View Album
Thu Sep 21 2023
Bookends
Simon & Garfunkel
3
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Mon Sep 25 2023
Back At The Chicken Shack
Jimmy Smith
Very cool. Loses a point, arbitrarily and unfairly, for still being jazz.
4
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Tue Sep 26 2023
Moon Safari
Air
Instant transport to 1998, and it stands up pretty well, if of its time. Loved it back then. As an album now, there are more longueurs than I remembered. But rather this a million times than that Simon and Garfunkel. Retrospectively demoting S&G to a 2, and giving this a 3.5, rounding up.
4
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Wed Sep 27 2023
Ramones
Ramones
Now I wanna sniff some glue.
5
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Thu Sep 28 2023
Siamese Dream
The Smashing Pumpkins
"Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins."
"Homer Simpson, smiling politely."
4
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Fri Sep 29 2023
Back To Black
Amy Winehouse
I mean, hard to say it's a bad album. Great production, great voice, couple great songs. But still underwhelming and not a patch on the originals it pays homage to.
3
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Mon Oct 02 2023
Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes
Really digging these groovy kids and their fresh new sound.
Hope the singer manages to get some therapy, mind.
4
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Tue Oct 03 2023
Odessey And Oracle
The Zombies
New to me. Lovely. Grew over a few listens.
4
View Album
Wed Oct 04 2023
Oedipus Schmoedipus
Barry Adamson
Filing this under 'albums I was vaguely aware of but had never listened to, that I'm sort of glad to have listened to, but will never listen to again'.
2
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Thu Oct 05 2023
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Spiritualized
For symptoms including heartbreak, depression, profound existential sadness, joy, love, weariness, physical pain and spiritual malaise.
Adults and children, take one dose 💊 Repeat if necessary.
Ingredients include psychedelic space rock, gospel, soul, blues, discordant noise and ballad. Side effects may include relief, euphoria, and a deep groove.
Combine with other medication at your discretion.
5
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Fri Oct 06 2023
She's So Unusual
Cyndi Lauper
Some great 80s pop. Fantastic voice.
4
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Mon Oct 09 2023
Automatic For The People
R.E.M.
Remembered this album as being a bit overproduced and sentimental compared to their best stuff. Great to listen with fresh ears again. Excellent album, but still don't love it as much as Murmur.
4
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Tue Oct 10 2023
The Band
The Band
All time classic. One of my favourites.
5
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Wed Oct 11 2023
Definitely Maybe
Oasis
Will still defend this as a good album. Northern brashness and defiance after years of Thatcher and the Tories. It'll never sound as good as it did then, and obviously it's heavily derivative, but for a while it made it sound new and full of scornful energy.
3
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Thu Oct 12 2023
A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Coldplay
I remember watching a documentary once about how the Swiss army were working to develop bullets that caused less harm as they passed through people. The idea being that you could stop someone, but have less chance of fatally injuring them.
Similarly, Coldplay have developed a brand of music so anodyne that it leaves almost no trace on the listener. I genuinely forgot it was playing at one point.
Clearly they're earnest chaps, and mean well, but it's merely more evidence that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Overall I'd prefer to listen to this again than be shot (Swiss bullets or regular), but it's a closer call than it should be.
1
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Fri Oct 13 2023
All That You Can't Leave Behind
U2
Weird choice for this list. They produced so many great albums in thr 80s and early 90s, but by this point they were creatively over, and this is deathly. After Coldplay yesterday, our Spotify algorithm may be permanently trashed.
1
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Mon Oct 16 2023
Parachutes
Coldplay
17 albums in, and 2 Coldplay albums in three days. The algorithm is learning, and it is malevolent.
2
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Tue Oct 17 2023
The Suburbs
Arcade Fire
I love Funeral more, but this holds up for me. Their most grown up record (though I hadn't noticed before how much he talks about 'the kids'), with some beautiful moments, but not their greatest.
4
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Wed Oct 18 2023
Joan Baez
Joan Baez
A style of folk I've never really enjoyed. Wanted to like it more.
2
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Thu Oct 19 2023
São Paulo Confessions
Suba
Nice variation, hope there's more like this. Gonna give it another listen.
3
View Album
Fri Oct 20 2023
Murder Ballads
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
I'd forgotten how good this album was. 4.5 stars, to leave room for his even better ones.
4
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Mon Oct 23 2023
S&M
Metallica
A two plus hour live metal concert with classical backing (which feels like overkill) to start the day? Okay...
Actually found myself enjoying this at one point about an hour in. But the whole inescapable overblown silliness of it wins in the end.
2
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Tue Oct 24 2023
Can't Buy A Thrill
Steely Dan
Gave it a few listens, and it went from a 2.5 to a 3, to a 3.5. Quit while I was ahead. Some stuff I really like (Reelin' in the Years), some that does less for me (the slight cheesiness of soft rock). But there are tunes, and hooks.
3
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Wed Oct 25 2023
The Only Ones
The Only Ones
Always loved Another Girl, Another Planet, but disappointed by the rest of the album. Like the style, the voice, but just not the songs.
3
View Album
Thu Oct 26 2023
Pearl
Janis Joplin
4.5 for the album, 5 for the voice
5
View Album
Fri Oct 27 2023
First Band On The Moon
The Cardigans
Perfectly pleasant pop, at times (and dreary at others), but not exactly essential listening before you die.
2
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Mon Oct 30 2023
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
I mean, I love Tom Petty, but his debut is probably the weakest of his albums. Probably included for American Girl, which still sounds fantastic. 5* for that, 3.5* for the album.
3
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Tue Oct 31 2023
Court And Spark
Joni Mitchell
I kind of wish I liked it more, but JM had never really done much for me.
3
View Album
Wed Nov 01 2023
In It For The Money
Supergrass
(Only listened to original album, not bonus tracks)
Interesting to go back to this - saw them play a lot in the 90s, and they're great live. But haven't relistened to this as much as their debut. This is less poppy, a heavier, maybe more interesting sound. Some good songs too, but I miss the fun of Caught By The Fuzz etc.
3.5, brought back some good memories of the 90s Oxford indie scene...
3
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Thu Nov 02 2023
Gorillaz
Gorillaz
Man, I don't feel this has aged well. Sounds pretty dreary. Extra star for Del the Funky Homosapien on Clint Eastwood. Won't be returning to it.
2
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Fri Nov 03 2023
The Modern Dance
Pere Ubu
Ground zero for postpunk. The avant garage. The beauty of Cleveland pressed into vinyl...
A band I'd probably have never got into, except for reading Rip It Up and Start Again, Simon Reynolds amazing book on postpunk 78-84. I hear it very differently now.
Not a perfect album, but the highs are totally exhilarating. 4.5*
4
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Mon Nov 06 2023
Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin
Heavy riff -
Hey hey baby baby -
Heavier riff -
Unexpected love song -
Really dirty riff -
Drum solo?!
Riff
5*
5
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Tue Nov 07 2023
Blue
Joni Mitchell
4
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Wed Nov 08 2023
Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Vega
3
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Thu Nov 09 2023
A Girl Called Dusty
Dusty Springfield
Strange one to review. Great voice of course, some classic songs, but pretty much just versions of then-recent hits by other artists.
3
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Fri Nov 10 2023
Slanted And Enchanted
Pavement
Best listened to, and trust me on this, on sunny afternoons in the summer of 1992, when you're eighteen years old and about to start college, on a dodgy stereo that sometimes chews up tapes, from one side of a C90 your mate copied for you (Spacemen 3 on the other side), with the lo-fidelity set-up making it sound somehow rougher and more ramshackle and more beautiful than it already is.
That said, these circumstances may not be available to you, so I should also report that I'm listening on decent headphones now, and it still sounds f***ing fantastic.
(This does mean I'm going to have to give Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain 6 stars, tho.)
5
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Mon Nov 13 2023
In Rainbows
Radiohead
Brilliant. Really needs good speakers or headphones to immerse yourself in.
5
View Album
Tue Nov 14 2023
Jazz Samba
Stan Getz
Pleasant, but uninspiring first listen, three stars. Then I listened again, in the evening after a drink.
4
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Wed Nov 15 2023
Reign In Blood
Slayer
Filing under albums I would never have listened to but for this list, that I'm glad to have listened to but will never listen to again, and that I have no idea how to review. Kind of great in some ways, laughable in others (man, those lyrics...). 2.5?
2
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Thu Nov 16 2023
Station To Station
David Bowie
Great stuff
4
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Fri Nov 17 2023
Kimono My House
Sparks
Great fun. Strong 4*
4
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Mon Nov 20 2023
Unknown Pleasures
Joy Division
Yep, that's pretty much how it feels. It hurts, but there's so much beauty in it too.
5
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Tue Nov 21 2023
We Are Family
Sister Sledge
I think Disco is for healthy, happy people who like to dance, which is why I can't relate... But gave it a couple listens, and there's some good songwriting in there to appreciate, a good vocal groove, some great guitar at times. Not one for me, though.
3
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Wed Nov 22 2023
Funeral
Arcade Fire
And if the snow buries my / my neighborhood / and if my parents are crying / then I'll dig a tunnel / from my windows to yours.
Always loved those lines, but didn't realise they were just a realistic description of Canadian winter till I moved there.
5
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Thu Nov 23 2023
Raw Power
The Stooges
Yeah, Iggy, I can feel it. Thanks for asking.
5
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Fri Nov 24 2023
The Seldom Seen Kid
Elbow
Thought I might come back to this after 15 years with new ears but it's exactly how I remember it - solid and unspectacular. Doesn't reach, for me, any heights of majestic melancholy the way Tindersticks or The National do.
3
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Mon Nov 27 2023
Raising Hell
Run-D.M.C.
3
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Tue Nov 28 2023
Aqualung
Jethro Tull
Nope.
2
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Wed Nov 29 2023
The Dreaming
Kate Bush
Surprised how much I liked this. Some wild stuff in here.
4
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Thu Nov 30 2023
The Number Of The Beast
Iron Maiden
Just terrible.
(Except for the opening song, which is great comedy from Vikings: The Musical. "Invaders...pillaging! Invaders...looting!"
Spinal Tap couldn't do better)
1
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Fri Dec 01 2023
Oxygène
Jean-Michel Jarre
Felt groundbreaking in the 70s. Now? <gallic shrug>
3
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Mon Dec 04 2023
The World is a Ghetto
War
New to me, and really loved it.
4
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Tue Dec 05 2023
Fulfillingness' First Finale
Stevie Wonder
Fairly minor album compared to Innerversions and Songs in the Key of Life. Second half felt stronger. 3.5*
3
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Wed Dec 06 2023
Clube Da Esquina
Milton Nascimento
Some of it I really loved, other bits less interesting.
3
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Thu Dec 07 2023
Natty Dread
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Such a great album
5
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Fri Dec 08 2023
Seventeen Seconds
The Cure
A Forest still sounds great. Not my favourite Cure album, but great to return to.
4
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Mon Dec 11 2023
Since I Left You
The Avalanches
4
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Tue Dec 12 2023
Time Out
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Listening so easy it felt like I was on my third cocktail before I knew it.
5
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Wed Dec 13 2023
Astral Weeks
Van Morrison
Timeless
5
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Thu Dec 14 2023
The Sounds Of India
Ravi Shankar
For a list which seems a bit over full of white guy rock, this was a very happy change of gear.
4
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Fri Dec 15 2023
McCartney
Paul McCartney
Never listened to McCartney's solo albums. Really enjoyed.
4
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Mon Dec 18 2023
Ace of Spades
Motörhead
Title track is fun, of course, but I lost the will to live through the rest of the album.
1
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Tue Dec 19 2023
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Beatles
5
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Wed Dec 20 2023
Rain Dogs
Tom Waits
The album as carnival barker, or the mutterings of a drunk lying in a Bowery gutter, or the album as a circus of freaks or the underdeck of a pirate ship, or a one man band falling down a flight of stairs, or a lounge singer sitting at the bar after his set, listening to the crowd, or the a in the New York basement hearing the pipes creak and bang. In a good way.
5
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Thu Dec 21 2023
Behaviour
Pet Shop Boys
Solid, consistent but unspectacular PSB album.
3
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Fri Dec 22 2023
Seventh Tree
Goldfrapp
Oh, much less poppy than I thought it would be. Some lovely moments, and a couple tracks I really liked, but also long stretches where my attention drifted.
3
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Mon Dec 25 2023
Melodrama
Lorde
Some good songwriting, and I love the voice, but something about the production on this era of pop always rubs me the wrong way. Something overproduced or soulless about it. Talent survives it, but stops me really loving it.
4
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Tue Dec 26 2023
A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector
Various Artists
Some great talent on the record, and good versions of classic songs I never really liked. Bah humbug. Happy Christmas.
3
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Wed Dec 27 2023
Water From An Ancient Well
Abdullah Ibrahim
Enjoying these jazz albums much more than I expected. Very listenable.
4
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Thu Dec 28 2023
Truth
Jeff Beck
Some good pre Zeppelin heavy rock, but it's patchy too, and loses at least a star for that version of Greensleeves. 3.5 🌟
3
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Fri Dec 29 2023
Ocean Rain
Echo And The Bunnymen
Great album. Can hear all kinds of influences from the 60s and 70s, and recognise loads of bands from later who were influenced by it, but it still could only be from the mid 80s.
4
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Mon Jan 01 2024
OK Computer
Radiohead
<insert overlong and pretentious review here>
5
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Tue Jan 02 2024
What's Going On
Marvin Gaye
This was such a great album to hear on new years day. Sounds as great as it always does.
5
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Wed Jan 03 2024
Sheer Heart Attack
Queen
Yeah, prejudices reinforced. There's something about Queen's music, despite the talent involved, that leaves me totally cold, and apparently that's not going to change. I tried!
2
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Thu Jan 04 2024
The La's
The La's
Bonus point for 1990 nostalgia. Ubiquitous then, and influential, though hard to believe now, as it sounds so imperfect (recording the album was a notorious saga), and there's not much musically that's endured. There She Goes is great, but feels so different to the rest. I've soft spots for Way Out and Looking Glass, because I liked them when I was 16. Those songs drag the album up, barely and generously, to a 3. Nostalgia best left in the past.
3
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Fri Jan 05 2024
Cee-Lo Green... Is The Soul Machine
Cee Lo Green
That guy at the party who repeatedly tries to get everyone to refer to him as the soul machine, and you can't help but think it's just reflecting a terrible insecurity on the inside.
Also made me think about how an album like The Source by Jimmy Scott is not on the 1001 list (I think), while this is. Crazy.
2
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Mon Jan 08 2024
The Village Green Preservation Society
The Kinks
Love The Kinks, and really love this fascinating, beautiful album. Is it perfect? No, not from first to last (I'm not here for Phenomenal Cat, for one thing, and the album does drop off in the final third). Is it a 5 star album? Crikey, yes.
5
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Tue Jan 09 2024
Head Hunters
Herbie Hancock
Recognize this as a great album, but don't really enjoy jazz funk. So I guess it's a 5 star album I'm giving 3 to, which is another illustration of the fact that not everything needs quantifying.
3
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Wed Jan 10 2024
Abbey Road
Beatles
Such a weird album, really, veering from rock to blues to whimsy to medley. And not even close to my favourite Beatles album. But never less than astonishing.
5
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Thu Jan 11 2024
Porcupine
Echo And The Bunnymen
Great 80s album, loved returning to it. Still the wrongest band name. Pretty definitively a 4.5 album for me, which recreates the main dilemma of this list, rounding up or down. Look, it's 4.5, okay?
4
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Fri Jan 12 2024
Opus Dei
Laibach
Okay, who had Slovenian art rock in today's sweepstakes?
Some great (deliberately) comic highlights (somehow Leben heisst Leben is funnier in Geman). The (age retricted) video to the English version is something to behold, though.
Apart from those covers there's not much in the way of tunes (or music), and it gets a bit tiresome to listen to. But hey, at least they're having fun. 2.5 🌟
Gib mir ein leicht bier!
2
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Mon Jan 15 2024
Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Derek & The Dominos
Long album. A lot of it feels like I've tuned into a classic rock station while driving, and though it's enjoyable enough, if derivative, I can't remember a thing about the songs when they're finished. But a couple great tracks too, obviously. 3.5 🌟
3
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Tue Jan 16 2024
The Age Of The Understatement
The Last Shadow Puppets
Listenable enough, but it didn't do much for me at the time, and I'm still no wiser. Really surprised to find it on here. 2.5.
2
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Wed Jan 17 2024
This Nation’s Saving Grace
The Fall
Thank f&%£ for The Fall.
5
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Thu Jan 18 2024
Roots
Sepultura
Well, it's some kind of vibe. Not the worst metal we've had on the list (damning with faint praise), and some of the bits that weren't metal were interesting, but still, mostly, generic dumb metal.
2
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Fri Jan 19 2024
...And Justice For All
Metallica
Point for discussion: There is way too much metal on this list, and all of it is terrible.
(Allegedly Metallica have some of the best lyrics in metal. It's a low bar.)
1.5 🌟
1
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Mon Jan 22 2024
Thriller
Michael Jackson
I'm no big fan of pop or MJ, and this is in no way a perfect album (there's some pretty banal filler like Baby Be Mine and Human Nature, and apart from one great run of tracks in the middle it doesn't really cohere). But when it's great, it's truly great. Billie Jean/Beat It etc. Loads of soul in the voice and music, which gives the pop its kick and edge. In some ways hard to argue that it's not 5 stars, but here we are.
4
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Tue Jan 23 2024
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Definitely in my top 5 favourite Neil Young albums...
5
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Wed Jan 24 2024
Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby
Terence Trent D'Arby
Decent voice, soulful though not exactly OV Wright. Some 80s pop cheesiness to production and arrangement. Songs vary between were-everywhere-in-the-80s to the pretty ordinary. Not my thing. 2.5*
2
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Thu Jan 25 2024
Siembra
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
If this were my airport, there would be more of this kind of thing. 4.5 🌟
4
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Fri Jan 26 2024
KIWANUKA
Michael Kiwanuka
This is 5 years old already?! Damn, my life...
Anyway, 4.5 🌟
4
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Mon Jan 29 2024
Ellington at Newport
Duke Ellington
Firstly, a shout out to the algorithm for setting all the long albums for the weekend.
Secondly, this is fantastic. I was nearly up doing the jitterbug halfway through, and I have no idea what the jitterbug even is.
5
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Tue Jan 30 2024
The Stranger
Billy Joel
Upbeat and well crafted piano pop. Listenable and likeable if you like to listen to that kind of thing, which I don't, particularly.
3
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Wed Jan 31 2024
Peace Sells...But Who's Buying
Megadeth
I'd call it 'music for disaffected high schoolers on amphetamines', but that makes it sound much more fun than the turgid, interminable thrash metal it is.
1
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Thu Feb 01 2024
Exile On Main Street
The Rolling Stones
The Stones at their peak. Bluesy greatness.
5
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Fri Feb 02 2024
The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
Badly Drawn Boy
To paraphrase Woody Allen: the music here is awful, and such big portions!
Insipid and lacklustre singer songwriter stuff that should be nowhere near this list.
1
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Mon Feb 05 2024
Hounds Of Love
Kate Bush
I don't love everything on here, but it's so great, way ahead of its time, brilliant and experimental.
5
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Tue Feb 06 2024
Get Behind Me Satan
The White Stripes
Missed this one of theirs at the time, but really enjoyed. A mostly successful, occasionally great, experiment with their sound and songwriting.
4
View Album
Wed Feb 07 2024
Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Fiona Apple
Brilliant album, great to find it on here. Shout out to Shameika for being early on this.
5
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Thu Feb 08 2024
Post Orgasmic Chill
Skunk Anansie
Never much got into these guys. Liked the punk bits (On My Hotel TV) more than the overwrought heavy rock. Doesn't do anything for me.
2
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Fri Feb 09 2024
Traffic
Traffic
Interesting. That identity crisis of 60s influences - rock, blues, psychedelia, jazz, folk - hangs together okay, and it all sounds pretty good, but even after a couple listens there's nothing that stays with me like the greats of the time.
3
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Mon Feb 12 2024
Parklife
Blur
Stands up surprisingly well. Fun, and you can hear the influences of The Kinks running through. I mean, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was released in '94 too, which puts this in perspective, and I love Pulp's His'n'Hers from the same year more than I'll ever love this, but this was much more interesting and enjoyable to return to than I'd thought. There is some filler, particularly in the second half, would have been a stronger album if a few songs shorter.
4
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Tue Feb 13 2024
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
OutKast
I mean, this is two five star albums, so I'm giving it 10 🌟
5
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Wed Feb 14 2024
John Prine
John Prine
Mighty fine songwriting, Mr Prine.
4
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Thu Feb 15 2024
Bad
Michael Jackson
Never found out if Annie was okay 3/5
3
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Fri Feb 16 2024
Close To The Edge
Yes
No.
2
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Mon Feb 19 2024
War
U2
4
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Tue Feb 20 2024
Highway to Hell
AC/DC
Sometimes fun, always dumb.
3
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Wed Feb 21 2024
Rio
Duran Duran
3
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Thu Feb 22 2024
461 Ocean Boulevard
Eric Clapton
Some really decent tracks, just don't think entire albums of covers should be in this list.
3
View Album
Fri Feb 23 2024
Street Life
The Crusaders
Enjoyed, especially Street Life, but kept forgetting it was playing after that.
3
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Mon Feb 26 2024
Tea for the Tillerman
Cat Stevens
Jesus, he was 22 when this album came out....
Anyway, a couple more listens over the weekend convinced me to round up from 4.5...
5
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Tue Feb 27 2024
Master Of Puppets
Metallica
I can totally believe this is the best heavy metal album on here. The playing is fast and tight, it's repetitive, and the lyrics were apparently written by a 13 year old. 2.5 🌟
2
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Wed Feb 28 2024
Daydream Nation
Sonic Youth
Man, it's great to feel 16 again...
5
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Thu Feb 29 2024
3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of...
Arrested Development
Still lots of fun, couple great tracks, bit overlong and patchy as an album. 3.5.
3
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Fri Mar 01 2024
Harvest
Neil Young
As the old joke goes, I played this so much on vinyl back in the day it destroyed the record: you should see the needle and the damage done.
Anyway, it's the album that got me into Neil Young, and still my favourite.
5
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Mon Mar 04 2024
Ágætis Byrjun
Sigur Rós
5
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Tue Mar 05 2024
Electric Warrior
T. Rex
Never listened to the whole album before. Really fun, cool glam rock. Not my usual thing, but loved it.
4.5 🌟
4
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Wed Mar 06 2024
Metallica
Metallica
Oh, no. Please no. More Metallica? At this rate there are going to be 33 Metallica albums on the list, and they all sound the f£%^ing same. One is too many, and the returns are diminishing badly.
We're well into the hundreds of albums, and given the tedious length of these, close to 5% of the time has been spent listening to this one terrible band. 0 🌟
1
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Thu Mar 07 2024
Country Life
Roxy Music
Top baroque prog pop/rock
4
View Album
Fri Mar 08 2024
The Last Broadcast
Doves
Oh man, haven't listened to this for an age. Great first half and a bit, tails off at the end a bit.
4
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Mon Mar 11 2024
James Brown Live At The Apollo
James Brown
Great, but sounds like it was even more fun to be there...
4
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Tue Mar 12 2024
The Atomic Mr Basie
Count Basie & His Orchestra
They're popping, but not really my style.
3
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Wed Mar 13 2024
Arrival
ABBA
For me their best stuff is always the sad stuff: winner takes it all, and here, knowing me, knowing you. Not a big fan apart from that (and find dancing queen unlistenable), but there's some obviously great pop here (that doesn't do much for me), and some average filler. A ha.
3
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Thu Mar 14 2024
Cut
The Slits
Not instantly listenable, but there's so much going on here, closer to dub than punk, and it's interesting and innovative, despite all the influences. Wouldn't have given it the time of day a few years ago, but genuinely enjoyed it now. Also, Viv's great.
4
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Fri Mar 15 2024
To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar
I've got friends who think he's the GOAT, and talk about this album like it's Moby Dick, so I go back to it sometimes to give it time, but all I keep hearing is an at-best second rate lyricist and unremarkably-voiced rapper with some great production. Not bad at all, but not earth-shattering. I get that this probably reflects badly on me, but so it goes.
3
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Mon Mar 18 2024
At Folsom Prison
Johnny Cash
Incarceration is underrated.
5
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Tue Mar 19 2024
Lost In The Dream
The War On Drugs
Ah great. Love this and it's great to have another album from the last..
Wait. This is from 2014? Oh god, I've lost another ten years of my life.
4.5 🌟 for the album, 1 🌟 for the accelerating passage of time.
4
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Wed Mar 20 2024
Bert Jansch
Bert Jansch
Lovely, gentle, not outstanding, but didn't outstay its welcome. Nice guitar work though. 3.5 🌟
3
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Thu Mar 21 2024
Next
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
New to me. And roving all over the place stylistically, prog, glam, musical etc, loads of things thrown at the wall, mostly with energy, sometimes sounding like pastiche. Interesting, but I don't love it. 2.5 🌟?
2
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Fri Mar 22 2024
(What's The Story) Morning Glory
Oasis
Definitely their best album. Some of it you had to be there for, but still great to return to.
4
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Mon Mar 25 2024
Highway 61 Revisited
Bob Dylan
I'll put it down to bad luck that we had 2 Coldplay and 4 Metallica albums before the first sight of any Dylan. Anyway, we're here now, and that's all that matters.
5
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Tue Mar 26 2024
It's Blitz!
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Great stuff.
4
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Wed Mar 27 2024
Graceland
Paul Simon
5
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Thu Mar 28 2024
Talking Timbuktu
Ali Farka Touré
Really enjoyed, and I'll come back to it. Wish there was way more stuff like this on the list.
4
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Fri Mar 29 2024
Isn't Anything
My Bloody Valentine
My bloody madeleine. Just a small taste of those layers of guitar, and it's instant time travel. How they manage to make a sound so perfectly happy and sad and elusive is magic. This and Loveless are unparalleled.
5
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Mon Apr 01 2024
Bryter Layter
Nick Drake
My favourite Nick Drake, and right up there with Pink Moon. Perfect listening for the weekend.
5
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Tue Apr 02 2024
Endtroducing.....
DJ Shadow
Remember this being a thing back in the day, but never loving it as much as Massive Attack or Tricky or other mid 90s precursors/contemporaries. So, good to return too, even if it leaves me feeling exactly the same. S'alright. Preferred some other stuff.
3
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Wed Apr 03 2024
1984
Van Halen
Best thing about the album: it's only 30 minutes. Second best: Jump sounds pretty good, even if it's mostly here to show up how shit, dated and regressive the rest of the album is.
1
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Thu Apr 04 2024
Tarkus
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Things were bleaker than I imagined in 1971.
1
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Fri Apr 05 2024
Selling England By The Pound
Genesis
I'm not getting much reward out of these prog rock albums. Can hear some decent stuff in there, but god you could get away with so much rubbish. Taking the worst/most indulgent bits of rock and jazz and aiming for a lyrical level of metal.
2
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Mon Apr 08 2024
The Clash
The Clash
This week in 1001 albums has been much like the 70s, in that there's been a lot of interminable prog rock, and then punk has come along at the end as a necessary corrective.
5
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Tue Apr 09 2024
At San Quentin
Johnny Cash
Didn't expect both prison albums. But man, it sounds great. Forgot I wasn't actually there.
5
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Wed Apr 10 2024
Mama Said Knock You Out
LL Cool J
Mixed bag. Some good grooves, some solid stuff, some dated, some cringey. Enjoyed the listen though.
3
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Thu Apr 11 2024
Dry
PJ Harvey
Remember hearing Sheela-na-gig on the radio in '92 - cheers, John Peel - and having heard nothing like it before (didn't know Patti Smith back then, or much of anything). Still sounds fantastic and fresh today. Those early PJ Harvey albums are so great.
5
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Fri Apr 12 2024
Headquarters
The Monkees
Listened to the original album (30 minutes) rather than the deluxe reissue 90 minute version on Spotify. Anyway, very enjoyable. Some filler, but a great Beatles or Byrds-y 60s pop sound when they hit it.
3
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Mon Apr 15 2024
A Hard Day's Night
Beatles
Interesting to return to and hear echoes of 50s pop along with the occasional intimation of the band they'd be in just a few years. Couple world class tracks here, obviously, but also some ordinary stuff (at least by the Beatles standards...).
4
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Tue Apr 16 2024
Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
The Kinks
I remember my dad talking about how great The Kinks were, and I knew some of their singles, but wasn't that interested compared to Dylan and the Beatles etc. So in a way they've been the great revelation for me from this list. Village Green and this are fantastic albums.
5
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Wed Apr 17 2024
Tonight's The Night
Neil Young
Neil Young's retreat to the raw and loose, after the success of Harvest and the addiction and the death around him. This one was a slow burner with me originally, not as easy a listen, but god it rewards returning to it.
5
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Thu Apr 18 2024
Tuesday Night Music Club
Sheryl Crow
If the algorithm can sort out a Christmas album for Christmas day, how come it can't manage to put this on a Tuesday?
Anyway. This was... okay, occasionally decent, but consistently unchallenging. At its best when poppy.
2.5 🌟
3
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Fri Apr 19 2024
Midnight Ride
Paul Revere & The Raiders
Well, they had a lot of influences, sometimes sounding like two different bands in the same song.
Anyway, my marking system for this one was to start with 5 stars, then deduct 0.05 stars every time he said 'girl'.
2.85 🌟
3
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Mon Apr 22 2024
Bringing It All Back Home
Bob Dylan
Just relieved after group reviews of the last Dylan that I don't have to disown my in-laws or question my marriage x
5
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Tue Apr 23 2024
Teen Dream
Beach House
Oh, nice start to the week. Great to find this on here. 4.5 🌟
4
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Wed Apr 24 2024
Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba
Wonderful find on here.
5
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Thu Apr 25 2024
Get Rich Or Die Tryin'
50 Cent
Came in with low expectations, which helped. For the most part some pretty standard gangsta rap, missing what made some of the genre great. But there are some good singles, some decent grooves, and good production. Better than I thought it would be.
3
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Fri Apr 26 2024
Penthouse And Pavement
Heaven 17
There's some great synth pop out there, but this isn't it. Pretty average songwriting, hasn't aged well.
2
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Mon Apr 29 2024
Out Of The Blue
Electric Light Orchestra
I was fascinated by the physical LP when I was a kid, the strangeness of the neon gloss and glow among my dad's records. I remember sliding it out and opening it up for the futuristic art. Don't remember listening to it at all until I was an adult. It wasn't the album I had expected, but something pretty good all the same.
4