1001 Albums Summary

The Pixies are not my cup of tea. I prefer music with more subtlety and musicianship.

Curtis Mayfield is a fine musician. His songs remind me of a light Jazz album I was given a few years ago, a compilation of several artists called "Jazz for a Rainy Day." I'm not a big fan of this type of music, but sometimes it fits just right.

Is Sufjan Stevens talented, musically? Yes. Does his music interest me? No. He reminds me of novelists that use the stream-of-consciousness technique. I'm not into them either.

Some of their slower songs almost approach a melody, but after listening to this album I can't remember a single tune I could whistle. And their up-tempo songs give me a headache. Wasted talent...

There was a time, back in the mid-to-late sixties, when I might have liked this concept album. But it would have sounded different back then, because the technology didn't exist to produce psychedelic rock quite so... psychic. The Flaming Lips certainly are masters of the synth. But if you stand back and listen to the overall sound, ignoring the lyrics, the songs tend to sound alike. I don't need to hear the profound thoughts in their poetry, having absorbed the meaning of life from The Moody Blues in much more pleasing packages. But I do see why the young adults of this age like this type of music. You can trip without any lingering ill effects some had back in the day.

Jimi Hendrix was a shooting star in the history of Rock & Roll. A master at his craft, he left us, tragically, all too soon. Electric Ladyland is a compilation that shows off his talents in many different forms, but at the heart of all, it's blues played as well as you'll ever here it.