430 albums in, and this might be the most confusing and worst pick I've seen so far. For context, The Cult were originally a post-punk and goth rock band that blended those genres with psychedelia and hard rock, and it resulted in a pretty interesting take on the genre. The album before this - called Love - has one has their most popular song (She Sells Sanctuary) and is their most critically celebrated album, which is why I question why they instead included this, which is nothing but generic hard rock front to back. I would have given this a 2 because Love Removal Machine is pretty good, but it's immediately followed by the most unnecessary cover of Born to Be Wild. Fuck you Cult, for selling out, and fuck you book author for choosing yet another hard rock album instead of something interesting.
1001 Albums Summary
Journey Complete!
Finisher #803 to complete the list
View User Albums Summary
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
Breakdown
By Genre
Tap a bar to see the albums behind it
Top Styles
Tap a bar to see the albums behind it
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Duck Stab/Buster & Glen
The Residents
|
5 | 2.04 | +2.96 |
|
Sincere
Mj Cole
|
5 | 2.37 | +2.63 |
|
Cupid & Psyche 85
Scritti Politti
|
5 | 2.39 | +2.61 |
|
A Grand Don't Come For Free
The Streets
|
5 | 2.62 | +2.38 |
|
Casanova
The Divine Comedy
|
5 | 2.65 | +2.35 |
|
Slipknot
Slipknot
|
5 | 2.68 | +2.32 |
|
Atomizer
Big Black
|
5 | 2.74 | +2.26 |
|
Peggy Suicide
Julian Cope
|
5 | 2.77 | +2.23 |
|
Apple Venus Volume 1
XTC
|
5 | 2.83 | +2.17 |
|
69 Love Songs
The Magnetic Fields
|
5 | 2.84 | +2.16 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Automatic For The People
R.E.M.
|
1 | 3.8 | -2.8 |
|
The Score
Fugees
|
1 | 3.69 | -2.69 |
|
The Joshua Tree
U2
|
1 | 3.66 | -2.66 |
|
To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar
|
1 | 3.64 | -2.64 |
|
L.A. Woman
The Doors
|
1 | 3.64 | -2.64 |
|
Queen II
Queen
|
1 | 3.48 | -2.48 |
|
Frank
Amy Winehouse
|
1 | 3.45 | -2.45 |
|
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
|
1 | 3.43 | -2.43 |
|
Cheap Thrills
Big Brother & The Holding Company
|
1 | 3.41 | -2.41 |
|
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
|
1 | 3.38 | -2.38 |
Artists
Favorites
Tap an artist to see their albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Steely Dan | 4 | 4.75 |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 5 |
| Radiohead | 6 | 4.33 |
| Pink Floyd | 4 | 4.5 |
| Yes | 3 | 4.67 |
| The Cure | 3 | 4.67 |
| Beatles | 7 | 4.14 |
| XTC | 2 | 5 |
| Talking Heads | 4 | 4.25 |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4.25 |
| Kate Bush | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Smiths | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Beach Boys | 3 | 4.33 |
| Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | 5 | 4 |
Least Favorites
Tap an artist to see their albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Sonic Youth | 5 | 1.4 |
| U2 | 4 | 1.5 |
| Aerosmith | 3 | 1.33 |
| Tom Waits | 5 | 1.8 |
| Public Enemy | 3 | 1.67 |
| Fiona Apple | 2 | 1.5 |
| Rufus Wainwright | 2 | 1.5 |
| The Doors | 3 | 2 |
| Roxy Music | 3 | 2 |
Controversial
Tap an artist to see their albums
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band | 4, 1 |
| Amy Winehouse | 1, 4 |
| LCD Soundsystem | 2, 5 |
| Slipknot | 5, 2 |
| Miles Davis | 4, 1, 4, 4 |
5-Star Albums (76)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
This would considered a Psychedelic classic were it not for the significant drop in quality on the B side. I still enjoyed it a lot, and it deserves more credit than it gets, but it's clear the longer the album goes on the less ideas the band has. I have no idea what they were thinking with that last song
Musically talented, but is proof they needed a frontman and vocalist with the zaniness of David Byrne to really pull it all together. Still enjoyable though.
This band feels somewhere between Queen and Sparks, with some Cheap Trick and ELO mixed in. I think the Queen comparison is the most apt, they're obviously technically proficient and can write songs, but they dick around too much and it comes across as annoying. If I had this on a bad day I could see myself giving this two stars, but right now there's too much quality to ignore and I did enjoy most of the album.
Not bad, Dusty is a great singer, but I feel like I've heard most of these songs done better by other people.
1-Star Albums (68)
All Ratings (1097)
I've heard noise albums that are less noisy than this.
This would considered a Psychedelic classic were it not for the significant drop in quality on the B side. I still enjoyed it a lot, and it deserves more credit than it gets, but it's clear the longer the album goes on the less ideas the band has. I have no idea what they were thinking with that last song
Probably the only true album that you must hear before you die. To make an album that's made of disjointed samples and to structure them in a way that both sounds good and is as cohesive and as smooth as SILY is extraordinary, most bands fail to do this with normal instruments. There will never be another album like this, even The Avalanches didn't try this style again, opting for more actual instrumentation and features on their next two albums.
It definitely has it's weak moments, but overall it's far too fun to dislike. It seems likely that a lot of funk rock and third wave ska bands in the 90s took inspiration from these guys, so that's interesting to see
The music is very good, but it falls into the same traps as most other soundtracks do: it doesn't feel like I'm listening to an album, it feels like I'm listening to a soundtrack for a movie I haven't watched. That said, this does at least make an attempt to put the tracks into an album format, so there is some value to this project.
I've been a fan of Hot Chip for a while, though I haven't listened to this album before. I've always seen them as a singles band, the few albums I've listened to are inconsistent (at their lowest: mid, at their best: fantastic), this album hasn't really changed my opinion on that, however this is the most consistent they've been. The highs on this album (obvious picks are Motion Sickness, and Flutes, but I'd put Night and Day in there too) are nothing short of phenomenal, Flutes in particular (I knew the song prior to listening to the album) is one of the best pop songs of the 21st century in my opinion. The songs in-between are for the most part quite well put together, there's a few dips in quality, but there is a pretty significant gulf between these songs and their best.
One of the more confusing listens on the list so far, I had to give it another listen the next morning, to fully digest it. That said this is a borderline masterpiece, just from the music alone you can tell there's a lot of pain behind the songwriting, and as it turns out Robert Wyatt got permanently paralysed. I can see why people don't like this, it feels amateurish at times, and a bit too avant-garde at others, but when it comes together (Sea Song, Alifib suite) its perfect, and unlike anything else.
I think this is the best Smiths studio release, though it seems to generally be considered their worst. Johnny Marr and Morrissey are both at their best, the lyrics are at their most humourous and self-pitying (which, let's face it, is what Morrissey does best), and it has some of the best hooks in the Smiths discography. Johnny Marr's guitar playing on Death of a Disco Dancer is a real highlight. I think it also has more experimentation with their sound compared to the others, which makes me think their next album would have been something somewhat different, though unfortunately we'll never get to hear that. I can see why others would dislike this. Some of the songs are a bit weird (like the country rock song that's under 2 minutes), and Morrissey is definitely at his most dramatic and excessive here. Also credit to Andy Rourke, the most underrated Smith, for his bass playing.
The Beatles are my favourite band but this hasn't aged well. Half of the album is covers, and not very good covers for the most part, and only one classic song - All My Loving. To put it in comparison, PPM and Beatles for Sale probably have two or three classics on them. I still enjoy this but that's mainly because I grew up with it (and it's short), compared to the Beatles other work this is extremely weak.
First half is great, second half is not. Would be fine with this if it wasn't two hours long.
This band feels somewhere between Queen and Sparks, with some Cheap Trick and ELO mixed in. I think the Queen comparison is the most apt, they're obviously technically proficient and can write songs, but they dick around too much and it comes across as annoying. If I had this on a bad day I could see myself giving this two stars, but right now there's too much quality to ignore and I did enjoy most of the album.
Obviously way ahead of it's time, 90s alt rock about 10 years before it was a thing, but as a result of that it sounds a bit generic. Still a decent album though.
Arguably the best disco record, back to back bangers. Feels a bit like a Chic album, but that can only be said as a compliment. One of my favorite feel good records.
This doesn't hold up at all. I saw The Darkness live about 15 years ago and I grew up listening to this album, but this is just a throwback to American hard rock/glam metal with nothing unique about it. Even other nostalgia bait bands, like Jamiroquai, at least do something interesting with their genre. The 1001 doesn't need more hard rock, and of all the hard rock, this definitely isn't one you need to listening to. I Believe In A Thing Called Love is still a bop though
This was very refreshing to get right after Permission to Land and Appetite for Destruction, they've aged like avocado, Garbage's self-titled has aged like cognac. Garbage's strength is their unique sound that blends influences from 90s genres like grunge, shoegaze, noise pop, industrial rock, baggy/alt dance, IDM electronica, and even grebo. I don't think any other band really sounds like them, even though they fit snug into the generic "alternative rock" label. Shirley Manson is an extremely talented vocalist who's sultry but depressed vocals fit well with the rest of the band's music.
I can see why people dislike this, it's far too bloated and has a lot of obvious filler (which as the consecutive covers midway through the album), however when it's good, it's really good. I feel like FGTH used all the material they had for this album, some of these songs definitely should have been b-sides.
There's too much quality on this album for me to give it a negative rating (when it's good it's amazing) but for the most part I didn't particularly enjoy this, it's too long. White Album works because George has two other great songwriters working with him, each with their own styles. This album very much feels like if the White Album only had songs like Long Long Long, Savoy Truffle, and While My Guitar.. on it. The songwriting is quality but there isn't much variation, and it lasts for almost 2 hours. If you like long pop rock/folk rock/blues rock albums then this'll be your thing, but don't expect much variety than that.
Of Echo's first four albums, I've found this to be their best, it goes deeper into their psychedelic and gothic influences more than the other four, but also seems to probably be the least well liked. It may not have a big standout song like the others do (though The Cutter is really good) but makes up for it with consistency, all the tracks on here are really good.
Very cohesive psychedelic pop, I love albums that have smooth transitions, and the first side of this album is some of the best I've heard. The B-side is a lot more inconsistent in both sound and quality, but it's still good enough to be one of my favourites.
I usually only rate things poorly if it's extremely bad or if it's so long and far past the point of any enjoyment. This is both.
I don't care for this album at all, but I just want to shout out the final song - After Hours - which is amazing and was doing the modern indie bedroom pop thing 4 decades before that became common. I'm glad I had the opportunity to listen to this album for that song alone.
I didn't care much for this album as a whole, but those first two songs are killer.
430 albums in, and this might be the most confusing and worst pick I've seen so far. For context, The Cult were originally a post-punk and goth rock band that blended those genres with psychedelia and hard rock, and it resulted in a pretty interesting take on the genre. The album before this - called Love - has one has their most popular song (She Sells Sanctuary) and is their most critically celebrated album, which is why I question why they instead included this, which is nothing but generic hard rock front to back. I would have given this a 2 because Love Removal Machine is pretty good, but it's immediately followed by the most unnecessary cover of Born to Be Wild. Fuck you Cult, for selling out, and fuck you book author for choosing yet another hard rock album instead of something interesting.
I used to like this band when I was a kid, but I don't think their sound has aged well purely because other rap acts have done their schtick better, Beastie Boys in particular. Still very influential and deserves to be on the list though.
I don't know what I expected from a 60s Bee Gee's record, but an hour long psychedelic baroque pop album about a ship wasn't it. It's not bad but it does drag a bit.
Not bad, Dusty is a great singer, but I feel like I've heard most of these songs done better by other people.
Musically talented, but is proof they needed a frontman and vocalist with the zaniness of David Byrne to really pull it all together. Still enjoyable though.
Surprisingly accessible, I was expecting something weirder and unlistenable but these are really just pop songs when you get past the banging and the angry German screaming.
Highlight of this album is a couple of songs around the middle that made me think "hm, maybe this isn't so bad", before promptly being remembered exactly why I wasn't enjoying this. It sounds like Motorhead if Lemmy was slightly more incomprehensible.
I really don't understand why this is on the list, it adds nothing that wouldn't be added by any other mid-10s trap album. The songs are average at best and downright cringey at worst. I don't usually agree that albums get added to the book purely because they're British, but I can't really disagree in regards to this album. I'm probably biased because I don't like the Roadman subculture which, to me, just seems to be British youths pretending to be what the American gangsta rappers of old actually were. "Trying to not get killed by police" bruh you live in London, not fucking LA.
Interestingly the worst part of this are the hit singles.
This one is a classic, The KLF were kings at catchy and danceable electronica. It seems like their reputation nowadays is entirely based around their story rather than the music, which is disappointing to see because I think their music holds up, and they were insanely influential for the modern EDM scene. For Spotify users, they've released all the songs from this album on different compilations, searching The White Room should get you a playlist with the correct tracklist. Just cross-reference it with the original tracklist to ensure it's correct.
One thing I've learned from this project is that I don't like jam bands. I imagine this is what prog music sounds like to people that don't like prog.
Aged like milk. I get that Britney was a significant figure of the late 90s and early 00s, but aside from the title track (which holds up quite well) this is forgettable cookie cutter R&B pop which dominated a large portion of the 90s and 00s. It shouldn't be on the list.
I really don't like Taylor Swift. I expected her foray into folk to be a novelty, but this album was a pleasant piece of folk pop. I fully approve. EDIT: I actually take back my review, this blows
Obviously not as talented in terms as songwriting like his contemporaries like Bob Dylan, but I liked the intimate vibe of the album.
This album was disappointing, it starts off with some good potential but quickly devolves into 80s dance cliches. I recommend you replace "Back to Life" with the single version of the song (subtitled "(However Do You Want Me)") as it fits better and is also probably the best song on the album.
Chaotic explosion of different sounds and genres from across the world, for someone less talented then M.I.A. this would have been a trainwreck, however the result of this album is something which is as equally accessible as it is experimental. 2000s hip-hop was starting to get stale midway through the decade, this helped revitalise it. It is definitely ahead of it's time, a lot of the hip-hop from the 10s and even hyperpop from this decade can trace it's roots back to M.I.A.'s 2000s output.
I've heard an album by this band before (the one after this, the one with the big hit on it) and I'm a bit surprised this one made it in over that as that one was more successful and gets more plaudits. This is American Britpop, and this is the only American band I've heard that goes for this kind of sound. They obviously took a lot of inspiration from bands like Spiritualized and The Verve, because it sounds exactly like them. I'm ambivalent, like The Verve and Spiritualised when they're good they're good but many of the songs are more drawn out than they need to be, and the album ends up being far too long as a result.
Despite being an 80s album, this is one of the best aged hip-hop albums I've heard, it doesn't sound like proto-90s rap, nor does it feel like a collection of 80s cliches like so many of their contemporaries. I feel like De La Soul have fallen out of favour compared to many of the acts from the 90s, which is unfortunate because I feel like this is some of the best you'll hear in the genre.
Interesting and unique sounds for a pop album, not something I'm particularly into but I am glad to have listened to it. Sounds similar to The Beta Band.
New Wave gets an unfair reputation for 80s cheese when bands like Def Leppard exist. They have all of the inspiration of 70s hard rock and metal with none of the substance. My first thought was "Oh god this is the album with Pour Some Sugar On Me" swiftly followed by "Oh god, it's 62 minutes long". You will definitely feel those 62 minutes, and somehow Pour Some Sugar On Me is the best song here. The rest of the songs for the most part feels indistinguishable from one another, if you've heard any mid-late 80s glam metal then you've heard this entire album.
Great example of how to combine abrasive elements with catchy and accessible rock music. For the heavy amount of noise used it still sounds great.
A lot of these early 90s hip-hop albums feel like they're here under obligation to give rap more representation, rather than because of the quality. This is one of them. There is absolutely no reason this should be over an hour long, it gets repetitive by the second song. In fact, you could half the runtime on all of these songs and have a superior album. Title track is genuinely good though, only positive thing about the album.
One of the best breakup albums, full of energy instead of wallowing in self-pity. You do have to have a tolerance for 80s cheese to appreciate this, but if you can you'll find that you have one of the most consistent albums of the 80s. Superb hooks, superb basslines.
Adele is obviously a talented singer, but her music is melodramatic and overly sentimental to an annoying degree, and it's at its worst on this album. The song lyrics are predictable, I think "looking back on someone that they loved that they don't love anymore" could be used to describe half the songs on the album. There's one song that sounds like corporate music you'd hear for an IT company. I'm not a big fan of Adele to begin with, but I have heard much better from her than anything on this.
I like Dexys Midnight Runners, however this album has never stuck with me. I know a lot of fans consider it a misunderstood masterpiece, and there is good songwriting here, but Dexys seems to do everything they can to sabotage the album, such as songs being far longer than they should be, random pauses, and of course the spoken word segments. There is a good album in here but it's trapped under all these bafflingly poor choices.
I think compilation albums have their place, but including that's just the highlights of their first three projects is just cheating. As for the band themselves, they're unremarkable garage rock revival, the kind of band to be popular in 2002 and disappear immediately afterwards.
I'm conflicted on this, but I like it much more than I dislike. The beats on this are really good for the most part and quite forward thinking at times, such as the industrial influences a few of the songs have. The lead is quite good at rapping and some of the political discourse is quite hard hitting, especially for 92. The sampling is also pretty good for it's time. My big issue I have with this is the preachiness, I agree with most of the political opinions on here but it's done in the most blunt way possible and at times feels more like a political rally than an album. This is possibly the preachiest album I've ever heard, however they pull it off really well occasionally, such as the track "The Winter of the Long Hot Summer" which was quite chilling. When it's done poorly it comes across as an "old man yells at cloud" moment, the biggest offender here being the 7 minute rant against TV. This album has very competent rapping, beats, and sampling as well as having some great political discourse, however the preachiness is too much at times.
As with all Queen albums, there is genuine talent hidden under layers of fucking around and daft novelty songs. Frustrating band.
A very good "rap opera" portrayal of chav culture in Britain, as well as the unflattering poorer side of the country commonly seen north of London. The sound is very amateurish from an artist that is anything but, however I think it helps with the immersion of the story. The singles and the final song are the highlights of the album. It's worth noting that this album isn't being entirely serious, at the end of the day it is a dramatic representation of someone losing £1000
One of the most interesting additions to the new wave canon. Dexys blend the style of punky new wave that was popular in the UK with 60s/70s American black soul and a hint of old mod music, the end result is a very fun and danceable album. It may not have a standout hit like Too Rye Aye (although I guess Geno could count), but makes up for it with consistency. Shout out to Seven Days Too Long, white British artists covering an old American soul song is always a risky move, but I think this version fits with the album well, and is also an improvement on the original.
Everything I've heard from Basement Jaxx prior to this has been that they're fun and catchy, but also quite a bit annoying, and this album firmly cements my view on them. I think if this album were to catch me on a bad day I would have been far more negative, but I feel like that's just how Basement Jaxx's music is, I got it at a good time because I'm fully receptive to this. They're very talented at making fun, bouncy, and dancable house music.
Grandpa got drunk and is doing Spooky Scary Skeletons on Karaoke again...
Never heard of this band or album, but this is really good. The Sabres of Paradise use some interesting sounds to construct ambient dub songs, and it makes this one of the more unique things from British 90s electronica. I can see it being a difficult listen, both dub and ambient are naturally slow genres, and I think your perception of this is going to be dependent on your mood at the time, but it caught me at a good time and I loved it.
The first 5 songs are incredible and are some of the most well written songs of the 80s. The second half takes a confusing turn into Muzak. Still great, but it could have been better.
Duran Duran feel like a dollar store version of Simple Minds
A very unique pop album that blends mainstream genres like dance pop, R&B and Prince's style of funk rock with new jack swing and industrial. It sounds like a mess but it blends together very well. Many of the songs (such as Love Will Never Do, and Miss You Much) are longing and loving R&B songs over a punchy electro industrial beat and I think it sounds fantastic. Towards the end it starts to mellow out into more traditional R&B, but it's still pretty good. Unfortunately this sound didn't catch on, and as a result if you like this style of pop you really only have this album. It's probably my favourite album and one of the most unique pop albums on the list.
For all the hubbub about Song 2, I think Song 1 is a contender for the best rock song of the decade. Feels like proto-Gorillaz
Unremarkable but not terrible. Their second album (The Luxury Gap) is much better than this. The title track is a great synthpop song however
Half the songs are good, half the songs are not good. Matt Johnson is far better at writing more emotional songs such as the anxieties that young people have about the world and romance insecurities like he did in their debut record than the more political tracks on here. I think Dusk would have been a better fit if you wanted to include a second The The album. Why is it a four if it's half good half bad? The good songs on here (Heartland, Sweet Bird of Truth, Slow Train to Dawn) are incredible.
I remember when I first listened to this and I was pretty disappointed by it. Coming off of Loveless it's much more lethargic and relaxed, while also bearing in mind that this was the follow-up (a whopping 20 years later) so everyone was expecting something a little more. Being disappointed by this album is probably something all MBV fans go through (especially those waiting two decades for them to finish the album lol) but it seems to be a bit more respected nowadays, including by myself, and in hindsight I think this was the right direction to take. Loveless was a revolutionary album, any act following an album with that level of esteem is in for a tough time, and doing something too similar to it would come across as Loveless but worse rather than something that can stand the test of time in its own right. Not to say that this album deviates too much from the Loveless formula, the wall of fuzz is still a prominent hold over from the Loveless days (comparing to Isn't Anything) and a lot of the songs do sound like Loveless but more laid back. I don't like it quite as much as the first two records, but I think a lot of that is down to me hearing those albums first and not having heard anything like them before, at this point their sound is well established and no longer groundbreaking, but they're still good songwriters. The best word to describe this album is "unremarkable", but I mean that positively.
XTC abandon rock in favour of Beach Boys inspired orchestral pop. It sounds very lush and pastoral, reminiscent of an English countryside, with a few goofy music hall tracks to add some fun in-between. This is one of XTC's finest but it really isn't a good starting point for the band as it's completely different to anything else they did.
This album deserves the acclaim of the funny banana album. Absolutely boundary-pushing (as you can see from the other reviews), noisy, chaotic. Even by modern standards it's still an insane album.
PARKLIFE!
This is my first St Vincent album (though I was aware of her prior) and I'm a little bit surprised, I expected this to be a bit artsier, but this is actually quite danceable, and seems to take a lot of inspiration from 80s new wave rock music. There's an undercurrent of industrial and dance on these tracks, personally I prefer it when the songs are heavier and rockier, but there's good pop hooks here which pulls all the genres together quite nicely. She performs quite a lot of stuff on the album, so she's clearly very talented. I'm surprised Dimery wasn't all over her earlier, a talented multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter that peforms primarily rock music? He loves that! Should it be in the list: A moot point since it's going to be included in the 2026 edition of the book. I think St. Vincent deserves something but I don't know if this should be the one, it reads like the creator righting past wrongs. Top 3 songs: Broken Man, Flea, Violent Times
"Don't get angry with me" pleads Jagger, as we're forced to sit through an album by a band who's peak ended half a century ago. I'm not angry, Mick, just disappointed. Not with you of course, Hackney Diamonds is surprisingly fine, but rather with Dimery for adding another Rolling Stones album that I most definitely did not need to hear before I died. The Rolling Stones have aged considerably, and you can hear it through the music. They don't have the youthful vigor they did in the 70s, they don't sing about sex, drugs, and rock-'n'-roll, and Jagger now requires autotune to strengthen his vocals. That said, this album isn't without merit, the Stones opted for a more pop rock direction in contrast to their typical style of hard rock, and the hooks on some of these songs are actually quite good. They retain their typical style of blues rock, and I actually kind of agree with Dimery that it's been modified for a more modern audience, though that doesn't make it any more interesting. There's a number of guest stars on here, there's old legends like Elton John, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, but also new blood (relatively speaking) in the form of Lady Gaga, who does her best attempt at gospel singing as backup vocals for the song Sweet Sounds of Heaven, and she does a damn good job at it. This is one of the best songs on the album, if not the best. The album does wear it's welcome out towards the end, you could easily shave 10 minutes off of this and get an improved experience, a lot of the songs on here in the final third just feels like filler. I actually like this more than some of the Stones classic albums, like Aftermath, Exile on Main Street, hell maybe even Let it Bleed, but I think that's the problem with adding an album like this. I'm not a Stones fan, as you can see on my profile the only album I gave above a 3 was Sticky Fingers, and really I only enjoy them as a singles band, so if an album this middle-of-the-road and as easily digestible as this is provoking a mildly positive reaction from me, it probably isn't that good or important as a Rolling Stones album. Exile on Main Street has its fans, I don't like it at all, and that's okay because I don't need to, I can see why some would consider it their masterpiece. Despite my opinions on Hackney Diamonds, I can't see anyone considering it their favourite Stones record. And on the final song - "Rolling Stone Blues" - the lyrics repeatedly say "rolling stone". Bravo boys. Was it a good addition to the list: No, absolutely not. Top 3 Songs: Depending On You, Whole Wide World, Sweet Sounds of Heaven
It's kind of funny that this album is now by far the closest thing to metalcore in the books. I guess I should be happy that Dimery decided to recognize that metal exists outside of cheesy 80s heavy metal bands and nu-metal. Empty Hands starts off on the wrong foot, the opener Public Domain opts for an unattractive style of glam drum beat. Fortunately the next song, Bruised Sky, completely corrects course and is probably the best song on the album. It's this song that introduces us to what the album will actually sound like, i.e. alt metal with a metalcore backing, though this song goes fully into metalcore territory. Bruised Sky also highlights the crown jewel of the album immediately, that being our main woman, Poppy. Prior to listening to this I only really knew her for the satire of internet personalities in that uncanny robotic way, while her music was sugary-sweet electropop. I know she made the albums Am I a Girl and I Disagree which combined that style with alternative metal, but I just assumed it was a gimmick, however Empty Hands does fully lean into the sound so it comes across as a serious project and stylistic choice. Her vocals blow everything else here away, she has a wonderful metalcore screaming voice (which I wasn't expecting!), and if anything I think she's better as a screamer. Her singing voice during the poppier segments is also very good when it isn't autotuned to hell. Going on from that, this album really should have been full metalcore. The metalcore songs (Bruised Sky, Dying to Forget, and the title track) are clearly the highlights here and every other song devolves into the same formula of alt metal meat, electropop bridge or pre-chorus, and a metalcore breakdown. There's a whole chunk of the album from Time Will Tell to Ribs that follows this formula, with the exception of one song (Eat the Hate which sounds straight from Nevermind) and it kills the album. The songwriting also is weak, and the good songs are saved by Poppy's vocals. Ultimately I just don't like this style of pop metal that's become popular relatively recently. I know there's a large amount of people that it appeals to (see Sleep Token's popularity), but it really just makes me wish that Poppy went full metal instead of combining it with pop. She's very talented within the genre, and as stated before it seems the interest is authentic. To bookend this review with firsts, the final song, Empty Hands is also the first deathcore song on the 1001! Was it a good addition to the list: No, even if it was worthy it's too soon to add it. That said, I appreciate it being here just because it's so different to anything else on the list. Top 3 songs: Bruised Sky, Dying to Forget, Eat the Hate
Brat is a slice of mid 00s EDM and rave clubbing culture, and it does a great job of matching that sound with squelchy synths, punchy electronic percussion, and blaring bass. More importantly than just what's contained within the music, is the atmosphere that it cultivates. Charli XCX is a party girl, something you'll be well aware of by the end of the album. With brat, Charli XCX has come full circle. She started off as a electronic infused dance pop artist, and after playing around with less commercial elements during her time within the PC Music scene, she has come back to electronic dance-pop. Brat is not the same as her early work though, with her experience working with musicians in the PC Music space (such as A.G. Cook who produces some songs on the album) comes an injection of hyperpop sounds such as the heavily autotuned vocals and almost industrial bass, which really kicks the EDM up a notch beyond what it was inspired by. Speaking of inspirations, you can hear the influence of 00s EDM legends like Daft Punk and Justice all over the record, even 360 and the other songs that use its leitmotif (Rewind and 365) sound exactly like Stardust's one hit. The hyperpop influence here is the big reason why brat has such a big sound. The exaggerated effects of hyperpop give the album a high-octane and drugged up sound, like you're at the rave drinking alcohol and taking uppers. The blaring synths and heavy autotune do give the album a disorienting and wobbly feeling which matches the exhausted yet fun feeling from the club. Lyrically this album is her usual shtick of sexual party girl with more heartfelt lyrics about relationships, feelings, and insecurities. These personal lyrics had more impact on me during her 2020 COVID era hit album How I'm Feeling Now, but it does provide an interesting contrast to the non-stop partying atmosphere of brat. The penultimate song - I Think About It All The Time - drops a lot of the EDM and Hyperpop influences for a heartfelt song about Charli balancing her music career with her private life and starting a family, and it works as a wonderful introspective come down to the hi-energy clubbing sound from the rest of the album... Only for the closer, 365, to go full-throttle back to partying. I liked this a lot more now than I did when it originally came out, there's lots and hooks and energy and it's a very fun album. The lyrics push it further into artistic territory, and I'm glad for those who like them and relate, but really I'm just here to groove. Was it a good addition to the list: Yes 100%. I don't like albums that have been added within the past 5 years, but this was such a cultural phenomenon that it really would have been a huge misstep were it excluded. Probably the best possible inclusion they could have made between 2022 and now Top 3 songs: 360, Von Dutch, I Think About It All the Time
Alvvays aren't a band I can listen to objectively anymore. They've been one of my favourite bands since a new friend of mine first showed me their debut in 2020 and they've been omnipresent in my life for the rest of this decade. Blue Rev is probably their worst, I'd opt for their second album Antisocialites (the one before this one) instead. The cynical part of me thinks that Dimery added this one thanks to the good Smiths impression they did on After the Earthquake and Pressed, which could easily be lost songs from their discography if Molly Rankin was even as close to being as miserable as Mozza. It used to annoy the shit out of me when people would call Alvvays a shoegaze band, they had one and a half shoegaze songs on my count (In Undertow and Archie Marry Me respectively), but wow, this album is one of the most shoegazing things I think I've heard! Part of me wonders if they were waiting to improve their songwriting skills before tackling shoegaze as a common complaint is that bad bands use it to mask poor quality songwriting. Alvvays are a lot more confident however, they frequently dip out of the shoegaze and prove that their songwriting can stand on their own. Belinda Says feels like a statement on this, they could do shoegaze all along So what does the album have other than shoegaze? Quite a lot actually. Alvvays' typical style of jangly dreamy twee is still all here, and the songwriting isn't even that far away from their usual stuff, the noisier and shoegazing elements serve to turbocharge the impact of the songs, especially the choruses. There is more of an emphasis on psychedelia, and they do play around with hypnagogic pop and synthpop around the middle of the album, which is new for them. They pull it off pretty well. I've liked the band the most when they go more for the twee aesthetic, and Blue Rev is no exception. Many Mirrors is easily my favorite here. I think the band revels in twee because of Molly's soothing and calming voice, but also the wholesome feel the band have, which I suspect is a result of Kerri and Molly being songwriting partners since they were children. I have one minor gripe with the album, and that's that Belinda Says should have been the closer. The last three songs are fine (and I quite like the return to hypnagogic pop with Bored in Bristol) but they feel inessential compared to the rest of the album, plus Belinda Says would have been a powerful way to close the album off. This album is a lot better than I gave it credit for, but Alvvays never really make mistakes, I frequently put them with Nick Drake as the only artists without a bad song. The friend from the start of this review is now my wife, so this band has played a pretty big role in my musical and personal development over the past 6 years. Great stuff, hope they put out a new album soon. Was it a good addition to the list: Yes, 100%. I would have probably picked Antisocialites, but this being the band's most popular album I can't complain. I'm just happy to see Alvvays here and I hope the community comes to love them as much as I do Top 3 songs: After the Earthquake, Many Mirrors, Belinda Says
Mon Rovia is the first Liberian on the list, so imagine my surprise when Bloodline serves me Americana inspired folk music! You don't have to look far to see why, Mr. Rovia was raised in Appalachian Tennessee. Bloodline has a very dreamy sound for a singer-songwriter album. It immediately reminded me of something on the list already, but I don't remember what, possibly Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle by Bill Callahan. Like the Callahan album, Bloodline utilises chamber music strings to achieve the soft, floaty, dreamy sound, and it does elevate the comforting aspect of the folk. I've been ambivalent about the use of autotune in the new additions, loved it in brat, was unimpressed by it in Empty Hands, and unfortunately in this album I think it takes away from the lush and calming sound that Mon Rovia is going for. This style of folk benefits from acoustic sounds, or at least the appearance of such (I.e. don't make it obvious!), and so this blatent use of it makes the singing feel artificial in an album that sounds anything but. I don't think this album is in any way spectacular, but Mon Rovia clearly has a knack for songwriting, and the album is gorgeously produced, so I do see what Dimery saw in this album to make it essential, though I disagree with the final conclusion. Was it a good addition to the list: No. Don't get me wrong, it's a good album and the dude clearly has potential, but singer-songwriter is not an under-represented genre, and as a result I'm expecting artists of this genre to be a cut above the norm. Top 3 songs: Black Cauldron, Day at the Soccer Fields, Bloodline
Between brat and this it seems that Dimery was in something of a summery party mood when he put these additions in the new edition! Much like brat, For That Beautiful Feeling is a swirling and continuous rave inspired by 00s EDM, though this time by a band that were big players in that scene. For That Beautiful Feeling is closer to Exit Planet Dust than Dig Your Own Hole. The snappier and hookier songs from the latter aren't present here, instead opting for a non stop mix of electronic beats that culminate in a stop flow to make you feel like it's a party that never ends, again similar to brat. This is a huge step away from big beat compared to their other two albums, with a bigger focus on more methodical house beats, which makes it easy to mentally get lost in the rave atmosphere. There's one big negative, as much as I praised the flow state of the album above, The Chemical Brothers like to inject harsh noises that completely ruin the flow. It shows up a few times, but the most egregious case is the song Goodbye which almost ruins the album for me. I think the sound they're going for in this song is sorrowful and isolated, but it sounds like drilling a hole in your ear which is the antithesis of exactly what makes the album good. Seriously, I almost docked it a star for this song alone. Was it a good addition to the list: No, I can safely say this isn't a new or unique take on the band. There's many more electronic album you could add instead. Top 3 songs: Live Again, No Reason, The Darkness That You Fear - Harvest Mix
Supernova by The Nova Twins is a nu-metal throwback album (yes, we're at that point now), unfortunately in doing so they highlight how dated their sound is, as well as nu-metal as a whole. There's some pretty good songs to groove through, Antagonist is pretty banging, and Choose Your Fighter comes after a long string of mediocre songs. There's a mild industrial element to some of the songs (like Antagonist) that juices up the songs a bit and gives it more of a punch. The Nova Twins also incorporate a lot of alt rock and hip-hop to their sound, but I think they sound better when they're on the heavier side. Fortunately the album is only 30 minutes, otherwise I probably would have docked it a star, this is just mid-00s nu-metal/alt metal without any interesting additions, and this style was dated 20 years ago, let alone in 2022. Was it a good addition to the list: No. It's an album that proves Dimery hasn't really learned anything, we don't need more throwback albums. Top 3 songs: Antagonist, Choose Your Fighter, Enemy