1001 Albums Summary

Somewhere between a 5-6/10 for me. Pretty far outside of my usual wheelhouse, so I may not be qualified to comment, but it did feel a bit repetitive at times. Still, the live recording and energy from the crowd buoy the album a bit.

Garbaggio

Having only really heard Queen's greatest hits, which tend to be more theatrical, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of straight rock on this album. Some pretty great guitar on tracks like Now I'm Here, Stone Cold Crazy, and Brighton Rock (although the 3 minute solo does seem a bit excessive by today's standards). 7/10

Can't believe I've been sleeping on this one for so long; I guess I just started with the 8 Mile soundtrack as a kid and never went back to The Slim Shady LP. One of the few rap albums where every single track slaps—the flow is tight, the bars are right, and the production from Dr. Dre and the Bass brothers is killer. Even the (comparatively) weaker songs are great. Favorite tracks: Role Model and Still Don't Give a Fuck, but it's hard to decide. 10/10, a masterpiece.

I feel like Green Day has maybe 3 or 4 different sounds, and at most two of them were on display on this album. The listening experience was mostly nondescript; aside from some lyrical clunkers, nothing was particularly thrilling or repulsive. Favorite track: When I Come Around. 5/10

The guitar on this album really was something. It's very interesting to hear how often their sonic influence appears in various flavors of rock through the next couple decades. Eruption and Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love are as great as ever, and I also liked On Fire. That said, many of the other tracks didn't feel that inspiring—some great guitar playing for sure, but a lot of them blended together, and I don't always love David Lee Roth's vocals. So, a bit hard to rate overall: the best moments on the album are top tier, but my overall experience was a 7/10.

Uneven both in quality and in style. There were some good moments (mostly on Oh! You Pretty Things, Song for Bob Dylan, and Bewlay Brothers), but I often found myself wincing (during pretty much every other song). Was expecting to like this more than I did. Kind of crazy that Metallica used the Andy Warhol riff in Master of Puppets though. Favorite Track: Bewlay Brothers 4/10

Some ups and downs on this one. I liked the vibe a lot of the time, but the album could have used some editing—the last three tracks just felt painful. I enjoyed Kim Gordon's vocals a lot more than Thurston Moore's. Favorite track: 'Cross the Breeze 5/10

Mostly bad to mediocre. I'm surprised that Holding Back the Years was number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, given how nondescript it felt. The instrumentals were good, but nothing mindboggling. 3/10. Favorite track: Come to My Aid

Strong vocal jazz album—Vaughan is quite impressive, although I left feeling like I hadn't heard her very best. The improvisation in How High the Moon was funny, but didn't seem to fit the tenor of the rest of the album. Quite enjoyable overall, 7/10. Favorite Track: Willow Weep for Me

Really great. I was mostly familiar with "weird Radiohead" (Kid A onwards), so the only song I knew off this album coming in was Karma Police. Plenty of great tracks: Paranoid Android, Exit Music, Fitter Happier, Karma Police, Climbing Up the Walls, and Lucky were all very impressive. The album drips with digital paranoia and technological claustrophobia, and felt musically coherent despite utilizing a variety of (well-executed) styles. 9/10. Favorite Track: Climbing up the Walls

The instrumentation was great (really great), but the vocal quality was quite uneven at times—the whiplash from the transition between the killer opening riff and the singing in the first 30 seconds seemed to echo throughout the rest of the album. Fortunately, most of the later tracks were better than Love Song, with the notable exception of These Hands. I think this one averages out to a 5/10 for me, although I'd put the guitar and drums much higher. Favorite Track: Machine Gun Etiquette.

I liked the second half—Ocean of Noise, No Cars Go, and My Body is a Cage were all strong. But the first half came off as nondescript indie music with quintessential hipster voice vocals. If I had listened to this album back when it came out, I might have found that style nostalgic, but it mostly felt played out now. 5/10 Favorite Track: My Body is a Cage.