689
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3.3
Average Rating
63%
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400 albums remaining
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1970s
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33
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1
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You Love More Than Most
Albums you rated higher than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Truth And Soul | 5 | 2.97 | +2.03 |
| For Your Pleasure | 5 | 2.98 | +2.02 |
| I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got | 5 | 3.25 | +1.75 |
| The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady | 5 | 3.32 | +1.68 |
| Joan Armatrading | 5 | 3.33 | +1.67 |
| A Girl Called Dusty | 5 | 3.33 | +1.67 |
| C'est Chic | 5 | 3.34 | +1.66 |
| Fear Of A Black Planet | 5 | 3.34 | +1.66 |
| There's No Place Like America Today | 5 | 3.37 | +1.63 |
| Opus Dei | 4 | 2.39 | +1.61 |
You Love Less Than Most
Albums you rated lower than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dookie | 2 | 3.8 | -1.8 |
| The Queen Is Dead | 2 | 3.66 | -1.66 |
| Duck Rock | 1 | 2.66 | -1.66 |
| With The Beatles | 2 | 3.66 | -1.66 |
| Strangeways, Here We Come | 2 | 3.44 | -1.44 |
| My Generation | 2 | 3.43 | -1.43 |
| Eliminator | 2 | 3.38 | -1.38 |
| Live At Leeds | 2 | 3.33 | -1.33 |
| A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector | 2 | 3.28 | -1.28 |
| Faith | 2 | 3.27 | -1.27 |
Artist Analysis
Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Van Halen | 3 | 4.67 |
| Bob Dylan | 6 | 4.17 |
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 4.33 |
Controversial Artists
Artists you rate inconsistently
| Artist | Albums | Variance |
|---|---|---|
| Beatles | 4 | 1.12 |
5-Star Albums (33)
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Popular Reviews
Baaba Maal
3/5
It's a shame that there's no Wikipedia entry for this album, only a profile of Baaba Maal, as it's hard to know why this particular album was selected from his apparently extensive discography. And his story is fascinating, with a lot of interesting connections to Western artists (Brian Eno is everywhere!) and his work on soundtracks (like "Black Panther") or collaborations with other big names like Taj Mahal (for a Fela Kuti tribute album).
But this album doesn't have any of that, and I don't really even feel like I can appreciate whether his music on this album is more traditional or more innovative in Pulaar/Fula culture (although the non-lyrics music seems largely modern, and sadly in a horrible 80s/90s synth- and drum-track mire). I guess it's fine? I liked "Yela" and "Daniibe", more from the sound than whatever the lyrics meant; everything else is kind of lost on me. I was often reminded of Babatunde Alotunji's "Drums of Passion", even though they're different generations and cultures and countries, of course.
Looking at the entry for this album from the 2005 edition of "1001 albums you must hear before you die", it appears that the draw for this album was the collaboration between Simon Booth and Baaba Maal (and the editor particularly (perhaps solely?) liked the track "Daande Lenol", which ironically is named after Maal's band, but mixes in all the usual world-music suspects), and how this was a sort of launchpad for Simon Booth to explore world music and later form Afro Celt Sound System (without Maal involved at all). So I guess this album was included more for Simon Booth than Maal, although the editor notes that "Maal continued his pop fusion with varying degrees of success"?
6 likes
Dion
2/5
What a strange selection for this collection. I've never heard of Dion, and am staggered to find out this was his 14th solo studio album, but having listened to it I'm not particularly surprised that it didn't make much of an impression when it was released. And very sad to find out (from Wikipedia) that Dion himself disowned the album due to Phil Spector's mangled production--Dion's description of the album as sounding like "funeral music" is spot on. (It also makes me wonder why any album that's been dismissed by its own artist was included in the project...) I *did* enjoy the bleak-but-hopeful "Your own back yard" and the simply-bleak "New York City song", perhaps because they were the two non-Spector-produced songs on the album.
If nothing else, it's quite a contrast to his "Runaround Sue" jukebox days; in that sense it's a bit reminiscent to Dennis Wilson's solo album, albeit in a sort of reverse sense in terms of sobriety. The album also sounds like it should be played at a higher rpm or something, as if we're hearing it in slow-motion (or underwater). At least it's a pretty brief, unremarkable album. (2)
6 likes
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
I'm embarrassed to admit that while I've heard many songs from this album, this is the first time I've listened to the album outright. So, *now* I can say I'm experienced, I suppose. And what a great experience! Not every song can be as contagious or definitive as "Purple Haze" or "Foxey Lady", but even today it's not all that hard to understand how revolutionary the whole album was (or why it was so immediately popular).
The Wikipedia entry for the album is a great read too (even if it's a little too long in the tooth at times). And now I know why Jimi Hendrix's sound is so distinctive on the album, given that he was literally blasting everyone out in the studio (and even causing computers above one of the studios to mess up). I'm really glad to know that Chas Chandler played a significant role in helping Jimi Hendrix bring his genius to the world.
Finally listening to this album in its entirety only makes me even more baffled that the high school in Seattle I went to, and where he (briefly) attended much earlier than I did, had only a small, unlabeled bronze bust of Hendrix buried deep in the high school library, and nothing else to celebrate a brilliant musical artist.
4 likes
Britney Spears
2/5
I guess if we had to endure Justin Timberlake's debut album, then it probably makes sense that we'd have to suffer through Britney Spears' debut album. But I have no idea why either of these albums are in this collection, honestly, especially since both of them produced (arguably) better albums a bit later in their careers. It *is* shocking to see how young Britney Spears looks in the videos--could she possibly be any older than 16 or 17 in most of them? Although I had to confirm it by reading the Wikipedia entry for this album, everything about the music and videos made me think of people like Miley Cyrus or Ariana Grande or Christina Aguilera, trying to transcend (and largely succeeding) their child-actor status and make the big time as a singer.
Much like fellow-Mousketeer Timberlake's debut album, it's hard to tell what if anything Spears contributed to this album, sadly; maybe the old-fashioned a-woman-is-always-there-for-you sentiment? I'm shocked that this is her best-selling album, as it seems so bland and syrupy (even down to the appallingly unoriginal cover to "The beat goes on"), although certainly more bouncy than poor Timberlake. It also seems like something that belongs to the 80s rather than the cusp of the 21st-century. But it certainly propelled her along a weird and often sad journey through the entertainment world, and likely made her and her custodians a ton of money.
3 likes
Rush
4/5
I know Rush isn't many (most?) people's favorites, but if we're talking about a band's great albums, it's hard to ignore 2112, or at least Side A. I first listened to this somewhere around 6th-8th grade, and it never occurred to me that this was corny or might be somewhat painful to listen to decades later (besides, I was and am a big sci-fi fan). And as much as the other side of this record has pretty much *nothing* to do with the 2112 story, I've always enjoyed those songs too. Music-wise, I think I'd rank "Permanent Waves" and "Moving Pictures" as my favorite Rush albums, but it's fun to re-listen to Rush's more prog-rock-oriented stuff too (and cringe at some of those photos from that era). A solid 4!
(And for those who can't really enjoy (too) much of Rush, just remember Dave Grohl's great homage to Neil Peart after his untimely death: "I still vividly remember my first listen of 2112 when I was young. It was the first time I really listened to a drummer. And since that day, music has never been the same. His power, precision, and composition was incomparable. He was called ‘The Professor’ for a reason: We all learned from him.")
3 likes
1-Star Albums (1)
All Ratings
The Doors
4/5
Van Halen
5/5
ZZ Top
2/5
U2
5/5
Joan Armatrading
5/5
Lauryn Hill
5/5
CHIC
5/5
Television
3/5
Curtis Mayfield
5/5
Jorge Ben Jor
4/5
Orbital
3/5
Sinead O'Connor
5/5
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
4/5
The Band
4/5
Miriam Makeba
4/5
Fever Ray
3/5
King Crimson
4/5
Roxy Music
5/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
R.E.M.
3/5
Funkadelic
5/5
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
4/5
Dusty Springfield
5/5
A classic, of course! It was interesting to get additional songs on the remastered (reissued?) album version that I eventually found via YouTube (the YouTube Music album link was broken), but I'm not sure whether the extra songs should count in this project (but nice to hear them nonetheless).
The White Stripes
3/5
Doesn't seem like their best work, I'm afraid, although a few good songs here and there. I would hope that there's another White Stripes album in this collection, but I suspect there isn't, and that's a shame, as this isn't the album I'd choose to represent them. A bit too nasally (even for Jack White) and monochromatic to earn more than 3 stars, sadly.
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
Very reminiscent of De La Soul to me, even though they had pretty different sounds in some ways. I enjoyed this album, but was hoping for a bit more variety tune/rhythm-wise (it got a bit more varied in the later tracks, though). Once again, I kind of wonder if this is the best album to showcase Tribe.... (I never listened to them back in the days, aside from whatever might have been on the radio.) A solid 4, I'd say.
The Allman Brothers Band
4/5
Quite the jam album! I'm not as familiar with the Allman Brothers Band as I'd like to be, but I imagine that was a great show. I kind of expected more lyrics/singing, but then, what do I know?
Roxy Music
3/5
I'm impressed some of us have now gotten *two* Roxy Music albums! It's hard not compare this self-titled album to "For Your Pleasure", and I feel like the comparison leaves their earlier album a bit wanting (in part because the production quality is a bit uneven, but mainly because it feels like they were just starting to get a feel for their style/sound). But, still, Brian Eno is everywhere!
Fiona Apple
3/5
Listening to this album makes me think of when I was interning with the Minnesota Historical Society (probably summer 1999?) while the exhibits team was developing an exhibit "Sounds Good to Me: Music in Minnesota", and while Fiona Apple has nothing to do with Minnesota (as far as I know), one of my projects was to create a sort of mix tape that would play constantly in a high school-style locker with headphones for visitors to listen in on. I'm nearly certain that one of the songs was "Criminal", and I enjoyed hearing it as I worked on the tape (which was DAT, naturally), which also had songs by other Lillith Fair luminaries, plus I'm sure some other equally forgettable pop/alt music.
That said, I enjoyed listening to this album, and I'd probably listen to another Fiona Apple album some day (the current favs seem to be "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" (2020) or "When the Pawn..." (1999)). Once again, though, since none of the fans out there consider this her best album, I wonder why this project seems to favor debut albums so much? (But maybe I should stop wondering this and just accept it...)
Beatles
3/5
A nice collection of mainly familiar early Beatles songs, and a surprisingly quick listen. It makes me a bit interested in finding out more about the movie. A solid 3, given that the Beatles have much better albums.
Yes
3/5
I've never been able to really get into any band's prog-rock phase (and some bands never had any other phase, I know), so it's hard for me to enjoy this album as much as I should/could. That said, I enjoy Yes' prog-rock sound about as much as (maybe more than?) Genesis or ELP. This album is kind of a weird one, though, with the way it only had half of the songs as true band collaborations, so it's hard to call it much of a complete album (I did like the story behind "5 percent of nothing", though). I'm not sure it's fair to rank it a 2, but my 3-star rating seems a bit generous, I'll admit.
Rush
4/5
I know Rush isn't many (most?) people's favorites, but if we're talking about a band's great albums, it's hard to ignore 2112, or at least Side A. I first listened to this somewhere around 6th-8th grade, and it never occurred to me that this was corny or might be somewhat painful to listen to decades later (besides, I was and am a big sci-fi fan). And as much as the other side of this record has pretty much *nothing* to do with the 2112 story, I've always enjoyed those songs too. Music-wise, I think I'd rank "Permanent Waves" and "Moving Pictures" as my favorite Rush albums, but it's fun to re-listen to Rush's more prog-rock-oriented stuff too (and cringe at some of those photos from that era). A solid 4!
(And for those who can't really enjoy (too) much of Rush, just remember Dave Grohl's great homage to Neil Peart after his untimely death: "I still vividly remember my first listen of 2112 when I was young. It was the first time I really listened to a drummer. And since that day, music has never been the same. His power, precision, and composition was incomparable. He was called ‘The Professor’ for a reason: We all learned from him.")
Slade
3/5
Hm...I'll admit that I have perhaps never knowingly heard Slade before this. The first few tracks makes me wonder if they were influential on later bands, as there's a sort of AC/DC vibe to something like "How D'You Ride?" and a general southern rock vibe to some of their songs, plus plenty of echoes from later mediocre glam bands like Quiet Riot and Twisted Slayer.
But I guess it doesn't seem all that distinctive or memorable, and the quality of the lyrics *really* leaves something to be desired (along with the embarrassing song titles); it probably says more about the "Classic Rock" magazine/site than the band that it considers this album an "essential classic." It also didn't sound horrible, thankfully, and I won't hold it against them that the YouTube Music link provided extra (painful) songs that weren't on the original release. (Hence the wishy-washy 3 stars.)
I *did* think it was funny that the album cover screamed to me that this was a British (English) band, despite almost none of them showing their teeth. And one guess which of them is the drummer, right?
Amy Winehouse
4/5
I haven't heard that many songs from Amy Winehouse (and I don't think any of them featured on this album), so this is a nice expansion in my Winehouse-literacy. I like her sound, and I can only hope that when she was recording and performing all of the other issues in her life took a back seat, because she seems like she was a great performer and artist. A solid 4!
Waylon Jennings
3/5
I haven't (actively) listened to Waylon Jennings all that much, so I'm not sure how this compares to other albums by him, but the backstory of how most of the songs were written by Billy Joe Shaver is pretty interesting. I'll also freely admit that I had no idea what the "outlaw sub-genre in country music" was or what it sounds like (until I let Wikipedia educate me), but it's fascinating that getting to choose your producers and musicians made you an outlaw at one point.
This seems like a nice enough album, albeit without a whole lot of memorable/distinctive songs (I think my favorite was probably "Black Rose"). The start of "Honky Tonk Heroes" (the song) reminded me a lot of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Wheel", and other songs had elements of Johnny Cash and even Elvis to them. A solid 3 (largely because I'm ignorant of its context).
The Temptations
4/5
A nice change of pace from what we've been getting recently! Some of the songs I've definitely heard before, but others are new to me, which is always nice; some of the songs, though, didn't do much for me (looking at you, "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"). I don't really think of the Temptations as being particularly political (which may be more ignorance on my part than reality), but "Run, Charlie, Run" was a great contradiction to that impression--made me think of something like Parliament's "Chocolate City". And nice to have a pure Temptations album! Could have been a 3 for somewhat uneven song choices, but I enjoy their sound more than a 3....
3/5
Well, based on the album cover alone, I can safely say this is nothing like Slade or MIA or Amy Winehouse (or the Temptations, for that matter). A bit more like Yes, I guess, but not really my kind of thing overall. I like the album title, but I'm not sure exactly how the songs relate to the title, and I certainly can't say I have any impression of who Dr. Sardonicus might be...except he must be some crazy nature-loving, zoo-hating, skin-fetishistic space child who sometimes touches the worm!
Antony and the Johnsons
3/5
I was really excited to hear this album given all the big names as guest artists, but I found it hard to get past Anohni's voice and style, I think, sadly. Even though it sounds quite a bit different, I was reminded of that Moby album that incorporated vintage recordings, which was an interesting idea but ended up flattening out everything. I can see why this album got dropped in later editions of the 1001 Albums project.
Jimmy Smith
4/5
Although I didn't really know what Jimmy Smith sounded like, or what this album might be like, I really enjoyed it (despite not even knowing that there was a term for a jazz organist). I *had* expected some lyrics and singing, but it's a fun instrumental album, and I'm sure the lack of a song structure allowed them to have those nice long tracks, with every musician getting a chance to show their chops. I'm also shocked at how many albums The Incredible Jimmy Smith churned out in his career, but will have to just trust the book's authors/editors that this is his greatest accomplishment.
Simply Red
3/5
I think I've heard of Simply Red before, and certainly have heard their big hits, "Holding Back the Years" and the cover of "Money's Too Tight (to Mention)", but I doubt I knew those were by Simply Red, and I also seriously doubt I've ever heard the rest of the album. I also really enjoyed the experience of listening to and watching the album through the CD+G Museum's decoding of the enhanced CD, in all its 4-bit glory (and lots of trivia and factoids alongside great pixellated photos and not-so-great pixellated graphics).
I'm sort of surprised to find out this won the Grammy for best new artist, as it wasn't a particularly compelling album to me. But certainly enjoyable, and I would never have guessed they were British, which speaks to their tight sound and a well-produced soul-inspired album.
Nina Simone
4/5
I haven't listened to all that much of Nina Simone's music beyond the few staples, and all of the sampled music that relies heavily on her voice and style, so it's really nice to get a full album of hers that shows more range than I've previously heard. It *is* weird that this album appears to have been cobbled together from session recordings for other albums, but since the album seems to have gotten a lot of traction both at the time and later on as one her finest, I'm glad to have this as the selection for her music.
Her voice is so distinctive that it's often hard for me to hear several songs by her without them all blending together, but "Four Women" stood out for me (partly because of it's semi-censored status), as did "Break Down and Let it all Out". I was also happy to discover that the really spare style of songs like "Lilac Wine" and this album's version of the iconic "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair" isn't her only style (although it's clearly a preferred one).
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
Well, this was *not* what I was expecting when I saw that the selection was ELP (which I confusedly thought was yet another Yes album, since Bruford/Wakeman/Howe is more less the same words as Emerson/Lake/Palmer in my mind). I'm guessing there will be more ELP in our future, as this sort of gimmicky album can't possibly be their only album to make the list, right?
I'm sure this is a very creative take on Modest Mussorgsky's composition, but it's fallen on deaf ears, sadly. Kudos to them, though, for adding a few new "pictures" all of their own to the exhibition ("The Sage," "Blues Variation" and "The Curse of Baba Yaga," I think, plus of course the excruciating "Nutrocker" encore), and for Emerson dragging a Hammond organ across the stage to get feedback. The whole thing reminded me a bit of the more noodly aspects of Jethro Tull's music, plus (oddly) some sort of bastardized prog-rock version of Sting's truly impossible-to-enjoy "Songs of the Labyrinth" (which came out much much later, I know).
I wish I could say I enjoyed this, or even appreciated it beyond a very abstract respect for a full album-length adaptation of a classical suite, but this didn't really resonate with me (beyond the Promenade theme becoming an annoying ear-worm). A rare 2-ranking for me. :(
Steely Dan
4/5
I'm guessing this is likely to be our only Steely Dan album, which is great, although I do wish we'd gotten whatever album has Boddhisatva on it (but I appreciated the few radio songs that were on this album too). I've always enjoyed listening to Steely Dan, but I also feel like one album is more than enough to give us a sense of the style and flavor; his music is largely interchangeable, so getting another selection later on would be a bit disappointing. I'm glad we got this though!
The Velvet Underground
4/5
Since I hadn't first listened to this album until fairly recently, it's hard to imagine how this was a bit of a flop, both critically and commercially, given how influential the band and this album became. (The Brian Eno quote in the Wikipedia entry is hilarious, and probably not as exaggerated as it seems.) (Brian Eno is everywhere!)
I suspect we'll get other Velvet Underground albums eventually in the 1001-albums collection, since this one doesn't have too many radio-friendly tunes, but I'm glad to have this as the first Velvet Underground/Lou Reed selection. I'll admit, though, that I find this a weird album to listen to, as it's all over the place and seems uneven song- and music-wise, especially with Nico's singing/style often seeming to clash with the Velvet Undergound's sound and style. And that's probably one of the points, I'm sure. I can only imagine how weird and jarring Warhol's "Exploding Plastic Inevitable" tour must have been...
Aimee Mann
3/5
I imagine this was a fun album for 'Til Tuesday fans when it came out, and it seems like a solid album, although I don't have any real familiarity with 'Til Tuesday or Aimee Mann. It's kind of like a completely different version of Bob Mould going solo after Husker Du, I guess?
It's a tight and poppy album, I suppose, but nothing very exciting to me, since I didn't have any history with her.
Sex Pistols
3/5
Listening to this album finally helped me realize that I'm not really that much of a fan of punk--I mean, if I can't love *this* album, then there's not much hope for me, sadly. (Further irony is that this is a much more produced and mastered album than most punk albums (and I guess their only studio album), and yet they also did a fantastic job sounding like these were near-live one-take cuts.)
Reading the Wikipedia entry for this album is a fun experience; I'm sure there are even longer and more minutely detailed entries on the site, but I feel like the "Bollocks" entry is what Wikipedia was made for. I particularly liked the anecdotes about Sid Vicious' and Johnny Rotten's interactions with Queen in the studio, and I was (perhaps foolishly) surprised to learn that Sid Vicious was an atrocious bass player.
Regardless of my own personal reaction to it, it's pretty undeniable that this album was an instant and massive touchstone for music fans and bands alike.
Björk
3/5
I actually own a different (and much later) Bjork album, and I'm impressed at how distinctive and consistent her style and sound has been, as well as those *wild* outfits. I always feel like she took The Sugarcubes to her logical conclusion, and then just started an infinite number of variations of that theme. For me, her sound has always been a bit more background music than I'm sure she'd prefer, but I *will* say that the few videos I've seen of some of her more recent songs are amazing productions in themselves. With this album, though, there weren't too many songs that really hooked me, and a few that I found pretty grating ("Like Someone in Love" an exemplar).
Pink Floyd
5/5
It almost felt like cheating to listen to this album (for what must be the umpteenth time). Despite my undying fandom, I've never read any liner notes or anything about this album, so I was surprised to read that Roy Harper was responsible for the lead vocals on "Have a Cigar" (although since I never quite could reconcile Roger Waters' voice to that song, I guess I just implicitly assumed it was another band member singing it?).
I think what's always stuck with me most with this album is David Gilmour's distinctive guitar style, which feels as perfected on this album as it could probably be. I'm sorry that contemporary critics didn't feel all that enthusiastic about this album, but I have the feeling that the (to me, at least) unique sound and composition of the album must have seemed out of left field, even for Pink Floyd.
When I was a kid, I would play my favorite records continuously while reading books. As a result, It's almost impossible for me to separate "Wish you were here" from a couple of fantasy book series, mainly "The Once and Future King" series (T.H. White), and I think also the "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" series (Stephen Donaldson). Probably not what Waters and crew had in mind, I know....
Nico
2/5
I find it hard to get past Nico's voice, unfortunately, so it's hard to appreciate and/or enjoy this as much as I probably should. That aside, this seems a lot more saccharine than the Velvet Underground/Nico collaboration (despite a bunch of Velvet Underground participation in the album), so maybe it's not just her voice that's putting me off this album. The songs *do* get better as the album goes along, particularly those with more Velvet Underground participation and songwriting (I think I enjoyed "It Was a Pleasure Then" the most), but it's still a pretty challenging album to listen to.
To be fair to her, the Wikipedia entry makes it pretty clear the flute/string additions were not only *not* her choice, but ruined it for her too (along with the absence of drums or bass). Sorry, Nico--you got robbed! And us too. It seems a shame to include this in the greatest albums collection, given how she was treated and how different this was from what she'd hoped for. A testament to how dictatorial producers and studios were back then. :(
Sam Cooke
3/5
A fun album, and the recording captures their live performance really well (which is always impressive, but particularly for a 1963 recording). I really like the energy of Sam Cooke and the band, but I'll admit there's not as much variety among the songs as I'd like, despite different lyrics and sensibilities among the songs. Maybe that's a casualty of the live recording? What a shame that RCA prevented this from being distributed for nearly 20 years!
David Bowie
3/5
I'd always meant to listen to this album, given how wide-ranging David Bowie has been over his music career, so I'm glad to have an excuse to listen to it. It's interesting enough, I suppose, but I wonder if this is really even one of his better albums? (It appears that music critics would beg to differ with me on that point, so I guess I'll just have to accept its greatness.)
It *is* interesting to (literally) see how much music videos are an integral part of a few of the songs on this album, and "Blackstar" (the song) seems like a weird compendium of his style and sound over the decades (sort of). I think I enjoyed "Lazarus" the most. But overall it didn't really engage me. And sad knowing this was his last album, as he clearly had plenty more to contribute into the 21st century.
Buena Vista Social Club
3/5
What an interesting choice and a fun change of pace. (I also love it that YouTube Music decided to play all of its (many many) ads in Spanish--I'm curious to see if this language preference sticks to the next listen, since I'm not logged in...)
I'm not at all a connoisseur of Cuban music, so I can't comment on whether they've done a good job of reviving trova and filin, but I enjoyed listening to the album. I think my favorite song was "El Carretero". (I suspect it's just me (and a very gringo me), but "El Cuarto de Tuya" totally reminded me of Los Lobos' version of "I wanna be like you (Monkey Song)", although "El Cuarto" has *much* more adult lyrics (apparently).)
My only quibble with this selection is that this is clearly a superband/all-star/semi-one-off band/album, which I thought were generally not included in the 1001 albums project? (Maybe it's only soundtracks and compilation albums, though?)
Bob Dylan
5/5
Ah, a classic among the many Dylan albums in this collection! (And a double album no less.) I'm not very fluent in Dylanology, but even I can recognize this album captured his post-folk/electric/rock period really nicely, and it has a nice balance of more popular songs and very philosophical ones. And I see why "Visions of Johanna" and "Just Like a Woman" are considered some of his greatest creations. (I'll also admit that "I want you" is one of the harder songs for me to align with what I (probably unfairly) associate with Dylan's seeming lifelong asexuality....)
The Pretty Things
3/5
I don't know that I've heard much from Pretty Things, but I kind of enjoyed the album, despite a certain Beatlesesque-ness to their style and songs (at least on the first half or so of this album). ("Bracelets of Fingers" was probably the most egregious example of this, I'd say, but a lot of the better parts of the album is sadly reminiscent of Sgt. Peppers and seems pretty derivative. Other parts are just a bit painful to listen to.) I think my favorite song was "The Loneliest Person", and not just because it was one of the shorter and more cohesive songs on the album. :)
If I hadn't read the Wikipedia entry, I'm not sure I would have ever realized that this was a rock opera, nor do I have any real sense for poor Sebastian and his life's journey. I find it also bizarre that most of the contemporary and later critics focused on similarities to Pink Floyd, The Who's "Tommy" and blues styles, so maybe I just missed the boat entirely on any Beatles imitation. It's pretty awesome that the band couldn't really perform this album live (and not just because they took LSD before a 1969 TV "performance" of the album).
Arcade Fire
3/5
I feel like I should know Arcade Fire a lot more than I do, but the nice part of that confusion is that I'm pretty sure this is my first listen to an entire Arcade Fire album. I enjoyed it, but didn't fall in love with them or their sound, and wonder whether this is their best album to include (without bothering to follow through on whether there are multiple Arcade Fire selections or to figure out which of their albums is considered their all-time best)?
I'm impressed at the band's longevity so far, though not so impressed by recent (and likely justified) "sexual misconduct" allegations that sound a lot like Ryan Adams (but without as much fallout so far).
Overall, a strangely forgettable album, especially for one that won a Grammy and has been ranked as the 2nd best album of the 2000s....
The Everly Brothers
3/5
I have always made the unfortunate (and obviously grossly) mistaken mashup in my mind with the Everly and Smothers Brothers, so I wasn't sure what to expect with this album. Not really my style or sensibility (although I've always enjoyed the various covers for "Love Hurts"), but a fine album for a sound that's not only *not* like the Smothers Brothers, but also a different era. Given that the Wikipedia entry for this album notes that "It's Everly Time" is a superior album, I wonder why we got this instead? (Presumably more Everly Brothers in our future, I guess)
The Offspring
3/5
I suppose it was inevitable that one of these selections might be something like Offspring, so I have to acknowledge that they could have chosen far worse examples. I guess this was Offspring's equivalent to Nirvana's "Nevermind", although I really don't understand how this could be labeled punk rock in any way ("pop punk rock" seems so lame and offensive to both pop *and* punk rock).
That said, I definitely enjoyed hearing "Come Out and Play" on the radio, and maybe somewhat the same for "Self Esteem" (despite its super-derivative-Nirvana sound), and it definitely struck me that these songs seemed fairly edgy for radio rock (but again, I would have laughed if someone had told me that this was some form of punk rock). I also like it that it was produced on an independent label, and did so well commercially.
I didn't really enjoy most of the other songs on the album, even as background music, and the super-annoying voiceover/narrator occasionally interjecting almost makes me want to rank this a 2-star album. But that's not fair to the few genuine hits on the album.
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
Well, I wondered when Smashing Pumpkins would appear, although it's a bit disappointing to get them right after another 1990s phenom (Offspring), as they share some of the same general wall-of-sound 90s thing. (To be fair to Offspring, though, their lyrics are *much* easier to distinguish than Smashing Pumpkins. And to be fair to Smashing Pumpkins, they're so much less annoying/offensive than Offspring.)
I own this album (apparently one of 6 million others), and at one point enjoyed listening to them more than I do now. Listening to this album again makes me think more of a time and place (1990s, DC) than it does of whether this is a "greatest" album or not. And I think even when I bought the CD I felt like they kind of had one song in them that they found several variations of to put together a full-length album. (I suspect if I ever took the time to decipher the lyrics, or ever watch their videos, I might be slightly disabused of this monochromatic image. And hits "Cherub Rock" and "Today" *are* somewhat different, I'll admit. "Rocket" not so much, and "Disarm" maybe the most distinctive, but I never really liked that hit.)
Fine, but nothing special (despite the Wikipedia entry describing the album as "widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s and of all time"), and a nice blast from the past. That said, I wish I knew then about what went into making this album (thanks, Wikipedia people), as it would have made the context of the album a lot more interesting. Talk about stressful and harrowing! And shades of the film "Whiplash" with the suicidal lead singer making the junkie drummer perform "Cherub Rock" until his hands bled....
Serge Gainsbourg
4/5
I've never heard of him/them before, but I enjoyed the whole French-narrated chill-rock-style. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it as much if I understood the lyrics/narration storyline, as the Wikipedia plot summary makes it sound a bit creepy (at least for listening in the 21st century), and a little bizarre/pretentious, but thankfully my spoken-French comprehension is pretty abysmal.
I didn't really want to hunt down "Melody, the musical", but I *did* listen to this album via YouTube Music, which very bizarrely showed a completely wrong-seeming video while playing "Ballade de Melody" (something involving some white guy trying to save a non-white kid (male) in what appeared to be riots/protests/terrorist attacks). A bit more surreal than I suspect even Serge Gainsbourg was hoping for.... (A little more digging on this video reveals that it was made in 2021 by Christopher Honore as a tribute to Gainsbourg but "updated to reflect the times", whatever that means; most of the comments seem to find it an inappropriate appropriation. You can see it here: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o165uRDuYU>) (And I found a YouTube playlist with the various original videos collated together: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AznHU0cWvz0&list=PLEB4AA81A5D349F09>)
I loved seeing (on Wikipedia) all the artists and bands that have been influenced by this album, and I can totally see this influence now that I've heard this album. For that alone, I'd give it 5 stars (especially since I enjoyed listening to the album), except I still think this is all a bit creepy.
Iron Maiden
4/5
Ah, a classic from my high school years! I actually still really like a few songs from this album--mainly "The Prisoner", "Number of the Beast" (naturally), and perhaps most of all "Run to the Hills"--which kind of surprises me, because I knew even at the time that this was never a particularly complex band. But they nailed the whole metal power chord thing well, I liked Bruce Dickinson's story, and as an aspiring rhythm guitar guy in high school, I was always challenged by the interesting pairing of Adrian Smith's and Paul Murray's guitar licks.
I never realized until now (after reading the Wikipedia entry) that this was the only album containing both Bruce Dickinson and Clive Burr; it almost makes me want to listen to pre-Bruce Iron Maiden (almost). And the (likely apocryphal) story about the producer's accident with a bus of nuns and a repair bill of £666 is hilarious.
Miles Davis
4/5
It's always a good day if you get to listen to Miles Davis, even if you're (like me) not all that well-versed in his huge arsenal of songs and albums. It's a little weird that we got a compilation album (mainly because I thought that wasn't part of the criteria for including in the 1001 Greatest Albums collection), but I'm not complaining at getting to hear a variety of tunes from a shifting band composition, and apparently getting to listen to the birth of a new style of jazz (or as the critic Sargent apparently described it, "not really jazz"). Not bad at all!
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
3/5
Well, you can't argue with "the best selling salsa album in the history of salsa music and Latin music", I guess! Not really my usual genre to listen to, so I can't say much about whether this deserves the title, but a fine album, I suppose.
I did find "Buscando Güayaba" a weird and somewhat jarring song, and while I kind of liked the seamless transition between tracks (interrupted only by YouTube's annoying ads), it made it really hard to follow much of anything, in large part because my sung-Spanish comprehension is as abysmal as my sung-French comprehension. And while the reference completely went over my head, it's interesting to know that "Pedro Navaja" is an homage to Bertolt Brecht's "Threepenny Opera."
"I like to live in America!" (3)
4/5
It's nice to hear this album in its entirety, as I think I've only heard a few of the more radio-friendly hits. It's hard to imagine how this must have sounded when it first sold, but it's still an impressively unique and distinct mostly-concept album. (It's funny how almost all concept albums seem to have a few odd-man-out tunes; in this case the cover of "It Ain't Easy" is the most obvious.)
This is a *much* better selection for the 1001 albums project than "Blackstar"!
Thelonious Monk
4/5
I can't say I've listened to all that much of Thelonious Monk's repertoire, so it's both fun to get an album by him and at the same time hard to know if this is outstanding or typical for him. Either way, I enjoyed listening to it.
It's a bit of a bummer to read (the Wikpedia entry) about how challenging this album was to make, and how it ended up being more of a compilation album thanks to the complete dysfunction involved in recording the title track, especially given how each track *sounds* as if it's a bunch of friends having a good time riffing off each other. (But also pretty funny to find out that in one of the apparently 25 takes of "Brilliant Corners," the bassist was pantomiming playing in protest (or maybe just annoyance).)
Tensions and egos aside, this is a fun album of clearly talented musicians.
Steely Dan
4/5
Although I'm a bit surprised to get another Steely Dan album, I guess it makes sense, since I was surprised the other album didn't have "Boddhisattva", and here it is!
I always enjoy listening to Steely Dan, so this was a nice listen, but I'm still a bit puzzled why there are (at least) two Steely Dan albums in this collection, as they're not all that different from each other. In some ways I liked more of this album's songs than on "Aja", and I *do* like this album's cover more, and it's kind of fun to hear a less polished version and a little more rocking version of the band (plus an album that could actually be played live). I also enjoyed a few songs I'd never heard from them, like "The Boston Rag".
Public Enemy
4/5
Since first hearing them in "Do the Right Thing", I've enjoyed most of what I've heard from Public Enemy (although it's mainly been Chuck D's voice and lyrics, and I've never really enjoyed Flavor Flav nearly as much).
Since this album *isn't* "Fear of a Black Planet", I'm happy to think that there are likely two PE albums in the 1001 collection, or at least I hope so, since this is a good album but not as good or classic as "Fear of a Black Planet" (or "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" for that matter).
That said, I enjoyed a fair number of songs on this album, and was surprised I'd heard several of them before (long ago). And of course it had that (to me) instant classic mash-up "Bring tha Noize (with Anthrax)", which blew my mind when I first heard it (apparently a few years before this album, although my conviction that I'd heard it on a school bus in high school must have been the original and not the co-Anthrax version).
A lot of good stuff on this album, and fun to hear a familiar-sounding band playing tunes I haven't heard. And impressive to know that they cranked out this album after losing all their tracks/"data" from the past 5 years.
The Isley Brothers
3/5
A fun listen, although I have no idea if this is one of their greats, or just another solid album? It's certainly quite a progression from their days of "Shout" or even "Testify", and I particularly enjoyed this album's version of "Listen to the Music", as well as the great opening bass (and track) on "Sunshine". And nice that they added a few more brothers to the Isley clan with this album!
Le Tigre
3/5
I actually own a Le Tigre album (not this one, rather "This Island"), somewhat accidentally when I found it left on the street--I'm not sure I even listened to it for months, and had no idea what the band was like. I'm impressed to discover that this debut album shares a lot of similarities with their 3rd and last album (but not in a repetitive way), and I enjoyed this album as much as "The Island". Not exactly my favorite music style, but they have good lyrics and a well-produced sound (for what they're trying to achieve).
"Deceptacon" reminds me (perhaps oddly) of a later version of the classic Ministry "Jesus Built My Hotrod", perhaps simply because they both have references to "ding a ding a dang a dong dong ding dong " (more or less). And it's pretty funny to see/hear how "My my metrocard" is strangely re-relevant with its critique of good old Giuliani. My favorite song on the album, though, is probably "Slideshow at Free University," which reminds me of the exhibit/film "Manifesto" (probably because the song is also an excerpt of a manifesto), as well as the band "LCD Soundsystem".
Donald Fagen
3/5
It's hard not to hear this as a Steely Dan album, given how distinctive Fagen's voice is, and the music is fairly similar too. A sly way to get more Steely Dan into the 1001 albums project!
That said, I'm sorry he decided to go solo in the early 1980s, as this was *not* a very fertile time for distinctive sounding tunes amongst all the backup choruses, poppy synth sounds and the ubiquitous sax solos and drum-machine-sounding beats (even when they're actually drums). I'm kind of reminded of Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms" (although I enjoy that album a lot more). It's kind of hard to agree with the critic who called this "one of pop music's sneakiest masterpieces," as I wish it was more distinctive and interesting.
Green Day
2/5
Ugh. I figured we would get this since we also got Offspring, but still...just not very interesting or entertaining, I'm afraid (and somewhat surprisingly, not as interesting as The Offspring) .
Paul Simon
3/5
I feel like I have two very opposite impressions of Paul Simon, and this plays out with this album. On the one hand, I often enjoy his sound and style (perhaps not as much as his work with Garfunkel), especially on his earlier solo stuff, but I also find his whole world music thing kind of annoying and pretentious (more so than, say, Peter Gabriel or David Byrne's (obviously much later) world music explorations). Thankfully, this album has less of the global sound (except of course his ubiquitous pan pipes), and while I miss the Garfunkel/Simon harmonies, most of the songs are pretty solid, although not particularly distinctive. I also enjoyed how much this album reminded me of some of Leo Kottke's stuff.
Electric Light Orchestra
3/5
A classic, I know, but I don't think I've actually listened to the whole album before, or really heard most of the non-radio-hits. It's impressive how much the vocoder makes this sound a bit like time travel music-wise, with synthesizer-like sounds showing up in an analog context (the live string and horn sections contrast nicely with the sci-fi vocoder, or whatever synthesizer process gives the synth sounds and vocal manipulation).
A fun listen, although not really my favorite sound, and it's sometimes hard for me to distinguish ELP, ELO, and Yes. And of course a few great radio hits like "Sweet Talkin' Woman" and "Mr. Blue Sky" make it a better experience (that helps you forget some of the weaker songs on the somewhat tediously long double-album).
Django Django
3/5
I'm initially impressed by two things with this album: (1) it's a 21st-century selection, which seems to be a rarity for this project; and (2) Wikipedia has almost nothing on this album or the band, making it hard to get a feel for why this might have been included in the 1001-album collection (unless it was because a few songs were featured in ads and video games?).
My initial impression is of a not-particularly distinctive sound or band, with not very interesting lyrics or beats, but playable enough as background music. Some tracks minded me of a mashup of Blue Man Group, Beta Band and Meat Puppets (especially "Default" and "Firewater"), and the "WOR" video definitely caught the can't-look-away effect of the wall-of-death attraction.
I enjoyed listening to the album, but have a hard time understanding why this made the cut instead of one of their other albums, or some other band altogether...
Air
3/5
I actually own two different Air albums ("Talkie-Walkie" and "Pocket Symphony"), so it's hard for me *not* to enjoy listening to their debut album (although it makes me wonder all over again why debut albums get so much attention in this collection, since they're rarely the best for each band/artist).
I'll admit that what appeals to me about Air's style is that it's great background music, which I'm sure makes any artist cringe, and certainly isn't fair to them (or anyone). But I still enjoy listening to them in all sorts of environments, and I enjoyed this album too, knowing that I was missing out on whatever the lyrics meant, at least when they were in French. I also thought this album was actually more in the foreground than the other two are, which is an interesting aspect. (A little annoying that the YouTube Music version of the album had a few substitutions on the versions of some songs, but that's not Air's fault.)
A solid album, although nothing exciting in the context of this 1001 albums project.
Justin Timberlake
2/5
I don't think I've ever listened to a whole album featuring Justin Timberlake (either solo or in a band), so there's a bit of novelty here. I do wish this 1001 albums project didn't have such a fixation on debut albums, because there's no way this is his best album (or at least I certainly hope not). But that's not Justin Timberlake's fault, I suppose.
This isn't really my cup of tea, so I'm not sure how to rate it. I feel like he's got a style going on here, and it seems like a pretty well produced album, with an impressive number of collaborators and guest artists and the Neptunes' involvement, but I can't really say I enjoyed listening to it, and it doesn't sound all that distinctive. It's pretty funny that this seems to have been widely considered as Michael Jackson's album to take or leave (or he apparently left it).
I'm also bummed that we didn't get songs like "All These Things That I've Done" which he lip-synched in the "Southland Tales" movie (and Justin did a solid job as a bit character in that movie too, I would say); but since that's actually by The Killers, and not by Justin, and is in no way R&B, I guess that would have been asking too much.... (2)
The Youngbloods
3/5
I'm not familiar with The Youngbloods, so this seemed like a good introduction to them. It also seemed like an interesting mix of other late 1960s bands and their own style, although I didn't find it all that distinctive. I was disappointed to read that the instrumental "On Sir Francis Drake" was not in fact some sort of historical reference, but much more mundanely about a road near where they moved to California. I guess that was expecting a bit too much from the Youngbloods, but I still enjoyed listening to their album (mostly).
Napalm Death
2/5
Hm. Not exactly my first choice for something to listen to, but it's nice to know that the band drew a regular crowd in Birmingham's The Mermaid, so that European punk/hardcore bands could play there too (not so cool that the Mermaid owner never paid Napalm Death for their appearances). And it's always inspiring to read about how one of the band members (and apparently the only one to play on both sides of this album) had a driving goal as a musician, although "extremely fast drumming" seems a bit limited as far as goals go...but I think he largely achieved that goal, at least on this album.
It's hard to imagine listening to the CD reissue of this album, as it apparently contained *54* songs on it, few of which were as blissfully short as that "Silicon Valley"-featured song "You Suffer", but still, 54 is about 50 songs too many. However, I'll give credit to the concept that "Scum" was "the conclusion of a ten-year competition for the fastest and hardest sound, marking the point from which neither speed nor intensity could increase" (from the Wikipedia article). We can only hope that this means no more of this kind of album in the 1001 Greatest Albums collection....
Alanis Morissette
3/5
Although I never sought out an album by her, I never minded when her many songs made it onto the radio (many from this album, too). However, it never felt like there was much there beyond her weird voice/intonation, even though the songs were more catchy than I'd have guessed.
I was also a bit mystified by the incredibly negative reaction she seemed to create in some people. I remember hanging out with some people not long after this album came out, and this one guy started arguing with *everyone* about how horrible she was and untalented and psychotic and disgusting, etc., and then just started screaming the lyrics from "You Oughta Know" (or maybe "Ironic") in this truly freaky falsetto that actually made Alanis Morisette sound like an opera singer by comparison. Apparently he was more drunk than usual, and the next day apologized to everyone, but I'll never forget the depths of hatred he was spewing.
I haven't heard any of the songs on this album beyond the radio hits, so it was interesting to hear a little more variety from Alanis Morisette, although I find it hard to heard beyond her voice/style, so the non-radio songs weren't all that distinctive to me. ("Perfect" is a great example this, a very 90s Lilith Fair-style emo song that just sounds a bit off thanks to her voice/style.) It's pretty cool to read that all of the vocals on this album were recorded in 1-2 demo takes, and also cool to know that Dave Navarro and Flea were involved in "You Oughta Know" (especially given how young she was when she was making the album); it's be interesting to hear how the original version of that song was like. It's also hilarious that there's been a whole thread on whether "Ironic" actually contains any ironic situations (which seems like the real irony, I suppose?).
Christina Aguilera
3/5
For all that I've seen her name in the news and on the screen, I had no idea what her music was like, or for that mater even heard any of her songs (at least knowingly). Based on the Wikipedia article, this seems like a good selection for Christina Aguilera (somewhat surprisingly for this project), but I can't say it really stood out in any particular way, except (unfortunately) for how *long* the double-CD album is. Aside from Aguilera ("Baby Jane"?) fans, there's really no need for so many songs, and while the two discs are somewhat distinct from each other, there just aren't that many good songs in this album. I enjoyed at least parts of a few of the first disc's songs, likes "Makes me Wanna Pray" and "Ain't no Other Man", and "Candyman" is pretty catchy, so there's that. And I appreciated it that she was so involved in the production and songwriting and styling.
Bonnie Raitt
3/5
Although I've never been a huge fan of hers, I was sorry to read (in the Wikipedia entry) that this album has been sliding down in Rolling Stone's best 500 albums (and likely is gone by now), as it's a solid album for its time and was--and to some degree still is--enormously popular.
I had no idea about all the struggles she endured before this album came out, and I'm glad it rescued her career, as she seems like a great artist and person. And she and Lyle Lovett put on a great show at the 2002 MN State Fair, so it's hard not to hear some of these songs and think about that performance.
Radiohead
3/5
I haven't listened to much of Radiohead, so I'm not sure whether this album is typical or not for them (or at least typical for them in the mid-90s), but it's an interesting combination of very familiar-sounding mid-90s indie/alt-rock sort of stuff, yet without being at all distinctive beyond a song or two that might have made some air-time (like "High and Dry" or "My Iron Lung", I think, but then again it might just be very similar to some *other* mid-90s indie/alt-rock tune). I *was* a bit surprised that some of the songs were a little harder-edged (and a teensy bit less falsetto) than I expected of Radiohead.
It kind of feels like this isn't really a great Radiohead album to include in the 1001 album collection, frankly, but maybe it was more influential than I appreciate, and certainly the "Influence" and "Legacy" sections of the Wikipedia article suggest I'm just ignorant of this album's majesty. Either way, entertaining enough, in a somewhat disappointingly generic way.
Def Leppard
3/5
It wouldn't feel right to have *no* Def Leppard in this collection, I suppose, but this seems like a completely arbitrary choice for an album, especially since it's not what I think of as their defining album, "Pyromania". Most of this album seems like lighter-rock variations on that previous album's songs, although "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is one of their singles that seemed more like vintage Def Leppard. Overall, though, this album seems so much more anodyne than "Pyromania", and much more of a trend towards Journey-style rock than what they were playing before, which I guess was the point (according to the Wikipedia article) but still disappointing. And such a *long* album too, for what you get.
Maybe it was the sympathy vote for the poor drummer? I've always been impressed that they didn't ditch him after the gruesome accident (and that he didn't decide to bow out), and although he definitely had to adopt a different drumming style afterwards, it's more or less worked for all of them (although it would have been nice if he had been able to stick with physical drums, as the drum pads just don't have the same sound).
Primal Scream
3/5
I actually got this album previously, but it got lost in the shuffle as I transitioned over to the group listening arrangement, so it's here again (but would have been anyway, I suppose). As I noted the last time around, it feels like a somewhat forgettable collection of semi-lush semi-trip-rock-like songs (with a little light-industrial thrown in).
It's also likely an album that was probably a lot more enjoyable when it came out than listening to it over 25 years later, but I do sort of wonder why this particular Primal Scream album made it into the collection, as they were more of a distinctive new sound in the early 90s (with their second album "Screamadelica"), but since I always ding this collection for so many early/debut albums, maybe I shouldn't complain.
I'll say this, though: it kind of makes me want to find and watch the 1971 "Vanishing Point", and I also imagine that this album makes for a better soundtrack to that movie than the original. (But "Kowalski" has got to be one of the worst music videos I've seen, so maybe not....)
Joni Mitchell
3/5
Well, I'm not a huge connoisseur or particular fan of Joni Mitchell, so my response isn't all that informed. OK album, I guess, but (at least based on what I read in Wikipedia) it seems like "Court and Spark" might have been a better choice for this period of Joni Mitchell's career?
It's interesting that she was experimenting with Moog and ARP synthesizers, and it's conceptually intriguing that "The Jungle Line" features one of the first musical samples, but I found so many songs (and especially "The Jungle Line") kind of cringe-worthy, especially the more world-music oriented songs (in much the same way I find Paul Simon's world music approach kind of painful).
I guess I empathize more with the early reviews of the album than the later ones that seem to feel it's both timeless and a masterpiece.
T. Rex
3/5
The only song I've heard from them before is their great "Bang a Gong/Get it On", so I wasn't sure what to expect (and very glad that that was on this album, their sixth(!)). Although they don't have much else that stands out on this album, it's an interesting album overall, with a lot more variety (and interesting experimentation) on the B side. It's also funny how out of place "Get it On" seems, as it's so familiar and the rest of the album doesn't seem all that similar style-wise (except the near-copycat "The Motivator"). There's something kind of haunting (and memorable) about "Cosmic Dancer", too, and I enjoyed "Planet Queen".
I know many of the associations I made with some of the songs aren't really related to "glam rock", but for me there were a lot of echoes of bands both before and after in this album--David Bowie, Beatles, Iggy Pop, Velvet Underground, and so on. Or so it seems to me. :) I'm just really glad we didn't have to listen to their earlier fairy-tale folk music, as that sounds really annoying.
Travis
2/5
Hm. It's always fun to get a band and album that I've never heard of, but I'm not sure there's a lot to this one, at least for me. The band sounds a lot like a whole lot of other alt/indie bands from the later 1990s, and while there's nothing wrong with that, it's a bit hard to know why this album (and band) made the cut to be in this project. (I also made the mistake of trying to watch the video of the first song, "Writing to Reach You," and was both baffled at whatever storyline the video was trying to tell, and which didn't seem to relate to the lyrics. Kind of annoying. "Turn" and "Why does it always rain on me" weren't much better.)
I almost wonder if we should have gotten their debut album instead (ironic given the project's tendency to over-favor debut albums)? I feel a bit badly giving this only 2 stars, but it just feels like such a bland and forgettable album, with almost no sort of backstory or drama to make it more interesting.
Baaba Maal
3/5
It's a shame that there's no Wikipedia entry for this album, only a profile of Baaba Maal, as it's hard to know why this particular album was selected from his apparently extensive discography. And his story is fascinating, with a lot of interesting connections to Western artists (Brian Eno is everywhere!) and his work on soundtracks (like "Black Panther") or collaborations with other big names like Taj Mahal (for a Fela Kuti tribute album).
But this album doesn't have any of that, and I don't really even feel like I can appreciate whether his music on this album is more traditional or more innovative in Pulaar/Fula culture (although the non-lyrics music seems largely modern, and sadly in a horrible 80s/90s synth- and drum-track mire). I guess it's fine? I liked "Yela" and "Daniibe", more from the sound than whatever the lyrics meant; everything else is kind of lost on me. I was often reminded of Babatunde Alotunji's "Drums of Passion", even though they're different generations and cultures and countries, of course.
Looking at the entry for this album from the 2005 edition of "1001 albums you must hear before you die", it appears that the draw for this album was the collaboration between Simon Booth and Baaba Maal (and the editor particularly (perhaps solely?) liked the track "Daande Lenol", which ironically is named after Maal's band, but mixes in all the usual world-music suspects), and how this was a sort of launchpad for Simon Booth to explore world music and later form Afro Celt Sound System (without Maal involved at all). So I guess this album was included more for Simon Booth than Maal, although the editor notes that "Maal continued his pop fusion with varying degrees of success"?
Black Sabbath
3/5
"Just like Cream! But worse" (Lester Bangs, Rolling Stone) What a perfect, and fairly accurate, description of a great classic album. To be honest, I would have liked to have had "Paranoid" instead of their debut album, but it's fun to listen to the roots of both Black Sabbath's style and heavy metal more generally, and the Wikipedia article is a good read. (I had no idea that Tony Iommi had lost his right-hand fingertips in a sheet metal factory accident, or that Geezer Butler was originally a guitarist, and how much both of those facts made the band both distinctive, and worse than Cream with all the power chords and simplified bass.)
Definitely not their best album, and I'm impressed at how much less "heavy" this album was than later ones, but I loved finding out that they recorded it essentially live, in one day, and before closing time at the pub. And for that alone, it's really impressive.
Kanye West
3/5
I'm not really a Kanye West aficionado (or particularly a fan), so this is probably my first time hearing a whole album by him (and perhaps the only time, depending on whether there are other Kanye West albums in this project). It's hard to believe that his debut album is the best of (pre-unstable) Kanye West, but regardless there's not a lot of particularly memorable stuff on a surprisingly long album, and it's hard to believe that most of what he produced on this album was all that ground-breaking either (aside perhaps from avoiding the gangster-rap mode), although apparently a lot of critics would beg to differ.
The songs with featured artists are probably the high points on the album (for me, at least), but even these aren't really to my taste, I'm afraid; I guess "chipmunk soul" is an acquired taste. I did enjoy "Jesus Walks (Version 2)", though, and also somewhat for "Two Words" and "Never let me down", and the backstory of "Through the wire" and West's horrible car accident is kind of (morbidly) fascinating. But it's hard to ignore the hot mess he became over the years, which means he has a higher bar to meet for being both entertaining and interesting even in his earlier work. I was really tempted to give this only 2 stars (mainly for how long and indulgent the whole thing felt), but that didn't seem fair given that he produced and wrote the whole album.
Elvis Costello
3/5
Much like Steely Dan, I generally enjoy listening to Elvis Costello, and have one or two of his albums, so it's always nice to get him in the collection's rotation. But this particular album is a bit of a mystery, as there's nothing particularly distinctive about it; the Wikipedia entry for the album is remarkably scanty (and provides no context for why this might have been included); and, more damning, the Wikipedia entry notes that there are six(!) Elvis-Costello-related albums in the 1001 Albums project, which seems about 4 (or 5?) too many. But who knows? Maybe some of the other ones are truly distinctive or totally different genres.
"Brutal Youth", though, seems pretty classic Elvis Costello, and while that's perfectly fine, it's also neither super exciting (at least to me) nor does it have any classics or radio hits.
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
*Another* Smashing Pumpkins album?!!! I'm not sure why they'd really warrant two (or more?) entries in the 1001 album collection, and it always seems like a perverse form of torture to inflict a double album on any but true fans anyway. (Worse, the YouTube music link went to some 5-hour version of the album with 92 songs, which was fortunately so long that I knew it wasn't the version I should have gotten.)
I've always wanted to like them more than I do. And this album didn't help, with it's annoying Belle-Epoque-style cover and title (although in some ways they occasionally *do* have a Hugo-like aesthetic, so maybe it's fitting?). However, at least there's more range on this album than on "Siamese Dream"...
Van Halen
4/5
I'm really surprised there are (at least) two Van Halen albums in this collection, but I always enjoy vintage Van Halen (pre-Hagar), so no complaints here. This definitely isn't as good as their debut album, or some earlier ones, but I'm pretty sure this is the first truly commercially successful album (or at least the only album with a #1 single), so it makes sense to have it here. Even when this came out I was a bit surprised at how synth-heavy some of the songs were, and that hasn't aged all that well (in my opinion); it's a bit like how we got "Hysteria" instead of "Paranoia" for Def Leppard. (I didn't know until reading the Wikipedia entry that the synth/keyboard was Eddie's brainchild; a still mystifying preference given his guitar virtuoso/diva side.)
But I've always loved "Panama" (and never could play it very well in my brief-lived guitar years), and "Hot for Teacher" is also definitely in the classic Van Halen vein (as is "Top Jimmy" and "Drop Dead Legs"). It's too bad that David and Eddie struggled to share the spotlight, as they had a great sound.
Kings of Leon
3/5
I feel like I've heard of Kings of Leon for a long time now, but have no idea what they sound like or even what genre they fit into. So it's nice to have an excuse to listen to an album by them (even if it is their debut album and likely *not* their best). I wasn't expecting a sort of retro-infused punk-lite/southern rock style (with a few other styles thrown in), but it's not bad, and certainly different than a lot of what was getting produced back then. It's amazing how *young* they were when this album got released, and how utterly homegrown their band and early albums were. It's also intriguing how much more popular the band has been outside the US (at least sales- and chart-wise ).
Although the overall sound is generally not like him or his band, the lead singer's voice occasionally strongly reminds me of Jonathan Richman, which probably isn't the Kings of Leon's intention, I suspect....
Don McLean
3/5
Despite having heard the song "American Pie" a zillion times, I'm not sure I've ever heard the rest of the album, so this is great. It's of course hard *not* to think of Don McLean as a one-hit wonder, given the well-deserved immortality of "American Pie", but his other hits on this album don't really compare, at least to me. But then again, I've never really warmed to most of the folk/ballad-style/easy-listening hits that seem to permeate 70s albums. (I did enjoy the sort of Dylanesque "Everybody loves me, baby," though, and I also enjoyed "The Grave".)
It's fun to read a little bit about the recording of "American Pie" (the song), and it makes me appreciate the backing band style and execution. And very cool that he (likely) got Pete Seeger, James Taylor, Carly Simon and others for the backup refrain towards the end of the song.
It's hard to know the best rating for this album. It's so much like "Alice's Restaurant", where there's just one (great) song that's stood the test of time, and the rest of the album kind of drags that song down in some ways. (Although "American Pie" is *so* much better than "Alice's Restaurant," I know.) So I'll settle for a wishy-washy 3 rating.
Isaac Hayes
4/5
A great selection for this project! Given how long the tracks are on this album, I doubt I've ever heard any of these songs before, at least in their original format, so it's really nice to hear an early release of an iconic artist. (Sadly, the YouTube Music link for this album includes the much shorter single/radio-friendly version of "Walk on By". The 12-minute version is so much more interesting, I'd say.)
It's fascinating to read that if not for Atlantic splitting with Stax, he probably wouldn't have even made this album, which would have been a shame for everyone. And not just Henry Rollins. :)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
I'm a long-time Nick Cave fan, so a nice selection for today. And this is a solid album for him, thankfully, so a double-bonus! (Although probably not one of his best, oddly, so I'm not sure why this one was chosen.) A bummer, though, that making this album was such a painful and unhappy process; thankfully the conflicts with the producer don't show too badly (although I guess I'll have to listen to "Live Seeds" to get many of these songs the way Nick Cave was envisioning).
It's kind of hard to imagine that Nick Cave sang a variant of "Papa won't leave you, Henry" to his young son (and then admitted that it's a "kind of a nasty fucked-up lullaby").... "Brother, my cup is empty" is a great classic-Cave-sounding song (to me, at least).
Fishbone
5/5
I listened to this album so many times when it first came out, and loved it every time. I can't really tell if it's aged well or not, but it's very fun to listen to it again. It's probably easier to list the songs that weren't my favorites--"Freddie's Dead", "Deep Inside", and "Change"--as the rest all competed for favorite song (although the political/racial aspect of "Slow Bus Movin'" and "One Day" might rank them just a bit higher than the others).
It's kind of a bummer that their subsequent albums, at least the ones I bought, weren't as compelling (with the exception of "The Reality of My Surroundings"), but that's maybe to be expected, since I probably wanted them to just churn out more albums just like "Truth and Soul", and to their credit they clearly wanted to experiment with other styles and sounds. And the show I saw them at in LA--Primus and Fishbone--was a lot of fun, even with their newer material. I don't think I've ever seen so much energy from a surprisingly large band. (And what a bizarre combination of bands, although I loved them both. And I think it was at the Hollywood Palladium, an odd venue too.)
3/5
While I'd heard some of this album's songs (thanks to "Chronicles"), I haven't heard this album as an album before, and it sounds like it's really meant to be a whole album/concept experience. I'll admit that without reading the Wikipedia entry for this album, I would never have realized this was either a musical or that there's a whole storyline involved (although knowing it now makes the whole Shangri-La/Australia thing a lot more understandable). It's odd that it got a fairly tepid reception in the UK, but a glowing one in the US, and in some ways probably doesn't belong as one of their best albums (despite favorable comparisons to "Tommy" at the time). But a fun listen nonetheless.
The White Stripes
5/5
Now *this* is the White Stripes album that should be in this collection--so much better than "White Blood Cells", and so much better than a lot of albums out there, frankly. I own this album, and I enjoy it every time I hear it, even if Jack White's voice can sometimes be a bit grating.
I feel like they achieved a really nice balance in this album, and nearly every song is both fun and (fairly) distinctive. I'm not sure it deserves a full five stars, but they're getting it nonetheless. :)
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
I'm embarrassed to admit that while I've heard many songs from this album, this is the first time I've listened to the album outright. So, *now* I can say I'm experienced, I suppose. And what a great experience! Not every song can be as contagious or definitive as "Purple Haze" or "Foxey Lady", but even today it's not all that hard to understand how revolutionary the whole album was (or why it was so immediately popular).
The Wikipedia entry for the album is a great read too (even if it's a little too long in the tooth at times). And now I know why Jimi Hendrix's sound is so distinctive on the album, given that he was literally blasting everyone out in the studio (and even causing computers above one of the studios to mess up). I'm really glad to know that Chas Chandler played a significant role in helping Jimi Hendrix bring his genius to the world.
Finally listening to this album in its entirety only makes me even more baffled that the high school in Seattle I went to, and where he (briefly) attended much earlier than I did, had only a small, unlabeled bronze bust of Hendrix buried deep in the high school library, and nothing else to celebrate a brilliant musical artist.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
Well, I guess the string of great albums in this collection had to come to an end, and Pet Shop Boys seems like an appropriate way to move from great to meh-ness. And I would challenge their first track assertion that they were never being boring, as this is kind of a snooze-fest of an album, even for them. (Speaking of that, why Pet Shop Boys at all, and not Depeche Mode or Tears for Fears?)
As with so many albums in this collection, it's a bit of a mystery why this particular Pet Shop Boys album made the cut, as this doesn't seem like their best stuff, nor a particularly notable new direction for them. Ah well; it doesn't really suck, so I give it the wishy-washy award of three stars, although it's hard not to downgrade to two stars simply because I (irrationally) *really* don't like this band.
Songhoy Blues
3/5
I've never heard of them before, but it's really nice to hear a band in this collection that's (a) not from North America or Europe and (b) doesn't sound like a sort of genericized world-music band (at least for much of the album). And they've got a great (and also tough) backstory both for the title of the album and their journey from the Timbuktu region to the capital of Mali (and beyond). (A bit of a bummer that so many Malians (and apparently many West Africans) have the same last name Touré, as it's hard to know what sort of connections the band members had to each other, although interesting to know that Garba Touré is "the son of Ali Farka Touré's long-time percussionist".)
I'm not sure I've ever heard "[Sahara] desert blues" before, but I like their version of it, and most of the songs have great guitar and rhythm work to them; it's also amazing to read that Malian blues long (long long) predates American blues. Admittedly, I have no idea what the song titles or lyrics mean, so I can't really judge whether their songs are more formulaic or story-driven, but I like the energy and sound nonetheless.
Haircut 100
3/5
It's always seemed like too many 1980s albums and bands suffered from...something...maybe a sort of musical malaise? Too many songs and albums just seem to blend together into a sort of synthy, poppy, sax-heavy generic-sounding music-light. And this is a perfect example of this. I'm not sure if they're all just missing some sort of soul, or distinctiveness, or message, or what, but it's painfully insipid and watery, certainly listening to it in 2024 (but I wasn't much of a fan of much of this kind of music even when it first came out). However, it's not poorly produced or anything, and they definitely tried to be a little more funky than some others, so it seems like a 3-star rating is fair.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
It's nice to see Echo & The Bunnymen in this collection, but then I cheated and looked to see just how many albums we'd be getting, and was disappointed that there are three (3!) Echo & The Bunnymen albums, which seems like one (or maybe two?) too many. And while "Crocodiles" is a fun debut album for a band, with a decent range of styles on it, it's definitely not their best, so kind of a bummer that this is the selection of the day.
Although I suspect true fans of either band would be annoyed to hear me compare them, but I've always felt that Echo & The Bunnymen and The Cure (and somewhat The Smiths, and by extension Morrissey's solo work) are kindred spirit bands in many ways. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a Cure fan (nor much of a fan of The Smiths and particularly Morrissey), so that's not the biggest compliment, but it's an in interesting overlap to me.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
I've never heard of the band, or this album, or even the lone single from the album ("The State I Am In"), so that's always a nice surprise. And it's a fine album, with a much stronger/together band-sound than apparently they were when they recorded nearly all the album in three days. The album also has the great backstory of getting created as part of a music business course (and getting noticed by John Peel and Mark Radcliffe).
I enjoyed listening to it, but as much as I always have a soft spot for Scottish bands, it wasn't particularly distinctive or engaging (for me).
Radiohead
3/5
I *still* want to like Radiohead more than I do, sadly. This is probably one of their better if not their best album, I know, but I still have a hard time enjoying the songs, even though they're well done and have interesting arrangements and odd lyrics in a good way. I'm not sure why they don't do it for me (although I think part of it is Thom Yorke's voice/style, sadly), but I likely won't listen to this album again. Sorry Radiohead!
I *will* say that the music video for "Paranoid Android" is truly bizarre, and I couldn't stop watching the entire 6+ minute video (although I'll admit that I probably wouldn't have done so if they'd left it at the original 14-minute runtime). And I also have *zero* idea what I just saw, or what the song is about (and I don't think the animation really had anything to do with the song, oddly (correction: apparently the animator based the video on how the song felt, and wasn't provided the lyrics ahead of time)), but I love it that the song's title is inspired by "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".
And a few other things that I liked from the Wikipedia article on the album: Brian Eno is once again everywhere; apparently they took a break from this album by touring and opening for Alanis Morisette (not the most logical pairing, I would think); and I can definitely see why Yorke credits Philip K. Dick's VALIS as an influence (although I now realize I was thinking of Dick's "Ubik" when I read "VALIS").
Basement Jaxx
4/5
I'm not sure if I be embarrassed to admit it, but I have three Basement Jaxx albums (including this one), and I'm always impressed with how fun and positive (optimistic?) their music is, sort of a guilty pleasure I guess? I'm not sure I'd rank this as their best album, but for a debut album I can see how it took the music (dance) scene by storm, and it has a number of very solid songs on it.
I've never seen their music videos before, and all of the videos for their singles on this album are fun to watch, and uniformly odd. (Most of the videos remind me of a much more recent Brazilian movie, "Bacarau") I also love it that they did the soundtrack to the best pothead aliens movie you'll likely see, "Attack the Block", and while I didn't know it at the time, it totally makes sense.
George Michael
2/5
Ugh. Too bad this isn't Michael Cera's George Michael (Bluth, that is)... :) It's hard to not just pass by this album, having heard too many of the songs on the radio back in the day, but I guess even this album is worth listening to, and hearing songs that didn't make it on the radio. (I guess.)
I hadn't realized until now that he actually wrote and produced nearly all of the album, nor that he actually *did* play multiple instruments on most of the songs (although his guitar "work" in the "Faith" video is supremely annoying, as he's not even trying to pretend that he's strumming anything like what the music is playing). That said, the music is so...blah...and was even then (to me), and some of the songs are just painful to listen to ("I want your sex" is a prime example, as it always seemed like he tried so hard to be manly in a very hetero way). But given its massive popularity, then and even now, that's a very minority opinion.
I feel a little guilty giving this a 2-star rating, as it's not really fair to George Michael's legacy, but I really didn't enjoy listening to this album. And I really enjoyed reading somewhat recently that he and Andrew Ridgeley were avid Scrabble players, but it still doesn't make this album easier to listen to. Sorry, George Michael!
Neil Young
3/5
I'll admit that I've never really found my groove with Neil Young, so it's harder to embrace an album like this, which seems pretty obscure even for Neil Young fans. (As for my ambivalence, I think Robert Christgau's quote (in the Wikipedia page for this album) puts it far better than I ever could: "Something in [Young's] obsessive self-examination is easy to dislike and something in his whiny thinness hard to enjoy.")
As with every Neil Young album (and song), though, there's some interesting stuff going on, and it's funny that the "primitive" production/recording of this album seems to be a theme he keeps revisiting (I think one of his most recent albums he recorded solo at Jack White's house in an ancient disc-recording booth). And the stories behind "Revolution Blues" (and Charles Manson) and "Ambulance Blues" make them far more intriguing to listen to than I initially gave them credit for. I'm also incredibly impressed that they were able to produce anything after subsisting on the "Honey Slides" concoction, a truly foul-sounding substance.
a-ha
3/5
I'm not sure you could get more synthy-pop than this album, to be honest. But I'm also not sure you'd want to. I enjoyed the video for "Take me on" a lot more than the song, and am really impressed at the pseudo-animation style given when the video was made. (And I now discovered through the Wikipedia entry for this album that the animation was done by a couple who also worked on "Altered States", which makes total sense.)
I never really listened to a-ha beyond whatever the radio imposed, but I'll admit I'm totally baffled to learn that this was a Norwegian band--I would have bet anything they were British (and English to be specific). Shows how much I know. Still doesn't do it for me, though, but it's hard to give it lower than three stars given it's legacy and influence.
The Verve
3/5
I didn't think I'd heard The Verve before, but then as soon as "Bitter Sweet Symphony" started playing, I realized I *had* heard them (at least that song, many many many times), and I always enjoyed hearing it on the radio. The video is weirdly misanthropic, though, and makes me like the song less, sadly. (Likewise, the Wikipedia article for this album only seems to reinforce that Richard Ashcroft is a selfish, arrogant jerk, sadly.)
I'm pretty sure I haven't ever heard most of the rest of the album, and for all of the hook to "Bitter Sweet Symphony", the rest of the album doesn't really deliver on that promise. The album seems just sort of average overall. Nothing great, nothing horrible (except maybe that video...). It's a bit shocking that "Urban Hymns" is #19 on the list of best-selling albums in UK chart history, as I feel like I could list a lot more than 19 UK albums that are much better than this (and yes, I know that's not the same thing).
I'm also *super* bummed that the track "Velvet Morning" wasn't a cover or adaptation of that bizarre Lee Hazlewood/Nancy Sinatra song.
Van Morrison
5/5
Despite Van Morrison's personal failings, this is still one of my favorite albums. It seems like nearly every song on this album got and to some degree still gets airtime, and it's always a pleasure to listen to the album in its entirety. I can't say that about too many albums that *aren't* a greatest hits album or a compilation. I do wish it was easy (or even possible) to respect the artist as much as the album, but we take what we can get.
Little Richard
4/5
There's something to be said for an album with under a half-hour running time, especially one as non-stop as this. I've never really listened much to the original decade of rock-n-roll, but it's hard to deny that Little Richard is up in the pantheon, and this actually seems like a good album of his to include (despite being more of a greatest hits/compilation album of his singles than a true "debut album"). Curiously, "Oh Why?" sounds more like a woman singing than Little Richard...
John Martyn
4/5
I feel like this album is what this collection is all about: an artist I've never heard of (or knowingly listened to before), with an album that sounds totally different from what I would have guessed, and contains a healthy number of really fun songs to listen to. (The B-side's initial set of love songs doesn't really do it for me, but that may also simple be because the other songs are so much more interesting, including the album's amazing finale, "Small Hours".)
Although I don't think you'd ever need to read the Wikipedia entry for this album to appreciate it, it has a lot of fascinating detail on both John Martyn, the huge range of musicians that participated in the album, and also how the album was produced on an English farm (and at least some of it recorded in a courtyard with speakers playing in the middle of a pond). I can totally see why John Martyn, and this album in particular, is credited with being the ancestor of trip-hop, in all the best ways.
I would have given this album a full 5 stars, if only there'd been fewer of those forgettable love songs .
PJ Harvey
3/5
In the long line of debut albums that are featured in this collection, it's a good one. But whether it's from listening to this album more than 30 years after it debuted, or just from personal taste, I didn't find it a particularly compelling or even distinctive sound or album, but also not annoying or bad or anything. I'm very glad, though, that this wasn't the first *and* last album she made (as she apparently somewhat feared at the time), as she's clearly a gifted musician and artist, and it's impressive that every album she's done sounds very different from previous ones (or so Wikipedia tells me).
(As a long aside, when I saw this album in the daily rotation, I thought I had a different album by PJ Harvey, so was curious why this one made it into the collection. And then discovered I was thinking of the band Harvey Danger (and the album was "St James Version"), which has zero connection to PJ Harvey aside from somewhat contemporaneous debut years.)
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never really listened to a whole Bob Marley album (with or without the Wailers), but this makes listening to this album a great treat for this unwashed member of the masses. I get it why the even-higher rated "Legend" isn't included in this collection, but it's nice to get such a complete album like this, with only a few songs not quite as strong as the others, and to have Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer involved in its creation.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
After getting a string of somewhat forgettable albums, it seems like the music gods have smiled and delivered yet another great--and classic--album with "Talking Book". I've never been a big Stevie Wonder listener, so I can't speak to whether there are other, better albums by him for this collection, but this certainly seems like a strong contender (and the Wikipedia article seems to confirm this). I'm also really impressed to find out that he not only composed everything but also played most of the instruments for the album (with some great guests on some of the songs).
It's kind of shocking to read that this was Stevie Wonder's *15th* studio album, yet it's also considered just the beginning of his "classic" period (which seems to coincide with the 1970s). Popular, prolific and a nice guy--quite a feat!
B.B. King
4/5
Although it almost feels like cheating to have a live album that largely consists of an artist's range of singles, it's still a great album and showcase for B. B. King. ("Cheating" only in the sense from what I can tell of the collection's "rules" for inclusion, although I'm guessing that the fact that most of B. B. King's discography consists of singles gives him a bit of a pass anyway.)
I'm also really impressed at the quality of the recording, as you really get a feel for the audience and the instruments, which must have been a tough accomplishment in the mid-1960s. It sounds like a fun concert, and I'm guessing the band enjoyed it almost as much as the appreciative audience. A fun tribute to an iconic musician and artist.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
Hmm...*another* Pet Shop Boys album??? This seems a bit unfair to all the worthy bands that didn't make it into this collection, which makes it a bit hard to rate this album entirely fairly. It does sound a bit different than the other album (so far) we've been subjected to ("Behavior")--more bouncy, less drab--but I remain decidedly not a big fan of their music. (But I do appreciate that their lyrics are more interesting than many pop bands'.)
It's interesting to see the videos of their singles from this album ("Can you forgive her?", "Liberation", and "Go West"), and see how much they were a product of when this album was released. All 3D-modeling and poor CGI animations, although the mixed-live-action aspects of "Can you forgive her?" and "Go West" are a bit more interesting and mesmerizing, in a very throwback sort of way. And it's always fun to have a decent (but not great) cover song in an album ("Go West"). I also feel like Chumbawumba totally based a large amount of their sound off the Pet Shop Boys' "Yesterday when I was mad", so a nice tribute to them.
David Bowie
3/5
Aside from the title track, I'm pretty sure I haven't heard the rest of this album's songs, and it's an interesting journey. I'm not sure I enjoyed the B-side as much as, say, the parts of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" where the songs blended into each other, but it's still fun to hear the Bowie/Eno/Fripp collaboration across the entire album. (Brian Eno is everywhere, btw.)
I also found it really helpful to read the Wikipedia entry for this album and how it was created, as I would never have guessed that the vocals and lyrics were almost tacked on at the end (except apparently with "Sons of the Silent Age"), and that everything was largely recorded in the first take. It's really impressive, given how layered and seemingly cohesive the songs, and most of the album, are. I'm also glad to have read that this album came after extensive collaboration between Bowie and Iggy Pop, as we (or really I) left David Bowie's timeline with "Ziggy Stardust"'s Iggy Pop fascination and emulation. Also very cool to read about the legacy and influence of the album, especially the later Philip Glass adaptations of "Low" and "Heroes" into symphonies.
I'm almost tempted to give this 4 stars, but it feels like it's not quite *that* good of an album, at least for me.
Fatboy Slim
4/5
I always laugh when I see this album's cover, which I know isn't nice. (I'm also quite shocked that the internet has yet to identify this person from the 1983 Fat Peoples Festival in Danville, Virginia...) And I always enjoy listening to songs from this album when they show up on my playlist, as they're (to me at least) uniformly fun and driving. (I'm not at all surprised, though, that the US version of the album had a different cover, which is my personal copy's version, sadly...) I had never seen the videos for the singles on this album until now, and they're about what I expected, although I didn't expect to see the cover guy at the end of "Right Here, Right Now", and I thought the Spike-Jonze-directed/-featuring "Praise You" was truly mesmerizing.
This album also evokes a very specific time and place for me, as I think the first time I heard Norman Cook's music was when I came across this wild Webbie-Award-winning site in the early 2000s which featured Fatboy Slim's and other artists' music in this weird dress-a-dancer interactive game-like thing, called "Dancing Paul". (It got created by an out-of-work web developer who wanted to teach himself how to use Flash, and amazingly it's still there and largely functional in a post-Flash-world at <https://www.dancingpaul.com/>)
I know this isn't really a "great" album per se, and I'm not sure exactly whether it's fair to describe Fatboy Slim as a musician either (although Norman Cook is clearly a musical artist), but I really like this album nonetheless.
Soft Machine
3/5
Wow. Quite a contrast to the previous album (Fatboy Slim), and the first song/composition was pretty much different from almost anything else I've heard in this collection so far, although there are definitely echoes of Frank Zappa at times, of ELP's "Fanfare for the Common Man" concert album (although possibly that's vice versa in both of these cases), and I can definitely see the earlier Pink Floyd connection too as they played in the underground scene. I'm having a harder time imagining them winning over Jimi Hendrix fans during their 1968 tours with The Jimi Hendrix Experience...
I'm not sure I can say I enjoyed this album, and I definitely wish there was a way they could have distilled the double album into a single (vinyl) disc, as it seems a bit much for non-hardcore fans, but it's definitely an experience, and at times an interesting one. I also wish the Wikipedia entry for this album was better, as it's hard to get a feel for either the band (at least in its composition on this album) or the album's purpose or genesis. I am not at all surprised that (a) they were never particularly commercially successful, or (b) that the band name came from William S. Burroughs.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
I doubt we'll get too many albums in this collection like this, as I think I've heard more songs from this album on the radio than any other album (and I don't think I've ever listened to the album itself, at least as an album); the only ones I wasn't familiar with was "Songbirds", "I Don't Want to Know", and "Oh Daddy". It's almost like a best-of album, except it's clearly not, and it works as an album.
I know there's a lot of arguments on both sides for which incarnation of Fleetwood Mac is the best, but it's hard to ignore at the longevity and success of this album's version of the band, and even if the music isn't particularly novel or ambitious, I can totally see why this sits towards the top of best-album-of-all-time rankings.
I'm actually kind of glad that I still remain ignorant of most of the drama and intrigue and at-times despicable behavior of some of the band members, although I'm guessing that we couldn't have had Spinal Tap and so many other epic band fails without their legacy. Regardless, I *am* intrigued to listen to the band's early years, given all the references to their "Peter Green" years.
Hole
3/5
It's a bit hard to hear Hole and not be influenced by Courtney Love's sad and often incredibly abrasive life and personality. Overall, while this might have been considered a "softer" version of Hole, I'd say it's pretty representative of what I remember of Hole, and sadly not all that distinctive from the other grunge/alternative acts that existed in the massive hole and shadow of Nirvana. (It's funny how there are so few bands that seemed to resent Nirvana's rocket-to-fame the way so many West Coast bands resented Green Day (and maybe Weezer too?).)
Honestly, I'm really surprised at all of the best-album accolades that are listed in the Wikipedia entry for this album. It's fine, I guess, but neither musically nor lyrically all that interesting to me, sadly.
Brian Eno
3/5
Brian Eno is everywhere! But strangely, I think this is the first time I've heard an album by him. I largely enjoyed it, as I suspected I might, but I wish we'd gotten an earlier album, as this one makes me feel like he's better collaborating and/or inspiring with others, and I'm pretty sure some of his solo work is great as-is. Just maybe not this one. It felt too much like music for an art museum exhibition, and not for active listening.
I think the main issue for me is just that there's just too few tracks with singing and/or lyrics, which would have made the album a lot more interesting (I think), and less easy to kind of tune it out as ambient music (as interesting as it is for that); basically, I was hoping for more tracks like "Everything Merges with the Night", but probably harder-edged too. I *will* say that, as ambient music goes, especially from the mid-1970s, this is quite impressive, as it feels like it anticipates music from *much* later; there's even hints of Radiohead, Air, and Chemical Brothers in some of the better ambient songs, and the album as a whole makes me think of some of Ween's albums (at least to me, and I know none of those bands are technically ambient anyway).
3/5
Fine, I suppose, but nothing special to this album, and the Wikipedia entry for this album, spartan as it is, reinforces my question about why this album for Loretta Lynn?
Listening to this album, though, made me think again about what it must be like to be the backing (studio?) band for someone like Loretta Lynn, where the focus is almost exclusively on her, her voice and the lyrics. There's some variety in the songs' music, but not all that much, and nothing that sounds to me like it would excite a band player. Hopefully it paid the bills, though!
3/5
I enjoyed listening to this album, but (a) never having listened to a War album before, and (b) with a pretty meager Wikipedia entry as a guide, I'm not really sure if this is among their best, and (c) it appears that this is the only War album in this collection, so I'm left feeling like I would have liked an even better War album than this one (maybe "Why Can't We Be Friends?").
"City, Country, City" was both intriguing and maddening, as it has a lot of great segments, but seems way too long and meandering for what I think they were trying to accomplish. I think I enjoyed "The Cisco Kid" the most, and a close second the radio-version title track (and foolishly heard "The Four-Cornered Room" as "the porcelain room," which gave a decidedly different take on the song...).
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
3/5
There's a strange affinity in this collection to presumably underrated (or at least little known) Scottish bands, and this seems like a pretty good example of that. Enjoyable, but not particularly memorable. I know Lloyd Cole apparently cited Bob Dylan as a major influence on the album (at least in the Wikipedia article for the album), but many of the songs, and "Perfect Skin" in particular, reminded me much more like a more pop-oriented version of Lou Reed somehow mashed up with a little Cure and REM.
It's kind of endearing, too, to read that "Charlotte Street" was meant to be a boy-meets-girl song set in a library, but Lloyd Cole didn't even realize until a year later (or more) that he'd never mentioned in the song that it all took place in a library. And kudos to them for the Citroën reference in "2cv". And I like the (Wikipedia) description of this album's style as "jangle pop"--a good description, and an apt way to characterize this album.
Robert Wyatt
2/5
At first, I thought this was another album by John Martyn, which seemed surprising, but then realized that it wasn't. And it took me well into the 2nd song/track of the album to realize that this album was from 1997, not 1979, despite that it seems much better suited to the 70s than the 90s. Either way, I'm not sure it suits me all that well. I'm guessing that the often-atonal noises and instrument choices are intentional, as is the not-really-singing vocals, but the end-result for me is an unpleasant and sometimes cacophonous, sometimes sleep-inducing album that's far too long. It's a bit shocking that this is Robert Wyatt's 7th studio album; I'm guessing (hopeful?) that this album marked a new direction for him, as it's hard to imagine any studio seeing a wide enough audience for six previous albums like this. That said, I did enjoy "Blues in Bob Minor" and its "Subterranean Homesick Blues" cover/adaptation.
I *will* say that this album wins the briefest-Wikipedia-entry award (at least so far in this collection), which is a shame as there might have been something redeeming about this album's background or production that would have made it more interesting. Also, Brian Eno truly *is* everywhere! (He's listed in the "Personnel" section of the Wikipedia entry, and you can definitely hear his playing in places on the album.) (And then I cheated and looked to Google for any reviews of this album, and came across this panegyric, where the reviewer claims "Shleep" is the best entrypoint for Wyatt and one of his two masterpieces (the other being "Rock Bottom"): <https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/780/>. Other online reviews also revealed that he was a cofounder of Soft Machine, which makes total sense, now that I've heard both Soft Machine and Robert Wyatt in this collection. And this Pitchfork review of the Shleep reissue (among other Wyatt materials) has good context too: <https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14895-shleep-eps-cuckooland-theatre-royal-drury-lane/>)
Fela Kuti
3/5
I suspect this is one of the more truly political albums we'll get in this collection, and it's really weird to read about the context (as well as the lyrics) from nearly 50 years ago, in a very different place and time. If I hadn't read the Wikipedia entry for the album, I doubt I would have guessed at *any* of the lyrics or their intent, and probably would have simply enjoyed the tracks for the music alone. And I also wouldn't have ever realized that the title track not only caused riots in Ghana, but the album effectively killed Fela Kuti's mother and destroyed his home and his community. It's also sad that this album marked the end of his band Africa 70, apparently because he chose to fund his presidential campaign instead of paying them after the Berlin concert in 1978.
Given that there have been nearly 45 albums by Fela Kuti between 1970 and 1990, I kind of wonder whether this was a good choice to showcase him and his music? "Zombie" (the song) is a fun listen, at least musically, but some of the others aren't particularly distinctive, and kind of drag along at times, both before and during the lyrics parts. (And I only belatedly realized that the original LP only had "Zombie" and "Mr. Follow Follow", but I still feel that way even with the LP's second track/side.) But with all the context of the album and its aftermath, it's hard to give it fewer than 3 stars, given how much he sacrificed (and sacrificed of others) for his music (and I feel a bit guilty for only 3 stars).
Robbie Williams
3/5
I'd probably feel badly for whatever album came after Fela Kuti's "Zombie", because it's hard to imagine there are all that many albums that can match "Zombie", its messages, and the extremely disturbing political/military/physical violence that surrounds it. Sadly, this album ("Life Through a Lens") is *definitely* not one of those albums, which makes it a bit harder not to hear the typical sort of singer-songwriter music as a bit...trite. Which isn't Robbie Williams' fault at all, I know.
That said, this seems like a decent debut album, and a decent sound, with plenty of nods to UK music from a decade earlier, and far too much similarity to Oasis at times, but still having some distinctiveness. I'm guessing, though, that he had better albums than this one, but prioritizing debut albums is just part of the deal with this collection. And I'm also guessing that this album was chosen because it's a distinctive departure from his previous band Take That? Regardless, he's definitely stronger on the harder-edged songs; songs like "Angels" aren't very interesting (to me, at least, as it sounds like this was got him attention). And I can definitely see why "Let Me Entertain You" became his opener song for all his (many many many many) subsequent concerts, a nice homage to The Who and many others.
Boston
4/5
So.Many.Mustaches! And why does the drummer look like a bear-cum-caveman in the "More than a Feeling" video??? Regardless, much like "Rumours", this is another album filled almost entirely with songs that played on the radio over the years. And much like "Rumours", while it's not my favorite music, it's hard to deny that this is a very solid (and popular) album and band. Musically and lyrically, it's definitely not as interesting as "Rumours", but it's certainly a bit more rockin', and this album's influence on American rock is undeniable. I do wish the band wasn't as cringe-worthy to look at (and I wish they didn't all look like extras for "Spinal Tap"), but I'm confident they looked great to all their fans at the time.
The Wikipedia entry for this album is definitely worth reading, and at least partly explains why (nearly) all the songs became radio-hits, as they had been written and shopped for many years before the album was signed and produced. It's also both impressive and I imagine very grating how the guitarist Tom Scholz was effectively a one-man band and producer for the album, and how he basically worked almost exclusively from his basement. (Also pretty funny that he kept his full-time job at Polaroid until the album went gold after its release.)
I'm not sure if Scholz ever felt he'd achieved the "perfect band" or the "perfect song", but it's an impressive attempt.
Laibach
4/5
Well, this album certainly comes out of the gates roaring! Totally reminds me of Rammstein's music, albeit from long before Rammstein came on the scene. I actually had no idea there was this kind of industrial music in the 1980s, frankly, so I'm very impressed, and enjoyed most of the songs as a result, even without understanding *any* of the German lyrics (much like Rammstein). And I also like it that a Ministry band member says this album is in his top ten essential industrial albums.
Reading more about the album and the band made me enjoy the album and their music even more, if "enjoy" is really the appropriate term. They did an amazing job transforming Queen's "One Vision" into "Geburt einer Nation" (Birth of a Nation), and made it *way* more sinister and depressing along the way; and the same for their adaptation of Opus' "Live is Life" as both songs album, "Opus Dei" and "Leben heißt Leben". It totally makes me want to listen to their Beatles and Rolling Stones cover albums.
I'll admit that, as much as I enjoyed/appreciated this album and the discovery of this band, I can't imagine spending time with the band members, especially if they really don't break "character" often, as that's just way too much...fraughtness (and guilt). And the Wikpedia entry for the band has what seems like a very insightful quote about them by a Slovenian philosopher that ends with a pretty good summary: "You will not learn a lot from Laibach about North Korea. You will learn a lot about our own anxieties and hypocrisies."
Dolly Parton
3/5
It's hard to turn down a Dolly Parton album, even one with a truly creepy cover like this one. (And now that I find out that it's a painting based on a school photo taken the day she wore the titular coat of many colors, I feel badly feeling creeped out by the album cover. Even worse, it sounds like she was treated much worse by her schoolmates than in the song: "the other children stripped the coat off of her and locked her, half naked and screaming, in a dark coat closet. She says this is why she always sleeps with a light on now." Yikes.)
I've never been a huge fan of this kind of classic country music, but it's hard to deny that this has a lot of really strong songs, most of them written by Dolly Parton, and great lyrical stories. (And an interesting crossover-sounding song in "Here I Am".) Thanks, Dolly!
Brian Eno
4/5
Brian Eno *is* everywhere! I really enjoyed this album, especially considering when it was made and the technology of the time. You can hear aspects of this album in David Bryne's later solo work, as well as other bands, and I feel like the sampling is more sophisticated and true to the sources than a lot of later stuff by other bands and musicians. And I'm glad that while Eno described the album as a "vision of a psychedelic Africa," to me most of the songs didn't actually have that world-music vibe that I worried it might.
I can totally understand how edgy this album felt in 1981, as it sounds a lot more modern (and interesting) than a lot of stuff coming out at the same time. And while I couldn't find an online copy of the short film/video "America is Waiting" by Bruce Conner, the short/video for "Mea Cullpa" is easier to find and worth watching for an added visual experience to that song. ("Mea Culpa"'s animation made me think of the end credits experimental films in the "Babylon Berlin" TV series, although I'm pretty sure those were from the 1920s and 1930s.)
Rahul Dev Burman
2/5
For some (perhaps justified?) reason, I thought this collection avoided soundtracks, so this is a double-surprise, and not in a good way (one for being a soundtrack, the other for seeming out of left field music- and album-wise). In fact, I'm not at all sure I listened to the "official" album for today, as nearly every YouTube/YouTubeMusic entry seems to have different "songs" and titles, and in different orders, which is a lot more annoying thank intriguing, especially since there's not really any sort of explanation or translation of the lyrics.
I guess this would be a lot more interesting if I'd seen (or bothered to see) "Raiders of the Sacred Stone", I guess. Or was at all familiar with "the legendary music composer R. D. Burman" and his trajectory in Hindi music films. My two-star rating is more for how baffling this entry was in the collection than for the music itself (which seems both fine and definitely not to my taste).
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
I was a little surprised that the second Jim Hendrix album was also his/their 2nd studio album, but now I realize that this collection contains *all* of Jimi Hendrix/Experience's studio albums, so not so surprising I suppose. A fun album, with more of a distinctive sound than just the great guitar playing on his/their first album, and it's fun to hear songs that got a fair amount of radio play-time in the years since. I do wish that songs like "Little Wing" were longer, though, as they seem *too* short to really develop as song. And I'm not sure I've ever heard "If 6 was 9" before, but I like it (and it's definitely long enough).
A shame that we're already 2/3s through his music in this collection--he really did have a unique sound and style.
Grizzly Bear
3/5
I think the most interesting thing to me about this album is the name of the album and the connection to the island near Cape Cod, which sounds really cool. Not that there's anything wrong with the album, but it doesn't really speak to me. In some ways, it's a bit surprising that it debuted in 2009, as it feels like it could easily have been released 10 or even 20 years earlier.
I *do * like it that songs from the album appeared in a couple of films, one of which I've seen and would say the music fits the film nicely ("Blue Valentine"). I also like how layered some of the songs are, a bit like both Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins (in different ways).
Violent Femmes
4/5
Although I never really listened to them outside of radio plays, this is such a classic album, and I'm impressed at how many of the songs I already knew, and enjoyed. And while I get it that they grew tired of being compared to Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, it's pretty hard to avoid the comparison. I'm also really impressed to find out that all the songs were written by Gordon Gano when he was a high school senior (and even more impressive that only a few seem like they were written by a teenager).
I also had the chance to hear them play in 1994, and while the venue wasn't a great one for music (RFK Stadium in DC, part of a massive lineup called "HFSFest"), they put on a great show, and at one point a bunch of people were dancing to their songs in a weird conga line in a nosebleed section of the stadium. I'm pretty sure their setlist included mainly the songs from this album, which was fun.
Willie Nelson
3/5
Well, this definitely *wasn't* what I thought I'd listen to when I saw it was a Willie Nelson album. I like the concept, sort of, in principle, and Willie Nelson *does* do a good job giving the hoary classics his own touch, but the whole time I felt like I was listening to James Taylor (or maybe Jimmy Buffett) doing a Christmas album. I'm not as well-versed with Willie Nelson's music as I should be, but I'm pretty sure this isn't a great entree to his music, so hopefully there will be other albums of his in this collection...
Elton John
3/5
An interesting choice for Elton John albums, given that it was neither a best seller nor seemingly all that popular when it was released (and didn't really seem to have a lasting legacy either). The first two songs I'd definitely heard before, and are great songs (to me at least), but I'm not familiar with the rest of the album, which seems to me to be variations on the first two songs. (Although I might have heard the title track before; I can't quite tell, but it's definitely more interesting than many of the other songs.)
It seems like a fine album, but it doesn't really stick for me. Sorry, Elton John!
4/5
I'm pretty sure I haven't heard any of Muse's music before except "Supermassive Black Hole", so this was a nice treat of a largely new (to me) band. And I enjoyed the album as an album, also a nice treat. (It also made me think of a long-ago independent comic-book/graphic-novel series, Grendel.)
With many of the songs, I was convinced that the lead singer must have had some connection to Radiohead, but then discovered that Matt Bellamy is not Thom Yorke (and not in any way related); they just seem to have a very similar tone and singing style. Fortunately, Muse as a whole doesn't really sound like Radiohead, which is nice. Also, I hadn't seen the video for "Supermassive Black Hole" before--what a trip!
I don't know if their other albums are like this one, but I enjoyed this more than I guessed I would.
Teenage Fanclub
3/5
Although I know Teenage Fanclub isn't quite as obscure as some of the other Scottish bands featured in this collection, it's kind of funny how many Scottish bands seem to show up in the rotation, and often without too much to distinguish them aside from their Scots-y-ness.
An OK album, but not all that distinctive, and a little hard to tell exactly what sound they're trying to achieve (although at times I was reminded of Dinosaur Jr).
Muddy Waters
4/5
What a great live album and recording! I know it's kind of a greatest hits album in some ways, but it's still a fun listen, and I'm really impressed at the quality of the live recording. (And thankful that his set even happened, given that the concert was more or less cancelled due to the previous day's violence and police response.)
Frank Sinatra
3/5
This kind of feels like the album that set the standard for generations of younger troubadours like Harry Connick Jr and Michael Buble. I've never been a huge Sinatra afficionado, and not really a huge fan of this kind of swing-style music, but it's hard to criticize the artist or album too much. A solid collection of pop standards.
Deerhunter
4/5
What a creepy/weird album cover! Combined with unusual album title and the fact that I don't think I've ever heard anything by Deerhunter, I had no idea what to expect. Many of the songs sort of remind me of a weird mashup of Ween, Air, The Cure and a few other atmospheric bands, but with their own distinctive take, and I really enjoyed how the album has a kind of continuity among the songs that seems pretty rare in 21st-century albums.
It's always fun to get something out of left field from this collection, and even better to have enjoyed it rather than just being perplexed. I'd definitely be interested in hearing more from them. (4)
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Listening to this album makes me realize the only Simon & Garfunkel I've ever really listened to has been their hits (and everything from "Sounds of Silence" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water"), so it's really nice to hear something new (to me) and (occasionally) different from a great vocal duo. And a concept album to boot! (Well, side A, at least; "Voices of Old People" is a hoot)
I'm not sure how much new ground they covered in this album, musically or lyrically, but I enjoyed it. And now I know where the full-length version of "Mrs. Robinson" first appeared! (And to be honest, this album would have been a 3-star rating without "Mrs. Robinson")
Michael Jackson
3/5
Sadly, I've never been much of a Michael Jackson fan, so I fear this album is largely wasted on me. But it's hard to deny the reign of the undisputed King of Pop, and it's also hard to imagine that there are many of his albums other than Thriller as classic and complete as this one. I just wish he hadn't spent so much of his amazing career trying to sound and act like a manly man (on stage and in front of the camera, at least). But what an amazing performer and dancer!
The Magnetic Fields
3/5
Oof. A pretty outrageous entry in this collection, given that it's asking for 3 hours of your life on what's likely an unknown quantity for most listeners (and while I've actually heard parts of this album before, I had the added disadvantage of feeling pressed for time trying to catch up with missed albums from traveling, but I really did listen to it all (really!)). Regardless, while there's a pretty understandable oversaturation trying to listen to this album in a single stretch, I'm still really impressed at the range of styles and love-song-themes in this album, and enjoyed most of them more than I expected. I'm kind of glad, though, that Stephin Merritt never pursued his original concept of staging the album as a theatrical revue, and find it a bit hard to imagine being one of the few people who attended their two-night performances of all 69 love songs. I feel like this album is best appreciated in small bites, maybe as part of a massive shuffle-play of many albums. And I'm also really impressed that this was created in 1999, as it anticipated the sort of album that would be perfect to be made and listened to during COVID....
The ones I liked more than others (in album order): "All my little words", "Reno Dakota", "Come back from San Francisco", "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side", "Let's Pretend we're bunny rabbits", "The Book of Love" (especially for its Peter Gabriel connection), "Nothing matters when we're dancing", "Love is like Jazz" (not perfect, but I liked the variety there), "No One will ever love you", "Promises of Eternity", "Long-Forgotten Fairytale", "Papa was a Rodeo", "I Shatter" (a very Philip-Glass/Kraftwerk-inspired love song), "I'm sorry I love you", "Acoustic Guitar", "Love is Like a Bottle of Gin", "Zebra"
The Pogues
3/5
I've always enjoyed the rare appearance of a Pogues song in my life (radio, movie, maybe streaming channel), so it's fun to get a whole album by them. And it's pretty much what I imagined; not the sort of thing that I'd probably have on repeat, but a pretty distinctive style that holds up well over the years (at least when you're in the mood for "folk punk", which seems like as a genre has exactly one member...). Oddly (or perhaps not), this album brings to mind Billy Bragg, in a good way. That and suddenly wanting a pint or two of a half & half (as in Guinness and Harp, not the dairy drink).
I love it that Elvis Costello produced the album. And the album cover is a great doctored version of a classic (albeit ugly) painting, and I strongly suspect provided inspiration for the later Crash Test Dummies album "God Shuffled His Feet". And I think it says so much of so many things that the Pogues' version of "Dirty Old Town" is the walk-on music for the Salford City Football Club in England.
Pixies
4/5
I've owned this album for a long time, and always enjoyed listening to it, so it's a bit hard to listen to the songs without associating them with various times and places. Regardless, I always feel like this could have easily been the soundtrack to "Repo Man" (the movie) and not skipped a beat, and I mean that as a high compliment. :) I think my favorite song is "Where is my mind?" although there's only a few that aren't up there as good-to-great songs.
It's very cool to read how this album was an inspiration for Kurt Cobain for "Nevermind", and other artists too. A huge bummer, though, that the producer (Steve Albini) totally bad-mouthed the band after helping make a great album ....
MGMT
3/5
Although I didn't recognize the band's name, I realized as soon as I heard "Time to Pretend" that I'd heard (and enjoyed) them before, but not much more than their three hits ("Time to Pretend", "Electric Feel" and "Kids").
Sadly, the video for "Time to Pretend" is really painful and awkward, and almost makes me like the song less, until I read about how the inspiration for the song and video was from watching baby praying mantises crawl up this model ship in their dorm room while The Clash was playing.... Thankfully, the other two videos aren't as cringe-worthy, although what's with their lost-world-style gang of young white jungle people? "Kids" is by far the best song on the album, and almost gives them a 4-star rating by itself.
Otherwise, though, a good/entertaining album, although not as distinctive as I'd hoped after hearing songs other than their hits. I *am* impressed that the album was created by just two guys, kind of like a 21st-century version of Pet Shop Boys (kind of).
The Divine Comedy
3/5
Hm. Not really my cup of tea, but also not terrible either. I kind of regret it that I watched the videos for some of their songs (courtesy of YouTube Music), as the sardonic tone of their songs goes into really annoying territory with the chic-ironic style of the videos (although fun to see Venice in the video for "Something for the Weekend").
I'm sure there are plenty of Divine Comedy fans, but I'm not one of them, sadly. I guess the best way to put it is that at their best (probably with "Through a Long & Sleepless Night"), they sound a bit like a Franz-Ferdinand-inspired band, but not as interesting, although to Divine Comedy's credit they *were* earlier than Franz Ferdinand.
Prince
3/5
Try as I might, I've never really found a way to be a true Prince fan, although he/they has had my respect for a long time. I can see why this is considered one of his best albums, and it certainly has a pretty wide-ranging selection of his distinctive styling. Perhaps almost *too* wide-ranging, as it sounds like this was kind of weird grab-bag of Revolution-involved compositions and some weird "Camille" alter-ego concept album. But still a good Prince sampling.
That said, I'm a bit disappointed that the 1001-albums project included a double-album, as this seems like a bit of an imposition, but I can at least thank Warner Bros for resisting Prince's desire to make it a triple album. And it seems fair to give Prince 3 slots in the collection (although I'm sure some would want even more).
Michael Kiwanuka
4/5
I'm pretty sure I haven't heard anything from this album, or from Michael Kiwanuka for that matter, so as far I know this is all new to me. And I really enjoyed the songs and the album, a very pleasant surprise. There are shades of Ollabelle and maybe also Ben Harper, but with a much more groove-focused style, and it's really fun that he arranged a concept-style album in 2019.
I always find it a fun challenge to try to guess which side of the pond some English-language singers are from, and I'll admit I didn't do a very good job with Michael Kiwanuka. His style and voice seemed more American to me, and the video for "Hero" certainly seemed to be very American-oriented), but the video for "You Ain't the Problem" (one of my favorite songs on the album, along with "Hero") seemed much more British than American, and I eventually had to cheat and read in Wikipedia that he's English. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :) And very cool to find out he appeared (as himself) in the film "Yesterday"!
Khaled
3/5
I enjoyed this album, but more like a musical tourist than from any informed perspective, which is always a bit disappointing. This is more of my own limitation, I know, but it's a problem I experience with so many of the non-English-language music styles in this collection, and this is no exception. But it *did* make his version of "Imagine" an interesting experience.
Sadly, the Wikipedia entry had very little to offer as background, but the entry for the album in the 2005 edition of the book was more helpful in establishing *some* context for the "Rai" style and Khaled's pedigree. In the end, though, I still felt more like I was listening to some sort of weird mashup of a James Bond/Jason Bourne/The Passenger (1975) soundtrack than appreciating an old and adapting musical genre.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
Quite a classic album, and a refreshing change of pace from recent selections from the collection. Given how ubiquitous many of the song on this album have become, I find it hard to imagine what an album like this must have felt like when it first came out. But gauging by its chart performance, I'm guessing it was an instant classic. And rightly so, as she sings her own as well as other people's songs with a lot of style and soul.
It's a shame that the songs are so short, as you just get started with them when they end soon afterwards; I'm guessing that was probably a consideration for the radio, sadly. It was nice with the CD reissue, though, that they released an unedited version of "Chain of Fools"; I wish there were more unedited versions, honestly.
David Bowie
4/5
Nice to get a classic David Bowie album (especially right after a classic Aretha Franklin album)! I'm really impressed at how solid the collection of songs is, both the ones I've heard before and the ones new to me. Very entertaining, great band members, and a lot going on in each song (and fun to have the John Lennon collaboration with the "Across the Universe" version).
I know it's not really fair to try to cast David Bowie's ever-evolving style and sound over the decades, but this album sounds very much like the classic sound that I associate with David Bowie (apparently self-described at one point as "plastic soul"). And now having read the Wikipedia entry for this album, I realize my impression is more a statement on my unfamiliarity with Bowie's body of work than an accurate description of Bowie's "classic" sound. But I still enjoyed the album quite a bit, even if it's more of a tangent to David Bowie's career.
The 13th Floor Elevators
3/5
What a trip, eh? :) I'll admit I've never heard of The 13th Floor Elevators, and I'm pretty sure I've never heard anything from this album before, but that doesn't stop it from being a fun album to listen to. Not too many of the songs really stood out for me, but I enjoyed "Reverbation (Doubt)" and "Through the Rhythm" a bit more than the others.
I'm not sure I ever figured out what their "electric jug" instrument sounds like in their music, sadly (unless it was that weird reverb-kazoo-like sound), but I'm guessing that Tommy Hall's insistence on using LSD to gain a higher consciousness was more trend-setting than his jug....
The Police
5/5
I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that I've been a big Police fan since about middle-school age, and this is one of my favorite albums, probably in part because it never seemed to get as much recognition as the later albums like "Ghost in the Machine" and "Synchronicity", although it certainly produced a couple of very popular singles. I pretty much enjoy listening to all of the songs (except maybe not quite as much "Deathwish" and "No Time this time"), and one of my favorite songs on this album is "Does Everyone Stare".
I was always a bit disappointed that they moved away from the more new-wave-reggae-rock sound on this album towards a more straightforward new-wave-and-rock sound, but still enjoy their later albums too. And it wasn't until I saw the video for "Message in a Bottle" just now that I realize how much a younger Sting looks a *lot* like a youngish Ewan McGregor...
The Cardigans
3/5
I know I've heard of the Cardigans before, but never really knew what they sounded like, or who they sounded like, kind of vaguely assuming they were like the Happy Mondays or something like that. I guess not! (And now I know who did that earworm "LoveFool".) But they're also not really doing much for me, despite the props I give them for doing a cover of "Iron Man" (I wanted to like their bizarre pseudo-jazzy take, but couldn't quite). Several of the songs started off sounding interesting, but then seemed to dissolve into some sort of anodyne alt-rock-ish sound (in large part due to Nina Persson's sort of baby-tone voice). I kept wanting them to be more like Portishead, but that's not really their thing.
I know it's not really fair to the Cardigans, but it kind of feels unfair that the 1001 albums project has *this* Swedish band in the collection, but doesn't have Robyn, who seems a lot more interesting and distinctive.
Pulp
4/5
I'm not sure I've ever really heard Pulp before, and wasn't quite sure what to make of the opening song (and its video that has an incredible roadkill-fascinating quality), but the album definitely grew on me as listened more. I'm not sure I really know what Britpop sounds like, but I'm glad this doesn't really remind me of Oasis or Blur all that much. This may have been a one-off-greatness by them, but I'm glad to have heard the album, and watched those fascinating videos (mainly "Mis-Shapes" and "Common People").
I also appreciated reading the Wikipedia entry, largely to find out the backstory for the album title and also the album cover (or at least the wedding photo cover, as I guess early issues had multiple CD covers to choose from). I also feel like this is what The Divine Comedy was shooting for with their album "Casanova".
Adele
4/5
What a strong album. It's nice to see her evolve since this time in terms of style and themes, but it's not hard to see why this remains the top-selling album of the 21st century. I feel like I've heard many of the songs on this album before, but don't mind at all hearing them again, and I enjoyed the songs I wasn't familiar with either. I do wish for her sake, though, that she didn't continue to experience so much heartbreak in her life, even if she has a gift of transforming the pain into soulful music.
I think my favorites are "Set fire to the rain", "Someone like you" and "Rolling in the deep" (especially the latter's video, which is mesmerizing), which perhaps not coincidentally seem to be *everyone's* favorites. I also like her version of the Cure's "Lovesong". I also cheated and now see that we'll also get her album "25"--it's nice to know that this isn't the only Adele we'll get in this collection.
Bob Dylan
4/5
I'm not all that familiar with Dylan's albums, so I initially wondered if somehow a greatest hits album got thrown into this collection, but it's clearly not, so I guess this is more of a testament to how strong this album was relatively early in Bob Dylan's career. (I also didn't realize until I read about the album that this was the album that heralded his turn from protest folk songs to electric sounds and what I think of as classic Dylan lyrics, and apparently the birth of folk rock.) It's impressive how solid so much of the album is; the only song that seemed out of place was "Outlaw Blues". I really enjoyed "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream", "Gates of Eden" and "It's alright Ma", in part because I'd never heard them before.
I'm also struck with how many of his great songs are (to me at least) even better when they're covered by other bands (and in the case of "Maggie's Farm" the song acquired a new and even more pointed meaning post-Thatcher). But they all point back to what a songwriting prodigy Bob Dylan was and is. And I'm glad I finally took the time to learn more about the pre-music-video "promotional film clip" for "Subterranean Homesick Blues", as I'd always wondered where that was filmed (in the alley of the Savoy Hotel in London), and who those people were slightly off-camera (Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth, who apparently helped write the cards in the video along with Donovan and Bob Dylan).
David Bowie
3/5
More David Bowie! This one isn't quite as chockful of radio-hits as some of his other albums, but it's still very Bowie (and the Spiders, of course). I don't think I'd have even realized that this is a semi-concept album (with Aladdin Sane as Ziggy in America) without reading the Wikipedia entry for the album, and I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not (to be unaware of the subtext of sorts). This album wasn't as interesting to me as I'd imagined it would be, sadly, but I did enjoy hearing "The Jean Genie" again, as well as "Time" and I also enjoyed his cover "Let's Spend the Night Together" (although it definitely doesn't rank up there with great cover songs).
I *did* like the idea, though, that David Bowie seems to have found touring America a bit like watching roadkill ("appalled and fixated" simultaneously), and this found its way into the album, plus what I imagine was a pretty stressful tension between being a star and a grueling tour (and recording) schedule. There are times in the songs that I'm reminded of Steely Dan, oddly, although David Bowie's voice is pretty distinctive, and it's pretty clear that the Rolling Stones were a strong influence on this album.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
4/5
(This is a repeat listening of this album for me, as I got this album early on out of the collection hat before I joined a group on this site, and I'll admit that it's not my first choice to listen to again (in part just because it's so damned long).)
Caveats aside, this very rightfully belongs in the collection as a great selection and album, but at the same time I'm only sometimes in the right mood/frame of mind to really appreciate the old-time country style on this (incredibly long) album set, and almost never in a frame of mind to listen to it *again*, so it's a bit hard to list out my favorites. Nonetheless, it's hard to imagine what an experience this must have been, getting so many incredibly talented musicians to play and sing with them. And an unexpected treat to get a Joni Mitchell song/instrumental at the end.
I'm a bit disappointed, though, that this is the only album in the collection by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, as I'm pretty sure it's not really representative of their not-olde-timey style. C'est la vie, I suppose.
The Dandy Warhols
3/5
I know I've heard their name before, but I'm not sure I've ever heard the Dandy Warhols' music before. "Be-In" started off almost like the Chemical Brothers, which I thought was a good start, but then kind of veered into that (later) 90s muddled and flat wall of sound/noise with equally muffled lyrics (or the fuzzy brooding sound, like on "Orange"). Not that there's anything wrong that, of course, but they're not as distinctive as I want them to be. (What they need, of course, is an electric jug to go with the tambourine. :) I *did* enjoy their single "Every day should be a holiday", and the final track "The Creep Out".
I *will* say, though, that whoever created and edited the album's Wikipedia entry didn't do them any favors; it's one of the more disappointing album descriptions that I've come across with this collection. Too bad, as I wanted to find something to up their intriguing-factor and my rating....
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
It's always nice to get a new-to-me band and a new-to-me album, and this album not only ticks off both boxes, but was a pleasant surprise. I'd never have guessed they were Welsh, but that only adds to the pleasant surprise (mainly because I'm not aware of listening to too many Welsh bands). I wish the mixing was a bit better for hearing the lyrics and vocals, but I definitely like their sound and edge and the lyrics that I could make out are fittingly caustic and interesting. There are times where they're almost a rock/post-punk version of Ministry (in a good way), and other times where I'm also reminded of Jane's Addiction, but not in a imitative way. I love the title of the track "Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart" (and enjoyed the song), but am bitterly disappointed that they used "it's" instead of "its" -- I foolishly assumed that Americans had the lock on that mistake....
Reading about the album and the band on Wikipedia adds quite a bit, I'll admit, as I would never have guessed that their main lyricist (Richey Edwards) was basically spiralling out of control during the album's creation, and sadly disappeared not long afterwards. (In retrospect, though, I might have guessed some aspects of his condition with the track "4st 7lb", except that my stone-to-pounds conversion powers are very limited.) Very sad.
Bob Dylan
4/5
I know it's a bit random which albums you get each day, but it doesn't seem fair to the artist/band to get one of their albums fairly close to another, and this seems to be the case for me with "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan", sadly. It's a good contrast to "Bringing It All Back Home", thankfully, but still.
It's really impressive that most of the lyrics on this album are his own, given how iconic they've become--for him and many, many others--and how his previous album was more of a collection of traditional songs. I hadn't heard many of these songs before, and really enjoyed the lyrics (although I've never really enjoyed his voice/timbre); highlights for me among the previously-unheard are "Masters of War" and "Bob Dylan's Dream" (the latter in part from the 19th-century source tune "Lady Franklin's Lament"). And I think this is the first time I heard his original version of "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall"; very powerful. Sadly, too many of his protest-oriented tunes remain incredibly relevant, a testament to the lasting strength of his songwriting talent.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
I've always felt like I should like Siouxsie And The Banshees more than I do, in part from the great band name, and because they have an interesting style, and one that apparently had a deep and widespread impact. But something about them prevents me from getting into their sound; it may just be Siouxsie's voice and style, which doesn't seem to fit as well as it might with the Banshees' sound (but maybe that's the point). I *did* enjoy a number of the songs on this album, though--"Overground", "Helter Skelter", and "Metal Postcard" in particular--and the album as a whole is an interesting experience, especially the interplay of the guitar and drums, especially in the first half of the album. It's also quite a contrast to their later work--I had no idea that they'd made an album like this early in their career. (And what an incredible contrast to something like "Peek-a-Boo" or their cover of "Dear Prudence"....)
I'll also admit that I had no idea they'd appeared on the scene in the late 1970s; it's impressive how long they played (although they definitely followed a different direction than this album's byt he time I became aware of them). And I give them 4 stars largely for how seminal this album was for the music scene and music critics. It's worth reading the Wikipedia article on this album just for all the homages from bands after them, like The Cure, Joy Division, Sonic Youth, Jesus and Mary Chain, even Tracey Thorn.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
I own this album, so this isn't new to me. And it was the last album of theirs I bought, as it signaled (to me) their turn away from a distinctive and fun style to a more mainstream sound that just didn't do much for me. I don't know if Hillel Slovak was the magic glue that made them so great--I wasn't a big fan of "Mother's Milk" either--but this album has so much filler and few good songs, and too much similarity among the better songs/hits like "If you have to ask", "Suck my kiss", "Give it away" or even "Sir psycho sexy". "Under the bridge" is a great song, though, and the video for "Breaking the girl" is mesmerizing, although the song itself isn't at all compelling.
Their descent into a kind of uninteresting blandness is a shame, too, given that they had John Frusciante on this album (and the previous album), and he's done some interesting stuff in his solo work, and also ironic that this album was released at the same time as Nirvana's "Nevermind"--a similarly breakthrough moment for two bands with very different trajectories (and weird too that Nirvana and Pearl Jam opened for the Chili Peppers for part of this album's tour). It just kind of feels like the Chili Peppers terminated at a type of boring frat rock with a lot of bass at this point, and worse yet the album had the effect (and still does) of making me feel less enthusiastic with their earlier albums. Even worse, I just discovered that the only other Red Hot Chili Peppers album in this collection is the much later "Californication"; what a shame that we're not getting their better stuff like "Uplift mofo party plan" or "Freaky styley"....
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
It's kind of a weird experience listening to an album in this collection that's also a movie soundtrack, but a soundtrack theme *does* enforce a certain kind of continuity across the songs, I guess. It's also a great vehicle for some classic Curtis Mayfield songs, deep down in funk land. I hadn't heard most of the songs on this album, aside from "Superfly" itself (a great song), although I know "Freddie's Dead" a lot better than I should, thanks to Fishbone's great cover of what turns out to be an equally good original. "Pusherman" is a great track, too, and I really enjoyed the instrumental "Junkie's chase" as well as "No thing on me (cocaine song)". As good as the music is, it's also a pretty sobering album, sadly.
Nas
4/5
I feel like I've heard of Nas for a long time, and this album too, but never really had a sense for what the fuss and attention was about, and also never bothered to seek it out. So thank you, 1001-albums project!
Overall, I enjoyed listening to it, and particularly liked "Life's a Bitch", "Memory Lane", "One Love", "Represent" and the video for "The world is yours" (not as much the song, though), as well as his impressive lyricism throughout. I particularly appreciate it that the themes of many of the songs are thoughtful and not glamorizing tropes of gangs, drugs, women and violence (but clearly based on a lot of experience among all of that). I do feel like one of the unwashed masses listening to this album, though, knowing (after reading the extremely extensive Wikipedia article about the album) that this was a seminal moment/album in East Coast hip-hop. Kudos to Nas for breaking ground 30 years ago!
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
Thanks largely to a friend in college who *really* liked Dinosaur Jr (and Mudhoney and pre-Nevermind Nirvana and others), I've tried many times to get into Dinosaur Jr's garage/wall-of-noise sound, and never really succeeded. Like so many bands of this era, there seems to be more sloppiness than anything else (mixing, singing, instruments), although I'm pretty sure that they played each song more or less the same way each time they performed. I think what bothers me the most (or perhaps is just a sign of my laziness) is that it's nearly impossible to understand the lyrics most of the time, which makes the album a somewhat uninterrupted stream of distortion, barely discernible bass and drums, and muffled singing (I think that's why I enjoyed "Pond Song" a bit more than the others, and *really*, intensely disliked "Don't"). A shame, since this seems to be generally considered their best album (or at least most referenced). But I can definitely see how influential the band was on later alt-rock bands.
What always baffles me about my reaction to Dinosaur Jr is that I really enjoy listening to most of what the Meat Puppets have produced, and I'm sure you could make a similar argument about them (except perhaps the wall of noise part). Sorry Dino Jr!
Led Zeppelin
4/5
I'm surprised it's taken nearly 175 albums for my first Led Zeppelin album in this collection, but I'm glad it's a classic of theirs. I've never really tracked which albums their ever-plentiful radio-played songs came from (and I'll admit I've never owned any Led Zeppelin albums), so I'm really impressed at how much of this album I've heard before; I think this is my first listen to just "The Lemon Song" (and maybe "Moby Dick" too, although I feel like I've heard Bonham's solo before...).
I find it very odd that they never released any singles in the UK while they were active (according to the Wikipedia article for the album), and also odd to find out that the only single from this album (released only outside the UK) was "Whole Lotta Love"; just based on their radio plays in the US, I'd have guessed that several others were singles too (especially "Heartbreaker", "Living Loving Maid" and "Ramble On"). And very cool to find out that Jimmy Page had a huge role in the recording/producing process across the the various studios they recorded this album in while touring.
Regardless, this album has a very classic Zeppelin sound, which has never been my first choice to listen to, but it's hard to deny either the strength of the album or their heavy influence (pun intended) on later bands!
Neil Young
5/5
I had a friend in college who absolutely worshiped Neil Young, and I never really understood why, but many years later when I finally listened to this album from start to finish, I can see why he felt that way. I'm not a huge Neil Young fan, but even I know this is probably his finest complete album, and it's an amazing, and sad/poignant journey. It could be because my friend was from Utah, or maybe because of some of his album titles and the name of his frequent backing band, but I also always associate Neil Young with the American West (even though I know he's Canadian and didn't really spend a lot of time in the American or Canadian West, unless you want to count his ranch in Redwood City). Admittedly, part of that impression could be from his collaboration on Jim Jarmusch's excellent anti-Western film "Dead Man".
I really like how many artists are on this album, and it's pretty cool that he was able to get the London Symphony Orchestra as well, although I do feel like "A man needs a maid" is probably one of the weaker songs on this album despite the Orchestra's participation (and possibly as a result of their contribution, as both it and "There's a world" sound more like a part of a musical or concept album than the other songs). And I had no idea that part of the reason "Harvest" is more mellow and largely acoustic was because of a horrible back injury that literally laid him low.
I really like the quote on the Wikipedia entry for this album that Young wrote later: "[Harvest] put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there."
The Go-Go's
4/5
I don't think I've ever heard any of this album beyond their two singles, which of course I and everybody else in the (western) world has heard ad infinitum. A fun album, and impressively cohesive, and definitely harder-edged than I'd have guessed based on their singles. I remain perplexed about how exactly this album got pigeonholed as a "cornerstone New Wave" album (but no more than having them described as pop-punk either, although I can see the surf-rock label a bit more), but that doesn't make this any less fun to listen to. And an incredibly impressive performance as a debut album. I also like it that "Fading Fast" seems like an alternate universe version of Nancy Sinatra's "These boots are made for walking", and I really enjoyed "Automatic". I was torn between a three- or four-star rating, but it feels like they deserve 4 stars for some of their unexpectedly catchy tunes, and also for how much they inspired a lot of women by being the most successful all-women band of all time.
Also, what a crazy origin story (if the Wikipedia article for this album is to be believed): after seeing the Sex Pistols' final performance in 1978, Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin, and Margot Olavarria decided to form a band, and "although none of them actually knew how to play instruments, they quickly learned..." Talk about paying it forward--if only the Monkees could have also gotten into that! Also hilarious that they supposedly returned the towels used in the front cover photo shoot to Macy's the next day.
Hookworms
3/5
Hm. An odd entry in this collection, although I was a bit disappointed that the tantalizing Daft-Punk-like opening riff to the album settled into a less interesting song (although I like the use of the term "negative space"). Overall, this seems fine as an album, but not particularly distinctive, and it feels like this album's release was probably a lot more impactful to Hookworms fans than everybody else. I did enjoy "Ullswater" and "Opener" from start to finish, and with nice transitions between their surroudning tracks. But overall I guess I'm not all that drawn to their mix of emo-rock and electronica, if that's a fair description of their style.
Wikipedia wasn't much help in figuring out why this album (or band) was included, with one of the shortest album entries I've seen so far. I *did* like reading a largely indecipherable summary by a music critic (referring to their 2011 EP release): "an epic 26 minutes of sub-Zabriskie Point ambient road-movie heat haze-on-the-road sonic wipeout of the post-Loop variety." I'm not sure whether this album continues that vibe or not, as I'm not even sure about most of the quote's references, but it sounds kind of cool. I couldn't find an online copy of the "1001 albums" book to figure out why Robert Dimery wanted to include the album, but most of the Metacritic-sourced critics' reviews suggest that this album was a transformative leap for the band, but from where and to where is a mystery (to me). Also a bummer to read that the band abruptly disbanded not long after this album was released, largely based on a social media storm surrounding accusations of sexual assault by the lead singer. Not the way anyone wants to go, but also not the way anyone wants to be treated.
Bill Evans Trio
4/5
I really enjoyed listening to this album, despite having little to no perspective on what makes for great jazz, or a great jazz album for that matter. It's an impressive live recording, especially for the time, as you can hear people talking and glasses clinking at times (usually during the bass solos), which only adds to the ambience and the live feeling. They had a rich sound for only three people, too; I particularly enjoyed "Gloria's Step", "Solar" and "Alice in Wonderland".
A bummer to read that this album/recording marked the end of this particular trio, when Scott LaFaro (the clearly very talented bassist) died a few days later in a car accident. Given the great chemistry among the three of them (or at least it certainly seems that way listening to the album), I can see why Bill Evans struggled for a while to even play, but glad that he continued to make music in his post-LaFaro years, at least until his own untimely early death. And it was also interesting to read up on the storied history of the Village Vanguard and the many careers launched there (or at least greatly assisted).
Stan Getz
4/5
Even though listening to something like bossa nova is still music tourism for me, it feels a bit more familiar than, say, Saharan desert blues (Songhoy Blues) or Rai-style music (Khaled) largely due to this album (and probably more specifically the rendition of "Garota de Ipanema"). It's not my first choice of an album to listen to, and at times the songs kind of blend into each other, particularly notable with "Para Machucar Meu Coração" followed by "Desafinado", but that's seems inevitable given the minimalist sound and my inability to translate Portuguese. And the interplay between Stan Getz's sax and João Gilberto's guitar and voice is fantastic, not to mention the backing band members' skills. My favorites on this album are the two songs with some English, "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Corcovado", as well as " "Só Danço Samba"; the timelessness of Ipanema alone earns it four stars in my book.
Simple Minds
3/5
Although I'm sure they're more important and notable than Duran Duran, for some reason I always think of Duran Duran when I hear the band name Simple Minds. And neither are really my first choice for music (or second or third, on down the line). But this is definitely my first listen to this album (and curiously, that includes the singles from this album, which I'm pretty sure I've also never heard), and good to see that we've got yet another Scottish band from this collection.
Although I can't say I particularly enjoyed the album, it was really nice to read that the band members seemed to genuinely enjoy making the album, and at least some of them reported feeling like everything just worked out, which definitely seems to be the exception for most albums and bands.
Sleater-Kinney
3/5
Thanks in part to Portlandia (and also growing up in Seattle, albeit before their rise to fame), I knew of the band as well as the near-Olympia interstate exit that their name came from, but I'd never really listened to them before this. I enjoyed the album more than I expected to, which was nice, especially "Dig me out", "One more hour", "Heart Factory", and "Little Babies". I also appreciated how compact a lot of the songs were, but I guess I question why this album seems to be labeled punk, given when they emerged. They kind of remind me of a different version of Mary's Danish (but more distortion and a more muddy mix and a little less variety in the lyrics).
It didn't occur to me until reading the Wikipedia entry for the album that they didn't (don't?) have a bass player in their songs. I like it that it made for an interesting production puzzle, and that it him/them make the guitars even bigger-sounding, but for me it also explains why the album sounds a bit flat, dimensionally, or maybe just more tinny than I'd prefer (although that's also a function of the type of distortion they used).
Deep Purple
4/5
I'm not sure I've ever heard this album before, or perhaps even many of the songs, despite how "Smoke on the water" was probably one of the first "heavy" songs I've ever heard (or practiced playing). And for good or bad, it's about what I would have expected, and it kind of confirms that I'm not a particularly big Deep Purple fan. But still a solid album, and I don't feel badly for giving a four-star rating simply for "Smoke on the water" (with nods to "Highway star" and "Space truckin'" too).
Ironically, I think I'd always heard that the song was inspired by a fire on the banks of the Thames in London, but apparently the fire was in Switzerland, caused by an over-zealous Frank Zappa fan in the venue that Deep Purple intended to record this album. Even more ironic is that the lyrics tell exactly this story; I guess I never listened to the words aside from the chorus.... It's an impressive story of how they ended up in an abandoned hotel on the edge of Montreaux in the dead of winter, and equally impressive that they produced a decent-sounding album when they'd largely abandoned listening to the recordings because it was so cold and inconvenient to do so.
Red Snapper
3/5
An interesting direction/choice for this project, I must say. I'd never heard of Red Snapper before, and they're definitely a huge contrast to many of the other albums and bands in the collection. Just given the nature of their style(s), it's a little hard not to treat the album as good/fun background music, but even so I enjoyed the experience. Kind of a distinctive mashup of bands like Massive Attack, Chemical Brothers, and others. I particularly enjoyed Karime Kendra's contributions in "Shellback" and "The rough and the quick"; I feel like the band-only/instrumental-only songs weren't able to hold my attention as much (except the last track, "They're hanging me tonight", suitably creepy and atmospheric).
It's a shame that there's so little information on the band or this album in both Wikipedia and even the entry in the "1001 albums" book (at least the 2005 edition). I don't know if that's intentional, or simply reflects that their fans aren't all that interested in providing a presence in those venues.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
A fun--and surprisingly rocking--album! I feel like I've heard of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs before, but had no idea what to expect, and really enjoyed listening to this album. I know the Wikipedia entry mentions similarities to Siouxsie and the Banshees and Led Zeppelin, but I heard more White Stripes and Sonic Youth, but with their own style and sound. Either way, they did a great job with this album, and I can understand why they were a popular live band--lots of energy, even if Karen O's in-your-face style is a bit wearing at times. I particularly liked the opening track "Rich", and the video for "Pin" was somewhat hypnotizing (although I'm not sure I understand the song any better having watched the video), while "Maps" is an intriguing change of pace. The album doesn't end quite as strongly as it starts, but it's still an impressive album.
Beatles
5/5
Like many Beatles albums, this one has lots of short-and-sweet songs, and I was pleasantly surprised how many of them are new to me (which means they weren't radio hits, as I'm not a Beatles connoisseur). Much more of a sampler style than a concept or thematic album, which is perfectly fine, of course, but a little surprising for the 1001-albums project/collection. And now that I've read the (laboriously extensive) Wikipedia entry, I see the eclectic nature of this album was its reason for inclusion.... I admire them for being willing to branch out into studio-only recordings and techniques, as they didn't plan to have any more live performances, and I'm impressed that so many people felt that the album fundamentally changed studio recording techniques.
There's always been something about "Eleanor Rigby" that feels nearly perfect as one of these short-and-sweet Beatles capsules (and a great re-creation of the lyrics in the movie "Yesterday"). And I always thought that "Yellow Submarine" was created for the animated movie, not the other way around (and still a favorite song of mine from childhood). "Good day sunshine"--and to some degree "Paperback writer" (which wasn't part of this album but was part of the recording sessions)--sound almost like throwback songs from an earlier Beatles era compared to the rest of the album. I really enjoyed "For no one"; probably my favorite previous-unheard track on this album. And "Tomorrow never knows" is kind of mind-blowing in how it anticipates so many electronica/psychedelic music styles for the coming decades.
It's hard to know how to rank this, as it's both clearly revolutionary in many ways, but to me not the most interesting album as an album (to my under-educated ear). But I have to give credit to the huge variety and experimentation in the album, both musically and technically, and to its enduring legacy.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
I'm not too embarrassed to admit that I'm a big Peter Gabriel fan, so it's fun to get his work in this collection, and also fun to get an early album, which I'm a lot less familiar with. And what an odd selection for the "1001 Albums" project, as this is definitely *not* one of his better albums. There are a few classic songs on this album--well, really just "Solsbury Hill" (with a fantastically odd but beautiful video, although I suspect that was done later than the album)--and some other really solid songs (mainly "Humdrum" and "Here comes the flood", although the latter is better in his later live stripped-down versions).
The rest is a kind of weird grab-bag of experiments from all over the place, likely a product of having left Genesis fairly recently. Perhaps because of Robert Fripp's involvement in the album, several songs reminded me of David Bowie (especially the concept-album-style "Moribund the Burgermeister" as well as "Modern Love" (with a pretty wild video) and "Down the Dolce Vita"), and others just seemed better left on their own ("Excuse Me" a particularly good example of that, but also "Slowburn" and much of the album's side B). As much as "Solsbury Hill" is one of Peter Gabriel's truly great songs, this album doesn't really rank higher than three stars when you balance the rest of the album against it, sadly.
Happy Mondays
3/5
The only song by the Happy Mondays I know I've heard before is "24 hour party people", from their earlier debut album, so it's nice to get a different slice of this band. A middling-to-OK album overall, I'd say, but either poorly mixed or just intentionally very muddy; I'm honestly not sure why this album was included in the collection *as well as* their subsequent album. There's not a lot of variety, at least to me, which is a bit disappointing, but I suppose a bit predictable.
I didn't realize until I read the Wikipedia entry that the album was inspired by both ecstasy (the drug, that is) and a 1970 film "Performance", although that latter fact explains all the obscure and random voice samples throughout many of the songs. It feels like the sort of album that only works for some people, and I'm not one of them. But to their credit, as I listened to the album I was frequently reminded of the books "Vurt" and "Nymphomation", which I enjoyed, and perhaps not coincidentally are set in Manchester (and I now just discovered there are two other books in the Vurt universe...). I was really tempted to give this a rare 2-star rating, but felt badly for them. :)
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
When this opened with "Judy blue eyes" right out of the gate, I kind of figured this was *the* big album for them, especially since it also has other radio-classics like "Helplessly hoping" and "Long time gone" (and to some degree "Wooden ships"). I was disappointed that the album had a lot of forgettable tunes, though; I guess "Marrakesh express" was a single from this album, but I'd never heard it before, and didn't really enjoy it, and the same could be said for at least half of the album (for me), although I did enjoy "You don't have to cry" and "Pre-road downs" for the first time. (The latter made me think of the Eagles, though.)
I've always felt like they were kind of limited style-wise, even with adding Neil Young, in part because their harmonies are so distinctive and ever-present (certainly on this album). When I hear them on the radio, I always feel like you're about to come across a Renaissance festival of some sort. But regardless, they've made their mark on American music, and this album is a big part of that.
Marty Robbins
3/5
I'm not sure I've ever knowingly heard Marty Robbins' music before, so a fun new band/artist for me. "Big Iron" is a great opening track, and I really enjoyed some of the other songs on the album, mainly "The master's call" and "El Paso". The rest sound exactly how I imagine classic "cowboy" country music would sound like (complete with the harmonies in the choruses, and whispers of Gene Autry everywhere), which I enjoy in possibly smaller quantities than this album. But still a solid album for what it is; I just wish there were more original songs by him, as those seemed the strongest of the lot.
Thundercat
3/5
Well, this is a new one for me (band/person and album). It's hard to imagine that this is the third album by Thundercat (why would there be two other albums like this?), but also a bit confusing about why this album and/or Thundercat got included in the 1001 album collection? Many of the songs feel like some sort of pseudo-jazz inside joke among a close group of friends, of which we aren't part, although I guess there's a bit of a heavily ironic social-commentary aspect to some of them (like on "Bus in the streets"), or else kind of vanilla soul-like songs with a lot of 80s-sounding instrumentation. There's also some impressive, and impressively fast, ensemble playing in some of the songs (like "Uh uh"), and I'm impressed at how he got so many well-known names to contribute to the album (and I enjoyed "Show you the way" as well as "Drink Dat"), but I'm left wondering why? That said, "Tokyo" is a fun song all in its own right, but overall it's not all that interesting, at least to me.
Sadly, the Wikipedia entry for the album is bizarrely vapid (and a bit confusing, especially with the references to discs 1-4). However, the entry on Thundercat himself is a bit more revealing, and I have to say I'm blown away to know that he was a member of Suicidal Tendencies, as this is about as far as you get from Suicidal Tendencies, so kudos to him. (Sadly, he wasn't part of Suicidal Tendencies' side project Infectious Grooves.) Mainly, though, I just can't imagine listening to this again.
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
I own this album, and really enjoy their sound, so although this particular selection didn't introduce me to a new band, it's a great excuse to re-listen to a band/artist I enjoy. I don't feel like it's as strong as their debut album (certainly not as light-hearted), but "All my friends" and "Time to get away" are definitely among the band's better songs, and songs like "North American Scum" and "Us v them" help balance things out on the lighter end. And pretty cool that the "someone" of "Someone great" is a tribute to Dr. George Kamen (of group therapy fame) .
I know it's purely coincidence, but it's a weird experience listening to this album right after Thundercat's "Drunk" album. They both feel like very personal experiments in a kind of odd music space (even though I know "Drunk" was ten years later).
Black Sabbath
5/5
It's hard to go wrong with such a classic album and three epic hits! (It also makes me wonder why we also had their debut album in this collection, as this album so clearly exceeds "Black Sabbath" in most aspects, except perhaps how quickly their first album was recorded). I don't think I've heard most of this album before, ironically, and some songs are surprisingly mellow--well, really only "Planet Caravan", I suppose, especially sandwiched between two foundational metal songs ("Paranoid" and "Iron man"). I'm also really impressed at how political/topical many of the songs' lyrics are; a far cry from the average metal band's sophomoric topics.
I also enjoyed reading about the background to some of their songs, like how "Paranoid" was literally last-minute filler for the album (and then became their only top 10 hit), and how "War pigs" was originally titled "Walpurgis" after some loosely-satanic-connection to a Saint-day, but the record label felt it went too far on the Satanic spectrum. Also hilarious that the album was renamed from "War Pigs" to "Paranoid", but the album cover remained the same (odd) photo.
I'm very torn about how to rate this album, I'll admit. It seems like only a 4-star album, but the heavy metal legacy of the band and this album in particular seem more 5-star.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
I've always enjoyed Sinatra's (movie) acting more than I expected to, but I've always hard a hard time enjoying his singing and music as much as I know I should (in part because so many of his songs sound like they're part of a movie musical/soundtrack). I'm sure this is a good Sinatra album--in fact, both Wikipedia and the "1001 Albums" book can't overemphasize what a great album this is, how it's the first "concept" album, and even how it's the first (12" LP) album ever--but sadly too much of Sinatra's more-mature and more-emotional style are lost on me, although I did appreciate how brief and succinct the songs are. Sorry, Frank!
Einstürzende Neubauten
3/5
Hm. I feel like I'm pretty tolerant of industrial/experimental music, and really enjoyed being introduced to Laibach through this collection, but this is pretty hard to enjoy and/or appreciate. I'm not sure if it's the thin/tinny sound of the mixing/production, or the fact that everything's in a foreign language, but much of the album felt like a lot of grating noise rather than songs per se. I'll give them credit, though, for creating most of the sounds and instruments themselves, and for the range of their noise-making. Most of the time I was listening to the album I felt like I had the soundtrack to an experimental stop-motion animated movie ("Mad God" comes to mind). (And to be fair, I only listened to the original album's 13 songs; I didn't have the patience or fortitude to continue on with the additional cd reissue tracks.)
It's hard to know whether to rate this as two or three stars, honestly. I didn't enjoy it enough (or really at all) to feel like it's three-stars-worthy, but it feels wrong to give an album two stars when it's clear that they knew what they were doing and had a concept going, however annoying this is to me. Kudos to them for succeeding in their avowed goal of creating "the most unlistenable album ever" (according to the 1001-albums book)!
Missy Elliott
3/5
Well, not really my thing, but it seems well produced and has both attitude and humor. The video for "Sock it 2 me" is pretty impressively weird and funny, and somewhat the same for "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)". It's interesting to see how much critics and reviewers talk about how pioneering this album was (for both Missy Elliott and Timbaland), and particularly how "futuristic" it sounded back in 1997. I guess it's a testament to how influential this must have been that in 2024 it doesn't sound as unusual or revelatory as it did then.
I *do* wish the album was about half as long, to be honest, but I *do* appreciate it that this project exposed me to this album.
Peter Gabriel
5/5
This is probably my favorite Peter Gabriel album (or at least the most consistent and solid for his style and sound), so I'm really glad it's included in the collection. I also feel like somehow he and Phil Collins both got caught up in the same weird Genesis-inspired let's-go-solo-and-write-very-listenable-and-almost-mainstream-music-but-include-very-repetitive-lyrics-that-don't-really-make-sense-no-matter-how-closely-you-listen-to-it. But despite that, there's just something about nearly every song on this album that I really enjoy and am perfectly happy to listen to repeatedly. I guess it's just a guilty pleasure, as I know so many people that can't stand Peter Gabriel's music; I'm glad not to have caught that particular bug.
I really appreciate the range of the songs in this album, and some of them have strong storylines despite being fairly sappy in some ways. "Don't give up", as syrupy as it is, especially with Kate Bush's duet, seems like a very personal song that Peter Gabriel was willing to share, and "Mercy Street" seems like a worthy descendant of "Solsbury Hill", while "We do what we're told" always feels like an anthem of outsiders and the dispossessed. I also appreciate it that his world music infusions aren't as dominating on this album as some others, although I feel like both he and David Bryne managed to incorporate world music in a more successful and less-cringeworthy way than most artists; in that context, what a bummer that "So" lost out to "Graceland" for the album of the year Grammy, as I feel like Paul Simon's take on world music is pretty painful. And what a treat to discover that Daniel Lanois participated in this album, as I've really enjoyed his (later) solo work.
Dr. John
4/5
Quite a contrast between this and most of what I've been listening to in this collection. I've never heard of Dr. John (the night tripper), nor Mac Rebennack, nor anything from this album, so it's all new to me, which is always a hopeful positive. And I enjoyed more of it than I ever would have guessed--my least favorite tracks were "Mama roux" and "Jump Sturdy" (mainly because they didn't fit well with the rest of the album), and my favorite is probably "Danse fambeaux".
I'm kind of reminded of some of Tom Waits' material--mainly the gritty voice, the atmospheric experimental sound, and the occasional spoken-word presentation--but I'm not sure there's all that much connection between Dr. John and much else, for good and bad. But I definitely enjoyed the almost immersive experience of the album (even down to the bizarre liner notes, detailed in the Wikpedia entry), even if I'm also quite happy not to live anywhere near whatever inspired Dr. John and his New Orleans entourage.
The Beach Boys
3/5
I have to admit that I've never been able to become a Beach Boys fan, so this is a tough one for me to enjoy for its own sake. And while I guess I can (sort of) see how this album is a departure for the Beach Boys from surf and car music, it doesn't really sound all that different from all of the other Beach Boys songs I've heard. Well, except for all the somewhat insipid ballads on the b-side. And of course the bizarre ending track... (3)
Meat Loaf
3/5
Despite knowing about him for decades (and knowing that he was in the Rocky Horror Picture Show), I don't think I've really listened all that much to Meat Loaf, and certainly not to a full album. It's impressive how few of the songs on this album are radio-friendly (due to length), given how this is clearly his most popular album. I feel like this is what you'd get as a mashup of Jack Black and Billy Joel, and it's fun to listen to (although I also can see the comparisons to Bruce Springsteen, especially since that's a lot more contemporary than Jack Black, and several E-Street Band members played on the album).
It's interesting that the Brits, Aussies and Canadians embraced Meat Loaf and this album long before the US did; maybe it was just too puzzlingly campy and unserious for US music executives, I guess? I also really like it that the album was based on some songs from a Peter Pan-inspired musical written by Jim Steinman, and then years later a musical came out of the Bat-from-hell series of records--the circle is complete!
Elvis Presley
3/5
I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I've never really enjoyed listening to Elvis Presley, nor really understood why he was such a sensation. But I know this is *my* problem, and so I'm glad to get another chance to correct my Elvis deficiency, and this seems like a pretty good album with which to work on. Well, sort of, because as much as I get it that this is a more mature and experienced Elvis with a more soulful sound, it's still very odd and unsettling to have an album from 1969 sound so much like a modified version of his 1950s style, as if he had basically found a way to time warp and ignore all the music innovations and other massive cultural changes all around him. (For comparison, I just got done listening to this collection's Dr. John / "Gris-Gris" from 1968, and it's nearly impossible to reconcile that album and "From Elvis in Memphis".) Although I *did* enjoy "Power of my love" and "In the ghetto", I guess I need to keep on trying to find a way to enjoy Elvis....
Fiona Apple
3/5
What a curious choice for this collection. When I got "Tidal" much earlier, I noted that most Fiona Apple fans seemed to think "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" and "When the Pawn..." were her best albums, so I guess I imagined that this album would be like "Tidal" but more polished and catchy. Or something. That is *not* what this album is, clearly. I really enjoyed "Shameika" (in part because of the entrancing video), as well as "Relay" (the first half reminded me of a song set to those guys outside subway stations playing 5-gallon buckets as drums) and "Heavy Balloons", but overall it feels like the sort of album that *really* appeals to Fiona Apple fans, but leaves everyone else on the outside looking in. (But given the acclaim over this album, I don't think this is an opinion shared by many...)
Full props to her that she not only composed all of the songs, but also recorded pretty much every sound on the album in her home. I do wish she'd had a little more restraint in either the number and/or length of the songs (or maybe became more proficient with GarageBand before recording tracks), as an hour is a bit much for a non-fan to listen to her largely successful musical experiments.
Pulp
4/5
It's fun to get another album in this collection by a band I'd never heard (or heard of) before, especially since I really enjoyed "Different Class". Of course, this album doesn't sound as unexpected as the first album I heard did, but it's still a really solid album, and impressively darker and bleaker than "Different Class", while still entertaining. (This album reminds me of some of Blue October's music, albeit with a totally different sound.)
I was also really impressed at how much the videos added to the experience. Although even "Party hard" can't quite compete with "Common People" for sheer morbid fascination, they're all really compelling videos. The video for "This is hardcore" in particular is a stroke of genius, and adds a completely new dimension to an already intriguing song (and how impressive that Jarvis Cocker anticipated how the internet would embrace porn, and saw that in this song, yet never really address it directly). I also liked the combination of videos/songs "Help the aged" and "A little soul", as both tackle similar themes in completely different ways.
I do wish it had been a substantially shorter album, though, as a number of the later songs weren't all that memorable; and that goes double for "The day after the revolution" (at least on the original release, as a 15-minute song just doesn't really fit the album or band). A shame, too, that the original release didn't include "Cocaine socialism" or "Like a friend", both b-sides to some of their singles from this album, and much better than some of the second half of this album.
Jorge Ben Jor
3/5
I haven't heard anything by him before, and I'm completely hamstrung by not understanding Portuguese, but I can see how this became an instant classic. A fun combination of sounds, and catchy tunes. I was so intrigued by the opening track ("Umbabarauma") and the description that it was a soccer/football anthem music that I found a translation, and also listened to a great metal cover of the song by Soulfly from many years later. (The VH-1 video version isn't all that interesting, unfortunately.) Like many of the non-English albums in this collections, I find it challenging to rate this album fairly.
Johnny Cash
5/5
What a great album. And probably one of the greatest live albums I've listened to; they did a great job capturing the feel of the performance and the crowd (including the reception announcements), and it seems like a perfect touch to end the (original) album with the inmate-penned "Greystone chapel". (And what a sad story for Glen Sherley, unfortunately.) I also enjoyed listening to the unreleased "The legend of John Henry's
hammer" from the prison concert.
As a comeback album of sorts, I'm also really impressed how much better this is than the Elvis comeback album I listened to recently in this collection ("From Elvis in Memphis"). A fascinating turn in Cash's career.
Al Green
4/5
I'm not sure I've actually heard all that much by Al Green, but this album is solid from start to finish, and definitely full of soul. The title track is a great song, sung really well, and the cover of "How can you mend a broken heart" is definitely up there with the likes of Gary Jules' version of "Mad world" as a cover that transcends an unmemorable (and maudlin) original. It's also interesting that Al Green's career seems a bit like Cat Stevens, although I'm glad they both eventually came back to (secular) music.
Soundgarden
4/5
A freebie for today, as I own this album and love it. It's too long by about 30 minutes--some of the songs really don't do all that much--but such a great sound overall and several fantastic songs ("Fell on black days", "Mailman", "Black hole sun", "Spoonman", "The day I tried to live", "Just like suicide", to name just a few). To me, the album brings me back to my days in Seattle and a pretty powerful period in its music history. The only sad part is that it makes me think of Chris Cornell and his untimely death many years later...
Peter Tosh
3/5
I know his name and (to some degree) his legacy, but I haven't previously listened to an album by him, so this was a nice introduction to the former Wailer. A mellow listen, but with something to say on a number of the songs (including the title track, despite also being one of the weaker songs on the album). "Burial", "Ketchy Shuby" and "Igzabieher" are probably my favorites of the lot, the lattermost mainly because it's pretty cool to get a religious prayer set to reggae.
Calexico
4/5
I've never heard of Calexico, and I don't think I've ever heard anything by them, which is always a fun/uncertain aspect of this collection. It's definitely on the fun side, and I was really impressed with the band and album's range of sounds and the atmosphere of the album. (And very bummed that I couldn't figure out how to access/play the pregap instrumental before "Sunken Waltz".) I liked nearly all of their songs, but if I had to pick favorites, I particularly enjoyed "Quattro (World Drifts In)", "Pepita", "Woven birds" (plus its companion "The book and the canal"), and "Guero Canelo"; I'd also request perhaps two or three fewer instrumentals.
They have their own distinctive sound, of course, but I was reminded of a curious combination of Daniel Lanois and Alejandro Escovedo, with a touch of Los Lobos. I'm disappointed that this is our only sampling of the band in this collection, as it sounds (from Wikipedia at least) like they continued to evolve and develop in interesting ways after this breakthrough album. Not that it should stop me from seeking them out, as I'd definitely be willing to hear more from them, and I'm curious to see what their former band Giant Sand has in store in this collection.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
4/5
A great album cover, and a great-sounding jazz album inside too (at least to someone who's definitely *not* a jazz afficionado). I feel like I've heard at least parts of "Blue rondo a la turk" everywhere, but never realized it was from Dave Brubeck, so it's nice to finally place a name to a tune; the same with "Take Five". "Kathy's/Cathy's waltz" is also kind of trippy for the way the percussion eventually has a different time than the rest of the instruments.
And I'm really intrigued that the inspiration for this album and its pieces came from a (US) State Department-sponsored trip through Eurasia; I guess it was musical diplomacy? (Ah I now see courtesy of Wikipedia that he was one of the US' jazz ambassadors--well done!) Either way, if this is indeed "cool jazz", I think I enjoyed this more than Miles Davis' "Birth of the cool" from earlier in the collection (in my rotation).
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Although I know there are far too many Elvis Costello albums in this collection, I'd definitely vote for this one to remain in a more-reasonable 1001 albums collection, and would be perfectly fine if this were the only one, honestly. There's a lot of great energy and variety in the tracks, and I enjoyed the songs I'd never heard before as much as the hits on this album. (And what great (early) videos/promo films for "Pump it up", "(I don't want to) go to Chelsea", and "Radio radio", although I feared for Elvis' poor ankles throughout.)
I also enjoyed reading that Costello managed to piss off Lorne Michaels of SNL by playing "Radio radio" instead of what they agreed to, and got banned for 10 years from SNL. And while the Wikpedia entry for this album is at least twice as long as it should be, I appreciated how it captured how the album was received when it first appeared, as it's often hard to get a feel for what a nearly 50-year-old album sounded like when it was just born. And I completely agree that the Attractions really don't get their due as one of the great backing bands. It makes me curious to listen to the recent version of this album, "Spanish Model", with all lyrics sung by Spanish-speaking singers (but the Attractions remain).
Hüsker Dü
3/5
I first heard Bob Mould's music with one of his early solo albums, and knew about Hüsker Dü but never really listened to them (then or now), so it's nice to get another piece in the Bob Mould music puzzle (not that Hüsker Dü is only a Bob Mould vehicle, of course). I was a bit disappointed to see that the album went over an hour, as I suspected (correctly, as it turns out) Hüsker Dü couldn't hold my interest for that long, but that's always the roll of the dice with these albums. I largely enjoyed the album overall, mainly as a time capsule for a certain brand of music in the later 80s, but none of the songs really stood out to me, and I was struck by how similarly muddy-sounding this album is to the Bob Mould solo album I listened to fairly regularly way back when ("Workbook"). I guess the muddiness/flatness of the mix is intentional, but it makes most of their tracks all sound both similar and not-very-memorable. And the whole Mould-hates-Hart-and-vice-versa drama is not only uninteresting (to me), but equally invisible on the album (although very sad that this rivalry resulted in their manager committing suicide not long before this album). That said, I did enjoy "Standing in the rain", "Bed of nails" and "You can live at home" the most of the lot, and I liked the Pogues-like "She floated away" too.
Eagles
4/5
I'm not as familiar with the Eagles' discography as I probably should be, but I'd be surprised if this wasn't their best album, possibly by a long shot (and what a shame it had to compete with "Rumours" for album of the year). Their radio hits are *still* fun to listen to all these many years later, and while the title track is immortal (and spawned more than a few great covers), "Life in the fast lane" and "Victim of love" are also solid songs in their own right. Overall, I've never gravitated towards the Eagles, I'll admit, but I didn't mind listening to this at all, even the less-memorable stuff. Not exactly the highest praise, I know, but hey, they get 4 stars from me on the strength of the title track and "Life in the fast lane" alone. :)
Pink Floyd
5/5
What a great album, in every sense. I think I like "Wish you were here" just a teensy bit more than this one, but that takes nothing away from this masterpiece. It's impossible for me to untangle the songs from memories of reading books while listening to the album, or of watching Laser Floyd to various tunes from this album (although I was always disappointed that the laser show part never seemed all that magical), but regardless I love it that the album is so seamless, and yet there are also several truly great songs on their own. "Time" is probably my favorite, but "Us and Them", "Money" and "Brain Damage" are also up there too, plus all the non-lyric tracks.
I think what sets this album apart, more than any other I've heard before or since, is how unique it sounds. I'm sure it's been classified this way and that, genre-wise, but to me it's a complete experience that doesn't really sound enough like anything else to be easily categorized.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Wikipedia entry is enormous and comprehensive, but also worth reading (at least to me). I particularly enjoyed reading about how they got Clare Torry's wordless singing on "The great gig in the sky", as well as where all of those quirky and candid fragments came from (flashcard interviews, although kind of the opposite of Brian Eno's famous flashcards, as it turns out). And I love it that Alan Parsons was involved in the recording, and I love it even more that the album's very large proceeds helped Pink Floyd fund "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".
Raekwon
3/5
I'll admit I never really got into (or even really listened to) the whole Wu-Tang phenomenon, so this is all new territory to me. I can see why this got a lot of critical acclaim, and the whole mafioso theme makes for good cohesion on the album, but I didn't really connect to the songs or the album, unfortunately, and it felt like a bit much to slog through.
I can see why this was considered influential, as it sounds like a lot of other music that presumably came after it; sadly, I feel like whatever freshness and uniqueness this album had is largely lost to me, listening to this album so long after it came out. But kudos to RZA for an impressive job producing this and many other Wu-Tang solo albums, and also kudos to the extensively-documented Wikipedia article on the album for giving me every chance to learn so much more about the album and the players.
Elvis Presley
3/5
This is certainly a lot more interesting and lively than the other Elvis album I've heard in this collection ("From Elvis in Memphis"), so that's a nice plus. I'm not an Elvis (Presley) fan, though, so it's still hard to get excited about this album. It *is* interesting, though, to hear the contrast between the leftover Sun songs and the RCA Victor-commissioned songs, making for quite a strange mix of country and rock-n-roll.
I know it's not really fair to who Elvis was, or to any of the singers across the years who weren't also songwriters, but I wish we could hear at least one song written by him, even if it's atrocious. It's kind of a bummer to only hear him covering somebody's else material, and really, his versions of songs like "Tutti frutti", "Blue suede shoes", "Money honey" and "I got a woman" are all so pale compared to the originals (pun intended).
3/5
Ah, nu-metal...I think we're *all* glad that wasn't a long-lived phenomenon. I'm a little surprised that we got this album from Limp Bizkit instead of their debut, since there isn't really all that much to this overly long and fairly repetitive collection of rants, and it doesn't have the freshness of being a debut album. But it's also not a horrible album, and certainly its sales record attests to their (always a bit baffling) commercial success. And while this could have been half as long and been much stronger for it, there are several solid rockin' tunes ("My generation", "Rollin'" (both versions), "Take a look around", "Boiler"), and the videos are pretty entertaining too.
I'm not at all surprised, though, that the album didn't survive in later editions of the "1001 Albums" book, nor that it was generally panned by review critics. I'm not sure "Kerrang!" awards for worst album and band of the year is entirely warranted, but Fred Durst probably *did* deserve the "Arse of the Year" award....
David Bowie
3/5
Yet another fine album by David Bowie (but not entirely distinctive, to me). I feel like there's a few artists and bands--and David Bowie is one of them--that really strain the guidelines of this project, as it often feels like we get more albums by some artists than feels fair, largely because we won't ever get a greatest hits album even when it could open us up to more albums by other artists. Greatest hits, of course, aren't really in the spirit of this project, but I feel like we could have enjoyed "Changes", "Oh! You pretty things", "Life on Mars", and "Quicksand" from this album, and called it a day (OK, maybe "Andy Warhol" too). Nothing wrong with the rest of them, but this isn't really a concept album, and it feels like David Bowie's still settling into finding his (ever-adapting) voice on the rest of the songs. (And yes, I recognize that I'm likely way off with this impression, given how highly ranked the album is by so many people and publications.)
Beck
3/5
An interesting choice of albums to represent Beck, but certainly not the one I'd have probably chosen for him ("Odelay" would be the most obvious, although I also really enjoyed his much later "Morning phase"). I always enjoy listening to Beck, and this album has the distinction of being surprisingly cohesive, style- and soundwise, and also being pretty somber. There are a few really nice tracks--"Golden age", "Lost cause" (with a hypnotic video), and "It's all in your mind" (in part because it predates his melancholy turn)--but I'll admit it's hard to distinguish most of them from each other, and I doubt I'd listen to this album again. Even the review/summary of the album in the 2005 "1001 Albums" book seems to be at best lukewarm to Beck's "left turn" to emo-ballads...
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
A fine selection of Neil Young. A few radio classics, many others new to me, but only a few that really appealed to me--"My my, hey hey" (both versions) and "Powderfinger". I do like the concept of the album's title, and how it inspired him to stay fresh and performing on the road. I also liked how many of the tracks were recorded live, as this seems like his strongest mode. Although his style has never really appealed to me, I can imagine it was fun to hear these played on tour. (And I laughed when it came to the chorus of "Ride my llama", as he pronounced "llama" (lamb-a) a lot like the way an Australian acquaintance of mine pronounced "tacos" (take-ohs). An odd song, in any case.) Pretty cool, too, to hear the second side of this album as an inspiration for grunge (or at least for Pearl Jam, and ignoring the sad connection to Kurt Cobain).
Beastie Boys
4/5
As I listened to this album, I realized that while I'd heard a number of their songs, I'd clearly never listened to the album start to finish. What a strange debut! They definitely refined and matured their style and sound over the years since, but I'm really impressed at how distinctive and wide-ranging they were on this album. I'm also impressed how few duds there are; the back-to-back tracks "The new style" and "She's crafty" aren't all that impressive, to me at least, but everything else has a great mix of bombastic energy. And pretty cool that they got Slayer's lead guitarist to play on "Fight for your right" and "No sleep till Brooklyn" (and apparently appear in the videos too). I think my favorite of the previously-unheard songs is "Hold it now, hit it" (and the video too).
Hanoi Rocks
3/5
I know I've heard *of* Hanoi Rocks, but I'm not sure I've ever heard them, or at least anything from this album. A fine album overall, I'd say, but not particularly distinctive or memorable, except perhaps that they're Finnish instead of British or American? There is a somewhat appealing whiplash-effect, though, to the various flavors of glam- and hard- and faux-punk-rock tracks (at various times shades of The Clash or Motley Crue or even Kiss). And no noodling overlong tracks on this album!
Compounding the mystery of why this was included: the Wikipedia article is truly atrocious and uninformative; and the "1001 Albums" entry seems to fixate on how outrageous they looked and performed on stage, with not much to say about the music itself. Apparently you had to be there...
Small Faces
3/5
What a curious--and almost bipolar--album. I don't think I've ever heard a "Small Faces" album before (and really not much of them at all), and while this is likely *not* a very representative album by them, it's a fascinating mix of styles and songs, at times reminding me of the Kinks in that regard ("Rene" and "Lazy Sunday" in particular made me think of them). I enjoyed the title track, "Afterglow" and "Song of a baker". I'm not sure I can say the same for the Happiness Stan suite on the B-side, but I'd give them an A for effort, taking what sounds like an incredibly offhand comment by a stoned-out band member and making it into an entire side of a vinyl disc....
Also, a helpful hint to anyone who hasn't yet listened to the album: the stereo version of this album is a *far* better way to appreciate the songs; I quickly realized this when it seemed really flat and muddy with the first couple of mono songs. And the Wikipedia entry really helps fill in some of the blanks, especially about the Happiness Stan suite's intention (which I'm not convinced succeeds, at least for me).
The Vines
3/5
I feel like I should know of the Vines already, and they sound so quasi-familiar I kind of wonder if I *have* heard them before and have just forgotten it? Ah yes, the latter, as "Get Free" got a *lot* of airplay back in the day; I just didn't realize it was them... Either way, it's a decent album, and I enjoyed listening to them, but also felt like they struggle to sound all that distinct from bands before them. There's a strong Nirvana vibe ("Nevermind" era) to a number of the songs, so much so that I kind of felt like this was a sort of Black Keys/White Stripes thing, except that this album is way too late for that kind of emulation/envy, I suppose. (And now that I read the Wikipedia entry, I see that I'm not the only one making this comparison.)
But to their credit, they *do* have their own take on the Nirvana style of music--and even a little variety outside Nirvana, like with the Beatles' inspired "Homesick" or "Factory"--and hey, they're Aussies, so that counts for something, right? I'll also say that while the videos didn't add much to the music experience, they're a bit revealing about the lead singer's neurodivergency and somewhat alarming posture and behavior. A little digging on Wikipedia reveals that sadly, while he's later acknowledged that he's on the spectrum (and apparently cut back on fast food and cannabis to help control it), his behavior was too violent for the original co-founder to stay in the band (and he also later assaulted his parents and destroyed equipment on sets). Given all that, I'm not at all surprised that the band was dropped silently from the "1001 Albums" book a few years after they debuted; a bit sad, considering the gushing review in the 2005 edition, but mental health issues aside I suspect their longevity was doomed from the start, as they appeared on the facing page from the truly-cringeworthy Justin Timberlake album "Justified"....
Radiohead
3/5
More Radiohead from this collection--not surprising, but it definitely feels like 6 albums by *any* band is about 3-4 too many (to me). Not a bad Radiohead album, but also not all *that* different from others in this collection, and I'm not a big fan of their sound, so it's hard to get too excited. Although I did enjoy the more Chemical-Brothers-style turn on some tracks in this album, and I particularly enjoyed the opening track with its very reasonable refrain ("Packt like sardines in a crushd tin box"), and "Pulk/Pull revolving doors".
I was kind of disappointed (unreasonably so, I suspect) that the videos on this album weren't nearly as interesting as "Paranoid Android" from "OK Computer", although I'll make an exception for "Knives out", which while not all that great a song has a video that is both unsettling and impossible to look away from. The video for "Pyramid song" is kind of entertaining in a weird early 3D/VR way, and I'm not sure what to say about the experimental animation video for "Push pulk/spinning plates", other than that I understand why MTV wouldn't touch the video with a 10-foot pole; it's not every day that you get to see some weird centrifuge-like contraption with twin babies getting horribly disfigured....
Overall, I'd say they made the right choice not lumping these songs in with the "Kid A" album, but I'm also not sure this particular album belongs in this collection.
The Band
4/5
I actually got this album a long time ago, before being part of a listening group, and gave it 4 stars, so it's nice to get a good album again, even if I'm kicking myself for not leaving any notes to myself on that first listen. "The weight" seems to get the most attention on this album, and well-deserved, but what I liked the most about the album has how consistent and solid the band is on the entire album; I can definitely see how this album sounded incredibly fresh and different in the midst of acid/psychedelic rock. In addition to "The weight", I particularly enjoyed "Caledonia mission", "We can talk", and "Chest fever". And pretty wild that they had to convince Levon Helm to come off oil rigs to come to Woodstock to sing and play with them.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
This collection has just a few other albums like this, where it feels like nearly every song has played on the radio and also withstood the test of time, and yet isn't a greatest hits or compilation album. And of course this particular album has the song I worshiped as a budding (and truly mediocre) guitarist--it still amazes me that "Stairway to heaven" ever got radio time given how long it is, but it's hard to imagine growing up *not* hearing this song frequently. I think the only songs I hadn't heard before were the somewhat painful/unmemorable "The battle of Evermore" (Sandy Denny didn't help this song at all, sadly) and "Four sticks" (which is a bit frustrating for being so much more muddy-sounding than the other tracks).
This album is what I associate with Led Zeppelin more than anything else, and while I'm not a huge Zeppelin fan, I can definitely see myself revisiting this album; I just wish the lyrics at times didn't make me think of Spinal Tap's "Stonehenge" so much.... To be perfectly honest, too, this could easily be the only Led Zeppelin album in this collection (instead of the other 4 albums also present), and it would hit all the highlights of what makes them worthy of inclusion. Although then we wouldn't have had all the classics from Zeppelin II, or "Immigrant song" for that matter, but that's a price I'd be willing to pay, especially if it meant not having to wade through Zeppelin III, not to mention getting some other album that didn't make the cut due to space constraints....
Talking Heads
4/5
Just the other day I was wondering why I hadn't gotten any Talking Heads yet, so thankfully that question is now answered. I don't know their discography very well, so it's hard to say whether this is one of their better albums or not, but it *definitely* sounds like the Talking Heads I'm familiar with, and I really enjoyed listening to it, despite the relative paucity of radio hits (although "Once in a lifetime" more than makes up for that lack--what a great song). My favorite previously-unheard songs are probably "The great curve" and "Houses in motion". (And though it wasn't one of my favorites, "Listening wind" makes me wonder if it was inspiration for the Peter Gabriel/Laurie Anderson 1984 collaboration "This is the picture (excellent birds)".) And although I'm sure my memory is quite garbled at this point, I feel like a surprising number of songs on this album was played in that great concert film "Stop Making Sense".
I also like the backstory of how the album came to be, a strange blend of reactions to Byrne's controlling nature, Fela Kuti influences, Haitian Voudou, the insights from hip-hop's growing ascendance, and Brian Eno's semi-reluctant return as producer, all apparently reviving the band's energy and a more collaborative spirit. (And, of course, reinforcing that Brian Eno is everywhere.) It kind of feels like this is more of a meta-album for this collection, given how conveniently and easily it meshes with so many other themes in the "1001 Albums" collection. A bummer, though, that the creative process for making this album strained the band members even more than they were already. Same as it ever was....
Bauhaus
3/5
I'm pretty sure I'd heard of the band before, but I doubt I ever heard anything by them (at least knowingly) prior to listening to this album. The album is OK, I suppose, but a bit hard to listen to it with an ear to what this might have been like in 1981 (instead of 2024), so I don't really know how ground-breaking or earth-shattering this might have been for fans and neophytes alike. I kind of enjoyed the spoken-word "Of lilies and remains", and "Dancing" was a bit more hard-edged than many of the others, but overall not much really spoke to me (although I didn't mind listening to it, and found the student-film-esque video for "Mask" more interesting than the song itself). Sadly, the Wikipedia entry was brief and completely unhelpful, and the book entry not much better. It's like everything conspired to keep Bauhaus from being intriguing or compelling....
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
3/5
Hm, another musical tourism album (for me). I remember hearing water drums at some point as a teenager and loving how exotic they sounded, but I'll admit I never really delved into South Asian music much. So, I enjoyed hearing the water drums. :) Other than that, it's pretty hard to gauge what makes this album and artist particularly noteworthy, although Wikipedia helpfully tells me that he was one of the greatest Qawwali singers of all time; I'm not an aficionado of Sufi devotional music, but I'll take their word on it. And I learned from the project's 2005 book edition that this album was his biggest (Peter Gabriel owned) Real World label release, and after getting showcased at a 1983 WOMAD concert. And after reading a bit about the Sufi devotional music tradition, I realized why I was vaguely reminded of this incredible whirling dervish museum in Konya, Turkey (Mevlana Museum), as the museum had Sufi devotional music playing in ceiling speakers throughout the museum's exhibits, and while the museum's music selection sounded quite different than this album's music, the ecstatic purpose was similar.
KISS
3/5
Phew! Although I do hope this is the only Kiss album we get in this collection, it would have been a shame if we didn't get some Kiss in this project. I was never a big fan of them growing up, but even then I recognized that they had clearly paved the way for all the hair metal bands that followed, and for that they earned my respect (and likely the groans and hatred of many others).
Listening to this album now, I also realize that part of my reluctance to embrace them was that they simply didn't rock as hard as I wanted them to--I often feel like they were *pretending* to be a hard rock/heavy metal band, but really they wanted to be either a stadium-rock band with makeup and platform boots (a hard-rockin' Boston), or maybe more of a Meatloaf-style act ("Great expectations" and "Do you love me?" great examples). Plus it doesn't help that they didn't have a lot of range either musically or lyrics-wise. But what outfits! Out of the songs on this album, "Detroit rock city" is of course a lasting classic, and "Flaming youth" was also a fun (and a little cringey) listen; the rest were pretty nondescript (sorry, "Beth"). But I'm still glad they were included, and it's kind of satisfying reading that the producer of this album put them through a musical boot camp, as apparently they needed the kick in the pants.
Lou Reed
4/5
A classic Lou Reed album; I'm glad we got this one (and I had no idea it was released so long ago). I'd heard so many of these songs in other contexts (I'm guessing quite a number from "Trainspotting", I'm a bit embarrassed to admit), and I'm impressed that so many came from this album. And while it may say more about me than anything else, I doubt I'll ever get tired of listening to "Walk on the wild side" (although I definitely don't binge on it). "Vicious" is a great way to start the album, "Satellite of Love" an iconic classic, and I'm not sure why "Perfect day" works for me so well, but it does. And despite some remarkably campy songs interspersed throughout, I also enjoyed several of the songs I wasn't familiar with, particularly "Andy's chest" (apparently a different version of a Velvet Underground tune, and also apparently a tribute to Andy Warhol and his near death shooting), "Goodnight Ladies" (mainly because of the reference to TS Eliot's Wasteland), and parts of "Wagon Wheel". Interesting that a veritable constellation of luminaries assisted in the production and conception--David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Andy Warhol. And funny that the man on the back album photo packed a banana in his pants for the shot.
Duke Ellington
4/5
Although I'm definitely not well-versed in classic jazz performances, I enjoyed both the album and the somewhat bizarre backstory of the concert and album. I'm also really glad to read that this performance single-handedly revived Duke Ellington's career and future as a musician; I had no idea he was ever on the brink of having to fold up shop.
I found the Wikipedia entry really helpful in understanding the significance of this album, as well as the somewhat deceptive nature of the album and recording (bummer that only 40% of the 1956 album was from the actual Newport performance). I wasn't *so* intrigued to go and listen to the entire 1999 remastered Voice of America / Columbia live recordings, but I'm guessing that would be even more amazing, especially the Gonsalves solo (edit: I relented and found and listened to the remastered version of "Diminuendo In Blue And Crescendo In Blue", and now I'm sorry I didn't seek out the entire album's songs in their remastered version). I'm also not sure how to rank this, given its seminal place in jazz history, and yet personally I found it simply entertaining. I guess a wishy-washy 4 stars?
Mott The Hoople
3/5
I don't really know anything about Mott the Hoople, but from start to finish this sounds *exactly* like a musical soundtrack album. I have no idea what the plot of the musical is, but the band is really into it, and it seems to be filled with a lot of campy, knowing irony. If nothing else, it feels like Meatloaf and Pulp traveled back in time and had this as a baby. An ugly, awkward but very musical screaming baby, with David Bowie perhaps looking on as godfather. Fun, but weird. (A shame that the Wikipedia entry has literally *nothing* useful about this album, although it *does* note that Bowie did indeed have a connection to them, having offered them two songs, "Suffragette city" (declined) and "All the young dudes" (fully embraced).)
Edit: somewhat hilariously, I got about halfway through what I thought was this album (having followed the YouTubeMusic link from the project page), when I discovered that I'd been listening to "Hoople" (1974). Amazingly, when I found the correct album, I discovered my review so far remained largely the same, although I'd say that "Hoople" is if anything a bit more glam and musical-sounding, while "Mott" is a bit more Bowie-reverent.
Charles Mingus
5/5
Although I don't regularly listen to any form of jazz, I always appreciate the chance to get exposed to a jazz album and/or artist. It's nice to get a distinctively different style from previous jazz albums in this collection, and I enjoyed the album and the ebb and flow of each track, although as with most instrumental-focused music (especially long tracks) I find it's sometimes hard to stay focused and actively appreciative, but not as much as I expected with this album. I could even sort of visualize the various dances over the course of the album, which even I'm surprised by (and would likely make my mother proud, as she tried so hard with my brothers and me to instill some sort of ability to appreciate classical music and the themes and storylines; in that sense, this album (vaguely) reminds me of an infinitely more interesting, mature and wild version of story-based classical pieces like "Peter and the Wolf" or "The Nutcracker Suite"). I think my favorite movement/track was "Track B - Duet solo dancers" (subtitled "Hearts' Beat and Shades in Physical Embraces"); but I also really liked the unexpected Spanish/flamenco guitar in "Mode D - Trio and Group Dancers" ("Stop! Look! And Sing Songs of Revolutions!"). I also just *really* enjoyed a completely unexpected experience listening to this "jazz" album.
I liked it that the Wikipedia entry included the subtitles to each movement; I was bummed that the entry overall was remarkably sparse on details or even narrative flow, given how highly rated this album has been for so many people. I also appreciated the "1001 Albums" entry for this album, not just for highlighting how masterful the drummer is on this album at keeping everything moving in the right direction, but also for the broader context of this almost genre-defying album.
The Hives
3/5
They instantly got a guaranteed 3-star rating for keeping a 2001 album to a tidy 28 minutes runtime (after all, how bad could it be if they're only taking up a half-hour of your life?). And while I hate to break it to them that they're *not* my new favourite band, I also found them fine. I was struck by how similar in some ways they were to The Vines sound-wise (especially their retro garage/punk vibe), but without the disturbing out-of-control-lead-singer. I'm not really sure their early-Beatles-in-tennis-shoes look is the best fit for them (maybe ironic?), but to each their own. It's a little hard to distinguish many of their songs from each other, but I enjoyed "I hate to say I told you so" and "Untutored youth" (which I could only hear as ah-till-yoh) more than the others.
The Wikipedia entry is absurdly brief, but it does note that this is actually a compilation from earlier albums and EPs and singles, which seems like a party foul by the "1001 Albums" project (at the very least). I *will* say that if I hadn't read up on them, I would *never* have guessed they were Swedish, although I'm not sure that's a useful bit of trivia or not. And both Wikipedia and the "1001 Albums" entry note that their real appeal is/was in their live shows, which might help excuse the somewhat less-than-awesome album?
Caetano Veloso
2/5
It's not every day you sit down to listen to Brazilian 60s music, and for that I'm quite thankful. I think the combination of not understanding a word he's singing, and a Euro/Latin pop musical style I've never really enjoyed (which seems also always fated to mysteriously *atrocious* recording quality, even in the remastered version of this album), and that horrid turtleneck on the album cover, all conspired to make this a somewhat tedious listening experience, with a partial exception to the brief but kind of catchy "Superbacana", as well as the oddly Spanish-titled "Soy loco por ti, America". And although it's probably not fair to either Caetano Veloso or his album, I'm dinging a half-star each for (1) the fact that Veloso himself said that this album was "amateurish and confused", and (2) the Wikipedia entry used the term "artistic cannibalism" as a seemingly distinctive trait of Tropicália music, when it just seems to be describing eclectic influences. Even the "1001 albums" book entry doesn't have much to recommend about the album itself, sadly (although I did enjoy reading that artists like Beck and David Byrne really enjoy Veloso's music).
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Another Stevie Wonder "classic" in this collection! A great title and album cover, and very mellow hits, all a great combination for Stevie Wonder fans (which I don't really count myself in, although I'll admit I simply haven't listened to him much). "Smile please" is a great start to the album, "Boogie on reggae woman" has a nice mellow funk to it, "You haven't done nothin'" is easily the best song on the album (and strangely relevant to today despite being about Nixon), and I like it that George Michael did a cover of the somber "They won't go when I go" . I'm not sure, though, this is as strong as the other Wonder album I've heard in this collection, "Talking Book", but I did like the occasional combination of country styling and heavy (and early) synth sounds.
Pretenders
3/5
Aside from the radio hits, I don't think I've ever really listened to the Pretenders, so it's nice to get a full album of their music. It's not really my thing, and wasn't at the time either (or at least a few years after the release, when I had at least a hope of musical preference if not taste), but I like it that Chrissie Hynde wrote most of the (non-cover) songs, and the A-side has a bit more edge than later new wave music (including their later stuff); the B-side definitely has a strange Police vibe to it. I think the most interesting songs to me were "Precious", "Brass in Pocket", and "Mystery achievement" (so mainly the radio hits). Kind of a bummer that their main single on the album is a Kinks cover ("Stop your sobbing"), as I want them to have made a splash on their own craftwork (but it's a decent cover, and pretty cool that it ended up getting Ray Davies and Chrissie Hynde together, and even a little sobbing baby to boot). And what a bummer about the short-lived lives of half of the band not that long after this album came out...
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
I'd kind of wondered if we'd get Rage Against the Machine in this collection, and I'm glad we did. I really enjoyed this album when it first came out, and have listened to it quite a bit over the years, without *too* much embarrassment. I think what's always intrigued me about the band and the songs is how much tension there is between the very white-mosh-pit-college-crowd vibe of the music and the unsettling antiestablishmentarianism of most of the songs. It's very weird, even now, to see the video for "Killing in the name of" (a really powerful song, in my opinion) and all the mosh pit action by people and fans that very likely are or will become the target of the song's eviscerating social commentary; I'm also very ambivalent about the subtitled commentary in the video for "Bombtrack" (about the violent repression of Peru's also-violent Shining Path movement), one that I suspect few of the typical Rage fans pay much attention. (The "Freedom" video, on the other hand, tells a truly compelling story about Leonard Peltier, yet I wonder how much most people who love Rage have ever paid attention to that story.) All that aside, some of my favorites from this album (in addition to "Killing in the name of"): "Settle for nothing", "Know your enemy", and "Wake up". Too bad that "Bulls on Parade" isn't on this album too.
I've always felt like Rage Against the Machine is what the Red Hot Chili Peppers could have been if (a) they chose a more political stance, and (b) stuck with more interesting music and lyrics. (On a side note but somewhat related to this comparison, I'm bummed to find out I missed seeing Rage Against the Machine at Lollapalooza by one year, and instead got the (very very very late) Red Hot Chili Peppers in addition to a number of great acts before them.) I'm also constantly surprised that, as far as I know, no presidential campaign has foolishly and unwittingly adopted any of Rage's anthemic songs for its campaign (I'm thinking particularly of a recent former president). Perhaps their use of the upside-down American flag kind of dissuades the more perceptive ones....
Pearl Jam
5/5
I know I'm horribly biased, having grown up in Seattle in the midst of the explosion of Nirvana, Soundgarten, Pearl Jam and others, but I can't help but revere this album and all the memories associated with it. (One of the odder memories is becoming the owner of this CD when I borrowed it in college to listen to, but somehow left it on the dinner tray in the dining hall, and while I eventually recovered it, the disc insert was hopelessly soiled and warped, and so had to buy another copy of it for my friend. The CD still played just fine, though, and has been played many many times.) I'd be hard pressed to identify any songs I didn't like on this album, although "Oceans" isn't one of my favorites, and the album kind of loses its edge a bit towards the end.
They put on a great show at Lollapalooza the year I saw them (1992, the same year as the album), and I've always been impressed by the whole band's dedication to playing great shows and to their fans. (I've also admired how they did their best as long as they could to avoid the Ticketmaster stadium price-gouging.) I've never seen any of the videos from this album until now, and I loved seeing that the video to "Even Flow" was filmed in a great historic theater in Seattle, Moore Theater; although I never saw them play in Seattle, I remember going to the Moore Theater as a teenager to be a crowd extra for a Queensryche music video. And not having seen the videos, I also was unaware of the bizarre story of the "Jeremy" video having had the gun suicide edited out when it first appeared, and only *un*censored a few years ago.
I'm disappointed, but all that surprised, to see that this is the only Pearl Jam album we'll get in this collection. They deserve more ears than just one album, frankly.
The Stone Roses
3/5
Ah, the Stone Roses. I knew several people in high school/college that were absolutely fanatical about The Stones Roses, but I couldn't really ever get into them despite their popularity and success. I think it's mainly how nearly *everything* sounds like it's been put through some sort of flange/reverb effect, which (to me) doesn't add depth but instead makes it all sound the same (and perhaps is also the cause of the poorly-mixed-and-thus-nearly-incomprehensible lyrics?); I'm very reminded of the Happy Mondays album "Bummed" in this collection, which I felt was equally meh. My favorites/preferred songs are probably "Bye bye bad man", "Sugar spun sister", and "I am the resurrection". (I had high hopes for "Elephant Stone", since it strangely wasn't included in the YouTubeMusic playlist for this album, but aside from more interesting drum/rhythm sections, it wasn't much different.)
It's kind of amazing that at least one person ranked this album as #11 all time (Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums, according to the Wikipedia info). But they certainly had a loyal and widespread following, and I'm intrigued that the Flaming Lips reworked the entire album in 2013 with their "The Time Has Come to Shoot You Down… What a Sound" (admittedly, not so intrigued to listen to that other album now). And I'm really impressed to find out that the album cover is by their guitarist, and inspired by both Jackson Pollack (which is pretty evident) and the May 1968 Paris riots (not so evident), plus a tie-in to their song on the album "Bye bye bad man".
George Harrison
3/5
George Harrison has always struck me as the too-quiet and more-interesting-than-he-gets-credit Beatle, so it's nice to get one of his solo albums. Not so nice that it's a double album (I guess even a triple album?), I'll admit, but at least we get a wide sample of what he wanted to play and sing. (A little frustrating that the YouTubeMusic version of the album seems to be based on various remasters/reissues with tons of extra songs and outtakes, clocking in at nearly 3 hours if you chose to listen to it all...) My favorites on the album are mostly the ones I've heard before, like "My sweet Lord" and "What is life", although there were a few that I hadn't heard before that were fun ("Wah-wah" one of these, and not just because it's named after a guitar effect; also "Let it down", "Beware of darkness" and the Beatles-esque "Art of dying"). I also enjoyed the occasional forays into slide-guitar he incorporated into the album; they made me think of a very different version of Leo Kottke.
It's also incredibly impressive to read the names of all the contributing musicians on this album; quite a who's-who of late 60s rock, and what a strange and fraught connection with Eric Clapton. Overall, it's not really my kind of album, but I'm glad we got a chance to hear George Harrison's voice and sound without McCartney and Lennon drowning him out.
Jeff Beck
4/5
I always enjoy listening to Jeff Beck, and even have the classic "Blow by Blow" as well a couple of his later albums, so this was nice to get a different side of Jeff Beck. I'm not sure if all of his later work were solely instrumentals, but the three albums I own are definitely in that vein, so it was a bit of a surprise to get very lyrics-based songs/tracks on this album (and even more surprising to hear Rod Stewart belting them out). This is definitely a lot less funky and experimental than what I was expecting (and not nearly as interesting as "Blow by Blow"), but it's still an enjoyable set of tracks, with a few great moments of guitar-licks and overall a great relaxed vibe (and "Ol' man river" is truly inspired). I'm not sure this really ranks as a great Jeff Beck album, but it's probably Rod Stewart's finest moment. :) And while I would give the book's editors negative-100 stars for making this the only Jeff Beck album in this collection, I'm not going to take this out on poor Jeffrey Rod.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
I'm kind of shocked that this is my first Rolling Stones entry after listening to nearly 250 albums, especially given that there are 6 Stones albums in this collection. A fun selection, too, as this has some great classics/radio hits, and several I'd never heard before. I've never been a big Stones fan (or listener), but it's hard to feel too critical of them with songs like "Sympathy for the devil" or "Street fighting man". Woo woo! (And what a shame that "Jumpin' Jack Flash" wasn't included on the album.)
Very sad to read about how this was the last real contribution from Brian Jones to the band he founded, and I'll say that his slide guitar in "No expectations" really makes this a surprisingly deep and enjoyable song. (And only makes the bizarre and painful falsetto in "Dear doctor" all the more mystifying.) Also very amusing that Paul McCartney basically tanked the album's release party by playing "Hey Jude" and upstaging the whole event.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
I appreciate it that this collection is doing its best to give us all more exposure to Stevie Wonder, and so far the albums seem like good exemplars. But for whatever reason--age, experience, musical preferences--I'm just not that big of a fan. Still. Nonetheless, an interesting album by Mr. Wonder, with his penchant for early synth sounds on full display, and an intriguing balance between easy listening and insightful lyrics and some harder-edged music as well. And while this album is about twice as long as I'd have preferred, to his credit there's not too much filler. (I'll admit I wasn't quite tolerant enough to listen to the 4-song EP that accompanied this double album.) My favorites on this were probably "Have a talk with God", "Sir Duke" and "Pastime paradise" (mainly because of Coolio's adaptation, I know). (I really wanted to enjoy "Village ghetto land", but the synth strings/organ-sounds *really* didn't work for me. And I'm not sure I'd call it a favorite, but I appreciated "Contusion" mainly for the Jeff Beck "Blow by Blow" vibe. Lastly, I appreciated what he was doing with "Black man", but it just feels a bit too long to make more than honorable mention.)
I feel badly giving the album only 4 stars, especially given how much acclaim it's received, as well as being so influential to so many different types of artists, but it just doesn't work for me the way I wish it would, so I'm compromising between my experience (3-star enjoyment) and great-album status (presumably 5-stars). Sorry Stevie!
Van Morrison
3/5
I wasn't sure if we were going to get other Van Morrison albums than "Moondance", and I was also equally unsure whether that would be a good thing, as good as "Moondance" is. I really appreciate it that this is an earlier album, before Van Morrison's descent into sad and extremely unsettling ranting behavior. I haven't heard most of the songs on this album before (at least knowingly), but I enjoyed many of the songs all the same. My favorites are probably "Astral weeks", "Sweet thing", "Cyprus Avenue", and "Madame George" (and particularly didn't enjoy "Beside you").
It's hard not to compare this to "Moondance", and I'll admit that "Astral Weeks" pales in this comparison, sadly, despite the wider range of styles he explores on this album and a clearly more personal approach. Fine but not as satisfying compared to what you get with "Moondance", and I'm kind of bummed to discover we'll have yet another Van Morrison album before the collection is done. (I'll admit, though, I kind of enjoyed reading about the insane mob-related craziness Van Morrison and various other people had to deal with in the course of getting him out of the contractual obligations to a dead man...)
Madness
3/5
I enjoyed getting to listen to a band I've never really heard of before (although I definitely heard plenty of "Our House" on the radio), even if this isn't a particularly great or memorable album or band. Lots of effervescent pop sounds--I'm not sure why they're labeled ska, unless my understanding of "ska" is very flawed? ("Tiptoes" was the only track that seemed ska-like.) Outside of "Our house", I'm not sure there are many other tracks that were all that distinctive for me; maybe I'd call out "Tomorrow's (just another day)", "Mr Speaker gets the word", and the Talking-Heads-reminiscent "That face", plus the fun video for "Calling cards". (I really wanted to like "Blue skinned beast" given the political skewering of Thatcher, but the song got in the way of my enjoyment.)
Although it's not nearly as cohesive or interesting, I can see why the "1001 Albums" editor likened this album to "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society", as there's a sort of snapshot element to many of the songs. And I *will* say this was substantially more interesting to listen to than, say "Simply Red" or "Pet Shop Boys" (who I feel like have some affinity to Madness).
David Bowie
4/5
Ah, yet another David Bowie album. I like it that this is from a different period than so many other Bowie albums in this collection, and it feels like an interesting direction for him. And so *many* videos! That's probably the highlight of this album, frankly, and so many odd videos too; "The next day" probably takes the cake with its harsh take on Catholic clergy and Gary Oldman fitting right in, but "The stars (are out tonight)" also has a bit of an oddness to it (and great to see David Bowie and Tilda Swinton side by side, almost like a Bowie version of "Only Lovers Left Alive"), while "Where are we now?" is really well done and completely mesmerizing (and the whole time you expect the female head of that weird conjoined doll thing to sing); "Valentine's Day" was the only fairly normal video, and a correspondingly less interesting song; and I'm not really sure whether the video for "I'd rather be high" is an actual Bowie video or not, but if it is, only sort-of interesting. I also felt like the album started to fade off about 2/3s of the way through, maybe from "Dancing out in space" onwards (excepting "(You will) set the world on fire").
I've never been a big David Bowie fan, and so always have a hard time evaluating whether any of them are one of his better/great albums. I enjoyed listening to it, and appreciated it that it wasn't just a rehash of his earlier music. I give it 4 stars simply on the fact that he's managed to continue to make music for so many decades and not sound completely repetitive.
Ravi Shankar
3/5
I'm guessing this must have been a very popular album at some point (it seems due mainly to the Beatles and George Harrison), but it still feels like a weird selection in this collection, especially with the opening "Introduction". It's almost a meta-musical-tourism experience, as we're getting a clearly talented Indian musician's sampling of a specific musical form in a specific musical tradition in a huge, sprawling country with an enormous diversity of musical traditions, yet ambiguously labeled "Sounds of India". I appreciate it that Ravi Shankar is making an effort to educate Western audiences to a very old and established musical style (and apparently the liner notes are extremely extensive); I'm not as sure that this album necessarily belongs in "1001 Albums" (but given that it is, it's surprising that the book editors were off on the release date by a full decade). But that said, it's a fine experience, and I'm pretty sure I haven't heard any of these tracks before.
Rod Stewart
3/5
I've never been much of a Rod Stewart fan, and I'm still a bit resentful that our sole Jeff Beck album was the one that had Rod Stewart singing, so this is a hard album to judge fairly. It seems fine, with a few radio hits (mainly the title track and "Maggie May"), and the rest sounding largely similar but less popular, although the lyrics on the non-cover songs are a bit more interesting than many early 70s bands; I feel like the Dylan cover "Tomorrow is a long time" and the Temptations cover "(I know) I'm losing you" are better than most of the original (non-radio-hits) songs on the album, ironically. Nothing offensive, and the Faces backing band seem pretty solid, but also nothing particularly notable, and not as enjoyable as when he sang on Jeff Beck's album. Sorry, Rod!
Van Halen
5/5
A nice treat--this is one of my favorite Van Halen albums, and even though I know they're not to everyone's taste I always feel like this album is worth a listen (and not just for the greatest solo track of all time, although "Eruption" *is* a masterpiece). It's tough to pick out favorites from this mighty album, so I'll just note that my least favorite tracks are probably "Atomic punk" (it always makes me think of a couple of Police tracks on their earlier albums where they try to show their punk-like roots, and fail) and "Little dreamer", although "Ice cream man" probably should be there, but it seems like such a quintessential David Lee Roth (cover) song it's hard not to smile (and think of brown M&Ms). And I have to say their cover of the Kinks' "You really got me" is inspired genius. I think what I love about this album, and the band, at least in the David Lee Roth era, is that they did one thing, they didn't pretend to be more complex than they were, and they did it with style and confidence, and they were entertainers par excellence.
Television
3/5
Ha! This is one of those albums I've already heard in this collection (from before listening as a group), so here's my initial review/impression (accompanied by 3 stars), which got me quite a bit of grief back on my first listen:
"I got Television's 'Marquee Moon', which has me a bit...meh feeling. I'm probably exposing my general musical illiteracy, but I've never heard of them before this, and even looking at the Wikipedia intro that YouTube Music provides for the albums, I'm still not much more the wiser, except to know that 'Marquee Moon' was a big departure from their earlier punk album(s). I feel badly saying this...but there's literally nothing exceptional-sounding in 'Marquee Moon' (but maybe that's because they were so influential that everything after has been influenced by them?). I did learn that the band's vocalist/guitarist Tom Verlaine dated Patti Smith, though!"
I will likely get more grief from my group, but I'm sticking with the 3 star rating and general impression, although I *did* find the title track more engaging the second time around, as well as the dueling guitar work throughout. (And "Elevation" is such a weird song, sounding in some ways like Pink Floyd and clearly being an inspiration for the Cardigans' "Lovefool".) Interesting how Tom Verlaine and Frank Black sound remarkably similar; also interesting that they rejected Brian Eno (who is everywhere) as a producer. Kudos to them for being so influential, but just not really my thing.
Manic Street Preachers
3/5
I didn't really expect another Manic Street Preachers album (beyond "The Holy Bible"), given that their lyricist committed suicide not long after that album was released, but here you go. Definitely less hard-edged than "The Holy Bible", and I guess more commercially successful, but kind of disappointing for being a bit more generic-sounding without Richey Edwards exploring down the spiral. My favorites on this album are probably "Kevin Carter" and "Interiors" (in part for how both of them get into tragic human conditions), but nothing really grabbed me, to be honest. Too bad, too, because some of the songs have some interesting titles and accompanying perspectives (and some inspired by or written by Edwards), but I couldn't go beyond comparing this album to "The Holy Bible", mainly unfavorably; I wish they hadn't jumped so hard on the Britpop train.
Soul II Soul
3/5
Although I kind of expected a different style of music based on the album title, it's still an interesting slice of late 80s musical styling, giant shoulder pads and all (at least in the video). It's always disconcerting to realize how much slower the beats, rhythm and rhymes were in the 80s/90s (and earlier), at least compared to the more manic and accelerated 21st century beats. I guess the songs on this album might have played in clubs in the late 80s, but many of them seem pretty mellow for the club scene. "Holdin' on" and "Dance", though, seemed like the 2nd cousins to many Faithless songs, while "Feeling free" had interesting De La Soul vibes (but so painfully s-l-o-w). And of course there's the quintessential "Back to life", which seems strangely different than much of the rest of the album, but a true classic (and very entertainingly vintage video).
Although it wasn't painful to listen to by any means, I'll admit I'm a bit mystified why this album made the cut for this collection. Perhaps simply because it was a strong debut album? The book seems to suggest this album single-handedly created/revived British soul, so I guess that's a factor too...
The Who
4/5
I was wondering when we'd get a Who album in this collection, and now I know. And quite a classic album, although given that there are 5 more awaiting us, I'm not sure whether this is the pinnacle of their discography, or just a waypoint. I've certainly heard most of the songs on this album many many times, and enjoyed them all to varying degrees ("Baba O'Riley" and "Won't get fooled again" perhaps the most, as well as "Behind blue eyes" despite its relentless narcissism, and probably "Bargain" the least of the lot). Of the ones I hadn't heard before, I enjoyed "Love ain't for keeping". It's remarkable, though, how few of the songs were new to me.
I don't know much of The Who's history, so it was helpful to me--and also bizarre--to read about how most of the songs on this album came from an abandoned "Lifehouse" interactive futuristic rock-opera concept that Townshend dreamt up involving government-controlled "experience suits" and having audience members help direct the music of the opera as it unfolded. Perhaps not surprisingly, the fans who attended a couple of test runs "simply wanted the Who to play 'My Generation' and smash a guitar", and things unraveled from there. I'm kind of glad there are only remnants of this concept in the album, mainly the use of synthesizers, as it sounded like a really painful experience for everyone involved.
Barry Adamson
3/5
What a strange choice to include in this collection. I guess since it's a soundtrack to a movie that was never produced, and maybe more importantly it's an original piece by an artist/band, it can be included despite the general avoidance of soundtracks in this collection? (Which makes me wonder if they considered including either Peter Gabriel's "Passion" soundtrack or the great John Lurie soundtrack to "Get Shorty"?) Regardless, although I found it hard to really focus on music that's largely intended to be background to a movie's foreground, I enjoyed "Under wraps" and "Sounds from the big house" more than the others. (I also kind of enjoyed "Auto destruction", mainly because it made me think of Mr. Bungle's eponymous album, which could easily have been a soundtrack too, albeit a very very disturbed one.) I also enjoyed that sort of ironic/knowing film-noir vibe throughout.
I appreciated learning a bit about Barry Adamson and his connection to Nick Cave as well as Magazine, and I also like it that he was eventually able to score actual soundtracks (like "Lost Highway"). But I'm not entirely convinced that I needed to listen to this before I die, frankly.
Moby Grape
3/5
I've never heard of them, and I don't think I've heard them either, so that's always an interesting prospect. Not the most distinctive band in the world, I'll admit, but a decent sound overall, and I particularly appreciate how brisk and short nearly all of the tracks are. I think "Mr. Blues", "Omaha" and "Changes" were the highlights on this album for me. I can see the connection (style wise) to the Grateful Dead, which might be part of why I didn't really connect to this album (in much the same way I've never particularly enjoyed the Dead). Bummer for them that all the hype and Columbia's poor marketing kind of torpedoed their fate.
Liz Phair
3/5
I'd kind of wondered when we'd get Liz Phair--and am a bit shocked that we only got one album by her, although I am belatedly realizing that I've always conflated her name with the Lilith Fair phenomenon--but I've never really enjoyed her music, unfortunately. It's a fine album, but it doesn't really do it for me. I thought her hit "Never said", "Soap star Joe" and "Flower" were probably the highlights of the overly long album.
I almost regret having read the Wikipedia entry for this album, as it actually made me like both the album and Liz Phair *less* in the end. I have no idea who was involved in writing that entry, but it's incredibly confusing, poorly written, and doesn't really paint a very positive or thoughtful portrait of her. And I agree with the critics who challenge her claim that this album is "a song-by-song reply to the Rolling Stones' 1972 album "Exile on Main St." It just isn't that focused or interesting, I'd say. Sorry, Liz Phair!
The Smiths
2/5
Wow--first it's Liz Phair, now The Smiths. What's next in the litany of not-my-favorite alt/emo rock? (I'm not sure I want to know the answer, honestly, especially since I can see we have 2 more Smiths albums in our future...) This is definitely *not* to my taste, regardless of whether Morrissey is a certified jerk, although that certainly doesn't help. But on the positive side, I don't think I've actually heard any of this album, so it's all new to me. I was surprised that the title track was so...lively...I'll admit (although not quite sure why YouTubeMusic served up a version of "The Queen is dead" as a "film" that was double the length of the actual song and seems to have just crammed in "There is a light that never goes out" and "Panic" at the end, the latter of which was only released as a single, I think, and was the only song I recognized). I'm actually hard-pressed to find many (any?) songs on this album that I found all that enjoyable, sadly, which is a shame given how many accolades the album has gotten. (I'll also say that I prefer Chumbawumba's "Big mouth strikes again" to the Smith's, even though it's not actually a cover and is about Lenny Bruce.)
3/5
Well, now I'm halfway through the PJ Harvey albums in this collection (previous was her debut "Dry"), so that feels a bit like an accomplishment. And this one seems a bit more lively and interesting than "Dry", thankfully. I'm not sure why, exactly, but I don't find myself getting sucked into her music as much as I'd like (it may just be that there's not a lot of variety within an album, likely due to not really working with a full band), but I did enjoy "Big Exit" and "You said something" more than the others. (Her video for "A place called home" made me think of a VR game, "The Under Presents", although without the puzzle-solving aspect of needing multiple incarnations to proceed.) And while I didn't particularly enjoy the collaborations with Thom Yorke, I liked it that they worked together for a few of her songs, with "This mess we're in" providing a bit of that elusive variety.
Black Sabbath
3/5
This is now the third (and it appears final) Black Sabbath album in this collection, which feels like two too many. In many ways, I wish our Black Sabbath exposure had started and ended with "Paranoid"; that album leaves you wanting more, while this album and their debut makes you (or at least me) question whether even "Paranoid" was all that great of an album. And it is/was. This is not. It's not horrible--and "Supernaut", "St. Vitus dance" and "Under the sun" are solid BS songs--but much like their debut album, it's just not all that distinctive or memorable, even with Ozzy's fantastically distinctive voice and Tony Iommi's distinctive guitar style, and the somewhat odd interludes interspersed throughout the album. And that doesn't even touch all the crazy substance abuse and demented behavior during recording. I'm just glad they survived the experience, honestly.
I don't feel like I can ding Black Sabbath for this, but I just discovered that there are *no* Ozzy Osbourne albums in this collection. This is almost inexcusable; how can we have so many truly mediocre albums (and I'm on the fence whether this album should be included in that category), and we don't get the pleasure of (at least) "Blizzard of Ozz"???? Bizarre, and so very sad. I try to accept what we get in this collection, flaws and all, but this is the closest I've come to feeling like the "1001 albums" collection has jumped the shark. I mean, millions of sports fans can't be wrong about "Crazy train", after all. :) (Not to mention the tragedy of living your whole life without hearing "Mr. Crowley" even once.)
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
I feel like I've seen several references to the Arctic Monkeys in various Wikipedia entries for other albums in this collection, so it's nice to get one of their albums. They sound familiar, so I'm guessing I've heard a few of their radio hits over the years, but this album is largely (completely?) new to me. They may not have a huge range, style-wise, but they seem and sound like a solid band, with fun songs, and elements of the White Stripes and maybe a bit of Franz Ferdinand too. I particularly enjoyed "Fake tales of San Francisco", "Dancing shoes" and "Red light indicates doors are closed". And the video for "The view from the afternoon" was very reminiscent of the movie "Whiplash" (in a good way).
This is really an impressive debut album, and a really solid album on its own; also pretty impressive how they became so popular outside the regular label/studio route. I enjoyed this from start to finish, and I also really appreciated it that this is the only Arctic Monkeys album in the collection, which bumps this up to (at least) 4 stars.
3/5
I'll admit that my main (and perhaps only) familiarity with Devo is with "Whip It", which I listened to, and played tennis-racket-style air guitar to, repeatedly when I was probably 10 years old or so. (I'm not sure that song really has much in the way of guitars or guitar licks, but I sure could make that racket sing....) So this album is all new to me, and not quite as interesting as I'd hoped for. It seems impressively early for new-wave style music, and I enjoyed the song and video for their cover of "(I can't get no) Satisfaction", but most of the songs seem kind of...gimmicky...more than anything else. "Jocko Homo" gets a bit closer to the "Whip It" aesthetic I was imagining, but not quite, while "Gut feeling" is probably the most interesting song on the album (more punk than the rest).
I like it that Brian Eno (everywhere) helped produce the album, although I do wonder if he was part of the sort of flat sound to the album? It certainly sounds as if Devo didn't enjoy working with him as much as they might have wanted to, and I'm glad they were able to get David Bowie to remix the album.
Genesis
3/5
After getting the likes of Yes, ELP, ELO and other prog rockers, I'm not at all surprised to see Peter-Gabriel-era Genesis appear in the daily feed (and I now see we have two (2!) Genesis albums, unfortunately). I'm quite sure the band members enjoyed the whole stream-of-consciousness music and lyrics that seems to constitute the entirety of the genre, but it doesn't do much for me (and the opening track seemed to have this in spades, along with "Firth of fifth" and "The cinema show"). I enjoyed "I know what I like (in your wardrobe)" and "More fool me" more than the others, although that may not be saying much, I know. It *is* weird to hear Peter Gabriel in a different context than his solo career and musical evolution. And while I didn't enjoy the song (at all), I like it that "The cinema show" lyrics were inspired by T.S Eliot's "The Wasteland". And Phil Collins' drumming is quite good on this album.
Although I doubt I would have enjoyed listening to a full set by the band when they toured the album, I must admit I'd have paid good money to see Peter Gabriel in "full costume with a helmet and shield representing the Britannia character" for some songs, and with a stocking over his head for "The battle of Epping Forest". The photo in the Wikpedia entry for this album is hilarious, but probably doesn't do justice to the actual event.
Arrested Development
4/5
I had no idea there was a band named "Arrested Development" (or that they would have come long before the TV series) (or that they sued Fox for the name overlap). It's a fun album, and while they sort of sound (to me) like some other groups (at times Public Enemy, other times De La Soul, sometimes Rise Robots Rise, and others), they've put together a great collection of songs and they sound like they had fun making the album. In addition to the iconic "Tennessee", I also really enjoyed "Man's final frontier", the semi-cover "People everyday", and "Give a man a fish". (I also found "Mr. Wendal" kind of disturbing, in a sort of patronizing and utopian/naive way, but apparently it was well received at the time, as well as being highlighted by the "1001 Albums" reviewer.)
A shame that their debut was also their pinnacle, and followup albums weren't as strong or well-received. But nice to have this album in this collection, and I'm really torn about whether it deserves 3 or 4 stars; there's so many filler tunes that it probably earns 3 stars, but the good songs were really enjoyable, so....
Frank Zappa
3/5
I remember getting this album after buying a later one ("Jazz From Hell") and reading a review that said that "Hots Rats" was his best album (along with "Uncle Meat"). I can definitely see why the reviewer said this about "Hot Rats" (not so sure about "Uncle Meat", though), but after hearing this album years ago, I realized that I'm simply not much of a Frank Zappa fan, much as I want to be. So while it's interesting to listen to it again, I remain bemused and largely indifferent. "Willie the pimp" is probably the best of the mercifully short playlist, in part simply because it has lyrics (and sung by Captain Beefheart no less), but also a pretty great jam. Sorry, Frank--your genius is wasted on me.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
4/5
I *feel* like I've not only heard of this band before, but also that I might even own this album, yet I'm not entirely sure that's the case. Regardless, I really enjoyed it, especially the Gorillaz vibe (courtesy of Damon Albarn's presence and primary role in the project, but also with at least a couple of the other Gorillaz members participating). I liked nearly all of the songs, but particularly "History song", "Northern whale", "Nature springs" and "Three changes". It doesn't quite have the variety of, say, Gorillaz' "Demon Days" or "Plastic Beach", but the semi-concept-album approach of London life is intriguing, although at times a bit monochromatic.
I also liked discovering that the collection actually has a number of Damon-Albarn-involved albums, mainly with a number of "Blur" albums; he's a really interesting artist/musican (to me, at least), and it's a nice counter-balance to the overweighted number of more classic artists and bands (although I'm not sure about having 3 different Blur albums, frankly, and bummed that there's only the one Gorillaz (debut) album).
Turbonegro
3/5
As far as I know I've never heard of Turbonegro, nor heard anything from this album, a nice exposure to a late 90s album. They've definitely got a serious retro rock vibe going (maybe a bit metal? apparently punk roots too), which is kind of fun, and they're a pretty tight band. I'm not sure there are any really notable songs in the album (even their bonus track "Suffragette city" cover is kind of nondescript), but it's kind of a fun throwback listen, especially if you're out on the open road (which I wasn't). And based on other albums like this in the 1001 albums, I rightly guessed that they aren't American (Norwegian, it turns out), but clearly want to revive that later 80s very American rockin' sound. And they do it pretty well, I'd say. I'm not sure it necessarily deserves inclusion in the 1001-albums collection, but then again that's probably true of a lot of the albums.
Kanye West
4/5
It's hard to really separate Kanye West's sad mental health journey (and public persona) from his music, but taking this album out of this context is probably the best one can do. It's definitely more interesting and expansive than "The College Dropout" (listened to previously), and it has a few entertaining highlights -- "Dark Fantasy", "POWER", and "Hell of a life" (in part from the "Iron man" riff). The video/singles are also well-produced and entertaining ("Runaway" especially (didn't watch the whole 30-minute film, though) and also "Lost in the world", although "All of the lights" not so much). Much like "The College Droupout", it's waaay too long, with a number of very forgettable songs (and the latter half of "Blame game" is just downright unpleasant and tedious and offensive), but still a very solid album, if you can separate the person from the music (which I personally find tough, given how toxic he's been).
The Wikipedia entry for this album feels like it might have been written by a very devoted Kanye West fan, as it rarely makes a lot of sense. Many of the sentences seem to start with one thought and end in the midst of another, with very little coherent in between. ("He elaborated that a minimum of 80 percent was genuine, with the remainder 'fulfilling a perception' for the public. West also insisted that he was not criticizing My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and instead failed to reach satisfaction, then openly revealed his idea of the truth." Or whatever.) But reading between the non-linear lines, it sounds like the production process was fairly tortured and excessive and expensive, which sounds about right. Kanye West put an entire fridge's worth into a blender, and I'm impressed with the strange, rich stew emerged.
Hole
3/5
It's probably not a great idea to subject anyone to Kanye West and then Courtney Love (Hole) right after each other, given how much their toxic and destructive personalities color their music. And I'm also disappointed that the collection has more than one Hole album, given how interchangeable it feels like their songs and albums are. But "Celebrity Skin" *does* have a few more radio-friendly hits than the aptly-named "Live Through This" (mainly the title track, but also "Malibu" and "Awful"), and I guess it counts for something that they seemed to progress into alt-rock more than grunge-ish on this album. Overall, it's a fine if overly long album, especially if you enjoy Hole's sound and style, which I don't particularly, although I did enjoy "Use once & destroy".
Much like my experience listening to "Live Through This", I'm really surprised how they're not all that distinctive-sounding. But kudos to Love for the T.S. Eliot/Wasteland inspiration for the album, and sad that they tried to get Brian Eno to produce the album, and then tried for Billy Corgan and then settled for a guy who effectively sabotaged their longtime drummer. What a strange swan song for a band. (3)
Cocteau Twins
3/5
Given this project's fascination with semi-obscure Scottish and Welsh artists, I figured it was just a matter of time before we got the Cocteau Twins, although I'm a bit surprised there are two of their albums in this collection, given how..niche...their sound is. I had a musician friend in high school who was absolutely obsessed with the band, and he played their weirdly ethereal music *all* the time (he was also obsessed with Stanley Jordan's two-handed guitar tapping, in addition to the standard death metal lineup, so it wasn't really 24/7 Cocteau Twins, even though it often seemed like it). I think this was more of their "Treasure" era music than this album, but it always felt like they were what The Cure kind of wanted to be if they didn't care about being accessible or popular. And even with "Heaven or Las Vegas", this still seems to be true, although perhaps more Cranberries-like than Cure-like, and there are definitely hints of more mainstream tunes ("Pitch the baby" a great example, also "Heaven or Las Vegas"), if you could only understand or even make out the lyrics amongst the lush wall of sounds (I'm really impressed that watching her lips in the videos doesn't seem to help *at all* in understanding what she's singing). I always enjoyed small bits of the Cocteau Twins back in the 80s, and I think that still holds true today.
Dennis Wilson
4/5
I like this not-really-Beach-Boys sound a lot more than the original band, I'll admit. I know this album came out later than most of the Beach Boys' albums, but it still feels like it has more of an edge and a more instrument-focused perspective, both of which improve the listening experience (a lot). "River song" helps the album come out of the gates charging, and I also particularly enjoyed "Friday night" (especially the Pink-Floyd-esque intro) and "Pacific Ocean blues". Thankfully, there are only a few tracks too ersatz Beach-Boys for my taste; mainly "What's wrong" and "You and I". (Only a fellow Beach Boy could have listened to this album and pronounced "Dennis, that's funky! That's funky!" But I suppose Brian was right, comparatively speaking....)
I'll admit to not knowing much about any of the Beach Boys, but reading about Dennis Wilson's life and early death is incredibly tragic. What a bummer that his far more interesting-sounding voice and style on this album was the product of a lot of substance abuse, exposure to messed up stuff like the Manson family, and a lot of mental health issues.
Guns N' Roses
4/5
I never really know how to rate Guns N' Roses. I despised them with a passion when I was a teenager, but more from envy than anything else, and even then I understood what my friend saw (and idolized) in how impressive Slash was. This is clearly their signature album, and really impressive for being a debut, and it has so many permanently-popular songs on it that it's nearly a greatest hits album on its own. Except that the other songs, of which there are *far* too many, are forgettable and interchangeable. But it's hard to ignore what a strange and far-reaching influence this band had on the glam/metal/rock scene. So as much as I *still* don't really enjoy listening to them, I can't help but give them a 4-star rating. Welcome to the jungle indeed.
Love
2/5
Well, quite a contrast to Guns N' Roses, I must say. I know Love was pretty popular back in the day, but this album at least doesn't seem to have aged very well, perhaps because it's all over the map stylewise, waaay too much flute, and a strange choice to devote half the album to one song. "Seven and seven is" is a truly interesting proto-surfer-punk-ish song, and "Stephanie knows who" has some promise, but that's not enough to justify an album (even one as considerately brief as it is). And all the shenanigans of the band trying to get out of the Elektra contracts doesn't really add to the mystery or mystique, I must say (but they definitely benefited from getting the Doors producer on this album, especially with "Revelation"). Given that we're also getting what seems to be universally considered Love's (sole) masterpiece, "Forever Changes", I wonder why this album is even here?
R.E.M.
3/5
Like a few other bands in this collection, I have a hard time being fair or objective to REM, largely because a guy I knew (and thoroughly despised) in college was such a fanboy of this whiny-sounding college-town band. But the upside of this is that I really haven't heard much of REM beyond what played on the radio way back when, so nearly all of this album is new to me (except "Radio free Europe", and also has the benefit of being a debut album, when they hadn't quite honed the somewhat smug and whiny sound that I (unfairly) associate with them. On the other hand, given that there are four REM albums in this collection, I'm not really sure why this album was included, except for perhaps the fact that this is the first album for the world to hear REM's fairly distinctive sound and style. It seems like a fine album overall, and I enjoyed "Moral Circle" and "9-9" in particular. And I know it's not fair to rate them down simply because the project's editors decided to inundate us with a band that I happen to have an irrational dislike for.
Depeche Mode
4/5
I've never been a big fan of Depeche Mode, I'll admit, even though they're (to me) probably one of the most complete and talented members of the 80s New Wave synth sound. That said, I can't say how often "Personal Jesus" runs through my head, and I'm very glad to see that this album has that song, as it's one of my favorites (for reasons I can't really explain). There are also quite a number of impressively interesting videos accompanying the tracks on this album (especially "Halo", but also "Enjoy the silence" and the Pink-Floyd-inspired "Clean"), although the video for "Personal Jesus" makes me think that perhaps it's not as insightful a song than I always imagined it to be.... Judging alone by how many tracks made the radio rounds, this is a very solid album, and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
3/5
It's kind of curious that this collection has the first and second album by Crosby Stills & Nash, and nothing else, mainly because these two albums seem somewhat interchangeable. When I started playing this album, in fact, I actually wondered if somehow I'd gotten the same album I'd listened to before, but then realized it was just that there were another bunch of radio hits on this album too (as well as a thankfully much smaller number of largely forgettable harmony-driven tracks). I *do* like it that Neil Young's influence can be heard and felt on this album, as there's definitely more instrumentation to many of the songs (compared to their Young-less debut album). And the radio hits remain both familiar and fun to listen to once again; especially "Teach your children" and "Carry on", but also "Our house" and to some degree "Woodstock". I also enjoyed "Almost cut my hair" as a surprisingly not-CSN-sounding song, and Young's "Helpless" sounds almost better on this album than his own releases. Overall, though, there's not much cohesion to the album, a product it seems of the way each band member recorded and composed on their own.
The Roots
3/5
I've known the group's name for years (decades, I suppose), but as far as I know I've never listened to any of their albums, and I doubt I've heard much of their work on the radio (or at least the radio stations I've listened to). It's an impressively wide-ranging album, and the album is tight and well-produced, albeit too long, and I'm not sure I can really agree with "The Rolling Stone Album Guide" highlight of "Water" as an amazing track. I was also impressed at how the early small intermission-like tracks have some of the more interesting range of styles in this album ("!!!!" has some Fishbone-inspired guitar licks/sounds, and I enjoyed the spoken word "WAOK (Ay) rollcall"). I particularly enjoyed the track/video "The seed (2.0)", definitely a highlight of the album; and also the semi-Public-Enemy-style "Thought @ work", and the pounding "Quill", and I largely enjoyed the jazz-poetry-experiment of "Something in the way of things (in town)".
It's not really my taste musically, so I'm not sure I can really judge whether this was as ground-breaking as the Wikipedia entry seems to suggest, and it does seem weird that the project didn't have The Roots' previous album ("Things Fall Apart") given that album's breakthrough success (and more well-known status), but I *do* like the title and the album cover, dripping with irony.
Carole King
3/5
I should probably be (and am) embarrassed to say that the only Carole King music I'm familiar with is the soundtrack she did for the Maurice Sendak animated "Really Rosie" series. This album is clearly not in that vein, and rightfully so. And I sense that this is probably one of her best albums, or I hope so since it's the only Carole King album in the collection. Unfortunately, it doesn't really do much for me, probably in part because I didn't grow up hearing her music, although I did enjoy "Smackwater Jack".
Ironically, when I heard her two biggest hits on the album ("I feel the earth move" and "It's too late"), I immediately thought they were kind of weak, easy-listening covers of songs by other songwriters. I didn't really enjoy those songs on this album, but they're both good songs in other artists' hands, so I give her lots of credit for that. And that's true of many other songs on this album she wrote or co-wrote--especially "You've got a friend", "(You make me feel like) A natural woman" and "Will you love me tomorrow". I guess she's a singer's songwriter, as evidenced by all the stars participating on this album. Although there's nothing wrong with this album, it's just not to my taste, and I'm really glad it's been so incredibly successful over the years. It makes me wish my parents had this album around when I was a kid, as I'm sure I would have an infinitely greater appreciation for it now.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4/5
What an impressive debut album! I know there are other classics from their later albums, but this has a surprising number of hits that have withstood the test of time (regardless of their politics). My favorites on the album are also the ones I've heard many many times before: "Free bird", "Gimme three steps", "Simple man", and "Tuesday's gone" (ironic that the album producer nearly killed "Simple man" before it was even recorded). I don't think I've previously heard the remainder, but there are a few good ones in there too. The leading track "I ain't the one" was surprising how much it sounded like ZZ Top (as in, ZZ Top was clearly inspired by this song, not the other way around).
Pro tip: although it's a better choice than some of the chain restaurants in the area, Skynyrd's in Kennesaw, Georgia, is a middling-at-best restaurant, even if the band *did* (maybe?) play there way back when....
Dire Straits
4/5
I've often wondered how much better this album would have been if it had been made five years earlier, or ten years later, and avoided the growing pains of the 80s in the process (too much sax at times, too many keyboards, drum-machine-sounding beats, weird experiments with semi-easy-listening interludes, and those ubiquitous headbands). But despite that, this is still a really entertaining Dire Straits album, with a surprising number of radio hits on it. My favorites of the lot are the mainly the hits, especially the title track (whose video rivals some of the war imagery in Pink Floyd's "The Wall") as well as the iconic "Money for nothing" (whose video doesn't age as well but remains MTV's launchpad, and I never knew that was Sting singing "I want my MTV"!); the video for "Walk of life" is a great 80s sports nostalgia visit. "Your latest trick" seems like a strange coda for their earlier and far superior "Private investigations", and the "So far away" video is a bit puzzling, in that it's fun to see the band having a great time playing and recording a classic of theirs, but also very incongruous to have everyone smiling as they sing about the frustrations of a long-distance relationship... A few of the other songs on this album seem surprisingly disposable, given how strong the good ones are (looking at you especially, Buffett-like "Why worry"). But they're not frustrating enough to downgrade from 4 to 3 stars, and I really enjoyed "The man's too strong", even with the Paul-Simon-"Boxer" sounds. Mark Knopfler has a great and distinctive guitar style that I've always appreciated, and it shines in places on this album.
I'm also glad to see there's another Dire Straits album in the collection, as it feels criminal to not get my all-time favorite Dire Straits song "Sultans of swing" (and one of my favorite songs period). And I'm really surprised how acidic the early reviews were for this album (especially UK critics); I mean, the 80s sound wasn't kind to anyone, but it's not *that* awful....
Weather Report
3/5
I'll admit I've never been a 60s/70s jazz rock/fusion afficionado, or fan for that matter, so this album doesn't really do a lot for me. But I can see how "Birdland" became an instant classic (at least in certain circles), and I also enjoyed "Teen Town", both for brevity and the lead bass. It's also nice to get exposed to some Jaco Pastorius, as I've heard much more about him than anything *by* him, and I can see how much Weather Report benefited from his participation. And while I can see connections in this to music I've enjoyed listening to from decades ago (Jeff Beck, Al Dimeola, even some (later) Chick Korea and Herbie Hancock), I'm not sure I'd come back to this album, especially with all those awkward-sounding synth sections.
Cream
3/5
I was excited to see a Cream album pop up in this collection, and I also liked the somewhat-obscure-political-reference-sounding album title. But then came away feeling like I had *far* too outsized expectations for both the first-ever-superband and their album (and very disappointed to find out the "Disraeli" reference had nothing to do with the Right Honorable Mr. Benjamin). It's hard (maybe impossible) to find fault with "Sunshine of your love", of course, but that seems to be it on this album; the opening track starts you off on a bad foot, and then there's this weird alien insertion of "Sunshine" to blow your little mind, and then the remainder of the album is back to sad, occasionally-falsetto 60s generic rock, with a small exception for "Tales of brave Ulysses" and "SWLABR". How can the sum of several (well, three) incredibly talented musicians equal quasi-psychedelic-rock mush? Maybe it's because they had to record the album in a hurry due to expiring visas, or maybe just that veering away from their blues wheelhouse ran them on the rocks of mediocrity. A shame too that this is the only Cream album in the collection (although maybe it's a blessing?).
Christine and the Queens
3/5
This one definitely comes straight out of left field--I've never heard of her/him or this album, and I'm quite confident I've never heard any of these songs before. The music in many of the tracks doesn't really do all that much for me--a bit too semi-retro-80s-pop for my taste--but the videos are absolutely hypnotizing, largely from her/his physical strength and presence and an incredible variety of settings to "Comme si", "Girlfriend" and "The Walker" (not as much with "5 dollars"). I actually preferred the music more on the non-video tracks, especially "Doesn't Matter" and "Damn (what must a woman do)" (I kept hearing "what must a puma do"...), but I also enjoyed the seamless Franglais throughout, although I'll admit I chose not to listen to many of the French version of the songs. And kudos to Chris/Rahim C Redcar for earning 4 Victoires de la Musique!
Lauryn Hill
4/5
This is actually my second listen to this album in this project, as I got it before joining a group. Sadly, I didn't leave any notes from my first time, but did give it a 5, I think largely on the weight of its reputation. Regardless, it's a fun listen, and while it's far too long (and occasionally too winding), it's an incredibly solid debut album (and curiously her only solo album), with a great mix of Fugees sounds and her own style and distinctive voice. I particularly enjoyed "To Zion", "Doo wop" (and the awesome split-screen 60s/90s video) as well as the very Fugees-inspired "Forgive them Father" and the fun and creative video for "Everything is everything".
I suspect if she had been more selective in the track list, I'd have probably given it 5 stars again, but I guess the second listen showed me some room for improvement on a very solid album....
The Byrds
3/5
Hm. This is the first of 5 Byrds albums in this collection, which sets a pretty high bar for each album. And I don't think this really cuts it, despite their wholehearted embrace of country in this semi-concept album. I didn't particularly enjoy most of the album, sadly, mainly because this isn't outstanding country music (even if it's far out of their wheelhouse, except for Gram Parsons, of course), but there's nothing wrong technically with their playing, and the highlights are probably "You ain't goin' nowhere" (Dylan cover, curiously), "You don't miss your water" and "You're still on my mind", with "One hundred years from now" and "Nothing is delivered" the only country-rock-sounding songs on the album (too bad, as a whole album of that might have been a lot more interesting). I can only hope that the next 4 Byrds albums are more interesting, and I feel for poor Gram Parsons, trying so hard to crusade for country rock, and burning out of the Byrds in the process. And the Wikipedia entry makes for a fascinating soap opera of anxiety and competing egos, and an eviscerating time in Nashville.
Queen
3/5
A curious choice for a Queen album for this collection, given how many radio hits Queen has had, and yet I don't think *any* of the songs on this album count as one of them. It definitely *sounds* like Queen--almost more princess than queen, as they struggle to emerge from a prog rock orientation--and that's always nice to hear. My favorites were "The loser in the end" (mainly because Taylor's compositions are so very un-Queen-like and yet still rocking) and the proto-Bohemian "The march of the black queen", but the rest is kind of forgettable, sadly, and poor Brian May's side ("White side") is actually painful, although fun to hear May sing lead vocals on "Some day one day". I also really wanted to like "The fairy feller's master-stroke", mainly for the backstory of this weird/sad/ornate painting, but the song wasn't for me.
I'm not really sure this particular Queen album is must-hear-before-you-die-worthy, frankly, although I certainly wouldn't go as far as Christgau's eviscerating and hilarious summary of the album as "wimpoid royaloid heavyoid android void." (I also can't agree with Nikki Sixx's evaluation that "Queen II will knock your dick in the dirt every time"....)
Gillian Welch
3/5
I always appreciate it when this project throws up a name I've never heard of or heard, so this is much appreciated. And an interesting singer-songwriter album--she has a strong voice and she and David Rawlings have a great acoustic style. The title track and "I dream a highway" are particularly good, with a haunting style and nice guitar work (and amazing that "Revelator" was their mic test version); I also enjoyed finding out that "I want to sing that rock and roll" was recorded at Ryman Auditorium (to an appreciative audience). I do wish there was more variety across the album, more from a sound and style perspective than the range of lyrics, I suppose, and I definitely preferred the tracks without as much banjo-playing, as those tended to feel shoehorned into a more bluegrass style that isn't quite as interesting/unique to me. (Although I have several albums I've enjoyed that veer into that territory, I'll admit.)
I'm not at all surprised to read that she worked extensively with T-Bone Burnett and also played a role in the music for "O Brother Where Art Thou", as this album fits well into those styles, but also somewhat different; I'm reminded in some ways of artists like Daniel Lanois or Lucinda Williams or even Ollabelle. If there were more tracks like "April the 14th part 1" and "Everything is free", and fewer like "My first love" or "Dear Someone", I'd have definitely upgraded her to 4 or 5 stars (I do wish I could give a half-star more in this case, though). But I don't think that's really her/their focus, I'll admit.
The Who
2/5
I enjoy listening to The Who on an occasional basis, and enjoyed the previous album I listened to in this collection ("Who's Next"), but this really didn't do much for me, despite all the accolades as it being one of the best live albums of all time. I also feel like there's simply too many Who albums in this project (5 total), and this definitely doesn't need to be there.
I didn't listen to the whole Leeds/Hull playlist from later releases of this album, so maybe it gets better when you get the whole concert, but aside from hearing their enjoyable single "Substitute" I didn't really find much of the album distinctive or particularly interesting or even all that well-recorded, although "Shakin' all over" is probably the closest you get to getting a feel for how good their live shows were, and moments of the extended "My generation" are fun. I guess you really *did* have to be there, sadly.
Eagles
3/5
It's kind of hard for the Eagles to top "Hotel California", and while this is a solid debut album, it's definitely not as consistently good or as interesting as their much later album (which I had the (mis)fortune of already hearing in this collection); I guess Joe Walsh helped them create a more distinctive sound? Either way, their radio hits on this album are all nice to revisit, although I'd kind of forgotten how subdued everything was from their early years (even "Witchy woman" is pretty mellow); it kind of reminds me of how different earlier Fleetwood Mac was than with "Rumours". And the new-to-me songs are fine but nothing spectacular; "Chug all night" is a particularly odd song, although a bit heavier than most of the other tracks, which is a nice change of pace, if only they could have chosen more interesting lyrics, and "Earlybird" is an interesting direction that they (perhaps wisely) didn't pursue long-term.
I know this has been a popular album over the years, but I kind of wonder whether Gleen Fry really achieved his goal that "We just didn’t want to make another limp-wristed L.A. country-rock record"?
Blondie
4/5
Aside from their radio hits--and really only "Call me", "One way or another", and "Heart of glass"--I don't know that I've ever really listened to *anything* by Blondie, and certainly not a full album. I can totally see how this album would represent for Blondie-devotees their best album, and I enjoyed discovering that there was more range in their arsenal than the first few songs on the album implied. "I know but I don't know" and to some degree "Will anything happen" even seem to display their NYC underground roots, a nice touch. (I also thought it was funny to have a few retro tracks like "Sunday girl" peppered throughout.) The two highlights for me on this album are the unsettling song (and video) "Picture this", and the Robert-Fripp-accompanied "Fade away and radiate".
But I also found I couldn't really get into this album, although I *really* appreciated how snappy the song lengths were. And the Wikipedia entry is a fascinating slow-burn evisceration by the producer Mike Chapman of every aspect of the band, from talent to lyrics to work ethic. By the end you feel badly for the band, but it all rings true to some degree. Regardless, this is clearly the most complete album by the band and an interesting intersection of their past and future, even if it didn't really do a lot for me personally.
Suzanne Vega
2/5
I feel like I've run across her name plenty of times over the years, yet never had a feel for what she sounds like, or even whatever genre (or two) she inhabited. And yet when I listened to this album, I realized that (a) I've heard a few of her tunes on the radio (yet none from this album, curiously, and really only "Luka" sticks with me), and (b) she remains somewhat muddled in my mind, mixed in with all these other somewhat anodyne 80s/90s folkish singer/songwriters. I think the latter problem is largely because she doesn't have a very powerful voice (at least on this album), and seems comfortable with keeping her perspective and involvement at a very long arm's length.
And I know it's not really fair to criticize an aesthetic that permeates 80s music (especially singer/songwriter music), but I really wish she'd been able to avoid the awkward rhyming cadence that seems to permeate a lot of the album (worst of all on the opening track "Cracking" and the pseudo-edgy closing track "Neighborhood Girls", but rarely absent from much of the album). I guess she helped pave the way for later, and much more interesting singer/songwriters, but what a shame that this collection has this album yet nothing by Toni Childs, whose debut album "Union" (1988) wipes up "Suzanne Vega" with a vengeance.
Deep Purple
3/5
Well, that's another Deep Purple album behind us now (only one more to go). :) I actually think this album is better in some ways than "Machine Head", at least in terms of consistency across the album, but it doesn't have anything to compare with "Smoke on the water", and it doesn't have the bizarre production storyline, and it has waaay too much noodling. But it's brief, I'll say that.
Beck
5/5
I really enjoy listening to Beck, so this was a nice treat. And while I was mystified by the presence of the previous Beck album I listened to ("Sea Change"), I'm not at all surprised to see this album. Even though I don't own this album, I feel like I've heard nearly all of the songs on it before, and enjoyed all of them (the only ones I didn't really recognize were "Earthquake weather", "Broken drum" and the last three songs). I particularly enjoyed listening *and* watching "E-Pro", "Girl", "Black tambourine" and "Hell yes", as he seems to have consistently creative and entertaining videos to songs that are already fun to listen to (the ASCII-art nature of "Black typewriter" was particularly cool, as were the MAD-inspired fold-ins in "Girl"; bummer that he had a spinal injury filming "E-Pro").
What a nice contrast to his previous album "Sea Change", and a great return to form. And a lot of really interesting contributors to various songs, including the funny selection of Christina Ricci on "Hell yes". And what a pleasure to listen to an album that was enjoyable from start to finish. (5)
Aerosmith
4/5
It certainly seems inevitable that there'd be some Aerosmith lurking in this collection, and given the number of hit singles on this album, "Pump" seems pretty logical (although I wish I hadn't noticed that there are 3 Aerosmith albums in the project; that pretty much exceeds my Aerosmith saturation point by a factor of two). This is a solid album, especially for those who enjoy their style and Tyler and company's pretty distinctive style, and all those radio hits elevate this from 3 to 4 stars, I'd say. And despite some really dated and cringeworthy videos, it's also impressive how well Aerosmith pivoted from their classic hard rock sound to a more glam-rock focus. No awards for interesting music or lyrics, sadly--and I'm not even sure you can make an exception for "Janie's got a gun", although that's probably the closest we'll get to social commentary from them--but I'm not sure anyone really expects that from Aerosmith, especially on their 10th studio album....
Parliament
4/5
If we're only getting one Parliament album in this collection (and it appears we are), then what a most excellent choice. (Technically we get more George Clinton with a couple of Funkadelic albums, but Parliament has its own magic, I'd say.) From start to finish, this album has a great, mostly mellow funk groove, and a fun listen especially with headphones. And the album cover is icing on the cake.
It's a shame that this doesn't have my favorite Parliament song, "Chocolate city", nor my second favorite, "Get up for the down stroke", but you can't get everything, I suppose. And it was fun to hear a few new-to-me Parliament songs, although the endless farting in "Night of the Thumpasorus peoples" was a bit much.
The Smiths
2/5
Try as I might, I really don't enjoy The Smiths, and that's not even accounting for Morrissey's horribleness. Consequently, I'm more than a little annoyed to see that we somehow managed to get three of their four albums in this collection, and then four Morrissey albums as well. Good for diehard fans of Morrissey, excruciating for everyone else (or at least me). I guess this album belongs in this collection more than the previously heard "The queen is dead", given all the radio hits on this album, but I just can't get into *any* of the music, I'm afraid, and what wasn't a radio hit is eminently forgettable. Or I hope I can forget it...
Bob Dylan
4/5
I'm not very familiar with Dylan's impressively massive discography, so most of this album is new to me (with the exception of "Tangled up in blue" and "Shelter from the storm", and maybe "Simple twist of fate"). I like it that the songs seem more personal than much of what I associate with Dylan, although I'm not sure why he protested so much that the songs weren't "confessions" or about his experience. His strength as a songwriter is clearly on full display here, but the music itself isn't all that interesting or inspiring, and it's hard to disagree with Mike Bloomfield's assessment when Dylan toured him through the album: "They all began to sound the same to me; they were all in the same key; they were all long."
I can tell this is a seminal album for Dylan, and a few of the songs on this album are really transcendent (mainly the ones I'd heard before), but the rest are frustrating to me as a non-Dylan-fan, as they could have been much more interesting if they hadn't been rushed through production (with the exception of "Meet me in the morning"). That said, I suspect giving this only four stars will land me in Dylan jail... :)
PJ Harvey
3/5
Too...much...PJ Harvey...in...this...collection. But at least there's only one more to go now, so that's nice. As with the other albums I've heard already ("Dry" and "Stories from the city, stories from the sea"), the tracks are just too flat and spare to do much for me, unfortunately, although this album is at least not nearly as dry as "Dry", likely thanks to Steve Albini's role as a producer. (I was also glad *not* to read any quotes from Albini about PJ Harvey or the album, given how Albini unfairly eviscerated the Pixies when he produced "Surfer Rosa". And it's interesting how there's a Pixies-like feel to this album, likely due to Albini's recording style.)
I'm not sure any of the tracks really spoke to me, although both "50ft Queenie" and "Man-size" had a little more life than many of them (unfortunately the videos were both strangely *un*-entertaining). And it's always nice to hear a Bob Dylan cover, part of my quest to find the best Dylan covers out there (although her "Highway 61 revisited" doesn't quite make the cut, it's definitely a creative version). Neither of those things, though, offset the lengthy dirge quality of the remainder of the album.
New Order
3/5
It's funny how the opening chords to the lead track "Love vigilantes" sounds *so* much like The Smiths/Cure/Morrissey; I had to double-check I'd opened the right album for the selection of the day. Thankfully, Sumner's voice isn't quite like those bands, and the rest of the album is much more New-Order-y (for good and bad), although I was totally reminded of Yaz and then Dead or Alive ("You spin me round") in the opening chords of the last song on the album ("Face up"). Even though I feel like I've heard New Order a lot on the radio back in the 80s, I'm not actually sure I've ever heard any of the songs on this album. Their sound is somewhat distinctive (at least dating from their transition to the synth-heavy dance-pop that's on this album), but they've never been a favorite of mine, so this is only passably interesting as a blast from the past. (Personally, I'd likely (slightly) prefer Depeche Mode or OMD to these guys, but at least it's not Pet Shop Boys or Duran Duran, I suppose. And kudos to them for having real bass and guitar playing, at least.)
Curious that the video and single versions of both "The perfect kiss" and "Sub-culture" are quite different sounding than the album version. I had high hopes for the video for the former, as it was directed by Jonathan Demme, but it's remarkably bland and uninteresting, sadly. I'm not entirely sure why we have two New Order albums in this collection, as it seems like they're kind of a one-trick pony, but trying to figure out the selection method is an exercise in futility.
The Notorious B.I.G.
3/5
It's funny how I've heard the name "Notorious B.I.G." so much over the years, but as far as I know I've never heard anything by him, and don't actually know Biggie Smalls' story at all (although I guess I might have known he got killed right before his second album was released). Not the most promising start to the album between the endless f-bombs on "Intro" and plenty of n-words throughout, but I suppose that's largely par for course for 90s rap/hip-hop, particularly East Coast hip-hop, as depressing as it is to hear and watch the glamorizing of drugs, violence and sexism, although I do appreciate it that occasionally you get the darker side of it all on this album, and you definitely get a sense that Biggie Smalls experienced a lot of what he sings about. Interesting story-telling on several of the tracks, especially "Gimme the loot", the title track "Ready to die", and "Respect".
Overall, though, this is far too long for what you get, especially for a debut album. I'm glad to have finally heard it, but I doubt I'd revisit this, just based on my personal music tastes. (It reminds me of how I read this amazing review for E-40's "Charlie Hustle: Blueprint of a Self-Made Millionaire", went out and bought it, and then listened to it exactly once.)
Supergrass
4/5
This is all new to me (band and album), which I (usually) appreciate from this collection. And quite a contrast to the album from the day before ("Ready To Die" from The Notorious B.I.G.), despite coming out in the same year. From their opening track through most of the album, it feels like some sort of strange Elvis Costello/60s garage band/Pulp mashup with the occasional bit of grunge thrown in too. An odd combination, but it works surprisingly well, and most of their videos are weirdly manic and entertaining, especially their hit single "Alright" (also "Caught by the fuzz" and "Mansize rooster", less so for "Lose it", "Lenny" and "Time"). I also liked the energy of "Strange ones", and it certainly feels/looks like they enjoy playing together, channeling a sort of teen vibe in a surprisingly un-jaded way.
I also loved the bassist's description of the people who lived/hung out on Cowley Road in Oxford and who inspired "I'd like to know" and "Strange ones": "There's a lot of people around Oxford who are real spliffheads and that, who go and lie down in Port Meadow, but I'm not really sure about them. I'm not really sure that they're individuals: they're part of a much larger thing."
The Yardbirds
3/5
Although I'm neither well-versed or particularly into a lot of 60s rock, I like it that (a) the album cover reminds me of a Ralph Steadman illustration, and (b) Jeff Beck participated heavily in this album, and (c) they went with a truly quirky album title (although I now discover that it's not really the official title of the album, sadly). An interesting(ish) mix of 60s blues/rock fare with the occasional foray into skiffle-sounding stuff and then (Beatles-inspired?) Eastern instruments and tunings. Not a lot of distinctive stuff here, but my favorite tracks are probably "Rack my mind", "Hot House of Omagararshid" (particularly the US version with a much more prominent Jeff Beck solo), and "He's always there". A shame we didn't get any Yardbirds music on this album with Jimmy Page *and* Jeff Beck playing together, although I kind of cheated and listened to the 1983 reissue of this album with a (mono) version of the dynamic duo's "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago", which wasn't quite as mind-blowing as I'd hoped....
ZZ Top
4/5
I actually got this album a long time ago from this project (pre-group-enrollment), and while it's not my first (or 2nd or even 25th) choice for an album to listen to again within a year, I'm kind of glad I get a chance to actually review it (I only left a star rating, and an unfair 2 stars at that). For one, I'm a bit shocked this was already their 8th studio album by 1983, and even more shocked that they were only halfway through their studio album output. I'm also impressed at how many of the songs from this album stayed on the radio for a long time afterwards. And while they've never been on my list of great bands, this album is a pretty good example of how well they pivoted in the 80s to create a sound and shtick that kept them popular album after album for decades afterwards. The videos for their singles are all hilariously dated in so many ways, but with the exception of "TV dinners" they also have an impressive continuity between them (I now discover that the three videos were all produced by Tim Newman and have many of the same actors) and capture the very odd contrast of sounds and styles of the trio, and especially these days it's striking how apolitical they managed to be, especially since I'd guess they were more southern-fried than SoCal lefties.
I'm pretty sure I'd never heard most of the other (non-single) tracks on the album, but some of them were pretty interesting; "I need you tonight" sounds a lot like an Eagles song, although there are bits of the distinctive ZZ Top sound interspersed in it, and "Thug" has an interesting bass-line and beat to it (not too many lyrics, though). It looks like we'll also get their album "Tres Hombres", and while I'm not sure we really need *two* ZZ Top albums in this collection (even if the earlier one likely has much more of their boogie blues roots), this one definitely captures the 80s ZZ Top sound surprisingly well. (And I love it that Mark Knopfler tried (pretty successfully) to reproduce Billy Gibbons' trademark guitar sound on Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" (and pretty successfully), but Gibbons never replied or helped him out, but acknowledged later that Knopfler more or less nailed it.)
The Beach Boys
3/5
Given how many references to this album are peppered through the other Wikipedia entries for other Beach Boys albums in this collection, I knew it was just a matter of time before we landed the apparently legendary "Pet Sounds". I was hoping it would be a revelation, or at least the album that would help me understand the widespread obsession with the band, but alas I remain ignorant and unworthy (and utterly floored by how voluminous the Wikipedia entry is--I suspect this may actually be the longest entry we'll get from all the albums in the collection).
I hadn't heard most of the songs from this album, and I'd be hard-pressed to distinguish them from each other, although I do recognize that there's quite a bit less beach and cars on the album, but plenty of girls/women. I also found the sole more-familiar tune a bit...unsettling, I guess. Listening to "Wouldn't it be nice" this time around had me wondering exactly how old the band members were, as it sounded like they were kind of fantasizing about being early teenagers, or worse yet fantasizing about being *with* very under-aged teenager-ish girls. I'm very confident they didn't mean to insinuate that, but it feels like a *lot* of Beach Boys songs are trapped in a horrible mid-teens amber, never moving forward or branching out (and I know that generalization may not exactly apply as much to this album). I'd guess at least some of the Boys also felt similarly trapped, especially as the band disintegrated over the years and Brian Wilson floated in and out. I'll give them credit (or maybe mainly Brian Wilson, since he seems to have felt that this was a solo album) that this album had a lot of Beatles-inspired music arrangement, so there's a bit more variety in the songs than just harmonies and organ/keyboard surf sounds.
Regardless, despite Brian Wilson's hope that this would be "the greatest rock album ever made", I just couldn't get into much of it at all. I'm sure it's blasphemy to give it only three stars, but I was close to just doling out two stars, but "Sloop John B" singlehandedly saved it from that fate. And now, only one more Beach Boys album to go ("Surf's Up")--yay!
Tom Waits
3/5
I've enjoyed various Tom Waits albums and TV/movie appearances over the years, so it's nice to get him in this collection, even if what I've heard before is *much* more recent than this album. I'm not at all surprised that in many ways he sounded much the same in 1977 as he did in the 90s or 2000s (more gravelly as the years passed). Given that it appears there are five (5!) Tom Waits albums in this project, though, I do wish this wasn't quite as long as it is, but it's still an interesting experiment. If I hadn't read up on the album in Wikipedia, I wouldn't have realized that this was recorded in a studio, albeit one with a bar, tables, invited guests and an opening strip show to set the mood. (I love how the producer described the experience as "It was like Allen Ginsberg with a really, really good band.") I particularly enjoyed "Eggs and sausage" and "Warm beer and cold women".
That said, I found it hard to appreciate either the music or Waits' semi-spoken-word lyrics. It sets an interesting mood, but I kept realizing that I was acting like those annoying customers at a jazz lounge who barely register the music as they try to have a conversation with a tablemate. Not at all fair to the band members or to Tom Waits, all of whom are talented musicians. This may be a good exemplar of Waits' early career, but it's too long and probably too much Waits for this collection (given that there are four more albums by him).
10cc
3/5
I've never heard of them nor heard them before, and while it's not earth-shattering it's entertaining and oddly eclectic. I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say that this album was "perhaps the most widely adventurous album" of 1974, but then again I don't know 1974 music very well, and there's certainly more range on this album than the opening track would suggest (although I think "The Wall Street shuffle" is probably their best on this album, closely followed by the last song "Oh Effendi"). I liked the hints of Elton John (mainly in the "Worst band in the world"), Simon & Garfunkel or maybe just Simon (mainly with "Hotel"), maybe a bit of early Queen ("Silly love" and "Baron Samedi") and some bits of Yes/ELP/Genesis (especially with "Somewhere in Hollywood", although it's mainly just some weird prog cabaret nonsense (so maybe *exactly* Yes/ELP/Genesis), Billy Joel ("Oh Effendi") and others in various songs, but it often felt a bit like a novelty album as they ping-pong from genre to genre. I *am* surprised that we didn't get one of their albums with a major hit (like their instantly recognizable "I'm not in love"), but maybe this had the right kind of medley for the book's editors?
Reading about how they created and funded their Strawberry Studios explains a lot about this album, though. Apparently they convinced a couple of bubblegum-pop producers to use their studio for three months straight and use them as session musicians, and they churned out dozens of apparently horrid songs with random titles and band names, and were able to upgrade the studio with the proceeds. It feels a bit like they never quite got out of that mode in making "Sheet Music".
N.W.A.
3/5
Despite hearing and reading plenty about this album when it came out, I'm pretty sure I never actually heard any of this album, even the notorious "F*** da police". Speaking of which, it's fascinating how much controversy that song created in the police community and in the press back when this album got released (in Seattle at least), and how much talk there was of preventing album sales to protect police community relations, especially given the explosion of Crips- and Bloods-related gangs all along the West Coast and elsewhere. Looking back in 2024, there's something innocent about the controversy and reaction to this album, but also depressing how little has changed in so many ways. I think it's safe to say that this album didn't stir the pot as much as show a mirror. (I will say, though, that the reputation of this album made me more nervous than I probably needed to be about going to an NFL game in LA's Coliseum in the early 1990s, as I vaguely and erroneously thought the Coliseum was either in Watts or Compton.)
I had higher hopes for this album than what I experienced, but it's not a bad album; it's also not all that varied or insightful (although "Express yourself" has a nice almost-De-La-Soul-like vibe), and some songs are just embarrassingly vapid ("Parental discretion iz advised" and "I ain't tha 1" come to mind). I wish that this album was less glamorous-West-Coast-gang-vibe and more aligned with the likes of Public Enemy's searing lyrics, but it is what it was. Several of their members--especially Dr. Dre and Ice Cube--have certainly followed a much longer arc from their roots in NWA, and became more interesting musically as they went solo or on to other groups. (Although I also feel sad seeing Ice Cube's trajectory as he spins further down the conspiracy spiral.)
Eric Clapton
3/5
Given the weird obsession in this project with multiple albums by various artists that probably don't deserve so many, I am utterly floored by the fact that this is the only solo Eric Clapton album. And while I feel like rewarding this possible oversight with 4 stars, in part because it's a solid album showcasing Eric Clapton's adopted sound, and of course his ever-popular cover of "I shot the sheriff", I now realize that we get other Eric Clapton solo efforts under Derek and the Dominoes ("Layla"), which really was all we needed and is really a stronger album than this one, which reminds me more of James Taylor than anything else. And too bad that "Let it grow" really *does* have a "Stairway to heaven" vibe (lite). So three it is!
Astrud Gilberto
2/5
Argh--I have *no* idea why this album is in this collection, except perhaps that she became famous as the voice on "The girl from Ipanema"? She doesn't seem like a very strong singer, she's not a songwriter (or at least for these songs), and the songs aren't really all that interesting, even with the samba/bossanova take. And seemingly confirming the weirdness of this selection, the Wikipedia entry and even the book's entry for this album doesn't provide more than lukewarm interest in the album. Even though it's not really a fair comparison, I feel like since we haven't had to listen to Mrs. Miller's take on other people's songs, why do we have to listen to Astrud Gilberto's? They both rose to fame on the same song, and arguably Mrs. (Elva) Miller sold more records (but I'm very thankful that we won't be getting any of her albums).
Pere Ubu
4/5
I'm not sure I can say I enjoyed this album, but I really appreciate it that this project tuned me into the weird world of Pere Ubu and its avant-garage. (I'd rate this album up there with Laibach, Deerhunter, and John Martyn as a band and music-style that was completely unexpected and deceptively original.) It's hard to say that any of the tracks are favorites of mine, although "Laughing" and"Real world" kind of stuck in my brain for a while, and nearly all of the song titles are intriguing, even when the song itself didn't live up to its potential (here's looking at you "Sentimental journey"). David Thomas' voice is pretty distinctive, and the Allen Ravenstine's keyboard/synthesizer effects are equally odd and memorable (definitely contributing to the "avant" part of their garage). If nothing else, this album seems waaay ahead of its time musically, although I'm not sure there are many other bands or albums that ever really sounded like this, past or present. Thanks, 1001 Albums! (And thanks too for a nice review of the album, as Wikipedia's entry is abysmally terse and unhelpful.)
The Black Crowes
3/5
I'm not sure if Chris Robinson's misophonia-inducing voice prevented me from ever noticing back in their heyday how much the Black Crowes sound remarkably similar to Aerosmith, mixed maybe with a bit of Rod Stewart. But listening to this album nearly 25 years later, and far removed from their ever-present rotation on the radio, the similarity seems pretty striking (to me, at least). And thankfully his voice isn't as grating as it once was. I'm not sure I can really go so far as to say it's a good album, and the videos to their singles are appallingly uninteresting, but it's also not a bad album overall. Could they use more interesting lyrics? Yes. More varied music on the album? Yes. A more talented video producer? Absolutely. But hey, it's their debut album, and getting so many singles with so much radio play is an impressive accomplishment for *any* album. I should probably give this four stars, but my ambivalence sadly runs too deeply for that (not to mention my visceral reaction to Chris Robinson's voice). If I could give a half-star extra, though, I would, simply for the fact that they got fired from their tour with ZZ Top because of a tirade against Miller beer.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
I suspect we won't get too many artists or bands that have had 19 studio albums behind their name (especially by the year 2000), so that in itself is impressive. And this is an interesting album, at least for someone (like myself) who doesn't really know Emmylou Harris' prodigious output aside from knowing (vaguely and maybe incorrectly) that she's primarily a country singer. I liked how the opening track ("The pearl") had a very Daniel Lanois-sounding vibe to it, and I also like it that she wrote or co-wrote most of the album's songs. (And I appreciate it that the "1001 albums" entry notes her connection to Daniel Lanois, as his style and influence is strong throughout much of this album.)
Her default folk/country sound isn't my favorite, but she does it well and there's a lot more variety throughout the album than I expected; I particularly enjoyed "I don't want to talk about it now", "Red dirt girl", and "J'ai fait tout". Thankfully it doesn't sound at all like she's just dialing it in after 30+ years of surviving the music circuit and a lot of ups and downs, plus an amazingly broad number of collaborations and shared music projects across the decades. (I'm now very interested in hearing her collaborations with Mark Knopfler as well as with Rodney Crowell--I'd guess those are great combinations.) The album is a bit long in the tooth at times, and some songs are just too we-are-the-world-invoking ("One big love" especially), but I enjoyed listening to it much more than I expected.
Norah Jones
3/5
Although I'm not at all surprised to find this album in this collection, but I'll admit it's not at all a favorite of mine. There's nothing wrong with the album, the songs or Norah Jones' style, but every time I've heard this album (and I've heard it a few times, strangely), it just feels like there's nothing there. It seems like she assembled a good group of session musicians, and she clearly has musical talent, but there's little to no affect in her voice, even when she's singing about sadness or regret or even happiness or love. Too bad, since this is the only chance Norah Jones gets in this collection (unlike, say, Amy Winehouse, who was clearly still finding her way on "Frank" but then got into her groove with "Back to Black", and we get to give her a second chance).
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
3/5
What a strange album, and a strange life story for Jah Wobble (sadly quite violent at times). I'm glad it started off with "Visions of you", particularly because of Sinead O'Conner's appearance and distinctive voice, but also because it kind of eases you into a weird mixture of often generic-sounding bass/beat-driven world music tunes. I felt like this was more of a soundtrack to some world-hopping independent film than an album, although I'm not entirely sure it's a movie that I'd have chosen to watch. But I like it that at some point (post-PiL, post-substance-abuse) while working for the London Underground he supposedly pronounced over the PA system, "I used to be somebody. I repeat, I used to be somebody." Indeed.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Although there are simply too many Rolling Stones albums in this collection (and this is only #2 of 6 total, sadly), I'm appreciative that this is a strong Rolling Stones album at least. It's bookended by two great classics in "Gimme shelter" and "You can't always get what you want", while the remainder in between is largely new to me and pretty uneven, which is about what I expected. "Midnight rambler" and "Monkey man" are strong songs (and possibly part of their repertoire? They sound familiar, in any case). Thankfully, there aren't too many stinkers in the lot, although "Love in vain" is pretty painful (and also surprisingly Dylanesque, although I now discover that it's a cover of a Robert Johnson song from 1937), and I'm not really sure what to make of "Country honk", as it's clearly the same song as their classic "Honky tonk women" but this version is weirdly thin and not very Stonesy (I wish they'd dropped this version from the album and included "Honky tonk women" instead of releasing the latter as a standalone single, but I'm sure that was a money thing). Likewise for the title track, which starts off feeling like some weird saloon version of itself--is this really the version that got so much airplay for years afterward?
I'm not sure why this Rolling Stones album in particular made me feel particularly aware of how much (blues) appropriation they profited from (it could have been all the reviews talking about how "authentic" they sound), but it does, and it's hard to unhear now that I've noticed it. It also makes it hard to know what to rate this album, but misgivings aside the number of classic songs means it's probably deserving of four stars.
The Doors
4/5
I'm not a huge Doors fan (or afficionado), but I *am* impressed with how strong their debut album is. It's kind of like they exploded onto the music scene full-grown and fully-developed, although I suppose that could also imply that they didn't really evolve much as a band over their relatively short career. Regardless, there's not much filler on the album--"The crystal ship" is probably the only real dud (but perhaps not to the psychedelic crowd), and while iconic "The end" is far too long and a bit tedious (although it might have been fun to hear the version that got them fired from Whisky-A-Go-Go). And there's an impressive number of long-lasting radio hits to counter the less interesting stuff. And it's always a pleasure to hear Ray Manzarek's organ playing, as he made The Doors who they were more than even Jim Morrison's distinctive voice.
Pavement
3/5
I wish I could say that I'd heard of Pavement or recognized some distinctive trait of them, but other than the somewhat later release year of this album, I'd be hard-pressed to distinguish them from a slew of 80s/90s indie bands like Dinosaur Jr, Meat Puppets, Wilco, etc., except perhaps a somewhat lighter edge and perhaps slightly-more-audible lyrics. But I'm also struck by how challenged I am to even remember the differences between most of the tracks on this album--"Stop breathin" and "Newark wilder" are a bit more acoustic-oriented than others, I guess? and "5-4=Unity" *does* have a somewhat more distinctive style/tone, in part as it's an instrumental. And although Wikipedia tells me that "Cut your hair" helped get them more attention, I certainly don't recall ever hearing it before, and aside from a somewhat quirky (and equally annoying) video, it didn't really make a big impression on me either. That said, I found "Range life" the most interesting song on the album, and its somewhat mesmerizing video centered on a Dutch music festival is worth watching (also hilarious that their mocking lyrics of Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots got them booted from their scheduled appearance at Lollapalooza in 1994).
I believe Robert Christgau that in his eyes they're the "finest rockband of the '90s," but I just don't hear it, frankly. Although it looks like I'll get a second chance, as we're also going to get to hear their debut album in this collection ("Slanted And Enchanted"). I can't really capture in words how excited I am at this prospect....
Steely Dan
3/5
About 300 albums earlier I got my first Steely Dan album, and I'll stand by what I wrote then: "I've always enjoyed listening to Steely Dan, but I also feel like one album is more than enough to give us a sense of the style and flavor; his music is largely interchangeable, so getting another selection later on would be a bit disappointing." Little did I know that ahead of me there would be 3 more Steely Dan albums and a Donald Fagen thrown in as well. Thankfully, there's only one more Steely Dan for me after this ("Pretzel Logic"), so I will eventually return to simply enjoying it when I hear Steely Dan on the radio or on my shuffle playlist.
I *do* appreciate it that this album has several of their radio hits, including two right out of the gate. (Ironically, I'm not sure I ever realized "Dirty work" was a Steely Dan single, as it always made me think it was likely an Eagles or CSNY song, or some group more in that vein with the harmonies.) It was also nice to revisit "Reelin' in the years", but the rest of the album doesn't quite seem as strong as some later albums; they seem to be feeling their way a bit on this debut album, perhaps in part from having David Palmer as lead vocals on several of the songs. I feel a bit badly only giving their debut album three stars, but I can't really justify giving every Steely Dan album four stars, and this one sacrifices quality for variety more than the others.
Dion
2/5
What a strange selection for this collection. I've never heard of Dion, and am staggered to find out this was his 14th solo studio album, but having listened to it I'm not particularly surprised that it didn't make much of an impression when it was released. And very sad to find out (from Wikipedia) that Dion himself disowned the album due to Phil Spector's mangled production--Dion's description of the album as sounding like "funeral music" is spot on. (It also makes me wonder why any album that's been dismissed by its own artist was included in the project...) I *did* enjoy the bleak-but-hopeful "Your own back yard" and the simply-bleak "New York City song", perhaps because they were the two non-Spector-produced songs on the album.
If nothing else, it's quite a contrast to his "Runaround Sue" jukebox days; in that sense it's a bit reminiscent to Dennis Wilson's solo album, albeit in a sort of reverse sense in terms of sobriety. The album also sounds like it should be played at a higher rpm or something, as if we're hearing it in slow-motion (or underwater). At least it's a pretty brief, unremarkable album. (2)
Scissor Sisters
4/5
Whenever I get a band I've never heard of before, I feel like this project serves up one of two possibilities: an eye-opening sample of a band or person that may not appeal to me, but seems very worthy of inclusion; or some incredibly bland or derivative or otherwise uninteresting 30-60 minutes. Today the book served up the former, for which I'm grateful. I'm not sure I'd necessarily listen to more of their music, but I really enjoyed Scissor Sisters' sound and attitude and music selection on their debut album. I'll admit I had very high hopes for their version of "Comfortably Numb", and wasn't exactly rewarded by my hopes, but I have to say it's easily the best disco version of Pink Floyd I'll probably ever hear. And I really enjoyed the energy throughout the album, with a lot of Elton John vibes at times (especially in "Laura" and "Mary"); the video for "Take your mama" is kind of dated-looking in a way but still has a fun energy to it (Jake Shears is quite a dancer). I particularly liked "Tits on the radio" and "Music is the Victim" (and also the somewhat jarringly downer "Return to Oz"). I also just liked how strangely eclectic this album is, and how they somehow managed to avoid seeming like a novelty act yet are clearly having fun hamming it up. I'm not sure it quite deserves 4 stars, but they get a bonus for just being unexpected.
k.d. lang
3/5
I know she's a pretty iconic name among singer/songwriters, but I've never really managed to get into her style or music aside from the occasional single. So this wasn't quite the magical experience (or memory) for me that I think it is for others. It all seems so earnest and serious, but little joy or really much emotion at all; it kind of feels like a more modern version of the kind of tunes you'd hear in an old-fashioned Italian restaurant. (I'm not sure how or why she felt compelled to call this album a "postnuclear cabaret", a phrase that promises so much more than what she's delivered.)
Since this album has her most well-known songs ("Constant Craving" and "Miss Chatelaine"), I'd kind of hoped that this would be the sole k.d. lang album in this collection. Sadly, no. But I *am* glad to find out that she did most of the soundtrack to the quirky movie "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", as I enjoyed the movie and music. That doesn't really boost her rating here, though.
Wu-Tang Clan
3/5
It seems odd to me that this is the lone Wu-Tang Clan album in this collection, given their legendary reputation and status over the years. But apparently this is it, and I'll admit that I'm perfectly fine with just one album for a band (if only the book's editors could have followed this as a rule...).
Listening to it in 2024, this album isn't all that compelling (even allowing for the endless f- and n-bombs), but I also suspect they set the foundation for East Coast rap/hip-hop for decades. I *did* enjoy the whole epic-rap-battle format of most of the tracks, with the various clan personalities taking turns trying to impress us all (and sometimes successfully); "Da mystery of chessboxin'" and "Protect ya neck" are probably the highlights of this style on the album (and a fun video for chessboxing). However, I just couldn't really get into the whole martial-arts rap-battle theme, but hey, wu wu wu!
Björk
3/5
I now realize that we get four (4!) Bjork albums in this collection (plus of course one Sugarcubes album), and I'm hard pressed to distinguish that many different Bjork-led albums, I'll admit. This album does sound a bit different from the previously-heard "Debut"--more of what I think of as her polished and refined sound--but it's still not *that* different, and I can only take so much of her strange girl-child-woman voice and the electronica style in one sitting. I *will* say, though, that she has consistently mesmerizing videos, and this album is no exception: "Hidden place" is uncomfortable to watch with all of the creepy alien-like liquids going through her eyes and mouth and nostrils, and left me feeling like I needed to blow my nose and wash my face (no idea what the song was about, but that's par for course with Bjork); and "Pagan poetry" is a little more explicit but still an interesting mix of animation and regular video. (YouTube Music didn't provide the video for "Cocoon", and I didn't bother to hunt it down.) The remainder is that weird mix of Bjork sound, occasionally pleasant, occasionally creepy or unsettling, always indecipherable. (Small exception for the more experimental "Frosti".)
I think my preferred dosage of Bjork is a song or two on a shuffle mix, so this was just too much of the same lilting Lovecraftian music to properly appreciate.
Orbital
3/5
Hm. Probably not a good combination to get Bjork on one day, and Orbital the next, but that's the way it goes somedays. I'd actually gotten the other Orbital album in this collection early on ("Orbital 2"), and I'd have to say I'm hard pressed to distinguish between the two albums. I enjoy their music overall, but more as background music than an active listening experience, and I find it hard to believe that this was intended to be rave/dance music, frankly, but then again I wasn't living in the UK during that time, or seeing the Orwellian impact of things like the Criminal Justice Act, which it seems Orbital was railing against. (That said, the US has had its own share of social decay and disintegration over the decades highlighted by misguided political strongarm tactics.) "Crash and carry" and "Quality seconds" were the only two tracks that I noticed, the former for being more dance-oriented and the latter for being almost Ministry-style.
A few years after this album was released, I remember discovering an internet radio station labeled "Music to code by", and this fits that bill quite well both then and now. (I wish I could remember the site that provided access to these curated "stations"; I think it was something like Live365 but with a different name, and plagued by *lots* of buffering and outages, but regardless I remember that particular station had more Everything But the Girl and Portishead than Orbital, but still....) And while it's waaay too long, even for the ambience, the album has a creative/amusing cover.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
I usually complain about getting multiple albums from most bands, but for whatever reason I don't mind at all getting three Simon & Garfunkel albums in this collection (and this is #2 for me, with "Bookends" preceding it, and apparently "Bridge Over Troubled Water" as #3 at some point). Probably because of the bare handful of albums my parents owned, I think they might have had two Simon & Garfunkel records (or possibly just a greatest hits album?). Although I'm not entirely sure whether I've ever heard this album in its entirety before, I definitely recognize many of the songs, and enjoyed the visit down memory lane. It's definitely doesn't pack as much punch as "Bridge Over Troubled Water", but their hits (mainly "Homeward bound" and "59th St. Bridge Song" (such a Dylanesque title, and far more effective than the poor-man's-Dylan "A simple desultory philippic" on this same album)), and even "Scarborough Fair" and a few others are enjoyable S&G standards. "The big bright green pleasure machine" is a very strange detour for them into a sort of Beatles-inspired and drug-insinuating rockin' tune (apparently meant to be satirical, but not very convincingly), while "The dangling conversation" sounds very much like a harmony-filled version of a Leonard Cohen song. I also really enjoyed the last three songs on the album, particularly "For Emily, wherever I may find her". And a tip of the hat to them for keeping the songs and album refreshingly brief.
Britney Spears
2/5
I guess if we had to endure Justin Timberlake's debut album, then it probably makes sense that we'd have to suffer through Britney Spears' debut album. But I have no idea why either of these albums are in this collection, honestly, especially since both of them produced (arguably) better albums a bit later in their careers. It *is* shocking to see how young Britney Spears looks in the videos--could she possibly be any older than 16 or 17 in most of them? Although I had to confirm it by reading the Wikipedia entry for this album, everything about the music and videos made me think of people like Miley Cyrus or Ariana Grande or Christina Aguilera, trying to transcend (and largely succeeding) their child-actor status and make the big time as a singer.
Much like fellow-Mousketeer Timberlake's debut album, it's hard to tell what if anything Spears contributed to this album, sadly; maybe the old-fashioned a-woman-is-always-there-for-you sentiment? I'm shocked that this is her best-selling album, as it seems so bland and syrupy (even down to the appallingly unoriginal cover to "The beat goes on"), although certainly more bouncy than poor Timberlake. It also seems like something that belongs to the 80s rather than the cusp of the 21st-century. But it certainly propelled her along a weird and often sad journey through the entertainment world, and likely made her and her custodians a ton of money.
Nightmares On Wax
3/5
I've never heard of Nightmares on Wax, and I don't think I've ever heard anything by them (him?) either, so that's always a potential plus for this project. It's a bit long in the tooth, playtime-wise, but that almost seems intentional given that it's more of a groove sound than anything else (another potential entry for that long-ago "Music to Code By" curated internet-radio/playlist I listened to in the later 90s/early 00s). Some tracks remind me of a more mellow (and somewhat more monotonous) version of RJD2 (of "Ghostwriter" fame), others are a bit reminiscent of MC 900 Ft Jesus (without any lyrics). But a shame we won't be getting the contemporaneous "Furious Angels" album by Rob Dougan, with the incomparable "Clubbed to death" track of Matrix (movie) fame.
It's always a bit hard (for me, at least) to rate ambience-oriented music as anything but a 3, largely because there's not really any virtuoso elements or a story or theme running throughout the songs (that I know of). Sorry for the wishy-washy, DJ EASE....
Beatles
4/5
I'll admit that I'm not a big Beatles fan, and as a result not particularly familiar with their discography or history, but even a great unwashed like myself know the album's name and its place in the pantheon of rock's history and trajectory. (Although I still found it hard to read through the excessive panegyric Wikipedia entry for this album; way too many superlatives and foundational statements.)
This is one of the few albums in this collection where I really wish I could somehow listen to this album in the context of when and where it was released, so I could possibly better appreciate how earth-shattering it seemed to be to so many musicians as well as formative rock critics. There are only a few tracks that I haven't heard before (e.g. "What goes on" doesn't even sound like the Beatles to me, and not just because of Ringo Starr's rare vocal lead), and yet this is the first time I've heard the album in its entirety. I enjoyed it, and it was fascinating to hear a sort of transition from early- to later-Beatles taking place in this album.
Fela Kuti
3/5
An interesting album, and definitely more accessible/entertaining than the other Fela Kuti album in this collection (the depressing "Zombie"). Although I'm not sure that the name "Live!" is entirely accurate, since it's an in-studio performance (a la Tom Waits' "Nighthawks At The Diner"), it's still a fun performance and definitely has a live vibe to it, and also gets some Ginger Baker thrown in for good measure on the last two tracks (plus the "bonus" Berlin concert track). I really like it that it feels more like a jam session than some sort of "world music" inclusion.
Fleet Foxes
3/5
Another nice mystery band and album from this project. At times they seem a little too earnest in some ways, but I like the kind of baroque take on folk music that sounds a bit like a 21st-century version of (European) medieval traditional songs. There's definitely more than a hint of bands like The Lumineers/Mumford & Sons/Of Monsters and Men, but not enough to seem like a Black Keys sort of homage band. I also enjoyed the somewhat odd claymation video for "White winter hymnal", despite that both it and the bizarre Jesus-and-some-of-his-disciples-in-a-manger-with-a-LOT-of-goats video for "He doesn't know why" made it actually harder to understand each song's intent (and quite the Godspell vibe with the latter video). Regardless, an impressive debut album from a bunch of hairy Seattle lads.
The Waterboys
3/5
At first I wondered if I'd ever heard anything by The Waterboys, but then the opening track made me realize I'd definitely heard them (or at the very least I've heard a rendition of "Fisherman's blues" that sounds almost exactly like their version...). It's kind of all over the place musically, which is sort of intriguing, but also a bit scattered-sounding; I do like how there's a bit of The Pogues going on at times in this album, though, and they do a very nice cover of Van Morrison's "Sweet thing". I also like it that "And a bang on the ear" failed to chart in part because everyone from outside Ireland didn't know what that phrase meant (myself included until I read the Wikipedia entry). I'm not sure that Yeats would necessarily have enjoyed their rendition of "The stolen child", sadly. (I certainly didn't, and it made me think of more painful aspects of ELP or Spinal Tap.)
Based on this album, it seems like The Waterboys would have fit right in at the 1986 Self-Aid charity concert, but sadly didn't. Overall it's not the most exciting collection of songs, and since we don't get any other Waterboys albums in this collection (not that I'm complaining), and I don't know their music well or at all, it's hard to get a sense of how radical a departure this album was from previous albums. OK but not great I'd say.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
I wondered when we'd get this album, so the wait is over. I've never been a huge Springsteen fan (of his music, that is, as I really respect his career and perspectives), but it's hard to ignore how iconic this album has been for him. It's also remarkable how familiar so many songs on this album are--I think the only ones I didn't recognize were "Backstreets" and "Meeting across the river" (although the familiar-sounding-ness could also be because he doesn't have the biggest range). It's also interesting to read that Springsteen agonized over the production of this album, requiring many many (many) takes to get everything to sound just right, given that he's a notorious lyric mumbler and it appears *nobody* really knows whether Mary's dress sways or waves....
I kind of wish I didn't have 4 more Springsteen ahead of me in this collection, but it's hard to fault the inclusion of this one.
Eminem
4/5
Kind of remarkable to think that earlier this year (July 2024, "The Death of Slim Shady") Eminem just released a coda to Slim Shady 25 years after this album came out. It's never been the most elevated concept, but you gotta hand it to Enimem for the longevity of this pathetic "alter-ego" figure. And even though it's a pretty uneven album, there's something about it that I've always enjoyed listening to, and in a weird way it's held up much better than some of the other rap/hip-hop albums in this collection. My favorites are probably "Guilty conscience", "If I had", the genuinely disturbing "97 Bonnie & Clyde" and "Rock bottom", but most of the tracks are fun to revisit. (I suspect that some of the tolerance I feel for this album is because it's not as focused on drugs, gangs and (realistic) violence as some others, although that guy has a serious mouth and Slim Shady certainly (and likely Eminem too) has some serious issues with women.) I know a lot of people find his voice's tone/timbre super annoying, but I'm thankful that I don't suffer from this.
Otis Redding
4/5
It's kind of a bummer that this is the only Otis Redding album we get in this collection, but an excellent selection nonetheless. I've never listened to a full album by him, so it's nice to get a full half-hour of his distinctive sound and voice. It's also interesting to find out that most of the songs on this album are covers, and somewhat ironic that one of the few Redding-authored songs on the album, "Respect", became *much* more famous and well-known by Aretha Franklin's cover version. And in a truly bizarre moment of coincidence/synchronicity, I literally read a local newspaper article this morning (12/11/2024) about Sam Cooke's now-60-years-old song "Change gonna come" and how Cooke drafted the first version of the song during a visit to Durham, NC, just after meeting with NCCU students; I think I prefer Cooke's version of the song (the same with "Wonderful world"), but Redding's is good too. (And very sad that this album came out just months after Sam Cooke's murder.)
A nice album to fill your soul cup, and amazing that it took him and the backing band only about 28 hours to record the whole album.
OutKast
3/5
Well, much like "69 Love Songs" this "album" definitely pushes the boundaries of my tolerance and willingness to listen through without giving up. And a shame, too, given that this is really two very different albums, with "The Love Below" more interesting musically and "Speakerboxxx" *much* more interesting lyrically. But I'm sure there are going to be more of these outliers, so at least this one's behind me. I'm not really familiar with Outkast or their solo artists (although I've definitely heard both "The way you move" and "Hey ya!" a *lot* on the radio long ago), so I don't have a sense how different this is than their previous music (and interesting that it seems this was effectively their last album given all the accolades).
"Speakerboxxx" is an intriguing album, largely because it becomes more interesting as you get further into it. It's well-produced, and an impressive range of topics that extend well beyond sex, drugs, violence and self-promotion. After hearing the whole "album", though, I'm not sure I could really identify a lot of specific tracks to call out. I did enjoy the FedUp-driver video for "GhettoMusick" (and kind of wondered just how boring that song would be without the video playing too), as well the Stevie-Wonder-esque "Church" and "Knowing".
I can certainly see why some people describe "The Love Below" as a long-lost Prince album (although there are aspects of Parliament too). It's definitely a weird contrast to "Speakerboxxx", and entertaining in its own offbeat way, although I'm not sure it would have fared all that well as its own album. But then of course there's those somewhat few and far between hits on the album that seem almost out of place, like "Hey ya!" (and its incredible flamboyant video) and "Prototype" (although I'm not sure it made it far as a single), and a few other songs that are entertaining in a somewhat superficial way (like "Happy Valentine's Day" and "Behold a lady" and "Dracula's wedding" (with a great lyric video)). But you have to give him credit for putting it all out there.
If this "album" was under an hour, I might have boosted its rating. But 2-1/4 hours is *way* too much for anyone but a rabid fan.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
I've come to realize that I'm not all that much of a Stevie Wonder fan, despite wanting to be, and while that's kind of disappointing, I *do* appreciate that this project helped me realize this. There's certainly nothing wrong with this album, and despite that this came in the middle of his rapid-fire album releases, it's got a nice and somewhat distinctive groove to it (and I had no idea that he got in a serious car accident just after it got released, nor that this experience made him even more spiritual).
But I'm not sure if it's simply from already listening to three other Stevie Wonder albums in this collection already, or the heavy (and impressively early) synthesizer layer, or just something...missing...from his almost-funk sound, or something that just makes the album kind of bland to me. My favorites were probably the classic "Higher ground" (I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I kind of prefer the Red Hot Chili Peppers' cover version to the original), and the surprisingly stark "Living for the city". I also enjoyed the opening to "Don't you worry 'bout a thing", and I can totally see how Barbra Streisand made "All in love is fair" into her standard (although I'm not a big fan of either version).
Lupe Fiasco
3/5
Well, I'll admit I've never heard of Lupe Fiasco, and have no idea if he's a big name or not in the hip-hop world (either in 2006 or in 2024). I'm not sure why nearly every hip-hop album we've gotten in this collection is an hour long or longer, but it's kind of a bummer as few artists of any genre are able to fill an hour or more with solid tracks and no filler. And this album is no exception, sadly, despite the "1001 Albums" book's description of it as "57 minutes of non-stop funtasia", and despite as well his interesting/unusual Muslim background, it's not particularly distinctive or original-sounding for the most part. I enjoyed a cluster of tracks relatively early on--the single "Kick, push" (and also the later "Kick, push II", even though both of them kind of reminded me of Kid Rock's "Black chick, white guy" for some reason), then "I gotcha" and "The instrumental"--but then it fizzled out again for me for much of the rest of the album, with a couple of exceptions for "Daydreamin'" (a remarkable Inception-style set of layered samples/covers of "Daydream" by The Wallace Collection/Gunter Kallmann Choir/I monster (with a nod to Beta Band too)) and the unexpected depth to "American terrorist". Some interesting samples throughout too.
I'll admit I'm extremely unlikely to listen to this album again, nor other albums by him. And a bummer that the Wikipedia entry is so underwhelming and strangely plodding, as it could have made the album more interesting, honestly.
Pere Ubu
3/5
I really appreciated getting Pere Ubu's debut album earlier in this collection, in part because of the unique sound and out-there-ness. I was also perfectly happy to have that one album as my sole exposure to them; I wish we could have been given a choice as to whether we wanted *more* of their avant-garage weirdness, or some artist/band that *isn't* in this collection but should be (that list is sadly quite long), as I would have eagerly chosen the latter choice. But "Dub Housing" it is. Boo, 1001 albums!
Much like their first album, it's an interesting experiment but I'm not sure any particular track really stood out. "On the surface" is kind of catchy (very mildly so), and there's something a bit compelling to the refrain in "Caligari's mirror". Even though the music is quite different stylistically, I was particularly reminded of the band Colonel Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit (maybe just the same sort of experimental noodling).
I don't think there's any good reason to give them only two stars, except to balance out the four stars I gave them for their debut album, back when I didn't realize there was more Pere Ubu ahead of us. But that's not really fair to this album, I suppose, even if it doesn't really seem to add anything distinctive compared to their first album (although the "1001 Albums" review seems to suggest this album took a radically different turn, I must admit I didn't hear it).
Moby
4/5
I wondered if and when we might get this album, and here it is almost exactly a third of the way through. I own this album, and remember when you couldn't avoid hearing it everywhere and everywhen, yet listening to it now I kind of wonder why it made such a big splash (only now, after reading the Wikipedia entry, do I understand that the splash came more from Moby commercially licensing every track of the album than radio plays). I enjoyed listening to it again, and there's a kind of entirety to the album that I find really satisfying, but it's also not really earth-shattering or novel or anything, beyond perhaps using those Alan Lomax samples in a clever way. I feel about this album much like I feel about Faithless' "Sunday 8PM" album.
I'd never seen the videos to any of the tracks, so that was an interesting experience. I'm not sure the videos added much of anything to the songs; "Honey" had a strange sort of multiple incarnation puzzle/mystery to it (but I don't understand how it was at all related to the song), "Find my baby" was neither clever nor interesting, "Porcelain" was kind of interesting with the eyeballs, "Why does my heart feel so bad?" reminded me a bit of Radiohead's "Paranoid android" animated video, "Natural blues" was not nearly as profound as I suspect he thought it was (and disappointingly one-dimensional in equating old age with decrepitude), and "Run on" has a cute sort of Memento-style unraveling mystery to it. My favorites on this album remain "Why does my heart feel so bad?", "South side", "Natural blues" (despite the video), "Run on", and "Everloving".
I'm both impressed and a little disappointed that this is the only Moby album in this collection, as it would have been nice to have had his album "Animal Rights" as an interesting contrast. But I like the idea that we're getting just one album from an artist, and this is a good one, so a star boost for that (to help offset how it's clearly too long an album). And very cool that Moby is a direct descendant of Herman Melville!
Coldplay
3/5
I've only previously heard their radio hits, so I know it's not necessarily a representative sample of their sound, but from that exposure I haven't formed a very positive association of Coldplay. And now, after hearing this album (plus knowing that I have their debut album in store at some point down the road in this collection), I'm not sure my opinion has changed much. For good or bad (and in my case mainly bad), Chris Martin's warbling/keening style kind of dominates the experience of listening to a Coldplay song, and it seems like almost every single one of their songs is somehow THE MOST IMPORTANT EMOTION AND CONCEPT YOU WILL HEAR, even though I can't usually understand what he's singing over the wall of symphonic and urgently authentic music. It's likely my prejudice against them more than anything else that makes me cringe when I hear a Coldplay song, and feel like they're just trying *way* too hard to sound like they're the most emotionally attuned band on the planet. And the videos for their singles don't really add (or subtract) to this impression, sadly; well, except for the surprisingly dark video for "God put a smile on your face", which didn't seem to have anything to do with the song but had a great (dis)appearance by Paddy Considine.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
I haven't listened much to Bob Marley's music beyond what plays on the radio, so I don't know his discography well, but this certainly seems like a great showcase for Marley's songs and stylings. There are of course the massively famous singles on this album--curiously, all on the B side where the focus is more on love and spirituality--but I really enjoyed a number of other songs, especially the more political A side ones; "Natural Mystic", "Guiltiness" and the slow burn of "Exodus" are all interesting songs. There's something about the A side of the album that makes me think of a fascinating but fairly obscure movie I saw quite a while back, "Burn!" (from 1966, and starring Marlon Brando during his more politically active period).
What a strong album, and a fun listening experience.
The Libertines
3/5
Hm, not sure I've ever heard of The Libertines before, and I don't think I've heard anything from this album on the radio either. The opening track initially sounded a bit like they'd stolen U2's The Edge for their garage band, but then the opening lyrics made me panic that somehow this was a Morrissey/Cure/Smiths knockoff band. It doesn't appear that any of that is the case, but it does suggest that they struggle to distinguish themselves, at least in my ears (later on there's even shades of Pulp and maybe some Clash too). An OK album, I guess, but nothing particularly struck me as especially interesting, entertaining or distinctive (The retro "What Katie did" was probably the best of the lot).
Honestly, I'm not even sure it warrants the 2005 BBC poll ranking of third most overrated album ever, although I guess my ignorance of them wasn't shared broadly then or now. I'm grateful, though, that this is the only album by them in this collection, and not at all surprised to discover that their lone entry in the book didn't last very long after the first edition.
Metallica
4/5
This is my first Metallica album from this collection, but the last of the collection's four Metallica albums, which is kind of a shame, as it's usually more interesting to listen to a band's evolution rather than devolution. But I'm also bummed to find out there are four Metallica albums at all in this collection, especially since they're all within 7 years of each other, and frankly they're not really known for having a lot of range in their music. I had a friend in high school that was a *big* fan of them, especially James Hetfield's furious rhythm guitar and Kirk Hammett's blistering solos, but even he had kind of moved on from Metallica by "...And Justice for All" (three years earlier than this album), and I had never matched his interest or passion the whole time. I also developed a serious dislike of Metallica when they became the face of all the Napster-related lawsuits, even if they themselves didn't actually sue anyone.
Regardless, this is certainly a very solid Metallica album, and possibly their finest. It certainly has a *lot* of their most enduring hits, and it still keeps enough elements of their earlier thrash style to avoid seeming like a transition to a more "friendly" style (although my friend undoubtedly would have vehemently disagreed, if he'd even cared by that point). I'd never seen the videos to their singles form this album, and a couple of them--"Enter Sandman" and "The Unforgiven"--are definitely worth watching, although I'm not sure they help clarify whatever it is that Hetfield and Ulrich were trying to convey. That kind of applies to all of their songs, not just on this album but in general: I don't think they're nearly as insightful or profound as they think they are (not to mention as intelligible as they might have thought they were). And a number of tracks on this album feel a bit recycled, sadly (e.g. "Don't tread on me" sounds a lot like their earlier "Master of puppets"). But this is still a great exemplar of Metallica; and it probably should have been the only Metallica album in this collection (although I would have been very bummed not to get to hear "Fade to black" again as part of this project).
Funkadelic
4/5
It's so impressive how different this Funkadelic album is from the other one in this collection ("One Nation Under A Groove"), or from the lone Parliament album too. I can definitely see why people have raved about Eddie Hazel's epic solo in the title track; I don't think I've ever heard his work before, and this is quite showcase for his endless riff. There are shades of Hendrix and also Jeff Beck in "Maggot brain", but nothing derivative, and a pleasure to listen to (especially with headphones). The rest of the album is somewhat more traditionally George Clinton oriented, albeit a lot darker than a lot of other George Clinton albums have been, and more rock-oriented too than other albums (I don't think I would have known "Super stupid" was by Funkadelic if it came on the radio). Despite the shadows, though, it's largely entertaining (although disappointing that "Wars of armageddon" wasn't an adequate bookend to the title track), and fun too to get Hot Buttered Soul providing backing vocals on "Can you get to that".
Circle Jerks
3/5
Back in high school, I was always titillated by their name, but never really listened to them (outside of their brief appearance in the "Repo Man" soundtrack) and was pretty sure I wouldn't really enjoy an undistinguished SoCal punk band. (I didn't know until reading about the album that the frontman was formerly with Black Flag, but that doesn't really change much about my impressions or opinion, I'm afraid.)
This album confirms all of that, but I'm also very thankful and appreciative that we only got an EP sampling of them on this album. Nothing particularly interesting on the album, but it's hard to be particularly annoyed when no song lasts more than 90 seconds, so that helps them make the 3-star grade (that and the fact that this is the only Circle Jerks we have to listen to).
AC/DC
4/5
I'm not sure exactly why I had become convinced that neither AC/DC nor this album specifically were present in the 1001-Albums project, but I'm very happy to discover that I was wrong. Even those among us who might not particularly enjoy AC/DC would likely have to acknowledge that this is definitely an album to hear before you die. I'm not really able to listen to this album with fresh ears, but I hope it sounds as distinctive and hard-hitting for those who've never heard this album before as it does to everyone else who couldn't possibly have avoided hearing many of their classics on the radio (or streaming for the younger fans). This album is jam-packed with so many of their classics, it's hard to believe that it's actually their 7th studio album.
One of the things that always confused me in my teenage years was how similar-sounding Brian Johnson tried to be to the recently deceased Bon Scott. Johnson never quite achieved the same unbelievably distinctive growl as Scott, but it's an impressive transition nonetheless. I suspect this album would have earned a full five stars if Bon Scott had been lead vocals, but it's still a fun album. And I'm kind of glad I never watched any of their videos back in the day, because they are one *homely* group of Aussies (well, Limeys and Aussies). The various stage videos from this album showcase how strangely disproportionate Malcolm Young is, with a small guy playing a *huge* guitar, and his younger brother Angus is of course renowned for goofy outfits and equally goofy head, while Brian Johnson's absurd newsboy-cap kind of completes the awkward rebel-schoolboy look. But they certainly knew how to rock.
Lambchop
3/5
What a strange album--or I guess I should say unexpected, but in a good way. I'm not sure I've ever heard of Lambchop, let alone heard any of their songs. Kurt Wagner's style and voice is vaguely reminiscent of the Magnetic Fields, or maybe the mellower sounds of Pulp, but not in an imitative way. I didn't listen as carefully to the lyrics as I probably should have, but I can tell there's a lot going on in the songs, and I enjoyed the experience overall. The only tracks that stood out were "You masculine you" (not a fan of the falsetto, although it's much more tolerable on the somewhat more hard-hitting "What else could it be?"), the video for "Up with people" (pretty much the only direct reference to Richard Nixon, and a super creepy mouth-overlay making it seem like Nixon was singing the song during some (presumably disastrous) press conference), and the darker and more rock-oriented end to the album with "The petrified florist" and "The butcher boy".
On the whole, I pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the album as much as I did, despite what would otherwise seem *way* too far along the easy-listening spectrum than I'd prefer. (In that sense it reminds me of Ween's "country" album.)
Various Artists
2/5
I know we should give this project a pass on Christmas Day for whatever pops up, but this is pretty painful, and not just because Phil Spector was a creep and creepy guy and doesn't deserve any sort of accolades (especially given how dated his "wall of sound" seems these days). Moreover, I've really appreciated how strongly this collection has avoided "various artists"/"best of"/compilation albums, and this clearly violates that rule. I get it that it was a popular album back in the day, and I'm sure it was an interesting take on various Christmas songs, but it doesn't mean we have to like it. :)
Jeff Buckley
3/5
I guess I must have been under a rock when this album came out, and all the hype about Jeff Buckley accompanied it (apparently to disappointment among some, adulation among others). I'm pretty sure I haven't heard anything from this album before, aside from perhaps his cover of "Hallelujah" (and while it's a very nice version of the song, it seems a bit ironic that he did a cover of John Cale's cover, not knowing that Leonard Cohen was the original author).
A fine album, I suppose, but I didn't find his crooning/wailing style all that...interesting? involving? not sure what exactly. I'm not sure if it's a production or mixing issue or his style, but it feels like the entire album is lacking depth or something similar to that: everything feels just kind of flat, coming at you from a long distance (ironic since he was such a small club player); the only real exceptions to that are "Hallelujah" and the weirdly almost-rocking "Eternal life", although even with a more full sound I still didn't really enjoy the latter.
The Band
4/5
I really enjoyed hearing their debut album a while back in this collection, and I guess I thought this album would be more of the same, in a good way. And I guess it is, sort of, and I can see that this is considered a seminal album both for The Band and for rock music in general, but I found it really hard to get into it the way I did with "Music From Big Pink". There's no denying it has a lot of classic and revered songs, and it's all but impossible to avoid enjoying tracks like "Up on Cripple Creek", or appreciating the panoramic "The night they drive old Dixie down", but in the end it just didn't really click for me. A bummer, as I really enjoy and appreciate a lot of what Robbie Robertson has penned and composed, and The Band had a great cast of characters.
It's clearly me, not them, and thus I bow to the wisdom of decades of music critics and feel compelled to award four stars for its place in the pantheon.
Underworld
3/5
Although I enjoy various forms of electronica, and this album is an occasionally interesting/enjoyable flavor, I'll admit that as a genre it's harder to succeed in the context of the "1001 Albums" project, largely because the albums tend to be much longer than in other genres, and there's a *lot* of iterative and repetitive music with each track. Some groups/artists in this collection have such a distinctive sound that their albums are easy to rate and compare to other albums in the collection -- Moby, Chemical Brothers, Air, Fatboy Slim, Bjork, to name a few. But this album (and I suspect Underworld in general) isn't one of those, and seems mired in a sort of rave/dancehall morass of beats and sampled/synth effects (and some very dated feeling drum-n-bass), which is great as background music in some situations, but kind of annoying as part of this collection. (When I read the Wikipedia entry for the album, I laughed at the apparently unironic statement in the "Mojo" appraisal of the album: "never has the introduction of a hi-hat seemed quite so exciting." Indeed.) The only tracks that stood out for me were "Confusion the waitress" and "Stagger", both reminiscent of Moby, but definitely more foregrounded than most of the album and with a story of sorts to tell.
Both the Wikipedia and "1001 albums" entries for this album seem to suggest that this is a very cerebral and sophisticated form of experimental electronica. I remain unconvinced, I'll admit, and I'm sorry we didn't get their breakout "Trainspotting" (movie) single on this album ("Born slippy"), as that would have likely boosted their rating (for me); "Pearl's Girl" comes close, but sounds more derivative than complementary. But thankfully this is the only Underworld album in the collection, so that helps with a small rating boost of appreciation.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
Our second Isaac Hayes album! And a classic, of course, although perhaps not nearly as interesting as "Hot Buttered Soul". I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never watched all of "Shaft", although I've heard some of the more popular songs on this album (well, make that the two radio-length songs), and been intrigued by Gordon Parks' foray into directing films during his long career in photography and activism.
It seems perfectly fine as a soundtrack, but not all that exciting as an album, and kind of a bummer that most of the tracks are (understandably) instrumentals. As I listened to it I was reminded of listening to the Lohn Lurie soundtrack for "Get Shorty", and how I'd enjoyed that album but not as much as I'd hoped to (except of course in that case I'd seen the movie so the various themes were at least a little more obvious). Given that I also didn't overly enjoy the Barry Adamson fake soundtrack "Moss Side Story", I guess I'm just not a big soundtrack fan. A shame that this is Isaac Hayes most popular and commercially successful album, as it doesn't seem like the kind of showcase he deserved.
Jurassic 5
4/5
I've never heard of Jurassic 5, and I'm pretty sure I haven't heard any of the tracks from this album either; always a nice prospect (even if the promise doesn't always play out). I appreciate how they took a different approach to hip-hop than a lot of what we've gotten in this collection, with a lot of samples and bass and tight (and often incisive) lyrics; at times I'm mildly reminded of a more modern, beat-oriented De La Soul, or maybe even more so like the 2000s era iteration of the Jungle Brothers. I particularly enjoyed "Break", "A day at the races", "What's golden" (fun video too), "The sum of us", and "I am somebody", with an honorable mention to the Nelly-Furtado-assisted "Thin line". I also enjoyed the album overall, far more than I'd expected to from the opening few tracks.
Kind of a bummer that the Wikipedia entry reads like it was written by ChatGPT 0.5--not simply uninformative but poorly structured and a limited vocabulary (and sadly, the Wikipedia entry for the group is about the same). The "1001 albums" entry is substantially better--and more informative--but still leaves out a lot of background and/or context. Too bad, as Jurassic 5 clearly had a lot to say in their relatively short-lived tenure.
Interesting how much Rod Stewart appears in this project despite only having two solo albums in the collection. Unfortunate for those of us who aren't big fans of his raspy style, and I'll admit I'm not sure if I mind him or not--I kind of think of him as the Tom Cruise or Keanu Reeves of 70s/80s rock, where he seems to have limited talent but never actually gets in the way of an enjoyable experience and more often than not attaches himself to interesting projects. (And I know this isn't entirely fair to Keanu Reeves, as the more I read about him the more I recognize that he seems like a genuinely nice guy; however, I'm not sure anyone would describe him as an extraordinary thespian.)
That said, this album seems very middle of the road, which is kind of disappointing, especially given the clearly talented lineup in Faces, but not entirely surprising either. (But soo much easier to listen to than the Small Faces album in this collection.) It's fine for a half-hour or so of 70s rock, but doesn't really seem all that distinctive, although "Stay with me" is rightfully a classic, and "That's all you need" has a nice vibe to it. It's also nice to have more than just Stewart on lead vocals, and something about Ronnie Lane's vocals on his songs ("You're so rude", "Last orders please" and the highlight "Debris") had almost a Dylanesque aspect to it. Also very funny that the poster that came with original album distribution was so scandalous that the select few fans who got the poster before it was recalled had overnight collector's items.
Doves
3/5
I'm not entirely sure what to make of this album, or the band formerly-known-as-Sub-Sub. It's fine, and at time even interesting, but something about their style seems almost designed to be the soundtrack for some sort of indie film involving long car rides and heavy conversations in coffehouses and large parks at night, perhaps with an occasional supernatural event. Atmospheric perhaps, but not easy to focus on as an album, and I'm mystified that there are *two* Doves albums in this collection, as one seems like more than enough of a sampling (but I haven't listened to the other Doves album, so maybe it's a radical departure?).
In many ways, their backstory is far more interesting (to me) than their album (and nicely documented in the Wikipedia entry for the album): the road from being Sub-Sub to becoming the Doves, including losing all their recorded material (and equipment) in a fire, and all these connections to New Order/Joy Division--especially how their manager, Rob Gretton, took Sub-Sub under his wing and guided them to become a better and more confident band (eventually with a different name) until his untimely death in 1999.
Björk
3/5
Sadly, my first reaction to this album was "wait, *another* Bjork album???" I actually enjoy listening to Bjork, in smaller doses I'll admit, so it's kind of disappointing that this collection has created a bit of a Pavlovian reaction to hearing her voice. I'm honestly not sure why we get five Bjork albums (including the Sugarcubes album), but only two Cocteau Twins albums, as they're not all that dissimilar (and frankly one of each would have been enough for this collection). I now realize I've already ranted along the same lines about my Bjork overload with the previous album ("Vespertine" I think), so I should stop now.
Although I still can't really understand her lyrics (and frankly I'm pretty sure several of the songs aren't in English), this album *does* seem to differ from her earlier albums in the collection, mainly with fewer pop-oriented beats and the occasional Metroid-Prime-Trilogy-sounding tracks (like "Where is the line"). I don't know Bjork's music well enough to know if the medieval-sounding tracks like "Vokuro" or the nearly a capella "Oll Birtan" became a new direction for her, but it was an interesting change of pace. I also enjoyed finding out that she worked with an Inuit throat singer on some of the tracks, and also worked with both Robert Wyatt (whose album in this collection was a great disappointment for me once I realized he wasn't John Martyn) and Faith No More/Mr. Bungle's Mike Patton. And while I was a bit disappointed the videos for this album weren't nearly as mesmerizing as previous albums (although "Triumph of a heart" is pretty bizarre), the vocal focus certainly demonstrates what an impressive range she has.
Blur
3/5
Well, I guess this is the first of three Blur albums in this collection (for me at least)--I hope they're as interesting as that number would imply. I'm vaguely familiar with their earlier "Parklife" album, but I don't think I've heard anything from this album before aside from the impossible-to-escape "Song 2" single from yesterday (which I still enjoy, oddly, perhaps because it's just long enough to avoid getting annoying). It seems weird that they opened up the album with a sort of Beatles-inspired sound ("Beetlebum"), and then abandoned this immediately afterward for a kind of all-over-the-map alt-rock sound through much of the rest of the album. I'm hard pressed to call out much of anything else on this album as particularly distinctive or worth another listen and I was disappointed that all of the videos from this album are remarkably uninteresting; the track "On your own" has some potential, as does the weirdly Cure/Gorillaz mashup "Death of a party", and I also enjoyed the David Bowie-inspired "Strange news from another star".
I'm sorry to have gotten this as the first Blur album, as I suspect I would have a different opinion if I'd listened to the (chronologically) earlier albums first. I get this sense largely because the Wikipedia entry suggests that this album marked a big departure for them from their earlier Britpop style; it'll be interesting to see how the other two Blur albums stack up. And I'm quite disappointed in not enjoying this album more than I did, as I *really* enjoy Damon Albarn's Gorillaz experiments, and can't really see any of that here (with the possible exception of "Death of the party").
Morrissey
3/5
Even for Morrissey/Smiths, this isn't much to write home about, even if it was largely a "comeback" album after a long hiatus, and even ignoring what a punk he is and was. But then again, I'm not a fan (can you tell?). I *was* impressed at his economical song stylings, though: it felt like he came up with a lot of clever lyrics and then developed two or three music tracks to sing the lyrics to.
Out of the six Morrissey-related albums in this collection, I'd rate it the same as every single other one: three stars for you, Mr. Whiny Emo Jerk. Unlike your relationship with Jesus, I do not forgive you for taking away a few hours of my life listening to you, but it's just not so atrocious to warrant 2 stars or less. I just don't like you, Morrissey.
Arcade Fire
3/5
This is the second Arcade Fire album for me from this collection (but chronologically the third in the collection), and definitely an album I've heard of before although I'm not sure I've actually heard anything from it. Watching the video for the opening title track was a strange experience, I'll admit, because as far as I could tell the fairly light-hearted/sentimental lyrics had almost nothing to do with the increasing dystopian video of white suburban kids trying to ignore things as masked militia and law enforcement cordon off streets and kidnap people, ending with a savage beating of one of the kids in a diner. It certainly made the listening experience more interesting, but I'm not sure I understand how much the song and the video actually intersect, nor how intentional the juxtaposition was. (The Wikipedia entry for the album helpfully notes that the video has excerpts from a Spike Jonze short film "Scenes from the Suburbs", which at least provides a little context, but doesn't really resolve much.) The video for "Sprawl II" wasn't nearly as perplexing, but it had an interesting Dawn of the Dead suburban zompbie vibe to it.
Much like my reaction to their earlier "Funeral" album, I wanted to like this album and band more than I do. They're consistent with their sound, and it's not particularly thin-sounding or too lush (most of the time), but something seems to be missing (and their attempt at a kind of retro pop-punk sound for "Month of May" doesn't help). I *do* like how the entire album seems to be centered on a couple of (adopted) Canadians reflecting on their childhood in the suburbs of Texas, for good and bad. And I can definitely see how at least one critic compared this album to Radiohead's "OK Computer", especially since I had a similarly ambivalent reaction to the Radiohead album, and for largely the same puzzled reasons.
The Doors
3/5
For those of us who aren't die-hard (or particularly knowledgeable) Doors/Morrison fans, it's hard to imagine how any subsequent album could equal or exceed their debut album, so this album has big boots to fill. It's a valiant effort, and certainly starts off in the right direction with the classic "Roadhouse blues", but much like Morrison's increasing alcoholism during this period, the album stumbles quite a bit at times (the next track, "Waiting for the sun", almost sounds like some sort of camp cover of a Doors song). I enjoyed "Peace frog" and it's almost Deep Purple/Blue Oyster Cult sound (although I have to admit that this was probably the first time I'd heard that song, despite the Wikipedia entry claiming it was a classic rock radio staple), as well as aspects of "Land ho!". "Indian summer" felt like some sort of milksop version of "The end", sadly, but I appreciated it that they ended the album with "Maggie M'Gill", a nice bookend to the opening "Roadhouse blues".
It's hard to overly criticize any album that has a tight play time of 37 minutes, but given that the collection has two other Doors albums, both far more interesting than this one, I'm not really sure why this album made the cut for the "1001 Albums" project.
The La's
3/5
I've only ever heard "There she goes" by The La's, and that was solely through a compilation album (or so I thought, but it turns out that the 1990 "Happy Daze" album didn't actually include this song, so I'm not entirely sure where I heard them back in the day). Regardless, I was curious to hear the rest of their (only) album. I'm not sure exactly what I expected, but it kind of feels like "There she goes" was done by a completely different band from the rest of an album of seemingly-Beatles-impersonators (with the occasional foray into Doors sounds, e.g. "Freedom song"). Ah well. A fine album, but not all that interesting or distinctive, although I *will* say that it was a pleasant surprise that their sound wasn't yet another Madchester album.
Metallica
3/5
I'm not entirely sure how the editors of this project decided that this wasn't in one of the excluded categories of albums, but it certainly *feels* like an album out of place here. An interesting concept in principle, I suppose, but about 4 times too long for my taste. And while I appreciate the is-it-a-cover-if-the-band-is-involved puzzle, it feels too much like a kind of sad (and decidedly heavier) version of Trans Siberian Orchestra, minus the awesome Christmas music, of course. On the other hand, there's a certain poetry to having one of Metallica's four albums in this collection be an extended and loving homage to Deep Purple, who have only three albums in the collection.
This is one of the very few albums that I just couldn't handle listening to without judicious amounts of skipping and fast-forwarding (and WHY was "Fade to Black" not included????). I'm not sure who exactly thought this was a good idea to inflict on anyone but the most die-hard Metallica fans, especially since it just exposes how incredibly *long* and rambling many of their songs were (although the audience chanting back the choruses *is* very impressive, albeit in a sort of Seig Heil way).
I've begrudgingly respected Metallica over the years, and it was kind of fun to get some classics from their early years, but this album in particular has me wondering if my respect was ever deserved. (I'm reminded of my brother complaining that "Alien: Prometheus" was so painful for him that it made him rethink whether the first two "Alien" movies were actually as good as he remembered. No! But maybe "yes" in Metallica's case...)
TV On The Radio
3/5
I've enjoyed listening to TV on the Radio over the years, and own the other album by them in this collection ("Dear Science", 2008), but I don't think I've ever heard anything from this album, which is nice. It's not as entertaining (to me) as "Dear Science", but I suspect this album was included largely because it was their debut. And the debut-ness likely contributes to how different the two albums seem to me--unlike a few debuts that seemed to have emerged fully-formed, this one is rougher and still seems to be searching for a sound and groove. "Don't love you" is an interesting track, although pretty bleak, while "Staring at the sun" and "Dreams" are much more light-hearted tracks, and I can definitely hear in the latter two the band that I've enjoyed on "Dear Science", albeit with a low growl that seems to be their signature on this album. I guess it just took them a while to find a more compelling combination of harmonies and beats and backing music.
A shame that the Wikipedia entries for this album and the band are so sparse, as it would have been nice to have more context for this album; I *did* notice that they cited Brian Eno (who is everywhere) as one of their inspirations, which was fun to see. And I appreciated the "1001 albums" entry noting the connection to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in the formation of the band (although not a band member but the producer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs).
The Mamas & The Papas
3/5
I'm really surprised that I'm more than a third of the way through this collection, and this is the first Mamas and Papas album, and even more shocked to discover that this is the *only* Mamas and Papas album. Nonetheless this seems like a good selection, as it has a few of their radio classics on it (although it *is* missing most of their singles, perhaps not surprisingly).
I didn't grow up listening to them, and have never really found their style and sound all that compelling, so listening to this album didn't really do much for me, and a few of the tracks were a little grating (mainly the cover tunes, e.g. the Beach-Boys-esque take on "Do you wanna dance" or several of the final tracks on the album). But they have a place in the pantheon, I know, and I'm glad to have been exposed to a full album of their sometimes weirdly dark folksy tunes. I'm also struck that my favorite Mamas and Papas tunes are cover versions by later musicians (a bit like Bob Dylan, I suppose).
Silver Jews
3/5
Hm. Never heard of them, and from the seemingly offensive band name (apparently a problem that David Berman didn't really address until near the band's breakup, and I'm still not sure it's not offensive to many people) I certainly didn't expect a sort of mellow, country/folk infused album that seems to despair of any bright side of life, especially when I learned that Berman teamed up with a couple of Pavement musicians for much of the band's existence. I'm also guessing that the Pavement connection (which seems to be present in so many recent albums in this collection, even down to Blur's change of pace with their eponymous album) is also the main if not only reason this album is in this collection.
It seems OK as an album I suppose, but I'm not sure what makes this album worthy of inclusion as opposed to other indie albums from this time period. Some of the more atonal-ish-lyrics tracks--like the interesting yet grating "Time will break the world"--remind me of Daniel Johnston (sadly not in this collection). But there are also hints of Bob Mould, Lucinda Williams, Rodney Crowell (not in this collection either), Todd Snider (another missing artist) and others, all of whom seem more interesting than Berman's voice and lyrics. Most of all, though, I kept thinking of Frank Black as I listened to this album, and wishing that was who I was listening to. (Thankfully, we *do* get an album by him, so I hope my wish isn't disappointing when he comes around.) But maybe my skepticism is all for the good, as it sounds like Berman took a dark delight in being dismissed and ignored?
The Monkees
3/5
Given some of the other questionable bands in this collection, I'm actually happy to see The Monkees make an appearance (and makes me wish the collection also featured Spinal Tap). I haven't watched a lot of their shows, and never had the chance to see them perform live, but it always felt like they were a good group of people with more talent and presence than they ever got credit for.
This album seems like a good sampling of what they had to offer, and while it's not really to my taste it seems well-produced and honestly more interesting than most of the Beach Boys albums we've had in this collection. I also like it that this was the first of their albums to feature their own songwriting and playing (and a shame to read how controversial and challenging this was to accomplish). I'm also impressed that this album stayed nearly neck and neck with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band" in the charts for the 1967 summer of love (in the US at least). The standouts for me are "You may just be the one" and the amusing-Kinks-Beatles-mashup "Randy Scouse Git".
Willie Nelson
3/5
After getting his "Stardust" album a few hundred albums back (and not particularly enjoying the experience), it's nice to get what I imagine is a more classic Willie Nelson album, and an interesting concept for a concept album. I particularly enjoyed "Time of the preacher theme" (the 3rd track version), his classic cover of "Blue eyes crying in the rain", and his covers of "Can I sleep in your arms" and "Hands on the wheel", as well as how spare the album is musically, with his backing band at times and lots of Willie Nelson singing and playing. It was so gratifying to read that he was able to produce this album as we hear it because he had complete control, a huge contrast to so many albums in this collection from this time period by other artists.
Having now heard this album as well as "Stardust", I'm sorry that we didn't get some of Willie Nelson's other interesting (and recent) musical adventures. One of the compelling aspects of Willie Nelson's career is how many collaborations he's had with a wide range of artists (I've always enjoyed his and James Taylor's rendition of Townes Van Zandt's "Leftie and Pancho", although I still prefer the original I think) and it's a shame that our only exposure to Willie Nelson is a collection of golden oldies in addition to this definitional album.
The Doors
3/5
This was my first album from this collection, but from before I started listening in a group, and before I started to provide notes to what I was listening to, so I get to listen to it again and perhaps provide the same 4-star rating from way back when. I also appreciate it that I'm now finally able to listen to this album *after* the other two Doors albums in the collection, since that's more in line with the chronological order of the Doors albums in this collection.
The highlights for this album for me are mostly their radio classics: "Love her madly", "L.A. woman", and especially "Riders on the storm". I also kind of like and don't like it that they'd clearly refined their sound down to a very blues-oriented song structure (much like The Rolling Stones did, I suppose). As a result, there's less of Morrison's somewhat irritating poetic noodling on this album ("L'America" probably the only exception), but also too many tracks that are missing Manzarek's iconic keyboard playing, and consequently many of the songs are lost in a middling haze of uninspired bar fare. This is definitely one of the few times I really wish there were half-stars, as this doesn't really deserve four stars overall but the classics also elevate the album well above 3 stars.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
I'll admit I'm not much of a Joni Mitchell fan, so this isn't really my cup of tea, but I *do* appreciate it that this album is more interesting and likely more classic Joni Mitchell than "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns" (I can see there's still two more of her albums awaiting in this collection, but I don't know yet how "Court and Spark" compares to those two).
I enjoyed "Free man in Paris" and "Raised on robbery" more than the others, perhaps simply because there was a bit more oomph to the session band's style on those tracks (I didn't realize that Crosby and Nash were backing vocals on "Free man in Paris" until later, but that might have been part of its appeal, and Robbie Robertson's guitar on "Raised on robbery" puts that song well above the rest). And while I wish I enjoyed her music more, I do appreciate how distinctive her voice is; it's hard to imagine confusing her for anyone else. I'm also impressed how many big names she was able to get to appear as studio musicians for her album (and a nod to getting Cheech and Chong on the kind of cringy "Twisted").
Herbie Hancock
4/5
(a) I love the album cover. (b) I think I like the concept of enjoying Herbie Hancock more than I've actually listened to much of his stuff (I *do* own a Herbie Hancock album, but from much later, and ironically a it's a tribute album to Joni Mitchell of all people). (c) I enjoyed this album, and especially the range of styles in it, although as with other instrumental albums it's often hard to keep the music in the foreground of what I'm doing as I listen.
I particularly enjoyed the opening track "Chameleon"--it felt like a kind of kindred spirit to Jeff Beck's "Blow by Blow" album (or perhaps Beck's inspiration), except focusing on keyboards rather than guitar ("Vein Melter" also made me think of the more subdued tracks on "Blow by Blow"). I was also impressed at how he managed to avoid a sort of world-music vibe on "Watermelon man" despite the very obvious African work/rhythm overlay. And "Sly" seems to somehow stay very original while still paying homage to Sly Stone. I can definitely see why this album was included, and it makes me want to hear more of both the Headhunters iteration but also his earlier "Mwandishi" sextet (although I suspect the latter might be too experimental for me, sadly).
The Kinks
3/5
Although I'm in no way a Kinks connoisseur, I'm pretty sure this is one of their best albums (although apparently not all that successful commercially at the time), and certainly jam-packed with their acerbic humor and irony, mixed with a fair bit of nostalgic sincerity (I think). It's a bummer that they always sound to me like they were inspired by the Beatles, because I'm pretty sure that's only a product of me not knowing much of their music beyond their radio (and non-Beatles-sounding) singles. Although I'm not a huge fan of their garage-band sound (or maybe it's just the perhaps-intentionally low-quality production), I think my favorite tracks are the title track, "Animal farm", and "Wicked Anabella".
I like it that they took the late 60s in a different direction from psychedelic rock, and also that Ray Davies clearly understood how traditional life was falling apart and the allure and poison of romantic memories of the past and childhood; this album reminds me both of the movie "Hope and Glory" and the recently-heard Arcade Fire album "The Suburbs". Also kudos to the Wikipedia entry authors for one of the longest articles I've seen yet....
Elvis Presley
3/5
I'm not an Elvis fan, so it's hard to say much about what seems like a very Elvis album (and now my third from this collection), although I *will* say that this is infinitely better than "From Elvis in Memphis", so there's that. I kind of feel like the "1001 Albums" entry's quote of Elvis kind of says it all: "I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to." Sad but true, and doesn't really help explain why we have three albums by him, but thankfully this is my third.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
Ugh--finishing this somewhat overly long album marks the halfway point in my Neil Young journey in this collection (counting his CSNY album too). Great for the Young fans out there, not so great for the tourists among us. But kudos to him for (a) wanting to revisit the concept of long, instrument-heavy rock in the 90s, and (b) recording a zillion single takes of the songs on the album and then just picking the one that spoke to them (rather than edits and dubs and so on). Both of these approaches come through loud and strong, and give a studio album an impressive live feel (as well as a strange bedfellow to grunge rock). I wish I enjoyed his voice and lyrics more than I do, as it's an interesting concept for an album.
Ray Charles
3/5
I haven't listen to much Ray Charles in my life, so I have no idea whether this is one of his essential albums or not, but it was fun to get a strange mashup of big band sounds on one side and orchestral ballads on the other, especially at the end of a somewhat marathon catch-up session with this collection (and quite a nice contrast to both of the immediately preceding artists, Neil Young and Elvis Presley). I'm also impressed at how early this album is in this collection, which may partially explain the not-so-great production quality from the late 1950s. I'm not sure if this really highlights Ray Charles "genius" or not, but it's certainly more interesting musically than Sinatra's "Songs for Swinging Lovers" (at least the first side)...
Genesis
3/5
Like a number of other prog rock bands in this collection, Genesis doesn't need more than one album for the vast majority of us to get the feel for them, and it's particularly frustrating that the two Genesis albums in this collection were created and released only a couple of years apart. At the very least, it would have been nice to get one Peter Gabriel-helmed album, and one Phil Collins-led album, but I guess that's not meant to be.
I'm not sure I could say that I enjoyed this album much more than "Selling England By The Pound", and I definitely wish this wasn't a double-album, as it loses steam long before the second disc is even ready, but I'll give them credit for taking the whole "concept album" concept pretty literally. I'd also say that the best tracks are found as you flip from Side 1 to Side 2 ("The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging" and "Back in N.Y.C." in particular), although "Counting out time" is also a fun self-contained number that also seem pretty out of place.
As a soundtrack to a musical about a Puerto Rican kid on a spiritual journey, it's definitely more musically interesting and engaging than Andrew Lloyd Weber's rock-oriented compositions (and I would highly recommend reading the Wikipedia entry for the album for the plot summary, as there's no way I would have ever found a story from the songs themselves). But that may not be saying much, I admit. And props to Peter Gabriel for finding some inspiration from Jodorowsky's films, with all their bizarre/allegorical mind-bending qualities. Interesting too that both Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel cite it as their favorite Genesis album.
Dolly Parton
4/5
My initial (flippant) response to seeing this album was that it must be a "9 to 5" country album. And while that's not entirely wrong, it's also not at all fair to any of the trio. And while I'm not a huge fan of this style of country/traditional music, there's no denying how great they sound, both together and apart. A shame that it took them so long to finally be able to make this album (and then another ten years or so later), but I can certainly see why this album got many (many) awards. A shame in a way that this is the only appearance by Linda Ronstadt in this collection, but at least she made it in, I suppose. And kind of wild that one of the singles on this album is a cover of a Phil Spector song ("To know him is to love him").
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
This is number two of five Springsteen albums, and definitely a lot more unfamiliar than the songs on his earlier "Born to Run". In many ways, though, I found this a more interesting album than "Born to Run", as he doesn't sound like he's trying to pound his sound in your face. It's also interesting as a collection of solo demo tracks that never got the E Street Band treatment (for good and bad); I'm kind of reminded of Neil Young's Voice-O-Graph album, "A Letter Home" (courtesy of Jack White). My favorites are probably the opening track "Nebraska", "Atlantic City" (apparently his first music video), and the haunting "Highway patrolman" (very cool that Sean Penn created a movie based on this song), but I enjoyed almost all of the album, with the possible exception of the more conventional "Open all night".
I like the concept much more than I expected to, and really enjoyed all of side one, but I'll admit the second side didn't sustain my interest quite as much, and it's a bit hard to ignore how monochromatic most of the tracks seem without much else besides his voice, a guitar and a harmonica. Interesting, though, that this predated the whole "unplugged" movement by quite a bit, and it certainly gives me a lot of respect for Springsteen for branching out this way. I was also reminded strongly of both Townes van Zandt and Nick Cave, in different ways, but in very good ways too.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
This is the third and final Hendrix album for me in this collection, and also his third and final studio album by a nice coincidence (well, the last album as the Jimi Hendrix Experience). Definitely better than "Axis: Bold As Love", but not as tight as "Are You Experienced", and a bit long in the tooth at times (although there's something to be said for the sprawling and meandering live-sounding "Voodo Chile", I'll admit).
It's fun to hear some of his classics in their native habitat, and it's remarkable how his style and music *still* sounds incredibly distinctive and entertaining many decades later. My favorites are "Crosstown traffic", "Gypsy eyes" and his excellent cover of "All along the watchtower" (for me, the latter remains among my all-time favorite covers, the way it elevates a good song into a great song).
Billie Holiday
3/5
What a strange album to include in this collection, especially since it's the only Billie Holiday we'll get. I'm not at all familiar with her career, and my first thought was that I hadn't realized how similar she sounds to somebody like Nina Simone, only to uncover that she predated Simone by quite a bit and that the sound on this album (vocals as well as string orchestra) is not at all what she was best known for. I'm glad that she felt this was her favorite recording, because otherwise it seems a bit cruel to have this be the lone album to represent her.
In many ways this seems a lot like Johnny Cash's "American IV: The Man Comes Around"-- albums by powerful forces in music whose voices are literally croaking in their final years, ravaged by alcohol and drug abuse. I really enjoyed Cash's final studio album, in part because he chose remarkably diverse songs to cover (like Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" or NIN's "Hurt") and gave them a very Cash-like cast (and I'm looking forward to hearing this album in this collection). Similarly, Holiday's choice to cover Great American Songbook standards in a distinctive gravelly voice is an interesting choice on her part (especially given her jazz career), but I'll admit I don't particularly enjoy listening to these songs or style of music, sadly. that said, the final track "The end of a love affair" seemed to capture everything good and bad and tragic about this album and Billie Holiday's decline.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
This album makes me wonder just how many versions of "The girl from Ipanema" are in this collection. Regardless of the number, though, it's hard to beat the 1964 Gilberto version, and poor old Blue Eyes utterly fails to capture the same spirit despite Tom Jobim's presence and piano/guitar work on both versions (respectively). And sadly, as crooning as Sinatra can be, the rest of the album sounds like some Muzak version of a generic English-translated bossa nova album. It says a lot of my cluelessness about the context of 1968 that this album lost out on a Grammy for album of the year to "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"; I wouldn't have ever imagined that something this slow and mellow would even get a Grammy nomination, honestly. An interesting selection to round out the Sinatra albums in this collection.
Massive Attack
4/5
Interesting that we actually get two Massive Attack albums in this collection, but I'm glad that this was my first one in the project. I own this album (as well as "Mezzanine", sadly not the other Massive Attack album in this collection), but it's been a long time since I last listened to it. I'm really impressed how more than 30 years later it still sounds fresh and distinctive, bringing trip-hop into being. I particularly enjoyed the opening track "Safe from harm" and the Faithless-reminiscent "Five man army" and "Daydreaming".
I kind of prefer their later albums, but it's hard to deny how influential "Blue Lines" was as their debut.
Fairport Convention
3/5
Although not really to my taste, I'm really glad to have had this album in this collection, simply for the chance to listen to something that I would never had listened to otherwise and that appears to have a fairly important place in a stream of music history (in this case, British folk rock). I also appreciate getting something founded by (and featuring) Richard Thompson, as it helps expand my very limited exposure to him and his approach to music (which previously mainly consisted of hearing "1000 Years of Popular Music" and his occasional contributions to various albums and artists in this collection).
If their other albums are like this one (albeit with more original material and fewer ancient songs), I feel like Fairport Convention is a sort of antidote--or perhaps a more palatable alternative--to the fairy-ness of prog rock bands and others like Led Zeppelin or (earlier) Queen, as well as to the acoustic-only American folk rock from the 60s. (And I guess I'll get to see, as we also get their earlier "Unhalfbricking".) Admittedly, there were few tracks that I genuinely enjoyed--"Matty Groves" and "Tam Lin" might have been the only ones--but I appreciated the blend of often *very* old songs and a more modern rock sound. Aspects of this album made me think of Billy Bragg's 1985 cover of "The world turned upside down", and I was very relieved that *none* of this album was reminiscent of much later pet projects like Sting's "Songs From the Labyrinth".
Dirty Projectors
2/5
Hm. I suppose I should be as appreciative of getting this album as I was the previous one (Fairport Convention's "Liege and Lief"), as I can't say I particularly enjoyed either album but also had never heard of them before this project, and in Fairport Convention's case it felt like a missing puzzle piece in my very vague sense of British music genre histories. But I'm struggling to feel appreciative of much of anything in "Bitte Orca", except perhaps that it's not an overly long album, a rarity among the 21st-century entries. (I vaguely hoped that the video for "Stillness is the move" might be a highlight, but all I can say is that it will likely reinforce any existing feelings towards the band, for good or (in my case) bad.)
I *did* enjoy reading this reflection in the Wikipedia entry (by Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear): "Bitte Orca is so distinctly Dirty Projectors that I didn't even know how to begin to describe what genre it is, you know? What would one categorize it as?" I agree completely, although he had a much more positive take on that than I do. Uncharitably, I would probably categorize this album (and possibly the band) as more than a bit pretentious, disappointingly jarring, and as far as I can tell very happily living in a musical cul-de-sac. Although a bit of a mystery why it got included in the first place, I'm not at all surprised to discover that this album only made it into one edition of this project's book (2011 edition).
American Music Club
3/5
I guess I must be in the backwaters of this project, as this is the second day in a row getting a strangely obscure album (yesterday's was "Bitte Orca" by Dirty Projectors). Thankfully, this album isn't as grating as "Bitte Orca", but it's also not all that distinctive either. And it's in the running for one of the shortest Wikipedia entries, which is usually not a great sign. Most of the songs didn't really stand out to me, but I thought "Laughingstock" was a good tune.
According to the "1001 Albums" entry, they've been labeled "the most criminally underrated band in the world." I'm not sure any crimes were committed in downplaying their potential, to be honest, but I'm also not sure why they didn't get more exposure beyond a cult following in Europe, as there's nothing too harsh or offensive about this album, and it definitely has that 80s/90s indie sound down pat. Interesting that they compared themselves to REM "constantly"; I suspect that bred a lot of resentment when REM took off and they didn't. And interesting too that frontman Mark Eitzel started off doing punk, as this album seems very *un*-punk (except "Bad liquor" I suppose).
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
Although it's their debut album, this is actually the second Tribe album in this collection for me (I had already heard "Low End Theory" quite a while back). In this case, I wish I'd gotten their albums in chronological order, as I don't think both albums warrant four stars each, yet I foolishly gave "Low End Theory" 4 stars, not realizing we'd get more. This album definitely deserves the four stars more--really 4.5 stars if that were possible--in part because it's their debut album and also because there's simply more variety on this album than on "Low End Theory". And of course there's the eternally fun "Bonita Applebum" on this album, plus a few other fun tracks ("Push it along" for the first 4 minutes or so, "Pubic Enemy"). I'm also really impressed at the range of Q-Tip's samples and references, even if many of the tracks end up having a very similar format.
Much like with "Low End Theory", I was struck by how much this album evokes De La Soul at times, and thankfully the Wikipedia entry for this album finally clarifies why that is, as Q-Tip not only appears on De La Soul's "Three Feet High and Rising", but also early on Tribe, Funk Brothers and De La Soul all formed a "collective" called "Native Tongues". Too bad they never did a mega-album with all of them (and the other later members).
Shuggie Otis
3/5
I'm pretty sure I've never heard anything from this album before, or for that matter anything by Shuggie Otis, aside from perhaps his work with his father, but I'm pretty sure I haven't heard much by Johnny Otis either. And I appreciated that the album started off strong with the title track "Inspiration information", but disappointed that it kind of dissipated quickly for me after that.
I was impressed to read that Shuggie Otis played most of the instruments on the album, and got into (analog) drum machines so early on, and I was kind of hoping this album might have an undiscovered Stevie Wonder or Prince vibe. But I think there's a reason why this album never made waves. I wish it was otherwise, but in many ways this is very much the definition of the product of a nepo baby, and I'm not really sure why this album is included in this collection, frankly.
Sonic Youth
3/5
Despite actually owning a Sonic Youth album (1992's "Dirty"), I've never quite managed to enjoy listening to them, and this album unfortunately falls into that pattern too. I feel like this is a personal failing, since they're pretty much in the pantheon of indie/alt rock from the 80s and 90s, and I feel like I *should* enjoy their sound and style far more than I do, but there's just something about their wall of off-key distorted guitar and bass that just doesn't quite do it for me. I *did * appreciate the helpful Wikipedia entry for the album, especially how it pointed out the references and connections in this album, and it helped me appreciate songs like "The sprawl" (with its William Gibson references), "Hey Joni" (with its sprawling references to "Hey Joe", Joni Mitchell and even William Gibson) and even "Rain king" (Pere Ubu homage) and "Eliminator, Jr" (a weird and not very obvious combo of ZZ-top and Dinosaur Jr) more than I might have otherwise.
I'm also bummed that I don't enjoy them more than I do, given that this is the first of five Sonic youth albums in this collection. Like too many other artists and bands in this collection, I wish the editors of the book has exercised the practice of less is more with their selections, as there are so many other albums and artists that could have been included in the project with just a little more parsimony. Ah well.
Beastie Boys
4/5
I'm not much a Beastie Boys connoisseur (or particular afficionado), so it was a bit of a surprise to get one of their albums with only one single I recognized ("Sabotage"). But I enjoyed listening to it, and was happy to hear they'd evolved from their fun debut (so far the only other Beastie Boys album I've listened to in this collection, although I can see that "Paul's Boutique" will eventually get into the rotation too). I was a bit surprised how much they'd moved on from the screaming harmony rap of their earlier years, but this was pleasantly offset by a lot more instruments being used, and some great samples too. I think "Root down" was my favorite track on the album (along with the fantastic video), and "Sabrosa" the best instrumental on the album (with second place going to "Futterman's rule", in part because of the much later video added to the track full of "Sabotage" video outtakes), with honorable mention to "Boddhisatva vow" for its interesting take on old-school Beastie Boys. I was also struck by how much "Sabotage" sounded like it could have been on a Rage Against the Machine album (although perhaps not as much lyrically, and the fun Spike Jonze video definitely didn't ooze RATM at all). And I loved it that Q-Tip was featured on the otherwise not all that memorable "Get it together".
This is another album that deserves a half-star rating system, as it's clearly better than just a middling three stars, but it feels a bit too long and meandering for non-fans to warrant four stars, in my opinion. But since we don't get half-stars, they get the BB boost.
Country Joe & The Fish
3/5
I was neither tuned in or dropped out--or for that matter even alive--when this album came out, so I can only read about the context of this allegedly groundbreaking album, and marvel at how unassuming this first psychedelic rock album is. Apparently Country Joe said "If you want to understand psychedelic music, and you haven't heard Electric Music for the Mind and Body, then you probably don't know what you're talking about." That latter part fits me to a tee, although I'll admit to having not all that much interest in psychedelic music in general, and it's only mildly interesting to hear potential antecedent to the Doors, Beatles and others on this album.
A fine album overall, but nothing really drew me in either. I can see why "Not so sweet Martha Lorraine" was their only really successful single, and there's something a bit compelling about "Porpoise mouth" (and in turn makes me feel like Ween pulled directly from this song for their album "The Mollusk"). I also like it that Country Joe and the Fish is an obscure reference to Stalin and Mao respectively--a biting reference that's both far more subtle and more piercing than the ham-handed "Super bird" skewer of Lyndon Johnson. And what a shame that the label refused to include "I-Feel- Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" on this album out of political caution, as it's far more interesting than most of this album collectively.
Grateful Dead
3/5
I'm a bit shocked that this is the first Grateful Dead album I've gotten after nearly 400 albums, and equally shocked that there are only two in total of their albums in this collection. I'm not really complaining, though, as I'm not a big fan (or connoisseur), but given the legions of Deadheads I figured we'd get as many or more of their albums than, say, the Beatles or David Bowie.
Seems like a fine album to me, and what I kind of visualize as what a Dead album would sound like, albeit with less noodling and endless tracks than I figured was a fixture for them (but maybe that's due to a more folk/country focus than other albums? Or maybe they reserved the endless songs to live shows? I must admit that "Attics of my life" *felt* endless regardless...). The Dylanesque "Friend of the devil" and the quasi-Cash-like "Operator" were probably my favorites, and it was nice to get some of their enduring hits like "Ripple" and "Truckin".
The KLF
3/5
I was initially intrigued to get an album and band I hadn't really heard of before, but then became pretty disappointed when the opening track ("Go to sleep") sounded like an infinite number of New Wave-era bands. And then I became confused, as I tried to figure out exactly which version of this album I was listening to (and *should* be listening to), and finally landed on the non-Director's Cut version, and was mollified that this version's opening track ("What time is love?") was both better-sounding and less 80s sounding than my first listen. This didn't entirely rescue the album, as it's not all that interesting musically, but certainly nice to get a bit of a change of pace from recent selections from this collection. The highlights seem to be their three singles--"What Time Is Love?", "3 a.m. Eternal" and "Last Train to Trancentral"--and not much else.
I feel like The KLF at their best sounds a lot like a more house/pop-oriented version of Faithless, and perhaps due to that not as interesting or as engaging ("Build a fire" was probably the most interesting track on the album in that regard). But nice to get a slightly obscure band that *isn't* either Scandinavian rockers or American psychedelic rock.
Solomon Burke
4/5
I don't think I've heard much (or perhaps any) of Solomon Burke before, so it's very nice to get what's effectively a best-of album of his hits (and best to simply ignore whether this album violates the project's rule on greatest-hits/compilation albums). Despite a few oddball tracks ("Just out of reach" in particular), this is a great collection of soul/R&B/rock songs sung by a clearly talented artist.
The xx
3/5
It's so rare to get a 21st-century album, and even more uncommon to get something from the 2010s decade (in fact, this may be the first for me, at least according to my history page's decade-rankings, but I think it might be combining 2000s and 2010s albums into 2000s). It's funny, though, as this 2017 album sounds like it could have easily been made and released at least a decade earlier. Given their label as "indie pop", I was hoping for something a bit edgier and less commercial sounding; I think my favorites were "Lips" and "Brave for you" (and somewhat "Replica" too), but nothing grabbed me as much as I'd hoped; I was also disappointed that somehow their videos made the songs seem even more bland and uninteresting. They *do* have a nice layered sound, though it would have been nice if they'd scaled back on the echo/repeater effect and avoided the retro house/club/dance vibe. It'll be interesting to hear their 2009 debut album as well, and find out just how different this album is from their earlier work.
I particularly liked this largely-positive review on rateyourmusic.com, as it captures my sense too: "[I]'d like to believe that The xx have a Rumours tucked somewhere in their collective mind, a work of screaming passion and anger and beauty, pushing boundaries, blowing minds, changing lives. [I]'d also like to believe in the Tooth Fairy and reversible climate damage. it doesn't mean these things are coming true any time soon. "
Dead Kennedys
3/5
Despite knowing their name since I was a long-haired teenager, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've actively listened to the Dead Kennedys (and was disappointed to discover that they didn't appear on the "Repo Man" soundtrack). I'm quite relieved that I didn't miss anything by this long-standing omission, and a bit surprised that the album sounds *exactly* like I thought it would. I suspect when it was released it wouldn't have sounded like a parody of what punk rock should sound like, but I fear that's what it sounds like to me. And I'm inclined to agree with the reviewer cited in the Wikipedia entry for this album, who theorized that the album's relative popularity was due solely to "Holiday in Cambodia" and its distinctive sound. The rest of the album is largely undifferentiated hardcore with largely unintelligible but clearly excoriating, incisive and sardonic lyrics. (There are a couple of tracks with some interesting parts that might have inspired that Faith no More spinoff/nightmare Mr. Bungle, though: "Chemical warfare" and "Ill in the head".)
I didn't know much about Jello Biafra before getting this album, and now that I've read up on him, I'm glad I didn't know what a jerk he'd been to his bandmates and others before I listened to much of the album. What a strange (and largely distasteful but passionately antiestablishmentarian) man, and a strange artistic and political career; I can't imagine that the Dead Kennedys could really shine without him.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Switching from Dead Kennedys to CCR makes for quite a contrast on every level; sort of a smooth bourbon after several jolts of Jaegermeister. Sadly, I've never been much of a Creedence Clearwater Revival aficionado, and this is the first album for me of their three in this collection, so I'm not sure how it compares to their other albums. But it definitely sounds like them and has a shocking number of their classic radio hits, so it certainly *seems* like a good-if-not-great selection. I also enjoyed a surprising number of their non-singles tracks (possibly in part because many of their songs have a pretty consistent sound), especially the opening track "Ramble tamble".
It's amazing to see how many albums, and extremely popular hits, they cranked out in the space of about 3 years. Too bad that John Fogerty's imperiousness eventually burned out the CCR candle long before their time had come.
Goldfrapp
3/5
I've heard of Goldfrapp, but I don't think I'd really heard anything by them before, and certainly not from this album. I imagined something much older and more lively than what this album had to offer--I think one of the reviews cited in the Wikipedia entry who mentioned Kate Bush and the Cocteau Twins was pretty spot on, albeit with slightly more of a pop-orientation than either of them. (Sadly, try as I might I couldn't find an online version of the 2010 edition of the "1001 Albums" book that was the only edition to feature this album; probably not a good sign that it was pulled not long after it was added (and the Internet Archive's 1010 edition was revised in 2011 and 2013 and thus didn't even have that entry...).)
I'm afraid to admit that the only track that even mildly caught my interest was "Cologne Cerrone Houdini". I had high hopes that I might enjoy the five videos of their singles from the album, but if anything the videos largely made the songs even less engaging; these are my notes: "Clowns" (creepy, too ethereal), "Happiness" (quirky and fun, poor guy must have been exhausted hopping throughout), "Road to somewhere" (boring, too ethereal), "A&E" (quirky, kind of fun, but not a great song), and "Caravan girl" (OK but nothing all that interesting; I suspect the title would be received a lot worse if it was American-phrased "trailer girl"...).
Derek & The Dominos
3/5
I was surprised to see that there was only one Eric Clapton album in this collection (and a seemingly early and obscure one at that), but I guess this makes up for that with a double-album Derek & The Dominoes album (not sure whether the Cream album really counts as a full-on Eric Clapton album). I'm not a huge Eric Clapton fan (music or otherwise), and I'm getting a bit tired of how many 70s albums are in this collection (far and away the most of any decade), so I'm kind of grumpy to get well over an hour of somewhat monotonously consistent Eric Clapton stylings. Just picking at random, how different is "Bell Bottom Blues" from parts of the songs before and after on this album? And isn't "I am yours" just "Layla" with water drums? It kind of feels like he has two song styles that he just does endless variations on--the sad ballad and the blues. But at least there are fewer covers on this than on "461 Ocean Boulevard", so at least we get more of his compositions, although I feel like the "Key to the highway" cover is probably the highlight of this album with Duane Allman and Clapton shredding it up together (but his "Little Wing" cover is quite disappointing). I *was* a bit surprised that "Layla" was the only (original) song that I recognized from this album, though.
Cee Lo Green
3/5
I first became aware of Cee-Lo Green many (many) years ago when somebody shared with me an example of "kinetic typography", which turned out to be a lyrics video of Cee-Lo's "Fuck You" (the explicit version), and I enjoyed both the creative lyrics animation and the song. I'm not sure I've heard a lot else by him, though, and I'm disappointed that we didn't get his album with that on it (2010 "The Lady Killer"), as this was clearly his biggest hit, but I'm guessing that the editors had already added this 2004 album and didn't want to exchange it? I also didn't realize that he started out with Goodie Mob, so I've probably heard more with him than I realize.
Either way, it seems fine as an album, and I appreciate it that it's *not* a particularly gangster-oriented hip-hop album ("Glockapella" excepted), as well as appreciating his Dirty South roots. His voice is both distinctive (and impressively fast at times) and a bit hard to take over an hour of listening to, but I enjoyed all of the other artists that appear on the album too (especially Pharrell Williams). The highlights for me were "I'll be around", "Scrap Metal", and "Die trying". Overall, though, it could probably have been about a half-hour shorter and not lost much (maybe just pull out the tracks from "The one" through "All day love affair"?).
Prince
4/5
So. Much. 80s. Here! I'm not really a Prince fan, and this may in fact be the first time I've heard this album beyond the four now-classic singles. That said, it's almost exactly what I expected it to sound like, and I enjoyed seeing the video for "Let's go crazy" and its concert shots; it highlight what an impressive performer he was as well as an accomplished musician. I'm also struck by how different and much more interesting Sinead O'Conner's cover is of "I would die 4 u". (Also hilarious to read that the song "Purple rain" was originally conceived as a country song collaboration with Stevie Nicks, but she freaked out when she got the music to write lyrics to.)
I've never really understood why Michael Jackson had so much of a bigger fan base than Prince, given Prince's added depth of musical abilities, but I'm not sure Prince ever tried to cultivate his celebrity status the way Michael Jackson did. I do wonder if Prince tried to compete with Jackson, though, given that he produced and scored a feature-length film for "Purple Rain", which certainly beats out "Thriller" lengthwise if nothing else. And full credit to Prince that this album rarely sounds like a soundtrack, with a few exceptions like the oddball "Computer blue" track.
Even though I'm not a big fan of his music or style, it's hard not to respect the magnitude of this album in his career.
The Sabres Of Paradise
2/5
Hm. I'm not sure why exactly so many of these semi-experimental-yet-ultimately-background-electronic-music albums keep getting into this collection, but I wish they would stick to a much shorter run-length. Like all of the albums in this project, I feel compelled to listen to the entire album, but 1+ hour listening sessions to music I'm not particularly enamored of tends to downgrade the rating simply out of frustration, and this is no exception.
Overall, this seems like an album that would have done really well as the soundtrack to an adventure/platforming video game, and if it *had* been that I would be giving it rave reviews, as most video game music isn't nearly as layered or atmospheric. But it isn't, so I guess I would have enjoyed many of the tracks more if there had been (a) less repetitive layering of the sounds, and (b) some (any!) lyrics. (The only thing that kind of substitutes for lyrics, I suppose, are the kind-of-interesting-but-also-pretentious "excerpts" for each track that are allegedly from a non-existent book named "Haunted Dancehall" by James Woodburne; the tone of the extracts is kind of compelling (a mix of Michael Moorcock and Jeff Noon), but cumulatively they're too short to really give any sense of a plot, sadly.) The album kind of picked up with "Wilmot" and then to some degree "Theme", but that wasn't really enough to warrant even three stars, I'm afraid.
Radiohead
3/5
Try as I might, I just don't really enjoy Radiohead's music, sadly. This seems like a decent Radiohead album, and more varied than most, but very little resonated with me. For some strange reason, nearly every track on this album on YouTube Music had an associated video, which made the listening experience a bit more interesting, although I couldn't initially tell whether all of the videos were actually commissioned or produced by Radiohead (the Wikipedia entry clarified that many of the videos were contest winners from a Radiohead competition). "15 step" had a bizarre Japanese animation (not as bizarre or compelling as OK Computer's "Paranoid Android", though); "Nude" had slightly mesmerizing slow-mo-in-reverse footage of the band members playing; "Weird fishes" had a high-quality stop-motion animation story about...something involving forect creatures, flying fish, witches, etc.; "All I need" seemed to be some sort of anti-sweatshop video (apparently part of MTV's Exit Campaign, whatever that is); "Reckoner" had a really interesting but extremely ambiguous animation about the perils and cycles of population growth and overgrowth; "House of cards" had a far less interesting effects-filter lens on Thom Yorke singing the song (apparently LIDAR); and "Jigsaw falling into place" had a kind of boring head-mounted camera sequence of the band members playing in a room. It kept me paying attention, though!
Sade
3/5
I was really hoping to get something fun and harder-edged today, a genuinely *good* (if not great) album after a series of disappointing an/or not-really-my-thing albums the past many days. Sad to say, this wasn't that album, and may in fact have been the *opposite* of what I was hoping for.
It's hard not to hear this whole album as simply easy-listening fare, and not in a particularly positive sense, but I suppose you could classify a number of Stevie Wonder's albums in this collection the same way, or George Michael's solo album for that matter, and I don't think anyone would argue they should have been left off the list (although personally I could have done with fewer of Stevie Wonder's albums). And it's hard to argue with the proposition that Sade kind of nailed the easy-listening pop formula, from the ubiquitous "Smooth operator" to the other singles on this album (that I don't know I've ever heard before, or seen the (very 80s cheesy) videos for). I can't really say any of the tracks really did much for me (and "Sally" was a particularly painful track), but at least they didn't overly annoy me or seem particularly pretentious.
I completely missed it in "Shaun of the Dead" that Shaun noted that this album was ex-girlfriend Liz's favorite album, nor that it was *this* album (the actual physical vinyl disc) that Ed first threw at the zombie in the backyard. Perhaps not the kind of prop a band aspires to, but they could have done worse!
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Slightly more than halfway through the Bruce Springsteen corner of this collection, and this one is definitely not as compelling as either the classic "Born to Run" or the much more interesting "Nebraska". I appreciate how he developed this album as an inspirational and positive response to the 9/11 attack, and in many ways it accomplishes that goal without seeming stuck in a particular moment (and even "Worlds apart" largely avoids a sort of world music othering, sort of).
But overall it's just not that interesting to me either musically or lyrically; it just sounds like another bunch of Springsteen/E Street Band songs. There are a few highlights, though--"Nothing Man" (sadly not as great as Pearl Jam's "Nothingman"), "The fuse", the Mark Knopfler-style "Paradise" and "My City of Ruins"--and these definitely elevate the album.
Mike Oldfield
3/5
Well, *that* was not what I expected from either the title or the album cover. Definitely distinctive, and even if it's not necessarily rock--or for that matter pop--music, it's a worthwhile listening experience. Each album side plays like a classical score or possibly a musical soundtrack with all the lyrics removed, and of course there's that "Exorcist" theme opening that apparently captured a nation's attention and helped Richard Branson's fame and fortune. It's a bit hard listening to this for the first time in 2025 to understand how this album could have stayed in the UK top ten for much of 1974, but clearly it resonated. (The album is also at times sort of a precursor to New Age music, which might help explain its pull too.)
It's impressive to read how nearly every instrument is played by Mike Oldfield, as well as all of his self-taught playing and producing attempts, not to mention how many overdubs went into each piece on the album. At times it felt like the aural equivalent to that incredible 96-minute single-take movie "Russian Ark" (touring the Hermitage Museum), both of which are simultaneously interesting concepts and remarkably tedious experiences at times. And funny to read that the "Piltdown Man" section of Part Two was created when Oldfield downed a half-bottle of whiskey and screamed into the microphone for 10 minutes straight, all out of pique at Branson telling Oldfield he needed vocals to sell the album; it feels like this anecdote kind of sums up Oldfield's approach to people and feedback and perhaps even music.
Morrissey
3/5
I was *really* hoping that this would be at long last the final infliction of Morrissey from this collection, but sadly it appears there's still one more Morrissey album and one more Smiths album in store. So incredibly tedious. But at least this album has a bit more edge to it in some tracks than in many of the other albums, and a number of recognizable hits. The videos don't do much to add to the listening effect--why do all the band members look like robots in "Glamorous glue", for example?--but I'm not really surprised by that.
At some point (hopefully soon) I'll get the last of these interminable Morrissey-based albums. As the man says, I know it's gonna happen someday.
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
It seems somehow appropriate that we'd get a Kendrick Lamar album after his Super Bowl halftime show (not sure how I feel about having two Kendrick Lamar albums in this collection, though). Interesting that Drake coexists quite happily in this album (but not so interesting that I have any desire to understand the beef/diss between both of them). Also interesting that this album doesn't really hew to old-school West Coast style (aside from the unfortunately ubiquitous expletives and misogyny), and I liked it that there's plenty of ambiguity in the too-long and somewhat tedious coming-of-age story on this album. His singles seem like the highlights of the album, and the accompanying videos are compelling even while they're also uncomfortable and offensive at times (but why does the video for "B**ch, don't kill my vibe" end with a brief "Death to Molly" message?).
Most of all, though, I enjoyed this album more than I expected to, largely because of the strong storytelling and how he sidesteps the seemingly required sledgehammer of bragging and glamorizing that characterizes so much of 21st century hip-hop (or at least my impression of it). I was really tempted to give it four stars, but the too-long runtime and the super-annoying chorus voice that was on too many of the tracks downgraded it by a star. Sorry, Kendrick!
Malcolm McLaren
1/5
Ugh. This was really painful to listen to (and watch, in the case of "Buffalo gals", and pretty much the definition of appropriated and mangled music under the horrible genre of world music. (And in the case of "Double Dutch", truly appropriated and stolen from South African musicians.) Unlike something like Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart album, which at least has original music compositions, this plays almost like the DJs who make up World's Famous are playing a radio station broadcast of "songs from around the world", with almost no coherence or thematic unity.
I kind of get why this album is included in this collection, especially since it seems to have had a role in generating interest in early hip-hop and non-Western musical styles. But given how incredibly incompetent and laughable Malcolm McLaren was in the development of this album (at least based on what the Wikipedia and the "1001 Albums" entries had to say, adn those entries certainly seem in keeping with someone who was the Sex Pistols' manager), I'm not sure *any* of us should be giving the man or this album our time of day, frankly.
Terence Trent D'Arby
3/5
I remember what a big impact this album had when it came out, and while it wasn't really to my taste, it's hard to deny that it's a well-produced and entertaining album with a surprising number of singles, especially for a debut album. I remember thinking at the time that there wasn't a lot of range to the tracks on this album, and nothing has really changed re-listening to this album as part of the collection. (I was also amused to watch the *very* 80s video for "Wishing well", complete with him doing some weird combination of Michael Jackson and James Brown moves, a surprisingly small guy playing a surprisingly large sax, and a taller backup singer who looks suspiciously like Will Ferrell (playing a backup singer). It's also impressive that the live video of "Dance little sister" from The Roxy in 1987 has all of these elements too--he has good live energy, but also a weirdly limited range of styles and moves.)
I never really wondered what happened to him after this album, but the Wikipedia entry on him seems to reinforce that this album was probably his career's highlight, despite producing plenty of music afterwards, as both Terence Trent D'Arby and then post-1995 as Sananda Maitreya. However, it also sounds like his confidence and self-esteem never flagged in the years afterwards.
Talking Heads
3/5
Whenever I've seen this album's title, I've always imagined that it was not only a Talking Heads classic, but also that it has the vast majority of their best-known songs. I can see why it's a classic, but I'm very surprised that there are almost *no* radio classics on the album. (I can see that "I Zimbra", "Cities" and "Life during wartime" were all singles from the album, but the latter track is the only one that endured on radio playlists, although it definitely makes up for the remainder's obscurity.) Listening to this album nearly 50 years after it was released, it's interesting to hear how quintessentially Talking Heads this is, yet each track is also surprisingly *un*-distinctive (except "Memories can't wait", which feels a lot more like David Byrne's solo work years later)--it's like they created a mold for what a Talking Heads album would sound like, and then left it to past and future albums to create the hits they'd be known for long after they disbanded. Distinctiveness or lack thereof aside, my favorites on the album are probably "Life during wartime", "Heaven", and "Animals".
It's interesting to read that Brian Eno (who is everywhere) helped produce this album, as I suspect this album was the reason he was so reluctant to help produce their next album, yet there's no real discussion of whatever scarred either him or the band to working with him (or maybe he was just tired of producing their albums?).
Big Star
3/5
Although I wouldn't have ever guessed it from the album's songs themselves (except maybe "Big black car" and "Holocaust", which sound so much like something from the 90s ironically), it's pretty clear from the Wikipedia entry that this was a truly tortured album in the making, and an increasing mental instability by Alex Chilton made the production experience equally tortured. Unfortunately, that intrigue doesn't really make this album any more interesting, at least to my tastes, although I do appreciate the sort of indie/alt-rock sound from long before that was a genre or term. (I do wish they hadn't tried to do that "Femme Fatale" cover, though.)
However, I'm honestly not sure why I needed to hear this before I die (especially since we have another Big Star album in this collection), but I have, so that's a relief. (And I remain baffled by the "1001 albums" book's conclusion that "It is not to be missed.")
Def Leppard
3/5
Ah, the definitive Def Leppard album at long last. (Still a mystery why this collection also has "Hysteria".) It sounds *exactly* like I (vaguely) remember from the rockin' 80s, no better and no worse. I was kind of hoping that the videos (which I never saw back in the day, thanks to a cable/MTV-less upbringing) would add to the effect/quality of the songs, but sadly they too are exactly what I kind of expected, although the video for "Photograph" is actually quite disappointingly boring and uncreative, and while it's fun to see their drummer with both arms, I do wish he wasn't such a big fan of the Union Jack short-shorts. I'll admit that the only highlights on this album are their impressively numerous singles; the rest is *very* forgettable, making for a fairly uneven album.
If I had enjoyed Def Leppard more as a teenager, this would easily be 4 or 5 stars for nostalgia alone. But there was always something kind of...generic...about them that made me trend towards the somewhat harder-edged bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, even the Scorpions (none of whom were all that much more interesting musically, admittedly). I was also struck by how much Joe Elliott occasionally sounds a *lot* like AC/DC's Brian Johnson, albeit Elliott's growls aren't nearly as impressive as Johnson's.
Kate Bush
3/5
I'll say this: nobody does the baby voice like Kate Bush. And sadly this is the first of three of her albums in this collection, so I have plenty more baby voice to listen to. And all I can really hope is that this isn't her best album of the three in the collection, as it felt so saccharine and painfully melodramatic (earnest?) throughout. I think part of my negative reaction is how much world music plays in the background of most of the tracks, in a very Paul Simon sort of way. I kept expecting to hear a refrain along the lines of "Do they even know it's Christmas in Africa" with each song. And the videos don't help much either, although I give full credit to the fact that she produced them all. The title track goes full on Maid Marion in a kind of painfully awkward way (I then read about how that was supposed to be a long James Joyce exposition of Molly Bloom, complete with all the yes exclamations, so maybe not *so* bad), while "Love and anger" was particularly cringe-worthy, at least viewed in 2025, with her clutching sceptre and crown and then whirling dervishes circling her in some sort of colonial abjuration (or maybe worship?). I kind of expected to recognize at least one song from this album, but apparently I wasn't listening to the right radio stations back when this album came out?
The Police
4/5
Although I still prefer "Reggatta de Blanc" to this album, I'm glad that there are two Police albums in this collection. It's kind of a sad album to have in this collection, of course, since Sting was so clearly already out the door (despite the massive success the band was having at that point), but perhaps a fitting endcap. My favorites then and now from this album are "Walking in your footsteps" (despite how obvious and simple the lyrics are in many ways), "Miss Gradenko" and "King of pain", with a shout out for Andy Summers' hilarious "Mother" (which sounds so much like early Police yet totally *un*-Police by this point).
I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I just got done dinging Kate Bush for her superficial-sounding world/ethnic music on "The Sensual World", yet you could probably accuse Police of the same in some aspects on this album (especially "Tea in the Sahara"), and then Sting went full-bore on the world music sound in his solo career. But probably because I'd heard this album from a relatively early age, it doesn't bother me nearly as much on this album, and it feels so much more creatively incorporated too.
Kelela
3/5
As always with this project, I'm intrigued with an artist/band I've never heard of. Sometimes it's a fun experience; most of the time it's not so fun, and this album definitely falls into the latter category, but in every case I feel like I've been exposed to music I probably wouldn't have ever listened to. I've never heard of Kelela, and I'm pretty sure I've never heard anything by her, certainly not from this album. I also found I was double-checking that this really did come out in 2017, rather than the 90s or 2000s, as there's nothing particularly recent-sounding on this album. And I have to question the wisdom of her choices with the opening track's video for "Frontline", a *very* antiquated-looking VR-like animation of a woman apparently having enough of her man; the video totally distracts from the song, and I kept thinking how strange it was to have a fairly-recent video looking like it might have been made with technology from the 90s. (Thankfully, the other two are live videos, and while "LMK" isn't particularly interesting, "Blue light" has a somewhat interesting erotic horror element, likely inspired by Bjork but having a certain Lovecraftian spin.) Unfortunately, the non-video tracks didn't really have much going for them either, at least for me, and I'm hard-pressed to distinguish most of the songs from each other ("Better" is a bit more distinctive than most). This could easily have been a *much* shorter album and not lost a thing, sadly.
Given that the primary appeal of this album seems to be the melodic singing over electronic music, a la Bjork, I'm *very* frustrated that we got this album yet literally nothing from Faithless, which did many aspects of this approach and mood *so* much better (or, for that matter, anything from Dido). That's not Kelela's fault, of course, but it's hard not to ding her for not measuring up to past artists.
Nitin Sawhney
3/5
Another total unknown (to me) for today's selection, and thankfully a much more interesting and engaging mystery than yesterday's Kelela album. In many ways this album plays more like a soundtrack than an album per se (or maybe the soundscape for a museum exhibition on identity and spirituality and politics), but it's still very enjoyable, even when I don't understand the lyrics at all (e.g. "Homelands"). I particularly enjoyed the opening track "Broken skin", "Tides", "Nostalgia" and the title track. I do wish there were fewer (or no) drum-n-bass tracks (like "Nadia"), but given when this came out it's probably not too surprising.
Although the Wikipedia entry for this album is unhelpfully brief, the "1001 Albums" entry and the Wikipedia entry for Nitin Sawhney are defintiely worth reading, and fill out a portrait of an intriguing and multi-talented person whose life experiences are all over the map. Funny how this album kind of mirrors his life. I'm really torn between three and four stars for this album, but it feels just a bit too long and a bit too eclectic for four stars.
Beastie Boys
4/5
And thus this concludes the Beastie Boys trilogy (although not chronologically, I know). I like it that this is sort of a bridge between the other two albums in this collection, with some of the frat-style hip-hop of "Licensed to Ill", but also occasionally more interesting collections of sounds and instruments as on "Ill Communication", but clearly *much* more sample-based than the latter album. They hadn't quite graduated beyond occasionally sophomoric lyrics, but there's a nice groove flowing through the album, accompanied by some of the most dense and satirical lyrics you could ever ask for. I felt like their strongest tracks were probably "Shake your rump", the second half of "Sounds of science", "Looking down the barrel of a gun" (another RATM-sounding track), and "Shadrach", with honorable mention to the concept of "B-Boy Bouillabaisse", even if it doesn't consistently deliver on the concept. I was also really impressed by how this sounded much later than 1989, and doesn't really feel dated in many ways, amazingly (but also glad to read that they were able to clear most of the samples and at affordable rates due to the early date of this album).
I had never heard of the Dust Brothers before reading about them in this album's Wikipedia entry, but I'm glad I read about them given how many songs, albums and artists I've enjoyed that they collaborated with. (And I loved finding out that they got their start at Pomona College's radio station!) The Beastie Boys chose well in getting them to work on this album--an amazing collaboration.
Laura Nyro
3/5
Yet another artist I've never heard of heard of, and while the album isn't really to my taste, I do appreciate the exposure. At times it felt like a Bette Midler revue performance (or what I imagine one of those would sound like, since I haven't really actively listened to Midler aside from secondhand musical smoke from a rabid fan many years ago), other times like a musical soundtrack. Either way, not too much that drew me in ("Poverty" was a bit more interesting than other tracks), but I really appreciate it that she wrote the entire album. And I can see why some later critics felt she was a late-60s pop queen, although given that she was booed off stage at the Monterey Pop Festival and the lackluster sales figures, and that later bands had much more success with covering her songs, it seems like she was more of a singer's singer than a massively popular--or even appreciated--artist in her time.
OutKast
4/5
It feels a bit odd to get this album *after* their later "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" double-album, but that's life I suppose. I liked it that we got both Big Boi and André 3000 together on most songs, and I also really appreciated the more eclectic style on this album than most 90s/2000s hip-hop albums that we've gotten in this collection. That said, it's also a very different sound than on either half of "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below," but nice to hear Andre 3000 moving towards his more melodic/singing style, and I also enjoyed the p-funk vibes on some tracks (especially "I'll call before I come").
A solid (but overly long) album overall, and a few highlights throughout, mainly their singles like "So fresh, so clean" (with a fun video to go along with the song), "Ms. Jackson" (with the horror-style video with head-bobbing animals) and the wild "B.O.B" (with an amazing and hypnotic technicolor video to accompany it, not to mention the creative remix by RAGM's Zach de la Rocha), also the frenetic "Humble Mumble". Although it's not my preferred music style, I can definitely see why this album was so highly ranked.
Paul Simon
3/5
Kind of sad to read that it was this album that doomed the Simon & Garfunkel revival, and also sad that ostensibly it was over a woman (Carrie Fisher no less), although I'm sure that the (re-)breakup was far more due to old wounds that apparently will never heal. Still, it's hard not to think that this album would have been much better as a Simon & Garfunkel album, with all of Garfunkel's recorded vocals restored to the tracks. This seems particularly true of the opening track "Allergies" and "Think too much (a)" (which ironically was the working album title before Garfunkel gave up). And since I didn't really find any of the tracks all that compelling, I think my *least* favorite track was "Cars are cars" ("susceptible to theft in the middle of the night").
On the other hand, likely because of Garfunkel's participation on the album, this is occasionally a more interesting and introspective Paul Simon solo album than the others in this collection (I've only listened to "Paul Simon" so far, but I know "Graceland" well enough to know that I'm not looking forward to the experience). Even so, I feel like Paul Simon's solo albums in this collection are about as compelling as other singer/songwriter's like Joni Mitchell, k.d. lang, Suzanne Vega, etc. Fine, but usually pretty flat-sounding because there isn't a full band participating as contributing artists, and so the music itself seems less foregrounded. I'm also not sure why this album got included in this project, given how lackluster it was with both critics and fans, and even the "1001 albums" entry author (Will Furford-Jones) seems confused about why he was asked to review the album.
Jefferson Airplane
4/5
I'm glad we got this album, pretty much exclusively because I've always enjoyed hearing "White rabbit", but it's weird to hear the remainder of an album that has nothing to really compare with that song. I'm reminded a bit of a much later album in this collection, "The La's" and their hit "There she goes", although that's not really fair to Jefferson Airplane or this album, since their other (decent) single, "Somebody to love", isn't that far from "White rabbit", although not nearly as interesting. The remainder of the album is disappointingly very late 60s-sounding and pretty forgettable, and some of the tracks are downright saccharine and annoying ("My best friend" and "Today" are an unfortunate one-two punch in this regard, and I'm shocked to read that they got substantial air-time back in the day). I *did* enjoy the Leo-Kottke-sounding instrumental "Embryonic journey", though, and there's something a bit compelling about "Plastic fantastic lover", perhaps simply because it was inspired by a visit to a plastics factory in Chicago while they were on tour.
I have no idea how to rank this album, as "White rabbit" elevates it for me well above three stars, but so much of this album is so middling it feels like it cancels out the one great song. But it's a great song, and it wasn't until I read the Wikipedia entry that I discovered that part of why "White rabbit" seems so different is because Grace Slick brought it over from her previous band, The Great Society. Maybe we can post-humously share the stars among the two bands? And as much as I didn't find the album as a whole very interesting or entertaining, it's hard to ignore the impact it had at the time.
Stan Getz
3/5
Hm. Yet another Stan Getz album in this collection, and yet another take on "Desafinado"--not quite rivalling how many versions of "The girl from Ipanema" are in this collection, but it's close, I think. It seems like a fine album, and thankfully brief, but I'm not sure why we have yet another bossa-nova-inspired jazz album, when there are undoubtedly far better jazz albums that could have taken the place of this one.
Destiny's Child
3/5
This is one of those few albums where I regret reading about it as I listened to it, mainly because all the tedious drama surrounding Destiny's Child changing lineup (and the purported source of the album's title) and all the call-out and tear-downs in the tracks (which I wouldn't have caught if I'd just listened) really tinges my appreciation of the album. On the other hand, it's not a particularly interesting album (to me), so I *do* appreciate reading that Beyonce was far more involved in the writing and producing of most of the album than I'd have guessed otherwise.
I just wish that our exposure to Beyonce in this collection was her more recent--and far more interesting and creative--albums (thankfully we *do* get her 2013 "Beyonce" album, but not her more recent releases). This Destiny's Child offering doesn't really fall into that category, and the videos for the singles on this album only reinforce this, sadly. ("Survivor" and "Nasty girls" in particular, although "Independent women, Pt. 1" had the unfortunate result of reminding me of how awkward the movie "Charlie's Angels" was.)
The Byrds
3/5
It's remarkable to me that a band that wasn't quite ready for studio recording and that filled their debut album with lots of covers (mostly by Dylan) that would become their most requested songs, were able to (a) even get this album produced, (b) able to convince the producer that they were ready to be recorded (but not before their title track was played and recorded with studio musicians), and (c) become a huge influence and inspiration to US musicians for years afterwards.
I think this is the first time I've heard anything from this album aside from their two famous singles "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "I'll feel a whole lot better". Their apparently-pioneering "folk rock" sound isn't really my kind of style, and they're remarkably consistent across the album with their jangly harmonies, so it's hard to pick out any favorites. I enjoyed their cover of Pete Seeger's "The bells of rhymney", the interesting Vera Lynn throwback "We'll meet again" (mainly because it made me think of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" more than "Dr. Strangelove"), and their cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man" is so familiar it's hard to ignore. However, the title track is definitely *not* one of the better Dylan covers, much like all of the Byrds' Dylan covers, sadly; they seem so intent on capturing the tone and style of Dylan's originals that they don't add anything interesting to the songs.
This makes for #2 of 5 Byrds albums for me, so only 40% of the way through....
Happy Mondays
3/5
Although I know we get a lot of the Madchester albums in this collection, I'm still a bit surprised to see that we get two Happy Mondays albums, since they weren't all that mind-blowing even back in the day (Madchester pioneers notwithstanding), and I would definitely have preferred to have gotten a James album in place of one of the Happy Mondays albums. But here we are.
I don't think I've heard most of the tracks on this album before aside from the radio hits "Kinky afro" and "Step on", whose videos (new to me) don't really add much to the experience, sadly, except to reinforce that the 90s baggy look wasn't very attractive on the band members. (But to their credit I feel like their impressive John Kongos cover "Step On" is possibly one of the better covers in this collection.) I think my favorites on the album are probably "God's cop", "Grandbag's funeral", and "Bob's yer uncle", as they seemed a bit more distinctive from the usual Happy Mondays sound (and pretty wild that "Bob's" was originally a reworked cover of "Everybody's Talkin'" by Fred Neil...).
A solid album overall, and more entertaining than I expected. In some ways the album reminded me of something that Pulp could have made, but without the intensity and scalding lyrics and music; sort of a Pulp-light/free album.
The Undertones
4/5
A fun and remarkably brief album for the day--well done! I suspect if I'd had this album growing up I'd have known every song and loved every one of the 30 minutes or so. They seem to have managed to create a largely punk (pop-punk?) sound without delving at all into drugs, politics or perhaps even sex, which is both a bit weird and also impressive; it probably helped that they were all in their late teens when they created this album, I suppose, or maybe living in Northern Ireland? I imagine it might have felt a bit sanitized to some, but their enthusiasm is pretty apparent; I particularly enjoyed "Jump boys".
Listening to this album, I was immediately (and consistently) reminded of the movie "Sing Street", in all the right ways (and the video for "Teenage kicks" only reinforced this connection).
3/5
This album is a fascinating time capsule, and strangely a blend of Rage Against the Machine and Spinal Tap, but obviously from much earlier than either. I'll admit I didn't know anything about the controversy surrounding the album, which seems to be mainly from the opening scream of the title track; I suspect that part of my ignorance is that the few times I've heard that song it's likely always been the radio version, sans mofo. I enjoyed the title track (who wouldn't?) as well as "Rocket reducer no. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)" (strange title), and honorable mention to the too-noodly-but-still-fun "Starship".
I imagine it would have been almost more fun to have been part of the audience for the show that produced this album, than to listen to this record at home. But I'm still impressed at how hard-rocking they are, especially for 1969, and the various nods to leftist/revolutionary stuff is also why I thought of RAGM (who have a pretty decent cover of this album's title track, btw). (3)
Thin Lizzy
3/5
Odd to get two live albums in a row (the previous was MC5's "Kick Out the Jams"). This one is definitely a lot more tame--and less inflammatory too, somewhat disappointingly--and I was kind of disappointed overall. I think part of the disappointment is that this album essentially bypasses the whole no-compilation/best-of stipulation in the project (especially since they cherry-picked from multiple performances), yet I kept thinking "this is their best stuff?" nonetheless. Part of the problem is simply that live recordings are often pretty poor quality (especially from this era, and despite however much overdubbing they may or may not have done), but I guess I also expected Thin Lizzy to rock more than they do; I kept wishing we could the rawness of the MC5 album as I listened to it. There are times I was reminded of Iron Maiden's dueling guitars (in "Emerald" and "Massacre" and their classic "The boys are back in town" especially), and there are several strong performances--especially the Bob Seger mashup "Rosalie/Cowgirl's song", "Suicide" and the ending "The rocker"--but too much of the too-long double album has so-so renditions of their biggest hits, albeit with some pretty fun guitar solos thrown in. I don't begrudge Think Lizzy's appearance in this collection, but I kept thinking it would have been so much more fun to listen to Ozzy Osbourne's much better live Randy Rhoads tribute album in its place. Ultimately, though, I realized as I listened to this album that I would have enjoyed this album a *lot* more if I'd been a big Thin Lizzy fan, which apparently I'm not.
Marvin Gaye
3/5
This is the first of three Marvin Gaye albums in this collection, and what a classic. I've never listened much to his music aside from the radio (and movie) classics, so it's nice to hear nearly an entire album's worth of less-familiar tracks. And since this was apparently his sex album (as opposed to his politics album "What's Going On?", which I'm looking forward to listening to), it's got a heaping serving of smooth Gaye to make the medicine go down. Aside from the familiar title track, I also enjoyed its sequel, "Keep gettin' it on", as well as the aptly titled "You sure love to ball". I can see why this helped make him into a sex icon, but I'm not sure why the Wikipedia entry claims this was his first foray into funk, as it's not very apparent across the album (to me at least). And while the album undoubtedly was quite suggestive for its time, it's kind of funny to read that a reviewer felt that this was "one of the most erotic recordings known to mankind." But big kudos to Marvin Gaye for the T.S. Eliot reference to "birth and death and copulation" on the gatefold sleeve!
Stereo MC's
4/5
I'm really glad (and a bit surprised) that this album made it into the collection. I saw them live back in 1993 (part of the impressively eclectic HFStival lineup), and really enjoyed their live act, enough to buy this album not long afterwards. I'll admit it doesn't hold up as well as I imagined it would--listening to it now everything sounds like it's in slow-motion--but I still enjoyed revisiting this beat-and-rhyme-heavy collection of tracks. I think my favorites are the title track (although the video is a bit embarrassingly dated), "Fade away", "Step it up", "Pressure" and "Creation". It would be easier to give them a full-throated four stars if the album wasn't quite so long and meandering (and perhaps a few fewer flutes), but I still feel like it's considerably more than a three-star album, and there's the nostalgia factor....
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Amazing that, 430 albums in, this is the first of five Leonard Cohen albums in this collection. Although I'm not at all a Leonard Cohen connoisseur, I usually like most of what I've heard by him, and to some degree this early album of his continues that tradition, despite that it's probably the first full album of his I've listened to (I own "The Essential Leonard Cohen", but I know that doesn't count). It starts off a bit uncertain, but gets into full gear with "Story of Isaac", and I also really enjoyed "The partisan" (pretty wild that he and the producer flew to France to get the chorus recorded by French singers) and "You know who I am". I'm also really impressed that he moved into his trademark spare sound so early in his career; he definitely sounds better when he's not drowning in strings and other orchestral accompaniment (which it sounds like is in store for us with his debut album).
I had no idea until I read the Wikipedia entry that "Bird on a wire" is probably the epitome of essential Leonard Cohen, as he opened most of his performances with it and considered it one of his great songs. I'm not a big fan of his version of it on this album, but Joe Cocker did an amazing cover of it not long after the song was released (so sad, and a bit shocking, that we don't get *any* Joe Cocker in this collection), and Johnny Cash's much later version is also really well done. But all that aside, it's very very cool that Kris Kristofferson chose to have the first three lines from "Bird on a wire" on his tombstone.
Animal Collective
3/5
I'm pretty sure I've heard of Animal Collective before, but also pretty sure I haven't heard anything by them (or at least from this album). I feel like they've sort of channeled Radiohead and maybe some sort of mashup of TV on the Radio and LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire, blended with some sort of retro 90s alternative vibe (mainly just the occasional wall of impenetrable sound), plus weird bits of Beach Boys and ersatz-world-music styles. But somehow not as interesting as what that combination could have been. The highlights for me were "Summertime clothes" and the oddly peppy "Brother Sport".
There are a surprising number of videos for this album (6), most of which hew (somewhat) to the Radiohead style, especially the video for the opening track "In the flowers" as well as (partially) "Summertime clothes" and (even more remotely) "Brother Sport", but again not as intriguing (perhaps even pretentious), and with a weird fascination for masked dancers in sheets in many of them. The cover's non-animated illusion of animation is pretty cool, though, I'll give them that. Overall, though, it's not really to my taste, even if it was *much* shorter and/or they'd convinced their guitarist to participate in the album.
Slint
3/5
Another gem from the unknowns-corner of this collection. I'd never heard of Slint, either during its incredibly brief existence, or in the decades afterward; nor had I ever heard of the term "math rock" before reading about this album (and very amused that King Crimson and Rush are considered equal members of that genre). And very satisfying to know that I've now listened to what the Independent in 2024 ranked as "number five on their list of the 20 most underrated albums ever" (according to the Wikipedia entry).
I'm not sure I could say I really enjoyed this album, as it's hard to sink your teeth into, particularly after only one listen (and despite wearing headphones, I *still* struggled to make out most of the largely-spoken-word lyrics); I thought "Washer" was more accessible than most, and "Good morning, Captain" has...something..a bit more captivating than the others .
But either way they definitely created a distinctive sound and style, and I'm not surprised to read that they've inspired a number of other later bands to follow down their lonely path. And I wasn't all that surprised to read that they broke up just before the album was released--insuring that they and the album would remain in obscurity--largely due to the lead singer's depression, but what a shame in many ways.
Marianne Faithfull
4/5
An interesting selection for the day. I'm pretty sure I've never heard any of the songs on this album, and if I've heard anything by Marianne Faithfull I'm not aware of it. And even before I read about the sad story of where this album stands in her life/career, I could tell there was something somewhat tragic from her voice alone (a bit like listening to Billie Holiday's ravaged voice in "Lady In Satin"). But whatever the inspiration or source, the combination of her voice, Steve Winwood synthesizers and a basic backing band makes for a strangely compelling album that combines a New Wave aesthetic with almost country-style songs. There's really one track that falls a bit flat ("Brain drain"); my favorites are the title track, "Witches' song" and the surprisingly caustic and explicit "Why'd ya do it?", as well as both covers which vastly improve on the originals (an impressively darker and more believable version of Shel Silverstein/Dr Hook & The Medicine Show's "The ballad of Lucy Jordan" (that absolutely shines in "Thelma & Louise") and an inspired take on John Lennon's "Working class hero"). At times I was reminded of Toni Childs (a shame that we don't get anything from her in this collection), but more from the resonance of her voice than the bleakness of some of the tracks on this album.
Given how tortured her life was at times, I kind of figured she must have passed away a while back (although likely not at the age of 37). But I only just now discovered that she died very recently (1/30/2025). RIP Marianne!
The xx
4/5
Although I'm not sure I ever knew the name of the band that played it, I've heard the opening "Intro" track many many times and always enjoyed it (brief as it is). I'm glad I finally get to hear the album it belongs to, even if the other tracks don't always live up to what I imagined they would sound like. There are only a few duds, though (mainly "VCR" and ""); my favorites are "Intro", "Islands", "Shelter" and "Infinity". I was also surprised at the number of videos for an album that produced no singles--the "VCR" video kind of redeems the lackluster song; "Crystalised" and "Basic spaces" both have pretty boring videos, although weird to watch the percussionist play the tiny drum-board; and the "Islands" video accentuates a good song with a great and sad hypnotic dance story.
It's tough to know how best to rate an album that's more mood music than something demanding all your attention. But for "Intro" alone I'm willing to give them four stars, and I feel like the remainder of the album backed up that potential anyway.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Seems fitting to finally get a Sly & The Family Stone album not longer after Questlove's "Sly Lives!" tribute got released (in February 2025). I'm not sure I've ever heard a full album by the band, certainly not this one, so everything but the two iconic singles ("Sing a simple song" and "Everyday people") are new to me. A few of the tracks seemed pretty flat (the title track especially--strange to read that was a hit single--but also the strangely uneven "Somebody's watching you" and the overly long and rambling "Sex machine"), but overall it's pretty entertaining, and pretty wild to have such an explicit song title as "Don't call me n****, whitey" (with a fairly strong song to match its title and a crazy amount of wah-wah going on); the version of this song by Ice-T, Body Count and Jane's Addiction at the 1991 Lollapalooza doesn't really add much musically to this song but is a great and uncomfortable performance.
The centerpieces of the album are clearly those fantastic singles, with honorable mention to "I want to take you higher". There have been so many great covers of those songs, yet the originals hold up to all of them extremely well, and they make this album a classic. (My favorite "Sing a simple song" cover/adaptation is the one by D'Angelo/Chuck D/Isaac Hayes, well worth checking out on the tribute album "Different Strokes by Different Folks", which also has a fun and faithful cover of "Everyday people" by Maroon 5.)
Fun Lovin' Criminals
4/5
I'm really surprised we get to listen to Fun Lovin' Criminals in this collection, but happily so. I only own one album by them, their compilation "Bag of Hits", so I was familiar with their singles on this album and love every one of them, although perhaps not as much "The grave and the constant", and while the video for that track was weird and kind of compelling, it didn;t make a lot of sense and didn't add to the song itself. (By contrast, the video for "Scooby snacks" made the song even more fun, and the same for the video for the great "King of New York"; the video for "Fun Lovin' Criminals" didn't add much.) I also enjoyed hearing the new-to-me tracks on this album, with my favorites likely "Bombin' the L" and "Bear hug", as well as "I can't get with that" (perhaps because it has some affinity with "King of New York").
Even though there's not that much of a connection, aside from a NY vibe, when I saw the videos I was really reminded of The Beastie Boys and how both trios really seem to enjoy working with each other. I was also reminded of another great (and seemingly unsung) New York band from the mid/later 90s, Soul Coughing (and a shame we don't get any of their albums in this collection).
I definitely wish there were half-stars for albums like this. If there had been more singles--and what a shame that this album didn't have "Korean bodega" and "Love unlimited"--this would be an easy four stars, but the non-singles are uneven enough that I can see a three star rating. But hey, they're too much fun for that, right? La-di da-di, free John Gotti.
Shack
3/5
I've never heard of Shack before, and definitely haven't heard anything from this album, so it's nice to get a new (to me) sound. It seems like a fine enough album, but honestly nothing much stood out, musically or lyrically, except that it sounds like it could have been produced 20 or 30 years earlier than it was (except maybe "Shack - reinstated"). I kind of liked the back-to-back "Captain's table" and "Streets of Kenny" a bit more than the others, but I'm not sure exactly why, and "Daniella" reminded me a bit of Gorillaz in a weird way.
Sadly, the Wikipedia entry is pretty spartan, so it wasn't until I read the "1001 albums" entry that I got a glimpse of the sad and drug-ravaged story of the Head brothers and their path of will-play-for-drugs for far too long. And apparently several of the songs are all about their quest for heroin and other narcotics back in the day.
Björk
3/5
Well, at least this is the last Bjork album for me in this collection. It's gotten hard over the past four albums of hers to distinguish between a lot of them (although the earliest stuff and her Sugarcubes album are definitely much less Bjork-sounding than the others), and this album is no exception, despite being the most recent one of the collection. I'm hard-pressed to call out any particular track (except maybe the many-layered "Atom dance"), and even the videos for this album weren't as compelling or otherworldly as earlier albums; "Lionsong" and "Notget" are in some ways the most creative (and pretty wild costumes, plus creepy Alienesque scenery in "Notget"), while "Stonemilker" and "Black lake" seem pretty tame by Bjork standards, although they showcase Iceland's harsh landscape well. Overall, this felt like a soundtrack album more than most of her albums in this album--perhaps a soundtrack to an arthouse film, admittedly.
Until I read the extensive Wikipedia entry for this album, I hadn't realized how extensive her work on this album was, nor how many (often VR) videos she'd produced for the tracks, nor how many variations and strings-only versions she released. I suspect those were all manna for her devoted fanbase, but I just couldn't go there.
Now that we've overloaded on Bjork in this collection, I just hope that I can reclaim my occasional enjoyment of her music and creative spirit.
4/5
I suspect it sounds like sacrilege to suggest that this collection doesn't actually need seven different Bob Dylan albums, nor does it need a best-of compilation masquerading as a live recording. But it really doesn't. That said, though, I can see including this album as a substitute for much of his earlier work, as it provides an impressively hig-quality live recording of many of his great early songs, both pre- and post-"electric". And reading about how so many of the Manchester fans were alternately appreciative during the acoustic set and then outraged when he moved into his electric set, is both fascinating and baffling. (The "Judas!" call is rightly infamous, and seems to say so much more about fandom than anything Dylan did or didn't do. Sadly, though, all streaming versions of this album have omitted all the juicy pre-track snippets, including the whole back-and-forth before "Like a rolling stone".) It's also fun to listen to The Hawks (soon to be The Band) tear things up in the electric set. The only ding I'd give is that if only his voice wasn't so...Dylanesque...so many of the songs (acoustic, mainly) wouldn't sound so undifferentiated, but the lyrics are worth squinting for.
Much like Thin Lizzy's "Live and Dangerous" album, this album feels like it's somehow circumvented the "rules" of this project, but it doesn't seem fair to knock down the rating because of it, and while I find overly long albums a bit of a bore, this one packs a lot of great songs into an hour and a half.
Public Enemy
5/5
I'm very glad this album is in this collection, but I'll admit I'm also surprised that there are three PE albums in total (so one more after this for me). To me, this is the original Public Enemy album, mainly because it was one of the first CDs I bought long ago, and while the videos don't really age all that well, it remains a classic for me, largely on the strength of Chuck D's voice and deeply political/social-consciousness lyrics and what was for me an awe-inspiring wall of sampled sound (despite not really getting/understanding at the time a lot of the musical and political/cultural references). My favorites are still "Brothers gonna work it out", "911 is a joke" (by far Flavor Flav's best work), "Welcome to the terrordome", "Burn Hollywood burn", and of course "Fight the power", with honorable mentions to the insidious "Pollywannacracka" and "Power to the people". Frankly, there are few duds on this great album.
Killing Joke
4/5
I know I've heard of the band before, but nothing on this album is familiar to me, and I'm not sure I've ever heard *anything* by them before--it's nice to get another unknown from the collection. And while it's not an earth-shattering album by any stretch, I enjoyed it more than I expected to enjoy what Wikipedia labelled as a "post-punk" band (a term that doesn't really conjure up much of anything in my mind, and seems to span a *lot* of territory). I was occasionally reminded of Ministry's take on industrial sound ("Wardance" in particular), and also The Clash's beat-driven sound, but they clearly had their own sound. My favorites were probably the opening track "Requiem" (in part because I wasn't expecting such heavy synths from the get-go), "Bloodsport", and "Primitive" (with a head-banging nod to the B-sides "Change" and "Pssyche" that apparently only appeared on the "Requiem" and "Wardance" singles (respectively)).
This feels so much like the soundtrack to some post-apocalyptic/dystopian movie from that period, like "Escape from New York", "Running Man" or "Mad Max"/"Road Warrior" or the like, all of which would have benefited tremendously from the grind of Killing Joke. I can also see why Dave Grohl calls this one of his favorite albums, even if it's probably not going to live up there as one of mine. It's tough to know how to rate this, as it's much more interesting than three stars, but aside from its out-of-left-field-entertainment-value, I'm not sure it's really four star material. But why not reward experiments that actually (and largely) succeed?
The Pharcyde
3/5
It's nice to have a series of unknown (to me) albums and bands from this collection, and this one largely works (for me). It's definitely not earth-shattering, and it feels a bit like this will always remain in some weird cul-de-sac of hip-hop, following the footsteps of De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, but from the other coast. Some of the tracks kind of fall flat (even one of their singles, "4 better or 4 worse"), but most of the album is entertaining, albeit occasionally in a kind of sophomoric way; my favorites were probably "Soul fish", the ultimate insult-track "Ya Mama", "Passin' me by" and the relatable "Otha fish". Mainly, I just enjoyed the distinct lack of braggadocio and gangsta-style posturing on an album that was released in a time and place where that wasn't particularly trendy, and I also liked it that they had some roots with the show "In Living Color".
Adam & The Ants
3/5
I was vaguely aware of this band when they were active, but I'm not sure I ever heard anything by them, or at least from this album. And now, after listening to the album and watching the (very dated) videos, I'm sorry on some level for having missed out on them, as they seem like a great example of the potential of New Wave that fell apart with subsequent acts like Duran Duran/Pet Shop Boys/New Order. And I really enjoy some aspects of their music, from the double drums (at least on some songs) and some interesting harmonies/backing vocals, and full credit for being much more of a traditional band than relying heavily on keyboards. And those costumes...nothing speaks New Wave like a Musketeer-outfit with all sorts of hair flair and white face paint.
My favorites on the album are probably "Antmusic" (largely from the dual-drums into and the fun video and outrageously 80s outfits and dancing), the spaghetti-western-inspired "Los Rancheros", and "Killer in the home". But ultimately, the songs aren't all that interesting either lyrically or musically, at least for my tastes. But kudos to Adam Ant for creating this seminal album from the ashes of Malcolm McClaren having poached all his band members to create Bow Wow Wow.
New Order
3/5
I seem to have invoked New Order by semi-slagging them in the previous album's review (for Adam and the Ants' "Kings of the Wild Frontier"), so I'll try not to jinx myself too much in this review, although I have to say that New Order often feels like a slightly peppier version of The Cure (which I hope I don't get tomorrow). I think the only tracks I'm familiar with on this album is "Round & round", which had a fairly good run on the radio, at least in a slightly different version than the album version (although I was kind of disappointed when I realized that it wasn't the earlier and much more effective ear-worm "You spin me round" by Dead or Alive). I don't think I'd heard "Fine time" before, and listening to the song and watching the video was surprisingly creepy, especially with some poor kid being asked to seem...crazy? neurodivergent? unstable? perhaps even abused? I'm not really sure, but I find it hard to believe that anyone would make a video like that in the years since (and I'm not sure why it was OK to do that even in 1989, frankly).
All in all, this is about what I'd expect from New Order, so it neither disappointed nor delighted me. Faint praise, I know, but I'm thankful it's not another Morrissey album, or Duran Duran! (And I'm laughing now that I look at my review for their other album in this collection ("Low-Life") and how similar these two reviews are...)
Santana
4/5
This definitely seems like the quintessential Santana album to include in this collection, and impressive that three of the tracks have survived so long on the airwaves. It's equally impressive that two of the three tracks are covers ("Black magic woman" and "Oye como va"), but with a definite Santana spin to them; ironically, the other hit from this album (which I'll admit I'm far less familiar with), "Samba pa ti", sounds more like an Eric Clapton or Jeff Beck instrumental than Santana's. (I actually thought "Hope you're feeling better" was a better track.) I also had no idea that the lead vocals (and some impressive organ pieces) are performed by none other than Gregg Rolie of (future) Journey fame.
It's kind of tough to rate this album, as the main hits feel like it's a solid four stars, but then the rest of the album feels a bit nondescript with largely instrumental pieces (or as Robert Christgau uncharitably put it, "a not disreputable performance, most likely a failed experiment or a pleasant piece of hackwork"). This would have been an easy four (or five) stars if it included "No one to depend on" and "Evil ways", but I feel like Santana himself deserves four stars for hanging in there and exploring all sorts of music.
Joe Ely
3/5
I enjoyed this album, especially because I'd never heard of him before, never heard of this album, and I'm pretty sure never heard any of the songs either. But I'm also completely baffled why this album is in this collection, and neither the Wikpedia entry nor the "1001 Albums" entry provide any real clue either, and the latter review seems equally mystified why Joe Ely never got more than a cult following. I guess we're listening to him because The Clash had him open for them in the late 70s (poor guy)?
Given how few country-related (or even -adjacent) albums we get in this album, it seems a shame to get what appears to be an arbitrary choice instead of substantially more established/respected/acclaimed country artists (no Jerry Jeff Walker, no Townes van Zandt, no Robert Earl Keen, to name just a few). But that's certainly not Ely's fault, and it's an interesting enough album. I think my favorites were "Boxcars" and "Fingernails", in part because they had more of a rock-crossover aspect to them.
Heaven 17
3/5
I like it that there's a bit of a string of unknown albums and bands right now in this collection. This one's definitely an oddball, but enjoyable in a *very* 80s/New Wave way, and with a surprisingly hard edge to the lyrics and more funk to the music than I would have expected, in kind of a Prince/The Time sense, at least on the "Pavement" side of the album; the "Penthouse" side isn't quite as fun (although "The height of the fighting" is pretty decent). And of course there's that fantastic UK/BBC-inspired album cover that succeeds in being very ironic.
I'm not sure I could say I had many favorites on the album, largely because their style isn't really to my taste, but I enjoyed the opening track ("(We don't need this) Fascist groove thang"), and was disappointed to read that the BBC banned it from the radio because it might have dared to imply that Ronald Reagan was a fascist; hard to imagine that happening in 2025.... Interesting that they recorded this album alongside The Human League (I guess in part because two-thirds of Heaven 17 were formerly part of The Human League), as you can definitely see the connection. And kudos to them for the "Clockwork Orange" reference with the band name (Heaven 17).
Robert Wyatt
2/5
Ugh. *Another* Robert Wyatt album??? How disappointing. At least it's from his earlier--and presumably more musically active--era, and at least it's much more distinctive and downright weird at times (compared to "Shleep"), but ultimately it's not really any more interesting or particularly entertaining, at least to my unappreciative ears (although I did enjoy parts of both of the "Red riding hood" tracks). I *do* feel badly for him that the album was recorded not long after a horrible (and sadly very drunken) accident that left him a paraplegic (and oddly coinciding with his partner's work on the excellent 1973 film "Don't Look Now"). But this was a chore to endure the thankfully-brief 40 minutes or so on this album.
Although it's their latest of four albums in this collection, it's the first U2 for me so far, which is always a bit disappointing to get a band's albums out of order, but fine (and it's still from 25 years ago). And nice to see that Brian Eno (who is everywhere) and Daniel Lanois produced this album, much as they did with 3 earlier U2 albums. I was a bit surprised to realize that I'd heard all of the singles from this album many many times on the radio, as I foolishly thought that since I didn't recognize the album title I wouldn't have heard many of their songs. I particularly enjoyed "Elevation" (and didn't realize that the album version was somewhat different from the "Lara Croft" single version), "When I look at the world", and the semi-bonus track "The ground beneath her feet" (largely because of the lyrics by Salman Rushdie and then Daniel Lanois playing steel guitar, and the connection to yet another Wim Wenders movie featuring U2 music).
It's funny to read that this album was considered more of a return to their musical roots, as I guess I was completely ignorant that U2 had veered in electronic dance music in the 90s, although I guess that characterization includes "Achtung Baby", which I would never have called EDM.... Either way, I'd say that few of their tracks on the album seem like throwback songs (maybe the Aung San Suu Kyi homage "Walk on", but only somewhat, and definitely "In a little while" and "Grace"). Overall, though, while it's a good album by a solid (and now clearly older) band, I'm not sure why this fourth U2 album was needed for this collection, as it's not particularly distinctive or ground-breaking.
Fatboy Slim
3/5
I definitely appreciate getting two Fatboy Slim albums in this collection, although I'm not sure this is one of his best albums (but it *was* his debut album, which likely explains its inclusion). And I bought this CD a long time ago, so it's equally nice to revisit an album I've enjoyed over the years (even if I haven't listened to it all that much recently). My favorites are the single "Going out of my mind" (with a fun accompanying video), "Give the po'man a break", and one of my all-time favorite Fatboy Slim tracks "Michael Jackson" (which I still find myself humming at times); and a nod to the interesting video to "Everybody needs a 303". A solid debut, but he definitely got more interesting and varied over the course of his future albums.
The Afghan Whigs
3/5
It's funny--I always associated The Afghan Whigs with the whole British alternative/alt-rock scene, but I don't think I ever (actively) listened to them, and I doubt much of their stuff made it to the radio, so this was a totally uninformed conjecture. And although it's not totally off-base, the fact that they were an American band highlights how little I really knew (I'm guessing that "Whigs" was part of what threw me off in a continental sense). Overall, it seems like a fine sample of the 90s alt-rock genre, and I enjoyed it that I'd never heard any of the songs before, but I'll admit I'm unlikely to revisit the album. The only songs that kind of stood out for me were "Debonair", "Fountain and Fairfax" and "Now you know" (largely because they all had better guitar hooks than other tracks); "My curse" is also an interesting change of pace. (I had high hopes for their cover of "I keep coming back", but was kind of disappointed.)
I do wish the album's mix could have been a little better, though, as I would never have guessed that this was a breakup album without reading about it, as I found most of the lyrics largely indecipherable. And hilarious that Linda Ronstadt (on the same label when this album was released) thought the album cover was all but child porn. Also, kind of cool that Steve Earle ("Copperhead Road") was a member of the band when the album was produced.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
3/5
An interesting selection from the collection for today. I'm not much of a folk song connoisseur (or afficionado), so this was all pretty much new to me, and of course it's hard not to think of Woodie Guthrie (or even his son Arlo), as those are folk artists I'm most familiar with that sound like Ramblin' Jack, but I'm sure there are many, many (many) others, although even I could recognize that Ramblin' Jack has more country twang, and also seems like a talented guitarist as well. (It *was* nice to get Woody Guthrie performing with him on "New York Town", or at least I think that's what happened in that song.)
I enjoyed the change of pace, but I'll admit I'm not well-versed enough to feel I can recognize if this was seminal or not. But I loved finding out that the album's reviewer in the "1001 Albums" book hosted Jack Elliott for a month, a personal connection I suspect few of the reviewers have had to most of the artists in this project.
Portishead
4/5
Although I was very happy to see that we'd get to listen to Portishead in this collection, I literally had to double-take on this album to make sure it was really Portishead that I was listening to, as this sounds *nothing* like their previous albums, at least the ones I own (neither of which, curiously, are in this collection). And yet there's a thread of continuity, even beyond Gibbons' distinctive voice. I think my favorite tracks were "Silence" (partly just from the shock of such a different and distinct wave of sound), "The rip" and "We carry on" (both with compelling animated videos that reminded me of aspects of some of the animation in Pink Floyd's "The Wall"), and the almost vintage-Portishead-style "Machine gun". I also enjoyed the video to "Magic doors", although the song itself was almost too out there for my tastes, at least on first listen (but very cool that it used a hurdy-gurdy, which I had no idea was even an instrument).
Listening to the album, I felt like they had somehow internalized a band like Radiohead's desire to experiment, well beyond their earlier sound and feel; they almost out-Radioheaded the source, as I'd enjoy Radiohead a lot more if they'd produced more albums like this. This definitely seems like an album that (a) is best listened to as a whole, and (b) likely gets even more interesting with repeated listening. I'm not sure whether I'll spend that re-listening time any time soon, but hopefully I'll feel like it after this project is over. And what a fascinating reinvention of a band that I already enjoyed and admired.
Tim Buckley
3/5
If you'd asked me before I heard this album, I'd have guessed that Tim Buckley was some sort of political columnist for a major paper in the US (maybe William's brother/cousin). It appears that's not the case, but I'm not at all sure why this is one of three of his albums in this collection (the first for me, but chronologically the last), given that (a) none of his albums sold well or got much play time on the radio, and (b) there's nothing particularly distinctive about his style or music (at least on this album). I enjoyed it well enough as early 70s rock, with a kind of eclectic mix of styles, and definitely appreciated the 40 minute run time, and I thought "Get on it", "Devil eyes" and "Make it right" stood out a bit. I kind of wish the "1001 Albums" editors had just stuck with one Tim Buckley album, though, as I'm pretty sure I will be tired of his albums long before we're actually through them. And a shame that the Wikipedia entry for this album doesn't help make him any less obscure or interesting.
Louis Prima
3/5
Well, it's hard to argue with a classic, even if it's not really a musical era that I'm really familiar with or much of a fan of. But there's no denying Prima's infectious enthusiasm and off-the-wall humor, and it's an easy and remarkably quick listen, with a surprising number of hits I've heard before. I'll admit that I'm a bit partial to David Lee Roth's version of "Just a gigalo / I ain't got nobody", but Prima's version is very distinctive (and of course much older). And I *finally* now know why his voice has always sounded familiar: he (very magnificently) played the orangutan's part in "The Jungle Book"!
I can only imagine how fun his sets were in the 50s at the Sahara in Las Vegas.
Drive-By Truckers
3/5
Another total unknown for me from this collection, and an interesting one at that. Although I'm not sure I'd have personally chosen to make a (far too) long album played through the lens of Lynyrd Skynyrd, they clearly thought that would be a fun project, and largely succeeded in keeping the theme and a fairly distinctive result (although they could have probably omitted the 2nd CD/vinyl without too much of a loss). I think my favorites were "Ronnie and Neil", "The Southern thing", and "Zip city", and also the final track "Angels and fuselage" for some unexplainable reason. I was struck by how several songs reminded me of Robert Earl Keen's music ("Days of graduation" and "Three great Alabama icons" in particular, both reminiscent of narrations in "Farm Fresh Onions"), an artist I wish was included in the collection, but I can see why the "1001 Albums" mentioned comparisons to Neil Young, given the almost-live-sounding production and prominent guitar playing.
Whatever you think of this at-times rough-sounding album, you have to give some credit for the fact that they recorded the album over several nights in a studio above a uniform factory at the end of a blazing Birmingham summer, plus that they had a GoFundMe approach to funding the album long before that even existed. A shame that they had a pretty brief stint as a band.
Motörhead
3/5
Well, *this* is definitely a blast from the past. I'm not sure I ever realized back in the day that Motörhead was just a trio, which kind of explains why they always sounded a bit thin compared to other metal bands of the time (mainly because there weren't two guitars, I guess?). I was never a big Motörhead fan back then, and while this is undoubtedly their best album, or at least most popular, listening to it now doesn't really increase my appreciation for them. (And I'm mystified that there's another Motörhead album lurking in this collection.) I also don't think I've knowingly heard most of the songs on this album aside from the title track (which I heard way too many times) and maybe a couple of others; I feel badly saying this, but as much of a metalhead as I believed I was at the time, I have a *really* hard time distinguishing between most of their songs. But I *do* appreciate how they were faster and harder-edged than the earlier metal bands of the 70s (almost kind-of-punk sounding), and I laughed when I read that lead man Lemmy insisted that they were just a rock-n-roll band. I also laughed that Lemmy claims he sung their hit single as "the eight of spades" for two years and nobody noticed; I'm sure I wouldn't have.
Dr. Octagon
3/5
This collection has some seriously obscure-seeming and oddball albums in it, especially with the rap/hip-hop genre, and this album certainly falls into this weird Bermuda Triangle of musical experiments. I liked it that the music itself is more eclectic and creative than what we've been getting from other hip-hop albums in this collection (very much *not* gangsta style in any way), and there's something to be said for a concept album based on a bizarre time-traveling alien gynecologist character, but I'm not sure the whole is really greater than the product of its strangely-fitting parts (the juvenile parts, though, are generally offset by surprisingly high-brow chatter in songs like "No awareness", "Technical difficulties" or "Dr. Octagon"). Highlights for me were "3000" (made me think of MC 900ft Jesus), "Blue flowers" (both the original (including a pretty trippy video) and the "revisited" version) and "I'm destructive".
I really wanted to give this album four stars, simply for what feels like a very unique approach to hip-hop/rap, and to reward Kool Keith for his off-the-wall lyrics, Dan Nakamura for great production, and DJ Q-Bert's amazing scratching, but something--and I'm not sure what--just didn't quite work as well as I wanted it to. Sorry guys!
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
I'm not exactly sure what I thought Rufus Wainwright sounded like, but *this* is not what I expected. I'm a bit bummed that it looks like we'll get the other half of this aborted double-album, as I feel like I've gotten a pretty good taste of his style with this album, but I'm not exactly surprised either. I'm not sure it's exactly fair to call him a modern-day (or at least more contemporary) version of the more orchestral tendencies of Elton John and Billy Joel and even David Bowie and Stevie Wonder, but those are the artists that came to mind as I swam through the somewhat painfully whirling sounds of Mr. Wainwright. Not really my taste, but it seems pretty well-produced, and I liked it that he clearly wrote and composed all the songs, sappy as they often seem. I feel badly only giving this album two stars, but I just *really* didn't enjoy slogging through this.
Hot Chip
3/5
I actually own (and enjoyed listening to) an earlier Hot Chip album ("The Warning"), so it's nice to get a different listen to this band. I'll admit that I must have last listened to "The Warning" many years ago, as this album doesn't sound all that familiar to what I vaguely recall as their sound; in fact, much of this album sounds much more like some 80s New Wave knockoff than anything else, which is a bit disappointing. And those videos! So painful, especially the horribly dated VR-based "Don't deny your heart". That said, I thought "Look at where we are", and the accompanying video, was probably the best track on the album (and the "Night & day" video wasn't too bad either). I also enjoyed "Flutes" and "Ends of the Earth".
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
Much like yesterday's Hot Chip selection, I own a few of LCD Soundsystem's earlier albums, so it's nice to get a band I like and music I haven't previously heard by them. And unlike Hot Chip's "In Our Heads", I enjoyed this album just as much as I've enjoyed their earlier albums. I particularly enjoyed "oh baby" (in part due to the impressive and sad video by Rian Johnson and starring Sissy Spacek and David Strathairn), "i used to", and "call the police".
A solid album, and fun to get newer material from them in this collection, but not their strongest work; perhaps they felt a bit rusty (and clearly more subdued) from their long hiatus before this album was released.
The Killers
4/5
I'm not entirely sure why I know the name of this album so well, as I've neither owned it nor heard much from it, but I kind of recall that they got a *lot* of attention with this debut album. I think I kind of got them confused with Filter (of "Hey man, nice shot" fame), but I have no idea why, as they weren't really contemporary. Either way, the ubiquitous "Mr. Brightside" track definitely placed them for me, and I enjoyed the impressively creative Moulin-Rouge-based video. I also really enjoyed "All these things that I've done" (in part from being reminded of the scene in "Southland Tales" where Justin Timberlake lip syncs to it, but also because I like the song, and their video is quite good too). The other videos weren't quite as good, but they clearly put some effort into "Smile like you mean it", which I appreciate. And I can see why the 2005 "1001 Albums" entry notes a connection to Franz Ferdinand, as it's definitely there (but not in a copycat way); a shame that they dropped this album in later editions.
This is definitely one of those albums that deserves a half-star system, as it feels like an insult to only give it three stars, especially given that they accomplished four popular singles on a debut album. But it also seems like there's not as much variety to their sound across the album to warrant four stars, and it definitely sags towards the end (looking at you in particular, "Everything will be alright"). But we don't have half-stars, of course, so four it is!
Wilco
3/5
I'm not a huge Wilco aficionado, but I own at least one album by them (not this one) and usually enjoy both them and Uncle Tupelo when I hear them. Thankfully this holds true for this album too, although I was kind of hoping to enjoy more tracks on the too long album than I did. "Misunderstood" starts off the album really (really) strongly, but Tweedy and company struggle to sustain the mood or tone through much of the first disc, sadly; I was really glad that "Red eyed and blue" followed "Forget the flowers", as the latter kind of made me despair for the remainder of the album. It was nice that the second disc really picked up with "Outta sight" through "Kingpin".
Overall it feels like Tweedy and Wilco were still exploring directions with this album, and didn't quite find the way by the end. Fine but not great.
The Slits
3/5
I think the album cover and the in-your-face name of the band kind of sets them up for a bit of disappointment, at least for me. It's a solid album and well produced, but I'm a little baffled by the Wikipedia references to punk or even post punk, as this sounds a lot like a female trio playing Clash/Police style white reggae, *without* much in the way of punk elements (a bit like the B-52s, but not as quirky, although Ari Up's human tremolo is pretty distinctive). I wish there was more variety to the songs, but I thought "Newtown" and "Typical girls" distinguished themselves pretty well, and I *really* enjoyed their fantastic cover of "I heard it through the grapevine" (technically a bonus track, I know, but still). And it's nice to think that The Slits were the predecessors to the riot grrrl phenomenon.
Bert Jansch
3/5
Another odd (Scottish) selection from the murky backwaters of this project, further clouded by the nearly absent Wikipedia entry for this album (thankfully the "1001 Albums" entry was a little more verbose, and I appreciated learning that artists as wide ranging as Donovan and Maryanne Faithfull did covers of his songs). I was reminded of another mainly-acoustic artist, Leo Kottke, as I listened to the album (especially "Angie"). I particularly enjoyed "I have no time", "Do you hear me now" and "Courting blues"; I really wanted to enjoy "The needle of death", but it felt like the folk style got in the way of a very modern and sad story. I wanted to rate this album higher than three stars, especially because a number of the lyrics are really nicely done, but it's a high bar for me when it's just a solo artist with an instrument and his or her voice.
Harry Nilsson
3/5
I kind of assumed from the man's name and the irreverent album title that this was some sort of crooner, so a pleasant surprise to find out just how wrong I was. It's not exactly what I'd necessarily choose to listen to, but it's a very solid and confident album, and I enjoyed the range of styles--and the impressively radio friendly length--of most of the tracks. My favorites were probably the first three tracks ("Gotta get up" through "Early in the morning") plus the singles "Coconut" (it's so nice to finally have a name to put with one of my favorite novelty songs) and the surprisingly long "Jump into the fire". I also appreciated the overall brevity of the album; short and to the point, and only slightly maudlin at times ("Without you", "The moonbeam song" and "I'll never leave you" were a bit too much for me, although I'll admit I'm not familiar with the original "Without you" by Badfinger, so it's probably not fair to criticize a cover version that pushed a half hearted ballad into saccharine territory).
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Although I'll never turn down the chance to listen to Nick Cave's music, I kind of wonder if this double album is a good choice for this project, especially given how many Nick Cave albums there are in this collection. Regardless, it's an interesting approach to a double album, with very different sides to his music on each disc. I particularly enjoyed the "Abattoir Blues" tracks, especially "Cannibal's hymn", "Hiding all away", and the Johnny Cash tribute "Let the bells ring". The "Lyre of Orpheus" disc wasn't quite as strong to me, although I did enjoy "Breathless", "Easy money" and "O children" in particular; it *did* kind of feel, though, like Nick Cave channeled his (always present) Leonard Cohen spirit a bit too hard with some of these ballads.
It's hard to know how to rate this (double) album, as I feel like this is a fairly strong Nick Cave album overall (Orpheus' minor faults notwithstanding), and probably worthy of four stars for that, but on the other hand it feels like it's a rough trip for those who aren't familiar with (or fans of) his music. But I guess I'll vote as a long time fan of his work.
Fugazi
3/5
I had a friend in college who was a huge fan of Fugazi, and while I liked the band's name I realize now that I never listened to them, and had just assumed that they were along the spectrum of Mudhoney, pre-Nevermind Nirvana and other bands like that. I'm a bit relieved to find out that latter impression was at least somewhat accurate (relieved mainly because I no longer have to worry that I might have missed out on a unique sounds all these years). But I'm glad I finally got a taste of the DC band, and I'm impressed how they clearly had more talented musicians than some of their fellow semi-hardcore/not-exactly-grunge ilk. The opening track "Turnover" is a great opener for the album, and I also enjoyed "Blueprint" and "Two beats back" (plus "Song #1" from the extras).
Overall, they're not really ground-breaking, but the combination of tight music played almost punk style makes for an interesting style and sound, and the lyrics are (when I could actually hear them) reminiscent of Rage Against the Machine's political leanings. I hadn't appreciated until now that they were *way* more Pearl Jam than PJ ever was in terms of giving the middle finger to corporate music structures (record labels, Ticketmaster, even merchandising), and I really admire that they eschewed selling *anything* when they toured, they chose their own venues, and basically prohibited slam dancing, all in the name of trying to keep their ticket prices to $5 a head, which they largely did for over 15 years. I have a *lot* of respect for that, and I kind of wonder if that was part of the reason my college friend followed them so closely.
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
Even though I know they're very different bands, and different eras, I nearly always conflate Velvet Underground, Psychedelic Furs, and Depeche Mode into some sort of Frankenstein-like mashup of totally incompatible styles. And as I listened to this album, I realized that I've probably never actually heard much of anything by the Psychedelic Furs except the radio hits like "Pretty in pink". I was a bit surprised that some of the non-singles tracks on this album don't really sound like their more popular hits (the opening song "Dumb waiters" is a good example, although apparently this *was* a single), but in general they're not really a band that I enjoy listening to their songs, either for the first time or the umpteenth millionth time; that said, I thought "Mr Jones" and "It goes on" were stronger than most of the rest. Regardless, I give them credit for having nothing to do with the likes of Lou Reed or "Personal Jesus" (although there's a certain similarity to The Smiths, sadly).
Tito Puente
3/5
Yet another Latin entry in this collection that I feel ill-equipped to judge fairly or accurately. I've never been a big fan of big band music, and I have little to no familiarity with Mambo music, so all I can really say is that this sounds reasonably well produced for its time, and I kind of felt like I was in some puertorriqueño-flavored type of Vegas show, so... mildly entertaining? I *was* impressed with the xylophone show in "Hong Kong mambo", though. (And with full apologies to the late King of Mambo for any disrespect.)
Femi Kuti
3/5
I don't think I've ever heard anything by Femi Kuti before, and this is definitely a different style from a number of other African-based albums we've gotten in the collection--including of course the massive presence of his father--so that's always a good thing. This album definitely seems to embrace elements of his father's Afrobeat tradition, but either because of Femi Kuti's decision to be more accessible, or perhaps because of the kind of hollow sound many 90s-era albums have (not much bass, every instrument very discrete in a kind of artificial way), I wasn't really drawn into the songs on the albums all that much; this made the 70+ minute runtime seem even longer, sadly. I thought "Frustrations" and "Nawa" and there energetic "Live for today" seemed the best of the bunch, as the almost reggae-sounding singing on many of the tracks kind of blended the rest together, despite some pretty incisive lyrics at times.
Flamin' Groovies
3/5
I didn't expect a band with a name like Flamin' Groovies to sound like a sort of Southern/country/rockabilly rock band, so that was kind of interesting. But once I adjusted to this perspective, I was a bit disappointed that they didn't sound all that full/resonant, which might just reflect that they recorded this album in the early 70s, or maybe that they just don't have a very big sound. Either way, I thought "Yesterday's numbers" and "Whiskey woman" were probably the highlights of the album, although I also enjoyed the overall variety too (except the semi-Elvis take on "Evil-hearted Ada"). It's always nice hearing an unknown (to me) band, and I also appreciated the concise tracks and the half hour playtime (although some of the extras are pretty fun too, including the extended jam version of "Louie Louie"). And kudos to Mick Jagger for being generous in saying they did the modern blues rock sound better than the Rolling Stones.
Sisters Of Mercy
3/5
I don't think I've ever heard anything by The Sisters of Mercy, and despite Wikipedia noting that there were three singles from this album, I don't think I've heard anything from "Floodland" either. An interesting mix of an almost industrial take on New Wave music at times, although without the grittiness of something like Ministry (or of Laibach's 1987 "Opus Dei" for that matter) and more of the more mundane gloominess of the Smiths or the Cure. The album is pretty solid overall, albeit a bit turgid on the slower songs (like "Flood 1" or "1959"); my favorites were probably "Dominion/Mother Russia" and "Flood II", and also the extended version of "Never Land (full length)".
It's definitely dated (especially the ubiquitous drum machine, so cheesily credited as "Doktor Avalanche"), but a lot more interesting than something like, say, Pet Shop Boys or even The Cure, and I admire it that this was largely a one man production, a la Trent Reznor, although I do wish it had the bite of Nine Inch Nails. (I was also a bit bummed that I wasn't able to watch the videos for the singles, as I was mildly curious to see if they were interesting or pretentious, or both.) Sadly, though, Andrew Eldritch sounds like a bitter jerk, at least to former band members, especially with the semi decent "This Corrosion" intended to be a satirical mocking of a former "Sisters" musician's meaningless lyrics. I think the Rolling Stone reviewer Mark Coleman summed it up best: "Meat Loaf joining the Cure for a remake of Lou [Reed]'s Berlin"....
Radiohead
4/5
I feel badly for Radiohead that this collection has *so* many of their albums, as my initial reaction now is a mixture of dread and irritation, wondering just how long I'll have to sit through yet another Radiohead release. Thankfully, this seems like one of their stronger albums, and about the right length for what they're trying to convey (not that I'm ever quite sure what that message might be, I'll admit). It's hard to single out individual tracks as being particularly better or worse than the effect of the whole, but I was a bit partial to "The national anthem", the pseudo-single "Optimistic", and "Idioteque". I'm a bit disappointed that I want able to watch all the animated shorts that went along with most of the tracks, but not so much so that I'd brave listening to the album again, I'm afraid.
Although I'm just not a big Radiohead fan, I can definitely see why this got such blistering reviews at the time and then rave reviews in retrospectives, as it's such a unique sound and approach in many ways, especially given when it was released (and *so* much better than "Amnesiac"). And I'm also glad for their sake that this album didn't break them up.
The Fall
3/5
I'm not sure I've ever heard of or listened to The Fall before, so I'm surprised to see that we have at least two of their albums in this collection (including this one). It'll be interesting to see if their earlier album sounds like this one, but I'm assuming it must have some other hook because this is *not* a particularly entertaining or distinctive set of songs, kind of a garage band version of something like The Clash mixed with maybe Deep Purple and a bit of Iggy Pop sprinkled in? That doesn't really encapsulate them, I know, but I didn't really find myself drawn to their avant-garde-esque quirkiness, I'll admit.
It's a bit hard to choose from along the largely undistinguished morass in this album, but I thought "Barmy" and "L.A." stood out a bit, and the occasional tracks (like "Vixen") with Brix Smith's vocals were a nice change of pace; I wanted to enjoy "Paint work", especially given all the accolades and chatter about how it developed/accreted, but other than a certain "Uncle Meat" Zappa-like aspect, it didn't really do much for me. I *did* enjoy reading, though, that James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem fame became obsessed with this album, and it even led him to embrace and appreciate abstract art as a result. I don't think I have the patience to listen to this album enough to have similar revelations, but I can see/hear a bit what he must have meant.
Tom Waits
4/5
This album is definitely more like the Tom Waits I'm familiar with than his much earlier "Nighthawks At The Diner", and for that alone I'm glad this album is included in the collection. I also feel like this is a much stronger album overall than "Nighthawks", especially for those (like me) who enjoy his style; I really enjoyed the whole album, but felt the opening track "Earth died screaming", "Such a scream", "In the colosseum", and "Black rain" were all particularly good (the only laggards were "A little rain" and "Whistle down the wind"). I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to watch the videos for "Goin' out west" and "I don't wanna grow up", especially since they were directed by Jim Jarmusch and Jesse Dylan, but I guess that'll be something to look forward to.
I know he's largely an acquired taste, but I'm thankful that I've somehow become seasoned to his distinctive and unusual style (probably some combination of seeing him on the screen ("Children of God", an episode of "Fishing with John"), and his great version of "The devil down below" that fronted season one of "The Wire"). And it's very cool that he got a variety of musicians to accompany on various tracks (Les Claypool (Primus) on "Earth died screaming", Keith Richards on "That feel", David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) on "Whistle down the wind", etc).
JAY Z
3/5
It's hard to imagine a worse release date for an album than 9/11/2001, so on some level I feel like we should all cut Jay-Z some slack for a remarkably forgettable album, although I feel like all the legal troubles he got into, and the whole diss culture he participated in kind of offsets any sympathy for bad timing. Despite the impressive cast of luminaries who helped with the production of the album, I was really struck by how few tracks were compelling; the only ones that seemed decent were (maybe) "Takeover", "U don't know", and the Eminem-backed "Renegade". It's hard to understand how this is regarded as one of the great hip-hop albums of all time, frankly, but I guess I just don't have a suitably appreciative ear.
Primal Scream
3/5
I was never a huge Primal Scream fan even when they were big, but it's nice to get this album (especially compared to the somewhat baffling inclusion of their album "Vanishing Point" in this connection), mainly because it's more or less their attempt at a greatest hits album. It's pretty hard to deny the ear worm of "Loaded" (and I'm glad to have finally found out that the sampled movie clip is from Peter Fonda's "The Wild Angels"), and "Movin' on up" and "Higher than the sun" and "Come together" are decent tracks too; kudos too for their cover of 13th Floor Elevators' "Slip inside this house". The rest is pretty undistinguished, unfortunately, but still not horrible, and definitely acid-house dance oriented.
Suede
3/5
I don't think I've ever heard of Suede, nor anything from this album, which is always a potentially interesting prospect from this collection. I'm not sure they really delivered on that potential, but I also found the album a somewhat interesting collection of mid-90s alternative rock, with more than a healthy dose of David Bowie-esque influences and homages (most obvious on "The power" and "New generation", but present throughout). The album didn't really grab me, but I thought "Daddy's speeding" and "The asphalt world" were the better tracks of the lot.
It didn't help their cause much to read all the sordid details of the guitarist/co-songwriter's split with the rest of the band mid-album over...I'm not entirely sure what, exactly, but it sounded pretty ugly and acrimonious, and didn't make a lot of sense given how ho-hum the album seems overall.
The Fall
3/5
It's a bit of a shame that this debut album came so soon in the collection after their later album "This Nation's Saving Grace", as they're the type of band that seems best taken in small doses. Of course, I'm not sure I'd ever really warm up to their style and sound, as this album didn't really do much for me; I thought "Rebellious jukebox" and "Two steps back" were perhaps the best tracks. And I appreciated it that most songs, and the album cover, were relatively concise time wise.
I suspect this is the type of band and album that would have been much better appreciated and enjoyed back when it first came out, as it's clearly rebelling against contemporary music and the labels that produced more popular fare. It also sounds like they had great live shows, which would have been fun to see and hear.
The Darkness
3/5
I vaguely recall my brother mentioning The Darkness as a fun hair-metal-esque band for the 21st century. And while he might have even given me one of their albums, I think this is the first time I've listened to them, and I can definitely see what he meant now, especially with the opening track "Black shuck" storming out of the gates and never looking back (and very cool that the song was based on a legend of a dog that haunts a church near the band's hometown). Screaming falsettos, power chords aplenty, blistering guitar licks and a veritable wall of distortion; this one has it all, down to the somewhat embarrassingly adolescent titles and lyrics.
It's not really the type of album to have too many highlights, only because they're probably 20 years too late to get the kind of airplay they'd have deserved in the 80s, but I'd say that they had a few perfectly tuned tracks in "Growing on me", "I believe in a thing called love", "Stuck in a rut", and the epic "Love on the rocks with no ice". Not the best album ever (by a long shot), but definitely fun, and I can see why they're compared to the likes of Queen,as they have the same kind of energy and over the top commitment that's not quite camp.
The Flaming Lips
3/5
I've heard of (and probably listened a bit to) The Flaming Lips, but really only in the context of their album "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots", so I'm guessing there's at least one more Flaming Lips in store in this collection. I feel as if I've always wanted to like them more than I actually do, and this album kind of reinforces this feeling, largely due to the sort of quavery/out-of-tune vocals singing about young adult style fantasy stories, and with a bit too many precocious ersatz flourishes. It *is* impressive how seamless the tracks blend into each other, though, and I thought "The spark that bled" and "What is the light" and "The gash" were strong songs (contrivances notwithstanding). I can definitely see why this is sometimes referred to as a 1990s version of "Pet Sounds", and I had about the same reaction to this album as I did to "Pet Sounds". It's interesting too to read that this album was a huge break from their previous style; I guess we'll find out how noticeable the difference is if we get any of their earlier stuff in this collection.
Taylor Swift
4/5
Even if you're not a big fan of her music, it's hard to deny how impressively Taylor Swift pivoted with this album and became an incredible musical juggernaut. And it's equally hard not to enjoy all of the singles on this and subsequent albums; it almost feels like she's somehow created greatest hits albums with each new release. She's managed to combine her undeniable success with a seemingly genuine personality and very savvy business sense, and created a lasting 21st phenomenon that seems rivalled only by Beyonce (and probably only Madonna and Michael Jackson from the 20th century). I've never listened to this album in its entirety (although impossible to miss all the singles), so that was nice to experience. It's definitely not music for musicians or even songwriters, but it's certainly entertaining (and I'm confident that the numerous videos on this album are equally so, although I wasn't able to watch them).
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
It's always interesting to listen to groundbreaking albums and artists long after they made waves, especially if (like me) you're listening to their music largely for the first time (it was of course impossible to have missed their incredible cover of Aerosmith's "Walk this way", as well as the ubiquitous "It's tricky", but I don't think I've heard any of their songs from this album before aside from "It's like that", and I'm not entirely sure if I heard it much at the time). I know they made a splash as one of, if not *the* first hardcore rap/hip-hop groups to hit the scene, but listening in 2025 it's striking how slowly the beats pound, and how tame the lyrics are compared to just a few years later. But it's also impressive how you can hear echoes of them in the Beastie Boys (especially the syncopation in "Wake up", but really throughout), Public Enemy, Ice-T, etc. I particularly enjoyed their singles "Hard times", the OG rap rock track "Rock box", their seminal "It's like that", as "Hollis crew", and "". I'm a little disappointed I wasn't able to watch the videos to their singles, but probably not enough to go back to watch them later. But very fun to listen to a transformative album.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
When I realized this was a very recent album from Nick Cave, I was excited to see what he had in store. I'll admit that this was neither what I was expecting, nor exactly why this was added to this collection, as it's not a strong Nick Cave album, and frankly not that strong an album overall (although I'll admit I must be a tiny minority in this opinion, given the nearly perfect Metacritic score reviews). He seems to be channeling his Leonard Cohen indulgences to a high degree here, and not really in an effective or appealing way to me (and there's some uncomfortable-fitting Bjork/Vangelis-like music too). I thought the stronger songs of the first part (the "children" of the double album) were "Night raid", parts of "Sun forest", and "Leviathan", but this is more than offset by how the album feels so much longer than its already-too-long 68-minute runtime, and how the second part (the "parents") endlessly floats away; even after reading that songs like "Hollywood" are radically shorter than the original recordings, I kept wishing that most of the album had been left on the cutting room floor.
I usually enjoy Nick Cave's music quite a bit, so the disappointment here is doubly felt, and it certainly doesn't make me want to seek out the earlier albums in this trilogy ("Push the Sky Away" and "Skeleton Tree"). I feel guilty giving only two stars to this album, especially given how much of it revolves around the untimely death of his son years earlier, and how this dramatically affected the way he approached his music, but this album *really* didn't do it for me. I fear I'm just stuck on a past version of Nick Cave that no longer exists.
Q-Tip
3/5
Interesting to get a Tribe spinoff album in this collection (or perhaps better to call it a comeback for one of its members, given how much later this was released), and nice to get more Q-Tip to boot. That said, this doesn't seem as strong as his much earlier work with the mothership Tribe, but that could just as easily be because it's not as quirky or collaborative as his work with A Tribe Called Quest, and the early tracks on the album seem surprisingly undifferentiated. The strongest tracks were probably the ones with guest artists, as many of the others seemed a bit too similar to each other, even with the creative instruments and samples at times (e.g. "You"); my favorites were the really strong and distinctive "Manwomanboogie" and the first half of "Move/Renaissance rap".
John Cale
3/5
What a change of pace from recent albums in this collection, both temporally and tonally. I'm not sure I've ever really listened to John Cale's music before, and didn't realize he was a co-founder of The Velvet Underground until I read the Wikpedia entry. As I listened to the album, I was struck by how *un*-Velvet-Underground it sounds, and how you'd never guess that Cale was apparently very experimental and wide-ranging both before and after this album; "Paris 1919" seems very much the opposite of any of those things, with lush but fairly tepid songs and no hint of drones or "lunatic" flourishes. In many ways the song titles are the best aspect of this album for me, although I did enjoy the harder-rock "Macbeth", the Beatles-esque title track "Paris 1919", and the mildly-quirky "Graham Greene" more than the others. And I suspect the lyrics are a *lot* more interesting with repeated playback (or so the glowing reviews would suggest).
The Cure
4/5
Given how many Smiths albums I've had to endure, I'm a bit shocked that this is the first Cure album so far in the collection (with two more to come). I've never been a big Cure fan--I can still vividly recall many heated arguments with a co-worker at the bike shop I worked at, debating the glory (him) and whiny-ness (me) every time various songs from this album (and others) came on the radio. But I'm happy to say that so much Smiths exposure in this project has made me much more appreciative of the relative merits of The Cure now. I still wouldn't choose to listen to them, I'll admit, but I feel like I can better hear the appeal of their music and sentiments. This is likely their most complete album, especially how Robert Smith merged their gothic and pop sensibilities together, and while it's too long for my liking, there's definitely an element of nostalgia for the various singles and radio hits interspersed among the dirge of "Disintegration". I'm also struck by how the lone upbeat(ish) track "Lovesong" could easily have been written/played by REM, as well as how tight "Lullaby" is, especially compared to the rest fo the album. They are definitely not to my taste, but if we only get one Cure album (and I know we don't, but still) this would be it.
Can
3/5
I'm not really sure what "Krautrock" is, nor whether Can or this album is really Krautrock or not, but I *can* say that this album is quite a sonic experience. I'm not sure I can say that I entirely enjoyed the full experience, but I definitely appreciate the chance to listen to something I doubt I would have ever picked up otherwise. It's probably a bit pointless to identify favorite tracks, mainly because of how long they all are and how meandering they are, but I generally preferred the songs on the first and last sides (1 and 4) to the meanderings of "Halleluhwah" and "Aumgn", although there's something to be said for a jam lasting an entire side of a vinyl disc, and "Halleluhwah" sustains itself remarkably well for a surprising amount of its length. Of the shorter songs, "Mushroom" and "Oh yeah" were the most accessible of the lot, and each has some catchy sections too.
Given the remarkably simple (almost austere) recording conditions of having two two-track recorders and three microphones and the entry hall to an old castle, I'm really impressed with how good the recording is. And I am in awe that they had 16-hour sessions for days on end doing this, all without being able to move around while recording for fear of messing up the mix/balance. I also love it that The Flaming Lips' "Take meta Mars" is supposed to be a cover of "Mushroom", but only based on hearing the Can song once and long ago; pretty fun to find out too that The Fall's "I Am Damo Suzuki" is based on this album's "Oh yeah", and Primal Scream's "Kowalski" sampled from "Halleluhwah" (both of which I've listened to not all that long ago from this collection).
Blue Cheer
3/5
Hm. I guess it's worthwhile to have this album in this collection because of it's early-/proto-/semi-metal heritage, but aside from highlighting how much the blues infuses so much harder-edged rock music (especially in the 60s and 70s), there's not a lot going on here that seems all that notable or particularly distinctive, at least from a 2025 perspective. They have a pretty good cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime blues", and "Parchment farm" was also entertaining, but otherwise it's pretty forgettable. I'd say that I was churning out about the same quality music when I was in high school, but I know that's nowhere near true; it just kind of feels that way.
Ride
3/5
I'll admit that when I saw that Wikipedia classified Ride and this album as "shoegaze", I had no idea what that might mean or sound like. But from the opening salvo of "Seagull", I was transported back to the (very) early 90s, and realized that "shoegaze" was referring to that often-annoying wall of sound with indecipherable lyrics that seemed to define (mainly British) indie bands for a while (at times it feels to me like some sort of bizarre mashup of Meat Puppets, Cocteau Twins and Smiths/Cure). It appears that Ride was one of the biggest proponents of this style, so I'm glad they got their 15 minutes in the sun in this collection, and I appreciate it that their LP was under 40 minutes, but I'm a bit hard-pressed to identify any favorites from the album, I'll admit. Maybe "Vapour trail", if only because it was their only real hit?
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
Although I was pretty sure I'd heard something from this band, and at least one song would likely be familiar from this album, I was impressed that the opening title track would be as iconic as it is. And I'm not sure I've ever appreciated until now that "Green Onions" (the song) is an instrumental--I can't think of many classics that have endured that are strictly instrumentals (even "Tequila" has that one lyric). It's also interesting, although a bit disappointing, that the *entire* album is composed strictly of instrumentals, mainly because the tracks on this album aren't long-lasting jam sessions, or even particularly musically complicated, and most are covers of songs that originally *had* lyrics. Maybe the album was meant to be played at parties as a poppy background? The more I listened, the more it felt like a weird novelty album. But those onions are pretty compelling, I'll admit ("Green" and "Mo"), and I also enjoyed their renditions of "I got a woman" and "Twist & shout".
3/5
I'm pretty sure I've never heard anything by them, or anything from this album, so a nice addition from the mystery bag of the collection. And from the outset it's definitely a different sort of sonic experience (especially compared to my previous album "Green Onions" and its instrumental bar snacks). I'm not sure their sound and this album is really to my taste, although I have to admit there's something a bit appealing about the industrial-adjacent tones of the opening track "Broken witch" and a few other tracks. A few other tracks sounded strangely reminiscent of Radiohead, though, which was kind of a fun contrast, especially "We fenced other gardens with the bones of our own", and the whole horror story and industrial/experimental noise aspect kind of reminded me of Marilyn Manson. I probably wouldn't have realized there was any sort of storyline or thematic unity to the songs, or the references to a German mountain called The Brocken, or an apparently pervasive element of horror storytelling throughout, without reading about the album in Wikipedia and the "1001 Albums" entry, so I'm not sure the concept album aspect is all that strong to the uninitiated. Regardless, though, it's hard to argue with their choice of a great album title (I also loved the Philip K. Dick reference with the final track title "Flow my tears the spider sais), and it definitely feels like this could have been a soundtrack to a horror film like "Blair Witch Project" or even "The Ring" at times.
Ian Dury
3/5
(Argh...thanks to my inattention and YouTube Music's maddening algorithm, the following review is based on listening to a 2001 tribute album "Brand New Boots and Panties" rather than the original 1977 "New Boots and Panties"; at least this explains my confusion about how modern it sounds and all the guest artists, none of whom were mentioned in the Wikipedia entry. But at least the Blockheads did nearly all of the tracks on the 2001 tribute album, and listening to the 2001 version certainly made me even more receptive to the 1977 original....)
I'm not familiar with Ian Drury, so I wasn't sure what this album had to offer, but the album cover certainly kept my expectations low, which is always a good start . And I'm really impressed at the range of music styles as well as the *really* impressive guest artists gracing the album, not to mention a really tight and solid backing band. When I saw that Sinead O'Connor sang on the first track, I was really confused and had to double-check this album was really 1977; this must have been *very* early in her career, and I really enjoyed "Wake up and make love with me" in large part for how unexpected her appearance was. I'm not as familiar with a number of the other singers, but I still enjoyed nearly every track (especially "Clever Trevor"), and really enjoyed how all of them are homages to his roots in the great London area, and I loved it that he included Billy Bragg on "Billericay Dickie". (And kudos to Paul McCartney for belting it out in "Abracadabra".) At times I was reminded of The Kinks' "Village Green Preservation Society" (especially on "My old man"), but I like it that Dury's sound is his own and he owns it completely. I'm also struck at how much later this album sounds than 1977 (in a good way). Dury certainly earned four stars for this album (now revised, below).
(And since I feel like I needed to actually listen to the original album, here's a truncated review after listening to the 1977 album.)
It's hard to say exactly what I might have thought of this album if I hadn't inadvertently listened to the tribute album version first, but I *can* say that I appreciated the original album more as a result of having heard the 2001 version first and from reading in advance about Ian Dury's life and the album's concept. I *do* wish that Dury had chosen to include his better-selling singles from the recording sessions on the album (especially "Sex and drugs and rock and roll", but also "Hit me with your rhythm stick" and "Reasons to be cheerful, part 3"), as those have a bit more punch than most of the album's tracks. My favorites from the original album are similar to those from the tribute album--"My old man", "Clever Trevor", and "Billericay Dickie"--although only the 1977 version of "My old man" seems even better than the tribute versions, I'll admit. I'm really glad I listened to this album twice, and in the order I did, but I feel like I need to downgrade the rating to three stars since the original isn't as compelling on its own.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Another Joni Mitchell entry in this collection, but at least it's what seems to be regarded as her finest. I'm still not a big Joni Mitchell fan, and most of the tracks don't really do much for me (and the place-name-dropping lyrics in "Carey" and "California" kind of rub me the wrong way), but I'm glad I've finally listened to this album. I enjoyed the remarkably dark and gritty lyrics on the title track, as well as the sound and style of "This flight tonight", and who can deny "River"? I'm also struck by how raw many of the songs are (and confidently sung), and by how much this album clearly influenced all of the later confessional (and often debut) albums by women singer/songwriters featured in this collection (k.d. lang, Suzanne Vega, Fiona Apple, Alanis Morissette, Liz Phair, etc.). That legacy alone warrants four stars.
The Monks
3/5
Another unknown for me, and thankfully an entertaining entry in this collection's mystery grab bag. I can definitely see how this oddball album from 1966 could be considered an early entry in the punk annals, although I'm not sure any real label applies to this incredibly prescient-sounding album, and the weird release history of the album makes it even more bizarrely backwater. It says so much about the American recording industry that the style and content of their music was so appalling to the studios that the album was never distributed in the US until 1994, and that the German label that produced the album apparently didn't care what this ex-US-military band was saying, about Vietnam or culture or anything, as long as it was an American rock band. It's nearly impossible for me (listening in 2025) to imagine how the music or the lyrics would have seemed so experimental and dangerous, but apparently it was. I really enjoyed the experience of listening to this album, and a few tracks really stood out--the outrageous opening track "Monk time", the driving dirge "I hate you" (which apparently was part of "The Big Lebowski" soundtrack, so kudos to the Coen brothers), and the eviscerating "Complication". I probably won't revisit this album, but I really like it that I've now heard The Monks (subversive as they apparently were) thanks to this project.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
I think this is number four of six Rolling Stones albums in the collection, so more than halfway through our allotment of Stones now. I'm not all that familiar with their discography, but I *did* recognize the album title, so that seemed promising, although I was surprised scanning the song list that there weren't many obvious Rolling Stones classics listed aside from "Tumbling Dice". And as I listened to this long dive into the Stones' version of American rock-n-roll, I was kind of disappointed with the album, largely because of all the accolades I was reading about how it was reassessed as their best album several years after it was released. As I listened to track after track of largely similar bluesy-rock (and grateful for a few deviations, like "Sweet Virginia", "Sweet black angel" and "Let it loose"), I thought of Paul McCartney's dismissive critique that the Stones were a "blues cover band", and thought that this album perhaps help justify to him this unfair caricature. It probably says something that Mick Jagger said just after the album was released that he was himself bored with rock & roll; I found the album kind of boring in a way that I haven't found other Stones albums in this collection so far, and I didn't put months of sweat and effort into it. (I also agree with Jagger's later criticism of how poorly mixed the album was, largely the result of more than half of the band/producers constantly abusing drugs during the recording; the 2010 remastered version definitely helps, but still.) But I also like it that this was clearly Keith Richards' labor of love, down to his lead take on "Happy".
Cornershop
3/5
Although I didn't initially think I'd ever heard anything by Cornershop, when I saw that "Brimful of Asha" was on this album, I was happy to *finally* put a band's name to that insidious late 90s earworm (although I now realize that I might have heard Fatboy Slim's remixed version of the song more than the original). And unlike a few other bands we've had in this collection where their breakout hit didn't seem to fit with the rest of the album (with The La's "There she goes" a perfect example), the remainder of "When I Was Born for the 7th Time" has a similar vibe to "Brimful of Asha", which is nice (although I *still* don't really understand most of the lyrics to that song, I'll admit, even after watching the fun video). The album is a bit long in the tooth for what it delivers, and it probably could have done without a number of the instrumental and sample-heavy tracks, but it's still a fun listen and an interesting blend of Indian and British styles; my favorites (in addition to "Brimful") were "Sleep on the left side", "Good shit" (and hilarious that both Target and MTV Europe changed the refrain to be more family-friendly ("Stuff" and "Ships" respectively)), and the strangely-country-influenced "Good to be on the road back home again" (with an equalyl odd video). And what an impressive journey for a band that started off emulating The Fall and somehow got to this low-fi-ish/groove style, and I like it that they ended the album with a sardonic take on the Beatles' Indian fascination.
The Specials
3/5
What a strange and somewhat schizophrenic album. I haven't yet heard their debut album in this collection, which is kind of a shame, as I could have perhaps had the experience that many of their early fans must have had when they heard what had happened to their ska-rocking band, especially the dramatic and undoubtedly alarming shift from side A to B as "Sock it to 'em J.B." transitioned to an almost unclassifiable and immeasurably schmaltzy "Stereotypes/Stereotypes Pt. 2". It's hilarious to read so many anecdotes that their peers all assumed that the album was a product of them touring and traveling too much, and all that exposure to Musak in hotels, bars and airports (curious that this seems to be attributed as a distinctively American phenomenon, as I naively assumed elevators and airports the world round had adopted weak loungey music at the same time). Sad, though, that the widely divergent visions among the band members for the future direction of the band, universal exhaustion from touring, and Jerry Dammers' militant insistence that Muzak was the future of interesting music, led to a clearly talented and functional band breaking apart not long after the album was released. I enjoyed reading about the context of this album perhaps more than I enjoyed listening to it (this is especially true of the second side's goofy tracks), but I have to say that the unremittingly bleak lyrics set to often upbeat and/or kitschy music was pretty engaging at times, especially "Man at C&A", "Pearl's Cafe" and the two renditions of "Enjoy yourself" (and "International jet set" sets itself apart with the Coen-Brothers-like macabre story set to vibraphones). It's interesting that the Wikipedia article connects this album to later trip-hop bands like Massive Attack and Portishead, as I see a lot more influence from The Specials (or maybe just this album) on bands like Fishbone and to some degree The Clash's Joe Strummer's solo work.
Emmylou Harris
3/5
It's always interesting in this project to get an artist's albums out of chronological order, and in this case her debut(esque) album is coming to me long after I listened to her 19th studio album ("Red Dirt Girl"). This album is definitely *much* more traditional-country-oriented than her later album, and while I can see how this helped her break out to country audiences, I didn't really find most of the songs all that compelling; my favorites were probably Rodney Crowell's "Bluebird wine", her ode to Gram Parsons in "From Boulder to Birmingham", and Shel Silverstein's "Queen of the silver dollar". (I also had high hopes for her covers of Dolly Parton's "Coat of many colors" and The Beatles' "To no one", but they kind of fell flat for me in very different ways; the former seemed too similar to the original, while the latter is a far more creative cover sound wise, but ends up sounding like so many other country laments in the process.) It's impressive how many connections to artists like Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton she'd already made by the time this album was made, and fun to think how those three would all collaborate many years later on "Trio", and I'm also impressed at the lineup of band members she and the producer arranged for the album (and some of them as part of her touring band).
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Although I know this collection has far too many albums by a select few artists, and Leonard Cohen is definitely one of them, I always enjoy his music, and I'm impressed that such a recent album of his is included. And what an appropriate title for his last (living) album, since his biggest weakness (and part of the reason why I prefer Nick Cave so much more) is his unrepentant romanticism that rarely tends toward the dark; who knows what his future albums might have been like with this turn? The opening title track sets a great mood for Dark Cohen, and thankfully many of the other songs carry this mood on, all without sacrificing his distinctive voice and style. I particularly enjoyed "Treaty", the haunting "Leaving the table" (not so much the video, though) and "Traveling light". I'm also extremely impressed that you can't really hear all of the pain of his wracked body in these songs, or that he was so housebound by his broken back that he recorded his parts solo and emailed them to his collaborators. I can only hope that he felt happy/content with this album, as it feels like a beautiful coda to his life (and so much more satisfying as a final album than several others in this collection, including David Bowie's Blackstar, Billie Holiday's "Lady in Satin" and perhaps even Johnny Cash's "American IV").
Rush
4/5
I know there's no way for me to listen to this album objectively, but I hope for all of those in this project where this is their first (or perhaps second) listen, that they can at least see why this is probably Rush's most complete album. I can't really expect most people to enjoy this Canadian trio's rocking sound as much as I did (and still do), but it's hard to imagine not enjoying the likes of "Tom Sawyer", "Red Barchetta" and "Limelight", and for all the Neil Peart fans out there, I'm pretty sure "YYZ" ranks up there as one of the hardest songs to play well (and not just on drums). (I also can't tell you how many hours I spent "reading" the tablature for "Limelight" in my aspirational guitar phase...)
I always think of this album as Rush's version of (Van Halen's) "1984", where they embraced more synthesizers and had a few (semi) radio-friendly hits. And while I still rank "Permanent Waves" as my favorite Rush album, this one is a great inclusion in the collection. I *will* say, though, that this collection has helped me understand why people often lump Rush into the prog-rock category along with Yes, Genesis, ELP, etc., especially since the only other Rush album in this collection is "2112", which is a tough slog for any non-Rush fans. (And "The camera eye" on this album is pretty much quintessential prog-rock, sadly.) Nonetheless, I will always enjoy Rush for their place in my very early music journey, and while I moved on when they did too (starting with "Grace Under Pressure"), I still admire them for a long and successful career. (4)
2Pac
3/5
I'm glad this collection gave the opportunity to listen to Tupac Shakur, as I really only knew of his repeated problems with fellow rappers, police, media, prison, etc. and of course his very public death. I've never sought out his music, in large part because it seemed like his music and musical abilities weren't ever really part of his notoriety, and all the rivalry/gangsta crap turned me off, and continues to. (In that vein, I really struggled to listen to the entirety of the final track, "Outlaw", especially with it starting off glamorizing an 11-year-old's desire to join the ranks of thugs and pushers.)
I can see why his fans enjoyed this album, and there are a few strong songs in the hour+ album--mainly his single "Dear mama" as well as "Temptations", "It ain't easy" and "Old school". But I was also struck by how...generic-sounding...this album is, at least in the context of the other rap/hip-hop albums in this collection. There's very few musical flourishes on the album (although it gets a bit better as the album wears on), and the lyrics don't seem very creative or particularly interesting, although he definitely has a good ear for cadence and rhymes. Ultimately, I just find his life story sad, in a very unsympathetic way, and it's hard to ignore that listening to this album. (3)
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
3/5
I have no idea who Alex Harvey is, nor have I ever heard of the band or the album, but you have to give him and the band credit for letting it all hang out from the opening salvo of "Swampsnake". I'm guessing they were a lot to fun to watch (and listen to) live, and I'm also guessing they were super campy, or at least they should have been, since they seem to be channeling a lot of Meatloaf-style music and lyrics. And while I'm not sure anything could really excuse a song titled "Gang bang", the other songs are fairly entertaining, and kudos to them for doing a decent version of Jacques Brel's "Next" as their title track.
It's pretty amusing too that this album might just win the award for the shortest and least informative Wikipedia entry so far. Thankfully, the "1001 Albums" entry is more useful, and even has a pretty funny anecdote about how "Faith Healer" became an anthemic hit largely because they needed to fill out two minutes on the cassette side to balance the album, which was the origin of the intro loop to that song. However, I can definitely say that *I* do not want Alex Harvey to lay his hands on me.
Blur
3/5
It's a bit weird to get the three Blur albums in this collection in reverse chronological order, especially since the later "Blur" album is so different from this album (and likely from the other earlier album, "Modern Life Is Rubbish"). I can definitely see, though, why this album got all the attention back when it was released, as they had the early lock on the Britpop sound, and the impossible-to-avoid single "Boys & girls" (with a weird and seemingly irrelevant video of the band in front of various water scenes). The rest of the album is solid, and they sound remarkably assured given how young they clearly were, but I was kind of disappointed that it wasn't all that familiar sounding, and while it's impressively wide-ranging style-wise, it felt a bit hit or miss in terms of quality. The highlights for me were "Parklife" (and the quirky video to go with it), "Far out" (short as it is), the semi-Gorillaz-infused "To the end" (with a well-done Marienbad-inspired video), and "London loves".
Just as with their later album "Blur", I'm baffled at how little Blur's sound translated to Damon Albarn's later Gorillaz project/albums; too bad, too, as I really enjoy Gorillaz. And I'm kind of shocked at how young-looking (and kind of juvenile) Albarn looks in his Blur phase. I'm also equally fascinated and appalled that he apparently declared just before Blur's debut album that "When our third album comes out, our place as the quintessential English band of the '90s will be assured. That is a simple statement of fact." He was right, I suppose, but I kind of wish I hadn't read that about him.
Jazmine Sullivan
3/5
This album isn't really to my taste, but I feel like it should get a *lot* of credit for several things: it's remarkably brief and tightly focused, always an accomplishment but especially given that it was released in 2021; it's a genuine album (semi-concept even), a rarity in the 2010s onwards; there's actually singing on the non-narrative tracks, something missing from most of the male hip-hop albums in this collection (e.g. quite a contrast to a recent album for me, 2Pac's "Me Against The World"); and most of the musical tracks are relatively insightful without invoking excessively explicit lyrics (with a few exceptions like "Price tags").
I know I'm not really a target audience for this album (music- or otherwise), so I don't mind at all that it didn't really speak to me, but I hope there are plenty of people that enjoyed it as it seems like a worthwhile project.
Big Star
3/5
My initial reaction to this album was that it sounded fine, albeit nothing special, although I *was* struck by how this didn't seem like something from as long ago as 1972. After reading about this album and Big Star more generally, I can see better why it was included in this collection, and I'm glad to have heard "#1 record" before I die. (Not so sure whether they warranted a second album in the collection, but I'll guess I'll find out eventually.) I'll admit their sound isn't really all that interesting to me (but no less so with their descendants like REM or The Replacements), and I do wish that it had been mixed better, with clearer vocals and not quite so tinny guitars, but it's still a very solid rock album. My favorites were probably their more (Southern fried) rocking number "In the street", their hit ballad "Thirteen" (although it felt a bit more creepy than sentimental at times), and the truly sad "Try again"; the only real dud was "The India song". Either way, though, it's sad that the record label was incapable of marketing Big Star pretty much at all, as they probably could have thrived with more attention.
Kate Bush
2/5
Wow. I knew I wasn't much of a Kate Bush fan, but I must admit I never dreamed she'd created an album as bad as this. And.such.truly.embarrassingly.horrible.videos! All of them somehow managed to make the album even worse: the bizarre jester-themed "Sat in your lap"; the extremely amateur and atrociously-accented "There goes a tenner" (but kudos for inexplicably incorporating gelignite in the lyrics!); the painful mime/art-dance/Riverdance moves in a wind-tunnel barn in "Suspended in Gaffa", and the culmination of all that is unholy in the title track video (or at least *extremely* offensive on pretty much every level; I mean, why didn't *anyone* tell her that dressing up people as Aborigines in some bizarre Mad-Max landscape and appropriating instruments and music and terms and some bizarre pan-faux-British jabberwocky accent, could only fail on an epic scale? And what's with the inexplicable giant masturbation-like movements with the laser beam and that poor guy's torso?). I kept thinking that she should have gotten Darryl Hannah as her marionette stand-in in the videos (a la Pris in "Blade Runner"); that would at least have made the videos a little less goofy, but only a little.
This is an atrocious album, mainly because she clearly thinks it's far more interesting than it is. I guess the only positive thing I can honestly say is that she definitely flexed her imagination in coming up with this cornucopia of clownish songs, and the fact that she not only wrote but also produced all the songs definitely saves it from a one star ranking. And I can totally see why the likes of Bjork consider this one of their favorite albums, which really only reinforces my ranking and my frustration that many other far more worthy albums got left off of this collection because of tripe like this (I'm not entirely sure I can understand why Big Boi (Outkast) also lists this as a favorite album, though).
Cocteau Twins
3/5
Argh. This is one of the unfortunate aspects of this collection and the seemingly obsessive decision to go all in on some artists: I never really disliked the Cocteau Twins back when they were a thing, but having already heard "Heaven or Las Vegas", I was only a couple of songs into this album and already dreading the next half-hour or so of that keening, jangly sound. But hey, at least this isn't the 19th Bjork album! And to be fair, both "Persephone" and "Amelia" have a somewhat different sound to them (only somewhat, but still), so perhaps they have a bit more range than I give them credit for. (Well, "had", I suppose, as it appears this album was the start of their "ethereal" phase; it might have been nice to get their earlier, non-ethereal music.) And "Lorelei" remains a quintessential track, for both good and otherwise (with "Donimo" a close second).
It's tempting to give this album two stars just because it seems like overkill having two very-similar Cocteau Twins albums in the collection, but that doesn't seem fair to this album, which is perfectly fine for what it is.
The Auteurs
3/5
I've never heard of the Auteurs before, and I'm pretty confident I've never heard any of their songs (certainly not from this album), so it's nice to get something new and different (to me at least). It's a little hard to get past Luke Haines' voice, which seems to hover on the edge of being really annoying and not nearly as full as he probably imagined it was. But despite that distraction, the tracks are largely interesting, and a few stand out as better than the rest--mainly "Show Girl", "Junk shop clothes" (although his voice really gets in the way) and "How could I be wrong?"; and a nod to "Bailed out" and "Early years".
Given all the references to formative-Britpop in the Wikipedia and "1001 Albums" entries for this album, and comparisons to Suede and Blur, it appears that this collection went all in on Britpop and its ancestors and descendants. Nothing wrong with that, but it seems like Britpop was much more interesting and relevant to the Brits among us, and not so much to the rest of us.
The Byrds
3/5
Well, I'm now more than halfway through the Byrds allotment in this collection (#3 of 5), so that's a positive. And this is a decent late 60s time capsule, so definitely not as awkward as, say, "Sweetheart of the Rodeo", or quite as monochromatic (or as cover-filled) as their debut album. That said, despite all the styles they've blended together in this album, and new (to them) instruments, there's not a lot that distinguishes the tracks from each other (although "Tribal gathering" and the pre-Kubrick "Space odyssey" are definitely outliers on the album); I thought the semi-Pink-Floyd-esque "Natural harmony" and the Beatles-inspired "Change is now" were probably the best of the lot.
But I guess on the whole I'm not a big fan of their sound, so this was neither a disappointment or a revelation. And pretty funny to read about how David Crosby tanked his space in the band by being both a jerk and lots of "creative" differences with the other band members; I'm not sure what it says about any of them that Crosby died on the sword of wanting to have a menage-a-trois song on the album instead of a remarkably tepid cover version of "Goin' back". (It's not as if Crosby went on to be a muscial or lyrical powerhouse with Crosby, Stills, and Nash (and Young). But hey, only two more Byrds albums to go!
Tori Amos
3/5
Given the way this project seems to glom onto specific singer/songwriters, I'm a little surprised that this is the only Tori Amos album in the collection, but also very appreciative for the restraint. And while it's definitely too long of an album by half, it's very impressive that there were four singles from this album, all of which I remember playing frequently on the radio (especially "Crucify" and the still-memorable "Silent all these years", not sure about "China" though). Aside from the singles, I also thought "Precious things", "Happy phantom" and the utterly depressing "Me and a gun" were interesting tracks, and I was overall impressed with how solid an album this is, especially as a debut.
It seemed to me then and now that she's a bit of an acquired taste, as her voice and style are both distinctive and (to me) somewhat grating; there's more than a little urgent melodrama a la Kate Bush to her songs, but also strong elements of Alanis Morissette, neither of whom are favorites for me. I'm also stunned to read that in 2022 a graphic novel was issued on the album's 30th anniversary ("Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes") penned by luminaries like Neil Gaman and Margaret Atwood (and many other not-quite-as-luminous authors); I don't have the courage to check this out, I'll admit, but I'm intrigued what it could possibly read like?
Stephen Stills
3/5
I didn't think I'd ever heard of Stephen Stills before, or anything he'd done, but the opening track set me straight, at least on the latter count (and the opening paragraph of the Wikipedia entry set me straight on the former count, as of course I've heard of Stills as in Crosby, Stills and Nash/Young). I'm not sure I'll be able to remember the connection long-term, or that Crosby and Nash provided harmonies on it, but it's so nice to have a name to fit with the classic "Love the one you're with". The rest of the album is solid, especially if you enjoy the whole CSN harmonies and humming and soft rock style (which I'll admit isn't really my cup of tea); the highlights for me were probably the Jimi-Hendrix-backed "Old times good times" and "Black queen"; I was hoping the Eric-Clapton-backed "Go back home" too, but it's missing...something...much like a lot of the album. I was also struck by how Stills' solo style occasionally sounds a lot like Joe Cocker, particularly when there's a choir backing him (as on "Church (pt. of someone)"); such a travesty that this is as close as we get to getting a Joe Cocker album in this collection. And how odd that Stills got so many famous artists to join him on the album, yet overall it doesn't rock (or roll) nearly as much as you'd think it should.
Giant Sand
3/5
I have no idea where the "1001 Albums" editors picked this band and album out of the dusty corners of the turn-of-the-century American musical landscape, but this is a much more fun discovery than some of the other unknown (to me) albums. The Wikipedia entry for the album is basically useless, but in some ways that's not such a bad thing, and I kind of enjoyed listening to the album without any real context (the "1001 Albums" entry is much more helpful, though, and I was impressed to find out that Giant Sand had been playing and recording for at least two decades before this album came out). The first full track, "(Well) Dusted" is really strong, and kind of set me up for a little disappointment in the subsequent tracks, but I also really enjoyed some of the later songs on the album, especially "Temptation of egg", the back to back tracks "Wolfy" and "Shiver", and "Bottom line man" (for some reason "Satellite" didn't quite do it for me). I also liked the fairly broad range in styles, at times reminding me of Magnetic Fields and/or Daniel Johnston, and the country-esque infusion in a number of the songs is an interesting take, although the album definitely could have been about half as long and been stronger for it.
The Cure
3/5
Ah, yes, I always seem to forget that there's nothing quite like The Cure, is there? I never listened to them back in the day, aside from their inescapable radio hits (none of which come from this album or Cure era), so in my mind they're largely interchangeable with The Smiths, full of pouting and tragic gothic sounds. But this album is a great reminder of their dark, angry, misanthropic wall of wailing guitars and strangely empty but pounding drums all but drowning out Smith's plaintive wailing, a far cry from the likes of Morrissey's self-pitying chip on his shoulder. And judging from the Wikipedia entry, it sounds like this album in particular channeled all of Robert Smith's suicidal and self-destructive tendencies into the music, which thankfully kept him alive (and somehow the band made it out largely intact).
I'm not sure I can point to any favorites on this album, as I *really* don't enjoy listening to The Cure, either in their earlier dark-gothic phase or the later pop-gothic sound, but if I had to choose something, I *did* enjoy the relatively straightforward "The hanging garden", especially for its awkward and very 80s music video. But I'm also glad to have heard this earlier Cure album, as I think I have a better feel for why a long-ago co-worker loved them so much and often claimed they were unique.
The Charlatans
3/5
I really only know The Charlatans (UK version) from their much earlier Madchester phase and their popular single "Indian Rope", so I was a bit surprised that the "1001 Albums" editors chose this later album to represent them. It's a solid album, and I can still hear their earlier roots in some of the songs, but I'm not entirely sure their British R&B style on a lot of the songs works all that well with Tim Burgess' voice. But it's still a largely entertaining album, with "One to another" probably the best of the lot, at least in part because of the Chemical Brothers' contributed opening loops; I also enjoyed "Area 51", which directly pays homage to Rob Collins' keyboard playing and indirectly salutes their earlier years, and "How high" too.
The Wikipedia entry for this album is overly long, and oddly detailed at times (e.g. citing the almost invisible influences for each track, yet not crediting the very obvious Dylan mimicry on the opening parts of "Get on it"), but it's also very helpful in setting the context for the album's creation in the midst of them losing their keyboardist to a car accident (of his own making, sadly, and just before he was about to get canned). And kudos to Primal Scream's Martin Duffy for filling in on the album after Rob Collin's death, and to the band for the great tribute final track on the album (including Rob Collin's aunt's recording of him at 3 years old). I'll admit, though, that I'm not sure I get the comparisons to Patti Smith or Neil Young with this album.
The Beach Boys
3/5
I'm not sure whether it was intentional that this album came on the day after Brian Wilson died (presumably for anyone who hadn't already gotten all of the Beach Boys albums), but I appreciate the timing regardless. I also appreciate that this is the least Beach-Boys-sounding album of the lot in this collection, as it makes the experience a bit more interesting. I'm not sure I can point to any great songs on the album, but I'm impressed at how they tried to be more relevant and modern and insightful on tracks like "Don't go near the water", "Long promised road" and "Student demonstration time". I'm not sure how successful they were in this effort, at least from the perspective of listening to it in June 2025, but I'll give them credit for trying. (And it felt like this was largely offset by more-classic and cringe-inducing numbers like "Take a load off your feet" and "Disney's girls", not to mention the painful dirge "A day in the life of a tree".)
Although I didn't really care for "'Til I die", it was very poignant to get that track when Brian Wilson died at 82. RIP.
The Blue Nile
3/5
Since I've never heard of Blue Nile before, when I listened to the opening title track, I wondered if this was some underground David Byrne solo album long before he went solo. It didn't take too long I could hear how Paul Buchanan doesn't sound exactly like Byrne--and really at times more like David Bowie, particularly in "Tinseltown in the rain"--but the similarity to both of them is a bit uncanny (to me at least).
All that aside, I enjoyed this seemingly obscure album much more than I expected to. They make a lot out of just a few people and instruments, and their sound is both solidly 80s and yet also more modern-sounding. I'm not sure there are any great standout tracks--maybe "From rags to riches" (despite a very derivative "Teenage wasteland" keyboard riff tucked inside) and "Automobile noise"--but they created a very solid album (more the first side than the second, but still). And even more impressive that they were all self-taught musicians.
The Beta Band
4/5
I've enjoyed The Beta Band over the years, so it's nice to get one of their albums (one of two in this collection, it appears). I'm also impressed at how many songs on this album are also in the compilation album that I own--this is almost a greatest hits album on its own (it probably helps that they only produced three albums, though). I suspect their sound isn't to everyone's taste, but at least they can judge the band on a really solid album. My favorites are most of the tracks that I'm familiar with from the compilation album--the opening track "Square" (and its fun accompanying video), "Human being", "Gone", and "Broke"--plus "Dragon", the highly eclectic "Quiet", and "Life". A shame that they never really got the breaks they deserved to make it and stay big.
Baaba Maal
3/5
I knew we'd eventually get another Baaba Maal album, so it's good to get that done with. And much like the other album ("Lam Toro"), I don't really feel well informed enough to really judge either this album or Baaba Mal's music (or Mansour Seck for that matter). I *did* appreciate it that this album has a more grounded feeling than "Lam Toro" and doesn't sound as much like it's trying to be a world-music album--I'm guessing that could be in part because this album was earlier than his later collaboration with Simon Booth (who went on to form Afro Celt Sound System), and so there's fewer generic (and largely electronic) world music samples interspersed. (The "1001 Albums" entry was also helpful in noting that Mansour Seck was a blind griot that mentored Baaba Mal, and the two of them produced this album during Mal's period in France studying music, focusing on simple and traditional music and lyrics.)
Much like "Lam Toro", I didn't understand any of the lyrics, so my appreciation is limited to the sounds; my favorites on the album were the opening track "Lam Tooro", "Muudo Hormo" and the apparently very poignant tale of forced migration in "Maacina Tooro".
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
Interesting...exactly two months after the first Rufus Wainwright album ("Want One") comes the other half of his not-exactly-double-album. I didn't enjoy the first half, but that ends up helping with "Want Two" in that my expectations are pretty low. It also helps that the album is a bit darker in tone (at least according to Mr. Wainwright himself), and I thought the opening track "Agnes Dei" was curiously compelling in that regard (and interesting that it was used in the depressing film "Trade" about sex slaves), and the long closing track "Old whore's diet" was also a bit distinctive. His style is still not to my taste, though, and there aren't really any other tracks that grabbed my attention, other than perhaps that "Peach tree" seemed to be a Radiohead-wannabe song, and I'll take it on the "1001 Albums" entry author's authority that both "Gay messiah" and the Jeff Buckley elegy "Memphis skyline" have insightful, provocative and/or powerful lyrics.
Dusty Springfield
3/5
What a strange choice for the second/later of Dusty Springfield's albums in this collection, especially given how much this bombed when it was released. To me, there's nothing really wrong with the album, but the songs just don't really do much either, and I can see how it might have fallen flat in 1969 as musical tastes and trends went elsewhere.
On the other hand, her version of "Son of a preacher man" is a timeless and nearly perfect classic, even if it sounds totally different (and much much better) from the rest of the album. I feel badly rating this album only three stars given that one track, but the rest is so...average...it makes it hard to boost the score (and I'm mystified why I gave her other album five stars, other than because it was one of the first albums I listened to in this collection).
The Shamen
3/5
I kind of wondered if I'd heard of (or heard) The Shamen before, and then realized I had with their massive hit (and opening track of the US 1991 release) "Move any mountain", which I enjoyed as much today as I did back when it was ubuiquitous (and in case that sounds ambiguous, I actually *did* enjoy it). It was also fun to see the video for this now-venerable song; I wonder if the Red Hot Chili Peppers were inspired by this video for their slightly later "Breaking the girl"?
Unfortunately, the remainder struggles under the weight of their huge single that sounds quite different from much of the rest of the album. (And curious that "Move any mountain" didn't really appear on their UK release, except as the earlier "Progen (Land of Oz)" track, although it sounds like the "Move any mountain" version was the result of touring with Orbital.) Despite a number of interesting remix artists contributing to various tracks, little else stood out, although I enjoyed "Possible worlds", "Make it mine" (although the UK "v2.5 Evil Ed" remix seems better than the US "v1.3 Lenny D Vox" version), and maybe "Hyperreal Orbit". Too bad they couldn't have figured out a way to mix (literally) their earlier psychedelic rock with this album's excessively repetitive rave/acid-house tendencies. And a bit confusing to try to figure out which tracks to listen to, as I got the US 1991 issue on YouTube Music, which has a number of extra tracks as well as different mixes from the UK vinyl (as well as the UK CD/cassette, but in different ways).
UB40
4/5
What a great choice for the sole UB40 album in this collection. I expected to hear an album of songs like "Red red wine" or "I got you babe", and instead we get a much more nuanced and thoughtful album from the ambassadors of British reggae. I'll admit that I probably wouldn't have noticed or heard the stinging and political commentary in most of the songs if it weren't for the Wikipedia and "1001 Albums" entries highlighting them, so I'm glad I read up as I listened to their mellow beats.
I enjoyed much more of the album than I expected, but my favorites of the lot were "Tyler" and its critique of America's justice system, imperial failures in "Burden of shame", the Band-Aid-prescient "Food for thought", and the admittedly overlong "Madame Medusa" (I always have a soft spot for any and all songs that skewer Thatcher, and they do a great job here). I definitely have much more respect for UB40 now, even if they left their fire behind long ago.
Portishead
5/5
A nice treat from the collection, as I've owned this album for a long time, and have always enjoyed listening to it. It's also impressive hearing the difference between this much earlier album and recently getting their later "Third" album from after their long hiatus; "Dummy" is definitely more what I think of Portishead sounding like, but now I can appreciate both albums better I think.
It's hard to pick just a few favorites from the album, as I enjoy nearly every track (although I'm quite partial to "Roads" as the highlight, and "It could be sweet" and "It's a fire" are probably the relative duds on the album), and I also enjoyed seeing the three videos, the well-produced Bond-like "Sour times" (apparently taken from a 10-minute film they created, "To Kill a Dead Man"), the somewhat disturbing home-movie-esque "Numb", and the final track's noir-nightclub "Glory box". I also really appreciate the almost steampunk-like/film-noir-like vibe to the entire album, and I'm really impressed to read that they created their distinctive sound by recording various instruments and sounds on vinyl, introduced a bunch of static/noise by walking all over the discs (and playing through a broken amplifier), and then recorded the samples on a record deck (in addition to their samples from vintage albums). I'm a bit torn between whether this is four or five stars-worthy, but I think the fact that this was their debut album, it earned all five stars.
Sebadoh
3/5
I liked the fact that I hadn't heard of Sebadoh before, but was disappointed to discover that there was likely a good reason for this. It's hard to imagine a more generic and largely bland version of late 80s/early 90s alt/indie music than this album, sadly (and I was not at all surprised to read that one of Sebadoh's founding members was the rejected bass player from Dinosaur Jr). On the positive side, though, I was grateful that they'd chosen to avoid having the ubiquitous wall of noise on most of the tracks completely overwhelm the vocals; a bit of a shame that the surprisingly intelligible lyrics weren't particularly interesting or insightful. I also appreciated the brevity of most of the tracks--that definitely helped their forlorn medicine go down without too much aftertaste (and a bit bizarre to read that this album marked a phase of *longer* songs). My choices on the album were probably "Happily divided", "Sacred attention" and "Forced love" (plus kudos for the Soul Asylum lookalike "Bouquet for a siren"). It's a bit hard to believe that this was already their fourth album, with more on the way....
Daft Punk
3/5
Given the seemingly random inclusions and exclusions in this collection, I'm happy to see Daft Punk was included, but also a bit mystified that we'd get "Homework" rather than "Discovery", since the latter has better songs and considerably better exposure, but I'm guessing the project's editors included "Homework" because it's their debut album. Too bad, as I'd have loved to listen yet again to "Harder, better, faster, stronger" as part of this project, but of course I can always do that on my own.
I don't think I've heard much from this album outside of their big hits "Da punk" and "Around the world", so it was fun to hear more of their earliest stuff. The video to "Revolution 909" didn't really add much to a fairly benign song, but it was definitely an odd storyline in the video (a girl escapes the clutches of cops raiding a rave party after noticing what appears to be blood on the cop's collar but turns out to be homemade tomato sauce from his mother). Likewise, the Spike Jonze-directed video for "Da punk" was both weird and had seemingly no connection to the song (a fullsize dog-man wandering NYC with a boombox playing "Da Punk" at deafening volumes), and the same for the firefighter-fantasy video for "Burnin'". Thankfully, the hypnotic dance video for "Around the world" more than made up for the others, with amazing choreography and set work with a freakshow cast.
I *did* find myself wishing that more of their songs weren't strictly looped instrumentals, with few if any lyrics/spoken word phrases/something non-digital (more "Teachers", less "Fresh"/"Rock-n-roll"). Given how much less dynamic this album is than their next one, it makes me wonder if the "1001 albums" editors felt compelled to include Daft Punk but weren't really all that enthusiastic about having to do so?
Beck
4/5
It's interesting to get a few albums close to each other that I've owned a long time and really enjoy listening to, and also wondered when they'd arrive in the generator sequence. This album is how I (along with a few million others) became familiar with Beck's musical stylings, and even though it was relatively early in his career, I still feel like it encapsulates a lot of what makes him so distinctive and also enjoyable, even though he's moved in various directions since then. And nice to read that he enlisted the aid of the multi-talented Dust Brothers for the album.
Listening again to the album, I'm really struck at how strong this album is throughout, and I also enjoyed seeing the videos to his singles for the first time (Drugstore-cowboy-evoking "Devils' haircut", Monkees'-esque "New pollution" (with a fun appearance by Mary Lynn Rajskub), and the somewhat uncategorizable video for "Where it's at" (but kudos to Beck for including William Shatner and Captain Beefheart tributes)), as well as how *young* he looks from this album's era. The only tracks, in fact, that seem a bit weaker than the others are "Novacane" and "Minus", and each are followed by some of my favorite tracks ("Jack-ass" and "Sissyneck", respectively). Well done, Hansen!
Rocket From The Crypt
3/5
Between the oddball band name and the cryptic (ahem) album cover, I had no idea what to expect from this mid-90s album. I guess I wasn't really expecting a punk-with-horns variant, although thankfully they're not identical to the likes of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, etc., all of whom I've enjoyed, but they're kind of interchangeable. It was fun to watch their three videos to their (Europe-only?) singles "Born in '69" (intentionally cheesy 50s B-movie romp with alien vampires), "On a rope" (with completely irrelevant but adorable puppies and young farm animals, plus a strange assortment of lollipops growing on trees), and "Young livers" (the weakest video of the lot, with a sort of greaser-gang motif playing buttball), and the album in general is an impressive collection of tight, quick and pretty rocking tracks. It's a shame that the Interscope execs nixed their concept of filling in the space between tracks with woodwinds and strings.
Judging from the Wikipedia entry, it sounds like Rocket From the Crypt's real attraction was in their live performances--carnival games, German variety shows (in Europe), progressively more elaborate stage costumes, etc.--so I'm sorry I never got a chance to see them play. This album may not count as a particularly refined music experience, but they get more than an "A" for effort and energy.
Japan
3/5
I feel like I've heard of Japan before, but since I imagined that they were in the spectrum of other one-word bands like Journey, Europe, Boston, Asia, etc., I suspect my memory of them is a bit suspect. Either way, they somehow met my already low expectations and yet *still* disappointed me. I think part of my disappointment was due to the video for their opening/title track, which seemed to be a studio "concert" performance of their song, with what appeared to be a whole cast of female zombies as the crowd (they weren't dressed or looked like zombies, mind you, they just literally didn't move at all, not even a little sway back and forth to the song), and the band seemed to have glam-rock-style clothing and hairdos, but everything just moved as if it were a (bad) dream underwater, with almost no affectation from anyone. And that low-low-low energy seemed to permeate the entire album, like they were dialing it in. (Although the opening part of "Despair", up until the French lyrics, sounds like a dead ringer for the opening music of the modern (Lisa Joy) "Westworld" TV series, which was kind of interesting; sadly, no Bjork-style videos for that song of milky bulls or robots or anything.) I didn't really have any favorites from this album, sadly, but the best of the lot seemed to be "In vogue" and maybe "Halloween" (just for its relative energy), with a nod to their cover of "All tomorrow's parties", which didn't do a lot for me but definitely wasn't as derivative as I'd feared it would be (but a bummer that they didn't replicate Nico's "potties" in the refrain).
I'm not at all surprised that Japan had a hard time finding a particularly receptive audience in either North America or UK/Europe; it *does* surprise me that Japan (the country) embraced Japan (the band), perhaps simply for the name? I can also see why some compared this album's version of Japan to Roxy Music, but that didn't really occur to me until I read it in the Wikipedia and "1001 Albums" entries.
The The
3/5
I'm pretty sure I've heard of The The before (perhaps from long ago), and likely some of their songs too, but apparently not from this album, as nothing sounded familiar. Matt Johnson's style isn't really to my taste, although I don't really blame him, since a lot of early 80s pop-oriented music wasn't all that interesting or particularly varied. And I'll give him credit for a remarkably H.R. Giger-infused music video for the opening track "I've been waitin' for tomorrow (all of my life)", even if there wasn't really any connection between the lyrics and the unsettling imagery.
Kudos as well for remarkably unrelenting dark lyrics set to fairly upbeat tunes; not the sort of contrast you encounter that often. Add in a decently interesting album cover (the UK version cover, that is, which apparently is one of Fela Kuti's wives, smoking a joint, and painted by Matt Johnson's brother), and it's a more interesting album than I expected. It's still not really to my taste, but I have to say that it's *way* more entertaining and interesting than any Cure or Smiths album.
The Soft Boys
3/5
Funny to get yet another early 80s British album for a third day in a row; thankfully each of them hasn't been all that similar, and "Underwater Moonlight" definitely comes in as the most rock-oriented of the three for a change of pace (the other two were Japan's "Quiet Life" and The The's "Soul Mining"). And much like the other two, this seems a bit lost in the shuffle, without a lot to distinguish it other than it was their second and last album before Robyn Hitchcock embarked on his solo career (of course, it probably didn't help them that they released the album in the midst of a printer's strike in the UK, so no album reviews to generate buzz). Not a lot stood out for me, although I enjoyed two tracks quite a bit, "I wanna destroy you" and "Insanely jealous", and also their title track, and there's a good sense of humor throughout (or at least I hope it's meant to be humorous) that reminded me a bit of The Kinks.
That said, the Wikipedia and "1001 Albums" entries seem to differ on my tepid evaluation, praising the album as an unheralded one-off psychedelic rock classic, paving the way for bands like REM, The Replacements, Stone Roses, Pixies, etc. I guess so, but I'm not likely to listen to this again or even remember much from the album even a few days from now, I suspect.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3/5
It's a little disconcerting to get yet another early(ish) 80s album in a row, but I'm glad to have a chance to hear something by Frankie Goes to Hollywood aside from their mega-hits "Relax" and "Two tribes". I'm not sure I needed a double album's worth of Frankie, but it's an interesting album despite the too-long runtime. It almost seems like the 13-minute-plus title track is a bit of a capsule/showcase of the other songs, and almost begs to be the soundtrack for some 80s movie (a la one of the Beverly Hills Cop or Lethal Weapon movies) (but definitely *not* to Mad Max III...). I'd never seen the video for "Relax" before now, but I'll admit it didn't really shed all that much light on what the song is about (but remarkably suggestive for the 80s given the S&M themed gay nightclub setting). And fun to have a pretty creative cover of "War" as the following track; the "Born to Run" and "San Jose" covers aren't as distinctive, however. It's a mystery to me why the video for "The power of love" is basically the Christmas Three Kings story....
It's kind of a bummer that it sounds like Trevor Horn's production of the album pretty much dominated the band's sound on the album (to the point that most of the band members didn't even play most of the instrument pieces on the album). It's hard to know how different the album might have been without Trevor Horn at the helm, but hopefully Frankie doesn't regret the choice too much. And kudos to them for being insistent on being open about their sexuality.
Soft Cell
3/5
I'm not sure exactly why the 1001-song generator seems to be stuck in an early 80s eddy of synth-pop, but I hope it passes soon, and I'm sorry that this album came in the midst of the 80s glut, as I'd probably have enjoyed it a bit more in isolation. (Maybe. 80s new wave wasn't ever my favorite.) I was glad, though, to hear their megahit cover "Tainted Love" in context, and relieved that the rest of the album wasn't radically different from their breakout single. I'm not sure too many of the other tracks really stood out for me, but I *did* enjoy the *very* 80s video to "Frustration" as it seemed to bring to life the duo's apparent fear and hatred of growing up and being trapped in "respectable" adult life (I particularly liked the electric-corded lawn mower as the pinnacle of suburban disappointment); the videos for "Sex dwarf", "Entertain me" and "Secret life" weren't as effective, but definitely reinforced the whole cabaret/disillusionment theme of the album (and while the tame version of "Sex dwarf" is pretty ho-hum, the banned version is remarkably graphic and twisted--I can see why the BBC only aired it one time before burying it for all time).
3/5
Well, at least the onslaught of early 80s albums has come to an end (for now), but I'm not sure the emperors of prog rock were really who I envisioned replacing them. But so they did, and I can't imagine a bigger contrast between short and sweet synth-pop cuts and this epic album set in long-form bombasity. I can't really say I enjoyed any of the three tracks, but I have to say I'm quite impressed that they managed to put together an 18-minute-plus song/assemblage, especially given how it sounds like their creative process in the studio was to literally campaign and vote on every instrument and bar at every step. (Less impressive, but totally understandable, was poor Bill Bruford's departure to King Crimson after the album was completed; it's a wonder that most of the rest of the band didn't hibernate for years after a grueling recording process.)
One of the things that's struck me with these early 70s albums, and this one in particular, is how different each era has been in terms of what's popular and what's appreciated, both musically and more generally. It's equally baffling to me that this album was so well-received (and purchased), and the same with Joni Mitchell's "Blue", not to mention films like "The Conversation" or even "The French Connection". All of these would likely get little to no attention or traction even 15-20 years later, let alone in the 2020s, but I for one appreciate the chance to listen to these albums that I'd likely never have played if I hadn't heard them when they came out. (I'm also very grateful to Yes that this prog-rock manifesto is mercifully short overall; as a non-fan, this is hard to slog through....)
King Crimson
3/5
How funny (or perhaps deliberate) to get this album right after Yes' "Close To The Edge", which saw the exodus of Bill Bruford to King Crimson and the creation of this album soon thereafter. It would have been even better if this was the only King Crimson album in the collection, but alas, that's not the case (and I'm not entirely sure they warrant two albums in this collection, even if the lineups were totally different for each album). But at least King Crimson's form of noodling is more varied and somewhat more interesting than Yes', and that's definitely on parade in this album (which has a truly foul-sounding recipe for a title).
I'm a bit hard-pressed to identify any standouts on this album, I'll admit, although I *will* say that I am very weary of the prog-rock era's ultra-long tracks, so Part I of the title track is definitely not on the shortlist. Thankfully, the following track "Book of Saturday" is a nice contrast in both length and accessibility. And I can see why "Exiles" was one of their concert standards, as it has a Pink-Floyd-esque-ness to it, although I liked the equally Pink-Floyd-inspired "Easy money" cosiderably more.
Overall, though, I'd have voted for more of Robert Fripp's guitar (like in Part 2 of the title track) and a *lot* less of David Cross' violin. I think Alan Niester of Rolling Stone put it best about this album (and probably prog rock in general): "You can't dance to it, can't keep a beat to it, and it doesn't even make good background music for washing the dishes." Even the dishes of leftover aspic-coated poultry.
John Lennon
3/5
I may be one of the few people left who's only heard the title track and nothing else from the lauded "Imagine" album, but now I can no longer say even this. I'm glad to have heard it at long last (and I can see I'll get to listen to his debut album eventually too), but I'll admit that I was a bit disappointed that it didn't really blow me away. "Imagine" (the song) is so ingrained as a cultural touchstone that it's impossible to really evaluate fairly, but the rest of the album doesn't really match "Imagine"'s style or reach. I like it that Lennon seems comfortable exploring his own directions as a post-Beatle (and fun that George Harrison played on so many tracks), but if I hadn't known that John Lennon was a former Beatles member, I'm not sure this album would even really register. I *did* enjoy "Gimme some truth", especially with the quasi-video of him singing the lyrics in a studio, and it has an almost "Subterranean homesick blues" feeling. And I appreciate Phil Spector's restraint in not overwhelming the album with strings and walls of sound. But aside from "Imagine" (the song) there's not a lot that pulled me in (and his anti-McCartney rant "How do you sleep?" is mildly off-putting, a 70s version of a diss track, albeit with a solid backing rhythm).
Richard Thompson
4/5
The first (and in many ways only) exposure I had to Richard Thompson was listening to "1000 Years of Popular Music" that a friend lent me many years ago, and I was intrigued by his obvious interest in music and (likely more important) lyrics over the spans of centuries. Although we won't get that album/show in this collection, it feels like this album from many years earlier channels a similar sentiment, and both Richard and Linda pull it off really well. I'm also impressed at how well this was recorded/produced, given when it came out (and also sad that it didn't even get released outside the UK until nearly ten years later). I also enjoyed the mix of distinctive but traditional-folk-oriented tunes like "Cavalry cross" and "Down where the drunkards roam", and more modern sounding tunes like the title track. (There are a few duds along the way, like the pub-song-style "We sing Hallelujah".)
Unlike the Fairport Convention albums in this collection, or even really "1000 Years of Popular Music", this album makes me think Richard Thompson is a kindred spirit to the likes of Leonard Cohen or Nick Cave, and I mean that in a positive sense. Not very happy tunes, admittedly, but not as bleak as they might be (with an exception for "The end of the rainbow", which pretty much defines unremitting bleakness).
Miles Davis
4/5
Given how few jazz albums overall there are in this collection, it seems a bit odd that we'd get four different Miles Davis albums (and this is the second so far for me), but I haven't listened to his music all that much, and always felt like I *should* listen to more, so I'm not complaining. Unlike his earlier "Birth of the Cool", this seems more like what I imagine Miles Davis' core sound became. It certainly seems to be his most popular and classic album, and I like the idea that he gave each of his incredibly talented band members a scale to work with and freedom to improvise (or that's what I gathered from the description of his "modal jazz" approach). The recording is also impressively clear and high-fidelity given that it was recorded in 1959.
I'm not enough of a jazz aficionado to be able to call out any particular track or solo or instrument, but I *did* appreciate that this is more than just nice background music, largely because the tracks aren't really tunes per se (and "All blues" seemed to encapsulate the best of the album in this regard). And my apologies to Miles Davis and jazz connoisseurs everywhere for the four-star rating--it's all because of my ignorance of all things jazz that I didn't appreciate the album as fully as I should have....
The Human League
3/5
Ugh--I'm sure it's all fairly random, but it's a bit tedious to get so many early 80s synth-pop/new wave albums all in a row (although thankfully no Duran Duran, yet). Although I guess there were four singles from this album, and it went platinum in both the UK and the US in short order, I'll admit that the only song that sounded even remotely familiar was "Don't you want me". The remainder (to me at least) is somewhat generic-sounding new wave pop tracks; solidly produced and laid out, I suppose, but not very compelling. The music videos for "Open your heart" and "Love action (I believe in love)" are equally uninspiring, although the video for "Don't you want me" is more compelling.
The Wikipedia entry has a number of interesting tidbits about the album: the two female backing singers were in high school when this was recorded (and ended up with long commutes to get to their relocated recording studio); this was the first #1 album for the Virgin label since Mike Oldfield's 1973 album "Tubular Bells" (which I know of thanks to this collection, and equally baffling how either of these albums ended up at #1), and saved Richard Branson's Virgin label from bankruptcy; and this was the first album by Human League after jettisoning two original members a year earlier, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, who went on to create the band Heaven 17 and release a competing album in 1981, "Penthouse and Pavement" (another album I've listened to courtesy of this collection). (The other anecdote that seemed amusing was that Lester Bangs apparently OD'ed listening to this album.)
Slipknot
3/5
Although we *did* get Limp Bizkit earlier, and I now see we'll eventually get Korn as well, I'm honestly more than a bit surprised that Slipknot made the cut to be in this collection. (But a very odd coincidence that I just read a reference to Slipknot as an influence on this (modern) Greenland band Sound of the Damned....) I know they made waves in the rock-is-destroying-our-children crowd, and they're definitely not the worst of the 90s/2000s death/nu-metal generation (and certainly better than either Limp Bizkit or Korn), but they're also not all that interesting musically, frankly. The drums are the best part of their sonic onslaught, and they--and apparently producer Ross Robinson--captured a believable live sound with the album (and I think they were known for impressive live shows). There weren't too many tracks that stood out, although I enjoyed "Surfacing" and "No life" more than most, and the Shining-inspired video for "Spit it out" was...weird but compelling (that track also has a bit of a Linkin Park/Rage Against the Machine connection, as does "Me inside", which apparently was the replacement for the "Frail limb nursery"/"Purity" tracks that were pulled shortly after the album released).
I don't entirely fault the project for including Slipknot, but as a former metalhead (more from the 80s than Slipknot's generation), it's kind of embarrassing to recognize that most metal bands (old-school or nu/newer) have really limited and stunted range, especially in the theme/lyrics department. And what a shame that this collection *doesn't* include what was probably the most interesting, thoughtful and talented metal-ish band from the later 90s/2000s, Disturbed.
Saint Etienne
3/5
I'm not sure I've ever heard of or listened to Saint Etienne before, so it's nice to get a new-to-me album and sound, and thankfully they've largely followed through on the promise of an interesting album. And in many ways, even though they're *not* part of the whole Madchester scene, I feel like Saint Etienne delivered on fun/bouncy/interesting dance music much better than most of the Manchester bands of the same time. I particularly enjoyed their creative cover of Neil Young's "Only love can break your heart", "She's the one" and their semi-big hit "Nothing can stop us" (semi-big in the sense that I might have heard that single before--I'm not sure), but I also enjoyed it that there were few duds in the album too, aside from the mood-killer of "Like the swallow" (although there's also nothing particularly exciting either on the album, I'll admit).
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
It's always fun to get an album that I not only already own but also enjoy listening to, even if I haven't really listened to Franz Ferdinand for many many years (and I think they've somewhat recently disbanded too? No, I guess I've confused them with Panic at the Disco...). One of the things that struck me back when I first bought and listened to this album was how consistent they were on each track, somehow without sounding *too* similar from song to song. My favorites are probably their big hits "Take me out" (and what a great and hypnotic animated video!), "Dark of the matinee" (with a fun video as well) and "This fire", but I also enjoy the remainder too, with a particular nod to their opening track "Jacqueline" as well as "Darts of pleasure" and "Michael" (as much for the latter two track's creative videos as the songs themselves). Given how much energy they pack into their songs, I've always imagined they were a lot of fun live, but never quite managed to seek them out. But I'm sure I would have chanted "My name is Super-Fantastic!" with them.
Adele
4/5
Although I know we've already gotten Adele's debut album, and I generally wish most artists only get one album in the collection (to make room for others), I'm happy to get another chapter of her journey singing through heartbreak and seemingly wearing her heart on her sleeve, but also happy to hear her exploring beyond that range in her lyrics (and music).
I'm never quite sure why I have a soft spot for Adele, and not for other similar anguished/emotional singers in this collection like Tori Amos, Alanis Morisette, etc. but I do. I'm impressed at how many songs I recognized from this album through various airplay services (radio, Pandora, etc.); my favorites are her singles "Hello", "Send my love" (both with decent videos), "When we were young", and "Water under the bridge", as well as "River Lea". And a thank-you to Adele and this album for singlehandedly reviving the idea and popularity of the album format in 2015--it's kind of hard to imagine how *any* album could have sold 3.38 million copies in the US in the first week it was released.
Jerry Lee Lewis
3/5
I know very little about Jerry Lee Lewis, aside from that he's *not* the same person as Jerry Lewis (thankfully), and he had something bad associated with him with underage girls. (I didn't realize until I read the Wikipedia entry that the scandal was that he married his 13-year-old cousin (first cousin once removed, so definitely *not* kissing cousins) about 6 years before this was recorded, so I guess she was finally older than 18 when this came out, but still a first cousin....)
Backstory aside, this seems like it was a fun performance, and even though nearly all the songs are covers, he definitely infuses his own style and swagger. I've never been a big rock-n-roll fan, so there aren't any tracks that really stood out for me, although the opening track "Mean woman blues" is particularly intense-sounding. And the recording seems well-done for a live album in that era, although I really can't get behind Stephen Erlewine's (Allmusic) rant that "compared to this, thrash metal sounds tame, the Stooges sound constrained, hardcore punk seems neutered, and the Sex Pistols sound like wimps." But hey, he's a famous critic, and I'm not.
Madonna
3/5
While I've never been a Madonna fan, I'm a bit shocked to realize that I've never heard this album outside of the (massive) hits on it (and I can see that those singles are over half of the album, so I guess I've heard more than I realized). A bit disappointing that this isn't the only Madonna album in the collection, given that it seems like this was and is likely her peak; that said, I give Madonna tons of credit for evolving her style and sound over several decades of performing. This is just too 80s-pop for me to be able to call out any particular tracks as favorites, but I like it that Prince collaborated with her on the album, most obviously on "Love song", which makes for one of the more interesting tracks on the album, but I liked his distinctive guitar work on the opening title track as well as "Act of contrition" too. (Apparently also on "Keep it together", but I didn't really hear it.) Of the many videos from this album, I particularly enjoyed the David Fincher-produced and Metropolis-inspired video for "Express yourself". The others weren't as compelling: I know the video for "Like a prayer" was a big deal at the time, but it didn't do much for me; "Dear Jessie" was just an insipid animated effort (much like the song); "Oh father" was a bit disappointing, given that Fincher also directed it; and what *is* the deal with the mermen (and mer-children) in the "Cherish" video???
Korn
3/5
I know Korn--and this album in particular--was big in the nu-metal scene for a while, but that doesn't really mean that they needed to be included in this collection, especially since the project also includes Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park (and apparently System of a Down), and inexplicably *doesn't* include Disturbed. Although to be fair to Korn, I'd have probably included them before Limp Bizkit, as Korn at least seems to have more ambitions than Fred Durst's outfit; that's not saying much, though (and pretty funny that Durst appears on "All in the family"). It's always felt to me that Korn tried to outdo Rage Against the Machine, except they lacked the messages or focus (or talent) of RAGM.
As for the music itself, it's about what you'd expect from Korn, and I've always been impressed by Jonathan Davis' distinct growls and guttural sounds, so it's not all power chord, pounding drums and overloaded distortion. I enjoyed seeing the videos for both of their singles, "Freak on a leash" (especially the Todd McFarlane animation) and "Got the life", and I'm struck by just how profoundly *ugly* the band members are (and how SoCal with the dreads and baggy shorts). I also liked it that Ice Cube featured on one of their tracks, plus of course Cheech on the musical part of the hidden track quasi-cover of "Earache my eye". Overall, though, it starts off pretty strong with the first five songs or so, and then tails off pretty quickly; it definitely could have been about half or a third as long and not suffered at all (and in turn prevented a lot of suffering for a large number of this project's listeners, I suspect).
The War On Drugs
3/5
I think I first came across The War on Drugs through Pandora (probably not the best thing to admit, I know), and I was drawn to something in their 80s-throwback/nostalgia sound, so I'm glad we got an album by them in this collection. I'll admit, though, that they're kind of a one-trick pony, in that I have yet to hear a song by them that doesn't sound largely like all of the others. Good for a music mix/playlist, not as much fun during an hour straight of their distinct take on life, music and somber reflections. But I'm glad to hear other tracks than their singles, and I enjoyed the videos for "Under the pressure" and "Red eyes" (more so the latter, with its talent show story, than the too-long former).
I know the Wikipedia entry cites Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan as influences (or at least inspirations, both musically and lyrically), but I'll admit that every time I hear them, I think more of Don Henley, especially "Boys of summer", albeit in a much more minor/bleak key. Bummer that Adam Granduciel couldn't have found some way to mention seeing a Dead Head sticker on a Cadillac....
Grateful Dead
3/5
I know many people's idea of the best (and perhaps only) way to appreciate the Dead is through their live performances, so I guess it's only fair to get a live album from them in addition to "American Beauty". But I'll admit that I groaned out loud when I saw it was well over an hour, as my tolerance for Dead-style noodling is *considerably* shorter than 75 minutes. But I'm sure many Deadheads are disappointed that we didn't get their whole discography.
Not much to say about the so-called songs themselves (I mean, c'mon, calling a 23-minute orgy of meandering noodling a "song"?), other than this album was exactly what I expected and dreaded; to be fair, though, "St. Stephen" is better than the rest. On the other hand, it's probably a significant upgrade to the one Dead show I *almost* attended at RFK Stadium (DC) in the summer of 1993. For reasons completely unrelated to the Dead, I got as far as one of the tunnels into the stadium and could hear music playing, but then pretty much freaked out about life in general and never went inside. Apparently Sting was the opening act, and Jerry Garcia and he even sung "Walking on the Moon" together, which might have been interesting (in a better frame of mind). Probably for the best anyway, so that now listening to this album I don't have weird flashbacks or the urge to curl into a fetal position.
Chicago
3/5
I'm not entirely sure why, but I've always thought that all of the place-named-based one-name bands (Boston, Europe, Kansas, Asia, etc., even Journey) were all largely an 80s phenomenon and largely the same sound. Apparently Chicago is *not* of this ilk, perhaps in part because they started off with three names (CTA), but more likely because they were earlier and my weird stereotype isn't even accurate. Regardless, I was happy to realize that I've heard their biggest hit before (and many times), "Does anybody really know what time it is?", which I always enjoy listening to, as well as their not-as-big singles "Questions 67 & 68" and their cover of "I'm a man". The rest of this album doesn't quite live up to their biggest single (although I really enjoyed "Someday (August 29, 1968)", and "Free form guitar" is just a hot mess), but it's also a fun album to have in the background as you go through what increasingly feels like a Broadway musical of a gritty urban environment with a lot of soul (and horns).
CHIC
3/5
Although this feels a lot like a one-hit wonder sort of band and album, even with the relatively popular single "I want your love" proving that "Le freak" wasn't the only flash in the pan, it's still a modestly fun disco listen (with some driving basslines). I liked it that the rest of the album doesn't sound utterly different from their two singles, but the other songs seem much more appropriate for background listening (especially the instrumentals like "Savoir faire"), and the slower ballad-types tend to drag it all down a bit.
Pavement
2/5
When I heard their other album in this collection (the later "Crooked Rain Crooked Rain"), and didn't particularly enjoy the experience, I wrote that I couldn't "really capture in words how excited I am at this prospect [of hearing their debut album]." I will try, however, to capture my reaction in words; namely, "Pavement blows". Actually, that's not really fair to them, and my expectations for this album were so low that the experience wasn't nearly as disappointing as it was for the other album. That said, I'm not sure I could really identify any song that either stood out or was particularly interesting, beyond perhaps the punk-adjacent "Two steaks" (while "Chesley's little wrists" was the opposite of interesting); I am utterly baffled that Rolling Stone has "Summer babe (winter version)" in its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
And since I gave them three stars for their later album, I feel very comfortable giving this album only two, as that's all it deserves from my perspective (which appears to be in the tiny minority, gauging from the effusive praise of reviewers on the Wikipedia entry).
Amy Winehouse
4/5
It's kind of shame the collection included her debut album, given how much better this one is--more self-assured, tighter, and chock full of strong songs that long survived her. I've never heard this album in its entirety before, so that was nice, and fun to see her (many) videos from her singles; "Rehab" and the title track were the best of the lot, but all of them have impressive production quality (although "Just friends" doesn't do much for me song- or video-wise). It's funny how "You know I'm no good", and to some degree "Back to black", has more than a hint of Portishead to it. A shame that her impressive transition from jazz singer to British soul was so short-lived; she clearly had a lot more in her than she was able to release before her untimely death. (I liked the quote in the Wikipedia entry for the album that Amy Winehouse was a Nirvana moment for British female singers, as it captures so many facets of Amy Winehouse's remarkable and brief trajectory.)
2/5
I know it shouldn't really be a mark against an artist or album, but it was *extremely* annoying to have to search for this album online and weed through playlists that either were missing some of the tracks on the album, or was just one long uninterrupted 41-minute "track", and ultimately having to settle on a YouTube playlist that had all of the tracks as separate tracks, but listed in reverse (and as far as I can tell didn't have the stereo separation that the original recording contained, sadly). It makes me think that either just this album or John Zorn isn't all that popular and/or accessible, and certainly listening to the unremittingly wailing, screaming, frantic versions of a similarly-unknown-to-me artist/composer wasn't the most pleasant experience, I'll admit. I give credit to this project's editors for including "thrash jazz" in the collection, and I admire the technical aspects of the performances by Zorn and his band members, but this is *definitely* not my idea of a good/fun listen, and I'm pretty sure I could have gone to my grave just as happy without having endured this.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
Aside from their one-hit-wonder smash "Come on Eileen", I'm pretty sure I've never heard anything else by the illustrious Dexys Midnight Runners (although apparently "Geno" and "The Celtic soul brothers" were also hits in the UK, so I guess they were only a one-hit wonder on the US side of the pond). I like it that the rest of the album is recognizable as the same band as their big hit, but not much else on the album really stood out. ("Let's make this precious" sounded to me a bit Cure-like, curiously.) It was a good move that they added strings to their sound, making them a bit more distinctive than other early 80s rock/R&B bands (particularly noticeable on "All in all"); a shame that the horns and string players left the band after recording the album, though. I thought it's pretty funny that after opening for The Specials a few times, they decided they needed to have outfits, and chose "donkey jackets and woolly hats" to look like they came out of "Mean Streets" (and very evident in their quirky video for "The Celtic soul brothers"; I have no idea what look they were going for in the video for "Come on Eileen" with the denim overalls). I wish that their cover of "Jackie Wilson said" was a bit less derivative of Van Morrison's original, but I liked the energy.
I'll admit that I'm a bit mystified that there's another album by Dexys Midnight Runners in this collection--it's not clear to me that Kevin Rowland and company are really *that* interesting or important to warrant two albums. But then again, that could easily be said of a lot of artists and albums in this project.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
It's hard to find too many faults on an album with 11 compact tracks lasting only 30 minutes. And a fine choice to start out the gates with their big hit "Kicks", although a bit disappointing that they didn't actually write the lyrics to that song and a few others on the album. Their overall style isn't really to my taste, but I enjoyed a few other songs aside from "Kicks", especially the 1-2 combo of "Ballad of a useless man" and their version of "(I'm not your) Steppin' stone" (which isn't as good as the Monkees' version, I'll admit, or even the much later version by The Farm; same for "Take a look at yourself" vs The Monkees), as well as "Get it on". And I liked the backstory to "Louie, go home" as a sequel to "Louie Louie", probably more than the song itself; too bad they didn't use their far-better-and-much-more-creative single version of this song on the album. Thankfully, though, there aren't too many serious duds, and none of them last more than 2-3 minutes in any case (although "Little girl in the 4th row" felt like an eternity).
Gotan Project
3/5
Although it's hard to rank highly an ambience-type of album, this is definitely one of the better ones in this collection, with a nice European touch of accordions blended with electronic-oriented music. I'm pretty sure I haven't really heard anything from Gotan Project, or this album in particular, so it was fun to hear these tracks for the first time; I particularly enjoyed "Epoca", "Triptico" and "El capitalismo foraneo", as well as the video and music for "Santa Maria (del Buen Ayre)" (although I was also struck at how similar this track sounds to their excellent remixed version of "Whatever Lola wants" on the 2003 album "Verve: Remixed 2"). I'm a bit confused by the fact that Gotan Project is listed as a France-based band, as everything seems to be in Spanish, but maybe that's just a Euro-thing? And I suppose also due to their focus on Argentinian tango as the driving force (and why they're named the tango-anagrammed "Gotan").
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
It looks like this is one of two Ali Farka Toure albums in this collection, and yet another Malian desert-blues contributor in this project (in addition to Songhoy Blues). I feel no more qualified to assess Ali Farka Toure's place in the Malian blues than I was with the Songhoy Blues album--other than I'm pretty sure Ali Farka Toure is Mali's most famous musician/artist--but that didn't stop me from enjoying the album, despite not understanding any of the lyrics; I particularly enjoyed the title track, and was amused that "Hanana" sounded more than a bit like a Frank Zappa song. And while it appears from the Wikipedia/1001-Albums entries that this album is a blend of traditional Malian styles and some Western influences, I was glad that it seemed rooted in a specific culture and context and didn't really have any of that homogenizing world-music sound.
Tom Waits
4/5
I'm a pretty loyal Tom Waits fan, but I'll admit it's a shame that there are so many of his albums in this collection (five all told), as it kind of dilutes his appeal even for me, and I can't imagine non-fans' reaction to yet another Tom Waits album. Of the three I've heard so far (this one, "Nighthawks at the Diner", "Bone Machine"), this is by far the best, and while I can see keeping "Bone Machine", I'd easily axe "Nighthawks". But no one asked me, I know.
I was really impressed how strong nearly every track on this album was, and I particularly enjoyed the opening pair "Singapore" and "Clap hands", as well as the title track and "9th & Hennepin" (mainly because I liked the Minneapolis reference). And impressive how many people have made covers of his "Downtown Train", although it feels like his is in many ways the best version, complete with a video that includes Jake LaMotta. I also enjoyed finding out that Keith Richards played on three of the tracks ("Big black Mariah", "Union Square" and "Blind love"), and that this led to Waits' contributing on The Rolling Stones album "Dirty Work". And even though it didn't seem like one of the stronger tracks on the album, I was also struck by how much "Time" sounded like a Leonard Cohen song. I can definitely see why this album was ranked among the greatest albums of the 80s.
Sonic Youth
3/5
Argh--I just re-discovered that this is only #2 of 5 Sonic Youth albums in this collection. And sadly, my enjoyment of them isn't much changed from listening to "Daydream Nation" (or for that matter owning "Dirty"). This does seem like a better album overall than "Daydream Nation", with a little less sonic wall overall, but it still doesn't hook me the way I know it should. This album has a shocking number of videos for most of the tracks (all but one, in fact), nearly all of which I don't really recall having heard before, although with Sonic Youth it's a bit hard to tell at times--I feel like I might have heard both the Karen Carpenter-homage "Tunic" and the LL Cool J diss track "Kool thing" before, but they sound like so many other Sonic Youth tracks, it's hard to remember (although kudos to them for getting Chuck D to do the call-and-response on "Kool thing"). This definitely seems like one of if not the best Sonic Youth albums; I just wish I enjoyed them more than I do.
Donovan
3/5
I've always had a soft spot for Donovan, largely because as a kid I loved his hit single "Mellow yellow" (without knowing any of the more adult themes in the song, although I just discovered now that "mellow yellow" was a reference to a banana vibrator, not a reference to smoking banana skins; and weird to find out too that Coke released their Mountain Dew competitor "Mellow Yellow" only a few years after Donovan's album came out). I was bummed to see that his defining hit wasn't on this album, but the title track is definitely familiar, as is the distinctive "Season of the witch", and it was kind of fun to hear very *un*familiar Donovan tunes on the rest of the album. I'll admit it was a bit disappointing to realize that Donovan indulged in that weird sort of mythical England genre (e.g. "Legend of a girl child Linda", "Guinevere"), as well as lots of Indian instrumentation on tracks like "Ferris wheel" and "Three king fishers", but this *is* a 60s album, after all. Not quite the album I'd hoped for, and a bummer that we couldn't get masterpieces like "Mellow yellow" and "Hurdy gurdy man", but still enjoyable enough, and the last few tracks are a nice way to end the album.
Badly Drawn Boy
3/5
I really like Damon Gough's moniker as Badly Drawn Boy, although I'm not sure I've ever heard anything by him, especially from this album. It's a pleasant enough listen, and there's a fair amount of musical variety across the hour-long album, which is always a positive in my book. I was a bit disappointed that his music seemed to be lacking a lot of depth (likely from the lack of a band, although impressive that he played many of the instruments on this self-penned, self-produced album); the highlights for me were probably "Everybody's stalking", "Another pearl" (in part due its strange clown-themed video) and "Disillusion" (also in large part for its quirky human-taxi video). (The video for "Once around the block" was amusing, but the song just wasn't all that interesting.)
I'll admit that overall this isn't the most distinctive album, and given that the Wikipedia entry notes that most reviewers compared him (somewhat unfavorably) to Elliott Smith and Nick Drake, for whom we get five albums in this collection, I'm a little puzzled why this was included in the collection.
Beatles
2/5
Although I think I recognize a few of the tunes on this album (mainly the opening track "It won't be long" and "All my loving", maybe?), I haven't heard most of the tracks before on this early Beatles album, so that's kind of nice, I suppose. I like it how short and sweet both the songs and the overall album are, but I'll admit that most of the songs are pretty forgettable and rarely show any evidence of their later musical talent and exploration, not to mention that nearly half the songs are covers (and not all that great at that). A few were kind of distinctive, like "Till there was you", and some tracks were fairly painful (like "All I've got to do"). I'm sure this album is a must-have in a Beatles heritage tour collection, and perhaps distinctive in that it had no Beatles singles, but I'm not sure I really needed to hear this before I die.
Queen Latifah
3/5
What a blast from the past! I'm not sure I've ever heard most of the songs on this album before (or all that much from Queen Latifah in general), so it's nice to reacquaint with her fairly distinctive style. The videos for "Dance for me" and "Come into my house" were fun to watch, largely because it reminded me of a fashion era that hopefully will never get repeated, but also because those are two of her more accessible and energetic songs. I also liked it that De la Soul collaborated on the album, although "Mama gave birth to the soul children" is definitely *not* a great track on the album, sadly.
Overall, the album starts off really strong and distinctive, but fairly quickly decays into that monochromatic rap/hip-hop sound of looping beats and generic rhyming rhythms, from about "Latifah's law" onwards (sorry, "Wrath of my madness"), although some of the subsequent tracks with featured artists inject a little more variety (mainly "The pros" but also "Ladies first" and "A king and queen creation" and "Evil that men do" somewhat). It *does* end on a strong track, "Inside out", and kudos to the queen for both writing and producing the album.
The Who
3/5
Aside from the three singles from this album, which I recognize immediately from years of radio play, I doubt I've ever heard anything else before from this ambitious rock opera. And so I'm glad I've finally listened to the album and finally understand the context for Tommy the pinball wizard. And I have a much bigger respect for Pete Townsend, knowing now that he largely wrote the entire opera (lyrics, at least), but I'll admit that the Wikipedia entry is incredibly helpful at filling in the blanks between the songs and forming a more complete picture of Tommy's past and later role as (somewhat rejected) guru. (Apparently Townsend gave an incredibly long interview with Rolling Stone that described the storyline and the connection to Meher Baba's teachings in excruciating detail, and while I'm not sure I need that much backstory, perhaps the "1001 Albums" reviewer should have read this first before writing a strangely misinformed and misleading review in the book.)
I'm not sure I can say I really enjoyed the album, but I'm impressed at how much better this concept album works than anything else like it in this collection (so far, at least). I also admired that they created this album so it could be played live, in contrast to how the Beatles and Beach Boys were focusing on studio-only productions, and then that they resuscitated the band (and eliminated their debt) by touring the whole album live. And it was fun to hear the big singles from the album, although the album versions aren't the same as what I've heard over the years on the radio, I'll admit. I was also struck with how much "Christmas" sounded more like the Beatles than anything else. And it was fun to read about all the weird and often-celebrity-filled opera/symphony/film/theater "incarnations" of Tommy.
Astor Piazzolla
3/5
Although accordions (sorry, bandoneons) and vibraphones aren't really to my taste, and I know nothing of Astor Piazzolla and his controversies, I appreciate the variety represented by this album in this collection, and also for what appears to be a very well-recorded live performance at the 1986 Montreaux Jazz Festival. I felt a little adrift without a Wikipedia entry for the album at all (and the 1001albumsgenerator link to YouTube Music was *not* to the right album), and the "1001 Albums" entry had little context as well, so I just floated along in the very *un*-tango-esque sea of Burton's vibraphones and Piazzolla's concertino virtuosity. It was a bit hard at times to avoid feeling like I was in some casino in the 60s with this mellow lounge music playing, and at other times in some Godard mystery/thriller film, but there are far worse ways to spend an hour. (And fun to hear Gary Burton go wild on "Vibraphonissimo".)
The Jam
3/5
I'm vaguely familiar with The Jam (mainly their big hit "That's entertainment"), but I'm pretty sure I haven't heard anything from this album. They're definitely not in your face with their music, but I was impressed how solid the album is, with nearly every track having some sort of hook or insightful lyric (except perhaps "English rose"), even though their style is pretty laid back overall and at times reminded me of The Clash or Squeeze. I particularly liked "Mr. Clean" and the ending pair of songs, "'A' bomb in Wardour Street" and their single "Down in the tube station at midnight"; and an honorable mention to their cover of "David Watts" (I was impressed how their version isn't all that different from the Kinks' original, yet sounds exactly as if The Jam had written it in the first place). I can't put my finger on why exactly, but this is a much better album than I expected it to be.
Joy Division
3/5
Hm. I guess the project's editors must *really* like Joy Division/New Order, given that they included both of Joy Division's albums and then two New Order ones too. So I guess I'm now three-quarters done with that sound, with only Joy Division's debut album ahead. And much like the New Order albums, I don't really find "Closer" a particularly compelling album or sound, although I appreciated the somewhat more raw sound of this album than in New Order (presumably at least in part influenced by Ian Curtis, who didn't survive the band). I'm guessing Cure fans enjoy this album too (likely far more than I did). But pretty cool that they paid homage to J.G. Ballard's "Atrocity Exhibition" with the same-named track, and sad to read about Ian Curtis' precipitous decline and suicide as they finished this album.
U2
3/5
I'm not a huge U2 fan, but it's hard to deny that they made a big jump forward with "War", especially their three big singles. I'm not all that familiar with the other songs on this album, so it was also nice to hear new-to-me and decent U2 songs like "Seconds" (especially having The Edge singing vocals), and the somewhat uneven tracks "The refugee" and "Surrender". Watching the video for "New Year's Day" reminded me again how similar Bono and Sting look (although the video itself is weird and not very interesting or well-done, and I still don't really get the connection between a love song and the Polish Solidarity movement). It's also funny how the "1001 Albums" entry is right next to Police's "Synchronicity", almost a handoff from a megaband to one about to enter that limelight.
Steve Earle
3/5
I mainly know of Steve Earle from his "Copperhead Road" fame, so it's fun to get a full album without a single mention of Copperhead road, although I'll admit he doesn't have a huge range, so all of his songs kind of blend into each other to some degree (although "Little rock 'n' roller" unfortunately distinguishes itself as being atrociously syrupy). The strongest tracks on this album are also the singles, especially "Guitar town", "Hillbilly highway" (just down the way from Copperhead Rd, I'm sure), and "Someday" (very Bruce Springsteen-esque, down to the video). I'm also impressed that he wrote (and played) "My old friend the blues," which I first heard by The Proclaimers, and I still prefer their version. Overall, though, nice to have Steve Earle in this collection.
Talking Heads
3/5
I'm a bit disappointed to realize that this collection focuses exclusively on Talking Heads' early albums, and really just the debut album (de rigor with this project) and then the three Brian-Eno-produced albums. There's nothing wrong with any of these albums, but it's a bummer that we don't get anything after 1980 from a band that definitely had some evolution over the years. And as much as it's fun to hear their iconic "Take me to the river" (which I had never realized was an incredibly good and unique cover of Al Green's original), it seems like the collection would be stronger with a post-1980 album in place of this one (say, "Speaking in Tongues" or "Little Creatures").
Aside from "Take me to the river," I also particularly enjoyed "Warning signs", "Found a job" and "I'm not in love". And I liked the photomosaic album cover, as well as the quirky album title. Overall, though, this seemed like decent-but-not-great Talking Heads fare; I enjoy listening to them, but there wasn't all that much that screamed "don't die yet!" to me.
Nirvana
4/5
I wondered when this would pop up in this collection, so now the wait is over. Despite all the overblown melodrama and seemingly unwanted attention this album generated for the band--or maybe just Kurt Cobain--it's hard not to simply enjoy this album the same way I did when I first heard it not long after it came out. I'm also glad to have finally seen the videos for their singles, as some of them highlight Cobain's ironic humor really well ("Smells like teen spirit" has its anarchist cheerleaders, while the "Bloom" video is a hilarious parody of Nirvana playing a Top of the Pops type show; "Come as you are" and "Lithium" aren't quite as interesting, video-wise). I think my favorite tracks are still "Lithium" and "Polly", but there are so many others to choose from, too.
And kudos to whoever obsessed over what I think is the longest Wikipedia entry for an album in this collection (so far). I immediately flashed to the shrine of flowers and other things that remains outside of the former Cobain/Love residence in Seattle decades after Cobain's suicide; testament to the enduring allure of the tragic-figure-who-passed-before-his-time.
I really wanted to give this album five stars, simply for its role in putting Seattle on the music map and for the legacy of the band, but I could really only do that if the album had been half as long (or if the project's editors had decided to only include this one rather than two other Nirvana albums as well). The first side of the album is so strong--as different as it is to pre-Nevermind Nirvana--but then the second side from "Drain you" onwards creeps by in a much less elevated place, sadly (except "Something in the way"). Nothing too horrible, of course (although the hidden track "Endless, nameless" isn't worth the long wait after "Something in the way"), but a good reminder of how hard it is to produce a complete album from start to finish. Not that insta-fans worldwide were complaining, of course.
Jane's Addiction
4/5
Wow! Yesterday was Nirvana's eternal classic "Nevermind", then today it's another early 90s album from a band that I imprinted on heavily. The collection (kind of) redeems itself, particularly since I can see that we also get "Nothing's Shocking" too. I don't think this album sustains itself throughout as well as their first album, but I also can't point to any particularly weak songs--perhaps having "Then she did..." right after the sensory-overload masterpiece "Three days"? Although I didn't know until now that those two songs were somewhat connected personal odes to dead women in Farrell's life). Regardless, having both "Stop!" and "Been caught stealing" start off each side of the album keeps the momentum rolling throughout (and I have to say that "Been caught stealing" might just be their all-time best song, all the way down to Farrell's dog).
A bummer that Perry Farrell turned out to be too toxic for, well, everyone, as the early years of Jane's Addiction had such a promising future (and Porno for Pyros was such a pale imitation, maybe because of Navarro's absence). But "Ritual" seems like a fitting send-off to a unique sound and band.
Alice In Chains
3/5
Weird to get yet another early 90s album in a row, but I'll admit much nicer than the string of 80s albums from a bit ago. And of course I feel a bit of pride to have another hometown band show up, although I never really understood why Alice in Chains was as popular as they were back in the day. Layne Staley's voice is quite distinctive, though, and I'm sure that's part of it; a shame that the band and their music/lyrics weren't quite as distinctive or interesting, but it's hard to deny their popularity given that they managed five singles from the album (and one of them appropriately pulled from Cameron Crowe's film "Singles", whose popularity was equally baffling). Funny too to see this album (and band) described as both metal and grunge; they always seemed to me to be more metal- and guitar-oriented, and really more in a Guns-N-Roses orientation, but those all seem like meaningless distinctions 30 years later. The highlights for me off the album are a few of the singles: the opening track "Them bones" (despite the pretentious video), "Rooster" (also despite a disappointingly simplistic video about the Vietnam experience), "Dirt" (which along with "Sickman" are almost dead ringers for Soundgarten) and of course "Would?" (another disappointing video, sadly). (And while it wasn't a great track, I liked the "Untitled" bit that even included Slayer's Tom Araya, mainly because of how it included some riff by Cantrell that apparently annoyed the rest of the band and he promised to stop playing it if they could record it...)
Very weird to read that the album was recorded in the midst of the 1992 LA riots, and kind of disappointing that none of the tracks reflect this piece of history. Sad too that heroin addiction played such a prominent role in yet another Seattle band in the early 90s.
PJ Harvey
3/5
I think the best thing I can say about this album, unfortunately, is that it's the last one in the collection for me. I'm not sure why exactly the editor(s) of this project fixated on poor Polly Jean Harvey, but he/they really did her a disservice (much as he/they did with poor Bjork), as her music really doesn't hold up to having so many albums in this collection. And really, this album initially seemed a bit better than a few of the other ones in this collection, making me think that it was too bad it wasn't one of the only ones included (maybe drop "Dry" and "Rid of me"?). But by the third track ("The glorious land", with a painful video), I realized that I probably wouldn't have minded if they dropped this one too..."ohh Engle-land". I do like it that it's a collection of antiwar montages about England's bloody history, and the album picks up a bit with "All and everyone" and "In the dark places" and the single "Written on the forehead", but only in a relative sense. And I liked seeing many of the "short films" (music videos, sort of) that Seamus Murphy created for the album, particularly the pensioners/bingo-hall/veterans-themed film for "Battleship Hill", although having everyman-type characters reciting the lyrics at the beginning of each film got a little tedious.
Regardless, I'm honestly not sure that starting an album by singing very forced olde-timey lyrics in weirdly enunciated ways and playing on an autoharp is a good idea. (No, I *know* it's not a good idea.) But at least the album became a bit more varied and less autoharpy over the course of the tracks, and I was glad to read that she was really happy with the album, as we've had a few so-so albums where the artists themselves noted how unhappy they were with it.
System Of A Down
3/5
Talk about a contrast between yesterday's PJ Harvey ("Battle of England") and today's Armenian onslaught! In my eyes and ears, Serj Tankian and company win hands down, but that's just me, I suppose. I *do* wish our System of a Down selection had been their followup album "Toxicity", as it's even more of a sonic and lyrical attack (in a good way). But either way, this album has a few great System of a Down nuggets, from their classic "Sugar" (and a great video as well) to the relatively mellow "Spiders" (although I don't know what the video is all about), as well as the Mr. Bungle-esque "Peephole" and "P.L.U.C.K." Especially with Tankian's (often unintelligible) excoriating critiques of capitalism and society (and Turkey), there's a lot of affinity in my mind between them and Rage Against the Machine, and they were certainly a much more interesting alternative to most of the nu-metal bands that exploded in the late 90s and 2000s.
It's often a bit frustrating with this project to see that the only inclusion of a band is with their debut album, which more often than not isn't as strong as later albums--my guess is that the editors aren't really fans of the band/artist, but perhaps worried that they'd get criticized for not including them at all. So I guess I'm glad they even included System of a Down, even if it would have been nicer to have chosen a different album.
The Zombies
3/5
It's hard not to hear the Zombies--or at least this album--as a sort of British Beach Boys, although not nearly as successful or well-received at the time. I was glad that their radio classic "Time of the season" didn't sound completely out of place on the album, although funny to read that it took a CBS producer in the US to fish the album out of the trashbin and decide that Americans would respond to the antiwar theme of "Butcher's tale (Western Front 1914)", and from that eventually led to their one-hit-wonder "Time" more than a year after the band had broken up. Overall, though, I can also see why they failed to get much traction with studios or fans alike; I'm not entirely sure I understand why they're now considered so highly, I'll admit.
In addition to "Time of the season", I also largely enjoyed "Hung up on a dream" and "Changes" (despite the latter's heavy-handed seasons-as-metaphors), as well as the Beatles/Kinks-esque "Friends of mine", but it seemed like there were far more trite duds like "A rose for Emily" or "Brief candles" to counter-balance the infrequent solid tracks. A shame that the album didn't include their other hit "She's not there". I greatly appreciated the brief running-time, though, and it was heart-warming to read that the surviving band members were able to play songs from this album many decades after it came out--better late than never!
The Young Rascals
3/5
I know it's not really a fair comparison, but The (Young) Rascals seem like a weird mashup of the Beatles, the Monkees, and maybe something like the Moody Blues or the Bee Gees, plus plenty of 50s R&B added in. And I'll give them credit for cramming a lot of variety in 35 minutes. I'm not sure a lot of this spaghetti really stuck, at least with me, but I enjoyed the opening "A girl like you", the unexpected "Sueno", and "You better run" (which Pat Benatar disappointingly failed to improve on with her version), although I'm not sure those really offset painful tracks like their hit "How can I be sure" or "I don't love you anymore". But this isn't really their fault--I'm just not a big fan of their style.
Iron Maiden
3/5
Although this project would have been just fine without this early Iron Maiden album, it's still fun to listen to it again after many many decades. I'll admit that until the opening vocals on the not-aged-well "Prowler", I'd completely forgotten about the Paul Di'Anno era of Iron Maiden, which was much more raw than their later style; this is particularly noticeable in the classic "Running Free" as well as the somewhat painful "Charlotte the Harlot". I also enjoyed their quirky prog/punk "Phantom of the Opera" (I remember trying (and failing) to perfect the opening salvos on my guitar way back then), the quintessential IM dualing-guitar-attack of "Transylvania", and the title track, although none of the tracks really qualify as great songs. Much like the album, but there's a lot of heart in this too (all except apparently poor square-peg guitarist Dennis Stratton, who just wanted to play Queen-style ballads and smell the flowers).
Miles Davis
4/5
This makes #3 of 4 for Miles Davis albums in this collection, and while that might be a bit much for one artist, I'm really glad it was included. I've never heard anything from it, so it's all new to me, and I enjoyed it from beginning to end. I can see why everybody freaked out about how to classify it, as it doesn't really fit into any particular genre, and I'm not sure it really led the way for other artists to follow, but it holds up really well. Miles Davis seems to have been able to collect really great band members for his albums, and the interplay of Chick Corea's and Herbie Hancock's keyboards was a highlight for me of the first side of the album, as was the Davis and the guitarist on the second side. It's funny to see that this album was listed next to the Bee Gees' "Odessa" in the "1001 Albums" book--I can't think of a bigger contrast in terms of sound and sophistication.
The Fall
3/5
At long last, the last of The Fall (both chronologically and in this collection)! I kept hoping with each of the two previous albums that I'd figure out how to enjoy them more than I do, but given that this was apparently considered their most accessible album, I think they're just not my cup of tea. The best of the lot for me was probably their cover of Sister Sledge's "Lost in music" and Steve Bent's "I'm going to Spain", largely because they're fairly creative takes on someone else's music (and hilarious that Bent's song was included on a compilation of the world's worst songs, justifiably so). Their original music kind of gets lost in faux-punk-Iggy-Pop-land initially, although I *did* like a couple of song titles, especially the riff off of the Twilight Zone episode "Nervous Man in a Four-Dollar Room", and it almost seemed like the album improved as it went on (peaking perhaps with "Service") and got more techno-oriented. I do wish that Mark Smith's voice wasn't as grating to me; it feels like that's a huge part of my aversion to The Fall, although I suppose his equally abrasive lyrics are another huge part).
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
There are definitely too many Elvis Costello albums in this collection, but I appreciate that this was included, as it seems like it's a different direction and sound from a lot of his other albums. My favorites are probably the opening track "Beyond belief", "Shabby doll", and the more-classic-Costello-sounding "Human hands", but few of the tracks really fall flat (but few rise all that high either, I suppose). It's hard to know how to rate this album, as it didn't really do anything special for me, but I can see why so many critics consider this one of if not his best work across a long career.
The Who
2/5
Much like most of The Who albums in this collection, I've never heard anything from this aside from their megahits (which I think is only "My generation" and the Beatles-esque "The kids are alright", despite that there were at least two other singles from this album). It's really interesting to hear how...generic...most of their songs are on this album; clearly they were still honing their distinctive sound and style, although Daltry's voice is always pretty distinctive, and a few tracks like "The good's gone", "My generation" and "A legal matter" have hints of more mature Who sounds (plus awesome drumming on "The ox"). I also hadn't realized how much they hued to R&B in their early years, including some pretty painful covers. I know it's their debut album, and I know it's hard to place an album in its context nearly 80 years later, but I don't really see much other reason to include this album in this collection, frankly (despite Christgau claiming that it's "the hardest rock in history").
Drive Like Jehu
3/5
Just as I had never heard of Rocket From the Crypt, I'd also never heard of Drive Like Jehu (whose guitarist formed Rocket From the Crypt about the same time). I can't say I particularly glommed onto this album or their style, but it's well-produced and occasionally kind of fun, especially with "Do you compute" and "Super unison". A bummer that there are a few 7-to-9-minute songs that drag on faaar too long ("Luau" and "Sinews" in particular).
It's *very* odd to read that Drive Like Jehu was considered an "emo" band (at least according to Wikipedia; the "1001 Albums" entry only references their more obvious punk influences), as this album bears almost no resemblance to the likes of The Cure or The Smiths or their ilk, which probably just shows my ignorance of emo's roots more than anything. It's hard to imagine much overlap between fans of Drive Like Jehu and fans of what emo became associated with. I'm not really a fan of either, though, and in retrospect I enjoyed Rocket From the Crypt more, having now listened to this alternative.
The Icarus Line
3/5
Another mystery band and album, one of the things I enjoy about this project, even with the duds (and certainly much more interesting than the 7th Leonard Cohen/Beatles/David Bowie/etc album). I'm not sure I'd exactly call this a dud, but it's also not all that compelling, except perhaps that I would have guessed it was from the 90s and not 2003/2004. There's a few good titles to their tracks (especially the opening track), but I would be hard-pressed to distinguish most of the tracks from each other, and there's unfortunately a bit too much Marilyn-Manson-esque sound for my tastes (mainly the guitar and the lead singer, although at times (especially in "Getting bright at night") I was more reminded of Jane's Addiction). "Spike island" was probably the most accessible song of the lot, and I'm not entirely sure what it was about, like most of the album.
Regardless, shame on their label (V2 Records) for letting them hang out to dry, neither promoting the album at all and even forcing the band to pay for the music videos. And kudos to the "1001 Albums" reviewer, who apparently spent the time to interpret the largely-unintelligible lyrics and declare that "Kiss the lizard", "Getting bright at night" and "Big sleep" form a 20-minute "odyssey" centered around "a caustic love song"; almost intriguing enough to listen again (but only almost).
Aretha Franklin
3/5
This is a tough album for me to rate fairly, as it's not as strong overall as I'd hoped it would be, but how can you deny the greatness of "Respect"? (And until this project/collection I had no idea this was a cover of Otis Redding's song; she certainly owned it from then onwards.) It's really remarkable too that this is her 10th studio album and first with Atlantic Records--it's nearly criminal that Columbia Records buried her for 9 albums with middling jazz-singer fare.
I'm *really* glad this collection includes another of her albums, "Lady Soul", which is even better than this weirdly debut-esque album. I'm just sorry that I got "Lady Soul" before this album, as I could have appreciated the former even more after hearing this one.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Number two of three CCR albums in this collection. Much like "Cosmo's Factory", this one has a few radio classics on it, and much like that album, it sounds exactly like you expect CCR to sound. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but the lack of variety makes it kind of hard to justify so many CCR albums in the collection, especially given how close-packed they are year-wise. I always hope they'll do something wild and crazy on one of these albums and crank out some sort of heavy rock song or a samba/waltz or something, but I guess that wasn't Fogerty's thing, especially given how much he seemed to stress how "disciplined" they were. (I *do* appreciate, though, how they resisted the infinite-jam sessions of some of their contemporaries.)
I love it that the album title was taken from a soda-fountain syrup flavor Fogerty enjoyed as a kid. I'm probably wrong, but I could swear that I had a few cans of "Green River" soda/pop as a kid in Seattle. And that's probably the only connection I might have with the CCR boys.
Taylor Swift
3/5
Given all the focus in this collection on 60s/70s/80s music (and 90s/2000s to a lesser extent), it's weird to see anything from the 2010s or 2020s, and a bit surprising too that we get two Taylor Swift albums at all. Unlike "1989", this album seems less radio-oriented and a bit more singer-songwriter-focused, with kind of mixed results. I imagine this was very happily received among the Swifties, but for the rest of us it doesn't have a lot of highlights or memorable tracks (at least for me), beyond maybe the single "no body, no crime". But it's nice to see that current popular artists are still making albums, even if this one dragged on a bit too long (not to mention the insane level of tedious detail in the Wikipedia entry).
Duran Duran
3/5
Among all the Pet Shop Boys/Simply Red/Soft Cell/The The/etc new-wave synth-pop, I knew we'd eventually have to get Duran Duran, and here we are (but thankfully only one album from them). I'm positive I've never heard this album in its entirety, and yet every song is exactly what I thought it would sound like. I'm not sure exactly why they were so much bigger than so many other identical-sounding bands in the 80s, but I'm pretty sure it's not on their songwriting or music-making chops, and most likely on their ability to ride the MTV wave to stardom through inane videos. But interesting to learn that the album was remixed to be more radio-oriented before it got any traction in the US.
The Avalanches
3/5
I'm pretty sure I've never heard anything from The Avalanches or this album before except the fantastic "Frontier psychiatrist", which is kind of a nice change of pace after several albums in a row with very familiar artists and/or songs. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I guess it wasn't exactly this sort of happier-than-average electronic/trip-hop/disco atmosphere. At times they even reminded me of a more electronic-oriented sample-heavy Jamiroquai (plus bits of Fatboy Slim, Portishead, and even Daft Punk), which made for an enjoyable experience, even if the album was a bit long in the tooth at times. And they got off to a great start with the title track, largely on the strength of the quirky miners-discovering-a-dance-studio video. "Radio" is another strong track, as was "Electricity" and "ETOH" (in addition to the excellent "Frontier psychiatrist" with its almost hypnotically engaging video). It was also impressive to read how much time and effort (and eventually reworking of the album) was involved in tracking down and (largely) getting clearance for their thousands of samples--a shame that the eventual international edition version wasn't as complete as their original release, but kudos to them for getting an apparently very elusive release from Madonna for the "Holiday" bassline in "Stay another season". Also interesting to discover that this was a product of Australian DJs, not that there's anything obviously Australian-sounding about it. This would have been an easy four stars if it had been about half or two-thirds as long.
The Crusaders
3/5
Despite that this album apparently made it into various Top 20 charts in the US and UK, and apparently headlined the U.S. Jazz charts for 20 weeks, I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit I've probably never heard anything from this album or The Crusaders in general. My initial impression was also that this was more easy-listening than jazz, but I'm no aficionado, and I'll admit that the title track seems like a strong inspiration for the likes of Jamiroquai, so I'm not entirely sure why this album didn't do much for me. But while it didn't really grab my attention, beyond maybe the tight sounds in "The hustler", it was also a very pleasant 40 minutes overall, which is far more than I can say for a number of other recent albums in this collection.
The Young Gods
3/5
Hm. Ever since I heard Ministry's "Jesus built my hot rod" on a college radio station while working at a bike shop many moons ago, I've always had a soft spot for (interesting) industrial acts. And there's been some pretty good ones in this collection, particularly Laibach. I'm not entirely sure The Young Gods are quite at the level of Ministry or Laibach (at least for me), and I'm not sure I'd necessarily call them industrial exactly (much like I wouldn't call Pere Ubu industrial), but they're definitely on the more interesting side of experimental/avant-garde music, as opposed to, say, Einstürzende Neubauten. And props to their producer for helping them make space in the tracks instead of just a wall of drums and noise. I didn't find any of the tracks particularly notable, although "Charlotte" sounded an awful lot like a hoarse Tom Waits (if such a thing is even possible), and there was something a bit more engaging than the others with "Crier les chiens".
Tricky
4/5
It's been ages since I've listened to this album, so I'm glad it came around in this collection as it's been too long and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed most of the songs on this strangely unique album (then and now). It's always seemed a shame that Tricky didn't give top billing to Martina Topley-Bird, though, because her voice really makes this album shine, but I'm glad to read that she also collaborated with Tricky on at least some of his follow up albums (sadly not nearly as good as this one). My favorites are probably the opening track "Overcome" (a remake of Massive Attack's "Karmacoma"), "Black steel" (which I never realized until now was an amazing cover of Public Enemy's "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"), the very Portishead-like pair of tracks "Hell is around the corner" (which I think I'd vaguely ascribed to Portishead all this time) and "Aftermath", and also "Strugglin'" (sort of). I was surprised by how many of the tracks had videos associated with them, but aside from "Overcome" (which seems to consist mainly of film footage, but I'm not sure what movie) they're fairly nondescript. I also wonder if Massive Attack regretted not letting Tricky shine more with them after they heard this album? I certainly do.
Fugees
4/5
I could have sworn this album already came up in this collection, but I guess I was just confusing it with the solo Lauryn Hill album, and perhaps also because I own this album. It's been a long time since I listened to "The Score" in its entirety, and I'm surprised how the experience was a bit...disappointing. Their singles continue to shine, especially "Ready or not" and "Killing me softly" (which ranks up there for me as one of the best covers of all time, although Roberta Flack's cover version is also pretty good too), but the rest of the album doesn't come all that close to matching those hits, aside from perhaps "Zealots" and their cover of "No woman no cry".
Having now heard so many other rap/hip-hop albums from the same time period in this collection, I'll admit to feeling over-saturated on hour-length albums that are comprised mainly of driving beats and half-spoken lyrics, although Lauryn Hill does a nice job mixing it up with genuine singing, and the instrumentation and samples on the album are at least more varied and interesting than much of the contemporary fare. And full credit to them for creating a through story-line of sorts on the album, even if I'm not sure it's as coherent as Lauryn Hill's description of it as "a hip hop version of 'Tommy'". I'm torn between three and four stars for this album, but it only feels fair to lean into four stars given how well they steered away from gangsta rap (apparently the reason Enya didn't sue them for appropriating "Boadicea" in "Ready or not").
The Verve
3/5
Hm. I'm honestly not sure why we get two The Verve albums in this collection, and while it sounds like this album was far more anticipated than their later "Urban Hymns", I was pretty underwhelmed by it (much as I felt about the later album, to be fair). There weren't too many tracks I found particularly interesting (and some were atrocious, like "Drive you home"), but "So it goes" was pretty entertaining, as was the laid back "Life's an ocean". The Wikipedia entry for this album is ridiculously long and remarkably poorly written, but it *did* have an interesting quote from a reviewer that this album could have been a modern Led Zeppelin album, and that resonated a bit with me. But I'm pretty sure I could've gone to my grave without listening to this album.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
Although I still wish we could have gotten different RHCP albums in this collections than this one and "Blood Sugar Sex Magick", I *am* glad that I heard this one after "Blood Sugar", as it definitely improves on the latter, both musically and lyrically. It's a bit hard on this album to hear the band that were infamous for wearing nothing on stage but socks on their privates, but it's nice too to see that they managed to evolve a bit from the frat-rock hollow they swam in for years, and songs like "Get on top", "I like dirt" and "Purple stain" are nice homages to their funk past. The only songs that really stood out for me were "Otherside" (in large part due to the silent-movie-style Kafkaesque video) and "This velvet glove" (Frusciante's guitar work is particularly distinctive here). But I can see why their singles were impossible to miss on radio in the late 90s, even if the title track is far too unsubtle for its own good. And while I don't really feel like they earned four stars for this album, I'm happy for them that they managed to find a way out of the rut they had fallen into before this came out.
Prefab Sprout
3/5
I'm not sure I've much of or perhaps anything by Prefab Sprout, so it's kind of funny to read about how much press they got from music critics for their elaborate wordsmithing and songwriting, when all I really heard was very bland love(ish) songs with surprisingly dull music elements, with "Appetite" and "When love breaks down" probably their nadir on this album (despite their multiple attempts to get the latter to stick as a re-re-released single). I wish there were more songs like "Bonny" and even "Horsin' around". It sounds like part of the credit and blame for their anodyne sound goes to Thomas Dolby's antiseptic production of the album, but that can't entirely explain the relentlessly joyless attempts to sing pop songs by a band that didn't seem to want to play pop songs.
Janis Joplin
3/5
I was a little shocked to see that this was the only Janis Joplin album in this collection, but then was relieved to see that we'll get another dose of her with the earlier Big Brother and the Holding Band album. I'm not all that familiar with her work, aside from her distinctive vocal style, so it was nice to hear an album of hers that contained nearly all-new (to me) material. And fun to hear how well she and the Full Tilt Boogie Band meshed on the album--I imagine they were even better live. I particularly enjoyed "Move over", "Half moon", and her great version of "Me and Bobby McGee", and it's definitely moving to hear the instrumental "Buried alive with the blues", still waiting for Joplin's vocals to fill it out.
Jane's Addiction
4/5
I've listened to this album too many times to be able to hear it as if it's my first time, but I hope first-time listeners enjoy it as much as I did and do. :) Whenever I hear songs from this album, particularly "Jane says", I think of when I got convinced by a friend to see some unknown (to me) American band playing in Edinburgh (apparently on October 1, 1990), and I was floored by how much everyone was into the band and singing along and the whole experience. And "Mountain song" also conjures up a long drive back from a fun but exhausting mountain bike ride in the not-quite-Cascades hills south and east of Seattle, and a friend played the song in the car's crappy stereo system, and the driving bass into fit the setting and mood perfectly.
I'm confident that the songs, and the album as a whole, aren't nearly as great as I want them to be, but it's hard to hear the voice of reason when you're cranking up "Standing in the shower...thinking", "Pigs in Zen" and its ilk. In fact, I'd have given this album a rare five stars, except that I just now read a new height of asshattery by Perry Ferrell related to this album, where he demanded 50% of the royalties for all the lyrics, and an additional 25% of the remainder for his "musical" contributions. And Warner Bros. caved and utterly screwed over the rest of the band. It's a bit shocking that "Ritual de lo Habitual" even got made, frankly.
T. Rex
3/5
Interesting that we get two T. Rex albums in this collection, given how...ho-hum...I (and many other listeners, it seems) found their previous album "Electric Warrior". In fact, although I don't recall too many details from that other album, this albums almost seems like it could have been part of an expanded "Electric Warrior" double album, minus any sort of hit single like "Bang a gong/Get it on" (although they did their best to copycat "Bang" with "Telegram Sam"). It's also funny to read that this was considered a "heavy" rock album, mainly because it's striking in 2025 to hear how plodding each track seems, both pacing and lyrically, and you never really get to any sort of payoff with all the repeating refrains and riffs. I kind of liked "Spaceball ricochet" and the Zeppelin/Bowie mashup "Chariot Choogle" more than the others, but not by a lot, I'll admit, and I loved the *incredibly* kitschy video for "Buick Mackane"--it was as if a quartet of clearly clueless and surprisingly un-photogenic dudes decided to play air guitar/bass/drums/congos to a song they weren't even sure they knew the lyrics and tune to. Kind of like much of the album, come to think of it....
Orange Juice
3/5
Although I hadn't ever heard of Orange Juice before, it was pretty clear from the get-go with "Rip it up" (and the very dated time capsule of a video that accompany it) that this was an early 80s British band influenced by the likes of The Specials, Joe Jackson, Talking Heads and/or Elvis Costello. Not horrible, but not all that distinctive either, and largely entertaining in a sort of ersatz Muzak sort of way (but with actual lyrics and a more lively tempo), and kudos to them for including a song titled "Tenterhook".
I'm guessing they got included because they're a Scottish band?
The Prodigy
4/5
Although I know I've heard many times two of their hit singles from this album ("Breathe" and "Firestarter", both with great videos), I'm not sure how I neglected to buy a single Prodigy album all these years, especially because I've always enjoyed this kind of sound from the likes of Chemical Brothers, Crystal Method, even Fatboy Slim. Aside from the aforementioned singles, I also enjoyed "Funky Shit" (with its Beastie Boys reference) and "Mindfields", and was surprised that "Smack my b**ch up" wasn't quite as horrible as the title might suggest (although it's definitely not a title or lyric that was *ever* a good idea, no matter how inflammatory they wanted to be). I'm not entirely sure that we need two Prodigy albums in this collection, but I'm glad we got this one.
M.I.A.
2/5
I know we can't exactly fault this project for including albums that were dropped by the "1001 albums" publication, but this is definitely a debut album that probably shouldn't have ever been included, despite the utterly glowing review in the 2005 edition right after this album came out.
I know Maya Arulpragasam has a compelling visual-artist/activist background, but I for one don't find her choice to create an entire album with almost exclusively a sequencer and her voice (and next to no musical background) a particularly good one. "Pull up the people", "Bingo" and "U.R.A.Q.T" are perhaps the best of the lot on a remarkably monochromatic album, but not enough to even get to three stars, I'm afraid. I've always enjoyed her later track "Paper planes", so I hope that album ("Kala") is a more satisfying experience than this is.
Aerosmith
3/5
Although I haven't really heard much early Aerosmith before, I feel like I could have lived and died without necessarily digging into Aerosmith's obscurities. And outside of their epic hits "Sweet emotion" and "Walk this way" (which I always enjoy hearing, the latter with or without Run-DMC), the rest of the whole album seems pretty deep in the obscure realm, although also more enjoyable the further you get into the album (except the painful last track "You see me crying"). Odd that it remains their most successful album, but I guess that speaks more to my ignorance of all things Aerosmith than anything else. And hilarious that "Young Frankenstein" was the inspiration for the title of "Walk this way".
GZA
3/5
Whenever I see that we're getting an album from the Wu-Tang universe, I feel like I managed to live blithely through their rise and fall and somehow missed out on something critical to appreciate these revered artists. That's not to say there's anything wrong with this album, but it didn't do much for me. I liked the whole "cinematic" approach, and the kung-fu-movie samples, but I found it challenging to track what's going on with the lyrics, and it felt like there was more relentless drum tracks than anything else musically; the highlights were probably the title track, "Shadowboxin'" and "B.I.B.L.E". My loss, clearly--sorry GZA!
Steve Winwood
3/5
I know it's not really fair to slight him for going solo at exactly the wrong moment musically (i.e. the synth-drenched early 80s), I *do* feel like poor Steve Winwood could have done so much better than this near-easy-listening album. I give him credit for performing all of the instruments on the album, but also fault him for this, given how few artists pull this off well (in fact, Prince and Trent Reznor are the only ones who come to mind). But at least it's not a particularly long album, and it was somewhat entertaining to see the awkward video of glowing pyramids and gymnastic tumblers for "While you see a chance". The rest of the lot is *very* forgettable, sadly, although I kept thinking how much he sounds like Phil Collins.
The Temptations
3/5
A nice contrast to some of the recent albums in my rotation (Steve Winwood, GZA, Aerosmith, M.I.A), and also nice to finally get the other Temptations album in this collection. I enjoyed the album, but not as much as their later "All Directions", probably because they were only dipping their toes into the Family-Stone-style sound with "Cloud Nine". I really enjoyed the title track and the epic "Run away child, running wild", but most of the rest was less engaging, even their slightly funkified version of "I heard it through the grapevine". This would have been a much stronger and more interesting album if they'd stuck with the style of Side A and ditched the more traditional fare on Side B, but I suspect that would have been a hard sell to either Motown Records or their diehard fans.
Jethro Tull
3/5
I remember checking this album out of a local library when I was a kid/tween, wanting to enjoy it more than I did, and mystified why there were so many flutes on a rock album that everyone seemed to revere. I might have wondered if this was some crossover album by Cat Stevens or something (especially with tracks like "Wond'ring aloud"), and never did recognize that this fell into the prog rock camp just as much as my beloved Rush (especially their earlier albums). I don't think I ever listened to the whole Jethro Tull album then, or since, so it's kind of nice to finally revisit it, warts and all.
I've always been a bit haunted by the opening lyrics of the title track, but aside from the opening and closing sections it's not nearly as great of a song as I'd long imagined; I'd say the same of "Cross-eyed Mary" and "Locomotive breath", although they're a bit stronger throughout. I also enjoyed "Up to me" and "Hymn 43", although the whole album just seems a bit tedious (and a bit long-winded, lyrically and flute-ally).
Finley Quaye
3/5
I was excited to see Finley Quaye show up, as I was pretty sure that I had an album by him, although I couldn't recall either the name of the album (turns out to be "Much More Than Much Love" (2003)) or what exactly he sounded like, which turns out to be completely different on my album than this one. I enjoyed this album, but in a kind of pleasant background music sort of way rather than an engaging listen; it seemed like he was sampling various chill sounds and styles, reminding me of debut albums by Norah Jones or Amy Winehouse, where it's like they were testing out different voices and hadn't quite found their way yet. The highlights for me were probably "Sunday shining" (although not the video so much; actually none of the videos did much for the songs), "Ride on and turn the people on" , and "Supreme I preme".
The United States Of America
3/5
I'm not sure I can say I really enjoyed this album, but I'm really glad it was included in the collection, because it's always interesting (to me at least) to get an attempt to do something a bit different. I like their early use of electronic music (sorry, electronic sounds), mixed with very academic-inspired leftist lyrics, and suffused with what I've always imagined "psychedelic rock" is supposed to sound like, all played by a fairly average-sounding band that didn't last very long after the album was released. They didn't exactly succeed in hitting any of their targets, I think, but they get an A for effort/intent. And I love it that there's an adaptation of Winnie-the-Pooh's "Cloud song" nestled amongst various diatribes against American capitalism. Living the USA dream!
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
I know I've heard the name of this band before, but I'm not sure I've ever really heard anything by them, and certainly not from this album. And perhaps with good reason--this is *not* my idea of a fun or entertaining album, however "innovative" their guitar work seems to be. I was constantly reminded of a goth version of The Cocteau Twins, minus any ethereal nonsense lyrics, or at least I think those are actual words being spoken on this album, because it's largely impossible to make out much of anything on nearly the entire album (so maybe more of an ethereal Dinosaur Jr?). Given that we get two more albums by them, I'm hard pressed to believe that this debut album was really worth including; of course, I haven't heard the other two yet....
George Michael
2/5
Well, now that I realize we get two George Michael solo albums in this collection, I feel a bit better now for having given his debut album only two stars. And there's nothing here to alter my rating or estimation of his music; if anything it feels like *this* album could have and should have gotten a pass far more so than his debut. Aside from the lone hit I recognized, "Freedom! '90", there's nothing here that really adds to "Faith"; if anything, his attempts to be more introspective and moody and acoustic make for a less engaging and interesting album (even his musical borrowings--like on "Freedom" (Primal Scream) or "Waiting for that day" (Rolling Stones)--seem tepid and tame). That said, I still admire it that he composed and produced all the songs on this album too. A shame that his turn towards being more artistic also became effectively his swan song.
The The
4/5
After listening to "Soul Mining", I wouldn't have particularly guessed that we'd get another album by Matt Johnson in this collection, but I'm glad we did (or at least that's true for "Infected"). It seems like Johnson cranked up the darkness and dystopian views, and toned down the synth-pop aspects, and produced a strangely compelling album whose despair at the state of the world remains sadly topical 40 years later.
It's also very impressive that he convinced CBS to cough up the budget to make videos for every single track on the album, and the videos definitely added to the experience. My favorites on this album are "Infected" (what a bizarre setting in Bolivia, with a guy strapped to a chair and eventually burned in a bonfire outside a church, and as far as I can tell having absolutely nothing to do with the lyrics, plus an apparently even hairier experience filming this and "Mercy beat" among drug experiences, biting monkeys and snakes and even Amazonian communist rebels), "Angels of deception" (with a fun Kafkaesque stylized city set), and "Sweet bird of youth" (I'm not sure there's really a storyline in the video, but it's a pretty damning indictment of military interference in the world (apparently specifically about US involvement in the Middle East, which delayed the single's release when the US bombed Libya)). I'm not all that surprised to read that Johnson was very challenging to work with, but I'm glad he managed to make this album.
Tim Buckley
3/5
Well, this is now number two of three seemingly interchangeable and equally obscure Tim Buckley albums. Nothing wrong with this album, I suppose, and definitely less rock-oriented than his later "Greetings From L.A.", but also not much to distinguish itself, except perhaps a bit too heavy on the vibraphone sauce for my taste. The highlights for me were mainly "Buzzin' fly" and aspects of his Doors/Santana-esque hot mess "Gypsy woman", and I'll admit there's a certain degree of charm to his meandering voice and style, although his 10-minute-plus tracks perhaps meander more than a bit too much (I do like it that the producer added the oceans sounds in "Love from room 109" to mask the 8-track's electric buzzing noise in the recording).
Interesting to finally discover that another obscure (to me) artist in this collection, Jeff Buckley, is in fact his son, although it sounds like mainly in the biological sense, as it sounds like Tim wasn't a very present father. And sad to read that he died of a heroin overdose when he was only 28....
Gorillaz
3/5
What a bummer to discover that the only Gorillaz album in this collection is their debut album, which is by far the weakest of the lot. I guess it makes sense, since the editors seem to really like Damon Albarn, but probably only in his Blur days, and so this was the lone bone they threw to Gorillaz. Ah well; at least Gorillaz made it into the mix, unlike a lot of other artists and bands that didn't even make the cut. My favorites are the tracks I know pretty well--"Tomorrow comes today", their instant classic "Clint Eastwood", the strangely catchy "19-2000", and "Slow country"--and I enjoyed seeing the (animated) videos that accompanied a lot of them (especially the great video for the middling "Rock the house"). I also enjoyed a few others I wasn't all that familiar with, like "5/4" and "Double bass". I was also struck by how much they seemed to be channeling sounds like Portishead or trip hop bands on some tracks; very different from later releases.
Even though this particular album isn't likely to turn on too many people to Gorillaz, It's kind of fun to hear Damon Albarn and company stretching their legs with this album, starting to grow into their "virtual" personas that seem much more defined and engaging in later albums like "Demon Days" and "Plastic Beach". And I'm so glad to finally find out why the Gorillaz animated videos looked so familiar: they were drawn/animated by Jamie Hewlett, of "Tank Girl" fame.
Roxy Music
3/5
Yet another Roxy Music album (three now, and thankfully all that we get in this collection). I'm not sure there's much to say about this album, except that I found it strangely screechly/jangly, far more so than the earlier albums, especially so on some tracks like their hit "All I want is you" (but maybe that's due to new headphones? or maybe Brian Eno's absence?). I've generally enjoyed Bryan Ferry's strangely distinctive voice, but not as much on this album (with the partial exception of the uber-dramatic "Bitter sweet"). Sorry, Bryan!
Ananda Shankar
3/5
I think the most impressive aspect of this quirky but entertaining (and *very* sixties sounding) album is how it predates the whole acid-house movement by several decades, and yet a couple of the tracks--the instrumental sitar-rock versions of "Jumpin' Jack flash" and "Light my fire"--have stood the test of dancehall time. There's not a lot of cohesion to the album as a whole, as the more traditionally oriented tracks have little to do with the rock adaptations, and the lack of vocals and lyrics makes it challenging to keep in the foreground (except perhaps the closing track "Raghupati", although I didn't understand the chants/chorus). The two tracks that I thought were highlights were "Jumpin' Jack flash" and "Metamorphosis", while "Sagar (the ocean)" took the prize for the most long-winded and meandering track we've had in a long time.
Regardless, it's an odd curio in this collection, and I'm glad to have heard it. Too bad, though, that he chose not to create an album with Jimi Hendrix, as that could have been an amazing experience for all.
The Byrds
3/5
This is now number four of five Byrds albums in the collection, so 80% done, which is perhaps the best I can say about the album (and the Byrds). I enjoyed a few tracks on this album, mainly "Everybody's been burned" and their well-known Dylan cover "My back pages", but I suspect I'd be hard-pressed to recall any songs from this album a few days from now, although "C.T.A - 102" definitely stands out as a strong outlier, at least the second half of the song with weird sound effects and faux-backwards "alien voices" (how daring!). Ultimately, though, this album has cemented my understanding that I'm not a fan of the Byrds' style or sound, and I'm not likely to warm up to them.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
4/5
Oh boy--this is a tough one to rate. It feels like it should get a high rating since it's the only Buddy Holly inclusion in this entire collection, and he had such an outsized place in musical history. But aside from the really big hits, and mainly "That'll be the day", I'll admit somewhat sheepishly that their sound doesn't really do much for me, as pioneering as they were in their day. To paraphrase Loretta Lynn and Fatboy Slim, we've come a long way, baby.
Spiritualized
3/5
I kind of wish this was the only Spiritualized album in this project, because as much as I thought it was an interesting addition to the collection, I'm pretty sure the other Spiritualized album will feel like too much (especially since this one seems a bit too long and too much noise). The highlights for me were the overall effect of continuous waves of music ebbing and flowing, plus the opening title track (especially the background Elvis lyrics over the sea of sound), the perhaps too long "I think I'm in love", and "No god only religion" (and kudos to "Cop choot cop" for keeping my interest over much of the 17-minute-plus length). It all gets a bit much pretty quickly to the uninitiated, but I suspect Spiritualized fans probably adore this album (and perhaps Radiohead fans too when they're feeling particularly expansive).
Lana Del Rey
3/5
It's always nice to get a recent album in the rotation, and I've been curious to listen to a whole album by Lana Del Ray (my only previous exposure has been to her much earlier song and video "Video games", which I enjoyed). It's a nice enough album, and her voice is definitely distinctive, but I was disappointed by how repetitive it feels overall. The lyrics *do* vary across the songs, although the themes of melancholy and loss seem deeply entrenched, and most of the tracks sound very similar, and also pretty similar to the cadence and style of "Video games". There are a few sparks of a somewhat different rhythm in a few tracks, primarily in "White dress" and "Dance till we die", but even there it's like a flash of color in the monochrome. (And why does she keep repeating that she was at a "business conference" so much in "White dress"?)
Throbbing Gristle
3/5
Well, *that* was an experience. Not exactly what I think of as industrial music, and often not what I really think of as music per se, but it's definitely a different sort of sound and album from most of the rest. It's hard to say there were many favorites here, but I *did* enjoy the concept of the ultra-sped-up track "United", and "Dead on arrival" was probably the closest to a more traditional track than the rest (unless you listen to the original 4m04s "United" song, which even has lyrics!).
Funkadelic
3/5
This is actually my second listen to this album in this collection, but it was so long ago it's a bit like listening to it again for the first time. The main album is a bit slower than I remember, with only the title track and (to some degree) "Who says a funk band can't play rock?!" standing out, but "Lunchmeataphobia" and the live track part of "Maggot brain" on the bonus EP is also a fun addition. And I like the idea that this album has an element of progressive rock in it, although it feels more like prog funk than anything else (if that's even a thing).
It does feel like Funkadelic (or at least the two albums we get in this project) is a kind of red-headed step-child to Parliament, despite having largely the same musicians on most albums; I've enjoyed both of the Funkadelic albums, but not as much as Parliament, I'll admit. And I think I prefer "Maggot Brain" (the album, not the bonus EP song) to this one.
"THINK -- THINK -- THINK -- IT AIN'T ILLEGAL YET"
Bob Dylan
4/5
It's nice to get a slightly more recent Bob Dylan offering in this project from amongst the (too) generous number of his earlier albums, and even nicer to get a collaboration with him and Daniel Lanois on production, as I really like Daniel Lanois' work as both artist and producer. (I'm sorry, though, that Dylan didn't end up liking the sound of the album, as I feel Lanois' influence helped him a lot.) The album starts off great with "Love sick", and I enjoyed a few others on the too-long album, mainly "Standing in the doorway", "Tryin' to get to heaven" and the very Lanois-sounding "Not dark yet". (Also funny to hear Dylan sing the often-covered "Make you feel my love", which I'll admit I associate more with Adele.)
I'm not sure if it was the Lanois-influenced sound of the album or what exactly (or maybe the extended discussion in the Wikipedia entry about creative differences between Dylan and Lanois), but I think this was the first Dylan album that made me realize that the music itself seems almost incidental to Dylan; the lyrics seem to be the start and end of the process for him. He's very good at this (as his Nobel Prize amply shows), but I think it's part of why I don't particularly gravitate towards him.
Crowded House
3/5
It's nice to get an album from down under (and even better that they hail from both Australia and New Zealand), but aside from their geographical origins I'm not sure there's much distinctive to this album. I'm pretty sure I've heard a few of their singles, possibly even from this album, but their version of pop-rock isn't really to my taste. "Chocolate Cake" and "Tall trees" were the only tracks that grabbed me a bit, although they were completely offset by songs (and videos) like the sappy "Weather with you" or "All I ask".
Sugar
3/5
Nice to get another dose of Bob Mould, and a better one than either his Husker Du days or his solo work, but ultimately it's kind of disappointing to get a fairly nondescript slightly-harder-than-alt-rock album from him. The highlights were probably "A good idea" and "Helpless", and I enjoyed the occasional slip into a quasi-Soundgarden territory on tracks like "Changes" or "Slick". But overall it's probably not an album that I'd listen to again.
Miriam Makeba
3/5
It's pretty cool to read that Miriam Makeba was able to use a film role in "Come Back, Africa", the 1959 South African "jazz opera" "King Kong", and an association with Harry Belafonte to escape South Africa's apartheid and to get a shot at a solo musical career. But I'm not all that sure this album is a particularly good showcase of her talents or her story aside from the novelty/world music factor; and of course her version of "Mbube", which would become "The lion sleeps tonight" with The Tokens in 1961. It's well-recorded and produced,in any case, and nice to read that she had a strong and long musical and activist career as "Mama Africa" long after this album.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
3/5
I'm not sure why exactly but this album was a lot more disappointing than I expected it to be. Much like the "Chicago Transit Authority" album, it felt like I was listening to some kind of oddball 60s/70s musical production, even with the very familiar (and rightfully popular) tracks like "And when I die" or "Spinning wheel" (or even "You've made me so very happy"); perhaps it was just the string refrains that seemed to permeate the album that created that effect. I do like David Clayton-Thomas's very distinctive voice, and occasionally the songs really shine, but the abrupt changes in tempo and style throughout created a fairly discordant experience that didn't really sound intentional, unless this really was a musical-revue soundtrack. Which I'm (pretty) sure it wasn't.
Sufjan Stevens
3/5
Just based on the creative track titles alone, I really wanted to enjoy this quirky and very clearly self-styled (and self-produced) album. But for a variety of reasons--some reasonable (like how it felt like yet another off-angle collection of ditties a la Radiohead/Magnetic Fields/Rufus Wainwright/Gary Jules/Jason Mraz/etc), some not so much (trying to catch up on a backlog of "1001 Albums" albums, and cursing at yet another hour-plus indulgence)--I just couldn't really get into this oddball collection of excursions into Illinois-themed history and personalities. That said, a few tracks really worked: "John Wayne Gacy, Jr" (despite how irredeemable the subject is), "Casimir Pulaski Day" (banjos and all), and "They are night zombies!! They are neighbors!! They have come back from the dead!! Ahhhh!". I think everyone, including himself, was grateful that he only did "Michigan" and "Illinois" in the US States collection and moved on to more fertile fields. But I'm also glad this was included in the collection, even if it didn't work as well as I'd hoped.
Patti Smith
4/5
This is possibly the first time I've ever listened to this album, despite knowing for many years that it's high up in the pantheon of greatest albums of all time. "Gloria" starts it all with quite a bang, and probably ranks up there as one of the great cover songs (if it even qualifies as such); "Free money" continues the assault quite well. In some ways, though, it feels like "Birdland" and "Land" best represent Smith's vision of marrying poetry and (rock) music, and while I'm not sure I could say I particularly enjoyed either track as much as many people have, they feel pretty unique and challenging, especially for their time. I'm sure I approached this album in a more reverent way than I would have if I had never heard of it, but I can see why it's pretty seminal in the annals of rock/punk/music.
The Flaming Lips
4/5
I keep thinking I bought this album, or at least something by them, but every time I look at my digitized collection, I don't see it, so I'm always relegated to hearing them in somewhat random circumstances. Until now! The wait was worth it, and I enjoyed the album quite a bit, although probably not as much as the album title and cover promised all those years ago. My favorites are some of their singles--"Fight test" (a fun adaptation from Cat Stevens' "Father and Son", but a shame that there was a royalties battle with this, and it didn't even involve poor Yoshimi; the video was pretty good too), the song and video for "Yoshimi battles the the pink robots, Pt. 1" and their big hit (and video) "Do you realize?"--but I also found the whole album entertaining, in a laid-back, almost Radiohead-esque sort of way, and it also feels like the band members don't take themselves too seriously (very appealing). It was also fun to read that there's a real-life person behind the album's Yoshimi (Yoshimi P-We), as well as the reference to "In the morning of the magicians", an apparently French 60s cult classic book that inspired the likes of H. P. Lovecraft. Plus, of course, that Aaron Sorkin was (initially) involved in a musical version of the album/storyline, and that the band convinced Justin Timberlake to play bass (wearing a dolphin costume no less) on "Yoshimi battles the the pink robots, Pt. 1" for "Top of the Pops". Good stuff!
Afrika Bambaataa
3/5
What a strange addition to the collection (and likely transgressive, since it's a collection of previously released singles). Regardless, it's hard not to enjoy hearing yet again "Planet Rock" (although I didn't realize until now that they cribbed from Kraftwerk and even Ennio Morricone). I'm not nearly as familiar with the other tracks, but it's still fun to hear early "electro funk"; the main highlights for me were "Renegades of funk" and the almost new-wave (and drum-heavy) "Frantic situation", although I can see why "Looking for the perfect beat" got a lot of attention.
Talvin Singh
3/5
Although I've never heard anything from this album (or artist) before, I feel like it belongs squarely in that 80s/90s outpouring of world-beat, electronic, choral ambient music, alongside much better known groups like Enya, Deep Forest, Enigma, Dead Can Dance, and plenty more like it, albeit a bit more beat-heavy and Indian-music-oriented. It's an enjoyable album, and I particularly liked the intro sampler "Traveller", especially the section that had various flutes (including contributions by Ryuichi Sakamoto). But it's not exactly the sort of album that comes to mind for a 1001 list, I'll admit, especially given that *none* of those other aforementioned bands/groups/artists are included. Such are the vagaries of this collection, though, and I suspect the fact that this album beat out Blur and Chemical Brothers for the 1999 Mercury Music Award probably clinched its place (that or because Talvin Singh appears to be an arrogant but talented jerk).
John Lennon
3/5
In many ways, this is a much more interesting album than "Imagine", given all the angst and emotions Lennon poured out over the tracks (especially the near primal scream as "Mother" progresses). Much like "Imagine", this doesn't seem like a particularly noteworthy collection of songs, although I appreciated the darker tone to many of the songs (apparently thanks to his primal therapy regimen), especially "Working class hero" (probably the strongest of the lot lyrically) and "God" (a surprisingly sad disavowal of almost everything); I wanted to enjoy "Mother", especially since it starts off so strong, but then just gets weird. As I wrote with his other solo album, if I hadn't known that John Lennon was a former Beatles member, I'm not sure this album would even really register. And curious that we don't get Yoko Ono's "Plastic Ono Band" album, given that they shared the same release and album cover.
Screaming Trees
3/5
I guess I'd heard of Screaming Trees before, largely on their radio play for "Nearly lost you" (on an earlier album, "Sweet Oblivion", but I had no idea they were a Seattle band, and I'm not really sure why this project chose this particular album to highlight the band. It's seems like a fine album, but also a pretty forgettable foray into alt-rock; the best of the lot were probably "Look at you" and "Witness" (with a nod to "Dime Western" with its very Soundgarten-esque/Jesus-Christ-Superstar-sounding guitar lick), but even those selections feel a bit arbitrary. It's funny to read that they toured with Oasis; I wonder if that was just to make Oasis feel better about themselves?
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Argh...too much Elvis Costello in this collection! Fine, I suppose, but aside from sounding very "classic" Costello, and containing several big radio hits, this is a very forgettable Costello album. Or maybe it's just so quintessentially Costello that it just seems exactly like what you'd expect? Either way, the highlights for me were "Oliver's army" and "Green shirt" (mainly for the videos showing a much younger Elvis and Attractions, although I'm not entirely sure about the latter's video provenance), plus "Moods for moderns", and I liked it that he did a version of Ian Drury's "Sunday best", although Drury's original remains the better version. (I also realize about halfway through that part of the reason this sounded so familiar was because I already got this album before I joined the group playlist...) It was also interesting to read that his poor behavior during the US tour for this album had a huge impact on his career and kept him from touring North America for a full decade. And despite all of this, this does seem like one of his stronger albums.
Method Man
3/5
Much like the other Wu-Tang-related releases, I feel like I'm hearing some crucially important hip-hop album without any frame of reference or adequate appreciation. I *do* appreciate the relatively short playtime of the album (remarkably restrained of MM), and I *think* I might have actually heard "Bring the pain" before, which would likely be a first for the Clan and me. This also seems like RZA's best production of the albums I've heard so far in this collection. And although it didn't make it on the main album in the US, the remake of "All I need" with Mary J. Blige ("I'll be there for you / You're all I need to get by") is probably the best of the album, with "Release yo' delf" a close second (especially with Blue Raspberry singing the lyrics to Gloria Gaynor's "I will survive" in the background); I also enjoyed hearing the Chemical Brothers remix of "All I need".
Alice Cooper
3/5
I know Alice Cooper rarely gets much credit as a musician/artist, but it's still hard to deny the role he played alongside the likes of Kiss in carving the way for all sorts of dubiously-talented glam/metal bands to strut around in costumes and belt out forgettable tunes. And there's really nothing all that bad about this album, especially if you don't expect too much. Of course, there's also not a whole lot great about this album--it feels like a more mediocre version of a Meatloaf album. I wonder if it got included as the other Alice Cooper album in this collection simply for the iconic (and very relatable) "School's out" track? Either way, I can only hope "Billion Dollar Babies" is a bit more inspired.
The Cure
3/5
Ah, more Cure to sooth the ailing teen angst. But I'm very appreciative that this is a relatively brief album, and *very* appreciative that we didn't get this album as part of the US double-album release "Happily Ever After" (combining this album with "Faith"). It's well-produced and very much in The Cure vein, which I'm sure scores points with their fans, although it seemed even starker and more spare than the other albums in this collection (amybe that's the appeal). I'm not sure there were any tracks that really stood out aside from their semi-hit "A forest", although it was funny to read that "The final sound" was intended to be much longer, but their incredibly small budget and tight recording schedule meant that the recording ended at 53 seconds and they literally didn't have more tape to record more....
Johnny Cash
3/5
Another solid prison album by the Man in the Black, although it's hard to top "At Folsom Prison" (and this one doesn't really come all that close). This felt a bit more like a USO tour recording than Folsom's more dark and confessional tone, but it's still fun to hear Johnny Cash belting out tunes. I liked the train rhythm of "Wreck of the old 97"; having June Carter accompanying on "Darlin' companion" (as well as the extended monologue at the end); the powerful track(s) "San Quentin", made even more powerful from the prisoner's reactions (and striking how similar this song is to his much much later song "The man comes around"); as well as the largely unrehearsed "A boy named Sue" (another intriguing Shel-Silverstein-penned song). Given where it was performed, I'm glad I wasn't there, but I'm guessing everyone who *was* felt lucky for the time he was on stage.
Prince
3/5
Like the other Prince albums in this collection, I've only heard the singles from "1999", and not even the full versions of those tracks it turns out--most of the radio/video versions of his singles are about half the length of the versions on the album. It's a classic Prince album, of course, but I wonder if it might have been even better if the same editorial approach had been taken to all of the tracks? Plus maybe a few more instruments than just drum machine, synth and guitar, or just a bit more variety aside from his electro-funk sound (it felt like the tracks "1999" and "Little red corvette", plus to some degree the ballad "Free", were the only ones that had a different formula than the rest of the album). A good selection for this collection, and impressively more explicit than later albums--I can see why MTV refused to show the video for "Automatic", and I'm not at all sure I understand what all's going on in "Lady cab driver", but it's not a Disney-friendly track. It all makes me wish I was more of a Prince fan.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
Well, this is disappointing. I had no idea when I listened to "Too Rye Ay" that there could possibly be more Dexys Midnight Runners in our future, largely because it seemed like a novelty-esque album and not much there (but still a fun enough album). I'm not really sure they count as a one-hit wonder band, but this album only reinforces that they had only so much to share with the world, and I'm kind of dreading listening to their debut album some future day from now. On *this* album, though, the (relative) high points were probably "One of those things" (despite blatantly stealing Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" riff, and only attributing it much later in an album re-release) and the closing "The waltz", while the unending meander of "This is what she's like"--trying to be a quasi-Bohemian-Rhapsody--is (hopefully) their cumulative nadir, an unintentionally melancholy version of something from "Too Rye Ay".
It's not their fault that the "1001 albums" editors chose to include Dexys' entire discography (at least from the 80s), but that doesn't mean we have to enjoy everything they throw at us. And despite the glowing review in the "1001 Albums" book, and however much Kevin Rowland agonized over pointless details across the many months of recording this, I'm very comfortable in opining that this album doesn't belong in the collection, sadly.
Johnny Cash
4/5
This is by far my favorite Johnny Cash album, although I'm sure admitting this only reveals my rank amateur status as a Cash acolyte. Regardless, when I first heard this album I was floored with the first two songs that set the feel of the entire album, painful and raw and full of hard experience. I was also incredibly impressed that he covered such a wide range of songs, especially Trent Reznor's "Hurt" (even more so now that I've seen the painfully intimate video) and Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus". Other standouts are Sting's "I hung my head", The Beatles' "In my life", Tex Ritter's "Sam Hall" (which reminds me of Sam Shepard's version in the excellent movie "Blackthorn"), the Eagles' "Desperado", and Hank Williams' "I'm so lonesome I could cry", plus the fantastic version of Marty Robbins' "Big Iron" (sadly only on the LP version of this album, but fun to have heard the original and Cash's version in this project). I also loved all the contributions from John Frusciante, Nick Cave, Don Henley and Fiona Apple.
A while back I saw "Lucky", a film with a very aged and ornery and cranky and endearing Harry Dean Staton (and I'm not really sure he was exactly acting all that much). That movie has stuck with me for many years as at least one way I hope all of us can near the end of our days. This album had the same effect on me, and while it's similar in some ways to a few other albums in this collection by artists towards the end of their careers/lives (especially Billie Holiday's "Lady in Satin" and David Bowie's "Blackstar", and maybe even Leonard Cohen's "You Want it Darker"), Cash is setting his own terms and seems at peace with the highs and lows and in-betweens of his life (to borrow from the title of an album by a fellow hard-living country singer, Townes Van Zandt (why isn't he in this collection????)).
Neneh Cherry
3/5
I don't think I ever knew that Neneh Cherry hailed from Sweden; this unexpected origin makes the album a bit more interesting, but only a little (although the "1001 Albums" entry provides some interesting background context for her). I'm not a big fan of late 80s pop, and this falls squarely in that slot, with a bit of edge occasionally. "Buffalo stance" is kind of mesmerizing (both song and video), but mainly because I have no idea what that phrase is supposed to mean (even after reading the Wikipedia entry for the album and that song specifically), although it's clear it provides her some extra swagger. Similarly, "Manchild" feels a bit hypnotic, especially the video to it, with an equally ambiguous meaning (but certainly more interesting than Sabrina Carpenter's similarly titled hit). The rest of the album feels like a cross between Janet Jackson and Britney Spears, although to her credit she composed or collaborated on all of the tracks; "The next generation" and "Phoney ladies" are probably the best of the lot (in a very 80s way).
Ella Fitzgerald
3/5
Argh. Although I get the impulse by this project's editors to give us a healthy dose of the Great American Songbook performed by various artists, three-plus hours of Ella Fitzgerald singing Gershwin songs seems a bit too much for anyone (like me) who's not really a fan of largely interwar show tunes. But there's no denying Ella Fitzgerald has a great voice, and this album is impressively produced and recorded and preserved, which makes it easier to go on (and on and on) through the various songs. (I'll admit that I didn't bother to get the final few songs from the collection that were inexplicably left off the YouTube Music playlist.)
Slayer
4/5
Ah, Slayer: greater than Megadeth and Metallica combined. And certainly more intense and faster than anything before, and to some degree afterwards. I had a friend in high school who loved them, and while I couldn't really ever get into the raw thrashness of it all, I could see their appeal (although I think this was before this album). It's pretty much impossible to say that I liked some of the tracks more than others, but I thought "Criminally insane" (both versions) and "Raining blood" had the most interesting structure of the lot. I also *really* appreciate the short-and-sweet nature of the songs and album overall, especially right after the epic four-volume Gershwin-o-rrhea by Ella Fitzgerald.
Without reading the Wikipedia entry for this album, I probably wouldn't have realized that Rick Rubin's insistence on avoiding reverb or really any sound effects made a *huge* difference in how intense and crispy clean the whole album sounds, a huge contrast to other metal albums of the time. I also love it that among the various (and surprisingly numerous) artists that have covered "Raining blood", Tori Amos chose to take a stab at it (and even Slayer band members could barely hear their own song in her version, which rightfully ranks up there as one of the best metal covers by non-metalheads). I also love it that "Raining blood" is also considered one of the hardest (if not the most difficult of all) songs to play in the Guitar Hero franchise. I can't even imagine trying anything off this album, to be honest.
Janelle Monáe
4/5
Although I'm not sure it entirely works for me, I really enjoyed getting this new-to-me and hugely eclectic concept album. I didn't recognize Janelle Monae's name, but now realize that her picture on the album cover looked vaguely familiar from her television and film career (most notably in "Hidden Figures" and "Glass Onion"). I like it that she fused a Metropolis-style android theme with retro and modern music styles, and while I didn't realyl follow the storyline, a few tracks really stood out, especially "Dance or die", "Tightrope" (whose video is fantastic, although I was really surprised she pulled in Big Boi for the collaboration, as Andre 3000 is *way* more aligned with this album), and "Come alive (War of the Roses)".
I'm not sure what exactly made me think of the film version of "Moulin Rouge" as I listened to this album, but they both have this kind of carnival/variety-show aspect to them. It probably didn't need to be quite so long, but at least it kept me wondering what might come next throughout, and usually entertained.
Tangerine Dream
3/5
Quite a mellow album. I kind of feel like we got this classic album instead of Pink Floyd's "Meddle" just to share the wealth of atmospheric albums, and if so I'm grateful (as much as I enjoy most Pink Floyd albums). The title track is very very long, obviously, but an interesting progression, especially for early synthesizer compositions. (And fascinating to read about how challenging it was to set up and play and record the Moog equipment they used for aspects of the tracks.) I'm not sure I'd necessarily listen to this again, but I'm glad to have finally heard Tangerine Dream, who sound nothing like the 80s pop/new-wave band I always assumed they were from their name.
Sepultura
3/5
At times, and this is one of those times, it feels like the collection heads into this sad, dusty, neglected musical cul-de-sac, with a weird grab bag of forgettable albums or weird-but-not-really-entertaining bands and albums. This is more of the former (and not at all weird), made even more dubious by the fact that this collection apparently has two (2!) Sepultura albums, as if one incredibly generic collection of growled metal bangers wasn't quite enough. On the positive side, it's not a particularly long album (at least if you stick with the non-remastered version), and the lyrics seem to be benignly dark, and largely incomprehensible. And of course a tip of the hat to the fact that they're Brazilian, apparently proving that the southern hemisphere isn't immune to the lure of being a metalhead. I'm also glad to read that they manage to tour with Ozzy Osbourne, and then with Ministry and Helmet, as I suspect they got a great reception among those fans.
Pink Floyd
3/5
Although it seems inevitable that we'd get Pink Floyd's debut album (since debit albums are clearly a dominant theme of this collection), I'm bummed that we got Syd Barrett's far-less-interesting turn than another later Pink Floyd album like "Ummagumma", "Animals" or even the much later (but not nearly as good) "Division Bell". But I've never heard any of the tunes on this album, so I guess I'm appreciative of the chance to hear what Pink Floyd sounded like under Syd Barrett's sadly-deteriorating direction. I'm not sure any of the tracks really stood out for me, but it was interesting to have improv-heavy instrumentals next to clearly-structured songs. It's kind fun to hear too how much they embodied the psychedelic rock sound of the late 60s, and the production quality is definitely higher than many contemporary albums. Also pretty cool to read that they recorded this album next door to the Beatles as they record "Sgt. Pepper's".
Stephen Stills
3/5
Given how many albums there are in this collection with Stephen Stills (this is #4 for me so far), you'd think I'd have a better impression of the artist, but I don't. And much like his debut solo album, it seems fine but almost completely forgettable, although I appreciated how the band "Manassas" seems a bit harder-rocking than his debut solo album or the CSNY fare. I'm not sure there were any tracks that really stood out for me, although the opening "Song of love", "Right now" and "The treasure" were a bit more distinctive than the others. I kind of wish it wasn't a double album--I could have lived without side 2 ("The Wilderness") altogether, for example--but I'm sure his fans loved all that extra Stills-goodness....
Milton Nascimento
3/5
This didn't really work all that well for me, largely because (a) I don't understand Portuguese, and (b) their style of music (wide-ranging as it is) isn't really my thing. The Wikipedia entry is very helpful for those who want a sense of what some of the songs are about (and funny to read that contemporary Brazilian music critics utterly panned the album, despite its international success), and the "1001 Albums" entry helps provide an enthusiastic connection to the Beatles and the artists' connection to each other. But it's a bit frustrating to listen to yet another double album, and feeling like I'm missing quite a bit by not understanding a single word.
Minor Threat
3/5
It's tempting to give these guys four stars simply for the relief of a short and sweet album after too many double albums in a row. But that's not fair to them or the other genuinely four-star-worthy albums, so I'll just express my thanks here (where no one will ever notice). I'm not a huge punk connoisseur, so this album didn't do all that much for me, and I can only take it on Wikipedia/"1001 Albums" authority that this was a seminal album for both Minor Threat and the hardcore punk scene (especially the "straight" punk scene). I *can* say I thought the production quality was higher than some of the punk albums we've gotten in this collection, and I applaud their commitment to keeping the songs in the 2-4 minute range. And some impressive bass playing in "Think again" and "Sob story" (the latter almost verges on having a tune amongst the pounding noise, much like the well-done ironic "Cashing in").
Love
4/5
Well, at least we get this album to help wash out the sad/disappointing "Da Capo" from a while back. Love isn't really my cup of tea, but at least this album has more cohesion and far less flute- and sax-playing, although I'm not sure all the Spector-style strings add all that much. I appreciated the sense of disillusionment in many of the songs, especially the classic "Alone again or", the strange storyline of "The daily planet", the haunting "The red telephone" and the dystopian "Live and let live" (the latter two by far the highlights of the album), and the sadly cynical "You set the scene". A bit sad as well to read that the band was barely able to focus and record this album, and then disbanded not long after by Arthur Lee's frustrated (and paranoid) hand. What a way to usher out the 60s....
Sonic Youth
3/5
I *really* wish that I enjoyed some artists and bands in this collection more than I do; it would certainly make it easier to feel excited when we get the third/fourth/fifth/etc. album by someone like Sonic Youth. But at least this is number three of five for me, and it's not super long or anything, although also not all that appreciatively different from the later "Goo" or "Daydream Nation" albums. I'd say the highlights were the discordant noise of "Catholic block", the almost song-like "Stereo sanctity", and the almost mainstream-esque (and Kiss-dissing) bonus track "Master-Dik". (I'd hoped their cover of Crime's "Hot wire my heart" (which I'd never heard before) would be more Sonic-Youthized than it turned out to be.)
I really like the idea that this is a concept album centering on the life and writings of Philip K. Dick, even down to the title, referencing Dick's fraternal twin that died shortly after birth and apparently haunted him the rest of his life (and is the (heavily adapted) subject of the opening track "Schizophrenia"?). But I only know this from the Wikipedia entry, because I can rarely make out *any* of their lyrics, and I'm not sure I would have caught the subtle references in some of the song titles.
Michael Jackson
3/5
There are times like this where I wish I was more of a Michael Jackson fan, because I could say I listened to this album nonstop when I was a kid and welcomed this coming-of-age album. Since I didn't, I'll admit that I didn't recognize a single one of the tracks on this album, which I now know is often considered his best album. It starts off strong, with several pounding dance numbers, then kind of meanders into a weird mix of ballads and soft pop until returning to the disco floor at the very end.
I'm really impressed that he was the main songwriter for the Jacksons, and for nearly all of his solo albums, and this alone elevates him above so many other pop singers past and present. And of course his impeccable voice and presence on stage too (it's so funny to see his trademark moves and voice in the videos to "Don't stop 'til you get enough" and "Rock with you", in a very young looking face and body before all of the body dysmorphia kicked in (or at least before he acted on the dysmorphia)).
The Triffids
3/5
An interesting album in some ways, and I like it that we're getting a few Australian bands in this collection, although why we get the much more obscure Triffids and no Midnight Oil or INXS is beyond me. I really wish this album had come out either a decade earlier or later, though, which might have helped them avoid a sea of 80s synths and electronic excess and hopefully not sounding as generic as they do. Some of the tracks have some great lyrics--especially the opening track "Bury me deep in love", "Hometown farewell kiss," the fun ballad "Jerdacuttup man", and "Save what you can"--and David McComb's voice has a great presence, although I'm not sure the comparisons to Nick Cave are all that convincing. But at the end of the day it feels like something essential is missing from the album; maybe they just needed more variety (or just quiet spaces) among the songs? I do love the album title, though; once I found out what it meant it made me think of the psychosis that overcame Spanish soldiers in the southern prairies of North America in the 16th century.
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
I always appreciate seeing something in this collection released in the past decade (as of 2025), but I'll admit that these selections feel even more arbitrary than earlier albums that presumably have stood the test of time. I enjoyed this album, as well as the nominal foray into country-esque music (a major shortcoming of this collection), but I also don't feel like Musgraves' music is all that distinctive or memorable, and verges on too saccharine on this album. My favorites are probably the opening "Slow burn", the pop-oriented "Butterflies", and the more subdued "Space cowboy". But it was hard to escape the feeling that I was listening to some Hallmark Channel movie soundtrack (despite that Musgraves apparently took LSD for the inspiration for "Slow burn" and "Mother").
Scritti Politti
2/5
I'm not really sure I've ever heard of Scritti Politti before, but from the opening track (and video) I felt like this was some watered down Brit version of a generic 80s pop/R&B band (I also thought of Milli Vanilli, mainly because of the name similarity, since they clearly were hoping to have more of a Michael Jackson vibe going on, although those painful videos kind of ruined that intention). Sadly, nothing on the remainder of the album disabused me of the generic and outright boring sound; in fact, the most interesting (and perplexing) aspect of this album was reading that the lead singer Green Gartside was heavy into French literary theory and Italian Marxism, and the band in earlier incarnations was an anarchist collective, the name apparently a riff on Gramsci's "Political Writings". How far poor Scritti and Politti fell....
De La Soul
5/5
I wasn't sure whether we'd get this album in the collection, but I'm very relieved we did, mainly because it's fun to revisit an album I've enjoyed for a long time, and now I feel like I have a bit more context for what was going on musically when this came out. I love the way they incorporated a bunch of great samples into a fun, light-hearted and decidedly un-gangsta rap/hip-hop album, all with a touch of social commentary at times. Nearly all of the tracks are really well done--the only ones that kind of fall flat are the various game show interludes, plus "De la orgee"--but my favorites are probably the "The magic number", "Jenifa taught me", "Potholes in my lawn", "Say no go" and "Me myself and I", with an honorable mention to the brief French masterpiece "Transmitting live from Mars" (although I never realized that they got sued by The Turtles for the uncleared sample for "You showed me"). It was also fun to see the videos for their singles for the first time, and to place faces with voices nearly 40 years later (especially true for "Eye know").
I'm also really impressed that De La Soul *finally* managed to reissue this album digitally, after decades of clearance issues, and a long-standing conflict with Tommy Boy's ownership of their masters. It's a bit of a bummer that a few tracks had to be changed (e.g. "Cool breeze on the rocks" lost all of its awesome rapid-fire collage of samples), but the overall effect remains the same, a truly unique album and an amazing legacy.
The Only Ones
3/5
What a curious band and album. I know both the Wikipedia and "1001 Albums" entries reference the band members' punk roots, but it's hard to hear it on most of the tracks (except maybe "Language problem". That said, Peter Perrett's warble of a voice is strangely beguiling (and often reminds me of Pulp), and their overall sound seems far ahead of their time, more alt-rock/indie than anything from the late 70s. I know their (big?) hit was "Another girl, another planet", but for me the best songs of the album were the opening track "The whole of the law", the somber "Breaking down" and the bizarre "The beast". I'm not sure I'll ever listen to this again, but I'm glad to have heard The Only Ones.
The Cramps
3/5
I was always afraid long ago to listen to The Cramps--what a creepy name--and never really got over my aversion, until now. I'm a bit relieved that I didn't seem to miss much all these years, although I'm sure many/most fans would argue that I neglected a foundational band and sound. Nearly every single one of the tracks sounded like it was lifted from a Halloween-Hootenanny type album, and I'm honestly a bit disappointed that Elvira didn't grace the album cover. But I definitely appreciated the punk-like brevity of the songs, as well as the compact running time, and I particularly enjoyed the Mojo-Nixon-esque "The mad daddy" and the full-camp (and well-done) cover of "Fever". Somehow it seems fitting that one of the band members during their album tour stole and sold a bunch of their equipment for drug money and then disappeared, probably into one the song's dark and twisted plotlines. And a tip of the hat to Kristy Marlana Wallace's stage name (Poison Ivy Rorschach).
Fats Domino
3/5
Although I'm not all that well-versed in early R&B/rock-n-roll music, it's hard to imagine this collection *wouldn't* include something by Fats Domino. I have no idea if there are better Fats albums to choose for this project--according to the Wikipedia entry, this only sold 50,000 copies, while the "1001 Albums" entry indicates that Fats Domino sold a staggering 65 million records in the 1950s alone--but this seems like a reasonable selection.
Aerosmith
3/5
Nice to know that the Aerosmith journey in this collection is now over, and it's certainly not a bad way to round off a band whose popularity and endurance I've never really understood. If they had managed to keep the impressive energy and range of the first two tracks throughout the album, I'd have easily given them five stars. But after the impressive combo of "Back in the saddle" and "Last child", the songs just drop off a cliff into mediocre and generic hard rock, with a minor exception to "Nobody's fault". (Christgau's description of how they do a good job imitating Led Zeppelin, at least through this album, is very apt.)
It was fun, though, to read in the Wikipedia entry how much the entire band really felt this was their crowning moment and album, some bizarre alchemy where they were living their dream lifestyle of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll and somehow able to gel as a band and crank out the tunes. The Wikepdia entry also has a hilarious anecdote from GnR's Slash, describing how he'd managed in the seventh grade to get into an odler girl's room to make out, and then she put on "Rocks" and he fell in love with Aerosmith, played the album multiple times, and then biked home without even getting a kiss. Perhaps their producer Jack Douglas summed it perfectly: "Wanna know what the secret to Rocks was? Distortion." Indeed.
Scott Walker
3/5
Well, this is definitely a contrast to recent albums in the rotation. I'm not sure it's for the better, at least for those (like me) who don't particularly enjoy orchestral pop, but I appreciate the detour from rock/punk/indie-rock themes, sort of. The highlights for me were his covers of Jacques Brel songs--particularly "Jackie" but "Next" and "The girls and the dogs" are also fun--as well as the rolling western-style cover of Tim Hardin's "Black sheep boy". Taken together, it felt like I was listening to an English-language version of a soundtrack to some important/obscure 60s French movie/musical.
As much as his sound is a refreshing change of pace, I'm a bit disappointed to see that we also get "Scott 4" in this collection. This one felt too much like a novelty album to justify another entry from Scott Walker.
Bad Company
4/5
Despite having heard an impressive number of their hits over the years on the radio, I'm not sure I ever knew that Bad Company was a supergroup. That's likely because I'd never heard of either of the bands Free or Mott the Hoople, although I'm sure I've heard some of their songs on the radio (and I've now even listened to a full album by Mott the Hoople thanks to this collection). This definitely seems like a band that is far greater than its parts, and even if I wished that the album rocked a little harder than it does, it's hard to find fault with the balance in their songs; the only weak spots are the slow confessional "The way I choose" and their ballad "Seagull".
Frank Ocean
3/5
This album is a nice detour from the usual 70s/80s/90s fare in this collection, and a modestly interesting alternative to much of the R&B/soul-esque albums we've had so far. Much like the Wikipedia entry for the album, it's probably too long by half, and it never really struck me as a revelation the way a lot of people apparently felt. The best tracks of the lot for me were, apart from "Sweet life", largely from the second half of the album, especially "Pyramids" and "Lost" and "Bad religion", but I also appreciated the low-key vibe throughout. As his mother apparently noted, it's a great summer album if you're in the mood to chill.
Nirvana
3/5
Although I'm kind of glad to have this album in this collection, as I always meant to listen it but never got around to it, I'm also a bit disappointed because it sounds much like I expected it to, and I already knew my appreciation of Nirvana's style is *very* limited, and pretty much limited to "Nevermind". So while I enjoyed "Nevermind"-adjacent tracks like "Heart-shaped box" (with a fantastic video), "Rape me" (sort of), "Dumb" and the closer "All apologies", much of the rest of the album is a grind through their pre-Nevermind ultra-grunge aesthetic filtered through Steve Albini's distinctive recording style (apparently much to the studio's dismay). The apex/nadir of this direction are probably "Scentless apprentice" and "Tourette's"; well done, but not really my kind of thing. Nirvana was definitely too talented to ever label "Nevermind" a one-hit album, but "In Utero" sadly showcases the somewhat limited range of their genius.
Jacques Brel
3/5
Much like the various Brazilian and West African albums in this collection, my lack of non-English-language comprehension really limits my appreciation of the clearly passionate musical stylings of Mr. Brel. (I'll also admit that French/Belgian chanson singing isn't really my thing, which doesn't help much.) The highlights for me were probably the ominous "Le dernier repas" presuambly somebody died by the end?), the combo "Les toros" and "Tango funebre", and his reprisal of "Les bourgeois"; it also helped to have videos of his live performances for most of the CD/reissue-only tracks (tracks #9-#15), so you could at least see his presence as a performer.
I'm sure Brel afficionados would consider me blasphemous for saying this, but I have to say that Scott Walker's versions of Brel's songs are more entertaining, or maybe it's just that they're easier to hear when they're in English (even true of Brel's "Au suivant" vs Walker's "Next").
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
This is #4 of 5 Boss albums so far, so nearly there now. And while I would argue that both this album and "The Rising" could very easily be eliminated from the collection without any Springsteen withdrawal symptoms, I also found that I enjoyed this album more than "The Rising". It starts off strong with both "Badlands" and "Adam raised a Cain", but then kind of wanders around after that for much of the rest of the album, with only a few embarrassing moments (like "Something in the night" or "Prove it all night") and a few flashes of insight (parts of "Racing in the street" and "Streets of fire"). I do wish there was more variety across the album, though; too many tracks sounded kind of interchangeable, at least musically.
It's nice to get a Springsteen album, though, that has the E Street Band fully participating (unlike "Nebraska"), yet without overwhelming the senses and sensibility (e.g. "Born to Run"). I'm not really sure I'll ever be a big fan of his sound and songs, though, and I found Christgau's critique very apt of the unevenness of the album: he wasn't sure whether Springsteen was "an important minor artist or a very flawed and inconsistent major one". I'm not sure either, but you have to admire his ability to endure and adapt across these many decades.
David Ackles
3/5
What a great album to have in this collection. It's exactly the sort of thing that I would never have even considered, and it's not really to my taste (too music-hall/show-tune for me), but it's also a pretty distinctive album and musical style, and I feel better for having heard it, and having read about David Ackles, before I die. I didn't really have any favorites among the tracks, although the title track does a good job setting the tone for the remainder of the album, and both "Another Friday night" and "Midnight carousel" are an interesting mix of dark lyrics with almost upbeat-sounding tunes.
Reading about his life and career is also pretty interesting. I can totally picture him with his sister when they were kids finding really obscure folk songs to perform as a folk duo (the pair having started out doing vaudeville acts). And given his challenges getting his songs to get any traction, I'm glad he met Bernie Taupin (who produced this album) when he opened for Elton John in 1970 in LA. A shame that the most everyone seems to say about Ackles is that he's (still) waiting to be rediscovered, a great sound that no one's heard.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
There are far too many Elvis Costello albums in this collection, which makes it hard to rate any of them fairly, but thankfully this is a solid album overall, and seems worthy of being included (if for no other reason than his painting on the cover painted by (titled?) "Napoleon Dynamite", predating the movie by a couple of decades...). The highlights are mainly on the first half/side, "Tokyo storm warning", "I want you" and "Battered old bird". I also appreciated the recording style of cramming the Attractions (who weren't all that happy with Costello, sadly making this their swan song) into a single room and recording in single takes; quite a contrast to the prevailing 80s production sound, and strangely refreshing.
Ironically, it sounds as if this album is more or less a return to his earlier form after a different sound on his previous album ("King of America"). Given the obsessive focus on Costello's earlier career, I wonder if that album--or really anything after "Blood & Chocolate"--might have been better for this collection, given how much this album sounds like so many others by Elvis Costello in this collection? Either way, I'm glad to see that I have only one more of his albums to go at this point ("My Aim is True").
Merle Haggard
3/5
I'm not sure I've heard much (or possibly anything) by Merle Haggard, so it's nice to get a full album of a name I know I should have listened to before now. And weird album cover aside, it's a good collection of country tracks; the best for me were the title track, "Life in prison" and "Drink up and be somebody". It's a bit strange having his clear crooning voice singing somewhat dark and sad tunes over often-upbeat-sounding arrangements, but perhaps that's part of his appeal. And very cool to read that Merle Haggard was inspired to pursue a country career when he heard Johnny Cash sing at San Quentin in 1958 (or possibly 1960) while he was a prisoner there. (That and having some of his prison mates get executed leading the type of life he was pursuing.)
Death In Vegas
4/5
I don't think I've ever heard anything by Death in Vegas before, and certainly not from this album; I'm glad to have gotten the chance to hear them finally. An impressive collection of atmospheric and beat-driven tracks (occasionally reminding me of Crystal Method and Richard Fearless' clubmates Chemical Brothers), and I was especially impressed the various guest appearances by unlikely artists. My favorites were probably the opening "Dirge", the Primal-Scream-Bobby-Gillespie "Soul auctioneer", and the Iggy-Pop-narrated "Aisha", but it's just hard to find a weak track among the lot (maybe "Lever street"?). They're certainly leaning in to the dark and melancholy, but they do it well, and sadly it seems very fitting music here in 2025. More importantly, it makes me want to seek out more albums by them.
The Replacements
4/5
I'm a bit embarrassed to say that the only songs I've ever heard (before this album) by The Replacements were "I will dare" (from this album) and "Skyway" (from the later "Pleased to Meet Me"), both of which I heard as part of my intern work at the Minnesota Historical Society for an exhibit called "Sounds Good to Me: Music in Minnesota". Those two songs were pretty different from each other, so I wasn't sure what to expect. And apparently true to form for them, I didn't get much that I expected. I liked it that the songs were all over the map, ranging from their punk roots (like "Favorite thing") to almost-ballads (like "Androgynous"); I particularly enjoyed the crossover sound of "We're coming out", and the Uncle-Tupelo-esqueness of "Unsatisfied". (I really wanted to enjoy their off-kilter cover of Kiss' "Black diamond", but it seemed strangely faithful to a pretty boring Kiss tune.) I enjoyed it more than I expected, I'll admit, and since we don't have half-star ratings, that nudges it up into 4-star territory for me.
It's a curious album choice for this collection in some ways, given that it doesn't have any well-known songs by them, but I don't know their discography enough to say if some other album would be better or more representative (it seems like a lot of people really liked "Tim", though). And very cool that future owners of Bob and Tommy Stinson's parents' house in Minneapolist commissioned a stained glass window of the album cover, and put it into one of the top-story windows of the house where the album cover photo was shot (for all the musical tourists).
Madonna
4/5
Although I'm still not much of a Madonna fan, I have to say that this album is *not* what I expected from her, and in a good way. It seems that a lot of the inspiration for the unexpected sound and style is courtesy of Mirwais Ahmadzaï's production skills and talents, as well as Madonna's obvious willingness to stretch herself into more modern pop territory. The highlights for me were all Madonna/Mirwais produced and written tracks, especially the title track (with a fun accompanying video), "Impressive instant" (probably the closest she'll ever get to true electonica, and largely Mirwais' creation), "Don't tell me" (with a tough balancing act in its entertaining-but-too-country-camp video), and the curious Enigma-like "Paradise (not for me)". I'm not sure exactly why she went with the cowboy look on the album cover, but it's funny to see this 2000 album's country kitsch contrasted with Beyonce's much more recent foray into less-kitschy (but no less pop-oriented) country music. I'm torn between three and four stars for this album (especially after having made the mistake of listening and watching her bonus single cover of "American Pie"), but I feel like my ingrained skepticism of Madonna's talent needs to acknowledge how different and fresh-sounding this album is, *especially* for Madonna.
Keith Jarrett
4/5
It probably says a lot about me that although I've heard of Keith Jarrett (and even own a Jarrett/Peacock/DeJohnette album), I've never heard of this, the world's best-selling piano album. Nor did I really understand until I read the entries on this album that the entire hour-plus session is a master class in pure improvisation from start to finish. I have no idea where he got his inspiration, but it was a lot of fun to listen to the various parts of this album, and hearing him audibly enjoy what he was playing.
It's also amazing to read (mainly in the Wikipedia entry) about how ill-fated this session was. The most striking aspect is of course that the Opera House staff and the 18-year-old promoter completely botched the piano selection, providing an old and out-of-tune practice baby grand piano that was apparently so weak and bad that Jarrett had to change his whole approach and played mainly on the middle keys to avoid the weakest parts of the piano. And he had little sleep, little food and a bad back on top of all of that. It makes you wonder what might have been if things had gone to plan....
AC/DC
4/5
Anther classic album by the Aussies in this collection, and a fitting swan song for Bon Scott and his distinct vocals. I never really idolized AC/DC the way I did bands like Van Halen or even Iron Maiden, but I always respected their commitment and consistency, and this album is probably their finest moment. Curiously, there aren't too many outstanding tracks on this album for me, aside from the indelible title track and "Shot down in flames" and "Night Crawler", but taken as a whole it's a whole lot of heavy-duty rock filling your eardrums. Sadly, the videos to many of the tracks are incredibly boring faxu-live performances, and so clearly lip-synched/air-guitared that they kind of tarnish the otherwise fine songs. But very interesting to read how they chose/recruited "Mutt" Lange to produce the album and how transformative he was for helping them be better musicians.
Paul McCartney and Wings
3/5
This is definitely better than what I expected, thankfully. I'm pretty sure I hadn't heard any of the other songs on this album besides the first two radio hits (the title track and "Jet"), and while I began to worry when the saccharine "Bluebird" followed, "Mrs. Vandebilt" helped right the ship and the rest of the album wasn't nearly as derivative or painful as I feared (although I'm note really sure what to make of "Picasso's last words (drink to me)".
Reading about the creation of the album, I was also surprised that it ever got produced and released. Between McCartney managing to piss off and effectively jettison more than half the band just before traveling to record the album; to the absolutely baffling decision to go to Lagos, Nigeria to record the album (because it sounded "exotic" to McCartney), only to discover that the studio was basically in shambles; and then he and Linda McCartney getting robbed at knifepoint and other calamities, all makes for a bizarre story in poor judgment. (And of course then Fela Kuti barged into the studio accusing McCartney of appropriating African music; when McCartney played tracks from the album to ease Kuti's suspicions (presumably not including "Mamunia"), I wonder if Kuti was then just annoyed by McCartney's musical tourism....) But everyone survived, more or less, and the album seemed to help rehabilitate McCartney's credentials.
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
Although The Mothers of Invention seem slightly more mainstream than Frank Zappa's solo work, my long-standing inability to enjoy and appreciate Zappa also seems to extend to the Mothers (at least this early iteration of Zappa's Mothers). I *do* appreciate the fact that this album generally has recognizable song structures and sounds, and even some pretty standard rhythm and blues numbers, but the somewhat pervasive late 60s psychedelic rock sound, coupled with Zappa's distinctive arrangements in many of the tracks (especially on the second disc of the too-long double-album), don't really speak to me, and often it felt like a slightly more musical version of a Jonathan Richman album. The highlights for me were probably the paranoid "Who are the brain police?", the Watts-riots-inspired "Trouble every day" and the sinister "Help, I'm a rock", with a nod to the surprisingly retro/campy stylings of "Go cry on somebody else's shoulders", plus of course the kid-favorite "Wowie Zowie" :)
I'm a bit disappointed that there's another Mothers of Invention album ahead in the collection, but not exactly surprised.
David Holmes
3/5
I'm pretty sure I've never heard (or heard of) David Holmes' music before listening to this album, and I largely enjoyed the experience, although the general lack of vocals made it hard for me to stay focused on the tracks. I was occasionally reminded of Barry Adamson's "Moss Side Story" (perhaps just because they both sound like soundtracks to some not-yet-made movie), and I love it that the vocal recordings were all made in the mid-80s in NYC with people on (really, *from*) the streets when David Holmes visited New York as a teenager, lugging around a DAT recorder. I know the Wikipedia entry claims that he has a wide range of music styles in his dance beats, but I would have enjoyed more variety among the tracks (e.g. more tracks like "Gritty Shaker", "Radio Yates" and the decently reimagined Bond theme in "Radio 7").
Given that he worked with artists from Sabres of Paradise, I'm glad he managed to elevate this album a fair bit higher than their "Haunted Dancehall" album. I'm also glad his success on his solo work helped him land the score to the various versions of "Ocean's Eleven" (and Twelve and Thirteen).
The Associates
3/5
My first thought with this album was that they were trying too much to be a lighter version of The Cure to be effective, and this was only confirmed in reading that they actually toured with The Cure before creating this album (which seems like an odd pairing, since I'd have thought most Cure fans would be turned off by a warm-up act that seemed very wannabe, down to using an ex-Cure bassist (at least on the album). But to give The Associates credit, they seemed to be interested in using more instruments and tones on this album than anything The Cure had to offer. It's a bit of a painful listen--too tinny and poorly-balanced--but not all that surprising given the 80s provenance, and I enjoyed (at times) their foray into more experimental styles, especially contrasted with their more radio-friendly hits "Party fears two" and "Club country". It would have been nice, though, if the album had had only one track listing that was consistent across the countries it was released in. It seems that part of the reason for the huge discrepancy between UK/Canada album releases and US/Europe releases was because the latter release happened after the presumably-slightly-more-sane half of The Associates (Rankine) left the band after Mackenzie basically sabotaged the band's future.
Rod Stewart
2/5
This is now the fourth--and hopefully final?--Rod-Stewart-related album in this collection (including Jeff Beck's "Truth" and Faces' "A Nod Is As Good As a Wink"), which seems like three too many albums filled with his distinctive yet strangely underwhelming vocals. And among those four, this is probably the cellar-dweller of the lot, mainly because of how many forgettable-to-painful cover tunes are included on the album (although the nicely done cover of Dylan's "Only a hobo" does somewhat offset clangers like the cover of Elton John's "Country comfort"). Fine, I suppose, but nothing to write home about or, for that matter, to die over. And his voice is similar enough to Joe Cocker's that I'm once again very frustrated that we get this cornucopia of interchangeable Stewart numbers, and yet not even a little help from our "1001 Albums" friends to get Cocker into our eardrums.
The Black Keys
4/5
Ooohhh, Jack White must be pissed right now. But I on the other hand am happy that Black Keys got included in this collection. I've always felt like they channeled a great sound and took inspiration from Jack White but took the band in a (somewhat) different direction. I'm also happy to hear this album, as I only own the one that came after this ("El Camino"), and "Brothers" clearly has a lot of their biggest hits. I particularly enjoyed the trifecta of "Next girl", "Tighten up" and "Howlin' for you" (with the first two having pretty funny videos to go along with the songs; not sure that the "Howlin'" faux-trailer-video is quite as funny as it thinks it is), as well as "Black mud" (plus "Part II" in the deluxe anniversary edition) and "Sinister kid". It's probably about 15-20 minutes too long, but what a solid album nonetheless.
I don't think I knew before reading about this album that Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney were/are the entirety of The Black Keys, I guess mainly because they have such a full sound on their albums. Pretty impressive, I must say. It's also fascinating to read in the Wikpedia entry for the album what it was like to record in the long-defunct (but apparently legendary) Muscle Shoals Studio in the middle of rural Alabama, and how much the layout and acoustics of the old building influenced the sound of the album (I think the video for the intriguing "Too afraid to love you" shows a lot of that, including the harpsichord that they drunkenly requested from their manager one night). Even though they ended up doing more production and recording in other venues than just Muscle Shoals Studio, I'm glad for Auerbach that he got the chance to record in one of his bucket list studios, and that they ended up with a fantastic album as a result. I'm also glad that they were willing to keep exploring new approaches and didn't keep dipping in that particular bucket with subsequent albums.
The Byrds
2/5
After four previous Byrds albums, it's hard to muster much enthusiasm for yet another one, and there's not much on "Fifth Dimension" that contradicts my lack of enthusiasm, sadly. Given how interchangeable most of the albums have been so far--aside from the semi-successful effort Gram Parsons made to inject some country into "Sweetheart of the Rodeo"--I really don't understand why this particular album was included, especially since it seems both uninspired and uneven, and doesn't even have any of their radio- or fan-favorites (except the noodly "Eight miles high" and maybe "Mr. Spaceman"?); they apparently suffered more from Gene Clark's songwriting absence than they probably expected. I guess it has some claim to birthing psychedelic rock, but that seems fairly dubious and doesn't really justify so many Byrds albums. Sorry guys.
Kraftwerk
4/5
Interesting that this is album #686 for me yet is only the first (for me, not chronologically) of three Kraftwerk albums in this collection. Regardless, it's nice to get the OG electronica band, and this seems like a great sample of their style. Funny too how similar their music was to industrial, just skewed towards the electronic noise end rather than found-object noise. And interesting that this is considered their most club/dance-friendly album; I suspect the other two albums may be even more industrial/art-noise adjacent. Somewhat unexpectedly, I enjoyed the entire album much more than I expected to, and found it strangely soothing or maybe just hypnotic); my favorites are "The robots", "Metropolis" and the title track, but there really isn't a bad track on this compact album. And kudos to them for laying the groundwork for literally generations of bands in the decades since.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
3/5
I'm not entirely sure what to make of this album. It's a fun set of blues tracks (and I particularly enjoyed their version of Ray Charles' "What I'd say"), and Eric Clapton's presence and guitar work is more interesting than much of the other albums in this collection where he appears (in part because Mayall does most of the vocals). Yet given the accolades as one of the most influential blues albums ever, it also feels like yet another example of how a lot of mainstream/commercial rock music from Elvis to the present owes much if not all of its success and wealth to black (and mainly American) musicians who were neither financially compensated nor adequately recognized for their immense contribution to white culture and music (American and British). It doesn't mean, of course, that Mayall and Clapton and others aren't allowed to provide their own versions of these songs and tunes, but it feels a bit like injustice, especially when you have a douchebag like Eric Clapton enjoying the fruits of other people's genius (although admittedly in the 60s only the record labels enjoyed *anyone's* fruits).
Mj Cole
3/5
Hm. Although there's nothing really wrong with this album, it just didn't work for me. Maybe it's just that I'm not a "UK Garage" fan (although I'm not really sure I understand what that term even means), or it's just the somewhat antiseptic sound (the same problem I have with lots of drum-n-bass music, although I do give credit to MJ Cole for playing a number of actual/live instruments on some tracks), but whatever the reason this felt like an instantly forgettable album with no real personality, although I do enjoy Elisabeth Troy's vocals. The only tracks that stood out for me were "Bandelero desperado", "Rough out here", and "Slum king", and even those weren't all that spectacular. Sorry Matt Coleman!