1001 Albums Summary

Pretty mild listening in 2023. Enjoyed the odd track but I much prefer RHCP from their Blood Sugar, One Hot Minute days. 4/10

Incredible, innovative offering. Nothing like it before, or after. Brilliant.

Pleasant listening whilst working. Not entirely in my usual lane but I can appreciate it as a solid and easy listen.

Pleasant, better than 'Cloud Nine' although I did pay this slightly more attention when listening. Pretty funky, enjoyable. I'd put this on at a gathering to keep the mood 'up'.

Really solid and enjoyable Bowie album. Class production, easy to listen to. Not my favourite style of pop music but I appreciate this one.

Really solid, upbeat album. Relatively unremarkable but very typical of what I would expect as a layman REM fan. Good to work to.

Easy listen, fun, buoyant album. I enjoyed it in the background.

Musically, I prefer Curtis Mayfields 'Super Fly' (a year earlier) but this is such a coherent album. It's message is loud and clear and the quality of the music is consistent throughout. An enjoyable listen but, again, not really my style at the moment.. although this will certainly have a time and a place in my playlist.

Really fun, upbeat vibe. A party album for sure. I think it's great.

This is a great album. I prefer Let it Bleed, overall, but Sticky Fingers is a really satisfying listen with a couple of classics (Wild Horses, Brown Sugar).

Funky, laid back vibe. I like this sound, the chill vibe.

Incredible album, such a shift from their early offerings yet retains their core feel.

A solid album, but not particularly to my taste at the moment. I appreciate the experimental, lo-fi production and composition and there are times in my life where I would have loved this album. I appreciate it, but it's not my favourite.

A really solid album. Easy to listen to, and work to. It lacks many of 'the hits' and, as a moderate fan of Queen who has a significant appreciation for their musicianship, and individual virtuosity (Freedy and Bryan are perhaps the best in their discipline), I was slightly underwhelmed with this - whislt still appreciative of how high qulity the music is. I prefer the high-energy music they produce, and this is a more complex, deep and laid back dynamic.

I really like this album. Very cool vibe, easy to listen to but deep. A new one to me, but a solid album. It took me two listens to fully appreciate it and it is great.

This is like metal.. but it's blues. I love it, it's rocking, the energy is out of this world. A full-on performance. I wonder if Freddie Mercury liked Jerry Lee Lewis? I hear a lot of Mercury's vocal traits and phrasing (in High School Confidential in particular (I'm writing this whilst listening to that tune). A really enjoyable listen, far exceeded my expectations.

I get the appeal, and certainly appreciate the solid composition and songwriting. I lived through the post-folk period at the end of the 90's and early 2000's and I fell there was much more interesting artists making this kind of accessible but contemporary folk-ish sound back then. It's not bad music, jut not that interesting to me.

An enjoyable listen. I have a tonne of respect for the Pretenders and Chrissie Hynde in particular. This album has a punk aesthetic with pop accessibility and is impressive for that reason.. I presume that's why it's in this list of 1001 best albums. To my 2023 ears, it's not particularly striking in any direction but I think it is a solid album.

It's a solid album but, having listened to two REM albums as a part of this 1001 Albums malarky, I'd say they are very easy listening, somehwat unremarkable. Michael Stype's voice is certainly unique and I enjoy it, but the overall dynamic is somewhat limited. I prefer what I've heard form their mid-90s material (Automatic for the People(?).. whatever that mega popular album was with Night Swimming on it.

A good album, with a progressive feel - ahead of its time for '69. Not neccessarily to my taste, right now I am not into 'crooner' or post-crooner (?) music. I appreciate it but I doubt I'll return to it oftern. I have friends who idolise Scott Walker and I know he has an extensive catalogue so I am certainly open to exploring his music further to see if his music grows on me.Knowing nothing about the man, I feel there is a complex story there given how passionately people feel about him.

A really enjoyable album. First I've heard of Springsteen in this vein and I really enjoyed it.

A really great album that I hadn't listened to since I was a teenager. Solid, with some classics. An easy listen whilst working.

This album has some great tracks - Design for Life being a 90's classic. However, the backend of it is so tedious and uninspired. I find the strong tracks are really strong, but the weak tracks feel like poor Hole, Nirvana, Grunge inspired tracks that don't pass as sincere, or conflict with the actual nature of the band - a relatively middle of the road pop act. I thought I might like this album more these days, having bought - and been dissappointed by it - back in the day. I guess it is still not form me.

This album is just good fun. It's upbeat, energetic, gritty and doesn't take itself too seriously. Enjoyable but not mind blowing.

It's just an incredible album with such incredible song writing and performances. Whilst it's not a daily listen for me any more (I certainly listened to it a lot in my earlier days of music-discovery), it deserves all the recognition and legendary status it has achieved. I am reserving 5 star ratings for albums that are not only amazing but ALSO fit neatly into my everyday listening, so this one loses out on that front.. although I'm certainly torn as I could listent to this anytime - ah, dammit, I'll give it a five. Wonderful, magical, unique album. How can I not.

It's fun, but feels pretty mild today. The humour isn't particularly funny but it's enjoyable hearing how much fun they had whilst making the album. It doesn't take itself too seriously.

Dreary. Three R.E.M albums have been presented to me within the first 25 albums of this list. The first I felt was enjoyable, since then, each one is becoming progressivley more dreary and bland to my ear. I don't know if this is the quality of each individual album or the sum of listening to a bunch of R.E.M in succession but, either way, their music is starting to grate on me. In this album, Stype's vocals are bleary, lacking dynamics with a too-laid-back demeanor that is uninspiring and sucking the energy from my soul.Stype seems to have a thing about singing happy songs and melodies in a reserved, pulled-back style that undermines teh joy of the melodies. I can see the appeal, but it is draining my life source. The musicianship is pleasant, the instrument pseudo folk - I hear a mondolin - the drums are pretty uninspiring. It's starting to remind me of The Cure, who pull off the off kilter vibe much more effectively in my opinion. Finding this the first really difficult listen in my 1001 albums experience.

A really progressive album considering when it was released (at the end of hair metal and just before grunge emerged). It's fun, high energy and Perry Farrell's voice just brings such a unique sound, tone and timbre to their music. I really enjoyed this, it won't be a frequent listen but I appreciate it.

This is a very listenable album and the production - by Kanye - is rock solid (the bass was coarsing through my bones throughout). i enjoyed it, not as mainstream as Kanye's own work (I'm thinking College Dropout here), but it has an edge. It reminds me a little of Marvin Gaye's Waht's Going On with it's social messages and children's aspirational voices strewn throughout. It lacks the catchy, memorable melodic hooks that I seek in the hip hop I love, but its a solid album. It's going to lose a star for not being the most re-listenable for me, but that's just my taste. I bet hardcore hip hop lovers will rate it much higher adn I am unaware of the influence it has had.. As with many of my reviews, I'll likely wan tto change it at a later date and, in this case, most likely rate it higher as I get more acquainted with it.

A really enjoyable album that is totally out of my usual 'field of view'. An upbeat, bouyant bluesy-indy-progressive album that embraces beautiful guitar melodies from the African diaspora that I have always loved so much. there's a lot in this album and it is a re-listener for sure. I can't imagine any other album in this 1001 list sounding like this so it gains an extra star for its outstanding uniqeuness in a densely packed, western-pop milieu.

My Iron Lung is still one of my favourite Radiohead songs. Having moved beyond this album preferring their newer output, it was great to listen again to it with fresh ears. It sounds more under-produced than I remember - perhaps 'less-well' produced is more accurate - but I love this album more than I remember. It is fresh and the songwriting holds up extremely well to this day. Nothing sounded like it at the time of its release, and I remember being unnerved by its unusualness in a great way - much like listening to the Pumpkins when they first arrived on my headphones. It's a fantastic album that isn't as cutting edge as their subsequent offerings but paved the way for OK Computer perfectly. A banger.

Enjoyable listen with some classics. Unlike when I listened to the Doors when I was a teenager, the music felt somewhat disingenuous or overblown this time around. A solid album but not ticking my boxes today.

I really enjoyed this prog album far more than I would have imagined. It sounds far more contemporary than its '69 release date. It is chock full of musical ideas traversing the spectrum of rock and jazz, yet is far more accessible than, say, Zappa. In particular, I was happy to to discover 'The Court of the Chrimson King' - a song I have heard coutnless times on movies and tv, always loved, yet had no idea where it was from - it's a fantastic track. It's so far out of my wheelhouse I may not relisten to it much so it loses a little in that regard, if I could give a 3.5/5 I would, but I'll have to settle for 3 stars.

Clearly an accomplished, easy on the ear, and concise album. I have no real frame of reference for where this sits in the history of jazz. I have listened sporadically to jazz throughout my life and this felt quite middle of the road, tame, not especially interesting. I am likely entirely wrong about that, but that is why my rating will be low. Sorry Jimmy, it's not you, it's me.

I hate to write this but, I really couldn't wait for this album to end. It's the first really arduous listen so far for me in this 1001 Albums journey. I absolutely appreciate how fresh this must have appeared on the scene at the time of release, and I like its punk, prog, blues, and rock mix that has clearly influenced artists like Nick Cave and PJ Harvey, however, I simply didn't enjoy the music. In fact, I absolutely prefer Velvet Underground, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey far more than this particular album. I don't really ever hear lyrics when I listen to music - it's one of my sonic quirks - and I suspect this will appeal much more to those who enjoy good lyrics. I guess Patti Smith simply isn't for me.

Impressive. This album is impressive, for a 50 year old offering, it stands up incredibly well. Listening today it sounds like classic rock, but it was like nothing else at the time of release and far ahead of its time. I appreciate it more than enjoy it, that's why I only give it 3. It's not an album I'll liten to repeatedly with my present musical tastes, but it deserves all the love it gets.

This was better than I had expected. The first few minutes felt like just-another-improv-jazz album, but it evolved into a bit more of a prog-jazz wig out. It's not really my bag, but it was ok and easy on the ear.. eventually.

Wow, this is a classic. I recognise so many of these songs yet I had never heard of The Sonics. These guys rock, high energy, high energy, great production - raw, especially the in-your-face vocals. It feels punk as well as pop. Really like this.

It's an incredibly diverse album, isn't it? It has some absolute classics, and, for the omst part is very enjoyable. I'm not a Beatles superfan however I was pleasantly surprised, particularly with the closer - Good Night - which is such a beautiful song, and sung by Ringo! Blackbird is hte true highlight for me, a stunning song that truly think is gorgeous. Then there are wimsical clangers like Ob La Di.. and all the animal-based songs ((excluding Blackbird, of course). Helter Skelter is awesome. Its a strong album that is clearly a momentus moment in rock adn pop music history. If it had done away with maybe five or six tracks, then it would be a five, but the 'filler' - which it not quite what I mean - reduces it to a 4 star for me.

This was an enjoyable listen, but not particularly appealing to me in any one direction. I appreciate this album and the musical dexterity and creativity on display, but I didn't ever get in to the groove with it.

I think, knowing how awful Bob Dylan is live for so many years, Bob Dylan has been spoiled for me. I found this to be an arduous and tedious listen. The first in the list that I have almost resented having to listen to. I used to love Dylan, back in my Uni days, enjoying his songwriting and recordings. But I don't find him appealing anymore and it feels disingenuous now that I listen with my oder, wiser, ears. Finally, this audio recording is important because of the duality and provocation of Dylan's set on the evening. The recording here has been sanitised so that the negative audience reaction to the latter half of his set has been removed. This, in my mind, completely removes the most valuable and interesting aspect of this document - and instead we are left with a single, manipulated perspective of the events. It just doesn't sit right and reams of the undermined stance Dylan and his label etc now occupy. This album has been a real bummer for me.

I've got a feeling I'm in the minority here but: Underwhelming. It was a light listen and really not my thing - bearing in mind I loved the Pharcyde album on this list and do enjoy a lot of hip hop. I just found this to be a pretty uninspiring listen that, to my non-expert ear, didn't trigger any particular excitement. I'll not labour the point as I reckon I'm pretty uninformed when it comes to the significance of this album.

A fantastic album that I have loved for a long time. It's a long time since I've listened to it (many years) but it is as strong and powerful as ever.

This is a brilliant album, right up my street! It's not legendary status in my collection so it will get a 4 star, but I have been tempted to raise it to five. It is such a well produced, punchy album with solid songwriting and uniqueness. I love it.

I don't know if this album influenced many britpop artists of the 90's, or whether they just sound like all of them, but I heard Ash, Long Pigs, Blur, Oasis, Elastica, etc, etc, etc, all throughout this album. If they influenced all those artists with this offering then they eserve some kudos but I suspect this is just another britpop - inidie offering. I found it uninpiring, middle of the road and, that worst slight of all, tepid. 2 stars bordering on 1. No. I'll give it a 1 as I'm never going to listen to this again.

This is definitely one of those albums on the list that, whilst I enjoyed it, I can't fully appreciate its importance or significance as it is so far out of my wheelhouse. I enjoyed it, but will likely never think of it again. I'll leave this one to the funk fans.

Enjoyable album that has stood the test of time remarkably well considering its a hair-metal album.

Ok, I suspect this was a seminal album with nothing ever like it being heard before but it's really not my music. Whilst I appreciate the vocal talent Dizzee has (had?), I didn't find the music that surrounded his voice to be particularly well produced or inspiring. I guess this is all about the tempo, the 'bristishness', and the particular street/urban/alienated community experience. I get it, I understand why it woudl be so ground breaking and popular, but it's not my music.

This is an enjoyable album. Its grandiose, epic and soraing in parts. It's not my ravourite rock album but it has a lot of good riffage and Matt whatsits vocals are really enjoyably unique. I like their bravado and this would be a great driving album, so there's that. Finally, I appreciate the horns in Knights of Cydonia - nice choice! I was going to give this 3 stars but I think it can sneak a 4 based on that. Nah, its a three, I think there are better Muse albums that Ive heard - also, it simply isn't memorable, it's not creating ear works (except maybe Knights of Cydonia with that epic vocal harmony bit).3.5 maybe!? Ah, I could play it anytime and enjoy it equally. I'll give it a 4.

Quite good, but not mind blowing nor up my street. I was pleasantly surprised given that I found the Wikipedia write up a touch off putting.

That was really surprising and great-fun album. I love/hate the opening scream, and the whole album was dank and dirty with great guitar sounds all over it. Sounds like Lou Reed with punk and slide. This whole album is surprisingly progressive and definitely stands the test of time. I'm giving this 4 stars - which I'm really surprised about. This goes in my 'surprising finds' category of my 1001 albums experience.

A really fun and well produced album. Upbeat, funky as all hell, and touches on those electronica notes that I loved so much around the turn of the millenium. Solid, fun album.

It's a beatifull and morose album. The production is, as you'd expect, top notch. I like it, I don't love it, but I like it.

An upbeat and truly unusual album - punk-pop but accessible and not taking themselves too seriously. I expected Love Shack etc and wasn't dissappointed with the energy adn humour in this album. Good fun, not mind blowing, but good fun.

This is a really listenable album for me. It rocks, it never lets up its dynamic and pace yet is unusual enough to remain intereting throughout. This album is rocking, yet accessble. It's rough around the edges and transparant production suits me. I don't know, there's a part of me that thinks this is a '3' but its I can absolutely see me listening and re-listening to this over and over.

A really enjoyable album. Surprisingly modern sounding with seemignly heavy influence from Sabbath, Iron Maiden (or maybe it's the other way around). Regardless, I enjoyed this album, its high energy and raw rock power.

"So that's who wrote that song!" - me after hearing Sunshine Superman here for the first time. I was ready to write this album off after track two or three thinking it was some protentious run of the mill 60's folk nonsense - it kind of is, but I can hear the origins of Beck, Mica P Hinson, and other prog-post-folk artits in Donovan's work. Bert's Blues makes me wonder what the relationship between The Beatles and Donovan was - it could of been an influence on the The Beatles, but I might be mistaken. This album does bang on about wizards and crows and silence and Camelot and jesters in a way that only a stinky hippy in the late 60's could possibly connect with, yet it does explore and drift in directions than those you wouldn't initially expect. I doubt I'll relisten often (or at all) but its a curious and interesting album.

This is clearly a top-drawer pop album, the quality of the sogn writing is indisputible - the clarity and precision, the performance by GM, its solid. Just not to my taste. Even 'Freedom '90', that I was anticipating to enjoy, fell flat and I found the piano to sound so 'MIDI', the whole album - for me - suffered from a rather synthetic sound, that is, the instrumentation all sounded so processed and pristine. GM has a geat pop voice, I've heard him in so many contexts and thought "wow, this guy has got it' - just not htis album for me.

I go way back with this album - I loved Nirvana back in the day (early 90's) so this is very much revisting-a-much-loved-album for me. Let the nostalgia commence! Ok, let's stick tot he music - I love Kurts voice now more than I ever did back in the day. I find his intuitive melodic and harmonic choices so interesting and unusual, the same for his guitar playing. Also, the rasp in his voice - so present in this recording and such a common thing throughout thrash, metal, etc. today - so pre-emptive of todays thrash and metal, and seemingly effortless on his part (although I recenlty learned that he often blew his voice out, so I guess 'effotless' isn't quite right). It's a fucking great album by a great band. I'm biased.. but only coz they won my heart back in the day - so they've earned my highest rating. This was an easy one to rate for me.

This is an enjyoable - and typical - offering from Fela Kuti. I guess Ginger Baker is one of the drummers on this one. It's funky, upbet and relentlessly danceable throughout. I did find it - much like a lot of Fela Kuti's output - somewhat one dimensional, lacking any particular dynamics beyond 'breaking down' and building back up again, which, even that, is somewhat rare on this album. Enjoyable, listenable, not particulary mind blowing.

It's a great album and well worth it's place in history. One of the most disruptive albums to white america - for sure. However, it hasn't grabbed me on this listen. I appreciate it, love it for its impact, but jsut don't see myself returning to it. I'm an ex-hip hop head, and I guess this vote confirms the 'ex' part.

Man, I went into this with an open heart but this is mediocrity and blandness sonified. Every song is very similar - musically, the sequenced drums are completely uninspired and flat, the guitar loops around and Gray's voice, his only redeeming feature here (he can, at least, sing), whine's on. This is tedious. Having read about the original failed launch and then meteoric second launch of this album I am stunned at how this was so succesful. Maybe I can understand it gaining a little success given how inoffensive it is, but to be in the top 100 albums for multiple years, the 5(?) selling album etc is absurd. Wow, mega-bland.

First impressions: I really don't like this singers voice - it's so bland to me - and the arrangement of this opening song is so annoying with that awful, high volume burst of dissonant brass-type-instrument. So, we're not off to a great start. I tried with this to be open minded but I really can't stand it. The singers voice is extremely tedious and low energy, lacking dynamics - it's as if the guy next to you at the pub starts singing his stories to you - which, I guess I can see how some people would find this appealing - and the music is uninspiring, lacking any ideas beyond one-per-song that repeat. Its dull adn I really don't like it.

I'm not a fan of this album. There are some classics on here, but, for the most part, it is bluesy Stones' rock jams that are relatively middle of the road at best. I prefer Sticky Fingers, Let it Bleed by a long shot. This was underwhelming.

I was hoping to be blown away by this, but it was pretty mild. Some absolute classic songs on this album but I really wasn't as engrossd as I had hoped.

This is the most surprising listen I've had to date. It's country.. but in spite of that, it's really, really enjoyable. This is a very accessible album that is easy to listen to. Griffith's voice is so beautiful, rounded and warm and the instrumentatino - guitar, slide, etc, as you'd expect - is just really pleasing to the ear warm and simple. Just a great album

This has heavy background-music-in-a-Manchester-Northern-Quarter-Cafe-in-the-mid-2000s vibe. It is repettitive, light on the ears and, for the most part, relatively uninteresting to me. I prefer the IDM, John Hopkins end of the dance/electronic spectrum so this is feeling quite mild and middle of the road (not that I'm that edgy, I just like my electronic music either more frantic, more complex, or more transulcently-layered rather than a mish mash of samples). Life is too short - having read how the best songs are ETOH and Fantasy Psychiatrist, I am bailing before the end of the album (a rare move). These songs were not all that great and this relentless sample based mish-mash is getting really boring.

Pre-Funk era, I guess? This live recording sounds like it was a great gig - I mean, really great. The energy and performance is top tier, and the audience wailing and screaming throughout confirm it. This will get a lower rating from me for being not my cup of tea, and, whilst I appreciate it, i'm not intending to revisit it again.

It's easy listening, its kind of groovy, its smooth, cool, and has a hint of the 60's abotu it. It also has a hint of 'elevator' musak about it. This isn't really my bag, it's inooffensive and, whilst it does play with soe dissonant harmonies here and there, relatively uneventful.

It's got that early-mid 200s distorted vocal, pushing drums, and chugging lightly deistorted rhythm guitar.There are momentas that are really nice (the opening of Une Annee Sans Lumiere for example) but it's just not that interesting to me. The music is largely unispired and lacks anything particularly unique to peak my interest. This album just kind of happens, inconsequentially, trotting along without a care in the world to you or I. It's not bad, it's beige. Harmless, meh.

This is obviously high quality musicianship but, having listened to Fela Kuti for years, I am just over this music. The novelty is gone, I fail to hear any significant dynamic or tonal shift between songs to keep me interested. It is music that just goes and goes in the background. Great if you wan to give your mid city cafe a little ambience, not so great to pick and listen to.

Damn, those strings, that guitar. What a classic and signature sound. This first track, with it's muted keys melody (three notes ascending), is just so recognisable. Incredible. A really strong album, not nearly as impactful as their original 90's offerings but quintessentially Portishead - which is never a bad thing. This is likely to rise on second listen.

Harmless, 60's fun. Not particulalry interesting to me but the back beat kept relentlessly and enjoyably chugging along throughout. This is problably a more significant album than I can give it credit for.

Is this the album I heard and loved back in the early 2000s yet couldn't remember the title? We'll see. Perhaps, although I don't think so. It's an enjoyable album, and I was surprised to get into it with such ease. The latest jazz I've listened to really hasn't been my cup of tea but this is pretty accessible.

Good but not their best, in my opinion. Although, Bohemian Rapsody is on here so we can't ignore that we are in the presence of one of the greatest songs of all time. Overall, in 2024, a rather underwhelming listen that feels a little self indulgent. However, beautifully performed, recorded and uniquely Queen.

This is good, upbeat, full-band Dylan. The energy is high and the rhythm compulsive. I much prefer this, these days, to his solo folk offerings. There are some classics on here, kicing off with Subtaerranean Homesick Blues. THe highlight is the final track, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. Good album.

What an awful, dissonant opening to the album. It sounds like the samples have been processed by an asshole - not calling Butch Vig and asshole here, I certainly don't think he's that, the man's a legend - no, I mean a literal asshole. If you passed a sample through the digestive tract of a walrus, it would sound like the opening 30 seconds of this album. However, after that we get into some nice melodic indiy rock wonkiness. This is an underwhelming album. I always felt Garbage were overrated and this listen confirms it for me. Whilst they are/were somewhat unique at the time, it was really for things that make them less interesting to me - they were grunge but without the rough edges or authenticity, more mainstream, more clean-edge; they were Skunk Anansie without the bite. Not that great.

This 60's fantasy/political Lyricing really hasn't aged well. These days I find it so naff. A somehwat tedious easy listening progr/concept album. Has nothing of the trademark Bee Gees disco/funk, and somehow the vocals sound so generic. Tedious and uninspiring.

This is a really great album. It's like Elbow if Elbow were good. The vocalist originally sounded like whatsisface from Elbow but he is so much more dynamic and his voice really changes a lot throughout songs and from song to song. The music, however, is infinitely more interesting, varied and dynamic. There's some really interesting songs and a highlight for me is DLZ. Strong and unusual album that is both accessible, pop-ish, and interesting.

What a great album. It's so well composed and the performances are spot on. I used to get so frustrated when my Dad would put this record on when I was a kid, but now I love it. Great album, the only reason I am not giving it 4 stars is that it is slightly out of my taste.

This is a really good album, exactly as you'd expect from these soft-rock masters. Sultans of Swing remains a standout classic and the highlight of this album. A solid album yet I think I prefer Brothers in Arms (listening to that now). I never liked Dire Straits when I was young and my Dad forced me to listen - however, these days, I have a new found respect for them, especially the phenomenal guitar skills of Knopfler.