helps them be relatable to more people like i thought in middle school, but they just don't really say anything. they're far from the only band at this time that had this problem, but they're one of the most prominent examples i can think of.
with that said, the music here is great. you can really get a sense for the variety of styles and backgrounds from the people who collaborated on these tracks. reanimation was my first linkin park album (which i bought as a young teen from barnes and noble back in probably 2004) and those are the versions of these tracks i knew the best for the longest time. while i enjoy the hybrid theory versions of most of them more, the creativity and new spins put on these songs for reanimation is exciting and fresh. it was really cool and inspiring to see a band constantly reinventing their sound and individual tracks at this time in my life.
favorites: papercut, one step closer, crawling, runaway, in the end, forgotten, pushing me away
Willie Nelson
4/5
this was a very enjoyable album. i liked the concept album structure of it and honestly, the fact that nearly all the songs were under 3 minutes long was a breath of fresh air compared to some recent albums I've gotten here. nice, simple, soulful music that feels like an old friend recounting stories. would listen again for sure.
favorites: blue eyes crying in the rain, red headed stranger, down yonder, hands on the wheel, bandera
Yes
5/5
imo this is the best yes album and maybe the best 70s prog rock album? there are so many excellent tunes here, from the opening to roundabout until the closer, heart of the sunrise. each one takes you on a unique and inspiring sonic journey. the lyrics are creative and mysterious, the instrumentation lush and varied, the vibes immaculate. yes absolutely broke the mold with fragile.
favorites: roundabout, we have heaven, south side of the sky, long distance runaround, heart of the sunrise
Beatles
5/5
saw someone saying this was the greatest album of all time, which, ok, no, slow your roll. it could be the best beatles album but idk, they've put out some solid releases and this album has some serious peaks and valleys. it starts strong with drive my car and norwegian wood, then there are like four meh songs before it really hits its stride. there's a bit more filler towards the end and it ends on a good note with run for your life.
john has some lyrics in run for your life about wanting to murder women which seem oddly prescient, and paul's diss track for his girlfriend at the time in I'm looking through you is super petty, but that song sounds really cool otherwise. what a strange collection of tracks.
favorites: drive my car, norwegian wood, Michelle, what goes on, girl, I'm looking through you, in my life, run for your life
The Rolling Stones
2/5
wow this was one classic single followed by nine filler tracks. i know the stones have hits but i guess they just put one on each album over 20 years so we end up with entries like this. did this really need to be on the list?
favorites: sympathy for the devil
Elvis Presley
3/5
this was pleasant and a fine listen. i was most excited to see the cover that London Calling was inspired by, as there's not a lot else to be inspired by here. a now-infamous white guy doing covers of black musicians' songs? how droll.
favorites: the ones i knew already: blue suede shoes, tutti frutti, blue moon
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
interesting album. i listened to it twice and must not have been paying much attention because every song just kinda faded to background noise. i liked a handful of them but some of the grating sound effects just didn't land for me.
favorites: just like honey, the hardest walk, taste of cindy
Joy Division
3/5
like other reviewers, i wanted to like this more than i did. the moody and drab gothic rock feel just did not hit for me. everything's musically either a little too loose or too rigid and it all just comes off as amateurish and off-putting. eh
favorites: disorder, day of the lords, shadowplay
Bob Dylan
4/5
this was an enjoyable listen. the songwriting is top notch and the music is nice and folky. i appreciate bob dylan's unique voice and harmonica chops so i guess that's a plus. kinda wild to see this baby of a man on the cover (looks like he was almost 23 when this was released) and hear the classic bob dylan voice, which always sounds about 70 years old to me.
some classics here and the rest are nice, evocative tracks as well.
favorites: blowin' in the wind, masters of war, a hard rain's a-gonna fall, don't think twice it's all right
The Strokes
4/5
pretty good overall and nice to see a more modern album on this list, but most of these songs were pretty average garage rock. oddly, i liked the middle of the album and didn't really care for the beginning or the end. the strokes have some good tracks and someday is easily my favorite of this album.
the sexy album cover also seems out of place and unnecessary? or maybe I'm just saying that because it's taking up most of the screen on my work computer. the alternate/US cover is way cooler imo. also i keep thinking julian casablancas and the strokes are british for some reason but i promise i didn't factor this into my rating.
favorites: someday, alone together, last nite, hard to explain
Cornershop
3/5
this was okay, definitely outside of the norm for this list (which is refreshing). i saw 90s British rock and immediately conjured forth an image in my mind's eye, which this did not match up with.
however, after the first two tracks, nothing really captured my attention until the Norwegian Wood cover. somewhat strangely, the cover sounded almost identical to the original save for it not being sung in English. anyway brimful of asha is a banger in a repetitive 90s electronic music kind of way and the fatboy slim remix is a good listen.
favorites: sleep on the left side, brimful of asha, norwegian wood.
Beck
3/5
it was fine. there are some good tracks here but boy is there a lot of filler. i know beck is capable of writing some absolute bangers, but most of the time he just decides not to? i don't even think it's a case of me not "getting it," i think he's just experimenting and it falls flat into something that's not very interesting. maybe I'm just not a beck fan.
favorite: e-pro, girl, black tambourine, earthquake weather
TV On The Radio
4/5
this album was pretty cool. i didn't know any TVOTR other than wolf like me, so it was nice to hear more from them. the songs didn't all stick out individually but the overall sound was enjoyable and solid.
favorites: family tree, red dress, dlz
GZA
3/5
another fine album that i probably wouldn't have sought out on my own. i like the martial arts movie clips/theme running throughout the album, that was pretty neat. the songs kinda blend together for me but the lyrics seemed well crafted. i might listen to a handful of these tracks again but it wasn't my favorite 90s rap/hip-hop.
favorites: liquid swords, 4th chamber, shadowboxin'
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
4/5
not sure how to rate this but it was a fun and quick little jaunt into 50s rock n roll. hard to hate anything on this album, and there are some certified classics here. i liked it!
favorites: oh boy, not fade away, that'll be the day
Pulp
4/5
this is a good and interesting album! the album starts off strong, with the first five tracks being bangers, though party hard is the weakest of the five. TV movie is the first boring one. a little soul sounded like the 90s britpop idea of what a bruce springsteen song sounded like. seductive barry was too long and weird. love how most of these songs have 1-3 million streams on spotify except for the day after the revolution, which only has 70k. what happened???
after two full listens, i still jammed to the first part of the album the most and the middle and end didn't really make an impact. still solid overall though.
favorites: the fear, dishes, help the aged, this is hardcore
Adele
3/5
this album wasn't really for me, though i know it is for millions of other people. adele has a great voice but most of these songs are just uninteresting pop-soul music for white people.
i will say that having already listened to 25 during this 1001 albums run, 21 is far better. there are way more huge hits on this 21, along with the songs all sounding at least a bit different from each other.
also maybe it's just me but i can't believe she's still titling albums after her age when writing them. it was kind of a fun gimmick at first but now that 30 has dropped, it feels super corny to me.
favorites: rolling in the deep, rumour has it, set fire to the rain, lovesong, someone like you
Incubus
5/5
i really enjoyed this album! i had heard a few songs beforehand and always thought of incubus as kind of a weird, trippy rock band but they're a lot more nu-metal than i realized. this album gave me big alien ant farm vibes (which is a good thing to me). definitely putting some of these into regular rotation!
favorites: privilege, nowhere fast, the warmth, stellar, drive, pardon me
Lorde
5/5
i honestly didn't expect to like this as much as i did. my fiancee is really into lorde so i was thrilled for her that we spun into this album, but there's a lot of depth and nuance to it. it opens strong with green light and sober, and is kind of a roller coaster after that. the ballads were a little dull but otherwise this album was great!
favorites: green light, sober, liability, hard feelings/loveless, sober ii (melodrama), supercut, perfect places
Hugh Masekela
3/5
while listening to this, i realized that i don't really know how to evaluate jazz music. it was pleasant enough to listen to but since i had it on in the background while working, I'm sure i missed some important moments. the kinds of moments where people would politely clap afterward and i would jump in late to clap too since i didn't want to seem rude.
anyway i think this is good and like, technically proficient, but maybe not for me. uhhh three stars? sorry y'all /shrug
favorites: part of a whole, minawa, maseru
ABBA
5/5
hell yes!! i was so excited to see ABBA when i loaded the page! this album has some absolute classic swedish pop bangers, along with a few duds and a song about gettin it on with your teacher. as a 90s kid, was that just like, the cool thing to do in the 70s and 80s? yikes
i don't think i'd ever listened to an ABBA album that wasn't a greatest hits collection so this was neat. definitely some filler but overall, great.
favorites: dancing queen, knowing me knowing you, money money money, tiger, fernando
CHVRCHES
5/5
damn, there are a lot of haters in the comments here. this album bangs and only really dips in quality when you get to the bonus tracks at the end. the mother we share is an absolute banger (and the only one i knew ahead of time, this time from the Harmonix game Dropmix) and the energy and vibes carry through the next six or so songs easily (which were apparently all released as singles? wild). more of this please!!
favorites: tracks 1-8, you caught the light
Brian Eno
4/5
honestly didn't expect to like this one all that much but it was pretty neat. the songs have a lot of uniqueness and character to them despite just being little experimental pieces, and thankfully none of them are long enough to overstay their welcome. the ones with lyrics also stand out, and i really liked how the title track reminded me of some of the mellow electronic Minecraft music.
favorites: st. elmo's fire, the big ship, I'll come running, another green world, zawinul/lava
Sex Pistols
3/5
this is a decent 70s british punk album, but knowing that the clash are about to put out london calling in a few years, this looks pretty meh in comparison. there are a few solid tracks here but a ton of filler. also johnny rotten is a complicated person with some views i agree with and several prominent ones i do not.
favorites: holidays in the sun, god save the queen, anarchy in the UK, pretty vacant
Metallica
5/5
i was fairly familiar with the front half of this album going into it and it's great. this is thrash metal at its peak, and there's some cool prog influence here as well. the cover art is also iconic. metallica's 80s output is definitely a high water mark for metal, though later years may fail to impress. i don't consider myself a huge metallica fan or anything but they were really in their prime here.
favorites: tracks 1-4 and 6-7. disposable heroes is pretty good and damage inc was fine but the rest are absolutely stellar.
The Stooges
3/5
this is the most three-star of all the three-star albums to ever grace this list. it's fine but uninspiring. lackluster but not frustrating. truly, unapologetically mid to the end.
favorites: search and destroy, gimme danger, penetration
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
what a weird and cool album! it's perhaps the greatest thing William P. Corgan has ever made, though there's absolutely an air of art-house pretension to the whole thing. i mean it is a 2+ hour-long double album, but i dunno... it just kinda works.
it's hard to explain how billy's weird voice, lyrics that could've come from an eighth grader's spiral notebook, and a very rough "concept" album throughline combine to make something far greater than the sum of their parts, but this album is great. the musicianship is rock solid and the songs all feel unique while still contributing toward a cohesive whole. bullet with butterfly wings was definitely the first one i heard (probably in middle school) and i slowly discovered the other singles in the years following.
basically the entire first disc is good to great, starting off super strong and punctuated by highlights throughout. the second disc gets a bit lackluster in the middle/towards the end but finishes on a sweet note. it's a great listen overall, and I'll be returning to this one in the future.
oh and obligatory mention that billy corgan is like, the worst. not sure how he knocked it out of the park with this one but yeah
favorites: mellon collie and the infinite sadness, tonight tonight, jellybelly, zero, bullet with butterfly wings, galapogos, muzzle, thirty-three, 1979, farewell and goodnight
Ananda Shankar
3/5
interesting stuff and a neat concept for an album. unfortunately i didn't enjoy it as much as i had hoped i would, given the synopsis and message on the front cover. the 13-minute song was particularly not to my taste, and regrettably the only two tracks that really stuck with me were the covers. i did love the use of sitar + moog synthesizer in general though. not sure if I'll come back to the other tracks here honestly.
favorites: jumpin' jack flash, light my fire
Prince
2/5
i listened to purple rain for the first time as part of this 1001 albums list and it was phenomenal, intriguing, unique. this... was not. it tasted like a big old piece of 80s cheese with some curious little bits here and there, which, upon closer inspection, were revealed to just be mold.
these songs all just sound like someone left the generic 80s radio station on in the background and don't really have anything truly exciting or evocative going on. the double album seems completely unnecessary, as I'm not sure there are enough interesting ideas here to even carry a single disc. i was going to give this three stars since it's still prince and everyone else seems to love this album, and i even went back to relisten to many of the tracks just to make sure i wasn't way off base, but i honestly don't think i'd come back to any of these tracks so I'm talking myself into a two.
favorites: sign o' the times, play in the sunshine, starfish and coffee, i could never take the place of your man
Kate Bush
4/5
i really enjoyed this! very cool to see an 80s album that was doing its own thing and can stand the test of time. as some other commenters pointed out, these are less like regular radio singles and more like small bits of prose and poetry that are set to music. very evocative tracks with the music and lyrics working well together. definitely coming back to this in the future!
favorites: running up that hill, hounds of love, the big sky, cloudbusting, waking the witch, jig of life
Doves
3/5
this album was so inoffensive i've taken to calling them tepidplay.
the songs are all extremely average and abundantly fine. just generic-sounding early 2000s soft pop-rock, destined to be the background music of a grocery store or shopping mall. there's no meat on these bones, but the bones are all anatomically exact. does this make sense
the biggest mark against them (other than everything I've written above) is that the songs are all like 1-2 minutes longer than they should be. i mean honestly, the big single, there goes the fear, is just under 7 minutes???? why tho
favorites: words, there goes the fear, m62 song, pounding, last broadcast
Blondie
5/5
full disclosure, i've been waiting for this album to pop up so i could finally listen all the way through and it was great. this album opens strong with (a great cover of) hanging on the telephone, segues into one way or another, and chugs along from there. it dips and pivots into various genres along the way, like rock, punk, new wave, and power pop to keep things exciting. heart of glass is a solid way to wind things down.
this is in my opinion blondie's best work and was worth listening to 2+ times all the way through yesterday. great stuff.
favorites: hanging on the telephone, one way or another, picture this, sunday girl, heart of glass, just go away
The Byrds
4/5
i honestly have no idea how to rate this, partially because I'm still reeling from the discovery that the byrds are also a country rock band?????
none of the individual songs really jumped out at me, but this album was pretty nice to listen to overall (which i did twice). I've also been thinking about the Fallout series a lot recently, and these songs honestly sound like they could have a home on any of the FO game soundtracks. fuck it, four stars.
favorites: you ain't goin' nowhere, i am a pilgrim, the christian life, hickory wind
The Velvet Underground
3/5
this is a classic album with iconic artwork. but is it a good album? the jury's still out on this. anyway, i wrote up some thoughts as i was listening to this at work:
sunday morning - good opener, liked this
waiting for the man - too long and too boring. more like “waiting for the song to end” am i right
femme fatale - a bit boring now but i guess cool for the 60s? nice to have a bit of a darker side to the lyrics. feels like the evil twin of the carpenters or something
venus in furs - kind of a creepy proto-residents vibe? i dig it
run run run - meh. the jangly guitar with tremolo picking gets pretty annoying by like a minute in and just keeps going from there. lyrics are interesting but use the g-slur so not great nowadays
all tomorrow’s parties - oops, was busy writing an email and didn’t really pay attention to this one. i don’t think i missed much.
heroin - cool track. the off-beat drumming and repetitive-into-crazy strings actually pair well with the lyrical content and make this an interesting song. it’s a bit long but i guess that gives you more time to get into it
there she goes again - kinda bob dylanesque
i’ll be your mirror - if tiny tim had any chill
the black angel’s death song - this is like the mountain goats but with insane, screechy violins
european son - ?????????
favorites: sunday morning, femme fatale, venus in furs
LCD Soundsystem
2/5
eh. some of the songs were kinda cool, and i like that this album is pretty unique in the 1001 list as kind of an indie electronica thing. on paper it sounds perfect for me, but in practice it just kinda fell flat.
a lot of the sound effects and beats are annoying as hell and go on for basically the entire song with no changes. the songs are all way too long, with the average length around 6-7 minutes, and it all feels too samey. the album starts out decent but just gets more grating over time, and the only tracks i could see myself revisiting are the opener and the two short ones (only four minutes each!)
favorites: get innocuous, time to get away, watch the tapes
Soft Machine
2/5
this was... interesting. there were some parts of each song that i thought were really cool and musically captivating. but there were also many, many parts that were not. coupled with the tracks all being nearly 20 minutes long, woof. probably will not come back to this.
favorites: (parts of) slightly all the time, moon in june
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
i enjoyed this album! it's really more of a four-star album to me but one of the better ones on 1001 so kind of 4.5 range? elvis costello is at his best here with the power pop/new wave jams. the backing band sounds great, super locked in and punchy on all instruments.
i also discovered that there is a 2021 release called Spanish Model, which takes the same backing tracks and replaces Elvis' vocals with performances by spanish-language artists. interesting idea and there are some big names there!
favorites: this year's girl, pump it up, little triggers, i don't want to go to Chelsea, lip service, lipstick vogue, radio radio
Alice Cooper
4/5
finally, some 70s rock i actually enjoyed! recent transphobic comments notwithstanding, alice cooper is my favorite shock rocker. these songs are weird and cheeky, which makes for a fun listen overall. it was also cool to recognize so many of them from why must i be sad by they might be giants.
favorites: raped and freezin, elected, billion dollar babies, no more mr nice guy, i love the dead
Joni Mitchell
4/5
this was nice. good vibes and pleasant music. idk what else to say
favorites: court and spark, help me, down to you, twisted
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
this is some good, fun 90s rap. I'm into it! the album was a bit on the long side but the songs were varied and interesting. cool use of samples (superstition was a fave) and there's a lot of good stuff here that I'll revisit in the future.
favorites: luck of lucien, i left my wallet in el segundo, bonita applebum, can i kick it, ham n eggs
Frank Sinatra
2/5
i'm normally on board with whatever crazy mashup concept an artist suggests. metallica and a symphonic orchestra? sure. sitar and synthesizer? all righty. but this...? did this really need to exist?
frank "mr steal yo girl" sinatra is at it again, providing smooth vocals over some nice bossa nova instrumentation, but like... that's it. his presence doesn't really add anything to the music and the band is doing just fine on their own.
change partners was my favorite song because of how ridiculous it is. frank DEMANDS that this woman stop dancing with the man who is probably her husband so he can swoop in. read the room, frankie. just amazing.
favorites: the girl from ipanema, change partners
Funkadelic
5/5
what a great funk album, damn. the grooves and musicians are all locked in and sound amazing. i wish this album were on spotify so i could hear it more but at least they have maggot brain.
favorites: groovallegiance, into you, maggot brain/chant, lunchmeataphobia
Ray Price
3/5
this was a pleasant enough country album, though none of the songs were particularly gripping IMO. it reminded me of Fallout music, and i must've been onto something because apparently ol' Ray here did the first recording of Heartaches by the Number. not on this album, of course...
favorites: night life, sittin' and thinkin'
Run-D.M.C.
5/5
this album was great. i sorta knew some of the singles going into it but the whole thing was a fun time. the lyrics are funny and clever, and the beats are solid. definitely listening to more of this in the future.
favorites: peter piper, it's tricky, my adidas, walk this way, you be illin'
Black Sabbath
4/5
this was pretty neat and i had only heard N.I.B. before. black sabbath is a super cool introduction to this album and the wizard sounds like the blues version of cities on flame with rock and roll. N.I.B. was the only other one that really grabbed me but the overall sound was cool. hard to believe this is the first heavy metal album... from humble beginnings, right?
favorites: black sabbath, the wizard, N.I.B.
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
this was okay. it basically just serves to answer the question "what if radiohead was really boring?" rufus has a nice voice (that reminds me of thom yorke, but i may be alone in this) and the songs are pleasant enough, but pretty inoffensive and samey. this definitely feels like the kind of indie singer-songwriter sound that ended up being pervasive in the 00s but it's not really my thing.
favorites: oh what a world, i don't know what it is, go or go ahead
Leftfield
4/5
this was a cool album. i think my dad likes these guys. you definitely need to be in the right headspace to receive copious amounts of 90s british electronica, but if you are this is some good shit.
favorites: release the pressure, melt, original, space shanty, open up
Elastica
4/5
neat little album. feels like a big stew of bands and genres i enjoy, like a new-wave-y, punky, grungy, alt-rock-y mess (affectionate). certain songs sound like garbage (the band), eve 6, and even they might be giants. nothing overstays its welcome and the songs all sound pretty different from each other.
favorites: connection, car song, waking up, 2:1, stutter
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
another solid offering from CCR. i particularly enjoy the three bigger tracks but the rest are still nice to listen to, even if they don't really stick out in my mind. bad moon rising is an all-time jam for me, and tbh the lyrics for it would work great as a metal song. not sure why there aren't more covers of it in heavier styles but I'm on board!
favorites: green river, bad moon rising, lodi
Supertramp
4/5
i'm not really sure how to classify this album as it basically just had a little bit of everything that the 70s were known for. with that said, it was pretty enjoyable to listen to and i was definitely grooving to a few of the tracks. also for some reason i thought supertramp was a 90s band for years, they just have that kind of name/vibe to me i guess.
favorites: school, bloody well right, crime of the century
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
while it was nice to hear a more emotional and plaintive side of bruce, a full album of it was a bit heavy. atlantic city is the only track i knew going into this (and one of my favorite songs by the boss) but after two listens, i picked up a few others i enjoyed. the songwriting is really evocative here but the actual presentation feels lacking. bruce's voice is gravelly and the rest of the E Street Band is nowhere to be found, so it's just you and him. also, lotta songs about cops for some reason? highway patrolman, state trooper, the mention of an off duty cop, etc.
favorites: nebraska, atlantic city, johnny 99
The Monks
3/5
unfortunately i think the story behind this album is a lot more interesting than the music itself, but kudos to them for accidentally inventing punk music way back in the mid-sixties?? some of these tracks could've used a bit more time in the incubator but at least they were short and more interesting than most of the 60s stuff on here.
favorites: monk time, shut up, boys are boys girls are choice, cuckoo
Paul Simon
3/5
wow this was a weird "mainstream" album. it was about as 80s as it could be, minus the cheesy synths. but what it lacks in synths it makes up for with an amount of accordion that would make weird al blush. that was your mother comes off sounding almost like mariachi music with simon's strange instrumentation choices. all around the world also has that footloose drum sound from the beginning. shoutout to ladysmith black mambazo on this album too... like paul what are you even cookin here
with that said, you can call me al is an all-time banger (and ties back into the weird al accordion-measuring contest going on) but the rest of this album is somewhere between middling, weird, and fresh.
favorites: graceland, diamonds on the soles of her shoes, you can call me al
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
another very nice, pleasant album. a lot of these songs sound very similar, but it's a good song they wrote twelve times. only a simple desultory philippic really stuck out to me, both in terms of sound and title. love how the album is a tight half hour though, all the songs are short and sweet.
favorites: Scarborough fair/canticle, homeward bound, 59th st bridge song, flowers never bend with the rainfall, simple desultory philippic
Van Halen
5/5
i'd never listened to this album all the way through but it kinda slaps. the songs are often cheesy and juvenile but they're also just plain fun. the album flows really well, like 1984 segueing into Jump, Jump leading into the first word of Panama being "jump", Panama flowing nicely into Top Jimmy (feels kinda like the daytime and nighttime versions of the same song to me), etc.
and of course, absolutely insane guitar and drums on this album. van halen are truly in their prime here. in terms of subject matter and lyrics, this album hasn't aged super well, but the music is still spot on.
favorites: jump, panama, top jimmy, hot for teacher, i'll wait
The Jam
3/5
man, i'm torn about this one. i really like the other songs by the jam that I've heard before (going underground and a town called malice) but these just fell flat to me. it was like listening to XTC and the clash combined into one band that was worse than either of them individually. the songs just didn't grab me or go anywhere interesting or say anything cool. with that said, the baseline quality for the songs was still higher than a lot of the dregs on this list, but i just know the jam is capable of much more. even after two full listens this just didn't hit for me.
favorites: that's entertainment
Nick Drake
2/5
my previous review of Bryter Layter from about 9 months ago:
"this album was fine and pleasant background music. nothing here that i'd really seek out or revisit, personally. i had never heard of this guy before now and I'll probably forget his name in a week :\"
applies perfectly again here now. though last time he got three stars and this time he gets two for not changing his schtick in the slightest.
favorites: i guess the popular ones? river man, day is done, Saturday sun. they're all basically the same though
Hüsker Dü
2/5
why is it that every double album seems to have less to say than any regular album? this just didn't go anywhere or try anything interesting. it was listening to the same song twenty times over an hour and change. that one song was fine, i suppose, but an actual R.E.M. cover band would've been better. shame, too, as i like some other husker du songs I've heard before like Pink Turns to Blue from Zen Arcade.
favorites: these important years, ice cold ice
Bob Dylan
4/5
another good album. there's a lot of bob dylan on this list but it's all pretty fun and enjoyable. this might be my favorite of his that I've listened to so far.
favorites: subterranean homesick blues, maggie's farm, bob dylan's 115th dream, mr. tambourine man
Pixies
5/5
not sure what i can say about this album that the other reviewers haven't already said, but *slaps album cover* this baby can fit so many weird tracks in it
also nothing goes harder than the end of the bridge in monkey gone to heaven where frank is screaming then GOD IS SEVEN
favorites: debaser, wave of mutilation, here comes your man, monkey gone to heaven, mr. grieves, no 13 baby, hey, gouge away
B.B. King
4/5
i'll preface this by saying i've never been much of a blues fan, but this album definitely has that certain something. most live albums, especially from this era, would make me run screaming, but the banter and crowd noises really just amp this up to the next level. b.b. king is a master of his instrument and the guitar comes through as another wailing, plaintive voice. it's all solid.
favorites: every day i have the blues, sweet little angel, how blue can you get, you done lost your good thing now
Pixies
4/5
well we just got Doolittle two days ago, so it was funny to see this pop up. sadly, with pixies' best album in the rearview, this one was doomed from the start. it's a solid album but it's no doolittle.
the songs on bossanova just don't have that same exciting and novel weirdness. it feels like the rushed next-year sequel to the critically-acclaimed summer blockbuster that ends up with a 65% on rotten tomatoes. it's fine and existing fans will eat it up, but it's just not gonna bring in the numbers. you feel me?
the they might be giants cover of havalina is great though, and that was my favorite song going into and coming out of this listen.
favorites: velouria, allison, ana, dig for fire, havalina
Green Day
5/5
full disclosure: i am a millennial who loves green day and grew up with this album in middle school. this review may be a little biased.
this album is amazing. it was my first introduction to a concept album/rock opera and the songs work amazingly together. billie joe, mike, and tre are all at the top of their game here. the new looks, the anti-bush sentiment, the huge singles, it all came together to create a fresh green day for a new generation.
in the TWENTY years since this album came out, I've found myself gravitating away from the simpler and/or more ballad-y songs to the ones that still have new and exciting bits to discover. jesus of suburbia and homecoming are huge bangers, with the latter maybe being the track i disliked the most initially that I've done a complete 180 on.
honestly my biggest gripe with the album is them joining two largely unrelated tracks together into super long songs for no reason, like holiday / boulevard. those are separate singles! was that just so iTunes could get my $0.99 twice? jesus and homecoming work since the movement structures are intentional and flow well, but for the rest of them, why do i have to listen to three slower songs first before i can get to the exciting ones afterward?
also green day rock band was so important for a weird music nerd like me so thanks harmonix.
favorites: everything, but especially jesus of suburbia, holiday, st. jimmy, letterbomb, and homecoming
Bon Jovi
5/5
ok this album kinda slaps. this was a lot better than i expected, having only heard the three huge singles from this before now. the less-known tracks still pack a punch and have a great energy and sound to them overall. while i got Runaway vibes from it (my favorite JBJ song), my finacee said that the opening of I'd Die for You sounds like the original Pokemon anime theme song which is completely spot on. this is kind of a 4.5 for me but i so rarely give albums 5 stars on here, what the hey
favorites: you give love a bad name, livin on a prayer, wanted dead or alive, raise your hands, i'd die for you
Beatles
5/5
this is 93 minutes of music across two albums, but most of it is really solid and has stood the test of time. the first disc here is like wall-to-wall bangers until about the halfway point, and there are just so many iconic tracks here. the beatles are in their element and cranking out the hits, along with some super weird shit in between. there's definitely filler here, a lot of it on disc two (PSA: can we stop with the double albums already, they're just not worth it) but the sheer volume of classic singles is enough to make me give this a 5. definitely deserving of its spot on the list.
favorites: back in the USSR, dear prudence, glass onion, ob-la-di ob-la-da, the continuing story of bungalow bill, while my guitar gently weeps, happiness is a warm gun, blackbird, birthday, everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey, helter skelter, savoy truffle
Kings of Leon
2/5
man, i don't know what to make of this album. it's just really, really, really not good. i like other kings of leon songs and thought they were decent overall but this album does not have It.
first of all, the lead singer has THE most incomprehensible voice singing some absolutely baffling lyrics. he's got marble mouth something fierce. i had to pull up the lyrics to confirm that he was, in fact, saying the girl would lend him her toothbrush. day old blues has the most annoying and repetitive vocals of maybe any track I've listened to in the last 200 albums I've generated from this list. when four kicks started, i legitimately thought he was just yelling gibberish sounds. completely perplexing stuff.
i guess it's ok as background music if you're really not focusing on it, but if you are it's enough to drive anyone mad. i don't give out a lot of 1-star reviews here (i mostly save those for the sex offenders with truly garbage albums) but this one comes reeeeeally close for me.
favorites: the bucket
Tina Turner
3/5
this was a fine listen overall, though a lot of the songs sounded generically 80s to me. tina turner is an icon who'd been through so much (RIP) and what's love got to do with it is definitely an enduring and classic song forty years later.
my favorite part of this album was when it shook things up a bit toward the end. steel claw, the very transformative cover of Help!, and 1984 were all rock solid tracks for me. i plan to come back to these later on, i just wish the others were more interesting.
favorites: what's love got to do with it, steel claw, help!, 1984
Living Colour
5/5
i only knew cult of personality going into this (thank you guitar hero 3) but i ended up really enjoying this album. it's funky, it's metal, it shreds hard, and has a good message. these guys have serious chops and a cool sound that's somehow simultaneously very unique and very 80s.
favorites: i ended up liking all of these on spotify. of those, the favorites are probably cult of personality, open letter to a landlord, what's your favorite color, which way to America, and should i stay or should i go
Amy Winehouse
2/5
i'll probably be on the wrong side of history with this one but i just don't care for this. this album has all the trappings of a 60s motown/soul record but none of the legitimacy. i can't put my finger on it but it just all feels a bit fake and self-indulgent, like i'm at a theme park that's well maintained but doesn't do justice to the authentic world it's based on. does this make any sense
amy winehouse was definitely a troubled soul, but as i sit here listening to rehab (a song i feel like i've heard a thousand times on the radio and never really care to hear again), it's all just a little uncomfortable and unnerving, given what would become of her soon after. the inauspicious lines of "i said no, no, no" and "my daddy thinks i'm fine" are both haunting and yet blindingly obvious. if she's fine with her alcoholism, even celebrating it here and denying reasonable attempts to help, it really comes as no surprise that it would be the thing that ultimately does her in. i don't want to sound callous but like, yeah... of course, amy.
anyway the rest of this album has that kind of "i'm playing in the genre" vibe to me with songwriting that's hit or miss. back to black was an actually somewhat interesting song, and i liked tears dry on their own. but the rest of it is decidedly not for me. don't mean to yuck anyone's yum but i just don't get it i guess.
favorites: back to black, tears dry on their own
Little Richard
4/5
not sure how to rate this honestly. like, all the songs on their own individually are pretty solid and fun. little richard has a heckuva voice and style that I'm sure would've been absolutely wild to see live. he's of course an icon in the history of popular music and an inspiration to all of your favorite artists and bands.
the only problem is that basically every uptempo song from the 50s (and on this album in particular) is just the 12-bar blues progression. they're all about 2-2:30 long, often mention a woman's name, and are all pretty much interchangeable. i like the songs well enough but the album format here just falls flat. so uh, 3.5 stars? idk
also every time i hear the chorus of she's got it, i think it's going to segue into that shocking blue/bananarama song venus
favorites: tutti frutti, ready teddy, long tall sally (the thing), miss ann, rip it up, jenny jenny, she's got it
Incredible Bongo Band
4/5
honestly i did not expect this to be good. 1001 albums loves including weird ideas that sound halfway interesting on paper but in execution always just fall flat. maybe it's because of the talent/session musicians behind this but it's kind of a jam.
some of the covers are pretty recognizable and transformative, like satisfaction and pipeline. the other tracks are all solid and enjoyable. this isn't the greatest album ever or anything but it's nice to see a weird idea actually stick the landing here. also thank god they didn't do the full version of in a gadda da vida
favorites: apache, in a gadda da vida, bongo rock, satisfaction, wipeout, pipeline, apache remix
Gang Starr
3/5
i probably would've enjoyed this more had i paid closer attention to the lyrics, but in my defense they were not all available on spotify. this album was fine to me - i didn't really get much from it but the music and raps seemed solid. the title track reminded me of step up by linkin park, which was probably intentional on LP's side.
favorites: step in the arena, check the technique, lovesick
Sonic Youth
3/5
i guess if i had been a teenager growing up in 1986 this might've been the sort of thing i'd listen to, but it's not doing much for me as an adult in 2024. i know a few sonic youth songs and they're definitely an acquired taste. these tracks feel haphazard and everything's all over the place. certainly more interesting than some of the real blase "required listening" on this list but overall just kind of strange and baffling without a real point.
favorites: tom violence, shadow of a doubt, starpower, bubblegum
Solomon Burke
4/5
this was pleasant music. a bit samey across the album but solomon has a powerful and emotive voice. it's about a 3.5 for me.
favorites: cry to me, can't nobody love you
Elliott Smith
4/5
this is a very good album. i can't explain it but it just hit differently than so many others on this list. it starts off super strong for the first several tracks and is still good after that, though the songs kinda ran together for me after that. i think i listened to this like 2 1/2 times through and thought it was really solid and moving.
favorites: son of sam, somebody that i used to know, junk bond trader, everything reminds me of her, everything means nothing to me, easy way out
Roxy Music
2/5
meh. it started off as kind of a rocky horror/david bowie/meatloaf sort of sound and energy, but quickly fell apart after that. the tracks were all way too long and just not that interesting or enjoyable to listen to. the album cover is also kind of weird, especially knowing what the music contained therein sounds like - i expected hair metal or something with a cover like that, idk. not going to revisit this one.
favorites: do the strand, beauty queen, editions of you
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
4/5
this was pretty cool and unique for this list. the harmonies and arrangements sound great, even if the songs all feel pretty similar. love that these guys are world-renowned at this point, with highlights to me personally being paul simon's graceland, the lion king 2 soundtrack, and a mention in Mean Girls. the english songs here were pretty heavy on the Christianity which didn't do much for me but still solid stuff.
favorites: hello my baby, yibo labo, wawusho kubani, this little light of mine (bonus track)
Queens of the Stone Age
2/5
well the album started out decent, with a few songs that felt like demos or prototypes of later QotSA tracks. after that though? just an endless desert of sound with only the occasional tumbleweed for interest.
the vocals, guitars, lyrics, songwriting, and basically everything else just felt like a tribute band for a big-name grunge act decided to try their hand at originals. it's rough, it's strange, and it's not particularly fun or interesting.
though maybe I'm not the most reliable source. i thought songs for the deaf was their first album... first good album, maybe. not sure how this horny juvenile dreck made it on the list over SftD or any of the later albums where they actually knew how to write and record compelling songs.
favorites: regular john, avon, if only
Dusty Springfield
3/5
this was nice enough, though maybe a bit underwhelming. dusty has a great voice and handles the varied genres of these covers well, but nothing sticks out to me as particularly impressive or interesting. another day, another chance to wonder why this album made the list.
i'm imagining the abe simpson meme with the text "we made a boring cover album, which was the style at the time"
favorites: mama said, you don't own me, wishin' and hopin'
Alanis Morissette
4/5
i enjoyed this album but concede that alanis' voice is kinda grating and some of the slower ballady songs were a real snoozefest. however, the more rockin' tracks, particularly those with alanis spitting venom as only a jilted ex-lover could, really pack a punch. everything about this album, from the music and lyrics to the production and album art just SCREAM 90s, and i have a bit of a soft spot for that era/aesthetic. this is absolutely not for everyone but it deserves its place in the list.
favorites: all i really want, you oughta know, hand in my pocket, forgiven, head over feet, ironic
Jack White
2/5
man, i tried to keep an open mind with this one but i just don't care about jack white. i loved a handful of white stripes songs back in middle school but since then, everything he does just seems steeped in pretentious art school tim burton vibes. the fans are no better - i think they just like that he looks like a cross between johnny depp and gerard way.
oh yeah, the music. it was pretty dull overall and didn't make any impact on me. the lyrics were nonsensical at times, his voice is weirdly nasal, but I'll give him points for the varied instrumentation throughout. why is this on the list though
favorites: sixteen saltines, freedom at 21
Donald Fagen
3/5
this was all right, but it's definitely missing that je ne sais quoi (i.e. walter becker) that made steely dan so great. fagen on his own just kinda goes hard on the smooth jazzy soft rock, which is okay but gets dull after a while. the whole time i was listening to this, i was just waiting for a my old school or bodhisattva or a similar jam to come on, but by the end i had just waited 40 minutes for the end of the album.
it's also very 80s-sounding, but the album art is pretty cool. good background music but nothing that really grabs me.
favorites: i.g.y., new frontier, the nightfly
Jamiroquai
3/5
truth be told, i was kind of digging this album until i found out the lead singer was just a white guy (well, half British, half Portuguese) trying to sound like stevie wonder, using a band name with a lazy Native American pun, along with a backing band that may have just been white guys when this was released? it just doesn't look great on paper no matter how you slice it. not sure how people of color felt about this at the time or now vis-a-vis the spectrum of cultural appreciation to appropriation but i'm not really qualified to weigh in on it.
as for the music, it's tight and funky with an electronic flair. some of the songs are pretty long and repetitive but it's great as background noise for sure. apparently the lyrics also have a social justice message but even after listening through this about 1.5 times i couldn't tell you a single one. all in all, a very conflicted album for me
favorites: when you gonna learn, too young to die, emergency on planet earth
Public Enemy
4/5
this was a great choice for the list. good beats and samples, energetic music, and powerful social commentary (that unfortunately still holds true today, almost three and a half decades later). i was really only familiar with bring the noise before this and honestly didn't know flavor flav from anywhere except crappy reality TV, but this is real stuff right here.
favorites: brothers gonna work it out, 911 is a joke, welcome to the terrordome, fight the power
R.E.M.
5/5
i'm a simple man. i see R.E.M., i give five stars. it's that easy.
this is a beautiful album that gets better every listen for me. i remember picking it up for a buck at a goodwill sometime in the mid-2000s. i would've been in middle school or early high school then and on first listen, i thought all the songs were dark, and sad, and brooding, with only minor exceptions. i set it aside for a while and didn't think about it again.
over the years, I've come back to it to see what I've missed. sometimes one track would come up on shuffle from my music library, and i'd end up liking it. i'd try the album again with some trepidation, and it felt like unlocking more pieces of a puzzle every time. it's still something i have to work to put together, but I'm starting to get a sense of what I'm working with and the picture it's forming.
i don't have any great revelations or particularly notable memories where this album was the soundtrack of some part of my life like other reviewers, but i think it has something for everyone that each person can experience in their own way.
favorites: the sidewinder sleeps tonite, everybody hurts, ignoreland, man on the moon, nightswimming, find the river
The La's
2/5
i found this album tedious and unremarkable. the songs all sound exactly the same (just a soupy 90s shoegazy alt rock) except the breakout single and the worst song on here, All By Myself. while I'm glad they happened to luck into a big hit, I'm even happier that they only chose to release one album.
favorites: there she goes, feelin'
Devendra Banhart
2/5
ehh this just didn't hit for me. it felt like any number of acoustic indie folk types, y'know, your irons & wines or bon ivers or sufjan stevenses or whatever but without that indie je ne sais quois that makes them interesting or passionate or fun to listen to.
i tried with this one, but the only song i enjoyed as more than a "hmm that's nice enough i guess" was Poughkeepsie, because it had a kind of B.Y.O.B. by System of a Down vibe to its melody (though not any other part of its sound). anyway, in summary, meh.
favorites: Poughkeepsie, tit smoking...
Finley Quaye
2/5
boy, this has been a rough week for albums. another one whose inclusion in this list is absolutely baffling to me. the instrumentation, arrangements, and production here are all pretty good, but the fake jamaican accent over the top just ruins it all for me. these tracks are all between 3-5 mins long with no variation beyond that, and i honestly struggled to get through some of them due to how aggressively boring they were. not coming back to this one, sorry.
favorites: sunday shining, your love gets sweeter
Crosby, Stills & Nash
4/5
i really enjoyed this! it was like some peter paul and mary, simon and garfunkel, and even a bit of Yes combined into one pleasant album of top notch harmonies and beautiful acoustic guitar. i wonder what this would've have felt like to bring home from the record store and listen to for the first time with friends, sounds nice :)
favorites: judy blue eyes, marrakesh express, guinnevere, wooden ships, helplessly hoping
Air
4/5
very cool album! i had only heard sexy boy before this so imagine my surprise to find they had put out a whole bunch of other tracks with it as well! the whole album was a neat foray into electronic music, atmospheric sounds, and some trippy moments. the production was clean and everything came together nicely. i didn't get as much out of the back half of the album but it started super strong.
favorites: la femme d'argent, sexy boy, all i need
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
fine but not amazing. this is the second chemical brothers album on the list that I've listened to, and while i did enjoy this one a bit more, i guess i just don't really care much for these guys either way. some of the songs were kinda groovy as background music but most were just long, boring, and repetitive.
favorites: leave home, in dust we trust, one too many mornings
Q-Tip
3/5
interesting album. q-tip is a good rapper and has some creative ideas for composing/arranging/producing, so i appreciate that. however, on the whole (and after two full listens) the songs all kinda just blended together for me. i liked specific parts of some songs, but once it segued into a different section, it lost me. some of the instruments and samples felt really repetitive and grating after a while, so definitely a mixed bag for me.
favorites: johnny is dead, won't trade, gettin up, life is better, feva
The Dandy Warhols
2/5
woof. i like bohemian like you but otherwise never really listened to the dandy warhols. i think their band name is kinda dumb and this album is worse. lots of long, boring tracks, particularly the last two tracks on this album. those two tracks last FIFTEEN MINUTES and are just droning/repetitive sound effects, feedback, and nothing else. absolutely devoid of any substance. not to mention the song i love you, which fills up an entire screen of the spotify lyrics with just "i love you" over and over. top-tier songwriting, folks.
i did like that there was a song about Kim Deal from the Pixies next to a song called Hard On for Jesus, but that's basically where my praise of this album ends. i did not need to listen to this before i die.
favorites: not if you were the last junkie on earth, every day should be a holiday
Dolly Parton
4/5
pretty good, lots of fun and quick songs. nothing too unique or challenging, but honestly that's fine for an album like this. i liked the song traveling man in particular. coat of many colors was a bit bland but fine enough, though I'm not sure it's worth naming the whole album after.
favorites: coat of many colors, traveling man, my blue tears, early morning breeze, here i am
James Brown
3/5
this was fine but nothing stellar for me. I'm sure it would've been very exciting to be there, but none of these are the huge James Brown hits I'm familiar with and the two long songs at the end (which together make up half the album's runtime) were a bit much.
i listened to this album twice to make sure i didn't miss something but i guess it just didn't really click for me. james brown is still a great and exciting singer, and his band is really locked in with tight, impressive playing, so credit where credit is due.
favorites: try me, night train
The Teardrop Explodes
5/5
surprisingly, i really enjoyed this album and listened to it twice! i had never heard of the album or band before but it had everything i wanted from a British new wave group. kinda sounded like a mix of the jam, talking heads, echo & the bunnymen (for obvious reasons), depeche mode, and anyone else that had that sort of style.
musically, the tracks all sounded unique and made use of cool instrumentation while still staying under the new wave umbrella. the b-sides weren't great but the main album was banger after banger. five stars.
favorites: tracks 1-6, when i dream, reward
The Replacements
5/5
i really loved this album. i knew androgynous and the original of 20th century boy going into this but nothing else on this album. alex chilton and kids don't follow are classic tracks i love from other replacements albums, so i figured i'd like these too.
favorites: only gary's got a boner and the outtakes failed to impress. what a great record.
Dennis Wilson
3/5
musically, this was fine. pleasant vibes and nice music, though nothing super exciting or interesting here. it'd be a 3.5 for me, but dennis was also affected by the wilson curse of being extremely strange (derogatory), abusing drugs and alcohol, and hanging out with all the wrong people.
his Wikipedia page is a trip, particularly the Charles Manson connection and whatever's going on with his recurring fantasy (?) about getting raped (??) by "a black man" (???) with inconsistent details (?!) that he told all his friends about (...)
with that said, he's still no brian wilson in terms of songwriting ability OR mental troubles.
favorites: river song (omg doctor who reference??? XDDDDD), time, pacific ocean blues, rainbows
Iggy Pop
3/5
decent album. crazy how huge the title track and the passenger are, and everything else here languishes in relative obscurity. iggy pop is certainly an icon of the counterculture zeitgeist from this era, though perhaps a bit of a troubled soul... with that said, I'm not a huge fan of the stooges' sound or output. there's way more music i'd rather listen to and actually enjoy.
this solo album is similar. love the huge tracks but none of the other stuff really impressed me. long tracks, got bored, 3 stars.
favorites: lust for life, the passenger, tonight
David Bowie
3/5
This was okay, but it just felt kind of ~off~ to me, like Bowie is going out of his way to try an entire genre on and see if it fits him (it doesn't). The result is an album that reinvents a sound that didn't need to be reinvented, and is sort of an awkward elephant in the room for everyone else.
i liked the two songs that felt the most unique and well-done on the album (both of which i had heard before). i also really enjoyed the bowiefication of the beatles track, though a lot of reviewers here seem to despise it. the other tracks just last too long and don't go anywhere special for me.
favorites: young americans, across the universe, fame
Everything But The Girl
2/5
this was just boring mall muzak, what the heck? i only wrote down two vital notes as i was listening:
- oxford street has water level music
- the night i heard caruso sing was like a billy joel b-side with moxy fruvous vocals
favorites: i don't want to talk about it (me in this review lmao), the night i heard caruso sing
Meat Puppets
5/5
i had never listened to this album, though i was aware of the meat puppets before this as a big nirvana influence and one of those "weird" bands like ween. this totally exceeded whatever expectations i had for it.
the great instrumentation, the genre exploration, the eccentric and odd vocals, the art on the cover, everything was just wacky and cool. i definitely understand how people wouldn't like this, but it kinda made my day. listened to it twice and added a bunch of songs to my current playlists.
favorites: tracks 1-2, 4-5, and 8-13
The War On Drugs
3/5
this album was actually pretty pleasant as background music, but when you tune into any song, they all sound basically the same as the rest. there's really no variety between them, so if you'd like a one-hour background track, this is the album for you. this album sounds like the killers playing nonstop in the background while you're wandering aimlessly in a shopping mall.
since this was decently enjoyable but overall uninteresting to me, i'd rate it around a 3.5. sadly, i must round down because all these songs are far too long individually.
favorites: under the pressure, red eyes, suffering, an ocean in between the waves, burning
The Doors
4/5
the reviews are in: this album is pretty good. I've never been a huge fan of the doors or 60s psychedelic rock in general, but there are some indisputable classics here. break on through and light my fire still go hard almost 60 years later.
lots of good musicianship and songwriting here. the end is super cool, and i thought it funny that they had a song called twentieth century fox that is not about a gargantuan media conglomerate.
favorites: break on through, the crystal ship, twentieth century fox, light my fire, back door man, the end
Eminem
1/5
...fuckin yikes. i get that this album is from the perspective of eminem's slim shady twisted-fucking-cyclepath persona but honestly it's just embarrassing 25 years later. out of the 300-ish albums I've listened to from this list so far, i think this one has aged the worst. this is the shit that 13-year-old edgelord 4chan misogynist-in-training incels think is really dark and profound and misunderstood when in actuality it's just manufactured and mass-marketed hate (and poop jokes) masquerading under the thin guise of """"""sAtiRe"""""" (which is especially problematic when members of its audience don't view it as satire)
i don't enjoy siding with the PMRC and similar groups but this album doesn't need to exist, and i certainly don't need to listen to it before i die. it's a shame that the lyrical content is so over-the-top unnecessary and uncomfortable, because eminem has some really clever internal rhymes and off-the-wall writing that goes well with the beats and dre's top tier production. sad that they had to be wasted on this dreck.
favorites: my name is, role model
LL Cool J
3/5
definitely better than eminem from yesterday! some of these songs had a fun hook or lyrics and really stood out to me, and the rest were just kinda samey. mama said knock you out was the only one i had heard going into this. pretty decent album overall though.
favorites: the boomin' system, around the way girl, eat em up l chill, farmers blvd, mama said knock you out
Led Zeppelin
3/5
meh. lots of samey, dusty, dry bluesy rock by old white guys for other old white guys. only two songs stood out to me, and those were the two I had heard before: trampled under foot and kashmir.
i definitely don't get the appeal of zeppelin, they're fine but boring overall. and a nearly 1.5-hour double album was certainly not going to influence my perception of them. this is like a 2.5 star album for me.
favorites: trampled under foot, kashmir
Bauhaus
3/5
interesting album and sound overall, but the individual tracks all felt similar to me. just dark and brooding and proto-new-wavey, but at least that's fairly unique within the 1001 list. this album didn't even have bela lugosi's dead on it!
favorites: the passion of lovers, kick in the eye, the man with x-ray eyes, mask, in fear of dub
The White Stripes
4/5
i'll preface this by saying that i think the white stripes are one of the most boring, bland, average, mediocre, three-star bands of the last 50 years. and jack white and his fans are even worse. however,,,,,,,,,
I did enjoy this album. it probably helps that I was really into Fell In Love With a Girl in middle school, most likely after I heard it in Weird Al's Angry White Boy Polka. to this day, that song rocks. i wish the rest of the album could capture that level of intrigue and energy, but it wasn't too bad, all things considered.
favorites: dead leaves and the dirty ground, hotel yorba, fell in love with a girl, we're going to be friends, offend in every way, I think I smell a rat
Sigur Rós
4/5
cool, trippy, and atmospheric icelandic music beloved by hipsters the world over. some of the songs were kind of grating with the same repeated vocal samples, but overall this was a nice, chill album. i wish i knew what they were saying and how to pronounce the song titles but apparently they just make up a language half the time anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
favorites: tracks 3-5, 8
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
all of my other neil young reviews for this site have been like 2-3 stars, but something about this album just stuck with me. I've listened to it like three times now and it's got a spark of something the others don't.
one of my favorite things about this album is that it feels much more planned out than a collection of similar songs. the symmetry in things like the front and back sides of the album, the connections in Pocahontas and Welfare Mothers, and the album being bookended with neatly mirrored versions of the same song are quite clever and serve to elevate this album above neil's others. the other dualities at play like live vs. overdubbed studio recordings, neil with and without crazy horse, past and future, etc. all make this a creative and engaging album.
the lyric writing here is also top notch. beautiful poetry, symbolism, and emotion flow through these tracks. i never thought ol' acoustic folk sad sack neil young would be capable of writing a song as wild as sedan delivery, but here we are. just great stuff all around. and none of it overstays its welcome, clocking in at only 38 minutes. his voice is still a bit annoying as always but what are ya gonna do?
favorites: my my hey hey out of the blue, thrasher, powderfinger, sedan delivery, hey hey my my into the black
Nightmares On Wax
1/5
>looking for a new album
>ask the 1001 albums guy if his album is actually good or just british
>he doesn't understand |>pull out illustrated diagram explaining what is good and what is british
>he laughs and says "it's a good album sir"
>listen to the album
>it's british
LTJ Bukem
2/5
eh, there were parts of this that were ok but overall it was just kind of dull. i don't really want to listen to 7 minutes of a 9-minute song before it gets good.
it may have been formative for the 90s UK drum and bass sound/genre but it's not particularly gripping in 2024 imo. i also feel like it's against the spirit of this list to include compilation albums but (unfortunately) it's not my list.
favorites: solar system, above & beyond
Miles Davis
3/5
i think i don't really care for jazz because I feel dumb listening to it. i have a damn music degree and still don't "get" this. miles is a great musician but his output just doesn't do anything for me here. i don't hate it or anything, but I can't rate it anything above "fine" for me personally. the near-20-minute tracks don't help with accessibility either.
favorites: in a silent way
Led Zeppelin
3/5
this more enjoyable than the other led zep I've listened to from this list, but still nothing stellar. just more overrated, dusty, dry dad rock made by cultural appropriators with a penchant for underage girls.
i knew whole lotta love going into this, but none of the other tracks. found a few other decent ones, especially the lord of the rings-inspired ramble on. the rest ranged from mid (thank you) to masturbatory (moby dick) to downright unsavory (the lemon song). i really don't need to hear ol' bobby plant demanding a woman squeeze his lemon until the juice runs down his leg.
favorites: whole lotta love, heartbreaker, living loving maid, ramble on
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
i have such mixed feelings on RHCP. they put out a lot of real stinkers but a few diamonds in the rough, and this album stays true to form. unfortunately the diamonds all pretty much hit back-to-back out of the gate (except get on top, more like get outta here, am I right???). of course, that means the remaining two-thirds of the album is the musical equivalent of wading waist-deep through lukewarm porridge. there's just nothing going on of any interest or value between tracks 7 and 14. it at least ends on a decent track with road trippin' but that song kind of reiterates just how stupid the lyrics and themes have been the whole time.
this is like a 3.5 but the bangers are iconic, especially the title track, so I'll be generous this time. don't make me regret my show of good faith, RHCP.
favorites: around the world, parallel universe, scar tissue, otherside, californication, road trippin
Beastie Boys
3/5
another decent album but nothing truly remarkable IMO. the sampling was impressive and definitely my favorite part of this, though I only caught a few notable ones. I checked their whosampled and there were like 3,000 samples listed for them, which is the highest I've ever seen, so credit where credit is due.
too bad I had to listen to three obnoxious white guys yelling over it for an hour, though.
favorites: shake your rump, hey ladies
Magazine
4/5
hadn't heard of these guys before but it's cool that the frontman for the buzzcocks is running the show. this album was neat. it was weird, punky, new wavey, dark, intriguing, and stylistically varied. some random thoughts on various tracks:
shot by both sides is definitely a banger, already added this one to my monthly listening playlist.
burst is practically a david bowie song.
motorcade sounds like a really punky version of the residents????
the great beautician in the sky is some scooby doo carnival music for sure.
the james bond song at the end was a neat inclusion, though I don't really understand why it's here lol
favorites: definitive gaze, shot by both sides, recoil, touch and go, goldfinger
Garbage
5/5
this album rocks. i knew only happy when it rains and stupid girl going into it but found a bunch of new great tracks. interesting lyrics, unique sounds and song structure between tracks, and vibes are on point. this is exactly what I want from 1001 albums!
favorites: supervixen, queer, only happy when it rains, a stroke of luck, stupid girl, dog new tricks, milk
Led Zeppelin
3/5
another decent but uninspiring album from led zep. this is our third one in three weeks and they just all sound like the same boring blues rock after a while. nostalgia carries this band so hard and I have very little of that for them.
that said, immigrant song is a five-star song on a three-star album. that song fuckin slaps.
favorites: immigrant song, since i've been loving you
Common
3/5
my favorite thing about this album was reading common's Wikipedia page. dude's been busy for the past 30 years! also his dad (featured on the last track of the album) was an NBA player in the 1960s?? wild.
oh, the album? it was fine I guess. i really could've done without all the blatant homophobia and the weird "I'm a feminist, I'll look out for you girl, oh and also i'm a visionary pimp and you should really think about wearing less revealing clothing" like ????? dude pick a lane, no one's buying this. seems like he's apologized for the homophobia and really turned things around in recent years but this album's lyrics still leave a bad taste in my mouth.
favorites: the 6th sense, geto heaven part two, a song for assata, pops rap iii
John Prine
4/5
really enjoyed this one! john's got a clever way of writing lyrics that really shines on this album. i definitely laughed at the lines "A bowl of oatmeal tried to stare me down and won" and "all my friends turned out to be insurance salesmen" from the first track. definitely coming back to these later.
favorites: illegal smile, spanish pipedream, hello in there, paradise, your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore, angel from montgomery
Joe Ely
3/5
um, sure. dunno this guy but he sounds all right. i've gotten a lot of random country lately and this guy doesn't really stand out. it's fine but eh.
favorites: cornbread moon, boxcars, tonight I think I'm gonna go downtown, fingernails
Cream
3/5
eh, it was fine. mostly just average white guy blues rock for boomer dads at this point but it has some big tracks. i much prefer the singles from wheels of fire, but whatever.
favorites: strange brew, sunshine of your love, tales of brave ulysses
The Smiths
5/5
morrissey has only become more crazy and polarizing with age, but damn I enjoyed this album. this is peak smiths for me - the songs are sad boy new wave on the surface but have some interesting lyrics and moving tracks. there is a light that never goes out is my favorite song of theirs and I'm glad to finally spin into this album.
favorites: frankly mr shankly, I know it's over, cemetry gates, bigmouth strikes again, the boy with the thorn in his side, there is a light that never goes out, some girls are bigger than others
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
i didn't really "want two" listen to this album after thinking the first one was a snoozefest, but I think I enjoyed this one a bit more. don't get me wrong, it's still a lot more of the same, but it just seemed a bit higher quality overall. maybe I just knew what to expect, I dunno. rufus really needs to get to the point already - he spent 54 minutes saying what a regular artist could convey in a few songs.
favorites: agnus dei, the one you love, the art teacher
Fatboy Slim
2/5
extremely meh. the other fatboy slim album actually had some good tracks and was deserving of its place in the list. this just feels like the cutting room floor b-sides or reheated leftovers of those songs. pass.
favorites: going out of my head
Jeff Buckley
4/5
this was an enjoyable listen, having only known Hallelujah prior. some beautiful, captivating songs here.
favorites: mojo pin, grace, last goodbye, hallelujah, dream brother
Fela Kuti
2/5
another live album that sounds like a rollicking good time for the people who were there, but doesn't quite translate to recorded media for me. the first song was pretty good, but after that I was just mired in long tracks and lost in them musically without knowing how to escape. the final challenge was surviving the 15-minute drum solo, which (as someone who considers himself an amateur drummer) was not terribly exciting overall. this is like a 2.5 for me.
favorites: let's start
The Cars
5/5
this album is great. one of those classic 70s albums that is practically a greatest hits album from the band (looking at you, Boston). there are a couple weird songs in the middle that are the only duds on the album - everything else is spectacular. good vibes, interesting lyrics, and the band sounds great.
i've listened to this album probably 5-10 times before this (and played it in Rock Band) and while it took a bit to grow on me, i've come to really like it. it's one of my dad's faves as well :D
favorites: everything except i'm in touch with your world and don't cha stop
Super Furry Animals
5/5
this was a wild and crazy album that I didn't know I needed but was very excited to listen to twice, along with some of their other tracks. basically every other track is solid on here, but each one brings so much to the table that it's hard not to appreciate the whole album.
having a welsh band instead of the regular ol' britpop on this list is a welcome change as well, though I wish we had gotten at least one track in welsh on this album. i loved the creativity of playing around with different genres and grooves. some tracks could've been 70s glam hits or 60s psychedelia, others were straightforward 90s alternative, and some were a swirling blend of art rock and influences. kind of reminded me of some of the artier, softer songs from one of my favorite bands of all time, ...and you will know us by the trail of dead.
favorites: god! show me magic, something 4 the weekend, hometown unicorn, if you don't want me to destroy you, hangin' with howard marks
David Bowie
3/5
i didn't really get much out of this album. it's another david bowie album on the list, big whoop. none of his dozen-plus massive singles are on here. don't get me wrong, it's /fine/, just not really much to write home about. if the 1001 albums guy needs some suggestions on what to replace this with, might i suggest weezer's blue album?
favorites: golden years, wild is the wind
Snoop Dogg
4/5
this album was wild, and a pretty fun listen overall. there are a few standout tracks and the rest is snoop's classic braggadocious but catchy LBC rap with skits interspersed. there's a funky musical backbone to everything here, which I find way more interesting than the very sparse, beats-only sort of rap that would come later. these songs haven't all aged well but snoop is one of the greats for a reason.
favorites: g funk intro, gin and juice, tha shiznit, who am I (what's my name)
The Police
5/5
fantastic album, i really enjoyed it! i listened to it about three times.
synchronicity i - an absolute banger, deserving of far more attention than it gets.
walking in your footsteps - sting wrote a song about how much he loves dinosaurs? that's kinda based. it's giving crash test dummies' "in the days of the caveman" but 80s
o my god - honestly didn't care much for this song until around the last minute or so. is this the first appearance of those last four lines of the song? they're definitely put to better use in every little thing she does is magic, but it's cool to see them show up here. also these drums are funky and this solo is wild.
mother - yesssss what a cool, weird, kinda creepy song! love the 7/4 time and the unsettling Residents-y vibes on this one. andy summers wrote this one, and I expect he was thrilled once caller ID became commonplace.
miss gradenko - eh, it's fine. at least it's short.
synchronicity ii - one of the best songs the police ever made. love the lyrics, love the music, just absolutely incredible.
every breath you take - ah yes, sting's stalker song. this is a classic and well-deserved.
king of pain - beautiful and moving track. I've always liked this one.
wrapped around your finger - good, though seeing the title always makes me start singing linger by the cranberries first
tea in the sahara - this is the kind of music I feel sting makes in his solo career. it's kinda boring and empty, just like the sahara.
murder by numbers - cool track, nice closer.
favorites: everything but miss gradenko and tea in the sahara.
Supergrass
4/5
good album, i do enjoy listening to supergrass from time to time. these guys have a solid sound and some interesting songwriting. even the songs that didn't really jump out at me were still perfectly fine in the background. plus we finally get their huge hit, alright!
favorites: i'd like to know, caught by the fuzz, alright
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
4/5
there's some really neat stuff on here. love the dark 80s synthpop new wave sound and the variation between the tracks. some are immediately gripping while others are kind of dull. all in all, a neat album and worth listening to, especially if you've only heard enola gay from them like I had.
favorites: souvenir, joan of arc (maid of orleans), Georgia, extended souvenir, motion and heart
Heaven 17
5/5
i'd heard of this band but never listened to them prior. damn, was i missing out! this is some good ol' WEIRD 80s music. all these songs sound radically different and a little off-putting but i'm totally here for it, even if the BBC wasn't because they didn't want to offend the worst man of the late 20th century, ronald reagan.
favorites: we don't need this fascist groove thang, penthouse and pavement, soul warfare, geisha boys and temple girls, the height of the fighting, song with no name
TV On The Radio
2/5
i like some art rock bands, but this album just did nothing for me. i think it's all the falsetto, it just sounds really annoying! it's bad! don't ruin your songs with it!!
a few tracks were ok but the rest felt like they were trying too hard to be challenging and experimental. the atonality, the chaotic instrumentation, the seeming lack of song structure... it just doesn't amount to anything notable. i don't think I needed to listen to this (or the other TOTR album I got from this list) before I die.
favorites: staring at the sun, ambulance
The Doors
3/5
the doors are all right, but not my favorite. psychedelic blues rock is for nostalgic dads, their teenage kids, and no one else. there are some ok songs on here but most of them are filler, and even the good ones overstay their welcome. fine but not for me.
favorites: the changeling, love her madly, l.a. woman, riders on the storm
The Police
4/5
while i definitely enjoyed this album, it's no synchronicity. the white reggae focus here is fine but the songs vary WILDLY in quality. you've got your absolute S-tier banger message in a bottle, the solid B+/A- tier walking on the moon (which itself feels a little sparse), then some of the weirder B/C songs and the rest as D/F duds.
I'm particularly shocked by the seemingly unfinished/unpolished music and lyrics for some of these. like, stewart copeland kept the placeholder lyrics from his first draft of contact after thinking of a mediocre dad joke pun, and then sting just straight up forgot to write the rest of the words for it's alright for you????? absolutely baffling. at least stewart is bringing his crazy drums back for this one, though I'm not particularly impressed with andy summers' meandering jangly guitar on the filler tracks.
favorites: message in a bottle, reggatta de blanc, bring on the night, walking on the moon, the bed's too big without you, no time this time
The Darkness
4/5
this is a pretty fun album. i like the crazy, over-the-top 70s glam/80s hair metal energy on this one, and had no idea the darkness was from the 2000s when I first heard their music. it sounds pretty authentic, though there's less pervasive misogyny and racism. even some modern acts haven't figured that out yet (looking at you, steel panther)
I believe in a thing called love really feels like the standout track here, with the other ones around it supporting it and providing context. however, a whole album of this sound and energy gets grating after a while. they definitely deserved better than the one-hit-wonder novelty status they enjoy here in the US, but how much more? hard to say.
favorites: black shuck, get your hands off my woman, I believe in a thing called love, love is only a feeling, stuck in a rut
Travis
4/5
going into this i had only heard writing to reach you, but I considered it a good, enjoyable song. well, if you like that song, you'll love the entire album of songs that sound just like it. nothing here stands out in a notable way to me, though I guess why does it always rain on me is really the "big hit". good sad boy music throughout, and the last track (minus the silence) was actually really interesting.
favorites: writing to reach you, driftwood, turn, why does it always rain on me, slide show
The Stooges
2/5
well this sure is an album. while i understand the historical significance of this album and can appreciate the far-reaching effects it had on the punk genre and western music as a whole, I do not find it particularly enjoyable to listen to.
the songs are all the musical equivalent of waking up with a hangover. everything's weirdly muted and fuzzy and dull, and every new screeching noise or aleatoric guitar solo just makes your headache even worse.
also, how is there a ten minute song on a thirty minute record?
come to think of it, I take back what I said about their effects on punk music. dave davies slashing the speaker cone in his guitar amp to create the distortion effect on you really got me did more for punk music than the stooges ever did
favorites: 1969, I wanna be your dog, no fun. they're not particularly fun to listen to, but they are the ones I know from rock band. actually they're not even that good in rock band. welp.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
this is one of those albums that I can appreciate what it's doing and where it fits into music history and culture as a whole, but it's ultimately just not for me. the dark and brooding gothic rock/proto-punk vibe is interesting for a song or two, but quickly just falls back to sameness. the front half of this album was definitely more interesting than the back half, but it wasn't enough to keep my interest.
favorites: spellbound, into the light
Rush
4/5
honestly not my favorite Rush. i liked it more after I read the Wikipedia article about the different sections of 2112, then less once I found out that Neil Peart was an Ayn Rand fan at this point in his life. Something for Nothing also has strong libertarian vibes, but is kind of a cool song otherwise.
the title track is ok in its component parts, but for my 20 minutes, i'd rather listen to jesus of suburbia and homecoming back-to-back, or maybe albuquerque plus dick's automotive. the boring sections are all front-loaded, so you get to hear a minute of stock space sound effects, some particularly shrill vocals from geddy, and the melodic sounds of someone attempting to tune a guitar for the first time for the first half of the song. it picks up a bit towards the end with some nice guitar solos and drum work, but I so rarely make it that far that this is probably only the fourth or fifth time I've ever heard it.
as for side B, a passage to bangkok, despite having that terribly-aged racist asian music sting, is still a huge banger. nothing gets the creative juices flowing like taking the train to smoke weed in a far-off land, I guess. i definitely prefer the billy talent version that leaves the sting out regardless. twilight zone is also neat, though the other tracks on side B leave a bit to be desired.
favorites: (parts of) 2112, a passage to bangkok, the twilight zone, something for nothing
Jane's Addiction
3/5
oh cool, it's juana's adicción. time for some weird 90s rock.
[52 minutes later]
...well that certainly was an album.
was it good? hard to say. i only knew stop and been caught stealing going into this, which are some of their better songs, but JA never really spoke to me as much as some of the other 90s rock groups. those two tracks are definitely the high points of the album, though i will say i actually enjoyed the super-long-artsy-genre-exploration-type tracks on the back half of the album. then she did in particular sounds like an early 2010s era trail of dead song, which i can definitely vibe with.
favorites: stop, been caught stealing, three days, then she did...
Faith No More
5/5
i can't explain what it is about this album that really mesmerized me when I heard it all the way through for the first time yesterday... and the second and the third times since. i knew from out of nowhere, epic, and the war pigs cover cover going into this, but the rest of the album was great as well.
the band shifts between genres like it's nothing, so anything from rock to metal to funk to rap is fair game here. each of the songs feels unique and interesting. lyrics are decent overall but can be hit or miss on certain songs. never knew i'd be into FNM (other than the magic the gathering kind) but, well, here we are. though I definitely see where the other reviews are coming from saying that FNM practically teed up the entire genre of nu-metal. that's not necessarily good or bad in my eyes, but it sure is something.
favorites: everything but zombie eaters and underwater love
Gang Of Four
4/5
this was a pretty good album, basically like if the clash were super weird. i had heard of this band before but never listened to their music. i listened to the album twice but I'm sure I missed a ton of nuance. i definitely appreciate folks with a punk mindset making socially conscious music when it's not the most popular or profitable thing to do.
favorites: ether, natural's not in it, damaged goods, I found that essence rare, at home he's a tourist, 5.45
Leonard Cohen
4/5
from the opening bassline, i definitely thought the title track was going to unfold into a lounge cover of livin' on a prayer. from there it settled into a nice rhythm of a sad old man speaking softly over dark and moody but gentle instrumentals. it's like if johnny cash's later recordings were laid over the hollow knight soundtrack. definitely enjoyable overall, and like johnny cash's cover of hurt, knowing this came out just before his death... immensely powerful and moving.
favorites: you want it darker, treaty, traveling light, it seemed the better way, steer your way, string reprise/treaty
Derek & The Dominos
1/5
well, that's 75 minutes i'll never get back. at least listening to this confirmed that layla is the only decent song clapton ever wrote. the duane allman guitar bits were interesting for a while, but I can only listen to them for so long.
otherwise this is just masturbatory blues noodling by a racist antivaxxer chud that doesn't deserve the respect he's earned and subsequently pissed away over the years. into the one-star jail he goes to join his ilk: kanye, kid rock, marilyn manson, et al.
Jacques Brel
4/5
i went from "this album title sounds like a video game console from 1996 that only a dozen people owned" to "damn I wish I knew how to speak french" in the three times I listened to this album. the top review on this site and the Wikipedia page really helped, because without them I understood maybe 10-20% of what was even going on in the lyrics.
amsterdam is a great song and easily the standout hit here, but jacqkie b. goes so many interesting places in the rest of these chansons. the first few tracks are like, *stereotypically* french, but he starts to wander into some darker territory toward the end. i wish i were capable of picking up on the subtleties and nuances of his lyrics, but there's still a lot to enjoy here at face value.
favorites: Amsterdam, les vieux, tango funebre, les jardins du casino, le dernier repas, les toros avec final
Janet Jackson
5/5
i dunno if it was being born too late or growing up around other mostly suburban, mostly white folks, but somehow I completely missed Janet Jackson on my cultural radar. i only really know her from the superbowl wardrobe malfunction (which I always felt was stupidly overblown) and two of her songs ending up in Weird Al's polkas, which probably says more about me than anything I've written up to this point.
anyway, this album was awesome. lots of haters in the top comments but not all music has to be timeless! sorry that a black woman made a great album and now you have to listen to it once, there will be plenty more led zeppelin and the eagles in this list for you.
i basically liked every other track on here (which ends up being most of them minus the interludes) and found the subject matter and genre explorations cool and unique. some songs felt a bit heavy-handed in their message (see: livin' in a world (they didn't make)'s school shooting news report at the end) and i didn't really care for the ballads, but beyond that, this album slapped. the seamless pivots between 80s synthpop, industrial, hard rock, R&B, and more kept me engaged until the last few tracks and I'll definitely come back to this!
favorites: rhythm nation, state of the world, the knowledge, miss you much, love will never do (without you), alright, escapade, black cat
Germs
3/5
another reviewer said it better, but this is definitely one of those culturally significant albums that's just not terribly fun or interesting to listen to nearly a half-century later.
i probably like old-school punk more than the average person but this just wasn't any great shakes. it has the instrumental complexity of a ramones album. its lyrics swing from simple and puerile to songs with enough ten-dollar vocabulary words to make bad religion blush. song content appears to cover a lot of ground, yet seemingly says nothing of any real substance. i thought dragon lady was about actual dragons at first but now i realize it's probably just racist. most of the tracks are short, but for whatever reason they wanted their own 10-minute closer that sounds like the cacophony of nirvana's endless, nameless more than an actual song that fits with the rest of the album.
and to top it all off, frontman darby crash (cool as hell name) died at 22 from a suicide pact? I'm sure it would've been all over the news at the time, except for his impeccable timing... john lennon was shot the following day. better luck next time, darbs.
favorites: what we do is secret, richie dagger's crime, lexicon devil, minimal, we must bleed, media blitz
5/5
i didn't care for muse much growing up. to me, they were one of those bands like radiohead that the cooler music-obsessed kids I knew were really into but a little too pretentious and inaccessible for me. lots of style but minimal substance. though I did love jamming to knights of cydonia on guitar hero 3.
I've since softened my stance, at least on the early and mid-2000s muse albums (still don't care for their newer stuff, but for other reasons). there are some absolute bangers on here, and I'm having trouble thinking of another band at the time that had such a big, epic sound, a massive stage presence, and a devoted fanbase, especially for a band this relatively new/young.
also, map of the problematique is just enjoy the silence (2006 remix). wake up sheeple!!
favorites: all tracks except 5, 6, and 10
Nas
4/5
i don't think i'd ever listened to Nas before now but he's got good rhymes, beats, and just overall production. I'll definitely revisit these in the future!
favorites: NY state of mind, the world is yours, halftime, represent
Khaled
3/5
this album kinda slaps???? well, kinda. i have never heard of the non-DJ version of Khaled or this genre, raï, but i’m diggin it. the imagine cover was way better than the original, lmao. bummer that the best youtube playlist for this album has some crappy rips, especially the song melha.
i definitely enjoyed the first few songs of this album the most. after that, i wasn’t really able to discern the differences between the tracks, and they were all a few minutes longer than they needed to be. this started as a 4 for me, but kinda dragged down to a 3 as time went on. wrap it up khaled!!!
favorites: aâlach tloumouni, el harba wine, imagine, mele h’bibti
Fred Neil
2/5
yes, it's technically an album! no, it's not one you must listen to you before you die. it makes sense why they took it off the list after the first edition.
the music starts pleasant enough, but as it goes on, everything is just so dull and lifeless. halfway through this album i literally forgot i was listening to it. this album is more milquetoast than the milk and toast in a 90s cereal commercial's "balanced breakfast"
favorites: the dolphins, everybody's talkin'
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
oof... another album that i understand the importance and impact of, but just really isn't what i want to spend my time listening to. the tracks here are moody and evocative, but just don't have a hook to really pull you in beyond that. anything interesting kind of just gets muddled into a brooding and repetitive whole.
i will say the ending of metal postcard was fun. i liked the part where siouxsie yipped like a dog. also hong kong garden is definitely the standout track here, but it reeeeally hasn't aged well. the helter skelter cover is interesting, but not a must-hear.
favorites: jigsaw feeling, helter skelter, hong kong garden
Stan Getz
3/5
this album was decent; chill and nice enough to listen to. the jazz/bossa nova sound is pretty rare for this list, so i'll try to enjoy it while it's here. i had only heard of the girl from ipanema but it had never stuck with me. now i know what it sounds like... and it's fine.
favorites: the girl from ipanema, corcovado
David Bowie
3/5
this is my fifth david bowie from this list in under a year. I'm starting to realize that what i thought would be glam rock all the way down is actually more like a new genre exploration every album. this one has two: german electronica/art rock and ambient. i actually enjoyed the former and thought this might be my favorite album of bowie's since ziggy stardust, but then i hit the ambient part and was bored to death.
favorites: speed of life, breaking glass, always crashing in the same car, be my wife, a new career in a new town
Can
2/5
come on robert there are better albums out there. what is this. I've already done my time and listened to future days for you. the only things i enjoyed about this 73-minute avant-garde experimental slog was a few brief moments in halleluhwah and of course, the crazy cacophony and screaming gibberish in peking o. that was honestly the only moment i was actually awake and paying attention while listening to this.
favorites: halleluhwah
Beastie Boys
4/5
pretty good album here, maybe my favorite of the BBs albums I've heard from this list so far. i didn't know anything from this other than sabotage (of course) though flute loop felt familiar so maybe i'd heard that too.
i love the samples and genre-bending music that the BBs make but the instrumentals here are second-to-none. in fact, listening to this made me realize that the biggest thing i don't care for when listening to their music is the white boy rap vocals. the boys themselves are simply too beastie for me.
favorites: sure shot, sabotage, get it together, futterman's rule, flute loop, ricky's theme
Van Morrison
1/5
today's album is a NINETY-TWO MINUTE LONG, LIVE, TWO-DISC album (volume ONE of FOUR) by a COVID CONSPIRACY NUT who had a brief affair with SCIENTOLOGY
it's not very good.
Radiohead
5/5
thinking back to how i used to be a total hater since radiohead was the hip, esoteric band that all the middle and high school music snobs i didn't like were into... i've since come around but it's still fun to make thom yorke jokes.
anyway this album is great. there are some absolute bangers on here, and the other tracks are still cool, moody, evocative, or all of the above. i love that in rainbows was the first really notable example of the pay-what-you-want pricing structure that was unheard of in the music industry at the time and became huge for smaller labels and independent bands in the decade to come. radiohead sure are some top blokes, yeh?
favorites: 15 step, weird fishes/arpeggi, all i need, jigsaw falling into place, videotape
Billy Joel
5/5
i've been waiting for this one since i started this challenge. this is a phenomenal album with absolutely no skips. i must've missed the memo that it's cool to hate on billy joel, because this dude has been bangin out the tunes for half a century now and he's still got it. this is my favorite album of his, with glass houses and storm front currently rounding out the top three.
i could prattle on for hours, but instead I'll quote one of my favorite pieces of billy joel trivia about how his songs appeared in the Rock Band series, considering he had never allowed his master recordings to be used in a video game before. this is taken from Mark Raby's 2010 article on GamesRadar:
"Joel changed his mind when he happened to see a review in Entertainment Weekly about an episode of The Office. In the episode, middle management icon Michael Scott pines about a Billy Joel Rock Band game.
In the episode's review, the critic wrote "something like, 'God forbid that ever should happen,'" said Joel. "So I called my people and said, 'Get me [in] that Rock Band game.' Then I wrote the critic, saying that every time I get a check, I'll give him a little nod.""
tl;dr: billy joel is in rock band thanks to pure spite, and i think that's beautiful <3
The Rolling Stones
2/5
meh. another crappy album by an overrated band of misogynists. seriously, i think every track on here was about some perceived slight or personal failing by a woman. mick jagger even sang in one song that a woman was only in it for the money, but in another song later he/the narrator tried to do the exact same thing. unfortunately this album doesn't hit any of the standards for good music, despite all the standards being double. *airhorn noises*
i can only assume the US version of this album would've been a better listen since it was mercifully shorter and replaced four filler tracks with the actually decent single paint it black. instead i had to listen to the stones' 11-minute take on an endless, nameless-style cacophony track. i about lost it around 9 1/2 minutes in when someone started clapping arhythmically. what the fuck guys.
favorites: mother's little helper, under my thumb, and out of time were the least bad tracks. under my thumb is kind of a jam despite its intense misogyny... ugh
The Byrds
3/5
this was fine. i don't know any of these songs and i don't think i really needed to listen to this many byrds albums before i die but oh well.
favorites: so you want to be a rock 'n' roll star, renaissance fair, everybody's been burned, my back pages
Barry Adamson
3/5
this was interesting and weird, but veered a little too far off the road for me personally. a lot of the songs felt very repetitive, though the genre exploration throughout the album was neat. definitely sounded like the soundtrack to a creepy psychological thriller movie at points, and i later saw in the Wikipedia article and reviews here that that was intentional. nice guest features here but i'd kind of prefer to just watch the movie this is supposed to be in than listen to these weird, disjointed songs on their own.
favorites: set the controls for the heart of the pelvis, something wicked this way comes, state of contraction
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
incredible album. surprised by how many songs i had heard before and recognized that i had no idea were by fleet wood and the macs. honestly i have nothing new to add to this album conversation other than apologies to the haters but i think this one does live up to the hype.
favorites: all of them, though i thought the weakest were songbird, i don't want to know, and oh daddy
The Velvet Underground
2/5
this was a total snoozefest. just nothing going on to hold any interest. not sure how this band is held in such high regard... i've not been impressed by their music. the banana one was better, if only just.
favorites: pale blue eyes, after hours
Skunk Anansie
5/5
i had never heard of skunk anansie before but this album rips!!! finally an actually good album from britain from the 90s on this list...
favorites: tracks 1, 3-7, 9, and 10
Ravi Shankar
2/5
well this was a change from the usual. 53 minutes of sitar noodling from the 50s definitely wasn't on my bingo card. this had some cool moments, but overall just felt like a fun little 4-minute intro song and then a 49-minute block of the same thing. no vocals other than ravi's voiceover and nothing to really break it up. this is a 2.5 for me but i don't see myself ever listening to any of these songs again, so I'm gonna have to round down. sorry ravi
favorites: an introduction to indian music
Suicide
2/5
i dunno about this one, guys. i wanted to like it due to how weird it was and how much other people didn't like it, but it was too much even for me.
there's some interesting stuff here with early electronic music and the punk/avant-garde aesthetic where you start putting elements together and being like oh yeah this is gonna work so well (since it seems great on paper) but then you end up with the musical equivalent of a looney tunes cartoon where wile e. coyote runs off a cliff and just stands there looking at the camera helpless for a second before plummeting to the ground.
i blame it entirely on the 10-minute murder song. it's a third of your total album runtime! what were you thinking?! it's only scary because of how bad the song is!!!
favorites: ghost rider
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
i do need to be in the right mood to listen to ol' Robert but there are some stone cold classics here. i went in sort of knowing four of these songs and picked up a new one I liked, so that was cool. i wish exodus (the song) weren't so long but at least the rest just kinda flow by. this was another great Friday album, the generator has been killing it lately!
favorites: exodus, jamming, waiting in vain, three little birds, one love/people get ready
Neil Young
2/5
ugh, more boring, boomer-nostalgia drivel from neil. i think this is the sixth album of his I've listened to on this list so far and I've liked one of them.
there's just nothing interesting here. all the songs sound the same. the lyrics are uninspired. his voice is in its typical annoying form. i listened all the way through and found that i hadn't liked a single song, so i listened to a few more and found the least boring, walk on, to include in my favorites. lol.
also lol at the top commenter who gave this two stars because they felt personally attacked that his music wasn't on spotify. how DARE neil young take a stance against a predatory megacorporation that doesn't pay its artists fairly! didn't he stop to think about how this would affect ME?
favorites: walk on
Cat Stevens
4/5
this was a pleasant listen. i had heard wild world a few times going into this, but none of the others. there's a good vibe throughout and the songs are all the right length. i'm sure i'll listen to these tracks again later on.
favorites: where do the children play, wild world, sad lisa, father and son
MC Solaar
4/5
ok dang mc solaar has a great flow, even if i didn't understand a lick of it. i liked this a lot more than i expected. the music, samples, beats, and lyrical rhythms are all on point and work great here.
favorites: tracks 2, 4, 10, 12, and 14. ragga jam was just an insane showcase of how fast he can spit rhymes!
Marty Robbins
5/5
yee-FUCKING-haw!!!!!!!!!!!! i've been waiting for this album since i saw it was included like eight months ago. like many people my age who are aware of this album, my first introduction was to Big Iron on the Fallout: New Vegas soundtrack around 2010. That song is still my favorite on here, but there are plenty of other great tracks.
this album is exactly what it says on the tin. the songs are fun, the stories well-told and engaging, and everything comes together nicely in this package. there's also a sequel album for anyone looking for more.
also, Marty was a NASCAR driver. he drove so goddamn fast. never did win no checkered flags but he never did come in last.
favorites: big iron, a hundred and sixty acres, they're hanging me tonight, billy the kid, the strawberry roan, the master's call, running gun, el paso, saddle tramp, el paso (full version)
Wu-Tang Clan
3/5
i know wu-tang is a cultural force to be reckoned with but i was an infant when this album came out, so we were like ships in the night. some of the beats and lyrical flows are quite good on this album, but it also (in my opinion) contains a lot of braggadocious rap filler that keeps arbitrarily cycling through different rappers. the end result to me is unfocused and overwhelming. i get that wu-tang ain't nothin' to fuck wit', but WHY is that the case? this is like a 3.5 for me but I'm gonna have to round down.
favorites: wu-tang clan ain't nothing ta f' wit, C.R.E.A.M., protect ya neck, tearz
Dire Straits
3/5
this album was basically just sultans of swing (pretty good) and a bunch of filler. i liked a couple of the other tracks but all in all, this was ok and nowhere near as enjoyable as brothers in arms was.
favorites: down to the waterline, sultans of swing, wild west end
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
eh, this was okay. better than a fever to tell, but not stellar. the album started strong but petered out pretty quickly after that with a bunch of samey pop-rock tracks. they sounded decent but nothing really jumped out at me.
favorites: zero, heads will roll, soft shock
Marvin Gaye
4/5
i thought this was going to be a good album but it became great once i learned the background behind it. the songs are smooth and soulful and flow so well together. marvin addresses some big issues in the lyrics but spends far too long talking about jesus for my taste. many of these songs and their messaging still hold up today, which probably says just as much about our modern society as it does this album's quality.
i also found it interesting that a third of these tracks had parenthetical phrases in their titles. that's not relevant to anything, i just wanted to make sure everyone else knew.
favorites: what's going on, what's happening brother, flyin' high (in the friendly sky), save the children, mercy mercy me (the ecology), inner city blues (make me wanna holler)
Morrissey
4/5
four stars because this album was hilarious. i don't know if that was the intent, but morrissey has bestowed upon us plebeians an excellent comedy album from on high. and how could it be anything else, considering the sheer earnestness with which he bemoans anyone and everyone he can focus his tommy gun sights on?
from the opening track, "america is not the world," you already know what kind of album this is going to be. he then goes on to complain about anyone who isn't literally exactly him, including the labour party (?) and lesbians (???) sorry we're all such crashing bores, morrissey, and we are forever grateful that you deigned to write these songs for our boorish ears to listen to and our feeble minds to attempt to comprehend!
we also have here some of the most morrissey song titles to ever exist. "i have forgiven jesus," "i'm not sorry," "the world is full of crashing bores," and "how can anybody possibly know how i feel?" really put things into perspective. astronomers, forget the heliocentric model of our solar system - we've gone full morrissentric now.
despite the myriad issues with this album, some of these tracks admittedly slap. irish blood, english heart and the first of the gang to die go particularly hard.
favorites: those two and i have forgiven jesus
The Mamas & The Papas
3/5
this was decent but i had absolutely zero nostalgia of this group to fall back on. california dreamin' is the best song on here by a country mile, but at least the others were fine and fairly short.
also, this album cover is driving me crazy. why on earth would you pluralize mamas and papas with apostrophes????
favorites: monday monday, california dreamin
Beck
3/5
hmm, not sure how to feel about this. it's basically only beck in name alone and sounds nothing like his other work (whether that's good or bad, I'll leave up to you). this is just beck being a sad boy for... 52 straight minutes??? ok damn dude we get it, you had a rough breakup, there's no need to record twelve nearly identical 4-5 minute songs about it. just bottle those emotions up and/or turn to mind-altering substances like the rest of us, sheesh.
favorites: i didn't *love* any of these, but paper tiger, guess I'm doing fine, lost cause, sunday sun, and little one all had parts i enjoyed
Aretha Franklin
4/5
this was a pleasant album and aretha has an incredible voice. respect is of course a bona fide classic. i also didn't realize how funny and fun some of her lyrics were, like in dr. feelgood and i never loved a man. the rest are solid tracks, even if they didn't grab my attention like those three.
favorites: respect, i never loved a man (the way i love you), dr. feelgood (love is a serious business)
The Roots
3/5
this was an interesting album and though I'm normally a fan of the mixed-genre forays, this one felt a bit more scattershot and unfocused than most. i listened to the album all the way through, then revisited a few tracks in the middle, but they didn't really grab me the second time either. also i don't get why we needed a weird 10 1/2 minute soundscape dropped into the middle of the album (and right after another long song). not my favorite.
also had no idea this was the same "the roots" that's jimmy fallon's tonight show house band???? wild.
favorites: rock you, the seed (2.0)
The Byrds
3/5
is there a gas leak in here? why are all the top reviews five stars? this album is just an hour of experimental nonsense without anything truly memorable. i can't imagine being alive in the 60s, buying this album for an exorbitant sum (especially in today's dollars), taking it home to play on the turntable, and hearing THIS. and THEN, an hour later, thinking, yes, that was money and time well spent. this band respects me, their devoted listener.
naturally, everyone's favorite groundbreaking oddity, the moog synthesizer, is here too. too bad it sure doesn't pack the punch they were hoping for; rather, it sounds like five minutes of farting noises played on trombone champ.
there are a lot of byrds albums on this list and i think all of them have been better than this one, though maybe that's not exactly high praise...
favorites: goin' back, wasn't born to follow, tribal gathering, dolphin's smile
Louis Prima
3/5
i can't believe king louie from the jungle book put out a whole album. this was kinda wild and some of the songs were catchy, but overall the album was just fine to me. kudos for opening the album with the line "I'm just a gigolo" though, not many people can say they've done that.
favorites: just a gigolo / i ain't got nobody, oh marie
The Beach Boys
5/5
this album was great. brian wilson is a WILD character (please check out his wikipedia page and especially the part on his favorite song, shortnin' bread, if you haven't already) and the rest of the b*tch boys are in top form here. i love all the weird instrumentation and songwriting choices here, and this album absolutely holds up 60 years later.
favorites: wouldn't it be nice, that's not me, let's go away for awhile, sloop john b, god only knows, i know there's an answer, i just wasn't made for these times, caroline no
Moby
3/5
moby is certainly an interesting character. the stuff with natalie portman is a huge red flag and it sounds like his heavy-drug-and-alcohol-addiction era is responsible for a lot of damage he did to himself and those around him. but this review is ostensibly about an album, not the man himself.
and it's decent. as many other reviewers pointed out, moby has essentially perfected the formula of taking an old african-american spiritual or blues song and recontextualizing it as a modern electronica hit, which then gets repackaged for use in car commercials. the circle of life??? if you like that formula and sound, you'll love this album (and it seems many people do, considering this is the best-selling electronica album of all time). if not, your hour is better spent elsewhere.
i like a good transformative work/sample but these do get pretty samey after a while. still, the songs are good as background music and decently catchy. my opinions are mixed, so three stars it is.
favorites: honey, porcelain, why does my heart feel so bad, bodyrock, natural blues, my weakness
3/5
decent britpop album. starts super strong and then kinda turns into a slog after the first few tracks, but there are some enjoyable songs hidden in with the others.
favorites: for tomorrow, advert, colin zeal, chemical world, villa rosie, turn it up
Pulp
4/5
90s britpop album with weird vocalist singing about sex, check. are some of these songs massive tunes either way? also check. common people is a jam and the "average" song on here is still pretty good. listened twice already, would listen again.
favorites: mis-shapes, common people, disco 2000, bar italia
Black Sabbath
4/5
though this doesn't have any of their earth-shatteringly massive hits, this album still hits hard as only 70s hard rock and metal can. changes is a tune and ozzy is in prime form here. i listened the whole way through twice, and could see myself coming back to this from time to time.
favorites: changes, supernaut, snowblind, laguna sunrise
Frank Ocean
4/5
this was a cool album and i'm glad it's on this list. i was aware of frank ocean but never really listened to his music when it was popular. there are some really well-crafted tracks here and plenty of depth on repeated listenings. to dismiss it entirely (like some reviewers clearly have) feels very ignorant and close-minded.
favorites: thinkin bout you, sierra leone, sweet life, super rich kids, pyramids, forrest gump
Django Django
4/5
another neat album that i never would have discovered on my own! love the spacey synths and desert ambience on this album. definitely coming back to these in the future.
favorites: introduction, hail bop, default, waveforms, skies over cairo, silver rays
KISS
3/5
boy, kiss really is a singles band, huh? even my favorite song of theirs (detroit rock city, though some days it's strutter) isn't enough to save this from being fairly mediocre and boring overall.
favorites: detroit rock city, god of thunder, shout it out loud
Hot Chip
3/5
another decent album, but underwhelming. not good enough for a 4 and not bad enough for a 2, so 3 stars it is. these songs are too long and don't really go anywhere interesting.
also did the other reviewers listen to the same album i did?? saying things about how "unabashedly upbeat and happy" it was and the parts that are "deliberately echoing" famous songs??? this album makes me feel like i'm at M83's funeral.
favorites: don't deny your heart, now there is nothing
Tears For Fears
5/5
i hate where TFF are going with the AI slop nowadays, but this album is really something special. the three pillars of the album are the mammoth hits: shout, everybody wants to rule the world, and head over heels. these three tracks really define this album, and it's awesome to hear their riffs and instruments woven throughout the album. broken is a nice little extension of head over heels, and the latter half of the album closer listen reminds me of mad world, which is pretty slick.
with that said, for being such a notable 80s band and album, the other ballads on here truly stink. not sure how they flubbed that part so badly but they just don't hit at all for me. that ballad sound is also responsible for the worst two minutes of the working hour. still, the high points on this album are so high that i've really gotta hand it (my five-star review) to them.
favorites: shout, the working hour, everybody wants to rule the world, broken, head over heels
Dr. Dre
2/5
yeah i dunno about this one dre. this album is as old as i am but you don't hear me going around harassing women and gay people. i hate sounding like a member of the PMRC but i don't really understand what this braggadocious "I'm the hardest" lyrical style that relies heavily on rampant misogyny, homophobia, and sexual violence adds to the rap and hip-hop genre as a whole.
two stars but only because snoop improves a lot of these tracks and the funky backing tracks are solid.
favorites: let me ride, nuthin' but a "g" thang
Charles Mingus
2/5
man, i really WANT to like some of this more esoteric jazz on this list but i just can't crack this nut. and i have a music degree for pete's sake.
parts of this sounded good and swingy, particularly the middle of track B, but for each exciting and captivating section of these songs, there was an equal and opposite section of unintelligible cacophony... mingus' third law.
favorites: track b - duete solo dancers
Taylor Swift
4/5
it was only a matter of time before we got a taylor album that divided the populace. i think the 5-star-rating swifties are a bit blind to this when considered as simply an Album with Songs (don't @ me), while the 1- and 2-star haters have overcorrected too hard in the opposite direction. I'm not a huge fan of taylor's ultra-celebrity persona and lifestyle (she's a billionaire who has two private jets and generates roughly 8,000-10,000 tons of CO2 every year, while most other people generate between 1 and 30 tons) but ANYWAY
this album is basically all slow, pleasant, cozy tracks. it's nice at first, but feels pretty samey after a few songs. the guest features are solid, and the vignettes in songs like no body, no crime are neat. taylor has a very poetic lyrical style that only suffers from many songs following the same formula and overarching themes (though she's got nothing on this album's Wikipedia page, which has the most biased purple prose I've ever read).
it's almost laughable what lengths the _only person to ever become a billionaire solely through songwriting and performing_ has to go through to sound relatable to the rest of us. it feels gross when i think about it too hard, but i'm sure thinking too hard is antithetical to this album's mission anyway. ultimately, i'm not sure where i land on this but the songs are pretty good so how about four stars?
favorites: willow, champagne problems, no body no crime, coney island, long story short, evermore
Tricky
3/5
weird album but kinda neat. didn't know what to expect from this and it's kind of a dark and brooding 90s semi-industrial sort of romp. not my favorite but it's fine.
favorites: overcome, black steel
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
not a lot of meat on these bones... the "concept album" designation is tenuous at best, though maybe that's more on the critics and listening public than S&G themselves. many of these songs were just middling and uninspiring, somehow saving the best tracks for the end of side B. at least it was mercifully short, but the two minutes of old people talking is all I'm gonna remember from this. why...
favorites: bookends theme, mrs. robinson, a hazy shade of winter
Foo Fighters
3/5
well i wanted to like this, but it was kind of a big old nothingburger. I've never been a huge fan of the foo fighters because their songs always seemed to blend together for me. they're the cosmic latte of rock music, just the average of every popular band's sonic output blended together until smooth.
this is a call and I'll stick around are pretty good. big me was kind of novel, if only because it was a song by them that's under three and a half minutes long and at a more relaxed tempo. i had no idea that song was huge (111M streams on spotify) and I'm not sure it has any right to be. must've been in a TV show or car commercial or something...
i only know i'll stick around from the weird al polka it's in. that's just how it's gonna be here.
favorites: this is a call, I'll stick around, big me
The Prodigy
4/5
oh yeah, this is the 90s british electronic sound i've been waiting for. the other similar albums on this list just don't hit in the same way this one does. definitely keeping an eye out for more like this.
favorites: smack my bitch up, breathe, mindfields, firestarter
4/5
this was interesting and i liked it way more than the newer PJ Harvey album on this list. kinda like if michelle branch, sleater-kinney, and nirvana all got together to make an album. powerful, dark, weird, and interesting. not all the songs hit but overall this was a neat album to check out. also thom yorke is here on multiple tracks for some reason????
favorites: good fortune, this mess we're in, you said something, we float
The Vines
4/5
pretty good. kinda grungy, kinda garage rock-y, VERY noisy. not something i'd listen to all the way through very often but it's got its high points. i know some of these from Rock Band and of course, Get Free from Weird Al's "Angry White Boy Polka"... classic.
favorites: highly evolved, outtathaway, get free, factory
David Bowie
2/5
every new david bowie album i get on here, i learn that i really don't care for his music outside of the big singles. this album is a whole lot of nothing. sometimes it's fine and the songs are just like, suffragette city-esque b-sides like the rest of his songs where he thinks he's really jamming, but some like the title track are just him trying to be challenging and see how much his fans will put up with before getting up and turning off the record player.
ultimately there's nothing really notable here and it's more a waste of time than anything. no thanks david.
favorites: panic in detroit, let's spend the night together (which is a cover, lol)
Pink Floyd
5/5
idk what was happening when i put this album on yesterday but i really connected with it lol. i had just gotten my flu shot a few hours before so maybe that was kicking in? I've never really been a pink floyd fan and i hadn't heard any of these songs beforehand but this was good enough for me to listen to it 2-3 times. definitely will revisit these tracks in the future.
favorites: all of them, particularly welcome to the machine and wish you were here
Blue Cheer
2/5
welp, this was pretty bad. i almost gave it one star but given that it's responsible for influencing the sound of a bunch of bands i actually like, i concede that it may hold an important place in history.
unfortunately, it sounds like it was recorded on the same cheapo amp i used when i was learning guitar in middle school, and played with about the same level of skill and songwriting prowess. blech.
favorites: summertime blues (which is a cover, of course)
The Pogues
5/5
godDAMN this album is so good!!!!! i was thrilled to see it come up and listened to it like four times. the pogues rock hard and kinda do a clash-london-calling-esque thing here where they meander off into different genres and grooves and it just WORKS. these are the songs of the people!!
favorites: pretty much everything. didn't end up adding streets of sorrow / birmingham six, sit down by the fire, or shanne bradley to my liked songs.
Sisters Of Mercy
4/5
i liked this one! dark, gothic, 80s new wave is usually pretty interesting, and this is adjacent to a bunch of artists i listen to already. the songs were all terribly long, but at least they went places. I'll keep an eye out for more sisters of mercy in the future!
favorites: dominion/mother russia, flood i, lucretia my reflection, this corrosion, never land
Elton John
3/5
eh, this one was fine. tiny dancer is a good song, levon and madman across the water were pretty good, and the rest ranged from uncomfortable to forgettable to bad. i didn't really grow up with elton john and trying to find an accessible way to enjoy his music in my 30s is tough. all these songs feel really similar and each one is about 2-3 minutes too long. i will say the album cover is pretty cool though.
favorites: tiny dancer, levon, madman across the water
Stevie Wonder
4/5
i really enjoyed this one! it's not my favorite of his but has some great tracks and good vibes. the opener, too high, sounds like a cross between afrojack's lyrics and bill wurtz's music, but the album gets a bit more normal from there while still keeping the funky, jazzy sound throughout.
favorites: visions, living for the city, higher ground, all in love is fair, don't you worry 'bout a thing
Spiritualized
4/5
cool album, spacey and atmospheric vibes. kinda reminded me of radiohead and even U2 at points. nice to have a unique genre (space rock) represented on this list! the individual songs here seemed less important than the album as a whole, but i found it enjoyable. also i didn't test any of the cool CD shenanigans that Wikipedia mentioned but am always a big fan of artists that do cool things with what would otherwise be limitations of physical media.
favorites: you know it's true, if i were with her now, i want you, run, shine a light
Girls Against Boys
3/5
meh. this was early 90s grunge, sure, but without any of the emotion or power that sets the best grunge bands apart from the rest. it doesn't help that the band name sounds like it's gonna be some riot grrrl punk and then WHAM it's more middle-of-the-road grunge.
not sure what about this album possibly qualifies it for this list but it's nowhere near the worst offender. it's just a mediocre 2.5 star album to me and luckily it doesn't frustrate me enough to round down. rather, i just can't be bothered to care about it, which i'm sure is the apathetic grunge feeling they were going for anyway.
favorites: go be delighted, bullet proof cupid
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
2/5
this is like the residents meets beck meets jack white, and unfortunately i did not really care for it. the jon spencer blues explosion was ultimately rather light on the blues and very heavy on the explosion. it takes a bold artistic vision to open your album with 15 seconds of screams, so kudos to them for that. sadly, it only got worse from there.
i also listened to the version of the album that this site linked to, and saw no indication that it was a deluxe version, but what's done is done i suppose. this probably works better at half the length but if you're a masochist and/or idiot like me, have fun slogging through the 32-track, 79-minute feast for the senses that only 1001 albums can provide.
favorites: skunk, wail, chicken dog, rocketship
David Bowie
2/5
a loud, resounding meh for this one. if this album hadn't dropped right before bowie's death, i don't think it would've been more than a blip on most people's radars. after listening to like 6 or 7 bowie albums in this list, nothing has topped ziggy stardust for me and the rest have slowly turned me into a hater. there's just nothing interesting or captivating really happening on this album, just pretentious drivel.
favorites: lazarus
Parliament
5/5
finally, some good fucking music. this album is a funk classic and give up the funk is a time-tested banger. i love the vibes, the album artwork, the space theme, the sound and production, the number of unnecessary parenthetical phrases in the song titles, just... everything. five stars, no notes.
favorites: p-funk, mothership connection, unfunky UFO, handcuffs, give up the funk
New Order
4/5
interesting choice of album. this didn't have any massive singles on it as far as I'm aware, but i was familiar with love vigilantes, which is a great song. otherwise, the darker 80s synthpop sound is alive and well here, with new order fully in their element. i definitely prefer this version of the band to their work as joy division, as these tracks all feel a bit more interesting and punchy to me.
favorites: love vigilantes, the perfect kiss, elegia
Grateful Dead
1/5
the grateful dead feels like a massive prank that the boomers have played on the younger generations. every time i hear a grateful dead song i think, no way does anyone actually enjoy this music for real... there's just nothing there. no soul, no substance, and the band can't even decide on the same song to play. everyone's noodling around on their instruments and not particularly well. it feels like i'm standing in the middle of a guitar center while middle schoolers holding their first guitar try to play smoke on the water and iron man.
after 400 or so albums, i think this is my first one-star review going to a band or artist who isn't a sexual predator. congrats, grateful dead. you did it.
"favorites": st. stephen and the eleven both had sections that were interesting
Johnny Cash
5/5
this album gave me severe whiplash (but in a good way??) since my previous one was the grateful dead's live/dead album. THIS is how a live album should be done.
for one thing, johnny cash knows how to put on a show. he plays the hits, has some great comedic banter-y bits, and genuinely wants everyone to have a good time. these live prison recordings are pretty eye-opening and convey a lot about cash's ideals, since i don't know of any other musician doing things like he did back in the day. he seems like he was a good egg.
favorites: basically everything. san quentin reprise and there'll be peace in the valley were the weakest imo, everything else was gold.
Pink Floyd
5/5
this was a great album. the songs are interesting, the lyrics are evocative, the instrumentation is lush and textured, and nothing drags on too long. i'm not very familiar with pink floyd but i listened to this a couple times and found myself enjoying it a bit more each time. i'm sure this is deserving of its place near the top of the rankings.
favorites: breathe (in the air), time, the great gig in the sky, money, us and them, brain damage, eclipse
Bill Evans Trio
3/5
hmm. i still don't think i "get" jazz, but this was pleasant enough to listen to most of the time. however, there were some weird sections where the bass sounded out of tune (not out of key/away from the current tonal center) and the songs were quite lengthy.
also like half of them were repeats, just a different take? not that i really noticed when actually listening to them, lol. anyway, i'm a philistine who doesn't understand great art and probably wouldn't listen to this again outside of background music... sorry. i just like the sound of brass in jazz too much i guess... yeah, we'll go with that.
favorites: gloria's step (take 2), jade visions (take 2), alice in wonderland (take 1)
Portishead
4/5
pretty neat album. definitely a unique sound (for the time, at least). now it's a bit more commonplace, but i imagine hearing this for the first time in the mid-90s would have been mind-blowing. not 100% my thing but still cool that this is on the list.
favorites: sour times, wandering star, roads, glory box
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
I quite liked this one. It lacks a massive Feel the Pain-esque single, though the opening track is clearly the winner here. Dinosaur Jr. are really in their groove here, with solid, powerful music and curious lyrics to bring everything together. They sound rough around the edges (in a good way) and like a bit stew of grungy, indie, lo-fi emotion. I dig it.
favorites: freak scene, no bones, yeah we know, let it ride, budge
Sonic Youth
3/5
sonic youth can keep their goo. i don't want it.
this album is far better than evol from this list but still, just pretentious "art" as a facade for poor songwriting. there are a few tracks that i enjoyed segments of, but everything here just has that art-students-trying-to-be-cool self-indulgence to it. its biggest saving grace is kool thing, which took me years to come around on, but is a blast to play on drums (in Rock Band, at least). otherwise, meh
favorites: dirty boots, tunic (song for karen), kool thing, my friend goo, titanium expose
Sufjan Stevens
4/5
disclaimer: i have a few friends that would likely crucify me if they found out i didn’t give this five stars, so no one say anything!! this is a great album overall and definitely deserves its spot on the list. sufjan excels at crafting a cohesive setting through his aural vignettes. there are some really beautiful and moving tracks here, in both lyrics and music. this album is captivating and attention-grabbing... or at least, the first half of it is.
the back half is more of the same, but the colors are a bit muted. it’s like you’re listening to the album again but the novelty has worn off a bit. it’s lost that new album smell and doesn’t quite look as shiny as it was when you first picked it up. i can’t tell if this metaphor is working or not.
as you start to look at it more closely, you see through some of the cracks in the veneer. the lengthy song titles that were once fun and quirky now reek of desperate pretension. the 7-minute long tracks of happy carnival music start to feel like a haunted fairground. and wait, have all these lyrics actually just been about christianity the whole time?
this 22-track album is 74 minutes long, the same length as the 1988 disney classic oliver & company (starring joey lawrence and billy joel). and i think i’d rather watch that instead. the front half of this is 5 stars and the back half is 3, so i’ll split the difference and give it four.
favorites (lmao i am NOT typing out these entire song titles): ufo, illinoise, JWG Jr, decatur, chicago, casimir
Oasis
3/5
oh look, it's the oasis album that has the mid-tier singles. oasis is pretty much the brand name version of 90s britpop to me, but boy do they sure do have a lot of filler songs, both on this album and in general. there's not much on here to write home about but it's still the quintessential britpop sound i guess. i'd give this 3.5 stars but eh.
also those gallagher bros are something else.
favorites: rock 'n' roll star, live forever, supersonic
The Icarus Line
2/5
yeah, this ain't it, chief. i'm not sure how a band that makes so much noise could end up being so boring but here we are. it's like a garage band from the early aughts saw the stooges/the strokes/queens of the stone age/the white stripes and tried to copy their shtick but add more of a hardcore punk edge. in the end it just feels messy and uninspired. i even listened to this album more than once to try to "get" it but nah, not for me. at least the more straightforward punk songs were pretty good
favorites: up against the wall motherfuckers, spit on it, party the baby off
Pearl Jam
5/5
pound for pound, ten has got to be one of the best debut albums of all time. this is the album that defines pearl jam, and a lot of the grunge/alternative rock sound of the early 90s as well. there are genuinely moving songs on here with lyrical themes that touch on suicide, homelessness, and mental health--things that most other artists would distance themselves from.
the band sounds great here and there's plenty of power behind vedder's vocals. i've listened to some of these tracks hundreds of times and they still hold up for me. and this is one of those bands i probably wouldn't know more than a song or two from had it not been for Rock Band and Guitar Hero.
favorites: once, even flow, alive, black, jeremy, oceans
Wilco
4/5
i recall this being a classic indie album that all my cool friends liked but that i never really listened to. it's pretty good. makes me wonder what that other wilco album is doing on this list though.
favorites: i am trying to break your heart, kamera, jesus etc, heavy metal drummer
Cocteau Twins
4/5
this was a very pleasant discovery, as i had heard of the cocteau twins but was not familiar with their work prior to listening to this album a couple times. their shimmery, ethereal sound is a perfect microcosm of the shoegaze/dream pop genre and is quite nice to listen to, especially in the background. in some ways, it's almost too saccharine, to the point of being toothless (as is often the case in dentistry).
this album also lacks any sort of landmarks or big shifts to the sound; once you start it, you're in for about forty minutes of floating in the lazy river of music, having a generally pleasant time but unable to discern the differences between any particular areas.
lastly, i have no idea what the lyrics are to most of these songs. i can't understand a single thing elizabeth fraser is singing, so her beautiful poetry and voice become just another instrument in the mix. it's all one big soup. but the soup is really tasty, so there you go.
favorites: cherry-coloured funk, pitch the baby, heaven or las vegas, i wear your ring, wolf in the breast, frou-frou foxes in midsummer fires
U2
3/5
well, that sure was an album. i remember picking this up from the library sometime in the early 2000s and it didn't really grip me then, either. it's just U2 doing the "new U2" sound for the first time, but unfortunately we've heard it about a million times since. i rate this one loud, reverb-drenched, bono-screamed "meh"
favorites: even better than the real thing, one, mysterious ways
Leonard Cohen
2/5
man, we've had a couple albums from lenny boy already and they were all SO much better than this one. I dunno if it's his singing style/voice, the fact that every song sounds the same, or the constant goddamn SPROINK SPROINK SPROINK spring sounds from his jaw harp on several tracks turning decent songs into waking nightmares, but this ain't it chief
favorites: the partisan
George Michael
2/5
i tried, george. i tried to listen without prejudice. but after the first couple tracks, everything just became the world's most boring ballad. i am sorry, boy george michael.
favorites: freedom '90, soul free
Frank Sinatra
4/5
though i myself am not a "swingin' lover" nor do i want to listen to a song specifically about "makin' whoopee," this album is a nice, fun listen and great to have on in the background while doing just about anything. the songs all sound pretty similar but at least it's a good sound, and they're all about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, which is excellent. let's bring that back as a society, huh?
favorites: you make me feel so young, love is here to stay, i've got you under my skin
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
rough stuff. though i'm only nearing the halfway point of my 1001 albums journey, i AM reaching my breaking point of these neil young albums. they all sound the same and i'm baffled that people truly love this music. he has a handful of tracks i enjoy, but naturally none of them are on this album.
the best part was him singing about fuckin' up. otherwise, pretty dull and annoying. even the cover of farmer john was annoying. neil, why do you vex me so
favorites: fuckin' up, mansion on the hill
The Zombies
5/5
normally i’d run screaming from any 60s psychedelic album on this list, but something about this one just works. the harmonies are great and work really well with the instrumentation throughout, the songs are fun and engaging, and the vibes are just immaculate overall. it’s a shame this was received so poorly upon release and the recording sessions were so fraught with setbacks and tensions within the band, though maybe i like this so much specifically because it’s not like all the other albums from this time.
favorites: care of cell 44, a rose for emily, beechwood park, this will be our year, friends of mine, time of the season
Ella Fitzgerald
4/5
okay YES this is 3h15m and YES it is six discs (on Spotify) of old-timey music which on paper sounds like the stuff of nightmares but honestly, twist of the century, it works and i enjoyed it. if it weren't the gershwins and ella fitzgerald, you'd be reading a very different review right now. but ella's voice is just magical (or maybe that's the christmas spirit all around me... i'm writing this in mid-december, after all). the songs switch between heartfelt ballads and fun, goofy, campy songs covering just about anything, and it makes for an engaging experience overall.
particular shoutouts to the opening lines of my cousin in milwaukee from (spotify's) disc 2 and boy wanted from disc 3. and strike up the band from disc 3 opens with a part that sounds like the twentieth century fox bumper music... incredible stuff. and the rest of the tracks were still pleasant as background music, there's really nothing bad on here.
favorites: but not for me, let's call the whole thing off, by strauss, the real american folk song, my cousin in milwaukee, boy wanted, strike up the band, i got rhythm
Count Basie & His Orchestra
4/5
count basie is a legend, just a powerhouse of big band/swing/jazz/anything else from this era. this album really delivers some punch, and if i hadn't listened to 3+ hours of ella fitzgerald singing gershwin tunes the day before, this would've been a welcome breath of fresh air. the best tracks on this album are the fast and punchy ones; the slow ones are a bit dull to my taste but either way, this is a solid album.
favorites: the kid from red bank, flight of the foo birds, whirly-bird, splanky
4/5
this might be sacrilege but this album was fine. it's the bloody beatles, i know. but all their other albums are much better on the song front than this one. the best thing about this album is easily the cover art. there are some big singles, but there's also a ton of mediocre filler... and the worst part is when they pull out the sitar for ten minutes because they're super into that psychedelic-mysticism-cultural-appropriation nonsense this year. there's something about british men claiming indian culture for their own that feels so familiar, but i just can't put my finger on it... /s
the title track and reprise are the only ones that really felt like the show/experience they were supposedly going for here (and maybe mr. kite but that's not a good song other than the part about henry the horse). otherwise it's just a slapdash compilation of disjointed songs, of which several made no impression on me whatsoever even after three full listens in the last 24 hours - getting better, she's leaving home, within you without you, and good morning good morning are the worst offenders here.
but as we all know, the songs that are good are VERY good, and a real high water mark for the beatles' output. if only the rest of the album were on that level of quality...
favorites: sgt. pepper's, friends, lucy, 64, sgt. pepper's reprise, a day in the life
Leonard Cohen
3/5
this album answers the question no one was asking, "what if bob dylan were emo?"
favorites: avalanche, famous blue raincoat
The Verve
3/5
not awful, but all the songs were super long and just sounded like generic britpop. the massive single, bittersweet symphony, absolutely carried this album as far as it could, but even it couldn't save us from another hour and change of the most incredibly average british music.
the other singles were fine i guess. the hidden track was super lame and not worth the annoyance of even skipping through the extended silence before it. i kinda liked the energy of the rolling people, but realized it felt more like a 7-minute supergrass song and that's probably why it was somewhat enjoyable.
favorites: bitter sweet symphony, the rolling people, the drugs don't work, lucky man
John Lennon
2/5
oh good, another bad album in this list by everyone's favorite domestic abuser. john has escaped from the beatles and spends most of this album screaming like a wild man and banging out some discordant and abrasive tunes. there's really nothing here i enjoyed other than working class hero, which unfortunately is a banger and you really do have to hand it to him. even a broken man is right twice a day.
favorites: working class hero
Marvin Gaye
3/5
undeniably smooth and overwhelmingly sexy. tbh it was a little much and felt super repetitive to me but maybe that's what he was going for, idk. what's going on was a much better album in my opinion but i get the appeal here.
my favorite part was absolutely how he opens the album with let's get it on and then a couple tracks later is like remember the good old times we shared with let's get it on seven and a half minutes ago? well here's let's get it on 2: keep gettin' it on. absolute power move and marvin gaye is an icon for it.
favorites: actually just those... let's get it on and keep gettin' it on
Black Sabbath
5/5
easy five stars. i was -22 years old in 1970, but it would've been wild to hear this album for the first time when it released (and to see everyone else's reactions to it). this album is chock full of classic sabbath tunes and really feels like their magnum opus. war pigs is one of the best album openers i can imagine, paranoid is straightforward but powerful, planet caravan shows another side of sabbath's musicality, iron man is another powerful track with an iconic riff... and that's just side A. maybe the best rock/metal side A of that generation.
the back half is pretty good too, definitely takes a turn for the weird but i enjoy it. anyway i don't have anything terribly new or groundbreaking to say about this album but the wikipedia article was a fascinating read. oh, i also wish rat salad were a better song because it has the best name imaginable. that's all.
favorites: war pigs, paranoid, planet caravan, iron man, electric funeral, faeries wear boots
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
another solid offering from robert. no woman no cry is the standout here, but there are a few others worth checking out here.
favorites: lively up yourself, no woman no cry, them belly full (but we hungry), natty dread
The Divine Comedy
3/5
it was fine but not really notable other than that one thing. some nice instrumental parts here and there and some sinatra-esque vocals (though you really get the sense he's trying super hard to do them) but it all evaporates in an instant when he starts talking about his lover being a horse. c'mon man.
favorites: in pursuit of happiness, everybody knows (except you), timewatching, i'm all you need
The Young Rascals
3/5
diet beatles for anyone who's interested in that, i guess. not awful but really drags after a while, and the album barely cracks half an hour.
favorites: a girl like you, find somebody, how can i be sure, groovin
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
leonard cohen for a new generation. this is probably great stuff if you're really into the dark and brooding melodrama of singer-songwriters. i'm not one of those people but i thought the album was enjoyable for the first couple tracks. after that, it was all very slow and felt the same from track to track.
favorites: into my arms, lime tree arbour, people ain't no good
Paul Weller
3/5
another album where i liked the first three tracks, then things took a turn for the boring and i lost interest. much like paul's old band, the jam, there are definitely some songs that pack a punch and really rock, but they're all floating in a sea of mediocre filler. it's fine but i'm not sure it was necessary for the list...
favorites: sunflower, can you heal us, wild wood
Wire
4/5
wow, never heard of these guys before but this is a solid punk album. lots to enjoy here, and great to have an idea hit hard and fast before moving onto the next. the songs are all fairly similar in terms of their sound and production, and the lyrics didn't seem particularly deep from what i could make out. still, nice to find an album like this in the list, and i liked it enough to listen twice all the way through and then a few extra tracks.
favorites: field day for the sundays, ex lion tamer, lowdown, the commercial, strange, fragile, mannequin
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
4/5
i went into this knowing it was an influential album for many of the weirdest musicians and artists i respect, but i don't think i've ever heard any of the tracks. i expected this to be much closer to outsider music, but it was more like talented musicians playing very freeform/avant-garde jazz rock, so that was cool.
a lot of the songs sound like pure chaotic cacophony at first, but their charm and interesting/funny lyrics start to grow on you. this album isn't afraid to just be a weird piece of art that lacks any inherent pretentiousness or pandering to try to sell records. i'm glad we live in a world where this could be made.
i did have to pause halfway through so i could clear my mind and focus on work, and these tracks really demand your attention for it to not just feel like noise. but this was a neat album and fully worthy of being on this list.
favorites: frownland, the dust blows forward 'n the dust blows back, ella guru, pachuco cadaver, my human gets me blues, pena, well, sugar 'n spikes, steal softly thru snow, old fart at play, veteran's day poppy
Lupe Fiasco
5/5
wow, not sure i had heard lupe fiasco before now (maybe daydreamin once or twice) but this album was an incredible way to start for each of us. the beats, samples, and production here all feel top notch, and the various artist features add flair to the individual tracks instead of being the only thing supporting a lackluster album.
these songs all sound pretty different, covering unique themes and lyrical content, and don't beat you over the head with the misogyny, homophobia, or absurd bragging that's characteristic of a lot of rap from the early 90s through the late aughts' crunk phase. it's just good stuff.
i even liked the outro, at least until i realized it was 12 minutes long and just naming everyone lupe fiasco could think of. but the beat was solid so i can't be too mad. this was a five-star album outta nowhere for me and i can't wait to listen to it more.
favorites: intro, real, just might be ok, kick push, the instrumental, daydreamin, the cool, american terrorist
The Incredible String Band
4/5
look, i was right there with y’all when i heard “more 60s psychedelic folk,” but sorry to the haters, these guys rock. i truly admire their restraint of waiting a whole 30 seconds into the album before breaking out the sitar. kidding! i’m just kidding folks, we have fun here. but seriously, other than that, this was a fun and enjoyable album. definitely a bit rough around the edges, but i was finishing up Trout Mask Replica from this list earlier this morning, so maybe that primed me to think this album was a beautiful, sonorous gift from the gods. i kept waiting for the moment when i’d realize “ohh, so THAT’S why everyone hates this album” but it never came.
i will pause to ask what the hell is going on in a very cellular song... who would hide behind your chair and steal your crystallized ginger? that’s messed up, man. despite being 13 minutes long, this was like a prog rock epic so i actually kinda dug it. love the minotaur’s song too. these songs are so fun, how is this album in the bottom 20??
favorites: koeeoaddi there, the minotaur’s song, witches hat, a very cellular song, the water song
Deee-Lite
3/5
when i was in high school, i would always try to hit up the half price books stores in my area and spend hours looking through the $1 CDs they had on clearance. i'd find anywhere from about 3 to 15 CDs from artists i'd heard of but never really gotten into, various 80s, 90s, and 00s one-hit wonders, and all sorts of random goodies that the rest of the world had decided were passe. they certainly weren't all hits, but you'd be surprised how much great stuff is out there if you have couple bucks and an open mind.
as a result of this pastime, i started priding myself on being someone who would listen to not just the huge single by a one-hit wonder band, but also the rest of the album it was on, and maybe even some other choice tracks from their discography. i found a ton of my all-time favorite artists this way, and here are a few greats (in no particular order) that i think everyone should check out: goldfinger, tally hall, meg & dia, ludo, protest the hero, stroke 9, moxy fruvous, crash test dummies, eve 6, fountains of wayne, nena, alien ant farm, die toten hosen, and the presidents of the united states of america. a lot of them are only known for one or two big tracks, but check out the rest of the album those hits are from if you like what you hear. that's why you're on this website, right?
anyway, World Clique was not one of these hidden gems, and Groove is in the Heart is really all you need to hear from Deee-Lite. 3 stars.
Talking Heads
4/5
this was a good album and i enjoy talking heads! they're truly weird for weirdness' sake but still make fun and listenable music, which is basically the ideal combo for me.
there are a lot of unique sounds and genres on this record which keep things interesting for the most part. this album has some tracks that don't quite land for me, but that's fine. this really feels most like a stepping stone between the albums that came before (more songs about buildings and food) and after it (remain in light), where you can see the band developing their sound and getting their footing in real-time.
also, i don't really care for the album cover/artwork. even though most of their album artwork is pretty simple, somehow this one feels particularly lazy and/or rushed. even the first one feels more out there and weird (likely just due to the clashing colors) than this one.
favorites: i zimbra, cities, life during wartime, memories can't wait, heaven
Suzanne Vega
4/5
i saw suzanne vega but didn't recognize any of the song titles from this album, so my first thought was "why this one"... luckily, it's still pretty interesting and engaging. i've listened to it twice and change now (which was easy since it's only 35 mins total) and have enjoyed it more and more each time.
the songs are all kind of... weird. not like talking heads weird and certainly not captain beefheart weird, but not what i'd expect from a mid-80s female singer-songwriter on paper. there's a lot of lush instrumentation throughout this album, thought-provoking and mysterious lyrics (despite their very simple diction), and unique song structures. while none of these are huge breakout singles or anything (it's no thomas's luncheonette), this is an album i'm glad i listened to closely.
favorites: cracking, marlene on the wall, small blue thing, undertow, the queen and the soldier, knight moves
Solange
2/5
sigh... i really tried with this one. listened to it twice all the way through but it just did not work for me. it's just so slow and uneventful. none of the songs are terribly interesting or gripping, it's just soft pop and r&b made to be played in the background of really hip hair salons. it's a shame because i liked the message of the album, but the delivery was a real nothingburger.
favorites: cranes in the sky, mad
Donovan
3/5
fine i guess. pretty samey and filler-y. maybe the most 2.5-star album to ever grace this list. i dunno but also i don't really care. at least the big singles are pretty good.
favorites: sunshine superman, season of the witch
Justice
5/5
i've always thought of justice as "that electronic group that was super popular in the late aughts that was in a ton of mashups at the time" but never really heard this album on its own beyond the D.A.N.C.E. single. turns out it's really fuckin good.
these guys are basically just a harder, better, faster, stronger version of daft punk. there's some more edge and darkness to their music but otherwise it sounds uncannily similar to daft punk in their heyday. the powerful beats work great with the synth-driven instrumentation, and the micro-samples are second to none.
as an album, it starts strong and ends strong. it starts to cave in around the middle and hits its lowest point with The Party (or as it's listed on Wikipedia, "Tthhee Ppaarrttyy"). not sure what possessed them to include that track, because the album would be much better without it. still, i don't think it's enough to detract from all the good things they've crafted here. fuck it, five stars.
favorites: genesis, let there be light, d.a.n.c.e., phantom, dvno, stress (love the night on bald/disco mountain sample which i clocked immediately), waters of nazareth, one minute to midnight
Barry Adamson
2/5
this was fine i guess but isn't one "soundtrack" album by this guy enough for this list? the gimmick of the album gets pretty insipid after a couple tracks and it all feels samey, including to oedipus schmoedipus. hard to say which album i liked more because they're practically identical. both are 2.5 stars at best and i rounded up on the other one, so sorry, barry, this one's getting a two. glad you got that career in film composing like you wanted from this demo tape.
favorites: under wraps, sounds from the big house
Madonna
3/5
well, this certainly wasn't what i expected it to be, as it was practically an electronica dance record. unfortunately all the songs were three minutes too long and sounded pretty similar, so it all evens out. this was a 3, maybe 3.5 star album, but there's just nothing really substantial to sink your teeth into here.
favorites: ray of light, nothing really matters, frozen
Daft Punk
3/5
i was really excited to see this as my daily album, especially so soon after listening to justice's cross the previous week. after the first 15 minutes or so, i realized that the excitement had faded and i hunkered down for another hour of repetitive house music. this album is really a slog outside of the few singles. it's fine if you have it on in the background and just want to get into the zone, but for active listening it's positively mind-numbing.
favorites: da funk, around the world, alive, funk ad
Dead Kennedys
5/5
honestly this album started off pretty good and got better the more i listened to it. it's basically a greatest hits collection for DK anyway, with most of their biggest hits present. unfortunately, this album still rings true to present-day america 45 years later, so play it loud and play it proud!
jello biafra seems to be a somewhat controversial figure now, at least in the sense that either he or the rest of the band has totally lost it or totally sold out, depending on whose side of the drama you believe. but for 1980, this is an incredible punk debut that would still turn heads if released today.
some incredible tracks beyond the big singles that deserve more attention: stealing people's mail, let's lynch the landlord, chemical warfare (has any other band written a song about stealing mustard gas and releasing it on unsuspecting golfers at a country club?), and the inspired cover of elvis presley's viva las vegas. and 15 songs in around a half hour, many with a cool surfer-punk or horror-punk style to them? hell yeah, sign me up.
favorites: kill the poor, let's lynch the landlord, chemical warfare, california uber alles, stealing people's mail, holiday in cambodia, viva las vegas, kill the poor (single version)
The Notorious B.I.G.
3/5
this was a real mixed bag for me.
pros:
- love the creative censoring spotify does for some of these lyrics, changing the curses into dashes or the n-word into obvious substitutes like "man" and "people" and "why they" (???). those might be radio edit lyrics but still, amazing stuff.
- biggie raps about his pager at least twice in these songs, and probably more if i had listened more closely. it's like, dude, aren't you like 19? why do you even have a pager? kids those days, always on their damn pagers!!
- the beats and flow are pretty slick here.
- after the confusing and unimpressive intro, the album opens nicely with things done changed and the next song available on spotify, warning. one more chance even has a cool interpolation/parody in it.
- i love it when you call me big poppa
cons:
- holy shit these skits have to stop. i don't need women moaning and slurping in my ears while i'm at work.
-- side note: i know pornography was a lot harder to come by (pun intended) 30 years ago but were there people out there who were like "oh boy, a 15-second skit of a horny lady moaning on my rap album, now THIS is the good stuff" like what does this inclusion actually do for your credibility vis-a-vis bitches and hoes, mr. smalls? i rest my case.
- on a related note, the misogyny here is mind-boggling. comes with the territory and time period i guess but yiker's island, what are we doing here.
- boy this album is long, huh? it really starts to wear out its shtick after a couple tracks, and it doesn't help that most of these tracks are around 4-5 minutes long already.
all in all, it's gonna be 2.5 stars from me, dog. i guess i'll throw you a bone and round up.
favorites: things done changed, warning, juicy, big poppa
Prince
3/5
mom, come pick me up, i'm confused and scared and there's a very horny man here for some reason
Gary Numan
4/5
kachow! i enjoyed this album but a better name for it would've been Cars and Other Assorted Vehicles (since they all sound like Cars anyway, get it? pretty funny stuff)
anyway this album was pretty cool. lotta neat synth sounds that make me wanna win the piston cup. that's all i got.
favorites: metal, films, m.e., conversation, CARS!!!!!!!!!
Beach House
4/5
i thought this was a very pleasant (even inoffensive) album to listen to, so i was shocked at the extreme, uh, "passion" in the reviews. so many 1-star and 5-star responses! it's definitely got that aughts-into-2010s indie-shoegazey sound and vibes, with the soft, shimmering guitar and synths, lush vocals, and the whole thing drenched in reverb.
my biggest gripe is how homogeneous everything sounds as a whole, without many peaks or elements to set certain tracks apart from the rest. the detuned synth on norway is kinda cool, but that's the only thing that immediately comes to mind. everything else just kinda follows the same 4/4 drum pattern and/or whatever you call that pattern in the lead with a lower anchor note and a higher melodic note moving around as alternating eighth notes. you know what i'm talking about!
anyway, pretty good album overall.
favorites: zebra, silver soul, norway, walk in the park, 10 mile stereo, take care
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
wow, this is their debut? these guys came out swinging! run-dmc really had their sound and energy nailed down from day one, so if you like their rap rock sound and high-energy hip-hop stylings, don't sleep on this. the album peaks around the middle and the last couple tracks are longer filler, but otherwise this is solid.
favorites: rock box, jam-master jay, sucker mc's, it's like that
Throbbing Gristle
3/5
well, at least it's not another britpop album!
actually this was pretty cool. more of an ambient noise collection than what i'd normally think of as "industrial music" but there are some genuinely interesting and engaging tracks here. AB/7A and Blood on the Floor were the most melodic of the bunch, so they felt like true "songs." hit by a rock made me chuckle uneasily, as did hamburger lady. i guess that's something!
favorites: hit by a rock, hamburger lady, ab/7a, blood on the floor
Steve Winwood
3/5
nothing deep or challenging about this blue-eyed soul/yacht rock/pop/whatever album but nothing that i'm particularly mad about, other than all but one song being over 5 minutes long!!!! grrrrrr!!!!!!!! jk this album isn't even worth the effort of getting mad, it's just so milquetoast.
favorites: while you see a chance, arc of a diver, night train
The Flying Burrito Brothers
4/5
damn, there sure are a lot of haters in the reviews!! this feels like tex-mex fallout music and i'm here for it. (yes i know they're from california, so is half of austin at this point)
favorites: christine's tune, sin city, do right woman, dark end of the street, juanita, hot burrito #1 and #2
Silver Jews
2/5
while i'm glad that others found this a rewarding listen, to me it felt insipid and uninspired. sure would have been nice for the singer to actually, y'know, sing. these early aughts indie-albums-with-a-fill-in-the-blank-twist (in this case, country) are a dime a dozen so i'm not losing any sleep over this one failing to excite. the best song on here is transylvania blues, if only because it sounds nothing like the others
favorites: i remember me, transylvania blues
Abdullah Ibrahim
3/5
this was fine. definitely jazz. i appreciated it more on the second listen after reading about the context this album was released in, but it felt pretty inconsistent as a whole. but i'm also stupid and don't get jazz.
favorites: mandela, manenberg revisited
Peter Gabriel
5/5
i was really impressed by this album, only really knowing sledgehammer and in your eyes ahead of time. it helps to have the wikipedia page background to appreciate it more fully, but hearing kate bush and laurie anderson on my first listen of three was exciting and a great fit on their respective tracks.
this album has a lot of the stereotypical 80s synth sound on it but i think it really works here. with that said, petey isn't afraid to branch out into more unique instrumentation and styles, which i appreciate. most of the songs feel pretty unique and do a great job of transporting you to a different setting, mood, time, whatever, especially through the lyrics.
also the lyrics to big time read like a bill wurtz song. you can't change my mind.
favorites: red rain, sledgehammer, don't give up, big time, this is the picture (excellent birds), in your eyes
Sade
3/5
man, i wanted to like this album but it's just SO SMOOTH. like it's been polished down with a fine grit sandpaper until there's just nothing interesting or unique left. the two big singles are definitely the highlights here; after that it's just a slog of similar-sounding smooth jazz. it's not bad, just not something i'd really ever want to listen again. glad this works for other people outside of the context of a dated hotel lobby though.
favorites: smooth operator, your love is king
Neil Young
4/5
finally, some decent neil young. he has so many albums in this list and this is maybe one of two that actually deserves to be on here. everything i've said about his music in my other reviews is still true here, but there are some actually good songs in the mix this time. it's a game-changer.
favorites: heart of gold, old man, alabama, the needle and the damage done
Kings of Leon
4/5
well, they've definitely improved since aha shake heartbreak. that album was very close to being a one-star from me, but in my infinite mercy i gave it two. this album is actually listenable, so we're off to a great start.
honestly, the first half is all solid to great. depending on how much you listened to the radio and were out and about in 2008 or so, you may groan at the first notes of sex on fire or use somebody, but i really came around on the former a few years ago. yeah these are straightforward major label pop-rock songs about love won and lost, but they're pretty good for what they are.
the back half is pretty much the same sound as the front half but with a lot less of what makes those songs interesting. it's all blended together into lukewarm filler soup. also they definitely lose points for 17. GET A JOB. STAY AWAY FROM HER.
favorites: closer, crawl, sex on fire, use somebody, manhattan, i want you, be somebody
Elis Regina
5/5
ok i don't know what happened but something clicked in my brain and this is the best album i've heard in a hot minute. i've listened to this thing five times now in two days. the vibes are impeccable, elis regina's voice sounds great, i have no idea what she's singing about, and the band sounds awesome. the tracks are all interesting and varied, and the entire album works so well overall with that strong start and equally strong finish that it's so easy to just throw the whole thing on again.
i'm sad to discover that elis regina died young, but i hope she knew what a gift she gave to the people of brazil and the world.
also, is it cheating to give five stars to a compilation album? i'm not sure but there's no backing down now! boom! five stars!
favorites: on spotify tracks 1, 3, 6, 7, 11, and 13
Mj Cole
1/5
if generative AI had been around in the year 2000, stealing better content from real artists and regurgitating its haphazard and generic gray sludge in its place, this is probably what it would've sounded like.
Dolly Parton
4/5
ladies are doing it for themselves! you love to see an iconic trio of queens winning.
this album was pretty enjoyable. a bit of a downer in parts and a lot of the songs sound pretty similar, but their voices and lyrics are beautiful enough to make up for it. love the harmonies here too!
favorites: the pain of loving you, to know him is to love him, wildflowers, those memories of you, farther along
The Cure
3/5
i think i made it through the album like 1.5 times. it was dark and scary and i didn't really enjoy it all that much. it was interesting, at least initially, and not something we get often on this list. it reminded me of some of the darker depeche mode and siouxsie songs from around this time... there must've been something in the water.
favorites: one hundred years, the hanging garden
Haircut 100
5/5
from the moment i put this on, i instantly loved it. the elements of funk, jazz, new wave, power pop, and rock, along with a thorough coating of 80s cheese come together in a delicious auditory confection. it's like if the jam, duran duran, talking heads, huey lewis, and pigeons playing ping pong all morphed into a group of sweater-wearing white dudes from britain. in short, this slaps.
the biggest bummer is that these dudes only ever made one album. glad they reunited recently to continue playing the same album, though.
favorites: tracks 1-8, ski club, october is orange (day 1 & 2)
Tim Buckley
1/5
gettin a lot of the doors vibes from this.
i never liked the doors.
but honestly, jeff come collect your horny dad. he's been yowling like a cat in heat for forty minutes and the neighbors are starting to complain. marvin gaye this is not.
Jerry Lee Lewis
5/5
i'll admit, i'm biased. i went into this thinking "oh boy, another live album from the 60s" and expected to give it three stars and move on, but boy was i wrong. jerry fuckin ROCKS these eight tracks and just absolutely gives it his all.
though they're all more or less the same 12-bar blues song, he really cranks up the tempo, resulting in an album that's beautifully and mercifully short, barely scraping 22 minutes total. no one correct me but i assume he just showed up on stage in hamburg, played for half an hour, and told the crowd "welp that's it for me, it's past my bedtime. deuces!" *mic drop* and the hamburgers went fuckin nuts.
that's tight. i respect that.
favorites: high school confidential, money, great balls of fire, good golly miss molly, whole lotta shakin goin on
Tori Amos
4/5
i only really knew tori amos from her cover of smells like teen spirit before this, so i'm glad i listened to this album. the front half is great - interesting, impactful, and beautiful. her piano playing is both impressive and expressive (sidenote, why aren't those words opposites) and the lyrics are very poetic and moving.
the rest of the tracks are pretty underwhelming, just more of the same. i did laugh during leather at the voice she used for the cigar line, but otherwise nothing really stuck out to me. this album may have been more impactful in 1992 when there was a dearth of piano-forward female artists but it's still really solid overall in 2025, and a great debut.
favorites: crucify, silent all these years, precious things, winter
Gene Clark
2/5
oh good, MORE byrds. i hadn't yet gotten my fill from their four albums i've already had (plus the flying burrito brothers and crosby stills and nash if you count those). there are more goddamn byrds in this list than there are grackles at the olmos HEB in san antonio on a late weekend afternoon (not really, that's impossible, but my fellow central texans know what i'm talkin about)
anyway yeah this was fine. underwhelming. very 2.5 stars-coded. i'm currently listening to much better albums and will likely never come back to this one, so i'm rounding down. don't like it gene? should've made better music, sorry.
favorites: with tomorrow, for a spanish guitar
Peter Frampton
3/5
this is a weird one. the three big songs are pretty good but the rest of the album is all over the place. all i remember hours after listening is the long guitar solos and extensive use of talk box.
i'm a millennial so i truly can't comprehend whatever collective brainwave was going around in 1976 to make this the most popular album of the year. also shocked to learn that the radio-listening american public would tolerate a song longer and less popular than hey jude as a single. but i guess things were just Different Back Then.
i do love the album cover and title though. Frampton Comes Alive! then He returns to His eternal slumber forevermore. and yet he keeps getting resurrected, most recently, at least as far as my limited knowledge is aware, for dolly parton's 2023 rockstar album (which is great btw, go check it out). poor guy just keeps coming alive whether he wants to or not, like some kind of framptonstein's monster
all right, all right, i'll see myself out.
favorites: show me the way, baby, i love your way, i wanna go to the sun, do you feel like we do
Paul Simon
2/5
not to be a complete hater or anything but yikes, this was not good. this was the most boring-ass, milquetoast album that felt like it was trying oh so hard to be wEiRd and qUiRkY!!!!!!!!! that it just comes off like an secret middle school in-joke for someone else that you've figured out because it's so simple but it's so stupid that you're annoyed about it. nope, just me? well ok but like, what the fuck are some of these songs.... allergies? when numbers get serious? song about the moon? cars are cars????? bruh you're like thomas kinkade on vacation because these are the most insipid C-sides i've ever experienced
so yeah, dull music, weird-but-not-in-a-good-way lyrics, and mostly just paul flailing in search of a point to any of this for nearly an hour. yawn.
favorites: hearts and bones, rene and georgette magritte with their dog after the war
Sugar
3/5
this is what it would sound like if you took the entire output of all 90s alternative rock bands and put its tender heart in a blender. it's just astoundingly average. cool that the husker du guy is still doing stuff i guess. how was this the best album of 1992 to anyone though...?
favorites: a good idea, hoover dam, if i can't change your mind
Orange Juice
4/5
pretty cool sound overall. love how wildly different post-punk bands can be in terms of their approach to making music. i'd probably come back to this one every now and then.
favorites: rip it up, a million pleading faces, turn away, i can't help myself
The White Stripes
3/5
over the three-plus decades of my life, i've had such a love/hate relationship with this band (though jack white more broadly is not interesting to me, sorry dude). this is the white stripes doing white stripes stuff, so if you're into that, you'll love this album.
the album is of course buoyed by the massive tune that is seven nation army, but the rest here ranges from dull to fine. the hardest button to button is another shining beacon in the otherwise uninteresting sea of dullness, and little acorns is unique enough to be worth mentioning. the rest? meh.
favorites: seven nation army, the hardest button to button, little acorns
Fela Kuti
4/5
this was a cool and enjoyable album. long songs but at least they were varied and interesting!
favorites: zombie
Eurythmics
3/5
neat little album. 3.5 stars for me. the individual songs are fairly distinct and the overall vibes are cool and weird, but somehow nothing other than the title track really sticks out to me after listening to it. i've listened to this three times but can't seem to figure out how i really feel about it... it's a tough nut to crack!
favorites: love is a stranger, i could give you a mirror, sweet dreams are made of this, jennifer
Cypress Hill
3/5
pretty good overall. it really felt like i was there, smokin wit da boys. the album starts strong, gets kind of repetitive in the middle, and draws me back in with the latin-influence tracks. this is a 3.5 for me but i'm rounding down because of how samey 3/4 of these songs are.
favorites: pigs, hand on the pump, latin lingo, tres equis
Massive Attack
3/5
honestly this album was a bit too boring for me. cool soul and funk samples though. from the opening bass line, i kept waiting for safe from harm to finally do the da-dum guitar riff from the verses of war pigs, but it never came (unless you count the little part around 1:34). tragic. i didn't know this was considered the first trip hop album but nice, historical significance! too bad i don't really care for the trip hop that came after it.
also, this might just be a me problem, but whenever i imagine a musical group called Massive Attack, i assume from their name that they're going to be hardcore or some flavor of metal. not so, it turns out.
favorites: safe from harm, unfinished sympathy, hymn of the big wheel
Aimee Mann
5/5
nuts to the haters, this was a great album. i don't think i'd heard anything by aimee mann before, but there's plenty here to like! the songs are vibrant and engaging, the lyrics paint a scene or express a mood better than most, and there's a great push-and-pull here between the more upbeat/peppy and sad/ballady tracks. i'm a fan! too bad all the misogynists out there can't appreciate a great album.
favorites: i should've known, 4th of july, put me on top, stupid thing, say anything, jacob marley's chain, i could hurt you now, i've had it
Nirvana
5/5
ok yeah i love this album and there's no way i can be impartial about it at this point. the songs are unique, powerful, uncomfortable, brilliant, and iconic. easy 5.
rip kurt and apologies to courtney for how she was treated after losing her husband at such a young age. also check out the latest news on spencer elden, the baby from the cover. he's alive, well, and extremely litigious.
favorites: everything, though stay away and endless nameless are the weakest tracks in my eyes.
Jimmy Smith
4/5
good 60s organ-ic jazz. as much as i like green onions (the song), this is way more interesting than green onions (the album). the saxophonist here is really selling it but the result is a solid jazz album that i enjoyed listening to a couple times. also, i kept thinking minor chant was about to segue into take five, but sadly that never happened.
favorites: back at the chicken shack, minor chant, on the sunny side of the street
4/5
i like XTC as a band. this was, for the most part, unlike all the XTC i had heard before. it's equal parts brilliant, unexpected, and laughably self-indulgent. it's so completely out of left field that i didn't really know what i was listening to until a couple tracks in, like the musical equivalent of when you walk into a room with really low light and your eyes have to adjust. i listened to this twice so i'm practically an expert on it. some thoughts:
river of orchids was a really cool way to start this off; slowly building up from scattered elements until it becomes a real beatles-lite track. the next couple are more of that but much less exciting. frivolous tonight is cool.
kicking off side b, greenman sounds like what you’d get if aliens tried to recreate the lion king soundtrack. plus it's got that jesu, joy of man’s desiring-esque melody to it. your dictionary is one of the cringiest songs i've heard from this list in terms of its lyrical content. these guys can do so much better. fruit nut is fine but deeply relatable for me because i've spent all spring acquiring various fruit trees for my backyard orchard, so like, i GET it man. i can't own her, correct, you can't, she's her own independent woman, let's move on. last few are boring, though the last balloon has an interesting ending. also it kinda loops back to the beginning if you have it on repeat. kinda cool, kinda weird and unnecessary. just like this album.
favorites: river of orchids, frivolous tonight, greenman, fruit nut
Jean-Michel Jarre
4/5
cool spacey 70s french ambient music. i'm sure this was absolutely mind-boggling when it came out, even though now it seems pretty tame. still pleasant to listen to. also this is a sick album cover, definitely worthy of being airbrushed onto the side of a panel van.
favorites: oxygene pts. 1, 2, and 4
Roni Size
2/5
a pretty dull and inessential UK 90s drum n bass album. there were occasional sparks of brilliance hidden inside the mammoth-length tracks, but overall the juice is absolutely not worth the squeeze. these records are a dime a dozen.
favorites: brown paper bag, new forms
The Killers
5/5
i'm a millennial (so i'm definitely biased) but this is a great album and incredible for a debut. the front half is wall-to-wall bangers! mr. brightside has been huge since its release in 2003 and still performs damn well on the charts TO THIS DAY. it's NUTS!
the first five tracks are all exquisite. if you lived through this era and not under a rock, these songs were everywhere. this album would've been perfect with just those five. the weaker side B crumbles against the titanic tunes of side A, but the album tells an interesting story as a whole. all in all, probably a 4.5 for me but it's not really fair to punish side A for side B's relative inferiority.
favorites: tracks 1-5 1000%, andy you're a star is ok too
Sepultura
4/5
this is a very cool brazilian (nu-)metal album with indigenous influences. it took a second listen to actually begin to appreciate it, plus reading the wikipedia article, but the context is definitely helpful. it's nice to hear a nu-metal album that is so outwardly focused and not just "I'M mad because MY life sucks". i was only aware of this band by name before but i'll definitely come back to some of these tracks in the future.
favorites: roots bloody roots, cut-throat, ratamahatta, breed apart, jasco, itsari
Butthole Surfers
4/5
hell yeah, more butthole surfers! these guys are weird as hell and the more i listen to their work, the more i dig it. the sweet leaf cover/parody/interpolation/whatever here is great and one of the standout tracks.
favorites: sweat loaf, human cannonball, u.s.s.a., the o-men, graveyard (part 2)
Leonard Cohen
4/5
leonard is such a mixed bag for me. the lyrics are usually the best part and his music/voice/jaw harp drag everything down, but i actually kinda dug the synthy, sleazy vibes here. way more interesting than some of his other snoozefest albums on here, though still not the music i'd really want to be listening to normally. this is really a 3.5 for me but enough songs were interesting that i'll round up.
favorites: first we take manhattan, everybody knows, i'm your man (the horn dog anthem) take this waltz, jazz police
Baaba Maal
4/5
lots of really cool stuff going on here! i don't mind the "dated instrumentation" lots of other reviewers complain about - it's a product of its time, no big deal. what's here is really interesting and engaging, and seems to be drawing from many different sources. very cool despite me not understanding a word of it or even really having a wikipedia article to fall back on for context. i know i'm gonna sound like a gauche american for this but i really dig that shredding guitar solo in minuit at the end B)
favorites: yela, toro, gidelam, olel, minuit
Brian Eno
3/5
the thing about a brian eno/david byrne collaboration is i find myself drawn to the interesting things byrne is doing and losing interest when eno takes the wheel. this album starts off like a talking heads b-sides collection but a third of the way in, gets completely mired in the ambient swamp. the sounds and instruments at the start of songs like a secret life really drive home that stuck-in-the-jungle-forever feeling. with the album being four seconds shy of a full hour, they're gonna have to do more than playing around on a synthesizer to keep me invested.
favorites: america is waiting, mea culpa, help me somebody, very very hungry
favorites:
Shack
3/5
incredibly disappointed with everyone involved in the creation and production of this album for leading me to believe it would be a bunch of sea shanties, then pulling the rug out from under me with yet another lukewarm serving of 90s britpop. unreal.
favorites: natalie's party, comedy, pull together, daniella
The Style Council
4/5
wow this is like stevie wonder meets huey lewis and the news, but i kinda dig it. the sound is all over the place and super cheesy, especially that incredibly cringey rap track, but it's kind of a jam (see what i did there)
favorites: mick's blessings, the whole point of no return, my ever changing moods, strength of your nature, you're the best thing, headstart for happiness
Arcade Fire
5/5
solid debut and some great indie rock here. i recognized wake up and rebellion (lies), and have probably heard some of the neighborhood tracks prior. i don't think this holds a candle to neon bible or the suburbs but it definitely lays the groundwork for them. it's around 4.5 stars for me but i'll round up since i just gave some much less enthralling albums 4s on here.
favorites: neighborhood #1 (tunnels), neighborhood #2 (laika), neighborhood #3 (power out), crown of love, wake up, rebellion (lies)
The Divine Comedy
3/5
the divine comedy combines the pipes of frank sinatra, the self-importance of morrissey, the creepy horniness of jeff buckley's dad, and the theatricality of meatloaf into one uncertain package. actually, wait, it's all those same qualities but just from william shatner. but is the album any good? well,
favorites: something for the weekend, becoming more like alfi, songs of love, the frog princess
Christina Aguilera
3/5
while i appreciate that this album has more depth than a lot of pop music, i'm not sure it's worth sifting through 77 minutes of music to find the hidden gems. luckily, there are also some huge hits of the early aughts on here to make the obvious gems much easier to find. not sure i'll come back to this one but it's decent overall.
favorites: can't hold us down, fighter, beautiful, make over, dirrty, i'm ok
Bee Gees
2/5
the bee gees? more like the ZZZs, am i right???????
it's like they tried to write an album full of beatles ballads but forgot to make any of them good or interesting. yet another album that, based on the album artwork, should've been full of sea shanties and nothing else. that would certainly have been better than whatever's going on here.
1.5 stars but i'll round up because of their willingness to leave that vocal take in on dearest. he really sounds like he's stretching to reach those high notes. amazing stuff.
favorites: how can you mend a broken heart
Television
4/5
pretty neat album, i enjoyed it! definitely on the artier side of 70s rock and it stands out as a much more unique and creative album because of it. good stuff.
favorites: see no evil, venus, marquee moon
Maxwell
2/5
smoother than a rock that's been sitting at the bottom of a river while much better music flows all around it. nothing here of note.
favorites: the urban theme
Bonnie Raitt
2/5
easy-listening country-lite adult contemporary synth-driven elevator music ballads??? in MY 1001 albums????? it's the same synth sound used in video game water levels so i'm instinctively wary.
this was heralded as a "return to form" for bonnie, and i can only assume the "form" in question must be the 12-bar blues. this was bland and uninspiring to me, but maybe you had to be there.
favorites: thing called love, have a heart, the road's my middle name
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
i only knew pretty in pink going into this, and it's definitely the standout. the rest is just 40 minutes of the most generic 80s british new wave you've ever heard with a vocalist who's both incredibly excited at the prospect of getting laid but too bored to deliver a vocal performance above what we in the biz call "flaccid"
favorites: pretty in pink, i wanna sleep with you, she is mine
Cocteau Twins
3/5
definitely a unique album, though i liked their heaven or las vegas album a lot more. this one was a little murkier and less accessible to me, but there were a few cool tracks tossed in here with the others. i think i'd sooner revisit HoLV though
favorites: lorelei, pandora (for cindy), donimo
Stephen Stills
3/5
eh. some of the most boring folk rock for dads i've heard in a while. at least it's under 40 mins. 2.5 stars. it's friday and i did enjoy the solos in old times good times so against my better judgment i'll round up to 3.
favorites: love the one you're with, old times good times
The Zutons
2/5
the zzzutons really aren't doing it for me. total snoozzzefest. who killed them? i'm starting to think they did it to themselves...
favorites: zuton fever, you will you won't
Big Black
3/5
wasn't expecting to see this band on here, but it's another cool punk/industrial album that's much more fun to think about than actually listen to. it starts off pretty solid but loses its oomph after kerosene. if you like ministry and such, you'll enjoy this... but i could take it or leave it.
favorites: jordan minnesota, passing complexion, kerosene
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
3/5
while it's nice to get a break from the usual forgettable 90s/00s britpop, 90 minutes of qawwali devotional music was not really on my radar. this guy seems like a household name to many people so this is just my own anglocentric ignorance showing, but it felt pretty repetitive and similar to me. not my favorite but there were some cool bits throughout.
favorites: yeh jo halka saroor hae, sanson ki mala pey
Sabu
2/5
i liked when they brought out the guitar
favorites: el cumbanchero, rhapsodia del maravilloso
Bert Jansch
3/5
this album sure was fine. i liked the parts that felt like i was ramblin' down an old dirt road with a british hippie with an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder. but then after a couple songs i start to realize he doesn't know where we're going, he's talkin' nonsense, and he smells terrible. anyway that's the album.
favorites: strolling down the highway, smokey river, needle of death, angie
Todd Rundgren
3/5
kind of interesting and weird, but SO long. good on this guy for being so talented as a multi-instrumentalist, but nothing here is irreplaceable. love that the seventh track is called "intro" though.
favorites: i saw the light, wolfman jack, intro, breathless, couldn't i just tell you, hello it's me
Le Tigre
5/5
ok this absolutely slaps. what a great album... my first thought after putting it on was "damn this album is so much cooler than i am." it's like bikini kill plus devo and draws from the 60s, 80s, and FUTURE music from the far-off year 2000 and beyond.
everything sounds unique and interesting and fresh. remember that this was happening in 1999, about a decade before every indie album sounded like this and pitchfork loved it. speaking of pitchfork, that hillary clinton song was somethin else. but i digress...
favorites: i listed twice and liked every song but let's run, friendship station, and les and ray
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
1/5
not great, todd. how many impossibly horny men writing 70s blues rock albums do we honestly need on this list?
at least the commenter saying this sounds like rocky horror b-sides was spot on.
favorites: the faith healer? i guess? tbh this all sucks
The Crusaders
5/5
i'm not a huge jazz guy but i definitely enjoyed the funk and pop elements in these tracks. smooth and clean, but with some real pizzazz behind all those solos. keep it comin!!
favorites: street life, my lady, rodeo drive (high steppin'), carnival of the night
Pere Ubu
2/5
a resounding meh overall. starts out ok with some jangly guitar and actual melodies, like a blend of (and i know most of these came afterward) talking heads, R.E.M., sonic youth, pixies, big dipper, and the like. that synth riff from "on the surface" is gonna be stuck in my head for days.
unfortunately for the listening public, the train derails after three tracks and gets cacophonous and residents-y. basically just experimental, avant-garde random noise and unintelligible yelling masquerading as "post-punk" (though the yelling is a near-perfect david byrne impression). while i appreciate how this has clearly influenced other bands i actually do like, it's gonna be a no from me, dog.
favorites: on the surface, dub housing
Mudhoney
3/5
this was somewhat interesting as a precursor to and influence on nirvana, but it basically just sounds like bleach without that same focus and oomph. i did like the callback to "sweet young thing ain't sweet no more," which i hadn't realized was a reference when nirvana did it. anyway, some good tracks and messages here, but the 2h15m version of the album on spotify is just too much and it all runs together into a punky, grungy mess.
favorites: touch me i'm sick, sweet young thing ain't sweet no more, in 'n' out of grace, hate the police
The Velvet Underground
1/5
hey, this fucking sucks. aimless, masturbatory experimental noise that includes the line "you busy sucking on my ding dong". hard pass.
Bebel Gilberto
4/5
I'm learning from this exercise that I enjoy bossa nova. Great vibes all around. I didn't realize this was João Gilberto's daughter but it's all so obvious in retrospect. The songs did kinda run together after a while but it was a good sound so I'm ok with it :)
favorites: samba da bencao, august day song, so nice (summer samba)
George Jones
4/5
nice old-school country crooner album. good vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation - moving in parts, funny in others. nothing fancy or ground-breaking but super solid. bonus star for being under 30 minutes!
favorites: the grand tour, she'll love the one she's with, once you've had the best, our private life
2/5
interesting concept for an album but ultimately not that enjoyable to listen to. i listened twice through and wanted to like this more than i did, but alas...
favorites: broken witch, steam rose from the lifeless cloak, flow my tears the spider said
The Specials
5/5
rude boys rejoice! FINALLY, some two-tone ska!! this album is top notch and the specials live up to their name. a message to you rudy is a bona fide classic, and there's plenty here to sink your teeth into, depending on what you're looking for. more ska please!!
favorites: a message to you rudy, nite klub, concrete jungle, monkey man, little bitch, you're wondering now
John Cale
3/5
i'm no longer confident that john cale was in velvet underground because he sounds like the sixth beatle here. the early 70s orchestral pop-rock sound works here, and with only a few real duds. it's a 3.5 for me but i'm rounding down because i had a velvet underground album recently and it was awful. thanks a lot, john.
favorites: hanky panky nohow, andalucia, macbeth, paris 1919, half past france, antarctica starts here
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
good album, though definitely a stranger and more experimental offering than his more straightforward rock albums. there are some absolutely incredible songs with beautiful lyrical poetry on here but there's also a lot of stuff that just doesn't hook me at all. lotta castles though.
favorites: spanish castle magic, little wing, if 6 was 9, castles made of sand, bold as love
The Beach Boys
5/5
when i initially put this on, my first thought was "well, it's no pet sounds."
after 4-5 listens i'm inexplicably transfixed. all these songs* sound so unique and poetic. they* perfectly establish a mood and convey their messages of environmentalism, nostalgia, and working-class struggles. just a beautiful half hour of off-the-beaten-path but great and passionate songwriting.
*not you, student demonstration time
favorites: everything but student demonstration time lol
Tortoise
4/5
cool to see a post-rock album on here! i've never heard of tortoise but apparently this is a hugely influential album for the genre. djed was kinda long and dull but i really liked the rest of the tracks, particularly the two that immediately followed. the music isn't really getting the party started, but it's evocative and varied enough that i'll give it four stars.
favorites: glass museum, a survey
John Martyn
3/5
i keep listening to this album, trying to crack this nut, but it's just not happening. this is like, weird yacht rock progressive easy listening ambient dub music which sounds WILD on paper but is kinda just all over the place in practice. his voice also isn't doing him any favors here. i don't think jamaica has to worry about the brits taking over... well, not a second time at least.
favorites: one world, small hours
Pavement
5/5
this is a cool album and i feel cooler for having listened to it. B)
it's effortless, quintessential indie rock that rewards repeated listening and new discoveries. the lyrics are baffling in the best way. and unlike their contemporaries weezer, these guys HATE beverly hills. what a breath of fresh air!
favorites: silence kid, elevate me later, stop breathin, cut your hair, gold soundz, range life
The Cult
3/5
i am, more than anything, confused about this album. why is it here? like, on this list but also in the world in general. why did the band that made she sells sanctuary suddenly sell out and become ac/dc lite in the late 80s? are any of these songs actually popular or do they just feel familiar to me because they lift riffs from other, better songs? why did they feel a need to cover steppenwolf?
all this and more on today's episode of beyond belief: fact or fiction. i'm your host, jonathan frakes
also i guess i do like some of these songs. sue me.
favorites: wild flower, lil' devil, love removal machine, born to be wild, outlaw
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
literally 5 of these 10 songs mention rain or skies in some capacity. i know the UK is rainy, but this is ridiculous! they should've called this album wetlands! (pause for laughter)
also the song darklands is just love vigilantes 2 jesus and mary chain? more like newer order!
cherry came too? i sure hope she did! ...oh wait, that's exactly what they were going for here. hmm.
anyway, thanks folks, i'll be here all week. remember to tip your waitstaff!
favorites: darklands, happy when it rains, down on me, april skies
Ice Cube
4/5
i liked this album more than most of the other early 90s hip-hop we've gotten on this list, but it still drags a bit just because there are so many tracks here. but the beats are solid, the message is clear (and still rings true today, unfortunately), and ice cube sounds great here. i'll certainly come back to the highlights here.
favorites: when will they shoot, it was a good day, gangsta's fairytale 2, check yo self
Big Star
5/5
just an all-around great work of power pop. it's got that jangly guitar, good hooks, and simple but relatable lyrics. after a while it all kinda blurs together, but that's par for the course. this is just proto-R.E.M. and i'm here for it. honestly wish there were a few more standout tracks here because it feels so close to being marvelous but falls short. 4.5 stars.
favorites: tracks 1-6 and watch the sunrise
Gillian Welch
3/5
deep inside the Gushers (tm) Laboratory, the deranged fruit experiments and human testing have violated OSHA violations one time too many. the lab doors are shuttered, but rumor tells of a lone scientist working on a controversial, top-secret project.
this is the result of that scientist's life work: creating a folk album with all parameters set to "medium". hauntingly average.
Gorillaz
4/5
i was never really a gorillaz fan but i definitely get the appeal. this album has some solid tunes, but for every good track there are two that feel unfinished, uninteresting, or otherwise miss the mark for me.
i like the genre exploration and "virtual band"/multimedia aspect beyond just the music, but the juice isn't necessarily worth the squeeze. the harmonica is cool, but the rest of the instrumentation sounds hollow and kinda late-90s-default-DAW-sound-library. the genre fusion that is clint eastwood is awesome, while the generic rap songs that don't go anywhere and go on forever really weigh this down. and a song called 5/4 that's actually in 4/4? you're killin me damon.
in short... it's complicated. 3.5 stars? rounding up to 4 for del the funky homosapien
favorites: re-hash, 5/4, tomorrow comes today, clint eastwood, rock the house, 19-2000
Caetano Veloso
3/5
this was fine, some good tracks throughout but not super memorable on the whole. and sadly not excellent like some of the other brazilian albums we've had. maybe i missed something but it just didn't really click for me.
with that said, the last track got me good with the hammond organ jump scare. that was the absolute last thing i was expecting to hear to close out this album. props to you caetano
favorites: tropicalia, alegria alegria, supercabana, soy loco por ti america, eles
The xx
4/5
it's hard for me to pause my whole "boring music is bad" schtick to get deep into a very minimalist indie pop album, but this is a good one to do it with. the album opener, intro, is an absolute masterpiece and still feels as powerful in 2025 as it ever did. the next few tracks are pretty big as well, with VCR and Islands being my favorites. and i have absolutely no idea what happens after track four, despite listening to this album three times.
this is a 3.5 for me on a normal day, and a 4 if i'm really jonesin for this sound. i'll round up since intro is such a banger.
favorites: intro, vcr, crystalised, islands
X-Ray Spex
5/5
damn this is a cool album! it's late 70s classic british punk and new wave, but foreshadows the 80s ska revival and 90s riot grrrl movements. covers all the ground you'd expect from a punk album and more, including a lot on gender and identity. plus the album creds list THREE saxophonists??? how did i not know about this before? great stuff.
also shoutout to the random two lines of the chorus in the day the world turned day-glo that are in 5/4 instead of 4/4 for some reason. hell yeah.
favorites: art-i-ficial, obsessed with you, warrior in woolworths, identity, i am a poseur, germfree adolescence, the day the world turned day-glo
System Of A Down
5/5
i was six when this came out, but what must it've been like to hear system of a down for the very first time in 1998... buck wild. it starts out with some crazy guitar scales and then immediately hits you with the nu-metal wall of sound and scathing criticism of the catholic church. this is really the distilled formula of what makes SOAD great.
though i gotta be honest here, this is my least favorite of their albums and one i never really got into... but it's still like a 4.5 for me. rounding up to do my part to convince robert dimery to add toxicity to a future version of the 1001 album list.
favorites: suite-pee, know, sugar, spiders, soil, peephole
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
2/5
in the immortal words of marge simpson: kids, could you lighten up a little?
this was dreary and bleak as one would expect, but i didn't really get the appeal beyond that. what sets this album apart from thousands of other sad albums from a troubled soul? i definitely liked the elliott smith entries in the list more than this. meh.
favorites: a minor place, i see a darkness
Fiona Apple
3/5
well, i wanted to like this. it's got some good songs! unfortunately they are tracks 1-4, which leaves us with a big ol question mark of an album after that.
fiona is all over the place here, with lyrics that are either far too insipid or impenetrably profound, so most of the time it just sounds like she's repeating a random word or phrase she thought sounded cool over some weird droning/warbling/yodeling/sexy-dolphin-noise vocals in the background. her messages are good, so this is frustrating to say the least.
the instrumentation is wacky and this definitely does sound like it was made in garageband (which it was). very mixed opinions here, but the long, repetitive, grating stinkers like relay and ladies really bring this down for me.
favorites: i want you to love me, shameika, fetch the bolt cutters, under the table
808 State
3/5
eh. another album that probably would've been super impressive in 1989 when it came out, but now just sounds like everything else from this era: all over the place and with some really tired, played-out instruments and loops. that said, it's still more interesting than a lot of the 90s british electronic albums on this list.
starting around pacific 202, it all just sounds like background music made for Sonic CD levels but left on the cutting room floor, with donkey doctor perhaps being the best example. points for that i guess?
favorites: magical dream, donkey doctor, 808080808
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
5/5
fuck yeah this album rocks. what a great find! modest mussorgsky (and tchaikovsky) reinvented in 70s prog rock? how does this have such low scores? pump promenade_ver_1, _2, and _3.mp3 directly into my veins
favorites: literally every track. i liked them all on spotify. get rekt haters
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
not sure how i feel about this one. it's fine? some of the songs are going to cool places with the reggae beats and almost celtic sound at some points, but overall it all sounds about the same to my ears. i liked the "child in time"-esque motif in savane, and the skillful blues guitar keeps things somewhat interesting.
favorites: savane, penda yoro
Elbow
4/5
this was an interesting listen. i gotta agree with the other reviews here that this is basically just radiohead + coldplay, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. the music is pleasant and varied, the vocals are about what you'd expect, and the lyrics are interesting. this is a 3.5 from me but rounding up to 4 because these guys must have some real cojones to call their band something as stupid as "elbow"
favorites: starlings, the bones of you, mirrorball, grounds for divorce, one day like this
The White Stripes
1/5
an insult to music enjoyers everywhere. this is just jack white jacking off for 45 minutes in his usual weird, self-indulgent way. meg's inane drum parts bring nothing to the table (go girl, give us nothing!) and the lyrics are absurd but uninspired. after the mediocre blue orchid appetizer, the next twelve tracks are just pretentious soup. even for the white stripes, this is straight up garbage.
favorites: blue orchid, i guess my doorbell
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
this album sounds like what would happen if you gave david byrne access to garageband and 400 mg of caffeine
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
i literally had another ali farka touré album a week ago, so i don't have much to say about this one. it's all about the same.
favorites: bonde, soukora, ai du
The Everly Brothers
3/5
well, at least it's short! these boys may seem jovial on the surface with their light sock hop fare and breezy harmonies, but when you pull off the scooby doo mask? BAM! misogyny
favorites: made to love (perhaps the worst offender), love hurts, cathy's clown
Aerosmith
3/5
decent little rock album. aerosmith has some massive tunes (as they should over their decades-long career) but they really parcel them out to one or two each album. they're so much more a singles band than an album band to me.
to no one's surprise, rocks frontloads the bangers and falls off hard after that. each track and the album as a whole gets less interesting as time ticks by. at least toys in the attic spaced them out a bit. ah well, c'est la vie.
favorites: back in the saddle, last child, rats in the cellar
Björk
4/5
what a unique, cool, and ethereal-sounding album! i know bjork's voice is... divisive... but i think it works well here. adding the lyrics and electronic/orchestral instrumentation results in a neat final product that's very out-there compared with most of the albums on this list. i wouldn't want to listen to this all the time, but it evokes a very cool and specific mood.
favorites: hidden place, cocoon, pagan poetry, unison
Mercury Rev
4/5
this was underwhelming at first, but i definitely enjoyed it more on the second listen. the songs are a weird blend of 90s alt rock and 60s psychedelia with some other bits peppered in, but it's at least interesting. i feel like i've heard goddess on a hiway before, but have no idea when or where. maybe it's just one of those songs that feels familiar.
favorites: holes, tonite it shows, endlessly, opus 40, goddess on a hiway
Country Joe & The Fish
2/5
this honestly does not hold up in 2025. i'm not even sure it would've in 1980. this is rough and sloppy and boring. the short songs are easily the best ones on here, because hearing these guys bumble through what sounds like their first and only take of multiple 7+ minute songs is a torture i wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
favorites: flying high, super bird
Sly & The Family Stone
3/5
listening to this album on the exact day sly stone passed away is uncanny... what a weird feeling. this is a solid album with high highs and low lows, the lowest of which is probably the nearly 14-minute-long track, sex machine, which spends a very long time saying nothing at all. but i'll definitely groove to the two bigger songs any day.
favorites: i want to take you higher, everyday people
Burning Spear
4/5
This was a solid reggae album imo. Not always my favorite genre but it's a unique sound and I enjoy the often-political lyrics. Most of these songs felt very similar and if I quit actively paying attention to what I'm hearing, they all blend together into a big soup. I listened to this album like 2.5 times and this happened every time lol. it's probably 3.5 stars but i'll round up since it was only about a half-hour.
favorites: marcus garvey, slavery days, tradition
Deerhunter
4/5
what a cool, weird, trippy indie rock album. i've listened to this a few times now and while it's not my favorite, it's got some neat vibes.
favorites: revival, desire lines, helicopter, he would have laughed
Brian Wilson
5/5
idk what to tell you man, this slapped. rip brian, you were one of a kind. i hope you're in heaven doing the same shit you would be doing on earth (listening to shortnin bread on an endless loop)
favorites: our prayer/gee, heroes and villains, roll plymouth rock, barnyard, old master painter/you are my sunshine, surf's up, wind chimes, in blue hawaii, good vibrations
Crowded House
5/5
another banger! the more i hear crowded house the more i like them, and this is no exception. fall at your feet is one of my favorite songs of theirs. definitely going to keep bumpin this.
favorites: it's only natural, fall at your feet, weather with you, four seasons in one day, fame is
Marvin Gaye
2/5
men will literally write an entire album about their divorce instead of going to therapy. two stars.
The Cure
5/5
dark, brooding, and ethereal, but with enough energy and life to keep it engaging. i only knew a forest going into this, but this album is great all the way through. i've listened to it several times now and it may be my favorite cure album (though that's not a super high bar at the moment).
favorites: everything but three, the final sound, and at night
Genesis
4/5
ok well that was a pretty cool, pretty weird prog rock concept album. the first disc? stellar. five stars. interesting music and story, though it does have the absolute worst song about gettin freaky i've ever heard (counting out time). yikes. otherwise, great start.
disc 2 is where things get Weird. not necessarily good. the fantasy elements are cool (and practically a staple of prog rock), but that's where my praise ends. this feels like all the filler and b-sides they had to pad out the album with (because what kind of prog rock epic would be under 90 minutes, i mean let's be serious people). but yeah other than a few decent tracks it's just a slog.
five stars for the front half, two for the back half seem fair? i'll even round up to four on behalf of ...and you will know us by the trail of dead's cover of back in new york city. you're welcome.
favorites: everything from disc 1 except thee grand parade of lifeless packaging, counting out time, and the chamber of 32 doors. nothing from disc 2 except the lamia and it.
Primal Scream
2/5
the album and artist names primed me for some hard rock/heavy metal-type music and this was not that at all. but that's not where the disappointment ended! the album failed to deliver or delight on any axis by which music is typically judged and enjoyed. it's just... dull. the related songs radio that played afterwards on spotify was much more interesting, which was a sure sign that the album had ended.
favorites: out of this void, trainspotting
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
3/5
This was enjoyable in medium doses, but 130 minutes is longer than any movie should be, let alone an album of country/bluegrass music. the musical guests on this album bring a lot to the table and it's fun to hear some of the studio chatter, but like everything else on this album, it gets old after you've heard it a half dozen times. when it's all said and done, i think i ended up enjoying the instrumentals here the most.
favorites: grand ole opry song, tennessee stud, the end of the world, earl's breakdown, orange blossom special, will the circle be unbroken, both sides now
The Sugarcubes
4/5
i had NO idea bjork was in bands prior to her solo career, so this album was a very cool discovery. the new wave/alt rock sound is so unlike what i'm familar with from her solo career, and i really enjoyed listening to this a few times.
favorites: traitor, motorcrash, birthday, delicious demon
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
1/5
oh so despite the band name, this is actually just eric clapton? yikes. i listened to all of it for some reason, and i can officially confirm: this is just the same boring twelve-bar white guy blues as usual, but now with extra creepiness towards young girls! absolute garbage-tier music.
Spacemen 3
2/5
this kind of dull, long, drone-y, electronic-y, shoegaze-y music is just not my thing. i don't want to yuck anyone's yum here but there is just nothing here that i'll ever want to come back to. sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
favorites: lord can you hear me, may the circle be unbroken
Manic Street Preachers
5/5
wow, this was a real tour de force. the songs rock and the lyrics hit hard. this is basically a punk record in spirit, and i really enjoyed it.
favorites: everything but revol, faster, this is yesterday, and the intense humming of evil
Christina Aguilera
2/5
vocals sound good here, but seriously? a double album of generic pop hits with some callbacks to famous musicians in other genres from the early/mid-1900s? and a fan service track?? am i missing something about why i needed to hear this before i die? it's fine at best and at worst, exceedingly self-important while remaining incredibly dull. it's just not for me, sorry christina.
favorites: ain't no other man, hurt
Goldie
2/5
well, i went into this THINKING i liked drum n bass... this isn't the worst album i could imagine and has cool parts here and there, but overall is just such a slog to actively pay attention to. for my 21 minutes, i'd rather listen to 2112 or rime of the ancient mariner one and a half times. this is just rough.
also why are all the song titles so similar and nondescript? giving it two stars because the album cover makes me think it's a sickass computer game from 1994
favorites: angel, inner city life - baby boy's edit
Youssou N'Dour
4/5
cool album! i recognized his name from 7 seconds with neneh cherry, and this album delivered. fun and lively songs, short album overall, great vibes all around. definitely in for more like this in the future!
favorites: immigrés/bitim rew, pitche mi
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Great album, glad to see it on the list. I knew a few tracks from here already, and the rest of it ranged from good to fine. This is Billy "William P. Corgan" Corgan in his element, penning some excellent 90s alt rock tunes and lyrics that flirt with elements of grunge while still remaining accessible to anyone. today and disarm are two of the best songs smashing pumpkins ever made, and would easily rank in my list of best 90s songs.
willy p definitely has more than a few screws loose and i truly feel for the rest of his bandmates having to put up with his insanity, but this album sure holds up 30+ years later.
favorites: cherub rock, today, disarm, mayonaise
Kacey Musgraves
4/5
i enjoyed this album overall. pleasant vibes, solid songwriting, and a nice change of pace from the average album on this list. my biggest critique is that it was all a bit too mellow and quit feeling so unique and special once all the songs started feeling similar. still, i'll come back to these in the future, especially the second best song ever written about a velvet elvis.
favorites: slow burn, butterflies, love is a wild thing, space cowboy, velvet elvis, rainbow
Beatles
4/5
the generator really messed up by giving me this album after i've already listened to revolver, rubber soul, sgt. pepper's, and the white album... this just can't hold a candle to those. it's earlier, poppier, dumber beatles. still good, of course, but nothing like what they'll make within a few years' time.
i also must admit i only knew about 2.5 of these songs going into it. maybe that's on me, but i literally haven't even heard the titles of most of these songs until now. and they're mostly decent, quick pop tracks, just nothing all that exciting. it's beatles filler, but it's still filler.
favorites: a hard day's night, if i fell, and i love her, can't buy me love, any time at all
5/5
I only discovered The Look of Love Pt. 1 a few months ago but have enjoyed it ever since. i saw the album cover and gasped. i immediately knew this would have some fun, new-to-me bangers on it.
this is such a cool, interesting, unique new wave album that really stands apart from the pack. i really enjoyed it in my four (?) listens. nuts to the haters.
favorites: show me, poison arrow, tears are not enough, valentine's day, the look of love pt 1 and pt 4
Simply Red
3/5
i got this the day after ABC's far better The Lexicon of Love, so that was always going to be hard to top. sadly, this album doesn't really do it for me. it starts off with a few fun, energetic tracks (look at you now's funky strumming patterns and guitar solo really hit for me), but by the time jericho rolls around, it's just drab, wannabe-sade and mediocre ballads for days. idk, this just isn't it.
favorites: come to my aid, sad old red, look at you now, money's too tight to mention
John Grant
4/5
well, this was a cool hidden gem that i likely never would've discovered outside of this list! the songs are varied and i particularly enjoyed the lyrics for many of them. definitely going to be listening to a few of these in the future.
favorites: tc & honeybear, marz, where the dreams go to die, outer space, jc hates faggots
Jeff Beck
2/5
bruh... i just don't see it. in what world is this "metal"? this is just another white dude covering or ripping off black blues musicians that will stand the test of time. this? not so much. is there nothing the brits won't colonize?????
favorites: greensleeves, i ain't superstitious. two songs i already knew. the rest is just led zeppelin lite starring rod stewart
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
finally, the boss weighs in on 9/11. the verdict? he was not a fan. stay tuned for more hard-hitting news at ten!
this album is fine. not great, not horrendous. just fine. it's got that facade of early-aughts sound and production that the aging american rock stars loved. like, bon jovi's albums around this time feel exactly the same as this. a few radio-friendly singles with more effort in them, and the rest is just ok. probably not revisiting this but i wouldn't immediately turn it off if i heard it in the background.
favorites: lonesome day, waitin on a sunny day, worlds apart, further on (up the road)
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
fuck you, i won't do what you tell me!! this goes hard 30 years later and is unfortunately more relevant now than ever. incredible debut album, powerful lyrics, instruments all hit hard, just excellent stuff through and through.
favorites: bombtrack, killing in the name, take the power back, know your enemy
Queen Latifah
3/5
Decent rap album, though it felt pretty repetitive after a while. A lot of the tracks have similar beats and production, so they all kind of run together. Still, this is a landmark album for a number of reasons, and I think deserves inclusion on this list.
I also find it funny that all the commenters saying "she just brags about how good she is at rapping all the time, 2/5" don't seem to mind when the men recording most of the 90s rap and hip-hop albums on this list do it... HOW INTERESTING, i'm sure that's just a coincidence.
favorites: dance for me, mama gave birth to the soul children, wrath of my madness, ladies first
Laura Nyro
4/5
pretty cool album that i definitely thought was by an unknown-to-me indie darling from the 2010s until i saw the year the album released. the old-school feel works great here, and the tracks range from emotional and moving to fun and punchy. it gets dull towards the end but most albums do.
favorites: luckie, sweet blindness, eli's comin', stoned soul picnic
The Jam
4/5
man, another album by the Jam that isn't one of their big ones. what's the deal, robert dimery?? this is solid british new wave music, but is missing that je ne sais quoi to make it excellent. my favorites below piqued my interest at one point or another after like 3-4 full album listens, but i couldn't really tell you what any of them are about or what they sound like. honestly this is around a 3.5 for me but i like the lyrics and overall sound so i'll round up.
favorites: all mod cons, david watts, english rose, billy hunt, it's too bad, 'a' bomb in wardour street, down in the tube station at midnight
Eminem
1/5
i have nothing else to add beyond what i already said in my slim shady LP review. misogynistic dreck for 13-year-old edgelords.
favorites: stan, the real slim shady
Elvis Presley
4/5
yeah, it's elvis, but he's gettin old. i'm movin' on, he says. it keeps right on a-hurtin' (my back). any day now (i'll kick the bucket on the bucket). he's phoning a lot of this in and just sounds like he's enjoying his vegas residency and musical tenure.
with that said, this album does contain suspicious minds, which i feel is the best song he ever recorded behind can't help falling in love. from the opening guitar arpeggios to the weird fade-out-and-back-in at the end, this is an amazing track. it pulls the rest of the album out of the 3-star quagmire and into 4-star territory. they don't make 'em like they used to!
favorites: long black limousine, true love travels on a gravel road, in the ghetto, suspicious minds, kentucky rain
Radiohead
4/5
this was certainly weird, even for a radiohead album. it's the least engaging of the radiohead albums i've had so far on this list, though most of those are classics that i knew about, even as a non-fan. nice change of pace from eminem and the boring albums i've had recently though.
most of these songs i only know from hard 'n phirm's medley of radiohead songs in a country/bluegrass style (called Rodeohead - it's great, go check it out). but they're great nonetheless.
favorites: pyramid song, you and whose army?, knives out, morning bell/amnesiac, hunting bears, life in a glasshouse
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
1/5
this was decidedly not for me. not the worst album on this list, but it sure was long and plodding and difficult. nick cave sounds like he's going for tom waits or leonard cohen vocals and it's honestly miserable. the only halfway-decent songs were the ones where a guest vocalist took over the singing duties for most of it.
also i really didn't need multiple songs mentioning how long and hard the singer's dick was. but thanks anyway nick. 1.5 stars.
favorites: henry lee, where the wild roses grow
Common
4/5
omg it finally happened... i got the album with the review from guy who hates hip-hop because he was a STEM major. incredible.
honestly for this album in particular, that seems like a strange hill to die on, since it's one of the more interesting and well-produced rap/hip-hop albums on this list imo. the songs are engaging and vivacious, and common should be more of a household name with stuff like this.
favorites: be (intro), go!, testify, they say
Gotan Project
3/5
i'm not really sure what this album is supposed to be or who it's for. it's not bad, just kinda... out there and baffling. if i want french electronica from the turn of the millennium, daft punk is right there. if i want south american bangers, there are tons of options on this list from elis regina to joão and bebel gilberto. i’m just not sure when i’m gonna reach for the gotan project and their “neotango” genre. but at least it's something different.
favorites: queremos paz, época, santa maría (del buen ayre)
Buzzcocks
4/5
this was a fun, energetic, and cool album! way better than some less engaging early punk like the stooges or germs. though knowing london calling is coming out the following year, this kinda looks like the unpolished first draft of what punk will become.
also the 7+ minute final track is weird and bad?? not sure how that ended up here or why it feels so different than the rest of the album. maybe it's because i can't think of a single other 7 minute punk song, because that is just a Wrong Thing.
the rest of the album is still cool though, fuck da h8rs.
favorites: fast cars, you tear me up, love battery, sixteen, i don't mind
Fun Lovin' Criminals
3/5
this isn't an amazing album by any stretch, but it's decent rap-rock that explores different genres while remaining light-hearted and fun. it doesn't take itself too seriously like a lot of other albums in this space, which is nice. on the other hand, parts of it haven't aged well and i'm really not sure how it made it on this list in the first place.
favorites: the fun lovin' criminal, passive/aggressive, scooby snacks, bombin' the L
Les Rythmes Digitales
4/5
i can tell this isn't like, an AMAZING album by any stretch, but i'll be damned if i didn't enjoy it. good beats, funky synths and bass, classic 1999 album art, and a buffalo springfield interpolation? sign me UP
favorites: dreamin, music makkes you lose control, soft machine, (hey you) what's that sound?
Björk
2/5
making an album without using any instruments beyond the human voice is a pretty cool concept. unfortunately, in practice, it's kind of annoying to listen to after a while. i wish there were more sonic variation between these tracks and that they felt less arbitrarily-put-together. i don't hate it, but i've enjoyed bjork's other contributions to this list more. it's a 2.5/5 for me.
favorites: where is the line, oceania, triumph of a heart
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
full disclosure: i am a millennial who was around when this came out. still, i think this is a really solid britpop/indie album. the songs mostly hold up, and take me out is as grand as it ever was.
in retrospect, FF kind of feels like the last time a band really innovated on this indie rock sound, before it was absolutely everywhere for about 5-10 more years. i wouldn't want to hear this album every day or anything but it's good at what it's trying to be.
favorites: jacqueline, take me out, auf achse, darts of pleasure, michael, 40'
G. Love & Special Sauce
3/5
i didn't hate this as much as it seems everyone else did, but it's definitely a perplexing inclusion on this list. this album feels like the soundtrack to a straight-to-VHS kids movie from the early 90s about a boy who comes from a crappy small town in the midwest but wants to play basketball more than anything, oh, and there's a twist... he's actually AN ALIEN!!!!!! naturally, roger and ebert despised it.
favorites: blues music, baby's got sauce, cold beverage
Mekons
2/5
on paper, this album sounds like it should be a five-star album for me in particular, what with all of the weird punk, new wave, concept album, and genre-bending shenanigans at play.
in practice, it's a half-hearted mess that can't decide what it wants to be. instead of pulling together those disparate elements into something greater than the sum of its parts, this is--at its best and in certain moments of beautiful synchronicity--the sum of its parts. wow.
still, points for trying i guess.
favorites: trouble down south (quick sidebar, why does this song sound like a b-side from the musical come from away?), hard to be human again, last dance
Violent Femmes
4/5
cool album with some solid tracks. feels like a pretty unique sound for the time period, which i DEFINITELY thought was the early 90s until a few days ago. maybe it's ahead of its time, or it just doesn't sound like anything else going on in popular music. the closest genre i can think of would be folk punk. (checks wikipedia) ok yeah they are 100% folk punk lol.
favorites: blister in the sun, kiss off, add it up, prove my love, gone daddy gone, good feeling
Talking Heads
4/5
i like talking heads but i think the best thing for me is the bands they inspired. even after a few listens, i definitely don't care for this album as much as remain in light. psycho killer is cool and weird and a huge tune, but there's definitely some filler here. david byrne going ayayayayay and making weird noises is fun but kinda wears thin after a while.
favorites: uh-oh love comes to town, new feeling, the book i read, don't worry about the government, first week/last week...carefree, psycho killer
Slade
2/5
this is what you'd get if the guy from ac/dc sang over royalty-free glam rock for an hour. hard pass.
favorites: look at last nite, mama weer all crazee now, let the good times roll/feel so fine
Simple Minds
3/5
man, i just cannot figure out what the critics saw in this. i normally love 80s new wave, but this is just... boring. i'm only closely familiar with simple minds' don't you forget about me, but these tracks feel like the rough drafts that should've been scrapped on the way there.
also i dunno if these guys are a christian band but this album cover SCREAMS "jesus pamphlet created by a church youth group leader using a free alternative to photoshop"
favorites: someone somewhere (in summertime), promised you a miracle
Big Star
2/5
this album makes me sad. alex chilton and big star came out swinging with their first album, radio city had some bangers, and then they just kinda slowly ground to a halt. most bands' downfalls seem to be due to a sudden event like a breakup, the label dropping them, or whatever, and the ones that fade away start showing cracks well in advance. i wasn't there due to not being born, but this one feels like we're watching the car crash happen in slow motion.
these songs are pretty much all slow, depressing dirges that really convey the mood of alex and the band crumbling around the studio as they record takes. it's hard to watch and i don't think any of the tracks hold a candle to what they've done before. it's sad.
favorites: for you, nature boy, till the end of the day
The xx
3/5
ultra-chill indie pop for people far cooler than i am. there are some nice songs on here but few rise above the level of pleasant background noise for me. sounds pretty samey within the context of the album and all the other music coming out from this genre in the 2010s. it's fine.
favorites: say something loving, replica, on hold, i dare you
M.I.A.
2/5
unfortunately this has the problem that a weirdly significant chunk of 2005's popular music has which is... where are the instruments?? why is everything so stripped down and just... empty? there's so much emphasis on the unique sound M.I.A. brings to the table (which is fair) that the fact that the songs don't really have anything beyond the political message, assuming it's not just yelling nonsense anyway.
also M.I.A. is the perfect example of an artist who had a ton of goodwill and inertia early on, then spent 20 years blowing it all by going crazy deep on controversies and conspiracies. yikes.
favorites: bucky done gun, galang
Dr. Octagon
2/5
no idea what to rate this. the album's content is gross, misogynistic, and juvenile, but the hip-hop production and editing is top notch. i also think the album art is pretty cool - reminds me of some darker video games and fantasy media from the late 90s. ultimately the album is too long and inconsistent to really make me want to come back to it, ever. let's leave this behind in 1996 where it belongs.
favorites: i got to tell you, earth people, bear witness, dr octagon
Nirvana
5/5
incredible album, and one of the most quintessential live albums for this list. this is a dramatic recontextualization of nirvana's hard and heavy grunge music in an intimate, semi-acoustic setting. the raw emotion on some of these tracks is incredible. you can just feel it through the record. the covers are also interesting and help make this album what it is. absolutely stellar, easy five stars.
favorites: all of them except maybe oh me and lake of fire
Serge Gainsbourg
1/5
boring and creepy music for french pedophiles. HARD pass.
favorites: i guess valse de melody if i have to pick one
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
i enjoyed this album a good amount. it's not the most polished or indispensable album on this list (and arguably not even from kendrick), but it has some high highs and huge names.
some of the tracks are a bit samey and the typical gangsta rap misogyny is still very present here. the whole thing goes on way too long, but if you just skip the 12 and 7 minute tracks, it's pretty good!
favorites: bitch don't kill my vibe, money trees, poetic justic, m.a.a.d city, swimming pools (drank)
David Bowie
4/5
this might be one of my favorite bowie albums on this list (though it's no ziggy stardust). heroes is a massive tune, the opener is great, and for once i actually enjoyed david's weird genre explorations toward the end.
favorites: beauty and the beast, heroes, sense of doubt, neukoln, the secret life of arabia
Astrud Gilberto
4/5
another great samba album by another member of the great gilberto family. the lyrics are fun, the songs sound good, and the vibes are on point.
i'm not sure if the album on spotify is accurate since it appears to have five additional songs from another album at the end, but they're great too.
shoutout to the drum bit in parade (a banda) that sounds like the intro to the 20th century fox jingle.
favorites: misty roses, the face i love, beach samba, nao bate o corocao, tristeza, call me, it's a lovely day today (cool that that song was on the ella fitzgerald album on this list too)
Madonna
2/5
eh, this isn't gonna cut it from a legend like madonna. hard to believe anyone, let alone critics, considered this "experimental" at the time. there was a lot changing in music around the turn of the millennium but madonna's safest, blandest album yet was not it.
the title track is decent and don't tell me is serviceable. the rest is just 4-minute unremarkable pop song drivel, scooped out of the big slimy vat where it resides and slopped down onto the album to fill time.
that said, i thought the american pie cover was at least interesting. it's not amazing by any means, but the different instrumentation and vibe shift is worth a listen or two. seems to be very polarizing in these comments, but i assume those are all from conservative dad rock dudes that hate anyone who tries to put a new spin on the classics, especially a w o m a n !!!!
favorites: music, don't tell me, american pie
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
this was a solid post-punk/new wave album. the killing moon is an iconic banger, but there were other notable songs here that i've never heard anyone talk about (in the U.S., at least). oh wait ghost did that cover of nocturnal me, that was tight. anyway good stuff here.
favorites: silver, nocturnal me, the killing moon, seven seas
TLC
2/5
i don't really care for horny R&B from any era, but at least it's not someone's creepy uncle singing it this time. all of these songs kinda sound like i've been trapped in a video game water level for an hour, so that doesn't help. waterfalls is great, at least.
favorites: creep, waterfalls
The Libertines
3/5
inoffensive but underwhelming british indie/garage rock. for UK bands with this sound, i'd take franz ferdinand or arctic monkeys any day of the week, or the strokes if the colonies can get in on this. it's not bad music, but even after three (?) listens, none of the jangly guitars or pedestrian lyrics have wormed their way into my skull for any length of time.
though the dudes in the band being in a tumultuous relationship is great. love wins/dudes rock, but sadly, even that won't save this incredibly average album.
favorites: can't stand me now, the man who would be king, music when the lights go out, narcissist
Milton Nascimento
5/5
more excellent brazilian music from this list! these songs are all so fun and lively and interesting, and pivot between genres, keys/tonal centers, and grooves with ease. i still don't speak portuguese, but that's never stopped me from enjoying these albums.
favorites: Tudo O Que Você Podia Ser, O Trem Azul, Um Girassol Da Cor De Seu Cabelo, San Vicente, Paisagem Da Janela, Lilia, Trem De Doido, Nada Será Como Antes
The Undertones
4/5
decent early UK pop punk band, but not required listening imo. their sound and songwriting are pretty solid, but if i'm in the market for this type of music i think i'd rather listen to the ramones or something more interesting.
someone in the reviews said something like the songs are good while you're listening to them but once the album's done, you remember none of it. 100% agree.
3.5/5, rounding up because punk is good actually?
favorites: family entertainment, teenage kicks, here comes the summer, get over you, jimmy jimmy
Carole King
5/5
i wasn't really aware of carole king or this album and had no idea it was such a well-known classic! but through listening, i realized that i already sort of knew you've got a friend and you make me feel like a natural woman, i guess just from being alive on this earth for 30+ years. neat!
this album is great. beautiful vocals, lyrics, and piano. love the cat on the cover too. just good music all around. there are a few odd inclusions like smackwater jack (is this just bad, bad leroy brown with the serial number filed off?) but overall, one of the best albums i've gotten from this list recently.
favorites: i feel the earth move, so far away, it's too late, you've got a friend, where you lead, will you love me tomorrow?, tapestry, you make me feel like a natural woman
David Crosby
2/5
and the crowd goes mild!!!! this was boring when it wasn't actively annoying. there's just no need for yet another unnecessary bluesy-folk solo album by an old white guy from a more important band on this list... at least it's not neil young i guess.
my favorite part of this is the album cover, specifically the title and artist. i like to imagine david crosby making the face on the cover trying to think of his own name, then immediately answering his own question. classic comedy.
favorites: tamalpais high (at about 3), traction in the rain, orleans... mostly the songs where david does minimal singing.
Slint
4/5
never heard of this band or album before, and it took me three listens to really make heads or tails of it. i THINK i like it overall, but it's a tough nut to crack. not sure i'd listen to any of these songs individually but the album as a whole is powerful, moody, unsettling, and emotional. deeply uncomfortable and at times creepy, yes, but hey, it's always nice when an album on this list stands out and makes you feel something.
favorites: breadcrumb trail, don aman, washer, good morning captain
Bob Dylan
2/5
sorry bobby d, but this is boring as hell. 11 songs in 72 minutes? bruh. wrap it up!!!! his voice sounds like rocko from rocko's modern life. no, i will not be taking any questions.
favorites: love sick, make you feel my love
Buffalo Springfield
3/5
ugh, mom, buffalo springfield AGAIN? we've had it every night this week!
or so it seems. i was gonna give this four stars until i heard neil young's voice AGAIN. this list just loves to beat me over the head with neil young, especially when i least expect it.
otherwise the songs are fine, pleasant, nice, whatever, but they don't really go anywhere interesting. 60s psychedelic rock is just not my thing, i guess.
favorites: mr. soul, expecting to fly, bluebird, rock & roll woman
Ozomatli
5/5
damn this album slaps, idk what everyone in the comments is on about. fun songs, interesting instrumentation, great mix of english and spanish tracks. also, chali 2na is great on this and i recognized his voice immediately from his work with linkin park.
favorites: all but tracks 8-11
Soft Cell
2/5
boy, i sure wish this erotic cabaret ever stopped. soft cell really has a particular sound and it's cool for a couple tracks, but 18? in 74 minutes? that's exactly the length of one oliver & company, and i'd rather watch that. billy joel's in that one. does your band have billy joel, soft cell? i didn't think so. this cabaret is gonna be a no from me, dawg.
special shoutout to where did our love go, which is tainted love with the serial numbers filed off. same drum part, same synth patches, etc. it would be a brazen rip-off if someone else had done it, but soft cell beat them to the punch??? great job i guess???????
favorites: frustration, tainted love, say hello wave goodbye, where did our love go, so
The Smiths
4/5
i actually liked this one... the songs sound good and the vibes are on point. the biggest blemish on the record is the downer of a title track that you have to slog through to finish the album. morrissey is nothing if not incendiary and heavy-handed in his messaging, but it doesn't exactly get the party started.
favorites: the headmaster ritual, nowhere fast, well i wonder, barbarism begins at home
The Kinks
2/5
i think of myself as someone who likes the kinks, but this album was a snoozefest of 60s britpop. this site links to the bonus track edition on spotify but after listening to all of it, waterloo sunset is really the only track here worth caring about in the slightest. such a bummer, since the kinks are definitely capable of writing catchy, captivating songs.
favorites: death of a clown, harry rag, waterloo sunset
Van Halen
5/5
all right, this is an iconic album that deserves to be here. and a great debut to boot! this is the distilled essence of van halen, and they knew exactly what sound and energy they were going for from the start, and all in about half an hour.
i knew you really got me and ain't talkin' 'bout love going into this and had heard the other big tracks a few times. eruption is probably the wildest thing on here and i assume nothing else sounded remotely close to it in 1978. rad.
favorites: runnin' with the devil, eruption, you really got me, ain't talkin' 'bout love (too many apostrophes man), jamie's cryin', atomic punk, ice cream man
Stereo MC's
4/5
i don't have any deep thoughts about this but it's neat. UK hip-hop and electronic fusion. cool B)
favorites: connected, ground level, step it up, creation
Liz Phair
4/5
i enjoyed this one overall. liz is not my favorite singer by any stretch but these songs are varied and interesting. that said, there sure are a lot of them and the album starts to wear out its welcome about halfway through. her 2003 self-titled album is still my favorite.
favorites: 6'1", dance of the seven veils, never said, canary, fuck and run
Death In Vegas
2/5
drab and uneventful. why is this on here, exactly? it's the musical embodiment of "go girl give us nothing"
favorites: dirge, aisha
Blood, Sweat & Tears
5/5
damn this album slaps, i had no idea!! i was expecting some 60s psychedelia snoozefest but this was more like a classical-jazz-folk-rock fusion hitfest. love the erik satie variations, the blues rock interpolations on blues pt 2, the god bless the child cover, and the originals in between. the live tracks on the expanded edition are frankly unnecessary, but i'm here for just about everything else. i only knew spinning wheel was on here!
favorites: variations on a theme by erik satie (1st and 2nd movements), and when i die, god bless the child, spinning wheel, you've made me so very happy, blues pt 2, variation on a theme by erik satie (1st movement)
Norah Jones
4/5
This isn't the music I'd normally reach for, but it's objectively good. Norah has a beautiful and expressive voice, the band is clearly talented, and the jazz/pop arrangements elevate this above standard singer-songwriter fare. my biggest gripe is that everything sounds the same, but it's a pleasant sound, so i don't mind too much.
favorites: don't know why, seven years, come away with me, lonestar, the nearness of you
Jazmine Sullivan
3/5
cool, modern, soulful sound but the skits and lyrics were very hit and miss. this gets points for being such an open and candid exploration of what it's like to be a woman of color in today's society, but i could've done without all the songs about online dating and dick.
favorites: bodies, pick up your feelings, price tags, girl like me
Pixies
4/5
this was... not what i expected. i've listened to doolittle a decent amount and heard most of pixies' singles, but this was pretty out there and experimental. i didn't hate it and i can see where bands like nirvana and smashing pumpkins drew their inspiration, but this isn't exactly a comfort album or one that gets the party started. i think i had pretty much heard all the good cuts before today.
favorites: bone machine, gigantic, where is my mind, vamos (surfer rosa)
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
decent album with a couple of fun tracks, but doesn't do enough to break out of the primordial ooze that is 60s psych rock. to their credit, few bands from the time suddenly remember that they're supposed to be aping the beach boys and squeeze in two convincing pastiches at the end of the album. i think the monkees did stepping stone better though.
favorites: kicks, i'm not your stepping stone, ss 396, corvair baby
Nitin Sawhney
5/5
this was cool, and i ended up listening a few times since it got better the more i heard it. the music is overall pretty chill, but the subject matter of identity and nuclear war really pays off repeated/deeper listens. love that the groove and genre (and even language) of the songs changes up enough to keep things interesting without it all just sounding like a ripoff of massive attack. some of the tracks are a bit too long for my liking but that comes with the territory. 4.5 but i'm gonna give it 5 stars because of the haters in the comments B)
favorites: broken skin, letting go, homelands, tides, nadia
Beyoncé
4/5
>looks at the comments
>thinly-veiled racism, misogyny, and a general fear of pop music abound
>michael bluth voice: i don't know what i expected
i was actually paying attention to the radio in 2014 but somehow i totally missed this album and its singles. i honestly don't think i had heard any of these songs before (but of course had heard all the memes and buzz about SURF-BORT).
there are definitely some duds and songs/features that have not aged well here (looking at you, drake) but overall this is solid stuff. beyonce's voice sounds great as always and the production/instrumentation on these tracks is some of the best money can buy. the clips from her past are a nice addition as well, really makes everything feel more real and less like a soulless commercial release, but there's still enough long and drawn out filler that it's definitely not a five star from me.
favorites: pretty hurts, haunted, drunk in love, partition, xo, blue
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
i love the new wave and folk combo this album has going on. it starts out strong but gets pretty samey until come on eileen, uh, comes on. then it's right back to the same. probably a 3.5 for me, rounding up or down depending on my mood that day.
also the oohs in all in all reminded me of the oohs that start at 4:20 in the past is a grotesque animal by of montreal. they're not identical or anything but the vibes match.
favorites: the celtic soul brothers, let's make this precious, all in all, jackie wilson said, come on eileen
Drive Like Jehu
4/5
cool post-hardcore/proto-emo album. definitely understand people not liking it but i've really grown to appreciate this raw sound and energy/passion over the years. reminds me of at the drive-in and early ...and you will know us by the trail of dead, which i love.
favorites: here come the rome plows, golden brown, luau, hand over fist, bullet train to vegas
Napalm Death
3/5
hot on the heels of the drive like jehu album, we finally get the fabled napalm death album. it's definitely loud and aggressive, but there's a lot more depth to it than the other reviews would have you believe, all in a half-hour package.
i definitely preferred the a side of hardcore punk and the political message is unmistakably clear throughout, despite the singer's unintelligible lyrics. the heavy metal b side really foreshadows upcoming developments in the world of metal subgenres i can't tell apart, but grindcore is pretty low on my list. still, a good addition to this list, even though i probably won't listen to it often (other than you suffer, a classic that really gives you time to savor each moment and let the song wash over you).
also at one point my robot vacuum was loudly struggling to suck something up and i just assumed it was the vocal part being especially incomprehensible.
favorites: instinct of survival, scum, you suffer, success?
Guns N' Roses
4/5
this is an absolutely iconic rock album and has a higher bangers-to-filler ratio than most of the other albums in this space and time. still, some of these songs weren't great to begin with and have aged even worse in the 40 years since then. the misogyny is plain as day and tracks like it's so easy seem tailor-made to piss off reasonable people. still, if you can work with a generous dose of LA sleaze, this album really delivers.
favorites: welcome to the jungle, nightrain, mr. brownstone, paradise city, sweet child o' mine
The Go-Go's
5/5
damn, this slaps!!!! i knew we got the beat and our lips are sealed before this, but the rest of the album is chockablock with solid new wave tracks. i kept wanting to make comparisons to blondie for obvious reasons but there's so much more to it than that.
a lot of these songs sound like themes for miles "tails" prower from the sonic the hedgehog games. maybe that's just belinda carlisle's voice and the overall vibes, quick chord changes, and tonal shifts.
favorites: everything, really. though fading fast and automatic were the weakest for me personally.
New Order
4/5
pretty cool, i liked this. not a huge new order fan but their sound is generally good. i did know round and round going into this and it's one of my favorites by them, so this review is heavily influenced by that.
favorites: fine time, round and round, run, vanishing point
John Martyn
4/5
ehh. the jazz elements here really made it stand out from a standard seventies singer-songwriter snoozefest (sorry nick cave), but won't be enough to save it. still, parts of this were interesting and i ended up enjoying most of the songs overall. it's a 3.5, but i'll round up because i am a wise and benevolent demigod.
favorites: over the hill, i'd rather be the devil, dreams by the sea, may you never, the man in the station
The Dictators
2/5
an incredible mix of uninteresting, uncomfortable, and unremarkable. always good to hear the proto-punk albums on this list and see just how far we've come with the genre...
favorites: the next big thing, i got you babe, i live for cars and girls
2/5
this sounds like the soundtrack for a mid-90s psychological thriller that takes itself way too seriously and has a 40% on rotten tomatoes.
favorites: voce gosta, felicidade
The Allman Brothers Band
2/5
well, i went into this thinking that i liked the allman brothers band. i've never been more excited to see a song that's *only* five minutes long.
favorites: statesboro blues, hot 'lanta
1/5
this album answers the question that everyone's been dying to know: what if the stooges were even worse?
Morrissey
3/5
fine morrissey album. i liked the general sound and mood overall but also fuck morrissey.
favorites: alsatian cousin, little man what now, everyday is like sunday, suedehead
Dr. John
4/5
i really didn't care for this at first blush, but it got better on repeated listens. very unique sound and album for this list, so i'm on board with that. and it's barely half an hour? excellent stuff.
favorites: danse kalinda ba doom, mama roux, danse fambeaux, jump sturdy
The Sabres Of Paradise
2/5
this album sounds like a demo from someone making their first tracks in their bedroom in fruity loops using the included loops, free vst plugins, and royalty-free samples they downloaded off a sketchy website. in other words, it kinda sucks.
favorites: theme
Sonic Youth
4/5
this album is simultaneously very cool, weird, important, noisy, experimental, annoying, and influential. it's so clearly an inspiration for many bands that came afterwards, and if you close your eyes you can hear shades of nirvana, other grunge, post-hardcore, and much more.
that said, it is 70 minutes long and kinda loses its grip after the first few tracks. there are five seven-minute songs, each somehow more identical than the last. i'm not gonna put this album very often (beyond teen age riot, thank you for introducing me to it, rock band 2) but i sure am glad it's here.
favorites: teen age riot, silver rocket, the sprawl, 'cross the breeze, eric's trip
The Triffids
3/5
Tom Waits
3/5
this whole thing is weird. and not just in a wow, tom waits is such a strange guy kinda way. this is basically a standup comedy album with mediocre, haphazard jokes, performed in front of a studio audience that's trying its best to sound like a live audience, covering nothing in particular in the most roundabout way possible.
that said, the bassist absolutely makes this worth hearing once.
favorites: eggs and sausage (in a cadillac with susan michelson), better off without a wife
Taylor Swift
5/5
amazing album. i am not a swiftie by any means but this album is a modern pop classic. the last third is less interesting to me, but i'll revisit this for sure.
favorites: tracks 1-4, 6-9
Beastie Boys
5/5
i've listened to this like five times now. it absolutely rips. favorite BBs album yet. the sampling is on point, the songs are fun and catchy, it all just WORKS.
favorites: tracks 1-3, 5-9, and 11
Emmylou Harris
5/5
really beautiful and serene album. emmylou's voice sounds great and this album really evokes a certain kind of setting and mood. the covers are solid as well, especially the beatles one.
favorites: bluebird wine, if i could only win your love, boulder to birmingham, coat of many colors, for no one, queen of the silver dollar, hank and lefty
Eels
5/5
i don't care for the album art, but the music rocks. this is the exact kind of sorta-weird 90s alt rock that i've always been a fan of. this is great for a debut and it has that song from shrek B) - makes sense since this is apparently the first album released by dreamworks' record label? interesting.
favorites: novocaine for the soul, susan's house, rags to rags, beautiful freak, my beloved monster
The Gun Club
3/5
fine. nothing special. just some more middling punk with a mild and ultimately unimpressive twist, in this case the blues sound.
favorites: sex beat, she's like heroin to me, ghost on the highway
Badly Drawn Boy
2/5
some of these songs felt like pleasant, BIRP-approved indie tracks, most of them were unnecessary filler, and This Song was actively annoying to listen to because of the godawful left-right panning effect throughout the ENTIRE SONG
over an hour of this mediocrity is not what i want in any album, let alone one of the top 1001.
favorites: the shining, once around the block, magic in the air, disillusion
Julian Cope
3/5
while there are some decent tracks on here, the whole thing way outstays its welcome, practically begging for acknowledgement and praise of how intelligent and artful it is. ultimately, it's not worthy of any such accolades.
favorites: double vegetation, east easy rider, hanging out and hung up on the line, beautiful love, hung up and hanging out to dry, the american lite
The Pogues
5/5
man, i dunno what you want me to say. this album fuckin rocks. it's high-energy, punchy, fun, profound, and emotional. love the pogues, inject this shit directly into my veins.
favorites: tracks 1, 3-9, 11, and 13
John Coltrane
4/5
sax sells.
The Cure
5/5
i really liked this one! some cure albums are rather one-note (and that note is gloomy) but this one really packs a punch.
favorites: plainsong, pictures of you, lovesong, last dance, lullaby, fascination street
Blur
2/5
this is like my fourth or fifth album to listen to today, and i'm coming down from a hot streak of 4- and 5-star albums. in comparison, this is absolute dogwater. beetlebum is fine, song 2 is straightforward but a classic, and then... there's another 12 tracks on here of overengineered and unintelligible britpop cacophony. snore.
favorites: beetlebum, song 2
4/5
another kinks album where i know zero of the songs going in, but overall this was better than most of the others we've had on this list so far.
favorites: victoria, australia, shangri-la, mr. churchill says
The Stooges
2/5
i appreciate what the stooges have done for punk music, but they're not particularly fun or interesting to listen to nowadays. i think this was better than their self-titled, but not by much.
favorites: down on the street
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
woof. it's all downhill after too rye ay, isn't it? this was just boring, unnecessary drivel. the 12 minute song where they're just 'avin' a bi' of a chat? why.
the only reason i'm giving this two stars and not one is because one of those things inspired me to finally create a playlist of all the songs i've found that sound like sweet home alabama/werewolves of london
favorites: one of those things