1001 Albums Summary

Stevie's masterpiece. Straight bussin

I've long enjoyed all of George Harrison's Beatles songs that were inspired by Shankar. So I was looking forward to finally listening to this. I like the spoken word bits. Ravi was clearly into the idea of teaching Westerners about Indian music. I can only imagine that listening to this in the late 50s would have been very eye-opening. The music itself is good and Ravi is very talented. That said, songs that are 10+ minutes need to change things up to keep me interested. This started to feel samey to me. Ultimately this is more of a curiosity for me. I doubt I'll ever listen to it again. But I respect its place in history. If nothing else, I'm glad this came out so that it could inspire George Harrison several years later. I guess at the end of the day I often enjoy the skilled fusion of styles more than the "source material".

I've been a Smashing Pumpkins fan for 10 or so years. I like their first 4 albums (everything up through Adore) almost equally. Siamese Dream is a bit less bloated than Mellon Collie, but I am a sucker for double albums and silly puns. Anyway, as for Siamese Dream I don't find myself skipping any songs on re-listens. I like all the singles, but outside of that my favorites are Soma and Silverfuck. Soma has a nice shift between soft and heavy, and Silverfuck is just fun.

I think this is an album that needs several listens to really appreciate. I think I've listened to it 3 times but spread out over time, so I'm not there yet. But I like it. Starman is an excellent song. Other standouts are Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City, and Rock n Roll Suicide.

I didn't grow up listen to much 80s music so I've had to discover most of it as an adult. A few years ago I decided to finally give the 4 albums by The Smiths a listen to see what all the fuss was about. I remember being kind of indifferent but I guess it didn't make enough of an impact to stick in my brain. By contrast, some 80s music made me fall in love immediately. Anyway I'm listening to their 3rd album (The Queen is Dead" again for this group activity. I listened to the 2011 remaster that doesn't include extra songs. I appreciate the name. I'll always enjoy British music poking fun of the ridiculous monarchy. The good news: Some Girls are Bigger than Others is pretty fun (and it's the only one that stayed with me after finishing the album). The bad news: I had to listen to the rest of the album before getting to the last song. Come to think of it, this is one of the rare albums I can recall where the back half is more interesting than the front. I was indifferent to mostly of the songs but one of them I actually hated. I think it was track 2 or 3. I can't bring myself to listen again to clarify though. After listening to the album yesterday, I looked at the Critical Reception section on Wikipedia and I can't help thinking either fans are listening to something else than I am, or maybe whatever subgenre this is just isn't for me. I don't always find myself in agreement with near-universal acclaim and this is definitely one of those times. Morissey's vocals are off-putting to me. Several songs in the first half veered between "drunken 50s lounge singer" and funeral dirge. I can get past vocals I don't love if the instrumentation pulls me in. However this is another area where I feel confused by the rave reviews. I feel that the instrumentation is underutilized on many of the songs. Halfway through I was surprised to hear some punchy drums for a change, because for most of the songs I had trouble hearing the band buried under the crooning. Maybe the overall sound is intentional but it just isn't very fun for me. But I think the melodies are pretty decent actually. If it was played and recorded differently I think I'd like it much more. For personal enjoyment I'd give it 2 stars. However I noticed some humorous lyrics that made it more interesting, and taking the piss out of the royal family is a bonus too. So I'll bump it up to 3 stars total.

Not my usual kind of music but I like the singing. She has a good voice. I really liked the Click Song. The track with the male singer constantly laughing was weird.

I had never heard a Supertramp album before. I had heard the Bloody Well Right song on the radio but didn't know it was them. This album is enjoyable enough but it's not something I would buy.

Funny story, I've never talked to our met anyone from the UK who loves The Beatles, but all of them seem to love The Rolling Stones. The Beatles were the first group I really got into, and I've never fully gotten into the Stones. But I really like a lot of their songs. I listened to the UK version of this album, based on matching the cover art shown here. It's missing the song Paint it Black from the US version, but it makes up for it with Out of Time and other songs I didn't already know. I was already familiar with Mother's Little Helper, Out of Touch, and Out of Time, but the rest of the album was pretty good. I didn't love it, but it has some great songs and nothing annoyed me. So, I think 4 stars is appropriate.

Great singing voice. Makes nice background music. I'm not a jazz fan but this is fun in small doses.

Kind of boring overall. The opening track has no business being nearly 7 minutes. I did like the closing track though, if the whole album was more bluesy I would have liked it a lot better. Apparently Dion didn't care for Phil Spector's production but I'm not sure it killed an otherwise good selection of songs. To my ears, the only song where Spector-ization really "took things over" was He's Got The Whole World In His Hands.

The music is pretty fun. The lead vocalists "singing" is sure different. Not my thing, but I do like the music well enough

I wasn't familiar with Air before but this album is really fun. I am interested in checking out their other albums now. They're a nice complement to Daft Punk, the only other French electronic act I know from the modern era.

A decade or two ago I bought a cheap box set of the first 5 The Cars albums. They tend to blend together for me because I usually listen to the whole set. That said, their debut is interesting for how much radio play it gets. Apparently it only had 3 singles, but of the 9 album tracks, there are only 3 that I have never heard on the radio. The radio songs speak for themselves, they're all pretty great. Of the remaining 3, I'm in Touch with Your World is fine, Don't Cha Stop could easily get radio time, and All Mixed Up is a pretty good album closer. Overall I'd rate this 4.5 stars I think, but I'll give it 5.

This one is not easy for me to rate. I'm not much of an Elvis fan, but I appreciate that he and other 50s rockers paved the way for my interesting music in the 60s. I like his rock songs more than the ballads I think. I guess I'm more of a "greatest hits" kind of Elvis listener.

I've heard of k.d. Lang but never sought out any of her music. Side note, I am always slightly annoyed at people using an initial for their first name or lowercase for proper names. So that's double demerits for Ms. Lang. Anyway, the music is not really my style but it's pleasant. It turns out I had heard the closing track, Constant Craving, many times on the radio and didn't realize it was this artist. I didn't dislike anything on this album. It's an enjoyable listen. For me it's similar to Dido or Sarah MacLachlan - nice music that I wouldn't ask people to turn off, but not something I'm adding to my permanent mental playlist.

I liked the first song okay but my open mind started closing pretty quickly. The second song, Aja, reminded me that I don't like jazz any more now than I ever did. That feeling remained for the rest of the album. I'm glad that Peg got put to better use being sampled by De La Soul. I can appreciate that the musicians' skills and the production are really good, but the music itself just isn't for me. So it deserves to be on this list, and I can understand how people like it, but I won't listen to it again.

I've never liked AC/DC. I only know their singles but I don't like any of them. I usually don't make it very long before changing the station if they come on the radio. I guess that makes sense because hard rock isn't really my thing. I can admit that they do what they set out to do well. But that thing isn't what I want to listen to. If the vocals were different maybe I could like it, but probably not. I did like the bells at the beginning of Hell's Bells. I made it one song in before I decided to quit while I'm ahead... if I never hear AC/DC again, it'll be too soon.

I knew Breaking the Law and Living After Midnight from the radio. Other than that I don't know much about Judas Priest. The vocals aren't bad. There are some good riffs here. Metal isn't my thing but I can enjoy it now and again. 3 stars.

I made it through the first 3 tracks before I gave up. I was surprised when there was almost a hint of an actual song buried in the third track, but it wasn't enough to keep me listening. This poor excuse for music apparently got near-universal acclaim. Once again I find myself at odds with critics. Whatever they see in this, I sure don't get it. Inexplicably to me, Pitchfork and Slant Magazine rated the second track here as the "Best Song of 2009". That's right, the same year Jay-Z released Empire State of Mind, this rubbish was picked over it. Many singles were released in 2009 and somehow this was picked as the best song. To name a few from albums I know fairly well, Pet Shop Boys released 3 singles and Depeche Mode released 4 in 2009. Every single one of those songs is much better than this nonsense. Maybe under the influence of powerful drugs, this actually seemed like a contender. Wikipedia says this album's sound influenced music of the next decade. Maybe that's why I don't like a lot of current music.

I only knew Karma Chameleon before listening to this today. It's kind of like background music. There are some catchy tunes here, but nothing stands out and wows me. It's pretty average overall.

Pretty enjoyable listen. The production feels almost like a live recording. Another Girl, Another Planet and City of Fun were my favorite songs here.

Not my favorite style but fun enough. Some of the songs are pretty catchy.

I'm not really into the super long songs but it's a great sound overall. Track 2, "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic", was a highlight for me. I think this is a 3.5.

I somehow finished the first track. I skipped around track 2 to hear the vocals. Ugh.

I'm not familiar enough with Prog Rock to have an informed opinion here. I like Yes and Rush but haven't dug much deeper. I like this album. It feels a bit weird without getting into early Genesis levels of insanity. The long songs didn't annoy me as feeling too long. I would listen to this again.

This is one of the first albums that got me into rap. I haven't heard it in a few years but it still holds up. I really like the sound, and I always thought the comments about "Lauryn Hill isn't a 'real' rapper, she's a singer-rapper" was just nonsense. She's great at both. I don't dislike any tracks, but Ready or Not and Killing Me Softly are my favorites. This album pairs nicely with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. If this is a 4.5, that is a 5.

I've never listened to a full Sheryl Crow album. I've always found her singing fine, but the hits are so overplayed that it gets annoying. I do love her Bond theme song from Tomorrow Never Dies but I love those songs in general. This album was fine but I probably won't listen again.

The first Stevie Wonder album I ever bought and still my favorite. I would name favorite tracks but I honestly love them all. I really love the overall sound. The synthesizers and other instruments come together brilliantly.

Lemmy sounds like he destroyed his vocal chords before this album. Not sure how he kept singing for another 30ish years. Again, metal isn't my style. I made it 3 tracks in before deciding I wasn't going to hear anything that was much different from the first 3. Some nice riffs but this just isn't for me.

What the hell did I just listen to? I can't tell if this is parody or a serious attempt at music. When the vocals aren't being super weird, the music is pretty decent.

Where do I even begin with this? In 2023 it's impossible to ignore the man that Kanye West has revealed himself to be. He pals around with absolute scum and has expressed many horrible opinions about his fellow humans. I know many music fans no longer feel able to listen to his music, and I can understand that perspective. Personally I'm not much of a boycotter. As far as the music is concerned, this is Kanye's masterpiece. I like his albums up to and including this one. The standout here is Monster. I like most of Nicki Minaj's solo albums, but in my opinion she never spit fire again like she did on her verse here. One of the things this album does really well is to bring in great guest verses. The production and samples are good and most of the tracks slap. One knock against this is the Chris Rock skit on Blame Game, which was funny the first 3 times I heard it, then annoying for the next 15 (yes I own this album). I think overall it still deserves a 5, or at least a 4.5.

I've never liked Iggy's voice, but I like the music here.

Pretty good. I'm not very familiar with The Kinks but I liked this a lot.

Siamese Dream is tighter, but there's enough material this time to fill two CDs and then some. The companion album, The Aeroplane Flies High, is also pretty good. I like the followup, Adore, also this was the Pumpkins' peak. No tracks make me want to skip them.

Some fun beats and samples but as I get older this album is a bit too juvenile. This album and the final one they did a few years back are the only ones I really got into, although I like most of their singles.

My second favorite MSP album after The Holy Bible. The backstory is that their guitarist had disappeared during the lead-up to this album, so the rest of the band was dealing with the loss behind his likely death. The album has a lot of pretty melodies and thoughtful lyrics. I never get tired of listening to this album.

I could never listen to an entire album of Adele, so I won't even try. She has the pipes to belt out soaring ballads, and she has some catchy songs for sure. I think the first time my wife and I noticed her was when Rumor Has It was getting tons of radio airplay. We were asking each other, who the hell is Uma and What Does She Have? Since then I can't help noticing Adele's baffling pronunciations on several of her hit songs. Rumor - Uma Bridge - Breej I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting but those are the ones I can recall right now.

I only knew TLC from some of their hits, prior to today's selection. I knew this was their big hit album, and it's easy to see why it made waves. Right off the bat, Phife Dawg being on the intro brought a smile to my face. I would have loved a guest rap from him, but this was still good. The rest of the album is good. The skits are kind of fun although I imagine they'd get old after many repeat listens. I really enjoy this era of hip-hop and R&B, and I liked the production on this album. The first appearances worked well and were infrequent enough that they never overshadowed the group themselves (modern albums often have guests on almost every track, so this is a nice change of pace). This was still early in Busta Rhymes' career. I always enjoy him showing up on a first spot, even if it's a skit like this. Now I need to go listen to Scenario again.

I think this is so beloved more for being \"important\" than for sounding great. I bought this many years ago but I haven't listened to it in probably 10 years. There are 2 almost-bangers at the end of the album, tracks 7 and 9. The title track is also pretty great. But the album is not very musically diverse. The second track sounds like a copy of the first, and most of the rest has a similar, slow soul feel. I think if this album mixed things up more I would like it better. That said, the lyrics are good, and I've always like Marvin's singing a lot.

I knew some of the songs but had never listened to the album itself. The closing track with the spoken word stuff is the only one I'd be likely to skip on a second listen. The rest of the tracks are a lot of fun.

War is my favorite U2 album. I think it's more common to prefer Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby but neither of them have ever drawn me in like War did. I've listened to Joshua Tree several times, and of course it has a lot of hits but in my opinion it doesn't rock as much as War. The singles are good but I find the other tracks to not be as great. 3 stars I guess.

I had heard Afrika Bambaataa in some first spots before, but never his own albums as far as I can remember. This was a key fun listen. The second and third tracks were my favorite. If I knew Rage Against the Machine's Renegades of Funk was a cover, I forgot it. I think the original and cover stands nicely as separate versions. I'd definitely listen to this again.

My favorite Daft Punk album is Random Access Memories but Homework is pretty great. Around the World and Da Funk are highlights.

I really like Joy Division's music but I don't love the vocals (may Ian Curtis RIP). Is it weird that I like Joy Division mostly for giving rise to New Order? In any case, I can appreciate the instrumentation of Sumner, Morris, and Hooky on this album (and on the second JD album as well as the Substance compilation). I think She's Lost Control is my favorite song here.

I have long been a fan of the interplay between Chuck D and Flavor Flav. Flavor actually gets somewhat serious here. As a white guy I can't fully appreciate the impact of Public Enemy's message, but I can certainly feel the power when Chuck starts spitting rhymes. I'm not sure I really have favorite PE albums but this one definitely has its share of bangers. Some great guest appearances on this album too, especially Ice Cube and Big Daddy Kane on Burn Hollywood Burn. This is a 4.5 for me.