521
Albums Rated
3.07
Average Rating
48%
Complete
568 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1970s
Favorite Decade
Britpop
Favorite Genre
UK
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
60
5-Star Albums
30
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Gasoline Alley
Rod Stewart
|
5 | 2.95 | +2.05 |
|
Rhythm Nation 1814
Janet Jackson
|
5 | 2.98 | +2.02 |
|
Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Stereolab
|
5 | 3.03 | +1.97 |
|
Dear Science
TV On The Radio
|
5 | 3.16 | +1.84 |
|
Truth
Jeff Beck
|
5 | 3.17 | +1.83 |
|
Being There
Wilco
|
5 | 3.23 | +1.77 |
|
Something Else By The Kinks
The Kinks
|
5 | 3.25 | +1.75 |
|
The Soft Bulletin
The Flaming Lips
|
5 | 3.29 | +1.71 |
|
The Yes Album
Yes
|
5 | 3.31 | +1.69 |
|
Tommy
The Who
|
5 | 3.34 | +1.66 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Superunknown
Soundgarden
|
1 | 3.66 | -2.66 |
|
Black Holes and Revelations
Muse
|
1 | 3.59 | -2.59 |
|
Moving Pictures
Rush
|
1 | 3.58 | -2.58 |
|
The Fat Of The Land
The Prodigy
|
1 | 3.4 | -2.4 |
|
Hybrid Theory
Linkin Park
|
1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
|
The Downward Spiral
Nine Inch Nails
|
1 | 3.35 | -2.35 |
|
Shake Your Money Maker
The Black Crowes
|
1 | 3.29 | -2.29 |
|
S&M
Metallica
|
1 | 3.26 | -2.26 |
|
Rust In Peace
Megadeth
|
1 | 3.24 | -2.24 |
|
Paranoid
Black Sabbath
|
2 | 4.2 | -2.2 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Beatles | 6 | 5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 4 | 5 |
| Bob Dylan | 6 | 4.5 |
| The Rolling Stones | 3 | 5 |
| Talking Heads | 3 | 5 |
| R.E.M. | 2 | 5 |
| The Flaming Lips | 2 | 5 |
| Radiohead | 5 | 4.2 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Waits | 3 | 1 |
| Slipknot | 2 | 1 |
| Metallica | 2 | 1.5 |
| Leonard Cohen | 4 | 2.25 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| LCD Soundsystem | 5, 2 |
| Neil Young | 2, 3, 5 |
5-Star Albums (60)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
The Kinks
5/5
The first of 4 classic albums in 4 years for the band. 3 “hits”, including one of the most achingly beautiful songs of all time, Waterloo Sunset. The lesser known songs are all still quite good. A no-brainer 5 for me.
I bought this in a photo and camera shop in Wichita in (I believe) 1968 when we were visiting my aunt and uncle. The store had a rotating kiosk with a few albums on it — no clue why they had them in that kind of store.
4 likes
The Killers
3/5
I generally dislike this band — Brandon has always struck me as a Springsteen wanna-be and it doesn’t work for him. Also I am super tired of Mr. Brightside (as is Jeff, who is generally a big fan of the group).
However overall,some decent tracks here — forgot about the other hits here (Smile Like you Mean It, and Somebody Told Me), which are pretty good.
2.5 somewhat reluctantly rounded up.
2 likes
Bob Dylan
5/5
Not quite as good as the two preceding albums (Bringing it All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited), but a great album, one of the first double albums.
I don’t remember my brothers bringing home any Dylan albums in the 60’s, so didn’t really know this fully until I was an adult. Elizabeth had Dylan’s Greatest Hits with Rainy Day Women #12 and 35, I Want You, and Just Like a Woman. She also had Volume 2 of his Greatest Hits with Stuck Inside of Mobile from this album — Volume 2 is a quite cool collection of Dylan songs well worth a listen.
Soon after the release of BOB, he had his motorcycle accident and his next few albums were more introspective, not great, but interesting to hear.
1 likes
Wilco
5/5
I believe this is my first 5 star rating other than albums I’ve known and loved and rated 5 in my mind (most of the time) before listening.
This was lovely throughout, with great melodies, arrangements, lyrics, musicianship and Tweedy’s vocals were just wonderful.
Enjoyed this a lot more than Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and this makes me want to listen to more of their stuff (or at least maybe the 35 track deluxe version of this album).
Nicely done, gentleman.
1 likes
Eminem
3/5
Overall quite decent due to Dr. Dre’s songwriting and production. Would love to give it 3.5, but gotta do a 3.
1 likes
1-Star Albums (30)
All Ratings
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Better than expected.
Portishead
4/5
Quite a good album from the early days of trip-hop. Consistently good songs from start to finish.
Kraftwerk
2/5
The first track I liked — did LCD Soundsystem sample this for Get Innocuous? The rest was pretty repetitive, although Track 5, Neon Lights was enjoyable. Not quite my cup of tea, despite the possible connection to LCD Soundsystem. At least it’s an album I haven’t listened to in the past few weeks — unlike Hendrix and Portishead.
1/5
Really dislike it — the vocals, the histrionics of the music that probably plays OK live, the lyrics, all of it. Blehhh…..
Frank Ocean
4/5
Quite liked this, liked the singing, the lyrics, the whole mood of the album. The only nitpick is that a lot of the songs seemed to have the same kind of rhythm/flow to them — I didn’t dislike it so much as that I was hoping for more variety.
Janelle Monáe
3/5
Liked this a lot, especially the variety of types of music employed. If it had been 20 minutes shorter it would have probably rated a 4. I quite like her in her movie roles — e.g., Hidden Figures, Glass Onion.
The Strokes
4/5
Pretty good stuff. Reading about how it was recorded was interesting. I remember them on SNL. Somewhat remind me of The Jam, who didn’t get US recognition like this group did. Good job, lads
The Doors
5/5
Now we’re talking. One of my all-time faves. It came out when I was 11. JB bought it and I used to listen to it over and over in front of our stereo cabinet, laying on a pillow to get the great stereo separation. Don’t love the final 11 minute track, “The End”, but still a solid 5 for me. One old blues song, Willie Dixon’s “Back Door Man”, and a song from 1927 by Brecht and Weill supplement the originals, (Alabama Song).
Until about 15 years ago, I had no idea that the original album and my memories of it had the last word of “she gets high” silenced throughout the opening track, “Break on Through”.
Great stuff.
SAULT
4/5
An act I’ve never heard of, and was skeptical given the title (assuming it was rap) but I quite liked this. Very decent songs, interesting and enjoyable production. This sounded great through headphones. They released 5 albums in 2022 totaling 4 hours of music. I may check out one of them here soon.
Iggy Pop
2/5
Thought I’d like this more. The Stooges were too out there for my tastes and this solo disk as a collaboration with Bowie seemed more promising. Some Ok stuff on side one, but side two was meh.
Arcade Fire
4/5
Loys of good stuff here. Could be a 5 star review but some of this seems repetitive. I remember when this came out there was a link where you could put in your home address and then The Suburbs music video would play with Google Earth picture (and video?) of your house would be incorporated into the music video.
Soundgarden
1/5
Hated this from the get-go. Plodding grunge with few melodies, I can see how this might be intriguing live in a big arena, but listening to it was painful. Even “Black Hole Sun” which I always turn up and sing along to when it comes on in the car wasn’t as fun in the context of the whole album. I hate Pearl Jam as well, except for “Jeremy”.
Drive Like Jehu
3/5
From the Wiki, I expected to really dislike this, but didn’t. Nothing I’d ever listen to again, but some of the tracks were reasonable melodic and the guitar work was pretty tasty throughout. Never heard of the group.
Alice Cooper
2/5
In high school, this band was very popular with the stoners and freaks (I was decent friends with many of them) and the whole purpose of the band seemed very calculated to me to appeal to such a demographic. Theatrically shocking in concert. Some of the songs are ok, but this album generally leaves me cold. Alice later (or maybe even during their heyday) became a golf fanatic and supposedly drank over a case of beer a day. School’s Out (not on this album) is a great song, though.
Goldfrapp
3/5
Didn’t quite like this as much as some of their later stuff, but this was still pretty good. Nice atmosphere, somewhat akin at times to one of my fave artists, Everything But The Girl. Would give 3.5 but can’t.
Solomon Burke
2/5
A so-so collection of soul songs. His voice is fine, nothing special.
Jurassic 5
3/5
Musically and lyrically this was fine. Knocked down a notch because many of the tracks’ flow/rhythms in the vocals seemed repetitive. For me and my general dislike if rap/hip-hop music, this was quite decent.
Marty Robbins
2/5
This seems like an album my parents might have owned, even though they weren’t country fans at all. This seems more balladeer-ish, so they might have liked it — Perry Como with a twangy guitar. I quite like his voice but too many of the songs sound the same to me.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Not as familiar with this since it came out when Maggie was a bit over one year old. A fairly plodding set of songs, not as distinctive or melodious as earlier albums (see Imperial Bedroom).
Hüsker Dü
4/5
I’ve always liked this act from the Twin Cities more than The Replacements. This is a fine album, some great songs (I generally like Hart’s songs more than Mould’s) and a nice sound throughout, knocked down a notch for being too long — i.e., a single LP of the best tracks would’ve been a 5.
John Lennon
3/5
Some “hits” and some decent songs all round, but coming so soon after The Beatles this is a bit disappointing, as was a lot of solo work from Paul and George. Sounds great in 7.1 surround
The xx
3/5
Thought I would like this a bit more, but it didn’t quite do it for me. Very pleasant, and loved the overall instrumentation, but the vocals were a bit too mumbly for me. I can see where this would have been new and exciting in 2009. Suspect this is one you know quite well, Joe (and Maggie too, perhaps?). Would love a 3.5 option here.
Prefab Sprout
4/5
This was released the month Maggie was born, so while I was aware of the band and this album I hadn’t ever heard it. Liked it a lot — fine melodies, pleasant lead vocalist (sounds like Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze). Would listen to again.
David Bowie
3/5
One of the first albums I listened to when I was doing one-a-days before this 1,001 albums program started. This was fine, and I appreciate its historical significance for Bowie and the era it came out in (disco, early new wave), but this is all just OK for me. I like early Bowie better.
Derek & The Dominos
5/5
I really dislike Eric Clapton, always have. Never thought he was that great of a guitarist, and the quality of his work plummeted after he quit taking drugs (in the late 70’s or early 80’s?). Then of late he’s been misogynistic and anti-vaxx, further cementing my poor opinion of him.
However, this is a fabulous album from start to finish — a great selection of original songs and blues covers, tight playing and good singing. We played all 4 sides of this quite a bit in high school while playing cards. Duane Allman plays a lot of guitar on this (any slide work, e.g.), proving why he was such a sought after session player. DA Anthology, both volumes 1 and 2 are well worth a listen. A solid 5 for me, despite EC.
The Offspring
2/5
Thought this was just OK, and outside of the two songs I was familiar with, the rest sounded a lot alike. The vocals got real old quickly.
Eminem
3/5
Overall quite decent due to Dr. Dre’s songwriting and production. Would love to give it 3.5, but gotta do a 3.
Christina Aguilera
2/5
I’ve always thought she had a great voice, although her warbling to show off her vocal prowess gets old quickly. I generally like the slower songs here. The album is way too long. Lop off 30-40 minutes of so-so tracks and this coulda been a 3.
Julian Cope
4/5
I own his previous two albums (Saint Julian and My Nation Underground, both for sale on Amazon) and remember liking them. This one was unfamiliar and I liked it a lot. A wide variety of styles, tempos, melodies, etc. A bit lengthy at 76 minutes, but can’t see much I’d want to cut. A solid 4.
Drive-By Truckers
1/5
This did nothing for me, didn’t even finish the first disc.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
Liked this pretty much. Thought I’d tire of the vocals but didn’t. Nice variety of styles and tempos. Won’t need to listen to again.
Harry Nilsson
5/5
A really fine album. One we listened to some playing cards as a teenager, but it wasn’t in heavy rotation. A batch of great songs, and side 2 is killer, with 2 big hits and a great track that LCD Soundsystem would cover almost 40 years later. Plus, the album opens with the theme song from Russian Dolls!
A great talent who died at 52 and recorded no more albums for the last 14 years of his life, instead indulging in booze and drugs (died of a heart attack). Have to give it a 5, even though I feel like 5s are mostly reserved (for me) for albums that I know super well and have always loved.
Incubus
2/5
This doesn’t work for me, although I liked it a bit better than I thought I would. I suspect I don’t like much of anything in this genre, but of course I’m not quite sure what the genre is. Drive is a decent track.
Sade
4/5
This is pretty good stuff, 3 big Top 40 hits followed by a bunch of pretty nice tracks. Gets a bit repetitive overall. I remember she was in heavy rotation on MTV, perhaps due to her being African and MTV was trying to get more black music videos on, and she fit the bill but was pretty safe music.
Peter Frampton
2/5
This album was so big in college in the spring semester of 1976 (along with the S/T Fleetwood Mac album from summer of 1975). Either going to parties or delivering pizza and sandwiches to campus apartments, one of these two albums was played constantly.
This is a great example of a double album that would have been a much better single LP. Some really fun tracks, but a lot of filler. And some of it, even big hit tracks like “Show Me the Way”seem kinda plodding and lifeless, even though it’s fun to sing along to. Haven’t listened to it in many years, thought at the outset of today’s listening that it would probably rate a 3, maybe a 4, but…
Kendrick Lamar
2/5
Sorry, I just can’t. Maybe this would be better as a slim volume of poetry. Almost all of these do not seem like songs, melody-wise, to me. Also, way too long. However, nice Isley Brothers sample on “I”.
The Pogues
3/5
Sold this on vinyl for $20 in June of 2020. Have always liked these guys, and this is a decent album. A number of the songs sound pretty similar.
Faust
4/5
Liked this way better than I thought I would, given it is a krautrock group. Some lovely songs and the extended instrumentals were quite decent. Surprised we didn’t listen to anything by this group in high school. Even the Disc 2 tracks in the rerelease were enjoyable. This was released the month I started college but it (or the group) wasn’t on any of my friend group’s radar.
Method Man
3/5
This was better than I expected. Some reasonably decent melodies here and there. The production at times seemed Dr. Dre-ish, but he wasn’t involved. Wouldn’t listen to again, but a pleasant surprise.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
2/5
To quote you guys about some other albums — meh.
Steely Dan
5/5
So great, but still only my 3rd favorite Steely Dan album (after Katy Lied and Countdown to Ecstasy). 11 concise songs, 34 minutes, the last disc with any semblance of being a typical “rock band”. Some admittedly weird tracks for a pop/rock album, but great rhythms, solos, and arrangements throughout.
One monster hit (Rikki), one that should’ve done better (title track), and a number of others that would be great to hear on Classic Rock if they’d ever play them. As with most of their LPs it doesn’t seem like a “guitar album” on the surface (only The Royal Scam qualifies), but there is so much tasty guitar work here throughout. Lots of it from original members Jeff Baxter (who joined The Doobie Brothers soon after this was done) and Danny Dias, but Walter Becker, primarily a bass player, has some shining lead guitar moments here.
Looking at the track listing before playing it today, my sense was that Side 2 was weaker than Side 1, but nah, it’s all great.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
My 4th favorites Stones album, after Let it Bleed, Exile on Main St., and Between the Buttons. This was the first of 4 studio albums in a row that define the group at its peak (LIB, Sticky Fingers, and EOMS are the other 3). Founding member Brian Jones was pretty much gone from the group (and as it turned out, life) during the making of this album, so Keith took over most of the guitar work, rhythm and lead (as he did on LIB), which is always a treat as he is more of a rhythm guitarist than lead on most of their recordings.
Two monster hits (Sympathy for the Devil and Street Fighting Man) plus other gems throughout. The closing track is lovely and starts out with Keith’s lovely on the first verse before Mick takes over, then rollicking piano from session player extraordinaire Nicky Hopkins.
A staple of our card playing days in high school. A great album.
Les Rythmes Digitales
1/5
Most of this was unlistenable. Hated the vocals. It seems like an album any semi-talented DJ yahoo could’ve made. A couple of OK things (e.g., Damaged People), would give it 1.5, but a 2 vote I can’t do because I don’t want to help the Global Stats for the album.
Beatles
5/5
Just wonderful. I was 14 when it came out. The start of more sophisticated songwriting, arrangements and production. There needs to be a deluxe box set edition of this.
These guys have potential.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
The weakest of the stretch of 4 albums that defines the Stones for me (Beggars Banquet, Let it Bleed, SF, and Exile on Main St.) but still a solid 5 for me because the other three are all so superb.
The first album to fully include Mick Taylor on guitar, and he shines throughout, especially on Can’t You Hear Me Knocking, a seven minute, one take song that turned into a long jam. No Keith lead vocals anywhere on the album, but lots of horns.
Released 6 weeks before I turned 16, this was a basement playing cards staple. I owned the original zipper cover back then.
Louis Prima
4/5
This was pretty darn fun. I knew “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody” and “Jump, Jive and Wail” from the 80’s remakes by David Lee Roth and Brian Setzer (of The Stray Cats). The rest was catchy and had my toes-a-tapping. Was gonna knock it down for having a number of songs that sounded kinda similar, which I do a lot here. But I liken this early stuff to Chuck Berry, where a bunch of it kinda sounds alike but since it’s basic rock and roll I don’t mind as much.
Seems like an album my parents might have owned but it wasn’t familiar. They had either a Gene Krupa or Buddy Rich album though.
Sister Sledge
3/5
This was in surround sound, which was done pretty well. Enjoy the duo of Edward’s and Rogers, but outside of the hits this was just OK. Loved “We are Family” in its 8+ minute version.
In 1979 I started my first actuarial job in June, and then in the fall, this was the team song for the Pittsburgh Pirates when they played the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. Somehow I won our office pool on the series, picking the underdog Pirates.
The Mamas & The Papas
3/5
I was hoping this was better after seeing the initial track listing. A really solid Side 1, and a much more lackluster Side 2. The covers weren’t as good as I expected (Do You Wanna Dance, Spanish Harlem, e.g.).
Catch a clip of them on YouTube either at Monterey or on The Ed Sullivan Show. Pretty cool group.
Doves
4/5
Never heard of this group. Quite enjoyed most all of this. Several of the tracks remind me of one of my fave groups, Zero 7.
Listened to their most recent album from a couple of years ago — not as good. But I would definitely listen to Lost Souls again.
William Orbit
3/5
Was intrigued to listen to this because I recognized the artist as a big remix producer in the 90’s especially for Madonna’s Ray of Light album. I still have a couple of CD remix singles from that album, mostly because they don’t sell for diddly on Amazon or Discogs.
Anyway, decent here and there, but nothing I ever need to hear again.
King Crimson
5/5
Well, another 5 star gem from my teen years. I remember hearing this first while visiting my brother Dan in I believe 1970. A weird, startling open number and then 4 lovely prog rock songs following.
This was my first mega box set, with 20 CDs, 2 DVDs and 4 Blu-ray Discs, purportedly covering everything they recorded or performed live in calendar year 1969. A pretty fun package.
Also a staple of card playing evenings in high school.
Elliott Smith
2/5
This was just ok. Lovely opening track, then the rest was kinda blah. I remember when he was a big deal when he first came on the scene. Never really took to him.
Dire Straits
3/5
This was kind of a big deal debut from my early 20’s, anchored by Sultans of Swing. The rest of the album is decent enough but their Brothers in Arms is a much better album and Making Movies is somewhat better than this debut.
Barry Adamson
3/5
Overall I quite liked this. Some weird stuff butmmore accessible than expected. An artist I’d never heard of. Nice sampling of the 1970’s on-hit wonder “Spooky” by the Classics IV on track 2.
The Dandy Warhols
2/5
This was fine but nothing special. It didn’t even include the Veronica Mars theme song…
Beastie Boys
3/5
This was more enjoyable than I was expecting, with some nice use of samples of songs I knew. The flow of their vocals seemed fairly similar across a range of these songs, however. Probably no need to hear them again, but my opinion of them is higher than it was last week.
Iron Maiden
3/5
This was more prog-rock to me instead of heavy metal, so I actually liked a fair chunk of this. Decent guitar and drumming throughout. Didn’t love the singer. If it had been released in 1970 it might have made it to our basement card games in high school but can’t be sure about that.
Can
3/5
I quite enjoyed side one, but the exactly 20 minute side two track was meandering and bleh. The vocals were buried so deep, presumably on purpose, but that didn’t work for me. Side one a 4, side two a 1, but I’ll give this a roundup to 3.
The Black Crowes
1/5
Really disliked this. I believe they were touted as the new Rolling Stones of the 90’s, but none of this has the swing/swagger of Stones music from the 60’s to the end of the 70’s. Hard to Handle is like Peter Frampton or Huey Lewis, kinda fun to sing along to, but lifeless and formulaic overall.
The White Stripes
4/5
This was very enjoyable, haven’t listened to it since it first came out. Don’t always like Meg’s drumming, but overall the musicianship is very solid. Doesn’t have my fave WS track, “We’re Going to Be Friends”. A great performance of it when they were on SNL.
The Smiths
3/5
Thought this was much better than it was. Saw them with my sister in the mid-80’s in Massachusetts. Maybe it was another of their albums I quite liked. This was decent, just nothing spectacular. Sold my copy of this in July of 2017 for $40.
T. Rex
4/5
Listened to this a couple of months ago before we started this. Quite liked it then, still do. A couple of the songs sound the same, though. Saw a documentary while back on glam rock in the early 70’s, which featured how huge a star (and heartthrob) Marc Bolan was in his heyday in England.
Fleetwood Mac
4/5
So much good stuff here and more intriguing than the mega hits “Fleetwood Mac” and ‘Rumors” that preceded it. A solid 5 if it had been condensed to a one-disc LP. The McVie songs are lovely, Nicks are mixed (Angel and Sara great, Sisters of the Moon and Storms less so), and Buckingham’s songs are mostly fine, but some are really solo efforts, suffering from not having the great rhythm section of McVie-Fleetwood behind him.
Side note — I bough this for my brother JB for Christmas in 1979 on a Christmas Eve whim, paying full retail at a local store near his house in CT. In an earlier year I bought him “The Koln Concerts” by Keith Jarrett. What a great brother I was…
Jamiroquai
3/5
Thought I’d like this more than I did. Very Stevie Wonder-ish which I enjoyed/appreciated, but a lot of it sounded the same.
Radiohead
4/5
I was not that familiar with this album, and while none of the songs seemed as catchy as those from Kid A (my fave of theirs) or OK Computer, the songs all had enough mood and lovely instrumentation, plus some cool effects via headphones, to make me want to revisit this at some point soon.
Taylor Swift
3/5
From “Summer of Taylor”:
A solid album, but the influence of Martin and Shellback as co-writers is starting to wear thin. Way too many repeated lyrics on a bunch of the tracks. The last 4 songs were a real drop off. Pleased to see it's a totally non-country album. The whole "this song is about one of my exes" motif is getting old.
Pretenders
3/5
This wasn’t as good as their second album, but is still pretty fun. Bonus for the Kinks song “Stop Your Sobbing”. Christie Hynden and Ray Davies (Kinks singer and songwriter) have a daughter together.
Culture Club
4/5
Liked this better than I remembered it and expected to. 2 big hits, 2 minor hits and other side one tracks were quite nice. Fun to sing to and move to. A solid debut effort.
Lupe Fiasco
2/5
Not my jam, as you know…
Pavement
3/5
Thought I would hate this, but didn’t. Some catchy tunes, decent lyrics. Don’t need to hear again, though.
David Bowie
4/5
I remember when this came out and then Bowie died a few days later. Then and now I appreciate the album dealing with his death so close to the event. Listened to it twice this weekend, and on second listen decided to bump it from 3 to 4. Some catchy and nicely atmospheric tracks. The video for the title track is a trip #buttoneyes
The Clash
3/5
This was a very important debut album, and like the Ramones debut caused quite a stir, but it’s nowhere near as good as London Calling, or maybe even Combat Rock. I am more familiar with the US version with I Fought the Law, even owning the initial edition that came with a bonus 7” single. Sold that for $16 seven years ago. Solid, but not that great.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
This wasn’t as good as their later stuff. I even listened to part of their latest from 2023 and it was better than this. Some nice stuff, a solid debut.
Manic Street Preachers
2/5
A group I’m aware of but had never heard before. Started out OK, liked the track She is Suffering, but things declined after that. The vocals were kinda screechy on a lot of tracks. Not my jam.
The Kinks
3/5
This is the first of 5 albums consecutively released by the group considered by many, myself included, to be the group’s peak. This is by far the weakest of the 5 but still has many fine moments, especially Sunny Afternoon, perhaps the finest example of Ray Davies’ chronicling of middle class British life in the 60’s. Albums 2-3-4 of the 5 are part of the 1001 albums, so hopefully we’ll get them down the line. They are all masterpieces.
Black Sabbath
2/5
The two instrumentals and “Changes” keep this from being a 1. Out my cup of tea.
Nirvana
3/5
I like how they did what they wanted to for this — almost no hits, three Meat Puppet covers, Leadbelly — but a lot of this sounds the same. Fine, but no great shakes.
Tom Tom Club
2/5
Except for Genius of Love, this is a pretty lame album. In the Stop Making Sense concert movie, this is performed by the whole band to give David Byrne a rest midway through and it is joyously fun.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Side 2 stronger than side 1. The two Peter Tosh written tracks on side 1 were a nice change of pace. I like Bob just fine, but a lot of his stuff sounds the same to me. A greatest hits album is more my speed for an artist like this. The recent Bob Marley: One Love movie (on Paramount, as Jackson would say) is well worth watching.
Talking Heads
5/5
This came out when I was 22, my senior year of college. A great debut — quirky, fun, rhythmic. Their first 4 albums are among the 1,001 (all in the 380-480 range) and will all be 5s for me. Their 5th, Speaking in Tongues would qualify as well. After that, things drop off for their last 3 studio albums, when discord in the group impacted the music.
The best concert I ever attended, part of the Stop Making Sense tour. The concert movie, directed by Jonathan Demme, is a must see, available through the DMPL on DVD.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Bruce has 5 albums in the 1,001, but of course my favorite 2, his first 2, are not among the 5. This does not surprise me. His 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th albums (BITU is #7) are in the 1,001. Born to Run (#3) has some great moments but things head downhill in his discography from there.
This album has some decent hits, but the non-hits are pretty weak, and side 2 is kinda blah overall.
And where is his underrated guitar playing? Cover Me hints at his guitar prowess, but check out album 2 (the Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, my fave) for some great guitar work.
If you want to see what the fuss was all about with his live act, see if you can get this from the library, or maybe watch on YouTube — Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 (Video 2005). Eye opening stuff.
Radiohead
5/5
This is a wonderful album all around. Still like Kid A better, but not by leaps and bounds. Lovely songs, great guitar work by Greenwood, vocals and lyrics understandable throughout. Their most “normal” album?
Leonard Cohen
2/5
Outside of Hallelujah I’ve never understood the appeal of him. The lyrics are ok, but the songs are mostly pretty lame. Not for me.
A Tribe Called Quest
3/5
I liked this OK, kinda cool it’s just DJ, bass, and vocals. The tracks with Muhammad as a co-songwriter mostly seemed alike. Would never need to hear again.
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
Liked about half of this — e.g., Freak Scene, Yeah We Know, Keep the Glove. The rest was meh.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
This used to be in my Top 10 albums of all time, knocked out of the running by Zero 7’s debut “Simple Things:. An achingly lovely album — her singing and playing are wonderful throughout.
Metallica
2/5
I never understood this group or the fanatical fan base they have. Most of this is plodding, noisy junk that is not fun to listen to. Lyrics seem lame. Enter Sandman I know and is kinda OK, and a couple of other slower songs were decent. Not my jam.
Haircut 100
3/5
This group was around when Squeeze and A Flock of Seagulls were popular but they fell under my radar. I liked this quite a bit — nice variety, poppy tunes.
AC/DC
2/5
Two quite decent tracks to open side two that are fun to sing along to in the car, but the rest is pretty bad. The shrill vocals get old very quickly. 50 million copies sold? Why? Like Metallica, I don’t understand the fanatical fan base. Both are supposedly great live, but the albums are meh.
Lou Reed
4/5
Thought starting out today this would be a solid 5 based on its release right before my senior year of high school and how much we listened to it while playing cards. Lou really wanted to be a Brill Building pop radio songwriter (like Carole King-Gerry Goffin) and some great songs here reflect that. Side 1 is solidly great and includes an achingly lovely song that is in Elizabeth’s top ten of all time, Perfect Day. Also in her top 10, the lead track from The Velvet Underground’s debut album, Sunday Morning. And imagine what it was like to hear Walk on the Wild Side on Top 40 radio several times a day.
Side 2 isn’t nearly as good as side 1, save for Satellite of Love, so the drop to a 4.
The only other Lou album in the 1,001 is Berlin, my fave of his, a drugged out dirge song cycle that is kinda depressing subject matter-wise, but is all very lovely in its own way.
Moby
4/5
I must have played this CD a lot when I got it when it came out, because the first 8 tracks were all very familiar and all great. The second half lags a bit, so a 4 instead of a 5. Nice to hear it again, which may have never happened without this app we’re doing.
Fela Kuti
3/5
This was OK. Never thought Baker was that great of a drummer, just like fellow Cream bandmate Clapton is a very overrated guitarist. Fela is quite decent though. Skipped the bonus dual drummers track.
Butthole Surfers
2/5
Except for some tasty guitar work here and there, I can’t do this.
Metallica
1/5
No…
Prince
3/5
Didn’t get to it today. Rating it from my vague memory when it came out that it was fine, but way too long, not worthy of a double album. Will listen this weekend and text any added comments or revised score.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
Thought I would like this more than I did. Some decent songs but a lot of it sounded similar. Seems like this album would be better in a live performance.
Johnny Cash
3/5
He has a spoken word kind of singing voice like Lou Reed that is endearing at times. Some of the covers were intriguing. Overall, fine but never need to hear again.
Van Morrison
3/5
Oh how the critics love this album — #132 of 1,001. I think this is fine, but the songs just aren’t that great. His next 3 albums (Moondance, His Band and the Street Choir, and Tupelo Honey, released in 1970-1971) are all wonderful, filled with great songs to groove to and sing along to, but Astral Weeks just doesn’t do it for me.
Surprisingly, Tupelo Honey is not available to stream on any of the major services and I couldn’t find out why.
Also, sold this album for $18 years ago on Amazon.
Germs
2/5
Most of this was pretty awful, but a few tracks and the guitar work (Pat Smear from the Foo Fighters) save this from being a 1. A group that was probably fun to see live in the early grunge era.
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
This was too muddy and murky, even for my tastes. Second half better than the first.
Bob Dylan
5/5
My favorite Dylan album. Great songs throughout, some of his strongest singing. Seeing the songs evolve on The Bootleg Series is fascinating. The backing band does a nice job throughout.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2/5
This didn’t do it for me. Second half a bit better than the first.
Björk
4/5
I quite like this, appreciate that it’s all vocals. Not as good as Petra Haden’s all acapella song by song remake of the great album The Who Sell Out” (well worth seeking out if you’re unfamiliar with it.
I also got to listen to this in 5.1 surround, since I have the “Medulla Surrounded”, edition, a CD/DVD set with surround sound and videos on the DVD. I got it through the BMG Music Service CD club, back in 2004.
Beastie Boys
2/5
Although I liked License to Ill a bit (grade of 3), this wasn’t as good. A small dose of this goes a long way.
The Undertones
3/5
This was decent, pretty peppery and fun, but not that memorable. 3.25 rounded down?
Songhoy Blues
2/5
Meh.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
CCR released their first 5 albums in a space of 24 months. They were all over Top 40 radio and the albums were overall quite good. This album has 2 top 2 songs (title track and Bad Moon Rising), plus 2 that peaked at 30 and 52 (Commotion and Lodi). The other tracks are decent. The final track was a Ray Charles hit on the R&B charts hitting #5. There is a great, but we can’t really watch it now, lip sync version by Cliff Huxtable and family on an episode of The Cosby Show.
Not quite a 5 — I’ll save that for at least one other of the first five CCR discs.
Raekwon
2/5
This had its moments with instrumentation, samples used, and the flow of the raps, but is still so not my jam.
Buena Vista Social Club
3/5
Got nervous when the first 2 tracks sounded very similar but there was more variety as the album went on. Generally fine with this music genre and this was decent.
Elis Regina
4/5
This is similar to Bebel Gilberto (not in the 1,001), who I like better than this, but this was quite good overall. Never heard of the artist, would listen to again.
Sam Cooke
2/5
I generally like Sam and there’s some nice tracks here, but this is #38 out of 1,001??? It’s not that worthy. Maybe it’s so high-ranking because it wasn’t released until 20 years after the fact because in 1963 the record company thought it was too gritty and raw and would damage his pop image.
The cover version of Twistn’ the Night Away by Rod Stewart is one of my fave tracks, with great slide guitar work from Ron Wood before he joined the Stones.
R.E.M.
5/5
A lovely album. Great songs, has a good vibe throughout, lyrics are more discernible than on many of their others. 3, maybe 4, legit “hits” and the rest of the tracks are all quite intriguing.
Mekons
3/5
This was ok. Didn’t seem as alt-country as the Wikipedia page said. They have a lot of albums..
Radiohead
4/5
I don’t think I’ve ever heard this album. Knew the tracks High and Dry, as well as Just.
Although I prefer the quirkier Kid A and OK Computer, this is a great collection of fairly straightforward songs. Quite enjoyed Fake Plastic Trees and Bullet Proof. Have always loved Greenwood’s guitar work and there is a lot of good examples of it here (Sulk).
I should probably try Pablo Honey…
Incredible Bongo Band
2/5
Never heard of this artist, was kinda intrigued with the first track and then it went meh from there. Suspect this is among the 1,001 only because a number of acts used samples from it years later.
The Stone Roses
4/5
I quite liked this. Nice jangly pop. Especially liked Waterfall, (Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister, This is the One and Fools Gold. Too bad they only had two albums.
Dire Straits
5/5
One of the first CDs I ever purchased in 1985, along with Dark Side of the Moon and either Joe Jackson’s Night and Day or The Police’s Synchronicity #hazyguessesonthoselasttwo.
A very fine album from start to finish, side 1 stronger than side 2 with three legit hits to start the album, but wonderful throughout. Great production and guitar playing.
Thought it would be in surround sound on Apple Music, but alas it is not. But I still own the 5.1 surround SACD, so listening to that again was great.
The Black Keys
2/5
Didn’t much care for this. Disliked the vocals, the songs were so-so at beast.
Neil Young
2/5
Neil’s first 3 albums were great, especially Everybody Knows This is Nowhere and After the Gold Rush. Album 4 was Harvest which was pretty good as well. This is album 5 and began a long slow decline in his overall album quality. Some OK stuff here, but a disappointment after what came before.
Pixies
3/5
I liked about a third of this, mostly the melodic songs like the two singles and La La Love You. The rest was so-so. 3 rounded up from 2.5.
Miles Davis
4/5
Hadn’t listened to this in a long time. Lovely stuff. Listened on the plane from Chicago to Hartford, which was weirdly fun. Always liked Miles better than Coltrane, but John’s sax playing here is really nice. Especially love Bill Evans’ piano work throughout. Need to listen to more Miles.
Marvin Gaye
3/5
This was better than I expected. Liked “side 2” better than “side 1”, although the title track that leads it all off is a classic. Too bad he was taken from us so soon. Fine looking gentleman as well.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
I like Nick better as a TV/Movie composer (Peaky Blinders theme song, e.g.). A whole album of his dirge-like songs is a bit much to take. Quite liked the final track, though.
Bee Gees
3/5
I was intrigued to listen to this because I like 60’s Bee Gees songs a lot, and this was a double album from 1969 where I only knew one song (Run to Me).
Appreciated the ambition, but overall didn’t love the songs. It was rereleased as a single album, and that was probably a good idea.
This is the album to listen to:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/best-of-bee-gees/1440901853
Cheap Trick
3/5
This was quite popular when it came out. The two big hits are better here live than in the studio editions. The rest of this is just so-so, although the opening track is great.
Weird they were so popular in Japan. A Midwest band with two very odd looking guys (drummer and lead guitarist) and two admittedly heartthrob-type guys in the lead singer and bassist — gee, which two are on the front cover?
Great musicians, a tight band.
Nirvana
2/5
This was just ok. Didn’t care for the murkier songs.
CHIC
3/5
I liked the two hits I knew and I generally have good feelings about Edwards-Rogers, and the rest was OK.
Don McLean
2/5
Just ok outside of the title track.
Aretha Franklin
3/5
Great voice, really fun 60’s style stereo separation, but most of the tracks didn’t do that much for me. 2.5 rounded up.
Al Green
3/5
Love Al’s voice and vibe, great Bee Gees cover song. The groove on these is pretty similar across a lot of the tracks. Was hoping this album had Take Me to the River, but alas…
Bob Dylan
5/5
Not quite as good as the two preceding albums (Bringing it All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited), but a great album, one of the first double albums.
I don’t remember my brothers bringing home any Dylan albums in the 60’s, so didn’t really know this fully until I was an adult. Elizabeth had Dylan’s Greatest Hits with Rainy Day Women #12 and 35, I Want You, and Just Like a Woman. She also had Volume 2 of his Greatest Hits with Stuck Inside of Mobile from this album — Volume 2 is a quite cool collection of Dylan songs well worth a listen.
Soon after the release of BOB, he had his motorcycle accident and his next few albums were more introspective, not great, but interesting to hear.
Arcade Fire
4/5
Listen to this twice. First time I thought it was fine, but seemed like something I might like more if I heard it again. That turned out to be the case. Some of it sounded similar to their later stuff that I’m more familiar with. I really like the final song on the album.
Malcolm McLaren
2/5
I loved the first track, so got excited for the rest, but the rest was just so-so. Knew Malcolm as a manager of The Sex Pistols but had no idea he was a fairly prolific musician as well. The cowriter on most of the tracks, Trevor Horn, was familiar to me as a producer as well as a short lived vocalist for Yes. 2.5 rounded down.
Wilco
5/5
I believe this is my first 5 star rating other than albums I’ve known and loved and rated 5 in my mind (most of the time) before listening.
This was lovely throughout, with great melodies, arrangements, lyrics, musicianship and Tweedy’s vocals were just wonderful.
Enjoyed this a lot more than Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and this makes me want to listen to more of their stuff (or at least maybe the 35 track deluxe version of this album).
Nicely done, gentleman.
George Harrison
3/5
This has always been a weird album. A strong disc one, a not so strong disc 2, and then the weird 3rd disc of jam sessions that are actually kinda ok, and I dislike Eric Clapton
The guy shows promise, though.
Beck
4/5
Enjoyed this a lot. A couple of tracks didn’t do it for me but overall a winner. Didn’t realize he played almost all the instruments.
Muddy Waters
3/5
I like Muddy fine enough (the Rolling Stones took their name from one of his songs), but this was just so-so. A lot sounded the same. The bonus 4 studio tracks were decent enough.
Meat Puppets
2/5
A couple of decent tracks, but not my cup of tea. Sorry, Kurt…
Janis Joplin
4/5
Hadn’t heard this in probably 50+ years. Better than I thought. Obviously a great voice, and the backing band is quite good. Standard quirky stereo separation typical of the era (that’s not a bad thing, IMO). Weird that there’s an instrumental on the album.
Michael Jackson
4/5
Better than I was expecting, with big hits and some decent other tracks I wasn’t familiar with. I suspect on this and other MJ albums of this era, that a big chunk of what made these great was Quincy Jones production.
Public Enemy
2/5
Liked a lot of the samples used here, but as you know, this is just not my jam.
De La Soul
2/5
Maybe just from the album cover, I thought I would and wanted to like this more than I did. A lot of it sounded very similar and was not in my wheelhouse. Saved from a 1 by a cool Steely Dan sample (“Eye Know”) and another from Hall and Oates (“Say No Go”).
Adele
4/5
This is quite good. A powerful, lovely voice, but is it horrible to say it gets a bit wearisome after awhile? And does she write just lyrics or does she do some of the music as well? Still, a solid 4.
LTJ Bukem
3/5
I quite like this genre of drum and bass, but others have done this better. Everything But the Girl’s “Walking Wounded” album I have recommended before is a much better one to try — drum-and-bass with lovely songs.
Miriam Makeba
2/5
A little of this went a long way.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
My fave Stevie Wonder album, and it made my honorable mention list when I did my Top 10 albums for StoryWorth. Two monster hits, with You Are The Sunshine Of My Life different than the single version on the radio, without the horns. This is a much better version.
The other tracks are all lovely love songs, with Stevie playing most of the instruments throughout. One noteworthy exception — Looking For Another Pure Love, with a stunning guitar solo by Jeff Beck. I get goosebumps every time I hear it, and love it when Stevie says, “Do It, Jeff”.
A classic, from when I was a senior in high school.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Not that big a fan of his, and the songs here aren’t that great, but I liked a lot of the instrumentation/arrangements, which brought a 2 up to a 3.
Can
3/5
Expected to dislike this, but didn’t. Some awful tracks (next to last) and some quite nice (final track. Enjoyed both of the 20 minute tracks as well. A Prog rock group I’ve always been aware of but had never listened to.
The Mothers Of Invention
2/5
I’ve never been sure about Zappa. The documentary “Zappa” was fascinating, but generally his music is too weird for my tastes.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
4/5
Liked this quite a bit, even the tracks with no recognizable samples. Surprisingly, I knew of “The Message”, but had never heard of it. Wild that this came out in 1982.
The producer on this, Sylvia Robinson, the founder and CEO of Sugarhill Records, had a hit with “Love is Strange” in 1956, a lovely track that had an even lovelier cover version by Everything But The Girl.
Elliott Smith
3/5
This was decent, but cant fathom listening to him again.
Neil Young
3/5
I remember being so excited for this to come out during my junior year of high school, after Neil’s first 3 albums were so great, especially 2 and 3, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, and After the Gold Rush. The pre-album release single, Heart of Gold, was pretty decent. Then I got it soon after it came out and while I liked it, it was disappointing compared to the others — weaker, slower, songs, comparative lack of flashy guitar work.
After the musically great track Southern Man on ATGR, to then get another Southern USA diss-track here, Alabama, seemed a bit much for a guy from Canada. Hooray for Lynyrd Skynyrd for taking Neil down on Sweet Home Alabama.
Like Rod Stewart and Van Morrison, Neil had 3-4 great albums to start their solo careers, and then things became so-so (or worse) after that.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
My favorite NY album. Three great guitar dominant tracks, Cinnamon Girl, Down by the River, and Cowgirl in the Sand. The other 4 tracks are slower, but all quite lovely. Reading about the recording process on the Wiki page was insightful.
Had to look it up on setlist.fm, but when I saw him live in Hartford in September of 1986, he did CG and DBTR. Also performed were Heart of Gold and The Needle and the Damage Done from yesterday’s album. I recall the concert was very loud.
This came out in May of 1969, when I was living in Spokane (until moving to Princeton in August) and wasn’t much of a record buyer at that time. My first NY album was ATGR, but probably did not buy it for a year or so after its 9/70 release date. Then I bought ENTIN and his self titled debut soon after that.
A classic.
Genesis
3/5
I have a bit of long-standing prejudice against this era of Genesis. In college, I took a course called the poetry of rock music, and one of the last sections was supposed to be an analysis of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards writing for the Rolling Stones. But somebody turned the teacher onto Genesis, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, and the teacher was so taken with it that he ditched the Stones and we reviewed Genesis/Peter Gabriel instead. Of course I did not like that.
In general, I like Genesis better after Peter Gabriel left and Phil Collins took over the singing and more of the songwriting, although I have liked a lot of Gabriel’s solo career.
This is pretty decent though for early prog rock.
Stephen Stills
4/5
I vaguely remember this album from my high school days, but didn’t own it. It was all unfamiliar to me. Quite liked most of it. Stills is an underrated guitarist and songwriter. He was in the running to be one of The Monkees, but his crooked teeth sank his chances.
This probably would have been a better one disc release, as is the case for most double albums, but I’m not sure what to cut out. All pretty solid stuff to me.
Beatles
5/5
A couple of historical notes. I vividly remember at age 9, going to see this at the Beaver Theater in Beaverton, Oregon, where we lived — don’t laugh. I recall it was great and there was lots of shouting and singing along in the theater. Not sure if I went with friends or with JB. Also, the US released album was a fair bit different than this English version that we are listening to. It had the seven songs from the film, along with one other track, I’ll Cry Instead, and then there were four George Martin instrumentals included that were fine but made for a kind of a weird album.
The seven songs that are in the movie are all fabulous, and the other six are no slouches either. From my detailed book about every Beatles song ever recorded, John was the primary writer on 10 of the 13 tracks here.
A classic.
3/5
This was fine, kind of like Patti Smith. Loved the Thom Yorke vocals.
Beatles
5/5
This is better than Rubber Soul, more experimental with stranger and catchier songs. A wide variety of styles. Better than Sgt. Pepper, which came next.
Fun fact — the lead track Taxman is written and sung by George, has a great guitar solo, not by the band’s lead guitarist, but by Paul. How do these things happen?
More Beatles, please.
Jimi Hendrix
2/5
Thought maybe this would be more interesting because I was only familiar with Little Wing, and that was only due to a cover version on Layla by Derek and the Dominos. Alas, this was pretty blah, with short songs and so-so guitar work.
The Young Rascals
3/5
This has 4 tracks from a fave greatest hits albums from this era, “Time Peace”, by The Rascals (as opposed to The Young Rascals for this LP). I was vaguely familiar with a couple of other songs here, and the new to me tracks were decent enough. A highly underrated band.
OutKast
4/5
This is all pretty enjoyable. Andre 3000’s half is better than Big Boi, but The Way You Move is the standout track. I really dislike interludes. Available in 7/1 surround on Apple Music — quite cool. I might like Stankonia better. The Idlewild soundtrack album is a gem as well. The movie was decent.
Sly & The Family Stone
2/5
This was fine, was hoping to like it better. The 13 minute jam Sex Machine was pretty dull. I liked the two unreleased tracks at the end of the album version on Apple Music. Their performance at Woodstock was excellent, and Hot Fun in the Summertime is a great track, from another album. Their greatest hits album is worth checking out.
David Bowie
3/5
Young Americans and Fame are quite good, but not as great as other big singles of his (Let’s Dance, or Suffragette City). The other songs weren’t anything special.
Little Simz
2/5
Since this came out in 2019 and I’d never heard of the artist, I was intrigued to listen to this. I liked 3-4 of these tracks for the music, but the similar vocal flow across most of the songs got old real quick. Not my jam.
Paul McCartney
2/5
It’s always puzzled me that John and Paul almost entirely wrote without the other in the last 2-3 years of The Beatles, and yet when they do their first solo album or two, the songs for each are overall just so-so. Virtually all the songs on The White Album, Abbey Road and Let it Be are great — no clunkers.
So we have this — McCartney. One pretty great track, Maybe I’m Amazed, and the rest is lame. Kudos for playing all the instruments, and thankfully we get Band on the Run in a few years, but this? No.
Jerry Lee Lewis
2/5
Only 22 minutes?? I like Jerry Lee ok, it this is pretty lame.
The Isley Brothers
4/5
This was pretty good. Liked the guitar work, the arrangements, and the covers — most of the originals of the covers came out not too long before this album. Nicely done, gentlemen.
John Lee Hooker
2/5
Liked the idea of this, was excited for the collaborators (Canned Heat!), but this was just so-so.
The Jam
4/5
Have always liked this group and then Paul Weller’s project/group after that, Style Council. Catchy songs, good energy — this works for me.
JAY Z
3/5
Some of this is fine (Izzo, Takeover, Heart of the City, Never Change, Song Cry), but mostly this is not my jam, as you know. Not enough “songs”.
Fleet Foxes
3/5
This was lovely, languid and dreamy. Knew of them, but not sure if I was familiar with it. Will listen to more of them.
Sex Pistols
2/5
This was a bit better than I expected it to be, but didn’t really care for it.
The Flying Burrito Brothers
2/5
Sold this album 5 years ago for $35. Some good guitar work and decent enough songs, but a little too twangy for my tastes.
Os Mutantes
3/5
I had hopes for this when reading about it, and some of it was kinda cute and quirky, but no need to listen to again. 2.5 rounded up to 3 for a cover of “Baby” a fave track of mine from Bebel Gilberto.
Koffi Olomide
2/5
I’d rather listen to Paul Simon’s “Graceland”. This was just ok. Tough with all foreign lyrics.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Such a great album. Have always loved the rhythm section of FM, the muscle and swing of John McVie’s bass and Mick Fleetwood’s drums — The Chain is a good example of this. Lindsey Buckingham is a great and underrated guitarist, as well as an great arranger.
This is a slightly better album than its predecessor (“Fleetwood Mac” s/t), primarily due to better songs from Buckingham and Christine McVie. My least favorite of their 3 main songwriters, Stevie Nicks, had better songs on the other album (Rhiannon and Landslide).
These two albums were so popular during my college days at ISU and ubiquitous at parties and coming from dorm rooms. Everybody owned them.
I saw them live at a somewhat smallish venue in September 1975 at ISU, playing just songs from the first album plus cuts from their pre-Buckingham/Nicks era. Checking the set list just now, I was pleased to see they did “Oh Well (pt.1)”, a great older track (Haim does a wild live version of this track — watch it on YouTube).
Another great FM album is Mystery to Me, without Buckingham-Nicks, with almost all songs by Bob Welch (not in the band after 1974) and McVie. Well worth checking out.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Didn’t listen to, didn’t need to. A solid 5, the best LZ album. Great everything.
The White Stripes
3/5
Nine Inch Nails
1/5
Only got through about half of this — hated every minute of it. Just awful.
3/5
This is a transition album from Yes being great to a quick decline into totally pretentious prog rock without good songs. 1971 saw The Yes Album and Fragile released, when I was 15 and then 16. Both are wonderful albums, and us “cool kids” were way into them. Sure, some of the lyrics were a bit out there but with rocking tracks like Yours is No Disgrace, I’ve Seen All Good People, Roundabout and Heart of the Sunrise, we overlooked any lyrical craziness.
Then as junior year of high school started, CTTE dropped. We were ravenous for it and the diehards loved it. I thought it had its moments (parts of side one, almost all of And You and I), but the lyrics were ridiculous and the songs were not as good as on the previous two albums. Then a year later the double-album (with 4 tracks, each about 20 minutes long) Tales from Topographic Oceans was released and was awful, and things continued downhill after that.
3.5 rounded down to 3 based on what followed #illogical
Green Day
5/5
This was wonderful. It seems like the type of album where if it had come out when I was in high school I would have known every lick and every word. They’re kinda like the Foo Fighters, both hard rock bands with great melodic songs. Hard to believe this is 20 years old. Was familiar with it from back then, but it was great to listen to again, and I’m excited for the 20th anniversary deluxe edition next month. Elizabeth liked it as well.
The Smiths
4/5
Love Morrissey’s voice and Marr’s guitar work. Prefer their album the Queen is Dead. Saw them live around this time in Massachusetts
Keith Jarrett
4/5
I quite like this, especially since on a number of his live albums, he does a lot of grunting while he plays (not quite as intense as Monica Seles, but in the ballpark), but that’s not the case here. Bonus — Keith is figuring as a somewhat humorous plot point in the current season of Slow Horses, one of my fave shows these days.
Soft Cell
2/5
Hmmm, the only song they didn’t write was Tainted Love. Their songs were pretty lame. The vocalist, Marc Almond, I know from some of his solo albums which I liked. A 1 except for TL.
Eric Clapton
2/5
As you may remember, I’m not a big fan of Eric. Overrated guitar player, bizarre behavior/view in recent years, and his guitar playing went way downhill after he got off heroin. This is his first album post-rehab. The songs aren’t great — Willie and the Hand Jive is way too languid, Motherless Children has been done way better by others (e.g., Steve Miller), although I do love it when people think I Shot the Sheriff is an original by Eric. Eric’s originals are meh.
Peter Gabriel
5/5
This is a gem. One of the earlier CDs I would have bought. It came out right about when you turned one, Mags. The video for Sledgehammer played all the time on MTV, and that was fun to catch.
So many great songs here, even the lesser known ones (like This is the Picture) are fine. And Kate Bush!! We saw him live in 1986 in Worcester MA. As I recall vaguely, the concert was no great shakes. He just stood there and sings — plus some older Genesis tunes I don’t love.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
This isn’t one of his best from the 70’s. The two hits aren’t up there with others from this era and the rest of the tracks are kinda meandering and bleh. 2.5 rounded up to 3 because even the “not as great as others” hits are pretty good.
SZA
2/5
This was ok, but a lot of it sounded the same. Was hoping for better.
Giant Sand
3/5
Weirdly ok.
Solange
3/5
This might have been a 4 except for those danged interludes. Decent songs, good arrangements, it held my interest when there were songs.
5/5
Still a solid 5, but my least favorite of the non-teeny bopper albums (Rubber Soul on through to Abbey Road), and yes I even like Magical Mystery Tour better. Except for the title track this doesn’t seem like a concept album at all.
It was really cool when this came out because it had lyrics included which was novel at the time, plus I believe it came with some ephemera extras related to the Sgt. Pepper theme. No real super fave tracks here, all solidly Beatles gems.
Common
3/5
Liked the arrangements, production, and sampling (thanks, Kanye?) but the songs didn’t grab me.
Merle Haggard
3/5
Expected this to be a 2, maybe a 1. Wasn’t that bad. Go Merle.
Prince
4/5
The hits are great, especially Let;s Go Crazy. The other tracks are so-so. Still, a solid 4.
The movie was awful, though.
DJ Shadow
2/5
Liked some of this, especially the last 3 tracks. Not my jam.
David Bowie
4/5
This was very enjoyable, mid-career Bowie. The longer songs were intriguing and held my interest, and very tasty guitar work throughout. A solid 4.
Beck
5/5
Love this album. A great vibe throughout, with quirky songs that stay with me. Not sure how much of this is due to the Dust Brothers. And yes, I still own the deluxe cd/DVD version with the 7 bonus songs and the surround sound mix, which I will listen to in the morning.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
This was ok.
Red Snapper
3/5
Thought I might like this more than I did, from the description. Still fine in spots.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
This was worse than the other one of his we had. Meh.
The Verve
3/5
Thought I would like this more as I listened to the first few tracks but got tired of it as it went on. Dumb 7 minute gap on the last song before the “hidden” track. All in all fine.
Arctic Monkeys
3/5
Again, was hoping to like this better — maybe I like their later albums more? Bouncier tracks like From the Ritz to the Rubble and A Certain Romance were enjoyable but too much else sounded similar.
Mercury Rev
4/5
Never heard of this band and was surprised at how much I liked this. Catchy tunes, good production, nice variety. Will listen to more by them.
Joy Division
2/5
I never understood why this group was so popular. This was pretty bad all around — some OK songs, mopey/dumb lyrics, didn’t like the vocals.
Minor Threat
2/5
The best part of this was that it was only 22 minutes. That, plus a decent energy to some of the tracks, saves this from being a 1. Would love 1.5 if available. Not my jam.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
Remember not liking this so much when it came out, but a relisten here improved things. Still a 3. Why no more records after 2006 and before she died in 2011?
Curtis Mayfield
2/5
This didn’t do much of anything for me.
Joanna Newsom
4/5
This was lovely all around — I suspect it was in medium-to-large part due to Van Dyke Park’s producing/arranging/orchestration. He worked with Brian Wilson for Good Vibrations and later songs for The Beach Boys. I still have his Song Cycle album for sale on Amazon.
This reminds me of Bjork…
N.E.R.D
3/5
Another I thought I’d like more than I did. Pharrell is one of those behind the scenes guys whose music he does or writes for other artists (e.g., Senorita by Justin Timberlake) I usually enjoy.
This had some interesting stuff, but only merits a 3.
Eels
4/5
I’ve quite liked this album since it came out. Catchy songs, lovely vocals, nice mood throughout. Surprised to see they have a 17 album discography.
Queen
2/5
I remember at Grinnell, there were a couple of DJs who really loved their debut album which came out that fall of 1973. I recall thinking it was ok, nothing special. When this came out the next year I was essentially gone from IA. I was excited to hear this since it had no songs/hits that I recognized.
Well, it was pretty bad all around. Lame progressive rock, none of their later flair for melody or production.
Elvis Presley
3/5
Vividly remember this when it came out — JK, I was nine months old.
Outside of Blue Suede Shoes, this was just so-so, but gets a 3 up from a 2 just based on its historical significance. Even though my parents kinda liked/tolerated the Beatles in 1963-1964 when they became huge, I imagine to the extent they knew of Elvis or this album in 1956 they would have shit bricks over it at that point in time. You go, E!
Michael Kiwanuka
5/5
I really liked this and started out as a 4, but with a second listen I’m upping it to a 5. I suspect Danger Mouse’s involvement in all the songwriting and production is a not insignificant part as to why it rates so highly. Makes me want to try more from Kiwanuka as well as find more albums with Danger Mouse beyond the stuff I know already.
Very catchy stuff, has a good vibe throughout.
Sonic Youth
2/5
Never understood why so many people and critics liked this band. Not much in the way of melodies and the noise stuff isn’t that interesting. If they didn’t have a female in the group would they have been as popular?
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
2/5
This was fine. A 3 downgraded to 2 because I hate Clapton.
Miles Davis
3/5
This wasn’t nearly as good as the other Miles album we listened to, Kind of Blue.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
4/5
This was a lot of fun, even for the tracks I wasn’t familiar with. One can imagine what the careers of rock stars who died in their 20’s would have looked like if they’d lived, but I bet Holly’s would have outshone most if not all the others.
Johnny Cash
2/5
Not great. Suspect it’s so revered because it was a live recording from a prison. Songs were lame, not my cup of tea.
George Jones
1/5
No…
Deee-Lite
3/5
Jimmy Smith
3/5
I liked this quite a bit in general, but a lot of it sounded the same. 3.5 rounded down.
Oasis
4/5
Good stuff here, but suspect their second album is better, just due to its having their two monster hits. Solid songs, great musicianship. Didn’t realize Noel wrote all the songs.
Gillian Welch
4/5
Nice stuff. A bit languid at times, but pretty enjoyable.
Megadeth
1/5
Well, this was available in 7.1 surround but I couldn’t subject myself beyond a stereo headphones listening. Truly awful, horrible songs, the guitar work seemed amateurish and the songs quick and easy to write — not a compliment. I suppose they had some allure as a live band, but, just no…
The Divine Comedy
3/5
This is a 3 album for me, one of those that maybe would go to a 4 if I listened to it a few more times. Some catchy tunes throughout.
Green Day
4/5
A fine album all around.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Started out thinking this was at least a 4, with strong hits like “Pump it Up” (on my “Jackson” playlist), and “Radio Radio”. The rest of it was surprisingly bland, with memories of most of the tracks, but only a few still clicked with me — “Little Triggers”, “Hand in Hand” and “Lip Service”. Most of the rest started out fine but didn’t go anywhere.
So down to a 3.
Still waiting for “Imperial Bedroom”…
Adele
3/5
Didn’t like this as much as the other Adele album we’ve had. The songs were kinda blah overall, except for I Miss You and Hello, although I’m a bit weary of the latter. Had high hopes for the Danger Mouse track River Lea, but alas, it didn’t do it for me.
The Divine Comedy
3/5
Not as good as last week’s offering by this artist, but I still kinda like it. Has a Bryan Ferry vibe at times. It’d be fine if I never hear him again, though.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
Had reasonable hopes for this but it didn’t do much for me. Liked the Warren Zevon track. A couple of other bouncy songs. Didn’t like the kinda spoken word segments.
James Brown
2/5
This was disappointing. Yes, a lot of energy, but the songs are pretty weak and the backing band seems to rely on just a couple of riffs too often.
Dolly Parton
2/5
Was hoping for better. Some decent songwriting, but most of the subject matter wasn’t that appealing. Plus, I generally don’t think of her voice being that warbly.
G. Love & Special Sauce
3/5
I liked this. Decent songs and general vibe, reminded me at times of Beck or Arrested Development. 3.5 rounded down to 3 so Joe will keep me on his Xmas card list.
Tom Waits
1/5
Have never liked this artist or understood the appeal. Horrible voice, lame songs. Hope to never hear him again, but unfortunately he has 4 more albums in the 1,001. No more from G. Love and Special Sauce, however…
Pixies
3/5
This was fine, but nothing special. I lump them with a band like Sleater-Kinney with both having much bigger, more passionate fanbases than I suspect they deserved.
Talking Heads
5/5
A great album, not quite as good as the two preceding Eno involved albums (Fear of Music and More Songs About Buildings and Food). The first 4 tracks are stronger than the latter 4, but repeated listenings to the latter 4 reveal nuances that are quite appealing. Adrian Belew’s guitar work on several tracks adds enough to this album to bump it from a 4.5 to a 5.
Talking Heads
5/5
I vividly remember when this came out I initially thought it was weird, since it was so different from their first 2 more pop albums. It was ant first off-putting, but it steadily grew on me and is now perhaps my favorite album of theirs. Great guitar work throughout, and while I’m not exactly sure what Brian Eno’s “treatments” contributions are, I bet the album would sound different without them.
Jazmine Sullivan
2/5
Some of the music was okay, saving this from a 1. Not my jam.
Scott Walker
1/5
So awful. An album that starts with a song based on Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal” is an immediate 2 with not much room to go up. Never heard of this guy.
Fishbone
3/5
This was pretty decent. Knocked down from 3.5 to 3 because their version of Freddie’s Dead didn’t swing like the original did.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3/5
On first listen Friday, liked this a lot, was leaning to a 4. Listened to it again today and wasn’t as impressed. A decent debut.
The Prodigy
1/5
A couple of tracks in the middle were ok, but overall, no.
Scissor Sisters
4/5
This was great. I’d forgotten they had as many good tracks as the first half of the album did. Plus, a cool Pink Floyd cover. Not quite a 5 because the last few tracks drop off of quality.
Abdullah Ibrahim
3/5
This was pleasant enough but nothing special.
The Byrds
3/5
This was Ok, but the Gene Clark penned songs were pretty lame. They have a nice sound, though. Strong mid 60-s left/right stereo separation.
Iggy Pop
4/5
Thought I disliked Iggy, but I think it was The Stooges I had a bad tat set for. This was pretty good all around, especially with Bowie writing a lot or most of the music (Iggy wrote lyrics) and playing keyboards. Nicely done.
Michael Jackson
4/5
This is a tough decision to give it a four instead of a five. Arguably, any album that includes Billie Jean and Beat It could be an automatic five. The title track and wanna be starting something are also fine tracks, but after that, even though I’m familiar with the other songs, they just don’t quite grab me. The Paul McCartney song is lame and a couple of the other slower songs just don’t do it for me.
Foo Fighters
3/5
Started out great and then faded in the second half. Cool that Dave played all the instruments, though. A decent debut.
Sugar
3/5
I’ve always liked this Bob Mould entity more than the critic’s darlings Husker Du. Better songs, not as harsh. 3.5, but not quite 4 material.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
This is a solid 4 for me for the music in general, but I’m bumping it up to a 5 because of the surround sound mixes of it. There are two different surround sound mixes, one new one in 7.1 Dolby Atmos on Apple Music, and another from a CD/DVD set I’ve had for 15 years that has a 5.1 surround mix. They are very different mixes on some of the tracks and in both cases they are amongst the best surround sound mixes I’ve ever come across, with lots of wild and interesting things going on and I find it fascinating — particularly with the lovely music it is being applied to.
Radiohead
4/5
Not quite as melodic as some others of theirs, but still very much enjoyed it, feel like one that would grow on me.
Duke Ellington
3/5
Diminuendo in Blue was pretty swinging throughout for 1956. The rest was just OK.
Laura Nyro
3/5
I’m convinced that if I had never heard this album, the three “hits” from the album (Sweet Blindness, Eli’s Coming, and Stoned Soul Picnic) would have clearly stood out as the only decent songs. Still, a solid 3. Check out Thrre Dog Night’s version of Eli’s Coming for contrast.
Various Artists
3/5
Fine but it’s no Sia…
The Monks
3/5
Fairly weird but still kinda ok. How do these obscure one-off albums make this list?
Rage Against The Machine
2/5
Reminds me of Beastie Boys but I like this a bit better. Not my cup of tea, but I can imagine as a live act they’d be decent and popular.
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
I liked this quite a bit. A fair number of songs sounded roughly similar, but there were a fair number of decent melodies, loved most of the sampling, and good musicianship throughout.
Mike Oldfield
4/5
This came out right when high school ended, and I seem to recall a lot of folks there and in college owned this, but it’s not really one you’d play at a party, or playing cards with my buddies. The radio edit was pretty cool for its time amidst the regular Top 40 songs.
Overall I quite like most of this, although the last third or so of track 2 kinda is meh. A 3.5 bumped to a 4 because the surround sound version on Apple Music was quite nice.
TV On The Radio
5/5
I really love this album. Not sure how I got into it when it came out, maybe it was that it was album of the year in a couple of publications, but from the first listen it grabbed me. Great songs throughout, not sure what the lyrics are about and don’t care. Easily in my Top 10 albums of the 21st century, along with:
Zero 7 — Simple Things — 2001
Fountains of Wayne — Welcome Interstate Managers — 2003
The Decemberists — Crane Wife — 2006
LCD Soundsystem — Sound of Silver — 2007
Selena Gomes — When the Sun Goes Down — 2011
I made my own surround sound mix of this back when I did my own mixes, and it is quite good, if I do say so myself.
Adam & The Ants
2/5
The only reason this guy was a star was MTV. He was good looking, had a gimmick with his clothes and makeup, had a decently fun initial hit with Goody Two Shoes and thus he was set for his 15 seconds of fame. A couple of decent tracks (Los Rancheros and Making History) but the rest is pretty dull. Thankfully the last album by this artist we will see here.
Van Halen
3/5
My sister dragged me to see them in 1986 or so, Sammy Hagar on lead vocals, and it was one of the best show I’ve ever seen. Great musicianship and energy, really gave thenfans their money’s worth.
Having said all that I’ve never been a big fan of their records. This is fun for a debut with Eddie’s guitar work and a great cover of The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” earning this a solid 3.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
The weakest of his string of 4 great albums from Talking Book to Songs in the Key of Life. Some great tracks, but a little too earnest in dealing with serious issues for my taste. He plays almost every instrument here, so kudos to him for that. A 3.5 rounded down to 3.
Kraftwerk
2/5
This was fun to hear on the radio in 1974, but outside of the main riff 24 minutes of the title track is a bit much. Some interesting stuff on side two, but never need to hear this again.
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
4/5
Had no idea what this would be like and was pleasantly surprised.
Muddy Waters
4/5
This is a solid 4, due to the musicianship, led by Johnny Winter, who orchestrated this late in Muddy’s career. Muddy’s earlier work never had this kind of backing band. I owned this when it came out.
Otis Redding
2/5
Otis live at Monterey on video was excellent, but I have always felt that as a recording artist he gets higher critics’ love than he deserves because he died young. This was pretty meh for me.
Yes
5/5
This came out in March of my sophomore year of high school. I’m not sure how it came to be such a big album for my peer group, since Yes’ first two albums were very different and not on our radar at all, more pop/Top 40, with covers of lesser known songs by The Beatles (Every Little Thing) and Buffalo Springfield (Everydays). We went back and discovered them after knowing/loving this album.
This one was a huge favorite. Admittedly pretentious lyrics, but top notch songs, musicianship and vocals, fun to sing along with. Played a ton on 8 tracks in our cars, and on vinyl while we played cards. A solid 5, made my honorable mention list for my Top 10 Albums of All Time.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3/5
Some fun covers — Born to Run, Fury (Ferry Cross the Mersey), War, Do You Know the Way to San Jose — but they were generally pretty straightforward covers.
A number of the original songs seemed like they could easily turn into Relax, so that struck me as odd.
Too long, but would like it less if, say, the covers were eliminated.
The Human League
2/5
Shocked at how lame most of this is — repetitive, boring songs, uninteresting musicianship. And why are the only known songs the last 2 on the album? Still, “Don’t You Want Me” is so good it saves this from being a 1.
Lightning Bolt
1/5
From the Wiki page description I expected to hate this more than I did, but it was close. Still, a solid 1.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
3/5
These guys were always just OK to me — I liked the Allman Brothers Band much more. The ABB seemed like cool blues and boogie aficionados, while LS were party animals with an attitude I didn’t like. This is still a decent debut, a reasonably fun side 1, and “Free Bird” is still pretty danged good. 3.5 rounded down. Not on this album, LS’s “Call Me The Breeze” is one of my fave songs ever — it swings like nobody’s business. It was written by J. J. Cale who also wrote the Clapton hit “Cocaine”.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
Thought this might be one of those albums that has legendary critical status but is undeserving. I was wrong — this is quite good, with great vocals, a fun variety of songs, and poppy arrangements.
Fela Kuti
3/5
This was fine…
The Sabres Of Paradise
3/5
Too long, but generally held my attention. A nice variety of musical ideas.
Rod Stewart
5/5
This came out right after I turned 15 in the summer of 1970. I believe it didn’t get on my/our radar until 1971 when Every Picture Tells a Story (in my Top 10 of all time) came out and I/we went back to discover Rod’s first two solo albums which are both wonderful and the three make up one of those great triads of releases we’ve discussed before.
Side 1 (the first 4 songs) is very solid throughout and side 2 starts out with 2 killer tracks in Country Comforts (an Elton John song) and Cut Across Shorty. The next two solo penned tracks are guitar only and are lovely songs, even though Rod isn’t generally thought of as a solo songwriter.
Throughout Ron Wood’s guitar work is subtle where needed and rocking on other tracks. Much more enjoyable than most of his work with the Stones.
A staple of our card playing days — a solid 5 here.
Santana
4/5
This album, specifically Oye Como Va, was my first exposure to surround sound music, on a quad 8-track tape at somebody’s trailer way out in the boonies somewhere around Princeton. I remember the stereo system wasn’t anything fancy and the rear speakers were pretty small, but on one of those speakers on OCV the only music was a single repetitive percussion instrument, and I was hooked and haven’t wavered for 50+ years in my love of surround.
The album as a whole is quite good, with side 1 stronger than side 2. Carlos Santana’s guitar work here is excellent per the usual.
A 3.5 rounded up to 4 because of the surround sound.
I’ve tried to sell this before, but them doing Soul Sacrifice at Woodstock, when hardly anyone knew them (their debut album dropped 2 weeks after Woodstock) is well worth a YouTube watch — the crowd reactions are great.
Run-D.M.C.
2/5
A little of this went a very long way. Walk This Way isn’t even that great, but it saves this from being a 1.
Morrissey
3/5
Thought it’d be worse without Johnny Marr’s guitar work (from The Smiths), but the guitar work here was fine, as was the rest of it. Nothing special, though.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
2/5
From the Wiki description, I had hopes this would be an obscure 60’s gem to discover. Also I know and kinda like some of Moby Grape’s stuff.
Ah well, this was pretty horrible all around.
Holger Czukay
4/5
Enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. Not a big fan of Can, generally.
The Smiths
3/5
This was fine, it not great.
Dr. Dre
4/5
Generally liked this, always love Dre’s production. I wish there were songs here that were as memorable as Dre’s production work on Let Me Blow Your Mind, Gin and Juice, My Name is, Family Affair, etc.
Still, a solid 4.
Björk
3/5
This was pretty decent Bjork that I wasn’t familiar with. I like her, but can’t take her in large doses.
Thelonious Monk
3/5
I remember this had fairly heavy rotation when my 2 year old pals were over to play trucks and Legos…
I tend to prefer Monk’s solo piano work, but this is still pretty good.
Brian Wilson
4/5
I think I only listened to this once or twice when it came out. It was a curiosity because a number of the best songs on this were released on an album about 1970 called Smiley Smile that was the leftovers plus a few other tracks from Brian Wilson’s first attempt at Smile. Fave tracks on both — Heroes and Villains and Vegetables. The Smile Sessions box set has 36 takes and variations and segments of Heroes and Villains alone.
Smiley Smile would be a 5 if it was in the 1,001 albums — alas, it is not. This is a solid 4.
Billy Joel
2/5
I really dislike this artist, always have. He’s written a few lovely songs (e.g., Just the Way You Are on this album), but he has other cringy-to-me hits like Uptown Girl, Piano Man, We Didn’t Start the Fire, and worst of all, It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me — he seems so completely non rock and roll to me.
I was a tiny bit excited/curious for this since I’ve always had it in the back of my mind that I should give him a serious listening. This is due to a favorite author, Chuck Klosterman, writing copiously about BJ in one of his books, arguing he’s a great artist. Chuck also loves Radiohead, Nirvana, REM, Wilco, Weezer, and even The Cardigans. So his loving BJ stuck with me (he also loves Kiss).
This would be a 1 without Just the Way You Are…
Funkadelic
3/5
Underworld
3/5
Reading about this made me nervous, but I ended up liking a decent amount of it (long track #2, Air Towel, Blueski, and Stagger). Luckily those last three tracks came through, or else this would’ve been a 2.
M.I.A.
3/5
Several tracks here kinda sounded the same, but I like her attitude and the overall vibe. Fun lyrics as well.
James Taylor
3/5
Ah, James. A lovely voice, wrote a bunch of great songs, contributed to Carole Kings’s Tapestry (my #2 fave album ever), but individual albums of his are a mixed bag, like this one. A couple of great songs that were hits, but the rest is kinda bleh. Steamroller is much better as a live track on JT’s Greatest Hits Volume 1, a very solid album across the board.
Nirvana
4/5
The first six tracks are great, the latter seven NSM, especially the final one. Still, a nice job all round.
Beastie Boys
2/5
This wasn’t quite as awful as I expected it to be, but it was close.
Beatles
5/5
Didn’t need to listen to it. So fabulous.
Love
3/5
This seems like it might be a 4 if it was one I knew well back when it came out. Some nice stuff going on here, and the long track was kinda fun.
Doves
4/5
This was quite good. Enjoyed it a lot, plus a King Crimson sample!!
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Good old Bob. Like this better than Natty Dread or Catch a Fire. Would listen to a 20 minute remix of Jamming.
The Doors
3/5
Their first album is fabulous, the rest just OK. The debut album and their greatest hits are all you need. I always thought of them as a great Top 40 singles band.
The Cult
2/5
My vague recollection (perhaps completely wrong) of this band is that the lead singer was a hunk, and they were known for being a good live act. This is not my jam. Even the Born to Be Wild cover is pretty lame.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
The songs I know are great. The others, NSM — WTF is Voices of Old People? Maybe a 2, but America pushes it to a 3. You should listen to the Yes version of America.
11 minute version
https://open.spotify.com/track/2PPRgRlrD2ZuDLCAL7yvNN?si=5d5IZ-6CTKSuFNRF6ws4FA&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A78tN6vBPHHyNk4sZYnS5X4
4 minute edit
https://open.spotify.com/track/4krdwCrPRSTv1c44060izq?si=nDllko0lQNi4uinGP9p7bA&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A1WWIQYhFqD2IVbG2WLVaO1
David Bowie
4/5
I remember this album from late in high school. Liked the two “hits”, Panic in Detroit and Jean Genie, but didn’t stick with the rest of the album. Listening to it today, I wish I had. A nice selection of tunes, and a different, fun read on Let’s Spend the Night Together.
Joan Armatrading
3/5
This was better than expected but not by much.
Jeff Buckley
4/5
I bought this on CD when it came out and I believe it’s out in the garage awaiting probable library donation. I probably only listened to it once when I bought it, and listening to it again, that was a mistake. A very fine album. If I was more familiar with it, it might merit a 5.
Elton John
4/5
In high school I don’t believe I owned any albums by Elton. Two of his early albums got reasonable rotation when we played cards (Tumbleweed Connection and Madman Across the Water). I did buy Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (not on streaming), a no-misses compilation.
Elizabeth owned this album so is more familiar with it than I am. If this had been a one LP release it’d be a solid 5. It has my two favorite Elton tracks, Bennie and the Jets, and Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting, the latter a hard rocker that swings like nobody’s business.
The songs I was not familiar with I was hoping I’d like more than I did. They were OK, but not good enough to make this a 5.
Candle in the Wind is not one of my fave hits of his.
I did recently buy “Diamonds” a blu-ray surround disc with 51 tracks. A 54 track version is streaming. It’s quite good.
Khaled
2/5
This kinda sounded like Indian music to me at times. Not my jam.
Eagles
2/5
I thought I might like this album better than my pre-conceived notion that I didn’t, but I was wrong. It’s pretty awful. The three hits that open the album have always been annoying to me, although the title track has a Steely Dan reference (They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast). The other “hit” (Victim of Love) is meh. The Joe Walsh penned track “Pretty Maids All in a Row” was decent, though.
The Eagles have two great songs in their catalog, Already Gone, a rocker that has great guitar work (but they didn’t write it) and I Can’t Tell You Why, an achingly beautiful ballad with a lead vocal by co-writer Timothy B. Schmidt (also in Poco, a great country-rock band).
MGMT
4/5
Pretty good stuff, even beyond the two tracks I knew. A nice debut. Always appreciate it when all the music is done by just one or two people.
The Who
4/5
A quite decent debut. A few hits, some R&B covers. The non-hits were still pretty good.
Dion
3/5
Was hoping to like this better as it has a song I really like, “Your Own Backyard”, written by Dion and covered by Mott the Hoople on their best album, Brain Capers — well worth a listen to the whole album, but you should at least listen to Mott’s version of YOB for comparison.
Eurythmics
3/5
I remember this as one of the first “new/used” CDs I ever bought — it was “remaindered”, a notch cut into the cardboard longbox (remember those?), so it could be returned by a retailer to a record company. It was only $9.99 vs. the usual early days of CDs where finding anything less than $15-$16 was rare. Thought I still had the longbox (of course I have a couple hundred in the basement) but alas, no.
The early tracks here were just OK, but then after the classic title track hit, I quite liked Jennifer, This is the House and This City Never Sleeps. However, 3.5 rounded down to a 3.
5/5
Gotta give this a 5. It’s starts out with 3 of their best tracks ever, and the rest of it is pretty tasty. The Edge’s guitar sound is in some ways repetitive, but I’ve always liked it, and it really shines throughout this album. They are a very tight group. I also like to think the album is so good due to Brian Eno’s co-production.
With one of the ZZ Top trio passing in 2021, I wonder if U2 is the longest running band with all their original members and no deaths?
Johnny Cash
3/5
Better than the Folsom Prison live album we had awhile back. Better songs, and generally enjoyed the repartee with the audience. The novelty song A Boy Named Sue (by She’ll Silverstein) was his highest charting pop Top 40 hit at #2, a far better novelty song than Chuck Berry’s only #1 hit My Ding-A-Ling, which we had in Heardle the other day.
Radiohead
4/5
Wasn’t that familiar with this, but generally quite liked it. The latter half I liked better than the first half.
Miles Davis
4/5
Liked this a lot, haven’t heard it in ages. Some stuff sounds King Crimson-ish (track 3). Several ECM-label artists are on this (Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, and Dave Holland), a label I’m quite fond of. John McLaughlin’s guitar is always welcome. The fact that there’s a lot of of piano and guitar on this (vs. other Miles’ albums) is a plus for me.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
I remember this album being in the limited album collection of Dan and Sue, (along with The Doors debut, the first Traffic album and a couple of Moody Blues albums), listening to it at their apartment.
In high school for speech class I used my brother’s portable stereo cassette system (a rare thing at the time for a high schooler to own) with wide detachable speakers (still wired), made a mixtape and did a demonstration speech on stereo separation in pop music. I used Daydream by the Loving Spoonful, Heaven is in Your MInd by Traffic, and the middle instrumental section of Whole Lotta Love from this album, and some other tracks as well (Beatles, I’m sure). I recommend listening to these 3 tracks on headphones.
Anyway, a great album, solid 5, the band is tight, the drums are outrageous, and the lyrics are ludicrously sexist most of the time. Great songs throughout.
Carole King
5/5
From my StoryWorth discussion of this, my 2nd favorite album of all time:
The greatest pure pop album ever. 12 stunningly beautiful songs, completely fun to sing along to from start to finish, with fabulous production where tasty licks of guitar and keyboards are scattered throughout. Top LA session musicians are used throughout. Joni Mitchell and James Taylor add background vocals.
The album had two big hits, “So Far Away”, peaking at #14 on the charts, and “It’s Too Late”, a #1 hit that was also #2 for the entire year of 1971.
Side note — at age 16 on New Year Eve, I went to George Pohanka’s house two blocks from mine and we played cards and drank whiskey sours (the only time I was ever in his actual house as opposed to his unfinished basement you could enter in through the back of the house where we played a ton of cards over the years) and listened to the Top 100 of the year (well, maybe just the Top 50) from WGN in Chicago. We were rooting for Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May” to be #1 for the year (it was #3). “It’s Too Late” was #2 and #1 was “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night (we kinda knew that would be #1).
There was an offical Quadrophonic version of this album, and it has been reissued on CD — it’s fabulous.
Nick Drake
3/5
This is fine, but as with Jeff Buckley, how revered by critics would this artist be if he hadn’t died so young and tragically? A bit of this goes a long way. Things Behind the Sun is a very nice track. Elizabeth would give this a 4.
Pink Floyd
5/5
I’m shocked this was not on my list of 25-30 albums that got honorable mention on my Top Ten of all time list.
This is my favorite Pink Floyd album, as I suspect it is for most fans. Kinda like of people (I assume) picking Sgt. Pepper as their favorite Beatles album (not in my top five). Other PF fans prefer The Wall or Wish You Were Here. Jeff White’s fave is Animals — it takes all kinds.
I’ve never paid much attention to the lyrics on DSOM, although I know much has been written about and analyzed them. It’s the music and production here that’s amazing. The songs are catchy, fun to sing along to, and David Gilmour’s guitar work is superb. The female singing on The Great Gig in the Sky is a highlight and gives me chills each time the vocal part hits. It sounds fantastic in surround sound, with lots of great effects on Money and Time.
Hearing Money on Top 40 radio was great in high school — a shortened version but great nonetheless.
Todd Rundgren
3/5
The second album here was much better than the too weird first album.
New York Dolls
2/5
Always though Johansen and his group were a poor Bowie ripoff. A few decent tracks here, but meh overall.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
I remember buying Ry Cooder’s album Bob Till You Drop in 1979, touted as “the first digitally recorded major-label album in popular music, recorded on a digital 32-track machine built by 3M”. The album was decent and Ry had played on both the Stones’ Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers LPs, so I was off to the races, eventually owning 10 or so of his albums, all decent, especially his early stuff.
Vividly remember buying this when it came out, and liking it about the same as I do now — fine, but not great. Instrumental Afro-centric music is in the “a little bit goes a long way” category for me.
The Notorious B.I.G.
4/5
Generally liked it. Not great songs, melody-wise, to my ears but better than most rap/hip-hop. I like Biggie’s flow and vibe. Most of the samples used I was unfamiliar with but they felt like I kinda knew them if that makes sense.
Depeche Mode
2/5
This doesn’t quite do it for me. Jeff is a fan of their greatest hits album. The songs aren’t that great, and several sound pretty similar to each other.
Boston
4/5
This was huge around the time of Frampton Comes Alive and Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours”, but Boston was more of a hard rocking band that appealed to males, but didn’t appeal as much to the fairer sex, so at college parties you’d hear the other two a lot, but not Boston. Of the 3 albums I never owned Boston.
Still, a great debut with the first 5 songs all Classic Rock radio staples (well, 4.5, since Foreplay was not on the radio, just the Long Time part of that track). Great tracks, great energy, fun to sing along to, and almost all of it was done by one guy in his basement. The last three tracks are decent but not fab. Contrarian Jeff White prefers their next two LPs over this best seller/most popular part of their discography.
The Kinks
5/5
The first of 4 classic albums in 4 years for the band. 3 “hits”, including one of the most achingly beautiful songs of all time, Waterloo Sunset. The lesser known songs are all still quite good. A no-brainer 5 for me.
I bought this in a photo and camera shop in Wichita in (I believe) 1968 when we were visiting my aunt and uncle. The store had a rotating kiosk with a few albums on it — no clue why they had them in that kind of store.
Miles Davis
4/5
Quite nice— has a nice vibe to it.
Funkadelic
2/5
Thought I’d like this more than I did, but no…
Hugh Masekela
3/5
Liked the first 2-3 tracks and the last 2-3. The middle ones not so much. Loved the piano work, not as sold on Hugh’s Flugelhorn.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
B.B. King
2/5
This was just Ok. Thought and hoped there’d be more guitar from B.B., but no.
Wu-Tang Clan
4/5
Most of these I don’t classify as “songs”, but the samples used and the production are generally quite pleasing. The lyrics are pretty clever for the most part. The surround mix was better than expected, with some verses coming from the left or right rear channel, and various samples, mostly keyboard-based, coming like that as well.
A 3.5 rounded up to 4 due to the surround mix.
Beatles
5/5
Up until Sgt. Pepper’s UK Beatle albums would have 14 tracks, US versions only 12. Then a couple of times the US market would squeeze out another album to make money off of which caught things up (Yesterday and Today, Beatles IV).
The US version of this (Meet the Beatles) had the 9 songs written by the group, plus three other hits released in the UK on a single (She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There, and This Boy — 3 great tracks). The 5 cover versions on this UK release ended up on the US album The Beatles’ Second Album.
So arguably Meet the Beatles is a better album than With the Beatles. Still, I love the covers here (especially Roll Over Beethoven), so it’s still a 5.
Rush
1/5
I’ve never understood the appeal of this band. So-so songs, don’t like the vocals, musicianship ok but nothing great.
R.E.M.
5/5
Wasn’t familiar with this outside of the two “hits” (Radio Free Europe and Talk About the Passion), but loved all of it. Weirdly, this and Automatic for the People are the only albums in surround sound on Apple Music, although others (Monster, Around the Sun, Reveal, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, Out of Time) were released physically on DVD-Audio, which I used to own and sold, making rips of them before sending off.
Anyway, a great album — a 4 moved up to 5 due to the surround mix, which enhances the music considerably.
Tim Buckley
1/5
Listened to this in the car while running errands. Really disliked it. The songs were lame, awful vocals, and what I could catch of the lyrics seemed overly pretentious. Some instrumentation was a bit intriguing but not enough to get this to a 2.
Queens of the Stone Age
2/5
What a weird cover. Not my jam at all.
Stan Getz
4/5
I like this artist combo and this style of laid back, bossa nova style music, but prefer Gilberto by himself. Also a big fan of Gilberto’s daughter Bebel — her self-titled album from 2003 is quite good.
Bonus for having the track Corcovado, which is covered by Everything But the Girl on their Walking Wounded album I keep raving about.
Bob Dylan
5/5
The first of Dylan’s 2nd, 3rd and 4th best albums, all released within a 14 month span from April of 1965 to June of 1966 (Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde the other two). Blood on the Tracks from 1975 is his best.
This is the least best of the 3 albums but still a solid 5. 7 electric tracks on side one with a bunch of session musicians, then 4 acoustic tracks on side 2 with almost exclusively Dylan on guitar and harmonica. A transitional album from his folk/acoustic output before 1965 and his more electric output after that.
Standout tracks are It’s All Right Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) with one of my favorite lyrics ever — “he not busy born is busy dying”, Maggie’s Farm and Subterranean Homesick Blues.
This was one of 5 CDs issued in 2003 in 5.1 surround on Hybrid SACD. The full list — Another Side of Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde, Bringing It All Back Home, Blood on the Tracks, Love and Theft. Of course I own them all. The surround mix for this album is decent but not stellar.
Chicago
4/5
This was released in April of 1969 and I have a memory of being at a buddy’s house at a pool party in Spokane (we moved to Illinois in August) and someone had this playing on an 8-track player.
Oh, if this could be a single album! It starts out with 5 killer tracks and then things get spotty after that. Terry Kath is a very underrated guitarist but Free Form Guitar is kinda painful. Poem 58 is so-so. South California Purples is great, Someday is just Ok. Closing track Liberation is 14 minutes too long.
All the early Chicago albums were released in quadrophonic when they first came out, and there have been other releases in 5.1 or 7.1 since (Chicago II will have a new 7.1 remix, coming out on 5/23). This one in the original quad is a very nice mix, typical of the early days of quad, with intriguing things coming out of all 4 speakers.
Special shoutout to their bizarrely different cover version of the Spencer David Group’s “I’m a Man”, as weird and wonderful a choice as Yes doing Simon & Garfunkel’s “America”.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
1/5
Nope…
Bee Gees
3/5
Too many similar sounding ballads, but overall decent. Prefer their pre-Saturday Night Fever era like this, but better songs would help.
4/5
A very solid album throughout, just not quite good enough for me to give it a 5.
Black Sabbath
2/5
Wasn’t as horrible as expected, but not great. This was only a moderately popular album when I was in high school, appealing to the more hardcore stoners, not to imply my friends and I were less hardcore stoners.
Bob Dylan
5/5
A masterpiece…
Einstürzende Neubauten
1/5
Beyond awful. Made it through about half the tracks.
White Denim
3/5
Thought this was pretty good. Kind of a Grateful Dead vibe at times, but not in an annoying way. Might like it more with more listens. 3.5, rounded down.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
3/5
Janis is just OK in my book. Would she be as revered today if she hadn’t died so young? Liked about half of this. 2.5 rounded up. She was fascinating to watch in Woodstock and the Monterey Pop Festival documentary movies.
The White Stripes
3/5
Not sure how I feel about this artist. Love the idea it’s just the two of them, and there are some fairly decent songs, but some of them come off as harsh and strident to my ears. Big plus for “We’re Going to Be Friends”, a really sweet and lovely song. When they came out and performed it as their second song on SNL, it was a wonderful surprise.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
5/5
I do truly love Our House and Teach My Children, but I’d love to hear this with those songs out and some extra edgier Young and/or Stills tracks instead. It’s apparently as much of a “group” album as The White Album was for The Beatles, which is a bit unfortunate. Stills is an underrated guitarist and songwriter. Graham Nash wrote OH and TMC, so maybe he shouldn’t be on this album at all, except for those sumptuous 3 or 4 part harmonies — OK, he gets to stay. The title track, Carry On, and Neil’s two songs are all great.
I remember from a book of Rolling Stone Record Reviews from August of 1971 there was a small section called “The Review as Fiction”, and the only one that stuck with me was for this album. The gist of the fictional story was that a bunch of hippies in 1970 would make plans for bombs and talk about revolution, but mostly they just hung around and got high and were waiting for the Deja Vu album to be released. Then a new guy called them out on their bullshit saying they needed to get rid of all their music and dope distractions and really commit to the revolution and all the friends took it to heart and got rid of their music and their dope. But on the day the album came out, the chastised ex-revolutionaries heard music coming from down the hall, and when they got to the room, it was the guy who had called them out, and he was sitting on the floor with a giant joint in his hand, completely spaced out and completely grooving to the Deja Vu album, becoming just like those he had called out earlier. I’m not sure if the fictional story was meant to be in praise of the album or critical of the album (probably the latter) but it was a decent story. I still have the book of course, and reread the story today.
Anyhoo, still a solid 5 for me. A staple of card playing days in high school.
Stereolab
5/5
Have always liked this group, especially Dots and Loops, and Sound-Dust. This one was unfamiliar to me and I enjoyed it a lot, and even listening to the bonus 15 tracks on the expanded edition. Fun melodies, love the vocals, and singing in French!
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
2/5
Almost stopped after the first two tracks, but the middle stuff was a bit better. Not my jam.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Listened to this a few times over the weekend. Initially had vague thoughts that this was one of those 2 LP sets that would have been a killer single album. The more I listened to it, the harder it got to eliminate tracks for any condensing. All sorts of weird stuff here I quite like (“Boogie With Stu”, in honor of longtime Stones piano player Ian Stuart — he played piano on LZ’s “Rock and “Roll”) and Kashmir is one of those tracks that could be 25 minutes long and that’d be OK. I have a 17 CD set (plucked) of LZ studio outttakes but no Kashmir longer than the album track. Maybe a live version somewhere?
A great album.
Nina Simone
2/5
Just OK.
Korn
1/5
I can imagine metalheads going nuts over this group live, moshing the night away (is that a thing for metal bands?), but boy this was painful. Vocals just screaming, horrible lyrics, and not a melody to be found. Decent drumming, though.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
Not generally a fan of his, but the Nelson Riddle arrangements are pretty cool. This came out 6 weeks before I was born.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
4/5
In the mid-90’s I bought 40 or so Dave Brubeck albums from a guy in Texas for around $150 or so plus shipping. Made my money back on that batch, I’m pretty sure. Anyway, a great artist and a great album. May 5/4 Be With You.
Pearl Jam
3/5
Never been a big fan of this group. Don’t care for Eddie’s voice. A few songs I know here that are OK, plus one fabulous track, “Jeremy”, which has a great music video. That track gets a 2 to a 3.
The Who
5/5
Only my 4th favorite Who album after Who’s Next, Quadrophenia, and The Who Sell Out, but still a great album. Probably didn’t get into it when it first came out, but certainly a couple of years later. A true rock opera, and even if the whole concept and story is arguably a bit hokey, the songs are bangers from start to finish. Amazing what the band can do with just 3 musicians and a singer. Fave track is Underture, an instrumental showcase that’s 10 minutes long, but wish it had been 20 or 30.
A masterpiece.
Slade
3/5
None of my peer group were into this band in high school, although their hits were on the radio and were pretty likable. Not quite sure why they weren’t more on our radar. The vocalist’s screeching gets annoying after awhile, but some solid stuff here.
Robert Wyatt
3/5
I was introduced to this artist by a buddy at Grinnell, along with Robert’s predecessor band that I kinda liked, Soft Machine. This album came out after my stint at Grinnell, so I more knew his first album, The End of an Ear.
I remember owning this album eventually. I sold a couple of his other albums on Discogs a few years back. It’s odd but generally likable stuff, kinda King Crimson-ish in spots. His first album was better. There’s another one in the 1,000 list we haven’t done yet from 1997 that I’ve never heard of.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
3/5
Nick Drake
4/5
This was much better than the other ND album we had. The arrangements and musicianship (from members of Fairport Convention including guitarist extraordinaire Richard Thompson on one track — John Cale of The Velvet Underground is on two tracks) are very inviting and add well to ND’s ethereal vocals. Wow, this sounds like a record review, doesn’t it?
Anyway, quite liked this. His first album is yet to come up for our listening.
Alanis Morissette
4/5
Lots of familiar hits, most of them still appealing. A solid 4 here.
Hole
2/5
Never been a fan of Courtney. Would she have ever gotten a recording contract if she weren’t married to Kurt?
Dr. Octagon
2/5
Not my cup of tea but some of the music was decent enough. 2.5 rounded down.
Depeche Mode
3/5
This is better than the other album we had by this band. Still not great but a nice step up. Last album a 2. The group only has these 2 in the 1,001.
Air
5/5
My favorite album by a group I quite like. Just a great vibe all around. A solid 4, brought up to a 5 due to a great surround sound Dolby Atmos mix on Apple Music.
Van Morrison
5/5
The first of his string of 5 star albums — Tupelo Honey (not streaming on any of the services) and His Band and Street Choir. Unfortunately, neither of those is in our 1,001 albums.
Side one is all bangers, side two still very decent. Van is kind of a tool these days, but this is still a solid 5.
TLC
3/5
This is fine but nothing special. Makes me think of Michael Keaton quoting TLC lyrics in “The Other Guys”, and Will Poulter doing the complete middle rap of Waterfalls in “We’re the Millers’. Both are hilarious.
The Clash
5/5
One of my early items sold on Amazon. A woman was buying it for her teenage soon for Xmas and wanted an original issue. Cost her $30.
Another album (Like Physical Graffiti) that I thought would be better pared down to a single disc. Nope, steadily good stuff throughout. Lyrics are easy to follow with the vocals and have some interesting subjects. The band is tight from start to finish. A winner.
Sarah Vaughan
2/5
Her voice is ok, nothing special. Pleasant music but not my jam.
Frank Zappa
3/5
I’m generally hot and cold on Zappa. Some stuff is just too weird for me. This is pretty decent for most of it.
The Zappa documentary from 2020, aptly named “Zappa”, is fascinating.
Lorde
3/5
Like this a fair amount. 3.5 rounded down. Would try more of her music.
T. Rex
3/5
Thought I might like this quite a bit because I did enjoy Electric Warrior, an earlier album. But this was just decent throughout, nothing special.
He was a huge heartthrob and star in his heyday in England, but never was big in the US.
The Waterboys
4/5
I bought this album when it came out — not sure if I ever listened to it, which is a shame because this was pretty solid from start to finish.
The Beach Boys
4/5
This has always been kind of a weird album to me. Some of the best tracks on side 1 have almost no input from Brian Wilson, and the last three tracks where he’s heavily involved are just so-so. Van Dyke Parks was always a weird influence on him, IMO. Student Demonstration Time is on my 500+ song playlist of faves. A 3.5 rounded up in honor of Brian’s passing.
Violent Femmes
3/5
I believe Elizabeth and I saw this band at Summerfest in Milwaukee in the late 70’s. The hits here are great, but some of the others sound pretty similar to them, so that’s disappointing. Always love it when Blister In The Sun is in a TV show or movie.
Nas
3/5
Liked this better than I thought I would and more than most rap albums. The music was generally decent, although there was some repetitiveness across some of the songs. Generally intriguing lyrics.
The Pogues
3/5
Another decent album from them. Plus, “Dirty Old Town” was covered very nicely on Rod Stewart’s debut solo album.
The Mothers Of Invention
2/5
A strange combo of fairly straightforward pop songs, or at least attempts at them, plus some weird shit that was often unlistenable. This must have been pretty wild when it came out in 1966. Not my fave of his by a long shot.
fIREHOSE
3/5
This wasn’t good, wasn’t bad — no need to hear again. 2.5 up to 3.
Earth, Wind & Fire
3/5
The hits are great, and Africano I liked. The rest — meh.
Supertramp
4/5
For those of my generation, Supertramp is like Electric Light Orchestra and The Alan Parsons Project. You think each group had just a few hits but when presented with a greatest hits album you’re pleasantly surprised to realize they each had quite a few.
This group wasn’t on my high school group’s radar, since they didn’t have hits until 1974 (post high school) on this, their third album — in fact their first two albums are not streaming. Breakfast in America is a better album of theirs (sadly, today’s is the only one of theirs in the 1,001), but this is pretty good. Two FM radio staples and a number of other tasty tracks. Makes me want to listen to more of them.
Youssou N'Dour
2/5
Liked track 2 but not the rest. Not a style I care for much.
Mudhoney
3/5
Was expecting worse, but some decent tracks here — 2.5 rounded up.
Iron Butterfly
2/5
This was an album we had when playing cards in high school, but was rarely brought out, and I think only side 2 with only the 17 minute title track was ever played. 17 minutes is way too long here, with a middle instrumental section that wasn’t great. 8 minutes would improve things, and the 3 minute radio single was even better, way fun to hear on a car radio. Side one is pretty dull.
Bob Dylan
3/5
Don’t love acoustic Bob, even though this has some early iconic songs and some funny lyrics here and there.
The Go-Go's
4/5
Bought this when it came out. Liked it a lot then and still do. A nice debut with two monster hits that are still fun to sing along with on the radio. 3.5 rounded up to 4 because the documentary was very good.
Tricky
3/5
I have a very old downloaded trip hop top 40 playlist (heavy on Morcheeba, Thievery Corporation, Massive Attack, Portishead) that I thought might have had Tricky on it, but it doesn’t. This is pretty decent, but not worthy enough to make the top 40 playlist.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
1/5
Nope…
Django Django
4/5
I really liked this. Too bad it’s not a Friday album so I could listen to it several times over the weekend to see if it warrants a 5. They have a decent sized discography, with a fair number of remix EPs. Will listen to more of this artist.
Television
5/5
Here’s what I wrote about this album in my Top 10 Albums of All Time entry on StoryWorth:
****************
The greatest guitar album ever. This will not be to everyone’s taste, but man, what an album. The title track alone is worth the price of admission, as they say.
****************
Listening to it again now, it’s still an amazing disc. The guitar interplay between Verlaine and Lloyd is catchy and done so well throughout. Special kudos to Billy Ficca’s drumming.
The Cure
2/5
I like Robert Smith’s voice on hits like Friday I’m in Love and Lovesong, but not on most of these tracks — seems whiny to me and gets old quick. We still have their album Disintegration to do. So that should be more to my liking.
Sonic Youth
3/5
I’ve generally been lukewarm on this group, but I liked a fair amount of this. If it’d been one disc of the best tracks, it’d be a 4.
Sepultura
1/5
If this isn’t a 1 across the board I’ll be:
— shocked
— disappointed
— chagrined
Awful in all aspects, vocal, lyrics, ”musicianship”, etc.
Fugazi
2/5
Knew of the group, kinda, thought they were metal, was pleased to see they are listed as alternative. Track one was pleasing, went downhill after that. 2.5 rounded down. Not a great week so far.
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
Again, one of those 90’s bands I never quite got into, outside of 1979, which is always fun to hear on the radio. Some decent stuff here, though.
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
This is in my honorable mention list on StoryWorth about my Top Ten albums of all time. Was surprised to see the vast majority of the music came from James Murphy, given he has a huge band in concert.
All great tracks, although I have to be in the mood for New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down. Favorites are Us v. Them, Get Innocuous!, and the title track. North American Scum is the title sequence music on an Apple+ show we like, The Buccaneers, done by another artist.
If you like the album, check out the 6 track EP, A Bunch of Stuff — cool remixes of songs from SOS. Obvy, a 5 for me.
David Crosby
2/5
After the success of the great first CS&N album, I anxiously awaited the three solo albums from the boys. Had highest hopes for Stills, then Crosby, then Nash. All were pretty mediocre with few tracks as good as when they were together. The Nash album was a pleasant surprise and turned out to be the best of the three. Crosby still came in last. All pale in comparison to any of Neil Young’s first three solo albums.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
I had hopes for this, since their s/t debut was a pretty good album, and I know the classical piece pretty well, but this was not very good.
Surprisingly, their debut is not part of our 1,001, but their second album, Tarkus is.
Rahul Dev Burman
2/5
Not as awful as expected but close. The tracks with flute were ok.
The Killers
3/5
I generally dislike this band — Brandon has always struck me as a Springsteen wanna-be and it doesn’t work for him. Also I am super tired of Mr. Brightside (as is Jeff, who is generally a big fan of the group).
However overall,some decent tracks here — forgot about the other hits here (Smile Like you Mean It, and Somebody Told Me), which are pretty good.
2.5 somewhat reluctantly rounded up.
Blue Cheer
3/5
Of course I like The Who’s version of Summertime Blues better, but the one here is quite good. The rest of the album was fine, nothing spesh (Momma White-speak for “special”).
John Prine
4/5
Good old John — a lot of sweet lovely songs that can be sad at the same time. A distinctive vocal style that is all his own and very pleasing. A fine debut.
Heartily recommend Prime Prime, a greatest hits album from 1976, with 4 tracks from this album.
Black Sabbath
3/5
We listened to Paranoid some while playing cards in high school, but not this first album. This was better than I thought it would be. RIP, Ozzy.
Jack White
3/5
The slower stuff in the second half and the title track were lovely. The rest, NSM.
The Libertines
4/5
Had just vaguely heard of this band and quite liked it — listened to it twice over the weekend. A nice surprise.
The Modern Lovers
2/5
Why Jonathan Richman has been such a critic’s darling and cult favorite all these years is puzzling to me, Most of this was pretty lame. He was pretty cute as the street troubadour in There’s Something About Mary.
Gary Numan
2/5
This was so repetitive and not very good. The track 2 before “Cars” (the only Numan song I know) sounded just like it — I thought the first 30-45 seconds were a long album intro into his biggest (only?) hit.
Bon Jovi
3/5
I wanted to like this more but it didn’t speak to me overall, and even the hits, which I like well enough, weren’t as great when listening to them in a row, if that makes sense. The fact that they brought in a kind of a songwriter for hire, Desmond Child, to help write 2 of the 3 hits kinda bugs me. JBJ sure is cute, though, and a couple of the non-hit tracks were pretty good. 2.5 rounded up to 3 because Maggie’s seen them twice in concert.
Buzzcocks
2/5
Didn’t do it for me…
Wilco
4/5
A fine album — something about these songs grabs me.
Laibach
1/5
Is this worse than Sepultura? A real Sophie’s Choice…
Alice In Chains
2/5
Dumb lyrics, lame songs, don’t love the vocals…
The Flaming Lips
5/5
I love this group and while this album isn’t quite as good as Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, this still rates a 5 for me, 4 for the album, boosted up one because of a wild surround sound mix. The band did three surround mix issues in the first decade of this century, for YBTPR, At War With the Mystics and this album. The mixes all push the envelope for surround sound with a variety of effects and instruments coming out of all the speakers, with swirling effects. For YBTPR, there is a newer 7.1 mix issues I don’t have yet, but it’s supposedly way different from what I have in 5.1 and gets rave reviews. The CD/DVD issues also have a ton of extras, with videos, b-sides, etc.
The band also has stereo albums that replicate Dark Side of the Moon and Sgt. Pepper — both on streaming and well worth checking out.
Spiritualized
4/5
Not sure how I glommed onto this album in 1997, but I bought it and loved it then and it was great to hear again today. Thought I might have saved the CD, but, alas, no. I think I have a download of the deluxe version with 2 extra CDs of remixes and session cuts. Some of the droning stuff isn’t quite to my taste but overall a fine album.
Kate Bush
4/5
Haven’t listened to this in a while. If I’d never heard this before the grade would be lower, but while some of the songs are a fair bit too quirky compared to her first three albums (Leave it Open, the title track, Houdini, Get Out of My House) there’s still a lot of good songs here. The first four are good to great, and the other non-quirky tracks are pretty good.
The self-production is varied and always interesting. Very little guitar on the album, dominated by her keyboards. This and Hounds of Love are the only two of hers in our 1,001. I would have dropped this album and put in Never for Ever.
3.5 rounded up because it’s KB. This makes me want to listen to her stuff more, especially her catalog after The Hounds of Love, which is from 1985. I listened to her and all music a bit less (just a bit) after our kids were born. Making up for it now.
Grant Lee Buffalo
2/5
As Jeff said, ok but not memorable.
David Ackles
2/5
I vividly remember the hype when this came out in 1972 as being the next Dylan or next big thing. I bought it and was underwhelmed. I was hoping that hearing it again 50+ years later would be different. Nope. One Night Stand and Another Friday Night are decent enough, but too much of this sounds like an over-conscious effort to be “serious”.
Steve Winwood
3/5
I was quite pleased for Steve to have some decently big-time commercial and Top 40 success after years of being critically acclaimed but with low record sales for the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, and Blind Faith. He’s always been a very underrated guitarist, so was excited to hear he played all the instruments on this album, but there’s not much guitar work, or what is there is pretty bland. The songs are fine and are fun to sing along to on the radio (we heard him often driving to and from Elizabeth’s radiation therapy), but this is all just so-so, especially compared to his work in the other bands.
There are two Traffic albums on the 1,001 list and I don’t believe we’ve hit either one yet. Both are great.
This compilation album is fabulous but is not on streaming services (that I can see).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winwood_(album)
Booker T. & The MG's
2/5
The title track is such a great song that I had high hopes for this. Nope…
Tortoise
4/5
I quite liked this, but can’t put my finger on why.
Janet Jackson
5/5
The geniuses behind this album are Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, producers and songwriters extraordinaire. I have a great 4 CD promo of a bunch of the songs they wrote during the New Jack Swing era (New Edition, Karyn White, SOS Band, Boyz II Men, etc.) as well as tracks from Human League, Robert Palmer, and Herb Alpert).
This album is a 4.5 rounded up to 5 due to the total banger quartet of Miss You Much, Love Will Never Do Without You, Alright, and Escapade. These are love/relationship songs, in contrast to the more political/social songs like the title track and State of the World. The remixes I have for these 4 tracks are among my faves of all time — I’ve sold most of the Janet CD remixes I had (after ripping the CDs into FLAC files) but still have all the vinyl, and that’s at least 50 items.
At 75 minutes, this could be pared down to a totally solid 5 without the interludes (7 of them, but only about 3 minutes total) and 2-3 of the message tracks (e.g. State of the World and Living In a World).
Her next 3 albums were pretty good, too. This is the only one in our 1,001 though, although I’m surprised that her album before this, Control, didn’t make the list.
The Allman Brothers Band
5/5
To me, the best live album ever. Rolling Stone has it #2 behind James Brown at the Apollo, which I gave a 2 to, and you each gave it a 3. Another list, supposedly compiled from other internet lists has it at #3, behind The Who’s Live at Leeds, and Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, which we voted for in the same way as James Brown.
Anyway, this albums just swings from start to finish. I don’t know enough about music to pinpoint exactly why it swings, whether it’s the rhythm section with two drummers and the great bass playing of Berry Oakley or the twin guitar magic of Duane Allman and Dickie Betts, but regardless, it makes me move, even if I’m sitting down.
Of course I own the 5.1 surround 3 Blu-ray Disc edition of this described in the Wiki, and while the “surround” aspect is just some echoey crowd noise coming from the rears, what really makes this edition shine is that the vocals come from the front center speaker, leaving Duane’s guitar dominating the left front speaker, and Dickie’s on the right, which is fascinating to me to just stand in front of the left or right speaker and hear one guitar so prominently.
Fave tracks — You Don’t Love Me, Statesboro Blues.
Weird note — the first CD of this album had different versions over the two nights on a couple of the songs compared to the original vinyl. In particular, You Don’t Love Me I swear had about half of the song the same on the CD and LP, the other half on one of them taken from a different performance.
Also, in 1973-1974 while at Grinnell, I hitchhiked from Grinnell to Iowa City to see them live. No Duane or Berry (motorcycle accidents in 1971 and 1972) but they were still great.
Queen
2/5
Only one hit here, and not one of their best, Killer Queen. Still, I had reasonable hopes for this — but it didn’t click for me. Maybe this is one of those bands where, outside of the hits, the music is second rate. Not sure which other bands are like this for me (Hall & Oates, ZZ Top?) but there’s gotta be a fair number of ‘em.
Dusty Springfield
3/5
This was ok — nice lineup of songwriters (Carole, King, Randy Newman, etc.) but the album wasn’t anything special.
Lana Del Rey
2/5
Apple Music gives 1-5 “Essential Albums” when you get an artist search result. Lana had two Essentials, neither of which was this one. It doesn’t happen often that the 1,001 album isn’t an Essential and sometimes that ends up being cool — an overlooked gem.
This isn’t one of those. Lame songs, pretentious lyrics, they sounded to me like more recent Taylor Swift eras throwaways. I listened to another of her albums awhile back and it was much better than this.
Machito
2/5
Maybe this was a reveation back in 1957, but it didn’t do it for me.
Morrissey
3/5
Mopey music, but oddly enchanting. Needs Johnny Marr’s guitar though.
Primal Scream
4/5
I vaguely knew of this band, and was nervous because of the name that this would be death metal, but it’s not. Quite liked most all of this, with a variety of genres that was generally pretty catchy.
The riff on Loaded sounded like Sympathy for the Devil.
Ray Charles
4/5
Another LP that was a revelation back in 1962, and it deserves that accolade, unlike some others we’ve had of late — Machito I’m talking about you…
Lots of good tracks here, Ray’s singing is great. A solid 4.
Run-D.M.C.
2/5
The first two tracks were decent so I was excited for the rest of the songs until they came on — it mostly seemed like repetitive drones. Not for me, even with an intriguing surround sound mix on Apple Music, and weirdly, their only album in surround.
Sebadoh
2/5
Some of this I quite liked, some not at all. 2.5 rounded down.
The Sugarcubes
3/5
I think I liked this more than some of Bjork’s solo stuff.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
2/5
This started out OK but then went downhill. Thought the music sounded like The Police on a few tracks. Another band where their popularity has always puzzled me.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
This is generally pretty lovely. No more John Cale, no more Nico, and the songs are more like the Brill Building pop songs Lou started out wanting to make a career of. Mostly verse, chorus, verse, except for Some Kinda Love and the weird Murder Mystery. Their next album, Loaded (not in the 1,001 list unfortunately), is their best with the banger trio of Who Loves the Sun, Sweet Jane, and Rock & Roll opening the disc. Well worth a listen for the first three songs at least.
The Cure
4/5
This was way better than I expected. The hits I know and love, but the longer songs with a lot of dreamy musical sections between verses were very enjoyable. The length of it didn’t bother me.
Pulp
3/5
I like this better than Blur? #lamereviews
Britney Spears
2/5
Apple Music has three essential BS albums (Oops I Did it Again, In the Zone, and Blackout) but not this debut. The first track is great, the second pretty good, and then things go way downhill. She’s not a great singer and the songs get lamer and lamer. The opener saves this from being a 1. Is this in the 1,001 just because of the phenomenon that it was as Britney’s first album? Just asking…
Motörhead
3/5
I thought I would really dislike this but didn’t. Not my jam generally, but this was a fairly rock-based metal album compared to most of the noise in the metal genre. A great rhythm section helped out a lot. Don’t need to listen to more of the group but a solid 3.
Roxy Music
3/5
This was a weird and kinda fun debut after my junior year in high school. It has some cool stereo effects between Manzanera’s guitar work and Eno’s synthesizers. The songs start out decently but aren’t as good on side 2. Bryan Ferry’s warbly vocals don’t work as well here as they do in his later solos work,
Tom Waits
1/5
I never understood why Waits was so adored by critics. His voice is annoying, the songs are generally dirge-like and not interesting. An easy 1.
Tom Waits
1/5
Marginally better music. Still a 1.
4/5
The acoustic first CD is fine. The electric is much better due to The Band (but where is Levon Helm?) as his, well, band. 3.5 rounded up.
The Zutons
4/5
This was quite fun for an artist I had only vaguely heard of. Poppy tunes, nice playing, a variety of song styles. Kudos, lads!
Stan Getz
3/5
I’m reasonably certain that my father-in-law owned this album. Pretty pleasant, but nothing special.
Marilyn Manson
1/5
Beyond awful.
Suicide
2/5
A few tracks were decent, but overall nothing special.
Elvis Costello
3/5
I had higher hopes for this, hadn’t heard it in ages. The “hits” are still great, but the other tracks aren’t that memorable/catchy. When he started using The Attractions as his backing band on his next album, “This Year’s Model” that’s when things started to look up for EC (even though I gave that a 3 as well). And as I’ve mentioned before, Imperial Bedroom is his best and is still to come in the 1,001.
Pere Ubu
2/5
A couple of tracks here were ok (Over My Head, Non-Alignment Pact) but most were dreck, especially the longer tracks (Sentimental Journey, Laughing). Screechy singing, too weird instrumentation.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
LCD Soundsystem
2/5
I tried, I really did. Listened to this in full three times, mostly paying quite a bit of attention.
When LCD disbanded in 2011 after their wonderful, massive Madison Square Garden final concert, I thought “good for them”. Then when they reunited for this 6 years later, I was not pleased at all, so I listened to it once (was not impressed) and then forgot about it. I hate it when famous people, usually musicians, retire and then come back — yes, I dislike Michael Jordan for that reason.
So now eight years later and more mellow than I was in my 60’s (sure, I’m babbling) I thought maybe this is a good album, seeing as how it’s worthy of being in the 1,001 collection.
It was fine but nothing special. I don’t like EDM in general, and this feels like a generic album in that genre. The main problem is that the songs aren’t that great, with very sparse hooks compared to their two prior albums, This is Happening and Sound of Silver. I checked songwriting credits and Pat Mohoney is involved with 3-4 tracks on each of the two earlier albums and only on one here. Probably coincidental, but the songs here aren’t as good.
Shockingly, This is Happening is not in the 1,001 Albums (it’s be a solid 5 start from me) while this is — we’ve already done Sound of Silver.
2.5 rounded down for disbanding and then not disbanding.
GZA
2/5
Some of the samples were Ok, but overall the usual rap songs with no real melodies and a lot of it sounded the same.
Aphex Twin
2/5
I had a couple of remix singles from this artist that I liked, so was excited for this. It started out OK but went downhill from there. Way too long.
Sly & The Family Stone
3/5
The song Family Affair is so great. To hear that often on the radio when I was 16 was a gas. It was a #1 hit. Slinky, funky, with snazzy musical flourishes and vocals that were fun to try and sing along to. My only other Sly album was their Greatest Hits (Family Affair came later) with a slew of great tracks.
So outside of Family Affair I did not know this album at all. It was pretty decent all around, but I suspect it’s in the 1,001 because it was Sly’s “political album”.
The Specials
3/5
This was fun but not quite consistent enough to get to a 4.
Pavement
3/5
Thought I would hate this since I had a preconceived notion that I really disliked this group, but it was better than I thought. Some catchy songs and the vocals were intriguing.
Jean-Michel Jarre
2/5
Parts 4 and 6 were ok, but overall not very good.
Sleater-Kinney
2/5
Thought I might like this — all female alternative band, love Carrie as an actress. Love the energy of the band but the songs, not so much. Plus overly shouty vocals.
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
Well this was pretty good all around, and Take Me Out is such a great track. Some of the riffs on the later songs sounded kinda similar, but still, a solid 4.
Sabu
1/5
A couple of the later tracks with guitar were tolerable, but overall, no. 1.5 rounded down.
Elvis Presley
2/5
Really? Only 3 Elvis albums in the 1,001 and this clunker is one of them? A so-so collection of songs, but always love me some Fever. Maybe it’s on the list because it’s the first one after getting out of the Army, and right before a string of mostly mediocre (with occasional great tracks) of soundtrack albums that Col. Tom Parker made him do to make money.
Basement Jaxx
3/5
I’m still trying to figure out the album cover…
About half of this was my cup of tea. 2.5 rounded up. Coulda been a bit shorter.
Girls Against Boys
2/5
This started out ok and then went downhill. Didn’t love the screechy vocals.
Jane's Addiction
4/5
Liked this a lot. Only knew Caught Stealing. Been such a generally not good run of late, si this gets a 4. Bouncy fun, good tunes. Nicely done.
Ghostface Killah
2/5
A few decent samples here and there, but so not my jam.
Arcade Fire
4/5
We gave Funeral 4.67 (yeah, I was the 4), and The Suburbs 3.67 (I wasn't the 3). This isn’t quite as good as the other two, but still an easy 3.5 roundup. Maybe I should listen to them more often.
Gram Parsons
3/5
This just seems like one of those albums that’s on the list primarily because the artist died young from drugs. This is overall a bit twangy for my tastes, but it has Emmylou Harris on vocals, which helps. 2 songs I know, Love Hurts (decent), and Brass Buttons, a very lovely song that is even more lovely in Poco’s version. 2.5 rounded up for Brass Buttons.
David Gray
2/5
On Apple Music, this was categorized as “Rock”. Nope, pop at best. Pretty bland all around, and even Babylon isn’t one of those one hit wonder songs I need to hear very often, if ever again.
American Music Club
2/5
I owned a Mark Eitzel solo album at one point, not sure why. This was just ok.
The Last Shadow Puppets
4/5
This seemed like a long lost hidden gem from a somewhat psychedelic album from the 60’s. A nice variety of styles and instrumentation. I quite enjoyed it.
The Avalanches
3/5
Not sure why I liked this but thought it was pretty decent. Not quite 4 worthy.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
3/5
Don’t generally care for African music, but this was pretty decent.
Frank Sinatra
2/5
I kinda understand the popularity of Sinatra, but it still seems weird. He was making albums like this when no one else was. Still, I don’t love his voice, phrasing, etc. Some good songs here, but still, only a 2. This came out when I was 9 months old…
Jeff Beck
5/5
This was quite the album for 1968 — it didn’t seem like there were albums like this at the time. Featuring one of easily the top 10 rock guitarists of all time, this featured a young, raw Rod Stewart on vocals, the ever-reliable Nicky Hopkins on keyboards, Led Zep’s own John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page, Ron Wood on bass, and even Keith Moon on one track.
Great 60’s stereo production, songs by Beck and Stewart, blues legend Willie Dixon, Ol’ Man River from the 1927 musical Show Boat, the traditional ballad Greensleeves, a Jimmy Page track, and the Yardbirds gem Shapes of Things.
I didn’t discover the album when it came out, probably more like mid-70’s after I got into Rod Stewart’s solo stuff. A fine album all around.
Justice
3/5
Didn’t hate it, even the songs with vocals were decent.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
This is the 4th of 5 LC albums we have had. Liked this a bit more than the other 2’s I’ve given out, but not enough to move it to a 3. Some good instrumentation. Still don’t care for his voice and the songs aren’t that great.
The Stranglers
3/5
I owned this album, probably listened to it once. A pretty good set of songs, even the three bonus tracks (tracks 10-12 on Apple Music), which are more rocking. 3.5 rounded down.
Barry Adamson
2/5
Started out thinking I might like this, since I love movie soundtrack music, but after a couple of promising tracks to start, it went steadily downhill.
Neil Young
5/5
This was the first Neil album I owned, buying it after knowing and loving CSN&Y’s Deja Vu, that came out 6 months earlier. Then I went back and bought his first two albums. All are fabulous, one of those rare strings of 3 by an artist that are all stellar.
On my StoryWorth about my 10 fave albums of all time, his second album, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere is in my honorable mentions. This would be as well if my “rules” allowed more than one album by any artist.
Beautiful, sad love songs that I always sing along to (Tell Me Why, Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Don’t Let it Bring You Down) highlight the album, with everything else top notch
Southern Man’s lyrics are a bit cringey (hoorah to Lynyrd Skynyrd for calling him out in Sweet Home Alabama) but the music and guitar solo make up for it.
An obvy 5.
Portishead
2/5
Liked this a lot less than their other two albums. Not as melodic, vocals overall not as pleasing.
Goldie
4/5
I like the drum and bass genre in general, but a fair amount of can be somewhat annoying. This I quite liked, although I can’t quite put my finger on why. Longer than it needed to be. 3.5 rounded up.
ZZ Top
3/5
Wanted to like this more. Three legit hits, but a lot of this sounded the same. I know they’re a blues/boogie band so that’s to be expected, and Chuck Berry got away with that for most of his career, but this isn’t quite in the same class as Chuck. Kudos to them for perhaps being the group with the longest span of original members and no one else — 50 years from 1971-2021 when bassist Dusty Hill died.
Weird trivia. Billy Gibbons played himself, as the dad of one of the main lab techs, on five episodes of the TV series “Bones”. When she revealed who he was, she was nonchalant about it, but her co-workers were astounded.
Slipknot
1/5
I had modest hopes I wouldn’t totally hate this and might find some redeeming aspect (guitar work, a hint of a melody here and there), but no. Only made it through about half of it. A zero “rounded” up to one because we have to.
The Roots
3/5
For a hip-hop/rap album this was pretty decent, with songs that had actual melodies (Sacrifice, Break You Off). Bonus for sampling Swing Out Sister’s “Breakout” on the track Quills.
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
This was better than To Pimp a Butterfly. A few songs that were melodically OK, and the breadth of his lyrics was impressive at times. Also, no skits or interludes as separate tracks. IPlus a Janet Jackson sample on “Poetic Justice”.
Dennis Wilson
2/5
I had a memory before this showed up in the 1,001 that this was a well reviewed album from when it was released, and the Wiki page confirmed this. It was mediocre. A few OK songs, but if he hadn’t been in the Beach Boys would this have ever been made?
1.5 rounded up because he was easily the cutest/hottest Beach Boy member, which isn’t hard to do — he was objectively very cute.
Mudhoney
3/5
Led Zeppelin
5/5
I remember visiting Dan & Sue after this came out and listening to it there. They only had a handful of albums as I recall — e.g., debuts from The Doors and Traffic, Days of Future Past by The Moody Blues.
What a debut LP this is, all swagger and blues, with great production. If you haven’t seen the documentary on LZ, Becoming Led Zeppelin, it covers their formation and this first album, stopping right after LZ II is released in 1970. Highiy recommended.
Side 2 doesn’t quite match side 1, but this is still a solid 5 for me.
Linkin Park
1/5
From the lyrics I can kinda understand how this group/album spoke to angsty teens in the year 2000 (not you two, of course…). But the music is awful across the board. Can’t quite do a 2.
Cyndi Lauper
4/5
Cyndi was a really big deal on MTV and had four Top 5 singles and another in the Top 30 — pretty good for a debut album. Solid stuff throughout, even though the last three tracks fall off in quality
Peter Tosh
3/5
Decent reggae, but not as good as Bob Marley.
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
Knew of this group by name only, had no idea of what their music sounded like. Enjoyed it a lot, catchy tunes of a wide variety, jangly guitars, etc.
Björk
4/5
Probably my fave Bjork album. Nothing too harsh/weird or shrieky. The overall vibe speaks to me. I have the 5.1 surround DVD-Audio from 2001, which sounds great. There is a 7.1 surround mix on Apple Music which is fine, but doesn’t add much to what the 5.1 did.
Manu Chao
3/5
Expected to hate this since I’ve not been fond of others in this genre in the 1,001. Surprisingly it was pretty good. Decent melodies and singing. Weirdly, this debut album plus his second from 2001 and his most recent from 2024 are all in Dolby Atmos surround on Apple Music. The 4 in between 2001 and 2024 are not.
I need to join a group of 1,001 Surround Sound Albums You Need To Listen To Before You Die…
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
I remember most of this pretty well and still like it a lot. Lively Up Yourself has always been a fave track — it swings even more than the usual reggae song — plus it’s one of only three songs he wrote for the album.
N.W.A.
4/5
Thanks to Dr. Dre’s involvement on production and instrumentation, this ended up being easily my fave rap/hip-hop album we’ve had. Was worried the quality might drop off after the first three “hits”, but later tracks like Parental Discretion, Express Yourself and Something 2 Dance 2 held up quite well. Too much violence in the lyrics for me, but the music made up for it. Plus, no skits or interludes which I almost always dislike. A solid 4 for me.
Randy Newman
2/5
Always just thought this album was just OK. Much prefer Sail Away (his only other album in the 1,001) and 12 Songs. This probably made the list because of the southern redneck/racism aspects of the album. Not a great batch of melodies.
Randy was nominated for an Oscar 15 times before winning for Monsters Inc in 2001 and then for Toy Story 3 in 2010.
k.d. lang
2/5
She was on the cover of the first issue of Entertainment Weekly in 1990, my fave magazine of the pre (and post for awhile) internet era. I still have it, plus the first issue of People with Mia Farrow from 1974.
This album is just ok. Too twangy for me.
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
Apple Music listed this as “rock”. I’d call it “pop”. Some good stuff here (Peach Trees) but he has always been hit and miss for me. 2.5 rounded up.
Slipknot
1/5
Slightly more tolerable than the other one we had, but still a solid 1.
John Martyn
4/5
I liked this artist more than Nick Drake and owned probably 7-10 of his albums. This was my favorite. Thought it might be a 5, but it doesn’t quite get there.
Cat Stevens
5/5
This was such a huge album when I was a sophomore in high school. Great songs, real fun to hear on the radio and sing along to.. Also, females liked it as much or more as the guys (which was unusual), so it was played a lot at parties. Then it was followed the next year by an album almost as good, Teaser and the Firecat. The albums after that, NSM. Then we discovered he had 3 albums prior to TFTT that weren’t real good, but had some fine tunes on them. Hadn’t heard this in years and was afraid it wouldn’t hold up but it does.
PJ Harvey
3/5
Hmmm — she has 4 albums in the 1,001 while XTC only has 2 (of course, so does Slipknot…). Doesn’t seem quite right to me.
Anyway this is our second of her four and was reasonably fun to listen to.
Jacques Brel
1/5
Nope…
Fred Neil
3/5
Better than expected, but no need to listen to ever again.
Sonic Youth
3/5
Liked about half of this, and I preferred Thurston’s vocal leads over Kim’s. Some nice guitar vibes here and there, countered by too discordant noise elsewhere. Enjoyed it better than I expected to.
Bert Jansch
2/5
Meh…
Public Enemy
2/5
Not my jam…
This was quite good, beyond the first two tracks that were hits and a couple of others I kinda recognized. This makes me want to listen to more of their stuff I’m not as familiar with. This is the lowest rated among the four U2 albums we’re going to listen to. I gave Joshua Tree a 5. Both that and this album were co-produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.
A solid 4.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
2/5
My very good childhood friend Dave Pence was way into music in high school and was an early fan/discoverer of Bowie and Springsteen. He moved to California after college and would send me cassettes on occasion. I remember getting from him one from this band as well as one from The Psychedelic Furs, and one from Echo and the Bunnyman. All came out in 1981. None were great, maybe pre-cursors to new wave, and I have a vague sense that the one by OMD was the weakest of the 3. Dave died around age 50 from throat cancer (a heavy smoker).
This was just OK.
The Soft Boys
3/5
I owned this album as well as several from Robyn Hitchcock, both solo and with The Egyptians. The other leader of this band was also in Katrina and the Waves and wrote Walkin’ on Sunshine. Decent example of Power Pop, but not quite as good as I remembered.
The Pretty Things
3/5
This is the only album by this group in the 1,001. I suspect it’s in there only/mostly because it’s touted as the first “rock opera”. This album is OK, but a much better album is their next release, Parachute, which had low-medium rotation when we played cards in high school. That’s well worth a listen.
Weirdly, both albums are listed on Apple Music under “Compilations” (with bonus tracks) but not in the regular album discography.
Simple Minds
2/5
The only thing I ever liked about this group was the fact that the lead singer was married to Christie Hynde of The Pretenders (Ray Davies of the Kinks almost married her, and they had a kid together). I don’t like his vocal style and the songs here are mediocre. I’m not even that big a fan of their hit from The Breakfast Club.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
This was pretty decent, and the cover of one of my Top 5 Van Morrison songs (Jackie Wilson Said…) almost made it a 4, but not quite. Their version is very good, but doesn’t swing like the original.
We need bangers!!!
Grateful Dead
4/5
I never understood the appeal of this band, or any jam-band (Phish) outside of the Allman Brothers, who aren’t really a jam band but get lumped in that genre. Still, this is a pretty good album of straightforward songs. Outside of the “hits” (Truckin’, Ripple, Friend of the Devil, and Sugar Magnolia) the other stuff is blander, but Brokedown Palace is quite nice. A 3.5 rounded up to 4 since it had a nicely done surround sound mix on Apple Music.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
This would easily be in my Top Ten of all time if my “rules” allowed more than one album by an artist (Let it Bleed is my #1). The 4th in a string of the best Stones albums in a row (Beggar’s Banquet, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile), this was fairly different from the other 3.
After very crisp production with fairly easily discernible lyrics on the first 3, this was a somewhat murky mess sonically, which was an initial turnoff to me, and to many critics. It grew on me steadily though. The opening track, “Rocks Off” (about wet dreams) is one of my fave opening tracks ever for an album, a showcase for Charlie Watts’ drumming (as it is throughout). Special kudos to Bobby Keys’ sax and Nicky Hopkins’ piano on most of the tracks.
Lots of other gems throughout, and no filler. All Down the Line, Happy, Rip This Joint, Soul Survivor — great tracks. Keith’s autobiography details the whole bizarre process of recording it in France , and it’s a great read.
As oftentimes happens, I am so familiar with this album, but was clueless on some of the lyrics. I listened to the whole thing with lyrics on the big TV, and it was fun to finally find out what some of them were.
Ananda Shankar
2/5
Thought I’d hate this, but it started out well, even beyond the Stones and Doors tracks, then it went downhill. The 13 minute track was excruciating.
2.5 rounded down.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
Similar to the other one we had by this artist. A little goes a long way, but still pretty decent.
Norah Jones
3/5
Weird that she’s Ravi Shankar’s daughter. Anands Shankar from two days ago is her cousin (he’s Ravi’s nephew).
This was fine — nothing I need to hear again. Thought she would have written more of these.
Supergrass
4/5
Never heard of this artist. Really liked it. We’ll have one more from them in the 1,001.
The Young Gods
1/5
Jeez Louise… this sounds like Tom Waits fronting a French prog rock band. Nope.