My 1001 Albums Journey

Albums Rated

3.66

Average Rating

Complete

1039 albums remaining

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1980s

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Indie

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5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

Breakdown

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Dr. Octagonecologyst Dr. Octagon	5	2.7	+2.3
The Sun Rises In The East Jeru The Damaja	5	2.92	+2.08
Out of Step Minor Threat	5	2.92	+2.08
Sail Away Randy Newman	5	2.97	+2.03
Rid Of Me PJ Harvey	5	3.11	+1.89
Miriam Makeba Miriam Makeba	5	3.19	+1.81
Dry PJ Harvey	5	3.24	+1.76
Raw Power The Stooges	5	3.32	+1.68
Juju Siouxsie And The Banshees	5	3.33	+1.67
Van Halen Van Halen	5	3.63	+1.37

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Hotel California Eagles	1	3.6	-2.6
Aja Steely Dan	1	3.47	-2.47
High Violet The National	1	3.24	-2.24
All That You Can't Leave Behind U2	1	2.98	-1.98
Olympia 64 Jacques Brel	1	2.78	-1.78
Snivilisation Orbital	1	2.71	-1.71
Here Come The Warm Jets Brian Eno	2	3.07	-1.07
Bandwagonesque Teenage Fanclub	2	3.06	-1.06

Artists

Favorites

Artist	Albums	Average
PJ Harvey	2	5

5-Star Albums (17)

View Album Wall

Popular Reviews

Aja

Steely Dan

1/5

I don't care how crafty they are. Steely Dan sucks.

2 likes

Station To Station

David Bowie

5/5

Masterwork. Titanic. Glacial shift. A spell, an incantation.

1 likes

1-Star Albums (6)

All Ratings

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

3/5

Enjoyable for the initial 8 or so tracks. Well recorded. Delicate craft with certain instruments mixed into one or both channels. Then, like most Dylan’s songwriting it becomes incessant.

Imagine

John Lennon

3/5

High craft and the usual structural experimentation. Lacks the Macca counterweight. It’s nice, but that’s about it. Favorite track: I don’t want to be a soldier man.

London Calling

The Clash

5/5

Pinnacle of the Clash’s work. No album is better sequenced with 100% lean material, no fat. Brilliant song writing, as songs and as a suite.

Moondance

Van Morrison

4/5

I can hear the talent. But the R&B inflections don’t resonate well with me.

The Sun Rises In The East

Jeru The Damaja

5/5

Not a hip hop listener. But this has a good groove and doesn't seem to have aged. It's of its time, but clearly timeless

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Beatles

4/5

Paranoid

Black Sabbath

5/5

Never really listened to any track off this entirely until 1001 albums. A lot more variety going on here than anticipated. Tony Iommi is a far more interesting guitarist than originally understood him to be. Production is pretty good in terms of subtle shades adding dimension to some simple but creative ideas. Ozzy's voice is obviously super young, lacking the experience (and studio trickery) to create the full blown evil howl of his subsequent work. There are some lesser tracks that get a bit repetitive in an annoying way, not in a drone, overtoning sort of way. All in all, excellent but probably not something I want to listen to much.

Dr. Octagonecologyst

Dr. Octagon

5/5

Nothing like this album. Legendary

The Cars

4/5

Parachutes

Coldplay

4/5

Only decent Coldplay album in existence. It was all downhill from here.

Nowhere

Ride

4/5

Definitely the peak of Ride. But not the peak of the sound, which is very niche and is not readily transferrable to bands or to create a 'scene'. Shoegaze is kind of weird that way. Perhaps all the fuzz and feedback simply takes too much of the nuance out it unless your Kevin Shields.

Bandwagonesque

Teenage Fanclub

2/5

Never my style. Guitar work/style is thin

Doolittle

Pixies

5/5

Absolutely vital to who I am to this day. First concert was Pixies on this tour - Ritz, NYC with Happy Mondays opening. I have no way of being objective. Some will say Surfer Rosa is the better album. But this one has the better production, IMO. And you can dance to it.

KIWANUKA

Michael Kiwanuka

5/5

This is so awesome. Better than the first time I tried to spin it ~4 years ago....I've Been Dazed really kills. My favorite track so far.

Isn't Anything

My Bloody Valentine

4/5

Only gave it 4 stars because Loveless is peerless at 5 stars.

Tusk

Fleetwood Mac

3/5

Better than expected. Clearly thoughtful and layered. Very easy-breezy in many ways despite this being their punk-influenced record. Still not a F-M fan, but major props for good tunes.

Snivilisation

Orbital

1/5

When this came out, I was already deep into Autechre, Aphex Twin/Polygon Window and Coil. This as wimpy compared to that. Still is.

Out of Step

Minor Threat

5/5

Sail Away

Randy Newman

5/5

Heroes

David Bowie

4/5

Van Halen

5/5

oh bessy. A beast. Huge for the time. Still chugs and dominates. Not my music type, but there's no doubt this is a miraculous creation.

Fisherman's Blues

The Waterboys

4/5

Lots of Van Morrison vibes in that shambolic, urgent way. The WB's are always floating around in the background and I've never done them the decency of listening to a range of their catalog, as I know it varies greatly. This is one that I may not get my groove on that often, but I appreciate the songwriting complexities along with its straightforward earnestness. And a Bang on the Ear hits me hard...maybe it just took 7 tracks in to get me warmed up?

Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin

4/5

Epic and iconic. You cannot escape the myriad of contexts this album has been inserted in within culture. And YET. It's tedious, overwrought/overdramatic, loud-folksy with blues giving it the backbone.

Bluesbreakers

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers

3/5

The British transformation of the blues is far more interesting than the British interpretation. Kind of a yawn compared to JL Hooker, BB King, Albert Collins, Junior Kimbrough, etc.

Hotel California

Eagles

1/5

No. Fuck the Eagles. And James Taylor. https://www.theringer.com/music/2021/5/5/22420083/the-eagles-glen-frey-don-henley-50-years

In Our Heads

Hot Chip

3/5

Cute. Clearly talented, but feels frivolous.

Heartattack And Vine

Tom Waits

3/5

Of all the Waits albums, this one doesn't conjure in the top 1001 of all time to be heard. I'll have to regroup and think this through. It's fine, but kind of Waits by the numbers at this point in his evolving career. I think the earlier records are a better representation of this phase and Swordfishtrombones is a better watermark for what was to come.

Too Rye Ay

Dexys Midnight Runners

4/5

m b v

My Bloody Valentine

4/5

Still not as good a Loveless, but Kevin Shields is a master...

Rid Of Me

PJ Harvey

5/5

Best album she ever made. Period. End of story.

Dummy

Portishead

5/5

Love this album. Atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere.

Highway to Hell

AC/DC

5/5

Juju

Siouxsie And The Banshees

5/5

High Violet

The National

1/5

Reggatta De Blanc

The Police

4/5

Before it really all changed... Surprising how albums on either side of this one get greater recognition. The raw edge here is still appealing more than the slicker elements of the later work. So catchy but with a bit of a middle finger. Unpretentious and also not sappy compared the majority of Sting's solo work. Copeland bangs those drums like a snotty punk while Andy makes crafty, curling, novel guitar runs sound simple. Sting's solo career is such a wet blanket compared to where he began.

Aja

Steely Dan

1/5

I don't care how crafty they are. Steely Dan sucks.

Station To Station

David Bowie

5/5

Masterwork. Titanic. Glacial shift. A spell, an incantation.

All That You Can't Leave Behind

1/5

The album that has our courageous anthemic heroes rest on their laurels and realize that they couldn't afford to leave behind the money train. Rinse/Repeat becomes all they couldn't leave behind and there's no sign of that changing since.

Another Green World

Brian Eno

3/5

I get it, but I like how this influenced Bowie's work more. Transitional to the true ambient work that is his real legacy.

(Pronounced 'Leh-'Nérd 'Skin-'Nérd)

Lynyrd Skynyrd

3/5

Country-fried redneck buffett-party git-off-mah-land with a budget

Time Out Of Mind

Bob Dylan

4/5

I really like the interplay of the multiple instruments, overlapping, coalescing, drifting and seemingly falling out of sync. Feels like a Waits album without as much bite. Maintains a sense of live play with the added clarity and precision of the studio recording equipment. I’m not a fan, generally. His later work is better for me. But there’s always something I’m looking for that I feel it lacks: a good punch in the gut. Go figure.

Miriam Makeba

5/5

This is one that grows on you. Multiple listens, surely, unlock new subtleties, reveal nuances.

AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted

Ice Cube

4/5

Jagged Little Pill

Alanis Morissette

3/5

I remember how we were all blown away by the vibe of this album. The timing of its release fit the pocket of alternative becoming big, but not formulaic, yet. That said, it's angry pop music that is of a time and place. Not sure I'd say this has longer legs than that.

White Light

Gene Clark

2/5

Beauty And The Beat

The Go-Go's

3/5

Never really did the Go-Go's, but one has to admit there are some songs here that are just now part of the cultural psyche. Good hooks. Legendary bandmates.

Olympia 64

Jacques Brel

1/5

Overly romantic sop. I can barely take Gainsbourg. This, not at all.

Here Come The Warm Jets

Brian Eno

2/5

Good enough for what it was, but he's still fumbling, looking for his own identity. The Roxy sound was never something I fully embraced. Too twee compared to other glam bands of the era. So there's that.

Raw Power

The Stooges

5/5

Dry

PJ Harvey

5/5