1001 Albums Summary

Led Zeppelin and Nirvana’s bastard love child? Lotsa bass and drums, less distorto guitar and vocals. Pretty great stuff.

With side one bookended by two of their best songs ever, this is one of Rush’s strongest albums.

Rikki Don’t Lose That Number was literally my first introduction to Steely Dan as a 12 year old. Listening now, it’s a pretty great album. The songs are of a piece, except for East St. Louis Toodle-oo, which sounds out of place. Otherwise, this is a great exploration of the demimonde, albeit what you get when you’re California hipsters rather than the Velvets.

In an era where they didn’t really do albums, just the artist’s latest hit or two packaged up with absolute dross, this album holds together surprisingly well. This is doubly surprising since it was culled from multiple recording sessions over several years. Nice to see Fats get his due on the 1001 albums list, as he was criminally underappreciated during his prime.

Well I guess you had to be there. I wasn’t. The stars are for “Piece of My Heart”, a great song by any reckoning, “Turtle Blues”, and maybe “I Need a Man to Love”. The rest is the acid-addled musings of her backup band. Maybe this is why she went solo.

I certainly dismissed these guys out of hand as a young adult. They weren’t my jam. Listening 40 years on, I have to give them their due. The playing is really good even if the songs don’t really transcend the genre. Certainly speed metal and Metallica probably don’t end up sounding like they do without these guys.

Very good album. More covers than usual for Creedence, surprising since John was still writing ace tunes. Docked half a star for feeling the need to make an artistic statement with their sprawling 11 minute version of “Heard It Through the Grapevine”, 3 minutes of good single and 8 minutes of meandering psychedelic blues jam.

The voice is still in fine form, but I think this pales in comparison to his very fine late 50’s/early 60’s work.

This was a breath of fresh air when it came out, a snotty middle-fingered salute to teen angst. And it still sounds great 30 years later. The best of these still hit like a ton of bricks. Do you have the time to listen to me whine, indeed.

After trying and failing to out-Beatle the Beatles on “Their Satanic Majesties…”, this is the album where they just tried to be the best Stones they could be. This is a great album start to finish, and is a great leadoff to their classic 1968-72 period. What can a poor boy do?

In which our hero sets out to make a more laid-back Jayhawks album (or maybe they were making more uptight Neil Young records?). Seriously, this just gets down in the groove and rocks in a subdued electrified country-rock vein. He’s not trying to make a grand statement here, and he doesn’t have to. A very satisfying listen.

Not a bad album. Not a great album. I’m a little surprised this made the “1001 Albums…” list. They were better than they were given credit for, but certainly not the second coming of the Beatles.

The album that started it all. Elvis was one of the first of the angry young men to get his thoughts down on vinyl in the immediate post-punk era. This album, while having more of a country rock feel at times (this was recorded before he hooked up with The Attractions) courtesy of Huey Lewis’ then backing band Clover, still has all the EC trademarks: the wordplay, the snarl, and especially the anger at a world not made for him….or us. Great opening statement.

I’m guessing this made the list because this is the album where Madonna goes all personal and confessional. But I have to admit I like the boppy and brainless(-appearing; I know it’s an intentional illusion) Madonna of the first three albums. Here the best songs are the lightest. I know great art is often made from our emotional scars and injuries, but I can’t just call this album great art.

What did you want him to call it — “Soundtrack for a Movie Where Nothing Happens”?

Weird little album. Every time you think they’re about to play it straight some more weirdness breaks out. The instrumentation, percussion and mannered singing are jarring but in a good way. A jagged little anti-pop, almost-masterpiece.

I was ready to be disappointed when I got this album rather than Jailbreak. Happy to say I was not. This is a great album. Makes a fine introduction to an underappreciated band.

Usually SciFi concept albums are done in by contrived plots, bad lyrics and tunes that often sound like amelodic drones. Not so this album. Flaming Lips has come up with a great set of songs that are tuneful and rhythmic. The signature FL sound I first heard on “Vaseline” is still there. An enjoyable listen. Well done.

Face it, this is the album that propelled U2 from good not quite great to megastar status. Side one is chock full of big ringing anthems, their big swings connecting now rather than just missing like on past albums. Side two is a much quieter affair; at times sounds like they were trying to make a Stones album circa 1969. In summary, although I’ll take “Achtung Baby” over this one any day of the week, this album started them on the road to becoming the huge band they are now, and as such, must be given its due.

Not quite the revelation I was hoping for, but nonetheless a good album. ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’ remains a great single.

I know the critics fell all over themselves praising this when it first came out, put listening now I don’t hear it. It’s a pleasant enough country pop album. But I feel like it could have been so much more.

Quirky and fun. Doesn’t take itself too seriously.

My favorite REM album, this is a thoughtful meditation on life and loss.

Unfortunate that I randomly got two REM albums back to back. For me, this one pales next to AFTP. Some good songs, but doesn’t quite hang together as an organic whole. Just OK in the end.

Important transitional figure between Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan.

The most iconic riff ever? This one puts the heavy in Heavy Metal.

The remaining Minutemen regrouped as fIREHOSE following the death of D. Boon, with the addition of Ed ‘fROMOHIO’ Crawford. I can certainly hear the Minutemen in there, but the songs are in general less terse and more melodic than the usual M’s fare.

Cold cold cold. Couple of really good songs but overall just not my thing.

Peter Tosh steps out from the shadow of Bob Marley with his debut solo album. Good stuff, very listenable.

Well played, though I’m honestly still trying to wrap my head around why we need a great classical piece played by these guys. The “Pictures” tunes are at least not bad. The Tchaikovsky abomination “Nutrocker” at the end is a joke, however, bordering on unintentional parody. Almost docked a full star for that one.

Third album was the charm for Randy Newman, who really gets it right here. Great slice of life vignettes that sound as though they were written 50 years earlier, sung in Newman’s plaintive dry voice, accompanied by himself on piano or often brass band arrangements. This is Americana before there was such a thing.

Good stuff. A little samey-same.

Pretty good stuff. The voice itself is a bit of an acquired taste.

Might eventually merit more stars with more listens. There is something good in there. But in a format where you listen to and review an album a day, that ain’t happening. I think The Pixies and Throbbing Gristle might have been listening to these guys.

Extra half star for effort. But… meh.

Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler seemed destined to be remembered as competent journeymen until a couple of well timed/placed videos in the newish MTV format rocketed them into the stratosphere (see also, ZZ Top). Pleasant enough listening, though nothing earth shattering or that really moves the needle (see instead, Prince).

Another one that would probably get rated higher with some repeated listens. Earnest, punky.

The charms of these nice Scottish lads grew on me as I got farther into the album. However, the notion that these nice Scottish lads also write some of the most pedestrian lyrics on either side of the pond.

Whereas Guns ‘N’ Roses and Public Enemy were the late 80’s/early 90’s go to for young white makes wanting vicarious thrills, these guys actually walked it like they talked it. Or rapped it. While the constant unrelenting misogyny and hate gets old by the end of the album, the first three songs alone are a cleansing blast, and what they should be remembered for.

This was my intro to the Dead, about 12 years after the fact when I was in college. It’s a different kind of Dead album. No meandering jams, just ten well written reasonably concise songs. My favorite Dead album for exactly this reason.

Not sure how I missed this gem at the time.

Normally, I’m not a fan of this type of music, but this album was a fairly pleasant surprise. After the first few tunes, I was thinking a 4, but ultimately, it overstayed its welcome.

The album that broke him in America. Solid folky stuff in his unique voice.

My favorite EC album. His first with The Attractions. Great bass & drums from Bruce and Pete Thomas (no relation) and Steve Nieve’s nagging Farfisa organ driving the whole thing. And Elvis’ songs considerably up the ante from the first album. These are really angry songs of failed relationships and (mostly) personal betrayals, delivered with piss and vinegar combined with tongue-in-cheek. Lip service, indeed.

Having bought their first album some 35 years ago, I did have some hope that this might be a decent album. However, by a few songs in, those hopes were dashed. It seems they set out to make a power pop album, some 15 years after that was a thing. However, this album doesn’t seem to have a lot of power… or pop. The 14 turgid tunes go on far too long, rarely threatening to become interesting. Allegedly they were listening to and inspired by “Something Else“-era Kinks when they were writing/recording this album. Nope, don’t hear that either. I thought I might be giving it three stars after the first few songs; however, after this continued to drone on, the grade dropped to its current two stars. Wanted to dock it even further after having to watch the two videos on YouTube accompanying the albums singlesat the end of side one and beginning of side two. Really silly and terrible videos, the antithesis of what one should be doing with the format.

(Spoiler alert: Vassar Clements does not appear in this film). I complained in a previous review about Blur’s pathetic effort to make a power pop album in 1995. On the other hand, these guys set out to do exactly that, and succeed mightily. These are punchy, catchy tunes, delivered with just a little bit of snot. Fun, if ultimately inconsequential. Have to say I hated this cover. Gives the impression of one of those portraits where the eyes follow you.

They continue to carve out a consistent style based on old English folk tunes, with modern rock instrumentation, with their originals written to sound similar. It’s a good sound overall, although the unrelenting exclusive reliance on Sandy Denny for lead vocals (FREE RICHARD THOMPSON!) makes this too monochromatic for me.

Not a bad album. Could have used a little bit of judicious editing. Most songs are too long, and the album overall goes on for too long. Hazards of the CD age I guess. Still the actual songs are decent, have actual melodies rather than just random electronic bleeps like some of the electronica here.

I was actively waffling between a four and a five while listening to this. After all, the great tracks that everybody knows are truly great. However, the not as great tracks are simply… Not. As. Great. So it ends up being a four for me. Still, this is a nice antidote to all of that Britpop early in the decade. And I do always appreciate misery you can dance to. And I give this guy credit for surviving Phil Collins.

Haven’t heard this in years, what a pleasant surprise! I get why this didn’t exactly knock people’s socks off at the time, but this is really a good album. Excellent observational songs, played confidently and well by a band that had come into its own.

Answers the question “What kind of music did Gene Clark want to make after leaving the Byrds?” But make no mistake, this is not the second coming of Sweetheart of the Rodeo. It’s really just OK. For a short album of only nine songs, it actually drags at points. Barely has a pulse at times. Comes to life in the last couple of songs.

She’s in good voice, excellent set of tunes, the combo plays well, and yet… this set doesn’t feel to me like it ever really catches fire. The crowd is way too polite, negating the fact that this is a live album. She might as well be sitting in a room at the library, rather than one of the great jazz clubs in Chicago. Will give it 3.5 stars in recognition of her overall value and talent.

In which Dwight Yoakam single-handedly recaptures the Bakersfield sound, even dragging the great Buck Owens along for a duet on “Streets of Bakersfield”. Pretty good stuff.

His voice and deadpan delivery are an acquired taste, but there is something to these songs that draws you in.

Unremittingly angry. And articulate. And chock full of some great sounds.

Promising start with the opening track “Celebrity Skin” picking right up where “Live Through This” left off, followed by the excellent and poppy “Awful”. After that it’s less of the same for me. This never reaches the level of anger and catharsis that made “Live Through This” so riveting. Still it’s a decent album, and I’ll give it a bonus half star for the mere fact of Courtney getting off the deck after several trying years (husband‘s death, bassist’s death, accusations that her husband wrote much of their breakthrough album, etc.). 3.5 stars rounded to 4.

Subtitled “A boy and his vocorder/phaser/flanger“. I think the 11th Commandment was THOU SHALT NOT BE BORING. If so, this young man unfortunately is going straight to Hell. Only a few tracks rise above pedestrian. Original rating 2.5 stars, docked 1/2 star for the first track sounding exactly like something I might hear if I were put on hold while on the telephone.

A pleasant surprise. Musically and rhythmically pretty listenable. In an 80’s musical world dominated by Britpop and heavily synthesized pop, this comes as a breath of fresh air. That said, the production on some of the early tracks is super muddy, such that you can barely hear the vocals. I assume this is intentional, but since these boys definitely have something to say, I find it distracting and think that this detracts somewhat from the overall experience, enough to keep it out of five star territory for me.

Just OK. The two pop covers don’t really work. The long story before the last track falls flat.

This kind of stuff is not usually my jam. That said, I’d give the playing a 4. The vocals on the other hand are a good solid 2 (I know, not the point with this genre). Lyrical content mostly silly, another solid 2 (unfortunately I think this is somewhat the point of the genre). Glad to have heard it; probably don’t need to hear it again.

Album seems to be backloaded quite a bit. Took me fully half of the album to start finding tunes I liked, then it seemed to get better after that. Obvious care and effort went into the making of this album, but still it mostly boils down to rhapsodizing about bitches and ho’s and my dick‘s bigger, minus the incessant references to murder and popping a cap in someone’s ass, which at least does elevate it above the usual gangsta rap fare.

Overall, this is an uneven album. Part two of the Ziggy trilogy gets off to a strong start with the Rolling-Stones-meet-Mott-the-Hoople rocker “Watch That Man” but then veers into the cocktail piano of “Aladdin Sane”. He recovers somewhat with the the nostalgic “Drive-in Saturday” before finishing side one with two strong Ziggy-style rockers: “Panic in Detroit” and “The Cracked Actor”. The former is easily the best thing on this album and is one of my favorite Bowie songs period. Side two veers immediately into bad Cabaret territory with the melodramatic “Time” followed by the nostalgic camp of”The Prettiest Star”. I could see both songs being performed comfortably by Tim Curry in a production of Rocky Horror Picture Show. An ill-inspired/conceived/executed cover of the Stones’ “Let’s Spend the Night Together” does not improve things. He then gets back on track with the two side closers, “The Jean Genie”and “Lady Grinning Soul”. The former rocks pretty hard with its vamped baseline, and the latter, while veering dangerously close to Cabaret territory again, is at least a good song. This is overall not. Bad album by any means, and there are some absolute gems here, his strong predilection towards bad Cabaret does finally cause me to downgrade this album. You could certainly do worse than to listen to this, but I think either’Hunky Dory’ or ‘Ziggy Stardust…’ are better introductions to the Bowie of this stage of his career.

Since he seems to be out to make anti-music, or at the very least, anti-pop, this is aurally fairly challenging to listen to. Credit for having the balls to do this in the first place, though I suspect this has not aged very well over the years.

Undeniably great. Black music of the 70’s (and beyond) owes much of its sound to this guy.

A set of sturdy tunes, delivered pleasantly enough by the artist. Sounds somewhat like a mating of Village Green-era Kinks with Richard Thompson. Unfortunately, both of them do this kind of thing better than Mr. Cale.

Unlike most of her posthumous releases, this one is not a closet cleaning, in fact was already in the can at the time of her untimely demise in late 1970. This shows her very comfortable and working well with her new(ish) band, Full Tilt Boogie. Nine absolutely great soulful performances, and the irritating (to me at least) “Mercedes Benz”. A true classic despite that one.

So I guess the concept is “music to get stoned by“? In a world where Pink Floyd exists, I’m not sure why we need to “invent“ a whole new genre for this activity. This album is tedious in the extreme. Almost every track overstays its welcome by several minutes. Which maybe you wouldn’t mind if you were stoned enough…

Songs are pleasant though the overall sound of the album lacks variety. Really disliked the album cover on this one, found it rather offputting.

Interesting album on a number of levels. Neil explicitly set out to challenge himself and his band by recording many of these tunes live (audience noise can be heard on multiple tracks, though this is not considered a live album) and then working on them further in the studio, ostensibly to forestall the “rust“ from setting in. Of course, anyone who has paid even passing attention to Neil Young knows that many things in Neil Young‘s career are done specifically to keep Neil Young interested in his career. I think this is no exception. The album is effectively bookended by “Hey Hey My My”, his meditation on fame, neatly juxtaposing the massive flameout of the Sex Pistols with the sad denouement of Elvis. Side 1 continues in mostly an acoustic country vein, with jangly guitar and western imagery. Side 2 concerns more modern topics and goes electric, with at times a punky and sometimes grunged-out sound, especially on the album closing reprise of “Hey Hey My My”. For me, it all hangs together surprisingly well, and is a satisfying and cohesive album.

The benefit of listening to the 1001 albums is hearing things that are out of your comfort zone, or hearing things that you just missed or otherwise didn’t have time to get to when they came out. This album is a perfect example. Great little punky tunes. I found myself liking this very much. I liked the way she uses word repetition and nonsense syllables to achieve rhythm.

Reminded me a little of INXS. Only without much melody. Or rhythm. Or Michael Hutchence.

Hard to remember that this stuff was once considered revolutionary and revelatory, and was also considered part of the American response to the British invasion. Of course these guys played it pretty cool. Their appearance and cutesy-poo spelling of Byrds with a Y instead of an I makes them seem British. I know better, and I often have to remind myself that these guys were from SoCal.

Wow! I own “Pablo Honey“ and “Kid A“, but had somehow never managed to hear this album. I am simply blown away. This may be the best thing I have listened to so far (about 75-80 albums in) in my 1001 Albums journey. Easy 5 stars for me. What I find more impressive is that everything else I’ve given five stars is something I already had heard before, so I already had an idea of its worth before listening for this exercise. This album was, on the other hand, a “cold“ listen, played once straight through. To be that impressed on a first listen is quite something.

Not a bad album, but since this one is hailed as one of the icons of thrash metal, I expected more. The interludes of speed drumming and a-million-notes-a-minute guitar were too few and far between. Very sludgy at other times, with fairly crappy vocals. The band’s oddly placed cover of “I Ain’t Superstitious” isn’t going to make anyone forget the Jeff Beck group.

Pretty great stuff. Great distorted dirty guitar with vocals and bass to match. Wish there had been more of this type of stuff in the British invasion, and less of the twee stuff like Herman’s Hermits, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and Freddie and the Dreamers. Oh well.

Was not thinking this would be a 5 for me, was never a Sabbath fan growing up (I mean, I was eight when this came out), and really did not dig Ozzy in the 80s. But I must admit, this album hangs together pretty well. The songs are really quite good. The opening to “Iron Man” is one of the most iconic riffs in metal, and “Paranoid” is a great single. Will give it 4.5 stars, and round up for them being there firstest with the mostest.

This album is a case of one step forward and two steps back. For every concept that is clever and well executed, there are multiple interludes that are completely puerile and infantile. As with many of their genre brethren, it seems that every third word is F*ck or the N-word. I like to think I’m not a prude, but it does make for tedious listening. Docked a full star for the part where each member describes how he’d like to torture someone. Is this the musical version of torture-porn? Not sure which is worse: whether they seriously mean what they are saying, or whether they totally don’t mean it, and are just throwing those ideas around gratuitously.

This is my second Iron Maiden album for this exercise. This earlier album starts with a much more hard rock sound as opposed to metal, maybe because they hadn’t decided on/perfected their ultimate sound. By side two, some speed metal elements start to creep in. The songs are actually well written and played. I found this an enjoyable album.

I had some anticipatory dread when I got this assignment and read a brief description of the band and its music. Happy to say that my apprehension was completely unfounded. This is a pretty great record. Veers between hard and soft, as well as harsh and melodic. I would definitely be happy to hear more by this group.

Carole King steps out from behind the writing desk to perform her own songs. This is actually her second album, her initial effort “Writer” having made little impact. With “Tapestry“ however, she hits a home run. There's a reason this is 14X platinum. One of the absolute touchstones of the singer-songwriter era. If much of the rest of the decade is filled with pale imitations, that is not Carole’s fault.

This guy (until he found God) and Marvin Gaye (who never quite did) were two of the main go-to’s for romantic balladry (= hose tunes) in the 70’s. This album was the start of a long winning streak of hit albums for Green. All the elements that make him so good can be heard here: his supple tenor/falsetto, great horn (and to a lesser extent, string) charts, and as always, the crack Hi Studios rhythm section. Well done.

Purchased this on vinyl some 40 years ago. Motivation similar to resolution to eat more fruit – it’s supposed to be good for you. Never got into it at the time. In pulling it out to listen for this exercise, I actually liked it much better now than I did then. Reminds me of Talking Heads, if that band completely eschewed melody. Wanted to give it four stars for good bass and drums as well as adherence to their concept,but just couldn’t make myself do it. In the end, too amelodic for my liking.

Very interesting document, which presents a completely different picture of the Sam Cooke we thought we knew. The only live album released in his lifetime, “ Sam Cooke Live at the Copa”, shows him doing mostly lame pop tunes in front of a lily white dinner club audience. This album, recorded in 1963 and first released in 1985 (held back by his record company, because they were worried it would not appeal to his white crossover audience) shows a very different Sam Cooke in front of a majority black Harlem club audience. This comes across gritty and sweaty, with often shouted vocals and a slightly raspy voice, with more than a hint of the church (he was of course, a great gospel singer in the Soul Stirrers before achieving secular fame/success). When I bought this album in the 1980s, I remember being somewhat blown away by the idea that he had to do such different shows for his black versus white audiences (there are literally only two songs in common between the two live albums). I wonder how many other black performers ran into this?

The descriptive blurb noted that over 400 song snippets were sampled to make this. Unfortunately, effort expended in the name of making unmemorable music results in… UNMEMORABLE MUSIC. Half of these tunes sound like background music to me, and the other half like some weird combination of carnival music, disco, and maybe something I might listen to at the next rave I attend, if I were to ever attend one.

I have a fair amount of Buzzcocks music as well as Howard DeVoto’s solo album, but had never heard anything by Magazine, so was not totally sure what to expect. The songs are generally pretty good, decent melody and rhythm. Songs are surprisingly long, with most clocking in in the upper 4 or low-to-mid 5 minute range, but generally do not overstay their welcome. I will likely explore the remainder of their catalog.

It’s become fashionable to bash Led Zeppelin, this album, and “Stairway to Heaven“. After all, much of the punk ethos of the mid-70s was a backlash to the bloated excesses of multiple performers (sometimes including Led Zep themselves) trying to copy/re-create/outdo this album. But forget all that. This is just a great album. Led Zeppelin sets out to make a rock tour de force as in “we’re going to show you how to play rock ‘n’ roll” and then does exactly that. The blues-based call and response of “Black Dog” opens the album, followed by the loud/fast warping of Chuck Berry that is “Rock and Roll”. Next comes the medieval/fantasy “Battle of Evermore” with its delicate guitar/mandolin sound. The side ends with “Stairway”, which comes across as a suite, with its opening acoustic section, a different middle, and then ending with a hard rock coda. For better or worse, “Bohemian Rhapsody“ doesn’t exist without this one showing the way. Side two opens with the iconic riff of “Misty Mountain Hop” while Robert Plant sings us a funny story about a riot. This is followed by the ultra heavy riff of “Four Sticks” (so named because John Bonham was bashing his kit with two mallets in each hand) with Plant wailing over the top of it. The mood lightens with the next song, the acoustic hippie anthem “Going to California” with its delicate acoustic guitar. The album closer “When the Levee Breaks” opens with a wailing harmonica over another heavy blues riff. This song sounds absolutely apocalyptic, like the world might actually end TOMORROW. This is right up there with Hendrix’s version of “All Along the Watchtower” for implied menace. Easy five stars.

The group’s first live album, “Live at Leeds” was put out between “Tommy” and “Who’s Next” for the express purpose of capturing the group’s live sound. There is almost no material from “Tommy” (with the exception of a small piece of “See Me, Feel Me” during the long “My Generation” medley); instead they did some of their older material and a few choice covers. Without being able to resort to studio enhancements, they are reduced to essentially a power trio here. The results are positively thunderous, and the album rocks really hard. Note: the album was originally issued as a single vinyl LP. I played my copy of the 1995 25th anniversary CD for this. You can re-create the original album/track order by playing tracks 5, 6, 11–14. If you have some expanded version on Spotify or YouTube or other streaming service, the tunes you want are, in order: young man, blues, substitute, summertime blues, Shakin all over, my generation, magic bus. Hope someone will find this helpful.

I have heard this album a number of times before, and expected going in that I would be rating it a four or five. However, it was really just OK for me today. The three shorter songs are all pretty great. However, the very long “Shine on You Crazy Diamond“, two versions of which bookend the album, just doesn’t do it for me.

The playing is good, the sound is good, some of the tunes are clever. However, the goofy theatrics really detract, and point the way for the schlock Alice would do through most of the rest of the 70s. This has not aged well.

Overall a very solid listen. The blues based tunes and power trio format leads to a pleasantly consistent, if ultimately limited sound. I can’t be the only one who finds the album closer “Mother’s Lament” to be silly and out of place on this record.

I have “Lady Soul “and “Soul 69” and know the hits off of this one, but I’ve never actually heard this album as it was issued until now. All I can say is wow. After being miscast at Columbia as a jazz singer, she hits it out of the park on her debut album for Atlantic. Everything works here. Her incredibly soulful vocals sound ageless and timeless (and not like someone only in their late 20s), like this kind of music was exactly what she was meant to do. The backing vocals (two sisters plus Cissy Houston) are awesome. The backing musicians are sympathetic and funky. The songs are mostly great, with only a couple of weaker numbers, which she still delivers with authority. Makes you almost forget the great Otis Redding with her cover of “Respect”, which she just owns. Easy five stars for me.

Pleasant enough, but mostly forgettable. Only tracks 5 and 10 (“Loops…” and “I Wish) sounded like actual songs. Liked the nod to ELO’s “Telephone Line” between “Lightning Back” and “Valley”. That was cute.

As I have stated before, one of the things I like about doing the 1001 albums is a chance to hear things that are not on my radar, even if I don’t happen to like them. However, this album still has me scratching my head as to its inclusion on this list. I am pretty sure I could have shuffled off this mortal coil without regret without having heard this one. Nothing unpleasant, but completely innocuous music here. Weirdly starts out with mostly hose tunes, then switches abruptly about 2/3 of the way through to a poor man’s Marvin Gaye with the songs Rough Out Here” and “Slum King”, which I actually found to be two of the better tracks on the album. Docked a star for not editing himself — this goes on entirely too long. Unfortunately this is often a characteristic of albums released in the 90’s and 2000’s; vinyl limited an artist to at most 45 minutes whereas CDs can go for much longer. I mean, why express yourself concisely in 45 minutes when you can now express yourself indulgently in 65 minutes?

Unrelated to this particular album, I want to say the following: I’m not sure jazz and country should be included in the 1001 albums list. Not because they are unimportant; I like both, and feel both should be well represented in any collection that claims to be a comprehensive music overview. The problem in my view is that there are so few jazz albums on the list. There are around 25 by my count (actual real jazz albums, not Steely Dan or Keith Jarrett which somehow this list includes in the jazz genre). That number is large enough to be an irritant to the jazz haters of the world (pretty easy to spot by their reviews) but not nearly enough to pretend to be remotely comprehensive in terms of giving an overview of important jazz albums and artists. I understand the omission of many important early jazz artists (Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker come immediately to mind) since most of their seminal works were issued pre-vinyl LP. But no Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Chick Corea — in fact, very little that could be considered modern jazz, as well more than half of the jazz albums on the list were issued pre-1965. I would advocate either beefing up the number of jazz and country albums the list, presumably at the expense of some of the (IMO) overrepresented electronica (I know, the Gen Z’ers and millennials are going to howl at that suggestion), or else do away with them entirely.

Well, there’s influential, and there’s influential that I actually enjoy listening to. This one is much more the former and much less the latter. I waffled most of the way through it between three and four stars, the higher rating for its influence, the lower rating for its listenability, or lack thereof. 3.49, rounding down.

The same opening statement as my previous review (Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “The Scream”) applies equally here: there is influential, and then there is influential I might actually want to listen to. This is definitely the former. Most of this sounds like either bad movie music, or maybe something one might hear at an American Nazi Party rally. Scary thought: for a band like Ministry to claim this as an important influence, it means they actually listened to this multiple times. On purpose. Yikes!

Three chords and a razor blade. Great seminal punk album.

An enjoyable, horizon-expanding listen. Thank you.

In which our hero waxes poetic about the healing powers of (sexual) love. While understandably lauded as one of the greatest hose albums ever, on closer inspection it is a somewhat quirky beast. The three obvious come-ons (the great title track, “Let’s Get to This” and “You Sure Love to Ball”) are all presumably aimed at then-current love interest Janis Hunter. Then there are three hesitant unsure inconfident tunes (“Please Don’t Stay”, “If I Should Die Tonight” and “Distant Lover”) aimed at God-knows who which completely alter the mood/feeling of the album. The album closer, “Just to Keep You Satisfied” is a cover of an older tune reworked into a lament over the breakup of his marriage to Anna Gordy. Good tune, but a definite downer to end the album. Which leaves the odd side 1 ending of “Keep On Gettin’ It On”. This is in the form of a long outro to the original backing music of the title track. It probably would have worked well as an album ending reprise, but in its current position sounds more like a space filler than anything else. The music is great, the arrangements are great, his voice is amazing. Four stars.

The title track was a huge part of the soundtrack to my summer of 1979. It was literally EVERYWHERE. That said, I have no idea why this album is on this list. It is pleasant, competent post-disco, elevated somewhat above its contemporary competitors by the presence of Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards as producers and composers. Their obvious fingerprints are easily noted throughout this album. So these nice young women had their 15 minutes of fame, and then gradually faded back into relative obscurity in the 80s. Sad note: they seem to have expended a more than a modicum of effort in the 2010s/2020s suing and countersuing each other over rights to the Sister Sledge name/copyright. We are family, indeed.

I enjoyed their 2003 album, reviewed for this about 30 albums ago. This one from 2009, not so much. Vocals more strident, melodies more lacking. This is OK, but in light of what gets omitted from this list, we could have done without a second one from these folks.

Vocals are generally good. Songs very similar, except for the ridiculous “Oompah Radar”, where an alien circus hijacks the proceedings. She probably should have just titled this “Soundtrack for an Alien Melodrama”, which would have provided a more accurate description of the internal contents. Glad to have heard this; don’t need to hear it again.

He spent his brief career (dead at 26) trying to create the sound in his head, which he called “Cosmic American Music”. Did he get there? Probably not quite. But on the way he essentially midwifed country-rock as a genre through his contributions to the Byrds’ “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” as well as the Flying Burrito Brothers. His solo work continues in this vein. This, his second and final solo album, was recorded shortly before his untimely death and released posthumously. Emmylou Harris plays a major role here, singing exquisite harmony vocals on nearly every tune. Gram is in good voice. And the musical backing is by members of Elvis’ TCB band, a crack outfit.

Another album that was so much better than expected. I was figuring this would be light pop-jazz or jazz-pop à la Herb Alpert. Instead, we get an actual jazz album with good playing and improvisation from Masekela and his sidemen, with stretched out tunes rather than the radio-friendly ready-mades characteristic of Alpert. I would listen to this again, I might actually seek it out to purchase it, and I would be interested in exploring the rest of his catalog.

I am a little puzzled that, with 20 some odd albums to choose from by this artist, this one is on the list? Nothing bad, but this is a pretty nondescript affair. Better to cover others’ good songs well than to do boring originals? This barely has a pulse until “Bang the Drum Slowly” seven songs in, and then quickly loses momentum again. The good news is that her voice has deepened slightly with age, such that it is no longer thin and whiny, which was a problem when she was younger.

Self producing her own album to express her artistic vision was a pretty heady achievement for a female artist in 1982. That said, listening to her artistic vision is a pretty tough slog for me. Her vocal swoops and howls and the frequent banshee wails are a pretty difficult listen.

Dear Orbital: I was well on my way to giving you the two stars you deserved for being somewhat dull, meandering, and repetitive. Then you “gifted“ me the last two tracks on your album, clocking in at 15+ and 12+ minutes, respectively. I now must dock you a full star for crimes against humanity, and if it were possible, I would award you exactly ZERO stars for the 75 minutes I just spent in the ninth circle of aural Hell.

Great stuff.

Interesting little album. Starts out with a very new wave/power pop sound before stretching out into some slower ballads. I like them best when they are sounding their punkiest, with hoarse shouted vocals and dirty guitar. I waffled between 3 and 4 stars for this, ultimately deciding they hadn’t quite earned that fourth star.

Tunefully abrasive, or abrasively tuneful? As much as I tend to not like electronica/sampling/rapping, I do like this very much.

Pretty strong album. The playing is good, and the rockers rock pretty hard. Tracks 4 and 5 drag it down a bit, and keep this out of 5 star territory for me.

Not terrible. But while I don’t mind noise in service of a concept, too much of the time this sounds like amorphous goo.

Music for a Lawrence Welk-themed disco/tapas bar? Interesting in spots, but overall too samey-same to really hold my attention over the length of the album.

More like “Greetings from Memphis”. Instead of the expected singer-songwriter fare, we get R&B that would make Delaney & Bonnie proud. Worth hearing. I will likely check out more of his catalog.

OMG. This is just great. Cohesive front to back, it is hard for me to believe that this was cobbled together from leftovers from previous sessions. She is mostly accompanied by small combos, and often just her piano and a bass. Her amazing voice shines through, breathing life into these songs. Just an amazing performance.

Some good tunes here. However, when he tries to go gangsta (tracks 12/13 especially) it falls kind of flat, as I think his voice is much more suited for sweeter sounds. Also overstays its welcome, clocking in at like 65 minutes. The only one who probably needs a full hour of CeeLo Green is Mrs. CeeLo Green.

I hear they got criticized for changing their sound for this album. But having never heard them previously, I don’t know what they sounded like before, and I do know that I like this sound. This is traditional-but-tough-sounding Irish-derived music without a single reference to the bathetic “Danny Boy”. What’s not to like?

Not a bad album, and he has a very nice voice. However, there’s laid-back, and then there’s laid out, and this is a little too close to the latter.

It’s not often that you can listen to an album and think “rock ‘n’ roll starts here“. This is one of those albums. People are often dismissive of Little Richard based on the campy parody of himself he became in the 70s, but back in the late 50s, this guy was the real deal. Listen to that dirty sax, the rollicking piano, and most of all the wild voice that sounds like it might fly off the turntable at any moment. There is no one that sounded like this guy at the time. ROCK ‘N’ ROLL STARTS HERE.

Perhaps they should have titled the album “Playing with Gray Play-Doh”, which would have better captured the listening experience. This is just boring and inconsequential. Somewhat redeemed by the last track (“Lord Can You Hear Me”; I listened to the nine track version as it was originally put out in 1989), but by then it was a case of too little, too late.

Less is more. If they had called it a day after the first disc, this would have been a five.

Thank you for another horizon-expanding listen. When I recognized the second track as being from the “Training Day” soundtrack, I knew everything would be all right...

Their last effort before imploding, Synchronicity is about half of a really good album. Side one is by far the weaker of the two sides. The playing is really good, but the side is marred by Sting’s (and Andy Summers’, on the one song he composed and sang for this album) less-than-tuneful wailing on several tracks. It doesn’t really get going until the side closer, Synchronicity II, which is a great song. Side two is pretty strong, though seems short at only four non-extended songs. It opens with “Every Breath You Take”, a pretty great ballad as long as you don’t listen too closely to the creepy stalker-y words. This is followed by “King of Pain” and “Wrapped Around Your Finger “, both great songs. The album then closes with “Tea in the Sahara”, which I find to be a weaker song. In summary, almost greatness, but doesn’t quite get there. For me, not as good as Zenyatta Mondatta, which I hope is on this list. 3.5 stars, rounding down.

I wanted very much to not like this. However, I must admit, it’s a pretty good listen. I wanted very much to dock this based on the despicable human being that Kanye has shown himself to be, and yet, at the time this was released, Kanye had yet to fully reveal his true inner assholeishness, so I decided that I can feel comfortable just judging this on its musical merits. Lastly, I wanted to bang on this when I saw it checked in at 76 minutes. But really, until the last half of the last track, this moves along very briskly and pleasantly, such that you have no concept that it is actually as long as it really is. Four stars for me.

After being treated while a member of the Beatles like a tiny moon to Lennon and McCartney’s giant suns, George Harrison gets his revenge on “All Things Must Pass”, his first post-Beatles solo record. He had a burst of creativity after the group broke up, and also had a bunch of songs in the can (previously written for potential use on Beatles’ albums and rejected by L&M), such that he was able to put out a quality double album filled with really good songs. I was concerned that the third disc of studio jams that was included as a “bonus” would detract from the overall experience, but they are actually quite listenable, with the exception of the throwaway birthday ditty. While he would never be this good again as a solo artist, Harrison completely nails it here. Easy five stars for me.

Boy, “grown-up” Madonna sure does suck, doesn’t she? This album, made from the mistaken notion that she needed to “compete“ with teenybopper icons Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, just shows that you don’t have to be an anonymous Brit to make irritating dance/electronica music. Good points: this is slightly less irritating than its genre competitors, and she does limit herself to 44 minutes, for which I am eternally grateful. Bad points: the whispered and treated vocals that crop up intermittently are extremely irritating, and for an artist I know to be intelligent, these have to be some of the dumbest lyrics ever committed to paper. I thought long and hard about giving this three stars, but realized I would be holding my nose with a death grip in order to avoid the stench from doing so. Two stars, baby.

This is my second Beck album in the 1001 albums experience. Somewhat more smooth and polished as compared to Odelay, from almost 10 years earlier. I think the polish makes it slightly less interesting as compared to the previous album, but still quite good, and I still enjoyed it.

Just OK for me. Positives: 1. His voice. 2. The horn charts can almost distract one from remembering that this is, in essence, 80’s Britpop. Negatives: All that jelly and no toast - this kind of does a slow burn to nowhere.

I have a couple of Solomon Burke compilations and a latter-day album, but listening to this album as it was initially issued by Atlantic in the early 60s was quite a revelation. Burke wanted to distance himself from the term “rhythm and blues”, as he felt it was associated with sinfulness, and instead crowned himself as the “king of rock and soul”. And so…this is one of the early soul records. His voice has a lot of honey, and yet plenty of grit; his sound to me is between that of Sam Cooke and Ray Charles, both of whom he namechecks on one of the tracks. Also, a couple of big country smashes are presented here all souled up, à la Brother Ray’s “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music”. There’s even a song that sounds suspiciously like the 60s Drifters (who also recorded for Atlantic), unsurprisingly penned by Lieber and Stoller. Good solid listen, important historically, and deserving of inclusion on this list

This album is kind of a mixed bag for me. I like her best when she is making something new out of something old, like her takes on “Gloria” and “Land of 1000 Dances”. The shorter originals, like “Redondo Beach”, “Free Money” and “Break It Up” are also not bad. However, when she channels her inner beat poet chanteuse, like on “Birdland” and vast parts of the “Land” medley, she loses me.

I’m not sure why a black group playing hard rock/metalloid rock should be such a unicorn, but given how many folks have followed in their footsteps (like, none?), I have to give them their due. I’d say the album is good not great. Vernon Reid’s guitar is good and I like Corey Glover’s voice. The songwriting is a mixed bag. “Cult of Personality” is a great song, as is “An Open Letter (to a Landlord)”; some of the others not so much. I hear Robert Christgau complained at the time that they sounded too much like Megadeth; yeah, Megadeth with a guy who can actually sing. 3.5 stars, rounding up.

Stylistically a bit all over the map. Songs range from the sublime “Little Wing” to the fairly stupid “EXP”. Playing of course great because it’s Jimi. Overall slight sophomore slump.

Ian Dury came up with, and was lumped in with, the Stiff Records crew — Elvis C, Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric, etc. Despite the company he was keeping, he doesn’t really sound anything like them, and in fact, has his own weird sound, some bizarre combination of R&B and music hall, with a tiny bit of post disco thrown in for good measure. Sometimes it works (“Blockheads”, “My Old Man”, “Sweet Gene Vincent”), sometimes it doesn’t (the incredibly irritating “Billericay Dickie”). It’s all rather English, which doesn’t always translate well, and his voice certainly leaves something to be desired. This album makes a strong case for allowing half stars because it would round perfectly to 2.5 for me. In a whole star system, we’ll round up to three, giving him the benefit of the doubt for the effort.

Frank Zappa’s debut album skewers middle-class mores while also commenting on race relations and LBJ’s Great Society. It savages pop music conventions by providing us a bunch of pseudo pop-rock ready-mades. The end of the album is marked (marred?) by more experimental tracks not untypical of much of his career. Great satire…or bad pop? You decide. Bonus star for the fact that I’m betting that this didn’t sound much like anything else put out in 1965.

Because my initial exposure to Buck Owens was as the cohost of the ridiculous “Hee Haw”, I grew up thinking the guy was a joke. Luckily I “discovered” him much later, and was able to experience one of the true giants of country music. Folks, there’s a reason the Beatles covered this guy. He is that good. This album is representative of his work in the genre. Much grittier, less tame sound than the Countrypolitan that was gradually taking over mainstream country music at the time. Good stuff.

Bought this on vinyl back in the 80s trying to stay current. Never really got into it at the time, just wasn’t my jam, so it remains in excellent shape as I pulled it out for this exercise. Older me now does appreciate what the lads were trying to do. While still being quite thrash-y, this is very musical and well played. With this album, you can see where they came from, but also where they were going.

Early cow punk. Sounds best during the punky numbers. The twangier stuff doesn’t really work. The singing is as rough and out of tune as any thrash metal band. How about some Jason and the Scorchers instead?

The aural equivalent of mud. Not quite completely unlistenable, but much closer than was necessary.

Emphatically answers the question “What kind of album would you make if you knew you were dying?” We get to peel off the Band-Aid so infrequently. Gregg Allman‘s last album, Johnny Cash‘s American series, maybe John Prine‘s last album come immediately to mind. This album can proudly take its place in that canon. From an artist who spent much of his career hiding behind masks, personas and stylistic changes, this is amazingly intimate. Bowie invites us along on the journey, giving us essentially a ringside seat. This is at once both bleak and incredibly uplifting. This is art.