Also known as the "Zep goes to the countryside to holiday together in a rural cottage and (mostly) gets in touch with their softer side" album! I have a memory of first discovering this record when I borrowed the CD from my local library in my early teens...and thinking, "Huh--this isn't like the first two albums at all." It grew on me from there. LZ III is a super satisfying listen, with some of the group's most memorable uptempo stuff (the heavy Immigrant Song and jaunty Gallows Pole) and quietest (the twangy Tangerine and That's the Way) that they put out over the years. As is pointed out in the 1,001 Albums book note about LZ III, it's clear when Jimmy Page came up with the 12-string melody for "Tangerine" that he/they were building the core intro for the mega-epic Stairway to Heaven (whether they knew it or not at the time). Throw this record on while you're driving to your own rural getaway for some fellowship with nature. You'll be glad you did. Wikipedia factoids: *The album was one of the most anticipated of 1970, and its shipping date was held up by the intricate inner sleeve design based around a volvelle, with numerous images visible through holes in the outer cover. (this allowed for rotating the inside image to display different images through the cut-outs in the album's outer sleeve.) *Following an exhausting concert tour of North America that spring (1969), lead singer Robert Plant recommended to guitarist and producer Jimmy Page that they should retreat to Bron-Yr-Aur, an 18th-century cottage in Snowdonia, Wales, on a hilltop overlooking the Dyfi Valley, three miles (4.8 km) north of the market town Machynlleth. Plant had spent holidays there with his family. This remote setting had no running water or electric power, which encouraged a slight change of musical direction for the band towards an emphasis on acoustic arrangements. Page later explained that the tranquillity of Bron-Yr-Aur stood in sharp contrast to the continual touring of 1969, affecting the overall tone of the songwriting and dominance of acoustic guitars. *With Led Zeppelin III, the group's songwriting dynamic also changed: from Page's domination of the first two albums towards a more democratic situation in which all four group members contributed their own compositions and ideas. *Plant wrote all of the lyrics, with the exception of "Tangerine." Standouts: Immigrant Song, Friends, Celebration Day, Since I've Been Loving You, Gallows Pole, Tangerine, That's the Way, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp

Wow. The. Repetitive. Nature. Of. EDM/House Music. Is. Not. My Jam. Sorry, Orbital - I am definitely not your target audience so I'm rating this one as such. I'd never revisit this. There are a couple of positives I did take away from this album that I will never listen to willingly again: the first 4 "songs" didn't grate on me. This earlier portion of the record was fairly easy to do some "deep work" to as it played in the background. Some of the tracks, like Crash and Carry, had some melodic spots. And then things completely traversed into noisy EDM repetition, including "songs" more than 15 minutes long that made me want to jump off the closest bridge. Memory unlocked: I do recall there being an Orbital song on the EDM/electronica-heavy soundtrack for the forgettable 90s movie "The Saint," though - why I bought that as a teen, I do not remember. Certainly not because of Orbital (sorry, Orbital). Interesting factoid (only one this time) from Wikipedia: *The band released the album at the time of the launch of the Criminal Justice Act, the legislation that gave British Police greater legal powers to break up unlicensed raves that gave Orbital its name. The Are We Here? single featured the track "Are We Here? (Criminal Justice Bill?)", which consists of four minutes of complete silence. Standouts: Forever, Crash and Carry

I could listen to Nick Drake sing and play for hours on end. His soothing croon, unique melodies, and purposeful string accompaniments on this record are simply stunning. Three Hours demands your attention and holds it steadfast with a haunting, melodic guitar and hand drumming. Standout tracks: Time Has Told Me, River Man, Three Hours, Saturday Sun

This is Beck's "fuck it, you want a largely radio-friendly record from me again? Ok sure, but I'm also gonna keep it way more sonically interesting than my old shit because that's what I do now" album. I am not complaining! This is, as of this writing, my favorite Beck album, and my rating reflects that. This album blends the sometimes cocky, high-energy, goofball vibes of Odelay with Beck's later experimental instruments and sounds that he experimented with in Mutations, Midnite Vultures and Sea Change...and it's a brilliant marriage of auditory goodness that is mostly super upbeat with some somberness mixed in. Not surprising given when it was recorded and the loss Beck experienced in his life (see the note from Wikipedia below). Random observation alert: I was pretty surprised that "Hell Yes" has as few streams on Spotify as it does at the time of this review ("only" 4.5M compared to the two other singles: Girl's 28M and E-Pro's 48M streams) given it was also a single and it's a fun jam. I'm sure one day a random ad will give it new life. "Guero" es cerca de perfecto y muy, muy bueno. Interesting Wikipedia factoids: *Güero (pronounced 'wero') means "blond" in Mexican Spanish, but can also refer to a light-skinned person. *Beck was raised in a prominently Chicano area of Los Angeles. In an interview with ABC's Nightline, Beck said the term "guero" was "something that I'd hear growing up. Something I'd hear on the street, walking to school or something, I'd get called a 'Guero'. ... It's just a word that stuck in my head and I wanted to do something with that at some point. ... I ended up, in the end, just kind of doing this almost journalistic kind of look at that whole time." *The title of track 2, "Qué Onda Guero" (or "¿Qué onda, güero?"), is Mexican slang for "what up, whitey? *The album was recorded over a period of nine months, following a year and a half of touring in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Several other events contributed to the writing of the songs, including the suicide of Beck's friend Elliott Smith and Beck's impending child with wife Marissa Ribisi. The song "Broken Drum" is dedicated to Smith. *"Hell Yes" features spoken contributions from Christina Ricci, who happened to be in the studio at the time of recording...Jack White of the White Stripes plays bass on "Go It Alone". Standouts: E-Pro, Girl, Missing, Hell Yes, Broken Drum, Scarecrow, Go It Alone

A bit overindulgent in 60s noise, but this one has some really well-done tracks that fit my ear including Sunday Morning, I'm Waiting for the Man, and Venus in Furs.

I could listen to Nick Drake sing and play for hours on end. His soothing croon, unique melodies, and purposeful string accompaniments on this record are simply stunning. Three Hours demands your attention and holds it steadfast with a haunting, melodic guitar and hand drumming. Standout tracks: Time Has Told Me, River Man, Three Hours, Saturday Sun

How is this NOT a Greatest Hits catalog? It's a question that's as mind-boggling as such timeless head-scratchers including, "What came first: the chicken or the egg?" and "What happens after we die?" Rick O. and the rest of The Cars embody fun, head-bopping classic rock and pop-rock adjacent acts of today have much to thank for the path created by this band. Specifically, this album. Standout tracks: honestly, just about every single one of the nine songs on The Cars. If you're making me pick three, I'd go with arguably one of the strongest three-song intros to an album ever recorded: Good Times Roll, My Best Friend's Girl, and Just What I Needed. Oh, and don't forget about You're All I've Got Tonight, Moving in Stereo...the list goes on. An absolute classic album that lives up to the hype through the years.

Definitely hearing some modern post-punk sounds here that this album almost definitely influenced. I found it interesting that RHCP's John Frusciante cites this album as a direct inspiration for his tone/sound on their "By the Way" album. I enjoyed the first half more than the second but appreciate it as a whole very much.

Some great tracks here, I now have a new appreciation for some of the lesser played Stones songs.

A bit boring for my tastes--Britpop isn't my cup of musical tea outside of some Oasis and Blur tracks. Common People is of course a classic song, though, and I appreciate the trail this blazed for many other Britpop acts to follow.

I remember this band from my college days! This debut from The Zutons offers a well-rounded blend of pop-garage rock songs that you can't help but get stuck in your noggin. Hearing a variety of 60s/70s influences across the album as a whole as I listen now. The front half of Who Killed..... is stronger than its back, but this was an enjoyable first-time-listen-through for me. And, made me recall fun times with friends back in college so many years ago (We Are, Penn State!).

I'm not sure how this was my first listen-though of this album. Songs like Live Forever, Slide Away, and Rock 'n' Roll Star have been mainstays of my alternative rock playlists for more than two decades. Definitely Maybe was such a fucking good debut album! The only thing that makes me sad or have any negative feelings about this listen is that we'll likely never get the Gallagher brothers to kiss and make up for a reunion. I never had the chance to see Oasis perform live. This album deserves all of the praise it's gotten and continues to get. Five stars.

Some very classic songs that help to shape blues/rock 'n roll as we know it. Tutti Frutti, Ready Teddy, and Long Tall Sally are all high energy "bops" even in 2024!

Massive Attack basically coined the "trip-hop" genre. I hadn't ever listened to their older stuff, let alone the very first album. It's a bit more funky and less dark than their (maybe?) more popular 2000s work. Great stuff, nonetheless. That bassline on Safe From Harm should be illegal it's so spicy! Unfinished Sympathy melds hip-hop beats with a snaking sound that can only be described by me as playing spoons like a mofo. Add in that wonderful vocal track and *chef's kiss*. Standouts: Safe From Harm, Blue Lines, Be Thankful for What You've Got, Unfinished Sympathy, Lately

It took me a few sittings to finish this album - not that it was a bad listen, at all! It's just not my primary genre of music. While the album overall was very impressive musically, this one doesn't stand out as a must-listen which has me dropping it from four stars to three. I did end up saving a few of these to my favorites in Spotify, though and appreciate what BVSC has done for the Cubano/bolero/jazz genre. Stand-outs: Chan Chan, De Camino a la Vereda, Veinte Anos

The Wikipedia genre description of this album is "swamp rock," which I couldn't agree with more! Some of the songs on this short album are a bit boring for my tastes, but tracks like Born on the Bayou and of course Proud Mary are fantastic blues/rock efforts that trot out the best that CCR had to offer. Standout tracks: Born on the Bayou, Bootleg, Good Golly Miss Molly, Proud Mary

It took me a couple of sit-downs to get through this album, and early on in my 1,001 albums journey is my least favorite. While some tracks hit well, such as Crystalized, it got super repetitive and boring musically and lyrically for my tastes. Standouts: Intro, Crystalized, Night Time

I appreciate the art/pop-rock that Dare! inspired many later artists, including of the 2000s, to jump in and try. The bouncy synths that are present in possibly every song here feel like they are driving the songs. Stand-outs: Open Your Heart, The Sound of the Crowd, Love Action (I Believe In Love), Don't You Want Me

I really only knew The Byrds for their massive hit "Turn! Turn! Turn!" before listening to this album. Jangly 60s electric guitars and wistful, reverb-soaked vocals and group harmonies help propel this album to something I found more memorable than I thought I would (60s rock isn't really my thing usually). I did find the first half of the album to be better than the second. Interesting note from the Wikipedia entry for this album: "The Byrds also introduced the sound of the pedal steel guitar and the Moog modular synthesizer into their music, making it one of the first LP releases on which the Moog appears." Moog: best instrument name ever! Additionally, the well-known David Crosby was also fired from the band during this album's recording. Quite "notorious" indeed. Stand-outs: Artificial Energy, Goin' Back, Draft Morning, Wasn't Born To Follow, Old John Robertson

This album was chock full of smooth, buttery vocals, soothing synths, and trip-hop drum machine loops. It was a great album to listen to while working on a couple of work projects. I did find it a bit repetitive but all of the songs are very pleasing, and this isn't my usual genre of music, so I can't fault it too much for that. Interesting Wikipedia entry note for this album: "Walking Wounded marked a change in the duo's approach to writing songs. Ben Watt produced various instrumental tracks, while Tracey Thorn wrote lyrics after listening to the completed tracks. In producing the tracks, Watt utilized samples from sources such as Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren" and Stan Tracey's "Starless and Bible Black." Standouts: Before Today, Single, Walking Wounded, Mirrorball, Wrong - Todd Terry Remix

Appreciate all that The Temptations have brought to modern music - this album was a one-and-done for me, though. Standouts: Cloud Nine, I Heard It Through the Grapevine

Damn, I really enjoyed this but it also made me feel pretty depressed. If your goal for listeners was to bring us in on the breakup pain you were feeling at the time, Beck...mission accomplished. lol The melancholy across the span of Sea Change is palpable -- it's as if Nick Drake is being channeled by Beck here. The first part of the album is a bit better than the second IMO, but I enjoyed this listen and it made me appreciate Beck's musicianship even more. Standouts: The Golden Age, Paper Tiger, Guess I'm Doing Fine, Lost Cause, Already Dead, Sunday Sun

Didn't dig nu-metal when it was popular. Can confirm: still don't dig it now. When I saw there was a nearly 9-minute song near the end of this album I skipped through it because it was a STRUGGLE to get through this album in general. As a big fan of horror, though, I appreciate the creepy imagery that many of Slipknot's songs and costumes have conjured up through the years. Standouts (If I must remain neutral on my hatred of nu-metal): Wait and Bleed, Spit It Out (which has some redeeming industrial sounds in it)

I was surprised at the fact that--not only was this the first time I've listened to this album--there are so many genuinely awesome songs there are here. Of course, we all know Seven Nation Army...but it is hard to find a weak song on Elephant. This seems to have captured the magic of Jack and Meg at their finest as an artistic group. Simplistic garage rock at some of its finest. Meg never has gotten the credit she deserves for providing a damn solid rhythm section! The vocal patterns on There's No Home For You Here are fantastically pleasing to my eardrums and Jack's various instruments, particularly the slide guitar and keys on songs like I Want to Be the Boy That Warms Your Mother's Heart, are ear-wormy and destroy the idea that The White Stripes were just drums and a fuzzed out guitar. This is my first five-star rating for an album on my 1,001 album journey and I feel confident in this rating. This album is absolutely fantastic and has massive replay value for music fans of various genres. Several fun Wikipedia factoids about the album: *"In an interview with Q Magazine in 2007, Jack White said, 'If you study (the album cover) carefully, Meg and I are elephant ears in a head-on elephant. But it's a side view of an elephant, too, with the tusks leading off either side." He went on to say, "I wanted people to be staring at this album cover and then maybe two years later, having stared at it for the 500th time, to say, 'Hey, it's an elephant!'" *Including the song "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (a Dusty Springfield/Burt Bacharach cover) in their repertoire was Meg's idea, and the band had begun to cover the song live. *"You've Got Her in Your Pocket" was a song that had been written by Jack soon after the band's debut album was released in 1999. He had planned on eventually giving it to a local band to cover, but ultimately felt it was too personal to give away and decided to include it in the album. *Meg is featured for the first time on lead vocals in the track "In The Cold, Cold Night", having only performed background vocals for De Stijl and White Blood Cells previously. *"Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine" was originally written for the band's previous album, White Blood Cells, but Meg had disliked the song, finding the lyrics to be problematic, and it was removed. After debating it, the song was rerecorded and included in Elephant. Jack removed a line from the song that he felt was too harsh. *"There's No Home for You Here" was made with the idea "to see how far we could go with an eight-track recorder, and I think how far we went is too far." Standouts: Seven Nation Army, Black Math, There's No Home For You Here, Ball and Biscuit, The Hardest Button to Button, Girl-You Have No Faith in Medicine

Nirvana was one of the first alternative bands that my young ears were exposed to at 12 years old (starting with their MTV Unplugged album), so I may be a bit biased in my rating here. That said, after having sat with Nirvana's catalog for more than 27 years now, I consider In Utero to be the absolute best studio album that Nirvana ever recorded, without question. More than Nevermind. The production and musical choices across the entirety of In Utero are stunning, occasionally harsh but intentionally so, and there are so many amazing tracks on In Utero that still hold up today. Dumb, Pennyroyal Tea and All Apologies still hold my complete attention years after first hearing them on the unplugged album and then the studio version here. As we all know this was sadly the last album before Kurt's death in '94. It makes me wistful to think about what would have come next as the band came into their own even more as a popular group. Interesting facts from Wikipedia: *Cobain originally wanted to name the album I Hate Myself and I Want to Die, a phrase that had originated in his journals in mid-1992. At the time, he used the phrase as a response whenever someone asked him how he was doing. Cobain intended the album title as a joke; he stated he was "tired of taking this band so seriously and everyone else taking it so seriously". Novoselic convinced Cobain to change the title due to fear that it could potentially result in a lawsuit. The band then considered using Verse Chorus Verse—a title taken from its song "Verse Chorus Verse", and a (at the time current) working title of "Sappy"—before eventually settling on In Utero. The final title was taken from a poem written by Courtney Love. *The cover of the album is an image of a Transparent Anatomical Manikin, with angel wings superimposed. Cobain created the collage on the back cover, which he described as "Sex and woman and In Utero and vaginas and birth and death", that consists of model fetuses, a turtle shell and models of turtles, and body parts lying in a bed of orchids and lilies. The collage had been set up on the floor of Cobain's living room and was photographed by Charles Peterson after an unexpected call from Cobain. * "Pennyroyal Tea", planned as a single prior to Cobain's death, was released in 2014 and reached number one on the now-defunct Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales chart. * Steve Albini (whom Nirvana chose to record In Utero with) originally dismissed Nirvana as "R.E.M. with a fuzzbox" and "an unremarkable version of the Seattle sound". However, he accepted the job because he felt sorry for them, perceiving them as "the same sort of people as all the small-fry bands I deal with", at the mercy of their record company. * In February 1993, Nirvana traveled to Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota...The group stayed in a house on the studio grounds. (Nirvana bassist Krist) Novoselic compared the isolated conditions to a gulag; he said, "There was snow outside, we couldn't go anywhere. We just worked." Standouts: Serve the Servants, Scentless Apprentice, Heart-Shaped Box, Rape Me, Frances Farmer..., Dumb, Pennyroyal Tea, All Apologies

This album is so different between Side A and Side B. It's kind of astonishing. I appreciated Side B much more than A, which is very Bowie-esque glam rock. Side B has some quieter, more introspective 70s rock ballads a la Elton. I had heard of Mott but really not heard anything previous to listening to "Mott" the album, outside of their massive hit All the Young Dudes. While Side B's stuff (3 of the 4 standouts listed below) are on Side B, I have to judge this album as a whole and I really disliked Side A apart from the single All the Way to Memphis. So, three stars is the best I can give this one. Standouts: All the Way From Memphis, Ballad of Mott the Hoople, I Wish I Was Your Mother

So it might be because the 1001 Generator served it up to me just days before I listened to White Blood Cells, but Elephant still stands out to me as the most superior White Stripes album they ever created. WBC has some undeniable bangers and continued to cement their trademark on the simplistic but impressive blues/garage rock sound that Jack and Meg are known for. The Fell in Love With a Girl video is amazing and probably gets my vote for one of the coolest music videos of the 2000s. (Remember music videos, kids?) Offend in Every Way has an insanely catchy guitar lick that reminds me of a classic Old West showdown. Stuff like Now Mary had some fun moments too, but I did find myself a bit bored by the non-hits on this album. Ended up with a 3-star rating after some consideration, but would give it a 3.5 if I could here. Interesting Wikipedia factoids about White Blood Cells: *The album was dedicated to Loretta Lynn, creating a friendship between Lynn and both Jack and Meg White. *The album attempts to rid the band of a blues rock sound, instead vying for a more simple guitar and drums garage rock sound. Shortly before the release of White Blood Cells, (Jack) White asserted that, "There's no blues on the new record. We're taking a break from that. There's no slide work, bass, guitar solos, or cover songs. It's just me and Meg, guitar, drums, and piano." Standouts: Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, Hotel Yorba, Fell In Love With A Girl, The Same Boy You've Always Known, We're Going To Be Friends, Offend In Every Way

This is Beck's "fuck it, you want a largely radio-friendly record from me again? Ok sure, but I'm also gonna keep it way more sonically interesting than my old shit because that's what I do now" album. I am not complaining! This is, as of this writing, my favorite Beck album, and my rating reflects that. This album blends the sometimes cocky, high-energy, goofball vibes of Odelay with Beck's later experimental instruments and sounds that he experimented with in Mutations, Midnite Vultures and Sea Change...and it's a brilliant marriage of auditory goodness that is mostly super upbeat with some somberness mixed in. Not surprising given when it was recorded and the loss Beck experienced in his life (see the note from Wikipedia below). Random observation alert: I was pretty surprised that "Hell Yes" has as few streams on Spotify as it does at the time of this review ("only" 4.5M compared to the two other singles: Girl's 28M and E-Pro's 48M streams) given it was also a single and it's a fun jam. I'm sure one day a random ad will give it new life. "Guero" es cerca de perfecto y muy, muy bueno. Interesting Wikipedia factoids: *Güero (pronounced 'wero') means "blond" in Mexican Spanish, but can also refer to a light-skinned person. *Beck was raised in a prominently Chicano area of Los Angeles. In an interview with ABC's Nightline, Beck said the term "guero" was "something that I'd hear growing up. Something I'd hear on the street, walking to school or something, I'd get called a 'Guero'. ... It's just a word that stuck in my head and I wanted to do something with that at some point. ... I ended up, in the end, just kind of doing this almost journalistic kind of look at that whole time." *The title of track 2, "Qué Onda Guero" (or "¿Qué onda, güero?"), is Mexican slang for "what up, whitey? *The album was recorded over a period of nine months, following a year and a half of touring in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Several other events contributed to the writing of the songs, including the suicide of Beck's friend Elliott Smith and Beck's impending child with wife Marissa Ribisi. The song "Broken Drum" is dedicated to Smith. *"Hell Yes" features spoken contributions from Christina Ricci, who happened to be in the studio at the time of recording...Jack White of the White Stripes plays bass on "Go It Alone". Standouts: E-Pro, Girl, Missing, Hell Yes, Broken Drum, Scarecrow, Go It Alone

First time listening to this band at all, and I hadn't even heard of their name before this, which I found odd as I am a bit of a music-phile. Anyway. The opener "The Thrill of It All" is bombastic and has some nice backing orchestral stuff going on. Found out one of the guys in the band plays violin, so that's cool. The first few songs on Country Life feel like art rock meets southern rock with Ric Ocasek-eseque vocals. The back half of the album goes more into art rock weirdo territory so I can't give this album more than 3 stars but did dig a few songs. Interesting factoids from Wikipedia: *"Shot by Eric Boman, the Country Life cover features two scantily-clad models, Constanze Karoli and Eveline Grunwald...The cover image was controversial in some countries, including the United States and Spain, where it was censored for release. As a result, early releases in the US were packaged in opaque shrink wrap; a later American LP release of Country Life (available during the years 1975–80) featured a different cover shot. Instead of Karoli and Grunwald posed in front of some trees, the reissue used a photo from the album's back cover that featured only the trees. In Australia, the album was banned in some record stores, while others sold each copy inside a black plastic sleeve. Author Michael Ochs has described the result as the "most complete cover-up in rock history" " Standouts: The Thrill of It All, All I Want Is You, Out of the Blue, If it Takes All Night

What a delightfully weird, psychedelic record this is! It made me feel like I was in one of those cheesy, technicolor films from the early 70s where the main characters from the "big city" get stuck in the creepy Nawlins bayou somehow and encounter a weird dude who leads them through the voodoo wilderness to eventual safety. Some of Gris Gris' weirdness could have been shortened up a bit in spots (Croker Courtbullion clocks in at 5:59 and would have been much more enjoyable if it ended 2-3 minutes earlier instead of just filling that time with a variety of goofy noises and jazz flute scatting). Jump Sturdy fixes this and gives us a fun ditty that is less than 3 minutes. Still, I did enjoy listening to Gris Gris all the way through and am happy that Dr. John went on to have a respectable career after this debut album. Dammit, now I'm craving some gumbo! Wikipedia factoids: *The album introduced (Mac) Rebennack's Dr. John character, inspired by a reputed 19th-century voodoo doctor. The style of Gris-Gris is a hybrid of New Orleans R&B and psychedelia. It was recorded in California, albeit with several native New Orleans musicians. *Gris-Gris was released in 1968 on Atco Records, a sub-label of Atlantic Records. Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegun was reluctant to release the record at first, exclaiming, "How can we market this boogaloo crap?" Standouts: Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya, Danse Kalinda Ba Doom, Mama Roux, Jump Sturdy, I Walk On Guilded Splinters

Also known as the "Zep goes to the countryside to holiday together in a rural cottage and (mostly) gets in touch with their softer side" album! I have a memory of first discovering this record when I borrowed the CD from my local library in my early teens...and thinking, "Huh--this isn't like the first two albums at all." It grew on me from there. LZ III is a super satisfying listen, with some of the group's most memorable uptempo stuff (the heavy Immigrant Song and jaunty Gallows Pole) and quietest (the twangy Tangerine and That's the Way) that they put out over the years. As is pointed out in the 1,001 Albums book note about LZ III, it's clear when Jimmy Page came up with the 12-string melody for "Tangerine" that he/they were building the core intro for the mega-epic Stairway to Heaven (whether they knew it or not at the time). Throw this record on while you're driving to your own rural getaway for some fellowship with nature. You'll be glad you did. Wikipedia factoids: *The album was one of the most anticipated of 1970, and its shipping date was held up by the intricate inner sleeve design based around a volvelle, with numerous images visible through holes in the outer cover. (this allowed for rotating the inside image to display different images through the cut-outs in the album's outer sleeve.) *Following an exhausting concert tour of North America that spring (1969), lead singer Robert Plant recommended to guitarist and producer Jimmy Page that they should retreat to Bron-Yr-Aur, an 18th-century cottage in Snowdonia, Wales, on a hilltop overlooking the Dyfi Valley, three miles (4.8 km) north of the market town Machynlleth. Plant had spent holidays there with his family. This remote setting had no running water or electric power, which encouraged a slight change of musical direction for the band towards an emphasis on acoustic arrangements. Page later explained that the tranquillity of Bron-Yr-Aur stood in sharp contrast to the continual touring of 1969, affecting the overall tone of the songwriting and dominance of acoustic guitars. *With Led Zeppelin III, the group's songwriting dynamic also changed: from Page's domination of the first two albums towards a more democratic situation in which all four group members contributed their own compositions and ideas. *Plant wrote all of the lyrics, with the exception of "Tangerine." Standouts: Immigrant Song, Friends, Celebration Day, Since I've Been Loving You, Gallows Pole, Tangerine, That's the Way, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp

So, the 1-2-3 punch of songs at the beginning of Brothers In Arms is arguably THE most impressive of any album from the classic rock era--and easily among the best from any album in modern music. Let's just get that out of the way first. Thanks to some drug commercial from the 00s that I cannot even remember the name of the drug itself (I Googled it, it was Farxiga! To treat high blood pressure!), Walk of Life will now always be associated with a commercial to me. But that doesn't take away from its awesomeness. I'd never heard Your Latest Trick before listening to this album (apparently it was another single?). Smooth jazz vibes up the wazoo (that sax!) and that's a good thing. Outside of the mega singles, this album sports a relatively contemplative tone (especially on tracks Why Worry, Ride Across the River, and the title track), exploring quieter synth and guitar riffs and themes about war and what's left behind after it ends. Interesting Wikipedia factoids: *The music video for "Money for Nothing" received heavy rotation on MTV, and it was the first to be aired on MTV Europe when the network launched on 1 August 1987. It is one of only two Dire Straits songs on a studio album not to be solely credited to Knopfler (the other being "The Carousel Waltz", which opens Making Movies), with guest vocalist Sting given a co-writing credit due to the melody of the repeated "I want my MTV" (sung by Sting) in the song's fadeout echoing the melody of the Police's "Don't Stand So Close to Me."...The music video for the song features early 3D computer animation illustrating the lyrics. The video was one of the first uses of computer-animated human characters and was groundbreaking at the time of its release. *Mark Knopfler described the writing of (Money For Nothing) in a 1984 interview with critic Bill Flanagan: "The lead character in "Money for Nothing" is a guy who works in the hardware department in a television/​custom kitchen/​refrigerator/​microwave appliance store. He's singing the song. I wrote the song when I was actually in the store. I borrowed a bit of paper and started to write the song down in the store. I wanted to use a lot of the language that the real guy actually used when I heard him, because it was more real...." *"Walk of Life" was a number two hit on the UK Singles Chart in early 1986 and a number seven hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 later that year. The song was nearly left off the album but was included after the band out-voted producer Neil Dorfsman. *Written during the 1982 Falklands War, "Brothers in Arms" deals with the senselessness of war. In 2007, the 25th anniversary of the war, Knopfler recorded a new version of the song at Abbey Road Studios to raise funds for British veterans who he said "are still suffering from the effects of that conflict." *The guitar featured on the front of the album cover is Mark Knopfler's 1937 14-fret National Style "O" Resonator. The Style "O" line of guitars was introduced in 1930 and discontinued in 1941. *Brothers in Arms was one of the first albums directed at the CD market, and it was a full digital recording (DDD) at a time when most popular music was recorded on analog equipment. Standouts: So Far Away, Money For Nothing, Walk of Life, Your Latest Trick, Brothers in Arms

\"(Hounds of Love is) almost like two separate albums. If they're linked, it's only by the theme of love.\" - Kate Bush Looking at the stream counts of the 12 individual songs on Spotify as of the time of this writing, it's clear that many people listen to the first half of HoL more than its second. This became clear as I gave Hounds a full listen for the first time. The first half of HoL (5 songs) is poppy, bombastic, prog-rock-y, and in-your-face. Running Up That Hill? Amazeballs (lots of covers of this one out there, but Kate's is still the best I've ever heard). Cloudbusting (one of Prince's favorite songs from Kate)? Phenomenal. The Big Sky? A rocking, synthy good time. Aside from some songs that didn't stand out as much, I loved Side One pretty much exclusively. 5/5 stars. No notes. As for the second half (sub-titled \"The Ninth Wave\"): It's a concept \"album\" so I'm adjusting my rating for this one and trying to not let it affect my full album rating too much. This gets weird, and Kate lets her freak flag fly on this half. \"Waking the Witch\" is a bit scary and sonically very alarming, which I guess is the point. I did enjoy \"And Dream of Sheep\" though, which is the first of the seven songs that comprise The Ninth Wave story. Jig of Life has a cool fiddle-driven melody I appreciated, and the closing \"The Morning Fog\" returns to a quieter, more poppy Kate that fits more with Side One. I would (and will!) re-visit side one of Hounds of Love in the future, but a one-and-done listen for Side B of the album was enough for me. I'm not entirely sure why these were released as one album...but it is what it is. 3/5 stars as far as The Ninth Wave portion of HoL goes. Lastly, the album cover is so damn cool and memorable. I'm a sucker for a pretty, confident, talented woman who also likes dogs, so call me biased. But, I LOVE this cover and how it was framed and shot (by Kate's brother, who also wrote the poem recited during the end of Jig of Life). Interesting factoids from Wikipedia: *The album's first side produced three further singles (besides \"Running...\"): \"Cloudbusting\", \"Hounds of Love\", and \"The Big Sky\". The second side, subtitled The Ninth Wave, forms a conceptual suite about a woman drifting alone in the sea at night. *The album was produced as two suites, with side one being subtitled Hounds of Love and side two a seven-track concept piece subtitled The Ninth Wave. The album has been described as post-progressive because Bush voices themes of love and womanly passion rather than the usual male viewpoints associated with progressive rock. *The album launch party was held at the London Planetarium on 5 September 1985. The invited guests were treated to a playback of the entire album while watching a laser show inside the Planetarium. *In the UK, most reviews of Hounds of Love at the time of its release were overwhelmingly positive. In a five-star review, Sounds called the album \"dramatic, moving and wildly, unashamedly, beautifully romantic\", before going on to state, \"If I were allowed to swear, I'd say that Hounds of Love is f***ing brilliant, but me mum won't let me\". *In a poll of the public conducted by NPR, Hounds of Love was voted in fourth place in its list of 150 greatest albums ever made by female artists. Standouts: Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God), Hounds of Love, The Big Sky, Cloudbusting, And Dream of Sheep, Jig of Life, The Morning Fog

Another album (and musical group) I had never heard of before this came up in the Generator. Sonically, some pleasing things are going on throughout this album. The instrumental title track kicks things off with a sweeping audio track that shifts between the left and right channels to disorient the listener a bit, and plays around with a wah-wah pedal connected to a piano. Volume crescendos are also featured at the end of Long Agos and Worlds Apart. Coincidentally, the Generator served this album up to me a day after sending me Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love" -- another album that features a concept album on Side B. Like with Hounds of Love, I grew tired of the six-song "Happiness Stan" concept album content (especially with the odd spoken-word narration sprinkled throughout). I appreciated the first half more - particularly the poppy, jammy Song of a Baker. Learning that Small Faces split and created two more famous groups as a result--Marriott forming Humble Pie with Peter Frampton and the other members forming Faces with Rod Stewart--was a neat piece of musical history. Ultimately, I won't be revisiting "Ogden's Nut..." again. The vast majority of quirky, 60s-era Brit-rock albums just ain't my thing, man. Interesting Wikipedia factoids: *The opening title track is an instrumental re-working of "I've Got Mine," a failed single from 1965. This recording uses a piano treated with a wah-wah pedal and orchestral flourishes from a string section led by David McCallum Senior. *Side two of the LP is based on an original fairy tale concept about a boy called Happiness Stan, consisting of a musical suite of six songs interlinked with narration provided by comic monologuist and performer Stanley Unwin in his unique, nonsensical private language of "Unwinese." *The album was originally released on vinyl in a circular novelty package of a metal replica of a giant tobacco tin, inside which was a poster created with five connected paper circles with pictures of the band members. This proved too expensive and not successful as the tins tended to roll off of shelves and it was quickly followed by a paper/card replica with a gatefold cover. *The title track was played during the debut trailer for the video game Grand Theft Auto V and was later featured on the in-game Los Santos Rock Radio station. *"The Song of a Baker" was inspired by both a book of Sufi wisdom given to Ronnie Lane by Pete Townshend of The Who that addressed "how hard you’ll work if you’re hungry," and also by Lane's visits to Ibiza where a neighbour used to bake bread in his traditional Balearic bread oven. *To promote the album, Immediate Records issued an advertisement that parodied the Lord's Prayer. This caused an uproar in the British press, and outraged readers wrote in to voice their anger. It read: Small Faces Which were in the studios Hallowed by thy name Thy music come Thy songs be sung On this album as they came from your heads We give you this day our daily bread Give us thy album in a round cover as we give thee 37/9d Lead us into the record stores And deliver us Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake For nice is the music The sleeve and the story For ever and ever, Immediate Regarding the advert, (Small Faces frontman) Steve Marriott said, "We didn't know a thing about the ad until we saw it in the music papers. And frankly we got the horrors at first. We realize that it could be taken as a serious knock against religion. But on thinking it over, we don't feel it is particularly good or bad. It's just another form of advertising. We're not all that concerned about it. We're more concerned in writing our music and producing our records." Standouts: Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, Song of a Baker, Lazy Sunday

My initial reaction to being served up Achtung Baby (my first U2 album as part of this listening project) was "oh...yeah, I guess I'll need to start getting U2 albums out of the way." Lucky for me, my time with this album was mostly enjoyable to me. I do not dislike most reverb-drenched guitar work, so even though I'm not the biggest fan of U2 I actually enjoyed quite a bit of Achtung Baby as it represents a darker tone and side of the group. Aside from the monster hits like One and Mysterious Ways, songs like Until the End of the World caught my ear and held my attention for being a "harder" U2 sound than many (most?) of their later 00s era-and-on poppy records. "The Fly" has a driving, sexy beat and a fantastic wah-wah guitar hook that The Edge delivers perfectly. I was also reminded how much I love this lyric and Bono's delivery in Mysterious Ways: "If you wanna kiss the sky, you better learn how to kneel. On your knees, boy!" Interesting Wikipedia Factoids: *Achtung Baby spawned five singles: The Fly, Mysterious Ways, One, Even Better Than the Real Thing, and Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses. *As is often the case on U2 albums, Bono is credited as the sole lyricist. In contrast to U2's previous records, whose lyrics were politically and socially charged, Achtung Baby is more personal and introspective, examining love, sexuality, spirituality, faith, and betrayal. The lyrics are darker in tone, describing troubled personal relationships and exuding feelings of confusion, loneliness, and inadequacy. *Of the album's personal nature, Bono said that there were a lot of "blood and guts" in it. His lyrics to the ballad "One" were inspired by the band members' interpersonal struggles and the German reunification. *Several photographs were considered as candidates for a single cover image, including shots of: a cow on an Irish farm in County Kildare; the nude (bassist, Adam) Clayton; and the band driving a Trabant. Ultimately, a multiple image scheme was used, as U2, Corbijn, Averill, and the producers thought that "the sense of flux expressed by both the music and the band's playing with alter egos was best articulated by the lack of a single viewpoint." *Whereas the group were known for their earnest live act in the 1980s, their Zoo TV performances were intentionally ironic and self-deprecating; on stage, Bono portrayed several characters he conceived, including "The Fly", "Mirror Ball Man", and "MacPhisto". The majority of the album's songs were played at each show, and the set lists began with up to eight consecutive Achtung Baby songs as a further sign that they were no longer the U2 of the 1980s. *During the writing of "The Fly," Bono created a persona based on an oversized pair of black sunglasses that he wore to lighten the mood in the studio. The character, which he also named "The Fly," evolved into a leather-clad egomaniac meant to parody rock stardom. Bono assumed this alter ego for the band's subsequent public appearances and live performances on the Zoo TV Tour. *From September 2023 to March 2024, U2 inaugurated the Sphere in the Las Vegas Valley with a 40-concert residency called U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere. The shows were focused on Achtung Baby and leveraged the venue's immersive video and sound capabilities. (Drummer Larry) Mullen, however, did not participate in the concerts due to a planned surgery and period of recuperation, marking the first time since 1978 that U2 performed without him; Dutch drummer Bram van den Berg from the band Krezip filled in. Standouts: Even Better Than the Real Thing, One, Until the End of the World, Mysterious Ways, Acrobat

Wow. The. Repetitive. Nature. Of. EDM/House Music. Is. Not. My Jam. Sorry, Orbital - I am definitely not your target audience so I'm rating this one as such. I'd never revisit this. There are a couple of positives I did take away from this album that I will never listen to willingly again: the first 4 "songs" didn't grate on me. This earlier portion of the record was fairly easy to do some "deep work" to as it played in the background. Some of the tracks, like Crash and Carry, had some melodic spots. And then things completely traversed into noisy EDM repetition, including "songs" more than 15 minutes long that made me want to jump off the closest bridge. Memory unlocked: I do recall there being an Orbital song on the EDM/electronica-heavy soundtrack for the forgettable 90s movie "The Saint," though - why I bought that as a teen, I do not remember. Certainly not because of Orbital (sorry, Orbital). Interesting factoid (only one this time) from Wikipedia: *The band released the album at the time of the launch of the Criminal Justice Act, the legislation that gave British Police greater legal powers to break up unlicensed raves that gave Orbital its name. The Are We Here? single featured the track "Are We Here? (Criminal Justice Bill?)", which consists of four minutes of complete silence. Standouts: Forever, Crash and Carry

I have never understood the quote-unquote hate for Billy Joel's music. (And yes, I used to work with a woman who vocally hated everything he's done and wasn't afraid to tell you when BJ came up in conversation.) The Stranger is one of Mr. Joel's strongest works, front to back, and just NAILS the piano-pop, lyrically genuine and sardonic, musically interesting sort of classic rock that has made this dude an institution of modern music. There's a good reason this was Billy's first number-one album. His label was prepared to drop him after the disappointing sales of the previous record, Turnstiles, and boy...did Billy deliver. Movin' Out - banger. The whistling intro/outro of "The Stranger" (and its slinky, ear-wormy guitar lick chorus): a musical chef's kiss. (I love the fact that Billy didn't know what instrument should do the intro, whistled to producer Phil Ramone what he wanted the music to sound like on said instrument, and the guy replied - do THAT. Just whistle it. It's THAT. Smart guy.) The organ's wobbly, underwater-ish (verb?) sound on Just the Way You Are, paired with that loving saxophone in the long outro. Boom. Musical chef's kiss. "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" is probably one of (if not THE) best Billy Joel song that wasn't a single. I treasure every single one of its 7 minutes and 36 seconds. Yes: musical chef's kiss. I will be totally honest, I had no idea how good or popular "Vienna" was until seeing the stream count on Spotify at the time of this writing -- apparently it's a fan favorite at Billy's shows (of which I have yet to be in the audience for). Excellent song, even on a first-time-listen over here. Chef's smooch. The final two tracks on the album ("Get it Right the First Time" and "Everybody Has a Dream") are strong, even if they don't have the same emotional and/or musical wallop of the first seven. They're a nice quiet closer to The Stranger, and it does not take away from the fact that this album deserves to be listened to by everyone at least once, and gets a full five stars from yours truly. I hope Billy and his closest family and friends had an epic dinner at their favorite local Italian restaurant after learning this album would launch him into the stratosphere of pop stardom. Interesting factoids from Wikipedia: *The album won two awards at the 1978 Grammy Awards: Record of the Year and Song of the Year for "Just the Way You Are". It remains his best-selling non-compilation album to date and surpassed Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge over Troubled Water to become Columbia's best-selling album release, with more than 10 million units sold worldwide. *An amazing 24 people played various parts on the recording. *Despite the formation of Joel's band, the songs on The Stranger didn't feature any consistent guitarists, with different players instead featuring in each song, and according to Joel, the reason for the initial lack of a constant guitarist was because it was hard to find the right one. *According to Joel, he and (album producer Phil) Ramone met with each other at Fontana di Trevi, an Italian restaurant near Carnegie Hall, where Joel had been playing at the time. The restaurant would go on to inspire the setting of "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", a song on The Stranger. *"Only the Good Die Young" was written by Joel while opening for the Beach Boys in Knoxville, Tennessee, at which point it sounded slower-pace and more akin to a reggae tune, with Joel even singing the song's lyrics in a Jamaican accent. The mood of the song was shifted at the insistence of drummer Liberty DeVitto, who reportedly said to Joel, 'Why are you singing like that? The closest you've been to Jamaica was the Long Island Rail Road!'" *"Vienna" has also become a popular part of his live set; when Joel lets the audience choose between it and "Just the Way You Are", "Vienna" is most often the winning contender. *[On "She's Always a Woman"]: "Joel has said that he was influenced by Gordon Lightfoot and his mellow acoustic guitar ballads. He stated in an interview that he was attempting to replicate the fingerpicking common in folk guitar music. He accomplishes this by playing arpeggiated triads in the right hand. He also notes that the production was purposely minimal to capture the purity of the tune as a folk song." *Joel has cited "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" and "Vienna" as his favorite and 5th-favorite songs that he has written, respectively. Standouts (it's almost the entire damn 9-song record, dudes): Movin' Out (Anthony's Song), The Stranger, Just the Way You Are, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Vienna, Only the Good Die Young, She's Always a Woman

Jim Steinman knew how to write a damn pop song. Bat Out of Hell (the song and the album) is a crushing, pompous, opera-rock adventure. The album cover is also a perfect representation of what you get across the 46 minutes and change of musicianship on BOOH. The older I get, the more I appreciate this album and the story behind its creation. Meatloaf and Steinman were a dynamic duo. Still very listenable with the exception of the last song that I find boring, but not off-putting. Interesting factoids from Wikipedia: *The album was developed from a musical, Neverland, a futuristic rock version of Peter Pan, which Steinman wrote for a workshop in 1974. *Paradise By the Dashboard Light is divided into four parts--Part 1: Paradise, Part 2: Baseball broadcast, Part 3: "Stop Right There!", Part 4: Praying for the end of time *In early live performances of (Paradise by the Dashboard Light), Part 4 was followed by a spoken-word epilogue in which the two characters, presumably having been married for a number of years, argued about what to keep after the couple's divorce. The argument was cut short by the female shouting "...And I'll keep the baby!", which left Meat Loaf's character, previously unaware of the pregnancy, speechless; immediately after, he ended the argument by screaming incoherently at her. The exchange was repeated with different female vocalists, in different versions and with different endings, in most of Meat Loaf's subsequent live tours and remained in the set until his death, when it was still occasionally performed by Meat Loaf and his featured vocalist Patti Russo. *Bat Out of Hell has sold over 43 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. *Steinman and Meat Loaf had difficulty finding a record company willing to sign them. According to Meat Loaf's autobiography, the band spent most of 1975 writing and recording material, and two and a half years auditioning the record and being rejected. *[Record company exec] Steve Popovich reportedly listened to the (spoken word) intro to [You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth] and it became a key factor of his accepting Bat Out of Hell for Cleveland International Records. *Phil Rizzuto's baseball play-by-play call for "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" was recorded in 1976 at The Hit Factory in New York City by Rundgren, Meat Loaf, and Steinman. As an Italian Catholic, Rizzuto publicly maintained he was unaware that his contribution would be equated with sex in the finished song. However, Meat Loaf asserts that Rizzuto claimed ignorance only to stifle criticism and was fully aware of the context of what he was recording. *Steinman had wanted equal billing with Meat Loaf on the album's title; he wanted it to be called "Jim Steinman presents..." or "Jim and Meat", or vice versa. For marketing reasons, the record company wished to make 'Meat Loaf' the recognizable name. As a compromise, the words "Songs by Jim Steinman" appear relatively prominently on the cover. The singer believes that this was probably the beginning of their "ambivalent relationship." *The album launched the career of Steinman, who would later begin producing his records as well; he was specifically sought by Bonnie Tyler on the basis of his work and production styles on the album to revitalize her career and produce an album specifically modeled on the productions of Phil Spector. ... Aside from Tyler, he composed and produced songs for musicians such as Air Supply, Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand, the Sisters of Mercy, and Celine Dion. Standouts: Bat Out of Hell, You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night), Two Out of Three Ain't Bad, Paradise By the Dashboard Light

It's funny to me how many albums this project has served me so far that have a pretty stark "Side A vs. Side B" difference in my enjoyment. As a horror fan, a guitar player, a rock music enthusiast of many sub-genres, and someone who truly doesn't care for all of Metallica's material (besides the obvious St. Anger flop), Side A of Master of Puppets is a 10/5; it just hits all of the right notes for me (pun intended). Side B gets a 3/5, mostly because "Orion" is such a stunning instrumental (RIP, Cliff Burton you talent). The other 3 tracks are impressive thrash metal fundamentally, but don't stand out to me as equally re-listenable. Memory unlocked: when I first learned how to play the main riff to Welcome Home (Sanitarium) in college, I felt like a million bucks and was so proud of myself. This song also features one of the best guitar solos in rock history. Come at me if you disagree. Damn, I think I need to pick up my "axe" and play a bit of this again tonight. This is a very good album. RIP, Cliff Burton. "In maaaadnesssssss! Youuuuu DWELL!" Interesting factoids from Wikipedia: *[Master of Puppets] was the band's final album to feature bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a bus accident in Sweden during the album's promotional tour. *The album is the band’s most recent to date to feature a runtime under an hour. *The lyrical theme [of the song "Master of Puppets"] is cocaine addiction. *"The Thing That Should Not Be" was inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos created by famed horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, with notable direct references to The Shadow over Innsmouth and to Cthulhu himself, who is the subject matter of the song's chorus. It is considered the heaviest track on the album, with the main riff emulating a beast dragging itself into the sea. *"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" was based on Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and conveys the thoughts of a patient unjustly caged in a mental institution *The title [of "Leper Messiah"] derives from the lyrics to the David Bowie song "Ziggy Stardust". *The band was not satisfied with the acoustics of the American studios they considered, and decided to record in (drummer Lars) Ulrich's native Denmark. Ulrich took drum lessons, and (guitarist Kirk) Hammett worked with Joe Satriani to learn how to record more efficiently. Ulrich was in talks with Rush's bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee to produce the album, but the collaboration never materialized because of uncoordinated schedules. *With a reputation for drinking, the band stayed sober on recording days. *The album cover was designed by Metallica and Peter Mensch and painted by Don Brautigam. It depicts a cemetery field of white crosses tethered to strings, manipulated by a pair of hands in a blood-red sky. Ulrich explained that the artwork summarized the lyrical content of the album—people being subconsciously manipulated. The original artwork was sold at Rockefeller Plaza, New York City for $28,000 in 2008. Standouts: Battery, Master of Puppets, The Thing That Should Not Be, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), Orion

This is the first album from the 2010s I have been served up on this 1,001 album-listening journey. SZA's musical choices and beats are pleasant to my ear and I didn't actively dislike the album, but I would never revisit this one. Too much auto-tune and monotone sing-rapping. Bright spots for me were "Doves in the Wind" (which may contain the most consistent use of the "p-word" I've ever heard and I actually chuckled quite a bit throughout), and the single "Drew Barrymore." As an album, though, this is a pass for me. Interesting factoids from Wikipedia: *SZA contributed heavily to the album's lyrics, co-writing all fourteen tracks. SZA would freestyle the songs in a hope to "let the moments happen in the studio. Standouts: Love Galore, Doves in the Wind, Drew Barrymore

One of my three stars in my overall rating (I'm shocked I'm giving a Bjork album three stars) is due specifically to the melodic, haunting quality that Bjork and company's vocals create on Medulla. This is, as a Reddit user stated, very much a "headphones album." You need to wear some while listening to truly appreciate that. The throat singer Tagaq has some very impressive vocal (throat?) work throughout. The singles ("Who Is It," "Triumph of a Heart") as well as the song "Oceanic" (performed live during the 2004 Olympics opening ceremonies, I forgot about that) hold their own--and the layered vocals on basically every track are certainly interesting throughout. The lyrics are nothing I can consider anything but confusing. This was unsurprising, given Bjork is, well, Bjork. "Ancestors" is by far the most disarming song on this album and contains more musical panting and grunting than I was ever prepared for. Random observation: I swear the glitchy synth loop in Desired Constellation is wildly similar to the Nintendo Wii menu music! Does anyone else hear that too? Ultimately Medulla feels, to me, like auditory performance art more than an album of songs. It's anything but traditional, and I know Bjork wouldn't have it any other way. Interesting factoids from Wikipedia: *Björk intended to make an album almost entirely a cappella constructed with human vocals, in opposition to the previous album's intense process of composition and multiple layers of instrumentation. *The album's title derives from the Latin word for "marrow". *Whilst working on initial ideas for the album, an eight-months pregnant Björk began adding her own live drumming to arrangements that already had several instruments. She then started muting the instruments, and liked the result of it. *She was inspired by paganism, and the idea of returning to a universe that is entirely human, without tools or religion or nationalities. "I wanted the record to be like muscle, blood, flesh. We could be in a cave somewhere and one person would start singing, and another person would sing a beat and then the next person sing a melody, and you could just kind of be really happy in your cave. It's quite rootsy", she added. *American R&B singer Beyoncé was planned to be featured on the album as well, but she did not appear due to scheduling issues. When asked what she liked about Beyoncé, Björk stated that "[Medúlla] is an album about voices, and she's got the most amazing voice." Standouts: Who Is It (Carry My Joy On The Left, Carry My Pain On The Right), Desired Constellation, Oceania, Triumph Of A Heart

What more is there to say about this? Hotel California the album basically defined the term "classic rock." The balance of perfect guitar solos, pitch perfect vocal harmonies that deviate from dark and edgy ("Life in the Fast Lane") to soft and twangy ("New Kid in Town"), sweeping orchestral ballads ("Wasted Time/Wasted Time Reprise") and overall expert songwriting just flow perfectly together. There's no doubt in my mind that this album is a 5/5. When I first started playing guitar as a teenager, I was incredibly jealous of the 12-string guitar melodies featured on the title track and recall being amazed that anyone could ever play such a daunting instrument and make it sound so gorgeous. If you're reading this: I still bow down to you as a guitar god, Don Felder. I'd never actually heard the album closer, "The Last Resort," and it's such a fantastic end to a truly special record. Cheers to you, Hotel California. Interesting factoids from Wikipedia: *It was the band's first album with guitarist Joe Walsh, who had replaced founding member Bernie Leadon, and the last to feature founding bassist Randy Meisner. * The album was also nominated (at the Grammys) for Album of the Year but lost to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours (1977). * (Eagles frontman, guitarist, drummer) Don Henley said of the themes of the songs in the album: "They're the same themes that run through all of our work: loss of innocence, the cost of naiveté, the perils of fame, of excess; exploration of the dark underbelly of the American dream, idealism realized and idealism thwarted, illusion versus reality, the difficulties of balancing loving relationships and work, trying to square the conflicting relationship between business and art; the corruption in politics, the fading away of the Sixties dream of 'peace, love and understanding.'" *The title for "Life in the Fast Lane" was inspired by a conversation between (Eagles guitarist/keyboardist Glenn) Frey and his drug dealer during a high speed car ride. *While the band were recording the album, Black Sabbath were recording Technical Ecstasy in an adjacent studio at (Los Angeles') Criteria Studios. The band was forced to stop recording on numerous occasions because Black Sabbath were too loud and the sound was coming through the wall. The last track of the album, "The Last Resort," had to be re-recorded a number of times due to noise from the next studio. *According to Henley in a 1982 interview, the Eagles "probably peaked on Hotel California." Henley said: "After that, we started growing apart as collaborators and as friends." *MusicRadar called Henley one of the greatest singing drummers of all time...In live shows, Henley plays drums and sings simultaneously on some Eagles songs. Standouts: Hotel California, New Kid in Town, Life in the Fast Lane, Wasted Time/Reprise, Victim of Love, The Last Resort

I remember listening to this album in college when it first came out and being fairly bored with the songs outside of the monster hit singles. This is still the case for me so many years later while doing my first re-listen for this project. Luckily this is a pretty short album at just under 39 minutes total, so I didn't get too cranky about it. Franz Ferdinand the band is at their best when they're cranking out slinky earworms like Take Me Out, This Fire, and The Dark of the Matinee. Are they an "album band," though? I don't think so; not on this debut anyway. I didn't find Franz Ferdinand the album particularly enjoyable as a whole, but I do enjoy the singles enough to give this 3 stars. Listening to FF the band takes me back to my favorite times in college during the early aughts, when life was simpler and my friends and I would listen to hipster indie while driving around to obtain a late-night Tendercrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch and Shamrock Shake for a midnight snack. Take me back... Interesting factoids from Wikipedia: n/a (This is the first album I have listened to on this journey that had a very boring Wiki page for the album. Nothing notable to include here) Standouts: Take Me Out, The Dark of the Matinee, This Fire

I had one idea of what this would sound like, and then the very sexy, smooth jazz of The Healer's first (title) track kicked in and my opinion changed. At least for a few minutes before the more expected jazz came back in. Santana definitely saw just how well a semi-forgotten musician (no offense to John Lee Hooker) can make a comeback with album sales when they have a bunch of star power featured throughout a record...as this is the strategy he took to heart with great success on his own star-packed "Supernatural" album in the 90s. The Healer is a completely inoffensive blues/light jazz album that I enjoyed and appreciate the JLH blues riffs on, but wouldn't go out of my way to re-listen to. A good album to have on while I got some work done, though. Interesting factoids from Wikipedia: *John Lee Hooker was 73 years old when the album was released. It was his first Grammy win and was the album that had placed highest on the Billboard charts in his forty-year career. The album had such success that it "permitted John Lee Hooker to live out the end of his life in comfort". (Writer's note from John Lee Hooker's Wiki page - his death age is "either 83 or 88." That's quite the range...which led to this unknown-to-me-fact:) *Hooker's date of birth is a subject of debate; the years 1912, 1915, 1917, 1920, and 1923 have all been suggested. Most official sources list 1917, though at times Hooker stated he was born in 1920. Information found in the 1920 and 1930 censuses indicates that he was actually born in 1912. Standouts: The Healer (feat. Carlos Santana and the Santana Band), In the Mood (feat. Bonnie Raitt), Think Twice Before You Go (feat. Los Lobos)

So it's kind of impossible to ignore the cultural appropriation that permeates Ray of Light. Putting that somewhat awkward truth aside, this album has some catchy tunes, and the dark, slinky, trip-hop influences and sonically interesting tones throughout are awesome. The layering of these songs is really pleasing to the ear. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Ray of Light the album, and can understand why critics and many Madonna fans (and the Queen of Pop herself) still consider this her greatest record. Interesting factoids from Wikipedia: *Following the release of her compilation album Something to Remember (1995), Madonna started taking vocal lessons in preparation for her role in Evita (1996). She would also give birth to her daughter, Lourdes, later in 1996. These events inspired a period of introspection. "That was a big catalyst for me. It took me on a search for answers to questions I'd never asked myself before", she said to Q magazine, in 2002. During the same period, she embraced Kabbalah and started studying Hinduism and yoga, all of which helped her "step outside [myself] and see the world from a different perspective". Madonna felt that there was a "whole piece" of her voice left unused, which she decided to utilize for the album. *Madonna herself has considered Ray of Light the most fulfilling evolution of her career, with her referencing it as the "quintessential Madonna album" in a 2013 Reddit AMA. Standouts: Drowned World/Substitute for Love, Swim, Ray of Light, Nothing Really Matters, Frozen, The Power of Goodbye

I'm not a Radiohead stan (as the kids say these days), but I found more than a bit to like about Amnesiac. The album is chock full of brooding, jazzy, unsettling melodies, as well as soaring harmonies and strings. While some songs stood out as very strong (especially on the first half of the album), others--like "Morning Bell/Amnesiac" and "Like Spinning Plates"--do seem a bit like b-sides. One in particular sounds like it was written to be included on the end credits of a 2000s-era horror film ("Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors"). I have to be in the right mood to enjoy Thom Yorke's voice but I did so more often than not on Amnesiac (when it's not being run through a variety of weird filters). There are some legit great hooks on some of these songs, particularly I Might Be Wrong and Knives Out. The instrumental Hunting Bears has a beautiful simplicity to it, with its melodic, lonely guitar and short 2 minute run time. I enjoyed Amnesiac more than I thought I would, so I'm giving it 4 stars. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *[Amnesiac] was recorded with producer Nigel Godrich in the same sessions as Radiohead's previous album Kid A (2000). Radiohead split the work in two as they felt it was too dense for a double album. *The strings, arranged by the guitarist Jonny Greenwood, were performed by the Orchestra of St John's and recorded in Dorchester Abbey, a 12th-century church close to Radiohead's studio. *The cover depicts a book cover with a weeping minotaur. The minotaur, a motif of the Amnesiac artwork, represents the "maze" Yorke felt he had become lost in during his depression after OK Computer; Donwood described it as a "tragic figure." Standout Tracks: Packt Like Sardines In a Crushd Tin Box, Pyramid Song, You and Whose Army?, I Might Be Wrong, Knives Out, Hunting Bears, Life in a Glasshouse

The Pogues are, to me, like the auditory equivalent of that first sip of a malty, slightly warm pint of beer while resting your bones next to an Irish bar fireplace on a chilly Saturday night. I've always appreciated Shane MacGowan's gruff, whiskey-soaked vocal delivery and have known and enjoyed Fairytale of New York every Christmas season since I can't remember how long. IISFFGWG was a really rewarding first-time listen that delivers some sharp lyrical content with impressive Irish folk rock that didn't have me thinking about the skip button once. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *Many of the songs' lyrics return to familiar themes in Pogues songs, such as emigration from Ireland or returning to the country and having to adapt to the changes that have taken place after a long absence, but other tracks dwell on Irish political history or protecting children from the issues encountered as adults. *(Pogues frontman) MacGowan explained the lyrics (of Turkish Song of the Damned) as being a mixture of pirate and ghost story "about a guy on a Turkish island who deserted a sinking ship with all the money and all his mates went down – I'm not totally sure about this – he's haunted and he's dancing around with all this Turkish music in his brain ... Then his best mate comes back, and all the crew, to drag him back down to hell or wherever they are." The song ends with a rendition of the traditional Irish jig "The Lark in the Morning". *"Fairytale of New York" remains The Pogues' best-known and best-selling single. It was named after J.P. Donleavy's 1973 novel A Fairy Tale of New York which Finer had been reading in the studio when the song was first written.[8] The song dated back to 1985 when Finer had written the original melody and lyrics, about a sailor looking out over the ocean, but he admitted that his lyrics had been terrible and MacGowan had come up with a better storyline of a couple arguing in New York City at Christmas time. *Despite never being released as a single, the track "Thousands Are Sailing" has since become one of The Pogues' most popular songs, and according to The Irish Times, it is "recognised as one of the finest songs about Irish emigration". It was written by the band's new guitarist (Phillip) Chevron, and although he had written many songs before as the frontman of his previous band the Radiators, he admitted that for a long time he had felt unsure about putting his song forward for consideration as MacGowan was the recognised songwriter in the band. It was only when (Pogues multi-instrumentalist) Terry Woods offered to help him out with the track and MacGowan showed his approval of the song that Chevron gained the confidence to complete it. Featuring what has been described as a "heartfelt lyric, soaring tune and compelling chorus on the theme of emigration from Ireland to America", "Thousands Are Sailing" inspired the 2012 Derek McCullough graphic novel Gone to Amerikay. Although Chevron also contributed other songs to later Pogues albums, "Thousands Are Sailing" remains his most popular composition, and it was played at his funeral when he died of cancer in October 2013. *"Fiesta" was inspired by a riotous party, which lasted for several days, that the band had during their stay in southern Spain while filming Straight to Hell. (Bango/sax player Jem) Finer based the melody of the song on a fairground-style tune played by fast-food stalls which the band kept hearing everywhere in Spain, and which Finer said he found it impossible to get out of his head. Standout Tracks: If I Should Fall From Grace With God, Turkish Song of the Damned, Fairytale of New York, Thousands Are Sailing, Fiesta, Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six, Sit Down by the Fire

Paul Simon's lyricism, melodies, and use of unique instrumentals across this album are freakin' gorgeous. I think going into listening to this album I expected a collection of fairly "safe," 70s folk, quiet tunes in the vein of Simon's previous efforts with Simon & Garfunkel. Dropping Garfunkel was a massive improvement for Simon's musicianship and I appreciate the places he took this album. Outside of the insanely catchy, popular "Me and Julio", lesser-known tracks like "Armistice Day" and "Peace Like a River" showcase Simon's impressive finger-picking techniques that make me jealous as hell. The man can also play some blues, with sexy slide guitars, brass instruments and I did not want to skip a song throughout Paul Simon the album, so this gets an easy 4-star rating from me. Wait...no. No. FIVE stars. The replayability of this album is top-notch, and I can't wait to listen to it in full again soon. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *(On "Mother and Child Reunion"): The title has its origin in a chicken-and-egg dish called "Mother and Child Reunion" that Simon saw on a Chinese restaurant's menu...The song's lyrics were inspired by a pet dog that was run over and killed. It was the first death Simon personally experienced, and he began to wonder how he would react if the same happened to his first wife, Peggy Harper. "Somehow there was a connection between this death and Peggy and it was like Heaven, I don't know what the connection was," Simon told Rolling Stone in 1972...It was, at the time, one of the few songs by a non-Jamaican musician to use prominent elements of reggae. Simon was a fan of reggae music, and he listened to artists such as Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, and Byron Lee; he wanted to go to Kingston, Jamaica to record the song, as that was where Cliff had recorded his antiwar song "Vietnam" in 1970. *(On "Duncan"): Between the stanzas, the song features instrumental interludes, played on 2 flutes, by Los Incas, an Andean group which had previously collaborated with Simon & Garfunkel on "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" in 1970...Cash Box said that "the instrumental bridge is straight out of the Pied Piper mystique." *(On "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard"): The percussion sound in the song, unusual for American pop, was created with a cuica, a Brazilian friction drum instrument often used in samba music...In a July 20, 1972 interview for Rolling Stone, Jon Landau asked Simon: "What is it that the mama saw? The whole world wants to know." Simon replied, "I have no idea what it is... Something sexual is what I imagine, but when I say 'something', I never bothered to figure out what it was. Didn't make any difference to me." Standout Tracks: Mother and Child Reunion, Duncan, Everything Put Together Falls Apart, Run That Body Down, Armistice Day, Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard, Peace Like a River, Congratulations

Respect for helping to lay the groundwork for more modern rock music (and for Buddy Holly's contributions in particular), but this mono, minimalist, rockabilly album is not my bag. This transported me back to being held captive to this type of music while being driven around in my nana's Honda as a child. I now have a craving for a nice juicy diner burger, fries, and a milkshake though...boy howdy, do I! Fun Factoid from Wikipedia: *The "Chirping" Crickets is the debut album from the American rock and roll band the Crickets, led by Buddy Holly. It was the group's only album released during Holly's lifetime. Standout Tracks: Oh Boy!, That'll Be The Day, Rock Me My Baby

Pleasant, inoffensive, well-done, melodic jazz. Easy to work on projects to. Fun Factoids From Wikipedia: *(Abdullah Ibrahim) is known especially for "Mannenberg", a jazz piece that became a notable anti-apartheid anthem. *Ibrahim has written the soundtracks for a number of films, including Chocolat (1988), and No Fear, No Die (1990). Standout Tracks: Mandela, Manenberg Revisited, Water From An Ancient Well

I do not speak French. And, today, I learned that I do not care to listen to the Chanson genre for pleasure. But I did learn what "Chanson" is, so there's that I guess. Apparently the "full" 15-song album that was featured in the 1001 book isn't available on Spotify, only the original 8-song version. Therefore this saved me listening to nearly double the amount of Chanson. Thank you, Spotify. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *Jacques Romain Georges Brel was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed theatrical songs. He generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, but later throughout the world. He is considered a master of the modern chanson. *A "chanson" is generally any lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of French pop music which emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. *The songs of Jacques Brel have been translated into at least 95 languages. Standout Track: Amsterdam (honestly I wasn't going to pick one for this album but since this particular song has 13M streams on Spotify this got the nod)

While big band music from the 50s is not a genre I gravitate toward, I dug the smoothness and swagger that The Atomic Mr. Basie provided throughout its 40-minute runtime. I could absolutely see myself pairing this album with a perfectly made martini. Bonus points for: 1) Song titles like "Flight of the Foo Birds," "Whirly-Bird," and--my personal favorite--"Splanky," as well as 2) an eye-catching cover, something fairly unusual for this genre of music in 1958. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *The album won Best Jazz Performance, Group and Best Performance by a Dance Band awards at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards (May 4, 1959). *(Count Basie) led (the Count Basie Orchestra) for almost 50 years, creating innovations like the use of two "split" tenor saxophones, emphasizing the rhythm section, riffing with a big band, using arrangers to broaden their sound, and others. *Neal Hefti (who co-arranged the album alongside the CBO) went on to write music for The Odd Couple movie and TV series and for the Batman TV series. Standout Tracks: The Kid From Red Bank, Flight of the Foo Birds, Whirly-Bird, Splanky

I think this album helped invent the phrase, "slap-a-da-bass." Damn! There is some very fine musicianship present on this album. One thing that sticks out to me that makes this album so unique are the weirdy catchy jazz synths in songs like Teen Town. Quirky, retro, and very interesting. As far as jazz goes (I'm not a discerning jazz fan) this is probably some of the best I have heard. Would I go seek this out and re-listen many times over? Likely not, but I absolutely get why it's on this list and I'm glad I listened to it. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *The release sold about 500,000 copies; it would prove to be the band's most commercially successful album and one of the best sellers in the Columbia jazz catalog. *The album opens with "Birdland", which on its own became a significant commercial success, unusual for an instrumental composition, and would go on to become a jazz standard...(and) is a jazz/pop song written...as a tribute to the Birdland nightclub in New York City. *(Weather Report founder and keyboardist) Joe Zawinul used the latest developments in synthesizer technology, and he took advantage of a large variety of sounds and tone colors to make the band stand out. During the first half of their career, Weather Report were seen as one of the defining acts in modern jazz, winning the DownBeat "best album award" five times in a row. Standout Tracks: Birdland, A Remark You Made, Teen Town, Palladium

I am an enormous Foo Fighters fan, and was very excited to finally be served up this debut album during my 1,001 Albums experience. While I don't consider this the best FF album to date, it's a brilliant album that triggered a new era of "post-grunge pop" and Dave Grohl wrote and recorded this entire thing by himself. All instruments. Brilliance. The varied musical styles throughout the self-titled range from loud and brash to quiet and melodic. A nice preview to what the full band version of the Foos would evolve into. Foo Fighters the album absolutely deserves a spot in the upper-level pantheon of my album ratings here. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *Former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl wrote the entire album. He recorded it himself in six days with the assistance of producer Barrett Jones at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, Washington, in 1994. Grohl said that he recorded the album just for fun, describing it as a cathartic experience to recover from the suicide of Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain. The album is considered to have started the post-grunge genre. * Although Grohl played all the instruments on the album, he intended to release it under a name that would make people believe it to be the work of a full band, similar to Stewart Copeland's 1980 EP "Klark Kent". *In an attempt to keep his anonymity, Grohl planned to release the songs under the name Foo Fighters, a name he took from a ufo-logy book he was reading at the time, Above Top Secret, that in a chapter described the "foo fighter" phenomena. *During the sessions, Grohl was invited by Tom Petty to perform with The Heartbreakers on Saturday Night Live one month later. The performance was followed by an invitation to be a full-time member of the Heartbreakers, but once Petty heard about the Foo Fighters, he instead encouraged Grohl to move on with this solo project. *Nine of the songs in the album were composed before or during Grohl's tenure with Nirvana, and existed in demos created by Grohl on his home 8-track tape recorder. The only compositions done after Cobain's death were "This Is a Call", "I'll Stick Around", "X-Static" and "Wattershed". *Most of the lyrics on Foo Fighters are nonsensical lines written by Grohl in the 20 minutes before recording began. As Grohl later explained, "I had seven days to record fifteen songs. I was just concentrating on everything being as together as possible, having everything be tight and in sync. There wasn't too much time spent sitting in a chair thinking." Grohl would add that the gibberish was deliberate, given that "there was too much to say" following Cobain's death and "a lot of emphasis [was] placed on the meaning of the first Foo Fighters album." *...The album cover done by Grohl's then-wife, photographer Jennifer Youngblood, featuring a Buck Rogers XZ-38 Disintegrator Pistol. Some reviewers considered the gun on the cover as insensitive, given Kurt Cobain died by shooting himself, but Grohl dutifully disregarded it as just a coincidence. (Original live Foo Fighters drummer William) Goldsmith later explained, "It was all pretty much based on the whole Foo Fighters thing—Roswell, the space stuff, an antique Buck Rogers raygun. It's really a completely separate thing. Dave wasn't even conscious of that." *(On the song 'Alone + Easy Target'): Dave Grohl wrote and recorded the song in its original form in 1991. Grohl played the demo of the song for Nirvana band-mate Kurt Cobain in a break between touring for the album Nevermind. According to Grohl, "I'd told him I was recording and he said, 'Oh, I wanna hear it, bring it by.' He was sitting in the bathtub with a Walkman on, listening to the song, and when the tape ended, he took the headphones off and kissed me and said, 'Oh, finally, now I don't have to be the only songwriter in the band!' I said, 'No, no, no, I think we're doing just fine with your songs.'" Nirvana would jam the song on soundchecks during the Europe 1991 tour. *"The first Foo Fighters record was not meant to be an album, it was an experiment and for fun. I was just fucking around. Some of the lyrics weren't even real words." —Dave Grohl in 2011 Standout Tracks: This Is a Call, I'll Stick Around, Big Me, Alone + Easy Target, Good Grief, Floaty, For All the Cows

I still get chills when I hear the opening to Hells Bells--arguably one of the most badass songs to open a rock album. Brian Johnson left no doubt that he would be an excellent singer and frontman in the wake of Bon Scott's passing. Angus Young's wild, memorable guitar licks and punk-schoolboy stage presence immediately conjured up by the bangers on this album only add to the enjoyment of this classic for me. I will absolutely admit that the music can get a bit similar from song to song, but AC/DC's anthemic, don't-give-a-shit approach to writing crunchy, teeth-gritting bangers is on full display here. You want bone-shaking rock 'n roll that has immense replay value? Look no further than Back in Black. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *According to Angus Young, the album's all-black cover was a "sign of mourning" for (deceased former AC/DC frontman Bon) Scott. Atlantic Records disliked the cover, but accepted it, on the condition that the band put a grey outline around the AC/DC logo. Album standouts: Hells Bells, Shoot To Thrill, Back in Black, You Shook Me All Night Long, Have a Drink on Me, Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

I enjoyed the up-tempo southern rock and booze-drenched storytelling that encompasses this sweeping double album. Lyrically, there is a lot to like about SRO as well, given the lyrics that don't shy away from the history of racism and "redneck-ery" (is that a word? It is now) that so many think of when "the south" is mentioned. "Three Great Alabama Icons" gives us a spoken-word history lesson about segregation and frontman Patterson Hood's experiences with this topic growing up. Given the 90-minute length of this double album, I don't see myself relistening often and perhaps ever again (I docked a star because it starts to drag toward the end of the second disk), but I enjoyed it overall and give it a 3/5. There are some strong tracks scattered across this southern fried thing. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: * A double album covering an ambitious range of subject matter from the politics of race to 1970s stadium rock, Southern Rock Opera either imagines, or filters, every topic through the context of legendary Southern band Lynyrd Skynyrd. *According to (former Drive-By Truckers frontman) Patterson Hood, "(the album) was recorded in Birmingham, upstairs in a uniform shop during an early September heat wave, with no air-conditioning. We had to turn the fans off when we were recording, and we worked from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. So Southern Rock Opera was fun to write, but we had a miserable time making it." *After the album was finished...the troubles continued for The Truckers when they ran out of funding for the immense project. To resolve the problem, and to avoid "any fine print crap", as Hood put it, the band took a non-traditional approach. The Truckers made a prospectus and solicited investors, with a promise of 15% interest, to pay for the manufacturing and distribution of Southern Rock Opera. The approach worked. Through their fan-based online news group and by sheer word of mouth, The Truckers were able to raise $23,000. This allowed them to print about 5,000 copies of the album and buy a "new" used van for touring. [From a Stereogum article that reflected back on the 20 year anniversary of Southern Rock Opera] *Originally intended for self-release on Soul Dump Records on Sept. 11, 2001, the sprawling double album was delayed a day when the printer closed early following that day’s terrorist attacks. As a result, the band sold its first copies of Southern Rock Opera during a concert in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Sept. 12. A year later, after the musicians had moved an initial 10,000 units on their own, the album was reissued by Lost Highway Records, the Nashville-based Universal subsidiary that was quickly becoming a standard-bearer in the so-called “alt-country” scene via releases from the likes of Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, and Robert Earl Keen." Standout Tracks: Ronnie and Neil, Dead, Drunk And Naked, Three Great Alabama Icons, Let There Be Rock, Women Without Whiskey, Shut Up And Get On The Plane 3 stars

There's no way around it: J Mascis' vocals have always kind of grated on me when I have heard this band. Yet, I enjoy Dinosaur Jr.'s loud and musically pleasant musicianship. The band sounds tight, and J writes some good indie rock. This album reinforces this opinion for me, especially in songs like No Bones and Yeah We Know. The penultimate song on Bug, "Don't," I mostly skipped through because I "don't" need 5:41 of deliberately unmelodic guitar noise and fuzzed out vocals screaming "Whyyyyy don't you LIIIIIIKE MEEEEEE?!?" repeated over and over again. "Don't" is completely unlike the rest of the album and I can't comprehend why this was recorded and added to a full length, let alone 5:41 worth of a "song." Did their producer say "don't record that" and they did it anyway, hence the name? I get why this album is on the list. But I still won't go out of my way to listen to Dinosaur Jr. after reaching the end of Bug. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *Despite it being a favorite of many Dinosaur Jr. fans, (frontman) J Mascis has said it is his least favorite Dinosaur Jr. album. *It was the last Dinosaur Jr. album with original bassist Lou Barlow until Beyond in 2007. Standout Tracks: Freak Scene, No Bones, Yeah We Know, Budge

"It's 1969, baby...it's 1969, baby!" With that catchy intro and swagger, The Stooges' debut album slinks between songs between tracks that are straight blues rockers and sticks in the disarming, drugged-out, Middle Eastern-meets-Velvet Underground-inspired 10-minute track We Will Fall. The first half of this 8-song original album version is more enjoyable and interesting than the back half, which I found fine but sort of forgettable jammy blues rock. Given how seminal this debut is to garage rock and especially the punk movement, I'll give this album as a whole an extra star to move it from 3 to 4 stars. Interesting Factoid from Wikipedia: *The main guitar riff to "I Wanna Be Your Dog" was inspired by the opening guitar riff to "Highway Chile" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience and the song arrangement to "No Fun" was inspired by Johnny Cash's "I Walk The Line". Interesting Factoids from SongFacts: *In this punk classic [I Wanna Be Your Dog], Iggy Pop sings about how he wants to be used sexually by a woman. Songs like this helped establish Iggy as a punk icon known for unpredictable and outrageous behavior...Yes, those are sleigh bells that play throughout the song. Iggy Pop was always looking for unusual instrumentation - on "Search And Destroy" (featured on 1973's "Raw Power" album) you'll hear swords in the background. *"We Will Fall" is a 10-minute ethereal piece that is completely out of place on The Stooges' first album. It's driven by a yogic background chant and the viola of producer John Cale. The spoken word lyrics are Iggy Pop describing a night at the Chelsea Hotel waiting for his girlfriend (Nico from The Velvet Underground) to arrive. *According to Iggy Pop, the riff (from "No Fun") came out of a jam session when the whole band was stoned and Iggy made up lyrics to go with it based on "I Walk The Line" by Johnny Cash. Standout Tracks: 1969, I Wanna Be Your Dog, We Will Fall, No Fun

Jazz, R&B, Pop, and pitch-perfect vocal harmonies all co-exist happily together across the span of Pretzel Logic. I read about Steely Dan co-frontmen Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's strategy for this album--challenging themselves to write short-ish pop tracks--and damn, did that pay off on Pretzel Logic. It was really refreshing to listen to jazz-infused pop music from the 70s that doesn't insist upon itself. All of these tracks get in and out between 2 to 4.5 minutes. All killer, very little filler. Album opener (and Steely Dan's highest-charting single), "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," is such a brilliant pop tune that features loads of kickass harmonies, lush jazz/pop guitar and keyboards, and rich production value. My ex-stepfather played a healthy amount of Steely Dan in my presence growing up, and this is still probably my favorite Steely Dan song I have heard. I found my head a-bopping throughout all 11 tracks, and now definitely have a rekindled appreciation for Steely Dan after listening to Pretzel Logic in its entirety. It's a damn shame this group stopped touring so long ago. I'm hopeful to get served up a second Steely Dan album as I continue on my 1,001 Albums journey. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *The album was Steely Dan's last to be made and released while the group was still an active touring band (1974), as well as the final album to feature the band's full quintet-lineup of Walter Becker, Donald Fagen, Denny Dias, Jim Hodder, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (who subsequently left to join The Doobie Brothers), though it also features significant contributions from many prominent Los Angeles-based studio musicians. *A commercial and critical success, the album's hit single, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", helped restore Steely Dan's radio presence after the disappointing performance of their previous album. *"East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" (also "Toodle-O" and "Todolo") is a composition written by Duke Ellington and Bubber Miley and recorded several times by Ellington for various labels from 1926–1930 under various titles...For Steely Dan's 1974 cover of the song, Becker played the melody with a wah-wah pedal to imitate Miley's trumpet style, while Jeff "Skunk" Baxter used a pedal steel guitar for the trombone part. *Steely Dan FAQ author Anthony Robustelli describes "Pretzel Logic" as a bluesy shuffle about time travel. Fagen has stated that the lyrics, including anachronistic references to Napoleon and minstrel shows, are about time travel. *"Charlie Freak" recounts the tale of a vagrant drug-addict who sells his only possession—a gold ring—to the narrator so he can buy a fix, which kills him. Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *"Rikki Don't Lose That Number" is Steely Dan's highest charting single, reaching #4 on the Hot 100 in 1974. *Released as the B-side to "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," ["Any Major Dude Will Tell You"] was initially a fairly obscure song that became a crowd favorite. In an interview with Rolling Stone during Steely Dan's 2009 tour, Fagen talked about this song: "When we moved out to LA, people called each other 'dude,' which we found funny. We were trying to speak their language." Standout Tracks: Rikki Don't Lose That Number, Night By Night, Any Major Dude Will Tell You, East St. Louis Toodle-Oo, Pretzel Logic, With A Gun, Charlie Freak

Man, this album brings me BACK to my freshman and sophomore years of college. This is when I was first introduced to Elliott Smith and his music, and I remember being captivated by his incredibly distinct voice. Especially when listening through headphones. It's like ASMR for me on his softer songs where the main instrument is his voice. Smith's ability to master layering harmonies using his own vocals--often vulnerable or seething, sometimes switching effortlessly between both in the same song--is very much on display throughout Either/Or. "Ballad of Big Nothing?" "Between the Bars?" "Pictures of Me?" All bangers (and no, songs don't have to be loud to be 'bangers,' although "Cupids Trick" has louder moments comparatively). "Rose Parade's" awesomely descriptive lyrical content makes you feel like you're watching it streetside alongside Smith himself--he remains one of my favorite lyricists, and this track reminds me of that. The story behind how his songs made it onto the Good Will Hunting soundtrack is also quite interesting, and the fact that this (I think, still?) remains Smith's best-selling album while never charting is a testament to how his brand of earnest indie folk-rock resonated with a lot of people, including me. Given all of this, I'm giving Either/Or a full 5 stars. I hadn't actually listened to Elliott Smith much over the last few years, and hearing this album again is a great reminder for me that this 1,001 albums project is worth the long journey. Either/Or is a brilliant album and representation of an artist we lost far too soon. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *The album's style has been described as "a bridge between the lo-fi darkness of Roman Candle and Elliott Smith and the studio sheen of XO and Figure 8." *The album inspired (film director) Gus Van Sant to invite Smith to contribute to the soundtrack of his film Good Will Hunting. Three Either/Or tracks were incorporated into the soundtrack, as well as a new song, "Miss Misery." *Smith would briefly be cast into the international spotlight early the following year when he performed his song, the 1997 standalone single "Miss Misery", at the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony, following the song's appearance in the major motion picture Good Will Hunting and its subsequent Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. Following this appearance, Smith was signed to major label DreamWorks and started work on his fourth studio album, XO. Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *Smith describes [the song "Say Yes"] as being "insanely optimistic." It was written when he had just broken up with his girlfriend, Joanna Bolme, and realized how much he wanted her back. Elliott said that it took him five minutes to write the lyrics and the music. Standout Tracks: Speed Trials, Ballad of Big Nothing, Between the Bars, Pictures of Me, Rose Parade, Angeles, Say Yes

This is admittedly a genre that I have trouble truly enjoying. Psychedelic 60s rock can contain elements I will enjoy, particularly the bluesy, fuzzed-out guitars and warbly organ sounds that were just beginning to come into popularity in rock music in the late 60s. There's a bit too much going on randomly across this album for me, personally. It feels uneven and like songs from 2-3 different EPs were sort of slapped together into one. But hey, I guess that's this genre for you. The tracks that I liked most were the bluesy ones, particularly "Flying High" and "Super Bird." I think the singer repeatedly whispering "LSD..." at the end of the song "Bass Strings" effectively sums up the themes of this album. "I hunger for your porpoise mouth and stand erect for love" is certainly one of the more uncanny sets of lyrics I've heard in a while. Thanks for the nightmare fuel, Country Joe & The Fish. 2 stars: I get it, but not for me. Interesting Factoid from Wikipedia: *(Electric Music for the Mind and Body) was one of the first psychedelic albums to come out of San Francisco. Standout Tracks: Flying High, Super Bird, Bass Strings

The second album I was served up on this 1,001 album listening journey was Nick Drake's debut album, Five Leaves Left. I was blown away. Fitting that 56 albums later, I get the second in his three-album discography, Bryter Layter. This album contains some new, more upbeat songs compared to Five Leaves Left, including Hazey Jane II, that has a positive, uptempo rhythm that reminded me of the backing drums for Dire Straits' Sultans of Swing. I had never heard this song and dug it. The string arrangements here are lush and the brass instruments clearly present, but don't overpower Drake and his expert fingerpicking. This album didn't hit me as forcefully as Drake's debut did as a whole so it gets a 4 stars from me rather than the 5 I gave to Five Leaves Left. But Bryter Layter still a definite masterpiece. 4 stars: I am struck by this album. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *Arranger Robert Kirby says that Drake intended the instrumentals to evoke (the Beach Boys') Pet Sounds. *The guitar Drake holds on the album cover is owned by Nick Laird-Clowes of The Dream Academy, whose "Life in a Northern Town" was written as an elegy to Drake. Standout Tracks: Hazey Jane II, One of These Things First, Fly, Poor Boy, Northern Sky

I've never listened to Neon Bible in its entirety until now. I'm absolutely struck by both the instrumentation and lyrics on this album. It's so damn lush, sometimes creepy and unsettling, always interesting. This is Canadian indie rock that planted a flag firmly in bombast, sweeping church-y dirges ("Intervention" has never made me bob my head to pipe organs so hard), fantastic sound production, and lyrical content that takes aim at modern politics, technology, AND religion? All right before the iPhone was introduced to the world and the "Black Mirror" truly took hold of our world forever. Kinda bleakly beautiful, eh? 5 stars: This album needs to be on the list. Full stop. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *Originally announced on December 16, 2006, through the band's website, the majority of the album was recorded at a church the band bought and renovated in Farnham, Quebec. The album is the first to feature drummer Jeremy Gara, and the first to include violinist Sarah Neufeld among the band's core line-up. *Once the title of the album was decided upon, the band was further inspired after they, according to Win Butler, "watched a lot of TV preachers, get-rich-quick schemes on YouTube." The band was also attracted to using the ocean and television as central images for the album, with Win Butler saying the ocean imagery symbolizes a lack of control; of television. *The title of the dystopian television series Black Mirror is partly inspired by Neon Bible's opening track of the same name. The term "black mirror" refers to the dark reflection of a viewer rendered by a dormant television or smartphone screen. *The song "(Antichrist Television Blues)" was originally titled "Joe Simpson (Antichrist Television Blues)" in reference to the father and manager of singers Jessica and Ashlee Simpson. Butler chose to remove Simpson's name from the title, keeping the subtitle parentheses intact. Butler would introduce "(Antichrist Television Blues)" during live performances as "a song about what happens when fathers grow up to manage their daughters. *The artwork for the album is a photograph of a six-foot neon sign that the band commissioned for use while on tour. In the photograph used for the cover, the lighted Bible is caught in mid-flicker...The artwork would go on to win Tracy Maurice and François Miron the Juno Award for best CD/DVD Artwork Design of the Year. Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *Frontman Win Butler told The A.V. Club why he chose the title 'Neon Bible' for the album: "I just jotted it down in my notebook and kept coming back to it. The song was very much off-the-cuff, written in one night and recorded the next day. Lyrically, there's a lot of stuff dealing with religion and culture, which I'm really interested in. It's an image that I kept coming back to that really felt like it was the title of the record. And everyone else in the band agreed." Standout Tracks: Black Mirror, Keep the Car Running, Intervention, Ocean of Noise, The Well and the Lighthouse, (Antichrist Television Blues), No Cars Go, My Body Is a Cage

Toe-tapping, catchy, emotional, and incredibly interesting instrumentation. Co-production from Danger Mouse that hits your damn soul *just* right. Whew. KIWANUKA shines and provides some legitimately refreshing melodies. Is this modern-day Motown with a healthy dose of "Dark Side"-era Pink Floyd? Whatever genre this fits into, I LOVED this album. Each song seamlessly flows into the next, and it really feels like a collection of songs to be listened to together, in order. The intro tracks (and the outro after "Final Days") don't feel forced or unnecessary. Kiwanuka's vocals are dripping with soul, emotion, and realness on every song. His acoustic guitar fingerpicking sounds effortless on the acoustic tracks and blends perfectly with the rest of the instruments. Likewise with the soft electric guitar solo work that, again, channels the best that David Gilmour has recorded. It's clear all involved put a LOT of work into KIWANUKA. "Piano Joint (This Kind Of Love)" in particular brought me to tears. The earnest sadness of "Solid Ground," and the way Michael's vocals are swallowed up by the swelling strings and piano for the last minute. Just, damn. Seeing this album was on a bajillion "Best of 2019" music lists while I listened and scanned Wikipedia did not surprise me one bit. This might be my first completely unknown-to-me album during this project that I was completely struck by. Incredibly deserving of a 5 star rating and I'm glad it's on this list. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *The opening track to this album ("You Ain't The Problem") was used by broadcaster ITV as its theme tune for its coverage of the Men's Football Euros 2020. *The album won the Mercury Prize 2020. It was the third time in his career he had been nominated following nominations for Home Again and Love & Hate but the first time he had won. Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *This upbeat track ("You Ain't The Problem") was born out of Michael Kiwanuka's feelings of inferiority in an industry that is highly competitive. "If you don't belong, live in the trouble," he defiantly sings. *(On "Piano Joint (This Kind Of Love)): The singer added this song originally had a different theme and chorus - "My oh my, it's sad in love." He and his producer Danger Mouse liked it a lot, and it rhymed perfectly, but he just couldn't sing the lyrics because they were too negative. He decided this was his moment to move away from his love of melancholy songs....New York served as an inspiration for "Piano Joint." Kiwanuka explained to Q Magazine: "The chords made me think of '70s New York and that soulful sound, like, Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack. It has that kind of regalness to it." *(On "Hero"): This acoustic, reverb-drenched track was the hardest song on Kiwanuka to write lyrics for. Michael Kiwanuka had had the music and melody, written with Danger Mouse and UK producer Inflo, for a couple of years; he just couldn't come up with any words that felt right. Then one day he was flicking through pictures on his phone of civil rights activist Fred Hampton. The 21-year-old chairman of the Black Panthers' Illinois chapter was shot and killed in his bed by police in 1969; Kiwanuka started thinking about how young Hampton was when he got killed. This prompted him to reflect on some of the musical icons who had died young too. Standout Tracks: You Ain't The Problem, Rolling, I've Been Dazed, Piano Joint (This Kind Of Love), Hero, Final Days, Solid Ground, Light

"All aboard?!?! All aboard?! THE NIGHT TRAIN!" This is a super quick but *massively* important recording. Live at the Apollo captured a critically important moment in music that also changed James Brown's career--and Motown R&B--forever. The crisp audio track captures the audience falling in love with Brown's music in such a cool way, particularly during Brown's epic, 10:43 "Lost Someone." Clearly, this album deserves not only a spot in this 1,001 Albums collection but in the pantheon of its five-star gems. How many other albums have been regularly played front-to-back on the radio? Please, please, please recognize Live at the Apollo as the masterpiece it is. Is this the best $5,700 ever spent (by the artist themselves, no less) in music history? I think James Brown would easily argue, yep. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *Live at the Apollo is the first live album by James Brown and the Famous Flames, recorded at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in October 1962 and released in May 1963 by King Records. Capturing Brown's popular stage show for the first time on record, the album was a major commercial and critical success and cemented his status as a leading R&B star. *The album was recorded on the night of October 24, 1962, at Brown's own expense ($5,700)...While Brown's record label, King Records, originally opposed releasing the album, believing that a live album featuring no new songs would not be profitable, the label finally relented under pressure from both Brown's manager Bud Hobgood and Brown himself. *Live at the Apollo was an amazingly rapid seller. It spent 66 weeks on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, peaking at #2. Many record stores, especially in the southeast US, found themselves unable to keep up with the demand for the product, eventually ordering several cases at a time. R&B DJs often would play side 1 in its entirety, pausing only to insert commercials and to flip the record to side 2, which was often played in full as well. *In 2015, Rolling Stone listed it as the greatest live album of all time. *In 2004, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 1998, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. *Despite its renowned and historical significance, Live at the Apollo was not reissued on CD until 1990 because the original master recordings had been misplaced and the available copies were not of a high enough quality for a satisfactory CD release. The master tapes were recovered in late 1989. *By 1958, James Brown's career was faltering...On the way back to Macon, Georgia, after a disappointing West Coast tour, Brown approached his guitar player Bobby Roach with a tune he said he had been given by a patron at the Million Dollar Palms, a Florida nightclub. After Roach crafted a guitar part for "Try Me", Brown and the Flames worked out the vocal harmonies together and cut a demo to send to label head Syd Nathan...Released in October 1958, the song became their first to crack the R&B charts in three years and their first ever to crack the Billboard Hot 100. *A cover (of "I Don't Mind") by the Who for their 1965 album My Generation led to the track gaining wider attention, being covered by other British Invasion groups at the same time. *A performance of "Lost Someone" is the centerpiece of Brown's 1963 album Live at the Apollo. Nearly 11 minutes long and spanning two tracks on the original LP release (the end of Side 1 and the beginning of Side 2), it is widely regarded as the album's high point and as one of the greatest performances in its idiom on record...Long, drawn-out performances of "Lost Someone" continued to be a feature of Brown's live shows until 1966, when "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" largely supplanted it in his concert repertoire. Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *("Please, Please, Please") was the song where James Brown would do his cape bit, where after exhausting himself on stage, a functionary on his revue named Danny Ray would place a cape on his shoulders and start to guide him offstage. Brown would summon the strength to continue, throw off the cape, and keep performing. It always brought the house down. *Several different sets of lyrics have been set to the tune of "Night Train"; James Brown's version features a shouted list of his regular East Coast tour venues along with many repetitions of the song's name. Standout Tracks (spoiler alert: it's every officially titled song on this absolute institution of a live album): I'll Go Crazy, Try Me, Think, I Don't Mind, Lost Someone, Medley: Please, Please, Please/You've Got the Power/I Found Someone, Night Train

While I know this is probably a selling point for a lot of fans of Silver Jews' music, frontman David Berman's voice grated on me for a lot of this listen. I did enjoy the opener, "Slow Education," and "I Remember Me" - the latter hits differently knowing Berman completed suicide later in life. And the twangy melodies throughout Bright Flight aren't bad, per se. In fact, the instrumental track "Transylvania Blues" was probably my favorite out of this collection given it was vocal-less and had a different sound than the others. This album as a whole just wasn't my bag, and I'm not exactly sure why it's on the list as a "must listen before you die." Even after reading the editor's blurb in the book, I don't have a solid understanding of what makes THIS particular album worthy of inclusion. (This always annoys me when I finish reading the book blurb on a 1,001 Albums album). I looked up "best of Silver Jews" articles via Google and the three articles didn't have many songs from this collection. I suppose Berman's poetry set to music is more image-ridden than other indie rock works out there and I respect that. But I don't think I'll be revisiting Bright Flight. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *"Walnut Falcons" was tossed around as a potential band name before "Silver Jews" was chosen. Berman, who was Jewish, said that the name came from a billboard he saw reading "Silver Jewelry" and later revealed that the name was actually intended to be a pseudonym for a conceptual art piece but instead evolved into the actual band. Standout Tracks: Slow Education, I Remember Me, Transylvania Blues, Tennessee

Prog rock bombast that to me sounds like a bunch of jamming for the 20-plus minute title track. There is some pretty good bluesy electric guitar soloing near the end of the title track I enjoyed. I would never have gotten the concept for this song had I not read about it, though. The other tracks are fine. Are You Ready, Eddy? ends things with some old-fashioned rock and roll melodies but isn't enough to raise my rating. 2 stars: I get it, but not for me. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *Side one features the 20-minute conceptual title track written by keyboardist Keith Emerson, the opening of which created friction between Lake and himself that almost split the group, but Lake agreed to pursue it and contributed musical ideas for it and wrote the lyrics. Side two features a collection of unrelated tracks of different styles. *The album was packaged in a gatefold sleeve and features artwork by Scottish artist William Neal, whose armadillo has since became an iconic image in progressive rock. Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *Keith Emerson poured through Greek mythology looking for a name for ("Tarkus"), but came up empty. Inspiration struck when the word "Tarkus" popped into his head when the band was driving back from a gig. It conjured up visions of a tank, so the idea developed to make the new mythological creature an armadillo (because of its armor) with tank treads. Emerson says that the word is completely original, and the only thing he's heard close to it is "tukhus" - a Yiddish word for the rear end. *Always a very theatrical band, Emerson, Lake & Palmer at one point shared the stage with a model of the Tarkus creature, which would blast a foamy substance at key moments. This provided a Spinal Tap moment when during a show that Carl Palmer recalls being in Brighton, the creature was aimed in the wrong direction, and the foam went into Emerson's grand piano. "We had to stop the show and on came the roadies with the dustpans and the Hoover to clear it out," Palmer said. Standout Tracks: Tarkus

Let's lead with the most obvious observation here. It's clear this album made way for mega-artists like Adele, and despite how sadly short-lived Amy's life was we're lucky to have had her deliver this soulful, classic album. The title song "Back To Black" is undeniably catchy and well-written, as are the other four singles that this monster of a record delivered ("Rehab", "You Know I'm No Good", "Tears Dry on Their Own", and "Love Is a Losing Game"). While the last several songs on Back To Black didn't grab me the way the singles scattered on the first half do, this is a solid front-to-back listen. While it was likely intentional, in retrospect it's sadly prophetic that the album opens with "Rehab" and closes with "Addicted" (yes it's a light-hearted bop about enjoying weed, but still) given the tragic life arc that ultimately befell Amy. Listening to Black To Black allowed me ample time for reflection of just how sad it is, selfishly, for us music lovers to have lost a voice like Amy Winehouse's. 4 stars: I am struck by this album. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *Influenced by the pop and soul music of 1960s girl groups, Winehouse collaborated with producers Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson, along with Sharon Jones' band The Dap-Kings, to assist her on capturing the sounds from that period while blending them with contemporary R&B and neo-soul music. *Back to Black sold 3.58 million copies in the UK alone, becoming the UK's second best-selling album of the 21st century so far. The album has sold over 16 million copies worldwide. *Most of the songs on Back to Black were solely written by Winehouse, as her primary focus of the album's sound shifted more towards the style of the girl groups from the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse worked with New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. *The song "Tears Dry on Their Own" samples the main chord progression from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's 1967 song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". Remi stated that he thought the album needed something "up-tempo" and suggested to Winehouse that she procure a "slower, sadder conception" of the song. *Following Winehouse's death on 23 July 2011, sales of Back to Black drastically increased across the world. The album rose to number one on several iTunes charts worldwide. *After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out more experimental female artists. Other female artists signed to major labels included Adele, Duffy, V V Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux, and Little Boots. In the years after Back to Black was released, Dan Cairns of The Sunday Times noted that there was a "notion [by A&R executives, radio playlisters and the public] that women are the driving commercial force in pop". Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *[On "Rehab"]: The lines, "I'd rather be at home with Ray" and "There's nothing you can teach me that I can't learn from Mr. Hathaway" are references to two of Winehouse's soul music inspirations: Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway. Hathaway is best known for his duets with Roberta Flack: "Where Is The Love?" and "The Closer I Get To You." *[On "You Know I'm No Good]: This song borrows the bass line from House of Pain's 1992 Transatlantic Top 10 single "Jump Around." *[On "Back To Black"]: Amy Winehouse explained to the Sun newspaper on October 27, 2006 before (she and then ex-boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil) re-established their relationship: "'Back to Black' is when you've finished a relationship and you go back to what's comfortable for you. My ex went back to his girlfriend and I went back to drinking and dark times." Standout Tracks: Rehab, You Know I'm No Good, Back To Black, Love Is A Losing Game, Tears Dry On Their Own, He Can Only Hold Her

I had a whole thing written here about how great this album is, and then accidentally closed the tab and lost the entire thing before saving. Dammit. Always write your 1001 album listening notes outside of Chrome, y'all. Long story short, The Doors is a fantastic debut album with incredible vocals from Jim Morrison and musicianship from people like Ray Manzarek. Light My Fire and The End are still considered some of the greatest compositions in classic rock history and for good reason. 4 stars: I am struck by this album. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *The Doors worked on the material of their debut album throughout 1966 at various locations and stages, such as the Whisky a Go Go. The album's recording started after their dismissal from the venue, having just signed with Elektra Records. The recording of The Doors established the band's wide range of musical influences, such as jazz, classical, blues, pop, R&B and rock music. Standout Tracks: Break on Through (To the Other Side), The Crystal Ship, Alabama Song (Whisky Bar), Light My Fire, The End

This isn't the best LZ album (I think nearly all Zeppelin fans will tell you this), but it's a rock-solid collection of original and blues cover songs that make up the debut of one of the most influential classic rock bands of all time. So yeah, duh - it's on the list! The first two songs are my absolute favorite here (I forgot how much I loved "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" until I re-listened to LZ I again for this project. Jimmy Page's guitar work throughout is a stunning preview to what his style would become across the span of LZ's catalog. Some of the blues covers here are a bit "generic," but on tracks like "Dazed and Confused," Page's remarkable violin bow/guitar work and Robert Plant's epic wailing entrances the hell of out the listener. LZ I is a really great album that provides a delicious taste of the even better material to come from the band. 4 stars: I am struck by this album. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *(Guitarist Jimmy) Page was reluctant to release "singles", so only "Good Times Bad Times", backed with "Communication Breakdown", was released outside of the UK. However, due to exposure on album-oriented rock radio stations, and growth in popularity of the band, many of the album's songs have become classic rock radio staples. *Led Zeppelin's front cover, which was chosen by Page, features a black-and-white image of the German zeppelin Hindenburg photographed by Sam Shere on 6 May 1937, when the airship burst into flames while landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey. The image refers to the origin of the band's name itself: When Page, (guitarist Jeff) Beck and The Who's Keith Moon and John Entwistle were discussing the idea of forming a group, Moon joked, "It would probably go over like a lead balloon", and Entwistle reportedly replied, "a lead zeppelin!" *Page used a "distance makes depth" approach to production. He used natural room ambiance to enhance the reverb and recording texture on the record, demonstrating the innovations in sound recording he had learned during his session days. At the time, most music producers placed microphones directly in front of the amplifiers and drums. For Led Zeppelin, Page developed the idea of placing an additional microphone some distance from the amplifier (as far as 20 feet (6 m)) and then recording the balance between the two. Page became one of the first producers to record a band's "ambient sound": the distance of a note's time-lag from one end of the room to the other. *"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" was a re-arrangement of a song composed by Anne Bredon in the 1950s. Page had heard the song recorded by Joan Baez for her 1962 album Joan Baez in Concert. It was one of the first numbers that he worked on with Plant when the two first met at Pangbourne in August 1968. Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *[On "Good Times Bad Times"]: When the band re-formed for a benefit show on December 10, 2007 with Jason Bonham playing drums in place of his father, this was the first song in the set. Bassist John Paul Jones told Rolling Stone magazine after the show: "That's the hardest riff I ever wrote, the hardest to play." *[On "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You"]: There is a Led Zeppelin drinking game where you have to take a swig every time Robert Plant sings "baby." This song leads to inebriation in that one, since he repeats "babe" or "baby" 31 times. *[On "Dazed and Confused"]: This was a showcase song at most of Led Zeppelin's concerts. They sometimes improvised on it for up to 40 minutes. *[On "Your Time is Gonna Come"]: Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones wrote this song, which is about an unfaithful girl who will pay the price for her deceitful ways. The lyrics reflect Jimmy Page's views on women at the time. He thought they were deceitful and inferior to men, similar to Aleister Crowley, who Page idolized...All four members of the band sing together on the chorus...British singer Sandie Shaw became the first artist to cover a Led Zep tune when she reworked this for her 1969 album, Reviewing the Situation. *[On "Communication Breakdown"]: This song became an anthem for frustrated youth. It was a popular live song that Led Zeppelin usually used to either open shows or play in an encore. *[On "How Many More Times"]: This was the last song on the first Led Zeppelin album. It was listed as 3:30 on the album, but the correct length is 8:28. The reason that the song was listed as only being a little over 3 minutes was to promote radio play. Jimmy Page knew that radio would never play a song over 8 minutes long, so he wrote the track time as shorter on the album to trick radio stations into playing it. Standout Tracks: Good Times Bad Times, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Dazed and Confused, Communication Breakdown

I'm not sure how I have unintentionally avoided all of Television's songs/content until now, but that's the case. While Tom Verlaine's vocal delivery took a bit to get used to, it ended up working really well with the expert guitar work that is present on every track. What stands out to me most are the super melodic solos -- the nearly 10-minute "Marquee Moon" took me for a freakin' *ride.* Awesome song! I struggled to really vibe with this entire album as a whole, but respect the trail it blazed for a lot of indie rock bands, in particular, that have a very similar sound to what's on display in expert fashion on Marquee Moon. If I could give this 3.5/5 I would, but can't justify a 4 so we'll go with a 3. 3 stars: I see why this is on the list, something worth revisiting. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *(Television frontman Tom) Verlaine's lyrics on Marquee Moon combine urban and pastoral imagery. Although it is not a concept album, many of its songs make geographical references to Lower Manhattan. *Among the most influential records from the 1970s, the album has also been cited by critics as a cornerstone of alternative rock. It heavily influenced the indie rock movement of the 1980s, while post-punk acts appropriated the album's uncluttered production, introspective tone, and meticulously performed instrumentation. Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *[On "Marquee Moon"]: Running 9:58, this is Television's magnum opus, renowned for the inventive interplay between guitarists Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd. It's the title track to their 1977 debut album, but the song was years in the making. It started as an acoustic ballad Verlaine put together; the band started playing it in 1974 when they were regulars at the club CBGB in New York City (Television was the first to emerge from that club, which later provided a home base for Blondie, the Ramones, and the Talking Heads). They honed the song through live performance and diligent rehearsal, so when they recorded the album in 1976, they had perfected it. The entire album was recorded and mixed in just three weeks...When the Marquee Moon album was released in February 1977, the title track was clearly the standout, but not something that could garner radio play in America. It was also a tough sell because the band wasn't known outside of New York, and it didn't adhere to a particular genre: "pop" doesn't do justice to the song's complexity, and it's far from "punk." The album never made the charts in the US, but was later hailed as a classic in a number of surveys...The UK was more welcoming: The single charted at #30 and the band made the cover of New Musical Express. Critical acclaim for Television was most robust in Britain. Standout Tracks: See No Evil, Venus, Marquee Moon

Whether or not you like the sound that Radiohead adopted and pretty much stuck with after the mid-90s, their album The Bends from 1995 is a straight-forward collection of astoundingly well-written rock tracks--and dozens (dozens!) of other well-known groups have cited The Bends This album is a masterpiece of 90s alternative rock. There isn't a skippable track to be found here. Some of these melodies will get stuck in my head at random every few weeks without me having listened to them recently (particularly "Black Star," one of my favorite songs on The Bends). I don't listen to this in full often anymore, but when I do I'm always reminded of how insanely GOOD it all is. I'm not the biggest Radiohead fan (maybe that'll change by the end of this listening project) but The Bends has been--and will continue to be--a 5/5 listening experience for me. I really enjoyed reading about each of these songs on Wikipedia and SongFacts.com, so I may have gone a bit overboard with adding them to my below notes but oh well. Ha! 5 stars!: The album needs to be on the list, full stop. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia *The sessions saw Radiohead's first collaboration with their future producer, Nigel Godrich, who engineered the RAK sessions. When Leckie left the studio to attend a social engagement, Godrich and the band stayed to record B-sides. One song, "Black Star", was included on the album. *While Pablo Honey was mostly written by (Thom) Yorke, The Bends saw greater collaboration. Previously, all three guitarists had often played identical parts, creating a "dense, fuzzy wall". Their Bends roles were more divided, with Yorke generally playing rhythm, (Jonny) Greenwood lead and Ed O'Brien providing effects. *For The Bends, Yorke and (artist Stanley) Donwood hired a cassette camera and filmed objects including road signs, packaging, and street lights. They entered a hospital to film an iron lung, but, according to Donwood, found that iron lungs "are not very interesting to look at". Instead, they filmed a CPR mannequin, which Donwood described as having "a facial expression like that of an android discovering for the first time the sensations of ecstasy and agony, simultaneously". To create the cover image, the pair displayed the footage on a television set and photographed the screen. *In 2000, in a vote of more than 200,000 music fans and journalists, The Bends was named the second-greatest album of all time behind Revolver (1966) by the Beatles. *Pitchfork Magazine credited "High and Dry" and another Bends song, "Fake Plastic Trees", for influencing the "airbrushed" post-Britpop of Coldplay and Travis. The Irish Times said that "High and Dry" had "essentially invented Coldplay." Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *[On album opener "Planet Telex"]: Lead singer Thom Yorke was drunk and improvising when he recorded the vocals. The band came to the studio after drinking a lot of wine, and Yorke lied on the floor and sang. He did only one take. *[On "High and Dry"]: According to Q magazine April 2008, this delicate acoustic track, which mocks macho vanity, was never intended for the album. Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke dismissed it as "not bad... it's very bad." Eventually it was included on The Bends because of its presumed commercial appeal. *[On "Fake Plastic Trees"]: In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Yorke said that this was the song where he found his lyrical voice. He cut the vocal, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, in one take, then the band filled in its parts around him. Yorke said the song began as "A very nice melody which I had no idea what to do with, then you wake up and find your head singing some words to it."...The band were finding it difficult to nail this song and decided to take a break and catch a Jeff Buckley gig at Highbury. When they returned to the studio mesmerized by Buckley's set, Yorke sang the song twice before breaking down into tears. *[On "My Iron Lung"]: An "Iron Lung" is a cumbersome medical device often used to help sick people breathe in the '50s. The lyrics reflect how restrictive the band felt when they became known simply for their hit "Creep." The song was written the day they had to drop out of the Reading Festival because of Thom Yorke's strained vocal cords. *[On "Black Star"]: Lead singer Thom Yorke: "This is about sex in the morning. It's the best time to have it. Especially if you have brushed your teeth before." *[On "Sulk"]: "Sulk" was the last track on The Bends to be completed. According to Q magazine April 2008 this was mainly because of Yorke's concern that the song's original lyric, which contained the line "just shoot your gun," might be taken as a crude cash-in on the suicide of Kurt Cobain. *[On "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"]: Yorke insisted that he didn't really write this, that it wrote itself. He claimed the band was merely its messengers, for something he called "our purest, saddest song." Standout Tracks: The Bends, High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Just, My Iron Lung, Black Star, Street Spirit (Fade Out)

"I smell like I sound:" One of the funniest 80s pop lyrics courtesy of Hungry Like the Wolf, one of the couple of huge hits from Rio the album. While this album is not higher than a 3 for me, it stands on its own as a fun 80s pop record and help to pave the way for the MTV music video era (may it Rest in Peace). 3 stars: I see why this is on the list, something worth revisiting. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *Duran Duran shot music videos for many of the album's tracks, all of which helped spearhead the 1980s MTV revolution. *The success of Rio electrified the already-rising Second British Invasion. With their contemporaries the Human League, A Flock of Seagulls, Culture Club and Thomas Dolby, Duran Duran dominated the American pop charts throughout 1983 and led to the rise of other would-be successful British acts, including Tears for Fears, Eurythmics, Naked Eyes and the Rhodes-discovered Kajagoogoo. Standout Tracks: Rio, Hungry Like the Wolf, Save a Prayer

I hadn't been exposed to much PJ Harvey before listening to this, outside of her mega-popular, creepy-ish song from the mid-90s, "Down By the Water." I'm very glad that's no longer the case! This album is rock solid and absolutely fantastic. SFTC,SFTS caught my attention immediately with the banger opener of "Big Exit" and kept it throughout. The album's musically classic, has clever lyrics, and has some awesomely catchy choruses (particularly on "Good Fortune"). The rich production value rewards listeners who take it in through headphones, especially on sweeping acoustic-driven tracks like "A Place Called Home." The arrangement of louder, brash songs mixed with the quiet, introspective stuff like "Horses In My Dreams" makes this an album absolutely worth appearing on this list and is now on my growing list of albums I greatly appreciate being introduced to thanks to the 1,001 Albums listening project. Nice work, PJ...even if you don't really like it! (see my note below from SongFacts.com) 4 stars: I am struck by this album. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *In 1998, while shooting a film as an actress for Hal Hartley in New York, she felt inspired by the city and wrote several songs. Some of them ended up on the record. In 1999, she chose to live there for nine months. However, she insisted in interviews it was not "my New York album". *[On song "This Is Love"]: The blues-influenced song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 2002 but lost to Lucinda Williams song "Get Right With God." Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *Harvey confessed to Mojo magazine in January 2008 that, in retrospect, the Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea album didn't satisfy her: "I felt like I got lost around that record. I wanted to try writing lots of perfect pop songs. It's great to set oneself projects, but they also have to ring true to your heart and soul. Pop music isn't where my heart is at." Standout Tracks: Big Exit, Good Fortune, A Place Called Home, The Whores Hustle And The Hustlers Whore, This Mess We're In, This Is Love, We Float

I dig a few Daft Punk songs, including the two major singles from this album. While I'm ever so slightly more into this genre of music these days than I was in the 90s when this was first released, I still found myself pretty bored by Homework as a whole collection - it's deliberately repetitive (especially on 7 minute-long tracks like "Rollin' and Scratchin'" and "Rock and Roll" - I had to skip these after a couple of minutes). There is a small handful of gems on Homework that would be even better if at least 2-4 minutes were shaved off. But I guess that's not the point of the French dance genre that Daft Punk almost single-handedly popularized. If the group's 2013 album Random Access Memories appears in this listening journey at some point, I will likely enjoy re-listening to that one a lot more--as the group evolved into one that frequently collaborated with other artists/vocalists. I do respect Homework for the groundwork it laid but I can't say I enjoyed listening to this album. I skipped through at least half of the tracks that were excessively long and repetitive. 2 stars: I get it, but not for me. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *As the duo's first project on a major label, they produced the album's tracks without plans to release them, but after initially considering releasing them as separate singles, they considered the material good enough for an album...Homework's success brought worldwide attention to French house music. *Daft Punk produced the tracks included in Homework without a plan to release an album. [Daft Punk co-producer Thomas] Bangalter stated, "It was supposed to be just a load of singles. But we did so many tracks over a period of five months that we realized that we had a good album." Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *[On "Around the World"]: The entirety of the lyrics are the phrase "Around the world" repeated 144 times. Standout Tracks: Da Funk, Around the World, Alive

This group, and the second album they ended up creating, had some notable drama...that just so happened to involve several superstar up-and-coming musicians. For better or worse, what that personal disarray resulted in, ...Again, is excellent! Reading about the complete angst between the band and writing and recording songs largely without the group makes for an interesting listen. There are a few different genres based on who's written a particular song and that, along with the different vocalists handling duties throughout, kept my interest as the album progressed. Neil Young's opener, Mr. Soul, is particularly strong. "Expecting To Fly" blew me away - and learning that it's essentially Neil Young's first solo work put to recording was a bit of a mind-blower. Stills' "Bluebird:" toe-tapping awesomeness and guitar licks for days. The bizarrely produced closing track, "Broken Arrow," feels very out of place with its fade outs and ins and organ music, so that and a couple of other forgettable tracks kept me from considering this album as a 5-star offering but it definitely belongs with my 4s. 4 stars: I am struck by this album (a pleasant surprise for me, who isn't struck by much pre-70s era stuff) Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *In contrast to the band's hastily made debut album, recording for ...Again took place over a protracted nine-month span and was fraught with dysfunction, with each member eventually producing his own material largely independent of one another. *"Mr. Soul" is about Young's personal problems with fame and disregard for rock stardom. It was written by Young after experiencing an epilepsy attack after an early show with Buffalo Springfield in San Francisco. Many people in the audience questioned if it was part of the act. While a patient at UCLA Medical Center, he wrote the song once he was awake and recovering and told to return for further tests. The lyrics reflected Young's experience, feeling as though he was about to die. Thereupon, he was advised by his doctor to never take LSD or any other hallucinogenic drugs. Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *[On "A Child's Claim To Fame"]: (Band member Richie) Furay's lyrics are an expression of his annoyance with guitarist Neil Young, who had quit and rejoined Buffalo Springfield on several occasions during the recording of the album. He recalled to Uncut: "We did 'Child's Claim to Fame' on the reunion tour in 2011. We were playing Santa Barbara, there's 5,000 people out there, and Neil stops. 'Hold up, hold up!' he says. 'Richie, did you write this song about me?' That's Neil for you. Yeah when I wrote it I was frustrated with the guy, but that's how we communicated with one another. You wrote a song, I'm not gonna say that (1968 Buffalo Springfield track) 'I Am a Child' was Neil's response to 'Claim to Fame' but." *[On "Expecting To Fly"]: By the time Buffalo Springfield came to record this second album, they were less a group than a collection of individuals. Young wrote and recorded this song using outside musicians rather than any other Springfield members. It was, for all intents and purposes, his first solo work. *[On "Broken Arrow"]: This track took over 100 hours to record, which was an eternity by 1967 standards. "Broken Arrow" sometimes draws raised eyebrows for being so oddly arranged - rather like the Beatles' psychedelic period such as "Revolution 9." Perhaps it is this song which longtime Young collaborator David Briggs had in mind when he said, "When you make rock and roll, the more you think, the more you stink." Standout Tracks: Mr. Soul, A Child's Claim To Fame, Everydays, Expecting To Fly, Bluebird, Rock & Roll Woman,

I'm not a Beatles diehard. I know most of the singles, less than half by heart. This album blew me away, and reading the story behind not only how it changed the band--and all rock music that followed--was absolutely fascinating. The melting pot of genres, sounds, and the massively psychedelic, zany--and most importantly pleasingly interesting--production value makes Sgt Pepper a GEM. And that album cover? Iconic. 5/5 stars: this album truly, without a doubt, belongs on this list. Interesting Factoids From Wikipedia: * Released on 26 May 1967, Sgt. Pepper is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composition, extended form, psychedelic imagery, record sleeves, and the producer in popular music. *A key work of British psychedelia, Sgt. Pepper is considered one of the first art rock LPs and a progenitor to progressive rock. *"We were fed up with being the Beatles. We really hated that fucking four little mop-top approach. We were not boys, we were men ... and thought of ourselves as artists rather than just performers." – Paul McCartney *The Beatles took an acetate disc of the completed album to the flat of American singer Cass Elliot, off King's Road in Chelsea. There, at six in the morning, they played it at full volume with speakers set in open window frames. The group's friend and former press agent, Derek Taylor, remembered that residents of the neighbourhood opened their windows and listened without complaint to what they understood to be unreleased Beatles music. *"Sgt. Pepper" was the first pop album to be mastered without the momentary gaps that are typically placed between tracks as a point of demarcation. It made use of two crossfades that blended songs together, giving the impression of a continuous live performance. *In (author Mark) Lewisohn's opinion, "Sgt. Pepper" represents the group's last unified effort, displaying a cohesion that deteriorated immediately following the album's completion and entirely disappeared by the release of The Beatles (also known as the "White Album") in 1968. * Sgt. Pepper was widely perceived by listeners as the soundtrack to the Summer of Love, during a year that author Peter Lavezzoli calls "a watershed moment in the West when the search for higher consciousness and an alternative world view had reached critical mass". *[On "Good Morning, Good Morning]: (John) Lennon was inspired to write "Good Morning Good Morning" after watching a television commercial for Kellogg's Corn Flakes, the jingle from which he adapted for the song's refrain... A series of animal noises appear during the fade-out that are sequenced – at Lennon's request – so that each successive animal could conceivably scare or devour the preceding one. Standout Tracks: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, With A Little Help From My Friends, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Fixing A Hole, She's Leaving Home, When I'm Sixty Four, SPLHCB Reprise, A Day In The Life

Madman the album is decent. .It’s got two big singles in “Tiny Dancer” and “Levon” right out of the gate as a 1-2 punch opener. As a whole, it’s a fine album with nothing incredible that stands out to me. I do appreciate the more progressive rock efforts on songs like “Madman” and the jaunty mandolin outro on “Holiday Inn.” But there are certainly better Elton albums on this list. 3/5 stars: I see why this is on the list; something worth revisiting. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *John's first progressive rock album, Madman Across the Water contains nine tracks, each composed and performed by John and with lyrics written by songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. *Madman was John's first foray into progressive rock, and it did not sell well. His next album, Honky Château, shifted gears to glam rock, beginning a string of more successful releases. He did not touch upon prog rock again until Blue Moves in 1976, another less popular album. *Dispelling rumours that the (title) song's lyric referred to then US President Richard Nixon, Bernie Taupin had this to say: “Back in the seventies, when people were saying that "Madman Across the Water" was about Richard Nixon, I thought, That is genius. I could never have thought of that.” Interesting Factoids from SongFacts.com: *"Tiny Dancer" and "Levon" were the most popular songs on the Madman Across the Water album, but Elton says that he feels most connected to the title track. The album marked a major musical shift for Elton, as he brought a guitarist into his band for the first time, enlisting Davey Johnstone. *The first US single from Madman Across The Water, "Levon" runs 5:22 and Elton wouldn't let his record company cut it down for radio play. He wasn't yet a big star, so many radio stations ignored it. The song peaked at #24 but proved enduring, earning airplay on classic rock and adult contemporary radio for decades to come…The next single from the album was "Tiny Dancer," which is even longer, running 6:12. Like "Levon," that one fared poorly on the chart (#41) but also became a classic. Neither song was issued as a single in the UK. *[On “All The Nasties”]: On the BBC TV show The Old Grey Whistle Test, Elton and his lyricist Bernie Taupin said this song is about all the critics he and Bernie thought were nasty people who only had nasty things to say about their work. This interview was conducted in the early '70s before Elton came out as gay. Standout Tracks: Tiny Dancer, Levon, Madman Across The Water

As someone who has enjoyed my fair share of Gnarls Barkley since they debuted (but hasn't had a lot of exposure to Goodie Mob), I was looking forward to listening to this album - the first full LP of Cee Lo's work I have digested. "The Art of Noise" and "I'll Be Around" are absolute bops - with the former enhanced by Neptunes production, which Cee Lo provides some fantastic vocal melodies across. Cee Lo brings the absolute rap GOODS on tracks like "Childz Play" featuring one of my favorite rappers and lyricists, Ludacris. As a complete body of work, "Soul Machine" feels overly long at more than an hour--and has a couple of moments where the experimental aspect distracts from the gems scattered throughout. Ultimately, though, this is a strong album that I really enjoyed. And it definitely shows the full range of how talented Cee Lo is. 4/5 stars: I am struck by this album. Interesting Factoids from Wikipedia: *N/A (no deets other than the track listing here and the fact the album was included on the 1001 Albums list) Standout Tracks: The Art of Noise (feat. Pharrell), Living Again, I'll Be Around (feat. Timbaland) - Club Mix, My Kind of People (feat. Jazze Pha & Menta Malone), Childz Play (feat. Ludacris), All Day Love Affair, Sometimes