407
Albums Rated
3.54
Average Rating
37%
Complete
682 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1960
Favorite Decade
Metal
Favorite Genre
other
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
74
5-Star Albums
10
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
We're Only In It For The Money
The Mothers Of Invention
|
5 | 2.46 | +2.54 |
|
Shleep
Robert Wyatt
|
5 | 2.5 | +2.5 |
|
The Madcap Laughs
Syd Barrett
|
5 | 2.62 | +2.38 |
|
Let's Get Killed
David Holmes
|
5 | 2.68 | +2.32 |
|
The Infotainment Scan
The Fall
|
5 | 2.72 | +2.28 |
|
A Short Album About Love
The Divine Comedy
|
5 | 2.77 | +2.23 |
|
Grievous Angel
Gram Parsons
|
5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
|
Leftism
Leftfield
|
5 | 2.91 | +2.09 |
|
Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches
Happy Mondays
|
5 | 2.98 | +2.02 |
|
Heavy Weather
Weather Report
|
5 | 2.98 | +2.02 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Joshua Tree
U2
|
1 | 3.67 | -2.67 |
|
Low-Life
New Order
|
1 | 3.3 | -2.3 |
|
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Wilco
|
1 | 3.3 | -2.3 |
|
Only By The Night
Kings of Leon
|
1 | 3.23 | -2.23 |
|
Solid Air
John Martyn
|
1 | 3.16 | -2.16 |
|
In Our Heads
Hot Chip
|
1 | 3.11 | -2.11 |
|
Fuzzy
Grant Lee Buffalo
|
1 | 3.01 | -2.01 |
|
The Man Who
Travis
|
1 | 3.01 | -2.01 |
|
Connected
Stereo MC's
|
1 | 2.94 | -1.94 |
|
Rejoicing In The Hands
Devendra Banhart
|
1 | 2.82 | -1.82 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Beatles | 7 | 4.71 |
| Led Zeppelin | 4 | 5 |
| Miles Davis | 4 | 4.75 |
| Metallica | 3 | 5 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 3 | 5 |
| Radiohead | 5 | 4.4 |
| The Doors | 3 | 4.67 |
| Van Halen | 2 | 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 2 | 5 |
| The Cure | 2 | 5 |
| Nirvana | 2 | 5 |
| Elliott Smith | 2 | 5 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| U2 | 2 | 1.5 |
| R.E.M. | 3 | 2 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| The Rolling Stones | 5, 3, 2 |
| The Fall | 4, 2, 5 |
| Pixies | 5, 2, 4 |
| Stevie Wonder | 2, 5, 5, 4 |
| David Bowie | 2, 5, 4, 3, 3, 5 |
5-Star Albums (74)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Syd Barrett · 2 likes
5/5
I loved this! It's funny I always liked the early kitsch little songs by Pink Floyd like "Bike" and "The Gnome" from Piper at the Gates of Dawn and knew they were Syd Barrett but never thought to follow up his solo stuff. It all got overshadowed by the more "serious" stuff like Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here.
And also, this is when I was first getting into music and if I wanted to hear Syd Barrett I would have had to have sought out the vinyl at a second hand record shop. No Spotify then! Whereas all the Pink Floyd albums were in my Mum and Dad's record collection or swapped between friends.
Anyway, I really "dig" this. It's got a very naïve sound and that sort of outside aesthetic, like Ivor Cutler or someone. Giving it five stars is probably too much but I'm going to because this has actually opened up a new little musical avenue for me.
The Fall · 2 likes
5/5
I think we've listened to two other Fall albums on 1001 albums. My other half and her cool mates are into the Fall. As a result, I've heard a few of her favourite songs (one of which "Glam Racket" is on this album) and I saw them live at least twice before Mark E. Smith died.
I think this is the first time I've really enjoyed them.
I can really see where both Pavement and LCD Soundsystem, "took inspiration" from The Fall on this one.
I'm going to do a slightly risky thing given I've only heard it once and give it five stars. This is partly due to marking inflation, but mainly because I liked every song and I think I'll come back to this album again!
The Verve · 1 likes
2/5
Spacey Oasis. I’ve not listened to this album before. The hits are the sound of sitting in a pub in the 90s. The rest was both more psychedelic and more boring than I was expecting. And as it went it got more and more boring. Boooooring.
2 stars.
R.E.M. · 1 likes
2/5
I keep trying to get into REM but I just don’t seem to enjoy they’re music very much.
Flamin' Groovies · 1 likes
3/5
1001 albums has introduced me to a new genre that I think of as "60s punk". Now, this came out in 1970, but I would say it was an example of that sound - taking the basic 1950s Rock n Roll elements but in a rougher, harsher, more DIY way.
I liked this. I might return to it. I might not. I'd give it was a 3.5 stars if I could.
4-Star Albums (150)
1-Star Albums (10)
All Ratings
Gorillaz
3/5
I listened to the whole thing for the first time. I would say it was alllllllright. Like, fine. Okay. I really liked the couple of singles I mentioned and there were a couple of tunes in the middle I quite liked too but overall seemed like background / coffee shop music. It was tolerable but didn’t make me want to listen again apart from Clint Eastwood and the other one.
Blur
4/5
This is a fantastic album for the first eight tracks! But I don't really care for the last six tracks apart from "Movin On". Some Killer, some filler, then!
Full disclosure: I've listened to this plenty before so just skimmed through the tracks.
The best Blur album, if anyone is interested, is "Modern Life is Rubbish" which is ALL killer and, if you include "Pop Scene" on the extended version, some extra killer too.
Eagles
2/5
Thoughts whilst listening:
Released in 1976! It's got Hotel California on it! You know, from Guitar Hero.
This has got that sleazy, polished, string-section-y, feel of what I remember was on the radio in the seventies. Makes me think of the era of that Convoy song and Song for Guy by Elton John and I'm Not in Love by 10cc. That sort of stuff.
And that stuff doesn't really chime for me unless I'm in a very specific mood. Maybe if it was on the soundtrack of a Paul Thomas Anderson film I'd get into it in an ironic hipster way. Did anyone see Licorice Pizza? I really got into Let Me Roll It by Wings off of that soundtrack. What a tune!
Would it be wrong to say this way Country and Western Beatles with a bit of Disco? I dunno. I'm sort of getting into it and the seventies vibe as it goes along and I think back to the time. It's undeniably rich with musicality, key changes, guitar solos, all that. But I don't think I'll listen to it again. It's just a cultural thing. I'm more likely to listen to Saturday Night by Whigfield, not because it's BETTER, but just because it has more cultural meaning to me, personally.
I dunno. I'm sort of vibing with it* as we get toward the end. Try And Love Again has a kind of Neil Young feeling to it. And you have to remember that the Eagles brought about the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy theme tune.
Okay, I'm really looking forward to The Last Resort ending now so I can play Let Me Roll It. And then by Saturday Night by Whigfield and Convoy by C.W. McCall.
UPDATE: I really know nothing about The Eagles so was checking out there other albums afterwards and I think I'm going to be the "I prefer their earlier stuff" guy. "Take It Easy"? "Desperado"? "Journey of the Sorcerer" That's more like it!
*As the young people say.
Curtis Mayfield
3/5
I've never heard of this album before, never heard the title, or seen the cover, so I was really excited to listen to something new-to-me...
I liked it! Having listened to it once I couldn't really tell you any of the songs on it off the top of my head so I think this is going to be one to come back to. But this is more the sort of thing I was hoping to hear from doing this 1001 albums thing.
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
I don’t remember owning this album but I know all the songs and have heard it a decent amount somehow.
Clever lyrics, great riffs… this album should be further up my street than it is. I like it but I wouldn’t choose to stick it on.
I think this is another example of what I’m going to call “The Whigfield Effect”. I was 30 when this came out and felt old already. So, whilst I was happy that “the kids” had some decent music, it didn’t feel like my music. On the other hand, I love the Strokes and We Are Scientists’ first albums which came out around the same time, so I don’t know, I guess that doesn’t make sense.
The upshot is, I’m giving this a good score even though I wouldn’t listen to it myself!
By the way, my favourite Artic Monkeys’ song is “Brian Storm” because it is approaching metal intensity.
Deee-Lite
4/5
They had an album?!
"Groove is in the Heart" is a totally awesome tune, but I would never have thought to listen to more of their stuff than that, let alone thought that their album is in the top 1001 to listen to. Is Gina G in the top 1001? Betty Boo? (Betty Boo should be, to be fair.)
Anyway, as the first track started and I thought, "Hey this is really good!" I wondered if it might be a whole album of "Groove is in the Heart"s. And then my other half walked in and said "This is a great album!" and sang the Deee-lite Theme that had just finished. It was looking good for Deee-Lite.
It is, of course, not all "Groove is in the Heart"s. It sounds a bit dated and their are some skippable tracks, but it's probably my favourite thing I've listened to as part of this 1001 albums thing so far!
Also I recognised a sample in the first track as Tom Jones's "She's a Lady" which made me feel rather smug. So, a bonus point for that!
Mike Ladd
2/5
This is very stereotypical and boring of me but: I don't really listen to rap. I quite like the Beastie Boys and I can still remember all the words to some Cypress Hill tracks (Tip for white people: "Neighbour" is a perfectly good substitute for the n-word. As in "I got to roll with the self control / in the green tank when the shit unfolds / hold up. I got it sewn up / me and my [NEIGHBOURS] are about to blow up")
So, anyway, I like some of the music and samples here, the strings especially. I like some of the sci-fi Blade Runner references. I think I probably like the political angle of the lyrics but it's hard to tell because I'm not sure what the lyrics are and, although this album is in the 1001 to listen to, there aren't lyrics on Spotify or any of the lyric transcribing websites. So, I dunno. I would have to spend time working them out to really gauge if I was into it or not.
It's not really my sort of thing but it's good to be made to listen to something different.
Al Green
5/5
Love it. Every song is good - which is what I ideally want from an album - and there's a couple of classics.
I only heard this for the first time a few years ago (I remember listening to it on chilled out long runs) and was like, "Where has this been all my life?"
I don't have a lot to say about it, just: Great! Brilliant! Fandabbiedozie!
Alanis Morissette
2/5
Musically, I don't mind this. I like hearing some of the singles. It makes me think of watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I can imagine Alanis playing at The Bronze whilst Angel and Buffy are having a heart to heart about something angst-y. In fact, that probably happened.
However, I don't really like her voice. There's a bit too much of the "yelping" that makes me allergic to The Cranberries. Also, I don't really like her turn of phrase. Millions of hack comedians have done routines about they events depicted in "Ironic" not actually being ironic.* But I also find the phrase "falling head over feet" particularly irksome. I know it's done deliberately but I hate it.
On the other hand, I found some of the meaning of her lyrics quite interesting, especially as I know she went on to have an advice column in The Guardian!
On the whole it was quite nice to hear the hits again but there were a few songs such as "Forgiven" and "Mary Jane" that were hard to sit through. I was quite pleased that I had the self control to stop myself hitting the skip button!
Not something I'd revisit but I've heard it now.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*This is an exaggeration on my part. It wasn't millions and they weren't all hacks. But still... it was too many!
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
3/5
Nice. Soothing. I was already sleepy when listening to this and it was nice and relaxing. I'd give it a higher score but I don't think it's the sort of thing I'd listen to for my own enjoyment. But I'm glad I did it for this.
Stephen Stills
2/5
LISTEN 1
2 tracks in - I like the vibe so far.
I love Neil Young's famous albums - "Harvest" and "After The Gold Rush" buy have never got through his whole discography, let alone the family tree of bands like Crosby Stills Nash and Young and Buffalo Springfield. I think I've listened to both bands a little but not really got into it.
4 tracks in - I've started to lose interest a bit - background music.
21 tracks in - I've reached the end! It's a very long album to take in, being a double album.
There were a couple of songs with a spacey electonic bass under the country and western twang which gave an interesting feeling / juxtaposition.
Overall, it seemed a nice enough album but nothing leapt out at me.
LISTEN 2
I skipped about a bit trying to find songs I particularly liked and I couldn't find any. Some were better than others, some worse. But generally I felt a bit "Meh" about it all. I don't particularly like his voice. It sounds like the sort of band you might hear in a pub - except of course, they would probably sound amazing in a pub with all the harmonies and all.
I guess a better comparison is - They sound like the sort of band I would hear in the soundtrack of an old film or detective show that I've never heard of and doesn't stand out. It's of it's time. It's alright. But it doesn't strike me as particularly interesting or move me in particular. It's FINE.
Primal Scream
2/5
Screamadelica is an awesome album and still gets played in our house, at least once a year, I'd say. I love that album, and I feel like I should know more about Primal Scream than I do. To that end, I've tried getting into Vanishing Point before. When it came up as today's album I thought "oh, yeah, that's a good one!" But then, when I start listening to it, I'm not so sure.
Things I like: I love the track "Kowalski". I remember hearing it on late night Radio 1 when it first came out and being blown away. I like the sampling of Miles Davis's "On The Corner" and the early Pink Floyd type riff in the first song. I thought "Star" would be too sappy for me, but I like it. I love "Trainspotting" but then I love the Trainspotting soundtrack album.
Things I don't like: The overall "vibe" of the album. It feels like Screamadelica's evil twin. Similarly to that album there's a few rock / pop songs in a sea of psychedelic dance tracks. But this album feels unsettling and dark somehow. That's an admirable quality in music if it's what you're after. But I prefer the blissed out feel of the "good" twin.
Another way of putting it: It's just not as good! But I could possibly reduce the album down to 4 or 5 tracks and have an E.P. that I really loved, or half of a great album.
In fact, here it is: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4D9jH61ldeGTxQBatmEhRj?si=9782f37d01004adc
UPDATE: Mark mentioned "Echo Dek" is a dub remix of this album. Having listened to it, I vastly prefer that. Five stars to Echo Dek!
Beck
4/5
I think this is good. It's chill and melancholy but because I heard Morning Phase first, this just seems like a precursor or rough draft of that.
Prince
2/5
Prince is one of those artists (or "The Artist...") who I've always felt I *should* like. Back in the day, I liked the singles when I heard them around but not felt compelled to buy an album. A couple of years ago I tried the "Sign of the Times" album and just liked the singles but wasn't that fussed about the rest of it. So, going into this I expect to like "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" and not be bothered about the rest. Let's see...
...Yeah. That's kind of how I feel about this. I like some of the more jam band sounding stuff. I like it musically. It just sounds a bit "light" or "airy" or something. I feel like it doesn't have any low end or grit. Maybe I need to turn the bass up on my speaker! But that's how I felt the last time I tried Prince too.
Also it doesn't help that he's all about partying and having a good time and I don't like either of those things.
Antony and the Johnsons
3/5
I have had a couple of goes at listening to this and not managed it. But I figured I need to stop listening to only the albums on this list I already like, so here we go.
My problem with it is the same problem I have with most music I dislike immediately: I don't like the sound of the singer's voice. ANOHNI has a strange honking / quavering sound which reminds me of some of the worst excesses of Marc Bolan or Devandra Barnhart and I do not like it. But, having got through the first half of the first song on the album, I found there is a bit in the second half where the piano is playing these rising chords and the voices seemed to be singing without to much warbling and I thought "this is alright. It could be from the soundtrack to an arthouse movie or something..." so I am persevering.
It's not really my cup of tea but I do love the sound of the piano, the lush strings and the musicianship.
Track 5 - Is that Boy George? It is! See, I find his a much more pleasant voice to listen to in this setting. And checking this on Wikipedia has revealed a whole lot of guest appearances...
"The album features guest appearances by Rufus Wainwright, Devendra Banhart, Joan Wasser, and by lead singer Anohni's childhood heroes Boy George and Lou Reed.[4]"
Track 6 - Rufus Wainwright has a great voice for this. How funny to see Barnhart is also on this thing. I'm not looking forward to that - Double warbling!!!
Track 7 - Lou Reed on this one? I think he just does the intro. This has got a nice bar room blues shuffle feel to it. This is my favourite so far.
Track 8 - Oh no. Here he is. Barnhart. Like Marc Bolan singing on a vibration plate in an earthquake. It's a warble-off. Oh, he's just doing the intro too. This is easily my least favourite song so far.
Track 9 - We're nearly through this thing. It's only a short album at 35 minutes. Who's doing the intro on this one? It sound like the guy off of Dark Side of the Moon "There is no dark side of the moon, really. As a matter of fact, it's all dark!"
Track 10 - It's the end! You know, I'm glad I've listened to it. There's a lot of good here. It feels very sultry and moody. It has the feeling, if not the sound, of a Tom Waits album or something. Totally different voices, but drama and smoke, stage and theatre, hard times and sadness... I don't know if that makes any sense or if I am just doing word association.
I'm never going to really love this voice, and the number of guest appearances might indicate an attempt to water it down a bit, to give the listener the time to acquire the taste for it? But I can't see and hear why it was considered such a big / important / award-winning album. There is something very moving and touching and open about it. I'm glad I persevered with it. But I'm not sure I will return to it.
Ray Price
3/5
I feel like every album ought to have an introduction like this "Hello, we're Rage Against The Machine. We sure hope you liked our last album. We filled it full of a lot of polemic and riffage for you and we're hoping to keep you folks entertained with some more of the same on this one. Here are some Bulls... on Parade..."
Anyway, I loved the pedal steel guitar and the very country lyrics. I was worried it would be too old-fashioned for me at first. But I kind of got into it!
Donald Fagen
2/5
Holy moly! Smoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooth.
Probably too smooth for me.
Is this smooth jazz? Cocktail jazz? Yacht rock?
It's not something I would choose to listen to. But at least I know where this sort of music resides should I want to listen to it ironically.
About half way though now, on "New Frontier," and it sort of reminds me of some of the 80s Frank Zappa stuff. Is this what he was taking the piss out of?!
The Smiths
4/5
I never liked the Smiths. I was a Cure fan, and in my rather partisan view of things, you could only chose one "side". As it turns out, I was right. Morrisey has increasingly shown himself to be a bit of a prick, whilst Robert Smith is still a cool dude.
Back in the day though, the Smiths seemed to be on the side of the underdog. They make me think of young men in cardigans like Sean Hughes, or our friend Rich.
I thoroughly enjoyed the recent Rick Astley and Blossoms tribute band to the Smiths shown on the BBC Glastonbury coverage, and there's always been a few songs I've liked, especially, How Soon Is Now, but other than that, I've stayed clear of them.
So when it finally came to listening to a full Smiths album, I was rather annoyed to find that I liked it.
I shan't be listening to it again though, for ideological reasons.
Radiohead
5/5
I am listening to this album for 1001 albums even though it is one of my favourite albums and I know it like the back of my hand.
I know it so well, in fact, that I am particularly looking forward to the "album tracks" rather than the "hits". I was thinking about this - saying you like the album tracks - it seems like a bit of a pose, or hipster move, but I think it's just when you are so familiar with certain albums that you move beyond what attracted you in the first place and start appreciating the smaller things.
Anyway, the tracks I really look forward to on this album are "Let Down" which manages to be beautiful and feels upbeat and optimistic as well as down and depressing at the same time - it's fascinating, I don't know how it does it - and "Lucky" / "The Tourist" which sort of feels like one closing song to me.
I remember putting "Let Down" on at a gathering once and Tom saying "What? This isn't party music!" Retrospectively, I would argue that the happiness/miserableness of the song means it *is* party music and simultaneously *isn't* party music at the same time. It's Schrodinger's Party Music - you don't know what mood sets until it's out of the box. I don't think any of this was on my mind at the time though!
As well as the album tracks being great, the B-sides from the singles are great too. Radiohead are well known for having excellent unused songs and B-sides. If you liked this I recommend the deluxe reissue "OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017" for "Palo Alto" (which I first heard in the background of a Radiohead Tour Documentary and had to track down.) and "Polyethylene Parts 1and 2"which I remember Jo Wiley playing on Radio One and her describing the voice saying "go!" at the start as "sounding like Frank Sidebottom".
Is this their greatest album? It was the one that introduced me to the band and I subsequently came to love all this stuff. So, I guess it was the most popular and the sort of the point where they reached the greatest *musically-accessible* version of what they are, before going off into less popular experimentation with Kid A etc.
Is this my favourite Radiohead album? Well, I think Kid A might be my favourite due to the aforementioned experimental sounds, and "In Rainbows", and their latest "Moon Shaped Pool" also have a shot at it. I also love the previous albums. "The Bends" is great (though I specifically like a B-side remix. "Planet Telex - Hexidecimal Mix. I just love the bassline) and I like "Pablo Honey" purely *because* it's so immature. I don't think the band like it themselves.
OK Computer has a couple of tracks that are a bit too teenage-angst-y. even for me, like "Climbing Up the Walls" and "Exit Music (for a film)" - although even this song has it's merits if only because it made for a great scene in Father Ted. "Replace them with the two I like from the B-sides," would have been my advice. But this is a minor complaint. It is definitely a classic album.
Little Simz
4/5
This is outside my normal music listening and much too modern for me! But I loved the music - particularly the basslines. I seemed to recognise a couple of tracks which I must have absorbed via osmosis from radio or TV. I've certainly hear of Little Simz a lot from the Mercury Prize win and You Tube music reviews.
I only dimly know what the lyrics are about on first listening. But I hope I'll return to it again! I'm giving this a higher rating than my initial reaction of 3/5 because I reckon I'll like it even more once I've had a chance to listen to it more than once.
Motörhead
4/5
START OF ALBUM: I love Motorhead as a "thing", an ideal, a mythical representation of what rock 'n' roll should be, but I don't really listen to them enough.
I remember listening to an album of theirs whilst walking along on a hot summers day a few years ago and being surprised at (1) how good / catchy it all was, and, (2) that they are more blues / rock than heavy metal.
Okay, that might be a little bit of stretch. But for all the image of being the loudest band in the world and so heavy metal, "everything louder than everything else," etc, you couldn't really classify the music as thrash or death metal or anything. I think it sits nicely alongside bands like Deep Purple and Thin Lizzy.
Anyway, a live album is sort of an excuse to have a "best of" compilation isn't it? So this must be all their best songs at the time, I imagine...
END OF ALBUM: ...Okay, I've finished listening now and liked 9 songs out of 18, which is exactly half. The others seemed a bit samey.
I was thinking back to my teenage years of getting into music and guitar and theorising that this album would be best listened to in the summer sun whilst smoking a cigarette (which I don't smoke anymore). It reminded me of what rock was about, simpler times, etc etc.
And then the song "jailbait" came on and made me feel very uncomfortable. But still, ugh.
Santana
3/5
I thought I was familiar with this album already but I think I had the ‘best if’ with the white dove on the cover that had about half the tracks from Abraxas.
Was nice to hear this again. I quite like Santana. His guitar solos just seem like noodling rather than having a melody or structure though.
Various Artists
4/5
Very Christmas-y!
Ella Fitzgerald
3/5
I started out thinking this would be an easy four stars - clearly really good but I’d take a star off for not being my sort of thing or only wanting to play it occasionally. But as it went on I got bored. I think it’s the strings. I have this problem with a lot of the jazz I WANT to like. Wes Montgomery records are a good example. I’m excited to hear the guitar playing and the band but the whole thing is smothered in a schmutz of saccharine strings.
I like it (or can bear it) for a song or two but a whole album of it is too much. It strikes me as the sort of thing where you could take a few songs and mix them up in a compilation of other music and I would appreciate each song on it’s own. But strings all the time is too many strings. I prefer having a bit space to hear the voice and the band. For example I recently bought a Wes Montgomery LIVE album so I could be reasonably sure there’s no strings on it. Anyway. I think I’ve made my point. Too many strings! Give us a song or few without strings as a break, or at least a less sickly sweet arrangement and I might have liked the album a lot more.
Kings of Leon
1/5
I'm not looking forward to this.
Track 1 - It sounds like ZOO-era U2 with a shitty singer from a The Commitments tribute band. When will it end? There's still 60 seconds to go. Aargh.
Track 2 - What was that album where I said it would sound amazing if you've never heard any other music before? That's what this is, again. The music is very simple, but not in a good way and the singer sucks. The guy from Terrorvision or Ugly Kid Joe were better and doing this sort of thing. I am reminded of U2 again by this track. God, it's boring. 40 seconds to go. They need to make all their songs 1 minute shorter is what I've learnt so far.
Track 3 - "Yoo-ooh-ooh, my ass is on fire." Oh, no, I'm confusing it with something else. Again, it's amazing how simple these songs are. When did this come out? Do you remember the phrase "Landfill Indie"? I am suddenly reminded of that.
Track 4 - Oh god, I forgot this one. "USE somebody". Again, so simple with weirdly unconvincing over-emoting vocals. Right. I don't know if I can do this whole album with out skipping. 1 minute 22 seconds to go. Oh god, this is so desperate to be arena rock. Ooh! A key change! It's over.
Track 5 - skipping
Track 6 - This sounds like modern country and western which is just simple rock with lyrical references to tractors and things. I suppose you want to make sure you get that Southern demographic. "Drinking Smoking." "Kerosene" Some slide guitar. But so simple still.
Track 7 "She's only 17" Really? Is rock still doing that? (In 2008) Yeesh.
skip skip skip.
Yeah this is corporate bullshit. I can imagine tolerating it if it came on in a pub and you were a bit pissed. It's not as bad as Travis (but then what is?) so I am grudgingly giving it two stars.
Or am I?
Nah fuck it. GET FUCKED KINGS OF LEON!
Drive-By Truckers
3/5
I listened to half of this. I’m not sure what to make of it. Musically it’s okay, I guess. The fact that it announces itself as a “rock opera” or concept album made me think I should pay attention to the lyrics which are all about Neil Young and Lynrd Skynard. I don’t know. It seems more of an oddity than a classic album?
2/5
Alright. This is my third attempt to get through this album. Why? It kicks off with "Victoria" which is a total banger. So what's my problem? Well, I think it's that it's a real steep drop off after that.
I want to like the Kinks. They're clearly a very important band and, unlike The Kings of Leon, which I just had to grit my teeth through, they have bags of character and personality.
This is a concept album, though, apparently, and I think it suffers the problem of some concept albums and musicals have of having the music being less important than the message or story or whatever-the-fuck it's meant to be about.
So after "Victoria" you get eleven songs that have a lot to say for them in term of tone, and lyrical content and musicality... but don't quite have any hooks or riffs that you can get hold off. They just meander along quite nicely with a sense of good old British cynicism.
I must say, and this isn't the album I expected to say it about but, it's mixed really well! There's a lot of instrumentation and the drums and backing vocals and horns and everything all sound really clear and distinct!
So basically, I want to like it more than I do. I'll try some other Kinks stuff, but I have a feeling they might be a "singles band" for me.
Interestingly, I just read the two songs I liked ("Brainwashed" was a distant second) were chosen for the A-side and B-side for the American single off of this album. Brainwashed reminds me of "Modern Life is Rubbish" era Blur - so I guess when they were trying to "sound British" they just wanted to sound like The Kinks!
Willie Nelson
4/5
Loved it! Lots of croony classic songs - of the sort that get stuck in your head or you might sing whilst wandering round the house - sung by the lovely raspy reedy voice of Willie Nelson.
Removing a star as, after the initial half a dozen or so, some songs weren’t as classic as others.
Alice In Chains
2/5
Ah! It's "Barrel's o' fun" from Doom II. But is this album barrels o' fun? Well, kind of.
This is actually the first time I've listened to this album, despite it being from "my era" and being into grunge music. I've always liked "Them Bones" and as a started listening to it I was kind of pleased that the rest of the album had the same sound. But maybe it was too samey?
Alice in Chains never really chimed with me the way Nirvana or, later, Soundgarden did. They just sounded too depressing... which is a weird thing to say given the other bands I like. I dunno.
When I got to the last track, "Would?" I remembered it was another single that I liked, but overall I didn't feel that I'd fallen in love with album. I can't say I'd listen to again. But maybe I will and it will grown on me.
The Crusaders
2/5
Street Life, the song, is a classic. The rest of the album was sort-of seventies background music. It made me think of The Towering Inferno, for some reason. This music could be playing whisky you were hanging out in a bar with Roddy McDowell wearing flares and sipping a cocktail before the tower got infernoed. I don’t know if I’d listen to it again.
Stereo MC's
1/5
I wasn’t massively into this at the time. It’s okay, nice enough, a bit samey and a bit dated sounding. I don’t really think it should be on this list though. The Stereo MCs were sort of a one or two hit wonder, weren’t they? It makes me wonder if you could knock a few albums off this list and cover the essential songs by including a “NOW that’s what I call nineties hits!” album. And of course that would also have “Saturday Night” by Whigfield on it. (I’m assuming Whigfield’s album didn’t make the list!?)
One star seems a bit harsh. It’s not that I hate it. It’s just I don’t plan to listen to it again. I got bored about four songs in.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
I didn’t have time to listen so skipped through the tracks.
I never properly got into the Stones *except* for this album which I loved. I think they generally seem to be a singles band rather than an album band, from my little listening of them. Whereas this seems consistent as an album *and* has some great hits on it.
I may be marking too high as I didn’t listen again but it’s a great album.
New Order
1/5
This one wasn’t for me. I quite like the instrumental track. I quite like that the bass makes it sound like The Cure sometimes. But otherwise, I was just waiting for it to end.
The Jam
2/5
Boring.
Hot Chip
1/5
I listened to half of this. The song I got to, “flutes” seemed to have a good groove, but overall it was bland - musical wallpaper or background noise.
I was surprised, again, that 1001 albums is suggesting an album by an artist but without that artists most popular song/s on it. Is this supposed to be the hipster“deep cut” that’s better than the obvious choice? Because it just seemed boring.
Beatles
4/5
At last! An album from the Beatmaster Beatles on this list! (I am assuming there are a few.) And I was glad it was an early one as I am only really very familiar with stuff from Rubber Soul onward. I did make an attempt to listen through all the early stuff once, just so I’d done it and didn’t find a lot that would draw me back as it was another time and another sound. I found on Spotify I’d just marked 2 or 3 songs as ‘liked’. This time around it went up to 8 with only 6 I thought were skippable.
Someone once said to me it was worth listening to early Beatles to see what they’d developed from. But rather than just being an intellectual exercise, this time I found myself imagining I was a teenager at the time this album came out and how different it must have sounded to anything else. You can tell the song writing is already showing signs of genius. It’s an odd one to score as it’s important in music, but not something I’d listen to a lot… though this time round I enjoyed it a lot more! So…
Aretha Franklin
4/5
I guess “Natural Woman” is the most well-known song here. I only know “Chain of fools” because of the kid with the amazing voice who sings it in Scool of Rock. And “People Get Ready” from a Rod Stewart / Jeff Beck cover version.
Anyway, I loved this album! It seemed like a great weekend morning funky chill soul album to listen to with a cup of coffee. I only had time for one listen but I look forward to returning to it.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
I know this album pretty well as my other half plays it a lot! I think it's a bit of a modern classic. I'm not really a big fan of "Rehab" as I feel it sounds a bit gimmicky - almost like a novelty single. But overall the old school sound and the modern lyrics work well against each other and I like most of the songs.
Thin Lizzy
4/5
Loved it! I should like / listen to Thin Lizzy more than I do. I love the harmonised guitar solos, I like Phil Lynott's voice, they have some great tunes, etc etc.
As I said with the Motorhead live album, it seems that live albums provide a way of giving a "greatest hits" record. I liked the vibe of the live sound but I read on wikipedia that there were studio overdubs on the live recordings! Shock horror! I don't really care though, as long as it sounds good.
Another album that I've earmarked to return to...
Cypress Hill
3/5
I know the Black Sunday album incredibly well from back in the day. But I never investigated anything by Cypress Hill outside of it. Again, 1001 Albums seems to be suggesting an album by a band without their best stuff on it!?
This, their first album, seemed like a tough first draft of Black Sunday to me. I was amazed how many of the same phrases and motifs and sounds were used again. If you liked Black Sunday, this is more of the same but without the hits. I guess that’s why I never explored further - that one album had covered all they were about.
If, however, you didn’t like Black Sunday or were put off by the lyrics of violence, homophobia etc, this is also not for you.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
So… this is why I don’t really get The Stones. “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Street Fighting Man” are fantastic but the rest of the album is… fine. It’s like a blues cover band or something.
This is why I think they are a singles band. Their greatest songs are REALLY great but the rest just seems like filler.
#TeamBeatles
Wilco
1/5
I listened to this twice and still don’t know that I feel anything about it. It seems like the sort of thing I should like but I don’t. I’m going to have to give it one star - not because I hate it. I just have no intention of listening to it again.
3/5
Funky! Nice! I quite liked it. The Cisco Kid and The World Is A Ghetto were highlights. I quite liked Beetles In The Bog too. The other couple of track seemed a bit meandering.
This is one I would return to and listen to some more. Though, again, it doesn't have the groups famous tunes on it and I am a bit confused why this is on the list and can only assume the one with "Low Rider" is on it too?
Madonna
2/5
The title track is one of those pop songs that I don't actually mind listening to if it comes on the radio or whatever - even if it does sound a bit like S Club 7. "Parp Parp! ...Parp!" Great! I don't need a whole album of it though.
That's not to say it's all exactly the same. It's quite a tuneful album. But it's got that weird, slightly-dated, half-electronic 2000s sound. And by the time it got to the awful cover of "American Pie" I was literally counting down the seconds for it to end.
I'm giving this two stars because it has one song on it that I sort-of don't mind.
Pentangle
3/5
I really WANT to like folk music more than I do.
Things I like already
1. Bert Jancsh (who is in Pentangle) (and is one of the many people Led Zeppelin ripped off) - I saw him do a gig at the Komedia in the 2000s and it's up there with the best gigs I've ever been too. There was a real sense of magic in the air.
2. "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme" by Pentangle. It was off the soundtrack to a recent film version of "Rebecca" by Daphne Du Maurier. It has a sinister Wicker-Man-esque feel to it.
It's that sense of sinister magic that I want from folk music.
My problem is it often seems to "nice". I want that feeling of ancient pagan / celtic mysticism. But often it seems a bit twee. A bit Tom and Barbara from The Good Life. A bit 70s sit com, rather than 70s folk horror.
And that's what I feel about this. I've tried getting into Pentangle before and I think I'm only every going to be a dabbler rather than a full convert.
Hey! This has sitar on it! It's a weird combination of instruments - guitar seems folky, banjo seems like a American bluegrass input and sitar! for Indian mysticism and, er, The Beatles influence.
This is also another opportunity for mean to moan about expanded editions of albums. I wish there was a clear line of seperation between the end of the track list which made the original album revered and the extra crap - out-takes, live versions etc - that they bump on the end. To be fair there's some albums where the extra tracks are my favourite (Brighten the Corners by Pavement being a prime example. It is only after me and Mark went to see them that I realised that all my favourite songs are B-side on the expanded edition of the album... because I am hipster than hip.) In this case, I think it might be both. I don't want the two extra versions of "Sally Go Round the Roses" but the two extra songs after that might be my favourites. They're just a bit groovier and swing a bit more than the ones on the original album.
Anyway, I need to listen to this again. And probably explore folk generally a bit more.
Iggy Pop
3/5
I’m not a natural Bowie fan. My other half had helped me get into him but there’s something about him I’ve found off-putting. Something about the constant ch-ch-changes in persona. Or something about slightly off Centre about his music? Anyway, I remember buying this CD and being surprised it was so Bowie-esque. It made sense in retrospect, when I learnt about their collaboration, of course.
I got it because it has two of the best songs of all time on it: Lust for Life and The Passenger. But I didn’t like the rest of it.
This time round I found I liked a few ofher songs - some of the more rockier stuff. But I still feel they don’t live up to the main two. If it were just Lust for Life and The Passenger I’d give it five stars. But as it is, it’s more of a three or three and a half.
Eels
5/5
There was a time when I really got into The Eels - not when they released this album but a few years later, early 2000s, so I know this album very well.
To be slightly hipster again, although this has the most famous songs on it, their second album "Electo-Shock Blues" is amazing, though very sad and all about death and loss.
I like their third album too. After that, I decided I'd gotten all the Eels I needed and just tend to vaguely keep an ear out for their new stuff.
But I like every song on this album and, though I guess you have to be in a certain mood, I love it.
Joy Division
3/5
Haven't talked about The Eels yesterday and how you need to be in a certain (miserable) mood for it but I love it, it seems odd that I wouldn't like this.
I am aware of Joy Division of course and they've always been around in references and, I don't know, "the ether" for want of a better phrase but they've never felt like "my music".
It's stark and cold and that's good in it's place and I understand how they sound distinctive and can even appreciate the sound, but it's not an album I would choose to stick on. I think it's just the "Whigfield effect" where music I grew up with is more important to me than that I didn't. On the other hand, they've always sounded "real" to me, unlike some of the other stuff on this list which doesn't move me it all.
Anyway, I've listened to it now. I kind of got into it more toward the end and I think if I put the effort in, I could probably grow to like it. Not sure I will though. 3 1/2 stars, for now. Might revisit.
Van Halen
5/5
This is the easiest five stars for me so far. I love it. I love Eddie's guitar riffs and solos. I love the way David Lee Roth can leap in the air and yelp. I love how Alex Van Halen can whack a drum. I love the way Michael Anthony can play a bass in the shape of a bottle of Jack Daniels. And after listening to Joy Division, this was mood altering in the best way. 1984 is a positive recipient of the Whigfield Effect, in that it IS music I grew up with, or at least loved as a teenager.
Also it has a song about how great someone called "Jimmy" is, which is a huge bonus point from me. Can you give an album 6/5?
"Jump" is the famous track of this album (and also the cheesiest). "Hot for teacher" is pretty famous. But "Panama" is my favourite, and also the first song I heard / video I saw from them, with the band mucking about on stage, partying and having a good time, Eddie Van Halen blowing smoke rings whilst playing piano and so on. It just seemed like a positive vibe, in the same way that Bill and Ted are just sort of gormless upbeatness. They seemed to be cheeky rather than sleazy.
Also, whilst Eddie is known for his crazy guitar solos, he writes great songs and riffs. He's not a Satriani or a Vai putting out entirely instrumental noodle fests.
Love it.
John Martyn
1/5
I'm not really sure what to make of this. I'm not a big fan of the sound of his voice. Is it folk? Is it funk? Pop? It makes me feel a bit uneasy.
The Fall
4/5
I am familiar with The Fall sort of by osmosis from my other half who is a huge fan of them. I've even been to see them live a couple of times before Mark E. Smith passed away. There are a couple of tracks I like but I've never listened to a whole album, so it was interesting to listen to this one.
It's sort of as I thought: There are a couple of tracks I like, a lot I tolerate. I like the "vibe" but it's not something I'd necessarily put on myself. But I appreciate their commitment to being outsiders so I liked it more than an average amount.
Basically, what I'm saying is: I'm giving it four stars even though I might not listen to it again!
Deep Purple
3/5
After pressing play on this album, I thought that it was going to be an easy five or four stars. I have a soft spot for Deep Purple, even though I don't play them a lot. They have some good songs and, as this was a live album, it seemed like you would get the hits.
BUT as it went on, I got a bit irritated by the excessive noodling. This is probably a weird complaint from someone that likes Led Zeppelin's live noodlings (which this reminded me of) and jazz and weird prog electronica nonsense, but I wasn't into it. Some of the noodling was great, but all of it seemed like too much.
The Stranglers
3/5
There's a section of three great songs here and the rest are okay to ignorable. I like the Stranglers but I think they are another band where I am happy to pick and choose the best songs without devoting myself to listening to whole albums.
three and a half stars
Air
4/5
I listened to the first three Air albums again recently. So I know this is pretty good!
Is this the first soundtrack we've had? It's weird because really there is only one great song and then tracks of background music weaving in the theme from the great song. And yet I'm going to score it higher than the Stranglers album which had *three* great songs on it, because I can listen to all of this and enjoy it, even though it is "lighter" listening, rather than the Stranglers where I wanted to skip stuff. I hope that makes sense!
Ride
5/5
This is one I already know well and love. Not really into any of their other albums or other shoegaze albums generally, just this album specifically. It feels to me like a very specific sound from that genre, from that time, from the UK.
Also, it's a funny one for bonus tracks. I got it on CD and so the proper end to me feels like it should be the song "Nowhere" whereas the bonus tracks after that feel extraneous. I don't think we should have to listen to them! They sort of dilute the album too much.
Radiohead
3/5
Okay. I know this album well. But the fact that it is here got me thinking about Radiohead generally because, I don't know how many of their albums are on the list, but I would say this was a "Bronze medal" album for them. I did a quick ranking:
GOLD
The Bends
OK Computer
Kid A
In Rainbows
A Moon Shaped Pool
SILVER
Pablo Honey
BRONZE
Amnesiac
Hail to the Thief
The King of Limbs
All of these albums are great but I feel like Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief and the King of Limbs are just "Radiohead being Radiohead". They are sort of plateau-ing at whatever point they are at.
Pablo Honey is a special case because it's their first album and rather looked down on now as juvenile or immature but that's why I like it. Youthful exuberance!
And then the top, "gold," albums all felt like they were a step forward from what had come before. The Bends was a huge advance on Pablo Honey, OK Computer was a huge advance on that, and Kid A was a huge advance on that, going full jazz / electronica. I suppose you could argue that In Rainbows and A Moon Shaped Pool are just "Radiohead being Radiohead" but they are just better albums. They have better songs...
I suppose the best way I can put it is: those albums made me pay attention and go "what's that?" Whereas the bronze albums sounded like the same old same old.
And that's what this album is. It's fine! I will say it "I Will" is one of my favourite songs of their whole catalogue though.
Stan Getz
3/5
I only listened to it once - sort of as background music - and it seemed nice. "Girl From Ipanema" is a famous song, of course. I don't have a lot to say about this. I might return to it again at some point.
The B-52's
4/5
I liked this more than I thought I would! I’ve always been aware of the B52s… Love Shack, Rock Lobster, etc… but this is the first time I’ve listened to a whole album. I thought it would be too quirky for me …but I liked it!
The Stooges
4/5
Iggy and The Stooges are very cool. I'm feeling a bit of Rolling Stones situation where some songs are incredible and others don't move me much. But with the Stooges even the songs I don't like so much have a sound, an energy that feels like I *should* like it. I can imagine being in a dingy basement club having these songs blasting and dancing around and it being the best thing ever. A bit like listening to early Beatles, if I could be back in that time and place it would be amazing, but sitting here at a desk I'm yet to quite grasp it. And yet I feel the fault is not with me and not with the music! In short, I need to listen to this more than once to know what I feel about it. I was going to give it a three, but then the last song has come on and I'm a sucker for a chunky repetitive riff or bassline so I'm giving it an extra star for that. And I've "liked" just over half the songs on the album which is pretty good going.
Louis Prima
3/5
I was really into this for the first song, and then my interest dwindled a bit. Also there was a line about hitting women which really took me out of it. That was humour in the old days!
There are two film links for me - The Jungle Book which Louis Prima sang on, and Back to the Future as there is a version of Night Train, as sung by Marvin Berry and the Starlighters at the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance. So that was the sort of vibe I was trying to get into. I found it got better toward the end but I didn't quite enjoy it in the kitsch way I was hoping. Nice to hear something different though! And from the 50s for a change!
The Doors
4/5
My favourite Doors album when I was younger was "The Best of The Doors" so I fear we might be on similar Rolling Stones territory here, where I only really like the singles or hits.
For some reason, I got into a habit a few years ago, of always putting on The Doors on whilst manning the barbeque and drinking several beers. I don't know why, but it works. I recommend it.
Anyway, as a result of that, my other half has bought me a Doors album on vinyl every once in a while for birthdays, Christmas, etc. As a result I'm finding that the Doors album tracks, whilst obviously not as good as the hits, have a charm to them.
UPDATE: Since this was the album over the weekend, I ended up going on a bit of a Doors "deep dive" and listened to all their studio albums recorded whilst Jim Morrison was alive. (I still have the two recorded without him as a three piece and An American Prayer to go.)
My conclusions? Morrison Hotel isn't the best Doors album but it's not the worst either. (The worst, for me, is The Soft Parade. It came before Morrison Hotel and has strings and brass all over it, not in a Beatles-y way, but in a Las-Vegas-pop-cover-of-a-alternative-song way. Thus, Morrison Hotel is seen as a return to form.)
I think that Best of The Doors album did get all the best songs on it (I think it was a 90 minute cassette actually!?) but I've found enough in the original records to make me want to get to know them better.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
After listening to The Doors and jumping straight to the Rolling Stones I realised something: I don't really like Mick Jagger's voice. The start of Mother's Little Helper was so screechy and jagged and I thought "Oh no, I've got to get through a whole album of this?
Lady Jane reminded me of the Spinal Tap song about Flower People.
Under My Thumb is a hit! It has a very weird and troubling sentiment but a great tune!
Going Home went on forever and felt a bit goofy. A lot of these songs of white bands in the 60s doing blues seem goofy now to me.
Did a quick bit of Wikipedia reading to see why this album is important: "Aftermath is considered by music scholars to be an artistic breakthrough for the Rolling Stones. It is their first album to consist entirely of original compositions, all of which were credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The band's original leader Brian Jones reemerged as a key contributor and experimented with instruments not usually associated with popular music, including the sitar, Appalachian dulcimer, Japanese koto and marimbas"
Also, "An inaugural release of the album era and a rival to the contemporaneous impact of the Beatles' Rubber Soul (1965)" Well, it's no Rubber Soul!
I quite like "It's not easy"
I'm quite looking forward to this being over. It's weird. I can imagine if any of these songs came on in a café I was in, I wouldn't mind and would quite like them, and some of the sounds I like, but a whole album kind of creeps me out.
The Specials
2/5
I’m confused as to why this album is on the list. I love the Specials. Their first album is amazing. This one has one or two good tracks on it. The rest is rather forgettable.
Syd Barrett
5/5
I loved this! It's funny I always liked the early kitsch little songs by Pink Floyd like "Bike" and "The Gnome" from Piper at the Gates of Dawn and knew they were Syd Barrett but never thought to follow up his solo stuff. It all got overshadowed by the more "serious" stuff like Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here.
And also, this is when I was first getting into music and if I wanted to hear Syd Barrett I would have had to have sought out the vinyl at a second hand record shop. No Spotify then! Whereas all the Pink Floyd albums were in my Mum and Dad's record collection or swapped between friends.
Anyway, I really "dig" this. It's got a very naïve sound and that sort of outside aesthetic, like Ivor Cutler or someone. Giving it five stars is probably too much but I'm going to because this has actually opened up a new little musical avenue for me.
Slipknot
3/5
Gosh! I am rather enjoying the bits that sound like a less whiny, more shouty Megadeth, but disliking the bits that sound like a more whiny, less shouty Disney princess.
What I mean is, the nu-metal emo bits sound over produced and like they are from a broadway musical to me. For example, "Snuff" is the most listened to song on this album according to the Spotify numbers and it sucks. Horrible nu-metal whiny emo nonsense.
Out of interest, I listened to some of their first album afterward and it was a bit more full of youthful energy, vim and disgusting lyrics.
I don't know. I rather enjoyed listening to the album but I doubt I'll go back to it.
R.E.M.
2/5
I'm a bit puzzled what to write about this.
I *want* to like R.E.M. I didn't really like them at the time but Pavement were influenced by them and... I like mandolins and they seem to have some good tunes. I really like "stand" on this album. But I find Michael Stipe's voice a bit annoying and all the songs are a bit maudlin.
I don't know. I just can't gel with them and I don't know why.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
Not quite the hit count of her follow up "Back in Black" but still pleasant to listen to. Jazzy pop songs. Not really my sort of thing but it could be!
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
4/5
Groovy!
I know the song “The Message” and “White Lines” of course but it never occurred to me to listen to a whole album of Grandmaster Flash before. Great stuff!
1/5
I've never paid much attention to U2 because, well obviously, they suck. This is the second time I've tried to get through this album and what I remember from the first time is this:
The first three songs are their three most well known songs (right?) and they all sound the same. I never noticed this before as I'd only hear them individually on the radio or whatever. But if you have to hear them one after the other, then it's more obvious.
I like The Edge's guitar playing. He brought a whole new sound and that's admirable. I think Bono is intrinsically annoying though, like Morrisey, and his over-emoting bugs me. So it's the perennial problem of not liking the singer's voice putting me off a band.
Also it's all a bit corporate rock MOR bullshit isn't it? Boring.
As I said for the Kings of Leon, if I heard it in a pub and I was a bit pissed, I probably wouldn't mind it. But I wouldn't choose to listen to it sober. And to be honest, it would still get tedious. Again, like KoL these songs outstay their welcome and I find any goodwill I can muster for them ebbing away with a minute or two of the song to go.
You know who never did that? Elastica! All their songs were short and brilliant and, as Justine Frischmann said, "If you wanted to hear more you could just rewind the tape and play it again." Are Elastica on this list? They better bloody be.
I've just looked it up on Wikipedia and apparently their first album (and the only one you need) is on the list. So that's something to look forward to.
Whilst I'm having to sit through U2 I was distracting myself with more Elastica facts from Wikipedia:
Art
In 2005, Frischmann moved to Boulder, Colorado, to enroll in a masters program in visual arts at Naropa University, a small, Buddhist-inspired liberal arts college,[8] and "become a nobody". In 2012 her work was shortlisted for the UK's Marmite Prize for painting, and she has been included in The Amsterdam List of 1000 Living Painters.[9]
In a 2016 interview regarding her art career, Frischmann stated, "I don't really have any desire to make music, to be honest."[10]
Frischmann has said, "The themes and ideas I am working with are in direct relation to an ongoing personal narrative; the big questions are reflected in the choices I make in my art ... [including] my ever-evolving relationship with my spiritual faith. I think my approach and aesthetics reveal internal struggles and speak to my family origins and history."[11]
....
So there you go. Have U2 won a Marmite prize? I bet they bloody haven't.
I'm still only on track 4 of Joshua Tree.
All this pandering to America is a bit sickening isn't it? I suppose that's where the dollars are.
...
I'm on Track 7. I'm not sure I'm going to make it all the way through.
...
I've had a little break and taken a painkiller and I'm back to try and listen to some more. Last time I only got to track 4 so this is now, as I start track 8, twice as far...
This track sounds like a moderately good pub band... one who have left the pubs and can fill a corn exchange and you don't know why. I keep thinking of NO VACANCY from School of Rock, you know, the sell outs.
Three tracks to go. Fuck. But they'll all going to drag. They add up to a quarter of an hour playing time.
I was going to give this 2, I thought that would be fair, but given that I'm finding it so painful to listen to that doesn't make much sense. I've had to fast forward to the end.
Nick Drake
3/5
Pretty. I like the guitar work. But, and this is probably sacrilegious, I didn't take to his singing voice which is a bit weedy for me. It's that English Folk sound.
However, I like Bert Jansch and I WANT to like folk music more so maybe I just need to be in the right mood or maybe it will grow on me
Fatboy Slim
4/5
Good times!
John Lennon
3/5
I've not really listened to any solo-Beatle stuff, weirdly. So this is a good prompt to start that. This is heartfelt stuff. It made me think of modern indie singer/songwriters - though of course the influence is the other way around. I've only listened once but will try and revisit.
fIREHOSE
2/5
The only thing I knew about fIREHOSE was that they were mentioned in a Red Hot Chilli Peppers song... I've just looked it up it's "Good Time Boys" off of "Mother's Milk" and they are mentioned alongside Fishbone and Thelonious Monster, so I was expecting something in the 80s funk rock vein. But this is more folky, more... local-band-who-are-kind-of-interesting.
I then read their bio on Spotify and saw the bassist and drummer are the remnants of the Minutemen, who, again, I don't really know much about but I think I listened to one of their albums because I fell in love with one of their songs for a day and a half. (It's called "This ain't no picnic".) But the Minutemen were also a big deal apparently so I wonder if the kudos for fIREHOSE comes from that.
Some of this album sounds melodramatic in a Pearl Jam sort of way. But it's not really for me.
Bob Dylan
3/5
I can't say I've had much interest in Bob Dylan before. To me he was always "that guy who plays open chords with a whiny voice". But I really liked this album. To quote Bill Hicks: "G Chord, C Chord... What sort of genius is this? But then I found out there were lyrics... some of them quite profound!"
Having said that, it sounds a bit same-y as I get toward the latter half of the album and some of the lyrics sound like silly hipster jokes.
I was going to give this a four but it's going to have to be a 3 1/2 because I got bored as it went on.
Stevie Wonder
2/5
This is probably sacrilegious, but there's an awful lot of Stevie Wonder songs I don't care for. I mean, obviously, I love "Sir Duke" and "Superstitious" and a bunch of his songs. I'm not a monster. But, it's like... When he hits, he REALLY hits, but a lot of it I find is either too saccharine for me, or too "smooth" for want of a better term.
So, like, on this album... the first half of "Heaven is a Zillion Light Years Away" felt too "smooth" but then it got a groove on and I got into it.
"Boogie On Reggae Woman" I seem to have previously pressed the like button on, although I don't think I've listened to the album before. But it also grooves!
Creepin' I like because it sounds kind of ominous and weird. I can imagine being in the seventies and wearing a lot of beige and flares to it. Better harmonica playing than Bob Dylan too.
The next songs are okay.
"They won't go when I go" gave me chills. Why do I feel like I know it so well?
"Bird of Beauty" I find genuinely annoying.
The last track is kind of grating too.
I'm sorry, I think we're looking at me giving this a 2, just because there's only a couple of songs I would choose to listen to again. But I'm going to try and listen to more Stevie Wonder to see if there's more I can get into or if I am really just a musical ignoramus.
UPDATE: I like all of Innervisions.
FURTHER UPDATE: And I love at least half of Songs In The Key Of Life.
I feel less of a philistine now.
Metallica
5/5
Very Metal.
Joan Baez
3/5
Very pleasant.
Muddy Waters
4/5
Very hard.
Garbage
3/5
I guess this is fine. The singles are quite catchy. I don't hate it. It seems much of it's time. You know, sure, whatever.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
I liked this more than I thought I would.
Marvin Gaye
3/5
Er. I’m not sure. I liked the songs I already knew. I don’t think I realised it was a concept album and the continuous nature of it made it feel like one song that made me a bit woozy. I know it’s important. But I think I might have to come back to this one. Too early to tell on one listen.
Def Leppard
2/5
I was sort of intrigued to listen to this. The "Fargo Rock City" book I read recently was the story of a fan of "heavy metal" which translated as "hair metal" - it was all Def Leppard and Motley Crue which I always considered weak and lame and not really metal.
Well, I'm ashamed to say I actually enjoyed the fast half of this record with the thinnest layer of irony. It felt like being in a Top Gun movie or something. But about half way through the irony wore off and I got sick of it.
I guess I can now see the appeal. I like Ghost after all who are like a cross between proper metal and Abba.
The Sabres Of Paradise
4/5
I enjoyed this. It was sort of background music to me, but good in that Warp Ninja Tune way.
Aerosmith
2/5
This is sort of boring. It reminds me of the rock music from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
"Walk This Way" is a great song but the version with Run DMC is better. The Aerosmith parts seem more energetic. Here it seems rather lethargic by comparison.
Generally this seemed rather pedestrian, rather average, rock music to me. I do like Aeros though and respect any maker or smith of them.
Beatles
4/5
I know this album really really well, even though I've probably only listened to it once or twice in my life. And that's because of watching the film "A Hard Day's Night" so much. So I've grown to love nearly all the songs here, even though they have that "early Beatles" jangly pop sound that I don't gravitate to so much. Great stuff.
The Chemical Brothers
4/5
A classic of it's time. This reminds me of university days. Not every album track is perfect and, like a lot of "Big Beat" stuff, sometimes it seems a bit bombastic and a bit too much. But the hits are fantastic and I'll always love the last two songs that make up the trippy outro.
Bob Dylan
4/5
I quite liked this. I feel like #1001Albuns is conspiring to get me into Bob Dylan.
Nightmares On Wax
3/5
File under: Chill, Cool, Funky, Boring and Irritating.
This is one of those things that I *want* to like more than I do. I think I've listened to this album before. There are a few really great stand out tracks (Particularly "Nights Introlude," which I know Mr. Wax has done other versions of with lusher strings etc) but a lot of it washes over me and some of the sounds actively irritate me for some reason.
I think what bugs me is that if you hear the best tracks, you might expect a lot more from the album but there is a lot of it that is just "meh".
Having said all that, I'm going to listen to Car Boot Soul and see if that fares better...
Green Day
3/5
I liked Green Day back in the day. I remember listening to Dookie at university. I was a bit suspicious of them because they *weren't* Nirvana, but I grew to accept them as a less intense pop-punk band. I even had a few of the following CDs.
By the time American Idiot came out, I'd lost interest, but this album made a bit of a splash and I got it.
It's okay. I think the marriage of pop-punk and concept album is a bit weird and I came to realise they have this "image" of rebellion, but without really saying anything specific about politics which seems a bit of a cop out.
It was fun to revisit, but I generally go back to a few specific songs by Green Day now rather than albums. Dookie is a classic though.
I want to give this 3 1/2 stars as I have a history with it and it's better than average, but 4 seems to much so I'll settle on three.
Jefferson Airplane
3/5
This is really an album of two songs. Two of the best songs ever, mind you, but two songs nonetheless. The rest is okay but a bit dated.
Bee Gees
2/5
This is really weird. Usually when I say that, I mean it as a positive. But in this case it’s just… odd. I only know the BeeGees as the Saturday Night Fever guys so was taken aback by the country-and-western-influenced 70s-pop-sounding historical concept album thing.
Songs about shipwrecks and Edison. An instrumental “international anthem”!? Wtf. A sound like the Monkees crossed with Willie Nelson trying to make Sergeant Peppers…
This album was released in 1969 and I’m feeling the effects of the concept album era here - but without the psychedelic atmosphere, just the grandiosity.
I don’t know what to make of it. Sometimes I was resisting the urge to shut it off (it’s taken me several attempts to listen to it), sometimes it was… alright.
Anyway, I’ve listened to it but I won’t be coming back.
American Music Club
3/5
Very okay. Maybe even "pleasant" or "reasonable". I've no idea why it's on this list though. It sounds like your mate's band, or perhaps a band that had one hit and an album of filler to go with it, or maybe the band of a character from a late 80s / early 90s film where young GenXers hang out and have relationship drama and floppy hair. You know?
Musically I like it. I think the singer sounds very average. It's fine. But nothing that really stands out. A bit boring.
2.5 stars
Scott Walker
2/5
unsettling
Beck
4/5
Great!
Guns N' Roses
5/5
All killer, no filler.
Peter Frampton
4/5
Ah. “Frampton Comes Alive” - omnipresent in parent’s record collections, charity shops and second hand record stores when I was young.
I went into this expecting to not like it or not get it. But actually I quite enjoyed it! I’m not sure if I should be embarrassed about that!
It makes me nostalgic for the Simpsons episodes when young Homer meets Marge in the seventies - a time I never really experienced myself!
It makes me think of the Frank Zappa live stuff, but without the irony, or of Led Zeppelin’s live concert video - but a much much much less heavy and mystical version.
“Light Zeppelin” if you will - lighter in music, tone, lyrics everything. Frampton seems very “nice” and I can see why this would be in the pop charts at the time.
This is like, a 3.5 for me. I enjoyed it more than a 3 star album I would forget about. But it’s not really a 4 that’s almost but not quite a classic.
I’m going to give it 4 though. Just because I think it’s better than 3 and I really like the guitar playing.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
I've never really liked Elvis Costello. I think I could but listening to this album hasn't changed my opinion much. I am slightly suspicious that it has been chosen for the 1001 albums list and has not one of his famous songs on it, nor any of the ones that are less well known but that my other half likes. Is this another "deep cut" or non-obvious not-actually-the-best album by this artist, like a few others that we've had to listen to?
Anyway, this features a number of songs that sit somewhere between crooning, punk and pop and don't really feel very satisfying in any of these directions. I just don't get Elvis Costello, really. It sort of reminds me of The Boomtown Rats, in that it's a bit... shit. Sorry, I can't quite find a word for the feeling it gives me. Annoying? Suspicious? Fake? Smug? Something.
Grant Lee Buffalo
1/5
No. No, thank you. Not for me. Nope.
The Black Keys
2/5
I can imagine this is the sort of music that sounds amaaaazing if you've not heard much music before.
By which I mean, it's bluesy, yes. It has grooves and keeps it simple, cool. It's a bit like other things but not as good, yeah? Cream, come to mind. As do Hendrix, old blues guys, etc. But also, less salubrious counterparts like Wolfmother or... Well, alright, just Wolfmother. It's a bit light a low-octane Wolfmother. Maybe with the occasional touch of later, crooning, Artic Monkeys. Or that guy with the hat. What was he called? ...Hozier! It all seems kinda bullshit to me. Like people pretending to do "proper" music but dumbing it down a bit to make it popular.
It's alright. But so what?
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
I’ve never really been a fan of reggae. It’s not my thing. It all sounds very same-y to me. I kind of like the more slower dub stuff or faster ska stuff, but even then I’m not massively into it.
And I wasn’t completely swayed by this album. There were a few songs I liked and some I was bored by. So overall, it’s just not my cup of tea but I can see how I could like it under the right circumstances!
The Replacements
2/5
I listened to this but it didn't leave much impression on me.
It sounded like a local band from Portsmouth.
It sounded like it should be on the soundtrack of Pretty in Pink or Sixteen Candles or some other John Hughes film.
It didn't seem like it had any great tunes. I listened to their top five tracks on Spotify too and had no reaction.
I dunno. I suppose if I were young at the time I could have been into it? I think this is basically saying "I guess you had to be there?" which is a variation of "The Whigfield Effect" but for things which aren't as demonstrably crap.
Travis
1/5
"Why does it always rain on me?"
"Because you live in bloody Scotland, mate!"
That was my joke about Travis back in the nineties that no one really thought was funny. And it wasn't really that funny. But it should be, shouldn't it? Like, someone Scottish is singing about it always raining on them as a metaphor for... depression? bad luck? Self-sabotage? And they are opening it up to the notion that it's because they are guilt ridden, "is it because I lied when I was seventeen?" and inviting the listener to imagine the potential scenario in their heads, which is all very poetic... But! There is a much more cutting and practical answer which is that they are manifestly Scottish and it always rains in Scotland, which is where they are.
My subsequent visits to Edinburgh have proven this joke to be rooted in fact.
I still don't think the joke is that funny though, even though the mechanics of it make sense. Maybe it is too mean? Maybe it's the delivery? Maybe it's because I lied when I was seventeen?
Anyway, this album is pish.
I thought I might have grown fond of it through old age, nostalgia and sentimentality. But, no, it's still incredibly boring, bland, middle of the road, tedious fucking nonsense - The Lighthouse family for people that are feeling a bit maudlin.
What "classic" album is next? The Stereophonics? Shed Seven? Mr Blobby? Jesus wept.
UPDATE: I think this has been the worst experience of 1001 albums yet. It’s surprising. They seem so inoffensive. But by the end of listening to this album I felt like liquid boredom had seeped into my bones. I felt like a hyperactive child who had been dragged round a stuffy old museum for six hours. I had to make a playlist of the fastest tracks that came to mind to try and get rid of the feeling of ick.
The White Stripes
2/5
The drums are the best bit.
Nah, only kidding. And yet... that might be the best way of summing up my review.
We spoke in the group chat last week about how we don't listen to The White Stripes that much which seemed like an odd omission. Well, I think I've figured out why (at least for me.)
There's something about Jack White that's a bit like fingernails down a chalkboard. His guitar tone is very screechy. His voice is a bit whiny. But his music is really good. So it's a bit of a quandary.
But it's that quality that makes me listen to other things instead. It's a sort of annoying smug hipsterism.
Well, I say the music is really good, but having listened to a whole album, I'm wondering if it's just the "hits" that are good.
Apart from "Blue Orchid" and "My Doorbell," I like the marimba on "The Nurse" and I quite like "Take, Take, Take" and the guitar on "As Ugly as I Seem" (maybe because it's acoustic and can't be made to screech.)
Two classic songs though so 2/5 - a star for each song.
Rufus Wainwright
4/5
I enjoyed this, though it's not the sort of thing I would usually listening. The first song was like an Arabic keening that morphed into stage musical crooning.
His voice sounds exactly like OK Computer Thom Yorke! Not the falsetto stuff but that mid-range. Like a lounge Radiohead then?
I'm interested to explore more of his stuff.
Cocteau Twins
4/5
This was one of the first albums I owned, weirdly. I don't know how or why. Maybe I was looking for things that were a bit like The Cure? I remember the vinyl cover was a pleasingly thick, matte-feeling, cardboard. Anyway, it was a bit of a cul-de-sac of musical exploration, in that, I quite liked it but not enough to become a fan. And I still feel the same way, like, I quite enjoy listening to it because I have to for 1001 albums, but I can't really see myself returning to it again. Nonetheless, it's a unique sound and I'm going to give it a 4 because I can. So there.
Elvis Presley
3/5
Elvis Presley by Elvis Presley is exactly what it says on the tin... It's Elvis Presley. Of course I know who he is. Though I can't say I've ever listened to an album before.
This seems to be divided into "songs you know" and "boring songs".
I guess it's good because it's early stuff? But then "suspicious minds" from his Vegas years is great. I guess if I was interested in Elvis, I'd have to do a compilation of his best songs - or the ones I liked best. But otherwise it's just part of the background noise of culture. I sort of know about it but don't need to listen to it by choice. You just here Elvis songs around.
I much prefer the Jimi Hendrix version of Blue Suede Shoes.
Is "Tutti Frutti" an Elvis original? I thought it was Little Richard or someone like that? ...Yeah if you search for it, it's the Little Richard version that comes up.
I like that all the songs are short. They don't hang around.
Isn't Blue Moon more famously done by someone else?
I'm going to give this a three as "average" but it's probably more like 2 and a half. I don't hate it. It's not unpleasant to listen to. But I will probably never choose to listen to it again!
I liked "Blue Suede Shoes" "I Got a Woman" and "Money Honey". I also liked "Tutti Frutti" and "Blue Moon" but I don't think they are the definitive versions and are done better by someone else.
Björk
5/5
I love this album. I don't really need to listen to it again to give it 5 stars but I will. Arguably, this is more for sentimental reasons rather than musical. But it's also an interesting mix of pop, dance and experimental music.
Some of the electronic sounds are rather dated now, but I'd argue that just means they are "tied to an era" rather than "bad".
I love the bit in "There's more to life than this" where Bjork leaves the club for a moment!
I love the horn section on "Aeroplane"
"Violently Happy" is a bit of a "banger," as they say.
I also love the horn section on "The Anchor Song". Some of my favourite moments are the least played songs! Typical!
Yeah, maybe this album should be 4 stars but I don't care...
Pixies
5/5
I don't really listen to the Pixies much because they felt a bit "just before my time" but they influenced all the bands I did listen to like Nirvana and so on.
I have a passing acquaintance with their stuff and have definitely listened to Surfer Rosa and a couple of other of their albums before, but it's not stuff I return to on a regular basis.
But I probably should be because it's totally awesome!
Devendra Banhart
1/5
I'm torn between the phrases "annoyingly twee," and "annoyingly fey."
I've actually seen Devendra Banhart live, I've just remembered. A friend from work got me to go - probably around the time this album came out!
I wasn't really into it. I get a Russel-Brand-vibe off of him. I wouldn't be surprised if he released an album called "My album-y walbum".
So I'm a bit prejudiced against this album from the get go.
Listening to it... Oh yeah, he's got a voice like Marc Bolan.
And the songs sort of noodle along... This is a bit like "Passenger" or those chart-topping singer songwriters. All husky voices and meaningful-sounding but meaningless. Suitable for an indie film where a young man with a beard stands on a beach looking wistful.
Okay. I'm five songs in and I get it. It's possible I'm just not in the mood for this. But I'm going to have to take a break from it at least.
T. Rex
4/5
I didn't mind this at all. Which is a weird, because I've just come back to this album after skipping it, and I'm sure the first time I started to listen to it I gave up because I wasn't into it.
I suppose it shows how much mood and situation can play in how you respond to an album. At the moment, I am listening to this rather than today's album which is Robbie Williams. I suppose anything would sound awesome rather than that.
Anyway, this is firmly from the fuzz guitar, glam rock, era of T.Rex, rather than the early acoustic hippy-dippy stuff and I rather enjoyed it.
I'd say it's better than average, so I don't want to give it a three star review, but at the same time giving it 4 seems to put it in the company of much better albums. It's probably a 3.5, or maybe a 4.1 but whatever this isn't an exact science is it?
Fugazi
3/5
Is this post-punk?
I thought the music had some interesting ideas in it. Wasn't so keen on the singing voice/s.
Might return to it later. Might not.
3 and a half stars.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
This has got to be a 5/5 hasn't it? Reasons:
My favourite song on here, because I am a contrary hipster, is probably "When the Levee Breaks". That drum sound!
I can play "Black Dog" on the guitar, although I wish I'd learnt a different song because I never know when to come in after the sing-y bits.
Without this album and "Stairway to Heaven," we would never have had the "No Stairway? Denied!" bit from Wayne's World.
The other songs I haven't mentioned are either nice folky ones or nice groovy ones and I love them.
Thought Led Zeppelin probably nicked them off of someone else.
FIVE STARS!
Erykah Badu
3/5
"Nice!" as the presenter of Jazz Club used to say. But, I would add, a bit meandering and annoying? I don't know. It's fine. It makes me think I am sat in a coffee shop. It's like it has all the components of music I like and then it just slides off me. I dunno. I don't get it. Maybe I'll return to it when I'm in a more receptive mood.
Beastie Boys
4/5
I know this album well and like it a lot. It’s a classic but I’m lopping a star off because some tracks don’t feel that essential.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
I assumed this was a super deluxe rerelease from the number of tracks, then saw no sign of that on the cover image and assumed it was a double album when it came out for the first time in the 80s, and then "celtic soul brothers" came on for a second time and I was relieved I could turn it off as the rest was clearly remix and live bumph.
Not that I thought it was a bad album. It's the sort of thing I would only listen to due to this 1001 albums challenge, so I was glad of that. And, on listening, I thought, "I love a horn section so I should like this." But I find Kevin Rowland's voice to yelpy. It seems to gimmicky. Too of it's time, maybe? But alright!
Pink Floyd
5/5
Very classic.
Muddy Waters
4/5
The previous Muddy Waters album that came up on this list was "Hard Again" - which was a comparatively modern blues album with a thick sounding, rock band approach.
This, being a bit earlier and recorded live, sounds more "authentic" and natural.
I do like the previous album , but this more what I think of when I think of the blues. It's got some songs that are standards... yeah, everything's all good here. Does what it says on the tin.
Pixies
2/5
Disappointing. I really liked listening to Surfer Rosa, and was hoping for a similar experience from this. Unfortunately Bossanova seems to be "all filler, no killer" apart from "Velouria" which is a great song. I quite liked "The Happening" for some reason. But overall this is a nonessential album. Not sure why it's on the list. I like the album cover? 1 1/2 stars.
Goldie
2/5
"Oh, no, it sounds alright, mate, but it sounds a bit like Goldie."
This quote says it all really. But let me add...
I was surprised how repetitive this was. And so long! 1hour 53 minutes!?
I know quite a few tracks without having listened to the album before. I guess it was everywhere at the time.
It's okay as background music, I guess, but it's a bit boring. I'm marking it down from a 3 to a 2 just because I can't really see myself listening to it again.
Germs
3/5
It must have been very exciting to be there. I know Flea says one of the major influences on him musically was seeing The Germs. Also, I had no idea Pat Smear was in the Germs before Nirvana or the Foo Fighters! I feel I understand his presence in that scene a bit better now.
Anyway, I'm not sure it makes much of a listening experience all these years later. It's okay but the punkishness is very samey and it just makes the album sound like a bit of a mush, I feel like there are other punk bands with more melody / riffs / tunes. Though I don't think these are the worst I've ever heard.
I dunno. I could maybe pick out some songs with interesting bits that I might like if I gave it repeated listening. By the end of the long guitar strangling song at the end of the album I feel like I sort of liked it!
Tina Turner
3/5
I started off thinking "This is fun!" It's got that very eighties sound. It reminded me of Huey Lewis and the News and that type of thing. It has a couple of classic songs that Tina Turner is best known for, like "I can't stand the rain," "What's love got to do with it," and "Private dancer". And Tina, obviously has a great voice.
But... are these all covers? When it gets to the ones I know best from the originals like "Let's Stay Together" or "Help!" they just sound very very silly with the 80s MOR Rock treatment.
On Spotify, this seems to be another secret expanded edition. The original U.S. version had 9 songs and the International one has 10. This version has 14 and then another 3 Extended 12" remixes of the hits. Unusually, it seems to have been reordered too, so it's hard to tell if the shorter version of the album would have not outstayed it's welcome.
Having said that, I'm now getting toward the end and there's some better tracks so who knows.
...Oh! I've just noticed it says "20th anniversary edition" in tiny writing on the cover.
Also I wondered why the guitar was so good and I've just read Jeff Beck plays on the album, so that explains that.
I'll give it 3 stars but you have to be in the right mood and / or skip some tracks.
Prince
3/5
This is the third Prince album I've listened to and every time I think "This is when I will finally get into Prince," but, I'm afraid, it's another Rolling Stones situation for me: The hits are amazing classic tracks, but the album tracks I can live without. And this is the same thing here. There are 3 or 4 amazing songs and the others are okay. I think this album is the one I've enjoyed most so far, so perhaps, I am getting there and the day will still come when I am a Price convert!
Johnny Cash
4/5
Wow! I had completely forgotten about this album. It's fantastic. It takes me back to the early 2000s. It was after this that "mature" music performers starting Rick Rubin to do "stripped back" albums where they tried to remember what made them good in the first place!
My response to the Willie Nelson album was favourable, so it might just be that I have a soft spot for cover albums by old country geezers, but this is in a different league.
The cover of "Hurt", ( and the associated music video which with the contrast of Cash and his wife in their last days against all the video footage of his life, is a piece of art in itself) makes this album worth listening to alone. But there are a few other high points like, "The Man Comes Around" and "I Hung My Head" and there's not an actual duff track on here. (Alright, some are a bit too schmaltzy or corny for me. "Danny Boy" and "Desperado" aren't songs I would chose to listen to, no matter who is covering them. Great tunes, of course, but I can't take them seriously.)
I want to give it 5 stars, but realistically, it's a 4. Hang on. How many stars did I give Willie Nelson? ...I gave it a 4. Okay, so this gets 4.5 from me!
Talking Heads
4/5
My feelings about Talking Heads are a little difficult to fathom even for myself.
About ten or fifteen years ago I got a free DVD with a newspaper of "Stop Making Sense". I fell in love with that performance and think it is one of the best live concert films ever (which isn't a very controversial opinion). But I felt no need to get their albums.
And in this age, where you can listen to any album you want via streaming, I have gone through their back catalogue and... I like it but I don't go back to listen to it. Like, I never think, "I'm in the mood for some Talking Heads!"
I don't know. I like the quirkiness. I like the surprising underlying funk to it all. But somehow I don't gel with it. Even the many songs I like on this album, I can't help feel I'd rather be listening to the live versions. It's like when you feel you "support" someone in doing what they are doing what they are doing, even though it's not your cup of tea.
I'm going to give this a 4 because I know I like more than I feel it. But "Stop Making Sense" would get 5.
Sparks
4/5
Another very unique album. It reminds me of a few things - The Cardiacs, Roxy Music... It sounds a bit punky and yet also a bit like the Beatles... but ultimately it sounds like Sparks.
I can't say I'm a huge fan - I've never listened to an album of theirs before - but I've watched the Edgar Wright documentary about them, and of course I'm familiar with "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us" which is their best song and is on this record!
It's a quirky style of music and sometimes I don't "feel" it and other times it seems like genius and I totally get the vibe.
I don't think I can give it a five on first listening but I think it's a grower.
4.5 stars
Suicide
4/5
This is a very unique-sounding album. It's really just an organ with the bontempi beats going and a man singing BUT the soft fuzzy distortion of the organ sound and the beats and the reverb and delay on the voice give this really unusual, spacey, SPOOKY but electric sound.
Definitely one I'll come back to.
Foo Fighters
4/5
There are no bad songs on this album and so really, by my own rules, I should give it 5 stars. But I'm deducting a star because it makes me feel so middle of the road for liking it.
Yes
2/5
I have never wanted to listen to Yes, It was too "Prog Rock" for me. Even though a lot of the music I like could be said to be "Prog". A case in point: I was excited to hear about recent announcement about the Beat band who are playing the music of 80s King Crimson, made up of half of that band at the time. They were asked to define the difference between "Prog" and "Jazz Fusion" and I think they said that Prog still has written parts whereas Fusion is still more improvisation led.
So maybe I am just more of a Jazz Fusion guy.
I quite enjoyed this album until the singing started. I can't stand Mr. Yes's voice. It's thin and weedy and horrible.
So I can't see myself getting into Yes in the near future.
2 stars
The Smiths
3/5
I would like The Smiths a lot more if Morrisey wasn't so irritating.
Last time we were made to listen to a The Smiths album, I think I reluctantly enjoyed it and was saying it was a shame Mr M. turned out to be such a prick.
This time I was reminded I also find his voice and the whole twirling-a-bunch-of-flowers-whilst-wearing-a-diaphanous-shirt thing annoying. I actually like the music. Having said that, this album has more filler than hits. But some classic songs.
The Smiths fall into the "Love the hits, the rest is shit" category for me.
3 stars
The Mamas & The Papas
3/5
Of it's time. Kind of nice. a couple of tracks stand out.
The xx
2/5
I know the name of "The XX" but that's literally it. Is it techno? Is it R&B? I don't know. It's modern stuff.
Track 1: Oh it's THIS. I know this.
Track 2: I read it's R&B influenced indie. This sounds like 80s post punk with breathy female vocals. Oh, the male vocals have come in. I don't like that. It's that posh cockney sound of young people. Hmm. So far seems a bit forgettable.
Track 3: This is the one with the most listens (apart from the first track which is instrumental advert fodder) and a single, I read. So it must be the best one? The guitar parts remind me of early Cure. All very simple and pared down which I like. But I am having a real problem trying to enjoy the singing. It makes me feel tense!
This doesn't seem the catchiest song to me. but it has lots of "woh-oh-oh-oh-oh" which must be the key to it's popularity.
Track four: I think this is a generation gap thing. I would like it if I were a young person... or would I? I think it's too pop for me. It's too "on in the background of hip bars / cafes / clubs" It doesn't have much grit to it. Very smooth. Very cool.
Track whatever: Right I get it now. This is not for me. Even though lots of elements are thing I recognise. These handclaps are very "close to me" by the way. I feel like this is not the music of the underdog, somehow. It's a feeling I got from a lot of new popular music, that it is for the overdog. It is for the cool young people and not the actual disaffected rebel young people. But I may be wrong. It's probably just because I am an old fogey. Or not in the state of hormonal turmoil that needs this sort of stuff. I feel like it has DRAMA written all over it. Does any of this make sense? Like it's very cool but also they could be X Factor winners for all I know.
Is that why they are called the XX?! They won the X factor twice?
Anyway, I gave it a go.
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
This is my first time listening to Bruce Springsteen... I mean consciously choosing to listen to Bruce rather than hearing it through cultural osmosis.
I never realised he was leaning on another person on the cover! Who's elbow and bum is that?!
I recognise "Thunder Road" as a title. Was it in that Nick Hornby book?
...Yes, I've just checked. It was the second chapter in "31 Songs," a book about... 31 songs, that I read when I was much younger.
Apart from that, I recognise "Born To Run" of course. But that's it. Okay, let's press play!
...Oh. It sounds like Meatloaf.
The Cult
2/5
(Sigh)
I don't know. It's fine I guess. The fact that "Born to be Wild" is on here tells you all you need to know. I sort of expected The Cult to be more goth but it's ROCK with a capital "R". And also a capital "OCK".
"Love Removal Machine" is, according to the Spotify listening figures, the most listened to (and therefore best?) song on here and it sounds EXACTLY like "Start Me Up" by the Rolling Stones.
They sort of remind me of a bad Guns N Roses. The lead singers voice is distinctive, and I sort of appreciate that, but also don't like it?
I wonder if the 1001 list is again being a bit obtuse by not picking Sonic Temple. At least I recognise the cover of that one. There can't be TWO The Cult albums on this list, surely?
Yeah. Fine. Whatever.
The Black Crowes
4/5
What the Rolling Stones were trying to be!
I haven't really thought about The Black Crowes for a long time. They were one of the more reputable bands you might see on "Raw Power" later called, "Noisy Mothers" - the late night rock and metal show in the nineties.
I quite enjoyed this album! I don't know when I'd want to go out of my way to listen to it, but it was fun to listen to when I did.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
I know the name, and this is as I thought it might be. It sounds like the music in the background of some sixties road trip movie.
There is a genre of sixties American white beardy groups that I don't care about. It's not that I think they are bad, but they just don't do it for me and this is very much that. It's absolutely fine. I quite like "Bad Moon Rising" which is their classic song, I guess. And I'm sure I could delve about in their back catalogue and get something out of it, but I don't feel obliged too.
It's hard to describe why I feel this way. It's like it doesn't have the depth or soul or grit or something that I am looking for. Anyway, it's FINE.
Rod Stewart
3/5
I don't think I could ever really take Rod Stewart seriously. You say "Rod Stewart" and I immediately think of Kenny Everett in skin-tight leopard-skin spandex trousers with an every expanding inflatable bottom. Rod Stewart is that caricature rocker with the series of identical blonde wives. A rock n' roll footballer. He fits into a genre I think of as "Lorry driver's music" along with Phil Collins.
Strange then, to think he and Jeff Beck probably once thought of themselves as rivals of Led Zeppelin. Musically, it's good. There's some lovely guitar work here. I see Ronnie Wood on the personnel and it does sound a bit like the Rolling Stones - it's just leaning toward the pub blues band sound rather than the mystical heights of Led Zep.
I must admit though, the musical accompaniment is very pretty and I'm having my assumptions challenged a bit. It sounds like a lazy summer's day in a pub garden.
It was interesting to be made to listen to this album. I think if you got Robert Plant to redub the singing, I would love it. But I still finds Rod's husky voice, and the image associated with it, a bit ridiculous and that's ever present in my mind when I'm listening to this. So it's just three stars from me. Sorry, Rod.
The Prodigy
5/5
Haha! I listened to this just the other day anyway! It's probably my favourite Prodigy album and "Poison" is my favourite Prodigy song. It captures their sound having developed from a sort of tinny sound of the early rave scene like "Charlie says" and "Going to outer space, find another race" and all that, but before they got that bombastic metal/dance sound of "Firestarter" and the annoyingly antagonistic "Smack my Bitch Up" and so on.
This was a time when the rave scene felt like it was actually revolutionary and allied to all sorts of counter-culture stuff. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't but after this it went into the mainstream.
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
I enjoyed this a lot. Somehow A Tribe Called Quest passed me by at the time though I was into De La Soul and similar groups. This is one I will return to.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
I enjoyed this a lot. I am learning from this 1001 albums thing that I quite like wistful / melancholy 60s folky stuff: this, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen have all been pleasantly surprising! Or surprisingly pleasant. Or both.
Fats Domino
4/5
Great! Things like this sound old but not old, if you know what I mean. Like, there is something so fundamental about this music that applies to everything that came after it that it still… rocks? Or swings? Like the old blues guys or Motown. It’s VERY classic.
Incredible Bongo Band
4/5
Where the samples come from!
I can’t say I listened *too* closely but it seemed like fun.
Janis Joplin
3/5
Is this a three star or a four? I’m not sure. Musically, I really liked it - cool guitar riffs and piano lines. I’ve always felt Janis Joplin belted it out too much for me. And it didn’t help I had a headache. But I enjoyed this still.
5/5
This is very obviously a classic album and getting five stars. It was nice to have the excuse to listen to it again. It's probably not my favourite album by the Beatles. In fact, it's "classic" status puts me off from listening to it!
I feel like there should be a version of this that has the album as one disc and then Strawberry Fields... and Penny Lane as disc 2. And nothing else. So you don't need to muck about searching among various takes and rehearsals to find the songs of the single.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
5 stars. Easy. I was thinking when listening to Sgt Peppers the other day that my favourite Beatles album is either Revolver, or Rubber Soul, or The White Album - the latter being a double album so eclectic in songs and styles. So is this Led Zep's White album? Maybe. Anyway it's got Black Country Woman on it which is one of my favourite songs with the "Shall we roll it Jimmy?" / plane going overhead intro.
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
Very pleasant. This passed me by at the time. Would play again.
Tracy Chapman
2/5
Nice but maybe… too nice? A bit too cheesy pie for me.
Faust
4/5
I enjoyed this a lot. Not to keen on the singing or the wacky skinhead song but I liked the noise.
Brian Eno
4/5
The first song’s vocal line reminded me of an LCD Soundsystem song! I guess that’s where LCD they got the inspiration from.
I sort of saw the rest of the album through this lens - like a 70s LCD. I wasn’t so keen on the vocals though. It sounded like when a sideman takes over vocal duties from an actual singer and really should stick to their instrument. But then a lot of prog rock singers sound like that to me.
Overall, I enjoyed it though. I haven’t listened to a Brian Eno album before despite being aware of his influence. And I look forward to listening to more.
ABBA
4/5
"Ahaaa!" as Alan Partridge would say, "Knowing you, Abba - Arrival, knowing me, Alan Partridge.
It was odd going into this because, although I've never listened to an ABBA album, I knew what I was going to get - some classic pop songs and a bunch of filler.
I wasn't expecting it to start with a slightly suspect song about kissing a teacher, but given the era, perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised.
But when it gets to the hits - "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me, Knowing You," "Money, Money, Money," you can't help but feel a sort of cheesy joy.
I want to give it 4 for the excellent song writing, but the filler is dragging it down. Three and a half?
Van Morrison
2/5
Sometimes 1001 albums gets me to listen to an artist I've never really liked, and if the album doesn't win me around, I can at least spend the time trying to work our why.
I've never really cared for Van Morrison and this album has only confirmed my feeling.
At first I theorised it was because it was too middle-of-the-road: a sort of Travis of it's time (though if you know me, you'll know that's a very savage appraisal. So, maybe a Stereophonics of it's time.) But I quite like it musically, and indeed, I active enjoyed Moondance, the song. It was a fun jazzy swinging time. I just wished it was someone else singing it.
And that's when I figured out why I don't like Van Morrison. I don't like his voice. Which is kind of important for a singer. It feels like he is bellowing at me. He is a sort of aggressive or macho crooner. Whilst it's meant to be soothing, it actually puts me on edge! I feel like I've personally done something to upset him.
It sort of sits with Springsteen, Janis Joplin, and Joe Cocker in that way (though the latter I like). Hmm. Is it a white people thing? Are they confusing soul with shouting?
Maybe. And now I've identified the reason, I'm finding his voice even more grating! Only two songs to go. I very much look forward to this album being over.
One song to go. Do you think we could use AI to remove Van Morrison from this Van Morrison album? Then we could just hear the nice backing singers.
It's over. I'm putting on Harvest by Neil Young as a palette cleanser.
Public Enemy
4/5
What a great album. I can't believe I've never listened to it until now. I don't really know Public Enemy well, even though I've seen them live... twice! I feel like I've been prompted to catch up with something I should have been listening to for years! 4.5 stars
Mj Cole
3/5
And so this is Garage / And what have you done? / Another album listened to / I suppose it was fun?
I'm in a Christmas-y mood.
I put this on. It was alright. I could largely ignore it. It was like listening to the radio. I didn't mind it but I will never listen to it again.
Supertramp
2/5
Like a shittier, camper version of Pink Floyd's The Wall. Not for me.
Dire Straits
3/5
I am in a bit of a quandary about this one.
At first it seems inoffensive. And I don't mean "inoffensive" in the way that Travis is inoffensive, that is: teeth-gnashingly, mind-meltingly boring and bland. No, I mean... it's fine. It's okay. I don't mind it. I don't hate it. I don't love it. It's just there.
But the quandary is this: It's clearly slightly lame dad-rock, but the guitar playing is really really good.
So I might secretly have a bit more of a dabble with Dire Straits. But don't tell anyone. It would ruin my jazz-metal-weridness street cred.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
The last time Stevie Wonder came up on this list, I didn’t particularly like the album and I worried this meant I was an ignoramus. Innervisions was one of the other albums I listened to at the time to check if I was at fault. I was relived to find I loved it.
Pretty much every song on this album is a corker. Many of them are stone-cold classics. There’s two or three that are a bit too saccharine for me so, if I could, I think I would give it 4.7 stars. So let’s round it up to 5!
Supergrass
5/5
This is already one of my favourites. A surprisingly consistent album, perhaps, given the “one hit wonder” vibe of “Alright”.
Quirky… cheeky… full of youthful energy… brilliant… five stars!
David Bowie
2/5
Look, I appreciate the attempt at funk or whatever, but, I dunno, it comes across as really smarmy. It's got that "Baker Street" style saxophone over everything.
I was going to give it three stars until the cover of "Across the Universe" came on. Yuk!
"Fame" is an absolute corker though, and I want to reinstate the three stars for that, but it would give the impression that I might listen to this album again, which I don't really intend to. Fame, yes. Album, no.
Fred Neil
3/5
I quite enjoyed this. I was shocked to discover that Everybody’s Talkin’ wasn’t a Harry Neillson original but was by this guy. I still prefer that version but you have to give credit to Fred Neil and the rest of the album was okay. It’s described as “folk” but I guess it’s an American folk. He has a country-singer type voice but the accompaniment is less twangy than country. I liked the instrumental at the end too.
The Cure
5/5
I am a huuuge Cure fan and I know this album well, but it's not often the one I turn to as it's so intense. Funnily enough, the album that got me into them and the first album I ever bought was the Best of / Remix album they released after this, "Mixed Up". My favourite Cure album is "Head On The Door" and I would recommend that as a starting point for anyone new to the Cure.
"Disintegration" is so intense and sad and cold sounding... and yet it has some great pop songs, and some of their greatest hits nestled in there: "Pictures of You," "Lovesong," and "Lullaby," are great songs, and possibly this is the height of what they are known for since the punkier early days or the self-consciously happy "Friday I'm in love" off the next proper album, "Wish."
But those get a little lost in the rather bombastic tunes like "Plainsong," "Closedown," and "The Same Deep Water as You."
Having said all that if you are a moody teenager in the early 1990s, perhaps that is exactly what you want. And for that reason I'll never have anything but respect and love for this album, it's just not so often that I'm feeling like I need to drown in sadness these days, thankfully.
I've always thought that if I won a significant award I'd dedicate it to Robert Smith for meaning so much to teenage me. Unfortunately I've never won anything significant.
That makes me sad. I'd better stick Disintegration on again.
The Doors
5/5
This is probably a 4.5 star album but because everything better than average gets lumped into 4, I’m going to have to give this 5 to differentiate it. Call it rating inflation. Also I really like The Doors and I’m assuming “The Best of the Doors” isn’t on this list so they should get the five stars somewhere.
This has got a good number of classic songs and the album tracks are pretty good too. It’s funny only getting to know the individual albums at this later stage in my life, but there you go.
Solange
4/5
Very pleasant.
...I'm not sure "very pleasant" covers it all as there are clearly interludes where people talk about racism and issues of race, so I'm sure there's more serious contents in the lyrics but I didn't really take that all in on the first listen.
The fact is, I am trying to catch up on two weeks of 1001 albums and I couldn't get through the industrial military-band Queen-covers of Laibach, nor the the pop crooning of Adele, so this was something of a balm and I enjoyed the whole album.
Radiohead
4/5
I’ve listened to Amnesiac a lot over the years, but I can’t remember if I like it! HAHAHA. Sorry.
This album came out within a year of the release of Kid A. The way it was presented was that Kid A was the “weird one” where they went all Aphex Twin and Amnesiac was a way of “making it up to fans” with a “proper rock album” …though I don’t know if that’s what the band thought.
Kid A is probably my favourite Radiohead album so I was always a bit dismissive of Amnesiac due to the above narrative. But actually it’s very good, as you would expect from Radio and the Heads (Are all their albums on this list? I forget.) and, crucially, it’s in no way M.O.R.
Maybe it’s best to think of them as one double album, as they seem to have done as shown in their “Kid A Mnesia” 20th anniversary rerelease (which I have on red vinyl, I have you know)
Genuinely, though, I couldn’t remember how much I liked Amnesiac itself. I think I did a previous rant about how the first four Radiohead albums progressively develop and become more experimental and interesting and then after that they plateau for a bit - what I call “Radiohead being Radiohead”. Well listening to this album again, you can almost hear exactly when it happens. The first four songs are all great. - “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” in particular gets me reaching to turn the volume up - but after that it’s all… fine. It’s not bad, it’s not even average, it’s good but it’s Radiohead being Radiohead. (Though I do have a soft spot for the “Hunting Bears” instrumental and “Life in Glasshouse” with Humphrey Littleton’s jazz band.)
So, ultimately, I DO like this album. But it’s not as good as Kid A.
Love
3/5
Okay. I went into this feeling very curious. This album is one of heard *of* for years and years - decades - but never *heard* as I grew up in the era where you had to buy music to hear it rather than stream it.
I know nothing of the group apart from the singer was important or something. I seem to remember this is a very influential album? Like, one cited by other musicians a lot and I’ve seen the cover image on t-shirts and posters many times. It’s “iconic.” Very hip. Very underground.
I had no idea what the music might sound like. I imagined it might be funk? Or Santana-style mystical rock? Or maybe even a precursor to punk?
So when it started I was disappointed. It sounded like “general Ironside hippy music” which is another of my terms - it’s from watching an episode of Ironside where they go into a hippy bar - though obviously it’s a flimsy set with actors and extras with relatively short hair but wearing clothes of primary colours and big necklaces - and in the background there’s what studio execs think is “freak out” music. It’s sort of like pop music of the time with some similar sounds but weaker and washed out.
So that’s what the album sounded like to me to start with. But the second song had a Santana tone guitar with a simple punky riff in the middle of it and I perked up a bit. And as it went on there’s something to the chord sequences and sound that is a little unusual and interesting. There’s something more to it… It was probably ground breaking *for the time.*
There’s a positive version of “generic Ironside hippy music” for me. It has the same sound but is good. And that’s “sounds like it could have been on the soundtrack of Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas”. For me I think this falls somewhere between the two at the moment. Although, I did keep finding myself thinking “When is this going to end so I can put on something else?” …which isn’t a good sign! Might have to come back to it. Seems like possible morning coffee chill out music?
Brian Eno
4/5
Very cool. Like the precursor to Orbital and Fat Boy Slim and all the electronic music of my era. Though the song it reminded me of most was "It doesn't matter" by the Chemical Brothers because of the way the sampled voice is repeated and stuttered.
The Sonics
4/5
I liked this a lot. I can totally see how it is so influential - punk 15 years before punk! Great stuff
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
It’s seems I’ve listened to this album before as I’ve liked the first four tracks already on Spotify. I have to agree with my former self that these are the best tracks. After that it gets a bit samey but I like this early hip hop sound and thoroughly enjoyed the album.
Keith Jarrett
4/5
I’ve heard of Keith Jarrett but never listened to his music so I’m glad to have been prompted to do so. It seemed to sound like a blend of jazz and classical to me - a bit more strait-laced than the jazz I am used to.
It was amazing that this whole concert was improvised! Like an improvised classical piece! I liked it a lot but there was a lot of music to take in so I might return to it.
Nina Simone
4/5
Nina Simone is amazing. I’m not sure this is my favourite album but it was a great listen.
Robert Wyatt
4/5
I enjoyed this. It was quirky and felt like "Outsider art" to me. A feeling confirmed by Ivor Cutler turning up at the end. I will return to this.
Radiohead
5/5
Probably my favourite Radiohead album
Blue Cheer
2/5
My score has wavered from a generous 4 to a more realistic 3 to a, perhaps, even more realistic 2.
Blue Cheer have got that sixties Cream / Hendrix sound but unfortunately they don't have the musicality. Some of the guitar solos made me wince. And I don't like the singers voice, which is always the nail in the coffin for me liking one of these albums. So, overall I like the tone but not the music and probably won't listen to this again.
Otis Redding
3/5
I was looking forward to this one. I feel like soul and r’n’b is “proper” music that I don’t know enough about. But I was left a bit confused as to what was original songs (the original “Respect” is on here) and what is covers (everything else?) and not the “classic” version. And a few songs didn’t grab me at all.
Having said all that, it has the song that is sampled on “I squeeze gats” (shake) so that’s pretty good. I dunno 3.5stars?
The Kinks
4/5
This has a similar vibe to the last Kinks album that popped up on the list (“Arthur…”) and is similarly very conceptual and very English but I think the tunes are better. It’s a lot more catchy whereas Arthur was bland.
It probably helps that I know a couple of tracks from the Hot Fuzz soundtrack. And it seems one of my favourite Green Day songs (“Warning”) is just a rip off of “Picture Book” too.
There’s a bit of filler. But yeah. Pretty good. I could get into it.
The Fall
2/5
I enjoyed the first song but the rest of it seemed a bit of a let down.
David Bowie
5/5
This packs a huge additional emotional punch as it is still, to me, Bowie's "Death Album" and brings back memories of that time and the national, if not global mourning, and my partner, who was a massive fan of him, being hit by it.
I am not a huge fan. I don't really know his albums very well, but I know they were good to start with and he hit a bit of a shit patch from the 80s onward.
This and "The Next Day" seem different though. Somehow the weird melodies and embrace of modern electronic sounds and jazz saxophones add up to something rather beautiful and an emotional goodbye.
Electric Light Orchestra
2/5
Dreadful. Albums like this make me question if it's worth doing 1001 albums. I've never been drawn to ELO because I figured I knew what they sounded like (sort of 70s Disco Beatles wannabes) and now I've listened to a whole double album and just had my forebodings confirmed.
Some of it is bearable in small doses and semi-ironically. But listening to a whole double album of this MOR bullshit made me want to become a goth or something. No wonder young people were desperate for punk music to come along and save them from this crap.
Pearl Jam
3/5
I never really got into Pearl Jam at the time. I fear it might be a bit too late for me now. I recognised a fair few songs - the singles I guess - but wasn’t too into the album tracks. I’m not hugely into Eddie Vedder’s voice. Musically there’s some good stuff to enjoy. I dunno. It’s alright!
Steely Dan
4/5
I think I like this. And I’m sort of surprised. I’ve never really investigated Steely Dan. The name just suggested MOR rock bullshit to me. But actually listening to it, there’s lots here I like - the electric piano to start with brought me on board. I saw it described as “Jazz Rock” on Wikipedia and that sounds like exactly the sort of thing I would like. It’s musically interesting without being disgustingly cheesy a la ELO. It seems to have a bit of side to it. I listened to it twice and will come back for more!
Joni Mitchell
4/5
I’ve never really gotten into Joni Mitchell though I felt like I SHOULD. She’s arty and jazzy and I like things in those categories. But her voice never really gelled with me.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed this. I’m not sure I could hum you a tune from it afterwards but it passed the time pleasantly. After my surprise enjoyment of Steely Dan yesterday, I wonder if 1001 is expanding my musical taste. Maybe there will be room for Joni eventually, or rather, there’ll be a better understanding on my part. Or maybe I can form new “moods” where I can spend some time liking types of music I didn’t before.
Whilst I’m musing on that, I think I see why you get certain similar albums in sequence on #1001 now. It must be to get you into certain moods and more receptive to certain types of music. This obviously favours the subsequent albums but I suppose it helps. E.g. We seem to be in Jazz Rock mode at the moment.
Goldfrapp
4/5
If I were to sum this album up in one word it would be “woozy”.
I had a Goldfrapp CD back in the day. I just looked it up and it was “Black Cherry”. It wasn’t exactly my sort of thing but it overlapped enough. I think “Black Cherry” was more electronic / dance / stomp. Whereas this is dreamy, discombobulating, woozy… not that that’s a bad thing. But it’s a very specific mood.
Alison Goldfrapp has a rather brassy voice. Whilst listening I figured out she reminds me of Shirley Bassey doing that song with the Propellerheads.
I’m not sure what to give this. I think it’s a 3.5. I like it but won’t be reaching to put it on a lot.
ZZ Top
3/5
Hillbilly energy.
The Cure
5/5
Interesting! This is only The Cure’s second album and already they’ve moved on from their early punky sound, introducing electronic drums and getting almost ambient on some tracks (“Three” has always been one of my favourites). As a Cure fan it’s not really an album I think about a lot but it gets five stars because it’s got “A Forest” on it. Call me biased!
Aretha Franklin
5/5
Too many bangers to give this album less than five. Will come back to next time I need to hear some Aretha.
Nirvana
5/5
Awesome album. I’ve always loved the three Meat Puppets covers on here and was disappointed the Meat Puppets themselves weren’t as good as the cover versions. In fact it’s all the cover versions that are the best stuff on this album - making up half of the songs on it. And then supporting that you’ve got all these great Nirvana songs. “In the pines” is incredible… just great.
5/5
I live this album. In fact I’m learning the guitar parts from it, rather slowly.
I only properly got into Blur in the last decade or so - long after their peak which I was there for - and concluded this is their best album. For me there’s not a bad song in it (well, maybe one or two skippable ones) and it feels like it does what indie rock should. I think that’s the best way I can put it
Dolly Parton
3/5
Love a bit of Dolly. There were some good songs here. Not the greatest though?
Steely Dan
4/5
This is the second Steely Dan album we've had in a couple of weeks and I continue to quite like it. There's a mixture of cynicism and prog rock musical theatrics that appeals to me. It sort of reminds me of late era "Bobby Brown Goes Down" Frank Zappa (which isn't my favourite Zappa era, to be fair.) Though unfavourably you could say it was "Yacht Rock" perhaps? I'd definitely have to be in the right mood for it.
This album starts very strong with the first couple of songs, comes back with a couple more strong ones and then simmers down again. So about half great, half passable.
I still can't find it strange that I like this... but I do!
The Monks
4/5
I like this a lot. I can't in good conscience, give it five stars because it's new to me and I'd have to see if I return to it some more. But I'm digging it. It's more 60s proto-punk like The Sonics. It reminded me of all sorts of things from The Cardiacs to the Fall (who covered some of the songs) to early Frank Zappa and the Mothers. Oh, and Clinic.
It has this great abrasive sound - distorted guitars and the clean organ droning away. I love some of the "guitar solos" which are just noises. And the singing itself, which, somehow, sounds very 60s despite just being a voice.
It's a sound that feels weird for being made up of 60s pop and modern gritty punk. Like a kind of Evil Monkees. Great stuff! If I was still doing compilation tapes I would be earmarking some tracks here to be thrown in between something similar-but-different.
Interesting. Fascinating. Great!
Portishead
4/5
It's an odd one for me, this. I feel like I should give it five stars because it has a whole load of classic songs on it and it's such a unique sound. But whilst I've enjoyed hearing Portishead on the radio or around, it's never been something I would choose to put on myself. I think it's Beth Gibbons voice. It's just too tremulous for me. *shrug emoji*
As a side note, and this has no effect on my score either way, I never knew the songs had such daft names. Like, I know "Roads" really well, but had no idea it was called "Roads". The same with "Biscuit." Is that keening song really about the love of a McVities Digestive? "Fully fed, yet I still feel hunger" etc.
Japan
3/5
Ooh, so eighties!
I enjoyed the first track in particular, after that it all kind of washed over me. It seemed nice enough and a bit nostalgic.
Talking Heads
4/5
This is the second? Third? ...Talking Heads album so far on 1001 Albums. My opinion remains the same: I like them... but not as much as I should probably. It seems like my sort of thing but, as well as liking them, I simultaneously find them a little bit annoying.
Generally I think "Stop Making Sense," which I love, has all my Talking Heads needs covered. I enjoyed listening to this album though, especially the songs I already knew from "Stop Making Sense."
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
I’m a big can of LCD Soundsystem. This album and their debut self-titled one are classics. 100% good. lCD Soundsystem are playing at my house!
John Lennon
3/5
I’ve never really got into any of the Post-Beatles Beatles’ albums. I thought I would have investigated John Lennon’s stuff, but no. The last time an album of his came up on 1001, I was pleasantly surprised. This time, it was more in line with my assumptions.
“Imagine” the song, is great, of course. It’s just a little overplayed for me to totally enjoy. And there’s a couple of other tracks I like. But there’s something about the overall sound that doesn’t gel with me. I don’t know why the production of John Lennon’s voice was done this way after the Beatles but it meant I never liked it as much. And I lot of the songs structure seems more basic, less tuneful and more reliant on old 50s rock n roll cliches than in Beatles times.
Anyway, the other couple of songs that stood out to me were “Jealous Guy” - a great song but I don’t like this version because of the sound. The strings also put me off - and “Oh Yoko!” Which seemed like a cute ditty.
I should probably try and listen again or to more post-Beatles stuff to see if it grows on me.
Orange Juice
3/5
This is okay. It's a bit weird feeling to me - just in that it seems like a weird mix of pop funk for a British act to pull off, especially with the crooning of Edwyn Collins
Coldcut
4/5
Some of it sounds pretty dated - particularly the singles which sound very much like 80s dance music - but the more intense the level of DJ mixing, the more it sounds "Frrresh!" I enjoyed it!
The Stone Roses
5/5
Perfect. This album reminds me of my youth and I've always loved it so I am biased. Such a unique sound. The Stone Roses are a bit like Led Zeppelin, in that each musician in the band is amazing but the guitarist steals focus. There are a lot of great singles and EPs from this era but it turned out that this album was a one off, never to be repeated. ("The Second Coming" has some good moments, but nothing like this consistent brilliance.) Maximum points!
Gary Numan
4/5
I kind of loved this - or at least the opening track drew me in quick, then the album lost me a little. Some of the tracks seem a bit “filler”.
I know and love the track “Cars” obviously but would never have thought of investigating Gary Numan further without 1001 prompting me to. And what I’ve found is that the danceable ones are very cool. The track “M.E.” Was VERY familiar to me as it was clearly sampled by Basement Jaxx.
I’m not sure what to do with this new awareness of Gary Numan. I guess I might listen to more of his stuff. I feel like there’s some gold to be dug out here. I’d probably liked to hear his stuff mixed with more modern dance music tracks. Yeah, cool!
Elliott Smith
5/5
I love Elliot Smith. Weirdly, listened to this album a day or two before it appeared on this list because I had the song “Ballad of Big Nothing” stuck in my head.
His albums start very simple and lo fi - just him and his guitar - and get more complex in instrumentation and better produced until the final album which feels like theirs too much in it to me.
This is the beginning of the sweet spot. The next two albums rise through XO to Figure 8, my favourite. So I could give this a 4 to mark it out from those which are 5s. But I love this one too having listened to it some more. Wonderful.
Carole King
3/5
Very 70s!
There are three famous songs here - “It’s too late,” “You’ve got a friend,” and “(You make me feel like a) Natural Woman” which I’ve liked because they are classics but overall it’s TOO seventies for me. Unless you were having a seventies-themed costume party or something.
The Temptations
3/5
So this is an album of two halves - the first side is the Sly Stone inspired “psychedelic soul” side, and the second side is the temptations sticking to their more traditional “My Girl” sound.
I was into the first song, “Cloud Nine,” and psychedelic soul seemed like a goer at this point, but then I wasn’t too keen on the version of “I heard it on the grapevine” in the new style. It seemed like two things that shouldn’t be together. Then the following song I wasn’t too fussed about until the instrumental where I got into the Sly Stone style grooviness.
Side 2 is the “My Girl” sound - I guess they didn’t want to try too much new stuff to quickly - and it’s not really a sound I really feel moved by. It’s a bit too… is “cheesy” the right word? “Old fashioned”? “Inoffensive”?
Yeah. I think that’s it. It’s a bit too eager to please and bland.
Overall, I didn’t mind it though.
3 psychedelic stars.
DJ Shadow
5/5
What a corker! I had to relisten to this to make sure it is as good as I remember... and it is!
I was surprised to find it came out in the mid-nineties. I thought it was older than that for some reason.
Did DJ Shadow ever do anything as good as this? I tried to keep an ear out but nothing hit me to the same degree. Anyway... Five stars!
David Bowie
4/5
Yeah, cool. It seems to be about half Bowie pop songs and half instrumental weirdness which I don't mind at all.
Tom Waits
3/5
I find it hard to believe this is Tom Waits' best album.
I've never got into Tom Waits. The gravelly voice, down at heel, bourbon and blues thing always seemed like an act to me. But I've heard some great tracks here and there and I'm prepared to get into it. Unfortunately, this wasn't the album to win me over.
It was alright. But if anything, it makes me think I should check out his other albums and find the good stuff.
Stan Getz
5/5
Nice!
I don't know whether to give this a 4 or a 5. My first thought was a 5 because... well, there's nothing wrong with it! I really liked the Jazz guitar. I'm not familiar with Charlie Byrd and I probably should be.
If I were to give it a 4 I would be deducting a point because It's a bit too jolly? A bit cheesy? I don't know, but I dig it.
Ideally it would get a 4.5, That's the accurate score.
I want to give it a 5 to mark it out as an album to return to, though. And that's what I'm going to do. But really it's a 4.5. Okay?
Jethro Tull
2/5
I think this is alright but it’s uneven.
I tried listening to it a little while ago and was put off by the fact the first two tracks are about a paedo tramp and then a prostitute school girl. Ick.
Having got past that, it’s alright. There’s some average-sounding blues rock songs with some cool twiddly bits. I like Ian Anderson’s wacky voice and flute. I just don’t think I’ve heard a Jethro Tull album that’s completely won me over. I reckon I might be able to put together a “best of” I would like if I put in the effort.
Now is this a three or a two?
David Holmes
5/5
I’m giving this a five because it passed me by at the time but if I’d have heard it when it came out I would have loved it. There’s a few tracks I recognise - at least a couple from Spaced - and the ones that don’t are funky or trippy or just generally cool. I might dare to suggest it’s a bit of its time, but I like it!
Afrika Bambaataa
4/5
I love an 80's electronic cowbell.
Beatles
5/5
Okay, this is an instant five. I know this album really well, of course. The last three songs on the album are one of my favourite experiences of music ever.
Perfection!
Portishead
3/5
We listened to the first Portishead album recently on 1001 albums, and I think I said that I knew the songs well from "around" but never owned a copy. I liked it but never thought of it as "my music" though it was of my time. I think the problem is I don't really enjoy listening to Beth Gibbons voice.
And that is repeated here. This is a "comeback album" of sorts, after ten years and the band being put on hiatus. Or so I read on Wikipedia. I also read that this marked a move from the original trip hop style to more krautrock influences.
All of which explains my initial reaction to the first song which was I was really enjoyed the groove until the singing started and then I wanted to skip it. And when the singing stopped I was really enjoying the groove again but then it stopped abruptly.
After this, there were grooves I liked and didn't, times when the singing didn't annoy me too much, and stuff. It was okay. I don't think I'll come back to it though.
The Fall
5/5
I think we've listened to two other Fall albums on 1001 albums. My other half and her cool mates are into the Fall. As a result, I've heard a few of her favourite songs (one of which "Glam Racket" is on this album) and I saw them live at least twice before Mark E. Smith died.
I think this is the first time I've really enjoyed them.
I can really see where both Pavement and LCD Soundsystem, "took inspiration" from The Fall on this one.
I'm going to do a slightly risky thing given I've only heard it once and give it five stars. This is partly due to marking inflation, but mainly because I liked every song and I think I'll come back to this album again!
Genesis
3/5
I enjoyed the impressive musicianship, particularly the guitar solos and drums, but also found it very annoying, especially the keyboard solos and vocals.
Sex Pistols
5/5
I always thought the meaning of the song "Bodies" was troublingly anti-abortion, and was surprised to hear the F word. But I suppose punk was not about being politically correct. I tried to explain it to my Dad once (who was around in the sixties and had some cool rock records but who really liked jazz big band music) that I appreciated it as an expression of the raw anger felt by youth in the late 70s and early 80s.
Listening to it now, it amazing how much Steve Jones wrung out of those 50s rock riffs. It still sounds great, and if anything I appreciated some of the album tracks even more this time. Classic!
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
So good. Somewhere between the hit song / pop of “Are You Experience” and the far-outness of “Electric Ladyland”. I wish I could give it 10 out of 5!
Happy Mondays
5/5
A hugely important album to me. It came out when I was a teenager and showed that new music could be good, when I thought I'd missed all the good stuff that happened in the 60s etc.
It still holds up today. Great music, great swagger.
George Harrison
4/5
Nice enough. There's (all of) the famous George Harrison songs on here and some album tracks that don't offend and are quite chill, then at the end a load of jam tracks that are also okay but don't feel essential.
I think I have a lot of goodwill toward George Harrison, and so while this is probably more of a three star record, I'm happy to give it a four, because I'm happy to hear from him!
Michael Jackson
4/5
Like Gary Glitter, Michael Jackson was very good at making popular music.
"Beat It" was one of the first singles I ever owned as a kid, and I still think that Eddie Van Halen's contribution to that track is one of the best guitar solos of all time. But, weirdly, I've never heard the whole album before.
It is built like a pyramid, building up from some average songs at the start through the mid-tier (and slightly creepy) "The Girl is Mine" with Paul McCartney to a section of classics in the middle, "Thriller," "Beat it," "Billie Jean" and "Human Nature". Then there is "Pretty Young Thing" (How young?) which has a good groove, and finally "The Lady in my Life" which is forgettable.
As I say, I've never listened to the whole album before, and I probably won't again. But the hits are a pleasant reminder of my 80s childhood like "Back to the Future," or Zoids.
Can you separate the art from the artist? I guess it gets easier when they are dead.
Dennis Wilson
3/5
Like the Peter Gabriel album this week, I gave this a couple of listens because I wasn't really getting it, but in this case, I still don't really get it.
Mark says it's really good so I feel I must be missing something. It sounds... fine. A bit middle of the road. But there's some interesting instrumentation and the songs seem.. fine. It's fine. I don't know what I need from it to like it more. Maybe it's just the turnover of 1001 albums that means I don't have time to develop a relationship with the music. Maybe it's just a bit ballad-y for me. I don't hate it. Maybe I'll come back to it. I don't know.
Oh, I have to point out that there's a chord change in "Mexico" that sounds just like a King Crimson song, "The Court of the Crimson King" from their first album in 1969.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
I wasn't sure what to make of this and I gave it a couple of listens. I think it's not really for me.
I like the prog / interesting elements. And it's got lots of cool musicians on it like Robert Fripp, Tony Levin and Kate Bush. I found it interesting reading on Wikipedia about how Peter Gabriel "banned cymbals" and they game up with the "gated room sound".
But, and this is something I say often about albums I don't take to, I don't like his voice, unfortunately.
And also, I know it's all meant to be prog and exciting, but I get this horrible 80s / Robert Palmer / Phil Collins vibe that just gives me the ick.
Sorry. I like some of the marimba though.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
This is the second Joni Mitchell album we've had. I can't say I'm naturally attracted to her quavering voice, but the songs are good and I'm sort of acclimatising to it. This had a lovely chill acoustic feel to it. I will try and revisit.
Frank Zappa
5/5
One of my favourite albums. It was my first introduction to Zappa, and I think it is for a lot of people. It is almost entirely instrumental, but also tuneful, jazzy and pleasant to listen to. If you only ever listen to one Zappa album, this is it.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Really very classic. It's hard to get any more classic than Led Zep I.
I mean, it's not the album I reach for first if I'm thinking about Led Zeppelin. It's more likely I'll put on Led Zep II or Houses of the Holy or Physical Graffiti. Led Zep I has some cracking tunes on it but there's something about the sound of it that feels a bit old and tinny compared to the subsequent albums. It's a bit like Metallica's Kill Em All - great songs, but bad sound - but not to the same degree.
Anyway, am I going to mark down Led Zep I a star because there are other Led Zep albums I prefer? No way! It's a classic!
The Style Council
2/5
I don't like Paul Weller. I find him irritating. However, many of the songs on this album are instrumental or feature guest vocalists, so I liked two of the short jazzy instrumental ones.
Overall, though, it does what it says on the tin. It's background music for a café rather than something I would actually choose to listen to (aside from one very-dated sounding rap track... and some funk/soul songs that I found genuinely annoying). It's a bit like a forerunner to Nouvelle Vague.
Super Furry Animals
4/5
I enjoyed this. It's got a lot of eclectic sounds on it but all from my era. I've not really listened to the Super Furry Animals before but would give it another go!
John Lee Hooker
4/5
This is a sort of precursor to those albums, like the Johnny Cash ones, where Rick Rubin would remind old artists what they used to sound like by stripping them back to their essentials. Before that, there were a rash of "duets" type albums where older artists proved that they were important, actually, in the hope that younger people engage with their old classic catalogue.
I have a very specific memory associated with this album. I remember being on a school trip, on a coach, and I had a Walkman but with these giant professional headphones I had borrowed off my Dad. They were like two round mini speakers you strapped to your head - they would have been very cool if I was a teenager, but as a kid the other children near me on the bus thought they were funny. And then, I guess I hadn't taken into account the extra power drain of these speaker-like headphones, because the Walkman ran out of battery almost immediately.
The album I was trying to listen to was this one - or a tape copy on a cassette tape with a box I had covered in muted mustard floral paper which sort of reflected the border on the cover of this album.
I haven't listened to this album for years, decades, if that was the last time of listening. And it's quite nice.
It's old man John Lee Hooker, being joined by some famous friends in a sort of Jools-Holland-style memorial celebration. The duets are nice enough but I prefer the last few tracks when it is JLH on his own or with minimal accompaniment.
So I learnt, listening to this in my pre-teens, was that I should delve back into his earlier catalogue, and so I guess this album did it's job.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Very Classic. To be honest, I didn't listen to it again because I know it so well. And it's hard to say much about it apart from it's very very good. The electric side vs the acoustic side is a neat idea. I mean... yeah! It's Led Zep 3! Maximum points. Five flaming zeppelins out of five.
The xx
2/5
I think this is the second XX album we've had on 1001 albums. I can't say I was pleased to see them again. I have a vague memory of their first album being extremely boring and over-produced and featuring people singing with that annoying "posh cockney" voice that young people manage to affect these days.
I found this one marginally less annoying, maybe because I knew what I was getting into, maybe because it is their third album and they had figured out how to be 1% more interesting in the intervening time. Having said that, I was feeling a bit sleepy and checking to see how long it was after two songs (It's 39 minutes and 17 seconds.) and after three songs I was starting to resent the waste of my time.
By the end, I thought it was a bit "meh," sort of okay, but I won't be rushing to listen to it again.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
I think this is a 4. Or a 3. Or even a 2. It's hard to tell.
I think I'm very relieved to be away from Elton John and listening to stuff that's more my interest. There's a weird unemotional delivery to Siouxsie Sioux's vocals and the music generally. It's sort of industrial punk minimalism. Or something. I think I like it. I think it's a 3.5 with a note to investigate further. "Hong Kong Garden" is great though.
Elton John
2/5
I never really got into Elton John. His stuff has a "musical theatre" vibe to me that I don't really gel with. This album is classic, I assume, because it has "Tiny Dancer" on it... which is a good song, but even before it ended I was checking to see how long the album was. And the rest of it sounds much the same but not as catchy. It just sounds like Elton John. Musically impressive and well orchestrated and all that. I just don't like it very much. Though I enjoyed his movie. That was good.
Black Sabbath
3/5
Fine.
I never really got into Deep Purple. As a place to start this album doesn't have the classics like "War Pigs" or whatever. It's okay. I should probably like it more because I love Led Zep and like Deep Purple. It could be a case of "not liking the sound of the voice" or it could just be that I only have a need for so much heavy rock... Yeah. It's alright. Sure.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
I liked this a lot. It helps that I already like Neil Young - I love "Harvest" and quite like "After the Gold Rush" but don't know much more than that. It also might have helped that I read the Wikipedia entry beforehand and understood that this was deliberately messy and raw sounding. It was even categorised as a "grunge" album!
Anyway, I totally got into the raw emotional unrehearsed nature of it all. I don't know that particular songs stick out to me on my first listen but as an overall vibe it sounds like being at a live gig and I dig it!
3/5
Obviously, it's due to where I was born and raised, but I always find American Punk a bit tinny and less impressive than British Punk.
This album is okay. It was funny to hear the little bit that the Red Hot Chilli Peppers took for Mother's Milk in there. It didn't grab me especially but I might revisit it.
Adam & The Ants
3/5
Brought back great childhood memories. This was an act you could like as a child with all the costumes and larking about. I was surprised, then, to discover some of the tracks have a great post-punk guitar sound that wouldn't be out of place on some modern indie rock tracks. There's too much filler on the album though. Antmusic is the stand out (and deliver) track here. I would give this 3.5 if I could. I would give it a four to mark it out from the average albums because I enjoy the sound and look and nostalgia of it all, but I can't say I'm going to play it again apart from for a jolly jape.
Arcade Fire
3/5
I got halfway though this and it seemed fine. I remember really listening to "Funeral" but it was a bit melodramatic for me. This seems like more of the same but less intense. I don't mind it but I don't really need it either.
David Bowie
3/5
This was shocking at the time because Bowie managed to release an album, after years of silence, without anyone knowing he'd been recording - it came out of nowhere unannounced.
Now it feels a bit like the precursor to Black Star - the timing of which was even more shocking with his death. It has a similar vibe of him looking back on his life and work but it is rather forgettable. Black Star seems more like a definitive statement now.
"Where are we now?" and "The Stars (Are Out Tonight" are the stand outs.
Beatles
5/5
Possibly my favourite Beatles album. It's incredibly eclectic and features some of the highest of high points and some real low ones (looking at you, Obladiblada).
But the greatness of the great songs and the general feeling of a selection box of treats makes up for any possible faults.
De La Soul
5/5
I seem to remember having this on cassette tape. I don't know what to say about this album except that I love it. Possibly the first time I really "got" sampling in my young life, back in the days when music journalists were still asking if rap was a fad. The albums a bit inconsistent but where it hits, it hits hard and it's so unique that I can overlook a few short tracks of mucking about that don't land for me. Five stars!
Nirvana
5/5
The album of my generation that made it feel like something was actually happening in our time.
Billy Joel
3/5
I don't know. This has that sleazy seventies strings thing going for it. It depends how ironic I am feeling whether I am going to be able to enjoy this I think. For example "Just The Way You Are" is a great song but also really cheesy. I dunno. I'm getting some Elton John vibes with the old joanna. I didn't even know "She's Always A Woman To Me" was an old song! I thought it was by whoever covered it recently. I don't know. I'm just going to give it three stars and leave somewhat confused.
PJ Harvey
4/5
I'm not really that familiar with PJ Harvey. I know OF her. I feel that, like Nick Cave, she's gone from being out-there crazy rock art weirdo to a more establishment respected art weirdo and this album is on the latter end of that.
As far as I can tell, it's a concept album about England being the home you love but also a bit awful. Right? It sounds good. There's a few stand out songs and the rest is alright. I might revisit.
Kate Bush
4/5
There's three big songs here - "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God," "Hounds of Love" and "Cloudbusting". The rest of it is filled with pleasing, kind of concept-album-y Kate Bush noises.
I grew up with Kate Bush being around in the eighties and always knew she was different and had respect for her as someone who was an "artist" but never really got any albums or anything.
This is probably one I will return to.
Stephen Stills
3/5
This was a bit of a weird one to figure out whether I liked it or not. For the first couple of songs I thought it sounded like soundtrack music for a romcom or something Jools Holland would like and put on his Hootenanny. Not "fake", proper music, and all that, but just not with much edge or danger or whatever it is I like.
Then there were songs that didn't just do the standard "rock guy with a gospel choir to add soul" thing. There was some wah guitar and a sort of Sly Stone vibe. Then a sort of 70s crooner pop song. Then there was a bluegrass / blues "one blues guy and his guitar" type song. So there's lots of elements and sounds and musicianship and stuff that I like... but it wasn't my cup of tea... why not?
And then I twigged. I don't like his voice. It's the same problem I usually have with things I don't like. He sounds very average American white guy doing blues / rock vocals. A bit Rod Stewart. A bit whatever.
There's currently a great sax solo going on, but as soon as the vocals come in I want to turn it off.
The irony is, I wonder if all these different musical styles were to prove his "range" and yet his voice is the thing that always sounds, boringly, the same. Oh well.
Barry Adamson
4/5
Nice. Very nineties chill out / cooler than thou / groovy vibes. Could be on a playlist with Ninja Tune and that lot. Sounds a bit dated in a way and some of the speeches made me feel a bit icky.
Tim Buckley
4/5
I liked this a lot. I'm not generally into the melancholy singer-songwriter with a guitar vibe. But there was a lot of accompaniment by jazzy instruments like double bass and vibes and stuff and that gave it a different, er, vibe. It feels very sixties, somehow. But, yeah, I dig it, man! Another one I might revisit.
Beastie Boys
5/5
I was a latecomer to The Beastie Boys but I really got into them a few years ago. This is a classic for a number of reasons: It's got "Sabotage" on it. It's an eclectic album with rap, punk and homemade funky /chill out tunes (Is this the Beastie's White Album?). Personally, I really love the couple of songs at the end sampling Tibetan monks with the lyrics showing MCAs growing interest in Buddhism. But most of all, it's all killer no filller, which I think is the best reason to give an album five stars.
Frank Sinatra
4/5
I kind of loved this. I didn't ever expect to enjoy listening to Frank Sinatra but this had an old-timey charm and a depth of feeling. Like an old musical or something, which kind of makes sense as Wikipedia describes it as "the first concept album!"
Dusty Springfield
4/5
I love Dusty Springfield. I often say I don't like an album on here because I don't like the voice. Well, I love Dusty Springfield's voice! But I don't necessarily love all her songs. When they are good they are the best. But I'm more of a "Best Of" person when it comes to her.
I enjoyed listening to this album though, and the high points are super high - "You Don't Own Me," and "Anyone Who Had a Heart" for example. Some of the other tracks feel a bit kooky and sixties in a way which is a bit too much for me. But still. Very good!
Fleetwood Mac
4/5
I've never listened to Fleetwood Mac before. Obviously I've HEARD them around - Albatross, The Grand Prix Theme Tune, the Landslide cover by the Smashing Pumpkins - but this is the first time I've chosen to put something of their on.
Knowing very little about them, I read the Wikipedia article about this album and how they were all musical geniuses and it was like three different solo albums in one and they were trying to break away from Rumours and incorporate post-punk sounds and the critics said this album was too experimental.
And then I listened to the album...
And it was very nice.
Not wishing to damn it with faint praise, but it was very nice. I might play it again sometime in the future.
That's all I have to say.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
This feels like an important album somehow. There’s a certain cool-eighties-ness to it - like being transported into a John Hughes film. II can imagine, if you were a teenager at the time, how seminal this would be. As for me, who was a teenager a bit later, I liked it! Will revisit.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
4/5
I didn’t like the Janis Joplin album we had before very much. It felt rather abrasive. And this had the same problem for me initially. But it helped that I knew a couple of tracks well from the “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” film, and that Robert Crumb did the cover artwork. Eventually I got into the whole counter culture feeling of it all. I will play it again!
Michael Jackson
4/5
Very classic. There's a couple of songs I'm not really into and it's not the sort of thing I play very often but there's some corkers on here. Good old Quincey Jones!
ZZ Top
4/5
I liked this a lot more than the other (later) ZZ Top album we had on this list. It reminded me of Thin Lizzy and Stevie Ray Vaughan and stuff. It started well, then the middle got a bit boring, but then there came a song I know very well as Queens of the Stoneage covered it! Think I might come back to this album.
The Doors
5/5
If I’m honest it’s more of a four. But “The End” persuaded me to give it five. I listened to all the Doors albums and there’s a main four of five which have more good songs than average songs but none a complete classic-all-the -way-through. That’s why I love the Best of The Doors cassette tape I used to have.
But, five points for being so Doorsy.
The Vines
2/5
What an Earth is this doing in this list? It’s not offensive but it’s very mediocre. I remember the name “The Vines” and the album artwork from the time but had a soliton compunction to investigate further.
Listening to it, every track sounds like a blander version of someone else: Nirvana then Radiohead, then the Stooges, The Beatles… etc.
I’ve said this about another 2000s band I think, but I imagine his sounds amazing (or at least slightly better than average) if you’ve never heard any other music before.
U2
2/5
The last time I had to listen to a U2 album for this project, it was The Joshua Tree and I gave it 1 out of 5. I'd never felt the need to listen to a U2 album before and it turns out I don't care for them. I don't like Bono's voice. I don't like the MOR-ness of it all. It's not my cup of tea.
With Achtung Baby, however, I have a little experience of it already. It came out in 1991, when I was a teenager with an interest in music and who was watching lots of music videos on TV shows. I remember that I rather liked the singles from this album at the time; "One" is schmaltzy but I liked the video with all the buffalos in it; I remember "Mysterious Ways" had a belly dancer behind a sort of waterfall effect, and "The Fly", which is probably my favourite, made sense of Bono wearing those big fly-like glasses.
"The Fly" probably is / was my favourite tune because I love the gnarly crazy guitar sound. (It goes: "BA-WAH GER-NAH GER-NAH WER-GAH!") And it is the Edge's interesting guitar noises which I find most interesting about U2 generally. A lot of the rest of the album just has his usual jangly delayed sound, and I don't particularly care for it either way.
Maybe that's why the rest of the album is boring as shit. Or maybe it's the song writing. Or maybe I just don't like U2. I find myself desperate to skip every song and get it over with.
Anyway, I like a couple of songs, sort of, it's a shame Bono's singing is on them... actually, I like the guitar part on a couple of songs... so I'll give this two stars - which is double what they got last time - and they can think themselves lucky that's it's not possible for me to give 1 1/2. Congratulations lads!
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
Really really really lovely. I've not heard of Sarah Vaughn before but she has a fantastic voice and it's incredibly endearing whenever she forgets the lyrics to a song and scat sings on this live recording.
I can't say I paid the closest attention to it but I will hopefully come back to it.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
3/5
Very bawdy!
Slade
2/5
I love Slade - the idea of Slade, anyway. They’re a uniquely British, kind of funny band and their hits are amazing - the Christmas one, obviously, but also “Mama We’re Oorll crazee noo “ or however you spell it…
But.
Whenever it comes to listening to a whole album, I always find it a bit disappointing. The album tracks just don’t can’t it I’m afraid.
I’m sorry lads. I think this is a 2. Not a malicious 2. But a 2.
Metallica
5/5
Turn up the bass!
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
3/5
I’m not sure what I made of this. It felt a bit twee and whimsical to start with but it grew on me as it went on. I might give it another listen.
Flamin' Groovies
3/5
1001 albums has introduced me to a new genre that I think of as "60s punk". Now, this came out in 1970, but I would say it was an example of that sound - taking the basic 1950s Rock n Roll elements but in a rougher, harsher, more DIY way.
I liked this. I might return to it. I might not. I'd give it was a 3.5 stars if I could.
Sigur Rós
4/5
Very good. I think my favourite album of theirs is () but this is one of three of their albums that I put on, inspired by them appearing here. Not listened to them for ages and very much enjoyed it!
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
The greatest album ever made.
Blues, rock, psychedelia, jazz… all the good stuff.
Kelela
3/5
I listened to this. It’s not my usual sort of genre that I listen to. Sort of electronic R&B? But yeah. It was good to listen to something different. I might come back to it. But at the same time, it’s not really what I reach for so… 3.5?
David Bowie
3/5
The first track sounded a bit like Talking Heads. The next sounded like "Metal Bowie" so... like Tin Machine. "Heroes," the song, is glorious - lovely guitar from Robert Fripp. The other songs are okay. There is a long instrumental bit which has three titles but feels like one piece - a bit like on Low which we had on here before, I think. Yeah. It's okay.
Bob Dylan
4/5
I was surprised how much I liked a previous Bobby D record on this list.
This is more what I expect. It’s very Bob Dylan-y. This is good and bad. The reasons I don’t think I like him are back (the voice, mainly). But there are a lot of classic songs. I feel like, with a bit of a push, I might be able to get over my natural dislike for the way his voice sounds.
It reminded me that I always used to think that he provided good songs for other people to cover. And I still feel like that. But I’m warming to him a bit more.
Robert Wyatt
5/5
Wow. I enjoyed this a lot. I’d heard of Robert Wyatt but never listened to him before. Except, for some reason, the song “September the Ninth” is incredibly familiar to me. Like, it was on a compilation or something?
I’m going to give this five. It’s probably a 4.5 but I’m just glad to have had a new musical avenue opened to me.
Metallica
5/5
Classic. The album that got me into Metallica and then hit me into their previous heavier albums. Really enjoyed listening to it again after many years of it being “too obvious” or over listened. Great!
Funkadelic
4/5
Mark has been telling me to listen to this for years. I think I did once, I was certainly familiar with most of the tracks this time. It’s really good. There was a couple of tracks that didn’t work for me. But overall I can see why it’s such a classic album. I really need to investigate Parliament / Funkadelic a lot more. 4.5 stars!
Gram Parsons
5/5
This was really good. I had the other Gram Parsons album, "GP". It seems like I had the wrong one! Nearly every track on this album is recognisable and familiar, and rather beautiful if you can get into the countryness of it.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3/5
In the words of Tom Petty himself, "It's alright."
At least it's short.
Violent Femmes
4/5
This is apparently “folk punk” which I think just means “acoustic punk”. I liked this album a lot on the first listen, and less on the second when I noticed the “filler” songs more. But, yeah, pretty good. 3.5 stars.
Fiona Apple
3/5
90s lady pop music of a jazzy variety.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
Pretty good.
The Verve
2/5
Spacey Oasis. I’ve not listened to this album before. The hits are the sound of sitting in a pub in the 90s. The rest was both more psychedelic and more boring than I was expecting. And as it went it got more and more boring. Boooooring.
2 stars.
The Dandy Warhols
3/5
Pretty good.
Miles Davis
5/5
The best of the best. The coolest of the cool. Pack it up and send it into space to let the rest of the universe know what we are capable of.
Moby
3/5
I remember these tunes being everywhere at the time - soundtracks, adverts, trailers... What I remember is lots of songs based on samples of black singers of blues, gospel and soul over these very basic drum and synth tracks. I was always a bit suspicious of the morality of this - giving your basic simple computer-created song "soul" through these samples. But there was a bit more variety than I remembered.
Overall, it's fine. A little bit boring and annoying. But perfectly fine to put in the background whilst you clean the kitchen, which is what I was doing.
R.E.M.
2/5
I keep trying to get into REM but I just don’t seem to enjoy they’re music very much.
4/5
If Coldplay are the "sell-out" Radiohead, then Muse are the "metal" Radiohead and, given my sensibilities, it makes sense that I hate the former but have a soft spot for the latter. They are a bit of a guilty pleasure - often bombastic and silly, and I think you have to be in the right mood AND pick and choose the songs, but there are fair few good ones on this album. Enough to give it a better than average score.
2/5
I got half way through this. It's not really for me, I don't think.
I get the IDEA of DEVO and I think it's an interesting art piece or experience or whatever, but I don't really want to have to listen to it.
It's a bit on the cusp. I can imagine I might revisit this in a different state of mind and like it better, but at the moment, it gets two stars, not a malicious two stars, but two stars.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
I've never listened to this album before, somehow! Though I feel I know it by osmosis from the songs appearing throughout culture.
It gets five stars for "Venus in Furs" alone which I remember hearing on a TV commercial when I was a kid and it blew my mind. It sits alongside "Tomorrow Never Knows" for far-out-ness.
But also, "Sunday Morning," "I'm Waiting For The Man," "All Tomorrow's Parties," "Heroin," even the album cover with the big banana: VERY CLASSIC.
I do think there's a bit of filler, but still... five stars!
Sepultura
4/5
I liked this a lot! I know the title track but don’t know why I didn’t get into it earlier. I think there’s a couple of really heavy tracks after the first track that always put me off. But after that there’s a level of thrash I can handle. It almost sounds like Faith No More! I will revisit.
Dirty Projectors
2/5
It reminds me of talking heads - and similar to them I feel I should like it more than I do. It also reminds me of 80s King Crimson, the flaming lips and Arcade Fire. It’s weirdness, but modern weirdness.
Unfortunately, I don’t really like the lead singers voice. It feels more “wacky” than “interesting”. Maybe I just don’t like modern things!
Might give it another try but I don’t feel compelled to listen to it.
Herbie Hancock
5/5
Fantastic. Brilliant. Perfect!
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Really very classic. Debut album from the experience featuring a lot of his best known songs and the psychedelic sound that would only be expanded on. It’s difficult to find words that are as positive as the album deserves. Yes! Very awesome!
Fela Kuti
4/5
Funky drummers! I’ve not listened to Fêla Kurt before, though I’ve heard of him. Will investigate further.
Black Sabbath
5/5
Oh! So this is where all the great songs live! “War Pigs” alone would get it five stars. But also “Paranoid,” “Iron Man,” …and all the album tracks are pretty great too. I never really got into Black Sabbath but this album might be my gateway (to hell!)
The Clash
5/5
I don’t really like The Clash but I love this album.
When I was a teenager there were too many middle-aged old farts going on about the Clash as if they were never coming and I never saw it myself.
But I tried. I listened to a few albums. Weirdly, this one is perfect and the rest I don’t really care about.
So there you go.
Five stars!
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Pure joy. I would say that, where the first disc is wall to wall classic bangers, the second one is a bit more album filler, but even then I’m sure I’ll grow to love these other songs as I listen to it more.
The United States Of America
4/5
I actually enjoyed this a lot.
I’ve said before that there’s actual 60s psychedelic music with soul and then there’s the sort of “hippy scene in Ironside” fake square version of it. Well rarely, you get something which feels like both combined. And it’s a vibe I dig. Like The Monkee’s “Head” film.
Similar to that film, this feels like it has some Frank Zappa in it, especially the early Mothers of Invention stuff. It also reminds me of White Noise and Jefferson Airplane.
But some tracks almost feel like modern Radiohead to me with the fuzzed out bass and precise drum rhythms. Yeah! Interesting and different. I will revisit.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
I thought I knew this album but I didn’t. I think I was confusing it with another Sly Stine album. This is great! Not exactly chock full of hits but a great “vibe” and I could totally feel the influence on jazz fusion, and other stuff I like.
The Damned
3/5
I like the damned in principle. “New Rose,” and “Neat Neat Neat” are classic singles. And they were on The Young Ones! Bug I’ve never found much more beyond that.
So I was pleasantly surprised that I really liked the first few songs. It got a bit boring on the middle and then picked up at the end.
So I want to give it a 4 but it’s probably a 3.
LTJ Bukem
4/5
Yeah, pretty good. It really takes me back to the late 90s era. I don’t know if I’ve heard this specific album before but was listening to similar stuff and recognise some of the tracks.
I wouldn’t say it’s going to be any of your “favourite songs” but it’s good mood stuff. I imagine it would be good to go running too.
Sometimes it’s so cool it can feel cold, but I would bung it on again.
Astor Piazzolla
4/5
I enjoyed this a lot. It reminded me of some of the little bits in the second Mr Bungle album before some other crazy thing happened.
Jazz tango! That’s a new one on me. More of this sort of thing!
Charles Mingus
4/5
Uh. I think it’s too much to have an opinion on this album after one listen. It’s a lot.
I’ve dabbled with Charles Mingus before. I live the tune “goodbye pork pie hat” and so I got “Mingus Ah Um” and maybe a couple of others. But it’s not easy listening. It’s intense with a lot going on and a sort of dissonance that makes me feel queasy.
I know that this is not the music’s fault. Nor is it mine. It’s just that this is music as ART and needs approaching with a bit more background reading and focus than a pop or rock record. This is like classical music.
This is my way of saying, essentially, that I don’t really get it, but I’ll come back to it!
Norah Jones
3/5
Very nice.
I would have probably have skipped this normally, but having just listened to the complexity of “The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady”, I felt in the mood for something a bit laid back. And it’s only 45 minutes long.
This practically screams “laid back coffee shop vibes”. It shrieks, “chilled out bar cocktails”. It hollers, “Rom com Christmas coziness”.
I didn’t mind it. It’s missing the sadness or anger or bitterness that it would need to really resonate with me. I guess that’s a psychological fault of mine. I’ll stick to Aimee Mann. But this was very nice. It’s probably a 3.5. But i’ll give it a three because I doubt I’ll ever listen to it again.
Neil Young
4/5
After being converted to Neil Young by listening to “Harvest”, I wanted more. “After The Gold Rush” is his other famous album, but it doesn’t quite reach the same heights. Nearly, but not quite. It’s a 4.5 star album I think. Having said that, I enjoyed it a lot more than I remembered! And there are some classic songs on here.
John Prine
4/5
I thought this was great. Country music with thoughtful “make love not war” lyrics. I was surprised it came out in the seventies rather than the sixties but 1971 is only just over the decade divide, I guess.
Love
2/5
I like some thing about this but I also find it very annoying.
Sam Cooke
4/5
Sounds like a party!
Count Basie & His Orchestra
3/5
Old fashioned but classy.
Fleetwood Mac
4/5
I’ve never listened to this before. I know several songs and the title and the cover through osmosis, though.
Listening feels like returning to the seventies and leaves me very confused about how to score it. It’s obviously very classic. I can get into it if imagine I’m in that time. It’s not really my sort of thing but it sort of is. I dunno. It’s confusing. Four?
Rush
3/5
Alright. So I’ve never listened to Rush, though I’ve heard of them and like a lot of rock and prog rock stuff.
My first impression was it sounded like Spinal Tap. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing - Spinal Tap wrote some great songs.
But then I heard the voice. I didn’t like it, and if it’s one thing I’ve learnt from doing 1001 albums it’s that if I don’t like a singers voice, I won’t like the band. (To quote Pavement: “What about the voice of Geddy Lee? How did it get so high? I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy?”)
Also, lines like “the meek shall inherit the Earth” and the “Chinese-y” riff in A Passage to Bangkok are really embarrassing and cringey.
Nonetheless, there were some guitar parts and bits of the music I quite enjoyed. I didn’t hate it. I just thought it sounded a bit silly.
This started with a twenty minute “overture” which was VERY PROG. I see there’s another album of there’s coming up which is meant to be more pop music, so that’ll be interesting to compare to this.
The Byrds
4/5
This is not what I was expecting. I thought the Byrds were, like, hippies. This seemed to be straightforward Christian bluegrass country music. I really liked it though!
Beck
3/5
I like Beck. Beck’s done some great things. But I don’t think EVERY album he’s made needs to be on this list.
This is okay but it’s just Beck being Beck. It’s not Odelay. It’s not Morning Phase. It’s alright. Three and a half stars.
Simon & Garfunkel
2/5
I was a bit disappointed by this. I don't know much about Simon and Garfunkel but my impression was: "Acoustic guitar, Garfunkel is a bit redundant, Simon is a great songwriter." But the only song I really genuinely enjoyed was "Mrs Robinson" which I new already. I wasn't expecting some of the prog rock voice samples and sounds of doors shutting either. Meh.
Talking Heads
4/5
It's time, again, for my standard Talking Heads album review. Which goes like this:
(1) I wish I liked them more than I do
(2) I really like any of the tracks which also feature in "Stop Making Sense" (in this case "Thank you for sending me an angel," "The girl wants to be with the girls," "found a job," "Take me to the water," and "The Big Country"... There are quite a lot of them on this album.)
(3) but the album tracks I'm not fussed about, which seems to indicate that "Stop Making Sense" is all the Talking Heads I need.
Having said that, all the tracks on this album "have got a good beat" and I could leave it running without getting annoyed by it and I did really enjoy those Stop Making Sense tracks. So maybe it is better than most Talking Heads albums I've listened to so far! Or maybe I'm learning to like them after all!
Hanoi Rocks
3/5
This sounded like the band playing a gig in the background of some surf zombie B-movie. Which is kind of a dig but also a compliment: they sound good enough that they appear to be a proper band but scrappy enough that they don't sound like they're ever going to make it big. It was punkier than I expected. I sort of liked it!
Rush
3/5
Similarly to the last Rush album, I can’t tell if I hate this or quite like it. I can’t be getting in with Geddy Lee’s voice though.
The Sugarcubes
4/5
I remember The Sugarcubes. I bought their second album at the time when you had to buy physical media to find out if liked something. My conclusion was that they were weird, the female singer was good but there was a a funny sounding man that kept popping up and doing weird “raps”.
My opinion now is pretty much the same. But I enjoyed it more as a quirky little offshoot. The band are pretty good with a strange dissonance. But it makes Björk (for it was she) would go off and do her own thing.
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
I liked this a lot. You can definitely here the blues and other genres in this African guitar music. Will listen to it again.
Depeche Mode
4/5
Never heard this before. The two singles are great. Half the album tracks are okay and half are good. I know two of them from somewhere - one I don’t know how, the other is from the Goldfrapp remix which is awesome.
Tears For Fears
3/5
Very 80s!
I want to like Tears For Fears more than I do. But they’re a singles band - I don’t think the album tracks are all that - and even then they’re a bit… weird.
I kind of love the super 80s production though and the last track had some synth sounds that reminded me of later dance music!
Wire
4/5
I listened to this a couple of times because I’m not sure how I feel about it. I want to like it because I can really hear the influence in a lot of bands I like (not least, Elastica!) “Post punk” is one of those genres I’ve never really got a handle on - being more familiar with what came before and after it, punk and grunge.
Generally I like this. I like that the songs are short and the sound. I’m not sure about the singer though. He sounds like a parody of a British punk. And maybe that’s the problem I’m having. I’m going to give it a cautious 4 star because I think I’ll come back to it.
Magazine
4/5
I enjoyed this a lot… though it feels weird. This is also “post-punk” apparently but is very different from the minimal approach of Wire. It has a sort of prog / glam rock / Sparks feel to it. Another one I’ll return to.
Pixies
4/5
I thought I knew this album really well and it was a stone cold classic, but actually it’s not as good as I thought! There’s about six fantastic songs and a lot of alt rock filler which various from good to middling to annoying.
I think I find Black Francis himself a bit like fingernails down a chalk board. But that’s part of the vibe, I guess. I prefer The Breeders! But yes this is an important and good album, overall, I guess.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
5/5
I listened to this again, even though I’ve heard it a million tines. I particularly like the album tracks. It’s odd to me that this is some people’s ´peak chilli peppers’ - as that will always be ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magic’ for me. I don’t know whether to give this a five because I’ve listened to it so much or a four because it’s not my favourite album of theirs. Oh well. Whatever.
Pink Floyd
5/5
I love this early Syd Barrett era of Pink Floyd. I think this album specifically formed a very early part of my musical education when I was a teenager. It’s trippy and whimsical and shows signs of their later genius.
I’ve realised I need to investigate the albums between this and Meddle more (Meddle to Animals being the best stuff).
Anyway this would get five stars just for “Gnome” and “Bike” alone, but overall I think it’s a very classic and important album as Flloyd’s debut and the early trippy stuff is fun.
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
It turns out I still remember how to play most of this on guitar. Another classic of my era. A must for Drop D enthusiasts.
Mott The Hoople
2/5
Glam-rock-David-Bowie-knock-offs. I wasn't really feeling this though I did like some of the more instrumental bits.
The The
2/5
I can't quite put my finger on what this reminds me of... it's sort of a combination of Nick Cave, INXS and Prefab Sprout... Nick Cave from something about the lyric delivery (although I like the singer here a lot less), INXS from the 80s drum sounds and Prefab Sprout from the complete lack of coolness.
I don't entirely hate it. It's a bit Meh. It's probably a 2.5 star album but I'm giving it two to show it's less than average.
Public Image Ltd.
4/5
Describing this as “post-punk” seems a bit obvious given the presence of John Lyndon, but it is! The angular sharp spiky guitars weren’t a surprise, but the grooving jam-band nature of it was a surprise for me. Like if Gong were really angry about stuff!
It was weird and interesting and I need to check out more PIL.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
5/5
I’m going to do something very unusual and give an album five stars after a first listen.
Being a big fan of The Cure, I should be partial to their “sister band,” but never found a way in. Well, this album might be it! I loved it! The last tracks are more album tracks, but the enthusiasm built up from side one carried me through. I even learnt some of the riffs on guitar. Goth-tastic!
Miles Davis
5/5
“Bitches Brew” isn’t really my go to Miles Davis album because I always think it’s really dark and kind of menacing. But that’s part of the appeal. And listening to it again, there a sense of mystery as well as some fantastic funky grooves and choppy angular guitar playing by John McLoughlin and… well, I could go on but I think everything’s been said. It’s an amazing album by a line up of musical geniuses (genii?). An absolute classic, yes.
The Byrds
2/5
Jingly Jangly Byrds-iness. Nice enough but no real stand out songs. And maybe it's my mood, but I found the the lack of variation in sound a bit annoying after a while. Better in small doses, probably.
Harry Nilsson
4/5
This album has 3 or 4 really great songs on it - Gotta Get Up, Without You, Coconut and Jump Into The Fire - but the rest is a bit forgettable. I like Nilsson. I like his sly humour and the fact this album came with a poster of him in his dressing gown, so I'll give it a 4 but it's more of a 3.5.
Depeche Mode
4/5
I think Depeche Mode are growing on me… or possibly staying the same. I always found them difficult to work out. When I first heard of them they were filling stadiums like U2. They were rock n roll drug-addled mega stars but also seemed like… dweebs. Especially if you see their early appearances on Top of the Pops where they look like four Rick Astleys.
I didn’t even know Vince Clarke was a member early on until reading Wikipedia just now! Which is funny because singer, Dave Gahan, sounds a bit like Alison Moyet… and Risk Astley.
Anyway, when I first put this album on, it reminded me of the cool music of a few years ago… vapour wave… which makes sense given the eighties aesthetic of that stuff.
I don’t know as the album goes on, it does feel a bit melodramatic and… dweeby. But after listening to the Violator album recently maybe I am getting used to the sound. It reminds me a bit of Nine Inch Nails too which sits in a similar place but is more metally, where nerds can more easily become rock gods.
I might come back to the depecheys in future.
Elliott Smith
5/5
I listened to this again but it's one of my favourite albums anyway. Beautiful melancholy.
Suzanne Vega
3/5
“Hipster” is the word that comes to mind - with all the positive and negative connotations of that. It’s poetry, it’s arty, it’s smug, it’s pretentious, it’s silly. I don’t quite know where I think this fits in this spectrum. Probably because of the association with “Tom’s Diner,” I imagine Suzanne sitting in a cafe, wearing a beret, smoking a cigarette and watching the people coming and going. Which is kind of appealing. But she also reminds me of Phoebe from Friends singing “Smelly Cat”. So I don’t know if it’s good or not. I quite like it but also it’s annoying.
Lucinda Williams
3/5
This sounds like Sheryl Crow without the fun hit singles.
It grew on me as it went in though. A score of 3.5 because it was nice enough and I could bing it in again. But I don’t know if I ever will.
Cocteau Twins
3/5
I like the Cocteau Twins but it sounds a bit same-y quite quickly.
Beatles
5/5
Not only does it have “Norwegian Wood” on it, but also “In My Life”. And everything else is great as well. A fab five stars!
Jazmine Sullivan
3/5
Gosh! Well, I listened to this, even though I am very much not the intended demographic and have never really been into R&B.
Musically, I quite enjoyed it though the modern sound made me feel old. The lyrics and skits made me feel a bit awkward. I felt like an old scruffy indie kid who stumbled into the wrong club. So I was relieved to leave even though the music was quite nice.
Iron Butterfly
2/5
More sixties rock. The organ gives it a Doors feel, combined with the guitar it sounds a bit Spinal Tap.
I often saw Iron Butterfly doing “In A Gadda Da Vida” on Top of the Pops 2 or music documentaries and it’s a good performance but I was never moved to find out more. I now feel justified in this position.
Side one is alright I suppose. But a big generic. Yet more sixties noise. Fine.
Side Two is the title song and really why this is on the list, I imagine. It’s a great riff, but I can’t help but feel a better band could do it more justice. Meh.
G. Love & Special Sauce
3/5
This sounds like the Fun Loving Criminals! Given that their first album came out two years after this, I guess they were “influenced” by it. A low key Jazz Funk guitar trio vibe with rapping. Kind of funky. Kind of chilled. Kind of annoying. I can imagine enjoying this at the time. Not really my sort of thing now. But okay!
Brian Eno
3/5
Sort of like the music they play when you get a massage. Or when you are on hold on a phone call. Which the point of it, isn’t it? Ambient sounds.
I liked the first track. I didn’t really like the soft “aaaah” vocal patches that came in on the second song and stayed for the next. They sounded very dated to me. It felt like I was wondering around the island in Myst.
I like the idea but the “aaah”s put me off. I like tracks 1 and 4 and will check out other Eno ambient stuff.
3 stars.
Guided By Voices
3/5
I don’t really know what I think of this album as it’s a lot to take in. 28 songs in 41 minutes! So each song is under a minute and a half. It’s like it’s for someone who has very short attention span. I find it a bit disorientating.
I think I like the music (indie rock being my thing) but I wish the songs had more time to breathe.
I’ll need to investigate further.
Django Django
3/5
Quite nice. Sixties-style harmonies with electronic sounds and mindedness production that sometimes sounds like children’s TV themes.
It was a bit bland and samey though and overstayed its welcome. By the end of the album I was relived to turn it off.
Cat Stevens
3/5
Very pleasant. I like the folk influences and double bass sound. But a bit hippy for me. I didn’t know “wild world” was a Cat Steven’s song, or “Father and Son”. In fact, I didn’t even know the titles of them, you just hear cover versions around. And it’s representative of the mawkish sentiment that puts me off. I would probably prefer the album without the hits! Overall, though, it’s an alright album. I guess.
The Hives
4/5
I like the Hives. This is categorised as a “compilation album” on Spotify. If I remember rightly, it’s because it’s an almagamation of their first two albums that were only released in their native Sweden.
Anyway, the singles are great: “Hate to say I told you so, “Die,Alright” and the album tracks are okay.
Fun!
Hüsker Dü
4/5
Pretty good. Like a grungy REM. Reminded me of early Dookie-era Green Day in places and thrash Neil Young. It my sort of thing but I couldn’t remember any of the songs afterward. It suffers from being 70 minutes long (CD length?) as I got fed up with it toward the end. Until then I was thinking 4 stars but then it veered to 3. I’m going to keep it at 4 stars though just to remind myself to check out more Husker Du later!
Parliament
5/5
Going to give this a five on my first listen. When we started doing 1001 albums, this is the sort of thing I was hoping to find. Funk is definitely a bit of a hole I need to plug in my musical knowledge.
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
Very pleasant!
Weather Report
5/5
I love Weather Report and Jaco Pastorious and this was my introduction to them both. Sublime stuff.
Miles Davis
5/5
Beautiful. Probably my favourite Miles Davis album. One million stars.
James Taylor
3/5
Nice enough. A bit wishy washy.
Living Colour
3/5
I enjoyed this. I loved the single, “Cult of Personality,” obviously. But I never felt like investigating further and I feel sort of justified in that.
I like the sound - it reminds me of early Chilli Peppers - that particular funk punk of late 80s America - but it doesn’t really have anything as hooky as “Cult of Personality”. I like the guitar sound. But, yeah, it’s alright.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
If you said there was an album of a man mumbling over a wall of distorted guitars and feedback, I would say, “Sounds great! I’m up for that!” And yet, after the first song, which gave very eighties teen movie vibes, I found it a bit boring. I might come back to it again or try their second album later though. I started listening to it and it seemed to have more tunes!
Röyksopp
4/5
One of those albums where I don’t recall having ever listened to it and yet I know every track. So either I did put it on at some point, or I just absorbed it all through cultural osmosis at the time. Either through hip and happening mixtapes or because you used to get a lot of this lo-fi ambient beats stuff then in the background to Changing Rooms or whatever.
Anyway, I never really embraced Royksopp at the time, despite being into that sort of thing. It was a bit TOO chill, if that makes sense. But I like it! Pretty good! Yeah!
The Gun Club
3/5
I had to wait until I was in the right mood to listen to this but once I was it was pretty good fun! I read some of the Wikipedia entry and got the idea of it being “punk blues”. It sounds like something from a Robert Rodriguez film, like “From Dusk To Dawn”.
After a while I figured it also sounds a bit like The White Stripes but without Jack White’s annoying shrillness …on the whole. Because on a couple of songs it does get a bit shrill and annoying. Overall though, I liked it.
The Zombies
4/5
I enjoyed the sound of this. Sort of early Beatles meets Beach Boys with a touch of psychedelica and Dusty Springfield. I particularly liked the last track, “Time of the Season” which I seem to have “liked” on Spotify previously. It sounds like the sort of thing that might be on movie soundtracks.
Other than that one, I don’t think there’s a lot of catchy tunes. But I might return to it.
The Mothers Of Invention
5/5
I didn’t have to listen to this again to give it five stars because it’s one of my favourite albums. But I listened again anyway… because it’s one of my favourite albums!
Capturing a very sixties sound, yet utterly cynical about the sixties (“Flower Power sucks!”). Cynical and sarcastic yet with some of zappas most direct political and social points that feel quite emotional (“ All your children are poor unfortunate victims of lies you believe”). Full of ideas, crazy, funny and some times beautiful music. And with the themes of American Authoritarianism that wind through the album it kind of feels more relevant than ever!
Joni Mitchell
4/5
I always struggle with Joni Mitchell. This is, like, the third or fourth album we’ve had of hers on this list. She has some of my favourite musicians around her and the music is always great. But it’s the old problem, not liking the sound of someone’s voice. It’s a bit reedy and weedy and whimsical for me. Nonetheless, I always give her a favourable score, even though it’s a struggle.
And thus it is here. This might be one of my favourite albums I’ve heard of hers. The music is quite beautiful and you can hear Jaco Pastorious prominently. It feels a bit less hippyish, even though it’s only 1976. I don’t know if I’ll come back to it, but I’ll try.
Lightning Bolt
4/5
I loved this! Very experimental and noisy.
(Though I will admit it I couldn’t listen to it all of it in one sitting and had to divide it into two.)
The Smiths
2/5
More bloody Morrissey. I found the beginning of this album particularly excruciating as he doesn’t even seem to be singing in tune. But there were a couple of songs I liked as it went on.
The band are great though, and I’ve come to realise that The Smiths are a singles band so a “best of” album will do me. It’s just the singing I find annoying.
Morrissey is murder, more like!
Bob Dylan
3/5
Very nice. Bob sounds like he’s doing an impression of Bob Dylan here though. And I’ve always Bob Dylan impressions funny.
Pantera
4/5
Very heavy! Although it comes across as “alternative” rock, something about the notes reminded me of Megadeth. Anyway, grr!
Van Halen
5/5
Classic. Marrying twiddly innovation with great tunes and a sense of fun. One of my faves.
Lou Reed
2/5
I’m sure this is very good but I don’t like it.
Musical theatre rock. Not for me.
Radiohead
5/5
One of my faves.
David Bowie
5/5
I’ve never been the biggest Bowie fan and I think this is the first album of his I’ve just genuinely enjoyed all the way through without any intellectual explanation or anything. So I’m giving it five stars.
That might be too much but I just had a good time listening to it and don’t want to over analyse it!
Iron Maiden
4/5
I never got into Iron Maiden. “Run for the hills” and “The number of the beast” are absolute bangers though.
Traffic
3/5
Liked the music, didn’t like the singers voice. Though it seemed to fit in better on the folkier tune. I guess that’s the sort of music that this sort of reedy English voice fits best into!
Tom Waits
4/5
This was great! Much better than the previous Tom Waits album 1001 Albums suggested. Will listen again.
Rahul Dev Burman
4/5
I enjoyed this a lot. I am no expert and couldn’t tell you much about the difference between each track after one listen, but I’d like to return to it and explore more of this and similar music.
Prince
3/5
Yet again I hope to get into Prince and yet again I find it a bit lacklustre.
Daft Punk
4/5
A couple of classic tracks (the singles) and a bunch of other stuff which is okay. Still a great album. But not as good as Discovery imo.
Leftfield
5/5
One of my faves.
Sleater-Kinney
3/5
Okay.
Thundercat
4/5
I like Thundercat a lot and have listened to this album a few times before. He’s a great bass player and very cool. It’s a bit samey though.
Tangerine Dream
4/5
I got into this after it was featured on Black Mirror: Jabberwocky. It looks like Meddle. It sounds a bit like Meddle. But it’s not as good as Meddle. Good background music for writing along to, though!
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
Back to the eighties. I like the vibe but it’s a bit same-y. I want to give it a four because the vibe almost carries it through. But I couldn’t remember any songs in particular so it’s not very catchy. It’s more a three and a half.
Carpenters
3/5
Back to the seventies. The Carpenters feel like easy listening but the musicianship and harmonies and everything are great. I won’t rule out listening again. Three and a half stars.
Youssou N'Dour
4/5
Groovy!
Jane's Addiction
4/5
I never was a huge Jane’s Addiction fan. This is alright. The fast songs are okay. The slow songs are a bit irritating. It gets a huge boost in points for having “Been Caught Stealing” on it. I would say it’s a 3 or 3.5 star album, but because of that song I’ll give it a 4.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
I wasn’t that into this album when the b listened to it before. This time, on its own it’s a nice vibe. I just think that, even with “Superstition” on it, there’s not as many bangers in it as, say, Innervisions, or Songs In The Key Of Life. But I enjoyed it! 3.5 stars.
The Adverts
4/5
I wasn't sure about this to start with. I thought it sounded a bit samey. But it grew on me. There are enough catching pop melodies and riffs. But despite this it's very punk.
And it's nice when a band only has one record you have to listen to and you can cover their discography in one fell swoop.
Peter Gabriel
2/5
Also referred to as “car,” this album is careening all over the road! Prog, blues, disco! Throw in a bit of everything.
So far my response has been to find it, boring, annoying, interesting and moving, though it’s more of the former than the latter. I think I mainly found it irritating. I kept looking to see how long it was before it would end, which is not a good sign. And I just don’t really like Pete Gabriel’s
voice. I quite enjoyed the blues number third from the end but, I dunno. Overall, not for me. But I appreciate the attempt to do something (even many things!) a bit different.
Booker T. & The MG's
4/5
Very cool.
The Divine Comedy
4/5
I always want to like the Divine Comedy more than I do. There’s something about the whimsy and old-timely-ness that gets too much. Though, coincidentally, I suddenly wanted to listen to the “So Long and Thanks for all the Fish” song from the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy film - sung by Neil Hannon!
So input this in and for the first three songs I thought I was going to give it five stars. Then it dropped off a bit, then there was the song which is the Father Ted theme but with lyrics which was the lovely and the rest was a bit meh.
So realistically, it should get three stars because the high points were evened out by the low points.
But! The extended version of the album has “My Lovely Horse” from Father Ted in it - which is the greatest song ever and any album with that should the get full five stars!
So I’ll split the difference and give this, unextebded version 4 (though it’s more like a 3.5)
The Louvin Brothers
4/5
Great! It's like a compilation of bluegrass stuff. This stands out because it is not a genre we hear all the time. Not something I'm going to play every day, but I liked it!
Like a mellower Rolling Stones? I like the electric piano and some of the tunes but it was a bit middle of the road for me.
10cc
3/5
I got some Steely Dan vibes to start with - complex buy catchy music mixed with cynicism - and got excited. But it's more rock with show tunes than jazz and nor really my sort of thing.
Suede
3/5
I was around at the time but was never converted to Suede - too fey, too knowing. I’ve grown more amenable to most stuff from my youth but I knew exactly how this would go: Before listening to the album, I liked the three singles I had heard off and assumed the album tracks wouldn’t be that arresting- and so it was. S’alright.
The Human League
4/5
I enjoyed this a lot. I can imagine tracks from this album mixing well with more modern electronica. The appearance of the Get Carter theme threw me for a minute, but was cool. Yeah! Alright!
New Order
3/5
Yeah, it's alright. Some bits sounded more like dance music than I was expecting and I liked that. I liked that (to me) Peter Hook's bass sounds like Simon Gallup's bass from The Cure (although I can't say who influenced who first) but it was also a bit meh. I sort of like it though. 3.5 stars
Beatles
5/5
For a moment, I though I might have to give this four stars because Maxwell's Silver Hammer is so bad, but the end medley as well as, "Come Together" and I want you (She's So Heavy)" mean it has to be a five.
Well done, Beatles!
Mylo
2/5
Nah.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
4/5
It's always funny listening to something on this list which isn't rock or pop. For one thing, it has to represent it's entire genre and for another, it gets a sort of burst of additional interest for not being yet another 60s hippy album or 80s new wave album. It's something different!
So, I liked this a lot. Initially I thought it was going to be a disco album given the strings and back-and-forth-on-the-octaves bass line. But that sound only returned for the final track.
Yeah! Good! I felt like I should be in the movie "Chef" drinking a tequila and wiggling my hips in a way I've literally never done.
But maybe that's the other point, it's totally not in my day-to-day culture, so I don't know if I'll come back to this and play it again. Maybe if there's some sort of salsa party? Anyway, Yeah! Good!
Circle Jerks
4/5
Short and sweet.
The Beta Band
4/5
This is clearly not their best album. Their best album, as everyone knows, is the one with "Dry The Rain" on it, as heard in the film "High Fidelity".
That's really all I know about The Beta Band. Maybe 1001 albums didn't count "The Three EPs" album as it's a compilation, but then it included a Hives album that was a compilation so what's the deal?
ANYWAY, I liked this. I'm giving it four stars just because I've not listened to the Beta Band much beyond that one song and I feel that I should investigate further.
Hugh Masekela
4/5
Nice! *points at camera*
I’ve listened to this a couple of times and still don’t feel I’ve listened to it enough to review it yet. Because Jazz is complex instrumental music and this is a double album I think it will need more attention for me to “get it”.
So far, I can tell there’s a mix of fairly funky grooves, laid back pieces and freak out jazzery… and that it’s good! Will return to.
R.E.M.
2/5
Todd Rundgren
3/5
This is a weird album to try and judge. The opening song is blinding. Then it’s a weird mixture of 70’s rock, pop ballads, and odd interjections and even disco bits? I don’t know I kinda like it? I think it sounds a bit dated. It’s alright. I might have to come back to it because it’s so puzzling.
Cowboy Junkies
4/5
Very cool. Listening to this album felt like being in a David Lynch movie. In a good way.
There’s more covers than I expected of old country and bluegrass songs but they sound great in this moody bluesy alt-country style.
Great!
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
I’ve never really liked reggae. It feels like an alien culture to me. It all sounds the same. And I think I have too much internal nervous energy to listen to such relaxing chilled out music. If anything it makes me MORE nervous as my system reacts against it. But even I can see this album has some absolute classic songs on it. I have to imagine myself in a bar with a rum punch to get into the flow. So, I dunno, three stars? Seems unfair but there we are.
Gang Of Four
4/5
I’d not heard this before. I liked it a lot! I reckon it was an influence on lots of other bands I like and so I’ve sort of experienced the echoes of it. Will listen to again.
Le Tigre
4/5
I loved this! My sort of thing. My sort of era. Passed me by at the time. 4 stars!
Meat Loaf
3/5
Melodramatic nonsense. Look, I’ve always thought Meatloaf seemed like a nice guy. But I’ve also always found his music rather silly.
Despite the “metal” appearance, it’s got more in common with 50s nostalgia and musicals, to my ears. It’s much like “Grease” which I also dislike.
I’ll rate this a bit higher than Grease, though, just because Meatloaf was so good in “Fight Club”!
3 stars.
Maybe 3.5 stars. It started to win me over near the end.
Brian Eno
4/5
Some lovely pieces and some quirky songs. The track “Another Green World” or “the theme tune to Arena” is amazing though. I’ll come back to this one.
Hap Eno Year!
Waylon Jennings
4/5
I’m interested in this “Outlaw” sub-genre of country music. I don’t like much country music, but the stuff I like tends to be by people in this group! So maybe that’s my type of country.
This I also like. Sounds like blues or or bluegrass or rock in some places, but not in the horrible way of modern “country” which is just overproduced rock with a Stetson on.
Not the most memorable album but I might bung it in again if I fancied something with this sort of twang.
3.5 stars.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
4/5
I kind of like this. It’s a big like an extended version of the way Curt Cobain recorded “Something In the Way” at the end of Nevermind. But it goes on too long. The initial songs with structure devolve into muttering and bass noodling.
3 stars.
…or so I thought. But after listening Mark told me this was the EXTENDED version of the album. If only I’d none I’d have stopped it earlier and left with a better feeling toward the album.
Fuck extended albums, man! They suck. At least label them as “extended” so I can go check the original track list and avoid all the stuff they wisely cut before it was released!
I’m upping this to four stars which is what I felt before it started tailing off.
Dolly Parton
3/5
Beautiful voices. Not the sort of thing I can imagine myself listening to much. But very pretty music nonetheless.
Spacemen 3
4/5
I liked this. It kind of sounded like 60s punk / psyche to me. I was also confusing it with Spiritualised to start with… which makes sense as I found this band developed into Spiritualised.
Yeah. A bit minimal. But good!
4 stars
(I realised it was an “extended version” this time so didn’t have to listen to an extra disc of “bonus” material as if it was essential to the album. But, in this case, I might give it a go in future!)
Tom Waits
4/5
I think Tom Waits is growing on me. But I’m still not sure.
Miles Davis
4/5
My dad liked big band music so I always struggle to find it anything but “fuddy duddy,” so this isn’t immediately “cool” sounding to me. It’s a different beast to Glen Miller and co however. You can hear the bop in it. But, whilst I respect it, it doesn’t grab me like “kind of blue” or later Miles.
The Divine Comedy
5/5
Very good! All the things I like about the Divine Comedy without the quirkiness that is sometimes too much. And nice and short. I’d almost give it 5 stars…
It’s probably a 4 but I’m going to give it 5 to remind myself how much I like it.