1001 Albums Summary

Better than I remember; Perhaps I got many of the tracks confused with Icky Thump. I put both in the 'lesser Stripes' category but I may have been wrong about this one.

Good, but ultimately too long and samey as an album. Standouts like What’s Golden and A Day at the Races are still absolute bangers.

I never want to hear the harmonica again.

UK version felt like a slog. Too much filler and no Paint It Black.

I despise Morrissey, and I genuinely can't stand There Is a Light That Never Goes Out, but this was my first Smiths album listen. This really ran the gamut for me from the truly awful, to the bland, to the admittedly great. Will give it 2 stars for the solid ⅓ of the album I enjoyed, and see if I can keep mining for Smiths I can enjoy.

Nothing with "The Girl Is Mine" on it deserves 5 stars.

It's motherfuckin' Prince.

Much of the album is pretty great. A little pretentious but the songwriting is solid and the faux-Bowie 90s vibe didn't really come off as derivative. "Black and Blue" was terrible though, I almost dropped my rating. Thankfully, "The Asphalt World" is a pretty spectacular recovery.

The titular track is a masterpiece. The rest of the album less so, but its solid, doesn't overstay its welcome and ultimately deserves more than 3.

This was never my favourite Arcade Fire album and I'm not entirely sure why. A lot of the tracks are great and Sprawl II in particular has to be a career highlight.

Sorry boomers, there’s nothing notable about this album. Except maybe that the lead singer sounds a little like Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski.

Fairly unremarkable oldschool country fare.

Credit to the bass player, but John Lydon's agonizing, out-of-tune vocals and the overall monotonous, cacophonous mess make it an album I certainly would have preferred living without hearing. "But that's the point, don't you get it?!?", a pretentious music snob scoffs at me before disappearing up their own asshole. Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade.

If this hadn’t immediately followed Public Image Ltd’s Metal Box, I’d probably have given this a 1/5 too.

A sporadically entertaining 90s curio whose arrangements miss at least as much as they hit.

Shame about the fart noises.

This slaps.

It was actually pretty good, but Holy Christ, 77 minutes.

B+ tier Bowie.

Time of the Season is great. The preceding 32 minutes, not so much.

It's not for me, and several of the songs stretch way too long, most notably the title track (which is quite possibly the worst on the album). But I can see the appeal.

SHUT UP WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU!!!!!

I almost skipped this since I know the record inside and out, and I'm really glad I didn't. I took the opportunity to listen to Brendan O'Brien remix of the album (listed as "Ten Redux" on streaming) which I think I was dismissive of originally; after a dedicated listen I think it sounds phenomenal compared to the original mix while still being respectful of and faithful to it. The "big 4" being rock radio staples for the better part of 30 years have done nothing to diminish the impact and quality of the entire album. 1001 Albums has got me better attuned as to what albums I enjoy purely for their nostalgia factor vs. what have truly gone the distance, and this album in my eyes is easily the latter and a 5/5 masterpiece.

A modern classic. Easy 5/5

All killer no filler.

Pretty fucking bad.

Welp, turns out I'm an Afrobeat fan.

First time listening, although given its popularity I probably recognised 6 or 7 tracks. I took the liberty of listening to Taylor's Version. I thought "Welcome to New York" was a particularly weak opener, both musically and lyrically. I'd also be quite happy to never hear "Shake it Off" again after it got overplayed to death a decade ago. Rest of the album was solid, I was genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed the back half of the album I was less familiar with, as well as the Vault tracks. Overall, while not exactly my cup of tea, I'd say this is a solid pop album with good production values that lives up to its reputation.

Certainly not my favourite Sonic Youth album.

It's perfectly serviceable, but why do I find this album so bland and uninspired? It doesn't help that the Glory Box ripoff immediately made me wish I was listening to Dummy instead. Honestly the best part of the listen was the album ending, and Apple keeping the music going with a pretty great trip-hop mix featuring Massive Attack, UNKLE, Lovage, Bjork, Francesca Belmonte, & Martina Topley-Bird solo.

Take away the historical context and groundbreaking production of the time, and you're still left with 14 incredibly diverse and well-crafted pop songs making up one of their best and consistently-great albums. Also, the 2022 mix I listened to sounded absolutely sublime compared to the old hard-panned stereo mix.

I genuinely feel for anyone who has invested significant time in the mental gymnastics needed to convince themselves that this dreck holds artistic value, conditioning themselves through constant repetitive trauma to find artificial enjoyment in it. Life is short. Embrace it. Hug your wife and kids. Call your mum. Cuddle your cat.

Perfection.

Some great tracks, some terrible tracks, but mostly just mid. Glimpses of what they'd become.

She has a great voice, and Constant Craving is a classic. But I really didn't care for this album as a whole.

Man Zappa sure showed those hippies! Unlistenable and unpleasant boomer shite masquerading as lame satire that was apparently cutting-edge and biting 50 years ago.

I truly don't think I'll ever fully recover from hearing "All in the Family".

I was never a huge REM fan outside of the 90s radio staples, but wow, what a killer debut. The band is already fully formed, there's not a single bad track, the musicianship is tight and production sounds timeless and *nothing* like 1983! I genuinely don't know how it ranks compared to their other albums in the court of popular opinion, but as far as I'm concerned, this one's pure 🔥.

The soundtrack to my mid 20s. A damn near perfect album. James & co. never did manage to top this one, which hit just the right balance of honouring and celebrating its influences while being unabashedly its own thing.

Surprisingly great. Only song I recognised was 'Feel Flows' from the Almost Famous credits but really liked the variety and overall mood on offer, and 'Long Promised Road' is an absolute banger.

The covers ran the gamut from pretty good to downright woeful ('Miss Molly'), but the originals weren't bad and overall I didn't mind the vibe and lo-fi aesthetic. But Jesus fucking Christ, the cumulative effect of the constant WOWWWWWWWW!!!!!s was just way too much. Each one hurt more than the last, and turned into the longest 28 minutes and 42 seconds of my life. Might have made a decent 45 or couple of tracks in a shuffle playlist, but as an album it became actively unpleasant to listen to.

The album that made a 19 year old me build a Chu Moy headphone amp! A raw & abrasive almost-masterpiece that is only let down (IMHO) by the unnecessary and jarring Man-Size Sextet. The OG PJ Harvey trio always sounded great, but Albini's production (not always my cup of tea) is truly fantastic here and elevates the music and lyrics fantastically well (as anyone who's heard the interesting but somewhat lacklustre-by-comparison versions on 4-Track Demos can attest to.) I'm giving it a bonus point for the uncompromisingly dynamic mix that is a giant middle-finger to the loudness war. Crank it fucking loud.

An undeniable nostalgia 5 for me. It's July 2001, I am weeks away from turning 18 and finishing High School. The Strokes fly into Australia to support You Am I. The album hasn't even dropped yet, but that's basically their setlist in order. News spreads from other states of what awaits us. Four glorious nights in a row at the Newtown Theatre in Sydney quickly become legend, culminating an early album drop months before anywhere else in the world. Something momentous has occurred. We're finally free of our post-grunge and nu-metal shackles. I'd like to think the album holds up without nostalgia goggles, but I honestly can't tell. These 35 odd minutes sounded huge back then, and it always will to me. If not, a bonus point for the iconic non-American artwork perchance?

And I thought I liked Leonard Cohen... It genuinely sounds like a parody of 80s production, like I'm stuck inside a cruise ship bar for lonely middle-aged men on karaoke night. The loneliest and oldest man, whose wife disappeared in mysterious circumstances, now earns a living mumbling words while demoing the worlds first MIDI keyboard. Up until 'Jazz Police' I would have argued it's just extremely dated production. But I now insist this entire album was an elaborate troll and somehow 80s audiences unironically ate it up. It's the only logical explanation. The literal opposite of polishing a turd.

This was my first Dire Straits album, although I obviously knew Money For Nothing, and Walk of Life (which I've always hated for its faux-rockabilly sound and chintzy organ) I understand it moved a lot of CD players in the mid 80s. But despite some interesting guitar work, I disliked most of it and are completely baffled to its **17x Platinum** status here in Australia. Why are the songs so goddamn long? Are the shorter vinyl album versions abridged, or were these unnaturally stretched out to demonstrate the amazing runtime of the CD? Why is the middle section so unbelievably boring? How can anyone feel *anything* from the overly sterile 80s production and insipid lyrics?

Really liked Jeff Beck's guitar work. Rod Stewart and the song selection slightly less so, but it's perfectly serviceable.

Huge in its day, and still holds up very well indeed. The blueprint for the next decade of rock.

Easily one of the best hip-hop albums of the 00s.

Unlikely to enter my regular rotation, but it’s held up well and I enjoyed it.

52 minutes long and absolutely nothing of substance.

Sporadically interesting but often uninspired 90s electronica, the kind that might have introed a cracked game for my Amiga 500. -->---,-`-.> 5h0ut 0u7z 2 RaZoR 1911 4nD Fa1rL1Gh7 d00dz! <.-`-.---<--

Very smooth. Nice and varied compositions managed to keep my interest for the entire running time.

A truly timeless masterpiece.

I remember really enjoying this on release but I don't think time has been kind to this one. It's perfectly fine of course, but endless licensing to TV and commercials has dulled its appeal and contributed to its overly-clean-production-with-hot-vocals sounding cliché. It's unmistakably the sound of 2010 and possibly even a contributing factor to rock music's decline. Too harsh? Upon relistening I quite enjoyed the lesser-exposed back half I hadn't heard in many years and would probably give it a 3.5 if I could.

I really enjoyed this. Quite surprised I'd never heard of them, although Steve Winwood's name rang a bell. Thoroughly enjoyed the mix of blues, folk, and psychedelic. You Can All Join In was a strong opener, and Pearly Queen sounded like the authentic blues rock experience I was sorely lacking yesterday when I had to review The Black Keys. Feeling Alright is certainly a classic I'm not sure if I'd ever head the original. Not perfect by any means, but a very solid record IMO.

What an outstanding and amazingly fun album. Production is sublime with super tight rhythms, great guitar work, and some epic bass lines.

Some undeniably great tracks but I never quite got the hype for this. As an album it's mostly good, occasionally great. But it's too long and there's plenty of filler.

I'm sorry, I just couldn't get into it. Vocals too grating, songs too repetitive, album too long.

An undeniable classic, the biggest and best hip-hop album of its time. It still sounds great today (despite the overcompressed/clipping mix) Credit where credit's due. Kanye's an asshat that has fallen off the deep end, hasn't made anything remotely comparable since, and apparently still doesn't get the fishsticks joke. It's a shame we immediately went from the highs of 'Runaway' to Kanye getting asshole bleach on his T-shirt, but for a brief shining moment in the early 2010s Kanye had beaten his detractors and was on top of the world.

Great album, obviously phenomenal opens and closers, but the middle sags a little.

S-Tier for sure. A perfect blend of rock, blues, country, and gospel, bookended by two of the greatest songs ever written.

Not completely terrible, but I did not enjoy it and I will never listen to it again. It was hard to tell if it was cliched, or the precursor to those cliches, but I've certainly heard a lot better metal.

Very much enjoyed a re-listen of this classic. It hasn't aged as much as I feared and for the most part* is still a very fun listen. * But 'Girls' is still an insta-skip for me. Just terrible.

Occasionally I'd find myself enjoying a moment or two, but overall the whole thing sounded incredibly derivative and pretentious, and the lyrics were often terrible (eg. My Dictionary)

First Kinks album. Could hear the lineage of late 90s/early 00s UK indie rock in this. Musicianship was solid and there were a few great tracks, but I did find it slightly underwhelming.

Sadly not a fan of this one. A couple of nice moments including the closing track but they were few and far between. Not a fan of the singer's voice and wish it was proggier.

Always enjoyed this one. Dancing Choose, Golden Age and DLZ are absolute bangers, almost everything else is extremely solid. Only track I'm not huge on is Stork & Owl but it's okay.

Gotta admit, after instantly enjoying the absolute shit out of their second album when it popped up, one I was previously unfamiliar with, I found this first album to be quite underwhelming by comparison. Psycho Killer is obviously a very bright highlight in their entire discography, but I feel the rest is good albeit somewhat forgettable, and the band were yet to find their groove on this one. Just doesn't have the usual Talking Heads magic to me. Interested to see if it grows on me, but I'm having trouble mustering more than a 3.

I will never listen to it again, but thankfully it was better than Scott 2.

I listened to the 37 minute original and I loved it. No filler, none of my favourite Who songs either, just an awesome show, some very great drumming from Mr. Moon, and practically zero crowd noise.

I am not a fan of live albums nor particularly familiar with the oeuvre of Van Morrison, but despite its hefty runtime I thought this was great. Good soulful voice, band are precise yet somehow sound effortles, the overall vibe is warm and inviting. Will definitely come back to this one.

Even by 60s jam band standards, this one was giant pretentious steaming noodly jizzbridge of wank.

Great title track but the rest of this hasn't exactly aged well.

Surprisingly varied and enjoyable.

The best part of the album was when I got 2 minutes into "Down By the River" and could just enjoy Crazy Horse rocking out for a while, without having to endure Neil's shitty voice.

An undeniably great album.

Probably the Elliott Smith album I least engaged with back in the day. With 20 years in the rearview mirror I really enjoyed it in retrospect and think it might be one of his best works. Great production and solid variety throughout, even a rocker or two.

Very pleasantly surprised by this one. I was aware of Liz Phair, but had only really heard her awful potty-mouthed-Avril-Lavigne attempt of the early 2000s, whatever the album was where she extols the virtues of using men's bodily fluids as moisturiser. Leaning pretty heavily into riot grrl sensibilities and having some pretty funny and biting lyrics while maintaining a sound that is both accessible and varied is a pretty neat balancing act. You can clearly hear its influences in 90s alt rock, 00s indie and beyond.

Starts alright but gets boring quickly. Entirely one-note and way, way, WAY too long.

Not my thing and I'd question its essential status, but it was perfectly pleasant, and at times even fun.

Clearly I'm in the minority but I've never _quite_ understood the hype. For the most part all I hear a decent but second-rate Stevie Wonder imitation, interspersed with mumbled rap and/or a grating falsetto. It's not all mild disappointment though. Pyramids provides a much needed up-tempo shot of adrenalin in its first half, and Crack Rock and Lost on either side of it are pretty solid or at least interesting too.

Given my previous distaste for mid-80s Dire Straits I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Sultans of Swing is the only song I knew, but overall I thought it was a surprisingly well-formed collection of songs for a debut, with great guitar work and solid lyrics. To me this is everything Brothers in Arms isn't: a cohesive, warm, evocative and authentic-sounding roots/blues rock album, free of overproduced and overlong 80s excess. [edit: I initially gave this a 4, but have come back to it a number of times over the past 18 months. This gets a bump to a 5.]

Great, prominent basslines throughout, some interesting guitar work, occasionally straying into the Bowie-esque but a nice cohesive 35 minutes that's just a little too samey for my liking. An enjoyable 3.5.

Some great moments, some not-so-great moments, but overall, not bad.

Probably haven't listened to this one in 15-20 years. This was *huge* in 2001 and while I loved it back in the day, I'm surprised at how well it holds up versus, say, The Black Keys. More polished than De Stijl, perhaps not quite as triumphant as Elephant, but the beginning of their reign as Garage king and queen. A diverse and well rounded album with not single a bad track.

Extremely tedious.

An undeniable classic, but I still think it has its fair share of duds.

Really enjoyed this one. A short but sweet debut.

Super fun pop punk. 3.5.

I wasn’t looking forward to this assignment. After all, I hate Come on Eileen with the fire of a thousand suns. It’s only gotten worse with the numerous and obvious men’s bodily fluid joke in recent years, found everywhere from American Dad to this very site. The only joy it’s ever provided me is the hilariously bad live version on their official YouTube, but alas the song remains the same. Still, you try and approach every album with an open mind. Isn’t that the whole point of this endeavour? I don’t know why there are 3 versions of this thing on Apple Music, but naturally I chose the shortest one. I have questions about why Kevin Rowland felt the need to put his own name in front of the bands for apparently this one album alone. He is the worst part of it. In his normal register he sounds fine, a little like a happy Robert Smith. But every octave outside of the mid range is like nails on a chalkboard. The second he stretches and strains his vocal cords to produce that cacophonous strangled cat of a falsetto I nope the fuck out.

Mostly a boring derivative slog that answers the question "What if David Bowie couldn't sing?". Best left behind in the 70s, but credit for the interesting violin solo on Violence.

Super fun and impeccably clean classic rock. Holds up very well, and it’s honestly pretty hard to fault. It is interesting to me how America-centric the album's success was, with 85% of sales coming from US and 5% from Canada. Certainly doesn't seem to have made much of a splash here in Australia, and I’d say it’s quite rare to hear on classic rock radio here; if anything it evokes nostalgia of the 2 years I spent living in Canada in the 2010s.

I appreciate its place in music history, but I've tried to enjoy this album more than a few times over the years, and something about it just doesn't quite click with me. I go back and forth on whether I enjoy her voice or not, but I definitely think it's too loud in the mix.

An interesting pre-solo Bjork curio with maybe 3 decent songs?

First time listening to a CSN(+Y) album. So far I've given a 5 to Crosby, a 3 to Stills, and a 2 to Young+Crazy Horse, whose upper-register singing voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me. Nash remains an enigma, but I get the feeling he's a little too twee and whimsical for my liking, like McCartney's bad days. This album has done nothing to change my beliefs, although I think given enough time I can build a compilation I enjoy. S: Almost Cut My Hair A: Country Girl B: Deja Vu, 4+20 C: Carry On, Woodstock, Everybody I Love You D: Helpless, Our House F: Teach Your Children

A monumental achievement in sampling and dance music and an undeniable classic. Perhaps due to its sheer inventiveness or diversity, I think it holds up better than albums such as Endtroducing, and certainly compared to the poppier/big beat artists of the time like Fatboy Slim or Moby. I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this, even if I do prefer their _amazing_ 2020 album We Will Always Love You quite a bit more.

Legendary.

I approached this with some trepidation as I'm not the biggest ABBA fan. I recognised none of these tracks, even though ABBA Gold was my mother's housework soundtrack for a few years back in the 90s. Credit where credits due, I liked this. The production and mix itself is sublime, the opening title track is a fucking banger, and I enjoyed the theatricality of I Let the Music Speak as well.

Classic debut. Pixies knew who they wanted to be and arrived fully-formed. They would go on to bigger greatness, but the punk sensibilities, quirkiness, and interplay between Frank and Kim make this one a fun album to revisit.

Pleasant enough, but not something I'm in a hurry to revisit.

I'm genuinely baffled by the hatred for this entry. I've never heard of these guys, and I'm from Australia, but honestly it's a pretty great 80s pop-rock album. Production sounds very typical of the period, and I can hear some INXS, The Church, and Nick Cave similarities but mostly I think the singer sounds like Tim Booth from UK Band James. Musically and lyrically I think its very solid with some nice flourishes and variety. Would much rather listen to this than yet another fucking Morrissey/Smiths album.

Having never really listened to Alice in Chains back in the 90s, I have zero nostalgia for this. I don't quite get the grunge label, it sounds like sludgy Sabbath-eqsue 70s metal mixed with a bit of 80s alt rock to me. It was a bit of a fatiguing listen but I think it picked up after the first few songs. Sickman and Rooster in particular felt like a much-needed shot in the arm.

Love Surfer Rosa, love Doolittle...but this one has always left me a little cold. It's, fine I guess, but nothing approaching their best. I mean even Trompe le Monde has U-Mass on it.

Honestly, I've tried, but for the most part this album does absolutely nothing for me. There is one noticeable exception -- the extended instrumental outro on I am the Resurrection absolutely slaps.

I skipped the second disc as only the first seems to be the original album. From what I can gather it is a historical significant album, but knowing none of that, it's a tight 39 minutes of reworking that holds up amazingly well. Ray's voice was impeccable as you'd expect, the song selection was nice and varied and the big band sounded great. Definitely will see a few tracks entering my weekend breakfast rotation.

It's a shame I don't think the back half of the album is quite as excellent as the first; Lightnin' Hopkins in particular I'd consider a bit of a low point. Overall a great album that while not as strong as Murmur IMO, dials down the jangle and ups the intensity to great success.

I'm going to hypocritically ignore my own personal code and give this a 5 despite it having a clunker or two. It's a mammoth double album with both huge hits and amazing deep cuts. Funeral for a Friend is the highlight because of course it is.

Huge hits, extended jams, an 11 minute Grapevine...this album has it all. Expanding beyond swamp rock and rockabilly into soul, country, and rhythm and blues, it's honestly hard to fault.

Pretty great, but honestly not as good as Folsom. I of course listened to the 34 minute original, but the bleeped swears are annoying.

I’ve always enjoyed this one, but put it a tiny bit below the extremely high bar set by some of the albums that would follow. I… think I was wrong? The two singles remain the high point for me, but I enjoyed every second of this listen. I don’t know if it’s been remastered or what, but the OG trio sound great here. Grading on a curve be damned, Dry gets the 5 it deserves.

Embarrassingly awful.

It might be a little _too_ minimalist for me, but I'd say it's held up decently well and has its moments. I can certainly hear the influence on later post-punk bands.

This was a hard one to rate. I *did* genuinely enjoy listening to this for the first time in 20 years, even though I've always found it vastly inferior to 'Parachutes'. God Put a Smile On Your Face, The Scientist and Warning Sign are all solid, and I've always particularly enjoyed the title track and Amsterdam, which close out the album beautifully. But then there's the truly execrable Clocks, the mere hint of that arpeggio triggering some sort of PTSD, and the other truly forgettable tracks. This is the ultimately album that killed any interest in Coldplay for me. Rather than building on a strong debut, it set them on their course for superstardom as a meandering, U2-like, inexplicably popular nothing-band. As an epitaph, I think a 3 is fair.

I obviously knew Blister, but this was a fun listen. Sounds like nothing else from 1983 and almost like a protopunk Mountain Goats. I think it dipped a little in the middle but it opens and closes strong.

Well, it's certainly not the best Gorillaz album, or even in the top 3. But there's something about its balls-to-the-wall, whiplash-inducing genre-hopping that remains an intriguing and strangely charming listen outside of its biggest hits. Probably more of a 3.5, but 3 seemed too low.

So celebrated it's practically cliche, OK Computer remains a phenomenal achievement and deserves its reputation as the single greatest album of the 90s. 10 🤖s out of 5

Ja nein.

Dated but decent.

I didn't *love* it but there were a couple of surprisingly good tracks beyond Take on Me.

The big hits off this were certainly inescapable back in the early 2010s, but this is the first time I listened to the album proper. There's maybe one ballad too many but overall I'd say it's pretty great for it's genre. I'll Be Waiting is an absolute banger. I am *baffled* as to how it's the least popular song by far according to Spotify. I am, however, deducting an entire point for the completely uninspired and unnecessary cover of The Cure's Lovesong. It's already been covered to death, the pedestrian bossanova accompaniment adds nothing, and it's even missing the biggest melodic hook from the song.

I didn't enjoy this as much as I expected. It has a great punk vibe, Siouxsie brings the energy and the attitude, and I can hear the influence on Bat for Lashes, PJ Harvey, Sleater-Kinney et al. But something about the actual song selection left me cold? I don't know. I hated the Helter Skelter cover, everything else was fine but lacking anything truly memorable on first listen.

As a young teenager introduced to The Prodigy via music videos and Wipeout 2097, I always had a preference for Fat of the Land, but in retrospect I do think this is their best album. A truly groundbreaking mix of techno/rave/big beat/electronica, it still managed to cross over to alt/rock nerds like me who'd never set foot inside a rave, through it's punk energy, aggressive beats, and impeccably layered production. There is some cringeworthy circa-1990 dance on this list that has aged extremely poorly. It's amazing the difference a few years make, this is anything but. It still sounds big, bold, fresh, interesting and utterly timeless.

Man, the Stones really were unstoppable from 1968-1972. They weren't shy of exploring various flavours of rock, country, blues, and more, but the balancing act was absolutely perfect on this album. All members are in fine form and more than half the album is A-tier or above. Consider the sheer hookiness of 'Brown Sugar'. The understated beauty of 'Wild Horses'. The unique and epic jamming on Can't You Hear Me 'Knocking'. Their now-honed-and-perfected authentic country-roots sound on 'Dead Flowers'. The swagger (and killer horn session) of 'Bitch'. The hauntingly melancholy of 'Sister Morphine'. The beautiful introspection and strings on 'Moonlight Mile'. The sleazy cover of 'You Gotta Move' is probably the only weaker track that isn't great in isolation, but as an interlude closing out side A it works great in context. On it's own I don't know how to give it anything but top marks. But in the context of the albums on either side of it, it also firmly makes the case for The Rolling Stones to have one of the best four-album runs in music history.

Neuroscientists, musicologists, and other top academic researchers should study this album to analyse how they managed to suck all of the soul out of soul music. Mick Hucknall has a good voice but this is a truly dismal slice of 80s waiting room Muzak. It also features one of the worst Talking Heads covers ever recorded. kd lang does a great cover of Heaven because she understands the need for a little restraint. This version is amped up into the terrible-stratosphere. I am charitably giving it a 2 because, while it is awful, it is a dull & inoffensive background awful, and I know things would get even worse with 'Fairground'.

It was fine. Seemed a little restrained and I found my attention waning at times, but some nice moments.

I found my interest waning at time, to the point I felt it warranted a second listen. It is often at times Flaming Lips-esque in its instrumentation and brittle vocals, but 'The Soft Bulletin' it is not. Overall a pleasant album, with some interesting flourishes and a couple of standout tracks like Opus 40 and Holes. But I didn't quite understand the significance of this one.

No additional commentary necessary.

A true thrash classic.

Started strong, devolved into some fairy generic and samey indie rock for the most part. Then came "Don't". I'm okay with noise rock but that was straight up obnoxious. Started a 4, ended a 2.

Confession time. Many of these songs were forever ingrained in my youth, the soundtrack to a million mix tapes, CDs, Winamp playlists, hangouts, and parties, but I'd never heard this classic album in full before. By the time I became an album collector in my later teens, I was also an insufferable music elitist douche that considered these pop-punk pioneers and their light-hearted attitude beneath me. Something for my younger sister to enjoy. Listening to this was both deeply nostalgic and strangely fresh. Full of Big riffs, solid basslines, clean production and no skips, it's an undeniably great album that holds up well, no matter what my stupid 17 year old self thought.

Wasn't a fan of the first track, but I thought "Love's Enough" was quite pretty and understated. Things were looking up! Then the rest of the album destroyed that goodwill. On paper it sounded like it might be something I'd be interested in but, whatever this is, It's not for me.

It was short, and made pleasant enough background music, but there was a certain je ne sais quoi that stopped me from really enjoying it. Maybe it was the knowledge that Al Green was an abusive piece of shit who beat his pregnant wife to the point where she required stitches because she denied his demands for sex. Let's Stay Together indeed. Fuck you.

Still an amazing debut after 20 years. Haunting, beautiful, anthemic, it reinvigorated and redefined the entire indie rock genre. Their winning streak would continue for at least the next two albums, but they never truly topped this one in my book.

Fuck the insufferable musical elitists and the critiques about their 18-album discography or their deceptively simple style. This is an absolute classic album that still holds on its merits, let alone against the backdrop of a band losing their talented lead singer and setting a new benchmark for hitting the ground running with v2.0.

Fairly straightforward country fare with a great voice. Not exactly my cup of tea, but made for pleasant listening.

I had to laugh at what my brain conjured up when I heard 'Primal Scream' vs the bright piano of the opening Rolling Stones-meets-George Michael opening track. It's an absolute delight. What a unique and interesting album. 'Cohesive' might be a stretch but it's certainly fun and varied. Probably more of a 3.5, but it's almost bizarre stylistic shifts put me in a good mood and I'm rounding up accordingly.

Honestly, while it's very beautiful music with some standout moments, I struggle to find any urge to listen to it.

Doesn't have the biggest hits but this was a fun listen. IMHO a more consistent album overall than Parklife.

I guess you had to be there.

It was...fine?

I wasn't the biggest Soundgarden fan back in the day -- I knew and enjoyed the singles, and owned a copy of their "A Sides" compilation. This was my first full album listen. I must say I'm surprised at the quality of the entire album. It's very long like many albums of the era, but it's pretty great from beginning to end.

Finished stronger than it started. Definitely need to be in the mood for it, but I can see myself listening to it again. 3.5.

Absolute classic. Great production. Lots of fun.

Another flawless and beautiful album from Nick Drake.

Not every track is great, but I'd say it still holds up well.

Occasionally interesting but mostly just grating and annoying.

It's very 80s, and not for me. But a few classic bangers on here.

Look, it's nice and all, and I don't want to be a contrarian for the sake of it, but Pet Sounds legendary status has always been a bit baffling to me. It's a cohesive and enjoyable album, but across its 13 tracks are two great songs, three good songs, and a whole lot of quaint but barely memorable filler that wouldn't even crack the top 40 best Beach Boys songs. Give me 'Surf's Up' anyday.

A dull and turgid outing from Muse, in which they failed to capitalise on the goodwill of their three good-to-great albums prior, and disappear up their own arseholes chasing US commercial success by sanding off all the rough edges or anything that could be considered even mildly unique or interesting of what was already a pretty derivative band. This one introduces a Gap-approved, mid-aughts light-guitar-and-synth aesthetic, which just amplifies rather than compliments Matt Bellamy's preposterous vocals. Lead single Supermassive Black Hole is a truly dire sellout alt-pop anthem firmly targeting that year's EA Sports video game soundtrack placement, but overdoing it so much that it ends up in the hands of 12 year old girls everywhere via the Twilight soundtrack. The one bright spot is unquestionably Knights of Cydonia, but its placement on the album is also a jarring reminder of how bland and uninspired the preceding 45 minutes were. (At least the authors came to their senses and removed it from subsequent revisions of the book.)

Sure, it's dated as all hell, but this was an enjoyably catchy and eclectic listen.

I've never seen such a short Wikipedia album summary on this site before. So non-notable even fans can’t be bothered putting a few words together. This review is longer. Clearly it got the attention it deserved.

Not a lot of variety in Dr. Sardonicus’s dreams, is there?

Cutting out the Apple Jams and bonus stuff and focusing on the album proper, this is a *fantastic* album by any standard. Highly recommend you listen to the original vinyl tracklisting.

Biggie's flow is great, but listening to this oversexed and overstuffed skit-heavy album in its entirety becomes incredibly tiresome and tedious.

Second half was great.

I don't mind a bit of Paul Simon, without or without Garfunkel, but as far as albums go. I would question its essential status. Nice, but certainly not his best.

Still a hauntingly beautiful album that's just *slightly* too long.

An interesting fusion of styles, but some of the rapping and lyrics were pretty cringe. Definitely sounds "of its time". Occasionally felt like the soundtrack to an early 00s Showtime or FX drama. Maybe it was the fact I had to listen to a heavily compressed, unofficial playlist via Youtube, but the mix sounded a little flat and lacking in dynamics. Despite my mild disappointment, 2 seems too harsh.

Started out very strong, but the excess of the double album format (or maybe just a dip in quality) certainly wore down its welcome over time. I feel like it'd be better pared down but will have to give it another listen. I was prepared to give it a 3, but then it picked up again by the end, so a 4 it is.

Pleasant enough.

Yeah, no shit it's good.

Wow. Outside of the VU Lou Reed has always been very hit and miss for me, but this was great. Beautiful, delicate, dark, foreboding, and engaging, Lou's limited vocals really compliment the music on this one. The strong narrative and subject matter might not be everyone's cup of tea but it certainly isn't boring.

It's genuinely impressive that the one album can consistently make odd 180 degree turns between the genuinely interesting and *incredibly* annoying.

Overrated.

Wow, has it been 10 years already? A killer full-length debut from a unique talent. Not as good as the second, but still just a great album to put on late at night. Ethereal and beautiful and out of this world with super chill beats.

Honestly, I really enjoyed this, it's a pretty great album. But also Fuck Eric Clapton.

Honestly I didn't care for it at all.

I wasn't looking forward to yet another endurance test of whether I could go the distance having to endure Neil's shitty voice. This one was a real surprise, because midway through he abandoned his nasally whine for a lower register, which was *great*. Unfortunately, he did so in service of some of the most boring and meandering songs I've ever heard. Not sure what was beach-like about it. Music to drown yourself to?

I didn't totally hate it. Started strong, and some okay tracks. Still an insufferable slog to get through an entire album.

Wasn't a fan. Seemed to teeter on the brink of parody at times, and felt much longer than 34 minutes. A couple of decent songs though.

There's not a lot I can contribute to the discourse about one of the greatest albums of all time. The Great Gig in the Sky alone would net it a 5 no matter what else was on the record. And it's still just magical how Speak To Me/Breathe and Eclipse bookend the album. But I will say that for an album I have heard many times in many formats, the 2023 Atmos Mix found on Apple Music sounded phenomenal on a good home theatre setup.

Currently one of my top 3 genres, I have enjoyed a great many "World" albums through this site. Unfortunately this is not one of them. Even as background music it was uninteresting, overly long, and so grating I couldn't even appreciate the guitar. I suppose it is a fairly broad genre, but this didn't grab me at all.

Pleasant enough, certainly not for me, but Holy Christ do you get more of an appreciation of The Beatles, Stones, Byrds etc. managed to do in a few short years.

Some decent jams but *way* too repetitive.

Seemed a little patchy and inconsistent, but overall I enjoyed it.

Didn't like it first, but it slowly grew on me. A bit like a polyrhythmic Vampire Weekend at times.

Enjoyable 70s rock and a couple of stone-cold classics.

Fun stuff, but not exactly groundbreaking.

oh my god that's the funky shit

Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs (that don't deserve a mention and aren't even half as good). It's way too long. One great track, a few good tracks, and then a whole lot of boring or downright bad tracks. Little Wing was horrendous. Sorry boomers. Also, as always, I must stress: fuck Eric Clapton.

At first I worried about the prominence of the Hammond organ, but I enjoyed this quite a lot.

I guess I liked it? It was occasionally interesting, mostly just fine. Not exactly one of Albarn's bigger achievements.

Not for me, but some pretty harmonies.

A juvenile but undeniable classic. Epic rhymes and dope beats yo. That said, the skits are just as annoying as they were 25 years ago.

Some pretty good tracks, a couple of duds, and all-time great with One, but with the average track length stretching beyond 7 minutes, it can get quite boring and monotonous after a while. But mostly I've never been able to enjoy this one due to the truly awful and flat production. Beyond the complete lack of all bass, the guitar sounds thin and the drums anemic, which only highlights the huge gulf in quality and talent between Lars's drumming and the rest of the band. 2 seems harsh, but what else to rate an album that is actively unpleasant to listen to in it's entirety?

There's probably a reason subsequent generations of kids have been walking around in Nirvana tees for the better part of 25 years, but hair metal stayed firmly in the 80s where it belonged.

Effortlessly cool and supremely influential, it's also just a great album from beginning to end.

Holy shit, what an amazing album. This was one of the few Bowie albums I wasn't familiar with; in my mind I think I'd dismissed it as a 'lesser' album between two great periods, and it was definitely under-represented on my 3-disc Greatest Hits collection I had growing up. Bowie is soulful and in fine form. The band is on point, the saxophone is borderline poronographic. 'Young Americans' is a bonafide banger and amazing way to open. 'Fame', 'Fascination', and 'Somebody...' are all funk masterpieces. The rest of the album is very, very strong and 'Across the Universe', for all its 70s excess, absolutely works for me. There's nothing artificial here, it still might not be my favourite Bowie album, but on its own merits, an easy 5/5 and one of the funnest ways to spend 40 minutes.

Probably not something I'll return to, but not bad. Perfectly decent UK punk.

I think I appreciated it more than I enjoyed it. Maybe it just wore out its welcome, but the first half seemed stronger.

Super dumb but decent enough early punk. The humour didn't quite work for me, nor did the I Got You Babe cover, but I suppose the album as a whole wasn't without its charm. Lets call it a weak 3.

Truth be told, I've always preferred Speakerboxxx to The Love Below, which despite having the the hit singles and some truly great moments, is way too long, pretentious, and with plenty of mediocre filler. The world did not need to hear "Where Are My Panties?" or "She's Alive". If Aquemini or Stankonia is a 5, then Speakerboxxx is a 4 and Love Below a 3.

Pretty decent album and I can hear the influence in particularly UK bands that followed. The Killing Moon is the obvious highlight, and everything after that is pretty good too, but I wasn't as huge on the first half.

I enjoyed it but didn't love it.

Quite enjoyed this. None of his 'hits', but his voice is in fine form and the recording itself and band sounds great.

Really enjoyed this one. I'm Australian but knew very little about The Go-Betweens, although I did recognise 'Streets Of Your Town'. I thought it was a nice slice of jangly indie pop with well-crafted melodies, poetic lyrics, and what I'd consider a pretty good balance of joy/hope and melancholy. There's no '80s production excess, none of the gloomy sadsack moroseness that plagued so many of the overhyped UK bands of the era that are frankly over-represented in this list.

Just an amazing debut. Timeless, epic songs with huge riffs, great vocal delivery, and impeccable production and mixing.

Big Joni vibes on this one. Beautiful vocals and some tasteful 90s electronic elements. I didn’t *love* it, but describing it as merely pleasant is selling it a bit short. Good stuff.

Well, that was certainly a thing.

Mostly lame songs with embarrassingly bad lyrics. Its one saving grace is that none of the originals are as bad as the horrifically butchered cover of Suffragette City which I am choosing to ignore as its technically a bonus track.

Superstition is amazing. Maybe Your Baby, great. Rest of the album? Not so much. 'Innervisions' is a much stronger album than this.

A bit all over the place and very 90s sounding at times, but I enjoyed a decent chunk of this. Great basslines as you'd expect and some nice guest vocals.

Intolerably long and boring, featuring one guy that can't sing, and another that's even worse. Droning on about the South, Skynyrd, and George Wallace is not even remotely interesting to to anyone that doesn't make being Southern the cornerstone of their self identity and major personality trait. It's bland, it's derivative, and all things considered I'd much rather be listening to Skynyrd.

Nina Simone albums that are better than this one: - Little Girl Blue (1959) - Pastel Blues (1965) - I Put a Spell on You (1965) - Nina Simone Sings the Blues (1967) - High Priestess of Soul (1967) - Black Gold (1970) - Emergency Ward (1972)

Some good stuff here, but tediously overlong.

A meticulously produced and truly epic and cohesive orchestral pop-rock masterpiece. One of the best albums of the 70s, and one of the few double albums that doesn't overstay its welcome.

It was decent enough but didn't blow my socks off. It all got a bit samey by the end, especially as I forgot to turn it off before all the bonus tracks. Was interesting to hear the original version of "Physical (You're So)"...it's quite terrible!

It's a good album, to be sure, but the minimalist instrumentation becomes grating.

Not a huge fan of country Dylan, tbh.

A good album, but the understated charms of its mostly slower tracks falls under the weight of the opener.

Amazing debut. Meticulously produced, great use of samples, interesting lyrics, at times funny and charming. Just a perfect classic hip hop album.

Not nearly as good as their next two albums, but decent. You Could Be Love was absolutely atrocious, but i'm ignoring the bonus tracks.

Compared to their earlier work its particularly bland and uninspired. But while its not for me, I didn't completely hate it. It probably would have got a 3 until it took a turn for the worse at the very end. 'Grace' is absolutely horrendous.

Not sure if it's a must-listen, but it was enjoyable.

Still an absolute banger. It's hard to be critical of an album that was an initial failure, only to make it huge through sheer brute force and licensing. Which just goes to show, there isn't a single dud on it.

B-Tier album that doesn't seem to quite know what it wants to be. Good, but far from their best work.

I listened to the original 7-track edition and really enjoyed this, one of the few great live albums. The recording and mix sounded clean and clear with plenty of dynamics. The excessively long solos were a little OTT, but overall a very worthy inclusion.

Very beautiful, but I don't think it hits _quite_ as hard as the next two.

I thought the first 3 songs were pretty good, then it nosedived spectacularly.

One note, repetitive and underwhelming. At least it picks up slightly after the first song.

Not completely terrible, but I don't think I'll listen to it ever again.

Fuck yeah.

Second half was great.

Dull, repetitive hotel-ass music. Like I've just checked into the Embassy Suites and the decade-old TV with comically large bezels is welcoming me by highlighting the signature cocktails to be found on the Level 2 mezzanine. I know this guy from his work on Soderbergh movies, and I think a couple of these tracks are actually in Oceans 11. But Holy Christ are these uninspired and unnecessarily long. A 30 second snippet as Clooney and Pitt exchange grins is one thing, seven and a half fucking minutes of the same 5 second loop is something else entirely. And how do you make the Bond theme boring???

Still a great listen due to the sheer energy on display.

I was kinda digging it. Nice synth punk shoegaze Heard a bit of LCD Soundsystem influence as well. Unfortunately, then Frankie Teardrop came on, which is unlistenable pretentious shite.

It’s punishing alright.

Your time here on Earth is too precious, too fleeting, too goddamn valuable, to be wasting even 35 minutes on this pretentious dog shit.

Really enjoyed this one. Nice variety plus a touch of Bowie, what's not to like?