485
Albums Rated
3.57
Average Rating
45%
Complete
604 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1950s
Favorite Decade
Grunge
Favorite Genre
other
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
119
5-Star Albums
31
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
They Were Wrong, So We Drowned
Liars
|
5 | 2.11 | +2.89 |
|
The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
The Incredible String Band
|
5 | 2.15 | +2.85 |
|
Logical Progression
LTJ Bukem
|
5 | 2.52 | +2.48 |
|
The United States Of America
The United States Of America
|
5 | 2.61 | +2.39 |
|
Bubble And Scrape
Sebadoh
|
5 | 2.65 | +2.35 |
|
Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby
Girls Against Boys
|
5 | 2.66 | +2.34 |
|
Dr. Octagonecologyst
Dr. Octagon
|
5 | 2.7 | +2.3 |
|
Raw Like Sushi
Neneh Cherry
|
5 | 2.7 | +2.3 |
|
Olympia 64
Jacques Brel
|
5 | 2.78 | +2.22 |
|
Roots
Sepultura
|
5 | 2.79 | +2.21 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
(Pronounced 'Leh-'Nérd 'Skin-'Nérd)
Lynyrd Skynyrd
|
1 | 3.75 | -2.75 |
|
Ramones
Ramones
|
1 | 3.58 | -2.58 |
|
Natty Dread
Bob Marley & The Wailers
|
1 | 3.58 | -2.58 |
|
Blonde On Blonde
Bob Dylan
|
1 | 3.5 | -2.5 |
|
Fear Of Music
Talking Heads
|
1 | 3.47 | -2.47 |
|
Bat Out Of Hell
Meat Loaf
|
1 | 3.44 | -2.44 |
|
Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Derek & The Dominos
|
1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
|
Hybrid Theory
Linkin Park
|
1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
|
S&M
Metallica
|
1 | 3.26 | -2.26 |
|
Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
|
1 | 3.16 | -2.16 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Beatles | 6 | 4.83 |
| Radiohead | 3 | 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 4 | 4.5 |
| Nirvana | 3 | 4.67 |
| The Byrds | 2 | 5 |
| Black Sabbath | 2 | 5 |
| XTC | 2 | 5 |
| Neil Young | 2 | 5 |
| Miles Davis | 2 | 5 |
| R.E.M. | 4 | 4.25 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Talking Heads | 2 | 1.5 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| U2 | 1, 5, 5, 3 |
| Leonard Cohen | 5, 3, 1 |
| Metallica | 1, 4, 3, 5 |
| Bob Dylan | 1, 4, 4, 5, 3 |
5-Star Albums (119)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Derek & The Dominos
1/5
Tedious blues rock wankery. Some songs are tolerable, helped by the raw sound, others are precisely the chugging shit I've grown to hate. Fuck "Layla". And Derek's a turd. 𝘋𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, it's time for:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"New Rule! Every time one of these 1001 supposedly world's greatest albums turns out to be just another minute variation on [or channeling] USUK '65-'80s rock the generator has served me many dozens of times before, I will give you a different album you could be listening to today. For instance:"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
☞ Blumfeld - L’Etat Et Moi (1994) ☜
An absolute landmark of German rock music. No, not like Rammstein, you numpty. Jesus Christ. No. Blumfeld have rather been likened to Pavement, who they had a joint tour with. Not so sure about that comparison; underneath the angular noise, Blumfeld lean much more into singer/songwriter territory but it's an alright genre descriptor, I guess. To me, THE best album written in my mother tongue ever. Go listen.
7 likes
Randy Newman
2/5
These are, without a doubt, some of music's songs. Truly one of the albums, even!
7 likes
Mudhoney
5/5
I don't always listen to garage punk and proto grunge but when I do, I'll now make sure it's Mudhoney.
Really now. My 5 stars often reflect how much I enjoyed an album within this 1001AYMHBYD challenge and this is the shit. Certainly one of the shits. Also, best harmonica I've heard so far. Looking at you, Bob.
3 likes
Songhoy Blues
5/5
Oh, Album Generator, why can't you be like this more often!? Bloody fantastic! Fits right in between the mystical madness of BKO's "Djine Bora" and the folksy, more sparse side of this music on N'Gou Bagayoke's "Kulu", two other great albums I gladly discovered this year. Go listen! Totally goes into the collection (will skip "Nick" every time, though, those drums can fuck off.).
2 likes
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Had his Songs of Love And Hate just recently, as my introduction to the work of Leonard Cohen. Which I was very thankful for. Sublime. This one? Yes but no. I'm not a lyrics person so I'm left with this pastiche of some Eastern European circa jazz blues soundtrack - oh, so grave! - for a deep voice. I have no desire to disrepect this, but... except for the title song and "Steer Your Way" this just isn't giving me a lot, musically.
2 likes
1-Star Albums (31)
All Ratings
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Oh, there are going to be a lot those, right? Albums that I kinda know and respect and the significance of which I understand but which have little to me?
This one could very well sit in my collection, though, bought 2nd hand early naughties. The inner sleave would have a pencil scribble "floor: d3 (d4)" for the occasional djing.
... and now I took some time writing this, while listening. It should have more significance to me.
4/5
Eurythmics
2/5
I... think this is a decent example of why I, 9 years old when the record came out, ended up listening to Metal as a teenager. Notwithstanding its hit and "This City Never Sleeps" (put that one into my big playlist of everything), I cringed more than once. And the sampling, the "let's play a guiro here, yay!", and the dryness of those (now) stock 80ies synth sounds aged like fine milk. I guess I'd have to be some kind of archeologist to feel otherwise, but I'm not so I mostly hate this.
Fats Domino
4/5
When, say, Jean-Michel Jarre's "Oxygène" came out, Domino's recording of "Blueberry Hill" was 20 years old. Autechre's debut had its 30th birthday last year. Always blows my mind. Anyways, Oldies but Goldies, huh? What can I say...
4/5
David Bowie
2/5
And I quote
"Bowie himself had mixed feelings about the album throughout his lifetime."
"Bowie himself labelled the album's sound "plastic soul"."
Smart guy, this Mr. Bowie.
Queen
3/5
Never cared for Queen's Musical music. Not going to start now.
(There's going to be more Queen, isn't there?)
Supergrass
4/5
"How much dirty Britpop are you going to be?"
"Yes, innit?"
Don't think I had paid much attention to their debut before and it's probably going to annoy me a bit, but this will get a proper listen. For now, "She's So Loose" goes into my basket.
Rating. I'm not keen on how aggressively snoty this all sounds, but... nice.
Leftfield
3/5
Not sure if my memory serves me right, but I remember this cover being quite the ubiquitous sight in people's record crates back then and me expecting to hear some greatness on there, because of that. And how it fell flat? A safe, rather boring and just sufficiently pleasant version of *other* UK electronic music of that time.
At least that's what I feel today.
Radiohead
5/5
Oh! Yes. I think there's some potential in me to be more of a Radiohead dude than I actually am but I do love some of their work and what happened to them on this album is a lot of the reasons.
Suzanne Vega
5/5
Seeing the cover with the song titles on it, I scanned for "Tom's Diner" and it wasn't on there? That is to say, I may not have consciously heard any other song by Suzanne Vega, ever and: this is very nice! Thank You, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Halfways in (skipping around a bit), favourite so far "Small Blue Thing"
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
My first impression was to go and listen to the sources of the eclecticism instead, that's on full display here, but after some tracks, this is better than the sum of those parts, so to speak? Not really my cup of tea but I understand how it's among the 1001. It's 2 pm now, I'll probably listen to it some more today. // Still, there're going to be trailblazer albums on here and this is anything but. 4
Herbie Hancock
5/5
Easy. Vibin' and boppin' here. (Made me peak at the 1001 to see whether my jazzfusionrock favourite is on there and now all is good.)
The War On Drugs
3/5
Oh, I see. Apart from not living in the US, I'm right in the demographic target group for this. On the other hand, I'm not so easily duped and would have to be in a special mood to not be mostly bored by it. And, as Bob Springsteen continues to push his lush but smelly blanket on me - I'm good, dude! - annoyed even.
2.5, let's make it a 3, because I don't exactly hate it.
The Byrds
5/5
Make this a Beatles album and I went in like knowing them from little more than "Twist and Shout" and "Yellow Submarine". I'm fairly appalled by my ignorance of The Byrds, wtf.
So; while I am not too keen on the "Old John Robertson" side of this album's music, it was overall delightful and immensely surprising. I'm suspecting there is a 5***** in The Byrds' discography and it's probably this one.
///
Rating day. I'm not going to think "Man, you know what? I need to listen to The Notorious Byrd Brothers" any time soon, but I saved 4 tracks to my playlist of *everything* and this a damn fine album, a super nice blend of US-flavo(u)red late 60ies poprock and people being weird and experimental, yes indeed, 5 stars.
Skipping the ones I know, I'm half a song in and already transported to the moment, you know, on a long, boring drive, when you've only had commercial radio to keep you company and you eventually choose silence? Yeah, that.
Why... would I need to listen to this before I die? Is there a secret message? Do I need to play it backwards? "Muh dna Elttar retfa deppots evah dluohs ew"?
Stan Getz
4/5
This is obviously super nice, and hey, Stan Getz. I don't know what to do with it, though, in terms of rating it. Is it too easy on my, today's ears? Too much 'Elevator Muzak' for listening to it in 2024? How do I rate these albums, really? So I cheated, hah! I try not to look at the 1001, usually, but I had a peek and sure enough, the *other* one is yet to come, so I'm happily giving this a 4 without feeling bad about it. Still, sublime.
Kanye West
2/5
Oh no, really? Had a couple of conversations about 'separating art from the artist' recently and No. I do not. I won't neccessarily ban art from myself that I'd liked before I found out that the artist is a douchebagassholemoron but I'm sure af not going to seek out any more of it after. With that in mind, I had never listened to this album - I'm not exactly a great hip hop / rap afficionado but especially never cared about Kanye. Bad vibes? Silly hypes? Yeah, turns out the guy's an ugly mess.
This one? It's a big album, I get that, but I don't need it in my life.
Also, Thank God for Lyric Deafness.
The Charlatans
4/5
The existence of a band called "The Charlatans" isn't entirely new to me, but if you had played this, without showing me the cover, I wouldn't have been able to guess. But I do know ~this music~. Duh. And you know what? "Tellin' Stories" is a nice version of that music. Really nice indeed. I don't care much for it, but it seems a shame these guys were overshadowed by that other band.
Paul Simon
4/5
Didn't know this one, I think?, besides "You Can Call Me Al" of course, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Read some reviews linking it to childhood memories and I can totally see how, a nice thing to have. I was actually inclined to give it 5*****, as I was dancing in my chair, smiling, stomping and those basslines!, but started to question how that would fit with my other ratings, hm, and then the last two songs happened, so, cool, that was taken care of. Still, a strong 4 - made me happy.
Slayer
4/5
Oh! That was a brief surprise, seeing this pop up in the browser window. But of course, it belongs in here. Now, for the caveat. I was quite the Metalhead as a teenager, with checkboxes ticked for two of the Big 4, however Slayer had always been a bit too much and I had never listened to Reign In Blood front to back. Now that I do... maybe it's been too little🤔? I respect and appreciate the intense, relentless pounding - it's the point - but half an hour of it as, y'know, *music*? Araya's recitals? And I can't divorce myself from hearing this in 2024, 38 years later: Like, my brain wants to grab onto something here that I find genuinely enjoyable, today, but there aren't a whole lot of interesting bits to work with or they fray immediately. That's probably the point, too, in an album about death and suffering, but honestly, it's an 'eh' from me. Rounding up for the impact Reign In Blood deservedly had.
John Prine
4/5
The thing is, I'm fairly lyric deaf. Without a conscious effort to process a song's words, they mean nothing to me. And when I put in the effort, it sort of muffles the music, so I mostly don't. Sometimes, this is a blessing however, so I can for instance pay attention to "Hello in There" while somewhat ignoring this album's country twang music and... my eyes feel warm?
Phew, this is a tough one. I can't do it justice, I'm afraid. I'm pretty sure John Prine was an exquisite human be– ///a few moments latér, an open Wikipedia article about Paradise, Kentucky on the screen/// Actually, this is good stuff. A good 4 kind of stuff even ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
George Jones
2/5
Had a country album just yesterday which eventually grew on me (John Prine). Well, this one won't. It's like service music for when you're very sad, but also very manly at all times and crush empty beer cans on your forehead. And you wish you could ride off into the sunset, "screw her!", but you don't have a horse, you don't even own a truck, Bob, you're an accountant, get your shit together!
Very quintessential at that and it all sounds... nice, warm and cozy I guess, so I won't question its inclusion on this list (is it time yet to mention the Anglo-American centrism, tho?), but, man...
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Outside of whatever Stones songs I happened to hear im my life, I'd never really paid attention to them. The couple of hits I like had always been enough for me. I know three of these here, but in newer versions? Quite cool how rough it's produced at times, like buskers on the street. But. Eh. Meh. Alright. Hoo! Ha! Three.
Butthole Surfers
4/5
While I was wondering how I'm listening to this wonderfully unleashed psych pre-slugde metal punk for the very first time, I simultaneously knew because they're called the Butthole Surfers and I had always assumed this band's thing is to be ȩ̷̟̝̜̼͓̂̒̈͜d̶̨͈̈́̃͊̆͠ǵ̷̛̜͖̅͆͠ͅy̸̙̞̝̞͖̌̀̍, first and foremost. Was I wrong? no. But when '22 Going on 23' ended after me being quite entertained for 32 minutes, Spotify played the Melvins, because of course: as a point in the last 50 years' of music history, this album is perfectly good at making sense, and at its time, even if its or Butthole Surfers' schtick is not quite ~my vibe~.
The Electric Prunes
1/5
Knew the title track so I went in with anticipation of discovering another gem.
OH WELL.
In large parts, an amalgamation of early ersatz Stones/Beatles/proto-Doors - the ratios shifting on a per-song basis - rehearsing random B-Side material, while you're listening from across a long hallway. It's not *all* terrible, and I've tried to make the likeable bits count, really, and there's some interesting ear candy occasionally, but especially considering how this mess apparently came to be by a producer shoving songs down this band's throat - Yes, I can hear that - I am at loss as to what it's doing on this list.
Black Sabbath
5/5
Oh, to be a teenager in February 1970 experiencing 05:15 on the opening track for the first time!
There are some remnants of the former 'Polka Tulk Blues Band' in here, which makes this album drag a bit, now and then, and it's a debut after all, like, they have not fully arrived at what they're really doing aka inventing here, but I was stingy with my stars yesterday, so today I'll be generous and not wait for 'Paranoid' to put a Black Sabbath album into my favourites, where it belongs.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
A short timeline:
– Booooring
– Cool music to patrol the Lòng Tàu to, though
– [Stank Face]
Nice, actually. Raw, rough, primal. As if everything is eager to match Fogerty's voice. Maybe just because it's so worn, but Proud Mary might be the weakest track here? I briefly checked the other albums and, barring Fortunate Son, I do not need a lot more of Creedence Clearwater Revival in my life - it seems they have shaved off the edge later - but this one was rather fun. Plus, it was only 33 minutes. 4 stars, why not.
The Triffids
1/5
The worst of the 27 I've had. Wow. This is music as if cobbled together by an AI (I've heard some), trained on later 80ies pop rock and whatever they're singing in their camps at World Youth Day. It's all quite creepy, really. Made it to "Holy Water", and barely so, but only for the auditory equivalent of watching a train wreck. Absolutely dreadful. Ew.
I am honestly feeling sorry for the so far two albums in the 1 star suite, as I'm sending in their new roommate. They didn't deserve this 😞
The Band
2/5
Day 28. Yesterday was hard. This whole thing may indeed be a challenge.
On to the next piece of... Americana, again. Sigh. The Band. All sepia, "leather" "bound", looking like they just staked a gold mining claim... how old-timey! Well I was born an ocean away from anything this stuff wants to make me feel nostalgic for, then or now. While I'm at it, I could really do without this Roots Rock Country for at least two weeks? Please? There have been pleasant surprises, but I'm Up On Fatigue Creek here. badumtsh. This specimen? Just excruciatingly boring. Whispering Pines was rather pretty, I've had the old Old Dixie earworm (Baez' version) a couple of times throughout my life and didn't mind it but by and large, this is little more than elevator music for forgotten roadside diners.
I'm sure this has a place in another country's music history, somehow, but I have no use for it.
Beatles
5/5
#29. Disposition: there's a photograph of me, 11, in front of the red wrought iron gate to Strawberry Fields, with my little yellow Beatles pin buttons on the jacket. On the way back from a Bed & Breakfast road trip vacation through the UK, my parents hadn't been too keen on driving into Liverpool but after I threatened to Silver Hammer them if we don't do this (cried silent rivers actually) they gave in and I got to see some places of - is there a threshold to fandom? but pretty much: - the only band/thing I've ever been a proper fan of. Went to the museum, too (maybe they had been playing a cruel prank on me?), it was awesome!
Since then - even though it's always been easy to reignite it - my love for the Beatles has grown old a bit; it's been A WHILE since I'd put on one of their albums to listen to with intent and attention. I... should do this more often, holy shit.
Just immaculate, amazing, every second. The production. I want to live in this! Even in its two sillier outliers, I don't care. My special song mention goes to 'Golden Slumbers', because fu, Paul, I cry if I want to, now.
One thousand stars.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
#30 | I should like this and I somewhat did but maybe with a lot less trite Blues and a lot more of what makes this Malian music, I wouldn't eventually have snapped out of an ultimately bored experience thinking "Oh, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 nice!", to find the album had ended and something else was playing (N'Gou Bagayoko - Kulu, exquisite, 5/5).
I am glad to, after 29 albums, see something in this compilation that acknowledges that the non-anglophone 95% of the world, too, makes music you should hear, but it's an underwhelming, and disappointingly safe pick. Familiar Enough Music To Do The Dishes To.
Elastica
4/5
If you need to show someone how the 90ies sounded and also hammer home that they happened 30 years ago, play them this. See also: Zeitgeist, this, that. Music like one ring in a tree trunk. Started listening with a 'Bleh', but I tuned into the vibe. Maybe just because of how much of a document this is. In a good way, turns out.
Norah Jones
2/5
MUSIC™! 💖 #cozy #lazy #couch 🛏 #sofa #comfy #sunday #saturday #snowy ❄ #winter #autumn #rainy #morning #evening 🌆 #chill #chillout #hygge #blanket #coffee ☕ #cacao ~~ Order NOW, get 15% off your next purchase! ~~
X-Ray Spex
5/5
I've never heard or known about this album or band before, I think? Which is okay, my Punk sensibilities aren't great. This was rad! Also, never used "rad" before but I know rad when I see it: this right here.
Truth be told, not something I need a whole 40 minutes of*, but how "Identity" sounds like Le Tigre feat. Bad Religion, in 1978, is fucking amazing. A history lesson, this one.
(*narrator: he spent much more time with it that day)
Ice T
4/5
Look, I bought Body Count's debut back then and still own it, with Cop Killer on it, but I grew up in a rural German town, riding my bike, listening to Thrash and Prog Rock. The most Gangsta I'd been by '91 was to hide from my parents that I had, legally, started smoking. I have never listened to much of this music, certainly not for 72 minutes straight. I don't know what to do here. It's... aight? Cool sampling? Probably important, too. I will say I kinda like this Ice-T fellow. Better than the other two Ices. Uhm. 4 stars, so when there's more of this coming up, I've already shown my due appreciation*. Ha!
(* in earnest. I don't relate to it, but I did need to hear this album - as a societal and musical slice of time - while being entertained well enough and that's a +1)
The Mars Volta
5/5
This is why I had never quite clicked with At The Drive-In. It's just so goddamn stressful. Music like toddlers on a candy overdose. ...is what I thought initially, listening to this in between walking home after bringing my kid to school, the morning coffee, internet and organising the day / part of which was a quiet train ride of Deloused in the Comatorium's length: Nothing to do but watch a winter landscape zip by. With headphones. Time, thus, turns out, marvellously spent. It's still nervous as fuck music, with little respite even in its calmer parts, but in there is a really great album.
OutKast
4/5
Music's lyrical content is always fairly lost on me. And, yes, that's a problem with rap. Outkast are just crazy good however, and it shows here. Plenty of quality, weird and exciting bits. B.O.B. was new to me (from this album's hits) B.O.B. is 🔥. By the end, though, I had zoned out and the next track to catch my attention played when the album had ended.
BREAK
The Crusaders
3/5
If I were driving down the road of that album's cover that night, I'd probably dig this a lot more. But I'm in another imaginary scenario which is at a bar while this band is playing up on the stage and my mates want to leave for the next part of the evening and I'm like "Alright, let's go." (Street Life, of course, is gold)
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
5/5
Never heard this before. I should have. Quirky, weird, beautiful. Where is this cafe, I want to go there, like now?, please!?
Nirvana
5/5
I'm amazed how familiar this still is, after what must have been at least 20 years of not listening to it. Years in which I've sometimes wondered if maybe I had not liked Grunge as much as I thought for the music itself but more for how it had put an end - for me at least - to goofy theme metal and dressed up guys with stupid hairdos. And then how much I actually like(d) Nirvana. But I very happily returned to this album today.
Nirvana
5/5
Huh, just had Nirvana's MTV Unplugged yesterday. And mused on how I had fallen out of love a bit. Or how it's never been that deep? But how beautifully familiar it was, nevertheless. But, NEVERMIND, despite how much more I may have resonated with Soundgarden or the Alice In Chains' SAP and Jar of Flies, Nirvana deservedly takes the crown of the Grunge Kings and I would be lying if this wasn't a 5.
The Lemonheads
4/5
It's pleasant alright. I don't have a strong connection to this though and may be too old to picture myself in something this would be the soundtrack to. A friendly Meh+ from me.
Sam Cooke
4/5
TV On The Radio
3/5
New to me, I believe, but from the name I know that in a just slightly alternate universe, I would have listened to this. Bring into question why haven't I?
A new challenge for my rating system: I'm hearing a lot of bits that remind me of other music, music I like even love but the whole thing... just doesn't sit right with me. Maybe it's the Gouache on Cat Hair Art School Rock-ishness that's turned to 11 here?, the blend is just too fucking much.
Hypothesis: this music is the reason why Post-Rock mostly ditched vocals.
Fela Kuti
5/5
Yeah. I mean. Yeah.
The Notorious B.I.G.
2/5
Alright alright, a standout album of its genre, so they say and they're probably not lying, but it's not for me. And that's even before fully paying attention to the lyrics. And, as it turns out, some of the ~sounds. While I like me some beats, my life has no connection to this music's content and I'm extremely cool with that.
Machito
4/5
Queen
3/5
These Queen dudes are really good at what they're doing, but I have never liked what they're doing. The pathos in every note, the flourishes of it all, the operetta/musical-esque grandiosity. Blerg.
This here however, I don't mind too much. Unrefined Queen > Polished Queen. Still pretty blerg.
The Shamen
2/5
#48, the first electronic music album. There aren't a whole lot of those, it seems? And I don't know how and why this one took one of the spots. I'm couple of tracks in and I'm sitting motionless. Dance music, huh? This is acceptable as a historical artifact but listening to it feels like playing Test Drive (1987, Amiga, C64, DOS) when there's Forza Horizon. Maybe not even playing Test Drive but watching a rhombohedron fly through a checkered torus, in a swirly CG sky! State Of The Art! Even the good moments - and sounds, there are some - just make me want to listen to En-Tact's contemporaries from, like, The Orb/-ital or so, which may give me a similar experience, listening in 2024, but at least there would be none of the Eurodance rapping.
I reserve my 1s for utter shite with no redeeming features - this album is not quite *that* but damn close.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
When everyone and their dog liked Amy Winehouse back then, so did I. Or, well enough. Listening to this album today, here's a little thought I can't shake now: "Frank" is the rowdy, dark twin of Norah Jones' "Come Away With Me" that I had earlier this month. It's about 19 times more interesting, but still firmly in the same safe and trifling genre of 'Rehashing X for People Who Don't Like X'.
It's... good at what it is, and my mouse hovered over "Add to Playlist" on two, three songs but ultimately, I would probably end up skipping them.
Björk
4/5
First of all. Compiling a list like this and not including Björk's '95 Post should be a criminal offense. Who is this Robert Dimery dude anyway? With this out of the way: Björk lost me somewhere around Vespertine. Her music became weird. Not cool weird, but a meandering weird weird. And so this album was new to me. Still weird and not pleasant, but well. There's the subject matter here. Seems like a return to Homogenic but with all Pop thrown out of the window. Like his stuff, haha. Innn aaany case. Very glad that I got to listen to it. Will I ever put it on again? Hm.
R.E.M.
4/5
So. I enjoyed seeing this cover pop up: pleasant music that I know and like well enough, enjoy my time with it, give it a 4 or 5, move on. Maybe take the opportunity to dig deeper into R.E.M.'s work.
And then I started to wonder why I never quite *loved* them. And then I started to see. It's Your Friendly Neighbourhood Music. Music that rescued Little Becky's kitten. Helped clean up Mrs. Rosario's yard after the terrible storm last month. Which is all very nice and of course it is, but... I have picked up a word from other people's reviews over time and it is a good descriptor: "beige". Like that oboe(?) in Nightswimming, for instance? That's fucking beige. All of what the instruments are doing here is just, here's that word: boring. Also: safe, courteous, bland, mid. An inoffensive backdrop for Stipes' singing.
But then I also understand how I'm not doing it justice by just looking at the sensations I get from this music's soundwaves pounding my eardrums and suddenly I find myself missing the days of buying CDs and flicking through booklets, reading the lyrics and then "Automatic For The People" does a full circle and makes me feel nostalgic and it becomes... a 4 after all? Yeah. Rightly so. A good 4. Done.
Pere Ubu
4/5
Bottom line: that was quite something. But my initial WTF pretty easily gave way to me liking this. Not exactly loving, though: the often edgelord vocals unnecessarily shot the whole thing in the foot and that Spodyody tune was ghastly, but...
I had fun with this album. Wild, weird, unpredictable. loved how they used their synth(s), 46 years ago. Two songs went into my basket, glad I listened to this. Definitely an AYMHBYD.
Marvin Gaye
3/5
Yeah, okay, sensual.
Pink Floyd
5/5
I have heard a lot music in my life, in a lot of situations, but somehow Pink Floyd has always taken the cake in creating memorable moments. Or happened to play in those, I dunno. Case in point: when we took the last corner through the forest and before us lay the wide beach of Saint-Michel-en-Grève, low tide, the sun had just begun to warm the air and slowly clear the fog, no soul in sight. Breathe (In The Air) was playing. Was magical.
David Crosby
4/5
I've never had a particular or ongoing interest in this type of music but may have had a soft spot for Crosby's song writing, singing and vibe, whenever I'd come across it. Previously Wodden Ships and Triad (eventually recorded by Jefferson Airplane) and while doing these 1001 his contribition to album #13, The Notorious Byrd Brothers and... this was more of that. No problem whatsoever. Nice. Will probably put it on again, later today. However, I'm a bit mystified why I *needed* to hear it.
Bob Dylan
1/5
#56, the first of seven Dylan albums. I would want to put some rambling about this list and its curation process here, but I'll get to the point:
I tried it with this guy, really, but I just can't. The point of music, to me, is: music. It's not words. And so a vocalist's performance is mostly sound, timbre, a layer in the music's soundwaves which hit my eardrums and in the process excite the auditory nerves to generate a, hopefully, pleasant and/or interesting sensation. All of music is about that.
Dylan's soundwaves are shit. Firmly sitting in the space between grating and boring. And I'm not going to pretend otherwise, in order to be able to discover potentially good song writing. I know it's there, at times, but it wasn't Dylan who has shown me, but among others Melanie Safka (😢), Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, The Byrds, heck, even fucking Guns 'n Roses or U2. I don't understand why I would want to listen to this man.
[copy/paste to a Notepad file, for the remaining six]
This album? Yeah, boring. Grating. Occasionally, it brings about a hint of a nice vibe (Visions of Johanna) but any redeeming bits are nullified by how many more of the 72 minutes do - at best - nothing for me. Blues Rock Sonic Garbage that irritates me more than what his session musicians here eventually did as "The Band" (album #28) three years later and that was a 2 from me.
Sister Sledge
3/5
The three hits are super dope, Thinking of You, too - the rest I've already forgotten.
Jurassic 5
5/5
Thus far, Hip Hop has shaped up to be among my Worst Genres here - I'm very happy to rectify that now. Knew their name but never heard it before and I enjoy this a lot. I have heard that one voice, though, and yep, Chali 2na on Roots Manuva's 'Join The Dots'. Fast Forward: This sentence now is from a few hours later than the previous ones, been playing this all day long. Head nodding fun. It eventually loses a bit of momentum during the tracks after Thin Line but that's on me. Great stuff.
Beth Orton
5/5
Went back and forth with my opinion on this one for a while, but then the album shed the -tronica part (with it, as a genre, there was and is much more exciting stuff around) and it became a Five. Reminded me of listening to Suzanne Vega's '85 debut (album #9), a 15 years younger 90ies version of it, just without the great sensation of discovery, but I can't hold this against the music. Which is lovely.
The Birthday Party
3/5
Oof. I feel like this Kombucha tasting woman from the meme with this one. But I will have to settle for Nah. I totally appreciate this album's existence but compared to the other aggressively weird one, Pere Ubu (#52) from recently, which also featured vocals from the psychiatric ward, the core of the music that's being mangled here is a lot less appealing to me. And so the result more painful than interesting.
Beck
3/5
It's cool to come to terms with some of these albums that I've heard, or at least their hits, when they came out: I guess I've actually never liked Beck after all (90ies Beck. I don't know post 2000 Beck yet, outside of his Record Club project). Slacker music with aimless ADHD that's too eccentric for its own good. Or ~cartoony. Country Jangle Pop but also Beastie Boys. Like liquorice but icecream. It all seems a bit forced. Or something, I dunno. Whatever my problem with it is, for now I can definitely say that this is crap music to have my early morning coffee to.
[...]
A few hours later it sits better with me but I can't say that things have improved dramatically. I respect this album, for what it was in its time, but that's about it. Honorable mentions: Minus and Ramshackle.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
+1 to the list of bands that had only existed as a name on the fringes of my perception [trailing off] It's now some time later, after the previous sentence - this is becoming a thing in my reviews? - in which I have spent some more time with the album, and The Flaming Lips' work, like their, what? cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? the whole thing?, with huh?? Miley Cyrus on Lucy In The Sky!? I'm awed by how this here is my introduction to this band!
But hey, it's never too late. I... love this, I think? I'm firmly in the second half of my life, so this being new to me, it reminds me of a lot of other music - much of which is eligible for a good part of my all-time favourites list: do I sense Spiritualized, Pink Floyd, bits of Radiohead? German ~post-rockers The Notwist in the - well, not conventially great but endearing - vocals, especially in Waitin' for a Superman? Yes to all. It's quite gorgeous, really. Not sure if a 20 year younger me would have liked this, but I've been developing a soft spot for dreamy, shoegazy, psychy rock/pop and this fits *right* in. Thank you, 1001AYMHBYD.
(the inclusion of those Mokran mixes at the end is wtf, though)
Ramones
1/5
~~✨ Unpopular Opinion Time ✨~~
The Ramones' Punk only serves as the simplest possible wrapper for a sentiment - there's nothing else - in the same way Schlager Music does. Like, say, "Die Woodys - Fichtl's Lied". And as they have nothing punk to say over the course of their album - even less than the Woodys - it is equally as dumb as Schlager: shallow shit on a schtick.
(Havana Affair, in the Anniversary's Version mono mix, thus stripped of any pretense of sonic qualities or interest, was alright)
Rush
4/5
Another album and band that had eluded me before. So, without any preconception: I should like this and will probably give it another listen later today, but... hm. So far, the first minute of YYZ sums up my whole experience with this album. As in: I didn't know 1981 could sound like Animals As Leaders (who came to mind), wtf, this is awesome until HAHA, tricked ya, we play white dudes' Hard Rock.
This is pretty great, when it's great. Sometimes it's not. The main issue for me is that 43 years later (oof), I can draw on a WHOLE lot of other music to scratch that itch more precisely. Or, all of the itches. However, this was interesting, glad I listened to it.
The Stone Roses
3/5
Released in '89, I can see why it's regarded as a classic, but I'm listening to it for the first time (may have heard some of its singles before idk) and after the first two songs, which I like, it kind of blurs into the Madchester To Britpop pipeline stuff that became rather ubiquitous in the years after. And that I have, bar The Verve's "A Storm in Heaven", never cared much about. I don't want to use "overrated" yet, but from today's POV I could. If I wanted to. It's neat enough and was first, so I don't. But also: meh.
Judas Priest
5/5
Even as a metalhead teenager, I had not been interested in Judas Priest for some reason* and never listened to them, or at least never since. And I really only knew Breaking The Law, and likely via Beavis & Butt-Head, when I opened this, expecting boredom and possibly cringe.
Huh. This has been the most unadulterated FUN I've had with any of my 66 albums so far!? Fuck yeah 🤘!
*Maybe I had filed Judas Priest under that trite Hard Rock of Living After Midnight but the rest - and I'll ignore the 2001 Remaster bonus track addition of Red, White And Blue - is chef's kiss! Halford is fantastic and something about the drums makes me go Wow! Those drums! Extra fun to spot the blueprints of what became circa Metallica. Great, great album!
Def Leppard
3/5
See, that's what caught me so nicely off guard about yesterday's "British Steel" by Judas Priest (#66): I didn't need irony or nostalgia to have big time fun with it.
Hysteria, on the other hand, which I did listen to backthen™, needs heaps of both now. A monumental achievement in megalomaniac Radio Hard Rock, with all the bAnGeRs, yes, but: cheesy, goofy, almost clownish today. And aggressively super-sized American, somehow, out of... Sheffield? That said, I still can't quite hate this and might even do a dramatic lip sync performance to Love Bites, in a car ride w/ commercial radio situation, but this album aged into Music For Memes.
The Who
4/5
I've never sat down with The Who's work (any) and gave it a proper listen. And honestly, this album's middle doesn't make me excited about the prospect. When their music connects, though, it really does. Going to do some math here, with a +0.7 for "We bought a crazy synth and by God, we're going to use it!" and it comes out as:
The White Stripes
4/5
I like The White Stripes, they're cool, and I enjoy quite a bit of what Jack White has been doing since, whenever his music came my way, but I didn't need an album of this today. It was ~alright.
The Sugarcubes
4/5
I would like this to fall into my 5 star category: An album I had genuine fun with, no if/buts, or that I fully enjoyed discovering for the first time, but there's a bit of a chipper extrovert madness in the music here (not necessarily via Björk) that I found tiring after a while, somehow, right now, today. Shame. It's good, though!
Mudhoney
5/5
I don't always listen to garage punk and proto grunge but when I do, I'll now make sure it's Mudhoney.
Really now. My 5 stars often reflect how much I enjoyed an album within this 1001AYMHBYD challenge and this is the shit. Certainly one of the shits. Also, best harmonica I've heard so far. Looking at you, Bob.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
Oh. This one.
Okay. Like anyone who was a self-respecting teenager when Blood Sugar Sex Magik came out, I have a fair bit of RHCP residue in my system. Over time though, it caused me to develop an intolerance to their music. And looking back, it may have been Californication, my absolut last point of contact with anything this band has done, that did most of this. I liked it a lot when I came out, but it's like its age unveiled a crass caricature: I put this on a few years ago and literally sat there with my mouth open being stunned by the nails on chalkboard experience. How much of it is due to the pain- and godawful mix or Kiedis kiedising I don't know, but bottom line: while there's some great song writing in here (Parallel Universe and This Velvet Glove have always been my favs), I simply can't listen to this anymore.
Paul Simon
5/5
Man, Paul Simon, huh? Pretty great, this guy.
Should have given Graceland a 5, but I didn't so I'll make up for that. Happily. Even with the Sesame Street skit. Music to feel good to.
Mj Cole
3/5
Was just thinking how Electronica is, 72 albums in, my worst liked genre here. I mean, I get it. When you feel the need to have 7 Dylans and 5 Springsteens in your compilation, you are likely not expertly knowledgable in electronic music. Or interested. But you could have asked for help, no?
This offering is marginally better than what I've had so far, but it fits right in with the theme of "records I found in the £1 vinyl crate at the flea market": another entry of a safest, blandest and worst aged specimen of [electronic music genre] that had one or two radio friendly hits once.
That said, I've always liked the title track and the Jazzanova Remix is something I might still put on and it's all not horrible, but an album of this? You Must Hear Before You Die? Come on.
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
This old vocal jazz... it's super lovely and Sarah Vaughan is amazing but it quickly sates me somehow, sadly.
R.E.M.
5/5
I feel like returning to Automatic For The People to confirm that I wanted to poke it with a stick - do something! - and then compare but I can already say that this one here is all what's good about R.E.M. with... nothing else really. Needs no poking. Nice album.
Boston
4/5
Did anyone even die in the past 40 years without having heard this? I may have filed "More Than a Feeling" under 80ies Hair Metal and I ~know half of these? And the thing is: rightly so? This is just excellent at what it is. Someone in the reviews compared the music to Deep Purple meets Queen and yes, at times it sounds like those two rolled into one - this might be my only gripe actually: while I like me some of the former, I don't care much for the latter. But that's nitpicking because fuck, this rocks!?
Fatboy Slim
2/5
Alright, a classic of course. And it's nicely illustrated by the photograph over at Spotify's "about the artist". This is a sculpture of vuvuzelas: kinda funny, for a very brief moment in time, but quickly just irritating af. And look! It's also a guy in a football jersey blaring PAAAARTY! in your face. For an hour.
When this came out and its hits played everywhere, I tolerated it for its novelty but today, *as an album*, I find this utterly obnoxious.
Beatles
5/5
Ah, the weird one. The beginning of the Beatles' end. This, and the cover artwork is so fitting, is their shoebox. Filled with random bits and bobs. Some are great, some are not. Lift the lid, take a look inside. This is them, "The Beatles", both the group and the four dudes. What they're about. Or were. All of it. No filters. And this is fine. It's not Abbey Road or Sgt. Pepper but it doesn't have to be. I wouldn't have rated this a 5, maybe, but just a few weeks ago, I happened to listen to the Esher demos, raw versions of these songs they recorded when they were hanging out at George's place, as friends, still or again, having fun and with those in mind, how can I not.
Elbow
4/5
Had a couple of albums by bands I knew the name of but nothing about their music and mostly I'd not been missing much. This is not one of those. This is very nice. [break] Buuuhut. Its best moments are when - I don't want to make the comparison but here we go - it reminds me of what I liked about Coldplay's first two albums before they... whatever it was they did, those idiots. Sadly, I feel like after Mirrorball or Grounds of Divorce the "cinematic" aspect takes over. Or rather *theatric*. Soundtrack pieces for slow stage plays. [break] On the other hand, this music, all of it, has been a welcome companion throughout my day so far.
5/5
U2's last fine moment, right there. This cover should be in illustrated dictionaries, under 𝐉 like 𝘑𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘬. It's the run-up, just before the jump.
What came after (Rattle and Hum is them right over the shark), when U2 either laboriously or safely focused on only chasing the highs of commercial success, I didn't care about or despised, and I have some more snark in me, but I can't bring myself to not admit that this still hits. I know "War" is up for a review and rating at some point, but I try not to pitch albums against each other, so...
Hello, first entry to "Controversial Artist"
The Mamas & The Papas
3/5
Phew, what a band, I bet this bathtub could tell some stories. Now for the music. Eh. California Dreaming saves the record.
Jacques Brel
5/5
Nice. Always loved Amsterdam (and Ne me quitte pas), goosebump stuff, and I quite enjoyed the vibe of all of this. And as the 1001AYMHBYD list is so hilariously shit at acknowledging the existence of the non-English-speaking 95 percent of the world and its music, this is an automatic +1, makes 𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘲 é𝘵𝘰𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴. And no, I do not understand what Brel is singing. You don't have to, you know?
Hot Chip
3/5
Alright, not bad! Contemporary Pet Shop Boys? The post-rock-turned-techno from Vessels but with pop𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳? This is neat. [...] ... I thought for a while but now I have the urge to - Oho-Oh-Ohoho-Eoh - skip through it. This isn't giving me anything I'd actually like or need to have. It's all just very whatever. At #84, the most interesting entry in the Electronica genre so far, sure, but that bar is crazy low. Still, not an actual bad or even truly boring album, but why is it here?
5/5
First impression: "6495 monthly listeners" 🤔. Second: yes, I'm one of them! I don't think this is my absolut first exposure to this album - I bought quite a bit of circa this downtempo/experimental/nujazz/fusion records around the turn of the centuries and the cover looks familiar? - but it's a first active listening experience. And an excellent one! Time tends to not be kind on ~that~ music from the era, usually, but 'São Paulo Confessions' with its vibes, textures, restrained funk and noise is way above those pastiches from similar sounding German or British producers. I read how Suba likened his experience of living in São Paulo to something out of a tropical 'Blade Runner' and this album seems like a proper expression of that. Held up beautifully and definitely derserves a spot in here. (Now do Amon Tobin, 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘵!) Faves: the whole run of the first 3 tracks, Sereia.
Wilco
4/5
It's one of those, right? An alt-indiepostfolk-rock album, this side of Grunge, Dad music for contemporary dads, that, in a slightly different parallel universe, I would love? But that, here, I don't? That, while I appreciate the sounds and sensations, bores me? That might have a chance to "grow on me" but why should I want it to? Yep, one of those. It has my sympathy, but I can't say that I care much for it.
Scott Walker
4/5
Ah, the much revered Scott Walker. First time listen, no wait, I know "Old Man..". I'd like to queue this to return to it on a different day in another mood. Because the circa Morricone × Crooner is pretty cool, I can already say, but it seems this is an album I should pay attention to and I don't quite have the patience today. Uhm, and this alone makes it a 4.
Kate Bush
5/5
I'd never quite paid attention to Kate Bush's oeuvre and I'll admit that it was Stranger Things' return of "Running Up That Hill' (and, my daughter playing Babooshka, because TikTok, somehow...?) which brought her into my consciousness and then made me realize and grow my respect for her.
Still, this was the first of her albums that I actually listened to and I'm stunned at how mesmerized I am by what, on paper, I should not be exactly be a fan of, "artsy 80ies weirdness"? Nope. This is amazing! An actual, wild masterpiece. Outstanding. Love.
Billy Joel
3/5
It's a shame the person with the Chandler Bing/Patrick Bateman review stopped after 10 albums. Think about the bangers they would have brought us!
Quicksilver Messenger Service
4/5
A big regret of mine is that I didn't see Kyuss when they were playing at the festival I was at. Didn't know, didn't bother, probably [unclear mumbling]. With that, for context, Quicksilver Messenger Service gets a 4½ out of 5 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘷𝘺, 𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘵!s.
David Ackles
1/5
Oh, another one for my collection of album covers with brownish photographs of the artists! Cool!
The Cure
5/5
During the years The Cure released their albums, say, between this one and Wish, I really, extremely didn't care for them. And even less so after. But it's been a very nice journey in the recent many years to (re-)discover what I had not been into, missed or ignored as a circa teenager and what it does to me today. The Cure, for instance. I'd already come to cherish the two "hits" of the album and the whole of it, not to my surprise, does not disappoint. On repeat, today=5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
This may be an issue I have with much of contemporary and often synth infused Indie Rock, examplified by this album: I don't understand what it wants from me, what it wants to do with me. It doesn't touch me, it doesn't move me, neither emotionally nor my body despite its frequent dance tunes. Why 𝘪𝘴 it? It doesn't tell me anything, explicitly or otherwise. There are no sonic discoveries to be made. The music may sound like a ruckus, but what's underneath is rather tame and boring. Coincidentally, there's a version of this album with a few accoustic takes of the songs, which are allowed to be ~tame and those are much more engaging to me. But that's not part of the assignment, is it?, so:
I don't particularly hate this but - despite or because of my aversion to purpose-made music: - what is it 𝘧𝘰𝘳? The only thing that comes to mind is someone's house party where let's call her Christine balances of bag of crisps on her head, she's just crazy like that, haha.
Jeru The Damaja
4/5
"Sounds like an angry, raw Jazzmatazz" I thought for a moment, believing I had a clever moment there making a connection, before looking up if, aha!, Gang Starr will also come up on this list. This is good. Will probably be on repeat today.
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
I don't have any doubt that this is objectively god, that was a typo, it amused me, good, but my general desire to listen to disco funk or soul ballads isn't that great and it didn't increase over the course of this album. I think my left brain had more fun with this, dissecting it. When in "That's the Way of the World" André 3000, pretty sure that's him, starts singing, in my right ear "never never" over the other, main lyrics and then that becomes louder and center to BE the main lyrics? Some pretty cool bits in here. I'll keep this one in mind. Not entirely my cup of tea, but I might want to listen to it again.
Talking Heads
1/5
I've been walking past one of their other albums for years, the one with the four heads, in the window of the record store, hanging next to Nevermind and Highway 61 Revisited, all blue tinted bleached out and I've been wondering if I should know this apparent classic. If I should have payed attention to those Talking Heads.
Haha, nope. This sounds precisely like "they met in design school and openend for the Ramones" and I don't mean this as an accolade. Honestly, I'm puzzled by all the glowing reviews. People, 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, listen to Electric Guitar, Animals or Drugs and go "Wow, ohh, wonderful! 😍"? Huh?Because: this album's ~art wave rock~ whatever with Byrne's exalted vocals made me think of the 1978 'Dub Housing' by Pere Ubu (#52) and that one is currently rated the 14th worst album on this entire list. I went and had a look at the reviews and sure enough...
"Talking heads but worse"
"It reminded me a lot of Talking Heads, especially the singing, but a worse version"
They have it backwards, though. Dub Housing was ★★★★☆, actually wild, interesting and experimental. This is not. Fear of Music reminded me of Pere Ubu but boring bullshit, with a stick up its ass. I'll give them the "ahead of their time", if I have to, and 'Heaven' had a strange low key beauty about it, I might keep that one, but other than that, this sucked, mightily.
Johnny Cash
3/5
Do I have to?
Always respected the man, but I never cared much for Cash's music. This is an album of his music being other artists' music that he sings. He is about to die, with his old voice. Sentiment. Is a word. I appreciate all of this. But it's covers. And the sensation of Cash doing those songs in his style just doesn't carry me through 52 minutes.
The KLF
4/5
Something could be said that sounds a lot like \"you had to be there\" and it would, unlike with some previous Electronica albums that seem to have found their way onto this list because of chart hits, actually make a strong argument, but even today, I'm enjoying this much more than I expected to. Which was - I knew there's more to The KLF than meets the eye (or ear), but still - highbrow eurodance. It kind of is that but... maybe because I'm clicking through The KLF's discography (the album on Spotify isn't quite \"The White Room\" anyways) I'd agree that this indeed is MusicYMHBYD.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
1/5
I think this aggravates me. How it's another offering of US psychedelic folk rock and I look it up to understand why that one might be on here and it's ... because the guy was fucked up? That's why? Or what? A musical genius, tormented by his demons, that story, or a drug-addled arsehole who happenend to be a not completely shit musician? What's the deal here? Why should I need to care? Because, without that cOnTeXt, much of what comes after the original 12 tracks is fairly laughable. And the world would be fine without 9 of those 12. So what am I reviewing here, honestly?
Beatles
5/5
Wondering if I, for a change, should and could rate a Beatles album with less than 5. Just to see what it feels like, for the kicks. To spice things up. And maybe even to try out pretending I'm listening to this band's work for the very first time. But it's not this one, again.
Nine Inch Nails
3/5
Tough one. I recognise The Downward Spiral as one of the great and important albums of the 90ies but it wasn't quite my thing then and it isn't now. I think I like my angsty depression soundtracks more on the ethereal side.
5/5
[I've only recently realized that I can queue my reviews. I will have to use this here. First time I've heard of this band, I think(?) and this is certainly interesting, maybe more.]
Nah, it's easy actually. My 5 star ratings here don't necessarily adhere to my usual musical preferences only but also to how much I enjoyed being shown a particular album. Like this one.
Duke Ellington
3/5
Remarkable how many people feel the urge to detail their relationship with Jazz in the reviews. So... Me? I'm not a stranger to it, but (or therefore?) I can't say that I'm a great connoisseur of jazz', say, pre 60ies years. Unless it's ~smooth~ but then it becomes music for dinner parties. This here is cool, however, but solely because of the energy that's conveyed through the live recording, which also cuts it into slices that makes it unwieldy and too long. It's wild and again: cool, but - in 2024 - this album doesn't hold my attention or interest enough to grant these 2 hours more than a 3.
The Yardbirds
3/5
It's.. alright. Bit of a guitarists' music Starter Pack? A fairly fun listen, for '66. Someone said how it sits between The Beatles' rock 'n roll and Black Sabbath. Good one. That comparison, that is. I like both Beatles and Black Sabbath more than this.
The United States Of America
5/5
I'm always so disappointed when it says Psychedelic on the label and then it's just bluesy folksy pop-rock, but in bell-bottoms and someone may have had a joint. This here is the good shit. Yes. Bit cartoony at times, some tracks are like skits but I don't mind them in the flow of the album. Good one!
Barry Adamson
1/5
I like instrumental, moody, cinematic music. Soundtrack-y. I listen to this stuff. Which is a problem for this album, because any- and everything it makes me think of is worlds better than this. Its only saving grace is how I wouldn't have guessed that it's from 198– oh, there's the industrial synth drum, nevermind.
I also feel like pointing out that 'music for an imaginary movie' is not novel or clever - especially when you're putting it together as a literal job application in the movie industry. What is this doing here? Corny ass nonsense.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
3/5
What a pioneer and so influential and what a tragic loss just think of what could have been! And now with that out of the way, I think I'm well within my rights to assess this music with ears from 67 years later: it should be on Diamond City Radio. I see myself shooting Boston's Super Mutants to 'Rock Me My Baby'. Outside of that? Eh.
The Byrds
5/5
When "Notorious Byrd Brothers" came around as album #13, I had of course heard of them and their Tambourine Man but I'd been largely ignorant about who they were and what they actually did. Some jangle pop folk rock, no? That album ended up in my favourites. So does this, even more so, because I've also since realized how much I like David Crosby ('Notorious' should have been a 4 probably, but I don't care, this isn't a contest). Bottom line: when The Byrds were like *this*, they were possibly the best 60ies band that side of the Atlantic.
Gang Starr
4/5
A stellar album from two stellar artists, but maybe a bit lost or wasted on me, I'm afraid. As dope as this is, the musical content of the 1 sample & 1 beat (add some sprinkles) recipe of old hip hop gets tiring after a while.
Charles Mingus
5/5
There are a couple of Jazz albums in here I'm looking forward to but this wasn't one of them. It would have been, if I had heard it before. Which I *think* I had not. Magnificent. Not easily digestible at times - Wikipedia taught me the term "Third Stream" - but it's all good every time Dannie Richmond starts drumming again. Been playing this all day.
Wu-Tang Clan
4/5
Yes, it is one of Hip Hop's great albums, but like the one from Gang Starr two days ago, for me it's greater in small doses. Just not a great enough connoisseur of this music to fully enjoy an album of it. Minus 1 in comparison to 'Step In The Arena' but plus 1 for 𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘰 👊 𝘩𝘢𝘢𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘪𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘨🗡
Randy Newman
2/5
These are, without a doubt, some of music's songs. Truly one of the albums, even!
Saint Etienne
2/5
"Yo, Robert, I've been thinking... shouldn't we have some electronic music in here? I mean, this stuff kinda blew up in the 90ies?"
"Hm, you're probably right, but I don't know any."
"Me neither. Shit. What do we do?"
"There must be chart hits from some albums, let's look them up."
____________
And here we are. In my memory I had put Saint Etienne somewhere close to The Cardigans. Which is wrong but it's also not. Fox Base Alpha may well be The Cardigans, but after they'd been off their tits on some rave the night before, hungover, drowsily playing with a sampler. On cheap opiates. Don't do drugs, kids! In 1991 this may have been the shit, or some shit, but those early electronic albums "YMHBYD" are like a child's drawing of a house where the chimney is perpendicular to the roof. And I'm not a proud parent here. Bad. Not good.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
See, *this* is what I want from a hip hop album. And that this came out in '90, before the other few I had recently, makes it all the greater.
10cc
3/5
Don't think I've ever heard "10cc"? 'I'm Not In Love' however goes straight into my playlist of These Songs. This album? It's somehow music as spectacle. Why I don't like Queen. A series of amusement park rides. That really aren't all good.
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
A first time listen. This is certainly good music, but I don't like it as much as I could. It's all not far from what I usually can and do enjoy, but it's not *there*. It's, like, above. But only in quantity: there's an aesthetic of excess in this dense theatrical baroque poprock, that I just do not connect with. "Just one more layer, bro, one more choir and strings, that'll fix it" and then it becomes quite possible that the core behind all of this is merely pleasant while being actually quite boring.
Elvis Presley
2/5
In 1989, I saw Elvis walk out of the gas station of the rest area Taunusblick-Eschborn, A5 near Frankfurt. When he spotted me recognising him, he did his little a-bop-bop-a-loom and told me we should all move on. He seemed nice.
T. Rex
4/5
Mostly boring, but some songs are fun and Bolan gets a pass. 'Get It On' was on a "Rock Oldie" compilation that was among my first active and conscious music listening experiences. And the part time hippie here had fun with his Prophet, Seers & Sages. But really, one of the albums that could be anywhere from a 2-4 for me. Today, 4.
Liz Phair
5/5
I've heard of Liz Phair, but had not, knowingly, listened to her music before. Initial reaction? Whatever indie-alternative. But this quickly grew on me. To the point where it became pretty great. If 90ies kids didn't include this on mixtapes along with songs from Kurt Cobain they surely made a mistake. That kind of 90ies great. Even if only as a document. That said, I did lose a bit of interest along the almost an hour. Tracks along the lines of Shatter, Glory, Explain It To Me or Mesmerizing? Yes. The upbeat ones, maybe not so much.
Still, enjoyed this. A nice discovery, for me. Ah, come on. 5.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
1/5
No. Just no. There are two songs on here that I could tolerate on the car radio if I were driving through the actual Alabama for a bit of 'local color' if on a vacation in the US' southeast, which in 2024 you'd have to pay me for. The better one of those is a meme on Youtube. At #120, the most boring and just unattractive entry in 70ies rock so far.
Green Day
5/5
Huh. By 1994 I had sort of begun to turn my back on guitar driven music - so much else to discover out there! - so I was today years old when I learned that 'dookie' is from that year. I had always lumped Green Day together with 'The Blinksums 1815' that followed later and I want to apologize for this. I don't have a particular itch anymore that this album would scratch but listening to it, and especially all of it, outside of its two hits, I feel like I'm peering at a spot in the fabric of time, when I had this itch, and with just a little shift, Dookie would have scratched it, instead of '89s Bad Religion's No Control. And with that link, this has to be a 5.
Joan Armatrading
4/5
I will happily let this grow on me, it's an album to revisit and absolutely one YMHBYD, but whenever it dips into its uptempo country blues side, I felt like skipping, even though the ~vibe~ of it is coherently nice, but ah, hm. I think it's been a while since I've given a 4? Here's one. A good one.
5/5
I have no aversion to progressive rock with its 10+ minute tracks and 9/16 timesignatures, quite the contrary, but if this album is the definition of it... Hear me out. Sometimes musical genres are like people. They get thrown into the world and spend a few years in playful innocence, childish and a bit dumb, maybe mimicking their parents for a while. And then they become teenagers, clumsily stumbling onto their own paths, full of occasionally cring–
... initially, I had yapped on for a bit and you might extrapolate where I was going with this but somewhere along crafting my witty comparison I discovered the Steven Wilson remixes. Seems like what bothered me greatly was the original sound which made the album a fairly disjointed, shrill experience, to my ears. Now it does not.
Which leaves me with something that's sometimes more over-the-top, baroque weird than great, but there's plenty of great.
It's weird, somehow I can't quite commit to loving this but as a matter of fact, I've been listening to this all day long, sooo...
5/5
I'm at 'Four Cornered Room' right now and I think it's time for the generator to give me some boring stinkers again. Another album I gladly listened to.
The Magnetic Fields
4/5
"he decided he ought to get into theatre music". Narrator: he should not have.
Truth be told, I'm now through the first volume and time passed quite alright. Nice bits, whatever bits, annoying bits. They all didn't last long. Is all I can say here, really. Outside of the gimmick of this being a lot of songs, what else is there? Because I can't seem to find it. Is that it?
Rating day. I don't hate it. A quirky box of surprises.+1 for effort.
MGMT
5/5
Nice. I stand corrected. As a Gen X fart, I allow myself to not be super interested in whatever reaches radio play popularity among the Y&Z generations and so had only cursory knowledge of MGMT. Was only a few months ago that I decided to like 'Kids' and I had equaled this band to what they sound like on 'Electric Feel'. Eclectic Dirty Disco with BeeGees voices. A designed product, nicely suited to sell lifestyle products with. Instead I found drugged up psychedelic Glitter Rock! Very pleasant surprise. "Of Moons, Birds & Monsters" will probably get upwards of 17 plays today.
Bee Gees
2/5
When I look back at what made me fall in love with music, early on, the Bee Gees' first compilation album very much deserves a mention. Among the first albums ever I consciously listened to, with intent. Words, Massachusetts, I Started A Joke... they all have a place in my heart.
This? Ain't it. I can spot a circa beauty in Trafalgar, occasionally, but I can't not hear how it amounts to an order of Sad Beatles with extra Schmaltz. Eerily so on the tracks with Maurice on the lead vocals. And those are the better songs. 'When Do I' made me literally laugh out loud. They played Kermit dirty to not credit him on that one. Kind of a sad album, in more ways than one.
Bob Dylan
4/5
Okay. Okay, okay. When I had Dylan's 'Blonde On Blonde' earlier (#56, ★☆☆☆☆), I had typed a whole paragraph as an introduction to my perception of his music and saved it to a file to reuse it on the other albums. This is not the time to pull it out.
If I were to eventually get into his stuff - I'm still not sure I want to - this album here would be an actual good start, it seems. The musical background to his recitals is still far from being able to hold my interest but it's effective in its simplicity; his voice, while still annoying, doesn't yet sound like a caricature taking the piss. It's got the bangers so I don't have to look for them elsewhere and it's a neat service to split this between "I got an electric guitar now!" and "Remember when I didn't?"
'Bringing It All Back Home' doesn't aggravate me. Huh. I might even kinda like this. Who would have thought!?
The Young Gods
3/5
I... respect this. But this genre, Industrial Electronic Rock, I need very little of in my life. Same goes for cabaret. And so those 33:40 of the original album seemed very long.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
The hits are what I need to hear. Otherwise I feel like skipping. 'You've Got It Bad, Girl' was a nice discovery. Next!
Funkadelic
4/5
Groovellegiance, Doo Doo Chasers, some good shit on here! See what I did th. But while looking for this album, I passed "Maggot Brain" and in comparison, 'One Nation Under A Groove' wait for it stinks a bit.
(Still, I'll put this on the list of Vinyl Records To Own)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
I respect the man a lot, I just don't care for his music. I should pay attention to the lyrics, shouldn't I? Ah well. I can't say that 'Henry's Dream' is boring, there's enough sounds and textures to carry me along and I have a suspicion that this might elevate this album above the other NC&TBS' on the list, but meh. Mostly meh. If Jim Jarmusch had made From Dusk Till Dawn, this would be the band instead of Tito & Tarantula. Is my deepest thought here. Which makes me round up a 3.
Black Sabbath
5/5
Album #133 and the easiest 'I see the cover, I give 10 stars' so far. I don't always listen to Metal, but when I do, most of it is music that walks on the doomy sludgey stone (heh) pavement Black Sabbath has laid. And fantastically laid, great in its own right, not just as a foundation. I've had their debut album earlier and while it must have been mindblowing on its release - the title track! - , they still sounded like a blues band across the album. In Paranoid, they really found and developed the ~thing~. It's a great thing!
Elvis Costello
3/5
Makes me wonder where I know "Elvis Costello" from? Because it's not this. This is like if a quirky Bruce Springsteen did a collab with the Spin Doctors, making music for Gen X sitcoms. Competent and not horrible, quite droll even, but I did not, in fact, need to hear it. And I just saw that the guy has 5 more albums on here. The sound of me sighing.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Yes. I mean... just yes. Small infusion of personal anecdote as to the "why": Rumours must have been one of the first CDs in my parents' music collection and it's, this!, soft rock has taught me very early that good music doesn't give a shit about genres. Beautiful album. 20 stars.
Rod Stewart
2/5
#136. Gotta say I'm really getting tired by all these white dudes' '65 to '75 bluesrocksomething albums. It's probably not bad, objectively, but I see no reason why I would have needed to hear another one of those. I get it, it's music that sounds like *this*. Been there, heard that. Oh, now sung by Rod Stewart? Yeah, okay. Boring. Next.
Slade
3/5
By track 2, I was ready to welcome this in my club of losers, but the album turned the corner, scraping, mainly thanks to the vocals. Which are kinda cool. Do I like it, nah, but the whole thing quite honestly rocks, I will admit. In a way that made me conjure a mental image of Beavis & Butthead, but they're wearing Paisley shirts. I learned something from it, though: if I'll never hear a sliding rock'n'roll piano again, it'll be too soon.
Meat Loaf
1/5
I wanted to give credit where it's due even if rock opera is something I passionately don't care about (put nicely) but by the time All Revved Up played... "if I'll never hear a sliding rock'n'roll piano again, it'll be too soon" is what I wrote yesterday. THIS RIGHT HERE WAS WAY TOO SOON! The whole thing? Just awful. My deepest condolences to the people from the Meat Loaf Karaoke place I learned about in the reviews.
Bert Jansch
5/5
Sometimes, a person and their guitar is all I need, from Skip James to Melanie to José González. And so, while looking forward to the Nick Drake albums, this a no-brainer. Have heard the name, but not the music - lovely! I needed to hear this, yes thank you. How had I not before? Makes me want to build my finger calluses again.
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
I went into this wanting or even expecting to like it. I sort of thought, hey, this Bruce Spingsteen fellow is an alright one; I also remember once putting on Nebraska - don't remember how that eventually went though -, liking Streets Of Philadelphia and I expected this to be one of the albums of which I've heard most of the songs but never paid attention to and they might surprise me.
Well. While I do know most of the songs, I now also know why I had forgotten them: the sound and vibe of 80ies Keyboard Rock'n'Roll Played By A Band In A Corner Of A Bar-Restaurant. Featuring performances that make me get why people hate saxophones. Saving grace: Dancing In The Dark is a solid pop song and the sparse one(s like) I'm On Fire I quite like. Other than that: man, sorry Bruce, it's a No from me.
Metallica
1/5
Ride The Lightning and Justice For All have been important steps in the history of my taste in music, but I stopped paying attention to Metallica roundabout their black album. Listening to this pompous nonsense for the first time and Jeeesus...
I believe doing Metal dressed in symphonic instruments is insidious. Like it exploits people's unfamiliarity with and their often weird, fearfully respectful distance to classical music while diluting both *that music* and the harshness and point of the original, just to sell it twice, and milk some money out of Karen and Bob who normally don't enjoy either but now get to feel sophisticated and, oooh, adventurous. I mean, to leave no doubt about it, they put a stave on the cover: "Look, this is serious music, everyone!"
With that said, I was looking to find at least some interesting arrangements here but no. Metallica do shit versions of their songs and an orchestra happens to play along and all over it, some soundtrack to a Special Agent James Rambo flick ordered from Wish. Trash music for money. Garbage Inc.
In terms of Did I need to hear that?, the most unfathomable of the so far 141 entries I've had.
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
This review box has been staring at me for a way too long time. I'll just leave a 4 and move on.
Sepultura
5/5
What had always nagged me a bit about the tracks I knew - and quite loved - from 'Roots' was, in this and my personal limited experience, the obviousness of Sepultura cruising in the wake of Nu Metal, most notably the sound of Korn, but now that I've listened to it in full, I'm happy to bury that thought. This is a legit album, the fantastic overlapping section of a Death/Nu/FromBrazil Venn diagramm. Fuck yeah!
John Coltrane
5/5
Let this be my review: that Coltrane has 1 album on here, surrounded by 5 Cohens, 6 Costellos and 2 Coldplays is what's wrong with this world. Seriously.
Not the Jazz album I am still waiting for, but one that made my day a better one.
The Pogues
3/5
I am happy music like this exists. After four, five songs I am also glad when it's over.
Brian Eno
3/5
I do see how it blew people's socks off 43 years ago, but my listening experience here and now gives me a fairly big Whatever. Not helped by the nervously dry, brittle, anorexic musical contribution of the Talking Heads fellow.
The Boo Radleys
5/5
I may have gone from 'oh no, yet another janglebritpop' to 'whoa, this is the only janglebritpop this list needs?' in under 30 seconds. With reservations, I have not spend much time with the album yet but this is good stuff.
Guided By Voices
4/5
I'll borrow this, a good comment:
"Sounds like flipping through AM radio in a dream"
This also applies to how it doesn't just grab me. But I do enjoy the nature of this, four stars, why not.
Michael Jackson
4/5
I expected me to handwave a 5 star here, because it's Thriller (and my enjoyment of an artist's work *prior* to me finding out they're unlikeable human beings isn't retroactively deeply tainted), but... this is honestly not that great. A collection of songs with three of the greatest 80ies pop bangers, yes, but outside of admiring Quincy Jones' work here, there isn't much else for me. If we had decimals, a perfect 3.8.
Mekons
1/5
At #150 there have already been a few albums of the Punk But Let's Make It Weird variety but this might be the most egregrious yet. I could be arsed to find some qualities in it - like when no one's singing and the reverb is up - but I don't want to.
The Pogues
3/5
And with that, I'm through with The Pogues. I'll just copy this from 6 albums ago:
"I am happy music like this exists. After four, five(*) songs I am also glad when it's over."
(* two, three)
Led Zeppelin
3/5
I listened on CD as I own this album, and... well. The only song I'll put it on for again is Ramble On. Blues Metal Cock Rock wankery, that one. Oh god, so much wankery. Oh, and fucking. The fucking.
Green Day
3/5
Thirty albums ago, I had 'Dookie', a nice surprise: how listening to it reminded me of my love with another, older melodic (hardcore) punk album, that it was 30 years old, from 'Cobain's dead' 1994 and how I learned that Green Day's music/musicianship is or was way above their pop punk contemporaries' output.
'American Idiot' does not have that. The last point still stands, but it doesn't work in their favour. In 'Homecoming', there's a "Jeez [exhale]" at 5:24 and that is me at this point when I hear another one of this concept album's breaks, marching drums, toy piano tchotchkes. It's all so weirdly strained and laborious that I can't find the fun I think I'm supposed to have with music like this. Instead, I'm just bored.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
I've never had a particular desire to figure out what Leonard Cohen is all about - yeah this may have changed today. Because I should have. Because Greatness. What a beauty. And that's me listening to this album in between my daily chores. Totally saved for a quieter moment when that children's choir gets to *really* grab my heart. Rip it out. File under #1: what I love about doing this project. Ooof.
The Smiths
4/5
First of all I have a weird memory from loong ago about some humour in pronouncing The Smisses. Ze Smiffs? Anyway. I could get into this, I absolutely understand how a lot people seem to have, but I have not and I don't feel like I need to. Bit grating how Morrissey likes to change the key every now and then without telling the band, but it's alright.
ABBA
4/5
I grimaced when this popped up but I recognize a Pop monument when I hear one. And it's a good one.
Girls Against Boys
5/5
While looking at the cover art and listening to the first bars, my first reaction was to dismiss this as a hamfisted inclusion of "We Need An Album Of [Genre] In Here" and then dice were rolled but, turns out, this is pretty great! Like if two albums I owned, Sonic Youth's "Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star" (1994) and Filter's "Short Bus" (1995) had a slightly stoned time traveller baby. Noice!
[...] [<--- time passed]
I quite love this.
Beck
5/5
Beck with his - comparison alert! - newfound inner Leonard Yorke. Good on him! After Odelay, which I had earlier and which made he realize that I had actually never liked it, I was hoping to get a mature, actual songwriter Beck (haven't exactly sought out his music) and I'm not disappointed. This is quite beautiful, albeit a bit heavy here and there on the alt-country. Enjoyed this.
Pink Floyd
5/5
As far as intros to albums go, this is a 5000 out of 5. And as I mentionend a Pink Floyd moment in my "Dark Side of the Moon" review, here's another one: I had just stepped off my train one summer night, walking home, still on the platform and Pt.1 started playing, its soundwaves cruising through the dusk from somewhere far away. I stopped and listened. As you do.
Adele
3/5
Okay, this had every right to be so obscenely successful, all things considered, past tense, 2011. I hear that it's good. Along the trajectory of Norah Jones' and Amy Whinehouse' music. Etc. pp. Soul Pop, at its most serviceable. But by the 4th song, I've also had enough. Rolling in the Deep is a great start, Set Fire to the Rain sometimes creeps in my ear and stays there for a while, which I'm okay with, Lovesong is neat, (that's right, no mention of Someone Like You) but hey: turns out, \"21\" is one of the 77 Albums That You Don't Really Need To Hear Now Before You Die and I might tick the 'didn't listen' tomorrow. Because pffff.
Chicago
4/5
Great assorted bag of fun! Never expected this music from the picture of those (now old, granted) dudes over at the streaming service' "about the artist" bit. Only reason it's a 4 from me, is - not Free Form Guitar, that was fun, too - that I've been dishing out 5s like candy.
The Go-Betweens
2/5
This had my sympathies for 5 minutes and 58 seconds but then the harmonica played and I started to wonder what if it doesn't want them?
... doesn't help AT ALL that I'm reminded of #27, The Triffids' 1987 album Calenture. Why is that 80ies sound so comically dialed to 11 on Aussie productions? Does that ward off dangerous animals? It certainly wards off me.
I attest a nice vibe, but only when I'm not paying attention. If I do, some songs are painful.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Had his Songs of Love And Hate just recently, as my introduction to the work of Leonard Cohen. Which I was very thankful for. Sublime. This one? Yes but no. I'm not a lyrics person so I'm left with this pastiche of some Eastern European circa jazz blues soundtrack - oh, so grave! - for a deep voice. I have no desire to disrepect this, but... except for the title song and "Steer Your Way" this just isn't giving me a lot, musically.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
5/5
"Will Oldham" rings a faint bell, but I had never heard this before. Whathow?? "Nomadic Revery" might be the single most hauntingly beautiful song I've come across in my 163 albums so far. Incidentally, while the whole thing is playing, again, in its Youtube tab, a track from Bon Iver's debut is paused halfways and Jason Molina is on the screen, looking at me from the cover of "Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go": I'm now like the dude in the conspiracy meme picture, but discovering a new piece in a frail, dusty and hushed lofi-folk music puzzle. Gorgeous album, that one - thank you, 1001AYMHBYD.
Peter Tosh
4/5
'Genre' usually fails as a metric to contain my taste in music, but Reggae has so far managed to be the exception. Like, I'm okay with having maybe 15 minutes of it but then I'm good, thank you. And those are already taken by some Max Romeo and Toots & the Maytals' "Pressure Drop". That said, I didn't have a horrible time with "Legalize It". Will it allocate more minutes to the Reggae in my life? Nah, likely not. But that was alright. [just fed the cat, bopping to "No Sympathy" in my head] Quite alright.
And yes, legalize it! Duh.
Pearl Jam
5/5
I'm forever grateful for what Grunge did to all the goofy viking, wizard and pirate metal from dressed up dudes I had regrettably used to... somehow like, before, so I don't even care - all of these albums are 5 stars. And I just had the run from Once to Black on headphones while taking a walk through a nice summer morning, listening to this after a way too long time, which may be two decades, and man. Nostalgia at play here, but: Inject this shit into my veins, ❤. Special mention: Vedder's vocals on Black. He does sometimes sound like a parody of himself, but when he doesn't: another ❤
Rage Against The Machine
4/5
Despite all my rage, I am still just a ratm in a cage.
#167, time to kill a darling. Or, poke it with a dull stick, at least. I was 18 when this came out and even as a German circa middle class cishet white teenager, boy, was I there for it! I still own two copies of this, somehow. Today, I've largely grown out of funk metal while I have absolutely not grown out of the album's sentiments. And here's a problem: "Rage Against The Machine" was my generation's protest music and here we are, 32 years later. Have we taken the power back yet, mommy? Shut up and jump, they'll tell you how high. Feels like listening to unkept promises.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
Wanted to handwave this, Stones, I don't care, 3, next. But see? This, kids, is why we don't pay attention to lyrics! Jesus Christ. Bonus: there's also some truly shit music on here. 2 but only because of Paint It Black.
New Order
4/5
And onwards in my adult's discovery of music teenage me would have called atrocious. This is nice! Not without cringe, but that's part of a deal I will accept. Croaking frogs, clap clap, synth toms, the guitar sound from another band I've come to love? Yeah. Why not? This works here, I'm having fun! ... until after Elegia, that is. Where the lesser songs are and the album leans into a reminder why teenage me didn't like music like this. Still. Glad I listened to this today.
AC/DC
3/5
My conscious knowledge of this band boils down to this album's title track and Hell's Bells and hitting Play, I expected an affirmation that I don't need to know anything else. I stand corrected. I did have some proper fun realizing how AC/DC is stunningly good at what AC/DC is doing. But ultimately, beyond my appreciation for them being that, it's still not quite for me.
The Beta Band
4/5
That takes me back to when going onto the internet made noise. Specifically, when the connection had just become fast enough so that new mp3s would download faster than I could listen to them. I, metaphorically, wore out the mp3s of this album's first 4 tracks (the ones I had). Maybe that's why it, and its muffled production?, tires me, today and now. Good stuff, but I don't feel like 5 stars.
Nitin Sawhney
4/5
Dilemma. Was all that jazzy electronica triphop stuff just bland and I didn't know and realize? Or is this project serving up the most boring examples of it, that I had every reason to not listen to around that time? Bar the Indian bits, I feel like I've heard it all before and I find nothing that would make it stand out. Rather on the contrary. And no, garnishing your music with some somber samples does not make deep art. I don't hate it, at all (for the most parts), but this is extremely whatever.
[...]
Next day. Skipped through the tracks again. It's alright. Why not.
Willie Nelson
5/5
Was Willie Nelson ever on Sesame Street? I can totally imagine some of these in a duet with Elmo or Kermit. And me crying. Not my cup of tea, but screw that, some songs are marvellous and beautiful. Goosebumps on Georgia.
Eminem
3/5
Much respect to Eminem and I even think that Marshall Bruce Mathers III is an actual quite alright dude, but this is immature edgelord bollocks. Very skilled bollocks, but still.
Supergrass
2/5
I was lenient with "I Should Coco" (that word in my review then should have been "snotty", not "snooty") and I liked it more than this one here, but the truth is: I don't care much for this music. Wall of noise, here a Hammond organ, the -snotty- vocals, an attitude that wants to be punk but makes sure I understand they know ALL the chords... nah. Second half properly annoyed me.
Cat Stevens
4/5
A first impression: if this had been my first exposure to Cat Stevens, I'd probably love this, but over time I've grown to find his music a bit... too ~obliging? Or something about his voice? I might regret this, but I'll stick to my rating system, which mostly takes into account how much I enjoyed listening to or discovering an album on that particular day, and today, this is not quite one of the 5s.
Michael Kiwanuka
5/5
There are things to be said about the, say, post 2010 inclusions on this list, because a lot of the Whys and Hows seem to be shady and lazy, but this one? I don't even care. Marvellous!
Tori Amos
4/5
Once, before I'd sold most of my CDs, I owned a Tori Amos album and was looking forward to this, a kind of reunification with the music from a past. Well, it wasn't "Little Earthquakes", I now realise, as most of these tracks I've never heard before. And I don't feel like I've missed out, tbh. Crucify is great, but many song structures, their arrangements with the wind and string instruments, there's something theatrical about it, Music For Music Videos. And those videos are all set in a mystical castle, enchanted forest or the fields in between. Or something. Bit cutesy. I don't know, not a fan. Not at all bad, however. A weak 4.
Going to listen to "Under The Pink" instead. That was the one.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
5/5
A very fine specimen of psychedelic proto-stoner rock, this is a splendid soundtrack for my secret and occasional desire to have lived in that space and time. Dropping some acid, floating to the Fillmore, listening to Ginsberg read some poetry and then this. Phoahh! The Kozmic Kaleidoscope, man! Favourite track: "Oh, Sweet Mary" indeed. I rate this 4.20 radiant tendrils of dazzling blooms. ✌
The Cars
3/5
Gotta say, I have a hard time correlating the rave 5 star reviews with what I'm hearing. Both the raving and the reviews' contents. Consciously listening to it, or The Cars for that matter, for the first time, this album answers a lot of questions I never had. What if Robert Smith was in Queen. What if New Wave but for an algorithm to follow up with Heart and the Eagles. I mean, I kinda get it - what if #96, Talking Heads' "Fear Of Music" wasn't that dorky-ass art school shit, but instead pleasant rock® for the whole family? But I did not ask for any of that. Why would I?
That said, the way they sprinkle in synths here and there is quite lovely and I will admit that this flavour of a radio-friendly genre mix with a 1978 hit that, to me, sounds pretty timeless probably deserves a spot on this particular list.
The Pretty Things
4/5
Uh, that's not a good album to have today as my right ear is acting up and not only is listening to anything less fun that way, the stereo mix here is freaking me out. OH WELL. What I can say is: an AYMHBYD. And if only for how they somehow manage to transcend sounding like The Beatles. Interesting stuff.
Curtis Mayfield
3/5
Ehh. No. Curtis Mayfield yes, but the music on here is like the teacher from The Peanuts, both in Wah-Wah and Blah-Blah: a problem I have with quite a bit of Soul, it looks like, is how it's just this bed of music for a singer to meanderingly phrase over. And... that doesn't do much for me. Again: eh. Thankfully, by the time "Blue Monday People" was over, Mayfield and band seem to have been equally bored and picked up the groove, somewhat.
Beastie Boys
4/5
There's a Beastie Boys 5 star album in here (I think, with reservations) but it's not this one. While "License To Ill" has every right to be on this list, and maybe my review should feature *context*, I go with what its music is doing to me at face value and boy, is it long.
Iron Maiden
5/5
Remember when I had #66, Judas Priest' "British Steel"? No, you don't but I do: that was great. This here works the same, only without any of the surprise, because Iron Maiden is a band I've always returned to, on the No.1 spot of 80ies Heavy Metal I Listen To Without Irony. Arguably, seeing other artists, this list could very well contain more than two of their albums, but "The Number of The Beast" is a proper pick for one of them!
The Adverts
4/5
Oh, good. Over its runtime, not quite up there with my other cool Punk discovery on here, X-Ray Specs' "Germfree Andolescents", but "One Chord Wonders" and a few other songs are simply great. With stuff like this around, how and why were The Ramones a thing? Seriously?
Grizzly Bear
3/5
Ah, I don't know - do I have to? Okay. There are a lot of really likeable ingredients and potential flavours in here but it's... overcooked. Maybe prog-folk-rock just doesn't need to be thing. One of the albums where I feel like there's something in there I should love but it's buried in self-indulgent baroque nonsense that irritates me.
The Smiths
3/5
What I definitely give 5 stars to is that I'm a little under 1/5 through this project but have already had 2/3 of The Smiths' albums. So. I thought I could just copypaste my - rather favourable - review of "Meat Is Murder" here but no, they had to discover synths and strings and bells and whistles and a "lush" and "rich" production and there goes the charm. The (threeish) good songs are, well, kinda good but I'm in no mood for the whole thing. Trite. Boring. Next!
Happy Mondays
2/5
Can we please be done with this Madchester stuff soon? I mean, how much can you milk the concept of The Slightly Shoegazing Rolling Stones with Acid House samples? It's tiresome. On some tracks they break out into a fun ruckus, which is alright but most of it is not. I went back to The Stone Roses (#65) for a quick comparison and while that one bored me, this here - with the front geezer loosely talking in his two or three notes all the time - is irritating. Cool cover, though.
Grant Lee Buffalo
4/5
Oh! I listened to Mad Season's beautiful "Wake Up" yesterday and the second song the algorithm did play after that was from this album. It wasn't as good the first one, from CSNY. So much for a first impression.
[...]
... this was absolutely nice and pleasant and everything - good job, algorithm, I see why you did that - but also a largely uneventful experience. I cherish the vibe & atmosphere of it but Fuzzy will leave no lasting memory.
John Grant
4/5
... why, though? What makes this an AYMHBYD? Seeing who had a very big hand in this album's production, why is this here and not Midlake's "The Courage of Others" from the same year? Like, if I were that band, I'd be rather pissed. There's competent and fairly pretty songwriting on here, but it all leaves me wanting for more. Or with some tracks less, actually.
David Bowie
5/5
I've been putting this off the whole day long, because Bowie was a treasure who has my profound respect but I've always suspected this might not necessarily translate into me liking his music. I've only had his "Young Americans" very early into this project which was easy to dislike - Bowie himself wasn't a fan. This one? Yes. Falls rather gently but perfectly into my rating system: ★★★★★ for albums I thoroughly enjoyed discovering.
Dr. Dre
3/5
Ah shit, here we go again.
Worst place in the world, Rolling Heights Ballas country. I ain't represented Grove Street in 5 years, but the Ballas won't give a shit.
The Prodigy
4/5
I kinda dread seeing these albums pop up: dancey electronica from back then whose sole virtue may very well be how they broke ground with stuff that had been unheard (of). But: this fucking slaps. Still.
Television
4/5
I wish they'd lean more into planting the seeds of (instrumental) Math Rock than into inventing The Strokes but this is pretty good. Title song is a keeper. By far the best shit coming out of 70ies NYC so far.
Morrissey
2/5
Sigh. Well. The cover would fit nicely in my club of 1star losers and the rockabilly songs might even put it there but I just don't care either way.
David Bowie
3/5
Eh, it's a bit random, no? A formidable slice of culture but as an album, Heroes feels like a rather weak collection of things that haphazardly happened during studio time.
Terence Trent D'Arby
1/5
I like "Sign Your Name". I blame nostalgia, but it's a nice, modest tune. The rest of this, including Wishing Well - the other one I had known - is not good. At all. The insane Sgt. Pepper nonsense and the Uuhh, I dreamt of a new name: SANANDA (Chakra & Crystal Healing, Orgone Towers) does not help. Embarassing.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
I have some reviews queued up, so I'm going to make this quick: #22 ctrl-c crtl-v:
Outside of whatever Stones songs I happened to hear im my life, I'd never really paid attention to them. The couple of hits I like had always been enough for me. [...] Q̷u̷i̷t̷e̷ ̷c̷o̷o̷l̷ ̷h̷o̷w̷ ̷r̷o̷u̷g̷h̷ ̷i̷t̷'̷s̷ ̷p̷r̷o̷d̷u̷c̷e̷d̷ ̷a̷t̷ ̷t̷i̷m̷e̷s̷,̷ ̷l̷i̷k̷e̷ ̷b̷u̷s̷k̷e̷r̷s̷ ̷o̷n̷ ̷t̷h̷e̷ ̷s̷t̷r̷e̷e̷t̷. But. E̷h̷.̷ ̷M̷e̷h̷.̷ ̷A̷l̷r̷i̷g̷h̷t̷.̷ ̷H̷o̷o̷!̷ ̷H̷a̷!̷ ̷T̷h̷r̷e̷e̷.̷ Bluesrockgospel for the other audience. Nope.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
DJ Shadow
5/5
Knew the three "hits" from back then respectively rediscovered "Midnight In A Perfect World" the other day - strange how I'd slept on this album for so long. Just great. Very fine example of that time's instrumental hip hop slash electronica and a stellar masterpiece in sampler music. Special mention to how it secures a tiny spot for Björk's Post in this compilation. Easy 5 stars.
The Saints
4/5
Some albums meet me on some days where I feel I can't do them justice (for better or worse). Like this and now. I suspect this to be, as far as OG punk rock goes, one of the better or best offerings in this project, but I'm not quite in the mood for it. Will listen again, "No, Your Product" went into my basket. For now, it falls neatly in my 4 star rating: I may not really like it, but it doesn't bore me, has my appreciation and I get why I should have listened to it.
Ms. Dynamite
4/5
Ah. Haha. My reaction upon seeing this cover of a 2002 "Ms. Dynamite"(?) was along the lines of What the shit? but I actually know this! And it seems like I know the whole album?, godknows how - this is not my music!? (I'm baffled, seriously). But you know what? It's neat. It has little business being in a list of AYMHBYD but it does the thing it's doing perfectly well and is a good slice of that music of its time. I'm in a pop mood today: 4 stars, Pfff!!
Public Enemy
4/5
Yeah, I can still rap along Bring the Noise. From the Anthrax Version. Or, at least until "cause the beats and the lines are so dope". Indeed they are. Plus I've learned that Tricky's Black Steel is a cover. Nice. Muuuusically, this album overstays its welcome, but it has to be a really strong 4.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
It's all quite brilliant and nice and pleasant and has twin harmonicas and everything... but. It just goes by?
Germs
3/5
I have happily acquired the knowledge that this exists. I have no feelings whatsoever about it.
The Beau Brummels
4/5
The Beau Brummels. Ooookay. Well, it sounds better than their picture looks. It's fairly nice, even. But it's also just another one of those white dudes' 60ies psychedelic folk records. What is the point here? "Collect 'Em All!"? How is this one an essential listen, compared - or in addition - to all the other stuff of roughly like that which I had already had? A bit extra on the whimsical side, yes? Eh. It has my sympathies, however, and gets an extra 0.5 for brevity.
Sufjan Stevens
5/5
There have been some Sufjan Stevens songs that, in the past, have found their way into my ears and my heart (awww) (seriously, his rendition of O Come O Come Emmanuel makes me tear up a bit) (maybe they were all from the Christmas Album) so I tried to listen to more of his work and it never quite worked out. Maybe because it's mostly not Christmas. Could be. And so I'd never been in the mood for this kinda gooey, pastoral, cutesy but serious music. I might be now & today, though. I'm liking this a lot.
The Who
3/5
I feel like my patience with this project is slowly slipping away. There are 5 The Who albums. Have people not made more interesting and significant music in the past 65 or so years? The redundancy. But okay, Live At Leeds. When this rocks, it rocks alright and I can hear how it might be one of the better live albums. Is all I can be arsed to say.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Nnnaah. Solsbury Hill, which I didn't know by name nor would gave attributed to Gabriel is a great song and Humdrum and the last track went into my basket, but overall... this album is good when it makes me think of putting on Marillion's first album post Fish again, but then it makes all this messy turns into Meat Loaf, Queen or that Disney dude's territory and Nnnaah.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
5/5
I'm little over 200 albums in and there's already been a LOT of 60/70ies folk rock that I, in fact, did not necessarily need to hear, but I'm truly grateful to this project for introducing me to 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. Or solidifying a hunch that I should like it, not just this album but in general music David Crosby had a hand in, it seems [See also: → The Byrds]. Beautiful stuff. I love this.
Jefferson Airplane
4/5
An albumYMHBYD, sure, and I should listen to its hits and "Embryonic Journey" more often - and "Comin' Back To Me", now - but it needs more Grace Slick; I think I'm not sold on Balin's dominating voice. I appreciate its existence, a ton, but in its hippie pop rock entirety - despite *sounding* amazing - it doesn't do as much for me as I would like it to.
Happy Mondays
3/5
Really? Another Happy Mondays album? This, too, is pretty shite. Even though it might annoy me a little less than their follow-up, as it's at least more homed in to a vibe: aimlessly drifting through a warehouse rave, when another pill kicks in you maybe shouldn't have taken while this is playing from shomewhere ovver theerre? the music phasing in and out just as your vision turns into a film projector that falls out of sync. Yeah, THEN this could be a cool soundtrack. Doesn't mean it belongs on a record.
[...]
(now with that being written there, maybe it does. Belong on a record. Filed under: Haze)
David Bowie
4/5
I don't quite get it. The veneration for this, or the whole Berlin trilogy, for that matter. Maybe it's because I'm listening for the first time, now and today? It all seems so aimless and random: here are some art rock ideas and here comes Eno. That said, I had a decent enough time with this album and might have liked it better than Heroes (#196). /shrug
The Kinks
4/5
First reaction: gah, another expected 60ies staple of a British Jangle Poprock thing. But turns out: I get it. I read some "underrated" recently with regards to The Kinks and I can see myself cautiously agreeing. This is neat. And surprisingly well positioned in a world (and country) where The Beatles (and Stones) already exist. Will I put this on again? Probably not. But it's cool. Thumbs up.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4/5
Later Tom Petty is literal Dad Rock. As in my dad's. Don't think I've heard this before, not even the hits? It's Bruce Jagger. Mick Springsteen. And good at it. Went past pleasantly and uneventfully. Not going to return to it, but if it returns to me, I might take it.
Miriam Makeba
3/5
An absolute delight to have something like this for a change, but I lost interest and my appreciation faded a bit when ~Jazz Ballad~ and English came around. As in: I've kinda heard this before. And I'm sorry to use that word, but: generic. "Jazz/World" produced for the audience of its time. I'd love to have this on vinyl, to sometimes fill a room with this music, but listening to it, with intent, on headphones, it's not giving me what I would like it to.
The Fall
1/5
Their "most accessible album", huh? I sure hope that's a euphemism for bland and soulless because this is totale Scheiße. Dated post punk art rock schtick - it's 1993, guys, where have you been? In its better moments, which there are not many of, I can hear faint hints of circa The Cure rocking it out on a Madchester rave, but the second bit of this comparison is already not a compliment. And 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 come the vocals.
"Of the 66 musicians who came and went over the band's 40-year existence, about one third played in the band for less than a year."
I feel you, 66 musicians. I feel you.
Beck
3/5
Beck again. This seems much like another Odelay and I guess I have to think about how it just doesn't connect with me, again. Maybe it's those Dust Brothers and the kitbash eclecticism that Beck seems to happily succumb to. Small vignettes of random bits and pieces, bells and whistles stretched to the length of a track that ultimately amounts to just not much. Like, that's going to be nasty now: jingles. The slower Guero gets, the more these seem to take the shape of *songs* however and the more I like it, but this might only apply to "Broken Drum". It's quite adept at being what it is, I guess, but it's not for me and it's not important.
Good decision to make it an Ex1001AYMHBYD.
Kid Rock
1/5
Albums You Must Hear Right Before You Die so you can be at peace leaving a world where this dogshit is considered essential listening.
And that's even without knowing present day Kid Rock. If I were to believe that we needed some redneck pimp's raprock in our lives, I could accept the album's first couple of tracks as surprisingly serviceable. From a historian's pov. After all, stuff like this was, regrettably, a thing back in the days. But then, circa halfway through it becomes mere music to smash empty beercans on your forehead to. And then: worse.
Fade to today's Kid Rock, licking his fingers, 𝘴𝘩𝘭𝘱 𝘴𝘩𝘭𝘱, as he flicks through mp3s on the laptop of the dj booth he bumblingly took over, 𝘴𝘩𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘩 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦, on some TFG Jr's party and we arrive at the bottom line:
This is grossly dumb shit by an absolute cockwomble and the world would be a better one without it.
Public Image Ltd.
4/5
A tough one. Would you be following my reviews, you'd see that I'm really not keen on all this (post) punk business whose main raison d'etre seem to have been to shit on the giganto rock of the earlier 70ies and to replace the musicianship with edgy, performative nonsense and willfully dumb vocals.
But this isn't somehow that. Oh, it bears all the hallmarks of it but it's also a continuation of music that existed before it. Krautrock, both the groovy and weird kind. And - this is going to be a stretch but - maybe even The Doors. On heroin. Or on *more* heroin, all of them.
Did I enjoy "Metal Box"? Phew. But in parts, yes I did. It surely was interesting. In line with my usual review practice, I would almost give this 5 stars - I listened to it a lot since it came up yesterday - but there are twothree tracks on it which are the worst. Of everything.
Blue Cheer
3/5
Cool. Truly. Alas, it's not being played from a wall of amps at a volume that makes my shirt flutter so I'm lacking the visceral reaction that could make me appreciate this in more ways than just as a historical artifact anticipating other, later, simply better music.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
I had their other, later album, the one with the egg earlier this year and...
"what is it 𝘧𝘰𝘳?" I asked. "The only thing that comes to mind is someone's house party where let's call her Christine balances of bag of crisps on her head, she's just crazy like that, haha."
It's still the same party but 2 hours later. Christine had a few drinks too many and is resting in the bathtub. Also, the cops showed up but left again. Music is back up. Think I'll be staying a little longer. This party isn't bad.
5/5
Never heard (of) them before, only two of Liars' members in Beck's Record Club cover of INXS' "Kick", as I've just found out. I'm glad I do now. Hear it. Easily the most I Listened To With Ongoing Interest And Curiosity the generator has given me in the past 12 days. Abrasive, nervous, but without the edgelord attitude of being intentionally annoying. Not to my ears, at least. Sometimes like if Portishead's "Third" and gritty, noisy Sonic Youth had a baby. This is cracking. Love the drums. I have a long evening walk scheduled today, looking forward to putting this on again.
"Rating 2.06", lol, you people.
Snoop Dogg
4/5
The shizzle fo sure and the motherfuckin' D-O-double-G is my favourite, fun character from this US hip hop that's divided into coasts, and so is this album, quite fun, but still: not for 52 minutes, not for me. It's a stand-out from the other ~gangsta rap offerings I've had, but not something in music and content that I feel like giving five stars to. Close.
Nick Drake
5/5
Easy. Fastest 5 star rating of the past 40+ albums. I adore these songs. Like many others, I was only made aware of Nick Drake in 2000, when that commercial aired, with the four pretty people driving through the night in their silver Golf cabriolet. Right away wrote an email @volkswagen to ask about that music. Simply gorgeous. And maybe his most fulfulling album.
The Residents
1/5
#228. I listened to the whole thing (disclosure: when I get where the music is going I absolutely allow myself to skip and quit as I see fit) and I was rather captivated. And then I did something else, while pondering about what to do with this album. 1, 2, a weird 5 even? Read a bit about the band. Thought about Pere Ubu (4★), the recent Liars (5★) and Cave's Birthday Party (3★). And put it on again.
Man. Record scratch sound effect. It's really not where the above bands are. There's a line behind which whacky weird "avant-garde" becomes a mere vapid, unfunny prank and The Residents strutted right past it.
It's often sonically interesting but that doesn't help it. My opinion here may be influenced by the 'OoOoh, much swastikas very art1!' of them liking Rock'n'Roll to Nazism (the fuck?) on their 1976 album but bottom line: this is the musical equivalent of some online fucko asking "Triggered? 🤣". I hope to never hear this again.
The Pharcyde
4/5
All fun and good although I expected more from the album that brought me "Passin' Me By". But then again, what 𝘥𝘪𝘥 I expect? It's jazzy beats ✔ but with, of course, an hour of dudes excitedly rapping and I've come to realise that's just not something I particularly enjoy over great lengths. Pharcyde's cool, though. Thumbs Up. Strong 4.
(Side note. "Officer" seems like a peculiar omission on the streaming service's album tracklist. Huh.)
Baaba Maal
5/5
Nice. I made it a habit to listen to those albums as they were originally released, so 8 songs here. Which were: nice. A lot of West(?) African music has this ~bounce to it - this shit grooves. "Salminanam" made me want to skip, but the rest was mesmerizing - stand out: Maacina Toora - and all in all much better and more interesting than the similar offering "Talking Timbuktu"(#30) (music from neighbouring Mali, but with 50% boring white man's Blues). Not sure if this is 5 star nice but I feel like offsetting the reviews of the troglodytes who can't process anything that isn't english-speaking pop/rock. I for one wanted to hear this.
Elvis Presley
4/5
I don't care much for Elvis, in general, certainly not Rock'n'Roll Elvis, but this is muttonchops Elvis, just before he fully transitioned to Las Vegas Elvis, at his absolute and comprehensive Elvis peak and that is honestly pretty damn grand. The band, the background singers - Power of My Love! - chef's kiss. Initially, I was rather bored, but then 3:22 in "I'll Hold You in My Heart" happened and I started to grinningly cherish this whole Elvis experience and before I knew it, "In The Ghetto" was playing and I'd had a proper good time. So, yeah. I still don't care much for Elvis, but this is a great record.
Dennis Wilson
4/5
This album is quite a jewel. Or like the prism cube trinket I bought recently. When light hits it just right, it explodes and sparkles in the most beautiful colours. When.
Depeche Mode
3/5
I wasn't a fan in its time, when Depeche Mode was rather ubiquitous, but when this popped up this morning, I was quite happy to see it as I didn't exactly mind it back then. Well, by the time Personal Jesus was playing I had to already realise that I'm still not a fan. I get that this was excellent synth-pop musicianship 34 years ago and when I play it loud and put my appreciation-hat on, there's thing to like, but it's all so aloof(?). Mopey. Dry. I expected to have fun with "Violator", I did not.
Neil Young
5/5
Ah, the first of SEVEN Neil Young albums, nine when counting his memberships in other bands. Well, I like this. The whole concept of Neil Young, sort of. But whenever I dug into his oeuvre after say, Old Man, Needle And The Damage Done or this album's title song, I found a lot of country and blues rock with capital Rock that I, at this point of life, probably will never really get into. Some of that present here. Young's is on the good side of that, however. If music can sound honest, it's his. But there's the melancholic, folksy Young: ❤, usually. So this album? A 4 for sure, 2nd side, the honey slides one, is beautiful. Might sit down with the lyrics and give it another listen later.
Pretenders
3/5
A 1979 "combination of rock, punk and pop music" with vocals that, during "The Wait", made me look up Adriano Celentano's "Prisencolinensinainciusol" for a comparison and then a good amount of frumpy, stale guitar solos? I was ready to give this a 2 but in its whole, especially, then, the second half - and in songs like Kid or Lovers of Today - it's such a playfully weird, mixed bag of sounds and possibly influences that I can't say it didn't hold my interest. Will I wish to listen to this album again? No, but it neither offended nor bored me.
Gram Parsons
2/5
Oh god, Big Nashville Country Rock. Fun fact here: I once slept through a whole show at the Grand Ole Opry, during I don't even remember. My most normal achievement. Now, this one. I could talk myself into developing a bit of an objective appreciation for this album, maybe, if I tried, reading about it, with Emmylou Harris and all that, but I absolutely don't feel like doing so. "Cosmic American Music". What cosmos? The stretch of the parking lot by the pickup truck dealer? Nothing here to me that isn't bog standard big stage Country fare. From the guy who made The Byrds go shit.
Sadly, the very essence of this music is to be inoffensive as fuck and at this, it excels, so I can't even give it a 1.
50 Cent
1/5
I sometimes wonder if it's worth it. If the occasional discoveries really outweigh moments like this. When the album of the day pops up, and it's one that everyone and their dog knows, 1.5 billion streams on its hit. And I know precisely what to expect and what I could totally not care less about. a): Boooring. b): this one's pretty shit to boot.
Couple of disjointed thoughts: had clearing samples become more difficult or expensive in the 10 years between this and, say, Snoop's or Dr. Dre's gangsta rap debuts? Because the music on here that's not beats all sounds like someone's hacking away at a toy keyboard. And did this album pave the way for rap devolving into artists mumbling over the same lawn sprinkler hi-hats, rhyming words with "words"? Pretty sure it did. Awful, awful legacy.
Outside of In Da Club's unfortunate effectivity at making my head involuntarily bop, and that Eminem bit maybe, there are no whatsoever redeeming qualities here. Ugly hustle macho dreck. Out of curiosity, I asked ChatGPT to write me a review linking "get rich or die trying" to the rise of characters like the Tate brothers. It nailed the assignment.
🗑, next.
Fugees
5/5
Spoiler: Yes. While \"The Score\" is in this here family's vinyl collection and I obviously know the album, I had not listened to it in, seriously, ages and expected to just merely 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 it, now and today, like 4 star like it but ultimately be somewhat bored. But nah. This is ace. Varied, cool, effortless, with a superb flow throughout its runtime. What a stunning contrast to yesterday's 50 Cent. Just great. Happy to have had this today.
Coldcut
4/5
Whoa, that one caught me off guard. Cover showed up - an upbeat dance Trip Hop producer's debut? "Oh No", I thought, thinking of the other underwhelming turn-of-the decade electronica albums the generator has served me, and how Coldcut has always been the... lesser bits on Ninja Tune or other compilations I've heard or own (Interesting, sure, but just not music I typically enjoy). Well, surprise! Still not my cup of tea - and boy, is it old! - but I'm having proper fun with "What's That Noise" and the sound bites I recognize. This seems truly 1001AYMHBYD important and must have been a behemoth of an album, in '89. Also, what a cool reminder to read up on what force of good Coldcut were for not just 90ies music but culture in general. Pretty good stuff. This is a strong 4.
Tim Buckley
2/5
I have been more aware of Jeff - of "Hallelujah" fame - than Tim Buckley, so this was a tad bit confusing for a sec. But now I see. And apart from Sweet Surrender, which is great, what a nice fit: music to leave your wife and offspring behind to.
Beatles
5/5
Man, those guys, huh?
Eagles
3/5
Ooof. I was super open to the possibilty of discovering something here, as I had never heard the album, only the one song - which, I mean, a terribly overplayed but righteous classic - and "Living in the Fast Lane", but I'm now at "Try and Love Again" and by god, has this veered into Music To Turn the Car Radio Off To. However, it was endurable enough so I will grant an extra point for making me look up - I am today years old - what colitas actually are.
Dion
2/5
I had briefly skipped into this, earlier today, and then, away from the computer, already outlined a 1 or 2 star review in my head, scathing!, but now that I am back and listening again, scratch that. This is the guy from "The Wanderer"? Huh. Not an album that strikes me as being important, more of a bit toothless bland of music I've heard elsewhere, but some good songs on here. Mellow. It's quite nice actually. [...] Part III in the review timeline: that sensation has now worn off. 2 songs remain. In terms of Did I need to hear this, it's back to a 2.
The Only Ones
3/5
Yeah okay. Whatever. Hey, new rule! Every time one of these 1001 supposedly world's greatest albums turns out to be just another minute variation on USUK '65-'80s rock the generator has served me many dozens of times before, I will give you a different album you could be listening to today. For instance:
~~~~ \"Djine Bora\" by BKO (2022) ~~~~
To tie it into this project: music as if Ali Farka Touré had ditched that Ry Cooder bore in 1994 and time travelled to hang out with Hendrix and CAN instead and *then* made "Talking Timbuktu". Go listen.
Santana
4/5
I'm not sure whether I ever had listenend to Abraxas in full, but certainly not in ages aaand... this is for sure something one should have heard, but it didn't quite hold up to my initial exclamation of "Yes!". Couple of things: I had this on during a walk and after the Deep Purple soundalike and the latin drum filler - which typically would be an interlude, no? - I was two or three songs deep into the algorithm serving me other tracks before I realised the album had ended. And before I realised why my interest had picked up again: 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 music's focus was up, noodling had gone. Also I couldn't help but think that, for being one of THE famous guitarists, this Santana dude isn't exactly a David Gilmour, is he? Or a Mark Knopfler, Tony Iommi. But then, of course, \"Rolie\" as band name wouldn't quite have the same ring to it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
A righteous classic, nonetheless. The hits are undeniable hits, the vibes are proper vibes, but all in all, not without a good load of 𝘮𝘦𝘩. Time for decimals: 3.9.
Pavement
5/5
Listening to Pavement is something I feel like I should have done long ago, but never did, so I welcomed this. Did they just become my new favourite band? Nah, but I'm really digging this and will put it on again. Scrolling through my history and rating policy, this has to be at least scratching the 5 and seeing how it triggered Markuhh E. Smithuuuh to clumsily claim a trademark on talk-singing makes it all the better.
Janis Joplin
4/5
I feel naturally obliged to honor this, Janis Joplin and her voice, member of the 27 Club and all that and the band there playing their asses off, but honestly, by track six I'd had enough. Blues Rock. I've had enough Blues Rock. Hello, generator? That said, this album is mighty, and mightily fine, so I'll give it the Rightly Certified Classic That I Just Don't Give The Whole Lot of Shits About treatment: 4
Harry Nilsson
5/5
Always thought I should like Harry Nilsson, his (cover of) "Everybody's Talking" has been a long time favourite, as this album's title that I was aware of, but this is the first time I'm listening to it or any record of his and what can I say? An American Beatle indeed. Complete with his own [weird outlier on any Beatles album]. So either I'm going to be more critical of THEIR work (bar Sgt. Pepper I've already had them all from Rubber Soul forward) or this is a clear 5 as well. So. Uh, it's the latter. And why should it not? It's fun, surprising, quirky, capital letters Nice.
Megadeth
3/5
If I'd never listened to Megadeth or Metallica, or Thrash Metal, it's possible that I would maybe rate them the same, who knows, but as it stands, one of those had a rather big role in my musical upbringing during early teenage years, the other did not. It's this one here. Sure, they got riffs in spades but those don't go anywhere near a good, engaging song. With vocals from Dave Mundane. Not impressed. Whole things's quite the blur, sonically and musically. But I'm also not in the mood today for music like th [...] Wait. Just quickly put on Master of Puppets and See? Battery starts and I AM in the mood.
This is totally servicable in its genre but it's Thrash Metal for connaisseurs of shredding speeds, which I am not.
Heaven 17
2/5
Been bouncing around with my opinion here for while, between abstract appreciation, actually liking and then hating this but ultimately, it's a Hell, No from me. First track is good (seriously love the synth chord progression and its timing) and then I can cling to the bass 'n funk for some more, but it gets progressively worse as those tunes somehow seem to slow time and, while they're dragging on forever, reveal how it's really just some New Wave bros childishly (for better or worse) playing with new music technology. And I positively didn't need to hear this.
Bob Dylan
4/5
For my general, initial disposition towards Bob Dylan, refer to my ★☆☆☆☆ review of "Blonde On Blonde" (#56). And, two of his albums later, I still think the world really needs to get over its obsession with that man, jesus christ, this here album's Wikipedia article has Over. 2. Computer. Screens. Of. Footnotes Alone.
However. I don't mind fingerpickin' acoustic folk Bob Dylan. At all, I've learned. "Girl From The North Country"? The four songs "Hard Rain" to "Oxford Town"? I mean, there's the world's most grating harmonica, yet...
I wanted to end this with "Won't Play Twice, But It's All Right" but I'm playing it again. Huh. Scratchin' a Five here.
Elliott Smith
5/5
I've heard OF Elliott Smith, the hushed admiration of his -hashtag: Sad- music and the influence he had, mixed with how he had a troubled and then short life, but I had never heard an album of this. It's rating day now, and I've been listening to the songs a couple of times since yesterday. Yeah, this is good. Very, very. It didn't quite click with me initially, somehow, but repeated plays revealed a lot of beauty and depth. Great album, absolutely one to go into my rotation and I suspect, it will grow on me even more.
Johnny Cash
3/5
A really great document of a renowned artist playing live music in a remarkable setting but it's music I just don't care about, and with all due respect, even if this album with its circumstance is a best version of this music, I still don't care.
Stereo MC's
2/5
There was a time when what's labelled under "genre" for this one was extremely my jam - acid jazz, alternative hip hop, trip hop - but Stereo MCs never were. I read some "Massive Attack" in the reviews and CTRL+F'd for more: There are nine of those comparisons - including one that ascribes influence of this album ON them, jfc - and alright, I'll roll with it: what if Massive Attack made music to party and get wasted to - right, a horrible prospect.
When "Connected" steps on the brakes, it's okay but then, here's Massive Attack one more time: You can sing "Safe From Harm" ('91) over "Playing With Fire" ('92). Fun fact. So, all in all, another lackluster entry from a list of • Forgettable Albums With a Hit Single You Likely Have Heard. •
Elliott Smith
4/5
Ha, I was thinking about dismissing some boring 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 these days, and instead cheekily write a few more words about Smith's "Either/Or" that I had just three days ago and how much it has grown on me. Like I had anticipated it would. But now this. Okay! Let's see how it goes.
[a few hours later]
It went so-so :( There's something really gorgeous about Smith's writing; the way the songs do all these little or greater twists and turns in their harmonic progressions and embellishments and how a saccharine tune might suddenly get paired with the most sleazy drums to become something else and how, most importantly, none of that feels laboured or forced. This is all here, again (see "Everything Means Nothing To Me").
But
as I understand, this was a release on a larger label and it, well, feels like, sounds like, more money was thrown at it this time. And not for the better. As if that had created an urge to show for it and make a larger, louder, more expansive, extrovert album. ... is how I'd explain why Figure 8 comes across a bit random with too much of everything and too little to grab me. And sometimes a bit laboured after all. It's fine, but unlike Either/Or, this one won't stay with me.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
It certainly is some spectacle and they surely have stuff to say, there, in the lyrics, but I can't be arsed to care about this. There is not one line of melody that I will or will want to remember in a minute, in this wall of gooey maximalism.
It's not exactly 𝘣𝘢𝘥 bad and I appreciate the effort that this album made in its time, but it's like being in a Britpop amusement park and I just wanna go home now.
The Black Keys
4/5
I came across The Black Keys' music years ago and for, like, two and a half days, it seemed like one of the best things ever. Until it very suddenly wasn't. I was satiated. Full. Now... this could turn into a whole, deep food metaphor with artificial additives and everything but I'm not gonna work that out now. Point being: this album is a roadside burger. It sufficiently serves an archaic need for an old, classic dish but that's all there is to it. That said, I'm munching on some of these songs.
Johnny Cash
3/5
I had the Folsom Prison one just 5 days ago, and with that, I'm now done with all of the two Johnny Cash albums in the current edition of 1001AYMHBYD. Okay. Seems like Cash's music is only considered an essential listen with the help of a prison live concert's spectacle ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Which, frankly, I'm not going to disagree with.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
Saw the cover and immediately wanted to give this a 5. Now halfways through and I'm genuinely smiling here at how easy the album makes that. I seem to have never listened to this, or even the hits, with proper attention - I know, say, The Boxer better from playing in my head than from how it actually sounds - the wonderfully weird harmonica, the sprinkles of slide guitar and how the deep strings(?) at the end cut to the light outro - and: these songs aren't just lovely but so much more interesting than I thought. Beautiful stuff. Greatest album I've had in a while.
Sonic Youth
4/5
Sigh. I would really like to love Sonic Youth - and I should - but I feel like a lot of bands of similar stylings have had a much better answer to "What do we want to SOUND like?". Let me mess with their pedal boards, switch the pick-ups and turn some screws on the snare. Something. Sure, mushy noise is part of the whole deal but how this often revels in its abrasive dryness has never been quite my thing. That said, "Daydream Nation" is absolutely an album to be in here and some tracks are keepers. 4 for now, I will revisit this one.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
#261. The odd stinker and some boredom, but of all the bands and their music this compilation's bias is so fond of, CCR are the damn coolest. Although, in terms of that, the high points for me were "Ramble Tamble" and "Run Through the Jungle" so maybe I'm more partial to the wild rawness of "Bayou Country" (#26). Regardless, Dude was right, this wipes the floor with the Eagles.
Metallica
4/5
I was looking forward to this one, a great and important album from back then, but oh it surely hit different when I was 15. A bit like the Justice For All t-shirt I proudly wore then vs, now, the Justice For All sweater I spontaneously bought at H&M last year or so. It's for in the house only, paired with joggers.
Nina Simone
5/5
Well, wow. Started pleasantly enough, but eh vocal jazz, maybe boring, but hey, Nina Simone, alright, right? and then Bam, "Four Women" switching gears into calling for my attention and by the time "Lilac Wine" played I was IN. Hit me right between the eyes. Profound, gorgeous, wonderful record. Been playing this all day. Sublime. 20 stars.
The Roots
4/5
Honestly, a bit meh. I file The Roots under Very Respectable but haven't heard much of their output. Two of the tracks here and "You Got Me", of course? I *think* I put Phrenology on, once, briefly, but that's about it. The thing is: I feel other Hip Hop artists who have done the genre bending made a bigger impression on me than this did today. And it seems a bit "here's your regular stuff that you know and love and NOW HERE is where we do the noise-fusion, weeee, crazy shit, huh?" But take this all with a tsp of salt, it's mostly a sound and vibe I'm not in the mood for today. It's fine, really.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
1/5
It's been a real nice week on this generator but all things must come to an end, eh? "Now I Got Worry" occasionally shares some DNA with music I might enjoy, maybe like if Jack White and the sound of a Melvins demo tape found in the gutter had a baby but here I look into the pram and recoil in horror at the sight of that mutant edgelord brat. How embarrassing!
Nas
5/5
The greatest Hip Hop album of all time, they say. I'm not the greatest aficionado of Hip Hop, so who am I to agree or not, but I had a very good time with it and maybe it's the greatest I've had in here. Dope.
Can
5/5
There aren't many of those in here, all-time favourites that I have feelings for, albums that I would use to describe my personality with and wear as a t-shirt, but this is one of them. And - I had not listened to the whole thing in quite a while - as much as I had to realize how much more I had filed "Tago-Mago" under the beauty of "Paperhouse" and the hypnotic groove of "Oh Yeah" than the 𝘍𝘢𝘳 𝘖𝘶𝘵! experiments of Aumgn and Peking O, well, those count, too. Stellar.
Minor Threat
4/5
A quick Not my cup of tea but it's a banger. Had a good, short time with that one.
Metallica
3/5
Ubiquitous album when it came out, that shit was on the radio. About when teenage me had turned his back on not only Metallica but leather and rivets metal in general. Those songs are all very familiar still and for a brief moment, between Sad But True and The Unforgiven, I had a good time with them - a better time even, possibly, than today me had while going into ...And Justice For All (#262) just a week ago. But pfffft. Typing this as I go along and I just paused Of Wolf And Men - I'm past bored already. I think I'm gonna stick with my expectations of how I'd rate these. This may be the objectively better=more rounded album out of the two, but I - just like at 17 - simply don't care for it. It's great for a bout of Kirk Hammett appreciation, I'll give it that.
Bauhaus
3/5
Started well enough - darkly ethereal but driving tracks, music to headbang to horizontally, basically what I love about old Cure as in "A Forest" and it made me watch that funny video of some bats in their cage but it's flipped upside-down and becomes black weirdos dancing in a club - but then quickly lost me with its post punk noodlings/vocals and that respective 80ies white guys' "funk".
[...]
Why isn't their first album in here instead? That one seems much more meaningful and focused as a moment in music history and as a goth rock companion/contrast to The Cure's Seventeen Seconds. The CD's bonus tracks seal the deal here: I don't know what "Mask" wants to be, but it's not much of anything.
Youssou N'Dour
4/5
Very enjoyable and a delightful change from the usual offerings, but then again I've rather recently come across other music which would be so haplessly filed under "World" and which made me realize, again, that this here just isn't a Best Of Anything. So, not a 5.
Beatles
4/5
I didn't have as much fun with it as thought I should have had.
Parliament
4/5
Lorde
4/5
Not neccessarily music I'd seek out, but music like this can and does absolutely end up on my big playlist of Everything. Big plus: I quite love her voice. Buuuut... about two thirds in, I kinda grew a bit impatient with the sound and checked out Lorde's Pure Heroine for a comparison. And lo and behold, *that* one has two tracks that already are in aforementioned playlist.
Bottom line, imho, not the album that should be in here, but also why not? Proper, contemporary pop music. Not a problem with it.
The xx
2/5
... as I was saying, just three days ago:
"[...] is this really a Best of All Music? An essential listen? Or another instance of the editors merely completing their assignment of counting up to 1001 by, say, shoveling copious amounts of - all British/Irish - Mercury Prize winners/nominees in here? Yes, it's the latter."
Literally: again.
Okay. Uh, this album doesn't seem to be in the book at all(?), but here we go: while this wouldn't be out of place on a mixtape with Bonobo or Chet Faker, thankfully, mixtapes aren't a thing anymore so I wouldn't have to fast forward through these songs with their saccharine Pop Idol vocals.
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
I don't have a particular connection to this album, but it's super nice listening to it again. Mostly. When it all comes together, the shoegaze-y fuzz and the melodies in its great moments, it feels like something I've missed dearly. But often, it just doesn't.
Aerosmith
2/5
No. Just no. Just like on "Toys in the Attic", I can find fleeting moments here, in the harmonies and vocal lines, which elevate this over standard bluesy hard rock fare, but I really don't feel like looking for those.
The 13th Floor Elevators
5/5
Yes. This is the good and outstanding shit that deserves its "psychedelic" label. I may be somewhat influenced by reading this band's story and just how much they LIVED that, but this alone - sparking my curiosity to learn about an album and not be disappointed - puts this into a high rating. And even though the Jug overstays its welcome, there are enough amazing bits in here (Roller Coaster!!) that I think I'd like to continue the trajectory of my last 5 star rating, CAN's Tago Mago.
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
Listened to this yesterday, rather cursory, on a train, with in-ears and masked by the noise of my surroundings that was quite alright. Serviceable. But now on proper headphones, the Meat Loafyness of it all is a bit hard to take. An interesting thing about doing this project is realising some of the particularities of my musical preferences and... the indecipherable Wall of Sound mud of a Hammer As Hard As You Can rock 'n roll piano and the hammond organ in Backstreets? That, for instance: 𝘌𝘸. I really don't know what people are seeing/hearing in this. Do I need to read along with the lyrics? Is there a "Telegraph Road" in here? Musically, it isn't.
Compared to the other Springsteen's "Born" (#140), it's in equal amounts better and worse so 2 it is.
The Thrills
3/5
It's... charming? Competent? Droll? A minor, forgettable Flaming Lips? Okay? But why is it in here? I mean, of course it is (or was, hah), being another minisculely different flavour of British/Irish/US pop rock - collect 'em all! - but seriously? See also: what's wrong with this compilation - and that's a Bingo! The Rule as per #244:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Every time one of these 1001 supposedly world's greatest albums turns out to be just another minute variation on [or channeling] USUK '65-'80s rock the generator has served me many dozens of times before, I will give you a different album you could be listening to today. For instance:"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
☞ Brad - Shame (1993) ☜
A beautiful record from '93, from Seattle with Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard on the guitar but it files under Grunge more by those associations than anything. Late Night Grunge maybe, for smoky, desolate bars and nightly car drives. A not really underrated but severely underknown gem. Go listen.
Elvis Presley
2/5
Oh look who's back! Another Very Important Figure in the anglophone music world! And with that: he's gone. 3/3 Elvis Presley ✔ and I won't miss him in here one bit. (The Memphis album was cool, tho. Would have sufficed.)
I cannot imagine a mood or situation in which I'd put this on, as an album, and be like "yeah, nice!"
George Harrison
4/5
I'm super sorry, George, you were my favourite Beatle but 2 or whatever hours of whatever edition of your post 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 music is a bit hard to take. I love this as a vibe, however. How Harrison let it all out, "This is me!" freed of the shadow that Paul and John had cast on him. It's a really neat and sometimes beautiful document of his own chops, but I can't not question whether it needs to be an AYMHBYD. 4 for now, but I'll revisit this one.
Lambchop
2/5
Another puzzling inclusion. On a scale of Best Music To Be Played In An Artisan Bean Brewery - they also sell hand printed postcards from local artists - cleary a 9/10 at least (until Petrified Forest and Butcher Boy come up and Delilah has to hastily rush over and skip those). But other than that it just seems like a wanky collection of vibey sounds. And I get the impression that it wants to be seen as much more but it absolutely is not. I have already forgotten most of it. 283 albums in and here's that word for the first time: "hipster". This is '00 hipstercore.
Yes
4/5
Had Yes' "Close to the Edge" earlier this year and didn't quite know what to make of it. Ended up giving it 5 stars in the end, but now I'm not sure if I should have. Because this here, again, is... the best of prog rock and the worst of prog rock in one unconvient package. Maybe like this: it's musically often great but sonically often grating? Eh, 4.
Fela Kuti
4/5
Gets a bit tiring after a while, no?
Bob Marley & The Wailers
1/5
I had Peter Tosh's "Legalize It" a while ago and I went into this one with the same openness, to maybe be surprised by Reggae, one more time (however unlikely because I know of course what Bob Marley sounds like). But no. Unlike Legalize It, this is precisely what I expected: to be unfathomably bored. And worse. There's possibly something I'm missing in the lyrics or the whole thing's cultural or whatever importance but I can't be arsed to look or hear into it. This is the lamest, tamest, and accordingly most tainted by irritating superficial Reggae bros music in the history of everything. The absolute cliché of a sound I'm not too fond of to begin with. All these blunts, for this!?
Coincidentally, I played another Reggae album from a list of records released in 1974, the same year, just yesterday. Out of curiosity, an artist I'd never heard of, super high rated. "Peace and Love - Wadadasow" from Dadaweh. Makes me deduct another point here.
Buck Owens
2/5
A couple of years ago I thought I should explore country music. Past those few songs and artists I had casually come by in my life so far. Could be worthwhile, I thought. Bar some few more, single songs and Gillian Welch: it was not. This music here is indicative of that.
Hole
5/5
Reviewing as I listen along. Have only heard "Celebrity Skin" before. Track three now. It's going well. Poppy post grunge alt rock has circa never managed to excite me and I thought this'd be my review, "and it doesn't today", but this is cool. Tracks seven to nine (there's the timpani roll from "Disarm", no?), I zoned out a bit, but whatever. Attitude, melodies, nice. Quality stuff. A great slice of that time in music. Will I return to it? Not so sure, but I enjoyed this.
By the way.
★★★★★:
Music I've always loved and still do at the time of my review.
Albums I truly had fun with, also at the time of my review.
★★★★☆:
Albums I very much respect but which do not really manage to be quite my cup of tea.
★★★☆☆:
When I'm mostly bored but not yet annoyed. Also, sometimes: I should like this, but it rubs me the wrong way. Or I do not like this at all but totally appreciate its existence.
★★☆☆☆:
I'm very bored and kind of irritated. While I don't fully hate this, make it stop. Or: shit that I respect, begrudgingly
★☆☆☆☆:
This is just shit or aggravates me for whatever reason.
And always at the tip of the scale:
Is this an AYMHBYD?
Glad I could clear this up.
Al Green
3/5
Weird how present the immediate Pulp Fiction thought was. With this out of the way: It's pleasant alright? But then... I'm at "Judy" now and I think I've more than done my duty here. It's, again, pleasant. Warm. Got vibes. But. What else? I can't say this enriched my life substantially or at all.
The Bees
2/5
What a mixed bag. Of mixed bags. As someone in the reviews said, "favorite McCartney album of the 21st century", a lot of Beta Band in the vocals, sometimes like acoustic trip hop for a vaudeville puppetry musical. Reggae. It's not entirely without charme and tied together well enough through the instrumentation, but is this really a Best of All Music? An essential listen? Or another instance of the editors merely completing their assignment of counting up to 1001 by, say, shoveling copious amounts of - all British/Irish - Mercury Prize winners/nominees in here? Yes, it's the latter.
Best track and a keeper: the one that's like a jazz band's treatment of Air circa "Moon Safari". One, two other pleasant ones. "A Minha Menina" is crap. The rest in between. But whatever, it's an ex-1001 today. And it could have been worse: I'm pleasantly surprised this wasn't The Bees' follow-up album. Good thing that one wasn't nominated (little quip here, hehe, I wish I didn't have to make, sigh). Bottom line, before I lower my score any further by skipping around in this band's discography of mediocre pastiches: meh, NEXT!
No, wait. I'm back. It's not really the album's fault but the dumbass editors', but how this took a spot from other, infinitely more deserving records (just listened to The Notwist's "Neon Golden" for instance, also from 2002) gets it an extra Shit! Now, NEXT!
Van Halen
2/5
Pfff. Okay: "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" is carried by a great riff, otherwise this all leaves me extremely cold. It's musicians' music. By the numbers. If you don't care for rock clichés or technical execution, which I don't, there is just nothing here. "Eruption" is nonsense, boogie woogie "Ice Cream Man" horrible. Trite rhythms throughout. I had considerably more fun with the similarly flavoured debut from Boston. And really, this album, even if it's an impressive first appereance, is surrounded by so many rock releases which offer either much more interesting, meaningful music or *that same* thing to a greater effect - this here is bleh.
Bob Dylan
5/5
My 4th Bob Dylan album from this list, 3 more to go. Here is - still - the thing: Dylan's work isn't what I mostly look for in music. Which is not lyrical content with the music acting as a wrapper. A backdrop, foundation. Not to speak of his blues country rock 'n roll offerings on that matter. This one? Is and felt very different. Wikipedia tells me "Blood on the Tracks" was initially conceived to have an electric backing band. Well, thank fuck it didn't, then. I can follow the instruments here and they do pleasant things? Quite pretty things even, occasionally. The bass in "Shelter from the Storm"? Yeah. Nice. I'll probably listen to this again later today. [...] It is now later today. I have listened a lot to this.
Muddy Waters
3/5
This OG Blues and what came before it rules, relatively speaking, even for me, but what I really needed to hear, today and before I die, was The Cure's new album that came out this morning. I went through this here without a problem, but I have no plans of ever putting it on again.
Wild Beasts
4/5
I wanted to make fun of this, but huh. After "Two Dancers I/II" and "This is Our Lot" - I'm thinking it's quite nice, actually. There is, again, the questionable AYMHBYD because OMG MERCURY PRIZE NOMINEE! and it's got a bit of a "Mum, can we have Radiohead?" "No, honey, we have Radiohead at home", but I can equally liken this to Shearwater, with extra mirrorballs (only that their music has Wild Beasts' two singers rolled into one). Which is a good thing. Add the shimmering post rock - Post Pop? - guitars & vibes... yeah. This is good music. My smallish gripe is that lyrics, along with their meaning, are also sounds and rhythms and they don't seem to be too interested in playing that instrument well, but all in all this isn't bad.
R.E.M.
4/5
R.E.M., nice. One of the pleasant outcomes of doing this here: before I'd only known the REM that was played on the radio or MTV. Always quite liked those songs but I find that I'm often frugal about my music listening habits - or, there is always SO much else to listen to - and so had never taken a deeper dive into their work. Loved "Document" (#76), I do like this. However, stylistically, it really points towards "Automatic..", which I thought to be rather beige. It's good, though.
Portishead
5/5
#296, this may be the first album where this list properly aligns with my own history of Essential Listens. Masterpiece at its time. It's been a while since I've heard it in full and when I put it on earlier, outside, with flimsy in-ears I was thinking that I might have worn it out too much, back then and how today I might prefer the grittiness of their "Third" or Gibbons' work with Rustin Man on "Out of Season", but that doesn't matter. "Roads" played and no, this is still magnificient.
If you're reading this, make sure to check out "Scorn" from the "Glory Box" single. An outstanding way to make a remix.
10 out of 5 stars.
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
Silver Jews
4/5
Rather liked it. Made me poke around in their discography, so there's that. Is it something I needed or that I feel is an important bit in music's (recent) history? No. A strong 4.
TLC
3/5
Kinda cool, certainly sexy, but that's not crazy. I quite love "Waterfalls", but it wasn't my jam in '94, so I have no connection to this. It's outstanding pop music of its time, but - again, bar Waterfalls - I'd never put this on. I'd be happy if these played on the radio, today, but that's about it. Right now, in its entirety of little under an hour? Eh.
4/5
I was there, on social media, when Oasis announced their need to pay for divorces or something I mean their comeback and I saw great clashes between people being over the moon about it and others' utmost need to proclaim "most overrated band ever". I don't care either way. I didn't mind Oasis when this was playing everywhere, I didn't feel a desire to have more of it. Their insufferable pricks schtick? Dumb, but it made me watch funny bits of their most catastrophic concert. They belong in here, I guess, all things considered. It's formulaic songs cooked to perfection. Not for me, but an achievement I can respect. And something I really like: they've nailed a truly attractive and fitting sound as a wrapper for those songs. This is commendably cool on the ears. I still don't care for it and the space Oasis gets to occupy in 90ies music annoys me a bit, but I've got to be fair here.
Pixies
5/5
The Pixies are fairly uncharted territory for me, interestingly. There is "Where is my Mind", of course, but I've always found that one a bit annoying. But I dig this. I should have known it. Do I 5 stars enjoy it, the surf rock in here, I don't but it's definitely a +1 in AYMHBYD so.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
I'm not too much in the mood today - on a Cure binge interspersed with the angry, desperate spoken word black metal of Ashenspire, see? Not in the mood - but I remember how a longer while ago I asked my social media peers what would be the contemporary, progressive equivalent to Jazzmatazz and Kendrick Lamar was pretty much the consensus. Indeed it is.
Fleetwood Mac
4/5
They should have just made "Rumours II". There, I said that. Because it's still that same band with those same three singers, the music from Rumours shines through, often, but in their goal to not make Rumours, it's often a lesser version after all? The self-indulgence of it being a double album isn't helping. Nor is the pandering to post punk mannerisms like the vocals on "Not That Funny" or whatever that instrument on "I Know I'm Not Wrong" is. There absolutely are songs that would create a decent album in here, even as a progression from their previous one (don't want to say "RUMOURS!" again), but this here collection of 20 tracks ain't that.
[...]
On the other hand, the "[...]" above indicates some more time spent. I still think it's a mess, but "Tusk" doesn't not work, somehow. Also, I saved four songs I think I'll be glad to hear again when Shuffle picks them. Maybe the whole thing is better than I thought.
Miles Davis
5/5
The first of 1001AYMHBYD's four Miles Davis albums. Not sure I've heard this before, actually. I might have, but it's the one out of the four not in my collection. And not the one I'd bring with me on a lonely island - THE record to bring on my lonely island - but it's superb. As this (Swedish) person has put so succinctly before:
"I reallice that this is god jazz"
It is indeed. I wonder, though, if I should leave some room in my rating.
[...]
Nah.
k.d. lang
1/5
Glossy kitsch. It almost got me, it's very well made kitsch, maybe even outstanding in its way, but any course of three songs on this album makes me conjure up images of US themed family restaurants here in Europe, where the walls are plastered with Bogarts and Monroes and James Deans and Harley Davidson logos. This music may have come from an honest place, appreciated, but it being from 1988 and sounding the slick part makes it come across almost like a Thomas Kinkade painting.
And then I'm wondering; if this whole list wasn't so anglocentric, what would be the equivalent to this but from other countries? What if we had to listen to albums that conjured mental images of, say, Germany themed family restaurants, decorated with Lederhosen, papier-mâché Alps, 99 Luftballons and portraits of Helmut Kohl?
Yeah. That would fucking suck. Exactly.
Stevie Wonder
2/5
It's nice how this project teaches me a lot about the finer workings of my musical preferences. For instance, how low my Soul tolerance actually is. Yes, Stevie Wonder is an amazing artist you should absolutely have heard before you die. But all his 4 albums from "Talking Book" to "Songs in the Key of Life", indiscriminately thrown in here? They all needed to take spots in this list? This one? Fuck no.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
I have to look the truth in the eye, here: I don't really like Led Zeppelin. I thought I did, I own two albums, but I can't say I had a truly good time with this. As another reviewer put it nicely, they're somehow so exhausting. Like they've begun to occupy the same space as the Stones - I love some songs, but long exposure to their ouevre annoys me. MUCH better music than the Stones, but so dialed up to 11.
Now, III is a fairly relaxed affair, has two of those songs, Immigrant Song and Gallows Pole (the next two are also nice), which puts it well enough II, but that's just enough for rounding up a good 3.
Songhoy Blues
5/5
Oh, Album Generator, why can't you be like this more often!? Bloody fantastic! Fits right in between the mystical madness of BKO's "Djine Bora" and the folksy, more sparse side of this music on N'Gou Bagayoke's "Kulu", two other great albums I gladly discovered this year. Go listen! Totally goes into the collection (will skip "Nick" every time, though, those drums can fuck off.).
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
4/5
Ah, the infamous Trout Mask Replica. Had briefly dipped into this one before but for only like 1.5 songs and now that I'm at the closing riff of "Veteran's Day Poppy"... well, why not? Basically? There's certainly been music in this list here that I've found more challenging or "unpleasant" - Trout Mask Replica seems a fuckton more significant, interesting and 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 than e.g. The Residents' album I had before. There are some pretty cool things going on past the first impression of cacophony. The odd funky bops, even. The problem is that I just don't think there really is that much of a fabled reward waiting for me after repeated listens. Or that I feel like I want to find it as I now know what a toxic affair this album's creation was. Still, and bottom line, happy to have had this today. Exciting piece of culture.
Nick Drake
4/5
I've been through Drake's discography before so there's no surprise here: Bryter Layter is lovely, too and I do love me some strings and a folkjazzy flute but it's all a bit twee, a bit - do I want to say it? - soundtrack for quirky romcoms.
The Temptations
3/5
After much consideration, these are my thoughts about "All Direction":
(Shoo-wop shoo-wop)
Lions don't have dens
(Shoo-wop shoo-wop)
they inhabit open plains
and you long to be? (a goldfish in captivity?)
Aerosmith
2/5
I have another Aerosmith album in the queue that I couldn't be arsed to listen to and review yet and let out a groan when this popped up. Justified. It's not entirely terrible, they have a hand for... whatever that is, musically, sonically in the beginning of Sweet Emotion and I sometimes seem to hear what will eventually become "Appetite for Destruction" 12 years later but I see no reason to ever put this on again. And, skipping back into some of these songs now, just to make sure, I begin to question my previous assessment.
Ice Cube
4/5
Jethro Tull
5/5
Yes. I've always had a thing for Jethro Tull, the airy, natural lightness of their prog flavour, Anderson's voice and, as much as I don't pay much attention to lyrics normally, their telling of vignettes... oh and the flute, yeah absolutely (some of my fellow reviewers need to pull the guitar necks out of their asses). But it's been more on a per song, Greatest Hits basis. Now, 9:45 am, Aqualung has been playing twice already. I love this. [... it's been playing all day long. "Slipstream", that strings arrangement? I love this.)
You know when you're young and the old people tell you about their music and it's all a bit cringe and omg, they're doing the Ginger Baker air drums now!? Or, well, mimicking playing a flute? This one goes out to my late godfather: You were right about everyhing!
Derek & The Dominos
1/5
Tedious blues rock wankery. Some songs are tolerable, helped by the raw sound, others are precisely the chugging shit I've grown to hate. Fuck "Layla". And Derek's a turd. 𝘋𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, it's time for:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"New Rule! Every time one of these 1001 supposedly world's greatest albums turns out to be just another minute variation on [or channeling] USUK '65-'80s rock the generator has served me many dozens of times before, I will give you a different album you could be listening to today. For instance:"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
☞ Blumfeld - L’Etat Et Moi (1994) ☜
An absolute landmark of German rock music. No, not like Rammstein, you numpty. Jesus Christ. No. Blumfeld have rather been likened to Pavement, who they had a joint tour with. Not so sure about that comparison; underneath the angular noise, Blumfeld lean much more into singer/songwriter territory but it's an alright genre descriptor, I guess. To me, THE best album written in my mother tongue ever. Go listen.
Eels
3/5
To get over with the 90ies Beck comparison: this didn't click with me in '96, it doesn't now. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the more I listened to the album, the more these words formed under my fingers: mopey, languid. A damp cloth. Weirdly cold.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Haha, man, Kruder & Dorfmeister really pulled one off there!
But no, these two are indeed Simon & Garfunkel and this is a strange album. As much as I've learned that Paul Simon makes great music to feel good to and their combined effort on "Bridge Over Troubled Water" got a "Beautiful stuff. Greatest album I've had in a while." from me, I don't quite see how much I should appreciate the circa "Let's Do Beatles" on this one. And then fill side B with what was left before? No doubt this is an 1001AYMHBYD, absolutely, but I had expected to have a more fulfilling time with it, outside of its two bangers. I'll listen to it again, but for now, well, The Bangles elevated that song. Is my strongest thought here.
John Martyn
5/5
I have my issues with this list of albums, but I am quite delighted by the folk music it has shown me, particularly from the UK. This is no exception. Beautiful album, albeit a bit of a mixed bag, stylistically, from song to song, but still tied nicely together with immaculate vibes. Great.
American Music Club
2/5
This wasn't as bad as my first impression of it, but it's another puzzling inclusion. Never heard of them and going by the Wikipedia blurb alone, it doesn't seem like a lot of people have, other than Arnar. 11 five star reviews in over 11000 votes is pretty bad, given how tame and inoffensive this is.
This has to be middest album of all.
There are some alright atmospheres and songs here in the vein of Pale and Skinny Girl but the whole album is as if you have a drawer full of spices - Springsteen, Talk Talk, REM and some others in the back, probably expired - and after two years of cooking you clean it for the first time. That stale residue in the drawer's corners is this music. So I'm at loss as to why it's here. Taking a spot that should belong to Low, if we're talking about 𝘚𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦. Or to Talk Talk's \"Sprit of Eden\". Or to... so. many. others. I'm mad now.
The Jam
4/5
Another pop-/post-punk album dealt with. Yay!
Really, that's all I can muster here. It's in the better half of all of those and it could grow on me, but I don't need it to. "Set the House Ablaze" is the finger on the scale, rounding up.
The Who
3/5
This is probably quite good and I was happy to discover the "See me, feel me, touch me, heal me" bit first in Christmas, which is a lovely bit of music, that I know weirdly well, but my urge to type
i ain't reading all that.
im happy for you tho
or sorry that happened
was so great that I just did that.
Bebel Gilberto
4/5
Oh, this type of thing. Alright: music like this had a grip on much of the world, give or take 25 years ago and some of it had a grip on me so I don't bat an eyelid about its inclusion in an AYMHBYD (there should be others, Amon Tobin comes to mind, but oh well). It's really pleasant, a rather fine example of that music. But here's the problem, sadly. It's just too pleasant, accomodating. It's so much on the easy listening ~Lounge end of things, with nothing standing out, I think I'd rather listen to Gilberto's dad, stepmom or album #85, Suba's "São Paulo Confessions" instead. But as I've learned how the latter was the producer of "Tanto Tempo" and died from rescuing this record from his burning studio, I have to rate it a perfect and absolute ★★★★☆: it's nice. I'm glad it exists.
Drive-By Truckers
1/5
So, some kind of self-conscious Kid Rock rock, is that what this is? That I needed to hear before I die? Those paint-by-numbers songs? A 90 minute tractate full of them, channeling #120's ★☆☆☆☆ Lynyrd Skynyrd? And they're serious about that? I... can't even. The "Duality of the southern thing"? I live over an ocean away from these guys' identity or whatever crisis thereof, idgaf. Whiney shits. I hate this.
Fiona Apple
5/5
Seems like I should have given "Tidal" a proper listen a long time ago, huh? Fiona Apple had always eluded me, back then, when this album could have fit right in after Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" and my time with Amos' "Under The Pink" and then later, when, here and there incidentally, I caught glimpses of what seemed like a cracking human and I'd had a cursory peek into one of her albums only to not be quite grabbed, kinda genre-wise? But: 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘴! Happy to redeem this here and today. This is astoundingly great! A magnificient album.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
Y'know, prog rock? All fine and dandy but this album is some messy nonsense. I really cringed my way through it but found very little to even catch my interest, let alone maintain it. All laboured and try-hard. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Also. An armadillo, as its name suggests, is already quite a tank. This dumbly on the nose cover may be a metaphor. Not sure about my rating yet, it won't be good.
[...]
in the meantime, I put on Genesis' "Foxtrot". "Tarkus" is really juuuust scratching the 2.
Van Morrison
4/5
I've on a British folk binge for a couple of days and I may have had enough. I think this is nice, a wild summer field on a warm, windy day but Morrison's vocals annoy me a bit, must be the pollen.
The Zutons
3/5
An occasionally fun record. And then not, in equal measures. Also absofuckinlutely not important.
Shivkumar Sharma
5/5
Beautiful. No complaints here. Reminds me that I haven't listened to Tony Scott's "Music For Zen Meditation (And Other Joys)" in a while.
Radiohead
5/5
Haven't listened to this in a long while and I can just confirm: It's OK Computer. A Top10 album of the 90ies. Yes, this is a masterpiece you absolutely should have heard. Notwithstanding how I don't actually ENJOY it. But that's not this album's point, is it. It's dystopic and the anxiety expressed in this music is off the charts. OK Computer makes me somewhat see why people decided that Radiohead is not for them (have some silly little happy thoughts, then). Having listened through it all now, though, it's for me.
Throbbing Gristle
4/5
I had an alright time with this, why not? The four tracks from "Hamburger Lady" to "E-Coli" were top. No whatsoever problem here. I think "industrial" might be a misnomer. What else, uhm... this other review got a Thumbs Up from me: "this album is everything that punk pretends to be."
2/5
When some songs from Muse' "Origin of Symmetry" had crossed my tracks, I felt like checking them out more thoroughly and then that feeling died. These polished, larger-than-life theatrics do little for me and this has more and worse of those. Dialed up bombast, that features way too much Queen and stadium era Coldplay for its own good. Another comparison? Radiohead, but for teenage anger and stupid haircuts. NEXT!
Afrika Bambaataa
3/5
Tears For Fears
4/5
It was the best
Dr. John
4/5
I've let this grow into quite a queue, so here's just a quick: yeah, cool. In terms of pure "Did I need to hear this?" one of the best albums I've had in a while. Might put this on again.
George Michael
4/5
Music from the radio when I was a teenager. I didn't listen to this, then, but I had an alright time with it now. The titlesong I've always liked and Father Figure is a keeper as well, proper, smooth 80ies pop. The whole thing is not without cringe, but I had fun here. A good 4.
4/5
My anniversary! And this sums up quite nicely my one year of AYMHBYD. Like, okay, yeah, I get it. Important album, nice album even. Within the western, English music history. Is it the... 5th Bowie I've had?
I've grown bored. Why am I doing this?
Kanye West
2/5
Just rated the previous album and had some thoughts about having done this for a year now and oh fuck off.
Japan
3/5
I feel, again, like an archeologist discovering another only mildly interesting pile of bones from the same old dig site, but this was quite alright, mostly.
U2
5/5
This is old U2. I like old U2. "War" is their best album. This is my review.
The Psychedelic Furs
4/5
• This is the, percieved, 30th album of this kind. Come on.
• I've warmed up to saxophones in recent years - as one should, really - but this album makes me reconsider.
• On the other hand, I hear grains of what is or would become music I do like. Some kind of The Cure × The Cult × Warrior Soul's "Drugs, God and the New Republic"? I did not have a difficult time here.
A Four, possibly. I don't feel enriched by having listened to this but it's not bad at all.
Ride
4/5
Ah, this one. An album that a lot people whose opinions about music I respect and who share a fair bit of my taste seem to love, but I guess this might be a case of You Had To Be There. In 1990. Which is ccol. So likewise, I respect this and it shares a lot of musical traits with stuff *I* love, but I haven't quite warmed up to Nowhere. The vocals? The pop? Something. "Dreams Burn Down" and "Vapour Trails" are keepers for now, though. 10/10 cover art.
Carole King
4/5
Drum roll. First female artist since Fiona Apple 20 albums ago [suggestive pause here]. I know this! Quite some of it. Makes me want to order Cheers: the Complete Series or something, brew a tea, roll a joint and watch that. Nice and cozy.
The White Stripes
4/5
I have a lot of sympathies for White's and the Stripes' music, but I started skipping pretty quickly. Weak 4.
Daft Punk
3/5
I've never had quite an appetite for Daft Punk, I'm not going to start now. It's... fine, there are moments for French house, in life, but those are not 74 minutes long. And while I'll happily listen to Laurent Garnier's "Unreasonable Behaviour", I think over the years I've figured out what's wrong with Daft Punk. The whole package, music and helmets and video is such an engineered, overdesigned product it's like it was conceived in a LinkedIn hustle post. There were whiteboards involved. Post-Its. "Target Audience Analysis". When this is playing I feel like I picked up the phone to find some pushy asshole trying to sell me a new insurance. But sorry, mate, I'm in the car right now, entering a tunnel, I can't hear y—
Steely Dan
3/5
Some fabled Steely Dan, at last. Never listened to one of their albums before. I can understand why this is so highly regarded by many, but I don't think my life has gotten richer today.
Kacey Musgraves
1/5
Oh my. I'm three tracks and then a couple of skips in and tbh, I've already had enough. First song is musically sound, really - and seriously, the hushed banjo, that's good, a nice take on pop country I'll admit that - but this one alone steers right into music to be licensed for a driving scene - with a beat up pickup truck, of course - in a movie about a character finding God in the turmoil of modern life. Kevin Sorbo plays a role. And then: it gets worse.
I mean, this album nails the assignment of being radio friendly, country tinged pop for yokels, but that is, in fact, not an 1001AYMHBYD achievement. Jfc.
🗑, NEXT!
Jane's Addiction
4/5
Hello! That was good! Not sure what I expected, knowing Jane's Addiction only by name, apparently, but it was better than that. A weird, little niche this music sits in. Dream-Sleaze? Not sure whether I will put this on ever again, but I've had a nice time. A strong 4.
The Human League
3/5
I was stiltedly bopping along for a while, as you do, you know, abruptly swaying, with this music, but shit grew stale pretty quickly. And then the nursery rhyme riffs and melodies of some of those songs pushed it below 4. NEXT!
Wire
3/5
Oh, it's English Post-/Punk from 40+ years ago? Haven't had one of those in a few days!
Nah. I can't quite be arsed to care about this one, either. It's probably the one that deserves its inclusion here the most, I can hear that, the influence, maybe even up to today, yadda yadda - and it really does sound remarkably fresh - but to my ears, now and here, it's another raw rumble rock record with some geezer shouting. And that's a pass.
Soundgarden
5/5
A record I still own and I'm so not going to approach this objectively, haha. How could I, as I had scribbled a part of the "Fell On Black Days" lyrics on my bedroom wall? This was the shit then, it's still an equally important blip in music history now. I may not enjoy all 70 minutes of it, today, in one sitting but I can't bring myself to let this detract any .points from 5 stars.
Megadeth
4/5
Maybe it's today's mood but I'm four tracks in and this is miles ahead of "Peace Sells..." (#249). Pretty great, really. Again, nerdy show-off music, that's to be expected with Megadeth, but works for me, here. Way cooler and more interesting than the following year's self-titled borefest from Metallica.
But... *sigh*, with six albums between these two bands, there should have been a spot for Testament. Anyways. So: not a 5, but glad I had this today.
Everything But The Girl
3/5
A... reasonable inclusion, I guess. For Music of Its Time. Not bad, really. I'm a bit surprised even, how much (muted) DnB there is on this, as I had not quite filed EBTG under that. But on the other hand: it's just... there. A slim, open booklet on the coffee table. Ticks off mid to late 90ies downtempo electronica boxes in a pleasant way but doesn't seem to be interested in doing more than that.
[...]
Rating day and it's not looking good. Trying remember anything, songs, melodies, of what I heard yesterday and I'm drawing a blank.
Genesis
5/5
I had taken a break off this project recently as it had started to become rather onerous to wade through all these endless iterations of white dudes' rock from English speaking countries but this? This right here? Fuck yeah! I had no idea!
And I really should have had an idea. On one last day before the summer holidays, when the history teacher rolled in the VHS unit for us to see a movie or something for that year's last lesson, Birte and Tanja produced a tape of Marillion at Lorely, the 1987 concert. So we watched that. And Thank you, Birte and Tanja! That had kicked off quite a bit of fandom.
Now, I had been somewhat aware of Marillion being compared to or even accused of copying Gabriel era Genesis but only in the context of Grendel/Supper's Ready. But now I see! And it's wonderful. How have I not heard this before??
At #366, the easiest and most pleasantly interesting long album so far. Only one moment where my attention, interest and joy drifted off a bit (Counting Out Time) but other than that, Perfection. This is the good prog. 10 stars.
David Bowie
5/5
I've never been an actual fan of the musician David Bowie, but this one is very alright. Sprawling, dark jazz rock that I never felt like skipping and if I can trust my reviews of the other five Bowie albums I've had, Blackstar's the probably most coherent.
Not entirely my cup of tea, still, but a very high four and then, the Swan Song. Rounding up.
Digital Underground
2/5
Wanted to write that this aged like hip hop from 1990 - as in: fine milk - but this is also the year of "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm", so its age isn't an excuse for this being so boring. It's haha funny at times, then cringe, "Underwater Rimes" was alright, but I didn't need this. No one did, today.
Kings of Leon
2/5
Oh, that's the band from the worst song of this century, no? The STD one? Right, that's them. And they had three (3!) of their albums in this book? And now none, haha? Yeah, this is bad. Garage rock revival 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦 à la it wishes it was British, mate, innit?
There are some hints of those guys' geographical upbringing here and there - Pistol of Fire reminded me of that Bay Area band who donned the southern swamp rock thing, (which isn't meant as a jibe against CCR) - but by and large, this is music without identity. And the weird, put-on accent doesn't help. However, seeing how *that* song is not on here, presumably there's still room towards the bottom. 2 stars.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Maybe I'm in a different spirit today than when I had "Natty Dread" because this one here I don't hate. A righteous classic, for all I care, although the first half was more tolerable, because I know the rest and: it STILL bores THE fuck OUT of ME. See what I did there, that rhythm? Oh well, one more Wailers album to go, then I'm done with this.
King Crimson
5/5
In my defense, there is just so much fantastic music in this world, it really is okay to be late to some parties. However, this is the second album in a week I'm hearing for the first time - consciously? - that feels like coming home? Huh?
Amazing! And the production is just ooof. The only other album in here so far that gave me the visceral reaction of wanting to lie in the bed of these sounds was The Beatles' Abbey Road. This one here hits even harder? Maybe? Anyways. Ten stars. Twelve.
Massive Attack
5/5
Instant 5, I don't even have to listen to it. I came to Blue Lines and Massive Attack only after their '94 "Protection", with which I have a stronger connection, but this is among the GOATs. However, a review of this album has to consider what it kicked off: when I had put it on in the years since, I was occasionally underwhelmed. Its two bangers are masterpieces for the ages, the haunting, nightly, urban vibe is immaculate, but there are tracks on here that somewhat carry the stigma of being the first of their kind, but still very much of their time, ultimately overshadowed by what came after. But then again, I listened today with attention and even those tracks offer such a stunningly great glimpse into that, what came after - there simply would be no Burial, for instance, without those Horace Andy songs - and so Blue Lines wearing its age on its sleeve can't possibly count towards this album's detriment - an absolute AYMHBYD.
The Verve
4/5
Yes, it's... not great. But with the inclusion of not one, but two Oasis albums, this has every right to be here as well. Also, I rather liked The Verve's debut «A Storm in Heaven». Hashtag soundscapes. It's music that washes over you, unproblematically and uneventfully, with spacious melancholy. "Spacious melancholy"? Whatever, it wasn't particularly difficult so far to get to song nine, hit number three, Lucky Man, where I'm at now. It's fine, I don't hate this. Am I not bored? No, but in a pleasant way.
I was being fair with "(What's the Story) Morning Glory" and I can't rate this lower.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
5/5
I know some of the songs, but first time listening to this front to back, I think?, and... to reiterate my review from the CSN without Y record from 141 albums ago: the US folk rock offerings in here have been clear hits or misses, hardly anything in between but when they hit, they really do. I love this. Oh god, I'm a hippie!
But seriously. Moving, gorgeous, beautiful. I may not like everything equally; "Teach the Children" was juuust saved by the vocal harmonies and lyrical content, "Country Girl" is rather meh and I might prefer Joni Mitchell's own "Woodstock" but those still contribute to an easy 36 minutes of a great, tight album. Gets an extra +1 in terms of AYMHBYD, so it's six out of five.
Mike Oldfield
2/5
For context, in prog rock: just very recently, I had King Crimson and Genesis' "The Lamb...", both absolutely delightful. Now, this? Is not. Credit where credit's due, dude recorded all of that by himself with overdubs, but... I think I can hear that, in this incoherent, self-indulgent mess I had no whatsoever fun with. There are a few fine musical themes in here but those all end up being fucked with by some stupid - "Gimmick:" - gimmick or yet another - "Layer:" layer and there weren't too many good themes to start with, really, in this new age flavoured noodling. It's like Oldfield repeatedly got bored throughout all of this - I guess I can't blame him - and wanted to let us know. Nicest bit, for me, was the part past the angry Klingon; reminiscent of Pink Floyd, albeit without Gilmour's sense for melodies of course - only to be interrupted by "Hello! Now I'll play the jig from Popeye! Wheee!" (-_-)
Is this humour? I don't know, I didn't laugh. Just random, cringey and disconcertingly odd, the whole thing.
The way this album annoys me puts it into the one star category, but I'll grant it an attainment bonus. It's still rather shit.
Thelonious Monk
5/5
Damn cool, this one.
Moby
4/5
I actually listened to this not too long ago, partly out of nostalgia but also out of curiosity to see whether it held up. And I had a surprisingly good time: it's really not deep, important music and Moby is a bit of a douche but this had every right to be as ubiquitous as it was. Competently crafted sample music that isn't just interested in making your booty shake but to provide some feels along the way. It's nice.
And I don't see a good reason to amend this feeling now and today.
Public Enemy
4/5
N.W.A.
4/5
Conflicted here. On one hand, the generator had just yesterday served me Public Enemy and my appetite for shouty, brash old school hip hop, let alone an hour of it is still very much saturated. On the other hand, it's March 2025 and today I saw the two US presidents do a sort of Marie Antoinette QVC on the White House lawn - "The peasants have no eggs!" "Let them buy Teslas!" - because one of them has his feefees hurt over the prospect of becoming only the second bizarrely wealthiest mf on this planet, so my demand for something that sounds like this album cover looks is kinda up.
Imma give it a 4.
Love
5/5
Hey, that was quite cool. Reminded me of #24, The Electric Prunes' 1967 debut with its hodgepodge of 60ies contemporary music styles - except: I reviewed that one with 1 star. And had felt, since then, that I have been too harsh with it, but now I feel vindicated. "Da Capo" is how you do that. Quirky, fun, feels and sounds inspired, innovative and with its own identity... it's good. Love the sax part of "Revelation". This might be a 5 tomorrow.
Talking Heads
2/5
I started with "Psycho Killer" and then went back to the start and for a brief moment this registered much better than their #96 "Fear of Music" but I'm now through this and: Nope. Same cringe, simultaneously stilted and exalted, often intolerable vocals, just rather painful. With the video in mind of Byrne rehearsing dumb dance moves and then the Big Suit, I guess, this is all very much on purpose, but I need someone to explain the joke to me. Or, on second thought, don't.
[...]
Rating day. the analytical side of brain responds favourably do the guitar work here, but the sum of it all? It's better than "Fear of Music" but this album falls into the pattern of late 70ies white people with their forced attempts at deconstructing Rock just to make shit funk instead. Which sucks.
Bon Jovi
3/5
There's the seriously dated, hairy and cheesy anthem rock, but there's also the band of the first album I bought with my own money (Bon Jovi's '88 "New Jersey"). Which is to say that I want to like this - and it and the band has my sympathies - but even after dialing in some nostalgia and irony for my listening pleasure, outside of the hits, going through the whole album was, well, tough.
I had not listened to Bon Jovi in a looong while and so this experience reminded me of Bruce Springsteen (#140, #279) meets Def Leppard (#67) and this will, sadly, be my rating: let's say 2.8.
Motörhead
4/5
Not a Motörhead connaisseur, or one of leather, bike rock in general but this simply kicks ass and runs circles around most of all other one trick bands, looking at much of punk here.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
I feel rather indifferent towards Nick Cave (& the Bad Seeds); his (or their) music isn't something I have ever deeply connected with, but it has always existed in an abstract realm of things I appreciate. That being said, this hit all the right buttons today, all 1 hour and 22 minutes of it. Tickled my soul. Very nice.
AC/DC
2/5
This being AC/DC, I think it's adequate to copy and use my ★★★ review from the previous "Highway to Hell":
"My conscious knowledge of this band boils down to this album's title track and "Hells Bells" and hitting Play, I expected an affirmation that I don't need to know anything else. I stand corrected. I did have some proper fun realizing how AC/DC is stunningly good at what AC/DC is doing. But ultimately, beyond my appreciation for them being that, it's still not quite for me."
... applies all the same (I was familiar with some more songs) but it being the second album of its kind, that sensation of *fUn* has worn off. Also, Bon Scott > this guy.
D'Angelo
3/5
Eh, smooth and groovy, I'd make dinner to this. And fuck, probably. Yeah, that, too.
XTC
5/5
One of the more fascinating albums I've had so far. A similar experience like with XTC's "Apple Venus Volume 1" (#102) in that I'm at loss as to how I should file this within my usual system (there is no such thing but you get the point) of determining whether I like something or not. Psychedelic, baroque, happy weirdo 80ies chamber pop? Statistically, I should hate this. So many ways in which this could go horribly wrong. But this music here somehow balances on a tightrope over a canyon of possible shit - it's super endearing! Often like the Beatles circa Revolver found a time machine, shot 20 years into the future, had a little walk, took in some sights and sounds and got cracking in the studio? And then something else entirely. And it... works. Played this three times today. Really nice.
Duran Duran
4/5
Shoulder pads, white Testarossas, Knight Riders, Lasers, Aerobic! Liked this much better now than then. 4 stars!
Led Zeppelin
5/5
I've had my issues with Led Zeppelin, here, doing this project, surprising issues, as I own two of their albums, but you know what, fuck it. I'm past "Battle of Evermore" and at 5:55 of "Stairway to Heaven" now - well, not now, I finished the track first, but that was the moment when: - this is a 5 star album; their boring, sleazy blues rock side be damned.
Gene Clark
4/5
Maybe it's because I have been pelted into submission by the onslaught of US&A's countryrockfolk in here and I'm just "whatever" at this point, but... it's nice? I think? A low-key Byrds plus what seems like a thankfully muted and altered influence from this Gram Parson dude? That iteration of that music? Whether I needed to hear this I have no idea, probably not, but, I had a good enough time listening to this. Saved a song.
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
What a THING this album was, everywhere, for everyone! Still in my collection. Which is to say, also, that there are no surprises here. A bit worn out, even. It's still super nice, though.
The Who
3/5
The 4th The Who album. Boooring! The ads are the best about this. And the sudden thought that I should listen to Tortoise' debut again. Hey, I guess it's time for:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Every time one of these 1001 supposedly world's greatest albums turns out to be just another minute variation on [or channeling] USUK '65-'80s rock the generator has served me many dozens of times before, I will give you a different album you could be listening to today. For instance:"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
☞ The Notwist - Neon Golden (2002) ☜
When I'm doing this bit, I'm not picking albums I think are necessarily important enough to be included here; "Neon Golden" however, is a glaring omission. You remember that time when electronic music or IDM started to mingle with - maybe folk adjacent - alt rock? Or vice versa? "Indietronica" as it was called? This album is a beautiful pinnacle of that. And not an obscure one - "Neon Golden" found its way into Rolling Stone and Pitchfork (9.2/10), an international success - it should be in here. It's legendary and rightly so. One of the Top10 great albums of the 00s. Go listen.
Sonic Youth
4/5
Sonic Youth, eh? I want to like them and I'm playing the album for second time, but I may have to face the fact that I'm just too much of a picky sound-snob for this to ever properly click with me. Laconic noise, cool. But those mushy DIY, dry, buzzing wasp-y, two-stroke leaf blower engine guitars? I dunno. Favourite track: "Beauty Lies In The Eye". Indeed it does.
Iron Butterfly
4/5
I've heard the whole album before, own the record, it's a 4, why not. I wasn't unpleasantly bored, it's alright. I mean, half of it is THAT track, which rightly is a SYMHBYD.
B.B. King
4/5
This, by genre, is music that bores me but it's a) the best of its kind and b) a spendid soundtrack to cleaning some shit in Powerwash Simulator.
The Darkness
4/5
Ha, I have been looking forward to this, since I had seen it while browsing what else might come in the 1001. Not as in looking forward to listening to this album, per se, but to getting this in the context of this project here. Because, look, this is dumb, but not any dumber than any of the music The Darkness was stoked to bring back; ironically or not, I don't care. And that hair glam hard rock has every right to exist in 2003, if we are to accept any of the garage rock revival bands everyone and their mates founded at that same time. Outside of the hit single, I had not listened to it before, but: It's fun. Plus, somehow, Justin Dawkins' channel appeared quite a bit in what Youtube decided to suggest to me over the years - he seems like a nice, proper dude. Did I or anyone need to hear that before our deaths? Oh, nah. But there's nothing wrong with it. Did I mention "fun"? Fun.
Nirvana
4/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
I like this possibly better than Costello's '94 "Brutal Youth" I had before, but just slightly. I don't know. Or even care. One of those albums that makes me look at the 700 more to go and wonder whether I shouldn't be doing something better with my time. And thus: irritating: 2.
Adam & The Ants
3/5
It's pop, but weird and bonkers. While being pop. Which is cool. But I don't have time for this.
Slipknot
4/5
This is the metal that came out a few years after I had discovered just how much other music is out there and I had never paid much attention to it. Apart from Korn's "Life Is Peachy", that is, which did leave an impression at the time. This fits that mold. It bangs. I could do without the metal rap scratching, which sounds dumb today; but here's my usual qualifier: did I have fun with it, mostly? Yep. Would I file my experience under epiphany or significant discovery? Nah. But a proper 4, that one.
Morrissey
3/5
I've expected something worse. I would wager that if you've ever liked this guy and his music, you should be cool with this 2004 update, but I don't see much reason to like it either. Enjoyed some tracks, but all in all boringly serviceable music, from a twat. Before I listen too closely and discover how the lyrics are the politics of a Southpark episode, let's finish this with a 3. A 2.7.
Steely Dan
3/5
Those guys again, of course. It's excellently executed, smooth and cool musicians' music, but it makes you understand why punk happened, why it had to happen. There were some great bits - the last part of the title track slaps - but all in all? I can imgine myself in a setting - and time - where I could enjoy this whitest of beige music but that's not here or now.
Primal Scream
3/5
This is not a good album to pick up this project again after 2 months. very Whatever.
UB40
4/5
You know, I expected to crap on this. Not enough this being Reggae but the "Red, Red Wine" white boys' version of it? But nah, this is quite decent actually. And I stand extra corrected: legit even. No problems here, 4 stars.
Metallica
5/5
And this concludes this project's Metallica albums. Would have preferred "Ride the Lightning", personally, as it somehow has a bigger place in my musical biography, but I'm glad to end this - after ratings of 1, 4 & 3 - on a high note either way. Easy 5, this one.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
4/5
Super pleasant and equally impressive, but... Even though I had this playing twice today, I'm also underwhelmed. The harmonics - all happy major - of especially the English songs? The airy production? There's so much shine and polish here that I think this was specifically made for, well, Paul Simon's typical audience of, well, world music savvy Americans. Not for me. 3.5, rounding up.
Skepta
3/5
"Konnichiwa won the 2016 Mercury Prize.[6]"
As I was saying, a couple of months ago:
"... as I was saying, just three days ago:
»[...] is this really a Best of All Music? An essential listen? Or another instance of the editors merely completing their assignment of counting up to 1001 by, say, shoveling copious amounts of - all British/Irish - Mercury Prize winners/nominees in here? Yes, it's the latter.«"
But I will say this: some tracks on here? If some geezer drove past me, blasting them at window shattering volume, I'd approve of that.
The Sonics
2/5
I'm sure it's of some archeological interest to dig up these muscial bones to understand the evolution of music, but we already have plenty of fully reconstructed skeletons of the 𝘚𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴 and this adds nothing. A 3 for the music here, a weak 2 for its AYMHBYDness.
R.E.M.
4/5
A formidable debut which I suspect could and should grow on me; the good kind of jangly post-punk stuff and maybe among the best music I didn't know existed when I was 9. Hooowever. Today, here and now, I can't say that it didn't somewhat bore me. Still, "Murmur" is another notch towards my respect and appreciation for R.E.M. this project made me understand - and I've already paid my dues in my recent three ratings for their albums. I think this one sits where math will do it justice: (4+4+5)/3
The Police
2/5
Not good. And I don't even mind Sting's voice. The hit is proper pop music, the two tracks after that didn't disgust me but overall, this was some dry, weird nonsense. NEXT!
Deerhunter
3/5
This is probably going to be one of the reviews in which I'll type an ellipse "[...]" later to indicate the passing of time during which I'll have changed - or fortified - my opinion. For now, I had a decent enough time listening to the whole thing. Even going to say that it seems like a proper pick for 2010s indie rock you need to make a list with.
But, the cover and the first song and its sound had set me up for something it largely didn't deliver. Something darker. Instead, jingly-jangly garage pop. Some Oh-oh-hooohh arena era Coldplay tangents.
Cool production but the fuzz and grit - while it's some good cement to glue it all together - doesn't really manage to obscure how little this album's indie hodgepodge songwriting does for me.
[...]
Turns out, not much change after the break: meh. Meh plus, like 3.8
Sebadoh
5/5
Yes, hello! I love this!
I thiiink I knew that a band by this name existed and my have even guessed the circa genre but otherwise, this here today was one of the nicest AYMHBYD introductions in a long time. See, I had some other indie rock record yesterday, from 2010, where the variety in the songs felt like the pressing of different buttons on a music making machine. Here, it's the genuine expressions of three songwriters who are all in, together, in a diy "Fuck it, we'll do what we want!". And even if some of these may be too carelessly thrown and screamed onto the 4track for me, the next song is always just 90 seconds away. And may be a beautiful pearl.
Super nice!
--- End of review here ---
... and I poked around in this band's vicinity today, Polvo, Seam, Archers of Loaf. Man, the Americans were so much better at early 90s indie rock than the Brits.
Ray Price
1/5
Music like this is now so Fallout, Lynch or Tarantino coded that I wonder whether this really was ever meant as a genuine, straight-forward expression. "Here are some good, meaningful tunes that are totally not weird or ominous!"? Because, without those pop-cultural references, at face value, I should be able to compare "Night Life" to e.g. John Prine's country from his debut (album #20) from 8 years later. In both musical and lyrical content. And then I would: conclude that this here is irksome, awkward, boring, and insignificant junk - which is precisely what I'm going to do.
The Cult
2/5
Bad. Not good. Bad. I'm fairly acquainted with their '89 "Sonic Temple" and of course the '85 "She Smells Sanctuary" and I'm not sure I would have recognized this album - from in between those years - as The Cult. Not that "Sonic Temple" was much better, I suspect, outside of my nostalgia, but it had *a sound*. A sleaze. This here has nothing.
The Sabres Of Paradise
2/5
I've been yapping about the stunningly ignorant under- and misrepresentation of electronic music in this weird-ass book before so I'll spare you the rant.
Sabres of Paradise' Andrew Weatherall was an important voice in 90s music at the intersection of alternative and dance/idm and could and probably should have been featured in here - the Sabres of Paradise remix of Red Snapper's "Hot Flush" is my maybe most had earworm within that ~genre - but this album? An aged like milk tedious borefest? When this could have been his Two Lone Swordsmen project?
Bottom line: this inclusion, too, sucks.
5/5
From #29, Abbey Road:
"[...] there's a photograph of me, 11, in front of the red wrought iron gate to Strawberry Fields, with my little yellow Beatles pin buttons on the jacket. On the way back from a Bed & Breakfast road trip [...]"
... when I only owned one of their proper albums, besides the Red & Blue compilations. This one. 5 stars, duh.
Sly & The Family Stone
5/5
Funk hasn't fared too well until now, but this is greasy, sleazy, fucked up, sexy and wild. What can I say, 5 stars.
Grateful Dead
2/5
I used to know two guys, brothers, the biggest "Deadheads", dismissive of any other music, and e.ve.ry.time those two - or either one of them - was around in a night of partying or whatever, they got everyone into some unnecessary, potentially violent, stressful shit situation. ☮✌ Peace and Love ✌☮.
Anyways. I finished track three now and the most interesting bit in this so far was 35 minutes and 47 seconds ago: a brief moment of me as the 𝘓𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘰 𝘋𝘪𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰 𝘗𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 meme, recognising a guitar lick I've heard before, in a small excerpt on the soundtrack of "Zabriskie Point". I'm pretty confident this will have been the most interesting experience in all of the 73 minutes.
34 minutes later: Yup.
To get the lowest possible rating, an album needs to truly piss me off one way or the other and this one doesn't (even) quite achieve that, but it's damn close. To quote a fellow reviewer:
"hackey-sackiest music I've ever heard."
(★★★★★, from me, for this. Incidentally, the aforementioned guys were pretty keen on playing hacky-sack; no I am not making this up.)
Bad, not good, NEXT!
Willie Nelson
4/5
This is... fine. Really, super, very fine, it's Willie Nelson after all, dude's an international treasure. The good, honest country. But. It's not giving me a lot, to cherish, you know, the actual musical content? While I appreciate how plain and simple this album is, it's just too much (aka little and basic) for me. On the plus side: the runtime. And that I've spent more time with these songs that I needed to.
A weak 4.
Pink Floyd
5/5
I could say that it's a somewhat bloated and pompous album if I were to approach it dispassionately but I can't and I won't. "The Wall" had quite a grip on me during one teenagehood summer and I see no reason to rescind my (maybe a too big word, but) admiration for it: this is how you do 𝙍𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙊𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙖. A tale told through a rather brilliantly paced string of songs, moods, interludes and recurring intervowen musical themes with a good amount of immaculate bangers; plus containing two of rock's greatest guitar solos? Duh. And even if some of its last quarter - the record's D side going all in on the Opera bit - isn't something I enjoy *as music* quite as much, I can't fault that. Because see above.
★★★★★★★/★★★★★
Merle Haggard
1/5
No. Go away. The existence of a Merle Haggard isn't new to me, but I need the makers of this list to understand that roughly 95.8% of the world's population have no whatsoever reason to know this dude. Or to listen to this Spongebob-ass music.
I don't care how this album compares to the ones from George Jones or Buck Owens I've regrettably had before and given a 2; maybe it's better in some abstract US music history way, but today, I have zero tolerance for this yankee yokel shit.
🗑, NEXT!
Bob Dylan
3/5
What will be an outcome of doing this project: it made me find a rather solid appreciation for Bob Dylan; this here is the 5th album I've had and three of the previous four I quite enjoyed, 5 stars for "Blood on the Tracks". This one, though? It closes the circle to "Blonde on Blonde", my problem with it and much of my previous opinion about this guy's body of work. As one fellow reviewer put it so succintly albeit entirely unironically:
"But Dylan is careful to not let the music get in the way of the poetry."
Yeah, that's one way to put it.
There's NOTHING of interest there outside of the lyrics. And unlike in his folk tunes, this electrifried band version of his music has a LOT of nothing in this wall of instruments, all boringly and loudly chugging along, from ON to OFF, going absolutely nowhere. I may be able to acknowledge that the music is - likely - only meant as a backdrop to string words along to, but this is not for me.
Also, I know Highway 61 Revisited. I happen to have heard all of those songs long before, so there were no surprises here, no discoveries to be made. On the other hand, see above, I've come around to 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 it, Dylan, to some extent. So... I think my rating is that instead of actively disliking it, I'm just mostly bored and slightly annoyed by this particular album, and that I've always had a soft spot for Desolation Row, after all and that makes it a: 3.
Simple Minds
3/5
No idea what to do with this one. I had somewhat of a Simple Minds phase back then™ but this doesn't ring any bells. It seems like a warm and pleasant outlier in the early 80s sea of cold New Wave. U2 from its time but with synths and they kept The Edge around for some songs? I do not dislike this at all but I wish there were some hooks and melodies I could remember in an hour from now. Maybe why I had erased it from my Simple Minds phase? It's just... there, very uneventfully.
Van Halen
3/5
I can't be arsed to go back and compare this to Van Halen's debut from earlier (#291) but from what I remember, I'd say good for them for actually discovering catchy Songs and not just playing music to frame Eddie's guitar skills. I had a good smidgen more fun with this. And this being SO 80s, I'll drizzle a bit of nostalgia on it and even go as far as to say: this is what I'd listen to Los Santos Rock Radio for.
Pavement
4/5
Early 90s diy-noise-punk indie rock from the US was SO much better than its 60s-eclecticism-but-Liam-brought-drugs-and-his-sampler UK counterpart but I'm not really warming up to Pavement I'm afraid. Their debut album (#246) managed to squeeze a ★★★★★ out of me, but I don't think this one will.
[...]
[in which I mull over a comparison with some other bands from that time and US place I enjoyed recently...]
[Or will it?]
No, I've been staring at this stupid box long enough. It's all fine, some songs I'll keep around (Unfair, Gold Soundz) but there's some sulky and moany, disaffected vibe to much of this album that I don't care much for. Maybe it's an acquired taste. I didn't acquire it. Happy to have had this today, though. A solid 4, will play again.
Calexico
4/5
Another band I had known by name but not really by music. And, this album doesn't seem important, in the grand scale of things but what it does, stylistically, is indeed something special and I am glad I have heard that today. It's a bit all over the place, so much so that I felt like skipping here and there, but I have no real complaints. Had a good time with it. Nice+.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
1/5
For a few moments I was vibin', but that didn't last one single song. Bog standard 12 bar blues offerings after bog standard 12 bar blues offerings. I can hear musicians having fun - I'll give it that - but I don't. I've been told that this is, somehow, of significance but as other people have pointed out: it's from the year The Beatles made "Revolver".
This here instead is just music for bar fights.
🗑, NEXT!
Def Leppard
2/5
I've had Def Leppard. This list does not need two Def Leppards. This is "Hysteria" again, somewhat less megalomaniac but still equally clownish, in retrospect at least. And this album has to do without my nostalgia bonus. I'm now at the Glieben Glaufen Globen song and I think I've done my work here. This music had its place in time, but that's not now.
Jorge Ben Jor
5/5
Another nice discovery for me. I'd heard of Jorge Ben before - "Oba, Là Vem Ela" on an old Dancefloor Jazz compilation I have as well as "Mas que nada" - but this was new. I was a sceptical at first, as the ~World Music~ inclusions are often just the most easily digestible tokens but this is definitely an AYMHBYD and it seriously slaps! If I've ever heard something in here so far to use that word with, it's this one and I don't know if it makes sense but here it is: 𝘬𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤.
Special mention: that cuíca rhythm/lick starting to play in "Xica da Silva" - made me smile - and how the phased strings in "A Históira de Jorge" sent me onto a sidequest to find out what they remind me of. Great album.
Killing Joke
4/5
Oh wow, finally some english post-punk from the 80s in here!
But hey! This one's rather good. Heavy, dark and abrasive. Music like it's coming from an expression of geniune concern about the state of things rather than its edginess being a coat of ~art~. "The Wait" is a keeper, otherwise not really my cuppa tea, but I fully respect this.
LTJ Bukem
5/5
I recognised and even, maybe, fondly remembered this one when I saw the cover but my initial reaction was nevertheless to scoff at it as an 1001AYMHBYD - why are we doing compilations now? - but you know what?
This is perfectly fine. I know that Roni Size/Reprazent and Goldie will come up eventually and I've had MJ Cole before but that seems to be it; another inclusion of circa *that* music is alright with me. And, that MJ Cole album illustrates a problem with a lot of dancefloor adjacent electronic music albums, even if they've been important: they're often too long for their own good and end up being a dud. So, this here, a seminal Best Of that particular slice of 90s music people should be aware of in a convenient package? Yeah. And I'm having a splendid time with it. One of the very few understandable Electronica inclusions so far after 426 albums.
[...]
Rating day. Imma give this a 5.
____________________________________
Since people still seem to listen to what's on Spotify (-_-), here's a version on Youtube that features both CDs, split into tracks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7sIUXSrVoU
Emmylou Harris
2/5
Emmylou Harris helped to elevate that Gram Parsons album I had (#236) to a 2 and I can see how "beautiful" might be a word to describe this one here with, but I suspect I need country to be either driving Bluegrass or heavily leaning into reduced, raw folk for me to enjoy, so 7-8/10 songs are not for me. The twee schmaltz that's dripping out of the sugary produced everything here is just too damn much.
Steve Winwood
1/5
My teeth hurt from this and I'm not even entirely kidding. Turned down the volume twice now. Could be my grimacing, though, as this is pretty shit.
The Auteurs
2/5
Why did I need to hear this, Robert? Because I really did not? The sensation of yet another brit pop alt rock UK 90s whatever but this one adds channeling T-Rex to the Beatles or Stones held up for about one and a half songs. You know, you're not doing these albums a favour, Robert. Robert? Are you listening? Because there's a list in the reviews of other '93 releases not featured in your book which are infinitely better and more important than this one. And I could add 10 more. So excuse me while I don't give a shit about The Auteurs.
Crowded House
3/5
My most pressing thought here, listening to (semi-) Australian pop rock featuring an occasional harmonica and looking at the book's inclusions again as well as reading the reviews is how I must have slipped into an alternate reality in which INXS' Kick never existed.
Miles Davis
5/5
I've been almost dreading this one: how can I even begin to write a review of In A Silent Way that does it justice; I have no idea. There's the circumstances of when I heard it for the first time, in the cool flat of my bohemian collegue who'd put it on, joints were involved, likely, wine, possibly. And how it blew my mind, then. How it opened my ears. But that would be cheesy, even if true. Then there's how it continued to blew my mind, for years. How it's unmistakably the mayhem of fusion jazz, but light, airy and wispy. Simultaneously, with structure and purpose. How it's serious, deep, and for some people apparently difficult music while Davis instructed his fellow musicians to play as if they'd been just introduced to their respective instruments. How intent listening rewards you with all those riffs and licks shimmering in its undulating flow. How timeless it is, while it absolutely is an artwork from when Hendrix played Woodstock. And then, today, while the sensation of having my mind blown has worn off, I always happily return to it like meeting an old friend. I might also pick up something another reviewer has made me realise: this album is the shortest 40 minutes of music ever recorded.
Whatever I would say, in that review: "In A Silent Way" is my most important album in all of these 1001. If aliens landed in front of me and demanded a piece of humankind's culture, I'd play them this.
One Million Stars.
Taylor Swift
2/5
As I'm not intrinsically opposed to appreciating or even liking popular pop - that would be dumb, right - and this album had made some unusual waves in my social media cycles, I have listened to this before. However: briefly. My impression now is the same. This is fine, mostly, occasionally pretty, I don't really mind it. But at the end of the day, too slick, too bland. Too beige. Too much of a polished lowest common denominator of what that album's cover translates to in music. I don't need this in my life.
And, [some tracks later], I don't think I will remember any of this in an hour from now. Uh, this is going to be one of the reviews in which I drop my rating during the course of me writing it, yeah? Yes. For instance, I realise that Swift's voice just doesn't do anything for me; or her melodies (Quick interlude and comparison here with a Billie Eilish song I have in my library).
Bottom line: nah. Somewhere between a 2 and 3, but as this isn't a "Albums by Taylor Swift You Must Hear Before You Die" I'm now mad how this takes up a spot of more deserving albums.
Fugazi
4/5
My 51 year old European ass has had some blind spots when it comes to early 90s US alternative rock - I was aware of Fuagzi and this much revered album but had never sat down with it - so I'm listening to a lot of these for the first time which naturally strips my experience of any emotional connection. And thus, unlike other records I have discovered recently-ish, through this project and related tangents, this particular flavour of brash, angular, shouty punk noise doesn't quiiite manage to be my cup of tea. But I'm digging it enough & can see why it's in here. Keeping "Shut The Door".
Weather Report
4/5
Vaguely familiar with this one. Maximalist Latin Jazz Rock Fusion 𝘎𝘦𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘭. It's cool, but doesn't inspire me to feel, think or write a lot about my impression. Actually, no, wait. Havona is playing right now - the Drum 'n Bass here? 😍 - I might spin this a few more times today. We'll see.
Once more "actually, no": Havona is the stand-out track for me, I'm circling back to "It's cool."
Tom Waits
4/5
This is going to sound more flippant than intended, but it was my first impression: Oof, vaudeville circus music. Soundtrack for PG-13 puppet theatre. HOWEVER! I *should* hate this but I would imagine that theatre show to be a really beautiful piece of art, you know? I'm having a decent time here, is what I'm saying. I'm only vaguely familiar with Tom Waits' oeuvre but he somehow & kinda always gets a pass from me; it's like this, his thing, gives me the idea of a genuine soulful and explorative expression rather than channeling some outsider art gimmick for its own sake. A good album. Nice. Solid 4 stars, why not.
Travis
3/5
... on the plus side, as I am listening, I've now made it to the hit song without bigger issues and I will stick around for the last three plus one secret tracks. The groan I let out upon seeing the album pop up wasn't quite justified. But really, the only reason why you'd have to listen to this is out of an act of fairness amidst all the Oasis, Coldplay and Verve in here. I mean, it's yet another brit pop album with a nice production around servicable songs, with a sad boy post-[redacted comparison] flavour - it's not much worse. But then again, why is it? Here? Just look at this:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/1999/releases/
Three shrugs from me.
Pulp
4/5
At last, after a long while, some quality and meaningful stuff. Never listened to this album, actually, outside of the ubiquitous hit(s?) - turns out, this is really good. Not sure I'll keep it around, though. Still not my cuppa tea.
Dr. Octagon
5/5
Cool. It's playing for the second time now. This falls neatly into what seems to be my golden age of hip hop. Interesting beats, flows, jazzy and trippy samples cooked to perfection and not a gangsta in sight. Lyrical themes are 𝘩𝘢𝘳-𝘩𝘢𝘳, instead, but I can choose to not pay attention. Good stuff.
Common
3/5
Hip hop again. Dr. Octagonecologyst from yesterday was fun. This, on the other hand, doesn't do much for me. Whereas that is entirely possible this is due to me hearing that insufferable fuckstick throughout this album. And the reverence for even old West has always baffled me a bit. Were people new to sampling and hip hop then? Polished goo.
The National
4/5
Fine, but on par with my previous impression of The National. Heard "Sea of Love" somewhere, from their follow-up album, a nice song that made me check them out only to find they're just too comfortable with their sad, middle-aged melancholic dude schtick. Live a little, guys. We have anger, too!
The Avalanches
3/5
Ah, this is that. Knew the title track aaand ... bit baffled here. Not about this album, but the 3.28 rating and the ratio of upvoted 5 star VS less than that reviews. Are y'all new to music, from roundabout that time? Sample music? This isn't "amazing". This is - to pick only albums from this 1001 list - Moby Meets Fatboy Slim, after Moby or Fatboy Slim. With a generous handful of french house/disco as popularised by Daft Punk sprinkled on top. After Daft Punk. This isn't innovative. This is 4 years after "Endtroducing...". The only thing that stands out here in a comparison with other works like it is the sheer quantity of samples which means jack shit as I'm generally more impressed by people doing more with less. And so should you. It works as a creative crafting achievement, it really does, but - here's a sample for ya - 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 "nailed it" 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘦.
Radiohead
5/5
Seems a bit rough around the edges, maybe, but it's got the Radiohead song structures, Radiohead chord progressions, the Radiohead treatment of time signatures and Radiohead's compelling, often off-kilter instrumentations with all this relative weirdness still hitting the right spot for me. I may have to face the fact that I'm kind of a fan, after all: every album past (but also including) OK Computer happens to feature some of my favourite music. Plus, they're just the ultimate band to do a horizontal head-shake dance to. Naturally, 5/5.
U2
3/5
There was a moment here where I felt like finding the person from the "Not my proudest 5" review so we could give each other a hug - "same, bro or sis, same" - but then "So cruel" came on, then many of the subsequent songs and "Mysterious Ways" and nah. Props to U2, this is in parts a surprisingly well-made entrance of their music into the 90s, better than I expected or remembered, but it's a reinvention - or a new dress - that I didn't care for then and I don't now.
It's the last U2 album in here, I'll end this amicably.
The Temptations
4/5
This is potentially amazing, but in order to fully enjoy it, I'd probably need a lavish dinner party, ice clinging in drinks. I'd be standing on the terrace, looking at the sunset. As it is, I'm sitting at my desk, working and listening with headphones. It doesn't quite work.
Arrested Development
5/5
Oh, nice! I've known and liked this album for a long time. Happy to see this. Your alternative, friendly neighbourhood hip hop. Hip hop *band*, even. I'm not entirely sure what I would make of it if I heard it for the first time right now today, but heh, I don't have to. It's good, it's got bangers and if I scroll through my reviews so far, it surely has to be a 5.
Arcade Fire
4/5
I've likely dipped into Arcade Fire for a song or two after Sarah Neufeld & Colin Stetson's "Never Were the Way She Was" (which btw would be a good inclusion in a list of music you should be aware of) but other than that, I've never knowingly listenend to them. This is... good? Like, objectively good, I think? I normally have my issues with this big baroque, opulent style of rock or pop and/or the slightly muddy, somewhat Wall of Sound sound - is this the moment already where I bring up Bruce Springsteen? - but it strikes me as musically meaningful here. I can certainly state that "Neon Bible" held my interest. Even if only in the way it wears its influences on its sleeve, here and there, and manages to elevate those into 2007 indie rock. Which, in turn, alas, might be why I'm not necessarily seeing myself putting this on again. But nice, thanks, 1001AYMHBYD, that made sense.
Anthrax
5/5
I want to rate this a 5 and that's what I'm going to do. I am the Law.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
It's fine. It's also a lot like a band that plays various covers of unknown The Rolling Beatlebyrd Kinks' songs.
Skunk Anansie
5/5
Hello! Fuck yeah! I had seen Skunk Anansie in here, but would have thought this is surely the album with "Weak" or "Hedonism" on it (from two different albums, actually) just thrown in because of those two surely nice enough hits, which also sum up what I had consciously heard of this band. Wait, scratch that. I've heard "Lately" and "Secretly" before, in passing. Anyways. This caught me by surprise, in the most pleasant of ways. Filthy, angry, deep and rich. And a wonderful throwback to 90s post grunge rock sounds, again, in the best of ways. Superb. Enjoyed this a ton.
Brian Wilson
3/5
I've always had problems matching people's veneration for the Beach Boys and subsequently Brian Wilson with what I'm hearing when I'm listening - this is no exception. But while I usually am able to file their music under pleasant enough pop - and successful in setting itself apart from what came out of Britain - this here is jingles. An odd musical. In its one-man extravaganza with all the (also literal) bells and whistles like clips from a children's Tubular Bells. And then the 2004 production? Makes it kind of eerie. I did not not enjoy this, in a way - now skipping between it and the Smile Sessions - and there's some magic happening between "Song for the Children" and "Surf's Up" and also Good Vibrations, of course, but there's also an equal amount of musical moments where a clown is appearing on stage. Or Homer Simpson tripping on psychedelic drugs. Bit weird, the whole thing. And not the endearing weird. Don't know what to do here, I'll leave it at 3.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Weird. This one had been sitting there for a day while I procrastinated listening to it, not being in the mood for yet another psychedelic, bluesy rock alleged classic. Turns out, hey, I should have been in the mood! And also turns out, I must have been quite in the mood at some time before in my life: I know all of this! Every song had me going "Yeah, this one!" (strongest moment: 1983). And for a good reason: this is (still) 🔥.
Billie Holiday
3/5
I feel like I should cherish this, but I don't. Often, old vocal jazz has a tendency to just wash over me; sometimes, that's nice enough, for a ~vibe~ (#75 Sarah Vaughn, "At Mr. Kelly's"), and only occasionally the songs do indeed grab and move me (#263 Nina Simone, "Wild is the Wind") but this album with its soundtrack-y carpet of saccharine orchestra music a fellow reviewer likened to a Disney princess score - for which I can't blame them - does even less for me. And if you need to hear a Billie Holiday album before you die - you probably should - make that "Lady Sings the Blues". I do love the occasional trombone solos here, though.
William Orbit
2/5
...
... okay, this is serviceable and somewhat interesting in the way it sounds like music from someone who, years later, would produce Madonna's esteemed Ray of Light, but did I need to hear that person's early noodlings? Absolutely not. Jfc, if this book's editors treated rock music like they do electronica, we'd only have Boston, Aerosmith, Europe and the one album by the author's cousin's thrash metal combo.
It's 1993, Albumoftheyear.org has a list of the 28 (on their site) most reviewed Electronic Album Releases from that year: sorted by ratings, "Strange Cargo" is at the bottom, #25. Where it belongs. Some of those albums above it, much more interesting and of much greater cultural significance, not in this stupid ass book:
Plasticman - Sheet One
Autechre - Incunabula
µ Ziq – Tango N' Vectif
Seefeel - Quique
Jeff Mills - Waveform Transmission Vol. 1
Polygon Window - Surfing on Sine Waves
Go listen to those.
OutKast
4/5
Magazine
4/5
"[...] a pioneering post-punk record. It has also been described as new wave and art rock."
The way I went from "Oh, no!" to "Ohhh!?" needs to be studied. No, really, this presses a lot of the right buttons and I don't know what or where they are. Someone tell me. I should be put off by the voice, but it doesn't even matter. Dope.
A bit later. Not 5 star dope - it starts to drag after Motorcade - but easily up there with Television's "Marquee Moon", as far as my enjoyment with this list's pre-80s post-punk goes. I'll keep this one around. Nice.
Paul McCartney
5/5
Can't say I'm familiar with McCartney's post Beatles work apart from maybe the '78 "Wings's Greatest" and some hits, so my only context here is the years prior, and whereever I thought I would be going with "context": this is charming as fuck. Wholesome, pure, gentle and I wouldn't want to have this any other way than this Dude With a Four-Track sound.
5/5 ~°𝓋𝒾𝒷𝑒𝓈°~
The Beta Band
3/5
I was clement with their #171 "Hot Shots II" that I knew and (once) liked songs of, partially out of nostalgia and in a vast anthology of recorded music, for all I care, The Beta Band might even earn a mention. But not two. This doesn't add anything to either their work or music in general. Boring. Another spot wasted...
Joanna Newsom
5/5
I may have heard 𝘰𝘧 Joanna Newson, and filed her under some indie critics' darling, I think?, but never her music. So glad this changed today. Whoa. Never expected anything like this. What is it even? In the lineage of Kate Bush and circa Tori Amos, but Folk Prog? Whatever the possible label, this is gorgeous, simply wonderful. This is: I need to visit my record dealer tomorrow and see if he has this. Because I will need to listen to it a lot more in the future, all of the future (not willing to release on Spotify is an extra 0.5 rating points these days). And wrap myself in it.
Notwithstanding some weird squeaks in the otherwise enchanting singing performance (or whatever happens in the first note of "Only Skin"?), the sum of it all might be the finest and most important album this side of the year 2000 the generator has introduced me to. I love this.
Big Star
3/5
Fine, I guess. I can see how this album created a blueprint for 70s pop rock and in turn, became an influence for what came after, but in *that*, it's Tom Petty meets The Byrds, stepping in some Beatles' tracks, here and there. Not really sure what the big deal is.
Femi Kuti
3/5
Groovy and "infectious" but I think my immune system kicked in after a while? I got thoroughly bored halfways through. Also, there are now three albums by The Kutis, in a pool of just nine albums filed under "𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥" (out of 461, so far): an awfully narrow look at the world's and then a whole continent's music.
Not feeling this today.
Neneh Cherry
5/5
Neneh Cherry appreciation is every good person's duty +++ Buffalo Stance & Manchild are bangers for the ages +++ this album sounds *exquisitely* dated +++ Five stars, I don't give a shit.
Raekwon
4/5
While I dig Wu-Tang Clan's schtick, the movie samples, the cinematic flavour and the dusty beats, after the long skit in the middle I found it hard to keep going. It's 70 minutes.
Prince
2/5
Neither Kiss, Purple Rain, Sinéad O'Connor's cover of "Nothing Compares 2 U" nor his solo on that "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" performance have ever given me any desire to really find out whatever else this Prince guy was up to. Almost as if I have always suspected I would find: this turgid nonsense here. Pornsounds.
I'm probably (hopefully!?) missing an aspect or two about what this album meant and was in 1982 - only thing that prevents a heartfelt 1 -, but to my today's ears and mind, this, along with its brand of horrid 80s synth funk is pure cringe.
Koffi Olomide
1/5
I'm always glad to see something else here than, you know, six Elvis Costello records or three Kings of Leon, but boy, oh, boy, this one is not it.
First two songs had me bouncing and tapping but that quickly gave way to the impression that this is stuff which plays on commercial boomer/gen x radio, to inoffensively fill the space in between ads. Africa's music equivalent to "Shape of You" or "Lemon Tree". "Achy Breaky Heart". The other impression, given the sound of it all: an entertainer and his arranger keyboard at an all-inclusive resort.
There's a fantastic website, 👉 Radio Garden, that lets you browse the globe and tune in to any live streaming radio station. To see whether my European, mostly western music trained perspective is being unfair here, I just spent some time listening to what's actually playing in Congo, the rumba and soukous, maybe?, and for good measure, what's up in between Kenya and Guinea. Then, I returned to the album and hit Play again. Jesus. This has to be the most tepid version of whatever the list makers sought to include here. A weak 2 for the music, 0 for the both the guy and the AYMHBYD-ness of it.
Underworld
5/5
That was fun, even without Born Slippy. Not entirely my thing, not now or then, but in this, it's #193 Prodigy's "Fat Of The Land" again: I'm pleasantly surprised how much it still slaps, despite being so much of its time. A nice flashback.
My ratings are always at least partly influenced by the question "Is this an AYMHBYD?" and "Second Toughest in the Infants" is probably the closest to a meaningful representation of techno we'll ever get in here - and I liked it better than the Prodigy album - so 5 stars it is.
Ghostface Killah
3/5
Confession time. I'm a 51 year old German dude from a small town, middle-class upbringing, I just don't know what to do with most of hip hop. The conscious, dusty jazz rap and trip hop adjacent stuff from the 90s, yes, but this? I do know who most of these people are or have heard their names before and I associate MF Doom with interesting beats, but it's somewhat hard to connect with it in any capacity. And, some tracks seem like 00s hip hop's actual music taking a turn for a more sweetly produced RnB infused sound that I care even less for. I've given a lot of 4s for rap albums, in my helplessness, but Fishscale here doesn't cut it.
Otis Redding
4/5
This is a mighty fine soul album, I'll keep this one around. But the opener was the strongest bit for me and I will argue that Aretha Franklin's Respect is the most important cover in history - this one here seems like an imminent call to a domestic abuse line.
Frank Ocean
5/5
My daughter was incredulous when I told her one day that no, I don't know what Frank Ocean sounds like. Well, that's taken care of.
Now. Modern RnB is nothing I ever seek out. And whenever I am exposed to it, via blasting from someone's car stereo mostly, all I'm hearing is random, mumbled phrases drenched in Autotune, ♻ nothing I'd ever seek out.
This is not that. It surely shares some similarities here and there with what I assume must be all the lame knockoffs it inspired - some languid vocals of someone who's just woken up, some more spoken then sung repeated downward cadences as melody and a glossy yet lo-fi production like the packaging of a blank VHS tape - but these are ingredients of something greater here and there's a lot of something else. It's good, 's what I'm saying. Listened through it once and then some more, I've had a pleasant and interesting time. Will keep this around, I think.
[...]
Rating day. I often judge these albums by how much I liked being introduced to them and I'm going to stick with that.
Tom Waits
4/5
Okay, but I had "Swordfishtrombones" just recently. A bit redundant, no? Same review applies.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
There's something nicely melancholic about the music, but I can't get over the "default preset" sound of it all. Those synths had been around for a while. But maybe that's actually not detrimental to my judgement: this album is a nice enough artifact. Not quite digging it, however.
Neil Young
5/5
Going through these alleged 1001AYMHBYD often feels like work - I've had a shitty week - and I've been taking the piss out of this book more than once, but I can't deny that's it's because of doing this here that I now have an over 7 hour long playlist of... a lot of stuff like this, basically. Neil Young, CSN(Y), Crosby-Birds, Gene Clark, some Dylan, their UK contemporaries - all that and more late 60ies and beyond folk-adjacent goodness that I've always quite liked but somehow never really explored. "After the Gold Rush" fits right in. Lovely album.
The Zombies
4/5
"released to critical and commercial indifference" - Yeah, I can see that. This is what "twee" and "quaint" were invented for. I do notice how this can be experienced as a noteworthy shuffle of 60s sounds, ...
[...]
... but later, revisting it right now, I am thinking about highlighting the Britishness of it, maybe mention an LSD infused cup of tea as a likely good companion to the album, back then, in a Bridport/Dorsey cottage... which has me thinking... I don't love this, but it's got a thing going for it. "This Will Be Our Year" is playing right now, I would be lying if this wasn't a 4.
Cocteau Twins
4/5
This might be the most difficult album to rate I've had in here. I knew the gist of Cocteau Twins, romantic dream pop but had never listened to them, certainly not this album. So to discover what often seems like a "Hounds of Loveless" (Kate Bush meets My Bloody Valentine) was a treat! 5 stars, so far. But as I kept listening... the machine drums? Okay, mostly fine. The production which makes it often sound like a anciently low bitrate radio stream? Uuh, not so much. And then the lyrics, vocals. Which I should be cool with, as my brain typically doesn't process a singer's words outside of their tonal and timbral qualities but here, I DO process that it is: nonsense. Adriano Celentano's "Prisencolinensinainciusol". Or, in "Pandora", the other way around, imitating Italian - I guess? - but it very unpleasantly reminds me of religious nutjob-zealots' made-up 'speaking in tongues'. People have apparently tried to transcribe it into English and the result is... Gollum?
"Forty feet, forty franks
Fish fate, fiss fate, clean fish
Formidiable, formidiable, formidiable
Formidiable, formidiable, formidiable"
So that's distracting and sadly, dare I say, cringe. I don't know. Will have to sit with this one for a little longer.
[...]
Rating Day. While this may deserve a 5, certainly for what it was the midwife to for music to come, I can't say that I fully anjoyed it.
Leonard Cohen
1/5
"No you are not."
This would have been my concise review, but it was already taken :(
Well, more words, then: this album sucks, mightily. I could write it off as "I don't like it", maybe mention the odd laugh I got out of it, but recently the generator happened to show me two albums from the same era by that other North-American singer/songwriter/wordsmith with a gravelly, raspy and dark voice who inhibits a not dissimilar spot in music and hey! I've just, mid-sentence - no lie! - discovered Cohen had written a poem about him! Whaddayaknow! Here's an excerpt:
"[...] his music begin—it is so
beautiful and original and
sophisticated—so much better
than mine—[...]
You see, Leonard, it's because you made stuff like this, duh (No offense, R.I.P.). But seriously, borrowing the Every Breath You Take guitar? The Shine on You Crazy Diamond synth? And then the most generic brass preset played by some keyboard's automatic accompaniment feature? Compared to what - you may have guessed it - Tom Waits was up to during that time, it's all so trivially and dime-store corny, including some of the lyrics, I can't believe it's supposed to be a sincere expression. The fucking CASIO™ Eurostile font on the album's cover being the icing on this lazy 80s shitcake. What a package.
After the great "Songs of Love and Hate", the boring "You Want it Darker", "I'm Your Man" makes Leonard Cohen the new entry to my profile's *Controversial Artists*.
Coldplay
5/5
I care for the entirety of Coldplay as little as the next guy, but people's need to make hating them a part of their personality is fucking boring. Who's an edgy boy? Yes, you are! *cuddles*. Let me share an observation here: many of the 1 star ratings come from users who seem much more interested in generally hating music than liking it, seeing their ratios of Highest VS Lowest Rated Albums. Huh.
Anyways. Personally, I haven't paid any attention to Coldplay after "Rush of Blood" and what I happened to hear on the radio or wherever leads me to believe that their further U2-like trajectory was to fill arenas and become service providers for their fans - saw some concert clips once, providers of happiness, I can respect that. But whatever the music became, it doesn't take away from the first two albums. Which are damn fine records. Sure it's all a bit "beige", but so is my favourite pair of trousers and our most comfy blanket.
Korn
2/5
Look, Nu Metal has every right to be on this list - I had fun with the Slipknot offering some time ago - and you can't spell Nu Metal without Kor—... wait. U Metal. Well, I guess you can, mostly? Cool, because this album is kinda shit.
Their "Life is Peachy" had a spot in my Music I Listened To history, but only because it was new and musically interesting enough, then, to outweigh how (purposefully?) unpleasant and nasty it felt, the edgelording of it all. But the latter is pretty much all that's left, now and today. I found myself nodding along here and there for a bit, the track with Ice Cube could have been on that "Judgment Night" soundtrack (iykyk), but I do not need this today. Or ever again.
Where's "White Pony"?
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
LCD Soundsystem's "american dream" was my 10th album here and my impression of kit-bash eclecticism is unchanged: "Sound of Silver" is the same confidently and well applied new coat of paint onto music from 20+ years before. What has changed is that, close to 500 albums later, I'm now also equipped with an impression of all the Talking Heads, Bowies, Televisions, PILs, Japans etc. and thus with the insight that 'art rock for discotheques' is just not my jam.
N.E.R.D
2/5
I fully understand this is an inherently wrong question to ask of art, but I can't help it here: why? What for? "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could [blend Prince and Red Hot Chili Peppers while reminiscing about that Aerosmith & Run-DMC song], they didn't stop to think if they should." ?
There are some alright ideas and hooks here, in this, but for all the music that's so crammed full of 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧 and production tchotchkes these producer genie guys found in browsing their record and CD shelves, it's remarkable how hard and quickly the feeling of boredom hit me.
As a bonus, an extra peeve: try reassembling the egg from the two shell pieces. Someone got paid for this, smh.
The Verve
4/5
I don't want to deal with this right now. It sounds like: I rated their "Urban Hymns" with a four, as I was *pleasantly* bored and I'm inclined to think "A Northern Soul" sits in between that and The Verve's debut which I quite liked, back then. So four it is, again.
Van Morrison
2/5
It was, in fact, never too late to stop listening to this.
The production is truly exquisite, I'll give it that, but otherwise one of the most boring and triffling inclusions I've had here. Tedious.
(Oh god, there's going to be more Van Morrison, isn't there?)
The Undertones
4/5
Okay, that was fun and brief. Had some moments even when its fun punk pop package reminded me of listening to X-Ray Spex (#33). Alright!
Linkin Park
1/5
There was a thing on the old Twitter, a tournament kind of knock-out game where through many rounds, people voted in polls for the best song of the 00s, out of 256. I watched in disbelief as "In The End" rose to the top and eventually won. This is my retribution.
Kraftwerk
3/5
Yeah! 🤩 Finally some Kraftwerk in here! I've been going through almost 500 albums without using this, but now is its time:
👉 "Overraaaated" 👈
That felt good. Because, you see - and I'm German, my opinion on Kraftwerk is twice as right here, I don't make the rules - I've always felt like all they did was to take what Krautrock had created before them and to strip the fun and soul from it and turn it into sterile, rather dumb and consumable pop music - but electronic. Which was, uh, oh, fancy, new to most people apparently. For which they do deserve some credit, I guess, with regards to music's history, but without the quasi boygroup spectacle of the costumes and the performances and everything about their act, they would have had no business becoming so highly revered. But now people see a recording of their alleged first public performance and are over the moon about the drummer's fantastic, unmatched skill to /𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴 not mess up a four-to-the-floor kickdrum!?
Both Kraftwerk's music and legacy has no right to overshadow the likes of NEU!, Can, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Cluster or, for a different flavour of pioneering, Laurie Spiegel the way it does. Is what I'm saying.
And yes, I was thoroughly bored here. "Franz Schubert" was nice.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
So far, Soul sits smack in the middle of my genre-ratings but this one here is Magic. Probably helped by my today's being in the mood for georgous voices. Because wow.
Pink Floyd
3/5
Ooof. I understand the value of it, but No. The capital s Songs with their whimsical fairytale pop psychedelia aren't my shit and the aimless noodlings of Let's See What Weird Stuff We Can Do With Our Instruments aren't either. Or not yet, as presented here, in their infancy. I guess the childlike whimsy of this debut is a quality for some, but I'd much rather skip forward to when Pink Floyd had let that all simmer into "Saucerful of Secrets", "More" or one of my all-time favourite songs "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" (or the "Come in Number 51, Your Time Is Up" version). This here brought me no joy.
4/5
After the first two songs, I thought I'd just do a "Oh, like Blue Cheer, #223, but for punk" and then rather dismissively say something along the lines of "contemporary rock noise on 11" and "cool artifact" before ending with a "but ..." and ultimately give it three stars. BUT. Then I happened to poke around Youtube for a bit and *seeing* them opened up a fresh appreciation and I listened to the thing with a different set of ears. This is wild. This is cool. A keeper. Strong 4.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
I recently reviewed "After the Gold Rush" and that must have finally put Neil Young into the list of my summary's favourite artists. Rightly so, easily. Which is something I've learned. This one here ... might not contribute to it, but neither detract. It's Jamming Rock Young. Crazy Horse Young? I'm more down with Folk Young. But there's some sloppy, loose Grunge here, which is pretty great. A cozy album, at the same time. It's nice. There another bit on my summary, however, one of the entries under Worst Genres which reads Country. So I'm afraid my bottom line enjoyment was a bit tainted by the title track and "Losing End". A really damn strong 4 though.
The Chemical Brothers
2/5
The thing is, I've just never really liked Big Beat. Give me proper techno, give me IDM, give me cut up sample jazz or Jungle/DnB. Or, if you must, give me the madness of The Prodigy. But this? Leaves me utterly cold. I wasn't crazy about this stuff then, and I'm surely not now. Aged like milk music for racing videogames (literally, here). And no, the last tracks just step on the brakes; that doesn't make them better. I didn't find this as obnoxious as Fatboy Slim's "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" but it's not far off.
Louis Prima
5/5
On one hand, this is really outside of even the vast range of music I typically enjoy, on the other hand Bapdibosdibadd, this slapidibaps. Keely Smith pushes this into Five.
Hole
4/5
Doves
2/5
I shouldn't be doing this, but I frequently have the reviews open while listening to the albums, and by the time the second song's vocals started, I understood. What am I supposed to hear in this album? It's other bands in a blender resulting in the average: a beige mush of somewhat competently dressed up but boring songs. It doesn't aggravate me, but it has no business being on this list. As I was saying, back in June:
→ "As I was saying, a couple of months ago:"
→→ "As I was saying, just three days ago:"
→→→ "is this really a Best of All Music? An essential listen? Or another instance of the editors merely completing their assignment of counting up to 1001 by shoveling copious amounts of - all British or Irish - Mercury Prize winners or nominees in here? Yes, it's the latter."
The Incredible String Band
5/5
I'll repeat myself: I very much cherish the folk discoveries I've made here; and this is no exception. It surely is the weirdest of all, but I did want to hear it. An honest four stars plus one extra because let me quote this Thu Jun 19 2025 review "get fucked haters", indeed.
The Flaming Lips
4/5
When this generator here introduced me to The Flaming Lips via "The Soft Bulletin" (#62), it elicited one of my strongest reactions of "How had I slept on this band all the time, wtf!?" so far. But in hindsight, that excitement didn't last long, to be honest. And now, today, one and a half years later I think "Yoshimi..." merely has my sympathies. A lot of them, mind you, there's still some of that fragile, whimsical beauty, but it doesn't captivate me the way "The Soft Bulletin" did then, that day.
Taylor Swift
3/5
Look, I'm not an idiot, I understand that this is quite perfectly made, fun and flashy, and efficiently infused with 80s nostalgia pop music. I can hear even *hear* that, not merely *understand* in an abstract sense. There are good reasons for Swift being the monumental pop titan she has become. Is this an AYMHBYD? Of course it is.
That doesn't change how much it's not for me. Reference? I'm currently doing one of those Social Media "challenges" of 10 Days of [favourite songs/artists] and this one happens to be Songs From Women/Women Fronted Bands From the Past 10 Years and so far I'm having Warpaint, tricot, Emma Ruth Rundle, Petrol Girls and Hello Mary. The remaining five will likely include Ithaca, Oathbreaker and Water From Your Eyes - this is not for me.
Or, thinking of it, it very well could be - after all I've had fun with similarly styled cuts from Miley Cyrus' "Plastic Hearts" for instance - but I'm just utterly unmoved by Swift's white girl sorority cheerleader voice and I actively dislike many of the beats on here, as they don't really seem to be so much 80s inspired but rather curtsy to the then fashionable seeping of trap elements into contemporary dance music. And that seems to be a theme: it's all very calculated and strategised on a whiteboard kind of music. Meh.
Talvin Singh
4/5
Ok, sigh. It's one of those - Robert Dimery et al. dilettantely including electronica - but I actually have no ill feelings about this one. Certainly, admittedly a stand-out album in its blend of ~World~ and late 90s DnB adjacent sounds, for whatever that's worth. And, hey: Ryuichi Sakamoto on some flutes; that's a plus. Not crazy about what I listened to, but I can respect it.