So about 35 albums in, and I FINALLY get one that I never would have crossed paths with - except for this daily exercise... Had listened to Eno's "Ambient 1 - Music For Airports", but that's been it, so I thought this one would be interesting... I'm also a big Roxy Music fan - a band he co-founded, but I think most of what I enjoy from them came after Eno left... As for "Before & After Science", the opening track "No One Receiving" sounds very much like the Talking Heads - except before there was a Talking Heads (i.e. although I guess both came out around the same time in 1977...). Really liked the percussion in the that song... Didn't really care for "Backwater", and the 3rd track "Kurt's Rejoinder" sounded Talking Headsesque again... Really enjoyed the instrumental interlude of "Energy Fools The Magician" - just wished it was longer - as I keep putting this one on repeat... : ) But I have to say the 3-song run in the later half of the album of "Julie With", "By This River", & "Through Hollow Lands" was absolutely exceptional - and REALLY appealed to me, and is definitely my jam... While not an all-time classic, I really enjoyed this album- and glad that it came my way... This is a solid 4 in my book no doubt!!!

So I have mentioned this before, but I thoroughly enjoy hard/heavy music - so Zeppelin, Sabbath, Nazareth, UFO, Iron Maiden, Tool, Metallica, Dio, Scorpions, Priest etc. - as are all in my wheelhouse, but for some reason, speed and thrash metal, have never really appealed to me - and this album was NO different... Once again, we have a band that is trying to play as fast as possible, along with almost NON-EXISTIENT vocals - which did absolutely nothing for me... BTW - just because a drummer has mastered the double bass pedal from a speed perspective, doesn't mean that you should use it ALL the freakin' time... And vocally, there is no melody of any sort, no singing of any kind - just screaming, and the lyrics are just dreadful... I'm beginning to think that my issue with this genre, is that there is absolutely NO room for the music to breathe... Good music is a nice balance between the notes, and the empty spaces - with some arguing that the empty spaces - and the contrast that they create with the actual notes, is what creates musical magic... This band is trying to play as many notes as the possibly can, and trying to play them as fast as they possibly can, that there is absolutely no space for the music to breathe - like AT ALL... Not a decent song on the album in my opinion, and in fact, I was running through what some of the reviewers thought were the best songs on the album a 2nd time through... So I was listening to "Alter Of Sacrifice" and was about 35 seconds into it, when I REALLY began to regret my decision... Fortunately, right about then, a good friend called - which stopped my music app so I could take the call... I answered by saying "...Thank God you called, I really appreciate you saving me..." : ) Would truly give this a "0" (ZERO) if I could, and I think there may have been only 1 other album to date that I thought that about - so 1-star for this dreadful, dismal, awful-excuse-for-an-album...

Not sure what’s going on with the Gorillaz album, as it was all over the place – and much of it was forgettable… There were a couple of rap songs that were pretty pedestrian… There was a Latin song on the album – but if I want to listen to something like that, I’ll listen to an artist who excels in that genre… The 2 most listenable songs for me were “Tomorrow Comes Today” & “Dracula” – though neither of them are anything to write home about… The musical core for “M1 A1” sounded pretty much like U2’s “Zoo Station” – only not nearly as interesting, and “Man Research” MAY indeed be the worst freakin’ song that I’ve ever heard… Seriously – it’s an absolute abomination… I continue to be amazed by how l lame the albums released in the 2000’s have been so far on the 1,001 list… So far, maybe 1 out of 10 of the 2000’s albums have been decent – but what has been held up as an example of musical excellence from the 2000’s, has been shocking to say the least… A solid 1 in my book, and I find it completely mindboggling, that there are folks who think this album is a 4 or 5…

Dull, repetitive, unimaginative, and muddled is pretty much this album… “Experimental Pop” my ass – what the hell is that??? If mindless whining of less-than-pedestrian and sterile lyrics, to repeating uninventive keyboard chords is your idea of “brilliant” – than this is your album… Saw a comment that this album only works IF you’re on ‘shrooms, and I call BS… I was on ½ gm of psilocybin yesterday while power-washing my deck – while unfortunately listening to this swill, and “Merriwether Post Pavilion” actually ruined my time out in nature to be honest… This is just shockingly bad on every level, and have no idea how this got on the list… Is the “1,001 Album” guy the brother of one of the dudes in this band??? Does that band have some compromising photos of the “1,001 Guy”??? Did somebody pay the “1,001 Guy” to please put this album on the list??? Who knows, but this is horrifically dreadful on an epic scale – and almost an hour long on top of that… Brutal – just brutal… Would give it a 0 in a heartbeat – and again, I really wonder what truly deserving and awesome album did NOT make this list due to this sludge, but I’ll have to settle for the lowest I can rate it… Man, the 2000’s have had some shitty music if this passes as decent…

I found this one to be incredibly creative throughout, as it clearly is quite original... Maybe the drugs that Sly was doing during this period really opened him up to some innovative ways of thinking about music... Can't say there was a single track that I thought was exceptional - though my fav was probably the last track - "Thank You For Talkin' To Me, Africa" which is sort of a derivative of a track of Sly's from an earlier album... Kind of a nice hypnotic vibe throughout... Based on the originality and uniqueness of the album, combined with the fact that all of the songs contained some goodness (i.e. AKA none of them truly sucked...) I'm gonna give this a solid 3...

Big fan of Steely Dan over the years, and this album did not disappoint... Sort of like Steely Dan-lite, so a pleasant album - but nothing particularly different from the Steely Dan sound... I see a lot of comments about the album being "overproduced" - but that high-degree of production is a Steely Dan hallmark, so it just is what it is... Best track in my opinion is "New Frontier", and while there is not a bad track on the album, nothing of exceptional goodness really jumped out at me either... Bought this album back in the day, and hadn't listened to it since the 80's - and glad that I did today...

So I'm guessing this is on the list because it was one of the early electronica albums, so I'm okay with that... Less of an album, and more of a compilation of beats and loops - but at least it was rock-based... Best songs included "Going Out Of My Head" - which has samples of The Who's "I Can't Explain" throughout, "The Weekend Starts Here" - which was one of the more unique songs on the album (i.e. many of the drum beats from song to song are REALLY similar throughout the album - so this one was a bit of a variation...), and "First Down" - which was also more unique sounding... The last track - #12 on my TIDAL stream "Next To Nothing", was also pretty decent... Glad I listened, and probably a precursor that inspired much of the electronica that came after it, but just can't give it more than 2-stars...

Definitely not my cup of tea, and really thought this was going to be really "poppish", but it was better than I expected... Janelle can really sing (i.e. I think of her as the actress in "Hidden Figures"...). I appreciated the diversity of the songs, including pace, tempo, and instrumentation - as at times this felt more like the soundtrack to a Broadway musical... Best songs in my opinion were "Cold War", "Come Alive", & "Mushrooms & Roses"...

I enjoyed listening to an early Beatles classic! This was excellent throughout, and for listening to the precursor sound that would mature over the next few years... Favs included "Please Mr. Postman" & "Roll Over Beethoven"... Released the year I was born, and on the day that JFK was assassinated, and the only reason I did not rate it a "5", is because I reserve that rating for truly exceptional albums... The Beatles would not have achieved their legendary song-writing prowess, without this stepping-stone album in their evolution...

They should put a picture of this album in the Merriam-Webster dictionary next to the word "pretentious"... I would actually give this a "0" if I could... I loved Jeff Buckley's stuff - as I understand that Tim was his dad, but this was incredibly difficult to even get through... Definitely not in my wheelhouse - nor my cup of tea, but I really struggle to see what those of you who gave it 4's & 5's, are basing that on... C'est la vie...

Really enjoyed the entire album! Obviously "American Pie" & "Vincent" are among some of the best songs ever written (i.e. never knew that "Vincent" was about Vincent Van Gogh - who knew...), and also thought that "Crossroads" was incredibly well done as well... Decided to go with 3 stars instead of 4, as the top of this album is absolutely exceptional, but it is not as spectacular top-to-bottom...

Had never heard of this band or album - so didn't what to expect - but I enjoyed more of it than I thought I would... For the most part I liked their sound - though some of the songs were less than exceptional... Best songs IMO were "Archives Of Pain" & "The Intense Humming Of Evil"... Was going to rate this a 2, but based on the quality of those 2 songs I'm gonna give it a 3...

I'm a Bonnie Raitt fan, and had both this album, and the "Luck Of The Draw" album that came out just after it in 1991... Liked both albums, though prefer "Draw" - probably because it seems more bluesy to me, as that's how I like my Bonnie... Best songs on "Nick Of Time" IMO were "The Road's My Middle Name", the title track "Nick Of Time", and "I Will Not Be Denied"...

Have to say that I am absolutely shocked that this album is on this list... And I thought Emerson, Lake, & Palmer were pretentious and bloated - but they have NOTHING on The London Suede... You could tell that there were some redeeming qualities in there somewhere, but any goodness was just completely over-run by all of the bloat... Lyrics were often whiney, the lead singer's voice did not help (i.e. trying to sound like Bowie but not having the voice for it...), and most songs were just a mess... Like I said, there was some goodness in the guitar section near the end of "This Hollywood Life", and the last minute of "Stay Together" was pretty decent - and I'm sure there were a few others - but those moments were few, and WAY too far in between... Only song that I actually thought was decent, was the last one "Whipshade" - probably because it wasn't bloated, and was fairly straightforward...

Maybe it's because of the string of albums that I've drawn this week, but another album that was fine, had a few moments - but nothing I would classify as being an album that I needed to hear before I died... Apparently the Supergrass genre is Britpop/Alternative - but short get-to-the-point songs is what this album contains - which again, was fine - but nothing earthshattering for certain... Best songs IMO were "Lose It" & "Lenny" early in the album, and "Time" & "Sofa Of My Lethargy" near the end of the album... At 6-minutes, "Sofa" is the only one that really stood out as a bit different than the others - plus like that song title - so there's that...

Big Bowie fan, so no surprise that I enjoyed this album... Not quite as strong as some of his others, but lots of goodness on this one... Clearly "Young Americans" & "Fame" are the 2 most popular songs here, but the quality of the rest of the album is fairly solid... Bowie has a nice version of The Beatles "Across The Universe" on this album, and the sleeper song that I really enjoyed - but had forgot about, was "Fascination" - which is also stunningly good... As for rating - it's definitely more than a 3, but I can't quite give it a 4 - as that is reserved for albums a notch below all-time classics which are 5's for me - so I'd give it 3.5-stars if I could...

I thoroughly enjoy hard/heavy music - so Zeppelin, Sabbath, Nazareth, UFO, Iron Maiden, Tool, etc. - are all in my wheelhouse, but speed and thrash metal, have never really appealed to me... The songs on this album that simply trying to play as fast as possible, along with less-than-serviceable vocals - did nothing for me... Just because a drummer has mastered the double bass pedal from a speed perspective, doesn't mean that you should use it all the time... That said, the moments that I enjoyed on this album, were the ones where things were changed up a bit... Slower tempo, and much cleaner vocals (i.e. not sure if it's the same dude who growl/screams, that also did the cleaner, more melodic vocals) were the songs that I gravitated to... Be tracks IMO were the run of "Sulfur", "Psychosocial", & "Dead Memories" early in the album... Also enjoyed "Snuff", and then the back-to-back of "Childe Of Burning Time" & "Vermilion - Part 2" near the end of the album were also pretty well-done...

Have always enjoyed Cat Stevens, so no surprise that I enjoyed this album... Sad to say that I've never really listened to any of his albums start-to-finish - other than a Cat Compilation album that I got from The Columbia House Record "13 Albums For A Penny" deal that I had back in the day... Would have to listen to some of his other albums to get a sense as to where this one ranks... Obviously "Wild World" is the track from this album that everyone knows, but I thought the album was extremely well-done from top-to-bottom, as there are no throw away songs on it - it's just that some are stronger than others, and I liked the variation throughout (i.e. some guitar driven, some piano driven...). In addition to "Wild World" I really thought highly of "Sad Lisa" & "Miles From Nowhere", and the run at the end of the album of "Into White", "On The Road To Find Out", and "Father And Son" were all exceptional... Once again, I wish I could give partial scores like 3.50 or 3.75, but alas, I can't... Probably would have given this a 3.75, because I'm quite sure it's a 4 - which I just don't give out willy-nilly - but then again, I thoroughly enjoyed just about half the songs on the album - so I guess that means I'm gonna have to go with the higher rating, so a 4 it is...

Not a fan of pop/soul, so this was definitely NOT in my wheelhouse... That said, for a 1963-64 album, it was fairly well done... Solomon can clearly sing, and does a good job on every track, and I liked the diversity of sound throughout the album - even though every song was a 3-minute ditty on a similar topics - but I guess that's what songs were like back then... I guess this is on the list because I read that there were like 7 number 1 hits on this album - which is hard to fathom, but okay... Compared to most other albums, this one is going to fall well short, as it is clearly dated... However, for it's time, it was exceptionally well-done compared to most...

Wow - wasn't sure what to expect from this one, but that was pretty lame... I read that Pavement and their "low-fi sound" was pushing back on Grunge... I guess "low-fi" is code for lazy, sloppy, skater drool, with uninspiring lyrics... Pretty sure that my college band in the early 80's had a better sound than this band... There were some great bands in the 90's for sure, but this isn't one of them... Only decent song IMO was "5-4+Unity" - but that's probably because it reminded me of some other song, and "Hit The Plane Down" is definitely among the worst songs that I've ever heard... Not sure what qualifies this as being in the 1,001 Albums list, but lazy, whiney, slop is not my idea of brilliance...

So before I listened to this album, I went back and listened to The Velvet Underground's debut album with Nico, so I'd get a sense of the band's progression with this one... My favorite quote regarding the debut album, was from Brian Eno, who said about the record only selling 30,000 copies in its first five years, "...Everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band...". As for White Light/White Heat, it was good to see them ditch Nico - which I don't think they wanted her around for the 1st album either, but Andy Warhol probably insisted... Anyways, rather than exceptionally polished, and well-done songs, this album is all about the artistic creativity and experimentation... I liked the diversity of the songs - especially the fact that there really was no format/song structure, compared to what a lot of the music sounded like back in the early-to-mid 60's... Probably prefer some of the songs on the debut album better than these, but you can hear the original strains of musical styles/approaches - that would go on to inspire other artists to continue the evolution of those sounds and approaches... Not gonna lie, in some weird way I really enjoyed "The Gift", as well as "Lady Godvia's Operation", and "Here She Comes Now" - as the lyrical content (i.e. basically the under/dark side of street life - sex, drugs, survival, etc.) was incredibly original, and a real departure from what everyone else was writing about at the time... I'm NOT saying that these are some of the most profound lyrics ever written, but the fact that Lou was writing about authentic real-life experiences/stories, in which he painted such a vivid picture - was absolutely innovative... Best song - especially instrumentally was the album's final track, the 17-minute "Sister Ray"...

Probably spent more time with this one than I should have, as a couple of buddies of mine classify this as an absolute masterpiece… I made it a point to run through the album 4 times before rendering an opinion… In regards to the reviews, I have seen everything from this Wilco album being a masterpiece – and the American version of “Radiohead”, to this album “…Was boring AF…”. Pretty sure the answer is somewhere definitely in between… Wasn’t sure what to expect, as I really hadn’t listened to Wilco before – so from that perspective, the album was better than I was expecting… I do like the sections of dissonance that have been integrated into this album, and the atmospherics that run throughout it, also work fairly well for me – as I am a prog guy… Vocals sound like the singer from Car Seat Headrest – or rather that dude sounds like Wilco, but it works for the music to be sure… Strongest songs on the album were “I’m Trying Top Break Your Heart”, “Kamera” (i.e. which sounds like Car Seat Headrest meets the Smashing Pumpkins song…), “Pot Kettle Black” – which has a twinge of The Cure in it, and “Poor Places” – especially the Phish-like instrumental section over the last half of the song… Most of the others are “just there” for me, as core hook in “Jesus” sounds like an old ELO song, and I really don’t get why “Heavy Metal Drummer” has garnered as much love as it apparently has, as after 4 or 5 run-throughs to see if I was missing something, I concluded with certainty that at least I wasn’t missing a thing… So a long way from being a masterpiece in my book – but way better than I was expecting… Again wish we had some incremental ratings opportunity, as I would give this a solid 3.5 – but since it’s NOT a 4 in my book, I gotta give it a 3… C’est la vie…

Man - not gonna lie, this album is just dreadful... With albums like these, I used to say "what warranted them getting onto this 1,001 list in the first place" - BUT now I'm looking at it in terms of what potentially great albums got left off because of this trash... There were 2 songs that I flagged in "Desire Lines" & "Helicopter" the first-time through - but upon subsequent listening - it's NOT that I sorta like them, it's just that they sucked less than everything else... "Basement Scene" is by far the worst song on the album... Sorry - no redeeming qualities in this swill that I can find... This gives true "indie" a bad name, as this is just lazy and self-indulgent all-the-way-around...

So I’ve always been a big Doors fan, going back to their self-titled debut album – which I’m sure will be on the 1,001… Most of my favorite songs are scattered across their catalog, though some albums ae more memorable than others – and “LA Woman” is definitely one of those… “Morrison Hotel” – the album that preceded “LA Woman”, was the bands weakest effort to that point, and with the exception of the songs “Roadhouse Blues” & “Peace Frog” – the rest of it was pretty lame when compared to what came before it… That’s probably why it was such a surprise that “LA Woman” followed, with truly some of the finest work of their career… Side 1 top-to-bottom is absolutely incredible! “The Changeling” – which leads off the album, is definitely the weakest effort on Side 1 – but still a solid song… Clearly the hits “Love Her Madly” & “LA Woman” are the hallmarks of the first side, but “Been Down So Long” & “Car Hiss By My Window” are exceptionally well done… There was a Doors cover band that used to play in Cleveland when I was in college called “Moonlight Drive” – and they always played “Been Down So Long”, and hearing it live really brought it to life – as I’m sure it did whenever The Doors played it – though I never got to see them… Side 2 is less stellar top-to-bottom, but the closing tracks “The WASP” & “Riders On The Storm” are so creative and brilliant, that they help kick the album’s status to another level… “Crawling King Snake” is fine – sort of the equivalent to Side 1’s “The Changeling” – so solid, but nothing amazing… “L’America” really seems out of place, and I checked a little further on Wiki, and that may be because it was supposed to be included on a movie soundtrack – so that probably explains it, and “Hyacinth House” was just there for me… So on balance for me, 6 of the 10 tracks were absolutely outstanding, with 2 additional solid ones – and 2 leftovers, and compared to the VAST majority of albums, that is truly an amazing accomplishment… Absolute 5 in my book – no doubt about it…

Well.. Not sure what to say about that to be honest... Like some others I saw in the reviews, I was hopeful with the 1st track "Obatala", but then things quickly devolved from there... I get that setting up an album like a radio show might have been creative back then, but that's why we have radio stations - as I'd rather listen to that if that's what I'm in the mood for... In fact, this past weekend I was listening to 104.1 HOT FM in The Cayman Islands, as we travel there a lot, and it was a very similar in terms of DJ interruptions and comments over the music et al - except with Reggae & SOCA music... 104.1 HOT FM is authentic - "Duck Rock" absolutely was not in my opinion... Only other song that I enjoyed was "Legba", as the rest of the tracks just seemed less-than-authentic to me - like the artist was TRYING to be like someone else - as opposed to being true to what they were about... Also loses points, because I heard that many of those who made the music on this album - were NOT credited, and that's where the money is - so definitely big-time shady if you ask me... I was sort of perplexed me that "Buffalo Gals" & "Double Dutch" were apparently hits - so I listened to each a few times to make sure that I wasn't missing anything - but other that the "Buffalo Gals" chorus that sounded like Eminem's "...please stand up... repetition in 2000's "The Real Slim Shady" (i.e. not sure if Eminem got that from this song or from somewhere else...) - there was absolutely nothing compelling about either in my opinion... BTW - there was a tie for WORST song on the album - among a lot of them, but it was a race to the bottom between "Jive My Baby" & "Duck For The Oyster" - as both were among the most dreadful songs I've heard on the 1,001 to date... Finally - pretty sure that one of my group participants is going to absolutely love this album... Hope I'm wrong, but that's my vibe... : )

Always liked Rod - and thought he was an excellent vocalist... Tend to like the older material more than his "disco-era" stuff - so this album is up there for me for sure... Album is solid from start-to-finish, with several of Rod's all-time classics to boot... Top-shelf songs include the title track, "Maggie May", "Mandolin Wind" - and the best Rod tune of all - "I Know I'm Losing You"... The rest of the songs are fine, with the oddity being "That's All Right" - which is okay, but near the end, there is a 2-3 minute acoustic version of "Amazing Grace" - which is incredibly well-done - just not sure why they didn't just record it separately, as it's just weird to tack it on at the end... I'm sure the Google machine may have something on that, but I don't have time or inclination to effort that... Definitely more than a 3 based on the quality of the outstanding songs on this album, but not quite a 4 - so I'd give it a 3.50 if I could - and just have always had mad love for "I Know I'm Losing You", so it was good to be reminded of that song again...

So the first song this live album was absolutely awesome - as "Let's Start" was incredibly well done, as the sound was crisp, and the players were definitely comfortable with each other, and all on the same page... My brain immediately thought - "...wow - this sounds like the African version of "The Buena Vista Social Club..." - which was an awesome album which should be on the 1,001, recorded by a number of amazing Cuban musicians in the 90's... Anyways, with my hopes up, the next song "Black Man's Cry" wasn't as good as the first, but the 3rd song "Ye Ye De Smell" steps it back up, and was better than the 2nd - but then the rest of the songs went downhill from there... The quality of the recording was very good for its age, and there is no arguing with the outstanding musicianship - but nothing can save a less-than-stellar song... Ginger Baker from Cream plays drums on the final 4 songs of the album, and always liked Ginger - and he seemed to enjoy playing with these guys... Final thought is that the last track on the album is 16+ minute drum solo with Ginger and some of the other drummers playing on this album... Now I'm a drummer, and I really dislike drum solos - especially long, bloated, and self-indulgent ones... I would rather see drummers incorporate their chops "into" each of the songs that they are playing - like Ginger does on "Ye Ye De Smell" - where the percussion is truly "integrated" into the song, as opposed to the drummer "just keeping time".... Unfortunately, the album ends with this long, meandering, and quite frankly - an incredibly boring drum solo that is about 12-minutes too long... The solo finally ends, and that's the end of the record - no applause, no "...thank you Cleveland, good night..." - it just ends suddenly... Can't remember the last time an album started out with such promise for me, only to end in complete and utter oblivion... There is definitely some excellent playing on this one, and the 2 songs that I've referenced alone made it worth listening to... Would probably give it a 2.50 - based mainly on musicianship, quality of the recording for a live album, but there's no way I can get this to a 3...

So I was a big Genesis fan growing up – both the Peter era, as well as the Phil era after Gabriel left in 1975.. I remember those first 3 solo albums, as we referred to them as “Car”, “Scratch”, and “Melt” – and all contained morsels of goodness, but “Melt” was the album that really established Peter as a solo artist… This album is loaded from top-to-bottom, and is truly exceptional… I remember when this came out, I read that Phil Collins – who played drums on the album, shared that Gabriel told him that there was only one condition he had to agree to in order to play on the album, and that was that he could not use any cymbals… Absolutely brilliant move – as that forced Phil to be more inventive with his playing on that album, which really contributed to the experimental vibe that definitely came through on “Melt” … In 1983 I bought Peter's "Plays Live” album, which contains 6 of the tracks from “Melt” – along with some of the top songs from “Car” and “Scratch”, and I absolutely wore that vinyl out – literally… All of the "Melt" tracks translate exceptionally well in the live environment – especially “Biko” which closes the album, can’t recommend that live album enough! On “Melt” the best tracks IMO were “Games Without Frontiers”, “Biko”, “No Self Control”, and “I Don’t Remember” – as each was stunningly well-done… “Intruder”, “Family Snapshot”, and “Not One Of Us” are also top-shelf – just a notch below my top group… “Start” is just an instrumental, but works nicely as a lead-in to “I Don’t Remember”, and “And Through The Wire” & “Lead A Normal Life” are also solid tracks as well… Wasn’t quite sure if I was going to give this a 4.50, 4.75 or to make it a 5.00, but I think based on the strength of the tracks up-and-down this album – plus then factoring in the creativity and ingenuity that this album displayed in 1980 – especially being so different from his old-school Genesis work – well, that definitely kicked it up to a 5.00 for me no doubt…

So I had heard of Joan back in the day, but never listened to one of her albums, or even heard one of her songs - so this was all new to me... I found the songs to have quite an original sound, and for the most part - the playing on the album was fairly good... The lyrical content seemed to be pretty pedestrian, and all along the same lines, and there is just something about Joan's voice that sorta turns me off in a way... Kind of like I have to put up with the vocals, just to get through the song, and I just don't want to work that hard when listening to music... Was worried as I was halfway through the album - probably side 1 back during record days, and there wasn't a song that even remotely grabbed me... The last half was better, as I found a bit of goodness in "Join The Boys", "People", "Like Fire", & "Tall In Saddle"... It's not that I thought these were excellent songs, but there were moments in each that I thought were pretty well-done... So I was listening on Tidal, and after the last song on the Joan album, Tidal gave me another track - so it sounded like there was one last track on Joan's album to listen to... After a few minutes into the song I said - wow - this is the best track on the album hands down... When I clicked back to Tidal, the Joan album had indeed finished, and Tidal decided that I should listen to Joni Mitchell's "Harry's House/Centerpiece" track after the Joan album... Got a good laugh out of that... : ) This is definitely better than some of the drab albums that I have found here - which I gave 1's to... If we had some gradation in the star ratings, I'd probably have given this a 1.50 - but I can't, and this is better than a 1 - so I'll give it a 2... At least now I can place the music to the name...

Having grown up with a progressive rock bend, I’ve always been a fan of Frank’s… I see a lot of "jazz fusion", and "improvisational jazz" labels being placed on him – but he is a progressive rock artist – first and foremost in my mind… Gun to my head, my favorite Frank album is 1974’s “Apostrophe (!)” which I think is an absolute classic – though I am familiar with a fair amount of his more popular work… Have listened to “Hot Rats” before, and knew a few of these tracks – so it isn’t surprising given my natural bend, plus being familiar with some of this material already, that I really enjoyed this album… The song that is referenced as one of his best all the time is “Peaches En Regalia” – which is absolutely fine IMO – but there were so many other tracks on this album that I enjoyed more… Have always been a fan of “Son Of Mr. Green Genes”, as there are some spectacular live versions out there, as the JamOn Sirius XM station back in the day, used to play a lot of Frank… Besides the quality of the music, the humor behind writing a track based on an urban legend about you (i.e. Frank was rumored to be the son of Mr. Green Jeans from The Captain Kangaroo kids show in the 60’s – unfortunately not true…) says a lot about the fun side of Frank – which permeates his approach to music… Really enjoyed “Willie The Pimp” – especially the jam over the last half of the song, and “It Must Be A Camel” is a great closer… My favorite track on this album – even more so that every track I’ve referenced so far, was “The Gumbo Variations” as the jam on that one is just so well-done… I’m sure a lot of folks might be turned off by 8 to 12 minute songs, but in the progressive world – that is sort of that standard… Try experimenting with worrying less about how long a song actually is, and truly listen to the music with 100% of your attention and focus - and you just might find that the song ends much earlier than you wanted it to… : ) Since I’m going to give “Apostrophe (!)” a 5, I’m gonna slot “Hot Rats” in just a little lower – so definitely a solid 4 for me, and an album that I recommend that everyone give a listen to!

All-in-all, this was probably pretty sweet for 1967… Not a huge fan of their sound, but I can see how they likely inspired many others who followed… I liked that there was a fair amount of diversity among the songs – as opposed to very song sounding like every other… The top 2 songs are the ones that I knew going in – “So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star” – which apparently was a slam about “manufactured” bands like The Monkees, and is really well done – though years later, I really enjoyed the version that Nazareth did, where they worked a decent section of it into their song “Telegram”. The other is the cover of Dylan’s “My Back Pages” – and like most Dylan songs, I almost ALWAYS prefer the way other artists cover his songs, and really enjoy The Byrds cover here… “CTA-102” is a pretty good experimental song, and I also thought “Everybody’s Been Burned” & “Why” were among the strongest tracks on the album.. Glad I listened, but other than a historical marker for other artists, I doubt I will be going back to this one… If we had gradations, I’d probably give it a 2.25 – the extra 0.25 for the likely influence it had on other artists, but for me it just seems dated… There is a lot of music from that era, that still stands up today (i.e. Hendrix, Doors, The Who, Yardbirds, etc.) but most of this album does not IMO… Solid 2 for me…

So – this was interesting – and NOT in a good way… Again – not sure why this was on the 1,001 list, but c’est la vie… I do love me some Brazilian Jazz – so think Joao Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto, Antonio Carols Jobim, Gilberto Gil, and Bebel Gilberto – but this was NOT that… Appears to be an experimental album, combining psychedelia with Brazilian music – so other than trying that combination of sounds, there isn’t much here to like – and the recording quality was not the best either – but then again, it was 1968… There are 2 covers on this album as far as I can tell – “Baby” - which was written by Caetano Veloso (i.e. actually think Bebel Gilberto’s version is the definitive version of this song…), and “Tempo No Tempo” – as Mamas & Papas cover, and both are just a mess – as is most of the album… There were only 3 songs that were worth listening to – “A Minah Menina” – which as some really cool, and edgy guitar work for its time in it… “Le Premier Bonheur Du Jour” – which was more along the traditional French/Brazilian line – with hints of British influence… “Ave Gengis Khan” – the albums closer – which is by far the best track on the album, as the piano and drum work on it is really well-done for the period… And again, some pretty solid guitar work for the period on this one as well… The ending is sorta reminiscent of the end of the Yes classic – “Yours Is No Disgrace” – just not nearly as cool, or as well done… Would have gotten a better rating if more of the experimentation was more of this ilk… Maybe a 1.25 based on the decency of those 3 songs and my mood, but definitely a 1 star for me…

So in addition to my love for all things prog-rock back in the day (i.e. Rush, ELP, Yes, Genesis, Iron Maiden, UFO, Zeppelin, etc.), I also enjoyed some of the more “mellow” artists like Elton John, Billy Joel, and of course – The Bee Gees… In middle school, I bought “Here At Last – The Bee Gees Live” – and I thought it was fantastic… Most of what I enjoyed was their older material, but I never bothered to check out the early catalog, and figured the best songs - like with most bands, were spread across several albums, so I was curious as to what goodness I was going to find on “Trafalgar”… The album starts out with “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart” – which is certainly royalty in the Bee Gees cannon, so quite a start, as this one is just a truly exceptional song… Unfortunately, that was pretty much the end of the goodness… The rest of the album was just dull, whiney, and tedious to be honest… The only other song that was somewhat decent, was “Don’t Wanna Live Inside Myself” – but that was it… I ran through this twice just to make sure, and can’t tell you how disappointed I was… Not only were the songs uninteresting, they also sounded identical – as there was little to no diversity in the music… One great song does NOT a 1,001 Albums list make, so a very disappointing 1-star for me…

So in the summer of 2023, Aerosmith announced their final tour would be held later that year… I bought tickets, as I had seen them 10-12 times over the years going back to 1978… Anyways, I decided to Audible a biography about them in advance of the show, and downloaded “Walk This Way” by Geoff Edgers, and off I went… Unfortunately, I chose the WRONG “Walk This Way” biography – as I wanted the one by Stephen Davis – but I listened to it anyway… Long story short, the Edgers book was basically the story of how Rick Rubin (i.e. the producer of “Raising Hell”) was able to convince RUN-DMC & Aerosmith to collaborate on the “Raising Hell” album via the track “Walk This Way”. You get some decent background about both bands, some good background about Rubin, especially his early years @ NYU – and the story behind how that song came to be on that album… Obviously, that is the epic track on “Raising Hell”, and what I found fascinating in the book, was that Rubin felt the album would not be anywhere near as successful without “Walk This Way” – and that neither Aerosmith – who had really hit the skids by then, had no interest in doing it, and neither did RUN-DMC… But Rubin was able to get RUN-DMC, Steven Tyler, and Joe Perry in the studio for one evening to try and pull it off… RUN-DMC knowing this would be happening, didn’t even bother to learn the lyrics, and Tyler & Perry were still using, less than enthusiastic… BTW – Rubin didn’t tell the rest of Aerosmith – as he just wanted to the 2 main guys – which is why the drum part is pretty pedestrian, and why the rest of the band was pissed once they found out about it… Anyways – for a couple of artists who were struggling at the time, who came into the session with some seriously bad attitudes, Rubin was able to get what he wanted – and he was absolutely right about that song “making the album”… As for the album, Side 1 is absolutely stunning with the run of “Peter Piper”, “It’s Tricky”, “My Adidas”, & “Walk This Way” – and is truly the heart of the album… “It’s Live” is decent, but “Perfection” is nothing special… As for Side 2, things start out strong again with “Hit & Run”, and the title track – “Raising Hell” as both are quite excellent – but things start to lose a lot of steam from that point on… That said, that’s 6 out of 12 tracks that I really enjoyed, and of course the magic of Rubin’s “Walk This Way” being the centerpiece of the album – exactly as he had imagined it… Not a rap guy by any measure, but this is an excellent album… Would probably give it a 4.25 based on the actual song quality (i.e. although it is interesting when you check Wiki, that Simmons & McDaniels are only credited with writing 2 of the 12 tracks – so not sure what other magic Rubin may have worked back then…), but given the cross-over break-thru of “Walk This Way” and it’s historical significance – I gotta give this album a 5 – and I don’t give very many of those…

So I think Buddy Holly’s debut album is pretty straight-forward… For it’s time, I could see how this would have been incredibly popular… I liked that that there was a bit of an edge to his music – both with his original work on this album, as well as with all of the covers on this album, as I think most of the music up to that point was “nice” and really wasn’t edgy at all… The 2 best originals are easily “Not Fade Away” & “That’ll Be The Day” – and most of the covers are fairly well done, and you can clearly hear Holly’s style embedded in each song… Definitely dated, but you have to start somewhere, and this was a stepping stone for sure in the evolution of rock… Solid 3 for me for historical context, and being Buddy’s 1st album – which introduced his original style into the mix…

So I have mentioned this before, but I thoroughly enjoy hard/heavy music - so Zeppelin, Sabbath, Nazareth, UFO, Iron Maiden, Tool, Metallica, Dio, Scorpions, Priest etc. - as are all in my wheelhouse, but for some reason, speed and thrash metal, have never really appealed to me - and this album was NO different... Once again, we have a band that is trying to play as fast as possible, along with almost NON-EXISTIENT vocals - which did absolutely nothing for me... BTW - just because a drummer has mastered the double bass pedal from a speed perspective, doesn't mean that you should use it ALL the freakin' time... And vocally, there is no melody of any sort, no singing of any kind - just screaming, and the lyrics are just dreadful... I'm beginning to think that my issue with this genre, is that there is absolutely NO room for the music to breathe... Good music is a nice balance between the notes, and the empty spaces - with some arguing that the empty spaces - and the contrast that they create with the actual notes, is what creates musical magic... This band is trying to play as many notes as the possibly can, and trying to play them as fast as they possibly can, that there is absolutely no space for the music to breathe - like AT ALL... Not a decent song on the album in my opinion, and in fact, I was running through what some of the reviewers thought were the best songs on the album a 2nd time through... So I was listening to "Alter Of Sacrifice" and was about 35 seconds into it, when I REALLY began to regret my decision... Fortunately, right about then, a good friend called - which stopped my music app so I could take the call... I answered by saying "...Thank God you called, I really appreciate you saving me..." : ) Would truly give this a "0" (ZERO) if I could, and I think there may have been only 1 other album to date that I thought that about - so 1-star for this dreadful, dismal, awful-excuse-for-an-album...

I found this one to be incredibly creative throughout, as it clearly is quite original... Maybe the drugs that Sly was doing during this period really opened him up to some innovative ways of thinking about music... Can't say there was a single track that I thought was exceptional - though my fav was probably the last track - "Thank You For Talkin' To Me, Africa" which is sort of a derivative of a track of Sly's from an earlier album... Kind of a nice hypnotic vibe throughout... Based on the originality and uniqueness of the album, combined with the fact that all of the songs contained some goodness (i.e. AKA none of them truly sucked...) I'm gonna give this a solid 3...

Yes - "Who's Next" is one of the truly all-time classics in rock no doubt... With "Baba O'Reilly" opening the album, and "Won't Get Fooled Again" closing it - you have 2 of the greatest anthems in the history of rock... Add in "Behind Blue Eyes", "Bargain", and "Going Mobile" as couple of more amazing tracks - and you have a stunningly exceptional album... Always enjoyed the less popular songs from this album as well, including "The Song Is Over", "Getting In Tune", and "Love Ain't For Keeping" - as those are quintessential Who hands down... Only weak track on the album is "My Wife" - but 9 out of 10 absolutely stellar songs is really remarkable... Definitely a 5 all the way for me...

Okay - so I have done a deep dive of the Syd era Floyd, and I have listened multiple - AND I MEAN multiple times, and as much as I appreciate what Syd did to bring Richard, Nick, & Roger together, I'm about to type some things that might be sacrilege... There is no doubt that Syd was absolutely brilliant - no doubt whatsoever... However, significant LSD use, combined with schizophrenia is just a bad - bad equation for anyone... Happy that the band took care of him in his later years, and Floyd is pretty fortunate that David Gilmour just happened to be there as a good friend to "fill in" - simply an amazing story... "Piper's" is nothing but psychedelic experimentation - which was pretty good for 1967 - but there is absolutely nothing here more than that... I would have loved to plug in, back in 1967, and play some shit and say - "...Wow - check that out...", but that's not me... I appreciate that that Gilmour and the band played "Astronomy Domine" on the live "Pulse " album - and Gilmour played it on a couple of his live solo albums (i.e. with Richard & Nick by the way...), but the best track on this album is "Interstellar Overdrive" - HANDS DOWN!!! All that said - this album is LIGHT YEARS BEHIND the Pink Floyd that would we all know and love - though there is no doubt that Syd's influence on the band will never be forgotten - as he inspired their best work in "The Dark Side Of The Moon" & "Wish You Were Here"... Channeling my friends - channeling... Though I for some strange reason, I DO have MAD love for "Bike" which closes the album - so there's that... : )

So about 35 albums in, and I FINALLY get one that I never would have crossed paths with - except for this daily exercise... Had listened to Eno's "Ambient 1 - Music For Airports", but that's been it, so I thought this one would be interesting... I'm also a big Roxy Music fan - a band he co-founded, but I think most of what I enjoy from them came after Eno left... As for "Before & After Science", the opening track "No One Receiving" sounds very much like the Talking Heads - except before there was a Talking Heads (i.e. although I guess both came out around the same time in 1977...). Really liked the percussion in the that song... Didn't really care for "Backwater", and the 3rd track "Kurt's Rejoinder" sounded Talking Headsesque again... Really enjoyed the instrumental interlude of "Energy Fools The Magician" - just wished it was longer - as I keep putting this one on repeat... : ) But I have to say the 3-song run in the later half of the album of "Julie With", "By This River", & "Through Hollow Lands" was absolutely exceptional - and REALLY appealed to me, and is definitely my jam... While not an all-time classic, I really enjoyed this album- and glad that it came my way... This is a solid 4 in my book no doubt!!!

Not much to say about this one, as for what they were doing - it was fairly well done - just not all that interesting to me... Certainly better than the albums that I have given a 1-star to, but just kinda meh... Would give it probably a 1.50 if I could, but begrudgingly I'll give it a 2...

Can see how this would have influenced a number of artists in the late 70's and into the 80's for sure... Pop songs had their song structure, and Country songs had their structure - but synths were a brand new thing around that time - so how to use it, and what could be created, was wide-open - as there was absolutely no roadmap, and I like what they did here... You can hear elements of the atmospherics and soundscapes that many synth type bands would get into, as well as the direction that some of the new wave artists of the 80's would pursue... The quality of the recording is exceptional for 1974, and the album really just should have been all instrumental - as the lyrics and limited vocals were just dreadful... A little bit more here than meets the eye in terms of influence, as whenever Kraftwerk comes on the radio, I never turn it off - though I doubt I will ever listen to this album again... I'd give this a 2 for the quality of what they did musically, and it gets bumped up to a 3 based on how influential this had to be coming out in 1974...

Sorry - but this was just awful... There is a small sliver of Country that I really do appreciate, but this ain't it... It's probably better than the vast amount of Country music out there, and is fairly well-done for what he was trying to do, but there isn't anything compelling on this album... My eyes did perk-up a little when I saw "Love Hurts" as I saw Nazareth a few times back in the day, and that song kicks ass - so I thought maybe Gram wrote it - but nah, the original was written some dude named Boudleaux Bryant in 1960 for the Everly Brothers, and Gram's interpretation here was just lame... Nazareth's version is still the definitive version of "Love Hurts" hands down... Not gonna lie, this album was hard to get through...

Wow – that was a lot of fun! Never heard of Scissors Sisters before, though they weren’t likely to ever appear on my radar… Smart, clever, funny, well-executed musically, with excellent vocals and lyrics – what a great combination for a solid album… Nice diversity throughout the album as well – which I always appreciate… Favs included the Bee Gees-disco-style version of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” – as that was a pretty creative arrangement… Really enjoyed “Mary”, “Tits On The Radio”, and the sultry and hilarious “Filthy/Gorgeous” about a tranny hooker – as those tracks were so well done, and so much fun to listen to… The other aspect of the band that I thought was cool, was that they could also produce something on the more serious side, as the closing track - “Return To Oz” is the best on the album IMO… Also noted like many others that vocals that remind you of a sort of a younger version of Elton John does not hurt either… Really, really well-done… Love bands that don’t take themselves too seriously, but clearly have the chops musically and lyrically to create some inventive music – and this band covers every one of those bases… Would probably give it a 3.50 if we could score that way, but will have to stick with a solid 3 for a fun, creative, and extremely well-done album… Glad I listened, as this one never would have come my way without the 1,001…

Well – that was unfortunate… Sex-Funk huh??? So this was my 2nd Tim Buckley album and I’m only about 40 albums in, so not sure what I did to deserve this… I will say that his 1967 “Hello & Goodbye” effort was the first album on the 1,001 that I would have given a “0” to, as it had no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and was pretentious as hell… 1972’s “Greetings From LA” is definitely different from that previous album – so at least there’s that, and for the most part – some of the musical jams weren’t all that awful, and certainly better than “Hello & Goodbye”, but the lyrics were simply abysmal… It sounds like this departure from his early folk work really pissed off his initial fan base, and not quite sure what other fan base he was looking to appeal to with this record… While some of the vocal sections were interesting at times – as a whole however, it was simply a hot mess… Lyrically, it’s as if he didn’t bother to write any – and just sang, moaned, or screamed whatever came to mind while in some drug-induced state… "Move With Me", "Get On Top", "Devil Eyes" - just a frickin' nightmare,,, Actually surprised that he didn’t have someone give him a blow-job like Jim Morrison did, while recording the song “LA Woman” in order to pull out some degree of authenticity… Anyways, not as dreadful as the “Hello & Goodbye” – so not the "Animal House" Belushi grade point average, but maybe tad higher like a 0.25 if I could go there… Was really puzzled why “Hello & Goodbye” was on this list, and now even more puzzled that this one is on here as well… Begrudgingly giving it a 1 since I’m not allowed to go any lower, as this was simply a train wreck…

Well, I will say that at least this band sounds fairly original, and there is decent diversity of sound throughout this album, but really trying to understand where all of the 4’s & 5’s that people have given it are coming from… Thought I was going to enjoy it more than I did after the start, and while it did not suck – it was just kinda there for me… Went back and listened to a handful of tunes a 2nd time through just to see if I was missing something – but nope, and am really perplexed as to why folks seem to rave about “Default” – as that is one of my least favorite tracks on the album… The 2 best tracks in my opinion are “Hand Of Man” & “Firewater” – though the former is considerably better… Definitely better than a 1 for sure just on originality of the sound, but can’t give it more than a 2 as it just did not gain any traction with me…

Really enjoyed "Steve McQueen" from Prefab Sprout, and thought that musically - is was really next-level 80's pop... Most 80's bands - no matter how popular, were sort of basic level pop from a musical perspective, while this album was much more sophisticated musically... The album starts out incredibly strong - with "Faron Young", "Bonny, and "Appetite" - as I kept hearing hints of The Smiths in their music - which is quite a compliment... This was also a pretty diverse album musically, so I appreciate them playing around with that experimentation, as it was really well-done... The album lost a little steam as it went on, but the musicianship and vocals were top-shelf throughout... Definitely a solid 3 from me, and while I had heard of the band - I would NOT have been able to name a single song of theirs... Glad I listened...

So before I listen to an album, I usually read the Top 20 or so reviews to get a flavor of what I’m likely in for… I typically see a mix of 4’s, 5’s, and 1’s – which is fascinating in and of itself… When I checked out the reviews for Daft Punk’s “Homework” album, the top review was from someone who had typed “Around The World” about 200 times… That was it – that was his/her review, and I was like WFT??? Anyway, after giving the album a listen – which is really nothing more than interesting club beats, that are probably set to the perfect “beats-per-minute” pace that Ecstasy-loving clubbers prefer, I was still perplexed about that review about half-way in… Then – there it was, Track #7 “Around The World”, and after about a minute of the song, I busted out laughing out loud while working in my yard… Jesus, Mary, & Joseph – why even bother with lyrics if that’s what you’re going to do with them… Anyway, I hope that review remains the top review for years to come, and as for the album – just a collection of random club beats – with some being better than others, but it’s kinda hard to listen to 73-minutes of club beats, during the day – while NOT indulging in any sort of mind-altering substances… Only redeeming factor for me was the track “Alive”, as that one had by far more potential than any of the others… For what it was – it was well-done, so can’t give it a 1, so a reluctant 2 is what we’ll go with… Around The World, Around The World, Around The World… : ) Too funny!!!

So this one was a pretty easy assignment for me, as I love this album – and know it well… Also didn’t hurt that I saw the 1992 tour when U2 came to Cleveland, as that was the hardest rock ticket to get that year… U2 was a “college” band when I was in college in the early 80’s, so “Boy” & “October” were in regular rotation, but it was 1983’s “War” album that totally blew them up big time… I remember thinking at the time, most bands are fortunate if they have 1 “great” album in them, or perhaps 2 if they are really lucky… Most bands tended to have 2 or 3 really good songs on an album, with the rest being less than stellar – and that would get them to their next album… If you did this for 4 or 5 albums, you’d achieve no greatness, but you’d have a solid body of work that kept the record company and fans happy… So when “War” came out, that was their “great” album in my opinion… But then when 1987’s “The Joshua Tree” came along, it was like wow – that’s 2 all-time classics from this band… Not that 1985’s “The Unforgettable Fire” wasn’t awesome – it certainly was, it just wasn’t on the same level of the album that came before, or after it… So when “Achtung Baby” came out in 1992, I knew it would be good – but had no idea it would be yet another amazing top-shelf album from the band, but that’s what they created – and that put them into a whole different category for me, as only a handful of artists ever really achieve that kind of creative greatness… They’ve since added 2 more in my opinion, so my list is below – and each is a separate and distinct project, with an original sound, an original theme, and original stories to tell… War – 1983 The Joshua Tree – 1987 Achtung Baby – 1992 All That You Can’t Leave Behind – 2000 Songs Of Experience – 2017 As for “Achtung Baby”, it absolutely is loaded with musical goodness IMO, as there is not an average track on the album – it’s just a matter of which ones are better than others… I’ve always used a 7-point scale when rating songs, as 5 is just not enough – and 9 would just be silly : ) – so here is my take, and in order of goodness… 7-STARS Acrobat – Incredibly underrated, and one of their best songs ever… One – A true classic… End Of The World – Another of my deeper cut loves… Ultra Violet – Another underrated classics… So Cruel – Just love this song – the way the music matches the lyrics, stunningly good… The Fly – This was amazing to see live in 1992… 5-STARS Zoo Station – Great way to open the album… Love Is Blindness – Great way to close the album… Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around the World – A woman need a man, like a fish needs a bicycle… Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses 4-STARS Even Better Than The Real Thing Mysterious Ways Kinda funny that “Mysterious Ways” was one of the big hits from the album, and I have ranked last, as this is such an amazing album… Bono & The Edge clearly drive this band, and both were in their prime here, and their work on this album was spectacular… I recently bought a pair of Bowers & Wilkins Px8 headphones, and pair them with the Tidal high-fidelity streaming service (no compression), and Bono’s vocals on this album are something to behold, as is The Edge’s guitar work… A well-deserved 5 for one of the all-time classics…

Wow – that was fun!!! Never heard of the band before, and thought this album was incredibly well-done… I liked the originality of their sound, as it was a bit more complex than most bands of that time and genre… Best songs IMO, starting with the best were – “Road To Ruin” “The Ha Ha Wall” “The Man Who Would Be King” “The Saga” “When The Lights Go Out” Would probably give this a 3.50 if I could, but just not quite enough there to get this to a 4, so a dead-solid 3 for me, and glad that I listened…

A bit disappointing actually, as I honestly expected this to be better being his inaugural solo effort... So I watched "The Beatles Get Back" documentary a while back, it became very clear - very quickly that it was Paul that drove the band, and that John was somewhat lazy... He wouldn't produce much, but when he did - his work was awesome - so I was curious as to how being on his own would impact that work ethic... Maybe it was the Yoko influence, or perhaps where he was at that time in his life, but there wasn't much on this album that grabbed me at all, and actually think "Double Fantasy" was a much better solo effort from him... Only 2 songs that I liked were "Working Class Hero" which was exceptional, and "Isolation"... "God" was a bit interesting, but ultimately at the end just came off as being pretentious in my view...

Thought I would enjoy this more than I did... In many respects, it DEFINITELY seemed dated for sure, and the similarity among the songs (i.e. limited diversity) was also quite noticeable... No doubt there are a few excellent songs on here, and below are my are my ranks - "Smooth Criminal" - 7-stars "Man In the Mirror - 6-stars "Dirty Diana" - 5-stars "Bad" - 5-stars "The Way You Make Me Feel - 4-stars The rest however, are completely forgettable... I'm sure that MJ will have some albums on this list that warrant a 5, but the best I can do for "Bad" is to give it a 3... Also - I HIGHLY recommend the Top Rated review for the "Bad" album, as it was incredibly well done, and made my day it was so damn funny... It starts out - "...OK - here we go..." : ) Enjoy!!!

So I actually enjoyed “Stankonia” more that I really thought I would… I enjoyed the diversity of sound throughout the album, and the little interludes weren’t too disruptive – as I have typically found them on other albums… Clearly this was a different style of rap as compared to what came before it, and I thought it was pretty well done… The best song on the album by far is “Ms. Jackson” – which really reminded me of another song from my past… In 1977, a band called The Brothers Johnson released their version of “Strawberry Letter 23” – with which I liked – and was very familiar with… The 1977 track is the definitive version of the song as far as I am concerned, and Outkast has worked the musical hook from the song into “Ms. Johnson” – which is what gives the song it’s mojo… Sure, the other parts of the song are extremely well-done, but I doubt “Ms. Jackson” would have blown up the way that it did, without that hook… Apparently Shuggie Otis wrote “Strawberry Letter 23” in 1971, but it was the 1977 version by The Brothers Johnson which really nailed down the phrasing and musical points of emphasis in the hook… That said – I hope Shuggie & The Brothers got paid for their contribution to “Stankonia”… : ) As for the rest of “Stankonia”, the best of the rest of the tracks included – and using my 7-star scale… “Ms. Jackson” – 6-stars “B.O.B” – 6-stars “Spaghetti Junction – 5-stars “Humble Mumble” – 4-stars “So Fresh., So Clean” – 4-stars Glad I listened, and have a greater appreciation for the uniqueness of their sound… A solid 3 in my book...

Well – I tried, but that was absolutely awful… And over an hour, really – weren’t the first 5 or 6 tracks enough of this drivel… It reminded me of a cross between The Sugarhill Gang from the early 80’s, and early DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince albums – all of which came before this… Nothing wrong with that, but there is absolutely nothing new in terms of the style, and I can’t believe that the Jungle Brothers didn’t get bored recording this themselves – as every freakin’ song sounds just like the last – only with a few different lyrics… Same beat, same style, just on and on, and on… Best song is the title track “Done By The Forces Of Nature” – and that’s NOT because it’s particularly good, it’s just that it’s a bit different from everything else that totally sucked on this album… No redeeming qualities, I’d give it a “0” if I could, and have absolutely no idea how this album wound up on the 1,001…

So Lupe’s “Food & Liquor” album, has been my 3rd straight rap album in a row this week – and I’m NOT a rap guy… The other 2 were “Stankoina by Outkast, and The Jungle Brothers “Done By The Forces Of Nature”… All that to say, that I am completely “rapped” out, as for some reason each of these albums was over an hour long… Additionally, I have heard a certain derogatory term more than 500 times this week between these 3 albums… Ugh… That said, I sorta enjoyed portions of Lupe’s album here, as his style is a bit more complex musically – which works for me, and it sounds like he may have been the rap derivative that Lin-Manuel Miranda later followed to fortune and fame – except without the historical component… I found Lupe’s lyrics to be far more clever than the other 2 rap albums I’ve referenced here, and his phrasing and delivery were more enjoyable as well… Best track was the one with Jay-Z “Pressure”, and the last track “Outro” was completely unnecessary – as it is nothing more than a 12-minute musical background track, where Lupe essentially thanks everyone who has helped his musical career since middle-school… Yaaah – that was a bit much, but the album is still a solid 2 for me…

So just spitballin’ here, but an album about things from the state of Illinois does NOT sound like a recipe for musical goodness… I was also fascinated by the fact that this was voted the best album of 2005… No offense to Mr. Stevens, as a multi-instrumentalist – he is certainly very talented, but I would argue that “Illinois” being the best album of 2005, says more about the lack of quality music in 2005, as opposed to how exceptional this album is… If this came out in 1977, it’s not even in the Top 500 of that year… I would argue that 70%+ of the albums on the 1,001 list SHOULD be coming from the 60’s & 70’s… Artists created music for the love of their art and craft back then, as there really wasn’t a lot of money in music at the time… Once that changed in the late 70’s and early 80’s – everyone subsequently got in it for the money, and the corporate formulas took over… I’ve listened to a handful of self-made albums (i.e. where the artist plays every instrument for the most part…), and this was probably the best… Most of them just have a weird sound, like there wasn’t enough diversity in the playing, but this one sort of escaped that… Mr. Stevens is very talented, and definitely has a unique and original sound – so points for that, and for what he was trying to accomplish, the album is fairly well-done… My main complaint, is that after a while, all of the songs sorta just sound the same… Enjoyed the piano-based songs better than the banjo ones – but that’s just me, and never thought I’d hear a song about “John Wayne Gacy”, but that’s “Illinois” for you…

Well that was kind of fun – especially after 4 straight days of rap… Not the most amazing album that I’ve ever heard, but very creative, original, and I really enjoyed it… Saw that this album is ranked #13 on Roling Stones best “Stoner” albums of all-time, and while it definitely deserves to be on there, I’m not entirely sure that it should be ranked that high… Personally, I think “Welcome To Vanilla Sky” by Kyuss – which Rolling Stone has ranked as #25 on that list, is considerably better than “Ladies & Gentlemen” – but that’s just me… Obviously, some tracks are better than others, and I probably would have preferred a little bit better flow to the album, as there were a few abrupt transitions from one song to the next in terms of track order, but all-in-all, this was a fun experimental album… Favorite tracks were “I Think I’m In Love” & the closing track “Cop Shoot Cop” – which may not be for everyone, but I thought I was extremely well done… Solid 3-stars for me!

So I’m a big Queen fan, and am well-versed in their catalog – and have to say that this is among their weakest efforts… I get that this album changed a lot for them in terms of their maturing in the studio… Sorta like Neil Peart the drummer from Rush always used to say that they never would have gotten to “2112” – the album that broke the band big-time, without all that they learned from creating their album “Caress Of Steel” (i.e. which is really NOT a very good album at all…) – so I get that… At the end of the day however, I judge these albums by the quality of the material… To be honest, other than the “White Queen” & “Black Queen” songs – along with “The Seven Seas Of Rhye” – there is not a lot on here to like… Yes – I enjoyed hearing the evolution of their sound – especially on the longer pieces, but other than that – it really left me wanting – and I’m a big rock guy… Really thought I would enjoy “Ogre Battle” as I had heard so many praise it over the years, but I’d probably only give that a 3-stars out of 7-stars on my little ratings scale… Glad I listened, as I had never run this one all the way through before, but was a bot disappointing, as compared to what I was expecting…

Was somewhat familiar with Public Enemy’s game, and thought “Apocalypse 91” was just fine… Their style is their style, and it did get a bit repetitive after a while – but I’m okay with that… Going to say that “Shut Em Down” was the best track IMO, as I’d give that song 4-stars out of 7-stars in my little rating system… Nothing mind-blowingly awesome on this album – but nothing all that awful either, so going to slot it in at a solid 2.50 stars – but just can’t get it to a 3, so a 2 it is…

So I actually liked this album better than “I Should Coco” – so 2 albums by Supergrass of my first 50 – perhaps a bit much… There were 4 songs that I noted on this one that really stood out – “Late In The Day” “G-Song” “Cheapskate” “Hollow Little Reign” As those were the cream of the crop in my opinion, and all 4-stars or a bit better on my little 7-star song rating system… The rest of the tracks are fine, and maybe I appreciated this more – as 4 of my last 5 albums have been rap – and I’m not a rap guy… A solid 3 for me, and definite signs that this band was making some progress, as I gave “Coco” 2-stars…

So I had listened to this album a few times in the past, due to my deep prog roots – combined with how much buzz the album had gotten over the years, and I have to say that after today’s listen – my thoughts haven’t changed… #1 – It is an impressive work for a 19-year old who played all of the instruments at the time of its release… Most albums where the artist plays every instrument typically suffer from lack of diversity, but that was not a problem on this album – so that was good… #2 – There are sections of the music that I truly enjoyed, as there is no denying that… #3 – Why in the world he felt the need to “introduce” each of the instruments in “Part I” is beyond me, as that TOTALLY ruined whatever vibe he had going with me on that track… #4 – Same kinda thing on “Part II”, as I was sorta beginning to dig a section, and then he starts grunting for lack of a better word – and AGAIN, totally ruined whatever vibe he had going – I mean like WTF??? #5 – The “Single” track – which is what I’m guessing was the short-version released back in the day for radio, was fairly well-done – and again as I was enjoying the track, I half-expected something odd to jump out at me, but turns out that was the only unflawed track… Nothing amazing mind you, but certainly pleasant… #6 – The last song is a complete throwaway, and have no idea why he included it on this album, or what its purpose was… “Tubular Bells” still doesn’t do much for me overall, and saddened by the fact that A LOT of outstanding prog-rock albums that SHOULD be on this list – probably aren’t due to albums like this… Nothing but a 2 from me…

So I’m a fan of Traffic, but have never worked my way through all of their albums – but the bulk of the catalog that I’ve heard, I have enjoyed… They seem to be one of those bands that have a few outstanding tracks per album, so their goodness is spread across the catalog… I get that this was their 2nd album, but the songs seem to be all over the place – and I was partial to the sound on the debut album “Mr. Fantasy”… Looks like it was the clash between Dave Mason’s more pop orientation, and Winwood & Capaldi’s more jazz and blues influence – with mason eventually leaving… Regardless, there are a couple of gems on here – even if it really doesn’t flow like most albums… Liked “Feeling Alright” obviously, but also enjoyed “Roamin’ Thro’ The Gloamin’”, “Withering Tree”, with the best track on the album IMO being “No Time To Live”… Guess I’m a “Mr. Fantasy” & “Low Spark” kinda guy… Solid 2 for sure…

So I have commented numerous times, that most bands have their good tracks spread out over a number of albums, so it is much rarer when you come across one that is loaded up with goodness… The “Blood Sweat & Tears” album is just one of those, as it seems like their most well-known tracks are on this album… First off, the quality of the recording for 1968 is exceptional, as I have listened a number of albums from the late 60’s – and many of them just don’t have a solid audio quality to them at all – but this one was excellent… As for the songs themselves – not sure what the purpose was for the opening and closing “Variations” tracks, but they kinda felt out of place to be honest… Best songs on the album IMO were the run of – “And When I Die “ – 6-stars out of 7 “God Bless The Child” – 5-stars out of 7 “Spinning Wheel” – 5-stars out of 7 “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” – 5-stars out of 7 “Blues – Part II” is also a very interesting track with multiple sections – 0:00-3:00 – The organ intro section reminded me of early ELP (i.e. maybe something off of Tarkus?) 3:00-4:30 – The obligatory bass and drum solos – ugh… 4:30-8:00 – Was a great sax-led jam, and the best part of the song… 8:00-8:50 – Was a reprise of Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love” – not sure why that was on here… 8:50- End – Was the only blues singing on this track – which was fine, but suddenly ends – very odd… Wish this had been more of a 6-8 minute song of that great sax-led instrumental – or perhaps the organ opening, followed by the sax-led jam – but the rest really didn’t fit – but that’s just me… This is better than a 3, but not quite a 4 – but if I could, I’d give it a 3.50 for sure - but I can't, so it's a 3…

So I’m a blues fan, and I like John Lee Hooker, though I am not well-versed in his entire catalog… I thought this one was fine, fairly well-done, I liked the guest artists on the different tracks for sure, as well as John’s playing – that said, there really isn’t anything on this album that really jumps out at you, or is really exceptional… I was really looking forward to this one, so perhaps my expectations were a bit too high… Underwhelmed is how I would put it... Would probably give it a 2.50, but just can’t get to a 3.00 – so a 2.00 for me…

Well, that was really enjoyable… My wife and I are big fans of the 80’s, and are well-versed in the music of the Human League… That said, if you asked me what year these songs came out, I would have said 1983, or 1984 – or WELL after the 80’s alternative movement had begin… Was absolutely shocked to find that this album was released in 1981 – and probably WAS one of the bands that influenced that movement… I was in high-school between 1977-1981, so was very aware of the music tides and shifting landscapes during that period (i.e. sans the disco crap…). Besides U2 (“Boy” 1980 & “October” 1981), the other “early” band whose sound I think many in the 80’s are a derivative of was Joy Division – as their album “Unknown Pleasures” which came out in 1979, and the single “Love Will Tear Us Apart” in 1980 – can be heard in the DNA of ALOT of 80’s alternative music… I will now add Human League to that narrative… Their sound is very unique – for coming as early as it did (i.e. pretty sure the band ABC was a complete knock off of Human League…), and the quality of the recording is excellent… I enjoyed every track, and appreciated the diversity of the tracks on the album… The best songs IMO were - “The Things That Dreams Are Made Of” – 4-stars of 7-stars “Seconds” – 5-stars of 7-stars “Love Action” – 5-stars of 7-stars “Don’t you Want Me” – 6-stars of 7-stars Have a much greater appreciation for the band and these songs knowing how early they arrived on the scene – as they were one of the true trailblazers – as opposed to the myriad of copy-cat pop bands that tried to imitate their sound… Solid 4-stars from me for their originality, and their influence on the genre…

Well, that was absolutely dreadful, and I have no idea as to why “Ghosteen” is even on this list… I’ve seen comments along the lines of “great lyrics” and “subtle instrumentation changes throughout are awesome” and I’m like WTF are they talking about??? I get that this is an authentic album, and was born out of grief – but that alone doesn’t make it awesome… To be honest, it sounded like one long, drawn-out funeral dirge – which is fine if you like that sort of thing… Also saw that this was rated as one of the best albums of 2019, and I’ll stick with my premise that it’s NOT because this was a great album, but because there is a real lack of musical “greatness” today – especially the authentic kind, as compared to what was being produced in the 70’s… Normally, I highlight some of the best songs on the album, but nothing to show for this one… The ONLY song that I bothered to look at title throughout the album, was the last song – “Hollywood”… Not sure if there was a little more in that one, as compared to all of the rest, or after about an hour, I had been completely worn down – but ether way, even that track is nothing to write home about… This was incredibly rough, but I’ll give it a 1, as at least if was authentic…

So as a rock guy, I am fairly familiar with the “Nirvana Unplugged” album, though have never run it all-the-way through… Was actually surprised to find that it was on the 1,001 list, as I didn’t think “live” albums were a part of it… Appears it made it because there were some covers on it, doesn’t really change that criteria for me and I would not have included it, but c’est la vie… #1 – I like the arrangements, and am glad that they used a little amplification as that was part of the secret sauce of the album – so a big plus there… #2 – After a while however, several of the songs started to sound the same the longer the album went on… Especially noticeable from “Something In The Way” (Track 9) through the Meat Puppets covers (Tracks 10, 11, 12)… #3 – As for the covers, didn’t really care for The Vaseline’s “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam” – but here are the rest – “Man Who Sold The World” – Bowie – 5-stars out of 7… “Plateau” – Meat Puppets – 4-stars out of 7… “Oh Me” – Meat Puppets – 1-star out of 7… “Lake Of Fire” – Meat Puppets – 5-stars out of 7… “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” – Lead Belly – 5-stars out of 7… #4 – Kurt’s frailty really comes through, and if I had been a band member back then, I would have been VERY concerned about his mental state and overall health, as you can tell that he’s pretty distant at best… Kind of sad that what really made this album popular, was the fact that it was released later in 1994 after Kurt’s death that spring… #5 – The best Nivana songs IMO were – “Come As You Are” – 6-stars out of 7… “Dumb” – 4-stars out of 7… “On A Plain” – 4-stars out of 7… “All Apologies” – 5-stars out of 7… The rest were just filler as far as I’m concerned… Glad I listened to the album in it’s entirety, and that I did it during the month of the 30th Anniversary of Kurt’s death… Given the historic nature of what it captured, plus the fact that there were a number of arrangements that I really enjoyed, “Nirvana Unplugged” clocks in at a solid 4 for me…

So as an Irishman, if I was hanging out in an English pub, and Billy was the entertainment – I’d be fine with that, though I would continue my conversations with friends et al… Nothing wrong with this album at all, just not really my bag – especially some of the protest lyrics… Now IF he had been an Irish singer/song-writer, and had written about the English oppression of the Irish, then perhaps I would have enjoyed it a bit more… I did enjoy “Greetings To The New Brunette” – especially the contributions of Kristy MacColl (Collaborator w/ The Pogues) & Johnny Marr (The Smiths), as that was one of the best tracks, and “There Is Power In A Union” was pretty decent as well… After a while though, all of the songs sorta just ran together – some better than others, but nothing really special for me… Fairly well-done for what he was going for, but just a 2 for me…

So I was quite familiar with Jimi’s work while in middle school and high school via the great FM station in Cleveland at the time, WMMS 100.7 – but never owned a Hendrix album until I got to college in 1981… That was when I really dove in, and vividly remember listening debut album “Are You Experienced” all the way through the first time – and it absolutely blew my mind… I then worked through the next 2, and while there are amazing tracks on both “Axis: Bold As Love” & “Electric Ladyland”, neither could touch the start-to finish magic of “Are You Experienced” … Really enjoyed the album, and you could hear the progression in Jimi’s song-writing and musical compositions… As for me, the best tracks are listed below, along with my usual 7-star ratings scale – because you know that 5 isn’t quite enough, and 9 would just be silly… : ) “Spanish Castle Magic” – 5-stars out of 7… “Ain’t No Telling” – 5-stars out of 7… “Little Wing” – 7-stars out of 7… “If 6 Was 9” – 6-stars out of 7… “Castles Made Of Sand” – 5-stars out of 7… I will say that the album loses stream after “Castles Made Of Sand”, as those are several of the weaker tracks on the album – also have no idea why Noel the bass player sang “She’s So Fine” – probably his song, but would have been better if Jimi had sung it – but still the most forgettable track on the album… Since “Are You Experienced” is going to be a 5 for me, I’d probably have “Axis: Bold As Love” clock in at a 4.25, so will round it down to an “exceptional” 4 in my book…

So as a rock guy, I love Foo Fighters – and the story regarding how the “band” came to be is quite interesting… While it’s not nearly as strong as several of the albums that followed – this was the first, and really just an experiment to help Dave deal with his grief over Kurt’s suicide earlier in 1994… But as an inaugural effort – combined with the fact that Dave wrote and performed all of the instrumentation on all of the songs – and the fact that he basically created a unique sound, well, that’s absolutely amazing to me, and it’s pretty damned good as well! The 1st track on the album “This Is A Call” – really is the quintessential Foo Fighters song – and it’s DNA can be found in pretty much everything that has been created since… Great way to kick off the album as well… While some tracks are better than others, there is nothing absolutely top-shelf on this album, and the only real throwaway as far as I’m concerned is “Weenie Beenie” – but everything else is exceptionally solid… Below are the best songs IMO – and again going with my usual 7-star ratings scale – because you know that 5 isn’t quite enough, and 9 would just be silly… : ) “This Is A Call” – 4-stars out of 7… “I’ll Stick Around” – 4-stars out of 7… “Good Grief” – 5-stars out of 7… “Floaty” – 5-stars out of 7… “For All The Cows” – 4-stars out of 7… Very interesting song for sure… : ) For historical significance, for an artist creating and performing the entire album, and for creating a new and original sound as far as I’m concerned – AND this coming from a drummer for Christ’s sake – this is solidly a 4 in my book…

Big fan of Annie Lennox after seeing her open up for Sting in the early 2000’s – so mostly Eurhythmics hits and some of her solo tracks, as her vocals – especially live, were stunningly good… Like most bands, Eurhythmics scattered their better songs across a number of albums, and there are several on here that were really well done… Best tracks IMO were – “Love Is A Stranger” – 5-stars out of 7… “The Walk” – 4-stars out of 7… “Sweet Dreams” – 6-stars of 7… “This City Never Sleeps” – 4-stars out of 7… Not a Eurhythmics aficionado by any means, but at their best – they have their own sound, and some awesome, and quite unique songs – and at their worst (i.e. on this album there is a dreadful version of “Wrap-It Up”…) they are just there for me… Glad I listened, and would probably give this a 2.50 for the solid tracks on the album, but there wasn’t really enough there to push it to a 3 – so a robust 2 in my book…

I thought “The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast” was a pretty solid album… Had never heard of the artist before, and had never come across any of these songs before – so I was a blank slate… I sorta like his style, and I can honestly say that there weren’t any bad tracks on the album – but there weren’t a whole lot really jumping out at me either – which is not ideal for an album with 18 tracks, and over an hour in length… Best tracks in my opinion were – “Everybody’s Stalking – 5-stars out of 7… “Stone On The Water” – 4-stars out of 7… “Another Pearl” – 4-stars out of 7… “Once Around The Block” – 4-stars out of 7… So like I said, solid – fairly original, but nothing earthshattering for sure… Would probably give this a 2.50 if I could, but there is not enough there to reach a 3 when I consider other albums that I’ve rated as a 3 – so a well-earned 2 it is…

Have never had a positive opinion of Heaven 17 – not sure why, just never had a good vibe about them… Could not have picked out a song of theirs – so it wasn’t anything experiencially-related, but it’s always been that way… Well – after listening to “Penthouse & Pavement” – my long-held disdain for Heaven 17 was absolutely dead on, as this album – as my good friend Keith is fond of saying – was fucking terrible!!! Not pretentious like many other “1’s” that I have given, nor was it mindless speed metal – which I have been known to trash – no, this was just a level of extraordinary suckitude that one doesn’t come across very often… The funniest part, was the ONLY song that I found even remotely listenable, was “Song With No Name” – which I’d probably give a 2-stars out of 7 – but after that, there was absolutely nothing else worth listening to, over the rest of the ONE HOUR & 22 MINUTE exercise of sonic futility… That was until Track #19 came on (i.e. I might have had listened to the deluxe version…) – and I was like, oh – that doesn’t suck as much as everything else… When I went to check what the title of said song was on TIDAL, I found it was called “Song With No Name – 12-Inch Version”… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Seriously, this was absolutely awful, and that’s ONE HOUR & 22 MINUTES of my life that I’m not gonna get back… Would honestly give this a “0” if I could, as listening to this actually pissed me off, but the site won’t allow it, so begrudgingly I’ll give it a 1…

So Hanoi Rocks “Back To Mystery City” was fine, as I liked the idea of a Finnish rock band – especially since I had a really hot blond Finnish girlfriend once… : ) Was not very familiar with them – though I had heard some of their music… Remember thinking that they were one of early “hair metal” bands along with Motely Crue and a few others in like 1981 – which was cool… And I do remember hearing about them alot when their drummer was killed in that car accident with Vince Neil of Motely Crue driving, while they were on a “beer run” after a heavy night of drinking… Seems like they were never the same after that… As for the album, every track on the album was solid – though there were moments of goodness scattered throughout… The 2 best tracks IMO – we the “Summer” songs… “Lick Summer Love” – 4-stars out of 7… “Ice Cream Summer” – 4-stars out of 7… Again – a fairly straight-forward rock/punk sound, with decent musicianship and song-writing – and would have been fine seeing in a bar in the early 80’s, but certainly nothing exceptional for sure… Would probably give this a 2.25 if I could, for being part of the origin of “hair metal” – especially a commercially-friendly band as well, and Finland’s greatest contribution to rock…

Wow – “Dry” from PJ Harvey was absolutely awesome! Knew of her, but not familiar with her work at all… May have heard a song or two back in the day, but would not have been able to tell you it was her – so I came to this album as a “blank slate” – which is always cool… I thought the album was absolutely spectacular from start-to-finish – as this was really AFG, or “Angry Female Grunge” if you ask me – which I am just fine with! One of the most creative albums I’ve listened to in quite a while, as PJ is genuine, original, and incredibly talented… I know a lot has been made of the female angst in her lyrics, but I’m good with that… If she’s able to pull that angst out of her, and capture it in a constructive way – which perfectly matches the music – well then she’s absolutely done her job as an artist… The quality of the recording is excellent, and the diversity of sound and instrumentation – which contributed to the range of sound throughout the album was exceptionally well-done… You had the raw driving guitar in “Joe”, contrasted by the intricate violin and cello arrangements on “Plants & Rags” – which is a great example of that… The album is edgy, and musical dissonance has been expertly integrated throughout every track on the album… Best tracks IMO are – “Happy & Bleeding” – 5-stars out of 7… “Hair” – 5-stars out of 7… “Joe” – 6-stars out of 7… “Plants & Rags” – 4-stars out of 7… This was a real surprise from my perspective, and doubt I ever would have listened with out the 1,001… In slotting this in with all the other albums, I’d probably give it a 4.25 if I could, but definitely clocks-in as a solid 4 for sure, and I highly recommend this one for sure!

Always been a fan of Simon & Garfunkle, and there is definitely alot of goodness on this album… Not entirely sure about the whole “concept album” thing that a number of people have commented on… Perhaps it was an attempt – but certainly not what I think of when I think about concept albums, as TRUE concept albums run start to finish, so classic albums that would fit that bill, would be – “Tommy” – The Who “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” – Genesis “The Wall” – Pink Floyd Even if it was an attempt at a concept album, it seems like they only did one side – so what’s that??? I prefer to think of this a collection of individual songs – much like The Who’s album – “Who’s Next” that started off as a concept, but was abandoned somewhere along the way – but a stunningly good album regardless… Love the harmonies, and the unique sound on this album, and the best songs IMO are – “America” – 6-stars out of 7… “Fakin’ It” – 4-stars out of 7… “Mrs. Robinson” – 7-stars out of 7… “Hazy Shade Of Winter” – 5-stars out of 7… “At The Zoo” – 4-stars out of 7… Given how loaded Side 2 is, plus the fact that this album contains a couple of their most iconic songs in – “America” & “Mrs. Robinson” – this album clocks in at a solid 4 for me – and I would probably give it a 4.25 if I could…

So R&B – and whatever derivatives of it that I’ve been exposed to over the years, are most definitely NOT my wheelhouse… That said – if this is some sort of “Alt-R&B” that he has created, then I can say that it is better than any other R&B out there… The sound it very unique and original, and I like the diversity throughout the album – as clearly Frank is quite talented… No songs really jumped out though as being exceptional, but there weren’t any throwaway’s here either… Solid 2 for me, and I’d listen to another of his albums if it comes down to it…

Dull, repetitive, unimaginative, and muddled is pretty much this album… “Experimental Pop” my ass – what the hell is that??? If mindless whining of less-than-pedestrian and sterile lyrics, to repeating uninventive keyboard chords is your idea of “brilliant” – than this is your album… Saw a comment that this album only works IF you’re on ‘shrooms, and I call BS… I was on ½ gm of psilocybin yesterday while power-washing my deck – while unfortunately listening to this swill, and “Merriwether Post Pavilion” actually ruined my time out in nature to be honest… This is just shockingly bad on every level, and have no idea how this got on the list… Is the “1,001 Album” guy the brother of one of the dudes in this band??? Does that band have some compromising photos of the “1,001 Guy”??? Did somebody pay the “1,001 Guy” to please put this album on the list??? Who knows, but this is horrifically dreadful on an epic scale – and almost an hour long on top of that… Brutal – just brutal… Would give it a 0 in a heartbeat – and again, I really wonder what truly deserving and awesome album did NOT make this list due to this sludge, but I’ll have to settle for the lowest I can rate it… Man, the 2000’s have had some shitty music if this passes as decent…

So I’m guessing this is on the 1,001 list related to Queen Latifah being one of the first female rappers – so I get that, and I also think it’s impressive for a 19-year old female in the male dominated hip hop world… That said, just how many songs do you need to have on an album where you reference how “dope” your rhymes are, talk about how you can out-rap anyone, and mention your name – along with DJ Mark The 45 King? A couple of songs? Perhaps half the album? Nope – apparently EVERY SINGLE God-damn track needs to make some reference to the “Queen & King”… Absolutely wore me out… Additionally, the sound on this album seems incredibly dated to me (i.e. and it didn’t age well either…) – as I guess a lot of hip-hop back then tended to sound like this – and then of course the lyrical content of 80%+ of the songs was about what a great rhymer she was, and how she could take on anybody… Sure, 1 or 2 songs like that would have been fine – but just about every song on the album – well shit got pretty dull, pretty quickly IMO – but I guess when it came out, it sounded different… The only lyrical content that was along the lines of what I expected was “Evil That Men Do” – after of course the obligatory first few minutes of rapping about what a great rhymer she was – the rest of it was interesting, and would have preferred more of her perspectives like that… Also liked the reggae feel of “Princess Of The Posse” – just had to put up with all the lyrics about how great she was – though the chorus by the back-up singers was fine… Giving this a 2 for historical significance, and the inaugural work of a 19-year old female in a male dominated genre, but at the end of the day – the quality of the songs throughout an album HAVE to mean something, and the endless repetition on this one was just insufferable…

So I’ve always been a fan of Smashing Pumpkins, and really appreciate the uniqueness of their sound… Much more familiar with “Siamese Dream” – as well as a number of the best tracks from other albums – but not so much “Mellon Collie”, so I was really looking forward to this deep dive… Unfortunately, the songs that really clicked with me, are the ones that were the most popular tracks from the album… IMO, the 4 below were definitely the cream of the crop – “Tonight, Tonight” – 5-stars of 7… “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” – 5-stars of 7… “Muzzle” – 4-stars out of 7… “1979” - 5-stars out of 7… The rest however sounded pretty similar, and to be honest – there really wasn’t a need to do a double-album… I know a lot of folks don’t like Billy’s voice, and while not an outstanding – his vocals are perfect for their music – much like Kurt’s with Nirvana, and Geddy with Rush… Really though I would like this more, but just going to give it a 2 due to it being over an hour too long…

So I was well aware of Mudhoney back in the day, along with the other Seattle grunge bands, and had heard a few songs – but they didn’t click like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, or even Candlebox.. Probably related to them being more punk, as opposed to being more grunge, but that’s me… Found this to be a fairly straightforward punk album, with just a splash of grunge… Not great, but most songs were pretty solid… “Broken Hands” was the first song that got my attention, and from “Move Out” through the last half of the album, the song quality seemed to pick-up… Not nearly as talented as their contemporaries, and more punk than grunge – the best I can give this is a 2, as there is no way it’s a 3…

As for “Want One” – wow, that was incredibly lame… Not a fan of his voice, nor his lyrics – and then there’s the incessant whiney-ness throughout the album – what a recipe for success!!! Perhaps this should have been a Broadway soundtrack, and not sure why it was as popular as it was, but so far – just about every album from the 2000’s on this list has sucked ass…

So I really enjoyed the Koln Concert album by Keith Jarrett – though I do tend to enjoy piano compositions by excellent musicians… I have enjoyed some of the longer piano pieces by Keith Emerson (ELP), Rick Wakeman (Yes), and the solo artist George Winston among others, and this one was right up there with them… Perhaps what contributed to my enjoyment, was the story surrounding it, as it’s just amazing… - Long drive earlier in the day from Switzerland to Germany for the performance, so late arrival… - Not much time for dinner, and then off to the venue… - Had not slept well for several nights, and was wearing a brace for back pain… - Had to play on a relatively crappy piano due to miscommunication of what he really needed… - Was a live performance, and the substandard piano had pedals and key sections were barely functional, so limiting what he could actually play… And then on top of all of this, Jarrett basically improvised all of the pieces he played that evening… It’s stunning to me that he could play that well given all of the issues that he was dealing with, and to create those compositions on the spot – as I find that truly amazing… Was awesome that the concert was recorded, and stands as a triumph of make the best of a challenging situation for sure… Enjoyed every bit of this, and never would have found it without the 1,001… This is stellar top-to-bottom, and gets a solid 4 form me – and would probably give it a 4.25 if I could…

So I remember seeing this album cover back in the 90’s, and I can tell you that it wasn’t something I was going to search out… Don’t ever recall hearing any of the songs from this album, so it was completely new to me… Was absolutely dreading this exercise based on my scaring from the album cover, and my angst was doubly amplified when I saw the album was over an hour long… Really??? Ugh… Anyway, given how low I set the bar, I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t suck nearly as much as I thought it would… Still don’t get all of the excitement over “Whatever Happened To Pong?”, but there are several tracks towards the later half of the album that I thought were decent… Perhaps the most interesting vibe that I had while listening, was how several of the songs, sorta sounded like they would have fit right into the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” soundtrack… Not sure why I got that – but that occurred on multiple occasions, so who knows, anybody else get that??? Not sure that any of tracks rose above 4-stars on my 7-star rating system, but the tracks that stood out were – “Freedom Rock” “Fiddle Riddle” “Fazer Eyes” And the best track on the album IMO was “Big Red”… Definitely NOT on the same level of the albums that I have scored a 3 to date, but it’s definitely better than a 1… Nothing better than low expectations…

Smashing Pumpkins – “Siamese Dream” So I normally don’t do this, but we sorta had an “Album Club” a few years back with some friends of mine, and “Siamese Dream” was one of the albums that we reviewed – so here is what I wrote up back then… I have always enjoyed the Smashing Pumpkins – though you could probably say that appreciation has been “from more of a distance”. They came along in the midst of my working a full-time position at the hospital, while going to graduate school, all while raising 3 kids (i.e. my youngest was born in 1989). I have referred to this period as sort of my “blind spot” when it comes to music. It’s not that I wasn’t familiar with the bands of the era or their music, it’s just that I was not able to devote the kind of attention to those albums, the way I was when I was young… So I had this album in the collection, and was extremely familiar with each of the songs that found their way into heavy rotation in my area (i.e. “Cherub Rock”, “Today”, “Disarm”, and “Rocket”…). What I found interesting with this exercise, is that I can’t remember a single time when I ever really listened to this album from start-to-finish. Not sure why, but I think I thought of it more as a collection of songs, as opposed to a true album. So this little journey has been good for me in that respect… What has always attracted me to the band, has been the incredible uniqueness of their sound – as in they really don’t sound like anyone else – which always scores high marks with me. And while I can’t qualify it, they have always sorta had a “progressive” feel to them, which also serves them well in my book. However, I have found that the not-quite-as-popular songs of the Pumpkins (i.e. the ones that I think are well done…) really do tend to age well in my eyes… Not sure why, but this is a clear trend for me with this band – and there is one song off of this album that fits that bill exactly – for example sorta like “Rhinoceros” was for me off of their first album. I am also happy to report that after this little exercise, I have added a couple of more of those “not-quite-as-popular-but-they-really-seem-to-work-for-me” tunes to the collection from this album… Also have to add that while I generally prefer live offerings to the studio, that is NOT the case with this album. It’s not that they are poor live renditions or anything like that, but they really captured a unique sound on this album, and I really think there was just no way to recreate all of the nuances in the live setting. As for my track-by-track thoughts, here we go, and I paid no special attention to lyrics, just what seemed to stand out as I moved through the album, so most songs are taken as a whole… 1. “Cherub Rock” – 5-stars out of 7… This my friends, is THE perfect way to introduce the listener to THIS album! It clearly announces the arrival of the sound, tempo, and style right from the starting gate. There is not another song on the album that could have filled that lead-off spot, which created the perfect mood for what is about to follow… 2. “Quiet” – 3-stars out of 7… Someone once said that all of our Presidents can’t be Jefferson’s and Lincoln’s, and the same holds true for Smashing Pumpkins songs on this album. Not that this is a bad song – because it is NOT, but by comparison, it is one of the weakest on the album. And even after repeated listens (i.e. and I probably listened to the whole thing all the way through 5 or 6 times – in addition to extra listens for particular tracks…) it never gained any traction with me… 3. “Today” – 6-stars out of 7… So if this were the first time that I had ever heard this album, we’d have that great start, but then we’d have that backslide with “Quiet”, and then my mind would start to wonder… But then just when I was about to really question things, “Today” comes on – and then all is right with the world! Incredibly original, and I really enjoyed the softer parts in contrast to the bombastic sections. This is a spectacular song all the way around… 4. “Hummer” – 7-stars out of 7… So for me, this was the eye-opener of the album. I don’t ever remember hearing this one back in the day. I’m sure I did, but my attention span must not have been there at all as I have no recollection. The more I listened to this one, the more I absolutely fell in love with it… Just feels like a truly complete song in every way, and is about as perfect as it gets… Don’t think I’ve ever experienced as much of a disconnect between listens to a single song ever, which is in part what is really striking for me. In my opinion, one of the best songs on the album, and I wish it were 12-minutes long… 5. “Rocket” – 5-stars out of 7… Another one of the big four that I was quite familiar with – and probably the weakest of the 4 “hits”… Still good to listen to, and no real complaints here – just found some of the other options far more deep and compelling… 6. “Disarm” – 6-stars out of 7… The last of The Big 4 – and also an incredibly original track. The diversity between those four popular songs, is probably one of the greatest strengths of the album, and probably something that helped contribute to its success in attracting listeners from different musical persuasions to this creative and well-constructed album… 7. “Soma” – 4-stars out of 7… Here is the next of the not-quite-as-popular tracks that has really grown on me – though I do remember this one from my initial listening’s. Doesn’t quite have the grab of “Hummer”, but I enjoyed the relaxed pace, and it is perfectly slotted in the album’s running order between “Disarm” and “Geek USA”. Also really enjoy the piano sections on this one… 8. “Geek U.S.A.” – 5-stars out of 7… This is one of the two really loud, fast, and rambling efforts on this album (the other being “Silverfuck”) and of the two – THIS is the one that I prefer by far! A bit of an unbridled feel to it – which is always appealing, and the music has just a hint of Soundgarden to it which doesn’t hurt either. Also has sort of that musical theme component (i.e. a repeat of a musical section from a previous segment of the album) that runs through the slower mid-section (i.e. the part right after Billy sings the “Siamese Twins” line…). Just another really complete effort, featuring an awesome display of musicianship! 9. “Mayonaise” – 7-stars out of 7… So when I mentioned earlier that “other” song of the “not-quite-as-popular” ilk that I had been hooked on early in my original listening’s of this album – well this is the song that I was referring to. When we were at the beach, if someone held a gun to my head and said, what is the best song on the album – I would have said “Mayonaise”, and it wouldn’t have been close! Now that says a lot because of just how good it think the more popular songs are, but for me – this is it, and it will always be my favorite – as well as the defining song of the album for me! The fact that it was able to work its way onto my musical psyche despite work, grad school, and 3 young children says an awful lot… Pure perfection as far as I am concerned… 10. “Spaceboy” – 4-stars out of 7… No real strong feelings here either way, as it is not bad – but it just doesn’t really measure up to the run of songs that leads up to it – but how could it… That string had to end at some point… 11. “Silverfuck” – 3-stars out of 7… Okay – this is probably where I may differ from several of you, but I really don’t like this one… Sure there are snippets here and there that I’m okay with, but as a whole, it just comes across as bloated, excessive, NOT all-that-original, and fairly simplistic as compared to the rest of the album. The energy is fine, and the musicianship is always top notch, but even after repeated listening’s, I found myself actually saying “…Dear God – this is almost 9 minutes of my life that I’m not going to get back…”. This is the song that I’m really looking for answers to – so if anyone can help me understand what I am missing here, please share… 12. “Sweet Sweet” Nice acoustical bridge that re-calibrates the listener, and sets up the closing song of the disc. Nothing exceptional, but does lead quite well into the “Luna”… 13. “Luna” – 4-stars out of 7… Not sure why, but every time that I listen to this one, it feels like I have completed the journey, and it feels like I have returned to the other side of the starting point if that makes any sense. The perfect song to close out the album… Was a bit worried when I started this exercise because I began it during the week that I got the flu – and there are just some types of music that are not meant to be listened to while congested, nauseated, and headache infested… I listened to segments (4 songs at a time) during that sickly early part of my endeavor, but after I got well, I was back on track. As for final thoughts, I don’t think that I have listened thoroughly enough to all of the other Smashing Pumpkins albums to really be able to speak to whether this is their best effort or not. I will say however, that this one sets a standard (especially as just their 2nd album) that would be hard for ANY of the post “Siamese Dream” efforts to live up to. It is an incredible album, and everyone needs to have this in their collection, and enjoy as a whole – as this is one of those albums that is greater than the individual sum of its parts, and is an absolute masterpiece…

Had never heard of this artist, but have to admit that compared to the other rap albums that have I listened to on the 1,001 so far, "Liquid Swords" was one of the better ones... While the lyrical content was similar - the delivery was pretty solid, and there was decent diversity throughout the album... Not sure what to make of the movie interludes between some of the tracks, but it worked okay for me, and at least wasn't contrived like some others that I've heard... The best part of this album for me, were the hypnotic instrumental tracks that were laid under the rap - as those were incredibly chill and interesting, and provided the perfect backdrop to the vocals... I almost wish there was just an instrumental version only of this album... A couple of songs that I enjoyed more than others were "Duel Of The Iron Mic" & "Gotcha' Back", so points for the music, originality, and diversity, and at the end of the day, I'll give it a 3...

So I purchased "Arc Of A Diver" when it came out, as I always like Steve Winwood - and clearly this was a new direction for him entering the 1980's... Sure there are some less-than-inspiring efforts on the album, but there are a handful of tracks that are exceptional... Below are the best songs IMO, and again on 7-star scale... "While You See A Chance" - 5-stars out of 7... "Arc Of A Dive" - 6-stars out of 7... "Spanish Dancer" - 5-stars out of 7... "Night Train" - 5-stars out of 7... Love the album cover as well, but this is a really well-made album - and would probably give it a 3.50 if I could, so a solid 3 for me...

So I thought the “Throwing Muses” debut album was incredibly interesting to say the least… I enjoyed the musical compositions, and there was a pretty good diversity of sound throughout the album… The most puzzling aspect, were the vocals – and the singer has a pretty nice voice or this type of music, and there were stretches where I really enjoyed what she was doing… There was however, this issue of her trying to sing differently during different portions of songs, and not every now and then, or only on particular songs – nope, she felt the need to do it multiple times, with multiple “styles”, over the course of a 3 or 4 minutes song… From my perspective, those vocal changes worked about 1/3 of the time for me, so when it worked – it really enhanced the song, but for 2/3’s of the time, it was just an incredible distraction from the song… I kept asking my self how this would have sounded if she had toned it down a bit, or saved those vocal gyrations for specific moments, but c’est la vie… Glad I listened, and like I said – it was very interesting no doubt, but at the end of the day, it’s just a 2 for me…

So I really enjoyed “Spiderland” by The Slints… Had never heard of them, nor any of their songs – but was pleasantly surprised… The highlight of the album is the hypnotic, heavy instrumental compositions – and while there isn’t much diversity throughout the album – what they do, they do incredibly well… Unfortunately, from a vocals perspective – there really aren’t any to speak of… Oh there are lyrics throughout the album – mainly a low-level spoken word kinda thing, with an occasional attempt at singing, but really not even passable… You could argue that it was “their sound or style”, but any objective review would call it like it is – dreadful… Would have been really interesting to hear those tracks with a competent rock vocalist who could have really done something with it… The other complaint, was that the audio quality sounded like the recordings of the band that I was in while in college calked “The Edge” (i.e. No – there are none of our albums on this list, and yes – we had our name before U2 blew up and their guitar player stole our name – but I digress… : ) Oh it’s fine, but it’s pretty raw – and maybe that was intentional, but the drums sounded just like mine did when mic’d up and recorded in the early-80’s… : ) By far, the best track on the album IMO, was “The Washer” – with “Good Morning – Captain” a distant 2nd… Never would have heard this without the 1,001… Would probably give it a 2.75 if I could, but their originality, and heavy sound has got me feeling generous – so a 3 it is…

So I grew up a big Springsteen fan, mainly because he was so popular in Cleveland prior to blowing up with “Born To Run” (1975), as WMMS – the popular FM station in town played him all of the time… Heavy rotation of songs from “Greetings From Asbury Park” (1973), and “The Wild, The Innocent, & The E-Street Shuffle” (1974) is the Bruce that I came to know and love – with a great balance between power and delicateness… Obviously, that got kicked into another gear with “Born To Run” (1975), and the “Darkness On The Edge Of Town” (1978)… “The River” (1980) was exceptional – so that was the Bruce canon that was the backdrop to my middle and high-school years, and I loved all of it! Then “Nebraska” (1982) came out, and I was like WTF is this??? It’s not that the songs weren’t well-done – for they were, it’s just that NONE of them could hold a candle to what came before it… I listened to about 3 or 4 tracks, and I was like done with it… Maybe Bruce felt the need to do a Bob Dylan-esque album, or maybe he was cleansing his palate in anticipation of working on the more “popish” material that would be forthcoming on “Born In The USA” (1984) – but whatever it was, it was a HUGE disappointment to be sure… What could go wrong with an album of 10 totally acoustic, and incredibly depressing stories about “simple folk”, which offers no variation or diversity in sound… Glad I DIDN'T listen to the album all the way through back in the day, and wish I WOULDN'T have this morning on the drive into work… If you want good acoustic Bruce, there is plenty to be found throughout his discography…

Have no idea why “Calenture” is on this list… The music is pretentious, the albums is over-produced, and the lyrics are absolutely dreadful…. Every song comes across as the musical version of a Hallmark Channel special… The people who create that Hallmark content, think they are producing something really exceptional – but for the rest of us who accidently watch it – we’re like WTF is this, and how could this get any worse… Here’s a little tidbit of the Triffids lyrical stylings in case your wondering - “Bad News Always Reminds Me of You” “…You get to itching for the devil's next love thing…” “…The time has come to look yourself in the face…” “…When everything around you moves fast…” “Look yourself in the face”??? I could see look yourself in the eye or something along those lines, but face??? Wow – there are just no words… This album is one of the worst of those on the 1,001 that I’ve listened to, and would give it a 0 if I could…

Not sure what’s going on with the Gorillaz album, as it was all over the place – and much of it was forgettable… There were a couple of rap songs that were pretty pedestrian… There was a Latin song on the album – but if I want to listen to something like that, I’ll listen to an artist who excels in that genre… The 2 most listenable songs for me were “Tomorrow Comes Today” & “Dracula” – though neither of them are anything to write home about… The musical core for “M1 A1” sounded pretty much like U2’s “Zoo Station” – only not nearly as interesting, and “Man Research” MAY indeed be the worst freakin’ song that I’ve ever heard… Seriously – it’s an absolute abomination… I continue to be amazed by how l lame the albums released in the 2000’s have been so far on the 1,001 list… So far, maybe 1 out of 10 of the 2000’s albums have been decent – but what has been held up as an example of musical excellence from the 2000’s, has been shocking to say the least… A solid 1 in my book, and I find it completely mindboggling, that there are folks who think this album is a 4 or 5…

So I was aware of Television and “Marquee Moon” in the late-70’s, but I was way more into blues-based heavy rock, as well as progressive rock back then… That said, I always had a very positive vibe about the band and that album in particular… So this was my first time listening to the album start-to-finish, and I thoroughly enjoyed it… It’s very clear that there is something incredibly original about this album – and there something very special about it as well… For me, the best songs on “Marquee Moon”, sound like the bridge between the traditional rock world as it had progressed to that time – and what would become the alternative rock genre that would follow… Not so much the lyrics, and clearly the vocals are not the strength of the album, but musically is where you can really notice the difference… It is worth noting that the vocals DO fit the music style pretty well – even if they are not the best from a singing perspective… I like that they had 3 shorter tracks on each side, with the closing track on each side, being the longer, more intricate compositions… IMO, the longest tracks are by far the best – but there is goodness throughout… My favorite tracks include – “Friction” – 4-stars out of 7… “Guiding Light” – 4-stars out of 7… “Torn Curtain” – 5-stars out of 7… “Marquee Moon” – 6-stars out of 7… Mainly for the music, and incredible originality… Probably a 3.75 in my book, but because of the originality and significance, I’ll clock it in at a solid 4…

So I listened to the Fats album, and it was as expected – well done for its time… I liked the diversity throughout the album, and especially enjoyed the more blues-based tracks… Obviously scores big points for being a pioneer, bringing his roots to his music – and for the couple of iconic songs on the album… Obviously, the audio quality of this album was limited by the technology of the time, and I found the arrangements to be pretty pedestrian and predictable – as compared to the music of the times, but it is what it is… Solid 3 in my book for its historical significance – even if this was a compilation album, but I’ll think of it as sort of a lifetime achievement award…

So I had heard a few tracks from “Live Through This” back in the day – but never ran through the whole album, so this was a good experiment… Not a lot to say about this one, and below are a few of those thoughts – - I found the album to be fairly well-done, both in terms of song structure, audio quality, energy, and diversity throughout the album… - While I didn’t do a deep dive on the lyrics, it sorta felt like female grunge steeped in lesbonic anger… Not sure if that’s what’s actually going on, but that was my vibe… - I thought Courtney’s vocals were the highlight of the album, as the conviction was definitely there in spades… - Best songs for me by far, were “Violet” & “Credit In A Straight World” – though there really isn’t a bad track on the entire album… - Kinda funny that a few weeks ago, I had Frank Black’s “Teenager Of the Year” – with essentially the same cover – only drawn – and it was a dude… : ) All in all, a solid 3 in my book, and glad that I listened…

So I’ve never been a big Dylan fan – though he really has written some exceptional songs, and I respect his contribution to music over the years… That said, my issue has always been his singing… In fact, I enjoy many of his classics – just the versions performed by other artists (i.e. “All Along The Watchtower” both the Jimi Hendrix, and the U2 versions, etc.) Truth is, I never listened to any of his albums from start-to-finish, so this was a good exercise for me… “Like A Rolling Stone” was an exceptional way to start the album, and his vocal style – really suits that song quite well… Unfortunately, that vocal style would continue for the rest of the album, and after about 5 or 6 songs in, I was like – really??? Musically however, I enjoyed most of the compositions, and having Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper on guitar didn’t hurt, and I’ve always had mad love for harmonica – which also worked quite well with this collection of songs… I probably need to spend more time with the lyrics – as I’m sure that’s what kicks this album into another gear for most Dylan fans – but in my book, quality songs are a combination of outstanding instrumentation, excellent lyrics – which are delivered vocally in a style that fits the music… Unfortunately – a vocal style with absolutely no variation whatsoever, and one that is pretty annoying to begin with, really holds the listening experience back… I guess if you just accept his limited vocals – it probably works, and as I said – his vocal style is perfect for the songs “Like A Rolling Stone” & “Blowin’ In the Wind”, but not for every god-damned song… Also enjoyed “Highway 61 Revisited” – except for that damned whistle-thing, whatever that was – totally ruined the vibe for me, and have NO idea why artistically he felt that was needed… Anyways – I get the historical significance of this album, but the best I can give this is a 3…

So the song “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” was played fairly frequently when I was in middle-school & high-school – though most of the time it was the shortened radio edit version, but WMMS did play the full and live versions fairly often… Didn’t mind it, but wasn’t in love with it either, but had never listened to the whole album before… As a prog guy, I have to say that I like what they were trying to do circa 1968, so I have no issue there – but the execution seems a bit lacking… All of the songs were serviceable with the exception of “Flowers & Beads” – which sticks out like a sore thumb, and sorta sounds like it was a commercial attempt to sound like the standard hippie-fare of the day, in order to draw some additional fans… Anyways, it’s clearly the worst song on the album… Additionally, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” is the best song on the album, but there is a little asterisk next to it – but we’ll get to that in a moment… My biggest takeaway from listening to this album, was just how poorly it was recorded – as it sounds like it was recorded for AM radio, as it is very tinny, with almost no low-end – or deep bass and drums component… Have to say that really took a lot away from the compositions… Hopefully they corrected that sound live, but it was absolutely dreadful on the album… As for the song itself – clearly the first few minutes is basically the best part, and perhaps a bit at the end, but why you’d add a 6-minute drum solo in the middle is beyond me – and I’m a drummer… Pretty sure that’s why the radio edit took all that out, to make it much more palatable… Anyways, I was really hoping that I’d like this album as I love the direction they were trying to head, however, so many variables just held it back – with the audio quality and weak lyrics being the prime culprits… I’ll give it 2 for ambition, but that’s about it…

Not much to say about this album, other than I found it incredibly boring from start to finish... I saw "Grapevine" on there - and thought maybe they had written it, but they did not - they were just another cover version, and it's a pretty crappy cover at that... Marvin Gaye's cover is the definitive version... Boring will get you a 1 from me every time...

Was somewhat familiar with Public Enemy’s game, as I listened to “Apocalypse 91” about 6 weeks ago, and thought it was just fine… Their style is their style - so points for originality of sound, though it did get a bit repetitive after a while… Going to say that “Fight the Power” was the best track IMO, as I’d give that song 4-stars out of 7-stars in my little rating system… Nothing mind-blowingly awesome on this album – but nothing all that awful either – but just can’t get it to a 3, so a 2 it is…

So I like Roxy Music – as well as Bryan Ferry & Brian Eno, so I really expected to thoroughly enjoy this album, however – it wasn’t quite as good as I thought… The audio quality was excellent, the diversity throughout the tracks was really well done, and you can really tell they were into experimentation on this album… The theme that sorta ran throughout the album for me, was that there were sections of vocals and music – that were exceptional at times, while there were others that really weren’t exceptional at all – and often times within the same song… That sonic whiplash (i.e. okay – so it doesn’t change that frantically, but there might changes 2 or 3 times within the same song) was truly a bit annoying – though I had more issues with the vocal stylings than the music… So I liked bits and parts of just about every song with the exception of “Do The Strand” – but didn’t really love any of them – the way I do all of the songs on the “Avalon” album – albeit a different style and vibe to that album… Best song on the album IMO is “Strictly Confidential” – and to be honest, I thought there would be more songs like that one on this album, but c’est la vie… Can’t get it to a 3, but would probably give it a 2.50 if I could – so a solid 2 for me…

Not a big RHCP fan, so no surprises here in regards to my thoughts… The hits from this album were extremely well done - so “Scar Tissue”, “Other Side”, and “Californication”, but other than that there’s really nothing special here IMO… I tend to enjoy more complex compositions, and a lot of what is on here is pretty meat-and-potatoes as far as I am concerned – which is fine… Musically, all the songs were well-done, so I guess it was the vocals that dragged it down for me… And I’m definitely NOT a fan of Anthony Kiedis “scat rap” crap that he seems to think he’s good at (i.e. most of it is just nonsense that happens to rhyme, but that’s just me…). I know it’s hard to find a decent vocalist and frontman, but he is sort of the weak link in the band for me, as the guitars, bass, and drums were all excellent… “Porcelain” sucked total ass – so not sure what that was doing on this album, and it seemed like there were a couple of short songs that really would have been awesome as instrumentals/// Unfortunately, it seems that Mr. Kiedis felt he needed to be involved on every track – which basically ruined some of those for me… The one that really stuck out was “I Like Dirt” – and I was trying to imagine it as a jam – which would have been very interesting, but Mr. Kiedis’ 3rd rate sexual inuendo lyrics that litter the track just really ruined a good thing for me… Would probably give it a 2.50 if I was being critical, but I enjoyed the musicianship – especially John Frusciante’s guitar work, and the hits were really well done, so I’ll be generous and bump it up to a 3…

So “Definitely Maybe” was an awesome debut album to be sure… Love the original sound, and the raw heaviness of the album… Not a lot of diversity throughout it though – but that’s okay due to the creativity… The stretch from “Columbia” through “Cigarettes & Alcohol” was by far the best music on the album, and “Supersonic” gets a 6-stars out of 7 from me, as it is the centerpiece of the album… In fact, earlier in the day that I drew this album, I was on a golf trip in southern Virgina with my college buddies, and we were listening to an 8-hour rock playlist on shuffle on the Marshall amp, and on the 15th hole as we were getting ready to tee off, The Universe decided to send us “Supersonic”… Absolute perfection…

As for The Cramps “Songs The Lord Taught Us” – they are definitely original and unique sounding – though pretty simple and basic, and there really wasn’t much diversity throughout the album, as most songs sorta sounded the same… Nothing special here, and the best track IMOP is “I’m Cramped” – and really thought they did a great job with their cover of “Fever”… Would probably give this a 1.25 if I could, but that’s it for this garage punk band…

So I knew the hit Frankie songs, but never listened to the entire album before, and I will say that it’s actually pretty interesting… Not sure what “The World Is My Oyster” song was that opened the album, but “Pleasuredome” was pretty well done – perhaps a bit bloated, but intriguing… Obviously “Relax” & “Two Tribes” are the best songs on the album, and the covers in the middle of the album were unexpected, but again – very interesting… Hadn’t heard “Ferry” in over 40 years, so that was pretty cool, and the version of “Born To Run” – while not top -shelf, was still ambitious for sure… Also enjoyed the “San Jose” cover – but really, all 3 of those tracks – along with “War” – just really seemed out of place compared to the rest of the album – but they were definitely fun… Not sure it needed to be a double album – but hey, I thought it was pretty well done all-the-way around… Would probably give this a 2.50 if I could, but I’ll bump it up to a 3, as I enjoyed it more than I thought I would…

So I’m a big Neil fan, and have to admit that I hadn’t even hear of this album… I was more a fan of the Crazy Horse work, as “Live Rust” is my all-time fav – but I digress… Really enjoyed this album, and did not expect Neil basically playing the blues – but absolutely enjoyed it! Sure it’s not at the same level of “After the Goldrush” and all of Neil’s top-shelf tracks, but it’s a solid album all the way around… Favorite tracks included all of the blues titles – so “Revolution”, “Vampire”, & “Ambulance” – but all of the tracks are well-done – even if they are a little on the darker side… It doesn’t hurt that David Crosby, Rick Danko, and Levon Helm, really made “Revolution Blues” pop… Not the greatest Neil effort, but glad that I listened to it, and a solid 3 for me…

So I’ve never really dabbled with Husker Du before – so this was all new to me… Being honest – I kept getting this “harder edged REM” vibe, as well as a “pop punk” vibe – so not sure how that maps on to what the critics say, but that’s what I heard… For me, the album got better and better the more I listened, so that was a pleasant surprise – and while not exactly my cup of tea (i.e. not a punk fan by any stretch…) I found several songs that I enjoyed… Best songs IMO were – “Ice Cold Ice” – 4 out of 7 stars… “Too Much Spice” – 5 out of 7 stars… “She Floated Away” – 4 out of 7 stars… “It’s Not Peculiar” – 5 out of 7 stars… “You Can Live At Home” – 4 out of 7 stars… So nothing life changing, but not bad for punk… It is interesting that the bulk of the songs that I liked, were written by Grant Hart – and NOT Bob Mould – who I always heard was the heart and soul of Husker Du – not sure what to do with that, but there it is… Can’t quite get this to a 3, but a 2 from me for a punk album is pretty good, and never would have found this album without the 1,001…

So I was aware of this band as I was coming of age in the mid-70’s, but was never a fan of late 60’s pop, and had never listened to this album before – so it was a good exercise… Pros - I was worried when “A Girl Like You” & “I’m So Happy Now” comprised 2 of the first 3 tracks, as that stereotypical, late 60’s pop sound with the “required” pre-arranged pop brass charts just grates on my musical nerves – but thankfully those were the only poor tracks on the album… - I liked the diversity outside of the 2 mentioned above, as it seemed like they were experimenting – and I always appreciate that… - The 3 hits from this album were really well done for its time, and I gave all 3 of them 5-stars out of 7 on my ranking scale, so – - “How Can I Be Sure” - “Groovin” - “You Better Run” The last of the 3, was the original to the definitive version that Pat Benatar would record on her “Crimes Of Passion” album in 1980 – which was stunningly good, but kudos to the Young Rascals for creating it in the first place… Cons - The album was recorded in mono, and I get it was the late 60’s but, but that was kind of a drag… - The lyrical content outside of the hits, is absolutely dreadful schlock… The basic theme of the songs from start-to-finish is – - I’m looking for someone like you… - Okay, I found somebody… - Yay – let’s get married now… - Oh no – maybe I’m having some second thoughts… - Wait, maybe it’ll be okay… - Well I guess now we’ll just be groovin’… - Oh wait – maybe I really don’t think I love you anymore… - Uh – I’m pissed, so you better run and get away from me… Ugh… Anyways, based on the 3 top-shelf songs, combined with the creativity and diversity displayed throughout the album, I’m gonna give this a solid 3…

So I had never heard of Spacemen 3 before, so “Playing With Fire” was definitely an experiment for me… Was quickly disappointed, as a primarily synth-driven album is not exactly in my musical wheelhouse… Quick observations were – - Most of the tracks were just not all that interesting to be honest, and while I tend to enjoy hypnotic music – the particular repetitive rhythms that run throughout most of this album were just boring… - The “vocals” if you can call them that, were hardly worth the time – both in terms of lyrical quality, as well as vocal quality… In fact, on a couple of tracks that I thought were the more reasonable ones, they were absolutely ruined by the absolutely awful vocal component… This album should have been all instrumental like “Explosions In The Sky” or another band like that – which would have resulted in a much better musical experience from my perspective… - On the positive side, I did find “Revolution” & “Suicide” to be somewhat compelling – with the later being the most interesting track on the album… I listened on TIDAL, and the remaster had a live version of “Suicide” which was really well-done – and I’d give that song a 4-stars out of 7 in my rating scale, so there is that… Nothing crazy here, but the best part of a pretty lackluster album… Giving it a 2 based on the 2 songs that I found most compelling…

As for The Jam’s “All Mod Cons” album, I have to say that I was a bit disappointed… There are several songs by them that I enjoy – and had never heard this album before, so I had a good vibe, so perhaps my expectations were too high… There is nothing wrong with the album, as the recording quality is good, there is decent diversity among the tracks, and most are fairly well-written and performed – it’s just that nothing really grabbed me… “Mr. Clean” was one of the better tracks, and “The Place I Love” was solid – though the part I liked the most was the little throwback musical section that reminded me of the same sequence in “So You Want To Be A Rock & Roll Star” – so points for that, but if that was the best part of the song, well… Best I can do here is a 2, as it was fairly well-done for what it was…

So for some reason, I thought that a 10-day vacation in The Cayman Islands might be a good time to catch-up on the 1,001 Albums assignment… Just sayin’ that vacation is an absolutely terrible time to try and catch-up on these… You know what else is fucking terrible, “Wonderful Rainbow”… So there is a genre known as “noise rock” huh – what utter, and complete BS… There is nothing catchy about this album, and there is not a single redeeming quality anywhere on it… I’ve only given a handful of 1’s – and would love to have given this a 0, but they won’t let me… A complete waste of time, and there is NO reason this album should be on this list… And as a footnote, “30,000 Monkies” is in the running for the worst song that I have ever listened to…

So when I think of The Roots, I think Jimmy Fallon – so this was an eye-opener for me, since I’ve never listened to one of their albums… Musically – the album is extremely well-done, and the hip-hop based lyrics were pretty solid as well… Best quality of the album, was the fact that the sound and range of the tracks was pretty diverse – which is always appreciated… Best tracks IMO, were – - Sacrifice – Decent musical track, with an excellent message lyrically… - The Seed (2.0) – Primarily related to the musical track, and less so the lyrics… - Water – Not awesome, but I found it to be a very interesting track… Would probably give this one a 2.50 if I could, but can’t quite get it to a 3 – but definitely a solid album for sure…

So I always listen to the albums without reading anything about them, in order to form my own opinions about them – and then afterwards, I read the Wiki highlights et al… Listened to this on the drive into work today, and had 2 distinct – and exact opposite thoughts while listening… #1 – If this was made AFTER Radiohead had hit the scene, then this D+ knock-off is definitely not worth your time… #2 – If however, this was made BEFORE Radiohead had hit the scene, then this album deserves a special place in the prog rock canon… After I found out that Robert Wyatt – after writing most of the material, fell from a balcony and was paralyzed from the waist down, that added a whole new layer of intrigue… Given the originality found on this album, combined with the vision and grit to get it recorded after his recovery, really puts this album in a different light… Definitely feels like layered sampling throughout the album, combined with sections of tracks that sounded like they were recorded normally – and then played back in reverse and embedded in several tracks – all with additional layers of instrumentation mixed in… The result sounds like a raw DNA precursor that forms an evolutionary line directly to the seasoned Radiohead of the late 90’s and 2000’s… Sections of “Little Red Riding Hood Hit The Road” definitely has hints of Radiohead’s “The National Anthem” from their “Kid A” album released in 2000… Not saying there are any direct corollaries, but the style, layering, and overall sound are along the same lines… Given all of the unique aspects of this album – which is not easy to listen to the first time through (i.e. neither was Radiohead’s “Kid A” or John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” – good company for sure…), this deserves more than a 2 – so surprisingly for me even, this clocks in as a solid 3…

So I really enjoyed “Come Find Yourself” by the Fun Lovin’ Criminals – as I had never heard of them before… Really liked the vibe of the album, and both the music and lyrics were both extremely well-done… Not a bad track on the album, and the diversity of sound throughout, was very much appreciated – and overall, just a fun album start-to-finish… There were a couple of tracks that grabbed me a bit more, and they were – “Passive/Aggressive” “Scooby Snacks” “I Can’t Get With That” “Crime & Punishment” Nothing life-changing here, but a solid and fun effort, and deserving of a 3 from me…

So “Back To Black” by Amy Winehouse was one of those “captured lightning in a bottle” albums IMO… It is one of those efforts where everything just came together to fit together so perfectly, and the result was an absolutely exceptional album… The combination of Amy’s amazing song writing (i.e. Amy genuinely sharing her autobiographical anguish and vulnerabilities related to a challenging relationship and her mental illness and substance abuse issues…), a unique and perfect musical style as a backdrop for those songs, and her emotional vocal delivery, was one of those rare recipe’s that was likely never to be repeated… “Rehab” & “Back To Black” are clearly the best tracks IMO, but there is not a throwaway track on the album – although the last song “Addicted” is probably the weakest lyrically – though it is genuine… The raw emotion that comes through on this album, both the lyrically and via her vocal delivery, is definitely the highlight of the album… When this album came out, no one had recorded that style of 60’s “pop and soul” music in over 40 years, so it sounded incredibly fresh and unique in 2006 – which made it easy for the album to stand out, and then the lyrics, vocals, and the picture that was painted did the rest of the work… Also pretty eerie to have such an amazing album laying all of this out in advance of her untimely demise a few years later… For the uniqueness of the musical backdrop for these songs, along with the raw and genuine lyrics – combined with the perfect emotional vocal delivery, lead to a perfect “imperfect” album in my eyes – and one of the rare 5’s that I give out…

So in addition to my love of all things progressive rock – as well as heavy metal, I have a deep appreciation for Brazilian Jazz/Bosa Nova music – and Joao Gilberto, and Antonio Carlos Jobim were the early architects of the genre, so it was kinda cool hearing ACJ play with Frank – who I never knew he was actually known as “Francis Albert”… The album consist of Frank singing fairly well-done Bosa Nova standards, that was quite enjoyable… Only complaints would be that – #1 - What I like about the genre in general, is the simplicity and pace of the arrangements, while the arrangements on this album seemed to be a bit over-produced – probably consistent with most Frank albums… It was fine, but still bugged me a tad… #2 – Frank does an excellent job of navigating the tracks, but I just am too familiar with what I feel are the definitive versions of each of the songs here, so I found Frank’s versions coming up well short compared to some of the best… For example, the Stan Getz version of version of “Girl From Ipanema” sung by Astrud Gilberto – with Joao Gilberto mixing in Portuguese lyrics as well – is absolutely perfect IMO, so anybody trying to cover this classic is just not going to measure up in my eyes… Also – I did enjoy the studio “takes” near the end of the album – which captured Frank in the studio, which I found quite interesting… Glad I listened, and Frank is an amazing singer – and he also seems to have a great appreciation for the genre which was cool as well, but no new ground was covered here… Would probably give this a 2.50 if I could, but can’t get it to a 3 – so there you go, it’s just a 2…

So I found “One World” by John Martyn to be a pretty pedestrian late 70’s R&B effort, that easily could have been the sleazy porn soundtrack to the old SNL skit featuring Tim Meadows called – “Velvet Jones – The Ladies Man”… Gee – I wonder what “Big Muff” could be about… Ugh… Anyways, I had pretty much written it off completely – and then the final song “Small Hours” came on… Primarily an instrumental for all intents-and-purposes, and I found it to be absolutely amazing… Reminded me of a less-raw, way-more melodic “Maggotbrain” by Funkadelic… “Small Hours” is probably a 5-stars out of 7-stars in my little rating system, as it’s that good – and it really came out of absolutely nowhere, as the rest of the album is pretty much shite, but based on that 1 fabulous song, I’ll give it a 2 – but you’ve been warned…

So Fairport Convention equals English folk huh… The band DOES have a very distinctive sound – especially Sandy Denny’s vocals and stylings, and for what they were trying to do, they did a pretty solid job… Not a big folk fan though, and especially not a big Dylan fan – which I guess there were 3 or 4 Dylan covers on this album – so that might explain my less-than-enthusiastic experience with the “Unhalfbricking”… The 2 songs I did find the most interesting were “The Autopsy” & “Where Does The Time Go” – both written by Denny, as both are fine efforts, and I’d give them both 4-stars out of 7-stars… I rated a Dylan album a few weeks back, and I commented on how I think Dylan is a great songwriter – however, just about ALL of the versions of his songs that I like – were performed by other artists (i.e. “All Along The Watchtower” – Jimi Hendrix, “Mr. Tambourine Man” – The Byrds, “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” G&R, etc.). Well, Fairport Convention had 4 chances to wow me on this album, but not so much… Anyways – definitely a unique sound, and fairly well-executed for what it was, so a solid 2 in my book…

So I’m a big fan of Neil & Crazy Horse – and “Live Rust” was one of my early go-to live albums… That said, this was just middle of the road for me, and well below Neil’s top-shelf efforts… I heard that they wanted to capture more of a “grungy” feel, so they played all of the songs live in the studio over and over – for several weeks, and then took what they thought was the best take for each song to the album – which I kinda like actually… Neil saying this approach “Allowed the Horse to not think" – which Is pretty cool… The downside of the approach I guess, is that it does sort of explain the “notch below top-shelf” audio quality of the album, as I’m sure that style has some recording tradeoffs that you need to be willing to make… Anyways, “Fuckin’ Up”, “Mansion On The Hill” , & “Love & Only Love” were the best tracks IMO, but everything else was just there for me… “Love To Burn” starts out almost exactly like “Love & Only Love” – but just doesn’t pop in quite the same way… Not a bad album, it’s just that I expect a lot from Neil & Crazy Horse, and this fell a bit short for sure – but a solid album…

So Blur was one of the few albums that I had never listened to all the way through, that actually got worse after each subsequent listen – which is rare for me… There was decent diversity in the music throughout the album, and most of the compositions were fairly well done – it’s just that not very much grabbed me… “Song 2” is obviously quite catchy, and probably the most well-known track from this album, but after a few listens, it pretty much loses it’s “muchness” as there just wasn’t a lot of substance there… Not a bad poppish tune at all, but it’s certainly pretty limited… The best track IMO was the last one – “Essex Dogs”, and “Death Of A Party” & “Just A Killer For Your Love” were somewhat interesting, but not nearly enough to make up for the pedestrian nature of the rest of the album… Also “Country sad Ballad Man” is just a truly awful song – not as bad as “30,000 Monkies” from Lightning Bolt (i.e. a band from the apparently the “Noise Rock” genre, that I had to listen to a few weeks back on the 1,001 – but I digress…), but still dreadful… Had some decent expectations for this one, so a bit disappointing to be honest… Nothing but a solid 2 for me…

So “Take Me Apart” by Kelela was fairly well-done, and I appreciate the fact that she didn’t talk much about “da club”, or how she was going to be “spitting fire” with her lyrics… I also think she is a fine vocalist, and was easy to listen to… That said, if there hadn’t been the song title changes as I listened on TIDAL – I would not have known, as it really did sound like one, big, long connected song… Like I said, it was well-executed – she does have a unique voice, and I like the electronica/R&B futuristic blend to her sound HOWEVER, there was almost no diversity to be found on this album – anywhere, as all the songs sounded like clones of each other… If I had to choose 1 song that was a bit better/different from the others, I’d probably choose “Onanon”, but not much more than that… Definitely a 2, but not much more in my book…

So I enjoyed the MGMT “Oracular Spectacular” album, and appreciated the originality of their sound… Pretty good diversity from a musical perspective throughout, and overall the album was pretty well done… “Kids” is by far the best track on the album, and its sound is incredibly original, and I’d give it 5-starts out of 7 in my little rating scale… Lyrics seem quite interesting as well, though don’t really have an idea as to exactly what it’s about though the line “…Control yourself, take only what you need from it…” really resonated with me from a variety of perspectives… “Time To Pretend” & “Electric Feel” were also the popular, and I though they were pretty solid, but the track other than “Kids” that grabbed me – was “Of Moons, Birds, & Monsters”, as I just really enjoyed that one as well… A solid 3 for me overall, and the “Kids” track really bumped it up…

So Shuggie Otis was an artist that I had never heard before, and I found this to be a completely forgettable album… As I always do when I get one of these headscratchers, I was perplexed why this is even on the 1,001 list… Found this little ditty about the “Inspirational Information” album – “…Released in 1974 on Epic Records, it reached number 181 on Billboard's Top 200 Pop Albums list that year…”. Wow – 174 of 200 at it’s peak, we definitely need to get that one on the 1,001 list for sure… : ) Anyways, just found it incredibly odd all-the-way around, as songs go on much longer than they need to, while others stop suddenly when they should have gone on a bit longer – and vocals, forget about it, as they are absolutely dreadful… Actually found the instrumentals to be a bit better, but that may have just been because Shuggie wasn’t singing… This sounded like it could have been the soundtrack music to the old 70’s sitcom “Sanford & Son”… “…I think this is the big one Elizabeth…” though nothing big about this album, and giving a generous 1 for my rating…

So I never listened to a Chemical Brothers album start-to-finish before, and I found the music to be energetic, fairly original, and I enjoyed the style and beats for the most part… There really aren’t any vocals here – perhaps some spoken word and/or recorded voices – but the music really stands on its own… “Don’t Stop The Rock” & “Where Do I Begin” were my favorite tracks, but there really isn’t a bad on the album – of course nothing spectacular either, but everything is quite solid – and I enjoyed what sounded like a rhythmic “crackle” on one of the tracks… On the downside, the only thought that kept running through my brain as I listened, was how lame the electronic drums sounded… As a drummer, it just kept bothering me more and more as the album played… I get that it was 1997 and that technology was probably quite limited as compared to today, but it REALLY sounded dated – and there really much variation in those sounds… The corollary to what I disliked about the audio quality of the electronic drums, was that I kept imaging how amazing these tracks would have sounded with a live drummer, playing a real set… Wish they would have remastered it with better drums, but that’s just me… Would probably rate this as a 2.50, but can’t get it to a 3 based on my drum issue (i.e. again – love the beats, just not the lame audio quality of them – and all of the cymbal and hi-hat sounds were perhaps the worst…), so a 2 it is…

So I was pleasantly surprised by “”Maverick A Strike” by Finley Quaye… As a reggae aficionado, I liked the vibe of the album – as while it is not true reggae, I’d call it reggae-tinged for sure… There was good diversity throughout the album which is always appreciated, and there really isn’t a bad track on it either – just some songs are better than others… Also a nice dose of originality on top gets a tip o’ the cap… Best songs IMO were – “Sunday Shining” – 4-stars out of 7… “Even After All” – 4-stars out of 7… “The Way Of The Explosive” – 4-stars out of 7… “Red Rolled & Seen” – Nice groove instrumental and 4-stars out of 7… “Maverick A Strike” – Has a vibe of Marley’s “Exodus”, just not nearly as good – also 4-stars out of 7…

So as I’ve said before, I’m a big rock guy – and my exposure to rap and hip-hop has been extremely limited… I typically know the more popular tracks from a couple of artists, but that’s about it – so the 1,001 has forced me to listen to a number of rap and/or hip-hop albums so far, as I’m about 150 or so in right now… So far, I’ve had some NWA, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, Outcast – and a few others – so I was looking forward to “Doggystyle” by Snoop Dogg… Just a few thoughts overall – - As compared to other rappers, Snoop is far more laid back (i.e. not angry, frustrated, etc.), and his style really worked for me… - “Gin & Juice” is by far the best track on the album – which was the good part, but was kinda bummed that there weren’t at least a few more that really moved me – though “Murder Was The Case” was pretty solid… - So as I said, I don’t listen much to rap – so adjusting to the language was a bit of a challenge… So between all of the “That Nigga”, “Those Nigga’s”, and “My Nigga’s” – I probably heard that word at least 700 times on this album… It is what it is, but as a “Cracka” it really gets a bit tedious after a while… - The final thought, is that I get that Snoop is rapping about what he knows – and everything definitely comes across as genuine – which is great… That said, the album glorifies a certain lifestyle, and the violence and degradation of women throughout, just didn’t sit well with me the longer it went on… - Tracks about rising up from nothing, making something of yourself after challenging beginnings is absolutely awesome, but bragging about all of the “bitches” and “hoes” you’re bangin’ and then tossing to the side of the road – well that’s just incredibly sad… Probably a 3, but for the overall negative messages that it promotes, knocks down to a 2… Love Snoop’s style though…

So as I’ve said before, I’m a big rock guy – and my exposure to rap and hip-hop has been extremely limited… I typically know the more popular tracks from a couple of artists, but that’s about it – so the 1,001 has forced me to listen to a number of rap and/or hip-hop albums so far, as I’m about 150 or so in right now… So far, I’ve had some NWA, Public Enemy, Run-DMC, Queen Latifah, Outcast – and a few others – but hands down, Jay-Z is the best rapper in my opinion, and this album was absolutely fabulous… - Love his style, and how clever and witty his rhyming is… I almost added “writing” as well, but from what I’ve read – it sounds like much of what he creates is spontaneous – which makes it even more amazing… - His songs are genuine, and far-less focused on “thug life’ as opposed to like “Doggystyle” by Snoop Dogg – and the lyrics are more about his rise and work ethic – which sends a much more inspirational message… - I found the musical tracks backing his raps, to be among the best quality when compared the 15 or so other rap albums that I’ve listened to so far… The vibe I get, is that either Jay-Z is way more detailed oriented than most of the rappers I’ve listened to, or most of the others either don’t really care all that much for the music, and or aren’t that detail-oriented (i.e. making sure that every aspect of the album is top-shelf) – or both… - Best tracks IMO were – “Takeover” – Loved the backdrop of The Doors track on this one, and exceptionally well done… “Izzo (HOVA) – Really enjoyed this, as well as the story behind how the HOVA name came to be – do yourself a favor and Google it… Great track… “Blueprint” – This one is really well done as well, and a great way to close the album… The rest of the tracks are incredibly solid – and there is great diversity throughout the album, although the weakest tracks were the 2 “Girls, Girls, Girls” tracks (i.e. certainly catchy, but not nearly as good as the other material on this album…) – and surprisingly, the Eminem track “Renegade”, was not nearly as good as I thought it would be… Fells like this should be a 5 – and I don’t give many of those (i.e. maybe 10% of the 150 or so albums I’ve listened to so far…), so that’s what I’ll give it…

So I gotta be honest, I see a lot of people rating “I See A Darkness” fairly high, and I just don’t get it at all… Like AT ALL… Musically, there is no variation whatsoever – and the basic instrumentation could not have been simpler, in addition to being incredibly dull… Lyrically, there is absolutely nothing poetic in ANY of the lyrics… Nothing clever, nothing brilliant, and absolutely nothing memorable… And then we come to the vocal delivery and style – and again, nothing imaginative, nothing stylistically worth noting – and its really not even singing, it’s just sort of sad talking at best… I get that people may be attracted to it because of the depressive mood and the sadness of the album, but there are PLENTY of depressing albums out there (i.e. “The Wall” - Pink Floyd, “Back To Black” – Amy Winehouse, come to mind…), and while incredibly draining, the lyrics are amazing, the music is exceptionally well-done, and the vocal delivery is a perfect fit for the mood of the music… Essentially – everything that “I See Darkness” most certainly is NOT… Gets a 1 instead of a 0, as at least it was original – but there is a lot of original crap out there, and this is some of it…

So I was prepared to NOT like “It’s Blitz!” by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs – as I had heard some of their stuff awhile back to lackluster reviews, so it didn’t surprise me when it started slowly why I was out cutting the lawn… It is fairly original, and there was a decent amount of diversity throughout the album – and really not a bad track on it, just not all that many gems either in my opinion… The best tracks IMO were “Dull Life” & “Shame & Fortune” – as both are really well-done, and I did think the album got better as it went on… Nothing earth-shattering here in my opinion, but not too shabby for a post 2000 album, as I’m pretty hard on those – as not many have impressed me to date… Solid 2…

So I usually have a bit to say about just about every album – and enjoy electronica (i.e. Deadmau5, Thievery Corporation, etc.) but “Orbital 2” was just incredibly dull… Actually, felt like one long track – with the exception of the first and last – both of which had the incessant phrases on a loop… Not much originality, not much substance, and no chance I will EVER listen to this again…

So “The White Room” was fine – and considerably better than “Orbital 2” which I had the day before – so there’s that… I’m seeing mentions of UK electronica, Eurodance music, “pop-house”, and other monikers – but at the end of the day, is the music interesting and unique – and on that front, this album is just there for me… Didn’t hate it, but nothing really memorable or intriguing… Best track was “The White Room”, but can’t give the album anything more than a 2…

So I’m not a huge punk fan – but did appreciate at least getting a rock album for a change, as it seems like it’s been all rap and electronica lately… Was a little worried at first, but the album really grew on me the longer it went on… Is this some of the greatest music I’ve ever listened to – hell no, but it was fairly well-done for what it was… While I didn’t really hate any of the tracks, there wasn’t a ton of really interesting ones that grabbed me either… The 2 best tracks IMO were – “On A Rope” – which I think got some airplay back in the day… “Salt Future” – which I don’t think did – but I thought it was pretty interesting, and actually a better track than “On A Rope”… That said, just not enough there to get it to a 3 – so a solid 2 it is…

So as a rock fan, and a heavy metal guy (i.e. think Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Dio, Pantera, Tool, Ghost, etc.) – I was interested to see how this one would play out… I’m guessing for 1982, it was probably pretty popular with a very select group of fans… You’ll note with most of the bands that I mentioned, you have fairly complex musical compositions – which are incredibly performed by amazing musicians… You could argue that Judas Priest is the most basic of that group, but I found Venom to be fairly average in terms of the quality of the compositions, as well as the playing… Also – creative lyrics about some of those dark topics can be appealing, but there’s not a ton of imagination here… Here’s a sample from “Raise The Dead” – which overall, was one of the better tracks on the album IMO, but lyrically – bit much to wrote home about… “…Rising from my deadly tomb I've got maddened eyes with fright fingers bleeding fast heart beating the moons my only light Ashes to ashes, dust to dust If God won't have me, then the Devil must…” But hey, if some extreme sub-genre takes it’s name from your album – then that’s gotta be worth something, so a solid 2 creating a little slice of goodness for a few people…

So I found “The Message” to be an incredibly odd album, but it was an interesting journey to be sure… Had heard a few songs from this album, but was not aware they were from this one – so it was all new to me until those tracks came on… First thought was how exceptional the audio quality of the recording was – as that is not a given in the world of rap, especially in the early 80’s… Second thought was, the top vocalist delivered some awesome vocals, and I really appreciated his style – as he was head and shoulders above the other singers on the album… “She’s Fresh” opened the album just fine, nothing exceptional – but fairly well done for what I thought was going to be the 80’s version of a late 70’s funk album… Then “It’s Nasty” came on, and the familiar keyboard riff that I always thought was created by the Tom Tom Club comes on… Nice touch, and really helped the track – but turns out – they Grandmaster Flash just lifted from the Tom Tom Club’s 1980 track “Genius Of Love”… C’est la vie, but rap sorta does that – and it is a great riff, but would have been more impressed if Grandmaster had created it… “Scorpio” & “It’s A Shame” were fine, though pretty dull – but I guess the synthesized lyrics must have been inventive for 1982… Maybe not – but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt… Then it was as if someone scratched their fingers across a chalkboard, and the decent vibe of the album came to an abrupt stop… “Dreamin” was apparently a song they felt they needed to record as an homage to Stevie Wonder… Sure Stevie probably deserves some love – but NOT like this, and I doubt that Mr. Wonder appreciated this dreadful excuse of a song… Words cannot even begin to describe how truly horrific this actually is… As my good friend Keith is fond of saying, “…That is fucking terrible…” That was followed by another miserable effort called “You Are” – which was some sort of religious dirge… Not like some old-time church experience, just an awful preachy, “…do you accept Jesus Christ as your savior…” sort of experience… I didn’t need that experience… It was clear on those two truly awful tracks, that the artist felt REALLY compelled to record them… Sorry – but this little detour came pretty close to totally ruining the entire album for me… And then we got to “The Message” – which I have always held in high regard, just don’t think I even knew the exact title… Love the vocals, love the backing track, love the lyrics – and overall, it’s just a magical song… Also really appreciated the genuineness of the lyrics…. Just describing the experience, no bragging about how “fire” their rhymes were, no glamorizing “thug life” – just authentic portrayals of a unique life experience… So well done all-the-way around… The last track “The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel” was just a fun a way to close the album… Enjoyed all the snippets of tracks that mentioned “Flash”, as well as the Queen backing track for a good portion of the song… Probably would have given this an easy 3 if it weren’t for the dreadful tracks in the middle, so that bumps it down to a 2.50… However, “The Message” seems like it was such an incredibly influential track – I’ll go with a 3…

So I had never heard of this band or album before - so I really didn't what to expect - but I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would... Liked the music, liked the vocals, enjoyed the lyrics for the most part, and liked how they worked in the little pre-recorded spoken word effects throughout (i.e. just the right amount, as most artists go way too far with that stuff)… Found several tracks on the album that I thought were extremely well-done IMO – “If White America…” – 4 out of 7-stars… “She Is Suffering” – 4 out of 7-stars… “Archives Of Pain” – 5 out of 7-stars… “Die In The Summertime” – 4 out of 7-stars… “The Intense Humming Of Evil” – 5 out of 7-stars… That’s way more goodness than I was expecting – and most of the other tracks are solid as well… Also appreciated the diversity of sound throughout the album – just really good balance start-to-finish, and a fairly original sound from this band – all score points with me… Read a bit of their bio on Wikipedia, and the details of the disappearance of Richey Edwards – the bands lyricist and rhythm guitarist, was absolutely fascinating, though incredibly sad… Reminded me of demise of Ian Curtis from Joy Division on the eve of their initial North American Tour… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richey_Edwards#Disappearance_and_presumed_death Probably would give this a 3.50 if I could, but just can’t get it to a 4 – so a really well-done 3 it is…

So I saw Bauhaus at a music a festival a awhile ago, and thought their set was pretty decent… Now of course I was getting the “Best Of” set-list, so was curious how this album would sit with me… Turns out not-so-much… It is fairly original, but there’s not a whole lot you can really do with that “sound” as it gets pretty repetitive after a bit… The only tracks that were mildly interesting – and I emphasize the word MILDLY, were “The Passion Of Lovers”, & “Kick In The Eye”… I see people going on and on about the “David, Peter, Kevin, etc.” song – so I was kinda curious about that one, but what an utter waste of time… Gonna give this a 2 since seeing them live – albeit playing the best of their material over the course of their career, was at least interesting, and doubt they would have gotten to that place without albums like this that moved them along the process of developing their sound…

So I always liked Green Day – not loved, as I’m not really a punk guy, but have appreciated their work over the years… Was looking forward to listening to “American Idiot” from start-to-finish, and it did NOT disappoint… For me, there were 3 really outstanding tracks – with most of the rest being a nice collection of solid songs… My favs in order were – #1 – “Holiday” – 5-stars of out 7… #2 – “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” – 4-stars out of 7… #3 – “Wake Me Up When September Ends” – 4-stars out of 7… I know a lot has been made of the lyrics, though nothing really stood out as exceptional – though again, really pretty solid… Not sure as to the accuracy of their protests in hindsight, but the fact that they were thinking about content like this, was at least interesting… The musicianship is top notch, and always liked Billie Joe’s vocals, so all-in-all, a pretty well put together album… I know there is massive love for the album from the younger generation – which I get, and would probably give it a 3.50 if I could – but when I look at the albums I’ve rated a 4, I just can’t get there… A strong 3 for me…

So I found The The’s “Infected” album, to be standard fare for the mid-80’s British pop… Think I’ve seen that they considered themselves “post-punk” – okay, still sounds pretty poppish to me… Nothing really exceptional here – though nothing really sucked either, so just kinda there for me… Certainly didn’t so a deep dive on the lyrics, but those that caught my attention weren’t anything consequential to be honest… Best songs IMO were “Heartland” & “Slow Train To Dawn” – as both were catchy and fairly well-done… Seemed like an average British pop album for 1985, so not sure what it’s doing on the 1,001, but okay… Solid 2 for me…

So not much to say about The Undertones debut album, which for 1979 was a bit ahead of its time… Short, simple, succinct songs – with a fairly decent sound for that time, and nothing that really sucked, is an accomplishment as far as I’m concerned… I also run it through the lens of – if I had just turned 18 in 1979, and this is what my band and I created – I’d be pretty proud of it… Does it mean that it belongs in the pantheon of great albums of all-time, hell no – but far better than a lot of the “swill” that I have had to listen to on this 1,001 journey… Solid 2 from me…

So I usually have a few thoughts on just about every album, but “Dr. Octogoncologyst” – not so much… It’s basically the same, on long musical track throughout – interlaced with some pre-recorded loop shit, where the artist tried to work the word “rectum” into just about every track… Dreadful effort, produced by someone with the sensibilities of the 5th grade boy… Ugh…

So I never owned any Dinosaur Jr music – nor have I ever listened to them, at least knowingly… As a rock guy, I really appreciated their sound – kinda like an excellent garage band… Not a big fan of the “lo-fi” movement, so if that’s what they were going for, or this was really just a sub-par recording effort, the audio quality was sorely lacking… Nothing was sharp, and a good portion of the album was pretty muddled IMO… That said, I did enjoy a couple of tracks, as the album started out pretty strong, but about 5 tracks in, it definitely started to lose some steam… Best tracks IMO were “Little Fury Things” & “Sludgefeast” – though there were moments of musical goodness throughout the first 6 tracks… Vocally, I thought the dude sounded like a much weaker version of Adam Duritz of “Counting Crows” – but his voice definitely suits the music for sure… Not much diversity in the sound until the slower pace of the 6th track “Tarpit” – so a little variety in tempo would have helped no doubt… After that, it’s like they ran out of material… “In A Jar” was pretty weak, and I have NO idea what they were doing with “Lose” & “Polido” – as they were so disappointing compared to the earlier parts of the album… Also didn’t think I needed to hear a pretty pedestrian version of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” to close the album… All in all, I’m glad I listened – as this is in my wheelhouse, however the audio quality, combined with the fact that it got weaker the longer it went on – and finished in such dreadful fashion, I can’t give it more than a 2…

So “Whatever” by Aimee Mann, is one of those albums that I never would have listened to without the 1,001… Always impressed with her work with “Til’ Tuesday” – and her backing vocals on the Rush track “Time Stands Still”, totally made the song, and was absolutely magical… That said, I didn’t really know what to expect – but was pleasantly surprised… Can’t say I know what the “genre” is, but it is exceptionally well done… Her vocals, and her range throughout were pretty close to perfect on this album – and her voice blends so well with the music… Obviously some tracks are better than others – but even the weaker ones were fairly well done… Best tracks IMO were – “4th Of July”, “Stupid Thing”, “I Could Hurt You Now”, & “I’ve Had It” would all be 4-stars out of 7 in my little rating scale… The weaker tracks were “Fifty Years At The Fair”, “Jacob Marley’s Chain”, & “Way Back When”… Again – it’s not that these songs sucked, it’s just that they weren’t nearly as well-done as the others… Though each of them still had moments of goodness – like the lyrics in “Way Back When”… The rest of the tracks were just fine… Just love the quality, ease, and range of Aimee’s voice – and really appreciate how well she compliments the music – which is no easy task… She’s just a talented and versatile artist, and I really enjoyed this album… Solid 3 from me…

So Def Leppard’s debut album “On Through The Night” came out when I was in high-school in 1980, and as a rock guy, I really liked their sound – especially when compared to a lot of the new wave and punk music that was coming out at the time… It was heavy and raw, but had that AOR FM station appeal back then… Their follow-up album “High & Dry” was also excellent, and their raw, powerful, hard-rock sound seemed to be evolving… Then came the next 2 albums where their sound developed into a way more commercial – as well as a much more polished sound – with “Hysteria” being the 2nd of those two… Can’t blame them – as that recipe really worked for them – especially with females, and at least they did retain their hard-rock sound for the most part… Forgot just how good this album was, and how many songs made it to radio back in the day… Below are my favs in order - “Armageddon It” - 6-stars out of 7… “Animal” - 6-stars out of 7… “Rocket” - 5-stars out of 7… “Pour Some Sugar On Me” - 5-stars out of 7… “Hysteria” - 5-stars out of 7… “Love Bites” – 5-stars out of 7… “Love & Affection” – 5-stars out of 7… The vocals and harmonies are really well-done, even if the lyrics are pretty poppish, and basic – but musically it really pops – as I’m glad they were able to retain their hard-rock edge during this transition… There is pretty decent diversity throughout the album, and they definitely have an original sound for sure… As a drummer – I was incredibly impressed with Rick’s one-armed drumming on this album after his awful car accident a few years earlier… Got to see them in 2007, and he was even more impressive live… I do wonder if his more “electronic” sounding drum kit had something to do with kicking them into their more commercial/more produced sound – as the one element that they truly lost, was their rawness – but I doubt this album would have been as successfully from a commercial standpoint without it… 7 hit singles from this album is pretty damn impressive, and I’d probably give this a 4.25 if I could, but a healthy 4 in my book for sure – and glad I went back an listened to this one all the way through again, as it’s a great album…

So “The 13th Floor Elevators” album was absolutely dreadful… Perhaps that’s a bit unfair – as the actual music and lyrics – sounded just like every other band of their ilk from the time, so not very original, but then they decided to just kick their album into the absolute shitter by adding in “the electric jug”… Had know idea there was such a thing – and perhaps that is the only reason that this album made the list, was because of the jug (i.e. I saw some mention of just how innovative “the electric jug” was for its time…). I guess maybe if you want to slip it in for a track here or there – I wouldn’t advise it, but sure, experiment a bit – but not on every god-damned track… The only other time the use of an instrument totally ruined a song for me – was when Mr. Zimmerman decided to ruin the track “Highway 61 Revisited” with that stupid siren-whistle - but at least Dylan had the sense to ONLY use it on one song – but I digress… Dull, unoriginal, mono, and hopefully the ONLY album on the 1,001 that used an “electric jug”…

So with reviews of “Who Killed The Zutons” that mentioned the terms “Dad Music” & “Scooby Doo” music, I wasn’t quite sure what I was in for.. Overall, I had a pretty decent experience with this album… Not the greatest album that I’ve ever heard, but was fairly original, as well as diverse musically – with several songs that I enjoyed more than others… From a musicianship perspective, everyone was fairly solid, and the vocals while not a strength of the album, worked just fine… As opposed to starting out weak and getting stronger – or visa-versa, the better songs IMO were scattered across the album… Even the tracks that weren’t as strong – still had elements and/or sections that provided at least some redeemable quality (i.e. “Nightmare Part II” had a pretty unique beat/rhythm, and the instrumental section was solid…), and all songs were extremely listenable… Best songs IMO in order of goodness, were – “Pressure Point” – Especially enjoyed the instrumental work between 1:45-2:15’ish… “Havana Gang Brawl” “Zuton Fever” “Not A Lot To Do” Again – this band clearly has limitations from a talent perspective, and the quality of the audio recording could have been a bit better – but they did a great job of maximizing their collective abilities… Between 2 and a 3 IMO (i.e. probably a 2.50), but this is better than several of the 2’s that I’ve listened to recently, plus a bit of a bump for the effort here – so a generous 3 from me…

So a big of The Psychedelic Furs, and was really looking forward to diving into this album… Always thought they were more of a mid-80’s band, but was really surprised to find their debut album came out in 1980 – so kudos for being one of the bands that defined the sound of the 80’s… Of note – I got the Furs album 2 days after having to listen to a band called “The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators” – who apparently was the first artist to add the term “psychedelic’ to music – so there’s that, and not much else with that band… By the way, their album “The 13th Floor Elevators” is dreadful as hell, and totally sucks ass - if you haven’t gotten to that one yet… Anyways – liked the rock-based foundation of The Furs take on alternative 80’s pop, and have always been a fan of Richard Butler’s unique vocal style… Also enjoyed the guitar work on the album, as well as how they strategically worked the sax into their songs – as it really added a unique twist… Seems like they are one of those bands that always had 3-4 excellent songs on each album – which really helped to sustain momentum in the music industry over time, and “Talk, Talk, Talk” is no exception… Those 3-4 for me on this album would be – “Pretty In Pink” – 5-stars out of 7… Staple on the soundtrack to the 80’s… “Mr. Jones” – 4-stars out of 7… Nice straight-forward rock track… “Dumb Waiters” – 5-stars out of 7… Really unique sound to this one… “All Of This & Nothing” – 4-stars out of 7… Nice closer to the album, with great instrumental sections… There really isn’t a bad track on “Talk, Talk, Talk”, though there do seem to be bits and pieces of the more popular tracks, embedded into some of the lesser tracks (i.e. “No Tears” & “She Is Mine” sound a bit like “Pretty In Pink” at times…). Got to see the band at an 80’s festival a few years back, and they were awesome live – and you would be shocked at just how deep their catalog is when you listen to them… Highly recommend… This album definitely represents a band on the rise, and a clear step forward in the evolution as compared to their debut album… Not fully developed by any means, but you can see exactly where they are going… Would probably give this a 3.25 if I could, but definitely can’t get this to a 4, so a really good 3 in my book…

So “Rattlesnakes” by Lloyd Cole isn’t exactly my cup of tea, but at least he’s got a fairly original sound, and I thought this album was fairly well-done… Pretty decent diversity throughout the tracks, and the musicianship is solid… Not the greatest vocals or lyrics in the world, but certainly serviceable for sure… Most tracks were just fine with me, and while there were a couple that I really didn’t enjoy, there were a couple that I did… Best tracks on the album IMO were “Speedboat”, and the closing track “Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?”… Not sure why this is on the 1,001, but better than many that I have listened to so far, and a solid 2 for me…

So a big fan of The Police – and actually saw the “Synchronicity” Tour back in 1983, and had the entire catalog on vinyl back in the day… Don’t think I ever listened to this one all the way through before – usually a side here, or the other side there – so was looking forward to this… What becomes immediately clear on “Regatta de Blanc” – is that the song-writing and musicianship is DEFINITELY evolving from the work on their debut album “Outlandos d’Amour”…. Where the former was much more basic and punk influenced, “Regatta” was much more intricate, considerably more polished, and had way more of a reggae feel to it – which would become a hallmark of their music… In the late 70’s, I kinda of thought of The Clash & The Police as the next iteration of British punk – bands with much more complex songs, which were way more accessible, and performed by talented musicians – all of that being the opposite of original punk in my book… Both eventually became much more radio-friendly – though The Clash would keep their political roots – and BOTH were absolute originals… So many outstanding tracks on the album – and even the lesser quality efforts, were still good… Favs included – “Message On A Bottle” – 7-stars out of 7… “Walking On The Moon” – 6-stars out of 7… “The Bed’s Too Big Without You” – 5-stars out of 7… “On Any Other Day” – 4-stars out of 7… Excellent diversity throughout the album, and the musicianship & audio mix were both exceptional… Would probably give this a 4.25 if I could – as their next 2 albums “Zenyatta Mondatta” & “Ghost In The Machine” would absolutely blow-up… “Ghost” will definitely be a 5 in my book, and we’ll have to see how “Zenyatta” stacks up when it comes up on the 1,001…

So my thoughts on Frank Sinatra’s “In The Wee Small Hours” are much more straight-forward than most… - There is no doubt that Frank was an excellent vocalist – not much variation in his style, but very appealing – and what he does, he does really well… - The instrumental arrangements from the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s were what they were – and at least these arrangements didn’t come across as over-produced – like so many of that era… - The quality of the audio in this recording was pretty sold for being 70 years old (i.e. as of 2024)… - Close to 50-minutes of heartbreak and despair is pretty hard to take – even if it is well-done… Not sure if that’s what he was going for (i.e. I’m gonna put out an entire album of all sad, melancholy songs…), but not sure it was the best decision, as there was absolutely no diversity in sound on this album whatsoever… At times, I thought my music app TIDAL was experiencing a glitch, as I could have sworn 4 or 5 times, that I was hearing the same song being repeated… In the end, it’s always unfair to apply today’s standards to yesterday’s music – so I will appreciate it for what it was, and I’m willing to bet that compared to other releases from 1954 – this one would stand up quite well… Solid 3 for me…

So not much to say about Hawkwind’s “Space Ritual”, except that I have NO early idea (i.e. see what I did there… : ) why this is on the 1,001 list… This was a very demoralizing listen to say the least… All I kept thinking was, this is a considerably less-talented version of Spinal Tap, as this album just keep droning on, and on – with no discernible change in sound, or vocals… Sure, they may have sped some sections up, and slowed some down – but it was like the sonic version of dirty bathwater… In addition, the audio quality was extremely sub-par – but I guess that could have been related to when it was recorded, but another variable that didn’t help the cause… And lyrically – forget it – “…In case of Sonic Attack on your district Follow these rules If you are making love, it is imperative to bring all bodies to orgasm simultaneously Do not waste time blocking your ears Do not waste time seeking a soundproof shelter…” The really sad part for me, was later that day after listening to this crap, my wife and I were enjoying drinks outside on the back deck as it was a lovely summer evening, and we put the album “Avalon” from Roxy Music on over the Bose speakers… Such an amazing album, and the best from Roxy as far as I am concerned… So my wife asks me about the album that I listened to for the 1,001 earlier in the day, and I told her about my dreadful Spinal Tap experience with Hawkwind, and she asks if it’s that bad – why is it on the list? Good question, to which I respond – “…Have no idea, but apparently it’s #276 out 1,001 on the list…”. She then asks another great question – “…What is “Avalon” rated on the list…”, and much to my dismay – it seems that the seminal album from Roxy didn’t even merit a mention on the list… Listen – I’m a rock guy, and love me some progressive concept albums – but first and foremost, they have to be good, so listing an album JUST because it was ambitious, makes absolutely NO sense to me… About 150 albums or so in, and really beginning to question why I am even spending time this exercise after an album like this… 1 hour & 43 minutes of my life that I won't get back... Ugh...

Also not much to say about “Street Life” by The Crusaders… While I enjoy Traditional Jazz (i.e. Coltrane, Davis, Brubeck, etc.) and Brazilian Jazz (i.e. Jobim, Getz, Gilberto, etc.), the one genre that I dislike more than most others is “smooth” jazz – the bastardized version of jazz, and that’s what I found here… I will say, that for what they were trying to accomplish – they really did a fine job, and there were instrumental sections where the guitar work was extremely well done, and the sax was integrated nicely – but it still didn’t make up for the predominance of that over-produced, sax-drenched cliché – that is smooth jazz… The recording quality was pretty solid, but that’s about it… Best track IMO was “The Hustler” – as at least there were some compelling sections within that track, while the last track “Night Feces” represented everything I hate about this genre…

So not much to say about Marvin Gaye’s “Here, My Dear” album… So Marvin’s going through a divorce, decides to write a bunch of songs about it, and makes an album out of it… I’m sure a big part of it was “…Wow – if Marvin wants to do that – I guess he’s gonna do that, because well – he’s Marvin Gaye…” Now don’t get me wrong, as I truly believe that Marvin was an exceptional talent, but this is nothing more than self-indulgent swill as far as I’m concerned… Sure, its raw, and captured a period in his life – but that does NOT mean it’s good, and it falls woefully short when compared to his best work… Peter Gabriel & Phil Collins both wrote some incredible compositions related to their respective divorces that really connected with their audiences – but Marvin’s effort here is ultimately forgettable… Only decent track on the album was “Is That Enough” – which is really well-done, and his vocals throughout are pretty top-shelf as you’d expect, but musically, as well as lyrically – it’s just not all that interesting or inspiring – sorry…

So Kanye’s “Dark Twisted Fantasy” was not as bad as I was dreading, so there’s that… I did find it fascinating that saw a number of rock artists listed in the song writing credits – so Jon Anderson (Yes), Robert Fripp (King Crimson), Tony Iommi & Ozzy (Black Sabbath) – along with Carole King – and I was like WTF, until I realized that Kanye was just sampling portions of their songs on his tracks… I guess that’s part of what bugs me about hip-hop/rap – is the basing of a new rap song, around a musical hook that’s already been created by another artist… I know everyone “borrows” from everyone else in music, and very little is genuinely “created” – but the blatant practice of knowingly taking something, and re-working it, just has never sat well with me… C’est la vie… While nothing earth-shattering here, I did find it at least somewhat interesting, so a solid 2 for Kanye… Still don’t get why he is a thing, but at least he’s better than “Dr. Octogon” – so there’s that…

So I bought my first records when I was 12 in the mid-70’s, and “A Night At The Opera” & “A Day At The Races” were early additions to the collections, and have always been a fan of Queen… This is a spectacular album, and really enjoyed the diversity of music throughout the tracks – and it was produced with exceptional audio quality, which always scores points in my book… So many great tracks – especially on Side 1, and the best IMO were – “Death On Two Legs” – 6-stars out of 7… Great revenge track about their former Trident Studios manager… “Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon” – 4-stars out of 7… Fun little ditty with a lot packed into this 1:08 track… “I’m In Love With My Car” – 5-stars out of 7… Enjoyed the power and guitar work on this one… “You’re My Best Friend” – 7-stars out of 7… Staple on the soundtrack of the 70’s – absolute classic… “39” – 5-stars out of 7… Always one of my deep cut favs, and finally got to see it performed live in 2022 when we did a spur of the moment weekend trip to Minneapolis to see Queen & Adam Lambert perform – highly recommend by the way… “Love Of My Life” – 4-stars out of 7… This version is a bit over-produced, as I prefer the stripped-down version they used to play live – but a really unique, and well-written track… “Bohemian Rhapsody” – 7-stars out of 7… Loved this one from the first listen, and one of the foundational tracks in the rock canon… Only compliant was the dead spot at the end of Side 1, and beginning of Side 2, as everything from “Sweet Lady” though to “The Prophet’s Song”, are nowhere near as good as everything that preceded it on this album… Also – “Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon” was a perfect alternative track, and they really didn’t need to add 2 more shanty’s (i.e. “Seaside” & “Good Company”) as that was really a bit much… Would probably give this a 4.50 if I could, as there is so much goodness here, but the dead spot in the middle, and a few too many “shanty” tunes – keeps it from registering as a 5 for me… Awesome album, from one of the true originals – highly recommend!

So always been a big Bowie fan, but it had been a long time since I listened to “Ziggy” all the way through… Really enjoyed the journey, as the album has to be one of Bowie’s best… Outstanding musicianship, song-writing, and vocal delivery throughout – and nice diversity among the tracks, which is always appreciated… Best tracks IMO have not changed since when I first heard this a long time ago – “Moonage Daydream” – 5-stars out of 7… “Starman” – 7-stars out of 7… “Ziggy Stardust” – 7-starts out of 7… “Suffragette City” – 5-stars out of 7… “Rock & Roll Suicide” – 4-stars out of 7… The one thing that did stand out a bit, was that some of the lesser-known tracks, were not nearly as strong as I expected, or remembered – still solid, but the gap between the best of this album and the weaker ones was pretty wide… Guess the overall goodness of the album “halo-effected” them – at least in my mind… Hard to give this a 5 with some many “decent” – not stellar tracks, but how do you NOT give this a 5 as it is a great concept album with 2 of all-time classic tracks on it… Ultimately, what I would rate as a 4.50, I will bump up to a 5 given the historical significance of this album, and all those that it likely inspired…

So TBH, I had no idea what to expect from “Turbonegro” – as I had never heard of them before, and frankly – was a bit scared… Have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with this Norwegian hard rock band – especially musically – as sonically – they were right in my wheelhouse… I really enjoyed the music on this album, as there were numerous tracks that I thought were really well-done, as the musicianship was nothing short of outstanding – as most of the complex, guitar-driven compositions were excellent “meat and potatoes” hard rock… Favorite tracks – again based mainly for the instrumentation, were – - “Age Of Pamparius” - “Get It On” - “Monkey On Your Back” And the best track IMO was… - “Humiliation Street” That said, the same cannot be said for the lyrics and/or song titles – as lyrically, this sounds like it was written by Beavis & Butthead… I’m not even joking here… Seriously – the lyrical content of this album is THAT awful… And if “Rendezvous With Anus” & “Good Head” don’t paint the picture, and tell you everything that you need to know – then I don’t know what to say… Don’t think I’ve ever listened to an album where the gap between the high-quality musical content, and absolutely dreadful lyrics was ever THIS wide… Absolutely shocking… Someone should re-record these songs with new above-average lyrics and better vocal delivery (i.e. and I get that English is their 2nd language, but they’re barely pedestrian vocally…), and I bet this album would really sell well… Would give this a 3 based on the music, but a 1 based on the lyrical content – so it gets a frustrating 2 from me… Oh what could have been…

So “Slanted & Enchanted” is a bit better than “Crooked Rain” – though not by much… Nothing exceptional from a creativity/originality standpoint, the musicianship is average at best, and whole the “lo-fi” sound isn’t as bad as “Crooked Rain”, but it’s still nothing to write home about… I just found this to be pretty dull all the way around TBH… I get the whole “…I just don’t give a shit vibe…” they are trying for – it’s just that they’re not all that good at it… I checked TIDAL’s highest-rated songs by Pavement, and the 2 highest from this album were the 7th “Here” & the 8th “Summer Babe” – and those are barely pedestrian efforts if you ask me, so not much to see here – move along…

I found gene Clark’s “White Light” to be a far, far, far, far, far less talented knock-off of a Neil Young/Bob Dylan artist mash-up… Nothing really compelling about these tracks – though several are saved by pretty decent harmonica work – and I have a weakness for the strategic use of good harmonica (i.e. think Neil Young & Jimmy Buffett to name a few…). Usually note a couple of tracks that stood out for me, but these all just sort of ran together for me… Will give it a 2 due to the decent harmonica, and as well as decent audio quality for 1970… Highly forgettable though…