My 1001 Albums Journey

Albums Rated

3.69

Average Rating

Complete

1015 albums remaining

Rating Distribution

Rating Timeline

Taste Profile

1970s

Favorite Decade

Jazz

Favorite Genre

other

Top Origin

Cheerleader

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5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

Breakdown

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By Decade

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
The Nightfly Donald Fagen	5	3.01	+1.99
Toys In The Attic Aerosmith	5	3.26	+1.74
Kenya Machito	5	3.27	+1.73
The Band The Band	5	3.36	+1.64
Smash The Offspring	5	3.37	+1.63
The Köln Concert Keith Jarrett	5	3.39	+1.61
One Nation Under A Groove Funkadelic	5	3.42	+1.58
Coat Of Many Colors Dolly Parton	5	3.42	+1.58
The ArchAndroid Janelle Monáe	5	3.45	+1.55
Fear Of Music Talking Heads	5	3.47	+1.53

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
More Songs About Buildings And Food Talking Heads	1	3.42	-2.42
Juju Siouxsie And The Banshees	1	3.33	-2.33
Orbital 2 Orbital	1	2.7	-1.7
California American Music Club	1	2.68	-1.68
Young Americans David Bowie	2	3.62	-1.62
We're Only In It For The Money The Mothers Of Invention	1	2.47	-1.47
Wonderful Rainbow Lightning Bolt	1	2.28	-1.28
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables Dead Kennedys	2	3.27	-1.27
Dirty Sonic Youth	2	3.1	-1.1
Tom Tom Club Tom Tom Club	2	3.03	-1.03

5-Star Albums (22)

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Popular Reviews

Blonde On Blonde

Bob Dylan

5/5

I don’t fawn over Dylan like some as his thin sing-talk voice and excessive use of harmonica aren’t easy on my ears, but I can’t deny his songwriting brilliance. Best lyricist of a generation. I prefer Dylan covers (Hendrix, Clapton, etc.) to the songwriter himself, but he still gets 5 stars.

1 likes

1-Star Albums (6)

All Ratings

A Love Supreme

John Coltrane

4/5

Peak improvisational jazz from the early 60s. Quartet.

Ramones

4/5

Quintessential British punk rock. Each song sounds like the last. Simple chords with an electric wall of raw sound all in 4/4 time. It’s the feeling of confidently spitting in the face of authority.

More Songs About Buildings And Food

Talking Heads

1/5

Dance music for a generation that grew up without dance. Upbeat, repetitive instruments with confidently poor singing. The most famous track, Take Me to the River, is slower and more interesting than the rest of the album, but as it’s a cover, no points awarded. While not my style, I see how the band bridged a generation from punk to pop.

Illmatic

Nas

4/5

Tapestry

Carole King

5/5

All time great singer songwriter album, often emulated over the past 50 years.

Juju

Siouxsie And The Banshees

1/5

An experiment in sounds that somehow got produced into an album. Whenever a melody threatens to appear, it’s interrupted by distortion, a random percussion instrument, or a hiss/yodel. It attempts to be exotic without actually having anything interesting to convey. Its inclusion has me questioning this entire project.

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables

Dead Kennedys

2/5

Manic and satirical. Sounds like they inspired several 90s bands. Tough to enjoy.

Sex Packets

Digital Underground

2/5

Surprised to see this album on the list as I always thought of it as a novelty record. Yes, they launched Tupac, but just include more Tupac.

Wonderful Rainbow

Lightning Bolt

1/5

This is a tech demo, not an album. The musicians, particularly the drummer, are highly skilled with their instruments, but at no point do they create music. A skilled musician may enjoy observing their prowess, but nothing played here is intended to move an audience. With the volume at 1, my ears still burned.

Amnesiac

Radiohead

3/5

Funeral

Arcade Fire

4/5

Emo rock, but done well

Van Halen

4/5

Private Dancer

Tina Turner

4/5

I give it 4 stars since much of the music is not original with Tina Turner, even if her versions are the most recognizable. Incredible performer.

Phrenology

The Roots

4/5

Fantastic album with complex raps, beats, and instrumental support, but a couple of experimental tracks detract from the whole. Maybe those “songs” are important, but they’re not the ones I keep on repeat. The political messages are well stated on the fun songs as well, and they reach a broader audience.

Idlewild

Everything But The Girl

3/5

Indy singer songwriter music isn’t my thing, but at least this group can sing and made original contributions to the genre.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Red Hot Chili Peppers

4/5

Great rock album with strong bass, elite drumming, and nonsense lyrics. A few throwaway tracks that could have been omitted, but the classics on here are classics for a reason.

Master Of Puppets

Metallica

5/5

Metallica at their best

Let England Shake

PJ Harvey

3/5

Dog Man Star

Suede

4/5

Some great stuff, but then as is usual with the more modern albums on this list, they get experimental at times. In a few tracks it sounded like multiple Brit pop songs were playing simultaneously.

Aladdin Sane

David Bowie

3/5

Sheer Heart Attack

Queen

4/5

Killer Queen shows how they can merge elite vocal ability, rock, and pop.

The Chronic

Dr. Dre

3/5

White Ladder

David Gray

4/5

One of the more enjoyable singer songwriter albums on the list, though it doesn’t add much to the genre or overly memorable pieces outside of Babylon.

Fear Of Music

Talking Heads

5/5

Enjoyed this one more than the other Heads album from the list so far. Complicated sounds but never takes itself too seriously. I could appreciate the music without feeling I needed to be a musician to get into the rhythms.

California

American Music Club

1/5

Whining. Uninspired. Thin vocals. The sound of low T. At one point I thought, “well this sounds a little catchier”, but it was only YouTube had cut to a grocery store ad.

The Fat Of The Land

The Prodigy

4/5

I see why this album was one of the first crossover electronic successes as it adds more variety than other albums in the genre.

One Nation Under A Groove

Funkadelic

5/5

Fantastic from start to finish

Blonde On Blonde

Bob Dylan

5/5

There's No Place Like America Today

Curtis Mayfield

3/5

Really great vibes, but also forgettable

Young Americans

David Bowie

2/5

I really want to like Bowie, but it’s just not for me

Dummy

Portishead

5/5

The progenitor of low-fi hip hop The steady beats and wide variety of percussive elements vibe well with the haunting alto

Tracy Chapman

4/5

While the music is simple, Chapman’s powerful, controlled, passionate, and at times understated singing moves the listener.

Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis

5/5

The sound is almost cliche as it’s been emulated for generations since. The archetype of jazz

Life's Too Good

The Sugarcubes

3/5

Sounds like a basic Euro pop album, no better or worse, save for Bjork’s lead which does add some intrigue.

Safe As Milk

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

4/5

Tries many things and does them well, without conforming to expectations or genre boundaries. Fun listen, if trippy at times.

The Wildest!

Louis Prima

5/5

Fun

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Beatles

5/5

These folks were on another level

Green

R.E.M.

5/5

Faith

George Michael

4/5

Just a fun album. I was impressed to learn Michael wrote, produced, and performed multiple instruments on nearly every track. While not complex musically, it does the simple things very well.

The Nightfly

Donald Fagen

5/5

Vol. 4

Black Sabbath

4/5

Toys In The Attic

Aerosmith

5/5

Interesting to hear the blues elements mixed in with a great American rock album. Sweet Emotion is an all-time great track.

Now I Got Worry

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

3/5

I love their Elvis meets Rage Against the Machine sound, but it’s wasted on a bunch of jam sessions. There are no true songs on the album.

The ArchAndroid

Janelle Monáe

5/5

At first I thought it was just a pretty good, heavily produced pop album, but it really grew on me. There’s some experimentation, but it contributes to the entertainment value.

Elephant Mountain

The Youngbloods

4/5

I’m not much for folk music, but this one caught me by surprise. Some pleasant acoustic that avoids becoming laconic.

The Marshall Mathers LP

Eminem

4/5

Eminem raps his ass off and changed the genre, but I can’t give it the full 5 to an album of impotent range that is “just clowning” when advocating senseless violence.

Power In Numbers

Jurassic 5

4/5

Tom Tom Club

2/5

Kenya

Machito

5/5

Good vibes

Rattlesnakes

Lloyd Cole And The Commotions

3/5

Nice little folk album with pure vocals, but didn’t make a big impact on me

Queen II

Queen

4/5

Not the best Queen album, but still fantastic

The Köln Concert

Keith Jarrett

5/5

Master work of jazz piano. While I prefer more structured pieces, I frequently found myself lost in these.

Casanova

The Divine Comedy

2/5

This album is the person at your school lunch table that everyone has decided is “the funny one” despite the heavy feeling and need for a shower you experience whenever they strike up a conversation.

Deserter's Songs

Mercury Rev

4/5

The beautiful whimsy and monotone flat vocals both remind me of Kermit the Frog. The most enjoyable tracks are the ones where they added a little range.

Licensed To Ill

Beastie Boys

4/5

I appreciate the album more when I remember it was 1986 and hip hop was still finding its way

The Band

5/5

Dated, but captured a point in time with heart

Smash

The Offspring

5/5

Lyrics are as juvenile as ever but man does this slap. Forgot what a rush this album is.

Blur

3/5

In the emo alt rock BritPop 90s war, Oasis is the clear winner. This was ok though.

Melodrama

Lorde

4/5

I can hear the inspiration Taylor Swift used to move from folk to pop. The album has lyrics worthy of a poet with standard highly produced radio beats. whenever it became too predictable, however, the artist would mix up her use of instruments and add a new element.

Ill Communication

Beastie Boys

4/5

Some random songs mixed in, but the hits (Sabotage, Sure Shot) carry the album

(Pronounced 'Leh-'Nérd 'Skin-'Nérd)

Lynyrd Skynyrd

5/5

The archetype of Southern rock and still the best of the genre

Unhalfbricking

Fairport Convention

3/5

I see how this album is a great representation of the British folk style, but I find the genre soporific. Nice guitar and a talented singer.

Happy Sad

Tim Buckley

2/5

Is “experimental” code for “making it up as one goes along”? Great singing voice wasted on rambling jazz instrumentals

Phaedra

Tangerine Dream

3/5

I understand why the album was included as it helped usher in electronic music as a genre. It’s an early entry, however, and simplistic compared to more modern albums.

Murmur

R.E.M.

4/5

This project has given me a new appreciation for REM. While this album’s lyrics cross the line from poetry into nonsense, it sounds like the breakthrough for alternative music that would come to dominate the 90s. It mixes sounds and instruments while always taking care to entertain.

Hot Fuss

The Killers

5/5

Coat Of Many Colors

Dolly Parton

5/5

Dirty

Sonic Youth

2/5

Like the Grateful Dead, Sonic Youth is a band with longstanding cultural impact with no recognizable songs.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

5/5

Back To Black

Amy Winehouse

5/5

The album doesn’t show struggle with her lifestyle but rather celebration of it, although it would take her life

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector

Various Artists

3/5

All classics, and the “wall of sound” has been a massive influence. Still, I can’t give too many stars to an album that’s all retreads of popular songs.

Orbital 2

Orbital

1/5

Nonsense

We're Only In It For The Money

The Mothers Of Invention

1/5

Has me seriously considering abandoning this project

Is This It

The Strokes

4/5

Enjoyed their sound but don’t think I could distinguish the Strokes from a dozen other bands