231
Albums Rated
3.43
Average Rating
21%
Complete
858 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
2010s
Favorite Decade
Britpop
Favorite Genre
UK
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
44
5-Star Albums
10
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Suede
Suede
|
5 | 3.1 | +1.9 |
|
Elastica
Elastica
|
5 | 3.22 | +1.78 |
|
S&M
Metallica
|
5 | 3.26 | +1.74 |
|
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim
Frank Sinatra
|
5 | 3.27 | +1.73 |
|
1989
Taylor Swift
|
5 | 3.27 | +1.73 |
|
Emergency On Planet Earth
Jamiroquai
|
5 | 3.27 | +1.73 |
|
The Message
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
|
5 | 3.28 | +1.72 |
|
Chirping Crickets
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
|
5 | 3.29 | +1.71 |
|
Feast of Wire
Calexico
|
5 | 3.29 | +1.71 |
|
The Next Day
David Bowie
|
5 | 3.3 | +1.7 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Ágætis Byrjun
Sigur Rós
|
1 | 3.37 | -2.37 |
|
Ready To Die
The Notorious B.I.G.
|
1 | 3.36 | -2.36 |
|
The College Dropout
Kanye West
|
1 | 3.31 | -2.31 |
|
Chemtrails Over The Country Club
Lana Del Rey
|
1 | 3.05 | -2.05 |
|
Back To Black
Amy Winehouse
|
2 | 4.02 | -2.02 |
|
Killing Joke
Killing Joke
|
1 | 2.99 | -1.99 |
|
The Sun Rises In The East
Jeru The Damaja
|
1 | 2.92 | -1.92 |
|
Kilimanjaro
The Teardrop Explodes
|
1 | 2.86 | -1.86 |
|
Third/Sister Lovers
Big Star
|
1 | 2.79 | -1.79 |
|
Tago Mago
Can
|
1 | 2.79 | -1.79 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Beatles | 5 | 4.8 |
| David Bowie | 5 | 4.4 |
| Metallica | 2 | 5 |
| Oasis | 2 | 5 |
5-Star Albums (44)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
The Coral
4/5
Cover art: what is this? A high school project? I wouldn't be surprised if I find out this collage was made with scissors and a glue stick. Historically the weird covers have been British, but we'll see.
British rock band again and it was another pretty good album. Just as I was getting in to the first track it ended abruptly, which as I checked the run time to confirm something didn't happen I thought 'was that meant to tease me and leave me wanting more?' either way it worked.
Throughout the rest of the album I kept trying to place what it reminded me of, and the only specifics I could come up with was that it was an older style rock. Some influences even back to the 60s but with modern instruments and techniques. "goodbye" is an example of what I'm talking about.
I don't think there was really a song I wanted to skip, pretty solid overall.
Favorite track "I remember when"
4/5
4 likes
Van Halen
5/5
Van Halen are the prototype for a rock band. Ultra talented guitarist, singer with a wild personality, and solid rhythm and drums to go with it. This was their peak album with that lineup before things got crazy. I don't mind Hagar but it is definitely a tone shift between what DLR brought.
Just over 30 minutes long, this album is a just a good, high energy, rock classic. Panama is one of the greatest cruising tunes, and over half the tracks are hits.
Favorite track "Panama"
5/5
2 likes
Blur
5/5
4/1001
This is the third album in a row I've been excited to listen to. Another artist I'm familiar with from "Song 2" and later Gorillaz.
Right away "Girls & Boys" brought me back to the 90s when I probably last heard that song. Somehow this album escaped me for 30 years, but no bother regretting that now as getting to hear a fantastic album like this for the first time in a treat
Full of that great British rock style.
Favorite track: "Girls & Boys"
5/5
2 likes
Lana Del Rey
1/5
I know very little about Lana outside of her boring "Video games" song, and I kind of put her in the same boat with Amy Winehouse. Not really anything I was interested in hearing more of.
Now I'm not sure if my bias is taking over, but so far the first few tracks suck. Nothing I'd ever opt to listen to normally. Apparently she has fans as almost all the tracks have 4+ million plays on YouTube music which is crazy. I guess it could be okay background noise or music to sleep too.
Tl;dr. Not for me.
Favorite track "Wild at heart"
1/5
1 likes
The Zutons
3/5
This was a fun, unexpected album. Had bits that reminded me of the white stripes, Weezer and a few others, almost to the point I figured it was a side project for someone else.
I didn't get a ton of time for notes, but I liked it more than not.
Favorite track: "Zuton Fever"
3/5
1 likes
1-Star Albums (10)
All Ratings
Amy Winehouse
2/5
Was disappointed to start here. Going into it I'm not a fan of Amy but really only knew Rehab. The song was annoying and overplayed for me at the time, which turned me off. Then the irony with her death just really made it clear my life would be fine if I never heard her again.
But I wanted to try this 1001 albums journey. The intro scatting had me just about pull the plug after 6 seconds, but I stuck with it and it wasn't too bad after that. The style was interesting and jazzy, but overall not really anything that will find its way into my playlist.
Best song - You sent me flying
1.5 / 5
The Police
5/5
Album 2/1001
Going into this album I was aware of The Police and their radio hits, so pretty excited to get to a full album. Was quite surprised by the variety here since the singles all were fairly similar.
"Walking in your footsteps" made the dinosaur loving kid in me happy, while simultaneously feeding into my present-day anxiety about the future ahead of us. "Mother" was an odd track, but aside from that it was a great album and was not disappointed. No choice but to give their ultimate album a 5/5
Best Song: Synchronicity II ( likely guitar hero nostalgia )
5/5
Moby
5/5
3/1001
Not overly familiar with Moby going in aside from "South Side" which happens to be on the album. So I was expecting a more electronic overall sound, but was surprised by a variety of bluesy songs.
I didn't always take notice of the instrumental tracks, but made sure to tag "Inside" as a future playlist piece.
A comfortable listen, that really went well with the rainy day outside.
Favorite track: "South Side"
4.5/5
Blur
5/5
4/1001
This is the third album in a row I've been excited to listen to. Another artist I'm familiar with from "Song 2" and later Gorillaz.
Right away "Girls & Boys" brought me back to the 90s when I probably last heard that song. Somehow this album escaped me for 30 years, but no bother regretting that now as getting to hear a fantastic album like this for the first time in a treat
Full of that great British rock style.
Favorite track: "Girls & Boys"
5/5
Nine Inch Nails
4/5
5/1001
Another exciting album and I believe we're at 3 90s in a row. If I've heard this album before it was a long time ago.
"Closer" is by far the most recognizable song here, and I'm still perplexed at how it passed radio censoring even with the edits. As if there is some other word that fits in that blank. Elementary age me didn't quite get it, but at any rate...I appreciate the sound of the album and what Trent was doing, but there weren't enough standout tracks to bump it to a 5, and the top track has its own issues
I also forget "Hurt" was their song, great by them and Mr Cash
Favorite track: "Closer" I guess
4l5
Tears For Fears
5/5
6/1001
Only 8 tracks on the album, but it is incredible. Banger after banger. Kicking off with "Shout" gets right into the unique vocals of this band. Some songs were new to me, but all are fairly consistently good.
I'm still very early into this 1001 album journey, but this was my favorite so far.
Favorite track: "everybody wants to rule the world"
5/5
Jurassic 5
2/5
First album I'm going into with no idea about what it is. From the cover I'm guessing some hip hop.
Apparently that's what it is, "If you only knew" comes in with this flute and says 'we only tryin to give you something you ain't used to' which is appropriate for a person like me hearing the album.
Not many other songs were relatable. I still don't know what to do with songs that have the N word, but "what's golden" was a grooving tune.
If it wasn't evident yet, I'm not familiar with hip hop and the rhymes. Has Gene Simmons been seeing demons? Do swordfish rotate tracks or double back? I'm for sure out of my league 'like Jordan playing baseball' on this one.
Favorite track "What's Golden"
2/5
Eric Clapton
4/5
Pretty good chill out album from Clapton. Not a real standout track for me on this one. I was hoping for a more rock centric album with the start of "Motherless Children" but it mellows out after that. Sheriff is the main single I recognized, and there are almost some points in "Let it Grow" that sounded like Stairway to Heaven in the guitar.
Nothing to skip here, and there is something to be said for an album you can just put on.
Favorite track: "Motherless Children"
3.5/5
Big Star
1/5
Cover impressions: cult or lesbian incest? Yikes.
Apparently that is the alternate cover and this is a male rock band featuring Alex Chilton-- who I only know of thanks to a song by The Replacements that was featured in Rock Band 2.
"Kizza me" starts off poorly with a weird, almost constipated vocal and desperate, distressing lyrics. That same strained style of singing continues through most of the album. "Big Black Car" kind of escapes that, but is rather boring instead. "Holocaust" is deeply depressing.
Had hopes for "Kanga Roo" but I can't imagine what it means to want someone like a Kangaroo.
I didn't expect a rock album to be my first 1-star but I don't get this album."Get me out of here, I hate it here" is the most relatable lyric.
Favorite track: "Til the end of the day" -- apparently this was technically a bonus track added in later releases and a Kinks cover. No wonder it was good. Otherwise "Nightime" would be my favorite original track.
1/5
Adele
4/5
Adele clearly is a rare megastar in terms of global popularity. Very difficult to have not been aware her in the 2010s. I don't think I've heard a full album from the start but I know it won't be too bad going in.
For me being mid-30s, seeing the notes mention this is the reflection reflection of a 25 year old really makes me feel old and unaccomplished. So many songs are so dramatic and would be much more relevant coming from someone 55+.
"When we were young" from a 25 year old is kind of silly, but I can't help but think about my mom dealing with dementia and just made me cry.
"River Lea" has me wondering how many other forms of water have been blamed for things (the rain).
By the time "million years ago" comes on I feel like now it must be some kind of joke that a 25 year old is writing this and is trying to be serious. Taylor is 34 right now and having a grand old time. Go have some fun Adele.
Overall an album I can appreciate, but not particularly my cup of tea. I assume 21 will be on this list sometime and from the singles I know from that I can't rate this one the same. Probably not fair to deduct points by comparing her to herself or complaining the songs are too mature for her age, but I'm going to do it anyway. There isn't a "fun" song here. As I get a little further down the list I may treat this as a 5, but it is a 3.9 at most for now, and I'll round up.
Favorite track: "Hello"
3.9/5
Metallica
5/5
This is the first album on the list so far that I've actually owned, and it answers my question about double albums and live albums at the same time.
Big fan of Metallica so this is a treat to listen to from start to finish again. I don't think I've done that since I had access to a CD player. The transitions from song to song are so clean and an aspect of it that I've been missing listening to it a track at a time.
If you've seen them live you know what's coming to start up and the orchestra version of "Extacy of Gold" is just awesome, as are most of the instrumental tracks. For the vocal tracks, the theatrics and drama work better for some than others. "The thing that should not be" and "Hero of the day"
The new tracks made for the album "No Leaf Clover" and "-Human" are both great and tend to be my favorites on each disk because of not having a clean studio version to compare to, and the orchestra has a much more relevant part.
Great album and concept. I'm only about 10 in on this 1001 album journey, but this was my favorite so far.
Favorite track disk 1: "No Leaf Clover"
Favorite track disk 2: "-Human "
5/5
Frank Sinatra
5/5
This album was way before my time, but I can tell going into it that it is something pretty special. (Also neat to get another orchestra album right after S&M).
While listening to this I was reading more about the history or this album: who Jobim was, more about Sinatra, and just the goings on about music during the time. A collaboration album like this is a great seed to grow a whole lesson out of and it makes me want to be a teacher of a music history class if only to share this with a whole room of students.
Nothing I've said so far has really anything to do with the tracks themselves, but I'm not sure anything needs to be said. Every one is just a pleasant experience that just emanates a timeless, classic sound that can be listened to forever.
I know I'm just at the very tip of an iceberg for Sinatra's career and I'm already starting to see why he was such a big deal.
Favorite track: "If you never come to me"
5/5
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
1/5
WHAT?!??
I kept listening to this without any idea who or where it came from, foolishly thinking the nex song would tell me more about what this is supposed to be. Then I finished the album. I have no idea what this is and maybe that is for the best.
Favorite track? "Ungodly Kingdom" I guess.
1/5
Pretenders
3/5
I was pretty hyped for this album having heard more about Pretenders by reputation rather than tracks. That hype kinda let me down during this album as it sounded pretty average to me through most of it.
"Brass in Pocket" is clearly the top track here although I didn't recognize it by the name. It just makes me wonder how so many bands end up with one song that is just miles ahead of anything else on the album.
Some elements of "The Phone Call" sounded like the Sonic 2 stage completion sound, and "Space Invader" was a pretty cool instrumental. "Tattooed Love Boys" was a song I recognized from Guitar Hero, but didn't quite sound right. I went back and checked and the GH version was an 'as made famous by' cover version and that cover actually sounded better to me.
Overall not a bad album that was probably more significant in its time, but doesn't quite hold up.
Favorite track: "Brass in Pocket"
3/5
Common
3/5
Me reviewing rap is about like me grading gymnastics. I can't tell the good from the bad. The fact that this album is here at all helps me know it should at least be decent just as an olympian should be pretty darn good.
So it was about as expected. I can identify it as a rap/hip hop album, and some of the collaboration tracks were pretty good. But if I don't like it I don't like it, that don't mean that I'm hatin.
Favorite track: "The 6th Sense"
3/5
Nick Drake
4/5
This is a fine album. It takes a certain mood and setting to sink away to it, but if you find that it could really be special.
I got to wondering why I hadn't heard more from this guy who was just past 20 when this album came out. Then I found out why. Such a sad outcome.
I'm not sure if the rest of Nick's works are in this list, but I'll be checking in on them on my own.
Favorite track: "Day is Done"
4/5
Black Sabbath
5/5
Such an iconic album for metal, can hardly believe it is over 50 years old now. Barely topping 40 minutes and only 8 songs, I was thinking of just giving 4 stars, but once those last 2 jams played I had to keep it at 5.
Favorite track: "Paranoid"
5/5
Suede
5/5
From the band name and cover art I would have guessed this was from 73 and not 93. No idea what I'm in for here.
Very impressed with the couple opening songs.
I know exactly what group of kids would be listening to this from my high school 20 years ago, and it was those kids that turned me on to the likes of Placebo and Bowie during late night trips to IHOP.
The more I listen to this the more annoyed I get that I didn't know about them earlier, but the fact that I've got 8 other albums from them to listen to makes up for it.
For now, I owe this one another listen paying more attention to the lyrics as I was heavily distracted by the guitar (in a good way) the first go around.
Favorite track: "Metal Mickey"
5/5
Beck
4/5
Beck albums are just weird because you can be listening to it then just get to a track that you know so well from something else and are just kind of taken out of the moment trying to remember where you know this song from.
This album starts off right away with one such track in "E-pro" which sent me down a rabbit hole to find out it was from a Destiny 2 trailer and also Rock Band 2. A couple of tracks "Girl" does the same thing, which was a Nissan commercial.
There just aren't many artists in my regular rotation that I accidentally listen to 50 times without noticing. This should be good but it is also kind of distracting and kind of makes those tracks feel out of place.
Favorite track: "E-Pro"
3.5/5
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
5/5
12 songs in 25 minutes.
Any time I hear some of these historical albums I can't help but wonder what it would have been like to hear these in the time.
This one is short and simple,and impressive for such a young kid. By today's standards it may not have been anything, but for it to be 60+ years old and still full of songs I've heard of is incredible. True classic.
Favorite track: "That'll Be the Day"
4.5/5
Foo Fighters
4/5
Foo Fighters are a gift to music. Granted that gift came at the price of Kurt Cobain, but from the start Dave had something special. I didn't realize this was only just over a year following the loss of Kurt and that is crazy, but not even as crazy as Dave doing it all practically solo in a week.
The first 4 tracks are my favorites, then the rest kind of all blend together. Not necessarily a bad thing in a debut album but it does keep it from being a 5* for me. No disrespect to Mr. Dave.
A good start to what would be one of the best pure rock bands for the next 30+ years.
Favorite track "this is a call"
4/5
Hot Chip
3/5
Cover Impression: Probably another British pop-type band.
Kinda disappointed how close the guess was knowing nothing about the band. However there was an electronic piece I didn't expect which is nice.
This is one of the newer albums I've had on the list and I'm not sure I'd have thought it would be something to revise my list for, but it is a decent album and a few moments reminded me of some other bands such as dredg and Brother.
Favorite track: "Look at where we are"
3/5
Ice Cube
2/5
I'm more familiar with Ice Cube's acting career than music so this will be interesting.
Starts off very aggressive and I feel that will stay through most the album. I get the idea behind being a scary gun gangster, but for me the fictional aspect is in conflict with the authenticity that I may be wrongly expecting.
On the other hand, reading these lyrics and actually sounding intimidating maybe says more about how he transitioned to an actor.
"It was a good day" had a nice break from being so violent. It is kind of wild reading the comments on these songs and how these songs are still relevant 30 years later. I've just had a sheltered suburban life I guess.
"Check Yo Self" comes off as a silly version of the rest of the songs, in a good way. Or maybe that is just me.
Favorite track:"Check Yo Self"
2/5
Fleet Foxes
3/5
Cover Impressions: This is probably the most interesting art I've seen on this list so far. Doesn't look like many of the things happening here are pleasant. Guessing more British rock again?
Welp, it's American Folk, and the name does sound somewhat familiar... Likely from checking out other SubPop artists, just never found my way to them until now.
Sometimes it seems like I think I like folk music more than I actually do. The setting it paints in my mind is nice, but I always get bored sitting at a tavern table or on a stroll.
Nothing objectionable here, but I think I fell asleep a couple times.
Favorite track:"Your Protector"
3/5
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
5/5
I've heard about this album in the history textbooks, but not sure I've heard it with my ears.
It starts off a lot more funky than I expected with "She's Fresh" and that keeps on going into "It's Nasty" which features a sample I've definitely heard before--probably in several other places.
A couple albums ago on the 1001 journey I had Ice Cube's the Predator, and I can't believe I had a thought that this album would be somewhat similar based on reputation. The Furious Five are so much more fun.
The title track was a neat journey and kind of a surprise considering how much it is referenced later on. Overall I had a lot of fun with this album.
Favorite track: "It's Nasty"
5/5
The Who
3/5
In completely different areas I've seen either documentaries or articles about Keith Moon and John Entwisle being unique talents with their instruments, and I'm glad I was able to go into this album with that in mind because they were the highlight of a somewhat disappointing album.
I thought I was fairly familiar with the Who's songs, but I think only the title track was one I knew pretty well, and maybe another couple of heard of but not much beyond that.
For a debut album that is nearly 60 years old is likely it would have been more impactful at the time, but I know what this band does later on and there are better things in store on this list (I expect).
Favorite track "My Generation"
2.5/5
Happy Mondays
3/5
Cover Impressions: I have no clue what to expect from this ransom note of an album cover. Maybe some psychedelic stuff due to the pills, graphics, and positivity towards Mondays.
So I wasn't too far off. And I don't immediately hate it so I count that as win. I know I've heard this singer before. Upon a quick search, "Dare" by Gorillaz was the first hit, then upon further looking I had bought a random CD from a second hand store that had a cow on it, and one of those songs was "In the name of the father" by Black Grape, which I rather liked and is this singers follow up project after Happy Mondays. That has nothing to really do with this album, but does help me place the voice and now I'm coming into this with a little different perspective.
As this album goes on, I'm thinking now that a full album of this voice and style is a bit much. After the 4th track I had to take a break for a couple hours. That will likely deduct a star or two.
Coming back from that break seems to have helped a lot. The second half seemed less extra. "Loose Fit" and "Step On" could make their way into a playlist.
Favorite track "Step On"
3/5
Janelle Monáe
5/5
This album is as interesting as it is impressive. So many songs jump across genres and have such a feel-good energy. Ranging from something fit as a James Bond movie or a shonen anime intro, then off to a classical piece or some silly quirky fairy-like song...all while having an almost seamless transition between it all. I don't know what you call all of that, but I like it.
I will admit when it showed up with 18 tracks and I knew nothing I took a big sigh, but now I've listened to it twice so far.
Favorite track: "Come Alive (War of the Roses)" the first time, "Cold War" the second time through.
5/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
2/5
I know Bob Marley is a legendary artist, has a movie coming out about his life and all that, but I don't quite understand it--at least not from this album or the other songs I've heard so far. Sure they are fine to chill to but trying to focus on the typical musical scoring rubric leaves a lot to be desired -- and maybe that is the point.
At any rate, I felt the songs were largely repetitive and accept that I may just not be getting it.
Favorite track?
It's not bad music, but it's not great either.
2/5
The Teardrop Explodes
1/5
(regarding 1001 journey: Lately I've been on a down streak and I've come to realize it is not the 1001 best albums, just ones you should hear for better or worse)
This album almost had me going, ready to really take it over the coals, until I eventually picked up that it is a joke album, or satire. I should have expected it when the for track literally has "Ha Ha" in the title, but it wasn't until track 5, "Poppies" before I figured it out.
Unfortunately every track seems to be making the same joke over and over which eventually got dull, then it kept going on and on to where I had to wonder if maybe it really was just a terrible album and not actually a joke. Now I don't know what is worse.
Favorite track: "Poppies in the Field"---because it made me realize it was a joke.
1/5
Queen
5/5
Never heard this album in full. Really only maybe the top 3 tracks, so I try to approach each album with as little bias as possible. Recently on this 1001 journey I've had a run of stinkers, so to test my bias I tried to be as critical of this as I could and I just can't find many flaws here.
Some of the songs that eluded me to this point are very surprising and just give me a lot more respect for Queen. "'39" , "The Prophet's Song" and are all unique to what I've known previously.
Great album from start to finish, and finishes with what may be in the running for my favorite track in this whole journey, "Bohemian Rhapsody". Happy to add more Queen songs to my playlists.
Favorite track: "Bohemian Rhapsody"
5/5
Finley Quaye
3/5
Cover Impressions: no clue. Black eye or sunglasses? The left side does look very bright so maybe the latter. Sunglasses give me a bluesy soul vibe.
You could have given me a million guesses and I don't know if Scottish reggae would have been my guess for this artist. However, the Scottish part really doesn't show here unless that is the characteristic of the voice that is a bit odd to me. All I can think to describe it is a Chris Tucker like sound a la Ruby Rhod.
Just earlier this week I had a Bob Marley album and I think this one is a bit more vibrant and dynamic. Overall not bad, just not my cup of tea.
Favorite track: "Sunday shining"
2.5/5
Paul Simon
3/5
Paul is definitely a storyteller, but most of these stories are somewhat tedious and boring. On one hand I like songs that play along with pictures in my head, but I'm not sure I'm really invested in what happened to someone else's chow fun, or about a hobo that maybe tied his shoes with 3 loops that one time. I do happen to like the unreleased version of "Paranoia Blues" better than the original.
These may be the kind of songs that grow after a couple of listens so you Can Still follow along if you miss a verse, but I found my imagination drifting away from the plot. Could be something good to fall asleep to.
Favorite track: "Hobo's blues"
2.5/5
Songhoy Blues
3/5
World music always fascinates me and fills me with questions of what the scenes did/do look like, who were these bands influenced by, etc.
This album starts off musically closer to something in a modern blues-rock groove than what I'd expect from an African band. I really only knew of Ladysmith black mambazo and this is pretty far from that. Did their blues and rock follow a similar evolution as what we saw stateside?
Whatever the story is, the fact is the first half of this definitely rocks. The second half seems to lose some of the powerful guitar sounds and gets more traditional to almost more have a sound I more associate with the middle east.
That style shift plus me being unable to really understand the story or lyrics ( my fault, not fair I know) holds this album back a bit, but happy to have heard it and will throw a couple tracks on a playlist.
Favorite track "Soubour" - but really could be any of the first 4-5
3/5
Coldplay
2/5
Coldplay and I have never really connected. From the radio songs I felt they had kind of a U2 aura, and while I somewhat like most of U2 I just never found a need to look more into Coldplay from what I heard.
Now after hearing this album I realized they aren't much like U2 here at all and I owe U2 an apology. Pretty much all the tracks have a pouty cry feel and nothing upbeat. I'm generally not in a mood that vibes with this style and feel thankful for that.
Favorite track: "Shiver"
2/5
Klaxons
3/5
Cover Impressions: WTF are we getting into now. Reminds me a bit of the happy Mondays cover mixed with some of the appropriation of Jah Wobble's. Which would make my guess some kind of British mess.
I'm equally disappointed and pleased with the album I heard vs my expectations. It was different enough have me be wrong about the style, but there are still some similar criticisms or rather just some bits that just aren't for me.
I like the more driving sound and spacey feel, and think it is closer to something I like rather than dislike, so may come back to give it another listen. The first 3 tracks were probably my favorites of the lot
Favorite track: "Golden Skans"
3/5
Amy Winehouse
2/5
Amy was my first album on this 1001 thing, and almost ended it immediately. Now we are back for round two.
I'm still not a fan, but I've improved my opinion of her after hearing these albums. I think I prefer the first one, but not by much. "Me & Mr. Jones" may be the first song I can recall hearing the word 'f*ckery' and that is amusing.
The short runtime of these tracks is appreciated as they keep the album moving along. A few songs had some music elements that kept me expecting to hear different lyrics such as the "ain't no mountain" in "Tears dry on their own " which likely would have been my favorite track without the sampling.
Overall, a decent album with some unique talent. Glad to have heard it by the end of it.
Favorite track "Back to black"
2/5
Snoop Dogg
2/5
What wonderfully silly album art. Unless it's been cancelled, then whatever...
The music and skits? Also had a fun energy about them that didn't seem to take itself as serious as some other rap albums may tend to do. "Ain't no fun" is a perfect example, then there are other sprinkles of levity like Pic-a-nic casket, etc.
Snoop obviously has made a good career so is doing something right, so I respect that. It just isn't for me, although I think the "what's my name" track is pretty good.
Favorite track "what's my name"
2/5
Tim Buckley
3/5
Cover Impressions: reminds me of Nick Drake based on time period and sadness. I've heard of a musical Buckley before but think it was Jeff not Tim.
So that wasn't too far off as a guess. Jeff is one of Tim's sons, and like Nick Drake, Tim died before age 30.
The album is pretty easy to listen to. As singer songwriter stuff goes I like this style over the Paul Simon album I recently had on 1001 so that was a pleasant surprise. These songs are long though, not really a bad thing but is probably why Tim doesn't see much radio play today. I'd have to give it another listen or two to really rate the songs out because 10 minute long, soft meandering songs will lose my attention most days.
Overall I liked the kind of Doorsy feel some songs had, and will put it in a list for a listen in the future.
Favorite track: "Buzzin Fly"
3/5
Morrissey
3/5
I've heard of Morrissey and apparently came up with an idea of what they sounded like and just the general genre of music they were and was not accurate in that guess. First off, I thought he as a more recent artist and was basically like Kings of Leon or something. I was off that mark by an ocean and a generation.
Morrissey is markedly British and much closer to something like Depeche More than what I assumed. This is generally a positive comment IMO of both groups.
There wasn't a standout track for me, but was fine to listen to running errands in the car. Some of the songs I like the beat and not the lyrics, and others I think the lyrics are more interesting but still I prefer the Smiths singles I've heard (just found out he was the singer).
Favorite track: "Hold on to your friends"
3/5
Tom Waits
4/5
There have been several artists I thought I knew on this 1001 journey, and I don't think I've been more wrong with Tom Waits. I guess I just assumed all Toms are the same and he was similar to Tom Petty. Nope. At least not in this album.
This album is pretty wacky in a good way. Several songs sound like they are sung by a Muppet, and that isn't a bad thing earlier, just an unusual vocal style. From seeing this is his 8th album I wouldn't have expected him to only be 34 at the time.
"Underground" sets the tone right away and is a song id love to see Tenacious D cover if they haven't already, then it just keeps going on a wild ride. I've been critical of similar oddball albums, but this one just makes sense out of its strangeness in a way I really can't explain.
Favorite track "Underground"
4/5
Frank Sinatra
4/5
Mr. Sinatra can sing anything, all day long and I'd be cool with it. Maybe the people who have been listening for 50-60+ years could be getting tired of it, but I'm just on the top of the old blue eyes iceberg.
This is only my second album from Frank so I'm not sure if they are all basically one theme or if this is just a collection album of the love-type songs like Weird Al's food album, but at any rate it is an easy listen from start to finish with a couple recognizable tracks.
I feel like there are better albums yet to come on this list so I'm potentially unfairly keeping from the 5/5 category which I maybe gave out too frequently to start.
Favorite track "I've got you under my skin"
4.4/5
Marvin Gaye
4/5
When this album showed up I started thinking about what is the highest score I'd give an album based on a single song. "Let's get it on" is such a part of popular culture it basically is a genre of its own.
Then I realized the whole album is pretty much the same vibe. Even the song about the possibilities of him dying has that iconic feeling,and is now incredibly sad given his story.
I didn't realize he had so many albums and hits, so I know there are several songs that I like better and can't quite give it a 5, but it's pretty close.
Favorite track "Let's get it on"
4/5
Elton John
5/5
It is wild to me that this album is over 50 years old and was his 7th, considering I saw Elton on this tour just over a year ago. The last album has me debating how high I'd rank an album by one track and this has at least 5 great songs, and not really any skips.
The fact that all of these songs are so solid when he put out about 100 songs in the 5 year span this came out is crazy prolific. I would have probably been just fine if the tour was just a 50th anniversary of this and played from start to finish. Since it was actually a farewell tour, I'm glad some of the other iconic songs in his career made it in as seeing him live was a definite bucket list item for me.
Saturday morning was alright for giving this album a full listen, probably my top rated album of this 1001 journey so far, and the first to make my vinyl shopping list.
Favorite tracks "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Saturday Night's Alright"
6/5
David Bowie
5/5
I knew there would be some Bowie on this list, am kind of surprised to have it be a more recent one, but that just tells me there are more on the way.
Apparently this is the 25th?! Album from Bowie. I feel like I don't quite know enough about his career and just maybe the 20 biggest hits, so it's hard to properly get all the context and proper frame of reference for a proper rating, but i do have a ton of respect for Bowie's career and the backstory of this album being the first in a decade, and ultimately being his penultimate album. The story of the secrecy about its recording and release are really interesting, and I wish I was paying closer attention at the time.
I kind of view this album in the same light as Ozzy's recent recordings. You can tell the effects of age on the voice, but the creativity and spirit is in tact. The title track comes right out rocking and is a bit chaotic. "The Stars (are out tonight)" kind of kind of centers things out and there are quite a few standouts like "(You will) change the world" I also dug into the EP and all of those were great too
. "Atomica" and some of the remixes are really great.
While listening to that EP and the album again after reading about it, the lyrics, the controversy, and thinking of other artists that put out albums into their 60s+ all just made me realize how special Bowie and this album are.
If you listened to this album and didn't catch the Next Day Extra EP, make sure to check that out. It is incredible and helped solidify this as a 5/5 album.
Favorite track "The Stars (Are out tonight)"
5/5
Lana Del Rey
1/5
I know very little about Lana outside of her boring "Video games" song, and I kind of put her in the same boat with Amy Winehouse. Not really anything I was interested in hearing more of.
Now I'm not sure if my bias is taking over, but so far the first few tracks suck. Nothing I'd ever opt to listen to normally. Apparently she has fans as almost all the tracks have 4+ million plays on YouTube music which is crazy. I guess it could be okay background noise or music to sleep too.
Tl;dr. Not for me.
Favorite track "Wild at heart"
1/5
The Cars
5/5
The Cars are a fun band. I feel like most of their songs are fairly upbeat and positive, and quite a few have to do with cars or driving themes. Seemingly effortless and effective use of a blend of instruments, with the synthesizer taking it over the top. Very enjoyable without much to complain about
For a debut album it really did everything well. Almost half of the songs were popular hits and it's tough to pick a favorite, but I'll go with the 1st track since it put me in the good mood for the rest of the album.
Favorite track "Let the Good Times Roll"
5/5
Laibach
3/5
Cover Impressions: oof. This is tough to judge. Is it foreign? Metal? Kinda get retro video game bad guy vibes from like Streets of Rage or maybe a bit of Bald Bull.
I'm going to count that guess as a win, because the opening track really has some Rammstein vibes, and now I've got to look up the story of these two bands......
It is a pretty fascinating story of the history with this band, their country, and and the fact there are a whole collection of bands inspired by this style in an obscure genre Neue Deutsche Härte.
I had no idea there was another deep voiced industrial band that does clever wordplay with translations to get different meanings a la "Du Hast". But this album has both "Leben heißt Leben" and "Opus Dei" as different takes on the same song in a very similar way.
This revelation is very similar to finding out there was a Midwestern 8 member masked nu metal band before Slipknot.
There are quite a few songs that are very repetitive to near annoyance, and probably not something that would be a regular playlist item for me, but I did enjoy learning about the existence of this band.
Favorite track "Leben heißt Leben"
2.5/5
Isaac Hayes
3/5
Only really knew "Shaft" and Chef from Issac Hayes, so this should be a good listen. 4 songs for 45 minutes is crazy.
I do kind of wish I hadn't been aware of Chef on South Park before hearing this as that is a bit of a distraction. Even so, the 12 minute opening track is great, has a good groove and build up. The second track with its crazy name is keeps on with the grove, and then the last is more spoken than a song.
Overall it's a cool album and kind of fun to have same song for the full length of my commute.
Favorite track: "Walk on By"
3/5
Mudhoney
3/5
Some of these albums I wish had a little justification as to why Some of these albums I wish had a little justification as to why they're on the 1001 albums list. It's and ok album and may be significant to the formation of the grunge in the 90s, so that is pretty cool.
Having the entire decade that followed in front of me doesn't help this album stand out to what came after, particularly if we're going off the EP and not counting the re-releases.
Overall ok album, better as a history note than a frequent listen.
Favorite track "If I think"
2.5/5 on the 1001 albums list. It's and ok album and may be significant to the formation of the grunge in the 90s, so that is pretty cool.
Having the entire decade in front of me doesn't help this album stand out to what came after.
Turbonegro
2/5
Cover Impressions: not expecting this to be an album id enjoy, but sometimes those are the ones that surprise me.
LOL What a surprise. I did not expect to be baking a motherf*cking pizza tonight, but you pretty much have to after that opening track.
I'm a big fan of silly songs, but I'll admit they can wear out their welcome pretty quick. "Rock against Ass" sure sounds like a silly song, but I don't quite get it. Then there are many more tracks that are just a bunch of teenage immature nonsense. Yes, I'm aware how old I sound saying that.
High school me probably would have loved this, maybe not for the right reasons, but it is what it is.
Favorite track "Age of Pamparaius"
2/5
The War On Drugs
4/5
Never heard of this band, but they are nice to just have on. While listening to them I heard little bits and sprinkles of so many other artists like Tom Petty and Bob Dylan to The Killers, U2 and beyond. There were probably a dozen times I was reminded of something else for just a second to get a nice sense of comfort then kept on enjoying the jams and discovering something great.
It probably helped that I'm just in a good mood overall, but this is definitely a band I'll be coming back to. As I was listening tonight, I just had it on while cooking and stuff so I don't know specific tracks much towards the end, but I liked most of what I heard. Probably should be a 5 tbh
Favorite track: "Red Eyes"
4.4/5
Peter Gabriel
4/5
I often get the Genesis boys confused, but I generally like both of them. One of the only times I've actually seen Peter on camera outside of the wacky videos was during the 93 Grammys and he wore this big purple joker suit, so that's my mental image of him for better or worse.
This familiar album has some hits. I don't understand how he can vocalize like he does while singing the words "Red Rain". It's an eerie tone/note...where does that grit come from!?
"Sledgehammer" gets bonus points for the video,and is a great song.
Thanks to the Kate Bush resurrection I could clearly identify her in the third track, which the song can be a powerful message and good to hear when you're down.
But with practically every track running over 5 minutes the rest of the album can kind of drag on a bit until "In Your Eyes" which is a beautiful classic and helped solidify this as a solid 4+
Favorite track:"Sledgehammer"
4.4/5
Pink Floyd
5/5
Here we go with another double album. I don't think I've heard the whole thing but know at least half the tracks by the titles alone, so we're at instant 5/5 territory and I'm just here for the ride.
So after listening, the tracks I knew seemed quite a bit different from the others and almost feel like a different band. Some had more of a Styx vibe and was actually kind of a let down. Valso, the number of tracks that benefit from being played together also somewhat inflates the great song count on this. Nobody wants to have "Empty Spaces"and not let it continue to "Young Lust" or "The Happiest Days of our Lives" into Brick pt 2.
Even counting some of those as a single track, there are still 5+ songs I want in my playlist and I've more or less been giving a star per song on my made up rubric. Plenty of great songs here although somewhat buried within some odd filler that somehow doesn't really hurt it at all for me.
Favorite tracks: "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell". If I can combine the two double -songs mentioned above they are in here too.
5/5
Jeru The Damaja
1/5
I see an angry disembodied elf in the cover art, and that is probably not what they were going for here.
As I typically say with most of these hip hop/ rap albums, I don't know how to grade or compare these. In my world this sounds similar to Biz Markee without the funny. That could be a terrible comparison, but I'm just not a fan of the content even if I can appreciate the flow, spit, or whatever.
Favorite track "D Original"
1/5
James Brown
3/5
James Brown puts everything on the stage and I'm sure this was a fantastic show to be in the crowd for. Live albums can range wildly in quality and this one sounds pretty good all things considered.
The other part with live albums is they have a greater opportunity for appreciation when the listener is familiar with the material to pick out the special parts.
I liked the album pretty well, but I know there is better James Brown out there. It also got a bit screamy from the crowd towards the end..
Favorite track: "Think"
2.5/5
Brian Eno
4/5
When I was a kid I thought Bono was short for Brian Eno just because of letters. Obviously the voices are very different.
This album was a pleasant surprise considering what I was expecting. It has a playfulness about it that was also unexpected. I was driving while listening so didn't take normal notes.
Favorite track "Needles in the camel's eye"
3.5/5
Tangerine Dream
2/5
Nearly 18 minute title/opening track, and the enhanced edition of the album is nearly 3 hours.
While that track was busy ruminating I was surprised to see it's 50 years old with that kind of spacey sound. Then I heard almost a Pac-Man like noise and realized they had some electronics back then too.
I can't imagine the amount of people that probably freaked out during a trip while listening to this as it does build up some anxiety. The rest of the album kind of has this same feel so it wouldn't work as a background noise album to fall asleep to.
I checked on the mythology of Phaedra to see if that gave any clues to why it has this feel, and that's more of a Jerry Springer story than anything else.
At any rate, my favorite thing about it he album was that it came out 50+ years ago, so I'll give it an extra star for that. No real favorite track as they all are super long and similar.
2/5
Rush
5/5
Literally someone last week told me I should listen to this album all the way through as it was the best Rush album and not Moving Pictures. Comparing track lists I'd be inclined to say the latter but now I'll at least be giving 2112 a listen.
Second album in a row with an opening track clocking in at over 17 minutes, however this one is more digestible and commonly broken into several songs. Now I'm trying to figure out if there was a video version of this that I watched at some point or if Rush is just that good at painting mental pictures. The one video I can find is a comic book, but I am pretty sure I've seen some people in a tatooine-like environment finding instruments.
The other tracks here are pretty forgettable, so it's not quite perfect, but the first side is really good
Favorite track "2112" - first 2 sections in particular
4.5/5
a-ha
2/5
I figured a-ha was a one hit wonder. I thought maybe the appearance on 1001 would mean a hidden gem awaited me, but I don't really care for the album. I hear bits and beats that remind me of other songs, and pretty much every time that happens I'm kind of disappointed it isn't that other song.
"Take on me" is a classic though with a classic video too.
Favorite track: "Take on me"
2/5
Belle & Sebastian
2/5
This album and I did not click. I felt the lyrics were fairly mundane and boring, and kinda the same for the music. Hard to tell if it is a foreign thing or not.
Sometimes it is what it is and doesn't really make sense as to why. I don't really have anything to say any why I think it's boring. Yes that was a reference to one of the lyrics.
Favorite track "Get me away from here I'm dying"
2/5
Heaven 17
3/5
Based on the cities listed on the cover, looks like we have another UK album today.
So often am I bewildered at songs 40 years ago so plainly stating concerns, struggles and issues that are still present today. "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" plainly labels the GOP as fascist and racist in an almost joking manner that it's hard to tell if it's ironic that they were right, or just calling it like they saw it.
The rest of the tracks could easily be used as a montage song throughout the decade and would fit right in. That upbeat synth has its charm, but it does kind of wonder around without much direction.
Overall pretty interesting, but limited in lasting appeal.
Favorite track "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang"
3/5
Kanye West
1/5
This is in jeopardy of being my first full on skip. Maybe he wasn't a birch on his first album, but modern Kanye is the opposite of genius.
I tried, just can't do it. One of the instances where the person isn't worth looking for value in. It could be the greatest rap album in the world, but Kanye is a POS.
0/5
The Zutons
3/5
This was a fun, unexpected album. Had bits that reminded me of the white stripes, Weezer and a few others, almost to the point I figured it was a side project for someone else.
I didn't get a ton of time for notes, but I liked it more than not.
Favorite track: "Zuton Fever"
3/5
The Everly Brothers
4/5
Pretty nice album for what it was at the time. As I said with buddy holly, it would have been great to be around at the time of these artists to experience them as the scene evolved.
Listening today I can't get past hearing these as oldies and just have to take the word of what I read about their influence in the timeline of music.
Favorite track " Love Hurts"
3.5/5
Beatles
5/5
Legendary album by reputation, and when I opened it up to stream I assumed it was a super bonus edition because of the 30 tracks, but no that was what it came with at the time. Crazy.
"Back in the U.S.S.R" is a great opener, has so much going on with the parody, melody, drum situation. That screech is kind of rough, but still a great song.
With this being one of the biggest band's albums, there is a whole backstory to every song, a little footnote about who wrote it, what the studio was like while recording, how the lore of the song came about. It's all very fascinating.
There is also a wide variety of music here with all 4 taking a hand at writing, singing,and I can't think of another band that has quite that kind of rotation. This kind of approach also gives way to several different genres and tones, ranging from rock, folk, blues, songwriter and satire, love, or nonsense songs.
Favorite tracks "While my guitar gently weeks" "Revolution 1""Back in the USSR" "Blackbird"
6/6
Kings of Leon
2/5
Going into the album I knew a couple singles and that is it. From what I heard of those they were fairly good songs at first, but the cry of the singer is a little overdone.
Unfortunately every song seems to do that too. There are a few other artists that do a similar cry but in moderation and that helps a lot for me at least.
Favorite track: " Use somebody"
2/5
Metallica
5/5
Second Metallica album on the 1001 journey for me and I'm here for it.
As a kid, I got into Metallica with the black album and didn't really look backwards in their catalog until much later. In star wars terms I'm a prequel kid and knew bits of the original trilogy of albums, but it wasn't until recently I noticed the lyrics to " Master of Puppets" and realized the greatness.
Pretty legendary album in the metal world, but I do think the first half is stronger than the second. Not quite perfect, but closer to 5 than 4 stars
Favorite track "Master of Puppets"
4.5/5
Elvis Costello
3/5
I think it's Elvis Costello that has a goofy voice to me, don't recall exactly what it is from the name alone. If he had a hat on the cover I'd be more sure, but we'll see with a listen.
The first few tracks were actually pretty good. Once it got to "Alison" I heard the weird voice I'd been thinking of. Luckily that was really on a couple tracks so maybe those happen to the popular/singles and did him a disservice.
Other than that, the other weird thing is some songs just seem to fade out in the middle of it and don't really finish in a traditional sense. Don't think that is necessarily bad, just odd.
Better than I expected coming into it, but still has a few flaws.
Favorite track "Less than zero"
3/5
The Rolling Stones
4/5
The Stones have been around forever, but I don't think I've ever listened to a full album of theirs. I've heard dozens of hits but really have no context as to what came out when, so hopefully this will be fun, and that there may be a few more from them on the list.
With the somewhat risque cover, then opening with "Brown Sugar" this band clearly was a bit naughtier than I imagined. It's not great to think about a 60 year old singing these songs, which is about how old he was when I kind of noticed them. Thanks largely to twisted metal black.
Overall it was a decent album, I was looking through their catalog to see if there was one main album that had more hits than others and most had just a couple recognizable songs, so this may actually be the best overall as I liked a lot of the filler so going to bump it up to a 4.
Favorite track "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"
4/5
Kraftwerk
2/5
All I knew going into this was that Kraftwerk was German and Electronic music. It very much sounds like both of those things even though the lyrics are English.
I applaud their use of the electronic instruments given the time period, but the songs are a bit flat and repetitive to where I feel that is intentional or the style they were looking for. So on one hand I feel they executed their vision very well, I just keep finding excuses to not like it for some reason.
"Hall of Mirrors" for example has some clever lyrics and commentary, but it goes on for about 2-3 times longer than I would prefer to the point I end up getting annoyed a bit, same for most of the vocal tracks.
The instrumental tracks are a bit better IMO.
Favorite track "Franz Schubert"
2/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
2/5
Creedence is another band that I just know the Greatest hits from, so when I've got to look back at a single album at a time it's hard to really place it in context of their career.
Apparently CCR was only around for about 4 years so that is crazy. What a force to have had that many hits in a short time.
After listening to the album it did take some of that wonderment away because the non-hits were pretty forgettable. I also have a limited tolerance for Fogerty as the songs over 3 minutes get real close to having me hit the skip button, with the title track here being an exception, maybe because it's the first one.
Favorite track "Born on the Bayou"
2/5
Bill Evans Trio
3/5
Cover Impressions: No clue what this is based on the cover. 60s has me thinking it could be traditional oldies style like Buddy Holly, but the cover guy being so old makes me think it could be big band kind of jazzy stuff like Dave Brubeck.
Definitely was closer with the Brubeck. This album reminds me of riding around in the gigantic back seat of my grandparents Cadillac DeVille. It's very calming music for me, but the live claps and some distracting guitar noises kind of detract from the overall experience.
I'd be interested in adding these to a home music playlist if there are some studio recordings.
I wasn't able to keep track of which song titles were which, but I think one of the Alice in wonderland takes were probably my favorite.
3/5
Killing Joke
1/5
Talk Talk
2/5
Second album in a row with these timid mumbly vocals and I don't really care for it. It kind of has a similar problem that Michael McDonald has with articulation.
Musically this one is better, and there are better moments than others, but those better moments are a let down once the vocals don't meet the build up of the instruments. I'm sure this isn't the most PC take, but it reminds me of Peter Gabriel if he had a stroke.
Favorite track "Time it's Time"
2/5
Lucinda Williams
3/5
Not a big fan of country or folksy but it may be the recent string of poor albums that made this seem a little better than I'd probably rate it under normal circumstances.
That said, it didn't really keep my attention and took a couple days to get through it.
Favorite track "Drunken Angel"
2.5/5
Miles Davis
4/5
I really went into this album underestimating the "Cool" but I'll be darned if this 70 year old album isn't indeed Cool.
I didn't keep track of track names as it all just kept flowing pretty smoothly until the last track with the vocals. I'd maybe take that out of the playlist, but other than that I was pleasantly surprised by this.
Favorite track "Move"
4/5
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
Not the expected pick for Fleetwood Mac, so I'm guessing there are multiple albums on the list.
Tusk wasn't a bad album but when a popular band has an album with this many songs I haven't heard of, I kind of rely on history for being the judge on these tracks and are relatively unknown for some reason.
At any rate, it was fine to have on while doing chores. Normally I'd be reading up about what the circumstances are that lead to this album being forgotten by radio and that could give some extra helpful context.
Favorite track "Not That Funny"
3/5
SAULT
2/5
So this album is a bit tricky to critique. Similar to the dilemma I had with the show Empire. I couldn't quite describe why I didn't like it without sounding racist. For this album, if I were to replace the instances of the word black with white, I think it would be a controversial album lyrically, but musically it would be the same.
I can understand this album isn't for me, and that is fine. Not everything is meant to be relatable to me. Like what you like.
Favorite track "Monsters"
2/5
Al Green
4/5
I'll admit I've sometimes confused Al Green for Marvin Gaye or vice versa, but that is meant as a compliment.
Both are great and soulful singers that generally have a positive outlook and message. I sat in my car on this nice spring day eating my lunch just chilling to this album, windows down with a nice breeze and sunshine. Very pleasant afternoon break.
Favorite track "Let's Stay Together"
4/5
PJ Harvey
3/5
I had not heard of PJ Harvey and I made a variety of bad assumptions about what this album would be. After a couple tracks the shock of being so wrong wore down and I started to ponder if this was something I actually liked.
I decided it was just an ok album for me. I see it had a lot of awards and that is kinda how it feels. A lot of the critically acclaimed media kind of has a tier of polish that I can't seem to distinguish.
Favorite track (I don't recall)
3/5
2/5
What a coincidence this album showed up now. My friend was planning on coming to town next month and one of the few concerts during that time was Bob Dylan. I'm sure 1966 Dylan is no comparison for 2024 Dylan but at least it helped me definitely say that I'm not interested in seeing Bob live in present day.
I've always known I didn't really care for his singing, but I thought maybe as a bucket list to see a legend it would be cool. I can't do it. I respect his writing and legacy, but the nasally, meandering vocals are like nails on a chalkboard for me. I took pride in being able to make it to the second 'Jingle Jangle' of tambourine man as that was the longest I lasted for a song before skipping up to that point.
Somehow something changed in the album during "I don't believe you" that made the rest of the album tolerable. When the full band is in gear and it takes a more rock style the vocals also take it down a notch. It almost became enjoyable for the second half. Did my tolerance level up or did it really change? Who knows, but it's over now and that ma just be an unsolved mystery.
Favorite track "I don't believe you"
2/5
Joan Baez
4/5
I really enjoyed this album, and guess I didn't realize folk singers would be singing songs that have roots back hundreds of years. Maybe it's just Joan's style that really brought back the olde time feel of these tracks.
As an example, "House of the Rising Sun" sounds drastically different here than in the Animals version, but nevertheless is a folk song.
At any rate, the nerd in me is drawn towards this bard-like telling of these tales and is just fascinating.
There are a few that end up being more old west style and cross the line into a country music, but overall it was a nice album.
Favorite track "House of the Rising Sun"
4/5
Red Hot Chili Peppers
5/5
(1001: 83/1001 and I think this may be the 4th album I've owned on the list)
Has been a while since I listened to the full album. It's got some funkiness I forgot about, and I've been listening to more Mike Patton and really see more similarities than I expected. All of the are good things by the way
Another fun bit about listening to this again after having played the run of Rock Band and Guitar Hero games is that I notice Bass and drums a lot more now and Flea's bass is always wild.
If you're mostly familiar with the singles, the other tracks may be a little surprising lyrically,or not. The style of the singles vs the others is almost like a different band. It is really tough to pick a favorite here as there are at least 5 contenders, which means 5/5
Favorite track "Give it away"
5/5
The Coral
4/5
Cover art: what is this? A high school project? I wouldn't be surprised if I find out this collage was made with scissors and a glue stick. Historically the weird covers have been British, but we'll see.
British rock band again and it was another pretty good album. Just as I was getting in to the first track it ended abruptly, which as I checked the run time to confirm something didn't happen I thought 'was that meant to tease me and leave me wanting more?' either way it worked.
Throughout the rest of the album I kept trying to place what it reminded me of, and the only specifics I could come up with was that it was an older style rock. Some influences even back to the 60s but with modern instruments and techniques. "goodbye" is an example of what I'm talking about.
I don't think there was really a song I wanted to skip, pretty solid overall.
Favorite track "I remember when"
4/5
Sheryl Crow
4/5
This album came up for me on Easter and that was just a perfect day for it. This is one of my dad's favorites and I've got good memories of driving around to garage sales and road trips listening to this.
For a debut album is was great, but looking back knowing the rest of her career she is probably going to stay as a greatest hits kind of artist for me.
Favorite track "All I wanna do"
4/5
Common
3/5
I say this for most rap/hip hop albums, but I'm not a great person for rating these. It's not my area and I just don't have a wealth of knowledge to compare accurately.
However, in the limited experience I do have, Common is one of the best with the lyrics and flow. The best way I can describe it is that it feels real. Deducted points for Kanye though
Favorite track "Go"
3/5
Frank Black
3/5
It took me much too long to realize this was the Pixies singer. I had a very strong suspicion that this was a side project, not sure exactly what made it feel like that, but maybe is is the somewhat irreverent lyrics.
Once I finally looked it up it all made sense. I'm not too into the Pixies yet, I've heard a few songs that I enjoyed, but never sought them out. I'd guess there is an album or two on this 1001 journey.
With my ignorance of the Pixies and Frank, I may be missing the key that unlocks my perception of this album. Many of these songs seem like they should suck. But they also seem like they are partly satirical which makes the suckiness intentional for those songs, and make them a bit better. As of now I just assume they are kinda duds out of a massive 22 tracks and understandable.
Favorite track "I want to live on an Abstract Plain"
3/5
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
I always seemed to mix up arctic monkeys with other bands such as Cage the Elephant which I heard in the opener here, and the Black Keys for a song on a later album.
As this album progresses it seems the singer gets more and more British. It's kind of humorous as the accent comes and goes, and maybe it's me, but it seems the more British it sounds, the more cheeky the lyrics get. Coming yo a peak at "Mardy Bum".
There is a lot to like here, but something is keeping it from going to a full 5. It could be something as silly as the obnoxiously long song titles, but it is what it is today.
Favorite track "The view from the afternoon"
3.8/5
Nirvana
5/5
This is one of the big ones. Its time and place in the transition from decades and styles is what elevates it beyond just being a great album into a legendary one.
It possibly has gotten a bit too much credit now, but still should not be understated either, although I don't think anyone is trying to do that.
"Smells like teen spirit" is just such a perfect Nirvana song with its contradictory,mumbly lyrics. It's something that sounds lazy were it coming from almost anyone else and that is what makes it special. Why does Kurt get to get away with that? I dunno.
Several other generational tier tracks on this album and it's just hard to find anyone with criticism of this album that isn't just being a contrarian asshat.
Is every track perfect? Great? No. Is the sum of the parts perfect? No. But it wasn't trying to be perfect. And whatever it tried to do, it did it. It also did a ton that it didn't try to do too. But I don't know what I'm sayin'
What's the message I'm conveyin'?
Favorite track "Lithium"
6/5
Oasis
5/5
(1001: got kind of spoiled this week with Nirvana and Oasis back to back)
Oasis is a great example of why British music just seems to work. I'm not really comparing them to the Beatles exactly, but their easy melodies and vocals make it just nice to listen to. The only really meaningful comparison I can make is that they are British.
I definitely prefer the hits on their follow up a bit more so apples to apples I'd give the other a 5 and this maybe a 4.5 and round up, but it's still great.
Favorite track "Live forever"
4.5/5
Earth, Wind & Fire
3/5
This is a really nice, happy little album. Sometimes a bit excessive with the high notes, but it's a good "Good mood" album. I'm not sure it could switch a bad mood good, because it might just be annoying in that state of mind.
But ain't nobody got any reason to be that angry. Just listen and have a good time. It is a little short, and didn't have a ton of standout tracks like the lead single, but not really a bad track unless you don't like some flute jams.
Favorite track "Shining Star"
3/5
Morrissey
2/5
Morrissey? More like Snorrissey amirite?
I just get kind of bored with his albums. A lot of the songs seem to be a bit of a downer and if I was unhappy being alone I'd probably relate a little more, but meh.
It's just not all that interesting to me.
Favorite track "you're going to need someone on your side"
2/5
Beatles
5/5
(1001: I had the White album recently so that was good to give some extra context for the Beatles)
Revolver is commonly listed as the best Beatles album or close to it. Id have to agree it is really good. I may prefer the White album just because of the higher highs, but I do think there are worse songs on White so as an average per track I think Revolver is more consistently good.
Great album to have for a day off.
Favorite track "Eleanor Rigby"
5/5
Buena Vista Social Club
2/5
Limited feedback available for a foreign album, but would be something I'd be fine with having on in the background of a restaurant.
Favorite track "Pueblo Nuevo
2/5
The Last Shadow Puppets
4/5
YouTube music opened up with just the EP and as I listened to that I thought it reminded me a bit of Arctic Monkeys, and as I was checking to make sure this wasn't just 4 songs, I saw it was the same singer. So that makes the comparison pretty good!
I do like this album better than the AM debut I had a week or two ago. A few of these tracks really get that heavy accent and I'm not a fan of that, but good overall.
Favorite track "The age of the understatement"
4/5
Taylor Swift
5/5
I'm probably the last Millennial to hear this album. It was pretty good. I don't quite understand the level of hype for Taylor, but I acknowledge the songs are fun, poppy, and have a lot of replay value. Most tracks feel iconic and most fit into a nice movie soundtrack.
Glad to have heard it. I'm not quite a Swifty but will add a couple to the playlist for sure.
Favorite track "Blank Space"
Linkin Park
5/5
Peak 2000s music here, at least on the alternative side of things. High school me was so proud buying this with my first paycheck, but now present day me hurts knowing these songs are just a couple years away from the classic rock stations.
More hits on this album than not, and my most consistent criteria for rating is one star per song I want on my playlist. This has over 5.
Favorite track "Papercut"
6/5
Fishbone
4/5
Didn't know what to expect here, but on the second track I was thinking that is probably about what a band called Fishbone should sound like.
It's an interesting album all around and kind of a surprise for the 1001 thing, but on the other hand it could well be the best representation of a funk-ska-punk rock band there is.
Pretty fun album, had some good variety and nothing too heavy in the lyrical sense. Mostly felt light-hearted even amongst the social comments and what not.
Favorite track "Question of life"
4/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
This album took me forever to get through, but not necessarily because of anything bad. It is listenable, but just a busy weekend for a double album.
The first song gave me some Talking Heads vibes (from what little I know of them) then I constantly kept coming to that comparison throughout the album. Obviously the singer doesn't have that same tone, but the somewhat odd lyrics and phrases reminded me of what my minds ear thinks of the Talking Heads this weekend.
Probably an album I'll come back to when I'm not what is now 3 albums behind schedule.
Favorite track "Messiah Ward"
3/5
Yes
4/5
This album came up right around another band that I thought kinda sounded like Yes but without the keys. And yeah, that's not as good.
Gonna keep this one short, but it's a nice album that helps reinforce that I like some keys in my rock.
Favorite track "I've seen all good people"
4/5
Stephen Stills
3/5
(1001: keep getting double albums when I'm behind schedule)
Apparently this is a debut double album. I think it's kind of weird to put everyone's name on the cover unless this is some kind of supergroup. Upon review, I guess it was somewhat of a supergroup, but I've really only heard of Stills.
At any rate, the opening tracks have some good bluesy rock that kind of reminds me of Clapton, and maybe a less horn-y Blood sweat & tears. Later on it gets more country before going back around.
For me, this album didn't have any great songs. I didn't really like the country ones either so just kind of mid all around. I recently had Yes and their synth really elevates what could be a similar sound to Stills.
Some may prefer the simpler sound. I'd be fine having this on in the background doing chores or whatever.
Favorite track "Rock and roll crazies"
2.5/5
Deee-Lite
4/5
Cover Impressions: I feel like I've at least heard the artist name before. Kind of looks like. B-52s situation going on.
A couple tracks in, I realized this isn't so much b-52s, but I did figure out where I had heard them--Jock Jams.
I had a lot of cooking to do this evening so this was great fun to have on and dance around the kitchen for a little workout. I'm sure if anyone saw me it would be on the Internet by now, but some good old 90s fun, being locked into the rec center at Funscape.
Favorite track "Groove is in the Heart"
4/5
Alice In Chains
5/5
This is one of my favorite albums ever. Nevermind was on my 1001 list earlier this month and I've got this one right up there with it. 90s Seattle scene is tops for me no question, with Soundgarden and Pearl Jam at the peak.
I've recently been checking out some YouTube channel reactions to some of these songs and the ones with Alice in Chains specifically brought some new appreciation and respect for Layne and the way him and Jerry were able to meld their voices. It is just so haunting and harmonious at the same time and makes such a unique sound. Probably best exemplified in "Down in a Hole". The unplugged video really shows off this magic well.
Some of the tracks are a bit dark lyrically, and some hit especially hard considering what happened with Layne, particularly "Junkhead" and "Dirt" but over half the album is full of songs I could hear any time.
Grunge classic and appropriately named as this is some of the dirtiest sounding guitar work you could hear.
Favorite track "Down in a Hole"
6/5
The Specials
2/5
Not quite what I expected, another not really my cup of tea. The production quality seemed really inconsistent and that's not normally a thing I notice. Some vocals sounded detached from the recording, and some other sounds or instruments were really jarring in some songs.
The first track sounded familiar, and was probably my favorite of the album. Just not a big Ska guy. I recently had a Fish Bone album on this list and liked that style a lot more.
Favorite track "A message to you Rudy"
2/5
The Afghan Whigs
3/5
I had all but forgotten about this band, and I actually saw them open for Aerosmith in 99 as one of my first concerts. As young as I was at the time, I didn't pay much attention to them as it was primarily there for Aerosmith.
25 years later rediscovering this band, they aren't that bad, but I feel they aren't all that memorable either. I listened to most of this on my way home a few hours ago and don't really recall much about it. I didn't really feel the need to skip songs, but for a 90s alternative band, I'd expect to be a lot more excited to discover the rest of their catalog.
Meh
Favorite track "Fountain and Fairfax"
2.5/5
Kraftwerk
3/5
(off track comment:I knew I had missed a Kraftwerk album on this 1001 journey, and was driving so I couldn't recall which album. This will be my second from them, and the first was pretty robotic--which I get is by design,but I mean industrial/factory robots. I accidentally guessed it was Computer World, which I started and it had a lot more life in it.... hopefully this one is closer to that than The TransEurope Express)
So this album is probably in the middle between the two mentioned above. Coincidentally that follows release order, so apparently they get better as they go on.
This album also stood out for having the silly german dorky stereotype, which is a good thing.
Kind of a shorter album, but pretty good.
Favorite track "The Model"
3/5
4/5
When I saw this was a War album I thought for sure they would have Low Rider on it. I was mistaken. But I'm not too mad at this because this was a pretty good album overall. I also learned there is a lot about War.thr band that I had no idea about.
As I've mentioned before with some of these older rock bands, I kind of want that extra component to take it up a level and War has that with the keyboard and sax, etc that gives it the kind of funky or progressive type of sound.
Some songs almost kind of reminded me of a Pink Floyd sound, and others kind of dragged on a bit on the run time, but I'm looking forward to discovering more albums from what I wrongly assumed was a one-hit-wonder.
Favorite track "The Cisco Kid"
3.5/5
Röyksopp
4/5
If you had asked me if I'd recognize a song on a Norwegian Electronic duos album, I'd say no. Electronic music already is hard for me to recognize or distinguish, but I do like to have it on the background, and some of these tracks were just what I needed to chill out after a long day on my way home.
"Remind Me" was the track I had heard and had to cheat and look it up and it was another GEICO commercial. I think that's happened before on this 1001 journey as well.
Overall, I added a few tracks to a couple different playlists from this one, so that's a win in my book.
Favorite track "Remind Me"
3.5/5
Joni Mitchell
2/5
When this album started, it reminded me a lot of the recent Joan Baez album I had on this list. Come to find out the two had a bit of a rivalry back in the day.
From what I've heard from these two, I prefer Joan over Joni. There were some songs on here that probably would be better for me if they weren't so distracting vocally. The phrasing in the lyrics was hard to follow because it was delivered via a rollercoaster of dynamics. A pause in a phrase could happen seemingly mid sentence and other thoughts seemed to blend together without any separation.
Also, when I could follow the lyrics, sometimes they were very random. Maybe a couple extra listens are required to get in a little more familiarity and not be trying to keeps up with everything all at once.
Favorite track "Help Me"
2/5
Sonic Youth
2/5
I can't decide if I don't really know Sonic Youth, or if I think they are a different band than what I'm thinking of. I was kind of surprised to see this as 1990 because it sounds more mid 90s to me. I guess that's a good thing as maybe they were more of a trendsetter.
This album really reminds me of high school, but not during my time there personally, but the vibe of the album is very high school drama club and that seems to remain a fairly consistent vibe over multiple generations. Lyrically many songs had me picturing the SNL skit about a high school theater show. Everyone all in black, speaking what is very deep thoughts for teenagers.
Overall it's kind of a mixed bag for me. The only single I recognize is "Kool Thing" from guitar hero.
Favorite track "Kool Thing"
2/5
The Cure
4/5
I was worried this may not be their main album, because I don't think the The Cure is a band I can tolerate much more than I already have.
That sounds much harsher than I mean it. I really like the nostalgic feel of the hits I've heard, but that is enough for me. Not everything can be emo all the time. However, reading the wiki notes says this was a return to that sound after a bit, so maybe I do need to find some other of their albums now. What to do.
I liked Pictures and Lovesong before this and found a couple others afterwards so overall it was a successful listen. I always try to come out with at least a couple tracks for a mega playlist and I think I've got at least 4 here, and my rating has been a star per playlist track.
Favorite track "Lovesong"
4/5
Ice Cube
2/5
Kinda surprised to see a second Ice Cube album here. After listening to the first one I realized it is more fiction than nonfiction which seems counterintuitive to building up credibility.
So going into this one with that in mind I can laugh a bit more at the silly bits, but still struggle to understand the fantasy of wanting to be a criminal.
I'll be surprised to see a third come up.
Favorite track "A Gangstas Fairytale"
2/5
Morrissey
3/5
I've had 3 Morrissey albums so far at just over 100 on the list. So far none have really been all that interesting.
It feels like his songs are largely making references to something I'm not familiar with or relate to. Context is missing for me. Like hearing a song about a movie I've never watched.
I often just kind of zone out when this is on and next thing I know a couple racks have gone by. Meh.
Favorite track "every day feels like Sunday"
3/5
Calexico
5/5
This album really surprised me. Judging the cover alone, this is an album I'd pass on 10 out of 10 times. I expected either a female singer or something more latino, if not both. What I got was something that blends of many bands I like such as Death Cab, Flaming Lips, and Beck.
Where the postal service went more electronic in 2003, here was this band pulling out cellos, accordians, and an array of other horns. Had I known about this band back 20 years ago I think this would have been right up there with Give Up for my tops.
The volume of tracks and variety also make this album special. It's a mix tape of so many different styles, going from a dramatic bond-theme type song, to Mexican, and instrumentals, and then some alternative/indie tracks and more. All are solid tracks and may not be the best individually, but this is an album that is made better because of the collection of tracks here.
Favorite track "Black Heart"
5/5
Brian Wilson
2/5
The Beach Boys are an iconic band and have such a unique sound. Not a ton of variety in the sound, but what they do works.
I expected a lot of that to carry into this album, and it kind of does, but it also has so many other things going on--mostly to the album's detriment. Many songs feel like they change completely verse by verse, and it really starts to sound like it was made in an asylum.
The schizophrenic nature of the songs mixed with the happy singing style is almost unsettling. Couple that with the title Smile it almost gives off the elements of the Joker. However, it's obvious that wasn't the intention so that just makes it a bit awkward.
Favorite track "Good vibrations"
2/5
Belle & Sebastian
2/5
This is the second Belle & Sebastian album I've had, and both left me with the same kind of notes. Something with the lyrics just doesn't work for me. Last time I said they were boring and mundane, and that's about what I hear here too.
I typically like singer songwriter/ indie stuff but idk, just not something I care for.
Favorite track: idk maybe "I don't love anyone"
1.5/5
Johnny Cash
4/5
Johnny is a badass and this was a really interesting concept for a live album. I'm not sure if he was the first, but definitely one of the most iconic.
His story, voice and career are all legendary. Genuinely one of the most interesting people.
In terms of this album, I'm not typically a fan of live albums, but this one is neat just for the concept. It sounds fine for the recording technology of the time.
Classic, and definitely a fun piece of history. This would be a great lesson for a music history class.
Favorite track "Folsom Prison Blues"
4/5
The Cult
3/5
Gran Turismo introduced me to The Cult, and although none of those songs are on this album, it started a musical path that would lead me to discover many other bands I wouldn't have otherwise.
In terms of this album, I just like the unique flair to the singer's voice. It has a certain haunting quality that I can't quite pinpoint the comparison here, but it's in a range of dio, Danzig, or idol. None of those sound quite right.
The majority of the album sounds kind of corny now, but in a better way than that description would normally fit (save the born to be wild cover, that wasn't great).
Overall a okay album, curious about why this was the album picked out of the Cults catalog, unless there is more than one on the list.
Favorite track "Love Removal Machine"
3/5
Mike Oldfield
4/5
Cover art: floating muffler in the sky, why are there waves? Oldfield sounds like Okenfold, we got some early techno here? Unlikely, but I have no idea what to expect based on looking at this picture.
What in the Halloween (oops...Exorcist) is happening, a 26 minute opening track? I'm going to count that guess as a win as this starts off as like an acoustic techno. I know that doesn't make sense, but I'm quite satisfied with that call.
Electronics are building up now too. What an interesting piece. Halfway through it does a drastic change to the point it should probably be a different track, but then the roll call at the end really gives it that stage/play like feel. I do feel it would be better suited as individual movements like the Nutcracker in that regard.
Part II was pretty nice too, there were some familiar folksy melodies, but then the odd lyrics started creeping in. The final song was just silly, apparently a duet of sorts with Vivian Stanshall that may have well been a Monty Python bit, a pleasant comedic surprise to top off an album full of all other kinds of surprises. Just about every movie genre is hit across this soundscape of an album. Bravo.
Favorite track "Part I"
4/5
Van Halen
5/5
Van Halen are the prototype for a rock band. Ultra talented guitarist, singer with a wild personality, and solid rhythm and drums to go with it. This was their peak album with that lineup before things got crazy. I don't mind Hagar but it is definitely a tone shift between what DLR brought.
Just over 30 minutes long, this album is a just a good, high energy, rock classic. Panama is one of the greatest cruising tunes, and over half the tracks are hits.
Favorite track "Panama"
5/5
Soul II Soul
4/5
What a nice album. Literally. The lyrics all seem positive and inspirational, just a good hearted bunch of tracks. Holdin On doesn't have crazy vocal range, but you can tell from the tone the simple honesty it has.
I also like the wholesomeness of titling a track as 'live from a studio". Now that could be a weird British venue name, but it fits the vibe.
Then we got Rockin flute solos,
I don't see how anyone can dislike this album. It's not the greatest, but it's fun and objectively unobjectionable.
Favorite track"Holdin On"
4/5
Grateful Dead
4/5
Grateful Dead is a weird band for me. My main exposure to them is from a public radio station that has a segment on Friday nights that plays various live recordings. I really like what I've heard as background music while driving.
When I listened to this, I was just sitting around the house and focusing more on the music and that was actually a detriment I think. It is not the kind of music you stare directly at ( with your ears). It is top tier background noise. Listening to such improv with the expectation of following it doesn't work for me.
I am fascinated by the following they have, and the absurd collections of live music. If I had satellite radio, this would probably be one of my main stations.
My rating of this is a bit different because it only applies while driving, and is more or less grateful dead in general rather than this specific album.
Favorite track---maybe the first one? I couldn't tell ya.
4/5
Bee Gees
3/5
Too be honest I am shocked to see the Bee Gees had at least 6 albums before the 70s. Basically an album per year is a pretty good clip.
This album actually sounded more like a Beatles album than I expected. A few tracks you could hear one of the Gibbs trying to hold back from going full Gibb like a Jimmy Fallon skit.
Overall, pleasantly surprised with the offering, although it does seem a bit boring at points.
Favorite track "Melody Fair"
3/5
Funkadelic
3/5
As unattractive as the title is, the album is pretty good. The style mixed with the title really combined together to bring the word "Nasty" to the front of my mind ---and this is the good kind of Nasty.
Favorite track "Maggot Brain"
3/5
Kate Bush
4/5
I am late to the Kate Bush party. I knew of running up that hill from Placebo, then I was a couple years behind on Stranger Things as well, but did at least notice the resurgence of the songs in relation to the show.
On my drive into work this was the album I had going, and the tracks seemed to line up in a meaningful way. There was a storm happening in front of me and "Big Sky" was playing as I approached it. As I changed directions and was getting out of the storm it was time for "Cloudbusting"
That really doesn't mean anything, but did help a little bit with the senses.
Some other songs do seem a bit dated now, but solid overall.
Favorite track "Running up that hill"
3.5/5
10cc
3/5
Get out...with a that silly stupid cover art pun. Must be a British band. As a fan of Tenacious D and Weird Al, I like a good comedy rock album, and kinda disappointed I hadn't heard about these guys.
Several clever songs that had me smiling while giving this a listen. I'm not sure how well they will hold up to a repeat listen once I know the punchlines of the songs and the novelty of finding this unexpectedly is gone.
Solid album full of jokes
Favorite track "The Sacro-iliac"
3/5
Television
4/5
This album ended up being one I missed earlier on, so I didn't have the cover or description to go off of, just hit play and away I went. I honestly thought this album was 2000s or later and not from the 70s.
I can't quite pinpoint who it sounds like. Kinda like the strokes, or phoenix, something in that indie alt lane. Someday I'll figure that out. But this album was pretty great. So far ahead of it's time.
Favorite track "Marquee Moon"
4/5
Alice Cooper
4/5
I was mostly introduced to Alice through Wayne's World, and by then he was kind of old and creepy, and we also had Marilyn Manson as the new more extreme version so I kind of dismissed Mr. Cooper a bit.
Quite a few of these songs are rather silly, and I assume that is intentional. I was also surprised to see some that sounded kind of like the Who or even Paul McCartney, but I suppose they all can't be dark necro devil songs even though it is a bit harder on the suspension of disbelief when there is a big tone shift.
Fairly solid album if not taken too seriously.
Favorite track "No more Mr Nice Guy"
3.5/5
TLC
2/5
I was more excited about this album before it started than I was after it ended. I like "waterfalls" well enough, but "Creep" wasn't what I remembered. I think I was probably thinking of a salt n peppa song.
Red light was stuck in my head for the most of the day, but it's really not a flattering song for me to be singing. Kind of borderline inappropriate.
Nostalgia didn't save this one for me.
Favorite track "Waterfalls"
2/5
Barry Adamson
3/5
This was an interesting album. I really liked the first half of the first song, it would be a great intro or bumper song for a broadcast, then the lyrics come in and take it a totally different direction.
Lyrics were a common issue with this album as I liked most of the instrumentals. They covered so many genres of movies themes, some were really spooky/horror.
Also a weird coincidence that this is the second album in a row with a track called "something wicked this way comes" (TLC was the other)
Favorite track "Set controls for the heart..."
3/5
The Stooges
2/5
Slightly disappointed it wasn't just Curly whooping around here, but Iggy Pop was an artist I've wanted to give a fair shake. The few songs I'd heard through complications were not my favorites, but he has a reputation for the influence in Punk.
I can respect the contributions he made, and for this to be a 70s album you can still see some of the lasting impressions he had on the genre.
Unfortunately, it's not super exciting in 2024. I had played the deluxe edition with multiple copies of the songs, and when Search and Destroy came up for the second time I thought 'oh, this one sounds familiar and not too bad'. So maybe had I had a couple listens it could grow a bit more on me.
Favorite track "Search and Destroy"
2/5
Jeff Beck
3/5
Again I'm hit with another instance of guessing for an artist. I wasn't terribly off since I knew he was kind of bluesy rock. What I didn't expect was the rod Stewart vibes.
In my search for validation in thinking Jeff sounded so much like Rod Stewart, I found out that it was Rod Stewart after all and Jeff is the guitarist. What a mind F.
With that finally settled I may have to re-listen without that distraction. As it is, it is a pretty good album, but a lot of covers and live tracks that didn't quite help.
Favorite track "Beck's Bolero" (mostly because I was distracted by the vocals until I realized who was actually singing)
3/5
Deep Purple
2/5
When a band as old as Deep Purple has an album on this list without their main radio songs, I may have over hyped myself before starting it. I've always heard DP as being one of "your favorite bands favorite bands" kind of thing, and I'm fan of prog rock, what could go wrong?
I'm not sure what went wrong exactly, but it sounded kind of a mess. Often I'll say keys are a common missing ingredient for classic rock that doesn't hit the spot, but this had keys.
Some songs reminded me of ELP in a way that has prompted me to dub it Carnival Rock, which ends up being a negative. A lot of musical flair with any reason other than to be flashy, and I wasn't in a circus mood today I guess.
There were some good qualities, particularly in "Child in Time" but over 10 minutes left too much time for nonsense.
Favorite track: (parts of) "Child in Time"
2/5
Sister Sledge
5/5
This is a fun album if you let it have fun--Oh, what, wow?! I mean come on, that is fun even without roller skates.
However, the title track will now have a special place in my life and probably make me cry going forward. This happened to be my 1001 album the day I went to visit my dad in the ICU. I like to keep him updated with my journey as he was a big influence to my musical tastes. He said this was one of his most popular during his disco DJ and lighting days.
As I was talking about it, I said I'd play a bit of it for him but had to wait for "We are family" until my other sisters arrived. We had a blast once we got to play it.
Get well soon dad! <3
Favorite track "We are family"
5/5
Beastie Boys
3/5
I'm not a huge beastie boy fan, but I do like a couple songs, and most of those happen to be on this album, and most of them start with S.
I appreciate the hustle they do and am kind of in awe at how they get their product to look like not a lot of effort went into it. If you told me they didn't try very hard and still put this out, that would also be impressive.
Favorite track "Sabotage"
3/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
I was excited to see this one start off with "Paint it Black". That is one of my favorite songs since the old Twisted Metal days (yes I know it was around like 40 years earlier too) but it wasn't until that game that I really appreciated the darkness of it.
Then the album jumps right into other genres and kind of takes the weight of the darkness away with some lighter songs. Kind of like if an Soggy Bottom boys track comes up on a Sabbath album. Not really comparing the Stones to Sabbath, but that particular song is just out of place for the rest, and to my disappointment.
Overall it is a fine album, probably a little better than sticky fingers for me, but still I'm more of a greatest hits Stones fan.
Favorite track "Paint it Black"
3/5
Radiohead
4/5
I never got in to Radiohead, and really not sure why. A lot of the elements seem perfect, but it just ends up a bit boring. Maybe that boringness is part of the perfection.
Another band that is stuck in my friend zone in a similar way is Muse. So much is good, but it's almost like I'm getekeeping myself. I know I'll never be a T-shirt owner of theirs.
In terms of this specific album, I liked the opener and the main two tracks, and at least another near the end. I wasn't able to keep track as it played. Solid enough for a 4 star.
Favorite track "High and Dry" ( nostalgia)
4/5
The Byrds
2/5
I'd heard of the Byrds and thought they had some bigger names with them than I see. Maybe I'm thinking of the Yardbirds.
Right away the first track sounded like people burning alive. It is pretty amusing how the song takes a jab at a band like the Monkees while I was thinking the same thing about the Byrds while hearing this track. Irony?
As I continued listening I thought it's probably already been done, but a fun article title would be 'The Byrds and the Beatles' to talk about their similarities or rather the failure of an attempt by the Byrds to approach that level.
This album just stinks. CTA-102? I get the idea, but it's all so shallow compared to other bands at the time.
Favorite track "Why?" Has some interesting guitars
1.5/5
Mike Ladd
3/5
Cover Impressions: seems pretty aggressive. Could be rock or hip hop. Why Japanese?
Hip hop it is. I maybe misheard some lyrics, but many sounded pretty unusual for references in this genre almost falling into nerdcore? That would also help explain the Japanese stuff too.
Finding official lyrics was harder than I expected, and didn't have time to dig to confirm what my ears heard the first listen, but as I struggled to figure out the demographic for some of these I started to think it may be me....
There were still some aggressive songs too that weren't very relatable, but the less lyrical songs like the Moon and Jupiter had some good beats.
For an album outside my realm it was pretty good.
Favorite track "to the moons contractor"
3/5
The Flaming Lips
4/5
I was first introduced to the Flaming Lips via "Do You Realize" via commercials or VH1 or both. It was a pleasant song, but a I took it (like most things ) a bit literally , and felt it was kind of soft and lovey to me in my angsty playlists of the time.
Then come Rock Band later I got into Yoshimi pt1 and rediscovered the album. In the context of the full album, Realize takes a more somber feel, and all the tracks fit together a a greater dum of the parts.
Some days I can listen to it and feel sad, others just at peace with the beauty. A great piece of art.
Favorite track "Yoshimi part 1"
Jimmy Smith
4/5
There have not been many pure instrumental albums so far, and the ones that were close are ones that I wish didn't have the small amount of lyrics they had.
Right off the bat I was finding myself thinking we need more jazz organ. It's a fun album to have in the background. Nice to shuffle about to and reminds me of baseball for some reason.
As it went on, I retracted my thought about needing more as I think this amount is just right. I still like it just fine, but a little goes further than I expected.
I can't say I really distinguished many songs from one or the other on the first listen, but had a good time from start to finish. Some jazz can get a little complicated but this is a nice steady bop for 45 minutes.
Favorite track "Back at the Chicken Shack" (mostly because that's the one I know the title of)
4/5
The Incredible String Band
3/5
I don't think anything I can hear from this album will make sense with the cover art. It's such a hodgepodge of hats, outfits, a mask? So weird. Apparently a different version is just two guys.
Musically, this kind of starts off as a ren fair and as much as I'd think I like that style, it definitely has to be the right time. I do like having an artist to look towards when that time is right.
During a couple of tracks there is a barrage of what sounds like recorders, so that part kind of makes sense with the cover of it's a classroom of kids just blowing away.
Later on it gets a bit more folksy so a little more variety than I anticipated after the start. There was one track I just had to skip mid way through."Swift as the Wind" I think it was.... The moaning or whatever you call it was just obnoxious.
I am interested in using this band and album as a start of a ren fair playlist, and was generally an interesting listen.
Favorite track "The water song"
3/5
Beatles
4/5
This is a weird album. It started off kind of generic and I thought I'd be making some justification for dropping a star or two by saying I'm just rating it in comparison to their catalog because even a bad Beatles album is probably better than most.
However, as it went on I don't really need that disclaimer because it is a pretty average album even amongst other bands. Too many similar songs in a row about love, it feels like just throwing a ton of crap against the wall to see what sticks. This is interrupted by an unhinged rant to the postman before going back to love and kisses again.
The quantity of these songs also combine to provide a tinge of desperation and/or unfaithfulness. I realize a lot are covers of Motown and that is a part of that style, but it's a little much.
The last couple songs deviated a bit, but too many covers and it really feels like money is all they want here. Not their finest work.
Favorite track "Don't bother me"
3.5/5
Merle Haggard
3/5
Merle was a name I always associated with country and that is a genre I typically avoid, however this is more in the lane of a Johnny Cash on some songs.
That kind of country I can take and probably need to investigate more of.
Another unexpected name that came to mind while listening to this is Ice Cube. All of the prison related songs are the same kind of theatrics that Cube has. Obviously Merle isn't getting life in prison or on the run as a fugitive, so I don't really know what to make of the obvious lack of authenticity for those songs.
If I turn my literal/logical side of brain off it becomes a decent listen with a couple songs to that may make a country type playlist of the songs I actually like from the genre.
Favorite track "I'm a lonesome fugitive"
3/5
Talking Heads
2/5
I am sure my rating here is going to be too harsh. I normally am a fan of the quirky vocals and all that, but today was just a bad day and didn't have the Patience to deal with this.
For my purposes only for finding albums to re-listen to, I'm giving it a fraction of a point that I can sort by.
Favorite track "Psycho Killer"
2.2/5
The Darkness
3/5
I vaguely remember this band when they came out. Lots of high voiced stuff and for one reason or another I remember getting a copy of metal edge magazine that had a poster of them. I don't really think this is metal, bland for whatever artists they may have been compared to, all I hear is Tiny Tim.
Luckily the vocals chill out a bit in the later half and actually is a pretty good rock album. Their single is fun enough with the vocal antics, but the first couple tracks were a bit too much.
All in all, for a meme band I had all but forgotten about, this was a decent blast from the past, even if it was only about 20 years ago.
Favorite track "I believe in a thing called love"
3/5
Tracy Chapman
4/5
For too long I thought Tracy was a man. Part of that is my main association with the name Tracy is my uncle, and then also Dick Tracy (which I don't quite know off hand if Dick is a title or thier actual name.... probably a name so that doesn't count)
At any rate, I also didn't realize Fast Car and give me one reason were on different albums, so I suppose the former could come back around on the list here.
Tracy does have a unique and lovely voice, so smooth. The album was over before I knew it so I'll have to come back a second time and take some better notes. It's just one of those unobjectionable voices that can be on in almost any situation. A perfect department store sound, and I mean that as a compliment.
Favorite track "Fast Car"
4/5
Pixies
4/5
I thought I had a better idea of what the Pixies were based on "Where is my mind" and that seems to be the outlier on the album.
It is evident the influence this band had on the alternative/grunge sounds in the 90s, and also like some of those earlier albums there are quite a few noisy tracks.
Earlier on in this 1001 journey I'd probably have given it an extra star or more for just the influence it had on so many artists, but I've gotten a little more restrictive with 5 stars, but it can be a solid 3.5
Favorite track "Where is my mind?'
3.5/5
Giant Sand
4/5
No idea what to expect for this album. Sand makes me think of Sandstorm so could be electronic for all I know.
Well it isn't DaRude. It is more songwriter alternative? It has kind of an interesting feel to it that I can't quite pinpoint yet. Some songs seem to push into the southern style but not particularly country.
The lyrics seem to have a bit of cleverness and/or sarcasm to them and I'd liked to have more time to go through them.
Some songs had kind of a poetry feel too, and it just sounds like a guy just making what he wants to make for the fun of it, and not really caring about anything commercial or radio.
I like the vibe of this album. It feels like something I could make if I was going to put together an album.
Favorite track "No reply"
3.5/5
Boston
5/5
I really underestimated this album. This was considered classic rock when I was growing up, and is what I grew up with, but recently I've been tired of a lot of those bands and I think I may have been mixing up Journey and Boston, and am definitely tired of Journey.
This album is an incredible debut and the entire track list is all hits that are still good almost 50 years later. Could not get these songs out of my head for a while.
Considering the fact this is a debut, and its impact and longevity it has to be a 5.
Favorite track "Rock and Roll Band"
5/5
Fun Lovin' Criminals
3/5
It has been probably 17 years since I last thought about the Scooby Snacks song. I was surprised to see this album on here at all, but it ended up being a fun listen.
While these songs often follow the rap trope of being criminals as their name implies....they are indeed fun loving about it. This is a nice contrast to the seriousness of an Ice Tea or Cube. Cube is so serious about his crimes that it makes it sound dumb to be giving a confession on an album, but these fun loving guys are just messing around and don't take themselves too seriously.
Favorite track "Scooby Snacks"
3/5
2/5
I should have guessed from the title that it was about witches, but they are liars so who is to really say.
As I was listening to this I looked up the band a bit more and saw a description of them as Noise rock. That is pretty accurate. These tracks are just obnoxious noises.
I'm usually pretty open for experimental music, but I can't imagine anyone wanting to listen to this very often. Interesting concept album, but the noise is too much for me.
Favorite track "There's always room on the broom"
Neil Young
4/5
Neil is a bit of a polarizing dude. Lyndyrd Skynyrd has their beef, and he's got the multi-name group. His voice is pretty distinct, and I personally can only take so much of it at a time--similar issue with John Fogerty.
This album is actually really nice, not too long and has almost a flaming lips feel to it that I hadn't noticed before with either band, and makes me like Neil a bit more.
When "There's a world" started I had to check my playlist to see how on earth auto-play ended up in Final Fantasy realm in the middle of the album. That was a neat song and obviously was a bit of inspiration for Uematsu-san.
This was definitely a better album than I expected, pleasant surprise
Favorite track "Heart of Gold"
4/5
Nick Drake
3/5
I discovered Nick through this 1001 thing with his debut album and wondered why I hadn't heard much of him, then I read the tragic story about his life.
This album evolved a bit from the morose debut, but still you can hear and feel the depression in him. It is hard to listen in certain frames of mind, and others can be almost therapeutic.
Favorite track "Pink Moon"
3/5
The Who
4/5
Live albums are really hit and miss for me. Is there any extra significance to this one? Apparently so as this was the only one with their primary lineup, and it does have quite a few improv jams on some songs, generally smooth transitions, and minimal distractions from the crowd noises..
Still early enough to not have all their hits, but in some ways that helps make it a little more special as maybe some of these tracks were left off following tours.
The other thing with live tracks is I prefer them in the context of their record and not randomly in a playlist of studio tracks so if the full album isn't great to listen to in one go, then I'd probably leave the it behind.
Fortunately this album is worth playthrough, and that is the best attribute of a great live album.
Favorite track "Magic Bus"
4/5
808 State
4/5
All I know about 808s is that they are shaking up the dance floor. So I assume this is some kind of dance music.
So it's not overly dancy, but largely electronic nonetheless. It is fairly nice ambient music and I really dig the loons on one of the tracks, but outside of that I couldn't really distinguish the others as well. When tracks just kind of blend and play on through that actually helps for something to have in the background while doing something else.
Good album for the purpose I'd use it for.
Favorite track "Pacific 202"
3.5/5
The White Stripes
3/5
According to YouTube music, Seven Nation Army has over 1 billion plays. The rest of the album has about 10% of that for all tracks combined.
Surely some of those billion would want to see what the rest is about right?
Well the rest is a bit weird and outside of one other track it may not be mainstream enough to keep the average listener entertained. 7NA also has some worldwide stadium appeal, just a crazy popular song.
As I listened to olthe rest I guess that is fairly close to how I feel. I really like the songs I like of theirs, but the rest are some I probably don't need to hear very often.
Favorite track "Seven Nation Army"
3/5
Richard Hawley
2/5
I feel like I've heard the name before, and sounds like they were part of a bigger band at some point but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Listening to this album it seems like he was born in the wrong era. That is sometimes a good thing but overall it felt dated rather than timeless.
There were quite a few tracks I liked and was one of the rare albums with a skip just because it was a bit boring.
Kind of a vanilla album for me
Favorite track "The Ocean"
2/5
Johnny Cash
5/5
67th album. That is incredible. I can't think of a more perfect final album to a career other than maybe Bowie's Blackstar.
"Hurt" must been seen as a music video. Probably one of the best ever in how it captures the legacy of a man so well and is just such an emotional journey. As are many of the songs on this album. Knowing Mr. Cash's stage of life often gives these songs new meanings.
When this album first came up it was the week of my dad's funeral, and I couldn't make it through it. A couple weeks later I made it, I was a mess but I made it. It was strangely comforting to hear the voice of a man at peace with his fate, so I hope my dad found that same peace. We'll meet again.
Favorite track "Hurt"
5/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
The Stones are in the running for most frequent artist on this 1001 journey, and every time I get surprised by the variety on each album.
It's not often the different styles are better than what made the radio, but I respect what they are doing.
I'll keep to the hits for my playlists, but their body of work over such a long time is getting more and more impressive.
Favorite track "Gimme Shelter"
3/5
Sly & The Family Stone
3/5
This album wasn't exactly what I expected going in to it. I thought it was, but in a good way. I was expecting more disco but prefer the soulful funkiness.
This album also appeared on a weird string of ones containing the N word....so that wasn't great. Hopefully that ends soon. However, the rest was pretty good and fun.
Favorite track "Everyday people"
3/5
DJ Shadow
4/5
I was expecting a bit more hip hop on this album but it actually was pretty chill with mostly instrumentals. As with most instrumental tracks there are several that feature vocal samples id rather not have, but they aren't too bad.
I like the random organ that pops up, and a few tracks titles and samples have a bit of humor to them, which was also a pleasant surprise.
Favorite track "Organ Donor"
3.5/5
Ozomatli
2/5
Cover Impressions: the band name and unfamiliar sign has me thinking Australia, but could be anything.
Apparently this is American, but is quite the melting pot of sounds. I hear elements of Linkin Park, Santana, Ra, and others. Not a huge fan of mixed languages, but I assume it's cool for bilingual people. My brain can't handle going back and forth. I don't think this particular situation came up, but a common example I have for this is "eso si que es?". Are they spelling out Socks or saying what something is?
Interesting album, but not really my style.
Favorite track "Love and Hope"
2/5
Jerry Lee Lewis
4/5
Live albums are very hot and miss for me. This one seems like it should have a video to go along with it as it sounds like Jerry is likely very animated while playing these songs and I'm only getting half the experience.
While I can't find any video here, I did see some others from the 60s and it's wild how the crowd is just thrashing about. This video I did see was rather tame compared to the audio in this record.
For some reason my YouTube album only had 8 tracks, so I went out to find some others. This counts as a hit for the live album category.
Favorite track "Mean woman blues"
4.4/5
David Bowie
4/5
It had been a while since my last Bowie album here, nice to get one that I hadn't really heard of before. This album has quite a few more instrumentals than I'd expect and is pretty chill throughout.
For a 77 album it feels much more modern, but that is a common theme with Bowie. Nice album to end the week with and just relax into the weekend.
Favorite track "Sound and Vision"
4/5
Garbage
4/5
Garbage was one of the first bands with a female singer that I liked. In the time of kooties I really couldn't risk liking girl bands, but they were cool. Then it was a slippery slope to Alanis, No Doubt, and others. 1995 was a crazy year for female bands.
While Garbage may have opened that door for me, I apparently don't really ever return to them. It has been a long time since I heard most of this album and it still is pretty cool with the electronics and lyrics. I'll definitely add a couple more to my playlists and try to check up on their newer stuff.
Favorite track "Only Happy when it rains"
3.5/5
Green Day
5/5
The timing of this appearing on my list is incredible. A day after the assassination attempt on Trump it's here. Not a more appropriate song than the title track for the way things are, and this was a 20 year old song.
It has happened with Rage and now again here. A song comes and clearly points out a wrong in the world and it gains relevancy even more later on. Can we not fix this stuff?! We need honesty and settled facts in our information streams. Not agendas and propaganda.
Rant over. The rest of the album is also really good. A mix of story telling and emotions that show Green Day's roots and evolution. Several mainstay radio tracks that have stood the rest of time, and that makes me feel ancient....
In some ways it really helped deal with the absurdity of this weekend. It sucks a song like this can be relevant still 20 years later, but that also may give some hope that if it was bad then, we can hopefully make it another 20? Copium? Anyways, wake me up when November ends...
Favorite track "American Idiot" just because of the timing.
5/5
The Verve
2/5
I was pretty optimistic about this one. I had known the Verve as a one hit wonder for Bittersweet Symphony which is one of the best songs I've heard and still regularly makes me cry after it came on while taking my cat to the vet for the final time.
At any rate, mid-90s British alternative is basically a cheat code to being a great album for me, but this wasn't it. It doesn't even have the one song I expected.
All the songs were fairly boring, slow, generic. I couldn't even focus long enough to see if it has clever or interesting lyrics. I suppose the one song I know is also a bit melancholy as well, but I'd hoped that to be an exception.
I think on paper they compare pretty favorably to Oasis, but it is like the difference between WWE and TNA wrestling. Quite a disappointment that lasted longer that I wanted, but I made it through.
Favorite track "History"
1.5/5
Skunk Anansie
3/5
This is the second album this week that has prominently features the N word and I just about shut it down after the 3rd track here. Then I checked up on the band and realized they are meant to be edgy/shock/punk and also that the singer was black.
While I was on their Wikipedia page I noticed a lot of the bands they toured with, and a lot of them were the ones I had thought of while listening. There were some drum bits that reminded me of Rammstein, and other bits of a perfect circle and sevendust.
The second half really calmed down into a more chill and understandable record and I'm glad I stuck with it.
Favorite track "Lately"
3/5
2Pac
4/5
Third album this week with the N word....but at least it wasn't a surprise as much as the last two. 2Pac's voice is deeper than I expected. He sounds like he should be about 100 pounds heavier than he is. I also expected this to be a posthumous release based on what happened, but was actually a year before he died and that is kinda eerie.
Of the hip hop albums I've had here, this one is probably favorite outside of maybe Common. I just respect the authenticity and effort put into their tracks. It's not just gangster thug stuff, but a lot of personal, thoughtful and emotional lyrics.
Favorite track "Dear Mama"
4/5
Carpenters
3/5
This is a very pleasant album. Lots of familiar songs that I typically associate with another artist, but nothing wrong with these versions. Slight coincidence that I happened to see the Simpsons movie last week...
Such a simple elegance to Karen's singing that makes it so easy to listen to. Not something that really holds up to modern radio standards, but that's getting to be a compliment these days.
Good Sunday afternoon album.
Favorite track "Close to you"
3/5
Bob Dylan
2/5
Bob Dylan is a very polarizing artist for me. Sometimes he is tolerable, sometimes not. This album was tough to get through. The first track could have passed as a literal Adam Sandler skit, complete with the laughs, then it got real nasally real quick.
Bob also seems to double or triple the amount of vowels in some words and it got to be where I had to cut several tracks short. There were also some oddly specific songs like the Leopard print hat one. It plays out as extremely bitter about a little hat. Mobile and Memphis is also pretty unrelatable.
I understand his influence to the music world, but one of the bigger artists I just don't click with.
Favorite track "One of us must know"
2/5
B.B. King
4/5
Most of the live albums on this 1001 have been really iconic, but this one kind of was a bit underwhelming. I did like to hear the younger BB so it did a good job in capturing that. I had been introduced to BB when he was about twice as old as he was in this recording, so it's fair to say he sounds quite a bit different.
For a prolific musician like Mr King I think there are probably a dozen better albums. None of this is to say this album was bad by any means, it has a great vibe and aura captured as a time capsule.
Favorite track "How Blue can you get"
3.5/5
Aimee Mann
3/5
I apparently forgot to rate this 6 months ago when it first came up, so I gave it another listen. I remember thinking a little better of it on the first play. It had that 90s female singer sound just like the Sheryl Crow, Paula Cole, etc.
The second listen wasn't quite as good so I'd probably have given it a 4 instead of 3 this time. It's still a fine record to listen to in the background, but not something I'd buy as an album to play on purpose. I really wish I had my notes from the first listen because I feel like I was a lot more excited for the relisten before than after.
Favorite track "Mr. Harris"
3/5
Beatles
5/5
This album is one I see listed as one of the best from the Beatles, and I've got to agree it is up there. My last album of theirs was "With the Beatles" and Rubber soul is pretty much better in every way.
I really like the way the Beatles seem to take turns on each track as the album progresses. It helps keep your ears from getting used to what's going on and just zoning out. Great for my ADD.
As I get more and more Beatles albums on this journey, I'm starting to realize I would have been a George guy. His songs just seem to be a bit more modern and are almost always unique and stand out to me on the albums.
Another great album from the Beatles, this one is probably right up there with the White Album for me, and because the White Album has some weird tracks, I think this would be the album I could listen to on repeat a little easier.
Favorite track "Think for Yourself"
5/5
A Tribe Called Quest
3/5
For a second I was going into this thinking it was The Roots. Not sure if there is any relationship there or if I'm being ignorant, but at any rate. This album had some good moments. A few of the beats I could swear are sampled from or in other songs, upon review of some notes it seems that is fairly common amongst their songs.
With the samples providing some familiarity and the general casualness of the lyrics helps make this a good chill out album. Not really anything super heavy about Ham N Eggs, and it's good to have some albums like this.
Not really my style but it wasn't that bad.
Favorite track "Footprints"
2.5/5
Frank Zappa
4/5
I really only knew the name Zappa, and that was primarily because of the weird names of his kids and not really anything music related.
I wish I had bothered to look into his music because it is so unique. Instrumentals like this are great songs for a drive, for work, for cleaning up around the house. They have a momentum that really encourages my productivity.
While it does have some jazzy elements, it doesn't really go too wild. Some Jazz can end up going in a very scattered or circular direction. Lots of excitement, but not really making progress towards a goal. These tracks seem to keep on moving ahead. The heavy sax track kinda takes some detours and the mix has the sax way too loud IMO, that is probably a skip going forward, but otherwise I really enjoyed this.
Favorite track "Son of Mr. Green Genes"
4/5
The Band
4/5
It took until "The Weight" before I could place this voice and band. I thought they were some kind of supergroup at first, and while they are pretty good, the members weren't really all that established elsewhere.
For these 60s-70s kind of rock groups I really dig the various keyboard instruments. They really add a nice later of sound beyond just guitars and drums, and this album has at least 3 different key instruments from what I can tell. Multiple vocalists is also something I'm a pretty big fan of. I'm not sure the Band and Mushroomhead have been compared, but those elements are a big part of why i think both bands are interesting amongst their peers.
At least a couple of tracks here will make a playlist for me, and that counts as a good to great album for me.
Favorite track "The Weight"
4/5
David Bowie
5/5
The more Bowie albums I listen to, the more I love David Bowie. I'm a little disappointed I didn't appreciate his work sooner, but he truly was a genius.
When I was listening to this and saw it was earlier 70s, I had to see how close it fell to the Man Who Sold the World. Come to find out this album was next in line after that one. Totally different styles amongst albums has been one of the characteristics I like most about Bowie. Each album can be a reinvention of everything and still be excellent.
There was a line I misheard about "Lemons on sale" and I kept thinking that I've never once considered a lemon purchase differently if it was on sale or not. Then I looked up the actual lyric and that made a lot more sense, particularly in the context of the time period. What is the point? I guess it is that even if there was a questionable, strange lyric in a song it still sounded good.
This wasn't my favorite Bowie album. I'm most impressed at the stark contrast going from a heavy guitar sound to piano.
Favorite track "Changes"
4.5/5
Wilco
3/5
As someone from Illinois it is surprising I didn't catch much local buzz from them. Granted I didn't live there 10 years before or after this album came out, so there's that.
This being a double album ended up clogging up my 1001 list for quite a while. Had a lot of things going on and didn't get to my normal listening times. But it was still a good listen. Lots of variety to where I wouldn't necessarily know I'm listening to the same artist all week.
There were traditional indie elements I've heard in Death Cab, then other sprinkles of several others such as Radiohead, the Flaming Lips, rod Stewart, and then even some country flair as well. However, not many tracks caught my attention.
I do think the consistency and agreeableness of the record is a net positive. Nearly 20 tracks without a skip. But I really need to come back and focus a bit more to really dig in and build an appreciation to see if there is anything special here.
Good album, deserves a second listen for sure.
Favorite track "Dreamer in my Dreams"
3.3/5
Black Sabbath
4/5
When I looked over the track list I struggled to recognize any songs. So I started to look at their other albums and it's weird that Paranoid is like their only radio album, with maybe a song or two elsewhere.
I would have loved to hear this in the time, because now it has just a classic rock feel and a bit dated. I want to be smashed by the weight of these tracks being the heaviest stuff I've heard. Some genres I have a better ability to take the time gap out of my ear-quation.
It's a fine album and I think it's kind of a bummer some of these tracks don't get the exposure they should have had.
Favorite track "Supernaut"
3.5/5
Led Zeppelin
5/5
1001: Sabbath and Zeppelin back to back on this list.
While listening to Sabbath vol 4 I had a hard time with the music feeling dated. Now this album is a couple of years older and more prominent, yet I don't quite have the same time gap problem. Although, I do still wish I could have been around to hear this during that time.
I'm not sure exactly who or what may have come before this album but it would have been wild to experience this band in the 60s. It looks like Cream and Steppenwolf would be the most comparable for most of the instruments, but Robert Plant is such a unique vocalist. It would be hard to believe this album didn't change the landscape when it dropped.
Like the Stones, it has a good mix of acoustic and blues influence to it. For my rating, I typically go based on the number of tracks I love, and try to limit the bonus stars for significance, but this one gets a couple bonus tracks just because it clearly did become a catalyst for a new genre.
Favorite track "Communication Breakdown"
5/5
David Bowie
4/5
Even with a 10 minute opening track this album kind of felt to short, but that is probably just a testament to the quality and flow of it. It may have just been one 40 minute track. Golden Years kind of stands out, but it's a great listen that can just go on whenever.
I think I've had about 6 Bowie albums on this list so far, and all are quite different musically but still equally great.
4.5/5
Jamiroquai
5/5
I am not sure how I came to the opinion of what I thought Jamiroquai was, but I was wrong. I thought it was more rappy and not this fun funky jam.
90s me was a suburban white boy into the alternative grunge stuff so I guess we never crossed paths. I can't even figure out what radio station would carry this back then. Apparently not one of my presets anyway.
At any rate, I'm at a stage where I can appreciate it and have a whole catalog to look forward too. I'm sure a lot of people would like to go back and hear this for the first time again, so I do appreciate i this opportunity.
One of my favorite bands for just a cruise or background noise while doing chores or a walk is Snarky Puppy and this kind of has that vibe. Especially on the more instrumental tracks.
Maybe being a bit too generous after taking a hiatus from the 1001 journey, but I liked this quite a bit
5/5
Paul Simon
3/5
1001: I had taken a several month break from the journey before this album, so my context and comparisons have been reset a bit.
I'm not sure if it was just that I wasn't fully awake, or what but I was struggling to follow the stories of these songs. They sound nice enough, but following the lyrics is a bit tough today. I swear in "I know what I know" they are honking along to geese.
I'm glad "you can call me Al" is on here because that is the song I kept hearing in the tracks before and couldn't put a name to it. I kept thinking it was some animated movie soundtrack song.
Overall this was a nice album even if it is a bit of a chaotic mess of culture and nonsense. Not sure if ever pick it up and say I want to hear this today, but it isn't objectionable.
3/5
Hole
4/5
I never really gave Hole our Courtney Love much of a chance as a kid. While I'm sure I didn't think of her explicitly as a "Yoko" at the time that is the best way I can retroactively describe it now. Elementary school me largely blamed her for Kurt's death and her reputation following that was kind of wild for a kid to process.
30 years later I can listen to this album and appreciate the way it fit into that era and it actually was pretty decent. I still prefer Garbage and No Doubt as far as bands with female leads from that time, but I can see Hole fitting in there too.
The timing of this album release with Kurt's death is also insane. How would that not be delayed?!
I realize this review isn't as much about the content, so I will say the opening track "Violet" really felt like what I've had to deal with with some crappy family stuff this year. Good vessel to get all that negativity out for the new year. (Review date Dec 31, 2024)
Favorite track: "Violet"
4/5
Various Artists
5/5
The only thing I knew of Phil Spector was his wild fluffy hair from his murder trial, so the title of 'A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector' is wild to think about in that context. Am I going to get shot? Is he going to do some crazy synthesizer stuff? Not at all apparently as this album was done 40 years before his murder.
This is a collection of some of the best classic Christmas songs from the pop and R&B artists of the early 60s. I can't imagine these songs all coming at once and not just being a greatest hits collection. There are some recordings that aren't the definitive version of the holiday song, but I think the whole album can just Sleigh Ride into my Xmas playlist if the songs aren't in there already.
Favorite track "A Marshmallow World"
5/5*
* for a Christmas album
Justice
4/5
Pleasant surprise for not being an obvious religious album. If electronic music can be Christian then good for it, by biggest qualm about Christian music is the eye rolling lyrics.
There are a couple of tracks with talking, but nothing terrible, I just prefer the instrumentals on this album.
First two start it off strong, then the lyrics on the 3rd ruins the momentum that I'm not sure it gets back. I found myself looking at track names more for "skip this one next time" purposes rather than "oh that's a banger, save it"
Phantom pt II caught my ear and I wasn't sure where part 1 ended, so had to grab both.
Overall solid album, was great to have on while trying to organize the room.
Favorite track "Genesis"
4/5
Sigur Rós
1/5
I figured I'd be in for something unusual based on the name's weird characters and accents, but was kind of let down by the blah-ness of the album. Yeah it is not English words, but I've had fun with those in the past.
This is a snoozer. I'm glad I wasn't driving today or else I'd fall asleep.
On the other hand, I could be saying it was a nice and peaceful trance of an album, but I literally think the the singer is yawning during the title track. That actually is an interesting technique for a album to make you sleepy --just yawn while singing.
Anyways, not for me. I'm going to go take a nap now. It's noon on New Year's Eve 2024. I want to make sure I'm awake to see the light leave this horrible year.
Favorite track: I guess the title track
1/5
Deerhunter
2/5
With a band name like Deerhunter I expect either country or prog metal, and this isn't either of those things. I know, don't judge a band by the name, but I don't think it really fits and in a weird way it takes some of my perceived authenticity away.
Would I be happier if I believed they hunted deer literally. No. What's my point? No.
Now on to the actual album. There wasn't much here for me. It was a quiet, slow and somewhat boring listen. When I was getting into a track that I wanted to at least check the name of to see if I wanted to list it as one of my favorites on the album or remember, then it brought up drug references and as much grief as I gave about the band name I just can't get behind the idea of a non drug user liking a song by a band that likely doesn't hunt deer.
Sometimes an album just doesn't click and that is ok.
Favorite track "Fountain Stairs"
2/5
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
This was a solid album, and I generally give some benefit to debuts in their time. What may have been groundbreaking in the 70s may not be super exciting today almost 50 years later.
Not a lot of high or low points on the album for me so that makes it one of the most solid 3s I've had in a while. I see the Switch song has the most plays, so I'm not sure if that was the single or maybe in a movie or something,but I liked the mystery of The Staircase more. I'm not sure if they have gone more into that somewhat spooky style but I'd be into a full concept album like that with some more theatrics.
Favorite track "The Staircase"
3/5
Muddy Waters
4/5
This is one of those albums that I wish I could better place in time. I saw the 77 release year and thought that is awfully late for blues. Come to find out this is almost 40 years into Muddy's career. Could have fooled me by just listening to it. Sounds great for a 60+ year old man.
I kinda dig these return to form albums for aging artists and this one is good enough on its own, but I'd love to have come into it with a better knowledge of his career to this point.
Solid record.
Favorite track "Crosseyed Cat"
4/5
Meat Loaf
5/5
Meat Loaf is great. Not many artists dip so far into the theatrics and drama as he does, and he still slathers more on top of that. As I wanted the "I'd do anything for love" cassette and that was the extent of my exposure until I was painting my room in college and had AXS tv on and they were playing a live show. There is nothing better to listen to while doing housework. You feel like you're in a movie montage and get things done so fast.
That single wasn't on this album but there were still plenty of good, epic songs like Bat out of Hell and Paradise. Man I just love everything about Meat Loaf. Silly name, epic and over the top rock extravaganzas of songs. They all tell a pretty linear story that takes you on the journey with him.
The audio sample of the baseball announcer is kind of the one nitpicky thing I don't care for during Paradise, but it's still got 10 minutes of other stuff so it's forgettable.
It's fortunate that I got this album when I did, because I had been putting off chores for a while and was able to get them all knocked out in under an hour with the power of Meat Loaf. Thanks buddy! RIP
favorite track "Bat out of Hell"
5/5
Marianne Faithfull
3/5
During the 2nd track I was reminded of the Metallica song "The Memory Remains" in which an old lady does the same kind of Na na na noises she was doing here. Upon review, Marianne is indeed the vocalist on the Metallica track that came out about 20 years after this album.
However, I'm not sure I really dig her normal music. It kind of is a mix of Loos Griffin and Joan Rivers. Unique enough to be appreciated, but some phrases approach nails on a chalkboard for my ears.
She has quite an interesting career and apparently her voice was permanently damaged in-between this album and her first couple so I'd like to go and hear the before voice at some point and see if suits my ears better.
She is also still alive today and had some recordings in 2020 so would be interesting to see everything from those 50-60 years.
All in all, not my favorite but was a lot more of a backstory for the old lady in the Metallica song than I was expecting.
Favorite track "What's the hurry?"
2.5/5
The Icarus Line
2/5
I've gotta say this is one of the first on the list that was a head scratcher as to how it made it here. Doesn't seem overly popular in terms of stream counts, none of the songs stood out to me and this is generally closer to a genre I enjoy.
I heard different influences in or from this throughout, mostly kept thinking of Jack White, but there was another band called Dragpipe that I had found around that era and I looked up their only album and it is around the same stream count.
I don't really have much else about this Icarus Line album, the cover art is about the most memorable thing I've got. It wasn't terrible or unlistenable, but I have to think that a band member may be a nephew of the 1001 albums guy.
If this is a band you're into I'd recommend looking up Dragpipe. They are nothing amazing either, but I like them better than this.
Favorite track "Party the Baby off"
2/5
Rage Against The Machine
3/5
I know RATM has been a popular meme for being called woke, but to be fair middle school me didn't understand a lot of the content of the lyrics at the time either. I still knew they had a message and agenda and that is great.
What is not great is that we're 30 years down the road and some of these issues are stills around if not worse, and that is just depressing.
I also don't remember listening to the full album often, just some of the highlights like "Killing in the name" "Know your enemy" and "Freedom". All the tracks in a row are tough to get through. I agree with a lot of the points, but I like most people feel bad about the situation and not being able to see a way to make the changes. It's exhausting.
Still great jams for those main tracks, so I'll give them that. Just wasn't as excited as the end of the album as I was to start it.
Favorite track "Know your enemy"
3/5
Dusty Springfield
4/5
If you asked me who Dusty Springfield was before this album came up on my list I would have said " I dunno, who is he?"
Not sure how I've never heard of them. "Son of a Preacher Man" is a song I've heard before and feel it's pretty popular as well, but the name Dusty just doesn't ring a bell. Also surprised to hear she is from London when the album is called Dusty in Memphis. Fully expected a country album alongside Dolly and Reba, but this was a nice surprise all around.
It makes sense that the Preacher Man song was originally planned for Aretha, as it just stands out amongst the other tracks. Apparently this album and the connection to Atlantic Records lead to Led Zeppelin getting signed. Such an interesting story hidden in this album and learning this tidbits is such a neat bonus on top of hearing great music id never hear otherwise.
Favorite track "Son of a Preacher Man"
4/5
Iggy Pop
4/5
This album really impressed me. I think earlier on this list I had a Stooges album and that had one or two good songs but was a little too punky in general.
This is so different it's almost like a put-on to show what he can really do to show people like me who put him in the punk box and maybe dismissed him too much too soon.
A couple times I thought it kind of had a Bowie vibe and then saw he collaborated with him on this album, so I was relieved to know it wasn't an aggressive form of impersonation.
Aside from a couple of songs that hit my ear wrong lyrically, this is a great classic that deserves to be on this list. Gave me a new respect for Iggy, who I'd previously only associated with his punk antics.
Favorite track "The Passenger"
4/5
Elastica
5/5
This album caught me off guard. I didn't think I'd heard them before but then Connection and Car Song played back to back and sent me on a hunt to see where I'd heard them only to find it was in an ad or 30 years ago.
On that lookup I also found out this band was formed after a couple split from Suede, which was a band I really liked and found from this list, and the singer also dated Damon Albarn too, so she's all over the Britpop scene. Which explains why this album fits into that timeline so well.
During the second listen of Connection I watched the video and I'm certain 10 year old me would have had a crush on Justine. If you think she looked boyish, then you get it too.
Another fantastic album, further increasing my rating for the Britpop subgenre.
Favorite track "Connection"
5/5
Marvin Gaye
5/5
Everyone knows "What's going on", but I was surprised by " What's Happening Brother" being the following track title. At first I thought that was silly and redundant and got me thinking maybe I actually like the Let's Get it On album better.
Further into the album I realized how smooth the transitions between songs are, then "Mercy Mercy Me" hit, and to quote the kids these days I was like nah this album is fire.
The song cycle of this album is somehow even greater than the sum of the parts. It is done so well. His collar on the cover is legit, and this is a contender for an album I want on vinyl. I'm gonna go give it another listen now.
Favorite track "Inner City Blues"
5/5
k.d. lang
4/5
k.d. lang owes me a lot of money. She has been living rent free in my head for over 30 years. Her performance of Constant Craving at the 93 Grammys has stuck with me since I was 7 for some reason. I've never been to therapy but I suspect her short hair ( along with Rae from Free Willy) were the start of something.
At any rate, I've also never bothered looking for anything other than "constant craving" in all this time. It has always been the song for her. I did like most of the album as well. Accordion made some of the songs sound somewhat European in a good way. Pretty solid from top to bottom.
I went back to rewatch the Grammy performance and couldn't help but think she kind of looked like if all 3 Friends boys had a baby. I don't mean any disrespect, was just a playful observation.
Favorite track "Constant Craving"
4/5
Tim Buckley
3/5
I'm not sure I ever recovered from going into this album thinking it was Jeff Buckley, but it was quite a surprise. Not to say there isn't a common element of some blues between the two but not at all what I expected.
This was a pretty good album and had elements of "nasty" in both the good and bad sense. Asexual me is not a fan of whatever Get on Top may or may not be implying -- particularly with the tounges, but there were some other decent songs too.
"Sweet surrender" was probably my favorite and I'm wondering if my naivety is letting some of the meaning escape me for some other songs here.
Favorite track "sweet surrender"
2.5/5
David Bowie
4/5
1001: I think this may be album 5 or 6 for Bowie so far and I'm at around the 200 mark. Hopefully there are plenty ahead on this journey.
Another Bowie album, another genre. I've really come to appreciate his versatility and adaptability from decade to decade. His calling this style " plastic soul" is perfect as it starts to be more funky and soulful than the earlier rock style.
I've also started to rate some of the more prolific artists on this list more against themselves than the other artists, and I will say compared to the other Bowie albums I didn't quite like it as well. Kind of like how the Across the Universe cover may not be my favorite, but does enough to distinguish it as a unique version. I think the overall genre for this album may be thing that is getting in my way.
Fame does it's best to save it as a great album, but it's just not the absolute top tier I've heard from him before. Is it still better than a huge percentage of the others here? Sure, but that's not really fair to them. Against Bowie's others I'm going to give a 4/5
Favorite track "Fame"
4/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
I remember having the Bayou album by CCR earlier and it was a pretty rough listen, but this one is much better. Hard to say what specifically changed for this album as they were not a band for very long. It does help that only one track lasts over the 4 minute mark, and that one long one is probably my least favorite--a little Fogarty goes a long way.
It is hard to pick one favorite out of the lot. I didn't expect Lodi to be the one stuck in my head afterwards and there are a lot of familiar and catchy tunes that really bring out the woodsy-creek bayou settings. Very visual songs playing.
Favorite track "Bad Moon Rising"
4/5
King Crimson
3/5
When I first played this I had King Diamond in my head, and throughout the first half of the opening song I was picturing that crazy painted guy jingling keys and messing around in an elementary music hall, creating one of the most unsettling mental images since I saw Pennywise in IT.
Then I realized King Crimson was not a painted metal singer at all. They are now a band I'll have to look more into. Progressive Rock is often a label that goes on a lot of the niche bands I like but don't really have any other way to describe them. Some of these longer tracks I'll have to give another listen, but the Larks part II was one I kept checking the title of to make sure I remembered it, and that it didn't change to a new track. Otherwise I didn't keep track of the others and some went on a bit too long or had too long of a skip section.
Favorite track "Larks part II"
3/5
Thin Lizzy
3/5
I think I've heard that Lizzy was Irish, but didn't realize he was THIS Irish. You can really hear the accent during the crowd work. Live albums are hit and miss for me, but I dig this one. The songs sound clean and almost studio quality from a technical perspective. Then the crowd doesn't really come into play until the appropriate times.
Well now that I went to look and see where it was recorded to see if maybe it was European which would explain the crowds politeness, I see that it was a collection of recordings from several places, and them there is a conversation and borderline controversy about potential overdubs of some tracks and that would explain the quality I was praising beforehand. Shame.
That really took my motivation for listening to this down quite a bit.
Favorite track "Jailbreak"
3/5
Fugees
4/5
My sister had a variety of music for me to borrow growing up. Korn, ICP, Marilyn Manson, Garth Brooks, and this album. I still haven't deviated much from the rock realm when listening on my own, but I can appreciate a good variety.
This album was everywhere in 96 and I remember it being a big thing at the Grammys. It's one of those albums that you can't really give any good reason for not liking it without sounding racist, and I think even me saying that my seem a bit racist somehow.
I like the singles well enough, but many other songs have a message that isn't meant for me so it feels awkward to me listening to it. I understand a lot of the issues but unfortunately the country has a bunch of babies running it now that can't listen to reason and logic. A lot of these grievances in the songs are ignored by the powers in charge because keep these issues keeps the focus off the true problem, which is money controlling the powers that be. Once the money gets out and the politicians can address the people then progress can resume.
Favorite track "Killing me softly"
4/5
Digital Underground
3/5
My exposure to "The Humpty Dance" was through Weird Al, and 7 year old me had no awareness of the context of the source song. Even 30 years later I am still a bit naive.
In terms of Rap/HipHop I am more partial to this funky style, but it can be tough to stay paying attention for an hour to follow the stories.
Aside from the opening track there were a few others I recognized that were pretty good. The whole sex packet concept is a bit troublesome in today's world but it is silly enough that it probably won't be cancelled or whatever. I'd love to be back in the 90s when things were simple. Will they be as simple if I'm not a pre-teen, who knows.
Favorite track "The Danger Zone"
3/5
Japan
2/5
If the first impression I get from this album art is 'Buckaroo Bonzai' is that considered racist? Can't be any more racist than the movie title itself or an English band calling themselves Japan for no reason.
As for the music, I'm not overly impressed. None of the pieces really stand out, and when you combine the lyrics with the background instruments is just sounds...lame? The synthwave station (mostly instrumental) is my go-to work background noise and these tracks are a bit slow and drawn out. Too sad. "Queit life" started things off at the just OK bar and it seemed to go downhill from there. I've gotta listen to something else to get rid of this semi-bummer.
Favorite track "Quiet life"
1.5/5
Bob Dylan
3/5
For what may as well be a debut album in terms of original songs it has quite a few iconic tracks. Some tracks seem to just be a stream of consciousness nonsense, but through this 1001 journey I've heard some other folksy singers like Joan Baez that helped open up my ears to what used to be a nails-on-chalkboard nasly vocals of Dylan. Some songs still hit my ear the wrong way, but I think a couple of these will get into a playlist or two.
As I went back to add those songs I realized autoplay was on so it grabbed a couple other tracks and I've got to roll back some of the review score, but I'll leave what I wrote.
The opening track was probably my favorite now that what I thought were the ending songs were from different albums. The dream song and I shall be free stood out as oddball tracks.
"Masters of War" is almost too appropriate for today, Jan 20, 2024, inauguration day. Hopefully things don't get to the violence part of the song, but the majority still applies. Dark days.
Favorite track "Blowin in the wind"
3/5
Fairport Convention
4/5
This is a wild album. I'm not sure what the title means, but I first thought it was a European group. They are English, but I was thinking like a Scottish or dutch with that title.
There are so many styles here it makes sense that they were called the English Jefferson Airplane/Starship. I heard Beatles, Nick Drake, Joan Baez, and more along with some Cajun, blues and other influences.
If anyone wants to get into the music of the 60s starting here and the picking which path you want more of isn't a bad option. Good variety here.
Favorite track " Autopsy"
4/5
Fela Kuti
2/5
This album seems like one of the ones that made it here more for historical significance rather than musical treats for the ears. It doesn't sound bad, but it's likely not a top 100 jazz album.
It is sad that the USA is going closer towards 1970s Nigeria here in 2025. Not a great time. Made even worse by the fact a musical act today has a lot less cultural significance thanks to the overwhelming amount of content and social attention spans.
Overalls a decent album and a more respectable cause.
Favorite track "Mr Follow Follow"
Bonus tidbit: when I saw the track Mr. Follow Follow I immediately thought of Nigeria due to a car always following the Google camera vehicle on geoguessr. Wonder if that has always been a Nigerian thing.
2/5
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
This album started off really well. My first thought was that this must have really been an underrated band because some of the tracks could stand right alongside the Stones or the Doors at the time. I have a penchant for bands that are just a little off center and with a meme name of Paul Revere (apparently the guys real first and middle names) I felt like this band would have been I liked at the time.
Eventually it turned more into concern the band was a bunch of phonies during the beach boys style track SS 396. Were they really just experimental or copycats of styles and closer to the Monkees in terms of authenticity?
Whatever the case may be, the first half carried this album well enough to a solid rating, and I'll be interested in looking more into their stuff to find out my answer.
Favorite track "I'm not your stepping stone"
3/5
Janis Joplin
4/5
It's no surprise this made it to #1 as a posthumous release. Janis was a unique and special singer here for a good time not a long time. Not many artists come to mind even 50 years later that match her energy. Was that the drugs? Maybe.
She sounds and looks almost twice her age here and I mean the sound part as a compliment at least. It's hard to imagine her in her actual 50s or older, unlike some other singers gone too soon. I don't know what that means,and I mean no disrespect.
I still wonder why there hasn't been really anyone that seems to catch this style or energy since. At least none I'm aware of. I've always kind of linked her and Joe Cocker, but that is around the same time. Such a unique approach to songs like the wild intro to Cry Baby and how it just kind of transitions to almost just talking later on. I need to go look up the story of the Mercedes Benz track too- another unique track.
Overall not the greatest album but definitely one of the most special in terms of style and coming out after the singer passed.
Favorite track " Me and Bobby McGee"
4/5
Arcade Fire
4/5
The only thing I really knew about Arcade fire coming in was they had a large band. I've probably seen them on a late night show or two, and the album cover is familiar.
Listening to this at first I was getting a Killers vibe. Not sure if that is genre accurate to compare the two, but then it turned more into a Meatloaf feel which is probably more of a stretch. Both arcade fire and meatloaf have a vibe that works well with me getting chores done. Just good background music that isn't too distracting. A few good tracks had me check in on the track names and apparently the two (four?) I liked the best were two-part tracks Half Light and Sprawl.
Sprawl II sounded completely different from the rest of the album and was probably my favorite track, so that is what keeps me from going 5/5 even if it hit the track threshold I usually go by.
Favorite track "Sprawl II"
4/5
The Offspring
4/5
Some albums from the 90s feel like they couldn't be made today and this is likely one of them. There are some questionable scenarios here that would likely be problematic today, but those songs still do enjoy good bit of radio time today too.
For as much as I listened to this album back in the day, I don't remember a lot of these songs, but I also think I probably had it stuck on repeat for "Come out and Play" the whole time, partly because it was my favorite, partly so my mom didn't hear some of the other songs.
For me now there are 3 solid tracks I'll be adding to my playlist and maybe a 4th. Is this the best album in the world? No. Did it age well? Not really. But the band has a unique place in the timeline here and are still around today. Props to them for having something so immature last so long. Don't get me wrong I'm also immature and why I've got several songs on my playlist today.
Favorite track "Come out and Play"
3.5/4
5/5
The hype for Oasis when this came out was crazy from what remember. Biggest thing since the Beatles and what not. There are some amazing tracks on here but obviously the legacy didn't quite pan out all these years later. However, last o heard a reunion was actually in the works so the story is not done yet!
For this listen I tried to focus on things I hadn't noticed before like the guitar in "Don't look back in anger" made me want to find a copy of Rock Band and play along with a plastic guitar. Not sure if that song was released for it, but it probably was. More hits on here than I realized, and it's still a good listen almost 30 years later.
Between Oasis and Blur the 90s really had a good Britpop thing going. I am pretty sure I gave Parklife a 5 so I gotta do that for this one as I think it may even be a tad better in terms of high quality tracks there are like 3-4 that would compete for my favorite here.
Favorite track "Don't look back in Anger"
5/5
Can
1/5
Not at all what I expected from the art, name, or this list in general. This was terrible. Now unfortunately for this band, they happened to pop up on my list after 2 nostalgic bangers from the 90s, but I don't think anything could have saved this from a 1 star.
It started off "okay". I thought maybe I've heard of one song from this band and that will be fun. Nope. At least not from this album and likely not from anything else. First 3 songs were tolerable, then it went into 18, 17, 12 minute long annoying trash. I even convinced myself they called themselves Can because the drums sound like a trash can. If that winds up being true then they can keep the 1 star for irony, otherwise it goes to "Aumgn" because I may be able to use that on my Halloween playlist. It will either scare people or keep them away, both would be great.
I'm also not a fan of vocals where I can't tell the language. Some songs sound half English then maybe half French? But I thought I saw they were German?
Not my thing,
Favorite track "Oh Yeah"
1/5
Anyways
The Temptations
5/5
This album had quite a few surprises from what I was expecting from the temptations. Quite a bit more funky in spots from the My Girl days.
The industry back then was also very weird. It all seems to be very label driven and songs were just reused almost annually. "I head it through the Grapevine" had huge success with two different artists in the two years prior to this album, so 3 artists in 3 years all singing the same song. All versions are quite a bit different, and I know there even a couple other covers later on. It's one of those songs that just got everywhere. As a kid from Grapevine who watched the California Raisins I may have paid a little more attention than your average kid to this song.
The rest of this album is pretty interesting too. I'm an era of 3 minute tracks there is a 9+ minute epic of Runaway Child, and had it not been for the kid crying midway through it would have been my favorite on the album. All other songs do their best to say what they need to and efficiently move on to the next, and that is appreciated.
Favorite track "I gotta find a way to get you back"
5/5
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5/5
One time a coworker was playing this album and when I overheard it I asked if they were listening to a Final Fantasy soundtrack. Granted this was a 60 year old lady and probably had no idea what I was talking about, it just sounded so familiar.
"Blue Rondo a la Turk" and "Take Five" were definitely used as inspiration for the battle music and Cinco de Chocobo from Final Fantasy VII respectively (Cinco=Five). And that is a good thing as it brought up a conversation with someone I normally wouldn't have had, that I still remember 10+ years later, and introduced me to Dave Brubeck. It didn't fully turn me on to Jazz, but definitely helped make it more tolerable as before I just thought it was chaotic noise.
Great album overall, and I really enjoy that it makes me think of one of my favorite games too. I don't like a ton of jazz, but the jazz I like I really enjoy.
Favorite track "Blue Rondo a la Turk"
5/5
The xx
4/5
If there ever was an album I'd want to rate higher because of just one song, this would probably be it for Intro. I've heard it so many different places and it serves so well as an intro to build up hype. Luckily this album has quite a few other good tracks so it gets a pretty good rating anyway.
When I listen to this album I want to be alone in a dark warehouse with blue lighting and wind blowing, but still warm enough to be comfortable in shorts. Not sure why that environment comes to my head, but not many albums transport me to places quite like this one does.
A few of these songs seem like they may have been an influence for Billie, and others as well. I don't think I've heard most of these yet they all still sound familiar, and chronologically these tracks would have been before most of what I think of as a comparison.
Great album, probably should go to a 5 but I'll use a fraction to note to myself to give it another listen.
Favorite track "Intro"
4.4/5
Pulp
4/5
This album started off really strong. I had a Bowie vibe and thought that maybe they'd be good for a supplement to Bowie's more alt-pop stuff since he doesn't stay in any lane too long. However the album devolved into other more generic British sounds like Peter Wolfe Blur, or even the Cure. Not really a bad thing, but there is a very specific vibe I'd like to make a playlist out of, and it seems like I'll have to do it one track per artist at a time.
Some of the other songs sounded familiar like they have been in a soundtrack, and familiarity is a great quality for songs.
So while the album didn't stay in the lane I was hoping, it still brought me down a tour of some of the better sounds of the area and time all in one place.
Favorite track "Mis-Shapes"
4/5
U2
3/5
In 2025 this album was a bit of a disappointment. As a kid I felt like U2 was the most popular band in the world, all the way up through the early 00s culminating with me finally go to see them on the Elevation tour. That was really cool a great show. Now I'm not sure what changed but I can't imagine why they got to be almost universally liked--or I at least had that opinion. Nothing else but maybe Coldplay or Taylor Swift have reached what I feel was such mainstream popularity.
This album had the 3 main radio songs, but the rest kind of suck for someone hearing them for the first time in 25. It is what it is I suppose. I think some of it is the conflicting ideology in Sunday Bloody Sunday and some of the others. It takes away from the authenticity IMO, as of activism is only a day job.
I'm guessing other U2 albums will be here, and I think I'll like them a bit better.
Favorite track "Two hearts beat as one"
3/5
John Grant
4/5
What in the Buffalo Bill is going on with the cover? That should have been my first of many obvious clues this would be a weird album. Until I got to "Sigourney Weaver" I didn't catch on that it was supposed to be intentionally silly. During Marz I only thought of Casey and his Brother from the Tim and Eric sketches thinking this was a serious attempt failing so bad it was funny.
For all I know it still could be that too I suppose.
As the comedy and sarcasm really got going I started to enjoy this quite a bit. I am a big deadpan guy and once the piano really gets in to that slow rhythm it becomes a mashup of Bo Bournham and Puddles Pity Party and I'm here for that. Although I think this album my predate both of them. It's really hard to tell with time anymore. 2010 feels just as far away as 2019.
For an album I thought started off hilariously bad actually ended up being just plain funny. The Jesus track was a bit of a problem with the F word, but
The message is good overall.
Favorite track "It's easier" just rings true at the mot, but any from the middle could be here.
Tom Waits
2/5
Now that I properly know who Tom Waits is and cleared up the Petty confusion, I was excited to hear more. I had just finished up a witty album before this one and you'd think I'd be all over this. However, I just didn't vibe with this one. It was a bit to slammy? Or just talky in general. There were a few good tracks and had I been present at the recording it probably would have been ok to go along with a nice multi-course meal, but I probably did a disservice listening during weekend chores.
A couple of songs were relatable, but I was mostly waiting for it to end. Still optimistic about more from Mr. Waits later on, I just hope those have a little more music and a little less talking.
Favorite track "Better off without a wife"
2/5
The Notorious B.I.G.
1/5
Despite the irony of this being his last album before he died, I just can't figure out how it is here on this list. It took me 3 drives home from work to finally finish it, and each tim I thought "well I probably am just going to skip the rest"
I really wanted to like this a bit more. Usually fat guys are a little more light hearted and fun, but this was pretty gross, disrespectful and violent. Crime isn't cool. Murder isn't cool. Cheating isn't cool. Biggie is a terrible role model and I can't think of anything good that came from this album. There were a couple funny rhymes like " life token" and some interesting background sound effects, but my ADHD just was over stimulated by the wind chimes and keeping an ear open for rhymes.
I have a similar problem with Ice Cube in that there is only so far one can go with violence before you have to call bullshit or else they'd be in jail. Maybe the fantasy/fiction is more understood by others, but I am under the impression that authenticity is implied for there to be any 'cred' or 'rep' from artists work. I didn't quite finish the whole thing, Suicidal thoughts was the last straw.
Favorite track? "Juicy" I guess....
1/5
Tina Turner
4/5
I'm not sure what is about Tina but she always stood out from the other female pop/rock/r&b singers to me.
I guess maybe her edge and rasp is a big part of it, but even though I enjoyed the radio songs I never listened to a full album.
This one is supposedly the big ones and I knew a couple tracks coming in to it. "what's love got to do with it" is a classic but I think the cover of "1984" may be my favorite here.
There are some other songs that definitely feel 40 years old, but not really in a bad way. Solid album that I feel like could be translated very easily to a modern style and still sound great--kind of like the Buddy Holly tribute album a while back.
Favorite track "What's love got to do with it"
4.4/5
The Beach Boys
4/5
The Beach Boys are one of the best and original bands of doing one thing, but doing it so well you are essentially a genre of your own. Are there other bands that do this beachy, barbershop, simple beach rock for 2 minute songs out there? Maybe but nobody knows them and they don't really need to exist. This is album 11 for the kings of that genre and anyone who can listen to more than 100 tracks of this is probably insane enough to have those 100 on repeat and not really tell anyways.
I'll be honest in that I wrote that first paragraph before getting to far into this album. Pet Sounds was always synonymous with the Beach Boys but I only have heard a couple of these tracks. So while there may be more variety in the content of the songs, the style does not change all that much. It's weird how popular the album is yet there are only 2-3 songs that made it to mainstream.
Also, there are several songs that are kind of depressing lyrically yet still are played in the same poppy upbeat style. It is unsettling. "just wasn't made for these times" is super relatable as long as the passage about 'trying hard to find the people that I won't leave behind' isn't narcissistic and more about depression. I always assume others would rather I not be involved so I'm doing them a favor by staying away.
Well now that I'm sufficiently bummed out, time to go find some other Beach Boys tracks to get some good vibes back.
Favorite track "God only knows"
4/5
5/5
There is just some undeniable magic with The Beatles that is hard to quantify. Listening to these 1001 albums does help show amongst hundreds of the greatest albums their work is consistently impressive and stands out as being such. Is it because they were one of my dad's favorite bands so I've been hearing these for most my life? Maybe. But when I look at the Wikipedia articles for these albums they all have such immense detail and commentary about each and every song.
I find it fascinating that the Beatles also had purposely taken top singles out of an album just to sell as essentially DLC later on as they did here again with two of their best tracks "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" so I'm including them here even though it would have likely been 5/5 without me those tracks.
For this album I really like the concept idea of alternate identities, and the discussion and denial of all the otherwise obvious drug references throughout is also very interesting. LSD, Mr. kite, etc all were things that even someone as oblivious as me could pick up the potential drug references, perhaps the biggest flag for being drug influenced is letting Ringo essentially kick it off. Still a good album either way, even the Ringo track is good (one of his best)
Favorite track "A Day in the Life" (or "Strawberry Fields Forever" if I count the bonus singles)
5/5
Depeche Mode
3/5
I have liked the idea of Depeche Mode for a long time, but hesitated to say I like-like them because I've only scratched the surface of their songs via the radio so far. So I was excited to have a first date as it were.
Well it didn't go quite as expected. I like the song I knew going in "Strangelove" but the rest were kinda meh for me. I was hoping the deeper tracks would be more dark and synthy, but a lot of these seemed "normal"
With a title like Music for the Masses, maybe it was intentionally toned back to try and get wider appeal, so we could have been both trying to be fronting a bit on the first date to try and appeal more normal, when deep down we are really just black shirt sad kids. So I'll be willing to give it a second shot, and hopefully (by looking at the tracks I also know) Violator will be on here later on.
Favorite track "Strangelove"
3/5